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[micelus]

Join the club. I modded out dwarves and replaced them with lizardmen.

Now...how about a parasitic land-squid that taps into creatures as a form of mobility, reproduction, and combat? That sounds original enough to me.

[scriver]

I'm intrigued. I'll be watching this.

I used to be part of a group who ended up doing something like this, except it was a systemless, play by post community (only real rule was "don't write a mary sue" ). It didn't start out that way, but by the time I joined the other members had already starting incorporating aspects from other peoples campaigns - I suppose that was a natural consequence of reusing characters in new environments, and it took of from there. Worked very well most of the time, as long as you could stretch your disbelief a little and accept that certain discontinuity had to happen at times.

Religion, and metaphysics in general, ended up being quite schizophrenic, however, as people had a lot of different ideas on what gods, afterlife, hell and heaven should be like. So, I wonder, how predeclared should such things be, do you think? Religion/mythology, nature of magic, such things. Or perhaps, the most important thing, that'll really limit metaphysics in general - where would the setting lie on the low/high fantasy scale?

[King_of_the_weasels]

I should point out that DM's are the world builders mainly, Players just have some say in the matter.  Backgrounds won't be so deep that we could build an entire world out of them, they're just something that a DM can pick at to get plot hooks.

example.

Urist the Dwarf Rogue, blah blah blah Stone city, blah blah blah grew up on da streets, blah blah.

A DM could easily make a quest about street urchins that grew up with Urist. 

Quest hook without player history- Thieves in Stone City are becoming a problem.

Quest hook with Urist's history- Word is that Urist's old gang is making big strides in the criminal underworld of Stone City.

While not the BEST example it kinda shows what I'm aiming for.

It's not so much about world building as creating a coherent place for adventurer's.  Players would never write out their history checks, that'd be the DM's job.

Good = Faragorn was born in *town* in *year*, *how growing up was like*,then big guy showed up and said "Your a wizard Faragorn!" but that was obvious to Faragorn as both of his parents were also wizards. He then enrolled at *wizard academy* OR took tutelage under *cool wizard guy* at the age of *whatever*.   (then he'd fill out his friends and rival stuff, likes and dislikes, flaws and such [not just the feat type, like character ones]).

Bad = Baxter was born in *year* and was given away to the *chantry of someone*, *50 page document filling out every little detail about the chantry, the church, and the gods history leaving the DM with little to nothing to "work with" because you pretty much explain everything*, [This space is empty, cause this is where information about your character would go, but you didn't fill it out], *something that makes you overly powerful, like becoming king [nobles and princes are okay, but your adventuring for a reason [[not to say you couldn't someday become a lord or king, just that's for high leveled, survived some shit characters]]]

In this type of setting you should really love your character, but not so much that you won't let things that effect his outer being get you mad or something, if a DM kills your wife that you met in game and had kids with (I'm assuming the single adventure thing that years will go by pretty quick instead of.. never.) then deal with it, don't bitch at the DM [unless he's being a dick on purpose].  Leave stuff open, like you never knew your father, oh look your level 7 and people claim your some guy, better go find him (PS oh shit it's your dad) before he causes more trouble and spoils your good name.  The player could think it's some changeling or a rival in disguise or whatever.  Mother dead?  Guess who murdered her, that's right this corrupt sheriff of the county that you and your group has been investigating in a short level "meh to meh" campaign.

Players should be spring boards not bibles. <Probably the easiest way to put it.

[RedWarrior0]

Hm... It seems interesting, but it also seems more like the world building should be done outside of a game.

[King_of_the_weasels]

Hm... It seems interesting, but it also seems more like the world building should be done outside of a game.

Why?

It's first come first serve.  If someone claims that demons come from hell they come from hell, if someone says that when you die you go to hell, then when you die you go to hell.  If someone say that Minotaur's were created by a mad wizard then they shouldn't live in villages with ancient traditions if there only 50 years old.  Obviously magic is in so we can do whatever we need to get done (flying cities what not)  Tech should be less then eberron though.  Gods are many so they can be made up on the spot for an adventure if one needs to be, though you should use existing assets as much as possible.

[RedWarrior0]

Well, it just seems like if it's going to be a shared world, putting it as one DM's domain seems counterproductive, as (s)he may do things that many don't agree with.

So, if we're building a world, we'd need:
Planar Cosmology: Are there more Material Planes? Where are the gods and other outsiders? Is there a distinct Ethereal, Astral, and Shadow plane? If not, how are existing spells and such adjusted?
Pantheon: In D&D, gods exist. Who are the gods? How does one become a god? What about a god of (insert something here)? Are there racial gods, or do the races worship the same gods?
Magic: Is magic rare or commonplace? What about psionics/incarnum/truenaming/ whatever? How do different magic subsystems interact?
Races: What races are included? How do they interact? Do they follow the core stereotypes or are the elves wandering barbarians who pillage and burn the peaceful orc communities before the kobolds and gnomes team up and try to kill all the elves, when suddenly the dwarves fly in and stop them?

[Yoink]

I guess it could be a good idea to decide on the 'inner workings' of our world, and flesh out how magic and such actually works before we let everyone loose on it. Perhaps in the first, short campaign everyone could play one of the Gods struggling to rise to prominence? [/halfasleep]

[King_of_the_weasels]

Well, it just seems like if it's going to be a shared world, putting it as one DM's domain seems counterproductive, as (s)he may do things that many don't agree with.

So, if we're building a world, we'd need:
Planar Cosmology: Are there more Material Planes? Where are the gods and other outsiders? Is there a distinct Ethereal, Astral, and Shadow plane? If not, how are existing spells and such adjusted? Ignore all old planes, make them up when need be.
Pantheon: In D&D, gods exist. Who are the gods? How does one become a god? What about a god of (insert something here)? Are there racial gods, or do the races worship the same gods?  Gods exist for the simple fact that clerics can cast spells, Gods are made up whenever, gods aren't important pregame wise, spheres are.  When someone makes a cleric they decide the god and the spheres, the gods only fleshed out when need be.
Magic: Is magic rare or commonplace? What about psionics/incarnum/truenaming/ whatever? How do different magic subsystems interact?  Common Place, no psionics that's what your game is for,  I don't know what you mean by magic subsystem.
Races: What races are included? How do they interact? Do they follow the core stereotypes or are the elves wandering barbarians who pillage and burn the peaceful orc communities before the kobolds and gnomes team up and try to kill all the elves, when suddenly the dwarves fly in and stop them? Rule of thumb, if it has a level adjustment it's probably not a city dweller.  For the sake of simplicity, player races are peaceful to each other, but maybe a bit racist.

any more questions?

[scriver]

For the sake of simplicity, player races are peaceful to each other, but maybe a bit racist.

...We're not gonna have races be monolithic cultures and hat-wearers, are we? That would be boring. I'd much rather have all races have differing inter-racial states, cultures, and so on, and whether they are hostile to some other group would be decided by their historical and current interactions with each other?

..Or was this a given and I'm just reading into your words too much?

Also, since clerical magic = gods and only some races being player races, I assume we're building it on a DnD skeleton? I mean, you said we were, I'm just thinking out loud since people were discussing other systems earlier.

[King_of_the_weasels]

For the sake of simplicity, player races are peaceful to each other, but maybe a bit racist.

...We're not gonna have races be monolithic cultures and hat-wearers, are we? That would be boring. I'd much rather have all races have differing inter-racial states, cultures, and so on, and whether they are hostile to some other group would be decided by their historical and current interactions with each other?

..Or was this a given and I'm just reading into your words too much?

Also, since clerical magic = gods and only some races being player races, I assume we're building it on a DnD skeleton? I mean, you said we were, I'm just thinking out loud since people were discussing other systems earlier.

Were gonna stick with D&D cause;
1. Most people already know it, and know it well.
2. It's classic.

Perhaps everyone who wants to play should make a character with there backstory, and if there's any confliction we'll work it out here.

[RedWarrior0]

Imus IX of Forsinu was the son of Imus XVII of Forsimu, a cleric to the elephant god of the sun Tophus. He is a Favored Soul of Tophus, which is slightly modified from the standard Favored Soul in ways I will present later.

[King_of_the_weasels]

Imus IX of Forsinu was the son of Imus XVII of Forsimu, a cleric to the elephant god of the sun Tophus. He is a Favored Soul of Tophus, which is slightly modified from the standard Favored Soul in ways I will present later.

There from different towns with super similar names?

[scriver]

North and East Forsi

edit: Also, I'm interested in playing, but don't know a thing about DnD. I would need help if I were to make anything else than a non-game mechanical version of a character.

[King_of_the_weasels]

North and East Forsi

edit: Also, I'm interested in playing, but don't know a thing about DnD. I would need help if I were to make anything else than a non-game mechanical version of a character.

I'm sure there a bunch of videos on youtube about learning to play, go do that.



Quest available: Goblins have been spotted outside the town of Hillvale, normally a minimal threat, but hobgoblins have been seen in their patrols, a rare sight outside of goblin lands.

Quest giver: The Mayor of Hillvale, looking for 3-5 adventurers to find out the source of the hobgoblin sergeants.

[RedWarrior0]

Tophus, God of the Son, Chief of the Herd of Sun Elephants
Portfolio: Sun, Elephants
Favored Weapon: Gore natural attack (often tusk)
Symbol: A stylized yellow elephant upon an orange circle, with red sunbursts from the center of the circle
Domains:
Sun, Fire: Pretty self-explanatory
War, Glory(BoED): He drives off the night, and fights for the light.
Elephant: Still working on this one. Call it Animal, but elephantized. Domain ability is either rebuke elephants or absolutely crazy memory.