Sanglorian
Adventurer
Hi folks,
I've been reading along during the last couple of weeks but not in a position to contribute - it's great to see the new developments! (I'm particularly liking the Witch Clans).
I was interested to read your suggestions for languages, Daztur, but I think we shouldn't fill in details like that at this stage. I think the fact that language hasn't come up organically shows that it's not important to the setting, at least for the moment.
In fact, I think it would be a good rule for the setting to say that only information within hexes, random encounters or stories is canonical - contributors are welcome to add extra thoughts or ideas, but these aren't binding.
Does anyone here know a good content management system? It would be great if we could gather the content we've created in different categories as we need it. For example, I love that the mega-document allows me to search everything we've created, but a document that size slows down my computer enormously even when it's fully loaded. For a lot of things, I'd like to be able to access a smaller file with just the hexes for one region - but it would be a lot of work to keep each smaller file up to date, which is why I thought a content manager could help.
At least, would you be able to spin the appendices into a separate Google Doc, Daztur? I found making the last updates to the index of monsters very difficult because my computer was so slow to respond.
On that note, the index of monsters should be up to date, and I've added a couple of categories to the appendices: the Witch Clans and the Sunset Lands.
I'm loving the pictures to illustrate each region. What good sources of public domain art are out there? I'm a fan of Liam's Pictures from Old Books, though it's difficult to navigate.
At the moment, entries have been mainly in the form of hexes. There were a few of another type - the random encounter - but they got rolled into hexes. Recently, though, we've had a couple of entries of a different nature - what we might call stories or expositions. Is there a way we can standardise these entries (maybe give them a code by region, with the first story about the Cornfields being A1, for example)? I do think it's a good idea to take some stories that are currently within hexes and put them in the greater region description (for example, the Witch Clans region should have the details about the Witch Clans, rather than those being in one of the hexes describing the Dungers).
Finally, I sorted the monsters of the Shrouded Lands by type, as best I could. I've included the results below. Like the maps I made, this is non-canonical and I don't intend to update it.
I think there are some interesting results: we have constructs (mainly golems), chimerics, dogs, worms, no horses (except dead ones), giant insects, talking animals, undead and elementals. Often mentioned but never seen alive are dragons and gods. If there are outsiders in this setting, they are rare.
Humanoids seem to form into a number of categories: essentially human (dwarves, halflings, gnomes, etc.), bloodline (genasi, tieflings), having animal properties (gnolls, aarocockra, kobolds, etc.), transformed humans (troglodytes, were-*), giants and fey (I'm lumping goblinoids in with the fey, which I think fits their flavour in this setting).
Maybe those results are typical for a D&D setting, but it seems to me that we have quite an unusual bundle of monsters, even though individually most of them are standard D&D fare.
CATEGORIES
Constructs
Golems (flesh, clay, giant beeswax), the animated sword.
Humanoids
Dwarves (deep, derro, southern), fire genasi (gnolls), gnomes (sand), halflings, orcs (half-orcs), tieflings, trolls (?), Heget, Heget’s Sons
Chimeric (?) humanoids
Aarokocra, gnolls, swine-harpies, homonculi, kobolds, minotaurs,
Transformed humanoids
Dopplegangers, ettins, Rojarshans, time-splintered sages, troglodytes, were-men, were-sharks, were-spider monkeys
Giants
Giants (cloud, frost, hill, stone, storm), ogres,
Fey
Dryads, seelie fey, unseelie fey, selkies, the unicorn (?), elves (high, half-elves, seelie, unseelie)
Goblinoids (fey?)
Bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins,
Chimerics
Goatscorpions, griffons, manticores, mermaids, owlbears, the peryton (?), the xortoise (?), the destroying angel (?)
Animals
Ghost apes, courier bats, blood falcons, ibises, the white raven, boars, cattle (aurochs, night, red), giant crayfish, albino crocodiles, deer, dogs (blind, black, blink (?)), painted elephants, fish, su-giraffes (?), goats, mosquitos, the kraken (?), leucrotta (?), mammoths, spider monkeys, ostriches, wooly rhinoceroses, sheep, snakes (pythons, winged vipers, albino), flying cats, spiders, large squid, stirges (?), giant snapping turtles, warg (?), whales, Widow’s Mites
Worms
Worms (grey, purple, waker)
Giant insects
Ankhegs, fire beetles, giant bees, man-sized centipedes, giant stag beetles,
Talking animals
Nordenbjorn, the mockingbird, talking frogs
Cursed
Razor cats, vampire cattle (also undead), plague mice
Undead
Vampire cattle (also cursed), drow-ghosts, eyes of flame and fear (skeletal minotaurs), ghosts, ghouls, Grey Revenants, flayed hides of horses, liches, arch liches, ice mummies, skeletons
Outsiders
Efreet, snake-demons, the sphere of annihilation
Elementals
Fire elements, water spirits, galeb duhr, sandlings, the being of fire and smoke (?)
Dragons
Drakes, dragons (beyond the Edge)
Legendary, rumoured or extinct
Demi-gods, dragons (blue, red, topaz), phoenix
Unknown
Aboleths, firebirds (animal? elemental?), burning eagles (elemental?), gilded butterflies (animal?), geas eaters, gloomwings (animal? not a monster at all?)
I've been reading along during the last couple of weeks but not in a position to contribute - it's great to see the new developments! (I'm particularly liking the Witch Clans).
I was interested to read your suggestions for languages, Daztur, but I think we shouldn't fill in details like that at this stage. I think the fact that language hasn't come up organically shows that it's not important to the setting, at least for the moment.
In fact, I think it would be a good rule for the setting to say that only information within hexes, random encounters or stories is canonical - contributors are welcome to add extra thoughts or ideas, but these aren't binding.
Does anyone here know a good content management system? It would be great if we could gather the content we've created in different categories as we need it. For example, I love that the mega-document allows me to search everything we've created, but a document that size slows down my computer enormously even when it's fully loaded. For a lot of things, I'd like to be able to access a smaller file with just the hexes for one region - but it would be a lot of work to keep each smaller file up to date, which is why I thought a content manager could help.
At least, would you be able to spin the appendices into a separate Google Doc, Daztur? I found making the last updates to the index of monsters very difficult because my computer was so slow to respond.
On that note, the index of monsters should be up to date, and I've added a couple of categories to the appendices: the Witch Clans and the Sunset Lands.
I'm loving the pictures to illustrate each region. What good sources of public domain art are out there? I'm a fan of Liam's Pictures from Old Books, though it's difficult to navigate.
At the moment, entries have been mainly in the form of hexes. There were a few of another type - the random encounter - but they got rolled into hexes. Recently, though, we've had a couple of entries of a different nature - what we might call stories or expositions. Is there a way we can standardise these entries (maybe give them a code by region, with the first story about the Cornfields being A1, for example)? I do think it's a good idea to take some stories that are currently within hexes and put them in the greater region description (for example, the Witch Clans region should have the details about the Witch Clans, rather than those being in one of the hexes describing the Dungers).
Finally, I sorted the monsters of the Shrouded Lands by type, as best I could. I've included the results below. Like the maps I made, this is non-canonical and I don't intend to update it.
I think there are some interesting results: we have constructs (mainly golems), chimerics, dogs, worms, no horses (except dead ones), giant insects, talking animals, undead and elementals. Often mentioned but never seen alive are dragons and gods. If there are outsiders in this setting, they are rare.
Humanoids seem to form into a number of categories: essentially human (dwarves, halflings, gnomes, etc.), bloodline (genasi, tieflings), having animal properties (gnolls, aarocockra, kobolds, etc.), transformed humans (troglodytes, were-*), giants and fey (I'm lumping goblinoids in with the fey, which I think fits their flavour in this setting).
Maybe those results are typical for a D&D setting, but it seems to me that we have quite an unusual bundle of monsters, even though individually most of them are standard D&D fare.
CATEGORIES
Constructs
Golems (flesh, clay, giant beeswax), the animated sword.
Humanoids
Dwarves (deep, derro, southern), fire genasi (gnolls), gnomes (sand), halflings, orcs (half-orcs), tieflings, trolls (?), Heget, Heget’s Sons
Chimeric (?) humanoids
Aarokocra, gnolls, swine-harpies, homonculi, kobolds, minotaurs,
Transformed humanoids
Dopplegangers, ettins, Rojarshans, time-splintered sages, troglodytes, were-men, were-sharks, were-spider monkeys
Giants
Giants (cloud, frost, hill, stone, storm), ogres,
Fey
Dryads, seelie fey, unseelie fey, selkies, the unicorn (?), elves (high, half-elves, seelie, unseelie)
Goblinoids (fey?)
Bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins,
Chimerics
Goatscorpions, griffons, manticores, mermaids, owlbears, the peryton (?), the xortoise (?), the destroying angel (?)
Animals
Ghost apes, courier bats, blood falcons, ibises, the white raven, boars, cattle (aurochs, night, red), giant crayfish, albino crocodiles, deer, dogs (blind, black, blink (?)), painted elephants, fish, su-giraffes (?), goats, mosquitos, the kraken (?), leucrotta (?), mammoths, spider monkeys, ostriches, wooly rhinoceroses, sheep, snakes (pythons, winged vipers, albino), flying cats, spiders, large squid, stirges (?), giant snapping turtles, warg (?), whales, Widow’s Mites
Worms
Worms (grey, purple, waker)
Giant insects
Ankhegs, fire beetles, giant bees, man-sized centipedes, giant stag beetles,
Talking animals
Nordenbjorn, the mockingbird, talking frogs
Cursed
Razor cats, vampire cattle (also undead), plague mice
Undead
Vampire cattle (also cursed), drow-ghosts, eyes of flame and fear (skeletal minotaurs), ghosts, ghouls, Grey Revenants, flayed hides of horses, liches, arch liches, ice mummies, skeletons
Outsiders
Efreet, snake-demons, the sphere of annihilation
Elementals
Fire elements, water spirits, galeb duhr, sandlings, the being of fire and smoke (?)
Dragons
Drakes, dragons (beyond the Edge)
Legendary, rumoured or extinct
Demi-gods, dragons (blue, red, topaz), phoenix
Unknown
Aboleths, firebirds (animal? elemental?), burning eagles (elemental?), gilded butterflies (animal?), geas eaters, gloomwings (animal? not a monster at all?)
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