CoActionDrama

The reader is likely to find that the spelling and or telling of things vary somewhat with the writers who contribute to the world of Maston.  It is the GM’s responsibility to decide what is right at the time of play.  The writers may be mistaken, (i.e. this GM decided that things are a bit different), basing their suppositions on false information or, indeed, simply wrong.

Maston was originally sketched in very simply and the players in the Sunday game allowed to describe the things they saw and the shape of the world around them as much as I, (Friday, the GM), sketched in things as they saw them.

This has resulted in a rich world experience, but also mis-conceptions, rumour, mistakes, perceptive difficulties and other mis-descriptions.  This is a natural consequence of the very rich game experience we enjoy.  Don’t take it badly, the players have other things to say, and some of them will conflict.  The tables of generator dice for various species on Maston follows, and the descriptions follow that.

Species Statistics

Players have a particular responsibility to restrain themselves when playing other species.  It would be very easy, for example, to simply overwhelm a game by playing a troll character and using strength and intimidation.  These ranges are an indicator of some of the problems that could arise.

Ranges

Generator Die Rolls

Players and GMs should be aware that not all of this table relies on d6

Species Description

Humans

Humans are the most prevalent species on Maston, and as such are dealt with in detail in the main body of the work on Maston.  They have conquered most of the (playable) landmass and are the farmers, hunters, fishermen etc of the area.  In the south the population mostly live on the coast, and the interior in largely uninhabited, except by the hardiest of nomad tribes.

Humans have driven away most of the exotic species, or absorbed them into human culture.  Many of the exotics are dying out, or adapting to human culture.  It is a great sadness to see those who are aware of this gradual decline, but can do nothing about it, though some, like the Faerie, become hostile to humans as result of this, while needing them at the same time.

Trolls

We determined in the LRP that Trolls are not supposed to eat bananas because they are poisonous in amounts greater than one or two.  It’s the potassium.

They live in high places usually, and are akin to Pratchett’s now classic overheated thick troll in the plains and cities.  The choice of many trolls to come to the northern cities is perhaps rash, but understandable considering the wealth they can earn as bouncers &c.  No troll would willingly go to the hot countries, Homanta, and Noshi in particular, though one may travel as far south as the middle of Simanith.

Faeries, General Information

By Carol Fleres, your Faeri consultant

Faeries live in most countries of the North half of the West Continent. It is told that once they were numerous, and lived in close contact to the humans. Nowadays, they are few and live in inaccessible areas. Because of the lack of contact to other peoples, their numbers have dwindled. Faeries are a female only people, which forces them to rely on males of other species, mostly humans, to reproduce. All girls born of these contacts are faeries, and kept by them. The boys are usually left at the nearest human settlement.

There are three kinds of faeries, sylvan faeries, swamp faeries and water faeries.  All faeries are between 1.40 and 1.65m tall, of slim build and have pointy ears.  There are, however, considerable differences between the 3 kinds.

Sylvan faeries live in the deep woods of Feria and Daria and seldom have open contact with humans. For reproduction, they rely usually on capturing wanderers or woodcutters, which they usually release after their services have been performed. They have bat like wings with a span of about 3 to 4 meters. They have white hair, bronze skin and usually green, brown or amber eyes. They wear brownish leather clothes.

Swamp faeries live in swamps, obviously. They are said to lure innocent wanderers astray by putting little flames in the swamps, whose merry dancing entices whoever beholds them to follow them. Usually, these people are never seen again. Swamp faeries have blond or red hair and green or orange eyes. Their skin has a greenish cast. They wear green or brown clothes made of plant fibres.

Water faeries live in caves in rocky coasts. They can stay underwater for a very long time and are reported to have saved sailors from drowning. These usually have a faint dreamy look about them when they return to their homes. Water faeries have silvery green hair, silvery skin, blue or blue green eyes and webbed hands and feet. They wear clothes made of fish skin.

Faeries live in clans of about 50 to 100 people. The name of their clan is part of their name, for example: Alytha Es’Tarïe : Alytha of the clan of Tary.

They are ruled by a Queen and the Council of the clans, composed of the leaders of all clans.

Faeries are good hunters and very good with bow and arrow. Especially sylvan faeries are also skilled swordfighters. Iron is dangerous for faeries. Whereas small pieces like arrowheads or coins don’t harm them, an iron sword would poison them. Their swords are therefore made of ironwood, a very hard kind of wood. After hardening in a fire, ironwood swords are almost as strong and flexible as iron.

It is supposed that the forging of ironwood is not an entirely natural process, which brings us to magic. Faeries have limited magic abilities, which can be used in search of mates. Sylvans, for example, are able to locate a person through a fire, using a kind of magic powder, thrown into the flames. As mentioned before, Swamp faeries can produce little flames that entice everybody to follow them. Water faeries can sing in a way that draws everybody who hears their song helplessly to them.

Faeries also have a great knowledge of plants, which makes them skilled healers. They are fond of poetry and music.

By Carol Fleres

Not much is known about water-faeries, even to the other faery tribes. Their clan-leaders only joined the Council about 5000 years ago. In an attempt to include them more into the community, the other leaders elected Shay’ra, a water-faery, Queen of the faeries about 2000 years ago. As a consequence of this, trade between sylvan and swamp clans and the water clans increased and many strange things appeared in the villages in the woods and in the swamps. Water faeries never let anybody into their dwellings who does not have business there, so all accounts come from faery merchants. They tell of huge, beautiful cities carved into the caves, illuminated by big globes of liquid light, like the glow-worms they know, but much brighter and in all colours of the rainbow.

Water-faeries prefer living in places where the water near the cliffs is full of dangerous rocks, thus very dangerous for ships. This ensures the survival of their population, as they save sailors from drowning and bring them to their cities, where they use them for their purposes. Afterwards, they set them free, after having wiped their memories. The magical gift of the water-faeries is their song, which allows them to manipulate human minds, luring them to their caves or as mentioned above, tamper with their memory.

The water-faeries are the only tribe that has developed a kind of religion. They worship a goddess who appears in the form of a half-faery, half-fish being, armed with a trident and wearing a crown of seashells. They believe that this goddess will one day bring the faery-men back to them, if they keep sacrificing their sons to her. At every full moon, the boys born during the last month are brought to the palace of the high priestess, who drowns them in a little pool in front of the altar of the goddess. The other tribes are not very happy about this practice, but the clan-leaders of the water-faeries threaten to stop all contact between the tribes if the others will take action against their religion.

Water-faeries can hold their breath for a very long time. They like diving for beautiful things like shells and pearls, which they work into jewellery. They don’t know fabric. Their clothes are made of fish-skins or leather from marine mammals that they kill.

Adjustments

Wood Faerie – Flying 3d6+2 (See flying points); Healing (Herbs etc), 2d10; Hide in Woods, 2d10.

Wood Faerie get 2 x Con Flying points.  It costs 1 point per minute or part thereof to fly, gliding or thermals cost nothing.  Against wind is twice the cost. For an mean Faerie, this means that they can fly without stopping on a calm day for 25 minutes before needing to rest.  Flying points are regained at a rate of 1 per minute.  Since gliding costs nothing, it can be counted as rest, so it is possible for a Faerie to stay in the air all day.  Give a flyer a test every five minutes of flight, if failed, a Flying point is used up, if badly failed the Faerie must land within two rounds or risk catastrophic failure.  A critical fail is a catastropic failure.  A large bonus may be given if the flight is non taxing.   For a lengthy non-taxing flight the GM may want to check less frequently.  Hovering is hard and always uses 1 Flying point per round, check Flying every round.

Elves

There are, or if one plays in the right time frame, were Elves on Maston.  These contentious creatures were the stuff of legend and hearsay only, living as they did in The Land.  In fact Elves are NOT available for player characters, partially because they are technology dependent, and players fail to run this in a fantasy setting properly, but also because they are from off-planet and after certain events have left again, never to return.

Elves have the classical pointy ears and slants eyes of elves, and an amazing propensity for swaggering about as though they own the place.  When elves appear, there is usually some sort of trouble happening, with the elf in question at the centre of it, but without any one necessarily knowing this.  Elves and magic are a dangerous, if not lethal combination, and their god, (i.e. their spaceship), is a powerful being capable of performing many miracles.  None of the other gods talk about their relationship to the Elf god, even to their most trusted priests, and one will find that the Faerie gods have knowledge of him at all, or even an awareness of his existence.  It really is important to realise that Elves are not player characters, really.

Elf culture is one of knowledge and contemplation within their realm, only renegades venture outside of it, because these creatures have a directive that forbids them to contaminate the local population.  One especially spectacular exception this was the renegade Garrick, who found the lost space craft of the Elves and instigated their spectacular leaving of the planet.  Two cultures suffered as result of his actions over a period of time, and the elves would not leave him behind.  His association, and embodiment of the Elf god, (actually an avatar of the space craft), brought down an entire town, and changed its arcology to that of a tree worshipping population of basically hippies.  In the long run this was a good thing, but in the short term his disruptions, and eventual recovery by Maurice the Magnificent, (whose demise is a tale told while fighting Demons), is the subject of other work in the future.

Suffice to say that most of the rest of the knowledge about Elves is covered up and mysterious.  Elves are a great opportunity for a GM to have a dark side, and to make things up around this framework.

Ogres

Ogres were never played in the initial inception of the Maston campaign, and as such they are available for the GM to use as they see fit, as they are a bit of a dark horse.

Ogres stand between  five and seven feet tall, generally weight 12 x Str rather than the human 9 x Str.  They have night vision, that is, they may see in very low levels of light, but not total darkness.  They are often green hued, slightly, and generally have shaggy hair and beards, for the males, females are generally not seen, but tend to be slighter and more human hued.  Some can be quite attractive according to some hunters of Ogres.

Ogre culture is based on their rather lonely lives in the northern mountains.  Warm blooded, (unlike Trolls), they need fire and food constantly, both of which they hunt as they are unable to make fire for themselves.  Even the most intelligent Ogre cannot outsmart an average human in general terms, though they may be fearsome adversaries in their own territory.

Ogres form family relationships and are monogamous for life, though to other species they can seem rather violent and animalistic.  In fact many Ogres can read and write, and have some very slight written tradition, in addition to their extensive oral traditions.

Because humans own sheep and goats, and these are easy prey for Ogres, they are often in conflict with human culture.  Ogres can be pretty aggressive and they will not hesitate to attack farmers etc. who are protecting their livestock.  More progressive farmers will make sure there is extra livestock on hand to absorb this extra cost of farming.