Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Brief History of Vomorhin

Vomorhin, the cosmopolitan center of trade and intrigue, is a city delighting in its first tastes of freedom after a century under a crazed despot.

Creeshus, the mad wizard king, ruled Vomorhin with unspeakable power and utterly bizarre whims. Everything from the city's laws to its physical structure could change on a daily basis. Cowed citizens shared their streets with vicious ogres, cunning tieflings and all manner of nefarious creatures who shared in Creeshus's schemes. That is, until Creeshus disintegrated them for condescending to his owlbear.

Sure, the city barely functioned and both man and monster despised Creeshus and his rule, but who could actually stand up to him? Uprisings were attempted, but the revolutionaries were generally turned into frogs or divorced from their skeletons before the gates could be breached. City leaders and merchants met in shadowed sewers to discuss methods of keeping the populace fed without incurring the tyrant's wrath.

In the end, the city's salvation came from within the walls of Creeshus's massive palace tower. The wizard's four children, powerful magicians by birth and training, surprised the city's secret parliament by offering them a deal: in exchange for places of significant power in the city, they would slay their father and bring stability to Vomorhin. It was a risky proposition, but just about anything would be better than the status quo.

It wasn't a public execution or a theatrical melodrama. Three days after the decision was reached, the city was rocked with a vicious earthquake and a massive explosion of magical power erupting into the sky. And like that, a new age dawned over the city. Creeshus's tower was demolished as a symbol of the peace that would hopefully last between man, beast, demon and monstrously powerful halfblood wizards.

That was 10 years ago. In the intervening time, Vomorhin has arisen reborn as a new hub for culture, politics and magic. That and organized crime.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Challenge Accepted (And A Quick Recap)



So, in passing...

1) Got a super solid full-time Reference Librarian position in South Jersey, which has understandably been devouring the majority of my time. Because of my new hours, I unfortunately had to leave fellow Jersey resident Drance's Castles & Crusades game, which will be much missed. Maybe Milo will swing his grappling hook in the name of truth, justice and reasonable reward once more.

2) Currently set up to run a Google+ or Skype D&D game with a bunch of my distant and disparate friends from college and pre-professional life. The whole 'Heist D&D' idea that I've had ever since I started reading up on Classic D&D and its variations just popped into my brain one night after work and a couple of friends expressed interest. Expect to see a lot of prep here in the future.

3) Jason Kielbasa's Wrestleworld is awesome and I'm going to play it.

4) I am really, really bad at coming up with fantasy names.