Community Project: The Crucible

[Ishamael]

I was working on my new setting when inspiration struck me. Who else would be interested in putting together a campaign setting similar to the way Deamonforge was done?

The world is a bit "grittier" than others. Kinda like Ravenloft meets Dark Sun meets Greyhawk meets our own possible future. Magic is very rare, while psionics is only slightly more common. Even rarer than Arcane magic, is Divine magic. The gods have all but left the world (Though the pantheon is not yet defined.)

War is also a huge part of the setting. Many, if not all of the existing nations are in at least some state of conflict. Either with other nations, or the Legion, a goblinoid army from the north.

Rules: As stated before, Spellcasting is very rare. The Sorcerer is a prestige class that anyone with 4 ranks in Knowledge: Arcane can get into. Paladins are the only class capable of divine magic. To balance the Sorcerer (who actually learns and casts spells like a D&D Wizard), they gain access to healing spells. However, their healing spells do not actually heal hit points, they convert them to subdual damage.

Very likely Ken Hood's Grim and Gritty system will be used. Those not familiar with it should really check it out. See here: http://www.sleepingimperium.rpghost.com/downloads/GrimNGrittyHitPointRules.pdf

As you read through some of the "history" of the world, some will seem a bit familiar. I am attempting to put together a fantasy world that, on the surface, is very different from our own, yet actually takes place about 2,000 years into our post-apacolyptic future. If I may use such cliche terms.

I'm looking for individual's capable of taking ideas and running with them.

Let me know if you are interested. We can discuss it here or by e-mail.

Here is a bit to wet your appetite:

Table of Contents: (So far...)

Chapter 1: The Crucible
History
Day in the life of…

Chapter 2: Characters

Races
Humans
Dwarves (Droman)
Elves (Prane)
Halflings (Hinolians)
Half-Elf (Praris)
Half-Dwarf (Drale)

Classes
Barbarian – not changed
Fighter – better skills
Rogue – not changed
Mystic – psychic monk replacement
Paladin – minor changes
Ranger – no spells, major changes
Gifted – psychic

Feats
Regional Feats

Equipment
New Weapons, Armor and Equipment
Piecemeal armor rules
New metals and materials

Prestige Classes
Sorcerers - only arcane casters

Chapter 3: Way of the Warrior

Grim and Gritty Combat
Martial Arts Rules

Chapter 4: The Supernatural

The Faith – paladin rules and the gods
Psionics – skills and feats system
Magic – changes to spellcasting and spells
Magic & Psionic Items – new stuff

Chapter 5: Geography and Cosmology

Amria
Kardon
Vector
Salistan
Chrimsha
Targis
Mondrael
The Legion
The Planes (Ethereal, shadow, Astral)

Chapter 6: Appendix
New creatures


Exerpt from HISTORY

What Has Come Before

The world you know now is not as it always was. Indeed, the world has so changed that its beginnings may forever be shrouded by the mists of time.
The year is 1125 A.R. Even a millennium later, we still bare the scars of the Rupture. Though we have come a long way in such a short time, we may never again reach the heights of days gone by. We may never again see the towers that touched the sky, or the winged vessels that bore us across the seas.
The legends tell of a day when the sky split and the horrors of the Abyss fell upon our great cities and fortresses. We were not prepared for such an assault. The reason for the Rupture itself has never been discovered. The fiends loosed by the wounds in the sky were terrifying in their ferocity. In the end, we won, but not without a price to pay. The greatest sorcerers of that time came together to forge a weapon that would turn the tides on our demonic foes.
Called “The Crucible”, the weapon was turned on the tide of monsters that poured through the gates of Hell. The destruction it birthed was unthinkable.
The lands were torn asunder. Billions died, both human and not. The demons were driven back, and the wounds in the sky cauterized by the Crucible’s terrible fires. What was left of the world could never be the same. Many of the creatures of the earth had been twisted and so few of us remained that all of civilization collapsed. Gone were the great magics of the day. There was only the struggle to survive.
The years fallowing past in chaos. People fought each other for food and resources. The Crucible’s residual power wrought monsters unlike anything the world had seen. The few attempts to recreate a society proved futile. People lacked ambition. By this time, no one remembered the world before the Rupture and understood nothing but desperation and strife.

The World as We Know It

Until the year 1113 A.C., we knew a time of peace. Unfortunately however, peace cannot last forever. The Black Legion has returned and nations battle each other for land and resources. Political instability has become a problem yet again, and the Legion seeks only to make things worse. The nation of Kardon has fallen and its spoils are divided between Vectorian and Salistian forces. It seems every country is at war with the next. The Barrier Peaks have become a blood bath and even the walled nation of Sanctuary has seen its people die.
The Legion brings with it evil magics and not all of it’s ranks are filled with goblinoid warriors. It seems that they are accompanied by other races from across the Sea of Storms and Barrier Peaks.
We no longer know our enemy as we once did. With the addition our own kind to the Legion’s rank, they have become smarter and more dangerous than ever before.
We are seeing the beginning of the end of an age. However the fighting is resolved, the world will never be the same.