Black Sword Hack

8.1.1. Is the main antagonist tied to the forces of Law?

• 1. A dying Empress floating in a vat of regenerative fluids
• 2. A network of brains enclosed in runic bronze casings
• 3. The Silent Council, made of linked psychics
• 4. A long-awaited messiah of unimaginable power
• 5. The spirit of an ancient king, changing bodies every century
• 6. An artificial lifeform, devoid of human feelings

8.1.2. Or is the villain serving Chaos?

• 1. A desiccated warlock sustained by dark energies
• 2. A nature spirit eager to end the spread of civilisation
• 3. An ancient monarch brought back from the dead
• 4. A pool of intelligent protoplasm created by a forbidden experiment
• 5. The leader of a rag-tag army known as the Hunger Horde
• 6. A former Champion of Order

When it comes to describing the villain’s forces, there’s no need for subtlety. They’ll be the characters main enemies, or at least a looming threat: patrolling city streets, hunting down dissidents, and the subject of scary bedtime stories.

8.1.3. What do Law’s troops look like?

• 1. Golden legions named after the emperor’s children
• 2. The Order of Truth, their armour adorned with sacred writings
• 3. The Martyrs, self-mutilated knights eager to spill blood
• 4. The Sun Hussars and their firelances (see p. 44)
• 5. An army of automatons built to look like grim angels
• 6. The Tattooed Janissaries, bearing on their skin the names of those they killed

8.1.4. Behold the mighty armies of Chaos!

• 1. The Flailed Footmen and their transparent skin
• 2. The Arachnid Legion and their scorpion platemail
• 3. The Howling Phalanxes and their breastplates made of screaming human faces
• 4. A host of bio-engineered monsters
• 5. Death battalions, made of desperate convicts
• 6. The Bone Beasts, skeletons of known and unknown creatures

8.2. The Struggle

Now it’s time to define who is resisting, who is collaborating, and who has the luxury to do neither. The character creation chapter hints at a few political entities: use them to loosely define your setting and add your own. Some of your players will also come up with interesting ideas for their character’s origin. Draw (or print out) a blank map and write down the name of each nation or region you plan to use initially, paying attention to geographical borders and the relationships these dictate. The rest can always come up later.

Take a blank map and note the name of each place as you see fit:
Forbidden City • Mercenary bands • Amber Enclave • Golden Archipelago • Northern Raiders • Merchant League • Flotsam Kingdom • Eastern Principalities • Pict Territories • Iron Horde • Land of the Black Pyramids • Grey Spires Dominion • The last city of a dying species • City of Thieves • Theocracy • Dust Empire

Then, you can determine the political situation of some of the nations (five or six) and their attitude towards Law and Chaos by rolling a d6 on these tables:

8.3. The End is Nigh

On top of the struggle between Law and Chaos, the world may suffer from one of the following calamities. What kind of political unbalance will these lead to? Using them solely to ramp up the body count and offer a few cheap thrills might be a waste of your time.

8.4.1. Forbidden City

Why is the city forbidden? Are the reasons religious or political? Both? Is the City quarantined?

• 1}- There is a way to enter the Forbidden City via the spirit world. A spirit guide must be found to lead the way. Also, the portal leads into the City’s distant past, when it was the capital of a ruthless empire.
• 2}- A vast army secretly plans to conquer the Forbidden City and the heroes hear of it. What will they do with this information?
• 3}- All noble families must send their firstborn to work as a scribe in the Forbidden City. Some refuse and hire adventurers to bring their child back.
• 4}- An angel appears above the city, proclaiming it will be destroyed in one moon. Finding more about this angel will be generously rewarded (the right to enter the City or even citizenship).
• 5}- The Forbidden City grants citizenship to anyone bringing a unique grimoire.
• 6}- The true master of the City dies, and a replacement must be found quickly without the authorities finding out. Hiring outsiders will help keep things discreet.

8.4.2. Mercenary Bands

Is there room for freelancers or is the business fully controlled by large companies? Which companies stand out?

• 1}- Signing up for mercenary work while drunk was a bad idea. Especially when one is surrounded and about to get crushed by the opposing army.
• 2}- A new mercenary band made of automatons shows up, offering to work cheaply. Where does it come from, and who leads it? Worried mercenary captains want to know.
• 3}- To reach a position of power and wealth, a mercenary captain sells out their warband. Survivors seek revenge.
• 4}- Some villagers approach the characters to hire them. The job is to protect the village against mercenary raids. If you have seven players, it’s even better.
• 5}- Mercenaries decide to create an independent state. This doesn’t go too well with the neighbours, though some already plot to use this to their advantage.
• 6}- The campaign’s main antagonist decides to disband and ban all companies. But mercenaries won’t go down without a fight.

8.4.3. Amber Enclave

When did the enclave appear? Why doesn’t anyone invade it?

• 1}- It is said the Amber enclave was created by beings from another dimension. Many scholars would pay well for any information on the subject.
• 2}- A sorcerer took refuge here to experiment with opening a portal to the future, hoping to escape the world’s end and find whatever is next.
• 3}- A fugitive hunted by the enclave’s enforcers tells a wild story: one of the enclave’s portals keeps growing at an alarming rate after an experiment gone wrong. It threatens to engulf the whole country. Ways to stop it include killing the portal’s creator and/or going through it.
• 4}- The golden apgarian: a plant with extraordinary healing abilities (it replaces lost limbs with moss and wood) grows only in the Amber enclave. It is guarded by nature spirits who ask for payment (see the spirits table on p. 37).
• 5}- One of the enclave’s rulers has been kidnapped by a neighbouring country. Mercenaries are needed to bring them back.
• 6}- Scholars think the Amber enclave hides many portals leading to many places in the world. The Amber enclave’s rulers allow their use in exchange for some service.

8.4.4. Golden Archipelago

Is the Golden Archipelago made of islands floating in the sky instead of an ocean? What unites the islands? Do they call it like this because it is so wealthy?

• 1}- A relic from a past civilisation, the Silac Umbar, is hidden in the archipelago. It is said that it can change a specific event in its bearer’s past.
• 2}- A storm threatens to engulf the whole archipelago. A new island appears, stopping the storm but immediately unleashing dragons to conquer the region.
• 3}- A cult turns the crews of lost ships into loathsome human-insect hybrids to dig into the island their ancient god is imprisoned in.
• 4}- Once a year, a fog engulfs one of the islands, allowing the living to speak with the dead. The characters will be visited by old enemies and lost friends.
• 5}- During a thunderstorm, the characters’ ship is struck by lightning: they’re now out of phase and appear as ghosts, becoming the target of every undead spirit. To return to their world the PCs have to find the witch who summoned the storm in the first place.
• 6}- One of the islands is home to a creature that absorbs the life of those who try to live on it. It’s starting to suck the life of neighbouring islands as well. Finding a way to stop this will lead the heroes to confront the mighty vampiric spirit that possesses the island.

8.4.5. Northern Raiders

Do they use ships? Airships? Submarines? Do they only attack at night, and why? Are there places they never attack for unknown reasons?

• 1}- Prisoners get the following choice: be sold as a slave or become a raider. Picking the second option means pledging one’s life to a mysterious sea goddess. Break the vow and your lungs slowly fill with seawater.
• 2}- A Raider has visions of a golden city on the other side of the ocean. She seeks volunteers to mount an expedition. These dreams are a plea for help from a dying civilisation.
• 3}- Past victims of the raiders appear on ghost ships and hunt them down. The characters can try to find a way to lift the curse or prevent the raiders from doing so.
• 4}- A Raider chieftain has been captured and sits in a cell waiting for her execution. It’s time to break her out of the biggest prison ever built, Mörk Fängelse!
• 5}- The campaign’s main antagonist is trying to rally the Northern Raiders to its cause. Preventing such an alliance might be a good idea.
• 6}- Each year, Raider captains compete in a tournament. The winner takes the leadership of the Raiders for one year.

8.4.6. Merchant League

The beating heart of the world’s commerce. Competition is fierce and leads to large amounts of political manoeuvring and backstabbing. How does the League protect its members? Demonic ships? Contracts sealed with sorcery? Cursed cargo for everyone but the owner?

• 1}- A trio of old pirates vowed to take revenge against a Merchant League privateer. They need agents in the League to plan their attack.
• 2}- Any merchant excluded by the League’s council loses all property rights: anyone can steal from them, whether it’s a ship or a box of silverware. This keeps most merchants in line but has led to many bloody “acquisitions”.
• 3}- A ruined merchant got his revenge: suddenly, gold eating imps are invading the League’s capital. Stopping the imps means finding a way to banish a powerful greed demon.
• 4}- A merchant House is gaining influence inside the League’s council. This is thanks to a corrupt haruspice working for the cult that took over the House. Their goal is to summon their god with the largest offering of gold ever seen.
• 5}- Fake coins appear all over the League’s markets. The coins can be traced to the campaign’s main villain. This could lead to the League’s ruin in a matter of weeks.
• 6}- One of the characters inherits the title of Honourable Merchant from a distant relation, granting them a place at the League’s council. What could go wrong?

8.4.7. Flotsam Kingdom

Is it floating in the air? On a sea of ice? Is there a myth around the kingdom’s creation, tales of the first Castaway? Who were the first inhabitants, escaped prisoners and slaves? People banished from their land?

• 1}- The Kingdom’s divers explore the depths to find valuable objects from past civilisations. One of them has found the entrance to a vast submerged city. The heroes are the first to learn about this.
• 2}- The Kingdom is often raided by pirates led by the king’s sister. At the same time a small group of scholars, divers, and dockers wants to get rid of both and create a Flotsam Republic.
• 3}- The campaign’s main antagonist wants to annex the Flotsam Kingdom. Why would they go out of their way to conquer a floating nation?
• 4}- A leviathan asks for human sacrifices, or it will destroy the Kingdom. There’s probably a way to find its lair and banish it.
• 5}- Someone the characters are seeking has taken refuge in the Flotsam Kingdom. Nobody here likes strangers asking questions, unless they prove themselves to be trustworthy. Freeing workers from the king’s underwater dungeon would be a good start.
• 6}- The Kingdom’s security depends on driftwood golems. The ritual to control them has just been stolen. Whoever acquires it will have the Flotsam Kingdom’s fate in their hands.

8.4.8. Eastern Principalities

A land of gothic horror, an analogue to China’s Warring Kingdoms, or a mix of both. What are vampires like in your world?

• 1}- Each Principality was ruled by a vampire until a family of monster hunters managed to kill most of them. Principalities still run by vampires seek revenge to this day.
• 2}- Each Principality maintains its own standing army. To face the cost, some of these troops have been working as mercenaries abroad for a long time. Some captains grab the power as soon as they return.
• 3}- A constant state of war causes regular food shortages. Smuggling grain and venison has become a lucrative business.
• 4}- A scholar has found a way to make human blood poisonous to vampires. She’s relentlessly tracked by the vampire princes. All she needs is the blood of the first vampire to devise her potion. From then, it will spread as a disease that only kills vampires.
• 5}- A monastic order knows the location of the first vampire. A number of monks each know one piece of the puzzle, and all must be found to get there.
• 6}- A vampire sorcerer manages to temporarily mask the sun over the Principalities, leading to a brutal war of conquest of the human towns. Finding the sorcerer and killing them is the only way to prevent the blood suckers from taking control of the region.

8.4.9. Pict Territories

Why are they also called the Unconquered Lands? How did the Picts manage to repel all invaders so far? Have they made a pact with a particular power? Are they the land’s best warriors?

• 1}- Undertaking a difficult spirit quest grants the survivor the authority to unite all the tribes. Failing the quest means death.
• 2}- A sacred relic, the spear of Alpia, was stolen by the campaign’s main antagonist. Finding the relic will reveal the treason of one of the Pict tribes.
• 3}- An old burial mound was recently pillaged by a group of foreign historians. Unknown to the clan is the fact that these objects can lead to a necropolis where the first king of the Picts was buried.
• 4}- Spirits across the Pict territories cease to serve shamans. The spirit world has been invaded by corrupted beings from another world.
• 5}- Pict farmers can cultivate supposedly barren lands. This is thanks to an ancient pact with Chaos. What would happen if the Picts decided to join the forces of Law?
• 6}- As punishment, Pict shamans transform criminals into animals and let hunters go after them. Once you recover your human form, the hunt is over.

8.4.10. Iron Horde

What mounts does the Horde use? Was there a unifying figure to create the Horde? Do its people wish to settle down? Does it cause friction among clans ?

• 1}- A fact unknown to outsiders is that Iron Horde mounts (whether they’re horses, griphons, or drakes) are of human intelligence. Each mount chooses its rider. Sometimes they pick outsiders for a specific quest.
• 2}- Vanquished enemies have used powerful magic to create the Horde’s undead counterpart. This could lead to the end of the Iron Horde.
• 3}- The Iron Horde sends spies and saboteurs to prepare the invasion of well-defended cities. They often hire outsiders for this kind of work.
• 4}- The Great Khan’s daughter has run away, hoping to explore the world. She’ll probably cross the characters’ path.
• 5}- In the middle of the Iron Horde’s territory is a bottomless pit in which traitors are thrown as punishment. The pit leads to an underground sea that flows into different planes, leading to many a strange place.
• 6}- The Eastern Principalities want to join forces with the Iron Horde to open a second front against the campaign’s antagonist. Traitors on both sides need the alliance to fail.

8.4.11. Land of the Black Pyramids

The existence of the pyramids shows their creators were one of the most advanced civilisations (at least on a technical level) in the world. Why didn’t they conquer the rest of the world? Did they try and fail? Are they a still thriving culture or a dying one?

• 1}- A gladiator revolt takes over the Seventh Pyramid, leading to slave revolts across the land.
• 2}- The world’s largest library is in the Fifth Pyramid. The answer to most questions can be found here, for a price: a spell, a spirit alliance, or a demonic pact. Bargains made here cannot be broken.
• 3}- The ruins of the Tenth Pyramid have just been discovered. No one knows it is full of plague demons eager to spread around the world. Stopping them will require the help of other spirits.
• 4}- The infernal scribes of the Third Pyramid can erase someone’s name from recent history. Everyone forgets having ever met this person, except those present during the ceremony. This is sometimes used as punishment by the Architects.
• 5}- An ancient sect guards the First Pyramid, said to contain the demon who almost destroyed the world. An enterprising group of thieves has just entered the place...
• 6}- There are rumours of an inverted pyramid built underground leading to a future, desolate version of the world. The place contains clues that might help avoid this cataclysmic fate.

8.4.12. Grey Spires Dominion

What is the spires’ origin? Were they built by a long-forgotten civilisation? Were their creators even human? Are they still able to build new spires or was that knowledge lost?

• 1}- The Abyss, where the poorest and more desperate live, is a good place to hide from one’s enemies.
• 2}- The highest Spires rise above the clouds. The rich and powerful live there, protected by their raven guards: soldiers wearing armour that lets them fly.
• 3}- Many gangs rule the Abyss, fighting over every resource (the Undying Moles deal in water, the Rust Hammers deal in weapons, etc.). If you need anything in the Abyss, you’ll have to talk to a gang leader.
• 4}- The Grey Spires are built on top of mining complexes. Your campaign’s main antagonist has found a way to collapse the mine, toppling the spires. Will the characters stop this plot, or help with it?
• 5}- Each Spire is controlled by a different noble family. This makes for a hotbed of political backstabbing that smart outsiders could exploit.
• 6}- After a Grey Spire noble is murdered, the authorities plan to flood the Abyss, drowning everyone living there as an example for others.

8.4.13. Last City of a Dying Species

Why are they dying? Are they resigned, or trying to save themselves? If both, who will the characters choose to join, and for what price?

• 1}- The City’s Heart is dying. It must be replaced by the heart of a leviathan, or everything will crumble to dust. Hunting parties are sent throughout the world, none has come back yet.
• 2}- The City’s inhabitants relive their glorious past in vivid, drug induced dreams. Visiting a House of Dreams can be dangerous, and many have succumbed from the nightmares of their own past.
• 3}- A small faction within the City has found a way to transfer minds into human bodies. To avoid extinction, they need to get their hands on as many hosts as they can. Unknown to them, the process slowly turns the hosts into mindless monsters.
• 4}- As punishment for major crimes, the souls of criminals are infused into weapons. One of the character’s patrons seeks to retrieve a weapon containing her son’s soul. It’s in the hands of the City’s First General.
• 5}- No one in the City knows about an ancient doomsday machine hidden at the centre of the world. It still has the power to destroy everything, and many would do anything to reach it, should the secret be unearthed.
• 6}- There is a way to save the dying species, or at least its history and memory. This cure is hidden in the antagonist’s capital.

8.4.14. City of Thieves

How is order maintained in such a place? Does each member make a sacred oath to protect the City? Is that a tightly-knit community, with an “us against the world” view, or a den of iniquity where only traitors and bullies thrive? Do the Adjudicators, the demonists sealing all contracts between thieves, have an ulterior motive?

• 1}- The City has no standing army. When it’s invaded by your campaign’s main antagonist, its inhabitants wage a brutal guerrilla war.
• 2}- A cursed mirror was brought to the City. It produces doubles of anyone looking into it. Stopping the process would require stepping through the mirror and vanquishing the demons controlling an inverse world.
• 3}- A newcomer known as the Dream Thief is stealing memories. They’re a highly paid mercenary whose real identity is unknown.
• 4}- A possessed killer hunts down the members of a demon trafficking ring. At first, the murders look like random killings perpetrated by a madman.
• 5}- The heroes are tasked to steal paintings by Ernst Crivelli. Each of his famous diptychs works as a two-way portal Three pairs are in existence, but some say a secret master painting can lead to any of them.
• 6}- A never-ending storm is drowning the City. Finding the spirit responsible for this will take the characters to the City’s reflection in the spirit world, where strange, ghostly guilds vie for power.

8.4.15. Theocracy

Is this a land of repression, superstition, and ignorance? Or the last refuge of art and knowledge? How many factions exist within the Church? What are their goals: conquest, isolation, purification?

• 1}- A group of monks approaches a character, saying they’re the reincarnation of a famous saint. Honour and fortune await, as well as many enemies...
• 2}- The Church’s High Archon is accused of corruption, beginning a secret but brutal war of succession. Outsiders with loose morals and sharp blades are in high demand.
• 3}- The Theocracy searches for sacred relics everywhere, granting generous rewards to those who can find them. However, a sect within the Church seeks to destroy those relics, for they harbour too much power.
• 4}- A young woman performs miracles all over the Theocracy, spreading the word that the Church has become corrupt. More and more people gather around her, and the old regime fears a revolt.
• 5}- A being calling itself the Last Cherubim appears above the Theocracy’s capital and orders a great crusade against the neighbouring nations. Finding out the creature’s true nature might stop this madness.
• 6}- A popular pilgrimage has the faithful cross the continent on foot. They’re always in need of bodyguards.

8.4.16. Dust Empire

In what kind of desert does it survive? Ash, sand, salt, rocks? Is it on its last legs, or a conquering power?

• 1}- One of the many volcanoes found in the empire explodes, plunging the land into ashy darkness. Undead demons take this opportunity to seize power.
• 2}- The Empire’s water reserves are spiked with a drug that keeps the population docile. A traitor in the Imperial Guard wants the characters to smuggle proof of this out of the Empire.
• 3}- Independent tribes still resist the Emperor’s rule. Cunning elders created a prophecy about a leader that would unite the tribes. It is a puppet they want, not a saviour.
• 4}- One of the last dragons is imprisoned beneath the Empire’s capital, yearning for revenge.
• 5}- Surviving a three-day pilgrimage in the hottest part of the empire, with no water or protection, grants a pardon from the Emperor for any and all crimes.
• 6}- As a last resort, the Dust Empire can summon a tidal wave of sand that engulfs a threatening neighbour, turning the whole region into a desert. They will summon it soon… unless someone offers them a better solution.

8.5. What About Balance?

True Balance only exists in a secluded location, far away from the struggle, obviously refusing to take part in it. Its role is merely to offer a temporary refuge to the characters. It should almost always appear ancient, forgotten, or decaying, reflecting the state of the world and the end of Balance.

8.5.1. Balance Stronghold (d6)

• 1. A hidden monastery
• 2. A city floating in the air
• 3. A decaying fortress that can only be reached in dreams
• 4. An underground refuge, built by an advanced civilisation
• 5. A caravan, endlessly travelling the world
• 6. A simple looking tavern with doors connecting to every part of the world

8.6. The End Game

Your campaign may end with the characters having to side with Law or Chaos. If that’s the case, characters lose all gifts and powers associated with the power they choose to fight. If characters take different sides, let them duke it out. And if your players choose to let kings, queens, and emperors decide the fate of the world, they should still have to deal with the consequences.

Many fantasy settings are stuck in a status quo. Rulers can be killed, but new ones take their places. The world is meant to be saved or at least preserved. This shouldn’t be the case in a Black Sword Hack campaign: kingdoms and empires will disappear, and the world itself is not safe. The setting at the beginning and at the end of a campaign shouldn’t be the same. Whether the characters are agents of that change is for the players to decide.