C U ST O M M O V E S

A G E ND A
DYING EARTH V 1.0 C

Insult Game
 Make the world fantastic A Dungeon Starter by Mark Tygart
 Fill the characters’ lives with adventure For Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel’s
 Play to find out what happens When you meet sentient creatures of the Dying Earth
Dungeon World
www.Dungeon-World.com (GM’s discretion) you may roll +CHA and offer to play a
game of witty Vancian insults:
Q U E ST I O N S
GOALS On a 10+ the creature will play the game with and not
 Why have you come to this Dying Earth?
 How do you hope to return home?  Establish details, describe attack your party unless attacked. It will offer your party a
 How did you learn of the Sphere of Solar Renewal? useful piece of information.
 Use what they give you
 What relationship do you have with the Laughing
 Ask questions On a 7+ or less the creature will the play the game and not
Torturer? The Lord of Melancholy? The Lady Thief of
Dreams?  Leave blanks attack your party unless attacked.
 What experience do you have in this world?  Look for interesting facts
 Help the players understand the moves On a 6 or less the creature will attack once the game is
concluded.
IMPRESSIONS  Give each character a chance to shine
 Introduce NPC’s
 The endless red twilight glow of “day”
 The shattered steel ruins of unknown architecture  Fill out your worksheet
 The growing cold
 Tiny war drums of the green sprites
 Luminous eyes peering from the gnarled trees DUNGEON MOVES
 The howl of a ghoul
 Proud statutes of magicians of old  Change the environment
 A cloud of lizard-bats soars and chatters above  Point to a looming threat
 Introduce a new faction or type of creature
 Use a threat from an existing faction or type
of creature
 Make them backtrack
 Present riches at a price
 Present a challenge to one of the characters

“Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love
who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last
Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino
on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a
profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and
published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this
insurmountable barrier.”

-Michael Chabon, quoted in Carlo Rotella, "The Genre

Artist" (New York Times Book Review, 15 July 2009)
THINGS 1-Red: the target is made mute (if applicable). territories in search of information that they might barter
2-Orange: the target rendered deaf (If applicable). for expensive materials precious to them. They carry
Ioun Stones
3-Yellow: the target is blinded (if applicable). lances, which, though tiny to the human way of thinking,
4-Green: the target is changed into a talking frog.
These crystalline stones always float in the air and must be are twice as long as their own bodies. Each dragonfly
5-Blue: the target is turned to stone.
within 3 feet of their owner to be of any use. When a 6-Indigo: the target is restrained in a giant spider’s web mount is equipped with a minuscule tack of unknown
character first acquires a stone, she must hold it and then 7-Violet: the target is teleported away (location GM’s derivation, including a saddle and tiny pallets on the fly’s
release it, whereupon it takes up a circling orbit 1d3 feet discretion) underside that carry the substances for which the sprites
from her head. Thereafter, a stone must be grasped or 8-Amber: Target trades places via teleportation with bargain.
caster.
netted to separate it from its owner. The owner may Instinct: Amass treasure
voluntarily seize and stow a stone (to keep it safe while Custom Move: When a Green Sprite Horde first swarms
All of the Prismatic Spray’s effects except 5, 6 & 7 last until
she is sleeping, for example), but she loses the benefits of you, ROLL+DEX. On a 10+, you find suitable cover. On a 7-
the wielder next makes camp. Rays 1-4 will not affect the
the stone during that time. 9, you dodged but choose 2 anyway:
undead.
•Your weapon is pulled on your hand.
Ioun stones have 1 hit point, and an Armor of 5. The
powers of each stone vary depending on its color and
Monsters •Your armor is pulled off by the swarm.
•Say goodbye to your backpack.
shape. Deodand Solitary, Stealthy, Intelligent, Hoarder, Construct On a 6-, take full damage from the swarm (d10).
Example stones include: Strangles silently (d10 damage)
Amber stone: adds 2 to armor class Close 12 HP Vat Construct Horde, Construct, Organized
Crimson spindle: grants user Infravision Special Qualities: Silent Attack with rough-crafted weapons (d6+2 damage)
Mirror pyramid: immune to petrification Deodands are intelligent, man-eating humanoids rumored Close 6 HP, Armor 1
Yellow sphere: sheds light (as per the rote)
to be borne of a sorcerous experiment. Deodands appear Special Qualities: Produced endlessly by the magical Vat of
Green star: immunity to poison
Green disc: you require no food, water or air as handsome, muscular men with dull charcoal-black skin, Alchemical Processes Vast to protect the Sphere of Solar
Red cube: immune to normal fire damage long sharp fangs, and slitted golden or white eyes. The Renewal
Blue triangle: immune to charm and sleep spells typical deodand prefers to wear a leather harness with bits A twisted, hairless and genderless clone set on destroying
Dark blue rhomboid: you can never be surprised of velvet or other rich clothes attached. A Deodand prefers intruders in the Maze Most Difficult.
Pale orange ellipsoid: feather fall (no damage from falling)
to hunt with stealth and strangle its prey quietly. Though Instinct: Attack mindlessly
Sphere of Solar Renewal (1 Weight) vicious and unremitting in his desire to eat other
humanoids, the deodand is also cowardly. If obviously Visit the Cats of Tindalos
Magical sphere if invoked at the proper celestial stellar overpowered or reduced in hit points it will beg and plead (http://catsoftindalos.blogspot.com/)
conjunction and with the proper ritual will restore the for his life, often offering to guide a party. Adventurers
Dying Earth’s sun to health.
should remain vigilant however if they take the creature
up on any offer, as a deodand is not to be trusted.
SPELLS Instinct: Devours This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Superb Prismatic Spray (Wizard Level 3) Attribution 4.0 International License.
Green Sprite Horde Tiny, Intelligent, Swarm
Eight multicolored rays of light spring forth from the Multiple tiny lances (w [2d10-2] damage)
(Inspired by Jack Vance’s Dying Earth stories)
wizard’s hand when this infamous spell is cast at any Ignores Armor 12 HP
selected target or targets. Each ray is a different color and Special Qualities: Flight
These are tiny humanoids with greenish skin. They are
Jack Vance (1916-2013) wrote the stories of the first
has a different power and purpose. Each target creature in
commonly discovered riding dragonflies in large swarms. Dying Earth book while he served in the United
a 60-foot cone must roll a d8 to determine which color ray
From these insectoid mounts, they flit through their forest States Merchant Marine during World War II.
affects it.