I have my setting. Now I need people to populate it. To do that I need a stats system. My partner and I have plans to come up with a custom D20 system that is stats based. Googleing around you lots of skill based systems, but not stats based ones. We figure this is due to player abuse. However we won't have this problem. I sound very confidant. It's cause I am. Either my players will actually role-play their character and not abuse the system or I will kick them out. It's as simple as that. I know all the people who I'm planning to ask to play and I trust them to develop real characters, not math equations. We are in it for the role-play, the interaction, not rules. I want freedom for good story telling, not someone looking up some obscure reference in a stack of books.
We plan to have it so that the GM has the final say in whether something is doable with the stat. The player can make a case, and the other players can voice an opinion. The decision will ultimately be with the GM. This could lead to abuse on the GM's part. My players will have to trust that the GM is not out to get them...much.
This system will not be good for most groups. It is only going to work for us because of the unique blend of people we happen to be. Despite all this I will post all details of the system we work out here for anyone interested in using it. But I want it made clear that we are not proposing this as an alternate to the D20 system we all know at hate. This is a system we are developing to meet our specific needs as role-players. Le sigh. This will be my first GM experience. I love being a player character, and I think I will miss it. It's fun coming up with all this information for the world, and reading about what other GMs have done with games. The elaborate and cool schemes they come up with and orchestrate. Between reading the comments from Darths and Droids and stuff Howard says on Shlock Mercenary I get these really grand ideas of what is possible. I also realize that I'm never going to be as great or creative a GM as a lot of people out there. But I think I can do a passable job, and it will make me a better player character in the future.
Now for a to do list of what else will need to be prepared for the campaign to commence on schedule on December 31st!
-timeline competed
-system worked out
-NPCs rolled and worked out
-loot worked out
-plot finalized
-props purchased
-player characters confirmed
-playing times scheduled
-character sheets and supplies complied
Well that's not to bad to get done in a....shit I only have a month and a half left. Crap.
----a
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Decisions
I have decided not to make a more detailed map. Every time I look into making it more detailed I just don't want to. I end up making something else or just goofing off. I don't really need anything more complicated for what I have planned do far. If I need something more complicated later I can make it later. I'm going to goof off some more. If you haven't seen Torchwood you should. It's good.
---a
---a
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
final two cities
Alright here we are down to Ebon-Gray and Black. Black is completely surrounded by Ebon-gray, which is a rather unusual setup for Adama. The politics between these two cities reflect their physical setup. The culture of Black is rather like that of ancient Athens. Ebon-gray is their Sparta. They have very similar cultures, but focus causes tension. They just happen to have a slightly more artistic and scholarly bent than Sparta.
The main reason Black manages to stay independent is that they are the only real land in the whole area. Plus they are very rich, and not shabby soldiers themselves. Black is a plateau of black shiny rock with grass on top. No buildings are on the plain. The whole thing is reserved for gazing cattle. The city itself is built into the interior of the plateau with the richer areas being the outside, air facing bits. Its odd in that way that the farther into the city you get the poorer it gets. unlike the other cavern and caves of Adama, these are entirley manmade, and usually less than expertly. They are smelly, stale and gross. No real method for waste removal or sanitation. Lights are rare. Its a very dank dangerous subculture in the center of the plateau.
On the outside it is a beautiful city. Shining carved black rock, with classic motifs and Ionic columns. The monied are really the only citizens that are counted. The youths put in there time in school, then in the military, and by 30 retire back home to marry and help mom and dad with the cattle business while settleing down to whatever research or craft they have chosen and the business of produceing the next generation. The generations are rather regimented, broken into 5 year blocks. Because women(they go through the same school, military schedule the men do) wait so long to have children they have fewer chances. They tend to be healthier and survive better than their younger counterparts, but it is not unusual to only have one child naturally. A form of 'adoption' is common, but is basically buying children from the poor. They are not treated as second class children or citizens either. It is also not seen as any sort of stigma against it. It is not uncommon to see a family unit where the child is clearly not related to the parents genetically.
There is a whole market for theses 'adoptions' to take place. And rather than it being shady, it is very well regulated, so as to 'protect' the children. It does actually manage to make sure slavery isn't a real issue. Families who want to adopt must be citizens of Black. They must be at least a married couple. (Group marriages and same-sex marriages are not the norm, but they are not exotic and have the same rights as any 'traditional' marriage) The adoption must be registered and the child registered in the records as a new citizen.
Unlike our world, children are more often adopted, rather than infants. Parents like to chose children that demonstrate some sort of inclination toward an interest of there own, possibly to find someone to inherit the family business if a biological child does not seem interested. Or just trying to find a talented engaging child. Competition to be that child is fierce. The monetary reward for your biological parents, plus the privileged new life is a hefty goal. Often an adopted child will hire some or all (depending on how many there are) of his biological family as servants when they reach adulthood. But before that, they don't get contact with them. Once adopted the new family is the only family.
Ebon-gray has a similar problem with their women of birthing age. This is made worse by their slightly more war-like disposition. Few want to retire from active duty and incidents that result in sterility are much more common. Unlike Black , there is no pool of poor to draw from for adoption. They resent black for closely cultivating there little starving section to pick gems from. They also resent the lack of access to it. There had been an instance of testing allowing families from Ebon-gray adopt from the pool(100 to be exact), but they didn't adhere to the strict tracking that was required. Further investigation found that in some cases the children were being put to work as slaves, or were not even in residence. Some 20 children were never accounted for and were believed to have been trafficked out of the area and and sold. That put an end to that experiment. Black needs the pool to have hope for better things. It is what keeps them tractable and controllable. If rumors had got back in that bad things were happening to the adopted ones, the whole balance could have come crashing down around the government of Black. This is the main source of conflict between the two cities.
Ebon-Gray is a moat-like lake all around Black, throughly freckled with small dark gray rocky islands. These are where the buildings are. Some are as small as a single family home others as large as New York City block. The largest can be walked across in less than 15 minutes at a leisurely pace. Few islands are further apart than 50 yards. It is almost like having a very through canal system rather than a bunch of islands on a lake.
ugh, this will have to be cont. later guys.
----a
The main reason Black manages to stay independent is that they are the only real land in the whole area. Plus they are very rich, and not shabby soldiers themselves. Black is a plateau of black shiny rock with grass on top. No buildings are on the plain. The whole thing is reserved for gazing cattle. The city itself is built into the interior of the plateau with the richer areas being the outside, air facing bits. Its odd in that way that the farther into the city you get the poorer it gets. unlike the other cavern and caves of Adama, these are entirley manmade, and usually less than expertly. They are smelly, stale and gross. No real method for waste removal or sanitation. Lights are rare. Its a very dank dangerous subculture in the center of the plateau.
On the outside it is a beautiful city. Shining carved black rock, with classic motifs and Ionic columns. The monied are really the only citizens that are counted. The youths put in there time in school, then in the military, and by 30 retire back home to marry and help mom and dad with the cattle business while settleing down to whatever research or craft they have chosen and the business of produceing the next generation. The generations are rather regimented, broken into 5 year blocks. Because women(they go through the same school, military schedule the men do) wait so long to have children they have fewer chances. They tend to be healthier and survive better than their younger counterparts, but it is not unusual to only have one child naturally. A form of 'adoption' is common, but is basically buying children from the poor. They are not treated as second class children or citizens either. It is also not seen as any sort of stigma against it. It is not uncommon to see a family unit where the child is clearly not related to the parents genetically.
There is a whole market for theses 'adoptions' to take place. And rather than it being shady, it is very well regulated, so as to 'protect' the children. It does actually manage to make sure slavery isn't a real issue. Families who want to adopt must be citizens of Black. They must be at least a married couple. (Group marriages and same-sex marriages are not the norm, but they are not exotic and have the same rights as any 'traditional' marriage) The adoption must be registered and the child registered in the records as a new citizen.
Unlike our world, children are more often adopted, rather than infants. Parents like to chose children that demonstrate some sort of inclination toward an interest of there own, possibly to find someone to inherit the family business if a biological child does not seem interested. Or just trying to find a talented engaging child. Competition to be that child is fierce. The monetary reward for your biological parents, plus the privileged new life is a hefty goal. Often an adopted child will hire some or all (depending on how many there are) of his biological family as servants when they reach adulthood. But before that, they don't get contact with them. Once adopted the new family is the only family.
Ebon-gray has a similar problem with their women of birthing age. This is made worse by their slightly more war-like disposition. Few want to retire from active duty and incidents that result in sterility are much more common. Unlike Black , there is no pool of poor to draw from for adoption. They resent black for closely cultivating there little starving section to pick gems from. They also resent the lack of access to it. There had been an instance of testing allowing families from Ebon-gray adopt from the pool(100 to be exact), but they didn't adhere to the strict tracking that was required. Further investigation found that in some cases the children were being put to work as slaves, or were not even in residence. Some 20 children were never accounted for and were believed to have been trafficked out of the area and and sold. That put an end to that experiment. Black needs the pool to have hope for better things. It is what keeps them tractable and controllable. If rumors had got back in that bad things were happening to the adopted ones, the whole balance could have come crashing down around the government of Black. This is the main source of conflict between the two cities.
Ebon-Gray is a moat-like lake all around Black, throughly freckled with small dark gray rocky islands. These are where the buildings are. Some are as small as a single family home others as large as New York City block. The largest can be walked across in less than 15 minutes at a leisurely pace. Few islands are further apart than 50 yards. It is almost like having a very through canal system rather than a bunch of islands on a lake.
ugh, this will have to be cont. later guys.
----a
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
3 more cities to go...
I want to do Black and Ebon-gray together and I have a really good idea of what they are like and it will take me a whole day to put that together, so that is not on the board for this lovely Tuesday. (Any one else looking forward to Raid Night? Yea, server resets)
So this afternoon I will attempt to spit something out about Summer-sky. The problem is that I haven't had any ideas for this area at all. None. It is bordered by Tiger-eye, Rose, Green, Ebon-Gray, and Opal. That's a lot of borders...it is also near half the highest population centers, and most of the trade centers...A Bazaar! It is the trade city! Miners form Tiger-eye, wood from Green, imports from Opal, cattle from Black! Its even not terribley far from Yellow! Oh and the fact that Yellow is on the other side of Black from it is great for one of my already planned sub-plots! Brainstorming for the win.
Alright then. How about a slightly Indian feel to this one? Saris and piles of spices, Silk tents over the boats,....and the whole thing is a huge lake! So that scene in Aladdin where Jasmine is walking through the marketplace? Like that but on boats! ...must find refernce pic, hold on a moment...
Back, ok so this:
Mixed with this:
Good right? At night you look out at the lake and it is clear and calm with hardly anyone on it, the nighttime activities being restricted to the villages at the borders where everyone retreats at the end of the day. This is also where the inns are, and residents live.
During the day the whole lake is filled at the center with neat rows of shopboats, lashed together with their neighbors in streets to form the traditional lanes, like Potters Lane, and Shoe Street. You can even walk down the 'streets' across the fronts of the boats. There is a border fee that helps cover the cost of employing organizers that mark out the lanes, make sure all shops are in there proper place, which helps the shoppers find them. There is also a local police force patrolling the city.
A fairly wide berth is left around the edge of the lake for traffic and some sections of the bazaar are separated from one another, such as clothing, cloth, leather and such are grouped together with the vendors of leather goods being closest to animal section but still separated by a fairly large water way. (for smell purposes) Likewise, bulk raw leather dealers are on the edge of the upwind edge of the animal section. So on and so forth, so that is is organized neatly and conveintly, but also according to the weather.
Perfect! Another great idea, a family with a talent for weather prediction, a bunch of weather witches...Now what to do with them...
Sometimes you just gotta sit down and say, 'I will do this' instead of waiting for the inspiration to come to you.
----a
So this afternoon I will attempt to spit something out about Summer-sky. The problem is that I haven't had any ideas for this area at all. None. It is bordered by Tiger-eye, Rose, Green, Ebon-Gray, and Opal. That's a lot of borders...it is also near half the highest population centers, and most of the trade centers...A Bazaar! It is the trade city! Miners form Tiger-eye, wood from Green, imports from Opal, cattle from Black! Its even not terribley far from Yellow! Oh and the fact that Yellow is on the other side of Black from it is great for one of my already planned sub-plots! Brainstorming for the win.
Alright then. How about a slightly Indian feel to this one? Saris and piles of spices, Silk tents over the boats,....and the whole thing is a huge lake! So that scene in Aladdin where Jasmine is walking through the marketplace? Like that but on boats! ...must find refernce pic, hold on a moment...
Back, ok so this:
 |
| Image © Walt Disney Animation |
 | |||
| Not mine, just click through to see where I got it from. |
During the day the whole lake is filled at the center with neat rows of shopboats, lashed together with their neighbors in streets to form the traditional lanes, like Potters Lane, and Shoe Street. You can even walk down the 'streets' across the fronts of the boats. There is a border fee that helps cover the cost of employing organizers that mark out the lanes, make sure all shops are in there proper place, which helps the shoppers find them. There is also a local police force patrolling the city.
A fairly wide berth is left around the edge of the lake for traffic and some sections of the bazaar are separated from one another, such as clothing, cloth, leather and such are grouped together with the vendors of leather goods being closest to animal section but still separated by a fairly large water way. (for smell purposes) Likewise, bulk raw leather dealers are on the edge of the upwind edge of the animal section. So on and so forth, so that is is organized neatly and conveintly, but also according to the weather.
Perfect! Another great idea, a family with a talent for weather prediction, a bunch of weather witches...Now what to do with them...
Sometimes you just gotta sit down and say, 'I will do this' instead of waiting for the inspiration to come to you.
----a
Monday, November 7, 2011
Thar she blows!
Alright, with Yellow we have a return to the western-style culture, with a lot in common with early America. Think Moby Dick. But just a hint of that, more like a traditional, vaugley mideval campaingn setting but a very coastal flavour to it. Taste the salt on the air. Omnomnom.
Whales. They hunt whales. Go read. They also farm fish. Why do they farm fish? Cause the natural population is somewhat limiting. It's more as a middle of the line luxery item. Regular people eat brim and bass most days. On a special occasion such as a bonus check or just for a change of pace they get a redfish or somthing of that calibur. Remember, beef and pork are a bit rare because of the lack of avalible land to keep them.
Yellow also raises chickens, feeding them leftovers from the fish farms and whale harvest. Chicken tastes kinda fishy in Adama.
The people are a bit run down; whaling is hard on people. They have money though. The main character in this area will be a young woman who is trying to get them to stop whaling. Promting the chicken farming and fish farming for making a living, and trying to introduce seaweed farming. She is going to be half mermaid and talk to fish. (Maybe her hair will be kinda greenish, ohh, and her lips are kinda puckered like a fish?...and she can sing very well?) She realizes the whales are sentient. Other fish, not so much. Not sure how to turn this into an avdventure yet. Need to also bring in the Stone Man. It's a start. And need to keep the girl from getting too Disney Princess-ish.
----a
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Gray, short post i'm sleepy
Gray is connected to green by a tiny little border, but it is one of the most active borders in the whole Territory. That is because of the mass wood trade that goes on there. The majority of the business of Gray is boat building. Everything from tiny pirogues all the way up to large ships. Wood from Green and papyrus reeds from inside the city. The whole area is covered in a plant much like cyperus papyrus from our Egypt. Biggest difference is that they are half again as big. These grow from 15-25 feet tall. They grow in a fashion that forms natural pathways in a maze like fashion. The locals harvest them in a thinning pattern that does not ruin these natural waterways. The reeds are used in much the same fashion as the ancient Egyptians did and the people are culturally very similar. The biggest difference in the lack of stone and Pyramids.
The baddie will actually be here physically, before the Flight. He will be elsewhere afterward. I have the idea for him to be spreading some sort of sickness to the papyrus causing them to petrify at a unnatural rate. Then his minions gather the stone reeds and build pyramids. I'm gunna have baddie building these things all over the place. I need to figure out what they are for now...
Monday, October 31, 2011
Here there be dragons...
Purple dusk has the most land of any city state. It is also the only one not to currently be represented on the Council. There is enough land that our heroes will actually benefit from leaving their boat overnight. Rocky, with extensive cave formations. These caves are huge. As in dragon huge. As in if you haven't guessed yet, home of Draca and her mate huge. If our insipid adventurers decide to explore these caves they will meet the legendary pair..
There isn't much else to say about this area...I'm thinking of making the rocks kinda swirly. Kinda like this. Once in the caves they will start to notice the purple glowing moss, large gold spiders, webs and such. The spiders' bodies will be about the size of a large man's fist. The webs they weave will have different purposes. Most will be variations of traps. Some traps will be for the mind, others for the body. These are the original Black Widows. The traps for the mind will be another post. I think for them I will randomize it, having some sort of rolling system and and question and answer thing for the player. Should come up with some sort of puzzle for them to figure out. I'm not good at that sort of thing. May have to find something online to borrow. Wish I had some reader to give me ideas. Ideas Internet! Any way back to the show...
The deeper into the caves they venture the more crystals they will find scattered on the ground, till they come to a cavern where the floor is completely covered several deep in crystals. If they bother to dig through them in this space they will discover that the room is actually in the middle of an underground river. The crystals are piled so high that you can easily walk through the room and never know you were over a river, except for the pleasant rushing sound of the water. (The water actually comes up in Tiger-eye, carrying crystals with it. That is why it seems as if the supply in never ending there.) Even though the current is constantly carrying away crystals the room is still covered. This is because the supply is constantly being replenished. Welcome to the dragon's lair.
There isn't much else to say about this area...I'm thinking of making the rocks kinda swirly. Kinda like this. Once in the caves they will start to notice the purple glowing moss, large gold spiders, webs and such. The spiders' bodies will be about the size of a large man's fist. The webs they weave will have different purposes. Most will be variations of traps. Some traps will be for the mind, others for the body. These are the original Black Widows. The traps for the mind will be another post. I think for them I will randomize it, having some sort of rolling system and and question and answer thing for the player. Should come up with some sort of puzzle for them to figure out. I'm not good at that sort of thing. May have to find something online to borrow. Wish I had some reader to give me ideas. Ideas Internet! Any way back to the show...
The deeper into the caves they venture the more crystals they will find scattered on the ground, till they come to a cavern where the floor is completely covered several deep in crystals. If they bother to dig through them in this space they will discover that the room is actually in the middle of an underground river. The crystals are piled so high that you can easily walk through the room and never know you were over a river, except for the pleasant rushing sound of the water. (The water actually comes up in Tiger-eye, carrying crystals with it. That is why it seems as if the supply in never ending there.) Even though the current is constantly carrying away crystals the room is still covered. This is because the supply is constantly being replenished. Welcome to the dragon's lair.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Blue skies
On the surface Sapphire appears barren and abandoned. There is even less land here than other cities. Jagged rocks pierce the surface, and huge whirlpools come and go. The water is extremely clear but dark, making it difficult to see to the rocky bottom. Sometimes as one is gazing into the depths bight lights blind the watcher. Some of the larger rocks projecting form the water have caves leading down, deep beneath sea level.
No people appear to live in the territory, but without fail every year, proper taxes and records are brought to the council via representative. This representative comes from the Traders Guild, and is extremely closed mouthed, never giving any information on the city. The paper work is always very detailed, but somehow always makes the mystery worse. Population, marriages, sales, imports, exports, and all other relevant facts are listed, but no one lives there....
The actual population of Sapphire lives in underground caverns made of crystal. The bright light sometimes blinds sailors is the light bouncing around these crystals. Even though it looks dark down there, the crystals do a magnificent job of collecting what light does get down there and concentrating it into the caverns, creating a twilight effect. Coupled with many species of bio-luminescent creatures that have been culminated. What few trusted traders that are allowed down there would tell you its like swimming through the stars in the sky, if they were inclined to speak about it at all.
The population are mermaids, if you hadn't figured that out yet. I have an idea of what they will like like, a cross between the mermaids in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and traditional ones. If any one has read these books, it will be most like the fish people in Wren's Quest. Entrances to their caverns are the large sea caves mentioned before and the whirlpools mentioned above.
Only city-state to have a monarchical form of government. It is an matriarchal electoral monarchy. Will be the only area that they visit that have little or no problems with the Stone Man (which is what I have decided to call my baddie.)
The mermaids, along with the unicorns from Green will also receive Jewels when Draca Flys.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Rose Red
Anyone paying attention to the map may have noticed that the Red and Rose areas on my map have the same textureing. This is by design. As mentioned earlier, they have pretty much the same culture, although the governments and landscape are not.
Red has a good bit more volcanic activity than anywhere else in the Territory, except maybe Opal. But where Opals is due to being near highly active volcanoes, Red has much more subdued but constant activity similar to places like Yellowstone's mud-pots. These mud-pots are mixed with the water flowing through the area. The water is dark and dirty. Depth varies and is difficult to determine visually. Sort of like oases floating in a desert of muddy water there are abundant hot springs, with lots of low lying greenery. These oases are all inhabited with people, who mostly run spa like inns, with Japenese like-onsen. The buildings, instead of being made of ricepaper walls, have screens of woven reeds, in patterns similar to carved cedar screen from India. Small rice farms are also scattered throughout, where the pools are not large enough for baths.
Rose has the same culture, but more farmers and no onsen. The volcanic activity dies off and the warmed, mineral rich water flows into the area from Red. Plant-life flourishes. The scenery is similar to southern Florida's mangrove swamps. They provide most of the food for Red.
The two territories are very close, with most inhabitants having family in both areas, and marriages and moving between the two being regular and easy.
Inhabitants are friendly and welcoming, if a bit formal. Not sure what the plot is going to be in the area.
That's it for today. Ja ne!
a----
Red has a good bit more volcanic activity than anywhere else in the Territory, except maybe Opal. But where Opals is due to being near highly active volcanoes, Red has much more subdued but constant activity similar to places like Yellowstone's mud-pots. These mud-pots are mixed with the water flowing through the area. The water is dark and dirty. Depth varies and is difficult to determine visually. Sort of like oases floating in a desert of muddy water there are abundant hot springs, with lots of low lying greenery. These oases are all inhabited with people, who mostly run spa like inns, with Japenese like-onsen. The buildings, instead of being made of ricepaper walls, have screens of woven reeds, in patterns similar to carved cedar screen from India. Small rice farms are also scattered throughout, where the pools are not large enough for baths.
Rose has the same culture, but more farmers and no onsen. The volcanic activity dies off and the warmed, mineral rich water flows into the area from Red. Plant-life flourishes. The scenery is similar to southern Florida's mangrove swamps. They provide most of the food for Red.
The two territories are very close, with most inhabitants having family in both areas, and marriages and moving between the two being regular and easy.
Inhabitants are friendly and welcoming, if a bit formal. Not sure what the plot is going to be in the area.
That's it for today. Ja ne!
a----
Monday, October 17, 2011
Steampunk Opal
Opal is bordered by Tiger-eye, Summer-Sky, Ebon-Gray, and Purple-Dusk. Typing out out I just realized that it is bordered by all the city-states that have two word names. That was unintentional. Anyway, Opal is the second richest area in the Territory. Black is the only area with more revenue. This is because Opal has the only safe pass through the mountains bordering the territory. This means it has the only outside trade in the entire territory. They have a monopoly on the crystals that are exported and on certain types of meat that are imported. And meat is expensive in Adama. Might have something to do with the lack of solid ground on which to raise it.
They import pork, poultry, venison and other animal products. The scarcity of animal products has far reaching consequences. Drums are metal topped or wooden, not drawn skin. String instruments are also with metal, not gut. Woodwinds are the most prevalent types of instruments. Leather and fur clothing is a sign of extreme wealth. Most fabric is made from linen, but has a vast range of vibrant dyes due to the sea life.
Protein in the diet is mainly through fish everywhere in the Territory. Seaweed, rice, vegetables are the year round staples, and there is wild airborne game in the fall, but it is usually not enough to make a significant change in diet. More like a special holiday meal.
Opal's trade monopolies have made it very wealthy. It also is the only area to have contact with the rest of the world. Its culture is a blend of eastern and western, taking some western cues from it's trade partners. Clothing is in a Victorian-equse style. Homes are still in the eastern style for the most part due to cost of materials, reeds and paper making more sense in the environment and economically. There is one village that is practically in the mountains that has stone homes in a more western style. But is is only occupied during the trading season. During the rest of the year, there is no wind to bow the fumes from the volcanoes away, making it unsafe to live there.
Items in the area have a bit of a steampunk feel. I will elaborate on that later. I think this is enough for today. Next post will be about the landscape and the steampunk theme. Yea steam engines....
---a
They import pork, poultry, venison and other animal products. The scarcity of animal products has far reaching consequences. Drums are metal topped or wooden, not drawn skin. String instruments are also with metal, not gut. Woodwinds are the most prevalent types of instruments. Leather and fur clothing is a sign of extreme wealth. Most fabric is made from linen, but has a vast range of vibrant dyes due to the sea life.
Protein in the diet is mainly through fish everywhere in the Territory. Seaweed, rice, vegetables are the year round staples, and there is wild airborne game in the fall, but it is usually not enough to make a significant change in diet. More like a special holiday meal.
Opal's trade monopolies have made it very wealthy. It also is the only area to have contact with the rest of the world. Its culture is a blend of eastern and western, taking some western cues from it's trade partners. Clothing is in a Victorian-equse style. Homes are still in the eastern style for the most part due to cost of materials, reeds and paper making more sense in the environment and economically. There is one village that is practically in the mountains that has stone homes in a more western style. But is is only occupied during the trading season. During the rest of the year, there is no wind to bow the fumes from the volcanoes away, making it unsafe to live there.
Items in the area have a bit of a steampunk feel. I will elaborate on that later. I think this is enough for today. Next post will be about the landscape and the steampunk theme. Yea steam engines....
---a
Friday, October 14, 2011
Egyptian themed baddie, and inspiration material
So I mentioned having an Egyptian themed baddie in Green with a pyramid and I have decided to definitely have him be an ultimate baddie (of ultimate destiny). Gunna have at least rumors that led to a central plot involving him. He (or she) will know the secret of the the crystals, and be working on a mysterious plot involving them. All the sub-plots like the one in Green will be parts of his ultimate over all plot.
Now I had already decided that upon starting the campaign a counter would start as well. There will be a world event that occurs whether or not the players get to interact with any of the NPCs that are involved, after a certain amount of time had passed in game. This event will change the campaign from a magic-less one to a steady increase in the amount of magic. The baddie will know this is coming and be trying to control the event some. The event's actual details are to some extent dictated by the source material, but it is vague enough that I can allow the baddie to affect it to some degree. I'm already going against one of the theories proposed in the source material, so I'm not to scared of manipulating it.
Well, all my potenial players have agreed not to read this so I'm going to go full out with the info.
The source material is The Black Jewels Trilogy. You would not need to have read the books to play the game, not all my players have. I don't intend to tell the ones that have what is going on. Someone reading this who was familiar with the series might have already guessed. The city-states names are a dead giveaway. I will repeat, to play with story I am creating you don't need to have even have heard of the source material. I do intend to have things stay true the books in my game, just cause it makes it fun for me. Any one else borrowing can do as they wish with this stuff.
Now, back to the baddie and the timed event. The event will be the 'creation' of the Blood. In the novels, the Blood are the magic wielding higher classes. Draca's final flight will be the event. I'm ignoring Seatan's theory about the men not receiving Jewels and therefore the ability to preform magic.
All players will start out as non-magic classes. After the flight, all will have magic power. I think this will be a very fun part of the campaign. Draca's (one of the last dragons in the world) flight will occur at about 3am where ever they are. The crystals that are all over are shed dragon scales. The scales shed by this flight will be special. They are not being shed in a healthy lifecycle, they are being gifted to the world. The players jewels will fall to them, and the ones that touch them physically first after falling from Draca will be theirs. They will roll for how many that is. ("roll 2 D-20's." "what for?" "to see how many rocks hit you on the head, and a roll for retaining consciousness. ya know, from the rocks falling on your head.") The stones will take awhile to form a soul bond, and the players will have to figure out on their own that they have magic. I hope one of them try to sell one. Hehe, mini campaign by itself to try and recover the thing before the player dies. :D
That's enough for tonight, it's already 3am. Not even gunna mention the map, just gunna try to get it done before 2012. Ya know, that's gunna be may goal for the who planning stage. I want to start the campaighn on New Year's Day. Good way to start the year huh? New expericnces, new characters, sounds good to me. Good luck to me. Night world.
------a
Now I had already decided that upon starting the campaign a counter would start as well. There will be a world event that occurs whether or not the players get to interact with any of the NPCs that are involved, after a certain amount of time had passed in game. This event will change the campaign from a magic-less one to a steady increase in the amount of magic. The baddie will know this is coming and be trying to control the event some. The event's actual details are to some extent dictated by the source material, but it is vague enough that I can allow the baddie to affect it to some degree. I'm already going against one of the theories proposed in the source material, so I'm not to scared of manipulating it.
Well, all my potenial players have agreed not to read this so I'm going to go full out with the info.
The source material is The Black Jewels Trilogy. You would not need to have read the books to play the game, not all my players have. I don't intend to tell the ones that have what is going on. Someone reading this who was familiar with the series might have already guessed. The city-states names are a dead giveaway. I will repeat, to play with story I am creating you don't need to have even have heard of the source material. I do intend to have things stay true the books in my game, just cause it makes it fun for me. Any one else borrowing can do as they wish with this stuff.
Now, back to the baddie and the timed event. The event will be the 'creation' of the Blood. In the novels, the Blood are the magic wielding higher classes. Draca's final flight will be the event. I'm ignoring Seatan's theory about the men not receiving Jewels and therefore the ability to preform magic.
All players will start out as non-magic classes. After the flight, all will have magic power. I think this will be a very fun part of the campaign. Draca's (one of the last dragons in the world) flight will occur at about 3am where ever they are. The crystals that are all over are shed dragon scales. The scales shed by this flight will be special. They are not being shed in a healthy lifecycle, they are being gifted to the world. The players jewels will fall to them, and the ones that touch them physically first after falling from Draca will be theirs. They will roll for how many that is. ("roll 2 D-20's." "what for?" "to see how many rocks hit you on the head, and a roll for retaining consciousness. ya know, from the rocks falling on your head.") The stones will take awhile to form a soul bond, and the players will have to figure out on their own that they have magic. I hope one of them try to sell one. Hehe, mini campaign by itself to try and recover the thing before the player dies. :D
That's enough for tonight, it's already 3am. Not even gunna mention the map, just gunna try to get it done before 2012. Ya know, that's gunna be may goal for the who planning stage. I want to start the campaighn on New Year's Day. Good way to start the year huh? New expericnces, new characters, sounds good to me. Good luck to me. Night world.
------a
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Another area, but no work on map done
So I have the ideas for Tiger-eye all filled out to the same extent
as Green, now I need to roll out characters. I haven't done any
characters yet because of the system we want to use. It's one that my
business partner and I are coming up with and we need to finish it up
before I can roll NPCs.
So Tiger-eye, as previously stated is a similar landscape to Sapphire, with shallow waters and a hilly sandy landscape. Unlike Sapphire the waters are slow, almost lazy and quite warm. During the winter the area has a perpetual fog over it from the warm water steaming into the air. Volcanic activity deep underground warms the sand and water, but poses little threat to the surface other than creating a very comfortable place for a nap. The area is uninhabitable due to the complete absence of any naturally occurring life. No plants, no animals, nothing. The water is crystal clear and clean but no fish or algae grow in it. The sand supports no plant life. Without a food source there are no larger animals. Colonization has proven to be too expensive due to the need to import even dirt to grow food. There is no danger to a person getting out of their boat from currents or deep water and it is not poisonous. The deepest the water gets is about 10 feet. You can always see to the bottom.
There are a few temporary 'settlements,' but these are few and as impermanent as the shifting landscape. Some of these groups are 'miners' who gather the pretty, naturally occurring crystals from the ground. Others are archeologists ( from a university in Black) who study the strange ruins that sometimes are revealed by the shifting sands. Sometimes these groups disappear and are never heard from again, although that is not the norm.
The crystals are a mystery. They are not from the ground, can't be found anywhere else (in the world) and are a strange non-color. They are very common in jewelry and all but the poorest of the poor have at least some sort of bauble inside of the mountain range. The are the main export out of the Territory but that has to do with Opal. More are constantly surfacing from the sands. Rumor has it that the crystals are actually shed dragon scales, but who would believe that old wives' tale?
The ruins are made of stone and have strange characteristics. The streets have large channels dug though them, with bridges regularly crossing them. The strange part is the entrances below water level. Almost every building has a completely submerged entrance leading to these channels in the same fashion that a surface door has an entrance to the street. Complete with windows and remnants of furniture, almost every building has a level that was completely submerged at all times. In some of the larger buildings (what appear to be public buildings or wealthy private ones) there are even pump systems that appear to allow some special areas of the surface level to be filled with water, and some sub surface areas to be drained of it. Most of the pump systems are made up of elaborate Archimedes' Screws.
I'm going to roll up a set of characters for one miner's camp and one archeologists' camp. Then I will plot several of each on the map and where ever the players chose to go, if they cross one of points, any to of the miner camps will have the one set of NPCs and same for the archeologists. Easier than rolling out three or four of each and having all those people to keep straight in my head. That would be difficult.
That's that for this week. Hopefully I will actually get something by next week. Once a week is not to much to push for is it?
---a
So Tiger-eye, as previously stated is a similar landscape to Sapphire, with shallow waters and a hilly sandy landscape. Unlike Sapphire the waters are slow, almost lazy and quite warm. During the winter the area has a perpetual fog over it from the warm water steaming into the air. Volcanic activity deep underground warms the sand and water, but poses little threat to the surface other than creating a very comfortable place for a nap. The area is uninhabitable due to the complete absence of any naturally occurring life. No plants, no animals, nothing. The water is crystal clear and clean but no fish or algae grow in it. The sand supports no plant life. Without a food source there are no larger animals. Colonization has proven to be too expensive due to the need to import even dirt to grow food. There is no danger to a person getting out of their boat from currents or deep water and it is not poisonous. The deepest the water gets is about 10 feet. You can always see to the bottom.
There are a few temporary 'settlements,' but these are few and as impermanent as the shifting landscape. Some of these groups are 'miners' who gather the pretty, naturally occurring crystals from the ground. Others are archeologists ( from a university in Black) who study the strange ruins that sometimes are revealed by the shifting sands. Sometimes these groups disappear and are never heard from again, although that is not the norm.
The crystals are a mystery. They are not from the ground, can't be found anywhere else (in the world) and are a strange non-color. They are very common in jewelry and all but the poorest of the poor have at least some sort of bauble inside of the mountain range. The are the main export out of the Territory but that has to do with Opal. More are constantly surfacing from the sands. Rumor has it that the crystals are actually shed dragon scales, but who would believe that old wives' tale?
The ruins are made of stone and have strange characteristics. The streets have large channels dug though them, with bridges regularly crossing them. The strange part is the entrances below water level. Almost every building has a completely submerged entrance leading to these channels in the same fashion that a surface door has an entrance to the street. Complete with windows and remnants of furniture, almost every building has a level that was completely submerged at all times. In some of the larger buildings (what appear to be public buildings or wealthy private ones) there are even pump systems that appear to allow some special areas of the surface level to be filled with water, and some sub surface areas to be drained of it. Most of the pump systems are made up of elaborate Archimedes' Screws.
I'm going to roll up a set of characters for one miner's camp and one archeologists' camp. Then I will plot several of each on the map and where ever the players chose to go, if they cross one of points, any to of the miner camps will have the one set of NPCs and same for the archeologists. Easier than rolling out three or four of each and having all those people to keep straight in my head. That would be difficult.
That's that for this week. Hopefully I will actually get something by next week. Once a week is not to much to push for is it?
---a
Thursday, September 29, 2011
not finished, give me another week
 |
| What I've got so far. It's a good start. Will refine during this week and try to have it done on Sunday or Monday. |
Monday, August 29, 2011
Compartmentalizing for My Sanity
When I had first envisioned this campaign I was hoping to create something that would allow the party fully organic decision making. I could have the party pick any place on the map and then stick their characters in and allow them to go from there. I was recommended by a friend to not do that. He told me to choose one area and make it the opening adventure. Sand box them in till they complete a task, like a mini-campaign. This would give me the chance to get to know the characters, the players and better arrange the rest of the environment to suit them. It would allow for greater enjoyment of the game by all involved. And after breaking the sandbox I can allow the whole of Adama to be open as I had originally intended. I think that I will do this. And the area I choose to be the sandbox is White.
White is a city built on the principal of defense. It's location is on an artificial floating craft, made of a combination of reeds and scrap wood, most of which is wreckage that is brought by the current. An entire caste of people make their living salvaging from the waters. The area of calm water it floats on is in the center of the most active water in the entire Territory. All rivers, flows and tides in all the city-states, both originate and terminate is the wild waters of White. It is also the deepest city of all, with a dangerous undertow under the calm water of the city proper.
Salvaging is very dangerous, but potentially very economically rewarding. Many poor take larger and larger risks in the dangerous waters for a chance at improving their lives permanently by bringing in a good haul. Many of the richer denizens of the city are former salvagers, commonly known as salrites (salvage pirates). The rest of the population is made up of pirates of the normal variety, and the services that pop up to cater to them. Inns and brothels are the most legitimate business present. White is also the capital of the black market for the entire Territory.
The survival of the city as a whole depends on a measure of co-opertion to maintain its infrastructure and to expand. Tolls are charged at the docks and are 'taxed' to cover costs. Since the salrites are freelance, only three officials are employed at a time to oversee collecting the money from dock owners, seeing to overseeing the construction of new 'land' and the repair of old. Their other main source of revenue is the sale of new 'land'. These positions are basically self regulatory and therefore very open to corruption. This is the problem that I will put to the present to my party. They will not be able to leave until forming some sort of solution for saving the city from its own lack of bureaucracy. I figured the irony would be amusing to my projected player base.
To get them together I'm going to have to play the characters for the players a little. One Character (already know which one) will have a treasure map and a boat, and will put out an advert that the players will be responding to for a crew. I can leave the reason for responding up to them, so hopefully this won't be to invasive.
The reason they can't just set sail is that...I haven't really gotten that far. I actually think That is the last think I need for the story line, besides NPCs and the map.
Anyone got any suggestions?
White is a city built on the principal of defense. It's location is on an artificial floating craft, made of a combination of reeds and scrap wood, most of which is wreckage that is brought by the current. An entire caste of people make their living salvaging from the waters. The area of calm water it floats on is in the center of the most active water in the entire Territory. All rivers, flows and tides in all the city-states, both originate and terminate is the wild waters of White. It is also the deepest city of all, with a dangerous undertow under the calm water of the city proper.
Salvaging is very dangerous, but potentially very economically rewarding. Many poor take larger and larger risks in the dangerous waters for a chance at improving their lives permanently by bringing in a good haul. Many of the richer denizens of the city are former salvagers, commonly known as salrites (salvage pirates). The rest of the population is made up of pirates of the normal variety, and the services that pop up to cater to them. Inns and brothels are the most legitimate business present. White is also the capital of the black market for the entire Territory.
The survival of the city as a whole depends on a measure of co-opertion to maintain its infrastructure and to expand. Tolls are charged at the docks and are 'taxed' to cover costs. Since the salrites are freelance, only three officials are employed at a time to oversee collecting the money from dock owners, seeing to overseeing the construction of new 'land' and the repair of old. Their other main source of revenue is the sale of new 'land'. These positions are basically self regulatory and therefore very open to corruption. This is the problem that I will put to the present to my party. They will not be able to leave until forming some sort of solution for saving the city from its own lack of bureaucracy. I figured the irony would be amusing to my projected player base.
To get them together I'm going to have to play the characters for the players a little. One Character (already know which one) will have a treasure map and a boat, and will put out an advert that the players will be responding to for a crew. I can leave the reason for responding up to them, so hopefully this won't be to invasive.
The reason they can't just set sail is that...I haven't really gotten that far. I actually think That is the last think I need for the story line, besides NPCs and the map.
Anyone got any suggestions?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Map ideas, and further details on areas.
So the map thing did not happen this week. Or last week. blargh. I think that is the technical term. However I think I have come up with a few other things.
First, pertaining to the whole map and how such a strange environment developed. Basically a meteor. Hit ocean and collided with the edge of a continent, that's how the thing has at least shallow water over the whole surface and all these crazy environments. The entire meteor is completely honey combed with caves and tunnel systems, which is why you can almost travel everywhere underground. Water gets sucked up, spit out, stagnates, and everything else through these tunnels.
A situation has been developed for Green. Farming and way of life is dependent upon relationship with unicorns. The unicorns are literally burned by the touch of a non-virgin, so the culture has developed toward, late in life marriage, and fewer, later births. This results in population decline, and weddings being an unhappy event instead of a joyous one.
There really isn't much a stigma against losing your virginity so much as a preference for your relationship with your unicorn. The people tend to pair up with one or two unicorns and form a very close bond early in life. And the relationship with the unicorns makes life so much more convenient. They can walk on water, easing transportation, purify water which allows the farmers to farm many things that can't be grown anywhere else in the area.
The unicorns are fully sentient and as upset about the population decline of their humans and the virginity problem as the humans. They know that this problem has only been going on for the past four or five generations though and believe that there is something causing non-virgins to burn the unicorns. Still working on how to get the rumor to the party, but I'm going to have the item be made of silver, and therefore really precious in this almost metal free enviroment....or maybe iron and allow them to have weapons made form it...I think I'll leave that open to what the party would like more.
I think the item will also be a cap on a pyramid (short dungeon)...placed there by the same necromancer baddie that is currently in Gray...might make a way to have the whole thing interconnected, but I don't think that matters at all till I see how the players are going to be.
I think I will also have them be greeted by a NPC and invited to a wedding upon entering the area.
Other than mapping and Npc's to be rolled I think I've got what I need for Green. Only 12 more city-states to go....
First, pertaining to the whole map and how such a strange environment developed. Basically a meteor. Hit ocean and collided with the edge of a continent, that's how the thing has at least shallow water over the whole surface and all these crazy environments. The entire meteor is completely honey combed with caves and tunnel systems, which is why you can almost travel everywhere underground. Water gets sucked up, spit out, stagnates, and everything else through these tunnels.
A situation has been developed for Green. Farming and way of life is dependent upon relationship with unicorns. The unicorns are literally burned by the touch of a non-virgin, so the culture has developed toward, late in life marriage, and fewer, later births. This results in population decline, and weddings being an unhappy event instead of a joyous one.
There really isn't much a stigma against losing your virginity so much as a preference for your relationship with your unicorn. The people tend to pair up with one or two unicorns and form a very close bond early in life. And the relationship with the unicorns makes life so much more convenient. They can walk on water, easing transportation, purify water which allows the farmers to farm many things that can't be grown anywhere else in the area.
The unicorns are fully sentient and as upset about the population decline of their humans and the virginity problem as the humans. They know that this problem has only been going on for the past four or five generations though and believe that there is something causing non-virgins to burn the unicorns. Still working on how to get the rumor to the party, but I'm going to have the item be made of silver, and therefore really precious in this almost metal free enviroment....or maybe iron and allow them to have weapons made form it...I think I'll leave that open to what the party would like more.
I think the item will also be a cap on a pyramid (short dungeon)...placed there by the same necromancer baddie that is currently in Gray...might make a way to have the whole thing interconnected, but I don't think that matters at all till I see how the players are going to be.
I think I will also have them be greeted by a NPC and invited to a wedding upon entering the area.
Other than mapping and Npc's to be rolled I think I've got what I need for Green. Only 12 more city-states to go....
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Beginning of the World
Thirteen city-states in one Territory. I have at least a bare bones idea of what I want in each city except for Summer-sky. Been drawing a blank on that one. I'm just going to give a quick run down of each area as I have it for now.
White
floating city in calm water with docks all around stretching out into violent pools, whirlpools, rivers converge and originate here, has Venice like architecture and setup, sewer system (want to use it as part of the plot for this area somehow.)
Yellow
Whalers, seafooev farmers
Tiger-Eye
ever changing sand hills surrounded by water, mines for precious stones, ruins, and archeologists gems loose on the ground sparkling and pretty
Rose
actual swamps, mangrove trees silk farmers, near red same culture (Japanese)
SummerSky
Purple Dusk
near EbonGray and Black, same cliffs rising out of water (can come up inside of Black without stepping into EbonGray, through the tunnel/cave system) this is wear the last of the dragons roost
Opal
Only pass out of Territory, has town of merchants, only importers and exporters in Territory, very wealthy, society is most like inspiration material
Green
unicorns that can walk on water, forest rising out of water, but not swamp like, (water constantly purified by unicorns) Like Channelwood from Myst, tree-top society
Sapphire
underground society (rest of territory does not know it's there, thinks it is barren and empty) mermaids, surface barren visually like Tiger-eye, with shallow water and sand dunes. surface unpopulated, water filled caverns underground with like from systems of light refraction from natural gemstones
Red
Sulfur pools, volcanic activity, mud pits, rotten eggs smells, Japanese culture, onsen, health spas, like Bath, hot springs
Gray
Ship builders, more reeds than wood, trade for wood from Green, Egyptian like culture but no stone buildings, bad guy in area, evil spell turns papyrus into stone to build strange looking pyramid, declare himself a god ruins paper export, can hear rumors, paper really expensive for a while
Ebon-Gray
surrounds Black on all sides, port city must negotiate way through to Black, warrior race, Spartan
Black
Raise Beef ONLY real land in Territory city built into cliffs to avoid wasting valuable land, warriors as well, but Athenians to Ebon-Gray's Spartans Corrupt Government
So there are the City-States as I have them so far. On the map I have also switched Rose and Sapphire in the map. Next week I will try to have a better map put together, and then I will start fleshing out the City's more. Have a good Week!
White
floating city in calm water with docks all around stretching out into violent pools, whirlpools, rivers converge and originate here, has Venice like architecture and setup, sewer system (want to use it as part of the plot for this area somehow.)
Yellow
Whalers, seafooev farmers
Tiger-Eye
ever changing sand hills surrounded by water, mines for precious stones, ruins, and archeologists gems loose on the ground sparkling and pretty
Rose
actual swamps, mangrove trees silk farmers, near red same culture (Japanese)
SummerSky
Purple Dusk
near EbonGray and Black, same cliffs rising out of water (can come up inside of Black without stepping into EbonGray, through the tunnel/cave system) this is wear the last of the dragons roost
Opal
Only pass out of Territory, has town of merchants, only importers and exporters in Territory, very wealthy, society is most like inspiration material
Green
unicorns that can walk on water, forest rising out of water, but not swamp like, (water constantly purified by unicorns) Like Channelwood from Myst, tree-top society
Sapphire
underground society (rest of territory does not know it's there, thinks it is barren and empty) mermaids, surface barren visually like Tiger-eye, with shallow water and sand dunes. surface unpopulated, water filled caverns underground with like from systems of light refraction from natural gemstones
Red
Sulfur pools, volcanic activity, mud pits, rotten eggs smells, Japanese culture, onsen, health spas, like Bath, hot springs
Gray
Ship builders, more reeds than wood, trade for wood from Green, Egyptian like culture but no stone buildings, bad guy in area, evil spell turns papyrus into stone to build strange looking pyramid, declare himself a god ruins paper export, can hear rumors, paper really expensive for a while
Ebon-Gray
surrounds Black on all sides, port city must negotiate way through to Black, warrior race, Spartan
Black
Raise Beef ONLY real land in Territory city built into cliffs to avoid wasting valuable land, warriors as well, but Athenians to Ebon-Gray's Spartans Corrupt Government
So there are the City-States as I have them so far. On the map I have also switched Rose and Sapphire in the map. Next week I will try to have a better map put together, and then I will start fleshing out the City's more. Have a good Week!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
serious case of ambition
It's been over a year since I came up with a tiny idea for my first campaign as a DM, and it has turned into a monster of an idea and bears little resemblance to the original idea.
It actually took a good bit of thought to make this make this map, even though it looks so simple. Darn me for already having solidified ideas about what some of the territories were going to be like.
So welcome to Adamas, isolated water Territory in the great wide realm of ....we will get to that later. Adamas is divided into thirteen city-states with highly divided populations. The city-states are named
-White
-Yellow
-Tiger-Eye
-Rose
-Summer-sky
-Purple Dusk
-Opal
-Green
-Shappire
-Red
-Gray
-Ebon-Gray
-Black
If you are already noticing something familiar about this, I commend your taste in reading. Otherwise it will be explained later. I've got so much going on in this thing its' crazy. I have adventures planned out for almost all the cities, plus cultures and landscapes. Not so much on the NPCs yet but I'm getting there. It's also going to be timed. Events in the world are going to move along according to a calendar, and the player characters may or may not get a chance to go on some of the adventures, meet some of the NPCs, etc. It's crazy ambitious. So to help keep me on a schedule of production and to organize my notes I have started this blog. Everything I come up with will be on here, all the back story, all the creation process from here on out, and when the game starts, I will be including notes from the sessions along with thoughts and plans in reaction to the player characters. I really should have started with Orc and Pie.
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