Well, my muse has continued to keep me up. So now I have more details about two of my concepts. Yeah for AP's with good player's guides!
Zeitgeist - Tavius - Aasimar* hedgewitch/incanter
Question - given the way they describe Aasimars in the player's guide, could I use Samsaran stats to represent them?
As a detective with the RHC, he's known for his vision, both mundane and metaphysical. He often seems distracted, as if seeing things nobody else sees. Which is usually true, as he has quite a knack for uncovering secrets that others pass by. He claims that his vision and precognition come from being a skyseer and channeling the power of the heavens. Even his offensive magic is fighting with celestial light.
While it is known among the department that he is an aasimar, he rarely speaks about this. He generally avoids dealing with the Clergy as much as possible.
War of the Burning Sky - Arvaldo - Gnome Fey Adept/Symbiat (operative)
The Bristlethwaite Family* Troupe originally hails from Sindaire, though has travelled around much of the world in their caravan. A set of wagons that through fine woodworking and a little magic transform into a wondrous theatre. They put on a number of shows that start from traditional standards, but quickly divert into their own special takes. *They are family, though many have been collected along the way.
Arvaldo does not perform directly. On the programs, he is listed as "the puppeteer." but this is an inside joke, as he uses his skill with illusions to enhance the performance. Making monsters, changing the sets, and creating all of the magical effects are his doing. The family has a few magical members who contribute, but Arvaldo is the most skilled.
They were caught up in the rebellion in Northern Sindaire and fled into Ragesia, toning down the magical parts of their show. When the news of war came, they fled for Gate Pass and made it into the city before it was locked down. Arvaldo managed to get his family out to Shalesti by making a deal with the resistance to help them with his magical talents.
As for Throne of Night, I'm still going over this. Some of this will depend on further campaign info.
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I'm leaning ever so slightly towards Throne of Night. Probably unsurprising since I spent more time piecing that AP together by hand with only the loosest of frameworks for books 3-6. Not sure if it's enough of a lead to tilt the scales just yet, but I wanted to point it out regardless. I'll throw out a few more ToN-related morsels for people to chew on.
- Drow
- Drey (savage offshoot of drow)
- Half-Drow
- Szarkai (albino drow who can pass for normal elves)
- Dwarves
- Deurgar
- Xan (Mushroomfolk/myconids)
- Caligni (Paizo's name for the generic Dark Folk race)
- Yuan-Ti Pureblood (products of degenerate serpentfolk crossbreeding with humanoid slave races, representing mechanically as a variant Vishakanya)
- Svirfneblin
- Throloms (sagacious underdark insect people who, in my version at least, are mechanically based on the Entobian race, were reflavored to resemble alien versions of the insectfolk of Hollow Knight, and were nearly wiped out by a created servitor race of mantis beings whose role as embalmers were taken to the most extreme and terrifying conclusion)
- Mind Flayers in all their tentacled glory, a few subspecies, and pretty much all of the Mind Flayer of Thoon fleshwarped monstrosities make their home in the deepest reaches of the Azathyr.
- Three types of Beholders exist in the Azathyr- the feared original eye tyrant itself, a Death Kiss, and an Eye of the Deep- and are offspring of an alien goddess known as the Gazing Mother and the void titan Gaaros-Uaazath.
- Every variant of Yuan-Ti, who are basically the products of depraved serpentfolk crossbreeding programs designed to create a superior slave race. That DOES include the Yuan-Ti Anathema.
- A creature using a heavily repurposed version of Kyuss the Wormgod's statblock from the Age of Worms AP. And no, I'm not joking in any way, shape, or form. Don't worry though, it's NOT Kyuss himself.
- Variants of the Dragonspawn of Tiamat to represent those corrupted by the dragonblight of the evil dragon who sacked Dammerhall.
- Lots of drow and Lolth-adjacent monsters like the Draegloth and Yochlol Demons.
- The holy Deathless undead from the Book of Exalted Deeds to represent the spectral warriors of the Stoneshade Legion protecting the Gleaming Grove of the Firstborn in Dammerhall.
But 3.5 isn't the only source I've dug into for monsters, not by a longshot. Here's just a few of the third-party Pathfinder monsters that I've added.
- All of the Aboleth and Dark Folk variants from RGG's Monster Menagerie books.
- All of the Phrenic Scourge monsters from the Psionic Bestiary.
- Several high age category Song Dragons from Cerulean Seas which have had creepy aberration templates slapped onto them. That Sunless Sea isn't a joke!
- Lots of deadly creatures exclusive to FGG's Cyclopean Deeps hexcrawls that I used to fill out parts of the AP. That includes a fleshcrafted race of mantis-like embalmers, a lovecraftian 'death god' whose name itself is a living curse, and other messed up monsters.
@Philo Pharynx: So you too get pushed around all hours of the day by your muse? I can relate to that way too much!
I was already planning on replacing Aasimar/Devas with Samsarans if I go with Zeitgeist. They just fit the whole concept a lot better.
@Nikolaus de'Shade: Feel free to point them in that direction if I end up going with Throne of Night.
@eriktd: What I need to help make my decision is a small miracle given how hard it is to choose one! It's like a parent having to pick which of their children is their favorite.
Despite that, I don't know if I want to try running more than one of them alongside Coliseum Morpheuon. I don't want to make the mistake of accidentally overcommitting and having the quality of all the games suffer as a result.
Despite that, I don't know if I want to try running more than one of them alongside Coliseum Morpheuon. I don't want to make the mistake of accidentally overcommitting and having the quality of all the games suffer as a result.
Wise choice, and I do appreciate that for sure.
Personally, the drow-only game is the one I have the least interest in, but if it is the AP you are most experienced with and are the most confident in running? I do have to suggest that one. Especially if you are doing the Epic-Game alongside it.
Choosing is difficult! There's very few evil APs where evil characters are welcome so I expect Throne of Night will be popular if you decide to run that. Zeitgeist ought to get a good turnout too but maybe not quite to the same level.
Go for it! Once you've got started with the two games you should be able to gauge how difficult it is, but maybe you can look forward to running the other two after they are completed. :P
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Sounds awesome. I look forward to seeing the build rules. Whether chosen or not, it’s so much fun making characters for your games.
While I have a few concepts in mind (a drow inventor type or a drow with a demon bound to their soul), I'd be interested to know what Xan are like, if only because being a mushroom man could be amusing.
And now my muse is thinking that different characters make sense for the drow version of ToN and the general version.
I'm formally cutting Zeitgeist from the list. Not because it's bad or anything, but simply because I want to give people the chance to explore APs of greater rarity. Zeitgeist is pretty much complete out of the box for Pathfinder and has a much higher chance of someone running it as a result. War of the Burning Sky requires a conversion from 3.5 and Throne of Night needs a GM to write the remaining 2/3 of the AP, which means that both of those are much less likely to see the light of day by virtue of many GMs preferring to run things straight out of the box with little to no extra work.
So what we have left is, obviously, Throne of Night and War of the Burning Sky. Anyone have thoughts on those?
@ChrisAsmadi: The Xan race were initially born as spores of the alien god Xan-Zara the First and Eldest, which is itself only a tiny piece of a greater cosmic entity that was separated from the whole and came to rest in the Azathyr before developing into its own being.
The Xan view themselves, the fungal jungle they call home, and their own god as largely interchangeable parts of a greater whole and that tends to color their worldview in strange ways. They find the outside concept of fierce indvidualism with fascination and consider it strange that other beings are not spawned from the flesh of their gods.
Xan society is loosely ruled by a special member of their race that undergoes a special transformation and abandons their former life to become a special entity known only as The Alchemist, who also serves as the intermediary to Xan-Zara. There are other members of the race who undergo similar transformations to fulfill specific roles; The Sage, for instance, is the leader of the College of Dreams that delves into cosmic ether with divinations and serves as the community's teacher of esoterica and spiritual medium.
Xan are defined by a few common traits. Natural curiosity and a desire for knowledge- the more esoteric, the better- is a large part of the racial psyche. Because Xan are connected naturally to their environment and their very god and share something of a limited gestalt consciousness, they tend to view the world more holistically and have a fascination with exotic concepts outside of the norms for their people. They're also a very pragmatic people who believe in using any resource they have, most notable in the fact that they eat parts of their dead and use the remains as compost to grow new members of their race, and find it odd that other creatures do not make efficient use of their resources. Unity is something most Xan prize and they tend to be agreeable. Because Xan society is largely free of deception and their society is so alien, some of the mushroomfolk can be somewhat naive and take even the most outlandish of things at face value. One last thing is that Xan generally have little in the way of egos and are notoriously hard to offend, although they will usually offer corrections for anything they find incorrect in people's assertions or insults.
There are several fields of study that Xan tend to pursue. Alchemy is commonplace and esoteric arts such as oneiromancy, divinations, and even necromancy aren't too far out of the ordinary. Xan warriors tend to fight with spears, staves, throwing weapons, and strange fungal contraptions that could best be classified as 'organic needle guns'.
Does that help give you an idea about the Xan?
So what we have left is, obviously, Throne of Night and War of the Burning Sky. Anyone have thoughts on those?
I like the War of the Burning Sky. While its a bit typically 'People vs Empire', it has many fascinating elements, such as the recent assassination of an Emperor and a new Queen not Empresses (unless that was a mistake). And it sounds like a fully realised world, too. 'The eternally-burning fey forest of Innenotdar'? That sounds delightful!
Plus, it gives us more freedom: In the War of Burning Sky, you can still be evil, as long as you are against the Empire. But in the Drow Throne, it sounds rather hard to not be evil. Not to mention our races are far more limited.
People can see that restriction breeds creativity, true... but I'm more for freedom here with the War of the Burning Sky.
I'd lean more toward War of the Burning Sky simply because I rarely want to play 'evil campaigns'. Drow in particular don't interest me as a possible PC.
I'm definitely feeling WoBS more than ToN. It is such a well-built world. ToN also has the issue that it's really two very different games. I'd still go for that, but I don't think I'll really feel anything until we decide which option we're going for.
I'll go along with whatever you decide to run, but I must say I am very interested to see all the custom work you did on Throne of Night. It sounds like it was truly a dark labor of love!
Ignore my last, now-deleted post. As I was helping out a family member with a few things, I started thinking about both Throne of Night and War of the Burning Sky and it sent down a rabbit hole of "Am I CERTAIN that I want to run X over Y?" So nothing has ultimately changed and I managed to delete that post just in time under the one hour deadline. About to log back off and resume working, just needed to rescind my hasty decision while I could still delete the post.
While I likely won’t be submitting a character for these, and my bias would be for Zeitgeist, I do find a certain lack of pull for War of Burning Sky -
Throne of Night, while on the one hand I agree is super specific, and a little “drow - again?!?”, the Kingmakery bolted on makes it much more enticing than the original AP. The theme is obvious and super strong. Making a character feels easy, from a range of (admittedly “dark”) angles. I also don’t get the same vibe from Drow games that I did from Way of the Wicked, which just left me feeling weird and queasy.
Zeitgeist has the pull of slightly off-kilter steampunkery, an urban setting that expands outward, with everything from planar shenanigans to political machinations and a really strong theme and plot I can recognise. Characters seem to be easily informed both by the posited added 3PP stuff and the background of the setting.
I don’t get anything from Burning Sky at all. I don’t understand much about where it is set, and its flavor seems incredibly “classic fantasy” - nothing really grabs me in the set or setting. I don’t get any desire to make a character for it.
That's odd. I can't find enough information about Throne of Night to get me interested. Is there something I'm missing? A player's guide that gives more information on what the campaign is actually about?
Both Zeitgeist and WoBS give plenty of details about the world, and I've heard enough to know that there are strange twists and turns.
@Oceanshieldwolf: While it seems like War of the Burning Sky is a classic fantasy setting on the surface, it's not quite like that. There's stuff like four elemental titans that govern the natural laws of the world, dreamspawned (and originally psionic!) aberrations that want to boil away the reality of the world to be free of the bonds of the flesh, the rare alchemagical art of biomancy, a small amount of military magitech (the penultimate book has a living airship!), and other things thrown into the mix.It also provides enough twists on classic fantasy tropes that few things feel like it was ripped straight out of Tolkien.
The AP itself has a strong theme, albeit one that some people may be weary of: fighting for freedom against an evil empire in a magical war. It definitely handles the concept of fighting a war better than first-party APs that take on that subject like Ironfang Invasion or Hell's Vengeance.
That's just my two cents on the subject. I know everyone has different opinions on things and maybe you don't see it the same way I do, but that's fine.
@Philo Pharynx: I don't think that McBride ever got around to writing up a player's guide for obvious reasons. That said, I can create something if we go with Throne of Night. It shouldn't be too much work since all I'd need to do is translate my notes into something coherent to the average person. I can provide some setting details right now, in fact, but I'm only going to hit on the high points to give you a feeling of the setting I built for it.
Since the version of Throne of Night we would use would be a general version with two slots that MUST be filled by a drow and a dwarf or deurgar (and the rest with whatever from the big race list I provided a few days ago), I'll be focusing a bit on the lore of those two races in this sample.
- Elves, consequently, were sidereal beings of the cosmos whose curiosity compelled them to assume mortal flesh and explore the material world in person. These ancient elves came in three varieties- Sun Elves, Moon Elves, and Star Elves- and were governed by the two greatest of their number: the Sun King whose true name was considered too holy to be uttered and Ariashnee the Moonweaver.
- A war with creatures from beyond the Void- aboleths, beholders, mind flayers, and worse- took place in ancient times and both elves and dwarves banded together to face these monstrosities and the serpentfolk who served their dark gods. The mortal races eventually claimed victory, but many of the dwarven pantheon's mortal forms died in the conflict and their souls ascended as ancestral gods. One small piece of a Void God settled into the upper reaches of the Azathyr in the aftermath of the conflict and became Xan-Zara, the fungal god-thing that would give birth to the Xan.
- The Firstborn who were slain in that ancient conflict were entombed in the holy tomb-city of Marrikar that was built by the dwarves in the crystalline World Womb itself. The stone sarcophogi holding the Firtborn, fashioned to appear as the Firstborn themselves sitting on regal thrones, would regularly weep golden tears of blood as divine gifts to the dwarven priests. These liquid miracles were used in sacred rune magic.
- In the aftermath of the Void Wars, one of the surviving Firstborn who would become known as Kordin the Betrayer sought immortality and the dark power of the Void. He and a small cadre of like-minded Firstborn that would become known as the Betrayer Gods whispered to some of their mortal children, allied with the sinister long-lost third tribe of the caligni that worshipped a demon goddess of broken dimensions and planar conjunctions, and manipulated the kind-hearted and intensely magical moon elves into aiding them in a ritual at the heart of the holy tomb-city of Marrikar, nestled as it was at the nexus of a tangle of powerful leylines. This ritual of dark apotheosis succeeded in turning the Betrayer Gods into living deities without the death of their flesh and granted them the dark powers of the Void, but it came at a cost: a permanent tear opened to the Void and the once-holy city was corrupted its foul magics. The sarcophogi of the Firstborn would no longer weep tears of blessed golden blood, but a foul Black Ichor (the Black Blood, for those who need a Golarion equivalent) that flooded through the streets in a deluge and left the city of place of desecration, defilement, and death. The moon elves who had been tricked into aiding the ritual fled, although many fell to the Black Ichor and the surge of Void beasts. The dwarves who willingly aided in the ritual became the first deurgar. It was this, the Great Betrayal, that led to the once-amicable relations between elves and dwarves souring.
- The Sun King learned of what the moon elves had done and prepared to burn them away in the sun's fury for inadvertantly bringing their ancient enemies back into the world. It was only through the pleas of his wife Ariashnee the Moonweaver that the moon elves were spared total annihilation. But the Sun King's wrath wasn't quenched and so he banished them into the depths of the Azathyr far from his gaze. The Exodus of the Forsaken Sun took its toll on the bedraggled surviving moon elves and they lingered on the brink of extinction until Ariashnee made the choice to sacrifice her life and give her children a chance at survival in the dark depths of the earth. But Ariashnee's attempted martyrdom did not lead to her death because the fervent prayers of the moon elves sustained her even as the outward flow of her divine power left her on the brink of death. The moon elves, who would eventually become the drow, became fanatical zealots who sought to conquer the Azathyr in the name of the Moonweaver and build an empire to rival that of their now-hated surface brethren.
- The drow became mighty during the Era of the Moonweaver's Plenty and their empire stretched over half of the Azathyr's entirety. Few could challenge the power or authority granted to them through the Moonweaver's sacrifice and they built their capital of Taarysia near the shores of the Sunless Sea before using their magic to open portals to the lower planes and make pacts with fiends of all kinds. During this time, the constant ebb and flow of slumbering Ariashnee's power began to drive her mad and she began issuing conflicting dream visions that ended up leading the fanatical drow into a great civil war that tore their empire asunder. Eventually Ariashnee's madness would subside and she would wake up from her divine coma, still shrouded in the webs of the great spiders who wove webs to cradle her during the long centuries she slept. It was then that she chose the original eight Queen's Claws whom she granted authority over one of the great spheres of magic (the traditional magic schools) and renamed her wayward children as the drow. While the drow have yet to reclaim the entirety of the empire they lost during the War of Conflicting Revelations, they have managed to rise back up to being one of the Azathyr's greatest powers.
- The dwarves of Dammerhall, having felt the loss of Marrikar most intently and desiring to cleanse the once-holy resting place of their gods from the taint of the Void, banded together some of its fnest warriors and launched a series of expeditions into the World Womb at the heart of the Azathyr. These were known as the Heldelve Crusades and it was during this time that the dwarves made many of their advancements in war and technology. Runic craftsmen forged great mechanical siege golems, the Crystal Sages of Maran Stone-Mother crafted intricate crystalline contraptions drenched in powerful dweomers, and these were just the start. This age of war and technology led to such technology being used in more civilian environments as well: levitating elevators powered by cerulean magical crystals made transportation between the Ten Great Halls of Dammerhall much easier, children of wealthy clan leaders would sometimes be gifted tiny clockwork golems as pets and companions, etc. Even enshrouded in the brutal Heldelve Crusades as it was, dwarven society experienced a boom at this time.
- The time of prosperity that the dwarves would experience during the Heldelve Crusades would eventually come to an end. Emboldened by their advancements in technology, the dwarves of Dammerhall decided to delve even deeper into the World Womb and end the Heldelve Crusades for good. Untold thousands of dwarven warriors were emptied out of Dammerhall and left to purify and reclaim Marrikar, an act which left their capital exposed to an ancient enemy, the wicked daughter of the evil dragon queen Castoryx. Spurred on by greed, pride, and a grudge against Ardin the Gilded Slayer for her mother's death, the dragon enacted her centuries-long scheme. She approached the youngest son of Dammerhall's king in a mortal guise and preyed on the envy, ambition, and desire for power that lurked deep in his heart and seduced him, giving birth to dragonblighted monsters that fully matured within the course of a year and would serve as her vanguard. And then the trap was sprung. Hordes of dragonblighted monstrosites besieged Dammerhall from without while Baylen the Traitor Prince opened the gates and allowed the evil dragon to enter Dammerhall. When the dwarves tried to use their runic golems and clockwork servants to fight off the dragon's forces, they were slaughtered by their own creations thanks to months of subtle changes in the magical runes that were secretly inscribed by the Traitor Prince. In the end, Dammerhall fell and only the Sacred Grove of the Gleaming Tree at the heart of Dammerhall proved inpenetrable to the invaders, guarded as it was by divinely-crafted golems and the spectral dwarven warriors of the Stoneshade Legion who swore an oath long ago to defend the site of their race's birth from all threats for all time. Scattered survivors of the dwarves sought refuge on the surface and fell into despair.
- And now for more modern happenings! The last dwarven High King of Dammerhall breathed his last on the surface a few months before the campaign would begin and made it his dying wish that his kingdom be reclaimed so that his people may once more have a home. It was around this time that House Vytharia fell in Taarysia after an internal act of treachery at the hands of the Second Daughter and its surviving members were sold into slavery.
As for what the adventures entail, I'll fall back on one of McBride's old posts to explain the stuff for the last four adventures. The two published adventures already have synopses of their own.
After the events of Book Two, the PCs should have discovered a route to the lost dwarven city of Dammerhall. They discover that road is hidden and concealed behind a living secret door that is as much a golem as it a method of passage. They must discover how to get past it by demonstrating their worthiness either by honest deed or dark deception.
They discover even before they enter the city that they are not the only ones interested in the goings on in the city. An agent of death, a psychopomp, has been sent to this plane of existence to track down the so-called King of Dammerhall, a corrupt dwarf of the old city who has achieved immortality using forbidden magic and dark pacts. She can be either a useful ally or a deadly enemy, but she definitely has her own agenda and the PCs must tread carefully around her.
Finally the PCs discover the gates of Dammerhall and thus begins the overwhelming bulk of the adventure – a dwarven city exploration sandbox. There are dozens of points of interest, dangerous creatures and secrets to discover. There is great wealth, the potential to become the rightful high king of the dwarves and a deadly deathless enemy who wields a frightful weapon crafted by the dwarves of old at the full height of their power and craft.
As the book ends, the PCs may either reestablish a thriving dwarven city with them as its rulers or plunder this hulk for the wealth necessary to build an army to expand their ever-growing underworld empire.
Book Four: City of Night
The PCs either learn of the threat of a nearby drow city, Taaryssia, or perhaps bring their plans to get revenge against the queen of the drow who banished them to fruition. The journey to the city is not without is perils, but they pale compared to the countless dangers within this haven of evil. The drow city is a roiling cauldron of intrigue and treachery. Five drow nobles house vie for control of the city. The PCs (if they’re drow) likely come from the destroyed sixth house. Each house proudly wears amulets made of mithral and various gemstones to show their allegiances.
For dwarves, infiltration is possible, but you must always be wary of capture. If the drow capture you, they may force you into fight in their deadly arena. Is there any way to escape or will you die for the pleasure of debauched dark elf masters? Can you even rise to become a champion of the arena, earning a personal audience with the Queen herself?
Who can you trust? Which houses truly desires to see the queen deposed? Everyone has an agenda and the PCs must navigate this web of intrigue if they are to survive in this deadly city of the dark elves.
And perhaps even worse, the city is not populated merely by the elves. Taaryssia is a nexus of worlds. Portals open to multiple layers of the abyss and to other more esoteric planes of existence. Even the drow nobility of the city has crossbred heavily with demons and one of the houses is guided by a sinister marilith who may become friend or foe depending upon how she feels the PCs can serve her needs.
And finally after negotiating its countless dangers and discovering its many secrets, there lies the queen herself. This merciless monarch of the drow will not easily give up her power to upstart challengers. And if she is not stopped, she will soon raise an army that could crush the fledgling empire that the PCs have been growing.
Book Five: Sailors on a Sunless Sea
With Taaryssia dealt with either by war, assassination or alliance, the PCs began to realize that they may face an enemy greater than either drow or corrupted dwarves. Caravans start to go missing. Reports of strange aberrations appearing in the depths come to their attention. And everywhere there are dark omens that something of terrible magical power is awakening the deepest depths of the earth. To find out more and to reach these rarely visited depths, the PCs must cross the great Sunless Sea.
What soon becomes apparent is that the Sunless Sea is not one sea, but many, each with its own unique character -- a great subterranean network of waterways, dark islands and flooded caves. Some portions are shrouded in mists. Other seas boil like a hot cauldron over a ceaseless fire. Some are the domain of monsters never dreamed of by the sunlit realms.
There are strange tribes of weird creatures rarely even heard of by the those who dwell above. The PCs must conquer them either by guile or by force if they are make this epic underworld journey across the sunless sea.
And as they make this journey, their true enemy comes closer into view – a dark enemy below with horrid designs upon the realms above. These waters are not merely the home of monsters. This is the domain of the fearsome aboleth and they do not tolerate outsiders.
Book Six: Dark Dynasty
In the deepest depths, the underworld grows strange indeed. The creatures here are utterly alien, bizarre and malevolent.
The PCs began to learn that their ultimate enemy plots nothing less than dimming the sun so that their dominion can extend across all the world. It is a plan that they have already carried out on other worlds and their work on this one grows close to completion.
Finally, the PCs get to infiltrate the aboleth city only to learn that even the aboleth are only lesser servitors. They must navigate the non-Euclidian architecture of this timeless place and find the great engine that will be the agent of untold havoc. Will the PCs heroically save the world from annihilation or take control of the Sunkiller and use it to extend their own dark dynasty across the face of the world? Are they saviors of legend or will they be conquerors of a world cast into unending darkness?
And finally the ultimate enemy is discovered – a horror from another world intent on making this world its own. Even the aboleth were only pawns of this transdimensional terror. How can anyone hope to oppose this mighty creature?
Does all that help give you an idea about Throne of Night? My versions of some of the adventures may be a little different, such as book six having the players journey from the aboleth city to the defiled dwarven capital of Marrikar where the true enemy of the AP dwells amidst a tomb-city drowned in corrupted godblood, alien horrors from the Void tear, and the twisted remains of the countless moon elves and dwarves who have died over the millennia and risen as unholy mockeries of their former selves. Or in book three having players take on not only the Traitor Prince, but the evil dragon he made a pact with as well. But the official rundowns I found online are generally something I followed pretty closely when creating the rest of the AP.
Throne of Night sounds awesome, but so does War of the Burning Sky. Ever since reading the Malazan books (and also The Black Company) I've often wondered about running or playing in a game where all the players are conscripted into the army and it seems War of the Burning Sky would scratch that itch.
That writeup does make Throne of Night sound pretty cool (though I haven't personally read up on WoBS significantly). Would the new Polished Dark Sphere be allowed? Because a Drow themed game seems like a good excuse to mess with that (assuming I don't decide to mess with either Tinker or Void Conduit Summoner, instead).
@Pasha, you're really not making it easy to state a preference. :) Both adventure paths still sound amazing! When I saw your post declaring it was War of the Burning Sky I started polishing my character ideas again with enthusiasm, and then when you changed your mind I went back to the other one with equal enthusiasm. :)
@Philo Pharynx: Oh and there's a few other things I want to throw out there if my last post didn't suffice in capturing your interest.
- The evil dragon queen Castoryx I mentioned actually has three children. Vaeranyxxa the Flame of Ruin is the dragon who sacked Dammerhall and now uses it as her lair and she is a creature that exults in corruption, wickedness, and desolation. Kholvarrexx the Destroyer was the mightiest of Castoryx's children, but had a strange sort of warrior's honor that led to him serving as a protector of Marrikar after he and his mother's defeat as a show of respect to the Gilded Slayer himself. He was there when the Black Ichor drowned the city following the Great Betrayal and hasn't been heard from since. Syrexxina the Sunless Leviathan was the most mysterious and alien of Castoryx's brood and never displayed any hostilities towards the dwarves, preferring instead to drift through the Sunless Sea, shape the aquatic societies there, and peer into other worlds with her moon-pale eyes.
- Serpentfolk society and, by proxy, the traditional society of their yuan-ti slaves, is divided into social castes that are identified by the colors their ancestors chose to represent them. The Green Society are brutal warriors who idolize Sa-Heloth the God-King's ancient campaigns of conquest and believe in reviving the glory of their empire through military means. The Blue Society are mystics and arcanists who pay homage to the ascended King Kohandra the Bloody and seek to control the world through the discovery of the Primordial Magics and taking control over the leylines of the Azathyr. The Red Society is draped in debauchery and hedonism and follow the path of Shaylissa the Sibilant Queen, seeking a path to power through the manipulation and fulfillment of desires. The necromancers of the Yellow Society have long meditated on the otherworldly secrets of the Script of the Ancients and its alien words have instilled a deep and abiding madness into them, leaving many with delusions of ruling a great empire of death and decay. Those without a caste- degenerate serpentfolk with near-animal intelligence, the rare freed yuan-ti, and outcasts from the other societies- have united under the newly-formed White Society that seeks self-preservation at all costs and the destruction of the other castes.
- The Throlom I mentioned in the bit about races a few posts ago are beetle-like humanoids whose ancient culture was fixated on a pseudo-religious cycle of death, reincarnation, and paradise. Members of the race universally crafted porcelain-white funerary masks that they wore in public at all times and which would be taken from their faces upon death to adorn the Wall of Masks, which members of the race would pray to and commune with. Each throlom, it was believed, lived six lives (for the number was sacred to them) and each 'molting' of a past life brought their 'Oversoul' closer to the Promised Paradise of Norviss'Qul, a peaceful eternity where every wish became reality and they would live as benevolent gods. Perhaps you remember me mentioning that they are based on the Entobian race by Alluria and that remains true, with the different evolutions they could go through having deeply symbolic meanings that, it was said, reflected their Oversoul's evolving form. This pseudo-religion remains even to this day despite the horrors that their servitor race of mantids perpetrated against them, although no oracles have been able partake of the supernal nectars of the otherworldly flowers that once granted them deeper insights into the workings of the cosmos since the downfall of their kingdom. Light is a sacred thing to the Throlom and represents the path to paradise.
- High King Okarm Ettek of the deurgar is a study in contradictions. While he very much is a stone-hearted tyrant that rules with an iron fist, he is also a deeply traditional figure who honors both the Betrayer Gods and their Firstborn brethren and is fairly reasonable by deugar standards, willing to hear out those who do not actively stand in his way or impede the progress of his people. His fortress-city of Graumhalla is one of the largest and most metropolitan of all cities in the Azathyr, rivalled only by the dark jewel of Taarysia, the caligni capital of Izamne, and the ruins of once-great Dammerhall. The king's opening of Glaumhalla's doors to the many races and faiths of the Azathyr as a means of facilitating trade has started something of a growing underground rebellion of deurgar supremacists that seek to undermine his rule, something which the king has brutally suppressed thus far by crucifying and burning alive any who dare to challenge his authority.
- The Stoneshade Legion I mentioned in my previous post has its roots in ancient dwarven tradition. Membership in the Stoneshade Legion was completely voluntary and those who joined were formally divested of any clan authority and duties they possessed. It was common for those who had committed great acts of shame and dishonor to join the Legion as a means of recovering honor for both themselves and that of their clan. Legionnaires had their heads shaved and tattooed with powerful magical runes that bound their souls to the stones of Dammerhall after death, preventing them from moving on to whatever reward or punishment awaited them in the otherworld. Great funerals were held for members and their families were given a chance at one last farewell, often being allowed to offer them a single gift that they could take with them to their eternal vigil. These warriors protected the Sacred Grove of the Gleaming Tree alongside divine golems of astounding power and that holy site is the only part of Dammerhall that hasn't fallen to Baelyn or Vaeranyxxa's forces in the last two centuries.
@FangDragon: I can see how it would kinda fulfill that fantasy. Granted, the PCs are largely independent of any army until key moments later in the AP when the BIG clashes start, but the idea is similar enough.
@ChrisAsmadi: I've never heard of the Polished Dark Sphere, shockingly enough. I'd be willing to give it a lookover if we go with Throne of Night!
@eriktd: Ha! See my conundrum? They're both SUPER sick campaign ideas and I don't really know which I prefer. Like I said before, it's like being a parent and someone asking them to pick which kid is their favorite.
That writeup does make Throne of Night sound pretty cool (though I haven't personally read up on WoBS significantly). Would the new Polished Dark Sphere be allowed? Because a Drow themed game seems like a good excuse to mess with that (assuming I don't decide to mess with either Tinker or Void Conduit Summoner, instead).
@ChrisAsmadi: I've never heard of the Polished Dark Sphere, shockingly enough. I'd be willing to give it a lookover if we go with Throne of Night!
Even without Throne of the Night, I have to echo Polished Dark support. Diamond Recrational Studios are developers from Drop Dead Studios who aren't quite happy with the current state of the studio and Spheres in PF1, so is releasing new material for it, including Polished Dark, and most likely more Polished material in the future.
For the record, one of the biggest developers of DRS and Polished Dark in particular, is known as Rex, very active on the Discord and the main developer behind the Tinker Sphere.
The ToN setting information does help, as does knowing that it's going to be mixed underdark races. I still prefer WoBS, but I have e better grasp of what we're doing for ToN.
With a mixed group for ToN, I take it we're probably going for morally grey? Something where we're not actively sacrificing children to demon goddesses, but we're not going to turn the other cheek either.
Oh, and are you going to use elephant in the room?
Hmmm, with that background I'm not as opposed to Throne of Night. At least it sounds like the drow aren't as... well, stupidly self-destructive evil as the Forgotten Realms ones are.
@Pasha - hmm, conscripts in a military is actually a fantastic way to bond character parties. In my current IRL game I expressly made the players form a military unit with the most experienced player the sergeant captain (former captain was killed/already dead in initial scene where we started mid-combat) so we can a) have a useful chain of command and b) have interesting roleplay of the issues this likely causes…
So…slightly more interested in Burning Sky. All that other setting stuff still sounds like classic fantasy to me. ;)
Do we have an expected ETA on the final recruitment? No rush, I'm just wondering.
@Fury of the Tempest: Wait, THEY are the ones behind that studio?! Awesome! I'll definitely have to check that out then, because Tinker is hella fun to play.
@Almonihah: Oh don't get me wrong, drow society is still thoroughly Machiavellan and evil, they're just not as moronic with it as the 'typical' drow. Their shared sense of pride in their race, culture, and pantheon curtail the most self-destructive behaviors, even if they do sometimes implode.
@Oceanshieldwolf: Oh no, there's no chain of command for most of the AP and when there IS a chain of command, they're higher up on it.
@Philo Pharynx: Not yet, unfortunately. I've been putting my nose to the grindstone trying to pick a party for my Coliseum Morpheuon game, honestly. There are so many excellent characters that I'm already feeling guilty knowing that some are going to be left out in the cold. I've got all but one slot filled and that last one is something I've decided that I will pick tomorrow even if I have to leave it all to the luck of the dice. Once I finish that up, I'm hoping to have an answer for you all in the following few days.
Morally grey is probably a decent goal to shoot for with Throne of Night.
Yes to Elephant in the Room, yes so very much! Love that houserule.
@Fury of the Tempest: Wait, THEY are the ones behind that studio?! Awesome! I'll definitely have to check that out then, because Tinker is hella fun to play.
Rex and Hydronz do seem to be the main people behind DRS, yeah. I think there might be others, and I'm not entirely sure what Hydronz worked on as part of DDS, but Rex absolutely was one of the main developers of the Tinker Sphere, that much I can say for certain.