Tag Archives: campaign setting

General

Journeys in Yomi

Last week we journeyed to Yomi, the Japanese land of the dead mentioned in the ancient myths and legends of Japan. Let’s explore further so that you can use Yomi to inspire your own campaign setting, or as a campaign setting all on its own.

Journeys in Yomi

Journeys in Yomi

There are two ways to enter Yomi. For most, death brings them to the threshold of the Gray Gate, beyond which lies the narrow, winding stone stairway that leads to Yomi. A few brave—or foolhardy—folk have journeyed to the physical location of the gate, which is hidden beside a rural temple in the town of Higashiizumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. These travelers, though they go of their own free will, experience the same things as those who are brought here by death: a compelling draw to descend the steps and discover what lies in the mists below.

The descent is not dangerous or horrifying, as one might expect. Rather, the path cuts down a mountain path at a gentle angle, passing grasses and trees given a regal aspect in the grey light of twilight. No birds or beasts stir, but the hollow knocking of bamboo wood chimes and the shakuhachi flute sounds, somewhere in the growing mists. It is a calming sound, complimented by the rustle of leaves blown on a gentle breeze, or the cascade of a small mountain spring, somewhere off the path.

A Poem of Tranquility
Quietly, quietly, yellow mountain roses fall, sound of the rapids. (A Poem by Makoto Ueda, via Wikimedia Commons)

Each step down the path brings new, muted joys, and most feel no compulsion to turn back. For those who do, leaving the stair or turning back to ascend it is a feat frustrated by the strange physics of the Land of the Dead. A tree, reached just off the path, might hide more of the stair or a dead end behind its knobbed trunk. What looked like a short climb off the path quickly turns steeper than expected, and what seemed like solid footing is instead slippery mud. While the climb down is easy, the return journey is always tiring, and it becomes agonizingly more difficult to make progress back up the stair.

For most, the descent is inevitable. As they near their destination and their path grows darker, the faint glow of the moon seems to diffuse, casting less light but giving an eerie cast to the sky. It is then that the traveler finds the threshold of Yomi.

Running the Descent

Players shouldn’t be forced to make saves as they travel the stairway to Yomi — a description of the effects on their character should be enough for them to realize that reaching the bottom is inevitable. This is not to say you need to force them down the path either. Inventive ideas might allow the party to make significant progress back up the stair, or even escape Yomi altogether.

With this in mind, any adventure set in Yomi needs to include an enticing hook to entice the players on this dangerous journey, and some hope of returning to the world of the living too.

The Lands Beyond

Travelers wandering through Yomi navigate by landmarks rather than distances. While two places might be considered “close” to each other, their true distance is in constant flux. The same journey might take a day or a month, and a traveler that strays from their course is doomed to wander aimlessly until they discover a landmark they know.

If you enjoyed our take on Yomi, be sure to grab your copy of the Grimdark Pamphlet, which will be updated with a full description of Yomi in the coming weeks. Also, be sure to check out Beyond the Horizon Games and their blog, as they’re hosting the RPG Blog Carnival this month. The theme is “world building”, go take a look.

Journey Below the Waves

If you enjoyed our little look at Yomi, then you’ll likely enjoy our Undersea Sourcebook series for D&D. Three of the six books are out, covering everything a player needs to explore the world below the waves or take to the seas as a pirate.

The Race & Class Guide includes races and classes for ocean-themed characters.

Mutants & Mariners provides additional options, specifically for mutants and pirates.

Feats & Equipment expands player options with firearms, pirate weapons, and a host of new feats. It looks like feats will be more important than ever going into the next edition of D&D, so start collecting.

Water Magic gives you new spells and magical items.

Till next time, may you have great adventures

Rodney


Tips and Tricks

Ocean Adventures in D&D, Part 3 – Sea Monsters

The Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual all provide great resources for undersea or ocean-based D&D campaigns. We’ve offered you an Undersea Guide to the Player’s Handbook and an Undersea Guide to the Dungeons Master’s Guide. Today we’ll be talking sea monsters with the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

rpg blog carnival logo

This week’s post is part of the RPG Blog Carnival. This month the carnival is hosted by NukeTown.com, and the theme is “All These Worlds.” Be sure to check them out and see what others have shared on the topic.

The Monster Manual is full of useful creatures for your undersea campaign, and the easiest way to access these is to refer to appendix B in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, which lists coastal and underwater monsters. Below is a list of suggestions for expanding on those lists.

Sea monsters
Image credits: Laura College

Aquatic and Amphibious Variants

Many creatures can become sea monsters by giving them the ability to breathe underwater and a swim speed. Twig blights could become seaweed blights, while you could replace a frost giant’s greataxe with a trident and call it a sea giant. Be careful with some monster abilities though, an ocean basilisk could pose a real problem for characters who can’t breathe underwater.

Undead Creatures

Most undead creatures can survive underwater, without any modification. Adding a swim speed is usually all that’s needed to make them effective threats. Ethereal undead, such as ghosts, can use their fly speed instead of a swimming speed, making them difficult to escape.



Constructs

Similar to the undead, constructs don’t need to breathe, so giving them a swimming speed is usually enough to make them useful. A homunculus might have a swimming tail instead of wings, while golems might be formed like sharks or dolphins, giving them a swimming speed and a reduced base speed. You can also replace some golem abilities with ones from other sea monsters; like giving a flesh golem tentacle attacks to replace its slam attacks.

Common sense if your greatest ally here — a stone golem is more likely to sink than swim.

Sea monsters
Image credits: Jonas Allert

When it comes to sea monsters, a little creativity goes a long way, and the Monster Manual serves as an excellent starting point for populating your campaign world.

What’s Next?

What would you like us to cover for your undersea campaign next? Let us know in the comments below.

We recently asked about trinkets in your D&D game, and we’d love to hear your ideas, especially if you’ve got some ocean themed ones.

Till next time, play good games!

Rodney Sloan
Rising Phoenix Games

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General

Avernos – South Fort

“South Fort will fall, its heart is blacker than any would guess. It is but a small bother on the great road to the destruction of the Alliance Nations. Then, and it shall be soon, the Tyrant will hold all Avernos as his kingdom.”

– Karleethia Darkhand

 

A while back I gave an overview of Avernos, the Land of Adventure, and a brief introduction to South Fort, which is the city setting for the solo adventure Sentinels Watching. In this post I’m going to give you a heap of extra setting information so that you can use South Fort in your own campaign.

City On Watch

South Fort was established as a garrison in the Wilderlands, an inhospitable stretch of land on the Southern edge of the human kingdom. To the West lies the deadly mountain range known as the Jaws, and beyond that the Abyss, from whence every manner of foul darkness issues forth. To the east lies the Dead Wood, a forest older than time and said to be haunted by the spirits of ancient trees.

The city has seen more than it’s fair share of conflict, and yet has grown as a major commercial hub, due to the fact that it sits on three important trading routes. As the city has grown so too has the power struggle within it between South Fort’s elite. While the city is officially led by the Keep Captain, there is growing evidence to suggest that an influential gang within the city holds the real power.

Law, if you can call it that, is maintained by the city watch known as the Blue Capes. They owe this title to the blue capes of rank they wear to distinguish themselves from the civilian population. If the leaders within the Capes are doing anything to stem the corruption in the city they are keeping very quiet.

 

Districts of South Fort

South Fort is divided up into several districts, each with its own unique character:

The Keep: The military and municipal heart of the city. Here you’ll find clerks, judges, officers and other administrative personnel, along with a heavier presence of Blue Capes and South Fort militia. Other than at times of siege, common folk have little business in the Keep and the few merchants that have stalls here are solely concerned with selling stationery, inks and the stamps required for the daily running of the administrative offices.

Inner City: Surrounded by the main defensive wall of the city and the watchtowers known as the Sentinels, the Inner City is home to the richest citizens of South Fort. Built on top of a rising outcrop of rock, the Inner City commands a grand view of the rest of South Fort and the Wilderlands beyond. Foreign and trade goods are sold on Market Way, a wide thoroughfare, which draws merchants from far and wide, while the best craftsmen line South Fort’s famous Trade Road.

Outer City: Those living in the Inner City would describe the Outer City as “home to everyone else”. The Outer City sees more traders and travellers than the rest of the city as many visitors to South Fort prefer to ply their trade outside of the city walls and away from the high taxes they can expect to pay within. The Outer City black market does a roaring trade, with coin traded for goods from the Northern Kingdom, the Free South and the Eastern Ports in alleys, taverns, back rooms and through secret agencies such as The Raven.

The Sewers: The sewers of South Fort are an impressive feat of human and dwarven architecture hailing back from the first days of the Alliance. Having since fallen into decay, the sewers are now home to all manner of ne’er-do-wells, not to mention a growing rat population.

 

Organisations and Societies

South Fort is home to a number of organisations and societies, each with their own agendas.

The Sentinels: A secret organisation said to be operating within the Inner City. There is evidence to suggest that they control the taxation of trade within the city, which would make them powerful indeed.

The Blue Capes: The city watch of South Fort. Their main jurisdiction is within the city, but at times they help the militia patrol further abroad. Duties of the Capes include maintaining the peace, running messages and extracting taxes from visiting merchants.

The Raven: A clandestine organisation trading on the Outer City black market. The Raven have a reputation as heroes to the lower classes and as thieves to the wealthy, although much of their reputation comes from bar room chatter and old wives’ talk.

The Hoods: A large group of robbers, cut-throats and bandits who target the surrounds of South Fort. They are a constant blight on the trade routes and a thorn in the side of the South Fort militia.

The Fixers: A guild that hires and assigns unusual jobs to mercenaries and other adventurous types. It’s said that if you need extra coin and don’t mind a few scars then the Fixers are just the people to contact.   

 

More Adventures

Want to experience more of South Fort and have a chance to influence the future of this intriguing city? Hop on over to The Rising Dark for another completely free adventure set in the City of Sentinels.

Well, that’s it for this week. Let me know what you think by posting a comment below. Your comments could help shape the future of South Fort, Avernos and the world beyond.

General

Avernos – A Land of Adventure

Dreamers

This is for the dreamers
The ones who see big things in small places
The ones who hope for better days
While making the most of now.

This is for everyone who ever had monsters under their beds
Or saw dragons in the clouds
Or fought a swashbuckling duel with their shadow
Or flew over rooftops in their dreams.

You may think you’re strange
Others may mock you
But you have something desirable
You have imagination

You have greatness
And adventure
You have hope
And you have dreams.

 

Avernos

Over the last two months I’ve been hard at work thinking, planning and building on the campaign world that had it’s birth around 2009 with my first convention module. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting a full adventure for solo play set in this world, so I thought I’d take a moment to share some of the main locations and aspects of the world. I’m hoping you’ll join me for many adventures in the world of Avernos.

 NOTE: Avernos means “the land we have”. For the race of man this means the land they were given, the land they fight for and the earth upon which they will make their last stand.

 

The Age of Alliance

Avernos is a land at war. The Nations of the Alliance stand with their backs to the wall while evil stalks the land, baying at the gates of humanity, baying for blood. Holding the thinning strings of the existence of the Alliance Nations together is the Alliance, a treaty between men, elves, dwarves and other races less populous races who hope for peace.  The Alliance is controlled by kings known as the Alliance Kings, rulers and representatives from each of the good races. The war, and its course, is governed by these kings.

 

The Very Jaws of the Abyss

In the centre of the lands once dominated by men, dwarves and elves, rises up a ring of mountains known as The Jaws, a ragged range of rock that encircles a might chasm, the very pits of the Abyss. From here all manner of foul creature issues forth to assault the lands, directed by a greater evil known only as The Tyrant. It is the will of the Tyrant that the lives of men, elves and dwarves should be extinguished forever, and forgotten for all time.

 

South Fort

Like a might bastion against the ravages of evil, South Fort stands, a citadel alone in the Wilderlands. Brave men and women stand watch against the terrors creeping in from the West, and heroes rise and fall in mighty battles against those who would crush man below their clawed feet.

 

Rats in the Sewers, Rats in the Streets

For all the greatness of South Fort, from its gleaming white walls to the impressive towers known as the Sentinels, the heart of South Fort is as black and corrupt as the rat infested sewers below it. Secret criminal organisations ply their trade with stolen money and a warm hand shake, while their agents stalk the alleys and close lanes, a cold blade hidden with a hearty greeting.

 

The Misty City and the Hidden Lands

The corruption of humanity is well known to the Dwarves, who sigh and continue their fight against evil, from their hidden fortress of the Misty City in the Jaws, looking always to Elves for aid, but their aid does not come. The Hidden Lands of the elves are almost forgotten, a distant thought of those who honour the Alliance with words but seldom with action.

 

Days of Darkness, Dawn of Heroes

These are dark days indeed, and Avernos has few days left. Avernos calls for heroes. Who will answer the call? Will it be unpredictable men, or the silent elves, the grim dwarves, the mysterious people of the rocks, the outcast half casts, the strange gnomes, or will hope come from the very races that would oppress the races of the Alliance. All this is for you to decide, for it’s your world to explore and it is you who will write the great sagas of the age.

 

Leave a comment and tell me what you think, I’m interested to hear your thoughts and ideas. Be sure to check out the first part of our solo campaign, Sentinels Watching.