Another post this week inspired by d4 Caltrops: d100 subject list. This week we're talking about the undead in Hodas
Rolled: 23 - How are Skeletons Made? Ghouls? Why haven't Wraiths/Vampires taken over?
In Hodas, undead in the form of spirits are shockingly common. Common enough that you'll see them in any location with a large enough population. They simply continue their lives as though they never died. In fact it's common enough that Hodas has special rules when you fail to roll the body over, allowing for a character to escape death in the form of a new class, the spirit (Coming soon). Eventually these spirits fade, usually 1 year after their death for each HD or level they have. This gives them time to give their loved ones time to get closure and to tend to their final affairs.
What if they don't let go?
This is when things get messy, it's how we get things like vengeful spirits. Those who hold on past their time start to twist, their minds break down and they take on a unique nature, no two vengeful wraiths are the same. These can be a threat that requires adventurers to come deal with, potentially the adventurers might even need to put down the spirit of an old friend who refused to let go.
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| Source: Gordy Higgins |
These are simpler.
Skeletons rise from places where sources of dark magic touch the dead, including use of spells that specifically create the undead such as animate dead or Breathe un-life.
Zombies are the result of a magical disease, an imperfect form of vampire's curse. Those who are killed by the bite of a weaker vampire do not simply die or get to come back as a servant, they return as a zombie. Through their own bite, they spread their curse.
Ghouls, I'll be honest, haven't come up in Hodas yet. They are a classic staple of fantasy but with skeletons and zombies I feel like I have a good foundation of the weaker undead and following examples in the DCC rulebook, I really like my undead to be unique if they are anything more than rank and file skeletons or zombies. So, do ghouls have a home in Hodas? Probably not. Will this always be true? Probably not. That all depends on the players, maybe one of them will create a ghoul intentionally or otherwise. At the end of the day Hodas always has been and always will be shaped by the players, ever since the very first game of Wasteland Without Epithet was run.
What about Vampires?
Part of the question above is "why haven't vampires just taken over?". It's part a numbers thing and part a paranoia thing. An individual vampire can be very powerful. In fact, I roll up my vampires on Graves & Groves vampire tables. Some of these are powerful enough to rival even dragons. The issue is that a vampire's greatest enemy is other vampires. Their motivations and drives are so varied, it's much more likely that a vampire who encounters another will choose to fight instead of speak. Vampires survive through secrecy and being clever, even if they are powerful. In the past they had the human empire to hide from, with it's extremely powerful divine powers and knowledgeable lore masters who could spot a vampire or it's signs quickly. Before that, it was the dragons and their absolute power. Now? Now there might be a few vampires who are starting to see a world with significantly less knowledge and divine might. They are starting to realize they can stretch their legs just a little, and that is leading to problems for adventurers.
Other Undead!
Just like the rule book talks about, the undead of Hodas are mostly unique creatures from one another. This means we lean a little hard on the table in the rule book or something like Monster Extractor II to create truly unique undead. Things like The Reconciliant are made and used probably once every 3-4 campaigns to keep them mysterious.
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| The Dagger Dropped by Harry Clarke |
I wanna sign off on this by saying that making undead mysterious has had a huge impact on the games. Players don't get cocky around even weak looking undead, they approach with caution, they never really know what they are getting into. Even before I got my hands on the monster extractor, just following the advice in DCCRPG I found that it really got my players thinking and acting more carefully. If you take nothing else away from this post, take it as an absolute endorsement of the suggestion to keep monsters strange and unknowable. If you're interested in seeing another take on the same table, check out 19 Sided Die! Buster has made a couple of posts based on the same d100 table from d4 caltrops, please check out his posts, he has some really interesting articles up!
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