Glad to hear logistics are coming together.
At this stage, in order to refine my thinking, it would help for me to know more precisely where the adventure would be taking place (country, city) and what type of adventure goal is being pursued (doing the right thing, figuring something out, being sent with an objective, etc.).
Sure, sounds good. So do you know the Southlands? This is in Per-Bastet in Nuria Natal.
As written it's one of those straight to the chase level 1 hooks with "I need a thing from a place and I can't go because reasons." The author said he made it so you could technically finish the whole scenario without a fight, or without ever talking. But I think it tends towards social investigation and problem-solving.
Being me, I'd like to flesh out the character hooks and the coalescence of the group.
I'll follow up on this more later.
This is very helpful. Thanks. Especially since this is part of the Midgard Campaign Setting book.
This is very helpful. Thanks. Especially since this is part of the Midgard Campaign Setting book.
OK I was going to say more but if you're satisfied for now I won't risk spoiling anything. I have same edition of campaign setting as you in front of me, I see that section too.
Here is a link to the Midgard Heroes Handbook, the extra player options for 5e. New races and backgrounds.
Not required, just cool.
For folks who are intimidated by or new to DnD 5e character creation, have a look at www.dndbeyond.com. It makes character building a breeze and has all the basic options for free with others available as paid upgrades.
Also custom content can be added and shared amongst people who are playing in a game together. It looks to be a useful and painless tool for us PbP'ers. I haven't had success with the app but the mobile site is working surprisingly great for me.
@Critzible In addition to want Tareth told us I found out some more about northern dwarves.
Northlands Dwarves
Ok so there's three Dwarven Reaver Kingdoms.
We have Stannasgard. This place is all about mining and smithing, especially holy armor. This is a big trade post and your last stop before the true "Reaving North". They also build ships. Shrines to Wotan, Thor and Shield Maiden but Volund the Smith is the main pilgrimage site.
Tanserhall, this is the holy of holy's, the inner sanctum. Other races can't even enter most of its halls, even southern dwarves have to be ritually cleansed to come in. It used to lie beneath mountains but they were pounded down to hills when the dwarves once drew Thor's ire. Slaves of other races farm the hills.
Wolfheim is a dwarf hold right smack on the boarder between Trollheim and Jotunheim. These fierce traditionalists hold fast to the reaver code of life. The land isn't farmable so their slaves have to hunt and tend reindeer while being hunted themselves by winter wargs with whom the Wolfheim dwarves have an ancient pact. Fire magic and rune magic are also practiced here. They feud with giants and trolls.
Thunder Mountain is not a true dwarven kingdom, it was a hold of stone trolls that got cleared out by a heroic adventuring company. They are thriving because of their openness to other races but the reavers see them as soft if not heretical. A lot of Winter Folk halflings and Huggin raven-folk are living there as well.
This setting is so freakin' metal it's just ridiculous🤘🏻
What do we do next, @natloz's gnomes? Or you guys want talk on the city where the adventure is?
I'd like to hear more about the city we're in. Aristocracy, ancient sites, temples, archaic languages, areas of note...
Edit: Also I'm kinda new to spellcasting in 5e, after reading up on it I'm modifying my concept to a half-elf favored soul
Knowing more about the gnomes would help fill in background details for me but I don't think anyone else would care... the less people know, the more I can make up. Haha
Knowing about the city would be good
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'll try to help out the DM since I've got the PDF's of the 5e books handy at my work computer. Here's the crunch for Midgard gnolls.
The average gnoll views the virtues of work and self‑sufficiency with distaste. Gnolls with leadership skills or who tire of sharing the fruits of their labors frequently break off from the pack alone or in small groups to fend for themselves. Sometimes a male gnoll foolishly announces that he believes males are more fit to lead, and necessarily sets out on his own until he can find a new pack or the
controversy is forgotten. Gnolls who possess the will to face danger make excellent adventurers.
GNOLL NAMES
Gnoll names are heavily influenced by their demonic origins. There’s no difference between the names of males and females. Gnoll Names. Anagilkin, Khuyoag, Nothchon, Shashog, Shudnarothic, Tsoggul, Thagtharric, Yithig, Zatur
GNOLL TRAITS
Your gnoll character has several special traits, the result of a wild nature and growing in a harsh environment.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Gnolls reach adulthood at age 12, and they live short and brutal lives. The rare examples that die of old age experience only around 70 summers.
Alignment. As a product of a culture that values laziness, selfishness, and dominance, most gnolls are evil. On top of that, an unpredictable existence, where every day could be the last, usually leads to a chaotic view of the world. With that said, there are always exceptions to every norm.
Size. Gnoll females are taller and more powerfully built than their male counterparts. The former range from 7 to 8 feet and usually weigh more than 250 pounds, while the latter average 6 inches and 30 pounds less. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You cannot discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Scent. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Bully. Although gnolls are cowardly at heart, they like to disguise their fears by abusing others. You have disadvantage on saving throws against being frightened. On the other hand, whenever you make a Charisma (Intimidation) check for dealing with obviously smaller or weaker targets, you are considered proficient in the Intimidation skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Live to Fight Another Day. When you take the Disengage action, your base walking speed is
increased by 10 feet.
Gnoll Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the spear, shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, and
heavy crossbow.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Southern and Gnollish. Gnollish words sound almost like growls for the uninitiated, and gnolls tend to use scents and small gestures to convey subtle meanings. Two gnolls speaking can almost seem like dogs barking at each other to a casual observer.
Subraces. Although not, strictly speaking, different races, gnolls from the civilized lands live in an environment so different from their savage brethren that they are considered separate subraces. Choose one of them.
Civilized Gnolls
As a civilized gnoll, you are well-fed and enjoy the comforts that your primitive cousins can only dream of. You were valued as a mercenary, a temple guard, or simply a thug due to both your inherent toughness and your desire to please those that are in charge.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Obsequious. Whenever you make a Charisma (Persuasion) check for dealing with obviously bigger or more powerful targets, you are considered proficient in the Persuasion skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Savage Gnolls
As a savage gnoll, you are in touch with your animal side and understand the ways of nature. Your tribe has been raiding the desert or the plains for generations, and you know the land in which you live like the back of your hand.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Scavenge. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Survival) check for gathering food or locating water, you are considered proficient in the Survival skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
And there are a few minor tweeks to Gnomes in addition to what's available in the PHB. Whatever you do, don't lose your cap. :)
GNOMES
As a gnome of the Niemheims, you bear the mark of a bargain made long before your birth. You hail from the nine Great Cities, which aspire to greatness among the trees of the Wormwood. Surely that faint whiff of brimstone that haunts your steps is not your fault! You have stayed safe in your forest, shrouded from the gaze of Baba Yaga and her daughters. You’ve learned the limits of your sanctuary and have heeded the warnings never to stray beyond the treeline. In your youth, you saw bloody
sacrifices made to devils; sometimes unwary travelers and sometimes kin, but all offered to the eleven hells at the point of a blade.
You yearn to see the world beyond the trees. It calls to you, and it terrifies you. How can you walk freely on the roads of Midgard when Grandmother wishes to eat your feet? What have you made from the mushrooms and rooty soil of the forest that will aid you? A hat, made of redcaps
and small growing plants is your safety. If you leave and risk the ancient ire of Baba Yaga, remember—never remove your living headpiece and never let the plants woven into its brim go thirsty.
GNOME NAMES
Gnomish naming conventions are mainly cultural and indicate clearly the gnomes’ origins from the nine Great Cities.
Male Names. Cellus, Hausler, Jaskul, Minsik, Thorsten, Torov, Wiebaur, Yakalin, Yustin, Zezick
Female Names. Domila, Domini, Dragrafena, Lyudla, Namagda, Pintek, Strava, Talici, Tiana, Viazo
Family Names. Bernhardan, Hofmed, Immanul, Khazmus, Kolman, Mertens, Thralmodan, Tolkigrim,
Vinzen, Volker
GNOME TRAITS
Niemheim gnomes are clever, paranoid, and dangerous. They are drawn to arcane magic and make excellent sorcerers and warlocks. In addition to standard gnomish traits, their dealings with devils and their confinement to the Wormwood give them two additional traits.
Bewildering Bargainers. You know how to lie, deceive, and intimidate with great aplomb. Your
Charisma score increases by 1 and you have advantage on Persuasion checks.
Known in Hell. You speak the infernal tongue and are proficient in the Arcana skill.
NEW EQUIPMENT
Redcap. To stay hidden from the eyes of Baba Yaga, the gnomes of Niemheim made a bargain with a powerful devil. So long as they stay inside the Wormwood, the witch can’t find them. A few hopeful gnomes posit that as long as the Wormwood remains above them, they remain safe. With that in mind, they craft calfskin caps with living vestiges of the forest growing from the brim. Mushrooms,
small plants, a bird's nest, and other elements of the Wormwood sprout from the cap, and continue to grow so long as they are tended to. A Niemheim Gnome may graft the miniature forest onto the surface of any helm or hat (including magical ones). Should the hat be destroyed, the
gnome has one week to return to the Wormwood before Baba Yaga begins her pursuit . . .
I've not had a chance to read the setting books, but I wanted to rehash an idea I had in another recruitment for submission here.
Basically, the character is constantly drunk and often in a bad way, makes very bad choices. One such instance was urinating on a sacred religious site. This caused a god to curse him with the powers of a druid, which manifest in awkward ways for the character. For example cockroaches crawling out of his armpits suddenly without reason, or turning into a spider when he is about to get the girl. So, as a player, I chose when to use abilities but through creative writing twist it to appear terrible to the character...if that makes any sense. I feel like that would be pretty fun to play.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh my, these gnomes just get better and better!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Mishima, that seems like a totally workable 'Midgard' idea and fun to play. The curse seems right in line with something Baba Yaga or one of her daughters might pull and she's got hidden holy sites scattered all over the place. If Natloz goes with a gnome you could both be on Baba Yaga's bad side. Heck three of us might be, since Croaker was caught digging in a burial mound deep in the plains which is the heart of her 'territory.' Could be one reason why we've ended up in the south is because we're trying to escape her minions, hunters, wrath, etc.
Natloz: There's also a specific Neimheim gnome background if your interested or to just add a little more context. I won't post the charts but here's the text.
NEIMHEIM GNOME
You hail from the gnomish kingdom of Neimheim: a place of skilled craftsmen, close families, and blood stains so deep they’ll never wash out. Your homeland labors under a generations-old curse laid by Baba Yaga. Today, your people exist because of a pact struck with a great devil from the Eleven Hells. The pine forests of your home survive because of blood sacrifice paid to the forces of
Hell, so the devils hold Baba Yaga’s wrath at bay. You are no stranger to the necessity of keeping up appearances to cover your desperate situation.
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Deception
Tool Proficiencies: One set of artisan’s tools of your choice
Languages: Infernal
Equipment: A set of artisan’s tools (matching your chosen proficiency), a roll of remarkably fine vellum, a set of traveler’s clothes, five candles, and a pouch containing 5 gp
Feature: “Special” Leather
Growing up in Neimheim, you have learned not to waste any useful resources. After all, there’s always a market for fine leather, new candles, carved bone jewelry, or soap. You can spend 2 hours salvaging useful materials from a dead humanoid. A Medium humanoid yields enough materials
to make 5 pieces of soap, 10 candles, 1 sheet of parchment, or a delicious meat pie that can sustain up to a Medium creature for one day (1 sp worth of goods). With your GM’s permission, you can also create small goods such as belts, pouches, and shoes.
Suggested Characteristics
Gnomes of Neimheim are jovial, gregarious, and hospitable—at least on the surface. While many are
genuinely bright individuals, their cultural darkness runs deep. Even the best among them know they must spill blood to survive. Some embrace this harsh truth, putting on a friendly face only to lure strangers under the knife to spare their families. Others reject the infernal darkness clouding their home.
Very helpful Tareth! Post about Nuria Natal and Per-Bastet incoming.
@thejeff Some of the locals are gnolls!
Omg, I love these gnomes even more. Should I actually put a build together or are we still in the preliminary phase?
@Mishima Also let me know if there's a particular race or region you had in mind. There might be more good sources of curses in case you don't like Baba Yaga.
@Comp0sMentis The interest in Thoth-Hermes would definitely give an elf a hook to come to this region. It seems to be Thoth central. How the elf got involved with Thoth Hermes back home could take some story crafting. I see that Midgard doesn't have half-elves per se, they have the elf-marked. I'll brush up on how that differs. I don't have the system mastery to evaluate player options like the one you asked about for broken-ness but I'll ok any WOTC options that are selected in service of story ideas.
@natloz I'm really glad you're stoked. I feel like we have a good game in the making here. I don't mind if you build but I'm not going to let myself go into that mode of evaluating entrants yet because I have a ton of reading to do. Also, maybe keep some flexibility to be able to gel with new details as they emerge.
@Critzible I thought for sure you'd go for Wolfheim!
-----
The thread seems to be doing well. Lots of interaction. I am attempting to read the Southlands hardcover cover to cover! But also jumping to specific Midgard areas as they are brought up. It's a nice way to explore the setting.
I think it's the best RPG setting I've ever read, full stop.
Hold tight for post on Nuria Natal, the River Kingdom; and Per-Bastet, the City of Cats.
I'll definitely want something 100% immersed in the Egyptian flavor, taken to an extreme even.
In addition to the Southlands resource, should I glance through the Worldbook or Campaign Setting? Whats the difference between those 2?
edit: oh nevermind, the campaign setting is the old pathfinder version and the worldbook is 5e.
Yeah the Midgard Worldbook is the recent update, and it's 5e/PF in one book. My hardcopy is on the other side of the world from me and I haven't decided if I'll need to shell out for a PDF to be prepared for this.
The Midgard Campaign Setting was the old edition, and had mechanical references to Pathfinder and Age system. This is the PDF I have open in front of me (same as DW).
The timeline has advanced between the two books by ten years. It doesn't come up often, but for example I think maybe peace has been brokered between the Mharoti Dragon Empire and the God-Kings of Nuria Natal. I may set my timeline a little before that of the new book, because there are some published adventures I still enjoy whose plots it seems to consider to have been completed.
The Southlands CS has not been updated to 5e and is not scheduled to be yet (I asked). I am reading that original PDF in its entirety (skipping over PF mechanical crunch).
I want no more than one or two PC's to be local natives. I want the majority to be strangers in a strange land.
The book Tareth has been sharing player options from is the Heroes Handbook which I had mentioned above. It's a big help what you're doing Tareth. I've spared my wallet so far from obtaining a digital copy, but at some point I want to get some of that content input into DnD Beyond for easy sharing with my players.
Those of you digging into the lore in the campaign setting, have at it by all means. I'll try to keep up, I'm getting through it at only about 25-30 pages per day right now with the thread having been active.
For those of you wanting to do some, but not that much reading, the Heroes Handbook while being a book of mechanical options, is flavorful and will go a long way to cement you into the setting the way player's guides for Paizo AP's have long served to do.
Still working on that post about the adventure destination, Nuria Natal. Got a little distracted.
Whispers about Nuria Natal that may have reached your ears in far off lands:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nuria Natal is said to be one of the first civilisations on Midgard... it is said to date back as much as 5,000 years making it perhaps as old as Ankeshel.
In ancient times settlers in the southern lands drank from a river dividing the sands and found it's waters to be potent with supernal forces. Their beings brought into attunement with the ley lines, channels of mystic energy coursing through the land, they became divinized, having congress with God's themselves. They built great monuments, perfecting the power of returning their fallen Kings from entombment in time of need.
Of thousands of cults thriving on the banks of the River Nuria, three stand as prominent pillars, visible from afar. The clergy of Anu-Akma, jackal headed God of death, oversee the procession of the soul from life to what lies beyond. They are concerned with the transmission of the divine right to rule, and the preservation of ancient ways.
Bastet, mistress of Cats and all who Hunt, is loved by many, and said to still walk the streets of the city which has sprung up on the site of the ancient river village said to be the place of her mortal birth.
Known from Bemmea to the Seven Cities, it is here that the library of Thoth-Hermes stands, near the river of which he is patron. His cabal is formed of initiatic Circles, rife with secrets, committed to the pursuit of hidden knowledge, which finds them sometimes at odds with the clergy of the Jackyl, who do not wish to see tombs disturbed. In these lands he counts the Heru, ravens, among his followers.
The River Kingdom of Nuria Natal has an eponymous capital city where stands the Temple-Palace of the God-Kings, seat of power in the region. The mesa is peppered with other cities, including Per-Bastet, and surrounded by a trio of semi-independent City-States. Of these three the oasis-fed Garden City of Siwal stands on a trade route across the land bridge connecting the Southlands to all of Midgard. Siwal is famed for it's sprawling necropolis, whose undead denizens are bound by law to hold court only by night, observing the sanctity of daylight hours for mourners of the deceased.
1200 years ago a traitorous vizier built a Blood Pyramid from which to usurp the throne. The God-King struck him down leaving the Blood Pyramid blasted into the scorched sand. It was left for 300 years before an avatar of Bastet led her priestesses in to excavate the ruin. While there they tamed the desert gnolls who serve the River Kingdom to this day. The minotaurs of Roshgazi sensed in this a prelude to war and preemptively struck at Nurian ports and trade routes. The conflict smoldered for 300 years during which the Nurians turned to worship of Horus, forming new militant temple orders. The minotaurs of the Moon Kingdom finally sued for peace.
200 years ago the Dragon Army of the Mharoti Empire swept into the Southlands. After over-running the minotaur strongholds of Cindass and Roshgazi they sought to incur into the Stone Desert but were driven back by the elemental Wind Lords. After withdrawing home they turned next to take Nuria Natal from which they would fortify a position to conquer further South. Resurrecting their ancestral God Kings and an army of undead, the Nurian's drove the draconic forces back. The Mharoti empire has conducted periodic raids ever since to test the River Kingdom's resolve.
Cool! That is what is known far and wide of Nuria Natal, the River Kingdom. Hope it helps, I took the time to research that and present it mostly in my own words. Next I'll tell you of Per-Bastet, the City of Cats.
I want no more than one or two PC's to be local natives. I want the majority to be strangers in a strange land.
That's an important point. Ok, so the majority of characters would hail from elsewhere. Would they be strangers to one another, or would they know each other before and traveled together?
Just wanted to say thanks also for pointing out this setting. These books are high quality! I would've passed over this completely.
I don't mind being a non-local, there's a lot of cool regions here.
There can be some combination of both. It is good to develop connections between the PC's for dynamic replaying.
Yeah, very high quality. I agree. Top notch RPG books.
Happy to help and hopefully save folks a little bit of $$ in the process. I've got a bunch of the Midgard books in PDF after backing their 5e Kickstarter and other 5e/PF stuff I've purchased over the last couple of years. I'm happy to share relevant parts with folks as needed. (DMG I also have the Creature Codex and Tome of Monsters for 5e in case you need a set of monster stats since creatures from those books often appear in published Midgard adventures.) For spell casters and clerics there are also a bunch of new 5e spells and domains in the Heroes Handbook. Here's a list of the domains for anyone interested.
Apocalypse Domain
Beer Domain
Cat Domain
Clockwork Domain
Darkness Domain
Dragon Domain
Hunger Domain
Hunting Domain
Justice Domain
Labyrinth Domain
Moon Domain
Mountain Domain
Ocean Domain
Prophecy Domain
Speed Domain
Travel Domain
Void Domain
I've been wanting to play or run a game in Midgard for a while now, but my available time and the willingness of the local group to switch to 5e have both been limited so it hasn't happened. But I agree it's far and away the best 'published' setting out these days. So if I get too geeked out, just let me know. :)
I'm in that geek mode too.
I'll do a post about the city later. What else do people want to look at today? @thejeff Want some passages about life for gnolls in Nuria Natal and Per-Bastet?
@Comp0sMentis do you still like the sounds of the edge of the Arbonesse by the Western Reaches? I see that Thoth-Hermes has as a title Patron of the Mageocracy of Allain so I guess he must be well known to humans and tieflings near that part of the world. Maybe Tareth can clarify elf-marked and whether half-elf stats are used for them, I assume so but I can't recall.
I don't know who has their own books or not at this point but this whole exercise seems worth it to me since we haven't read dozens of novels in the setting like a lot of forgotten realms players have.
I think the points DW raises are maybe the most important... like what's my motivation, how do I know these guys, why am I in the Southlands?
I can say that there will be a "hired to get the mcguffin" hook, some "who do you trust", and possible mini dungeon, with an interest in lost artifacts being a good motivating factor all around. General hireability also doesn't hurt and more interesting sub-agendas would be most welcome.
The journey to the Southlands may have involved hitching a ride on a Flying City with the last leg of the journey likely being via sailing Sand Ship. So there would have been opportunity there for meetups between characters prior to arriving.
Hope that's helpful.
Away from my computer, but I can confirm that elfmarked just use the standard 5e half-elf stats.
Thanks man sorry for leaning on you I just don't want to turn my attention to mechanics quite yet, still reading setting.
sounds good to me, I have a substantial wordpad document save, I hope it isn't for naught
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
He feels the books.
The books feel him too.
It's inexplicable how;
reading and being become one.
Always with the urge to spread the word...
So, the Per-Bastet section was like 15 pages long! Post is taking so long because I started formulating it as a rumours table and now can't decide what to withhold for gameplay or not.
@thejeff Came across some Southlands specific gnoll PC lore if interested.
Gnolls are found in some number throughout the Southlands, particularly in Dabu, where various loosely organized gnoll packs dominate the landscape. Savage and hulking, yet craven and lazy, gnolls are a great contradiction. They respect only strength and believe that work should be done by the weak. The strongest and fiercest command while the remainder obey with their tails between their legs, always looking for a way to improve their station, as well as venting their frustration on those weaker than themselves. At their core, most gnolls are bullies, brave only when they have the advantage and hardworking only when they can't force the labor on others.
Relations: Gnoll society is mostly unfriendly toward outsiders. In the eyes of gnolls, outsiders fall into three categories: food, slaves, or dangerous foes to be avoided or placated. Gnolls respect physically powerful races such as minotaurs and dragonkin. Before the destruction of the minotaur kingdom of Tes-Qamar, savage gnolls competed with the more civilized minotaurs across the Southlands. These conflicts were long and brutal and to this day gnolls feel a deep loathing for minotaurs that they struggle to keep in check, only because they realize the minotaurs’ great power. Gnolls are aware, however, that humans must be treated carefully, as some are much more powerful than others — human wizards and oracles are especially feared.
Alignment and Religion: The jealous cult of a raider-god called Laughing Nkishi has grown rapidly in recent years; his acolytes are evil, covetous, and zealous. Perhaps counter intuitively, this makes some gnoll followers of Bastet and Anu-Ankma more certain that their path is the better road to follow, and gnolls devoted to more gentle pursuits proclaim that Nkishi is little more than a stripling demon-godling.
Adventurers: The average gnoll views the virtues of work and self-sufficiency with distaste. Gnolls with leadership skills or who tire of sharing the fruits of their labors frequently break off from the pack alone or in small groups to fend for themselves. Sometimes a male gnoll foolishly announces that he believes males are better leaders, and necessarily sets out on his own until he can find a new pack or the controversy is forgotten. Gnolls who possess the will to face danger make excellent adventurers. Trained in the use of their own spears and bows, a gnoll with even minimal courage is a threat to everyone he or she encounters— much more so when a small pack travels together with a common purpose.
Names: Gnolls favor names that are guttural, and therefore easy for them to pronounce, and that convey power and strength. Male names include Arrlo, Fredrill, Grrillick, Gurluch, and Krennuck. Female names include Arrla, Drinnda, Gretta, Roonah, and Stranett.
(I actually don't have a clue where Dabu is but the rest is pretty interesting.)
In addition to this I noticed that Gnolls work as temple defenders in the Temple-Palace of the God-King in the capital. And in Per-Bastet they make up 1 in 6 of the population but they're not very visible, having their own district which is fascinating and very detailed. It's super dilapidated because it sits on ruins upon sunken ruins, so a lot of those big numbers of gnoll population are down a layer or two. Their collective feral infatuation with a very powerful female werepanther High Priestess is the main thing keeping them civilized enough to live in the city. Many of them are clergy of Anu-Akma. They also have a fight-ring on (or below) every corner, including the biggest arena in the city.
Guys let me know whether the info dump is helpful or not. There's no test on any of this, I'm just trying to put fuel for ideas out there.
This setting is #*&@;* rad.
arcane focus is a curved gem placed in the ibis face mask that Shaka' wears
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In my case, I will likely go for an outsider coming to the Southlands, with a twist perhaps (I was born there, but was spirited away for my own good).
Also, I'm thinking of having a good motivation to seek artifacts from Nuria Natal.
Therefore, I prefer not to know too much of the Southlands and discover it through my character. That being said, characters hailing from the place may wish to feel more familiar.
In any case, regarding your question, and since you ask, my preference is not to tell too many secrets. A few are often enough and having few makes it more likely that characters will have things in common.
DW I 110% agree about secrets. Ok I will hold back the Per-Bastet post for now to evaluate carefully for spoilers.
Anyone set on being a local PM for needed details (or if you need a detail for a reason to travel hook).
Cyclone on it's way to my location at the moment! Windstorms intermittently knocking out power and wifi. Getting lots of reading and prep done on my bb PDF reader hooked up to battery pack.
Still eager to hear thoughts on theatre of the mind, yay or nay. Big determining factor for recruitment/start date.
Cheers
I vote theatre of the mind. It works just fine for 5e pbp. And with the 3rd world bandwidth uploading and updating a map/tokens daily seems like punishment.
Yeah that's why it's such a factor. If maps is a deal-breaker for people I have to wait for USA which could be as late as Feb.
Edit: One could raise other arguments against starting in India as well (such as the cyclone currently bearing down on me) but good digital map management is the only real impossibility I can currently foresee.
Theatre of the mind for me.
Ok, here is a potential character background. Let me know what you think.
Twenty years ago, the impossible happened. On the heel of a decisive battle against the Dragon Empire, the God-King Sut-Akhaman fell in love and embraced a mortal woman, who later gave birth to a daughter she named N'Dateh, The Immortal's Gift.
As shrouded in prophetic mystery as in byzantine politics, the birth shook the very foundations of Nuria Natal and questioned the current cosmological order of things. Some wanted the child murdered, others wanted her crowned. Instead, her mother spirited her away, crossed the Inner Sea (name?) and hid on the Serene Island of Kyprion, where she raised N'Dateh.
But a month ago, an assassin found the prophetic daughter of Sut-Akhaman and planted his poisoned dagger in her heart. The poison, brewed in the deepest caves of the Ghoul Imperium, killed N'Dateh's heart, yet she lived on, fuelled by her father's divine spark. As days passed, dark veins appeared on her breast, radiating from her heart, relentlessly growing.
In search of a cure, and knowing that her days are few, N'Dateh sails back to Nuria Natal.
Theater of the mind is fine by me.
Re: N'Dateh the Immortal's Gift
OK yeah, good read, good motivation, love the name.
When the dragons or minotaurs attack sometimes the actual Gods come down to fight but sometimes you gotta wake up the ancestors! God-King is just a title... mostly.
There's five or six God Kings and Queens walking around because we get invaded so much. Of these, I see one named Set-Amun is an outsider demigod not an undead. I take that to mean he had arisen to divinity so when he came back it didn't involve dragging out the old corpse.
Another is the great grandmother of the current God King. I wonder how he feels having her back? So the "shakes the whole foundation" angle may need a tweak. These are people. Just some of them are dead people and (sorta) gods.
In the book, the most recent dragon raid was forty years ago, memorable because dragonfire killed the Holy Prophet of the Sun God, Aten. I'm not saying you can't invent another minor dragon raid if it's needed to make your timeline work. You most certainly can and may. It's interesting though because Sun God Aten has a nice connection with Assassins.
That sea above the Southlands is the Middle Sea and then Kyprion should be in the White Sea which you can spot at the edge of your Midgard map.
I also like to wonder what N'Dateh knows of her history and how?
Keep it fast and loose for now there's lots of time, lot's of assassin's lots of divine forbears.
The spoiler is just to keep the thread tidy, anyone can open it. I want people to be able to feed off each other's stories.
@Comp0sMentis I tried to read up on that archetype your link seemed to take me to an article about homebrewing? But I saw somewhere it made it into a hardcover in a more refined iteration as Divine Soul. I think the flavor seems great for the campaign. Kind of oracle like.
Theater of the mind is good. Im sure some of us could help with mapping if you wanted as well.
Watch ot for that cyclone, heard those could be trouble.
Thanks for the feedback. I want the birth to be impossible and defying the known laws of nature, which is why it rattles things, because if those undead can have kids, then what could be the repercussions. I'll review the details later, as you suggested. N'Dateh's motivation to return is to find a cure for her curse. an artifact might be it.
Here's what I'm thinking so far. Human Druid.
Blacklock is a sloppy drunkard. Until a supernatural encounter recently, his only goal in life was the next bottle of rye.
He had drifted throughout the taverns on the coasts of the 7 Cities Peninsula as a cook, but never held a job for more than a week or two...his behavior at a certain hour of the night was always debaucherous to say the least.
One rainy night, Blacklock was fetching some salt herring from the root cellar of an old inn in Zagora. Suddenly the cobbles crumbled and he fell into a pitch black darkness. A normal person may have despaired or prayed, or fallen into some kind of insanity...but Blacklock just got angry...the kind of half-laughing anger only a drunk can accomplish. Anything he could get a hold of he smashed there in the dark, anything soft was his new toilet. Along with his vomit he threw out every curse he had ever heard and then invented 1000 more. Even after he blacked out and was rescued some days later he would never realize he had been desecrating a lost shrine of the Great Serpent, Ouroboros.
Since that encounter in the cave things have been...different. He will find a new job only to have hundreds of insect cocoons fall out of his nostrils into the soup. He will settle into sleep for the night only to find a live octopus under his pillow. A 2 am encounter with the blond serving wench was cut very short indeed when he found his lips covered in the broken sticky wings of flies. He knows he has been cursed by the gods, but not which or why.
Blacklock doesn't want a cure, he wants vengeance...blind drunken revenge. Someone once whispered in his ear that a highly powerful Nuria Natal artifact could 'make the gods cry'. This artifact, which probably doesn't exist or was highly exaggerated, has become the focus he awkwardly stumbles towards, raving like a madman.
I was sort of assuming for story purposes we were starting at 1st level, is that true?
This looks interesting and the cast of applicants is very colorful. I’m definitely going to make a pitch for this game. A human turn into a gearforged or a mercenary minotaur of some kind. I don’t know I’ll have to think about it but I’m definitely going to pitch something.
I have to admit that I’ve never actually played in a fifth edition game before so the rules would be new to me.
I believe the favored soul that was posted is "an example" of customizing a class but is published in an official WotC book