Enworld Co-OP Campaign Setting

[Raven Crowking]

You might want to check out some of the templates in the Advanced Bestiary as well. I believe they are all OGL.

RC

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Yes. Here is Gentle Repose, Advanced d20 Magic page 73, and the link to the SRD .

<snip>

If Advanced Magic needs to recreate every single D&D spell for its own format, then we probably shouldn't use it unless the entire text of this system is online somewhere. Otherwise it would just get too confusing.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Yeah, that totally works.

I've had similar thoughts, thinking of the reclaimed / "dark zone" flora as being like huge fungal growths and even coral colonies. Algae and moss-like stuff work, too. I figure most of this stuff was probably killed off or pushed into total dormancy when the human indaders transformed the environment, but now that the terraforming artifacts are being shut down, surfaces which seemed like solid rock are turning soft and slimy, and blooming into loathesome life. Fungus-like growths which were stunted by the clear, terrestrial atmosphere are now swelling all over the landscape, larger and more numerous than ever before. And spores of things--both plant and animal--which the world hasn't seen for millenia are coming out of the chuul gateways to take root in familiar soil.

I think the easiest way of coming up with new creatures for such an environment would be to create several different templates for this environment which could be applied to ordinary animals and creatures.

A single template wouldn't be enough, since ecosystems are rather complex things. However, we could use different templates to represent different environmental niches and survival strategies. One template might have sound-based attacks (like yrthaks), another might have paralyzing tentacles (like the chuul themselves), and so forth.

 

[Sir Elton]

If Advanced Magic needs to recreate every single D&D spell for its own format, then we probably shouldn't use it unless the entire text of this system is online somewhere. Otherwise it would just get too confusing.

I'm working on that. At least my part. I got Jans intrigued.

Elton.

 

[Roman]

Ok, I read the review and I think I will like the system, but I am concerned that it is too different from the Vancian/D&D spellcasting system to really fly. I am just not sure how the lack of familiarity with the system might effect many people's attitude to the setting. I am not saying the Advanced d20 System should not necessarily be used, but we should not rush into it and the loss of familiarity with the spellcasting system for the majority of people is something we should consider. On the other hand that might be the feeling we deliberately want to instill - it could work in some settings and also, I must confess that I personally like the idea of a skill-based spellcasting system - just not sure whether such a radical rules change would not turn most people off.

 

[Sir Elton]

Well, the Dynamic Spellcasting system (Advanced d20 Magic's system) isn't at all skill based. It has a lot of things in common with the Soveriegn Stone CS's magic system; but it really shows its strength by using the Spell Point system in UA.

 

[Tonguez]

Anyway if we are going to do a collaborative setting can we leave this as a 'Meta-thread' and start a new thread for 'Fluff only' posts using the modified Eyros rules - viz:

1) Please contribute to the setting by posting a single fact. .

2) You may contribute more than once, but not in a row. You must allow no fewer than 3 contributions between your last contribution and your next.

3) The facts presented should involve the setting, not the game mechanics. Don't say "Dwarves have a penalty to Dexterity instead of Charisma." Post should involve the setting's current status, its history, its politics, its geographical features, important personalities and significant organisations etc.

4) You may not present a fact that contradicts or "undoes" a previous contribution, though your contribution might (and should) tweak or expand on previous stuff.

5) This should be a usable, functional setting. Please don't post anything goofy or deliberately disruptive or hard to follow-up.

6) Try not to completely remove standard options (that is, options found in the core rulebooks). It's okay to present a fact that suggests a certain class or race is rare or persecuted, but don't come out and say "There are no wizards" or anything like that.

7) Along similar lines, all statements should be assumed to pertain to the core races/classes unless stated otherwise. If you're talking about monster races, please specify that you do, in fact, mean monsters.

8) Please quote any prior contributions that you are building on , so there's no confusion as to where things stood when you posted. (In case multiple people post at once, or that sort of thing.) In the case of confusion, simultaneous or contradictory posts, or contributions that appear disruptive then Sir Elton (thread initiator) or the Mods can overrule or remove the contribution

so can we?

 

[GreatLemur]

Well, the Dynamic Spellcasting system (Advanced d20 Magic's system) isn't at all skill based. It has a lot of things in common with the Soveriegn Stone CS's magic system; but it really shows its strength by using the Spell Point system in UA.

Soveriegn Stone's system is cool as hell (except for the tired elemental angle). If the Advanced d20 system is close to that, it's got my support. I really ought to do some research, though. I love variant magic systems, but I've been dismissing this element of development, so far.

Anyway if we are going to do a collaborative setting can we leave this as a 'Meta-thread' and start a new thread for 'Fluff only' posts using the modified Eyros rules - viz:

I dunno, wouldn't a method like that go seriously kitchen sink in two pages? Round-robin addition of new facts by multiple contributors with no protocol for subtraction or revision doesn't sound like a way to build a coherent, consistent world. Instead, I really like how things have been going already in this thread: We all throw out ideas, some sink, and some swim. No idea is considered "really" in until a few other folks show support for it.

But I wasn't part of the Eyros development, so maybe that method works out fine. I do not speak from experience.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

OK, let's look at possible civilizations that PCs can come from in a systematic manner.

"Civilized Cultures:"

- Tibetans (human): Their realm is in very remote and high-altitude mountain valleys, and they used to be fairly isolationist. However, since the invasion they have gone out into the world and tried to teach the "primitive" people about higher technologies, building cities, and arcane magic.

- Dwarves: They, too, were fairly isolationist. But occasional chuul invasions into their territory made them more eager to trade with other races, especially humans. They will trade metal goods for food. This has the effect of encouraging humans to use agriculture, since then they will have far more trade goods than otherwise. It has also caused the favored trading partners of the dwarves to conquer other human tribes to expand their resource base - and their improved weaponry makes it hard for the other tribes to resist. The situation is somewhat comparable to the social disruption caused by the slave trade in Africa, if perhaps not quite as horrible - after all, the dwarves have little need for slaves who cannot even see in the dark.

- Elves: They probably don't have a real "urban civilization" as it would be understood by humans. However, they might have developed a writing system and some central repositories of knowledge. Most elves live in tribal bands in the forst, but a class of "scholars" lives at certain locations in elven lands that maintain complexes that resemble monasteries. Here, elves maintain their knowledge of magic and other scholarly matters. Most of the time the elves don't need these things, but when they do need them they are available...


"Primitive Cultures:"

Various cultures that hadn't developed an agricultural society and/or used metal before the invasion occurred. All of them now face disruption of their traditional cultural patterns. I suggest that we start with various real world cultures as a base and then build on them.

Note that any of these can also include nonhumans.

- "Steppe dwellers": Think Mongols.
- "Desert dwellers": Tuaregs or Australian aborigines.
- "Forest dwellers": Various native North American tribes, perhaps?
- "Tundra dwellers": Scandinavian Lapps, Inuit.


Your thoughts?

 

[Sir Elton]

I think we aught to put Dwarves up in the Alpine level, Elves at the Ponderosa level, and humans in the foot hills. I think human society should more than resemble Indian society during the Muslim occupation of India; and the Dwarves resemble Nepalese society. While the elves have a "Tibetan" society.