Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5e Homebrew Setting: Malebolge, Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 6919203" data-attributes="member: 6855057"><p>Really getting kind of discouraged by the lack of interest here, but I figured I might as well try and share something useful.</p><p></p><p><u>Races of Malebolge:</u></p><p>To explain my racial setup in advance... I'm a big fan of experimenting with more "gonzo" or "obscure" races, I like to try and put new spins on "classic" races, and I don't believe in the Always Chaotic Evil trope. So, the result is... more or less what you see here. I'm of course open to further expansion, alterations and additions; for example, the Diabolus race from Mystara, with its classic lore as "extraplanar aliens forced to migrate to the human world", could easily be spun into Malebolge as a race stranded there en-mass by the riftstorms or planequakes. So could a rip-off of Warcraft's Draenei race, but I wouldn't endanger this board by doing something like that.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I actually have a segment in my setting bible dedicated to discussing the races, but I figured I should list them and explain them here first before I share that. If folks want to see what I wrote up for the bible, please, ask me and I'll post it here.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Humans:</strong> Humanity's hat is basically "adaptability" (plus "breed like roaches"), so I figure that there's ample justification to have enclaves of (relatively) pure-blooded humans still surviving in the present day. They're just sort of the natural "go-to" race.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Elves:</strong> I'm torn between whether or not to have elves survive in this setting. Maybe only mutant elves like drow (who went underground to escape the chaos above) or shadar-kai (see below) are left to represent them. I just can't make up my mind.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Dwarves:</strong> In the current setting, "pure" dwarves still survive, but have become a xenophobic minority. Because the dwarfin culture made use of elemental magic, the majority of dwarves have either become "tainted" by that elemental energy - becoming a 5e adaptation of Forgeborn Dwarves instead of the "purebloods" Mountain Dwarves, or have wholely mutated into a new form; the Gnomoi (use the stats for Rock Gnomes and my homebrew "tinker gnome" fluff, loosely inspired by Pathfinder).</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Orks:</strong> I discovered the Wicked Fantasy setting and I fell in love with its depiction of orks. Former monsters trying to redeem themselves, the whole "cult of pain" thing, the "honor is in the scars" culture, it's just fascinating. At the same time, I thought it'd be fun to try and incorporate the original LoTR fluff of them being "ruined elves". So, I tied the orks of Malebolge into the Doom War; a war crime committed by the dwarves in retaliation for the magical virus-bombing of one of their greatest cities by the elves, orks are the descendants of elves alchemically mutated into bestial supersoldiers - an experiment that went horribly right, as the orks broke free of their dwarven masters' control and turned on them. Still embittered at their creators, orks are defined by their struggle to find a place for themselves and to make peace with what they've lost. My current plan is to use the half-orc stats, but that may change when Volo's Guide comes out. Additionally, I'm currently inclined to use the alchemical experiment backstory to give them random mutants; goblins, which are smaller but more magical orks (use Forest Gnome stats), and trolls, which are bigger and tougher (Goliath stats).</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Kobolds:</strong> I just love these little guys, especially the way they like to brag about being cousins to dragons to make themselves look more important. So, in the Malebolge setting, kobolds are the descendants of dragons - specifically, though the dragons themselves vanished after the Black Dawn, their abandoned eggs hatched into the first kobolds. An entire race burning with an inferiority complex, striving to find a way to undo what has been done to them. If dragonborn exist in this setting, and I'm inclined towards letting them, they represent the greatest success in the kobold experiments in mutagens on adults and unhatched offspring alike. The all-too-frequent failures? That's where the wyverns, the faerie dragons, the elemental drakes, the dinosaurs, and most other "almost-but-not-quite-a-dragon" reptilian beasties come from.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Warforged:</strong> How could I not steal so much inspiration from Eberron and not take these guys with it? Warforged in Malebolge are more magitek-mechanical looking than the "wooden muscles under steel exoskeleton" of the Eberron version, but they're still the same; looking for a purpose, and a way to ensure their species doesn't die out by finding and restoring the forge-creches that created them, back when humanity strove to gain the muscle to try and stop the madness engulfing their world.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Calibans:</strong> Humans survive, but not always unchanged. Calibans originate in Ravenloft, I think maybe 3rd edition? Essentially, they're human mutants, and so they fit into Malebolge far too well to just ignore them.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Shadar-Kai:</strong> These shadowy immortals were one of the more interesting races in 4e, I felt, and their "carpe diem" racial motto made them an interesting contrast to the standard cliches of post-apocalyptica. I just think that they fit the setting well, and they easily make sense as elves overwhelmed and mutated by surges of necrotic energy from necromantic spells gone haywire during the Black Dawn.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Ratfolk:</strong> I can't really explain these beyond they just felt right.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Aranea:</strong> I... don't know why it is I want to include these fellows. I guess it's because these sorcerous spider-shifters have always been an incredibly cool concept to me, but we haven't seen them since the days of Red Steel back in the late 80s.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="QuietBrowser, post: 6919203, member: 6855057"] Really getting kind of discouraged by the lack of interest here, but I figured I might as well try and share something useful. [U]Races of Malebolge:[/U] To explain my racial setup in advance... I'm a big fan of experimenting with more "gonzo" or "obscure" races, I like to try and put new spins on "classic" races, and I don't believe in the Always Chaotic Evil trope. So, the result is... more or less what you see here. I'm of course open to further expansion, alterations and additions; for example, the Diabolus race from Mystara, with its classic lore as "extraplanar aliens forced to migrate to the human world", could easily be spun into Malebolge as a race stranded there en-mass by the riftstorms or planequakes. So could a rip-off of Warcraft's Draenei race, but I wouldn't endanger this board by doing something like that. I actually have a segment in my setting bible dedicated to discussing the races, but I figured I should list them and explain them here first before I share that. If folks want to see what I wrote up for the bible, please, ask me and I'll post it here. [B]Humans:[/B] Humanity's hat is basically "adaptability" (plus "breed like roaches"), so I figure that there's ample justification to have enclaves of (relatively) pure-blooded humans still surviving in the present day. They're just sort of the natural "go-to" race. [B]Elves:[/B] I'm torn between whether or not to have elves survive in this setting. Maybe only mutant elves like drow (who went underground to escape the chaos above) or shadar-kai (see below) are left to represent them. I just can't make up my mind. [B]Dwarves:[/B] In the current setting, "pure" dwarves still survive, but have become a xenophobic minority. Because the dwarfin culture made use of elemental magic, the majority of dwarves have either become "tainted" by that elemental energy - becoming a 5e adaptation of Forgeborn Dwarves instead of the "purebloods" Mountain Dwarves, or have wholely mutated into a new form; the Gnomoi (use the stats for Rock Gnomes and my homebrew "tinker gnome" fluff, loosely inspired by Pathfinder). [B]Orks:[/B] I discovered the Wicked Fantasy setting and I fell in love with its depiction of orks. Former monsters trying to redeem themselves, the whole "cult of pain" thing, the "honor is in the scars" culture, it's just fascinating. At the same time, I thought it'd be fun to try and incorporate the original LoTR fluff of them being "ruined elves". So, I tied the orks of Malebolge into the Doom War; a war crime committed by the dwarves in retaliation for the magical virus-bombing of one of their greatest cities by the elves, orks are the descendants of elves alchemically mutated into bestial supersoldiers - an experiment that went horribly right, as the orks broke free of their dwarven masters' control and turned on them. Still embittered at their creators, orks are defined by their struggle to find a place for themselves and to make peace with what they've lost. My current plan is to use the half-orc stats, but that may change when Volo's Guide comes out. Additionally, I'm currently inclined to use the alchemical experiment backstory to give them random mutants; goblins, which are smaller but more magical orks (use Forest Gnome stats), and trolls, which are bigger and tougher (Goliath stats). [B]Kobolds:[/B] I just love these little guys, especially the way they like to brag about being cousins to dragons to make themselves look more important. So, in the Malebolge setting, kobolds are the descendants of dragons - specifically, though the dragons themselves vanished after the Black Dawn, their abandoned eggs hatched into the first kobolds. An entire race burning with an inferiority complex, striving to find a way to undo what has been done to them. If dragonborn exist in this setting, and I'm inclined towards letting them, they represent the greatest success in the kobold experiments in mutagens on adults and unhatched offspring alike. The all-too-frequent failures? That's where the wyverns, the faerie dragons, the elemental drakes, the dinosaurs, and most other "almost-but-not-quite-a-dragon" reptilian beasties come from. [B]Warforged:[/B] How could I not steal so much inspiration from Eberron and not take these guys with it? Warforged in Malebolge are more magitek-mechanical looking than the "wooden muscles under steel exoskeleton" of the Eberron version, but they're still the same; looking for a purpose, and a way to ensure their species doesn't die out by finding and restoring the forge-creches that created them, back when humanity strove to gain the muscle to try and stop the madness engulfing their world. [B]Calibans:[/B] Humans survive, but not always unchanged. Calibans originate in Ravenloft, I think maybe 3rd edition? Essentially, they're human mutants, and so they fit into Malebolge far too well to just ignore them. [B]Shadar-Kai:[/B] These shadowy immortals were one of the more interesting races in 4e, I felt, and their "carpe diem" racial motto made them an interesting contrast to the standard cliches of post-apocalyptica. I just think that they fit the setting well, and they easily make sense as elves overwhelmed and mutated by surges of necrotic energy from necromantic spells gone haywire during the Black Dawn. [B]Ratfolk:[/B] I can't really explain these beyond they just felt right. [B]Aranea:[/B] I... don't know why it is I want to include these fellows. I guess it's because these sorcerous spider-shifters have always been an incredibly cool concept to me, but we haven't seen them since the days of Red Steel back in the late 80s. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5e Homebrew Setting: Malebolge, Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
Top