don’t trust the brain eaters

Preface

Hopefully this game’s influences are obvious enough to inspire you. Grab one of your favourite near-future role playing games involving hackers. Set it below the earth. Instead of ruthless corporations outsourcing their espionage, it’s ruthless families of elves. My Deep Elves lack pigmentation and have bulbous eyes from living in caves. Maybe yours all have blue skin or suffer insomnia due to their guilt over terrible actions. Change their motivations or appearance to fit the preferences of your group. Hopefully the tables in the appendices will give you some ideas to craft your own conception of the cities of the World Below and their residents.

The initial rules will be a shoddy fork of some old school rule systems turned into a frankenstein that’s truly appropriate for a game of sanity blasting magic and flesh grafts.

Setting Introduction

For centuries the paths between the Surface and the World Below were few and far between. Knowledge of the magnates and goings-on of the Deep Elves, braineaters, and others were rumors at best. Despite the distractions of infighting the powers of these subterranean communities have now struck against the Surface.

The Sidhe are out for blood: their royal family killed, their jewels stolen, and the Sun Isle Kingdoms decimated by a Deep Elf incursion. The Dwarven nations have finally replenished their populations and dream of retaking their kingdoms below the Surface. The Black Network blew up the Emperor’s Palace leaving a giant crater between the smuggler’s Bonedock and Halls of the Netherpeak. The Gnomes of the Spiral Hills have become addicted to exotic dream spices of the East and now sell their steam-powered mechanical monstrosities to fund their habit.

The World Below

The standard campaign takes place in the World Below. The characters may be native to that region, recent arrivals from the Surface or something in between.

Most “cities” and communities of any size are ruled by an ever-shifting combination of Deep Elf Noble Houses. Other areas are predominantly Dagonites, Dverger, Fungusfolk, braineaters, and others. The Deep Elf merchant clans control most trade between areas, and especially commerce of rare goods from the Surface