The Campaign Builder's Guild

It sounds vaguely Eberronish to me... are there high amounts of low magic, then?

Also, with magic and Psionics, you said that magic items will boost magical power. How will this work?

02. Characters

"So, you want to be like me? Wield a big sword and a big gun and save lives? Well, let me tell you, it's not easy. If it's not the kobolds chasing you down, you're pushing goblins off a cliff. If it's not them, then Neo Russia's up to her old tricks again and invading Western Europe. And don't even get me started on the cultists in the States; they're like damn roaches - you step on one and it keeps on ticking. So you step on it again. And again. And again..." -- Half-Celestial warrior Rion Highborn, explaining to a student the dangers of adventuring.

In A Shattered Earth, players from all walks of life take up either the bullet or the blade in an attempt to help restore the world to its natural state and maybe gain some respite. Elven gunslingers walk through the blasted deserts of Arizona, The United States Marine Corps employs a divison of Sorcerers to protect New Exeter, who throws spells at cultists with flair and an "Oo-rah!" for patriotism. German skirmishers employ HK G36 Assault Rifles and psionic powers, using them to keep the ever-encroaching Illithids at bay.

The campaign revolves around a group of characters - The PCs, of course - who sets off on an adventure that can lead them through the underwater ruins of New York City, take them through a portal to the heart of Asia, or even fight off a monster so huge and terrifying that it could only be best described as godlike in stature and power. Government coverups from as far back as the 1960s, a secret Extra-planar organization hellbent on taking over the Earth, the Blood War spilling over in South America, King Arthur uniting Europe under a dragon-blooded fist; all of these are not only possible, but could really happen in this campaign. A Shattered Earth mixes old legends with new tales of valour and courage, and sets the PCs up on an adventure that could take them across the world and back in only a few months, or take them to the Orient and finish what the Seven started.

Characters are expected to be any race and any class, and the DM should encourage unconvential characters as much as possible. If a players wants to be a Half-Fiend Paladin that specializes in submachine guns, by all means let him, but make sure he's got a viable background (for the guns, not the Half-Fiend part).

Speaking of background, history and what people learn from it is an essential theme in this campaign. Character's backgrounds should be looked back on frequently by the DM, and an adventure that takes the PCs through one character's history could end up being the entire campaign in itself as the character learns that the memories of his past aren't what they really are - his life living in New Haven could really be implanted memories by the post-apocalyptic Illuminati, who are trying to clone the Seven and use them to take over the world.

02a. From Strength to Soul; Ability Scores

Ability scores are handled differently from normal. For one, this is a high-power variant, given the small amount of magical items available in the setting overall. As such, there are two methods for ability scores:

1. Roll 4d6, reroll 1s and drop the lowest die. This method is better for average scores, as your lowest score will be 6 but your highest can still be 18. This system is better for DMs who don't want mega-high stats from the onset.

2. All stats start at 8, and you have 40 points to distribute between them. Method 2 is my preferred method. As I said, magical items are rare, and those that grant you ability enhancements can be even rarer.

Note that these are merely guidelines, and if you wish to stick with the standards, by all means, go ahead. However, note that any example NPCs in this campaign setting will use these two methods for ability scores (rather than the Elite Array or some such).

02b. The Neo-Races of Earth

"Oh, Feywyn over there? He's an elf. Been one for over a few hundred years, I imagine. He tells me stories of a world where humans died out years ago. Crazy; said last time he saw anything close to a human was his half-elf cousin on his mother's side or some swill like that... -- Rena Zepplin, Neo-Berlin Security Force, talking to new recuruits in a bar late one night.

When the Gates opened, the Outsiders came in from across the multiverse. Beings once considered Races of Legend stepped through these gates, and they brought with them their culture and heritage. For forty years, they have been integrating themselves into human society, helping to rebuild and restructure it into a unified nation. There have been difficulties, mostly with some races being hostile and intent on destroying humanity rather than helping it, but for the most part things have been going on well for the Outsiders and for humanity.
 [note="Behind the Curtain: The Outsiders"]The truth of the matter is, however, that the Outsiders aren't in fact Outsiders at all, at least in game terms. Elves still have the Humanoid/Elf type, and there's no Outsider type tacked on to them. Thus, spells like Dismissal wouldn't work on an elf... at least not entirely.

You see, as many Outsiders came from the Outer Planes as they did Alternate Material Planes, and thus, alternate multiverses. When the Exeter Meteors impacted, they opened portals to not one, but many different alternate universes. Two Dwarves that share the same clan name may not even be from the same universe, and each one may in fact be the same person, but not know it. This creates interesting story ideas for non-human characters (the general theory is that the Earth material plane is the only one left with living humans), whereupon they encounter their counterparts from Alternate Worlds. These doubles may be diamatrically opposed in alignment (i.e. two opposing Clerics), exactly the same, or possess different mental traits, but they are still fundamentally the same.

Also, Clerics do not have to worship the God/Gods of this universe. There are enough stable portals to Alternate Worlds that would allow a Gnome, for example, to pray to Garl Glittergold for his spells. Alternatively, Clerics can simply venerate and uphold their domains.

Spells like Dismissal - however rare they are in this world - can in a way effect them, but only if they are natives to their home plane (Not born on this Material Plane). However, against such spells, these characters get a +10 bonus on their saves to resist being propelled back into their home plane, as this plane is similar enough to their own that it's very difficult to shunt a person back to their old home.

Note that in most cases humans from other worlds are non-existant - perhaps they are too primitive or have died out. Another campaign idea would be one where the Humans rule over the non-human races with an iron fist, and when a portal in their plane opens to ours, they are eager to step through and declare their dominance over this "inferior" version of mankind.

Lastly, there are three major groups of Outisders that have come through the Gates; they are discussed below. These major groups of Outsiders are usually what PCs and NPCs are from if they choose to be non-human, and these are the Portals that are still stable enough and open.[/note]
Finally, before the races are detailed in full, note that there are only three major groupings of races here, and these in turn come from four specific universes. In theory, so many Gates were opened at once upon Second Impact that it's impossible to determine just how many variants of the same races there are. There could be hundreds, even thousands, of variants, and as few as one and as many as 10,000 could have come through at once; the numbers are impossible to tell. Part of the reason is the fact that no technology is in enough working condition to scan the planet (it's a well-known fact that most of the satellites orbiting earth survived Meteorfall - including the International Space Station - but many facilities that control or coordinate with those satellites has been destroyed, looted, or fallen into disrepair), and another is that humanity is too focused on survival to worry about the ever-increasing number of Outsiders.

The reason that there are exactly four universes with stable-enough portals to allow the Outsiders in, can be traced back to the Meteorfall itself. When the meteors impacted Earth, they sent resonant shockwaves across it, opening gates along every convergence point. Due to the irregular shape of the Earth, and the general locations of the fragments upon Impact, there were exactly four spots in which all four resonance waves touched, three of which above stable ground (the last formed ten feet above the former site of London, currently a boiling mass of pure magic). These Resonance Points opened four stable Gates to four seperate alternate universes, allowing interplanar travel between them.

This proved extremely beneficial. As most Gates closed between 1 and 10 days after being formed (and usually shunted people forcefully into this world), these stayed open permenantly, and allowed the races of those Alternate Worlds to come through at their leisure, and also to allow humanity to pass through as well to these other worlds. However, the Concordant Domain Law of 2019 disallowed humans to travel (or escape) through these portals - all effort must be focused on saving the Earth, not escaping from it. Just why this law is existant is questionable - why try to save a world when you can run away from it? The answer is Epicenter, and it's discussed later.

Christopher Gans, a scholar of New Exeter's aristocracy, further boiled down the races of the Gates into three distinct categories; Races of Light, Races of Shadow, and Races of Darkness. These categories are merely opinions expressed by the author on how these Gate races interact with humanity. Predictably, Races of Light seek to help the humans and Races of Darkness seek to impede them at every step. The Races of Shadow are more ambiguous, and at the time of Gans's work, he still hadn't made up his mind about the ones listed there and had simply looped many there.

Christopher had also given names to the four Gate Universes; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Variant races are named via Light/Shadow/Darkness (i.e. Light Elves, Shadow Dwarves, etc.)

ZERO: Prologue

On December 12th, 2012, the four fragments of the Exeter 1482XR73 asteroid impacted the Earth on the poles, the midwestern US, and Beijing, China. The four shockwaves created from the fragments destroyed much of the world's civilization, and at both the convergence points of the shockwaves and at the epicenters of the impacts, portals opened to other worlds. From these portals, creatures from only our imaginations and religions came; Elves, Children of Cthulu, Oni, Phoenixes, Dragons... even mythological humans, originally thought lost in time.

This event, called Second Impact, would be the turning point in human civilization. For the next three years, mankind would fight itself and the new residents from other worlds. Although 3 billion people died in the Impact blast, almost a billion more died in the wars that followed shortly thereafter; if not by gunfire, then by disease, starvation, exposure... things overlooked by the warring governments of the world.

It was also during this time that mankind found latent powers flowing in themselves, in nature, in the very air. People who could harness this power became powerful, through fear or intimidation or skill and benevolence. Many turned to the former two options.

However, there were some who attempted to turn things around. Enter "The Seven", a group of people from across the US that banded together and united mankind rather than use their powers to control the populace. In the year of their adventures, the Seven traveled across the US, righting wrongs and improving the lives of all they touched. Throughout their travels, they learned that much of the strife and increased corruption of the earth was caused by something that lived deep within one of the meteor fragments; in fact, the fragmenting of the Exeter asteroid was intentional, caused by the four creatures that lived within the asteroid.

Together, the Seven underwent a legendary journey that took them to the heart of one of the fragments, and eliminated whatever it was that lurked within; to this day, the Seven have yet to confirm what was within the heart of the Beast, though it is known that they destroyed whatever was inside; on December 25th, 2016, the asteroid fragment that lay within the US detonated, and together the Seven walked out of the inferno that consumed an area almost a mile wide.

Following this event, the corruption that had slowly been working its way across the world ceased just enough for mankind and outerworld denizen to regain its sanity completely. The land that had been tainted in the Western Hemisphere slowly began to become normal again, able to support life (even if barely.) The Seven were regarded as heroes, and the entire North American population - what was left of it - rallied behind them.

Both amused and inspired by this, the people of the world slowly began to work together and start rebuilding what was lost. Standing alongside the Outlanders that wanted to help, the world slowly began to reshape itself back to the way it was. In 2020, the Earth Restoration Project, started by Glen von Stier (one of the Seven), helped people reshape the world. The process was slow, but mankind began to find its footing once again.

But power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Angry with each other over control issues, the Seven broke apart and split to corners of the Earth. Two of them founded New Haven, a city isolated from everything, in the area formerly known as Alaska. Two others founded the City of Zion, near the place where the destroyed asteroid fragment had been. The remaining three stayed in their new home, the town of New Exeter, where they continued to rebuild.

This did leave one question, though; the remaining Exeter fragments. Second Impact had come and gone, but the pieces were still there, and if one fragment seemed to pour so much corruption, then surely the other three would produce the same results. There were problems with this, however; the fragments that annihlated the poles rested under ocean water, and shortly after the Beijing Impact, an almost tangible field of corruption swept across the eastern half of the Eurasian supercontinent that to this day no one has been able to step inside.

Many attempts were made to destroy the underwater asteroids, but with fuel and ammunition running lower every day, the Earth's leaders opted to stop the charade.

Then on 2032, it was as if the Seven had a change of heart about each other. They once again banded together, and went forth upon a ship toward the remains of Antarctica. They sailed her red waters (it was theorized that the blood of those who died in the Impact converged here), and came to the Impact Point... never to be heard from again. Though there was a bright flash of light so intense it made night look like day, shortly after they reached the Point, the Seven were never seen emerging from the Sea. Many who had hoped for their return despaired, but continued to live their legacy.

-- First Lieutenant Kelly McCloud in her Journal of the World's History.

This is where your story comes in.

The year is 2052. Though Earth is still rebuilding, it is by no means close to completion. Most of the land is still lawless, and what's left of humanity has had a tough time adapting to the ever-worsening conditions. Though with the help of the "good" races, they have acquired some footing, many believe that it's a matter of time before humanity dies out. Others have hope, while the rest seem content to live until they can't live anymore.


Will you help turn the tide?
Or will you help it continue forward into Oblivion?

-

Okay, that was a bad intro, but it sets the general idea, right?

-

01. Premise/Introduction

The idea of this campaign was to, simply, blend together the modern world of d20 modern, Dungeons and Dragons, and d20 Apocalypse for flavor. Sprinkle in some anime, video games, and a healthy dose of popular culture as it might be, and I hope you get this game... keyword: Hope.

The reason I made this campaign was because I was tired of the cliché no matter which direction you went. D&D was either too western (Greyhawk, Eberron, FR), too eastern (Oriental Adventures, Rokugan), or failed to mix them in a way I liked. d20 Modern was almost always the "good guys" vs. Crime Syndicates, the Evil Communist Army, or something along those lines. So one night, fueled by desperation and too many viewings of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Hellsing, I created this world - or at least the basis of it. I thought "why not mix my magic with my guns?" and "What happens when you use Psionic Shot with a Beretta?", and also, "Can the Wizard use a PSG-1's Sniper Scope to make a ranged touch attack?" Bascially, I'm taking Magic, sprinkling Machine Guns, and putting a giant "WHAT IF" tag on the whole mess.

I wanted this campaign to be open-ended, but put in enough seeds for any halfway-decent DM to pick up on (i.e. people like me). Whether it be Genetic Experiments, finding out the Gospel of the Seven, or simply a party taking it upon themselves to destroy the meteor fragments (haha), I want it to be possible in this game. I want the characters to be good or evil, or just muck around until the world blows up. I want DMs to have full range of motion, without the limitations of adventure settings but with the stability of the chair they sit on.

That's why I'm posting this here. I want DMs and players alike to help me create this past/future world.

So, how about it? Let's see how far A Shattered Earth can go.

- Glen Galanodel

A Shattered Earth - A D&D Campaign Setting

This is a homebrewed campaign setting that's been stewing in my head for quite a while now. The proposed idea is simple: a post-apocalyptic Earth in the future. However, it's not just any PA Earth; no, this one has Elves; and Dragons; and Illithids; and all manner of D&D stuff, just added to a much different setting; that is, instead of forests and trees, you have ruined cities and skyscrapers. Bards use synthesizers and keyboards instead of harps and lutes; Rangers are armed with FN P90s and dual Colt .45s; Psions are supplemented with computer programs that force their mind to think quicker...

...that is, if they can FIND any of it.

Now, I know that camapign settings like this have been done before; that's why I'm attempting to change that. To many, I bet it'll look like I ripped off the d20 Modern and Apocalypse books, but that's not the case; I'm altering the playing field to be more accomadating to those who A) Don't have d20 Modern/Future/Apocalypse, or B) Don't like the class system in those games, or C) Are just looking for something more different than anything they've ever played before. Oh, and D) Infusing anime and European mythos into D&D, not just Deities and Demigods.

This will be set up in "Chapter Posts". Many of them early on will be short; essentially, what I've done to change classes/races/etc. After a while, I'll get into the world itself, divided by region, country, and continent as best I can. This campaign won't require extensive knowledge of the modern world, but a slight understanding could in theory help.

I hope you enjoy reading this. Posting comments and suggestions would be a great help. (Yeah, and you can post in this thread, too >.> )

===

NegativeOne: Table of Contents

ZERO: Prologue
01. Premise/Introduction
02. Characters
--02a. Ability Scores
--02b. Races
---02b-i. Races of Light
---02b-ii. Races of Darkness
---02b-iii. Races of Shadow
--02c. Classes
---02d. Skills
---02e. Feats
03. Equipment
--03a. Archaic Equipment
--03b. Modern Equipment
04. Magic and Psionics
--04a. The Transparency
--04b. Spell Lists
05. The Shattered Earth
--05a. General Setting
--05b. The United States/North America
--05c. South America and Africa
--05d. Europe
--05e. Asia
--05f. Australia and Antarctica
--05g. The Theme
06. The Variant Rules Listing; or, Miscellany

Hello, I'm kinda new to this site, but I've been working on a campaign world for quite a while now, but I'm just now putting it to paper.

Gaming Systems
I've melded 3.5 and 3.0 with a healthy dose of some House Rules in WotC's boards and UA and pretty much created my own system (I'm probably the only DM that sets a time-limit on what you want to do).

General Gaming History
Let's see... my group started with 2nd Edition a long time ago (okay, not too long... 5 years), but became tired of how it seemed to be and migrated to 3.0 world shortly after graduating middle school. For a long time, I used a heavily-modified map of the Final Fantasy VII world and used it in campaigns (I'm usually DM), and when 3.5 came out I started using the world map from the Ace Combat series of games.

Now, I only have 3 people who RP with me, we use my 3.75 system, and we're running my original homebrew campaign to the floor.

Personal likes and Dislikes
As long as it's balanced, it's fine with me. Over and underpowered things tend to irk me the wrong way.

Strengths and Weaknesses in Game Design
My biggest strength comes from my storylines; usually, every campaign builds off of the other, and by the time the group split up (half went to the other side of the state for college), I had developed a storyline that went on for at least 5000 years, and an entire book filled with ramblings and storyline (which came to be known as The Book of Exalted Darkness).
My biggest weakness is that I tend to ignore rules and ad hoc my own, which usually angers my players (who like things set). I also DM on-the-fly a lot, and most of the storyline in my camapigns stems from that. Also, most of my campaigns have devolved into epic world-spanning wars between kingdoms.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
I have never once used a published setting to the fullest. The closest I've ever come was using Forgotten Realms during 2nd Edition and parts of Greyhawk in 3rd, but otherwise I don't use them, so I can't say if I like/hate them.

Major influences on your world-building
The Internet, Movies, and a lot of anime, along with other people's homebrewed settings. Oh, and some games. Most of it is imagination, though, and I'll fit my outside influences in the way I see it (except for maps; I used to steal maps all the time).