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! WARNING !This is VERY incomplete... it does not meet my standards for either content or appearance. It's here because some folks might like to see it. IntroductionVerdas is a fantasy world, and as such should feel comfortable to anybody familiar with the genre. I took pains to avoid arcane terminology simply to seem different, so everything should be in plain English. OverviewDesign Goals & NotesThe world of Verdas has undergone several mutations… starting as a rough cosmology and a couple of false starts, I think I’ve boiled the best ideas into this. I chose the FUDGE rules because they were flexible enough to do what I wanted instead of deciding how the world worked beforehand. I hope it will also serve as a good framework for guiding re-implementation of the game on other engines. There were two sets of goals for this world, one for the world design itself, and another for the rules that are it’s foundation. For the world, I wanted a world which incorporated magic into all parts of it… where the application of magic was integral to the technologies of everyday life. I also wanted to retain the spectacular magical effects that are a staple of fantasy, to make the study of magic more than an end in itself. I decided that there would be a difference in ‘technical’ magic (that which is used like a skill) and ‘sorcery’ which is flashier and broader in scope. I decided to borrow some ideas from Raymond Feist’s Riftwar books, making Humans the most populous race on a planet that was not the one of their birth. To provide the impetus for these migrations I utilized the ‘stick’ approach, having them pursued by malefic forces. I decided that there was a different kind of magic for each race CosmologyConceptIt basically goes like this:
CosmogonyMetaphysicsTheologyGeography
[by continent]EthnologyHumanTallspire CultureThe EmpireDwarfElfOrakhHistoryThe Tyranny of SurungThe Surung were the first people to occupy Verdas. They were mighty wizards, great warriors, and even the gods feared them. They shaped the races of Elf and Orc to be their slaves, and thus they ruled for millennia. With such power, came pride, and they sought to harness powers beyond their realm… they drew the nightmare down upon themselves. Their greatest wizards went mad, razing cities and laying waste to entire regions, eventually to turn upon themselves when no more lay within their sight. Those that could retreated into the labyrinths deep within the planet. But they too were doomed, for the nightmare had gained an ally in the twisted orcs, who slew their former masters though they died by the thousand. With the fall of the Surung, the force of the Nightmare began to ebb, evetually dwelling only in the wastelands and the deepest holes of the labyrinth. The Skyfall WarsElsewhere, another race of wizards arose, they built strange and wondrous things from metal and stone… they rode the sky like birds, flying so fast they outstripped the sun. The nightmare took their world too. They escaped, thousands of them making the jump through the Dark to another world. Their magic failed them there and they learned again to use the arts, and they befriended another race… folk not unlike themselves who lived and worked beneath the hills and mountains. When again their world was threatened, some remembered how their ancestors had crossed the dark, and again they escaped, bringing their friends along with them. Thus Men and Dwarves came to Verdas. The ImmigrationsTaming the FrontiersPoliticsBiologyHumanDwarfElfZoologyBotanyNightmareTechnologyMetallurgySorceryAgronomyMasonry/CarpentrySiege EngineeringRulesCharacter GenerationAttributesThere are nine attributes used. They are grouped according to the classic Mind/Body/Spirit division and also into groups called ‘Active’, ‘Passive’ and ‘Controlled’.
Build your character according to section 1.61 of the FUDGE rules. You have 5 free stat levels. SkillsI prefer broad skill groups. Here is a partial list so you get an idea.
You get the idea I'm sure. Use the rules in section 1.62 of the FUDGE rules. You have 30 free levels. Skill difficulty is as follows:
Gifts/FlawsYou get one free gift
Supernatural PowersYou get one free power. Partial List of powers:
Putting them togetherRace PackagesThese packages have a cost in terms of stats/gifts/powers/flaws. They do not necesarily balance to 0 net cost. HumanNo mods. ElfStats: -1 STR, +1 DEX, -1 Piety, +1 Will.
Net cost: 1 power. DwarfStats: +1 STR, +1 CON, -1 Perception
Net Cost: 1 stat, 1 gift OrcClass TemplatesSample CharactersCharacter SheetsAdvancementMagic
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