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A Work Intensive Approach to World Creation
- Thread starter Ralts Bloodthorne
- Start date
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
I figured, for right now, using the standard D&D pantheon would be easier on new GM's and players to handle.
I figure for the Magocracy, I'd develope new Gods, along with a few other things.
After we place the Theocracy, we'll move in and do some detail work, along with a town and some other stuff.
Maybe start placing PrC's and monsters.
Any requests?
I figure for the Magocracy, I'd develope new Gods, along with a few other things.
After we place the Theocracy, we'll move in and do some detail work, along with a town and some other stuff.
Maybe start placing PrC's and monsters.
Any requests?
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
I'll give examples of modes of dress on Sunday.
Right now, I'm off to the lake to enjoy summer with the kids.
Right now, I'm off to the lake to enjoy summer with the kids.
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
Yeah, I've got the playtesting copies of Mystic Strife, which combines Arcane Strife with the unreleased Divine Strife (I thought it had been released, but I was wrong) but anyway, let's move on to the modes of dress.Psion said:
OK, during the Charlemagne time, for the most part peasants wore simple garb. As the toga was somewhat in fashion, it was to be used only during official/government business. It would be worn mostly by officials and the like, while the average peasant would wear a tunic that belted at the waist. We'll go with a sleeveless tunic, and while working, serfs or slaves of kingdoms that follow the Charlemagne Empire mode of dress (tunics belted at the waist for men, unbelted for women) usually strip nude when working so they do not damage the clothing.
Let's look at Laws for a bit, while we are discussing stuff like this.
There's the Hammurabic Code, which did not differentiate between the rich and poor, nobility and sef.
There's caste dependant codes, where things were forbidden for certian sections of the population, while others could indulge in the practice without fear of repercussions.
It's necessary to decide just how well a kingdom sticks to the code.
Let's pull out an old saw. I say that there was an Empire several hundred years ago, that is long gone, that had a fairly standardized code of law and justice. Many or the kingdoms follow the "Old Empire" laws as either a basework/foundation for thier own laws, or have picked and chose laws from the Old Empire to make thier own.
Personally, I like the idea, strange and bizarre as it may sound, of Bushido following flinds somewhere. A serious, dire threat to the kingdoms that we're working on, but I'm not sure.
OK, starting soon, I'll fill in the rest of the kingdoms between the two mountain ranges, and then we'll sort out what needs to be done.
I'll remember the Charlemagne Era clothing, and see if I can find some examples that aren't in old books I've got.
One thing, is at least they had leather shoes.
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
The central section we are currently working with is geographically isolated by four things.
The Northern Mountain Range, which is inhabited by Ogres, Dragons, Wyverns, Orcs, Goblins, and Ettins, to name a few. This makes the whole range fairly dangerous, with only three mountain passes through the range.
The Western pass, unlabeled so far on our map, is currently unusable. The small fortresses guarding the pass have been abandoned. There is a large section of the pass that recently slid into one of the ravines, making it so that wagons and animals cannot pass through, and it is difficult and dangerous for people to make the trek on foot. We'll pick a nasty little monster that is able to climb the cliff walls that picks off travellers. If we can't find one, we'll modify some giant spiders for our purposes.
The Central Northern pass was recently discovered, but unfortunately it leads into the Walled Jungle. The Walled Jungle is a large section of tropical jungle that is full of vegepygmies, kobolds, and other small, vicious creatures. Surrounding the whole jungle is a 50 foot wall of a brownish substance that looks like carmel but feels like obsidian. In places it is broken and breached, and the gate that was once there is long gone.
THe Eastern Pass is fairly straight forward, but with a massive stone drawbridge over a massive river of lava from the active volcanoe. The drawbridge is made up of granite, obsidian, onyx, and quartz crystal, and is 250' wide, 30 feet thick, and 1200 feet long. It can retract to either side, and is controlled from a room within the Southern fortress. Who built it, when, and how is completely unknown, although the dwarves are honest in stating that they wish they had built it, but it's beyond thier skills.
To the South, there is only a single pass, and that leads down to our Southernmost detailed kingdom. It goes from hills, and is a winding balley between several massive mountains and a volcano. It follows the river, which quickly leads into that fertile band.
The islands to the East are surrounded by riptides, sharp teethed rocks, and huge reefs that lie just below the surface to rip the bottom out of any ship that gets near them. Several of the islands are inhabited. The most famous of all was the "Taxing Wizard of the Eastern Islands" who once taxed clothing using the colour blue. For 30 years, the wizard arrived every time clothing was created that featured the color blue, and taxed it according to his mood and whimsy. However, about 100 years ago, he quit arriving, and is presumed dead.
The Western Islands and reefs are by far the most dangerous. From what some sages believe, the northern and southern range drop off into the ocean and meet together some 5 miles off the coast, resulting a mean ring of teeth. The warm waters, a swift and hard current flowing from west to east and pushing the tides and waters hard against the coastline, have still nutured some large and dangerous shoals.
The worst part, however, is the creatures that live upon the islands. These creatures are accomplished ocean raiders, despite the fact that they mainly stick with outrigger canoes.
Now, for these, we could use goblins, minataur, kobold, orc, but we need something different. Something that would be strange and bizarre to our players and the characters both. If worse comes to worse, we can design our gill-having wind/sea sorcery amphibian raiders ourselves, and hey, sometimes that is more fun.
Personally, I want to avoid using the "noble misunderstood" savages for these guys. I suggest the Barbary Coast circa early 1800's as far as attitude.
Well, speaking of attitudes, personally, I suggest we do modify the modes of dress. I like the idea of having a society loosely based on the Minoan dress and clergy, and have males wear the full length robes along with sleeve gloves, along with viels across the face.
Picture the buckskin clothing (breeches, vest, intricate beadwork, intricate stitching) being worn by the females, while the males wear floor length robes with viels and hoods. Add in the Egyptian religion, and Japanese customs, and you have something really interesting.
"Take your shoes off and bow before the statue of the God Emperor before entering the temple of Osiris." would feel strange being told that on the roof of an Anasazi cliff dwelling temple, by a woman dressed in buckskin who is taking off her shoes before climbing down the ladder.
Now, if we can pull it off for all of the sections we're going to do, that'll give the region a feeling that they aren't all the same, that things differ from one region to another. Add in maybe a few monsterous reaces that actually are civilized, or perhaps they are slave races...
OOOOOHHH!!!
There we go. Use Romanesque style of slavery (which sucks, but it could be far worse) for a HUGE slave caste. I'd like to say goblin or orcs, as they are familiar, but we've already established that we have flinds. What if the gnolls are the slave race here, having had multiple generations, and they view themselves as a vital part of the kingdom, to include the fact that they take thier role as military slaves seriously.
You know, we often complain about the fact that D&D dragons are just sages in these awesomely perfect bodies, but what if we add in a dragon, maybe give it Diety Rank Zero and make it bright gold, with a rainbow strip down its back. A scion of a mating between Bahumat and Tiamat, a God made flesh. The dragon has ruled over the kingdom for over 500 years, and is called all kinds of God-Emperor things. The ruling nobility are dragon-blood, half-dragons, etc. With the slaves being the Core Races, while the military is based on gnolls.
Hmmm, remind me when I get home on Sunday, and I'll tab that into the map.
Sooo, any more suggestions, comments, questions?
The Northern Mountain Range, which is inhabited by Ogres, Dragons, Wyverns, Orcs, Goblins, and Ettins, to name a few. This makes the whole range fairly dangerous, with only three mountain passes through the range.
The Western pass, unlabeled so far on our map, is currently unusable. The small fortresses guarding the pass have been abandoned. There is a large section of the pass that recently slid into one of the ravines, making it so that wagons and animals cannot pass through, and it is difficult and dangerous for people to make the trek on foot. We'll pick a nasty little monster that is able to climb the cliff walls that picks off travellers. If we can't find one, we'll modify some giant spiders for our purposes.
The Central Northern pass was recently discovered, but unfortunately it leads into the Walled Jungle. The Walled Jungle is a large section of tropical jungle that is full of vegepygmies, kobolds, and other small, vicious creatures. Surrounding the whole jungle is a 50 foot wall of a brownish substance that looks like carmel but feels like obsidian. In places it is broken and breached, and the gate that was once there is long gone.
THe Eastern Pass is fairly straight forward, but with a massive stone drawbridge over a massive river of lava from the active volcanoe. The drawbridge is made up of granite, obsidian, onyx, and quartz crystal, and is 250' wide, 30 feet thick, and 1200 feet long. It can retract to either side, and is controlled from a room within the Southern fortress. Who built it, when, and how is completely unknown, although the dwarves are honest in stating that they wish they had built it, but it's beyond thier skills.
To the South, there is only a single pass, and that leads down to our Southernmost detailed kingdom. It goes from hills, and is a winding balley between several massive mountains and a volcano. It follows the river, which quickly leads into that fertile band.
The islands to the East are surrounded by riptides, sharp teethed rocks, and huge reefs that lie just below the surface to rip the bottom out of any ship that gets near them. Several of the islands are inhabited. The most famous of all was the "Taxing Wizard of the Eastern Islands" who once taxed clothing using the colour blue. For 30 years, the wizard arrived every time clothing was created that featured the color blue, and taxed it according to his mood and whimsy. However, about 100 years ago, he quit arriving, and is presumed dead.
The Western Islands and reefs are by far the most dangerous. From what some sages believe, the northern and southern range drop off into the ocean and meet together some 5 miles off the coast, resulting a mean ring of teeth. The warm waters, a swift and hard current flowing from west to east and pushing the tides and waters hard against the coastline, have still nutured some large and dangerous shoals.
The worst part, however, is the creatures that live upon the islands. These creatures are accomplished ocean raiders, despite the fact that they mainly stick with outrigger canoes.
Now, for these, we could use goblins, minataur, kobold, orc, but we need something different. Something that would be strange and bizarre to our players and the characters both. If worse comes to worse, we can design our gill-having wind/sea sorcery amphibian raiders ourselves, and hey, sometimes that is more fun.
Personally, I want to avoid using the "noble misunderstood" savages for these guys. I suggest the Barbary Coast circa early 1800's as far as attitude.
Well, speaking of attitudes, personally, I suggest we do modify the modes of dress. I like the idea of having a society loosely based on the Minoan dress and clergy, and have males wear the full length robes along with sleeve gloves, along with viels across the face.
Picture the buckskin clothing (breeches, vest, intricate beadwork, intricate stitching) being worn by the females, while the males wear floor length robes with viels and hoods. Add in the Egyptian religion, and Japanese customs, and you have something really interesting.
"Take your shoes off and bow before the statue of the God Emperor before entering the temple of Osiris." would feel strange being told that on the roof of an Anasazi cliff dwelling temple, by a woman dressed in buckskin who is taking off her shoes before climbing down the ladder.
Now, if we can pull it off for all of the sections we're going to do, that'll give the region a feeling that they aren't all the same, that things differ from one region to another. Add in maybe a few monsterous reaces that actually are civilized, or perhaps they are slave races...
OOOOOHHH!!!
There we go. Use Romanesque style of slavery (which sucks, but it could be far worse) for a HUGE slave caste. I'd like to say goblin or orcs, as they are familiar, but we've already established that we have flinds. What if the gnolls are the slave race here, having had multiple generations, and they view themselves as a vital part of the kingdom, to include the fact that they take thier role as military slaves seriously.
You know, we often complain about the fact that D&D dragons are just sages in these awesomely perfect bodies, but what if we add in a dragon, maybe give it Diety Rank Zero and make it bright gold, with a rainbow strip down its back. A scion of a mating between Bahumat and Tiamat, a God made flesh. The dragon has ruled over the kingdom for over 500 years, and is called all kinds of God-Emperor things. The ruling nobility are dragon-blood, half-dragons, etc. With the slaves being the Core Races, while the military is based on gnolls.
Hmmm, remind me when I get home on Sunday, and I'll tab that into the map.
Sooo, any more suggestions, comments, questions?
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
Well, it's been awhile, with no replies, so I figured I'd PDF up some of this stuff, and include images for the maps of the region being detailed.
I think, though, in the meantime, I'm going to have to place the PrC's, and expand on them.
We'll be taking the DMG PrC's on first. We'll decide what the names of thier orders are, their ranks, where their main strongholds are located, and what must be done by applicants to be accepted.
In addition, I'll name the kingdom's money, thier military, add some military ranks, add some nobility ranks, and find some examples of architecture.
Any requests for the first one, while I do the setting itself's PDF?
I think, though, in the meantime, I'm going to have to place the PrC's, and expand on them.
We'll be taking the DMG PrC's on first. We'll decide what the names of thier orders are, their ranks, where their main strongholds are located, and what must be done by applicants to be accepted.
In addition, I'll name the kingdom's money, thier military, add some military ranks, add some nobility ranks, and find some examples of architecture.
Any requests for the first one, while I do the setting itself's PDF?
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
Someone want to name the Campaign Setting?
