Chaos on the Old Borderlands - 20 Questions, Part Four

Continuing the description of the Old Borderlands, here's the next instalment of answers to Jeff Rients's famed 20 Questions.

13. Which way to the nearest tavern?

The Rimy Bear was named after the frozen bear corpse found in the building before it was rebuilt into a tavern. The bear’s skull is now the tavern’s sign. It’s barkeep and owner, Boyan, is rumoured to be an ex-adventurer, and most of Constable Ferro’s garrison drinks there when off-duty. A few private rooms upstairs are available, but most travellers sleep in the common room downstairs. Because the Bear cycles through regulars in the Constable’s command, it has a clannish feel, and newly arrived adventurers are required to perform the ritual of ‘swearing on the skull’ before being allowed to drink in peace.

The Weary Mule is the largest inn at the Manor, and is built outside the old manor walls but inside the outer stockade. It has stabling for horses and livestock, but all the accommodations are common rooms. It’s partially owned by the Constable, with former (mostly unsuccessful) adventurers putting up the rest of the cash to get it started. The hobgoblin Hilderica, former barmaid, has become the de facto manager and primary barkeep of the Mule, though she is not the namesake as many patrons assume.

The Humble Vagabond is outside the stockade, but is built out of the stout stone walls of an old outbuilding and has its own defensive enclosure. Its stables are small, but it has cozy private rooms aplenty, and is popular with the more furtive travellers passing through the Fort. The owner, Sobeshka, is a night owl, and is known to answer a knock at the inn’s door late into the night. She is rumoured to be involved with peasant revolutionaries, or banditry, or sorcery, or chaos worship, or something sinister, but that may also just be suspicious cast by the talkative on the reserved.

The Garden and Vine, the largest tavern and inn in Leechford, is built to the specifications of its owner, Lord Fasolimov, and is almost fatally cold in the winter. It’s supposed to resemble a kind of faux-villa for wealthy travellers to lounge around a reflecting pool and trade witty repartee, but the kind of visitors who come to the Old Borderlands aren’t in the market for Fasolimov’s expensive wine, expensive food, and cut-rate attempt at south-coast secular architecture. If it weren’t the best place to gamble in the Borderlands, no one would go there at all. Fasolimov keeps funding the thing, though, so the landlord Audoin and his staff do their jobs. They just do them very slowly when Fasolimov isn’t staying there.

14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

• The Dragon of Foul Peak terrorizes the hills and mountains east of the Blackbriar Wood. That no goblin-champion or orcish war-party from further north has slain it and opened up the region to resettlement means the dragon is either is too monstrous for mere mortals to deal with, or its presence serves someone’s interests.
• The Wanderer of the Grey Hills is usually heard, rather than seen. Soul-chilling howls are the only warning of its approach and strange, giant footprints the only trace of its passing. 
• Mad Chernyvulk, the self-proclaimed Goblin Emperor of the West Marches, has personally led a number of raids against caravans and outlying settlements that ended with massacres so grotesque that some believe he is a chaos-cultist, or a demon himself. There is a hefty bounty is on his head, but the last party to seek him out never returned from the Blackbriar.
• Goblin hunters have reported seeing a giant boar the size of a hut in the northern Blackbriar, but a lot of goblin hunters are kind of tiny so how large could it be, really?
• At least one half-dead adventurer made it back to the Manor ranting about a minotaur in the berzerker hills — something about a bull-head-man? Poison vapours? The details were pretty sketchy.
• The ragamuffin children who catch fish in the Leechfens have been telling tall tales about “The Beast of the Fens.” Maybe one of them was telling the truth.

15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?

The Old Borderlands is supposedly part of the Realm of the Great Kingdom, and the Realm of the Great Kingdom is currently at war with the High Khaganate over the disposition of some southern border provinces who sought the Khagan’s protection in exchange for Khaganate suzerainty during the Wars of Realmish Succession. Thus, the current conduct could be considered merely an extension of that previous conflict, especially from the perspective of those breakaway provinces whose independence from one or more High King(s) is currently being paid in bloody installments against Realmish armies. For the Realm to call such things ‘wars’ would theoretically legitimize the authority of those hoping to push off the High-Kingly yoke in the eyes of the Elector Princes, leading to all sorts of bad precedents in case an Elector Prince elects to disapprove of their princely peers’ choice of electee, so instead the bloody massacre and driving-out of the swamp-dwellers of the Greatwash and the grinding siege and blockade of the Bryscanie peninsula are merely ‘revolts.’ 

In the lands of the orc-lords to the northeast, alliances great and petty clash over tundra and steppe. Though the orcs—and the humans and goblins who live under their overlordship—are mostly thought to be split between those who follow a eschatologically-inclined variation of the Church of Law and those who sacrifice to the di inferi. 

To the northwest, in the isles of the north, Realmish authority seeks to establish itself up to at least the nominal levels it possessed in the last century there. Expeditions from the Realm encounter breakaway petty kingdoms, enclaves of pagan orcs, and elven holdfasts from ancient ages. 

16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

The death-pits of the elven age are perhaps merely legend; stories of northern chaos-sages who perform auguries by by reading the bite marks and gnawed entrails of the starved prisoners may be just stories too. In the Realm, in times of peace, the knightly classes would test their mettle in jousts and grand melees, but as actual wars occupy the aristocracy’s attention they’ve become more recruiting and training events than celebrations. 

In the Borderlands, the closest to a formalized combat is betting on wrestling in the Rimy Bear. That only happens on weeks without fights about who’s cheating at dice, though. 

Woodsmen in the Rimy Bear mention that the goblins of the Blackbriar Wood have some contests of skill — spear-throwing, hitting tiny stones with sticks, things like that — but that’s more about showing off and gaining esteem amongst the goblin-clans than earning prize money. 

PATREON PREVIEW: The Alienist presents: The Aglæca

This is a preview of what my patrons are getting access to this month:
Buried under fields, entombed in roots, or burbling under marshes, lurks the aglæca...
A new creature for your D100- or GUMSHOE-based horror mystery RPGs. The Aglæca is a beast out of the mists of folk-legends and grandam's fireside tales, an eater of children and king of the wastes. This article includes:

• Stats for the Aglæca for both percentile-based RPGs and the GUMSHOE system. 
• Variations and echoes on what the Aglæca is and where it comes from, and scenario seeds for placing it in your game.

Get access to this critter and everything else in the future by supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/umlauthuth

Chaos on the Old Borderlands - 20 Questions, Part Three

Continuing the description of the Old Borderlands, here's the next instalment of answers to Jeff Rients's famed 20 Questions.

9. Is there a magic guild my wizard belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?
No sorcerer’s guild operates in the Old Borderlands. To some grey-faced and suspicious members of the church of Law, such an organization would be tantamount to a cult of Chaos.
To learn more spells or the like, you’d need to find someone to apprentice you, and that means either taking instruction from Sardo the Younger or tracking down hidden practitioners of the secret arts.

10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?

• The closest thing to a magic guild is the Alchemist’s Guild, and the closest member of the Alchemist’s Guild is Master Fringuello, whose guild membership seems to lack some supporting documents. He does sell things he calls potions, though, and will pay a supply of certain components.
• Baron Liutward fancies himself a historian and aesthete, and can at least attempt to spin a provenance for any objects d’art put before him. 
• While she frequently has other problems to deal with, the Abbess Ferrolinguetta’s aristocratic education included a stint at the Academy of Cittibiana — before the destructon of that august institution in the Wars of Realmish Succession — and may expound on many questions historical, philosophical, or scientific. You’d better catch her in a good mood, though. 

11. Where can I hire mercenaries?

The Manor-fort is teeming with runaways, vagabonds, ruffians, and ne’er-do-wells ready to swing an axe or sword for drink and gold. In addition to the week’s crop of desperate adventurers, there are a few more seasoned parties that can be called upon:

• The Death-Dealers: Tough-looking guys and gals in tough-looking leather gear (usually dyed black and metal-studded), looking for some jewelled thrones to grind beneath their booted feet. While they will serve as mercenaries, they usually prefer to work independently. Symbol: A horned helmet on a shield.
• The Bordo Family: Twins and their cousin, plus some other local friends and family when times are tough. Local bumpkins and fortune-seekers; to look at them in a dungeon, you’d think they were in over their heads. They’ll offer their individual services as hirelings sometimes. Symbol: A capital ‘B’ surrounded by ivy and a plethora of animals rampant (one young Bordo is an enthusiastic artist).  
• Wurster’s Boys: Shitty assholes who’re just there to make some petty cash. Local mutterings pin some recent banditry on them as well. They do seem to enjoy the appearances of being adventurers. Symbol: Two wolf’s heads on a shield, facing away. 

Other parties known in the area include the Owls of Minerva (an elf, a dwarf, and a goblin walk into a bar…), the Hallowed Band (the innocents’ crusade), The Circle of Seven (about 3-4 wizards), the Chalice of Light (more wizards), and the Chain (like the Death-Dealers, but with more metal than leather).

12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
Outside the Fort, Leechford, and the scattered, rebuilding villages, the Old Borderlands are functionally lawless. Inside these places, the law is the command of whoever is lord of that place. In Leechford and the Fort, violence and thievery are punished harshly, though few restrictions are in place to prevent either from happening. People are unlikely to trust someone walking around with a deadly weapon, but everyone does it, so people are unlikely to trust anyone.
As (if) the political situation stabilizes, more detailed legal restrictions on the use and wearing of weapons — and the open practice of sorcery — will probably be put in place. Until then, chaos reigns.

Chaos on the Old Borderlands - 20 Questions, Part Two

Continuing the description of the Old Borderlands, here's the first four answers to Jeff Rients's famed 20 Questions.

5. Who's the Greatest Warrior in the Land?
Plenty of local wags would claim that title for themselves, but some other names come up often:

• Lord Reiner Star-helm: A commander of a knightly order from the west. An experienced soldier, and a grim crusader against the enemies of the Realm, whoever they may be at the time. The shining Star-helm he wears is a relic of his ancestors.
• Mighty Meg, Hobgoblin Champion: Her ancient, pitted greatsword has cleft many a goblin, orc, and man in twain in the petty wars and raids of Blackbriar Wood. She boasts of having twelve husbands, three wives, and the most fearsome pack of hunting hounds in the Borderlands. 
• Lord Kromvinger: Tavern rumours among adventurers have it that the lord of the orc-legions to the east of Blackbriar still lives and commands their war-host, despite the grievous wounds suffered at the Battle of Leechford. 
• Boyan, Barkeep of the Frozen Bear: When Kromvinger’s name is mentioned, the stories usually add that the barkeep of the Frozen Bear tavern was the mercenary responsible for Kromvinger’s wounds at Leechford. Even if that’s true, Boyan fights with a well-aimed mug instead of an axe these days.

6. Who's the Richest Person in the Land?
The legal ownership of much of the Borderlands is in dispute. The last obvious Castellano heir—the legal feudal lord of much of the local land—died during the War of Realmish Succession and subsequent orcish invasions almost sixty years ago. Since the Battle of Leechford pushed back the orcish advance and resettlement began, the claims have been tied up in suits and counter-suits and appeals all the way up to the High King’s Court, and are unlikely to be resolved any time soon. There are numerous theoretical heirs in the Borderlands now, each claiming to be, and who potentially could be, the wealthiest person in the local area.

Until that is resolved, though…

• Lord Fasolimov: An early resettler of the Old Borderlands after the Battle of Leechford, Fasolimov has no legal claim to the land’s he’s recultivated but pays for the protection of it by hiring local mercenaries (and, politically, by helping out Bishop Tyrogenio). He tends to focus on cash crops like grapes and olives. Rumour is he’s still in a lot of debt, though.
• Baron Liutward: Second son of an Elector Prince with court connections, plenty of rich friends back west, some hefty loans from his family and friends, and no clear idea of how to manage the land he’s been able to settle people on. He’s sure there’s no way he could fail to shape up these uncultured buffoons and ragged adventurers and reclaim his rightful (though distant) inheritance. 
• Count Simeon: One of the earliest arrivals of the Castellano-heir claimants, Simeon’s frittered away his head start with gambling and failed sorties south and east to secure more land. He’s sure that the orcs, goblins and berzerkers are just one decisive defeat away from being driven off, if only he could raise the forces and find the trick to doing it.
• Bishop Tyrogenio: The babyfaced and inexperienced representative of the Ecclesiastical Hierarch of the Eastern Marches has the most secure local legal claims to lands in the Old Borderlands, but is stretching his resources to clear it of bandits and raiders and fill it with settlers. Shipments of gold and supplies from the Hierarch to the Bishop are a common occurrence, and will be until the church’s local lands are self-sufficient. 

7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Depending on how recent skirmishes with raiders, bandits, and orcs have gone, and how plague-ridden the peasantry is, scruffy adventurers might be far down the list of who gets healed this week.

• Abbess Ferrolinguetta: While she bickers with Tyrogenio about planning and tries to keep her temporary cloisters in order, the Abbess raises funds by offering healing prayers to various and sundry. 
• The Hermit: The peasants swear by an old (or just hard-living?) man not to far from the Old Keep, but they give contradictory directions to his hermitage. 
• Bishop Tyrogenio: Some Apollonian devotees are present to, at minimum, diagnose your problem, although experienced healers are rare this far east.
• Master Fringuello: The guy does claim to be a doctor, too. 

8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
See questions 4 and 7, although lycanthropy is the kind of curse of Chaos that people tend to think is best solved by a merciful death.

Chaos on the Old Borderlands - 20 Questions, Part One

Continuing the description of the Old Borderlands, here's the first four answers to Jeff Rients's famed 20 Questions.

1. What's the deal with my cleric's religion?
Clerics from the Realm serve the church of Law, which resembles a sort of Roman state religion reconstructed around Stoic, Neoplatonic and somewhat gnostic philosophies. The church’s pantheon of gods above —the di superni—is headed by Sol Invictus, his consort Juno Augusta, Quirinius, Vulcan, Minerva, Bellona, and a host of lesser gods, messengers, and apotheosized mortals. It is common, in this decadent age, for the learned to either euhemerize the gods, or to treat them as personifications or metaphors for abstract spiritual sub-forces of Law. There are mystery cults or devotional societies which focus on a specific deity (like the ‘Soldier’s Guild’ of Mitra Bull-Slayer, or the Colleges of Apollo); on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Solist sect sees the other gods as avatars or emanations of Sol as ultimate supreme being (similar to Vaishnavism or Saivism).

Elfs (and some human clerics from the Republic of the Sea-Barons) worship other gods, such that even among the 'civilised' there are a bewildering array of names which receive orisons and devotion. Some say these are simply the gods of Law under different, older names, but generally the opinion in the Realm is that they’re at best unreal, and at worst demons of Chaos. Among their number are Isis (usually associated with Juno Augusta under the name ‘Juno Caelestis’), Rhea (also associated with Juno Augusta, though also with Persephone or as a god below herself), and obscurer figures such as One of Two Faces, Obsidian Butterfly, and Grandmother Who is Clad in Serpents.

Dwarfs have no priests known to outsiders, but in their shrines revere Vulcan. However, Dis Pater — the Father of Riches — and Persephone — the Favoured One — are held by the dwarfs in highest esteem, though other folk group them in with the di inferi.

The church of Law believes in the gods below — the di inferi — but see them as fearsome beings of Chaos to be shunned or propitiated, not worshipped. Among their number are the aforementioned Dis Pater and Persephone, and also Neptune, Orcus, Diana, Hecate, and Saturnus. The petty spirits of grove and stone that receive the traditional worship of goblins are usually grouped in with the gods below. Where the gods below end and the ranks of demons begin is a common topic of debate, though one of little practical value.

Orc clerics are often puritanical Solists, often with their own rituals and eschatological prophecies. The most prominent among these is that of the Iron Sun, which sees the current sun — the current aeon — as ending soon, to be reborn as a new world with a new political order.

2. Where can I buy some standard equipment?
Metal goods can be gotten from the hut of Narbio the blacksmith, in the employ of the Constable of the Fort. (Narbio also has a side-racket trading in various plant-based inhalants, and takes payment in kind.) More particular adventuring gear, including ropes, block and tackle and the like can be purchased from Rhondobart Feathercap, a dwarf merchant-house representative and local Grand Master of the Mercer’s Guild. He’ll buy from the PCs, and store and bank things for them for a fee. He also sells goods of guilds that do not have representatives in the fort. Sometimes availability fluctuates, depending on how the war goes and any local bandit, orc, or berzerker activity.

3. Where can I get some weird armour made?
The aforementioned Narbio can do custom barding, but you’re going to have to pony up. Better not be in a hurry, either.

4. Who's the Greatest Wizard in the Land?
Aside from ghost stories and the probably untrue tales of lurking hags and chaos-cultists:

• The Sorceress of the Tower: The elven wizard who once accompanied the Castellano primogenitor in his adventures is still said to be somewhere in the vicinity, despite being nearly three hundred years old, but she is both an elf and a wizard and so doubly strange. Old locals say her tower is to the east of the Old Keep, but nobody’s exactly sure where.
• Sardo the Younger: Conversely, everybody knows where to find Sardo—he’s got a sign and everything—but the wizard’s sales pitches and fashion sense tend to put people off. 
• Master Fringuello: An odd and wild-browed man claiming to be the local representative of the Alchemist’s Guild. Despite his uncertain licensing, his demeanour is definitely the result of too many years of working in poorly-ventilated laboratories. 

Chaos on the Old Borderlands - Introduction

This is the background to my current D&D project, a West Marches cover band cover band cover band. The prep started as just an exercise to do something in the vein of 'bog-standard D&D,' but I've ended up prepping enough material that I might as well post it in case I don't get to run it before my interest turns to something else. 

In a nutshell, the premise is to take the Keep on the Borderlands, and add approximately two centuries of settlement, plagues, invasion, decrepitude, and revanchism. 

—

The Eastern Principalities were once the edge of the Realm of Man, the Old Borderlands between Law and Chaos, but rugged explorers and bellicose adventurers slew the orcs and goblins and worse who plagued its forests and swamps, and founded new towns and castles to bring the land within the orbit of light and reason.

But now, as war and rebellion engulfs the Realm of Man, the return of Chaos to the Principality of the Keep again draws grim adventurers to seek fortune and glory...

The Realm of Man regards itself as the foremost bastion of truth, freedom and Law, at least for humans, in the world. It is both an empire and a federation, incorporating into itself kingdoms, principalities, free cities, dwarf-holds and theocrat-ruled territories. It is ruled over by a King, who is acclaimed so by the Electorate Council, made up of Princes great and small. The rights of elves, dwarves, goblins and orcs in its borders are strictly limited, though the Realm is more of a human-chauvinist culture than a anti-nonhuman one. The territory of the Realm lies mostly in the North and West, though it reaches into the East. Clerics are well-regarded, but wizards less so, as wizardly arts carry the stigma of Chaos. Wizards uninterested in being cloistered academics dealing only with the theoretical or creating magic toys for princes’ amusement risk heavy censure. The current ruler of the Realm is King Albo VII, a grizzled, salt-and-pepper-bearded warlord who sees himself as the stern father and protector of his peoples.

The Realm is currently at war with the Khaganate to the south, which sucks for the Eastern Principalities (of which the Borderlands are a part), because the Khaganate is much more interested in buying Eastern Principality grain and goods at a fair price than the rich cities of the Realm. The war began as a by-blow of the war of succession which wracked the Realm a generation ago, as breakaway provinces sought the protection of the Khagan against the rampaging armies of Realmish princes. Now that the throne is secure, the King seeks to claw back lands lost to the Khaganate and others, including the orc- and Chaos-ravaged Old Borderlands.

The Khaganate of Man is also both an empire and a federation; the spiritual and temporal power of the Khagan and his kin and court operating as a federal government uniting and managing an assembly of nations under his stewardship. It is spread widely over the South and some of the East, and has been moving West. Its law is distinguished from the Realm’s mostly in its nominal autocracy and its legal equality of all the peoples in its borders (although the local laws of sub-nations may complicate matters). Both wizards and clerics find themselves in demand in the Khaganate, though clerics’ organizations are less autonomous than in the Realm, and the legal penalties for evil magics are thorough. The nominal Khagan is Tanë II, but as he is a mere three years old, most of the decision-making is in the hands of his grandmother, the High Dowager Sirret-Cadaloz, a sharp and unsentimental woman.

The Republic of Man is a league of city-states which engages in maritime trade, located mostly on the shorelines of the West and South. Its culture is worshipful of ancient elven achievements but that worship does not automatically extend to modern members of the elven people. Government and laws vary between city-state to city-state, but most are ruled by some variations of councils of noble families, often half-elven or wizardly in nature. Their religious identity is fractious, with variations of the Realmish faith co-mingling with ostensibly Elven religions.

The Old Empire of Man toppled the Kingdoms of the Orcs, and ruled much of the known world for centuries, but fell into decadence and from there into the grip of evil Chaos. An isolated rump still exists in the East, squatting in cold deserts and feared and despised by all others. Though many of the clerical orders of the Realm descend ultimately from the Old Empire, the hermit-masters of the Empire’s secret desert lamaseries are seen as terrifying cultists, not co-religionists by Realmish clerics. No one outside the empire has seen the High Hidden One, nominal leader of the Realmish sects.

To the far North is the League of the Orc-Lords, a fractious alliance of orc chieftains who rule over semi-nomadic clans of orcs, goblins and humans, pressing always against the Realm’s northern borders. In the generation before the current war, most soldiers of the Realm fought in the North. Occasionally a Great Lord unites the clans for a concerted campaign of conquest; given the Realm’s perilous state of war and rebellion, a Great Lord’s army could make great gains indeed.

Legends place a Secret Isle of the Elves in the ocean to the West, though no elf has given up more details in living memory. Many elves would no doubt make the trip there if they knew where it was.

There are, broadly speaking, five peoples who inhabit the world. All else are considered beasts or monsters, regardless of their ability to converse with you.

Humans are all over the place.

Elves are an ancient people who once ruled the world in a glorious golden age but fucked it all up. Though there are small, sequestered communities of elves within the Realm, secret elven holdfasts are rumoured to exist throughout the world.

Dwarves are an ancient people who resent the elves for fucking everything up. They exist within the Realm, granted charters to mine by the Electorate Council and forming relationships with local Princes.

Goblins are older than all of them but don’t care. While many live in the wild places of the world, a large number also live in the Realm, often as part of the rabble of great cities or in bucolic suburbs of burrow-mounds. ‘Goblins’ also includes hobgoblins, bugbears, and sometimes other critters.

Orcs are an ancient people who invaded the lands of Elves and Dwarves when they fucked up. They are legally ill-tolerated in the Realm but common sights in princes’ guardian retinues or as mercenaries.

Into the Depths Update

There's an updated version of Into the Depths over on comrade Bell's blog.

Damage Codes for Percentile Dice Systems

One of the things I’ve always liked about Unknown Armies is the amount of information it derives from a single d% roll. The retention of funny dice is my main complaint with the RuneQuest SRD family of games (OpenQuest, Legend, Delta Green, et cetera), especially since they usually only come up in very specific circumstances—HP and Sanity loss. (I have the same problem with 3e-era games. Conversely, S&W White Box’s focus on only two die types is the main thing I like about it.)

Unknown Armies’ method of reading percentile rolls for damage results, however, doesn’t translate directly into RuneQuest SRD games due to Unknown Armies’ HP scale is also on a percentile scale (with 50 being the equivalent to RQ’s 10 HP).

The following is a set of suggestions for reading a d% roll, such as an Combat Style attack roll in RQ, to derive a damage result for a RQ scale of HP (i.e. 3-18, with an average of 10). To use these damage code suggestions, choose which of the damage codes you want to build a damage scale from. Since codes these are awkward to note in weapon or monster statlines, I suggest choosing a small subset of damage codes (5-6) so that the players can memorize them. Then name or number each damage code you’re using on the scale (for example: very light, light, medium, heavy, very heavy) and then assign one to each source of damage (weapons, hazards, whatever). You can either do this ahead of time, or just key each damage code to a die type or range of die types for on-the-fly conversion.

At some point I might make this post or a variant of it available as a PDF product (with OGC licensing). Please let me know in a comment if that’s something you’d like to see.

[%] in the damage codes indicates the percentile attack roll result. [%-10] and [%-1] mean the digit on the die of the 10s-die and 1s-die respectively. When considered as individual digits, a 0 on the [%-10] die is a 0, and a 0 on the [%-1] die is a 10. For example, if the percentile roll ([%]) is 45, [%-10] would indicate 4 and [%-1] would indicate 5.

Notes: Because the attack rolls are rolled under a skill %, any code will have a slight scaling effect based on the attacker’s skill, as the range of successful rolls will restrict possible results. For example, someone with a skill of 50% will only have a [%-10] damage die range of 0 to 5 in any successful roll (for an average die result of 2.5). This makes estimating the lethality of various sources of damage slightly more complicated.

Damage codes: 
½ [%-10]
[%-10]
Lower of [%-10] and [%-1]
½ [%-1]
[%-1]
Higher of [%-10] and [%-1]
Sum of [%-10] and [%-1]
Sum of [%-10] and [%-1] x2
[%]

These codes are slightly more complicated:

[%-10] minus [%-1]
[%-1] minus [%-10]
Sum of the highest of [%-10], [%-1], and a third die.
Sum of [%] and a third die.
Average of [%-10] and [%-1]

Another Geomorph Template

Here's another template for geomorphs, this time with some sections alongside each geomorph for keying its contents.

Link