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celestialkin
2008-10-19, 10:58 PM
So, my players are finally one step closer to their insane (although hilarious) goal of founding a city INSIDE one of their PCs.

I remember that from my last thread about this months back, a few of you asked that I update you on what happened to this little situation. So if anyone is still interested here is a little update.

Well, the first big thing that comes to my mind is that as of the last gaming session they have finally reached Thorp size (population of 20-80) for their population in there (see page 137 of the DMG for information on population size). When we ended the game they left talking about hamlet size...

They managed to pull this off by gaining people in a number of ways. Some are (Leadership feat) followers of certain PCs, one is a merc that has been serving a PC for a while, one is basically enslaved/indentured for taking a PC's racial holy water, and others are NPCs (old and new) which the PCs either helped or saved and convinced to move in.

Below is an updated list of the current population, which the player with the warforged PC emailed to the group. Since they/he finally reached Thorp size, I finally allowed him/them to name the settlement as an official settlement, which I will add to my list of settlements and my site for my homebrewed world/setting. (And no, the animals do not count for the population size. Unless they were awakened, I guess...)


Ladies and Gentlemen, i bid you welcome to .......KORVAKIS!!!!!


Residents (In order of inhabiting): Total Population 24
-Gith (Male Githyanki)(Warrior Lv.2) (Came across the place while it was empty, went in, ate some food and drank the Dwarf PC Glanik's beer, so Glanik now kinda owns him.)

-4x Dogbolds (An unscrupulous merchant tried to bring them into the PCs kingdom to sell as "pets", so the PCs took them in.):
*Beat (Male Dogbold)(Warrior Lv.1)
*Beat Beat (Male Dogbold)(Cook [Professional] [Mongoose Publishing Ultimate NPCs] Lv.3)
*Beat Beat Beat (Female Dogbold)(Thug [Mongoose Publishing Ultimate NPCs] Lv.1)
*Diggy (Female Dogbold)(Cook [Professional] [Mongoose Publishing Ultimate NPCs] Lv.1, Warrior Lv.1)

-5x Adapts of the White Rose Order (All Female)

-Az ("Rock" in Dwarven)(Male Mountain Dwarf)(Merc Adept Lv.2)

-Zork (Male Half-Orc)(Barbarian Lv.6)

-Girz (Female Orc)(Lv.4 Fighter)(Zork's "Club Buddy")

Ogre Family-Father Korp, Mother Dorp (who are also cousins....don't ask), and baby daughter Dorp-Korp

A pregnant Beat Beat Beat, who was in Heat Heat Heat, and got Knocked Knocked Knocked up

Halfling Family- Mother Arv (Badger in Halfling) Professional [Carpenter] Lvl.1
Father Brand (Bold in Halfling) Professional [Blacksmith] lv.2
Young Son Galan (Earth in Halfling)
Teen Daughter Ped (Copper in Halfling)
Younger Daughter Eere (Deer in Halfling)
Aunt/Sister of Arv, Pery (Love in Halfling) Professional [Carpenter] lv.2
Uncle/Husband of Pery, Bren (Black in Halfling) Professional [Driver] lv.1
Grandfather/ Father of Pery & Arv, Gren (Baker in Halfling) Professional [Carpenter] Lv.6 (Training daughters in Carpentry)


Animals going into farm

37 Chickens (much lulz were had while trying to catch them)
10 Pigs (1 is PC's Kalup's, make into bacon and we fry YOU)
1 Cow (who surprisingly avoided a concussion from diving head first into the roof, courtesy of Glanik)
3 Goats (2 female 1 male.....horny bastard, Nanny is queen [edited] of the goats)


Notes on the above:

The PC with the gateway to the Astral Plane in his chest is called Korvak.
Dogbolds are a subrace I homebrewed on the Homebrewed board (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89631).
Glanik is a player's dwarf PC.




Below are some images I made of the island (now a settlement I guess).

Aerial view:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f173/celestialkin/KorvaksIslandcropped-1.jpg

Note on the above image: The center building is the PCs' cottage, and the smaller building is their Workshop, Basic (see the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook).

The cottage's floor plan (see Stronghold's Builder's Handbook):
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f173/celestialkin/sc001340dd.jpg


The cottage:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f173/celestialkin/sc000ff652.jpg


And here is an image the player playing the walking artifact made during our last game of something that had just happened a minute before:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f173/celestialkin/sc000f83a2.jpg

Notes on above image:

The surprised looking dwarf in the upper-right corner is the PC Glanik, who was the one outside the portal that did the "D&D cow-tipping". They laughed for quite a bit about having been the first to do cow-tipping in D&D.
The two little figures with forks and knives at the bottom are two of the Dogbolds who were hoping for some yummy cow. (Sadly they got no meat, but have since been annoying the poor creature by suckling for "yummy moo juice".)






Oh, I could use some help from you guys please:


Can you please give me ideas by telling me what you would do/add to this settlements if you were the PCs in this game? Yesterday one of the players compared this to Sims, and although I have never played Sims I believe it is a fair comparison. Although I would have probably compared it to Age of Empires myself..

No Idea is too wacky or out-there in this case.


The players now want to "expand" this island settlement. Can any of you familiar with construction and/or the Astral Plane please tell me how you would handle this as a DM?

Originally, the island they "took" (the day I learned there was no point in keeping track of the Wealth-By-Level table) was actually an artificial man-made raft like thing meant to keep someone imprisoned, so it was only about 10ft thick over the water. Because of this I allowed their idea of cutting it into 4ftx4ftx10ft squares and putting it back together on the other side with ballista-sized metal rods they had found to fly. However, now I am not sure of how to work this out under normal (and I use that world loosely here) conditions.

They half mentioned "shoveling in" soil/whatever, but would this even remotely work? How could they hold it together? And how could they make other islands, or enlarge the current one?

And how much would doing this cost the PCs? And how would I measure/rule how much land costs how much?


The players also want to start making crops here. One wants to start growing healing herbs for his adapts. Another wants to grow hemp/weed, since this settlement technically doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of any kingdom or nation. But how does growing/aging work on the Astral Plane?

From what I understand aging does not take place here, but if that is the case how are native races here born, and how do they grow and mature? I imagine this would be a huge problem for the Githyanki, their main city located upon a dead god, and their Lich Queen and her forces/armies. And now that I think about it, why would the Lich Queen have needed to become a Lich in the first place?

This also kind of brings up a problem with the Dogbold who is expecting...


And lastly, can you guys please give me ideas for what I can do with this as a DM? What plots, adventures, fun, etc, etc, etc can I get out of all this?

Ascension
2008-10-19, 11:44 PM
This is awesome. I'm so glad you let their crazy idea turn into something this epic.

Unfortunately, I can't really help you with any of the mechanics, and most of the adventure hooks I can think of would end up with the warforged doing nothing while a war is waged within him...

BobVosh
2008-10-20, 12:16 AM
Pretty sure stuff ages in the astral. In fact I think it is on the same time scale as primary material plane. Although if I remember correctly there is some wonky rules on not aging if too few living things are around. Then you freeze in time. However, that may be a different plane.

I remember your post. I am still in favor of the warforged in a warforged idea.

I would recommend using cement to create a decent size reservoir to then shovel dirt into. Then plane shift it through to astral plane, and attach with steel beams/ballista bolts. Make sure one of em has Know:Engineering. Eberron has some form of cement right? Sharn wouldn't make sense to me otherwise.

So how are they going to irrigate this, and create "night" for the plants? How do the citizens get items brought to em? What do they do when the warforge dies?

As for costs we would need to know more. For cement the mats are cheap, but if you make cement a little known engineering secret kept that way it would be expensive.

Dr Bwaa
2008-10-20, 12:55 AM
Excellent excellent. I'm curious how they're going to create day or night, but adding to the island seems reasonable as long as they have the aforementioned knowledge. Other islands... I think they're going to need to make theirs a lot bigger first, so that its gravity starts to go into effect (though I guess technically you move by willing it in the Astral Plane, so...)

I'll have more to say when I have a bit more time :) I love this story!

Ascension
2008-10-20, 01:01 AM
What do they do when the warforge dies?

I thought Warforged were immortal? Or are Elans the only immortal PC race?

Well, obviously they can both be killed in battle, but I mean immortal-for-aging-purposes...

starwoof
2008-10-20, 01:12 AM
The astral plane is timeless, so nobody ages, gets hungry, feels the need to sleep, and nothing grows. But as soon as you leave, time catches up. Githyanki do all of their childrearing on other planes, usually fortresses hidden on the material plane.

But you're the DM so you can change whatever you want to make it work for you!

BobVosh
2008-10-20, 04:58 AM
I thought Warforged were immortal? Or are Elans the only immortal PC race?

Well, obviously they can both be killed in battle, but I mean immortal-for-aging-purposes...

Anything that is possible, on a long enough timeframe, WILL happen. So stabbed unto death is what I meant. He is an adventurer so it is kinda a profession that causes you to be declined for life insurance.

While I imagine retired adventurers would be good for life insurance, so many HPs in comparison...

Devils_Advocate
2008-10-20, 04:31 PM
Place images in spoiler box to eliminate screen stretching, plz.

Sinfire Titan
2008-10-20, 08:12 PM
Warforged are immortal. They suffer some aging penalties, but after that nothing.

celestialkin
2008-10-23, 02:10 AM
The player with the warforged PC just sent an email to the group, which also details their building plans.


Here's our areas insinde our island/ walking PC vault, If i've made a mistake or missed something, feel free to add here

1 Cottage (containing 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, and a workplace, though i could be wrong about these, correct me if so)
1 Storage area (being guarded by Zork and Dorp)

To be Constructed (again, quote me if wrong)

1 Farm
New Houses for inhabitants
Construct Lab( took everything in found dungeon room)
Fancy Carpentry Workshop(took everything in found dungeon room)
Fancy Alchemist Lab (took everything in found dungeon room)
Fancy Smithy (took everything in found dungeon room)
1 Temple


oh yes, we still have 5 busted up Copper Constructs stored inside Korvak i believe, unless we did something with them.


Bless their ambitious little hearts...




This is awesome. I'm so glad you let their crazy idea turn into something this epic.

Thanks. And yes, I am glad too. I feel fun should be the most important things in my games. :smallsmile:


Unfortunately, I can't really help you with any of the mechanics, and most of the adventure hooks I can think of would end up with the warforged doing nothing while a war is waged within him...

Feel free to post them. That is meant to be a drawback from all this after all.



Pretty sure stuff ages in the astral. In fact I think it is on the same time scale as primary material plane. Although if I remember correctly there is some wonky rules on not aging if too few living things are around. Then you freeze in time. However, that may be a different plane.

Are you sure you are thinking of the Astral Plane? Maybe that is the Astral Plane from an older edition?



I remember your post. I am still in favor of the warforged in a warforged idea.

Yeah, and I am still scared they will try that. They seem to have found the old thread, and have mentioned it a few times...



I would recommend using cement to create a decent size reservoir to then shovel dirt into. Then plane shift it through to astral plane, and attach with steel beams/ballista bolts. Make sure one of em has Know:Engineering. Eberron has some form of cement right? Sharn wouldn't make sense to me otherwise.

Not a bad plan. I guess I could make concrete an item only found in Eberron. They have access to the Astral, so they can track it down if they chose. Luckily, the dwarf knowns Knowledge: (Engineering). Thanks for this great idea!

If I remember, didn't the ancient Romans have a form of concrete?


So how are they going to irrigate this, and create "night" for the plants? How do the citizens get items brought to em? What do they do when the warforge dies?

No clue. That is for the PCs/players to solve! :smallbiggrin:




As for costs we would need to know more. For cement the mats are cheap, but if you make cement a little known engineering secret kept that way it would be expensive.

I am thinking I will make it so they would need to find Eberron's plane in order to be able to purchase it. There is currently one (and possibly another, but not much luck talking her into it) NPC who can do taht for them if they are smart enough to talk to him, but he would probably charge an arm and a leg, especially cosnidering the work which would be involved. Then again, he originates from and has siblings/copies in Sigil, so he may just want the cash.



Excellent excellent. I'm curious how they're going to create day or night, but adding to the island seems reasonable as long as they have the aforementioned knowledge. Other islands... I think they're going to need to make theirs a lot bigger first, so that its gravity starts to go into effect (though I guess technically you move by willing it in the Astral Plane, so...)

I'll have more to say when I have a bit more time :) I love this story!

Is having night that important for plants? I thought light was enough? Then again, does the Astral's dimsy light/glow count?

And oops, I already have been playing it that their island has objective gravity. They tired putting a wagon in the air, but I ruled it was too small for it's own gravity. I guess I messed up there.

And I am gald you like the story. :smallsmile:



I thought Warforged were immortal? Or are Elans the only immortal PC race?

Well, obviously they can both be killed in battle, but I mean immortal-for-aging-purposes...

Pretty much I believe. I personally like it how Romi put it on Andromeda: 'With proper maintenance and repairs we can live for xx,000 years...". I forgot the exact numbers, but I figure that as long a he keeps himself repaired and switches out old parts he sould live indefinitely. Plus, there could possibly be a whole city within him who would be more than eager to fix him up if he fell/died for their own reason...



The astral plane is timeless, so nobody ages, gets hungry, feels the need to sleep, and nothing grows. But as soon as you leave, time catches up. Githyanki do all of their childrearing on other planes, usually fortresses hidden on the material plane.

Do you have a book reference for that information on the Githyanki?



But you're the DM so you can change whatever you want to make it work for you!

You have a point. I already houseruled that time doesn't catch up with you when you leave (I just did not like that bit of fluff), so I guess it wouldn't be a big stretch to rule that you only age to your physical "peak" (basically sexual maturity) if I wanted to.



Place images in spoiler box to eliminate screen stretching, plz.

Oops!

Will do right now.

MeklorIlavator
2008-10-23, 02:20 AM
If I remember, didn't the ancient Romans have a form of concrete?

Yep. Here's wikipedia's take on it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete#History).


And this has been a really interesting read. My hat goes off to you.

Coidzor
2008-10-23, 02:31 AM
If they're still capable of willing the island to move, then essentially a shantytown-esque situation (or at least frame) of cobbling together some of the smaller islands (or at least roping them like rogue planetoids) into a sort of raft or network of connected islands might be viable, especially when concrete, since the concrete could just more permanently affix the islands together without having to start building out from only one base, but being capable of having multiple points being built towards one another.

starwoof
2008-10-23, 02:40 AM
Do you have a book reference for that information on the Githyanki?
I do actually, but it's a magazine. Polyhedron #59 or 159, the number is covered up. It's attached to the back of Dungeon #100. It gives a ton of fluff for the githyanki on both sides of the magazine.



You have a point. I already houseruled that time doesn't catch up with you when you leave (I just did not like that bit of fluff), so I guess it wouldn't be a big stretch to rule that you only age to your physical "peak" (basically sexual maturity) if I wanted to.

Yay!

Smeggedoff
2008-10-23, 06:09 AM
Pretty sure stuff ages in the astral. In fact I think it is on the same time scale as primary material plane. Although if I remember correctly there is some wonky rules on not aging if too few living things are around. Then you freeze in time. However, that may be a different plane.


um, is that not the realm from the "Oceans Unmoving" storyline from Sluggy Freelance?
one of the better storylines actually, my favourite alongside the holiday wars.

celestialkin
2008-10-26, 12:30 PM
Yep. Here's wikipedia's take on it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete#History).


And this has been a really interesting read. My hat goes off to you.

Thanks for the link, and thanks again! :smallsmile:



edit: Oops. I actually [spoiler] the images this time. I thought I had fixed the problem last time, so now I did them all. Sorry about that.

Ascension
2008-10-27, 01:21 AM
um, is that not the realm from the "Oceans Unmoving" storyline from Sluggy Freelance?
one of the better storylines actually, my favourite alongside the holiday wars.

:smallconfused:

Our tastes differ. I'll leave it at that.

As for the ongoing astral island situation, the githyanki really ought to try to drive out the squatters sometime soonish. With a movable island of their own to play with, I'm sure the PCs can come up with some interesting tactics with which to fend off the invasion.

Manga Shoggoth
2008-10-28, 04:03 AM
The astral plane is timeless, so nobody ages, gets hungry, feels the need to sleep, and nothing grows. But as soon as you leave, time catches up. Githyanki do all of their childrearing on other planes, usually fortresses hidden on the material plane.

But you're the DM so you can change whatever you want to make it work for you!

If there is any form of gate near the place then you can argue a slow flow of time in the immediate area due to boundary effects.