PLEASE Help w/ Homebrew

[Bonehoard Taffer]

Well,

D & D has been getting a bit boring for me, so I decided to go with a hombrew campaign setting. For lack of a better name, I call my world Hel (after the Norse godess). However, it's not really based on Norse mythology. She just seemed to be an appropriate diety based upon my campaign concept.

Here's the jist of my world. It's constantly dark, and about half the world is over run by undead. The undead in the setting exist in pretty much a feudalistic setting with one undead (I haven't decided exactly which type but probably a lich or vampire) more or less in charge. However there are also several other types around too (skeletons, zombies, wights, ghouls, etc) that serve other undead or clerics and necromancers. There is one region of lawful good paladins and clerics that combat the undead. They are allied with dwarves, elves, gomes, and halflings. They have one other ally, a black dragon and her followers. The black dragon runs her nation as a dictatorship, and of course is evil. The black dragon, however, has no desire to see the undead overtake the world. So, it oftentimes allys itself with the paladins.

Because there are lots of undead running around, holy water has become as valuable as gold. It has also been outlawed in those areas where undead rule is unquestionable. Finally, because of the massive amounts of negative energy, much of the water supply has been contaminated so as to make it usless for producing holy water.

For my maps I have found a bunch of Dungeon Magazines Maps of Mystery that I like, and at least for the time being will use those.

I have started running into problems though, that I would really appreciate some veteran help on. One problem I face is that because of the lack of sun, farming will be a problem. One possible solution is to make the people have to hunt for their food and also because of the darkness many kinds of edible mushrooms, molds, and fungi are popping up. But I am not real sure yet. I was talking with a friend, though, and he brought up the Underdark. I think I will look over my info on the Underdark for a hint or two, but ANY ideas are most welcome.

My other big problem is how did the world get like this? I am thinking apocalyptic curse, but I am stumped on the exact details.

Well, this is my world so far. Note that I am not interrested in recreating Ravenloft or Hollowfaust. If anyone could give me suggestions for the problems I am facing I would appreciate it. Also if you can think of other things I haven't considerd yet, please bring them to my attention. Thanks.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Hmm, So you have a world that's gone dark and is filled with negative energy.

Well, if that happened to my world I would guess that something has either sucked up all the positive energy or impeded it's flow into your world. Now some of it is still moving through the world so that you've got your kingdom of paladins. May even be running through that area at a very high rate.

The complementary phenomena is that negative energy has started to flow into the world at an increased rate. Obviously this is related to the lack of positive energy, but it's less interesting if we claim that the energy simply ebbs and flows on its on.

Since I am a wicked sort of DM, I would say that the Gaea of your world has invited the negative energy rather than become an energyless void. While the undead are taking advantage of this you would also see the eco-system adapting to take advantage of this dark energy that is coming to replace the sun. Even in positive energy areas the life is adapting to feed directly off of this energy.

The new eco-system is what allows the two kingdoms of the living to survive, though the undead have a competitive advantage that is only offset by the two remaining powers magical might.

Druids are having to go through a lot of retraining, and may even be very upset with the Gaea figure for his/her role in this.

Unfortunately the sudden imbalance of positive and negative energy is bad for some aspects of life such as water for people.

Heck you could you even say that the new imbalance of energies has affected all the elemental energies in strange ways.

Water is never just water anymore unless you purify it, it is now always, or at least far more frequently, either holy or unholy and the same is true of fire. Earth and Air have far larger resevoirs of elemental energy so they are less affected, but you would still have foul earth and bad winds and their opposites.

The undead aren't a necessarily a cause of this situation, but are taking advantage of it. They, being very sensitive to energy flow, could sense the imbalance coming and prepared to for the transition period. When things had to change they flowed out into the world and really upset Gaeas emergency plan.

Heck the Paladins could have even been a part of her plan, when the undead proved far more overwhelming and strong then they realized, then Gaea pulled up all the remaining positive energy into their kingdom and used it as a bastion to break their tide.

The dragon had its own deal worked out.

In the new environment Druids now act as scouts for the good side since their net neutral balance of positive and negative energy makes them more difficult for the undead masters to detect and less vulnerable to high amounts of either energy.

If you wanted to go Earthdawn level over the top, most of the remaining mortal classes could be developing new techniques and powers in the changing and magically charged environment.

Either way, necromancy will need some rebalancing, otherwise it'll be way too powerful in a world filled with negative energy.

If you send more details this speculation won't be so wild.

If you're just talking ecosystem, plants that feed off of negative and positive energy have DnD precedents. The drow used to have their own energy which empowered all thier stuff.

 

[LostSoul]

You don't have to answer the question about why the world turned out the way it did. At least not 100%. I'd suggest forming the answer in terms of myths; many people believe one, many people believe another, and the undead have their own view.

In the dark lands, farming can be done as per your underdark suggestion. The people who live there are probably considered "cattle" by the undead - the only source of positive energy to fuel their undeath. So maybe Hel doesn't really want to overrun the entire world.

Hell, I'd probably make Hel both good and bad as the main diety, the creator. She believes in life through pain - all life is suffering, after all. Only through despair, longing, pain, etc. can you truely appreciate the finer things in life; only that way can you really find out who you are and what you are made of.

I think it would be really cool if you run your world as if it were all mystery. There are the orthodox sentiments, and then is reality. Your PCs experience things that "should not be", according to the elders. A lot of paradox, such as a ray of sunlight in the midst of the darkness

That's just my take on things, though.

 

[Ghostmoon]

Hello,

In D&D, the sun is sometimes explained away as portal to the Positive Energy Plane. In your homebrew, something in the past may have switched the "polarity" to the Negative Energy Plane. So now, there is a black sun that no one can see, but continues to rain down negative energy to the planet.

Alternatively, you could have the original sun as something of a mix between Positive Energy and Fire. When the switch happened, the Fire part continued to burn, although the Negative Energy given off might make the sun look something like this:

http://www.wischik.com/lu/travel/sun-red-fire.jpg

Explanations for the massive undead population could be that a meteor crashed into the planet in the past. The meteor was actually the fragment of a planet (which was destroyed) taken over by the undead and they now have begun to spread on your world.

Another explanation (and one taken from the "All Flesh Must Be Eatan" RPG) is that something has gone wrong with "The Great Wheel of Reincarnation". In the past, the souls of the dead were reborn into new bodies. However, something is wrong and now souls are returned to dead bodies, forcing them to rise as undead.

Hope this helps,
Ghostmoon

 

[Bonehoard Taffer]

Wow,

thanks you guys for your suggestions. I mean it. Those are some cool ideas.

Dr. Strangemonkey, what reasons would my Gaea have for drawing in negative energy? If I make her the only diety, who would oppose her and what would her motivation and purpose be? Ecosystem is only part of the mix. I want the divine force(s) in my campaign to be a major part of what's going on. What did you have in mind when it came to the necromancy? Also what did you mean when you said "The dragon had its own deal worked out." ?

Lost Soul, I really like your idea of Hel being being both the good and the bad. So does that mean that she is the only diety in my outer planes? Or do I make her a judgement godess, goddess of good and evil, light and dark, life and death, etc. Some of that stuff seems a little out of Hel's domain, but I guess that there is nothing saying that she is the Hel of the Norse myths. I guess I could create a whole new diety to work it the way I need it to.

Ghostmoon, so would the black sun function just as the regular sun only raining down negative engergy. Stuff would grow as normal, the only difference being the negative energy thing?

 

[Ghostmoon]

Hello,

Well, I was thinking the black sun was cool, but I like the dark (fire and negative energy) sun better. The surface would still have dim, cold light and things could still grow, although sick and weakly. The surface may be slowly (or rapidly) being overgrown by some horrific flora from the Abyss, which can survive in this climate. Undead plant life could also be introduced into the game (in the Creature Catalog, I believe).

This scenario may have some advantages over a purely black sun. It allows you to reveal the horror of the changes in broad sweeping vistas (eg: quivering plains overgrown with tentacled plant-things that undulate beneath the feeble light of the dark sun.) and really set a mood. Also, for those who are a stickler for such details, it may provide an adequate explanation for plants and animals still growing and living on the surface of the world.

Hope this helps,
Ghostmoon

 

[F5]

Another option you could have for your Negative/Fire elemental sun is that as it rains down negative energy on your world it actually strengthens undead. Say the dim, unholy light of the sun acts as a Desecrate spell. The result of this is that vampires and other undead would actually be strengthened during the day. But when the sun sets, things go back to normal, making night the time for the freedom-fighting paladins to make their counter-atacks and so on. Reverse the day/night cycle, and make the heroes come slinking out of their holes at night.

I like the idea of plants that have started to adapt to the engative energy. You should have lots of carnivorous plants, even stuff that's normally benign, like food crops. Maybe corn with little tendrils that shoot out and catch mice, devouring them and draining their lifeforce to sustain the plant. Farmers would have to wear heavy leather suits, to keep from being attacked by their own crops. And there could be weed infestations that would require intervention from the town militia.

It sounds like you've got a great start on your homebrew. Have fun!

 

[Bonehoard Taffer]

Hello,

Well, I was thinking the black sun was cool, but I like the dark (fire and negative energy) sun better. The surface would still have dim, cold light and things could still grow, although sick and weakly. The surface may be slowly (or rapidly) being overgrown by some horrific flora from the Abyss, which can survive in this climate. Undead plant life could also be introduced into the game (in the Creature Catalog, I believe).

This scenario may have some advantages over a purely black sun. It allows you to reveal the horror of the changes in broad sweeping vistas (eg: quivering plains overgrown with tentacled plant-things that undulate beneath the feeble light of the dark sun.) and really set a mood. Also, for those who are a stickler for such details, it may provide an adequate explanation for plants and animals still growing and living on the surface of the world.

Hope this helps,
Ghostmoon

Ghostmoon,

so according to your description, undead that normally only come out at night would be able to appear at anytime right? that sun really works well, because it's not as though it's like midnight 24 hours a day. There is still a certain amount of light to see by. Also, what effect would a sun like that have on the dessert regions? Would they still exist? I am really liking your ideas, btw. I also liked the picture of the sun. The undead plants sound really cool too.

I have another idea that makes use of the sun, but this is more political. In the dark, the drow have began to resurface and ally themselves with the undead for the purpose of taking revenge on the surface dwelling elves.

thanks again for everyone that is giving me their ideas.

Oh, F5, I really like the idea of the sun acting as a desecrate spell. That is a particularly nice (and nasty) touch.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I really like the idea of the sun as a portal for the energies of the plane.

If that's true then it needs to be worked into why the kingdom of paladins is recieving such an influx of positive energy. This may not be strictly necessary, but the general impression is that Paladins are pretty rare or at least dispersed. The presence of concentrated numbers would have to be a symptom of the general problem somehow.

My idea on the Gaea figure inviting in the negative energy and the negative energy ecology ties into the mixed sun idea.

Say the sun is an artifact related to Gaea as either her own creation or a modified part of herself. Gaea originally creates the sun as a means to power herself and all life on the planet up through the influx of energies from the planes. When the flow of positive energy gets messed up, Gaea has a choice...

...either unbalance the flows of energy and bring in the negative energy to fill the void and develop the new ecosystem, hoping that all goes well...

...severely weaken the power of the energies and life/death generally and leave herself open to whatever powers she originally put down by creating the sun and making the energies flow.

Now for my tastes those original powers should not be the undead or the force that messed up the flow of positive energy. Those original powers should be a threat to everyone that only Gaea and the very oldest and most enlightened druids and heroes can comprehend.

If you really wanna go mad Cthulu crazy those forces could be manipulating both the paladins and the undead in an attempt to force Gaea to tone down the energy flooding in order to lessen the conflict.

But I think it's just as good to simple leave them watching and waiting.

The druids generally, therefore, are very concerned about the influx of undead, which was an unintended and unlooked for consequence as far as Gaea was concerned and may muck up her plans, but are not willing to sponsor anything that will interfere with the plan to adjust the ecosystem.

There should also be a group very concerned with figuring out what actually happened to the positive energy and who are thus very 'interested' in what is happening with the paladins.

For me, the really interesting part of this equation is how the dragons work into it, and why big black was both prepared and able to survive without any special advantages relating to the energy problem.

Maybe their sorcerous blood is indicative of something more than simple spontaneous casting.

Also, the undead should be more than simply more powerful.

As the ecology changes they should be changing too, and maybe in ways the high caste of undead doesn't appreciate or appreciates too much.

What does it mean to a Vampire when the 'light' of the sun is suddenly sustaining or the organs of a zombie become so filled with negative energy that they actually begin to 'work'?

How does the blood of a human who has feasted on the plants of the new ecology taste?

A zombie who can breathe negative energy through his lungs might be far more powerful, but he is also suddenly vulnerable to critical hits and poison gas.

What does it mean when a Zombie's synapses begin firing?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Necromancy wise, I was simply pointing out that as it stands a world with high ambient levels of negative energy is going to empower necromantic magic all over the place.

A potentially very unbalancing situation.

Three solutions:

1.) Cop out: the high levels of ambient energy actually permeate everything granting a fair level of resistance to most necromantic efforts and with a few notable exceptions most spells thus have the same effect.

2.) Cthulu out: the high levels of ambient energy do make necromantic spells super powerful, but they also make them harder to control and cause people to go crazy mad.

3.) Halrua fix it: there has been a necromantic version of the industrial revolution/renaissance and every class and person now benefits from the new understanding of the manipulation of positive and negative energy. Necromancers are now the only mancers in a world filled with thieves who can turn into gas, fighters who know how to do ability damage, and clerics who can wield turn abilities as attacks on anyone.