What would draw you into such a setting? I am toying with making a mini campaign setting based on the mix of Thundar, Borderlands/Pandora, and Redline.
What would be things that would peak your interests in such a setting?
GURPS had a thing in a game world where spells were cast by quoting an epic poem. If wizards could cast spells by reading bewitched scripts each morning, maybe that could work.
Well system wise I am not worried. I am importing some rules to deal with "tech" from the Iron Kingdom books, as they did an amazing job with it as far as I am concerned.
The tech level will be steampunk level in most instances, with wilder and weirder items scattered in.
What I was really looking for was what elements would people like to see in such a setting?
Classes, skills, archetypes, feats, etc etc.
The Artificer would make sense here. Certainly there will be Fighters, Rogues, and Alchemists could work.
I'd be interested in a good story that's not too depressing. There's nothing worse than a situation where even when you win you loose.
How about for a reason for the fall, an invasion failed, and the goblinoid invaders became stranded. Their stolen technology was ruined as well.
I was thinking about keeping the exact nature of the fall a secret for story reasons. I am looking at various versions of the artificer and mechanic type classes.
Magic will be somewhat restricted, prob just sorcerers, witches, and oracles. Rangers, and other partials will lose their caster abilities and I am working on replacement stuff for them atm.
With magical mutations, rangers can choose one spell, like speak with animals, and have that power.
I was thinking about keeping the exact nature of the fall a secret for story reasons. I am looking at various versions of the artificer and mechanic type classes.
Magic will be somewhat restricted, prob just sorcerers, witches, and oracles. Rangers, and other partials will lose their caster abilities and I am working on replacement stuff for them atm.
For Ranger and Paladin spells you could go with something similar to what Complete Divine (I think that was the book) and give them bonus feats each level they'd gain a new level of spells. You could restrict it to combat feats or feats that have to do with the Rangers combat style.
Will Druids have their powers as well? They'd fit in the theme with Sorcerers, Witches, and Oracles.
Is this going to be high, low, or average magic?
Since the fall knowledge of both magic and the sciences have been lost. So true science, and the knowledge of magic has been lost as well. Much of what is left today has been cobbled together piecemeal like.
That is why I am looking at just sorcerers, oracles, and witches. I was thinking about druids as well, but not too sure how they would have dealt with the utter destruction of the world around them. Much of the world is nothing more then wastelands.
Xuttah, you read my mind, lets of elder things, but as mythos, as well as things engineered by the previous age's people. I am looking to borrow from Panzer Dragoon Orta for some things setting wise as well as Mad Max, and Origin (the anime).
I once tried to create a Good, Bad, and Ugly thing that returned magic to the campaign. The lake monster was a squid like horror that caused magic to return in a several mile radius. You could have it feed on the pollution. In any case, any corpse it gets a hold of, it injects an egg into and animates it into a zombie. The zombie goes seeking a body of water. One of the bad was a fox that became a fox were. She was killing poachers and dumping them in the lake. The Telepathic Lake God thing could be turning people into druids. Let me know if I should find the stats. I had a swan who thought she was a cursed princess too, but she was actually a Swan Maiden/ ranger. Could be retooled as a druid.
So this is a little bit about my Post-Apocalyptic Campaign called After the Fall.
This campaign takes place in the year 800,000. It is a very strange and different world then the one any of the players may be used to. Bronze, stone, and obsidian weapons are very common. Meanwhile, occasionally, a rare magic item from a long forgotten past may be discovered (for example, steel weapons, mithril weapons, etc)
The classes I allow are Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue, Druid, Witch, Oracle, Sorcerer, Cleric (maybe you discovered the holy symbol of a long forgotten deity, awakening him from a thousand year slumber after being the first mortal to pray to him in ages) and I allow a lot of the Psionic classes, as that is more common than magic.
A major theme of the campaign is what has been left behind, but also what has grown from the cataclysm. So you may be apart of a struggling human culture trying to survive, or the last remaining Elf who has seen so much pain. Or you may be one of the new races, in the time since the end, I based a lot of my races on classic monsters that have evolved in a sense. Trolls that became more civilized, ratfolk, mutants, morlocks, basilisks that learned to stand upright, etc. etc.
There's lots of ways of introducing this world to players, they could time travel, they could be frozen for millennia, they could be a part of the world discovering it and forging their own kingdom. An ancient cabal of liches have just awoken and have decided to conquer this new world and bring everything beneath their control.
Regions
The Haunted Forest- Mankind had long ago cut away all the trees and built a city here, now, all that remains is broken stones and a thick forest. It took less than a century for the trees to find their way back, and to fill the streets, alleys, and eventually the shattered foundations of buildings with their roots. There is almost nothing to suggest that humans once lived here.
The Undercity- guarded from the devastation on the surface, the Undercity stretches forth in a series of expertly carved tunnels deep underground. The work of Dwarven craftsmanship, it hasn't been touched by their mithril picks and hammers since the End. Now it is a refuge for Ratfolk who have filled it with billions of skittering paws. The Ratfolk warrens rest in what now remains of these once great halls.
The Golden City- After the end, a group of Axiomite explorers from the Plane of Law discovered the devastation of this world and wept to see such chaos. Now a small group of workers have slaved for centuries repairing the golden capital city of Rathlon. Everything is just like it once was during Rathlon's golden age. It is a place for refugees as well as a testament to a long forgotten people. Although the city is big enough to hold a million people, it is mostly empty. Superstition abounds among the outsiders looking in about what lies in that city.
Interesting ideas Gnomemaster, when I polish off enough of my notes and have the time, I will post them here for people to see. Damned real world keeps interfering with my fantasy.
I kind of like SM Stirlings "Dies the Fire" premise. Some cataclysmic event causes technology to stop working...no electricity, steam power, internal combustion, etc...basically back to middle ages with no ability to climb out.
I would set a campaign about 100 years past the "Event" and have magic start to slowly come back....something like Ritual magic, Summonings, etc...no Flash Bang combat magic just out of combat magic.
The PC's could be adventurers pushing the bounds of their kingdoms out into the howling wilderness full of savage humans and magic twisted mutants. The Old Gods...Norse, Greek, Egyptian, etc are coming back and are selecting mortals to serve as their earthly servants with magic boons granted to them that increase as they gain in personal power.
Obviously the spellcasting classes would be out and I would use the 3.5 Non Spellcasting versions of the Paladin and Ranger...the Paladin would be perfect as a emerging champion of an old God.
Since the fall knowledge of both magic and the sciences have been lost. So true science, and the knowledge of magic has been lost as well. Much of what is left today has been cobbled together piecemeal like.
That is why I am looking at just sorcerers, oracles, and witches. I was thinking about druids as well, but not too sure how they would have dealt with the utter destruction of the world around them. Much of the world is nothing more then wastelands.
Well, for druids, I can imagine many went insane. There could be cults of druids determined to restore the natural world at any cost. Others might have gone the other direction - since the 'natural' world is now all wastelands anything not wasteland is 'unnatural'. Others could have a more pragmatic approach to restoring nature and balance to the world and have to keep out an eye for the others.
A different way of dealing with this could be to create a variant of the witch class that shapeshifts. Witches in many tales were supposed to be able to take on the form of animals as well as control weather and such.
The Gnoll Druid would be perfect for the all costs type. Stray dogs and zoo surviving wolves evolved into Gnolls, mostly by scavenging. By Druid magic, including control weather, they have turned NYC into a rain forest. The human remains feeding the roots has resulted in the forest coming alive with Ents, cruel pixies, and dark elves.
A fusion experiment could be ongoing, causing a pulse that feeds magic but interferes with tech.
The Undercity- guarded from the devastation on the surface, the Undercity stretches forth in a series of expertly carved tunnels deep underground. The work of Dwarven craftsmanship, it hasn't been touched by their mithril picks and hammers since the End. Now it is a refuge for Ratfolk who have filled it with billions of skittering paws. The Ratfolk warrens rest in what now remains of these once great halls.
This reminds me of a one shot game I have planned that takes place in a heavily Neverwhere/Underdark inspired game. If it helps at all here's two home-brewed races that came out of it.
+2 to any one ability score:Rat-Speaker characters gain a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Type: Rat-Speakers are humanoids with the human subtype.
Medium: Rat-Speakers are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Rat-Speakers have a base speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Due to years in the Undercity have adapted to dark regions and can thus see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Scent: This special quality allows Rat-Speakers to detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. Rat-Speakers can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights. Rat-Speakers can detect opponents within 30 feet by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted previously. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range. When a Rat-Speaker detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed, only its presence somewhere within range. The Rat-Speaker can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. When the Rat-Speaker is within 5 feet of the source, it pinpoints the source's location. Rat-Speakers can follow tracks by smell, making a Wisdom (or Survival) check to find or follow a track. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10 (no matter what kind of surface holds the scent). This DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry's odor is, the number of creatures, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the Survival skill. Rat-Speakers tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.
Rat Speech: Due to years of worshipping and revering rats, Rat-Speakers can communicate with rats as if they were under the effects of a speak with animals spell.
Rodent Empathy: Rat-Speakers gain a +4 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Handle Animal checks made to influence rodents.
Languages: Rat-Speakers begin play speaking Common. Rat-Speakers with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aklo, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Orc, and Undercommon.
+2 Stength, -2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom: Subsurface Minotaurs are strong and contemplative, but slow to react.
Type: Subsurface Minotaurs are Monstrous Humanoids.
Medium: Subsurface Minotaurs are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Subsurface Minotaurs have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Subsurface Minotaurs can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
Inherited Cunning: Subsurface Minotaurs possess the innate cunning of their ancestors. This gives them immunity to maze spells and prevents them from ever becoming lost.
Masters of the Subsurface: Subsurface Minotaurs receive a +1 racial bonus on Knowledge (dungeoneering) and Survival checks.
Natural Attack: Subsurface Minotaurs possess a natural gore attack that deals 1d6 points of damage plus strength modifier on a successful hit.
Powerful Charge: When making a gore attack during a charge, a Subsurface Minotaur deals double damage plus strength modifier and a half with it's gore attack in addition to the benefits gained from charging.
Relentless: Subsurface Minotaurs gain a +2 racial bonus on their Combat Maneuver Bonus when making a bull rush or overrun attempt while both the Subsurface Minotaur and its target are standing on the ground.
Languages: Subsurface Minotaurs begin play speaking Giant. Subsurface Minotaurs with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aklo, Common, Draconic, Orc, and Undercommon.
I was working on the ideas of druids being "slightly" insane due to what was wrought upon the lands. They would become a NPC class much like Wizards who would be rare and guard their horded knowledge tightly.
As far as classes go, working on what to do with Bards and Rangers seem to be the hanging point for me. I am developing a mechanic type class. That and archetypes seem to be a hanging point.
As far as races go, I plan on leaving it open. The fall, and all that has happened before and after has lead to a large pool for people to select from.
I am looking for a general equipment and vehicle list. Does anyone know of a good one, doesn't need me PF, I don't mind converting.
D20 Apocalypse has a good bartering chart and rules or vehicles, etc. Give it a look, love the source book since it includes ideas for all manner of apocalyptic scenarios.