Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.

[Mith]

Little folk are mostly balanced, but no one would ever play as a Healer folk, because they're just so much better at thievery and the like. Also there's a very simple way to get around the 20 ft speed: just have an ally carry you. If you're a caster, you never even need to move on your own anyway, and your buddy will absorb most of the damage for you anyway. They might be more balanced if we made them Small instead of Tiny, even if it doesn't fit the myths as nicely.

Would a Shrink Self ability as a racial ability for X+modifier rounds/day be a useful in-between for myths and games, or is it easier to have them just be Small.

[Steckie]

- The "Slave" culture should be renamed "African", for sensitivity reasons.

Not all slaves were African, there are still native slaves. And i think north African and possibly European as well.
But since those are a minority i think changing this sounds reasonable. Maybe not African as a name though. Perhaps Creole culture or something like that?

- Some aspects of the "real-world-people-and-religions" nature of the setting DOES make some people slightly uncomfortable, and we may want to consider ways to further distance the setting from the people and ethnic groups that players know today (or, as I've suggested in the past, find a way to completely separate it from the historical timeline altogether and file off the serial numbers).

Religion could be fixed relatively easily i think.
For example Christianity: We could have people in Crossroads refer to Jesus as 'The Holy Phoenix' or something similar.
He died for the sins of humanity and first came back as a human on Easter around the year 33 (?) like in our bible. But in Crossroads the bible goes on and says that he came back again in the year 79 as a Phoenix so he could lead all other phoenixes into closing the hole the Romans made in the Link system.
He sacrificed himself with all the other phoenixes (who aren't really phoenixes but the souls of every saint in history).
Now the church is still searching to gather all their saints and keep their holy ashes safe (and sometimes use it as a power source) until the day they've gathered all the ashes. That day Phoenix Jesus will come back a fourth time to save humanity again.
'Our Thrice Born Lord' could be another name.

That would seperate Crossroads-Christianity from real world christianity in a very clear way.
Other religions don't really have the same problem because they're mostly extinct (apart from Islam and perhaps some African religions?).

[Pokonic]

OK, so the first session of character creation lasted until after midnight, which is always a good sign. Not all of the players finished making their characters (some barely even got started), but that was partly due to their unfamiliarity with Pathfinder rules (as opposed to 4th edition), and partly due to theirvhaving to read up on a dozen new races and classes.

The general consensus is that...
- Quetzals are enormously overpowered, pretty much to the point of being unplayable (this from the guy whose greatest joy in life is breaking games). They would make interesting enemies, but the RAW (rules-as-written) say they've got twice the reach of a human with their 5-foot long telekinetic arms, and there's nothing is saying that both arms need to come out of the same part of the body (or even the same end of the body, giving them an effective total length of 18 feet). In fact, there isn't even a rule that specifically limits how many telekinetic arms they're allowed! Like the Amicqui, they may be better-suited to NPC status.

I think I heard something about a reworking for these guys. Effectively, they are Naga; taking some cues from Serpent Kingdoms to make items for them to work better as party members would be good. I do like them as a concept, and if we are having sasquatches running around I think we can have giant snakes.

- The "Slave" culture should be renamed "African", for sensitivity reason, the "Imported" culture should be added back in, and since we're already changing the timeline pretty severely, we might be able to eliminate slavery from the setting altogether (or at least add in a major slave revolt, either past or present).

I think a slave revolt is a think that should be in the background somewhere. Wasn't there talk about a 'buffalo warrior' example NPC? A escaped slave who's getting explicit dual support from both the spirits of his homeland and the new land he has found himself in setting would be a interesting addition. Of course, there's always Location, Location, Location, but it's still a solid thing. Slavery should still exist but should be a more harrowing thing for the slavers involved, because there's far more powerful parties who don't like the general idea of it.

- The Culture system is interesting, but VERY complex. Might possibly be easier for the player if we painted in broader strokes (European, Native, Chinese, Mesoamerican, etc) to simplify the selection process.

I am a fan of the culture system as written, but it could simply be a option for character creation, as apposed to a thing everyone choses to do. I think the options certainty need to be simplified, though; two skills is probably enough to get the purpose across.

- Some aspects of the "real-world-peoples-and-religions" nature of the setting DOES make some people slightly uncomfortable, and we may want to consider ways to further distance the setting from the people and ethnic groups that players know today (or, as I've suggested in the past, find a way to completely separate it from the historical timeline altogether and file off the serial numbers).

That's a inherent thing in any alternate history setting. Deadland's is basically the American west with magic and zombies, and during the time that I played it there was one guy who was, understandably, uncertain about how he was going to approach certain issues inherent in the era when it came to roleplaying it. Just changing the names would be beating around the bush doesn't gain anyone anything, though.

Warhammer Role Play is pretty much one of the better Dark Age simulators one can play, but the fact that some of the names are just slightly different then the real-life counterparts are pretty well justified because of the existence of it's most fantastical elements, like the fact that the Forces of Chaos exist and want to eat your soul. The thing is, pretty much every group in this setting that has gotten attention besides mainland Europeans rarely get a good treatment when it comes to actual game media. Half the time, they get replaced with entities that are not even human, or are not on the forefront of the game, and usually then they are not on the good side (I'm looking at you, World of Warcraft).

While this isn't a 'human only' setting, this isn't also a setting where there's a immediate target for a player to go out and take their stuff without being in the bottom of the alignment pool. I like this, because it's different. Inherently, this is a alternate history setting; the last big setting made by playgrounders, the Hourglass of Zihaja, was basically Fantasy Middle East. I ran a game of that with a few people; it was great and it got a favorable response from people who are used to Ebberon. It was a new experience that was mostly well received.

The thing is, though, we don't need a Fantasy America. We are doing a America with all the fantastical elements people believed existed within it. Putting different names in front of things doesn't change what they are supposed to be, and at this point having the meticulous research made into getting all of this mostly right for a setting like this made moot just seems pointless and silly. At this point, changing the setting so that the people of the Foot of The World come into contact with the weird Westermen and strange Hajing just seems like someone's trying to evade taking responsibility for getting the setting right.

[SuperDave]

Not all slaves were African, there are still native slaves. And i think north African and possibly European as well.
But since those are a minority i think changing this sounds reasonable. Maybe not African as a name though. Perhaps Creole culture or something like that?

I like Creole better, personally. Good call!

Religion could be fixed relatively easily i think.
For example Christianity: We could have people in Crossroads refer to Jesus as 'The Holy Phoenix' or something similar.
story).

You know, I actually like that a lot. It would allow us to keep the Catholic Church in place, but reflavor it in a way that clearly separates it from the historical Church.
Have you ever read Snow by Night? In that series, the colonists revere Giavere, the sacred unicorn-maiden; your suggestion made me think of that.

I think I heard something about a reworking for these guys. Effectively, they are Naga; taking some cues from Serpent Kingdoms to make items for them to work better as party members would be good. I do like them as a concept, and if we are having sasquatches running around I think we can have giant snakes.

Downloading it now. Thanks for pointing it out!

Slavery should still exist but should be a more harrowing thing for the slavers involved, because there's far more powerful parties who don't like the general idea of it.

This idea makes me smile. In an evil way.

I am a fan of the culture system as written, but it could simply be a option for character creation, as apposed to a thing everyone choses to do. I think the options certainty need to be simplified, though; two skills is probably enough to get the purpose across.

On second thought, maybe the reason it was difficult for the to pick cultures was because they all had to share my phone, and I didn't think to print out a copy of the Cultures table before heading over. My suggestion may have been premature. :small tongue:

Though I have been thinking that a LOT of Native cultures largely share the same skills and feats (especially Knowledge (Nature) and Survival). Maybe we could rule that all Native characters get Survival as a class skill automatically?

Just changing the names would be beating around the bush doesn't gain anyone anything, though. [...] Putting different names in front of things doesn't change what they are supposed to be, and at this point having the meticulous research made into getting all of this mostly right for a setting like this made moot just seems pointless and silly. At this point, changing the setting so that the people of the Foot of The World come into contact with the weird Westermen and strange Hajing just seems like someone's trying to evade taking responsibility for getting the setting right.

Well, when you're right, you're right. I guess we'll just have to deal with the fact that someone is inevitably going to get offended, no matter what we do or don't do. (I think I'm just preprogrammed to worry excessively about potentially offending people.) I guess the only solution is to do our best to make it as scrupulously accurate as humanly possible: historical truth will be our defense.

(I wasn't really saying we should scrap the whole setting, just that calling things by different names would help people to disassociate elements of our setting from their historical counterparts)

[BRC]

Concerning "Holy Pheonix" or whatever, I'm going to say no.

Crossroads is supposed to be a historical setting with fantastical elements. The Real World but with Magic. Chaning some names around ruins that in my opinion. It might be fine if this was a fantasy world based on a time period besides Medieval Europe, but it's not. Needlessly changing things, especially something as significant as a major religion, breaks part of what makes this setting special.

[Mith]

I am curious: Once Crossroads is published, do you think it would be possible/feasible to make a discussion forum/online database where people can discuss and share refinement ideas of cultures that may be missed in the research? It could also help with easing discomfort, allowing people to offer suggestions to improve the setting. Granted this is not so easy if you are doing printed books, and it probably will not work as well as I think it would, but it is an idea.

[Admiral Squish]

I have some good news! I will be getting my computer back from the repair place tomorrow, which means I can FINALLY work on some real material again!

Races
Quetzals
Well, the quetzals are on my list to rewrite. I do appreciate that commentary, though, I will be making sure to address that when I get into the spirit arms. Though, I don't think the reach thing is accurate. I mean, they can only telekinetically manipulate out to five feet, human arm is maybe three, but effective reach is more like five with leaning and stretching and such.

Sasquatches
I would hesitate to say 'hugely overpowered'. They have a great strength bonus, yes, but in crossroads, strength is supposed to be less important in the overall scheme of things. I don't want to bump it down, I don't know why, but +4 feels infinitely less cool than +6.

Little Folk
Small characters have been riding medium ones for ages, bumping up the size isn't gonna fix things, and it's just gonna make it that much harder to explain how they managed to say hidden so long and so well, and give them reach. They are pretty great at stealth, I will admit, but I don't think that would necessarily stop people from playing healer folk. Maybe some terrain type limiter on the walk unseen ability?

Taqriaqsuit
Oh, man, I forgot about the fly speed... Well, they're on the list, too. I'll see what I can do to fix that. Maybe just make the incorporeal step thing into a nerfed version.

Cultures
I don't know about shredding the list of cultures quite so dramatically. Maybe we could cut out some of the variation, though, remove the specific sub-culture groups like vinlandr, mexica, and such, and just cover them when we get into detail describing the nations. Much the same way we would describe, say, the cree in Tuniitaq.
European
Chinese
African
Mesoamerican
Northeast
Southeast
Plains
Southwest
Great Basin
Plateau
Caribbean
Californian
Northwest Coast
Subarctic
Arctic

Realism
More or less what the rest of the thread says. At this point, changing he names will do nothing but confuse people, and the steps required to add the distance from realism that would require the entire setting to be more or less remade entirely.
I like the IDEA of the holy pheonix, but perhaps that would be better as a distinct sect. I mean, there have been divisions within the church about whether there were three or four nails involved in the crucifixion, the idea that there was actually a second coming already would be a huge line to be drawn.

[Admiral Squish]

Had a fit of inspiration, 'nother workspace post.

Spoiler: Shaman

Show

HD: d8
Skill Points: 4 + int
Class Skills: Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Religion), Knowledge (Spirit World), Perception, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Wrath	Xs
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	X (least), Calling, Feel Spirits (30), Spirit Ally	1d6	-
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3		1d6	-
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3		2d6	-
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	1st Boon	2d6	-
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Feel Spirits (60)	3d6	-
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	X (Lesser)	3d6	-
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5		4d6	-
8th	+6	+2	+2	+6	2nd Boon	4d6	-
9th	+6	+3	+3	+6		5d6	-
10th	+7	+3	+3	+7	See Spirits	5d6	-
11th	+8	+3	+3	+7	X (Greater)	6d6	-
12th	+9	+4	+4	+8	3rd boon	6d6	-
13th	+9	+4	+4	+8		7d6	-
14th	+10	+4	+4	+9		7d6	-
15th	+11	+5	+5	+9	See Truth	8d6	-
16th	+12	+5	+5	+10	4th Boon, X (Divine)	8d6	-
17th	+12	+5	+5	+10		9d6	-
18th	+13	+6	+6	+11	Timeless Body	9d6	-
19th	+14	+6	+6	+11		10d6	-
20th	+15	+6	+6	+12	5th Boon	10d6	-

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
Shamans are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor (but not shields).

X:
How the magic works. Check Invocations

Blessings- Supernatural bonuses to allies
Curses- Negative effects on enemies
Summons- Call a spirit being to the mortal world.

Calling:
Becoming a shaman is not a matter of choice, but of birth. One is born with the connection to the spirits required to become a shaman, but one cannot truly begin the shaman's journey until they hear the calling. The calling may take place in a dream, a hallucination, or any situation that exposes one's mind to the spirit world. A spirit, deity, or a group of spirits, will awaken the shaman's mystical abilities, and, directly or indirectly, begin them on the path of the shaman. The calling can happen at any age, any stage of life, and it is unforgettable. While a shaman may choose to help or oppose the spirits that awoke their power, the nature of the spirit forever affects the way their powers behave.

At first level, a shaman selects a Calling, the type of spirit that woke their power. This calling grants the shaman the use of it's Wrath, and a number of Boons. In addition, the shaman can select Xs from their calling's list, in addition to the normal list.
A wrath is a simple, aggressive power, granted by the spirits to be used against the shaman's foes. A wrath is treated as a spell-like ability that can be used at will, as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. A successful wrath deals damage as indicated on the table above, and has an effective spell level equal to 1/2 the shaman's class level (minimum 1, maximum 9)
Boons are supernatural abilities that are usually passive. The shaman gains the benefits of a boon at the level indicated on the table above.

Spoiler: Callings

Show

Beast
Beast spirits are a relatively common Calling, predators and prey alike seeking to maintain the tenuous balance between each other, between the animals and mankind, and between unnatural forces and themselves. Beast spirits typically call upon those who live near or among the animals to become their shamans, and most will only select those that have shown respect to the animals. Beast shamans may have been farmers, or hunters, who dealt with animals regularly, or simply those who had an uncommon connection with an animal, such as a treasured pet. Urban beast shamans are extremely rare.

Wrath:
A beast shaman's wrath is channeled through their spirit ally. When using their wrath, the shaman imbues their spirit ally with just a shred of realism, enough to make their natural weapons felt on the mortal world. The spirit ally makes a single melee touch attack against a creature in their space or an adjacent square, using the shaman's attack modifiers. This is treated as part of the shaman's wrath, and does not actually require an action from the spirit ally. If the attack is successful, the target takes the shaman's wrath damage plus the shaman's strength modifier.

1st Boon:


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5th Boon:

Wood

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Ancestor

Earth

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Flame

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Sky


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Water

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Chaos


Wrath:


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Evil


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Good


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Law


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Feel spirits:
A shaman has an inherent connection to the spirit world, and this connection allows them to sense the presence of spirits. This sense may develop in young shamans years before they receive their calling. The shaman can sense the presence of creatures with the outsider type within 30 feet, regardless of any disguise, illusion, or other concealment they may be under. The shaman can feel the presence of the spirit and it's general location, but the sense is not detailed enough to allow them precise targeting. Treat this ability as blindsense 30, which only detects outsiders. Additionally, the shaman can passively sense the relative strength of the outsider in question, in that they can identify if the outsider is Weak (CR is 3 or more lower than their current character level), Challenging (CR is equal to their current character level, plus or minus 2), or Overpowering (CR 3 or more higher than their current character level).
At 5th level, the shaman's ability to sense outsiders improves. The range of their feel spirits ability increase to 60 feet.

Spirit Ally
A shaman is aided in their worldly tasks by their Spirit Ally, a minor spirit that follows the shaman on his travels and aids him in his quests. This spirit barely exists on the spirit world, and is intangible, inaudible, and invisible, unable to affect the mortal world in any mundane fashion. Shamans and beings with a see invisibility or true seeing effect can see it. The shaman and the spirit ally can communicate telepathically. The spirit ally's form and personality is widely varied and often unique, formed out of an aspect of the shaman's mind. Typically, the spirit ally takes the form of a being of the shaman's calling, and may appear translucent or ghostly. A shaman has one spirit ally their entire career, which cannot be changed, regardless of the shaman or the spirit's opinion of the other.

A spirit ally has no physical presence, so it does not 'occupy' any space, but its presence in a given square should be noted. A spirit ally uses its own actions and acts at the same initiative count of the shaman. A spirit ally cannot make attack rolls, flank, or interact with the mortal world in any way not described below. The spirit ally does not obstruct line of sight, line of effect, and does not interfere with movement in anyway. It can see and hear its surroundings as well as the shaman can. It uses the shaman's perception modifier and it can use any of the shaman's passive sensory abilities, such as darkvision or blindsense. It can fly with perfect maneuverability at a speed of 60 feet. However, it is dependent on the shaman's presence to remain in existence. A spirit ally must remain within 120 feet of the shaman at all times and maintain a line of effect to the shaman. If the spirit ally or the shaman move in such away that they are more than 120 feet apart or something breaks the line of effect, the spirit ally disappears instantly and reappears in a square adjacent to the shaman. A shaman can dismiss or re-summon their spirit ally as a free action, the re-summoned spirit ally always appearing in a square adjacent to the shaman.

A spirit ally is not without its uses, though. Spirit allies have a number of traits that grant them a measure of supernatural influence on the mortal world, depending on their specific nature and the shaman's calling.

Spoiler: Ally Traits

Show

Blah

See Spirits
At 10th level, the shaman's ability to detect spirits increases further. Their feel spirits ability becomes more accurate, allowing them to detect outsiders within range as though they had blindsight that only detected outsiders. In addition, the shaman can see things normally hidden from the eyes of mortals. The shaman can see as though constantly under the effects of a see invisibility spell.

See Truth
At 15th level, the shaman's ability to perceive the truth of the world increases further. Instead of a see invisibility spell, they are now treated as though constantly under the effects of a true seeing spell.

Timeless Body
At 18th level, the shaman's connection to the spirits allows them to stop their own aging. They no longer take ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties already incurred, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the shaman still dies of old age when their time is up.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Liking what's there so far, especially the "blah."

Perhaps Warrior could be a spirit type? They could grant weapon proficiency in their favored weapon during life, and that weapon could be further augmented through spiritual power. That said, I don't know how you're going about everything, so maybe it would (or could) fall under the Ancestor type, but the restless warrior types who fell in battle and couldn't pass on seems like a classic to the shaman.

... Or maybe I just want to play an expy of Yoh from Shaman King in a Crossroads setting.

[Pokonic]

... Or maybe I just want to play an expy of Yoh from Shaman King in a Crossroads setting.

Okay, this kinda needs to be on the example NPC list, at least.

[Admiral Squish]

Shaman
Warrior would fall under the Ancestor spirits, yes. 'Ancestor' is supposed to cover the spirits of sentient beings that remain on the spirit world beyond when they would normally pass on, for one reason or another.
I do like the idea of the ancestor working though the shaman for their abilities, though! I'm somewhat concerned about how varied the ancestor spirits would need to be, but I'm sure I can figure out something to make it work.

Yoh is pretty cool, I admit... But perhaps it would fit the setting better to use Tao Ren (or Dao Lian, rather)?

[SuperDave]

Spoilered for length

Steckie: sorry it took me so long to read it, but your write-up for the British Caribbean colonies is spot-on. I move that we make this the official format for all locations, and encourage all contributors to use it when reporting their own in-depth research into different locations.

It is a lot of detail, but that's just fine. Players and DMs can always skim material that doesn't apply to them. Naturally, there won't be room in the book for us to do this with EVERY area of the continent, but if we think a bit larger (for example, an entry like this for the whole Caribbean, rather than just the British colonies), we could probably give every region a fairly complete rundown. Anything we have to cut can be reused when we do guides to the different regions.

Playtesting
We've decided to begin play at level three, since that's the level we were at in our 4E campaign. We have three more-or-less complete characters: a Taqriasuit medicine-woman; a Little Folk (probably Ishigaq) runecaster; and a Huli-Jing martial artist; the rest are up-in-the-air. We're planning on meeting this Wednesday to finalize characters and answer any questions they might have about the setting, but we probably won't play, since three of the players will be out of town. Which is fine by me, since I DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE A CAMPAIGN FOR THEM YET!

It's kind of embarrassing, but since I didn't know what level they'd start at, what kind of characters they'd pick, or where they'd want to start playing, I couldn't really plan anything for them. I'm thinking that if they start in Columbia, I'll probably send them into the mountains chasing after a hidden Trollkin settlement. However, I feel like Cahokia is the best place for them to start, since it's kind of emblematic of the whole setting, and they could go literally anywhere they wanted from there. But I'm nervous about doing that, because the city is only a vague plan, at this point, and we don't have any maps of the city, or NPCs to inhabit it, or even a definite idea of the city's power structure.

Any thoughts on where I should start them out, and what I should pit them against? What kind of adventure would be appropriate for six level-three characters whose players are new to the setting?

Edit I just noticed a minor issue: a lot of creatures have DR which is overcome by substances which either don't exist in the setting (adamantine), or assume at least a "medieval" level of technology (alchemical silver, cold iron, etc.). What are we going to do about this?

[BRC]

Maps are unnecessary, you know everything you need to about the layout of Cahokia. A sprawling metropolis of shops, homes, and warehouses surrounded by an earth-and-palisade wall, with luxurious palaces seated on top of elaborate mounds towering over everything.

[Steckie]

Steckie: sorry it took me so long to read it, but your write-up for the British Caribbean colonies is spot-on. I move that we make this the official format for all locations, and encourage all contributors to use it when reporting their own in-depth research into different locations.

It is a lot of detail, but that's just fine. Players and DMs can always skim material that doesn't apply to them. Naturally, there won't be room in the book for us to do this with EVERY area of the continent, but if we think a bit larger (for example, an entry like this for the whole Caribbean, rather than just the British colonies), we could probably give every region a fairly complete rundown. Anything we have to cut can be reused when we do guides to the different regions.

I'm working on the French Carribean islands now, using the same format. Personally i'm not yet completely happy with it and i've got a few thoughts on how to improve it. Next on the list are the Spanish islands, then the Dutch and finally the Knights.
At this point my plan is to write up an introduction to the Carribean as a whole and then focus on each coloniser nation separately. And finally something about the natives still living there, if i can find anything about that.

Don't expect too much of all this very soon, between work and housework i don't have much time left for research. I hope that by september things will calm down a bit and i'll have some more time to do research.

While i'm on the subject, i have a few more questions:
- Vodou religion. Are there any plans or ideas somebody had for this? Any classes or prestige classes i need to know about? I'm working on Saint-Domingue (Haïti) at the moment and this has just come up.
- Can i lump some islands that weren't historically governed by one governor together for the sake of simplicity? I'd like to do this with some French islands that weren't very important.
- The Dutch. They have Nieuw Amsterdam, but they don't have Sint-Maarten (went to the Knights)
This leaves them with Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St Eustatius and Saba. Of those only Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao (the ABC-islands) are really of note.
With the Spanish, French, English and Knights already in the area the Dutch are starting to feel a bit redundant and i think it might be a good idea to axe them from the Carribean.
Maybe a deal with the English where they keep Nieuw Amsterdam and the English get all the Carribean islands? With maybe a few islands going to the Knights?
This would again simplify things a bit. And would make it a bit more realistic for the Dutch to hold on to Nieuw Amsterdam.

[Mith]

Sounds reasonable to me. Simplicity beats complexity.

[Pokonic]

Edit I just noticed a minor issue: a lot of creatures have DR which is overcome by substances which either don't exist in the setting (adamantine), or assume at least a "medieval" level of technology (alchemical silver, cold iron, etc.). What are we going to do about this?

I think the stuff that would exist in the medieval times would still be around, but harder to get then typical DnD. After all, traditions would die hard, and I think the church especially would have access to extra-normal armaments. Cold Iron would be kept around by the superstitious, for example, and silver has general associations with keeping evil at bay. I mean, there's probably not a cold-iron arrow vendor in every moderate sized settlement on the west coast, of course, but those who have concerns that involve extra-normal creatures could feasibly have it shipped over.

[Admiral Squish]

Sorry I been silent, thread, I'm just SO overwhelmed. Didn't have a computer, then I had the computer and I couldn't get to my files, still can't get to most of my files so now I've moved them online so I can mess with 'em there, I'm selling a bunch of my crap online, including a car, which is not exactly an easy process...

Anyways, I'm here, and I've still got a lot to do. Maybe a list would help...

Classes
[blank] or Brute2, whatever I end up calling it.
Shaman (still need all the spells and ally traits)
Priest (had some ideas on this while doing shaman)
Runecaster (mostly glyphs)
Martial artist (mostly techniques)

Races
Quetzals (Coatls)
Touched
Taqriaqsuit
Innunguaq (got the runecasting mostly working, they can be made now)
Giantkin (mostly heritages, trying to add some depth)

Cultures
ALL OF THEM
Well, except a few mostly-done. Did we decide if we were going to narrow the list down or simplify or anything, or are we just going ahead with it as-is? I think like all the cultures that have been worked on so far are pretty much on the list to be chopped off.
Oh, and here's a question: Should monstrous cultures appear on the first page somewhere?

Anyone who wants to contribute is more than welcome to...


Onto current thread-events:
DR
For the moment, just assume all traditional materials are still around, albeit more rare.

Dutch
I think we would be fine just having them sell of or give away their caribbean holdings, perhaps in exchange for keeping niew amsterdam and some sort of trade considerations that would allow the dutch to trade tariff-free in many ports? That would allow them to still have a presence without needing a full-on section in the book detailing the islands they own.

Island-lumping
I think the vast majority of our players will be more interested in the awesome parts of the setting, I think we could probably get away with a lot of simplification in more... mundane areas, such as who's governing whom and so on.

Vodou
I am yet unaware of any plans for vodou, though I do seem to think we had some plans to make zombis into shock troopers. I could imagine some sort of PRC later down the line, but nothing at the moment is on paper. Go nuts, we'll fix it in post.

[Mith]

Just curious: did we ever resolve alignment? I am asking because I may have a way to fix the problem.

Each culture has Taboos and [Mandates] (I am not sure what word I want there) that govern it, however, not all cultures have the same set of rules. What if we divide Taboos and [Mandates] into Law-Chaos and Good-Evil, then all priests will have a Detect Alignment spell that allows them to judge based on conflicting [Mandates]. My idea of a Lawful Mandate is like dietary restrictions because it is unclean, versus murder and human sacrifice. This could also be fun with an ongoing character as they experience and potentially evolve, with their list of Taboos and [Mandates] changing over time.

Do you think this will work?

[Pokonic]

Shaman

Yoh is pretty cool, I admit... But perhaps it would fit the setting better to use Tao Ren (or Dao Lian, rather)?

The general plotline of that whole bloody series could easily be wedged in here; specific ostracized clans that contain individuals known for having strange powers, after fleeing the mainland and heading for the colonies, are recognized as having abilities puzzlingly similar to that of native priests and shamans, even if the former believe that they are truly gifted by the heavens and the latter are content to not really press the issue. Besides generally opening up options for the five people on the planet who would want to play a spiritualist-style Asian character (add all the things!), it's another thing to note when trying to break down metaphysical walls regarding how different parts of the world work.

On another note, a perfectly feasible high-level example antagonist could be a bit of a Hao expy; a high-level wizard who's all but mastered every form of spiritual exercise and practice in China- and has possibly improved on some, for that matter- decides, in his arrogance, to go to the 'new world' and practice his trade there. The main problem, of course, is that his methods, while effective in binding and controlling spirits, harm the spirits he interacts with immensely, and he knows this and does not care.

[SuperDave]

Sentient Weapons
I don't know, I kind of like the idea. In a world where the bitter rivalries of our own timeline had access to devastating magic and enchanted weapons, then the only way the Great Peacemaker could ever get the Five Nations to work together would be by getting every side to lay down their arms, to literally bury the hatchet. Plus, they might not have been sentient at the time they were buried: if Charles C. Mann's estimate (based on the last pre-Contact solar eclipse visible from upstate New York) is correct, they might have been buried beneath the roots of the Great Tree of Peace more than a thousand years ago.

Oh, and here's my draft for the Great Tree of Peace as a major slotless artifact:

Spoiler: The Great Tree of Peace

Show

Great Tree of Peace (major artifact)
Slot none; Aura strong abjuration; CL 20th; Weight 50 tons
DESCRIPTION
The Great Tree of Peace is a colossal white pine, more than one thousand feet tall. Its branches are strong and straight, covered in rich green needles which grow in clusters of five, symbolizing the eternal unity of the Five Nations.
The Great Tree of Peace constantly generates the following spells at CL 20th, out to 1,000 feet: calm emotions, calm weather, hymn of peace, and peace aura. Any sentient creature standing within this range gains a +5 sacred bonus to Diplomacy checks, but takes a -5 penalty to Intimidate checks.
Attacks against the Great Tree itself are also subject to this nausea effect, and in addition they draw the attention of the awakened celestial dire eagle who nests atop the tree: he is instantly aware of any attempt to harm the Great Tree, regardless of where he is in the multiverse at that moment, and will react accordingly.

DESTRUCTION
{Breaking the Confederacy?}

In general, I think the idea of sentient weapons generally is a very good idea for Crossroads, because the setting allows for magical weapons that don't see a lot of play in regular D&D. There might be a few odd enchanted swords from the Old World (Hrunting, Tizona, Durendal, etc), but they'd be far more likely to encounter war-clubs that can shatter boulders, flintlock rifles that never misfire or need reloading, obsidian knives which literally cry out for sacrificial blood, etc. I'd really like to see more of these included in the setting. If you have any ideas (doesn't even have to be full statblocks, just a concept is fine), drop 'em in the Call to Brew thread, as always.

Novarossi -> Russkaya Wespuccia
I support this change. I realize you're not super-fond of the name "vespuccia", Squish, but I think you're out-voted on this one. The thread seems to consider Vespuccia to be the continent's true name (at least to Europeans), and that's been more-or-less established for so long that I don't think you're going to change that anytime soon.

Non-Horse Mounts
I like and support the inclusion of Otters/Dire Otters in the Iroquois Confederacy and elsewhere.
Rabbits/Hares might have the wrong gait for riding, but I love the idea of a Little Folk medicine-man racing across the Great Plains in a sled pulled by a team of jackalopes. Dire jaguars would make extremely rare-but-badass mounts, as would mountain lions and other large cats (I think I remember Pecos Bill rode a mountain lion and used a rattlesnake as a lasso... OMG we need to make that a weapon!).
I could definitely see some Mongo-esque Brute riding a tamed bison, but they've been proven unsuitable for widespread domestication (the males become extremely violent and kill each other during mating season).
I think we can do without the Terror Bird, though. As you pointed out, they're hard to justify, not really suitable for riding, and they would just jerk the reader out of the setting by making them think of chocobos.
Orcas and dolphins are a little harder to justify, but with the existence of spells like speak with animals, I suppose anything's possible.
Caribou/reindeer could be doable as mounts, especially with the aid of growth-magic and selective breeding. Perhaps, given the food surpluses which were discussed in The Land of Ice and Mice, the peoples of the tundra had enough spare time to try their hands at domesticating caribou, like the Finns did on the other side of the Arctic Circle.
Moose could conceivably be domesticated by mundane means, and certainly with the aid of magic. A quick Wikipedia search produced the following awesome historical fact: "In Sweden, there was a debate in the late 18th century about the national value of using the moose as a domestic animal. Among other things, the moose was proposed to be used in postal distribution, and there was a suggestion to develop a moose-mounted cavalry." I'm not sure if the moosefolk would feel particularly bad for the moose, though; probably no worse than they feel for horses. After all, humans don't feel particularly outraged when bad things happen to half-human creatures like centaurs or satyrs, do they?

Ultimately, I think that with the aid of magic, pretty much any species capable of bearing the weight of a rider could concievably be made into a mount. But very few of them would be suitable to domestication on a wide scale, even with the aid of magic, given the relative rarity of casters.

Plateau Sasquatch
I feel like this works better than the whole "Borderlanders" think, plus it gives players more excuses to interact with Sasquatches, which is always a plus in my book.

Shaman class
I like your writeup so far, but you say early on that "Becoming a shaman is not a matter of choice, but of birth". That's definitely not true: there seems to be general consensus that anyone, at least in theory, can become a shaman. Also, it needs starting gold, and a description of the shaman's role in the party and in combat. Other than that (and of course, the fact that it's not complete yet), what you've got so far looks great! I can't wait to see what it looks like when you're done.

What about some kind of class feature that allows the shaman to create and dedicate fetishes?

Brute v2
How about these as possible names for the class?

• Assailant
• Batterer
• Battler
• Foeman
• Heavy
• Man-At-Arms
• Pugilist
• Scrapper
• Slugger
• Smasher
• Stalwart
• Tanker
• Warlord

Honestly, I think plain old "Warrior" would be the best and most widely-applicable name for it, but you're right, that is already taken by an NPC class... Hmm, what about "War-maker" instead? Or we could just reclaim the "Fighter" name and say they've had to radically change how they do business since the invention of gunpowder.

Voodou
I don't know if we have any plans for how any religion works (besides throwing up our hands and shouting "Magic!"), but Voodou is definitely something that could use a little more attention. I found a neat little guide to the Orishas, or gods, of the voodou faith. It's not very deep, but it's a starting point.

Zombis
I vote we use the Juju Zombie template. In actual folklore, zombis retained their skills (and sometimes memories) after "death", but not their ability to think for themselves. That's what made them so desirable: you could get a guy to forge your tools or whatever, just as well as he did in life, but for free! There were stories about zombis being used as shock troops against the French:

Vodou (preferred spelling), the “pagan” religion of Haiti, was viewed as evil by the French, primarily due to the darkness associated with its rituals, specifically, the idea of a bokor (sorcerer) who could capture the soul of the recently deceased and force it back into their mortal shell, meaning, they created zombies. These newly reanimated people were ferocious, and many people believed (including the French) that the warriors sent against the slavers were zombies, as they would take musketball after musketball and never fall down, overrunning fortresses with ease. In the end, the French were ousted in the only truly successful slave revolt by strong will and belief in the values of the native peoples. Or zombies. I prefer zombies.

Alignment
I think that we don't need to worry too much about alignment. Most likely, players and DMs are probably just going to treat it like they've always treated it, and judge characters by their actions, not how others percieve them. The whole personal/percieved alignment thing seems really... needlessly complicated, in my opinion. We should either use the traditional alignment grid, make our own, or throw away the alignment system entirely. We shouldn't bother with implementing it twice, and making players/DMs keep track of both, if the only alignment that makes any mechanical difference is the one that others assign to you.

What do you mean by "judge based on conflicting [Mandates]", Mith? You mean they could sense your mandates instead of your alignment?

I've always liked the Virtue and Vice system from World of Darkness. Maybe we could implement something like that, which makes morality a personal judgement, rather than a fundamental force within the universe.

Honestly though, I think the old Alignment Grid might still be acceptable in Crossroads. Of course, DMs would have to be especially careful with it, because they're talking about real people and practices here, but holding a writhing, screaming captive down on a pedestal and cutting out his beating heart is still kind of a jerk move, even if you do it because you can't see any way for it to be avoided. If you put two men in a cage and tell one to sacrifice the other or you'll kill them both, the sacrificer might get off for extenuating circumstances, but even though his hand was forced, he's still not entirely guilt-free in this situation, because he put his own needs above the needs of an innocent person (which is not what Good-aligned characters do).

As long as a priest doesn't take pleasure in the suffering of his captives, as long as he strives to make their entry into the paradise of the Sun God as painless and easy as possible, that priest might still qualify as Neutral, because he does what must be done, but with compassion and respect, even if what he's doing isn't very kind. As soon as he stops caring about his captives, that downgrades him to Evil, because he's not even trying to keep a bad situation from getting worse.

Alignment should be about WHY characters do things, not only WHAT they do.

[Mith]

What do you mean by "judge based on conflicting [Mandates]", Mith? You mean they could sense your mandates instead of your alignment?

I wrote that post with quite a few things bouncing around in my head, so my apologies for it being unclear

It would be to compare two individual's worldviews within their cultures. They wouldn't know "You believe this is Good, and I think this is Evil", you would get a sense of "Something this individual does I think is Evil." You wouldn't know until talking to them where the line was, but you would have a sense that there is a line. It might be too complex of a system to execute, but it more occured to me and I wanted to get it down before I forgot.

An idea of the list would be like (I am doing this example based off of the Mexica. Not all entries are extreme. Ideally these will be listed in the Culture section of the handbook and will be established in Character Creation. It is more of a guideline that may be useful for proper character interaction with a world that does not follow modern Western morality.)

Sacred (What is Good to do)

eg: Sacrificing yourself/others to keep the world from being destroyed by Mass Jaguar Swarm

Taboo (What is Evil to do, which may not be an omission of what is Sacred, since they do not always apply. Omission of a Sacred action can be Neutral)

eg: Destruction of a Deathless Priest who exists to serve the people and the gods


Lawful (What a Law-abiding member of that Culture would do)

eg: Do not steal, pay taxes to the State


Un-Lawful (What a Chaotic member of that Culture will do)


eg: Use false weights in market, theft, destruction of property.

===
This is a quick idea of what I was thinking. Again, it may be too complex to execute, but I am thinking of more of a fleshing out of Culture that each character will belong too. A Lawful and Chaotic character will likely be recognized as such throughout the setting, however the definition of Good and Evil does change.

I am not a supporter of Cultural Relativism, but I think it's the only thing that really works in a setting with different fundemental forces of Creation manifesting conflicting Codes of Conduct.

[Steckie]

Still working on the French islands, i'm currently regrouping them a bit. There are a few things i'd like to run by you guys before i continue.

Simplifying the colonies
I think we all agree that we don't want a different chapter for every single Island and that some things need to be simplified. But we also need a reason to do that, i don't think we should just change this historical fact without a good reason.
I think i've come up with something for this: The Knights.
They're an old and respected group of warriors who have come to the New World to fight monsters and pirates. If they were to appeal to the various nations that colonised the Carribbean to simplify the administrative structure of all the colonies so they have it easier to do their duty.
The colonising nations agree to appoint a governor to their most important colonies and vice-governors to every seperate Island. After that the Knights are able to maneuver the political area a lot easier.
Basically this will give each nation 3-4 colonies that consist of several islands.

Vodou
This religion originated in Saint-Domingue. It has it's roots in a West-African religion that got partly combined with catholicism. The slaves brought to the French islands were force-converted to catholicism, this was required by law to be done within 8 days of their arrival. The religion spread over Saint-Domingue in later years and was kind of a spark that ignited the Haitian revolution in the 1790's.

Let's play with this a bit, shall we?
West-Africa is a sub-Saharan area, so they're outside of the borders of the low magic area that covers Eurasia. I think it's safe to assume that their wizards, warlocks and priests are more experienced and generally better at magic than their European enslavers. And, like in Vespuccia, there are probably more of them. Wich means it's likely the Europeans got quite a few skilled casters and Link users among their slaves.
This could be a big mistake the Europeans have made, underestimating the arcana skill of the Africans.
The Houngans (male priests) and Mambos (female priests) are probably able to spread vodou over Haïti relatively easy. And if any of those priests escape slavery and use a Link to travel to another Carribbean Island they can start spreading the religion there.
So what if Vodou is currently spreading through the Carribbean like a forest fire? And the religion is giving the slaves a feeling of unity and strength. The religion is fueling sentiments for freedom. And that could start to become a real problem for Europeans slaveholders.

Reading through the history of the Carribbean there are already a lot of examples of runaway slaves and maroon villages, so this isn't entirely unrealistic. What do you guys think?

Tobago
I've posted this here before, this Island was considered neutral terrain and was only inhabited by some natives.
Maybe we could expand on the neutrality? Make the Island into a neutral meeting ground for the coloniser nations and anybody else that wants to do diplomacy. And because of the neutrality the Native Caribs are starting to flock to the Island because it's a safe haven from the Europeans. Oh, and the Caribs were historically a pretty warlike people that drove several other Natives away from the islands.
So now there's a relatively large population of warlike people living in inland cities and Europeans doing diplomacy in one single neutral coastal town (run by the Knights maybe?)
This Island could even be a place even a pirate can visit in peace?
Oh, and the Caribs are warlike, but they would never dare to attack the Europeans because that would break the neutrality and remove the only reason they still exist.

The entire Island is locked in a very delicate balance. It's also a very dangerous powderkeg a DM can let the PC's loose on

[Mith]

I would not think that Neutral Grounds would be run by the Knights, since they are the kind to not suffer the presence of pirates and such. Granted, my understanding of the Knights may be incorrect, but I picture them as not wanting any individual that they are responsible to oppose walk on their land with out consequence. Perhaps a Native tribe that managed to deal with both sides successfully to gain this neutral land?

[Steckie]

I would not think that Neutral Grounds would be run by the Knights, since they are the kind to not suffer the presence of pirates and such. Granted, my understanding of the Knights may be incorrect, but I picture them as not wanting any individual that they are responsible to oppose walk on their land with out consequence. Perhaps a Native tribe that managed to deal with both sides successfully to gain this neutral land?

Good point, but i think the Europeans are a bit too arrogant for them to allow natives to run an important neutral place.
My second thought was maroons, but that's got the same problem.

[Mith]

What about a mixed culture of Native and European? Perhaps you have a powerful Merchant Prince/Pirate who set up a stronghold, and then created a Neutral Grounds that allowed him to stay in power, since the various factions that want him destroyed find him more useful alive and in power than dead. I would say he started as a Pirate, then became a privateer, with a final stage of retiring to control a fulcrum point of the politics of the area. He doesn't put up with anyone who breaks the Neutral Grounds status.

Would there be any sense to making it a strong center of trade? Perhaps he sits on a regular ling to Cahokia or something.

[SuperDave]

Simplifying the Caribbean
I think your idea makes perfect sense, Steckie. Better still, it ties the Knights Hospitaller more fully to the setting; until bow, they've mainly been and addition to the timeline, but this would make them a fully integrated part of the world, which in turn affects other aspects of the world. I fully endorse this plan.

Voodou Revolution
We're already throwing magic into the melee of history; who's to say that its presence didn't allow the Haitian Revolution to speed up by about 40 years or so?
I think this is an excellent idea for the setting. Much of what we've got so far has been crafted to be fairly stable, and it'd be nice to have an entire region which is currently in a state of flux. Players would really jump at the chance to aid a slave revolt, but might also cringe from the brutality they would be asked to inflict on the families of the former masters, producing thorny moral issues for the PCs.
Plus, I still want my Voodou Theocracy, dang it!

Tobago
Neutral ground? I like this. My image of this town is something of a cross between historical New Orleans, Mos Eisley from Star Wars, and Tortuga from Pirates of the Caribbean (historical note: KungFuLobster has just informed me that historically, Port Royal was much more like Tortuga, because the British paid privateers to defend them from the Spanish, and had to make their town appealing to said pirates.)

---

Crossroads Campaign

Okay, I think I have a concept for the campaign I'm about to run, but as always, I need the forum's help to make it as good as it can be.

Spoiler: Players, don't read this!

Show

The players, newly-arrived in Cahokia, must escort the arrogant son of a powerful Mound Lord to the lands of the Iroquois, to seal a trade agreement between their two empires by acting as his father's proxy.

What the players don't know is that the son has recently become a lycanthrope, and the true purpose of their journey is to find a well-known False Face shaman who might be able to cure him.

If the son dies on the journey, or if word of his condition gets out, his father will have them hunted to the ends of the earth and slaughtered. If the locals learn that they knowingly brought a man who carries The Sickness into their lands, even the oldest woman or the youngest child would fall upon them and kill them on the spot.

Potentially the players could run into entire villages which have contracted the disease, and become a horrifying bloodbath once a month. They must also contend with the young Prince's strong personality, and perhaps even with roving packs of the infected who have chosen to embrace their new existence.

I was thinking I'd like to somehow force the players to travel the Great Lakes instead of the Ohio River, because that just sounds SO much more epic, and it's a little closer to home for my players. Maybe the Ohio is closed to them because of an outbreak of lycanthropy, or even regular old mundane smallpox? Maybe some of the more distant provinces of the Iroquois are in rebellion, and the PCs get swept up in it?

To further complicate matters, I was thinking that the Mound Lord's son was infected on a journey earlier that summer, and he sends them out to the wilderness late in the season, so they're racing against the snows and the onset of winter in order to find this medicine man. This gives them a time-limit, and allosw me to unleash the Wendigo on them.

As for the son, at first I was thinking he'd only have levels in Aristocrat or some other NPC class, but since he's so central to the plot, maybe he should be able to defend himself somehow. What are my options?

And in general, what do you think of my proposed adventure? Are there any obvious holes in it? Any suggestions on how to keep my players interested and engaged? I've never been the DM of a Pathfinder campaign before! :smallscared:

P.S. I'm going camping tomorrow for my birthday, and I'll be gone for six days, spending some quality time with my wife in the Upper Peninsula (where much of The Song of Hiawatha takes place!). I'll try to polish off the Moosetaurs before I go, though.

[Aux-Ash]

Hello

I've been quite busy over the summer and haven't really been paying attention to this thread, but I'm still interested in helping out. I just have to do some catching up and such.

[Steckie]

Novarossi -> Russkaya Wespuccia
I support this change. I realize you're not super-fond of the name "vespuccia", Squish, but I think you're out-voted on this one. The thread seems to consider Vespuccia to be the continent's true name (at least to Europeans), and that's been more-or-less established for so long that I don't think you're going to change that anytime soon.

I like the name Vespuccia for the continent, from a Europeaon point of view. The natives don't have a unified name they give to the place.

Oh, and there is actually no 'W' in Russian, they mostly use the 'V' sound, so it's best to keep that in their name for Vespuccia.
Perhaps change it to Russkaya Vespukya? That sounds a lot more Russian to me, i don't speak the language though.

And while we're on the subject of names: are we going to give South America a different name or not?
I suggested naming it Cabralia or something similar some time ago, after Pedro Álvares Cabral who discovered Brazil.
South Vespuccia and North Vespuccia sounds kinda weird to me. And they are different continents, a land connection is no reason for them to be considered one continent.

What about a mixed culture of Native and European? Perhaps you have a powerful Merchant Prince/Pirate who set up a stronghold, and then created a Neutral Grounds that allowed him to stay in power, since the various factions that want him destroyed find him more useful alive and in power than dead. I would say he started as a Pirate, then became a privateer, with a final stage of retiring to control a fulcrum point of the politics of the area. He doesn't put up with anyone who breaks the Neutral Grounds status.

Would there be any sense to making it a strong center of trade? Perhaps he sits on a regular ling to Cahokia or something.

We've done the mixed native-european thing in Nouveau Orléans. Besides, any european-mix would mean that it's no longer a neutral state. If they're from English descent, the French and Spanish wont trust them. Same with other descents.
Here's a thought: converted natives.
The Caribs that still survive over the various Carribbean islands are converted and resettled to Tobago. There they build churches and things like that.
There is one problem though: Tobago was declared neutral ground in 1748, wich is a bit late for neutral territory to develop.
So we'll need to give history a little nudge to make it work. We do have the perfect thing for this: the Knights.
And we can combine this with simplifying the islands.

I'll explain what i have in mind:
The war of Spanish succession (1701-1714) was fought in the New World as well, but mostly in Mainland Vespuccia.
After the war the sailors and privateers left unemployed from the war started the 3rd round of the Golden Age of piracy (1716). The Knights, struggling against the sudden appearance of a huge number of new pirates while dancing the political dance with dozens of different governors appeal to the Carribbean colonisers for a council to discuss the problem.
They meet on Saint Croix (1720?), the Knights declare their intent to keep fighting the various monsters and magical beasts present there and the pirates as well and ask that in return the colonisers restructure their colonies to help them do what must be done. All the bureocracy is hindering their progress.
The colonisers agree to limit their governors and work with a governor/vice-governor system to get things done. They don't want to unite their colonies under one governor to prevent that one person gains too much power but they will allow for 4-5 governors that rule various islands with their vice-governors.
They also agree that the various natives converted by the Knights and treated as little more than slaves are allowed their own Island where they can continue serving the Lord.
The natives start arriving around 1721, when the Island was claimed by Britain but not yet colonised. It was a pirate's nest at the time. The Knights help clear out the pirates and the Caribs start flocking in.

Fast forward to 1750 there is now a sizeable christian Carib population running the Island. They have a large city on the coast where Spain, France, Britain, the Knights, the Dutch and Portugal have an embassy. The Caribs are fiercely neutral, and will protect that neutrality at all cost. If they were to choose a side, the other nations would jump on them in an instant.
Pirates are welcome as well, the city is a free port where only minimal taxes need to be paid.
The neutrality is valid until 10 miles out of the coast, once you pass the 10 mile point you are allowed to do whatever you please.

And perhaps something to make it even more interesting: the Carib elite is still firmly Christian and trying to hold on to the neutrality, but the common people are converting to Voodou en masse. People are starting to call out to officially convert to Voodou. And they are calling for support for their brothers and sisters in the faith. This would end the neutrality.
That way Tobago could perhaps become the Voodou theocracy Superdave is dreaming of.

As for a Link on the Island: perhaps there is no Link site there?
We usually put a Link somewhere near our population centers or commercial centers. So why not have a center of trade that has no Link?

Crossroads campaign

Spoiler

Show

If they're new arrivals in Cahokia, why would a mound lord trust them with the life of his son? They're outsiders and Cahokians don't think very high of outsiders.
If they're travelling under the cover of making a trade agreement, they could have goods with them. Two or three wagons with goods that the PC's need to protect from bandits might be an interesting addition.
Perhaps the woman lycanthrope that bit the mound lord's son and infected him secretly has a crush on him and is following the party to make sure he doesn't get cured. From there on you could go anywhere from creepy stalker to true love and wanting to elope together.

[Mith]

That is a better idea than mine. I thought up my character as someone who walked the lines between two divides and played both sides to keep neutrality: European/native, Pirate/merchant. Your idea makes more sense I think.

As for the name for the continents, I would say the Americas as a whole are Vespuccia, with maybe North Ves. being called America, and South Ves. being Calibria works. Personally I would have called North Ves. America, but that's probablly going to be a bit confusing.

[Admiral Squish]

ARG! I had a giant post like 3/4ths done, and then I clicked the wrong button and the dang computer ate it!