The next Reality for Greg Stolze’s Reign RPG is almost here! Caleb Stokes’ sorcerously sinister pocket-world Nagalisitu! From the introduction:
In a time before recorded history, the immortal masters of Nagalisitu blighted the world to fuel a dark ritual that transported their malignant kingdom of sorcery to another realm. Locked away in a dimension of their own twisted design, the primordial wizards became gods outside of space and time, isolating themselves to study profane, arcane mysteries, finally free from the interference of humanity. It took centuries for the world to recover from the unnatural excision of Nagalisitu, but their blighted influence has haunted civilization ever since. Every few decades, entire villages go missing in the night, leaving no trace save burned buildings and slain elders. These unfortunates are the “Reaved,” abducted by the Nagalisitu to serve as slaves in their hellish beyond. At first, the losses were seen as unpreventable tragedy: the inexorable fallout of the sordid council’s ascension, fated to echo forever through the ages. But as years passed, the abandoned world grew older and forgot. Decades between reavings turned to centuries until the occasional mass disappearance could only find corollary in legends. The ornate, decadent kingdoms that sprang up in the wake of Nagalisitu’s amputation now regard its dark legacy as no more than a ghost story, a cautionary tale about the dangers of being poor and living cheap in the lawless borderlands. Most don’t even know the immortal masters existed, and no one remembers where their malignant capital once stood. The only witnesses to a reaving are senile and suspect. There is little to fear from their decrepit myths. Until now.
So what makes this Reality different from baseline Reign?
Nagalisitu is a supplement for the Reign roleplaying game. Reign’s engine propels stories about large-scale movements; Nagalisitu super-charges that engine and rips the brakes off. While Reign involves a slow burn of fantasy political intrigue, where a whole campaign could revolve around securing a few more points of Territory or Sovereignty, this supplement allows players to rapidly transform a group of scattered tribes into a massive empire.
The accelerated time-table hopes to, simultaneously, reduce prep for the GM while avoiding the drudgery of a full-campaign book. Don’t expect everything to be written out; this game still requires a lot of creativity. However, Nagalisitu is designed as an improvisational framework where the person running the game can conjure up entire societies and plots with the same speed PCs improvise their characters’ actions.
The campaign that created this Reality was originally presented as part of an audio actual-play Reign campaign over at Ross Payton’s Role-Playing Public Radio Actual Play podcast, with accompanying illustrations for each episode by the talented artist Patsy McDowell. You can check out all 15 episode of the actual play here: https://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/nagalisitu-a-reign-campaign/
Can the heroes grow a great civilization from the ashes of evil, or does their interference mutate into a terrible new tyranny? Find out when your players explore Nagalisitu! This 34-page PDF usable with the Reign RPG will be available from the Atomic Overmind Press web store and DrivethruRPG.com before the end of August!