Worlds Without Number and the Sine Nomine Shared Universe

In an era of franchises and 'cinematic universes', having a large shared universe is all the rage for companies. The wider and larger a universe is, the more one can produce additional movies, books, comics, videogames and more. While Worlds Without Number isn't out in its full form yet, there's plenty of material found in its pages which hint at an interesting prospect which may or may not be expanded by Kevin Crawford. Namely, that most (or perhaps all?) Sine Nomine games share a universe or at the very least a multiverse. Now perhaps this is just theories. Maybe its me digging too much into the pre established lore of his games, the myriad sandbox tables and, of course, all the repeating themes and ideas. Maybe Kevin Crawford never intended for these games to be connected and is merely recycling ideas that work as his personal tastes, likes and dislike create a tapestry of repeating and reused concepts.

Or perhaps it IS all connected after all.

The root of this connection lies in the beginning and the 'end'. They start with two games, one of which got an updated version: these are Stars Without Numbers, which is the 'central' and most popular Sine Nomine title and the setting for Labyrinth Lord called Red Tide. At a glance these two settings could not be more different, even if both are mostly mechanically compatible. One is mostly hard Scifi set in the future and the other is set in a fantasy world with Elves and Dwarves. However, given what we know of the latest Sine Nomine game, Worlds Without Number, we can see the two share an extremely suspicious amount of lore. We know the setting of Worlds Without Number to be the impossibly deep future of the Stars Without Numbers universe, which itself included that game and Other Dust. Combine the information we know from the Alpha of WWN with various Sine Nomine games and supplements and a clearer understanding of that multiverse emerge. These games are:

• Stars Without Numbers and Stars Without Numbers Revised
• Other Dust
• Red Tide
• Godbound
• Worlds Without Number

In addition there are two other Sine Nomine settings whose position within that universe is a bit harder to ascertain, which would be Spears of the Dawn and Silent Legion. It is likely they fit in, but the exact details are a bit more blurry due to having a bit less lore. One could very much treat Spears of the Dawn as a specific realm/continent/Iterum, but Silent Legion is a bit weirder. It could be that Silent Legion is a prequel to all this and that 'Meta Dimensional' concepts were never truly rooted in mostly modern soft science fiction but, rather, Lovecraftian madness. This can be up to interpretation.

Mankind's Expansion To The Stars

Art by Col Price

As established in Stars Without Numbers, humanity expand into the void of space. This may seem like an odd or even mundane place to start for a multiverse which will span alien realities and mechanical gods but big things often have small beginning. SWN gives us a date and general series of events, including The Scream. Around the 2100 humanity leave its homeworld to colonize the stars using the Spike Drive technology and humanity splinters into countless budding cultures and religious movements while Earth forms the Terran Mandate to oversee and control colonies, afraid of letting their resources and power slip through their grasp. Humanity make contact with aliens and Psychics first emerge from humans who were exposed to the Metadimensional Energies of the Spike drive and similar technology. This is the Golden Age of Man and it last until 2665. The Scream damages warp gates and humanity become one of isolated space sectors. This is the setting of Stars Without Numbers while the events which occur on the post apocalyptic Earth are covered in the game Other Dust. This era last for an unknown amount of time before leading into further, ill defined and ill explored eras. Both before and after this era, massive technological leaps are made, which sometimes depend on the 'Meta-Dimensional Climate'. Which I'll get into in a moment. In some forgotten corners of space, various branches of humanity began to diverge in form greatly from their cousins, including in some locations the ability to transfer or even duplicate minds. The details on this posthuman lifestyle can be found in the Deluxe version of SWN Revised.

Meanwhile, the SWN Revised supplement Codex of the Black Sun offers some optional material to add magic to a space science fiction game, as well as expanding on how such concept could work within the canon of Stars Without Number. There is a lot of technobabble involved but the long story short is that the Metadimensional Energies which created Psychics could be studied, harnessed, modified and used through a variety of interfaces and mental pathways to create what was functionally Magic. This is where the SWN universe radically diverges and cut ties with harder science fiction and goes fully into fantasy. One can surmise that, should humanity one day be reunited after the Scream and the following Silence that would include an incredibly varied array of subspecies, some of which have radically diverged through their use of Meta Dimensional energies and how they developed their arcane sciences. Ultimately the time scale of these successive eras is difficult to ascertain.

Art by Jeff Brown

The Outsiders of Worlds Without Numbers may have in part appeared in this era. While it is true some might be aliens, it is possible at least some of them are human-derived in some capacity, from posthuman who developed and re-engineered their bodies to adapt to impossible environments to alien crossbreed or even 'uplifted' alien animals. How and why such beings would one day attempt a takeover of Earth and enslave humanity is unclear but presumably it may involve some deep seated grudge against mankind, either completely justified or the result of xeno politics far beyond our understanding. It could simply be that two or more vastly different branches of mankind met and, not understanding their common root (and the Outsiders being too divergent to interface with the Legacy, having splintered off far before) they fought.

The Far Future and Latter Earth

Art by Jeff Brown

There's a lot that happen in between Stars Without Numbers/Other Dust and Worlds Without Numbers. Mankind advances to a level as to basically be Gods. Key to this is The Legacy which goes far beyond the primitive nanotech and psychic powers of the SWN era. The Legacy is all encompassing and is the term which is used describe the very reality-rewriting which mankind once integrated into both the world itself, humanity and all life. How far it goes and how long this perfect era last....is unclear. The central interface of the Legacy itself is housed in a meta-dimensional realm, which forms the underlying mechanism of creation itself. These are the Celestial Engines as described in Godbound, with the central processor of all reality being the Throne of Heaven.

Where exactly in the timeline of WWN that Godbound fit is difficult, if not impossible to ascertain. It does require one to somewhat 'retcon' that the Throne of Heaven tale is partially allegorical and that fighting for God's throne may have meant fighting for the control of the Legacy and its interfaces. The beings described in WWN lore as Imperators could have been the greatest Theurge as well as Made Gods of this era, each a God-King in its own right, fighting over an ever splintering reality. The Realm described in Godbound's core book, Arcem, makes no mention of beings which could be comparable to the Outsiders but it could simply be that the lands which Arcem was part of did not suffer their invasion and repelled them. It could also be that the era of Outsider rule of mankind predates what is called the Former Empires, which are post-Outsider rule. The splintered nature of time and realities make things extremely difficult to properly pinpoint.

Both WWN and Godbound's humanity are rather similar: they live in a broken world where the natural laws have degraded and become unstable, making advanced technology difficult to maintain. They both feature advanced magical-technological modifications of the human form, which have degraded and become lost, leaving behind often dangerous splinter groups of beings which are difficult to envision as truly human. It is likely these worlds are part of a shared multiverse/realm system (which WWN call 'Iterum') and are merely the same worlds from the point of view of mortal versus the point of view of Imperator-level beings. Any slight difference in setting material is quite easy to explain, as in-universe information is quite shattered, incomplete and has been subject to thousand and thousand of years of  information drift and the changes in language.This is also true of other Sine Nomine games or, at the very least, of Red Tide (and Scarlet Heroes which use the same setting):

• Dwarves claim that, in their history, their ancestors were humans enslaved by an evil goddess called the Mother Below. In truth, she was probably one of many Outsider overseers and would-be gods. The Dwarves described in Red Tide are clearly a major cultural group within the created race of living Legacy Interfaces which are known as Dwarves.
• Elves in both Red Tide and Worlds Without Numbers share many traits, including the fact they reincarnate. It is possible the Elves described in Red Tide are a splinter group which attempted to ascend to godhood through the Legacy and 'merely'  managed to install their souls in the decayed system of reincarnation or it could be that the Elven origin myth is only partially true. Either way both types of elves are clearly beings of a near identical nature.
• The Shou of Red Tide and the Anakim of WWN, however, are NOT the same type of being. While on the surface both are aggressive, engineered 'savage humanoids' they share completely different origins, with the former also being a form of living Legacy Interfaces similar to Dwarves while the latter are bio-engineered living weapons. If Spears of the Dawn is connected to all this, then the Night Men are a form of Anakim.
• The Red Tide and the Uncreated Night are similar and related expressions of either massive decay to the Legacy/Celestial Engines. Both 'unmake' worlds and both produce abominations which disrupt reality.
• If all Sine Nomine games are connected, then a recurring theme of Hell appear. Red Tide/Scarlet Heroes has one, as does Godbound and Wolves of God should it somehow be connected. It is likely Hell was once some sort of mechanism for souls and identities to be recycled by the Legacy but it has since become perverted and exploited.

The Missing Games?

Art by Igor Kirdeika

As mentioned, there are other Sine Nomine games whose place within the timeline is unclear. Spears of the Dawn is most probably a specific realm within Latter Earth. However, this still leave a few others without a clear location within the shared 'verse'. It is possible, as mentioned, that Silent Legions is a prequel and that the SWN universe was always one of Lovecraftian madness lurking below the surface. A strange universe which, in utter defiance to its themes, mankind would conquer and then prosper in. The Kelipot and other weird arcane secrets would all likely be harnessed and form the basis of SWN-era magic which would one day form the complex workings of the Legacy.

Alternatively, Silent Legions could take place inside an Iterum where one or more Imperator has reset history and is studying humanity in its pre-FTL days. Unfortunately, the simulation has broken down and allowed many different Outsiders and other strange beings to 'leak' into it. Under this theory, Wolves of God could also be in a similar situation. If that's the case, then it is going to be immensely depressing to its people to find out that God doesn't really exist as they understand it. Spears of the Dawn could also have been such a simulation, albeit one which had enough time to decay and diverge into more fantastical things or it could simply be its own Realm and not have been engineered as a simulation.

Yoon-Suin: Additional Monsters

Goatman's Goblet posted an expanded list of traditional monsters for Yoon-Suin. This is my own addition to a list I wholeheartedly agree, with monsters taken from a variety of other games and given a reskin of some kind, in the vein of this texgolem post. The truth is, just about any monster works in almost any setting with some quick re-skinning.

Gudul Lurker by Christopher Burdett

General Fantasy Monsters

These are creatures found in most fantasy RPG based off the original. Their stats are expected in just about every bestiary if they are 'open game' or, if not, there is probably a suitably copyright-compliant version in there which is suspiciously similar to the version which is copyrighted by a certain company. The Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord monsters were the main pool which inspiration was drawn from.

• Ghost-Kin of Lahag (Bugbear): Some say they are the souls of the lost reborn in a twisted body. Others say they were the people of Lahag, before the jungle swallowed it forever. Others yet say they are children which ventured into the wilderness and were adopted by ghosts. Bent, twisted, feral humanoids with pale skin and shaggy discolored fur. They wear feral masks and no one know what's behind it. Often found as worshipers of some spirit of some kind.
• Vikarâ (Caveman): Found around the Oligarchies and slopes of the moutains are all manner of tribes, some of human some of older, pre-human beings. They are an isolated lot, primitive and distrusted. Some have shaggy fur, others have horns and other still are covered in scales. They never speak and some believe they are from an older world. The truth may never be known.
• Moon Apes (Girallon, Option A): The Girallon of the Purple Land are found upon the slopes of the Mountains of the Moon and look like huge, four-armed macaque with russet fur. The adult males have deep red fur and oversized fangs. They mate during specific lunar events, which occur every few decades. In the months before the event, the males with grow in size and aggressiveness. Some believe they are intelligent.
• Jungle Beast (Girallon, Option B): These are four-armed bipeds, something they share with their stat block. And that would be just about it, as the jungle beast is a creature living in Lahag and is best described as a toad and a locust in the rough shape of a four-armed biped. It is unknown if this creature is a unique specimen or if it is a whole species.
• Giant Beastmen (Stone Giant): Called many things which only roughly translate to 'giant beast-men', these are creatures found around the Oligarchies and Lower Druk Yul. They have skin akin to that of an elephant or rhinoceros, three-fingered hands and feet and rows of spikes growing along their spine and shoulders. Males have very long tusks, which they decorate.

Red Tide 5e: Classes for Human

I realized that last post was too focused on class restriction for races other than human without really giving a clear indication of where I wanted to take the option for human. While it would be very easy to just shrug and say 'sure, they can do everything' this isn't as interesting.

Human Classes (by Nation)

By default, the human have the most option in classes. That's just how it is because generally speaking in fantasy we tend to treat human as the baseline and the every man. Less specialized around a certain theme which define their inhuman nature and more what skills they can pick up. However, this is still a bit boring so I've decided to narrow it down a tiny bit more to make some of the various human nations in Red Tide stand out a bit more.

• Humans can be Fighters, Rogues, Monks, Wizards and Clerics (with generally some restrictions on what God they worship and thus on their domain). They have access to the options found in the Player's Handbook. However, if one intend to keep the Elves a bit more unique then it could be worth it to remove those Fighter and Rogue sub-class who learn spells.
• Eirengarder add to their options the Paladin class. These are the holy, anointed knights of various religious and military orders dedicated to The Maker. Their Paladins generally take either the Oath of Devotion or the Oath of Redemption.
• Kueh add the option of the Samurai Martial Archetype. In addition, those who serve the Hell Kings are known to become Paladin of the Oath of Conquest.
• Skandr add the option of the Barbarian and Bard, the latter of which are much more common among their kind than 'regular' arcane spell casters.
• The Eshkanti, Gadaal, Imperials and others don't particularly have any strong thematic leanings and as such could be open to a variety of Wizard sub-classes to represent more unique spell casting traditions (Gadaal, for example, are very fond of Divination). Various options found in Xanathar's Guide or even third party and/or homebrew can work too.

Cleric Domains

One key thing in the Red Tide setting is that human have a connection with the divine which other races lack. This is obviously a byproduct of Labyrinth Lord and the fact the Cleric class isn't available to other races because they don't have classes. Their race is their class but obviously this is rambling about shit everybody knows. As such, Divine Magic is entirely the purview of the human (and the Shou but that is for another time).

The Nine Immortals

The Nine Immortals are the 'main' deities of the Red Tide setting but they are a little more complicated than simply being just nine deities. In many ways, they remind of the Sovereign Host of Eberron (down to their number!) crossed with the realities of how the myths and beliefs of the Indian world, China, Japan and neighboring countries have mixed and matched through syncretism and the fusion of various religion and philosophies. They exist, having Clerics who do cast spells, but my understanding of them is that they are not quite singular entities and more that each is a portfolio of key ideas and concepts created from absorbing other myths.

• Kusha the Red Goddess: War and Protection
• Fa Chia the Yellow God: Order
• Mimasa the Blue Goddess: Knowledge and Arcana
• Sankhya the Gray God: Peace
• Shinrai the White God: Grave
• Kega the Green Goddess: Travel
• Tendai the Black God: Trickery and Entropy
• Hesika the Vermillion Goddess: Love and Madness
• Inren the Purple God: He seemingly has no Clerics outside of Cleric who worship the entire Pantheon, being the God of 'blank spaces within schema'.

Currently there are no Domains which fit enough of the portfolio of each of the Nine Immortals so that leave them in this current state.

The Skandr Gods

The Gods of the Skandr are noticeably more simplistic than the complex history and theology of the Nine Immortals. My 'headcanon' of sort, for the Skandr Gods, call upon the idea of the Aesir-Asura correspondence, making this pantheon uniquely composed of Asura, which is what I've renamed what Red Tide call the negative emanation of a deity a 'Devil'. In this case, the Skandr Gods aren't evil as much as they are wilder, following a path of passion rather than restraint.

• Sifr: Tempest and Travel
• Anghad: Life and Forge
• Hjal: War and Strength

The Maker

Unique among the people of the Sunset Isles, the Eirengarder are monotheistic. While it would be easy to just shrug and say a Cleric of the Maker has access to everything I've instead chosen to focus on their imagery as hardened warriors and battle-priests as well as the more classically OD&D image of a Cleric as some kind of templar or crusader figure in both the more positive aspects as a stalwart protector of the weak as well as the negative aspects of zealotry.

• The Maker's domains consist of Life, Solidarity and Zeal.

Red Tide 5e: Race Conversions

Continuing off my 'mood' of D&D 5e and branching away from OSR, I've brought back from the grave a scrapped post written in 2018. These are my notes for converting Red Tide to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.

Races (and Race-Based Class Restrictions)

The 'core' races of D&D are all already represented in Red Tide given that it was written to work with Labyrinth Lord. The ever-iconic setup of humans, elves, dwarves and halflings are all represented in a form which is both extremely familiar and iconic yet still unique to the setting. With the exception of the Drow (who lack any equivalent in Red Ride), the subraces of the elves/dwarves/halflings could seamlessly exist as variations without much need for a retcon: the elven subraces of High and Wood elves are simply different Elven Creed while the dwarven and halfling subraces could very much exist within the setting as distinct cultural groups who may or may not be noticeable to outsiders. Alternatively these may simply be abstractions of the rules representing variant racial traits and not distinct sub races much like in the case of the elves.

Red Tide-Accurate Class Restrictions

As an option to make the races a bit more accurate to what is presented in Red Tide, the following class restrictions would apply:

• Elves can only be Rangers or Wizards as well as Fighters and Rogues but only in those sub-classes which learn spells, such as Eldritch Knight, Arcane Archer or Arcane Trickster.
• Dwarves may only be Barbarian, Fighters or Rogues and cannot use a sub-class which learn spells, such as Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster. They can, however, channel the primal power of Barbarians through their connection to their ancestors.
• Hafllings can only be Fighters or Rogues and cannot use a sub-class which learn spells, such as Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster.  One possible option, to allow Halflings to do a bit more, would be to allow them to be Monks of some form. Certainly, Halfling ninjas are a scary thought.

Of course while this works just fine for OSR systems like Labyrinth Lord or Basic Fantasy, nowadays people tend to expect a lot more option for their characters.

Alternate Spellcasting Options

Under this system, the restrictions are similar to those outlined above but they open up each race to a few unique origins for the Sorcerer, allowing each race to channel the unique origins and powers of their kind in ways ordinary Human and Shou Wizards cannot replicate.

• Elves function as above, but add to their option the Sorcerer with the origin of Ultimate Magus origin, representing an Elf with the peak potential for the arcane they have acquired, combining innate magic with several lifetime of wisdom and intellect.
• Dwarves, under this option, do have their own form of Wizardry which is unique to them: the Ring Warden from the Deep Magic: Ring Magic third party supplement from Kobold Press. These Dwarves have learned to cast magic through the forging of mystical rings of gold. Meanwhile, Dwarven Sorcerers can call upon the powers of the deep Earth through some of the options found in the homebrew called Yorviing's Sorcerous Grimoire: Children of the Earth. The origin called Deep Earth works well for such a connection.
• Halflings are a little harder to pin down, which might just be a fitting trait. That and their luck, which brings me Yorviing's Sorcerous Grimoire: Children of the Strange has an origin called Lucky One.
• Warlock Class: Here is an interesting one which both change the Red Tide setting while also fitting in very well. If magic is an internal process, born of a mixture of one's own soul and geomantic energies which demi-human races struggle with (except those damn smug elves...), even assuming the addition of their rare in-setting spellcaster class options, then what about the Warlock? Much like Clerics they derive their magic from an outside source. As it happen, it is said the Demi-Human of Red Tide shunned the Gods in some form or another but...what about other patrons, hmmm? Food for thought...

Contentious Races

Not everything is as easily translated to fitting in Red Tide as the core races of D&D. These are either races which exist within the lore and fluff of Red Tide but with some unique twist/traits which don't line up with core D&D 5e (such as Half Elves and Half Orcs) or races which don't exist but are now part of the D&D core races (the Tieflings).

Half Elves

In the Red Tide setting, Half Elves are not a naturally-occurring crossbreed but rather what happen when an elven soul is born to lowly mortal flesh: physically (mostly) human but spiritually elven. Now due to the race-as-class mechanics of Labyrinth Lord, the Half Elves of Red Tide are by default a bit...weirder...than your ordinary Half Elves. As a result there are a few loose ways to imagine them for 5e:

• Option A is the most boring which is to simply use the Half-Elf stat line and say that it represent these strange half men/half elven beings. They would have restrictions similar to Elves. However this is boring.
• Option B is to represent them with the Sorcerer class, more specifically the Wild Magic option which would be uniquely available to them. They could use the racial stats of human, elves or half-elves depending on what seem most appropriate. The Half-Elves are an odd case of a race more associated with their class when converted to 5e.

Tiefling

The default presentation of Tieflings as humans-damned-and-twisted-by-infernal-powers requires very little tweaking to fit into Red Tide as they would be the descendants of humans whose ancestors made dark deals with the Hell Kings. While there could be some enclaves of pre-existing Tieflings (some of which who may in fact be Shou-Tieflings!), a new generation of Tieflings could have been born in the Kueh lands as those who worship the Hell Kings sought their blessings such as the birth of mighty demonic champions. Yet these creatures would still be gifted with human souls and as such could very well turn against the very forces which created them. Kueh Tieflings could be called Majin or Akuma if one feel like being a weaboo draw from the Japanese influence found in the Kueh.

Random World Variations: Different systems, different styles

Ah, the Random World: originally a short experiment for fun which ended up as a pseudo-setting I'm quite fond of. The reason it is branded a 'pseudo setting' is that, really, there's never going to be a 'true' or 'canonical' version.

A two-headed troll eating, Art by Albert Urmanov.

The notes, right now, primarily rely on Basic Fantasy (or Labyrinth Lord) and the choice of races and classes are very much influenced by it. By default, the presentation of the Random World is just generic enough that I can decide to use it by running Basic Fantasy or Labyrinth Lord right off the box with little to no homebrew. In its default form the setting may have some odd idiosyncrasies but its generally written to work with all the most basic and simple assumptions of a D&D game. However if I want to, this is a setting which can be modded or altered to work off different games and different D&D editions or OSR games. The setting can vary in presentation and style to be a bit more grim and gritty and morally gray or I could make it much more clear cut high fantasy with good and evil. I could also run it with D&D3e/Pathfinder and add more unusual magic forms such as Psionics or Akashic among others. For what its worth, I consider the modularity and re imagination potential to be a feature, not a bug. After all the entire point of the setting was a deliberate loose canon, core D&D elements and some gonzo whatever-the-hell-goes. It is a setting that is fleshed out enough to be gameable but its not a serious write up in the sense it harken back to those kind of mish mashed settings made from whatever I found cool when running D&D in high school.

Variations Upon A Theme

So what could possibly change depending on the game and/or mixture of supplements for said game or edition? Here is a non exhaustive list:

• Scarlet Heroes or Exemplars & Eidolon: Nothing is changed setting-wise, but the characters are more powerful and noteworthy individuals rather than starting as impoverished yet brave nobodies. Likely the most obvious pick after Basic Fantasy or Labyrinth Lord.
• Dungeon Crawl Classics: The opposite happen and the characters are even more pathetic and vulnerable than by default. The world is presented as more grim, chaotic and brutal.
• +Hubris: One of my favorite DCC settings. The setting remain as the above but even more bleak and horrifying. Classes taken from Hubris add new layer and setting elements, such as Mutants (briefly mentioned as possibly existing here and here) and Half-Demons add a bit more of a dark and/or weird fantasy vibe.
• Pathfinder: There is a crapload more of options and rules, maybe too much! The general power level of classes is vastly increased especially for spellcasters. It might be wiser to use E6 for sanity's sake. Overall, the fantasy level is vastly increased.
• +Psionics: By default I have not written in Psionics into the setting but that doesn't mean they can't exist and fit in. Adding psionics greatly add to the weird fantasy elements. One way to make psionic distinct would be to very much tie it to 'mortals' as the power of their mind rather than the primordial powers of the cosmos that arcane and divine magic both channel. Another option, which could be interesting, is to make it a relatively new and poorly understand phenomena which has slowly crept up over the past centuries, with mages and clerics fearing it might eclipse magic.
• +Akashic: It was called Incarnum in 3e, while the 3rd party Pathfinder remake is called Akashic. Being based off Vedic mythological concepts is great and it would add quite a bit of exotic and mystical elements too. Unlike Psionics this would definitely be an ancient and well-established power (but not necessarily a common one).
• Dungeons & Dragons 5e: Much like Pathfinder, it too is essentially boiled down to 'alot of options' and greatly increase the overall amount of fantastical elements. Unless...
• +Low Fantasy Classes: I've got no clue who wrote this PDF I found (it likely isn't a paid product as it lack any indication of a person or company having published it) but its certainly right up my alley when it come to playing the 'Random World' with D&D 5e as, since it was written with baseline OSR in mind the classes aren't as filled with weirdo powers as they are in 3e, 4e or 5e. In particular, it has an order of Knights (their low fantasy not!Paladins) tied to fey and elves which fits in perfectly with what has been established with Waywood's knights and druids.
• Black Hack: Not much change except the system is different, I guess?

Random World Extras: Unusual Monsters

I've written down quite a bit about the still-unnamed 'Random World', including it's more common and mundane (if such a thing exist!) monsters so it seem only fair to write about the monsters which are not commonplace.

An Otyugh. Artist unknown.

Mutants and Aberrations

The existence of mutants in the Random World was briefly hinted at in the post about Cafeld, the City of Mercy. This was a small nod to the tendency of OSR game and blogs to provide mutation tables and since I never intend for a true or properly 'canon' version of this setting I left it open that mutants do exist but their origin and how common they are can be deliberately vague. As such, using DCC for this setting, for example, could allow the Mutant class from Hubris if I felt like it.

The creatures known as Aberrations (and the use of a term from 3e onward is deliberate) is the catch-all term for anything which has been horribly deformed and twisted beyond it's original form and function. In general for the Random World I've been keeping the Lovecraftion inspiration to a bare minimum as to not over abuse the amount of tentacular eldritch monsters on the basis that these lose all terror they can generate when there's so many of them around. As such, the creatures which modern D&D call Aberrations do exist but their stat block are used for unique monsters.

D&D 4e Wights. Artist unknown.

The Undead

The oh-so-useful undead are not commonplace in the Random World, being creatures which are truly unnatural. For one thing, the basic spell to create mindless undead (Animate Dead) is not in the default Magic-User or Cleric spell lists, requiring one to dig into darker and more vile sorceries to uncover this kind of power. As such, basic skeletons and zombies might show up as minions to some evil wizard of some kind but they shouldn't really be expected to be marched out in drove. And even then, these creatures are not considered 'true undead', being nothing but mindless, soulless and essence-less puppets of decayed organic matter.

The creatures known as True Undead are always semi-unique and while they might end up using the stat line of the likes of Ghoul or Wight for simplicity, others have more unique stats. Each undead is defined by it's ravening, all-consuming passion, desire or hunger and they tend to posses some ability which allow them to corrupt either people or their surrounding. They're not these all-powerful beings (unless you're dealing with a Lich, maybe) and in theory one could get destroyed by a suitably large and angry mob with torches and pitchfork but in practice they are nasty, unnatural monsters. The only reason they are not more of a threat is that most lack anything resembling sanity, spending all day inside their lair sleeping or pacing around in madness unable to experience new things or thoughts. Some lack a body and exist as ghosts and wraiths but the basic concept is the same.

There exist a second category of True Undead, which are 'born' when an unnatural or distorted spirit animates a corpse which is tainted in some way. Unlike the previous type, this is not the mind of the original individual (even if some memories may remain) but a foul alien intellect. These type of undead may have more esoteric powers. Either way, this kind of table would be a good place for me to start with making unique undead. It is worth noting that True Undead never create spawns: at best they can create zombies or skeleton.

Random World Part 9: Rock-People hate you!

Back to some more locations, this time with another area full of monsters organized and ready to murder you, your friends and family. Only this time they're made of rock and can (sometimes) fly.

East of Cryham

It sucks to be in Cryham, in part because the area has a bit of uncanny position of being close to not one but two wastelands of magical bullshit, with only a comparatively small countryside of verdant landscape. Anything else which is fertile is down south and the further you go south the further you go into the jungle.

The Desolation of Taani

Blendowska Desert, Poland

There are two contradictory origins to the Desolation of Taani: one which state that it always was a dry land, flat and rough and born from the mountain cutting the rain's path. The other origin state that this land is one born of human greed. Mythology says that once, mountains which existed between the world of mortal and spirits existed in these lands but 'man grew greedy' and tore down these mountains to the last stone.

• A harsh, dry rocky desert. Not the most lovely of places but it has life of it's own nonetheless. It is comparable to a mixture of the various European desert climates.
• Inhabited by a variety of people, some whose ancestors stretch back to primordial times. Other descend from invaders who assimilated into the people they conquered.
• What little stone still exist consist of horrific, jagged hills where some say restless spirits dwell.
• People trade what they can with Cryham. Many adventurers journey into the dry lands in hope of finding the entrance to forgotten, subterranean temples or pathways into the spirit world where, maybe, mountains still exist. Practical people hold they just get eaten by wild dogs and giant vultures.
• There are nomadic dwarven clans. They are traders and distrusted.
• The people there are at war with the gargoyles.

The Citadel of the Gargoyle Warlord

Stone Citadel by Adrián García.

He is the progenitor of the Gargoyles, some say: one of the oldest spirits of the earth crying out for vengeance against man's greed. Others say he was a sorcerer, once human, now cursed in a prison of stone flesh. Others yet say the Gargoyle warlord is but a title passed on from one monster to another. Either way, in the wilderness rise horrific eldritch spires and the ground splinter to lead into endless, subterranean chasms.

• An area inhabited by horrible monsters with stone flesh called gargoyles.
• The ruler of the area is the Gargoyle Warlord. He is very much a stereotypical 'dark lord' in many aspects, horrific and hidden behind armor and/or a massive black cloak and raising armies of monsters slavishly loyal to him.
• Gargoyles claim the are merely avenging past crimes but anyone who see them raid and destroy believe this to just be excuses.
• These creatures capture humans to be their slaves. Disturbingly a few ambitious would-be warlords are not above allying with these monsters.
• The Converts of Stone are humans who worship the gargoyles and seek to emulate them, using alchemical and magical process to turn both their flesh and hearts to stone.
• They are currently planning to invade the region of the Jungle of Spears called the Illaronga Jungle.

Gargoyles

Born of stone and hate, Gargoyles are monsters with a bitter and cold heart. They do not feel much of anything, safe perhaps hatred. How much of it is justified is up for debate, as many believe the myth of the Gargoyle's creation is a lie perpetrated by the Warlord. Some even believe he was an accident, a malformed and mutated element of stone who somehow tricked other elementals to follow his wicked ways and shape.

• Gargoyles are a form of elemental and have a body made of rock.
• They have monstrous forms but most are roughly humanoid. There are non-humanoid gargoyles.
• The flying Gargoyles form an upper class to both their society and military purely on the basis they have the most mobility and are as such the most efficient raiders.
• There are (supposedly) Gargoyles with more unusual abilities such as being able to transform into dust devils, vomit lightning or acid or even regenerating.
• Gargoyles should be played off as a cross between an evil minion to the dark lord and an mid-'90 White Wolf splat angrily lashing out at perceived wrongness. They are brainwashed minions of a zealot.

Godbound+Red Tide: Crossover Ideas

Both the game Godbound and the Labyrinth Lord setting Red Tide (found in the book of the same name and as the default setting to the stand-alone game Scarlet Heroes) were made by Kevin Crawford. Not only do they share a certain amount of aesthetic and thematic similarities but they also very much exist under the same core game system, making combining the two quite easy.

Take One: Epic Red Tide

In this version, the default setting and cosmology is that of Red Tide. It's history is true and a proven facy and there is no war for the Throne nor are there Made Gods or any of the setting elements of Godbound which relate to that game's backstory. In fact, the 'Godbound' themselves don't even really exist and rather are used as a loose approximation of high power characters. One could use mortal heroes or, perhaps more fittingly, could use rules akin to that of the 'Lesser Godbound' to represent the mightiest individuals of the Isles. This method is the simplest but, arguably, the most boring.

Take Two: Godbound in the Red Tide Universe

In this version, the previous assumption hold true same for one: the cosmic cataclysm which has affected the world of Red Tide has brought divine powers to the brink of desperation. In order to save their world, the Gods (both the pantheon of the Nine Immortals and other deities) agree to essentially commit a form of ritualistic suicide/self destruction. This will, initially, begin by causing a weakening of Divine Magic. In the short term there will be confusion. In the long term, mortals will be reborn as God-like beings (the Godbound), able to wield divine power in the material world and possibly slowly help repel the Red Tide.

Take Three: Red Tide in Godbound

In this version, the Red Tide setting is the future of the Godbound universe. The world which existed before the Tide consumed it is, in truth, a rather large and stable Realm. Or, rather, it was one until the Tide came to devour it: as it turns out, the Tide is very much a semi-sentient phenomena which hold it's origins in the Uncreated Night. This version does require you to rework quite a few bits of Red Tide lore so here are a few ideas:

• In this version, the line between Arcane and Divine magic (meaning, Magic-Users and Clerics) is vastly more blurred and more likely down to cultural conventions.
• That said, the Gods do exist: they are ancient beings of divine potential who underwent a form of abstract apotheosis in order to stabilize their Realm. Prayer-derived magic is the result of passing down their teachings, which are actually complex systems which allow the teaching of Low Magic and Theurgy.
• The Angels (renamed Celestials or Daeva, as Godbound's Angels are something else entirely), the Devils (or Asura) and other celestial beings are created by the abstract thoughts of the incorporeal Gods.
• Devils and the Hell-Kings are also Divine, just of a very different nature and persuasion. They hunger for souls to sustain their existence.
• Dwarves are degenerated and altered descendants of the slaves of some ravenous, underground Parasite Goddess. The deeper one dug into the world, the less stable it became and in ancient time a woman fell down a cave. She was changed and, in isolation from the outside world the Mother Below had centuries if not more to grow in power. Of course, being a Parasite Goddess she remained trapped within her domain, unable to ever return to the surface.
• Elves are the result of rediscovered and long-lost theotechnical soul-modification.
• Halflings likely have an origin of some distant relation to the other human-like races but what that history is remain vague.
• The Shou's origin is mostly unchanged: they are still magical transhumans. If anything, their origin ties into Godbound even better than everyone else. Shakun might have been a powerful Made God who ruled his own realm.
• Tidespawns are very much a type of Uncreated.

Random World Part 8: Goblins, Gremlins, Dwarves and more!

When it come to the monster 'niche' of this still-unnamed world, it goes somewhat like this on a scale of pure combat monster to full-blown NPC race: Orcs, Trolls and Goblins. The category of 'goblins' is one which cast an even wider net in term of creature variations than even trolls. Like them, they are ancient beings steeped in ancient secrets, wild magic and an ancestry going back to trickster spirits made flesh.

"Did you say....GOBLINS?!"

Honest talk here: I've not developped goblins as much as I should but this lazyness does serve a purpose in that, if I want/need my various goblin types and tribes to be interesting, unique and most importantly weird I basically need to keep things vague as they are the most versatile of the major monster types fleshed out so far, down to having one of their own as a playable option: Dwarves. While I'm just as much prone to lore obssesion as anybody, I've become increasingly aware that 'lore' is useless if it is not practical to produce adventure material.

Goblin Physiology and Psychology

Need to find artist on this.

Where the Troll is ancient, mighty and filled with primal hunger and power (but also, at times, wisdom) the Goblin is it's cousin steeped in magic, mysticism, trickery and deceit. Both are tied to wild and dark places but goblins differ from trolls in both size and their greater ability to form societies.

• Goblins, like Trolls, traces their ancestry to the forgotten origins of the world.
• Goblins are small in size, ranging from the truly diminutive imp and pixie-like gremlins to the almost human-sized dwarves and hobgoblins. Their power is rarely, if ever physical. Size and might is not what they are known for compared to Trolls.
• Like Trolls they have sharp senses and underground-living Goblinoids dislike bright lights.
• They are much more likely to display openly magical abilities but these are powers of illusion, trickery, mind control and/or witchcraft.
• Goblins aren't always evil, but they are rarely if ever forthright on any matter. Trickery, lies and deceit is their very blood. There is a certain alien-ness to them which contrast with the brutality and simplicity of their distant Troll cousins.
• Some goblins organize in 'goblin courts', which are ruled by Goblin-Kings/Queens. Folklore has made out goblin-queens to be beautiful and fae-like beings but...well, even I doubt this is true. It is more likely that powerful goblins use their powers of illusion to appear taller and more beautiful.

Their societies vary between simple holes in the ground where they hide treasures to small, primitively organized goblin-towns. These places are rarely seen by humans as they are hidden in the deepest caves, the darkest forests or in the forgotten underground sewers of antediluvian human and pre-human cities. In these places, old goblin-witches brew potion recipes unknown to outsiders, cast mysterious and ill-understood spells and perhaps enact foul rituals whose purpose is unknown to all but goblins.

Known Goblin Sub-races

This is but a mere sample of known goblin sub-types. Do keep in mind quite a bit is derived purely from human classification of these creatures and does not always reflect any true category.

• Gnomes: An alternate name given to forest-dwelling goblins.
• Gremlins: These are the smallest of goblins and the least intelligent. They are twisted, weird little buggers who love to inflict malicious pranks. Their shapes are rather varied.
• Hobgoblins: Magically-empowered servants and guardians to goblin and human witches and sorcerers.
• Kobold: A type of mountain-dwelling goblinoid. Hairy, scabby and blue.

Goblins Adventures & Encounters

More than Trolls and Orcs, Goblins are a flexible lot as far as monster categories go for the unnamed Random World. They can be anywhere on the monster-to-people spectrum. However one thing to keep in mind is that goblin-related combat is very rarely going to descend into an all-out violent brawl unless they are either fighting well-armed hobgoblins or if the goblins panic and proceed to overwhelm a party with sheer numbers.

1. The party has accidentally walked into a patch of wilderness which is claimed by a local primitive goblin clan. Should they camp in the area the goblins will attack at night with guerrilla warfare and/or steal their stuff.
2. As above but the goblins create complex illusions to confuse the party, who seemingly wakes up in a different locale.
3. A group of elite goblin-knights are out hunting on their frog mounts. They aren't picky for what they are hunting and if they encounter the party there is a chance they might decide to hunt them. As goblins aren't known for frontal assaults, they will retreat the moment they take any significant damage and proceed to harass the party over long distance via their almost tireless hopping mounts.
4. The local lord has had his court magician summon and empower hobgoblins to restore order to his politically unstable land. While obedient to their current master, goblin nature is goblin nature and they tend to cause trouble on purpose when bored.
5. Gremlins have cast confusion on the local priest repeatedly as a joke. Unfortunately the long-term effects of the spell have driven him to murderous, genocidal rage. Oops.
6. The party need some magic items or a curse lifted: the strongest local spell caster is a goblin-witch who will ask for a really bizarre favor.
7. House spirit-type goblins have invaded a village and are 'trying to help'. Apparently they have peculiar tastes when it come to redecoration and it is turning to arson and broken windows.
8. The local goblin lord which to make an alliance with a nearby village of humans: both his court and some humans resist the idea on the basis that they find this distasteful.
9. Hobgoblins serving a local witch or sorcerer have organized into an efficient, mafia-like society.
10. A group of apprentice goblin-witches have been experiment 'for fun'. A side effect is that the region is now infested with monsters created from stolen poultry and cattle.

Dwarves

Dwarf by Matthew Melmeth

Of all the goblin races, Dwarves are the most akin to humans in appearance and mannerism, if only barely. Creatures of earth, hills and mountains they are as elusive as other goblins yet the least hostile and the most likely to trade with humans. Unlike other goblins, they are considered a playable race.

• A mortal (albeit long-lived) goblin sub-type, even if they may not consider themselves to be goblins.
• Look like short, hairy wizened men. They tend to have odd features such as bulbous noses, pointy ears crooked teeth, unibrow, long nails, a lot of wild hair and sometimes have unusual skin color which can be yellow, brown or grey among other colors. These vary between dwarven clans.
• Insular beings who only interact with humans to trade. They are aloof and mistrust humans.
• While they can be aloof, dwarves are still tricksters and their magic is one of illusions.
• In addition, they are well known for forging magical weapons and armors. However, anyone trying to buy something from a dwarf should know better, as they are not above selling cursed junk to people they dislike.
• That said, by goblin standards they are quite strong and tough. They are more than capable of handling themselves in a direct confrontation. In times of war they have been known to field actual armies.

As such, Dwarves can be described as the most 'normal' of the goblins and in, many ways, very much your typical fantasy dwarf: greedy mountain-dwellers, craftsmen and miners. The core difference, however, is that the fey and gnome-like nature of Dwarves is played up and they acquire a meaner streak as sullen and untrustworthy con-men and tricksters rather than honorable, alcoholic miniature vikings.

Random World Part 7: Hungry, Angry Trolls

Trolls are an ancient race, distant cousins to the races of goblin. No, that's wrong: they are precursors to mankind. That is also wrong: some myths say trolls are spirits cursed into a grotesque which reflect their base instincts. Or maybe trolls all of the above and none at the same time.

Troll Biology and Psychology

There aren't many conclusive evidences on the origins of trolls, only myths, legends and folklore and as such beyond the basic facts I intend to play fast and loose with how trolls are like. Research on the true origins of trolls is difficult as they tend to eat those who attempt to study them. All that can be fully confirmed is the following:

Troll by Abner Martin

• Trolls are ancient beings, often tied to primordial places and wild locales.
• They are large, hungry monstrous giants with a usually foul disposition. Trolls are angry and hungry and that basically form the basis of their entire mentality. They are simplistic in nature but they aren't all dumb.
• They usually have sharp senses. Some breeds, however, especially underground and nocturnal trolls can be partially or completely blind.
• Many troll breed dislike sunlight to a certain extent but this is hardly as universal as people believe.
• Magical abilities possessed by trolls can include regeneration, immunity to certain forms of damage, supernatural 'berserker rage' and camouflage with their local environment.
• Trolls vary widely in form, shape and attitude depending on the region but also between individuals.
• Troll Wyrd are trolls who display magical abilities which are quite uncommon to the rest of their kin, such as the ability to cast spells as Magic-Users do. They are strange-looking and very unique even by troll standards.
• There may or may not exist long-lost, ancient 'troll magic'.
• Trolls can cross-breed with other creatures, or at least could in the past, which explain beings such as Ogres, Ettins and Bugbears which supposedly posses human and/or goblin blood.

Trolls are often categorized by their environment, such as Mountain Trolls, Forest Trolls, Swamp Trolls and more. These aren't really cut and dry categories so much as classifications made by humans and other races to keep up with troll variations. They are true to a certain extent, however, as Trolls tend to reflect their environment.

Troll Wyrd

Trolls are ancient beings with potent, primordial (and often chaotic) magic in their very flesh, that much is a fact. A Troll Wyrd is a mutant troll born with truly unusual powers and appearance. These beings are randomly born from seemingly normal (if such a thing exist) troll parents for no apparent reasons. Crazier, stronger and often smarter than other trolls they are walking piles of chaos.

• Troll Wyrd are spontaneous mutations of trolls.
• They are easily noticed as being different from other trolls around them, usually due to bright colors.
• They are innate spellcasters but not all of them control their magic. Those who do become truly fearsome sorcerers.
• Some Troll Wyrds just burst with power and vomit energy in the form of brightly colored 'trollfire'. Sometimes Trollfire can cause spontaneous mutations in others.
• Their magic is either incredibly flashy and destructive or it is some fate-warping nonsense which suddenly make every sword swing miss and arrows bend their course and stab the butt of the archer. Fighting one can be very annoying.
• In spite of their apparent eccentric behavior, Troll Wyrd are potent magicians and often wise guru and hermits. It is not unknown for magicians to seek them out to learn spells and Troll Wyrd are usually more cooperative than other trolls. That doesn't mean what they demand in exchange for their service is safe and simple.

Ogres

Ogre by Kyle Bastian.

By far one of the more prolific Troll-kin, Ogres are comparatively more mundane than their ancestors. Their appearance is far more human-like, as they appear as large and grotesque human caricatures with a few monstrous traits, such as sharp teeth, abundant body hair, odd skin color or horns. They are more common than true Trolls but live much shorter lives, about the same as a human to sightly longer. They are more likely than trolls to produce stable, recognizable traits shared across a family or tribe such all having red skin or abundant red hair.

• Ogres are basically big, ugly troll-like humans. They are the byproduct of an ancient mixing of human and troll blood, some believe.
• Ogres are much more social than Trolls but only barely more likable: they are loud, boorish and over-the-top brutes and hedonist. An ogre isn't just a bigger and uglier human on the outside but also on the inside.
• Greed, lust, hunger and anger is what motivate them. As a result they are often mercenaries and bandits.
• They can crossbreed easily with humans to produce Half-Ogres. These creatures can use the Hobgoblin, Gnoll or even the Orcs stats but they are none of those.
• Ogre Wyrd are quite rare but is what we know as 'Ogre Mages'.
• Ettin are subrace of Ogres.

Troll Adventures and Encounters

Much like the Orc, the troll is very much a monster built for heart-pounding action and fear. However it doesn't have to be just that: trolls are capable of playing other roles and, provided they are offered some food and/or something shiny they may very well be placated long enough to talk and even let people go, at least for the more intelligent ones. Here are some adventure ideas for trolls beyond just fighting them when encountered in the wild.

1. A lone troll is encountered. Wizened and bent, this old creature speak in riddles and/or odd prophecies speaking of the future written in the bones of the earth. It is unlikely to attack unless provoked but it will most likely try to make life miserable if it gets frustrated at the party's inability to make sense of its riddles.
2. A smaller troll is looking for help to defeat a larger, older rival. It claim that his rival has a collection of magical items, which the troll would not mind giving if the rival is slain. Is this a trap? Who knows?
3. A Troll Wyrd is leading a band of bandits with its mind control powers. The bandits collect odd trinkets for the troll's fruitless magical experiments.
4. It's troll mating season and trolls are now kidnapping goats! NO! Not to breed with, that's disgusting: rather these are offerings to the females.
5. A raging troll is rampaging toward the village and the party are the only ones equipped to (maybe) defeat it. Even worse, it's coming any minute now. Worse still, the troll is on fire because the last people it encountered threw their torches at it.
6. When the party set up camp, the ground shake beneath them and a large earth-and-stone troll wakes up, confused by the noise and maybe smell of cooking food. It may or may not attack.
7. Troll activity has swelled in the region: in truth, ancient Troll Wyrds are preparing for an ancient troll ritual celebration....which will end in a lot of drinking followed by more drinking and eventually pillage of local alehouses.
8. A troll cook is wandering from town to town looking for things to spice up it's stew. It will probably go on a rampage when it knock at the door of a city with sufficiently armed guards willing to try to push the troll back.
9. A three-headed trolls is causing a rampage because it's three heads can't agree. As they wrestle for control, they are destroying whole villages. This is a regenerating troll: the solution is to cut them in three parts.
10. A local evil sorcerer has charmed a bunch of trolls and equipped them with spiky plate armor and giant war hammers. Good luck surviving that!

Random World Part 6: Orcs of the Orcfen

Orcs (as described here) aren't truly alive in the normal sense: while they are not undead, they are also clearly not natural creatures of flesh and blood born from a mortal parent. They are soulless automaton born of a mixture of dead flesh, mud, blood and plant matter granted a rudimentary simulacrum of a conscience.

Orc Biology and Psychology

Think this 'flavor' of orcs.

The body of an orc function like a living creature in many ways and is arguably alive but their origins mark them as even more unnatural and bizarre than even the most mutated Troll Wyrd. Orcs are born in batches from the ritual of the Witch-Trees from a foul stew of the aforementioned blood, flesh, mud and slimy things and they grow in the soil like plants. To reiterate and expand on previous points:

• Orcs are sexless creatures, with only a rudimentary hole (or cloaca, if you feel fancy) for expelling waste. They do not and cannot reproduce.
• They are ageless but rarely, if ever truly develop as individuals. Older orcs may be a little more cunning because they have more developed pattern recognition but their personalities can't really develop beyond the crude 'evil minion' nature and programming.
• Their size is about five feet tall but some appear smaller due to a more bent spine. They may be small compared to trolls but they aren't weak by any stretch of the imagination, with an iron grip and wiry muscles like a crazy monkey.
• They never look 'right', fitting their nature as living automaton and filth mannequin. Orcs are never attractive by any stretch of the imagination. A rare few orcs look close enough to really ugly, filthy humans and even then barely.
• Orcs which consume the flesh a particularly strong-willed or special individual (or a spell-caster of some kind) will develop a conscience in so much as they become true individuals. Even intelligent orcs remain foul creatures with little but violence on their mind: they just get way better and more creative with how they break things.
• They all have breath that smell of garbage and rotting flesh.

Orcs tend to look similar when born from the same batch and most small orc squads encountered tend to be 'brothers' who share a similar appearance and general shape. There are more extended tribes, ruled by a Witch-Tree who tend toward certain colors or shape due to the material available or the alien preference of their creators.

D10	Skin Color	Hair	Skin Texture	Features	Missing Features
1	Light Green	Black	Slimy and Oily	Tusks	No Nose
2	Pale Olive
3	Dark Green	Dark Green	Extremely Wrinkled	Uneven Face	No Ears
4	Dark Blue
5	Dark Purple	Dark Blue	Warty	Clawed Hands	No Neck
6	Deep Crimson
7	Reddish Brown	Grey	Loosely hanging	Long Arms	Less Fingers
8	Dirt Brown
9	Sickly Yellow	Pale Yellow	Crusty	Pointy Head	No Hair on head, hairy body
10	Yellowish Brown

Orc Variations and Allies

While people living around the Orcfen generally only see the base orc, they are not the only offsprings of the foul magic of the Witch-Tree: simply the most common. There are other abominations which live alongside orcs, some a variation of these creatures and others some form of monster or beast which they have tamed.

• There exist bigger, dumber versions of orcs which are closer to trolls than men: some say they are an earlier breed of orcs, more difficult to create and less effective in spite of their increased size and might. Orcs will ride on their backs. These creatures functionally use the Ogre stats.
• The Witch-Trees have experimented in trying to refine their orc-spawning process and a few superior orcs are rumored to exist. It is unclear just how different and how stronger these orcs are. Some suspect they are deliberately bred to be independent and gifted with stolen/harvested souls in order to act as generals.
• Orcs make use of dreadful Giant Bats as their aerial mounts. Fortunately they've only had limit success in training both orcs and bats to not try to murder and/or eat each others.
• Swamp Trolls, as the foulest of trolls, are the best bet for allies have been known to be bribed or enslaved by the Witch-Trees to bolster their orc hordes.
• Giant Toads and Giant Centipedes are common guard animals for orcs.

Orc Adventures and Encounters

Orcs make for fairly basic and one-dimensional 'evil minions' and that's just fine, really. As such orc-related adventures are expected to be a bit heavy on combat.

1. The party spot several ugly, smelly outlanders snooping around town. These are rare, almost-human (barely!) orc spies. If confronted they are likely to run away if only to regroup and track down the party to stab them in their sleep.
2. A group of orcs is out marauding and is attacking a village. In order to add spice to the situation, they have some new monster spawned by the Witch-Tree so while the orc themselves are pretty basic, the party has to deal with this new unknown monster.
3. As above but the orcs are encountered fleeing the monster as it is now out of control!
4. A group of bandit disguised as orcs has been preying on people. As the party investigate this, they run into real orcs who are out there to also kill the bandits to 'clean up their name'. No, not because orcs wouldn't murder passer-by but rather because the orcs think the bandits are doing a sloppy job.
5. A lone sentient orc berserker of great power is roaming around the wilderness, looking for a challenge. Defeating him could yield a magic weapon or magic armor.
6. A troll is looking to ally with the party in order to gorge itself on orc flesh. The troll is a dangerous ally but pushing him aside could make things worse.
7. A well-organized group of well-bred elite orcs (use Hobgoblin or even Gnoll stats) is mounting a coordinated offensive.
8. Two orc groups are fighting and the party and/or their allies are caught in the crossfire.
9. A sentient orc is leading his own band of renegade orc to glory! He has complex plans of conquest and consolidation.
10. A rogue sentient orc has massive, some say impossible plans: he intend to steal the orc-creation ritual from a Witch-Tree and become the first Orc Witch-Lord. Alternatively, he has already succeeded and is breeding an army of rogue orcs!