The Old World is heavily infested with the corrupting influence of chaos. This horrific influence can break apart the minds of mortal men and even destroy the more stable minds of the Dawi. No one is completely safe from its bitter effects. However, the most susceptible are the race of Manlings. When traveling in the Old World the taint of chaos should be avoided at all costs. However, in some regions of the world, this is significantly harder than in others. Most notably in the dark depths of the underway, and the frozen regions of the north.

 

Players will have a corruption gauge totaling up to 30 points. This gauge will come into play when entering any location with high levels of chaos taint. Every round of combat in such a region will require a spirit check (TN11). If a player fails this check they will gain one point of corruption. When players gain enough points, they will suffer ill effects. These effects are listed in the Corruption Effects table.

 

Each of the Chaos realms affects mortal beings differently. The realms are divided into four primary deities. Slaanesh, Nurgle, Khorne and Tzeentch. Nurgle is about disease and decay. Slaanesh is about the excess of pleasure and pain. Khorne is devoted to war and destruction. Finally, Tzeentch is about magic, plotting, and ambition. The players affected by these aspects should be inflicted with qualities that mirror the type of corruption they are inflicted with. For example, a player character infected with Khorne corruption may be excessively violent, while a PC infected with Nurgle rot may smell excessively bad or appear filthy. Whatever helps the narrative.

 

The higher the player corruption, the more extreme the effects should be. These are in addition to standard corruption effects from the table. Players that are close to maximum corruption will also need to roll to avoid mutations. More about that in the Mutation section.    

Reversing Corruption

 

The effects of chaos can be reversed, but it takes time and is difficult. When a player has accrued several points of Chaos corruption they can attempt to reduce them, but only once they have left the corrupted region. To reduce the corruption, the player may roll a sanity check. They roll a D20 (TN 11) On a pass they reduce one point of corruption. This can only be done once a day. So completely reversing the ill effects may take a long time. The corruption effects remain until the points are reduced to a sufficient degree.

 

Racial effects

 

Manlings are very easily influenced by Chaos. They suffer a -2 to all spirit rolls when in chaos regions. Elves are more resistant, so they roll standard spirit rolls with any appropriate modifiers. Dwarfs on the other hand are very resistant to the effects of Chaos. They get a +2 to their spirit checks in Chaos regions. While the tiny Halflings are the most resistant of all. They get a +6 to all spirit rolls while in Chaos regions. 

 

Mutations

 

Once a PC reaches 25 or more points of corruption the player will need to roll to avoid mutation. This is a daily spirit check roll (TN11). Failure on this roll means the player has gained a mutation. Mutations most likely will be irreversible. The mutation that the player gains should reflect the type of corruption the player faces as well as any tendencies the character may have. These are decided by the GM. Be creative.