> I am now looking for adventure ideas. Umathings are probably quite
> similar to Genertelan Orlanthi; however, this being 2nd Age
> Pamaltela adventure seeds such as "fight Chaos" and "fight the Lunars" are out.
As Gloranthan gamers, we're a de-sensitized to horror because we've got chaos in so many games. Let me suggest that if -- in real life -- any of us ran into the lamest moster in the lamest AD&D supplement (the flumph?), we'd be extremely creeped out.
That suggests some ways forward -- alienness and unfamiliarity. The concepts overlap a little, but I'll draw them apart, then push them back together.
There are things that are not chaos that are nonetheless completely alien to your Umathings: underworld darkness demons that the trolls summon; the ghosts of dead civilizations; monsters rising from the deeps and ravaging the coasts. it may be that, no matter how many times your Umathings see these things, they will alwas be freaked out.
There are also things that are less alien than merely unfamiliar: lots of things in an Aldryami forest: mountain trolls, dwarves; cannibals; shapeshifting mountain men; sorcerers; athiests. Eventually, your Umathings will find ways of mentally categorizing these things and knowing the ways of dealing with them. But until then, they can be very creepy.
In our campaigns, the Vadeli have generally been an example of unfamiliarity. They are a strange culture with a terrible reputation. But we've become somewhat accustomed to them and how they behave. So we start to get comfortable. Then something changes and we are suddently unsure whether we are deling with the merely unfamiliar or the truly alien.
Chris
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