Demolish Decadence One Word at a Time - Tengoku Isles Summoner and Other Setting Info

THE WAY OF THE WORD

Demons always lie. Even in their command to kneel is the implicit lie that they are to be feared or worshiped. Every crack of whip and gaping yawp is a falsehood. This is the word of the priests allowed speech under the rule of the demons.

There are those who know better. In the shadows of lies, they hang on the scaffolding of truth. Inverting lies and weaving demonic narratives together to find gaps and therefore the precious hidden truth is the work of sages. These seek the words of God, buried beneath mountains of lies. The words are core to demon power, for without them there is no link between falsehood and reality.

The hidden truths are sussed out and written in Sutras, scrolls carefully scribed and hidden. Within each sutra is a single word. Within each word is the power of the toppled crumbling God. 

Thou. I. Mother. Give. Bark. Black. Fire. Ashes. Spit. Man. Hand. Hear. Sky. Old. Pull. Worm. Not.

Noxious unguents smeared beneath the nose to cloud the eyes with tears and burn away the sweet deceiving smell, the stump-legged sage burst through the bedroom door. The curse of childbirth draws cries of pain. With a glowing talisman in hand and old words on his lips, the spectre of pain is banished and a new child is born.

It is the hour of meeting evil spirits. At the daimo’s gathering a thrice hooded figure with charms around her neck slides the shoji shut behind her. Blindfolded, a glowing eye is visible on her forehead as she scans the attendees for the pestilence spirit plaguing the young girl upstairs.

CLASS- SUMMONER

The world is mired in lies and your are the torch that burns through the darkness. The SPIRIT EYE sees through deception, the SUTRAS are the keys to modifying creation, and TALISMAN provide power.

Shining brightly when open, the SPIRIT EYE reveals the vague and general presence of spooky action in an area. It is as accurate as a sense of smell.

In hidden scrolls, SUTRA provide access to the raw stuff of creation and its modification. These are the words of God and they are not spoken in vain. If you possess a sutra you can access the power associated with it. Means of Power Shape the World.

The works you perform require laborers, time, or TALISMAN to power them. For each slide you make in the sutra power, you must slide one of the power scales as well. When a talisman is used, there is a 50% chance it is expended for the day. To push your power to the limit you may make a power slide once for free, but suffer a consequence.

Means of Power - brackets indicate the power required to manifest the default effect.

Laborers [1]→2→5→10→100

Time now→[1min]→10min→1hr→1day→7days

Talisman [0],1,2,3,4,5,etc

Shape the World - brackets indicate the default effect

Thou* loyal→friendly→stranger→adversarial→enemy

I [undo]→cosmetic change→small mutation→large mutation→transform

Mother [comfort pain]→sustenance→provision→heal→restoration

Give [aid]→bane→curse→blessing→virtue

Bark silent→whisper→[indoor voice]→loud→deafening

Black* invisible→disguised→obscured→visible→true form

Fire [inferno]→pyre→bonfire→torch→light

Ashes create ghost→speak with dead→[identify corpse]→ward spirits→banish spirits

Spit acid→poison→[solvent]→glue→binding agent

Man revenant→undead servant→command dead→animate dead→[ease dying]

Hand [near/weak]→near/strong→two hands→far/weak→far/strong

Hear silence area→muffle sound→[extended hearing]→hear spirits→→→hear god

Sky* add/remove clouds→Gale→light rain→storm→call lightning

Old [reveal age]→-1day→-1month→-1year→-10yrs

Pull [mild attraction]→strong tug→pulled by oxen→irresistible/close→irresistible far

Worm [makedirty/clean]→rot→12 worms→1000 worms-100,000 worms

Not [pause action]→undo condition→undo action→freeze status→long pause

*The default effect is based on the target’s current condition.

Running the Game

This game has a simple premise. Emperor Zaro will arrive in 10 sessions. Maybe that’s 10 months, 10 weeks, 10 years in-game. Doesn’t matter much. The players need to be ready, because when he arrives he will host the Tournament of the Gods to see who will rule for the next hundred years. He has never lost.

Each character comes from a place of oppression and scarcity. Each class is built with a clear way to progress in strength and ability. There is strong reason to steal, fight, and scrap for every bit of advantage they can get to end the Age of Demons they have been suffering under.

To do so they will visit many of the Isles of Heaven to find Headbands, secret Names of God, the hidden Sutras, and artifacts of great power. In addition to the ones implied in the monk class, here are a few more islands to get you started:

Islands

Towers of Tilmin

-Shockingly sheer cliffs, threatening to scrape the clouds. Inhabitants clog the caves. From far far away you can see a face carved in the rock. Those on the cliffs are oblivious.

-A wizard in the cliffs will tattoo you with a spell for a wage. They know Heat Water, Ice to Copper, Argue with Birds

-Goats rule these cliffs, in a manner of speaking. Cross them and you will be bonked to oblivion

-If you seek real trouble… the demon of the face is heard snoring through this passage. (the mouth)

-Around the edge of the face, a little higher up, is a crack that makes an easy climb to the top. The great Roc is there and is eager to discuss history for ancient things.

Naura Town and the River of Ghosts

-A once peaceful town, now lost to ghosts.

-It is well known that the old well will spit up old things for a bit of coin. This is the dare of the children in the area.

-A gang of orcs has made camp here, relying on the ghosts to keep their camp secret.

-If you seek real trouble… the Hart of the woods is said to linger here, pierced by an ancient sword.

-Deeper still in these haunted woods lies a tower with the one responsible for all this.

Barmora, City on Sand

-A shanty town constructed in the middle of a whirlpool at the bottom of the sea.

-Merchants here are desperate to trade with outsiders. They have coconuts, sea shells, clams, sand...

-The heavy crabs used for navigation are easy to find, hard to tame.

-If you seek real trouble… King Wyoden defends the bastards of King Wylon using a sutra not known.

-Just past the edge of the whirlpool, if you can get there, is a giant clam just beginning to yawn.

Kaiwala Junji

-Series of villages built in jungle trees above a dangerous river delta.

-Guides here sell trips up river in flying canoes, antivenom, cursed idols, and poultices.

-Traditionalists eschew the economy based on hunter trappers and prefer to provide for the people in the old ways. Some say the mystic conceals a Name.

-If you seek real trouble…Ancient ruins of the time of Xi can be found, for a price.

-Beneath the villages, under murky winding eddies and rip-tides, slumbers the Great Fish Ninamazu.

Demons

GLUTTON FAMILY

A beast furred and fat, it lolls back and forth before raising its immense form. Six foul horns sprout five more. The twisting bones obscure crossed bulging eyes.

Style - Rolls over victims, matting them into his rotting fur

Weakness - food shared generously

Wroth - eating in sight of another is punishable by death

Disdain - food made with skill and love. Anything beyond hardtack and gruel

Desire - crops for its bed, more imports than exports

Minions - scavengers with clothes stuffed with rags to make them look round, Madame Rotary leads them

Troth - To be sustained without food

HIGHLY VANITY

Layered in robes and hats, the true form of HIGHLY VANITY is obscured, but their arcane power is not.

Style - Ambush from within and sow confusion with disguise

Weakness - Well designed and coordinated outfits

Wroth - Immodesty begets scars, boils, rashes

Disdain - Fire and light which expose and illuminate

Desire - Isolate each, destroy individuality

Minions - each with wide black witch hat, obscuring their face, lead by a large black panther

Troth - She holds the Sutra of “I” and “Black” making her subtle and difficult to find, but bestows these powers as gifts on her servants

ONI TWONI

Two headed ogre in bright red skin. Oni Twoni’s laugh is heard only before great tragedy.

Style - Bicker and Argue, then attack all at once

Weakness - Harmony and teamwork

Wroth - Kindness is forbidden. Perpetrators are crushed to bone meal.

Disdain - Unity between the warring clans

Desire - Kill by war and division

Minions - Crows attend and inform Oni Twoni and whisper into ears on both heads

Troth - A great horde of weapons and artifacts collected from would be heroes

PESTILENCE (Cat Dragon glass-candles.blogspot.com)

An old woman covered in all manner of festering wounds and pus. Has a single, evil green eye. Everything near her either rots or catches one of her many plagues.

Style: Rot and Wither - Shoots an anime-esque plague beam. Those hit with it contract a random disease.

Weakness - Cleansing rituals and baths.

Wroth - Trying to aid or cure someone who is diseased.

Disdain - Medicine.

Desire - To gain power. To infect others. To brew the perfect disease.

Minions - Infected berserkers seeking death, led by the POXBORN CHAMPION.

Troth - To be enhanced, Nurgle-style.

Her Charred Skin and Ash Choked Lungs (Filth Pig @ theslopyard.blogspot.com)

Naked woman, profoundly burned, head cocked to the left, neck skin melted to shoulder, left forearm melted into stomach, patch work bits of clothing melted to her body.

Style - Projects an aura of extreme heat that burns anyone who approaches her alive, exhales bolts of superheated ash.

Weakness - Frozen weapons, being submerged in water or sand. 

Wroth - Severe drought, drastically increased temperatures, extreme risk of fire. 

Disdain - Rituals to bring rain, any means of artificial rain or irrigation. 

Desire - Seeking to calm a nearby active volcano and steal the spark of True Fire that it holds. 

Minions - Apprentice Pyromancers, led by Master of Fire burned and disfigured in the same manner as the demon.

Troth - The secret initiation rites to Pyromancy, nearly any fire-based spell that exists in setting. 

That Which Writhes and Devours (Filth Pig @ theslopyard.blogspot.com)

A length of moist, undulating intestine-like flesh, the size of a wagon, that feeds in on itself impossibly, seemingly without beginning or end. 

Style - Smashes or suffocates downed foes under its girth or absorbs foes through the front of its central orifice, slowly digesting them and excreting them from the rear of its central orifice. Victims of this facsimile of digestion continue to live and fight as normal, but soon develop and die of an aggressive wasting sickness.

Weakness - Salt 

Wroth - Kills living creatures and destroys structures through its oblivious and uncaring locomotion.

Disdain - A random object, piece of equipment, or trinket; something completely harmless. 

Desire - To return to dormancy in the unknowable realm from whence it came. 

Minions - Masses of flesh whose roiling surface produces bubbles filled with toxic gasses that throw anyone exposed to them into a hallucinogenic rage, led by a shimmering cloud of gas cycling through colors unknown to mortal minds. 

Troth - The Writhing Devourer offers nothing, but an unshakeable feeling that serving it is what you’re destined to do, what you’re meant for.

Campaign Pitch: Ichi Plains

This is a campaign pitch for an asynchronous play-by-post legamon game. Players will take the role of trainers in the rugged frontier region of the Ichi Plains. The towns and cities of the region will offer different starting legamon for their ambitious youth. Adventure and mysteries abound and legamon will aid and challenge you on your journey. Bring your courage, wits, and all the heart you can muster as you strive toward that lofty goal that beckons all young trainers…

Full Basic Rules Reference

Lexi's Legamon

Phlox's Legamon

My Legamon

ICHI PLAINS SUMMARY:

• Largely settled just a generation ago, the rugged homesteaders who make their home in the ICHI PLAINS struggle against isolation and the forces of nature to carve out a living among the high plains, mountains, and desert badlands of the region. This would not be possible without the affection and teamwork of the LEGAMON that these homesteaders rely on.

• The current settlers are not the first to make their home in this land. Sinkholes caused by recent droughts, and mudslides from storms of increasing intensity have unearthed RUINS of surprising depth and complexity. Who was here before?

• The recent discoveries have Cattle BARONS and Iron TYCOONS summoning archaeologists of all stripes to dig deep below and discover what secrets lie beneath.

• Aspiring TRAINERS (you) take up the job of traveling between settlements, establishing safe routes, helping the homesteaders survive the wilderness, answering calls for help, and ultimately preparing for the ICHI PLAINS REGIONAL INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, IPRIC. Only one trainer can be the best. And only time will tell who is The Best There Ever Was.

The following rules are added as “domain” level rules to shift play from session centric toward an ongoing pbp style of game.

TRAINERS

Trainers are young folk setting out from home for adventure. In the rough west this is a rite of passage and a respected one. See the world, help others, see what you are made of, and build lasting relationships with legamon in the process. 

As a young teenager, you are mostly helpless. You have a default 1:6 chance of performing a task that requires a skill check. You gain +1 for each factor in your favor (a legamon is helping you, you have a particularly relevant move, you have an appropriate item). You will need to rely on your wits and your friends to overcome the challenges you will face. You also have a Knack. A single skill which you are adept at. You gain a +2 bonus to skill checks where your knack is useful.

You have 3 injury slots which are filled when you are hit with an attack and healed when fully rested. Be wary, if all three are filled you are Stuck and Helpless. 

You have 10 inventory slots. Careful use of these will aid you greatly in the wild. Many slots will be filled with food and camping equipment and you’ll only have a few left for whatever specific equipment you think necessary. Plan ahead.

SEASONS AND ACTIONS

The game will take place by the month. Every 3 months is a new season. Every 3 seasons is a new year. Each month, take a major action and a minor action. Major actions include traveling a route, visiting a remote location, going on a rescue mission, challenging a gym, tracking a specific legamon from a previously traveled route, etc. Minor actions include training a new move from a Training Manual, general training, quality time with your mon, working a part-time job, digging up the latest research on a specific mon or location, and gossiping. (if there turns out to be lots of players, all actions will become major actions)

ADVENTURING

Traveling a Route is a major action and is best done with some prep. Don’t wonder into the wilderness with just the shirt on your back. You need food, shelter, and protection from bad weather over night to get any rest!

Researching a route before traveling it will give you information useful for planning the trip, such as the number of days it is likely to take, types of environmental obstacles that are common in the region, prominent landmarks, or other questions. If you have researched the route, gain a bonus to tracking specific legamon or overcoming obstacles you foresaw.

HEALING AND CONSEQUENCES

In the wilderness apart from proper healing clinics it takes legamon time to heal. They are considered healed fully at the end of each month. A night’s rest with a warm meal will restore 1HD of health, but will not remove lingering injuries. Remember stamina dice return rapidly, or 1/turn in combat.

If a legamon takes enough damage to faint, roll on the Table of Consequences, +1 for each previous roll since tha last a full rest.

Table of Consequences

1. Out of breath, just need a minute to catch it.

2. Moping, just need a minute to lick my wounds.

3. Deep Fatigue, -1 stam until full rest

4. Dizzy, -1 FD until full rest

5. Badly bruised up, -1 HD until full rest

6. Amnesia, -1 move until full rest

7. Broken bone, -1 stam and -1 HD until full rest

8. +, struggling. -2 HD and -1 stam, -1 FD. Further injury risks this legamon’s life.

Running away is a skill check like anything else. You can get a +1 bonus by dropping items. Sometimes whatever is chasing you won’t be mad enough to chase you far, other times you’ll have to earn it. I suggest getting some decent shoes. Against trainers, anyone in the league or basic civilized folk will accept a forfeit. Watchout for bandits and the like that may wish you harm!

If all your legamon are at 0hp, your last injury slot is filled, you fall into a pit and break your legs, or get captured by bandits you are *stuck and helpless*. A distress beacon can be sent out for rescue. If someone rescues you from the wild, roll on the table below. Otherwise a ranger might be able to find you. They are spread quite thin, though. If not, roll a new character and I’ll write a letter to your mom.

Stuck and Helpless Table

1. Strengthened by hardship, +1 bond to each of your legamon.

2. Hardship, lose d6 items.

3. Battle scar, permanently reduce a random legamon’s stat by 1 dice.

4. Lingering injury, permanently fill a trainer injury slot.

5. Falling out, reduce a random legamon’s bond to 1.

6. Separated from one of your legamon.

ADVANCEMENT

The League

Qualifying for the league isn’t easy. Almost nobody does it in a single year. To do so you need a trainer rank of 100. Acquiring a badge is worth 20 rank. Other activities that strengthen the region and build your bond with your legamon are worth points as well:

• Legamon badge, 20rk

• Answering a distress beacon, 10rk

• Helping out a homesteader, 5rk

• Charting a new Route, 10rk

• Settling a wild threat to a settlement, 10rk

XP

Legamon require 3x their current level in xp to advance to the next level. 

• Making friends with a significant character, +1

• Catch a mon, +1

• If same level or greater, +level

• Making friends with a wild mon, +1

• If angry, +level

• Defeating a mon in battle, +1

• If same level or greater, +level

• Overcoming a trap or environmental obstacle, +1

• Discovering a remnant of the past, +5

• Design a Remote Location the DM eventually uses, +5

• Acquire a gym badge, +5

• Design an NPC, encounter, or major item the DM eventually uses, +1

• Discover a major secret of the setting, +10

When a mon levels up, increase one of their stats by 1 and Bond by 1. Every even level a mon learns a new move from their type rolled randomly. When a mon levels up, you may roll 1d6 under Bond and if you pass they evolve. Reduce Bond by the (d6 - the number of badges you possess). When a mon evolves, learn a new move and increase all stats by 1.

ITEMS AND CURRENCY

Sources of income: win a battle (200c per level of mon defeated, or half the money of another PC), chart a route (200c), Win a badge (500c), work a part time job (1d4 x 100c), helping a homesteader (variable)

Healing Items

400c - Gruffle Milk, Recover 2d6 hp

200c - Yummy Juice, Recover 1d6 hp

100c - Aloe, Remove Burn

100c - Antitoxin, Remove Poison

100c - Air Horn, Remove Sleep, or cause an encounter roll.

100c - Weedkiller, Remove Drain or kill a plant.

300c - Repel, +2 to Flee rolls when active

Survival Items

50c - Kebble, 1 day's ration for a team

200c - Rope, Quickly escape underground locations

200c - Flashlight, See in the dark.

50c - Matches, Start a fire, 6 uses.

300c - Running Shoes, Advantage to Run Away.

300c - Tent, Counts as shelter under most conditions.

Legablocks

100c - Legablock, Cube, roll d6 over hp + level to capture a wild mon

200c - Superblock, Cube, roll 2d6 over hp + level to capture a wild mon

300c - Megablock, Cube, roll 3d6 over hp + level to capture a wild mon

Single Use Power Boosts

200c - Syrum A, Increase damage by level for this battle

200c - Syrum S, Increase your stamina by 1 each round for the next d6 rounds

200c - Syrum F, Increase your focus by 1 each round for the next d6 rounds

200c - Syrum H, Recover d6 hp for the next 4 rounds.

500c - Syrum X, Combine syrums S,F,H. Lasts for 2d6 rounds. Your Legamon is Struggling after it wears off.

Unique

50c - Friendship Bracelet, Let everyone know you're best friends!

200c - Hard Candy, Increase your bond with a legamon by 1

300c - Fatigueblock, Octahedron, roll d8 over stam + level to capture

300c - Puzzleblock, Octahedron, roll d8 over focus + level to capture

300c - Prestigeblock, roll d8 over level

Held

200c - Jalapeno, increase fire damage by 2

200c - Fluorescent Bulb, Increase light damage by 2

200c - Four Clove, Increase grass damage by 2

200c - Holy Water, Increase water damage by 2

200c - Liden Jar, Increase electric damage by 2

200c - Sparkling Gem, Increase ground damage by 2

200c - Titanium Cube, Increase metal damage by 2

200c - Pinwheel, Increase wind damage by 2

200c - Headband, Increase combat damage by 2

200c - Mercurial Spoon, Increase mind damage by 2

200c - Black Talisman, Increase dark damage by 2

200c - Serpent Skull, Increase dragon damage by 2

200c - Ceramic Ring, Increase normal damage by 2

200c - Fang, Increase toxin damage by 2