We've made it to a read-through of the fourth and (so far) final Zine for Vaults of Vaarn, a science-fantasy tabletop RPG setting.
I've talked about each Zine issue in prior blogs, and when I saw this get added a few months back I'd resolved to complete the series with a read-through of this as well but hadn't found time, but that changes today!
The sun is going out, it is the end of history, and everything that could possibly happen has already happened and faded to dust. No two sources agree on the details of Vaarn’s etiolated past, and in truth such debates hold little significance.
As I've mentioned each time I cover this Zine series... this is such a cool setting! It has some fantastic details which I really love from a worldbuilding standpoint, like for example how some of the major landmarks have different names depending on who you're talking to.
Of all the artefacts the ancients left littered across the cerulean sands of Vaarn, few are more
imposing than the canted bulwark of pale ferrosteel that is known variously as the Great Wall of Vaarn, the Weeping Wall, the Backbone of the Gods, the Titanspine, or the Impediment.
I love these kinds of details, and the Great Wall of Vaarn is what officially opens up this Zine - it is a landmark but also a playable location unto itself. It's described as being a 'biosphere part from the rest of Vaarn', and that people dwell within its colossal recesses.
These Wallborn live and die in a vertiginous world of passageways, shafts, vents,
chutes, and great ferrosteel canyons built at scale far beyond the imagining of any man, in which
their towns and keeps nestle like wasp hives in the eaves of an abandoned granary
We then get this fabulous description which any Game Master worth their salt could build an entire campaign around that would be simply amazing to play through:
The purpose the ancients intended for this mighty construct is obscure, although most scholars believe the Great Wall to be a dysfunctional component of one of the Titan AIs, and given the sophistication of the engineering contained within it is difficult to dispute this notion.
The construct has been described as a colossal neural cord, intended to transfer
monumental quantities of data between disparate minds. The Wall appears to
have served a secondary function as a coolant intake, and it is due to this purpose that it is able to sustain human populations within its bounds. The Wall draws in saltwater from the Sea of Songs,
and transforms the liquid into pale ikor, the blood of the Machine Gods.
This paragraph has so much we could plumb for campaign ideas. Ancient AI could have designed this to transfer massive loads of data not to a single place but to multiple individual minds? That right there is enough to provide the Big Question you need for a proper full-length campaign. Add in details like the Ikor, the saltwater being drained to make it, and the mention of Machine Gods and you've got enough with just those details to run a 1-20 D&D campaign just within the Wall and maybe whatever lies deep below it... or at the end of the cord.
And all of that's just on page 4. We have 64 more pages to go!
Subsequent pages discuss two of the ancient cities built within the Wall, which are constantly at war and harbour deep resentments against each other, and only after all of this buildup do we get to page 7 where we are provided actual quest-hooks for this region. Assuming you didn't have a flash of inspiration in any of the prior pages and begin running wild with it.
I'll freely admit that the urge to take what I immediately thought of and run a solo game of Starforged or Knave in this is strong... but I've already got a few on-going solo plays so I'm hoping that I remember this and cycle back once I've tied up a story or two that I've already started.
All of the quest hooks presented are great, and they range from setting up the party as vault-hunters plunging deep into the Wall seeking treasure and glory, to Hegemony spies from the sands of Vaarn looking to make a foothold within the Wall. They present a lot of fun starting options, that I think are great immediate hooks for any solo or group party.
After that, we get another few new character races.
The Harpy, which can fly but takes double damage from crushing or bludgeoning due to hollow bones
The Stratosfolk, which are these cool little gas-filled floating creatures:
And the Wallborn, which provide better climbing skills:
Similar to prior issues, we then look at some notable factions in this new expanded setting. I won't dive too deep into those, but they exist and provide a lot of potential allies and enemies you could use at the table, as well as yet more great quest hooks you could make up about them. Per usual, we get a lot of motivation and background in this section which is fabulous.
We then get some instructions on page 30 about how to build the Wall for your campaign world.
This is a great little primer for folks who might be new to running games, and a great refresher for anyone who hasn't had to create a big location in a while. I love these as a lot of games don't bother to give any direction, and I think that's a needless barrier to a really fun hobby. Building worlds, settings, and quests doesn't have to feel like it's a big hard thing to do - and I like that they've taken the time to boil it down to 8 steps for this.
There are a number of pages after this that provide a ton of tables to roll on for inspiration when following the Creation steps. We all know how I feel about roll-tables, so needless to say, this is one of my favourite parts of the Zine. Tables are something that I can use in any game for any genre, and I'm a huge fan of these.
As just one example, there's a table for creating ships on page 43:
This would work just as well in Starforged or if I was running something like Spelljammer in 3.5 or 5e D&D. Great stuff!
And, finally, like with the prior issues we end the book with a variety of new monsters and stat blocks. I don't have a lot to say about that - they're mobs and more variety to the bestiary is always a great thing. The art is pretty fun and cool, and I think they work really well within the theme of the Wall. I haven't used these yet, but I swear that one day I'm going to take this and run some Knaves through it.
I keep mentioning Knave because this was built upon the rules of Knave, and now that I have the 2nd Edition for Knave in my hands... I've been itching to play it. So, like I said, as soon as I get one or two of the existing stories I've been working through off my plate I'm definitely going to return to these. I may take some time to whip up some 3speak or youtube videos, but no promises on when that will happen.
As always, thanks for reading and Happy Gaming!
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