Xeratos
2013-02-17, 04:40 PM
I wrote a one-shot campaign a little while back, and I felt like I really went over the top on the amount of detail I included for what was literally about a six or seven hour session. I like the world theme for it, and I thought I might do a bit more here, but I understand that my tastes don't always mean everyone else is going to think it's great, so I thought I'd ask for some feedback.
The world is set in an almost Victorian Era time period, though lacking the technology brought about by the invention of the steam engine. Religion plays a large part in society, and unlike the polytheistic structure employed by most tabletop rpgs, the majority of society believe in what is known as "The One True God," with only extremely rural areas still worshiping the spirits of nature (read: instead of clerics, they turn to druids for their religious learning). I suspect that, with its parallels to Christianity, this will be the most controversial aspect of the setting.
The standard fantasy races are notoriously absent as well, with humans, halfings, and half-elves making up the majority of what they call the civilized lands. Dwarves, full blooded elves, gnomes, orcs, and the rest still exist, but as a whole, they've been pushed into seclusion and anonymity by the proflicly reproducing humans.
Arcane magic is looked down on and distrusted by the church, which wields a great deal of influence. As such, wizards and sorcerers are often viewed with suspicion and bigotry in urban areas, and not tolerated at all in more rural settings. Being burned at the stake is a very real fear for the "witches" who live in the countryside.
The link below contains my notes for this session, which is about a small region known as Agart Reach that is being plagued with disappearances and undead. The region's violent past has got its townsfolk panicked, and the church sends for aid from afar.
For my session, the party consisted of a paladin, cleric (both obviously affiliated with each other, since there's only one religion), fighter, and sorcerer. The sorcerer plays an important role, and she is native to the area, but left due to the persecution of arcane casters there. If anyone else wanted to use these notes as a sort of module, the sorcerer could easily become an NPC that arrives with the party.
The monsters are all home-brew, and my players were kind enough to do some of the fights several times to test them out. We found some of them to be a bit overpowered, especially the blood spectre's health regeneration, and I've toned down their stats accordingly. I haven't had a chance to test their newly unimproved stats though, so I would especially love feedback on that. Keep in mind that these were designed only for combat use, so the stat blocks are partial and only contain what I considered to be combat useful information.
The Nightmare of Agart Reach (http://www.alabasterink.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Agart-Reach-PDF.pdf)
Included in the pdf is the starting stats, gold, and restrictions I placed on character creation, with the idea that the challenges would be balanced against a party of that strength.
Things I'm looking for specific feedback on:
1. The world concept in general.
2. The balance of the monster's ability.
3. Overall flavor of the project (do you find the storyline to be interesting?)
Any and all comments are welcome, of course.
The world is set in an almost Victorian Era time period, though lacking the technology brought about by the invention of the steam engine. Religion plays a large part in society, and unlike the polytheistic structure employed by most tabletop rpgs, the majority of society believe in what is known as "The One True God," with only extremely rural areas still worshiping the spirits of nature (read: instead of clerics, they turn to druids for their religious learning). I suspect that, with its parallels to Christianity, this will be the most controversial aspect of the setting.
The standard fantasy races are notoriously absent as well, with humans, halfings, and half-elves making up the majority of what they call the civilized lands. Dwarves, full blooded elves, gnomes, orcs, and the rest still exist, but as a whole, they've been pushed into seclusion and anonymity by the proflicly reproducing humans.
Arcane magic is looked down on and distrusted by the church, which wields a great deal of influence. As such, wizards and sorcerers are often viewed with suspicion and bigotry in urban areas, and not tolerated at all in more rural settings. Being burned at the stake is a very real fear for the "witches" who live in the countryside.
The link below contains my notes for this session, which is about a small region known as Agart Reach that is being plagued with disappearances and undead. The region's violent past has got its townsfolk panicked, and the church sends for aid from afar.
For my session, the party consisted of a paladin, cleric (both obviously affiliated with each other, since there's only one religion), fighter, and sorcerer. The sorcerer plays an important role, and she is native to the area, but left due to the persecution of arcane casters there. If anyone else wanted to use these notes as a sort of module, the sorcerer could easily become an NPC that arrives with the party.
The monsters are all home-brew, and my players were kind enough to do some of the fights several times to test them out. We found some of them to be a bit overpowered, especially the blood spectre's health regeneration, and I've toned down their stats accordingly. I haven't had a chance to test their newly unimproved stats though, so I would especially love feedback on that. Keep in mind that these were designed only for combat use, so the stat blocks are partial and only contain what I considered to be combat useful information.
The Nightmare of Agart Reach (http://www.alabasterink.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Agart-Reach-PDF.pdf)
Included in the pdf is the starting stats, gold, and restrictions I placed on character creation, with the idea that the challenges would be balanced against a party of that strength.
Things I'm looking for specific feedback on:
1. The world concept in general.
2. The balance of the monster's ability.
3. Overall flavor of the project (do you find the storyline to be interesting?)
Any and all comments are welcome, of course.