fragments of a blue ruin
"Others still travel to Gnomon seeking wisdom, for the city is not only home to a thousand shaded markets, but also to a thousand philosopher’s guilds and esoteric colleges. The study of the lost wisdom of the ancients is feverishly pursued. Tech-priests, petty gurus, science mystics, and alchemists compete for patrons, prestige, and precious glimpses… Continue reading PHILOSOPHER’S GUILDS OF GNOMON
When a traveller is adrift in the silent blue dunes of Vaarn’s desert, he dreams of a city. When the camel’s hump sways beneath him he dreams of a cushioned alcove in a tavern, with learned conversation and hookah smoke coiling languidly in the air; when Vaarn’s red sun beats upon his head he dreams… Continue reading GNOMON
It's been a big few months in Vaarn-land. I launched the first zine that details the setting, and had a really great response, much better than I had hoped. However, all the work I've been doing on the zine has distracted from updates from my ongoing Sunday night campaign. I'm going to summarise the last… Continue reading VAARN ACTUAL PLAY MEGA UPDATE: EPISODES 14-16
The first issue of 'VAULTS OF VAARN' is now available for download or purchase. This is the rules I use to play Vaarn, the character generation tables I use, as well as monsters, NPCs, generators for ruins and rare drugs, basically a mix of material from this blog and also stuff that hasn't been seen… Continue reading VAULTS OF VAARN ZINE NOW AVAILABLE
It's been a bit quiet here this month. I haven't had a chance to run any Vaarn sessions for my Sunday night group, so there hasn't been anything in the way of game updates, and I've been channelling all of my creative energy into a Vaults of Vaarn RPG zine! I've completed a full 48… Continue reading All Quiet On The Vaarnish Front
Vaarn is the graveyard of faiths, some older than the very stars that shine overhead. Gods are carried here in the hearts of those who seek to make a life amongst the unending azure sands, and deities proliferate like ragweed across the desolation. A Vaarnish traveller would find it noteworthy to go more than a… Continue reading PETTY GODS OF VAARN
I currently think that I won't be using character classes for Vaarn in future. I've tried a Warrior/Mystic/Adept trifecta, and although it works alright, we've been getting much more interesting gameplay from the PCs' ancestries than their classes. Whether someone is a two-headed mutant or a talking horse-man comes up all the time in our… Continue reading 20 BACKGROUNDS FOR VAARN
Last episode our heroes met an old friend, Karak, and went to a notorious Gnomosian nightclub, the Black Lotus, where they met some unsavoury characters and struck a deal with the menacing owner. Karak then blew the club's generator by trying to merge his body with it. Our cast: Flim-Flam, a two-headed cacogen. Proficient cook.… Continue reading VAARN ACTUAL PLAY: EPISODE 13
In Vaarn many things have become intertwined, and much that was once the province of mankind alone - speech, reason, art, religion - has been granted to other forms of life and these beings hold themselves as humanity’s equal. In the mycomorph death and life are preserved in strange balance, for the creatures are formed… Continue reading PLAYER ANCESTRY: MYCOMORPH
Last episode the crew met an eccentric fungus expert, rented some rooms at the Lemon Tree Boardinghouse, and went shopping. Crunk visited the dentist, and Findus was handed a mysterious invitation. Our cast: Flim-Flam, a two-headed cacogen Adept. Proficient cook, fights with twin pistols. Owns a cyborg hawk named Midnight, who has been dispatched on… Continue reading VAARN ACTUAL PLAY: EPISODE 12
VAULTS OF VAARN 