So, yeah, shit's been rolling around in my head for a D&D game. Don't know if/when I'll run it, but figure I'll start putting stuff up here to keep it in one place and get some feedback.
Note: Yes, I know some of you will roll your eyes/call me stupid for the ideas, but I'm including them because I honestly like them, so the ideas will likely get used, it's the rules that I need feedback on.
Note the Second: Mostly it's just a bunch of notes at the moment, but I'm starting to do some rules too, as it goes on.
[insert table of contents here, I suppose]
====================
3-8-12 Added Orcs and Goblins to Races, Added "Uberwald" to The World
3-13-12 Named world, added Elves
3-14-12 Added "Other Inhabitants" section to Uberwald, rounding out the monster mash.
3-30-12 Added Human-Son of Deicid, Halflings, Cleaned up Race note section, Edited Dwarf and Goblin entries, named the Uberwald area.
Asyeun (formerly Prak's Unnamed D&D Setting Thread)
Moderator: Moderators
Asyeun (formerly Prak's Unnamed D&D Setting Thread)
Last edited by Prak on Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:56 am, edited 6 times in total.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Race Notes
Dwarves All Mine-Dwelling Dwarves live as part of a regimented heirarchy that is part construction crew, part trading company, and part military force. An adult dwarf enters the structure with the Rank/Position of Mason, and may be promoted for exemplary service to the mine.
City-Dwelling Dwarves are either Rankless, having been completely Discharged, and, effectively exiled (though they are allowed to visit mines as visitors), or have been granted the rank of Ambassador, and been tasked with the fostering of relations between their home-mine and the city in which they live.
Dwarven society all but revolves around the written word. All dwarves are literate (they don't have Barbarians so much as Berserkers, and they are literate without the 2 skill point cost), and everything is recorded. Dwarven lore tells of a time when a great Mine-Empire was lost for lack of a written record. This story is the source of both their obsession with the written word and their prohibition against erasing the written word. Individual dwarves keep detailed personal journals, and each hopes that they may perform a service so great, or live a life so righteous that their personal journal will be added to the enormous Record Tablets of their home mine.
Rankless Dwarves are forced to watch their journal be destroyed in effigy, as a symbol that their journal may never be added to a record stone.
Due to the extensive records each dwarven Mine-City keeps, any Knowledge check made with access to a Mine's records receives a +6 bonus (all Dwarves with Rank have access to the majority of their City's records. Higher rank grants higher access. They do need to be in a Mine-City, or otherwise have access to the relevant records).
Elves
A millennium ago or more, the elves were chased from their ancestral home. No one quite remembers who did it, or where the legendary Nidus forest is, but the elves maintain that it was the orcs, before they were brought to heel by the Unspeakable, and that, as their goddess bled out, hanging from the Catho Tree by a thick, wrought iron spear, so, too, did the life drain from the forest, leaving not but a barren wasteland.
As they fled, the elves searched in vain for a new land. The dwarves had already claimed the mountains, and the elves were not fit for mine work. The halflings, in their hillside warrens, had to turn them away, pointing out the discomfort they would be in living in such cramped dens, and the toll they would take on the small race's food stores while they settled in. Humans and gnomes had long ago sprawled across Asyeun's flat lands, even across land that couldn't hold a scrub, let alone a crop.
All that remained were the swamps and ground, home to swarming goblin colonies, and the orcs that had chased them, and the seas, under which they could not breath. A few elves braved the caves and caverns, and there they found cthonic goblin deities, all too eager to accept new worshipers in return for a home, and they became kin to the goblins. The rest crept into man's cities and villages, where they proceeded to beg, borrow, con, play for, and steal wagons, carts, boats, tents, food, and draft animals, before leaving at first light for the one place not claimed by any race, the trade roads and high seas.
The elves are now a highly nomadic race with a, mostly undeserved, reputation for dishonesty, theft, xenophobia, child snatching, and performing con jobs. If confronted directly about elven stealing, most will merely say their ancestors stole out of necessity, conspicuously omitting any comment of the theft that is believed to go on today.
The dodginess of land roaming elves aside, most sea going elves are pirates and smugglers, though frequently in the "honorable, charming, mostly non-violent rake" mold.
The elves are also, however, reputed to be wonderful mystics, lovers, and fighters. They have a disproportionately high number of diviners, over a third of the elven population, and more than half of the half elves, have been traced to a single lineage, and they long honed their combat skills on brigands who waylaid them, or by being such themselves.
Goblins Different from many worlds, the goblins of Asyeun are a devious,a quasi-reptilian insectile race. They are known for their unstable and highly mutable morphic code, and their ability to "evolve" throughout their life, growing into new forms and purposes. All goblins hatch from eggs, laid by Goblin Hive-matrons (not quite queens, as there are a number of them in every hive, but otherwise similar), but more over, these same eggs can be made to hatch the goblins' signature organic weaponry. Many goblins proudly wield their "siblings," and will mourn a destroyed weapon. Their organic nature, however, does make it quite difficult to destroy goblin weaponry, as their heal at the same rate as their Sibling-wielder.
Goblins can take Fiend and Monster feats, and gain "Goblin Traits" for each such feat they possess (typically insectile or reptilian traits, such as chitinous shell, multi-faceted eyes, scales, or spines).
Halflings All of halfling society is essentially a large, world-spanning Thieves' Guild. Halfling children learn basic infiltration skills from a young age, learning more advanced techniques as they grow older and advance in the society (add Disable Device and Hide to the list of skills to which they receive a +2 racial bonus).
This is not to say that every halfling is a thief, just those that wish to have any real standing in their racial society.
Halflings are known for a sort of selfless hero streak and a fearlessness left from their rise to civilization. They had to be fearless and give all for the group in order to compete with a world where almost everything was larger than them. Their thieving skills weren't exactly useless in that respect either. Now, however, the Halflings have largely left their earthly dens in favour for smoky, hidden away rooms in cities.
Humans, and Related Cultures
There are a variety of human cultures on Asyeun, from the secretive Necromancer Monks of the Id Thole, to the god-slaying Sons of Deicid. Some almost seem more like a separate race entirely, but mostly they are just very specially trained.
Id Thole Celebrant
The Id Thole are a reclusive monastic order who have retreated to the cold mountain ranges of Osturopa in the Monasteries of Bone to seek enlightenment and immortality. They have become convinced that Nirvana lies in the transmogrification of living flesh to immortal necroplasm.
Through a lengthy process of having servants remove most of their major organs and wrap them in alchemically treated bandages adorned with many mystical talismans, they reach a semblance of this immortality.
They tend towards neutrality, though the negative energy they channel is beginning to take a toll on their minds and souls, and is causing them to increasingly produce evil members.
Id Thole Template (Playable Mummy)
Type:Type changes to undead, gains Augmented (whatever they were) and Dark Minded as subtypes
Hit Dice: Reroll HP with d12s, saves, BAB and skills remain unchanged.
Ability Scores: Lose Con, +2 Str, +2 Wis
Special Qualities: Due to the many fragile magical talismans that animate their bodies, Id Thole Celebrants are susceptible to crits. When they are critically hit, there is a 10% chance that the hit has broken a talisman, and they cannot heal the damage until a successful Craft (DC 10+Char Level) check has been made to fix it.
Level Adjustment: +0
Igors
Personality: Helpful, and generally friendly, if strange, Igors make good servants, and are the best surgeons in Asyeun. They are eager to help, even considering it their duty. They are, however, quite pragmatic on the subject of compensation. They'll fix you up for free, save for your family not stopping them from taking the usable parts when you die, but they'll take money too. Good Will doesn't buy food, after all.
Physical Description: The typical Igor is a well built human. Literally. They are a human subrace and are typically a combination of several people’s parts, usually their family or clan. They are quite proud of the scars that decorate their bodies, and while certainly many are used for holding various bits on, others are decoration or clan markings. Their skin, hair and eyes have natural colouration that spans the standard human spectrum. They may, of course, have other colours if those parts are harvested from other species, and their skin is commonly a bit of a patchwork of coulors.
Relations: Igors are held in a decent regard amongst their neighbours. It’s a lot easier and cheaper to take uncle Jimmy to the Igors when he falls of the turnip truck than to the priests. However, amongst those unfamiliar with Igors, they tend to be regarded as utterly strange, and more than a little frightening.
Alignment: Igors tend towards the neutral good alignment, despite the alignments of their masters.
Lands: Igor clans are native to Osturopa (see below)
Religion: Igors have no standard religion, perhaps eschewing it out of association with their typically god-baiting masters.
Language: Igoth thpeak common with a thtrong lithp. Femaleth leth tho.
Names: All male Igors are named Igor. All female Igors are named Igorina.
Adventurers:
Racial Traits
Well, not all of them. But close to an entire pantheon. By the time other pantheons had consulted with their tricksters to find a way around the various non-interference pacts and treaties they'd all signed, the mortal warrior, carrying a mighty fell artifact, the Blades of Vasha, had not only wiped out every major god of his pantheon, he'd also dallied with a large number of serving girls, temple handmaidens, demons, goddesses of love, and other women, creating a vast lineage all descended from him.
He was, eventually, slain. Or, so the story goes. It's entirely possible that when the Psychopomps came for his soul, he, rather than going peacefully, attacked them and took a mount to leave for lands he hadn't yet conquered, ravaged, or plundered. Ironically, this would, in a way, make him a god.
His children, though known as his Sons, are of either gender, forming a true subrace, known for their violent raiding of temples, slaying of evil priests, and raiding of towns.
Son of Deicid Racial Traits
Dwarves All Mine-Dwelling Dwarves live as part of a regimented heirarchy that is part construction crew, part trading company, and part military force. An adult dwarf enters the structure with the Rank/Position of Mason, and may be promoted for exemplary service to the mine.
City-Dwelling Dwarves are either Rankless, having been completely Discharged, and, effectively exiled (though they are allowed to visit mines as visitors), or have been granted the rank of Ambassador, and been tasked with the fostering of relations between their home-mine and the city in which they live.
Dwarven society all but revolves around the written word. All dwarves are literate (they don't have Barbarians so much as Berserkers, and they are literate without the 2 skill point cost), and everything is recorded. Dwarven lore tells of a time when a great Mine-Empire was lost for lack of a written record. This story is the source of both their obsession with the written word and their prohibition against erasing the written word. Individual dwarves keep detailed personal journals, and each hopes that they may perform a service so great, or live a life so righteous that their personal journal will be added to the enormous Record Tablets of their home mine.
Rankless Dwarves are forced to watch their journal be destroyed in effigy, as a symbol that their journal may never be added to a record stone.
Due to the extensive records each dwarven Mine-City keeps, any Knowledge check made with access to a Mine's records receives a +6 bonus (all Dwarves with Rank have access to the majority of their City's records. Higher rank grants higher access. They do need to be in a Mine-City, or otherwise have access to the relevant records).
Unbeknownst to anyone on Asyeun, the dwarven race hails from across the stars. They originated on a far off planet, and were highly technologically advanced. They were then driven from their ancestral homes and colonies by their ancient enemy, the Kythons. The foul beasts followed, and also came to Asyeun. To protect their records and technology from the enemy, the Dwarves sealed both in heavily guarded, thick walled vaults. They then promptly forgot all about their origins, as common knowledge of the time was not expounded upon in Post Sealing writings, and the poetic descriptions became more and more oblique. Eventually, there was not a dwarf alive who know his races' origin, let alone anyone of any other race.
As part of this loss of history, historical figures known for great deeds slowly evolved into the dwarven pantheon. Moradin was a celebrated star commander, known for acts of great valor. Now, Commander Moradin is thought to be a god, as is most of his contemporaries.
As part of this loss of history, historical figures known for great deeds slowly evolved into the dwarven pantheon. Moradin was a celebrated star commander, known for acts of great valor. Now, Commander Moradin is thought to be a god, as is most of his contemporaries.
A millennium ago or more, the elves were chased from their ancestral home. No one quite remembers who did it, or where the legendary Nidus forest is, but the elves maintain that it was the orcs, before they were brought to heel by the Unspeakable, and that, as their goddess bled out, hanging from the Catho Tree by a thick, wrought iron spear, so, too, did the life drain from the forest, leaving not but a barren wasteland.
As they fled, the elves searched in vain for a new land. The dwarves had already claimed the mountains, and the elves were not fit for mine work. The halflings, in their hillside warrens, had to turn them away, pointing out the discomfort they would be in living in such cramped dens, and the toll they would take on the small race's food stores while they settled in. Humans and gnomes had long ago sprawled across Asyeun's flat lands, even across land that couldn't hold a scrub, let alone a crop.
All that remained were the swamps and ground, home to swarming goblin colonies, and the orcs that had chased them, and the seas, under which they could not breath. A few elves braved the caves and caverns, and there they found cthonic goblin deities, all too eager to accept new worshipers in return for a home, and they became kin to the goblins. The rest crept into man's cities and villages, where they proceeded to beg, borrow, con, play for, and steal wagons, carts, boats, tents, food, and draft animals, before leaving at first light for the one place not claimed by any race, the trade roads and high seas.
The elves are now a highly nomadic race with a, mostly undeserved, reputation for dishonesty, theft, xenophobia, child snatching, and performing con jobs. If confronted directly about elven stealing, most will merely say their ancestors stole out of necessity, conspicuously omitting any comment of the theft that is believed to go on today.
The dodginess of land roaming elves aside, most sea going elves are pirates and smugglers, though frequently in the "honorable, charming, mostly non-violent rake" mold.
The elves are also, however, reputed to be wonderful mystics, lovers, and fighters. They have a disproportionately high number of diviners, over a third of the elven population, and more than half of the half elves, have been traced to a single lineage, and they long honed their combat skills on brigands who waylaid them, or by being such themselves.
Goblins Different from many worlds, the goblins of Asyeun are a devious,a quasi-reptilian insectile race. They are known for their unstable and highly mutable morphic code, and their ability to "evolve" throughout their life, growing into new forms and purposes. All goblins hatch from eggs, laid by Goblin Hive-matrons (not quite queens, as there are a number of them in every hive, but otherwise similar), but more over, these same eggs can be made to hatch the goblins' signature organic weaponry. Many goblins proudly wield their "siblings," and will mourn a destroyed weapon. Their organic nature, however, does make it quite difficult to destroy goblin weaponry, as their heal at the same rate as their Sibling-wielder.
Goblins can take Fiend and Monster feats, and gain "Goblin Traits" for each such feat they possess (typically insectile or reptilian traits, such as chitinous shell, multi-faceted eyes, scales, or spines).
The ancestral enemy of the dwarves, descended from the fiendish aberrations that drove them to Asyeun, the Kythons. Where as Kythons had a genetic quirk that caused them each to possess any of a variety of organic weapons, goblins are even more genetically mutable, and may exhibit at birth or develop a wide variety of mutations. Goblins may take any [fiend] feat for which they qualify, and are more insectile and reptilian than the goblins of other worlds.
This is not to say that every halfling is a thief, just those that wish to have any real standing in their racial society.
Halflings are known for a sort of selfless hero streak and a fearlessness left from their rise to civilization. They had to be fearless and give all for the group in order to compete with a world where almost everything was larger than them. Their thieving skills weren't exactly useless in that respect either. Now, however, the Halflings have largely left their earthly dens in favour for smoky, hidden away rooms in cities.
Humans, and Related Cultures
There are a variety of human cultures on Asyeun, from the secretive Necromancer Monks of the Id Thole, to the god-slaying Sons of Deicid. Some almost seem more like a separate race entirely, but mostly they are just very specially trained.
Id Thole Celebrant
The Id Thole are a reclusive monastic order who have retreated to the cold mountain ranges of Osturopa in the Monasteries of Bone to seek enlightenment and immortality. They have become convinced that Nirvana lies in the transmogrification of living flesh to immortal necroplasm.
Through a lengthy process of having servants remove most of their major organs and wrap them in alchemically treated bandages adorned with many mystical talismans, they reach a semblance of this immortality.
They tend towards neutrality, though the negative energy they channel is beginning to take a toll on their minds and souls, and is causing them to increasingly produce evil members.
Id Thole Template (Playable Mummy)
Type:Type changes to undead, gains Augmented (whatever they were) and Dark Minded as subtypes
Hit Dice: Reroll HP with d12s, saves, BAB and skills remain unchanged.
Ability Scores: Lose Con, +2 Str, +2 Wis
Special Qualities: Due to the many fragile magical talismans that animate their bodies, Id Thole Celebrants are susceptible to crits. When they are critically hit, there is a 10% chance that the hit has broken a talisman, and they cannot heal the damage until a successful Craft (DC 10+Char Level) check has been made to fix it.
Level Adjustment: +0
Igors
Personality: Helpful, and generally friendly, if strange, Igors make good servants, and are the best surgeons in Asyeun. They are eager to help, even considering it their duty. They are, however, quite pragmatic on the subject of compensation. They'll fix you up for free, save for your family not stopping them from taking the usable parts when you die, but they'll take money too. Good Will doesn't buy food, after all.
Physical Description: The typical Igor is a well built human. Literally. They are a human subrace and are typically a combination of several people’s parts, usually their family or clan. They are quite proud of the scars that decorate their bodies, and while certainly many are used for holding various bits on, others are decoration or clan markings. Their skin, hair and eyes have natural colouration that spans the standard human spectrum. They may, of course, have other colours if those parts are harvested from other species, and their skin is commonly a bit of a patchwork of coulors.
Relations: Igors are held in a decent regard amongst their neighbours. It’s a lot easier and cheaper to take uncle Jimmy to the Igors when he falls of the turnip truck than to the priests. However, amongst those unfamiliar with Igors, they tend to be regarded as utterly strange, and more than a little frightening.
Alignment: Igors tend towards the neutral good alignment, despite the alignments of their masters.
Lands: Igor clans are native to Osturopa (see below)
Religion: Igors have no standard religion, perhaps eschewing it out of association with their typically god-baiting masters.
Language: Igoth thpeak common with a thtrong lithp. Femaleth leth tho.
Names: All male Igors are named Igor. All female Igors are named Igorina.
Adventurers:
Racial Traits
- +2 to any one stat. Igors typically make sure their body is well suited to their profession, whatever it may be, through their surgical alterations.
- Medium Size
- Igor Base Speed is 30 ft. 25 ft. when faking a limp.
- +2 on all heal checks. This bonus increases to +4 when performing surgery, and +6 when implanting a graft or replacing a part.
- Dimension Door at will. An igor will always appear at the side or behind his master when called, be right behind a door when knocked upon, and has a knack for reappearing in a room when he previously left via the door. [might be removed to appear in a PrC, if so, it'll be replaced with an ability to sense when someone's about to enter/exit a room, or calling them.]
- Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any.
- Favoured Class: Expert, Puppeteer,
Well, not all of them. But close to an entire pantheon. By the time other pantheons had consulted with their tricksters to find a way around the various non-interference pacts and treaties they'd all signed, the mortal warrior, carrying a mighty fell artifact, the Blades of Vasha, had not only wiped out every major god of his pantheon, he'd also dallied with a large number of serving girls, temple handmaidens, demons, goddesses of love, and other women, creating a vast lineage all descended from him.
He was, eventually, slain. Or, so the story goes. It's entirely possible that when the Psychopomps came for his soul, he, rather than going peacefully, attacked them and took a mount to leave for lands he hadn't yet conquered, ravaged, or plundered. Ironically, this would, in a way, make him a god.
His children, though known as his Sons, are of either gender, forming a true subrace, known for their violent raiding of temples, slaying of evil priests, and raiding of towns.
Son of Deicid Racial Traits
- +2 str
- 30' base speed
- Medium Humanoid (Human)
- The Strength of Heroes. A Son of Deicid has the singular ability to call upon not only their own strength, but that of the long line of heroes from which they descend. 3/day plus an additional time per day per 3 HD, a Son of Deicid may make a DC 15 Will save. A success grants a +2 Morale bonus to their Strength score that lasts for 1 minute per character level. For every five points by which their roll exceeds the DC, the bonus increases by 2.
- Bonus Feat
- Sons of Deicid do not receive the bonus skill points of other humans.
- Language: Common
- Favoured Classes: Barbarian, Ur Priest, Fighter
Last edited by Prak on Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:53 am, edited 6 times in total.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Class Notes
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Skill and Feat Notes
Backgrounds
Backgrounds
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Equipment, Economy, Gear, other wealth related notes
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
The World
Osturopa
Far to the North, amongst forests, perched on cliffs, and straddling the sea, is a country few go to, and fewer leave. It is the subject of many frightful rumours, and even more terrible certainties. It is a cold country, chilly even in the summers, and down right deadly in the winters. Pine forests dominate the landscape, providing plentiful building material, but driving the inhabitants to have created lantern fireplaces, to protect themselves from logs that explode from heated pitch.
Osturopa has three rulers, who govern in something vaguely approaching harmony, mostly because they claim three distinct auspices. King Dammerung, known vampire, is known as the King of Night, and rules the land's numerous undead.
An Chead Racan, a proud werewolf, controls the forests. He is the King of the Forest and alpha of alphas, able to control any lycanthope pack, and demands tribute from the tribes that still inhabit the land's forests.
Foreman Accord is King of All Below, the lead Dwarf, who administers to the sprawling mine-city of Osturopa's Dwarves, and it's many endeavours.
Major Cultures- While a vast array of beings inhabit The Country, there are a handful of main ones, aside from the rank and file humans who makeup the cities.
Osturopa
Far to the North, amongst forests, perched on cliffs, and straddling the sea, is a country few go to, and fewer leave. It is the subject of many frightful rumours, and even more terrible certainties. It is a cold country, chilly even in the summers, and down right deadly in the winters. Pine forests dominate the landscape, providing plentiful building material, but driving the inhabitants to have created lantern fireplaces, to protect themselves from logs that explode from heated pitch.
Osturopa has three rulers, who govern in something vaguely approaching harmony, mostly because they claim three distinct auspices. King Dammerung, known vampire, is known as the King of Night, and rules the land's numerous undead.
An Chead Racan, a proud werewolf, controls the forests. He is the King of the Forest and alpha of alphas, able to control any lycanthope pack, and demands tribute from the tribes that still inhabit the land's forests.
Foreman Accord is King of All Below, the lead Dwarf, who administers to the sprawling mine-city of Osturopa's Dwarves, and it's many endeavours.
Major Cultures- While a vast array of beings inhabit The Country, there are a handful of main ones, aside from the rank and file humans who makeup the cities.
- A large number of Undead, notably Vampires, Revanents, Wights, and the reclusive Id Thole, claim citizenship in Osturopa, mostly due to the openly undead King Dammerung, who ensures the existence of rights that such creatures care about. Such as the Right to Feast on Human Blood, and the Right to Make a Man Run a Guantlet of Night Terrors on the Hope He Can Save His Wife and Children Who Were Already Turned.
- Lycanthropes control the Forests as surely as the Undead control the cities and numerous castles. Any man found carrying silver is in grave trouble indeed.
- The Dwarves are a proud race, though they often come off as impersonal, and greedy, due to the fact that treat almost every interaction with strangers as a business deal, a military engagement, or a strained diplomatic arrangement. They none the less export a large amount of precious metals to other lands, though no silver has ever been found in Dwarven hands or their mines.
- Two major human cultures stand out amongst the mundane backdrop of Osturopa's human inhabitants, The Sons of Decid and the Igors. The Sons of Decid are a stern and war loving culture descended from a man who marched into the hall of a god, and hacked it's head off with a simple axe, leaving the blade quivering in the god's throne of gold as he stalked off, carrying the head of the foul beast of an outsider as a sign that his reign of Holy Terror, or lack of intervention, in the Land Where The Sun Never Shines was over.
Igors are a peaceful, if eccentric tribe. They are skilled in medicine and science, and are happy to help anyone who needs it. They like to think the best of everyone, even if a person tends to laugh a bit maniacally and wander into cemeteries at night carrying a shovel and a sack. They are traditional surgeons and servants, and have two codes. One, What Comes Around, Goes Around. An Igor will always lend a helping hand, if he has one and yours was hacked off. But when you die, expect him to show up again to keep the good parts in circulation. It may seem grim, but they believe that burial is a waste of parts others could use, like burning your dinner because you're full, when there are starving children in the street. Two, the have The Code of the Igor, which has four stipulations: Never Contradict, master knows best, Never Complain, your job is your job, Never Make Personal Remarks, what business is it of yours that the master has that funny cough? and Never, Ever Ask (big) Questions, "would you like a cup of tea" is fine, but "what do you need one hundred virgins for?" is just going to lead to trouble. All Igors speak and walk with a theatrical lisp and limp, and are frequently covered head to toe in stitches from having some very good parts themselves. Finally, all male Igors are named Igor, and all female Igors are named Igorina. They also typically know which Igor someone's talking about, even if the person doesn't clarify.
- The Sahuagin, while claiming a separate sovereignty of the seas, do make a sizable showing in Osturopa, with many bay and coast fortresses.
- "Les Experiences" are the myriad and varied results of the projects and experiments of the many mad scientists and wizards of Osturopa. While not a culture in the traditional sense, they do feel a sort of kinship, extending aid to one another, and travelers who do not fear or attack them.
- The Id Thole are a small community of monks, high in the mountains of Osturopa who seek enlightenment and eternal life through the use of magic. They preserve their flesh through a mixture of alchemically treated bandages, magical talismans, and ritualized exposure to the chill, tearing winds of the mountains.
Last edited by Prak on Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:59 am, edited 3 times in total.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Monster Notes
(Ok, should be fine to post now.)
(Ok, should be fine to post now.)
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
CatharzGodfoot
- King
- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Why would a culture based around military and business, pursued by a (presumably more powerful) starfaring species, destroy ("hide") both the technology that let them rival their enemy and even the knowledge of that enemy species? That sounds like the actions of religious zealots or traitors, not desperate military commanders and entrepreneurs.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
I crashed hard from a caffeine high last night, so I didn't get to it, but they didn't lose knowledge of the enemy. The dwarves think of the kythons as demons now, and know they are, somehow, related to the goblins, which evolved from the kythons. Also the military/business thing was a later addition to the dwarven culture, when I had to start thinking about an actual NPC.
The hiding the tablets and technology is simple narrative convenience, because I want discovering the origin of the dwarves to be the focal point of the first adventure if I run this. Also if their ships and guns couldn't fight off the enemy on their home planet and colonies, why would the little they had remaining be much help once they got "here." Hiding it to keep it from falling into the hands of an enemy makes a certain amount of sense.
The idea comes from this webcomic.
The hiding the tablets and technology is simple narrative convenience, because I want discovering the origin of the dwarves to be the focal point of the first adventure if I run this. Also if their ships and guns couldn't fight off the enemy on their home planet and colonies, why would the little they had remaining be much help once they got "here." Hiding it to keep it from falling into the hands of an enemy makes a certain amount of sense.
The idea comes from this webcomic.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
CatharzGodfoot
- King
- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
-
Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
- Posts: 8624
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
Maybe after hearing the dwarves locked up all their spaceships and plasma cannons because they "weren't useful", the neighbors got really worried that their idiocy might be contagious.CatharzGodfoot wrote:Why haven't the dwarves all been killed or enslaved?
Alternatively, dwarven relations with their neighbors work something like this:
Um.... why would the dwarves have been killed or enslaved? And at what point did i say any other race knew about the tech?
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
Stubbazubba
- Knight-Baron
- Posts: 737
- Joined: Sat May 07, 2011 6:01 pm
- Contact:
The Kythons? Who followed them here? Or did they also conveniently seal up their technology, and forget about their past?Um.... why would the dwarves have been killed or enslaved? And at what point did i say any other race knew about the tech?
What you could say is that the Dwarves were, in fact, enslaved by the Kythons, who destroyed much of their technology and weapons, but kept the best stuff in their own vaults. As slaves, the Dwarves gradually began to forget the origins of their people, and that of their masters, until one day there was a revolution, and so on and so forth, and all the Kythons died very quickly. But, then, why didn't the Kythons keep using future tech? Hmm...
OK, so this group of Dwarves could be a strange sect of uber-pacifists who fled from the imminent enslavement of their kind by the hands of the Kythons, landed on (The World), and then decided to seal away all their secrets and live a simple life in harmony with nature. However, Dwarves being Dwarves, within a few generations this order had been overturned, and the current military-industrial complex took power, but for some reason, the vaults were still guarded and kept sealed. Dwarves are fairly superstitious, you can make pretty much whatever you want happen here, be it a vision in the night to a leader of the new ruling party, mysterious destruction of those who attempt to open it, or what-have-you. The old religion splits off again, and the two factions of Dwarves are somewhat antagonistic towards each other, to the point that both sides get tired of the conflict. Eventually, the military-industrial complex and the remnants of the old religion make a deal; the MIC will recognize the religion if the religion will blend its messages with pro-party propaganda, and the two factions will be reunited. The religion, under great pressure, agrees. The Church and the Imperial government could then evolve into a tense power-struggle that still plays out across today's politics at times.
Meanwhile, the Kythons could landed basically on the wrong side of the planet, looking to hunt down the last of the Dwarves. After searching for some time, and inter-breeding with/experimenting on the locals a bit, creating goblins, they decide the Dwarves are all dead or were never even here, and leave. Now when the Goblins find the Dwarves centuries later, some shaman recognizes them as the sworn enemy of their holy ancestors, the Kythons (which means god in the Goblin language). Thus the foundation of an epic confrontation is laid. Perhaps this new threat was the pressure that forced the two Dwarven factions to negotiate at least a temporary alliance to fight the Goblins?
Last edited by Stubbazubba on Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
It's more that the Dwarves managed to take out enough of their pursuers that when they landed they were at a standstill, and the fact that the kython were more like the bugs in Starship Troopers, not having tech, so much as adapting to roles, including interplanetary transport on meteors or whatever:
Alright, so is there another credible way, other than voluntary sealing or enslavement, to get Dwarven tech out of common use, but possible to find in tombs and shit?
Maybe they only had enough for the actual warriors to use it, and the warriors often wound up buried in the rubble of a battle, while the civvies went off to try and build a new society? Your way works too, though... hm, I'll have to think.
Alright, so is there another credible way, other than voluntary sealing or enslavement, to get Dwarven tech out of common use, but possible to find in tombs and shit?
Maybe they only had enough for the actual warriors to use it, and the warriors often wound up buried in the rubble of a battle, while the civvies went off to try and build a new society? Your way works too, though... hm, I'll have to think.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
- Posts: 8624
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
Dwarven tech runs on glowing blue rocks that didn't seem to exist in this planet in large quantities. They had to conserve fuel in case they needed to escape again, so the tech was only used in great need. Some is sealed up, but much more is abandoned or repurposed into more primitive uses. Now certain scholars are discovering alternative energy sources with which to power the technology of the ancients. Done.Prak_Anima wrote:Alright, so is there another credible way, other than voluntary sealing or enslavement, to get Dwarven tech out of common use, but possible to find in tombs and shit?
Last edited by Avoraciopoctules on Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
I like it, that's in, thanks.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
- Posts: 8624
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
This is your brain on Phazon:Avoraciopoctules wrote:You're welcome. Fair warning, I thought about this some more last night, and you run a risk of players joking about the space fuel being Phazon and the Kythons being Space Pirates.
Last edited by Maxus on Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
my immediate thought was energon, actually
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
- Posts: 8624
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
Kythons
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/bovd_ ... 620_56.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2en817a.jpg
Space Pirates
http://images.wikia.com/metroid/images/ ... te_thm.jpg
http://images.wikia.com/metroid/images/ ... eySSBB.jpg
It's not a perfect resemblance, but it is there. Probably a good thing I'm never likely to run a game with Kythons playing a substantial role, since the probability I will portray them as comically inept and obsessed with tubes approaches 1.
EDIT:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/bovd_ ... 620_56.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2en817a.jpg
Space Pirates
http://images.wikia.com/metroid/images/ ... te_thm.jpg
http://images.wikia.com/metroid/images/ ... eySSBB.jpg
It's not a perfect resemblance, but it is there. Probably a good thing I'm never likely to run a game with Kythons playing a substantial role, since the probability I will portray them as comically inept and obsessed with tubes approaches 1.
EDIT:
Last edited by Avoraciopoctules on Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
actually, given that in this setting, goblins are descended from kythons and able to take fiend feats, means that goblins are the space pirates... (small arthropoidal humanoid with Pincers and Wings of Evil.)
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
JonSetanta
- King
- Posts: 5512
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: interbutts
I'm pretty sure there's much weirder shit in D&D than aberrations evolving into a humanoid race that can develop fiendish traits.sigma999 wrote:Certainly is an unique evolutionary path you described, Prak.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
-
Whipstitch
- Prince
- Posts: 3657
- Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:23 pm
The artist would probably agree with you as well given that it's from the Book of Vile Darkness and that its monster type is likely kython "slaughterking" or "slaymaster"; presumably it was included because they got bored of drawing nipple rings.Dr_Noface wrote:Man, does anyone find the kython art over the top? The four armed dude looks ridiculous, he's literally pulling that guy apart.