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Post by javaapp on May 18, 2012 10:56:13 GMT -6
Here is a list of ‘facts’ that Geoffrey McKinney has offered about men on Carcosa. We can use this list of fact to extrapolate or flesh out the culture and material conditions of these men for use in our individual campaigns. The first section is derived from the revised Carcosa tome, while the second comes from the answers to questions provided in another thread.
- There are 13 'races'.
- The races cannot interbreed.
- Men evolved from some escaped slime of the Primordial Ones, and were later engineered to be sacrifices for the sorcery of the snake men.
- Actual historical knowledge is limited, including the above fact, to a few Sorcerers or other knowledgeable individuals.
- The different races shun each other out of fear of being enslaved and/or sacrificed.
- Bone Men are more shunned than most.
- Jale Men are said to have a talent for sorcery.
- Myth and legend are nearly non-existent, and worship is confined to the Great Old Ones, artifacts, monsters or something else not out of adoration, but out of fear or for the power it provides.
- Men have a cultural inferiority complex, and are inclined to fatalism.
- Scientific curiosity is stunted, and when expressed involves stealing high tech form the Space Aliens.
- From a 21st century perspective, Carcosan culture seems degraded (like the Natives of Skull Island in the recent version of King Kong).
- The largest political unit is the Village-state, with a population of less than 500.
- Childhood ends in the pre-teen years, (10 – 12) and is in no way idealized. Old Age is likewise a vulnerable time.
- Governments are absolutist, with excess servility toward a ruler, who is usually an egomaniac (all the rulers are Qadaffis, or Neros) which vast pretensions.
- There exist those who love and serve the Great Old Ones (Chaotic) as well as those that fear and hate them (Lawful).
In addition, Geoffrey has mentioned the following:
- Carcosan Men exist at a subsistence level of hunting and gathering. Agriculture is rare and pitiful when it occurs.
- Most Carcosans are insectivores, whose diet is mainly made up of insects.
- There are roughly four types of culture among men: Primitives, Villagers, Nomads, and Space Alien Imitators, who are very, very rare and few in number. Villagers are the vast majority.
- Arms and Armor technology is very advanced, comparatively. Assume a 1300 AD level of arms technology for the villages.
- Villages can mint coins and produce jewelry.
Now that we have a list, I think we can begin to extrapolate from it. Note that while I intend to use Geoffrey’s assumptions as my base of extrapolation, you don’t have to.
Please post replies that give your extrapolations about the society and material conditions among men in Carcosa. If you make different base assumptions about Carcosan society than Geoffrey makes, it would be helpful if you pointed it out (to me, anyway).
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Post by javaapp on May 18, 2012 10:57:15 GMT -6
I offer the following, not as facts that must be accepted, but as speculations that may or may not be true for your campaign. (I know, that should be obvious, but I felt compelled to say it anyway. Probably because of too many years as a RQ/Glorantha fan.)
- Carcosan Village agriculture, where it exists at all, is probably confined to roots, tubers and perhaps various ugly squashes. I find it doubtful that any of it could be eaten raw, and probably has to be cooked extensively to be palatable. Where agriculture exists, it is probably a by-product of Sorcerer’s cultivation of certain rare herbs, practiced either in under Sorcerers who are village leaders or out of habit after Sorcerers who have died.
- The only alcoholic beverage is a type of mead, made from the honey of certain cultivated bee-like insects. It is fantastically expensive and intended for the elite.
- Drug use, through herbs or ground-up insects, is the main intoxicant of the non-elite. Such drug use probably makes you more passive and lethargic, and is frowned on by the elites. Drug use among the elites is probably confined to stimulants.
- Dinosaur meat is probably very highly prized, but dangerous to hunt and sometimes to consume, if it is tainted by toxins. Crustaceans and eels from the seas, ditto. (Are there fish on Carcosa?)
- Carcosan housing relies on adobe like brick. Hemispheres are a common architectural design. Most homes consist of single domes or, for the elite, halls or square buildings with an interior courtyard.
- All Carcosan languages of men are derived from the same root (Snake-Men) and are mutually intelligible, though with thick accents (nearly dialects) among the 13 races.
- Because of the impossibility of inbreeding, slaves from other races are desirable as concubines, as they produce no heirs. Purple-men women are highly prized for this purpose, as are Green-men women.
- There is an active slave trade, perhaps more than any other sort of ‘product’.
- The society of Carcosan men is highly sexist and patriarchal. Women are regarded as property, (albeit highly valued) who have few, if any, rights. Exceptions can and do exist.
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Post by Mushgnome on May 18, 2012 11:10:15 GMT -6
- Carcosan Village agriculture, where it exists at all, is probably confined to roots, tubers and perhaps various ugly squashes. I find it doubtful that any of it could be eaten raw, and probably has to be cooked extensively to be palatable. Where agriculture exists, it is probably a by-product of Sorcerer’s cultivation of certain rare herbs, practiced either in under Sorcerers who are village leaders or out of habit after Sorcerers who have died. Taro is an excellent real-world inspiration for Carcosan food-crops. Taro is one of the oldest known cultivated plants, but is toxic if improperly prepared: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TaroI also imagine areas of Carcosa are teeming with fungi. As in the real world, poisonous mushrooms have evolved to mimic edibles, and certain species might be edible to local populations that have developed immunity, but deadly to foreigners: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_morelBy the way, I'm running a play-by-post Carcosa campaign if you're curious to mine it for inspiration: odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=muchgnomeI've embellished "by the book" Carcosa with some real-world creepiness plus what I guess you might call "steampunk" elements. The home-base for the PC's is HP Lovecraft's city of Arkham. We currently have a mass combat in progress between 80+ sailors vs. a submarine full of deep one slavers. Next on the agenda, if the party survives, they will be riding brontosauruses into a haunted swamp on an expedition for Miskatonic University.  I'm always recruiting new players, and I think you would fit right in--send me a PM if you're interested! Anyone reading this is welcome to join, whether as a long-term member of the campaign, or just for a one-shot skirmish using Chainmail rules. |
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Post by Morandir on May 18, 2012 13:01:07 GMT -6
I also imagine areas of Carcosa are teeming with fungi. As in the real world, poisonous mushrooms have evolved to mimic edibles, and certain species might be edible to local populations that have developed immunity, but deadly to foreigners. That's how I've always imagined the planet as well, and I tend to think of fungi as a major source of food for Carcosans who live in areas where it grows. And with all the radioactivity and mutations, who knows what sort of crazy psychedelic effects are produced by eating certain ones... The idea that some populations are immune to otherwise deadly local fungus is fantastic! I may have to use that this week. |
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Post by Mushgnome on May 18, 2012 13:12:05 GMT -6
I also imagine areas of Carcosa are teeming with fungi. As in the real world, poisonous mushrooms have evolved to mimic edibles, and certain species might be edible to local populations that have developed immunity, but deadly to foreigners. That's how I've always imagined the planet as well, and I tend to think of fungi as a major source of food for Carcosans who live in areas where it grows. And with all the radioactivity and mutations, who knows what sort of crazy psychedelic effects are produced by eating certain ones... The idea that some populations are immune to otherwise deadly local fungus is fantastic! I may have to use that this week. In fact, in real life, mushrooms can be used to concentrate and harvest ambient radioactivity from the general environment: www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/how-mushrooms-can-clean-radioactive-contamination-8-step-planEating the contaminated fungi would, of course, be extremely muto-genic and endlessly entertaining at the gaming table. Also I imagine Carcosa has a lot of edible lichens, jelly fungus, tiny fairy-ring mushrooms, etc. that are time-consuming to gather for very little food energy. Common people spend hours a day scraping out a living from the harsh soil... filling caves with compost to spawn mycelial growth... each clan jealously guarding its own secret mushroom-hunting sites. |
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 18, 2012 18:59:50 GMT -6
I had a post about languages on my blog (this is all non-canon):
When the Snake-Men created the 13 races of mankind, they imprinted within each the ability to spontaneously, organically develop a unique racial language. Why did they care if their lab rats could speak? No one knows.
There are 12 ‘mother tongues’ among Men, one for each color, excepting Dolm. There are several additional languages that have developed over the eons. Language notes in brief:
There are no alignment languages on CARCOSA.
Dolm Men do not have their own language; during childhood, they randomly imprint one of the 12 color languages. The reason for this is unknown.
Black Tongue is the primary language of Black Men and – due to abundant overlap with other languages – the unofficial lingua franca of CARCOSA.
Dark Black is a baroque dialect spoken only among a small, xenophobic polity of Black Men who desire utter distinction from all other races.
Grave Cant aka Bone Speak relies upon important visual cues only reproducible by Bone Men: subtle sparking displays among nervous tissues, prominent organ discoloration, and altered circulatory rhythms. It is essentially unlearnable by other races. Dolm Men who imprint Bone Speak typically devolve into animalistic savagery.
High Green and Low Green are two distinct languages, the former native to civilized Green Men and the latter a debasement in use solely among Green Primitives.
Blue and Red are near enough to be largely interchangeable. This linguistic familiarity explains the close cooperation between these two races.
Orange is sung among family and friends, spoken to anyone outside the tribe.
Purple is a barbaric cacophony of hoots, whistles, and screeches barely more advanced than the calling of apes.
Ulfiric is modulated to affect the emotional centers of the mind. Uniquely skilled speakers can evoke spectacular responses in weak-willed listeners: hypnosis, suggestion, charm, and more.
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 18, 2012 19:14:10 GMT -6
One thing I haven't been able to solve: The races are distrustful of one another, but they are scattered atop one another in close quarters across the map (10 miles apart). Why? There are only two larger political units on the map, and they were both created by me -- they are in the LotFP version but I regard them are suspect canon. The petty Jale empire of 'She of the Lake' (hex 2013 and surrounding) and the Silken Conclave of Bone Men (hex 0212 and surrounding). Confession time: the Silken Conclave came about from laziness. I was 300+ hex descriptions in of 400 total and hit a wall, and was like "How can I knock out a bunch of hexes without just spamming more Shub Spawn?" And so we have four hexes that all say "same as hex 0212." I was a little embarrassed to see it included on the map The beginning of my theory about why the races continue to live in close proximity and not assemble into antagonistic empires with intact borders is that they need each other. Each race is incomplete in a certain way, probably on purpose from having been engineered rather than evolved. This also provides an avenue to distinguish the races. Reds have all the dinosaur knowledge: breeding, taming, etc. Jales are best at sorcery. Blacks are in touch with the Mummy Brains and are deemed prophets and seers. Blues have an affinity for tech. Ulfire are empaths and good at managing cooperation. Not entirely fleshed out. Solving this question of why these guys are all heaped atop one another seems to me the key to making sense of the setting... if you want to make sense of the setting, which is another question entirely. |
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 18, 2012 19:24:25 GMT -6
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Post by strangebrew on May 18, 2012 20:46:29 GMT -6
Great stuff! By-the-book Carcosa is one of the games I've wanted to run for awhile, but I don't know if it will ever happen. But it's still interesting to think about. Everything is so forlorn and desolate, and the collected information above captures that perfectly. One thing I haven't been able to solve: The races are distrustful of one another, but they are scattered atop one another in close quarters across the map (10 miles apart). Why? I would guess that a subsistence-based hunter-gathering culture wouldn't be capable of maintaining anything resembling an empire, or even a state, due to a number of reasons. First, I think that hunting and gathering on Carcosa would be more difficult and time consuming than on Earth. On our planet, H/G cultures tend to have loads of free time, but on Carcosa everything is much more difficult. So I doubt that any of the "village-states" have standing armies or professional militias. Everyone is too busy looking for food. Successful agriculture is the foundation of a state larger than a tribe. Second, there is a lack of population to warrant a larger political unit. With village-states of a couple hundred, we are looking at a civilization that is literally in the Stone Age politically. I don't think that village-state is the most useful term (even if it is the official one), since it sounds too organized and politically ambitious for me. Maybe "despotic tribe" is better, perhaps with the largest tribes dominating the surrounding ones in a kind of loose chiefdom. This would probably be largely an ego-thing for the high chief. It would transcend racial barriers, since it is simply about power, with maybe some tribute given to the dominant tribe, but this is Carcosa so I doubt there is much tribute to give. I also doubt there would be much of an elite in a village of 400. Probably just the chief's family, who are all warriors and live slightly better than everyone else. Not decadent hedonistic Romans supported by caveman bug-eaters. Lastly, I think everyone is so fearful on Carcosa that they aren't really aware of much outside the vicinity of their village/hex. There might be another village two days hike away that they are completely unaware of. Perhaps they don't travel out of sight of their village's palisades due to all the dangers beyond (including getting lost). Maybe there is no direct village-to-village trade. Most trade is handled by nomadic slaver caravans who raid the weaker villages and sell to the stronger ones. Villages might also routinely disappear due to attacks from slavers, dinosaurs, or things even more terrible. Maybe many of the villages on the map are only a few years old, and are the collected survivors of a previous village that was razed. I also like the idea that the "villages" are mud brick pathetic things, whereas the "citadels" and "castles" are ancient yet functional ruins from past cultures that the Carcosans simply inhabit (which might have hidden chambers, catacombs, dungeons, etc). They certainly didn't build them themselves! So we have this strange mix of a Stone Age tribal culture with some areas of remarkable advancement (primarily in metallurgy) which are probably preserved from a previous era (Serpent-Men, or perhaps a forgotten Empire of Men), and therefore probably highly ritualized (blacksmiths being something akin to a priest?). It's definitely weird, but definitely cool, too. (Just for the record I usually try not to read too deeply into RPG things anymore in favor of "if it's fun, go with it". But sometimes the anthropology nerd in me wins out.) |
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 19, 2012 0:14:31 GMT -6
With that in mind, I'm inclined to view adventurers as Morrow Project-like groups that are tolerated (and sometimes embraced) by villages, castles, and citadels if they have knowledge to offer. I might let players each pick a background skill for their character related to civilization-building. Villages that need that skill may barter with arms/armor/supplies. Additional skills may be found as treasure (via scrolls, tablets, computer devices, etc.), providing more reasons to interact with (or be seized by) the villages, regardless of their alignment.
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Post by strangebrew on May 19, 2012 3:55:40 GMT -6
I recommend the "good at" skill system. The player just picks something their first level character is good at and writes it on their sheet. Like "Good at leather working". Nice, simple, and quick. Maybe let the player pick any skill, but subtly recommend trades. Or give a list of recommended skills.
As for adventuring groups, it seems like groups would also tend to be racially homogenous. This shouldn't be too much of an issue since, by the book, there really isn't any difference between the races (except that they don't like each other).
I think it would be cool to start the characters out as members of a citadel's community. They would have an overlord to give them missions, and surrounding hexes to explore. Perhaps the citadel is only partially explored, with several stone keeps and a network of underground passages for the characters to cut their teeth on. Clearing it would give the community room for expansion. And the home base is just up the stairs and across the crumbling courtyard in the southernmost keep.
I was thinking of Carcosan food when I was cooking my breakfast this morning. I like the idea of it being based on fungi and insects, with maybe some wild, tough, bitter fruit or something. About dinosaurs, I don't think that they would ever actually hunt dinosaurs for food. I think they would definitely seek out dinosaur nests in order to steal the eggs. A clutch of dinosaur eggs would be quite the haul, and would be a rich source of protein.
If a large community has only 50 able-bodied men, with maybe a quarter of them being fighting men (the warrior elite), I think it would still be too dangerous to hunt a dinosaur with 8+ HD. They would be able to overcome it if all the men were called out, but if they were unlucky, they could lose a huge portion of their men. This would be devastating to the future of the community. And nevermind sending out a group of "normal men" without a fighting man...with then 8 attacks per round the dinosaur would gobble them up in no time!
Of course they could trap them, or possibly hunt smaller, less aggressive dinosaurs.
It would be interesting to compile a common Carcosan diet breakdown according to proteins, starches, vegetables, fruits, etc.
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 19, 2012 7:43:17 GMT -6
If they can tame dinos to ride, then they can hunt them -- keeping the dino mounts fed is a much more difficult 'real world' problem. I'm assuming that mammoths could also be a part of the diet (their presence is noted in one of the ritual descriptions) and I'm all for introducing fantastical aurochs into the setting on a limited basis: www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VAHnZmZrYPQ |
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Post by javaapp on May 19, 2012 10:02:41 GMT -6
I love all these speculations. But I would try to put them in some sort of bullet point format, so that GM's can pull what they want and leave out what they don't want.
It may be nerdy, but I think this can be useful stuff for an actual campaign.
A couple of comments on the comments.
- I should have remembered that you (Crussdaddy) wrote 1/2 of all the descriptions! I Can now bother you about some of my question as well as Geoffrey.
- I think the Silken Conclave is a wonderful place to expand. I don't think that it is nation-state, per se, just a very loose confederation. When I finish the generation tool, maybe we can use it to quickly flesh out those five hexes?
- I do think it likely that most of the "Castles" and "Citadels" are in fact pre-human ruins. I think the Carcosa is littered with Ruins, myself.
- I surprised a little by diet being so meager, but I also see that there are possibilities here for scenarios revolving around food.
- I saw the mention of Mammoths myself, so it does seem like there are mammals in Carcosa. Sometimes I have trouble reconciling this with the picture of the landscape looking like the cover of the first edition of the Fiend Folio (as described by Geoffrey), which looks like blasted wasteland, but I need to remember this is a gaming supplement, rather than an ecological treatise. Just go with it, I tell myself. There are probably pockets of blasted wasteland, mingled with arid (thus poor in resources) but still habitable land.
- I would assume these is trade in Carcosa. Slaves, preserved food (fish, what vegetables there are, meat), sorcerous ingredients, pre-human artifacts (both useful and useless) fabric, wood, spices.
- There are probably mines on Carcosa, considering the need for metal for arms and armor, as well as precious metals and gems. I don't think I would want to be a miner on Carcosa.
- Average life expectancy? 35? 30? I bet everyone who is old is suspected of being a sorcerer. How else could you be so old?
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Post by javaapp on May 19, 2012 10:17:48 GMT -6
One thing I haven't been able to solve: The races are distrustful of one another, but they are scattered atop one another in close quarters across the map (10 miles apart). Why? ... The beginning of my theory about why the races continue to live in close proximity and not assemble into antagonistic empires with intact borders is that they need each other. Each race is incomplete in a certain way, probably on purpose from having been engineered rather than evolved. This also provides an avenue to distinguish the races. Reds have all the dinosaur knowledge: breeding, taming, etc. Jales are best at sorcery. Blacks are in touch with the Mummy Brains and are deemed prophets and seers. Blues have an affinity for tech. Ulfire are empaths and good at managing cooperation. Not entirely fleshed out. Solving this question of why these guys are all heaped atop one another seems to me the key to making sense of the setting... if you want to make sense of the setting, which is another question entirely. I think that may be a excellent avenue to follow. If the 13 races need each other for various things which they are skilled at, then it makes more sense for them to interact, despite their distrust. It also gives us another way to differentiate these races, rather than relying on stat bonuses. As to making sense of the setting, I think that there is a real balance here, in terms of 'over- rationalizing' the setting, and just ignoring stuff that seems to be odd or has a discrepancy. Players, in my experience, come at you from both angles. Some people will question elements of the setting, asking how things work, while others are only interested in their own characters career, and will only ask about things when it directly impacts them. So I think it is worth it to explore these questions, as long as we realize that each GM will come up with his own explanation or rationale. For example, I would have never expected a steampunk Carcosa with a Miskatonic University, but it sounds fun. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2012 12:14:37 GMT -6
Average life expectancy? 35? 30? I bet everyone who is old is suspected of being a sorcerer. How else could you be so old? This is an excellent idea. The elderly would be regarded with a conflicting mixture of respect for their advanced years and wisdom, and fear for whatever juju brought them to that stage. In general, the latter would would keep them from bother the elder, but apply a bit of pressure ... ... then along come the PCs! (evil grin) |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2012 12:18:06 GMT -6
There are probably mines on Carcosa, considering the need for metal for arms and armor, as well as precious metals and gems. I don't think I would want to be a miner on Carcosa. My module for Carcosa, "Obregon's Dishonor", featured a town based around a ruby mine. My approach to Carcosa was bit different, leaning more toward a Gamma World milieu then is the more widely accepted bleak world scenario. My gaming group loved it, but if I run Carcosa again I think I'll try something closer to what is being talked about here. |
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Post by vito on May 19, 2012 12:23:01 GMT -6
My own group seems to enjoy relating the races of man to real world cultures.
One of my players has decided that orange men are similar to the ancient Greeks. His orange fighting man is a hoplite.
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Post by geoffrey on May 19, 2012 12:29:04 GMT -6
Strangebrew's thoughts on Carcosa are very similar to my own.
Carcosa tends to look like the cover of the AD&D Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia (not the Fiend Folio).
Most humans on Carcosa never travel more than a few miles from their village. A lone 0-level human (or even half a dozen of them) is easy pickings on Carcosa. It's better to stay in the village in the relative safety of numbers. A village is indeed isolated even from another village only one hex away.
Life expectancy on Carcosa is indeed 30ish, but that doesn't mean that 30-year-olds are considered elderly. Rather, it means that there is a high rate of infant mortality. Consider the age at death of 10 humans born on Carcosa:
0 (died in infancy)
0 (died in infancy)
0 (died in infancy)
70 (died of old age)
70 (died of old age)
70 (died of old age)
20 (died in a plague)
20 (died in a plague)
20 (killed by a rival tribe)
20 (killed by a monster)
If you average all those together, you get an average age at death of 29. You can see that the infants (age 0) really drop the average.
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Post by javaapp on May 19, 2012 18:21:39 GMT -6
Carcosa tends to look like the cover of the AD&D Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia (not the Fiend Folio). Ack! My bad, that's what I get for not checking my sources before posting. Most humans on Carcosa never travel more than a few miles from their village. A lone 0-level human (or even half a dozen of them) is easy pickings on Carcosa. It's better to stay in the village in the relative safety of numbers. A village is indeed isolated even from another village only one hex away. That's interesting. What did you think of Strangebrew's idea of Slaver/Raider caravans that either raided or traded depending on the strength of the village? I liked the idea, and I was going to steal it whole sale. Life expectancy on Carcosa is indeed 30ish, but that doesn't mean that 30-year-olds are considered elderly. I understand. I thought since premature aging was a danger in sorcery, that might dovetail with the life expectancy issue, but you are talking about how tough life is on Carcosa, rather than average age. |
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 20, 2012 2:44:30 GMT -6
Of course if you want to get nutty with it, these races are called 'Men' but they are not human. Nutritional requirements could be anything. Or maybe cannibalism is commonplace, even within village groups.
But I'd rather they eat gross roots and fungus and dinosaurs and shirt...
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Post by geoffrey on May 20, 2012 8:01:07 GMT -6
That's right. None of the men on Carcosa are homo sapiens. None of them would be interfertile with an earthling. After all, each race of men on Carcosa isn't even interfertile with the other 12 Carcosan races of men!
That said, the men of Carcosa could be visually mistaken for homo sapiens if it weren't for those weird skin colors.
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Post by Mushgnome on May 20, 2012 9:23:08 GMT -6
The next Carcosa campaign I run, the term "men" will be gender-neutral. Some of the races will have distinct biological classes that we earthlings would call "male" and "female" but other races will be hermaphrodites, some eunuchs, some have three (or more) genders, etc. Regardless of biological gender, all of these beings would be referred to as "man," "sir," "fighting-man," "dude," "king," etc.
Just a thought I've been mulling over, to give the sexist pronouns of the 1970s a biological/cultural a legitimate explanation on Carcosa...
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Post by strangebrew on May 21, 2012 4:05:30 GMT -6
If they can tame dinos to ride, then they can hunt them -- keeping the dino mounts fed is a much more difficult 'real world' problem. The idea of dinosaur-riders has been often linked with Carcosa in blogs and things. I don't think that the average village would be able to domesticate a dinosaur. Supp V says that there are no beasts of burden on Carcosa, and walking is the norm. All dinosaurs are highly aggressive, even the plant-eaters. It does go on to say that "does not preclude any fantasic beasts of burden desired by the referee, such as giant lizard mounts, mutant pterosaurs, weird insectoids, etc." So sure, there might be dinosaur mounts, but I think generally they would be an exception rather than a norm. Of course you can have them in your campaign, I'm not suggesting otherwise, but I don't think widespread domestication is quite "canon" or "by the book" for what it's worth. |
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Post by geoffrey on May 21, 2012 9:01:58 GMT -6
FWIW, mounts of any sort (including dinosaurs) are relatively rare in my Carcosa games. If some nut (which includes most adventurers ;D ) wants to travel, he will most likely have to go on foot.
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Post by kesher on May 21, 2012 9:18:55 GMT -6
There are dinosaur-riding nomads in "The Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Invoker."
I'd be inclined to use giant insects to similar purpose...
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Post by strangebrew on May 21, 2012 17:28:23 GMT -6
There are dinosaur-riding nomads in "The Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Invoker." I stand corrected, then. I should have mentioned I only have the original Carcosa. I haven't read the FGotBS or the LotFP edition. If I were to have mounts in a game, I think I would come up with some kind of reptilian ostrich. Something that the players can quickly and easily visualize without having to look at a picture. I like the idea of dinosaur riding raiders, but if it's too common you might end up with "The Flintstones meet Cthulhu". (which might be entertaining as well) |
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Post by crusssdaddy on May 21, 2012 21:12:51 GMT -6
I like the "citadels are Alien/Great Race/ Primordial Ones/Snake-Men sites co-opted to human use" idea, that's one I'm going to run with.
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Post by burningtorso on May 21, 2012 21:16:14 GMT -6
strangebrew: "The Flintstones meet Cthulhu" (which might be entertaining as well) You inspired me to draw with that comment... ;D 
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Post by strangebrew on May 22, 2012 6:45:30 GMT -6
You inspired me to draw with that comment... ;D Wow, awesome! Exalt!!  I think it would be cool if people would share how they interpret Carcosa, especially the lives of the men on Carcosa. Here is some first thoughts for me: Climate and Environment
I see Carcosa as being arid, harsh (of course) and dusty. The sun is large and red in the yellow sky, like that of a dying planet. Perhaps there is only an hour or two of true daylight and true night per day, with long periods of dim twilight in between. Vegetation is limited to steppe-like brush, except the jungles, which are humid, gnarly and purple. All ground water and rain has a brine-like taste. DressI imagine Carcosan people to wear similar clothes no matter what race they are, but rather based on the environment. I visualize wilderness types wearing robes and veils like Bedouin. The village types wear loin cloths or nothing at all. Warriors wear leather harnesses, to which they hang weapons and trophies, like on Barsoom. Weapons and Armor
I like to think of Carcosan swords to be somewhat different, like the Egyptian khopesh. Armor is usually light due to the climate, mainly consisting of torso, groin, and head protection. So a leather shirt = AC 7, chain shirt = AC5, and breast plate = AC3 for simplicities sake. DietI agree with much that has been proposed...bugs, fungi, roots, dino eggs. I'd like to hear others' ideas! (in whatever format) |
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Post by burningtorso on May 22, 2012 7:06:15 GMT -6
I have similar thoughts on the vegetation and was planning on having the khopesh be a common sword type in my campaigns. Though with the jungles I have wide variety of prehistoric and alien plant life planned. Some I have drawn up and others are just in the description phase. I got a list of various plants, fungi and minerals that I started for my Carcosa book of alchemy. When I get that a bit more detailed I will post it here on the board and my blog. One of the exotic domesticated critters I have thrown into my game (and to my surprise the players often refer to it by name) is the Goar. From my blog:  Goar Armor Class: 5 [13] Hit Dice: 3-4 Attack: bite (1D8) or claw (1D6) Special: None Move: 14 The Goar appear to be evolved from synapsids. It shares reptilian and mammal traits. It has a reptilian body, rodent like incisors, boar like tusks and horns like a goat.(plus a few other smaller horns) They also have tufts of thick fur on their chins. Some villagers have domesticated Goars as riding animals. They can move rather fast when they need to. The illustration only an example. There are many subspecies who possess different patterns and colors. Like rodents, Goars need to gnaw on wood or bones to grind down their incisors. These creatures are omnivores, though prefer meat. |
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