Hi all.
With the purchase of 5e, I wanted to plug into some forums to get my head around the changes that have occurred, so I'm new to Enworld. I'm interested to know the sorts of campaign settings other people are either playing in or DMing? I'll tell you about mine.
I started DMing a campaign yesterday in a world I've been preparing on and off over the past year or so (originally with pathfinder rules).
I've tried to design the region of this particular world to be as free roaming as possible. I initially used a random hex map generator, created a default map, then created map "layers" that players can gain access to based on their different knowledge proficiencies. Some knowledge 'layers' overlap, potentially assisting players in determining where to adventure or where to, say narrow down a search for an artifact or other quest goal they may have to search for.
The world itself is a custom map as I mentioned, but I have borrowed the gods from greyhawk for convenience, though they are no longer worshipped separately, rather as a group "the old gods". The world was only hit about 300 years ago by an invasion from the underdark. Drow swarmed the surface and with them, a mythic red dragon, which was their devastating secret weapon. After most of civilisation was brought to the ground however, the dragon disappeared and was believed slain. About the same time as this occurred, there were great natural disasters across the land. Ice in the North Pole melted, causing changes in ocean levels around the world, but additionally, there were earthquakes, tornados and other nasty things. Some cities were swallowed up into the earth, others submerged beneath the ocean. More relevant to the present however, is that since then, the land looks completely different to what is was on the old, now outdated maps. Any ruins that were difficult for players to find before are even more so now. Magical items, artifacts and the such are very rare to find.
However, the rarity of items is about equally balanced by the rarity of adventurers. Since the great disaster, adventurers are now few and far between. The only known remaining wizards exist within the remaining tribes of elves and they only train those they trust. Clerics exist within a rigid theocratic city in the northwestern part of the region, but their duties lie with the city. No-one has seen or heard of paladins for a long time.
Party members cannot play clerics or paladins at present. I've allowed a human party member to become a wizard without the elves, but he has had to travel away pre-game east of the region and has returned a first level wizard at the sprightly age of 73. The player is suspicious of the reason wizards aren't seen around and so his character is masquerading as a bard, (he has the actor feat, so is rigged up for such a deception).
The other player's character is a monk who grew up as a street urchin in the above mentioned theocratic city. His skills in brawling were noticed by a member of the monastery he is now a part of and he managed to escape the streets.
In describing the setting, I would mention that the lands all around have become quite a lot warmer than they used to be, this region in particular is very humid with almost daily rainfall. Jungle plants from the coast have spread to many new parts of the region like weeds, adding to the transformation of the landscape.
On the map, drow forces exist in the southeast. Their original attack failed with the disappearance of their dragon and their forces were eventually buckled. For unknown reasons, it appears they could not retreat to the underdark, so they have been trying to bolster their forces on the surface over the last 300 years by any means necessary. In early days they sent out raiding parties to capture 'lesser races' for breeding purposes. Their preferred targets are orc and half or tribes scattered everywhere throughout the land due to the speedy rate at which they achieve adulthood compared with the drow. This half Orc- half drow hybrid is known by the other races as the Droc. Raised under brutal conditions in great number by the drow, the Droc are treated by the drow as no more than a reminder as to just how far they've fallen. Some would suggest the Droc are more offensive to the drow than the elves. The Droc occupy territory west, northwest and north of the Drow and push out from the borders, causing as much chaos as possible. The Droc supply the drow with captive slaves for the mines and the breeding programs and in exchange the drow supply them with crude weapons and armor.
West of the drow are the elves, who survived and weathered the great catastrophe better than all of the other races, because for 1000 years before it, they had lost their homeland and had been effectively made nomadic. This allowed them more adaptability to the other races difficult times and war.
Humans on the other hand are finding it difficult still to recover fully. Many of them are holding onto the past too, desperate to restore that which they have lost. Perhaps the most practical city of the humans is the closest to the Droc border, north west of them. The city wants to rebuild military might, but keeps on being assailed by Droc forces.
Now Droc attacks against this city have been increasing, military forces in the other human cities are mobilising moving gradually east, the elves have tightened their borders, the dwarves in the mountains north of the elves are sending out less trade caravans and still there is a shortage of adventurers in the land.
With the purchase of 5e, I wanted to plug into some forums to get my head around the changes that have occurred, so I'm new to Enworld. I'm interested to know the sorts of campaign settings other people are either playing in or DMing? I'll tell you about mine.
I started DMing a campaign yesterday in a world I've been preparing on and off over the past year or so (originally with pathfinder rules).
I've tried to design the region of this particular world to be as free roaming as possible. I initially used a random hex map generator, created a default map, then created map "layers" that players can gain access to based on their different knowledge proficiencies. Some knowledge 'layers' overlap, potentially assisting players in determining where to adventure or where to, say narrow down a search for an artifact or other quest goal they may have to search for.
The world itself is a custom map as I mentioned, but I have borrowed the gods from greyhawk for convenience, though they are no longer worshipped separately, rather as a group "the old gods". The world was only hit about 300 years ago by an invasion from the underdark. Drow swarmed the surface and with them, a mythic red dragon, which was their devastating secret weapon. After most of civilisation was brought to the ground however, the dragon disappeared and was believed slain. About the same time as this occurred, there were great natural disasters across the land. Ice in the North Pole melted, causing changes in ocean levels around the world, but additionally, there were earthquakes, tornados and other nasty things. Some cities were swallowed up into the earth, others submerged beneath the ocean. More relevant to the present however, is that since then, the land looks completely different to what is was on the old, now outdated maps. Any ruins that were difficult for players to find before are even more so now. Magical items, artifacts and the such are very rare to find.
However, the rarity of items is about equally balanced by the rarity of adventurers. Since the great disaster, adventurers are now few and far between. The only known remaining wizards exist within the remaining tribes of elves and they only train those they trust. Clerics exist within a rigid theocratic city in the northwestern part of the region, but their duties lie with the city. No-one has seen or heard of paladins for a long time.
Party members cannot play clerics or paladins at present. I've allowed a human party member to become a wizard without the elves, but he has had to travel away pre-game east of the region and has returned a first level wizard at the sprightly age of 73. The player is suspicious of the reason wizards aren't seen around and so his character is masquerading as a bard, (he has the actor feat, so is rigged up for such a deception).
The other player's character is a monk who grew up as a street urchin in the above mentioned theocratic city. His skills in brawling were noticed by a member of the monastery he is now a part of and he managed to escape the streets.
In describing the setting, I would mention that the lands all around have become quite a lot warmer than they used to be, this region in particular is very humid with almost daily rainfall. Jungle plants from the coast have spread to many new parts of the region like weeds, adding to the transformation of the landscape.
On the map, drow forces exist in the southeast. Their original attack failed with the disappearance of their dragon and their forces were eventually buckled. For unknown reasons, it appears they could not retreat to the underdark, so they have been trying to bolster their forces on the surface over the last 300 years by any means necessary. In early days they sent out raiding parties to capture 'lesser races' for breeding purposes. Their preferred targets are orc and half or tribes scattered everywhere throughout the land due to the speedy rate at which they achieve adulthood compared with the drow. This half Orc- half drow hybrid is known by the other races as the Droc. Raised under brutal conditions in great number by the drow, the Droc are treated by the drow as no more than a reminder as to just how far they've fallen. Some would suggest the Droc are more offensive to the drow than the elves. The Droc occupy territory west, northwest and north of the Drow and push out from the borders, causing as much chaos as possible. The Droc supply the drow with captive slaves for the mines and the breeding programs and in exchange the drow supply them with crude weapons and armor.
West of the drow are the elves, who survived and weathered the great catastrophe better than all of the other races, because for 1000 years before it, they had lost their homeland and had been effectively made nomadic. This allowed them more adaptability to the other races difficult times and war.
Humans on the other hand are finding it difficult still to recover fully. Many of them are holding onto the past too, desperate to restore that which they have lost. Perhaps the most practical city of the humans is the closest to the Droc border, north west of them. The city wants to rebuild military might, but keeps on being assailed by Droc forces.
Now Droc attacks against this city have been increasing, military forces in the other human cities are mobilising moving gradually east, the elves have tightened their borders, the dwarves in the mountains north of the elves are sending out less trade caravans and still there is a shortage of adventurers in the land.
