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Lothmar
2010-07-08, 05:39 PM
Okay, im trying to build a new world since my turn to run for my group will be coming up in a couple of months and I thought I'd get a head start on things.

This is going to be a 3.5 Dnd game for reference in case people couldnt tell, still not certain about the level though.

Basic premise of the game was, two gods discovered a plane of reality at the same time and over time they discovered they were too evenly matched for one to defeat the other in combat etc. Through various means, they finally decided to negotiate, each building in turn an aspect of the world. This keeps them both from trying to kill eachother for a time and they're both relatively content to building this new world of life below.

However as time goes on they become slightly bored with the world, of course the gods decide they dont want to share anymore becuase of this. However, neither god can defeat the other - so they decide to leave it into a nuetral parties hands and place their powers on a wager. So working together the two gods create one new race, humans. And as per their previous works each created a different aspect of humanity thus averaging them out compared to their other creations.

One god Decreed that they would give humanity dominion over all the lands, the animals and all of both of the gods sentient creations.

In contrast the other god agreed, however they would both limit mans lifespan and his kind (Basically humans have average lifespans and there will never be more then 200 or so humans).

This kind of stuff went on and on for some time until finally humanity was created. From the first batch of humans created, the gods tested their new children and over the period of this pilgrimage so to speek probably three fourths of their numbers did not have the faith or whatever was needed to continue and so left to simply do whatever they would in the world - while the final fifty two made it to the promised lands where the gods would help them raise a great capital and nation by their works and word.

Anyway, im probably starting to bore you and it's been poor descriptor thus far so i'll get right to the point. I was basically going to make a feat that players could take if they wanted to be human, if they didnt take this feat then they could build a character as normal per the rules etc but if they did take it they would be 'choosen'. From there, they would roll 1d10. On a score of 1-9 they recieve a corresponding number of 1 higher (ex: 1=2, 9=10), while on a 10 they would roll a d4 - 1=Jack, 2=Queen, 3=King, 4=Ace. And then finally they would roll a D4 for type 1=Heart, 2=Spade, 3=Diamond, 4= Club (This of course is usually displayed as a birthmark on the head/face).

Anywho, using this system humans would compete ever few years to a generation to determine who would be the winner of these games by the decree of the gods and the winning god would get a portion of the other gods power until one was simply no more.

However, im having trouble coming up with something that makes it feel like humans are this superior choosen race etc statistic wise (Rp is easy, stating it may be harder). Basically the game will follow mostly highlander rules, where only two 'choosen' can engage eachother at a time and esentially when you kill another they turn into a card representing their value that you can use at a later point to determine your 'hand' if you have enough. To enforce the rules of the game, past generations of defeated humans are allowed to live and serve as referee's that appear out of nowhere (sort of like shadow dancers), when more then one choosen is in so much of a proximity to another, I was going to call them jokers. The humans who are not choosen, are called 'wildcards' and have no value. If they choose to join the game, they can collect other cards, however they essentially have to collect 1 more card to have a full hand etc but im also looking for another penalty to this...

Anywho, im looking for a way to properly build this racial feat etc that's limited to humans. Im also considering half humans able to be counted as wild cards since they have human lineage etc one of the other perks was that since humans numbers were limited but they were given power/domain over the lesser races/creation they had such powers over them. This also caused an uproar in one of the early games when a mad wildcard berserker pureblood won the second game with his army of wild card oddity children (centaur, minotaur, satyr, half orc, etc. yeah he uhm enjoyed exploiting that gift a little too much...). Also for coupling purposes, half human races who engage with a human can have varying children (Male human, female half race = Child Half race. Where as femal human, male half race = Human child. Where as Either gender Halfrace, Engaged with lesser race/animal = Half race child.) Gah, I really should have given this its own section.

Anywho, thoughts and suggestions on how I can work this game better and how to stat out humans without giving them a LA?

Lothmar
2010-07-09, 09:36 AM
Hmm, maybe i'll move this to homebrew...

Psyx
2010-07-09, 09:46 AM
"One god Decreed that they would give humanity dominion over all the lands, the animals and all of both of the gods sentient creations."

I was expecting the next sentence to read:

"The the other decided that women will do as they damn well please."

Drothmal
2010-07-09, 12:51 PM
How about giving them Cleric domains with character level = cleric lvl? Depending how powerful you want to make this boon, you can just give them the domain abilities or the domain abilities and the associated spells. It also falls thematically because depending on what domains they choose, what god they are fighting for

(If they have cleric lvls, just add another domain)

Lothmar
2010-07-09, 12:53 PM
Well that's another Issue I probably should have mentioned, Humans can support a god of their choice etc and fight for them - but that in no way necessarily means that they are truly serving them - since I was going to have the gods each have two random suites for every game.

Yora
2010-07-09, 12:58 PM
So the concept of the campaign is "You are play pieces of tw gods, and all you do is to entertain them"?
Could this be really fun for people to play?

Calemyr
2010-07-09, 03:55 PM
Or you could look at is the players being "gods", playing with the lives of heroes for their amusement, and then being pitted against other heroic groups supposedly also under the thrall of other player "gods".

Lothmar
2010-07-10, 05:59 PM
@ Yora - Meh, I think my group was more enthralled by the idea of a pitch of a world where humans didn't make up 3/4 of the population in a fantasy game more then anything else.

Also, no. The idea is, humans were put in charge of the world to run it - etc by the gods. However, to prove who should rule etc, the humans must face off every generation or so to see who will be the top of the heap. Not even all of the humans/races even believe in the gods / the game anymore - or truthfully believe it was set up for the reasons decreed believing it to be human propaganda/excuses to keep themselves in control etc. Also, the humans have no idea who they're supporting if they participate and who they help win other then themselves. As stated, it's more of a highlander fight for the prize sort of game.

@ Cale - ...No, I dont like it. But thanks for input.