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So, my latest Homebrew venture is a mishmash of various sources. The flavor I am going for is dark, low magic, gritty, weird.
My players have had enough of Golarion. For now, anyway.
The mishmash of sources is as follows:
Raging Swan Press' 'The Lonely Coast'- We love the adventures set there and the low key, cohesive feel to the limited area. I have made it the starting point for our campaign.
Malhavoc Press' 'When the Sky Falls'- I have worked in the fallen Elven Empire of the Lonely Coast into one destroyed by a thaumaturgic meteor strike (the skull of a dead god) that obliterates the upper third of the main continent. Anti-magic rain still falls there regularly.
Malhavoc Press' 'Chaositech'- The elves were just developing the basics of Chaositech when their Empire was obliterated. Small pieces of the tech still survive.
Fritz Leiber's Farfrd and the Grey Mouser stories- Specifically, Lankhmar. The largest city on the continent, Krakenport, is based on Lankhmar.
Places:
Major City: Krakenport- a sprawling port city, your typical wretched hive of scum and villainy.
The Ghostblight Mountains-haunted mountains, home and refuge of the Mountain Elves, the most common remaining elves.
The Reedymoors- Halfling Territory
Spellshadow Fields- Plains scoured by magical 'acid' rain. Gnomes have some small, underground cities there.
The Godfall Sea- Crater Sea cause by the skull of a dead deity falling to earth.
The Strangle Dunes- dunes and coastal marshes, home to hidden smuggler towns near Krakenport
Binzakar- home to the nomadic Dwarf clans and their herds of prehistoric Glyptodons (giant, car sized armadillos) or Giant Ground Sloths or possibly Wooly Rhinos.
So, all of that being said, can anyone think more flavor/sources of flavor to help me develop the world further?
Freeport Companion might help. It's a little lovecraftian but it's got not a bad bit of fluff.
...Fritz Leiber's Farfrd and the Grey Mouser stories- Specifically, Lankhmar. The largest city on the continent, Krakenport, is based on Lankhmar...
I have nothing meaningful to add. This sounds like a great world to play in.
Just wanted to say thanks for turning me on to Farfrd and the Grey Mouser. I shall begin reading them tonight. :)
EDIT: Perhaps you could work in a version of Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show? A bit of traveling madness might fit in nicely to round out the weirdness. Even in a low magic world, (perhaps especially in one) it might make sense for some of the less salubrious magical types to band together...hiding in plain sight is an old, old trick.
yup Farfrd and grey mouser, Elric the white wolf, and conan were all my growing up fantasy sword and sorcery materials, great stuff.
also nice setting idea, but what area do you imagine the players will likely utilize the most, or will Pcs from all the continents mix freely.
I personally like to keep the flavor local as much as possible so as to explore it fully.
Update: Farfrd and the Grey Mouser... I'm hooked. :)
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aboniks,
I am glad to have turned someone into a fan!
And utilizing Something Wicked This Way Comes could be awesome. I will have to read it again and refresh my memory.
Ashtathlon,
Those were my favorites as well. Tolkien blew my mind at age 11. But after that, all of the Shannara-like rip offs bored me to tears. Then, my Dad mentioned that the Conan character originally came from a book. And from there, I discovered Lovecraft, Moorcock and Leiber. Good times!
And so far, it's one continent. If you are familiar with Raging Swan's Lonely Coast, I situated it on a continent shaped like Africa (but nothing like it in climate/ecology) in roughly the same place as Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Ghostblight mountains run west to east above the Lonely Coast. The Halfling lands, the Reedymoors, sit about where Senegal would be.
I placed the ruins of the Elven empire, blasted by the God Skull Meteorite near Western Sahara. Picture a Lake/Sea like Lake Superior there. The Spellshadow Fields also surround this area. Think a large "Lovecraftian /Weird a Tales" plains, like the Great Plains.
I placed Krakenport near where the Congo would be. And it would be bordered on the north by The Strangle Dunes.
Binzakar would be placed analogous to Chad and the Sudan.
It's only based on the shape of Africa. Mountains, deserts, etc. are completely different.
Steven "Troll" O'Neal,
I am not too familiar with Freeport but I certainly have nothing against Lovecraftian things. I will check it out.
Steven "Troll" O'Neal,
After reading up on it, I just purchased A Pirate's Guide to Freeport. I like what I saw and I definitely don't mind the Lovecraftian angle at all.
Creatively, I am wondering, since I have an already vast port city named Krakenport, do
I roll the Freeport stuff into Krakenport?
Or should I just import Freeport whole cloth? But maybe change the name so there aren't too many 'Port' cities?
Also, more generally, I am toying with the idea of allowing psionics at a very low powered level.
Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
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I remember seeing Lankhmar stuff in super super old Dragon Magazines (like, some of the very first ones).
As for the Freeport stuff, I think that depends. Do you plan on staying in and around Krakenport? If so, merge Freeport stuff into Krakenport. If not, make it a different city and use it as is. You could change the name or leave it. People aren't really known for creative settlement names, so I don't see why having Krakenport and Freeport having port in the name would be so bad. I think of it as a few instances in the real world, where every state has a Salem (my state of Indiana has 3, actually), a number of -villes, and a Charleston/town.
As for suggestions on what to add? I can't really think of any to be honest. I was never really into the more "realistic" and gritty types of fantasy. I prefer the high fantasy romanticized middle ages settings.
Adjule,
After reading the PDF, I am now leaning toward integrating the Freeport material into Krakenport.
I don't know how much of our campaign will stay in Krakenport but I am definitely thinking it will be the NYC or London of the world.
By the way, if you had any interest in Lankhmar, I can't recommend reading the Fahrfrd and Grey Mouser tales enough.
...By the way, if you had any interest in Lankhmar, I can't recommend reading the Fahrfrd and Grey Mouser tales enough.
I concur!
(he said, looking up from page 333 of the first book of the omnibus editions)
So, more 'fleshing out' done and I have racial concept that has really taken seed in my my mind: the Dwarves of Binzakar
Originally, before the cataclysm caused by the God Skull/meteorite devastating most of the northern continent, the dwarves were somewhat stereotypical, i.e. Living underground, forgers of steel weapons and armor, etc. The usual dwarf tropes.
After the Sky Fell, the dwarves were forced to abandon their now uninhabitable under cities, the three greatest of which were directly in the area obliterated by the God Skull. A small, crater sea (think Lake Superior) was made and what wasn't destroyed by the impact was flooded.
The dwarves lost their homes and their access to a particularly large vein of special iron that they relied on.
Anamakar: "Iron Sorrow" in the common tongue
The Iron Sorrow is a religion free of deities, for the dwarves believe themselves forsaken, if there are any gods left, which the nomadic dwarves doubt. It is a guide to life, marriage, trade, work, combat and ultimately, death. Dwarves of Binzakar, who follow the precepts of Anamakar will not wear armor constructed of 'lesser' steel, nor wield weapons of the same. The only metals they will use are non-ferrous and never for combat. Lesser steel is unclean. Anamakar has led the dwarves to a harsh, unforgiving land of endless grass, little water and terrible predators. Anamakar makes the kind treatment of guests who ask for relief an obligation.
(Think similar to Hebrew Kosher laws combined with a non-pacifist Jainism)
The dwarves no longer have access to their special iron. So they will give tribute to the strength of it in their vows of marriage. In any promise they make, to any creature.(this results in promises being extremely rare; you can't break them if you don't make them).
All dwarves learn an unarmed martial art. The only word for it is Anamakar and they are unable to separate it from their religion.
It is the forging of the body into a weapon, in the absence of steel weapons. It learning to move so that armor would only be a hindrance.
Law of Anamakar. All are punishable by exile and ritual funeral.
1) You will not touch the Lesser Iron or Steel
2) You will never ride a beast or wagon. Walking strengthens the mind and the body.
3) You will never break a vow.
4) You will never turn away a visitor who invokes the right of the guest in Anamakar, nor deny them water.
5) You will worship no gods.
Anyway, that's what I have regarding dwarves so far.
Anyone have any thoughts?
.
I'm updating this thread as much for myself (like keeping notes) as to get feedback, at this point.
Anyway, borrowing heavily from the Freeport materials that I recently purchased. And I am debating expanding the underworld of the city, which I have renamed Krakenport for the Setting.
I want to expand it in a pretty big way. These are the two options I am considering:
1) A cavernous Undercity with giant stalactite structures (hollowed out and made into structures) hanging over an Abyss, with rope bridges, etc. ruled by the various criminal empires.
2) A Shadowport, entered by certain clandestine gates, one that mirrors the geographic structure of the city exactly, but is populated by an entirely different set of people (could be including Fetchlings and Wayangs, ghouls, wraiths, vampires as well as high level humans and humanoids).
Any thoughts?