Vaults of Vaarn #3
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Vaarn! I curse each letter of the name.
I curse the blue sand that infiltrates every pore of my body¸ the creeping sand¸ which each night swallows a little more of the final camp we have erected upon the face of this pitiless azure desolation. I curse the red sun that rises each morning to scorch the skin from our scalps; that great and gory globe¸ which the sages tell us is dying¸ yet seems to me¸ hanging above the lapis wastelands¸ to be full of malevolent life.
Vaarn! I curse you! I curse this land that has stolen the tears from its peoples' eyes¸ this land that swallows armies and poets and aeons as if they all¸ every work of every man¸ were but one more grain of mazarine sand. Vaarn! Three times I curse you¸ for I fear I will see no other land again.
- Final testament of Idris Ida-Null¸ Hegemony Cartographer.
***
Vaults of Vaarn returns for a third issue of science-fantasy RPG content¸ providing further support for referees who wish to set their game in the blue deserts at the very end of time. Issue three focuses on the Vaarnish Interior¸ the endless sand-sea that intimidates even the hardy souls who live in the dry and dangerous badlands.
No accurate map has ever been drawn of the Vaarnish Interior: the territory seems to defy rational organisation. This is a place without borders¸ the horizon between blue sand and blue sky no longer a stark dividing line but rather a molten membrane that swims and drifts woozily in the sun's wine-red heat¸ the land making and remaking itself just as a lizard sheds its skin. The blue sands retreat from the wind¸ revealing structures that have lain dry and deathless and undisturbed for aeons¸ and then those same restless dunes shroud the ruins once again¸ before a living soul can name them. This is a country vast and blue¸ as deep with secrets as the ocean and twice as capricious.
Included in Issue 3:
Information on three of the cultures that exist in the deepest of Vaarn's deserts: the nomadic Faa¸ the raucous Cacklemaw¸ and the motile crystal scholars of the Lithic Lyceum. Playable ancestries for each of these cultures¸ allowing you to embody a Faa nomad¸ Cacklemaw exile¸ or Lithling scholar at your gaming table. Travel procedures¸ a dynamic weather generator¸ and an extensive regional map generator¸ allowing you to create huge areas of the desert for your players to explore. More than twenty random tables¸ allowing referees to quickly create desert ruins¸ settlements¸ anomalies¸ underground vaults¸ holy sites¸ Vaarnish graves¸ Cacklemaw dens¸ Hegemony outposts¸ Faa nomad campsites¸ and more. New science-fantasy monsters to stalk the wastes¸ including the Argent Shepherd¸ the Lambent Lynx¸ the Quill Spider¸ and the majestic Vaarnish Sandworm. Four new vehicles and a selection of powerful and mysterious exotica.
Fully illustrated throughout with evocative black and white line-art. Printed in black and white with colour covers.
What Others Have Said
'While the aesthetics are 100% zine (in a good way)¸ the content is a full fantasy adventure game in a weird¸ post-post-apocalyptic world inspired by books like Dune¸ The Book of the New Sun¸ and Hyperion ¸ as well as the art of Moebius.' - The Viridian Scroll
'A cool setting with a lot of opportunity to pull from both your favorite standard fantasy resources and science fiction compendiums in order to build out a wild mash-up world.' - Perplexing Ruins
'The setting is wild¸ it feels like the author took Numenera¸ Gamma World and Dune and got them drunk¸ put them in a big vapourwave-themed hotel room and let them go at it.' - Pod Of Blunders
Vaarn! I curse each letter of the name.
I curse the blue sand that infiltrates every pore of my body¸ the creeping sand¸ which each night swallows a little more of the final camp we have erected upon the face of this pitiless azure desolation. I curse the red sun that rises each morning to scorch the skin from our scalps; that great and gory globe¸ which the sages tell us is dying¸ yet seems to me¸ hanging above the lapis wastelands¸ to be full of malevolent life.
Vaarn! I curse you! I curse this land that has stolen the tears from its peoples' eyes¸ this land that swallows armies and poets and aeons as if they all¸ every work of every man¸ were but one more grain of mazarine sand. Vaarn! Three times I curse you¸ for I fear I will see no other land again.
- Final testament of Idris Ida-Null¸ Hegemony Cartographer.
***
Vaults of Vaarn returns for a third issue of science-fantasy RPG content¸ providing further support for referees who wish to set their game in the blue deserts at the very end of time. Issue three focuses on the Vaarnish Interior¸ the endless sand-sea that intimidates even the hardy souls who live in the dry and dangerous badlands.
No accurate map has ever been drawn of the Vaarnish Interior: the territory seems to defy rational organisation. This is a place without borders¸ the horizon between blue sand and blue sky no longer a stark dividing line but rather a molten membrane that swims and drifts woozily in the sun's wine-red heat¸ the land making and remaking itself just as a lizard sheds its skin. The blue sands retreat from the wind¸ revealing structures that have lain dry and deathless and undisturbed for aeons¸ and then those same restless dunes shroud the ruins once again¸ before a living soul can name them. This is a country vast and blue¸ as deep with secrets as the ocean and twice as capricious.
Included in Issue 3:
Information on three of the cultures that exist in the deepest of Vaarn's deserts: the nomadic Faa¸ the raucous Cacklemaw¸ and the motile crystal scholars of the Lithic Lyceum. Playable ancestries for each of these cultures¸ allowing you to embody a Faa nomad¸ Cacklemaw exile¸ or Lithling scholar at your gaming table. Travel procedures¸ a dynamic weather generator¸ and an extensive regional map generator¸ allowing you to create huge areas of the desert for your players to explore. More than twenty random tables¸ allowing referees to quickly create desert ruins¸ settlements¸ anomalies¸ underground vaults¸ holy sites¸ Vaarnish graves¸ Cacklemaw dens¸ Hegemony outposts¸ Faa nomad campsites¸ and more. New science-fantasy monsters to stalk the wastes¸ including the Argent Shepherd¸ the Lambent Lynx¸ the Quill Spider¸ and the majestic Vaarnish Sandworm. Four new vehicles and a selection of powerful and mysterious exotica.
Fully illustrated throughout with evocative black and white line-art. Printed in black and white with colour covers.
What Others Have Said
'While the aesthetics are 100% zine (in a good way)¸ the content is a full fantasy adventure game in a weird¸ post-post-apocalyptic world inspired by books like Dune¸ The Book of the New Sun¸ and Hyperion¸ as well as the art of Moebius.' - The Viridian Scroll
'A cool setting with a lot of opportunity to pull from both your favorite standard fantasy resources and science fiction compendiums in order to build out a wild mash-up world.' - Perplexing Ruins
'The setting is wild¸ it feels like the author took Numenera¸ Gamma World and Dune and got them drunk¸ put them in a big vapourwave-themed hotel room and let them go at it.' - Pod Of Blunders