How much information do players need to get into a new setting?


Homebrew and House Rules


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I'm writing for my Pathfinder campaign setting, and I'm finding that the biggest problem isn't coming up with ideas for the setting, it is providing these ideas to an audience in an efficient and non-overwhelming manner. I'm not quite sure how much information about races, technology level, the culture of the nation the game is set in, and the way magic works and how the character classes fit in needs to be provided prior to the game, and how much is overwhelming. This is especially vexing me because I don't use a standard medieval technology level or base the setting off of medieval cultures, and the game tends to stay within one nation (long story short, the PCs kill dangerous things for the government, so they don't leave the country much and are generally from said country, and this country needs a fair amount of detail). So, if you were to join my game as a player and knew nothing about my setting, what all would you want me to tell you, and how much information is just too much when starting out?


The answer to this depends very much upon how educated (or indoctrinated) the characters are supposed to be.


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UnArcaneElection wrote:

The answer to this depends very much upon how educated (or indoctrinated) the characters are supposed to be.

Relatively well. Children are expected to attend school and mass communication is a thing, so people tend to know about more than just their own community.


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You could write a newspaper. Not big, something like 5-10 pages, but make it looks like it is a newspaper from the setting.

If you give your players this paper ahead of time, it give them time to read it at their leisure, and thus not be overwhelmed by a exposition dump in the beginning of the game.
(recommendation : pdf format if you play through the web, possibly printed if your play around a physical table)

The front page articles should give a quick overview of the current main issues of this part of the world : A war, a succession problem, etc. The body of the articles can give additional info (for example, if the Armored Mobile Forces just got destroyed by the great dragon Mokorav, it tells the player that this setting has tanks, and that at least some dragons are our enemies).
In addition, Short stories introduce less important informations not related to the main issues (the Tower of the Magi is still bickering with the Wizard's academy over item creation rights; Someone attacked the Trans-molany Railroad - the Molany anti-magic Forces are investigating.)
If you feel there's something important to explain, add a half or full page documentary article about it.

Working like that show what's important for the people, and thus the players. If you want to introduce something that so natural that a paper wouldn't talk about (ex : the internet for us right now), add a short about something that's happening about it (a scientist made a technological advance, a company has just released a upgraded version on the market, someone tried to take it down...)

Before the game, ask the player if they have any additional questions about what the read. If not, you can consider that they know and understand anything you wrote on the paper. And even if one of them forget a part, the other may remind him, or they can simply read the paper again.


I second what Aralicia said. Something like that paper would work perfectly. Your players (for their characters) should know the answer to questions presented in a knowledge check. DC 10 (really easy) and DC 15 (basic questions) should be your focus.

To shorten things for you, I have the DC's grouped. The ones I marked with an asterisk are ones that I think will be important for your players to know in general about the setting. I didn't mark anything in the DC 20 category since those are tough questions and probably unlikely to be taught outside of specialized classes or professions.

DC 10:

Identify mineral, stone, or metal [Dungeoneering]
Identify dangerous construction [Engineering]
Identify a creature's ethnicity or accent [Geography]*
Know recent or historically significant event [History]*
Know local laws, rulers, and popular locations [Local]*
Identify a common plant or animal [Nature]
Know current rulers and their symbols [Nobility]*
Know the names of the planes [Planes]
Recognize a common deity's symbol or clergy [Religion]*

Identify a monster's abilities and weaknesses [Varies] 10 + monster's CR*

DC 15:

Determine slope [Dungeoneering]
Determine a structure's style or age [Engineering]
Recognize regional terrain features [Geography]*
Determine approximate date of a specific event [History]*
Know a common rumor or local tradition [Local]*
Identify unnatural weather phenomenon [Nature]
Know proper etiquette [Nobility]
Recognize current plane [Planes]
Know common mythology and tenets [Religion]*

Identify auras while using detect magic [Arcana] 15 + spell level
Identify underground hazard [Dungeoneering] 15 + hazard's CR
Identify natural hazard [Nature] 15 + hazard's CR

DC 20:

Identify the spells cast using a specific material component [Arcana]
Determine depth underground [Dungeoneering]
Determine a structure's weakness [Engineering]
Know location of nearest community or noteworthy site [Geography]
Know obscure or ancient historical event [History]
Know hidden organizations, rulers, and locations [Local]
Determine artificial nature of feature [Nature]
Know line of succession [Nobility]
Identify a creature's planar origin [Planes]
Recognize an obscure deity's symbol or clergy [Religion]

Identify a spell effect that is in place [Arcana] 20 + spell level
Identify materials manufactured by magic [Arcana] 20 + spell level

For specific classes, you can work on other ones in various guides. Like a guide to local flora and fauna for Rangers and Druids. In some other cases, it would depend on what you think is taught. Arcana, Dungeoneering, and Engineering are probably going to be too specific for general teaching, but would make sense for certain classes or professions. People might know fair amount about Nature if there are biology and environmental science classes - though, mostly, I suspect you could just say that the character sees [insert plant or animal].

Probably they're going to know some etiquette, but some players could decide they want to be crude or uncultured, so you might want to check if they want to know or not. Planar knowledge could be covered in some sort of physics-related classes, but I'm not sure how relevant it would be. If there is some general knowledge about arcane magic, you'll need to figure out what it is and if everyone should know it or if it's something like etiquette (even if it was taught in school, some characters could have slept through those classes).

If your characters are professional monster-hunters they should absolutely know about creatures they encounter, and you can use the following as a bonus skill they all possess and ignore the field of study:

Monster Lore:

You can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s CR. For common monsters, such as goblins, the DC of this check equals 5 + the monster’s CR. For particularly rare monsters, such as the tarrasque, the DC of this check equals 15 + the monster’s CR or more. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster. For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.

Creature Type: Field of Study
Constructs, dragons, magical beasts: Arcana
Aberrations, oozes: Dungeoneering
Humanoids: Local
Animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, vermin: Nature
Outsiders: Planes
Undead: Religion


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It depends on experience/maturity/trust but you can let players help in setting creation. The amount of buy-in and world knowledge the players gain can be truly beneficial. Outline your parameters brainstorm your ideas then underlay your meta plots after the shared creation.


My setting is somewhat of a joint effort with my players. They make setting suggestions, and I take them, or they have an idea for their character and I work it into my setting. As I develop my setting, I tend to share my ideas with the players and they react.

As a result, my players are already somewhat tuned into my setting.

If a player's guide becomes necessary, I might just use the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide as a guide (lol) for writing one.


Take a look at the player's guides for the various Pathfinder Adventure Paths (all are free to download). I think the one for Mummy's Mask is the gold standard. Obviously, any rule changes need to be specified very clearly.

Something to note: The bulk of the content in those guides is identifying which character options fit best with the adventure. There is only a few pages about the setting itself and most of it is about the starting location. This is a good thing.

Paizo Employee

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What I usually do when introducing a new setting is give very broad outlines (at most "five things absolutely everyone knows") then let people ask questions during character creation.

Once characters are created, I give people handouts based on the Knowledge skills they selected. Basically one page per knowledge skill, covering topics related to that skill and the setting.

But, in general, I think it's important to let people "opt in" to information complex settings. Even on Earth, a lot of people don't know the sort of details about their country (let alone other countries) that would show up in handouts.

Handing out a newspaper does sound like fun, but it depends a lot on your group's dynamic. Some people just don't think about the game outside of game time. If you can sink that work in without getting too attached to it, it'd be worth distributing and just letting people read or not.

Cheers!
Landon


Thanks for all the advice.

I don't think this is going to be a one pager. I wrote up four races as succinctly as I could, and that alone is three pages. I have twelve more races to write, plus amalgams (heavily multiracial people), aasimar, and tieflings. Aasimar aren't too important, but tieflings are, because they slot into a major theme of the setting.

Here's the first four races. Is it enough information? Too much?

Spoiler:
Humanity

The humans of Vendalia are quite a diverse lot. The region has always boasted a wide variety of human races, and colonialism and mass immigration served to greatly increase this variety. Most Vendalians' ancestors are from Felanta or Litosha, with those from Manali being less common but still prominent. Though Vendalia is located in Thyressa, the death toll of colonialism was high enough to make the Thyressan races a small portion of Vendalia's population. Below are the most common races from each continent. Many more than just these races exist, of course, but space does not exist to describe them all. The races of Vendalia tend to live together in the same cities, the main exceptions being some elves and Thyressans.

A note on gender disparities and racial appearances: The disparities between genders are broad averages and do not apply to individuals, nor to they have any effect on game mechanics. Biracial and multiracial characters may either take the amalgam race or take the race of whichever parent they take after most, so it is possible for a character to belong to one race mechanically while many features from another race.

Felanta

Jotunn

Quick thinking and passionate, jotunn are an ambitious and quarrelsome people who get by more by luck and daring than sense. They are a people of action and reaction, though how much of a good thing that is can be debated. Their energy and vigor can lead to great deeds, though many jotunn have a habit of ignoring long term consequences. Jotunn hailing from southern Felanta tend to be darker skilled, and are usually called titans.

Jotunn range from about 5'6” to 6'10”, with men being a few inches taller and somewhat stronger than women on average. Jotunn have pink or light to medium brown skin, rounded ears, black, gray, blue, or purple eyes, and blonde, white, light blue, dark gray, or black hair.

Racial features:

Medium Size, 30ft base speed

+2 Str, +2 Cha, -2 Wis – Jotunn are big, strong, energetic, and personable, but often lack long term thinking.

Fearless: +2 bonus to all saves against fear (stacks with +1 to all saves)
Lucky: +1 to all saves
Skill Bonus: +2 to Intimidate and Climb

Dwarves

Mechanically adept and eager collectors of information, dwarves are primarily scholars, engineers, alchemists, and wizards, although they are certainly quite capable of producing skilled foot soldiers. Dwarves value community and education first and foremost, and tend to be rather blunt and straightforward. They used to live in exile underground, but emerged and integrated with the rest of humanity a few centuries ago.

Dwarves range from 4'8” to 5'6” tall, with women being a couple inches taller than men on average. Women tend to be a bit bulkier, though dwarves of both genders are stout. Dwarven hair is blonde, red, or brown, and dwarves possess pinkish or ruddy skin, often with freckles. Dwarven eyes are typically gemstone colored. Dwarven men tend to take much care of their beards, but many choose not to wear them long, especially laborers, alchemists, and warriors, for whom long beards are a hazard.

Racial features:

Medium size, 20ft base speed, speed never modified by armor or encumbrance

+2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Cha – Dwarves are stout, durable, and well educated, but they can be rather blunt with people.

Master Tinker: +1 bonus on Disable Device and Knowledge (engineering) checks. Dwarves are proficient with any weapon they have personally crafted.

Hardy: +2 saving throws versus poisons, spells, spell like abilities

Stability: +4 racial bonus to CMD against bull rush and trip while on ground

Skill Bonus: +2 to one knowledge, +2 Spellcraft

Darkvision 60ft

Elves

Elves are a race that has historically been traditionalist, regimented, and well in tune with the natural environments from which they originate, but industrialization has changed all that. The traditionally high child mortality rate dropped off with the introduction of effective drugs and sanitation, leading to a population spike even bigger than that of other races, while the elven forest cities and ship communities have proven too far disconnected from major transit infrastructure and unable to accommodate the booming population. The migration out of elven lands is huge, and the majority of the youngest generation of elven adults has never lived in an elven city. There is also a massive backlash among younger elves and some open-minded elders against the rigid conservatism of their race's culture, which many now view as an impediment to progress and the welfare of the elven people. Elves are mostly from northern Felanta.

Elves are 5' to 6' tall and lithe. There is no difference in the average height of men and women, and elves have androgynous bodies. Their ears are noticeably pointed, and their skin is pinkish. Their hair and eyes can be earthy, leafy, or sea-foam green, sea blue, ocean gray, brown, blonde, or ginger.

Racial Features:

Medium size, 30ft speed

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution – Elves are lithe and dexterous and understand their surroundings very well, but they are slightly built and vulnerable to disease and poison.

Woodcraft: Even elves who have lived in a city their whole lives have an innate knack for the forest and the sea. Elves gain a +1 racial bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks. In forest or coastal terrain, these bonuses improve to +2.

Elven Resistance: Elves gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment and divination spells and effects.

Skill Bonus: +2 Perception, +2 Acrobatics

Low-Light Vision

Drow

Drow are the nocturnal kin to elves. They have never had the isolationist bent of elves, preferring to live among the other races. Their nighttime lifestyles makes them a natural fit for urban life, as they can be up and working or shopping when other races wouldn't be, allowing businesses to bring in money around the clock. Drow are a big part of the nightlife in most cities, and those who don't like partying typically enjoy solitary pursuits like reading, which don't disturb those who are asleep, and the quiet of night has allowed many drow to develop a very high degree of focus. They can be very meticulous and professional in their work and art, and often appreciate fine details. Drow are mostly from southern Felanta.

Drow have very dark skin, which can be gray, purple, blue, or, less commonly, brown or green. Their hair is white or a whitish shade of green, gray, purple, or blue. Their eyes are gemstone colored or silver. They are lithe and androgenous like elves, and have the same 5' to 6' height and pointed ears.

Racial features

Medium size, 30 ft speed

+2 Int, +2 Dex, -2 Con – Drow are slight of frame and nimble like elves, but do to their long history of urban lifestyles, they tend to be more intellectual than they are connected to nature.

Darkvision 60 ft

Low Light Vision

Skill Bonus: +2 to one knowledge, +2 Perception

Drow Resistance: Drow gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment and divination spells and effects.

The remaining races to receive writeups and continents of origin are:

Litosha (East Asia)

Pingmin (Salt of the Earth)
Longyi (Dragonfolk)
Hengeyokai (Rite Publishing mechanics, will be adding Kitsune to available clans)
Korobokuru (Redheaded dwarves)

Manali (Africa)

Busara
Pakamutu
Nagaji
Gnoll

Thyressa (North America)

Orc
Skinwalker
Bruin
Samsaran

Amalgam (multiracial people)
Aasimar
Tiefling

Is the idea that all playable races are different varieties of human clear?


^The above writeups are not as long as most of the Pathfinder writeups, so they should be okay even if the total doesn't fit in as small a space as you originally wanted.

Couple of questions:

1. If you are going to have continents on your planet correspond to Earth continents, wouldn't Samsaran fit thematically better in South Asia?

2. No Small playable races? Small humanoids even existed on Earth, although they are now extinct.


I usually give my players a 1 - 15 page setting document unless it's something already established.


UnArcaneElection wrote:

^The above writeups are not as long as most of the Pathfinder writeups, so they should be okay even if the total doesn't fit in as small a space as you originally wanted.

Couple of questions:

1. If you are going to have continents on your planet correspond to Earth continents, wouldn't Samsaran fit thematically better in South Asia?

I was running out of races for America, so I wanted to move something around. Now I think I'll hold off. I just cut down the initial race list, because I feel like 19 is just too long for an introductory document.

Quote:
2. No Small playable races? Small humanoids even existed on Earth, although they are now extinct.

I just can't take small sized characters seriously. However, I just cut the race list down to nine races, and the new race list explicitly states that it only covers the most common races (those who exist worldwide, basically) and that a great many races exist that don't live in the entire world, and Vendalia is very much an immigrant nation, so there is room to fit small sized races like Halflings into the nation if a player really wants one.

The new race list reads as such:

I do think that trimming things down and merging some races and throwing others into the background would be beneficial.

I'll trim it down to:

Magnus
Elf
Drow
Orc
Dwarf
Hengeyokai (The Litoshan name. Called Skinwalkers or Wildkin in other continents, but Hengeyokai is the most popular term in Vendalia.)
Aasimar
Tiefling
Amalgam (Multiracial characters)

All these would be worldwide races, and most are multiple race ideas I had merged together. For example, Korobokuru take the Dwarf race, and Magnus combine Pingmin, Jotunn, and Busara into one race. These nine races are not the only allowed races, but they are the "Core" races of the setting. All are humans, so the amalgam takes over the "do anything race" mechanical role. I created amalgams because anybody can crossbreed with anybody, and I'm not going to create a separate race for every possible combination or for those descended from several races.

Hengeyokai will be especially useful, because they allow me to merge many animalistic races into one whole that doesn't need too much description. I added an eighth clan called Fox (Kitsune) to the Litoshan clans, and other continents have different clan lists. For example, Felantan Wildkin don't have Fox or Monkey clan available, but they do have Lynx and Hedgehog clan, and Skinwalkers can be Coyote clan. Some clans, like hound, cat, and hare, exist on all continents. Hengeyokai are treated as Kitsune for the purpose of meeting prerequisites, so nine-tained Kitsune are available, but you can also be a nine-tailed Cat from Felanta that does the same stuff.


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I took a look at the Midgard and Xoth campaign settings, and both contain a list of basic thematical facts of the setting at the front. I thought I might write one of those up, tack on the basics of the nine core races, add in some basic Vendalian culture, technology, and geography, and explain the flavors of the character classes and what house rules and third party material has been incorporated into the setting.

I have that thematical facts write-up and half the races, so that's half the work. Here you go:

Spoiler:
Alchemy and Arcane Magic are Technology

Low level alchemists and magewrights are ubiquitous in Vendalia. Magic items require a power source, which alchemists can readily provide in the forms of alchemist's fire and liquid lightning, allowing the production of a massive variety of consumer goods. Magical fertilizers and herbicides allow massive crop yields, while farm machines allow a few farmers to handle a huge field. Magical boxes keep food cold, and preservatives keep it fresh. Railroads connect the cities of the world together, while streetcars and alchemical steeds move the cities themselves. Magic allows people to talk to each other easily from across the planet, and allows the dissemination of music and theater to a worldwide audience. Physical appearances are easy enough for a skilled alchemist to modify, and factories produce a wondrous variety of new clothing fashions. Industrialism and urbanization have hit full swing, and standards of living and education are higher than they have ever before been. For the first time in history, the nation of Vendalia has more college students than it does farmers.

Vendalia is a Nation of Immigrants

The death toll among native Vendalians during colonization was massive, and most Vendalians come from families that have been present in the nations for a couple centuries at most. The nation is very multiethnic, with significant populations hailing from four continents and countless countries and races. Vendalia is a prominent power on the global arena, and the number of languages one can hear walking though a major city is nothing short of dazzling. The Vendalian national mythos is one of absorbing the best parts of all the cultures that live in the nation, at least until some unfamiliar or historically marginalized cultural influence pops up that is “corrupting the Vendalian youth”.

The Times They Are a-Changin

Vendalia is the middle of a massive wave of social change. The last two decades have seen a massive economic recovery from the destruction of the demonic invasion of thirty years ago, and this period of recovery was characterized by a desire for security, conformity, wholesomeness, and prosperity. Yet now many people, especially the young generations, are rebelling against this. They see conformity as stifling, unhealthy, and hypocritical, wholesomeness as a form of bigotry towards minorities, the paranoid obsessiveness with security as being aimed primarily at those who threaten only the social order instead of the demons, and the economic system as aimed at the success of certain groups. Many are protesting the treatment of aasimar, tieflings, elves, Manalis, Southern Litoshans, Native Vendalians, homosexuals, and transgendered people, and people are publicly challenging restrictive sexual mores, economic inequality, and educational inequality. The idea that witchcraft is inherently dangerous is also being directly challenged by many, who think ostracization actually causes many of the problems with witchcraft, and that witchcraft has much to offer society. War is a complicated issue among young liberals, who are divided between not wanting to send people to die in other countries and seeing demons as a threat to world peace that Vendalia needs to assist weaker nations with. The pro-war and anti-war factions fight viciously, even though young liberals usually agree on pretty much everything else.

The traditional haughtiness of the elves is being directly challenged by their own people, as younger elves are beginning to see serious problems within their traditional culture and work to change them. The massive elven migration out of elven lands is having a massive effect on other races, as elves are bringing their sexual and environmental mores to cities where they often form a backbone of social movements, which is ironic considering the fact that most of these migrants have given up on the traditional elven lifestyle. New styles of rock music that call for social action are very popular, and a lot of pop music is exuberant and rebellious. Modern dance is very suggestive, with the style called “go go” being especially sexual. Drug use is very common among the younger generation, often being characterized as a path to greater enlightenment and understanding. A fair amount of modern music is about drug use, and the government is very torn on how to handle the issue. Faeleaf, the drug of choice, is legal, but many want to change that, and illegal drugs with much more potent effects than faeleaf are beginning to see increased use. The subdued, formal clothing styles of last decade are being replaced with more colorful, showy, and informal clothing styles. People are even wearing dungarees as basic everyday clothes instead of work pants! Of course, a lot of people don't support as this rebellious nonsense, and are quick to decry the danger facing Vendalian society and to blame elves, minorities, and foreigners for corrupting their youth. A full blown culture war is being waged, and Vendalia is never going to be the same.

This is Not a Peaceful Era

Vendalia is currently involved in two foreign wars against demonic forces. Currently, volunteers are being used for these battles, but the possibility of conscription is being heavily debated as the wars get costlier and larger numbers of troops become required. Violent crime rates have been rising quite a bit recently, and people are getting increasingly frightened within their own communities. Some blame the growing media exposure of crime in general and sensational crimes such as serial killings for encouraging people to commit crime, others blame drugs, those of a political bent blame social liberalism or economic inequality, and some believe there is some sort of demonic influence involved. Regardless of the cause, violence is definitely becoming an ever bigger issue in Vendalia. The number of violent encounters with demons, fae, and undead is also rising, but that number dropped after the last invasion was beaten back and is currently at about pre-war levels. Whether witches are becoming more or less of a threat is up in the air, as it can be difficult to determine which demon, undead, and fae encounters can be attributed to witches. Also worrying is the rise of small movements of hardcore political extremists such as Anarchists and Collectivists, who sometimes feel justified in going so far as to use violence. They primarily target each other with bombings and assassinations, given that the two factions see each other as a threat to be removed before greater revolution can begin, but they do occasionally go after corporate or government targets, and people find that business extremely worrying. Organized crime exists, but it doesn't really get the attention it used to forty years ago. Most people are more worried about street crime, demons, and terrorism, even though organized crime remains a major issue in many cities. The media just doesn't pay much attention to it, which could suggest that they may not be impartial and incorruptible purveyors of news. The threat of riots hangs over most heated protests, as all it takes is a spark to set off long simmering social tensions.

Divinity is Not Well Understood

That some gods exist is a proven fact, but there are a large and uncertain number of them. They are known by multiple names across multiple languages, and whether groups of names refer to the same diety or different dieties is often uncertain. It doesn't help that some gods are outright fictional or horribly embellished and some exist largely as is told, and which is which isn't clear. At one point, the world was ruled by an organization of gods called the Celestial Bureaucracy, though only a minority of gods were ever part of this organization. The Celestial Bureaucracy did keep demons, witches, and magical monsters under control, but their rigid, uncompromising, violent, and racially deterministic style of government was not pleasant to live under. Ever since the Celestial Bureaucracy fell to human rebellion 150 years ago, the gods have been unable to get involved in the world, even those that were not part of the Celestial Bureaucracy and sided with humanity during the rebellion. The reason for this is a mystery. During the war, the angels (who were not nice creatures at all) were either thrown out of the Celestial realm and forced to live as mortals or killed. Those angels and their descendants became the aasimar. Tieflings are the descendents of relations between humans and demons. Both aasimar and tieflings face much social discrimination, but tieflings get it worse because of the active threat demons still pose. Gods do not provide divine magic to humans, nor do they speak to them. What happens when people die is unknown.

Witchcraft is Dangerous and Frightening

Witchcraft is comprised of divine and psychic magic, and its practitioners are called witches. It comes from collusion with spirits, demons, or other otherworldly entities, and even the practitioners don't fully understand how it works. Only witches can do such things as summon demons and create undead. They are far less common than alchemists and arcane casters, but often more experienced in the magical arts. This has led people to fear them greatly, and during the days of the Celestial Bureaucracy, they were put to death unless given express permission to practice their arts by the gods. The practice of witchcraft is not in and of itself a punishable offense anymore, but most people do not trust or like witches, and during times of public fear, witches can quickly become a scapegoat. The government tries its best to keep an eye on witches, though some question the ethics and legality of some actions, which amount to spying. The government is quick to hire witches because they are useful, and many witches feel that government service is an important route to social acceptance. The government doesn't fully trust its witches, though, and many witches absolutely despise those who sell out to the government.

Monster Hunting is a Job for Professionals

Weak monsters like goblins and zombies can be handled by local law enforcement, the army, or armed local civilians, but more powerful monsters need to be dealt with by somebody properly trained. The government has little tolerance for vigilantism or wandering sellswords, and maintains its own force, called the Vendalia Rangers, who handle any threat too powerful for the locals to handle. Rangers are a well known organization that has captured the imaginations of much of the public, and they have a reputation for deadliness and ruthlessness. After all, they don't usually swing into action if something powerful doesn't need to be killed. With violent crime rates increasing, social strife everywhere, demons and magical creatures very unlikely to go away, and Vendalian troops serving abroad in two foreign conflicts against demonic forces, the rangers are seen as very necessary, and are regarded with a mixture of respect, admiration, and fear. The rangers are sworn law enforcement officers, and are held to outrank local law enforcement if an issue involves their jurisdiction. Rangers are the focus of the campaign, as the players start out as 4th level members of the Vendalia Rangers.

Warriors Rely on Alchemy

Low level magic items like communicators, ice stones, torches, blood scanners, smoke pellets, heat vision goggles, alchemical grenades and ammunition, and the like are easily available and useful, but more powerful items take far too much power to be practical. The solution to this is to use alchemy to enhance bodies instead of relying on weapon and armor enhancement bonuses, or stat increasing magic items, essentially powering up the warrior directly instead of giving them ever more powerful kit. Games set in this campaign setting use the Automatic Bonus Progression system from Pathfinder Unchained to quantify the effects of alchemical enhancement.

The witch class got renamed and switched over to divine magic, but it is available in the setting. That detail belongs in the classes area which I have yet to write, though.

It should be immediately obvious which published Dungeons and Dragons setting has been heavily influencing my work, and which decade of American history I've been flavoring things with, or I didn't write it anywhere near well enough. Thoughts?

Also, I have an old weapon and armor list I wrote forever ago that should work perfectly. Here you go. Need to edit in that batons can deal nonlethal damage at no penalty, and I need to put firearms on the table (Early firearms are available, and they are simple weapons. You will see more muskets than you do crossbows, but recurve bows have remained highly relevant in military use do to tactical considerations I won't get into with this post.), but other than that it's good. One will notice that, while the mechanical values of wearing light, medium, or heavy armor haven't changed, the names and weights of those armors have. This is because Vendalia doesn't use much in the way of plate armor, outside of the occasional breastplate. Full plate just isn't around. I didn't want to gimp heavy armor dependent builds, though, so I changed the definition of what the armor categories mean. You will also see a few things like longswords replacing greatswords. Without getting into a massive tangent on how to properly refer to specific types of swords, I'll just say that longswords typically were two handed, and I prefer the name over greatsword, because it suggests a smaller weapon, and big honking two handed swords aren't really popular in Vendalia. Recurve bows are actually more common than longbows, because a proper longbow is taller than the wielder, and the military finds shorter but still powerful recurve bows are easier to teach recruits to shoot and more wieldy in difficult terrain. Not a lot of massively armored opponents around to thwack with them. To avoid a massive tangent about tactics, I'll just say that medieval, renaissance, and early modern military strategies aren't really used at all, because magical artillery is just too bloody effective against massed troops.


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I have this:

Spoiler:
Technology and Magic

Magic is technology. Low level magic items are very common, though magic items like tablets, torches, blood scanners, and heat vision goggles wear out every few months at most and need to be re-enchanted, and anything above low level magic is just too power hungry to use. Alchemical engines, which consume alchemist's fire to generate mana, are the primary means of generating power. They can either power a magical device directly or transmit the power over copper wire. Alchemical engines are powerful, but they are also extremely dangerous, and a trained professional has to be present at all times during operation. Trains, fueled by alchemical engines, are ubiquitous for travel between cities. For travel within cities, streetcars that take their power from copper lines are dominant, as the energy can be generated under supervision in a central plant instead of putting a dangerous engine in every vehicle. Bicycles are also very common, as are horses.

Inside the home, warmth and cooking is provided by safefire, which is an alchemical liquid that lacks the volatility of alchemist's fire. It will burn, but won't explode. Perishable food is stored in freezeboxes, which need to be periodically filled with alchemical ice, which is a liquid with a low freezing temperature that stays cold for weeks until the magic wears off. Food can be imported from almost anywhere in the world, do to the ease of cooling or canning it, so people can eat a varied diet at a comparatively low cost. People typically own tablets, which are polished wooden or metal boards with arcane glyphs. These glyphs allow arcane spellcasters familiar with a particular glyph to send audio and images to the tablet. This only works one way, so tablets cannot send information to other tablets, but this is a useful system that allows the dissemination of news stories, music, and theater programs to a massive audience. Different glyphs typically have different material at any given time. Person to person communication is provided by small magic mirrors, which allow the user to talk to and see another person who has a mirror.

Cosmetic magic has become part of society. Widening or narrowing a nose, changing eye color, reversing hair loss, making hair straight, curly, or wavy, changing hair color, making lips fuller or thinner, getting or removing tattoos, and such are not difficult changes to make using magic. Hair or eye color changes in particular are readily affordable. More involved changes like height changes, racial changes (switching from human to elf and stuff like that), weight loss, and so on are more difficult, and is very expensive. Racial change in particular is something only the wealthiest can afford. Short intensity spells like alter self aren't difficult, but to do this sort of thing on a permanent basis is. Of course, this is a boon to criminals, which is why records are kept of who got what for anything more involved than a color change, in case the police need to find the person later on. For high intensity procedures like race changes, the police have to be sent a notification ahead of the procedure, do to the chance that somebody might be trying to avoid detection. There are of course illegal cosmetic magicians who will modify things with no questions asked (if you are rich, that is), so this is certainly not a completely effective system. Still, it's surprising how many criminals get caught because they weren't smart enough to get their cosmetics done off the grid. As an aside, it isn't unheard of for racial or ethnic minorities with enough money to get facial tweaks to get some features of the majorities. Tieflings sometimes try this, but if you cut off their horns, recovery hurts a lot and they grow back.

This creates security problems, naturally. The most obvious solution is to ask people to place all magical devices in a bucket, then scan them for magic to see if they have changed shape or been effected by some sort of mind effecting spell. Another common security method is tattooing. Alter Self only reproduces the subject's tattoos if the caster knows about those tattoos, and magic means tattoos can be changed or removed. It is quite common for people in secure areas to have secret tattoos that change shape and location frequently (sometimes even weekly or daily for really high security stuff), and only reveal the tattoos to security personnel or coworkers. That way, if somebody is acting suspicious, they can be asked to show their tattoos. If the proper tattoo isn't present, it is a gigantic red flag. Another security method is to take blood samples from those allowed into an area (or specifically excluded), and use a device called a blood scanner to compare a person to the blood sample. If it is their blood, the scanner will be able to tell. Only Alter Self and Polymorph can change blood, so this is effective if one has the means to carry blood samples of specific individuals. The existence of disguise and mind control magic means that anyone who works with secure information is taught to be very paranoid about any sort of strange or unusual behavior from coworkers. Security tends to be extremely quick to detain people and examine them for mind control magic (a simple detect magic isn't enough, because almost everybody pings when you scan them with that), and codephrases are very common (like, you don't say the right morning greeting to someone, you get detained and questioned). Getting detained often is pretty much part of having a security clearance, as it happens to everybody. In fact, not having been detained in a long time is often cause to be detained. When people can take the form of other people without too much effort, facial modifications aren't hard to get, and mind control is a thing that exists and isn't horribly difficult, you need to have constant suspicion of everybody with a security clearance. There is also invisibility magic. Expect to see a guard wearing heat vision goggles if people sneaking around invisible is considered a security concern. In fact, heat vision is so effective and so readily available that invisibility isn't considered to be anywhere near the security threat that Charm Person or Alter Self is.

Not quite finished. Feel like I don't have enough magitech devices outlined here. Need more basic consumer goods. A while back somebody mentioned toys for kids?


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^If you're going to go the Eberron route, turn it up to 11! Now I'm interested . . .

If you want some more magitech:

1. The same technology used to power streetcars is beginning to be used experimentally on heavy rail trains on the busiest and steepest routes.

2. The same technology used to power streetcars is beginning to be used for home power purposes, although it isn't widespread yet.

3. Tablet makers have started making very high-end tablets that are two-way, but currently they are too expensive to have spread beyond the rich (and operatives that need such things). Meanwhile, the much more common one-way tablets are often used for propaganda broadcasts (often disguised as or woven into news stories, music, and theater programs).

5 Meanwhile, makers of two-way communication mirrors have been improving upon the capabilities of their highest-end models (again not widely disseminated yet), offering some tablet capabilities.

6. Small clockwork constructs have been modified with magic to give them some measure of interactivity. This has served a dual use: On the one hand, these have become toys for rich kids (and more rich grown-ups than are willing to admit it). On the other hand, military and intelligence organizations have seen the obvious potential for them to (ab)use.

7. It is rumored that the very highest Alchemists and Mages have managed to go beyond Alchemy itself, and learned to tap the very fires of Hell from the fundamental constitution of matter. (If you don't get the reference, read A Canticle for Leibowitz.)


Monte Cooke once said he never creates more than is necessary for the immediate game and about two or three sessions ahead, allowing for the players to discover the world on their own as they go. A very general knowledge of history or geography might be allowed, but nothing very specific beyond their "immediate world at large".


I've given players different amounts of information about different subjects depending on the skill ranks their character possessed at character creation.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I always tell my players that when I start a new campaign, I will have them all come from the same region.. This has several advantages.

1. Common knowledge... there are places, people, and things known to all of the characters. There will be characters they know, love, and despise. And when things happen to those people it will have meaning.

2. Commonality, love, hate it, or don't care, they all have a common homeland and heritage.

3. It allows me to concentrate on localized world-building, when you start out as peasants in the Valley of Hugh, you don't need knowledge of the continents and oceans on the other side of the planet. For now, your locality IS your world.


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^This is a lower-risk way to start the campaign off, but would tend to wear out quickly if the campaign starts in a relatively cosmopolitan part of the world.

And . . . I'm back with more magitech:

Magic voting/vote counting machines. Democracy is done for, even if it ever got started. To paraphrase Josef Stalin, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing Those who count the votes decide everything." -- but now, instead of having observable and potentially auditable vote counting by people, you have magic black boxes counting the votes . . . or doing with them whatever their enchanters ehchanted them to do. Wait, that's what really happens -- HERE.


Sorry I've been gone for the last few days. Mega family drama to deal with.

I do intend to respond to you guys, but first, I have an idea. I mentioned earlier that enchantments wear off, which implies that this setting lacks a functioning permanency spell. Well, what if wood and living creatures could keep an enchantment longer than metal? This would explain why the preferred approach is to enhance the warrior's body instead of the weapons and armor, because a magic person with nonmagical metal equipment is perhaps more effective than a nonmagical person with magical wooden equipment, and enchanting both wouldn't work because the enchantments wouldn't stack.

More importantly, however, it sets up a way cool design aesthetic. If wood is better at holding magic, people will obviously build most technology out of wood. Maybe people like cool, streamlined things, so the design aesthetic is typically pretty sleek. This setting is, of course, blatantly Sixties in style and tone, and the Sixties had plenty of art styles that could mesh with this wooden aesthetic. It also helps distinguish my setting from Eberron a bit more.

Now, most of my worldbuilding is analagous to he West Coast. Several reasons. California fits the Sixties vibe, I'm from California, using the West Coast makes having large European and East Asian populations in the same country easy (Logically explaining the widespread use of Pathfinder's European and Japanese content in the same nation while also incorporating 3PP Chinese, Japanese, and European content is a vital design goal), it is easy to thematically explain the presence of individuals of almost any other ethnic group, and the temperate rainforest climate seen in the Pacific Northwest is woefully underused in fantasy (Washington and Oregon are getting attention here. It ain't just California.).

Anyway, with that geographic setup, bamboo becomes a very attractive option for building, especially because the nation of Vendalia has close trading partners who are sitting on tons of bamboo. It's a good, versatile wood for all sorts of consumer goods and homes, it's cheap and readily available, and the East Asian aesthetic using bamboo brings works in a nation that has a large East Asian community. I also imagine oak, redwood, and pine are used a lot, because they are readily available in Vendalia. Need to do some research on what those are good for, and what else is available.

Also, if we have rock music, we need some sort of amp, and that means using magic. I'll get on figuring out how that works and what else it can be used to do.


Give a rough concept of the MUST KNOWS, so that the players doesn't screw anything basic up because they didn't know. Keep it simple, no idea in bombing them with information, they won't remember it all anyway (it's really hard to trim down important facts, it's a science of its' own). Strewing it out over several sessions will be much better than having a giant exposition-hour-pre-game-boom.

Don't give them information they don't need. Ex: If your world's druids are different than your normal Golarion druids (structure of orders, philosophies, etc.) but nobody is looking to play a druid, don't bother informing them about the druids (unless you have something cool that you think would make them play a druid). Maybe they'll miss some things entirely this way, which is sad but still better than trying to force it upon them.

When something new appears that needs some explanation, you can go ahead with that. Fill them in during the game. For example, when they get to a new city. No point in informing them much about the city before they even think about going there. When you fill them in, do it as part of the narrative, not flat exposition.

When they want to know something you haven't told them yet, let them ask you or roll a knowledge check.


^Don't totally cut out the Druids in that example -- if they aren't especially secretive (aside from having their secret language), the PCs might still have reason to go to them sometimes.


Rosita the Riveter wrote:
I'm writing for my Pathfinder campaign setting, and I'm finding that the biggest problem isn't coming up with ideas for the setting, it is providing these ideas to an audience in an efficient and non-overwhelming manner. I'm not quite sure how much information about races, technology level, the culture of the nation the game is set in, and the way magic works and how the character classes fit in needs to be provided prior to the game, and how much is overwhelming. This is especially vexing me because I don't use a standard medieval technology level or base the setting off of medieval cultures, and the game tends to stay within one nation (long story short, the PCs kill dangerous things for the government, so they don't leave the country much and are generally from said country, and this country needs a fair amount of detail). So, if you were to join my game as a player and knew nothing about my setting, what all would you want me to tell you, and how much information is just too much when starting out?

Best way to deal with brand new players in a brand new world... Start small and build outwards.

I would start it less with 'PCs kill dangerous things...' and make it more 'PCs WILL kill dangerous things...' Anything that isn't generic or common... they very well may not have run into yet and learn on the way.

Start with less of a country, and more of a city, or a couple of cities and make sure everyone starts there. Then slowly expand the world as needed.

If you plan to mess with any of the classes or core rules... by all means tell the players before it starts... but don't bog them down with information they don't need/care about. If the players are looking at Fighter, Mage and cleric... don't bog them down with the changes you made to gunslinger and swashbuckler.. that's just unnecessary. (unless it's cool enough that you are trying to get them to play one...)

PERSONALLY... I'm NOT a fan of brand new homebrew worlds for pretty much this reason. I'm not even a huge fan of pregenerated worlds that are new to me... I prefer to immerse myself in the campaign books/novels/comics and get a feel for a world before being thrown for a loop with 'everything you know is wrong!!!' I always feel weird when my character can't count out change, order a drink, or name the moon...

Biggest point of advice, Be patient. You have all the knowledge everywhere... and they're going to muddle through hoping to enjoy the plot and the game until they get a handle on the new world.

I would recommend downloading some of the free AP player's guides for a guide post. They are specially designed to give players a hint of what their characters should know. Rise of the Runelords especially was a beginner guide to the Pathfinder world.


Thanks. I've looked through some AP guides, but not ROTR.

I was thinking of sketching out a basic national overview, but only revealing details of a single region, where things can stay for a while.

I do have some house rules. Trying to keep them to basic stuff like my feat consolidation and the removal of alignment, though I do have my own weapon and armor table that makes some changes. Basically, a lot of feats were either merged or handed out to everyone free. Power Attack, Combat Expertise, the Vital Strike chain, Shot on the Run, and Spring Attack are the prominent free ones. Eliminating martial feat taxes was goal one, and encouraging a greater degree of mobility was goal two.

Quote:
Don't give them information they don't need. Ex: If your world's druids are different than your normal Golarion druids (structure of orders, philosophies, etc.) but nobody is looking to play a druid, don't bother informing them about the druids (unless you have something cool that you think would make them play a druid). Maybe they'll miss some things entirely this way, which is sad but still better than trying to force it upon them.

This opens up an issue: I build the setting and outline a game, then set out to recruit players. When handing out setting info, I am unlikely to know who wants to be what.

And now more setting info I can't give to players because it isn't directly relevant to them but still want to share. I did some research on that wood thing. The benefit of having access to a university library and the internet. It seems bamboo is actually a grass, not a wood. No matter. I shall say grasses and the like have the same magic storing properties as wood, leather, and animals. Woods available within Vendalia's borders should include several varieties of pine, oak, ash, redwood, yew, willow, fir, maple, cedar, cypress, sycamore, walnut, spruce, juniper, aspen, poplar, dogwood, and many others. I am not going to go explain what all of these woods are for, but I will line out a few things:

Vendalians have something of a thing for bamboo. People think it's exciting and useful and wonderful and all that, and it has only been widespread since the war ended. You'll see quite a lot of household goods made out of it, even where it may not necessarily be the best material. People do grow bamboo in Vendalia, though it isn't the ideal climate for it, and the majority of Vendalia's bamboo comes from abroad.

Railroad cars are usually made from what is affordable and available (you see lots of redwood, oak, pine, fir, and spruce), but if there is a choice, ash is the favorite. Can be costly, though.

Streetcars are usually made from bamboo, and are richly painted (people like pretty things, after all).

The military makes melee weapon hafts out of ash and firearm stocks out of oak. The military makes tool hafts out of whichever hardwoods are most feasible.

Military bows are recurves, not longbows. Longbows are seen as too large and unwieldy for a highly mobile battlefield or difficult terrain. The military uses bamboo for bows, as it is considered better than almost any bow wood while also being very cheap and readily available. Military bows use waterproof glues for composite construction and waterproof bowstrings, so moisture is not an issue (northern Vendalia is very rainy, after all).

Houses are built out of whatever the suitable local wood is, or out of brick or concrete. Steel frames are beginning to come into use, but those buildings almost never have steel exteriors. Bridges can be stone, wood, or steel, with steel being the standard for most major projects. Bamboo housing is a rather new idea that is especially well liked by younger people with empty or damaged land but not much money. You see this situation often enough in areas that were never fully reconstructed after the war.

Businesses who can afford it totally get enchanted wooden storefronts that change color into all manner of majestic wonders. Walk into an upscale shopping district, and the effect can be absolutely mesmerizing.


Rosita the Riveter wrote:

This opens up an issue: I build the setting and outline a game, then set out to recruit players. When handing out setting info, I am unlikely to know who wants to be what.

This could lead to heartbreak.

I've played in the same-ish group for most of my gaming life. Some people drift away, others drift in, but there isn't any great mystery who's going to be in. When one campaign gets close to the end, we start looking at what we want to play next.

IF you set it up this way... where you write the game before you have any players... 1) You may create a lot that isn't necessary. 2) You may create EVERYTHING and never get anyone interested.

I would HIGHLY recommend talking it over with people before you put all the time and energy into world building to see if there is even any interest. You don't need a whole primer of the world... just 'Hey, I'm thinking of running my own wolrd that's sort of like XXXX but it has XXXX and XXXXX instead of XXXXX... Would you be interested? What you want to play??

One of our players adapted Curse of the Crimson Throne from 3.5 to pathfinder and then wasn't able to run it... it STILL haunts her over how disappointed she is and how much she put into it...


^Don't throw away that Curse of the Crimson Throne conversion -- never know when you might need it.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
UnArcaneElection wrote:

^This is a lower-risk way to start the campaign off, but would tend to wear out quickly if the campaign starts in a relatively cosmopolitan part of the world.

** spoiler omitted **

That's the whole point of NOT starting it out in the Greyhawk in your world. If players want that sort of campaign on the outset, I'll simply use a prepackaged setting and adapt it.


phantom1592 wrote:
I've played in the same-ish group for most of my gaming life. Some people drift away, others drift in, but there isn't any great mystery who's going to be in. When one campaign gets close to the end, we start looking at what we want to play next.

I couldn't see ever gaming like that. I've never even really had a friendship that lasted more than a few years at most. My experience with groups has been pretty impermanent. I also prefer level 4 to 12 campaigns. Any more levels, and the campaign is just too long to ever complete.

Still, I'd be worldbuilding even when I if I wasn't gaming at all. It's an autism thing. It's like I have to worldbuild, because overactive imagination mixed with being a geography student in university. I am constantly being exposed to new concepts in school that I have to run off and use to make something fantasy, and if I didn't do fantasy worldbuilding I'd lack a vital outlet for all that daydreaming.

Quote:
That's the whole point of NOT starting it out in the Greyhawk in your world. If players want that sort of campaign on the outset, I'll simply use a prepackaged setting and adapt

Yea, I did pick the hard way. It does have it's advantages, though. There is very little flavor-wise that I can't fit somewhere in the Pacific Rim, and I always want new flavors. The only thing that really keeps me focused is that I have my Northern European flavors, East Asian flavors, Latin flavors, Polynesian flavors, African flavors, American Indian, and ton of other flavors all in the exact same place, since California absorbs all of it with ease. If I didn't have that vast ethnic diversify, I'd get even less done than I do now as I run off in search of new ethnic flavors.

I'm also from California, and currently reside in San Francisco. So, my players should be able to easily picture what the setting should feel like. Not an inconsiderable advantage.


I should have a prototype player handout to show you guys this weekend.

I have some notes. No idea if I'm going to give them to the players since I'm trying to be conservative with info, but I do want to share.

The rise of drug culture is a part of the setting, given that it is supposed to emulate the Sixties, and I realized something that totally backs this up. If alchemists are the main driver of technology, that means people are experimenting with all sorts of concoctions. Well, it stands to reason that some of those might get you really high. Like, magical high. Literally. People are probably snorting some sort of magic dust. Which means the rise of drug culture meshes perfectly with the alchemical basis of technology.

Then I wondered what to do with Barbarians, since I don't have a lot of primitive tribes about (I certainly am not going to portray the large number of Sixties era American Indian expys as primitive). I renamed the class Berserker, and the lore about Berserkers has all sorts of drug stuff. Not sure as to how accurate the lore is, but this is fantasy, so it doesn't really matter. Now, everybody in the military is imbibing alchemical substances. I use Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained to replace the big six magic items, and the fact that soldiers are all hopped up on alchemy is the in setting justification for how Automatic Bonus Progression works. You get more powerful, you can drink more without getting overwhelmed by the power, so your bonuses get bigger.

How does that tie into Berserkers (also Bloodragers and Skalds)? They are drinking magical aggression enhancers other characters don't drink, because the aggression enhancer make people really hyperactive. Berserkers have a ton of pent up energy, and tend not to be particularly good at sitting still or focusing on things that aren't really interesting or involve intense physical activity, and a lot of them pace if kept waiting somewhere because they can't just take a seat or stand in line quietly. They can't just only take the enhancers during combat, because it takes time to build the body up with that sort of thing, and if they stop taking it they go through withdrawal, and have to slowly build back up to strength if they start taking the enhancers again. If Berserkers don't rage every day (or at least every other day), they get more and more pent up energy, and start having focus problems bad enough that they take penalties to Int, Wis, and Cha rolls and stuff like that as they get worse and worse at focusing, and they get extremely restless and such. Berserkers don't have to rage in combat to avoid these problems. They'll be fine if they rage at practice dummies for a while, or play sports, or work out at the gym, or even go dancing. It just has to be intense physical exercise.

This also explains Masquerade Revelers, also known as the greatest Barbarian archetype ever. Rather than wearing masks, they use their own custom fae-connected drug blends that have effects way beyond aggression enhancers.

Great, now I'm thinking about orcish Berserker go-go dancers, because Sixties.


I found a good explanation for anime style catgirls! Ha!

Of the core races of the setting, one is the Hengeyokai of Rite Publishing. Their appearance is described as thus:

Quote:
A hengeyokai's true form is that of a humanoid with the face of an animal. The animal is that of its clan. A hengeyokai may change shape, appearing either as a human or in the natural form of her clan animal (alter self, beastshape I). A hengeyokai's human features are always the same, as are her animal features and these features are uniquely hers. That is, a hengeyokai cannot choose to take the shape or form of another person or animal in order to disguise herself without access to other abilities or powers. A hengeyokai can revert to her natural form at will. She may adopt her alternate forms a number of times per day equal to 1/2 her character level (minimum 1).

So, Hengeyokai have actual animal heads, and can straight up turn into animals. Personally, I like humans with animal ears, maybe tails. Well, it could be the case that hengeyokai go around in human form most of the time, not animal face form, because other races are more comfortable with talking to people. This is an age of flashy fashions and experimenting with appearances, though, so maybe younger hengeyokai want to look more animalistic, but don't want to straigt up look like an animal, because that wouldn't be cute. So they shift their ears into animal-person form, but keep the rest of their body human unless they feel like growing out their animal form tail. If people think that looks cool, it could become widespread, and perhaps popularise animal ear headbands among non-hengeyokai.

So, anime style catgirls are literally just a fashion statement. Which fits the tone of the setting perfectly.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Rosita the Riveter wrote:
phantom1592 wrote:
I've played in the same-ish group for most of my gaming life. Some people drift away, others drift in, but there isn't any great mystery who's going to be in. When one campaign gets close to the end, we start looking at what we want to play next.

I couldn't see ever gaming like that. I've never even really had a friendship that lasted more than a few years at most. My experience with groups has been pretty impermanent. I also prefer level 4 to 12 campaigns. Any more levels, and the campaign is just too long to ever complete.

Still, I'd be worldbuilding even when I if I wasn't gaming at all. It's an autism thing. It's like I have to worldbuild, because overactive imagination mixed with being a geography student in university. I am constantly being exposed to new concepts in school that I have to run off and use to make something fantasy, and if I didn't do fantasy worldbuilding I'd lack a vital outlet for all that daydreaming.

Quote:
That's the whole point of NOT starting it out in the Greyhawk in your world. If players want that sort of campaign on the outset, I'll simply use a prepackaged setting and adapt

Yea, I did pick the hard way. It does have it's advantages, though. There is very little flavor-wise that I can't fit somewhere in the Pacific Rim, and I always want new flavors. The only thing that really keeps me focused is that I have my Northern European flavors, East Asian flavors, Latin flavors, Polynesian flavors, African flavors, American Indian, and ton of other flavors all in the exact same place, since California absorbs all of it with ease. If I didn't have that vast ethnic diversify, I'd get even less done than I do now as I run off in search of new ethnic flavors.

I'm also from California, and currently reside in San Francisco. So, my players should be able to easily picture what the setting should feel like. Not an inconsiderable advantage.

Even if you do start your setting in a Greyhawk or Waterdeep, much of what I said still applies. Take West Side Story. Sure it's set in New York City, the financial capital of the planet.. But all you need to know to get into the story are the neighborhoods that are the battleground between the Jets and the Sharks. You can still start small and build out as the story dictates.


Quote:
Even if you do start your setting in a Greyhawk or Waterdeep, much of what I said still applies. Take West Side Story. Sure it's set in New York City, the financial capital of the planet.. But all you need to know to get into the story are the neighborhoods that are the battleground between the Jets and the Sharks. You can still start small and build out as the story dictates.

So, like, if we start out in the foggy, hilly, uber cosmopolitan and kinda weird port city of Valetta, we really only need to see a basic overview of the city at first? We can cover the industrial city of Perides across the bay and the orchards along the railroad south of Valetta as they become relevant, and the players don't need to know anything not close to Valetta until the players start wanting to take missions in new areas?

I was wondering if I really need to explain the ethnic groups of Valetta much. I mean, in Dragon Age, everybody knows Fereldan is Britain and Orlais is France. If Valetta includes street names, buildings, and public figures with names that sound English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese, that should maybe be enough to suggest to players what kinds of cultures exist in the city without having to go and explain things.


You may not even need to show the players a basic overview of Valetta. Just the relevant portions that the players will initially interact with. Like the West Side Story example, just the Jets neighborhood and the Sharks neighborhood. Not the USA, not NY state, not NY City, not even the West Side of the city.

As for ethnic groups and races, you are on the right track. Use the classic bar scene in Star Wars as a guide. We get to see that there is a very diverse collection of races, yet we learn nothing about any of them (one doesn't like Luke - not exactly a defining racial trait). Later we learn about the Wookie (violent sore loser) and whatever Jaba the Hut is in the remastered version. Again, only the bare minimum that is necessary.

Save the rest of the info for when the players get there.


One thing I haven't seen mentioned before is having an idea of what category of foes your party will face. Basically, I think its important that the GM work with players to make sure their characters are invalidated by opponent type, i.e. if the party if facing primarily undead/constructs/other mindless creatures and you have a player that wants to play an enchanter, that's an issue. The occasional encounter is fine, and the player can deal with that, but if they are worthless in combat for most encounters, that's gonna cause problems. So having an idea of what your party's character concepts are and how well they mesh in your setting is important.


Calth wrote:
One thing I haven't seen mentioned before is having an idea of what category of foes your party will face. Basically, I think its important that the GM work with players to make sure their characters are invalidated by opponent type, i.e. if the party if facing primarily undead/constructs/other mindless creatures and you have a player that wants to play an enchanter, that's an issue. The occasional encounter is fine, and the player can deal with that, but if they are worthless in combat for most encounters, that's gonna cause problems. So having an idea of what your party's character concepts are and how well they mesh in your setting is important.

I tend to go heavy on undead, fey, spellcasters, and evil outsiders, with some magical beasts now and then.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Rosita the Riveter wrote:
Calth wrote:
One thing I haven't seen mentioned before is having an idea of what category of foes your party will face. Basically, I think its important that the GM work with players to make sure their characters are invalidated by opponent type, i.e. if the party if facing primarily undead/constructs/other mindless creatures and you have a player that wants to play an enchanter, that's an issue. The occasional encounter is fine, and the player can deal with that, but if they are worthless in combat for most encounters, that's gonna cause problems. So having an idea of what your party's character concepts are and how well they mesh in your setting is important.
I tend to go heavy on undead, fey, spellcasters, and evil outsiders, with some magical beasts now and then.

That sounds much like you should be putting your players out on the frontier as opposed to the center of an urban capital.


^That depends very much on what kind of urban capital you are talking about -- in a Shadowrun-style campaign or in Mage: The Ascension, an urban setting might be just right. As I recall, at least in D&D 3.5 days Eberron even had a whole nation of monsters, which had a bustling capital city to match, and even in other urban places, you coud expect to find various types of monsters (including Outsiders) that could stay reasonably well hidden with the urban environment (shape change or other disguise abilities was explicitly called out as being helpful for this).


Rosita the Riveter wrote:

I found a good explanation for anime style catgirls! Ha!

Of the core races of the setting, one is the Hengeyokai of Rite Publishing. Their appearance is described as thus:

Quote:
A hengeyokai's true form is that of a humanoid with the face of an animal. The animal is that of its clan. A hengeyokai may change shape, appearing either as a human or in the natural form of her clan animal (alter self, beastshape I). A hengeyokai's human features are always the same, as are her animal features and these features are uniquely hers. That is, a hengeyokai cannot choose to take the shape or form of another person or animal in order to disguise herself without access to other abilities or powers. A hengeyokai can revert to her natural form at will. She may adopt her alternate forms a number of times per day equal to 1/2 her character level (minimum 1).

So, Hengeyokai have actual animal heads, and can straight up turn into animals. Personally, I like humans with animal ears, maybe tails. Well, it could be the case that hengeyokai go around in human form most of the time, not animal face form, because other races are more comfortable with talking to people. This is an age of flashy fashions and experimenting with appearances, though, so maybe younger hengeyokai want to look more animalistic, but don't want to straigt up look like an animal, because that wouldn't be cute. So they shift their ears into animal-person form, but keep the rest of their body human unless they feel like growing out their animal form tail. If people think that looks cool, it could become widespread, and perhaps popularise animal ear headbands among non-hengeyokai.

So, anime style catgirls are literally just a fashion statement. Which fits the tone of the setting perfectly.

Since Kaidan is my homebrew setting published as an imprint under Rite Publishing, as well as being the developer for Kaidan supplements, including In the Company of Henge I'd say its perfectly OK to allow your henge to show hints of their animal form, while keeping a mostly human appearance. It makes sense for the setting you're creating.

Though I'm biased, since I'm the author/cartographer, but you might be able to use a detailed 4 story Japanese bath house, as a tavern, inn, bath house fully mapped, including a mini-adventure/extended encounter regarding haunts and a multi-CR ghost inspired by the movie The Grudge, called Haiku of Horror: Autumn Moon Bath House. It might be worth checking out as a possible location in your setting.


gamer-printer wrote:
Since Kaidan is my homebrew setting published as an imprint under Rite Publishing, as well as being the developer for Kaidan supplements, including In the Company of Henge I'd say its perfectly OK to allow your henge to show hints of their animal form, while keeping a mostly human appearance. It makes sense for the setting you're creating.

Thanks for creating them. I find that if I add in another clan to cover Kitsune, and write in non-Japanese clans, the Hengeyokai make a perfect core race to cover the entire animal-people concept. Just have to allow Hengeyokai to qualify for feats as such with a prerequisite of Kitsune or Catfolk.

Quote:
Though I'm biased, since I'm the author/cartographer, but you might be able to use a detailed 4 story Japanese bath house, as a tavern, inn, bath house fully mapped, including a mini-adventure/extended encounter regarding haunts and a multi-CR ghost inspired by the movie The Grudge, called Haiku of Horror: Autumn Moon Bath House. It might be worth checking out as a possible location in your setting.

That actually could work pretty well for an introductory adventure. There are plenty of Japanese people in the city of Valetta (In fact, the nation of Vendalia has a Japanese Invasion instead of a British Invasion), and Japanese culture is percolating into Vendalia, so a Japanese bathhouse makes sense. I'll take a look at it.


UnArcaneElection wrote:

^That depends very much on what kind of urban capital you are talking about -- in a Shadowrun-style campaign or in Mage: The Ascension, an urban setting might be just right. As I recall, at least in D&D 3.5 days Eberron even had a whole nation of monsters, which had a bustling capital city to match, and even in other urban places, you coud expect to find various types of monsters (including Outsiders) that could stay reasonably well hidden with the urban environment (shape change or other disguise abilities was explicitly called out as being helpful for this).

And when the player characters work for the government, it doesn't matter if CR4+ monsters aren't that common, because it stands to reason that the players are likely dealing with the bulk of those monsters. Essentially, the CR4+ monsters that the PCs are killing are the bulk of the CR4+ threats that are active within the city, since eliminating CR4+ threats is what the taxpayer pays the PCs to do.

Of course, the PCs will get to go out into the frontier regions in time.


I've been thinking about the issue of currency, as I don't want to use gold. Since I use Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained and potions in place of the magic item system, Wealth by Level is unnecessary, so I need not worry there. Likewise, players can typically get gear without worrying about cost. Really, I don't need to track the majority of purchases, but I should have some money system. I'm just going to institute the Vendalia dollar, and index it to the 1965 US dollar. Easy on the players, because dollars really don't need any explanation at all, and indexing it to the 1965 USD is easy on me because I have the sources to figure out how much most things cost back then. So, if a player needs to know a cost, finding it is trivial. The only costs that need to be added is magic, but those costs are usually flavor, since the PCs are either paying a sum that isn't worth bothering to track or are paying on government voucher (government vouchers are a big reason I don't have the wealth by level system.). If I do have to price a magic item, I can just price it in modern money and then divide by 7.58 (a very rough estimate of inflation between 1965 and 2015).

Not that it's really important, but a player character can expect to be making around $6,100 a year.


You might also consider both Way of the Yakuza and Way of the Samurai supplements that contain origins, historical overviews, the hierarchy, with new traits, many class archetypes appropriate (not just rogues and samurai), feats, and both contain rules for creating custom samurai houses and yakuza gangs based on the GMG city stat block. Both include maps (of mine) of locations useful for each supplement. Not to make you spend more money, but both types of organizations probably exist in your setting, even if they are using modern weapons instead of swords, and are probably a good fit.


I do own Way of the Samurai. I like the teppou, tajiya, and yabusame. Granted, my setting lacks the social role of the Samurai, given that Vendalia hasn't had feudalism in a very long time, and had few Japanese feudal lords, but the skills and weapons of the Samurai have certainly not gone away, and the memory of the Samurai hasn't disappeared, either.

I wouldn't scoff at the idea of a Vendalian Yakuza. Doesn't sound any less plausible than the Italian-American Mafia or the Irish-American Mob or black and Latino street gangs, and I've already acknowledged the existence of organized crime within Vendalia.


Yojimbo (ranger archetype) from Way of the Samurai is one of my favorites from that guide.

You can easily refluff the Yakuza as La Cosa Nostra or the Bratva (Russian mafia), without much of a problem, though the included enchanted tattoos are a thing for the yakuza (which fits fine with Russian mafia, perhaps Irish, even Latinos), though less so for the Italian mob emulation - all using the same supplement. While intended to fit feudal Japan, it doesn't take much to reflavor it as a different culture entirely. At it's base this is a supplement for organized criminal organizations.


Getting work done on this is difficult now with school ramping up and my new job, which is retail in a tourist area over the holidays. Updates may be sparse and small for a while. I certainly wasn't able to finish that guide this weekend, and don't know when I will.

I have been thinking about elves, dwarves, and orcs. Creating a whole world of cultures for each race is just too much work. I did think of something that works for the setting, though. The crux of the matter lies with the Celestial Bureaucracy considering the magnus and hengeyokai as the favored races, and demanding that elves and dwarves mimic the magnus in most aspects while doing specific tasks (elves are supposed to raise and harvest trees and herbs, dwarves are supposed to be miners and builders, orcs are supposed to be warriors). Individualism was of tertiary concern. Essentially, the Celestial Bureaucracy treated magnus and hengeyokai as people, but elves, dwarves, and orcs as objects. After the fall of the Bureaucracy, things didn't change overnight, because it takes a long time to stop systematically objectifying an entire race. In the modern day, the problem still hasn't been dealt with. Combine this with the collapse of the elven lifestyle because tree cities don't work with massive populations and industrial infrastructure, and the resulting exodus to magnus lands, and you have the tinder piled for a social wildfire. Younger elves are revolting against traditional elven social mores that they see as having failed their people, while also being DONE with magnus objectifying them, and they are going to protest. This leads to dwarves and orcs following suit, although their situations are not quite as bad (cue dwarven model minority stereotypes). This blends together with protests regarding war, conscription, economic inequality, anti-immigrant bigotry, reforming the reputation of witchcraft, sexual mores, LGBT rights, and other things, to create an era that is very much not about acquiescing to the powers that be. Which sometimes gets boiled down into people upset with all this protesting blaming the elves for trying to ruin society, because they started yelling first, and some view them as stupid and contemptible do to the failures of the elven lifestyle.

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