The Dumbest Game Ever: Dungeons: The Dragoning 40 000 7th Edition

Yep. I'm doing this.

I'm aware this post is going to be really weird and likely seen as extremely stupid. Its okay, it is. If you've never been around 4chan's tabletop board, or /tg/ as it is called you'll likely not get the significance of this absolute monstrosity. If somehow you are aware of it then skip ahead, this post assume you don't know what this nightmare of a game is.

Context: The /tg/ that was

Once upon a time, 4chan's /tg/ board was seen as something of a 'model prisoner' if one like to see 4chan (and derivative) as the insane asylum of the internet. The board, from what I understand of its early history came into being after too many people were posting on /m/ (the giant robot and tokusatsu board) too much Warhammer 40 000 under the excuse that it had mecha, power armors and giant monsters. This led to the birth of /tg/ which englobed not only Tabletop Wargames (like Warhammer) but also Tabletop RPG (such as obviously D&D) and trading card games (mainly Magic: The Gathering and for a time Android Netrunner).

For a time, it was good. At its peak (pre 2013-ish, I'd say from experience) /tg/ was a relatively beloved board. It would frequently discuss topics utterly unrelated to the actual board focus with far more intelligence and civility than the place you should be posting it on. Wanted to talk history without the loonies of the political board coming to stir up some really politically incorrect shit or the anime without the /a/ssholes degenerating into a war over whose waifu is better? Well, /tg/ was there and in many cases these threads devolved (or rather, evolved) into discussions of homebrew or game hack to run games inspired by whatever topic was being discussed.

Of course, nowadays /tg/ is a fallen board. Time, the accessibility of the internet, younger people getting into Tabletop via Critical Role (or other shows of that type, rather than being introduced into the game by friends with a common hobby or fandom*) and draconian moderators with a stake in a million culture wars has neutered the board. The greybeards of yore have left for the most part.. Things aren't as civil or as creative as they used to be. Or maybe its just me being a sourpuss about imaginary 'good old days'. Who knows?
*Which result in vastly different taste being my point here....

But there is one game which in my mind define the peak of /tg/ self-referential stupidity and unbridled insanity. A game which, in fact, is the byproduct of one loony who 'did it on a dare'. A game so stupid and so utterly ridiculous it surely deserve to live in infamy forever.

That game...is Dungeons: The Dragoning 40 000 7th Edition. Yes, you read that right. No there are no previous editions. The 7th is a visual pun because it come form the 7th Sea logo. This game is a work of art. Demented, stupid, childish, self-referential degenerate art! And it is glorious.

The embodiment of early 2010 internet neckbeard in-jokes.
Gone horribly wrong. Or right, you decide.

The Game In a Nutshell

This whole game is a joke. No, really, every single thing in it is a big in-joke and/or a meme of the time. It is essentially a time capsule of the early 2010 and all the dumb things which had shaped the game table of the people who tend to hang around /tg/. It is a giant in-joke, homage and unholy conglomerate of Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer 40 000, the World of Darkness, Exalted and other things with a serious heaping of the likes of Mass Effect. The latter of which, at the time, wasn't seen as a shameful child which has long since been buried and left to rot due to a squandered potential.

The setting is an insane mashup, with Warhammer 40 000 and its baroque space fantasy as its core alongside D&D-derived material, namely Planescape and Spelljammer. You have the 'Crystal Spheres' model of Spelljammer with Sigil acting as its usual 'hub' purpose. You have D&D outer Planes as planets alongside familiar Warhammer 40 000 locations. The typical D&D races are there mixed with their Warhammer counterparts with each race taking more or less from each version on a case-by-case basis. Then you have more insane crossover mashup. For example, the progenitor of Vampires is Khaine. Not Caine. No no, Khaine.

Yeah. This guy.

Mechanically this game is a monster. Its stupidly crunchy in all the worst possible ways. Its system is a bloated mess drawing inspiration from all these aforementioned games (with Warhammer 40 000 being represent by its then-current RPG incarnation, Dark Heresy). Its a clusterfuck of a system which can only be best described in bullet points as to dive right into it would give anyone sane a headache asking themselves what in the name of Hastur's scrotum they were thinking in making an RPG this messy. Except being a mess is part of the joke. That's the whole point. Especially if you remember how D&D 3e onward and White Wolf games are at time unbearably complex games compared to the slickness and simplicity of OSR games. In any case, it work like this:

You have a Race, which give you some bonus, some skills and a racial power. This range from the classical human of modern D&D with their flexible bonus to fairly recognizable D&D staples like Elves, Gnomes and Dwarves Squats alongside the Warhammer 40 000 race of the Tau. However the stranger races added to D&D as core races can be found here, such as Eldarin (not Eladrin but Eldarin. As in Warhammer 40 000 Eldars), Tieflings (here they are servants of Chaos with a capital C) and the Aasimar who rather than being part-Celestials are re imagined as a different kind of Angel. And by that I mean Angels of Death.

Space Marines. They're Space Marines, okay?

Then you have your Exaltation. Now the name here obviously evoke the Exalted of the eponymous RPG but here it mean any kind of particularly impressive 'supernatural splat', such as Vampire, Werewolves or the utterly-badass-yet-perfectly-mortal-Paragon. It also include the Atlanteans which are an homage to both version of the Mage RPG combined with the Solar Exalted as well as the Promethean which combine ideas from the game of the same name with evert cyborg cliche under the sun. There's also the Chosen, which combine Cleric and Favored Souls-type classes with the Daemon Princes of Chaos albeit extended to all other Gods, meaning you become a demigod essentially. There's also Daemonhost (which again, isn't tied to Chaos as 'Daemon' here mean any kind of Warp entity) who take cues just as much from the OWOD Demon as they do with Abyssal Exalted. Its really bonkers.

Then you have Classes which are the least insane part in the core book as they cover all you'd expect and a few more. These work somewhat like the Dark Heresy classes meaning you need to spend your XP on options offered by your class and the more you spend on it the more you unlock higher tiers which offer better options. When you finish a tree you can start a new one and get bonus.

There's also Feats/Assets/Hinderances as well as Magic. You also have Sword Schools taking cues from the infamous Book of Nine Swords as well as its ranged counterpart in a supplement, which is called Gun Kata and lets you build special attacks.

The whole thing mix something which I've been told is apparently a mixture of the Storyteller System with the 'Roll and Keep' of Legend of the Five Rings with elements of Dark Heresy. Trying to even remember how this game plays gives me a headache and leave my head full of fucks.

So why should we even care about this mess, then? Why post this on an OSR blog?

In many ways, DTD is arguably a poster child for the insane labors of love we put into our homebrew. The entire thing is half of an in-joke but also a genuine love letter to the sheer insanity of tabletop and the pure fun of doing something utterly stupid and gonzo. It may not be an OSR-related system by any stretch of the imagination but what I see in it is a similar spirit to all the homebrewing which went on and still does here.

And lastly...

I kind of want to try to bring this abomination to either Machinations of the Space Princess or Stars Without Numbers. Just because I'm insane like that. Is it nothing but dumb, derivative in-jokes? Oh yes absolutely. But there is no denying the absolute madness of this game was an important step in me discovering the insanity of home brewing and the passion project of people.

Edit: The post has had some typo fixed and some profanities removed since the original post.

Ten Monsters Setting

The 3 Toadstools Publishing blog posted a challenge and I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon. The idea/rules are fairly simple. You have to pick a book with monsters and you need to make a mini-setting using these ten monsters. There are some rough ideas and guidelines to pick a monster from specific categories. I'm adding my own rule that this doesn't rule out the category of monsters-that-aren't-quite monsters, namely giant bugs and 'dire' or giant animals. So these likely exist but they aren't counted as the ten monsters. Those are animals, not monsters. Skeleton and zombies are likewise too basic to count, as they are created with spells and abilities.

Generally when it come to 'generic' or 'basic' OSR systems, my two picks are Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord. For this post, I've chose the Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign. It should have enough material in there to work with and is a nice halfway between a general-purpose monster manual and a weirder, optional Fiend Folio-like book.

Disclaimer: Setting does not actually feature dog people.

Semi Intelligent: They come from the northern land, where the nights can last more than days (which we know as Polar Nights). These hunched, pale and hairy creatures are barbaric hunters which have acquired a taste for human flesh. They are the Snow Orcs although people just call them 'orcs' as the regular breed does not exist. As the winter grows thicker, more and more of these monsters come to the civilized lands.

Undead: There are a few dark powers in this world which can animate the flesh of the dead (such as spells) but none are as dreadful as the death-curse of the Kings of Old. In ancient times there were many dreaded kings and thanes and it was not uncommon for the most wicked of them to utter terrifying death curses. These kings exist now as undead known as Draugr and haunt their vast tombs, ruling a court of lesser undead warriors.

Ancient Fey: The ancient realm of the Fey has long faded away from this world but its power is not completely gone: the horrid Bog Crones are descendant of wicked, exiled Fae. Stripped of their beauty and power they live on in our world, haunting fetid swamps. Rumor old of one last Crone Queen who retained her beauty and power.

Mythology: The realm of the Fey is gone but its hungry predators have migrated to our world. to feast upon mortal flesh and souls The Barghest were once the vicious attack hounds of the dark fey. Now they hunt alone or in packs. Elder Barghest have the cunning and magical abilities one would expect of a true fey.

Giant/Ogre/Troll: Some say this ancient race predate men while others say they were once human but were twisted and cursed by dark powers. Others still believe they are the bastard offspring of men and spirits. The Girallon could be mere beasts, some twisted atavism that should not be or there is a darker truth to the their history. They dwell in ancient ruins, ruling over other ape-like beasts.

Underground Dweller: The scourge of summer time, creating large tunnel networks to attack farmlands are the Ankheg. They do make a decent, if somewhat sour meal if killed. Rumors of larger nest of Ankheg existing in underground realms are unproven...for now.

Aerial: Alongside the Snow Orcs a new terror has arrived from the northernmost lands. Giant, pale and silent spectres haunt the night, snatching away grown men in their talons. In truth, these are Giant Snow Owls.

Water-Based: When travelling near bodies of water, one should beware the dreaded Bunyip!

Extraplanar: Hunters from beyond the veil of the material plane, Phase Spiders are rare but dangerous creatures.

Lizard/Wyrm: There are no dragons anymore. No living dragons, anyway. The ancient kings who would become the Draugr (see above) derived their great size, charisma and wickedness from their ancestors devouring the hearts of dragons. The most wicked of these Draugr have summoned to their aid the Death Dragons but a few of them have broke free from their slavery.

So there you go, an implied setting with ten monsters. Some speak of a more complex history while others are simply abominations which are a threat to civilized folks.

Urban Fantasy: More On Spirits and Ghosts

Last time, my post started outlining the ideas on how to handle and stat Spirits (which is to say, generic Spirits and Ghosts) for an Urban Fantasy game in the vein of the Worlds of Darkness (both of them and, yes, I will keep calling the New World of Darkness by that name because it is as worthy of the title as the original no matter what people say!) or Unknown Armies and others of that type. Spirits are endless in their shape, size, nature and abilities but for sanity's sake we can boil it down to something relatively basic.

Total War: Warhammer Banshee concept art by Sandra Duchiewicz

Spirit Limitations and Powers

As previously established, a Spirit is an incorporeal supernatural being: more made of energy, intent and concepts than a tangible body of flesh and bone. When manifested in the material world (or when encountered in a spiritual plane) they can affect the world around them.

Bound and Unbound Spirits

Spirits which are Bound are connected to an object and/or a place. These include spirits of specific trees, spirits of locations and most importantly ghosts which are currently haunting the location of their death or trapped around a cursed object. A Bound Spirit find itself unable to manifest anywhere beyond a specific range of the location or object. In addition, destroying what they are bound to usually kills them: more powerful spirits might become Unbound but will lose a sizable portion of their total HD and might even lose their memories and sense of identity.

Spirit Limitations

There are many Spirits which have a built-in weakness which is part of their nature. These limitations could be a direct vulnerability to something specific which can hurt them even when its physical and nonmagical, such as a tree spirit being able to be cut down with an old wood axe. Sample limitations include:

• The Spirit is repelled by iron, silver, salt or some other physical material. To the Spirit it is always solid and the touch repels and burn. They find themselves unable to cross a line in a doorway which is made from the material. Weapons made from it strike them as if the spirit was real.
• The Spirit cannot attack a certain category of person or certain type of beings, such as an ancestral Spirit being unable to harm its direct descendants.
• The Spirit cannot tolerate the sound or smell of something,which will drive it in a frenzy. It must make a Saving Throw or dematerialize to get away from it.
• The Spirit is weakened on a certain day of the year. This could range from slight penalties to being utterly unable to manifest and engage a foe. This could allow someone to destroy what the Spirit is Bound to and leave it powerless to stop this act.

Spirit Abilities

For all their limitations, Spirits have powers which mortals do not. Some are innate to their nature, as normal to them as a human breathe while others are the result of growing old and powerful, their nature crystallizing into something more potent than before.

• Aura Sight (Passive): The Spirit can see the emotions of others and their general health. This make lying to the Spirit potentially very difficult. Beings with more HD than the Spirit get a Saving Throw to mask their aura. Once they manage to hide their aura the Spirit cannot try again for another 24 hours.
• Binding Perception (Passive): This requires a Spirit to be Bound to an object which can carried by a human. The Spirit see and hear everything the person carrying does. Beings with more HD than the Spirit get a Saving Throw and cannot be affected again for 24 hours.
• Pain Sense (Passive): Any being who has lost HP within 60 feet of the Ghost has its location known instantly. Beings with more HD than the Spirit get a Saving Throw and cannot be affected again for 24 hours.
• Overwhelm Mind (On Turn): The Spirit Commits Effort for the scene. All those who see the Spirit must pass a Saving Throw or either be rendered catatonic or flee, depending on the Spirit type or possibly by its choice. Ghosts tend to usually invoke this effect by instilling fear or vivid images of its death.
• Spirit Strike (On Turn): The Spirit Commits Effort for the scene. It can now attack targets at a range of 60 feet which ignore mundane cover or obstructions. The exact form of these attacks varies from Spirit to Spirit, with Ghosts usually having the ability to cause objects to strike at the living.

In addition to these, Spirits usually have a few minor or 'cosmetic' abilities related to their purpose.

Transformation of Ghosts

Most 'baseline' ghosts are Bound Spirits, tied to the site of their death or an object. They exist as haunting spirits, some malevolent while others mostly-benevolent (in their own twisted way), usually desperately trying to properly materialize and tell others of those who killed or wronged them. Unfortunately this is not the only state a Ghost can exist and, indeed, this could almost be considered the larval stage of ghosts.

When a Ghost become Unbound it means it has grown into its own power and begun to escape the limitations of its existence. This is generally a bad thing because it mean the ghost has developed into a self-sustaining phenomena and very few of them are beneficial to humans. This state is, more often than not, the result of a growing hunger or need and most Unbound ghosts become deficient of the energies which their bindings once sustained. They turn to feeding. These ghosts will haunt the living, suck their life energy or even kill them directly to consume metaphysical energies. In time these wraith-like creatures abandon their humanity, their forms, their identity and everything which made them human. These are the skeletal abominations and living shadows which stalk lonely humans to feed upon, developing strange ghostly powers.

Other Ghosts transcend undeath entirely. What compose them is no longer deathly energies but the collective beliefs of humanity. They become less of a lingering spectre and more of a true Spirit, an Icon of sort. The life experiences and memories of the human become diffused and absorbed into this newborn Spirit of Humanity. These are far more rare than the hungry, vengeful ghost however.

Urban Fantasy: On Spirits

Introduction

This is the first (maybe?) post in what may very well end up a very, very long series of posts where various matters or random tables related to the 'Urban Fantasy' genre are discussed and posted. Think of it, of sorts, as some poor man's World of Darkness. Or, maybe, a less pretentious World of Darkness. There is a lot of good in the World of Darkness (both versions of it) but it is impossibly smug, pretentious and not to mention horribly dated in its '90 counter-culture punk-turned-milquetoast-modern-day-middle-aged-hipsters. There is also a dash of Kult and GURPS Cabal in there thrown in for good measure as well as a dash of Exalted and Godbound for good measure.

System Of Choice

Currently what I'm using for Urban Fantasy is a modded version of Stars Without Numbers, with access to high technology items removed (unless its statline is refluffed as something magical, maybe) and the addition of the Heroic Rules, namely the type of OSR-compatible rules used for Godbound and Scarlet Heroes.

Key Inspirations

As mentioned above, a lot of the material here is based on pre-existing work. Not so much as a direct copy but more of an amalgamation and adaptation of these ideas. They form the basic inspiration and served to inform the game mechanics on how spirits function.

• Exalted: Games of Divinity
• GURPS Cabal
• Stars Without Numbers: Codex of the Black Sun
• World of Darkness: Book of Spirits

These all contain, in some form, explanations and ideas on what a Spirit is and how it might interact with its setting and what function it serves.

Bird Cage by Lana Ansey

On Spirits

So what is a Spirit, anyway? This can be quite difficult to explain as it is difficult to properly define them without stepping on the toes of theology, animism, metaphysics and para-psychology. However for the purpose of my own game I will outline them as such:

• Spirits embody certain things. Most Spirits represent something. They aren't that thing but they act as a vessel for said purpose on some level. A spirit of trees generally care for the well being of other trees but destroying it wouldn't destroy all trees instantly. Ghosts are similar in concept as they embody the echo of a deceased person, although some argue they are that person and not just some self-contained psychic leftover.
• Spirits are immaterial and have no coherent form in our world. While they might be able to assume a fully physical form in other realities (more on that someday, maybe) in our reality that is three-dimensional and corporeal. They have no flesh and blood, merely energy, intent and nature which exist on a level both beyond and below material existence. They are ideas and concept first rather than a living, physical creature.
• Spirits must materialize. In order to influence the material world, most spirits must expend spiritual energy to temporarily materialize fully into our three-dimensional reality. Most spirits remain partially incorporeal even in this state, only having a physical form when advantageous to them. A few powerful spirits, however, can create a near-perfect or perfect facsimile of a physical form.
• Spirits have innate weaknesses. Most, if not all Spirits posses a form of built-in ‘weakness’ derived from their nature. Mages, psychic and mediums can usually sense them even when invisible and weaker spirits can be repelled through certain magical or even mundane means. In addition most, if not all spirits, have some innate limitation ‘coded’ in their nature.

Unformed and Formed Spirits

Spirits exist in the world in two major categories, Unformed and Formed. Unformed Spirits are all-encompassing but don't really exist. They are faceless, desire-less cosmic forces. These are the kind of Spirits usually referred to when someone enact some complex ritual which call upon supernatural forces. Think of them as the 'natural laws' of Spirits in a way. These spirits have no direct power, no face, no form and no existence. In fact, in a way one can say they don't exist but could. All Spirits which are statted as an NPC/monster are, by nature, Formed Spirits. Formed Spirits exist and are individuals.

If, according to Animist beliefs, everything has a Spirit then why is it your coffee mug can't be manifested as a Spirit if it theoretically has one? Well, its simple: there is no metaphysical or historical meaning of any true importance to your coffee mug.While its theoretical spirit could be influence by a spell and made into an animated mug in practice it would never become one by itself, not unless this was, maybe, a mug of great significance to history. And that ain't happening.

No one understand the how or why of Spirit Formation. Some places or objects may develop a Spirit eventually for some reason but that is hardly universal. Yes, ancient places may form a Spirit but an even more ancient place might not. There are various factors related to all manner of magical mumbo-jumbo that few, if any people understand. As a GM this mean that a place or object only has a Spirit if that's useful or relevant to an adventure.

Bound and Unbound Spirits

Beyond the classification of Formed and Unformed, Spirits are further subdivided into Bound and Unbound. A Bound Spirit is one which is connected to a physical object or place and risk dissolution should that thing be destroyed. Unbound Spirits, meanwhile, exist as free-floating 'living ideas'. These creatures are free to go where they please but in practice have an innate desire and need to cluster to places and/or events which are relevant to their nature.

Ghosts

Then there are Ghosts. Not everyone who dies become a Ghost, as it requires a suitably traumatic death or some unfinished purpose. The exact potency of ghosts vary, some are shapeless poltergeist only able to exist as near-unformed echoes who rattle teapot and break chairs. Others are fully-formed and retain part of their memories and personalities, even if they are twisted by their death and alteration into a ghost. Ghosts, by default are Bound Spirits.

Some ghosts unfortunately transcend beyond being mere echoes of their former selves, even growing in power to the point of being more and more like a 'true' Spirit. This too is a misunderstood process and some speculate that 'Spirits of Human Concepts' are created by the merging and metamorphosis of ghosts into true spirits. Other ghosts become so twisted by their death that they become more and more like rabid, almost demonic creatures only intent on destroying others. The latter are usually Unbound and any Ghost which gain the power to become Unbound is a dangerous one.

A disturbing (but fortunately rare) phenomena is that of a still-living person creating a ghost through uncontrolled, unexplained psychic powers. This can happen to people in a coma but even more disturbingly it can happen to a perfectly awake person. These people have untapped mental and spiritual powers they don't understand and constantly 'leak' this energy into the spiritual realm around them. These entities can sometime be benign or even useful but most lose control of them and they become a form of evil, haunting spirit.

Statting Spirits

Spirits come in a variety of shape, size, nature and potency but generally their raw potency (namely, their HD, AC and other traits) are fairly easy to guess based on their level of power.

GENERIC SPIRIT, ICONS AND EIDOLONS
Spirit Type	HD	AC	Atk	Dmg	Move	ML	Effort	Materialize	Nemesis?
Least Spirit	1-4	10	+½ HD	1d4	10m	8	2-3	E or D	Never
Lesser Spirit	1-4	12	+½ HD	1d6	10m	9	2-3	E or D	Never
Common Spirit	4-6	14	+½ HD	1d6	10m	9	3-4	C	Maybe
Potent Spirit	6-8	16	+HD	1d8	10m	9	5	C or B	Maybe
Mighty Spirit	8-10	18	+HD	1d10	10m	10	6	C or Higher	Maybe
GHOSTS
Unaware Ghost	1	10	+½ HD	1d4	10m	7	1	C or Higher	Never
Ghost	1-2	10	+HD	1d6	20m	8	1-2	C or Higher	Maybe
Greater Ghost	2-4	12	+HD	1d8	30m	9	2	C or Higher	Maybe

Materialization

Different Spirits have different abilities when it come to how easily and how well they can materialize. This is measured by their Materialize stat, which indicate just what a spirit can do when it Materialize. A Spirit which isn't Materialized just vanish back into the spirit realm and while some spells may be able to indicate its presence the Spirit is utterly powerless to affect the 'real world'. Not only that but in many cases it can't really sense what is going on there beyond the vague indication of wether or not someone is present.

• Rank E: The Spirit is barely able to Materialize. It must Commit Effort On Turn to be to appear as a hazy or glowing form which doesn't look remotely natural. Its damage is capped at 1d4 and any time it take damage from a being with more HD than it, it must make a Saving Throw or vanish into the Spirit Realm or some other dimension for 24 hours. Finally, the Spirit must Commit Effort On Turn to manipulate the environment in ways other than brute force (such as attacking). Most Spirits aren't this ephemeral.
• Rank D: The Spirit can Materialize by Comitting Effort for the Scene. It will appear as a hazy or glowing form which doesn't look natural. The Spirit must Commit Effort On Turn to be able to manipulate the environment in ways other than brute force (such as attacking).
• Rank C: The Spirit can Materialize by Comitting Effort for the Scene. It will appear as a hazy or glowing form which doesn't look natural. but is far more solid-looking than the previous ranks. While it remain an incorporeal being, it can choose to manipulate the environment as any solid life form.
• Rank B: The Spirit can Materialize Comitting Effort for the Scene. At this level of power over its materialize form, it can choose to appear as if fully solid. However, any being with an equal or higher number of HD gets a Saving Throw to notice its false material shell.
• Rank A: The Spirit can Materialize Comitting Effort for the Scene. At this level of power over its materialize form, it can choose to appear as if fully solid and only betray this when it choose to phase through objects.
• Forced Materialization: A Spirit can force itself to Materialize to rank C even if it lack the ability normally. In order to do so it must Commit Effort for the day or willingly sacrifice half of its HD (and thus attack bonus, too) for as long as it remain in this forced state. After such an event, the Spirit is 'burned out' for a number of days equal to the number of rounds spent in this forced Materialization.

More powerful Spirits are so potent that they can simply choose to manifest at will, with no need to expend any Effort. However such Spirits are extremely rare. Most active Ghosts (which is to say, Ghosts which are able to harm someone directly) have at least a Rank of C in Materialize as their formerly-human existence makes it easier for them to appear.

Abilities of Spirits

Each Spirit posses Effort and this is used for more than mere materialization. Spirits have the ability to manipulate themselves and their surroundings in ways mortals can't, even if it may require expending quite a bit of energy. Other abilities, however, are merely 'cosmetic' or 'fluff':

• Reshape Form: Some Spirits can reshape themselves at will. This generally has no effect on their stats and may include growing hair of leaves for a wood Spirit or a ghost twisting its form into something terrifying by growing useless, stumpy ectoplasmic claws. More powerful Spirits can reshape themselves to boost their combat abilities but this is beyond this kind of power.
• Ghostly Visions and Sounds: Some Spirits (especially Ghosts) can create weird effects in their environments which are but mere illusions. Ghosts can cause lights to flicker, blood to drip from walls or create ghostly images. These all fade away and none of it is physical beyond maybe the initial touch. In the example of blood, the person touching it can feel it is blood and even taste it but the moment they leave the area the blood cease to exist because it never really did.

More potent and unique Spirit abilities will be explored in other posts as I flesh out various types of Spirits.

Godbound: Wonders of the Thousand Gods, Part 2

As previously described, the tribes living in the region of the Thousand Gods are an odd lot: once research facilities and their staff they were forced, in desperation, to turn to their often unproven or incomplete research in order to create beings which would support them through the darkest hours. Suffice to say most, if not all, regretted it. From grotesque bio mechanical Parasite Gods to hideous, sentient nano-eidolon plagues to living Godwalkers which consume their pilots the region of the Thousand Gods is home to endless divine horrors.

Sacred Ritual Temple by Wayne Huet

Generating A Tribe

The basic organizational unit in the Thousand Gods is the tribe. While that name may lead one to believe tribes are as one would expect a form of blood tie this isn't always true. The realm of the Thousand Gods can be notoriously unstable, with tribes attacking each others and it isn't uncommon for a defeated one to be integrated into the conquering tribe. This is certainly very useful for these tribes whose genes have been tampered with (willingly or accidentally) and who display horrific mutations: in these cases, admixture with unrelated individuals might be the only thing saving them from complete degeneration due to inbreeding.

The lifestyle of the inhabitants of the Thousand Gods is notably quite bizarre: tribal societies dominated by practices some would call barbaric (especially compared to places such as the Bright Republic) such as ritualistic mutilations, trepanation and shamanistic quests achieved through ingestion of substances which risk destroying one's cognition forever co-exist with advanced technological marvels such as advanced weapon and armors or fabrication devices. However these are all treated with immense superstition and increasingly less understood. What was once seen as science has become superstition.

D20	Mentality	Relationship With Their God(s)	Main Technology/Advantage
1	Extremely judgmental of outsiders who do not understand their way.	In a constant state of fear from their God’s abuse. More pathetic than vicious, really.	Primitive Godwalkers
2			Cybernetics
3			Transhumanism
4		Zealous, brainwashed crusaders out to spread the joyous torture their God bring.	Spirit Summoning Theurgy
5	Fearful of outsiders on some level, see them as unable to fully grasp their God and its glory.		Uncreated Binding Theurgy
6			Weather Control Theurgy
7		Reduced, mutilated and neutered into blind obedience. Feel nothing.	Cloning Theurgy
8			Theotechnical Energy Weapons
9	Viciously hateful to all other tribes around them. Seek to exterminate them.		Theotechnical Advanced Metallurgy
10		Distant, only providing sacrifices to appease their wrathful God.	Theotechnical Automation
11			God-derived Enhancements
12			God-derived Abundance
13	Impossibly pompous, soul-saving Crusaders and Proselytiser. All hail the great Bird God! He alone can save you! (OVO)	Heavily involved in the daily life of their God and vice-versa. Society complex and convoluted in their worship.	They have a cache of ancient Theotechnical relics in excellent conditions.
14
15			They have an abundance of half-human offsprings to their Gods. They are quite insane, however.
16		Desperate, with a God whose power or life is somehow fading or unstable. Society is more ran by desperate techno-shaming trying to keep their god alive.
17	Extremely cunning and opportunistic.		Their God(s) are stranger than average or at least has a more stable power base.
18
19		Surprisingly stable and healthy by local standards.	Multiple Gods In a Pantheon which is (somewhat) able to work together.
20

In addition, there are many, MANY other resources found in Sine Nomine books that can help with further refining the ideas behind a tribe, namely the resources in Spears of the Dawn and Stars Without Numbers.