So I've been playing around with the idea of making a campaign setting involving only Small-sized races. I'm hoping folks here will be willing to help me out.
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Ground Rules:
1) Only Small races. I'd rather avoid Tiny, Diminutive, and Fine, but I am willing to listen to a good reason for one.
2) No Evil races. Honestly I am thoroughly sick of the 'enemy race' thing and will have no truck with justified genocide. There can be evil people in a given society but races as a whole will either be Neutral or Good.
Goblins - a variety of neutrally-aligned goblins that are skilled alchemists with an equal interest in love potions and poisons.
Gnomes - protectors of nature and masters of the arcane (basically taking the place of Elves but with more humor and less snootiness).
Grippli - healers and counselors and powerful divine casters.
Halflings - the farmers and crafters of the setting. (May possibly take the role of Humans without the desire to war.)
Kobolds - a variety of neutrally-aligned kobolds that are skilled tinkerers, masons, and miners (basically they take the place of Dwarves without being tied to the mountains).
Ratfolk - land traders, explorers, and merchants.
Sylph - winged fairy-like creatures distantly related to Gnomes and Undine. They'd likely be known as entertainers and messengers. I was thinking they could have a some mix of colorful feathers and insect features.
Sylvestris - shapeshifters. Not quite sure how they fit in yet, but I do like the idea of a Small race that can become foxes, badgers, rabbits, crows, and so on.
Undine - feyish seafarers, traders, and explorers. Distantly related to Gnomes and Sylphs (I figure their skin looks like the most colorful of nudibranchs).
Volcane - a fiery bunch who love metallurgy, smithing, and glass-blowing.
I considered adding the Uldra but I wasn't sure how they'd fit in. Thoughts and suggestions on races and their roles are very much appreciated.
World Setting
Another problem is figuring out what I want for a background. Here are the ones I'm thinking of:
1) Natural: The world has always been this way. The races are all native to the setting.
2) Gated: Some or all of the races have been gated to the world either by unknown forces or through some known (but no longer useful) magic.
--to go with this is the thought that all of the races suddenly appear one day in the recent past and all off them are still trying to figure out what happened.
3) Altered: Once there were Medium races, but they are now extinct. Their ruins remain.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
These don't need to be mutually exclusive. Some could be natives that remember 'the times before' when 'big people' were still around while others could have been brought in or found their own way in.
So all creatures you would encounter are also small?
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You may go with 2 and some big mystery. How did we get here? Why does everyone have amnesia around time X? Maybe the cause is a trickster god (CN) who has built this sandbox to inflict random events on, watching darwinism take effect as a result of his whims.
This opens up a host of weird encounters. I was going with something the pure-chaos route in a campaign ago. Many monsters being forms of fleshy blobs like Gibbering Mouthers, transforming alien-like beings (I made something like a Tzeentch Horror be a foot soldier), people going insane. To then "inflict insanity" (which fits with the trickster theme) I would have entire encounters be fake and then roll back their HP, damage, etc; as the illusion faded away upon their success/demise.
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You should note that Evil is just as far away as chaotic. The destruction from Chaos comes from it's ruining of Order rather than Evil's intent to destroy happening to ruin Order. They are equidistant from Good or Lawful and should be treated as such.
This is in part to say, maybe your world (as with the above) is a place where Law/Order is trying to make stable civilization in a world that doesn't yet make sense while outside forces and random individuals are basically Ayn Rand.
So all creatures you would encounter are also small?
No, I was thinking everything else is regular sized. Though I wouldn't be opposed to a world where the critters are dire sized.
__________________You may go with 2 and some big mystery. How did we get here? Why does everyone have amnesia around time X? Maybe the cause is a trickster god (CN) who has built this sandbox to inflict random events on, watching darwinism take effect as a result of his whims.
This opens up a host of weird encounters. I was going with something the pure-chaos route in a campaign ago. Many monsters being forms of fleshy blobs like Gibbering Mouthers, transforming alien-like beings (I made something like a Tzeentch Horror be a foot soldier), people going insane. To then "inflict insanity" (which fits with the trickster theme) I would have entire encounters be fake and then roll back their HP, damage, etc; as the illusion faded away upon their success/demise.
That's certainly one possibility. Elohim could easily be responsible. Some other deity could do it to see "what if".
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You should note that Evil is just as far away as chaotic. The destruction from Chaos comes from it's ruining of Order rather than Evil's intent to destroy happening to ruin Order. They are equidistant from Good or Lawful and should be treated as such.
This is in part to say, maybe your world (as with the above) is a place where Law/Order is trying to make stable civilization in a world that doesn't yet make sense while outside forces and random individuals are basically Ayn Rand.
While there are differences between them, I don't want sentient races boiled down to 'good guys' vs 'bad guys'. If there is going to be anything that can be attacked without moral issues, it's going to be something that is going to be more of a force of nature. For instance, literal nightmares that are trying to invade. They wouldn't be alive and can't be reasoned with.
On the nightmare things; exactly!
I meant to say before that, especially if you're unfamiliar, you should look at the Lorwyn Shadowmoor block of Magic: The Gathering for inspiration.
First block was a tribal world of bright colors and everything is all great, then the world shifts into a nightmarish heck every once in a while and elementals thrash everything.
The artwork and themes in it could really do a number for your imagination here. Cards like Nyxathid are exactly what you mentioned about forces of nature rampaging chaoticly through the untamed world your PCs are dropped into.
On the nightmare things; exactly!
I meant to say before that, especially if you're unfamiliar, you should look at the Lorwyn Shadowmoor block of Magic: The Gathering for inspiration.
First block was a tribal world of bright colors and everything is all great, then the world shifts into a nightmarish heck every once in a while and elementals thrash everything.
The artwork and themes in it could really do a number for your imagination here. Cards like Nyxathid are exactly what you mentioned about forces of nature rampaging chaoticly through the untamed world your PCs are dropped into.
Okay, thanks a lot!
Anyone else have some suggestions?