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THE SETTING Dortoka in better days Sitting at the center of the burning desert known as the Sea of Glass is the ruined city of Dortoka. Past the molten prismatic glass dunes and the buried outposts this scab of a city juts out of the ground, its streets of glass and gridded stone giving way to immense towers and squalid slums slowly crumbling in the heat. Stories tell of a history spanning a million years, a city occupied by countless barbarians, imperials, and extradimensional invaders. Once under the sway of dragons, sorcerer-queens and demons with forgotten faces, now the sagging and sprawling city of Dortoka settles into the desert, largely abandoned. The terrible heat of the Sea of Glass keeps most would-be explorers and treasure-seekers at bay, but not all are dissuaded by the rivers of molten glass and flesh-shredding glass sandstorms. There are some who brave the dangers to come to the oldest place in the world, the vast and unmapped city that birthed a thousand cultures, the burial mound of wonders from ages long since passed from living memory. You are one such person, an adventurer, explorer, thrillseeker or treasure-hunter who has ventured to the lost city in search of what the outside world cannot provide. You and your comrades did not make the journey alone, having taken passage with a grand caravan that has crossed the Sea of Glass. The caravan master has come in search of a legendary treasure at the center of the ruined city, and has brought you along as protection, scouts, and trouble-shooters. The caravan is a moving town unto itself, intended to bring everything its hundreds of occupants will need on their long journey, but the trip was more taxing than the leaders predicted. Resources are low, tempers are high and the caravan's discipline is cracking. Other groups of adventurers are eyeing the city's riches, and there is an understanding that the looting will be a free-for-all when they arrive.  One of Dortoka's ghost-haunted wards today Dortoka is a dangerous place, with crumbling ruins and weird creatures left over from a million years of arcane experimentation and transdimensional currents blowing through the thinned membrane of reality. Other bands of explorers and unscrupulous archaeologists could be allies or enemies. Sorcerers seeking the lost power of vast, alien rulers and clerics on quests from their weird gods jealously guard their own treasures. Bandits, gangs and long-lost descendants of Dortokan natives have carved out territories for themselves with their own rules and strange customs. Most important are the ruins, lairs and vaults scattered across the countless wards of Dortoka, full of danger and promise for those with the bravery to enter them. Are you cut from the cloth of an adventurer? Are you prepared to put your life on the line for riches, glory and knowledge? Then join the caravan to Dortoka and seek the lost treasures and secret history of the greatest city that ever existed! THE GAME The Black Hack Second Edition is an OSR-esque game of dungeon-crawling and gritty adventurers against the odds in a world that is both grim and silly. I'll be leaning more towards fantastical and silly, but the game will still be dangerous and gritty. I'm not big on some OSR concepts like player skill and the meat-grinder, and I'm pretty easygoing for the most part. If you lose a character, the Caravan has plenty more to draw a new adventurer from If you'd rather roll up a denizen of Dortoka, fellow traveler or something else, that's cool too. Dortoka is a setting and supplement made for Vagabonds of Dyfed, a game that sells itself as OSR + PBTA. I haven't read it so I can't speak to how that works out, but Dortoka can be used just as easily to make things for OSR games, and that's what we'll be doing here. I've rolled up and detailed a few wards to start with, and I will generate more of them as needed. The game is structured as a pointcrawl, with each ward having points of interest, and the wards themselves acting as larger points in and of themselves. As the game goes on the Caravan will be moving deeper into the city, and the PCs can choose to stick with it or not. Travel alongside the Caravan will be easier, and there are benefits to staying close by, but there is also a lot to be gained by heading out into the city alone to seek out treasure in dungeons that the Caravan isn't interested in. But overall this is a sandbox game. Where you go is up to you, what challenges you want to tackle are up to you, and I won't be level-scaling things to always be a fair challenge. This game will be PbP using Discord. I don't want to impose any hard quotas, but hopefully Discord will allow us to keep up a quicker posting pace. I'll also be using Roll20 just for maps/tokens when we need a visual representation of a map for encounters and whatnot. Applications are open until next Saturday, November 10 at midnight. I'm looking for 4 players since the game has 4 base classes (though I've been cooking up some homebrew classes that y'all can playtest if you're interested). For applications, all I need is a name with a short description. If you've got some art, that's even better. I haven't defined a lot about the world, so pretty much anything fantasy goes. Weird characters are perfectly welcome here, Dortoka is a weird and fantastical place. If you've got any questions, feel free to ask me and I'll get back to you ASAP.       More looks at Dortoka in the past and present
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Nov 3, 2018 06:31
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| # ? May 6, 2024 23:49 |
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 Empyreal Triumph Triumph is one of the most recent additions to the grand caravan. He joined in the very depths of the Sea of Glass, a few days before the gates to Dortoka came into sight. He's a bit taciturn and as much a mystery as his entrance to the band suggests, though he has mentioned that his people, the Afrit, live in an incredible city of molten glass some distance further in the Sea. They're a proud warrior culture, though there's also a strong philosophical bent since pitched battles have been rather rare in recent years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most creatures don't find the Sea of Glass as hospitable as the Afrit. Further prodding reveals that his aim in challenging the ruined city is to claim a mighty prize, worthy enough to see him ensconced in the legends of his people until the fires of the Sea burn out entirely. quote:HP: 5 Tricky fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Nov 14, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 07:14
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 Alizeh Though the great metropolis of Dortoka lies in ruin, it was never fully abandoned. While the civilizations that crafted its landscape crumbled, Dortoka's heritors endured within its walls, towers, parks, and sewers. If we are to find hope of surviving this desolate, immense tomb, we must look to the rats. Character sheet posted:Alizeh the Cleric Emy fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Nov 26, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 07:35
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 Chunk Many, many strange things have passed through the gates of Dortoka, but fewer still have been there from the beginning. Unmoving, not speaking, with the patience of a rock, the local landmark once known as Chunk has witnessed the growth, flourishing, and decay of the once-great city. With no real reason to roam or explore, nobody over the untold years to even attempt to communicate with, its countenance is as stoic as its material. Moving at a geologic pace, with no need or desire to go any faster, the entity had seen so many leave, never to return. Not much surprises a rock, however witnessing people moving inward was something it had not seen for quite some time, indeed. It bore a closer look. And perhaps a faster pace. pre:Chunk Wizard HP = 4 Hit Die = 1d4 Str = 7 Dex = 10 Con = 8 Int = 16 Wis = 12 Cha = 8 Usable Weapons & Armour : Cloth, arming sword, staff, dagger Attack Damage : 1d4 or 1 if unarmed FAMILIAR A 6-inch tall moon-faced man EQUIPMENT Spellbook containing 6 spells of your choosing from spell levels 1 and 2 (p.26).: Cloth robes (AV1) bent oak staff short sword a void creature’s egg 11 coins & purse. Spells Memorized Magic Missile: A Faraway or Distant target takes 1d6 damage for each of the Spellcaster’s Levels. Spellbook Magic Missile: A Faraway or Distant target takes 1d6 damage for each of the Spellcaster’s Levels. Light: Creates dim light from a Nearby spot or object that lasts for Ud8 Minutes. Knock/Lock: A Nearby door or lock is either opened or locked. Detect Magic: Everything Nearby that is magic glows - lasts Ud6 Minutes. Rhyos fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Nov 13, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 08:15
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 Dreaming Pine Pine is a mapmaker and a pathfinder. Ever since her arrival in the Sea of Glass, she's sought to make sense of the vast, incomprehensible desert (and profit from it). Her maps sell well among caravaneers and explorers, as it reflects years of her finding dubious shortcuts and weird tricks to overcome the perils of the dunes. Her written accounts of faraway vistas and cultures aren't quite as popular, but they do provide ways for young adventurers to follow her steps, through the strange, colorful lanterns she leaves behind on every place she visits. These days, she finds herself on a caravan to Dortoka, seeking not only great treasure for an easy retirement, but for a new puzzle to unravel. After all, no one has yet to make an accurate map of these massive, eldritch ruins. And that won't do. No, that won't do. quote:HP: 7 Mitama fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Nov 12, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 13:02
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Alphonse Lepereau, Aspiring Pictomancer Alphonse grew more frustrated with each jostle of the massive wagon he sat in. Legs hooked, he pressed his journal against his thigh, and plucked a few hairs from his beard twisting them with pinched fingers until the hairs wove into themselves forming a fine pointed brush. 'Day 43 The caravan master’s jaw slavers as we draw nearer to the forsaken city. Meanwhile, the rest of the caravan grows weary with diminishing supplies and paper thin allegiances. I've not given up hope though. Come cutthroat, golem, demon or ancient evil... I will paint the true soul of this city. The secrets of Dortoka and its million years history will be mine.’ Alphonse snapped his fingers and the journal vanished and the brush turned back into a few loose hairs that he dropped on the wagon floor. He let out a sigh... "Not much longer now." Anomalous Amalgam fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Nov 3, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 14:58
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"Last", Last Scion of Doomed House Xolani House Xolani was one of the greatest noble houses of the time. Renowned, wealthy, powerful... and now all but gone. Generations ago fate was twisted and a great insidious curse was laid upon the family. Its wealth and power was spent in ill-advised ventures, and the great family tree pruned heavily, and often. Generations have spent their dwindling resources attempting to find the cause, but all failed... until recently, when Last's aunt found a fragment of a sentence, the best and only clue they had ever found: "...o and in Dortoka, the Doom of Xolani rem..." Pooling what little wealth they had left, the last dregs of once great and noble House Xolani took its last son, the only one remaining with but a spark of the old greatness, and outfitted him for the ardous journey to Dortoka. quote:HP: 8 
Antilles fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Nov 12, 2018 |
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Nov 8, 2018 00:10
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 Dis, Airbound Exile Correspondents' Log, Plévial 45/13: My poor vessels remain impounded by that pond-scum alderman*, and I fear that what feed I left for them grows bare. Perhaps they were just under-inflated nags sent to hurry this over-inquisitive Typist towards her certain demise. Yet little Phar and burbling Lyn had started to become my friends. I do hope they make it. *Only a few memories of them remain unbroken: 10 spans wide, puce scar on their fourth eye, clerk #2_4 of Mutual Responsibility Group #3_. Correspondents' Log, Venôise 1/12: Signed onto a caravan. Death no longer as certain. Apparently my ragged cough and the hissing depressurization of my harness makes me seem fearsome. Or perhaps they're just desperate. Regardless, we're back to caving in skulls to earn our daily scrap of fish. It's like I never left the pipeways.
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Nov 9, 2018 13:32
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| # ? May 6, 2024 23:49 |
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Okay folks, thanks to all of y'all for submitting applications! I had a hard time choosing, as these are all strong characters and I wish I could take everyone. I have decided to up the number of players to 5, just because The Black Hack seems like it works best with a 5-person party. The Caravaneers Empyreal Triumph (Tricky) Alizeh (Emy) Chunk (Rhyos) Dreaming Pine (Mitama) Last (Antilles) Anomalous Amalgam and Bendigeidfran, if anyone needs to drop out for any reason I will hit y'all up first. Discord link to the game I look forward to seeing everyone later!
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Nov 11, 2018 06:00
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