My magnum opus of esoteric geekery (though I’ve said that before and keep outdoing myself, it’s a sickness really), a conversion of the Atmosfear: The Harbingers board game. This is intended as a Ravenloft import, with a Darklord (the Gatekeeper) ruling over 6 “sub-Darklords” (the Harbingers) each with their own sub-Domains (the Provinces). The PCs might get caught between the Harbingers as they war with each other (and with the Gatekeeper), or employed by one or more Harbingers to further their aims, or even by the Gatekeeper to keep the peace.
Contents
0. The Other Side
1. The Gatekeeper
2. Gévaudan, The Werewolf
3. Baron Samedi, The Zombie
4. Khufu, The Mummy
5. Hellin, The Poltergeist
6. Anne de Chantraine, The Witch
7. Countess Elizabeth Báthory, The Vampire
8. Soul Rangers
ATMOSFEAR: THE HARBINGERS
Harbinger: One who pioneers or initiates a major change; a precursor--something that foreshadows what is to come with an omen or warning.
The Other Side
Somewhere between nowhere and forever is an abyss we only ever visit in our nightmares, where the only thing to fear is fear itself. It is a place called The Other Side.
Every midnight a harvester’s moon rises over the six Provinces of this Camelot lost, and half a dozen myths who call themselves Harbingers raise up to challenge the Gatekeeper in a game of their own invention.
Tonight is another one of those nights. But what are you afraid of?
The Other Side is a domain in the Demiplane of Dread, larger and more complex than most others. It consists of six Provinces, arranged radially around the Central Hub, each with vast subterranean Sewers. The Other Side functions similarly to an Outer Plane afterlife in that particularly wicked souls from the Material Plane are sometimes drawn to it as their final resting place... but there is little rest to be found. Six such souls have each ascended to rule one of the Provinces; these 'Harbingers' war against each other and against the mad Gatekeeper who rules over the domain itself.
Each Harbinger wishes to acquire one Keystone from each of the six Provinces, so that they might access the Well of Fears and overthrow the Gatekeeper. They might employ the party to that end, or to defeat the other competing Harbingers. Conversely, the Gatekeeper might use the party to foil the Harbingers in their quest, or simply send them on meaningless tasks for his own deranged amusement.
The Central Hub, The Well of Fears, & The Ring Road
The Central Hub
The Central Hub is a great domed necropolis-city of shining obsidian at the heart of The Other Side. It borders each Province and allows access to each of them via the Ring Road around its vast perimeter. Within the Central Hub lies the Well of Fears, which is the key to defeating the Gatekeeper and/or allowing escape from The Other Side.
In spite of the immense size of the structure, the Hub is a desolate and uninhabited place. Players typically arrive at The Other Side here, awakening in sepulchral alcoves to be greeted by the bellicose Gatekeeper as he explains their predicament. Afterwards they are permitted temporary use of the Ring Road until they set foot in their first Province or Sewer.
The Well of Fears
Deep within the Central Hub lies a great obsidian vault, containing the personified fears of every being in the Other Side (including the party, the Harbingers, and perhaps even the Gatekeeper himself). Only by opening the Well and defeating the horrors within can the Gatekeeper’s powers be usurped by one of the Harbingers, and the party thereby be allowed to return to their home plane (or to conquer The Other Side, or to at least escape into another darklord’s realm). It is also rumoured that all of the Gatekeeper’s vast wealth is contained in the Well…
The Ring Road
Like all other Roads in The Other Side, the Ring Road bears a powerful enchantment. Fashioned from pure mirror-polished obsidian, it is completely indestructible and encircles the Central Hub. Unlike the straight-edged Roads found throughout the rest of the domain, the Ring Road curves smoothly around the Central Hub in a spiderweb pattern and and bears no Magic Squares. Instead, the magic of the Ring Road prevents any creature from traversing it unless they meet one or more of the following conditions:
New Arrivals: Parties that have just arrived in The Other Side are free to use the Ring Road to travel around the borders of the Central Hub, but as soon as a creature steps off the Ring Road into a Province or Sewer they cannot set foot on it again, as though an indestructible wall of force blocked their way.
Complete Keystone Sets: Parties that have collected at least one Keystone of each colour and are returning to open The Well of Fears may travel the Ring Road once more.
Dark Wanderers: Soul Rangers, Numb Skulls, and the Gatekeeper may travel the Ring Road freely.
Even Harbingers must abide by these restrictions, which the Gatekeeper has placed to force creatures to travel through multiple Provinces rather than relying on the Ring Road.
The Provinces
Each of the six Provinces is a self-contained kingdom, ruled by one of the mighty Harbingers and bordering the Central Hub and two adjacent Provinces. Each night the Gatekeeper alters reality itself to rearrange the Provinces around the Central Hub according to his whims (and according to which Harbingers are currently most likely to declare war against each other if they are made to share a border). This makes trade impossible and keeps the denizens of each Province in a state of almost-perpetual war with neighbouring Provinces, though the Harbingers are also constantly making (and breaking) alliances with each other to gain even fleeting advantages in their eternal struggle. Each Province also has an extensive underground Sewer, populated by the vicious Soul Rangers.
The Roads & Random Encounters
The Provinces are traversable by long, gleaming, spacious, perfectly-cut Roads of shining obsidian squares with gilt edges. The Roads are unweathered, immune to all harm, and greatly reduce the dangers of travel through The Other Side (chances of a random encounter in The Other Side are doubled while travelling on a Road but quadrupled while travelling off of one).
Each Province has a particular set of creatures that appear for random encounters (see the individual Province descriptions for details). While there is a Curfew in effect, a random encounter above-ground in a Province will never include Soul Rangers (Soul Rangers can only escape Curfews while in possession of a Keystone so such an encounter should be planned by the DM). While there is no Curfew, there is a 20% chance that a random encounter above-ground in a Province will be with Soul Rangers instead of the standard creatures for that Province. Regardless of whether or not there is a Curfew, any random encounter in a Province's Sewer has a 50% chance of including Soul Rangers, a 40% chance of being a subterranean creature (typically oozes, monstrous vermin, and the like), and a 10% chance of being a standard random encounter for that Province.
Magic Squares
For every hour spent travelling on a Road, there is a one-in-ten chance of encountering a Magic Square (with an equal chance of encountering each type of Magic Square). Some Magic Squares are harmful, but some are beneficial. A party’s Keystone Powers typically protect them from harmful Magic Squares or allow them to benefit from helpful ones.
Black Hole
This Magic Square appears much like a normal section of Road until the party crosses it. At that time the obsidian suddenly swirls into an inky black vortex that attempts to draw the party into an extradimensional space. All party members must make a Reflex save (DC 20) or be swallowed up into a lightless void of ice-cold black viscous nothingness, unable to take any actions. Trapped characters do not have to breathe but suffer the effects of starvation, thirst, and cold weather while trapped. Creatures in a Black Hole may be freed at any time by the Gatekeeper, though he generally lets them stew for at least a night. Furthermore, the void of a Black Hole often contains the remains and treasures of unfortunates who were trapped for too long, or whom the Gatekeeper simply forgot about.
Keystone
This Magic Square contains a Keystone of the appropriate colour for the Province. They are almost always guarded, by traps if not by creatures.
Nightmare Duel
A shining silver lightning bolt is inscribed across this Magic Square. A party with the Nightmare Duel Keystone Power may set up camp on this Square and make opposed character level checks against the Harbinger of their choice. They must know the name of a Harbinger to attack it in this way. Each successful check allows them to subject that Harbinger to nightmare as the spell (even if the Harbinger would normally be immune). Each character that fails suffers a nightmare themselves. Through these mental attacks a successful party may glean useful information from the Harbinger’s mind or scry on the Harbinger, at the DM’s discretion.
Compass
This Magic Square bears the design of a large silvery compass. A party with the Keystone Power of Flight may use this Square to cast wind walk on themselves (caster level 20th). They may not regain physical form until the effect expires or they land on a Compass Square again. Any party member strays more than 30 feet from the party member bearing the Flight Keystone instantly plummets from the skies.
Gates
Gates are formidable structures of dark purple wood, large enough to completely block passage along a Road. Large cast-iron gargoyles perch atop either side of a Gate, with their bat-wings sweeping down to reinforce each of the double-doors. The door handles and knockers resemble spidery demons, and a tall iron fence extends from each side of a Gate off for leagues into the wilderness around the Road.
Gates are placed by the Gatekeeper at a whim, and are completely impassable for parties without the Bypass Gates Keystone Power. Parties with that Keystone Power may open a Gate with ease – and once they have passed through, they may teleport it to a location of their choosing in The Other Side as if by greater teleport (but not to the Ring Road). Otherwise, they must choose to either turn back (to find another route), or to leave the Road and travel through the wilderness to circumvent the Gate (suffering at least one random encounter in the process).
Keystones & Keystone Powers
The coveted Keystones unlock tremendous Powers and are greatly desired by the Harbingers. The Gatekeeper has provided each of the Provinces with 6 Keystones (one or more of which is almost always in the possession of that Province’s Harbinger), and tasked the Harbingers with collecting one Keystone from each Province in order to challenge him for supremacy. At the DM’s discretion there might be as few as one Keystone per province. If so, the Keystone Magic Squares should be removed from the game and the Keystones should all be in the possession of Harbingers.
Each Keystone is a minor artifact that radiates strong universal magic (caster level 20th) and strong evil. They resemble miniature obsidian tombstones, each weighing 1 pound and inscribed with a bejewelled key symbol. The six colours of keystone are:
Ruby: From Countess Elizabeth Báthory’s Province.
Topaz: From Khufu’s Province.
Emerald: From Baron Samedi’s Province.
Amethyst: From Hellin’s Province.
Sapphire: From Gévaudan’s Province
Amber: From Anne de Chantraine’s Province.
If a Keystone is in the possession of any party member it is also considered to be in the possession of all party members within 30 feet. Each Keystone grants a particular Power (assigned by the Gatekeeper when the party first arrives in The Other Side). The six Keystone Powers are:
Nightmare Duel: Allows the party to use Nightmare Duel squares.
Double Movement: The speed of the party is doubled while moving on Roads (whether through Provinces or Sewers or on the Ring Road, both inside and outside of combat).
Bypass Gates: The party may pass freely through Gates (and as a standard action may greater teleport (as the spell, caster level 20th) the Gate to any location they are aware of save for the Ring Road).
Escape Black Hole: The party does not trigger Black Hole Magic Squares. The Gatekeeper may still Banish them to Black Holes, but they may free themselves after one round.
Flight: The party may activate Compass Magic Squares.
Sewer Access: While out of combat and on a Road in a Province, the party may teleport to a random Sewer Road in the same Province (and vice versa) as a full-round action as the spell (caster level 20th).
A party that possesses all 6 colours of Keystone is free to return to the Ring Road and the Central Hub and may access the Well of Fears.
Sewers, Soul Rangers, and Curfews
The Provinces all share an extensive network of Sewers - the Dark Side of the already-dark Other Side. The vast majority of souls drawn to The Other Side are no threat and of little interest to the Harbingers, and find themselves drifting through the gloomy tunnels of this place. Here they are drafted into the ranks of the Soul Rangers; miserable scavengers that play by their own set of rules. The scourge of the Provinces, they are untrustworthy, underhanded, undesirables that prowl the Sewers in search of prey and loot, and sometimes serve the Harbingers as mercenaries.
At his whim, the Gatekeeper may impose or remove a supernatural Curfew on all Soul Rangers in the Other Side. A given group of Soul Rangers can only prowl the Sewers and cannot set foot in the Provinces unless they are freed by the Gatekeeper or come into the possession of a Keystone (from any Province). Even Soul Rangers that possess a Keystone are teleported back to the Sewers when a Curfew is imposed (though they are free to immediately leave again).
Harbingers
The Harbingers are the six powerful creatures that rule the Provinces of The Other Side. Although they are all undead (in the sense that they died on the mortal plane and were resurrected in The Other Side), not all of them have the undead creature type. Instead, they all have the [Harbinger] subtype, which grants traits as described below:
Harbinger Traits
Harbingers always have the [Extraplanar] and [Evil] subtypes, though whenever they would be banished from The Other Side (or attempt to leave it of their own will) they are instead sent to a random Black Hole in a random Province.
So long as the Gatekeeper reigns, a Harbinger is doomed to struggle for dominance in The Other Side. Whenever it would be killed or otherwise incapacitated for longer than 24 hours, it instead reappears at its Headstone at full strength on the next night. It cannot be laid to rest until the Gatekeeper is overthrown.
Harbingers have spell resistance equal to their character level +10.
Harbingers have a +8 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.
Guise
Each Harbinger (except for Gévaudan) has a supernatural guise resembling its appearance in life. The guise provides no change to the Harbinger's statistics and the Harbinger cannot control when it takes this form; instead it automatically assumes the guise when first encountering a party. The guise is maintained for all interactions with that party so long as the Harbinger remains calm, but if angered or otherwise displeased the Harbinger permanently loses the guise for all future interactions with the party.
Guises function as though the Harbingers were under the effect of disguise self (caster level = Harbinger character level) for the purposes of true seeing and the like. If a Harbinger experiences slight frustration or becomes upset the guise decays subtly (noticeable by a DC 30 Spot check; the DC decreases permanently in increments of 5 with subsequent upsets until it is shed completely). At any time a Harbinger can shed its guise fully as a free action, and the guise is automatically shed if the Harbinger enters combat with the party.
Some Harbingers (particularly Khufu, Anne de Chantraine, and Countess Elizabeth Báthory) have mixed emotions about the loss of their humanity and try to maintain their guises as long as possible in an effort to cling to the past. Other Harbingers are utterly indifferent and happily shed their guises as they enter combat.
Symbols
Each Harbinger has an archetypal Symbol, which is a magic item that they grant to a party that agrees to serve their interests in The Other Side. A Harbinger's Symbol grants safe passage through that Harbinger's Province with respect to traps and random encounters (though Soul Rangers do not always respect the Harbinger's authority; see the Soul Ranger entry below). Each Symbol also has another powerful effect - see individual Harbinger descriptions for details.
Symbols may be transferred freely between party members. For the purposes of safe passage, a Symbol in the possession of any party member is considered to be in the possession of all other party members within 30 feet. Note that the unique ability of a Symbol only functions for the physical bearer of that Symbol.
Headstone
Each Harbinger has a Headstone - the capital city (or equivalent) of their Province and the place where they resurrect when destroyed or defeated. See individual Harbinger descriptions for details.
Treasures
In addition to their Symbols and randomly generated treasure, each Harbinger also possesses a number of unique magic items - which they have accumulated as loot from defeated adventurers or fashioned themselves (or with the aid of their followers). They may lend these items to party members or offer to use them on the party's behalf, but typically they are loath to do so (and instead often use the treasures against the party!). Some Harbingers (notably Anne de Chantraine) are capable of creating custom items for the party as well. At the DM's discretion a Harbinger's Symbol and unique magic items may lose their powers if the Harbinger is permanently defeated.
FINISHED! Atmosfear: The Harbingers (converted to Ravenloft 3.5).
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