Designing an Artificial World / Campaign Setting (Help Wanted) (Pathfinder)


Homebrew and House Rules

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Hello everyone! I've been thinking about coming up with a custom world for a campaign. I dont really know what I'm doing and I would like some creative help from the forums to come up with some original ideas to help flesh out this world. I'd love for this to be something everyone can contribute ideas.

Rough Concept:
Its an artificial world in concept, clearly of alien make. Its a misty jungle world with a dense atmosphere; bombarded by asteroid showers, while dealing with frequent seismic activity and tropical storms.

Encircled by a 'Sol Ring', this ring protects the world from the 'planet killer' asteroids in its path, by means of an invisible barrier. this barrier is seen only for a few moments after an asteroid of a substantial enough size collides with it at high speed, producing glowing rings of dissipating energy. Though its mostly disintegrated upon impact, some smaller debris does pass through unharmed, although these pieces typically do not cause much destruction.

As this 'Sol Ring' spins around the world on a north-south axis, it also gathers and redirects solar energy from a small section (15% of the ring, passing around the equatorial region) of the ring to give the world energy for growth, along with a day/night cycle.

Races I'm Considering:
The world includes a number of humanoid races, most of which are still in early cultural development.

Spoiler:

Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. Im sort of overwhelmed, but I want to stick with this idea until its finished. Anyone care to help me?


Why hasn't this planet cleared its orbit? Who built the ring? Why did they build it?

I will have more thoughts later.


Browman wrote:

Why hasn't this planet cleared its orbit? Who built the ring? Why did they build it?

I will have more thoughts later.

Map of how I think the solar system works. No, im not an expert.

Im thinking some sort of ancient race of deity-like aliens, who built the ring, which forged the world. they brought plants, fungi, and animals to this world, including some sentient races. They planned on this place being a sort of wildlife sanctuary for those living there.

However, about five hundred ago, they left for some reason.


Being a campaign homebrewer myself I know that overwhelming feeling quite well. I've been working on my own world for the past three months now, and am getting quite close to a finished and playable campaign world.

One thing I notice is that your rough concept doesn't include any interactive elements. What will your players be doing in this world? It's a very important question to answer.

I can intuit a little from just the setting you've provided though. Your natives are in "early cultural development" on a constructed planet that I'm assuming is either technological or magitek in nature. They probably don't understand its true nature. this can provide some interesting campaign seeds. Exploration of ancient structures. Possibly world ending faults in the system which our primitives must fix with the help of a "prophecy". The world you've made has many possibilities.

A second insight... The rings caused by asteroid impacts. They must be huge events to primitive races. If I saw huge celestial rings rippling across the sky, why I'd look for my friends and get ready for the apocolyp... *cough* excuse me, I got of track. Might they form a religion around these events?


Ten'shun the Tengu wrote:

Being a campaign homebrewer myself I know that overwhelming feeling quite well. I've been working on my own world for the past three months now, and am getting quite close to a finished and playable campaign world.

One thing I notice is that your rough concept doesn't include any interactive elements. What will your players be doing in this world? It's a very important question to answer.

Id imagine village life or even kingdom building, exploring the jungles, swamps, and ocean. You could seek out ruins/crash sites for *magical* gear. Id imagine there would be all kinds of dangerous things you'd have to deal with. just going down the list, you see the following in jungles like the mwangi expanse book:

Natural Hazards:
Plants, Fungi, Diseases and Infections, Insect Swarms, Jungle Storms, Poisonous Foods, Quicksand, Water Dangers, Heat and Humidity.

plus monsters and other races, depending on who you are and what tribes you hail from.

Ten'shun the Tengu wrote:
I can intuit a little from just the setting you've provided though. Your natives are in "early cultural development" on a constructed planet that I'm assuming is either technological or magitek in nature. They probably don't understand its true nature. this can provide some interesting campaign seeds. Exploration of ancient structures. Possibly world ending faults in the system which our primitives must fix with the help of a "prophecy". The world you've made has many possibilities.

Probably a mix of both technology and magitek. id imagine meteorites and the metals they carry would be plentiful on such a world, since the barrier doesn't block out everything. Many possibilities, I agree. We need to work out some basics, that is for sure.

Ten'shun the Tengu wrote:
A second insight... The rings caused by asteroid impacts. They must be huge events to primitive races. If I saw huge celestial rings rippling across the sky, why I'd look for my friends and get ready for the apocolyp... *cough* excuse me, I got of track. Might they form a religion around these events?

Id imagine its a bit like shooting star showers or fireworks in some respects, since it would happen often. Id imagine in some respects, it could be like Eclipses inspiring talk of the end times.

Not sure about deities. Id imagine demons, elementals, and other beings could be present. Many would be shamans or druids. they might even worship the ring itself. i haven't given it much thought, beyond thinking the Grippli might worship a water goddess and the Monkey Goblins worshiping demons along side other religions.


XLordxErebusX wrote:
Id imagine its a bit like shooting star showers or fireworks in some respects, since it would happen often.

Something popped into my mind. Perhaps you may know the reference.

Epic pic 1

Epic pic 2

Should one of your planet killers hit the rings energy shield, it would probably make a single, huge energy ripple similar to those pics. Since your idea is to let the smaller objects through, it may likely be accompanied by hundreds of shooting stars. That would be a spectacular sight.

I also have thought of a couple more questions.

Will this planet have a moon? (I'm thinking not due to the ring and the asteroids, but perhaps an artificial one made by the ring?)

Have you given any thought to planes and how they might fit in your metaverse? (I'm thinking that you want to contain the campaign world to a single world, so maybe have the "planes" actually reside in the ring itself? Computer simulation? Actual Ring world? That should allow all 8 alignment planes.)

perhaps its a giant ecology experiment done by alien college grads. xP


Perhaps another way to work this is by the point of light system. A term used in 4th ed. The way it works is you start small a town or village fleshing it out and the local area. A point of light on a dark tapestry. With that start by slowly expanding. Local terrain around the village and town. Why people live in the town or village.
Next write your adventures focusing on that to start. Village kid gets kidnaped PCs need to rescue him or something like this. Next work on the area for the adventure the mountains or forest or whatever a day or so from the village.
This approach works to start keeping players from asking the really huge questions you may not have. You can keep working on all the details of this world as a whole but limit the PCs to a small area so they learn only a little bit of the whole picture.
A friend of mine did this and it worked well. He had only a vague idea for a campaign and this allowed him to figure out what he wanted to do while keeping us doing adventures. We never finished the campaign but when we stopped we had several places mapped and detailed yet discovered there was a totally different continent across an ocean we hadn't known about until the very last. They way he did it was immensely fun because we didn't know anything and the joy or horror of learning was fresh and new. Something that happened was because we were new to his world things we did altered his ideas for what he had planned helping him to improve or change his world as he went.


A duality-based religious system might make sense: a Lawful pantheon that defends people from random meteor strikes, and a Chaotic one that causes them - for good or ill.
It'll make a nice change from the usual Good vs. Evil too.


It seems to me that the world is still "in progress". The way you mapped out those asteroids it looks as though they're all coming from one particular region of space. By how you describe the 'Sol ring' I'm wondering if the planet is actually getting bigger as time goes on.

XLordxErebusX wrote:

Im thinking some sort of ancient race of deity-like aliens, who built the ring, which forged the world. they brought plants, fungi, and animals to this world, including some sentient races. They planned on this place being a sort of wildlife sanctuary for those living there.

However, about five hundred ago, they left for some reason.

You could actually have them be the deities that are here. It really depends on whether or not you want divine magic to exist (all magic could really be arcane or arcane and mental or just mental). If there are actual elemental spirits and such, they might be worshiped but unable to grant actual powers to their worshipers. They might, however, be able to help in a number of other ways.

If it's a wildlife sanctuary, it would also explain why the aliens could have left en mass 500 years ago or so: the basics of the sanctuary were complete so they wanted to start letting things take their own course. Some stayed behind and masquerade as deities in order to make sure the project continues on track. Because they're sufficiently advanced they might be able to do a lot of interesting things.

If there's no moon, you could have it where some of that debris is starting to form one. You could also have the aliens have left things behind for the sentient races to find - deliberate dungeons to test them and see when they might be ready for whatever comes next (something akin to a certain monolith).


Derek Dalton wrote:

Perhaps another way to work this is by the point of light system. A term used in 4th ed. The way it works is you start small a town or village fleshing it out and the local area. A point of light on a dark tapestry. With that start by slowly expanding. Local terrain around the village and town. Why people live in the town or village.

Next write your adventures focusing on that to start. Village kid gets kidnaped PCs need to rescue him or something like this. Next work on the area for the adventure the mountains or forest or whatever a day or so from the village.
This approach works to start keeping players from asking the really huge questions you may not have. You can keep working on all the details of this world as a whole but limit the PCs to a small area so they learn only a little bit of the whole picture.
A friend of mine did this and it worked well. He had only a vague idea for a campaign and this allowed him to figure out what he wanted to do while keeping us doing adventures. We never finished the campaign but when we stopped we had several places mapped and detailed yet discovered there was a totally different continent across an ocean we hadn't known about until the very last. They way he did it was immensely fun because we didn't know anything and the joy or horror of learning was fresh and new. Something that happened was because we were new to his world things we did altered his ideas for what he had planned helping him to improve or change his world as he went.

Im not sure that approach would work well in this case.

Ten'shun the Tengu wrote:
XLordxErebusX wrote:
Id imagine its a bit like shooting star showers or fireworks in some respects, since it would happen often.

Something popped into my mind. Perhaps you may know the reference.

Epic pic 1

Epic pic 2

Should one of your planet killers hit the rings energy shield, it would probably make a single, huge energy ripple similar to those pics. Since your idea is to let the smaller objects through, it may likely be accompanied by hundreds of shooting stars. That would be a spectacular sight.

I also have thought of a couple more questions.

Will this planet have a moon? (I'm thinking not due to the ring and the asteroids, but perhaps an artificial one made by the ring?)

Have you given any thought to planes and how they might fit in your metaverse? (I'm thinking that you want to contain the campaign world to a single world, so maybe have the "planes" actually reside in the ring itself? Computer simulation? Actual Ring world? That should allow all 8 alignment planes.)

perhaps its a giant ecology experiment done by alien college grads. xP

No moon planned. The ring could easily generate the gravitational pull to create tides, given its ability to successfully make a world from a bunch of debris with enough time.

I was debating on what it was made of... Adamantine? Mithril? some other star metal? maybe its synthetic or crystalline? It definitely should be a hollow ring, housing a number of places inside for observing the world below and monitoring the solar system as a whole.

I definitely could see it being done as a sort of long term project. Maybe they grew bored and wanted companion races to converse and live with?

VRMH wrote:

A duality-based religious system might make sense: a Lawful pantheon that defends people from random meteor strikes, and a Chaotic one that causes them - for good or ill.

It'll make a nice change from the usual Good vs. Evil too.

A number of options are open for religion and I definitely want religion, since all early cultures create them. we could have a bunch of choices; Nature-based ones, elemental spirits, ancestors, the aliens themselves, their artifacts they left behind, demons, etc.

Indagare wrote:
It seems to me that the world is still "in progress". The way you mapped out those asteroids it looks as though they're all coming from one particular region of space. By how you describe the 'Sol ring' I'm wondering if the planet is actually getting bigger as time goes on.
Derek Dalton wrote:

Perhaps another way to work this is by the point of light system. A term used in 4th ed. The way it works is you start small a town or village fleshing it out and the local area. A point of light on a dark tapestry. With that start by slowly expanding. Local terrain around the village and town. Why people live in the town or village.

Next write your adventures focusing on that to start. Village kid gets kidnaped PCs need to rescue him or something like this. Next work on the area for the adventure the mountains or forest or whatever a day or so from the village.
This approach works to start keeping players from asking the really huge questions you may not have. You can keep working on all the details of this world as a whole but limit the PCs to a small area so they learn only a little bit of the whole picture.
A friend of mine did this and it worked well. He had only a vague idea for a campaign and this allowed him to figure out what he wanted to do while keeping us doing adventures. We never finished the campaign but when we stopped we had several places mapped and detailed yet discovered there was a totally different continent across an ocean we hadn't known about until the very last. They way he did it was immensely fun because we didn't know anything and the joy or horror of learning was fresh and new. Something that happened was because we were new to his world things we did altered his ideas for what he had planned helping him to improve or change his world as he went.

I suppose. I've always been a 'from the top, down' type of builder of worlds. Starting small and working out might work for the players, but not for building the world.

Indagare wrote:
XLordxErebusX wrote:

Im thinking some sort of ancient race of deity-like aliens, who built the ring, which forged the world. they brought plants, fungi, and animals to this world, including some sentient races. They planned on this place being a sort of wildlife sanctuary for those living there.

However, about five hundred ago, they left for some reason.

You could actually have them be the deities that are here. It really depends on whether or not you want divine magic to exist (all magic could really be arcane or arcane and mental or just mental). If there are actual elemental spirits and such, they might be worshiped but unable to grant actual powers to their worshipers. They might, however, be able to help in a number of other ways.

If it's a wildlife sanctuary, it would also explain why the aliens could have left en mass 500 years ago or so: the basics of the sanctuary were complete so they wanted to start letting things take their own course. Some stayed behind and masquerade as deities in order to make sure the project continues on track. Because they're sufficiently advanced they might be able to do a lot of interesting things.

If there's no moon, you could have it where some of that debris is starting to form one. You could also have the aliens have left things behind for the sentient races to find - deliberate dungeons to test them and see when they might be ready for whatever comes next (something akin to a certain monolith).

I agree with most of what your three paragraphs suggested, Indagare. I could see certain tests designed to test the intelligence of the 'natives'.


Indagare wrote:
You could also have the aliens have left things behind for the sentient races to find - deliberate dungeons to test them and see when they might be ready for whatever comes next (something akin to a certain monolith).

Perhaps something like Brigadoon.


Vutava wrote:
Indagare wrote:
You could also have the aliens have left things behind for the sentient races to find - deliberate dungeons to test them and see when they might be ready for whatever comes next (something akin to a certain monolith).
Perhaps something like Brigadoon.

I loved beast wars when i was growing up.

Absolutely. Obelisks (or something like the Hedrons of Zendikar).

There is also the opportunity for crashed alien ships and old ruins.

Anything lovecraftian works.


Strix and Reptoid: Mesoamerica and maybe some Native American themes. The Couatl once guided both of their cultures for a time, but a rift has formed between the two races.

Ghoran: A mix of Druidic and Alien worship. They still carry the immortal seeds created by the aliens, so they tend to see themselves as their children. They believe themselves the proper inheritors and protectors of this world.

Dromite: A caste system based on their chitin coloration. The castes: Thunder (sonic), Lightning (electricity), Volcano (fire), Sea (cold), & Stone (acid).

Monkey-Goblin: Perhaps one of the least advanced cultures, theirs is by far the most plentiful in numbers. They raid and hunt for their meals.

Grippli: maybe something about a Froghemoth?

Orang-Pendak: While very primitive still, they are now using simple tools and weapons to hunt prey to add to their omnivorous diet. They also have begun to tame wild apes to hunt and travel with them as they move occasionally to more plentiful regions.


So no core rulebook races? That might make the setting a hard sell to people. I am not saying you need to have all or even any, just something to think about.


You could say that the world was one whose surface was obliterated long ago, and the builders have claimed it in order to conduct this experiment of theirs. Some areas of the planet are still untouched or in progress. This means that in remote areas of the world there are traces of the old world, places where the builders' servants are working busily, or remnants of abandoned projects. These are areas that the builders do not intend for people to explore, and each builder could react differently to intrusions. Perhaps the builders' servant could be golems, elementals, and the like. Perhaps a few builders have hidden homes on the planet, instead of living in the sky.

Various levels of technology and culture could exist in settlements not so far from one another. A builders would decide the levels the settlement begins at, and may intend for the people to never cross a mountain and see a more advanced settlement. This would allow for a pretty diverse array of settings that don't necessarily need to have a global logic to them. Builders could have varying amount of involvement in their experiments, depending on their intent or whim. Builders would not need to all have the same alignment either.

With your protective ring surrounding the planet, you could justify altering the way that some magic works. I suppose you could say that the builders themselves are deities, but you could also say they are not that this experimental planet has attracted the attention of various planar entities, and that outsiders sometimes arrive to explore or to spread the agendas of their masters. In this way, standard divine magic could be present. Of course, many of the inhabitants could believe that the builders are deities. You could homebrew faux-cleric class based around that I suppose.


Browman wrote:
So no core rulebook races? That might make the setting a hard sell to people. I am not saying you need to have all or even any, just something to think about.

It was the goal. no core races, although humans could still apply with enough of us in agreement.


XLordxErebusX wrote:
Browman wrote:
So no core rulebook races? That might make the setting a hard sell to people. I am not saying you need to have all or even any, just something to think about.
It was the goal. no core races, although humans could still apply with enough of us in agreement.

Actually the races you've given make sense together, and seem really cool as a unit. Elves can burn.


Ten'shun the Tengu wrote:
Actually the races you've given make sense together, and seem really cool as a unit. Elves can burn.

my thoughts exactly. why reuse something that's been done to death?


One thing is for sure though. You can't have an epic backdrop like this and not let your players get to touch it. That would be cruel.

P.S. Did you create this world so that you might have an in-game excuse for "ROCKS FALL. EVERYONE DIES." If not, you should consider it, hehe...


In a novel, the cosmic engineers, the builders turned out to be the ancestors of humanity. The builders might appear human, but appear, fix stuff, and then vanish.

They might have other preserves, past areas of ruin. Maybe there is a lost valley full of dinosaurs, where Troodons have a lost city.


Why is the Sol ring needed for a day/night cycle? Is there no star? Does the planet not revolve around its axis? Do the meteors simply block out the sun?

Would the meteors heading for the world be part of the building process with the Sol ring converting them into something more useful and inserting this material and energy into the planet?

There are a bunch of templates. Could it be the animals on this world are actually from the aliens' homeworld and thus not quite "normal"?

You could replace undead with aberrations here. Maybe caused by exposure to mutagens in alien ships?


How do you see the different races getting along with each other? I can see many parties in this setting having all its members be the same race.


Ten'shun the Tengu wrote:

One thing is for sure though. You can't have an epic backdrop like this and not let your players get to touch it. That would be cruel.

P.S. Did you create this world so that you might have an in-game excuse for "ROCKS FALL. EVERYONE DIES." If not, you should consider it, hehe...

Lol, done...


Browman wrote:
How do you see the different races getting along with each other? I can see many parties in this setting having all its members be the same race.

Im thinking a conflict is brewing between the Strix and the Reptoids. Im not sure if it directly relates to the couatl that helped mentor both of their species, back when they were still allies and friends. It needs to be discussed in more detail. I was thinking that the reptoids could start wearing strix feathers of those enemies they kill, sort of as a way of showing honor or reverence (or maybe even disrespect) for the feathery winged couatls.

-

The Dromites have a spiritual belief in a concept they call 'Droma', which mirrors the concept of 'Dharma' in Hinduism and Buddhism. They seek perfection through purification and transformation. They have a caste system based on their chitin coloration and elemental affinity, which they are born into. They believe that through life, death, and reincarnation, they pass through each level of the caste system as they seek enlightenment.

-

The Ghoran can remember certain memories encoded in their ghorus seed, so they still remember some details about the creators. They believe that they were created during an earlier attempt at terraforming one of the moons of the distant gas giant, but due to unknown circumstances, the attempt failed and was canceled. Those few that survived had left with the creators before being brought here. They refer to themselves as 'The Children of _______' and feel that they have been tasked as the caretakers of this world while the creators are gone.

-

The Grippli were once a happy self-sufficient people, dwelling in the fungi filled swamps they called home. However, their lives were upturned as a foul, tainted fungi began to spread outwards from the deepest reaches of the swamp. When their greatest shamans and healers failed to stop it, they fled as best as they could. Those that did not flee suffered greatly, slowly becoming something similar to Juju Zombies. The survivors have fled in broken tribes, seeking a new home.

-

Not sure about Monkey-Goblins or Orang-Pendaks yet.


Indagare wrote:

Why is the Sol ring needed for a day/night cycle? Is there no star? Does the planet not revolve around its axis? Do the meteors simply block out the sun?

Would the meteors heading for the world be part of the building process with the Sol ring converting them into something more useful and inserting this material and energy into the planet?

There are a bunch of templates. Could it be the animals on this world are actually from the aliens' homeworld and thus not quite "normal"?

You could replace undead with aberrations here. Maybe caused by exposure to mutagens in alien ships?

Absolutely dropped the idea of a day/night cycle to the artificial ring when I moved away from the idea of a white dwarf being the star.

The meteoroids could partially obscure the star for a while, I suppose.

Jingara has been 'Goldilocks Zoned'. Jingara revolves conveniently at the same speed as our own planet, but the ring orbits twice as fast. I think it gathers solar energy and kinetic energy and converts it into both arcane and divine energy, allowing it to power its systems AND grant spells to those who worship it.


Goth Guru wrote:

In a novel, the cosmic engineers, the builders turned out to be the ancestors of humanity. The builders might appear human, but appear, fix stuff, and then vanish.

They might have other preserves, past areas of ruin. Maybe there is a lost valley full of dinosaurs, where Troodons have a lost city.

I was thinking that maybe we could reference some legends from our varying mythos into the world. The story of Prometheus is a great example. Fire (and later metalworking) would be extremely valuable secrets to master.

You could change your culture's entire destiny with metal tools/weapons.

There could be ruins all over the surface (and beneath it, too). Id imagine that the creator's had constructs of some kind (robots, golems, etc.) working at mining rare minerals for transfer up to the ring. Once its in the ring it can be refined, stored, or used in some way.


Im thinking the Reptoids fear that the Artificial Ring will stop spinning, bringing the end of the world. They now make dozens of 'offerings' to it. They perform these rituals from on top of a raised platform, within a ring of monoliths inscribed with alien symbols.


The Monkey Goblins probably have their own deity, who was the only one who stood up for them. That deity, Gibber Shriek, turned the badlands they were stuck with, into a beautiful rainforest. There are more nasty gorilla hobgoblins, out in the badlands.


Goth Guru wrote:
The Monkey Goblins probably have their own deity, who was the only one who stood up for them. That deity, Gibber Shriek, turned the badlands they were stuck with, into a beautiful rainforest. There are more nasty gorilla hobgoblins, out in the badlands.

lol, well I dont know about these HobGob-Gorillas, but what about the Derhii, Charau-ka, or Girallons (high or low)?

*cries a little inside* I almost wish I could just adapt Angazhan to this world. It would be almost perfect here.


I haven't even mentioned the Yoda like Nilbog Orangutans.
They live in the very center of the rainforest.
They are like the ultimate Oracles. :)


The real question is that would it be possible to have a similar place to that of Pandora's floating mountains? With this much electromagnetic disturbances and seismic events, would it be possible? Could we get places where gravity reverses itself?


Artificial ring


I've been thinking about two things a little bit and I wanted everyone's opinions. Previously I had planned for the creators to be Aliens (Annunaki, bestiary 5) to act alone in the building of this world. While all of their long term goals are not known, most believe they did it for the purpose of preserving and studying rare wildlife. While it was contested among them, some of them wanted to directly guide and educate the primitive societies that bloomed within their created paradise. However, about 500 years ago, they left without warning.

====

Now I'm thinking it might be easier if the primordial lords of the elemental realms did not help in the forming of this world, as well as the Annunaki, since it was done with haste. I feel like a large amount of flavor for pathfinder lies in the planes of existence, especially the elemental planes, and I want to utilize it as much as possible.

Originally I felt that the ring would have been set to spin through the asteroid field, chopping up the rocks and building a world by slowly collecting it. I realize this would be far too slow for a non-immortal race, unless the world already was somehow partially-formed. Perhaps the raw power of the elemental planes was focused and channeled into the ring instead? This could allow for it to be formed into a world far more quickly and.... well... through a more magical/artificial way.

I need help drafting up a planar layout, too. should I just stick with the core universe of pathfinder, or should I create my own multiverse?

====

First off, I cant decide if I want the ring to be metal or crystal or some synthetic alloy.

Secondly, how are the rings powered and maintained? Originally I thought the ring was totally self sufficient and solar-powered, which is why I nicknamed it the 'Sol Ring'.Then I thought it would be cool if it required rare metals to power itself. There is rich veins of Star-metal, Adamantine, and Mithril in the mountains are in abundance here, as well as large amounts of gold, silver, and copper. Someone would have to mine it and refine it. I thought about the robots in the various pathfinder bestiaries, then about constructs and outsiders (especially elementals). Then I thought about primitive labor from the species it brought to the world.

Thirdly, I sort of wanted to reference Eberron's Byeshk metal by having a unique material here that is harmful to certain creatures or something. The ring might even be crafting or refining this material, or even running on it.

====

The biggest thing I want for this campaign is for it to be aesthetically unique. I wanted it to have a heavy dose of science fiction in there, but under layers of magic and fantasy. When I look back to other inspirations, I'm looking at Conan, Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, Thundercats, He-Man, and so many others. I want you to feel like you got your fantasy in my science fiction (and vise-versa) with this world.

=

I'm done talking, because I feel like I'm rambling. Your thoughts?


Look at this topic

101 Celestial Bodies In Your Solar System

You can fill out the rest of the system. It's far away from Golorion.

You can choose between it being an endangered species preserve, or a Goa'uld like labor camp. To do both you would have to have 2 races or a divided race like humans are. The fourth option supports my description of the goblin monkeys.


CelestialBodies.

I put a possible solar system for your world there.

Liberty's Edge

Lovecraftian, you say? Yummmm...

Were some races engineered by elder-things, or the like? Perhaps the world was created in tribute to an elder god, and at least some of the races were created to sate the appetite of a slumbering great old one imprisoned here - something to keep him from devouring the creators? Maybe it's a cosmic prison for a few great old ones, even, and of course their minions are looking for ways to release them. Some places would have very strange properties because of the proximity to the prisoner - or qualities meant to keep the minions at bay...

I can babble quite a bit, but is any of this good for you?


Adding Catfolk to the list of playable races. They work so well in combination with the Strix and the mesoamerican themes. You cant have 'eagle' warriors without 'jaguar' warriors.

I think the Stone-Bronze age would be the highest level of cultural technology that most cultures would have access to.


EldonG wrote:

Lovecraftian, you say? Yummmm...

Were some races engineered by elder-things, or the like? Perhaps the world was created in tribute to an elder god, and at least some of the races were created to sate the appetite of a slumbering great old one imprisoned here - something to keep him from devouring the creators? Maybe it's a cosmic prison for a few great old ones, even, and of course their minions are looking for ways to release them. Some places would have very strange properties because of the proximity to the prisoner - or qualities meant to keep the minions at bay...

I can babble quite a bit, but is any of this good for you?

Now, i do want to note that the whole 'imprisoned in the world' thing was done both on Earth AND Golarion. I mean, the word 'Golarion' means 'cage', if I'm remembering correctly...

Its been done to death, really. The real question becomes "is this death permanent, or will even death eventually die?"

Liberty's Edge

XLordxErebusX wrote:
EldonG wrote:

Lovecraftian, you say? Yummmm...

Were some races engineered by elder-things, or the like? Perhaps the world was created in tribute to an elder god, and at least some of the races were created to sate the appetite of a slumbering great old one imprisoned here - something to keep him from devouring the creators? Maybe it's a cosmic prison for a few great old ones, even, and of course their minions are looking for ways to release them. Some places would have very strange properties because of the proximity to the prisoner - or qualities meant to keep the minions at bay...

I can babble quite a bit, but is any of this good for you?

Now, i do want to note that the whole 'imprisoned in the world' thing was done both on Earth AND Golarion. I mean, the word 'Golarion' means 'cage', if I'm remembering correctly...

Its been done to death, really. The real question becomes "is this death permanent, or will even death eventually die?"

Lovecraftian equates to cosmic horror. Unless you want it large and present, it needs to be held in the background somehow. Cosmic horror that's very present makes for a huge change in the campaign, not that it's not do-able. What do you mean by Lovecraftian, then, and how present do you want it?


at this point in creation, i have no real idea. its not off the table, though.


Gargantuan ape with tentacles on a prehistoric island. :)


I think your reptoids are in quite a pickle.

The reptoids shtick is being able to pass as other humanoids via an alter self-like change shape ability, but on your world that functionally means dromites, orang-pendaks and (plain-dwelling) catfolk.
Alter self does not grant a climb (or fly) speed which means that a reptoid trying to blend in a tribe of monkey goblins, gripplis, tree-climbing catfolk or -gods help him- striges will face many problems and will probably have to pose as crippled or something.

Furthermore, alter self doesn't turn you into plants so ghorans never were an option in the first place.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about this and reptoid culture in general.

You wrote that you were thinking that lizardfolk would work (but now you don't). Why wouldn't they? they are strong, but hardly better than reptoids. I believe you could use both of them as related races, a bit like dwarves and duergar or gnomes, svirfneblin and wayangs.

XLordxErebusX wrote:
I mean, the word 'Golarion' means 'cage', if I'm remembering correctly...

The (off-planet) nickname for the world is "the cage" but I don't think it is the actual translation of its name.

Liberty's Edge

XLordxErebusX wrote:
at this point in creation, i have no real idea. its not off the table, though.

Ok, just offering a little of my specialty. :)

Like I brought up, it's entirely possible to have cosmic horrors that are actually present and active - I'd stay away from any of the serious world-enders like Cthulhu, of course. If it's an artificial world, maybe it's worth looking at why it was created. Are the races a part of some sort of mystical breeding program, of sorts? Maybe the world was created to hide something valuable. Looking at big pictures like that might help explain what the relationship of any Lovecraftian entity might be. One might even be guarding something so incredible as to be worth its prolonged attention, for example.


Now I'm thinking of creating a topic, Why Create a World?
The posters contribute to a numbered list of reasons a deity would create a world. My problem is would I put it in Homebrew, Forum Games, or General Discussion.


Narquelion wrote:

I think your reptoids are in quite a pickle.

The reptoids shtick is being able to pass as other humanoids via an alter self-like change shape ability, but on your world that functionally means dromites, orang-pendaks and (plain-dwelling) catfolk.
Alter self does not grant a climb (or fly) speed which means that a reptoid trying to blend in a tribe of monkey goblins, gripplis, tree-climbing catfolk or -gods help him- striges will face many problems and will probably have to pose as crippled or something.

Furthermore, alter self doesn't turn you into plants so ghorans never were an option in the first place.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about this and reptoid culture in general.

You wrote that you were thinking that lizardfolk would work (but now you don't). Why wouldn't they? they are strong, but hardly better than reptoids. I believe you could use both of them as related races, a bit like dwarves and duergar or gnomes, svirfneblin and wayangs.

Its definitely an ability worth swapping out, but for what? The lizardfolk's swim speed is nice... Aztecs built near the water or on the water, so it would beneficial to have a swim speed. At that point, is it not just better to use the lizardfolk? Im not sold on the standard ability score bonuses that each race gets anyways...


EldonG wrote:
Like I brought up, it's entirely possible to have cosmic horrors that are actually present and active - I'd stay away from any of the serious world-enders like Cthulhu, of course. If it's an artificial world, maybe it's worth looking at why it was created. Are the races a part of some sort of mystical breeding program, of sorts? Maybe the world was created to hide something valuable. Looking at big pictures like that might help explain what the relationship of any Lovecraftian entity might be. One might even be guarding something so incredible as to be worth its prolonged attention, for example.

Demon Lord Dagon and Great Old One Bokrug are in as far as I'm concerned.

The deep ones are there, as are the Mi-Go, Colour out of Space, and shoggoth. Such cults can always find footholds in the minds of beings so insignificant compared to the old ones and outer gods.

This world is littered with alien life, which has slipped through the cracks, so to speak. Seek the ruins of alien cultures on Jingara. There are many secrets and dangers drawn to them.


Soooo, created by old ones, paved over by the alien equivalent of green peace? Everybody wants to get in on the ground floor. :)


Goth Guru wrote:
Soooo, created by old ones, paved over by the alien equivalent of green peace? Everybody wants to get in on the ground floor. :)

Brethedans and their Oma also have visited from the gas giant in the solar system. Flumphs have been spotted, too. Everyone's scrambling, alright.


Here is the link to the unfinished encounter tables

Working out potential monsters for the World of Jingara.
Only finished up through Duppy in Bestiary 5, so more is to come.
Figured Id post what I have and discuss it a bit.

currently almost no fey or undead creatures are picked out. so many of them play off of human forms or human fears. I just dont feel like most of them would work out too well. This is not to say their won't be some, but it will be a small list.


Monkey Goblin Witch Doctors can use animate and create undead, right?

You have one race that is on the edge of vanishing into darkness. Any that come back will be advanced shadows.

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