"Heartbreaker": Campaign Setting

[Judging__Eagle]

My current working title for my "Earth Based, Fantasy Kitchensink" game setting is 'Heartbreaker'. It's got a bunch of things in it; but it's obviously derived from the techniques, materials and content generated by Frank and Kieth; as well as a lot of ideas taken from other members of The Gaming Den. I owe you guys a lot in terms of learning about game design, campaign creation, and storytelling.


What Heartbreaker contains:


[*] An established Geography (Earth); possibly modified by supernatural means. Everything from Mt. Vesuvius being a Drow, and Dwarven City state, thanks to all of the ash for food, and metal to forge for, and feed; the population; to the entire San Franciso Bay, and attending bodies of water being actually blood red, from blood (there's a reason, but it's not well known why). When you have pre-existing geography; it can help plan population distribution.

[*] 13 'global' Races (From Frank's Fantasy Kitchensink thread)

1. First Heroes
   "They gave up their greatness, to better us all, and we honour them"
2. Dorf (Dwergos) [Lithovores; hair, teeth, nails tend to be pure metals; body turns into minerals; eyes become gemstones]
3. Elf (Alfr) [Plant-eaters, recylicative digestive system; no poo-eating; Hunt meat, live in forests; often have sizable Drow populations to smith them weapons]
4. Drow (Dokkribhu) [Carbo-Silicate beings; they get nourishment from Carbon (Ash, Coal, Charcoal); and Sunlight (on their silicone based photo-cell skin). Their appearance is soot black, with smooth sections of skin that are shiny, and dark blue in appearance. Only minimal amounts of Sand are needed to produce their photo-voltic skin patches. Able to live anywhere, and be very effective smiths, without really high caloric needs]
5. Hob (Hobgoblin) [Orange skinned (in a variety of orange-tinged hues), sharp toothed, very disciplined; just like the Fantasy Kitchensink thread. For Hobgoblins, increased heart rate counts as 'feeding'; breaking a sweat counts as 'eating well', the more they sweat, the larger their 'meal' is. The experienced hobgoblin warrior who has a -gut- is a bad sign; since it means that they are usually "gorging" on combat or physical exercise. Hobs tend to make up most labour and soldier roles wherever they go.]
6. Gob (Goblin) [Orange skinned, like Hobgoblins, instead of 'effort', Goblins feed while they are 'hiding' (observing a creature, who isn't observing them). Goblins are the natural companions of Elven Rangers, due to both being able to sustain extended operations in the wilds without needing to actually pack lots of food]
   
   Doppleganger Descended
   "They renounced their patronage, to defend us; their descenders live among us today"
   
   [The following are all the same species. They originally descend from Doppleganger spies and agents that were once sent to help conquer this Prime Material plane. The agents decided to live among the people, and gain some measure of freedom for themselves; and completely turned the tables on the first Cthuli invasion by changing who they were going to side with. They can breed true with any species, and produce either a Doppleganger descended; or the other parent species, when they have offspring. Their ability to re-stablize any regional species population, and the fact that they are regularly expected to be "big damned heroes; like your ancestors" tends to help people opinions of them]
7. Halfling (Burahobitt) [Same as kitchensink Fantasy thread]
8. Ork (Uruk) [Same as kitchensink Fantasy thread]
9. Yahoo (Human) [Same as kitchensink Fantasy thread]
   
   The Created
   "By Gods, by Mortals"
10. Kobolds (Cobalts) [Blue-scaled tunnelers; one of many creations of Tiamat; but her most prolific]
11. Golems (Robota) ['Created' people. The creation of a Golem ties them to their creator for 10 years, Golems tend to go suicidal if their creator dies before the ten years pass.]
12. Cambions ['Fiendish' looking people; looks like -any- other Species/Race, but have fiendish appearances]
    
    The Changed
    "I do believe we've met before"
13. Gith [Dopleganger Descended who were re-captured, dragged to the start of time; and made into gladiators; then overthrew the Cthuli empire which initially spawned them. The fact that all flavours of Gith, Humans, Orcs, Halfings and Illithids are the same sort of species are all races of the the same species is rather interesting]
14. Gnomes [Badgers that changed into people; have whiskers; curiosity; and are tenacious; not always badgers, but burrowing mammalian creatures of all kinds]

[*] 47 Regional Species; these are restricted to their locations of origin for their Myth, or history. Yakfolk are from Tibet, Myrmidions are from Macedonia (Magna Alexandra? Yeah, she's a Myrmidon Empress).

[*] An economy that tries to absorb, accept, and take in the fact that Efreeti, and Noble Djinni, an very well sell their wishes, in exchange for things being collected, or quests being completed. Regular Djinni sell their services in exchange for massive stocks of grain. [Note: Tome of Fiends rules for Wish; so, a Magic Sword is possible; as is a +1 Sword; but a +2 Sword is not possible; Scaling magic items are set to a flat cost of 15,000 gp. Enough to be out of reach of everyone; and worthless to most people, unless of a high enough level anyway.

[*] Myths, monsters, cultures, and individual NPCs will be based as much as possible on 'real' characters. Preferably/ideally open-source ones.

[*] All items Scale. With three different classes; and 9 sub-classes.
-
[*]Mundane
Primitive [-1 to checks]
Standard [0]
Exceptional [+1 to checks]
[*]Magical
Masterwork [+2 to checks]
Imbued [Magical, flat bonus, or DMG or Splatbook item]
Enchanted [Scaling Magical item]
[*]Mythical
Personnel* [Level + 1 Tier; grants some type of supernatural minion]
Regional [Level + 2 Tiers; Powers that affect a region, sometimes only powerful within a region]
Global [Level + 5 Tiers; Minor Scope, Globally effective]

*:Grants personnel

[*] Easy Faction changing - Every species on the planet that counts as "people" can be allied with, or declared enemies, by every player. Championing the Halfings of Rome, or the Wolverine people of Northern Canada, are both equally possible options.


[*] Lots of well know NPCs.

For this I'm thinking of the current model: the MMO, and LARP, versions of this game are "PCs are level 5". That allows for Lord of the Rings style adventures; and most players are happy with that. Once a character reaches level 5, they can do one of several quests to "become eternal", and become one of the 'eternal' people of the world. The fact that King Arthur (part-draconic, red-scaled, very large humanoid; like, a dragon's head, on a man's body), Queen Elizabeth (a Hobgoblin with Elf relatives?), and Winston Churchill (Uruk, possibly a Caninoid or something); are NPCs will help to ease players into the setting.

[*] Lots of well known settings.

Duh, it's earth.

[CatharzGodfoot]

A +2 sword is normally 8kgp. Just sayin'.

Also, goblins should be green and/or covered in dark fur. Orange is not a great color for hiding.

[Prak]

Gob (Goblin) [Orange skinned, like Hobgoblins, instead of 'effort', Goblins feed while they are 'hiding' (observing a creature, who isn't observing them).

...you realize you just turned goblins into creepy peeping toms, right?

[Crissa]

Dark orange? Orange plants? Orange ground?

-Crissa

[Judging__Eagle]

I'm fine with Goblins being creepy peeping toms. They probably spend most of their days wearing a full body veil, or something. Goblin men and women that leave the home, wear Bhurkas.

They probably look a bit like Jawas?

[Caedrus]

Okay, I'm just coming in here, haven't read the apparently preceding threads, so forgive me if I'm missing something already covered, but...

I don't quite get it. How exactly are hobgoblins feeding on their own effort? The idea seems interesting, but I'm curious as to what the fluff for the mechanism of this happening is, since it seems esoteric even by fantasy standards. Same question for goblins, which seems even stranger.

Also, you described elves as plant eaters who hunt meat. What?

[Crissa]

Humans are plant eaters who hunt meat?

-Crissa

[Judging__Eagle]

That's fair. Some things I have changed. Specifically things that allow the "global" species to have an actually good reason to be everywhere.

I want Hobgoblins to be Zulu Warriors, and Samurai, and Teutonic knights; and Aztec Jaguar and Eagle Knights; and Roman Legionaries. Not as 'all' of them; but a good chunk of them are Hobs.

The basic idea is that the "global" species must have a global presence of some sort. If not the players will always be wondering "where are the Elf/Dorf/Human/Hobgoblin kingdoms?"

The first heroes species were standard, run of the mill omnivores.

Then, long ago; a bunch of people of those species made a warparty, and eventually hit the very high levels. They petitioned the gods for a way to make their people more powerful and survivable; the gods agreed, but it would cost them their 'power' (xp/levels).

So, that's how Dwarves got their beards (Dwarven 'beards' are... more long tendrils which are sensory organs that help Dwarved navigate without any form of light). Why Hobgoblins would rather work than eat, and why Elves are dignified leaf eaters (not green poo eaters, like rabbits).

[Username17]

A +2 sword is normally 8kgp. Just sayin'.

Also, goblins should be green and/or covered in dark fur. Orange is not a great color for hiding.

Tigers and Leopards and Jaguars are all legendarily excellent at hiding. They are also orange.

-Username17

[CatharzGodfoot]

A +2 sword is normally 8kgp. Just sayin'.

Also, goblins should be green and/or covered in dark fur. Orange is not a great color for hiding.

Tigers and Leopards and Jaguars are all legendarily excellent at hiding. They are also orange.

-Username17

And they're also all covered in dark fur.

[Judging__Eagle]

Goblins have spotted, striped or otherwise stippled skin?

I'm betting hobgoblins do to?

I'm fine with that actually. Goblinoids being... partly feline in appearance is something I'm fine with. It helps explain their preference for silence, and isolation, their predatory tendencies, their sharp teeth, claws, body hair/fur, and body colouring.

Goblins - Smaller cats (ocelots, snow leopards, lynx, cheetahs, etc.)
Hobgoblins - Large cats (Lions, tigers, jaguars)
Bugbears - Massive/Prehistoric cats (Smilodons, Ligers/Tigons, Dire lions, Dire Tigers; etc.)

[CatharzGodfoot]

You don't have to make hobs and gobs look exactly the same but differently sized. I am in favor of making them both somewhat feline. Hell, if you did it well you could almost satisfy furries without pissing off fur-haters.

One of my cats can look rather goblin-like at times.

[Caedrus]

I'd still like to know more about the fluff of Hobgoblins feeding on their own exertion. What's the mechanism for this?

[spasheridan]

Eat your own work -> magic. From the gods.

I said MAGIC

[Judging__Eagle]

For Hobs, it's not a mechanic.

Dwarves are lithovores from a magical modification to their physiology

Elves can actually process leaves as food

Goblins process 'hiding'; let's assume that they generate energy by looking at living things; and living things looking at their bodies make them hungry.

Hobgoblins process 'heating muscles'; rich hobs own saunas

....... the romans used hot baths; the norse used sweat lodges, as do a bunch of other places. Hobs are probably in many places that Drow 'could' live, but don't b/c of lack of sunlight.

In any case; only those races have "abnormal" feeding abilities. Everything else on "Earth" has to eat normal food. Which is why there aren't Yakfolk everywhere; or Balu everywhere; there's not enough food; and there are already people living in a region and using the natural resources there to feed themselves.

==============



update: I'm really looking at Mount and Blade as a potential way to model parts of this. Even if it's just a "human only" "on earth" game at first; I'd be happy. The internal mechanics allow for creation of custom units; and character/npc stats can be jimmied around to give results that I'd want.

things like 'spells' could be items that are equipped and used.

I'd probably pare down the items into their tiers; and not the literally thousands of mundane items that populate the game normally.