Karasend and the Murkmire

[Ninja D!]

That seems like a great way of doing things.  In this situation for EE, though...well, I don't know what he can do.

[Xeviat]

Talk to the players and decide if that's what they wanted to play. If they want something "classic" in that orcs are bad, it might be simple enough to have the orcs and humans at war again (maybe humans want to extend into the orcwoods?).

[Ninja D!]

That could create interesting tension in the place where the orc is part of human society and governs the territory.

[Raelifin]

I was responding to Xeviat. Sorry for the confusion.

I think that updating the politics of the setting to help mesh with player's expectations would be the best choice.

[Ninja D!]

Maybe there could be different kinds of orcs. Some could be civilized and others raging barbarians and there is no way to tell them apart by looking at them. That way you could both have the orcs you want.

[Kaptn'Lath]

i think just having a redo of the campaign meeting is necessary and re discuss what type of campaign you were planning on doing and what setting you all want to play in. Make sure your all on the same page befour your next session. If there open to your world and the nuances of it then make sure they have the information, don't want to force it on them, but give them all a basic summary of whats different from an RPG generic world (ie. civilized orcs, dwarves come from azers) tho if EE feels its important to him mention killing children is across the line and discuss other lines EE or other players may have (rape, religious genocide)

i think the last session was just caused by a break down in communication, and things got carried away with the children. however i still think the orc "puppet-master" style villan could enhance EE's settings differences. Also if the PCs WANT to be a little evil... make the orcs legit members of a larger merchant guild... removed the race from the problem... simple bad guy merchant train robbery... and the law is cummin!!

[Elemental_Elf]

Thank you all for posting while I have been sniffing far more industrial model glue than I am sure is allowed by the Surgeon General* :P


As a general response to everyone:

I thought about walking away from this setting. I would be lying if I said I felt this setting could take the scale of generic my player's were looking for (they wanted the Core Gods... :wtf: is the point, is about all I could say to that point...) But, as luck would have it, I have decided to trudge ahead and make this 'generic' setting, albeit with much use of a Creative License.

So I have decided, after talking to my players, that this world is to be what I will call 'Generic minus-minus' meaning, this world will still have an outward appearance of being a 'Generic Setting' but will not be bound by what developers in Seattle deem is generic or not. To this end, I will (reluctantly) develop races along a semi-generic path, though my design philosophy is, and always will be, go with the setting, not the outline.


I am in the process of describing how, following the War, the Orcs split into 3 Tribes - The 5 Riverscoast, the Orcwood and the Nomads. Each will differ stylistically and culturally from one another. I intend to treat each as though I were developing a nation for Humans, which in almost all settings I have seen, means quite a bit more than 'dem good, dem bad' (which is far, far from what I intend). Of course by agreeing to this, I now must find a place for several other 'common D&D races' such as Drow and Halflings.

On the plus side, I successfully managed to turn my players into 'Dwarf haters,' thanks mostly to a (now) reoccurring Dwarf enemy (nothing  makes you hate something more than have that something kill your drinking buddy, frame you for the murder and refer to you a Pointy-Heared Hooman and Oak Oak, along with a deep red-neck trucker laugh  :D ).

So, at the end of all things, I have to find a place for some of the more iconic D&D races/creatures but have, in all but name, achieved free creative reign.


Ok, now as for the Orc slaying and the kid killing... Well, I refuse to do a reboot. My players knew my basic intentions (sent them all the info I had and verbally reiterated prior to the game). As far as I can tell, my players had a "gut reaction" to seeing the Orc caravan... Neither wished to call the incident back and just ran with it until its inevitable conclusion... So, essentially, what I have now are two characters that are already wanted for murder, are now actually murderers themselves. In a way, this could be good for the campaign; it will add depth to both the characters and the story. In the short term, this means Normark, and perhaps even all of Karasend will be unsafe for the players. The nearest neighbor nation who isn't populated by Orcs is the Elvish nation of Rifa. So, this country just jumped up to the front of my to-do list.

Now this does not mean everyone in Normark would be upset by the Orc's murder... Heavens no, I am sure many of Ascension's citizens would gladly buy the party a keg of ale and throw a parade in their honor. Orcs were never intended to be popular in Normark, especially not Orcwood Orcs. No, the Orcs from Orcwood are a special breed of Orc... Following the war, it is they who heard Nature Divine's call; it is they who cast down sword and axe; it is they who took up the life of protectors, of cultivators; it is they who took their inner-rage and expressed it through furious love of the Nature Divine. Orcwood Orcs are the least violent of all the Orc tribes, they seek neither war nor glory nor honor. They seek balance in all things.

 To spread their interpretation of Nature Divine's will, they cultivate the natural resources of the Murkmire Forest and bring them to the lands of Man and Elf, for neither can do what the orc does in the forest. The Orcs come out of the forest, across the Ashen Wall and into Normark, baring the bounty of the forest, freely giving it to any that will merely listen to Nature Divine's call. being the last town on the road north, the orcs are especially common in Ascension. When the Orc caravans come, peasants from around the Earldom (and some from even farther) come to the city en-mass. The Peasants love and cherish the gifts brought, for with out the various herbs, many would die of the many illnesses that afflict civilized lands. To the Knights of Ascension, the peasants are all scum, who bring disease and crime with-in the city walls. Merchants despise the Orcs, for they meddle with the Merchants supposed monopolies of certain trade items. The Earl has little time to worry about the comings and goings of peasants but rather, fears the ease of which the Orcs cross from the wild to the civil and what the peasants might do, should the Orcs simply stop coming...


So in conclusion, thank you all for you ideas, I plan on adapting many of them into my campaign and my story (even some that seem contradictory!).


*Please note, over the last few days I have been building a Warhammer 40k Army, Blood Angels to be exact, and let's just say it is emotionally draining when certain unnamed pieces don't cut or glue just right... Very taxing on the soul... Not to mention I take a very liberal stand on the issue of 'how much glue should I use. So please, don't report me as some glue sniffing yahoo, lol :P

[Kaptn'Lath]

On the plus side, I successfully managed to turn my players into 'Dwarf haters,' thanks mostly to a (now) reoccurring Dwarf enemy (nothing  makes you hate something more than have that something kill your drinking buddy, frame you for the murder and refer to you a Pointy-Heared Hooman and Oak Oak, along with a deep red-neck trucker laugh  :D ).

So, at the end of all things, I have to find a place for some of the more iconic D&D races/creatures but have, in all but name, achieved free creative reign.

Ok, now as for the Orc slaying and the kid killing... Well, I refuse to do a reboot. My players knew my basic intentions (sent them all the info I had and verbally reiterated prior to the game). As far as I can tell, my players had a "gut reaction" to seeing the Orc caravan... Neither wished to call the incident back and just ran with it until its inevitable conclusion... So, essentially, what I have now are two characters that are already wanted for murder, are now actually murderers themselves. In a way, this could be good for the campaign; it will add depth to both the characters and the story. In the short term, this means Normark, and perhaps even all of Karasend will be unsafe for the players. The nearest neighbor nation who isn't populated by Orcs is the Elvish nation of Rifa. So, this country just jumped up to the front of my to-do list.

sounds great, glad you where able to keep the group going and feed inspiration from it... sucks about the generic setting, but you can use it as a blank canvas to field test your ideas for YOUR setting... (this comming from a guy making a modular generic setting!)

i love it when player actions lead to more ideas and more opportunities...

[Ninja D!]

When will we see more about this setting?