[4e Setting] No Age for Heroes

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

People keep commenting on the darkness of it around the intarwubs and I think it is a pretty level take on the Points of Light framework but Bret added just a nudge, and a nudge I dig, that the Points of Light are going out one by one. I like the way the setting lit a fire under our adventuring butts.

I like this idea, too.

I am still not sure if and when I will be homebrewing for 4E. At the moment, I will probably the player to get DDI access (well, assuming I finally get myself a credit card) and I already have Keep on the Shadowfell to run for my group.
But I'd prefer to give the adventure paths and other books to the other players and they DM it, so I can get some 4E play action. They just have to suck up my bad storytelling and homebrewed world then.

One of the ideas I am playing with is the idea of a certain "urgency" - like the players being in one town, and seeing refuges from a nearby town that was pillaged by Goblins or Orcs.

Another idea is the idea of an active resistance amongst the PoL, trying to reunite the points and drive the darkness back.

I will probably use both approaches. I want to leave a few Wintersafe havens for the PCs to retreat to, and the PCs seeing a way out of the mess.

 

[reachx]

kudos to thr dm and praise to the dark muse

as a part time wanna be writer myself, i must say i love it and would love a chance to help you flesh it out. lately, my muse has been whispering sweet nothings about spell/ritual/prayer adaptations . I play alot of wiz/ftr and wiz/rog so you know i'm going to have to have more than what the books give me off the top. ;-)

 

[Storn]

Quest: To find who or what wiped out his Family, his Caravan of Wanderers and his Master of Tents. The Master of Tents, in its death throes sent a a dream sending to Methamere Dray. (yeah, I changed the name, Methanwe I remembered was the name of a PC of a player who I cannot stand, brought back bad memories). Leaving his University of the Arcane prior to graduation, Methemere embarks on a path of icy vengeance & blood . (He doesn't use fire magiks)

Description: Long dark black hair, wild ice blue eyes, totally average height for a Eladrin. He dresses in dark blues and purples. Has a long tabard, that has seen better days. His longsword is of a common, but still elegant, bluesteel. His Orb is set into a baldric and has turned black, a sure sign of its owner's stormy mood.

Connections:

Methemere wishes Corvus to speak with the Raven Queen and see if anything can be gleaned from their deaths to the agent of said deaths.

Pherox was rescued by Methemere's Wandering caravan years past. The Master of Tents accepted Pherox, perhaps on the basis of Pherox's connection to the Holy Daughters.

Short Term goal:

To get the refugees set up and as safe as they can be in this climate of horrendous upheaval and war. There has been enough death.

 

[Paka]

as a part time wanna be writer myself, i must say i love it and would love a chance to help you flesh it out. lately, my muse has been whispering sweet nothings about spell/ritual/prayer adaptations . I play alot of wiz/ftr and wiz/rog so you know i'm going to have to have more than what the books give me off the top. ;-)

I think the way we'll flesh it out is through playing it.

That is how we roll.

Why the hard to read font color?

 

[Byronic]

Inspiring, if this was the premise of a book I'd think of buying it.

 

[Piratecat]

Hey! I'm the DM. Thanks for all the praise, guys. I've also added a new paragraph based on Doug McCrae's valuable feedback.

Umm... can I play in that other game? With the unicorns?

I'm actually very interested in how you can make the setting seem not entirely oppressive.

 

[Paka]

Umm... can I play in that other game? With the unicorns?

I'm actually very interested in how you can make the setting seem not entirely oppressive.

Bret and I were talking about this earlier tonight a bit. We discussed how you can kind of dial up the dark of the 4e D&D settings kind of using the Points of Light as the barometer. How bright are your Points of Light? Are there outside forces threatening them or are they stable?

Bret added in conflict to this setting by having gonzo and vague undefined threats attacking all of the Points of Light and all of our characters were kind of born from there.

Storn's Wizard's family was destroyed while he was off at the crumbling university that taught him magics, Bob's Warlord is the last surviving member of a holy and royal line, Jeff's Dragonborn Fighter is a refugee from a destroyed citadel who left with a clutch of eggs and Kat will be playing a Warlock who was driven a bit mad due to a dark prophecy she caught wind of. We're all strongly effected by the snuffing of the PoL's but at the same time, I don't think it is going to really change how the lot of us view fantasy, which is probably a bit darker than most.

On the continuum with George R.R. Martin on one side and Tolkien smack-dab in the middle with Disney on the far other side, we're somewhere between Martin and Tolkien, without a doubt.

We're looking at our character sheets and we're eager to kick down some doors, kill some stuff and write down said stuff on our character sheets.

Its been a while since most of us have 'crawled.

 

[Andor]

But all was well in Unicornland! The Cotton Candy Queen was having a tea party, and all the squirrels and rainbow kids were invited! There was even a rumor that afterward, there might be a lollipop parade! Yay!

I always found the old "Beyond the crystal caverns" adventure an interesting example of module design. If your party went in with an interest in talking first and fighting second a 3rd level party could have done it with not too much trouble. If they went in kicking doors and firing first you were probably looking at a TPK up to 5th or 6th level.

Or in other words, talking to the Unicorns is a good idea even if it does smack of Disney.

 

[mjukglass]

A question. Do you have, as a player, the same freedom with all fluff in the game? I mean, all class descriptions and power fluff is pretty vague and flavorless.

I know that I will encourage my players to come up with new names and descriptions of all their powers, and classes if they want. We use the mechanics but will bend and break the fluff to suit our campaign and mode at the gametable.

I got a strong wuxia feeling reading the PhB mechanics, and thought alot of the fluff was semi weak but easily could be turned up to eleven with some vivid and more gory narrative framing.

 

[vagabundo]

Nice setting, very nice.

It is dark, but based on the POL concepts.

I suppose POL could go descending, ascending or stable.

Your's appears to be descending, if the PCs do not stop it. A strong focus on stopping/reversing the slide into chaos would make for a great campaign, bringing in a new age of heroes.

I've chosen a stable campaign for my own setting. PCs are the fulcrum, their actions will decide the future of things.