So... Anybody got a Light, Point of?

[Kaodi]

Hmmm...

The scene is set in the twilight of the last great eladrin empire of a world. Asmodeus has just supplanted his divine patron as the god and ruler of the realm that shall be known afterwards as Hell. While the empire still maintains a bright facade, the cracks and wear are clear for everyone to see, not just in the buildings and roads, but in the spirits of the people. Under the assault of the victorious devils, both overt and covert, the eladrin in some places have begun their retreat back into the Feywild. The nearby human nation, sometime ally and sometime enemy, has bowed down at the feet of the fiends and been rewarded, and the taint has spread to many eladrin in the core of the empire. There are rumours that some of the humans have begun to take on strange features, but so far the claims are not backed up by evidence.

The game begins in a small forest city or town in the greatest wilderness region of the empire. While there is a strong eladrin presence here, the majority of the population is made up of their more wordly cousins, the elves. Also, scattered about are a few roaming bands of halflings who have been driven from their ancestral lands by the encroachment of a hostile human nation. The taint has begun to take a hold here, and with each passing year each community becomes more and more of an island unto itself, menaced by both an increasingly hostile and alien wilderness and the vanguard of the devil worshippers. There is still great promise in this land, but without heroes, it will, in time, fade into darkness.

 

[Novem5er]

Here's something I've been working on. I wont put all the details (for the sake of not forcing everyone to read endless paragraphs!), but I think you can get the gist.

A NEW LIFE

The Dwarven city-state has existed for a thousand years, deep in the heart of the mountain. It is a metropolis of trade, as surface dwellers travel far to exchange goods with their Dwarven hosts. All is well, until death rises from below.

Half the population is killed or scattered and it takes all the Dwarves' military might just to hold off the invasion and let the survivors flee down ancient tunnels. Drow? Dragons? Demons? It doesn't matter at this point in the story. It only matters that the Dwarves, and any visitors they hosted, are now refugees, fleeing for their lives.

The attacking army has cut off the connection to other Dwarven cities, so the survivors must flee into the darkness, into the unknown. Following an ancient highway, not used for generations, the survivors emerge to the surface, on a mountainside overlooking a river valley, with endless trees all around.

The pursuing army has chased them, though, and the eldest of Dwarven engineers remains behind to collapse the tunnel over his head, saving his people. The survivors are safe, but they are cut off from all known civilization and they face the hard reality of an unfamiliar world.

A NEW HOME

The river valley hugs the mountains and provides a barrier from the dark forest that spreads in every direction. The basics are there: water, wood, land; but the Dwarves have no experience with such things on the surface. Fortunately, they are not alone.

A lone Eladrin watch tower stands above the valley. The Eladrin come here from the Feywild to track the stars of this world. They promise to aid the Dwarves with the gift of knowledge. With Eladrin help, the Dwarves will plant crops and survive through the coming winter.

Human and Halfling traders are among the survivors, caught up in the onslaught and separated from their families. They pledge to aid the Dwarves until they can find their way homes, and with their help, the dwarves build homes of wood.

A NEW ENEMY

The dark woods do not welcome their new patrons. The bite of steel into woody flesh echoes out of the valley. Dark things stir; timeless creatures who only exist to cruelly play with lesser beings. The fey have drawn court and revel at the prospect of punishing the mortal interlopers. Goblins run through the shadows beneath the trees and wolves howl through the night. And, somewhere, a scaly nightmare stalks the last remnants of an elven tribe.

THE PCs

Players have many choices. They can be Dwarven survivors, determined to keep their brethern safe long enough to take back the mountain. They can be Eladrin, sworn to help the newcomers. They can be Elves, seeking allies against the dark forest. Any other race or class would have a place within the Dwarven city, as traders, mercenaries, academics, etc.

The players have many quests to choose from. They can hold off attacking monsters (I love the idea of the new Dryads taking tree-from and descending into the valley to slaughter mortals). They can delve into the forest, looking for an end to the trees, monsters to slay, or sites to explore. They can take off down the river with hopes to make contact with civilzation again (hah! Good luck... those tree branches hand pretty low!). Or they could crack open the mountain again and go searching for revenge.

I liked the idea of running a "survival" type of game, where a community has to work together to make it. Putting Dwarves against forest creatures makes for an interesting conflict and the 4e previews of darker fey inspired this. Since the forest isn't host to an army of Hobgoblins, and the chaotic nature of the Fey prevents any massive attack, the Dwarves won't be wiped out immediately... but there is enough here to make PCs neccessary.

If the whole "Dwarves in the Woods" shtick wears thin, you could open up the river route and have sudden contact with a Halfling village. Or the campaign could go back underground to retake the Dwarven city. Lots of options, with an interesting starting point . . . a point of light

 

[Stoat]

The Town of Malquay

Lord Trathor Sulfume is a noble by title, but he remains an free-roaming ranger at heart. When he was granted a charter of nobility after years of service to the King, he traveled south and set his desmesne on the frontier. Malquay is a young town, founded only ten years ago, and its people have yet to subdue the surrounding territory.

The town is a hard week's travel south from the nearest friendly city, and the long road is often closed by winter snows and spring floods. During summer and autumn, bandits, goblins and beasts plague the road. In particular, a flight of wyverns has made it part of their hunting territory, and each year sees a few caravans lost to their predations.

To the west rise the Trolltooth Mountains, treacherous and goblin-haunted. A great city once stood amid those rugged peaks, but its corrupt and feckless nobles were unable to properly defend it. Now the greenskins dwell there.

To the south is a wild land of moors and tangled forests. The dwarven stronghold Khallarn Deeps is located somewhere in that direction, but the Dwarf-roads are underground and secret. Things creep into those tunnels from below, and the passages closest to Malquay have been closed for a generation.

Eastward is the sea. It is said that a community of merfolk once dwelt there, and traded pearls for gold and silver. Those days are past, and the Sea Devils, the Sahuagin, keep the sea for themselves now.

Lord Sulfume and his people fare well, on the whole. The land is rich and bears good crops. Prospectors scratch valuable ore from the mountains. In good years, the long road north stays clear and traders arrive from distant lands. In bad years, the road is closed, and the wilderness draws closer.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Alrighty... Well here is one Point of Light I am using in my future Faerun game.

Gethen's Pass aka "Silver Sliver"

As the Spellplague ravaged Faerun and the world shocked. The cities began to release its hold on the people of Faerun. They began to wander fearing the disease, wild-magic and corruption that began to work its way through the cities. Some turned east, others south some though heard rumours from the north.

A mass exodus of men, women and children marched north. They followed the Sword Coast swelling in numbers as more and more joined from Waterdeep, Neverwinter and Luskan. In the northern lands by the Spine of The World they found their refuge.

There amongst the passes through the Spine they found Gethen's Pass the soldiers there though few in number had guarded the pass for many years. Its supplies were vast in its deep holds as the winter settled in and the people continued to come.

That was over 80 years ago. The story is passed down to each generation of their great march, though none know why here at Gethen's Pass was the word spread to come, but they did. The small outpost has grown into a mighty city.

Its many walls travel along the rocky snow covered ground, twisting their way through the city. Each generation the city grew beyond its wall, but new walls were always built. The descendants remembered the stories of the Spellplague. Its buildings are built of solid-stone from the mountain sides. Each week the farmers travel down the foot of the mountain into hidden farm-land to feed the swelling population.

Gethen's Pass is one of the few cities to be growing, and stand tall against the darkness its walls and people strong.

 

[med stud]

To Dr Strangemonkey and Mach1.9Pants: Thanks for the praise, it let the sun in on an otherwise rainy day (figuratively speaking )!

I will defenitly use your ideas; Dr Strangemonkey got me thinking about how the Wyverns grows complacent and full of themselves, allowing themselves to more and more questionable practises, all in the name of "protecting Crossroads". The merchants doesn't care much as the wizards take their victims from the savage tribes and the lower class citizens anyway.

Mach1.9Pants gave me an entire campaign in his post, at least I can see one forming . The evil cult (Lawful Evil) is almost too obvious when considering the summoning done in the Tower. Most summons are relatively harmless, but from time to time the wizards summon an entity from the Nine Hells that gives them suggestions and powers, all for "a small donation." The cult grows in the upper levels of society. Unknowing of any of this, certain segments of society want the priviligies lifted from the old merchant families (noone dares to oppose the mages). This alliance is formed from the less powerful of the old families and a substantial part of the middle class. The Alliance (as they refere to themselves from now on) are trying to get the lower classes on their side to leverage their position while at the same time trying to deal with the wizards to stand by when the revolution happens. The non- cultist wizards opposes the Alliance while the cultist wizards see this is as a great opportunity to weaken any opposition for their takeover.

From the outside it will look like a split within both of the factions in power. The reason why the conflict (this far) hasn't bloomed up is that the barbarian hordes have joined up under one leader and scrying has shown that the barbarian hordes have been negotiating with powerful beasts. Neither the Alliance, the Conservatives or the Cultists want Crossroads to fall to the barbarians so they keep their conflict at a Cold War level.

In the midst of this: a group of people with unique skills and a certain connection with Destiny (that is, the PCs).

---

Thanks for the inspiration, you two! I think this is material for a year at least!

 

[Traycor]

A tribe of ogre mages gathers a vast army of ogres under their command and wages war on the land. The conflict stretches out for decades until most civilizations are breaking under the weight of the strain.

Three thousand allies band together and flee into the nearby mountains, establishing the cliff dwelling town of Havenrock. Disease and a lack of food sources take their tole on their numbers until the citizens of Havenrock learn to live in their new home. They have little in the way of magic because the mightiest among them perished in the long conflict with the ogres. Dwarves, humans, and elves live in Havenrock, lead by a dragonborn that is said to be a divine prophet of Bahamut.

A decade passes and Havenrock has not heard from anyone on the outside in many years. The year of pilgrimage comes, when the peoples usually travel to visit the distant city of Platinum, holy city of Bahamut where his children dwell. The dragonborn leader of Havenrock sends a few scouts down out of the mountains who report that the war has ended, but all is in ruins. The great cities of the past are broken and overgrown. Roads sit untended and the wild consumes the world. Scattered ogres roam freely and unchecked. The land once known to the allies of Havenrock is changed.

Does the fabled city of Platinum even still exist?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

A decade passes and Havenrock has not heard from anyone on the outside in many years. The year of pilgrimage comes, when the peoples usually travel to visit the distant city of Platinum, holy city of Bahamut where his children dwell. The dragonborn leader of Havenrock sends a few scouts down out of the mountains who report that the war has ended, but all is in ruins. The great cities of the past are broken and overgrown. Roads sit untended and the wild consumes the world. Scattered ogres roam freely and unchecked. The land once known to the allies of Havenrock is changed.

Does the fabled city of Platinum even still exist?

I like it, reminds me of the Anasazi.

 

[Ander00]

I'm going with a PoL-ish setting for my next 3.5 campaign, which is a bit of a sequel for the current one. I'm not sure I'll stick with it come 4E, but who knows. In short, it goes something like this:

There was a time that many took for the apocalypse, with a darkened sky spewing fire regularly. Giants took over what lands remained inhabitable, and most people were forced underground. The PCs will start in an area that consists of a dwarven clanhold which took in refugees during that time and the settlements that have since been established by those refugees' descendants as well as newcomers.

The gods are relatively new, having appeared at about the time these catastrophic events happened and having some relation to them. The pantheon consists of a warlike fire goddess, a scheming ice god, a god of nature and one of opposed concepts (good and evil, etc.). Though they are not exactly benevolent, they have come to be associated with certain positive ideas as well, such as the fire goddess being worshipped as a luck goddess and the god of nature being worshipped as a protector.

Most of the campaign will take place underground, though there later on there will probably be some trips to the surface for a change of scenery.


cheers

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I like it!

Way to make the safe part dangerous and the dangerous part safe.

I do have to say, though, that the tempation to create a trio of lady adventurers and do Cleopatra 2525 BC is really tempting.

 

[Aloïsius]

Who remember darkearth ?
This was a point of light setting. Literraly : magical darkness cover the whole earth, only a few place are blessed with the sun light. Mutant monsters roam the darkness, and adventurers are the only one fool enough to risk their souls outside the light of the cities.
BTW, it was also an pen&paper RPG.