The Campaign Builder's Guild

sounds cool!  Nomad Stars...Gypsie Stars...um...Wayward Stars...Sojourner...???

lol...yeah my wife said the same thing!  :-P
looking it up i realize there's already a Neil Gaiman "Neverwhere" and various other published items.  damn group conciousness!  lol.

i'm rolling around another name for it though for sure.

[ooc]I have the pleasure of owning two books of illustration by James C. Christiansen - "The Voyage of the Basset" (a childrens book with his illos) and "A Journey of the Imagination:  The Art of James C. Christiansen".  His paintings, and the story, are filled with whimsical fairyfolk, goblins, gnomes and the like that made me think of a possible setting called Neverwhere.  You don't see much in the way of humorous settings abounding in the RPG world, and i wondered how a setting of wit, humor, comedy with a dash of Brother's Grimm might play out, it was also partially inspired by my friend's son, who liked to hang with us at the gaming table and was always wanting to play the game with his daddy and the big guys...so i began to brainstorm a setting that a kid could enjoy as well as the grown-ups...it's loose and rough...but here it is anyway...[/ooc]

 [spoiler=Neverwhen?  Nevermore?  Alwayswhere?  (TBD)] Outline
(Name Pending) is a place that shouldn't be a whimsical realm of faerie and dream.  Gnomes, goblins, fairies, sprites, and all manner of mythical beasts abound in a land of light and song and fantasy.  the game would be fairy-tale like with stories of bickering bears and girls with curls of gold...witches and children...and sleeping beauties...and the dish running away with the spoon.  adventures would range from cute, to fantastical to absurd.  there is no war in Neverwhere...nor is there death...no beginning and no end...the world is an eternal dream.  But, the larger arc is that something gnaws at the edges of the dream, something dark and terrible...a nightmare...
 General History/Background
(Name Pending) is a demi-plane in the ethereal.  It seemingly popped into existence one day and has gone about its business for a long time.  The entire plane is the dream of a child and has up until this point been a peaceful and whimsical.  player races would be limited to gnomes, halflings, goblins, sprites, dwarves, and elves.  there are dragons and witches, wizards and sages, and all the trappings of fantasy...but all have the childlike aspect.  Lately sections of the world have been changing, and once cute and lovable creatures are becoming dangerous and evil.  A presence is warping the dreamworld with sinister aspect and the once cute nature of the place is fading.  dreams die and give way to reality...and always the dreamer must awake...[/spoiler]

[ooc=Super Fantasy Giant Robots!]I've always liked giant robots...Macross...Gundam...Big O...etc.  And when i visited Japan some years ago i was in a bookstore and found a Japanese RPG book that was a weird fusion of fantasy/swords/sorcery and of all things, giant robots!  i still have this book, and because it is all in japanese, have absolutely NO CLUE what the mechanics are...the history...etc.  but, i like the pictures and the impression they left me with.  so of course, i got an idea for a similar campaign...[/ooc]

 [spoiler=The Epic Romance Saga of the Super-Fantasy-Giant-Robots!!! aka Arcane Engine] Outline
The world is in a renaissance type era with chivalry and romance and knights and kings and all that fun stuff.  there are 5 nations - humans, elves, gnomes, dwarves, and orcs.  Orcs are warlike, expansionist and aggresive.  Each is on at least uneasy terms with the others and friendly terms at most...but all are pretty much not happy with the orcs.  Knights of each kingdom follow a strict code of honor and instead of riding mighty steeds into battle, they control giant alchemical constructs (aka Giant Robots).  each race has a unique feel and design to their constructs obviously; and each class can have a Arcane Engine unique to it - mage Engines, cleric Engines, warrior, etc. - that boost or amplify some of their class abilities or allow them to channel spells through the Engine.  Obviously, magical level is fairly high, as well as standard tech-level...maybe some gun-powder type weapons (i imagine stout Dwarven Engines bearing big cannons on their shoulders with a full crew to man each one).  The setting would have a lot of intrigue and romantic type themes and such - princesses in danger, mages trying to stage coups and overthrow governments, orcs being mean, etc. - but a greater danger lies with a tragic, and long thought dead hero of a past war who has risen as a hateful undead bent on domination...perhaps he's been cursed as a vampire for a transgression of his code that no one knows about...or maybe he seeks revenge against a current political leader who masterminded and staged the war for personal gain or profit.  whatever the case, he's a cunning strategist and leader, an amazing warrior, and a fallen knight...his undead energies infused with his giant robot he musters his armies for war...or something like that...[/spoiler]

[ooc=Brian's Creative Hemorrages] hello again everyone!  i seem to suffer from a creative hemorrage of the brain sometimes, and i find that i need a place to put it...so, much like SilvercatMoonpaw's thread of campaign ideas and hooks, i figured it would be nice to keep a thread of half-baked ideas and such for possible inspiration later down the road, or as a brainstorm forum for other world-builders, or to simply find time to flesh out myself sometime in the future...[/ooc]

 [spoiler=The Frozen World] Outline
A world covered in ice and snow...locked in a seemingly eternal ice-age...most standard player races exist, but are an arctic or ice version - Wooly Ogres with large tusks, ghost-like snow elves, etc.  It would be a fairly low-tech setting, the cold and ice making it difficult to mine or set up agriculture...some larger nations use magic to create warm areas.
 
General History/Background
The gods of the world have turned their backs and left.  Long ago the god of the sun fell in love with a mortal priestess of the moon.  His court warned him of the fickle hearts of mortals, and advised him to not interfere with their lives, but he did not heed their warnings.  He wooed the object of his affections, but alas, Despite his efforts and his amorous gestures of affection, the mortal woman fell in love with a powerful mage; but unbeknownst to the god of the sun, the mage had actually put a spell upon her.  Sadly, in his angst and sorrow and broken-heartedness the god of the sun turned his back on the world.  the sun became dimmer and its warmth waned and the world was cast into an eternal winter that has lasted for hundreds and hundreds of years.  the mage, now an immortal undead of incredible power, still holds the priestess captive after many years, in a mighty citadel of ice and snow, protected by powerful spells and demons.  he enslaves many and makes them dig into the ice in search of ???  while the rest of the world struggles to survive the neverending cold of winter...[/spoiler]

Rough Timeline

 [spoiler=The Primeval Age]

*The old gods create the world and the heavens
*The first of creatures is shaped and set upon the world to live.  The gods realize that this is not enough and go about creating all the worldâ,¬,,¢s living things.
*A rogue god creates the first sentient being.  When the other gods find out they then make others like it in their own images.  Thus the first great races are born.

[/spoiler]

 [spoiler=The Age of Gods]

*-1 million years:  the first new races settle the world and are relatively removed from one another, they develop individually for several thousand years.
*- 395,000 years:  the elves rise quickly and begin to master arcane, druidic, and priestly magic.  The god of the elves is much more active in her role with her creations while the other gods remain aloof and objective.
*- 392,000 years:  the elves have their own kingdom, and have driven the goblinoid races further into the mountains.  The other races â,¬' dwarves, gnomes, halflings, humans, etc. â,¬' are also becoming more advanced.  
*- 390,000 years:  the races begin to meet for the first time.  The elves disdain the outsiders, especially the dwarves, and become isolationist and xenophobic, retreating from the world for a long period of time.
*- 300,000 years:  all the races have expanded and inhabit large empires.  The dwarf-goblin wars begin.
*- 298,000 years:  the elven civil war erupts due to disagreements between varying factions within the race.  Some wish to open diplomatic relations with the outside world and the other races, while others wish to remain secluded.  The elven emperor exiles those who wish to mix with the outsiders.  The other races meet the elves for the first time.
*- 297,000 years:  the elves teach arcane magic to the other races.
*- 290,000 years:  the races thrive in their own nations there are a multitude of technological and magical advancements.
*- 287,000 years:  War of the Black Scale an incursion of black dragons into the human nations.  The humans, elves, dwarves and gnomes form an alliance and push back the black dragons.
*- 286,000:  the dwarves split from the alliance and retreat into the mountains.
*- 284,000:  the goblinoid and giant kingdoms rise to power under the three kings â,¬' Rolâ,¬,,¢Gorok the 10th king of Trolls, Varaknosh King of Orcs, and Hurgoron King of Giants.
*- 282,000:  the War of Kings.  Varaknosh makes a pact with Namarenth the Black Dragon Queen.  The three kings, with the help of the black dragons, attack and destroy the dwarven city of Thurdorvash.  Their legions sweep further into the human lands and the war rages on.
*-281,000:  the dwarves, with the aid of the gnomes, defeat the Black Dragon Queen and drive the orcs back.  Varaknosh is also killed, but is quickly succeeded by his son, Sharnosh and the war continues.  The centaur join the armies of the three kings along with the goblins and the gnolls.
*-280,000:  the elves, after years of avoiding the conflict, engage in battle with the Trolls.  Rivenbough the elven archer strikes Rolâ,¬,,¢Gorok in the eye with an arrow and he is slain.
*-279,000:  Hurgoron surrenders and the remaining armies are disbanded and driven away.  The war ends.
*-278,000:  the dwarves, having suffered great losses from the war, demand aide from the other races to rebuild their destroyed cities.  The elves refuse and return to isolation.
*-275,000:  the dwarven kingdoms are rebuilt, and the capitol city of Dorvesh is founded.  The gnomes are absorbed into the Dorvesh empire.
*-273,000:  the elven nation grows and the empire of the Seldarine is born.  Humans, halflings, and other fey races join the empire.
*-270,000:  the teleweb is createdâ,¬Â¦a series of teleportation portals connecting the city-states of the Seldarine Empire together.
*-268,000:  the Dorvesh build a massive underground railway system connecting their various states together.  the giants join the Empire of Dorvesh.
*-265,000:  War of the Red Scale.  As the Empire of Dorvesh grows, they expand into the Red Dragon lands and awaken Malgorian the King of Red Dragons.  The Empire of the Seldarine do not engage in battle.
*-263,000:  the red dragons, near defeat, forge an alliance with the Dorvesh.
*-262,000:  the Dorvesh ban any Seldarine from the empire and stop all trade relations.
*-261,000:  the Dorvesh build the Wall of Raddorol spanning from what is now called the Sea of Ios all the way northward, completely separating the two empires.  All Seldarine who cross the wall are killed.
*-259,000:  the giants face a growing famine and cross the wall to invade the human lands.  In retaliation the humans cross the wall and attack the giants.  The Dorvesh, curbing their anger, diplomatically ask the Seldarine for assistance but the Seldarine refuse.
*-258,000:  infuriated for the last time by the detached and callous nature of the Seldarine the Dorvesh muster the giants and invade the human cities, raiding and pillaging they take control of several teleportals and begin mustering a larger force to attack the Seldarine capitol.
*-257,000:  the Seldarine are quick to respond, and with a demonstration of might and power heretofore unseen in the world, completely crush the giants and the Dorveshing armies.  The lands and fields are left barren, and those who survive are cursed.  
*-255,000:  the Dorvesh fester over their loss and begin to build a stronger army increasing the size of their garrisons along the wall and building massive engines of war.
*-254,000:  the Seldarine, in another arrogant display of power, attack the garrisons of Dorvesh at the teleportals and lead a strike against the wall and punch a massive hole through it.  The Dorvesh stage a counterstrike and disable the teleportals with the aide of the red dragons.  The War of the Gods begins.
*-252,000:  The war is at a drawâ,¬Â¦both sides are over-taxedâ,¬Â¦but both are also unrelenting.  Millions die on battlefields, entire forests are razed, cities burned to the ground.  The Seldarine release massive magical plagues that cripple the enemy, the Dorvesh use gargantuan titans and fire breathers to lay waste to cities.  The decadent nobility of the Seldarine remain detached, high in their towers and floating citadels sending wave after wave of soldier, construct and spell against the Dorvesh; but neither side gains anything greater.
*-251,500:  the world is a barren and war-torn wasteland.  The regular peoples of both empires suffer â,¬' they face starvation, or forced military service, or death at the hands of the enemy.  The last remnants of each race retreat to the capitols of each empire.  Racial alliances have been drawn and redrawn a hundred times.  The fey disappear as well as many other magical races.
*-250,000:  the Dorvesh begin building the God Weapon, Baalgorgon in a final attempt to destroy the Seldarine.  With stolen arcane technogies and even darker magics the Dorvesh are successful at creating a weapon that will finally defeat their enemy.  It is a weapon that feeds on and absorbs arcane energy.  A titanic abherration of diabolical design and construction meant only to destroy and devour.  Their sense of accomplishment and victory was short lived, for Baalgorgon was beyond their control.  In a matter of weeks, the entire empire was no more.  The last of the Dorvesh fled to the Seldarine to warn their enemies of the monstrosity they had unleashed; but their pleas fell on deaf ears, and they were killed by the Seldarine.
*-249,900:  Baalgorgon the Devourer begins to grow larger and split off smaller versions of itself.  The Seldarine and remaining races create the eidolons.  In a final confrontation the armies of the Seldarine and the eidolons clash at the remains of the Wall with the Devourer.  As the eidolons begin to fall the archwizard of the Seldarine envokes one final, powerful incantation binding Baalgorgon to the earth, and with one final spell calls a comet down from the heavens to smite the Devourer and bury it beneath molten rock and debris.  The devastation is incredible, and the magical backlash as the Devourer is imprisoned sends a massive shockwave for thousands of miles in every direction.  The world is a dark and barren place.  The Age of Gods is at an end and the earth is silent and still for several hundred thousand yearsâ,¬Â¦.

[/spoiler]

 [spoiler=The Age of the Pheonix]

*0:  the fey return to Feyraal and mourn the devastation.  They begin to revitalize the worldâ,¬Â¦nurturing the earth slowly over time.  Forests grow anew, rains begin to fall, rivers flow across once scorched sun-baked lands, and life begins to thrive once again.
*500:  the great races appear at the base of the great eidolons and begin to thrive and grow.
*1500:  the Talakhan empire.
*1800:  Uyuâ,¬,,¢Mahn
*2112:  campaign start.

[/spoiler]  

this is just a rough start...i have to refine the time a bit more i think.  i try to consider the life-expectancy of each race and adjust the dates accordingly.  elves being so long lived i figured 1000-2000 year increments wasn't too out-of-the-question, but i could be wrong so i may have to re-work it a bit.  but in any event, this is the general gist of it so far.  if you have any thoughts, input or ideas feel free to post it up in the discussion thread of the same name.  i'll refine over the course of the week.  

lol!  well i can't deny my old inspirations...i used to play WH40K and WHFRP waaaaay back in the day...like...15-18 years ago!  seems to have creeped up on me a bit i guess.  at least there aren't any goblin zepplins and guns in it.  :-P
Xulu is now pronounced "zooloo", as i definitely agree with avoiding phonetic confusion and such.  i haven't quite fleshed out the idea of the Shithriss yet, i envisioned a south american flavor and feel, but may reduce it down a bit...i'm not sure if i see them with a society capable enough of building large ziggaruts yet or not...jury's still out on that one...might just make them barbaric or savage to a degree not sure yet...but i envisioned reptilian warriors adorned with feathers and bone with stone or jade clubs and the like, but i could revert them to a more "islander-like" tone...perhaps polynesian or samoan?  the warriors adorn themselves with tattoos that symbolize their victories and accomplishments?  hmm...more food for thought on that one...
as for the eidolons, they act as massive batteries for the divine power.  i imagined that priests or clerics would pray or meditate at the base of these massive things and be granted the power to cast spells...how that would work out mechanics-wise i'm not sure - whether it would require an alteration to the class or a new class or whatever i'd have to figure out.  the idea is that the being near these large statues imbues the faithful with the energy of their god to shape and use as they will.  the greater idea is that the eidolons at one time were animated golems of incredible size and power, created to fight Baalgorgon the Devourer, afterwards the ones that remained fell silent and still where they stood.  in truth, it was the power of the eidolons that re-created the races again, shaping the life around them into their image.  was it a slow process akin to evolution in a sense?  or was it spontaneous?  furthermore, will the eidolons re-awaken if Baalgorgon returns; or if the number of the faithful increases will then the Gods themselves return?  all questions and ideas i'm still working on at the moment...
the empires of the Seldarine and the Dorvesh spanned the entire globe...the ruins of cities both large and small abound across Feyraal.  in the unlighted depths are treasures of a time of great power...magical and metal items abound as well as even more powerful arcane artifacts.  so there definitely are plenty of remnants from that ancient age still hidden in the unknown places of the world.  like i said, the time before history was at a magical and technological level slightly higher than the eberron setting, so players who delve into those dark places will find familiar items, but in a RP sense, will probably have NO clue how to use or activate them, and furthermore may be superstitiously terrified of such items.  in many cases an item as simple as a wand could spawn adventures leading to just its use alone...and the ramifications that that sort of power has on the world...

hey there!  once again thanks for the comments and the welcome!  as for the question, i think what i was going for was the idea that the new races of Feyraal, are so removed technologically/magically from their ancient predacessors that they view them as Gods and have thus labeled them as such.  in reality, the Gods of the Sky were a great empire ruled by elves whose mastery of magic and such was incredible; and the Gods of the Earth were the ancient dwarven empire.  the two had grown so powerful and vast that they had absorbed the other races into their respective republics and so the entire world was under the dominion of either the elves (Seldarine) or the dwarves (Dorvesh).  when they went to war with one another, it was cataclysmic because of the power of each of these empires.  i'm finishing up a basic timeline that will flesh all of this out a bit more; but the basic idea is that the Seldarine and the Dorvesh worshipped their own gods and such, but were powerful enough in and of themselves to be almost demi-gods in their own right.  in the final part of the war the Seldarine and the remaining races built the eidolons and infused them with the power of each of their respective dieties and they were the weapons that helped defeat Baalgorgon.  as i mentioned earlier and in the campaign thread itself, the war with Baalgorgon was apocolyptic and after everything was said and done, there weren't many people left to worship the gods of old, so their influence and power waned and became limited to the eidolons themselves.
so out of all of this the new races of men and elves and such revere these eidolons as their gods, seeing them as the graven images from a time when the gods themselves walked the earth.  this mythology is in part true given the history, but obviously it is the result of a fragmented past and the imaginations of men...or something like that... :-P

overall i think that each race believes that when they die their soul returns to the eidolon where it is reshaped and they are born again as a new member of that race.  though some of the religions of each race are starting to change slightly - the Uyu'Mahn and the Talakhan primarily.  druids believe in an overall life-energy that is non-specific to an eidolon, but rather free-flowing throughout the universe.  thus in their philosophy a soul can travel a great wheel of incarnations from a blade of grass to a tree to another sentient being.  that's all i've really thought about right now...it definitely needs a bit more thought...

updated the main campaign thread.  changed "Cthuul" to "Baalgorgon"...i like the ring of the latter, hope ya'll do too.  :-)
hopefully i'll be putting up a lil timeline and some other stuff today...but if not then probably over the weekend.

what about the Reapers?  any info on them and where they fit in the galactic ecology?  were they merely one of the current races in a more expansionistic period of their history?  or do they lurk in the far edges of the galaxy?  motivations?  physiology?  appearence?  tech?  i like the monstroes!  :-D
i like it so far.

hello!  thanks for the comments!
Cthuul is Lovecraftian on purpose...it is an aberration...a vile seething mass of oily corruption and evil that devours everything...lots of tentacles and eyes and all sorts of fun stuff. :-P  the basic idea is that when the dwarves built this thing long ago, they infused it with the essence of an "outer god" so to speak and it is to all intents and purposes an avatar of such a being...in game-terms i'm thinking "The Patient One" from the Lords of Madness book.
the Seething Crawl is a fetid mire that is saturated with the run-off energy and corruptive influence of this imprisoned being.  it's dark essences have seeped up to the surface slowly over time and the Crawl is so named because it grows rapidly each year, taking more and more land as time progresses.  in this place it is as though the land itself is alive - animals, plants and monsters all are mutated and corrupted with the essence of Cthuul.  
as for the maps themselves, they're a composite of hand-drawn, digital and mapper techniques.  i drew each map element by hand then scanned it.  i then colored the scans in photoshop and built custom brushes for various terrain types that i could use to paint in large tracts of terrain.  i used fractal mapper to generate a black and white outline of the continents/landmasses, then brougth that in as a .bmp template in photoshop and started laying in the terrain, colors, map elements, key, distance scale and compass digitally.  the end result is a combination of several techniques.  as for the symbols, i'm working on naming them and setting up a key in a future update.  
after some thought i think i'd switch Xulu as "zoo-loo" because it would hold to the african flavor and elements i see the centaur having.  imagine zebra-striped centaur with the dark ebon upper half of a zulu warrior with similar decoration...or even a masai warrior.  the wemic are indeed centauroid lion-men.  

still working out a few more details before full post...hang in...please feel free to critique in the discussion thread!  thanks!

bzump!

incan/mayan/aztec in so far as the general look and feel of their culture and visual appearance - manner of dress, design/decoration, art, etc.  though they are slightly different than those cultures on a social/philosophical level.  i definitely wanted to avoid a lot of the western european sort of themes, design and/or culture simply because i don't necessarily see them as being suitable to the sort of tech-level and time frame of this particular campaign world.  there are other regions that are not within the bounds of the starting campaign area that may have cultures much more akin to gaelic/gaul or viking in tone and feel.  though they would be northeastern from the region in this world.  
i really liked the idea of african-esque centaur and wemic embroiled in a sort of land-war and felt that would make for interesting character dynamics between PCs and NPCs alike (despite the truce, the three races have been battling for a while).  i also liked the idea of evil elves, but i honestly am not a big fan of the drow and they don't fit in to the idea that i have overall.  so elves are a race that will be one of the more dangerous NPC enemy races; but they won't live underground and they don't have jet skin.  :-P