Modern Languages

Many characters in a game will have access to multiple languages, and I think it is only fair to enumerate them for the setting.

Far and away, the most common language for Humans (and those dwelling with them) in the Valley is Westron.  This language is a modern variant of the original language spoken by the Human settlers who came into the Valley from the west.  The language has changed over the past 1500 years quite a bit, and when written word and documents are encountered written in the original form, it is referred to as Old Westron (generally not understandable by speakers of the modern language - like old english, there may be a few word similarities, but no fluency could be expected).  There is a written form that is very similar to our roman letters, called Westschrift.

Destrikking - This is the language of the Storm King tribes, although it is frequently called the "Northern Tongue".  The written form is in runes called the Ainark Runes.  Following a storyline of something written in Ainark would be difficult, but it is perfectly suited for recording spells and also associating great deeds with the names of heroes.

Holab - This is the language of the tribes of the Sun King, in its basic form.  There are two very different dialects, which we will call Eastern Holab, and Western Holab.  Details on the Sun King tribes will be coming soon, but for now just remember that those speaking Eastern Holab want to kill you and remove your organs for sacrifice.  Those peaking Western Holab want to kill you and eat strips of your flesh in order to capture your magic.  Clearly a travelogue, with lots of cheerful drawings and translation of common phrases would increase tourism in the area.  While both languages are mutually exclusive in spoken form, they share the same written language, which is very simple and not capable of conveying any nuance.  Sun King tribal wizards and shamans will usually employ some complex method of recording magical spells that involves complex knotted strings with hollowed out stones of different colors on the mesh the strings form.

Elves have a traveling language that they employ exclusively (when not speaking a Human tongue) while in the Valley, at least Wood Elves and High Elves.  They call it Eldarin and it differs from the language of Faery that they speak while in the Seelie Realms.  In an effort to mark their departure from Seelie culture entirely, the Gray Elves have their own tongue, which is completely different, it is called Elanarif.  Both of these have their own written form. It is considered highly heretical for an Elf to use the language of the Seelie Realm on this side of their portals.

The Dark Elves have their own language, as well, called Mortiggo it incorporates some languages of Goblyn (see below), and any words it has for surface geographical features (such as Tree, Mountain, Grass, etc) come from Eldarin.  The Dark Elves have a complex runic written form, called Mortine Runes.

The Dwarves have a language of their own, which they call Ardspeke.  It is written as Ardrunes.  Gnomes have a different spoken language, known as Kurakka Kurad, but it borrows the Dwarven runes for its written form.

The Goblyn races (Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, Hobgoblins, etc) each have their own racial tongue, although there is a simple lingua franca used amongst them that is simply called Goblyn Speech, or sometimes referred to as the Black Tongue.  It exists in a very crude runic form, called Goblyn Runes.

Forest Folk usually will speak Westron, as will Halflings.

Giants will speak a confused mashup of Westron and Goblyn Speech, except for Frost Giants, which speak the Northern tongue exclusively.

Dragons do not speak modern languages.

The Saurian Races (Lizard Men, Kobolds, Yuan Ti, Turtle Folk, etc.) speak a language called Saurial (it is difficult for mammalian mouths to pronounce).  Their written language is mostly a simple script of horizontal and vertical scratches.  Much of their knowledge (as it is) is transmitted by unspoken low frequency sounds, and the same is true for spell casters of this race.  They will record spells by committing the instructional form of them to memory as a simple song played on a drum or flute, and accompanied by what sounds like a guttural humming or moaning.  This is repeated when a saurian spell caster needs to re-memorize a spell, or teach it to another.

The Earthy Peoples

This is a brief overview of the last of the demi-humans who can serve as player characters (dwarves, gnomes and halflings) have not been covered yet, in terms of their place in the cosmology of the Valley of the Old Ones.

The Dwarves and Gnomes are among the oldest races to live in the Valley.  Their presence dates back to before the cataclysm that sundered the Seely Realms from the world.  It is unclear why they are separate from the rest of Faery, but it is so.  For a while, before the establishment of the Old Ones, the Dwarves and Gnomes were the only peoples living.  The Father deity of the Dwarves, known simply as The Krung, was responsible for building the framework of the world - it's mountains.  Out of the rocks of the mountains, the Dwarves were originally formed.  The shield bearer of The Krung, who is simply referred to as Mika, smoothed the land between the mountain spines and the flat plains by forming hills.  Out of these came the Gnomes.

As the Dwarves and the Gnomes began working the gifts given to them, they inadvertently awakened the elder elemental gods who brought forth the Old Ones.  As the myth recorders from Parn Tandalorn are apt to point out, eventually the Old Ones vanished, and gave way first to the Storm King tribes.  These became so numerous that they threatened the Earthy Peoples and also the Faery Peoples.  There was a war, with the Elves and Dwarves on one side, and the massed tribes of the Storm King on the other.  Something happened - none alive today know what it was, but the Dwarves never showed up at any of the battles.  In the end, the Elves capitulated, and agreed to stay to their own forests.  The Dwarves (and Gnomes) were not part of the treaty, but fled to the mountains and hills from which they were born.

The Halflings, on the other hand, are of an unknown origin.  There is no indication that they dwelt in the Valley in the time of the Old Ones.  There is also no indication that they dwelt in the lands to the West, from where the Westroners came before they migrated into the Valley.  Today, however, there are small settlements and communities of Halflings spread throughout the Baronies.  The Halflings are not known to have any deities of their own, but rather make themselves comfortable in the Westron Church.

History of the Valley - since Ba'a Zarn

The Archivists of Parn Tandalorn tend to view the history of the Valley of the Old Ones as, enigmatically, beginning with the departure of the Old Ones themselves.  At some point, in the distant past, the King of the Old Ones Ba'a Zarn disappeared from the world.  After this time, the many creatures and creations of the gods of the Old Ones began to spread and to rule over the world.  The chief creations amongst all of these are Men, Elves and Dwarves.  The Men seem to have been a companion gift to the Old Ones, constructed by the Elemental Gods.  The Elves were first created by the forest goddess Earnissa.  The Dwarves were created by The Krung, lord of the mountains.

As the power of the Old Ones began waning, many of the Men who were living with them in their fabulous cities began to flee, and to already spread across the world.  At this time they began worshiping the gods and goddesses of nature, especially Bronc the Storm King, and Photoss the Sun King.  The Three Goddesses were not unknown at this time, but the complicated nuance of the modern churches did not exist - they were simply worshiped as Fertility, Magic and Agriculture.

The tribes of the Storm King grew in power and strength, until they threatened both the Dwarves and the Elves.  This brought about the first Elf war, which pitted the ancient tribes of the Storm King against the original forest tribes of Earnissa's people.  The Dwarves were pledged to help the Elves, but due to unknown reasons they never appeared at any of the battles.  The barbaric humans were losing in the war against the elves, but in the end the Elves capitulated and settled an uneasy peace with the humans.

There are still groups of humans that worship the Storm King, however (and this is true within the Valley) much of human civilization is now built around the worship of the Three Goddesses.  These three, and a complicated hierarchy of saints and scions, are the object of much of the modern Church that is key to human civilization.

Within the Valley, the human city of Narn is home to the feudal kingdom of Neill family.  Duke Alasdair IV is the current head of the family, and he rules with the blessings of the Arch-Cleric Neveross, of the Cathedral of St. Narn.  Across the valley there are many small baronies and other realms that all, in theory, owe feudal loyalty to the Neill family, however the distance and the politics involved mean that at any time any number of these can be at war with each other, or against the Neills themselves.  Complicated church politics don't make matters any simpler.

Within the valley, there are several forests where Elven domains are evident.  These are largely Wood Elves.  There are, in the mountains surrounding the valley, several hidden cities of High Elves as well.  During the war with the Storm King barbarians, the High Elves felt betrayed by their brothers who surrendered to the Humans, and so went, mostly, into seclusion.  Other than their hidden mountain cities, the High Elves also have a floating city that travels up and down the Great River.

Several underground colonies of Grey Dwarves exist in the mountains surrounding the valley.  These are the types of dwarves who feel compelled to pursue their traditional role as miners and craftsmen, working with stones and gems, and digger deeper and deeper into the mountains.  Offshoots of these 'traditionalists' often move down out of the mountain, and build towns and villages where they trade with the feudal human cities, and others.  These Dwarves who leave the mountains are often referred to as Brown Dwarves.

Countless other races of beings (magical and natural) occupy the areas within and around the Valley.  Among the more numerous are the Halflings, Gnomes and of course all the Goblin races, from the goblins themselves, up through the trolls.  Many variants of beastmen exist as well.  In addition to the underground empires of the goblins and dwarves, there is another race of elves that have taken up life under the mountains - the Dark Elves.

Since the departure of the Old Ones, and the war between the Barbarians and the Elves, the rise of Human civilization has dominated the valley.  Today they are the most numerous people within the valley, although the strength of Narn has faded in recent decades.

Retro-Clone RPG based on the RC of BD&D

Okay, I think that is the most Acronym laden title of any article here at Gaming with Chuck.  (The Staff is currently on a Health Improvement Program (HIP) and that means increased levels of vitamins being consumed.  So there is a big fascination with letters....)

Okay, a Retro Clone of a Role Playing Game is one of a new-ish batch of RPGs that seek to capture either the specific rules or the flavor of classic RPGs.  You know - like Good Old Dungeons & Dragons (or Basic D&D).  One of the versions of that game (a pretty good one) was the old Rules Compendium.  A great collection of rules.  It has everything in it that I usually like in a simple RPG - good distinct classes.  Nice list of spells and equipment.  Skill system.  Weapon system.  In fact, for me, the only things missing would be (1) Speed factors on spells and weapons (easy to add in), and (2) Tactical moves for doing combat with miniatures (also easy to add in).

Alright - so there is this great new retro-clone of the RC version of BD&D called "Dark Dungeons" (yes, named after the made-up game in the old Chick comic.  If you have to ask, then you are better off not knowing).

It has it all.  And in true to form honesty to old Basic D&D (or OD&D - Original D&D, although that is sometimes more narrowly defined as old White Box D&D - again, if you have to ask, you are better off not knowing, although it might be a good plan for the Staff to write a history of versions of D&D) there are only Classes, not the Race/Class combination we have seen in so many other RPGs.  This means that if you want to play an Elf - then that is your class.  This bodes well for the geek tshirt I once saw that said "I Remember when Hobbit was a Class" - and it was in OD&D.  It is again in Dark Dungeons (although, for several legal reasons, they are called Halflings).

How does this race-as-class thing work out?  Well it makes the race of non-humans Really important.  As in it is a big deal if you say you are an Elf.  Unlike in, say, AD&D when you are an Elf MU or an Elf Fighter, or an Elf F-M-C, then there is not too much of a big deal about the Elf Part.  Especially in 2E, 3E or 4E (remember the vitamins thing and acronyms).  But in OD&D - and in Dark Dungeons - being an Elf is a big deal.

So what are these races as class all about?  More coming in a future article but briefly - Elf is a Fighter/Magic User mix.  Halfling is a Fighter/Thief mix.  And Dwarf is crusty.  Like I said - more coming soon.

Also - look for some coming up articles on content for Dark Dungeons.  I am inspired . . .

ps- thank you especially to Matt and Braz, whom I saw at Battlefield Band in Williamsburg on Nov 5 - and they got me jazzed up on Dark Dungeons.  Previously my favorite retro-clones included Castles & Crusades (which I still love - and the Castle Keeper's Guide finally came out - w00t), and Mutant Futures.  Both of those generated a fair amount of press here at GWC.



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