The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ic+Of the Death of the World]"The sages have long noted how the world has been dying. And yet, even as every generation laments the entropy that permeates everything, we trudge on, one generation following the next. Arga may be dying, but we, us mortals, seem to live on. I have no doubt that centuries from now, our future will speak of our paranoia, of how we feared a world far more benign than their own."

-Librarian Alkosh Vera of Cimmer


"Some fear this so-called death of the world, but they are fools. It is a not a curse, but a gift. What these weaklings fail to see is that as Arga fades, its energies must go some where, and where better than to those that are worthy, such as I! Oh yes sacrifices may have to be made, but can there be a price for the power to control that which makes a world breath?"

-Ilzareth the Charred


"And the Heavens so blessed the Seven Saints, to save the Souls and Vessels of Mortal-kind and to deliver them from this World of Death."

-Excerpt from the Book of Holy Promises[/ic]

Quote from: Leetz@ Elemental Elf - would it be asking to much if you could color the larger map I posted the same way? I only have the most basic of photo editing programs as my computer is also, for a lack of a better word - basic. (If you want to throw in any extra flourishes while keeping with the look, go for it.)

Here's the larger image :)   I can adjust the ocean color so it is darker or lighter, if you so desire.

Oh, nice map. And yes, darkening the ocean makes a huge, huge difference. :D

So good job to both of you :D

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What do the automatons look like? Is the Duras' fear of technology limited to mechanical inventions, or does it extend to other forms of tech?

[ooc]For the automatons I was influenced, visually, heavily by the Phyrexians from the older editions of Magic: The Gathering.

At one time they were beautiful machines: the pinnacle of Old Duran engineering and craft. But now, after centuries and centuries of neglect and madness, they are anything but. Their once golden frames have blackened and twisted with age. They have adorned themselves with skulls, teeth, and skins from slain mortals and have repaired and augmented themselves with blades, spikes, hooks, and razors.

Their internal "engines" once radiated warm white light, but now they emanate a sickly red. They range in size from small, maybe 1 foot machines that may have once been cooks or house servants all the way up to huge siege-machines the size of a town. Luckily for Arga, however, they seem to have no desire to leave Old Dura.

Culturally, the Dura are still wracked with guilt and sorrow over the murder of most of their race and live a religious, spartan existence removed from most of Arga.

However, one of the class or archetypes for the Dura is that of the Gear-Breakers, young Dura who leave the Holds and travel across Arga to do battle in Old Dura with the mad machines. While this is basically a death sentence, it is still a revered and honored charge.  [/ooc]

[ic=Duran Character Archetypes]Duran Gear-Breaker - To you and your family's great honor, you have been anointed as a Gear-Breaker, a Khaza Drum as it is said in the old tongue. After decades of physical and mental training you have been found worthy and prepare to be sent out into Arga to do battle with the metal demons that once murdered your people. You have booked passage on a Merlunan trade-cog and you leave the Holds within the week. While you have little experience with the outside world, you are confident that your training, your Duran equipment, and the blessing of your gods you will succeed and survive.  

Starting Stuff - Most importantly, your family's heirloom warhammer Arazh. In addition to that, a warm cloak and traveling clothes, maps, guides, and studies of Arga and its peoples, miscellaneous items - rope, rations, a lamp, a flask of oil, sleeping gear, two vials of rust ichor, prayer beads, a cheap knife, and bag of salt.

Moru Vagabond - You left the confines of the Holds weeks into your training as a Gear-Breaker and stowed away on the first ship you found. For years you worked on various boats and in many ports learning things you never dreamed of far in the north - like the sweet, sweet taste of grog. However, fate is never kind, and recent events, specifically being an exorberant outstanding bar tab, have forced you to get out of Fell as soon as Duranly possible. With little more than what you can carry, including your wits, you once again stow away in the dead of night to an unknown port.

Starting Stuff - A half-drank jug of grog and the hangover from the night before, well-worn traveling clothes and water-proof cloak of fish scales, a crude dagger and sap, a handful of coins, and a pouch of hune-sugar - which you hope will fetch a nice price in a shady market.[/ic]

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[ic=Vorr Character Archtypes]Vorr Steelshaper - You are a Vorr of Norsund, and you are proud. Since you were, you trained under a gruff but wise Steelshaper, those of your people who blessed with the gift of unsurpassed metallurgy. But now things have changed, and not for the better. Your old master lies dead at the hands of unknown fiends and the local manlings have accused you of this crime. Evading capture or worse, you escaped into the wilds, and after months of travel, you have arrived at the city of Sanctum, where you hope to sell your services and skills to the highest bidder.

Starting stuff - A ratty pair of trousers and the stench of months of bathless travel. Besides your dour mood and cynical attitude, you do not have much - a novice knowledge of Steelshaping, a heavy chipped axe, a few coins, a good quality smiths hammer, and the old Steelshaping scrolls of your master which you have not managed to decipher.

Runaway Slave - You were born in a cage and spent your entire life rowing within the rank bowels of a slavers galley. But now you are free. The mutiny aboard your former home had left all dead or dying save for you - for you are Vorr and you are strong. The time has come to take vengeance upon the manlings, the cruel people who chained you and whipped you. While vengeance is utmost on your mind, it may have to wait as you evade bounty hunters and other slavers who want you dead or alive.

Starting Stuff - A loin cloth, the manacles still upon your wrists, a heavy length of chain that you have found to be quite the formidable weapon, the unparalleled strength of a slave rower, and the rage that burns in your savage heart.[/ic]

Hey. I always have trouble wrapping my head around campaigns that attempt to describe themselves through in-character text, but you have expanded with a few more actual descriptions now so i will join in with some comments.
The map is really neat; really helps evoke the feeling of the land falling apart. The Broken Sea does seem pretty cluttered, but i guess that was the point so can't really critize that... I especially like the chain of islands/broken land between Old Dura and the Vast. Lantern Kingdoms has a nice ring to it :)
Dura: solid blue eyes seems a slightly odd and not terribly interesting idiosyncrasy to make them different from classical dwarves, while their fanatic penitence and anti-technological beliefs are pretty awesome. They do seem to have moved awfully far? From the middle continent to one of the top-most peninsulas? Seems like a pretty difficult exodus. Are Lilix and Pem Poxa still active and protected from automatons?
Vorr: Can't really envision their faces, could use a description of that. Are they "basically" minotaurs? I realize they are probably quite different from the stereotype, but visually i mean. Is Steelshaping magical? It seems to hint at it with the scrolls and such. Besides their metallurgy, would Vorr culture be considered primitive (from an objective point of view)?  
EDIT: (Also, there is a tiny error where you have written "make craft" in the second-last paragraph; thought you might want to fix that.)

I like how magic and gods die out along with the kingdom. especially how the mages have to find alternative and more complex ways to access their power. I have never liked the "Gods walk the Earth" idea (a matter of personal taste of course), but it probably won't get too much out of hand if they are weakened. What do they do?

Generally, i like what i have read and might even try to convince myself to read the small character snippets now my interest has been awakened :D
Reminds me slightly of my own setting, only a bit more dystopian and grim perhaps. But evokes a nice sense of wonder and strangeness which i think you were going for; something i would very much like to achieve with my own setting so kudos for that.
The Archetypes are a good idea to illustrate some of the facets of each race. It seems you have an idea for what system you want to use seeing as you list equipment?

@ C Crow - first, thanks a ton for leaving a comment. Second, hopefully I should be able to answer your questions.

Dura - At its peak, the Duran empire stretched across nearly all the central continents, so in order to flee their enemies, they had to go far north. Illix, Pem Poxa, and other places close to Old Dura have been spared from attack simply because the automatons don't seem to be willing or able to leave the depths of Old Dura.

And yeah, they're basically dwarves in the physical sense, not in the ale-swigging, Scottish sounding, WoW or Tolkien way.

Vorr - This maybe lame, but visually, I was thinking the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.  Another influence was the Panserbjorn from His Dark Materials and their relationship with their armor.

As for the Vorr culture - it really doesn't exist. Vorr are all extremely and fiercely independent and are almost always loners (Besides those born into slavery, which is somewhat common, given their strength.) And yes, most of the other races see the Vorr as inferior, given their bestial appearance. For the Vorr, I was going for a people that where "noble savages" - they may be uncouth and wild, but they hold personal honor and pride above all else. But they are just as intelligent and capable as any other mortal race despite what other make them out to be.

Steelshaping is magic, but more more along the lines of spiritual or shamanistic magic. That's still in the works.

I'm really excited about fleshing out the magic system even further. I want a really deep system of give and take that will further help flesh the world out. What I mean by that is that all magic comes with penalties - madness, mutation, aging, etc. I just need to figure them out and figure out what the different magic systems will be - I was thinking one based purely on damage, another based on "nothingness", another based on dreams and shadows, maybe one based on necromancy, and who knows what others. I'm open to suggestions on schools/types of magic.

As for the Gods Walk the Earth, it's really only one, and he's only a half-god, and he's insane and quite content ruling Pem Poxa. And everything else is still in the air and/or my brain.

Oh, and I've been making this with a boiled and modified down version of 3e DnD in mind.

Hmmm, I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but once again, thanks for commenting, I hope this cleared some things up.
 

I really like the archetype examples. The Dura seem interesting and a refreshing move away from the usual World of Warcraft variety.

I like the Beauty and the Beast look for the Vorr. Actually, I rather love the idea.

Eh, I like my magic system but I think your idea for one based on nothingness sounds interesting. Dreams seem necessary for a school of magic, I think you'll have an interesting way to make that your own. (Perhaps penalty such as aging, madness, or mutation would depend on the school of the practitioner?)

I am very interested in seeing more of the automatons and a bit more on the religions.

I like where this is going.

I haven't commented yet, but I am fascinated by the idea of the world dying. It puts a different look on morals-whats the point in saving the world if its just gonna die anyway? And priests and paladins. Why would you worship any gods if their just gonna die?

  I also really like the idea of anti-technological dwarves. Their core dwarves pysichally, but otherwise they are entirely different. I really like it.

@ Atsisodhi - What kind of magic system are you using?

This is what I've been thinking so far - each school/discipline of "magic" is extremely specialized and may have only one place where it is taught and studied. I want to keep magic something that's, well, magical - something rare and exciting that the players will actually get excited about and not something that's ho-hum and mundane as I think magic has become in most settings. Here is an incomplete list of some of the orders I was thinking about

The Athemancers of Fell - With magic and spells based on nothingness, there guys have been kind of hard to define. Deep down, they are all tired of Arga and how it continues to die and strive to seek peaceful solace in nothingness. Cynical and fatalist to the bone, their magic could possible be somewhat necromantic with motifs and themes of bone, dust, cold, and silence. (These guys always keep veering towards the Dustman of Planescape.) Unfortunately, this kind of magic drains the life from the Athemancers themselves, aging them extremely fast (although aging does not go hand in hand with death for them.).

The Sorcerers of Illix - (not Sorcerers in the DnD class sense) Manipulators of shadows and thoughts, these guys could be summed up as evil illusionists. The Sorcerers are very weird, for as they progress in the power, there sanity slowly slips away and they become madder and madder. Themes could revolve around shadows, nightmares, insanity, and hedonism. Visually, they bleach their skin white, shave their heads, and tattoo their lips and fingers black. The Sorcerers are all power hungry schemers, but hold a fierce loyalty and patriotism to their city of Illix.

Haven't Though of a Name Yet - The **** follow no specific school of magic, but instead tap into the raw power that the world releases as it dies. Pure energy and damage would be their domain - greenish-black flames and other strange effects. But just like the others, this comes with a price. As they tap deeper and deeper into the entropic death throes of Arga, they run the risk of being effected as well, this being in the form of mutations of any kind - being engulfed in flames permanently, having an arm go cripple or mutate to monstrous proportions, growing another eye somewhere, etc.  

There are a few more I would like to implement, but they are so rough at this point they will no doubt change past recognition, so I feel like it's kinda pointless describing them at this point.

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