Whenever enough new folks join the Dreamland RPG Facebook group or Discord server, I’m going to be posting new Dreamland material (the FB and/or Discord folks get to vote on what it is). In celebration of the Discord reaching 275 folks, here is this week’s new material…five new Roles, the Caravan Guard, Porter, Tanner, Weaver and Blacksmith.
Some of these Roles have been played in private playtests, others are completely new. Please try them out in your own Dreamland games and let me know what you think! Thanks all!
Caravan Guard
It may seem impossible in the green hills of Ulthar or the riverine garden lands of Thraa, but most of Dreamland is desert. To the east, vast deserts stretch all the way to the edge of the world, and everywhere lie resource-depleted wastelands where once were lush and prosperous kingdoms. Merchants and Pilgrims carefully keep caravan routes between scattered oases on the ever-expanding sands. Their partners in this are Caravan Guards.
Caravan Guards are mercenaries familiar with the desert, specialized in travelling through it and fighting its bandits and monsters. They may be natives of the region, whose parents were Shepherds or Farmers before the land went dry. Or they may be former Soldiers who left the war and now sell their swords to wealthy merchants who need safe passage. A few may not even work for money, but out of an oath of honor to protect travellers on the roads and keep justice in the scattered desert towns.
To truly earn the title of Caravan Guard, one must travel to hundreds of far-off places. These Faraway locations, and their experiences there, are the source of the guard’s strength.
Equipment
Sword or Spear • Knife • Horse or Camel • Robes (with headgear and/or veil to block the sun) • Cloak (for nighttime) • Tent • Kettle (for tea or coffee) • Tea or Coffee • Cups • Sandals
Skills and Powers
- 1D6+2 Alertness
- 1D6 Fighting
- 1D6 Strength
- 1D6 Wilderness in the desert
- You can be Starving/Thirsty twice. You don’t die until you become Starving/Thirsty a third time.
- You can spend 10 to create a desert between any 2 adjacent sites of your choice. Faraway Words give you x2 on creating deserts.
- Exotic Disciplines: Faraway Words give you x2 on Fighting and Alertness.
Blacksmith
A thousand necessary items—from weapons and armor to axes, saws, mattocks, barrel-staves and scythes—come from the forge of the Blacksmith. Not all Dreamland cultures have learned the secret of iron, but those who know it dominate (and zealously guard the secret from) their bronze-using neighbors.
Most Dreamland smiths produce iron with a “bloomery,” a pit- or chimney-like structure of brick or clay in which iron ore is heated with vast quantities of charcoal. Huge bellows, usually powered by the blacksmith’s hard-working assistant, fan the flames and raise the temperature until the ore softens. The resulting soft mass is then beaten with hammers to remove the impurities (“slag”), resulting in wrought iron, which is used for things such as door-hinges, nails, chains and horseshoes. To make steel (stronger, harder and less brittle than iron) requires still another process: mixing the iron with carbon, usually by prolonged immersion in burning charcoal, oxhorn or goatskin. With still more folding and hammering, steel is shaped into swords and armor.
A few Dreamland cities have mastered the art of blast furnaces, giant pressurized chimneys reaching temperatures high enough to melt iron outright (instead of merely softening it). Such iron is called cast iron. Once liquefied, it is shaped in clay crucibles, or mixed with wrought iron to produce “crucible steel.”
Smithing is a grueling, blistering job. Blacksmiths are unpopular as nextdoor neighbors due to the smoke and loud noises of the forge, as well as the risk of fire; however, their sheer usefulness makes them welcome in any community. Their art is a Mystery to outsiders, and some cultures even believe they are magical.
Equipment
Bellows • Tongs • Hammer • Pritchel • Anvil • Chisel • File • Charcoal
Skills and Powers
- Mysterious Strength: Mystery Words give you x2 on Strength.
- 1D6+4 Blacksmithing (making arms & armor, working w/metal, etc.)
- 1D6 Wisdom (metal, weapons and armor)
- 1D6+2 Strength
- 1D6 Fighting
- You can spend 1 to create a small metal item (including a nonmagical sword, spear or armor). You can spend 4 to create a large metal object such as a wagon, or 8 to create a large, complex metal object such as a siege engine. Mystery Words give you x2 on this.
Porter
(NOTE: Porters, like Maid/Servants, are “support Roles” who must be attached to another player-character at the start of play. Out-of-character, both players must agree to this arrangement before the game begins, or the Porter should choose another Role. In-character, their work relationship may be friendly or burdensome, as the Porter’s player chooses.)
A Porter is a type of servant who does rough manual labor, specifically, carrying heavy objects. Maid/Servants are chosen for their refinement and attention to detail, but Porters are chosen for their sturdy backs.
Porters are of the lowest social status, but they are by definition tough, able to shrug off insults and injuries. Their work makes them strong, whether they are carrying trunks full of their employer’s clothing, or barrels of trade goods, or even a palanquin or rickshaw carrying their employer’s noble self. In fact, often Porters must carry so many things that neither they, nor their employer, knows exactly what they are carrying. In a pinch, by reaching into their sack or crate at their employer’s command, dreamer Porters have the uncanny knack of coming up with whatever item they need.
The Porter Role must serve one of the other player characters, whom you choose during character creation. Out-of-character, the two of you determine the backstory between your characters and the terms of your employment. (In-character, you may or may not chafe against your job, but out-of-character, you should be willing to roleplay it.) In the course of a campaign game, if your employer dies, you remain a Porter but can’t use your employer-related powers until you choose to work for another player. Once chosen, you work for them until their death or until you change your Role (by going up levels).
It is a Wonder how Porters are so strong and where they keep everything in their packs.
Equipment
Sturdy Shoes • Loincloth • Backpack, Crate, Barrel, Sacks or Steamer Trunk (belonging to their employer) • Canteen • Something to Chew On (khat, thagweed, hashish, kola nuts or betel nuts) • Their Employer’s Belongings
Skills and Powers
- Pick another dreamer. You are their servant. By spending Words in your presence, they can ask you to look in your pack for an item: 4 Words for a small item, 8 Words for a wagon-sized item, or 11 Words for a magic item.
- The items in your pack are limited by your Memories. You must have a Wonder Memory to create anything beautiful, potable, edible, or made of precious substances; a Mystery Memory to create tools or machines; an Faraway Memory to create anything related to navigation, maps or texts; and a Loathing Memory to create anything poisonous or usable as a weapon.
- 1D6+2 Strength
- 1D6 Begging
- 1D6 Fleeing
- Wondrous Toughness: Wonder Words give you x2 on Strength and removing Basic Impairments.
- If your employer is not present for a game session, you can spend Words yourself to look in your pack for items, but the cost goes up +1 Word: 5 Words for a small item, 9 Words for a wagon-sized item, or 12 Words for a magic item.
Tanner
Tanners turn animal hides to leather, a necessary component for shoes, saddles, belts, sacks, gloves, sheaths, leather bottles, and many other items. (Although the Leatherworker, who makes the final product, is usually a separate profession.) However, the tanner’s job is a lonely, disgusting one.
Starting with the hides of sheep, cows, horses or other animals, the tanner first cleans the hide and removes the blood and hair. In repeated steps, hides are scraped over wooden boards, then soaked with concoctions of urine, ash, oak bark, quicklime and/or animal dung to clean and soften them. Between soakings, tanners may wash their hides in a nearby stream, or leave them in specially prepared liquid-filled pits. Once the leather is prepared, they may waterproof it with fish oils and tallow, and dye it in assorted colors, or leave these steps to the Currier, another specialist.
The Tanner’s misfortune is that their job soaks them to the bone in foul-smelling fluids. The smell is almost impossible to hide, and they often suffer long-term health impairments as well (although PC Tanners take no injuries in rules terms). In the waking world, their spiritual descendants work in toxic chemical plants. Dreamlanders view the poor Tanner with Loathing, though some acknowledge the scientific Mystery of their job.
Equipment
Twin-handled Shaving Knife • Bucket • Wooden Plank (for stretching hides) • Bristle Brush • Quicklime or Dung • Uncured Hides • Dyes • 10-foot Pole
Skills and Powers
- Pariah: Minus 2 Persuasion w/ humans.
- Tough: Loathing Words give you x2 on Haggling and Strength.
- Resilient: You can spend 1 Loathing or Mystery Word to completely resist any poison, no matter how deadly.
- 1D6+4 Tanning (making leather goods)
- 1D6 Haggling
- 1D6 Strength
- You can allow 1 other player to be a Farmer, Hunter or Herder you work with.
- Unappetizing: cannibals, monsters and beasts will not eat you unless no other food is available.
- You can spend 2 to create a foul scent that drives away a human or beast, 8 to drive away a group of humans or beasts, or 12 for a town or horde. Loathing gives you x2 on this. Godlike monsters or those with the Loathsome trait may not be affected at the DM’s discretion. Your friends must make a 1D6+4 Strength challenge not to flee as well.
Weaver
Almost everything soft, all clothes and towels and sheets, comes from the loom of the Weaver. Fabrics vary between different places: some cultures use the wool of animals (such as sheep or goats), others use fibers from hemp, cotton and flax (linen) plants, and still others use silks and cobwebs. However, the basic process is the same everywhere.
First, a Carder, Bower or Comber disentangles the natural hair or fiber, using either flat paddles covered with tiny metal hooks (a “card”), a bowstring-like device, or iron combs. Then, a Spinner “spins” the fibers, stretching them and tying them together into skeins of yarn. Some Spinners use a distaff (a short stick) and a weighted drop-spindle, while other cultures use spinning-wheels. Once a fiber has become yarn, the Weaver turns it into finished cloth using a loom, a complicated wooden frame on which threads of yarn are interlaced to form sheets.
With an amazing ability to follow patterns, the Weaver produces fabric which will become clothes, carpets, curtains and sails. For basic clothes, a Fuller (launderer) then washes and softens the fabric, but for finer fabrics the Weaver has the final pass. By mixing different colors of yarn, Weavers produce beautiful tapestries which illustrate scenes from history, religion or the Weaver’s imagination. Many Weavers also possess the skills of Knitting (using knitting needles instead of heavy looms) and Embroidering (adding fine decorations with needle and thread).
Producing beautiful, complex objects without which society would not exist, the Weaver is a Wonder Role.
Equipment
Loom • Knitting Needles • Comb • Colorful Dyes • Sewing Needle • Fine Thread • Skeins of Yarn
Skills and Powers
- Wondrous Dexterity: Wonder Words give you x2 on Legerdemain and Weaving.
- 1D6+4 Weaving (spinning thread)
- 1D6 Legerdemain
- 1D6 Fleeing
- You can spend 1 to create a small cloth item (but not clothes). You can spend 4 to create a huge cloth item, such as a ship’s sail or a wagonload of fabric.
- Master of Patterns: Once you have spent a half-Memory to create a marvel, you can make a magic tapestry depicting that marvel, allowing you to create the exact same marvel again without spending a half-Memory, if you pay an extra 4 Words each time. Making a magic tapestry in this way takes about an hour.