hobbygamers ~ View topic

http://uphgc.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=680

This thread is for discussion of the Campaign Secrets thread, which is a mix of flavor, story, and campaign hooks.

Discuss here. I want to hear your thoughts on the Mandrakor/Dragonborn, the Sundering of the Fey, and the Primordial Lords.

Also, if somebody has proposed names for various CRACKLEPOOPISMS, I'd like to see them. The nature god for example, is named LOLLIPOP until further notice.

I also need ideas for what to do with dwarves and halflings. talk, brainstorm, and then see what we can use. And let's see if we can avoid the Scottish/Irish/Germanic stereotype for the dwarves. float a few concepts and ideas for those buggers.

Primordial wars.

To summarize and some clarifications,

1. Primordials, older than gods, but not gods themselves. Synonymous with elemental tyrants/elder elemental lords?
2. Then came the gods. They came from shards of creations.
3. Godlings versus lords. Godlings won. Locked outside creation.
4. Then there was worship. This is a missing link. Why did the gods want worship? Were they dependent on worship before/after killing their fathers?

So far so good. Very Happy

Divine Imperium sounds like an absolute power of a divine. It sounds like mortals were slaves and gods were tyrants. If that's the feeling/image you want to evoke then go ahead, the name is cool.

*Regarding Uriah: Like what you've done so far, Rev. I think we could certainly use Uriah. I'll tell you what I have in mind for him when we next meet. But I will post part2 next week, it's just getting busy around here. Same with Destiny, though I stick to that name change when she assumed godlihood thing. If only to keep the Gaimanists pleased.
*Regarding the Sarrukh: I just wanted five protoraces so that Humans will be the 6th. Tieflings are a human offshoot, so I didn't include them. But if you plan to change tiefling origin, I'm alright with it.
*Regarding the proto-elves: I still think Leshay works better. Razz

It's not french. It's Epic. Cool

All right, so given the current supply of stuff in the Campaign Secrets thread, what is or is not known among the general population concerning these?

The Primordials:
-The general populace is unaware of the Primordial War or any age before the existence of the gods.
-The surviving Eternals will rarely speak of the days before the Divine Imperium
-Scholars of the dead gods and the arcane suspect the existence of these Primordials, mainly from investigating the nature of the Godslayer weapons, which mysteriously appeared during the Godfall War. They ask where such weapons could have come from, and why the gods would ever have created weapons that could harm their own kind? They are unaware that the Godslayer weapons were originally meant to combat the Primordial Lords and their farspawned servants.
-Those closest to unearthing the existence of the Primordials may be those warlocks who have begun exploring the nature of the Star Pact and the cold intelligences that have answered their summons. Some of the creatures they have contacted may know of or even be the servants of the ancient Primordials.

The Shame of the Dragonborn
-The Dragonborn as a whole are taught by their culture to value honor and duty, and are taught the story of the fall of the Emperor Wyrm as a parable, and as a moral dilemma. Often, as a right of passage, young dragonborn are told of the tale of the Emperor Wyrm and are asked what they would do in the Wyrm's place, in the place of his dragonborn lieutenants, and the dragon exarchs.
-The dragonborn do not normally speak this tale to outsiders. The only non-dragonborn to have heard the tale are trusted friends and allies, as well as particularly persistant and thorough scholars.
-The populace in general is unaware of the true reasons behind the feud between dragons and dragonborn.

The Fall of the Iron-Handed God
-The Baalim know only the first level of the story, variants of oral tales and histories of House Lasirlan. The Baalim believe that the Iron-Handed God sacrificed itself to save its chosen people and end the Liberator Rebellion at the Shadowed Mount. As a result, Redeemer cults dedicated to the Iron-Handed God flourish among the Baalim.
-Warlocks of the Infernal Pact however are mystified as to why the incantations and rites laid down by the Iron-Handed God still function as they did centuries ago. Without the influence of the Dread Majesty, what entity could possibly be answering their invocations? Many warlocks of the infernal path have unwittingly brushed upon the power of Abaddon, Angel of the Abyss and Lord of the Ninth Circle.
-A scattered few individuals among the Mandrakori and the Baalim suspect the dark truth. The Houses of Stormcrowned, Lasirlan, and Darkhope have always held a weary truce with each other, each faction believing that the others possess part of a secret that may shake the very foundations of the Godfall War's histories.

Regarding dwarves, what was the consensus?

I've actually a dwarf character in mind, though I can't complete it since i don't know if it's still the mountain dwarves, or Xtian's awesome viking idea. Very Happy

(lol, i actually have ideas on both account, so i'm happy in any way. Razz

)

IMO, just make your dwarf. Flavor is easy enough to shoe in.

Ditto on the flavor. AAS's campaign is trying to do something with the dwarves flavor-wise, so you may want to pay attention to that. There's also a nice little flavor bit he's already written up, which is unfortunately part of AAS's campaign as well, so I can't give the details until the adventure is over, but stay tuned for more campaign setting funkiness.

As a quick taste: It is a dark and stormy night, with a party of adventurers gathered in the tavern awaiting the inevitably cliche cloaked figure with the adventure offer. Out of the darkness comes a hooded dwarf...whose cloak is bright screaming PINK. More info as the game progresses. Razz

Okay, I finally read through the Fall of the Iron Handed god. Great job as always, Rev. A few thoughts:

*One must wonder why the theory of a godslayer weapon killing it's wielder when it is used against a god exists. Uriah survived (albeit insane), and Abaddon transformed. Does this mean that the other godslayers killed their bearers?

*We effing need a name for that nature deity.

*What did the Iron-handed look like? Offhand, I get the mental image of a Heironeous with Hextor's six arms.

*Tech-team nitpick: Uriah is currently a level 25 solo. 4e mathcraft-wise, that makes him roughly the equivalent of a 34th-level character/standard monster. This is one of our design goals in BT, tech-wise. Since the gods are dead, most unique opponents of legend are in the mid-to high epic, and not beyond epic like Orcus.
Thus, what should Abaddon's power be? I'm thinking 28th level solo. Unfortunately, having him as "the Lord of the Ninth Circle" makes it virtually impossible. Here's why:
-Pit Fiends are 26th level elites (30 standard)
-The existence of eight other archdevils (for the outer circles of hell) means we need to design 8 Archdeivils that are above the power of the Pit Fiend (30) and the proposed Abaddon power (28th solo, or 37th standard level).
-Remember, 31st level, when converted to solo (which, IMO, archdevils should be) is just 22nd level. It makes sense to have archdevils to be at least, though probably higherthan, 24th solos (33rd level standard). So we're really shoehorning the Nine Archdevils into four power levels. At the very least.
A simple solution is to get rid of the ninth circle thing. Make hell single-layered, with Abaddon as the sole ruler. That fits him into 28th level solo just fine.
Besides, having nine circles makes him an obvious Asmodeus/Lucifer clone. I know he probably is one anyway, but we should at least make him distinct from his inspiration in some way.

All right. Fair points on Abaddon's firepower. Tweak down the number of hells then.

For the Iron-Handed God, I pretty much envisioned Sauron's war form in the LOTR movies.

As for the godslayer weapons transforming their users, I hadn't really noticed that, and that theme also shows up in AAS's backstory writeup for the Ruined Sea. Did he pass you a copy btw? I'd post it up, but it's still in use for AAS's game.

Still working out more details on Abaddon's psyche and misc. Baalim shite. Bloody-Handed Mithras also is giving me ideas for another Redeemer cult among the Baalim.