Of late I have been bouncing around different settings looking for something different from regular Golarion. I've gotten my hands on lots of great ones; Neo Exodus, Obsidian Twilight, Skybourn, Midgard and a few others. But nothing quite what I'm looking for right now.
So I've started jotting down some ideas for my own. I'm looking to do something a little on the gritty low fantasy side of things with a strong dose of Dark Fantasy horror in it. Little touch of Ravenloft, little touch of Lovecraft.
Idea list so far
-Draw heavily on Earth Mythology
-Humancentric. Other races are dark and mysterious and mostly unknown
-Magic is new and dangerous and widely feared
-some "old Gods" influence on the world.
-Seven Sins are tangible force, tied to the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death = Pride other three get 2 sins each, still figuring out who gets what. Tied to Old Gods
-Cysts of Sin, pockets of the world where the influence of a Horseman and it's Sins manifest. Magic is stronger in a Cyst and weaker outside of them. Center of each Cyst is an "Avatar" a mortal pledged to a Horseman and twsited into something inhuman based on their Sin.
-Major disturbing change to the world that can't be ignored or explained
-Horror elements. Monsters are something spoken of but never seen until now.
- Trinity Cosmology; World of Flesh, World of Spirit, World of Mind
- Grey Morality; Loyalty system instead of Alignment
-Intruder Moon: Eclipses the Sun most of the day. Full Sunlight is rare, dim light most of the time
I've also written up kind of an introduction to give to my players to give them a feel for things.
I'm looking for ideas, advice, opinions, suggestions, house rules, recommended books from Paizo, recommended 3rd party books and generally anything that might help me flesh this out. There is no hurry cause my group is going to be playing Hell's rebels for a while and probably Hell's Vengance afterwards
This is the Intro thing I wrote up. It's a journal entry from the point of view of the Baron who will be the Patron of the party, including some ideas I have for the first few adventures
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It is the year of our lord 1192. If you are reading this then I hope my words can shed some light upon the dark and terrible world we now live in. King Richard is away in the Holy lands and his brother Prince John sits upon the throne of England. In the absence of my elder brother who is at King Richard’s side, I Edward Beauchamp am Baron of Bedford and I fear, I may be presiding over the death of the lands entrusted to me.
The World has changed with the coming of the Eclipse. In the sky, the Intruder Moon blocks out the sun glaring down upon the world like the baleful eye of the devil himself, true daylight lasts only a handful of hours each day. A strange mist surrounds England at all times now. A year has passed since we have seen a single ship from the continent. Worse is the days when the Fog rolls inland, bringing with it unknown terrors. Good and true Christian men and women have spoken of unspeakable things hidden in the darkness, carrying men away into the billowing mist, never to be seen again. I am told many villages along the coast are now abandoned. Many have fled inland but others are simply … empty.
There are other rumors as well. Stories of men and women wielding unnatural powers, a resurgence in pagan faiths and Witches practicing unholy arts. Brother Vadus, well known for his love of the night sky tells me that the Stars are…wrong, that the constellation he once knew are gone. Each day he and his monks pray for some sign from god, some explanation for what is happening but none has been forth coming.
This past week the townsfolk have come to me with claims of crops blighted from the lack of sun and cattle slaughtered and missing. They speak of some great beast, like a man only half again as high and twice as large. Plague has come to the eastern part of the Barony and those fleeing it bring tales of the dead walking and rats, hordes of rats forming themselves into a shape that walks like a man. Such madness seems everywhere these days.
And I…I am not immune. My Elsa, my beloved Elsa, dead to me not six months passed…she comes to me in the night. Her skin pale but more lovely than even my memories. She begs me to let her in the Castle, promising that we can be together once more. I pray each night for this vision to stop tormenting me, Brother Vadus tells me I must not acknowledge her but….my heart grows weak each time she appears. I fear the next time I will do as she asks, and I fear that will be the end of me.
The World is changed, the how and why we do not know. The Intruder Moon is key and yet we know not how. I have chosen to employ a band of brave men who might investigate the rumors and fantasies on my behalf. To seek out secrets from the dark places that now infest our world. For as long as I am able I will record their discoveries and my own thoughts on what they means. It is my hope that these pages will be of aid to future generations, and so that they know England did not slip quietly into darkness. That there were men who carried the light of hope for as long as they could.
This looks like a really good idea! My suggestions would be:
- Maybe have no Spell Resistance? With a world with dangerous and feared magic, races might no have innate SR, but perhaps their are items that provide this effect, acting as Talismans to ward off magic.
- An idea for a beginning quest could be investigating a group of people or area, and finding that they're attempting to create a Cyst of Sin? This could be a later on quest, thus giving the party a bit of fame within the town?
- Perhaps there are those who wield the sins with magic. You could have Domains/Bloodlines that are the 7 sins, which could be interesting, as their could be some interesting spells and abilities that effect the caster in strange ways. 20th Level Wrath Bloodline Ability could turn the caster into an outsider with the native subtype, and gives them DR 10/good, and perhaps a rage ability? Something along those lines.
I'd actually be more than welcome to create something with 'Sinful Bloodlines', that could be rather interesting actually... Anyways, this idea sounds really interesting! Hope it gets more attention!
Sin bloodlines for Sorcerers I really like that idea. Definately going to use that.
Seven Sins are tangible force, tied to the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death = Pride other three get 2 sins each, still figuring out who gets what. Tied to Old Gods
Keeping in that spirit, I'd say that Famine should be Greed and Envy, Disease should be Despair and Sloth, and War should be Wrath (naturally). Lust I'm having a hard time fitting into this paradigm.
Sin bloodlines for Sorcerers I really like that idea. Definately going to use that.
Gun Metal Games has your Sin bloodlines right here.
Sin bloodlines for Sorcerers I really like that idea. Definately going to use that.
Cool! Yeah, I might use that myself actually...
some more ideas on the Cosmology
Cosmology
Realm of Spirit
• The realm of Spirit is layered. The layer that overlaps the physical realm is layer 0.
• Layer 0 is a close reflection of the physical world. The farther up or down you go the less recognizable the world becomes.
• Lowest level is the Abyss, where the Old Gods rest.
• When released from physical (IE: on Death) human souls rise. Sins add weight limiting how far a soul rises. Too much sin and the soul sinks.
• Spirit Realm is the source of Mythology but human interpretation is not always correct
• Most Monsters come from the Spirit realm. Sins will be a Subtype replacing alignment. Powerful monsters will also have an Apocalypse subtype tied to one of the horsemen.
• Ogre (Gluttony) Orc (Wrath) Goblin (Greed), etc…
• Balor (War,Wrath)
• A Cyst rises from a lower layer and passes through all layers between it and the end point.
• Navigation of a Cyst allows passage between layers. Navigation is done by focusing on your Loyalties. A Loyalty tied to the physical realm lets you return to layer 0. Loyalties tied to Sins allows you to travel downward, Loyalties tied to virtues allow you to travel upwards.
• Navigating a Cyst strengthens the Sin being used in the navigator.
• Downward Cysts are extremely rare. Travel to the higher layers is usually done by interacting with a Cyst from a lower Layer that rises past Layer 0.
• Cysts require an Anchor. A person or Thing strongly tainted by the Layer from which the Cyst originates from. This Anchor is known as an Avatar. Destroy the Avatar and the Cyst collpases.
One of the main issues I'm having is on Magic.
Setting wise I have a world that didn't really have magic until a year or so ago. God never granted miracles and there were no books of spells that actually worked.
Intuitive classes like the Sorcerer are ok,I don't need to use the idea of ancient heritages granting power, particularly if I use the Sin Bloodlines, those can just happen. Cults to old and forgotten Gods allows for some Divine spellcasters but there isn't a lot of room for Good aligned Divine casters that way.
How do I justify the sudden appearance of Wizards or Paladins? Would discovering some ancient legacy of Merlin or the Knights of the Round table be stretching things?
How do I justify the sudden appearance of Wizards or Paladins? Would discovering some ancient legacy of Merlin or the Knights of the Round table be stretching things?
You could just ban wizards altogether - witches and bards work better for the setting anyway - while Paladins are just people filled with the blessings of God.