! WARNING !

This is VERY incomplete... it does not meet my standards for either content or appearance. It's here because some folks might like to see it.

Introduction

Verdas is a fantasy world, and as such should feel comfortable to anybody familiar with the genre. I took pains to avoid arcane terminology simply to seem different, so everything should be in plain English.

Overview

Design Goals & Notes

The world of Verdas has undergone several mutations… starting as a rough cosmology and a couple of false starts, I think I’ve boiled the best ideas into this.

I chose the FUDGE rules because they were flexible enough to do what I wanted instead of deciding how the world worked beforehand. I hope it will also serve as a good framework for guiding re-implementation of the game on other engines.

There were two sets of goals for this world, one for the world design itself, and another for the rules that are it’s foundation.

For the world, I wanted a world which incorporated magic into all parts of it… where the application of magic was integral to the technologies of everyday life. I also wanted to retain the spectacular magical effects that are a staple of fantasy, to make the study of magic more than an end in itself. I decided that there would be a difference in ‘technical’ magic (that which is used like a skill) and ‘sorcery’ which is flashier and broader in scope.

I decided to borrow some ideas from Raymond Feist’s Riftwar books, making Humans the most populous race on a planet that was not the one of their birth. To provide the impetus for these migrations I utilized the ‘stick’ approach, having them pursued by malefic forces.

I decided that there was a different kind of magic for each race

Cosmology

Concept

It basically goes like this:

• High magic world.
• Standard races, each with their own unique magical skills.
• Manifest and personal deities.
• Malefic extra-universal enemies.
• Reason that all this works.

Cosmogony

Metaphysics

Theology

Geography

[by continent]

Ethnology

Human

Tallspire Culture

The Empire

Dwarf

Elf

Orakh

History

The Tyranny of Surung

The Surung were the first people to occupy Verdas. They were mighty wizards, great warriors, and even the gods feared them. They shaped the races of Elf and Orc to be their slaves, and thus they ruled for millennia.

With such power, came pride, and they sought to harness powers beyond their realm… they drew the nightmare down upon themselves. Their greatest wizards went mad, razing cities and laying waste to entire regions, eventually to turn upon themselves when no more lay within their sight.

Those that could retreated into the labyrinths deep within the planet. But they too were doomed, for the nightmare had gained an ally in the twisted orcs, who slew their former masters though they died by the thousand.

With the fall of the Surung, the force of the Nightmare began to ebb, evetually dwelling only in the wastelands and the deepest holes of the labyrinth.

The Skyfall Wars

Elsewhere, another race of wizards arose, they built strange and wondrous things from metal and stone… they rode the sky like birds, flying so fast they outstripped the sun. The nightmare took their world too.

They escaped, thousands of them making the jump through the Dark to another world. Their magic failed them there and they learned again to use the arts, and they befriended another race… folk not unlike themselves who lived and worked beneath the hills and mountains.

When again their world was threatened, some remembered how their ancestors had crossed the dark, and again they escaped, bringing their friends along with them.

Thus Men and Dwarves came to Verdas.

The Immigrations

Taming the Frontiers

Politics

Biology

Human

Dwarf

Elf

Zoology

Botany

Nightmare

Technology

Metallurgy

Sorcery

Agronomy

Masonry/Carpentry

Siege Engineering

Rules

Character Generation

Attributes

There are nine attributes used. They are grouped according to the classic Mind/Body/Spirit division and also into groups called ‘Active’, ‘Passive’ and ‘Controlled’.

Build your character according to section 1.61 of the FUDGE rules. You have 5 free stat levels.

Skills

I prefer broad skill groups. Here is a partial list so you get an idea.

• Melee Weapons
• Ranged weapons
• Unarmed combat
• Magic Theory
• Survival (includes tracking etc.)
• History
• Horemanship

You get the idea I'm sure.

Use the rules in section 1.62 of the FUDGE rules. You have 30 free levels. Skill difficulty is as follows:

• Skills directly pertaining to your character's profession are "Easy"
• Skills not even loosly pertaining to your character's background (magic theory for a warrior etc.) are 'hard'.
• Unless otherwise denoted, the rest are 'most'.

Gifts/Flaws

You get one free gift

Supernatural Powers

You get one free power.

Partial List of powers:

Sorcery

This power can be used to do anything that can't be done with a skill

Avatar

Allows caracter to call upon the power of their diety with some degree of reliablility.

Putting them together

Race Packages

These packages have a cost in terms of stats/gifts/powers/flaws. They do not necesarily balance to 0 net cost.

Human

No mods.

Elf

Stats: -1 STR, +1 DEX, -1 Piety, +1 Will.
Gift: Native.
Flaw: Cannot learn additional magical forms.
Powers: Innate Elfin Magic.

Net cost: 1 power.

Dwarf

Stats: +1 STR, +1 CON, -1 Perception
Gift: Shaping.
Flaw: None.
Powers: None.

Net Cost: 1 stat, 1 gift

Orc

Class Templates

Sample Characters

Character Sheets

Advancement

Magic

Sorcery

Shaping

Elfin magic

Blending

Kinetics

Resistance

Sensing

Orakh magic

Exert

Endure

Intimidate

Nightmare magic

Miracles

Psi