Binding Books for Tekumel/Create Your Own Yozi

Here's a system-agnostic way to create your own demons for Tekumel. Because someone pointed out that The Book of Ebon Bindings only has Change demons, and not Stability demons...
And I thought of a series of interlinked random tables.

Step one: Pick Stasis/Stability or Enthropy/Change. Or toss a coin. If you have Stasis, add "a" to the number of the tables. Enthropy means you add a "b". 

Step two,optional: Do you want to decide a god in advance or not? If yes, roll on table 1. 

1a: Roll 1d10, or 2d10 pick higher/lower.

1. Hruu
2. Wuru
3. Vimuhla
4. Chiteng
5. Ksarul
6. Gruganu
7. Sarku
8. Durritlámish
9. Dlamelish
10. Hriháyal

1b: Roll 1d10, or 2d10 pick higher/lower.

1. Hnalla
2. Dra
3. Karakan
4. Chegarra
5. Thumis
6. Ketengku
7. Belkhanu
8. Qon
9. Avanthe
10. Dilinala

Or, you know...just decide whether you want a Cohort or a main god/dess, and roll 1d5 on table 1C (c for Common, it applies to both stability and change).

1-Authority and Rulership (the "boss" of the pantheon)

2-War and Violence

3-Wisdom, especially occult

4-Death and Afterlife

5-Sex and Family

Either way, if you have chosen a god or goddess already, when you'd roll the other tables, only pick results that "fit". A courtesan might not be the best option for Sarku (or at least I prefer not to imagine it).

Step 3: Pick the basics of your demon. Roll on table 2. 

2a - roll 1d24 or a 1d100

1. Warrior (1-5)
2. Scholar (6-10)
3. Priest (11-13)
4. Maiden (14-15)
5. Slave (16)
6. Pe Choi or other "friendly" race (17)
7. Unfriendly race or extraterrestrial menace (18)
8. Grazing beast (19-23)
9. Predator (24-26)
10. Earthly predator (27)
11. Earthly vegetarian beast, likely horned and/or of great mass (28)
12. Marsupial (29)
13. Bird with great speed or strength (30-33)
14. Bird of prey (34-38)
15. Lizard-analogue (39-40)
16. Frog-analogue (41-42)
17. Invertebrate considered useful (ex: eatable mollusque, a scarab that must eat the body of the deceased in order to guarantee the ascension of the soul 43-45)
18. Colony-based Insect (46-50)
19. Construct, humanoid (51-54)
20. Plant (55-60)
21. Fungi (61-62)
22. Animated item (63-69)
23. Geographic location (a big boulder, a forest 70-75)
24. Roll twice and combine (ignore this result if you roll it again, 76-100).

Table 2b. Roll 1d66 (2d6 of different colour, giving you a result between 11 and 66).

1. Roll once more 2
2. Roll twice more
3. Roll 3 times more
4. Warrior, probably berserk-like or mounted
5. Scholar, likely mad or extremely methodic
6. Priest
7. Courtesan
8. Vacchan
9. Slave
10. Dark-clad Assassin
11. Non-human Tekumelian race
12. Enraged, stampeding grazing beast
13. Stalking predator
14. Corpse-eating beast
15. Bird of prey
16. Carrion-eating bird
17. Snake-analogue
18. Lizard-analogue
19. Frog-analogue
20. Horned beast
21. Fish
22. Worm
23. Other invertebrate, likely considered harmful
24. Carnivorous plant
25. Fungi
26. Algae or jellyfish
27. Spider
28. Scorpion
29. Poisonous or corpse-eating insect
30. Construct, non-human looking
31. Undead
32. Animated item, likely not man-made: Stone, sand, diamond
33. Incarnation of a disaster (hurricane)
34. Animated geographic feature (forest)
35. A hive, swarm or pack with one mind
36. Ethereal presence

Now combine all results you got, if you have more than one, and go to the next step. 

Step 4: Roll on table 3. 

Add an elemental condition to your demon. This is a guideline-only and the "element" doesn't need to be presented! 

A Wind demon might be fully material, but flying...or it might be the wind itself (the scourging wind, for Change demons). It might be watery, or command water (salty water, for Change demons). 

Table 3a (I let it to you to guess which die to roll...or you can roll 1d100).

1. None 1-44
2. Light 45-52
3. Air 53-60
4. Water 61-68
5. Earth 69-76
6. Gold 77-84
7. Steel 85-92
8. Shadow 93-100

Table 3b. Roll 1d20 or 1d100...seriously, you don't need me to write that out!

1. None
2. Fire
3. Wind
4. Water
5. Earth
6. Gold
7. Steel
8. Brass
9. Darkness
10. Beast
11. Poison
12. Smoke
13. Blood
14. Acid
15. Salts
16. Thunder
17. Electricity
18. Shadow
19. Void
20. Flesh

Step 5:  Combine them into a narrative description that fits.

Step 6: Consider which god or goddess said demon is most likely to serve (note: a "slave" demon likely has no free will and you might want to roll on Table 1).

Step 7: Decide what said demon's goals, needs and wants, dislikes, hates and quirks are. Demons often reflect the identity of the god/dess they serve.

Step 8: Decide on a binding ritual. The type and element should help you, but it should be costly, require precision and sacrifice - or it doesn't count...

Also remember, no demon works for free. The personality should help you devise a suitable payment.

So, how does it work?

Well, you start with Step 1, and pick a pantheon. Let's say you got Stability.

Then you roll 100, double, and get "maiden" and "plant" on the results. You roll "gold".

Your demon is a plant girl, walking on feet of greenery, that leaves golden nuggets in her footsteps. I decide she's an Avanthe demon that aims to preserve the crops and reward the good farmers.

Too bad you need to boil gold in a pot of ironwood and pour it on a still-living flower so you get the golden flower. You need to arrange enough of those to make a nice arrangement, while reciting the magical formula.

If you fail to do a nice one, the demon appears, but smashes the arrangement and takes the caster away for uses best left unmentioned.

Oh, and you know why this has the Exalted tag? It also works for demons of the 2nd and 3rd circle, or even new Yozis!

Have fun!

A.

What does Exalted 3e combat system model? Why, real life, of course!

It has been brought to my attention that many people can't get over the conceptual hurdle of Exalted 3e's combat system having two kind of attacks. "Why", they say, "is this attack withering, and this one decisive? They're both, you know, slashes".
The answer is, because the enemy is not static. And the enemy wasn't equally prepared to meet both.

Let's start with basics, and I'm talking about real life here.
There are two major kinds of fights, ambushes (and suckerpunching, and stabbing someone while he's trying to get his sword out of a scabbard, and prison yard rushes where only one side has a shiv, and hunting herbivores that are running in the other direction, and IEDs, and carpet-bombing infantry), and duels (shieldwalls and "monkey dancing" included on equal rights here). These are symmetric and asymmetric combat, and I leave it to you to put any other situation into one of these two. Guideline: if your enemy can retaliate, it's not asymmetric combat...yet.

The thing about ambushes is that they make it safe. You just need to get into position. The trick is getting into this position with a weapon ready to strike. Then the enemy is hurt without getting to strike back. That's why they're "dishonourable": they avoid the hardest part of the duel - you getting around the threat that the enemy represents to your bodily integrity.
The thing about duels is that they're easy to win, but hard to survive. If you don't take away the enemy's options to attack, at least for a split second, he might do the same thing that happens in lots of punch-outs, where the participants are exchanging blows.
You don't want that to happen to you, ever, not if you're assuming weapons are going to be used. That's why duels were notorious for double-kills.

That's also why many combat systems, fencing included, are teaching you to attack when the enemy can't retaliate. To do that, you have to grasp or create such a moment, and be in position with a weapon ready to strike. Sounds familiar?
It should. The essence of surviving a duel is in turning it into an ambush for a split second, or however long it takes you to deliver the injury (with a sword, that's "for an instant", usually). That's the essence of fencing, and grappling, and a few other styles I can name.
It's not "charge and hope for the best". It's like fencing, where you get into a position where the enemy has at least one "window" open, and can't close it in time, then getting your stab through said "window"...you have to just manoeuvre him into opening.
Or for a possibly more familiar example, it's like Gracie Ju-Jutsu: get positional advantage, then apply submission, or just pound away. But you need the positional advantage first, and then it's an ambush until and unless he dislodges you. But you're likely to get at least one attempt for a submission.

Back to Exalted 3e
The above model is what the Exalted 3e system models, in my view. Of if it's not meant to (although I suspect it is), it emulates it so well, that it almost doesn't matter.
Now, if your enemy is an extra: there is no need for withering attacks, just take care of him at once. No, that's not realistic, but since when are "extras" rules realistic?
First, a withering attack puts your enemy on the defensive and gives you first strike next round. Keep in mind: "attack" here is anything that gives you advantage. It might be a defence.
Then, you use the openings you just created, and deliver your best shot.
You better hope that's enough. If it's not, and he isn't well and truly on the defensive, he might use you moment of weakness.
That's something that Withering attacks, Initiative crash and Decisive attacks are modelling very well (coupled with Crash attacks as "attacking in single time).
And there's nothing "meta" about the way it goes (other than the fact that "withering attacks" would be better named as "creating advantage"... But really, they couldn't use "create advantage", or the Fate guys would laugh so hard Internet would stop watching pr0n for a second and turn to see what's going on.
And as we all know, Internet stopping to watch pr0n would have nothing short of disastrous results!)

Is that just me that sees it this way? Well, no. I happened to exchange personal messages with at least one other martial artist that sees Exalted 3e the same way. His nickname and other details would remain undisclosed, but that's less important.
The thing is, when you show Exalted 3e's combat system to people trained a certain way, they often react the same way: "Hey, nice!"
When you show it to people without such training, it's often "I can't visualize it". Some of them tend to "get it" after a demonstration.
Thus, I decided to mention how I'm seeing Exalted 3e. I know that was a problem in my group...until we made a demonstration for those that didn't "get it" immediately.

Hope that helps you, too. If not, hope this post at least made you think - about martial arts, or about Exalted 3e, or about both!

-A

Exalted 3e: First sessions went on, first impressions are mostly positive!

First, I must admit: despite being a KS backer, I didn't expect the system to be as good as it is.
Still, I decided to give it a honest shot, and pitched a one-shot on Halloween. As of now, three days later, we're waiting for the third session - which should be before the end of the week.
So much for the system delivering a fun game. It works. So far, it works without major flaws.

So, what are the most fun things about it?
First, social combat. Making persuasion depend on what the person being persuaded believes in, is a [B][I]very[/I][/B] big step forward. Well, I think the difference between Minor and Defining intimacy is underrated...but that's a matter of fine-tuning. At least for a change, all of my players will pay attention to what their characters believe in.

Second, physical combat. This time around, it does feel like something that has the back and forth of a real fight with weapons. Fun fact: both players in my group that practice historical fencing thought the system is quite logical and intuitive. The players that don't practice anything had trouble imagining what a Withering attack is, and how it differs from a Decisive attack.
That is, until we explained and demonstrated. "This is a withering attack against an extra from a battlegroup. This is an withering attack against someone who knows not only what end of the sword to grip, but also how to stick the pointy end in you. This is a decisive attack against the same person".
Seems to work.

The themes it encourages, however? Those are great!
We started in Grieve, where people go looking for immortality...with a catch. Of course, we started on the first day of Calibration: can't get closer to Halloween!
First actually interesting thing for the day, finding a soulless body!
Find the sorceress that did it. Release the souls she had gathered by, well, being a Zenith that can see spirits. Then beat on her until she decides she's outmatched...despite being a Dawn caste.
By this time, everything but our Night is flaming iconic...so we run to preserve our identities. On the way, you meet a thousands-years-old ghost...or at least one that claims to be one. They didn't bother to check.
Talking with the Dawn. The lack of empathy was disturbing, and she seems to love Mara. Oh, great!
The Dawn is, however, willing to negotiate, so a Bargain was accepted: she shall not kill people while in Grieve, nor steal their souls. The Zenith didn't like that, at all.
Negotiations concluded, the new Dawn left.
The next day, they find some guy who was kicked into pulp by his own friends. He had fought some chick whose appearance is curiously familiar...and his friends beated him for being a bully. And let's not forget, she didn't kill anybody, so by their deal, she is in the right!
It also helped that he himself believed having assaulted the poor, weak, innocent thing. And they managed to not just nurse him back to health: on this night the word "overheal" was crafted.
(Yes, all of the above was driven by mechanical effects from the book).

Let's see now whether they would be able to help a Dragon-Blooded recover a missing token of one of his late relatives. Namely, it's said relative's leg that was ignobly stolen...and they say the guy who stole it has a very dangerous, protective girlfriend. Maybe they'd get to learn what are these mysterious Sea Children Exalts?
But that's for next session. Don't tell my players yet!

Granted, the BP/XP split is still there, and the rules could be clearer. I houseruled the XP to be linear for anything but Merits, and any not-quite-clear rules work the way that makes sense to me (with possibly changing my mind). Seems to be solving all the issues so far!

LotW: How to make learning Legends of the Wulin and managing new characters easy!

Anyway, I've been thinking quite a bit about some systems that I like, but lots of people find complicated (well, most of those that find them complicated still like them). As a matter of fact, I'm running Legends of the Wulin now, and it fits the description. But it seems hard to internalise for many people.
Now, that might be due to the different assumptions of the system. After all, most systems expect you to tell what you're doing, and then the character makes it happen, you roll to see how successful it is.
LotW is different. It assumes that in a fight you do whatever you have an opening for, and you roll to see what openings you've got. Well, it's more complicated than that, and much more flexible... but I already said it's complicated, right:)?

Or, I thought, it might be that most people do better with a visual aid. The abacus was invented for a reason.
However, there's no visual aid to help LotW players! (A glaring omission, if you ask me... as long as it's not mandatory, I'd like it. Explain the rules assuming no aid is being used, then present the aid).
So, what visual aid would I do? Why, something like the Warhammer 3, of course:D! (Well, I've never played Warhammer 3, but it's my impression that it works like that).

So, what's the biggest issue? Resource tracking. There are three kinds of resource in LotW that you manage on round-to-round basis, Joss, Dice, and Chi!
With that in mind, let's imagine what a visual aid should hold.

First, you have an area where you put your Lake dice.
Second, another Lake area, in case you need to roll more than once (say, like being attacked by two persons).
Third, you have an area for chits or chips in 8 different colours (usually one, but basically never more than 3 are in use together). There you put chits, representing your Chi points. If you want to get fancy, label them Enlightened, Normal, Corrupt, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire (with Normal having the most space).
Last but not least, you have an area for your River dice, and a dice cup for spare dice (you need to keep your Lake dice constant, even after you take from them to fill your River - this fits with the concept of opportunities used and unused). You might have a sliding ruler on the side to remind you what actions are possible, since you can't Wash after you Flood.
We can add a place where you keep a stack of cards, too. If you're putting your Internal techniques on cards, you can "play" them, and then put them back to that place.

And that's all! But it would help the learning curve immensely, I suspect.
Now, can you make an app like that? Sure you can, and it would help even more! But let's not get fancy.

Where I play wuxia

I'm planning to run a wuxia marathon soon-ish. And it seems we're going to start with Fate, namely Jadepunk... although I'm planning to borrow mechanics from each game to enrich the others as well, as well as from a few others.
But we're starting with Jadepunk, So here is a pre-generated character, built to specifications.

Sokol of the Ten Virtues
I follow the word of Ehal, and bring the Twelve Virtues to Kausao. For two of them, I've got to teach by word, but people say I'm keeping to the other ten. So they named me Sokol of the Ten Virtues.
Not at all bad even for a priest of Ehal, which I am. By Kausao standards, it makes me nearly a saint. Although that makes me a saint whose name means "falcon", or sometimes "hero", in his native language...
...Such saints might be what Kausao needs. Yet how could any saint stand the current rulers, when the people suffer daily to enrich them?

BTW, Sokol really means "falcon", I modelled him to a great degree on a real person, including the way his Techniques work! Well, except I made him a bit less disciplined than the original.
And here's the thing about the 10 virtues. Imagine the Twelve Virtues of Ehal rated 1-5 Exalted-style, with 2 being the norm.
The guy has 3 to 5 in all of them, making them Major Virtues to him... except Mercy and Chastity, where he's got 1 in each, the equivalent of disadvantage. Hence, Falcon of the Ten Virtues is both a laudable thing, and a reminder there is stuff he fails worse than the ordinary.
Sokol of the Ten Virtues
Aristocrat 3
Fighter 2
Scholar2
Scoundrel 1
Explorer 1
Engineer 0

Portrayal: Unordained priest of Ehal, weak in chastity and mercy
Background: Immigrant would-be priest from a country conquered by the Naramel
Inciting Incident: I had to kill that guard!
Belief: The Light Of Ehal Shall Guide Us
Trouble: People think I'm Naramel, Naramel know I'm not

Technique: We call that just "dancing" at home! (Keyed to Background) Refresh 2
Flexible: Allows to use Aristocrat instead of Scoundrel to Create advantage
Exceptional: When you use an Advantage you created with this technique, each invocation gives you +3 to the roll.
Demanding: requires a Fair Aristocrat roll to dance well enough, if you miss the roll, you've used up your action for the turn
Situational: Only to Create Advantage actions

Ancient fighting techniques (Technique, duh!) Refresh 1 (Keyed to Background aspect)
Exceptional: On a defence, deal shifts of damage equal to your MoS.
Focus, Situational 2: Gain +1 to Fighter rolls, but only to Defend in combat and only when using a free invocation on an aspect
Demanding: A Fair Fighter roll

Undying Valor of Ehal (Keyed to Belief, Refresh 2)
Faith protects the warrior from harm and scatters his enemies
Harmful 3
Demanding: Requires a Fair Aristocrat roll for total confidence in Ehal
Situational: Only with the Attack action
(Yes, it's funny. But then, think about it, Sokol of the Ten Virtues could easily deal damage on defence rolls - so it makes sense for this PC).

The Fire Tongue of Ehal (Keyed to Portrayal) Refresh 1
Focus3, Situational2: Roll Aristocrat with +3 to Create Advantage, but only when talking about the faith - preaching or using ethical arguments to impress your opponent in a dispute.

Refresh:1

Now, I'm not really sure why you couldn't have Troubling or Aspects on a Technique. Seems to me I could easily have a Focus Technique: +2 Fighter against people trained in Kaiyumi (or Naramelite, Tuyangian, Aerish, created in modern Kausao, the curriculum taught to the guards) combat techniques. Using them would make the Kaiyumi (or whoever) pay you special attention, logically speaking.
But that's easily fixable by taking the appropriate Aspects, which I did. Yes, I need to Create Advantage first, but that's logical.
Heh, I think it's time for a real Naramel. Or maybe the Kayumi. There are 5 PCs, so I've got a choice.

Palladium's alignment system

I've recently noticed a brief outlook of Palladium's "alignment" system.

Unlike D&D, Palladium has no Neutral Alignment. Here are the available Alignments and BRIEF descriptions of them.


GOOD ALIGNMENTS: Principled & Scrupulous

Principled:
1. Always keep word
2. Avoids lies
3. Never kill OR attack unarmed foe
4. Never harm an innocent
5. Never torture
6. Never Kill for pleasure
7. Always help others
8. Works well with others
9. Respects authority, laws, self-dicipline and honor
10. Never betray a friend
11. Never break the law UNLESS conditions are desperate.

Scrupulous:
1. Keep word to any other GOOD person
2. Lie only to people of selfish or evil alignments
3. Never kill OR attack unarmed foe
4. Never harm an innocent
5. Never torture for pleasure, may use muscle to extract info. from criminals or evil people
6. Never Kill for pleasure, will always attempt to bring villains to justice alive even if evil
7. Always help others
8. Attempt to work within the Law whenever possible
9. Bends and occasionally break Laws when necessary.
10. Distrust Authority
11. Work with groups, but dislikes confining laws and Bureacracy (red tape)

SELFISH ALIGNMENTS: Unprincipled & Anarchist

Unprincipled
1. High regard for life and freedom
2. Keep word of honor
3. Lie & cheat if necesary (especially to Anarchists or evil persons)
4. Will not kill an unarmed foe (but will take advantage of one)
5. Help those in need
6. Not use torture unless absolutely necessary
7. Work with a group, especially if profitable
8. Never harm an innocent
9. Never kill for pleasure
10. Dislikes authority
11. Never betray a friend

Anarchist
1. May keep word
2. Lie & Cheat if he feels necessary
3. Not likely to kill an unarmed foe, but will certainly knockout, attack, or beat up one
4. Never kill an innocent, but may harm or kidnap
5. Not likely to help someone without ulterior motive
6. Seldom kill for pleasure
7. Use torture to extract info but not likely for pleasure
8. Doesn't work well in groups he will do as he d**n well pleases
9. Have little respect for self-discipline or authority
10. May betray a friend


EVIL ALIGNMENTS: Miscreant, Aberrant & Diabolic

Miscreant
1. Not necessarily keep his word to anyone
2. Lie & Cheat anyone
3. Most definitely attack an unarmed foe, they are the best kind
4. Use or Harm an innocent
5. Use torture for extracting info. and pleasure
6. May kill for sheer pleasure
7. Feels no compulsion to help without somekind of tangible reward
8. Work with others if it will help him attain personal goals
9. Kill an unarmed foe as readily as he would a potential threat or competitor
10. Has no deference to laws or authority, but will work within them if he must
11. Will betray a friend if it serves his needs.

Aberrant
1. Always keeps his word of honor
2. Lie & cheat those not worthy of his respect
3. May or may not kill an unarmed foe
4. Not kill an innocent particularly a child but will harm or kidnap
5. Never kill for pleasure
6. Not resort to inhumane treatment of prisoners, nut torture, although distasteful, is necessary means of extracting info.
7. Never torture for pleasure
8. May or may not help someone in need
9. work with others to attain his goals
10. Respect honor and self-discipline
11. Never betray a friend

Diabolic
1. Rarely keeps word
2. Lie and cheat anyone
3. Most certainly attack or kill an unarmed foe
4. Use, harm and kill an innocent without a second thought for any reason
5. Use torture for pleasure and info.
6. Kill for pleasure
7. Likely to help someone only to kill or rob them
8. Not work well with groups. Consistently disregards orders to do as he pleases
9. Despise honor, authority, and self-discipline
10. Associate mostly with other evil alignments
11. Betray friends at anytime.

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Kevin S. feels like Anarchists are a worse choice to associate with than Aberrant people. (Also, "nut torture" is totally the best type ever. It should be "but torture". And with one "t", before you ask!)
Source is here: http://gelvgoldenaxe.proboards.com/thread/23

Musings on Legend's setting (Dragon Warriors). On myth and RPGs, DW and Pendragon

The following was my answer to a request "how good is Dragon Warriors" on Myth Weavers. I think it's interesting enough to put here for those of you not frequenting this forum.

Legend undeniably a more gritty setting than most fantasy RPGs present (I refer to the majority of settings as "extra sugar added"). Roughly, think The First Crusade, except for some anachronisms, like plate armour existing already.
The take on the supernatural is also more folkloric. You could be an elf or dwarf, if you rolled just right (not much point in a halfling, you'd never progress past 3rd rank). It's quite likely nobody has seen an elf in living memory, though, so you're still a mysterious figure. (Though the author actually stated on his blog making non-humans playable was a mistake, and I agree heartily - in fact, the game would have only gained from excluding all magic classes or making them NPC-only, IMO).
As much as I can tell from reading the author's blog ( http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/ ), the intent was that non-humans don't have societies and don't follow our logic - or at least shouldn't, really, unless we mean normal or changed-by-magic but still normal beasts. But most aren't that, or shouldn't (the occasional Giant-created-by-ambitious-sorcerer is fine). These are familiar to anyone playing FRPGs, though.
The rest of them are more interesting. Theirs is the myth-logic, dream-logic like the Fair Folk in Exalted (though Dragon Warriors actually has a better system, which is doubly funny). The ghosts exemplify that best: they're not wailing on your door because they care whether you'd die soon. They're wailing on your door because they see Death approaching, and last they did, it came for them, then for their loved ones, and now it reminds them of those events of 100 years past nobody alive remembers. But there's a reason this ruin of a castle had remained a ruin! The souls of innocents want vengeance. And one night each year, they can get it. This night is approaching...
Or it could be a different reason. Depends on what has happened, not on what your standing among mortals is, but how much your personal circumstances follow the old story plaguing the ghost. (Ok - that's my take on ghosts, not necessarily the one in the book! The following is, however, strictly by-the-books by Serpent King).
In legend, even goblins aren't 1/2 HD monsters attacking you with rusty swords. They attack you with stealth, sorcery, sharp flying pieces of flint, and swords made of icicles. But if you capture them, they'd give you an oath to pay for their freedom, which they will carry to the letter. And woe to you if the letter of the contract allows them to read it to your detriment, because they will.
Hobgoblins add to that arsenal nets of spidersilk, and poisonous puffballs, the ability to make food in your pack rot, and turn your water into stale muck. They're summoning gusts of icy wind, turning the ground slippery with ice, and summoning packs of bats to attack you. These are the ones that aren't sorcerers, by the way.
Don't think "how do humans survive against such enemies", I made that mistake. They're not a neighbouring kingdom hiding in your forest! They're literally everything people are afraid of in the winter forest.
Similarly, orcs aren't barbarians that live somewhere. They're the barbarians that come in your village, grab anyone who didn't hide behind walls, and breach weak defences or retreat. They're, in a very politically incorrect way, the Other - but they're the Inimical Other that you really must be afraid of. They're the reason people are afraid of armed strangers!
Follow the dream-myth logic and it will bring you success. In fact, I'd give the same advice for the magic in Pendragon. Both games have their basis in myth, legend, superstitions, folk beliefs and oral tradition. Story trumps all, but it's not the GM's story I mean here. It's the story storytellers of ages past would be telling around fires in the dark nights while the wind is howling outside, seeking a way to enter the house and freeze you to death. Wolves are roaming under the walls of your castle, and being thrown out might be death sentence.
What stories would you tell if you were this storyteller? Tell them for Dragon Warriors. They're happening to the main characters, the PCs!
Now, I'm not saying this is well-explained in the new book. I'm not saying the system is perfect for it. I'm saying that in a way, it works great under that model, and the info in the Monster Compendium is enough for that. Just ignore the attempts at explaining where goblins are coming from...they're coming from the Forest. Doesn't matter where you live, it's the Forest. There's only one forest in the world, and it's the Forest. The humans name them differently for their own comfort.
You can bargain with fey creatures, of course. That's why there's an Elven King, and a Gnome King - or Gnome Chieftain, whatever seems right to the group. But these aren't mortal rulers. Going to their realm is literally stepping in another realm, and etiquette, good manners, a strong but compassionate heart and not giving your word lightly, and being careful with your phrasing will keep you alive better than any sword or spell.

So yeah, you can say it's a good, more folkloric setting. Or it might be just another oldschool setting. It really, really, really depends on you!