[World] The Dustlands

[SilverClawShift]

For some time now (too long), me and my gaming group have been working on a complete world to take some of our adventures to. We (along with some others we've playtested with and shown off to)really enjoy the fledgling existance, though it's certainly far from complete.

Our DM is considered the main designer of this world. The central concept and most of the basic ideas are his, and he's also the best at finalizing the actual stats and functions, the mechanics. Me and the rest of the group are aiding the middle ground stuff, helping everything fall into place to make a fully formed and fully enjoyable

As a personal observation of mine (one that's shared by a lot of people), roleplayers in general and D&D players in specific seem to be aggressively critical of material. ANY material. Ever. Constructive criticsm is a good thing, but sometimes people can be downright disheartening for no good reason. Add that to the fact that no material is perfect, and that opinions vary wildly from one person to the next on every subject.

I've heard complaints that the CLERIC is UNDERpowered for crying out loud. This same person said that monks were overpowered and that if anyone played a bard in his games, he'd make a point of killing them specifically. Some people LIKE the way psionics used to play for crying out loud. And if you ask two people what they think of the warlock, you can get anything from "overpowered infinite spellcasting!" to "infinite useless abilities makes it worthless".

But I'm quickly getting off topic in my own topic

The point I was getting at, is that questions of balance aside, the real test of any material is wether it's enjoyable or not. Every player, every DM, and every group is different, with different opinions and feelings and whatnot.
No material will ever appeal to EVERYONE. When something is made, the more important question is "Who likes it?" not "Who hates it?". Valid complaints still need to be taken into consideration, and constructive criticsm can lead to a better final product, but there's no use visciously attacking something (or taking such attacks seriously).

This keeps turning into a rant.

ANYWAY. This is the first forum I've seen that is actually polite enough to treat home-brewers with respect and a friendly atmosphere, while still noting problems, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies in the work they're critiquing.
As such, it's the first forum I actually feel kinda comfortable with the idea of showing off stuff to. Rather than spamming crap across the board, I'll confine my erratic musings to this thread. If that's one of those things that is considered impolite, I don't mean it to be offensive

Before I start laying stuff out and explaining the world itself, I should mention the way my group operates. We're a tad eccentric, and our notebook for the world looks like some unholy ancient tome of evil written in a dead language. Sections are upside down to differentiate them from everything else on the page, random sketches are filled with miscellaneous text, some pages are just full of 'keywords' that someone wrote down to remember something that inspired them when they didn't have time to detail everything (words like Armadillo, Livewire, and Glyph).
But one noteable thing about our workstyle is how we DON'T do things. We don't go through and detail and finalize everything right away. Stuff is intentionally left unfinished and open-ended so that it can be changed if needed. We're trying to create a world with some 'synergy', where everything feels like it fits together into a workable existance... a smooth play flow. Instead of creating an entire hand and moving on, we create the skeletal structure of everything and start layering flesh on top of it, trying to make sure nothing is redundant or conflicting. It's just how we're approaching things, but it's not a style that everyone can appreciate, so I thought I would mention it now.

Also, I have a very odd way of communicating. I tend to ramble, and sometimes I jump from one topic to another less than smoothly. I apologize for that in advance.

So... Moving on to the world, continued in the following posts.

[SilverClawShift]

Our goal in creating The Dustlands world is to wind up with a full blown Players Handbook as well as a full DM Guide to the world, with additional material coming as needed. When I say "full blown", I mean that seriously.

The players hanbook should be including a complete list of new unique player races, a full spectrum of base classes unique to the world (but compatible with any other), Prcs, racial and class feats to let players take full advantage of the new options presented, and even a few new arms & armors.
The DMs guidebook will have information about the history and current state of the world, the tone and atmosphere intended to be created along with tips and suggestions for acheiving the desired effects, details of organizations and governments found in the world, creatures and monsters, plot hooks and adventure seeds, and maybe an adventure or two.
Some additional books are planned to expand on this content, but aren't in the spotlight until we're closer to completing the two central books.

As an aside, I should point out that when I say "Books", we DO intend to compile our work into actual pages, with artwork and such. But I don't necessarily mean actual books, so much as I mean 'books worth of material'. We plan on making PDFs of our material to spread around in the end though.
Aside over.

Now I'll be reserving a couple of posts for myself so this stays somewhat presentable. Then I'll actual get to the topic at hand, and start explaining what the dustlands are, and what you can find in them.

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: What Are the Dustlands?
which means atmosphere, tone of material, and general world information.

******************

What are the Dustlands?

The goal in making the dustlands was to create a brand new world with a flavor and theme we felt deserved some special attention. Namely, the concept of a fantasy western. As such, the Dustlands are meant to be an answer to the question of, "What would happen if D&D turned into a western", with a lot of sidenotes and asteriks thrown into the explanation. It runs deeper than that.
You see, rather than just taking fantasy elements and plugging them into a western setting, we've asked ourselves "What MAKES a western?" and turned THAT answer into a fantasy world with magic and monsters. The theme of the wild west, that of isolation, independance, exploration, law versus chaos... taken from scratch and built from the ground (or sand) up into a full and unique setting for an adventure.

The Dustlands are literally a post-apocalyptic world. A place where armageddon has occured. Good and evil stood toe to toe, the devils fought the angels, the righteous were taken to the heavens and the wicked were cast into the pits, and the world ENDED. The planes sealed themselves off, forgetting forever that each other place existed, and the material plane was abandoned as a scarred battleground with no life.
At least, that's what was intended. In reality, there were tiny pockets of the material plane that were not truly razed. Slivers of life (and unlife) that had no real destination to go to, marginal societies forgotten and neglected. People who were neither righteous nor wicked. The misfits, the abandoned, the ones left behind in a world that no longer cared that they were even there. The Gods and Devils left them to their fate, comfortable in the divine knowledge that everything would be dead within a single generation, and that the material plane would be left as a tombstone, an empty testament to things that used to be, a monument that no one would ever see.

Somehow, someway, with desperate tenacity, the stragglers left over in this dead world eeked out an existance. Their survival continued onto the next generation... and the next... and the next. Isolated, fighting their plane just to exist, the stragglers became what they are.
And now, with societies reforming on this hostile world, the struggle for the basics of survival turning into viable ecosystems, the latest generations have begun to ask 'what else is out there?'. Breaking free of their self imposed and utterly necessary isolation, explorers are becoming founders, strugglers are becoming heros, and creatures who once claimed to be made in the image of gods are burning a trail across this dead world, screaming their names to powers who would disbeleive they even exist.

Welcome to the Dustlands.

Some notes I'm throwing out here in an unorganized fashion, because they're relevant to the tone of the world:

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Guns don't exist here. At least not traditional firearms, like six shooters and rifles. We are creating an iconic ranged weapon for this world, which I'll explain more in the arms & armor section.
The world is not one big desert. There are numerous isolated areas that range from temperate zones found here on earth, to swamps and and frozen tundras, and even a few non-natural envioronments, such as the Bleak North, an area 'radioactive' with negative energy where a horrible undead mockery of a healthy ecosystem has twisted its way out of natures grasp.

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Races of the Dustlands
Origins, Places in the World, Relations Between Races, and Stats & Mechanics.

The current races of the dustlands. Some of these names are not necessarily pinned down, but for now they work fine. All of these races have much more detail behind them than will be initially listed here, this is just a fluff-list for now. I promise I'll actually get to the mechanics and more racial details at some point.

Human
- Subrace, Beltese Human
Loaman
Sliss
Wasteling
- Half Wasteling
Wriek
- Half Wriek
Folian

Human - You all know what a human is. In the Dustlands, the humans have three city-states of existance, isolated for prolonged periods and each with individual cultures. Upon realizing there were other human socities, they generally agreed to work together, but sometimes have conflicting goal.
Beltese Human - Humans from a society with a great emphasis on beauty and personal strength. The people of the Beltine city-state beleive that dragon blood runs through those of their society. (Note that Dragons are virtually non-existant in the dustlands, but do still exist). Beltese humans are regarded as humans, but have a few subtle differences. Half-beltese humans are just normal humans.
Loaman - Loaman are slow and sturdy wanderers, capable of surviving for prolonged periods without sustenance, and resistant to harsh terrains. Fit in line with a ranger/guide motif, Durable and cunning, but not the most agile creatures.
Sliss - Sliss are a 'snakefolk' race of savage barbarians, most commonly found in rocky badlands, where they use their natural cunning and speed to strike at victims from nooks and pits. Sliss who become accustomed to more 'human' civilizations still tend to be less than polite and brilliant, but their perceptive nature and quick reflexes makes them great dead-eyes.
Wriek - So named for the cry they often make when attacking, the Wriek are a monstrosity, humans given horrible form and demonic attributes, a remnant of armageddon that should not have existed THEN, much less still. Wriek are often called half-devils, though they are not literally such. Wrieks have dark leathery wings covered in tattered black feathers, but have limited capabilities for flight (they can develop their ability through training (read, levels and feats).
Half-Wriek - Half Wrieks are the rare sterile offspring of a human and wriek mating. they cannot fly, but vestigile shroud-like protrusions emit from their shoulder blades.
Folian - The Folian were originally simple mindless carnivorous plants, similar to venus flytraps or pitcher plants. Over time, their basic mechanisms for capturing food evolved vaguely more aggressive tactics. Gradually, the Folians began to be able to move towards their prey with greater and greater ability. When the world ended, most folians died out with everything else. The ones that survived were those capable of moving with greater efficiency to capture their prey. They have a waxy outer skin that retains moisture, a 'barky' structure along their back and extending down through their limbs, and cactus spines/leaves/pettles in various combinations, as well as milky white eyes which can be bioluminescent to attract smaller prey. They appear vaguely humanoid, a result of mimicking their prey and predators.
Folians ideal diet blood (absorbed through their spines, mouths, or roots), and humanoid blood is as good as any. Folians sturdy enough to survive in the desert often feed on the Sliss, and in return, the Sliss often hunt Folians to use as water sources.

As with ALL things in the dustlands, the list is about INCLUSIONS, not RESTRICTIONS. Players and DMs should feel free to pick any race they feel would be a good addition to their game. There's nothing preventing a player from being a gnome, an elf, or heck, even a warforged. They could limit their game to nothing but Dustland races, mix and match, or even take Dustland races over to other games (Wastelings in Eberron?).

That all said, the Races section of the books will list the PHB races, and give information about their place in the world, and how they interact with other races.

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Base Classes in the Dustlands
The status of PHB classes, brand spankin new classes, and how they all work together.

The Base classes of the dustlands are intended to augment existing classes. Both PHB classes and anything else a DM might wish to allow, and a player might wish to play. We're shooting for a full spectrum of base classes, enough options to make things interesting, and enough bases covered that every party roll could reasonably be filled with the Dustland classes. However, they're not intended as replacements to other base classes. Just additions.
A party in the dustlands could choose nothing but our base classes, nothing but PHB base classes, and any combination they wish.
Also, the core casters (wizard, sorcerer, cleric, and druid) are annoyingly powerful. But everyone knows that, I'll get into that later.

(also, as a side note, I'm not positive I like some of these names, but they serve their purpose for now).

Dustlands Base classes we definately want to exist
Concocter
Divine Leech (That's a working name, not a real name. It's meant to be changed)
Glyphcrafter
Grifter
Guardian
Gunslinger (Not sure about the name)
Spellslinger
Totem Ascendant

Dustlands classes we're currently considering, but aren't sure about yet.
Explorer
Preacher
Raindancer


PHB classes, and their place in the world.
Barbarian - Barbarians definately exist in the Dustlands. The Sliss and Wriek races are barbaric by default, and an isolated community of any race could degenerate into raging savages given time. As well, some people might simply feel the call of natural fury. No conflicts here. Barbarians with guns will be terrifying...
Bard - Bards have their place even in this savage land. They might serve as traveling entertainers, card sharks, or even 'reporters' who gather and catalogue information. As a recomended houserule, DMs hosting a Dustlands game should feel comfortable allowing lawful bards employed by the government for that very reason. We're toying with the idea of making a variant Bard based on the 'reporter' concept, one who loses their music and gains something else, but I don't see that going anywhere. Bards are very common in the city-state of Beltine.
Cleric - Clerics are less common here in the dustlands, and are more likely to follow a specific ideal (such as Goodness or Freedom) than a specific deity. Cleric players should get DM approval for chosen domain combinations, if they don't serve a deity. The vaguely unreligious nature of the Dustlands makes clerics feel a bit more like 'outcasts' when picking a class, but their selection doesn't have to be removed.
Druid - Druids are in pretty much the same vein as clerics. They don't really have a solid place in this world, but they aren't oddball enough to limit their selection. Freedom is a good thing.
Fighter - Fighter's are always there. There's no reason a fighter couldn't adopt the worlds 'gun' as their weapon of choice, and become a defacto gunslinger in their own right.
Monk - Monks feel akward in regular D&D, much less in the dustlands. The dustlands has two classes that can become unarmed fighters in their own right. You can still play a monk, but why would you? Personal choice I suppose. A monestary in the middle of nowhere is still always a cool idea though.
Paladin - Paladins definately have a place in the dustlands. The city of Beltine, which is heavy with bards and sorcerers, has a surprisingly strong respect for the nature and traditions of their paladins. Paladins make great legal enforcers, and can be a great addition to the flavor of the dustlands. The image of a paladin on a holy mount with a gleaming golden sixgun at their side is not an unpleasant one, to me.
Ranger - Rangers work wonderfully in the dustlands. Survivalists, trackers, guides, bounty hunters. The Loaman race has a strong Ranger vein running through it. Archery becomes Gunslinging if you want it to. Nothing wrong here at all.
Rogue - Rogues are everywhere, but in the Dustlands they have a sister class, the Grifter. While rogues more strongly represent the physical aspects of...roguery. The Grifters represent the social aspects of being a sneaky little thief. They work well together, they work well against each other... Rogues work. Card sharks are everywhere, rogues and bards can both be rambling gamblers along with the grifter.
Sorcerer - Pure casters... everyone's going to want to be one, but they sure are ridiculously strong. Such is life. Beltine, being a society that beleives they virtually all have dragon blood, has a lot of sorcerers and bards.
Wizard - Same as sorcerers. They exist, you'll find a lot of them (and a lot of necromancers) among the wasteling civilizations.

Dustland class summaries!
Concocter - Herbalists, Alchemists, Chemists... the fact of the matter is, they're all whipping up a batch of SOMETHING. Turning something into something else. mixing.... well you get the idea. The concocter is meant to be the mechanical benchmark for 'brewer' classes. Our intention is to create a fully playable 'caster' who focuses on making potions, oils, balms, powders, ect, ect, ect. We intend to leave the 'flavor' of the class slightly open ended, allowing the player to choose what exactly they are while using the classes mechanics to actually play. A witch making powders and poisons, a gnomeish chemist making acids and explosives... both can fit into the Concocters basic framework. Essentially, the Concocter is intended to be one of three new arcane caster systems featured in the Dustlands.
Maybe we'll add some feats, variants, or prestige classes for those concepts specifically, but the concocter at its core is a brewer. This class works great in other worlds too. We've played with 'alpha' edition concocters in eberron.
Divine Leech - When the world ended, and the planes were sealed, divine power still hung heavily in the air. Some scholars and sages say that Clerics, Paladins, and other divine casters aren't actually accessing their deities. That they are only channeling the remnants of that divine power in the same way they did when deities still answered our calls. The Divine Leech is a holy con man, tapping into that power with empty gestures and prayers, holy trinkets that are little more than steel toys to him.
Mechanically, this class isn't nailed down. But we're toying with giving him access to a handful of cleric domains, and letting him change them. Shifting allegiances and appearing as a cleric of anything he wants. This class would work in other campaign settings too, if the DM allowed someone to put on appearances and essentially leech off of deities. Infiltrating a church of an evil god by adopting their domains for the day? done and done.
Grifter - The grifter is a conman of the highest order, relying on his smooth talk and quick wits to stay in one peice. He is Diplomacy taken to horrifying levels for selfish purposes. To imagine a high level grifter, simply think of hannibal lector. While not useless in combat, the grifter is less a physically oriented class. They can affect the battlefield however, provided people around them start failing will saves.
Guardian - The Guardian is a defender. Sturdy, good saves, in combat is dedicated to survival and protection of others.
Gunslinger - The gunsligner is not simply a fighter, but is rather the classic image of an athletic 'cowboy' archetype. With a lot of physical skills and combat ability. Calling the class a "Gunslinger" doesn't really do him justice. The gunslinger class is meant to be a brash, reckless, quick witted fighter, always thinking on their toes and giving their all in every activity. Usually found one mile in the wrong direction, climbing shakily to their feet after trying to lasso a dragon...
Spellslinger - The spellslinger is the third of three new arcane caster systems. The spellslinger channels magic directly through their body (in playtesting he's gotten called the "Con based caster", but that's not entirely accurate). The fighter-without-a-weapon, the spellslinger uses his bare hands, arcane augmented strikes, temproary defensive boosts, and touch attacked. Class features include titles like "Livewire" and...and... (... I'm sorry, I'm petting my new wacom and crying happily).

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Prestige Classes
Brand new ways to break the balance of classes the designers worked to create!

Beltese Guard
Cardcaster
Death Totemist
Spellcourier
Stormrider
Trailblazer
Totemform Warrior

Beltese Guard - Not my personal favorite, the Beltese Guard is someone trained for a spot in the beltese militia, which teaches them some very limited and very specific arcane spellcasting, while advancing as a martial class.
Cardcaster - The Cardcaster is a glyphcrafter PRC intended to give Glyphcrafters an easier way to affect enemies and their environment. A Glyphcrafter can create scrolls, and can augment weapons and armor, but their ability to affect enemies DIRECTLY is very weak. It's hard to paint a glyph on someone while they're trying to shoot you in the face. In the same vein, it's hard to paint a glyph on a wall while someone is trying to bury a bowie knife in your shoulder.
Enter the Cardcaster. By expending a bit of extra effort, the cardcaster can pre-create glyphs that would normally affect terrain and enemies, and can do it in a way that will affect whatever the card hits once the glyph is activated (activation is a simple process). When a card made by a glyphcrafter strikes a wall, floor, enemy forhead, ect, the glyph takes effect as if it had been painted on them originally. I should note that sleight-of-hand is a class skill for cardcasters...
Chimeric Totemist - Many tribes and groups have more than one totem animal that represents them. Normally, a single individual will embody one of their tribes totems, or a totem that is unique to them personally. There are a few that seem to embody multiple totem spirits simultaneously, however. Perhaps an exceptional warrior or particularily wise chief will have traits of two, or even three of a tribes totems. Perhaps some individuals are just mixed up or particularily unique.
These people are chimeric totemists. The Chimeric Totemist is a five level class which continues to advance a player along the path of the Totem Ascendant. However, at each level, they can alter one of the totem traits gifted to them by their class to that of another totem animal. This change will only affect one class ability, changing it to one other animal. The Chimeric Totemist can do this up to five time, changing five class features, but can only have a maximum of 3 different totem animals.
Death Totemist - This class is mechanically similar to the Chimeric Totemist, allowing for the alterations of specific class features. But while the Chimeric totemist changes features to other animals, the Death Totemist instead replaces them with twisted abilities related to death, and undeath.
Death Totemists arise when their totem spirits are warped and twisted, wounded by the state of the world, feral and out of synch. They're usually some form of mercy-killing medicine man or those who tend to a tribes burial grounds. They are uncomfortable necessity embodied.
Spellcourier - Not really fleshed out as much as we'd like. The Spellcourier was originally intended to be a PRC for spellslingers, taking their ability to channel magic physically through their body, and turning them into arcane 'batteries' who could absorb and discharge full spells cast by other people. Expanding their rather brunt and general abilities with magical specifics.
I PERSONALLY don't feel it's original enough, and think we can do better than that. But our group is fond of the idea...
Stormrider - Originally intended for paladins, but has since evolved. The goal of this class is to obtain, and interact well in combat with, a 'dust devil' mount. This class literally rides around in a miniature tornado.
It seems a little silly to me? But the idea of a maniac in dark goggles riding a half-sentient tornado across an open plain, firing guns/throwing spears at those they're hunting... Well, it is pretty cool I guess
Trailblazer - This class ALSO isn't fully fleshed out, conceptually, but fire and speed are definately in the classes future. We've toyed with the idea of making it a class that alters whatever mount they adopt, turning them into a scorched-hoofprint leaving flame-snorting faster version of themselves, until the Trailblazer cuts them loose and adopts a new mount.
Totemform Warrior - The Totem Ascendant takes on some mannerisms of their spirit animal, and begins to fight in a way that's fitting of their selected creature. They gain combat styles and abilities that reflect the totem they choose, and their class skill list gets a few additions unique to their selection. Perhaps they get a few physical changes, such as increased strength or a more graceful step. But that's all.
The Totemform Warrior begins to BODILY change into their totem animal, becoming a sort of... 'exalted' lycanthropic hybrid creature. While not literally lycanthropes, a quick glance at a werewolf, and a Wolf Totemform Warrior would take a moment to differentiate the two.


That's that for now.

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Feats, Spells, and New Magic Systems
Because our new caster base classes need new caster systems, and everyone loves feats and spells.

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Creatures & Monsters
And bears, oh my! Plus, mounts.

Now, monsters in the Dustlands aren't really being treated the way they are in D&D. In Standard D&D and related worlds, monsters are a background level of threat to any given environment. Wherever you are, there's something nasty waiting in a pit to drag you down and eat your face.

There are monsters in the dustlands, yes indeedy. It would be pretty ridiculous of us to create a campaign world where there's no monstrous forces.

But in the Dustlands, the greatest enemy to be found is those who are 'other' to you. What I mean is, the biggest threat level in the Dustlands is Sentient creatures like yourself, but with a different outlook (and the question of wether they have a stronger drive for survival than you do). Encounters in the Dustlands can be whatever a DM needs them to be, but the world definately leans more towards player-race villains than mowing down skeletons.

That said. Here's what you're up against when you gear up and start chasing the sunset.

We'll start with your and my favorite baddies to overcome, the good old Undead creatures.

Hangman

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The Hangman is a rare occurence, but the threat of them is ever present. A Hangman 'sometimes' (read, whenever the DM feels like it) arises when a lawful evil creature is lawfully executed by hanging. There are those who even intentionally strive to create a Hangman, or even become one themselves (though hangmen retain only vestigial traces of their personality).
Despotic in nature, the Hangman seeks to destroy lawbreakers and chaotic individuals above all else, and will ignore lawful creatures unless they become an obstacle to the Hangmans current target. If a group or civilization is completely lawful in alignment, a Hangman who is present will simply wait for a law to be broken where it can observe, or seek out chaotic individuals elsewhere. There are some communities who know they have a Hangman present, and treat it as a boon to order and civility.
Visually, the hangman is a robed torso shreded at the waist, with a heavy black hood. They have no lower body, and float naturally. Their body is composed of tightly bundled rope black with blood and bile (b b b), though it's covered with the aforementioned robe. Their 'arms' are simply hanging ropes ending in nooses, and the hood of their robe is empty, though maintains its own shape.
-Have a very slow fly speed but ridiculous reach.
-can grapple up to two party members at reach, and a third if adjacent
-Once grappled, will begin to strangle their victims
-Will fight until destroyed, will not quit, but if they become too wounded, they will simply begin to float upwards, taking their grappled victims with them.
-It's worth noting that the Hangman is not incorporeal, and leaves a physical body. It's rumored that using rope from a hangman to hang a sentient creature will turn them into one, but no one is sure what happens if a chaotic individual is eecuted with a hangman rope (plot hook!)

Chain Mummy

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A very bad, but descriptive, name. The Chain Mummy isn't just some random horrifying image though, they're tied to one of my personal favorite things about the dustlands, the Remnant Divinity, Carcerak the blind god. Also the deaf god, the mute god, the numb god, and the god who happens to not be able to smell anything.
Caracerak was despised by the gods when they still 'existed'. Lawful evil and despotic, Caracerak was even hated by other evil creatures. Hated so much that, when the world ended, he was bound and abandoned to become unraveled with the rest of reality (which turned out to not happen, thanks to the plucky survivors of our horrible world).
Now Carcerak is the last shred of the true divine, but there's not a darn thing he can do about it. Wrapped head to toe in chains, including pulled so tightly around his skull that they are embedded in his cracked frame, gagging and blinding him. Wether or not carcerak even has a physical form is something best left to scholarly debate.
Carcerak is an interesting fellow, and I'll explain more about him sometime in the Religion section, but bear in mind that he's pretty much useless as a divine power. His only interaction with the world is through "The Five", a group that acts as his unwilling sense (be mindfull, they aren't humans or anything like that, they're more like carcerak-ified outsiders).
But I'm talking about the god, not the monster.
How chain mummies came into being isn't something anyone can verify, but they are certainly linked to carcerak in some way.
Like that once-god, Chain Mummies are blind, deaf, and ect, ect, they have no senses, except for one. Like some horrible undead divine rattlesnack, Chain Mummies can 'taste' positive and negative energy around them. And they seek to snuff it out entirely.
Living or undead, plant or animal, good or evil. None of it matters to the chain mummy. If it's not inert, it is something to be destroyed. Chain Mummies are a 'terminator' monster, in the sense that they absolutely will not stop once they are on the trail of something, until they are destroyed, or their target is destroyed. It's assumed that they will go for 'stronger' examples of positive and negative energy first, the particularily vibrant living creatures or the undead who are simply swimming in negative energy... But a chain mummy will tear out blades of grass if they are the only living things in range. They are despicable destruction given physical form.
Chain Mummies have a trick though. They're pitiful tortured creatures, and they are aware of that. When two chain mummies are within range of each other, they will ignore all other creatures and seek to destroy each other, each one fighting their hardest, but 'hoping' (if they can hope) to lose.

Basically, it sucks to be a chain mummy :p
I'll explain more about carcerak sometime, but keep in mind that he's more plot-hook than an actual force of anything. He's certainly not a 'deity' the way anyone would think of one, and there's no Cult of Carcerak (heh, unless you WANT there to be one in your game ;))

Rotwood (template)

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Rotwood is some of my favorite gaming material. it just oozes out of the pages and asks to be used somehow.
Rotwood is undead plant matter, but not in the combination of undeath and plantlife like a yellow musk creeper, or as some kind of blighted monstrosity. Rotwood is what we came up with when we sat down and looked at what a plant IS, and began asking what would undeath be like for a real plant...
A normal, healthy, human being needs food, comfort, water, ect. A human who has these things will grow, and thrive, and think and do. An undead human needs nothing, except maybe one substance they are incontrollably bound to. An undead human will do most of what a living human does, but not all of it. A mockery of the goal of life.
A normal healthy plant needs sunlight, nutrients, chemical source (carbon dioxide), and water. A plant that has these things will grow larger, thus continuing the circle of life.
An undead plant cuts out the middle man, and converts surrounding matter into its own body... at the cost of the surrounding matter. Rotwood plants are capable of surviving in the harshest terrain because of the simple fact that they need nothing BUT terrain to grow, leaving surrounding land (and waterbodies, and stone, and anything else they happen to touch) depleted and crumbling. They leech not only life out of the land, but the land itself until it is crumbling hollow dust incapable of supporting any life but the rotwood.
A Rotwood plant no longer behaves as a normal plant does. Normal plants grow upwards towards the sunlight, while their roots grow down in search of nutrients. Rotwood plants have no reason to grow in one direction anymore than another, and follow no predictable patterns of growth. They grow up, down, sideways, in any direction seemingly at random, splitting and twisting in on themselves until they make the most gnarled and evil tree look healthy and pristine by comparison.
If a branch of a rotwood tree grows too heavy (very likely, since they grow in no discernable pattern), it will snap off and begin growing where it lands. Forests infected with rotwood become alien 3-dimensional mazes of roots and branches, with nothing but unnatural wood and blackened mishapen leaves. They grow just as far underground as they do above, making them a horrifying blight on any landscape.
Burning a rotwood tree is incredibly bad, as the flakes of wood that are not utterly incinerated drift away on the wind and give rise to new rotwood infestations. Acid is the safest bet. Healing magic helps keep the rotwood at bay, but this world doesn't have enough positive energy left to destroy the trees on their own.
Rotwood winds up existing as more of a plot creature than anything else, as even an ugly tree that's sucking the life out of the land is still a tree. It should be pointed out in bold however, that we have a plant player race.

That's all for now.

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Arms & Armor
New ways to kill are always appreciated. Featuring an iconic weapon unique to the world.

I feel the need to point out right away, that the Dustlands do not have guns in any traditional sense, but smooth and easy ranged combat is going to be a feature of the dustlands.
Allow me to shout this though. SWORDS, ARMOR, and SHIELDS ARE NOT OBSOLETE in the dustlands. They are as viable and likely an option for a character as anything else, and can and will be seen in Dustlands games. The desert-heavy nature of the world means you'll see less full plates... it's a light-armor world to be sure, but full plates can still exist, and a loner wandering into town might be as likely to have a sword strapped to their back as any other weapon.

Spellshot Pistol

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: Religion in the Dustlands
Which really deserves its own section in a post-armageddon world, doesn't it?

[SilverClawShift]

RESERVED
For: All the stuff I probably am forgetting.

Disease - The Whitelight Shakes

***************************************

Feedback, negative and positive, is greatly appreciated! You can't please everyone, but there's no reason to avoid fixing problems, and more pairs of eyes can spot things easier.

Also, I'm completely open to the idea of having discussions about stuff in this world, and will share good insight with my group.

[BarroomBard]

First off, I have to tell you, a western/fantasy world has also been an idea I've been kicking around in my mind for a while.

I have a few initial observations about your world, so bear with me.

First, the Folians: a fascinating idea for a race, and one that has quite a few possibilities. However, (and I think these are problems that were faced by WotC when they made the Warforged) there are inherent problems with a non-animal PC race, what with all the immunities and lack of a true physiology.

In the Wriek, you seem to have created an actual evil PC race.

Also, you say you will include the PHB races. Why, then, are only humans subject to the corrupting influences of the armageddon. Why aren't there half dwarf/half wastelings, or half elf/half wrieks? (I also think this is a problem with basic D&D, though)

Also, I have some questions.

How will the western/fantasy aspects be balanced? Would it be more likely to see, say, a conestoga wagon being ambushed by gnolls (western w/ fantasy influences) or knights sallying forth wearing chaps and ten gallon hats (fantasy w/ western influences)? I realize you are looking for a fusion, and these are over simplifications, but I don't imagine the world can be truly 50/50.

And as far as the weapons go, what will that look like? Is it a sword duel at high noon kinda thing, or will this 'distinct ranged weapon' you speak of take the form/role of a handgun in the world?

A final question of the apocalypse: How accepted is the armageddon? Are there some who believe it wasn't the actual final battle, seeing as how there are still people?

And finally, some suggestions/ musings from my own world:
I think a basically feudal society is the best fantasy equivalent to the kind of society you'd find in the west.

well apparently when I said some... i really meant one.

[thehothead]

I believe it was the final battle between GOOD AND EVIL.
On that note, seeing as how you still have evil in the Wrieks, you should have a good equivelent. however, the remnant societies should hate the good MORE then the wrieks. Armegedon and abandonment should be expected by evil, but GOOD? and thus good is given the real blame.

[SilverClawShift]

First, the Folians: a fascinating idea for a race, and one that has quite a few possibilities. However, (and I think these are problems that were faced by WotC when they made the Warforged) there are inherent problems with a non-animal PC race, what with all the immunities and lack of a true physiology.

Fully noted and planned for ahead of time, we anticipate the Folian race having an LA of +1, but we're shooting for no higher than that. I'll get into it more when I'm actually putting out the mechanics of the race.

In the Wriek, you seem to have created an actual evil PC race.

No more evil than tieflings are inherently bad, at this point anyway. A more detailed explenation of their 'society' would be good (Races of the Dustland book?), but as a culture they're borderline feral ala the Sliss. They're less 'evil' and more 'wild'. They're definately outcasts though, a Sliss or Wasteling player would have an easier time being accepted than a Wriek, in most areas.

On that note, seeing as how you still have evil in the Wrieks, you should have a good equivelent. however, the remnant societies should hate the good MORE then the wrieks. Armegedon and abandonment should be expected by evil, but GOOD? and thus good is given the real blame.

A final question of the apocalypse: How accepted is the armageddon? Are there some who believe it wasn't the actual final battle, seeing as how there are still people?

I'll need to flesh this out more (and when I say "I will" I probably mean "My DM will") in explaining the world, but there's going to be a rather important note that "Good Vs. Evil" is not the central focus in a place like the dustlands. There IS no such thing as good or evil in questions of raw survival, good and evil are concepts that spring up when you throw sentience into the mix. Now, there are still good people and creatures, and evil people and creatures, of course. But the dustlands greater focus is on issues of chaos vs order. The laws and rules of society trying to maintain a foothold in the face of hostile travelers strong enough to do whatever they want, in a world where absolutely no one is coming to help your struggling town.
Evil in a setting like this could manifest on either side of that line, with violent outlaws tearing through town and taking whatever they want, or with tyrannical sherrifs who know they can abuse their power without answering to a higher authority.

As for beleifs and understandings about the end of the world, bear in mind that a lot of people simply don't have a clue about anything other than the life they're trying to live. They're born, they learn how to make a living, they make children, and then they die and their children do the same.
The result is that most people, most societies and governments (fledgling or full) have no detailed clues about anything. The most intact governments (the city-state of Beltine being one) know that going back in their records, there's simply a place where the records don't keep going. They have nothing to go on other than the point in time where they started keeping records, and laws and warnings about staying to themselves and not going past certain geographical landmarks (which brings up another point on the law vs chaos scale... the fact that explorers beyond certain locations might be breaking very important laws in some socities).

I'll get into THIS part more in the 'Religion in the Dustlands' section, but it's important to point out that people and players in the Dustlands simply don't have any facts about deities, demons and devils, or what happens when they die. They simply don't know those things for a fact. Of course, many people still worship, preach, or fight for their ideals, and divine magic is still accessible to players.
How divine magic is viewed by the general public is skewed though. A lot of people (not the majority, but a good portion) beleive that the holy men of the cloth are nothing more than con-men, fleecing people into following them for whatever reason. People who take that view tend to beleive that divine magic is nothing but arcane magic masked with tricks and prettied up with a friendlier face. The fact that con-men, grifters, and rogues are a big problem in many areas serves to add to that fact, and one of our base classes is even going to leech divine energy from the universe as a matter of course.

I'm trying to stay on topic here and not dart around, but there's a lot of info to organize, and it's easy to get the wrong picture about this world without a lot of little facts and details.

ANYWAY. As for knowledge about the armageddon, that's part of the plot-hook that will drive a lot of governments/wealthy people to hire explorers to search and map out the world in greater detail, sifting through ruins and searching for traces of dead socities. At the time the Dustlands are supposed to currently be taking place, it's a world where people are coming to realize that something bad, something BIG happened a long time ago, and there are a lot of people who want to know just what that was.

I'll throw this into a spoiler tag to try to keep this post a manageable size... but the spoilers here are about one of the first realizations everyone had that something was wrong.

Spoiler

Show

A few generations before the 'current' time of the dustlands, the three human cities (and one tiny elven society) first came into contact with each other. There was a lot of panic and shock from all sides that there was anyone else 'out there'. The elves had very strict rules about coming down from their isolated lifestyle, and the first who did it were flat out considered traitors and outcasts by many of the older elves. The humans had their rules too, but their curiosity was a lot more powerful, and the idea that there were other people out there to band together with appealed to strongly. (currently, the elves are less hostile isolationists, and elves who leave their land are welcome to return, but non-elves are simply not allowed).
The realization and celebration that they weren't alone turned into an even greater realization, that there might be MORE out there. Against a lot of complaints and objections, the first true explorers of the world set out west.

(Geographical side note: I'll need to upload the map our DM has of this world sometime, but there's a massive mountain range on the east which is largely considered the edge of the world. Knowing that the world is a sphere, understanding logically that there's something on the other side of that mountain range, and actually physically exploring in that direction are two different things. The mountain range peaks outside the atmosphere, ends in an almost sheer cliff face, and is nothing but ocean (as far as anyone can tell). Explorations heading eastward have met with massive losses and no real gains.
Those with long term interest in exploring the world, and knowledge that they are on a globe rather than a disc, figure if they head west long enough, they're eventually come back around...)

The explorers who went north/south/and west came upon a few sudden, and sickening realizations.
The first was that the sections of the world they occupied... the cities that they thought were everything, were absolutely tiny. They were facing a massive world that they had barely begun to chart out.
The second was that the world was a husk. The human cities (and one elven city) are in what could best be described as a temperate zone, a land that more closely resembles what you'd think of when putting together a generic D&D game. When they crossed the natural borders ('coming out of the valley', which is essentially what they're in... one huge valley) and looked out at the world they intended to chart, they saw nothing but grit, scorched stone, and a few struggling angry looking plants.

They headed west, very deliberately staying on an almost perfectly even course (so there was no chance they could get lost and not be able to return to their home lands). They passed a new natural landmarks and areas of terrain that had distinguishing characteristics, but nothing that was really worthy of stopping for. Until they came to the third sickening realization.
They passed through a rocky area, what originally looked like more natural terrain started to show vague, almost illusory signs of sentient craftwork. The illusion ended, however, when they found a small stone 'room', mostly buried in sand, but obviously the work of intelligent creatures. Working to unbury it, they discovered a metal door corroded by the force of centuries of sandstorms. Inside they found that the room was almost entirely empty, except for a single object standing in the middle. It was an almost perfectly kept stone statue, quite clearly of a female elf holding her hands to the sky.

Their discovery marked the end of their first exploration, as they returned to their homelands with the information. Almost immediately, several forces that had at first been strongly opposed to the exploration changed their tune, urging the creation of outposts and guides in the path the explorers had gone, and the creation of a base at the site of the statue.

The statue now resides in a Beltine museum of art, which makes some elves extremly uncomfortable.
The location the statue was discovered in has gradually turned into a very large city (think Tombstone Arizona back in the day, a little larger and more metropolitan, and a little more rowdy). The government buildings of that city are built around and over the stone room they discovered the statue in.
The string of outposts leading to that city is called "Devron's Trail" after the lead explorer of that group.
People now tend to refer to the temperate zone where the elves and humans came from as the "Cradle", reflecting its nature as a hospitable area ready to nurture life.

Cut to current times. A lot of people wonder why those who were strongly opposed to ANY exploration became so eager to build fortified government buildings around the first discovery in the new world.
A lot of people, especially elves, want to know more about the statue found and what it means.
And a lot of government officials would like to see the people asking those questions quietly executed.

Er. Anyway. Back to the post at hand.

Also, you say you will include the PHB races. Why, then, are only humans subject to the corrupting influences of the armageddon. Why aren't there half dwarf/half wastelings, or half elf/half wrieks? (I also think this is a problem with basic D&D, though)

We're not DIRECTLY including ALL of the PHB races. We're simply not ruling out their existance in any meaningful way. Like I said, if a DM wants to include (or a player wants to play) a Shifter, or a halfling, or a goliath, there's nothing stopping them. In fact it's encouraged.
Think of the quote for eberron. "If it exists in D&D, it exists in eberron".
The Dustlands are intended to have the same attitude. It's meant to be a world that can be built up into whatever you need it to be, just with specific thematic elements which can encourage a 'western' game.

There are no Dwarf or Gnome versions of the Wastelings because there's nothing sentient in the bleak north EXCEPT the wastelings. The bleak north is not a welcoming area. To most normal people, it's a violent disturbing place where rotting wolves pace in packs and the sky, land, and sea themselves seem simultaneously dark and pale, as if the life was being sucked out of them. Somehow the humans isolated in this area survived, but in the process, they basically stopped being truly human. They're still similar enough in basic ways to produce crossbreeds, but they are what they are.

As for half-elf/half-wrieks, or halfling half-wrieks, or whatever combination you want to exist, that's really something that's left to the DM and players. As you said, that's a problem with D&D more than any specific setting. "If all these races exist, and can make half-breeds..." no. "But..." no, it's too complicated. "So no half-elf/half-orcs?" not going there.
We could keep piling half-breeds and mish-moshes and twisted mishaps up until the book was nothing but a list of possible player mating habits. We've got other directions to go in though, so for simplicity sake, we're cutting it off there for the same reason the PHB gives you a half-elf, a half-orc, but no combination of the two. It's just too darn much mixing.

That said, if we ever made enough material for expansion books, half-wriek wastelings are something that would deserve a mention.

Also, I have some questions.

How will the western/fantasy aspects be balanced? Would it be more likely to see, say, a conestoga wagon being ambushed by gnolls (western w/ fantasy influences) or knights sallying forth wearing chaps and ten gallon hats (fantasy w/ western influences)? I realize you are looking for a fusion, and these are over simplifications, but I don't imagine the world can be truly 50/50.

How much the game plays as one aspect or another is, and always has been, up to the DM running the game. There's nothing stopping you from playing D&D as is as a western. In fact, my group has done a game that was just that (a small town in a desert under seige by a band of, of all things, elven bandits).

How much western flavor, versus fantasy flavor, you will see comes down to three factors. Location, DM, and Players. The location your game takes place in will have its influence. Playing in the temperate zones of the human cities, forests and city-state kingdoms, will lend more to traditional fantasy gameplay. Playing in lawless desert cities or small towns with a ruthless sheriff will lend itself to a stronger western theme.
But ultimately, the plot the DM throws at you, and the way you choose to handle it as a player, will have more to do with what you take away from the game than anything else. If you're a Sliss deadeye in a floor length duster and spurs, you're going to interpret the world around you through that character. If you're a human druid who's set out into the desert to try to find ways to coax life out of the sand, you're going to remember it as more of a fantasy.
And when the small town lawman rides his horse into a battle and pulls a Smite Evil on a bandit, you'll remember the paladin sheriff who was a little fantasy and a little western.

I think what I'm getting at, is that you can play a Samurai in regular D&D, and you can play a Knight in oriental adventures, if your DM lets you. Your name kind of sums it up, with the "Barroom Bard" thing. A bard playing a tin-y piano in the background and watching a barfight... So the real question of flavor fusion is "What are YOU going to do with the world?"

And as far as the weapons go, what will that look like? Is it a sword duel at high noon kinda thing, or will this 'distinct ranged weapon' you speak of take the form/role of a handgun in the world?

Same as the flavor fusion question, the answer here has more to do with you, the players, the DMs, and what you think works best for your game.
The iconic weapon we're working on is defiantely meant to be the six shooter of this world, but we're putting a lot of thought and work into it to make sure it fits seemlessly into things. It's not a gun, in the traditional sense. It doesn't trump swords and shields just by existing, and it's not such a powerful tool that players will have reason to choose it and only it.
But at the same time, part of the thrill of a western setting is the weapon holstered at your side, the quickdraws dueling in the street, the bar room fights turned into shoot outs.

Our goal (and I readily admit, it is a lofty one) is to create a ranged weapon with more ease of use... more seamless and smooth behavior... than a crossbow or traditional bow. Something that can be drawn and fired without a lot of jumping through hoops. But a weapon that's not so inherently useful or powerful that a good sharp blade or solid hammer suddenly becomes a relic of the past.
As with everything else in the Dustlands, you should feel as comfortable taking this weapon into a fantasy setting like eberron, as you should grabbing a greatsword and swinging away.

I guess I can't say all that and not actually give any info on the weapon itself, can I? I'll detail it better in the Arms & Armor section, but I suppose I need to explain what this weapon is.

The weapon is not based on physical mechanics. The weapon (...tenatively titled, an 'Arcanon', but I'm hesitant to actually name it that) functions on magic.
Physically it resembles a six shooter with no barrel. Instead it has a toothy rail for the barrel to slide down and lock into place. The barrel itself IS the ammunition...
The barrel is a specially crafted 'wand' charged with generic magical energy. The 'gun' itself is essentially a specially designed 'automatic UMD skill-check maker' which can only use the specially designed 'wands'. You slide the charged barrel down into the weapon and lock it into place, pull the trigger, and it pops off a little blip of magical force which deals bludgeoning damage.
Flavor wise, the weapon hits "Like a frighteningly strong fist", not a peircing ball of instant death. On a critical hit (a flat perfect shot) it hits more like a mule kick. On less acurate shots, the force bounces off and dissipates quickly, so a shield is still an effective device against the weapon, but even if you're armored, a straight shot can send you reeling (read, damage).
The weapon won't work in an anti-magic field, but the bludgeoning damage ignores spell resistance, and is basically treated as a mundane projectile for most effects. Monks can even 'catch' it like it was an arrow, causing it to poof harmlessly.
The weapon itself is extremly pricey, and ammo for it isn't cheap (but is reusable, so looting the body of a gunslinger is a good thing).
More expensive ammunition might deal elemental damage, but can be negated by spell resistance. Comparitively MUCH more expensive ammunition might even produce real spell effects (and when you buy a one-use barrel that fires a lightning bolt, and make a reference to unreal tournament, your DM can drop rocks on you and kill everyone ;)). Personally, I'm a fan of the image of a rogue sneaking up behind someone, sticking a gun to the back of their neck, and firing a sleep spell at the point-blank, but don't forget the massive cost with that custom ammunition.

Add in the fact that different cities, towns, and kingdoms will have different laws regarding weapons (you might have a sheriff expecting you to turn in your gun on entering a town, with it only being returned when you leave.... you might be breaking the law simply by carrying it visibly).

Now, we're not foolish. We know that you wouldn't just pick this weapon up and drop it in another campaign without thought. But it's really not going to be that powerful of a weapon, and with its balancing factors, it's not an automatic trump card to other weapons and fighting styles. It's just meant to be a flavorful addition to a fantasy western setting, where you're going to want to have at least one shootout at some point...
Personally, picturing a swordsman charging across a saloon, knocking shots away with a spin of the blade before running the shooter through, leaves me with a big grin. Opinions will vary greatly though...

So the better question is, what would you, as a DM or as a player, put in your characters hands when you start up a campaign? Maybe you'll have a party that opts entirely to be gunslingers, or maybe you'll have a party that thinks nothing beats a good keen blade. Ultimately, it's what you want to play.

And... uh. I'm sorry that this post is ridiculously long. Going to put up some info on the base classes next.

[Attilargh]

Oh man, that's some awesome stuff right there. How big did you start with the setting? Was it just a little community somewhere from where you expanded out, or did your GM give you a huge file of background to wade through, completet with the latest Elven fashion accessories?

(and when you buy a one-use barrel that fires a lightning bolt, and make a reference to unreal tournament, your DM can drop rocks on you and kill everyone ;))

MULTI-KILL!

[SilverClawShift]

The setting started as nothing but a skeletal framework of the concept. The "What if we mixed a fantasy and a western?" question. Then we decided on the nature of the world, and we went with a mad-maxy kind of "Hey this is a POST APOC western, not an 1800s western".

From that framework, we just started building up, adding elements and decided how they fit into the world. We knew we'd want a snake race, because come on. Western. A snake eyed gunslinger isn't optional, it's REQUIRED.
Knowing we needed a snake player race, we started asking what it was and what it did. Making them savages in rocky badlands worked for a number of reasons. Snakes laying on hot rocks is something that registers in peoples minds comfortably, because it's based in reality. Striking quickly from narrow cave systems and slinking between tight spaces in the stones seems like a human snake tactic.
It all just kept fleshing out from there. I think the first seed that grew into the idea of the Wasteling race was when one of our group said "Dead Man Walkin".
And so on, and so forth. It was a full fledged world from the start, it's just been getting fleshed in since then.

[SilverClawShift]

Oh man, that's some awesome stuff right there.

Also.

OH MY GOD.

SOMEONE ACTUALLY LIKES IT

[SilverClawShift]

updated with class info.

[BarroomBard]

Thanks. That long, rambling post really clarified some things, while remaining delightfully ambiguous

From the description of the 'Arcanon', I would suggest moving away from having it be a hideously expensive thing. I see it as being, while not given to every PC on creation, it should at least be a viable option for 1st level characters. I like the concept of it as a device for using wands. Would the ammo be useful outside of the weapon? Mechanically, will it be based on the firearms of d20 Modern (2d4, 2d6 generally) or something else, more like a bow or crossbow?

Onto the classes: I really like the new classes you've created. They are at once very flavorful and at the same time very broad. I think most people create base classes as too constricting, so each character ends up the same. The concocter, especially, shows how a class can be created that still allows for remarkable variety.

I also like the glyphcrafter. It might have limited combat use, however, unless it has a cheaper version of scribe scroll or some such. Stopping in the middle of a battle to scribble on a piece of paper seems a dangerous thing to have to do.

The spellslinger gives me some pause, though. Maybe its the name (it kinda calls up an image of a magical gunfighter, not some mystic pugilist), or maybe because it seems like a better fit for some form of monk prc, but it seems like the setting doesn't fit well to TWO new unarmed figther classes.

And as for the monk: Kung Fu, anyone?

As a final note, please keep in mind that I really respect and appreciate the things you've created here. It's always good to see some real innovation from the players and DMs of the world.

[SilverClawShift]

Thanks. That long, rambling post really clarified some things, while remaining delightfully ambiguous

Yeah yeah yeah... I know... I have a tendency to just spew out word after word. I try to keep it in line... I try not to ramble incoherently. At least you can understand what I'm getting at.

From the description of the 'Arcanon', I would suggest moving away from having it be a hideously expensive thing. I see it as being, while not given to every PC on creation, it should at least be a viable option for 1st level characters. I like the concept of it as a device for using wands. Would the ammo be useful outside of the weapon? Mechanically, will it be based on the firearms of d20 Modern (2d4, 2d6 generally) or something else, more like a bow or crossbow?

Yeah, we've currently got the damage in a tossup between 1d6x3, and 2d4x2. I like the latter personally, but the former works too. It's the same damage as the shortbow. Needs to be noted that this weapon has the advantage of being fairly easy to operate one-handed...
Cost we've got listed as 500 gold currently, which seems fair to me. It's a little bit more expensive than a repeating crossbow, not as expensive as a good well made suit of armor. It's something a player could reasonably acquire while still in their first level, but it's still represents an investment for a character who wants to carry one. A DM might even let a full BAB class have it as part of their starting gear, which is on the high end of total starting value, but isn't unreasonable (especially in a western, where it's probably an 'ancestral' weapon ).

Ammo cost is currently 1 gold for a stick of 8 shots, which seems fair compared to the arrow bundle cost of 1 gold per 20. It's a little more pricey, but it's an easier to use weapon. We don't have 'elemental' shots and increased damage shots pegged down on cost yet, but it's 'more'
For actual spells being fired from the weapon, we're leaning towards spell level x caster level x60 gold. A scroll is the same formula at 25 gold, but this weapon doesn't need a spellcaster, a somatic component, or even a UMD check. It just fires. The additional cost seems fair, and might be jacked up, depending. So far it's worked in play. A scroll of a lightning bolt spell by a 5th level caster would be 375, a single shot for the gun would be 900. Pricey, but such easy access to magical power SHOULD be, I think.
Currently, we're toying with the idea that you can put more than one spell into a 'stick' of ammo, for additional cost (1.5x for a second, 2x for the third, ect), and the spells all have to be identical. I'm of the opinion that that's too devestating. Firing 4 lightning bolts (total of 20d6) on your turn is brutal, even if it DOES cost 6300 gold to do. Can max out at 40d6 electrical damage at level 10, costs 12600 gold to do one time.
I prefer the idea that spells are 'one per stick', requiring a reload between using them... but it needs to be tested a little more in long term play

Onto the classes: I really like the new classes you've created. They are at once very flavorful and at the same time very broad. I think most people create base classes as too constricting, so each character ends up the same. The concocter, especially, shows how a class can be created that still allows for remarkable variety.

Thank you! I tend to agree, a base class should be a general concept with plenty of room for variation inside of it. We've had people complain that "Alchemist" and "Herbalist" should be different classes, and they're right, the two aren't truly related. But really, isolating those concepts into individual base classes is going to make an interesting READ, but not as interesting of a PLAY experience.
So we have a single class that 'makes stuff'. That's what they all do, when you come down to brass tacks. If you really want an 'herbalist' flavor, make/take a feat called "Herbalism Mastery" that gives a bonus to your healing concoctions, or some such...
Blah, rant.

I also like the glyphcrafter. It might have limited combat use, however, unless it has a cheaper version of scribe scroll or some such. Stopping in the middle of a battle to scribble on a piece of paper seems a dangerous thing to have to do.

The Glyphcrafter is one of my favorites, personally. I appreciate what you're saying about combat, but that's an example of me not having mentioned a detail or two here or there, which can contribute to the wrong image. Glyphcrafters can easily augment items via their magic, and most of their gear/scrolls/effects will be pre-made before heading into combat. But they don't get to create a massive stockpile of magic, nor are they getting crippled with XP costs for creating their stuff.

Which means I need to get to explaining myself, doesn't it?

Now, the concocter and glyphcrafter can actually be considered two sides of the same 'caster system', for one specific reason. Both classes cast spells not by waving their hands and saying the right words, but by making items (wether potions, powders, scrolls, augmented gear...) which carry the casting effect.
Sounds a little like the Artificer right? But we're going somewhere completely different with the classes, and brings me to a minor complaint with the Artificer. The artificer was an attempt (arguably a very successful attempt) to make an 'item based' spellcaster, which seems fair. It's a captivating concept to be sure, it's something people want to play. The problem is, creating magical items in D&D takes XP, which is arguably the single most important thing to a character after remaining hitpoints. Hell, THE most important, since a dead character loses XP when they're brought back to life. Not having enough XP to be brought back to life starts to become injurious. So I'll say it, XP is THAT most important thing to a character.
Removing a characters XP to create items when those items are essentially the reason for playing that class just doesn't sit well with me, but it's critical. It's there to prevent other casters from flooding the world/party with 'free' magical equipment, with no penalty other than financial cost. Giving the player a pool of extra XP (as the artificer does) to use for making items is putting a fresh coat of paint on the classes central problem and pretending it doesn't exist.

(note that I'm not saying the artificer isn't a blast (...no pun intended) to play. I'm just saying, that IS a problem and I won't pretend it isn't)

With the Concocter and Glyphcrafter, we're trying to create a brand new 'item based' class concept, for characters whose lifestyle revolves around what they make. The glyphs and 'brews' of the classes won't strip away the characters XP by default. Some powerful effects might, per use, but it's not what the class is built around. But that means we need a way to limit the sheer number of 'items' these classes can have in existance at any given time, or they can just flood the party/world with magical stuff.
So what's the solution?
Glyphs fade. Concoctions break down. Their magic isn't permanently potent, it needs to be used within a certain timeframe, or at least maintainted with another layer of paint or a mix and another pinch of preservative. Direct exposure to glyphs of living power (or fumes of potent potables) has a wearing effect on their creator. To a certain extent, they can shrug off the effects of such exposure. Past a certain point (read: past a certain number of exposures between resting periods), they begin to pay the price for having access to such power. Level drain, temporary premature aging, good old fashioned hitpoint loss, and XP costs. Making too much magic (or maintaining too much magic) starts to hurt.

So where does that leave the class? They have a level/primary stat dependant limit on just how much stuff they can produce in a given time period. The stuff they create starts to break down after that time period, and becomes useless. So they can carry their potions and scrolls and daggers with "Glyph of Horrible Burning" painted on the side... they can upkeep that gear and maintain those effects for free, and they can replace the stuff they use up they next day... but they can't go over their limit, or they start to pay the prices.
Sorcerers and Wizards have D4 hitpoints because that's the cost of being a student of the Art. All power comes with a cost. Divine casters cost is servitutde to a greater power. Arcane casters cost is bodily. And our casters have their price to pay too.
Oh, and the Concocter and Glyphcrafter can both create stuff that DOESN'T break down, but that costs XP as normal.

In game? It works wonderfully. You can have a witch with a sidepack just chock full of powerful potions, healing ointments, magical oils... even a glass vial or two that creates a 'cloudkill' when you smash it. But she can't just GIVE that stuff away, it won't last through the night without her mixing and stiring and checking it all. And she can't make extra, that many fumes would put her on a stretcher. When she finds herself in a bad situation, she can use her stuff, and whip up some more the next morning.
And if the party rogue is going on a solo mission and she REALLY needs to mix him some emergency healing potions, she can pay the XP cost to make her potions last until consumed, to help her ally.

I think we've come up with a good system for these classes... This post is also 3 times longer than I intended it to be, and I have more to reply to :-\

The spellslinger gives me some pause, though. Maybe its the name (it kinda calls up an image of a magical gunfighter, not some mystic pugilist), or maybe because it seems like a better fit for some form of monk prc, but it seems like the setting doesn't fit well to TWO new unarmed figther classes.

You hit the nail on the head. The spellslinger was originally intended to be a ranged spellcaster. The problem is, just making him a ranged spellcaster is nothing new, lots of spells have range. We originally designed him to be a CON based cousin to the warlock, a guy who's still got power as long as he's on his own two feet... but we realized we couldn't make the class compete with the warlock. No matter what we did, it turned into a rip off.

I don't think that the world is too small for two unarmed fighters. Especially when one's a foaming at the mouth wild animal, and the other is a cocky flame-wreathed-fists spellcaster. But I also see where you're coming from, and completely agree. We wanted a magical answer to the gunslinger, and came up with nothing good.

Maybe we should shelve the 'magical street fighter' concept and apply it somewhere else, and give the spellslinger another re-design. Maybe go the same vague direction as the concocter and the glyphcrafter? That would bring some unity to our three core casters... Perhaps the spellslinger has a limited number of options per day, but at his core can cast a few things freely (or imbue random items with raw magical force? Gambit springs to mind for obvious reasons o_O).

I'm not sure. Needs to be rethought. I'll ask our DM.

And as for the monk: Kung Fu, anyone?

... :-D And that's exactly why we try not to restrict options in the dustlands. Someone's gonna want to play it, sooner or later. Might as well leave it in for the one guy who wants to be a blind monk in a room full of gunfighters...

As a final note, please keep in mind that I really respect and appreciate the things you've created here. It's always good to see some real innovation from the players and DMs of the world.

I appreciate you taking the time to say that. It's easy to read comments the wrong way if you're not in the right frame of mind, and completely innocent critiques can come off sounding like an attack. On the opposite side of the coin, it's easy to point out flaws while forgetting to point out stuff you liked (I know I'm guilty of that).

So, yeah. Thanks

[BarroomBard]

After reading the expanded notes on glyphcrafter and concocter, I really want to play one

Also, it suggests a direction you can go with the spell slinger. Perhaps, you could give him the ability to imbue a limited pallet of spells to his Arcanon, or other weapon. Whereas the glyphcrafter can enhance the abilities of his weapons, the spellslinger actually uses his weapons as magical foci. For example, when a wizard spends his morning preparing spells, a spellslinger imbues his ammo with his own. And not only attack spells either. I can imagine a spellslinger walking up to a wounded townsperson, holding a gun to the poor NPC's head, and POW! Cure Light Wounds.

Alternately, the class could function by summoning "magic weapons". When the going gets tough, these guys snap their fingers and a gun or a sword pops right into their hands.

Or something else equally amusing.

[SilverClawShift]

I also like the glyphcrafter. It might have limited combat use, however

I just realized I went through that whole section of my post WITHOUT ADDRESSING WHAT WAS MY FREAKING POINT.

I don't feel very intelligent right now.

Anyway, about the combat issue... Many of a glyphcrafters glyphs ARE combat oriented, usually functioning based on a specific number of hits (or hits absorbed).

For instance, A glyphcrafter might paint a "Glyph of Burning" on a friendly party members favorite dagger. The glyph lasts 24 hours before flaking away, or until used up, and costs 3 points out of the glyphcrafters 'total power absorable per day' what have you... mechanic... thingy.
The next 5 times that dagger strikes a living target (or a non-living target, or...whatever, whatever this particular glyph does) it sends a wave of fire rolling through their blood for 2d6 fire damage.

The glyphcrafter can manipulate the glyphs he creates, making them more powerful (and taking up more of his limit per day) or making them weaker to allow for more glyph tinted items, or making them one-use but more damaging... the possibilities are numerous.
So a Glyphcrafter and his knife throwing Rogue buddy can maintain a few dozen small, cheap, non-magical (maybe even non-masterwork) throwing knives, painted with symbols that blind the people they hit...

The glyphs aren't limited to offensive augmentations. Defensive ones, personal range ones painted on the body, and of course, the big elaborate one painted in a circle around the glyphcrafter that sends anyone failing a will save flying back 30 feet through the air for trying to touch the one who drew it...

"We don't let cripples in our bar"
Oh, it's not a walking cane.. it's my sleep-stick!
"What the heck's a sleep-stick?"
*BAM*
"milk...and......cookies.... *fallover*"

Just examples mind you. We're working on getting the balance down in a way that forces Glyphcrafters to be clever with what they have to work with...

[SilverClawShift]

I can imagine a spellslinger walking up to a wounded townsperson, holding a gun to the poor NPC's head, and POW! Cure Light Wounds.

You read my mind. One thing we're trying to make sure of in the Dustlands, is that people have alternate ways of healing themselves, so not EVERY party has a cleric.
I like clerics. They're overpowered, but they're a fantastic class in terms of flavor and abilities.
But EVERY party HAS to have one. A bard can't cut it for a whole party, a paladin can't cut it for a whole party, ect...
The concocter makes a good healer. The Raindancer might be a healer, depending on the direction we take it...

Ah well. The other stuff you mentioned about the Spellslinger is good too. I'd like to bring it into line with the other two core casters... give magic in our world a little unity in mechanics. In fact, there's still a few places we can go with this...

We shall see.

I'll work on putting out a playable version of one of the classes soon, but remember they're still in "Alpha" edition, everything's subject to change and being tested meticulously.

[Attilargh]

Grifter - The grifter is a conman of the highest order, relying on his smooth talk and quick wits to stay in one peice. He is Diplomacy taken to horrifying levels for selfish purposes. To imagine a high level grifter, simply think of hannibal lector. While not useless in combat, the grifter is less a physically oriented class. They can affect the battlefield however, provided people around them start failing will saves.

So he's kinda like a useful Bard-Rogue hybrid with Knight-like abilities? Rather cool, actually, and I really mean that. Just make sure you don't use the Diplomacy rules as written, as they're the so unbelievably easy to break.

Guardian - The Guardian is a defender. Sturdy, good saves, in combat is dedicated to survival and protection of others.

I really hope he's got some way of getting the enemy to stick on him, as otherwise he's just a character-shaped hole in the battlefield. On the other hand, that might bring him a bit too close to a Knight.

Also, it suggests a direction you can go with the spell slinger. Perhaps, you could give him the ability to imbue a limited pallet of spells to his Arcanon, or other weapon. Whereas the glyphcrafter can enhance the abilities of his weapons, the spellslinger actually uses his weapons as magical foci.

What's cooler than being cool? Gun Mages.

Personally, I like the class as presented. Maybe give him a few weapon proficiencies in addition to unarmed strikes to really set him aside from the Monk and give a bit more Western feel? (Yeah, so the Monk's got some profs as well. When was the last time you've seen him use 'em?) I'm not talking Greataxes or anything, but knives, punch daggers, hatchets and other Light weapons. Also, I love the psychic power Call Weaponry, so I'm fully supporting BarroomBard's idea about the class summoning its own weapons.

Oh, and I too suggest renaming it, as the name is rather counter-intuitive. It suggests more of a "cowboy wizard", which could be a really neat Prestige Class.


As an aside, have you written anything concrete about psionics, beyond "sure, go ahead and use it"?


Now that you've got a brand new tablet for yourself, how soon can we expect some illustrations?

[SilverClawShift]

Erk. I'm not much of an illustrator, but I was sketching some stuff.

I really hope he's got some way of getting the enemy to stick on him, as otherwise he's just a character-shaped hole in the battlefield. On the other hand, that might bring him a bit too close to a Knight.

I'll get into him more later on. He's currently low priority, but we do have a lot of ideas to make him unique and useful.

What's cooler than being cool? Gun Mages.

Very cool. And it has some interesting ideas, but that's probably not quite the way we want to go for the spellslinger class.

As for the Spellslinger? A lot of good suggestions, maybe more than enough... maybe enough to make an extra class, as a matter of fact.
Consider the Spellslinger currently de-activated and undergoing an overhaul. We'll be sticking with that name in one fashion or another... "Arcane Cowboy" was an archetype we wanted to create from the beginning, the class just got away from us as a concept. I've allready thrown a few of these ideas at my DM, and we'll be discussing it today (Namely, turning the "Spellslinger" back into a ranged caster in line with our other core casters, rounding the system up to a nice total of three options to choose from for the first edition).

The idea of an arcane-fueled unarmed fist-fighter is being tucked away neatly for future reference (possibly as a variant of the spellslinger himself), as is the soul-knifian idea of a caster who calls up magical weaponry on the fly.

As an aside, have you written anything concrete about psionics, beyond "sure, go ahead and use it"?

Yes actually, but not for the Dustlands specifically. While Psionics aren't really covered by the open gaming license, we did create a psionic base class, a few PRCs, and a feat tree. It was for a little project we dubbed the Tome of Art & Insanity, and is what the glyphcrafter was originally created for.
The classes weren't very good, they were early work when we were all new to the game, but they did have some worthwhile concepts, I feel.
Base Class - Perceptivist: A CHA based psion (I know the name sounds more WIS based, but part of the point of the class was that wisdom was more of a hinderance to the Perceptivists source of power... namely, beleiving the world around him was changing to better suit his needs, which had more to do with personality than anything else). The basic of idea of the perceptivist was "That's just crazy enough to work".
Prestige Classes
- Mind Rager: A 'psionic' barbaric character whose fury manifested externally as a rampant destructive force, eventually turning into an an actual horrifying creature that rampaged around the character.
- Mindsmith: The concept and mentality of late 1800s insane asylums plugged into a world full of magic. A "Horrible Doctor" willing to 'carefully' edit a creatures brain, emotionally, psionically, and even physically. "It's for your own good" of course. Had the ability to invest themselves in a 'patients' well being, basically turning them into a thrall and altering their mind to produce usefull effects, like the removal of fear (or free will).
- Paranoist: "Everybody's coming to get me..." mildly psionic rogues who could invest their paranoid psychic energy into a deluxe sneak attack, and could inflict a little mental damage on people around them with their "Static Feedback" ability (and a lot of extra mental damage if the character in question was trying to read their mind...) Usually found in areas where mindflayers can be found, as a natural action-reaction relationship (especially because their abilities would be extra painful to mindflayers, who really WERE trying to read their minds).

It occurs to me that the Mindsmith would work well with our caster system, that of dedicating their energy to a number of patients and investing a certain amount of effort into keeping them drooling-but-still-handy slaves. But that's definately an all-evil class, even a well intentioned mindsmith would be a jerk.

ANYWAY

I'm now listing out our current batch of PRCs planned and under construction, and polishing up a playable version of the glyphcrafter (bear in mind that it's a WorkInProgress along with everything). Comin' soon.

[Attilargh]

Very cool. And it has some interesting ideas, but that's probably not quite the way we want to go for the spellslinger class.

Actually, I meant that as an illustration that there already exists a character whose guns act as foci for their spells, so making another would probably not be very practical.

[SilverClawShift]

Oh, good then. I don't like stepping on the toes of other material, I prefer to go in new directions, and my group agrees.

The Spellslinger still works best, conceptually, as a magical ranged fighter. Someone who could be standing in the streets at high noon and dueling with an actual gunfighter.

In my mind, at least.

[Alator]

Really interesting.... I like this idea...

and it actually reminded me a little about The Dark Tower series by Stephen King...

[Attilargh]

That reminds me of a trick my friend pulled in a game of Star Wars some time ago: His Jedi took a sword, aimed it at a fleeing mook and threw it with Force straight through the mook's body, pinning him into a door. Goes without a mention he got a Dark Side Point for that one, but it was so cool I had to mention it.

And some stuff I forgot to mention in my last post: Psionic rules are very much a part of the OGL, at least if their inclusion into the SRD is anything to go by.

[SilverClawShift]

And some stuff I forgot to mention in my last post: Psionic rules are very much a part of the OGL, at least if their inclusion into the SRD is anything to go by.

Hrm. Well maybe we'll ressurect our insanity folder and give it all a re-design with what we've learned since then

Maybe

it actually reminded me a little about The Dark Tower series by Stephen King...

Never read it personally, but my DM is a Stephen King fanboy... so he probably has.

RECENT UPDATES

"What are the Dustlands" reserved post updated with new info. 06-07-07
"Races of the Dustlands" reserved post updated with new info. 06-07-07
"Base Classes in the Dustlands" reserved post updated with new info. 06-08-07
"Prestige Classes in the Dustlands" reserved post updated with new info. 06-09-07