Here’s is about what I’m going to put on the DTRPG page of the Reference book, subject to (some) changes.
And it serves as a basic introduction to Meleram.
Meleram is a dark, medieval fantasy setting, open to any role-playing game, in the context of a world slowly awakening from the torpor caused by a three-year catastrophe that almost proved to be fatal. A primordial god named Vorlosh, one of its guardians, is at the epicenter of this event, which, like a cancer, has led to the corruption of the spirits of a part of the deities and their celestial planes, as well as of the ordinary populations making up the planet’s civilizations.
This book contains a general introduction and serves as a reference manual, talking about the world in general, its fauna and flora, its ancient history, its cosmology and cults, its species and peoples, and its general cultural trends, which include the societies and their political context, laws and punishments, arts and entertainment, communications and travels, economy, and settlements.
Details of the provinces, their regions, their bestiaries, as well as their factions and what to do with them, adventure module kits, and multiple tables of generation of events and places are contained in their respective province books.
Here’s a list of some of this book’s features and game elements:
- A full overview of Meleram, including time, distance, and languages. The whole is summarized in a few pages.
- A general chronology split into four periods accompanied by tables of “Events, Myths, and Legends” for each entry.
- Descriptions of five sapient species and their peoples:
- Humans: The PCs originate from this species, which constitutes the main inhabitants of this world.
- The Fédatel: telepathic humanoids with basalt-like skin and an obscure past. They live in a decentralized network of tribes that maintain cohesion despite their distances from one another.
- The Fehuwlikas (féyoulikas): Mammal-like creatures shaped like lemurs who live by ultra-traditional and occult ways. They live in a massive forest warped by Vorlosh in retaliation during The Fall.
- The Draken Vergaef: Multi-eyed giant wolves who originated from one of the five celestial planes. They are among those who chose to remain on Meleram, losing their celestial nature after fulfilling their guard duty during the period of The Awakening of the Essences.
- The Eorgvemsternir (or simply “The Demon Spawn”): They are the remnants of the cultists and fanatics who followed Vorlosh when he fled the demonic plane of Malkavem to Meleram. They are all victims of his torture and experiments with The Chaos, while also constituting one of the worst scourges in Meleram’s history.
- The Shalerm (or Trolls) and the Jeotnar (or Troll-Blooded): These physically degenerate but deceptively cunning beings originated from an ancient human civilization that fell from grace thousands of years ago. Their tribes are found throughout the two main continents of Meleram, and they are masters of deception, infiltration, and all kinds of wicked sorcery.
- Each species and people is presented with a series of modular physical, spiritual, and ancestral traits that combine RPG elements and part of the lore of these populations. These traits are listed in a table that can be used to choose one during an adventure to influence a scene or event related to these populations. It can also be used to determine a type of action or reaction from an NPC or group of NPCs.
This modular approach also allows for the creation of NPCs that are not simple copies of each other in terms of features, culture, and behavior. - There are multiple tables in Chapter 4 of the book regarding cultural and political context. Here’s a simplified list:
- Constitution of a tribe (size/type).
- Diverse tables of taboos, crimes, and punishments. Some tables include simple information on how to play the trials.
- Personal and societal implications of practicing magic. This includes a table for rolling collective implications for each type of society on Meleram (e.g., tribal, clanic, or feudal).
- Diverse information about communication and travel. This includes specifics for each type of society and D100 tables for each general means of transportation. These include intrinsic values, acquisition rules, and trade.
- Tables for tribal, clanic, and feudal approaches to Essence Creatures and Fauna (animals and plants with inherent magical powers who are sometimes sentient).
- A description of all types of settlements in the world, including their typical populations, rulers, fortifications, and other specific characteristics.
- Multiple tables of typical buildings and infrastructures for each of the five human peoples.
- An entire chapter (Chapter 6) provides guidelines and RPG proposals for playing in the world of Meleram. This includes:
- Themes and motivations. Two 1D10 tables; on generic and the other specific to the lore of Meleram.
- Stat blocks and rules inclusions (for generic D100 and D20/OSR systems).
- Proposals of groups and careers for the PCs. These help integrate the characters in a coherent way into the world of Meleram. This includes motivation tables for each of these 15 groups.
- 30 typical careers related to these groups.
- A solo player’s corner with descriptive and action tables specific to the world of Meleram and a simple oracle to add to your solo toolbox.
- A simple set of rules for naming your PCs according to the type of society to which they belong. There are also two tables for generating names for men and women, with 1,000 entries each. Yes, one thousand.
- Finally, there is a table of tables that groups all the tables in the books that can be accessed with a D100 and used for various purposes during gaming sessions for inspiration.
- A full-color, 4K version of the world map is included in JPG format.