Asklepian
2009-08-05, 06:16 PM
Howdy folks!
My group’s long-running D&D game is starting to build towards the grand finale, and I’ve been asked to step up to the DM role for the next game. Now, I already have a rough plan for the overall plot and setting, but I figured I’d come to you good Playground folk and harvest your juicy brains for sweet ideas. I mean, harvest juicy ideas from your sweet brains. I mean… well, okay, we’ll stick with the last one. Basically what I’m looking for is stuff to help me broaden and deepen, take it from ‘rough idea’ to ‘living and breathing world.’ Credit will be given where credit is due for ideas used, and if you’re just curious how your idea plays out in a game, I’ll be happy to keep you updated on that too.
So, without further ado, here’s what I have so far. Beware the wall o’ text!
Millennia ago, a powerful deity known only as the Prince of Ash and Chains turned on his brethren and started the War in Heaven. As one of the most powerful of his kind, and willing to use anything that would give him an edge, he proved more difficult to subdue than the powers arrayed against him might suggest, and the war raged out of control. Eventually it spilled over into the earthly world and the mortal races were dragged into it as well. Armies both ethereal and material marched endlessly, and the destruction was unbelievable. Millions were killed and atrocities were committed.
500 years ago, the war came to a sudden end. Ambushed and trapped, the Prince was brought to bay personally and dealt a crippling blow. Cast down to Earth in a rain of fire, his descent caused untold destruction and chaos across the face of the planet. It was the end of an era, and everyone knew the world would never be the same. Yet few realized just how right they really were.
When the people came out of their shelters, they found a shock waiting for them immediately. The sky had gone dark, covered by an eternal shadowy haze known as the Shroud. The stars were forever blotted out, and the Sun reduced to little more than a chill glimmer. Worse yet, all prayers or other attempt at contacting other planes failed completely. At first, the assumption was that the Gods had merely withdrawn to discuss the unprecedented death of one of their number, but then other facts began to surface.
Several extraplanar entities were trapped on our world, unable to return to their homes. The dead would not rest, arising shortly after falling as twisted, crazed horrors driven mad by a failed transition to the spirit world. When the celestial silence failed to end, the truth became clear: the way to Heaven was closed completely, and no one knew how or why.
Yet it is said that people can get used to anything, and so it was with this. Slowly the races of the world came together and began to rebuild and recover. Much had been destroyed, and great swaths of the land were uninhabitable thanks to the old war and the new ice age, but some places could be saved. Cities were founded, kingdoms arose, and empires were conquered. Life settled into a new rhythm that, while far from perfect, at least did not include the endless threat of annihilation that the war had brought.
Unfortunately, not all things are so flexible as a mortal. A powerful Celestial, the Archangel Apollyon, was trapped here by the Shroud and could not deal with this unwanted change of circumstances. Feeling betrayed by the masters that had abandoned him here, he at first he tried to make the world around him to become a new Heaven, to force mortals to conform to his ideals through the glory and power native to him. This failed. People are stubborn, and short-lived. No sooner would one generation be properly ‘trained’ than a new would be along and the old would die. Eventually, he despaired even of this.
Now he has decided that the only course of action is to go home by any means necessary. Unfortunately, as powerful as he is, the Shroud is beyond his capacity to affect. Only one thing can undo the works of a god, and that is another god. The Prince of Ash and Chains may be crippled, but as a divine entity he can never truly die. The only thing that has kept him from recovering completely, Apollyon knows, is the Shroud itself, cutting him off from the Divine Source that gives all the gods their powers.
Thus, he intends to gather the shattered fragments of the Prince, enough to generate a spark of his divine power, and rupture the Shroud once and for all. Yes, it will mean the War begins anew with all the horror that entails, but look at these mortals! They’re like animals. They can’t simply be left to govern themselves anyways.
And most importantly, it means he will finally get to go home.
So that’s the basic setup and our BBEG of sorts. So here’s a few other ideas I know already I’m going to have going on.
- We’ll be using D&D 4E for the game, and while the world is cut off from the divine I don’t intend to get rid of the divine classes, just refluff them a bit. They’ll either be drawing on the aura of power spread throughout the world by the Prince’s fall, or they’ll carry an ancient relic from before the Shroud that was invested with Divine power, and slowly draining it to create their miracles. No real mechanical effects either way, just a fluff thing.
- Alignment is very different. It does not allow you to ‘ping’ for what kind of person you’re dealing with, it only shows what sort of supernatural powers they’re most heavily linked to. Thus, our aforementioned clerics… if they’re drawing on the Prince’s leftover shreds of power, they’ll ping Chaotic Evil even if they’re fighting a fire at an orphanage. Likewise, someone carrying a divine relic will come up Good even if they’re using the power to conquer and wreak havoc. The vast majority of individuals are simply Unaligned in this era, thanks to the Shroud.
- There are a plethora of undead because no one can move on. The strongest spirits will come back as something sentient and thus usually much worse, while even the weak might come back as a zombie. People have developed countermeasures to prevent it, basically burning and salting every grave to force the spirit into a catatonic state, but the damage was already done by the time they figured it out and there’s still the occasional accidental death beyond reach.
- Fiends, elementals, celestials, basically anything extraplanar… they’re all unique. There’s no new source for them. They’re all named individuals who’ve been trapped since the Shroud fell. Thus, just as a rough example, you won’t have ‘a’ Kyton. You might have The Kyton, the chained horror that stalks the deserted streets of the lost city of Kasmith. You get the idea.
- One of these fiends, a very powerful one, lives in a long-abandoned ruin of a city in the midst of a wasteland, surrounded by a horde of undead. He is not, however, up to the usual fiendish tricks. Rather he has abandoned his old ways and is gathering undead to him to teach them how to find peace in their new existence and remember their lost humanity. Why use such an out-of-the-way, forsaken location for this? Mutual protection, of course! You don’t take a recovering alcoholic to a bar, and you keep brain-hungry zombies away from people.
- There is a religion of sorts in control of one nation, which has just finished a drawn out war with another in complete victory. This cult believes that since the gods are gone, they must build one to take their place. As such they attempt to seize all things magical/divine from the old days to channel into their new Clockwork God, so that he can lead them into a new light and glory and so on and so forth. The now-occupied nation was very interested in magic, and that’s why they became victims, so their stores of knowledge and items could be seized. The religion may be a front for, or merely influenced by, Apollyon. I’m not sure yet.
And that’s what I’ve got so far! A lot of reading, I know, and thanks if you’ve taken the time to do so. Any ideas will be considered, and all help is appreciated.
Danke. :)
My group’s long-running D&D game is starting to build towards the grand finale, and I’ve been asked to step up to the DM role for the next game. Now, I already have a rough plan for the overall plot and setting, but I figured I’d come to you good Playground folk and harvest your juicy brains for sweet ideas. I mean, harvest juicy ideas from your sweet brains. I mean… well, okay, we’ll stick with the last one. Basically what I’m looking for is stuff to help me broaden and deepen, take it from ‘rough idea’ to ‘living and breathing world.’ Credit will be given where credit is due for ideas used, and if you’re just curious how your idea plays out in a game, I’ll be happy to keep you updated on that too.
So, without further ado, here’s what I have so far. Beware the wall o’ text!
Millennia ago, a powerful deity known only as the Prince of Ash and Chains turned on his brethren and started the War in Heaven. As one of the most powerful of his kind, and willing to use anything that would give him an edge, he proved more difficult to subdue than the powers arrayed against him might suggest, and the war raged out of control. Eventually it spilled over into the earthly world and the mortal races were dragged into it as well. Armies both ethereal and material marched endlessly, and the destruction was unbelievable. Millions were killed and atrocities were committed.
500 years ago, the war came to a sudden end. Ambushed and trapped, the Prince was brought to bay personally and dealt a crippling blow. Cast down to Earth in a rain of fire, his descent caused untold destruction and chaos across the face of the planet. It was the end of an era, and everyone knew the world would never be the same. Yet few realized just how right they really were.
When the people came out of their shelters, they found a shock waiting for them immediately. The sky had gone dark, covered by an eternal shadowy haze known as the Shroud. The stars were forever blotted out, and the Sun reduced to little more than a chill glimmer. Worse yet, all prayers or other attempt at contacting other planes failed completely. At first, the assumption was that the Gods had merely withdrawn to discuss the unprecedented death of one of their number, but then other facts began to surface.
Several extraplanar entities were trapped on our world, unable to return to their homes. The dead would not rest, arising shortly after falling as twisted, crazed horrors driven mad by a failed transition to the spirit world. When the celestial silence failed to end, the truth became clear: the way to Heaven was closed completely, and no one knew how or why.
Yet it is said that people can get used to anything, and so it was with this. Slowly the races of the world came together and began to rebuild and recover. Much had been destroyed, and great swaths of the land were uninhabitable thanks to the old war and the new ice age, but some places could be saved. Cities were founded, kingdoms arose, and empires were conquered. Life settled into a new rhythm that, while far from perfect, at least did not include the endless threat of annihilation that the war had brought.
Unfortunately, not all things are so flexible as a mortal. A powerful Celestial, the Archangel Apollyon, was trapped here by the Shroud and could not deal with this unwanted change of circumstances. Feeling betrayed by the masters that had abandoned him here, he at first he tried to make the world around him to become a new Heaven, to force mortals to conform to his ideals through the glory and power native to him. This failed. People are stubborn, and short-lived. No sooner would one generation be properly ‘trained’ than a new would be along and the old would die. Eventually, he despaired even of this.
Now he has decided that the only course of action is to go home by any means necessary. Unfortunately, as powerful as he is, the Shroud is beyond his capacity to affect. Only one thing can undo the works of a god, and that is another god. The Prince of Ash and Chains may be crippled, but as a divine entity he can never truly die. The only thing that has kept him from recovering completely, Apollyon knows, is the Shroud itself, cutting him off from the Divine Source that gives all the gods their powers.
Thus, he intends to gather the shattered fragments of the Prince, enough to generate a spark of his divine power, and rupture the Shroud once and for all. Yes, it will mean the War begins anew with all the horror that entails, but look at these mortals! They’re like animals. They can’t simply be left to govern themselves anyways.
And most importantly, it means he will finally get to go home.
So that’s the basic setup and our BBEG of sorts. So here’s a few other ideas I know already I’m going to have going on.
- We’ll be using D&D 4E for the game, and while the world is cut off from the divine I don’t intend to get rid of the divine classes, just refluff them a bit. They’ll either be drawing on the aura of power spread throughout the world by the Prince’s fall, or they’ll carry an ancient relic from before the Shroud that was invested with Divine power, and slowly draining it to create their miracles. No real mechanical effects either way, just a fluff thing.
- Alignment is very different. It does not allow you to ‘ping’ for what kind of person you’re dealing with, it only shows what sort of supernatural powers they’re most heavily linked to. Thus, our aforementioned clerics… if they’re drawing on the Prince’s leftover shreds of power, they’ll ping Chaotic Evil even if they’re fighting a fire at an orphanage. Likewise, someone carrying a divine relic will come up Good even if they’re using the power to conquer and wreak havoc. The vast majority of individuals are simply Unaligned in this era, thanks to the Shroud.
- There are a plethora of undead because no one can move on. The strongest spirits will come back as something sentient and thus usually much worse, while even the weak might come back as a zombie. People have developed countermeasures to prevent it, basically burning and salting every grave to force the spirit into a catatonic state, but the damage was already done by the time they figured it out and there’s still the occasional accidental death beyond reach.
- Fiends, elementals, celestials, basically anything extraplanar… they’re all unique. There’s no new source for them. They’re all named individuals who’ve been trapped since the Shroud fell. Thus, just as a rough example, you won’t have ‘a’ Kyton. You might have The Kyton, the chained horror that stalks the deserted streets of the lost city of Kasmith. You get the idea.
- One of these fiends, a very powerful one, lives in a long-abandoned ruin of a city in the midst of a wasteland, surrounded by a horde of undead. He is not, however, up to the usual fiendish tricks. Rather he has abandoned his old ways and is gathering undead to him to teach them how to find peace in their new existence and remember their lost humanity. Why use such an out-of-the-way, forsaken location for this? Mutual protection, of course! You don’t take a recovering alcoholic to a bar, and you keep brain-hungry zombies away from people.
- There is a religion of sorts in control of one nation, which has just finished a drawn out war with another in complete victory. This cult believes that since the gods are gone, they must build one to take their place. As such they attempt to seize all things magical/divine from the old days to channel into their new Clockwork God, so that he can lead them into a new light and glory and so on and so forth. The now-occupied nation was very interested in magic, and that’s why they became victims, so their stores of knowledge and items could be seized. The religion may be a front for, or merely influenced by, Apollyon. I’m not sure yet.
And that’s what I’ve got so far! A lot of reading, I know, and thanks if you’ve taken the time to do so. Any ideas will be considered, and all help is appreciated.
Danke. :)