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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LoneWolf23" data-source="post: 5512325" data-attributes="member: 643">One of my favorite Fantasy settings is the world of GURPS Banestorm, from Steve Jackson Games. Designed for the GURPS rules, it's something of a departure from your usual D&D-esque setting in different ways.    The setting of Banestorm is set on the world of Yrth, mainly on the continent of Ytarria. Yrth is a world populated by various races and monsters, including people snatched from our Earth and other worlds by the magical cataclysm called the Banestorm. It is a world where Human nations coexist with Dwarven kingdoms and elven enclaves, and where the Crusades aren't history, but current events.    The Continent of Ytarria is divided into numerous nations: the expansive Empire of Megalos, the Islam kingdoms of al-Haz and al-Wazif, the free nation of Cardiel, the kingdom of Caithness, the Dwarven Nations of Zarak, the nation of Sahud, the Principality of Araterre, the savage Orclands and the barbarian Nomad Lands of the northeast.    Religion-wise, Ytarria lacks made-up deities like Lolth or Pelor, but instead features Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and other real-world religions, as they -might have developped- in a world where magic was real.    The continent of Ytarria itself is currently in a state of Medieval Stasis, even though the calender is currently up to our current era. The Stasis is partially due to the existance of secretive groups like the Ministry of Serendipity suppressing technological and social innovations like gunpowder, democracy and mechanisation.    Basic idea for this project: taking the world of Yrth, from GURPS Banestorm, and adapting it to play with the Pathfinder system, "Dungeonizing" it in the process. In the process thereof, there will be a few challenges to overcome.    Challenge 1: the presence of Diving classes. Default Banestorm lacks the usual D&Dish style of "God of Deity X, basically serving as a Healbot". Especially since the setting uses real-world religion like Christianity and Islam.    Possible Solution: Treat as "Clerics of Philosophies", not directly linked to a deity, and instead free to select Domains based on their beliefs. Thus, while three Clerics may claim belief in Christianity, their different approaches will be reflected by different choices in Domains: a peace-loving healer would take Good and Healing; a Crusader would take War and Strength; and a fanatical Heretic-Hunter might favor Law and Evil.    Furthermore, spell-casting Clerics do -not- form the rank-and-file of any Church. Most priests in Ytarria are Commoners, Aristocrats or Experts, with a rare few Adepts as the occasional holy man. Those Clerics that exist see themselves as Holy Champions, chosen by God (or gods, depending) for some higher purpose.    Other possible Solution: including deities from real-world pagan faiths (and more exotic possibilities), but also giving the Monotheistic Faiths Archangelic "gods" to act as Patrons to Clerics. These would likely follow the model from SJGames' "In Nomine" rpg setting, including their hellish counterparts the Demon Princes. Naturally, this would involve some changes in the cosmology, notably the whole Blood War thing for the Fiends.    Challenge 2: Goblins. In Banestorm, Goblins are short (but not Small) green humanoids from the desert world of Gabrook. They are intelligent, civilized and naturally curious, and actually fit well enough into human society. Hobgoblins are their larger, dumber cousins. While a few live amongst Goblins as servants, most remain hunter-gatherers living in small bands in the wilderness. In short, rather different from their default Pathfinder counterparts.    Possible Solution: Use Pathfinder stats for the Goblinoids, but ignore the Fluff, favoring Banestorm's Fluff instead. Only change made to the Goblins is increase size to Medium (lowering AC by 1). Goblins are the civilized city-dwellers, and Hobgoblins the savage wildfolk. Bugbears are a distantly related race.    Challenge 3: The Cosmology. Banestorm lends itself best to a more grounded approach to campaigning, instead of lots of Planeswalking. Thus, we'll simplify things a bit.    Solution: Replacing the Astral Plane with another Transitive Plane, the Spirit World (from Manual of the Planes, p206). The Spirit world reflects the physical world, but grander in many ways. It is populated by various Spirits, represented by fey, elementals, undead, outsiders and other creatures.</blockquote>

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