Game System: AD&D 1e
When do you play: Tuesdays @ 5:30 PM Pacific (GMT -07:00)
Brief Description of the game/setting/premise: In the arid lands of Thasan, there rises the City of Vultures, a metropolis whose original name is now forgotten to all – forgotten even to the ancient slaves who are keepers to the library of Mirvander Khan. Under the wings of the vultures that circle lazily above its towers, the city shows signs of rot and decay. Even the rich palaces are crumbling, stuccoes fall, and statues are as worn stumps. The streets, redolent with sweet musk, rot and filth, are populated by an ill folk, considered evil of visage and wretched. In contrast, the people of the palaces are marked with calculating indolence and the world-weariness of inherited status. In between are craftsmen, mer- chants and petty officials: quick-witted and grandiloquent, but ultimately deceptive.
The dwellers worship a lot of demigods native and specific to the city; mostly un- ambiguously evil, or indifferent to human suffering. Yet there is strange beauty, too, and a spirit of nobility that lives in the hearts of all the city’s inhabitants.
The city is ruled by a grand master of mirages and lies, Mirvander Khan. The khan is an evil man befitting his domain, and in his throne room, his safety is protected by a golden cage and trained tigers. Yet some now whisper that he is afraid of a great weird he had seen in his enchanted mirrors, or the stupor of sedated dreams. Some say the final days are at hand.
In time, the city’s armies have conquered all the surrounding lands, and subjugated foes and former friends alike. Now the city has no friends left, but its enemies are many. Open and proud sins among its inhabitants have aroused anger and contempt among the more orthodox nomads of the southern coast, who, under the banners of their new god, have sworn to conquer crumbling wall and gilt spire, and push the faithless into the sea. There is open war against the city, although not an intensive one: distance and terrain conspire to keep the foes apart, so larger clashes are not common. The grand armies away in their wasteland garrisons, the streets and plazas seem slightly empty, as if life was slowly leaving the crumbling metropolis. At night, the impression changes: from revelry and dance to illicit deals and gruesome murder, it is all out in the open – sometimes around the same corner.
Come to the fabulous City of Vultures, where you can:
- Explore a rotten and decaying city on a desert coast
- Rob tombs and avoid the authorities
- Go on trips to the countryside and island getaways
- Discover ancient treasures (and horrors)
- Become involved with secret societies
- Avoid the gibbering and mindless undead cultists, and
- Try not to get sliced to pieces by blade traps.
Aditional Details: Discord for voice and (optional) video. Players of all experience levels and backgrounds welcome. Whether it’s your first time playing an older edition or if you grew up with the game, we’d love to have you at the table.