Creating my own homebrew world [Archive] - Wizards Community

Creating my own homebrew world [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Light_Colonel
05-22-07, 02:57 PM I suppose I am just using the forum as a sounding board for the overall tone and setting of the campaign concept. Please tell me what you think.

The world of Gyr'daan:

Some key concepts:
No Common languages - Specifically, the languages of Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, etc. will be replaced with national languages of the various regions of the main continent. In place of the "freebie" language of common, there will be (3) languages; battle-speech, trader speech and arcanix. You recieve a specific one on a class by class basis, so hybrid classes recieve a bonus in the form of an extra language. These 3 languages are useful only in situations appropriate to them, thus battle speech is only useful for shouting orders and setting up tactical movements, trade speech is only useful for buying and selling goods, and arcanix is only useful for discussing specific aspects of magic. These languages are a corrupted version of Ancient Gyr'daanian, which can eventually be learned if one speaks the 3 lesser versions, has a high enough Knowledge skill and then spends the requisite skill points on learning the language.

Dragons are different:
Gyr'daanian Dragons are significantly different from other worlds concept of dragons. On Gyr'daan the dragons were enslaved long ago and since their release have become utterly feral and lack the high intelligence of their contemporaries from other worlds.

Thus, all dragons have the Feral template and lose all spellcasting ability. Also, due to inbreeding between the species, no two dragons are identical and come in a wide variety of colors and appearances. (I have a rather large random generation table for a dragons color and appearance) I am working on coming up with a "basic" dragon to then apply the various random modifiers to. (I think my basic idea at this point is to sit down and average out the stats of every dragon, add the feral template and call it a day)

Humans are despised -
One of the most fundamental changes, I think, is that humans are utterly hated by virtually all races. The Gyr'daan were a race of powerful humans who, in the now distant past, enslaved all other races to be their servants. The Empire of the Gyr'daan forms the backdrop of the entire campaign.

The Gyr'daan were incredibly advanced, having conquered their world as well all neighboring planets. (light spelljamming will be included in the history, not necessarily in the actual campaign) They also kidnapped races from other planes to serve them.

An outside, alien race (possibly neogis, mind flayers, beholders or all of the above or something totally new) had designs to conquer the Empire of Gyr'daan, but lacked the military might to attack directly, so they fomented rebellion among the slave races assisting them with magical aid and some troops, eventually heading into full scale open war with the Empire.

Epic battles, space fleets, planets destroyed, all this and more. In the end the aliens were defeated, but the Gyr'daan military was basically crushed as well. The rebellion eventually suceeded, throwing the Empire into collapse.

The various elements of the rebellion had initially vowed to create a benevolent and just society, but eventually came to war with each other over power.

After the final battle at the Imperial capital, each faction took the children of the Emperor and the noble houses and hastily married them into their own ruling factions, to give the appearance of legitimacy.

That was over 500 years before the the setting of the campaign. The war for the throne lasted most of those 500 years and most of the surviving members of the royal bloodline were either killed or forgotten.

(An eventual outcome I am hoping for is that one of the PCs will turn out to be the true heir to the throne)

10 years BC (Before Campaign :D) a peace accord was settled upon, each faction having finally lost their ardor for battle after a great battle between all the factions killed the best and strongest of all sides.

What is left of the world is a single massive continent. (Though there are known to be other continents, they are unexplored however) It is battered and wrecked, virtually drowned in blood of long years of war.

The war has also stripped the world of a majority of technology. Skills like the creation of sailing ships. These technologies are being slowly re-learned, but at the cost of a new type of warfare - espionage. Each faction has set about re-learning past skills, and each sends agents against the other, hoping to learn what the others know and steal and/or destroy the knowledge others have gained.

It is a very paranoid world. The current level of technology, as the campaign unfolds, is the knowledge of building sailing ships. That is one of the first re-learned techs, but certainly not the last.

Magical espionage is of course done, however counter magics are equally applied and most of the factions are too paranoid to use their few spellcasters directly for these missions.

Magic is as common as it would be in most campaigns, however most of the factions keep a tight leash on their spellcasters, pressing them into state service as quickly as possible.

I have more, but for now that is all I have time for today.
Light_Colonel
05-22-07, 02:57 PM On character creation and world development:

I am pretty much an anything goes DM, so virtually all classes and races will be open to the players, within reason. Obviously I will disallow/heavily modify things that are obviously broken. (e.g. Hulking Hurler, Pun-Pun etc.)

Since the basic premise of the world assumes that there is a lack of "Heroes" (i.e. high level people), my overall plan is to have several different companies of mercenaries, adventurers, military units and the like that the PCs may or may not enounter or hear about who will be "leveling" up concurrently with the PCs.

While there will be high level NPCs that run around the world, most of them will not become directly involved in situations for fear of leaving their usual places unguarded or for fear of setting off a new war.

I want to map out/plan out large sections of the world itself, but not too much... that is to say I want set up events that are happening and will happen over time, but the PCs through their actions will influence and change the world.

I want to create as much of a living, breathing world as possible (though I suspect we all do :) ) that is a unique and fresh D&D experience.
queenfange
05-22-07, 03:06 PM I like what you've done with Common and humans, and look forward to hearing more!
taradusis
05-24-07, 04:50 PM Consider having all dragons being one color at birth and their alignment affects color and abilities?EX. A gold dragon breeds with a silver dragon and one of their children becomes a red dragon and kills his father.An alignment altering device could convert a good dragon into a bad one,this could be an adventure hook?RANDOM THOUGHT.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Light_Colonel 05-22-07, 02:57 PM	I suppose I am just using the forum as a sounding board for the overall tone and setting of the campaign concept. Please tell me what you think. The world of Gyr'daan: Some key concepts: No Common languages - Specifically, the languages of Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, etc. will be replaced with national languages of the various regions of the main continent. In place of the "freebie" language of common, there will be (3) languages; battle-speech, trader speech and arcanix. You recieve a specific one on a class by class basis, so hybrid classes recieve a bonus in the form of an extra language. These 3 languages are useful only in situations appropriate to them, thus battle speech is only useful for shouting orders and setting up tactical movements, trade speech is only useful for buying and selling goods, and arcanix is only useful for discussing specific aspects of magic. These languages are a corrupted version of Ancient Gyr'daanian, which can eventually be learned if one speaks the 3 lesser versions, has a high enough Knowledge skill and then spends the requisite skill points on learning the language. Dragons are different: Gyr'daanian Dragons are significantly different from other worlds concept of dragons. On Gyr'daan the dragons were enslaved long ago and since their release have become utterly feral and lack the high intelligence of their contemporaries from other worlds. Thus, all dragons have the Feral template and lose all spellcasting ability. Also, due to inbreeding between the species, no two dragons are identical and come in a wide variety of colors and appearances. (I have a rather large random generation table for a dragons color and appearance) I am working on coming up with a "basic" dragon to then apply the various random modifiers to. (I think my basic idea at this point is to sit down and average out the stats of every dragon, add the feral template and call it a day) Humans are despised - One of the most fundamental changes, I think, is that humans are utterly hated by virtually all races. The Gyr'daan were a race of powerful humans who, in the now distant past, enslaved all other races to be their servants. The Empire of the Gyr'daan forms the backdrop of the entire campaign. The Gyr'daan were incredibly advanced, having conquered their world as well all neighboring planets. (light spelljamming will be included in the history, not necessarily in the actual campaign) They also kidnapped races from other planes to serve them. An outside, alien race (possibly neogis, mind flayers, beholders or all of the above or something totally new) had designs to conquer the Empire of Gyr'daan, but lacked the military might to attack directly, so they fomented rebellion among the slave races assisting them with magical aid and some troops, eventually heading into full scale open war with the Empire. Epic battles, space fleets, planets destroyed, all this and more. In the end the aliens were defeated, but the Gyr'daan military was basically crushed as well. The rebellion eventually suceeded, throwing the Empire into collapse. The various elements of the rebellion had initially vowed to create a benevolent and just society, but eventually came to war with each other over power. After the final battle at the Imperial capital, each faction took the children of the Emperor and the noble houses and hastily married them into their own ruling factions, to give the appearance of legitimacy. That was over 500 years before the the setting of the campaign. The war for the throne lasted most of those 500 years and most of the surviving members of the royal bloodline were either killed or forgotten. (An eventual outcome I am hoping for is that one of the PCs will turn out to be the true heir to the throne) 10 years BC (Before Campaign :D) a peace accord was settled upon, each faction having finally lost their ardor for battle after a great battle between all the factions killed the best and strongest of all sides. What is left of the world is a single massive continent. (Though there are known to be other continents, they are unexplored however) It is battered and wrecked, virtually drowned in blood of long years of war. The war has also stripped the world of a majority of technology. Skills like the creation of sailing ships. These technologies are being slowly re-learned, but at the cost of a new type of warfare - espionage. Each faction has set about re-learning past skills, and each sends agents against the other, hoping to learn what the others know and steal and/or destroy the knowledge others have gained. It is a very paranoid world. The current level of technology, as the campaign unfolds, is the knowledge of building sailing ships. That is one of the first re-learned techs, but certainly not the last. Magical espionage is of course done, however counter magics are equally applied and most of the factions are too paranoid to use their few spellcasters directly for these missions. Magic is as common as it would be in most campaigns, however most of the factions keep a tight leash on their spellcasters, pressing them into state service as quickly as possible. I have more, but for now that is all I have time for today.
Light_Colonel 05-22-07, 02:57 PM	On character creation and world development: I am pretty much an anything goes DM, so virtually all classes and races will be open to the players, within reason. Obviously I will disallow/heavily modify things that are obviously broken. (e.g. Hulking Hurler, Pun-Pun etc.) Since the basic premise of the world assumes that there is a lack of "Heroes" (i.e. high level people), my overall plan is to have several different companies of mercenaries, adventurers, military units and the like that the PCs may or may not enounter or hear about who will be "leveling" up concurrently with the PCs. While there will be high level NPCs that run around the world, most of them will not become directly involved in situations for fear of leaving their usual places unguarded or for fear of setting off a new war. I want to map out/plan out large sections of the world itself, but not too much... that is to say I want set up events that are happening and will happen over time, but the PCs through their actions will influence and change the world. I want to create as much of a living, breathing world as possible (though I suspect we all do :) ) that is a unique and fresh D&D experience.
queenfange 05-22-07, 03:06 PM	I like what you've done with Common and humans, and look forward to hearing more!
taradusis 05-24-07, 04:50 PM	Consider having all dragons being one color at birth and their alignment affects color and abilities?EX. A gold dragon breeds with a silver dragon and one of their children becomes a red dragon and kills his father.An alignment altering device could convert a good dragon into a bad one,this could be an adventure hook?RANDOM THOUGHT.