OOC - Killing in Khelia

Here, we'll discuss rules questions, character generation, and other meta stuff. As well as random commentary.

IMPORTANT: The random generator I posted is an option, not mandatory. I will try to put together a template for a character sheet that looks equally good.

This guy should be fun.

Do you have a preferred naming convention? A specific cultural/historical naming scheme, perhaps? Khelia--sounds almost slavic or russian in origin.

A few questions...
Maze Rats is very OSR focused, but Horror can imply other takes on it. For the Tone of the game, are we leaning into the horror aspect of it (sort of expecting that our characters are likely going to their doom) or are we in the more OSR feel of puzzle-solving adventure mode?

On the scale of horror I'd prefer something along the lines of Stranger Things, and not like a Cronenberg-level weird. Maybe keep it PG/R level. Is that what you were going for?

Also, did Horror imply taking the game more seriously, nothing zany or comedy?

Slavic / Germanic / Romance sounds all would be good for names.

Since your guy has a shield, you could swap the halberd for a one-handed weapon, or swap the shield and light armor for heavy armor.
You will be investigating a death in which the corpse was ravaged by animals. I'll keep to a PG-ish level of gruesome throughout the game. I'm thinking more like Law and Order SVU, rather than Brooklyn Nine Nine. Is that helpful for tone?

I mashed some slavic/romance names together if anyone finds this useful.

I added to the Game Details a link to a custom Maze Rats character sheet!

A party of ex-kidnappers it seems ...

and mine - rhymes? 🤣

I'm throwing together a possible background, for my character. But maybe the fates have said we should link them somehow.
I was going with Ognimir worked the docks a big burly guy, and the navy would often have him help get volunteers on the ships-- essentially worked with a pressgang.

Soon enough, he targeted the wrong person-- someone affiliated with Arcane Order.
OR, perhaps someone with the Arcane Order needed some other kidnapping done, and hired Ognimir....

But the mission went bad, he was "Hideously" scarred-- his arms and body are gross and distorted. And his lungs and throat were burned to give him his "hoarse" voice.

Just some ideas, maybe we riff off this kidnapping angle.

Does everyone in this world have magic or just characters-- perhaps only Guardians are giving some rudimentary channeling powers as being in the service of the Arcane order?

The fates indeed...

I like the navy approach and imagine them working together on occasion. Each can hold his own, of course, but it can be handy to have someone at your back. Damir might not have been on the particular job that went bad or he was in a position that rendered him unable to help. Maybe he did help and they somehow fled the scene or went underground to avoid further troubles.

Not even all Guardians have magical power - Damir does not, for example. Neither do most of the populace!

One thing we should know about spells that is a bit different from standard Maze Rats. In addition to having new spells come each night in dreams, erasing those from the previous day. Also, a character can bind a spell from their mind into a mundane object ... by expending a point of health (their own health, or that of any other creature). A bound spell can be used one time by releasing it from the object. The Arcane Order are rumored to do this often, to have a treasury of these horcruci. Perhaps your kidnapper characters abetted this, whether they know of it.

Leaving aside the grim possibilities of what the mages do with "sailors," you're welcome to post IC now.

Adrasthea, were you planning on posting in First person or 3rd person perspective?

Once the spell triggers, that point of health returns to the character? We're talking max health, I'm guessing?

Yes. For example, a seventh-level mage might have four spell slots in their head plus a dozen amulets with spells bound into them, and a total of 4 health. If they were of a darker bent of mind, they might have a greater number of amulets, and greater health.

Here's some brainstorming... I don't want to do too much backstory-- I like to discover in play. But I think this might be enough to get going... I am 100% open to revision and editing-- etc...

---


Worked the docks of a busy city. A big burly guy, good at loading and unloading shipments.
Sometimes the local navy would have him help "recruit" the local riff-raff into the service to the king's/queen's fleet. Essentially a kidnapper and pressgang work.

He got pretty good at it. Folks around the docks would treat him with a measure of respect, given the rumors--- but in truth, Ognimir only snatched up people he thought were dangerous or trouble, and never made it personal.

One day, agents of the Arcane Order arrived in the city. They were tracking a known criminal, who was about to steal away on a ship. They paid Ognimir to keep an eye out, and if he spied anything fitting the bill to grab up the criminal.
Of course, it happened, Oginimir spotted someone fitting the description, he ambushed them, went to sap and grab him-- but then things went sideways. The target cast a spell. Ognimir's skin boiled, he was afflicted. The target escaped.

The Order examined his hideous wounds. There was nothing to be done. The skin of his arms and hands are unnatural, disturbing and horrible. And yet, days later, Ognimir woke up with a spell in his head.

As some form of compensation-- he was offered a position of a Guardian. Slightly better pay and prestige than a dock worker, that was for sure. And over the years as a Guardian, he's actually come to like the job. Helping the people, doing the work. Though, on the harder days, he still wonders if it was some sort of set up-- where he was the target of some untested magic...

3rd usually.

I re-wrote the open. I want to start things earlier, and get your characters more involved in the story.

I just rolled on the various tables in the book. Brief background forthcoming...



Quintus Quail was a tattoo artist of some renown in one of Khelia's more cosmopolitan cities. He enjoyed a lucrative commission to inscribe elaborate protective symbols upon the flesh of certain Arcanes for ritual purposes. His career ended when a small error in one of his etchings led to the grisly death of an Arcane during a particularly dangerous magical ceremony. Honor-bound to atone for his tragic mistake, Quintus closed his shop and enrolled as a Guardian under the direction of the Arcane Order. He's been learning as he goes.

In addition to being an artist, Quintus Quail has some small magical talent of his own. He casts his spells by drawing symbols, whether in the dirt, on some surface, or in the air. He smokes a pipe, but not very well. He favors heavy, colorful robes, but these are singed in places where he has carelessly let ash fall from his pipe.