-
3The Return Trip
................................................... 64Moving on Old
Tiles.......................................................64Pursuit
from Dungeon
...................................................64
Solo Play
..............................................................
64Stygian Activation
..........................................................64
Treasure
...............................................................
65Gold Lust
..........................................................................65Ether
Crystals
...................................................................65Using
Magic Treasure Tables
.........................................65Treasure Victory Points
..................................................66Force Bonus
Points
..........................................................66
Alchemy
...............................................................
66Elixirs
..................................................................................66Identifying
Elixirs
............................................................67Creating
Elixirs.................................................................67
Magic Items
......................................................... 68Types
of Magic Items
......................................................68Magic Item
Activation
....................................................68Using Magic
Items
...........................................................68Books
of Magic
................................................................68Magic
Item Mishap
.........................................................69Magic
Item Points
............................................................69Recovering
Magic Items .................................................69
Adventure Aftermath............................................
71Surviving the adventure
..................................................71Reinforcements
................................................................71Experience
and Victory Points .....................................71Warband
Advances
..........................................................72New
Models
......................................................................72Personal
Advancement
...................................................72Hero Points
.......................................................................73Point
Cost of Advanced Models ..................................73
New Recruits
........................................................ 74Axibaln
Empire
..............................................................74Dark
Mariners
..................................................................74Draconid
Legion..............................................................75Fortune
Hunters
..............................................................76Order
of Yosoth
...............................................................77Sunless
Kingdom
.............................................................77Demons
of the Void
........................................................78
Gameplay Summary .............................................
79Typical Cavern Tile Stack
.............................................79Typical Dungeon Tile
Stack .........................................79Cavern Tile
Contents
.....................................................79Dungeon Tile
Contents .................................................80Cavern
Room
...................................................................82Cavern
Room
...................................................................82
Cavern Tiles
......................................................... 82Dungeon
Tiles ..................................................... 90
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
-
4Introduction
The Stygian Depths is a supplement for ShadowSea, providing
rules for adventures into the depths of the world, where nameless
creatures and antediluvian civilizations guard magical artifacts
and Golden Treasure s, ever plotting their return to power.
Warbands may enter into the Stygian Depths from the Underlands, the
primary realm of ShadowSea, in search of gold and ancient magical
items, as well as for the glowing crystals that power all of the
ether technology of the Ancients.
Adventures in the deep caverns are played on the tabletop using
tiles to represent stretches of tunnels and rooms. The tiles can be
arranged by the GameMaster, or GM for short, a player who commands
all of the creatures, traps, and other aspects of the game against
the players of the warband. Optionally, players may each take their
own small warbands into the depths and compete to recover artifacts
and treasure, using solo rules to control the monsters and build up
the catacombs.
The main ShadowSea rulebook is required to play using this
supplement. ShadowSea game rules are based upon the Song of Blades
and Heroes (SOBH) ruleset by Ganesha Games. They are designed for
fast and furious play with plenty of heroic action, channeling of
arcane magic, resolved with a few rolls of 6-sided dice.
The cavern entrance was a pit of eerie blackness, dropping down
from the temple into the heart of the earth. Vapors emanated from
the depths, foul with the odor of ancient corruption, yet there was
to be no retreat, no returning to the ship with our hands empty.
The dark places of the world hold nameless horrors but also hold
the source of power for the ancient artifacts of the Underlands,
crystals pulsing with the energy of the ethers...
Our group was not prepared for the horrors of the Stygian
Depths, as we have named the accused lands below. Naught else but
the world of the damned did we find, with creatures that defied all
laws of nature, and where the very earth seemed to tear at our
souls. The catacombs penetrated deep below, twisting and turning
until emerging into a nightmare city of demons, a place long
forgotten by the civilizations of man and only whispered of by
decrepit sages searching through the crumbling ruins of the
Underlands...
Journal entry Johan Kurtz 1680
ShadowSea - Stygian Depths has been designed for battle using
28mm heroic scale miniatures, with one figure representing one
character or creature. Any brand of miniature may be used, but they
should have some type of uniform base, such as plastic round or
square bases. Typical round bases sizes are 30mm for medium, 40mm
for bigger, and 50-60mm for huge models. Long models can be mounted
on oval or rectangular bases.
The nominal ground scale with 28mm models is roughly 20mm = 1
meter. One turn represent a few seconds of combat and heroic
actions. Distances for movement and combat range are measured
either using a ruler or with three measuring sticks of 75mm
(Short), 120mm (Medium) and 180mm (Long). If one wants to use
Imperial units, the sticks would be 3 inches (Short) 4.75 inches
(Medium) and 7 inches (long).
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
-
5 BackgroundThe following is excerpted from the journal of Johan
Kurtz, from Expeditions in the Stygian Depths, 1680.
The artifacts we discovered in this shadowy realm called the
Underlands had given me great hope that we would recover the
missing piece of the arch that I had long searched for. In one
ruined city we uncovered a broken part of a similar arch, but the
crystal energy source hinted at by the elder sages of Yosoth was
not to be found... But we did find them in time, deep below the
surface of the world and in the crawling pits of hell. The entrance
to the abyss was within a crumbling temple, a yawning pit that
belched forth a blast of charnel air, but glimmered in the depths
with bits of pale blue crystals. Down the twisting caverns went
into the earth, where creatures of nightmare came from the very
walls to tear and rend our group.
But there was gold, and glittering crystals in these caverns,
more powerful that any of those found in the ancient cities above.
Even a small piece was enough to power a device I had recovered,
and a larger piece of crystal made it into a formidable weapon.
Further we went into the shadows, our torches sputtering in the
misty air and illuminating massive caverns dripping with slime,
rivers of infernal lava and lakes with ominous shapes recoiling
into the depths. The catacombs emerged into a dreamlike world at
the center of the earth... It could not be, but we walked marble
passages in the deep, where the walls were decorated with mosaics
of demons in the form of foul serpents, and where the darkest rites
were performed by those very demons, living and breathing before
us, until our blades and gunfire sent them back to the pits of hell
whence they spawned.
Elder DemonsOur recent expedition back into the Stygian Depths
has
shaken our group. Many have returned to their homeland with
distemper of the mind, and I have only been able to continue with
the aid of a number of unsavory mercenaries from the Sunless
Forest. The serpents of the deep are a race that was old when the
kingdoms of man were young, and have been called many names, the
Naga of the far eastern realms, the Xicoatal of the savage empires
of the new world, and simply Snakemen by our holy men. They are the
bane of man from time immemorial, stealers of souls, able to work
the darkest sorcery to cross between the realms of dreams and our
waking world. They can bridge vast distances in moments to bring
back to their pits innocents from our kingdoms, victims that must
toil as slaves or serve as sacrifices in gruesome ceremonies to
honor demonic gods of the void. The very laws of nature are torn
asunder in the pits, as underground chambers have been found that
are warped beyond reality, with misty views of fields of stars and
fiery planets, lands that cannot possibly exist except in the
nightmares of madness, and with demons that crawl out of the mists
to rend and tear.
The serpents of the earth have mastered type of magic we still
do not understand, able to manipulate of the elements of the earth
to transmute flesh into any form, render it invisible or reduce it
to a wisp of dust in mere moments. Some of the elder serpents have
even bridged the boundaries between the living and the dead,
capturing souls of the living and imprisoning them into jade idols
or great crystals, then enslaving the body for their own foul
purposes.
Our scholars say that the serpents and their demons have been
beaten back deep under the earth in our homeland and thought to be
destroyed, but evil still flourishes here, a last outpost from
where the dark creatures of old rebuild their strength to again
plague mankind.
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
-
6Serpents of the UnderworldIt was after returning to the
Underlands that we
discovered more about the Stygian Depths, primarily from
inscriptions within Axibaln temples. The pictogram language was
translated roughly by our scholars, as it is similar to that used
by native races of the New World. One of the translations described
the first encounter of the Axibaln king and his high priests with
the elder gods of the abyss, great serpents with scales that
glittered like gemstones and with powers of creation and
destruction. There was a great reverence for these beings in the
early age of the Axibaln empire, as evidenced by the many crumbling
temples we have found adorned with snake motifs and ominous altars
before gigantic scaly statues.
But the king and the priests were deceived, their minds
dominated and their souls imprisoned, and their empire became
little more than a source for sacrificial chattel. Recently built
temples show that it was the priestesses that began the revolution,
learning to channel ethereal energy of the Underlands and driving
the serpents back into the caverns below. The men of the empire,
still worshipping the serpents, were subjugated by the Sorceresses
and forced to become twisted bestial creations, with only a few
left for breeding or duties as priests. The power of the
sorceresses has grown such that some may even summon some of the
lesser serpents to do battle for them, but the most powerful of
those devils still dwell far below in nighted temples.
Lure of the EthersOther forces have been discovered searching in
the
dark places of the earth, and are thought to have different
reasons for confronting the serpents and demons in their unholy
pits. We have had encounters with dark sorcerers of the Order of
Yosoth in the Underlands, and now know that they too are searching
for the deep caverns of the abyss. Their goals, told to me by a
captured acolyte, are not for crystals to power ancient ethereal
artifacts, but knowledge of the ethers, ancient texts and
incantations used by the elder serpents to call demons from the
void and bridge time and space.
The goals of the Axibaln Empire are still mysterious to our
scholars, as their history indicates some sort of alliance with the
lesser serpents. It is now thought that the sorceresses are
attempting to capture the magic of the elder serpents for their
own, increasing their deadly sorcery further and assuming the
mantle of godlike beings within the Underlands.
Many of the deep caverns are flooded or contain deep rivers that
undoubtably connect with the Shadow Sea. During our latest
expedition we had a brief skirmish with
forces of the Dark Mariners as they attempted to retreat through
a deep lake, carrying a hoard of glowing crystals, possibly to
power their strange marine vessels and powerful energy weapons.
The savage lizardmen of the Draconid Legion were recently
spotted exiting nearby caverns carrying large glowing objects.
After a fierce skirmish we found the objects to be enormous eggs,
either from the serpents of some other mighty reptilian creature.
The embryos were snakelike in some, but had wings in others.
My expedition, now comprised of Fortune Hunters and mercenaries
of the Sunless Kingdom, remains focused on recovery of artifacts.
My search continues for portions of the arch that I theorize is the
key to solving the riddles that the Ancients of the Shadow Sea have
left behind, the disappearance of their majestic civilization and
the reason for the design of their underwater cities in this dark
underground world. The ethers are the beginning and the end I feel,
the reason for the Ancients existence and disappearance, and if I
can harness their powers and perfect the technology practiced by
these lost people it may usher in a new age...
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
-
7 Game OverviewStygian Depths is a new campaign supplement
for
ShadowSea, providing rules for adventures in a hellish
underground world. The basic gameplay follows the standard
ShadowSea rules, with some new wrinkles. Games are played using
tiles, square sections of catacombs and rooms printed on paper or
card, revealed as the warband moves through the twisting caverns
and dungeon levels. The idea behind the game is that one player
acts as the Game Master, controlling the enemy creatures, deploying
traps, and battling against the player of the adventuring warband.
There are also optional rules for solo or standard head-to-head
play for those who want to pit their warbands against each other in
a race to find ancient artifacts.
Battles and AdventuresWhen a warband enters the Stygian Depths,
it has
embarked on an Adventure, similar to a campaign in ShadowSea,
with multiple battles played in succession. A Battle is defined as
a single combat encounter, ending when either the warband or the
enemy side has been defeated or fled back into the darkness. A
warband must fight through many battles, finding treasure in the
lairs of deadly creatures before finally reaching the dungeons of
the Snakemen and their hidden secrets. All of these tasks are done
as part of one continuous adventure, with the models moved along
cavern and dungeon floor tiles representing corridors, rooms,
lairs, and quest chambers, while having battles with patrols and
hunting creatures along the way until the final battle scenario.
The Game Master controls the play of all of the enemies in the
battles and the overall flow of the game.
Game MasterThe Game Master, or GM, has a few more
responsibilities than the regular player, as he controls more than
just a warband. His role is to act as part combatant and part
storyteller, describing the scene while laying down tiles, playing
music to enhance the atmosphere and controlling the dungeon
dwellers and traps with creativity. The task of the GM is not
simply to defeat the invading warband but to do it with style.
Stygian ForcesThe GM can choose to build the adventure from
scratch, selecting all of the rooms, creatures and traps, or can
simply use the random dungeon generation rules
and play as the Stygian forces. Point values allowed for the
Stygian force and all wild creatures depend on where the encounter
occurs and are described fully in the Environments section
(p.22).
Patrols are small encounters occurring in either corridors or
rooms, including those with deadly terrain. Lairs contain more
dangerous encounters. Different types of creatures are encountered
in patrols or lurking in lairs, depending on the depth of the
caverns and the environment. For example, Snakemen and their
summoned demons are found in the lower depths of the catacombs,
slithering along paved corridors and lurking in ornate temples,
while Gobelins, ghuls, and vile fungal creatures lurk in the upper
levels, where rivers of lava, deep pools of frigid waters and
crumbling floors present as much danger as the denizens of the
shadows.
Quest Chambers are the final location of an adventure, where
pitched battles occur in the dungeons of the Snakemen. There are
many different battle scenarios for Quest Chambers, each with its
own point values for the Stygian forces and victory conditions. See
Environments for more information.
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
-
8caverns, where even more dangerous creatures and valuable
treasure can be found.
Adventures in the caverns end when the warband finds the stairs
to the dungeon level, where the Snakemen and their evil allies
lurk. There the warband fights demonic entities and searches for
the main Quest Chamber where the final encounter of the adventure
occurs. After the final battle, the warband must escape the dungeon
and caverns after completing before the Snakemen and their
reinforcements can catch them.
Map LayoutThe GM is in charge of creating the map during
play, either by laying down the map tiles beforehand and then
flipping them upside down, or by pulling map tiles at random from a
tile stack as the players move through the map. If randomly
building the map, the GM can replace tiles that do not fit the map.
See Gameplay Summary (page 79) for typical tile stacks.
Map TilesMap tiles are square sections of corridor and rooms
that are meant to fit together side by side. The Stygian Depths
is meant to be played with two sets of square map tiles
representing natural caverns and the hidden dungeons of the
Snakemen. The tiles are specially designed to have a mixture of
different terrain types and scenic features and are available
separately from the book in electronic form to purchase from
AntiMatter Games and print out. Pre-printed tiles and scenic
features are also available.
Map tiles are laid down with the exit from one attaching to the
entrance of another, with new tiles added once a model touches the
end of the first tile. The number of tiles that are added depends
on the visibility, which in turn depends on the type of light
carried by the adventurers.
WarbandsWarband need to be small when travelling through
the tight underground passages of the Stygian Depths, and are
therefore limited to 400 points. Round down to the nearest 10 for
calculations (e.g., 408 points rounds to 400 points). When building
a warband, the player selects his or her models from one of the six
main forces. Mercenaries from the Sunless Kingdom and summoned
creatures can be added to fill out the ranks.
Personality models are limited to 300 points, a higher
percentage than for typical ShadowSea skirmishes due in part to the
dangerous nature of the environment and creatures. Warbands should
be carefully built to have a full compliment of abilities. Ideally,
one needs a good mix of offensive abilities, healing and magic, as
well as specialized spelunking and adventuring skills. A good mix
of physical skills are also needed to help navigate through the
dangerous terrain.
Multiple players may join the adventure, but must use smaller
warbands of 300 points. There is no restriction on personalities
for these small warbands. Multiple players can also team together
with the same force if desired, but the warband point total can not
exceed the standard 400 points.
Adventure OverviewGameplay starts at a cavern entrance, usually
found
on the floor of a ruined temple in the Underlands. The entrance
may simply be hole in the floor or ground, leading down into a
cavern room tile. The warband moves along through the cavern using
normal activation and movement procedures, turning over and
revealing new tiles as the models pass through the previous
ones.
Warbands may discover treasure, deadly traps and patrolling
creatures as they travel through the caverns. Some rooms may
contain holes in the floor to deeper
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
-
9Light and VisibilityIn deep underground catacombs, the ethers
produce
only a faint glow. Adventurers into the Stygian Depths cannot
see in the dark, and must bring some sort of light to see. Torches,
lanterns and ether tech light sources all allow for a model to
reveal two map tiles when exiting the starting tile, up to the
point at which there is a corner turn or a room. Without a light
source, only one tile may be revealed. Magic-Users, and all variant
spellcasters can make a magical ether light that is equivalent to a
torch.
Light is not only important for movement. Ranged and spell
attacks also depend on lighting can only be done as far as the
illuminated area (see Gameplay on page 11).
A light source can be dropped or put down (free action) and will
illuminate an area from the point where it lands. A dead model
drops the light where it falls. Lights can also be thrown up to a
distance of one Long Stick with 1 action. Picking up the light
again takes 1 action. Dropping a light into water will extinguish
it for the game but some ether tech lights can be made waterproof
or can illuminate further than torches or lanterns.
All lights are counted as special items, with the cost varying
with its complexity level (CL). Torches and lanterns are CL0,
costing nothing, and each non-Animal member of a warband is assumed
to have one torch or lantern. A Scientist can design an ether tech
lamp using the ShadowSea rules for tech item creation between
adventures. Ether tech lights are normally CL1. Waterproof lights
and advanced lights that allow three map tiles to revealed, up to a
corner or room, are CL2.
Many stygian creatures and some members of the six main forces
(see New Recruits on page 74) have the ability of Darksight, which
allows them to see in darkness as if in full light and reveal three
tiles.
Some environmental features produce light equivalent to a torch.
These include ethereal crystal, glowing fungus, lava flows, and
simple ornamental crystals used to light up the darkness.
Movement in Tight SpacesA model may move through the base of a
friendly
model, reducing movement by one category (e.g. Medium to Short
stick). A move may not pass through an enemy model, however. A
models base may also overlap into the wall or a friendly models
base by roughly 5mm.
Selecting TilesIf the GM has pre-made the map, tiles should all
be
upside down and flipped as the warband moves. If the map is
generated at random, tiles are placed in a pile, face-down, and
picked one at a time.
Tile TypesThere are two main types of catacombs in the
Stygian Depths, Caverns and Dungeons. Caverns are natural
formations created by underground rivers and streams eating away at
the limestone foundation of the Underlands. Older regions may be
dry, as the rivers have shifted into other areas of the caverns,
but new areas often have fast flowing currents that can suck the
unwary traveller into the deep abyss and certain death.
Samp
le file
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
UtilisateurTexte surlign
stygian
depths_cover_1_front_bright_PDFStygian_depths_no_cover_PDF_with_tilesIntroductionBackgroundElder
DemonsSerpents of the UnderworldLure of the Ethers
Game OverviewBattles and AdventuresGame MasterStygian
ForcesWarbandsAdventure OverviewMap LayoutMap TilesLight and
VisibilityMovement in Tight SpacesSelecting TilesTile TypesTile
SizesCustom Maps
GameplaySurpriseEnemy MovementAggressive PlayRanged Attacks and
SpellsExplosivesMounted ModelsHiding in ShadowsMorale Failure
Elder MagicSpellcasting RollDeclaring Spells for CastingSpell
MishapPossession SpellsTransmutation SpellsDisruption Spells
Special AbilitiesAlchemistArea AttackCamouflageCounterCritical
HitDarksightDeadeyeDemonologistDevastatorDiseaseDreamwalkerDrainPetrifyPhase
InstabilityPorterPossessorRegenerationShaperShapeshiftSpikerTaster
EnvironmentsCavernsLair EntrancesScenic Terrain FeaturesTile
ContentsAmbushCavern PatrolTreasureDeadly Terrain
Cavern LairsLair 1 - Gobelin DebaucheryLair 2 - Giants of the
DeepLair 3 - Fungal InfestationLair 4 - Death from AboveLair 5 -
Hungry Cave DrakeLair 6 - Pool of FireLair 7 - Eye of the
MaelstromLair 8 - Slumbering Ancient Dragon
DungeonsLight in DungeonsDungeon DoorsQuest and Lair
EntrancesDungeon Scenic Terrain FeaturesTile ContentsTrapsDungeon
PatrolDungeon Treasure
Dungeon LairsLair 1 - Workshop of The DamnedLair 2 - Mining Pits
of SorrowLair 3 - Demons of IceLair 4 - Shadow and FlameLair 5 -
The MuseumLair 6 - A Bridge Too FarLair 7 - Dark LibraryLair 8 -
Pestilence
Quest ChambersQuest Chamber 1 - Gateway of DreamsQuest Chamber 2
- Garden of ParadiseQuest Chamber 3 - Temple of BloodQuest Chamber
4 - The QueenQuest Chamber 5 - Crystal MerchantsQuest Chamber 6 -
Treasure of the Ages
The Return TripMoving on Old TilesPursuit from Dungeon
Solo PlayStygian Activation
TreasureGold LustEther CrystalsUsing Magic Treasure
TablesTreasure Victory PointsForce Bonus Points
AlchemyElixirsIdentifying ElixirsCreating Elixirs
Magic ItemsTypes of Magic ItemsMagic Item ActivationUsing Magic
ItemsBooks of MagicMagic Item MishapMagic Item PointsRecovering
Magic Items
Adventure AftermathSurviving the
adventureReinforcementsExperience and Victory PointsWarband
AdvancesNew ModelsPersonal AdvancementHero PointsPoint Cost of
Advanced Models
New RecruitsAxibaln EmpireDark MarinersDraconid LegionFortune
HuntersOrder of YosothSunless KingdomDemons of the Void
Gameplay SummaryTypical Cavern Tile Stack Typical Dungeon Tile
Stack Cavern Tile ContentsDungeon Tile ContentsCavern RoomCavern
Room
Cavern TilesDungeon Tiles
stygian depths_cover_1_back_PDF