Shattered Skies: A cabal of the greatest mages, threatened by the rise of technology, banded together to form a being of pure entropy, The Devourer. Although intended only to seek out and destroy technology and those who used it, it broke free of their control and it seemed as if the whole world would be drawn into its maw. The greatest archmange repented, devising a ritual by which he sacrificed his soul to lift a chunk of land out of the reach of the Devourer, suspending it over the devastation, and other mages followed suit. 500 years later, civilization has mostly recovered from the aftereffects of the sundering, and trade among islands is flourishing, spurred by the manufacture of airships and zeppelins. The gods haven't been heard from since the sundering, and the main religions are ancestor worship, elementalism, and pantheism. The remnants of human civilization on the surface have abandoned all manufactured goods, eking out a simple nomadic existence with no tools more complex than a bone spear, as anything more would attract the attention of the Devourer, but this simplicity has led them to discover the power within their own minds. Some of the major themes are the conflict between magic and steam technology, aerial swashbuckling, and life in the constant shadow of the Devourer.
Homebrew Worlds- What is in YOUR world?
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Can'talas: The world has existed for thousands and thousands of years, but little is know of this. There is a constant struggle to keep the surface of the continent from the Mind Flayers, which hold a constant cycle of invasion and then being pushed back. I'm currenlty running a game that may just end this cycle, which is the reason so little is known about the past.
There are a good amount of other continents, but each is VERY unique. This is because the oceans aren't just oceans, they are literally a form of Planar travel. Like the plates that divide Earth's continents, there are 'plates' dividing the many lands and islands of the world, each a different Material Plane with its own unique details. Because of this, there is no actual END to the world, you simply continue on and on and on, encountering more islands as you go.
There are a good amount of other continents, but each is VERY unique. This is because the oceans aren't just oceans, they are literally a form of Planar travel. Like the plates that divide Earth's continents, there are 'plates' dividing the many lands and islands of the world, each a different Material Plane with its own unique details. Because of this, there is no actual END to the world, you simply continue on and on and on, encountering more islands as you go.
D+1
First Post
Didn't Wizards just recently collect about 11,000 of these? 
The world has struggled quietly against an ever-threatening Age of Darkness and is beginning once more to emerge. The glories of great civilizations past begin to flourish anew. Yet the greatest achievements of the past were also the cause of downfall again and again. Religious relics of the Great Cataclysm are sought by the devout and the devious. The technological artifacts of the Uttermost War are used as crude blades by barbarians wandering hardened plains, or in crumbling scrolls are said to be sealed forever in cursed tombs that they may not bring the world to its final end. A glowing flask may heal wounds or again unleash the Nine Plagues. A humming sword may end a war or end the world. As the world emerges so also do heroes to explore the dungeons of lost cities, to slay the dragons in wilderlands far beyond city walls, to found new kingdoms or topple great empires. They may seek only their own fates - but will the Fates in turn seek them?
The world has struggled quietly against an ever-threatening Age of Darkness and is beginning once more to emerge. The glories of great civilizations past begin to flourish anew. Yet the greatest achievements of the past were also the cause of downfall again and again. Religious relics of the Great Cataclysm are sought by the devout and the devious. The technological artifacts of the Uttermost War are used as crude blades by barbarians wandering hardened plains, or in crumbling scrolls are said to be sealed forever in cursed tombs that they may not bring the world to its final end. A glowing flask may heal wounds or again unleash the Nine Plagues. A humming sword may end a war or end the world. As the world emerges so also do heroes to explore the dungeons of lost cities, to slay the dragons in wilderlands far beyond city walls, to found new kingdoms or topple great empires. They may seek only their own fates - but will the Fates in turn seek them?
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
BARSOOM!
It's got IRONCLAD AIRSHIPS! MAN-EATING DINOSAURS! FLINTLOCK PISTOLS!
And NINJAS, SEXY SORCERESSES, BAD-A$$ BAD GUYS, FAT MERCHANTS, RED GUYS, BIG HONKIN' TWO-HANDED SWORDS WHAT CUT PEOPLE RIGHT IN HALF!
POW! ZAP! KABLOOIE!
It's my game. It's Edgar Rice Burroughs' name. Two great tastes, together again.
I like my campaign. I'm just not very good at describing it.
It's got IRONCLAD AIRSHIPS! MAN-EATING DINOSAURS! FLINTLOCK PISTOLS!
And NINJAS, SEXY SORCERESSES, BAD-A$$ BAD GUYS, FAT MERCHANTS, RED GUYS, BIG HONKIN' TWO-HANDED SWORDS WHAT CUT PEOPLE RIGHT IN HALF!
POW! ZAP! KABLOOIE!
It's my game. It's Edgar Rice Burroughs' name. Two great tastes, together again.
I like my campaign. I'm just not very good at describing it.
Viktyr Gehrig
First Post
Well, it's as yet unnamed.
The world is very much like modern Earth, a couple of decades since the turn of the millenium. Ancient conspiracies struggle to retain control over the world's governments, but rapid, dramatic changes have loosened everyone's grip. For the last two generations, parents have held their breath, hoping their children would not be amoung the rising numbers of mutants. Science pushed beyond all reasonable, safe standards has sparked accidents which turn some into supermen and others into monsters. Department-7 struggles to maintain order in a world that is changing faster than anyone's ability to keep up. And in the stars, travellers from an older, wiser race watch, waiting for the right time to introduce themselves...
It's a four-color superhero world, tinged with paranoia and conspiracy, sitting on the cusp of either the next Golden Age or the most terrible Dark Age humanity has ever known. While all of the options of a traditional comic superhero world are open, it also makes use of the conventions of the d20 system and D&D tradition-- shadow governments and science geniuses use adamantine in their secret experiments, powerful magicians prepare their spells from arcane tomes, and the lands of the dead form a Great Wheel. The enlightened Fraal seek to help lift humanity beyond its current limits, while the vile Illithids scheme to subjugate and control them.
And, in the center of all this is humanity themselves-- its heroes, its villains, its politicians and its everyday joes, each with their own agenda, trying to secure their own destiny.
The world is very much like modern Earth, a couple of decades since the turn of the millenium. Ancient conspiracies struggle to retain control over the world's governments, but rapid, dramatic changes have loosened everyone's grip. For the last two generations, parents have held their breath, hoping their children would not be amoung the rising numbers of mutants. Science pushed beyond all reasonable, safe standards has sparked accidents which turn some into supermen and others into monsters. Department-7 struggles to maintain order in a world that is changing faster than anyone's ability to keep up. And in the stars, travellers from an older, wiser race watch, waiting for the right time to introduce themselves...
It's a four-color superhero world, tinged with paranoia and conspiracy, sitting on the cusp of either the next Golden Age or the most terrible Dark Age humanity has ever known. While all of the options of a traditional comic superhero world are open, it also makes use of the conventions of the d20 system and D&D tradition-- shadow governments and science geniuses use adamantine in their secret experiments, powerful magicians prepare their spells from arcane tomes, and the lands of the dead form a Great Wheel. The enlightened Fraal seek to help lift humanity beyond its current limits, while the vile Illithids scheme to subjugate and control them.
And, in the center of all this is humanity themselves-- its heroes, its villains, its politicians and its everyday joes, each with their own agenda, trying to secure their own destiny.
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Altamont Ravenard
Explorer
Eidolas/Oneiros: A world where the Sun God has been put to sleep by the efforts of the Moon Goddess and the Master of Dreams (divine being also). Now the real world is shrouded in darkness and the World of Dreams is a tangible place where your alter ego adventures while your real form sleeps. While life is harsh and grim in Eidolas, the features of Oneiros are wild and fantastic, and your dream alter ego can be whatever you wish it to be (proto-campaign). Ultimately, the PC's vow to find the sleeping Sun God and bring him back to consciousness (hint: the Sun God is trapped, asleep, in the Cyclone of Nightmares in Oneiros). (Yes, this was partially inspired by how Midnight was described to me).
Something else I've been meaning to do: Nature's Wrath: Humanity has gone too far. The Twelve Druid merge with the land and unleash its fury. Most people are affected and transform into wild humanoid beasts while a minority of the population is unaffected and must strive to survive in this harsh environment.
AR
Something else I've been meaning to do: Nature's Wrath: Humanity has gone too far. The Twelve Druid merge with the land and unleash its fury. Most people are affected and transform into wild humanoid beasts while a minority of the population is unaffected and must strive to survive in this harsh environment.
AR
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Panathea - Old World & New From the flyer I sent out when the campaign began...
It is an Age of Exploration:
Far to the West a New World has been discovered. Her Forests and Mountains as yet unmapped, her Rivers uncharted, What lies beyond her coasts unknown.
It is an Age of Conquest:
The New World is peopled with Savages not as yet under the Just Rule of any Civilized King, Gold decorates the Temples and Barbarian Warlords of the Dark Elves of the Jungled Southlands. The Fertile Plains and Rich Forests and Mountains unplundered by the native Orcs. It is by the Justice of God Ours for the Taking.
It is an Age of Change:
War Ravages the Nations of the Old World, New Churches Rise, Heresies, Witches, and Monsters long thought Extinct rise in the Shadows, driven by the Will of the Devil, and a Mighty Nation burns.
It is an Age of Gunpowder, Magic, and Steel.
Are You Ready for the New Age?
The basic setting is similar to Europe in the 1600s, the Reformation and Counter Reformation are shatterin the faith that once held magic at bay, and the creatures once kept out by that faith are now returning. Sorcerous bloodlines once dormant reawaken, and wizards spells gain in power. Much of this was because of the convenient timing of 3rd edition, allowing the changeover of systems to accompany the rebirth of magic.
Most religions are variants on a single monotheistic faith, now shattered by greed, ignorance, and arrogance.
And Orcs are not the bad guys, they were in the lands of the New World first, Humans and Dwarfs are the invaders, much like the treatment of native Americans in our own world, with much the same ending...
The Auld Grump
It is an Age of Exploration:
Far to the West a New World has been discovered. Her Forests and Mountains as yet unmapped, her Rivers uncharted, What lies beyond her coasts unknown.
It is an Age of Conquest:
The New World is peopled with Savages not as yet under the Just Rule of any Civilized King, Gold decorates the Temples and Barbarian Warlords of the Dark Elves of the Jungled Southlands. The Fertile Plains and Rich Forests and Mountains unplundered by the native Orcs. It is by the Justice of God Ours for the Taking.
It is an Age of Change:
War Ravages the Nations of the Old World, New Churches Rise, Heresies, Witches, and Monsters long thought Extinct rise in the Shadows, driven by the Will of the Devil, and a Mighty Nation burns.
It is an Age of Gunpowder, Magic, and Steel.
Are You Ready for the New Age?
The basic setting is similar to Europe in the 1600s, the Reformation and Counter Reformation are shatterin the faith that once held magic at bay, and the creatures once kept out by that faith are now returning. Sorcerous bloodlines once dormant reawaken, and wizards spells gain in power. Much of this was because of the convenient timing of 3rd edition, allowing the changeover of systems to accompany the rebirth of magic.
Most religions are variants on a single monotheistic faith, now shattered by greed, ignorance, and arrogance.
And Orcs are not the bad guys, they were in the lands of the New World first, Humans and Dwarfs are the invaders, much like the treatment of native Americans in our own world, with much the same ending...
The Auld Grump
I'll Play...
Elements of my home-brew have been kicking around in one form or another for over 15 years. After a 7-year FR campaign in the 1990s, a short hiatus from D&D and learning of the immenint release of 3E, I dusted off, re-organized and re-ordered my reams of material into a campaign that began in early 2001.
FADED GLORY
For a hundred generations of Man, the Emorian Empire embodied the crowning glory of the Free Race's cultural, magical and technological achievement. All but the most desolate corners of Areth prospered under the ordered rule of Emor. Assisted by the followers of Osirian the Lightbringer, the One True God, emperors ruled from the Sapphire Throne with a firm, but just, hand. Now, however, like a mighty oak impervious to external enemies, Imperial Emor rots from within.
Over 200 winters ago, mighty but arrogant mages delved too deeply into dark magics proscribed by the Churh of Light, unleashing the Shadow-Plague. The provinces and peoples of the Empire where decimated. The madness consumed Emperor Narses III (the Kinslayer) and he made war upon the Elder Races. The Race Wars pitted reluctant Legions against their estwhile auxiliary allies - Elf, Dwarf, Halfling and Gnome. Only after a decade of unspeakable atrocities was Narses III revealed to be the Avatar of Azrael-Ahriman, accursed brother of Osirian. He summoned the fallen celestials Uriel the Damned, Baelzar the Faceless One, Voryndiel the Temptress, and Kryshni the Rat-Queen to his side and ruled as the Shadowlord.
For 20 years, blood and horror washed across the lands, until a disparate band of heros raised the banner of revolt. A grand alliance defeated and imprisoned the Shadowlord and his minions, but the cost was great. Imperial Emor descended into anarchy, rent by a hundred year of civil war, while province after province broke from the empire. The Elder Races, save for the opportunistic halflings, faded into memory. Thirty winters ago, the Emperor Legatus IX stripped the few remaining legions from the outlaying provinces to defend the Heartland from the Sythian horde riding from the South.
Now the Empire is but a pale shadow of its former self, exhausted and impotent. The Emperor, Legatus X, has stabilized the diminshed borders, but enemies lurk on every side. Lost provinces are left to fend for themselves, fighting off barbarian attacks, fiendish Felevar and brutish Warveds. A deep ecclesiastical schism threatens the very foundations of the Church of Light and a sleeping shadow stirs in the North.
For this campaign, I have combined late Roman/early Byzantine intrigue with elements of Dark Ages Britain, Merovingian France, Norman Sicily, medieval Ireland and pre-Roman Celtica. Ignorance seeks to extinguish the flickering light of civilization and learning. Life is hard and often short, particularly along the frontiers. Magic is difficult to obtain and many standbys of traditional D&D - plate armor, greatsword, heavy lance and even the stirrup - do not exist. Likewise, full-blooded elves, dwarves and gnomes are no more. The caeldyn (elf-blooded) and khazardyn (dwarf-blooded) join humans, halflings and the felinoid Saar as PC choices. There are no goblins, orcs or other goblinoids, although kobolds, gnolls and a number of custom monster races exist.
So far, it has been a ton of fun!
~ Old One
Elements of my home-brew have been kicking around in one form or another for over 15 years. After a 7-year FR campaign in the 1990s, a short hiatus from D&D and learning of the immenint release of 3E, I dusted off, re-organized and re-ordered my reams of material into a campaign that began in early 2001.
FADED GLORY
For a hundred generations of Man, the Emorian Empire embodied the crowning glory of the Free Race's cultural, magical and technological achievement. All but the most desolate corners of Areth prospered under the ordered rule of Emor. Assisted by the followers of Osirian the Lightbringer, the One True God, emperors ruled from the Sapphire Throne with a firm, but just, hand. Now, however, like a mighty oak impervious to external enemies, Imperial Emor rots from within.
Over 200 winters ago, mighty but arrogant mages delved too deeply into dark magics proscribed by the Churh of Light, unleashing the Shadow-Plague. The provinces and peoples of the Empire where decimated. The madness consumed Emperor Narses III (the Kinslayer) and he made war upon the Elder Races. The Race Wars pitted reluctant Legions against their estwhile auxiliary allies - Elf, Dwarf, Halfling and Gnome. Only after a decade of unspeakable atrocities was Narses III revealed to be the Avatar of Azrael-Ahriman, accursed brother of Osirian. He summoned the fallen celestials Uriel the Damned, Baelzar the Faceless One, Voryndiel the Temptress, and Kryshni the Rat-Queen to his side and ruled as the Shadowlord.
For 20 years, blood and horror washed across the lands, until a disparate band of heros raised the banner of revolt. A grand alliance defeated and imprisoned the Shadowlord and his minions, but the cost was great. Imperial Emor descended into anarchy, rent by a hundred year of civil war, while province after province broke from the empire. The Elder Races, save for the opportunistic halflings, faded into memory. Thirty winters ago, the Emperor Legatus IX stripped the few remaining legions from the outlaying provinces to defend the Heartland from the Sythian horde riding from the South.
Now the Empire is but a pale shadow of its former self, exhausted and impotent. The Emperor, Legatus X, has stabilized the diminshed borders, but enemies lurk on every side. Lost provinces are left to fend for themselves, fighting off barbarian attacks, fiendish Felevar and brutish Warveds. A deep ecclesiastical schism threatens the very foundations of the Church of Light and a sleeping shadow stirs in the North.
For this campaign, I have combined late Roman/early Byzantine intrigue with elements of Dark Ages Britain, Merovingian France, Norman Sicily, medieval Ireland and pre-Roman Celtica. Ignorance seeks to extinguish the flickering light of civilization and learning. Life is hard and often short, particularly along the frontiers. Magic is difficult to obtain and many standbys of traditional D&D - plate armor, greatsword, heavy lance and even the stirrup - do not exist. Likewise, full-blooded elves, dwarves and gnomes are no more. The caeldyn (elf-blooded) and khazardyn (dwarf-blooded) join humans, halflings and the felinoid Saar as PC choices. There are no goblins, orcs or other goblinoids, although kobolds, gnolls and a number of custom monster races exist.
So far, it has been a ton of fun!
~ Old One
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