#Derro

[oldschoolfrp]

"Hurled like a blazing spear from the night sky the shooting-star would shape the fates of many -- so it was written." Jeremy "Jes" Goodwin provided the cover for AD&D module UK4: When a Star Falls by Graeme Morris (TSR, 1984), depicting Shalfey the Elder Sage of the Tower of the Heavens, his scheming pupil Piyarz, and the derro of Therno Pass with the mysterious black sphere that toppled their idol.

Jes Goodwin contributed much of the art to TSR-UK's series of modules, but oldhammer fans know him as the designer and sculptor of many early Citadel Miniatures lines, including elves, Eldar, and the similar Eternal Champion figures, early space marines, terminators, chaos for Rogue Trader and fantasy, and the skaven which he created along with much of their lore.

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

On the top, Derro! These are small dwarves, so like 3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m), with spells like invisibility, sleep, and mage hand! They're also very dexterous, and can see ultraviolet light. When the mindflayers turned dwarves into duergar, some didn't escape and were abandoned by thier kin once again. Those became the derro. They're clever, stealthy, and suffer from paranoia and mania. They're usually on some sort of strange and obsessive quest, like collecting all of a certain kind of rock, or fighting every penguin.

and below, Grung! 3 ft (91 cm) poison treefrog people. They're dexterous, great climbers, need to stay hydrated, and covered in poison. This is the player version too, so the poison isn't lethal or even really damaging, it just makes you all wobbly and such for a minute. It's mostly used to keep prisoners lethargic, as they are notorious for kidnapping people. They don't even have a reason, they just like bossing people around.

[eshayscum]

3rd november 2022

[detournementsmineurs]

“La Guerre des Trônes, la Véritable Histoire de l'Europe : La Révolution Française I (Saison 7)” documentaires présentés par Bruno Solo avec Sophie Verbeeck, Lou Howard, Marina Delmonde, Christophe Truchi, Stéphane Russel, Romain Derro, Fabian Wolfrom et la participation de Stéphane Bern, décembre 2023.

[darleksaresupreme]

Well this is a big day, after nearly 2 years of posting nothing but old models and commissions I’m finally posting brand-new stuff. This is also the start of a new project, a 28 mm scale Mindflayer Army. This is the first unit, Mindflayer with four Derro thralls.

(Commissions open, £35 plus postage)

#mindflayer #illithid #derro #darkdwarf #mindflayerarmy #illithidarmy #abberation #eldritch #lovecraftian #cthulhu #28mm #wargamingminiatures #dungeonsanddragons #dungeonsanddragonsart #dungeonsanddragonsminiatures #dnd #adnd #advanceddungeonsanddragons #dndart #dndartist #dndartwork #dndminiatures #ttrpg #tabletoproleplaying #tabletoproleplayinggames #plasticine #polymerclay #clay #handmade #claycreations

[lumendelmari]

Chapter Thirty-Four

Assassins Interrupted

1485 DR / Day 38

The Blade Bazaar, Gracklstugh

The four adventurers elected to give Amber Thrazgad a watered-down version of their exploration of the Whorlstone Tunnels. They would have to tell the tale again if Clan Thrazgad agreed to be present at the council of war, and it was better to let the physical evidence speak for itself. Amber listened to their wild claims with a surprisingly open ear—until the question of the Deepking’s sanity came up…

The armorsmith closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “You dare to question the leadership of Hogar Steelshadow V?” she asked, her tone frustratingly ambiguous.

It was hard for the companions to know how to proceed. Were they about to damn themselves? Or was it better to throw caution to the wind and spearhead forward with the truth, regardless?

Kazimir settled for something neutral. “When was the last time the citizens of Gracklstugh saw their ruler?” he countered. “What has he done to prevent the murders ravaging your city? When was the last time he passed a law that benefitted his people rather than hurt them? Furthermore, what sane ruler would flippantly hand power over to a consort—one who is not even one of you, from what we’ve been told! It’s the oldest trick of corruption in the book!” the tiefling exclaimed.

Amber did not respond to the allegations. Instead, she silently stared at each of the individuals standing before her, assessing them with her strange golden eyes.

“Look, I know you have no reason to trust the word of outsiders,” Zelyra began. “But perhaps fresh eyes were needed to look at your city's problems from a non-biased perspective. Go to the meeting that Blackskull is arranging. You will have complete access to the evidence we collected, and then you can decide. But know this—your city will fall to ruin if the Council of Savant’s plans succeed. You need a sane ruler who will act against them. If the Deepking refuses, then his power should go to someone with Gracklstugh’s interests at heart.”

“Is this individual Captain Blackskull?” Amber asked sternly.

Sensing that the situation could get out of hand, Fargas replied, “No. If the worst should happen, and the Deepking is found to be corrupt, Captain Blackskull intends to hand power over to the Council of Lairds.”

Amber let out a dry laugh. “Well, that would be something unprecedented,” she said. “Gracklstugh has always had a monarchy. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it might turn into a republic.”

“Technically, it would be an oligarchy, not a republic…” the halfling muttered.

. . .

Read more: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35100307/chapters/115961959

or

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13962836/34/The-Grey-Warriors

[vulpineghost]

Feb 12, 2022

I only feel "okay" about this, but whatever. It was fun to play Buppido; the party really bonded with him... :) Spoilers for Out of the Abyss!

[the-aviarys-models]

We keep forgetting to post our NPC models for our Out of the Abyss campaign whoops. We don't have any for Neverlight Grove because we can't do the myconids justice- we just stole art from BG3 instead.

Anyway, we decided to set duergar apart from every other gray-skinned Underdark race by giving them a fiery aesthetic, similar to darkiron dwarves from WoW.

The derro stayed the same because we decided to do this design after the game started (so the party met Buppido but no duergar). We decided the reason was because derro had their fires "extinguished" when their minds were broken by the illithids.

Also, we changed Gracklstugh from being under Demogorgon's sway to being under Graz'zt's influence. It works pretty well if you have the practical duergar acting uncharacteristically greedy and hedonistic!

Deepking Horgar Steelshadow V

Droki, based on his official art

Hemeth, who's technically a Sloobludop NPC but shh

Gorglak Ironhead, the corrupt guard

Errde Blackskull- my players never actually met her since they stayed out of trouble.

Xalith Masq'il'yr, the scout keeping tabs on the party for Ilvara. We had her take the place of Xinaya in Neverlight Grove for a bit of continuity. Why have some random drow they've never met show up there when it could be the very one they had to outsmart in Gracklstugh?

Lorthio Bukbukken, the alchemist

Stonespeaker Hgraam

Ylsa Henstak, the merchant

Gartokkar Xundorn, of the keepers of the flame. Why is his beard smoky instead of fiery? Idk we just felt like it. Maybe he's just really old or maybe it's a genetic thing.

If there's any NPCs we didn't include.... we forgot. Gracklstugh is very big.

[grrl-beetle]

WIP Magazine

[strathshepard]

Systemarosa x Nouveau Nova photographed by Daniel Derro Regan

[victorgrwrites]

MY WIFE HAD A COMISSION DONE BY A FRIEND! JACK AND GORTASH! AAAAAAAA!

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

On the left, Derro! These are small dwarves, so like 3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m), with spells like invisibility, sleep, and mage hand! They're also very dexterous, and can see ultraviolet light. When the mindflayers turned dwarves into duergar, some didn't escape and were abandoned by thier kin once again. Those became the derro. They're clever, stealthy, and suffer from paranoia and mania. They're usually on some sort of strange and obsessive quest, like collecting all of a certain kind of rock, or fighting every penguin.

On the right, Dire Troll! These are trolls that have grafted bits of other trolls onto themselves, or just eaten other trolls! These things are huge, meaning AT LEAST 16 feet (4.9 m) tall. They can have any configuration or amount of any body part! Let your imagination run wild! They also seem to primarily just crave troll meat, so you might be off the menu!

[eshayscum]

21st october 2023

I hate this fucking loser but this photo kinda cool….

[megalommi]

I also made this test, I call him Derro!Baggs

[lumendelmari]

Inspiration/stat blocks for Chapter 28 of “The Grey Warriors” based on the dnd module Out of the Abyss..

Our heroes have finally found the stolen red dragon egg, a quest given to them by the Keepers of the Flame in the duergar city of Gracklstugh. In order to take it back, the adventurers find themselves under the attack of a derro savant, a master thief, and several derro guards. Will our heroes emerge victorious against their enemy and reclaim the dragon egg? Evidence, waiting just out of the reach, suggests that it might be too late...

And perhaps more troubling, an unknown enemy plots against the city of Gracklstugh. 

You can read the story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35100307/chapters/87436915

or

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13962836/1/The-Grey-Warriors

[ageofpiracyrp]

PLOT DROP 31: THE POSSIBILITIES

Zuytri welcomes visitors to the KBW, and seems relieved that people actually seem to want to visit her. She ushers Skylar and Ali to the side to tell them how happy she is to know that those two are still going strong. It might be clear to an emotionally intuitive person that there is both jealousy and genuine appreciation to see love in action. Zuytri has surprisingly been (mostly?) enjoying being single since the last visit. The reopening of the KBW has been keeping Zuytri busy.

She murmurs to her friends that there is something that she needs to say

"This is... something that I've been wanting to show you for a few months but haven't worked up the nerve to ask about. Your Comms team alerted me that you'd be planning to stop by, but I don't want this to just be a one night sort of deal. Okay! Okay. So. I didn't want to discuss this before. I really don't like the topic. But- but I almost broached the topic with Karmel. A couple of months ago. It's still on her mind. I worry about her a lot. But... there is something I've never told her. Ever. I didn't want to tell her but there was a lead that I had that I just... never told her about. I tried to forget about it, and it almost worked. About- about djayyar like us. And extending lives. But there was a ship a while back. Not a pirate ship- legitimate business. It was this djayyar captain named Nyessanie. Basically operated a traveling mechanical service- not like Derros. More like if your mechanics went around to help ships as small as Derros that needed help. But... she adopted kids. This went on for years. Centuries. All of this happened before Karmel was even born. A lot of those kids went into the family business. Those kids of hers- a lot of them were djayyar. But not all of them. Not all. Few of those kids... lived a really long time. Too long." Zuytri swallowed hard. "Nyessanie passed away a while ago. Certainly over a hundred years ago. About a hundred twenty. I never met her in person, but I heard stories. Always really admired her... Honestly, Karmel maybe even knew of Nyessanie, but I'm not sure she connected the dots. Or maybe Karmel already knew all of this and it didn't go anywhere." She exhaled, shaking her head. "But I can tell you that Nyessanie's youngest is still alive. Erkuss. One hundred and seventy-six years old." Erkuss seldom live past 150. "Moved to one of the moon retirement communities of Kor'Sel'Koo with that healing low gravity a few years back. We never... talked, but I kept tabs."

Well, of course that's all very interesting news, but what's also interesting (in a bad sort of way) is the (EXTREMELY WEIRD WOW) news that Hero had to share with the entire crew. Apparently, some overzealous trio of space galx cops has been questioning the Gilmore Girls-wanter about Illegal Earth Goods, so it isn't safe to travel to Kor'Sel'Koo just yet.

The KBW isn't the worst place to stay, after all. And the Qraxoldov crew isn't such bad company, right? They even seem excited to see Ian again and catch up on what's been happening.