And on the ninth day of GURPSmas the blogger gave to me...

     ...a spin on dwarf fantasy! Yes, yes, yes, you all know by now that I love dwarves. Dwarves this, dwarves that. But today, as a prelude to things to come, I will write about a specific world that I no longer use, due to the campaign being stopped, but it is interesting nonetheless. Imagine a normal fantasy world. Elves, dwarves, humans, goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc. Magic ran rampant through the world, goblins and kobolds (also known as Cave Goblins) hated dwarves, elves and dwarves often fought, humans were human, and so forth. There is one major convergence in this world: The Great Frost.

    The Great Frost was a great ice age that wiped out most of everything besides dwarves, kobolds, and goblins. No one knows how the goblins survived, but they inhabit the surface realm now. The dwarves and kobolds live in vast underground labyrinths, fighting each other in an endless pointless war. Both cultures generally don't venture out of their homes too much, but those that do tend to not be able to return, as the dwarves don't like outsiders, even if they are dwarves.

    The outside world is completely uncharted and mostly abandoned, though there are some pockets of goblin civilization left in abandoned human cities. One notable encounter with this was the then-party going into an abandoned city together to search for things, finding a pack of goblins inhabiting a city block, where they almost died, but a party of bold adventurers held off the enemy forces. They ended up making it out, traveling back to a small camp of dwarves and goblins that they were helping set up.

    Now, this was before I really focused on intricate parts of my worlds, so there were gaps at times in my world lore, but I personally think it was interesting. Now, for the juicy parts. In the world, the dwarves were not inherent craftsmen, but rather fortuitous and magic-resistant warriors who had a strict way to do everything, hating anyone who strayed from order and being a guildsman. They also had a 1:10 ratio of dwarven women, because of an unexplained genetic defect, making dwarven women rare. I, sadly, no longer have the racial template, but I remember that it wasn't just the generic dwarf template and had things about magic resistance and innate abilities to use blunt weapons.

    The world itself was rather generic for the most part, but it was really fun to play, especially coming from playing lots of Dwarf Fortress. I would love to revisit the world in the future (wink), but currently, today's post of a prelude took precedence. Currently, I am feeling some GM burnout and want to be a player in a campaign, but that will take a while to find. As usual, thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate it a lot, the notion that people actually read my blog is really helping my energy to continue writing.

    

"...and the wind said nothing."

     "Imagine a world like ours, where the wind and rain spoke to us. Generations of magical innovations built upon this, bringing us into the far future. As we grew mad with wealth and power, the wind and rain quieted until no peep could be heard. The snow and cold grew thicker, and our joy and wonder faded. Societies collapsed as the cold killed our youth and the snow buried our cities. Few still survive in the reaches of humanity, but the bitter cold and harsh snow have made us bitter ourselves. We have paid for our sins, and the wind said nothing."

    "...and the wind said nothing." (hereon referred to as ATWSN) is a post-apocalyptic setting set in northern-midwest North America, where a once magical society of unity and creation collapse into greed and envy, causing the magical landwights to fade, making cold and snow envelop the world. Survive as a band of raiders, scavengers, thieves, looters, heroes, saints, or trespassers, any way to survive is your way to survive. Every bullet, match, bottle of water, and can of food matters as much as the life of another.

    It is not about killing the most enemies or hoarding the most loot; no, it is about moral dilemmas and harsh survival instead. A single bullet can end your life, and cause you to melt into the snow like your ancestors did before they tamed the wind. Will you relearn how to tame nature, or will you die like all the rest that have come before you?

    Now, the reason why this is being posted here is because I am thinking about running a game in this setting soon. Keep an eye out in many social places that I am active in. The setting is going to be really weird and RP-oriented, with characters having very limited equipment and supplies. Open-World Exploration oriented as well.