What Is It?
About Terrain
The Land Of The Dead is a bizarre place, a nightmarish landscape of strange black land, overcast by an eery glowing sky. Here, the terrain is dominated by a rocky wasteland, mountainous in places. The Land Of The Dead is a huge area, full of strange phenomena and unsettling sights. Nobody has explored it all, but it is believed that the land does have edges, known as the Twilight Barrier.
Denizens of the Land of the Dead can use different 'Shifts' (special powers of the dead) to alter and affect the very nature of the landscape around them. They can also gather knowledge in the form of experience, in combat with creatures of the dead, or by various other means. This afterlife experience can be used in many ways in the Land Of The Dead, but probably the most useful is to purchase further 'Shifts'. This gradual increase in power and ability reflects the spirits steady growth in power from a weak new cadaver to a powerful entity in their own right.
The Land Of The Dead is split into six domains. The first five are the areas controlled by each of the five great spirits, known as the Lords Of Death. The final area weaves in and out of all the others, known as the 'Borderlands' it is ruled by nobody. All players begin the module somewhere in the Borderlands.
About Characters
Any existing character class from the main DungeonWorld Module or Frontier can join the Land of the Dead. The trouble is, they have to be dead.
Characters who have died in the past cannot be used in this module. Their spirits have already passed beyond the stage where they can exert any influence on events in the Land of the Dead. However, any character who dies in the main module may transfer to the Land of The Dead, as long as you clearly state that you wish them to do so on the turn that they die.
Any of the normal unrestricted classes can be created specifically for the Land of the Dead module, these being considered 'recently dead'. Characters begin with no equipment whatsoever. Mortal objects cannot pass beyond the veil in any way we understand. However, depending on which of the special options you choose, you will have a number of entropy points to spend preparing your characters for the new realm.
The Land Of The Dead follows none of the physical rules of the real world. When spirits first arrive, they find that their experiences and abilities in life are less valuable, but that these are replaced by a bizarre phenomenon called 'Shifts', which is an abbreviation of the original term 'Shifts of Physical State'. These shifts vary from spirit to spirit, but essentially grant many powers and strange abilities to the dead. Each new character must spend 100 entropic points on Shifts when they are first set up. There are many different shifts, each with their own cost in entropic points.
Shifts are more important than character class in the Land of the Dead. Here, mortal skills become useless or obsolete, while survivors must learn new ways to retain their consciousness. Death constantly seeks to draw the spirits into a permanent state of unawareness. To take each person to their final rest.
About Nightmares
The creatures and denizens who make the Land Of The Dead their home are known as Nightmares. They are constucts of pure entropy and follow few of the rules of life as it is commonly understood. Nightmares are often grotesque, or inexplicably bizarre. Sometimes they resemble creatures of legend or myth. It is important to remember that although they simulate life, they are not truly alive at all.
Undead are also common to the Land Of The Dead. When a soul cannot find rest for one reason or another, it can take three paths. It may become a 'spirit' in the land of the dead (this is what has happened to you as a PC). It may become undead and remain in the realm of the living. Or it may become undead and walk the the lands beyond the veil. Undead instrinsically hate spirits because they have retained their identity, which undead envy. They are a threat, but they can be conquered and controlled by the use of 'shifts'.
'Statics' are spirits of entropy which have become one with the Land Of The Dead, fusing with the terrain itself. Statics are extremely dangerous.
'Dark Servants' are creatures in the employ of one of the five Lords Of Death. These creatures have their own aims and goals, depending on what their master commands. Like most things that reside beyond the veil, they are dangerous too.
The thing to remember is that while all these things are terrible threats... so are you. All players are spirits. If you survive you are capable of becoming a major power too.