Spes Magna Games

Cursed Matundu gapes in the southern wilderness of Salmagunderland like a rocky gullet that swallowed a few hundred acres of jungle. Matundu’s opening covers roughly one-half a square mile (which is a bit more than a square kilometer), and it drops nearly 600 feet to a deep pool of foul water littered with boulders and detritus, the latter washed into the pit by frequent rains.

Generations ago, this dark pit did not exist. Instead, a village stood on the site, ruled by dwarfish witchdoctor called Matundu. Chilling evil twisted Matundu’s heart, and he ruled his people through fear and poison until a heroine rose up to put an end to Matundu’s wicked reign. This heroine, Shujaa, led several adventurers in a rebellion against Matundu. After days of conflict that raged throughout the jungle around the village, Shujaa and her companions eventually gained the upper hand.

Matundu retreated to his stone huts, guarded by his most elite and fanatical warriors. In this sanctuary, Matundu proved impossible to reach, and so Shujaa called upon the powers of the heavens. Angelic creatures answered her prayers, roaring around Matundu’s stone huts like a tornado until their walls buckled and their roofs collapsed.

Still, Matundu did not die. Trapped beneath the rubble of his sanctuary, the witchdoctor bound his foul soul to his ruined body with terrible necromantic spells. When the angelic creatures pronounced their final judgement, Matundu should’ve been sent screaming into the underworld, but only the wicked dead can suffer such a fate. And, so, the very land itself retreated from the heavens, collapsing into the massive pit that now bears the name of that evil witchdoctor.

Undead Matundu seethes in darkness, trapped in twisted tunnels and caves accessible through the pit. Matundu’s will, however, is not as confined as his body. It reaches out, slithering through those tunnels and caves, and even up the walls of the pit to the surrounding jungle. By means of his will, Matundu seeks to lure those with more courage than sense into the pit. Sooner or later, someone is bound to free Matundu.

Impulse: To draw in the weak-willed

Grim Portents
* Tuur Wöllem of Imperial Cartographical Society receives a vision of Matundu’s location.
* Wöllem hires adventurers to help find Matundu.
* Adventurers descend into the pit.
* Matundu is freed.

Impending Doom: Matundu, undead and vengeful, escapes from his prison.

Description & Cast
* Tuur Wöllem and his hired adventurers
* Navkdol, orc shaman
* Cirkad, cursed wanderer

Custom Moves

When you stand at the edge of Matundu for the first time, roll+WIS: *On a 10+, you recognize the dangerous nature of Matundu’s attractions. Take +1 forward when acting upon this recognition. *On a 7-9, choose 1.

* Matundu reveals to you a safe way down to the bottom of the pit.
* Matundu grants you a vision of a desirable treasure’s location within the pit’s caverns.
* Matundu warns you of a monster or monsters lairing within the pit’s caverns.

Tags: Dungeon World, place of power

Salmagunderland presents an inhospitable mixture of dark canyons, rushing rivers, and rugged highlands covered in all but impenetrable rainforest. The hazards are legion. Biting insects carry horrible tropical diseases. Venomous lizards that grow as long as man’s leg wait in ambush. Degenerate dwarfs hunt for the heads of their enemies, eager to feast on the flesh of their conquests in order to gain supernatural power. Lost cities, demon-haunted and choked by vegetation, still hold the treasures of long-vanished peoples. Volcanoes spew up rivers of molten rock that burn their way through the jungle before plunging in fiery falls into the canyons, giving rise to thick clouds of steam that cling beneath the canopy.

Rarely, mbweha crystals are mined from the basalt shores of these lava rivers. In the hands a skilled weaponsmith who knows the necessary runes, these crystals can be fashioned into magical weapons. Unfortunately, few mbweha crystals are large enough to be fashioned into even a dagger. Mbweha blades channel their wielders’ force of personality, making them powerful weapons in the right hands.

When creating a mbweha blade as a treasure or reward for your players, choose one from each of these categories:

Base Description: Axe, Dagger, Spear, Sword. (Nota Bene: All but the dagger are base weight 2. The dagger is base weight 1.)
Range: Hand, Close, Reach
Enhancements: Perfectly Weighted (add precise), Serrated Edges (+1 damage), Sharp (+2 piercing), Versatile (choose an additional range)

When used for hack and slash, on a 10+, you may treat the result of 7-9, inflicting CHA+1d6 damage but also exposing yourself to your enemy’s attack.

When you channel your personality through your mbweha blade, roll+CHA. *On 10+, hold 3. *On 7-9, hold 1. As long as you wield the mbweha blade, you may spend hold, 1 for 1, to choose an option:

* Force a target to make a move.
* Awe or frighten a target, granting you a +1 forward against that target.
* Encourage an ally, granting that ally a +1 on their roll as if you aided the target.
* Discourage an ally, causing that ally to take a -2 on their roll as if you interfered with him.

Tags: Dungeon World, magic items, place of power

godforsaken: (adj.) lacking any merit or attraction; dismal

At the end of the last age, the armies of two warring kingdoms met on the fertile plains of Chumvitupa. The opposing commanders were both grand clerics, one serving Veshah, the other paying homage to Cro*. The latter cleric, Sjarel the Seven-Fingered, agreed to parley with Lus-Neske, Grand Cantrix of Veshah, one last time before the two armies clashed.

Sjarel delivered an impressive string of expletives and threats so grotesque and imaginative that several of Lus-Neske’s aides turned pale and trembled. Lus-Neske herself remained calm, even bemused. After Sjarel had vented his spleen, the Grand Cantrix smiled.

And then she sang a transcendentally beautiful ode that smote even Sjarel’s twisted heart, shaking Cro’s champion to the very core of his being. In tears, so overwhelmed with emotion that he could barely speak, Sjarel surrendered, falling to Lus-Neske’s feet and abasing himself before the Grand Cantrix.

Cro was so amused by this turn of events that he sent a howling wind that drove a flood of scorpions before it. This chittering, stinging tide of poison swept across Chumvitupa, scattering both armies. Sjarel the Seven-Fingered screamed until stinging things clogged his throat. Days later, when the flood of scorpions dispersed and skittered away, the fertile plains of Chumvitupa had been transfomed into a godforsaken expanse of dust and bizarre formations.

Today, nothing native to Chumvitupa isn’t deadly. Scorpions, spiders, spitting cobras, and beaded lizards abound. Chumvitupa’s sparse plant life is inedible. What water can be found collected into hollows turns sour quickly, even should it fall during one of the region’s rare, violent downpours. Salts and noxious substances seep from the ground, quickly turning fresh water into a toxic soup.

Cleric and druid spells are also affected by Cro’s curse on Chumvitupa. Anyone who casts a cleric or druid spell, including spells cast from magic items such as scrolls, must roll 2d6 and consult the following table:

2-3: The caster suffers 1d6 points of damage per level of the spell. The spell is wasted.
4: Another one of the caster’s spells takes effect instead.
5: The spell takes effect, but targets the caster.
6-8: The spell is wasted. It has no effect.
9: The spell takes effect, but against a random target.
10: The spell takes effect, but at 50% its normal strength, range, duration, et cetera.
11-12: The spell takes effect as normal.

* Veshah, the Goddess of Good, Archery, and Music. Veshah represents the good things in life. She defends her commmunity with her bow and arrows, and she enriches the spirit with her music. Complex exhibitions of orchestral archery are part of Veshah’s high rites.

Cro, the God of Truth, Chaos, and Opposites. Cro always speaks the truth. Cro always lies. Cro stands firm against what is evil. Cro revels in evil, his hands stained with innocent blood. Cro is all things, and all things are Cro.

Tags: A to Z 2014, place of power, Swords & Wizardry

Welcome to Rantz’s Fair Multitude! This Old-School game supplement offers 30 pages of ideas to challenge and reward your players. Among the multitude, you’ll find the following:

* Nine new magic items, including Demon Cymbals and Nails of Prynn
* More than 25 new monsters (with plot hooks), including the book golem, hungry ghosts, and the Seekers of the Eternal Flame
* Six special places you can drop into your campaign, including the Bridge of the Damned and Stadgaar Manor
* Eight new spells, including Arcasparv’s Doomful Gullet and Valfoxell’s Adventitious Pretense
* Brief descriptions for a 12 deity pantheon, including Cro, the God of Truth, Chaos, and Opposites

Rantz’s Fair Multitude can be purchased for $1.50 at DriveThruRPG with special discount.

Tags: monsters, place of power, spells, Spes Magna Products, Swords & Wizardry

The great city Busara, long a center of culture and learning, gleams like a precious jewel on the western shore of Donao, that vast salt lake of unfathomable depths. Centuries ago, Busara was little more than a fortified library built by the warrior-monks of Zazic*, the goddess of knowledge. Today, that library has grown to become a vertiable city within a city. Thousands of Zazic’s faithful investigate every field of human knowledge, and scholars from across the world make pilgrimages to Busara for a chance to study and learn.

Of course, mere mortal reason cannot sufficiently grasp all that there is to know. If Knowledge is a tower, then mortal efforts are a ladder that cannot reach the top. In her mercy, Zazic does not leave her faithful trapped by the limits of their own intellects. The scientist-prophet Isaija Paskal received a series of architectural visions from Zazic. He also received a compulsion to transform these visions into reality. Thus, Elimungazi was built.

Workers excavated an enormous pit in Busara’s eastern park adjacent to the ancient library, and builders contructed a series of walkways and stairs running from the porticos above to the cobblestone floor below. When confronted with ineffable questions, Zazic’s faithful may receive permission from the hierarchy to meditate, ascending and descending the stairs according to Zazic’s prompts. Only the most spiritually attentive seekers can “hear” all of Zazic’s instructions during this meditative stair-walk. Success unlocks great secrets, and even failure may still yield partial knowledge.

*Zazic collects and collates everything that can be known. She reveals the patterns within disciplines and the relationships between fields of knowledge.

Tags: place of power