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Design Journal: I have written an OSRIC Campaign world
World of Ariakus is a decidedly old-school workd in the vein of Hyboria and Greyhawk. Hey, aim high right?
This first book provides a world map, details the gods, gives an overview of every country, provides a new class, the Crusader, along with 4 variant classes: Anti-Paladin, Bounty Hunter, Hunter and Poacher.
__________________ "You want to play "Semantics and Lawyers"? Go ahead. We'll be busy kickin' ass and chewing Stygian Black Lotus- the best!" - Predavolk
Well- it's sandbox-y in a lot of ways, in that the world is very big and definitely not uniform, both in terms of what is going on and also the scale of what's going on.
For example the Northern Continent is just about in complete disarray. The Fractured Lands, The Axelands and the Battlegrounds all used to be the largest, most prosperous nation the world had ever known, the Kingdom of Damask.
But civil war and a foreign influx of humanoids and humans have turned the area into complete chaos. The King's bastard brother technically sits on the throne (him assassinating the royal family was what lit the fuse on the whole thing exploding) but in reality, the place is a hodge podge of robber baronies, rapacious humanoids and greedy, amoral dwarves.
But if the players aren't into that, or get tired of that, a quick boat trip south across the Turbulent Sea will land them in a much more stable place, especially if they don't mind signing on with the Great Khan of the Endless Plains, who just about has conquered the entirety of the southern continent.
If they want to serve one of the minor powers NOT ruled by the Khan (yet), things will be dicier, but still not a daily struggle to survive like they face in the north.
Or they could head to the Canterbury Isles, where demi-humans outnumber humans and a possible race war between the demi-humans and the followers of the "humans first" god Therran the White is "all" they would have to worry about.
Or they could strike out for the unknown and find out if there really IS a white man living with the hostile natives of the Trackless Jungle.
Or outfit a mighty ship and try to gain an audience with the Shogun of the Droplet Isles.
In short, one of my main goals was not to make Dragonlance, where no matter which direction the PCs head, they're in a world where steel is scarce, clerical magic is unknown and dragon-dudes are roaming the land.
Ariakus is a big world with a lot of variety, giving the game master support enough so that the PCs picking up and heading east to see what Utgaror, a nation ruled by giants, is like.
I'm not sure what we're supposed to say - is this a free product or a for-pay one? There's no link to either, just a cover image, a brief description, and a map. And the fact that it's OSRIC, which seems like it's supposed to be really important, but without an actual product, lacks meaning.
I'm not sure what we're supposed to say - is this a free product or a for-pay one? There's no link to either, just a cover image, a brief description, and a map. And the fact that it's OSRIC, which seems like it's supposed to be really important, but without an actual product, lacks meaning.
I'd love to read it, but....
It will be a for-pay product, available at RPGNow.
As the title suggests, this is a design journal, where I talk about the book while it is in production.
It's almost done, but not quite.
And I included OSRIC to let people know what rule system it will be designed for, which is either really important or not so much, depending on your tastes
It will be a for-pay product, available at RPGNow.
As the title suggests, this is a design journal, where I talk about the book while it is in production.
It's almost done, but not quite.
And I included OSRIC to let people know what rule system it will be designed for, which is either really important or not so much, depending on your tastes
Though I think OSRIC is cool, and it's free.
OK. The past tense of the subject ("have written"), made me think it was a finished project, not one in progress. It's too bad for me it's for-pay; my RPG budget while I'm a student is exactly $0; but that's life. OSRIC is A-OK in my book - as you point out, it, at least, is free. I'll be interested to see what else you post here.
OK. The past tense of the subject ("have written"), made me think it was a finished project, not one in progress. It's too bad for me it's for-pay; my RPG budget while I'm a student is exactly $0; but that's life. OSRIC is A-OK in my book - as you point out, it, at least, is free. I'll be interested to see what else you post here.
Ahh, I see the confusion.
In fact, both of the statements you make are true.
It is written, thus my past tense "I have written an OSRIC world" was 100% accurate.
But it is also in progress, since writing is just step 1
Currently, the book is in layout, which makes me really happy.
I can't explain why, but I have had more fun working on this book than I have had in a long, long while.
I'm doing some slightly different things with the gods, and will post a sample later today.
So here's a look at one of the deities in the game.
I wanted to make deities matter for more than just roleplaying, so I added one mechanical touch to the deities, the concept of additional spells.
Basically these are thematically appropriate Druid, Magic-User and/or Illusionist spells that are added to the list of spells the cleric can pray for.
Akhia, the Weaver
Akhia is the goddess of motherhood, creation, the universe and weaving. Symbol: The Loom Animal: Spider Raiment: Veil (Head), Lace (Body) Color: Black Holy Days: New Moon, All Saints’ Day, All Kings’ Day, All Heroes’ Day (First three days of the year) Sacrifice: Any Place of Worship: Temples or under the night sky Preferred Alignment: Neutral Good Nemesis Orders: Nicthonis, Therran, Arcara Additional Spells: Spider Climb (1st level), Web (2nd level), Summon Insects (3rd level), Repel Insects (4th level), Insect Plague (5th level), Creeping Doom (7th level)
…provides a new class, the Crusader, along with 4 variant classes: Anti-Paladin, Bounty Hunter, Hunter and Poacher.
What's up with the Poacher? That sounds like a pretty specific and narrow class. What distinguishes it from the Hunter, for example?
__________________ "You want to play "Semantics and Lawyers"? Go ahead. We'll be busy kickin' ass and chewing Stygian Black Lotus- the best!" - Predavolk
What's up with the Poacher? That sounds like a pretty specific and narrow class. What distinguishes it from the Hunter, for example?
Well, that's part of where I came up with the variant class concept. It's for extremely narrow classes, or NPC classes and such.
Rather than slam and entire class in the book for a niche concept, I take an existing class that's close, and tell you how to "transform" it into the variant.
Since the Poacher caught your eye, I'll use that to illustrate.
Poacher
Poachers are a variation on the Ranger class and conform to that that class in every way except those detailed here. They are enemies of nature and are committed to hunting down its protectors, especially Druids and Rangers.
Alignment: Any evil (Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil)
Damage Bonus vs. Druids and Rangers: Poachers do not gain a damage bonus against humanoids. Rather, they gain a damage bonus against Druids, Rangers and good-aligned Sylvan or Faerie creatures. They might also gain this bonus against other creatures at the discretion of the game master.
Poachers can inflict their bonus damage on clerics and druids with ranged weapons.
Spellcasting (8th): Poachers are antithetical to everything druidic orders stand for and receive no training in Druid spells from such orders, though they gain Magic-User spells normally.
However, Poachers of 8th level and above do receive special training from other Poachers on how to resist Druidic spells and gain a +4 bonus to saving throws against any spell cast by a Druid or Ranger (including Magic-User spells cast by a Ranger).
Poaching Party (10th): Poachers do not receive a special band of followers as Rangers do. However, they do gather like-minded individuals around themselves starting at 10th level if such is their desire.
A poaching party will consist of the following: one follower of one-half the Poacher’s level (always a member of the Poacher class); 1d6 followers of 2nd level (always members of the Hunter class); one 1st level follower for each level beyond 10th gained by the Poacher (50% chance to be a member of the Hunter class, otherwise these are Fighters).
These followers will stay with the Poacher as long as he is in the wilderness. They will stay outside if he ventures into a city, as they are neither comfortable nor welcome in such environments. Should the Poacher spend more than a month straight in a city, his poaching party will disperse and he will have to gather a new one, requiring at least 30 days (more if the Poacher makes a habit of allowing his poaching parties to disperse).
Members of a poaching party that are killed are replaced after 1-2 weeks.
So you can see this is a narrow concept. I don't really think it would be suitable as a PC concept, even in an evil campaign.
And as we get closer to release (I have seen sample pages!) here's an example of a region overview.
Axelands
The Axelands used to be one of the most prosperous realms in all of the Northern Continent. Once this land was the breadbasket of the Kingdom of Damask, the most powerful and influential kingdom in 500 years. All that changed when Lord Illanyra launched his bid to take over the kingdom and attempted to assassinate the entire royal family.
While civil war raged in the south, numerous humanoid tribes that had plagued Damask’s northern border for centuries saw an opportunity to take control of the kingdom’s northern regions. When the dwarves of the Axehandle mountains that border northern Damask decided to use the civil war as an opportunity to destroy the troublesome kingdom of men, and began supplying the humanoids with top-notch weapons free of charge, the trickle of humanoids became a flood and then an army.
Now this region is a war-torn hell of villages struggling just to survive another day, surrounded on all sides by murderous humanoid tribes bearing Dwarven weaponry. Currently the Deathspear Goblins, the Nightstalk Bugbears, the Duneblind Ogres, the Swiftsand Goblins and the Bloodhawk Gnolls infest this region.
Recently the Warband has brought the only glimmer of hope this region has seen in almost ten years. One of the largest groups of Rangers ever gathered together at a single place and time, they are led by Erik Loftin, the leader of the Knights of the Old Order and Leora, Archminister of the goddess Dannos. Still, even this group has served only to stem the tide of evil and chaos, like a tourniquet on a severed vein. They have even had to attack the greedy Axehandle Dwarves to cut off the humanoids’ supply of weapons, adding to the difficulty faced by this powerful, but hopelessly outnumbered collection of heroes.
Still, the Baron who rules this land still lives and has pledged his support to the Warband, offering them what little aid his can while his ragtag army fights a guerilla war. He is as outnumbered and outmatched as the Warband and has put out a call for brave adventurers, promising gold, titles, land and anything else he thinks might attract the ambitious and the young to his standard.
On the coast, across the Axehandle Mountains, live group of elves that have no love for the rampaging humanoids or the greedy Dwarves who have been assisting them. While the Dwarves have closed the mountain passes to these elves, they have begun to make the long journey north around the mountains and have been appearing in the region in greater numbers of late to assist against the threat.
Nominal Rulers: Baron Malcolm Boergrim owing fealty to King Lucius III of Damask (humans); King Branislav, Lord of the Axehandle Dwarves (Dwarves); Lord of the Coastal Wood Mikaere (Elves)
What differences do you feel the world would be like if you had designed it for one of the younger editions of D&D like 3e, 4e, or Pathfinder?
Mostly I think the differences would be mechanical.
Firstly, elements of this world have been drawn from D&D campaigns I've been running since AD&D was the new thing.
And after running the World of Greyhawk + modules for years, I finally decided to make a homebrew world.
My influences on that world design were always what I'd consider old school. They were out of "fashion" even in the 3e days: Greyhawk, Hyboria, Barsoom, Lankhmar.
These are the fantasy worlds that speak to me, far more so than Tolkien.
I actually have attempted to write this book a few times and I'd always start with campaign-specific Prestige Classes representing the world's organizations.
In that respect, I initially felt the world was a great fit for 3e because it had quite a few organizations and secret societies that I felt would make good PrCs.
But beyond a few class designs, that's as far as I got.
So the changes would be largely mechanical I guess.
I always have felt Greyhawk was the gold standard of D&D world design and while I haven't gone back and read my old boxed set or anything, my memories of what I loved about running that world have definitely informed the design of Arkara.
Here's a taste of the upcoming Canterbury Isles, which takes a look at two western isles nominally part of the Kingdom of Damask.
Akirinoss
The Akirinoss are an ancient organization of elven assassins that have existed for thousands of years. Unlike most assassins, they do not work for money, instead identifying threats to elvenkind and marking them for death. However, they do not involve themselves in situations of their own free will. Due to an ancient, arcane and Byzantine code of honor, they will only become involved in a situation if they are asked. Then, if they determine the situation warrants their particular talents, the organization acts with ruthless efficiency.
This particular group is in Bondaea to kill Duke Zelan, who has clearly become a pawn of the racist Order of the White. What they do not know is that they were asked to do this by a member of that very order: Eleanor Whistler.
Malia
Malia married an elven noble in her youth and lived an idyllic life for hundreds of years. She felt extremely lucky to have married such a handsome, dashing young noble and her only source of worry was that his work as an ambassador took him away from their beloved forest home too often, for too long.
Then came the terrible day when he was brought to her, dying. He was grievously wounded and with his last words told her that he wasn’t an ambassador: he was Akirinoss. Then he slipped his ring off and she saw he was neither handsome nor dashing. He was extremely ugly, with beady eyes, a hooked nose and a face scarred by combat.
Though she still loved her husband, the realization that she never really knew him, that he was able to lie with perfect precision every moment they were together, ended any innocence Malia had ever had. Appearing before the Akirinoss elder, she demanded her widow’s right: to claim his place in their society.
Having learned first hand the power of deception, Malia uses that as her greatest weapon. She will use her beauty (enhanced even more by her husband’s ring) and her wiles to get as close to her target as she can, either slipping a poison into his drink or getting close enough for a well-aimed dagger throw.
She carries a few poisoned throwing daggers, but reserves her Dagger +2 for opponents that close in hand-to-hand combat, when she chooses to stand and fight. She will usually retreat if face with strong resistance however, especially against a heavily armored opponent that she is confident she can outrun.
Joining the Akirinoss: To join the Akirinoss a character must fulfill four requirements: Be a member of the Assassin class, be a full-blooded elf and have a Lawful Evil alignment. Other elves and half-elves are allowed to assist the Akirinoss (provided they have levels in the Assassin or Thief class) and might even gain the status of trusted ally but they will never be admitted to the organization. The fourth, which is often the most difficult requirement to meet, is that a member of the organization in good standing must recommend a character. As you might imagine, gaining the trust of a centuries-old Assassin is not the easiest task to accomplish.
Any character admitted to the Akirinoss that later fails to meet one of these requirements for any reason (most often this would be an alignment change toward Neutral or Chaotic Evil) becomes a target of the organization.
Race: Elven MV: 120 ft. Class: Assassin Level: 10 AC: 5 HP: 40 #At: 1 Dm: 1d4+2 or 1d4 (thrown) AL: LE SA: +1 Missiles, -2 AC from 16 Dex XP: 1,220
Possessions: Ring of Charisma (17 charges), Dagger +2, Leather +1, 4 throwing daggers (all poisoned, -2 saving throws), 1 vial ingested poison (-4 saving throw, causes death by heart attack which looks accidental), 30 gp
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