If you are Gray, Bomrek, Suőthri, Falkirk, or Syvïïs, GTFO
>>47458399
So I'm running a roll20 gurps game. Dark medieval fantasy, bunch of dark magic rolling around, party is a group of troubleshooter for the army.
Chapter 1 has concluded. The party has headed off the invasion of Gorgoth (the forbidden kingdom), defeating the dark sorcerers who were teleporting in plague infected scouts ahead of the beastmen army. They liberated the ruins of Glardenfen, and the Alliance army if Men, Elves and Dwarves have setup a solid camp there. The fort is being rebuilt, and regular patrols now secure the border.
[Sorry for the map size]
>>47458531
>Human kingdom
>Elven kingdom
ech
>>47458531
They've now been redispatched out to infiltrate the line, and slip down to a ruined tower keep in Gorgoth. There, they should find the Ansible of the Spirits; a mighty artifact the Elves used to cursed the dark kingdom, and end the last war 200 years ago
A few players took the opportunity to fully enlist in the army, receiving a commission and equipment for low officers. Otherwise they're re-equipping and loading up pack horses to make the journey South.
Mostly I'm posting here for feedback on this map; the blasted wasteland and dead forests of Gorgoth. A dying land riddled with cancerous beasts and demonic posessions.
Thoughts? First impressions?
>>47458531
>medieval ranch
Might want to rethink that part
>>47458619
Props for using the word ansible.
Otherwise, I find nothing to give a shit about here. If your players are enjoying their adventures in ultra-generic fantasy land then good for them I guess.
>>47458617
There are half elves, dwarves, and a few elves in the human kingdom
The elven kingdom trades with the others, but since the fallout of the last war, they no longer tolerate residence by the others in their lands.
It's a racism thing. It's come up a bit with the players. (In particular, one applicant REALLY wanted to play a half elf jew-expy which was weeeeird)
>>47458671
Hasn't come up in play, not an issue so far.
Nothing really stands out, but a simple setting is fine as long as your players and you are enjoying it.
>>47458728
Tha know you?
It's a relatively innocuously generic game; I threw heavy basic tropes and very few options at the player because it was originally a low investment throwaway game. Took off and got danged popular with the players though, so here we are.
>>47458758
We are! Thanks.
The players have been really very receptive to the setting. Thanks to uncomplicated trope delivered elements, they've been really smoothly eased into the major weirdness.
There's good and bad kingdoms: but both sides have depth and complexity to why they're so opposed
The elves are magical tree huggers: because their race is literally tied magically to the earth, and they die if removed from mana
Etc. Etc.
One of the big things I'm introducing this chapter is the complexity of the wastelands
The elves cursed the land with their macguffin machine. (Which is its own bag if cats and drama)
Texas beastmen patronized the demon princes for ages, and for a time even angels, but it is now swarmed with rogue demons, warlocks, and unbound devils.
Elementals were unleashed from the Western rift; the spirit realm bleeds through there and the elementals easily cross tell gap and create bodies for themselves. They consume living soul spirits for sustenance, so they're voracious fuckers.
Also, the curse unbound living spirits in the wasteland, so undead have been collecting over the years. Ghouls, zombies, skeletons, wights, ghosts and even vampires are pitching camp and organizing.
And the fey (who rule the spirit realm) are now crossing the veil and travelling the world, accosting anything that crosses their path.
>>47458752
No, , see, you've got it wrong. The fact that you're literally calling something "the human kingdom where all the humans are and this is their kingdom where there are humans" is just creatively bankrupt. Don't do that sort of thing.
>>47459196
Please, eludicate
>>47459196
Well, if Ivan possibly defend myself
The original kingdom of greyhound was ruled by a human king. His bloodline had ruled since man had arrived from the great greenwood and settled these lands.
When the last war happened, in the age of war, the Alliance between the Dwarven empire, the elven lands, and the kingdom of men was born. Together they opposed the kingdom of Gorgoth, and drove back the horned king. Hey did this primarily with the forgive get of the Grey blade; an artifact weilded by the King of Greyhound, used to slay the King of horns himself.
So, after the war things broke down. The elven magic used to cursed Gorgoth was seen as a mistake, and relations between the humans and elves went from strained to broken. The elves migrated out of Greyhold (with a lot of social fallout) and the dwarves left the Alliance soon after.
Greyhold went through some social upheaval, and while the aristocrats did swear fealty to the king, they no longer saw it as divine providence. After some turmoil and nearly a civil war, the king decreed the rulers hip would no longer fall to his sons, but rather the true bearer of the Grey blade. Noble sons would estimate their worth to the weapon, but only the most righteous among them would be go send to weild it. And so it became the "human kingdom" as fear and xenophobia have driven put nearly all other inhabitants.
>>47460027
Don't call it the human kingdom, make sure it's the Grayhound kingdom that is ruled by raciest humans. Human kingdom feels like a generic "every race gets it's own homogeneous empire"
>>47459126
Sounds like a clusterfuck in a good way. Traveling though there should be stressful because there's a million different groups and alliances going on and magic out of control. Not a place for mortals anymore.
>>47460334
Ah well, shit. If the only issue you have is the title, then yeah, I can agree it doesn't suit it 100%.
And yes, it will hopefully be a fun cluster fuck of plot threads. On top of it all, there's also a plague ruing roughshod (BlackRot). It's incurable so far, resistant to magic, and infernal in nature.
The mage , Falkirk, is questing with the party for a greater cause; to cure his beloved wife of BlackRot. He can suss out that it's magical, but so far has only trailed the lead South. I plan on letting the roots of that infection present themselves to the party, let him delve deeper on it.
So I'm trying to pin down what exactly the Ansible of Spirits actually does.
I'm very sure that keeping the abilities in quantum authors flux is a best bet, but I also want to be able to explain to the players how it fucked things up for Gorgoth as well.
I have decided that the Elves who designed and built the Ansible were Oppenheimers. They pursued the development of the device purely on the merit of magical experimentation. It involved the harnessing of three disparate magics (the Alliance races). And then afterwards, it spurned a social upheaval in the immortal elves; those who would pursue magic, not for balance on earth, but for the pursuit purely of knowledge for its own sake: The Order of the Book.
The Order is also in the wastes, in particular, demon infused mage who harness infernal knowledge and talent of spirit bonding, allowing for large harness able powers bound to the mages.
But back to the Ansible... I think it tampered with the realm of spirits bond to the denizens of Gorgoth. Untethered the soul from the natural passage to the afterlife. The cycle if renewal, where the soul returns to the grand spirit, and then reemerges elsewhere.
Hopeful bump for input. Just kinda positing on the deadly elf nuke super magic gun...
>>47460526
Names matter. Refer to things consistently and in a way that reinforces how you want players to think of them.
>>47460761
You could always have it fuck up the normal dividing lines between worlds and now you've got otherworldly power and influence pouring into the land and can't figure out how to make the barrier between worlds strong again.
Easy to think of reasons they would think that was a great way to learn things and justify the magical 'fallout' tainting the land.
>>47464183
>have it fuck up the normal dividing lines between worlds
OoOoO I do like that. A kind of primal thaumatological caustic abrasion of the universe. Nice. It suits my needs and opens up possibilities as well.
