I have an idea for what would be as much a world-building project as a campaign. This would be a PF1e campaign that would use rough conversions of old 2e Dungeon Magazine adventures. The focus of this campaign would be developing world details through the pbp process.
The project would start with some basic ideas we'd develop in the recruitment thread, which would then get expanded upon in the game itself.
My basic prompt is a world that is strongly elementally aligned where gods would be replaced by elemental forces and other objects of worship -- i.e., a 'cleric of shadow' instead of a cleric of a god of shadows, or a cleric of autumn, or a cleric of the archetype of the red queen from the traditional card deck.
I'm open to rules suggestions as long as it doesn't start too high of level, and it remains PF1e. Ever had a build idea you've never gotten to try out? Here's your chance! Is there a 3pp. source you've always wanted to use, or a race you've never gotten to play? Here's your chance! Tell me what rules you want, as long as you want to worldbuild!
The first adventure would be an adaptation of the Roarwater Caves from Dungeon Magazine #15, which deals with an expedition into a tidally submerged cavern complex occupied by xvarts.
Here's a map I would use for this complex: Roarwater Caves
I have ideas for two areas on a continent so far. One is the Kingdom of Sashea. Here is a large hex map of the The Kingdom of Sashea. I imagine this as a cosmopolitan polity populated by humans and surface-dwelling non-evil drow.
The second area I have begun to develop is the Northern and Southern Seas of Blood. These are a set of inland seas that, like the Moonsea in Forgotten Realms, would be dominated by independent city-states. Here is a map of the Northern Sea of Blood.
Between these two areas would like a vast plateau of red desert, and that region would form the north western corner of the continent.
I like that idea of the gods emerging and potentially having conflict with the existing religions.
I was planning something of a sandbox. I was imagining the Sea of Blood area was previously dominated by an ancient mageocracy, and ruins of this civilization are under water. This region may also be planning an invasion of less hostile areas.
I don't think the hex maps I linked work -- here's another attempt to display one (will probably take a while to load, it's big).
I'd really like to use the FFd20 rules for this if I could find a willing group.
I like that! They wake up in crystal sarcophagi, and some kind of deep earth terror has invaded their tombs (as well as treasure seekers).
Is there an equivalent for an investigator? I saw on the forums there was someone doing a conversion.
It's a conversion of PF1e. I love the class design. I know nothing about the games it's based on.
It's also sort of like the ciphrang in Prince of Nothing and the entire concept of the Outside.
I like that too! Sort of like the First Empire in Malazan -- unleashed terrible eldritch powers and so had to be put down hard.
So what would be the idea -- that the 'heroes' reintroduce this problem to the setting?
All good ideas -- maybe the campaign could also focus on visiting/rediscovering lost places of power.
Do either of you have other online gaming partners you could prod?
Always a fan of that. Whether they're old facilities meant to stockpile magical power, natural confluences of leylines, or anything else, places of power always make for good lore-building.
I already had an idea for a major city-state of the Northern Blood Sea called Houndateth. The city's 'towers' are the remnants of a manna battery network, and the later inhabitants just put a wall between some of them. They all contain extra dimensional spaces that are considerably larger than their outside dimensions would otherwise indicate.
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Oh! Oh! Me me I'm in!
I have two ideas, one character, one empire.
Ive always wanted to run a pleasant, evil(like, anti hero not villain), mystical theurge. Like, they get along with the party, and they fight evil, but the ways they do it borrow from some evil sources.
Also, I always thought it would be cool to have a city where all the living have undead servants. Like, the city and people are nice and good, they just believe that since the spirit has left the corpse, what's left behind is just material to help the living. ( I think this was one of the many themes in the old game Torment.)
Well you did ask for unconventional ideas.... :)
I'm a big fan of old, abandoned automatons that continue to perform their intended function long after anyone who has any use for them has died. Amusement park animatronics that keep singing and dancing and maintaining their park centuries after the civilization that built them died off and the park itself has become largely inaccessible, or the machines of an automated railway that continue to move their trains on their intended tracks to their intended schedule, even if they haven't seen a customer in centuries. They have no purpose other than to continue their unbroken vigil, possibly believing that someday someone will again make use of the facilities they maintain, until and unless some external force perverts their sacred mission.
I could lots of different elemental creatures doing this as well as undead -- summoned entities continuously building enormous structures long after their original summoners have passed on who originally issued the order.
It would still be ideal to find a couple more players -- I'd like to use https://www.finalfantasyd20.com for this if I can get enough interested parties willing to use that rule set.
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Interesting.
In a Final fantasy themed game, I'd be stoked to play a straight Black Mage kinda character. Not Vivi, not Yunalesca or Lilith, but a Black Mage a la 8 Bit Theatre and FF1 fame.
As for why he's entombed and the world is going on without him...someone who uses the concentrated power of love to effect mass destruction is kinda the person you want to keep on ice.
lets talk about the exact rules before I post this -- ffd20, I usually do gestalt or half-gestalt. Any preferences? What level?
World building was part of what I liked most about the now defunct Dark Sun game you ran Seb, so consider me interested!
As for rules, I would be okay with either normal PF1 classes or those from ffd20, whichever the rest of the group decides. Starting level, I would suggest anywhere between 5th-10th(*maybe* higher, but not too much), as that range gives you access to solid class features. You're not too terribly powerful however, and still need to play smart.
That said, if you kinda wanna go off the deep end for both story and power level for the PCs:
What if we're former gods and/or primordials(to borrow the phrase from Forgotten Realms) who died during some pre-history war(akin to the Greek Titanomachy) and are reborn somehow in modern times. We can then either go about reclaiming and rebuilding our former power, and once more become deities(Or maybe some only some of us want that, while the others maybe have other grandiose plans), or perhaps we're brought back to be the aforementioned god-hunters. As who better to hunt the divine, then those who used to have that power?
I'm having some more ideas, and was thinking it might be helpful to tie in the lore to something established to potentially prime the pump so to speak...
What if we had this for the backstory -- Nexus is a creation of several Imaskari mage lords who fled after their empire was overthrown by the mulan (alternatively, Netherese mage lords). It exists in a demiplane that is at the conflux of several inner planes, but mostly sealed from the outer planes. Here, they, in some respects, recreated parts of Faerun -- but there are also some significant differences (regions changed location, changed names etc.). To give you an example of how this would work -- there's an evil inner sea region like the Moonsea. However, it is divided into a northern and southern portion, and has some loose equivalents of Faerunian cities -- i.e., there's a Zhentarim like organization known as the Pereghauss that dominates the black market.
However, the domain was infiltrated by interloping deities, but the Imaskari managed to put them to sleep with a devastating spell that also destroyed their civilization.
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Woooo. I'm getting a really good vibe from the Necromancer. I like what he's selling.
For gestalt, I'm usually against it. Characters can have enough going in without juggling two classes at once. (I fear going up levels enough as it is. The time investment of leveling up twice is sublime.)
Imma concur with a level 5 starting level. That's past all the "But there might be an ORC on the other side of that door!" but not yet so powerful we feel like we should half the country by now.
I'm willing to run 1 more game, would everyone prefer eberron w/ ffd20 rules or homebrew?
Homebrew with ffd20 elements.
If I'm being honest, an Eberron game run by Seb, with some of his usual houserules, and using FFd20 would be hecking fantastic!!
I love the homebrew worldbuilding idea as well, however not only does it take a lot of effort from the GM, but this also seems like it's going the PCs are going to need to do a lot of work as well.
I think I'm leaning towards the Eberron idea right now because I'm taking an accelerated chemistry class right now, and it's ending up being even more work that I had originally imagined, and I'm not sure I can do a completely homebrewed campaign justice.