Doc Eldritch
First Post
Just curious if anyone is doing a setting in 4e, that is NOT necessarily PoL based. I have been tossing around a few ideas, summarized below (they are still "works in progress"), and am just curious if anyone else has been doing things outside the idea of a Point of Light.
Tales of the Watch
The last few weeks have been perhaps the most wretched you can remember. Your story though, is similar to that of the people around you. Taken by slavers. Some at home, some as they traveled, and others sold as part of a debt. But the final part is the same. You were all crowded into the hold of a leaky ship, given little in the way of water and food, and sent away. All you have known recently is the stench of the hold and too many bodies packed together like livestock. This morning, that changed, but is it for the better? Taken from the ship, into a strange city, paraded down streets to an auction block, and finally sold to a grey cloaked and cowled person. Can things get worse?
The PCs are a mix of people from all over, who have been sold by slavers in a freehold type city, run by a group of noble houses and the major guilds. They have been bought by an unknown individual, who then frees them, on the condition that they are employed them with the local chapter of the city watch, in the lowest, scummiest ward of the city for the next year. There they will have to deal with cultists, yuan-ti infiltrators, crime lords, and the usual petty crime of such an area.
On Distant Shores
Thirty years ago, a group of noble houses and merchant guilds funded a grand expedition across the Trackless Sea, to found a colony on a newly discovered continent. A series of small towns were built, and a port fortress, using magics and indentured labor, and for years the colony sent back unusual spices, items and animals from across the Sea. Five years ago, ships stopped coming.
The same nobles and merchants have put together an expedition to go and find out what happened. The wages offered were enough to set up most families for years, and you all jumped at the chance. On three ships, with a variety of House troops (in case something requiring military action had occurred), and representatives of the noble and merchant houses, you set out two weeks ago. The trip was smooth, and you have seen sights that would amaze your friends and family. Then, this evening, you were woken from a sound sleep by being dumped on the deck as the ship you were on tilted with the crack of thunder like the gods hammer. Struggling on deck, in the midst of a storm unlike any you have ever seen, you were just in time to witness a bolt of lightning sunder the main mast and stave a hole in the middle of the ship. The next several minutes were a blur of panic and shouting as everyone on board tried to reach the longboats....but it was far too late, and the ship went under.
You have awoken on a strip of land, about the size of a small building, mostly sand and scrub. The sky is clear and blue, and nothing like the storm of the night before, or has it been longer? A short swim away, you can see the coast. Other than a handful of crew and some shattered remains of the ship, nothing familiar is in sight...
The PCs are thrust into an unfamiliar world, and left to decide how to get by. They could explore the new continent, find out what happened to the colony, even try to find a way home, once more.
Heralds of the King (This one is probably closest to the PoL idea)
“Best of the best, the Kingdom's First and Last line of defense.” That was what they called you. The Heralds were the Kingdom's most prestigious military unit, autonomous from any commands save that of the King, able to do whatever He needed done, and protect the Kingdom from any threat. And you failed. Well, they did. You were still in training when it all started. The rumors of an army of “faceless men” sweeping across the farthest reaches of the Kingdom quickly grew into fact, and the severity of the situation was shown when even your training was sped up. But it was all too late and of no avail. The capitol came under siege faster than you could have ever imagined, and it was a matter of days before the strange sorceries of the Faceless shattered the walls and their armies swept into the city. As the last remaining Heralds, the King ordered your training class split. Half of you would be placed in an Amber Stasis, to await His return, the other half would escort Him and as many civilians as possible to safety in the Last Fortress to the south. If the worst should occur, when a new King took up the royal sword, He would be able to release you from stasis to start rebuilding.
That was moments ago, or so it seemed. Time does not exist in the Amber Stasis. One moment you were watching the last of the Silver Wizards pour the amber over you, and now you are blinking the dust of shattered amber from your vision. But there is no King...only the sounds of Amber shattering as some (though not all) of your fellow trainees are freed from stasis. And the silence of a ruined city, covered in inches of dust....
The PCs are knights of an old kingdom, placed in a magical stasis during an invasion, and told they would be awakened by the King's return with His sword. But something seems to have gone wrong. Some of them woke up, others are still in stasis. And there is no one present, and certainly no sword. It is up to them to find out what has happened, and exactly how long they have been away.
Tales of the Watch
The last few weeks have been perhaps the most wretched you can remember. Your story though, is similar to that of the people around you. Taken by slavers. Some at home, some as they traveled, and others sold as part of a debt. But the final part is the same. You were all crowded into the hold of a leaky ship, given little in the way of water and food, and sent away. All you have known recently is the stench of the hold and too many bodies packed together like livestock. This morning, that changed, but is it for the better? Taken from the ship, into a strange city, paraded down streets to an auction block, and finally sold to a grey cloaked and cowled person. Can things get worse?
The PCs are a mix of people from all over, who have been sold by slavers in a freehold type city, run by a group of noble houses and the major guilds. They have been bought by an unknown individual, who then frees them, on the condition that they are employed them with the local chapter of the city watch, in the lowest, scummiest ward of the city for the next year. There they will have to deal with cultists, yuan-ti infiltrators, crime lords, and the usual petty crime of such an area.
On Distant Shores
Thirty years ago, a group of noble houses and merchant guilds funded a grand expedition across the Trackless Sea, to found a colony on a newly discovered continent. A series of small towns were built, and a port fortress, using magics and indentured labor, and for years the colony sent back unusual spices, items and animals from across the Sea. Five years ago, ships stopped coming.
The same nobles and merchants have put together an expedition to go and find out what happened. The wages offered were enough to set up most families for years, and you all jumped at the chance. On three ships, with a variety of House troops (in case something requiring military action had occurred), and representatives of the noble and merchant houses, you set out two weeks ago. The trip was smooth, and you have seen sights that would amaze your friends and family. Then, this evening, you were woken from a sound sleep by being dumped on the deck as the ship you were on tilted with the crack of thunder like the gods hammer. Struggling on deck, in the midst of a storm unlike any you have ever seen, you were just in time to witness a bolt of lightning sunder the main mast and stave a hole in the middle of the ship. The next several minutes were a blur of panic and shouting as everyone on board tried to reach the longboats....but it was far too late, and the ship went under.
You have awoken on a strip of land, about the size of a small building, mostly sand and scrub. The sky is clear and blue, and nothing like the storm of the night before, or has it been longer? A short swim away, you can see the coast. Other than a handful of crew and some shattered remains of the ship, nothing familiar is in sight...
The PCs are thrust into an unfamiliar world, and left to decide how to get by. They could explore the new continent, find out what happened to the colony, even try to find a way home, once more.
Heralds of the King (This one is probably closest to the PoL idea)
“Best of the best, the Kingdom's First and Last line of defense.” That was what they called you. The Heralds were the Kingdom's most prestigious military unit, autonomous from any commands save that of the King, able to do whatever He needed done, and protect the Kingdom from any threat. And you failed. Well, they did. You were still in training when it all started. The rumors of an army of “faceless men” sweeping across the farthest reaches of the Kingdom quickly grew into fact, and the severity of the situation was shown when even your training was sped up. But it was all too late and of no avail. The capitol came under siege faster than you could have ever imagined, and it was a matter of days before the strange sorceries of the Faceless shattered the walls and their armies swept into the city. As the last remaining Heralds, the King ordered your training class split. Half of you would be placed in an Amber Stasis, to await His return, the other half would escort Him and as many civilians as possible to safety in the Last Fortress to the south. If the worst should occur, when a new King took up the royal sword, He would be able to release you from stasis to start rebuilding.
That was moments ago, or so it seemed. Time does not exist in the Amber Stasis. One moment you were watching the last of the Silver Wizards pour the amber over you, and now you are blinking the dust of shattered amber from your vision. But there is no King...only the sounds of Amber shattering as some (though not all) of your fellow trainees are freed from stasis. And the silence of a ruined city, covered in inches of dust....
The PCs are knights of an old kingdom, placed in a magical stasis during an invasion, and told they would be awakened by the King's return with His sword. But something seems to have gone wrong. Some of them woke up, others are still in stasis. And there is no one present, and certainly no sword. It is up to them to find out what has happened, and exactly how long they have been away.
