Xuincherguixe
2007-06-08, 02:42 AM
I'm in the planning stages of what will end up being a fairly far lengthy series of gaming sessions. What I'll most likely end up doing is using Instant Messengers at the least, and custom clients at the most because frankly, this is going to be one complicated game! Well, that and I need more excuses to do programming.
The players themselves will all be from mostly non standard races. The exception being Half Orcs, and Drow (depending on if you consider those as standard races or not). Confirmed characters so far are a Jerk Half Orc, a Cannibal Chef Gnoll, and a horrific Succubus.
The setting as is places the humans and their gods at the center of a powerful civilization. They just suddenly appeared one day and just started conquering and making cities. Their belief systems make absolutely no sense with good and evil being defined completely arbitrarily and subject to change without warning. 'Evil' tends to be anything that involves failure to obey, or the enemy in general.
The gods claim to have created everything despite the fact that clearly the other races have existed longer, and that they are perfect and all knowing despite clear examples of the contrary.
The origin story that is told, is that the sun god made the moon, and ten other planets. And from all of this the earth and all its inhabitants were made. With the promise of that all of this was for humanity, and it is humanities duty to claim it. And that this is all part of their master plan.
As for the existence of evil, it is said that at one point the moon disobeyed the sun, and that this created the six demon lords who sow evil in the world.
The human faith system is built fundamentally on contradictions, but they hold a frightening amount of power. They take organization and specialization to great levels. Humanity feels that it is their right and destiny to control the world and everything in it that the gods claim to have made, for them.
It is not just humans that compose the make up of their cities, all the traditional player races are here, but they are treated as second class citizens. Those of 'monster' races are used primarily as slave labor. That the have been 'allowed' to serve in the grand plan of the humans and their gods is to be considered a privilege. If this population feels otherwise, they certainly do not express these thoughts.
Humanity does not control the world though. While most of the great monster races have been all but broken, Orcs are by in large the masters of the wilds. Most of the other races have been absorbed into the various great tribes for their survival. There are still a few tribes that continue to exist on their own.
The Orcs, and others by in large have a religion based on nature spirits. They do not so much worship them as to make deals. There is very little consistency between the various spirits. Many such spirits are liars who will take whatever they can get. Few are especially malicious or specifically seek to destroy. Still, most spirits are treated with a mix of fear and respect.
There are some people who can travel to the world in which the spirits reside in order to communicate with them, these are the Shamans. While sometimes they are respected for their insight and wisdom, frequently they become feared and hated. Those Shamans that are not killed by the peers, or angry spirits can become powerful users of magic. Most of them are seen as insane, but this may have more to do with that they interact with a world so different from that of their peers.
The individual groups of Orcs have a fair amount of diversity, with various levels of technology. Metal tools may be fairly common in some, and virtually unheard of in others. Though they are almost all nomadic or semi nomadic, some tribes have formed permanent settlements with agriculture. These also tend to become areas of trade as well. Being popular targets for raiders, their also is a tendency to station guards. Those settlements that have been near human territory have so far never lasted long against any major assaults.
For those who desire power, many turn to Demons. There are many things that these beings can offer, but many have no desire what so ever to live up to their end of the bargain. Most often is the case that they will follow the letter of their deals, but find loop holes so they can betray them later. Some of the worst however have no objections to doing exactly what they have promised. Because usually their end of the bargain involves them doing what they would like to. Which is usually atrocity.
There are some who worship demons, but by in large it is more akin to a contract. Most dealings with demons involve having the details of such arrangements written down. Indeed it's good practice to begin with. Because well nature spirits may forget their promises and can change their minds, and the gods may back down on agreements without warning or explanation, a demon can on occasion be held accountable.
Most demons are infinitely self interested and dedicated to acquisition of power. Many feel obligated to the idea of power itself. Demon worship is most often more akin to the worship of power than anything else.
Hell has a hierarchy, with six infinitely warring beings at it's top. But at the same time they have some level of admiration for each other. To cooperate for a time is not an impossible idea and it is common for alliances between these Demon lords to occur. They can quickly dissolve, and none of them are foolish enough to think that it would last. The demon lords claim to be the first things to ever exist, and that they will have always existed and will continue to do so even after the world has been destroyed. And in all this time they will fight each other.
The demon lords also claim to be indestructible, which may well be the case.
Amongst the Orcs and other races, some choose to worship demons. These groups tend to be posses greater levels of organization and technology, many of which rival humanities. The most prominent Demon Worshiping race however are the Drow. Banished for having turned against the nature, the Demons opened up a hole in the earth for them to turn to. Here they have been free to develop their powers and grow in strength. On the surface, Elf Civilization may be near death and all but forgotten, but underneath the Drow rule. Demon worshiping humans are not unheard of either, how many of these accusations hold truth is questionable, as it is common practice to call anything that one does not agree with demon worship. Humans do not acknowledge the existence of nature spirits, and instead refer to these as 'forest demons' or 'river demons'
I think that's most of what I've come up with so far. The ultimate goal of the game will be to kill the gods and bring down human civilization. How exactly that happens is still open. Also, much of the game will revolve around getting the various people to all cooperate with each other, and in fact keeping them all from destroying themselves will probably take up a lot of the game too. Furthermore, the party is going to be composed of pretty diverse forces that will be at each others throats as well.
And if you're picking up some "Christian" overtones there in the gods, rest assured it's intentional. This is not meant as an attack on Christianity, it's meant as an attack on it's elements. It's even kind of tempting to put elements such as forgiveness and mercy in what would have to be by process of elimination the Nature Spirits.
But this would kind of defeat the point. In this setting, good has essentially been crippled. While the Nature Spirits have something of a Chaotic Good bias? They are neither strong enough or organized enough by themselves to do much other than exist. Which is it's point really. To exist rather. While it may seem pretty disorganized and random, strange patterns seem to arise. Those individual spirits may be fairly chaotic and random, but collectively? You have a forest.
More positive aspects of Christianity can creep their way into some future campaign.
The demons are meant to add an element of moral uncertainty. Yes, most of them are horrible monsters that would kill you without a second thought and if that's all they do you should count yourself extremely lucky. But they are also a means to an end. Some of them can be pretty reasonable. And that's another thing, they represent the horrors or reason. Neutral demons are not unheard of, and even a good one is not out of the question. This is made easier by the fact that it's a morally relativistic game.
I think that coming up with the stuff for the Human Gods will be easy for the most part. In a way, they're about the lack of thought. I could probably even plunder some of the D&D pantheon and they'd fit right in (oh yeah, I went there). Not going to do that though.
The tricky parts will be with the Demons and Nature Spirits. And, where does Arcane magic come from? I could just say that all Arcane Magic is Demon, but that doesn't quite work. I mean, for one it means that player priests would be completely impossible. (Humans are the only ones that have gods, but the Demon Lords are roughly equivalent to gods). I'm not really sure I want to be cutting off the cleric spell list. Arcane magic 'just exists' doesn't feel right to me because most of the stuff going on carries with it at least some kind of meaning.
Also, Demons as a whole present a problem. As agents of power works well enough, but what about individual ones and their various goals? How to divide the Six of the big ones? I have a thought that they could represent various aspects of the universe itself, like say, gravity, time and all this. But that takes away a bit than having them as powerful negative forces. What they should be is a system that on the whole 'works', because of the constant fighting and destruction all mashing together. And, I had the thought that Demons would need to feed off negative emotions. But then, destruction in general might work too.
How elves come into the game is another problem. One the one hand, elves are traditionally on the same "side" as humans, and against Orcs. On the other in this setting? Those pointy eared dandelion eaters would be much more likely to side with Orcs. I do have the idea that there would have at some point long ago been great Elf, and Dwarf civilizations that crumbled. What sort of belief system would they have? It would be stupid to have them aligned with the Gods because so much of them is associated with humans who, don't exist. And by all accounts it seems neither did those gods. It's a bit of a stretch, but I think if I had civilizations like this, they could be some variation on Nature Spirit worshiping.
Drow are not particularly necessary either. And I could probably really just make something else up too.
Furthermore, should I through in some of those fun Aberrations like Mind Flayers and Aboleths? And where do the Undead fit? While I can probably get away with discarding all these other things from the setting, I don't think I can do that with the Undead. Both of them could fit reasonably enough in with the Demon line, or even the Gods. But that doesn't seem quite right either. Should I just say screw it and just full on get with the Lovecrafting?(which by the way has an ability modifier of negative wisdom, just so you know. And I wish I could claim I thought of this word play)
And because of my love of non sequitur I have to throw this idea. How about a Shoggoth as a player character? As a mount that could be equipped with saddles? How about with monk levels?
Other than that last bit, I apologize for the somewhat lack of organization. This is, after all, hardly complete.
The players themselves will all be from mostly non standard races. The exception being Half Orcs, and Drow (depending on if you consider those as standard races or not). Confirmed characters so far are a Jerk Half Orc, a Cannibal Chef Gnoll, and a horrific Succubus.
The setting as is places the humans and their gods at the center of a powerful civilization. They just suddenly appeared one day and just started conquering and making cities. Their belief systems make absolutely no sense with good and evil being defined completely arbitrarily and subject to change without warning. 'Evil' tends to be anything that involves failure to obey, or the enemy in general.
The gods claim to have created everything despite the fact that clearly the other races have existed longer, and that they are perfect and all knowing despite clear examples of the contrary.
The origin story that is told, is that the sun god made the moon, and ten other planets. And from all of this the earth and all its inhabitants were made. With the promise of that all of this was for humanity, and it is humanities duty to claim it. And that this is all part of their master plan.
As for the existence of evil, it is said that at one point the moon disobeyed the sun, and that this created the six demon lords who sow evil in the world.
The human faith system is built fundamentally on contradictions, but they hold a frightening amount of power. They take organization and specialization to great levels. Humanity feels that it is their right and destiny to control the world and everything in it that the gods claim to have made, for them.
It is not just humans that compose the make up of their cities, all the traditional player races are here, but they are treated as second class citizens. Those of 'monster' races are used primarily as slave labor. That the have been 'allowed' to serve in the grand plan of the humans and their gods is to be considered a privilege. If this population feels otherwise, they certainly do not express these thoughts.
Humanity does not control the world though. While most of the great monster races have been all but broken, Orcs are by in large the masters of the wilds. Most of the other races have been absorbed into the various great tribes for their survival. There are still a few tribes that continue to exist on their own.
The Orcs, and others by in large have a religion based on nature spirits. They do not so much worship them as to make deals. There is very little consistency between the various spirits. Many such spirits are liars who will take whatever they can get. Few are especially malicious or specifically seek to destroy. Still, most spirits are treated with a mix of fear and respect.
There are some people who can travel to the world in which the spirits reside in order to communicate with them, these are the Shamans. While sometimes they are respected for their insight and wisdom, frequently they become feared and hated. Those Shamans that are not killed by the peers, or angry spirits can become powerful users of magic. Most of them are seen as insane, but this may have more to do with that they interact with a world so different from that of their peers.
The individual groups of Orcs have a fair amount of diversity, with various levels of technology. Metal tools may be fairly common in some, and virtually unheard of in others. Though they are almost all nomadic or semi nomadic, some tribes have formed permanent settlements with agriculture. These also tend to become areas of trade as well. Being popular targets for raiders, their also is a tendency to station guards. Those settlements that have been near human territory have so far never lasted long against any major assaults.
For those who desire power, many turn to Demons. There are many things that these beings can offer, but many have no desire what so ever to live up to their end of the bargain. Most often is the case that they will follow the letter of their deals, but find loop holes so they can betray them later. Some of the worst however have no objections to doing exactly what they have promised. Because usually their end of the bargain involves them doing what they would like to. Which is usually atrocity.
There are some who worship demons, but by in large it is more akin to a contract. Most dealings with demons involve having the details of such arrangements written down. Indeed it's good practice to begin with. Because well nature spirits may forget their promises and can change their minds, and the gods may back down on agreements without warning or explanation, a demon can on occasion be held accountable.
Most demons are infinitely self interested and dedicated to acquisition of power. Many feel obligated to the idea of power itself. Demon worship is most often more akin to the worship of power than anything else.
Hell has a hierarchy, with six infinitely warring beings at it's top. But at the same time they have some level of admiration for each other. To cooperate for a time is not an impossible idea and it is common for alliances between these Demon lords to occur. They can quickly dissolve, and none of them are foolish enough to think that it would last. The demon lords claim to be the first things to ever exist, and that they will have always existed and will continue to do so even after the world has been destroyed. And in all this time they will fight each other.
The demon lords also claim to be indestructible, which may well be the case.
Amongst the Orcs and other races, some choose to worship demons. These groups tend to be posses greater levels of organization and technology, many of which rival humanities. The most prominent Demon Worshiping race however are the Drow. Banished for having turned against the nature, the Demons opened up a hole in the earth for them to turn to. Here they have been free to develop their powers and grow in strength. On the surface, Elf Civilization may be near death and all but forgotten, but underneath the Drow rule. Demon worshiping humans are not unheard of either, how many of these accusations hold truth is questionable, as it is common practice to call anything that one does not agree with demon worship. Humans do not acknowledge the existence of nature spirits, and instead refer to these as 'forest demons' or 'river demons'
I think that's most of what I've come up with so far. The ultimate goal of the game will be to kill the gods and bring down human civilization. How exactly that happens is still open. Also, much of the game will revolve around getting the various people to all cooperate with each other, and in fact keeping them all from destroying themselves will probably take up a lot of the game too. Furthermore, the party is going to be composed of pretty diverse forces that will be at each others throats as well.
And if you're picking up some "Christian" overtones there in the gods, rest assured it's intentional. This is not meant as an attack on Christianity, it's meant as an attack on it's elements. It's even kind of tempting to put elements such as forgiveness and mercy in what would have to be by process of elimination the Nature Spirits.
But this would kind of defeat the point. In this setting, good has essentially been crippled. While the Nature Spirits have something of a Chaotic Good bias? They are neither strong enough or organized enough by themselves to do much other than exist. Which is it's point really. To exist rather. While it may seem pretty disorganized and random, strange patterns seem to arise. Those individual spirits may be fairly chaotic and random, but collectively? You have a forest.
More positive aspects of Christianity can creep their way into some future campaign.
The demons are meant to add an element of moral uncertainty. Yes, most of them are horrible monsters that would kill you without a second thought and if that's all they do you should count yourself extremely lucky. But they are also a means to an end. Some of them can be pretty reasonable. And that's another thing, they represent the horrors or reason. Neutral demons are not unheard of, and even a good one is not out of the question. This is made easier by the fact that it's a morally relativistic game.
I think that coming up with the stuff for the Human Gods will be easy for the most part. In a way, they're about the lack of thought. I could probably even plunder some of the D&D pantheon and they'd fit right in (oh yeah, I went there). Not going to do that though.
The tricky parts will be with the Demons and Nature Spirits. And, where does Arcane magic come from? I could just say that all Arcane Magic is Demon, but that doesn't quite work. I mean, for one it means that player priests would be completely impossible. (Humans are the only ones that have gods, but the Demon Lords are roughly equivalent to gods). I'm not really sure I want to be cutting off the cleric spell list. Arcane magic 'just exists' doesn't feel right to me because most of the stuff going on carries with it at least some kind of meaning.
Also, Demons as a whole present a problem. As agents of power works well enough, but what about individual ones and their various goals? How to divide the Six of the big ones? I have a thought that they could represent various aspects of the universe itself, like say, gravity, time and all this. But that takes away a bit than having them as powerful negative forces. What they should be is a system that on the whole 'works', because of the constant fighting and destruction all mashing together. And, I had the thought that Demons would need to feed off negative emotions. But then, destruction in general might work too.
How elves come into the game is another problem. One the one hand, elves are traditionally on the same "side" as humans, and against Orcs. On the other in this setting? Those pointy eared dandelion eaters would be much more likely to side with Orcs. I do have the idea that there would have at some point long ago been great Elf, and Dwarf civilizations that crumbled. What sort of belief system would they have? It would be stupid to have them aligned with the Gods because so much of them is associated with humans who, don't exist. And by all accounts it seems neither did those gods. It's a bit of a stretch, but I think if I had civilizations like this, they could be some variation on Nature Spirit worshiping.
Drow are not particularly necessary either. And I could probably really just make something else up too.
Furthermore, should I through in some of those fun Aberrations like Mind Flayers and Aboleths? And where do the Undead fit? While I can probably get away with discarding all these other things from the setting, I don't think I can do that with the Undead. Both of them could fit reasonably enough in with the Demon line, or even the Gods. But that doesn't seem quite right either. Should I just say screw it and just full on get with the Lovecrafting?(which by the way has an ability modifier of negative wisdom, just so you know. And I wish I could claim I thought of this word play)
And because of my love of non sequitur I have to throw this idea. How about a Shoggoth as a player character? As a mount that could be equipped with saddles? How about with monk levels?
Other than that last bit, I apologize for the somewhat lack of organization. This is, after all, hardly complete.