Campaign Building - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Campaign Building

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Zelkon
Nov 13, 2011 8:42:01 Lets build a campaign together! No outlawing races or classes, but anything else is fair game. build a city, a country, a race, a theme, anything.
But first, let us alter the core assumtions.
Me first: Adventures are extrodenary: Not really. When the gods created the world, they started somthing called the Cycle. Every town recogize by the gods is gifted with Heroes or Villians, who are chosen at the age of 16 (for humans, other races at their 16 equivelent). Most towns have these. However, this does not mean that this is the only way for heroes to arise. In fact, invokers are never Heroes or Villians, and it is uncomon for a cleric, rouge, or artificer to be one.

Here is the info currently in the cannon.
Dragonborn were historicaly a seafaring warrior race who organized themselves into individual City-States and fought on land in large Heavily armored units of Infantry (Greeks basicaly). Some Dragonborn City-States still exist in modern time, often making money as mercenaries and Privateers working for other large civilizations.

On Orc skin
Despite their humanoid appearance, Orcs have a suprisingly different physiology than many other races. While the majority of their body is similar to other animals, their outer layers of skin and subcutaneous fat is more akin to symbiotic fungal tissue. In Orcish, this outer layer is known as the grn'sk. It is much more sensitive to changes in environment than other races and grn'sk is known to change colors easily between generations and sometimes even within an Orcs relatively short life span. Orcs will start or stop growing hair depending on the temperatures around, or produce an oily sweat to disperse heat if the temperature rises. This allows Orcs to live a much wider range of environments than most 'civilized' races do.

Need to put this in a spoiler but I don't know how.

In addition to being responsive to the physical environment, grn'sk is incredibly sensitive to pheromones and other airborne organic chemicals. Though it is usually unconscious, orcs actually 'feel' the moods of other creatures through their skin. This plays an important role in Orc social structure and behavior. The pheromone levels of an Orc tribe is a very strong indicator of the hierarchy of the tribe, and orcs can 'feel' who their superiors are instinctively. Through the high output of Fungal Pheromone Spores, dominant Orcs alter the chemical make up and structure of the grn'sk of other tribe members, infecting the grn'sk with the attributes of the dominant Orcs and making them more susceptible to influence. The rise of a powerful Orc can have an incredible impact not just on the political structure of a tribe but also on the biology of each individual tribe member.

The grn'sk is influenced by many of the more common pheromones released by other creatures, especially adrenaline and testosterone, and to some degree Orcs can size up the moods and stature of non-Orc individuals. The grn'sk will try to raise an Orc's levels of these hormones in response to sensing increases of them in the outside environment. In a groups of orcs, this phenomenon can turn a docile bunch into a rampaging warband in viscious feedback cycle of increasing hormone levels. Severe cases of this result in a Waaagh(See Orc Crusade or Horde march) in which differing tribes get swept up in the same intensity of emotion and storm across the countryside for days or weeks on end. It is not yet understood what causes these tribes to join together, even when in circumstances of longstanding animosity.

Scholars have noted that Orcs view the grn'sk as dual entity within them, consisting of two components: Grn and 'Sk. It must be mentioned that grn'sk is never presented as distinct from itself, but rather as two sides to coin. Grn is associated with the tribe, or lacking that, the social environment to which they belong, and is considered to be the dominant, aggressive aspect. 'Sk is associated with the individual, and is usually considered to be passive, giving aspect, though some claim dominant Orc chieftains and Warlords will emphasize it. Scholars cite that most Orcs will not claim ownership of their own skin, refering to grn'sk as belonging to the tribe, while some chieftains have allegedly claimed ownership of all their tribe's grn'sk. The word itself is used as both singular and plural, which makes it hard to understand what is claimed in these cases.

'Civilized' Orcs often find the influence of other Orcs to be too volatile and unpredictable to maintain an orderly life and are often loners. They will often set themselves apart by wearing excessive clothing or decorating their skin with tattoos and markings of their own design. In addition there is a significant market in Orcish musks, which are worn as much for their mood altering influence as their smell.

Author's Note: It should be noted that Orcs are almost always unaware of the senses offered by their grn'sk, and PCs should not gain any mechanical bonuses or penalties based on factors influencing grn'sk.
#2
yronimosw
Nov 13, 2011 12:58:52 Anything we can do to divert standard fantasy cliche's into new directions makes me happy.

My first contributions:

Race does not determine alignment: being born (for example) an Orc or Goblin or Jabberwock does not pre-destine any intelligent being to evil (similarly, being born an Orc, Goblin, Jabberwock, Human, Elf, or Dwarf does not predestine anyone to be good, either.)

(By "Jabberwock", I mean any race that would be generically evil monsters in a standard setting.)

Race does not automatically determine Class, Role, or Tech Level: being born (for example) a Jabberwock or Dwarf or Orc does not prevent a character from being a Monk, Paladin, Wizard, or whatever, and does not automatically doom a character to be a Noble Savage or other stereotype.

The Divine is a Mystery: even Clerics and Paladins may have moments of doubt where they may realistically wonder, "are there really any gods? Where did we come from, and where do we go when we die? Where does my 'divine' power really come from?"

TIP: to make things easier for contributers, I would recommend that any suggestions accepted as canon be added to the original post.

What Next? - some general questions for core assumptions for other contributers:

World Name: What is the name of the default world?

Core Races: Beyond the default D&D races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, etc.), what other core races are available?

Core Classes: Beyond the default D&D classes, what unique new classes and prestige classes are available?

Tech Level: What is the general technology level of the setting?

Monster Selection: What sort of variety of monsters is there on this world, and where did all the monsters come from?

#3
yellowdingo
Nov 15, 2011 17:18:03 Suggested World Names

Xenos meaning Foreigner - from the indoeuropean derivatives Sen (Seperate) + Os (Mouth) meaning 'Other Language'.

Geography
Mix in some Skyrealms of Journe, Hunger Games, and Jurassic Park and the PCs start out on Floating Islands in a sea of Mist but around third level they are expelled by the guy in charge who doesnt want them interfeering in his plans for unifying the region as an 'empire'. They are dumped down on the surface world with a wooden spear each in the middle of a field and attacked by Velociraptors.
#4
mestewart3
Nov 18, 2011 1:40:36 Dragonborn were historicaly a seafaring warrior race who organized themselves into individual City-States and fought on land in large Heavily armored units of Infantry (Greeks basicaly). Some Dragonborn City-States still exist in modern time, often making money as mercenaries and Privateers working for other large civilizations.

#5
yellowdingo
Nov 19, 2011 4:19:58 Avatar (Au-at-ar): This is an indoeuropean concept describing an individual 'who journies to be made whole'. This implies the emergence of an adventuring caste who at a certain point in their life seek to travel to heal themselves spiritually. This would be an ideal concept to combine with the idea that the gods have arranged for things to be cyclic in nature with regard to the rise and fall of heroes and villains. If all these people are journeying to heal themselves spiritually then they are comming into conflict with one another.
#6
theapokalypseshovel
Nov 21, 2011 0:59:57 On Orc skin
Despite their humanoid appearance, Orcs have a suprisingly different physiology than many other races. While the majority of their body is similar to other animals, their outer layers of skin and subcutaneous fat is more akin to symbiotic fungal tissue. In Orcish, this outer layer is known as the grn'sk. It is much more sensitive to changes in environment than other races and grn'sk is known to change colors easily between generations and sometimes even within an Orcs relatively short life span. Orcs will start or stop growing hair depending on the temperatures around, or produce an oily sweat to disperse heat if the temperature rises. This allows Orcs to live a much wider range of environments than most 'civilized' races do.

In addition to being responsive to the physical environment, grn'sk is incredibly sensitive to pheromones and other airborne organic chemicals. Though it is usually unconscious, orcs actually 'feel' the moods of other creatures through their skin. This plays an important role in Orc social structure and behavior. The pheromone levels of an Orc tribe is a very strong indicator of the hierarchy of the tribe, and orcs can 'feel' who their superiors are instinctively. Through the high output of Fungal Pheromone Spores, dominant Orcs alter the chemical make up and structure of the grn'sk of other tribe members, infecting the grn'sk with the attributes of the dominant Orcs and making them more susceptible to influence. The rise of a powerful Orc can have an incredible impact not just on the political structure of a tribe but also on the biology of each individual tribe member.

The grn'sk is influenced by many of the more common pheromones released by other creatures, especially adrenaline and testosterone, and to some degree Orcs can size up the moods and stature of non-Orc individuals. The grn'sk will try to raise an Orc's levels of these hormones in response to sensing increases of them in the outside environment. In a groups of orcs, this phenomenon can turn a docile bunch into a rampaging warband in viscious feedback cycle of increasing hormone levels. Severe cases of this result in a Waaagh(See Orc Crusade or Horde march) in which differing tribes get swept up in the same intensity of emotion and storm across the countryside for days or weeks on end. It is not yet understood what causes these tribes to join together, even when in circumstances of longstanding animosity.

Scholars have noted that Orcs view the grn'sk as dual entity within them, consisting of two components: Grn and 'Sk. It must be mentioned that grn'sk is never presented as distinct from itself, but rather as two sides to coin. Grn is associated with the tribe, or lacking that, the social environment to which they belong, and is considered to be the dominant, aggressive aspect. 'Sk is associated with the individual, and is usually considered to be passive, giving aspect, though some claim dominant Orc chieftains and Warlords will emphasize it. Scholars cite that most Orcs will not claim ownership of their own skin, refering to grn'sk as belonging to the tribe, while some chieftains have allegedly claimed ownership of all their tribe's grn'sk. The word itself is used as both singular and plural, which makes it hard to understand what is claimed in these cases.

'Civilized' Orcs often find the influence of other Orcs to be too volatile and unpredictable to maintain an orderly life and are often loners. They will often set themselves apart by wearing excessive clothing or decorating their skin with tattoos and markings of their own design. In addition there is a significant market in Orcish musks, which are worn as much for their mood altering influence as their smell.

Author's Note: It should be noted that Orcs are almost always unaware of the senses offered by their grn'sk, and PCs should not gain any mechanical bonuses or penalties based on factors influencing grn'sk.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Zelkon Nov 13, 2011 8:42:01	Lets build a campaign together! No outlawing races or classes, but anything else is fair game. build a city, a country, a race, a theme, anything. But first, let us alter the core assumtions. Me first: Adventures are extrodenary: Not really. When the gods created the world, they started somthing called the Cycle. Every town recogize by the gods is gifted with Heroes or Villians, who are chosen at the age of 16 (for humans, other races at their 16 equivelent). Most towns have these. However, this does not mean that this is the only way for heroes to arise. In fact, invokers are never Heroes or Villians, and it is uncomon for a cleric, rouge, or artificer to be one. Here is the info currently in the cannon. Dragonborn were historicaly a seafaring warrior race who organized themselves into individual City-States and fought on land in large Heavily armored units of Infantry (Greeks basicaly). Some Dragonborn City-States still exist in modern time, often making money as mercenaries and Privateers working for other large civilizations. On Orc skin Despite their humanoid appearance, Orcs have a suprisingly different physiology than many other races. While the majority of their body is similar to other animals, their outer layers of skin and subcutaneous fat is more akin to symbiotic fungal tissue. In Orcish, this outer layer is known as the grn'sk. It is much more sensitive to changes in environment than other races and grn'sk is known to change colors easily between generations and sometimes even within an Orcs relatively short life span. Orcs will start or stop growing hair depending on the temperatures around, or produce an oily sweat to disperse heat if the temperature rises. This allows Orcs to live a much wider range of environments than most 'civilized' races do. Need to put this in a spoiler but I don't know how. In addition to being responsive to the physical environment, grn'sk is incredibly sensitive to pheromones and other airborne organic chemicals. Though it is usually unconscious, orcs actually 'feel' the moods of other creatures through their skin. This plays an important role in Orc social structure and behavior. The pheromone levels of an Orc tribe is a very strong indicator of the hierarchy of the tribe, and orcs can 'feel' who their superiors are instinctively. Through the high output of Fungal Pheromone Spores, dominant Orcs alter the chemical make up and structure of the grn'sk of other tribe members, infecting the grn'sk with the attributes of the dominant Orcs and making them more susceptible to influence. The rise of a powerful Orc can have an incredible impact not just on the political structure of a tribe but also on the biology of each individual tribe member. The grn'sk is influenced by many of the more common pheromones released by other creatures, especially adrenaline and testosterone, and to some degree Orcs can size up the moods and stature of non-Orc individuals. The grn'sk will try to raise an Orc's levels of these hormones in response to sensing increases of them in the outside environment. In a groups of orcs, this phenomenon can turn a docile bunch into a rampaging warband in viscious feedback cycle of increasing hormone levels. Severe cases of this result in a Waaagh(See Orc Crusade or Horde march) in which differing tribes get swept up in the same intensity of emotion and storm across the countryside for days or weeks on end. It is not yet understood what causes these tribes to join together, even when in circumstances of longstanding animosity. Scholars have noted that Orcs view the grn'sk as dual entity within them, consisting of two components: Grn and 'Sk. It must be mentioned that grn'sk is never presented as distinct from itself, but rather as two sides to coin. Grn is associated with the tribe, or lacking that, the social environment to which they belong, and is considered to be the dominant, aggressive aspect. 'Sk is associated with the individual, and is usually considered to be passive, giving aspect, though some claim dominant Orc chieftains and Warlords will emphasize it. Scholars cite that most Orcs will not claim ownership of their own skin, refering to grn'sk as belonging to the tribe, while some chieftains have allegedly claimed ownership of all their tribe's grn'sk. The word itself is used as both singular and plural, which makes it hard to understand what is claimed in these cases. 'Civilized' Orcs often find the influence of other Orcs to be too volatile and unpredictable to maintain an orderly life and are often loners. They will often set themselves apart by wearing excessive clothing or decorating their skin with tattoos and markings of their own design. In addition there is a significant market in Orcish musks, which are worn as much for their mood altering influence as their smell. Author's Note: It should be noted that Orcs are almost always unaware of the senses offered by their grn'sk, and PCs should not gain any mechanical bonuses or penalties based on factors influencing grn'sk.
#2 yronimosw Nov 13, 2011 12:58:52	Anything we can do to divert standard fantasy cliche's into new directions makes me happy. My first contributions: Race does not determine alignment: being born (for example) an Orc or Goblin or Jabberwock does not pre-destine any intelligent being to evil (similarly, being born an Orc, Goblin, Jabberwock, Human, Elf, or Dwarf does not predestine anyone to be good, either.) (By "Jabberwock", I mean any race that would be generically evil monsters in a standard setting.) Race does not automatically determine Class, Role, or Tech Level: being born (for example) a Jabberwock or Dwarf or Orc does not prevent a character from being a Monk, Paladin, Wizard, or whatever, and does not automatically doom a character to be a Noble Savage or other stereotype. The Divine is a Mystery: even Clerics and Paladins may have moments of doubt where they may realistically wonder, "are there really any gods? Where did we come from, and where do we go when we die? Where does my 'divine' power really come from?" TIP: to make things easier for contributers, I would recommend that any suggestions accepted as canon be added to the original post. What Next? - some general questions for core assumptions for other contributers: World Name: What is the name of the default world? Core Races: Beyond the default D&D races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, etc.), what other core races are available? Core Classes: Beyond the default D&D classes, what unique new classes and prestige classes are available? Tech Level: What is the general technology level of the setting? Monster Selection: What sort of variety of monsters is there on this world, and where did all the monsters come from?
#3 yellowdingo Nov 15, 2011 17:18:03	Suggested World Names Xenos meaning Foreigner - from the indoeuropean derivatives Sen (Seperate) + Os (Mouth) meaning 'Other Language'. Geography Mix in some Skyrealms of Journe, Hunger Games, and Jurassic Park and the PCs start out on Floating Islands in a sea of Mist but around third level they are expelled by the guy in charge who doesnt want them interfeering in his plans for unifying the region as an 'empire'. They are dumped down on the surface world with a wooden spear each in the middle of a field and attacked by Velociraptors.
#4 mestewart3 Nov 18, 2011 1:40:36	Dragonborn were historicaly a seafaring warrior race who organized themselves into individual City-States and fought on land in large Heavily armored units of Infantry (Greeks basicaly). Some Dragonborn City-States still exist in modern time, often making money as mercenaries and Privateers working for other large civilizations.
#5 yellowdingo Nov 19, 2011 4:19:58	Avatar (Au-at-ar): This is an indoeuropean concept describing an individual 'who journies to be made whole'. This implies the emergence of an adventuring caste who at a certain point in their life seek to travel to heal themselves spiritually. This would be an ideal concept to combine with the idea that the gods have arranged for things to be cyclic in nature with regard to the rise and fall of heroes and villains. If all these people are journeying to heal themselves spiritually then they are comming into conflict with one another.
#6 theapokalypseshovel Nov 21, 2011 0:59:57	On Orc skin Despite their humanoid appearance, Orcs have a suprisingly different physiology than many other races. While the majority of their body is similar to other animals, their outer layers of skin and subcutaneous fat is more akin to symbiotic fungal tissue. In Orcish, this outer layer is known as the grn'sk. It is much more sensitive to changes in environment than other races and grn'sk is known to change colors easily between generations and sometimes even within an Orcs relatively short life span. Orcs will start or stop growing hair depending on the temperatures around, or produce an oily sweat to disperse heat if the temperature rises. This allows Orcs to live a much wider range of environments than most 'civilized' races do. In addition to being responsive to the physical environment, grn'sk is incredibly sensitive to pheromones and other airborne organic chemicals. Though it is usually unconscious, orcs actually 'feel' the moods of other creatures through their skin. This plays an important role in Orc social structure and behavior. The pheromone levels of an Orc tribe is a very strong indicator of the hierarchy of the tribe, and orcs can 'feel' who their superiors are instinctively. Through the high output of Fungal Pheromone Spores, dominant Orcs alter the chemical make up and structure of the grn'sk of other tribe members, infecting the grn'sk with the attributes of the dominant Orcs and making them more susceptible to influence. The rise of a powerful Orc can have an incredible impact not just on the political structure of a tribe but also on the biology of each individual tribe member. The grn'sk is influenced by many of the more common pheromones released by other creatures, especially adrenaline and testosterone, and to some degree Orcs can size up the moods and stature of non-Orc individuals. The grn'sk will try to raise an Orc's levels of these hormones in response to sensing increases of them in the outside environment. In a groups of orcs, this phenomenon can turn a docile bunch into a rampaging warband in viscious feedback cycle of increasing hormone levels. Severe cases of this result in a Waaagh(See Orc Crusade or Horde march) in which differing tribes get swept up in the same intensity of emotion and storm across the countryside for days or weeks on end. It is not yet understood what causes these tribes to join together, even when in circumstances of longstanding animosity. Scholars have noted that Orcs view the grn'sk as dual entity within them, consisting of two components: Grn and 'Sk. It must be mentioned that grn'sk is never presented as distinct from itself, but rather as two sides to coin. Grn is associated with the tribe, or lacking that, the social environment to which they belong, and is considered to be the dominant, aggressive aspect. 'Sk is associated with the individual, and is usually considered to be passive, giving aspect, though some claim dominant Orc chieftains and Warlords will emphasize it. Scholars cite that most Orcs will not claim ownership of their own skin, refering to grn'sk as belonging to the tribe, while some chieftains have allegedly claimed ownership of all their tribe's grn'sk. The word itself is used as both singular and plural, which makes it hard to understand what is claimed in these cases. 'Civilized' Orcs often find the influence of other Orcs to be too volatile and unpredictable to maintain an orderly life and are often loners. They will often set themselves apart by wearing excessive clothing or decorating their skin with tattoos and markings of their own design. In addition there is a significant market in Orcish musks, which are worn as much for their mood altering influence as their smell. Author's Note: It should be noted that Orcs are almost always unaware of the senses offered by their grn'sk, and PCs should not gain any mechanical bonuses or penalties based on factors influencing grn'sk.