Some Questions for the TrollLord Crew

[JohnRTroy]

Hi guys,

After reading the Codex of Erde, I have a few questions for you.

It seems that your campaign world tends to play fast and loose with gods. That is, gods appear to be in the campaign a lot, and tend to have mortality of some sort--a lot of deified mortals, etc.

What types of Divine Intervention do you expect in the campaign. Obviously, there was a lot of it going on in the past because of the Council of Light vs. Unklar and company. Do gods tend to muck around in mortal affairs a lot?

The other question in--what is the relative power-level of the gods compared to mortals. I ask because it seems that mortals can fight and expect to slay or imprison deities, and the "relative power levels" seem rather low--for instance, the Morgril (those Barlog-like entities) have been said to slay a few gods (or avatars) thereof--and those things are a lot weaker than 3rd Edition Dragons!

That seems rather small--so are gods weaker on Erde than you'd find in an alternate campaign?

 

[Troll Lord]

John,

Sorry if this rambles, but its Sunday and I just ran out of Dr. Pepper!

Glad to hear you've got the book and are absorbing its content so well. That's some close reading your doing there . . . I think the answer would be a qualified "yes," some of the gods were very active in the affairs of men.

Gods have in the past played an important role in the making of Erde. However, one should take into account that the history, as detailed in the book, is some 15000 years of recorded history and some countless number of years before recorded history. The divine interventions actually aren't as frequent as it may seem.

That said, the gods do intervene in the affairs of men. But not until the Winter Dark Wars did they do so directly. Only a handful (the All Father, Thorax, Modrius and then Unklar) actually physically worked with men . . . the others did so through their minions.

As you know the gods are divided into three sections, the Eternals, Spirits and Immortals. I'm assuming (correct me if I'm wrong) that your really referencing the Immortals, as the Eternals are almost untouchable and many "dead" and the Spirits, though active, don't really get 'down and dirty' as the saying goes. The ancient rule, set at the time of "Corthain's Judgement" (where he doomed men to short lives) was to keep men and gods separate. Though no law or force kept this rule, only the integrity of the gods.

A thousand years later Unklar set aside this rule, for he was different than all the others, but for the All Father. Unklar intervened constantly and shaped men as he did the world. Thus he built the world of Winter's Dark.

But the Immortals, particularly during the Winter Dark wars immeshed themselves in the wars against Unklar. They did so, for Unklar had done so. These were partially diefied, legendary people, who gathered great followings during the wars. And in Erde to be worshipped is to gain divine power, the idea being that the collective will of the worshipers embues the recipient with their own power (a not uncommon theme in game worlds I think). So during the wars the presence of the gods (the Immortals) was common.

That said, since the fall of the Winter Dark these Immortals have attempted to remove themselves from the world of men, harking back to the spirit of Corthain, who most of the gods, (many folk on Erde only know of him as the hint of a legend) turn to as the Lord of the All Father's Creation.

So now, in the age of the Young Kingdoms the gods have removed themselves and try to play a less active role, the problem of course is that the powers of Unklar are still around. And the wizard god Nulak-Kiz-Din follows his master's (Unklar) dictums about intervening in the affairs of men.

A second post on Dragons and Mogrl in a moment.

 

[Troll Lord]

With fresh Dr. Pepper in hand....

Concerning Mogrl and the Dragons.

Your right. The Mogrl are weaker than Dragons, I suppose they come in somewhere around the Adult Dragon. I applaud the 3e rules here, for they made Dragons very powerful creatures, something we had been doing for years. Dragons should be the end all, thus, in Erde, you find Frafnog as one of the only creatures who knows the Language of Creation. And, in Erde, all Dragons know at least parts of the language.

Stat wise, Mogrl are far more powerful than say Pit Fiends.

Two things you might consider as a DM that can give the Mogrl a great deal of power. Reading it over now, it is rather understated, but the Mogrl, much like Frafnog, have a command of the Language of Creation. To master this (to quote page 187)
"would bring the wielder infinite power." Now the Mogrl in no way have mastered it, but they do understand it and with this understanding they influence events around them. For instance, as a DM you might make a spell cast by a Mogrl or blow struck take maximum affect. Also, being masters of the forge and having access to Klargliech in Aufstrag these creatures can fashion almost any weapon they chose, and with the Language embue it with a great deal of power. The min. is a +2 weapon, but the few times I've used them I've run with +8 or once, up to a +12.

The other thing I see, in looking at it, is that the Mogrl actually strike 6 times a round. This is nowhere mentioned in the text, though it should be.

That said, if your games tend to run into the very powerful, feel free to make Mogrl even more so they are given in the text. They should be creatures of dread.

That said, to answer your other questions. The Immortals on Erde are not as powerful as the gods of other planes. But the Eternals and Spirits are far more so.

With luch I didn't ramble too much and what I wrote made some amount of sense. Come on back and let me know what not.

Steve
TLG

 

[JohnRTroy]

Sounds cool to me and Another Question

Okay,

It sounds cool to me. I just thought they looked kinda "wimpy".

Of course, the same day I picked up "Codex of Erde", I also picked up "The Divine and the Defeated", so when I see those guys with an average of 1000 hps, somehow the Mogrl didn't seem all that potent.

But those are different settings.

One other question for you guys:

The term "Troll Lord" is used in the game, but it is nothing like the MM Troll. My question, do the Trolls of standard d20 exist on Erde, or are they one of the few monsters not found on Erde, like standard Hobgoblins?

 

[Doc_Souark]

With spare DP

Hiya Steve , Is Canting Crew out yet ? I went to Family Game Center's new location last weekend and couldn't find it.

Are y'all planning TrollCon 2 for next October as of yet, had a great time playing with y'all in Ernie Gygaxs dungeon and would like to repeat the experience.

 

[Mac Golden]

Trolls and Enemies

John,

The trolls found in the MM do exist, but I would confine them to caverns and dungeons.

I haven't seen the Divine and the Defeated, but it sounds as if the upper limits of that setting are much, much higher than what is consistent in Erde. The Mogrl were intended to be more powerful than Pit Fiends, but less powerful than upper-age dragons. Hopefully, it worked out that way.

Best,

Mac Golden