Please post all current questions and comments about the Celtrician threads and PBwiki here.
Crunch Thread (http://thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?39632.last)
Setting Thread (http://thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?39571.last)
Congratulations on your new start. I think that you are definitely getting an edge on organizing and presenting your ideas for your game, and ideally the discussions and suggestions will help you refine things.
Oh, the stream of consciousness disaster is being tamed :yumm:
Nice :)
Oooh, I'm LIKING this. The monstrous races are intelligent, equally or even more so than the common races, and have been rejected because of the way they look? This is good - it gets a bit sickening sometimes, not having anybody be stereotyped against WRONGLY (other than Drizzts, which are even worse). So, although they're quite commonly integrated into large cities, they're still despised and murdered in small villages?
I also want to hear more about the Collegium Arcana. I assume they're extremely powerful, and span multiple nations... but are there any nations they won't serve, or favour? Or are they more like impartial arms dealers?
Quote from: WensleydaleOooh, I'm LIKING this. The monstrous races are intelligent, equally or even more so than the common races, and have been rejected because of the way they look? This is good - it gets a bit sickening sometimes, not having anybody be stereotyped against WRONGLY (other than Drizzts, which are even worse). So, although they're quite commonly integrated into large cities, they're still despised and murdered in small villages?
I also want to hear more about the Collegium Arcana. I assume they're extremely powerful, and span multiple nations... but are there any nations they won't serve, or favour? Or are they more like impartial arms dealers?
Hmm. I was going to post Examples of larger guilds that have great influence...and I was going to start here. Luckily I can cut and paste this right in.
The Collegium Arcana did not, contrary to the official position of that group; begin cleanly with a single origination point. Back in the Middle Celtrician Interregnum, Many countries had some variation of an official mage's guild. They did come together into a few different groups, but contrary to the Guild's official stance, they have not been one unified group for 2100 years.
Currently, however, they do enjoy a position that only a few Churches can claim, and without the competition. The Collegium Arcana has offices in every major city In Northern Celtricia, as well as in most towns. They have a seat in the government of Orbi, a council seat in the Theocracy of Gorntar, and a council seat in the Grey March, as well. They control commerce in many areas, and are wealthy beyond the reach of kings.
Players who join up with this group will never be in need of finding aid in any civilized location. And the guild rewards loyalty, though it does not accept split loyalties. They can be found everywhere, and because of the cash they bring in, and their general attitude that they don't care about the local politcs. (not the truth, but people believe it)
The Central office of the Collegium has been in Orbi for over 150 years (back in 739 RON). Archmage Hier Effen moved it from the ancient quarters in Stenron at the invitation of The Arcanic Table of Orbi. There had been a Guild of Magic in the Stenron location long before the Interegnum, so this move was historic. But moving it to a mageocracy just made sense...So do they favor anyone? They are allied very, very closely with the Arcanic Table, which is the governing Body of Orbi.
There are also many different divisions in the Guild of Mages. There are research divisions, combat divisions, political divisions, as well as different Orders ,such as the Order of Flame, the Order of Water, and more like that.
Every guild locality has a Head Warlock, who runs it. The bigger the populaltion center, the more prestigeous the appointment. Think of them almost as fiefdoms of a secret kingdom, with the HeshianTower as the Capitol. Larger guilds also come with the headache of having Ambassador postings, sub-nantional and national level postings that were originally in place to smooth the bumps and make friends with the local governments, while the the Head Warlock runs the show. Every Head Warlock knows, however, that they are also their to send back reports to the HeshianTower.
Complicating this are the sperate Orders within the Collegium Arcana, like the Order of Water, and the Order of Flame. These are almost fraternities, and since they are usually joined early in a mages career, you see some nepotism here. there is a lot of the 'Good Old Boys' netwrok currently in the Collegium Arcana
Approximately thirty percent of the Collegium's membership is 'homegrown'. The guild's mission to find talented children and take them in to give them a comfortable life befitting their talent (and fostering fanatical loyalty) is one of the three precepts of the Collegium. These 'homegrown' members tend to give their entire lives to the cause.
Teens or adults who join the guild later need to be sponsored, and the sponoring member is responsible for them for a full cycle, but also gains bonusses based on how their sponsored fledglings perform later in their career.
Everyone except the domestics in a particular local tower will be a guildmember. The do not hire mercenaries, rather, they depend on recruits within their own guild to learn the rudimets of combat and the Swords Arcanic is a prestigeous group within the guild.
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Orcs and Hobyt's outnumber everyone. And there are conspiracy theories that Hobyt's actually run everything...But it's the Gartier (bugbears) that really get it. Big, furry, and sarcastic as hell, no one can get chased out of a small town like a bugbear. People are already scared of it, and then it starts mouthing off about the quality of the school system and the inbred nature of the locals.
I have a question. You particularly have mentioned 'civilized' bugbears more than once, usually as it seems acting as mercenaries. Is there a reason why they in particular are used as examples?
Also, I have the impression that your world is very very civilized--that there is not a lot of wilderness that the pcs are likely to encounter. If anything it seems to resemble the world of say medieval Greece/the southern Balkans more than Western and Northern Europe. Is that true?
Quote from: TybaltI have a question. You particularly have mentioned 'civilized' bugbears more than once, usually as it seems acting as mercenaries. Is there a reason why they in particular are used as examples?
Also, I have the impression that your world is very very civilized--that there is not a lot of wilderness that the pcs are likely to encounter. If anything it seems to resemble the world of say medieval Greece/the southern Balkans more than Western and Northern Europe. Is that true?
Tybalt, as always good questions. This set is really useful, as they show me where I have to change some things because I am giving an untrue impression of the world. I'm going to answer the territory question first, as it affects the bugbear question.
I think that by pushing the impression of the hurley-burley urban experiences, I have ignored how actually underpopulated Celtricia is. igbar is the Capital of Trabler, with barely twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Igbar has Igtiche, a farming village a day to the north east, Ocodig 3-4 dayss to the noerth, on the Recum Road, and Zereth and Wallington, both 4-5 days south on the recum road. But the areas in between are wild. In the Wibble hills, between Igbar and Ocodig, The Firehazer Humanoid Tribe has large (1500 warriors+) settlements, and to the North of Igtiche, there are the Plains of Vernidale, the Herb lands (and tons of Astrikon ruins) and the Astrikon forest. In the southern eaves of the Astrikon forest dwell the Tribe of Southern Zyjmanese Ogrillite tribes, mainly Orcash, Ograk, and Gartier (400+ fighting troops). So your Balkan analogy is very, very true, If you imagine a thriving, vibrant authority that 'rules' an area, but whole tribes of people within them, some peacful, some openly antagonsitic to the 'supposed' authority.
More, in Eastern Trabler you can ride for days without seeing anything but humanoid Tribal groups, and up in the Grey March, the whole Western coast is barren of 'civilization'. Miston used to be the mid point between the Budding Grey MArch and the Coastal Venolvians; now it is the north-western tip of the country. (and yes, the operative oppositional terms here are 'Tribal vs. Civilized')
The Gartier question is a very complicated one. Of all the Ogrillite families, the Gartier are the most difficult to grasp and the most tortured. When created in the beginning of the Age of Heroes by Anthraxus, they were bred to lead. For thousands of years, almost every humanoid tribal band has been either led by a bugbear or bugbears, or they were the brains behind it. When asked about their near worship of irony and sarcasm, they often reply with a variation of, "You spend hundreds of generations trying to tell every bloody goblin and gnoll which hand is for eating and which is for ass-wiping, and unsuccesfully mind you, you'd be a little jaded too". Strong, smart, and hardy, they were the perfect captains and generals for the other ogrillites...except they were
too smart, and
too clever, and for generations they looked in at the civilized world, and hated it for not being able to be part of it. Every gaertier for thousands of years has, internally and mainly subconsiously,
despised themselves for being a barbarian and being outside civilization. The gartier hatred of culture and civilization was not the orcash or ograk mindless hatred whipped by priests and zealots, it was the deeper mirror of hating what they could not have but knew they were worthy of.
So, to understand the civilized gartier, on the surface all self-reliant and sarcastic, you have to take what was has been passed on from parent to child for years about how soft and unworthy the civilization of towns and cities is and what they have perached to their near-idiot followers, and add that to a near 75 years, just over one lifetime, of being allowed to partake in this civilization, and stir in the very-prevalent racism and prejudice of beings generally weaker and stupider than yourselves. Then add in all the tribal gartiers sneering at you for 'going soft' and 'being a hobyt-lover'...now maybe you can understand a tiny bit of the Gartier mentality. On a good day, they hate the rest of the world more than they hate themselves.
To circle back to the question about their mercenary appearance, I think it is that very solitary nature you are seeing. Julian, The Horn-minister in Waiting in Igbar, has actually taken it under advisement secretly to create a situation that would speed the acceptance of the gartier, due to the possible benefit and also the posible backlash.
[ooc=Thanks]
Special thanks to you and these great questions: I will take these and go update the opening page and the racial page to take advanatge of what is clearly an area I need to improve.[/ooc]
Good example use for the rules--this is what you need as a GM, to see how the system would actually function with skills resolution in a scene. So how would this appear as on a screen if you were to present it so? What I would want to do for instance with your wiki is print out a combat page and a skills resolution page so I could have an easy reference guide. One of the difficulties with a system like yours is that it is somewhat complex given that there are no classes. Since it is really a simple system of equations though I'm curious about how you would do a 'cheat sheet' for say your current party and their opponents.
Also, nice list of references for who worships what deity. I like that you have rather specific craft oriented ones as well as ones for general social types and covering large areas of life and death too.
Alright! I finally found some time to do some reading/reviewing, and as promised, Celtricia is at the top of my list. As a warning, I tend to be very critical and honest, so if you have hard time hearing my criticism, please ignore it. For this readthrough, I had a notepad doc open where I jotted down my thoughts as I read. I'll include this as my review, but if you have a hard time understanding me, please say so and I'll clarify. Take note that some of the notes at the top were written before reading the entire post (I feel that they're still important though, as they show a step-by-step thoughts of a reader.) Please feel free to disagree with all of my points and say so! I always enjoy a good debate. ;)
[spoiler My thoughts]"There is a current philosophical view that intregration is a determinant of culture, making race less and less important to the 'modern' celtrician, but this is in contrast to the tribal humanoid societies of the uninhabited lands. All this at the same time as war with the Huge and ambiteous Empire of Argus threatens the countries of the Stenronian Alliance. In the first few years of playing, that flame lit and the Igbarian area became near the front lines."
Awkward and confusing. I usually avoid namedropping in intros, and the overall structure of the paragraph could use some fixing.
I like your map, but the wave lines, to me, are confusing. I'd suggest removing them and adding "coastal ripples" for increased clarity.
Kudos for having a unique name for each race, even if they aren't totally unique in concept. I dislike Orcash and Hobyt, but I doubt you're going to be changing names this late.
* After reading more, I'm disappointed to find that goblins and gnolls keep their old names.
* And after reading yet more, I apparently overlooked the gnomes for several posts.
I like how you start with some basics, but I'm finding very little interesting material past the first post. (Note that this is all personal preference) Timelines are uninteresting. Meta-information about the settings IRL history is uninteresting. Crunch is uninteresting (and belongs in the crunch thread). I want to know about Worship and gods directly after the first post.
What is the origin of the 'Pact Veritus'?
"Gods have different aspects, as they are large, old and complex beings, beyond the ken of the Iesuicua (White Omwo~ for 'Earthbound')."
is confusing. I suggest changing it to:
"Gods are large, old and complex beings, beyond understanding of the 'Iesuicua' (roughly translated as "Mortal" from the tongue of White Omwo~) and as such, they have different aspects."
I notice that I'm frustrated about how much the narration seems to "jump around" in the divinity post. You introduce Madrak and Hewecar and promptly ditch them. Grazzt isn't even introduced. Have you tried outlining your posts?
"Drono Bidlebee took a seedling from the Stenron PLatrform of Harvest, where they have a huge, old second generation Asslewood tree in the center of the Platform (Asslewood trees are actually from the House of Earth, and even second generation (slightly debased) Asslewood is extremely rare, wonderful and valuable) to the Miston Platform of the Harvest, but it was his idea. It was not a GM setup, or even on my radar. But he knew that it would be tremendously meaningful to the Amristians of Miston."
I am perplexed by this paragraph. Please help.
"Grazzt certainly has a noble side in Celtricia, and Abradaxus has an absoluteness of justice that borders on the cruel."
This is just another instance of namedropping. At the time of reading, this is totally meaningless. In order to turn an idea of a god on its head, you need to first introduce the gods.
"Also important in understanding the cosmology is understanding the different power sources in the void, which is also where the Celestial PLanars all hang out, since the Accords of Presence. Daemons live on the House of Death, Devils on the Ninth House, Demons on the Eight House. Spells that use chaos actually pull actually pull from the Well of Chaos on the Eight house. There is a House of Earth and a House of Water, but the House of Fire is no longer, and the Well of Fire was recreated on the Third Station in the Void, but it is still weaker than the original Well on the House of Fire that is no longer."
This makes no sense--yet again. I'd suggest moving it to after the section on cosmology.
"There are dozens of major Deities, and probably close to a hundred minor deities in current worship."
Ick. Just as an aside: why did you decide to make the world this way?
How do you pronounce Omwo~?
And on second thought, you may want to move some of the history you have in the "Cosmology" section to the top of the post and take the time to actually explain what the 9th station and 8th house actually are.
Waaaay too much name dropping in the race intro.
"Human PC variations
01-40 Mixed human
42-52 Southern Human
53-59 Gwynellian Human
60-76 Omnian Human
77-85 Delvan Human
86-96 Grey march Human
97-00 Gesana Human"
ICK! Keep random tables out of my fluff thread please. :P
Okay, so seeing as I skipped the Igbar stuff (I don't want to get into specific cities, even campaign-centers) I reached the end of the thread with little idea of what the world is actually like. How do the gods interact with mortals? Why have their avatars not set things straight regarding conflicts between worshipers?
What is magic like and where does it come from?
What are the major political movements of the world?
What conflicts are key?
Have there been any major wars? I don't remember reading about any?
If you really think I should read the wiki I will, but I much prefer the linear format of a thread.
At first glance, I though Celtricia would be a really interesting world, but I'm turned off by the presentation and lack of interesting and original ideas. I'd really like to hear you prove to me that Celtricia is a great setting--and then I think you should put it in the first post. I have yet to be sold.
[/spoiler]
Once again, please try not to take my words the wrong way. I'm the gadfly of athen--the CBG, and I'm just trying to bring an improvement of things through picking them apart. No hard feelings.
- Raelifin (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_files/public/1164939939_9_FT22019_happy.png)
The stuff about damage and armor is both extremely interesting to me (given the stated goal) and extremely confusing to me (ranges? dividers?)
Please elaborate!
Raelifin,
Critical is good. My thread is full of dums from my wikisite, and so your outside, critical analysis is great to have. Honestly, when something reads poorly to you from the thread, It probably came right from the wikisite, and I really appreciate the help. Sometimes, I think that in my haste to 'get stuff up', I take the old notes and such, and I should rework them more.
Especially since your name is on it.
The divinity post is one of the worst offenders of this. I have to agree, after rereading it. Your thoughful critique hear will not go unnoticed. I'll change the wikisite, and then the thread.
In introducing the gods, I tried to avoid the normal listing of deities and spheres, as it has a little less relevance. But I can see I should have done so, albiet in my own way.
[blockquote=Raelifin]
What is the origin of the 'Pact Veritus'?[/blockquote] The Pact veritus was written and created by Manwessa, first priestess of the Church of the Whole (Oronath). It is a pact betweeen churches that worshippers will not be discriminated against due to their beliefs, and will not suffer retribution from a church if they start worshipping at another location.
You may not like the polydeistic nature (sometimes it drives me crazy, too), but the 'Pact Veritus' is a response to worshippers paying their respects on a church based on where they are in their life. A character may have been going ot the Church of Change (Jubilex) their whole life, but if they start a family, the Church of the Green Mother (Vernidale) is where he might start worshipping while his wife is pregnant. The Pact Veritus was created to reduce friction between parishes. In play, it does not totally stop retribution and human jealousies, but it reduces them.
[blockquote=Raelifin]Ick. Just as an aside: why did you decide to make the world this way?[/blockquote] That just cracked me up. Ick?
Why did I decide to make the cosmology this way? A few reasons. Metagaming wise, I always compared the way many pantheons were really worshipped versus how they were presented in various D&D games. The greeks and norse would not recognize them, in most cases.
The three major ages of the history can be divided into when the Gods walked the earth, when the Gods tried to influence things heavily through specific agents, and the current age where Gods try to affect things through groups of people. This allowed me to create a setting where it was clear that humans, and human foibles, greatly color the religious landscape.
In practice, it makes for a very rich world, especially in a setting where factional competition is at the heart of the setting premise. But, it is not for everyone...especially if put together in such a disjointed fashion. :D
[blockquote=Raelifin]How do you pronounce Omwo~?[/blockquote] The tilde at the end signifies 2 or three of the same letter in pronunciation, so 'Om-woo'
[blockquote=Raelifin]Okay, so seeing as I skipped the Igbar stuff (I don't want to get into specific cities, even campaign-centers) I reached the end of the thread with little idea of what the world is actually like. How do the gods interact with mortals? Why have their avatars not set things straight regarding conflicts between worshipers?[/blockquote] Great, ignore the good stuff...
What avatars...? I think one thing you have shown me is that I wrote a lot of this (or wrote, cut, pasted, wrote, pasted, to be more exact) from a non-game perspective, and that other gamers are looking for certain benchmarks to understand differences.
I answered some of the magic stuff under the Q&A post, but I also think that if you did not see it, it was because of the format and lack of clarity. There is also a piece in that post that directly goes over the conflicts, but again, it is obviously not clear or does not stand out if you have to ask.
[blockquote-Raelifin]At first glance, I though Celtricia would be a really interesting world, but I'm turned off by the presentation and lack of interesting and original ideas. I'd really like to hear you prove to me that Celtricia is a great setting--and then I think you should put it in the first post. I have yet to be sold.[/blockquote] It should be interesting, and the dullness must actually be tracded back to the presentation. Truthfully, I am lucky to be in a position where I have a waiting list if players drop out, in 2 groups and an online one. But as such, I must thank you for the helpful feedback. I think I might need to spend more time on how it is played and how it feels.
My question now is: "Why did the other churches allow the Pact Veritus? Wouldn't it damage the idea of their church being the 'truth?'"
And as to avatars:
[quote Vreegy]For there is no doubt that the gods are real. Too often have their avatars made plain their opinions, too often do they nudge events, too plainly do they bicker, and sometime, too obvious are their favorites.[/quote]earth.[/i]
Quote from: beejazzThe stuff about damage and armor is both extremely interesting to me (given the stated goal) and extremely confusing to me (ranges? dividers?)
Please elaborate!
Firstoff, can I tell you I do a lot of this at work, between clients? I am going to create a new skill in my setting, 'repair disjointed post'.
Not surprised to see you asking this, as you like playing with the systems. And I did create the system based on the needs of the setting, so when people ask to avoid the crunch, I think they might have more trouble appreciating some of the big picture.
When my players and I first started thingking about this, I literally asked what kind of issues they had with the D&D systems. And while there were a lot of fullscale changes made with magic and a skill-based setting, the players biggest bitches came about the lethality of the setting and player progression/longevity. Obviously, since some of the players have been running characters for twenty five years, that longevity has been important.
Some examples we came up with (and I can't believe I still remember these) were that the amount of HP gained, and the lack of lethality from deadly weapons from that very quickly in most games, the real damage casued by giant-sized creatures,and the affect on armor on protection versus avoidance.
So after looking at everything, we first separated armor and protection, which is now called DR. But there just wasn't enough of a difference in the protection values.
So, first off, we made HP a skill. A better health does not give you more HP, it makes you gain experience in it faster. without geting into that part, a beginning fighter may have 10-14 hp, a PC fighter that has played 12-15 session might have 18-24 HP, and that same PC might have 30-35 hp after 30+ sessions. Low HP world. A basic Ogre(rank 1-3) will have
24-36 hp, a basic Hill Giant (rank 1-3) will have 45-60 HP.
( I make those comparisons as sized creatures have a huge impact, no pun intended, in my world. There are no PC's that can take as much physical punishment as even a lesser giant so far.)
Now, to affect more lethality for weapons and to allow for protective value of armor, we spent days and days playing with various permutaions of damages. Having a dagger do 1-4 or 2-5 damage meant that we didn't want armor to protect more than that amount. We didn't wanmt to say that a skillful dagger user could not damage a guy wearing significant armor. Let alone a sabre not being able to get through armors.
http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Weapon+types?full_access=ykSciyNGwN&l=S] weapon list (//)
So I finally realized that my problem was the dreaded bell curve. So to increase the lethality of weapons, and the amount of damage they might do, I increased the amounts of damage quite a bit, but threw in a dividing die. The dividing die was based on the probability of lethality.
A dagger has a 10 sided divider, meaning a 10% chance of doing 'armor piercing' damage, or a 20% chance of doing still decent damaege (a 2 divider is decent, after a 3 divider, it obviously drops a lot).
A sabre has a d8 divider, or a 12.5% chance of doing that armor piercing blow, or a 25% chance of doing decent damage.
A scimitar or a trident has a d6 dividing die, which has a 16.7% of getting a 1 divider, and a 33% chance of a 2.
A halbard or a great axe have a d5 divider, so 20% and 40%.
(Strength, damage bonus skills and magic adds damage after the divider. Large creatures use bigger variations with -1 on the divider, very large creatures, like dragons and Shadow demons have a d3 divider. you don't get hit by a 12' broadaxe more than once, normally)
Ok, now as to damage amounts, an average dagger like a bank does 11-18/d10
that sabre, 13-22/d8
the scimitar 12-25/d6
and the halbard 19-31/d5.
(a Hill giant with an enlarged bhuj axe does 25-40/d4+9 for strength, as an example)
So, obviously, with low HP and all this damage potential, armors' protection comes into play hugely. You do not wander into a serious combat with ths stupid idea you are going to dodge every strike. With these numbers, an unarmored or low armored person will get badly injured or killed if hit by a few decent sword strikes, which makes sense, actually.
So armor comes into play. Heavier armor makes you easier to hit, but protects. Instead of different dividing dies, every protection amount is the value, minus 1-10, divided my the average of 2d6 (due to my players tendency to build armors from different suits by components). It sounds complicated, but it becomes second nature. And this gives me the kind of frequency distribultion I need.
Hard leather and silk under adds 22% to being hit, but has a maximum protection of 22 points, and averages 5 protection, and has a minimum of 2 protection.
Chain Mail and silk under adds 41% to being hit, but has a maximum protection of 29, and averages almost 8 points, and has a minimum of 3 protection.
Splint armor and silk under adds 57% to being hit, but hasa maximum protection of 46, and averages 12.5 points of protection, and has a minimum of 6.
page of armors. (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Armor+types?full_access=ykSciyNGwN&l=S)
smaller, faster weapons are also set up to get more attacks. We use a continuous initiative system, so if a dagger has a 2 SF, and goes on segment 5, it rolls initiative from segment 5, and adds to their last initiative.
More later.
I'm getting the dividing die on weapon damage and actually really liking it.
I'm still not totally there on the armor (it does sound complicated... but I'm sure it makes sense).
So... could I get maybe just a sample round style breakdown?
Person A rolls x and y meaning z. Person B rolls l and m meaning n. Or what have you.
As a matter of personal preference, I'm not a huge fan of rolling armor. But I am a huge fan of bell curves, as they can give a wide range of possibilities while keeping the norm most likely outcome (like you say... a dagger that can do something against a guy in full plate but usually won't).
I'm curious about how you are going to answer Raelfin's response.
Here's another approach to bejazz's as well...let's say I'm playing my diplomat/assassin character; I have a short sword and I go to stab a guy in the back while he thinks he's laying in wait for me in an alley. How many dice do I need to resolve this encounter, and in what order to I roll for stuff?
BJZ and Tybalt, here is a quick sample of a partial combat talen from the Wikisite.
I'm heading into the busy season at work, and most of our vendors are frankly screwing us, so I am very crazy trying to move product into the company and train staff to sell it.
However, here is...
Man vs Orc, example 1
The man is Jor Hiramson, a Southern human private in the Scarlet Pilums of Igbar. He's a nice guy, almost 30 years old, and all his skills are taught by the scarlet pilums.
STR 14
INT 10
WIS 10
CDR 12
HEL 15
CHR 10
APP 12
He has basic spear skill (L3=9%), which has dropdowns of multi/combo attack of .1 (9%*.1 =.9% ability, not usable), critical hit bonus of.1 (9%*.1=.9% skill, not usable), Damage Bonus of .25 (9%*.25=2% skill), and initiative bonus dropdown of .25 (9%*.25=2% skill). He also has learned Initiative bonus as it's own skill (L1=5%, + the 2% dropdown =7% skill)
He has L3 Hit points (12HP), and has a basic defence skill (L2=5%), which has 1.0 dropdowns of avoidance skill and protection skill.
Jor Hiramson-Combat skills
Skill status skill amount dropdown total skill
Basic Spear L3 9% 0 9%
multi/combo att Drpdown 0.90% 0
Critical hit bonus Drpdown 0.90% 0
Damage Bonus Drpdown 2.25% 2%
Init bonus L1 5% 2.25% 7%
Hit Points l3 12hp 12hp
Basic Defence L2 5% 5%
Avoid Drpdown 5 5
Protect Drpdown 5 5
As a Spearman of the Scarlet Pilums, he has been issued padded underarmor (10 av/10 prt)and RingMail (35 av/22prt). So his avoidance is 45-5 (skill)=40 Avoid. Protection is 32+(5skill*.2)=33 protection. AV40/PR33
Jor uses a pair of Pilum, like many of the Scarlet Pilums. A pilum has Strength needed of 14 1-handed, 10.5 2-handed with a strength bonus of 2.0, and a Coordination needed of 10 1-handed and 8 2-handed, and has a Coordinatin bonus of .75. It does 1d12+17/d6 basic damage, Speed factor 5
Jor uses the pilum 2 handed, ST14-10.5=3.5*2.0=+7% hit (+1 damage), CD12-8=4*.75=+3%, so +10% hit, +1 damage 2 handed.
Add in his 9% in basic spear, s0 10%+9%=19%/
Jor Pilum 2-handed, +19% hit, speed 5, damage (1d12+17/d6)+1
The Orcash is Kentil Ban Zyjmanez, from the southern Zyjmanese tribe of the Astrikon forest. His skills have all been learned from the tribe, where he has spent his whole life.
STR 15
INT 8
WIS 10
CDR 11
HEL 16
CHR 9
APP 9
Kentil has basic Curved Sword (l2=5%), Basic Defence (L3=9) and HP (L4=15hp).
Kentil Ban Zyjmanez
Combat Skills
Skill status skill amount dropdown total skill
Curved Sword L2 5% 0 5%
multi/combo att Drpdown 0.50% 0
Critical hit bonus Drpdown 0.50% 0
Damage Bonus Drpdown 1.25% 1%
Init bonus Drpdown 1.25% 1%
Hit Points L4 15hp 15hp
Basic Defence L3 9% 9%
Avoid Drpdown 9% 9%
Protect Drpdown 9% 9%
Like many of the Zyjmanese, Kentil uses a smaller weapon and a target shield (av10/pr5) He wears low quality padded (10 av/7pr) and studded leather (20av/18pr). So his Avoidance is 10+10+20=40-9 (avoid skill)=31 avoid, and protection 5+7+18=30+(9skill*.2)=34.8 prot. AV31/PR35.
Kentil uses a scimitar, with a Strength needed 14 1-handed, and 10.5 2=handed, with a Strength bonus of 2.25. It has a coordination needed is 13 1-handed, and 9.75 2-handed, with a coordination bonus of .95. It does 1d8+1d6+11/d6, speed factor 5.
Kentil has a shield, so he uses the scimitar 1 handed. 15-14=1*2.25=+2.25% hit, CD 11-13=-2*.95=-1.9% hit, so +.35% to hit (zero, really).
Add in basic curved sword, so 0% +5% =5%.
Kentil Scimitar 1-handed,+5% to hit, speed 5, damage 1d8+1d6+11/d6.
Okay, we have our protagonists. They meet in the eaves of the Astrikon forest, as Jor's patrol has run afoul of a Zyjmanese ambush. Jor and Kentil face off in the woods, about 10 yard apart. They both were not surprised.
They both must roll initiative. Kentil puts his shield in front of him and moves forward in a defensive crouch(+10PR), 1/2 speed(d8 roll+0), while Jor throws his readied pilum (d8+5), deciding not to move as he does so. Kentil rolls a 3 and Jor a 4.
[note]The +5 for Jor is the speed factor for his weapon. Kentil is merely moving. Both of them are rolling a d8 for their initiative dice. Once the get into combat, that changes to a d10[/note]
Jor-9
Kentil-3
Kentil goes first, but his was merely a movement initiative in a defensive crouch, moving 3 yards. He rolls again, still not in combat but affected by others, so another d8, this time he rolls a 4.
Jor 9
Kentil 7
Very exciting. Kentil had moved 3 yards, and decides to move another 3 yards at a crouch (he'd go 6 yards at normal movement). He rolls another d8, and rolls a 6.
Jor 9
Kentil 13
So at segment 9, Jor has readied and flings his Pilum at Kentil, trying to catch a spot where the shield is not. The pilum has a range of 30 yds, and Kentil is around 5 yards away (30/25 yds is 83 so the range modifier is .83). Kentil's Avoidance is 31%, +19% for Jor's weapon skill so 50% chance to hit *.83 range modifier. Jor has a 42% chance to hit Kentil. He rolls a 59%, and misses. (Dm roll says the pilum landed 10' behind Kentil). He rolls a movement initiative, d8, and rolls a 5.
[note] the range modifier is literally the % of maximum range a person is at. if a bow has a 100 yard range and you try to hit them 90 yards away, your chance to hit suffers by 90%. if they are 10 yards away, it suffers only 10%. Jor's 50% chance *.83-42%[/note]
Jor 14
Kentil 13
Kentil 's 13 comes up next, and he has moved 9 yards. The Dm adjudicates that is close enough to begin melee. This means that both combatants roll combat initiative with d10+weapon speeds, but Kentil has a +2 (-2) bonus due to being the one whose movement phase initiated combat. Both try to roll their initiative bonuses, 7% skill for Jor and 1% skill for Kentil. 71% and 37%, both fail (and Jor gets 3 EXP in the skill for failing, since he does have the skill, not just a dropdown0. Jor rolls a 6+5, bringing him from 13 to 24, while Kentil rolls a 4+5, -2 Bonus, for a 20.
[note] Once a character moves close enough for melee initiative, all combatents in that melee roll initiative from that point. However, the one who moves into that range first, the instigator, gains a +2 (-2) bonus [/note]
Jor 24
Kentil 20
At segment 20, Kentil whips his Scimitar around at Jor. Jor has a 40 avoidance, + Kentils's +5 to hit, giving Kentil a 45% chance of hitting. He rolls a 74, and misses Jor.
Kentil rolls for initiative bonus, rolls a 39% and fails, and rolls a d10 for initiative, rolls a 5+5 for the weapon.
Jor 24
Kentil 30
at segment 24, Jor can try to stab at Kentil, having a 50% chance to hit (Kentil's 31 AV+ Jor's 19% to hit). Jor rolls a 31%, and succesfully (finally) hits Kentil.
Jor rolls for his damage bonus skill of 2%, rolls a 21%, and fails.
His damage is (1d12+17/d6)+1, rolls a 9 on the d12, so 26 damage, divider die rolls a 2, so 13+1 or 14 total damage.
Kentil's protection is 35, rolls a 1 and then rolls a 5 and a 3 on the 2d6 dividers, 35, minus 1=34, divided by (5+3/2) 4= 9 total protection.
Kentil takes 5 hits of damage, so he is down to 10. not enough for any penalties.
Jor rolls his initiative bonus, rolls a 31% (miss), and rolls a 6+5 speed factor.
Jor 35
Kentil 30
Kentil is not really worried yet, though bleeding. He takes another swing with his scimitar, needing a 45% chance to hit. He rolls a 60%, and misses again. He misses his 1% init bonus, and rolls a 1+5 initiative, good roll.
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That is, hopefully, a first quick example as to what combat looks like.
[blockquote=Raelifin]My question now is: "Why did the other churches allow the Pact Veritus? Wouldn't it damage the idea of their church being the 'truth?'"[/blockquote]
2 reasons.
1) In the Polytheistic Celtrician religion, it is very normal to visit the shrine or Church of a diety whose primary sphere meets the needs of a particular circumstance. Worshippers of the Curch of Change (Jubilex) may spend time praying in the Lawful Triumverate when a family member is going before a court (As Rakastra the Just is one of the Gods of the Lawful Triumverate). A rugmaker that normally worships at Bamik of the Loom may spend time praying at the Platform of Trade when openning a new shop.
2) The main secular reason for the 'Pact Veritus' is to stop (or at least reduce) persecution of a person due to religion. No church want to face the wrath of all the other churches in an area arrayed against them, nor does a church want their own worshippers to be persecuted against.
[blockquote=Imperious Vreeg]For there is no doubt that the gods are real. Too often have their avatars made plain their opinions, too often do they nudge events, too plainly do they bicker, and sometime, too obvious are their favorites.[/blockquote]
Avatar not meant in the gaming sense , but in the proper dictionary sense.
Main Entry: av·a·tar
Pronunciation: \ˈa-vÉ-ËŒtär\
Function: noun
Etymology: Sanskrit avatÄrahÌ£ descent, from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses over '" more at ukase, through
Date: 1784
1: the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu)
2 a: an incarnation in human form b: an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person
An extension of my earlier sin, Raelifin. I am in my busiest work season now, but I have looked through my thread and realized I spent far too much time cramming in info and not enough time writing the thread as I would have when I created the setting. IN the Age of Heroes, deities worked directly through their agents. The greatest being The Bard, and the Archlich Arbor. Even today, the gods make their will known to a few. I should have made it clear that the Gods make their existence clear still, but do not interfere directly.
So in other words religion is rather like say that of the Greeks or Romans in that you worship deities not based on alignment or allegiance (unless you're a priest or priestess) but rather based on your particular needs of the moment?
So for instance let's say Jor (your guy from above) has a few different circumstances.
Let's say he needs to do the following things and wants divine assistance if possible. First of all for a good marriage for his brother, second for surviving an upcoming campaign, third for a journey he's about to undertake. Am I correct in assuming he doesn't expect a particular deity he worships to cover this for him?
Quote from: TybaltSo in other words religion is rather like say that of the Greeks or Romans in that you worship deities not based on alignment or allegiance (unless you're a priest or priestess) but rather based on your particular needs of the moment?
So for instance let's say Jor (your guy from above) has a few different circumstances.
Let's say he needs to do the following things and wants divine assistance if possible. First of all for a good marriage for his brother, second for surviving an upcoming campaign, third for a journey he's about to undertake. Am I correct in assuming he doesn't expect a particular deity he worships to cover this for him?
Jor is a human member of the Scarlet Pilums, so he probably worships at the Lawful Triumverate, the Church of the Hunt (Verbren), or the Wild Hunt (Geryon), as they are the most martial churches in town and are the most likely patrons of a Scarlet Pilums. We'll say that He follows Verbren the Hunter as his Major Patron. The best way to describe it using the same words you used would be to say that people have a major patron church but that the needs of a particular circumstance make it totally acceptable to pay homage of a deity that can better control the outcome of that need.
As in most things in the World of Factions, shades of grey rule. But almost all major patron churches are heavily influencesd by guild and group memberships. So understand, a patron deity is normally a function of the most common aspect in a person's life. Jor understands that he is subject to any Deity's will if he is in their sphere of influence, but expects Verbren 's protection to help him in most of his day-to-day affairs.
However, in the situation you describe, Jor would probably go to the Church of Woerter of the Hosting to pray for a blessing for his brother's wedding and to recive a token from the church to give to his brother.
He'd count on Verbren to protect him in the campaign against the Zyjmanese, but he'd actually make a trip over to the Church of Direction (Arlieng the Guide) to pray for a safe journey. He'd probably hit the Devilkin Shrine of Oblimet, Devil-Duke of Travels that is in the Church of Direction while he was there to cover his bases, and maybe to get a token, if he could afford it.[note]There are often shrines to Saints or other deities that share spheres in common in a church, unless they are already in another church. That is actually how the Chruch of the Lawful Triumverate came into being, and the Church of Direction's major Patron is Arlieng, but there are shrine's to Obliment and Saint Manwessa the Younger. [/note]
Hey, Vreeg. I'll check out your wiki over the next couple of days, thanks for the update.
Just fyi--I don't know if anyone else has this problem but the url from your other threads to here ddoesn't work properly. It doesn't recognize my ID for instance and doesn't let me post. You might want to try it and check.
Anyway, here's my Igbar review.
I have to admit that I compared this immediately with my own setting's cities and those of settings I've liked, published or not.
First of all, the quotations from various Igbarians helps a lot in establishing a sense of the flavour of the city. The one about the importance of money is a strong one in doing so.
I generally liked the sense of the city's construction, the layout and the authorities, religions and so on in it. It is probably emblematic of your campaign world in that at a glance people can see 'big names' among the faiths that indicate that this is not a city that is typically D&D polarized vis a vis alignment. At a glance one can tell that this is a place that is very much a city whose first concerns are maintaining a sort of balance of the many alliances and factions while seeking the main underlying function of it: that of gaining prosperity. I think this is something of an achievement as most fantasy roleplaying cities are really presented as places to have adventures in but not as part of a living landscape.
I like at the same time your emphasis on the local conflicts and how they affect the city. I think that the adventuring opportunities should seem part of the locale and not unusual events that seem to coincide with their arrival.
A few criticisms.
1. The descriptions of dress, local laws, etc need to be better organized. I'd like to see categories like 'local laws' 'local customs' and so on. it would make it easier to find stuff if say someone wanted to use your site as a reference.
2. The stories are good and I've commented on them before. The only problem is that it looks like you have an entire chapter for a novel in the lower half of the page. It looks like a lot to read and it might be a little better if it were in sections that could be accessed either on other pages, in spoilers of some kind or perhaps in the larger chapter sections you see in some Wikis that are more distinctly separated.
3. The maps are off to a good start, so I guess this is not really criticism.
All in all though a good job.
I have what may seem like an odd question, based on all the stuff you've posted so far.
[blockquote=tybalt]How much do the people of Igbar enjoy factionalism? I mean--do they LIKE it, identify with it? It seems that they take great pride in the opportunities that exist in their city, and indeed there are many, and most of them one way or another are about gathering influence and wealth, which seem synonymous in Igbar.
This may seem like a strange thing to say but I sometimes like to compare one campaign to another. For instance Dark Sun is a more bleak and gritty setting than Greyhawk; it is only the evil of monsters and cruel cults and evil regimes that keeps the world from being a paradise. Ordinary people seem ready enough to identify with good heroes or to cower beneath overlords in Greyhawk. Dark Sun seems to taint everyone with cynicism and desperation.
In the Republic of New Edom itself factionalism doesn't exist to the same extent at all as in Igbar. I think a New Edomite merchant would be shocked at how many guilds there are that are not merely trade guilds but also mercenary guilds, thieves guilds, magical guilds and so on. I think his question would be "How do you RUN this place?"
Of course based on what I know of your campaign alliances are sometimes swiftly made or are invoked by old debts and so on in the face of danger or difficulty. But here is my second question really: is there any chance that any one power block is likely to achieve greater power than the others? Even temporarily?
Er...btw sorry i forgot not to post here--maybe you could move or delete this reply...thanks.
[ Edited Wed Dec 26 2007, 07:40PM ]
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le coeur a ses raisons que le raison ne connait point [/blockquote]
Consider it moved.
1) one of the ideas of the factionalism (A term I still give you all the credit for, even on the site) is that the factions are not all considered equally or even in any level of competition. The polytheistic religion of Celtricia means that a person worships or at least aknowledges the other parishes in town, say worshiping in the Church of Direction yet needing help during the birth of Children from the Green Mother. A person may be a member of the Teque guild of travelers, yet still purchase meats from the RaphiButchers (who are under the umbrella of the Vissippee trading family). Castellots (the political faction that believes Igbar is being used as a shield against the Empire of Argus) may find themselves paying off the Blackstripes, the Thieves guild centered in Argus held Coom Isle. And all the above can be the same person. It is very, very important to understand that the above example is not a far-fetched one, but more the normal situation for the Trablerian citizen of Igbar. They are just not all guilds or competing guilds, more like factions.
2) On the other side of it, people join and ally with factions to get ahead, and every real mover-and-shaker group is allied with others, as no one organization, church, poilical movement,guild, knighthood, or school is overwhelming in a given area like Igbar. No person rises ever to the top, but they do rise. especially in their area of influence, which makes them more important for groups from other spheres to ally with. The Church of Chaos, The Church of the Hunt, the PLatform of Trade (Church of Ogleic), and the Sceding Tree Merchants have a secret alliance against the Church of the Green Mother, But the Church of the Green Mother is secretly linked to the Collegium Arcana and the powerful Sheering Family...so the game goes...
(and if you think that is bad, Stenron is twenty times older and over twenty times as large...)
3) but do they enjoy the loyalties and alliances, the cheering for politcal favorites for the House of the Unicorn (Upper and Lower)and the competing churches, the brawls fo the Eye and the Blackstripes? This is their life. They live it, and know no other way...swim in the currents of factionalism with the other sharks, or play in the safer shallow waters...
Nice list of ales and wines--makes one want to do a pub crawl in Igbar. Is there much competition between brewers or vintners?
Quote from: TybaltNice list of ales and wines--makes one want to do a pub crawl in Igbar. Is there much competition between brewers or vintners?
Not that much is made in Igbar itself, as the guild control this jealously. The Benshin Brown winery is part of the Cowel Trading family, House of Hostem Ale is made at the House of Hostem Hospitality House, and so is protected by the Teque Guild of Travelers. The others are all brought in by the various guilds. The Rissa family has the exclusive rights to the 'Tolerance Red Chias' from Recum, and would start all out war if anyone tried to move into that. So anyone who wanted to make and market strong drink would have to make some friends first.
So while there is competition, in the true Celtrician way, it is between the Trading Guilds and their allies.
Vreeg,
I've been reading your adventure outline. Poor girl - is anyone going to care what happens to her? Sounds like her captor is gonna tire of her pretty soon and want to dispose of her before his boss gets back. Joey doesn't sound like the patient, long-range planner type...
Quote from: GilladianVreeg,
I've been reading your adventure outline. Poor girl - is anyone going to care what happens to her? Sounds like her captor is gonna tire of her pretty soon and want to dispose of her before his boss gets back. Joey doesn't sound like the patient, long-range planner type...
Joey is a nit, it's true.
His Boss's Boss, Bilow, was the one who snatched Henriessa Rissa...and the leader, Koplow, of Kerumbal's old retreat, will be pissed when he finds out that Bilow might have compromised their secret lair.
Okay, so Joey wasn't the one who did the grabbing. I must have been tired when I read that! But I like Joey; I may borrow his personality for a soon-to-be-encountered minor villain in my game.
So reading your adventure--I like the fact that there's lots of background. If you present such things online that will be very convenient. It is very clear which factions are what, and the maps are easy to read. I know you haven't had much feedback on it but I encourage you to go on. It's off to a very good start. It is also a very (to my mind) typical sounding adventure, which is good, typifying your 'grey' take on situations.
BTW--why do you use different idioms when referring to orcs? Is it to actually distinguish between the language, the things they use, and so on?
Quote from: TybaltSo reading your adventure--I like the fact that there's lots of background. If you present such things online that will be very convenient. It is very clear which factions are what, and the maps are easy to read. I know you haven't had much feedback on it but I encourage you to go on. It's off to a very good start. It is also a very (to my mind) typical sounding adventure, which is good, typifying your 'grey' take on situations.
BTW--why do you use different idioms when referring to orcs? Is it to actually distinguish between the language, the things they use, and so on?
The Orc vs orcash terminology is actually there to tie it together for a typical reader...which you are not...but that is a good point.
and this is actually how i go about creating my adventures. I try to ask myself how would I want it written. This is actually the first of a three adventure arc, with three sub-quests. Igtiche actually is set to be the loacl base, but with the players going back to Igbar occasionally for serious resupplying.
My own private test group. A small group of New Edomites (for whatever reason) acting as mercenaries are hired to find the missing lady. They consist of Loegaire (ranger, Celtic expat and scout commander) Venn (Council Police; rogue specializing in investigation and traps) Ravel (wizard) Sorkvir (dwarvish cleric/fighter) and Achyss (lizardfolk barbarian).
The group find Igtiche a pleasant place, very much like home. The only thing that disturbs them is the coinage asked in the hostel--at first to their outrage they think that slaves are used as currency. They are embarassed to discover otherwise.
As Igtiche is the closest friendly locale, one of the first things they want to do is to discover if anyone is acting a little suspicious. Is it possible that there are allies of the kidnappers in town? Venn and Ravel might disguise themselves in an effort to determine whether this was true, slipping into town before the others to scout it out regardless while the more wilderness friendly others conceal themselves in a campsite.
Quote from: TybaltMy own private test group. A small group of New Edomites (for whatever reason) acting as mercenaries are hired to find the missing lady. They consist of Loegaire (ranger, Celtic expat and scout commander) Venn (Council Police; rogue specializing in investigation and traps) Ravel (wizard) Sorkvir (dwarvish cleric/fighter) and Achyss (lizardfolk barbarian).
The group find Igtiche a pleasant place, very much like home. The only thing that disturbs them is the coinage asked in the hostel--at first to their outrage they think that slaves are used as currency. They are embarassed to discover otherwise.
As Igtiche is the closest friendly locale, one of the first things they want to do is to discover if anyone is acting a little suspicious. Is it possible that there are allies of the kidnappers in town? Venn and Ravel might disguise themselves in an effort to determine whether this was true, slipping into town before the others to scout it out regardless while the more wilderness friendly others conceal themselves in a campsite.
Hmm.
Interesting.
We'll put the camp to the south, where there are some hills.
Venn and Ravel are dressed how?
The 'Rule of Reach' is enforced here, so any bows must be unstrung and any weapons that can be thrown cannot be carried into Igtiche without a permit.
Do either have logistics or mercantile abilities, or a history that would give them such?
They will both notate that almost 1/2 the inhabitants are Hobyts, especially the farming groups. It is the 15th of Tokush, Month of Winds, and though there is a chill in ther air (29 degrees in the am, 39 degrees by midday), the underlying promise of spring is upon the area, and the new planting season is on the lips of many.
Venn and Ravel would dress as peddlars probably. Venn has some skill as a barber while Ravel could sell herbs and suchlike; they could be a kind of mobile hairdresser salon. They would carry basic merchant class type weapons they've seen other such folk have, and leave other weapons behind at the camp. They would carry a decent amount of cash but not too much, and would probably travel with a pack animal of some kind.
Venn's highest skills here would be observation,investigate, fast talk, pickpocket, trailing (city based tracking); Ravel is more focused on negotiation and is also capable of assessing value of basic market items. Both are members of merchant families anyway. Ravel would only warily make use of magic, discreet things like detction spells. She would also use magic if necessary to cover their tracks and enable an escape--things like confusion related magics and such.
[note=Ravel] what are Ravel's INt and Wis? where does the herb knowledge come from?[/note]
[note=cash] how much cash? I'd rather give you the hurdle of having out-country coinage, bTW[/note]
[spoiler=work] Just coming off of my biggest weekend of the year...sorry if I have been a little scattered.[/spoiler]
The travelers will come up from the camp to the south, and will see the Pemunte Druidwood on their right, as they start to see farmland. The fields roll in small hills, and there are small copses of small, thick, spikey plants. [note=surprise] any surprise skill, or I guess spot skill?[/note]
They note that the work being done at the farms here is very, very organized, with many Hobyts and Gnomes working on the farmlands. They are tilling the earth, and Venn Notes that there are Omwo~ (elves) and Hobyts in Green Scale mail and bearing spears blessing some of the fields as the workers till them.
Venn also notes a group of horseman surveying the area a few times. Looks like 8 of them, in light armor, with a scarlet pennon on their spears. Closing on 35 degrees, as it is about 10th hour now.
The New Edomites maybe haven't had a chance to change their currency--if that is the case then they have some New Edomite 'stars' which are small coppers (one star) large coppers with crude milling around the edges (two stars) towers (silver thick coin with four towers at each point of the compass representing Fineberg, Touchstone, Harbourtown, Glasstower as the major city states) and 'lords' which are in value of thickness, one for Sif Finnhald, one for Willam Touchstone, one for Lord Aholibamah. (complicated, yes? The coinage of New Edom was issued at different times by different Councils) They might also have some Yasg coinage (this would mostly be in gold and silver) and possibly some Celtic trade bars. Ultimately they'd carry perhaps around fifty gp worth of coinage.
Venn would try to make use of observation and tactics (as a New Edomite officer he has the latter at a basic level, observation as a midranking level) to note anything else interesting about the scouts.
Ravel has an int of 17, wis 14. Her herb knowledge comes from training in alchemy which is a prerequisite for New Edomite wizards at Lookinghaven. Bearing in mind that she's not a healer; she might be able to make medecine but that's about it.
BTW: Venn probably is carrying a short sword and dagger; Ravel has a quarterstaff.
Ravel's magic: detect magic, read magic, light, sleep; blink, clairvoyance, clairaudience; fly, fireball; hallucinatory terrain.
Ravel and Venn stick close to the low dells and to the copses when they have to cross a hilltop. These hills roll gently, and as they head north, they note stone walls as borders, as well as a planted area with small trees bearing bright red berries and sharp thorns, carefully arranged into rows.
At one point Venn hears a rythmic chanting, and they pass a group (say 12) of laborers tilling some land while chanting. Ravel recognizes nothing magical about this operation.
As they move into the next large field, Ravel notes the sound of hooves closing in on them from the right, over the next rise. There are no trees near them, though the low (2.5' tall) and wide stone wall is only a few feet from them.
[spoiler=Venn] Venn Basic Surprise skill (.5 EXPmod, 800 real exp, 400 adjusted exp, level 3, 14% ability, subskill backstab) succeeds surprise roll, +22 exp (so 822 real exp, 411 adjusted)..Basic Detect Skill, .65 EXPMOD, 550 real exp, 357 adjusted exp, level 3, 9% skill, sub skills detect skill, detect hidden, detect ill-intent)[/spoiler]
Ravel signals them to move low and quiet up to the wall and to hunker down there. If they are spotted they pretend to be resting there.
[spoiler=Venn]
You mentioned where his specialties were, so I am not giving him huge hiding skills.
Basic Sneak, .6 EXPMOD, 400 Real EXP, 240 Adjusted EXP, level 2, skill 11%, sub skills Hide, Move silent, Mix with crowd, disguise.
Based on what you desribed, I'm going to say he has learned Mx with Crowd as a skill, not merely a dropdown, so...
Mix with crowd, .7 EXPMOD, 100 real exp, 70 adjusted EXP, level 0, 5% skill+11% from Parent skill (Basic Sneak)=16% Mix with Crowd
[/spoiler]
Ravel and Venn move behind the wall, Ravel taking Venn's lead due to the latter's expertise in staying unseen.
The hooves move closer, and the companions see 8 riders (4 human, 2 Klaxik (dwarven), 2 hobyts) going south, on a path just over a rise to the east of them. Thei track will take them within 40 feet of Venn and Ravel.
[note=hiding] base chance of hiding in daylight-15%, range bonus +5%, 90% concealment +55% bonus, context adjustment+20% (though they are on patrol, the riders are not looking for anyone)=65% chance of hiding.
Venn has +11% for his skill, so he has a 76% chance of staying concealed, he rolls a 31% and succeeds.
Ravel has 65%+1% for Venn's lead=66%, rolls a 59%, and manages not to be seen.[/note]
The riders continue south, red-pennoned spears held at the ready. The speak of having the easy south road, and of the 'Wind and Word' tavern a few miles down the path. They seem relaxed, and the riders wear a scalemail with scarlet tabards.
After the riders move south out of sight, Venn keeps them behind the wall for a few extra seconds. Then they get out
from behind the shade of the thick, sturdy wall. It is almost the noon hour, and while they can see a few taller buildings on the horizon, they can see the closer buildings cluster to the wide path the riders were on, including a small walled enlave a few hundred feet north, on the opposite side of the path.
They can continue
[spoiler=exp for hiding]
+24 exp in basic sneak for Venn, so it becomes 424 real EXP, 245 adjusted EXP. His next level is 300 adjusted. Ravel does not have the skill and cannot gain EXP in it.[/spoiler]
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(BTW, I had the BASic surprise skill under Venn, not Ravel. That makes more sense, right?)
They will observe the reactions of the locals to these riders--whom Venn suspects to be local militia or mercenaries--before proceeding towards the village. If there is no hostility or at least overt action they proceed; if there is they attempt to observe from a distance.
Venn and Ravel watch the 8 riders go south down the path. Slightly further south, a pair of farmers work a huge draught horse with a tiller behind it. One of the farmers is a very tall Hobyt, almost 4' tall, muscular, with red hair, leading the huge, shaggy horse, almost 20 hands high. Behind the horse is a tiller, controlled by a muscular five foot tall orcash, labouring mightily to keep the metal arms of the tiller down into the earth. The Orcash has small fangs and a pug nose. He wears a leather kilt over a blue and white plaid cotton pantaloons.
The horseman canter down the road towards the farmers. The Orcash rasies a hand as they pass, and a Klaxik rider calls out to him. "Pas-Hassle be havin' his way with you, iffen you be mitout yer shirt this day, my boyo!", he says in a loud, jovial tone. There is a bit of laughter, then "You soldier-men don't know what an honest sweat do to body. You should try it, for change!!", says the Orcash in a voice nearly as gruff as the Klaxik's. More laughter.
The two New Edomites can now see that the riders are some kind of militia patrol. Seeing that the town looks reasonably safe for the moment they will at some interval that seems less than startling move openly along the road towards town.
Venn and Ravel move down the road towards the center of town, as they note that no one else is travelling over land. They join 2 wagons in full of very long grains, walking between the wagons back to front.. 2 Human males, one with grotesque facial scars, ther other young and straw haired are in the front wagon. The Wagon behind them has a loud Gnome and 2 hobyts with black hair, piled so high that the grain is blanketted and strapped down.
Ravel notes the smell of the grain is not that of newly mown, but of grain that has been stored for a season.
As they move north up the road, they see a stone 2 story building on a slight hill, somehwat overgrown but obviously well built. There are 2 smaller stone buildings behind it. It has a capped fireplace, and a large, protected porch. Buds are just showiing up on the trees.
(//../../e107_files/public/1202842187_392_FT39572_stone_house.jpg)
Up ahead, the buildings are getting more concentrated. A path crosses the road, and after that stone walls, about 3' high bracket the road. Far ahead, the travelers can see a collection of stone and wood buildings, and a large tower can be seen rising beyond them.
Venn discusses briefly with Ravel. Venn suspects that the building is a manor house, and decides to see if he can ask the gnome what house that is.
Re: Astrikon Lair.
I generally like the sense of decreptitude in the dungeon as well as the way everything seems to fit the context--we've come a long way from the old 'random' D&D modules.
One thing I'd suggest would be to give a little reference link though where you have put in items that particularly matter--weapon types and things like that.
Quote from: TybaltRe: Astrikon Lair.
I generally like the sense of decreptitude in the dungeon as well as the way everything seems to fit the context--we've come a long way from the old 'random' D&D modules.
One thing I'd suggest would be to give a little reference link though where you have put in items that particularly matter--weapon types and things like that.
That seems to be a good idea. I was leaving things a bit open to allow for indiviual game preference, but I should go all the way if I was really going to do that. I will do that, and probably go back through the posts first.
Quote from: TybaltVenn discusses briefly with Ravel. Venn suspects that the building is a manor house, and decides to see if he can ask the gnome what house that is.
The Gnome tells you that is the Rissa Family Estate, where the Auntie of the family watches the Herb Trade from. He laughs. "If either of you lads are looking for a job guarding caravans, I hear the Rissa family has a few sudden openings!"
[blockquote=Tybalt]You know it's interesting that the typical music you present for your game has a sort of Heavy Metal dark romance feel to it. I have come to think of it as typifying the main viewpoints of life in your world. [/blockquote]
This does beg some response (and yes I puled it over from the S.O.C.D. thread).
Two points I want to make.
The first is that back in college, I was part of a few interesting studies on contect-specifity. I won't go too deeply into the details, but it leads one to the inescapable conclusion that a player's unconsious mind is a fun toy to play with. And my choice of soundtracks for our gaming sessions is sometimes critical. Nothing over the top, but I have experimented with a lot. The 'Band of Brothers' soundtrack is very, very good. I have lately been trying some Sinatra when the group hits town and starts dealing with the Bardic relationships and such. Wolfsheim seems to work well, as does some other ambient stuff.
Secondly, there are gothic overtones in my world, both in the 'middle histories' (The Age of Heroes) and in the psychology of the current age, especially ion the north.
does this thing work? I was told by a few that my posting thread was not working. they wanted to post on this
miston page (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Mistonians)
I just thought that my stuff was too dry and boring, and that was why I was not getting responses...
Hm...weird. It does now. I couldn't post a couple of hours ago.
Anyway...I like your historical insertions. It is actually more important than you realize because it tells us the following things:
1. That the layers of history that are integral to this setting are known of but are at their essence as much a mystery to players as to dms. That frees the dm from having to focus on all of it at once--it can gradually be revealed through adventures to the degree that it suits the plot.
2. It shows how cultures evolve and change. Rather than constant 'oooh the awful humanoids'.
3. Intriguingly we see here that an area dominated by giants and gnolls is nevertheless an area that can be adventured from. This is really interesting--I wonder how it is seen by say Igbarians and others? Clearly this is a more subtle group as well?
Tybalt Sojourner
1-we've touched on the history thing before, but some of it bears repeating, if for no one else but myself. Gaming is uniquely suited to exploring artifacts of a past, or many past, cililizations. And in a world where magic exists and the deities walked the earth at one point, the further back one goes in time the closer one gets to a time where those forces were more elemental.
In our mundane world, technology increases with time; but we have actually gone through fits and starts were technology was found, lost, rediscovered, lost agan, etc. Ish and I have traded information on real ancient civ's, but in Celtricia, these Civ's were closer to and sometimes caused ancient cataclysms that are still affecting the world today. So there is a real exploration dynamic in the setting where the PC's are trying to find items and lore from a time where magic was more powerful.
The PC's of either major group have not figured out that the Dreadwing Vampyre lord who is stirring and stretching forth his power (due to one of the totems of his prison being removed by an emenmy of the Miston Group) is actually the ancient master and creator of Kexiol Antroo, the Venolvian Vampyre that the Igbar Grey Legion released and that destroyed most of their group. Neither group has figured out the existence of the Anginarian Necromancy (called Y'gorl's Curse in the Age of Heroes) which creates more undead and more powerful undead than any normal necromancy. The intertwined histories of both of these creatures is tied to the ability to destroy them: especially the Dreadwing, who is, in turn , the ruined servant of a greater master from the Age of Heroes. The Dreadwing was actually Palladino,a companion of the Great Bard Numansongs in the Age of Heroes, who was corrupted after the fall of Park and twisted by the Archlich Arbor...
And so it goes. Really, when I was much younger, reading of the excavation of Minos and Troy, and finding that the layers involved are much deeper than merely uncovering a city. The Homeric Troy we often refer to is normally designated Troy Vii, with 9 layers identified in total, stretching from 3000bc to about 100bc. This has become my historical model, that history is unplanned and messy. Kexiol Antroo (the Igbarian Vampyre Lord) was found in old Orbian Exile ruins, but the PC's don't know he was actually a Venolvian, a slightly older (but overlapping) empiric group that was sent to the Devilkin worshipping Orbian clans by a Dreadwing cult, about fourhundred fifty years before the current time. He was enslaved and made undead in 418 RON, when the Venolvians almost released the Dreadwing, and sent to the Orbian exiles soon after that.
Making and intertwining these histories is fun, but in terms of the game, when the PC's are going to need to discover what the Anginarian Necromancy is to defeat it and end the Undead Plague in Igbar, when the Mistonians are going to ned to find how the dreadwing was created in order to destroy him and free his ancient, tormented spirit, that is when it becomes more fun.
If they ever figure this out, that is. The Miston group (which plays tonight) has been played for almost exactly half the existence of the setting, or over 12 years in the quarter century of the Celtrician campaign's existence.
2-Miston is far away from Igbar, about 1400 miles away as the crow flies. The GiantClan Silverworth has actually been driven back to the Ambretton plains and the Amrettus Mountains, but that is a huge open area, almost 500 miles wide and over a thousand miles deep. The notes that were posted go back just over a year of game time, and the Pc's did ride with the army that freed Miston.
But it was interesting having them play in the Giant-occupied town for their first 5 years of game play, sneaking around, sending money to Stenron to raise an army, etc. That is my more subtle group, yes, by far.
I haven't had time to read it all yet, but I'm liking what I'm seeing for Celtricia. As a matter of fact after starting into it tonight I realize I've read much before but had forgotten to post. I'll say a few quick things here:
1) I like how you've decided seemingly to leave a lot of land left to explore and conquer, with the majority of the humanoid population on a continent that isn't even the largest.
2) From what I've read from the mechanics, they are awesome. It makes so much more sense to have a skill-based system where you only improve where you practice.
3)Your bugbears are possibly the coolest humanoid/monstrous humanoid race I've ever seen - I love the culture that comes associated with them. I can imagine it being a lot of fun playing one in Celtricia.
4)I have only skimmed your history, but I like how you did it and make it extensive. However, you could probably use some sort of extra punctuation there to separate the place name from the event.
:D
Here is my first Pet Setting Review.
First Impressions - the Good and the BadI like the opening statement, comparing campaigns to relationships. It is actually a very accurate analogy to how I've seen many campaigns on this very site progress. There is one of my favorite campaigns on the site that has gone through three different names, but it is essentially the same basic premise each time, with stuff being thrown out that didn't work, and stuff being added as it was needed. Good and wise philosophy, I believe.
In particular, I like what you say about the very careful consideration you put on your recent history. The first statement, "The recent history of the campaign was also carefully decided on. The Magic and splendor of the earlier ages is to contrast with the current nearly-technological viewpoint of magic," reminds me very much of the way we actually view technology in the real world. The powerful volcanic eruptions of the past, often blamed on a deity's displeasure, are well explained by science today. The rising and lowering of the tides make a lot more sense in the modern age, with our knowledge of the moon's gravitational pull and the shape of our spherical planet. It's almost as though you are recognizing that the people in your campaign may very well act and behave in manners similar to real people (gasp!), and have actually developed the methods for explaining the past in logical ways. I very often see campaigns that have races - even humans - who behave in ways that are illogical, even within the scope of their campaign setting. Even your second statement in that paragraph, "There is a current philosophical view that intregration [sic] is a determinant of culture, making race less and less important to the 'modern' Celtrician, but this is in contrast to the tribal humanoid societies of the uninhabited lands," shows a logical procession of philosophies very reminiscent of our real world.
For whatever reason, I'm always surprised to see a classless system that actually works. It always seems so ideological to use such a system, and it seems to only work about 50% of the time, so it's nice to see someone who has taken an active interest in creating a logical progression system that still keeps the fundamentals of RPGs at heart. Your skill-based system reminds me of the SaGa series of video games, which brings back very fond and nostalgic memories.
I'm curious about how you have presented the scale of time in the campaign. You have mentioned that the world is 15,000 years old, but your time line only shows 10,000 years. Now, that in and of itself wouldn't be much of an issue - after all, we here on earth don't have written history going all the way back to 4.5 billion years ago - but the placement of events has confused me. In your "Basic Historical Premise" section, you mention three distinct time periods. The first age, called the Age of Legends, lasted 9,000 years, leads into the Age of Heroes, lasting 4,000 years, which in turn leads into the Age of Statehood, which is currently almost 3,000 years old. I see a 9,000 year segment of your time line in a lower post, but then there are only 800+ years afterwards, leaving me missing 5,000+ years. Or, something happened before the "9,000 Years Ago" mark on the time line, but even so, that still confuses me about how the time line and your Ages match up.
Speaking of the time line, it gets hard to read at times. You seem to have typed a lot of it up in shorthand, and I feel like I'm missing out on some key components. There are a lot of abbreviations and quick tid-bits that leave me looking for more information, or even leave me looking for "what does that mean??" That's mostly just a nitpick, though.
Spelling out the major conflicts in Celtricia is awesome, in my book. In my oh-so-humble opinion, a campaign setting is absolutely nothing without conflict, and it's one of the first things that I think about when I look at a new setting. On the front page of my website, after a brief introduction, the conflicts are the first thing I spell out. I like your mention of the "Sins of the Past." It makes me want to know more about those Sins.
I'm extremely intrigued in you running several different campaigns in different time periods of your setting. It seems like it would have a lot of prospective awesomeness, and makes me think of
The Fountain. However, do you ever worry about potentially creating conflicting stories, when your PCs currently playing in the past do something that changes events that you already know as stable in the present?
ReligionI really dig your creation myth about Oronath, the Song, and the Discord. Have you ever read any of a campaign setting and role playing game called "Agone?" It's always interesting to see two similar ideas playing out in two completely different scenarios. What kind of inspiration did you have for using the Song as the basis of your mythology?
Quote from: 16pxRaces[/size]
Quote from: 16pxMore to come...[/size]
[blockquote=WT] 1) I like how you've decided seemingly to leave a lot of land left to explore and conquer, with the majority of the humanoid population on a continent that isn't even the largest.[/blockquote] It's a huge world, with 2.5X the surface area of earth. Though there are concentrations of population, the 'wilderspaen' (wild areas) in between are much larger. The tribal groups actually have a lot of room to roam, despite being in territory that is nominally in the borders of one nation-state or another.
[blockquote=WT]2) From what I've read from the mechanics, they are awesome. It makes so much more sense to have a skill-based system where you only improve where you practice.[/blockquote] My most humble thanks. the nicest thing is that it has succeeded in many of the underlying goals.
Keeping overall powergrowth manageable by allowing lots of little within-skill level breaks.
making tougher magic more difficult to cast in a non-linear growth pattern, as more powerful magics need many differnt spell-skill abilities to cast.
Keeping stuff more dangerous, so that 12 year old character's still are scared to be hit by a crossbow. Which does actaully make some sense.
And, as you mentioned, allowing for growth in skills that are practised and used, so that Grak's Thieving skills don't get better by murdering some orcash in their dens.
[blockquote=WT]3)Your bugbears are possibly the coolest humanoid/monstrous humanoid race I've ever seen - I love the culture that comes associated with them. I can imagine it being a lot of fun playing one in Celtricia.[/blockquote] I've had 3 Gartier PC's, and all three of them have taken advantage of the 'sarcastic as hell' personality of that group. They've had generations of hating the acculturated world, while wanting to be part of it. And suddenly, they can be, if they can deal with the consequences.
[blockquote=WT]4)I have only skimmed your history, but I like how you did it and make it extensive. However, you could probably use some sort of extra punctuation there to separate the place name from the event.[/blockquote]
have you tried creating spreadsheets here? With the amount of data, I'd be square-eyed in front of the computer. Go here (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Tale+of+Years) instead. This was where it came from. (actually, this is a pasted report, I keep the history in an access database.)
:D
[blockquote=His Ishiness]In particular, I like what you say about the very careful consideration you put on your recent history. The first statement, "The recent history of the campaign was also carefully decided on. The Magic and splendor of the earlier ages is to contrast with the current nearly-technological viewpoint of magic," reminds me very much of the way we actually view technology in the real world. The powerful volcanic eruptions of the past, often blamed on a deity's displeasure, are well explained by science today. The rising and lowering of the tides make a lot more sense in the modern age, with our knowledge of the moon's gravitational pull and the shape of our spherical planet. It's almost as though you are recognizing that the people in your campaign may very well act and behave in manners similar to real people (gasp!), and have actually developed the methods for explaining the past in logical ways. I very often see campaigns that have races - even humans - who behave in ways that are illogical, even within the scope of their campaign setting. Even your second statement in that paragraph, "There is a current philosophical view that intregration [sic] is a determinant of culture, making race less and less important to the 'modern' Celtrician, but this is in contrast to the tribal humanoid societies of the uninhabited lands," shows a logical procession of philosophies very reminiscent of our real world. [/blockquote]
'With all of those deep and fantastic storylines, it is vital to grasp that the Celtrician setting is a world where the presence of magic has slowed the growth of technology to a crawl. The curious and intellectually superior explore the laws of magic, instead of science, and have dicovered ways to bend physics to their wills. Artificers are paid to create a town clock that can be seen on top of a temple, Earth and Animist mages create the Marcher Breed of cows that average 8 gallons of milk a day, and Fire and Air mages dominate a battleground... of what use is science here? '--from the wikisite
people innovate, and having thousands of year of time passing with no innovation makes little sense...but in a world where the the powers of the void can be reached and manipulated, why would the bright and intellectually strong not go to magic, since any can touch the source if taught...
[blockquote=his Ish]I'm curious about how you have presented the scale of time in the campaign. You have mentioned that the world is 15,000 years old, but your time line only shows 10,000 years. Now, that in and of itself wouldn't be much of an issue - after all, we here on earth don't have written history going all the way back to 4.5 billion years ago - but the placement of events has confused me. In your "Basic Historical Premise" section, you mention three distinct time periods. The first age, called the Age of Legends, lasted 9,000 years, leads into the Age of Heroes, lasting 4,000 years, which in turn leads into the Age of Statehood, which is currently almost 3,000 years old. I see a 9,000 year segment of your time line in a lower post, but then there are only 800+ years afterwards, leaving me missing 5,000+ years. Or, something happened before the "9,000 Years Ago" mark on the time line, but even so, that still confuses me about how the time line and your Ages match up.[/blockquote]
The beginning of the Song of Creation is 15k years back, but Celtricia as the 'Waking Dream' of the Celestial Planars started about-9000 R.O.N. I just added it to the timeline database, whcih will update everywhere else...eventually.
But yes, the world of Celtricia (the 'Waking Dream'), the planets, moons and stars, were created only about 10k years before .
[blockquote=It's the Ish guy!]I'm extremely intrigued in you running several different campaigns in different time periods of your setting. It seems like it would have a lot of prospective awesomeness, and makes me think of The Fountain. However, do you ever worry about potentially creating conflicting stories, when your PCs currently playing in the past do something that changes events that you already know as stable in the present?[/blockquote]
They weren't siupposed to be that different, but the Mistonians (the old guys) are SO SLOW!!!!! They just fell behind. In addition, the online Ocodig groups is also way behind the Igbarians just to the south. The Igbarians are actually a large group, having as many as 8 Players, now down to 6 active players, but the game moves very fast. They stay together and work together in town.
[blockquote=L.O.T O.C.]I really dig your creation myth about Oronath, the Song, and the Discord. Have you ever read any of a campaign setting and role playing game called "Agone?" It's always interesting to see two similar ideas playing out in two completely different scenarios. What kind of inspiration did you have for using the Song as the basis of your mythology?[/blockquote]Oh, a mix of a few things. I used to write a lot, when I had time to write and work on my game. Music has a lot to do with the setting, actually. Thomas Dolby's 'White City' is the background for the early Omwo~ of the world, the whole historical battle between the Bard Numansongs and his patricidal brother, the Archlich Arbor, is based on lyrics from Gary Numans first 7 or 8 albums/CD's. The Miston Group has run into ancient Machmen of Vicoria and Seou left over from the Age of Heroes and replicants from the New Police (Oix Quomedai), all directly from that music. And Numan's (an Omwo~ from the White City) near marriage to a human? Perhaps the last song on Numan's Replicas, "I nearly married a human" had something to do with that.
[blockquote=L.O.T.O.C.][blockquote=Lord Vreeg, the nice]People see what they want to in their Gods. People have imperfect understandings of these beings, and that is one of the underlying themes of the Celtrician mythos. Simplified, static Churches have no place in a complex world. Nothing is more satisfying than when the mythos is deep enough so the players actually can understand and extrapolate from it, due to the sense of realism.[/blockquote]
This is a very interesting quote to me. I seem to recall you saying somewhere earlier that your gods are real in Celtricia, but I can only take it from this particular passage that these gods do not often materialize in avatar form and explain their dogmas in explicit detail to their priests? Do the priests and commoners read holy scriptures and interpret them as they see fit? Are there even any holy scriptures?[/blockquote]
OOOhkay. The Gods, or Celestial Planars, are not only real, but walked the 'Waking Dream' of Celtricia for the whole of the Age of Legends, When the 'Accords of Presence' really kicked in, that is what started the Age of Heroes, when the Planars had to begin to work through their direct intermediaries. SO since that began, they cannot show themselves, though they can still, with great affort, communicate.
However, there is another dynamic going on, that the PCs do not know about. The Celestial PLanars do derive a lot of extra power from worship. So the Celestial Planars firstly do not directly communicate with the 'Waking Dream' often,. and when they do, they are more than willing to worshipped in whatever ways these foolish mortals can find to worship them. The Church of the Lawful Triumverate is huge in Igbar, the largest single church, a group worshipping Abradaxus the Harsh but Just, Rakastra the vengeful, and Nebler the Defender. There is also a church in Exile of the Church of the Theocracy of Nebler...Let me tell you, thougfh Nebler is just and relatively good, he is also the real winner here.
In towns, Jubilex of Chaos is wrshipped under hsi aspect as the God of Capricous fate ant Irony, but in the Tribal hinterlands, he does not mind the shrines to the Lord of the slime and the violent ends of all things.
More soon.
[blockquote=Ish][blockquote=Verkonen Vreeg]
Devils come from the 9th Station, and pull all their powers from that place. They are hierarchal and orderly by nature. Demons come from the 8th House, and all their might is tied to the Well of Chaos there. They are individualistic and unpredictable, organized only by brute force and coercion.[/blockquote]
This seems to me to unfortunately be almost the same kind of definition that is typically given to demons and devils, and doesn't shed a whole lot of light on the subject. Plus, the wording is confusing. The 9th Station is mentioned, immediately followed by mention of the 8th House, both of which are terms that have not been defined at this point in the primer. There is some mention of Houses in the "Is Divine Magic separate from other forms of Spellcasting" section in your second post, but there is no mention of numerical values assigned to them, or what they even mean. And what exactly is the Well of Chaos?[/blockquote] During the time of the Song of Ceation, when the Celestial Planars created the 'Waking Dream' that is Celtricia, they needed to create a framework within the Void to support it. So in the Void, Oronath and his Children of the Song created first the Well of Life, the fount of same, and made the House of Life around it. Then Thanatos led them to make it's opposite, the Well of Death and the Passage of Souls, and he created around them the sharp Plains of Zevashopal, and made the three levels of the House of Death to complete this second anchor point of the Song. Then Madrak the Mighty, Solid and profound, sounded deep notes and rhythm to contruct the Well of Earth. As Madrak labored he was bouyed by the strngth of Anthraxus, who took the earth and strengthened it with rot and repair, and they worked House of Earth around it, thick and immensely deep. Then did Nebler the Defender create the instrument of purification and retribution, the Well of Fire, and Asmodeus the ruler made the House of Fier around it, a place of heat and passion. Then did Amerer the evenhanded create the Well of Air, open and clear, and Sad Orcus added an emptiness to a House of Air around the Well. Lastly, Pablar of Hope and Lost Causes brought forth the Well of Water, and Ironic Jubilesx to aid him in the Making of the House of Water, complicated by all the mixings and creations of liquid.
The Celestial Planars then made nine more smaller houses in the void, dwelling places for them as they tirelessly made their magic and used this Song as framework to bring to life the 'Waking Dream'.
Got that? That's the Song in it's Second Movement, the creation of the Framework. But after that, during the making of the world of Celtricia, and while populating it, there was a lot of conflict. Through great effort, nine 'stations' were created in the void. A station is defined as a construct in the Void that was made after the Second movement of the Song of Creation. So that is the cosmic nce between the House snd the Stations.
As the 'Waking Dream' really took shape, the third movement, the unexpected movement as it is sometimes refered to in the few texts that are deep enough to mention it. This created two other 'anchor points' in the Void, so firm up the parts of creation that kept slipping away. The Wells of Order was created on the Ninth station, and the Well of Chaos on the Eighth House. To complicate matters, Later, in a huge celestial battle, part of the Ninth Station was destroyed near the Well of Order, and the First station was built abbutting the Well of Order there, so the Well of Order is actually in both the Ninth Station and the First station (I'm not going to even get into what theological wars have been fought over this stuff on Celtricia...). A similar thing happenned with the Seventh Station being built close to the Eighth House abutting a large part of the Well of Chaos.
But the Third Movement of the Song, the creation of the energies of Order and entropy allowed the Song to move forward.
Later fighting among the Celestial Planars (and including dsome of their greatest servants among the original Omwo~ and Saroids) destroyed the House of Fire, and forced a relocation of the Well of Fire on the third Station. This also happenned to the House of Air, now on the Seventh House.
Now, sometimes people on Celtricia call these different things. The Church of the Theocracy of Nebler is adamant that Nebler defends the Well of Order on the House of Law. It's not wrong, but that is how they see it.
[blockquote=The Lord of the Opal Council (If you wondered what L.O.T.O.C. meant)][blockquote=Lord Vreeg]Please note that this information is not known in it's entiriety by anyone, sage, scholar, PC or NPC (Excepting Bahamut, Tiamat, and Verkonen Vreeg. And he's Nuts).[/blockquote]
That last part cracked me up when I read it.
First and foremost, I have to nitpick about the tilde (~) being used as part of the racial name of the Omwo~. It looks very out of place considering most of the other names you have are straight text. Plus, to my knowledge, a tilde has no actual linguistic value when used unaccompanied by a letter beneath it. I suppose it could be just a shorthand way of typing the "o" from Omwo with a tilde over it, but it would make more sense that way to be typed as 'Å'.' The only other use I know of for a tilde is as a mathematical symbol. What is its purpose when speaking of the race?
Also, there are several times throughout the text that you refer to Hobyts as 'hobbits.' I don't know if you plan on using the two words interchangeably in the setting, but I just wanted to point that out.[/blockquote]
Verkoneen Vreeg is the oldest non- Sauroid in the world, and olny 2 dragons are older than he. And he's the oldest by a lot. No other living eyes saw what he has. He was born just five years after the humans split into three tribes. He was born 2 hundred years before Ceminiar made Amrist, God of the Autmn Harvest. He was bron in the White City while it was still open. He was also the first and only person ever thrown out of the White City. He was the Founder of Ambrettus in -4870 R.O.N, which would become the Ambretton Empire. He is the last of the Elder Omwo~, from a time when they lived thousands of years, not the mere 275-450 they perish at now if they actually survive that long. He is not 'round the bend' crazy, but he sees things at a perspective that is, shall we say, unique. The PC's have no idea that this person exists, BTW.
The tilde at the end of Omwo~ signifies a long O or other sound. It is used very regularly in the Xi~u Omwo~, Delvan, and Sivlerwood variations of the language. It it was better than having to find the damn proper sybol with the tilde over it, you are correct.
The Hobyt controversy is responded best with a pure-ass mea culpa. Now, Bugbears call themselves Gartier, and Bugbear is an old westic term of derision. The Orcash call themselves that, and the abbreviated 'orc' is insulting to them
But the Hobbit/hobyt thing is just me not fixing old stuff properly.
I've looked over Igbar and can say I like most of what you've got there. I like the images the little bits of inter-NPC dialogue are giving, as I do the ones I'm getting from your description of the wards. Regarding the big boneyard in the northeast, is the city looking at a mass exhumation or the like soon? Does this overcrowding problem have the potential to cause a plague?
I get a very "medieval news reporter" feel from the discussion of bards in the city. This looks like it could be a lot of fun. Also, it seems to give a lot of life and realism to the area when you state popular fashions or how fashions from other regions have recently arrived. It's good.
The guilds are great. It's always nice to have some usable affiliation for players :D.
Am I spying some player actions being added directly into the information here?
Thanks. I am glad you like the feel of Igbar. It's been played long enough...
[blockquote=Wicked Troll]Regarding the big boneyard in the northeast, is the city looking at a mass exhumation or the like soon? Does this overcrowding problem have the potential to cause a plague?[/blockquote] While the recent plague of undeath has folk seeing undead everywhere, the northern sunken boneyard, just outside the northgate, has everyone scared to death. Since every little crypt and cemetary within the gates is having trouble, people don't even want to think what is going on in that huge, crypt-littered area. The northern walls abutt the south end of the Northern Boneyard, and strnage lights and music can be heard from it. The fact that the BoneKnights of Orcus, and more recently the New Legion, have actually be actively battling this curse at it's center (as the twonsfolk see it) at night has done nothing but increased their local noteriety. But no one is going in there to dig up anyone right now.
The influence of the Bardic Guilds is huge. You have hit the nail on the head, they are singers, playwrights, and reporters (and commentators) all rolled into one. The Igbar group came in at 1 am last time into town, and went in bloody and bleeding still into the 'Sweet Retreat' (one of the 4 most popular Bardic hangouts of Igbar).
I have levels of PC action here. I mentioned Varkonovich Von Zap in one of the quotes: that is actually a 19 year old PC that is still played loosely by email, as is Palimar, Garcellenti Euridios and a few others.
[blockquote=ish][blockquote=lv]Though given to art and culture, the Omwo~ bear the knowledge thet theirs is a race in remission,[/blockquote]
That quote, though simple in form, has a very melancholy way of presenting itself. How did they come by this knowledge of their remission, and are they doing anything to change this, or are they going quietly into the night?
Also, much like the Hobyts/hobbits issue above, in the middle of your description of Onwo~, you go immediately into calling them elves, which I suppose could be confusing for someone not really paying much attention. Just another nitpicky thing.
What made you go with the 'tall' elves model over the 'short' elves?[/blockquote]
The Omwo~ were the First Servants of the original Celestial Planars. There were no other servants, no other creatures, the rest of the Planar 'births' had not even started yet. So the FirstBorn Omwo~ were creature very 'close to God', powerful, and long lived. Yet every generation after that first one was one step further from that orignal, 'created' form. And their lifespans deteriorated, and their power, their superior conduits to the void-borne sources, lessened.
Until today's omwo~, who are yet aware of their fall from their stories and legends, live a scant 200-400 years until old age, and have little more affinity for the House of Earth then other races. Some of the more pureblood races show slightly less of this, but they are just as aware of their fall. The generational deterioration seems to have stopped or slowed to where it is hard to see.
However, the Omwo~ remain a race that has deteriorated. They were the first. They knew the Powers, and served them. They built the first temples. And where they used to look down from white towers onto the mangy later races, they now look across and see more populous, vibrant races treating them as equals, sharing a world that was once their own. So while they might get along well with other races, they view their existence with some deep-seeded angst.
Yes, I do switch back and forth between what they call themselves and what they are called in Westic, but that is also to serve the reader as well. At least that was the thouth, but since you and a few others mention it, maybe I'll do that once and then stick with Omwo~.
I went with the taller version for the reasons described above: in that they were the first servants, made strong and straight by the Celestial Planars. They were noble beings, much like their masters, living a life where every daily actian had in it the purity of worship. So puny elves did not fit my setting.
[blockquote=ISH][blockquote=LV]Klaxik are fertile, crossbreeding easily with Gnomes, Orcs, Humans, and Hobyts, and a female Klaxik is almost never satisfied. Just don't call her fat, that is probably solid muscle, and the woman fight as well as the men. [/blockquote]
While the quote struck me as humorous, I wasn't really sure what the purpose of the 'almost never satisfied' statement was. I like that your races can crossbreed, and I respect that Klaxik are fertile, but what does that have to do with them being 'easy?' :-p
Can I make a presumably wise assumption that the fertile Klaxiks are very dense around the globe? Also, kudos on you giving them the urge to explore and the skills of the sailor. The original dwarves in Shadowfell (who eventually evolved into the Klingon-like Trakloks) were sailors and merchants first and foremost. Great minds think alike!
My only real complaint about the races I've read about is that there is very little to distinguish them from the standard/core D&D races. Your Orcash are very similar in style to D&D orcs, your Klaxiks are very much like typical dwarves (minus the sailing part), and your Onwo~ are pretty much the Elder Race elves of standard D&D. If that was your goal, then I understand. It's just not really my cup of tea.
More to come...[/blockquote]
My Dwarves are a sub-race of the Stunatu, the Working folk. The Stunatu were created by Madrak the Mighty and Nebler the Defender, since they felt the Omwo~ were poor servants from the mighty works they hade planned. The Klaxik, the Hobytalia, and the Gnomic races make up the sub-races of the Stunatu.
The Klaxik were the warriors of ther Stunatu in the days of the Age of Heroes, but those agressive tendencies makes them great explorers and seafarers. However, due to two great plagues (one caused by the Archlich Arbor, the second caused by his pupil, the Dreadwing), their populations where decimated twice to almost nothing. About a millenia before three out of every five Klaxik dies within a few years.
(In case I didn't mention it, the Gnomic race were originally the priests of the Stunatu, and the Hobytalia were the organizers, politicians, the tradesmen, the farmers, and everything else.)
I think I tried to create a racial setup for the more traditional fantasy races that was a slight change from the expected, but not too much different. I know it surprises most new playwers in Celtricia that the Hobyts and Orcash are the most populous races, and since 9/10th of the orcash aer still living in tribal bands, the Hobyts are the race that players see everywhere. There is not 'human kingdoms', and it is only to the far south where the men of House Kalil form even a large population bloc. Gnomes are not the great tinkers in Celtricia, they are given to belief and deep spirituality, getting a slight bonus in their Restorative and House of Life spell skills.
So many of the normal similarities are skin deep. And your post shows I have to bring them out more, and for that, I thank you.
The more I read this the more I want to play. If only last night hadn't flunked out. Ah oh well, only two weeks *whimper* to go till we get another shot at it.
Anyhow, keep up the beautiful work, this is one of the most complex and well done settings I have ever seen. Perhaps a little difficult for a newbie like me to pick up. But you pull off your role as a DM in that area flawlessly.
Quote from: NomadicThe more I read this the more I want to play. If only last night hadn't flunked out. Ah oh well, only two weeks *whimper* to go till we get another shot at it.
Anyhow, keep up the beautiful work, this is one of the most complex and well done settings I have ever seen. Perhaps a little difficult for a newbie like me to pick up. But you pull off your role as a DM in that area flawlessly.
Flattery works on the old and venal like myself.
I appreciate the comments muchly, as I had posted a bunch recently. In particular, a recent post with a smattereing of 5 or so updates. I am still wondering if we are going to get Higgs online for Mondays.
Sir Zygmunt Grayse and Doglife Snowson are the 2 other current PC's online, along with NPC's Tefinarian and Sir Draften Aster. They were questioning vigorously a wererat now in human form they had found below the Church of Minious Stottar.[note=Minious Stottar is the Hobyt name for Madrak the Mighty, the earthlord. [/note] They had found out quite a bit, and it turned out that the wererats ands such down there had sent the key to the second level with an ambassador to the Zyjmanese tribes in the eaves of the Astikon forest.
[spoiler=the Zyjmanese people]
http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Zyjman+and+his+Tribes
[/spoiler]
Thanks for the post on the pilums, it was highly informative. Can't wait to play a session.
I keep getting interrupted, I'll look through the rest of Igbar later. Here is my thoughts so far:
The Steel Libram:
At the "It should be noted..." this is no longer really History. It is more of the current design. Was it built like this originally? Has it changed at all since 488 RON? Is there anything special that keeps people from stealing or to protect the rare items?
The Unicorn State:
The Empire of Argus was busy at the time, but what happened when they were no longer busy? Why didn't the Empire of Argus come back to crush the newly formed Unicorn State?
Harou Culture in Igbar:
Do the Harou open their homes to weary travelers? Are they able to kick someone out of their home if they are taking advantage of the hospitality? What if a home turned away a traveler looking for settler and food?
Gender roles/family life in Igbar:
So society accepts children everywhere? That's pretty neat little tidbit that you've included. I don't know if most settings think about the children.
The Herb Lands:
When you say next to you mean bordering, right? For example, if I'm a sleep in the dessert and before I went to bed I could see the hills and mountains not too far away on my right, then when I wake up there could be jungle? Or do the people not move with the land?
[blockquote=Poseidon]The Herb Lands:
When you say next to you mean bordering, right? For example, if I'm a sleep in the dessert and before I went to bed I could see the hills and mountains not too far away on my right, then when I wake up there could be jungle? Or do the people not move with the land?[/blockquote]
You have it right. The enchantments that created the Herb lands were perverted greatly by the Entropics, and though people do move, they will never percieve it unless they can percieve very powerful entropic magic.
[blockquote=Poseidon]Harou Culture in Igbar:
Do the Harou open their homes to weary travelers? Are they able to kick someone out of their home if they are taking advantage of the hospitality? What if a home turned away a traveler looking for settler and food?[/blockquote]
The Harou do have legendary hospitality, and it would be taleworthy if a traveler went without at least an offer to sleep in a foyer and some food. However, this is also why the Harou have a set of double locked doors when they can, one inside the foyer.
[blockquote=Poseidon]The Unicorn State:
The Empire of Argus was busy at the time, but what happened when they were no longer busy? Why didn't the Empire of Argus come back to crush the newly formed Unicorn State?[/blockquote] You are thinking quite logically...they were busy to the south for quite a while, but Igbar is currently at War with Argus Argus' 'Blue/White' Alliance is facing of against the "Stenronian Alliance of the North', though members of the 'Verkonian Duty Pact' are also helping the 'Stenronian Alliance.' This war started in 889 and it is now 895, so it is grinding onward. Argus did make many gains early, and though it seems to be a stalemate now, Trabler is now a salient into the Argussian Territory, since the 'Blue/White' Alliance destroyed the Theocracy of Nebler. They are also calling it the Northern Argusian Marches, in preparation for taking over Trabler again.
[blockquote=Seagod]Gender roles/family life in Igbar:
So society accepts children everywhere? That's pretty neat little tidbit that you've included. I don't know if most settings think about the children.[/blockquote] Yeah, it stems out of the role of religion in Celtricia. Not only do folk stop in and out of churches daily, but the church network vie for the position of 'extended family' in Celtricia. And once the children are old enough to go into work at all, they go with their mother (and even their father, sometimes) into the workplace, sweeping, playing out back, watching other sibs, bringing cookies to a local temple for the priests and the oldsters gathered in the sitting rooms.
Thank you so much for looking at these snippets of the daily life in Igbar.
Mmm... Luxura Salon...
You know, when I first read The Sweet Retreat I was expecting an atmosphere consisting of multiple clubs smashing on people's heads, but I like what it is. Sounds like Celtricia's version of an inner city club where they play the blues and hard rock.
The Sweet Retreat was NOT supposed to turn into a big PC hangout, but as the man says,
"It's a PC world, I just work there"
The place has forced me to create the cultural nuances about bardic politics, in that different bardic inns have different political and factional bents. The Sweet Retreat is an Eye hangout, and the music/politics have a pro-merchant guild/anti-castellot/anti-vernidalian blockade/pro-legate view.
The creation of Terrible Billy, the Orcash 'Entertainment Director'/'Eye's Knife' has been one of the more enjoyable NPC creations in recent years. He's rotten, violent, lecherous, loyal, loves music and throwing fruit, and is horrible about keeping a low profile (which has almost cost him his life a few times and is why Varkonovich stuck him here). He's also a few levels up above Kiko (A PC member of the Karin Machination), so they connect a lot at the bar.
While Bard Pharren the Ruined of the Frigid Song and Cucino of the martial School of Song perform downstairs and while Squire Tusnus hobnobs with other 'Vexians' (uptowners), Kiko and george normally bring items of a more sensitive nature upstairs to Terible Billy and Padoluscious, his pet shrum hobyt caster/poisoner from the Green Flame. Somehow, few of these items make it onto the tax documents...
Cucino likes to go straight to the Sweet Retreat covered in blood and gore (normally it is mainly his own...in my low HP/high damage world, this guy takes damage like it is his life's work), show up like a rock star, and proceed to drum (poorly) while a few young singers from the Frigid Song do his and Pahrren's newest scathing character assassination on stage.
Good times.
I don't really have the time to get too deeply into Celtricia - unfortunately.
But I'd just like to say, the best way to bring a fictional city to life isn't detailed maps showing each guild shop and food stall. Memorable locations and people like the Sweet Retreat or Terrible Billy help to create a unique atmosphere and identity for a place. And they serve as mental signposts that help players navigate their fictional characters through the byways of a city that exists only in our collective heads.
That's the kind of stuff I like to read about, even though I don't have time to figure out what the Eye is, or who the Castellot are.
Not having read the discussion thread yet, I don't know if any of this has been pointed out yet, but:
Quote from: LordVreegThe center of the main room has a playing area, a stage maybe 10x10, surrounded on all sides by a bar. A huge chandelier (enchanted by the Steel Libram to increase the volume of whatever is right below it, in this case the stage) hangs from the center of the roof, throwing dancing lights all over the room. Fireplaces in all four corners are surrounded by tables all winter. So there is thick standing traffic, maybe a few people deep, around the bar during a hot performance, and all the ringed tables around the corners are filled as well. The floor is made of small white tiles, mixed with some green tiles in patterns.
(If one looks carefully, they make up a sigil of a broken harp).
Wheras Hostem's House has been hosting bards and bardic plays, which are back in vogue in the Igbone style, the sweet retreat has recently built up their stage in the center of the bar to accomodate such spectacle as well. So, the Sweet Retreat is now firmly in the running as one of the top bardic hangouts.
The center of the main room has a playing area, a stage maybe 10x10, surrounded on all sides by a bar. A huge chandelier (enchanted by the Steel Libram to increase the volume off whatever is right below it, in this case the stage) hangs from the center of the roof, throwing dancing lights all over the room. Fireplaces in all four corners are surrounded by tables all winter.
You might want to edit that ;)
Anyway, I'm having a hard time picturing this stage, although it strikes me as something that would be very interesting. First, the stage seems rather small. My bedroom is roughly 10x15, and I'm having a hard time seeing a five piece band in here. Granted, with the chandelier, there's no need to use amps, mixers, and other gear, but it still seems a little cramped for anything bigger then a trio. Other then that, my only issue is the way it's completely surrounded by a bar. Is the bar simply a short piece of decoration, helping separate the stage from the crowd, or is it an actual booze-serving bar, with the stage elevated enough to be seen over the bar?
Quote from: Sdragon1984Not having read the discussion thread yet, I don't know if any of this has been pointed out yet, but:
Quote from: LordVreegThe center of the main room has a playing area, a stage maybe 10x10, surrounded on all sides by a bar. A huge chandelier (enchanted by the Steel Libram to increase the volume of whatever is right below it, in this case the stage) hangs from the center of the roof, throwing dancing lights all over the room. Fireplaces in all four corners are surrounded by tables all winter. So there is thick standing traffic, maybe a few people deep, around the bar during a hot performance, and all the ringed tables around the corners are filled as well. The floor is made of small white tiles, mixed with some green tiles in patterns.
(If one looks carefully, they make up a sigil of a broken harp).
Wheras Hostem's House has been hosting bards and bardic plays, which are back in vogue in the Igbone style, the sweet retreat has recently built up their stage in the center of the bar to accomodate such spectacle as well. So, the Sweet Retreat is now firmly in the running as one of the top bardic hangouts.
The center of the main room has a playing area, a stage maybe 10x10, surrounded on all sides by a bar. A huge chandelier (enchanted by the Steel Libram to increase the volume off whatever is right below it, in this case the stage) hangs from the center of the roof, throwing dancing lights all over the room. Fireplaces in all four corners are surrounded by tables all winter.
You might want to edit that ;)
Anyway, I'm having a hard time picturing this stage, although it strikes me as something that would be very interesting. First, the stage seems rather small. My bedroom is roughly 10x15, and I'm having a hard time seeing a five piece band in here. Granted, with the chandelier, there's no need to use amps, mixers, and other gear, but it still seems a little cramped for anything bigger then a trio. Other then that, my only issue is the way it's completely surrounded by a bar. Is the bar simply a short piece of decoration, helping separate the stage from the crowd, or is it an actual booze-serving bar, with the stage elevated enough to be seen over the bar?
sd, ALWAYS GOOD POINTS.
That would have been a bad stage, even in new Hampshire.
;)
check the redone version, redone thanks to your good eyes.
Well, all these little tidbits about various people and places reminded me of this thread (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?23082.post). It never went much of anywhere, but I love seeing bits and pieces like that. If nothing else, they are often easier to rip off for my own world.
One question about the Church of the Hosting. How big is it in relative terms? Or maybe more to the point, how big are your cities, population-wise? Several hundred worshipers, even casual ones, is a fairly sizable church if your cities are just a couple thousand; but not so much if you are talking tens of thousands.
Quote from: snakefingWell, all these little tidbits about various people and places reminded me of this thread (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?23082.post). It never went much of anywhere, but I love seeing bits and pieces like that. If nothing else, they are often easier to rip off for my own world.
One question about the Church of the Hosting. How big is it in relative terms? Or maybe more to the point, how big are your cities, population-wise? Several hundred worshipers, even casual ones, is a fairly sizable church if your cities are just a couple thousand; but not so much if you are talking tens of thousands.
Yeah, I basically update little bits at a time here.
Igbar is a city of over thirty thousand right now, so the Church of the Hosting is very small. It is a small religion, and has just made the first steps towards the 'big-time'/
It is important to note that the polytheistic nature of Celtricia is that though most people have a patron church, different needs mean visiting different temples.
From an earlier post...
[blockquote=The place of religion in Igbar, expanded]
This is just the tip of the religious iceberg in Igbar. Religion permeates Celtrician life. A common greeting is "A Dou~his Ponder Hawaaka?", which tranlates to "Which god's house do you think today?". This phrase is the equivalent of asking how a person's life is going, or even how they are feeling. An average Igbarian probably visits a temple (Dou~his) every other day, or two out of three days.
Someone down on their luck might visit the Dou~his of lucky Ishma, someone depressed might visit Jubilex, the Patron of Irony, and farmers who are planig might visit the Church of the Geen Mother or the Church of the Earth. Stopping by a church or shrine is also a very social event, and carries connotations uniquely Celrician. Almost everyone is greeted by name, or in the case of travelers with the term "Kerma, Amigal!" (Debased Klaxik for 'Most Welcome, Friend'). Churches always have hot tea in the winters or chilled 'Kerri' (chilled, sweetened, and watered down Vneersberry wine) by the front door, and after respects are made to the icons, there are always sitting areas where elders gather and mothers and youngsters stop by.[/blockquote]
So even a small church can do well, if it is perceived as relevant in the daily life of the inhabitants. Lately, some of the other sects have actually invited the church of the Hosting to help sanctify their holy celebrations, which has been huge for them.
I don't know what I can say about all this. It is a complex and interesting world beyond many I have seen. I find though that it has been more useful to talk to you on this matter on AIM (when it isn't failing horribly).
Keep up the good work though.
I have only read over some of this setting so far, and it is the first time I took a look at it, and I have to say: this is amazing. Now, I am actually mad at myself for getting so far into my setting to not be able to include these amazing rules. Really, the changes to class through skills is great. I always wanted a way to do that somehow, to make skills the entire basis for the campaign but I never got enough time or found a good enough way. Even though i'm just a newbie on this site, I just want you to know I give you a 10 out of 10.
I'll admit, Celtricia is something I have been meaning to look at for quite some time now. I've just never done it because it sounds a bit overwhelming. Still, as a part of this community, I'll take a look and leave what comments I can.
LordVreeg, I have always liked your ideas about the system fitting the setting. I am taking this to heart with my newest setting, though it will be within the D&D 4E structure. I will just be throwing out all the classes and making my own and changing magic and whatnot.
Setting Overview
Looking at the setting overview, I like the level of detail that you include about the suns and the moons. It really gives a feeling of how big this setting really is and how seriously you take it. Details like this tend to be left out of settings, often intentionally. The idea of the red dawn in the morning is great. One question now, have you ever done anything with the other world in this system? Has it ever been or will it ever be home to another setting? Has it ever played any role in a campaign or story? Or is it simply there?
DivSet or Conset
I respect that you have created a divset here. I have always thought them to be superior to consets but much more difficult to really accomplish. If what I am seeing right now and what I have heard is true, you have done this.
Not A Medieval Setting
I like that you have kind of replaced technology with magic but not done simply that. It doesn't seem as though magic will just fill the roles of technology in our world and do little more. It seems, instead, that you have chosen to actually think out the difference and the impact that these differences would have on a world. I have not read far and have not seen the execution of this yet but your intent seems clear and it is a noble one.
Guilds and Factions
I really like the idea of many different organizations interacting and shaping the world. It seems more real than many fantasy settings have, where churches and nations are the main and sometimes only, focus.
The Decline of Racial Identity
I think ideas like this are not seen often enough in campaign settings. Sure, even in core D&D all the settings live side by side but they are always very different. They way you approach this seems to be more like how things work in the real world, more or less. It should make things less black and white and that is always good. I look forward to reading more about your races and how they coexist.
Stories of humans being a replacement to older races and other races being made to be workers are interesting. Somehow I think that more 'racism' would stem from that than from actual phyisical or culture differences between people of different races.
A World In Motion
In this part you seem to sum up clearly how this setting can still be good for gaming, even without a social or political focus. Your words paint a clear picture and do so simply and elegantly.
Ninja D, What a wonderful surpise! I will reciprocate as soon as possible. I don't require a long look, little blurbs rock.
The Sui and Na-Sui (Red Dawn and Red Dusk) are pieces of the game I try to actually play whenever I can remember. It's an atmospheric that players pick up on, and use. Nothing makes me happier when a player says they'll meet for dinner at the Na-Sui.
Haven't done the other planets, though many of the other Void-Borne realms have been used, especially the House of Earth, where 2 groups have adventured and one daughter of a PC was kidnapped. So yes, there are a lot of other settings within this.
The tech level thing was something that kind of happenned and i was forced to realize it. I'd love to say it was totaly planned, but that;s a lie, AS the setting grew and grew, I became aware that there was no serf class, and that common folk were all part of one or a number of guilds, even if it was the Turniper Farming Commune of Miston. There was a lot more knowledge and books and philospophy than any medievalesque world could have. So I drew out a number of histories and tried to track this, and I came to see that the growth of the knowledge of magic, from a very small part of the population to a much larger one, was allowing this level of existence, despite the low level of what we call technology. I mapped out three seperate 'rennaisances' in different areas, some dark ages, but this place where the PC's are today where
I just had a very strong desire to answer the 'why' of the growth of philosophy, and to explain the level of leisure and the existence of a large middle class. And it grew into this.
Guilds and factions are clearly the crux of system vs. setting. They are so much a part of the game and plotline that to remove them would destroy the setting. The Igabrian's cast of villains is growing, but their dance with Vigor Sheering, something they are just starting to lift their eyes up and be aware is happenning, is a story of connections. He's a high-ranking member of the Seropent cult, an ally of the Antroo Vampyre, a captain of the Cobranic Knights, a nephew to one of the 2 leaders of the Scarlet Pilums, a BoneDancer of the Collegium Arcana, and the secret head of the Terrors of the Knife..
Factions, indeed.
The Racial thing was at first a pure response to the 75 million settings where race is this huge separator that makes characters and whole nations act totally irrationally. Even Tolkien dealt with this better than most settings I look at.
I took a look at the integration dynamic in our own world and how long it took for certain integrations to take place taking into account the changes in tecnology and communication before placing all of this. It has taken 6-7 thousand years to get the races in a place today where these racial identity issues and integration are being confronted. And I carefully made sure that this matches up with the shrinking of the Celtrician world that has happend with communication tools like the Bardic Broadcasting Channell. So the racism is old and steeped in legend, but there has been millenia of ebb and flow.
I'm absorbing your setting in small bits and pieces, and I must say there are some things I really like, particularly the emphasis on a living, growing world - I get a real feel for the organic nature of Celtrica, especially in references to figures like Palimar - I've played in a few campaigns where the players actions, heroics, and sins really change the nature of the setting, and know that its sometimes difficult to pull off in a believable fashion. So, Kudos.
Igbar is obviously of particular interest - reminds me of Lankhmar in places, especially the Godstraat. One question: you say that the Terrors of the Knife (which seem like a very small, very discrete organization, quite furtive) are unknown to 95% of the populace, and I'm wondering if that's accurate. It would mean that 5 out of 100 or 1 in 20 people know of the Terrors of the Knife - that if I walked up to someone randomly in the street I'd have a 1 in 20 chance that they know of the group. If that's correct, no worries - just seemed a little high to me for such a clandestine sect.
On the subject of similarities between our otherwise quite radically different settings, I noticed Krrf, which really caught my eye (the parallel being to the Cadaverous Earth's nectar from Moroi's Elder Tree). Great name for a drug, really liked the different colours/varieties. The Corpse Candle is also quite delicious.
[blockquote=Steerpike]Igbar is obviously of particular interest - reminds me of Lankhmar in places, especially the Godstraat. One question: you say that the Terrors of the Knife (which seem like a very small, very discrete organization, quite furtive) are unknown to 95% of the populace, and I'm wondering if that's accurate. It would mean that 5 out of 100 or 1 in 20 people know of the Terrors of the Knife - that if I walked up to someone randomly in the street I'd have a 1 in 20 chance that they know of the group. If that's correct, no worries - just seemed a little high to me for such a clandestine sect.[/blockquote]
Ah, but there is a difference of knowing about a little known historical fact, and it's actual existence in a person's own city. I should clarify...
5 percent of the population know of the existence, currently or historically, of the assassin/Warrior-Zealot branch of of the Serpent Queen of Vernidale. For most of these people, it is an understanding that down in Argus, where the Church of the Serpent Queen has been the most popular version of the Vernidalian sects, there was often found a shadowy band that killed in her name.
The Terrors of the Knife had worked in secret in Igbar for a decade, and earlier incarnations have come and gone for almost two hundred years. But even those savants and worldy folk that know of the existence of this member of the 'shadowy denizens' grouping do not know that there is actually a representation of said group in their own boundaries.
Thank you so much for the words and the thought. I will make a special pilgrimage over to the Cadaverous earth thread soon.
The best way to flesh out the warrior factions in Celtricia would be to give lots of more practical material about them. Coats of arms, flags, shield designs, advancements to weaponry (if applicable), histories or tables of leadership or even entire current member trees.
Do you have any of those?
Quote from: JokerThe best way to flesh out the warrior factions in Celtricia would be to give lots of more practical material about them. Coats of arms, flags, shield designs, advancements to weaponry (if applicable), histories or tables of leadership or even entire current member trees.
Do you have any of those?
My, I will just say that we have set the bar high on this setting. The reason I went into explaining the warrior factions was some PC feedback that I transfered onto the site then the CBG. There are literally hundreds of guilds that need this work, actually.
and that is from the fluff side. Each guild needs to be fleshed out on the crunch side, as well.
here the entry for the Frigid Song Bardic Guild.
[ic=Frigid Song]
Guildschool Faction:
Area:Igbar
Name:The Frigid Song
Affiliation with Larger:Some northern versions, loose affiliation
Membership style: Full Skalds only, cannot join other baric
% of starting membership: 50% Attrib bonus: IN (12/1) CH (13/1.2)
Mission: To create the present in bardic terms that will become history
Size: 41
History: Formerly from the Grey March, came to Igbar from Hobyt Inn in 840 RON. Has been very politically active, and is in friendly competition with the other barci guilds. Much news and social commentary is done by bards, so that is taken very seriously. While one of the smaller bard guilds, they have great popularity.
Current leader: Hosta Hab Needleswine
Also see Raphael Tungstolen, Pharren Donestock, Traveller Underdark.
Current situation:Very Popular, friends with other bard guilds.The Frigid Song has been mixed with the Grey Legion and New legion, and as such, is more in the public eye than ever.
Advantageous Artisan Skills: Basic Actor .5/l1
-Imitate .5/l2
-Project Voice .27/l2
-Stagecraft .45/2
Basic Appraisal .25/l1
-Art Appraisal .35/l2
Basic Artist .4/l1
Basic Customs (Trabler) .3/l1
Basic Horseman .4/l1
Basic Teacher .45/l1
Basic Merchant .45/l1
-Haggling .34/l2
Public Speaking .55/l1
Guild Secrets .3/l1
Advantageous Combat skills:Hitpoints .1/l1
Basic Axe .15/l1
Basic Bow .2/l1
Basic Curved Sword .2/l1
-Initiative bonus .15/l2
-Multiple attack .2/l2
Basic Dagger .2/l1
-Multiple Attack .2/l2
-quickdraw .15/l3
Basic defense .27/l1
-Avoidance .25/l2
-Protection .16/l2
-Shield Use .25/l2
-Parry .15/l3
Basic Dress Swords .26/l1
-Initiative bonus .2/l2
-Multiple Attack .21/l2
-Quickdraw .16/l3
-stunning attack .2/l3
Basic Spears .16/l1
-Multiple attack .15/l2
Charge .16/l1
Advantageous Engineering/thieves skills:Basic Hand .25/l1
-Open Lock .4/l2
-Sleight of Hand .3/.2
Basic Trap .25/l1
-Find Trap .25/l2
-Removetrap .19/l2
Surprise .25/l1
-Backstab .25/l2
-Assassinate .16/l3
Basic Sneak .25/l1
-Mix with Crowd .35/l2
Advantageous other skills:Basic Song .5/l1
-Bard .28/l2
-write Music .44/l2
-Arcanic Bard .22/l3
-Battlebard .33/l3
-Nature's Bard .33/l3
-Vested Bard .24/l3
Basic Math .5/l1
Basic Read/Write .6/l1
-Basic Scholar .1/l2
-Historical Knowledge .35/l3
-literature .3/l3
-Legends/Lore .16/l4
Basic Leader .5/l1
Basic Social .55/l1
-Courtly Manners .4/l2
-Social Dynamic .22/l2
-Contact .44/l2
Advantageous Spell skills:House of Chaos .1/l1
House of Fire .1/.1
House of Order .1/l1
Mentalist .35/l1
Spirit .3/l1
[/ic]
I'm actually in the process of this with every single guild in the Igbarian area first, and then in different areas. Even multinations must be done over for each chapter in each location. Lots and lots of work, even just placing the skills that they are better than average at.
I find your interest in the heraldry refreshing, since I don't get that deep into the sigils and signs of the different groups too heavily, though in game there are certainly enough of these that the PCs recognize. Perhaps I'll need to get into this a bit further.
I'm intrigued by the Iron Way, the noble-bonded warrior group. Are they just hirelings, or are they quasi-religious, or is there some other motivation behind the group? They have an almost geisha quality to them...
Quote from: LordVreegQuote from: JokerThe best way to flesh out the warrior factions in Celtricia would be to give lots of more practical material about them. Coats of arms, flags, shield designs, advancements to weaponry (if applicable), histories or tables of leadership or even entire current member trees.
Do you have any of those?
My, I will just say that we have set the bar high on this setting. The reason I went into explaining the warrior factions was some PC feedback that I transfered onto the site then the CBG. There are literally hundreds of guilds that need this work, actually.
and that is from the fluff side. Each guild needs to be fleshed out on the crunch side, as well.
here the entry for the Frigid Song Bardic Guild.
[ic=Frigid Song]
Guildschool Faction:
Area:Igbar
Name:The Frigid Song
Affiliation with Larger:Some northern versions, loose affiliation
Membership style: Full Skalds only, cannot join other baric
% of starting membership: 50% Attrib bonus: IN (12/1) CH (13/1.2)
Mission: To create the present in bardic terms that will become history
Size: 41
History: Formerly from the Grey March, came to Igbar from Hobyt Inn in 840 RON. Has been very politically active, and is in friendly competition with the other barci guilds. Much news and social commentary is done by bards, so that is taken very seriously. While one of the smaller bard guilds, they have great popularity.
Current leader: Hosta Hab Needleswine
Also see Raphael Tungstolen, Pharren Donestock, Traveller Underdark.
Current situation:Very Popular, friends with other bard guilds.The Frigid Song has been mixed with the Grey Legion and New legion, and as such, is more in the public eye than ever.
Advantageous Artisan Skills:
Basic Actor .5/l1
-Imitate .5/l2
-Project Voice .27/l2
-Stagecraft .45/2
Basic Appraisal .25/l1
-Art Appraisal .35/l2
Basic Artist .4/l1
Basic Customs (Trabler) .3/l1
Basic Horseman .4/l1
Basic Teacher .45/l1
Basic Merchant .45/l1
-Haggling .34/l2
Public Speaking .55/l1
Guild Secrets .3/l1
Advantageous Combat skills:
Hitpoints .1/l1
Basic Axe .15/l1
Basic Bow .2/l1
Basic Curved Sword .2/l1
-Initiative bonus .15/l2
-Multiple attack .2/l2
Basic Dagger .2/l1
-Multiple Attack .2/l2
-quickdraw .15/l3
Basic defense .27/l1
-Avoidance .25/l2
-Protection .16/l2
-Shield Use .25/l2
-Parry .15/l3
Basic Dress Swords .26/l1
-Initiative bonus .2/l2
-Multiple Attack .21/l2
-Quickdraw .16/l3
-stunning attack .2/l3
Basic Spears .16/l1
-Multiple attack .15/l2
Charge .16/l1
Advantageous Engineering/thieves skills:
Basic Hand .25/l1
-Open Lock .4/l2
-Sleight of Hand .3/.2
Basic Trap .25/l1
-Find Trap .25/l2
-Removetrap .19/l2
Surprise .25/l1
-Backstab .25/l2
-Assassinate .16/l3
Basic Sneak .25/l1
-Mix with Crowd .35/l2
Advantageous other skills:
Basic Song .5/l1
-Bard .28/l2
-write Music .44/l2
-Arcanic Bard .22/l3
-Battlebard .33/l3
-Nature's Bard .33/l3
-Vested Bard .24/l3
Basic Math .5/l1
Basic Read/Write .6/l1
-Basic Scholar .1/l2
-Historical Knowledge .35/l3
-literature .3/l3
-Legends/Lore .16/l4
Basic Leader .5/l1
Basic Social .55/l1
-Courtly Manners .4/l2
-Social Dynamic .22/l2
-Contact .44/l2
Advantageous Spell skills:
House of Chaos .1/l1
House of Fire .1/.1
House of Order .1/l1
Mentalist .35/l1
Spirit .3/l1
[/ic]
I'm actually in the process of this with every single guild in the Igbarian area first, and then in different areas. Even multinations must be done over for each chapter in each location. Lots and lots of work, even just placing the skills that they are better than average at.
I find your interest in the heraldry refreshing, since I don't get that deep into the sigils and signs of the different groups too heavily, though in game there are certainly enough of these that the PCs recognize. Perhaps I'll need to get into this a bit further.
Yeah, I've started looking into it and working on things of the sort for my setting and it really adds a lot of depth, especially once you get into the individual standards for each noble house and change their appearance based on rank, with each member of the family having their own special shield.
Quote from: SteerpikeI'm intrigued by the Iron Way, the noble-bonded warrior group. Are they just hirelings, or are they quasi-religious, or is there some other motivation behind the group? They have an almost geisha quality to them...
Interesting notation. You are detecting the Harou (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Harou?SearchFor=harou&sp=1) influence, the eastern culture which has a very zen feel. They are an interesting guild.
[ic=Corobar's Iron Way]
Guildschool Faction:
Area:Igbar
Name:Corobar's Iron Way
Affiliation with Larger: The main Chapter House is in Gastax, to the South and east of Argus. All Chapter Houses are bonded to the Main House, and while they do not have a direct conduit save messenger, they are friendly enough with the Lawfule Triumverate to use their Bardic Broadcasting Channel if need be for contact.
Membership style:Full Members only unless released by chapter Master. Some few high-ranking members are allowed to split memberships later on if it is the interest of the Way. It must also be understood that this Guild's purpose is to bond theior full members to noble houses in service, so every graduate is expected to have a split membership with a noble family and the Way of Service.
All members are taken in as apprentices, work under an established member as a journeyman, become a Bonded Warder after that, and after 10 years of service move up to Bonded Master. A bonded master and a Chapter Master are acually equal, but in different capacities. There are aslo three awarded positions, and a few operational positions within the guild.
% of starting membership: 22% Attrib bonus:HE (12/1) CH (13/2) soc (20/1)
Mission: To create educated, uniquely skilled warriors to grow with a house of nobility, to bring honor to the Way.
Size: 21 in Igbar, including Chapter Master, 4 apprentices, and 5 journeymen (11 are actually serving nobility in Igbar)
History: Corobar Sten Greanetsie was born in 785 RON, in Redde. A Orkash/Klaxik halfbreed, he was shunned by the klaxik families of Redde, and baerly survived getting to adulthood on the plateau towns of that area. He was fored to the grubbiest mining jobs and grew to an uncomplaining, hard-working soul, but one that expected no good of anyone. His life made a turn when the mining guild he worked for sold his contract to another Guild, run by a cabal of House Wastri humans. This group and their heavily socialized (Harou) ways confounded him, but he was even more suprised at the equality of treatment and respect they gave weveryone. He responded well to this, and after a decade of hard work had moved himself up from Miner to shift leader to Supervisor to positions in the Guild and then major Domo of the guild.
He left and began, with Chruchan Vor Krupta, Klaxik knight of the Straight Way (Belial), the first chapter house dedicated to Way of Service. This is a codified set of teachings that glorifies growth through service, to an absolute loyalty to a noble house and to growing that house and thereby growing the servant.
Chruchan and Corobar started the first chapter house in 841 RON, and by 844 there were members serving in noble Houses.
The tenet of the Guild is a humble, harou-oriented service mentality, to grow by growing something bigger than yourself. The oath of loyalty to a noble house is absolute, and Corobar's disciples are a mixture of bodyguard, courtier, steward, and advisor. They are decent combatents, but very strong tactitions. There is also a large libary in every Chapter House, and prices on skill kits are generally 25% less than normal, due to the understanding of changing skill sets. The most noble aspiration is to raise up a noble house through service.
Current leader: Chapter Master Treneti Worcester, Wastrian Human male. 50 years old, newly joined to the Church of the Hosting
Current situation: The Istari families of Igbar and their power in this burgeoning city make Treneti's job easy, there are more old families looking for housecarls, major domos, and stewards than there are avaialble members of this guild. The oath involved in the Way of Service has never been broken near Igbar, so it is nearly taken for granted.
The Unicorn side of the Sheerings have 2 Bonded Warders, and the Vissippee, Winfire, and Sceding Tree Merchant Houses each have one. Tarquin Malignous (Grey March human male) works as the head of Vigor Sheering's House.[/ic]
You might also like--
[ic=The Blue Turtle Knights]
Guildschool Faction:
Area:Igbar
Name:Blue Turtle Honorables
Affiliation with Larger: The Blue Turtles have branches in Most major cities in the Cradle area of the North east. The Current Headqaurters is in Hagenos, in Orbi.
Membership style: Traditional Knighthood, full membership and allies.
% of starting membership: 20% Attrib bonus: ST (13/2) HE (10/1) soc (20/1)
Mission: The Blue Turtles were founded to combat warrior brotherhoods that place the nobility above the defence of the weak.
Size: 49
History: The Blue Turtles are the name of an order of knighthood founded to combat the Daemonically sponsored Order of the Red Circle. The originated in the Omwo~ kingdome of the Silverwood, almost 400 years before. They have never gone inactive, but during the War between the Blue/white confederation and the Stenronian Alliance recently, the Blue Turtle Shell has been barely able to keep up with the applications.
They have a strong belief in very heavy armor, and a tremendous practicality. They are allied strongly with the Order of Stenron right now in Igbar.
Hatchlings, lower level brothers, are never sent out on their own, but always in pairs. Shell swords, shellwatchers, and shell wardens are ranks that the Blue Turtles Aspire to. The Horn Minister of local Ocodig, the town to the North of Igbar, is also a Grand Tortoise.
The Bright blue circular, stylized shell is their sigil. They often wear blue washed chain mail or chain armor, as well.
Current leader: Great Tortoise Charn Vor Bekin
Current situation: Very well thought of, a great, well-known knighthood. In Igbar, they were closely allied to Corobar's Iron Way and Garcellenti Euridios' Order of the White Paladin.[/ic]
Whoa, this setting is amazing. I have taken small peeks at it before, but now that i'm really delving into it its really amazing me. The first paragraph, with someone who used to be a farmer fighting some slimy abberation, just pulled me in. This quotes out of the setting really give life to it, and you skill and classless system seems great...I was wondering something, though. Do you have players who actively play in this setting? If so, how does the game flow with this "Guildschool" system.
Quote from: DrizztrocksWhoa, this setting is amazing. I have taken small peeks at it before, but now that i'm really delving into it its really amazing me. The first paragraph, with someone who used to be a farmer fighting some slimy abberation, just pulled me in. This quotes out of the setting really give life to it, and you skill and classless system seems great...I was wondering something, though. Do you have players who actively play in this setting? If so, how does the game flow with this "Guildschool" system.
Thank you, yes.
This setting has been played consistently for over 25 years.
There are currently 2 main playing groups one online group, and 2 occasioonal groups all playing right now.
The Igbarians are the main group, some 7 players who play every third week, due tom play Sunday 11/5 next.
The Mistonians play once a month. This is the oldest main group, playing about 13 years now.
The main online group plays everyother monday night.
The Tanians and the 'Oldies' get playeyed more occasionally.
Drono, the character in that intro, is actually a character that started as a commoner from the Turnipers Farming Commune in Miston.
Alright, now I am moving onto the section you seem to have titled Worship but seems to cover more aspects of the religion and divinity of your setting. I'm curious about one thing, first of all; Is this "Song of Creation" basically the same thing for all churches? Is it something that was taught to all people by the gods (who are for sure real in this setting) and different churches just view it differently?
Quote from: Ninja D!Alright, now I am moving onto the section you seem to have titled Worship but seems to cover more aspects of the religion and divinity of your setting. I'm curious about one thing, first of all; Is this "Song of Creation" basically the same thing for all churches? Is it something that was taught to all people by the gods (who are for sure real in this setting) and different churches just view it differently?
Hmm...this may be a little more advanced... (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Celtrician+Worship) Especially when it comes to the original cosmology...
The Song of Creation (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Song%20Of%20Creation) is the unvarnished truth. Only a few alive in the current world of Celtricia have any idea of it, and only a handful have heard it's music. It is knowledge that was taught and explained at any level only to the most loyal of Omwo~ and Sauroid when the Planars dwelt in their orignal Dou'is, before the Accords of Presence.
Almost all the churches have religeous texts written for that particular faith, written by prophets like Saint Lewis of Hagenos and Saint Jon of Triston. The Book of Travels (Oblimet), the Chaff of Life (Amrist), The Way of Solidity (Madrak), The Straight Way (Belial), these are all examples of specific text found in the churches of Celtricia. These are what is taught, but never forget, people are aware of their incomplete understanding of thier patrons, and that thereis almost no direct contact anymore with them.
Alright, for the mechanical side of things.
The whole skill based system looks fantastic. Very well thought out (I would imagine after such a long time using them). Now just a few comments on things I noticed.
At first I though the idea of dividing dice was bad, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense, since the effectiveness of a hit varies greatly. So it eventually won me over, after my initial reaction of dislike from something being so different.
Now the whole system is very calculation intensive, having long equations with multiple variables, but I guess this just gets better with practice and familiarity. Also, I'm guessing that the common use of decimals and fractions is to keep numbers small, easier to handle. When you roll a d100, do you just use two separate d10 designating one as the tens and the second as 0-9?
However one thing did seem off to me, the whole Avoidance/Protection thing. Everywhere in the system (from what I've seen) higher is better, yet high avoidance is bad, as it decreases your chance of being hit. Just seems somewhat out of place, similar to AD&D THAC0 compared to everything else (ex 3.0 and above and most elements in AD&D) where higher is better.
Now as skill based as the system is and there's no debating that, I found that it had a "class" like element in the guild school exp modifier.
[blockquote=LLum]
At first I though the idea of dividing dice was bad, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense, since the effectiveness of a hit varies greatly. So it eventually won me over, after my initial reaction of dislike from something being so different.[/blockquote] I spent a long time on that. Once you add on protection, the amount of damage kind of has to increase, or at least the potential for damage. If you have a mathamatical side, look at the different probability curves a dividing die creates, as opposed to a normal bell curve. This way I was able to make a the maximum damage for a dagger 16, and the maximum damage for a battle axe 35, but with the dagger having a d10 divider, and gteh battle axe a d6 divider or a d5, the average damage and most standard dev damages are dramatically different.
[blockquote=llum]Now the whole system is very calculation intensive, having long equations with multiple variables, but I guess this just gets better with practice and familiarity. Also, I'm guessing that the common use of decimals and fractions is to keep numbers small, easier to handle. When you roll a d100, do you just use two separate d10 designating one as the tens and the second as 0-9?[/blockquote] for the roller before the dividing die on protection, yes. That is the only time.
[blockquote=Llum]However one thing did seem off to me, the whole Avoidance/Protection thing. Everywhere in the system (from what I've seen) higher is better, yet high avoidance is bad, as it decreases your chance of being hit. Just seems somewhat out of place, similar to AD&D THAC0 compared to everything else (ex 3.0 and above and most elements in AD&D) where higher is better.[/blockquote] It is actually part of the equations you mention. Hitting something, you simply take your chance to hit ands add it to the avoidance of the xcreature you are attacking. So an Orcash with a 15% mad with his axe attacking a guy with a 40% Avoidance has a 55% chance to hit. We run a system specificallt designed to be formual based and not chart based.
[blockquote=He is MAD! I tell you]Now as skill based as the system is and there's no debating that, I found that it had a "class" like element in the guild school exp modifier.[/blockquote] Yes, and absolutely. Almsot every guild and school turns out to be a 'mini-class' all its own. There are guilds that build better fighters and better bards, or slightly differnt variations of both, etc. You have now figured out why PC's that stick around for a while start learning the best skills from guilds they get chummy with...
Thank you for the time, I hope it was worth it in discovering the peculiarities of the GuildSchool system.
More wine, please.
Yes, I see your reasoning for the divider die, while the potential for max damage is there for every weapon, broader average damage ranges help keep it from being overwhelming. Or overwhelming too often :p
Now that you point out how easy it is, the Avoidance makes a lot more sense, must help with ease of play.
As for the PC's sticking around in a certain guild for so long, with the very steep curve of leveling skills, wouldn't it benefit them to change schools and keep nearly all skills at a reasonable level, compared to having a select few that are higher? Also, after looking at the spell list, this seems like it would be even more beneficial to magical PC's, since a lot of spells have multiple SP power costs.
Now since you have to use a skill to gain exp for it, that could cause some problems, but even changing between "fighter" guild schools would help, having multiple combat oriented skills?
Also, how do you calculate how much exp is gained each time a skill is used? From what I've seen it's just a specific base number multiplied by X depending on what happened. Then multiplied by the guild school fraction, then drop down exp.
I am almost afraid to ask but... are there any guilds that specialize in basic carnal (other than the obvious ones like prostitution rings of course).
[blockquote=lLUM]As for the PC's sticking around in a certain guild for so long, with the very steep curve of leveling skills, wouldn't it benefit them to change schools and keep nearly all skills at a reasonable level, compared to having a select few that are higher? Also, after looking at the spell list, this seems like it would be even more beneficial to magical PC's, since a lot of spells have multiple SP power costs.[/blockquote]Congratulations. You have now gone through a more thorough analysis than 1/2 my players.
It is not really changing schools, however. This mechanic is in place supporting fluff. Guilds, schools, churches, etc, only teach members, and gaining even partial memberships is difficult. Beginning characters are assumed to be a full member in one faction, with maybe a partial membership in another. So when a PC decides they want to pick up a skill their guilds are mediocre (or worse) at, they normally look through their list of friends and try to arrange some kind of good-will campaign to gain partial access, but it can still be difficult.
But your analysis is completely correct, crunch-wise. It is normally when a primary skill hits level 6-7 or a secondary one hits level 4-5 that you want to start focussing on sub skills and complementary skills.
[blockquote=Llum]Now since you have to use a skill to gain exp for it, that could cause some problems, but even changing between "fighter" guild schools would help, having multiple combat oriented skills? [/blockquote]
Actually, there is an already in-place mechanic for this. Skill kits (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/General+Costing+of+Skill+Kits)represent books, practice items, learning mechanisms, etc. They are the mechanism for allowing how to learn a skill, or to improve a skill that is very low power.
[blockquote=Llum]Also, how do you calculate how much exp is gained each time a skill is used? From what I've seen it's just a specific base number multiplied by X depending on what happened. Then multiplied by the guild school fraction, then drop down exp.[/blockquote] It depends on what type of skill. For most skills, there is a simple formlula for how much is gained, but the basics are
* you get 3 exp for screwing up, learning for your mistakes.
* a basic 15exp + 1 exp per 2pnts rolled under the success%, maximum of 30.
* a bonus of any subtractor SQUARED. This is vital. Succeeding with a -5% penanlty gains a +25EXP. Success with a -10% gets a +100EXP. etc.
Also, there are experience amounts for succesful combat skills and succesfuls use of spells, not to mention 10 EXP per HP of damage taken in combat in HP exp... still getting a laugh after 25 years, when someone gets blasted, and someone else says, "Wow, that's 150 exp in HP, you're awfully lucky...".
The rest is right, but the dropdown fraction is wrong. The dropdown fraction is how much a skill ability is dropped down into the subskills.
On the mechanics side of things I had a quick question, char gen seems to be entirely random. Is there a particular reason for this? Personally I could see it being annoying, ending up with a char you don't want to play, but on the opposite side of the coin its exciting not knowing which kind of char you'll get and to try and make the best of it.
For the fluff side, what's the difference between a Demon Lord, and Demon Prince and an Arch-Demon, is it just their level of power, with it being Arch-Demon-->Demon Prince--->Demon Lord?
Another question I have is how developed is the metalurgy in Celtricia, since Electrum is an alloy of Gold and Silver, if it's sufficiently advanced would it be possible for a criminal to mint Gold and Silver coins from base Electrum coins? Nefarious Artificer schools would be probable people to do this, maybe with a connection to Mammon or Hewecar (because of Greed and Transformation)?
Quote from: LlumOn the mechanics side of things I had a quick question, char gen seems to be entirely random. Is there a particular reason for this? Personally I could see it being annoying, ending up with a char you don't want to play, but on the opposite side of the coin its exciting not knowing which kind of char you'll get and to try and make the best of it.
For the fluff side, what's the difference between a Demon Lord, and Demon Prince and an Arch-Demon, is it just their level of power, with it being Arch-Demon-->Demon Prince--->Demon Lord?
Another question I have is how developed is the metalurgy in Celtricia, since Electrum is an alloy of Gold and Silver, if it's sufficiently advanced would it be possible for a criminal to mint Gold and Silver coins from base Electrum coins? Nefarious Artificer schools would be probable people to do this, maybe with a connection to Mammon or Hewecar (because of Greed and Transformation)?
Llum, you ask some good questions. And some that are actually very timely.
The ranks of the Entropic Outsiders, you've nailed perfectly. The addendum info is that the ranking given is actually not their own, it was created by the old (pretty much defunct) Venolvian Entropic Overlord Faith, in the days of their island Empire, after their Amerer worship was eclipsed.
The Meturlgy question is an intersting one. We are adding bronze weaponry and armor soon to the lists, as a price alternative to Steel would exist.
And yes, alchemists can break down electrum from most mintings, though it is very expensive to do it until an alchemist has a very high alchemy level.
The affiliations to Hewecar are right on, as a major part of the Entropic Overlords, and as the Entropic Lord of Blood and Transformations. Mammon a little less, he's more of the Devilkin version of Ogleic, the Tradelord.
The character creation question is a little different. I will actually allow a Player that ability to be more specific in their creation if they want, but no one ever does. They like the randomness and consider that part of the game. It may be a different mindset, but the way it works is pretty much everything leading up to choosing a guild is rolled for, as in 'This is what you were born with', and then players start making decisions.
Having created a player with his system I will say that it was refreshing to let the DM worry about character creation for me. Sometimes its just nice to let the dice decide and it is very useful when you are unused to the game being played.
Quote from: LordVreegThe Meturlgy question is an intersting one. We are adding bronze weaponry and armor soon to the lists, as a price alternative to Steel would exist.
And yes, alchemists can break down electrum from most mintings, though it is very expensive to do it until an alchemist has a very high alchemy level.
The affiliations to Hewecar are right on, as a major part of the Entropic Overlords, and as the Entropic Lord of Blood and Transformations. Mammon a little less, he's more of the Devilkin version of Ogleic, the Tradelord.
I guess a simple way to protect against this would have the gold content in the electrum coins be less then 50%, easily possible by smelting them with a bit more silver, having the added bonus of getting more bang for their buck so to speak from silver.
Now I was taking a look a your wiki and from a brief glance at the weapons it looked like the Whizzle was a particularly strong weapon, low strength and coordination requirements and decent modifiers, as well as a low speed. Is the weapon fairly rare? Hard to find someone able to teach how to use it kinda thing?
Also, just for clarification, the Dreadwing was the sauroid apprentice to Arbor (who is The Brother) and became an undead, a kinda dracolich?
Llum,
One of the problems with public Wikis where the players contribute is a natural tendency towards some obfuscation. Couple this with a tendency towards overlarge, connected storylines, and then I am properly on my way to explaining the large storyline that could be called the Progression of Great Enemies. This is also a longwinded way of admitting that I must not have made things very clear, as well as a very abridged history, believe it or not.
The 'Age of Legends' ended because the competition between the planars was more than the 'Waking Dream' could bear, leading to the "Accords of Presence". Anthraxus of the Cycle's rebellion and his First Necromantic Night (which lasted five years) was imprisoned. Following end of the 'Age of Legends'...
"The second epoch is called The Age of Heroes, and it refers to the time during which the Celestial Planars continued their conflict for worship, but in a proxy war. By the Omwo~ it is also called the Human Age, as the first Humans appeared right after the Planars left. The Sauroids first started to change color, and build their Dragon Empire during this time. It was also during this age that the birth and the growth of the first city-states such as Ambrettus, Winter, Grenwit Hollow, Vicoria, and Seou, to name a few, occurred. But the Age of Heroes is remembered mainly for the great fratricidal conflict of the Avatar of Amerer, Numansongs the Bard and the Arch-lich Asol Arbor, Champion of Anthraxus of the Cycle. This age lasted until approximately -1500 RON."
Before I go on, it needs to be said, for purposes of greater understanding, that this was a proxy-conflict, a continuation of the 'balance versus the cycle' that had gone on during the 'Age of Legends'. Even the Sauroid empire of the far north was torn apart by this conflict. Pino Palladino was a human servant of the Omwo~ Numansongs, a bard of surpassing power himself...but as a human who watched the tortured Numansongs barely age, he was seduced by Asol Arbor, Numansong's sibling and enemy. Palladino betrayed his friend, and gave up the secret Fastness of Numansongs, the Park. In the battle for that underground fortress, almost all of Numansongs friends and allies were destroyed, though he escaped. Amidst the wreckage, Asol Arbor, the Champion of Anthraxus found the shattered body of Palladino and used secret magics to make him a Vampyre vassal to the Arch-lich.
The fate of the Bard-lord Numansongs is shrouded in mystery, a miracle that so much has been written and sung about so speculated an event. But for those who have found out, he was saved by with of his last surviving friends, the original [note=Brother] There are 3 major siblings in this story arc, Arbor and Numansongs, Lathe and Honor, and Bahamut and Callagistro (Sauroids)[/note]Leader of the Mysteriarchs, Lathe.
Lathe of Tegel is anotehr tortured figure overshadowed by the Numansongs tragedy, whose brother had become a servant of Arbor and whose sister had been turned into a living shade. When 'The Brother' is referenced, it normally is speaking of Honor of Tegel, who escaped from Lathe's durance and betrayed where Numansongs was hiding. Arbor at long last banished Numansongs to the Void, killing the indomitable Lathe in the process.
Arbor began work on the Cairn Night at that point, using the power of Y'gorl's Curse to magnify the power of the Well of Death on the 'Waking Dream' itself, multiplying the power of Necromancy. Even the beginning stages caused terrible havok.
But before he could finish, an already-ancient omwo~ sage, full of regret and remorse for abandoning Numansongs to his fate, confronted the Arch-Lich. Verkonenn Vreeg, apostate and founder, refugee of the White city, threw down Arbor in a duel arcane that pulled music directly from 'The Song' itself. And regretted his late-coming to his senses, once again.
Sixteen hundred-odd years later, in the far North, centered in an old Ambretton mine, The creature known as the Dreadwing (EsioXo~h, White Omwo~) [note] To the Venolvians, later, the Dreadwing was also called 'Hagge-Dekkor', the Wing of Death, often translated as Deathwing in some old Winter-texts[/note] began to extend a powerful undead influence in the north. A Vampyre of supassing age and Power, he created more and more servants. This was, in actuality, the now-ancient and powerful Pino Palladino, servant of the fallen Arch Lich Arbor, and once-removed champion of Anthraxus, Lord of the Cycle. He began to work in the same way as is awful master, and had spent centuries learning those baneful effects. He re-activated parts of Y'gorl's curse
At that time in the north, the Igboniat city states were just growing, and were rubbing shoulders with the State of Winter in the north. Within fifty years, rumors of the presence of undead hordes came to Winterloo, capital of the State of Winter, and within a few centuries, Igboniat and Winter halted their conflict to defend themselves against the ogrillites and undead that the Dreadwing controlled in the far north. The conflict was brutal and direct, with great names and powerful allies suffering defeat on both sides. Over a century of cooperation was needed to finally pin the Dreadwing and his captains to their barrow-prisons, caged with a network of keys, locks, and fetishes of Law. The Igboniats were totally destroyed as well in that struggle, leaving the State of Winter and Winterloo the only power in that northern corner of Celtricia. [note=Vampyres] Why not kill or destroy Vampyres and Liches? Because powerful ones have too much power in the House of Death, and their souls do not go to the Well of Death. Their spirits will always return and inhabit a new body. It takes very specific magic from the House of Life to actually destroy these creatures, and only a magic as powerful as the creature they are attempting to destroy have any real chance of working.[/note]
And yet the story does not end there, just before the year 0 in the Reckonning of Nebler. Happy endings are rare in Celtricia, and when the Island Empire of the Venolvians spread to the north-western coast of the cradle area of Celtricia, it was only three centuries after the Igboniats fell creating the barrow-prison of the Dreadwing when Kexiol Texuman, Venolvian Priest of Jubilex, begins exploring the northern barrows, and is caught by Will "Black' Curry, Vampyric servant of the Dreadwing, and is invaded by the power of that awful force. Kexiol recruited many Venolvians to his cause, some created into undead, many he did not, and there was a re-awakening once again of Y'gorl's curse staining the north. Sages of the Grey March (formerly know as the State of Winter) discovered the presence of baneful necromantic magic, calling it the Anginarian Necromancy, after the powerful Anginarian clan of the Venolvian entropic priests where they thought the undead were coming from. The Venolvians discovered the awakenning power of the Dreadwing after Kexiol and his minions had started to remove the powerful totems of Order that were holding the barrow-prison together, and after a five year struggle they resealed the prison. But using their entropic talents to plug holes in a prison of order would prove fatal arogance.
Kexiol was still loose, and he was the only Vampyre who was powerful enough to fainlty hear the whispered commands of the Dreadwing in his bondage, and he was sent south, to the Orbian Exiles of the Underdark, in the Wibble Hills. However, after confounding the Orbian exiles for a decade, his actual strength and nature was discovered, and he was imprisonned himself.
There are, of course, dozens of major historical movements going around while any of these events are happenning, and one of them is the Arcanic table of Orbi hiring the Venolvian Whiskanis League to find and destroy the Orbic exiles, and much as the Dreadwing and the Barrow prison passed into the mists of legends, so too, the Orbian exiles dissapeared from all but the most hidden of histories.
The Venolvians, in turn, were scourged from the North By Jon of Triston and the Grey March chased them off the continent and spent two decades destroying them in the War of the Shield, ending in 498 R.O.N.
History does not slow down for an instant, and the next four centuries are eventful, yet the particular storyline we have been following pauses again, until in 890, when the entropic plugs of the Dreadwing's prison, whcih have always been at odds with the 'Prison of Law' that was originally built, start to fail. Though not by any menas free, the Dreadwing starts to reach out his power to any undead in the area of his prison.
And in the beginning of 895, the Grey Legion inadvertantly released Kexiol Texuman Antroo form the hidden Temple of Mammon hidden within the ruins of the Underdark being used by the Firehazer tribe of the Wibble Hills.
So now, the Mistonian PC's grapple with the resurgent necromantic power in the north, having pillages some of the barrows and weakenned that prison further (yes, they did, though they figured that out later), while the Igbarians to the south are dealing with his servant...
Neither of these groups have yet to understand a 10th of the data given here.
Alright thanks LordVreeg that clears some things up, I think the main thing that confused me is the frequent mentions of Numasongs and Arbor his brother, then mentioning The Brother. I had not however found any mention of Lathe and Honor (I'll admit I only read the start and end of the timeline).
That also sheds some light on why most of the strongest spell casters are undead, if they're almost impossible to be killed, unless by a living agent who's stronger then them.
As to the whole thinking Deadwing was a sauroid, well I dunno it made sense to me at the time. The whole history reminds me somewhat of The Dominator from Glen Cooks The Black Company, mainly the super powerful evil imprisoned in a barrow.
Thanks again LordVreeg.
I'm picking up lots of (rather sinister) allusions to Winter and the State of Winter (which is part of the Grey March?). This was a sort of progenitor civilzation brought down by the Ogrillites/Venolvians, right? With Igbar (then "Winterloo") as the capitol? So was this a predominantly human empire, or were there other forces at work? Was the state actualyl connected to winter the season (like an eternal Narnian winter or something)?
The "Recent News" bit is insane in terms of detail (that's a good thing)... Igbar feels very, very real. A bit bewildering with the innumerable references, but that's part of the charm of it - great verismilitude. Knowing your impulse to connect everything, I keep trying to form connections between the various events (for example: the bloodbaths at the various guidlhalls - connectde to the bloody murders in the Steel Libram? Or to the undead infestation to be quelled by the Bone Knights, or the golems rumored to be being constructed?).
Incidentally I love this line:
[blockquote=Pure Entropic Awesomeness]Patriarch Timlin Hurler of the Church of Ironic Entropy (Jubilex) skips rope (with a rope of silver links, no less) down the entire Godstraat at the Sui.[/blockquote]
What does the Church of Ironic Entropy look like? I think I'd end up as a worshipper of Jubilex if I played in Celtrica...
[blockquote=Llum the Machine Maker]That also sheds some light on why most of the strongest spell casters are undead, if they're almost impossible to be killed, unless by a living agent who's stronger then them.[/blockquote]
Yes. Since at some level, experience=power, Ancient Vampyres, Lichs, and those Possessed by an ancient spirit have a necromantic bond to the Well of Death that is almost impossible to sever, though they can be temporarily defeated.
There is one person old enough to challenge them, but he has kept out of the spotlight for centuries..and he's nuts.
[blockquote=Llum]The whole history reminds me somewhat of The Dominator from Glen Cooks The Black Company, mainly the super powerful evil imprisoned in a barrow.[/blockquote] Yeah, You have me on that one. I added a lot on, with the Original lawful bondage and the chaos-magic band-aid, but you have nailed my ovum for that particular bit of the Dreadwing Arc. Of course, his origin and his position in the hierarchy is nothing like the Dominator, and the Anginarian Necromancy is all my own, but that barrow-area, yep.
Quote from: LordVreegThere is one person old enough to challenge them, but he has kept out of the spotlight for centuries..and he's nuts.
I believe that's Lord Verkonen Vreeg an Omwo~ sage?
Also, I had another though while reading the Undead page (for probably the 10th time), Mindless Undead only have part of a soul in their bodies, so could a particularly powerful necromancer animate a dozen bodies with separate parts of a single soul? If he did this would the new creature(s) be simply a dozen zombies? Or would it be some sort of conglomerate creature inhabiting a dozen bodies, through some sort of soul resonance? This would probably drive any creature used to a single body insane, so its debatable if it would even be an effective practice if possible.
For the cunning undead, it seems like they would pick up mindless undead as they found them, sort of becoming their own swarm. If two cunning undead met each other, would they fight over domination of mindless undead, like mental domination style, then whoever gained control of the swarm use it to rip the other to shreds? Or would they try and kill one another as fast as possible, physically, to then be able to gain control of the swarm?
About the Aware Undead, is it just vampires, liches and mummies? Finally I still don't see any updates, so ether I have no idea what it is, or they still haven't updated (you had mentioned more info on Red Zombies, their creation I believe which is not yet apparent to me). Also the Create Red Zombie spell has no page.
On the mechanics side of things, when a spell has a level variable in it, such as +x per level damage, the level is the level of the player in that particular school of magic?
[blockquote=Steerpike]I'm picking up lots of (rather sinister) allusions to Winter and the State of Winter (which is part of the Grey March?). This was a sort of progenitor civilzation brought down by the Ogrillites/Venolvians, right? With Igbar (then "Winterloo") as the capitol? So was this a predominantly human empire, or were there other forces at work?[/blockquote]
See. this is again one of the things I have kind of danced around on the wiki site since my PC's spend some time there. ANd you know my tendency to bring everything together?
Back in -8000 RON, when the Planars first created the Omwo~, it was one of the first jobs of the Omwo~ to create the first dwelling places (Dou~wis)of the Planar's in the Vale of Silence. They built huge and solemn temples, inspired directly by the Planars themselves. The PLanars would actually continue to live and appear in the dou~wis built in their name in the Vale, in the White City, and in the Silverwood, for almost 2 millenia. And right after the last one was emptied, the first humans, Pablar's toys, were sighted.
The most important thing to notate here is that this Vale of Silence was in the Northern area of the Cradle area of Celtricia.
in -3960, the Vale of Silence was rediscovered by some explorers from the Ambretton city-statesm about a weeks journey from the Vale. By -3940, whole companies of priests had relocated to be near this spiritual center, where the echoes of the Planar's presence could still be felt. It was often called the Silent Temple center, or WintreDou~is, at that time. (It was right after this that the Vicorian Renaissance began, so many of the temples built in this time bear the circular, squat blueprint from this time)
The Ambrettons formalized trade realations to the WintreDou~is soon after, and in -3970, the Tarcleri~ knights, recently banished from trhe White city for their support of a relationship with the Apostate, became the guardians of the WintreDou~is. Soon after, they built the Jarmin Fortress halfway up the Coriel Mount, above the new temples and the ancient ruins.
in -3660, the Kal Tober Klaxik tribe began mining in the mountains just south of the settlement, then called WintreDou, and by the Mid -3500s, the large town had overgrown the temple complex of that holy city. ANd it was then that it began to be caled the City of Winterlou. It was something of a holy city, with so many temples and religions centered around it, but only the wisest of that time still knew what was buried under the temple area where people walked daily. It was mainly and OMwo~ and clan Telman human city, with the Suprosian OMwo~ family in autocratic control, a family that had been thrown out of the Silverwood.
A great temple to Amerer was planned a few centuries later, and the Tarcleri knights, in great secrecy, swore the Hierophant of the Grey Chruch to secrecy, then brought him to the already-bruied but still intact ruins of the original Dou~wis of Great Amerer. The Grand Grey Church of Stenron was built directly over it, completed in -3150.
Over the centuries and millenia grew, and the Ambretton City States fell, the city of Winterlou somehow kept growing and expanding. By -2300, the Godstraat of Winterlou was a fabled place of wonder, a pilgrims paradise. The Suprosians beuocracy also grows, and the economy of the area soon includes a dozen suburbs. There were 2 major competing mage colleges, and though none knew what lay below, still the ancient temples that had first been built on the site of wintredou~is were ancient wonders by then.
To hurry this along, in -420 RON, the Dreadwing began his occupation of the old AMbretton mines to the North of Winterloo (note spelling change), while in -390, the Igboniat prelacy is formed in Teduic, (and old AMbretton fort, actually), in what would now be considered the middle-western Grey March. By now, though the Omwo~ and humans are still the most numerous, there are a lot of Klaxik and hobyts in Winterloo, while the Igboniats have a hobyt, gnomic, then human population mix. Thoug rumors of the undead hordes to the north are common, by -228, the Igboniats and the State of Winter and Winterloo enter hostilities, and though there were no huge battle, there were constant ugly skirmishes. The Igboniats had many early victories, partially due to the overconfidence of the Suprosian-led Winterites, and partially due to the looting of ancient AMbretton places of power, such as the Temple of the Sky. In -131 RON, Vexel Suprosian, Lord of Castle Ellis, was slain in the battle of the Valewood, just west of Winterloo, which got the Winterite's attention.
But by -126, the skirmishes ended abruptly, and the two united to face the Dreadwing's ogrillite and undead forces to the North. The Vampyre of Palladino had taken his time, and had regrown much of Y'gorl's curse, enhancing his necromantic reach and the reach of his begotten brood. This was no quick war, as the power of the Barrow, as it was often called, was great, and his forces were legion, and many talked about the Night of the Cairn come again...
in -105, Paly the Maligned drove the Suprosians from the throne of Winterloo and the State of Winter. This began the Kingships of Winterloo, and in -64 the PAct Veritus, the peace of worship, was applied to the State of Winter during the reigh of Banir of Gotipan, fourth king.
in -4 RON, the Igboniat forcesm, led by Jericho of the Lance and many of the remaning Tarcleri Knights, manage to imprison the Dreadwing and his strongest leutenants in the barrows where they set up their last defence. The Igboniats were also broken at the end of this, and their last strength was thrown into the Wards of Life and Law that held the disciple of Arbor in thrall.
More coming later.
More on Stenron, Largest city of Celtricia, formerly known as Winterloo...
Winterloo started a period of growth after year 0 RON, [note=Big Picture] The Vale of Silence was the beginning point of civilization in Celtricia, and on it's ruins a temple complex, WintreDou~wis, was build two millenia later. This temple complex grew into a town based around the newer temples, then the twon grew into the city of Winterlou, then Winterloo. This process, described above in the previous post, going to year 0 RON, the Founding of the Theocracy of Nebler (the Reckoning of Nebler), covers in brief eight thousand years. [/note] both internally as a city, and as more towns and petty kingdomes came under the sway of the State of Winter.
But in the first couple of decades of this century, the Venolvian island Empire made numerous settlements on the far western coast of the cradle area, in what is now all Grey March territory. The Venvolvians landed in force, and grew and spread quickly [note=Venolvia] The Venolvian Empire's growth was greatly aided by pacts made by the Church of the Entropic Overlords with their Planar Patrons.[/note] They had built 2 large fortresses by 30 RON.
It is worth mentioning that in 35 RON, explorers from the Grey Church found ruins of a temple to a forgotten planar named Kiminus in the second level sewers that abbutted their secret first temple. This spawned the beginning worship of Kiminus, Patron of Heroes and Fools, and also let out a few rumors to loremasters that there was an underlying reason for their layer upon layer of sewers under Winterloo.
[spoiler=Current Map]
(//../../e107_files/public/1227193235_392_FT39572_celtricia_north_.jpg) (//../../e107_files/public/1227193235_392_FT39572_celtricia_north.jpg)
In this map, you can see the current Grey March, and the Location of Stenron, aka, the original Vale of Silence.
[/spoiler]
By 75 RON, the Venolvians had a large town known as Tokorum on the hill-ridden Western Coastline of the Marches, maybe 800 miles west of Winterloo itself, but within 300 miles of the Western outposts of the State of Winter, the former Igboniat town of Hopiton. However, much like the current world, due to the dangers of the Wild and the sparse populations, much of the space in between populations centers was and is completelyu wild. So it should come as little surprise that the Venolvians went totally around the shore (they were a tremendous sea power) and also discovered the mountains in the northern coastal area of the March area, andf the ancient AMbretton Mines therein, by 100 RON.
Winterloo was actually trading with the Venolvians at this point, though the Winterites were not aware of the Venolvian presence to the North. IN 164 RON, Zyjman the first, the Orcash leader of the Bone-Ditty tribe, took the Red Pass from the Winterites. This is the small pass through the mountainous sliver of land that connects the current Grey March with the 'Eastern Side' of the Celtrician continent. Losing control of this land Bridge understandably became a major issue for the city-state of Winter, and so they made many attempts to recapture it.
The Winterites continued growing and trading for the next few centuries, focussing their energies in trying (and failing) to dislodge the Zyjmanese trinbes from the Red Pass. They were also aware of the growing power of the Venolvian Empire, spread from Coom isle all the way up to their own coast.
By the 300's, the Bright Lands Pluocrats banded together and formed their own coalition to compete with the rapacious Venolvians, and The State of Winter traded heavily with them and the Arcanic Table of Orbi, while still leading reprisals agasint the Zyjmanese.
mORE COMING
Cool, that clarifies more on what Winterlou/loo is. I love how intricate your backstories are, like real history...
I get the feeling of gradually receding supernatural forces leaving only echoes of their presence, giving way to temples and places of pilgrimage under the control of major religious institutions like the Grey Church and the increasingly expanding through economic and military imperialism, clashing with other powers (Dreadwing, Igboniats, Zyjmanese tribes). Very cool, and complex.
I don't know why I was associating Winterloo with Igbar and not Stenron, must have been some reference that got garbled somewhere in my head. Makes sense now! So "Godstraat" is a general term, then, not a unique street?
Quote from: LlumQuote from: http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Spell+RulesSpell Rules Page [/url]
[ic=Rules for Spell Level]
Spell level is normally determined by the characters highest achieved level; normally spirit. However, there are mitigating factors. If the spell that is being cast's primary focus is a category the character has, they may add ¼ of that spell type's level onto their Spirit level. So if Joe Templar is L5 Spirit, L3 Order, L2 Water, and L1 Artificer, and was casting a Water based spell, he would be considered level 5.5 (5 for Spirit and .5 for Water).
This effect is increased if the spell cast comes from a in which the character is specialized or devoted, to ½ that skill level being added on. So if our friend Joe Templar was casting an Order base spell, his functional level would be 6.5.
[/ic]
Did you like the Corpse Candle Spell, BTW?
Quote from: SteerpikeCool, that clarifies more on what Winterlou/loo is. I love how intricate your backstories are, like real history...
I get the feeling of gradually receding supernatural forces leaving only echoes of their presence, giving way to temples and places of pilgrimage under the control of major religious institutions like the Grey Church and the increasingly expanding through economic and military imperialism, clashing with other powers (Dreadwing, Igboniats, Zyjmanese tribes). Very cool, and complex.
I don't know why I was associating Winterloo with Igbar and not Stenron, must have been some reference that got garbled somewhere in my head. Makes sense now! So "Godstraat" is a general term, then, not a unique street?
You get the right feeling. I give you much credit for managing to sift that through all of my pages. The Planars walked the earth at one point, they were in the waking dream, and even after they left, they still directly affected almost every major event through their champions and avatars. And as you said, they have continued to recede though their echoes can be heard if one has the ears to hear. But I am quite pleased that that feeling managed to get to you.
The "Godstraat" of Stenron was the first and original, but almost every town or city has one in the modern era.
Quote from: LordVreegDid you like the Corpse Candle Spell, BTW?
Yes I did :p The imagery is very classic necromancer. Also very useful in the evil lair, and what self-respecting Big Bag Evil Guy wouldn't have a lair?
[blockquote=Llum]This comment (from another thread) got me thinking, the amount of Orcash undead, is it due to their large population? Or does their tendency to be near strong necromantic users (The Dreadwing had an Orcash army I believe, as did Arbor) just mean that they're most often used as corpse fodder, being a relevant supply? A kind of dying in the wrong place at the wrong time deal.
A Gnoll mummy or vampire would just be badass [/blockquote]
You are getting quite the handle on that part of the history...there is no racial basis towards being raised, but plain-old too many orcash have served under necromancers, and after they die, they serve under them again, if you get my meaning.
The Igbarians just fought an Ograk necromancer, and the Antroo Vampyre does have as primary servants a female klaxik and male gartier (bugbear) Vampyre. The fact that they are former PC's is more than icing...I have also recently had a pair of hill giant ghasts...
On Lairs...
[blockquote=Llum]Yes I did The imagery is very classic necromancer. Also very useful in the evil lair, and what self-respecting Big Bag Evil Guy wouldn't have a lair?[/blockquote]
This is actually a theme for me. The spell list is not even 1/2 done yet, but I have taken the time to create a number of 'sanctum' style spells, such as 'Sacred Grove', 'Sacred Fire', all the 'Comforts of Home' spells, etc. I've always believd that a caster would be able to make their lair into a haven, but most systems don't take the time.
I was checking over the Spell List again, the Zombie Servant, Red Zombie spell page still isn't working.
Is there any particular order or system to how the spells are presented? (It seems like its roughly based on power, the most powerful spells at the bottom of the list).
I did notice a few more of your sanctum spell. There are also temporary ones as well, they don't seem to be permanent, more like a battlefield boost kind of thing.
I was reading the Golem Spells and it mentioned that only 1 per 5 levels of caster can be controlled, so for the ultimate caster it would be 2 total (12.5 being highest attainable level I believe, in terms of spell casting check, 10+(10/4).
Now it said that the golem wields a weapon, would it be possible to enchant this weapon with Crystal Edge, superior for example?
This led me to a second question, does the animated skeleton have to be humanoid? It says that 12' is the maximum height, now could you animate a large lizard skeleton (maybe a small sauroid one?) that is less then 12' tall but maybe 20' long? Or does the 12' apply to the largest dimension of the skeleton?
Would the vampiric blade spell work for a golem wielding it?
Quote from: LlumI was checking over the Spell List again, the Zombie Servant, Red Zombie spell page still isn't working.
Is there any particular order or system to how the spells are presented? (It seems like its roughly based on power, the most powerful spells at the bottom of the list).
I did notice a few more of your sanctum spell. There are also temporary ones as well, they don't seem to be permanent, more like a battlefield boost kind of thing.
I was reading the Golem Spells and it mentioned that only 1 per 5 levels of caster can be controlled, so for the ultimate caster it would be 2 total (12.5 being highest attainable level I believe, in terms of spell casting check, 10+(10/4).
Now it said that the golem wields a weapon, would it be possible to enchant this weapon with Crystal Edge, superior for example?
This led me to a second question, does the animated skeleton have to be humanoid? It says that 12' is the maximum height, now could you animate a large lizard skeleton (maybe a small sauroid one?) that is less then 12' tall but maybe 20' long? Or does the 12' apply to the largest dimension of the skeleton?
Would the vampiric blade spell work for a golem wielding it?
Damn. Red Zombies, here I come.
The spells are listed by total spell points needed.
The sanctum spells need to be cast a certain amount to become more permamnent, but all must be cast once per year no matter what, though there could be a few ways around that. they are all based arounf that 'lair' idea we've spoken about. Even the 'recall' spells, Celtricia's pathetic excuse for teleports (and the recall system that used to exist) is based on the sanctum spells.
No, you've got something wrong abput the casters. I think it must be becasue I only list to level 10 on the wiki, but I have it figured to level 20. There are a number of NPC's with higher level than that. Vigor Sheering, the vassal of the Antroo Vampyre, is level 12 in Spirit and level 10 in Artificer, giving him a functional art level of 14. The Vampyre in question is level 18 Spirit, level 15 Necromancer. You have given me a good reason to put in more of that chart.
There are slo some PC's with higher than level 10 skills in the Miston Group. Grak Dung is level 13 in Basic Surprise.
And you are very right about the Bone Golem and artified weapons: if the artificer can make a golem, he can certainly enchant the weapons. The Igbarians recently ran away from Vigor's Bone Golem in the SHeering family tomb. And he has it wielding a Glaive that is 20% larger than normal, +10% hit, +2 damage after divider, 3/'Rotting Charge (http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Rotting+Charge)' per day. Yuck.
I totally agree with you on the use of differnent skeletons, except the lack of weapon use. Hell of an Dark Artificer/Necromancer mount!
And the Vampiric weapon will work for undead, but not for a contruct, sadly. Very good questions. I spend a lot of hours working on these for my PC's to create a world where evenh the magic makes sense in the context of the setting, your questions are helping me sharpen that.
For the skill XP system, the EXPMOD is determined by the basemod+attributemod+racemod?
Dropdown affects only skill, so if I had a skill of 10% and a dropdown of .2 I would have 2% in the drop down skill correct?
I'm happy to say I finally found the skill list again, took me ages >_< Now I was curious as to what commonality 5 skills there are? I've only found two commonality 4 skill (neutralize poison and Legend/Lore) and was wondering if there were more commonality 4 skills and if commonality 5 was they most specific they got?
What exactly is the Mechanic-Enliven skill?
Quote from: LlumFor the skill XP system, the EXPMOD is determined by the basemod+attributemod+racemod?
Dropdown affects only skill, so if I had a skill of 10% and a dropdown of .2 I would have 2% in the drop down skill correct?
I'm happy to say I finally found the skill list again, took me ages >_< Now I was curious as to what commonality 5 skills there are? I've only found two commonality 4 skill (neutralize poison and Legend/Lore) and was wondering if there were more commonality 4 skills and if commonality 5 was they most specific they got?
What exactly is the Mechanic-Enliven skill?
I think I am going to have to buy Llum a flight to Boston. He's prepping to play.
As for EXPMOD, You have the right of it. In fact, you have it perfectly.
The Basemod is actually determined by the school/guild. The Base XP listed on the skill sheet are supposed to describe an average basemod from a school that teaches it. So BAsic Actor shows a BaseMod of.7. Someone trying to learn this on the street or from inference has BaseMod of .35. The .7 represents a school that is good at acting, so a school where acting is pretty tertiary might have a Basemod of .5, while a Best-Of-Breed royal acting acadamy of Argus might have a Basemod of .8.
So the underlying idea is, "Where did you learn the skill, what genetic predispostion do you hae to the skill, and what did your cultural background help?"
You also have the idea of dropdowns correct. This was a concept/mechanism that I spent a lot of time on. I knwe I needed prerequs, but I also wanted some braod based skills. I wanted some esoteric skills that people had to work to learn and get to.
The Dropdown becasme that mechanism. It allows for broad basal skills (Basic Trap), as well as very exclusive and difficult dropdowns (Catch/deflect missle). While we still tweak and add skills regularly, this mechansim has gotten nothing but raves from my PCs.
There are currently 5 commonality 4 skills done, Legend/Lore, Detect Tracker, Neutralize poison, Auro of Healing, and Contagion/Anticontagion. However, as you look at the sub skills list, despite the amount that is in here, there is a lot of work still to do. My PC's and I consdeir the skill list 1/3 done. There will probably be some level 5 skills in spells, lore, mercantile and social, particularly in Leadership and specific network building.
The Mechanic dropdown of Enliven is a passive skill akin to a 'magic touch', it allows a mechanic to create masterwork mechanicval machines that work so well that they can actually gain quality bonuses beyond masterwork.
"I don't know why Bill's waterwhel grinds so fine. Grinds finer than any gristtmill north or south on this river..."
Okay, Llum, you've convinced me to get back to work on my skills.
Alright I was looking at the map and reading the wiki again and a few thoughts came to mind. Firstly, Igbar is a coastal city, as are other prominent places. How major a role do pirates and other sea based factions play? I don't recall there being a major mention of it, most of the history being relegated to the main land (unless I'm blind of course).
Another thing that crossed my mind was Coom Isle. It looks like its similar in size to most of the British Isle (at least the main one with England and Scotland). How major a role has it played in the power politics of the world? Most references to it come from Palimar being a native. And a couple references from earlier in the century.
Finally is there a water route across the continent? Is it possible by river travel? The Red Pass seems to obstruct the single main route of naval travel between the two seas.
Finally this is something I've been wondering for a long time, how major a role did D&D canon play in the creation of Celtricia? I've noticed similar names popping up, along with attached similarities (Jubilex being the most prominent one I believe).
[blockquote=Llum]lright I was looking at the map and reading the wiki again and a few thoughts came to mind. Firstly, Igbar is a coastal city, as are other prominent places. How major a role do pirates and other sea based factions play? I don't recall there being a major mention of it, most of the history being relegated to the main land (unless I'm blind of course). [/blockquote] Igbar was actually settled by a pirate, Coth the Unworthy, a Venolvian Pirate-lord, back in 260. And pirates have off and on been major issue, but such issues are mitigates by the need to have a water mage on board any sea-going vessel. A normal merchant vessell will have a mariner -mage, who can call wind and water magic, and a pirate without these will never catch them, and the open seas have many portals to the House of Water, and many elementals lie in wait for a common pirate.
[blockquote=llum]Another thing that crossed my mind was Coom Isle. It looks like its similar in size to most of the British Isle (at least the main one with England and Scotland). How major a role has it played in the power politics of the world? Most references to it come from Palimar being a native. And a couple references from earlier in the century.[/blockquote] Coom Isle was raised from the bottom of the sea by the BArd Numansongs in the Age of Heroes, during his time of power, using the Telekonese Instrument.
" I've been waiting here
Waiting for faith
And the word to fall.
Now the darkness comes
And I'll pray for
The end of us all.
Don't let the dark into me
We killed the angels that warned us of you
Don't let the dark into me
We raised the tower of Keith's Hope for you
Don't let the dark into me
We let the children build temples for you
Don't let the dark into me
Don't let the vengeance of Heaven be you
So pray to me, I'm the Lord's new disease,
Look down into the face of God.
Bow down and cry, I'm the black Messiah,
The one true divinity.
Kneel before my altar and drink the wine of slaughter,
Who said I'd save anyone?
So bleed for me, I need hostility
To lead the faithful and the blind.
Don't let the light shine on me
I am the poison that feeds life to you
Don't let the light shine on me
I am the demon that waits inside you
Don't let the light shine on me
I am the ghost that reminds death of you
Don't let the light shine on me
I am the darkness that crawls into you"
The Venolvians moved their capital their from the Steel ISle on -4 RON when their Sea Empire went through a governmental change, when Tarman Von Arbor of the Arcanic Guardians joined with the Pirate Lords to displace the Amererian Theocracy. It was after this that the Venolvians went through their greatest amount of growth, and when it seemed the Church of the Entropic Overlords ruled the waves and washed onto the land.[note=Devenshold] The fall of the Devenshold Monarchy is very recent, some 7 years earlier. A PC group including Gearsar, Palimar, and a few others was in Devens during the coup. Palimar did not tell the group of his surname (Devenshold) as they left...[/note]
But all things end, and when Jon of Triston's war of the Shield through the venovians into the sea, Coom Isle became a collection of city states, until the last 30 years. At this time, the group of Falathar and Heliopolis and their fellows took control of the underworld of Devens, destroying the Devenshold family and killing most of the Zingo Mysteriarchs who defended them. While Falathar is the ostensible king now of Coom Isle, none doubt that Heliopolis Von Arbor is the real power.
[blockquotellum]Finally is there a water route across the continent? Is it possible by river travel? The Red Pass seems to obstruct the single main route of naval travel between the two seas.[/blockquote] Nope. Celtricia of Celtricia, the second largest and most populous continent of the planet, has to be gone around or over.
[blockquote=Llum]Finally this is something I've been wondering for a long time, how major a role did D&D canon play in the creation of Celtricia? I've noticed similar names popping up, along with attached similarities (Jubilex being the most prominent one I believe). [/blockquote] Celtricia was my fifth major setting/campaign. And it was a very consious decision to turn many thing on thier sides and on their heads, including the treatment of religions (as the Church of Change and Irony/Jubilex in Igbar shows). Orcs and ogrillite humanoids having personalities and being part of civilization, and many other things were created specifically to refute and trasnform that canon you speak of. Remember, Celtricia was created 25 years ago, and the old 1st edition ADAD needed some serious refuting...
Reading about the Bowyers reminds me how stunned I continue to be about the level of detail in this setting. Celtricia just possesses complexity on so many levels that I doubt I would ever flesh out with my own material. But who knows, this sort of thing has a tendency to inspire. I have to wonder sometimes if you would be capable of writing me a few thousand commoner biographies, if need be - sometimes it feels as though it's that detailed, and there's something about that part of Celtricia that I like.
Quote from: BiohazardReading about the Bowyers reminds me how stunned I continue to be about the level of detail in this setting. Celtricia just possesses complexity on so many levels that I doubt I would ever flesh out with my own material. But who knows, this sort of thing has a tendency to inspire. I have to wonder sometimes if you would be capable of writing me a few thousand commoner biographies, if need be - sometimes it feels as though it's that detailed, and there's something about that part of Celtricia that I like.
It is funny, in any campaign, about how some NPC's DO take on a life of their own. And it helps when everyone has skills and levels in skills, just differfent types of skills. being able to give a bartending levelor a leadership level or a seduction level to an NPC hels define them.
Though some NPC's, like Nighttimer, Bummy the Bandit, Xia Du Ping, and Shambar have taken on more than a life of their own.
So vreeg, when are we gonna start gaming again? I want to get back into it.
Just a couple quick questions.
1. How aware are the common people of Celtricia that the House of Fire is destroyed? (and the other House)?
2. How prolific are poisons? And how prolific is the use of poisons? If I remember correctly there is a Demon Lord associated with it, so are they fairly common?
Quote from: LlumJust a couple quick questions.
1. How aware are the common people of Celtricia that the House of Fire is destroyed? (and the other House)?
2. How prolific are poisons? And how prolific is the use of poisons? If I remember correctly there is a Demon Lord associated with it, so are they fairly common?
It is part of church canon, an agreed-upon part that is in almost all the slightly different stories of creation, that the House of Fire and the House of air were destroyed in the times of strife. It is common knowledge, kind of at the same level as knowing the continentals fought the british during the war of us independence.
Poisons and their illigitimate use can be seen like guns in our world, to some degree. Everyone knows it exists, and that while dishonorable and against the law, everyone knows it is very commonly used by the underworld and by some military groups. For example, many Scarlet Pilum special units are issued different poisons before battle, and anyone who is pretty bright knows that if they are fighting an artificer, that they might be dealing with poisons.
Poisons are common enough that most of the major churches have 'reduce poison' and 'remove poison' potions available at all times, or variations of 'blessings of snake and spider'.
I'm very much enjoying the Igbarian session posts. Realy fun to read.
You've made some references that slightly boggle my mind in terms of the detail level. You mention the Street of Carvings and that two individuals in Igbar sell musical instruments. How much of the city do you have mapped? Every street? Every building? The amount of work you've put into fulling fleshing out the city is astonishing and inspiring.
Quote from: SteerpikeI'm very much enjoying the Igbarian session posts. Realy fun to read.
You've made some references that slightly boggle my mind in terms of the detail level. You mention the Street of Carvings and that two individuals in Igbar sell musical instruments. How much of the city do you have mapped? Every street? Every building? The amount of work you've put into fulling fleshing out the city is astonishing and inspiring.
Sorry it is taking so long to get that session out ther. I swear, I add a line or 2 a day, that's about it. There ias a lot more that happnned, including librarians on meat hooks.
I do have old maps that include every street, but they aer out of date and have been redoing certain sections recently. I've been kind of fleshing out certain areas more completely.
[spoiler=wards and neighborhoods]
The Neighborhoods and Wards
Like all cities that have grown organically, Igbar's roads and street wind somewhat confusingly. Couple that with the small pond and the stream (the Vdalek) in the middle of the west side, and the growth of the city has just 'happened around it', and has not been organized.
The Dockside area is not just the coastal side, it includes mainly the central coastal area where the oldest Docks are, which leads down 'the Keep Way', one of the oldest streets in the city. The Dockside area has no paving, and most of the buildings are made of wood, many of which are sinking into the ground. There are a few old captain's houses, mostly Inns now, that show there was some money in this area at one point. However, the area is mainly bars, inns, taverns, a few businesses, lots of older warehouses, and poverty.
The Royal way is the opposite. It stretches from the Northern City gates do the Southern Gates, and was conceived by Artic Husamin IV, the sixth Duke of the Northern Argussian Marches. This whole, wide street is paved in white, and in the center, on the waterside, is the Royal Keep, built by Artic in 680-689 RON. There is a small park that abutts the Vdalek Pond. Many of the most wealthy families have their bricked, in-town residences along that road.
The South-Eastern corner of the city is the Harou section of town, where the quaint, introspective social graces of the Harou cultures is observed. Tea service, outdoor porches, and piinut incense in the air are the staples of the area.
The Godstraat. The North Eastern corner of the city is dominated by the 'Street of the Gods', as it is called commonly, though it's proper name is the 'Avenue of Worship'. Though not all the temples and Churches are their, the Lawful Triumverate, the Church of the Green Mother, The Church of Chaos, and the Platform of Trade. Also, one of the oldest Boneyards within the city limits, now full to bursting with old headstones, is there. That boneyard dates back to the early dates of Igbar. The oldest dates are from ~320 R.O.N. Around 470 R.O.N., the Igbarians uncovered a long sunken garden to north of the Street of Worship, and that Northern Boneyard is where many of the family Crypts were moved to.
The Brewer's Quarter is the eastern part of two Streets, The Talleyrand Path and the Marcher's Hope. Here 4 major breweries and a number of smaller ones all contrive to best each other in their crafting of local brews. None really compete, however, with the Golden Bullette brewery and the gold and red brews it sends out on wagons labelled with their sigil. The Birchright Quaffer's Guild (named after the old, defunct brewery of the same name) is the largest brewer's Guild, but many of them belong to Chernow's Libations, a guild that covers many mead, wine, and other distillers as well as brewers.
Opposite of the Brewer's quarter on the Unicorn Vex is the 4 street west-bound roads known as the Rip-cut Crucible, where many crafts guilds and manufacturers make their home and ply their wares. The Stret of Carvings is where woodworkers do much of their work in Igbar.
The Trio is the area around the South Gate (The Argus Gate), where almost all the streets converge on the small square just inside the gate. It is named because of the three Argussian officials who were hung their by Trabler Aptor when he took over the town. Many shops are here, as well as teamsters.
BravoTown is a long, two street area south of the Godstraat, where mercenaries, both locally born and outlanders, found housing and employment. The local chapterhouse of the Kulranik Guild is in this area. As these 2 streets near the Harou section of town, there starts to be a neatening up.
Leper's Bastion (or just 'The Bastion') is the southern dock area and slightly inland area typified by slums, Krrfshops, and flophouses. There actually was a Leper's colony by the water over two hundered years ago, but the name stuck for an area with little hope.
North Docks are a collection of 3 small docks and about two-dozen small buildings outside the gates to the north, about 300 yards. They used to be an area where there were woods, and it was here that smugglers would land back in the days of the Northern Argussia Marches. It grew to a legitimate dock area for the Bartles & Jamie wine importing group, and has since continued to grow. There is a Scarlet Pilum's tower in the northern area, in case of attacks. Many duel masters use this area.[/spoiler]
There are dozens of people who make instruments in Igbar, though I might mention specifics here and there.
This stupid city has been gamed continuously for a quarter century. I have so many notes that are not even put to paper yet. I have not placed Phidipidies Strepsiades huge fountain on the page yet, or the 'Uopper Crust' he owns, or much about the real political daily life, where argument and discourse run rampant through the streets all day, and through ther Bardic Taverns all night...
Another quick question. In character creation one of the results you can roll for race is Cross.
I believe this is for half-races, like a half klaxik/half hobyt. However is there a limit on what races and interbreed?
Are there half-Omwo~/Half-Gartier? Half Orckash/Half Human?
On a mechanical side of things, when creating a character with the Guildschool system, do you roll for appearance as well?
Quote from: LlumAnother quick question. In character creation one of the results you can roll for race is Cross.
I believe this is for half-races, like a half klaxik/half hobyt. However is there a limit on what races and interbreed?
Are there half-Omwo~/Half-Gartier? Half Orckash/Half Human?
Yes, they can all interbreed, though in some cases, who'd want to?
Orcash/Gnomes are somewhat common. Omwo~ rarely crossbreed.
The mechanics of creating Gartier/hobyt crossbreeds hurts my head.
Alright then for the mechanical side of things, how do you determine the racial modifiers of the child? randomize those of the parents?
Also when creating a character with the Guildschool system, do you roll for appearance as well?
the racial mods are the average of the 2 races, unless I am drunk.
And appearance is rolled for. I know that many systems use a point buy, but I and my players have always seemed to enjoy the 'birthing' process for new characters. I let them roll again if they have no redeeming characteristics.
QuotePuiab's Museum
This ancient warehouse was remade into a large museum almost fifty years before, and is now a tattered, tawdry semblance of it's former self. Walking into the place, one is taken with the dimness and sense of space. And then there is the 59 foot ship that dwarfs much of the entry..
Harko's Grilled Fish Carts
"Grilled Fish!!!", the pushcart men scream as they pass through the Dockside streets. Ben Harko Colik, the Hobyt in charge, started his small shanty back in '90, five years ago, and added two pushcarts the next year. His sons Venner and Stadt run the carts, with their coals running hot to make fresh grilled fish to order, salted, stimmed, or peppered. The Harko's work with the enviroment around them, but they also get along well with the Scarlet Pilum Patrols.[/quote]
Amusing.
From here: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?50977.last