A Herbarium. Single paned window lights a workbench covered with herbs and candles.

Herbarium

A considerable debate on herbs sprang up the other day on the VsDM discord channel. The core rules provide a great mechanic for coping with the player whose animist wants to spend every spare moment gathering medicinal herbs. Basically, you work together to create a list of herbs and their properties. The player gets to create their own herbarium with artistic sketches and growing conditions in a journal that everyone can look at it with awe when they open it up at the table. Except, what if you are not that creative? What if you don’t have time to create a list of herbs? What if you need a herb for the game on the fly?

Spurred on by the idea that there might be a need for such and with a transatlantic flight to fill, John has been busy at work creating a list of herbs for use in your game. Here is a little taster of what will be appearing in Imaginary Turtles Herbarium.

Cloud Cutter a wooden vessel like a horizontal tree trunk with clouds clinging to the upmost branches

Cloud Cutters of Aenwyld

Cloud Cutters of Aenwyld are an exclusive form of transport across the world. Most people will never be able to afford passage on one more than once in a lifetime. Piloted by the Wayfinders, who are able to use Arcane magic to navigate the streams of Aether that flow across the Aenwyld, these majestic vessels are a magnificent sight.

In Falling skies, we are planning to make the description of such vessels as generic as possible so that the GM can craft descriptions to match player expectations. We thought it was worth going down a rabbit hole. What could a Wyrdhorn Cloud cutter look like? Throwing many iterations through various AIs generally throws up a standard ship (usually poorly rendered) which sometimes looks like a skyborne galleon.

Why settle on this though? These magical trees, already embued with Aether, can fly. Why rebuild it into a new shape? Wyldlings and Aenths guard the Wyrdhorn forests. Perhaps, the Cloud Cutters of Aenwyld are not made but organically crafted into a vessel; each one unique to the Wyrdhorn. Branches that capture Aether act as sails to propel the Cloud Cutter of Aenwyld onwards. After many hours of seeking a concept idea that fits these ideas, we found this with AIBY AI. Let us know what you think.

Concept Cloud Cutter of Aenwyld created with Aiby AI software.
Grievous Grimoire

Grievous Grimoire available as a PDF

Buy your copy at our webshop

Grievous Grimoire is an optional ruleset for the Open00 system used by Against the Darkmaster. This rule supplement allows the customisation of character development from the base vocations. General Skills can be enhanced using Specialty skills. Now, each character can have an area of expertise. Vocation Initiate Spell Lores and Unique Specialty skills for non-spell users provide tools to develop your character your way. The book provides supporting rules for Shaman (Spirit World), Summoners (Elementals), and Mages (Animated Objects) and a host of ways to apply development points. Grievous Grimoire is a must for the GM armory.


Remember, we’re not for profit so all proceeds from this will be invested back into the following publication, Falling Skies. Please give us your support and head over to our webshop to buy your copy.

Grievous Grimoire
An optional ruleset for Open00 and Against the Darkmaster
Available at the Imaginary Turtles Webshop
Pre-Gen PC

Tomasz Vilks

Tomasz Vilks a Warrior 
Pre-generated Player Character for Falling Skies
Tomasz Vilks

Tomasz watched. He watched the doorway. He watched the patrons of the Sun’s Solace, a seemingly reputable tavern in the Shades. The longer Tomasz had been here the more it seemed that appearances were deceptive. Then Jaroz wasn’t paying him to make moral judgements; just for his bulky presence and to watch.

Most of the patrons were hard-bitten grafters of the Shades, but one or two were a little too well-dressed. Some came in gaggles like preening peacocks and others ghosted in with less well-dressed companions. Tomasz had already intimidated a small group of Amthorians from causing trouble with their sense of entitlement.

The five half-elves had entered full of privilege and arrogance earlier in the evening. The temperature and noise level had fallen as if it was an early winter morning back in the northern wilds of his homeland: not that Amthorians had noticed. He had no doubt that if he had left it five minutes more, one of the party would be lying in a gutter with a fatal wound. Not that he was worried about their well-being, but Jaroz paid him to keep trouble from the Solace’s doors.

He rounded them up and told them to find somewhere else to drink. Of course, the entitled fops flashed coin at him to let them revel in “such a fine establishment” which had made more than a few eyes in the darker corners turn in their directions. Tomasz had sent them packing into the night with screams of “Don’t you know who I am?” and “I’m a Lumene! You’re finished little man!” as the intoxicated group weaved their way through the darkened streets. Tomasz watched…