PDA

View Full Version : Bizarre setting rules



Hzurr
2010-04-16, 11:05 AM
So, in my current game we've started to establish a number of "rules" about the generic "Points-of-Light" campaign setting:

- Deva have the "Ken Doll" effect. They don't reproduce, so there's no need for the dangly bits that the rest of us have

- Ioun is the godess of seeking knowledge, which means she's also the godess of universities. Ergo: Ioun supports binge drinking.

- Mindflayers and other creatures from the underdark speak with an Australian accent, because they're from "Down Under"


These are just the few from the last couple of sessions. What about your game? What kind of weird "setting rules" has your group accidentally come up with?

MCerberus
2010-04-16, 11:12 AM
This sounds like one of my one-shots turned into a campaign. The PCs started out busting an illegal 10 foot pole factory (the kind that takes apart ladders). Then it got weird.

Rappy
2010-04-16, 11:39 AM
While it's from a d20 Modern setting, I figure I might as well note mine anyway.

Aboleths are attracted to restaurants due to the fact that frying grease smells like their natural fluid secretions.
Orcs (or Trollbrüd as they are referred to) are actually the results of the dilution of troll blood, and have fast healing accordingly.
Metallic and chromatic dragons are all just human naming conventions of color phases of a small handful of species. Also, true dragons have mostly devolved into a feral, magicless state, with the "high dragons" being an exceedingly rare breed.
Gelatinous cubes are the result of someone attempting to harness the power of a terrestrial effluvium (elder ooze) into a convenient package...and failing miserably.
The Plane of Water isn't a giant aquarium; it's actually four vast oceans with scattered islands and kingdoms in between. The deeps have thermal vents powered by vortices to the Plane of Fire, fueling strange evolution.
The chuul are the true Aberration masterminds, experimenting with a strange hybrid of arcana and biological engineering in deep caverns beneath the Yucatan Peninsula.
Minotaurs are the blessed children of a Minoan bull-deity, sent to punish King Minos for transgressions against said deity. While most have long since gone rogue, some "enlightened minotaurs" (individuals with the half-celestial template) still uphold their original sacred cause.
Gnomes are all feykind (born with the Changeling template from Urban Arcana).


Amongst other things.

Fallbot
2010-04-16, 11:48 AM
- Mindflayers and other creatures from the underdark speak with an Australian accent, because they're from "Down Under"


A list of 4E races and their accents as they appear in our campaign (We are mostly British, so it's the default).

Humans: British
Elves: French
Dwarves: Scottish
Halflings: Irish
Tieflings: German
Eladrin: Canadian
Drow: Russian
Half orc: American
Orc: Redneck
Goliath: Scandinavian
Shifters: Australian
Gnomes: Cockney
Gnolls: Scouse
Genasi: Hotly debated - Middle Eastern, Italian and 'pirate' have all been put forward.

arguskos
2010-04-16, 12:08 PM
Minotaurs are the blessed children of a Minoan bull-deity, sent to punish King Minos for transgressions against said deity. While most have long since gone rogue, some "enlightened minotaurs" (individuals with the half-celestial template) still uphold their original sacred cause.
...King Minos is probably long since dead. What are the "enlightened" minotaurs doing? Punishing his bloodline or something?

LibraryOgre
2010-04-16, 12:19 PM
So, in my current game we've started to establish a number of "rules" about the generic "Points-of-Light" campaign setting:

- Deva have the "Ken Doll" effect. They don't reproduce, so there's no need for the dangly bits that the rest of us have

This, however, does not stop them from being sexually harassed. ;-)


- Ioun is the godess of seeking knowledge, which means she's also the godess of universities. Ergo: Ioun supports binge drinking.

Another rule Hzurr forgot to mention: The DM is not allowed to spell correctly. Goddess, Hzurr. Goddess.

It still throws me that Ioun is female in this edition. It's like someone you've known in passing for 20 years suddenly gets a sex change, and goes from Patrick to Patricia. You keep messing up your pronouns, because they've been male as long as you've known them.


- Mindflayers and other creatures from the underdark speak with an Australian accent, because they're from "Down Under"

For the record, only Mindflayers are Australian. The Drow are Kiwis, and the Duergar are Tasmanians (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PuKM-oZxLk). Svirfneblin are aborigines.

pffh
2010-04-16, 12:27 PM
The elves behave and speak like cowboys from old westerns and they also borrow heavily from norse elves (kinda like unseelie and seelie court just it's the same court and they randomly switch, packed into cowboys)
The world is about 90% human (since we almost always play humans and the npc's always seem to be humans).
The only difference between regions is their accents. Currently we have russian, french, oriental, our normal accent and the elven western accent.

JonestheSpy
2010-04-16, 12:32 PM
- Ioun is the godess of seeking knowledge, which means she's also the godess of universities. Ergo: Ioun supports binge drinking.


So your campaign setting includes a minimum 21 legal drinking age?

Apollo1776
2010-04-16, 12:33 PM
All of my characters being English, it is the only accent I can really do well.

LibraryOgre
2010-04-16, 12:34 PM
So your campaign setting includes a minimum 21 legal drinking age?

We've got an eladrin wizard who is basically a tenured university professor who took a job in the private sector and wound up with a binge drinking problem (his bosses were fairly horrible). The running joke is that he has multiple PhDs but mostly just likes to set things on fire (like vats filled with formaldehyde... boom)

Pink
2010-04-16, 12:42 PM
A list of 4E races and their accents as they appear in our campaign (We are mostly British, so it's the default).

Humans: British
Elves: French
Dwarves: Scottish
Halflings: Irish
Tieflings: German
Eladrin: Canadian
Drow: Russian
Half orc: American
Orc: Redneck
Goliath: Scandinavian
Shifters: Australian
Gnomes: Cockney
Gnolls: Scouse
Genasi: Hotly debated - Middle Eastern, Italian and 'pirate' have all been put forward.

I'm curious how you can actually make a noticeable distinction between american and canadian accents. Unless you're targeting specific parts of canada (quebec, or the maritimes), or the states (southern drawl, some of the areas like new orleans, boston or new york can also have a reputed accent).

Rappy
2010-04-16, 12:46 PM
...King Minos is probably long since dead. What are the "enlightened" minotaurs doing? Punishing his bloodline or something?
They have since went back to their father in Aurapontus (a combination celestial home/spirit world of the setting).

Anyway, some more notes on the setting, since I'd hate to waste another post.


Medusas are self-named and self-created gorgon-worshippers. The reason they're monogender monsters? Almost anyone that engages in the ritual incantation joins the sisterhood as another similar face. "Almost anyone" excluding creatures without a humanoid configuration; they become things that are best left locked away...
Kobolds are the only non-mammal survivors of the therapsid lineage; their "scales" actually consist of hairs, like that of a pangolin.
Ogres are an evolutionary offshoot of Paranthropus boisei, as are the Sasquatch.
There are no standard flesh/clay/stone/iron golems; instead, the setting uses the Automaton template from the Book of Templates: Deluxe Edition 3.5 for golems that can resemble a wide variety of things.

Gorilla2038
2010-04-16, 12:54 PM
The elves behave and speak like cowboys from old westerns and they also borrow heavily from norse elves (kinda like unseelie and seelie court just it's the same court and they randomly switch, packed into cowboys)
The world is about 90% human (since we almost always play humans and the npc's always seem to be humans).
The only difference between regions is their accents. Currently we have russian, french, oriental, our normal accent and the elven western accent.

Whats a 'western' accent anyway?:smallconfused:

Fallbot
2010-04-16, 12:57 PM
I'm curious how you can actually make a noticeable distinction between american and canadian accents. Unless you're targeting specific parts of canada (quebec, or the maritimes), or the states (southern drawl, some of the areas like new orleans, boston or new york can also have a reputed accent).

Honestly? We cant :smalltongue: All IC speaking is done using the maptool chat program anyway though, so accent is more representative of a state of mind than an actual vocal distinction.

I'll admit, saying 'America' or 'Canada' is very vague, and our system does need refinement.

Riffington
2010-04-16, 12:59 PM
So your campaign setting includes a minimum 21 legal drinking age?

Universities are places of binge drinking even in areas without a drinking age

mikeejimbo
2010-04-16, 01:06 PM
It still throws me that Ioun is female in this edition. It's like someone you've known in passing for 20 years suddenly gets a sex change, and goes from Patrick to Patricia. You keep messing up your pronouns, because they've been male as long as you've known them.

Wait, in 4th Editon? I didn't even know Ioun was female in that, and that's what we play now. Shows how much I pay attention to gods... (other than Moradin. Or Reorx, when's the Dragonlance 4th Edition coming out!?)

MCerberus
2010-04-16, 01:24 PM
You could just explain it that Boccob/Ioun is the original wizard that did it and created those wonderful gender change belts.

Hzurr
2010-04-16, 01:58 PM
I'm curious how you can actually make a noticeable distinction between american and canadian accents. Unless you're targeting specific parts of canada (quebec, or the maritimes), or the states (southern drawl, some of the areas like new orleans, boston or new york can also have a reputed accent).

How to do a canadain accent: throw in "eh" at the end of every other sentence, and use "aboot" instead of "about"


Whats a 'western' accent anyway? "Howdy ya'll. Mah name is Tex McGumrey, and I'm here to russle me up some grub.

Quick overview of American accents for everyone else:
Broad categories:
Northeast (Could be New-Yorker or Bostonian, More details below)
Midwest (typical American accent)
Southern (generic "redneck" type of speech)

If you want to subdivide this further:
New England
Boston Accent - Think Ben Affleck in "Good Will Hunting" As a general rule, change all "r" sounds into "ah." So it isn't a "car" it's a "cah." You don't go to Harvard, you go to Hahvahd.
New York - Think the Scout from Team Fortress 2, or Dennis Duffy from 30 Rock. Everything tends to be said at the front of the mouth. Not sure how to describe it in writing.
Upper New England - vaguely british-y. Not as commonly heard now, but think JFK or Katharine Hepburn.

Southern
A good way to think of this is by watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour
Southern - This is Jeff Foxworthy. We're talking Tennesee, Kentucky, Alabama. Watch the movie "The Rainmaker" for some good examples of a Southern Accent
Redneck - Larry the Cable guy - This is the Mississippi & Arkansas area. What can I say other than traditional Redneck?
Texas - Bill Engval - A bit of a cross between Southern and Midwestern. Think Matthew McConahay.

And...yes, that's my American Accents overview

Gralamin
2010-04-16, 01:58 PM
Honestly? We cant :smalltongue: All IC speaking is done using the maptool chat program anyway though, so accent is more representative of a state of mind than an actual vocal distinction.

I'll admit, saying 'America' or 'Canada' is very vague, and our system does need refinement.

As a Canadian, I can say there is a difference. However, unless you go crazy stereotypical (Which I don't recommend), it is a very subtle change, mostly based on the state of mind. The easiest thing to do is take the harmless stereotype of "Canadian's are polite", and use that as the main distinguishing factor.

Faleldir
2010-04-16, 02:00 PM
There are no naturally-occurring undead. Every single species of undead is the result of wizards trying to cast Raise Dead as an arcane spell FOR SCIENCE!

Umael
2010-04-16, 02:21 PM
In one game I ran for only a few sessions...

Humans were based on the British Empire. Common was English.
Elves were based on France. Elven became French... I think you see the rest.
Gnomes were Spanish (and the only race that was allowed gunpowder).
Dwarves were desert-dwellers, Arabic culture and language.
Halflings were Vikings (Norse).
Orcs were Mongolian.
Hobgoblins were based on Romans.
Demons spoke German.

Also, there were no alignments. Blue dragons, for example, were sarcastic, sardonic, irritible, mean, nasty, and bad-tempered - but they were no more likely to be Good than gold dragons.

I wish I did more with that campaign...

pffh
2010-04-16, 03:22 PM
Whats a 'western' accent anyway?:smallconfused:

Have you seen an old western? Like that.

hamishspence
2010-04-16, 03:30 PM
Hmm- does the western accent come in different styles?

"Grizzled prospector" a la Lee Marvin from Paint Your Wagon might sound a bit different from "drawling cowboy" from various spaghetti westerns.

Fiery Diamond
2010-04-16, 03:40 PM
A list of 4E races and their accents as they appear in our campaign (We are mostly British, so it's the default).


Half orc: American
Orc: Redneck

I'm offended by this outrage!:smalltongue:

(I'm an American. I also grew up among American rednecks (though I myself am not a redneck). I grew up in Southwest Virginia.)

"Hey y'all. Ah'm frum Souw'wes' Vrjinya! Douwn heer, we spaek awl prapur-lahk."

(Note: In the above, "ah" doesn't refer to the "ah" most people use in "car". It refers to a cross between that sound and the "ee" sound... not like the word "I" normally is, though. It's ... hard to describe in writing, but if you hear it you know exactly what it is. I don't know any famous people, so I can't make comparisons, though. Like how this girl says "I" early in this video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRyiWKT9L3E&feature=related) Sometimes it's even more extreme than that. What I mean by "ouw" the "ow" sound filtered through the same change that "I" goes through for that "ah" sound.)

I don't sound like that, but I know people who do.

Telonius
2010-04-16, 03:55 PM
I'm curious how you can actually make a noticeable distinction between american and canadian accents. Unless you're targeting specific parts of canada (quebec, or the maritimes), or the states (southern drawl, some of the areas like new orleans, boston or new york can also have a reputed accent).

I'd think that Eladrins and Half-Orcs have the same alphabet except the last letter, and Eladrins do most of their clothes shopping once a year at half-orc encampments. :smallbiggrin:



How to do a canadain accent: throw in "eh" at the end of every other sentence, and use "aboot" instead of "about"

"Howdy ya'll. Mah name is Tex McGumrey, and I'm here to russle me up some grub.

Quick overview of American accents for everyone else:
Broad categories:
Northeast (Could be New-Yorker or Bostonian, More details below)
Midwest (typical American accent)
Southern (generic "redneck" type of speech)

If you want to subdivide this further:
New England
Boston Accent - Think Ben Affleck in "Good Will Hunting" As a general rule, change all "r" sounds into "ah." So it isn't a "car" it's a "cah." You don't go to Harvard, you go to Hahvahd.
New York - Think the Scout from Team Fortress 2, or Dennis Duffy from 30 Rock. Everything tends to be said at the front of the mouth. Not sure how to describe it in writing.
Upper New England - vaguely british-y. Not as commonly heard now, but think JFK or Katharine Hepburn.

Southern
A good way to think of this is by watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour
Southern - This is Jeff Foxworthy. We're talking Tennesee, Kentucky, Alabama. Watch the movie "The Rainmaker" for some good examples of a Southern Accent
Redneck - Larry the Cable guy - This is the Mississippi & Arkansas area. What can I say other than traditional Redneck?
Texas - Bill Engval - A bit of a cross between Southern and Midwestern. Think Matthew McConahay.

And...yes, that's my American Accents overview

You missed a big one: Great Lakes. Home of the first vowel shift in 500 years. Prime example: SNL skit, Da Bears.
Favorite weird accent close to my hometown: Pittsburghese. Yinz goin to see the Stillers, hon? (If you can't understand it, don't worry, you're not alone).

Pink
2010-04-16, 04:02 PM
I'd think that Eladrins and Half-Orcs have the same alphabet except the last letter, and Eladrins do most of their clothes shopping once a year at half-orc encampments. :smallbiggrin:

...And this has what to do with accents exactly?

That being said, I'm sorry for throwing this off topic.

Telonius
2010-04-16, 04:08 PM
...And this has what to do with accents exactly?

That being said, I'm sorry for throwing this off topic.

Oh, absolutely everything. It was only after the half-orcs started sending their clothes merchants that the cultural exchange allowed the accents to converge as closely as they did. Everything took except that last letter.

Lord of Syntax
2010-04-16, 04:19 PM
Your also forgetting the NW accent.
My khar is(long-s) inn a garrage. (My car is in a garage)

jiriku
2010-04-16, 04:23 PM
Hmmm, IMC:

Halfling civilization collapsed at the end of the previous age. Now they're all tribal jungle-dwelling cannibals who sharpen their teeth to points, hunt with poisoned blowgun darts, and eat their captives and carve scrimshaw on their bones. But they still wear vests and cut-off trousers and have named like Roscoe and Charmaine.

Wood elves have been cursed by their goddess for past failings. They can't use arcane magic, but have developed several nature-based martial and divine prestige classes. Grey elves are the last of the true breed. They are immortal, and have the power sigils of illumians in addition to to their normal elven abilities. Drow are a spidery offshoot of a grey elven spider totem tribe, and have eight limbs like a thri-kreen.

Piedmon_Sama
2010-04-16, 06:23 PM
All gnomes begin their names with double initials and a matching last name. e.g, F.F Fizzlebottom, G.G Gnomicus, B.B Brasscastings, L.L Longshanks, G.G Gunderbutte, etc. Occasionally you get oddballs like K.O Keene.

Draz74
2010-04-16, 06:49 PM
New York - Think the Scout from Team Fortress 2, or Dennis Duffy from 30 Rock. Everything tends to be said at the front of the mouth. Not sure how to describe it in writing.

The vampires in Erfworld are a good example of New York accents in writing.

Calmar
2010-04-16, 07:28 PM
The severed head of a slain hag will continue to talk (well, to curse and yell at you).