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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 1592906" data-attributes="member: 317">I'll take a crack at this too:Core Ethos Statement: Netheros is a grim, dark world filled with superstition, bizarre occurrances, and indifferent or malevolent entities.  The gods take very much a "hands off" approach to the world, and divine servitors almost never make appearances.  Despite this, the supernatural often remains unseen or behind the scenes, while the most foul and corrupt creatures are humans.  The world is morally VERY grey, and the PCs are free to make thier own destinies.  In feel, its low magic, gritty, and draws heavily upon the Thieves World series, Robert E Howard, Lovecraft, Karl Edward Wagner, and the Black Company novels, with a LOT of researched medieval mysticism thrown in regarding legends, magic, and monsters (not like D&D monsters). Who are the heroes?: There have been many PCs in the 13 year campaign in my world, but the major PCs are detailed below.  Also, its worth noting that the only PC race is human, although there are 13 different cultures modeled on real-world cultures from Europe and the Middle East that are essentially different "races" in D&D terminology.  There have been tons of NPC allies and other minor PCs, but these are the major ones:-Kendal Heilbronn: Male Adunic Knight Veritas of Herion (Paladin with some tweaks), Kendal is determined to mete out justice in his god's name tempered with compassion- a trait that is sorely lacking in Netheros.  Kendal's current obsession is investigating charges of corruption in his own temple/order.-Marlys of Lynwyd: Female Adunic Maga (homebrew arcane spellcaster class) who is focused on learning obscure and ancient lore.  Somewhat of a Lovecraftian hero type, but with a MUCH more stable mind.  She focuses primarily on divination, illusion, and enchantment spells.-Dellion Orcsfell: Male Adunic Ranger, follower of Surma (god of the wilderlands) and foe-hammer of orcs.  Think a rather black humor version of the Jeff Foxworth redneck with a hatred for orcs and a penchant for booze, and you have this fellow.  Good hearted, but with a temper.-Dara Viridian: Felmale Dunal Witch, the youngest of four sisters of a poor Dunal farmer, she has the ability interact with the Sprit World, and ran away from home at 13 to apprentice herself to a renowned medium and witch.  Currently investigating the disappearances of powerful spirits in the Spirit World.Lazeros: Male Vosyar Druid, the last of his order, which was betrayed by his master.  Trying to hunt down the heartstone from a sacred site in his homeland taken by his master to "repair the damage civilization has caused to the natural order." What do they do?:  Well, short answer is, whatever they want.  I have 2-4 plot hooks and adventures ready at any point in time, and let them investigate what they want at their lesuire.  That said, once they decide to investigate a plot arc, there are usually 3-5 connected adventures involving lots of research, problem solving, roleplaying, and combat.  Generally, they try to aid/protect others from destructive forces or people, but they also do a fair number of adventures out of curiousity and wanting to learn more.Threats, conflicts, villians?:  I've never liked the BBEG model, so I set out when I designed the world to have at least 20 different organizations/forces/individuals who are doing bad things the characters might try to stop or hinder.  The major ones are demons (who are enemies of the gods and try to lure mortals to damnation and corruption), fey (who are jealous of mortals because they have souls, and for driving the fey out of their lands due to expansion), the Iron Circle (a cabal of arcanists with unknown but generally shady motives), and the distant but everpresent threat of elder entities (Lovecraftian).  There are lots more, but in general there isn't a single overriding BBEG- instead I used a number of factions, which the PCs have played off against each other before.  I find it makes the world much more interesting and believable.Nature of magic: Magic is something that is difficult to master and tends to have a will of its own, easily going awry if the caster overexerts himself or goes beyond his capabilities.  There are no wizards or sorcerers per the PHB, instead I made up different cultural traditions of magic that each operate a little differently with different capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, and spell lists.  Briefly, there is  Alchemy, Cabalsim (ritual magic), Classicalism (a more scientific approach), Diabolism (power from demonic pacts), Romari (basically mediums with the powers of divination and illusion/enchantment), Runcasters (very Norse inspired and draw on the power of divine runes), Sorcery (mostly necromancy and domination type abilities), and Witchcraft (bargaining with natural spirits for power).  Divine power is channeled through clerics and druids, slightly modified from the PHB.  In any case, spells 5th level and above require lengthy rituals, and all evocations are bumped up one spell level.  Magic items are rare, and supernatural mosters are truly terrifying since they seem invulnerable unless you can find a weakness.</blockquote>

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