Campaign Overlay Fantasy Firearms (7114653)

Section 15 of the Open Game License in your prod-uct must include the following text, in addition to any other text required by the OGL:

Open Game License v1.0a. Copyright 2000, Wiz-ards of the Coast, Inc.

System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Copyright 2008, 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bul-mahn.

The Book of Experimental Might. Copyright 2008, Malhavoc Press; Author: Monte J. Cook.

Campaign Overlay: Firearms. Copyright 2010, Skortched Urf Studios. Authors: Mark Catho, Chris A. Field, Eric Karnes.

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Campaign Overlay

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Table of Contents

Chapter One: History Written in Gunsmoke Chapter Two: A World of Blades & Bullets Chapter Three: The Armory

Chapter Four: Feats, Spells & Character Options Chapter Five: Gods & Monsters

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Credits

Authors: Chris A. Field, Eric Karnes & Mark Cathro Artwork: Anthony Cournoyer, JDavid Rhodes, Nathan Winburn, Illo, Scott Purdy, Jon Hodgson, Bradley K McDevitt, Toby Gregory, Larry Elmore

Production, Layout & Design: Skortched Urf’ Studios

Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, LLC. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Publishing, LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and are used under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the compatibility license.

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Introduction

You hold in your hands (or read on your screen if your looking at an electronic copy!) the first volume in the Campaign Overlay series. The Campaign Overlay line of sourcebooks is designed to allow players and GM’s to take new innovations, magics, disasters or other world-changing circumstances and add them to your campaign. In essence, to “overlay” them on your gaming world.

If we look back at our own history we can see clearly where new inventions, innovations or calamity has changed our world irrevocably. The invention of the printing press or the internet. The discovery of penicillin. The atomic bomb. Electricity, automobiles, airplanes, AIDS and even the bubonic plague have all shaped our world in ways large and small.

I wanted to create a sourcebook that would allow a GM to introduce similar large scale change into their own setting, and allow the players to experience and take part in these events in-game. I have always felt that far too many game settings are static and unchanging. Many game developers spend pages detailing the lavish history of their setting; political intrigue, wars, factions and kingdoms are all laid out. And we spend twenty levels adventuring in that world with the same king(s), the same factions and the same power structure. It is the goal of these books to change that up a bit and give you a frame-work to introduce bold new elements into an otherwise static campaign world.

So naturally the first topic covered in the Campaign Overlay series was adding firearms to a fantasy campaign. Few inventions have shaped our world as profoundly as the gun. From the “shot heard round the world” to the assassination of JFK and thousands of other examples. Even taking a break from the “reality” of the gun we find them a staple of entertainment in movies, fiction, television and comics. Many modern and sci-fi role playing games pad out their pages (or even entire sourcebooks!) with weapon descriptions for players to choose from. But where is the fun in just adding archaic guns to a typical fantasy setting? This is a fantasy setting; so there needs to be more to it than simple gunpowder used by Orcs and Elves. Thus Draksmoke was invented to add that fantasy element to the discovery that charcoal, sulfur and salt-peter mixed together goes BOOM when you ignite it. Draksmoke is fantasy gunpowder. Made from the burning liquid dragons use to make their deadly flames, Draksmoke is a dragons breath weapon in powdered form. Only a few alchemists know the secret to producing true Draksmoke; and they guard it with their lives. Rich and powerful guilds have risen up around those that know the secrets. The Black Brotherhood, the Armigers and the Monopolist Consortium all trade in gunpowder, Draksmoke and arms; each pursuing their own ends.

The alchemical knowledge of Draksmoke is the fantasy equivalent of having a modern day functioning nuclear program. Those without such knowledge seek it at great expense and risk, while those that possess it will do anything to keep the information a closely guarded secret.

To make use of such a powerful substance, new weapons have been hammered out on the forges of the world. Only the finest steel tempered in the blood of dragons can withstand the power expended by Draksmoke. Armor must be fashioned from the same blood-infused forges in order to turn aside blows delivered by Draksmoke weapons. Mundane armor is no match for even Lesser Draksmoke, made from the flame glands of fearsome elemental beings such as Salamanders and the gigantic Remhorhazas; a weaker alternative some try to pass off as true Draksmoke. Naturally, new magics have been conceived to protect warriors, kings and knaves alike.

The several “thinking races” have all taken up these new arms with varying degrees of acceptance. Orc and Goblin kind have embraced the new arms with reckless lust. The dwarves have seen the pragmatism of such arms. Humans, Halflings, Gnomes, and every shade of Elf have taken up the gun after some fashion. Other races have as well; some by choice and others through subjugation.

Using the material in this book will allow you to integrate fantasy firearms into your game either gradually or as an existing and on-going set-piece. Background material about the various guilds involved in the trade is included, and can easily be dropped into any campaign world with little or no changes required.

Several new species are available for players, from the massive Colossi and their human-sized cousins, the Smokebelcher Men, to the diminutive Gunfire Goblins and the twisted nightmare that are the Sulfursouls. While all the thinking races have been affected by the invention of Draksmoke, these new races owe their very existence to the knowledge.

Add in some new monsters, feats, spells, gods and clerical domains, along with dozens of new firearms (both mundane and magical) and you have everything needed to bring real firepower to your campaign! -Mark Cathro

Chapter One

The First Firing: The Musket Age

The proud Dwarves like to claim they were the first to discover the deadly mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and reagents that would come to be called gunpowder, and while it is technically true, it denies the role a much more humble species played in the development of the firearm. Dwarven bas-reliefs, scored into the deepest walls of their cavern cities depict the long-beards using “tapping-casks” to blast tunnels more than 7,500 years ago.

Tapping-casks are ironclad barrels of various sizes filled with explosive gunpowder. Placed against a seam in the rock, these dangerous industrial explosives can easily clear tunnels or turn obstructing boulders into gravel. The practice of using tapping-casks to start an excavation continues to this day, and Dwarven miners are experts in the use of these dangerous combustibles.

However, Dwarven culture has always been stubborn and slow to change. Dwarven codes of honor and their blood-soaked marital tradi-tions meant that despite its utility in mining, gunpowder didn’t find its way into the hands of Dwarven soldiers until recently. It took the human development of musket and artillery to spur Dwarven inventiveness towards the goal of building better guns of their own. The first crude firearms didn’t come from a Dwarven foundry, neither did they come from a human armorer. The canny, feral little goblins of the North, a stunted and runty tribe that would come to be called Gunfire Goblins, were the first to kill with gunpowder. Their first weapons were little more than hollow reeds packed with gunpowder and iron shavings. Ignited at one end and fired from the shoulder, these simplistic weapons were inaccurate, un-reliable and almost as dangerous to the shooter as they were to the target. These ‘smokey-reed-bombas’ only fired properly about three times in ten. For the remaining shots, these weapons either failed to fire at all, or blew up in the goblin’s hands!

Still, Gunfire Goblins achieved something akin to evolutionary success thanks to their reed-rifles. Goblin hunters used the weapons to scare prey into waiting snares and ambushes as much as they did to kill. The weapon proved a nasty surprise on the battlefield, capable of breaking massed charges in the confusion, noise and terror after a shot. Though crude, smokey-reed-bombas had proven their place on the battle field. Now, it fell to the innovative, iconoclastic and rapidly changing humans of the Endaran Empire to improve the design.

Human blacksmiths were the first to analyze the Gunfire Goblin’s reed-rifles and systematically set about improving the design. A Blacksmith of no small skill but very small reputation took to improving the design after seeing them in battle. He scavenged the field where a troop of goblin raiders had fallen and brought back three examples of the reed-rifles. Two of them were destroyed by the ensuing misfire, and the third was badly burned and trampled by hoof and boot. In the simple design the blacksmith, one Tyrian Armiger, found inspiration. He set to work fashioning a barrel of beaten brass by forming it around a steel rod, removing the rod and banding the brass with thick iron bands. This was to be the first reed-rifle ever created from metal. The age of the musket had begun. Tyrian Armiger worked at his forge along side his brothers, hammering out a dozen more crude reed-rifles, each showing slight improvements over the previous attempt. Daily they would test loads and various shot, experimenting to find the correct recipe that would produce the best results. In the end they destroyed five of their first dozen Reed-Rifles, but by the end of their experiments they had a reproducible recipe for the powder components, and the means to produce a weapon capable of sending a smooth stone or lead ball through a knights plate armor. Wadding, pebbles or other small, hard items proved to be the most effective use of the reed-rifles. They had dismal accuracy to begin with, so firing a flock of iron arrow-heads proved far more effective against most foes. In a short time the brothers were selling the newly re-designed reed-rifles to local militias, adventurer’s and other well-to-do collectors.

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Most of the early customers were small towns that had to deal with raiding goblins or larger menaces. It proved far easier to train the local townsfolk to load and fire one of the crude devices than to train them at the long bow, crossbow or spear. In the space of a growing season, the Gunfire Goblins would face much improved versions of their own invention on the battlefield, severely curtailing their encroachments from that time forward. As word spread and the Reed-Rifles continued to sell to towns and hamlets, the brothers continued to refine the design. Add-ing a crossbow stock and a bead to the end of the barrel improved accuracy. Weighting the stock allowed the entire Reed-Rifle to be used as a heavy club once fired. The brothers experimented with larger and smaller versions of the Reed-Rifle, eventually producing cannons and pistols from their designs. Soon other enterprising blacksmiths took up the art of designing gunpowder arms. For a time, so great was the demand that thieves took to stealing horseshoes instead of silver to feed the demand the blacksmiths had for iron! A plethora of gunpowder arms were being produced. To be sure, many of them were finely engraved works of art meant for high-born and wealthy clients, but the bulk of the trade produced serviceable rifles intended for soldiers or militia defending towns and cities.

Well-to-do merchants often kept a brace of large pistols near at hand, and caravans employed riflemen alongside bowmen. Riflemen were never paid as much as a skilled bowman, as bows still out-ranged the crude gunpowder arms and were far more accurate. Bowmen were trained soldiers, where riflemen were looked on as well armed brutes. But if one put enough rifle-armed brutes together, they could defeat a band of raiders easily enough; and for half the cost! Thus did the rifle come to take its place along side the longbow, crossbow and spear on the battlefield.

The Second Age:

Revolvers and Repeaters

After the development of working black powder weaponry, the next revolution in firearms came with the introduction of cased ammunition. Instead of mixing powder and wadding and ramming the whole mess, along with the ball down the barrel, cased ammunition allowed the propellants and the bullet to be stored, pre-mixed and ready to fire. Cased ammunition finally allowed guns to be more than single shot weapons. Revolvers were developed simultaneously with new type of ammunition, and from there, weapons develop-ment rocketed forward.

Revolvers resemble much more advanced ver-sions of flintlock pistols. Four to eight chambers hold ammunition, and are arranged around a ro-tating metal cylinder. Each time the hammer is cocked, the cylinder rotates, bringing a fresh, fully loaded chamber up to the firing pin. Skilled gunfighters can take advantage of the way a revolver cocks and fires by ‘fanning’ the hammer, rapidly spitting out multiple shots in the time it takes a rookie shooter to fire once.

The first revolvers were forged at Fort Hathrix-Mars, a human military garrison a day’s ride from the northern metropolis of Schendenwatt. The garrison had always had a large gnomish popu-lation; mostly refugees and camp followers who worked as blacksmiths, armorers, medics and cooks. Working closely with a clan of gnomish tinkers to continually upgrade and improve their flintlocks, the Fort’s musketeers eventually hit upon the ideas for a multi-barreled flintlock.

After a few months of effort, the Fort’s blacksmiths hit upon the idea of rotating, or revolving, barrels or chambers. More than a few armorers lost fingers as unready prototypes exploded in their hands, but eventually a working model was finished. When the Fort was besieged by a hobgoblin horde two summers later, the newly minted guns turned the tide. The besieged and critically outnumbered garrison was able to hold off a small army, and when the smoke had cleared twenty hobgoblins lay dead for every single fallen human defender.

The Third Age: Draksmoke Discovered

Gunpowder, that fine black dust, is worth a dozen times its weight in gold, but there are purer mixtures, stronger mixtures. A few pinches of gunpowder mixed with the potent spit or blood of a great red wyrm can bring down a castle’s wall. A few pinches of gunpowder mixed with the tears of celestials weeping for fallen comrades and a sinful mankind can slay demon princes even within the fortified depths of Hell itself.

Fifteen years after they cast the first revolver, the gunsmiths of Fort Hathrix-Mars brought down an immature red dragon and changed history for the second time. Dissection of the wrymling led to a new understanding of the chemical and alchemical basis of combustion, and these new discoveries spurred the development of a new and superior kind of gunpowder- the devastating Draksmoke. Any nation that possesses the secret of Draksmoke gains an immediate and concrete advantage over its neighbors. Only guns constructed of steel tempered in draconic ichors can fire Draksmoke rounds safely; lesser weapons fail spectacularly, blowing apart fingers and hands, and often killing their care-less owners. The rare and pricey true Draksmoke weapons, even more than their mundane counterparts, are changing the way warfare is raged. Blessed with incredible range, the ability to penetrate even the densest armor, and the capacity to kill with a single shot, a gunslinger armed with Draksmoke can lay low whole platoons of plate armored knights.

The Secrets of Draksmoke

There is no part of a dragon’s body that does not process, refine and metabolize ambient magical energy. When a dragon cries, it cries potent drops of arcana. When a dragon bleeds, it bleeds magic. Dragon scat and urine are powerful ritual substances, as are the creature’s reproductive and digestive fluids, spinal ichors and a hundred other substances. The discovery that Draksmoke could be culled from a dragon’s flammable spittle and oily bile brought about both a techno-magical and a tactical revolution. Like all revolutions, the discovery seemed obvious in retrospect.

Draksmoke itself is a rich crimson powder created when the bile and saliva of a flame breathing dragon is alchemically mixed with raw gunpowder. The resultant substance is highly explosive, capable of propelling a musket ball, revolver round or carbine shell with such incredible speed it tears through mithrial plate like hemp-cloth. Draksmoke is a closely guarded secret. The human and gnomish armorers of Ft. Hathrix-Mars geas themselves to silence, and forge Draksmoke pistols in sweltering, lead-lined forges designed to thwart scriers. Draksmoke has become a cornerstone of the human-dominated Andaran Empire’s military strategy, and the secret of the powerful firearms are shared with humanity’s allies only upon the direst need. To date, only a handful of Dwarven fortresses and Gnomish tinkers’ enclaves have been trusted with the secret of this powerful new breed of weapon. Naturally, Draksmoke is rarer than diamonds and more precious than adamantine. Only a few sources for these weapons exist, and even these trusted craftsmen have only the capability to produce a few Draksmoke weapons per year. Draksmoke guns will never and can never be mass produced. The skills required to smelt the steel are too rare, and red dragons are too few to ever produce enough draconic bile to equip a full army. Killing a fire-breather for its pungent bile is an option, but after a single bounty, exhausts the already rare resource.

Some ingenious weapon smiths have become draconic egg thieves, killing mother dragons and stealing their clutch to raise their offspring in alchemical production-farms. Such endeavors are risky- not only is any dragon of reproductive age a match for whole militias, others of her species will avenge her death and the theft of her children. Even the normally fierce, temperamental and territorial red dragons can be moved to extremes of courage and self sacrifice when the future of their species is at stake. And of course, there’s the captive dragons themselves. A new born dragon may be helpless and relatively easy to ‘milk’ for its vital juices, but let the dragon live just a few months too long, and it becomes a barely contained threat, a living weapon just waiting for an opportunity to steal back its freedom!

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A nation already allied with red dragons (or controlled by them) has a potent advantage in the Draksmoke arms race. A draconic queen might allow her vassals to milk her bile glands each dawn, producing more than enough Draksmoke to equip her legions of well armed thugs. More mercenary dragons export the rare, flammable powder to any nation or faction that can meet their exorbitant price, always working through a convoluted network of slaves, free traders, intermediaries and cutouts.

The Gnomes of Fort Hathrix-Mars

One place in all the world is synonymous with the Age of the Gun, is the isolated military garrison Fort Hathrix-Mars. The smiths stationed at the Fort forged the first musket, the first repeater and eventually, the first Draksmoke weapon. Any future developments in the evolution of the gun are likely to come from the same source. The Fort owes its unique role in history to a quirk of geography as much as it does to the fortunes of war.

The FallSpark Gnome great-clan calls the burrows and deep-cellars of the ancient fortress home. These canny tinkers have always been a vital part of the human dominated garrison. FallSpark Gnomes earn their keep as scouts, chimney sweeps, armorers, squires, stable hands, chefs, tinkers, courtesans, and a dozen other professions supporting the Fort and its campaigners. Their industriousness and knowledge of the surrounding forest proved invaluable to the earliest human colonists, helping them survive in a hostile wilderness. This long legacy of mutual trust and cooperation culminated in the invention of the first firearms.

Though sized for human hands, early muskets and revolvers were as much a product of Gnomish toil and ingenuity as human skill. By Imperial decree, Gnomes may practice the trade of gunsmithing without the restrictions placed on human gunsmiths, a reward to the little folk for their courage and hard work at the Fort. Gnomish gunsmiths are not taxed or restricted in the sale of firearms among their own kind, and gun ownership is increasingly common in Gnomish communities. Some human gunsmiths, particularly those associated with the Black Brotherhood, are jealous of the largess bestowed upon Gnomish armorers, and push for repeal of the FallSpark Decree. Gnomish tinkers are stereotyped as shifty, money-grubbing con artists peddling inferior iron. There’s a tavern tale (spread by the Brotherhood’s hired bards) that Gnomish blacksmiths curse their guns to explode if ever pointed at a Gnome.

The Gnomes and their guns are of excellent quality, despite this slur on their reputation. Gnomish gunsmiths rarely trade with humans outside of their long association with the human military. FallSpark Gnomes are loyal to a fault, and most members of the clan can’t help feel that its treason manufacture arms for outsiders, even if they have imperial permission to do so. The number of living humans, un-associated with Fort Hathrix-Mars that own a FallSpark-forged weapon can be counted on two hands. Foreign militaries are never allowed to purchase the clan’s fine, innovative weapons. While an Endaran adventurer might receive a FallSpark-forged revolver as a reward for exceptional heroism, when a foreigner is presented with a similar gift, the weapon cannot fire. The firing pin, revolver barrel and other vital components are made of soft gold- extraordinary pricey and unquestionably beautiful, but too delicate to ever be fired.

The FallSpark Gnomes trade regularly with other Gnomish powers, and with other small folk, especially Halflings, who tend to be good customers. The little gunsmiths also trade with the Elven nations, provided that relations between the Elven power and humanity are warm. FallSpark Gnomes are one of the very few Gnomish factions with a closer association to men than with Elves, and their relationship colors every trade they make.

Elven Armorers

Gunsmithing requires both mining and iron-smelting, both distinctly non-Elven arts. The Elven courts produce few weapons of their own, and depend on allied human and Dwarven nations to procure firearms. Elven gunsmiths often purchase raw components to be assembled by Elven hands in Elven lands, rather than purchasing finished products. Elven gunsmiths are known for their finely balanced, mature designs, and many snipers and hunters prefer Elven-forged carbines.

Though Elves were slow to embrace the gun, the race has unquestionably mastered it now. As with archery, Elven shooters prefer a single aimed shot through the heart, lungs or brain that kills mercifully. Automatic fire and randomly sprayed bullets are distasteful to Elven soldiers, proof that the shooter doesn’t have the skill to kill cleanly. Elven soldiers consider themselves unforgivably disgraced and often commit ritual suicide if they ever need to deliver a merciful coup de gras to a wounded adversary with their sidearm. With their emphasis on merciful warfare, a growing number of Elves pay homage to the minor human goddess, Aokiga.

The old guard of the Elven military worries that, despite the gun’s utility, it is eroding the ancient race’s martial traditions. Gun ownership grants the efficient lethality of the longbow without the dedication necessary to master it. Elven musketeers are trained in the longbow as comprehensively they are in the rifle, even though the bow has become largely ceremonial among the Elven military. An Elf character who selects Weapon Focus (any firearm) and chooses not to spend similar effort on the longbow will likely find himself ostracized from the community.

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In contrast to the surface Elves’ conflicted feelings about firearms, the Drow embrace these practical, efficient weapons. With their greater access to the underground world’s myriad resources, Drow can produce large numbers of home-built handguns and rifles. Native Drow firearms tend to be of decent quality, and like surface Elven weapons, are light weight and boast large ammunition capacity. The Drow firearms industry is not as mature as that of the Dwarven, human and even Orc races. The Drow can copy Elven and human weapon designs quite handily, but their armorers rarely innovate, preferring instead to produce cheap local knock-off’s. Drow iron-mongers have only produced one truly outstanding weapon: the legendary Kingslayer Carbine.

Drow covet the innovative weapons sometimes carried by their Orc minions, and Drow city-states will wage horrifically bloody terror-wars to capture a rapido or skyburster. The Drow know that while their weapons may be prettier, Orc weapons are better in all the ways that really count. However, a Drow gunslinger will cheerfully murder to avenge any slight to Drow craftsmanship, no matter how justified. Drow-forged weapons are always cast from some matte black alloy, and their styling is determined by the owner’s gender and social class. The poor and Drow males of all castes are only allowed undecorated, quickly and shoddily built weapons, and never Draksmoke quality items. By contrast, the priestess-nobility of the race carry ornate, baroque weapons inlaid with silver and mithrial, and decorated with elaborate spidery motifs. Males and low caste females caught with Draksmoke weapons are considered traitors to the race, and put to death cruelly.

Halfling Militias

Halflings have no reputable weapons manufacturers of their own kind, at least not yet. Halfling gunsmiths are tinkerers at best, still imitating the technology of other races. Halflings have been producing unique weapons, not just scaled down versions of human guns for only a few years now. These ‘halfers’ may lack the technical polish of human and Dwarf-made guns, but they improve slightly with each season. Before too long, a Halfling armorer might finally build a weapon as fine as his Dwarven rivals. Maybe.

Halflings do not have a deep gun slinging tradition. They are practical enough to admire the gun for what it can do, but the peaceful race has little love for itinerant, well armed vigilantes. Few Halflings ever become Gunmages, as the shoeless-folk find the profession’s emphasis on cold hearted murder disturbing in the extreme. Though Halflings produce few true gun fighters, most adult halflings, of both genders, are trained in firearms use and safety. Well trained shire-watch militias and caravan guardians protect Halfling villages; a necessity for a race of small humanoids in a world filled with much larger and deadlier creatures.

Halflings take their militia duties seriously, and Halfling citizen-soldiers can be as stalwart as the most dedicated Dwarven defender. Halfling communities band together to purchase muskets and powder. These weapons are issued to the militia, and members drill extensively, until firing, reloading and firing again is second nature. Halflings prefer the simplicity and low cost of muzzle-loaders as opposed to more advanced weapons. Muskets and flintlocks also appeal to the Halfling notion of pacifism: a single barrel means you’re ready to defend yourself and your home, but a revolver or rapido is proof of intent to conquer.

The Lesser Arms Merchants

and the Black Brotherhood

A motley assortment of merchant guilds, smithies and arms dealers control the international arms trade. None of these small-time merchants can match the Armigers or the Consortium in power individually, but collectively they form a powerful economic and political force. The Black Brotherhood is a continent spanning guild which unites and governs these diverse merchants and craftsman. The Black Brotherhood fixes prices, sets trade policies and settles disputes between members.

The Black Brotherhood is a semi-secret society, insular and clannish. It’s membership is almost exclusively human, though occasionally the Brotherhood’s senior Masterforgers declare that an extraordinary Elven, Dwarven or other artisan is good enough to join their ranks. As hinted by its name, the Black Brother-hood is a bastion of male power. The BrotherBrother-hood refuses membership to all females and the orc-blooded, and heaps endless derision on the female gunslingers trained by Fort Hathrix-Mars.

Black Brotherhood lodges can be found across the world, often as not taking the form of lavish apartments and gentlemen’s clubs built above well-equipped forges with bustling armorers. Brotherhood shops are easily identified by the distinctive guild crest, which must always either be hung over the door or etched into the building’s key stone. The Black Brotherhood’s crest the silver firing pin of a fine revolver set against a black diamond and encompassed by a pair of silver calipers. Members of the Brotherhood often wear their guild sigil as a brooch or as a tattoo on the back of their dominant hand. Guild members are also easily recognized by the broad rimed black hats and dark cloaks they adopt.

The Black Brotherhood tries and fails to be as elite and insular as the Armigers. Without having a lock on the difficult to produce Draksmoke, their efforts at exclusivity fall somewhat short. Any skilled blacksmith who examines a traditional gunpowder-fed musket, revolver or rifle can try their hand at forging a similar weapon of their own. The process is purely mechanical, not requiring the exotic alchemy necessary to temper Draksmoke weapons. Without exclusivity, the Black Brotherhood relies on political power and legalistic trickery to maintain its monopoly and market control.

The Brotherhood hosts lavish parties at its guild halls, inviting the wealthiest elements of human nobility. The Brotherhood’s elaborate masquerade balls, decadent parties, lavish stage productions and gladiator duels have a reputation for being the finest entertainment and social events in the land. Invitation to a Brotherhood event is a powerful bribe, and the guild spends the majority of its taxed revenue on lavish gifts and retainers for minor nobles who rule on the guild’s behalf.

With its lobbying efforts firmly entrenched across the length and breadth of human society, the Black Brotherhood holds a firm lock on the production of mundane firearms. Master Forgers ensure that anyone smithing guns or producing black powder pays the requisite tax to the Brotherhood. This guild tax usually is 5% on powder, ammunition and components or 10% on finished weapons, though Brotherhood guild-masters are free to impose heavier taxes, and to collect ‘back taxes’ on unlicensed gunsmiths. Threats, intimidation and even a knife in the back have befallen lone gunsmiths attempting to set up shop in cities where the Black Brotherhood holds an iron grip on the market.

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The Black Brotherhood is wealthy and influential enough to field small armies of well trained, well armed mercenaries. In many kingdoms their support of local thieves guilds is suspected, but rarely proven. The Brother-hood uses small-time thieves and assassins to eliminate shop owners who refuse their tax, to shakedown local gunsmiths for protection, which is usually presented as another civic tax. The criminal guilds are usually glad to act as the Brotherhood’s cat’s paws in exchange for protection and a few untaxed guns for their guild. The Brotherhood is tolerated across the world, though its political power is almost non existent in Dwarven lands. The Brotherhood represents unearned wealth, gained at the expense of true working folk, something that is anathema for most Dwarves. Dwarven city states rarely allow Brotherhood-affiliated merchants to collect taxes on their citizens, and if Brotherhood gunsmiths are allowed to trade at all, they are often forced to pay taxes of their own to the Dwarven rulers. The Brotherhood’s relationship with Fort Hatrhix-Mars is much cooler. With Brother-hood spies having been a problem in the past, the Fort bans the organization entirely from its territory. Of course, the Brotherhood claims to this day that the three ‘honest merchants’ hanged by the Fort were innocent of the charges of espionage and sabotage. The Black Brotherhood often prints elaborate, misogynist broadsheets defaming the Fort and its Gunmages.

The Armigers

The Armigers are old nobility, a merchant clan more powerful and wealthier than some small kingdoms. Their armories smelted the first flintlocks generations ago, and the reclusive clan has held onto the power of the gun down through the histories. Armiger merchants hold exclusive ‘crown-patent’ rights to trade gunpowder and its components sulfur and saltpeter across the lands, and a few coppers of from every pinch of black powder sold makes it into their coffers.

The Armigers didn’t discover Draksmoke, didn’t smelt the first Draksmoke-tempered rifle, but they have come to dominate the trade nonetheless. Armiger merchant-princes are the power behind a dozen thrones, and what the clan wants, it gets. To the Armigers, firearms are the province of nobility, a way for the elite to wage war that’s far more civilized than the bloody savagery of melee combat. The Armigers and their cat’s paws are driving force behind laws restricting peasant ownership of firearms. Even in lands where the clan has not been able to restrict the revolutionary Draksmoke weapons to the noble houses, Armiger-run merchant guilds and trade consor-tiums have kept such weapons out of peasant hands by virtue of their exorbitant prices.

The Armigers and their allied guilds will only sell Draksmoke firearms to humans of noble births, though they may make the occasional exception for a Half Elf of acceptably high birth. They do not deal in weapons to adventurers, only trading with established nobility, and view the armor penetrating blessings of a draksmoke-tempered revolver as an excellent check on the otherwise formidable power and ambitions of itinerant adventurers. Elitists, the Armigers fear nothing more than equality, and react viciously to anything that threatens their lock upon power.

Armiger trained gunsmiths heap endless scorn on Dwarven and Gnomish weapons, and loathe the Orcish rapido; possibly out of jealousy that their family did not first discover the secret of these ultra rapid-fire weapons. In lands where the mere possession of an Orc-made rapido is considered evidence of trade with barbaric evil, and punishable by death, it is an Armiger princeling’s signature on the death warrant.

House Armiger is not without its enemies. Non human weapon smiths and trading houses use every tactic, from economic pressure exerted on human rulers to magic and assassinations both subtle and obvious, to break the Armiger’s stranglehold on the industry. Worse, as dealers in Draksmoke, the family and its holdings are prime target for vengeful fire breathers. Even more so than other Draksmoke alchemists, red dragons loathe the Armigers because the clan’s alchemists

have slaughtered more hatchlings and defiled more nests then their next ten closest competitors combined. Where Dwarven alchemists ensure that their captive dragons survive long enough to be ‘milked’ time and again, Armiger’s harvesters take no such precautions. With the death of each subdued dragon, the vast stockpiles of dragon’s bile the clan has hoarded in its deep subterranean vaults grow more valuable, and the clan’s continued political power becomes more assured.

House Armiger gives its enemies little concern, confident their vast wealth, impregnable fortress-foundries and the legions of well armed mercenaries it can field will protect the clan holdings from any assault. To date, their arrogant assumption has proven correct. Armiger nobles wear the mark of their clan proudly. Upon their

manhood ceremonies, the arrogant young men of the clan fire their birthright-gift, a Draksmoke revolver until the barrel is red hot. The scorching gun barrel is pressed against their cheek, leaving a permanent testament to the clan’s skill at arms. With their silver tongues and positions of wealth and privilege, it’s only natural that Armiger characters will gravitate towards some of the new social feats described later in this book. Most Armiger NPC’s have placed their variable human racial bonus into either INT or CHA, making them excellent craftsmen and savvy businessmen. They often choose from the following social and mercantile feats: Blood Royal, Haggle, Lawful Landholder, Letters of Credit, Lovers in Every Port, Union Negotiator and Voice in Council.

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Armiger characters usually take levels in Gunmage, Rogue or Sorcerer. Armiger Clerics worship lawful, evil and neutral gods, especially those who bless their followers with the gunfire domain, and the Honored Elders of the family are said to worship….things….that grant them access to the Genocide domain. These cruel and ancient taskmasters are dedicated to the extinction of Orc-spawn, who have dared to insult the human race by breeding with them and forging their bastard guns… and eventually the red dragons themselves.

The Monopolist Consortium

Once a culture learns the secret of Draksmoke (and certain other ‘tests of sentience’), it is considered worthy of the attention of the extra-planar Monopolist Consortium. The Consortium stretches across a thousand planes, a million time-lines and an infinity of Material Plane worlds. Its agents are nearly godlike, appearing and disappearing like the wind. Monopolist Emissaries deal with all creatures without fear and with the same unflappable professionalism- it doesn’t matter if the customer is a demon prince, a forgotten god, the highest angel of Heaven, or a mud splattered adventurer fresh from some secondary material plane dungeon ruin. Emissaries are coolly polite to all creatures, because sooner or later, all creatures are Customers.

The most commonly seen Emissaries of the Consortium are artificial medium humanoids which handle the Consortium’s mundane business on client realities. These creatures resemble attractive humanoids of the culture’s dominant racial group, carved out of some strange smooth purple stone. The Emissaries dress in fine clothes suitable for a prosperous merchant; clean and attractive without ostentation.

Emissaries are buyers and sellers, and provide a ready market for the treasure found in dungeon ruins, as well as a source to buy or commission custom magical artifacts. Their existence is a well documented fact of life on most campaign worlds, as is their complete neutrality. Good and evil mean nothing to the creatures, only commerce does.

Specific Emissaries are often assigned to a particularly successful adventuring band (which must be at least 5th level, and have at least one Lawful member). These Emissaries can be called to the adventurers’ current location with a spoken invocation (equivalent to a 12th level spell for the purposes of suppression and dispelling). When the invocation is spoken, the assigned Emissary usually arrives within 5 minutes, through a micro-planar gate. The Emissary will not aid or hinder the adventurers in any way, though it will bargain for recovered or captured artifacts and trade with the group. If summoned into any hostile or dangerous situation, the Emissary will be offended, and leave through the same planar gate, not responding to the summoning invocation for at least a year and a day.

Emissaries can cart away captured artifacts through similar planar gates, as well providing goods equal to those found in a large metropolis through other gates. Items purchased from an Emissary in the field are marked up 25 – 33%, because the merchant creature knows they are probably desperately needed. Likewise, an Emissary will offer 40% list price on captured loot sold to it, but handles transport and inventory of the captured treasure itself. Most adventurers will gladly pay the creature’s surcharge after slaughtering a platoon full of Hobgoblins and trying to fence their loot themselves. Emissaries also underpin the magical economy of most campaign worlds. Even the humblest shopkeeper in the most backwater village might be able to quickly arrange a loan from an Emissary in order to purchase loot an adventurer hauls in from a nearby dungeon. Emissaries make regular circuits of outlying towns, forts and settlements every few months, collecting their bounty from middlemen. Even if a small-town bartender has no real use for the +1 dagger he bought off a raider band, the Emissary knows that someone, in all the infinite worlds of the Multiverse, will.

The Monopolist Consortium seemingly has no purpose other than amassing gold. Its interests are so scattered across space/time it has no interest in temporal politics. Even the intrigues of Heaven and Hell bore the

Consortium’s agents. The Emissaries are its least agents, and if the Consortium ever feels threat-ened (something that happens only rarely, and the entire multiverse trembles when it occurs) it can field an almost infinite number of exotic troops. Consortium mercenaries run the gamut from incredibly skilled planar humanoids, lawful beings such as archeons, planar constructs, golems, and truly ancient red dragons. A handful of minor godlings, dedicated to commerce, trade, wealth and knowledge serve the Consortium’s interests, and are given rote and businesslike veneration by the Consortium’s agents. Ambitious young rakasha hold important and trusted posts in the Consortium, and while each is expected to scheme towards their own personal power, loyalty to the Consortium as a whole is paramount. Many lower-caste rakasha make their names and first fortunes through service with the Consortium, and even in their later years, look with favor on the plane-spanning company’s own schemes. On at least one world the Armigers scheme and plot to break the Consortium’s stranglehold over cosmic trade, with almost no success. The Consortium believes plane-bound political entities are beneath their interest, even ones as powerful as House Armiger. Unable to threaten them directly, the Armigers and their agents spy and surveil the powerful Emissary constructs, and would pay almost any price for a chance to actually dissect one.

If You Stat It, We Can Kill It

Emissaries are Lawful Neutral Medium Constructs. They have at least a +16 total modifier to Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Knowledge and Profession checks, and are every bit as smart and persuasive as they need to be.

They are not given game play statistics deeper than that, because they will not and cannot be allowed to be adversaries for the players. They are a part of the campaign’s backdrop, nothing more or less. They disappear through a planar gate if assaulted or if they feel threatened. What one Emissary knows, they all know, and a character

that attacks one of these constructs will never again be able to bargain directly with one of their kind, nor will his traveling companions.

Emissaries speak Common and several other languages fluently, plus they can communicate telepathically with any creature with a language when within 100 ft.

The Loathing of Flame

Draksmoke is created from the exploitation and torture of red dragons, and as such, its mere existence infuriates other draconic creatures. Even good dragons have no interest in seeing their fire-breathing brethren chained and bound, while dwarven alchemists scrape at their maws like diligent miners.

Anyone carrying a Draksmoke weapon, wearing Draksmoke tempered armor or handling raw Draksmoke, or who has been within 20 ft of such a weapon as it fires within the past 24 hours is stained with the red powder’s distinct scent. Even if other humanoids and mammals can’t smell the stench of Draksmoke, true dragons can. Draksmoke’s scent clings for 24 hours after exposure to the weapon.

All creatures of the dragon type are urged to fury by the mere presence of Draksmoke. Drag-ons receive a +4 morale bonus on attack and dam-age rolls against anyone stained with the scent of Draksmoke. Creatures who stink of Draksmoke suffer a -4 penalty on CHA-based skill checks, except for Intimidate, when made against any creature with the dragon type.

Chapter Two

Adding Firearms to Your Campaign

The gun is one of the most fascinating weapons in the history of mankind. It a weapon that is both glorified and vilified in art and literature. And it is a weapon that is conspicuous by its absence in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game’s otherwise comprehensive rules.

Some players feel that guns would be over-powering in a fantasy world. Ironically, many an argument has been that guns in modern RPG rule systems are underpowered, with some players and game masters feeling that gunshot wounds should always be fatal, and that players and NPC’s surviving gunshots is unrealistic.

In truth, only about 1/4 of gunshot wounds are fatal. With proper treatment, patients can recover from all but the most severe gunshot wounds. In a fantasy setting, primitive guns are less powerful and less reliable, and healing magic is abundant. The odds are good, however, that you’re reading this because you already want to use guns in your fantasy game. Perhaps you’re inspired by Captain Jack Sparrow, or maybe you’re a fan of video games like Final Fantasy VII or Wild Arms. Whatever the reason, you’ve chosen to include guns and gunpowder in your game, and you haven’t been able to find a set of rules you like. The approach in this book is a little different from the gun rules that are usually presented for fantasy settings. Guns are not so difficult to use that only those who spend years training can handle one properly. And they are not so expensive that only kings can requisition them. A gun is simple enough for most anyone to use, and rare enough that the average barkeeper can’t afford one, but the average adventurer can. Once you’ve made the decision to introduce firearms to your campaign, you have a few choices to make. How common and how expensive are firearms? More importantly from the player’s point of view, how deadly are they, and will the bad guys carry them? And when can I equip my character with them?!

Distant Gunfire:

Introducing Guns to Existing Campaigns

The easiest way to integrate firearms into an existing campaign is to develop them as a new discovery. It’s easy to imagine that the earliest experimentation with gunpowder weapons occurred off stage, in some remote corner of your campaign world, and that the world is just entering the Musket Age. In such a world, not every kingdom and faction will have access to gunpowder, giving the weapons a certain mystique. Even if you don’t allow your players to begin with guns as part of their starting load-outs, or to take levels in Gunmage…yet, you can still hint at the existence of firearms.

Rumors and tavern tales of a foreign military, secretive cult or adventuring guild with access to unique weapons can help the adventuring party prepare for their first encounter with gun-slinging opponents. Bardic tales, rhyming doggerel (like the real world’s ‘gunpowder treason’ poem) and other cultural artifacts can provide a clue that guns are possible in your campaign. Allowing the players to walk through a battlefield where the air still stinks of cordite and bullet-riddled dead lie every where is an excellent way to set mood and to emphasize the killing power of the gun.

Of course, if you’re the kind of game master for whom a TPK* is a darn fine way to spend an afternoon, walking into an ambush set by a small platoon of musket-using brigands is a nasty surprise even for mid-level, experienced adventurers! In campaigns where guns are introduced as a surprise or a plot-twist the first guns the players own will likely come from defeated enemies. If gun-play is something you wish to spring on your players mid-campaign, think carefully about where and when you set the initial introduction. Once players have guns, their combat effectiveness increases dramatically, especially if they have access to Draksmoke! * Total Party Kill -A Total Party Kill (TPK) or Wipe is the colloquial term for when, in a single encounter during the course of a role-playing game adventure, the entire party of player characters is killed. While many games permit other player characters to resurrect deceased comrades in some fashion, a TPK usually results in the end of the campaign or the players making new characters — or both, as the case may be.

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The Evolving Campaign Vs. the Static Campaign

This sourcebook describes the three ages of the gun. Each of these eras (The Musket Age, the Revolver Age and the Draksmoke Age) can last as long as the game master desires. Technological development can be slow, with each era lasting decades or centuries, and encircling the entire lifespan of the campaign. In such a technologically static campaign, advancements in firearms occur only in the background, and are extremely rare. A heroes entire adventuring career, from first level kobold-hunts to 20th level epic tales, happens during a single age of a Static Campaign. Game masters in a static campaign have an advantage in that they strictly control what types of arms the players and NPC’s have access to, and more advanced weapons centuries, possibly even millennia away. This is the Static Campaign.

Progressing from one age to another in an Evolving Campaign is a major milestone, both historically and dramatically. The progression of firearms development can be a thematic mirror to other conflicts playing out in the campaign. As in the film The Last Samurai, the introduction of gunpowder weapons can be a melancholy death-song for established warrior traditions. The beginning of the new firearms era usually evokes a feeling of loss: warriors accustomed to a now outdated method of conflict die en mass against the new guns, and often lament how cowardly and dishonorable warfare has become. Old heroes coming out of retirement for one last great adventure might be in for a deadly surprise when confronting today’s gunslingers.

Evolving With the Heroes

Your players may be perfectly comfortable with unrealistically compressed time frames for the evolution of the gun, if it allows them a chance to play with all the diverse options presented in this book! Instead of the evolution of the handgun requiring decades to complete, that same evolution takes place over the course of your heroes’ adventuring careers.

While each game master will probably have their own time-line in mind for the introduction of new weapons, a few commonalities will probably develop. The weakest and least effective firearms; those of the Musket Age, will likely be available to first and second level characters. Even if characters don’t start with a musket or flintlock, after they slay their first tribe of Gunfire Goblins, they’ll quickly loot them. The faster and more reliable weapons of the Revolver Age probably enter the campaign around level five or six, when magic items of similar power and utility first become common place.

The most powerful guns, those from the Draksmoke Age, don’t enter the campaign until high levels…. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12th level or later. At this point, Draksmoke weapons match up nicely with higher level spells and combat feats and aren’t prohibitively expensive to the now wealthy adventurers.

Campaign Option: Chamber Jam

Muskets and revolvers offer gamers new options, but if you want to keep gun-play as just another weapon option and not as the dominant choice, consider making early firearms fairly unreliable. Doing so makes guns a slightly less attractive choice, because on any attack there is a 5% chance of disaster, even for the most skilled shooter. Like any option that increases randomness, this variant rule slightly favors the monsters. Players are likely to experience exponentially more chamber jams in their months-long game career than the average NPC villain, who is usually on stage only for a couple of combat rounds. As such, players will wiff shots far more often than any individual monster or NPC will.

Optional Rule: Chamber Jam On a roll of a 1

to hit, a firearm jams and becomes unusable. Any bullets loaded in the gun are lost. Clearing a jam is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. A weapon with multiple barrels counts as jammed if any of the barrel jams. You should only use this rule if you’re using fumble rules for all weapons— firearms shouldn’t be arbitrarily subject to special penalties.

Campaign Option: Wild

(but not Wildly Expensive) Arms

As described above, guns are pricey, expensive and innovative new weapons. The cost of most firearms ensures that adventurers won’t (usually) be able to afford a set of enchanted sixth shooters until mid-levels. This means the vast majority of adventurers, military groups, and their monstrous opponents will make do with ‘traditional’ fantasy weapons: crossbows, bastard swords and battle axes. Anyone carrying a gun is instantly going to be distinctive and memorable.

More than any other type of guns, revolvers are associated in the public consciousness with a specific time in history: the Wild West. If you want guns to be more common in your campaign, and to begin appearing at lower levels, you might consider cutting the prices for mundane firearms by half. That ensures that guns are still rare and exotic, but more characters can afford them, earlier in their heroic careers. However, traditional weapons will still be more common than guns.

If you are running a campaign where you want guns to be just as common as swords and spears, if not more so, consider dropping the last digit off the list price of all mundane firearms! That bad-ass Dwarven Revolver your Dwarf Paladin’s been lusting after for two levels now, but has been hesitant to buy because it costs 1,260 gp? Well, go ahead and buy it because it costs 126 gp now!

Guns are still pretty expensive, but even first level adventurers can afford a decent flint lock or six gun, and the price of these new weapons isn’t out of line when compared to other powerful masterwork quality weapons. Your campaign starts looking less like Lord of the Rings and more like Unforgiven as bows and cross-bows fall out of favor. Rogues carry hidden derringers in their boot, the team’s wizard keeps an elven revolver tucked into her belt for those times when spellcasting fails, a bold fighter might unload a withering barrage of pistol fire before wading into melee combat. And the party might just encounter a storm giant war-chief that’s strong enough to wield a Hell Belcher as a sidearm. Stately mages’ duels in the courtyard of the prince’s castle give way to high noon shootouts out in front of the saloon and whorehouse. Six-guns and spell books become the name of the game!

Campaign Option: Yesterday’s Guns

Three ages of the gun: The Musket Age, The Revolver Age, and ultimately, the Draksmoke Age. In each age, the current generation of firearms becomes more and more impressive, while weapons of an earlier age become more omnipresent and a little bit more refined.

With the introduction of Draksmoke Weapons, traditional gunpowder artillery and handguns become less impressive. Most veteran adventurers, wealthy town militias, and even some of the more successful monsters carry conventional firearms, but only the sons and daughters of kings can afford Draksmoke. In accordance with the Wild

(but not Wildly Expensive) Arms option above,

reduce the cost of conventional firearms by r e m o v i n g t h e l a s t d i g i t o f t h e p r i c e f o r a l l non-magical black powder weapons once Draksmoke Weapons become common.

Even if you choose to keep firearms expensive for most of their history, these fearsome weapons become devalued by the frightening new weapons coming out of Armiger foundries. Most conventional firearms now cost between 75-120 gp, putting them in the price range of good master-work quality weapons, not mid-level magic items. This variant rule makes guns of all kinds more common by making them more affordable, even putting them into the hands of first level characters.

Campaign Option: The End of Armor

In the real world, the introduction of the musket ended the age of armored knights because medieval armor, no matter how dense and heavy, could not stop a bullet. Partly because heavily armored paladins and heroic knights are such a vital component of fantasy gaming’s iconography, this sourcebook has attempted to ensure that armor remains viable in the face of new weapons technology. Firearms don’t really gain any armor piercing capabilities until Draksmoke weapons are introduced, making the fantastic firearms in this sourcebook ironically less deadly than their real world counterparts!

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If you want to emulate reality more closely, consider making all firearms armor piercing by default. Resolve all firearm attacks as ranged touch attacks, which ignore natural, equipment and shield bonuses to Armor Class. Doing so effectively makes all weapons Draksmoke-quality. If you choose this option, it’s probably best to keep your firearms as expensive as their Draksmoke equivalents. You might even consider eliminating mundane gunpowder entirely in your campaign world, using Draksmoke as a fantastic replacement.

A campaign like this will probably have a more swashbuckling feel. Characters will likely disdain heavy armor, not wanting to reduce their DEX bonuses to Armor Class, and will focus on evading hits rather than surviving them. Lightly armored characters become a bit more powerful, and heavily armored characters become slightly less useful. To compensate, you might want to allow character classes who start with Heavy Armor Proficiency to trade the feat in for something more appropriate. Feats like Dodge, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Focus (firearms), Exotic Weapons Proficiency and Toughness are good options, because they fit the style of a gun slinging campaign nicely.

Law of the Gun

Mundane gunpowder is available to any who can afford it, in most kingdoms. Town militias can better protect themselves with gunpowder weapons, especially when confronting well armed adventurers, monsters and brigands. Gunplay can never be a substitute for true combat sorcery, especially when in the hands of rookie town watchmen and militia members, but it certainly evens the field between conscript and elite soldier. Kingdoms with a well organized military often arm their citizen-soldiers with black powder muskets and low-quality rifles. In some lands, militia-men and their captains are allowed to take these weapons home between periods of service. In these lands, a core of well trained, well armed (but low level) soldiers can be amassed quickly and easily, making them much more fearsome opponents on the battlefield.

In most human and Dwarven societies, anyone wealthy enough to purchase a firearm is considered trustworthy enough to own one. Their wealth is testament to their social stability and honor, and exceptions are a matter for a band of adventurers to settle at sword point, not the courts. Most lawful regimes which allow their ordinary citizens to carry bows, swords or crossbows also allow farmers and hunters to carry arms openly. Many kingdoms have mandatory military service for peasants, and train their citizens in the basics of warfare. In lands where weapon ownership is restricted to the military or the nobility, possession of firearms is similarly regulated. Individual settlements might require visitors to turn their weapons over to the local powers that be for the duration or their visit, or peace bond them. In many cases, peace-bonding a handgun or long arm involves sliding a smooth lead rod down the bore, and tying it around the barrel with elaborate knots. Such precautions prevent the weapon from being fired without several minutes of fumbling with the knots. In tyrannical nations where the common folk are forbidden to carry weapons of any kind, ownership of a musket or repeater is usually tantamount to high treason; concrete proof of rebellious intent. Those found in possession of an illegal firearm are usually put to the question, until the weapon’s origin are discovered and often end their lives by the barrel of their own weapon. Criminals who kill with gunfire often die the same way, as bloody warning to others.

A few humanoid kingdoms take a middle ground between total repression and unlimited gun ownership, and restrict ownership of black powder weaponry to muzzle loaders. These older forms of the gun are just as useful for hunting and home defense, but their long reloading time makes them a battle field liability. A peasant firing a muzzle-loader is no match for a squad of royal guards equipped with repeaters. Likewise, in some nations, the common folk are only allowed to purchase rat shot ammunition, in the hopes of preventing gunfire revolution. Such restrictions are especially common in Elven and Halfling lands, as both folk tend to be more rural and Halflings in particular have no great love for the gun, nor great gun slinging traditions.

Even in lands where firearms ownership is unrestricted, the production of such deadly weapons is closely watched. Gunsmiths and armorers are a great source of tax revenue, with the kingdom taking a significant percentage of each sale. In some lands, owning a gun not ‘licensed’ with a tax stamp embossed on the wooden hilt is punishable by death… not because the gun has been used for murder or larceny, but because the king’s treasury was not properly enriched by its creation!

In most lands, gunsmiths are required to create a certain number of guns and a specific allotment of bullets each year for use by crown and king. Armed with ‘taxed guns’, town watches in even the smallest hamlet can afford decent quality firearms. As humanity and the other thinking races enters the Draksmoke Age, the world’s militaries are more industrialized, and better armed than ever before.

A thriving black market for second hand guns has emerged. In most human nations, the military and law enforcement owns the best and most firearms, and jealously guard Draksmoke technology. Preventing such deadly weapons from falling into criminal or revolutionary hands is a prime concern. The most successful strategy to prevent the theft of watch guns is designing such weapons with unconventional barrel shapes and odd ammunition requirements. A soldier’s repeater or carbine might have a star-shaped or cross-shaped barrel and require similarly shaped ammunition. Even if the weapon is stolen, it is useless unless its specialty ammunition can also be found, and the weapon is easily identifiable as stolen property.

Choking on Sulfur

Even in the most libertarian lands; where the common folk carry arms openly and even rapido ownership is unrestricted, the civic law often restricts where and how raw Draksmoke can be processed. Rendering factories are blights on the landscape, open sores on the planet itself. Sulfur winds darken the sky for miles around, and Draksmoke itself is a semi-mystical pollutant. Children growing in the shadow of a rendering factory grow up strange and twisted, animals are either sickly

The mere existence of a rendering factory attracts vengeful dragons and their servants. On a cosmological level, having a structure so dedicated to the primordial concept of Fire itself is a dangerous thing. The walls of reality are thin around a rendering factory. Elementals, mephitis, ravids and other creatures of fire and speed burst into our reality near gun smithies with alarming regularity. Children growing near a rendering factory are often sorcerers, but they are never beautiful. Instead, they are strange, gaunt and haggard, with beak like noses and blood-darkened skins. These ‘smoke sorcerers’ usually manifest the Elemental (fire) or Draconic bloodlines.

The rise of the gun has made sorcerers (the most gunslinger-like of all magic users) more common as well. Sometimes, a nation can turn this surplus of magical births into a potent advantage, modernizing their military thanks to a cadre of trained battle sorcerers, but more often familiarity breeds contempt, jealousy and superstitious distrust. In the worst places, young sorcerer-outcasts are burned to death on Draksmoke fueled pyres, just blocks from the smoky factory which initially tainted them. Other dangers are less predictable. Massive Draksmoke explosions can rip open planar rents that briefly connect the familiar world with a strange dark reflection of reality. This alternate history is home to the dangerous and opportunistic Sulfursouls, the last remnant of a humanity almost driven to extinction by a reality full of triumphant monsters. Allowing a Sulfur-soul, or worse, a predator which feeds upon them, into our reality is a danger to every civilization on the planet. Mundane fire, explosion and diseases of the blood and lungs seem almost tame by comparison to the magical consequences of Draksmoke rendering. Due to the enormous danger of rendering factories, these soot-stained mega-structures are restricted by law to the most desolate, remote and uninhabitable parts of a kingdom. Desert strongholds and factories located in a blighted, mosquito infested swamp are the norm, as are goliath subterranean bunkers and remote island factories. This distance gives a kind of defensibility, but if the rendering plant’s own defenses fall they are often too far from civilization for reinforcements to arrive in time.

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Likewise, transport of the

finished product and the massive amount of gold and securities flowing into these fortress-factories makes them attractive targets for raiders. The savage races might claim an entire Draksmoke caravan as the spoils of war, and very occasionally, one of the fortress-like factories falls to them. No one knows how many raiders have fallen in the attempts, but enough guns and Draksmoke has gotten into the wrong hands to arm entire small juntas worth of ambitious orcs and bugbears!

Disease: Dragon’s Boils

Also Known As: Skale Type: Disease

Save: FORT DC 14

Onset: 1d6 days Frequency: 1/day

Dragon’s Boils is a skin and blood infection caused by drinking water polluted with Draksmoke runoff. The deforming condition is exceptionally common in some desert tribes, those whose traditional oasis have been tainted by ground-water runoff from a nearby rendering factory.

Those suffering from this disease manifest unsightly red and grey pustules and scale-like dermal patches. The growths are always asymmetrical and uncom-fortably placed.

Disease Effect: 1 CHA damage,

1 DEX damage

Cure: 5 consecutive saves

Disease: Drakchoke

Also Known As: Redlung,

Dragon’s Revenge, Red’s Revenge

Type: Disease Save: FORT DC 16

Onset: 1d4 weeks Frequency: 1/day

The respiratory disease Drakchoke is found only among alchemists and gunsmiths working closely with Draksmoke. The draconic ichors and noxious fumes pro-duced can be toxic, especially in a tightly shuttered Draksmoke factory. As the disease progresses, high temperature particulate scores and burns away lung tissue, eventually leading to death by agonizingly prolonged suffocation. The skilled alchemists supervising the process can usually avoid the worst ravages of the dis-ease, but the slaves and ap-prentices assisting often can’t. The lethal disease imparts a tiny understanding of draconic culture as its host dies choking up blood leads many to attribute the malady to supernatural malice. The common folk have a variety of superstitions about Drakchoke, many of which imply a sufferer got just what was coming to them, by meddling with dragons.

Disease Effect: 1d3 CON damage

and target is fatigued

Special: Those suffering from

the disease can speak and read Draconic if their INT score is higher than 3, for as long as they suffer from the disease.