Alarra
2007-03-04, 10:37 PM
Friend or Foe Contest
You seldom know what allies or enemies you may acquire in a lifetime of adventuring. And how many people you may have dealings with who will refuse to fit neatly into either category...
In this contest, we hope to obtain useful and flavorful additions to the Tears of Blood setting that has been developing on these boards for some time now. The current draft of this setting's description can be read here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12173.
For the purposes of this contest, however, a brief summary might be as follows: The Tears of Blood setting is intended to be high-fantasy, but gritty. A world in which magic is common, but suspicious, and not outrightly accepted by all. It has proved useless against a devastating and unnatural plague, leaving damaged or shattered civilizations in its wake and twisted wrecks of some of the survivors.
The core D20 races have near equivalents in this world, but with altered characteristics and history. Humans are the least changed, having only new cultures and religions. Dwarves live in a martial culture, with a long history as mercenaries. Half-Elves are replaced by the Feldarin, one-time imperial overlords of the main continent, now reduced to a fraction of their former power. Elves in this world were born from the Feldarin, gifted with celestial powers by a bargain with a malevolent power which yielded devastating consequences. Halflings are lords of the sea, Gnomes ride great mechanical vessels and populate the realms beneath the surface, and Orcs are deeply religious jungle dwellers, with a penchant for sacrificial offerings. Further to this are some new additions - the reflective Giantkin, the twisted Plaguetouched and the still less natural Fleshwrought.
Behind the scenes, other factions come into play. An ancient dracolich plots underground, and has in her long history helped shape the essential nature of at least one of the world's core races. The nature of the Gods or other fundamental forces behind the world is disputed between cultures, but is almost invariably defined according to five concepts - War, Death, Magic, Travel, and Nature. And in addition to these forces, the existence of another god-like entity is undeniable - the Plague Fiend, the being who by its deal with the Elves gained power to cause suffering to all races. He is rumored to have brought the Plague to the world, but, truly, nobody knows the source of the Plague people know as "The Weeping".
Other factions (so far) include the opposing guilds and pirates that run the halfling ship fleets, the magical universities that help regulate magic in Ursoule, secret and not-so-secret organizations that "regulate" sorcerous magic, as well as various guilds, Dwarven clans and Gnome city-states.
Anyone who might wish to contribute, or criticize existing contributions is welcome.
This contest: Entrants to this contest, however, are asked to build anything into the world which may act as either a friend, or a foe, to the PCs without the PCs knowing which. They should have the potential to either be useful or dangerous and able to change on a dime, so the PCs never know who to trust. Creatures, factions, organizations, NPCs, outsiders... the precise nature of the submission is wide open for you, although you might want to consider that Rankle the Dretch Merchant is one good example of the concept.
The Rules:
1.) You will be creating something or someone that can be considered both a friend and foe depending on the circumstances.
2.) Your entry must include the following:
A description of the friend or foe with backstory and stats (as applicable).
Entries should be for D&D only, and specific to the ToB campaign setting. Try to avoid referencing non-core/SRD books if at all possible, but do what you have to do.
Each new entry should be started on a new thread here on the Contests board, dedicated to just that set of items and the discussion of it. Put the tag [FRIEND/FOE] in front of the title of that thread. Any thread without this tag will not be officially entered.
Post on the Entry Thread to let the mods know that you have completed your [FRIEND/FOE] entry. We'll try to keep a post with all the entries listed in one place for easy reference. This post in the Entry Thread is where you must post a link to your thread to be officially entered.Prizes are to be awarded as follows:
Best Overall
Best Group (organization, race, creature type etc.)
Best Individual (NPC, god, outsider, etc.)
Best Fitting ToB Setting
Funniest Entry
Alarra's Choice (Staff) Award
Rookie EntryIf you are eligible for the Rookie award (this is your first entry in an official GitP Design Contest) please note that in your post to the Entry Thread. Otherwise, everyone is eligible for everything else - no need to indicate anything.
The contest begins with the posting of this thread and will continue until 4 pm, April 9th (Eastern US Time). Please remember, as always, to follow the general contest guidelines (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1396387&postcount=2).
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to post them to this thread. Good luck!
You seldom know what allies or enemies you may acquire in a lifetime of adventuring. And how many people you may have dealings with who will refuse to fit neatly into either category...
In this contest, we hope to obtain useful and flavorful additions to the Tears of Blood setting that has been developing on these boards for some time now. The current draft of this setting's description can be read here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12173.
For the purposes of this contest, however, a brief summary might be as follows: The Tears of Blood setting is intended to be high-fantasy, but gritty. A world in which magic is common, but suspicious, and not outrightly accepted by all. It has proved useless against a devastating and unnatural plague, leaving damaged or shattered civilizations in its wake and twisted wrecks of some of the survivors.
The core D20 races have near equivalents in this world, but with altered characteristics and history. Humans are the least changed, having only new cultures and religions. Dwarves live in a martial culture, with a long history as mercenaries. Half-Elves are replaced by the Feldarin, one-time imperial overlords of the main continent, now reduced to a fraction of their former power. Elves in this world were born from the Feldarin, gifted with celestial powers by a bargain with a malevolent power which yielded devastating consequences. Halflings are lords of the sea, Gnomes ride great mechanical vessels and populate the realms beneath the surface, and Orcs are deeply religious jungle dwellers, with a penchant for sacrificial offerings. Further to this are some new additions - the reflective Giantkin, the twisted Plaguetouched and the still less natural Fleshwrought.
Behind the scenes, other factions come into play. An ancient dracolich plots underground, and has in her long history helped shape the essential nature of at least one of the world's core races. The nature of the Gods or other fundamental forces behind the world is disputed between cultures, but is almost invariably defined according to five concepts - War, Death, Magic, Travel, and Nature. And in addition to these forces, the existence of another god-like entity is undeniable - the Plague Fiend, the being who by its deal with the Elves gained power to cause suffering to all races. He is rumored to have brought the Plague to the world, but, truly, nobody knows the source of the Plague people know as "The Weeping".
Other factions (so far) include the opposing guilds and pirates that run the halfling ship fleets, the magical universities that help regulate magic in Ursoule, secret and not-so-secret organizations that "regulate" sorcerous magic, as well as various guilds, Dwarven clans and Gnome city-states.
Anyone who might wish to contribute, or criticize existing contributions is welcome.
This contest: Entrants to this contest, however, are asked to build anything into the world which may act as either a friend, or a foe, to the PCs without the PCs knowing which. They should have the potential to either be useful or dangerous and able to change on a dime, so the PCs never know who to trust. Creatures, factions, organizations, NPCs, outsiders... the precise nature of the submission is wide open for you, although you might want to consider that Rankle the Dretch Merchant is one good example of the concept.
The Rules:
1.) You will be creating something or someone that can be considered both a friend and foe depending on the circumstances.
2.) Your entry must include the following:
A description of the friend or foe with backstory and stats (as applicable).
Entries should be for D&D only, and specific to the ToB campaign setting. Try to avoid referencing non-core/SRD books if at all possible, but do what you have to do.
Each new entry should be started on a new thread here on the Contests board, dedicated to just that set of items and the discussion of it. Put the tag [FRIEND/FOE] in front of the title of that thread. Any thread without this tag will not be officially entered.
Post on the Entry Thread to let the mods know that you have completed your [FRIEND/FOE] entry. We'll try to keep a post with all the entries listed in one place for easy reference. This post in the Entry Thread is where you must post a link to your thread to be officially entered.Prizes are to be awarded as follows:
Best Overall
Best Group (organization, race, creature type etc.)
Best Individual (NPC, god, outsider, etc.)
Best Fitting ToB Setting
Funniest Entry
Alarra's Choice (Staff) Award
Rookie EntryIf you are eligible for the Rookie award (this is your first entry in an official GitP Design Contest) please note that in your post to the Entry Thread. Otherwise, everyone is eligible for everything else - no need to indicate anything.
The contest begins with the posting of this thread and will continue until 4 pm, April 9th (Eastern US Time). Please remember, as always, to follow the general contest guidelines (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1396387&postcount=2).
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to post them to this thread. Good luck!