The Campaign Builder's Guild

They were partially inspired by the imagery and dualism of Angels and Devils. Partly though it has to do with my obsession with avian humanoids (they tend to show up in anything I do >_< ), but yes, Angel and Devil were part of the inspiration.

Engel is actually the german word for Angel, it also happens to be on of my favorite words. The name Daev-El is something of a cop out really, I wanted to name the race something short (I like short words) and El made sense, the name Eng-El was easy and fit because of the influence, the Daev-El was mostly chosen to fit with how I was trying to portray them.

As for pronunciation the Eng-El are pronounced Eng El the Daev-El similar to Dave-El

This leads to another thing, namely me naming things (sorry couldn't resist). I'm not particularly good at it, I have a strong dislike for long words, anything longer then four syllables, even four is sometimes pushing it. So mostly I just rip names from mythology or stuff that sounds cool to me, often I come up with a name of mishearing something :p

Thanks Nomadic and thanks Steerpike glad you found them well executed :D

Another idea I had was for a world where life is fairly difficult due to it being mainly metal.

The native creatures of the world would have lots of ceramic and organic metal body parts. Non-metallic elements would be fairly scarce.

Not too sure what else would happen on this world, seems almost like a small Plane of Metal.

Something I've noticed is that races tend to nearly always be based on mammals, or some extraplanar race, with mammalian features. Very few races really have features that are normally attributed to Plants or Birds, Reptiles fare a little better, but usually this is due to draconic influences.

I the world of the Second Idea, all the races would be fairly different. Each race would have main features (Human, Mammal, Plant, Bird, Reptile) and then would have minor features from of a different kind (Human/Plant or Reptile/Bird). As an Example, Humans only have Human features, while the Dro Mae have major Reptile features and minor Bird features (Reptile/Bird).

Another thing that set me thinking is that the Undead, tend to always be of human stock, they just don't seem to effect other races. There are some exceptions, Lichs and Vampires, but those are usually powerful undead. The base types of Undead never seem to come from other races, you never see a Dwarf Zombie or an Elf Wight, hell even an Orc Vampire would be something different.

Something else I was thinking about Undead would to stay away from the common kinds (Zombie, Lich, Vampire, Wight, Ghost/Phantom). To do this I was going to base these creatures around common groups of themes associated with Death. The first few group of themes I decided on would be the Night, The Moon and Space (like outer space), the second would be Fire, Darkness, the color Black.

HAH!
there I do ok.  There are more hobyt and Orcash undead than human undead in Celtricia.  I even referenced a Klaxik (dwarf) wight in one of the earlier igbarian notes.  

Alright I'm trying to compile a list of all the different kinds of terrains and geographical features that can be found, along with different "fantastic terrain" kind of things, stuff that doesn't exist in the real world, floating rock islands as an example.

Terrain:
Desert: Ice (antartica), Sand, Tundra, Badlands
Forest: Tropical, Temperate broadleaf/coniferous
Ocean/Islands: Archipelago, Islands
Cave: "Underdark" style,
Mountainous: Mountains, foothills, moors,
Planes: Savannah, Grasslands
Wetlands: Swamp(marshes, bog, fen), Mangroves, Everglades

Fantastic Terrain:
Flying/floating islands of rock
Giant Animals
Permanent feature: Volcanic area, Storm
Elemental plains (Water world, Air world, Fire world)
Ruins: Ancient, Underwater
Supernatural Area: Wild magic area,
Acid: Lakes, Oceans, Waterfall
Unconventional: Land(Gears, Skulls)

[ooc] Thanks Steerpike, I hope you don't mind if you do let me know, I edited my post to contain your suggestions[/ooc]

Underdark areas might qualify, as would mountainous ones, as well as grasslads and savannah, swamps and wetlands generally (marshes, bogs, fens, etc).  More fantastic areas might include crystalline regions, huge ruins, hellish/supernatural or "magic" areas ("wild magic zones" etc), and even more bizarre stuff (a landscape made entirely of skulls; oceans of acid; planes of "pure chaos"; a realm made entirely of gears, like Mechanus...).

Quote from: LlumSomething I've noticed is that races tend to nearly always be based on mammals, or some extraplanar race, with mammalian features. Very few races really have features that are normally attributed to Plants or Birds, Reptiles fare a little better, but usually this is due to draconic influences.

I the world of the Second Idea, all the races would be fairly different. Each race would have main features (Human, Mammal, Plant, Bird, Reptile) and then would have minor features from of a different kind (Human/Plant or Reptile/Bird). As an Example, Humans only have Human features, while the Dro Mae have major Reptile features and minor Bird features (Reptile/Bird).

Another thing that set me thinking is that the Undead, tend to always be of human stock, they just don't seem to effect other races. There are some exceptions, Lichs and Vampires, but those are usually powerful undead. The base types of Undead never seem to come from other races, you never see a Dwarf Zombie or an Elf Wight, hell even an Orc Vampire would be something different.

Something else I was thinking about Undead would to stay away from the common kinds (Zombie, Lich, Vampire, Wight, Ghost/Phantom). To do this I was going to base these creatures around common groups of themes associated with Death. The first few group of themes I decided on would be the Night, The Moon and Space (like outer space), the second would be Fire, Darkness, the color Black.

Or you could get even crazier and instead relate undead to life instead of death. I mean, after all they are the undead. Imagine someone who is brimming with energy seemingly more alive than most others. Then you find out that it is because of the mass infusion of life energy that they seem this way and in fact are not "truly" among the living.

Quote from: Llum

Quote from: DrizztrocksI think that the first idea would fit nicely into it, make an interesting part, as it doesn't seem like enough to fit in by itself.

  The second, I don't know, it might be alright.

That's kinda funny because I was thinking the exact opposite myself.

Here's an idea I had for a race

Arachnae

Arachnae are similar to humans in shape, except they have four extremely long multi-jointed spider legs growing from their back, two under the ribs and two at the shoulder blades.

Their bodies are extremely light, their skin is actually a thin carapace, they have no bones in their bodies. Their jaws are also different in that while they look like a normal humans, they actually have a pair of mandibles inside their mouths, not visible upon first impressions. The mandibles can extend out about a foot from their mouths at full extent.

They also have the ability to secret a web-like substance from all the pores in their body. This has led to the development of a skill called Web Wings. Web Wings are when strands of web form a wing-like membrane between two of the spider legs coming out of an arachnae's back. Theses wings can be used to glide, stop falls and fly.

The Arachnae also live in symbiosis with another race, the Armen. Armen resemble three foot long sentient centipedes, they're about three inches in diameter. The Arment live inside the Arachnae, exciting and entering through two small holes in their torso's. The placement of the holes in unique to each individual.

In return the Armen help reproduce the Arachnae, when an Arachnae implants an Armen egg into a human (usually though some hole, such as the throat or a wound in the torso). After the Arment hatches it transforms the human into an Arachnae to serve as its host.

    Perfectly awesome.

Quote from: LlumThe Arachnae also live in symbiosis with another race, the Armen. Armen resemble three foot long sentient centipedes, they're about three inches in diameter. The Arment live inside the Arachnae, exciting and entering through two small holes in their torso's. The placement of the holes in unique to each individual.

In return the Armen help reproduce the Arachnae, when an Arachnae implants an Armen egg into a human (usually though some hole, such as the throat or a wound in the torso). After the Arment hatches it transforms the human into an Arachnae to serve as its host.

     That is one of the most frikin creepy awesome things i've ever read. Sort of.

 

Quote from: DrizztrocksThat is one of the most frikin creepy awesome things i've ever read. Sort of.

Glad you think so, I found it was kinda creepy when I thought it up

Since I removed The Aberration from Divergence, all that information might end up eventually. Unless I make another thread (doubtful in the near future).

Two other ideas I had were, for the world that magic comes from the sky, the Pyramid city, its main population will something similar to a D&D Kobold (mammal with some lizard like features) with a very feudal warrior society, where rank is based on draconic heritage (ether born with, or stolen by drinking the blood of sleeping dragons). Kobold Samurai would be a somewhat apt description.

The second idea I had was a backdrop of The Aberration, and for Divergence in total, but since I removed it I'll just post it here. The premise is a war that's been fought for all eternity, since the dawn of the universe. The two sides would be "Cold" and "Warmth". The "Cold" side wants to halt the expansion of the universe, freeze everything in its tracks and the "Warmth" side wants to constantly expand and push farther and farther. The two sides always fight against each other.

 

Here is a way to make the second idea work.  The world below is infested by zombies, but the ones from Dawn of the Dead, where if they bite you, you turn into one.  That way, the remains of the old societies are still down there, and some people risk infection to try to gain treasure, but the zombeis can't get up so most people live in the special cities
from
EE

Quote from: EvilElitestHere is a way to make the second idea work.  The world below is infested by zombies, but the ones from Dawn of the Dead, where if they bite you, you turn into one.  That way, the remains of the old societies are still down there, and some people risk infection to try to gain treasure, but the zombeis can't get up so most people live in the special cities
from
EE

That's a pretty good idea, for the second idea I decided to focus more on barbarians Vs city feel to it. However there's a tribe of barbarians that act very similar to zombies, they travel in a great pack, they attack everything they meet, they never stop.

It would also explain why nobody goes down, and yet why the cities exist in the first place
from
EE

With the barbarians, all kinds of monsters and crazy plants the ground is a pretty dangerous place to be, especially without magic.

The barbarians all have certain ways to cope with the dangers, this lets them live on the ground. Be it the safety in numbers of the zombie barbarians or something else.

Quote from: LlumAnother thing that set me thinking is that the Undead, tend to always be of human stock, they just don't seem to effect other races. There are some exceptions, Lichs and Vampires, but those are usually powerful undead. The base types of Undead never seem to come from other races, you never see a Dwarf Zombie or an Elf Wight, hell even an Orc Vampire would be something different.

In my group there's an old inside joke about Zombie Bugbears. I was DMing one night and putting my PCs through a fairly typical undead infested Dungeon. In one room my PCs were facing off against several undead, more undead than I had minis for, so I slapped down the first humanoid mini I could grab, it happened to be a Bugbear. During the battle, the Bugbear went on a crit rampage, I mean he was scoring crits every turn. The PCs couldn't touch him, they were rolling straight ones. In fact the PCs did so badly, they had to RETREAT out of the room, to escape the wrath of the Bugbear Zombie. Since that day, Bugbear Zombie has just been a catch-phrase/inside-joke to describe creatures that are way more powerful than they should be... Wow, that sounds lame. Meh, such is the nature of inside jokes.

At any rate...

Quote from: LlumSecond Idea

The second idea is a world where the ground is too dangerous to live, monsters and barbaric tribes travel across the land. Rampant growth has caused plants to grow very fast and new kinds of plants have evolved to catch and prey on people.

This caused people to build upwards, all towns are built on huge pillars, or the top few tiers of tiered pyramids, stuff like that. To help protect them magic rains down from the sky, sometimes physically sometimes metaphorically. The higher you go, the stronger magic is, however once you get down to the surface, magic stops working.

This has lead to a strange kind of balance, civilizations can fend off monsters and barbarians but can't expand because there magic stops working on the ground. However while the barbarians can't topple the cities they control all the natural resources. So barbarians trade building materials and some food for things built by the cities.

The balance isn't perfect, this leaves a bit of tension. A barbarian horde could potentially find some way to topple a city, or a city could develop a way to push back the wilds.

In this setting I would see air travel by means of magic being fairly easy, so flying carpets, magical zeppelins and flying mounts would be common for traveling between cities.

Hands down this is a really cool and evocative idea. The idea reminds me of Sharn, from Eberron except less civilized, more barbaric, more magical.  Sadly, it also reminds me of the Jetsons, except more of a 19th Century Arabic Jetsons... Anyways, I'm fascinated by the idea.

I approve of the first idea more. I think you should spend time on both these ideas in amounts of effort that are appropriate to you.

Not acting on one or the other seems like such a waste. And sure, you could think about developing these two into one single idea, but I don't think the gravity of the first idea could be maintained if melded with the second.