Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 SpellMaster May 03, 2010 8:58:20	I have a campaign world called the Sundering. I ran a game in it a few years back, and have now been convinced to return to it for another run. Here's the basic introduction to the setting: The two nations of Ahj’Urghol and Æthera went to war with each other nearly a hundred years ago. It was a bloody affair, and while peaceful solutions were attempted time and again, nothing seemed to work. The war spread to include all but the most far off of lands. Two years ago to this day, the magi of one nation put into action their plan to end the war: using ancient rituals thought lost to the world, they attempted to drag the entire moon down out of the sky and onto their enemy’s capital city. They calculated that such a colossal collision would completely obliterate their enemies, ending the war in a single swift strike. Unfortunately for them, their enemies’ spies had long ago informed their masters of this plan, and had formulated a countermeasure of their own. While unable to prevent the actual bringing down of the moon, they would simply redirect the moon’s descent to collide not with their own capital, but with that of their enemies instead. Thus would the war end in a single poetic strike. The magi began to weave the required magics, and the moon began to descend out of the sky. The opposing magi began their own rituals to alter the moon’s decent. As the moon drew ever closer, the two nations’ most powerful magic-users vied for control, pouring more and more energy into their efforts. The moon became the centre of a monolithic contest of power. Daily goings-on ceased as people across the world stopped what they were doing to stare at the unique spectacle in the sky. The moon became wrapped in coils of arcane energies, massive serpents each trying to gain control of the immense celestial body. Like some apocalyptic game of tug-o’-war, the moon shifted one way, then back the other as magi from both nations poured their bodies, their lives, their very souls into their rituals. The moon ceased movement, and for a heart-stopping moment, the entire world stilled in dread anticipation. With a sudden release of the energies invested by the two mightiest nations in the world, the moon erupted in an earth-shattering explosion. Fragments of the moon, ranging in size from that of small houses to small mountains, rained down across the land, trailing streams of white-hot fire. The two largest fragments, in some act of divine poetic justice, perhaps, fell upon the two warring nations. The impact of these immense pieces of the moon rocked the very foundations of the world. Shockwaves rolled across the land. Great chasms opened in the land, swallowing waterways and wilderness alike. New mountain ranges erupted from the ground. Infernos swept the surface of the known world, indiscriminately consuming flora and fauna with its fiery appetite. Great clouds of dust and debris were thrown into the air, blotting out the sun and plunging the world into darkness, lit only by the widespread fires. The northern city of Askardia was once a bustling city of trade and commerce. While the actual infrastructure was not devastated as much as those of cities closer to the epicentre of what will become known as the Sundering, the infernal fires and heat melted flesh from bones of all those caught unprotected. In a matter of a few hours following the initial explosion, the city’s population of over ten thousand souls was reduced to ashes. Not all was lost, however. Thanks to the quick reaction of the Schakara clan heir, a young dragonborn strong and inspiring, a few hundred innocent souls were alerted to the impending disaster. Even during the pinnacle of chaos and confusion, his orders could be heard above the din of devastation, herding people to the relative safety of the main temple proper, guiding the few fortunate souls close enough and brave enough to be saved. With a look of deep sorrow at the destruction raining down upon his beloved city and the lives he would be unable to save, the heir slowly swung the massive temple doors shut. Stocked with food, firewood and clothing, they remained safe from most of the ravages outside. With massive amounts of dust and debris in the air, the sun’s warmth couldn’t reach the surface, lowering the temperature across the world into a premature and extended winter. Hard times befell all those fortunate enough to have survived the initial shock, and more lives still were lost due to starvation or freezing to death. It has been two years to this day since the Sundering changed the face of the world. The winter has receded; the sun shines brightly once again. The new town of Hearthgar has sprung up from the ashes of Askardia, situated around the Temple of the Platinum Dragon, still used as both apartments and commercial centre. A clan hall was raised on the temple grounds. A few farms have begun growing various crops in an effort to bolster food stores. Various businesses have opened a short distance from the temple grounds, including a tavern, a brewery, a general store, and a blacksmith. A semblance of normal life has returned to the town.
#2 mieorabloodsong May 03, 2010 10:20:53	I like the backstory, its really cool.  I've got a few ideas for campaigns: Denzeins of the other plans have taken advantage of this chaos, perhaps the Far Realm or the Elemental Chaos is invading. With so much death and destruction the gods are angry with the people, for wasting the gifts they gave them.  Now the gods want to restart, they want to eliminate these people and rebuild a world where such a catastrophe could not happen.  (If you have seen clash of the titans a little like that but with more of the gods, your players would either have to kill them or prove to them that all people are not evil.)
#3 Phrenesis May 03, 2010 12:35:07	Yes, very exciting story.  And I stumbled across an idea as I was reading this.   Maybe you could use some survivors of the two fallen empires, who a searching for moon fragments, which they see as the key to renew their glory. While a third party tries to develop a ritual to rebuild the moon, i.g.   Whatever you may choose, I have the feeling, that the sundered moon should play a major part in it.   Phrenesis
#4 strand0 May 04, 2010 16:51:57	Maybe someone thinks time travel into the passed to stop the Shuddering would be a good idea. The choice is stop doomsday BY returning to never-ending-war?
#5 hauteclaire May 05, 2010 15:32:22	Well, it might be a good idea to brainstorm of what these entities were doing before they were imprisoned in the moon. That also brings up questions of why, how, and who imprisoned them. If you cannot come up with a satisfactory motivation for the entities before the campaign starts, or are otherwise unable to imagine them anything else as a rampaging force of nature, it may be a good idea to introduce secondary villains to provide motivation or buy time. It would not be unbelievable for a number of people to be dissatisfied with the outcome of the war, and they may even blame the other nation for causing it. Therefore, they might be attempting to control the mindless entities of supreme power and harness their destructive force for some brand of justice. These can be descendants of warmongerers or of the nation's former noble families, people who seek someone to blame, or unrelated people who discovered the history and misinterpreted (or translated it to their minions) it in such a way that they brand someone or some group evil and responsible for the catastrophe. You can then have the players fighting inhuman monsters with very human goals (albeit it transferred from the villains controlling them). Alternatively, you may decide to give the creatures a will of their own and show it during the Big Reveal. The plus to this is that you can give the players something to do and a villain to face while you plan and tweak your entities' personalities and motivations to your liking. They don't have to know the villain's motivation wasn't ready or thought minutes before you telling them. Once you have a rough timeline of events for your villain's activities or a trail of story breadcrumbs, you can think of how to connect them.
#6 SpellMaster May 14, 2010 13:18:15	Excellent ideas, thanks guys. One thing I've been thinking about is that the moon was a prison for a single entity, a god or other very powerful being of some sort. It was imprisoned there by the combined efforts of the other gods for some unforgivable cosmic crime (the likes of which I've yet to fully determine). This entity may very well have had a hand in directing the two rival nations to bring down the moon. Even while imprisoned, its influence may have played a part in the events that would set it free. After being sealed away for so long, it is in a weakened state, but growing stronger all the time. It seeks to continue with its plan (whatever that plan may be), and has devised a way to protect itself from the gods' ire and punishment. Perhaps by taking a mortal body, thus protected under some divine law or some such. Haven't figure it out entirely. In the mean time, I think I'm going to have the PCs start to reach out into the sundered world, reclaiming lost resources, making contact with other survivors (for better or for worse). From the previous game, some slavers from a once-friendly nearby nation have occupied Hearthgar's mines, setting up camp and making raids into the town for slaves and supplies. It is imperative that something be done about this incursion, and so it'll be up to the PCs to rout the slavers. I'm thinking after that, they may end up travelling to this neighbouring nation, where they'll find it in an extremely corrupted state. The few wealthy and powerful individuals lord it over the rest, who are treated as slaves, or worse. If the PCs can manage to overthrow this tyrannical government, they may have the opportunity to add a new territory to their fledgeling empire. Any thoughts on some interesting subplots and such for this kind of arc? I'm definitely thinking of some wilderness adventures along the way to the town, something to showcase just how changed the rest of the world really is. Floating land masses, subjective gravity, and other phenomena never before seen in the world. Ideas always welcome. Brainstorming is the child of all great works. Spellmaster
#7 novatack May 15, 2010 19:43:05	Some ideas for the entity in the moon: A) Perhaps, when the mages sought to use powerful spells to control the moon, the same rituals somehow managed to gain control of the entity. With no master, it sits inert. Now, the remaining mages would seek to re-enact these rituals to be the one to gain control of the entity for their own ends. (Eventually, maybe the spells weaken and the entity begins to regain some degree of self-control). B) When the moon blew up, maybe the entity was taken with it. An entity of that power couldn't be killed outright by the blast, but its body was obliterated. Now it's forced to do whatever it can to try to get a new one... C) The moon, even its broken state, is still a prison for the entity. Now every fragment of the moon that fell bears some amount of its power and its essence. Fragments can be tapped into to utilize the entity's power, but the entity can influence people through these fragments. This opens up some new possibilities: maybe nearby animals in the wilderness have been influenced, maybe the fragments can bring inanimate objects to life as a host (heck, the power's of each fragment could be different- each having a different section of the original entity's power). You'd have to decide if each fragment is self-aware or not. (Even with sentient fragments, some of the fragments could develop their own mind seperate from the entity, and actively try to prevent the original entity from being recreated- or be fanatically attempting to recreate it.) As for other ideas: An explosion of that magnitude could have had all sorts of effects. Tearing open a portal to another plane is cliched, but still very usuable. Craters could have opened up pathways deep within the Earth, leading to places that were best forgotten. Its energies could have reanimated dead corpses, creating zombies, and just generally have done bad things. Not everyone will have resources available to them after such a cataclysm. Hunting parties will be be present, trying to steal resources from other people. People will probably have seen the destruction as a sign from the dieties. Religous fanaticism will probably crop up.