Randomling's Dungeoncraft Diary (my players out!!)

[randomling]

Randomling, that's some really great stuff you've got going! Looking forward to hearing more about it...

Question: How do arcanists fit into this world?

jtb

Arcanists? Wizards and sorcerers you mean?

Well, my original conception was that there were going to be ordinary wizards and sorcerers, as in Core D&D, but as I've developed the world things have changed. I'm now looking at using a modified version of the D20 Modern ruleset. Magic is going to be available through a couple of different feats or Advanced Classes.

Some potential classes with access to spells or spell-likes are:

Witch: fairly versatile caster (can choose spellcasting ability score) with nature and charm-based spell list; access to ritual and coven casting
Wizard: book- and ritual-based caster (Int-based) with access to lots of divination, protection, etc
Druid: Gaea-worshipping nature-based caster (Wis) with some additional abilities
Voodooun: Black magic, necromancy, healing (Cha), heavy ritual focus
Chosen One: granted powers by deity (Wis)
Paladin: martial champion of Auros (Wis)

So no Wizards and Sorcerers as we know them, but a variety of different spellcasters with different flavours. I'm slowly putting together the classes and feats to make all this possible (as well as other things) in a House Rules thread: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86771

 

[randomling]

Diri - you're good, man! Thanks for all the ideas!

A development of someone elses idea: The islands are being raised by a kraken or something similar. The kraken waits decades or centuries, allowing the humans and other races to colonise the islands, and them sinks them, letting the pitiful creatures drown and feast en masse on their corpses... (or, gathering them as part of a vast necromantic construct, designed to elevate it to godhood / destroy the primordial enemies of the kraken race / complete it's brand new modern art installation).

Another idea: If they drift, perhap goblins / lizardfolk use the islands as sloooooow but mobile siege towers, ramming them into other islands (thanks to a new PrC, the IslandDriver!) and storming them. Or is this too silly?

Another idea: What if the Crossing from the Green to te Grey is caused by an imbalance in a cosmic principle... say, Law vs Chaos, or Energy vs Entropy. To keep the universe from shattering, the 'weights' (islands) must be moved from one domain to another. It is a constant, dynamic process, maintained by (whatever outsider suits your purposes... Modrons!)

All deeply cool ideas.

I'm pretty sure that I know what's going on with the Green and Grey Lands now, though...

Skip back about 15,000 years, way before Auros the Mighty gained his almighty power over all the other deities. There was a god called Kzarul, a god of Death, among other things. His lover was Erzuli, goddess of music, dance and love, and patron deity of the Fey. The two parted on bad terms, and as a "parting gift", Kzarul laid waste to the lands of the Fey. Back then, it was a separate demiplane with portals at many shrines to Erzuli, and the Fey travelled freely between the two. Kzarul's destruction killed everything in the Fey home, and made it impossible for those Fey who were on the Material Plane to go home. Some interbred with humans, but most simply withered and died. The destroyed Fey home-plane has become twisted and strange, populated with Fey ghosts and littered with the dangerous remains of Fey magics. The power of the land ebbs and flows as was always the nature of the Fey, sometimes drawing islands (particularly those upon which there were shrines to Erzuli) in, and sometimes spitting them back out. These desolate, dangerous, mercurial wastes are the Grey Lands.

Church of Saint Illiax (the Vigilant) LE: Act as a mercenary force and militant order, a counterpoint to the Church of St Alain. They protect the weak and defenceless, with the price that they be allowed to install governors and tax collectors of their own devising in protected lands.. They may be at war with the Chevaliers.
Church of Saint Kellera (the Corrupters / the Decadent) NE: Work to destabilise other faiths, transforming holy men into selfish gluttons and deviants.
Church of Saint Bronehgild (the Savagers) CE: Follow a pseudo-druidic path of might makes right, hairy makes scary, believing that Auros never meant for Men to rise above Beasts in behaviour.

MmmmMMMMMMmmm. *swipe* Thanks!

Perhaps the Corrupters, like the Alexandrites, believe in power for its own sake, and strive to gain it for their own Church - but have different methods, seeking to strip power/honour/faith from their rivals instead of seeking ways to bolster their own power like the Alexandrites?

I like the Savagers. Very nice!

Myth ideas:
Finding of the Book of the Three-Fold Heresy: This myth tells the tale of how a hermit monk, living over a millenia ago left Mainland to dwell in isolation on the island (at the time, there was only one). There, he discovered an ancient, crumbling shrine that contained symbols of Auros the Mighty but predated any known manifestation of the faith.

The shrine contained a tome, which the hermit discovered detailed previously lost aspects of the faith; for Auros had seeded factions that believed both in weal and woe, in help and harm, but the good faiths had driven their evil kin to extinction ages ago. The hermit resolved that he would refound the dark orders, because that was Auros' wish (or so he thought... was the book in fact a theological trap laid by the Gods or Demons of Naughtiness? dun dun DUN!)

Perhaps it was finding a copy of this manuscript in one of their scriptoriums that drove the first Alexandrites to corruption and evil.

Alexander himself, perhaps - maybe it was the Book of the Three-Fold Heresy that "inspired" an already rather twisted individual to start killing in the vile and awful way that he liked to do. And cover it up - concealment of your own vile deeds is a central tenent of the Alexandrite Church, because as much as they seek to do Evil, they also seek respect and acclaim in the mainstream world.

The Returned: Not all who were taken to the Grey Lands stay there. Tales say that the island of Rydimios fell into the Grey Maelstrom eight hundred years ago, one of the first places in the archipeligo to Cross. Three hundred years ago, however... it came back. The people and the land were changed by their sojourn in the shadow. All colour seemed bleached away from the trees and grass, the animals were still and feeble, and the inhabitants were no longer human. They had become... (elves? faefolk? changlings? dopplegangers? up to you).

Probably some strange half-Fey creatures. I've already got some vague ideas that link the Grey Lands, Fey, and voodoo magic...

And, finally...
Skartha (lesser kraken / krakenspawn)
Medium Magical Beast
HD: 2d10+4 (15 hp); Speed: Swim 20 ft; Armor Class: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14;Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+5; Attack: Tentacle +5 melee (d6+3); Full Attack: 2 tentacles +5 melee (d6+3) and 6 arms +0 melee (1d3+1) and bite +0 melee (d8+3);
Space/Reach: 5 ft./0 ft. (10 ft. with tentacle); Special Attacks: Improved grab, constrict d6+3 or 1d3+1; Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., ink cloud, jet, low-light vision; Saves: Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +3; Abilities: Str 16, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 12; Skills: Intimidate +6, Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +11; Feats: Iron Will.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the skatha must hit with an arm or tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict.
Constrict (Ex): A skatha deals automatic arm or tentacle damage with a successful grapple check.
Jet (Ex): A skatha can jet backward once per round as a full-round action, at a speed of 60 feet. It must move in a straight line, but does not provoke attacks of opportunity while jetting.
Ink Cloud (Ex): A skatha can emit a cloud of jet-black ink in an 10-foot spread once per minute as a free action. The cloud provides total concealment, which the kraken normally uses to escape a fight that is going badly. Creatures within the cloud are considered to be in darkness.

Environment: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Solitary or pod (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral evil
Advancement: 4–6 HD (Medium); 7–12 HD (Large) or by class (often fighters or sorcerors).

SEA MONSTERS!!!

Thanks dude!

 

[Wrath of the Swarm]

Possible ideas:

There have been several new islands created due to underwater volcanos. The rapid production of these islands (which are mostly barren and slowly developing life) is considered potentially dangerous and indicative of geothermic instability.

Only one island is actually lost, and it's mostly legendary, having vanished several thousand years ago. Stories occasionally surface of someone finding its ruins far beneath the waves, but they're rarely verifable and false when they are. Suddenly, it is noticed that one of the islands seems to be sinking into the ocean - and it is heavily inhabited.

The islands are part of a game being played by incarnations of elemental powers: Earth-fire against Water. Each move of this game takes many mortal lifespans, and the game itself is as old as the world. Unfortunately, several pieces are considered to be lost and are being removed from the game within a short span of time.

A religious cult teaches that the islands were formed when the Sun God, Lord of Fire and Life, warred with the treacherously cold Ocean God, Lord of Water and Death. The Sun God called to the deep fires of the earth, drawing them up from the clutches of the Deep One of the Ocean so that life might flourish upon them in Its light. When the peoples of certain islands turned away from It and began giving homage to the Deep One, the Sun God permitted their land to sink back beneath the waves. This story is completely wrong, but that doesn't matter to the cult. They teach that aquatic creatures are really pale mockeries of life and that eating seafood is an abombinable sin. Only food grown from the earth, and creatures that eat food grown from the earth, is acceptable. If the number of people who live off the seas grows greater than those that live off the land, the island will perish.

 

[randomling]

Of course, there could be elements of that around too - no reasons that there couldn't be legends of Lost Islands, immortal power-games, and bizarre religious cults with their own reasons for why islands disappear!

Mostly, we do have islands disappearing into the Grey Lands rather than the ocean. But there are also legends of islands that have disappeared beneath the sea for unknown reasons...

Hmmm.

 

[Wrath of the Swarm]

It would be somewhat easier for the islands to not have a defined spatial relationship (and vanish into other planes) if the islands were the only things in the world - a la Earthsea. Then they wouldn't even have to be on a planet - just an endless plane of sky, sea, and stone.

So this archipelagos is part of a standard world? Or is it a setting in its own right? Is there a mainland? I've read your website, but I'm still a bit confused as to how these islands related to the information there.

 

[randomling]

I'm pretty sure that there is a "rest of the world" and various mainlands out there somewhere. I haven't developed them yet - the Hundred Isles are pretty big and pretty well isolated.

There's another setting floating around in my head called Ch'Tarra, but that's not related to the Hundred Isles.

I guess we do have a planet. The idea is that the Grey Lands is (spatially speaking) in the "same place" as the Hundred Isles. Whether it's the same all over the world or the Grey Lands are just there in the Hundred Isles, I'm not sure yet...

 

[Wrath of the Swarm]

Hmmm... so the idea of a game or war between elemental powers isn't quite appropriate, then.

Okay, here's a cheesy Cthulhoid idea: the Hundred Isles together compose a mystic prison for an incomprehensible evil. To set this monstrosity free, someone is trying to trigger the destruction of certain islands so that the pattern they make is nullified (like scratching out part of a warding diagram).

The Isles as a whole are a kind of Bermuda Triangle. They exist as part of a wider world, but they're mystically isolated from it. There's a certain location that has a bad reputation - ships go into it and never come out, or go in and come out after years have passed, but no one's aged a day. The Hundred Isles are what's inside the triangle, and no one in it really believes the rest of the world exists. (Ships from "outside" that become trapped in the Isles usually crash, and the sailors are thought to be madmen.) But whatever makes the region special is breaking down, and islands are phasing into the real world, making them "lost". (In the rest of the world, these islands are appearing out of nowhere.) So the "Grey Lands" are what we'd normally think of as the real world.

 

[randomling]

Hmmm... so the idea of a game or war between elemental powers isn't quite appropriate, then.

Okay, here's a cheesy Cthulhoid idea: the Hundred Isles together compose a mystic prison for an incomprehensible evil. To set this monstrosity free, someone is trying to trigger the destruction of certain islands so that the pattern they make is nullified (like scratching out part of a warding diagram).

The Isles as a whole are a kind of Bermuda Triangle. They exist as part of a wider world, but they're mystically isolated from it. There's a certain location that has a bad reputation - ships go into it and never come out, or go in and come out after years have passed, but no one's aged a day. The Hundred Isles are what's inside the triangle, and no one in it really believes the rest of the world exists. (Ships from "outside" that become trapped in the Isles usually crash, and the sailors are thought to be madmen.) But whatever makes the region special is breaking down, and islands are phasing into the real world, making them "lost". (In the rest of the world, these islands are appearing out of nowhere.) So the "Grey Lands" are what we'd normally think of as the real world.

Mmm, with a few twists - I like my "dead lands of the Fey" idea! - that might speak to the Evil Purpose of the Alexandrites. Perhaps Kzarul used a demonic minion to destroy the fey lands, and the Fey managed to launch a final counterattack that sealed it in the Grey Lands. Now the Alexandrites - the one organization that has access to such secret knowledge, through generations of research through any and all methods - have discovered the existence of this trapped demon and are trying to set it free and use it to bring their organization to power.

 

[randomling]

Okay, I've been messing with secrets, religion, monsters, and Big Plot Ideas. Now we get to the thing I'm really bad at: maps, and the little bits of information that I need to run the first game.

In my head, the Isles are big, with more square miles of sea than land within the territory, so I don't necessarily need to map out the entire region immediately. I've got a good idea of where I want the PCs to start: a big port city called Tarantelle, on an island called Lucca, probably either in a tavern called the Buccaneers' Rest or nearby. (The PCs both have connections to a thieves' guild that runs out of the tavern.)

How to put together relevant bits of info here? I'm starting off by running a 1-2hr introductory vignette (probably no combat) to get to know the PCs a little, so what I really need is some NPCs, a rough idea of what the tavern looks like on the inside... and other stuff? What? Argh!

 

[Morpheus]

Okay, I've been messing with secrets, religion, monsters, and Big Plot Ideas. Now we get to the thing I'm really bad at: maps, and the little bits of information that I need to run the first game.

In my head, the Isles are big, with more square miles of sea than land within the territory, so I don't necessarily need to map out the entire region immediately. I've got a good idea of where I want the PCs to start: a big port city called Tarantelle, on an island called Lucca, probably either in a tavern called the Buccaneers' Rest or nearby. (The PCs both have connections to a thieves' guild that runs out of the tavern.)

How to put together relevant bits of info here? I'm starting off by running a 1-2hr introductory vignette (probably no combat) to get to know the PCs a little, so what I really need is some NPCs, a rough idea of what the tavern looks like on the inside... and other stuff? What? Argh!

In the newest issue of Dragon, Monte Cook gives some good advice on fleshing out NPCs. I already use the "give each NPC two memorable traits" and I highly recommend it. I use index cards for my NPCs and put all the stats and relavent combat data on the front. On the back, I put all the "roleplaying" information-Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge skills, Sense Motive, languages, the 2 "memorable" traits and some tidbits about their interacting with others (i.e. the PCs). I even have different colors for different alignments. It makes roleplaying much easier when you have all of the information at your fingertips.