If there is any such thing as true evil in the world, it was the  Dragons . Georg Janny They were the enemy to all people, fighting a war that ended in prehistory. They ate everything and burnt what they could not eat, living blast furnaces knowing only cruelty and scorched earth. They haunted every age, dwindling down one by one by the hands of kings and prophets- the  Dragons  were made to persist, not reproduce, and even their lesser kin were solitary things. Any burn-scarred old veteran could tell you that it was the gun that drove them all into the grave at last. Put enough shot in the air and you'll kill anything.  But they are living still, and waiting. In ruins, they lay dormant under heaped stone, sealed in pockets of preserving flesh. Miles under the earth, they teem and writhe under the glow of a false sun, stalking through empty cities and bleach-white jungles to hunt things which were once men. They have felt the earth shake. The time is soon.  Anyt...

Lightning is the purest expression of strength. Where it lands, grass burns, trees split, and men die. It is the fire born of water, creation and destruction in one dread instant. When men first dreamt of power, it was lightning that filled their dreams. When the Thunder  roared, they listened. You are part of a lineage of Kings. Not by blood, but by strength . Not the unbroken Imperial line, now smoking rubble, but of the crazed multifoliate dynasties of the Wizard-Kings of old, now cold ruin. Some forget that the wand was once the scepter, the sword not just an implement of ritual. Well, what are you waiting for? To prove them right? Lovis Corinth Wizard Skill:  1. Archeology . 2.  Weather Prediction  3.  Law . Starting items:  A medium sword, a set of fine blue robes ( unarmored ,) a good hat, a copy of the Brontologion , and two Implements of the Art . +1 SKLL per template . A Heir Apparent ,  Detect Magic , 2 spells, +1  MD B Scrying , +2 spe...

The Presbyter  taught that there was no mercy in this world save but that which we gave one another, and for this, he was killed mercilessly. No wound or cruelty on this earth could dim his brilliance; even in death, his words kindled the world, and he shone like a midnight sun before he ascended into the heavens. The Presbyter said: "Recognize what is before your face and that which is hidden from you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest, nor buried which shall not be raised." The Presbyter said, "The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same." The Presbyter said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?' , say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest t...

Special thanks to Archon's Court . There's a certain way things go. The throughline of history. Fate. It's written in the whispering of advisors and traced by knives in dark places. There's a machine that runs the world. The mind of God, or something like it, with gears and flywheels made from people and nations. Shut your eyes, sit in silence, and you can hear it whirring. Pulsing. Breathing. It's all in the Hidden Writing. You know because you wrote it. The work of spies is the work of the insane. You are a liar, even to yourself. You may not even know it. What do you know?  Agent Skills: Cryptography  and Steganography . Starting Equipment: A set of unassuming clothes, a set of fine clothes (+1 reaction with the Right Sort,) a long-bladed folding knife ( light , easily concealed,) and a  Tool of the Trade . A Intelligencer , Wetwork , +2 SKLL B Nocturnal , +2 SNEK C Icewater Veins , +1 to hit D Well-Practiced , +2 SKLL As a specialist, you are proficient in kn...

SURPRISE! This is a double-dip on prompts: a Paladin of an Unorthodox Law. Or, more accurately, a  Monk . Quoted from the linked post, so you don't have to jump between there and here while using this class: All Monks have a pool of chi which they use to fuel their kung-fu. This chi takes up slots in your inventory like exhaustion ; just like exhaustion , you take a point of damage if something would occupy the same slot. When you take an hour to calmly and silently meditate (it is nigh impossible to do this in a city), you may fill as much of your inventory with chi as you wish.     You may use chi to: leap 20 ' horizontally, reduce damage from an arrow or thrown weapon by 1d6 , treat a fall as if it were 10' shorter, upgrade an unarmed attack to deal 1d6 plus your highest modifier damage (it's your job to explain why intelligence makes you punch better but it shouldn't be hard. You're a smart kid), make a pair of unarmed attacks immediately after mak...

  Remember  the Cloak-and-Sword bandwagon ? The one with the single-template classes and Esprit mechanic? I really don't. I was pretty deep into an addiction to nasal decongestant sprays at the time and may have sold a few blogposts to fund my habit. Sorry. Thankfully, I recently found an early draft and managed to get it into fighting trim. 

This isn't for the Beholder bandwagon. I don't know what that is, or what a Beholder is. I've never heard of Hasbro™ or Wizards of the Coast™ or Dungeons and Dragons™ or of the concept of Product™ Identity™. I made up this thing in my shed and typed this post on a computer at my local library. You're a whole other thing. Roll 1d6 or make up something that won't get you sued™: Myriops. Bahunetren Raja. Eyewitness. Seer. Optometrist.  Globus Oculiger. You're not from around here. You came from under the earth, past the stars, the dreams of a madman. The fear of looking and being looked back at. Magic cut down to its purest essence: the eye. ꙮ MYRIOPS ꙮ Starting skills: 1. Blackmail . 2. Conspiracy Theories . 3. Particle Physics . Starting items: You need nothing. All that you see is already yours. A Beauty , Eye Rays , +1 ꙮD B +2 Eye Rays , +2 SKLL C +2 Eye Rays , +1 ꙮD D Ajna , +2 Eye Rays Beauty You are a sphere of alien flesh with one large eye, one large m...

What even needs to be said? You are a pebbled worm, never to be smiled at. Any who know you fear you, and rightly so. You are a god of the river, an oasis king. The mighty cocodril has always been able to speak, but has never needed to, especially not to those chattering soft-skinned things that imagined themselves so important. As time has passed, so too has your might. What was once an unstoppable terror of the water may now be slain with a common firearm. Your brethren hold harpoons in their skin, or grace the ceilings of collections. Perhaps it is time to deign. Adapt to the world, man-eater, lest you become man-eaten. 𓆊 COCODRIL 𓆊 Or allagarta, gharial, or other similar beast. Starting skills: 1. Moral Philosophy . 2. Riddles . 3. Talking to Birds . Starting items: hell no Gain +2 MOVE  per template. A Curse on Four Legs , Death Roll B River Thresher , +1 to hit C  +2 HP , +1 to hit D  Leviathan , +1 to hit At template A, you are eight feet long and weigh 250 poun...

The warrior occupies a place of prestige and admiration, but always at an arm's length; your presence is a sign that if something hasn't already gone wrong, it's about to. In times like these, you can always find work or make your own. Some people say that there is an art to war. Those people are wrong. War is a trade, and you are its apprentice, journeyman, and one day, master .  Another misconception: history isn't built. It's carved. Théodore Valerio WARRIOR Skill : 1. Folklore . 2. Battlefield Surgery . 3. Mountaineering . Starting items : Medium armor, an unimpressive but trusty steed, two Tools of the Trade , and your choice of: a medium melee weapon, a pistol ( 1d10 damage, one handed, range 20' , takes a minute to reload), and 10 bullets with paper cartridges; a light melee weapon, a rifle ( 2d6 damage, two handed, range 40' , takes a minute to reload), and 10 bullets with paper cartridges; or a medium melee weapon and a shield. Gain +1 to ...

Another installment in my  Unfinished World  bootleg series. Manufacturing, the First Art. The magic of making something out of nothing. The working of Hot Metal. The  Manufactories and their Academy are the highest authority in the world regarding it, as far as anybody is concerned. It's embarrassing how wrong they are. Creation is a parlor trick for impressing lords. Its power is temporary, a mere toy. Even the airships and the artillery and the standardized currency. No, true power lies in becoming. The flesh is weak, and steel is strong. Even the Manufactories understand this, though their  best attempts are nothing but an unrefined mockery of what you'll become. 

FOR  QAL ASHEN (And for Halloween .) You were here first. Before Time, before Death, before the world was ordered and numbered and described, you were here. You're a dreadful thing, feared by spirits, banished by the Sun, at home only in the Underworld. The living learned to traverse your world, taking Death into themselves and mastering it, but as the old saying goes: as above, so below. + THE EXHUMED +1 to hit and +1 HP per Template. A - Denizen , Fossilis , +2 Denizen Traits B - Life of the Party , +1 Denizen Trait C - Sparagmos , +1 Denizen Trait D - Undying , +1 Denizen Trait Denizen You are what most call a Denizen, or Gallu: an antechronological creature from the Underworld, a servant (though you may not be) of the great God Qal Ashen. At character creation, do not choose a Folk; instead, roll for your appearance on the following table three times; once for your head, body, and limbs respectively. Mammalian .  Reptilian.  Insectoid. Avian.  Piscine. Humanoid...

Special thanks to  Glass Candles  for his excellent item suggestions.  They think they can tell you what to do. They think they know better . They can all go to Hell. The world is your oyster, which you with sword will open. You can be as cruel or as merciful as you like in the pursuit of power; it's your decision. Everything is. The Red Heretics are those who have rejected warning. They have no single doctrine, as Red Heresy is burnt out wherever it is found. They are united by one insane tenet: that Chaos may be controlled by Man with no need for the g_ds. Such heresy has reemerged many times in history. By  The Nothic's Eye You may not be able to talk to the angels, but you are the one the priests warned you of. THE UNFETTERED PALADIN Starting items: A Red Mask, a light butcher's cleaver, a light scalpel, a clean white apron, and 2 pieces of Forensic Evidence from the table below. Skills: 1 . Butcher. 2. Barber-surgeon. 3 . Drug enthusiast. +1 INIT and +1 ...