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Okay, I need to buy the PDF for the Cheliax Companion, but money is tight at the moment and I need some info to help with and adventure.
I am starting to boil some ideas for a second major adventure to write and wanted to set it in Cheliax. The basic genre is a Gothic Horror. But I wanted to know about the setting.
I need a place where urban life is busy and complex densely packed with a strong nobility and central government, but rural life is sparse with rolling hills and a slower pace though rife with legends and superstitions and ancient runes.
From reading the Campaign Setting it sounds like Cheliax would be ideal for this, but wanted some more on the country to be sure.
Geb seemed a decent second choice, but perhaps a bit too "in your face" with the horror. I want something with a veneer of civilization so the horror can come out and play in the darkness of your unprepared soul.
So, what would you describe Cheliax as being like? Would it really suit a Gothic Horror adventure? Or is it too "in your face?" Is it too densely populated to allow for lonely cottages and abandoned ruins near isolated villages?
Hmm, if you already have the campaign setting book, there isn't much more you can find out without purchasing other books.
Here's a few suggestions though.
Look through the Pathfinder Wikis. Here's a link to the Cheliax page. http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Cheliax
You may also want to download the free Council of Thieves Player's Guide since it takes place in Cheliax it gives you a lot of information.
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i think Cheliax would be perfect
why?
well they have both Egoria and Westcrown as places with tighclose communities and with lots of nobles...
you have a tyrany, yes... its evil and has devils... but devils are not out there everyday for all people... yes some people live in fear... but if they obey the laws as best they can there is little to fear (most of the time)
but what happens whern that all legal and ordered world began failing around you with sudden & inexplicable changes?when your ordered and tightly rutined life began falling around... when no prayers to asmodeous or other gods seems to avail?
I think the player's handbook will give you enough about Westcrown to give you an idea about the place, of course The Companion would do a lot more, but i understand the tight finances.
horror can be presented in many ways... Cheliax only offers a few more challenges in some ways...
in others as i said is perfect... it has the athmosphere... oppresion... fear... resentment... paranoia... just let them fall from the "ordinary" into the suppernatural and chaotic maelstrom...
I am starting to boil some ideas for a second major adventure to write and wanted to set it in Cheliax. The basic genre is a Gothic Horror. But I wanted to know about the setting.
I need a place where urban life is busy and complex densely packed with a strong nobility and central government, but rural life is sparse with rolling hills and a slower pace though rife with legends and superstitions and ancient runes.
Having the PDF, I generally agree with Montalve. However, have you ever thought about Ustalav?
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Having the PDF, I generally agree with Montalve. However, have you ever thought about Ustalav?
ahh yes Ustalav... realm of Gothic horror, a module is coming soon enough, but besides that the info is scarse, maybe in classic horror we will see more
my cleric cames from there, she left vowing never to return
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Yes I think Cheliax has a very gothic horror feel to it. To me it makes me think a hollywoodisd france with a lot of buildings like Notre Dame. Large very grey gothic style buildings. Add in the LE tyranny and devils about and you get the horror.
As for the lonely village yes I think the western part of the country has that feel or could very easily while the center and east seems more populated with the larger cities.
Take the above with a grain of salt as I am currently going from memory after having read the companion only once so far.
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Having the PDF, I generally agree with Montalve. However, have you ever thought about Ustalav?I am starting to boil some ideas for a second major adventure to write and wanted to set it in Cheliax. The basic genre is a Gothic Horror. But I wanted to know about the setting.
I need a place where urban life is busy and complex densely packed with a strong nobility and central government, but rural life is sparse with rolling hills and a slower pace though rife with legends and superstitions and ancient runes.
I have considered Ustalav but it felt too chaotic. The nobles are fighting each other, and there is rebellion in the air. I really wanted a place that is more sedate, calm, so the underlying chaos can play against the veneer of law and order.
To me, horror seems stronger when contrasted against a background that is supposed to be safe and secure. Then you delve deeper than you should and find that behind that thin layer of civilization is a cauldron of terror and horrors beyond imagining tearing after your soul.
Picture Dorian Gray set against a background of violence, rebellion chaos. His own acts don't seem so bad then. His horror is lessened. Only against the genteel country can his debauchery take on real horror.
But perhaps, Ustalav can be a good setting for such a story. It would be a great Dracula location. But I am thinking a bit more subtle.
horror can be presented in many ways... Cheliax only offers a few more challenges in some ways...in others as i said is perfect... it has the athmosphere... oppresion... fear... resentment... paranoia... just let them fall from the "ordinary" into the suppernatural and chaotic maelstrom...
I am currently reading the companion on Cheliax. Seems to me to be more like a combination of pre-WWII Nazi Germany and Italy under Mussolini.
Rather than chaotic, Cheliax is extremely lawful, fascist, without compassion, where oppressed citizenry attempt to maintain a living and national pride, trading relative peace for basic freedoms. Even some of the names, particularly in Westcrown, seem quite Italian, and Westcrown itself resembles Venice in many ways, just as Egorian and the rebuilding therein resembles Berlin.
Rather than the creepy feel of gothic horror, it inspires an extremely tense level of paranoia.
I am currently reading the companion on Cheliax. Seems to me to be more like a combination of pre-WWII Nazi Germany and Italy under Mussolini.
Rather than chaotic, Cheliax is extremely lawful, fascist, without compassion, where oppressed citizenry attempt to maintain a living and national pride, trading relative peace for basic freedoms. Even some of the names, particularly in Westcrown, seem quite Italian, and Westcrown itself resembles Venice in many ways, just as Egorian and the rebuilding therein resembles Berlin.
Rather than the creepy feel of gothic horror, it inspires an extremely tense level of paranoia.
I think you hit the nail right on the head. I was also going to suggest a little Julio-Claudian Roman era as well with some of the debauchery, too.
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I think you hit the nail right on the head. I was also going to suggest a little Julio-Claudian Roman era as well with some of the debauchery, too.I am currently reading the companion on Cheliax. Seems to me to be more like a combination of pre-WWII Nazi Germany and Italy under Mussolini.
Rather than chaotic, Cheliax is extremely lawful, fascist, without compassion, where oppressed citizenry attempt to maintain a living and national pride, trading relative peace for basic freedoms. Even some of the names, particularly in Westcrown, seem quite Italian, and Westcrown itself resembles Venice in many ways, just as Egorian and the rebuilding therein resembles Berlin.
Rather than the creepy feel of gothic horror, it inspires an extremely tense level of paranoia.
you are both right
but using this correctly it can be pertty interesting for a Horror game... there is this short stories from Alexander Dumas... at elast the compilation in spanish is called "Mil y un Fantasmas" (1001 ghosts) and here are presented at leasta couple of stories during the Terror (plitical era after French Revolution) which would present a similar feeling of dread and paranoia (even if its more Galt) to present a couple horror stories...now you have given in the nail arround paranoid and oppresing citizenry of both Venice and Berlin in different eras... now add to that some spice of the supernatural... the characters are already in the state needed toebgin... fear, paranoia, suspicion... but as you said they exchanged their freedoms for a peaceful life
what happens when forces beyond your power and comprehension take even that? play with that theme... the horror in Cheliax doesn't need to be"in your face fear" you have already devils and hellknights for that... you eed to be more subtle
or taking a cue from Poe... you find a body, maybe you killed the man, maybe no... and there comes the Hellknights asking for the man in question, you hide it, and try to be calm... usually would be a game of bluffs vs sense motive...
but what happens if you hear a dripple caming from where you hided it... even after days of elaving it there the body stills drip blood... oreven worst... if you killed him... you can hear him blaming you...
how to respond when you are with the hellknights?
do they hear it too but are playing along to torment to?
did they know and this is all their doing?
or is really soemthing beyond thegrave so close that can be felt?
