Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 auspex7 May 26, 2009 21:14:12	Here's the skinny... I started a 4e campaign recently when all I had was PHB1. I still have all my 3.5 books, so I really just wanted to get a feel for the mechanics and such, and see if my players would buy into it. They have, and I've fallen in love with the system (especially as I've looked deeper and deeper into it!). Naturally, being a DM, I've vastly expanded my library of 4e material to encompass everything other than Manual of the Planes (which I'll pick up Saturday) and the FR books. Of course, everything we've used so far (races *and* classes) have been out of PHB1, and I actually specified at the start of the game that there were no halflings in the setting at the jump. Where we're at: The campaign has started with the 4 pcs (dwarf fighter, dwarf cleric, elf ranger, elf druid) leaving a human/elf/dwarf version of Helm's Deep after a decade of the town being under total isolation after a massive mixed-race giant/goblin invasion led by a half-orc female named Manghild. The 1900 or so survivors of the invasion believe that they were the last survivors of her conquest of 6 neighboring kingdoms. When they left the town, they were heading out to try to find any other survivors/remnants of the kingdoms, and bring back information or open up contact. But... the world outside isn't exactly what it was 10 years earlier, and not just because of the invasion. On the surface, things are what the PCs expected to find--past invaders now occupying old settlements in the vale, etc. So far, there hasn't been an indicator that anything bigger than that has changed. It has, though. Why? Because of the double whammy of my infatuation of the Mos Eisley scene from Star Wars, and my love of the material that has come out since PHB1, MM1, and DMG1. What I've decided to go with is this: Manghild conquered a massive area, and has established a huge empire. Unfortuneately, she has been successfully repelled while trying to invade in an easterly direction, mostly due to the only feasible routes for invasion being bottlenecks. With a continued desire for conquest, Manghild went a different direction--sideways. With the help of some very powerful allies, Manghild attempted to bring 'our world' closer to others--without anyone involved understanding the exact nature of the ancient ritual they were trying to enact (it was discovered in a tome of unknown origin). The end result is The Rending... instead of bringing the world closer to another one, it basically ripped the boundaries between multiple worlds so that they overlap in some places. In some places, these overlaps can be mapped or predicted (ie, X world is accessible from Y world at night in forest Z), while other overlaps come and go seemingly at random. The map still works, but travelling from point A to point B doesn't always go as expected... if you pass through a particular plainsland expecting to come to the ocean, you may inadvertently cross over into another world and find mountains at the end of the plains. This is how I'm planning on rolling out the 'new' classes and races, some other monsters, and some brand-new creations. There are some ideas I already have set in stone, but far more which have yet to be conceived, or remain fluid. One given: I want to create a city combining aspects of Mos Eisley/Sigil, which will be surrounded by rocky wastelands, and which will become sort of a nexus city from which you may travel to any of the worlds, if you know how. This city will be occupied by all of the PHB1 and PHB2 races, as well as some intelligent monstrous races. It will be an adventure in and of itself to get there, because the landscape around it (from every world) will be barren and brutal, with water very hard to come by, etc--but it's also going to be the best place to aquire or sell certain things, and as mentioned, has access to the full range of smushed worlds. A big theme of the game is going to be the massive adjustment of all involved of the sudden openness between these worlds. This should be made especially interesting because many of the races--humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins--have existed for times unknown on multiple worlds. The origin of these races will be called into question, and coincidentally... the same pantheon exists in each world, although certain deities have larger or smaller followings in each place. So... goliaths aren't native to 'our world', but dwarves are... while on one of the other worlds, dwarves and goliaths have been warring for ages as the two dominant races on a planet dominated by rocky lands and mountains. On another world, goliaths and dwarves have been warring side by side against giants, etc. Consequently, first meetings can be tense as both sides try to get a feel for each other, and mistrust runs rampant. ...and through it all, Manghild retains an iron grip on her empire, and seeks to expand her control into the other worlds--including trying to find a route to invade the nexus city.
#2 Shiftkitty May 26, 2009 21:52:28	Your city plan reminds me of the "Inn Between the Worlds", and old Blackmoor place. It was an inn that travelled across the planes and you never knew what you were going to find there. I'd like to toss out a suggestion that I used for the drow on one world. They kept the matriarchal society, and males have fewer rights than females, but a wise matron will listen to her consort for the different perspective he brings to things. They are militaristic, and in the service is the one place a male can expect to find any semblance of equality (few males are high-ranking officers, and those that are still often find themselves subservient to a higher-ranking female). The arcane arts are seen as a craft more suited to males, such as sewing and cooking in our world is traditionally seen as "woman's work", but there's very little stigma attached to a female that chooses to practice magic. The relationships are more like the Victorian standard from our own world. A consort might suffer from domestic abuse, but it isn't something that's talked about in polite society. In the war, the drow fought alongside their surface counterparts. As the war was being lost, the elven commanders saw the "enthusiasm" with which the drow fought. Not realizing how restrained the drow were being, the elven commanders ordered the drow to go to town on the enemy. The savagery that followed was so horrendous that it was stricken from the history books. After the war (you decide which side they were on), when rebuilding was going on, the drow applied for their share of rebuilding assistance. After all, they had lost so many warriors in the fight, and it would be some years before the current generation was old enough to circulate the economy by working, farming, etc. Still recalling what the drow did, their requests were denied. Angered, the drow returned to their underground cities, vowing to disengage themselves from the surface world entirely. Any surfacers who wander into the Underdark are to be enslaved. After all, there is much work to be done. In the version I ran, the drow referred to the War Above and the Peace Below. Strong proponents of peace through superior firepower, they have remained a militaristic society, ever prepared for war. In that campaign, the surface was almost constantly at war, and the drow just got tired of losing their people to what they saw as a "foreign war". Any who wander into the Underdark thinking they can coax the drow into an alliance find themselves enslaved for the duration at least. The drow do not come to surface unless they absolutely need to, such as to raid for supplies. When they do raid, they try to be quiet about it, but if noticed, they generally don't leave any witnesses, lest some idiot come to their Underdark looking for justice or revenge. Just a suggestion.
#3 auspex7 May 26, 2009 22:33:10	I like it! Right away, that gave me an idea for a peace-seeking refugee NPC with some piece of valuable knowledge to have escaped to the Underdark, and to be living among the drow in some fashion. Depending on the gender, and the specific vital information possessed by this NPC, it could make for some entertaining times--and for some serious confusion when the PCs initially heard the legend that this NPC had slipped away and was now living among the 'peaceful' drow... I might have to set that up by building into the stigma of drow early in the campaign, with an eye for that dealing with another world's drow coming down the line. Sweet idea, Shiftkitty! Thanks!
#4 Shiftkitty May 27, 2009 12:31:49	I'm glad you liked it! I have no problem with the drow being antagonists of some sort, but after awhile "murderous, treacherous, and chaotic" kinda gets old. Your peace-seeking NPC would probably find himself working in a fairly soft job. Hard labor is for the people they have to capture. If he's dedicated to a peaceful existence and is willing to do things the drow way, he might be an administrator's assistant, allowed a small room to himself and maybe even a small allowance for personal expenditures beyond room and board. It's possible that he may even strike up a friendship with his master, perhaps becoming his friendly adversary in a strategic boardgame like chess or backgammon (or some fantasy equivalent). As for needing sunlight, magic can take care of that. I don't mean to write your game for you. This is just how I would do it.
#5 auspex7 May 27, 2009 16:25:15	i love that addition to the idea, shiftkitty! thanks for the feedback! already working on some precursors to that story segment--planting seeds now to pull a DM trick later!