Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="d4" data-source="post: 1633678" data-attributes="member: 12699">i don't know where it went either. i don't even remember if i posted mine to that thread, so i'm just going to go ahead and use this one. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Core Ethos StatementThe New World of Talana is an uncharted and untamed land where heroes of the pioneering spirit can make their mark exploring fantastic lands, encountering new peoples, and defeating terrible monsters.Who are the Heroes?Heroes in the New World can be brave pioneers, forsaking the Old World of Meropa for the fresh vistas of the New. They can be scoundrels on the run from the law, seeking a new start on the frontier. They could be those sworn to protect the frontier from hostile natives and those who would flout the law. Heroes can be found among the native peoples of Talana as well, protecting their tribes from the invaders or perhaps working with the newcomers to help them appreciate the lands they now inhabit.What do Heroes do?Heroes in the New World will most likely spend much of their time exploring new lands, battling outlaws and bandits on the frontier, and making contact with the native peoples (whether peaceful or those with hostile intent). Eventually, the heroes may wish to settle down, carving out a domain for themselves on the frontier. They may wish to remain in one community, protecting it from whatever dangers come forth over the horizon to threaten it. Heroes may take part in the struggles of Meropa that spill over into the colonies, or may even return to the Old World itself to see their homelands.Threats, Conflicts, and VillainsThe rivalries of the Old World continue to complicate the lives of settlers in the New. The barbarians of Skorrfeld have settled in the cold northern reaches of the New World to continue their raids. The settlers from Presgard and Cormais live uneasily side-by-side, plotting against each other as their homelands prepare for war. The settlers of Vastria see in the New World a way to remake the empire they have long since lost in the Old World. The theocratic Caliphate has set up colonies on the islands to the south of the New World, seeking to convert the heathens to their monotheistic religion with gilded tongues or by the sword.The indigenous Aticlan Empire of the lizardfolk seeks to drive the invaders from Talana using their dark and powerful magic. The elven tribes of the forests try to avoid the newcomers, but show no mercy against those who would defile their lands. The goblinoid tribes of the central plains, with their dire animal pets and shamanic magic, are a constant threat to settlers from the Old World. To the south, the disparate gnoll tribes have begun to learn from the invaders, adopting Old World tactics and arms in an effort to safeguard their independence and ancestral lands.On a smaller scale, the frontier settlements of the New World have attracted the riff raff, scoundrels, outlaws, and bandits of the Old World, who exploit the lawless nature of the frontier for their own nefarious purposes.In addition, the environment itself can provide plenty of danger. The New World is an untamed and, for the most part, unexplored place. Who knows what dangers lurk over the horizon?The Nature of MagicArcane magic is the manipulation of invisible energies which emanate from the earth and flow through all things. A sorcerer is someone with the ability to manipulate arcane energy intuitively, and a wizard is someone who learns how to do so from mentors or ancient texts. As with other settings, divine magic comes from gods -- although there are also powerful spirits who live in the world and are capable of providing divine magic to those who revere them. Arcane magic is most common in the Old World and among those who come from there. Of the New World races, only the elves have displayed an affinity for arcane magic, as many elves can cast magic intuitively as sorcerers. Divine magic (both clerical and shamanic) is the standard for most of the New World races.What's New and DifferentThe races of the world are divided into two broad groups: those that are native to Talana, and those who arrive as settlers and invaders from Meropa. Humans, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, and ogres are the Old World races; elves, goblinoids, lizardfolk, and gnolls are the New World races. All of these races would be considered "playable" in a New World campaign.Unlike many other established worlds, the New World is for the most part unexplored and untamed. The various kingdoms of the Old World have set up some colonies on the coast and there are a handful of indigenous kingdoms scattered across Talana, but for the most part the continent is either uninhabited or occupied solely by nomadic tribes. This allows the PCs to be the first to explore many parts of the world and provides them with the ability to easily set up their own domains.A "frontier mentality" pervades the New World. Everything is new -- the heroes can often be the first of their people to explore an area or make contact with a new culture. People are more independent on the frontier; they are more likely to try to take care of their own problems or seek help from their neighbors, rather than relying on some higher authority figure or central government. The frontier is a place where people can make a fresh start, away from whatever troubles they may have had in more civilized parts.A major theme is the juxtaposition of the more "civilized" cultures of the Old World (similar to Europe at the height of the Middle Ages), and the more "primitive" cultures of the New (similar to the tribes and kingdoms of the Americas upon their first contact with Europeans).Instead of using the conquistador era as a basis (as Maztica did), this is more about adopting a "Wild West" mentality in an otherwise standard Dungeons and Dragons setting.</blockquote>

Verification