Fallen City States of the Coastal Forests of Kaendor

[Yora]

I should write down more unfinished ideas here. Lots of things become clear and logically present itself when I try to explain my vague concepts in words that other people could follow.
Aproaching sidhe and naga as mentally and culturally similar to humans but with inherent natures that would be considered mad came up as a thought only during the writing of the paragraph, and it opened up a whole no space of ideas what I can do with them.

Commonly these threats are done as entries of a setting book, to be checked for flaws. But when I use it as part of developing a new idea, it always turned out really useful.

[Yora]

I've been thinking again about character archetypes for PCs and I think I want to go with something a bit more traditionally adventury than the options from Apocalypse World, but still staying away from generic D&D classes.

This setting really needs a hunter type, someone who has the skills and knowledge about facing and surviving the wilderness and its supernatural elements. I want this type to be focused on Sharp (intelligence) and have three abilities already in mind: Rolling Sharp instead of Cool to safely avoid and escape from wilderness threats; making the initial attack of a fight in complete silence; and having the ability to roll Sharp to identify natural threats, spot safe resting places, determine what is safe to eat, and similar things. As always in AW, everyone can learn any of these abilities, but only the hunter can learn up to four of them. (Which means I need two more.)

I decided that the Trader doesn't actually seem nearly as fun in this setting as a bar owner in Apocalypse World. And I find most of the Temptress abilities not that interesting. But since they are both focused on Hot (charisma), combining the charm abilities of the Temptress and the contacts of the Trader makes for a pretty good looking Bard. A bard with no magical music, but instead a smooth talker with lots of contacts.

The telepathic Sorcerer/Brainer/Mentalist has lots of great abilities that I want in the magic system. And I think it should work quite well for a priest of the Moon cult as a Mystic.

The Outrider just doesn't seem as a team player and his gang appears more useful in either an outlaw or a military campaign, both of which don't fit the style of the setting. And his abilities are not actually looking fun. The setting can do without him.

And finally the Prophet also has only one interesting ability, which is to start a revolution. The rest doesn't really add to what a priest character in the setting should look like.

Which leads to this list of character archetypes for PCs:

The Bard (manipulation and contacts)
The Blademaster (the mightiest warrior around)
The Freeholder (master of a villa, castle, or trade post)
The Helmsman (captain of a ship)
The Herbalist (alchemist and healer)
The Hunter (tracker and scout)
The Mystic (telepathic powers)
The Scoundrel (stirring up trouble and getting out of it)
The Shaman (hearing the spirits and summoning them)

The Freeholder, Herbalist, and Shaman all have ties to their home, while the Helmsman is tied to water (but everything worth going is next to water anyway). But with the Freeholder having a capable second in command, the other three are reasonably mobile, but with clear incentives to always return home, which I like. Even away from the hold, the Freeholder still has guards as another major feature. Guards that can actually be quite critical to have along on a journey.
The Bard, Blademaster, and Mystic could all be traveling or have a strong position in society.
The Scoundrel and also now the Hunter don't have inherent ties to a home village. Which in case of the former is an aspect that carries over straight from AW. It just means additional work required of a player, and the abilities are just too much fun to not have the type in the game. The Hunter can be integrated into society without much work, I just think players should be reminded to better not try to make a solitary recluse in a group game.

With these character types, the game encourages groups who can travel into the wilderness and visit distant places, but who always return back home where they have numerous permanent relationships and also commitments. This quite reminds me of Greek heroes, whose adventures are special occasions, but who are still very important people at home.

[Yora]

Too weird, or not too weird? That is the question.

Something has been bothering me for a while. I am a big fan of exotic and dark settings, like Planescape, Dark Sun, and Morrowind, and Dark Souls, Darkest Dungeon, and Metro, and always greatly inspired by the many small-scale, no-budget produced campaign settings that people have made over the last decade or so.
They set the standard I am aspiring to when it comes to imaginative and creative worlds. Yet at the same time I like them more on paper or for short mini-campaigns than wanting to use them for long-term campaigns for years to come, because they tend to be too extreme in both bleakness and silliness. Everything done by Lamentations of the Flame Princess or Patrick Stuart being particularly strong examples. I want to aim for something just as evocative and creative, but that is also, for lack of a better term, somewhat more dignified. I don't like over the top grotesqueness and gore that you're noy supposed to take serious, and settings that are made to be humorous, like Hill Cantons or Yoon-Suin are also just not my style. I do appreciate humorous situations that come up during play, but the inclusion of creatures or magic items whose existence is a joke just don't work for me.
That creates a bit of a problem for me: Making something revoltingly grotesque or absurdely funny are probably the most straightforward ways to make things stand out and be new and unexpected. Making something that is at the same time amazing, dignified, and not pretentious is much harder. Something that is serious, but not too serious. This is still an adventure game, after all, not meant to be a philosophical examination of morality or anything like that.

Now I see how the sausage is being made every day. I know exactly what has gone into the content I create, and how much or how little of it has actually be changed in the process by new ideas. And when I look at it, it all seems like it's really nothing special, just a collection of pieces that everyone has already seen a hundred times. It doesn't feel very creative at all to me. I can reskin and rename all the creatures so they are not as easy to recognize, but I know of every single one what generic animal or monster it really is.
There are some new ideas that I see as new additions to the mix, that somewhat add to the world not just being more of the same. Sorcerers, priests, and mystic warriors wearing masks with special properties that allow them to deal with incomprehensible spirits and lamps being used to reveal the hidden supernatural and keep it at bay. And the idea that both fire and sorcery are dangerous forces from an alien world below that can be extremely powerful tools as long as they can be kept contained. Replacing camels and elephants as work animals with dinosaurs is alreadt really just cosmetic and I don't see giant-bee honey harvested in caves actually having an impact on anything.

What are your perceptions on this, based on the pieces I have shared so far? Initial response was very positive, but does it strike you as a setting that you would want to play in because it seems to offer experiences that wouldn't be provided just as well or better by other existing settings?

[TheYell]

I'd enjoy the subtleties, but a lot of hackenslash murderhobo optimizers would probably shrug it off. It's something I wrestle with as I prepare my own setting because I'm probably going to have to find a new group to try it with. I'm in a major university town so no problems for me there...

What sort of adventure are you building towards? A dungeon crawl, or a game of political intrigue, or elements of both? I'd be better able to evaluate your PC archetypes if we knew what sort of quest they were going on.

[Yora]

Hooray, someone who thinks about this like me! The setting needs to serve the fiction, that's its purpose and reason for being.

The core assumption for the world is that the wild environment is in a natural equilibrium. Things are stable in the big picture and in the state they are supposed to be. But it's an equilibrium in which people are under regular threat of famine and predators. What is good for nature as a whole, is not peaceful or pleasant for people."What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly." And in this world, people are not the spider. But they are also not content to just remaining the fly.

As I envision adventures, the inciting incident is virtually always someone, somewhere deciding to make a change to increase the security and prosperity of a group of people. But mortals understand very little about the many interconections and balances of the natural world, and by considering only their own immediate benefit disrupt the equilibrium in completely unforseeable ways. This leads to situations where things actually got worse instead of better, or at the very least someone gets to suffer for someone elses gain. The PCs are people in positions to do something to repair the damage.
Such an adventure would probably most of the time consist of three parts: Discover the cause of the disruption, remove the cause, and reverse the disruption. This would not always have to mean to restore the status quo. I think most of the time there should be some chance to alter the change so that the disruption becomes negligible and some of the benefit can be gained. The theme is reckless ambition going too far without thinking, not ambition being bad. Ambition to improve things is good, but it requires very grate care and following humility instead of pride. Better try to change your own behavior, that you can control, than trying to change the environment, which you don't.

Now the really good question: What elements are needed to create such adventures?

The first thing is obviously a person with the wish to make a change, and the means to cause it. Since nature is goverened by supernatural forces, the people with the means are priests, witches, and sorcerers. They could be serving a lord or be lords themselves, and preserving and restoring the security and prosperity of the domain is the cause for the wish to make a change. Sorcerers and witches can also seek additional magical power, which could be attained by taking it from a spirit. A spirit who needs that power to maintain the equilibrium.
That means the setting needs lords, priests, and sorcerers, as well as courts and temples where they reside, work, and interact with their underlings. These would also be who and where the players get their information from.

The next thing required is the means to cause change. This requires a magic system that allows mortals to surpress the powers of spirits, trap or destroy spirits, and command the powers of spirits. I am not so keen of just using spells to do these. It's much more interesting when it can be done through the use of objects that have power over spirits.
I actually already have something for that purpose: That's just what masks and lamps are for. And I had planned to do something with salt, iron, obsidian, jade, fire, and water. This is something that needs to be expanded into a full system. One that can be understood to the point that players might come up on their own what to look for and how to make changes themselves. And it should also include things that people might have done by accident without intention to block or change the influence of a spirit. Always breaking a cursed seal would get very repetitive after two or three times.

And another thing that is needed are places where the changes are being made. The places where spirits reside and where they can be affected. And places of power that allow for affecting a spirit over distance. These are what I envision as the main adventure sites. Ruins, caves, small islands, and great trees. Ruins I have already started to address with the Ancient Builders.

Also obviously needed are spirits to interact with and beasts to be a threat. I already have quite a bunch of them, at least as basic concepts.

That was actually quite helpful: What I still need and don't yet have are templates for setting up the NPCs of a court, and a system for controling and defeating spirits. And the later really is a huge open opportunity to introduce more fantastical and distinguishing elements. I already think the masks and lamps are by far the coolest specific things of the setting.

[TheYell]

You're putting a lot of thought into the theory of the world and I like it!

Thematically then, there is always a "right" answer to a situation, an answer that serves the greater equilibrium?

Looking towards your greater system, I notice you have 3 consumables - salt, fire, water; and three materials-- jade, obsidian, and iron; and three basic effects on spirits -- suppress, disperse, command.

[Yora]

I think it's always the most interesting if there are at least two options that players might possibly consider, with none of them that good that anything else would be straight up unacceptible for heroic PCs. If the change was made intentionally, it's because there was an original problem that needed fixing, and that will return if the change is reversed. Maybe not the PCs' problem, but someone elses problem. If the change was caused accidentally, then there should be two ways to reverse it, but both coming with a cost or not completely reversing the damage.
I want there to be two or more options that are all not perfect.

For magic implements, I already have a few ideas:

Masks protect against some powers of spirits and help with communicating with them.

Special Lamps reveal hidden spirits.

Burning special herbs repells spirits and disrupts their power. And they can be burned in special lamps, to keep the lamp motif going. Such a lamp can protect a home or camp, but can also be carried into a spirit's lair.

Iron stakes can paralyze spirits and prevent them from using their powers. Nymphs can always manifest new bodies when their bodies are destroyed, but when one is struck with an iron spike, it is trapped in that body. Tree nymphs can be paralyzed by stabbing an iron stake into their tree.

Iron chains can bind a physical spirit, drain its strength, and remove its magic powers. The hard part is getting them on.

Throwing salt dispels any illusions and reveals spirits in their true form. Throwing salt at people is incredibly insulting.

[Yora]

I noticed that since posting the sketch for the map, I have not been posting about geography. And I have not been posting about geography because I have kept pushing back coming up with names for the cities. (Exactly the same thing as with the cultures.) Not being able to make any kind of progress otherwise, I now finally forced myself to do so. And compared to previous efforts to come up with lists of names, this went surprisingly painless.
I'm probably disliking at least half of them tomorrow, so I am writing about them now. Once in use, I would have to sit down again to think of new names, and already knowing how this will go, I will have gotten used to them and starting to like them again long before I will get around to do that.

Geographic Overview

The lands of Kaendor are a long stretch of coast and some nearby islands on the western shore of a much larger but almost entirely unexplored continent. To the north, one quickly reaches the arctic ice that has always been impenetrable and apparently uninhabitable for any settlements. To the south, the Murya know about numerous barbarian villages along the coast but have never found any signs of other cities or seafaring people. Though of course, the ruins of ancient ports seem to be almost as numerous there as on the Kaendor coasts. Many think that eventually one would reach other powerful cities if one kept sailing down the coast, but there aren't any memories of any such places among the people of Kaendor.

The Northern Sea
The northernmost lands known to be inhabited by people are the islands of the Northern Sea. Most of these are nothing more than barren rocks rising above the icy waters, but some of the larger ones have large forests of small and crooked trees and numerous smal rivers. There are some Kaska settlements scattered across the islands, but they are probably considerably lower in numbers than the Murya inhabiting the large port city Nevald and its close surroundings. Nevald exists in this remote and frozen place for only one reason. To supply massive amounts of dried fish as rations for the large fleets of Murya merchant ships constantly travelling between all the major ports of the Kaendor coast. This makes the city valuable beyond measures, but because of its remote location and the dangerous waters surrounding it, Nevald has always retained its independence.
The mainland coast of the Northern Sea is barely any more hospitable than the islands. It's a cold and gloomy place where numerous Kaska clans make their homes in a narrow stretch of forest that separates the coast from the vast heath of the Witchfens.

Northlands
On the south of Witchfens, a large gulf reaches deep into the Great Forests that cover almost all the hinterlands beyond the mainland coasts. All the lands north of these waters are known as the Northlands. The Northlands are the home of both the Kuri and the majority of the Kaska clans. As on the Northern Sea, the Kaska live in small villages scattered widely throughout the wilderness, but the culture of the Kuri is concentrated around a great river (to be named later) that flows south into the sea. At the mouth of the river lies the small port Kevaik, which is one of the largest settlements in this part of the world but leaves underwhelmed visitors completely unorepared for the great majeatic city Halva that lies further up the river and is ruled by an ancient immortal sorceress revered by her citicens as a deity.

The Central Coast
This region consists of all the coastal lands between the gulf that separates them from the Northlands and the Southern Sea. It's a vast land of massive forests that grow right up to the edge of the ocean and leave barely any stretch of ground open to the sky. These lands are the home of the Fenhail who inhabit the tree city Kehrlon and the cave city Elwai on the northern river, and the large port Manai on the southern river that carries small ships to the slopes of the Mountains.

The Mountains
The Mountains are a huge range of jagged peaks that separate the Central Coast from the coasts of the Southern Sea. These mountains are forming both a natural barrier between these lands and also connect them through the large rivers that flow from them to the north and south. These make up for the only overland trade route in Kaendor, if one manages the crossing of the difficult passes. Only the highest peaks consists of barren stones or frozen glaciers. The majority of the range consists of alpine tundra and rocky heaths swept by permanent chilly winds, and each steep valley or deep crack in the ground is home to its own thick shadowy forest. The Mountains are the home of the Yao, who mostly live as herdsmen in the alpine medows. But among the peaks lies also the great monastery city Maran, and the ancient fortress Yakun that guards the pass between the two main rivers running north and south and is ruled by a Murya aristocracy.

Southern Sea
South of the Mountains lies the coast that borders the Southern Sea. It is the homeland of the Murya, who consider it the true heart of both Kaendor and civilization. Along the coast sit the sorcerer city Ven Marhend, and the two large ports Kamir and Sharaz, which are both ruled by god kings weilding incredible sorceries.
Off the coast lies a large collection of tropical island, which are the locations of the Sui city Kelay and the pirate haven Tual.
The eastern coast of the Southern Sea is known as Kemesh, the land of the naga, who have always been enemies of the Murya and other peoples of Kaendor, but only very rarely emerge from their tropical jungles.

[Yora]

Spoiler: Quotes that guide me

Show

“Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”

“Great warrior? Wars not make one great.”

“What is in there?”
“Only what you take with you… Your weapons – you will not need them.”

“Will I still be myself?”
“Your desire to remain what you are is what ultimately limits you.”

“Rudimentary creatures of flesh and bone. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. There is a realm of existance so far beyond your own you can not even imagine it.”

“You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.”

“He said it was dead. We trusted him. He was right. But even a dead god can dream. A god – a real god – is a verb. Not some old man with magic powers. It’s a force. It warps reality just by being there. It doesn’t have to want to. It doesn’t have to think about it. It just does.”

“I’m going to show you how to kill a god. A god of life and death. The trick is not to fear him.”

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”

"You seek meaning? Then listen to the music, not the song."

“You can not own a human being. Sooner or later, somebody is going to push back.”

All stuff that people in the setting could say. If I were awesome at playing NPCs.

[Max_Killjoy]

That quote from Mass Effect 2 is great for summing up a certain sort of deity.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Another fun quote for you, one that my Basque grandfather once told me in a legit hushed tone.

"Everything that exists can be named. And anything that can be named, exists."

Just a precautionary saying for anyone dabbling in Truename-style magic...

[Yora]

That quote from Mass Effect 2 is great for summing up a certain sort of deity.

Yes. My sort of deity.

[Yora]

Some random thoughts, in progress:

There are many places with special powers in the world, many of them close to settled areas. People will know of their existence, and in their religions they are not demonic but divine. Some of these places should be places of worship and rituals. Communities should have traditions around such places, such as requesting divine aid, making trials for being worthy for something, getting permission to do ordinarily forbidden things, and many other such things. Going to the Cliffs of Trials and passing through the Caves of Retribution. I think this is a key component that the setting has been missing so far to hit the style and feel I am going for.

I need to do something cool with blood as a magical resource. Blood for the Blood God!

I'm contemplating whether the Hunter archetype should have access to an optional band of warriors or not. Freeholders have them automatically, blademasters, scoundrels, and shamans have them as an optional advancement. I think that depends on how exactlyI want the Hunter to be like. So far my ideas are pretty generic fantasy ranger while most other types don't directly correspond to any specific class. (Except the Blademaster.)
I was also a bit surprised today to see that the Savyhead(Shaman) in Apocalypse World has a gang as an option. Not sure if I want that.

[Yora]

Spoiler: Thoughts on Archetypes. Again!

Show

I got the impression that this is the least anticipated thing that anyone here wants to see, so I am quietly hiding it away where it doesn't cram up the thread.

These last days I have been thinking more and more about how much I do love 80s and 90s fantasy, and that I am actually quite fond of some of the cliches and kitsch that come with it. I feel that in my desire to not make this setting feel like AD&D, I discarded some things without thinking. Just because AD&D used them doesn't mean that they turn everything with them into AD&D as well.
There's actually a lot of personal nostalgia in my ideas for the setting, and the stereotypical idea of standard character classes is part of the classic feel. The character types of Apocalypse World might be a bit too removed from old style fantasy, which is what motivated me to already drop the outrider, prophet, and trader. Being now more familiar with AW, I am feeling confident to perhaps replace the playbooks with my own custom creations while keeping the rest of the rules system. I kind of like the way fantasy classes in game establish archetypes, but I don't want them to feel like D&D classes. Instead I want archetypes that represent the setting, and I am drawing ideas from the Conan d20 game and Star Wars Saga edition, which some might recognize.

"The Myrmidon" is a heavily armored warrior. A straightforward soldier or mercenary who is clad in metal and a beast in battle with shield, spears, swords, and axes. Somewhat of a knight or man at arms, just reflavored with ancient weapons and armor.

"The Kensai" (name needs changing) is a warrior focused on discipline and precision with spears and swords. A kensai is not just a warrior but also possesses a sharp mind.

"The Wanderer" is an experienced veteran of the wilderness and master of the hidden trails, being more than able to survive against its dangers and being a tough opponent to pursue where most people don't dare to go.

"The Noble" is a rich landowner who isnin charge of an estate that includes a retinue of well equiped soldiers and possesses diplomatic finesse.

"The Scoundrel" is an expert in starting trouble and getting away with it.

"The Sage" is a learned person or a priest who knows much about the world and its past, the powers of healing, and the running of domains.

"The Wilder" is a mysterious person knowledgable in the mysteries of the wilds and experienced in dealing with the many spirits. Learned in the ways of herbs and the means to trap a spirit and command it.

"The Sorcerer" is a master of the unnatural powers from Beneath and Beyond. Having dealings with the spirits of the distant realms and possessing strange and dangerous powers.

All these archetypes are somewhat modled after various characters from Star Wars and The Witcher. All of them highly capable people, mostly not given to rash and foolish actions, but even then grounded enough to grasp the severity of situations that become real dangers. (The scoundrels, obviously.) Most of these should have the option to either gain a freehold or warriors like the Noble has by default.

The most challenging concept is probably the sage, which i envision as both a noncombatant and not having magical powers, unless taken from the wider and sorcerer. That one might not atually work.

[Yora]

Threats

Like so many things in Apocalypse World and Dungeon World, Threats are more of an organizational tool that helps GMs with improvisation than a true game mechanic. A Threat is basically anything around the PCs that at some point might become a problem. Threats don't have to have hostile intentions towards the players, could be completely dormant until disturbed, or might even start as useful resources or friendly allies. But there is always the threat that when things are changing, they might become a danger for the players.
PtbA games work on the principle of a game world that isn't static and reaponds and adapts to the activities of the players. Not just enemies reacting to the players' actions against them, but the GM always being on the lookout for what previously established elements of the environment would make for entertaining complications. Any time players fail a roll or do something that obviously provokes a response, the GM makes something bad happen. But also whenever the players stop and think "what now?" the GM makes something interesting happen that the players can react to. Players taking the initiative on a blank slate is really hard, but you can always react to something without any effort.
Coming up with bad and interesting things to happen on the spot can be really hard, so PtbA games always come prepared with lists of default elements to introduce or things to happen. When you already know what's going on in the game and the world, a simple generic prompt can entirelt suffice to give you a proper idea what to throw against the players that fits the situation. The Threats are one of such lists. The idea is that during and between games, you make quick notes for everything in the environment of the players and assign it to one of the categories. Each category is listed with an impulse. It's not necessarily a goal, motive, or intention, but a quick reminder of what the Threat is doing as it becomes worse.
All the following stuff is adapted from Dungeon world, with categories removed, altered, and added to best reflect the specifics of the setting

Ambitious Organizations

• Zealous Defenders (destroy anything associated with corruption)
• Merchant Company (take control of resources, eliminate competition)
• Cults (spread through society, overthrow power)
• Temple (establish doctrine through society, replace rulers)
• Corrupt Court (maintain power, eliminate rivals)
• Cabal (gain seret influence and power)
• Slavers (capture and sell people)

GM Moves for Ambitious Organizations

• Attack someone by stealthy means (kidnapping, etc.)
• Attack someone directly (with a gang or single assailant)
• Absorb or buy out someone important (an ally, perhaps)
• Influence a powerful institution (change a law, manipulate doctrine)
• Establish a new rule (within the organization)
• Claim territory or resources
• Negotiate a deal
• Observe a potential foe in great detail

Spirits

• Alien Spirits (to corrupt the land and the living)
• Avenging Spirits (punish treapassers)
• Wild Predators (hunt mortal prey)
• Seducers (lure and trap mortals into their domains)
• Force of Nature (to ravage the land, destroy settlements)
• Nightmare (haunt the sleeping and errode sanity)

GM Moves for Spirits

• Turn an organization (corrupt or infiltrate with influence)
• Give dreams of prophecy
• Lay a Curse on a foe
• Extract a promise in exchange for a boon
• Attack indirectly, through intermediaries
• Rarely, when the stars are right, attack directly
• Foster rivalries with other, similar powers
• Expose someone to a Truth, wanted or otherwise

Arcane Enemies

• Ambitious Sorcerer (seek sorcerous power, control the environment)
• Sentient Artifact (find a worthy weilder)
• Ancient Curse (ensnare more victims)
• Chosen by the Gods (fullfil or revolt against their task)
• Anathema (entice and enthrall more minions, grow stronger)

GM Moves for Arcane Enemies

• Learn forbidden knowledge
• Cast a spell over time and space
• Attack a foe with magic, directly or otherwise
• Spy on someone with magic
• Recruit a follower or minion
• Tempt someone with promise
• Demand a sacrifice

Hordes

• Raiders (seek plunder, grow their forces)
• Wilders (defend territory from outsiders)
• Mercenary Bands (sell their services, seek supplies)
• Undead (consume the living)

GM Moves for Hordes

• Assault a bastion of civilization
• Change direction suddenly
• Overwhelm a weaker force
• Perform a show of dominance
• Abandon an old home, find a new one
• Grow in size by breeding or conquest
• Declare war and attack without hesitation or deliberation

Cursed Places

• Abandoned Ruins (draw in the weak-willed and foolish)
• Blights (grow, warp nature)
• Monster Hives (release monsters)
• Place of Power (grant its powers)
• Anomaly (confuse and endager travelers)

GM Moves for Cursed Places

• Spawn a lesser monster
• Spread to an adjacent place
• Lure someone in
• Grow in intensity or dept
• Leave a lingering effect on an inhabitant or visitor
• Offer power
• Dampen magic or increase its effects
• Confuse or obfuscate truth or direction
• Change natural laws

[Yora]

Factions and Organizations

It appears I somehow never wrote anything about the various factions that inhabit the setting. The part where all the actual stuff is happening. Maybe I got so focused on getting the physical environment nailed down that I forgot to mention what is actually going on in it.

Broadly speaking, there are three primary groups in which the factions can be divided.
Sorcerers are all the groups that are exploring the Realms Beneath and Beyond to search for magic that can take direct control over the environment and alter it to their wishes. Which to everyone's knowledge has always ended in disaster, but sorcerers think they have finally figured out how to control it and don't accept anyone trying to stop them.
Wilders are the barbarians of the wilderness who believe that it is foolish to try to make the environment more accomodating for mortals and that all attempts to build great city states are a mistake. Whether with sorcery or by blessings from gods. Living with the limitations created by the unpredictable nature of the wilds instead of trying to supress them them is the only way of living that has a future. They hate the city states for encroaching on their territory and competing for the limited resources, but they despise the corrupting magic of sorcerers even more.
The Faithful are the remaining people who inhabit the majority of the city states. They worship the gods of the land and believe that they can protect their farms and cities from the forces of the wilds. They fear the atempts of sorcerers to wrestle this control from the gods and bring doom to the cities they try to rule, and they refuse to give up their civilization for the primitive lives of the wilders.

These three groups describe the general overall tension that exists between the various factions. All of them seek to live with security and prosperity, but regard the other two as existential threats to that goal. There really is only one goal that everyone wants, but the three different positions don't allow for any peaceful compromise. Even with the vastness of the world, resources are too scarce to let everyone follow their own way unaffected by what the others are doing.

The most prominent factions are the God Kings and their Templars. For the last centuries, there have been four of them, all but one ruling over huge city states in the Southlands. While they are all rivals and frequently are at war with each other, to outsiders there is little difference between them. All of these factions are ruled by an ancient sorcerer who is worshiped as a god for controling the whether around their cities and maintaining civil order through their templars. The Templars are priests, city guards, and elite soldiers, though the full armies consist of much larger numbers of simple warriors as well.

The Sorcerer Lords of Ven Marhend are very similar to the God Kings in the way they rule over the city, but instead of a single eternal monarch they are led by a council of noble sorcerers. In theory the city is governed by the aristocracy, but for countless generations all the important positions have always been held by sorcerers.

The Sakaya are a monastic order from the Mountains who have broken all allegiance to kings or chiefs and instead regard themselves as equals of equal status. All their villages are essentially open and spread out monasteries, with all the land, crops, and herds belonging to the order. They elect their leaders from their own ranks, but to assume the higher positions of leadership anyone has to be educated as a mystic deeply familiar with their pholosophy. The Sakaya make deals with spirits of the land to protect their settlements from the forces of nature in exchange for offerings, but they do not worship them or ask them for guidance. Villages and towns have their own well trained militias, whose members constantly seek excelence in their skills, just like all the other seek excelence in their respective crafts. In times of peace, militias often offer their services as mercenaries to kings, and they are highly regarded in that role and very well paid. However, over the last generations, some brotherhoods have devoted more and more of their time to mercenary work, exclusively initiating other warriors in need of work, and increasingly failing to return home to share the silver they have earned with the rest of order. While nominally still considering themselves as part of the order, new initiates are taught almost nothing of its teachings, except for the constant pursuit of excelence in combat. In the eyes of many mystics, these Rogue Sakaya constitute a completely separate faction that doesn't stand for any of their ideals.

The Black Tower is a secretive organization of sages and scholars scattered throughout all the city states, who have dedicated their work to tracking the activities of the God Kings and other powerful sorcerers and interfering with any of their attempts to spead their influence to other cities. Most of their members are simple scholars, but even though some of them are very knowledgable in alchemy and the crafting of protective charms, they are no match for the arcane powers of sorcerers and try to minimize their appearances in public. Mostly they are keeping each other informed about the activities of sorcerers and slipping the kings of the city states and their advisors informations about approaching threats, often without making their own involvement known. Their great secrecy makes them constantly surrounded by rumors, and many people believe them to be much more powerful and influential than they really are, or attributing all kinds of sinister morives to their activities. In reality they have very limited means to get actively involved in anything and they are extremely cautious to reveal any kind of information to people they don't know to be completely trustworthy.

The Kaska clans of the Northlands are led by shamans known as the Witches of the Fens to the neighboring Kuri. For most intents and purposes, clans are being led by chiefs, but only a small handful of them would ever dare to openly defy an order from a witch. The witches normally don't concern themselves with running the clans and villages, but when they demand a sacrifice to be made, order someone to be killed, or declare a war against another clan or foreign settlement, their words are obeyed with little to no resistance. All witches are in regular contact with any other witches of nearby clans, but there is no real organization or hierarchy among them. Their network exist mostly to settle disputes over territory and rivalries among themselves without getting the chiefs and warriors involved. The influence of any witch depends entirely on her own personal power and the spirits she command, regardless of the size and wealth of her clan. While the witches hate sorcerers, this comes mostly from their general hostility to the civilized peoples. While they don't try to impose their own will over the wilderness, they are freqently consorting with spirits from Beneath and Beyond and use their corrupting powers to destroy their enemies.

Mercenaries usually don't concern themselves with the goals and ideals of kings and sorcerers and go to war with whoever is paying them enough silver. For many kings, mercenaries are the main reason why they have need to fill their vaults with with silver at all, as they are not interested in taking grain and other bulky goods as payment. Mercenaries work in large companies consisting of hundreds or even thousands of warriors, who usually come from the same city state, to avoid ending up in battles against their own kinsmen. While mercenaries are highly sought after by kings going to war, they are generally despised by the common people. Mercenaries have little interest in keeping cities and villages they conquer intact and usually behave more like raiders. When their employers are defeated and no longer able to pay and supply them, they also turn to raiding whatever villages they come across, even if they belong to the city state they have just been fighting for.

In most smaller city states, all grain harvested on the king's land is collected in the palace storehouses and distributed to the people as needed. The same goes for all metals, wine, salt, or other products of the kingdom. As such, all importing and exporting is done by the palace and access to many exotic goods dependent on the favor of the king and his officials. This gives the king and the court a great amount of power and merchant ships are often forbidden to sell anything but certain allowed goods to anyone other than the palace. This monoploy always attracts Smugglers, who secretly bring small amounts of rare goods into cities for exorbitant amounts of silver, as the punishments for doing so are severe. In the larger cities, merchants are usually allowed to trade freely with most common goods, but for particularly valuable goods that arrive in quantities small enough to keep track of, the palace still enforces a monopoly. Not only is it forbidden to sell these goods to anyone but the king, it's also extremely difficult for private merchants to buy them. If a private merchant is trying to buy restricted goods without an order from a king, it's obvious he plans to smuggle them. And no king wants to allow a known smuggler into his port. As such, smugglers are usually part of very elaborate and large organizations who are working with corrupt officials to steal these goods from the palaces.

[Yora]

So... The new year is coming and once my exams are done in four weeks I'll be moving to get my own place again. Which means the stars will be right to actually start the new campaign.
I've also been playing Baldur's Gate the last week and it really reignited my appreciation for some aspects of Dungeons & Dragons. There is something to be said about traditional adventuring and when you put it into the context of a rich setting it doesn't have to be monster hunting and treasure slaying. I did have my eye on the ancient Basic/Expert edition, which is so leightweight that it lets you make it whatever you want to make it. But talking with people who are generally interested by my campaign pitch, I decided to check out if in the case of popular demand, 5th Edition is something that I could be persuaded to run instead. I had looked at it once years ago, but was looking for a cleaned up and improved version of B/X or AD&D, which this game really isn't.
But now I am looking for a system that works well with the setting I had created mostly independent from a specific game. And turns out that those aspects of 5th Edition that are the most different from B/X actually make it a quite attractive pick for the setting.

Rogues having d8 hit points still looks wrong to me. I like the idea of almost noncombatant thieves. Humans getting +1 to all ability scores still looks wrong. It still has spell slots, but they aren't really slots in which you put a spell for later use, but actually a reserve of points that goes down when you cast spells. If the rest is good, I can live with that and even leave them unchanged for the sake of the players' sanity.
But what is really drawing me to the game are the bard and the warlock. Two classes I always dismissed as being too non-traditional D&D and modern nonsense, but their mechanics in 5th edition are actually perfect for this setting. If you say that a bard is chanting to the spirits instead of playing inspiring music, he make a fantastic shaman. The inspirations work just as well as blessing from the spirits that watch over the PCs, and the enchantment and illusion spells can be described as spirits messings with people's minds and perception. And the bard has all the basic healing spells, which makes it a completely valid choice to have bards as the only priest in the game. No clerics, nor druids or paladins. Just bards as temple priest and barbarian shamans. (Some cleric spells like magic against poison or divinations would round it out nicely.)
The warlock in 5th Edition is just the thing that I envisioned for my sorcerers. The Sorcerer Lords of Ven Marhend would be Fiendish Warlocks, getting their powers from the Burning Spirits of the Realm Below, granting them access to fire magic. The Kuri templars of Halva would be Fey Warlocks, as the Sorerer Queen of Halva is an Archfey. And the Old One does just the thing that one would get from the Dark Spirits of the Realm Beyond. For NPC templars of the God Kings of the Southern Coast I could come up with a new patron.

This is looking quite inviting, and I could well envision a campaign like this:

• E10 Style Setting: Characters are capped at 10th level. Spells higher than 5th level do not exist, though they might still appear as monster abilities.
• Classes: Barbarian (Totem Warrior), Bard (Lore), Fighter (Champion), Ranger (Hunter), Rogue (Thief), Warlock (Archfey, Fiend, Old One), Wizard (Enchanter, Transmuter).
• Spells: No teleportation, creation of matter, force barriers, or extradimensional spaces. No evocations and necromancy for wizards. No scrolls.

The class options are thematically appropriate and they keep the game simple, which is why I left out battle master fighters, monks, and sorcerers. Seven classes is still a very sufficient range of options, and there is also multiclassing.

[Yora]

Establishing the basic ground rules for the setting feels like it is pretty much done. I can't really think of a lot more things that would need to be established, except perhaps going into deeper detail with culture and religion.

What I am working on now is to prepare an actual campaign. That is specific settlements, sites, allies, and antagonists for the players to visit and encounter.

And to decide how the various elements of the setting are going to be represented by D&D 5th edition rules. That part turned out reasonably easy.

Humanoid Peoples
Fenhail: Wood elf
Kaska: Half-orc
Kuri: High elf
Murya: Half-elf
Sui: Triton
Yao: Goliath

Classes
The Champion Fighter, Hunter Ranger, and Thief Rogue are all very straightforward.
Wizards are limited to the Enchanter and Transmuter subtypes, and they have no evocations and necromancies on their spell list.
The Priest uses the Bard as a framework and Inspirations in the form of Blessings, and has access to the cleric spell list, plus some basic bard enchantments.
The Totem Warrior Barbarian and Druid of the Land are both for wilder characters from the forests and islands. For druids, Arctic, Coast, Forest, Mountains, and Swamp are the available specializations.
And my sorcerers will be represented by Warlocks, which are just perfect for the job and the biggest single reason why I want to use this system for the campaign. Archfey warlocks serve the Queen of Halva, who is exactly what archfey are described as. Fiend Warlocks are the Sorcerer Lords of Ven Marhend and the templars of the other Sorcerer Kings. With wizards having no evocations, these have exclusive access to fire spells, as they gain their powers from the Realm Beneath. Great Old One warlocks would be using powers from the Realm Beyond, though there isn't any major group of this kind in the setting yet. (I've long planned to somehow adapt Tharizdun, though.)

The biggest part with the adaptation is the monsters, which turned out to be really easy in practice. The vast majority of creatures I made for the world can be done with unmodified reskins of Monster Manual creatures or by taking a standard creature and adding one special ability from another creature. While I was at it, I decided to also use a couple of additional creatures from the books that just seem to fit the setting really well.
So the current monster lineup looks like this:

Monsters

• Hydra (CR 8)
• Wyvern (CR 6)
• Umber Hulk (CR 5)
• Chuul (CR 4)
• Girallon (CR 4)
• Manticore (CR 3)
• Carrion Crawler (CR 2)
• Ogre (CR 2)
• Yuan-ti Broodguard (CR 2)
• Harpy (CR 1)
• Yuan-ti Pureblood (CR 1)
• Gnoll (CR 1/2)
• Kuo-toa (CR 1/4)

Nature Spirits

• Treant (CR 9)
• Stone Giant (CR 7)
• Yuan-ti Abomination (CR 7)
• Air Elemental (CR 5)
• Earth Elemental (CR 5)
• Water Elemental (CR 5)
• Lamia (CR 4)
• Succubus (CR 4)
• Yeth Hound (CR 4)
• Doppelganger (CR 3)
• Green Hag (CR 3)
• Phase Spider (CR 3)
• Will-o-wisp (CR 2)
• Dryad (CR 1)
• Deep Gnome (CR 1/2)
• Myconids (CR 1/2)
• Blights (CR 1/8 – 1/2)

Spirits from Beneath and Beyond

• Devourer (CR 13)
• Neothelid (CR 13)
• Ultroloth (CR 13)
• Arcanaloth (CR 12)
• Aboleth (CR 10)
• Nycaloth (CR 9)
• Canoloth (CR 8)
• Howler (CR 8)
• Mind Flayer (CR 7)
• Fire Elemental (CR 5)
• Mezzoloth (CR 5)
• Helmed Horror (CR 4)
• Choldrith (CR 3)
• Dark Stalker (CR 2)
• Grick (CR 2)
• Meenlock (CR 2)
• Chitine (CR 1/2)
• Dark Creeper (CR 1/2)

Undead

• Wraith (CR 5)
• Wight (CR 3)
• Ghast (CR 2)
• Ghoul (CR 1)
• Shadow (CR 1/2)
• Skeleton (CR 1/4)

Beasts

• Axe Beak
• Brontosaurus
• Crocodiles
• Giant Badger
• Giant Boar
• Giant Centipede
• Giant Crab
• Giant Hyena
• Giant Octopus
• Giant Rat
• Giant Wasp
• Hadrosaurus
• Plesiosaur
• Pteranodon
• Sharks
• Snakes

[thorr-kan]

I think you're ready to roll.

[Yora]

I did what I always tell other people not to bother with because it's pointless and often leads to silly results.

NPC Demographic Statistics

I went into this with the following assumptions:

1. The total population of Kaendor is 10 million people.
2. Only 1 in 1,000 people has class levels or comparable stats above the average Level 0 rabble. (1st level PCs are pretty badass.)
3. The highest possible level for mortals is 10th.
4. For every two 1st level NPC, there is one 2nd level NPC; for every two second level NPCs, there is one 3rd level NPC; and so on.
5. Half of all above-average NPCs are spellcasters (druids, priests, warlocks, wizards).

This turned out to result in a remarkably low population of above-average NPCs.

• 4096 1st level characters
• 2048 2nd level characters
• 1024 3rd level characters
• 512 4th level characters
• 256 5th level characters
• 128 6th level characters
• 64 7th level characters
• 32 8th level characters
• 16 9th level characters
• 8 10th level characters
• (4 11th level immortal sorcerer kings)
• (2 12th level immortal sorcerer kings)

5th level PCs are among the 1,000 most powerful people on the continent. 8th level PCs are among the 100 most powerful.
I also split it up further by race, going with 39% Murya, 30% Fenhail, 15% Yao, 10% Kuri, 5% Kaska, and 1% Sui. I'm not replicating my entire notes here, but one result of that table was if any NPC is not that special to be counted among the 100 most powerful individuals of that race, I need to keep the level to 3rd or lower. Levels of 4th or higher are only for NPCs who are famous. That does almost line up with the idea in D&D 5th Ed. that 5th to 10th level PCs are heroes who determine the fates of big cities and kingdoms.

This has quite dramatic consequences for the availability of spells.

• 4098 people can cast 1st level spells
• 1026 people can cast 2nd level spells
• 258 people can cast 3rd level spells
• 66 characters can cast 4th level spells
• 18 characters can cast 5th level spells
• 6 characters who can cast 6th level spells

This effectively precludes raise dead and greater restoration as a spell for hire. If you want them, you need to get them from a god. Or a creatures that is for all intends and purposes a god on earth. Even other useful spells that one would think of as more mundane, like remove curse or dispel magic, require a 5th level caster, of which there are only 258 around.

This all results in a remarkably low-magic-power world (though not necessarily rare-magic), still quite similiar to an E6 world. And I'm one of the people who thought E6 was the greatest thing for 3rd edition ever. 10th level is a good deal higher than 6th, but with this few top level spellcasters around, the effect is still quite dramatic.

This also had me reconsider my planned policy for the speed at which PCs can gain levels. I had seriously considering that PCs gain XP normally during play, but they can level up only at the first day of spring, and only one level every year. The idea being that PCs are spending the majority of their lives off screen at home and going out on adventures only once or twice per year during the summer.
But this still allows for busy PCs to reach the ranks of the 15 most powerful people alive over just 9 years. That's still really fast. So now I am thinking that it takes at least 1 year for a 1st level character to level up, at least 2 years for a 2nd level character, and so on. This makes it possible for a PC to reach 5th level in 10 years, 7th level in 21 years, and 9th level in 36 years. A 10th level character going on 70 doesn't really seem off, especially when you have longer lived races than might live past 200.
My rule of thumb has always been that a good progression speed is 1 level every 4 sessions. That's level 10 after 36 sessions, which is way longer than any campaign I've ever played or run. Having every session take place one year apart isn't going to be practical. But I imagine as PCs are getting into higher and higher levels, big adventures that get them meaningful amounts of XP would be getting more rare and rare. Having old king Conan get of his throne to defend the realm against a dragon after a decade has passed since the last adventure would also be quite cool. Quite looking forward to how this might turn out. If this new campaign ends up reaching 50 sessions or more. Which would probably be more sessions than I've played in all the 20 years I've been playing yet.

[Mechalich]

The total population of Kaendor is 10 million people.

This seems high, or perhaps your setting occupies much more territory than it initially seemed. Either that or the population (and population density) of some of your city states is going to have to be massive. If that is the case it will move your game away from the wilderness and exploratory aspects and towards a setting of competing city states surrounding by largely neglected areas. This, combined with the presence of sorcerer god-kings, makes it sound very much like Dark Sun.

[Yora]

The estimated population of the Roman Empire is roughly around 50 million for much of its prime. I found one estimate that Anatolia had some 9 million people at that time, and that Gaul and Germania (inferior?) combined had another 9 million. So I used 10 million as a super rough estimate, for lack of any better reference.

One thing I did with the design of the setting was to put almost all of the population on the coast. Assuming almost everyone lives within one mile of the sea, this makes calculating the total area of actually settled land quite easy. I don't have my sketches for maps on any grid, but my quick estimate comes to maybe 4,000 miles or coast and 4,000 square miles of land. Or 10,000 km².
That would be 1,000 people per km², which is indeed ridiculously high.

Perhaps be more generous and make it 10 miles from the coast for 100,000 km² of land and also cut population down to 1 million. That leads to 10 people per km². That's roughly the density of Greece, Gaul, and Iberia during the Roman Empire. I think that seems not so bad.

In turn, that means there are 390,000 Murya on the Southern Coast, 300,000 Fenhail on the Western Coast, 150,000 Yao inland (I ignored that fact in the area calculation, it's all eyeballing anyway), 100,000 Kuri in the North, 50,000 Kaska in the Witchfens, and 10,000 Sui on their islands.

If we say that the Murya are highly urbanized at 10%, that's an urban population of 39,000, divided over 4 city states. On average 10,000 people per Murya city. Which even in the Bronze Age wasn't that big, but it made you an important city on the map.

I concede that 1 million seems more plausible than 10 million, in face of almost everyone living on the coast or major rivers, which significantly impacts the actually available land area.

I am not going to cut the amount of leveled NPCs accordingly, though. Instead of 1 in 1,000 it is now 1 in 100. Or one in 60 adults. This is another rule of thumb for populating places with NPCs:

• Most villages will have 2 to 4 leveled NPCs.
• Most leveled NPCs will be 1st to 3rd level.
• NPCs of 4th to 7th level are outstanding regional personalities.
• NPCs of 8th level or higher are world famous.

[Yora]

I've been playing around with the calendar I create two years back, and that thing turned out to be a good bit more complex than I thought. I would say all this was completely pointless and unnecessary for any campaign, but I had fun playing around with numbers and now that I got it I might as well use it. But really, if you don't think this is fun, you really should not do something like this for your settings.

Turns out there isn't just one leap year every four years, but actually three leap years in every 16 year cycle. The end result is a 9069 day cycle of 16 years, of 24 or 23 months, of 16 days.
Since it is a lunar calendar, full moons always happen on the 8th and new moons on the 16th. The numbers of the days are defined by that.
Because the moon is so big and months so short, total solar eclipses are quite common. Turns out, there are 16 days every year during which an eclipse might happen. These are the days where nobody travels, because of the risk of accidentally stumbling into the etheral plane or running into agitated spirits during the 10 to 30 minute eclipse.

Another thing I thought of was to calculate the dates for solstices and equinoxes and there are a couple of interesting dates that repeat every 16 year cycle:

• 16.06.01: An eclipse might happen on the Spring Equinox on a New Moon. "Tremble mortals, and despair!"
• 08.18.01: The Fall Equinox will be on a Full Moon.
• 01.06.06: An eclipse might happen on the Spring Equinox.
• 16.12.06: The Summer Solstice will be on a New Moon.
• 15.18.06: An eclipse might happen on the Spring Equinox.
• 08.24.08: The Winter Solstice will be on a Full Moon.
• 08.06.09: The Spring Equinox will be on a Full Moon.
• 16.18.11: An eclipse might happen on the Fall Equinox on a New Moon. "I can't lie to you about your chances. But you have my sympythy."
• 15.06.12: An eclipse might happen during the Spring Equinox.
• 08.12.14: The Summer Solstice will be on a full Moon. The Brightest Day.
• 01.18.16: An eclipse might happen during the Fall Equinox.
• 16.24.16: The Winter Solstice will be on a New Moon. The Darkest Night.

Good think I am planning a campaign where many months or even years are happening between adventures. There are some really cool opportunities. I should start the campaign in year 9 instead of year 1 of the cycle.

New Moon is obviously bad. It's dark and the spirits are on edge. But I am undecided whether a Full Moon is much better. Spirits are probably going to be rather antsy as well. But it would be nice if these events are dangerous in different ways. Maybe during a new moon there's a high risk of getting eaten, and during a Full Moon of being abducted?



Yellow line is full moons, black line new moons. Gray is eclipse warning days. I've got 16 of these. Once at the end, it goes back to year one again. Of course unrealistic to line up that perfectly, but I can't imagine there ever being a campaign that goes through three or more cycles anyway. And the stargazers of Kaendor aren't that super accurate either, so it is actually more realistic that the calendar will become increasingly inaccurate over the centuries.

[Yora]

Work on the setting has been continuing and actually progressing really great the last couple of weeks. It's just that I don't really have anything final to show of, and it's rather adding up layers to the whole setting everywhere at once.

But, I am able to present to you a map. A map that I think is pretty close to the final thing.



It's a bit crude because I am still getting familiar with drawing with a teblet, but the style that results from the methods I am using looks really quite good. Reminds me of maps in Thief or something you might find in Morrowind. Scale is pretty bad on this first attempt with names being way too small to read, but I think it's good enough as a reference for now.

I am also again using my to collect my notes on the current state of the setting. It's really just notes now as there isn't much history yet to make it worth reading, but I think it will come very handy for my next campaign.