Level Up (A5E) Sins of the Scorpion Age, Sword and Sorcery Campaign Setting

[Steampunkette]

So... I am going to take my laptop to work with me, today. Gonna try to write between bursts of cooking. Any questions, any discussions, here or on the Level Up Discord, will be responded to as soon as I'm able. Questions answered, critiques weighed, and problems solved if I can find a way.

 

[GuyBoy]

Fun note, the Devil's Tower was created by the same sort of volcanic activity that created the Giant's Causeway!

Or was it the giant bear?

 

[Steampunkette]

Or was it the giant bear?

Giant volcanic bears. Yes.

 

[Steampunkette]

So my current thought for the Ranger Subclass is a Bounty Hunter. It's a fairly big part of the class fantasy I'm putting into the setting. Specifically one who gets access to additional maneuver variety without gaining more exertion. Or possibly some -unique- Combat Maneuvers. Maybe let them use Basic Maneuvers more effectively? Not 100% Sure. But that's where my head is leaning. Definitely not going to fill it in 'til the PDFs hit...

As for noncombat functions, I plan to make them "Borderland" rangers. Some Urban, some Wilderness, so they never feel useless in either.

 

[GuyBoy]

I definitely like the idea of rangers not being tied to a particular area. One of the joys of your setting is the ability to travel to very different areas.
The wandering bounty hunter is great. In the early posts, I possibly saw Teerka as fitting this role, searching for the sorcerer who had killed her half-sister and reanimated her.

 

[Steampunkette]

Also worth noting:

I -HIGHLY- recommend anyone who posts or lurks in this thread join the Level Up Discord created by Sir Apetus.

Discord - A New Way to Chat with Friends & Communities

Discord is the easiest way to communicate over voice, video, and text. Chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities.

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In addition to having several Level Up designers offering AMAs on occasion, advice and clarification, and Morrus' presence as well, there's an active thread in the Projects Channel on Sins of the Scorpion Age. I post both here and there, but you might get a faster response to questions or critiques in the live messaging service. It's also great for discussion in a more convivial fashion than forum posts.

 

[Steampunkette]

Synergy Feat Thoughts while at work:

1) Cults. 3 feats which represent cults like Nefia's pair, Ashuro's cult, and the like.

2) Faction-Specialization. The Serpentstalkers and Atorkhan's Seventy and Seventy having feat lines which represent your committment and training. A line of mage-feats that improves Enchantment and Illusion magic for Tyar's Apostlate. Dawnguard membership. Blacksail Marauder induction for pirate PCs on the Shallow Sea and some Khufu Sea Pirate group... Gonna need a ton of feats.

3) Cursed Feats. The Vampire and Revenant Synergy lines might be useful to inform this option.

4) Separate Corruption Feats. Specifically tied to the Witch's Curse, applied to any arcane caster who misses their daily cleansing rituals, or chooses to forgo them.

 

[Steampunkette]

Okay... Breaking the Narrative Feats into categories.

1) Mage Schools/Orders.
Probably a handful of schools in the world for Warlock-Mage and Wizard-Mage concept characters.

2) Fighting Companies
The Dawnguard, the Serpentstalkers, perhaps a few Gladiator feats specific to regions? Riders of Kyran.

3) Pirate Crews
While this could be part of Rogue Companies, pirates tend to be a bit more open about who they let join and center around some specific styles. Things like climb or swim speeds, some "Swing in and Fight" type things... could do a new type of Maneuver and have their tree unlock access? Gonna need a few on the Khufu Sea plus the Blacksail Marauders of the Shallow Sea...

4) Rogue Companies
In addition to Atorkhan and his Seventy and Seventy, there's Nuzira and her Twelve, some Generic bandit feats tied to specific regions (Scorpion Lands, Annam, Jungle Kingdoms, Retreating Forest... large broad swaths of the world), Ishtrada's Rings in Musarra... You get the idea.

5) Trade Consortiums
This one could be pretty wild. Trade Consortiums could introduce players to Barter in game, "Legitimate" travel between regions, and a variety of other options. Opens doors nicely and might allow for a Supply Budget or something?

6) Noble Houses
Princesses in Disguise and Last Descendants of Noble Lines are a huge part of High Adventure stories. Being one of the "Noble Children of Qesh" might have it's own unique benefits compared to other Noble House concepts as well...



INTERESTING MODIFICATION
I could put the -first- feat of each of the Narrative feat trees into the Player's Guide, and the second and third Narrative Feats into the Narrator's Guide... so players don't -exactly- know what they're in for as they progress. This could be pretty useful for certain cults like the Blood of Nefia, who turn greedy and selfish once you go from Initiate to Acolyte and Violent when you go from Acolyte to Priest. Revealing the mysteries of the organizations to players as they gain position.

It also gives the Narrator information they can -hint- at, to prepare the Initiate for what's coming through oblique hints and such...

 

[niklinna]

One of the core conceits of the Howardian Universe of Kull and Conan is that magic and other forms of "Strange Science" have been around forever. The Valusians, a group of serpent-men and the children of Yig, who became known as Set the Serpent God, once ruled the entire world and modified animals and plants to serve their ends. They mapped the stars and developed crazy technology before they pissed off the Gods by not -cloning- or -modifying- an animal, but creating one whole-cloth, usurping the power of the Gods. (Not that the gods were happy with them, anyhow, what with them wiping out their Frog-People neighbors in their world-conquest and using genetic modification to make all the other planetary inhabitants into serpenty things).

Still catching up, but this reminds me of the excellent game Geneforge, have you played it? The original had 4 sequels.

 

[niklinna]

Magic languages that anyone can read, even the illiterate. Most likely used for evil.

In Soviet Scorpion Age, magical language reads you!