The Plaguelands - Official Thread

[Magnus Pym]

The Vilespread

The Emperium, ruled by Darian II, son of Darian the First who founded the great empire, was thriving. Its lands were generous, its people were ingenious and its scholars knowledgeable. Though there was peace, the sins of greed and jealousy lurk forever at the forefront of man's life. Such negative emotions would trigger an unforeseen event; the fall of the empire.

Binding aliens to one's will was a common practice of the nobles in the Emperium. They were used as lackeys and as a sign of status. If one had alien pets, it usually meant he was an official in charge of some administrative duties. They were regarded with respect. As time passed, they started summoning greater beasts that could handle even more chores, or do strange, but useful things.

Then sin settled in; some within the high spheres of politics became aware that their powers allowed them to have more than what the emperor gave them. In fact, some amongst them thought that they could even take Darian's place. He had no talents with sorcery, he would be easily dispatched.

They banded together and rebelled against the emperor. They wished more possessions and even more power. Darian the Second was restless in attempting to solve the disputes that threatened to divide his empire. He delivered great speeches, gave great gifts and held great feasts. Although it was not enough, he kept doing this, hoping that the rebels would come to reason.

Someday in the 63th year AE (After Emperium, which means after it was created), he held what would be the last party. The rebels had claimed they were ready to enter negotiations and restore peace in the empire. Darian II welcomed them with open arms, happy that his "brothers" were back. During the festivities, many would entertain the emperor and his guests. The rebels had even practiced a theatrical act that they dearly wished Darian would allow them to perform, and so he did.

They sported weird tribal outfits with wooden masks showing expressions of rage, distress and melancholy. They lighted incense the perfume of burning wood. They danced and moved in full circle, accompanied by a band of percussionists not from this land. They ushered words in a language Darian and the crowd did not understand, but this one was impressed, even intrigued.

Then their voices rose, the decibels reaching as high they could. The ground quaked, although softly. The crowd was confused, though still intrigued. The act went on and another quake happened. The crowd seemed pleased with the entertainment and as it continued to quake, even though more strongly each time, they were getting used to it.

Then the marbled floor of the palace fissured. Screams of rage as well as laughter seemed to come from the hole, and it was fiery red. The crowd thought it an illusion, and continued watching in awe as the tribal-disguised rebels were performing their act. The percussions were louder now and more ferocious, as if demanding whatever was within the hole to come out.

And it did, a muscular arm adorned with black claws erupted from the fissure, raking its surrounding and grabbing ahold of the floor. At this moment, panic struck the crowd. An immediate sense of danger befell them. Darian II ordered silence in the room and asked the group to cease their performance, but in vain.

They knelt as the fissure widened, letting out five fearsome beasts. The creatures seemed enraged, mad and malign. At this moment Darian had come to understand that he had been betrayed. He ordered the entertainers executed and called for his greatest warriors to battle the monsters. But nobody, not even their summoners, had foreseen that the beasts would be so insanely powerful.

They spoke in a strange dialect before starting their carnage. Their assault was brutal, they slew everybody, even those who had summoned them into this world. Shortly after, there was only one man left amongst the massacred. The emperor swung his sword, though he only met laughter. He knelt and ushered a last prayer as the dominating figure amongst the beasts took him and crushed his thoracic cage, forcing a fountain of blood out of his orifices.

Then the region was besieged. The cities and their towers fell one by one in only a few weeks. It was a devastating blow on one of the most powerful empire that existed. The magnificence was transformed into horrificence, with rivers of blood; towers of bones; walls of decapitated heads; barren landscapes and vile creatures everywhere.

The Emperium became known as the Plaguelands, a haven of evil and horror.

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]Added some information;
- A spoiler to the Fallen
- The Aenema
- Added drugs, diseases and poisons
- Modified some drugs, diseases and poisons
- The Vilespread Debut[/ooc]

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]As I develop the campaign setting, I come with new ideas or better ways to express myself. Sometimes I will be rewriting some things. Right now, I'm reviewing everything I wrote as of now.

Here's some stuff that has already been modified yesterday and today;
- Sorcery (In the Primer)
- Plagueland's Civilization (In the Primer)
- Rampur and the Scorching Steppes (In the Primer)
- Beyond the Plaguelands (In the Primer)
- The Stretch
- The Bonelands
- The Dead Valley
- Council Of Eternals
- The Deathwatch
- Amon[/ooc]

[LD]

You may want to cut down on the spoilers and consolidate the spoiled material into 1 or 2 spoilers per entry. It's tedious to open every single spoiler under an entry and I don't think it adds much. You could number the secrets as Secret 1, 2, 3, etc. instead.

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]Thanks for the input LD!

Yeah, your idea is probably much better than what's done as of now. I'll change it sometime this week. Though I disagree with your ''dosen't add much'' statement, but that's just me. Since this is my creation maybe it's easier for me to understand, imagine and extrapolate on what's in these than for the readers, for who they might not make sense. If others make the same comment I might think of reviewing all the spoilers.

I'm happy you gave my setting a read and hope that, overall, you liked it. Thanks again for the input![/ooc]

[O Senhor Leetz]

what about something that shows character archetypes or examples of what the PCs would do?

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]Yeah, I thought about writing an ''Adventuring in the Plaguelands'' section. It's in the works :)

Can't believe I didn't do it sooner though.[/ooc]

[SabrWolf]

Can't believe I didn't do it sooner though.

I think that knowing where you're adventuring and what the dangers are before you decide that you WANT to adventure makes a bit more sense than some settings adventuring section locations (typically right up front before they get told where they'll be and what dangers they'll face) in setting books I've read. They assume that you'll want to adventure just because it's Adventure and that's what you do in fantasy settings regardless of how terrifying or death-inducing the lands you're traveling through are.

So the adventuring section coming after the stuff you've already written is a logical progression in my mind. But maybe I'm just weird.

Semi-Random-Thoughts
I also tend to be of the opinion that each setting should involve more aspects than just one variety of story archetype. Whether that's Adventure, Intrigue, Mystery, or good old fashioned Dungeon Crawling (not to be confused with the more broad Adventuring), there should be room for more than one type of game even if the setting does lend itself more strongly to one type or another.

Since I can envision many Adventures in Plaguelands as well as some Intrigue and Mystery stories (centered in Rampur), all of which sound like they would be fun games to be part of, Plaguelands seems to be working it's way up to be a fun setting. Fun is the most important criteria to follow.

Keep it up Magnus!

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]You're right Sabr. I wanted to immerse the reader into the world and allow him to imagine for himself what living in and adventuring in this setting could be. The subject has been brought up and I too now feel it is time to give the readers a few examples of the possibilities in the Plaguelands.

I haven't actually played Tabletop RPG in a long while, so for me it was just... natural, I guess, to focus more on the lore of the setting before starting with mechanics and adventure hooks and whatnot. I personally think I could develop it a bit more before jumping to these aspects, but I like pleasing the crowd, at times. :) So it'll be up shortly![/ooc]

[SabrWolf]

I personally think I could develop it a bit more before jumping to these aspects, but I like pleasing the crowd, at times. :) So it'll be up shortly!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Fair enough Magnus. To each his own and all that. Just remember the most important rule: Have Fun.

[O Senhor Leetz]

what I find is a good balance is to create several archetypes for each race or civilization, which gives a flavor and an idea as to the type of adventures that come from said land and some things they may face without forcing anything down the players throats.

[Xathan]

I haven't actually played Tabletop RPG in a long while, so for me it was just... natural, I guess, to focus more on the lore of the setting before starting with mechanics and adventure hooks and whatnot. I personally think I could develop it a bit more before jumping to these aspects, but I like pleasing the crowd, at times. :) So it'll be up shortly!

It took someone to remind me that I had to add adventure ideas to TM before I did, but I completely get the desire to please the crowd. :P I like that you approached it from a lore/history/world perspective before getting into the gaming stuff, though - I think that's part of what's made it such an awesome read so far. Maybe you can get the best of both worlds and post things significant individuals have done as part of the lore as a way to also show things that could be done as adventures?

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]Good idea, Xathan.[/ooc]

[Xathan]

I'm a helper! Also, I have been keeping up on Plaguelands and will try to get a more detailed review in later on, I've just had limited writing/posting time of late and I'm trying to get TM closer to finished. But I've been loving the stuff you've been adding so far that I've seen!

[Magnus Pym]

[ooc]I will be adding to the latest subject in the form of different views. Now I've covered, mostly, the Rampur side of the coin. There are the Kaftas, Drawa (Drywalkers), Fallen and more that needs to undergo this ''purpose process''.[/ooc]