shadowsea stygian depths sample

3The Return Trip ................................................... 64Moving on Old Tiles.......................................................64Pursuit from Dungeon ...................................................64

Solo Play .............................................................. 64Stygian Activation ..........................................................64

Treasure ............................................................... 65Gold Lust ..........................................................................65Ether Crystals ...................................................................65Using Magic Treasure Tables .........................................65Treasure Victory Points ..................................................66Force Bonus Points ..........................................................66

Alchemy ............................................................... 66Elixirs ..................................................................................66Identifying Elixirs ............................................................67Creating Elixirs.................................................................67

Magic Items ......................................................... 68Types of Magic Items ......................................................68Magic Item Activation ....................................................68Using Magic Items ...........................................................68Books of Magic ................................................................68Magic Item Mishap .........................................................69Magic Item Points ............................................................69Recovering Magic Items .................................................69

Adventure Aftermath............................................ 71Surviving the adventure ..................................................71Reinforcements ................................................................71Experience and Victory Points .....................................71Warband Advances ..........................................................72New Models ......................................................................72Personal Advancement ...................................................72Hero Points .......................................................................73Point Cost of Advanced Models ..................................73

New Recruits ........................................................ 74Axibaln Empire ..............................................................74Dark Mariners ..................................................................74Draconid Legion..............................................................75Fortune Hunters ..............................................................76Order of Yosoth ...............................................................77Sunless Kingdom .............................................................77Demons of the Void ........................................................78

Gameplay Summary ............................................. 79Typical Cavern Tile Stack .............................................79Typical Dungeon Tile Stack .........................................79Cavern Tile Contents .....................................................79Dungeon Tile Contents .................................................80Cavern Room ...................................................................82Cavern Room ...................................................................82

Cavern Tiles ......................................................... 82Dungeon Tiles ..................................................... 90

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4Introduction

The Stygian Depths is a supplement for ShadowSea, providing rules for adventures into the depths of the world, where nameless creatures and antediluvian civilizations guard magical artifacts and Golden Treasure s, ever plotting their return to power. Warbands may enter into the Stygian Depths from the Underlands, the primary realm of ShadowSea, in search of gold and ancient magical items, as well as for the glowing crystals that power all of the ether technology of the Ancients.

Adventures in the deep caverns are played on the tabletop using tiles to represent stretches of tunnels and rooms. The tiles can be arranged by the GameMaster, or GM for short, a player who commands all of the creatures, traps, and other aspects of the game against the players of the warband. Optionally, players may each take their own small warbands into the depths and compete to recover artifacts and treasure, using solo rules to control the monsters and build up the catacombs.

The main ShadowSea rulebook is required to play using this supplement. ShadowSea game rules are based upon the Song of Blades and Heroes (SOBH) ruleset by Ganesha Games. They are designed for fast and furious play with plenty of heroic action, channeling of arcane magic, resolved with a few rolls of 6-sided dice.

The cavern entrance was a pit of eerie blackness, dropping down from the temple into the heart of the earth. Vapors emanated from the depths, foul with the odor of ancient corruption, yet there was to be no retreat, no returning to the ship with our hands empty. The dark places of the world hold nameless horrors but also hold the source of power for the ancient artifacts of the Underlands, crystals pulsing with the energy of the ethers...

Our group was not prepared for the horrors of the Stygian Depths, as we have named the accused lands below. Naught else but the world of the damned did we find, with creatures that defied all laws of nature, and where the very earth seemed to tear at our souls. The catacombs penetrated deep below, twisting and turning until emerging into a nightmare city of demons, a place long forgotten by the civilizations of man and only whispered of by decrepit sages searching through the crumbling ruins of the Underlands...

Journal entry Johan Kurtz 1680

ShadowSea - Stygian Depths has been designed for battle using 28mm heroic scale miniatures, with one figure representing one character or creature. Any brand of miniature may be used, but they should have some type of uniform base, such as plastic round or square bases. Typical round bases sizes are 30mm for medium, 40mm for bigger, and 50-60mm for huge models. Long models can be mounted on oval or rectangular bases.

The nominal ground scale with 28mm models is roughly 20mm = 1 meter. One turn represent a few seconds of combat and heroic actions. Distances for movement and combat range are measured either using a ruler or with three measuring sticks of 75mm (Short), 120mm (Medium) and 180mm (Long). If one wants to use Imperial units, the sticks would be 3 inches (Short) 4.75 inches (Medium) and 7 inches (long).

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5 BackgroundThe following is excerpted from the journal of Johan Kurtz, from Expeditions in the Stygian Depths, 1680.

The artifacts we discovered in this shadowy realm called the Underlands had given me great hope that we would recover the missing piece of the arch that I had long searched for. In one ruined city we uncovered a broken part of a similar arch, but the crystal energy source hinted at by the elder sages of Yosoth was not to be found... But we did find them in time, deep below the surface of the world and in the crawling pits of hell. The entrance to the abyss was within a crumbling temple, a yawning pit that belched forth a blast of charnel air, but glimmered in the depths with bits of pale blue crystals. Down the twisting caverns went into the earth, where creatures of nightmare came from the very walls to tear and rend our group.

But there was gold, and glittering crystals in these caverns, more powerful that any of those found in the ancient cities above. Even a small piece was enough to power a device I had recovered, and a larger piece of crystal made it into a formidable weapon. Further we went into the shadows, our torches sputtering in the misty air and illuminating massive caverns dripping with slime, rivers of infernal lava and lakes with ominous shapes recoiling into the depths. The catacombs emerged into a dreamlike world at the center of the earth... It could not be, but we walked marble passages in the deep, where the walls were decorated with mosaics of demons in the form of foul serpents, and where the darkest rites were performed by those very demons, living and breathing before us, until our blades and gunfire sent them back to the pits of hell whence they spawned.

Elder DemonsOur recent expedition back into the Stygian Depths has

shaken our group. Many have returned to their homeland with distemper of the mind, and I have only been able to continue with the aid of a number of unsavory mercenaries from the Sunless Forest. The serpents of the deep are a race that was old when the kingdoms of man were young, and have been called many names, the Naga of the far eastern realms, the Xicoatal of the savage empires of the new world, and simply Snakemen by our holy men. They are the bane of man from time immemorial, stealers of souls, able to work the darkest sorcery to cross between the realms of dreams and our waking world. They can bridge vast distances in moments to bring back to their pits innocents from our kingdoms, victims that must toil as slaves or serve as sacrifices in gruesome ceremonies to honor demonic gods of the void. The very laws of nature are torn asunder in the pits, as underground chambers have been found that are warped beyond reality, with misty views of fields of stars and fiery planets, lands that cannot possibly exist except in the nightmares of madness, and with demons that crawl out of the mists to rend and tear.

The serpents of the earth have mastered type of magic we still do not understand, able to manipulate of the elements of the earth to transmute flesh into any form, render it invisible or reduce it to a wisp of dust in mere moments. Some of the elder serpents have even bridged the boundaries between the living and the dead, capturing souls of the living and imprisoning them into jade idols or great crystals, then enslaving the body for their own foul purposes.

Our scholars say that the serpents and their demons have been beaten back deep under the earth in our homeland and thought to be destroyed, but evil still flourishes here, a last outpost from where the dark creatures of old rebuild their strength to again plague mankind.

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6Serpents of the UnderworldIt was after returning to the Underlands that we

discovered more about the Stygian Depths, primarily from inscriptions within Axibaln temples. The pictogram language was translated roughly by our scholars, as it is similar to that used by native races of the New World. One of the translations described the first encounter of the Axibaln king and his high priests with the elder gods of the abyss, great serpents with scales that glittered like gemstones and with powers of creation and destruction. There was a great reverence for these beings in the early age of the Axibaln empire, as evidenced by the many crumbling temples we have found adorned with snake motifs and ominous altars before gigantic scaly statues.

But the king and the priests were deceived, their minds dominated and their souls imprisoned, and their empire became little more than a source for sacrificial chattel. Recently built temples show that it was the priestesses that began the revolution, learning to channel ethereal energy of the Underlands and driving the serpents back into the caverns below. The men of the empire, still worshipping the serpents, were subjugated by the Sorceresses and forced to become twisted bestial creations, with only a few left for breeding or duties as priests. The power of the sorceresses has grown such that some may even summon some of the lesser serpents to do battle for them, but the most powerful of those devils still dwell far below in nighted temples.

Lure of the EthersOther forces have been discovered searching in the

dark places of the earth, and are thought to have different reasons for confronting the serpents and demons in their unholy pits. We have had encounters with dark sorcerers of the Order of Yosoth in the Underlands, and now know that they too are searching for the deep caverns of the abyss. Their goals, told to me by a captured acolyte, are not for crystals to power ancient ethereal artifacts, but knowledge of the ethers, ancient texts and incantations used by the elder serpents to call demons from the void and bridge time and space.

The goals of the Axibaln Empire are still mysterious to our scholars, as their history indicates some sort of alliance with the lesser serpents. It is now thought that the sorceresses are attempting to capture the magic of the elder serpents for their own, increasing their deadly sorcery further and assuming the mantle of godlike beings within the Underlands.

Many of the deep caverns are flooded or contain deep rivers that undoubtably connect with the Shadow Sea. During our latest expedition we had a brief skirmish with

forces of the Dark Mariners as they attempted to retreat through a deep lake, carrying a hoard of glowing crystals, possibly to power their strange marine vessels and powerful energy weapons.

The savage lizardmen of the Draconid Legion were recently spotted exiting nearby caverns carrying large glowing objects. After a fierce skirmish we found the objects to be enormous eggs, either from the serpents of some other mighty reptilian creature. The embryos were snakelike in some, but had wings in others.

My expedition, now comprised of Fortune Hunters and mercenaries of the Sunless Kingdom, remains focused on recovery of artifacts. My search continues for portions of the arch that I theorize is the key to solving the riddles that the Ancients of the Shadow Sea have left behind, the disappearance of their majestic civilization and the reason for the design of their underwater cities in this dark underground world. The ethers are the beginning and the end I feel, the reason for the Ancients existence and disappearance, and if I can harness their powers and perfect the technology practiced by these lost people it may usher in a new age...

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7 Game OverviewStygian Depths is a new campaign supplement for

ShadowSea, providing rules for adventures in a hellish underground world. The basic gameplay follows the standard ShadowSea rules, with some new wrinkles. Games are played using tiles, square sections of catacombs and rooms printed on paper or card, revealed as the warband moves through the twisting caverns and dungeon levels. The idea behind the game is that one player acts as the Game Master, controlling the enemy creatures, deploying traps, and battling against the player of the adventuring warband. There are also optional rules for solo or standard head-to-head play for those who want to pit their warbands against each other in a race to find ancient artifacts.

Battles and AdventuresWhen a warband enters the Stygian Depths, it has

embarked on an Adventure, similar to a campaign in ShadowSea, with multiple battles played in succession. A Battle is defined as a single combat encounter, ending when either the warband or the enemy side has been defeated or fled back into the darkness. A warband must fight through many battles, finding treasure in the lairs of deadly creatures before finally reaching the dungeons of the Snakemen and their hidden secrets. All of these tasks are done as part of one continuous adventure, with the models moved along cavern and dungeon floor tiles representing corridors, rooms, lairs, and quest chambers, while having battles with patrols and hunting creatures along the way until the final battle scenario. The Game Master controls the play of all of the enemies in the battles and the overall flow of the game.

Game MasterThe Game Master, or GM, has a few more responsibilities than the regular player, as he controls more than just a warband. His role is to act as part combatant and part storyteller, describing the scene while laying down tiles, playing music to enhance the atmosphere and controlling the dungeon dwellers and traps with creativity. The task of the GM is not simply to defeat the invading warband but to do it with style.

Stygian ForcesThe GM can choose to build the adventure from

scratch, selecting all of the rooms, creatures and traps, or can simply use the random dungeon generation rules

and play as the Stygian forces. Point values allowed for the Stygian force and all wild creatures depend on where the encounter occurs and are described fully in the Environments section (p.22).

Patrols are small encounters occurring in either corridors or rooms, including those with deadly terrain. Lairs contain more dangerous encounters. Different types of creatures are encountered in patrols or lurking in lairs, depending on the depth of the caverns and the environment. For example, Snakemen and their summoned demons are found in the lower depths of the catacombs, slithering along paved corridors and lurking in ornate temples, while Gobelins, ghuls, and vile fungal creatures lurk in the upper levels, where rivers of lava, deep pools of frigid waters and crumbling floors present as much danger as the denizens of the shadows.

Quest Chambers are the final location of an adventure, where pitched battles occur in the dungeons of the Snakemen. There are many different battle scenarios for Quest Chambers, each with its own point values for the Stygian forces and victory conditions. See Environments for more information.

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8caverns, where even more dangerous creatures and valuable treasure can be found.

Adventures in the caverns end when the warband finds the stairs to the dungeon level, where the Snakemen and their evil allies lurk. There the warband fights demonic entities and searches for the main Quest Chamber where the final encounter of the adventure occurs. After the final battle, the warband must escape the dungeon and caverns after completing before the Snakemen and their reinforcements can catch them.

Map LayoutThe GM is in charge of creating the map during

play, either by laying down the map tiles beforehand and then flipping them upside down, or by pulling map tiles at random from a tile stack as the players move through the map. If randomly building the map, the GM can replace tiles that do not fit the map. See Gameplay Summary (page 79) for typical tile stacks.

Map TilesMap tiles are square sections of corridor and rooms

that are meant to fit together side by side. The Stygian Depths is meant to be played with two sets of square map tiles representing natural caverns and the hidden dungeons of the Snakemen. The tiles are specially designed to have a mixture of different terrain types and scenic features and are available separately from the book in electronic form to purchase from AntiMatter Games and print out. Pre-printed tiles and scenic features are also available.

Map tiles are laid down with the exit from one attaching to the entrance of another, with new tiles added once a model touches the end of the first tile. The number of tiles that are added depends on the visibility, which in turn depends on the type of light carried by the adventurers.

WarbandsWarband need to be small when travelling through

the tight underground passages of the Stygian Depths, and are therefore limited to 400 points. Round down to the nearest 10 for calculations (e.g., 408 points rounds to 400 points). When building a warband, the player selects his or her models from one of the six main forces. Mercenaries from the Sunless Kingdom and summoned creatures can be added to fill out the ranks.

Personality models are limited to 300 points, a higher percentage than for typical ShadowSea skirmishes due in part to the dangerous nature of the environment and creatures. Warbands should be carefully built to have a full compliment of abilities. Ideally, one needs a good mix of offensive abilities, healing and magic, as well as specialized spelunking and adventuring skills. A good mix of physical skills are also needed to help navigate through the dangerous terrain.

Multiple players may join the adventure, but must use smaller warbands of 300 points. There is no restriction on personalities for these small warbands. Multiple players can also team together with the same force if desired, but the warband point total can not exceed the standard 400 points.

Adventure OverviewGameplay starts at a cavern entrance, usually found

on the floor of a ruined temple in the Underlands. The entrance may simply be hole in the floor or ground, leading down into a cavern room tile. The warband moves along through the cavern using normal activation and movement procedures, turning over and revealing new tiles as the models pass through the previous ones.

Warbands may discover treasure, deadly traps and patrolling creatures as they travel through the caverns. Some rooms may contain holes in the floor to deeper

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9Light and VisibilityIn deep underground catacombs, the ethers produce

only a faint glow. Adventurers into the Stygian Depths cannot see in the dark, and must bring some sort of light to see. Torches, lanterns and ether tech light sources all allow for a model to reveal two map tiles when exiting the starting tile, up to the point at which there is a corner turn or a room. Without a light source, only one tile may be revealed. Magic-Users, and all variant spellcasters can make a magical ether light that is equivalent to a torch.

Light is not only important for movement. Ranged and spell attacks also depend on lighting can only be done as far as the illuminated area (see Gameplay on page 11).

A light source can be dropped or put down (free action) and will illuminate an area from the point where it lands. A dead model drops the light where it falls. Lights can also be thrown up to a distance of one Long Stick with 1 action. Picking up the light again takes 1 action. Dropping a light into water will extinguish it for the game but some ether tech lights can be made waterproof or can illuminate further than torches or lanterns.

All lights are counted as special items, with the cost varying with its complexity level (CL). Torches and lanterns are CL0, costing nothing, and each non-Animal member of a warband is assumed to have one torch or lantern. A Scientist can design an ether tech lamp using the ShadowSea rules for tech item creation between adventures. Ether tech lights are normally CL1. Waterproof lights and advanced lights that allow three map tiles to revealed, up to a corner or room, are CL2.

Many stygian creatures and some members of the six main forces (see New Recruits on page 74) have the ability of Darksight, which allows them to see in darkness as if in full light and reveal three tiles.

Some environmental features produce light equivalent to a torch. These include ethereal crystal, glowing fungus, lava flows, and simple ornamental crystals used to light up the darkness.

Movement in Tight SpacesA model may move through the base of a friendly

model, reducing movement by one category (e.g. Medium to Short stick). A move may not pass through an enemy model, however. A models base may also overlap into the wall or a friendly models base by roughly 5mm.

Selecting TilesIf the GM has pre-made the map, tiles should all be

upside down and flipped as the warband moves. If the map is generated at random, tiles are placed in a pile, face-down, and picked one at a time.

Tile TypesThere are two main types of catacombs in the

Stygian Depths, Caverns and Dungeons. Caverns are natural formations created by underground rivers and streams eating away at the limestone foundation of the Underlands. Older regions may be dry, as the rivers have shifted into other areas of the caverns, but new areas often have fast flowing currents that can suck the unwary traveller into the deep abyss and certain death.

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stygian depths_cover_1_front_bright_PDFStygian_depths_no_cover_PDF_with_tilesIntroductionBackgroundElder DemonsSerpents of the UnderworldLure of the Ethers

Game OverviewBattles and AdventuresGame MasterStygian ForcesWarbandsAdventure OverviewMap LayoutMap TilesLight and VisibilityMovement in Tight SpacesSelecting TilesTile TypesTile SizesCustom Maps

GameplaySurpriseEnemy MovementAggressive PlayRanged Attacks and SpellsExplosivesMounted ModelsHiding in ShadowsMorale Failure

Elder MagicSpellcasting RollDeclaring Spells for CastingSpell MishapPossession SpellsTransmutation SpellsDisruption Spells

Special AbilitiesAlchemistArea AttackCamouflageCounterCritical HitDarksightDeadeyeDemonologistDevastatorDiseaseDreamwalkerDrainPetrifyPhase InstabilityPorterPossessorRegenerationShaperShapeshiftSpikerTaster

EnvironmentsCavernsLair EntrancesScenic Terrain FeaturesTile ContentsAmbushCavern PatrolTreasureDeadly Terrain

Cavern LairsLair 1 - Gobelin DebaucheryLair 2 - Giants of the DeepLair 3 - Fungal InfestationLair 4 - Death from AboveLair 5 - Hungry Cave DrakeLair 6 - Pool of FireLair 7 - Eye of the MaelstromLair 8 - Slumbering Ancient Dragon

DungeonsLight in DungeonsDungeon DoorsQuest and Lair EntrancesDungeon Scenic Terrain FeaturesTile ContentsTrapsDungeon PatrolDungeon Treasure

Dungeon LairsLair 1 - Workshop of The DamnedLair 2 - Mining Pits of SorrowLair 3 - Demons of IceLair 4 - Shadow and FlameLair 5 - The MuseumLair 6 - A Bridge Too FarLair 7 - Dark LibraryLair 8 - Pestilence

Quest ChambersQuest Chamber 1 - Gateway of DreamsQuest Chamber 2 - Garden of ParadiseQuest Chamber 3 - Temple of BloodQuest Chamber 4 - The QueenQuest Chamber 5 - Crystal MerchantsQuest Chamber 6 - Treasure of the Ages

The Return TripMoving on Old TilesPursuit from Dungeon

Solo PlayStygian Activation

TreasureGold LustEther CrystalsUsing Magic Treasure TablesTreasure Victory PointsForce Bonus Points

AlchemyElixirsIdentifying ElixirsCreating Elixirs

Magic ItemsTypes of Magic ItemsMagic Item ActivationUsing Magic ItemsBooks of MagicMagic Item MishapMagic Item PointsRecovering Magic Items

Adventure AftermathSurviving the adventureReinforcementsExperience and Victory PointsWarband AdvancesNew ModelsPersonal AdvancementHero PointsPoint Cost of Advanced Models

New RecruitsAxibaln EmpireDark MarinersDraconid LegionFortune HuntersOrder of YosothSunless KingdomDemons of the Void

Gameplay SummaryTypical Cavern Tile Stack Typical Dungeon Tile Stack Cavern Tile ContentsDungeon Tile ContentsCavern RoomCavern Room

Cavern TilesDungeon Tiles

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