But most unusual about dwarves are their dice games. Six-sided dice are common throughout the lands, but dwarvish craftsmanship has given rise to exotic sets of multi-faceted dice. A typical set of hommdar, or “dwarf’s dice,” consists of a four-, a six-, an eight-, a twelve- and a twenty-sided die.

Hommdar are used almost exclusively in dwarvish games; some human collectors procure them at great cost but usually as a curiosity and with no intent of actually using them. Simple stone hommdar are fairly common among dwarves, and more elaborate and durable metallic or gemstone sets are frequently passed down along family lines. Such heirloom sets are called “gal hommdar.”

One popular game using a set of hommdar is “The Pits,” popular because the rules are simple enough even after a few-too-many flagons of mead. The Pits can be played with any number of participants, but games are usually played with between three and five.

To start, each player antes in a copper coin or some other agreed upon amount to the pot. Then each player rolls their d20. The player who rolled the highest without being tied loses, and replaces their d20 with a d12.

Players continue in rounds like this, and each time the loser goes to the next die; d20 -> d12 -> d8 -> d6 -> d4. If a player loses on a d4, that player’s out. When all but one player has been eliminated, that player wins the pot.

Each of the dice in The Pits is given a name. The d4 is the dwarf, the d6 the ogre, the d8 the human, the d12 the elf, and the d20 is the gnome (because, “Everybody hates the gnome.”).

This game has a number of regional variations, including a faster-playing variant called Elf Pit where the first player to be eliminated wins the pot and one called Reverse Pit where the order of the dice is reversed, players start with a d4, and it’s the lowest roll (without being tied) which loses each round.

Kayama society is extremely strict and structured. Petty criminals are put to death, thrown into the pits of molten lava at the heart of Fujikaya. This death penalty is not the same burden that it would be for most other cultures, though, for it is the greatest honor to be sent to join Fujikaya.

Most will eventually jump in on their own in a grand funerary ceremony when they see that their lives are soon to end. As they are burned alive by the magma, they do not scream but simply smile serenely. Those who die unexpectedly are given a similar ceremony, though it is more somber since they were unable to go to Fujikaya on their own.

To the Kayama, being unable to join Fujikaya is a fate worse than death. The worst of their criminals are exiled, and some even undergo voluntary exile in order to restore the honor of their families. These exiles are called ronin, and no ronin is ever allowed back into the mountain.

There are several cities around Fujikaya which were founded by ronin. Few in these cities have ever been in Fujikaya– perhaps only one or two a year are actually exiled– as they are by and large the descendants of ronin.

Each exiled ronin is given a katana and wakizashi of the finest craftsmanship, to help them make their way in the outside world as well as remind them of all that they’ve lost. Many end up taking their own lives shortly after, taking some solace in dying by steel forged in the fires of Fujikaya.

Encounters with the Ronin

The PCs hear about a small village with a werewolf problem which is offering a reward. When they arrive, they find that the werewolf has been killed, and the reward claimed, by a dwarf who spoke little and left town soon after. This encounter repeats itself several times as the PCs find themselves beaten to the punch by the same dwarf, whom they never meet. The dwarf in question is a ronin, killing the things which go bump in the night to make his way in the world. If he meets the PCs, he is curt with them and obviously considers them inferior.

The cultural, religious and economic center of Kamit society is a massive pyramid-city known as Crocodilopolis (literally City of the Crocodiles). Crocodilopolis’s square base measures three miles to a side and nearly two miles from ground to its tallest point. It took thousands of years to build and is made up of three hundred and thirty-three levels, not counting the palace at the very tip.

Kamit society is very religious. Their primary gods are Sobek, a dwarf with the head of a crocodile, and Anubis, a dwarf with the head of a jackal. In the palace at the tip of Crocodilopolis there is a pool in which is kept the Petsuchos, a great crocodile believed to be the son of Sobek. When the Petsuchos dies, a replacement is found from the nearby Elin river.

They are also quite focused on death and the afterlife. All Kamit are interred within the catacombs beneath a pyramid-city, and they are given tributes to take with them into the afterlife. The leaders of the Kamit, the pharaohs, are given labyrinthine chambers the size of an entire village and said to be buried with treasures that even a dragon would be jealous of.

Needless to say, the catacombs are heavily guarded and considered sacrosanct. Any non-Kamit who entered them would be killed immediately, though that hasn’t stopped many from trying to steal the treasures buried within. The Keepers of the Dead are the most elite warriors the Kamit have. It is the greatest honor to become a Keeper, an honor usually reserved for members of the royal guard who have proven themselves time and time again.