Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

I've been going through the doc adding quite a bit of art, the doc is up to 316 pages due to a lot more art taking up a lot more space and all written content except for stuff on page 52 has been added in. Just flipping through the pages seeing all the art is really beautiful, so much good public domain stuff if you really start digging (have been finding Art Nouveau fairy tale book illustrations and other good stuff).

Got an idea for a hex (what happens when a half-elf and a half-orc have kids might not be what you expect, will write it up in a while).

Teodo, the Iron Lion (50.30)
Connected to Hex 51.29

Not all meteors are harbingers of woe and chaos from beyond the stars. Those that fall from the sun are gifts to the Lion in Splendor's faithful. These meteorites are made of a iron of unsurpassed purity, which is considered sacred. The Last Light was forged long ago from meteoric iron. When drawn in darkness, it emits a dusky light. Countless creatures of the night have fallen to it, dying as they screech from white-hot wounds. Against creatures of the day, it is merely a blade of exceptional quality.

There were once many blades like the Last Light. But the warriors of the Golden Realm began to slaughter the races of night, sneaking into their lairs and dens and murdering them without the slightest justification. The Lion in Splendor, aghast at their excesses, demanded that all but one of the meteoric blades be melted and molded into the shape of a great crowned lion. This monument would serve as a reminder that their god watched and protected them. The statue was named Teodo, and is the Golden Realm's most sacred monument.

When the gnolls plundered the Golden Realm, they tried to bring Teodo into the City of Smoke, but the Great Mother demanded it be placed far away from her. Teodo lies in the desert out of sight of the city, staring with stoic eyes towards his homeland. During the statue's long journey, several gnolls became faithful of the Lion in Splendor thanks to the evangelism of Abassi, a former lay priest turned slave. Abassi leads these so-called "praying gnolls" in secret worship near Teodo.

Hooks
-Do meteors from the sun still fall? What is forged from their iron?
-What happens when a non-faithful handles meteoric iron?
-Has Teodo ever proved to be more than a symbol of faith?
-Why does the Great Mother hate the statue so much?
-What would happen to "praying gnolls" if they were discovered?
-What other slaves from the Golden Realm dwell around the City of Smoke?

And new map: http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/4141/march3map.png
I'll have the next version of the compilation (with a huge amount of new art, over a hundred new pieces I think haven't been counting, up in a day or two).

The Devil's Bible (29.14)

The Legend of the Devil's Bible, which is well known to occult scholars in the Shuttered City, is generally agreed to proceed thusly: A certain acolyte of the Temple Indivisible, having broken a sacred vow, had been condemned to live as a hermit in a bricked-up cell in the depths of the Steeple, with only a small slot to pass food and water to him. The terms of his imprisonment were such: that he would create an illuminated bible of the Temple Indivisible's theology. The acolyte despaired, for such a task took decades and even then was accomplished via teams of scribes. Surely, he would spend his entire life creating the book. In the depths of his despair he called out to whatever powers would help him, and to his great surprise he was answered. The Devil appeared before him, and made him an offer: He would provide the acolyte with the power to scribe and illuminate the book in but 30 days, if only the acolyte would agree to include the Devil's portrait in the bible. Unwisely, the acolyte accepted.

Thirty days later the acolyte rang the bell that signaled that his work was complete. Templars equipped with hammers to level the bricked door and Priests equipped with scourges to punish him if they found the book unfinished (as they suspected it was) proceeded down to the depths of the Steeple. To their horror, they found the acolyte lying bloodless and dying before the lectern on which lay the finished Bible, open to its middle, its bizarrely illustrated center plates open to the world. The acolyte spoke his last confession, describing the bargain he had made, and died. Around him lay scattered inkwells and jars of paint, all of them empty, except for wells and jars of red, which lay gathering dust and spiderwebs.

The Devil's Bible was found to be beautifully illuminated and possessing of unmatched calligraphy. Weirdly, no portrait of the Devil could be found within. The only things unusual about the book was its vibrant red marginalia, which formed angular knot-works of infinite complexity around the sacred text, and its two central plates, each a perfect mirror of the other, depicting a mind-bending maze of red ink. It was said, that if one looked long enough, one could see the shape of leering eyes gazing from the center of each plate.

Unable to destroy the Bible due to its holy words, but unwilling to use such a foully conceived book in any sacrament, the Matriarch had the tome banished to the Sealed Library, where it remains to this day.

Connections
-The Devil's Bible shares shelf-space with other strange tomes in the Sealed Library (29.14.14), along with the un-redacted version of the Scroll of Seven Shadows, the Book of Not Being Boiled By Fire, and other heretical, dangerous, or secret texts and documents.

Hooks
-Who was the unfortunate acolyte, what were his sins, and where was he buried?
-Who or what is the Devil, and why did he want his portrait in the Bible?
-Where is his portrait in it anyway?
-What properties or powers could the Devil's Bible posses?
-What other strange texts people the Sealed Library?

The Honorable Society of Engineers (29.14)

Half guild, half civic institution, the Honorable Society of Engineers has been one of the greatest societies in the Shuttered City since the Sinking began.
Originally a minor guild in the early days of the city, the Sinking of the City drastically magnified their importance to its survival, and gradually they became another arm of the city government. Today the Society counts hundreds of engineers, masons, smiths, carpenters, bricklayers, and architects among their ranks, along with a handful of earth elementalists and wizard-transmuters. The Waterworks (29.14.09) is technically one of their sub-departments. The Society maintains the physical integrity of the city, and to that end they spend much of their time in the Undercity, for as the city sinks, the addition of new construction above the old adds ever more weight atop the crypts and basements below.

As a result, the Society is embroiled in a desperate, heroic, ‘round the clock effort to repair and shore up the crumbling, moldering Undercity. Legions of criminals and their skeletons slave away in the depths, adding pillars and buttresses, replacing stones and brickwork, pouring cement and inserting rebar under the supervision and aid of the Society. Brave Crack-Finders, structural engineers armed with maps, lanterns, and the best armor and weapons the Society can provide brave the depths of the Undercity to record every crack, shifted foundation, bowed ceiling, and tilting wall.

Never was the importance of the Society more aptly demonstrated than under the reign of Doge Vogende II, who cut the Society’s budget significantly when he came to power in order to finance the construction of many additional floors to a tower owned by his family. It was not even a year later when the same tower collapsed into the Undercity, taking the Doge and his entire family with it. The next Doge immediately returned funding for the Society to its original levels, and invested them with broad new legal powers. To this day the site of the collapsed tower is called Vog’s Folly, and is used by the Society as a quarry for building stone, though occasionally they’ll pull out treasure. Or corpses.

The Society has broad legal powers that they use to assist them in keeping the city in good repair. Only they can authorize new construction, unauthorized building is punishable by being consigned in perpetuity to one of the chain gangs laboring for life and undeath in the Undercity. Once a year on Weighing Day they levy a tax based upon the weight of all one’s possessions (including one’s body), predisposing even the wealthy toward thinness and light-weight furniture. The Society also demands accurate maps of all constructions; the creation of unmapped secret passages is forbidden and punishable by being sealed alive into the offending passage. Indeed, the problem has become serious enough that an entire Department has been formed, called the Department of Obscure Annexes, for the explicit purpose of ferreting out trap doors and hidden passages.

Despite the Weighing Day tax and their budget from the Doge, the Society is quickly realizing that if they cannot access the deepest parts of the Undercity for repairs, serious structural issues will soon put the city in danger. Unfortunately, the deep reaches of the Undercity are infested with eldritch horrors, Dead Mens’ Tongues and vile cults, not to mention unregulated undead and criminal enterprise. The Society regularly petitions the Doge to send the militia, or a party of adventurers into the lowest parts of the Undercity, but the Doge simply cannot afford such a massive undertaking. As a result, the Society has taken to deliberate perpetuating and spreading rumors of fabulous treasure lost deep within the Undercity, and occasionally even fabricating outright lies, all for the purpose of luring adventurers into the Undercity to clear the monsters out for them.

The Society maintains its headquarters and administrative heart in the Honor-Hall of the Society, an underground complex of blueprint archives, storehouses, laboratories, academies, armories, and offices where the Engineers toil unceasingly to save the city from collapse.
On a minor note, Engineers of the Society can be identified by the plain steel band worn on the middle finger of the right hand. Any person found wearing such a ring on this finger without being a recognized member is subject to removal of the offending digit.

Connections
-The Waterworks (29.14.09) is apparently a sub-department of the Society.

Hooks
-Who originally founded the Society, and why?
-What dark secrets has the Society uncovered in their explorations of the Undercity?
-What lies still buried in Vog's Folly?
-How much of the Shuttered City's secrets does the Department of Obscure Annexes know?
-What rumors (and bald-faced lies) have the Society been spreading to attract adventurers?
-Are any of them true?

Sealed Library (29.14)

Constructed in the early days of the supremacy of the Temple Indivisible by the legendary traveling wizard-architect Vilenius Arkhaus, the Sealed Library is the heavily warded archive housed at the top of the Steeple, accessible only by the Matriarch and those she chooses. The entire archive is constructed from a massive hollow cube of enchanted mithril, and is engraved inside and out with millions upon millions of magical seals against not only scrying and unauthorized intrusion, but also to prevent the escape of any magical energies or malign influences contained within the archived tomes. The whole cube is suspended from the roof of the Steeple by winches and chains, so that it can be raised without having to be disassembled whenever the Steeple must be built up. The mirror portal by which the Library is entered can only be reached by the means of a system of scaffolding installed in the shaft housing the Sealed Library.

The inside of the cube is larger than without, and disturbingly, this was not one of the properties which the Library was originally constructed with, and is believed to be the effect of gathering so many powerful texts in a single location. Indeed, the Library appears to expand to accommodate new additions. The Library houses many texts, some heretical, other dangerous, a few embarrassing, but all of them are too useful to destroy. Here is kept the spellbook of the Arch-Lich of Naros (29.14.12), one of the three remaining copies of the Testament of Weneslas Stannev (17.07.02), the only unredacted copy of the Scroll of seven Shadows(24.19.24), the Contract between the First Matriarch and the High Priestess of the Labyrinth(29.14.14), and the blood-scriven Devil’s Bible (29.14.XX).

In addition to these storied texts, a selection (in no particular order) of the Sealed Library’s contents are briefly described below:

The Vedich Manuscript, an alchemical treatise with obscene formulae that would blacken and twist the soul of any man who would dare carry out the profane experiments and operations they describe.

The Adamantine Scrolls, written in Deep-Dwarf Runes, made from sheets of rolled adamantine. They can only be viewed with use of a special unrolling machine, without which they curl back up again like a spring-loaded trap.

The Book of a Thousand False Lies, a black book whose words are written not in ink, but formed by the absence of ink from the otherwise pure black pages.

The Prophecies of Qin, 11 solid gold tubes or pipes whose interiors are inscribed in an ingenious manner, such that if the correct end is placed against the eye, the ideograms within appear of equal size and oriented towards the viewer, to be read in a spiral pattern.

The Life of Dod, the contents of this book drive the reader to gibbering, infantile insanity if read directly. As a result, it has been sealed in a box with mechanical levers to turn the pages, and a viewing port that reverses the pages with mirrors so that the reader can safely re-reverse the text in their head.

An Introductory Primer to Unaided Flight, an unassuming manual that instructs the reader on how to achieve unaided flight.

Lady Iraeia’s Gown, a gorgeous dress embroidered with the secrets of everlasting beauty.

The Stone of Ancient Oaths, a diamond the size of a fist, which projects a different oath written in dwarf runes depending on which facet light is shone in to.

Apotheosis, a book bound in a cover of unbreakable adamantine, secured with nine un-pickable, inset locks whose nine unbreakable adamantine keys have been lost.

The Book of Perfect Congress, said to be the ultimate coital handbook.

The Record of Past Heresies, a massive book that is a compilation of the doctrines and theologies of the Alberon cults that were outlasted or eliminated by the Temple Indivisible.

‘So You Want To Be A Dragon?’, an instruction manual on becoming a dragon. It includes a helpful index on dragon colours, and is apparently very user-friendly.

Encyclopædia Angelos, a gnostic encyclopedia detailing the True Names, pictures, sigils, and general description of every angel known to man, and instructions on how to summon and bind them.

The Commentaries of the Mountains Upon the Mortal Races, apparently written (or, rather, dictated?) by the mountains.

This is, of course, by no means a comprehensive list, and yet even stranger and more powerful tomes lay waiting upon the shelves within the Sealed Library.

Connections
-The Sealed Library is the holding place of the Contract between the Matriarch of the Temple Indivisible and the High Priestess of the Temple of the Labyrinth(29.14.14).

Hooks
-Who is Vilenius Arkhaus and what else did he build?
-Who wrote these books?
-What secrets do they hold?
-How did the Temple Indivisible come to posses these books, or for that matter, the Library itself? The mithril alone must be worth a fortune!
-Why does the Temple preserve these books, rather than destroy them?
-Has anyone ever attempted to break into the Library? And more importantly, has anyone ever succeeded?

I'm loving the new hexes, especially the engineers one since it fits in beautifully with how I imagine Shuttered society not having a clear division between the oublic and private spheres as well as providing great adventure hooks, I'd love to run a campaign with the PCs all being engineers.

And, yay, new compilation! It has everything except for the one very newest hex: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6z-iUIH4P8aNHhMMHJ0VVptMDA/edit?usp=sharing

Daztur said:

I'm loving the new hexes, especially the engineers one since it fits in beautifully with how I imagine Shuttered society not having a clear division between the oublic and private spheres as well as providing great adventure hooks, I'd love to run a campaign with the PCs all being engineers.

And, yay, new compilation! It has everything except for the one very newest hex: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6z-iUIH4P8aNHhMMHJ0VVptMDA/edit?usp=sharing

Click to expand...

I'm glad you like the Society! I kind of wanted to enhance the theme of Shuttered being a doomed city kept functioning only by the monumental efforts of its citizenry. And yes, they are designed to be pure adventure fodder, and a potential PC organization. The Crack Finders could be more hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers while the Department of Obscure Annexes would fit political intrigue focused roleplay.

Oh right, the rain journal. I can add that right away, if you like!

I keep meaning to sit down and read through the compilation...I'm really impressed.

Quick question: Where are you pulling the art from (particularly, as you say above, the art nouveau fairy tales)? I'm looking for sources of public-domain art.

Thanks!

Triskaideka said:

I'm glad you like the Society! I kind of wanted to enhance the theme of Shuttered being a doomed city kept functioning only by the monumental efforts of its citizenry. And yes, they are designed to be pure adventure fodder, and a potential PC organization. The Crack Finders could be more hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers while the Department of Obscure Annexes would fit political intrigue focused roleplay.

Oh right, the rain journal. I can add that right away, if you like!

Click to expand...

Yup, the whole "the City will one day sink into the mud but NOT TODAY!" works wonderfully. But I guess I'm enough of a history geek that I love the aspect of the City that they don't really have "police" or "tax collectors" and even the idea of a "government" is a bit strange for them, instead they have this weird series of overlapping kinds of sort of government institutions (the engineers, the necromancers, the priests and probably a lot more we haven't detailed yet) that each tax people in different ways, enforce different sets of laws and mostly run their own shows. It appeals to the bit of my brain that'd love to write out thousand word posts on land tenure but actually interesting

Nellisir:
The art comes from three main sources:
-A lot of the paintings are from: preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com
-The illustrations, especially the fairy tale ones you asked about are mostly from: http://:):):):)yeahvintageillustration.tumblr.com/ (I've pulled a LOT of stuff from here that I haven't gotten a chance to put into the compilation yet so expect more of it). Edit: you've got to add in the appropriate word (I think you can figure out which one ) to the url or it won't work, stupid EN World filter...
-Finding artists from one of those two sources and searching for their name in google images or searching in tumblr. Or looking up an artistic movement (lots is Pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau, going to move into my Decadent and Symbolist stuff as I have time) on wikipedia and doing a lot of google image/tumblr searches for names that come up.

Everything is old enough to be public domain but I don't track the names and titles of each individual pieces, that'd make my brain explode, I might be able to remember where an individual piece comes from if you give me the page number.

Edit: I think the setting is developed enough now to start spamming it around the net to various RPG communities. I've started posting it to the various groups I'm part of, but I don't want to be a dick and register on a random forum just to promote something I'm part of. But if you like the setting please feel free to post it to any community you're part of.