The Campaign Builder's Guild

Working on writing up a history of the setting that I can read to the players before the game. At about 2 pages right now. Will post when it's done. Just having a hard time describing the first encounter with the monsters.

Also narrowing down things a bit for Character creation. I'm going to use D&D 5e and here's the restrictions/Guidelines I'm making:
- Characters will be 1st level (Considering starting at 3rd just to have them have all the 3rd level stuff)
- Humans Only
- No Monks (D&D Monks just don't fit the setting... Maybe if I was running a game in Jarletia)
- No Warlocks (Demons are not something anyone believes to be real just yet, and currently they aren't)
- No Draconian Bloodline for Sorcerers (No Dragons except in Myths... yet. Still seriously considering removing Sorcerers all together)
- Rangers do not have a favored enemy
- Clerics can use whatever weapons they want, no silly "Blunt Only" restriction. If they're proficient they can use it.

Various ranks within the Church from lowest to Highest

The banners/badges depicting the church hierarchy are a nice touch.

Are these ranks a linear progression or are some involved in different issues. E.g. will the character be progressing through all ranks, or do some ranks split. It would seem that the Chronicler would be on a different track than the Hunters, for example?

Quote from: LD
The banners/badges depicting the church hierarchy are a nice touch.

Are these ranks a linear progression or are some involved in different issues. E.g. will the character be progressing through all ranks, or do some ranks split. It would seem that the Chronicler would be on a different track than the Hunters, for example?

Yeah it's not entirely Linear. The Hunters are their own order within the Church and while a Hunter may go on to become High marshal or the like, it's not that likely. Though the Lord Chronicler does work closely with the Hunters since part of the Hunters job is also to gather information on the monsters, and the Chroniclers record and keep that info.

So yeah, these aren't all the ranks and they're not all the branches either. Just some of the important, pertinent ones.

Hmmm, just realizing that with the Church being so prominent in my setting I should actually work on developing the religion a bit more. Never gotten this far in a Setting or really cared about it. But I think it will be needed for this one.

Definitely going to need a Creation "Myth" to go with my Omnipotent Being.

And here I thought I was nearly done.

I'm curious if the Church has other armed wings or if it's relegated to the hunters, because if that's the case, what systems do they have in place to keep this corp of hardened warriors in line? I'm thinking of the eventual fate of the Templars in Dragon Age (and I guess of the Templars in real life) where the religious military order decides they'd be much more efficient without all of the clerical trappings and revolts against the religious body that formed them. You imply that there's no requirement to actually be an adherent of the Church to join the Order, so what exactly keeps them loyal? Do they have their own forts and chapterhouses and the like, or do they rely totally on Church infrastructure to continue their duties?

If the Church does have other armed forces (since they seem to have some way of controlling the Emperor), why bother propping up a secular state to begin with? Given its apparent reach and power, why hasn't the Church simply established itself as an ecclesiocracy and started calling the shots directly?

Also, I don't know if "so that their voracity may be investigated" was a typo or not, but I found it to be a hilarious pun either way.

Quote from: Rhamnousia
I'm curious if the Church has other armed wings or if it's relegated to the hunters, because if that's the case, what systems do they have in place to keep this corp of hardened warriors in line? I'm thinking of the eventual fate of the Templars in Dragon Age (and I guess of the Templars in real life) where the religious military order decides they'd be much more efficient without all of the clerical trappings and revolts against the religious body that formed them. You imply that there's no requirement to actually be an adherent of the Church to join the Order, so what exactly keeps them loyal? Do they have their own forts and chapterhouses and the like, or do they rely totally on Church infrastructure to continue their duties?

If the Church does have other armed forces (since they seem to have some way of controlling the Emperor), why bother propping up a secular state to begin with? Given its apparent reach and power, why hasn't the Church simply established itself as an ecclesiocracy and started calling the shots directly?

Also, I don't know if "so that their voracity may be investigated" was a typo or not, but I found it to be a hilarious pun either way.

As I'm developing more of the actual religion and of the Creation Myth and such I'm getting these questions answered for myself. The worship Ceal as an Avatar of Vahn, the Grand Designer and Great Organizer, who cherishes, above all else, order. And The Church strives to help maintain that order. Not necessarily Justice or Fairness, but order (though they have found, and were pushed towards the idea that order is best maintained through keeping people happy and content as opposed through force of arms). And it was Ceal himself who passed onto them their tenets and instructions. So a lot of it is simply "This is how God wants things." Ceal also defined the manner in which the Crown would pass from Emperor to Emperor, and as such that relationship is also a holy writ.

Now, There's nothing to say that what you comment on won't happen, but it hasn't yet. The Church itself has no official armed forces of it's own, but it does help command the Imperial Forces, again as part of what Ceal set down before his death. They "Control" the Emperor because they are who chooses the new Emperor, and the last Emperors who went against the Church did not come out of that well, both physically and in the eyes of the people.

As to what keeps the Hunters Loyal... Coin mostly, and the various perks that being employed by the church grants them. Agents of the Church, especially Hunters, are Welcomed all across the Taenic Empire and rarely have to pay for the best food or lodging. And yes, they rely totally on the Church Infrastructure, they are not like the Templars. They do not have forts or separate chapterhouses.

As for Voracity... That was an unintended pun based on my mixing up Voracity and Veracity.