WotBS Bringing other races into the WotBS setting

[OpenPalm]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping you can help out a new DM. I'm about to start a WotBS campaign with the $1 PDFs I bought from RPGNow and it looks like this will be the most epic campaign I've ever been a part of. It'll definitely blow Scales of War off the map. However, I am having some difficulties with it. I want to give the players a few more race options, but I'm having a hard time fitting them into the setting. Specifically, I want to put in the Deva, Githzerai, Goliaths and Shifters and Drow. I'm also considering Warforged,Minotaurs and Thri-Kreen, but that seems to be a stretch for the setting, though if someone can convince me otherwise, I'll be more than happy to put them in. I'm not putting in Shardminds or Wilden-- they are way too weird for the setting and for new players. Muls are easy-- they are half-breeds from Dassen.

So, if anyone has some quick ideas about how to integrate these races into the WotBS setting, whether from a previous campaign you've run or are running or just from ideas, please let me know. It's a bit tough for me, especially given the previous background on these races from the PHBs and other sources.

 

[RangerWickett]

A lot of races can be from outside the main region, or a PC could be a fluke. Those are the easy answers.

If you want to tie people in more closely, how about:

Deva -- People who were long ago touched by the blood of the Aquiline Heart, granting them reincarnation, not immortality. If the Heart is destroyed, though, they'll become mortal.

Githzerai -- Well, they're supposed to be from another plane, but they've got an Astral and psionic gimmick, which fits with the trillith. Perhaps they are actually descendants of people who were possessed by a trillith, or they live in the plane of dreams that shows up in adventure 10, or they're actually from the astral sea but some mishap with the Torch brought a whole community of them into this world, maybe somewhere near one of the two monasteries that show up in adventures 5 and 7.

Goliath - Easy. Big mountain folk live in the mountains. Maybe around Gate Pass, or they're traditional enemies of the dwarves of Dassen. For something weird, make them the original inhabitants of Ostalin, who were conquered by Onamdammin's predecessor.

Shifters - Any 'feral' race can pretty much be put anywhere you want them. If you want a weird suggestion, make them escaped magical experiments on the Seaquen peninsula, created centuries ago by wizards at the school's founding.

Drow - Hell, there are drow. They show up in adventure 7. You could make the Taranesti (the elves who the Shahalesti defeated) be surface-dwelling Taranesti, or you could have the drow living in the underdark, in which case they'd be harassed by the trillith.

Warforged? Do you want to give Leska an army of golem men? Or maybe the Dasseni dwarves occasionally create warriors out of the stone and steel of their homeland.

Minotaurs -- They definitely need to be in the mountain range where the Monastery of Two Winds is, because the PCs fight a minotaur there. You could add the flavor that the mountains have lots of labyrinthine trails and it's easy to get lost.

Thri-Kreen -- Erm, these guys are weird. They could have had a small nation of their own and been conquered by Ragesia, so stick them somewhere in Ragesia where the map is empty. There are probably a lot of refugees, but there'd also be the occasional bad-ass four-armed warrior in the Ragesian army.

So those are my ideas.

 

[Ormazd]

Below is the Bio entry for the Wilden druid character in my campaign. Note that this was written before the opening of Adventure 1, so some of the time references are a bit old now. Hope it helps.

O

We are Wilden. Sap runs through our veins for we are granddaughters of Great Oak; The First Tree. We do not hail from a Wilden city, or town, or settlement. No such thing exists. We live where we stand, and sleep where we lie-in the forests, in the valleys, in the sands of the deserts and seas. We are the rage of a storm. We are the avalanche. We are frostbite and tidal waves. We are revenge against civilization, destruction, and aberration of natural order. You may see us embody the Hunter-and on these days we blend with my surroundings and stalk prey like a Savannah cat. Or you may see us in the form of the Destroyer-nature’s fury incarnate; the destruction embodied by hurricanes, tornadoes, and lightning strikes. And some days, we can be seen as the Ancient One, tapping into the primal wisdom of the winds and wilds. Whatever form we assume, you can be certain that we will take our revenge against those who have wronged me, for we are Wilden. There is no “I” or “me”, only us. When we speak, we speak for our entire race, there are no individuals.

We entered your realm only forty years ago when we heard the crying of so many trees burning in what you now call the Fire Forest. We will not allow this forest to die. As much as the Orcs of Ragos try to burn it, we keep it alive. Let them fear the forest that will not die! Our revenge will come.

Thirty nights ago we lost the ability to return to our Feywild homelands. Several of our group were incinerated when we attempted to side-step between worlds. Now we fear returning until we are certain it is safe. Our misery was doubled when the men-who-dress-like-bears surrounded and captured us. Inquisitors? We have heard this name associated with them. They tortured us. They burned us. The one named Kreven chopped off our arms, our legs, and used us to fuel their weapons of carnage. A few of us managed to escape Kreven and his silver claws, only a few days ago. We fled south, hoping to find refuge in the lands of Dassen. That is when we found you on that bridge. We thought maybe we should let you perish, but then we saw you fight off the fiery aberrations. It seems that maybe your goals match ours, and perhaps we can thwart Kreven and his bear-men. The forest will not die. We have seen other worlds die, and we hope that we can stop this one from meeting that grim fate.

 

[talarei07]

lets see if i can remember i did this last year for my game and dont have the notes with me so ill try from memory.

shifters: there is a forest in northern ragesia i put them in tribes up there.
goliaths: i put them in the mountains near gates pass.
devas: i made soul searching wanders.
those are the only one i can remember off the top of my head