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Well I'm getting ready to run a Pathfinder campaign and I want to share with you guys my ideas.
Well it starts in the world of Rasmar and is set specifically on the continent of Daermin. About 200 years ago a group of powerful druids managed to steal a portion of power from the Nature deity Abnoba and used it to complete an epic spell that would cause the entire continent to become one massive forest. These druids were so opposed to civilization that they thought it was time for the land to reclaim it's glory and destroy civilization. Cities were ravaged as the land was claimed by forests and vegetation. Great cities were engulfed but not all. Some large cities were protected by the powerful mages that lived there but others weren't so lucky. Animals and other creatures begin to populate the land more and more and more as their numbers exploded with the rapid growth. Deserts were not claimed by the forests nor were lakes and rivers. The races of the world began to build roads through the great forests but the work has been very slow even after all these years. Horses have become a rarity and great cats and other fleet footed animals have become the normal mount. Now while all this was happening the goddess Abnoba became angry at those druids and cursed them. Their grove in the north was consumed by blight along with the animals and creatures that loved there. Those druids no longer command the powers of nature but wield the powers of blight. These druids eventually became insane because everything they touched would die. They began to transform into beings of pure blight and remain there to this very day.
I will have the PC's begin in a small walled town that managed to survive.
If it's been 200 years, the little town wouldn't have had to survive, it could have been carved out.
I like the idea tho. Woodland skills and classes would be a strong choice
Nice idea.
Our group played a campaign inspired by this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(manga )
Was very nice (but without firearms and with magic).
You can give every town a characterization, with different political systems, and so on :)
Usually character that defend nature are considered good, and those who destroy it evil (it's not true, but i'm making it simple). How people see characters that kill animals, burn forests, and so on?
So the party begins in a small walled town (carved out or survived doesn't matter) - I'm guessing that over the course of the campaign they figure out about the "blighters" but is the endgame then that eventually they rise up and defeat the evil druids?
Also: is the land STILL explosively growing? If a character cuts down a tree does it spring back up like a switch-blade tree? (we actually HAD that in a game: it was the only way to get onto an island in the center of a lake in the UBER-FOREST). If deserts and lakes weren't consumed then are there civilizations there from BEFORE that, cut off from other civilizations are then frozen in time like living histories or something?
I really like the angle that whole cities were swallowed up in the forest. That's a GM's dream for justifying any dungeon in the woods: its part of a building, just encased in wild growth.
The last PF campaign had something similar, on a smaller scale: The Mistfall Marshes. In antiquity there was a coastal swamp on the edge of a forested valley - the valley had elves and the swamp had a young black dragon. The elves had created runestones to help them jaunt about over great distances called Twilight Gates and they'd scattered a few all over the valley. Through careful scheming the dragon pitted armies against one another and slowly siezed control over 6 of the 7 gates, then as his own power to expand the swamp with Stagnation began to develop he siphoned power out of the gates to blow up the valley. He'd since driven off the empire of humans he'd manipulated and over the centuries he'd systematically destroyed any figurehead who tried to unify the scattered remains of civilization. By the time the party came along the homebrew lands of Calligorum were basically 1/4th Mistfall with the dragon gearing up for another surge when the characters inadvertently stumble into the middle of the whole thing.
The game only lasted to level 5 so they never made it into the heart of the plot, but in the background there was a war that was just starting; that war would have eventually revealed the dragon's latest champion who in turn would've ratted out his boss to the party and then a few high-level destination adventures would've taken them into the heart of the Mistfall so they could take him out once and for all and stop the relentless advance of the swamps.
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Well normal growth resumed after the spell was done and the regrowth had taken place.
Different groups have had to reopen some trade routes with their close neighbors but that's really as far as they could get. Spellcasters that have access to teleport found it a bit difficult but the landscape did change with all the rapid growth so only a few groups were able to communicate with distant civilizations. Elves weren't overall affected by it since they live in forests anyway. The underdark took a bit of a hit because the root systems virtually exploded underground as the growth anchored itself.
Desert tribes are really the only ones that still use horses as their main modes of travel.
Druids are looked at with suspicion and sometimes with open hostility.
are there massive ruins protruding from the wild growth or did the forest literally swallow them whole? I'm pictuing a planet of the apes thing where the players are walking along and suddenly they realize the head of some anicient statue is laying on the ground. Inspecting more closely they realize that it didn't break off; the statue itself is fully intact and has just been "reclaimed" by the forest. Inevitably one of the PC's begins shouting "they BLEW it UP! Damn you dirty druids; YOU BLEW IT UP!!!"
But anyway, this campaign sounds really cool. Obviously forest-based characters will be a plus but also movement based, those with mounts/animal companions/familiars and any history/lore types. Oh that begs another question: how much lore/knowledge will the PC's have on the subject. Like for example I had a subplot in my campaign involving the decline of a church due to heresy - the church in question was already into the death domain and associated with graveyards and used base skellies and zombies for menial things but they supposedly crusaded against sentient undead like vampires and such. Well they also kept extensive libraries and anyone with access (the PC's in this case) could research their records on the ghoul king and his minions that were seduced from among the faithful.
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are there massive ruins protruding from the wild growth or did the forest literally swallow them whole? I'm pictuing a planet of the apes thing where the players are walking along and suddenly they realize the head of some anicient statue is laying on the ground. Inspecting more closely they realize that it didn't break off; the statue itself is fully intact and has just been "reclaimed" by the forest. Inevitably one of the PC's begins shouting "they BLEW it UP! Damn you dirty druids; YOU BLEW IT UP!!!"
But anyway, this campaign sounds really cool. Obviously forest-based characters will be a plus but also movement based, those with mounts/animal companions/familiars and any history/lore types. Oh that begs another question: how much lore/knowledge will the PC's have on the subject. Like for example I had a subplot in my campaign involving the decline of a church due to heresy - the church in question was already into the death domain and associated with graveyards and used base skellies and zombies for menial things but they supposedly crusaded against sentient undead like vampires and such. Well they also kept extensive libraries and anyone with access (the PC's in this case) could research their records on the ghoul king and his minions that were seduced from among the faithful.
There are ruins protruding the trees. Imagine you and your group are hacking through some dense forests when you suddenly come up on a wall which leads into a ruined city that has been overrun with trees, vegetation and creatures of all types. Some cities were completely overrun and pretty much destroyed. Also thinking about trudging through a ruined city and going down into the old sewers that have been taken over by the root systems of the trees and other vegetation.
Lets you have a ton of Above-ground dungeons. Just pull a map from history and go. Handy!
Sounds very awesome SS. I may just steal and modify for future use...
Sounds like creatures of Blight would be welcome to an extent at this point. Cities need the area inside the walls cleared of vegetation, villages and roads need to be cleared to make room for construction.
Blight druids could make a ton of money as Herbicide dealers.
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Sounds like creatures of Blight would be welcome to an extent at this point. Cities need the area inside the walls cleared of vegetation, villages and roads need to be cleared to make room for construction.
Blight druids could make a ton of money as Herbicide dealers.
Well they are a bit more than just walking "round-up". They leave sickness, decay and mutation in their wake. It's more than just killing the vegetation.
Eco-terrorists, damn.
Sounds like a good spot for hunting. Anti-nature bowman, coming right up. Maybe a Mongol that likes to burn trees and make grazing lands.
I'm not sure the blighters are the real enemy. I am also not sure it makes sense for a goddess of nature to empower the blighters, to be able to harm the forest. Is she trying to balance her own used power.
Also shouldn't they have been given a promotion for spreading nature? Or didn't she like that they didn't ask? What did the other gods and factions do? Is nature supreme? Do you like avatar?
Good news about really thick forest, you can drag down visibility and make throwing weapons more prominent. A longbow is good, but not for battles within 40ft and with so much to tangle the bow on. Shortbows and javs.
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Eco-terrorists, damn.
Sounds like a good spot for hunting. Anti-nature bowman, coming right up. Maybe a Mongol that likes to burn trees and make grazing lands.
I'm not sure the blighters are the real enemy. I am also not sure it makes sense for a goddess of nature to empower the blighters, to be able to harm the forest. Is she trying to balance her own used power.
Also shouldn't they have been given a promotion for spreading nature? Or didn't she like that they didn't ask? What did the other gods and factions do? Is nature supreme? Do you like avatar?
Good news about really thick forest, you can drag down visibility and make throwing weapons more prominent. A longbow is good, but not for battles within 40ft and with so much to tangle the bow on. Shortbows and javs.
The Goddess of Nature is a neutral deity so mass growth explosive growth that kills many many people is not being neutral.
She cursed those certain druids with the powers of blight because they loved the forests so much that they were willing to kill untold amounts of people to do this so she made it to where they can never enjoy the touch of the forest ever.
She was also not happy with the fact that they stole a portion of her essence to go into that spell. The other gods and goddesses were not happy at all.