I am going to run a Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG campaign starting up in a couple weeks. I waffled on some settings, but looking at all the ones I own, I decided Lankhmar would be a great fit since I love Lieber's work so much and own the first TSR Lanhmar City of Adventure book.

I want to put Hommlet of T1-4 in Nehwon, too. My idea at the moment is to use Hommlet as the home village of the 0-level funnel PCs (probably somewhere around the Land of the Eight Cities) and the Moathouse as the baptism-by-fire funnel adventure. I have a feeling this might be a terrible idea. Not sure. I want the characters to be fairly experienced and able to hold their own before they make it to the City of the Black Toga.

So, in this space I will be developing the Nehwon setting for DCC. Everyone is more than welcome to interject with ideas or criticism where you see fit (even if you are Lankhmar ignorant, you can tell me if shit is cool or lame). Otherwise, this will just serve to house my thoughts and help me keep them organized.

I figure there are three elements of Nehwon and DCC that need to be reconciled — gods, races/classes and patrons.

Gods
My preference is to have at least two gods for each alignment so when someone decides to be a cleric they have some options. And while the pantheon is larger than that for purposes of flavor, me having to write up just a half dozen is about perfect, I think.

Lawful Gods
Issek of the Jug - pretty straight forward, Issek is concerned with the toil and efforts of all mortals, and his clerics should work to alleviate the suffering of others.
Ilala - the idea of a clergy of all woman certainly seems cool, but I dunno if any of my players will play a chick character and I am not sure I want them too. Lawful gods are kinda the minority in Lieber's world. Votishal might work and maybe the cleric could gain access to some Thief class abilities?

Neutral Gods
Mog - god of fate, clerics who serve Mog help people meet their fates, sometimes the foreseen fate is to be eaten by Mog, so the cleric is expected to slay them in Mog's name, this tends to make clerics of Mog a little less vocal about their lord than other clerics (the picture of Mog, a spider with a human head sitting on a web made of the stands of every man's fate is damn cool, but likely not as cool in actual play, but dammit if having a cleric of Mog in the party doesn't sounds like fun)
Kos or Aarth - Aarth is basically neutrality incarnate and Kos is much like Crom in that having his attention is probably not a good thing, Kos is kinda a dick. Aarth is just sorta ... uninteresting and pretty vanilla. I will probably expand Aarth as a god for clerics and leave Kos just as fluff, especially because of what I have planned for patrons (see below).

Chaotic Gods
Tyaa - goddess of birds and thievery, clerics who serve Tyaa are expected to help the church attain wealth by any means possible (Tyaa was basically just a plot device, I have no idea how this would work in practice....)
Rat god - again, this idea probably seems cooler than it would work, but clerics working to forward the interests of vermin just seems fantastic to me, and a cleric with a small cadre of rats, maybe gaining the ability to shapeshift in a wererat...  that has a ton of potential.
Cloud of Hate - I... can't see this working and not having the rest of the party put a pillow over the clerics face the first or second night.

Gods of Lankhmar and the Red God are other potential gods, but making them work would be more difficult, I think.

Other than ice gnomes, the world of Nehwon doesn't really have demihumans. Dwarves, elves and halfings are right out.

So, the easy answer is just to exclude them completely.

I am at least toying with the idea of reskinning the Halfing as some kind of Ranger type. The Dwarf could also be slightly altered to be a Barbarian. I am fence-sitting on this and not certain exactly how I want to proceed.

Just spitballing, I could change the Dwarf to be a Northern Barbarian (Fafrhd and his kin) and altering the Dwarvish stuff to more like cold-resistance and stuff like that.

Going down this road, perhaps elves can be replaced by Quarmallians, since they were all wizards at some point, allowing them to be fighter/magic-users? This is probably dubiously linked.

And...  why not, let's make Halfings become Mingols. Turn some of their class abilities into either horse-riding and archery or seamanship and archery.

This might be the area I would enjoy thoughts and suggestions the most. Having typed all that out, I'm leaning toward using it that way, but would be super excited about the prospect if I had a better fit for elves than the Quarmallians, or I felt about that switch.

At first, I thought the wizard's patrons would be easily filled from beings in Nehwon. As I got into it, though, I found it to be much harder than it appeared.

(For the DCC uninitiated, Patrons serve almost like gods do for clerics, but for wizards, it is more complex than that, as patrons are not quite gods, They offer some specialized spells and can sometimes help the wizard, but usually asks for services in return for these boons.)
 
Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face are clearly great choices as patrons, since they serve in basically this form for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Ningauble, I figure is concerned with information gathering, separating truths and facts from falsehoods and deciphering puzzles. Working up spells and his charts should be pretty easy. Sheelba, on the other hand, I am having a harder time recreating as a DCC patron he/she (book evidence suggests Sheelba is a he, though Leiber himself said Sheelba was a she) shows a little less of a personality than Ning. Sheelba moves around in a hut with legs, but even a cursory glance at Baba Yaga on wikipedia didn't give me much in inspiration for Sheelba's magical purview. Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure how many patrons I want to write up, but I like having choices for my players. I also intend to writeup Khahkht (from Swords Against Ice Magic) as a ice-themed patron.

I don't mind making this version of Nehwon my own, so I will be making up a patron or two. I figure Hristomilo, the wizard employed by Lanhmar's Thieves Guid might have had a patron. He has no dialogue in the scene in "Ill Met in Lankhmar" where he ensorcelled our heroes, but in the Mignola/Chaykin comic version, he spouts off semi magical words. Using them as a base, Vanar Soom Kra will be a Master of Shadow patron, who detests all things silver.

I figure as I expand these things some more and revisit the stories, I'll probably run across another idea or two that will work for another patron. If not, four should be enough.

A few things that come to mind:

- remember that Issek of the Jug is a very minor god, to the point of being almost nonexistent

- Death could be a neutral god

- I would not consider the Gods of Lankhmar "gods" for clerical purposes

- Ghouls. Ghouls would be a race. I don't know what they'd be, though. I don't see anyone in Nehwon fitting into the elf slot.

- Wizard patrons: Sheelba's a bit meaner and more direct than Ningauble, as I recall, and gives the Mouser several lethal toys to play with I'm pretty sure. So you could have her be more interested in hexes and evocations, possibly. Beyond that, you have the surviving Lord of Quarmall (if I'm remembering the story right), you have the ice wizard Khahkht, and you can probably just make up a few.

Quote from: Imp;552579A few things that come to mind:

- remember that Issek of the Jug is a very minor god, to the point of being almost nonexistent

- Death could be a neutral god

- I would not consider the Gods of Lankhmar "gods" for clerical purposes

In regards to Issek, the same could be said of Mog and Tyaa, they are mostly just plot devices anyway, but I can't imagine running or playing in a Lankhmar campaign and not having a cleric be able to worship Issek. So despite his lack of influence, you gotta keep him (and them) available.

Having said that, I kinda feel like Death would be hard to make work. And, of course, someone will want to be a cleric of Death so I suppose I could make this work, but have his powers be more centered on bookkeeping rather than the death aspect.  

Quote- Ghouls. Ghouls would be a race. I don't know what they'd be, though. I don't see anyone in Nehwon fitting into the elf slot.

I dunno. Ghouls, wererats, ice gnomes... I sorta feel like these should be races the characters come in contact with, but they are never so familiar that they would be player races. I might be wrong, but I feel like it would help maintain the S&S feel of the setting.

You're right, though, the elf, I think, needs to left out or altered to the point that it is unrecognizable at the very least.

Quote- Wizard patrons: Sheelba's a bit meaner and more direct than Ningauble, as I recall, and gives the Mouser several lethal toys to play with I'm pretty sure. So you could have her be more interested in hexes and evocations, possibly. Beyond that, you have the surviving Lord of Quarmall (if I'm remembering the story right), you have the ice wizard Khahkht, and you can probably just make up a few.

I got excited when I thought that maybe why Sheelba and Ning don't get along is because they are two sides of the same coin. That Sheelba would be a master of illusions. I checked the scene in Bazaar of the Bizarre where they each give Fafhrd a gift. Ningauble gives him the cloak of invisibility and Sheelba the mask of true seeing. I had hoped it was the other way around, but I suppose I can explain that away that the pair switched their gifts to keep the Twain on their toes, or something.

Thanks for reminding me about the Lord of Quarmall. If I remember right, that was one of the tales I had the most trouble finishing. I may not have ever muscled through it. I'll have to reread it and mine it for ideas.

As for making one up, I'll be posting my idea of the patron Hristomilo might have served later this afternoon.

Thanks for the thoughts!

[I didn't want the first patron I wrote up to be one of those drawn from the stories, so I have written up the patron I think the Thieves' Guild's Hristomilo might have been beholden to. I am not super excited about the end result, but the first one is out of the way. It will likely be heavily altered before it sees use.]

Vanar Soom Kra
Some say Vanar Soom Kra was a contemporary of Aarth. Others claim Vanar Soom Kra is the darkness and evil of the mortal Aarth left behind when Aarth ascended to godhood. What is certain, however, is Vanar Soom Kra's mastery over darkness and shadow is unrivalled. He appears as an ashen-faced, black-cloaked lanky wizard with hair that seems made of shadow. When Vanar Soom Kra reaches godhood, he shall finally stand on even footing with his rival, Aarth, as master of the dark. His ceremony must be conducted during a solar eclipse. His followers must be willing to capture even the best guarded of secrets and fully embrace the dark.

Invoke Patron results:
12-13 Vanar Soom Kra is at least not angered by his follower, but offers only a touch of his presence. All lights within 15' of the caster are dimmed (candles, torches, even magical sources of illumination and sunlight) noticeably. All enemies of the caster within this range suffer a -4 to any actions requiring sight. This lasts for 2D4 rounds.

14-17 Shadow tendrils erupt from somewhere on the caster's body (like spider legs from his sides, wispy tentacles from his chest, extra arms from his back, etc) and defend the caster. This effect lasts for 1D6+CL and increases his AC by 5.

18-19 Vanar Soom Kra grants the caster the use of his powerful weapons. A shadowy armor appears around the caster, giving a bonus to AC of 4 and he wields a shadowy sword that grants a +3 to hit and rolls 2D6 extra for damage. This lasts 1D6+CL.

20-23 The caster becomes a being of pure shadow. He can still cast spells but is otherwise ethereal and can not be harmed by any physical attack. He can move through walls. He also can not affect other creatures physically. This last for 1D8 rounds.

24-27 As 20-23 but lasts 2D8 and the caster can, with a successful WILL check, affect the physical world in this state, but attacks are made at -5.

28-29 A servant made entirely of shadow steps from the caster's own shadow. This shade will do any task the caster requires. It can speak any languages the caster can. It is ethereal and can move through walls. It will remain to serve the caster for 1D8+CL rounds.

30-31 The caster rips the shadow of an ally (or his own) from the ground or nearby surface, which then fights to protect the caster. The shadow has all the stats of whoever cast the shadow except half as many hit points. Damage from fire or light-based powers/spells is counted twice when directed at such a shade. The shade warrior fights for 2D6 rounds. (A shade of a spellcaster can cast shadow versions of any spells that character knows.

32+ As 30-31 but the shadows of two allies can be animated for 2D6 rounds.

Patron Taint
1 The wizard has taken on more of Vanar Soom Kra's aspect and feels a need for darkness. The follower loses penalties to see and operate in darkness, but these are now applied in bright light. Rolling this taint again makes the caster all but blind in bright sunlight.

2 Vanar Soom Kra has a great distaste for silver. This passes to his follower, who takes double damage from any weapon constructed of silver.

3 The mere presence of silver is anathema to a follower of Vanar Soom Kra. The wizard suffers a -1 to his casting check for item made of silver within 15' of the caster or his target.

4 The shadow has embraced the wizard. Any attempt to create a light source with 15' of the caster is penalized by his caster level.


Patron Spells

1 Shadow walk (as Forest Walk)
2 Cause Fear (as SRD spell)
3 Black Tentacles (as SRD spell)

I love DCC RPG and I love the Lankhmar stories (particularly the early ones that Leiber wrote) so this thread certainly has my attention.

For general inspiration you might take a look at the AD&D 2E boxed set and/or some of the RQ sourcebooks put out my Mongoose. For example, the AD&D set doesn't have actual "clerics" but divides wizards up into those who use White Magic and Black Magic. The White Magic dudes are much like clerics, but you might use the wizard patron rules instead of the rules for deities. Just customize the spell charts a litle and allow White wizards to cast some healing magic.

This also may take care of some of the "minor gods" issue if gods like Isaac of the Jug don't actually give out spell powers. Recall also that gods in Lankhmar gained or lost power based on their number of followers, and that god-tents moved up and down the street based on their importance, so if you do give out powers from the gods you might allow clerics to switch occasionally or have their power go up or down as their god becomes more or less popular.

My favorite map is from the old 1976 Lankhmar board game by TSR. It has a plastic hex-map that covers the main area of Nehwon. I like hex-maps for wilderness adventures because it helps me keep track of distance travelled.

Just some quick thoughts off the top of my head.

Just a thread bump to mention that Goodman Games recently acquired the rights to do an official DCC Lankhmar product line. One intro module went on sale at GaryCon and a boxed set is in the works...

Here is a report on what is going to get into DCC Lankhmar: https://skylandgames.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/dcc-lankhmar/

It will do away with clerics and instead make heroes hardier against death blows. Some of the more silly stuff like gender-swapping mercurial magic will also be cut out.

DCC already was good for Sword&Sorcery, but the changes make it sound even better for that purpose. I am already looking forward to it.