Cool and creepy ideas. This puts all sorts of nasty thoughts in my GM head.
Zombie plantations.
Zombies trudging around in big vats, squishing grapes for wine.
As a gift, a noble could send the PCs a bottle of such 'exotic' wine.
Yay, last entry to read!
Hum. I like the idea of mindless undead as menial labor, to the extent of using it before (so while you get a point for having a familiar idea, you get reduced one for not using it in notably more interesting fashion than I have).
And outside the concept of undead being evil, there is little to justify LE alignment. The country is too slick and nice, it could easily pass for LN for me or even LG...
Extra pöint for umlaut.
Nice entry but lacks the wow.
Oh, and while we are in naming issues, there's the first other notable settlement...
This was my second favorite country, and one of the better written I thought.
Hope to see you in the next round.
I like this writeup, it's very flavorful and interesting. I also have the rules issue with the control of the vast number of undead, and wonder "what up with the sahuagin".
I like the title of "Autumnal Lord".
This entry is very well written, but I'm just not blown away by the creativity. The core idea is undead menial labor, but I've done that before. It just brings up a "Yeah, duh," reaction from me which is a tad unfair, but even if it's fresh to others, I simply don't see it under a new light here.
The duellist subculture is an interesting touch, but I fail to see how the undeath aspect ties into that. Would grudges span hundreds of years given that some of the duellists must surely be undead or have access to necromancy? I also don't see how this city-state, with much of its energies devoted to maintaining this undead workforce, could stand against a crusade from a zero tolerance threat (paladins, clerics of LG deities, LE humanoids, etc.). Some of that is covered in the DM Secrets, but surely there must be open grumblings as well, known to everyone in the campaign world since the undead gimmick is hardly kept hush-hush.
In all, it feels too Vampire: The Masquerade or World of Warcraft Undead for my tastes, and I'm going to pass. Do know, however, that I found the actual writing to be exemplary and would be happy to read more material from this creator. Thanks for sharing and best wishes!
Excellent take on a "necrogarchy" here. So many ideas jumped out at me when I was reading that I may just have to steal this for my next campaign. The idea of an LE nation called "Freehold" may actually trump Greenland as marketing genius. ;)
This reminded me of "Fido." A society dedicated to "Propriety" with zombie butlers.
Alex, congrats on making the cut. I know your item had some mixed reviews. I think you really brought the goods with your country. Way to step it up! Good luck!
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 16, 2010 Top 4
aka Alexander MacLeod
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Alex, congrats on making the cut. I know your item had some mixed reviews. I think you really brought the goods with your country. Way to step it up! Good luck!
Thank you for your thanks. I'm quite happy I made it to round three.
Yeah, my item has stirred up some ill will, and I do appologize for offending... Though I'm still of the opinion that evil items and those who use them should be offensive.
After reading the thoughts presented by posters here, if I had it to do over I would have toned down the descriptions of Karistynia's cash crops just a tiny bit and done something more exciting with the Shield Maidens -- if only undead grafts were Open Content!
As to Round 3, I've just submitted my Villain. I think I had to chop off more for this entry than either of the other two, so I'm hoping my core idea still shows through. Sigh.
Well, anyway, thanks again to all who've voted for me, and keep it up!
A. MacLeod
Here are my core problems with what you just posted.
First, there's nothing to sugest the item is supposed to be evil. It doesn't detect as evil. It's powers aren't more useful to evil characters. It has no evil prerequisites. It's description mentions its for use against those who call on "dark forces," which hardly sounds like an evil item. And, it's based on an item that the creators thought was for good.
So you've given it all the trapping sof being designed for use by lawful good clerics and apaldins, even through some evil might get use out of it. You've taken a very offensive thing real-world, and made it much more likely to get added to gaems as a tool for good characters.
Second, even if it was clearly evil, such things should be offensive within the setting of the campaign, not because they were offensive in the real world for unconnected reasons. Don't introduce lampshades made of human skin in settings that don't include nazis.
I actually *like* the idea behind your items game rules, but I can't stand the execution, which glorifies a horrible, evil, murderous book used by wicked men to justify attempted genoicide.