Citizen Joe
2008-04-15, 01:56 PM
Designer note: I have become disillusioned by some of the fundamental logic behind DND3.5 and this setting is an attempt to resolve some of the logic problems that I have and create a balanced and fun setting.
Premise: The forces of "good" and "evil" are in conflict with each other and are waging an eternal war. These "good" and "evil" forces are actually extraplanar in nature and while they can technically bring the battle to each other on those planes, there is so much of a disadvantage of doing so that it is basically a suicide mission. Thus they fight on the Prime Material plane, specifically on a world called Babylon Prime.
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Logical Problem #1: Alignments are not well defined and there is so much argument going on as to what a "Good" person would and wouldn't do that I need a method of objectively defining alignments without impairing the roleplaying fun and decision making capacity of the Players.
Solution #1: "Good" and "Evil" (I may call those "light" and "darkness") are extraplanar factions... Likewise so are "Law" (which I'm calling "Order") and "Chaos". If you are a member of one of those factions then you are of the appropriate "Alignment". Most people, however, are NOT aligned as such. This is the nature of over 90% of Babylon Prime. People don't do stuff because they are good or evil, they do stuff according to their motivation.
Solution #1a: The exception to this is when people form pacts with these extraplanar forces. Usually, these pacts grant power to those that accept the pact in exchange for allying with said faction. Most common Pact takers are Paladins, Clerics and the Non-OGL Warlocks. When you accept said pact you gain the subtype according to your faction.
Solution #1b: As such, Alignment based spells and abilities only affect allied people.
Solution #1c: Pacts will each have very specific actions which will immediately sever the pact. Usually something along the lines of betraying your faction for another faction. And they will also have a code of conduct in which violations will result in a hearing/trial/whatever to determine if the violator is guilty and how the violator will be punished. As such, Pacts are both a source of power and a leash.
Solution #1d: The alignment planes derive power from the actions of the people on Babylon Prime. This is handled in a completely statless way. i.e. entirely story driven. However, the general idea is that if people on Babylon Prime are relatively good, then the forces of good have more power. If they become more corrupt, the the forces of evil gain in power. The end result is that the individual factions attempt to coerce the unaligned into actions that will benefit their faction. They will also attempt to enlist people through pacts.
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Logical Problem #2: Epic Level characters should not be bartenders.
Solution #2: As people gain in power, more and more influence is placed upon them to join in the war and pick a faction. As a result, about the time Plane Shift becomes available, those capable of it are drawn away from Babylon Prime.
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Logical Problem #3: Where are all these goblins coming from? From an ecological point of view, goblinoid hordes don't make much sense.
Solution #3: The various goblinoids are part of the "evil" faction and going back to the mythical roots, they are in fact spirits. Goblinoids were originally used as cheap shock troops and mercenaries imported from the "evil" planes to wage war on Babylon Prime. As called spirits, they were tasked with spreading evil and in payment, they were told they could keep the spoils of war. Thus they essentially stay on Babylon Prime indefinitely, causing havok and looting and plundering as a means to further the ends of 'evil'. What's the point? It gives PC's a foe that they can kill with no compunction about alignment ramifications. Killed goblinoids actually vanish as their spirits return to their home plane (thus not actually killed). Any loot left behind clearly wasn't theirs to begin with and thus is free to be claimed by adventurers.
Solution #3a: Note that Orcs are NOT goblinoids. The very fact that Half-orcs exist indicates that Orcs are in some way related to humans. As such, they fill the role of savage killing machines that you still have to consider before killing.
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Logical Problem #4: Accidents should have killed off elves WAY before they become fertile adult age. I have some logic problems with the way races are all 'different' yet they are all the 'same' sexually speaking.
Solution #4: Elves are ascendant Humans. As some humans attempt to become more in tune with nature and magic, their affinity manifests itself in a physical change into elves. The intermediate step is the half-elf, literally half way to becoming an elf. You are not born an elf or half-elf, you are born human and eventually grow into an elf. This is not an easy process, but a long tedious one. Impatient people use lichdom as a shortcut to immortality.
Solution #4a: Half-orcs are descendant humans. Raised in an environment where strength is important, humans mutate into orcs. This may be encouraged by some sort of evil influence. Half-orcs have been 'rescued' from this fate before the final transformation.
Solution #4b: Halflings are just short humans. Pigmies, migets, dwarfism... whatever you want to call it, in the past, there was a need for little people. As such they were bred to favor this recessive gene. They have also formed a culture unto themselves and typically associate mostly with themselves.
Solution #4c: Gnomes... "Was it something I said?" Gnomes are getting stuffed back into the Fae category and thus removed as a player race (until I can find some justification or distinction.)
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Logical Problem #5: Dwarves aren't actually well suited to the underground. Why do they need that gold? Why are they all alcoholics?
Solution #5: Some Dwarves are in fact just short stocky humans.
Solution #5a: True dwarves are forged, not born. Dwarves are essentially a partly earth elemental clone beings that were forged in the distant past by the forces of good to counter the evil influence that caused the creation of orcs. Eventually, the dwarven nations managed to seize control over their creation forges from their Creators and now act autonomously. Dwarves are capable of extracting nutrition from virtually anything, particularly metals. However, part of their diet requires alcohol as a catalyst. The dwarven creation forges also require a great deal of precious metals and gems to form a dwarf. While dwarves may appear as both sexes, they are in fact sterile and only reproduce by way of their creation forges. They do however engage in pair bonding with is part of the step to creating the new soul to inhabit newly forged dwarves. It is generally in poor taste to inquire about the sexual habits of dwarves and those that have asked have been left with a dark twisted spot in their brain that they wish they could extract.
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Logical Problem #6: PC's like to apply modern physics to the magical world. This usually results in Physics goes bonk!
Solution #6: This world has a greater power controlling magic. She has an appearance similar to that of Bes in Egyption Mythology and has technologically sensitive beings known as Feluxi. Attempts to mix technology and magic results in the Feluxi getting ill, which displeases the greater power. The greater power, in an attempt to maintain the balance in the world, promptly removes the irritation by bringing the offending character into the great war.
-----------------------------
OK those are some of the basic changes I've made...
Opinions before I proceed with more specifics.
Premise: The forces of "good" and "evil" are in conflict with each other and are waging an eternal war. These "good" and "evil" forces are actually extraplanar in nature and while they can technically bring the battle to each other on those planes, there is so much of a disadvantage of doing so that it is basically a suicide mission. Thus they fight on the Prime Material plane, specifically on a world called Babylon Prime.
---------------------------------------
Logical Problem #1: Alignments are not well defined and there is so much argument going on as to what a "Good" person would and wouldn't do that I need a method of objectively defining alignments without impairing the roleplaying fun and decision making capacity of the Players.
Solution #1: "Good" and "Evil" (I may call those "light" and "darkness") are extraplanar factions... Likewise so are "Law" (which I'm calling "Order") and "Chaos". If you are a member of one of those factions then you are of the appropriate "Alignment". Most people, however, are NOT aligned as such. This is the nature of over 90% of Babylon Prime. People don't do stuff because they are good or evil, they do stuff according to their motivation.
Solution #1a: The exception to this is when people form pacts with these extraplanar forces. Usually, these pacts grant power to those that accept the pact in exchange for allying with said faction. Most common Pact takers are Paladins, Clerics and the Non-OGL Warlocks. When you accept said pact you gain the subtype according to your faction.
Solution #1b: As such, Alignment based spells and abilities only affect allied people.
Solution #1c: Pacts will each have very specific actions which will immediately sever the pact. Usually something along the lines of betraying your faction for another faction. And they will also have a code of conduct in which violations will result in a hearing/trial/whatever to determine if the violator is guilty and how the violator will be punished. As such, Pacts are both a source of power and a leash.
Solution #1d: The alignment planes derive power from the actions of the people on Babylon Prime. This is handled in a completely statless way. i.e. entirely story driven. However, the general idea is that if people on Babylon Prime are relatively good, then the forces of good have more power. If they become more corrupt, the the forces of evil gain in power. The end result is that the individual factions attempt to coerce the unaligned into actions that will benefit their faction. They will also attempt to enlist people through pacts.
-------------------------------
Logical Problem #2: Epic Level characters should not be bartenders.
Solution #2: As people gain in power, more and more influence is placed upon them to join in the war and pick a faction. As a result, about the time Plane Shift becomes available, those capable of it are drawn away from Babylon Prime.
-------------------------------
Logical Problem #3: Where are all these goblins coming from? From an ecological point of view, goblinoid hordes don't make much sense.
Solution #3: The various goblinoids are part of the "evil" faction and going back to the mythical roots, they are in fact spirits. Goblinoids were originally used as cheap shock troops and mercenaries imported from the "evil" planes to wage war on Babylon Prime. As called spirits, they were tasked with spreading evil and in payment, they were told they could keep the spoils of war. Thus they essentially stay on Babylon Prime indefinitely, causing havok and looting and plundering as a means to further the ends of 'evil'. What's the point? It gives PC's a foe that they can kill with no compunction about alignment ramifications. Killed goblinoids actually vanish as their spirits return to their home plane (thus not actually killed). Any loot left behind clearly wasn't theirs to begin with and thus is free to be claimed by adventurers.
Solution #3a: Note that Orcs are NOT goblinoids. The very fact that Half-orcs exist indicates that Orcs are in some way related to humans. As such, they fill the role of savage killing machines that you still have to consider before killing.
-----------------------------
Logical Problem #4: Accidents should have killed off elves WAY before they become fertile adult age. I have some logic problems with the way races are all 'different' yet they are all the 'same' sexually speaking.
Solution #4: Elves are ascendant Humans. As some humans attempt to become more in tune with nature and magic, their affinity manifests itself in a physical change into elves. The intermediate step is the half-elf, literally half way to becoming an elf. You are not born an elf or half-elf, you are born human and eventually grow into an elf. This is not an easy process, but a long tedious one. Impatient people use lichdom as a shortcut to immortality.
Solution #4a: Half-orcs are descendant humans. Raised in an environment where strength is important, humans mutate into orcs. This may be encouraged by some sort of evil influence. Half-orcs have been 'rescued' from this fate before the final transformation.
Solution #4b: Halflings are just short humans. Pigmies, migets, dwarfism... whatever you want to call it, in the past, there was a need for little people. As such they were bred to favor this recessive gene. They have also formed a culture unto themselves and typically associate mostly with themselves.
Solution #4c: Gnomes... "Was it something I said?" Gnomes are getting stuffed back into the Fae category and thus removed as a player race (until I can find some justification or distinction.)
------------------------------
Logical Problem #5: Dwarves aren't actually well suited to the underground. Why do they need that gold? Why are they all alcoholics?
Solution #5: Some Dwarves are in fact just short stocky humans.
Solution #5a: True dwarves are forged, not born. Dwarves are essentially a partly earth elemental clone beings that were forged in the distant past by the forces of good to counter the evil influence that caused the creation of orcs. Eventually, the dwarven nations managed to seize control over their creation forges from their Creators and now act autonomously. Dwarves are capable of extracting nutrition from virtually anything, particularly metals. However, part of their diet requires alcohol as a catalyst. The dwarven creation forges also require a great deal of precious metals and gems to form a dwarf. While dwarves may appear as both sexes, they are in fact sterile and only reproduce by way of their creation forges. They do however engage in pair bonding with is part of the step to creating the new soul to inhabit newly forged dwarves. It is generally in poor taste to inquire about the sexual habits of dwarves and those that have asked have been left with a dark twisted spot in their brain that they wish they could extract.
----------------------------
Logical Problem #6: PC's like to apply modern physics to the magical world. This usually results in Physics goes bonk!
Solution #6: This world has a greater power controlling magic. She has an appearance similar to that of Bes in Egyption Mythology and has technologically sensitive beings known as Feluxi. Attempts to mix technology and magic results in the Feluxi getting ill, which displeases the greater power. The greater power, in an attempt to maintain the balance in the world, promptly removes the irritation by bringing the offending character into the great war.
-----------------------------
OK those are some of the basic changes I've made...
Opinions before I proceed with more specifics.