Hyperborea - Howard/Lovecraftian setting based on ancient map needs ideas!

[Turanil]

Well, the first thing that springs to mind is the four classical elements (Earth, Fire, Air, Water). Each of the fourths is a land wherein that element is dominant.

By the way, any ideas which fourth has which element?

 

[Emirikol]

Frostburn.

Avoid the "elemental" theme. About every fourth adventure throughout the history of D&D has been "elementals." It's boring, overdone, and cliche.

It's like basing every adventure on a god. "Hey, it's a disease adventure..it must be the god incabulos cult behind it." "Hey it's a nature adventure, I wonder how many druids there will be."

Break the mould.

sig

jh

 

[Turanil]

Avoid the "elemental" theme. It's boring, overdone, and cliche.

Maybe it's overdone and cliche, but myself I only remember the Temple of Elemental Evil. Are there others I am not aware of? In any case, this elemental aspect needs not be emphasized. More of an undelying theme. I was more thinking of having: "Air" is but a land of storms where Hastur worshippers reign, sort of degenerated humans modeled on Air Genasi but not necessarily with the name and idea they are haf-elementals. Likewise, "Fire" is a land with lots of volcanoes where Cthugha is worshipped; "Earth" is a desert land or rocky outcrops where Tsattoghua is worshipped; and "Water" is a land of swamps and lakes where Cthulhu worshippers rule. Something in that vein anyway.

 

[Turanil]

Avoid the "elemental" theme. It's boring, overdone, and cliche.

A different direction (forget about elements) could involve dragons. There could be decadent cities of Mojh (from AE), draconian soldiers, half-dragons nobles, and dragons slumbering in caverns. The four lands (which by the way are all surrounded by mountains) could be some sort of "forbidden country". Loosely based off Melnibone whose glory lies in its past.

Now dragons would be the masters of magic, not mere monsters waiting on their treasure hoard. They will have an important role in the campaign. So far I envision this:

-- Instead of a normal pantheon of deities in this setting, thre are evil alien gods on one side, and the dragons on the other side (still alien but less dangerous). So, the dragons have networks of servants of all sorts acting on their behalf.

-- Dragons are really magical creatures, not just creatures with magical abilities. For example, when they sleep, this is not mere slumber. It's before all because dragons spend much of their time wandering the world in Astral form. Not only the prime material plane, but also outer planes, etc. As a consequence, dragons knows many things, many secrets.

-- Many of the things that people believe about dragons are superstitions and misconceptions. For example, dragons do not necessarily (and in fact rarely) crave for material treasure (unless it is magic items). They crave for magic. In fact, these huge beasts feed essentially on magical energies in the Astral plane. They don't need flesh. When an evil dragon devours a person, it's generally to scare people, not for food.

 

[Tonguez]

THIS IS NOT A RELIGIOUS POST but the map reminded me of the 'Four Rivers of Eden'

Genesis 2:10-14. "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah (Arabia), where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia (Africa). And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria (north of Babylonia). And the fourth river is Euphrates."

Anyway have you seen this site it's great inspiration for a Antediluvian 'Atlantis' setting with such interesting components as 'Mayan Light Sabres, Extraterrestial gods and Flying Serpent Chariots'

 

[Cthulhudrew]

If you're going to go with the Hyperborea/CAS feel to things, the short story "The Ice Demon" in the Hyperborea cycle hints at the notion that the glacier that is slowly covering Hyperborea may in fact be sentient.

 

[jdrakeh]

I did something with Kumquat Tattoo (see .sig) that may work well here. Specifically, I set up the gods and at least one natural element of the world as being [spoliers ----->]

Spoiler

emotions and ideals of certain populations given physical form

[<----- spoilers].

Anyhow, that might work out well here as a way to explain things that are overtly magical but otherwise lack any explanation.

[Edit: Very cool map, BTW.]

 

[Tonguez]

Septentrionalium Creative Exercise

So if we turn this into a crwative exercise do we continue here or start a new thread?

Rules:

1. You may post 1 idea and then must wait 2 post before you post again.
2. The Map is our starting point
3. Keep your idas consistent with those who posted before you
4. Follow the theme be be creative as you like

Theme: Lovecraftian/Howardian Antediluvian World
Compatible with DnD, Iron Heroes etc

Need to decide: Magic Level

First Post
Septentrionalium is a flat disc-shaped world surrounded by a circle of storm wracked ocean beyond which is only chaos and endless mists. Temperatures are warm ranging from temperate to tropical. At the hub sits the Polus Articus a towering rock spire made of some unknown material and said to be full of power. The Polus Articus sits in a huge lake from which flows four rivers that flow out to the four corners of the world...

 

[BRP2]

Here would be my idea of magic: It's powerful, but not omnipotent, even at its highest level(perhaps with an exception to gods). For example, at its highest level, a god-like bearing would be more likely to send a giant tidal wave at a fleet of ships than alter reality with a "Wish" spell.

It is more risky/costly compared to DnD magic, but it isn't pure evil like in normal Conan settings. Just raw power that can shape the user depending on how he uses it. For example, someone who cures wounds would find his body becoming slightly more angelic, while someone who uses it in a corrupt or dark manner will become demonic. Rather limiting between good and evil, there are a lot of transformations that could take place. Fire users' body temperatures rising and body turns red, Necromancers becoming undead-like(to the point of becoming liches after many, many years), enchanters becoming fey-like, ect.

Mechanically, I see this being done best by a very developed set of Warlock variants.

You can use this magic system to explain the existence of races. For example, let's say many, many years ago, humans settled on the center continent, a tribe for each island. The magical islands, over generations, shaped the humans into entirely different species in hastened evolution. Or better yet, keep it a mystery, leaving clues that the these "demi-humans" existed first and when they began to move away, they lost their magical/odd features.

 

[Herobizkit]

I like the way that Tales of Lankhmar handled magic. They basically eliminated the Cleric class and turned the wizards into White and Black Wizards. White Wizards used priest spells but cast them as wizards, while Black Wizards had the usual run of spells. However, as Black Wizards grew in level, they ran the risk of suffering a random "mutation" by having access to "Dark Powers".

From a d20 standpoint:
-- Favoured Souls and Sorcerers (And Adepts, if you like) are the "main" casters of the world. This should affect the power level of your world nicely.
-- Wizard and Cleric become NPC classes; Wizards learn magic for scholarly pursuits only (reprising their learned Sage role), while Clerics who pray to their God(s?) do so in their temples, away from prying eyes (they're Cloistered Clerics now).
-- "Mutations" are always detrimental. I can't think of any suitable charts off-hand... If you can find a random chart, remove all the beneficial mutations and count those rolls as "No Effect"; the PC escapes demonic influence or what have you... for that level, anyway.
-- You could really cheeze off your players and bar acess to spells highter than 3rd unless they perform special quests... could be fun. One quest per new highest spell level...