Working on Sorcerous Nomad

Art by Edna www.fotosearch.com

One of my main current projects is Sorcerous Nomad. This is a new fantasy TTRPG ruleset based on my Faster Than Light: Nomad sci-fi rules and fully compatible with them. It is slated for a mid-late 2026 release and should be available both in PDF format and A4 softcover print format.

What is it all about?

• Streamlined 2d6 core mechanic with "dice pool" components, just like FTL: Nomad. You roll a bunch of dice, and choose the lowest or highest two, then add them together and add the skill modifier. 8+ is a success.

• Fast but deeply customizable classless, level-less character generation. Distribute 5 points among 8 skills (3 points max in any single skill), choose an Archetype, choose a Talent and optionally a Species, and gain a starting equipment package based on your Archetype. That's it. But this means that an extremely wide range of combinations are possible!

• Streamlined combat, with only 4 "range bands"; a "FRENZY!" mechanic for multiple attacks if you "drop" an enemy; and a simple wound system for minimal book-keeping.

• Parrying rules for dynamic combat. Parry and riposte your enemies' attacks with a swingy dice roll! (look HERE for their predecessor).

• Optional Hero Points, to make your heroes more heroic and survivable - and your villains more villainous and recurring!

• All the sword & sorcery gear you need, from swords to longships!

• Long-term character advancement. Develop your character's Skills and Talents as they adventure - or (optionally) as they loot wondrous treasures!

• Intuitive but risky skill-based magic. Compared to The Sword of Cepheus, magic is safer and faster to cast in this system, though dangerous mishaps can still occur, and Dark Magic can corrupt its user as in folklore and classic sword & sorcery tales.

• Nautical exploration, travel, and combat rules! Shiver me timbers! Pirate-loving players: rejoice!

• Faction rules, inspired by the ones presented in the Faster Than Light Companion! The Referee can easily manage multiple factions and conspiracies in the campaign area - and the PCs can establish their own factions from thieves' guilds to fiefs!

• 100 fearsome monsters! From dragons and grand apes to things from the Outer Dark!

• Procedural fantasy monster generation rules, to create the next eldritch horror with a few die rolls. All included monsters could be created by these rules - and you can create legions of terrors yourself to surprise your players!

• Social and monster encounter generation rules, to easily vary the NPCs your players meet!

• At least 72 original magical artifacts. No more generic +1 Swords!

• 100% compatible with Faster Than Light: Nomad! Arm your barbarians with lasers and have your hapless spacers face sorcerous cults and arcane monstrosities!

• Reference document released under a Creative Commons license, available for download in an editable file for anyone who purchases Sorcerous Nomad! No OGL!

My Little Slice of the OTU

I think I found my new favorite Official Traveller Universe (OTU) "milieu": the Galaxiad. Situated in 1902 Imperial (the 7th millennium CE!) and related to Traveller5, it presents a "pastoral" era when most big empires of the Golden Age are gone, replaced by more independent worlds and pockets of civilization within the Wilds.

Practically, the Galaxiad permits me to use almost any part of the wonderful OTU canon while ignoring other bits as I desire - a canvas I can paint a painting of my own doing on while using existing and beloved colors.

The chosen region is the Solomani Rim - specifically the Sol and Dingir subsectors. These present a rich history and vast archives of older material, all while being "virgin ground" not yet officially described in the 1902 Imperial milieu.

In my head canon, the residents of the Solomani Rim name the entire period from the Rebellion up to the recovery from the Wave - the "Deluge". The Classic Era and preceding times are "Antediluvian". This works similarly to how the term "Medieval" works in our real world: most people refer to entire centuries-long historical eras by cliche and a very rough idea of what happened in these times. Only historians and history enthusiasts (EDU 10+ and/or a skill in history) would be able to clearly and accurately recount the history of the Rebellion, Virus, recovery, Wave, and second and third recoveries.

In my version of the Galaxiad-era Rim, the (new) Solomani Confederation, as presented in the Galaxiad booklet and as known in far-away Deneb, collapsed after Terra's ecosystem collapsed. It has two successor states in the Solomani Rim Sector and one in the Coreward part of Aldebaran, plus the upstart Solar Union (Terra's resurgence) and the Vegan Polity.

Local Polities and "Strong Worlds"

Solar Union (SU) - Terra and other Sol System worlds unified under one government, which clawed its way back to the stars after eco-collapse. Hungry for relic tech to help reterraform Terra and finally terraform Mars. Aggressive and heavy handed in politics, but its citizens enjoy relative freedom (Terra is GOV C, LL 7). In a cold war with the ISC. Viewed by the ISC and SCEA as a bunch of desert bandit usurpers.

Imperial Solomani Confederation (ISC) - Dingir subsector. Neither imperial, nor Solomani, and definitely nor a confederation. A militarist bureaucracy with strong Vilani cultural elements which evolved from the old SC's navy on Dingir. In a cold war with the Solar Union and the Vegan Polity.

Vegan Polity - finally free from human domination. Decentralized as typical of Vegans. Is in a cold war with both the ISC and SCEA; the SU is trying to gain diplomatic inroads with it.

Solomani Confederation Emergency Administration (SCEA) - Concord subsector. Has a legitimate claim for continuity of government from the old SC. On paper, claims the entire space of the old (1800's Imperial) SC, in reality controls a bit over half a subsector. In a cold war with the Vegan Polity.

Surveyors from the Republic of Regina reached SCEA in the late 1800s Imperial, were shown 14-subsector star-maps, which were two centuries out of date, and heard complaints about rebels, piracy, and communication issues. They returned to Regina and reported a 14-subsector Solomani Confederation with various issues. In reality, such polity exists only on paper - for a century or so.

My house rules for world generation in the Pastoral Era/Galaxiad:

1. With the exception noted below, worlds retain their Golden Era physical characteristics.
2. For each garden world (Atmospheres 5, 6, and 8), roll 2D; on 9+, environmental damage occurred. In such case, roll 2D; on 2-8, the atmosphere is Tainted; on 9, it is Vacuum (i.e., the atmosphere was stripped by powerful weapons); on 10-11, it is Corrosive; on 12, it is Insidious (Corrosive and Insidious here usually mean intense radiation or bio-contamination from past bombardment by nuclear, bioweapon, or similar WMDs, which was so extreme that radiation or bio-contamination remains severe even after 700 years).
3. Roll population as normal for habitable worlds (Atmospheres 4-9); roll 1d6-1 for unhabitable worlds within polities, 1d6-2 outside of them. DM-1 in both cases if Corrosive or Insidious atmospheres are present.
4. If a world's TL is too low to support habitation, population is zero. The minimal TL for Tainted atmospheres is TL5; for Vacuum or Exotic atmospheres, TL7; for Corrosive or Insidious, TL10.
5. In the Solomani Rim, present TL is capped at 11. Antediluvian (i.e., pre-Virus) relics may reach TL16 or beyond, and are highly coveted.
6. With a weak interstellar economy, worlds must produce spacecraft parts on their own, which severely limits production capacities. Starport B can occur only on worlds with POP 7+, and Starport A only with POP 8+. If the Population is lower, downgrade any rolled A or B starport to C.

[Lore 25] Full Ishtar and Apep Sectors Map WIP #3

I made even further progress with my Lore25 challenge maps: a full Referee's map including Drill routes, and a Players' map with only the commonly-known stars and routes noted. On the Referee's map, the dashed lines are well-known Drill routes, while the dotted lines are forgotten and/or secret ones.

Referee's Map

Players' Map

[Lore 25] Full Ishtar and Apep Sectors Map WIP

I have progressed further in developing my Lore25 starmap for the Ishtar and Apep sectors. Now with all polities, borders, and world names marked. Note that worlds that already had Sobek(reptilian aliens) names were given the names of male Egyptian gods by Humans who did not wish to pronounce complex Sobek words. Most worlds which were unexplored by Sobek so far were given the names of Canaanite deities. The main exceptions are the nameless worlds of the Anomaly, as well as the new world names of the Liberated Worlds, Sde Prachim (formerly Laana - "Wormwood" or "Bitter Grass") and Tkuma (formerly Ba'al).

There is a good balance between polities (with their intrigue and conflicts) and independent (and sometime lost) worlds with their weirder features.

[Lore25] Ishtar and Apep Sector Maps WIP #1

I have been dedicating the first week of the Lore25 challenge to drafting the star maps of the adjacent Ishtar and Apep Sectors into a simple, easily printable, B&W map. As this is SWN and not Traveller, the map is much simpler, simply showing dots, names, borders, and Drill routes across space rather than all the world, base, and starport types shown on a typical Traveller map.

This is the first work-in-progress of the map, showing world locations, a few major world names, and the borders of the Anomaly.

Next would be naming all worlds and designing jump routes, and finally creating a player's map where worlds without official jump routes are not shown.

Next Year's Challenge: Lore25!

Similar to my abortive attempt at the Sector23 Challenge two years ago, I wish now to undertake a new yearly challenge, hopefully to bring to completion this time! Something nice to spice up my time and get my creative world-building juices flowing.

2025's challenge, as suggested by Discord friends, will be Lore25. The challenge, as the name implies, is a world-building challenge focused on setting lore rather than mechanics; develop a setting out of whole cloth with a year's worth of lore. 1-3 paragraphs a day (365-1095 paragraphs by December 31st, 2025! At 100 or so words per paragraph, that's 36,500 to 109,500 words total!

This time I will write up a setting for Kevin Crawford's excellent Stars Without Number: Revised Edition (SWN:RE). I will keep my setting vaguely compatible with the default one presented in the SWN:RE core book, but will - of course! - strictly respect the author's intellectual property; other than very vague references to a Deluge toppling a vast Terran State, and similar points permitting such compatibility, the lore written in this setting shall be my own. The focus will be on local lore and events anyway, but the two Sectors (about the size of two Traveller Subsectors) will be easy to drop into any SWN game.

Below is the challenge's plan:

January 2025 - Universe Foundation. Starmap, system names, polities overview, species overview, cultural overview, history outline (in a 5-pagaraph style: Forgotten History, Ancient History, Classic History, Modern History, Recent Events).

February 2025 - Philosophy and Culture. Philosophies, religions, cultures, cults. Including the Sobek (agamid-reptile aliens!) sun-worshiping religion! One idea per day.

March 2025 - Astrography. Flesh the worlds; there are going to be 50 of them. So, 2 worlds a day on average. Typical SWN world description table/paragraph.

April 2025 - Technology. Beyond the SWN:RE standard, I shall endeavor to write one unique technology or technological artifact per day.

May 2025 - Characters and NPCs. One unique important NPC per day. Not necessarily with stats, as most are various leaders and groundbreaking scientists, but at least a paragraph each.

June 2025 - Factions. SWN:RE is excellent at this, and I will try to create 2-3 factions per week for 8-12 total SWN:RE-type factions with full stats and agendas.

July 2025 - Wars! The big Human-Sobek conflict, as well as smaller ones. Potentially one week to write 7 paragraphs for the Human-Sobek conflict, then 1 small conflict per day.

August 2025 - Creatures and Species. Sentient alien stats and character generation (Sobek and potentially others), plus various non-sentient critters. These are easy to create in SWN:RE.

September 2025 - Economy and Trade. One paragraph about economics per day Potentially adding trade data from SWN: Suns of Gold to each world if time and energy permit.

October 2025 - Myths and Legends. One spacers' legend per day. Such as the lost planet of Carcosa, and whatever is going on within the Anomaly.

November 2025 - Adventure Hooks. One per day. SWN:RE has excellent tools for that based on the worlds I'll create in March.

December 2025 - Review and Polishing. Editing the setting lore into one cohesive document. Who knows, it might even get published in 2026!

Solo Shadowdark Barrowmaze Post #0

I decided I wanted to play a solo campaign in Barrowmaze, using Shadowdark with its free SoloDark supplement. This would be a "tabletop Roguelike" of sorts, combining crawling using all the aforementioned rules with some storytelling and me "filling in the gaps". A primary source of inspiration would be the Darkest Dungeon video game, a game which is very much in the same vein as both Shadowdark and Barrowmaze.

I will post my progress on this blog.

The setup will initially be simple: adventurers gather in the boomtown of Helix, eager to plumb the depths of the nearby Barrowmaze megadungeon. But death lurks aplenty under the old barrow mounds, and even among them on the moor's surface. Characters will begin simple and develop with time. A major random and procedural element will also shape their adventures, sticking strict usage of all the random tables and procedures in both Barrowmaze, Shadowdark, and SoloDark.

Character Creation

I will begin by generating the first four characters using Shadowdark. I will avoid using Shadowdarklings to get a better "feel" for my characters, which automated generation sometimes provides less of.

I will be using the Shadowdark core rules, Cursed Scroll #1, and my own Reptilian Ancestries as character generation sources.

All characters are generated by 3d6 six times in order.

As the adventures progress and characters die or are wounded, I will generate more characters for my "stable". Maybe even regardless of PC losses... Providing a dynamic party.

Variant Random Ancestry Table

As I use non-Core material, I'd like to change the Random Ancestry Table, Shadowdark p.40.

Roll is changed from 1d12 to 1d20:

d20   Ancestry

1-6   Human

7-9   Elf

10-12 Dwarf

13-14 Half Orc

15-16 Goblin

17-18 Lizardman (Reptilian Ancestry)

19    Gecko-Kin (Reptilian Ancestry)

20    Serpent-Kin (Reptilian Ancestry)

Draconians are not included yet.

Variant Random Class Table

As I use non-Core material, I'd like to change the Random Class Table, Shadowdark p.40.

Roll is changed from 1d4 to 1d8:

1-2 Fighter

3   Priest

4   Thief

5   Wizard

6   Warlock

7   Witch 

8   Knight of St. Ydris

The First Four

Let's roll.

Character #1 - Axidor the Acolyte of St. Terragnis (Male Elf)

STR 10 DEX 7 CON 13 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 11

(Final stats STR 10 DEX 7 CON 13 INT 10 WIS 14 CHA 11)

Quite average, isn't he? Tough and a bit wise, but nothing remarkable.

Ancestry: Elf; Racial Talent: Farsight (+1 to attack with ranged weapons; +1 to spellcasting checks).

Class: Priest.

Sex: Male.

Name: Axidor.

Alignment: Lawful.

Title: Acolyte.

Class Talent: +2 to STR or WIS! Obviously chose WIS!

Deity: St. Terragnis. A Lawful human deity! Why would an Elf worship her? An interesting story hook!

Background: Noble! And not a decadent one, as evidenced by his CON score. Probably Axidor left his home for a monastery - potentially due to a revelation? - to hone his spirit, and endured the usual hardship there.

To-Hit (Melee): +0 (Mace 1d6); To-Hit (Ranged): -1 (+1 Elf; -2 DEX 7); HP 5; AC 9 (Leather Armor and bad DEX).

Languages: Common, Elven, and Celestial.

Class Abilities: Turn Undead (see spells); Spellcasting (based on WIS; 2 Tier-1 spells).

Priest Spells: Turn Undead, Shield of Faith, Protection from Evil.

Gear: 9/10 slots: Crawling Kit, Mace (1d6), Leather Armor (AC 9 due to DEX), 5gp.

Motivation: Ascend Anger. Maybe ascend to St. Terargnis' heaven by proving his holy zeal?

So, we have a tough and wise, but clumsy, Elven (former?) Noble. He is no healer but an expert in protecting himself and others from the forces of Chaos! And fighting Chaos with holy wrath!

Character #2 - Broken-Claw the Thug (Female Lizard-Kin)

STR 12 DEX 14 CON 5 INT 11 WIS 12 CHA 5

Fast! But weak and uncouth. Probably sickly from birth. I've decided that her low Charisma comes from the loathsome god she follows, and her murderous streak, rather from ugliness.

Ancestry: Lizardman! Racial Talent: Swims as fast as a human walks; can hold his breath for 1 hour.

Class: Thief.

Sex:Female.

Name: Broken-Claw.

Alignment: Chaotic! Beware of conflict with Axidor!

Title:  Thug.

Class Talent:+1 Backstab damage!

Deity: Ramlaat.

Background: Banished! Suitable of a Thug! She probably murdered someone important!

To-Hit (Melee): +1 (Dagger, 1d4); To-Hit (Ranged): +2 (Shortbow; 1d6) HP 1; AC 13 (Leather Armor and high DEX).

Languages: Common, Reptilian.

Class Abilities: Backstab (+1 weapon die vs. unaware target, +2/+3 to hit); Advantage on Climbing, Stealth, Disguise, Traps, and Picking Pockets/Locks).

Gear: 10/12 slots: Crawling Kit, Thief Tools (no slot requires); Shortbow, Dagger, 4gp.

Motivation: Blood and souls for Ramlaat!

In short: a Chaos cultist of the worst kind! Probably hiding her true nature behind a "neutral" facade, but doing it badly, with venomous remarks about various matters (low Charisma!).

Character #3 - Mirena the Shaman (Female Human)

STR 7 (-2) DEX 15 (+2) CON 9 (-1) INT 5 (-3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 14 (+2)

(Final stats: STR 7 (-2) DEX 15 (+2) CON 9 (-1) INT 5 (-3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 18 (+4))

Weak, Stupid, but fast and charming!

Ancestry: Human (1 extra Class Talent)

Class: Witch.

Sex: Female.

Name: Mirena.

Alignment: Neutral.

Title:  Shaman.

Class Talents: +2 to Charisma twice!

Deity: Gede.

Background: Drawn. Whispered to by a yet unknown entity!

To-Hit (Melee): -2 (Staff, 1d4); To-Hit (Ranged): +2; HP 2 ; AC 13 (Leather Armor and high DEX).

Languages: Common; Diabolic; Primordial; Sylvan.

Class Abilities: Familiar; Witch Spells (3 known)

Witch Spells: Charm Person; Oak, Ash, Thorn; Willowman.

Familiar: A Raven called "Talon".

Gear: 9/10: Crawling Kit, Staff (1d4); Leather Armor.

Motivation: Revoke Order. Maybe smash the local civilized government and call forth the Natural side of things?

In short, a wild shaman, strong in the way of spirits and very charming, yet base - even at near-animal level - in her intellect.

Character #4 - Malchor the Squire (Male Human)

STR 13 (+1) DEX 10 (+0) CON 15 (+2) INT 9 (-1) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 12 (+1)

We got ourselves a Fighter!

Ancestry: Human (1 extra Class Talent).

Class:Fighter.

Sex: Male.

Name: Malchor.

Alignment: Lawful.

Title:  Squire.

Class Talents: +1 to all attacks twice!

Deity: St. Terragnis (again! Probably sees himself as Axidor's protector)

Background: Sailor! A bold mariner!

To-Hit (Melee): +4 (STR and Talents and Mastery; Longsword, 1d8); To-Hit (Ranged): +2 (Talents; Javelin 1d4); HP 10 ; AC 11 (Leather Armor).

Languages: Common.

Class Abilities: Hauler; +1 to attack and damage with Longswords; Grit (Advantage on throws to overcome an opposing force).

Gear: 10/15: Crawling Kit, Longsword (1d8); Javelin (1d4); Leather Armor.

Motivation: Reverse Dark. Fight back the Darkness emanating from Barrowmaze?

In short, a stout squire! Strongest character in the party, with best chances of surviving their first adventure.

Party Overview

So, we have a Priest and his loyal Squire, both sworn to fight against Darkness, and two hanger-ons (?): an "adventurer" (Thug) trying badly to conceal her true nature, and a wild Shaman. All ready to seek treasure in Barrowmaze! The two hanger-ons were probably recruited at the "Brazen Strumpet" tavern in Helix for added skills and sorcery - well-known to be a prerequisite for survival in Barrowmaze!

Of course, inner-party conflict is likely to rear its ugly head soon...