Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman camapign setting

[Silence]

I just finished reading one of Neil Gaiman's books, Neverwhere, and it came to me that that would make a fantastic campaign setting.

For those of you who don't know about the book, I'll start with the author.

He's written many fanstasic books, such as Colraline, American Gods, and Anancy Boys. Two of his books, Mirrormask and Stardust have been made into movies.

He's a very unique and incredibly interesting author that mixes wit, satire, fantasy, adventure, and a little bit of a very un-cliche' love story.

I loved the way USA today described Neverwhere:

"Delightful... Inventively horrific... [It] draws equally from George Lucas, Monty Python, Docter Who, and John Milton... The chimerical stuff of nightmare and daydream.

If you haven't had a chance to read any of his books, I strongly reccomend picking one up. He is, without a glimpse of a shadow of a doubt, one of my favorite authors of all time.


Down to the book.


The book has Richard Mayhew living in London, when one night, he finds a woman, injured, laying on the street. She turns out to be a VIP in London Below, a land a "shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels" (and sometimes murdering angels and saint monsters, and almost always shadowy darkness). This leads into a big adventure in London Below.


If you haven't read any of his works, I say again, please do. My personal favorite was Anancy Boys (I know I spelled it wrong).


OK, so down to buisness.

So, what do you guys think about Neverwhere as a campaign setting? Any questions, comments?

[SilverClawShift]

Vorpal Tribble's got you covered

Though i wouldn't mind seeing it expanded on.

[Silence]

Ah. Thank you.

Well, then this thread is deemed.

*MOOT*

[SilverClawShift]

Speaking of expanding it, I'm bored, so I thought I'd make a spell, presumably used by the Marquis de Carabas...

Hidden Life

Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, M, F
Casting Time: 16 hours
Range: Personal or touch
Target: Single living creature
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No (harmless)

This spell fuses a living creatures soul to its body, barring its passage from this world to the next unless certain pre-determined conditions are met. At the same time, this spell creates a splinter of the targets lifeforce and channels it into a phylactery (used as a focus during the casting). This reduces the targets maximum hitpoint total by 11 for as long as they are under the effect of "Hidden Life". If the target has 11 or less hitpoints, they cannot be the target of this spell.

When a creature who has had "Hidden Life" cast on them reaches -10 hitpoints, they die normally, but their soul cannot leave their body (nor can they reanimate as an undead creature). This creates a loophole in normal death/ressurection/afterlife rules, as the creature never technically completes their passing as a living creature normally does.
At any point after their 'death' (to a maximum of one day per caster level), can be returned to life by touching the phylactery used as the focus of this spell to their remains. They return to life with 1 hitpoint, but lose any spells or spell slots they had for that day. The subject also loses 1 level, or 2 CON if they were first level (if this would reduce their CON to 0 or less, they die once more instantly).

Any effects the subject was under at the time of their death (including poisons, diseases, or missing limbs) still apply upon returning to life. If the creature is not returned to life in time, the spell ends and their soul passes normally to whatever afterlife awaited it.

The target of a casting of Hidden Life is not undead, and should never be regarded as anything other than a living creature.

XP Cost: 1,000 XP
Material Component: A collection of rare herbs and oils worth 5,000 GP.
Focus: An ornately carved box or similar item (similar to a liches phylactery) worth 5,000 GP.

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

People with the connections or power to have Hidden Life cast on them also usually attempt to create a divination effect on their phylactery which alerts those nearby of their death.
Obviously, you're probably going to want to leave your phylactery with someone you trust, and with the resources to recover your corpse from wherever it wound up.

This spell is basically an arcane Raise Dead. But it's a little more expensive and a higher level spell, with an arcane twist on its implementation and limitations.