CageTheMūmakil
2015-11-06, 06:44 AM
He's an edited version of the last post, it fills you in a bit with the world I've been brewing, so buckle up for a bit.
If you decide to read a bit, you might have an understanding with what I need help with.
Knorkator
(Name of a German Metal band, so it might just be a placeholder)
Many centuries ago, there was a colossal Dragon War which shook the world of Knorkator. The Dragons were likewise colossal, many of them surpassing the title of Great Wyrm. To combat these Dragons, the ultimate weapons belonging to the humanoid races were their Titans. Equally imposing machines, manufactured and powered by ancient magicks. By divine intervention, the Gods banished every single Dragon to his and hers own personal demiplane.
Remnants of the Titans still exist, some mistaken for the avatars of long since forgotten Gods; others strewn across the barren fire-scorched battlefields, in scattered pieces. A skeletal carrion bird glides over this field, and below thousands, and thousands of undead wander the radius of this fallen Titan, as its destruction so many years ago triggered a magical, nuclear explosion.
History of the Dragon Wars, eventually become myth as races forgot of the time when they all united together and one entity, and fought besides each other against the Dragon treat. Which would all change as a new phenomenon emerges which would shake the world of Knorkator once again; the Rift Storms.
The Main Hook
Ushering from the wake of these perceived, supernatural storms are the ancient battalions who once served the Dragons those many centuries ago, with their master leading the vanguard.
The inhabitants of Knorkator must put down their strife, and bind together to defeat to newly emerging Draconic threat. It's round two boys! I expect Knorkator to be a Campaign revolving around War, and frantic intrigue. The players may uncover long forgotten ancient war machines, or requisition newly introduced ones to combat this new menace.
Expanding on the Red Storms
Further investigation, would reveal that these Dragons appear in the wake of the Rift Storms, which are further explained in the spoiler below.
The cause of the Rift Storms
Even before the Dragons were once banished by the Gods many centuries away, there had been a leak in the Chaotic planes. This massive abscess of Chaotic energy, effects the surrounding Planes too. Thus creating the Rift Storms. As you would expect, the more Chaotic energy the Plane contracts, the harsher the Rift Storm connecting that Plane and the Prime Material Plane will be. It appears that the most common, and most devastating subjects to come through these Rift Storms have been the Dragons so far.
Rift Storms are essentially, Planar portals. Seeing as these portals all lead eventually to the Prime Material Plane, you might assume that this was all calculated and intentional. But that's as much as I'm willing to spill.
A Rift Storm is made of a few main components :
Red Lightning
Red Lightning in basically the essence of a Rift Storm, but as a storable, concentrated unit. These units can be bonded to an item, a highly magical staff for example can target an area and a crack of Red Lightning will shoot from the tip. Spawning whatever you roll on the table, in that area. They behave as an indicator too, if you see lots of Red Lightning, then expect a big change in the environment. This sort of lightning can occur during regular thunderstorms also, and yes - they will also spawn something where the bolt lands or change the environment in a way.
Although, when you roll the table - you shouldn't expect anything massive. Once a bolt lands, it may simply warp the trees around them, giving them a slight blueish hue as well. If a bolt lands beside a herd of elks, they might be subject to horrific mutations. Anything below the knee would became huge fleshy maggots, skin melting off leaving hints of alabaster bone wrapped in steaming flesh. Or they could begin to grow wings; that's your origin story for the Peryton. And the high and rare end of the scale, a blessing of unicorns, or an Elder Druid's Sacred Grove may appear; but it's incredibly unlikely. Just keep in mind, Red Lightning is essentially chaos as a unit, you never know what you're going to get.
The Crimson Aether
You can easily tell a substantial Rift Storm is beginning to coalesce if you look towards to sky and see the clouds slowly forming a vortex, obtaining a red hue in the process. Once the Rift Storm is finally formed, the clouds become puffy and retain a deep bloody colour. If the Red Lightning was the concentrated unit of Chaos, then this would be the 'free energy'. If any flying creature, airship, or object enters this mass; expect the unexpected from the other end. Witnesses spout terrifying stories, flocks of birds emerging out of the Crimson Aether as a massive mass of conjoined Rocs, plummeting into the town below before the storm had the chance to reach it. The same creatures materialising as bloated, flesh cages; carrying the vanguard of a demonic army. It is speculated that if you enter the Crimson Aether, you might emerge in one of the Chaotic Planes. No one seems to be confident enough in trying that theory however.
Rift Tornadoes
These swirls of Chaotic energy are what mainly rip and tear the environment, and replace it of course. Rift Tornadoes are direct Planar Portals, to the connecting Planar Realm on the other side. Anyone brave enough to enter one will have to carefully navigate the ever changing winds of these tornadoes, if they hope to emerge on the other side in one piece.
Just so we understand, once people start following Rift Storms it won't just be treasure hunters, or your equivalent to Californian gold miners. Because not everything popping out of these Rift Storms is just doom and gloom. You'll have national diplomats, to welcome and barter with any new species who are introduced by the storm. Armies so that they can counter the larger Rift storms, because that's when you expect something even larger - could be an ancient, decaying city now filled with undead under-folk, or a gargantuan metal war-machine. There will be hundreds of varieties of camp follower, maybe some who came through a Rift Storm, or a Red Lightning strike themselves. Like a Gnomish gadgeter from the world of Melo'erum, who controls an armored caravan, surrounded by scholars; learning about advanced technologies.
The armies are always moving, and so are the hundreds of varieties of camp followers. Among those, is an armored caravan, driven by its own accord it seems. The one who lives in it happens to be a Gnomish master-craftsman, who was once a resident on the plane of Meloerum, but found himself transported here.
So, below are a few encounters I want to flesh out a bit more before I add them to a table. But they'll give you a basic idea of what I'm working around. If you read any of the prior text, you'd probably want to help out as well. I'd greatly appreciate it.
An elite band of veteran Dwarven warriors hailing from the steampunk, technocratic plane of Melo'erum.
Their group sports a team of under a dozen marksmen, who fire masterfully crafted rifles; think Martini Henrys. A few crews of Dwarves carrying heavy deployable machine guns; puckle guns with a higher caliber and higher ammunition. And the grand piece, a massive contraption which spews bright flame across the skies. Its major component, the breath weapon system of a notorious red dragon; one who was mentioned in ancient tales - a dragon who once terrorised the battlefield with his sheets of flame.
This is indeed, a great and priceless artifact of destruction.
A Juvenile Tarrasque, from a plane whose Tarrasque was just beginning to properly mature. In this situation, Tarrasque as in; massive beyond scale, hideous and terrifying.
Should come into play when many people understand what a Rift Storm does to the environment, amplifies the shock when they're following in hopes of treasure of technology, but they instead get a massive beast which devastates them. Lots of NPCs are going to die that day.
Just imagine, they're following a Rift Storm behind the army of a near nation, because this one is especially big. They think they're safe, as some of the seasoned Storm-Hunters chat about how the army takes away most of the treasures, how massive Rift Storms are just a feral scramble. Then, a Tarrasque appears suddenly and ploughs through a column of the army, and reaches the treasure hunters and camp followers before they have enough time to flee. You can't forget little Jimmy, who is the typical green, 'throw-away' NPC who gets killed immediately.
If you decide to read a bit, you might have an understanding with what I need help with.
Knorkator
(Name of a German Metal band, so it might just be a placeholder)
Many centuries ago, there was a colossal Dragon War which shook the world of Knorkator. The Dragons were likewise colossal, many of them surpassing the title of Great Wyrm. To combat these Dragons, the ultimate weapons belonging to the humanoid races were their Titans. Equally imposing machines, manufactured and powered by ancient magicks. By divine intervention, the Gods banished every single Dragon to his and hers own personal demiplane.
Remnants of the Titans still exist, some mistaken for the avatars of long since forgotten Gods; others strewn across the barren fire-scorched battlefields, in scattered pieces. A skeletal carrion bird glides over this field, and below thousands, and thousands of undead wander the radius of this fallen Titan, as its destruction so many years ago triggered a magical, nuclear explosion.
History of the Dragon Wars, eventually become myth as races forgot of the time when they all united together and one entity, and fought besides each other against the Dragon treat. Which would all change as a new phenomenon emerges which would shake the world of Knorkator once again; the Rift Storms.
The Main Hook
Ushering from the wake of these perceived, supernatural storms are the ancient battalions who once served the Dragons those many centuries ago, with their master leading the vanguard.
The inhabitants of Knorkator must put down their strife, and bind together to defeat to newly emerging Draconic threat. It's round two boys! I expect Knorkator to be a Campaign revolving around War, and frantic intrigue. The players may uncover long forgotten ancient war machines, or requisition newly introduced ones to combat this new menace.
Expanding on the Red Storms
Further investigation, would reveal that these Dragons appear in the wake of the Rift Storms, which are further explained in the spoiler below.
The cause of the Rift Storms
Even before the Dragons were once banished by the Gods many centuries away, there had been a leak in the Chaotic planes. This massive abscess of Chaotic energy, effects the surrounding Planes too. Thus creating the Rift Storms. As you would expect, the more Chaotic energy the Plane contracts, the harsher the Rift Storm connecting that Plane and the Prime Material Plane will be. It appears that the most common, and most devastating subjects to come through these Rift Storms have been the Dragons so far.
Rift Storms are essentially, Planar portals. Seeing as these portals all lead eventually to the Prime Material Plane, you might assume that this was all calculated and intentional. But that's as much as I'm willing to spill.
A Rift Storm is made of a few main components :
Red Lightning
Red Lightning in basically the essence of a Rift Storm, but as a storable, concentrated unit. These units can be bonded to an item, a highly magical staff for example can target an area and a crack of Red Lightning will shoot from the tip. Spawning whatever you roll on the table, in that area. They behave as an indicator too, if you see lots of Red Lightning, then expect a big change in the environment. This sort of lightning can occur during regular thunderstorms also, and yes - they will also spawn something where the bolt lands or change the environment in a way.
Although, when you roll the table - you shouldn't expect anything massive. Once a bolt lands, it may simply warp the trees around them, giving them a slight blueish hue as well. If a bolt lands beside a herd of elks, they might be subject to horrific mutations. Anything below the knee would became huge fleshy maggots, skin melting off leaving hints of alabaster bone wrapped in steaming flesh. Or they could begin to grow wings; that's your origin story for the Peryton. And the high and rare end of the scale, a blessing of unicorns, or an Elder Druid's Sacred Grove may appear; but it's incredibly unlikely. Just keep in mind, Red Lightning is essentially chaos as a unit, you never know what you're going to get.
The Crimson Aether
You can easily tell a substantial Rift Storm is beginning to coalesce if you look towards to sky and see the clouds slowly forming a vortex, obtaining a red hue in the process. Once the Rift Storm is finally formed, the clouds become puffy and retain a deep bloody colour. If the Red Lightning was the concentrated unit of Chaos, then this would be the 'free energy'. If any flying creature, airship, or object enters this mass; expect the unexpected from the other end. Witnesses spout terrifying stories, flocks of birds emerging out of the Crimson Aether as a massive mass of conjoined Rocs, plummeting into the town below before the storm had the chance to reach it. The same creatures materialising as bloated, flesh cages; carrying the vanguard of a demonic army. It is speculated that if you enter the Crimson Aether, you might emerge in one of the Chaotic Planes. No one seems to be confident enough in trying that theory however.
Rift Tornadoes
These swirls of Chaotic energy are what mainly rip and tear the environment, and replace it of course. Rift Tornadoes are direct Planar Portals, to the connecting Planar Realm on the other side. Anyone brave enough to enter one will have to carefully navigate the ever changing winds of these tornadoes, if they hope to emerge on the other side in one piece.
Just so we understand, once people start following Rift Storms it won't just be treasure hunters, or your equivalent to Californian gold miners. Because not everything popping out of these Rift Storms is just doom and gloom. You'll have national diplomats, to welcome and barter with any new species who are introduced by the storm. Armies so that they can counter the larger Rift storms, because that's when you expect something even larger - could be an ancient, decaying city now filled with undead under-folk, or a gargantuan metal war-machine. There will be hundreds of varieties of camp follower, maybe some who came through a Rift Storm, or a Red Lightning strike themselves. Like a Gnomish gadgeter from the world of Melo'erum, who controls an armored caravan, surrounded by scholars; learning about advanced technologies.
The armies are always moving, and so are the hundreds of varieties of camp followers. Among those, is an armored caravan, driven by its own accord it seems. The one who lives in it happens to be a Gnomish master-craftsman, who was once a resident on the plane of Meloerum, but found himself transported here.
So, below are a few encounters I want to flesh out a bit more before I add them to a table. But they'll give you a basic idea of what I'm working around. If you read any of the prior text, you'd probably want to help out as well. I'd greatly appreciate it.
An elite band of veteran Dwarven warriors hailing from the steampunk, technocratic plane of Melo'erum.
Their group sports a team of under a dozen marksmen, who fire masterfully crafted rifles; think Martini Henrys. A few crews of Dwarves carrying heavy deployable machine guns; puckle guns with a higher caliber and higher ammunition. And the grand piece, a massive contraption which spews bright flame across the skies. Its major component, the breath weapon system of a notorious red dragon; one who was mentioned in ancient tales - a dragon who once terrorised the battlefield with his sheets of flame.
This is indeed, a great and priceless artifact of destruction.
A Juvenile Tarrasque, from a plane whose Tarrasque was just beginning to properly mature. In this situation, Tarrasque as in; massive beyond scale, hideous and terrifying.
Should come into play when many people understand what a Rift Storm does to the environment, amplifies the shock when they're following in hopes of treasure of technology, but they instead get a massive beast which devastates them. Lots of NPCs are going to die that day.
Just imagine, they're following a Rift Storm behind the army of a near nation, because this one is especially big. They think they're safe, as some of the seasoned Storm-Hunters chat about how the army takes away most of the treasures, how massive Rift Storms are just a feral scramble. Then, a Tarrasque appears suddenly and ploughs through a column of the army, and reaches the treasure hunters and camp followers before they have enough time to flee. You can't forget little Jimmy, who is the typical green, 'throw-away' NPC who gets killed immediately.