Tera Discussion thread

[khyron1144]

Tera


I would like to know what folks think.  I can take any sort of criticism

[Hibou]

Well, I haven't given it a good read over yet, but I like the looks of it and think the artifacts you've given are extremely cool.

Keep it up. :)

[~Kalin~]

you may want to place a link from your main page to this one.

I like how all creation is the fragments of The One, atleast from the halflings point of view.

What types of dragons are in your campaign setting? just the usual D&D ones or maybe something else.


From what ive read i gather that Tera is just a rather large continent, not an entire world am i correct? does anyone know what lies across the sea?

Aproximately 70,000 Years ago
A planar portal opened spilling the Horde of the Great Halfling Khan onto the broad fields claimed by The Human Empire of Tera. Another war breaks out and then a peace is brokered allowing the Halflings to settle.

Do we know what caused the portal to open?

thats all the questions i have at the moment, nice start and i look forward to reading more.

[khyron1144]

1) you may want to place a link from your main page to this one.

2) I like how all creation is the fragments of The One, atleast from the halflings point of view.

3) What types of dragons are in your campaign setting? just the usual D&D ones or maybe something else.


4) From what ive read i gather that Tera is just a rather large continent, not an entire world am i correct? does anyone know what lies across the sea?

5) Do we know what caused the portal to open?

6) thats all the questions i have at the moment, nice start and i look forward to reading more.

1) Will do.

2) I borrowed the idea from certain real-world religions, especially the Hindu Dharma. Or at least what my westerner's mind understands of it from what I've read on it.

3) Probably all or most of what was in the 2e Monstrous Manual and maybe a few other things as well (I am taking Linmorns under consideration but haven't decided yet, as one for instance).

4) Yes Tera is actually one continent.  The humans probably have little or no memory of what their original home across the sea is like.  The Elves might know a little more, but the fact that none of them have taken a real interest in going back there may indicate something rather nasty lurks on the old place.

5) a) Lingering after-effects of The First God War, or b) some mad wizard's experiment (From a Teran perspective), or c) some mad Wu-Jen's experiment (from a halfling perspective), or d) the machinations of a God, Demon Lord, Arch-Devil, or other powerful being, or e) nobody really knows.

6) Thanks. I'll try to update more as soon as I can.


[Anybody who has been following this may wish to know that I have updated the main thread, including finishing the Ancient history]

[khyron1144]

Kalin,
Consider yourself the first official recipient of the Tera badge:



and thank you so much.

[~Kalin~]

thanks for the badge, dont forget to add it to the wiki here

that reminds me, ill have to take another look through your setting.

[Stargate525]

Haha, review! I'm writing this as I'm reading, so forgive me if I ask stupid questions that are answered later... Onward.

The Very Beginning of Tera
I like the biblical connotations. About halfway through I was thinking to myself where I had read this before, and when I got to Satan it occurred to me. It allows me to remember what the history is, so that's good. I'm on the fence about using the actual names for the devils (Satan, Lucifer, whatever), but that might simply be a matter of preference. Is The One worshiped as a God, or simply the benevolent creator? Are the devils and demons still allowed to be worshiped and gain power from the third multitude, or did the arrangement change after the war? Is this story known by people in your world today? If so, how?

More Ancient History
I like history, carry on.

The dragons were too divided among themselves and complacent to hang onto their empire when the elves invaded from across the Eastern Sea.

Humans were the next race to invade. The elves fought back hard, but had an additional problem when a faction of their own race turned to worshipping dark powers including Lolth the Spider Queen. Eventually the elves and humans came to an agreement to drive the newly christened Svartaelfs into the Dwarven Mountains.[/quote]27,000 Years Ago
In reaction to the peace and stability the humans and demihumans now have, the Shadow Pantheon creates its own alliance of mortal champions and servitors (with the exception of Yeenoghu and Lucifer; both get lumped in with the Shadow Pantheon because of their common history in The Fall, however both have different aims than the rest of the Shadow Gods; Yeenoghu wants to kill all the other Gods; Lucifer wants to try and lead the world away from power and influence, including the power and influence of the Gods).

Hasan the Slayer receives Old Man's Blade and The Black Armor (perfect tools for an assassin).

Martin Shadowen receives The Shadow Book and Staff of The Shadow Wizards (his subsequent actions in the northern lands may account for some of the superstitious dread barbarians have of wizardly magic).

Kruk recieved the Short Sword of Might, The Armor of Glory, and The War Drums of the Great War Chief (Hobgoblins respect functionality as much as dwarves do and war drums are the only way to get the lesser goblinoids all marching in the same direction at once).

In secret, Yeenoghu delivers to his champion The Flind Bar of Might, The Cape of Yeenoghu's Chosen, and Bonechewer, a most exceptional Hyenadon (Because of Yeenoghu's madness, gnolls and flinds are fanatical montheists who hate all other sentient races).

Lucifer, Ssendam, and Ygorl secretly collaborate on The Cosmic Joke, a unique spell/ disease/ non-corporeal entity that can accomplish much with the right corporeal host, yet which is not under anyone's control, particularly not the entities that created it; They believe that to be part of the punchline.[/quote]3,000 Years Ago
Age of Rust.
Iron Emperors become ruthless, decadent, mad, or combinations thereof. Empire starts losing territory, beginning with unofficial annexation of certain northern villages.[/quote]Recent History[/b]
I like this, giving a breakdown of how things got to what they are now is always a good thing. I do have some questions though. What did the people think about this war-hero simply killing the emperor and assuming the throne? Is this a common occurrence? Other than that act, Gladius seems to be a good, fair ruler. It might make more cohesive sense to have him inherit the throne, unless I'm completely misjudging his character. Does anyone know that Cestus is in the army? What alias is he using?

The Human Empire...

Human Regalia of Rulership[/b]
Huh. I can say I wasn't expecting this. I was hoping to see some more detail about these artifacts, but not have them completely statted out. Do you intend these things to actually fall into the players' hands? If not, why have them statted in this way? I'd personally like to see it in more of a narrative sense; instead of 'IV; Yearning to be worshipped is uncontrollable; those failing to bow and scrape will be instantly attacked,' you might consider 'possession of these items bestows an almost maniacal obsession with worship.' It leaves the interpretation of exactly how that manifests up to the Dm, as I doubt having the king instantly attack someone would always be good form.

Although these bestow some impressive personal defensive and offensive powers, they really don't seem worth it, and almost preclude having a good king on the throne for more than a month or so before he turns into a complete psychopath. Why did the good Gods create such detrimental objects? Or have they been somehow perverted?

The God Pools
 :weirdo: These are... interesting to say the least. These things must be fought over like diamond mines. I don't understand the pool of time, do you mean that they age ten times slower than normal? The fact that there are fortresses built over each of these things seems dubious; that means that the locations are all known, and that bathing in all of them shouldn't be too hard. i'm not sure that I like these too much, they seem way too easy to abuse. What causes these, besides closeness of the Gods? Why are they in the specific locations?


The setting doesn't seem very far along yet, and that's fine. (Neither is mine). I see alot of potential for very cool things and concepts in this setting, and I will definitely re-review this sometime in the future. However, some of the things you do have might stand to be rethought; they don't seem to fit with the aspect of what they are as well as they could. I also see some pretty big holes in information, but that's to be expected for a setting of this size. I'm sure that most of the will be more than filled by the time it's finished. Again, I see a lot of potential, and look forward to seeing this setting develop.  

[khyron1144]

The God Pools
 :weirdo: 1) These are... interesting to say the least. 2) These things must be fought over like diamond mines.  3)I don't understand the pool of time, do you mean that they age ten times slower than normal?  

1) That is my intention, to always be, at the very least, interesting.
2) Yeah, kind of.  Whatever race has them wants to keep them, and when another race finds out about it, they want it.  That's only natural with natural resources.
3) That is my intent, yes.  I'll work on the wording to make it clearer.


You think when it's done, geography should go before history to make it clear why the places mentioned are important?

This initially confused me. I wasn't sure if you had lesser princes of demonic kingdoms getting these or what. It's the traditional 'beast' races though, right? Most of them would do well to have the race they were bequeathed to actually mentioned in the description. These need it especially, because these are harder to infer. I like the wry humor in the goblin and the cosmic joke portions. Whether intended or not, it made me laugh. Comic relief in what so far seems to be a rather serious setting can never go awry. What exactly IS the Cosmic Joke anyway?

I'll work on that wording.

I'll get to explaining it better later.  Right now, let's say it functions kind of like a disease or possessing entity in that it can hop from user to user and has no physical substance (although user might not be the right word since the user serves the joke's purpose as much as the other way around).  It does interesting, sometimes beneficial, things for the user but also has a dangerous side.  One probable effect is that it effectively turns magic-users of any sort into something like wild mages.

Human Regalia of Rulership
Huh. I can say I wasn't expecting this. I was hoping to see some more detail about these artifacts, but not have them completely statted out. Do you intend these things to actually fall into the players' hands? If not, why have them statted in this way? I'd personally like to see it in more of a narrative sense; instead of 'IV; Yearning to be worshipped is uncontrollable; those failing to bow and scrape will be instantly attacked,' you might consider 'possession of these items bestows an almost maniacal obsession with worship.' It leaves the interpretation of exactly how that manifests up to the Dm, as I doubt having the king instantly attack someone would always be good form.

Although these bestow some impressive personal defensive and offensive powers, they really don't seem worth it, and almost preclude having a good king on the throne for more than a month or so before he turns into a complete psychopath. Why did the good Gods create such detrimental objects? Or have they been somehow perverted?

Probably in the original post on wotc's boards where I started posting my world, I mentioned that I used the system for statting artifacts from the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide because that seemed to have the best format.  In that system, the great power of artifacts (unlimited charges, some powers usable at will with no per day limit) was balanced with drawbacks.  For the human set of artifacts, I was trying to choose drawbacks that would not cripple a warrior-king too quickly.

Looking at it again, the human artifacts are probably a bit underpowered compared to the ones in the DMG.  They need at least one or two more minor powers and major powers and I could probably have left out one or more of the drawbacks someplace and it would look right compared to The Rod of Seven Parts or the Hand of Vecna or similar.

Why stat them at all?  I do not intend for PCs to become kings, but PCs never do what is expected.  I'm the kind of DM that likes to have the hit points for every planned goblin in his dungeon to be rolled up ahead of time.  I like to know what spells my NPC wizards have in their spell books, not just spells memorized.  It's probably a bit too much, but I like to know what things in my world do and spell it out exactly even when I'm the one creating things.



Oh, and Stargate, thank you much. questions like these are very helpful at this stage.
Consider yourself a recipient of the official Tera badge:

[khyron1144]

Well, I spent some time updating and editing.


Does it flow any better or make more sense now?

[Stargate525]

Oh, and Stargate, thank you much. questions like these are very helpful at this stage.
Consider yourself a recipient of the official Tera badge:

My pleasure. I see you've updated, so I'll take a look later on (I'm currently sitting at school, not enough time.)

[khyron1144]

Rather major update.  History is finished.  Entirely.

Also have a current map.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Out of curiousity, why use mostly mythological deities, then throw in Moradin?  It feels kind of odd.

The assassin's guild is cool.  Though the name looks a little too much like Rubber Sinister to be scary.  You got to fear that evil elastic...

While the map is basic, one thing I do like about it is that you have a scale.  By using hexes, you make it easy to see distance and scale.  Perhaps it is something I should have considered.  On the other hand, it means they have to be taken out for the final version (if you want the seemless look, anyway), so it's a trade-off.

As for the stats for that dragon, I take it you are not playing standard rules, if 27th level has 92hp.  Caused I'd :cry:

[Stargate525]

The assassin's guild is cool.  Though the name looks a little too much like Rubber Sinister to be scary.  You got to fear that evil elastic...

I get Rubber Sinatra from it... much weirder.

[khyron1144]

As for the stats for that dragon, I take it you are not playing standard rules, if 27th level has 92hp.  Caused I'd :cry:

It's actually standard rules for 2e.  The maximum HP per level bonus for non-fighters is 2.  After 9th level, hit dice are no longer rolled only 2 HP are added a level.

The assassin's guild is cool.  Though the name looks a little too much like Rubber Sinister to be scary.  You got to fear that evil elastic...

It's Latin that someone gave me.  It sounds much cooler when pronounced with the "u" making an "ooh" and the "e" making an "ay" and the "i"s making "ee"s it sounds kind of cool.

Out of curiousity, why use mostly mythological deities, then throw in Moradin?  It feels kind of odd.

Maybe it's an ill-considered choice, but I'm going with it for now.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

It's been a while since I've taken a thorough look.  In the spirit of reciprical reviews:

By the way: a million bonus geek points to anyone who can tell me exactly why the number 124 appears at what was the bottom of the page until I tipped it sideways.

The Human Empire[/b]
I believe I have mentioned this in another thread, but I'd consider a different name.  It just doesn't impress.

I like the details about the emperor and him not being popular.  However, if this is the case, does he not have rivals to exploit this?  Whether it is a powerful senate, generals, or an aristocracy?  Speaking of which, I recommend adding a few details about the political structure.  It sounds like the emperorship is inherited, as some kind of imperial monarchy.  Is there an aristocracy or other government body?  Is it an autocratic regime?

Good details for the city.  I think you mean Halfingstown.  I have some reservations about the city being named the same as the planet, but it could work.  I would only say that makes it sound like it should be the Teran Empire.

Finishing school is Tera Prima slang for a house of ill-repute.

Arcanum
Arcanum is the wizardly country. It's bounded on all sides by The Human Empire because it actually used to be part of the Empire. An Emperor of The Iron Dynasty granted Arcanum its independance, with implications of a strong alliance between the two.[/quote]Goblin Lands[/b]
What is a norker?  I'm relatively familiar with 2nd ed, but I don't recall this monster.

What is the Shadow Pantheon (maybe you answer this later and I've forgotten)?

Side note: bugbears were traditionally goblins in folklore, not just D&D (because they were basically the same thing, they are equivalent to boggles in my setting).

Beast Lands
I think this idea can work well.  You've got a few names I don't recognize again.
What is a "Cay man"?  An Alaghi?
Do you mean Rakshasa by Rakasta?  Or is this some other monster.

Do the different inhabitants (that is the different species) get along with each other?  Do they constantly war?  Is mammals versus reptiles?

Dwarven Mountains
I like this section a lot.  My only suggestions right now would be to give an idea of the population numbers, and maybe a little more detail on the dwarven government.  Is it a monarchy?  Are their clans (and are they important)?  Is their an aristocracy?  Who is the king?

History
For now, just a brief glance at history.

Approximately 70,000 Years ago
A planar portal opened spilling the Horde of the Great Halfling Khan onto the broad fields claimed by The Human Empire of Tera. Another war breaks out and then a peace is brokered allowing the Halflings to settle.

70,000[/i] years?

Starting any civilization this far back raises some questions about why technology and science is not more advanced.  To some degree, I think you answer it with dark ages.  Though 30,000 years is an incredibly long time for something like that.

Now
Ragnarock prophecy begins to be fulfilled.

God Pools[/b]
What I like about this, is that it sets your setting apart from others.  It's a nice addition, without radically altering your setting.

Religion
I like that you pull your deities from mythology.  As I expressed, I have misgivings about throwing in a handful of random Greyhawk deities.  They feel out of place.  However, it is your setting, so if you like them, you are entitled.

Organizations
Your yakuza are halflings x. ?  Is halfling culture in general based on eastern culture?  I didn't get that impression so far, but this is a big sign in that direction.  Interesting choice.  I like the almost propaganda-like intro to them.

Another interesting guild: Children of the Star of the Morning.  I think you could do very well in adventures with these.