Miscellaneous Rules and Discussion

Changes and extensions to the OSE game rules
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The sections below are not rules but instead are meta-rules and discussion about the rules.

Strongholds, Domains, and Nobility

  • Constructing a Stronghold makes the character a player in the larger political struggle of a region - the character is now a titled landholder
  • Establishing a Domain provides the same benefit as a Stronghold, but the character that does so is seen as having greater political, economic and military power than that of a (mere) Stronghold owner and is treated accordingly
  • This is contrasted with owning property in a city (even expensive property), which may mark the character as wealthy but not as a political force
  • Landholders or those in charge of Domains give a great deal of deference to other landholders since they see the character as an equal. This might be construed as the differences between the peasantry, the wealthy and the nobility
  • Landholders typically have private militias (mercenaries) and those that control larger Domains are accorded ever-more prestige as their Domain grows since they wield more economic and military might in the region
  • Characters would do well to keep in mind that other landholders expect the same deference given to them. Angering a landholder might result in economic, political or military punishment or may spur the aggrieved noble to hire assassins to deal with the upstart. While this result could certainly happen if a rich person were offended in some way, the difference is the landholder likely has the backing of other landholders and will never see prosecution even if their involvement became known. Furthermore, such landholders are usually more entrenched politically than the newly-wealthy adventurer that is causing trouble for the status quo and can bring more total force to bear than any new landholder can hope to counter

The Mythic Dungeon and the Mythic Overworld

  • Sometimes a dungeon is just a dungeon - it is an underground jail, a storeroom, a series of natural or hand-made caves, even a ruin
  • In other cases, the dungeon is not a Place but is instead a Thing - a Thing of Chaos with a malevolent will
  • Mythic Dungeons are a semi-sentient cancer that gnaws away at the natural world, feeding, changing, and growing larger
  • Mythic Dungeons are not really part of the natural world. In game language, they are not even necessarily fully on the same plane of existence as the rest of the world
  • An example of a very benign Mythic Dungeon is the Hedge Maze from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  • In Mythic Dungeons, things work differently or operate in unexpected ways that do not align with natural laws. The Mythic Dungeon may:
    • Spawn creatures or treasure
    • Change shape, size or layout over time
    • Subsume control over those inside, infecting them with its insidious nature
    • Reduce the need for food, water or other essentials to those it has fully subsumed
    • Drive cooperation between otherwise hated enemies or drive a wedge of war between groups that would otherwise cooperate
    • Vector monsters to intruders in the same way a living body directs white blood cells to invading bacteria
    • Reshape, distort or pollute the nearby lands (also known as the Mythic Overworld)
    • Throw tendrils out to more natural dungeons, consuming them and making them part of the Mythic Dungeon over time
    • Control or influence the temperature, water level, light level, plant growth, humidity and other physical aspects of its biome
  • As places of Chaos, Mythic Dungeons are a tremendous source of raw magical energy, a place to study the essential nature of magic and a place to find ultra-rare magical resources
  • Mythic Dungeons are therefore places of activity, not only activity from the abominations they spawn or control, but also as a font of power and knowledge for wizards, a blight to be destroyed by Warpriests and a source of wealth for all others
  • Given this, Mythic Dungeons or the haunted lands nearby are often the sites for strongholds, temples and towers. Some cooperate with the power within, some stand against it, but most or all eventually fall to the relentless forces of Chaos
  • It is said that each Mythic Dungeon is fueled by a spark of pure Chaos at its core and if this core can be removed or destroyed, much or all of the dungeon would fade away or collapse in on itself

Good and Evil vs Law and Chaos

  • The concept of Law does not equate to Good. Law is Order, it is the building up and execution of the natural and physical laws. It manifests itself in this game in the actions of the "current gods" and their faithful followers (be they helpful, benign or malignant), in the mailed fist of a unyielding, unholy tyrant and in the gentle hand of a pacifistic faith healer that tries to lift all beings up. It believes in building institutions that last and perpetuate themselves toward some great vision or plan over the millennia they are in existence, independent of the purpose of those institutions. It is a force that stands against the Chaos that would see all unmade. It is certainly possible for the "lasting institution" to be a power-mad dynasty that pillages and tortures the subjects under its tyrannical rule just as it is for the "lasting institution" to be a post-scarcity utopia. Law is neither Good nor Evil.
  • The concept of Chaos does not equate to Evil. Chaos is Disorder, it is entropy. It manifests itself in this game as the force of magic and the influence of the strange "old gods and outsiders" that operate outside the existing deific hierarchy and that jealously try to destroy or corrupt the institutions established in the name of Law. It tears away at institutions regardless of whether those institutions are benevolent or self-serving. It throws its tendrils under the foundations of institutions to undermine, subvert and ultimately consume them. It even tears at itself, preventing the rise of some paradoxical "organized chaos" for any meaningful length of time. The Old Gods and other forces of Chaos seek to destroy all vestiges of the existing order and leave either nothing but annihilation in their wake or, if they are so far reaching, to set the cosmic stage such that if new Order were to arise after all has been destroyed, it would do so in such a way as to empower their position in the new reality. Chaos is neither Good nor Evil.