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Saturday, May 27, 2017

Settings to work on

To make contents of this blog easier to understand, I should include explanations for what each setting is about, a short description that can be read by newcomers.

Sivobog

Gods rule the world of Sivobog, they ruled it ever since they made its creations. Never able to let go of it, they got angry when more beings started to sprout out, beings they did not make. This is why all the races and monsters of this world are split into two groups - Favoured, ones that gods love, and Unfavoured, ones gods hate. Each group's races used to cooperate within groups for the majority of world's history.
However, something strange happened relatively recently. The avatars of gods stopped receiving commands on a daily basis. As a result of that, a war broke out between the Favoured races, that stopped to care about Unfavoured ones, who finally got chance to develop. And then, another Moon appeared out of nowhere.
This is my current setting I'm planning to play my games in, and thus will contain most of the spoiler warnings for my players. Let's see how much it changes over time.

Charodey Academy

A magical school located in a demiplane of its own, inbetween multiple worlds. It's a place where not only wizards, but also sorcerers, warlocks, and possibly other classes can study magic and even more. This demiplane is big enough to house the school, but also a forest and a city that has things necessary for surviving like way to produce food and other things of the same sort.

Grimwick

Grimwick is heavily inspired by Ravenloft, basically me trying to reinvent it for my own purposes. It's composed out of a set of demiplanes, each being ruled by a person who made an unfortunate wish, that turned into a whole story revolving around them. So, a Ravenloft, but with Fey instead of Undead, and about fairy tales instead of horrors.

Earth-2020 (E2020)

Year is 2020. Earth is just as you would expect it to be, just as you know it. Well, except for the fact that apparently, magic and fantastic creatures are real, they were just hidden here and there. Sometimes, magic interacts with modern technology, and that creates interesting combinations.
(Note: It's made up in 2016/2017, so please - if during that time something in the society or technological progress changes in a major way, which I'm almost sure it will, bear in mind that I can't see into the future.)


I know there may be more settings, some of which will be just a one-shot equivalent of my worldbuilding, while other may actually join this list. There is also a chance that some of these will get less attention than the others, so I can't promise anything.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

Friday, May 26, 2017

On volerite, deducanos and floating islands

Confession: I am not a geologist, biologist nor physicist, so some of the terms and assumptions used here may not be correct. This is just a theorycrafting, so please do take it with a grain of salt.

It is a known fact in the scientific community of Lasklo that the gravity is not the same everywhere. There are tiny differences in gravity here and there, and it's fairly irregular. Researchers have been wondering about the reality of that for a long time, until they figured out a definite answer. It's a rare mineral they refer to as volerite. But what exactly is volerite?

Volerite (also called volitium by some, but that name never caught on in the wizardly community) is a mineral inherently magical in its nature. It is repulsed by any other material, with the sole exception of other deposits of volerite. It has a neutral attraction to itself, which allows it to cling together much as any normal material would cling to itself. Imagine like helium, but a rock - if it's not held by anything, it will just float up and away, forever to fly through the universe.This explains the irregular gravity that's present everywhere - volerite can be deep underground, but it's too weak to make any significant changes to the gravity on the surface. Well, most of the time anyway.

One note worth mentioning is that volerite's "negative mass" makes weapons, armors and objects generally made out of pure volerite... interesting. I don't feel like delving into physics, so I'm gonna move on.

Deducano

This rock forms deep underground, somewhere around the layer where magma forms, maybe slightly above it. If a volcano forms in a place where there's lot of volerite (which has a low probability to happen), there's a high chance that when a volcano erupts, it will spew volerite instead of/along with lava and ashes. Such volcano is refered to as "deducano", or "volcannon" by the commoners who think it resembles a natural cannon more than a regular volcano. When such volcano erupts, it's a sight to behold... well, if you get away from lava and ashes that is. The volerite that flies up is an interesting sight that becomes even more spectacular when some lava is attached to it. If there's too much lava, the volerite won't fly up and will instead try to force its way out of the lava before it solidifies. The rock that solidifies before that escape, trapping the volerite inside, is quite a curiosity, and not that uncommon around deducanos - it seems to be an ordinary rock, that's a lot lighter though. And it falls slower. Neat!
What's even more interesting is when a perfect mix of volerite and ordinary rock fuses together. This fusion - named “floatstone” - is apparently weightless, floating wherever one puts it. Which brings us to...


Floating islands

There's a very slim chance for a deducano to spew a nearly perfect mixture of rock and volerite, which had been fused together under the pressure even before the release. When this happens, we get what's commonly known as floating islands. Their top is covered with a layer of volerite that's trying to desperately escape the planet, and their bottom is covered with ordinary rock that's trying its best to fall. Perfectly balanced, these rocks are trying to escape forever one another, but end up just floating in the midair.
Over time, variety of things can fall onto the surface of floating islands. Water when it rains or snows, dirt and life when a tornado happens, and maybe more stuff. It's worth to mention that even though there's a layer of volerite on top of the island, the weight of the planet is too strong for all the stuff that gets caught on top of the flying island to be repulsed and thrown away. At best, it would cause the gravity on floating island to be weaker. That means that the island gets everything it should need for a life to develop. Exactly what biomes could form up there I won't detail, but I suppose the islands flying really low could have forests, while those that fly high above the clouds could have deserts because of lack of water and strong winds, arctic environment because of cold, or both at the same time.

Alloys

Since humanoids are crafty and smart creatures, they've wondered what alloys they can make using volerite. It's very hard to make a volerite alloy even for someone who is an experienced smith, especially for those that worked just on normal alloys all their life. Special tools and cooperation of several smiths is required, and only two successful alloys are known of as of now - fixite and nequitine.

Fixite

Fixite is an alloy of volerite and adamantium. Adamantium is a heavy and strong material, but also inherently magical one. When it mixes with volerite, the resulting alloy turns out to be a material that's immovable. As you may already guess, this is what infamous immovable rods are made of. But how does it actually work?
Actually, fixite is not really immovable. What instead happens is that fixite is immobile... when it gets a magical pulse of sorts. Think of it like a semiconductor - the resistance of a semiconductor decreases as much as its temperature increases. Fixite is very similar to that - it requires a minor magical pulse in order to be fixed in the field of gravity it's located in. When an immovable rod is made, this magical pulse is the button one has to press to fix it in place. It's a magical effect even smaller in power than a cantrip, and so it's useless for anything besides fixing the rod in place.
Researchers believe that there must be some way to mix the two materials to make what they call "perfect fixite", a material that will stay fixed in place without requiring a magical pulse. However, nobody has been able to produce that yet. Some artificers have begun to suspect that it may be just a false speculation.

Nequitine

Nequitine is an alloy of volerite and mithril. Mithril is light and easy to manipulate material, and - just like adamantium - mithril too is magical by nature. When it mixes with volerite, it too becomes a semiconductor-like material, but when one activates this one, it instead does not stop moving. Similarly to fixite, there is also a speculated "perfect nequitine" that would move indefinitely, never stopping and never requiring a magical pulse either.
Some of the uses for nequitine are evermoving rods, that allow ships to move indefinitely, arrows that fly at all times (until they are stopped by something sufficiently strong or break), and sources of energy.

You may now think that we've gotten to an age-old question, a paradox of sorts. "What happens if an unstoppable arrow hits an immovable rod?" Well, you see, no alloy of these metals is perfect. The answer thus depends on the smith, quality of alloy, and lots of other unseen factors. One of the two would break or otherwise give way, that's definitely given. That is also a reason why wizard society thinks that only one of the two speculated “perfect” volerite alloys can exist - because if both existed, a paradoxical state would emerge.

Blog's revival

Welcome back to this blog of mine!

This was a busy year for me, and so I'm glad to come back here. I'll confess about something though - writing settlements that can be plopped anywhere one could need is harder than I imagined. Possibly even beyond my capabilities.
That's why I was thinking about redirecting the blog's intentions. It's not that big of a change - it will just broaden its focus. Instead of writing just about settlements, I'll write about whole ideas that I may or may not use in my settings, and that can be used in your settings too. I was inspired by blog GoblinPunch and some other blogs too, that are sources of some great and creative ideas. And, since I sometimes too get interesting ideas, I decided to return to this blog.

I am not sure at all what will I write about in the future, but for now I can tell that there will be at least two kinds of posts - those for settings I'm trying to develop, and those about settings I won't work much on (setting-independent settlements fall into this category too). I have made some settings that are just one-shot settings and not really developed that much in the past on reddit, especially my posts about Demi Plane of Bears and The Dreamscape.

One note to my players - if you're here and recognize some of the stuff, please do not read posts that start with [Spoiler] or [Spoilers]. Thank you.

Hopefully it'll go smoother this time. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

Friday, July 29, 2016

Oxeye - Iuchra

As I sat down next to her, she blurted "You seek to know your future, right?" As I nodded, she grinned, showing off her old teeth, and held up her hand palm up in front of me expectantly. After handing her a pair of silver coins, she looked deep into the crystal ball, placed on the table in front of her. She removed her bandana, revealing an eye on her head, and as she closed her own eyes, the third eye started moving. Even I could make out that it was just an illusion. Then she opened her eyes, shocked as if she had seen a ghost, reached below the table and pulled out... a bag of fortune cookies. "Here, take one."


Racehuman
Professionfortune teller
Age81 years
LanguagesCommon, Elvish, Gnomish
Behaviorfriendly, mysterious
Desiremaking enough money to live a comfortable life
Fearlosing her job because of bad reputation

Iuchra usually resides at Oxeye's inn, expecting visitors and trying to attract their attention in order to make a coin. Though cheap, her prophecies are notoriously vague. She wears a deep red bandana with purple streaks, and dresses herself up as any other old woman would. Her subtle movements cause a sound of chimes and bells that are barely audible, but she doesn't usually move from her place before evening when she goes to her own house. The color of her hair ranges from gray to white, and her face and hands are visibly covered with wrinkles. She has an old burn on her left palm from a childhood accident. She is friendly towards anyone who hasn’t proven themselves to be dangerous, and flees at even the quaintest sight of danger, unless the well-being of ordinary citizens is at risk.

1d20
 Fortune Cookies (2sp)
1I can see you falling deep into a dark pit.
2Your soul is drowning in a pit of acid.
3 You always know in your heart what is right and what is wrong.
4 Say hi to your mother, it might be your last chance.
5Watch out for the spiders!
6 Your lucky number from now on is 16.
7 You've got seven days of life left. Enjoy it!
8 Avoid the beautiful lady with black hair
9 Beware the wooden door!
10Your uncle is in trouble and needs your help!
11 Your brother is worried about you and misses you.
12 Lots of money can be seen in your future, take care of it and don't forget about me.
13 Buy a used horse and you won't regret it!
14 Next fortune cookie you'll get will happen twice as soon.
15 You'll deal a killing blow to a dragon, good job!
16 Be righteous, and you'll earn a king's favor!
17 You'll meet your true love within a week.
18 Never make a deal with the devil, or else you'll regret it!
19 Your artifact will be known for centuries.
20 (the paper is empty, and when asked about, Iuchra sadly returns the 2 silvers and says "You seem to be one of the few, who are Lords of their own Destiny. I can't do anything for you, so... here, take your coins back.")

Of course, most of thees papers are just stuff made up by this fortune teller. There may be, however, some truth among them...
As a DM, you have the ultimate power to decide if they are true or false. The character doesn't have a relative that the prophecy mentioned? How can the character be so sure? As for the prophecies in relation to death, you can always put them into situations, in which the prophecies become true. A deathly blow to the dragon can be done by letting it die on that player's turn. The fate of any specific thing is entirely up to the DM.


Iuchra
Medium humanoid (human), neutral good

Armor Class 13 (mage armor)
Hit Points 39 (6d8+12)
Speed 30'

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
7 (-2)
10 (+0)
14 (+2)
16 (+3)
15 (+1)
13 (+1)
Skills Arcana +5, Insight +3
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Common, Elvish
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Spellcasting. Iuchra is 2nd-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). She has the following wizard spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): Chill Touch, Fire Bolt, Prestidigitation
1st level (3 slots): Burning Hands, Color Spray, Mage Armor

Actions

Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5', one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage.

Updated: fixed grammar and stylistic errors

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Oxeye

After several days of walking, I arrived at what seemed to be a normal hamlet. Surrounded by oak forest and a field, I curiously walked in, absorbing the smell of grain and quiet atmosphere. Most of the population consisted of humans, but I saw several elves here and there and at least one half-elf. Since it was late evening, my goal was to find an inn to rest in. Most buildings, however, looked the same, and so I asked one of the villagers. The old woman looked at me with surprise, and after a while she said with a voice much raspier than expected: "Over there, newcomer," pointing with shaking finger at the building in the middle of this hamlet.

I walked into the inn, being welcomed by a surprising emptiness. The half-elven barmaid was cleaning a glass while talking to a depressed-looking muscular man sitting at the bar. In the corner, there was an old-looking woman with a crystal ball placed in front of her, excitedly waving at me. As I walked in, I saw how the barmaid started to fill the glass with dwarven ale, just as a young farmer walked past me. He placed several coins he was clutching in his hand in front of her quietly, taking his ale and sitting next to the depressed goliath.


Location
On a road between a large city and a shore, or another large city, surrounded by oak forests and fields.
Population 48
Majority Races human, elf, half-elf
Majority Languages common, elvish
Popular Gods forests, agriculture
Government under the local kingdom, in case of no kingdom the mayor
Leader the mayor
Culture quiet, commercial
Economy income from travelers buying their products and staying in their inn
Abundant Resources wood, leather, grain
Secret The citizens of Oxeye don't talk to each other. Unusual weather conditions and natural occurrences are considered normal around the settlement. Farm animals rise from dead on some nights.

History


Oxeye started as a simple inn on the important road from one big city (or possibly coast) to another. Soon, more and more people realized that life there could be profitable, which is why they relocated there and started selling their products to travelers. And besides these people, there was a sorcerer who settled in this small village.
If the players ask elves about the sorcerer and don't have a bad reputation in the settlement, they will be willing to talk about him. His name was Jo Goldworthy, a halfling who always held his wand in his left hand and wore his dark blue pointy hat everywhere. He was an impatient fellow with a wild magic obsession. He was social but humble, never even needed to build a tower for himself. One day, he discovered a terrible secret that was hidden underneath the hamlet–in a naturally-formed cavern, there was a floating crystal of wild arcane powers. After he discovered it, he hired several men to barricade the original entrance to the cavern and dig a new one, coming straight from his home's cellar. He dedicated his life to protecting and studying this stone.
Since then, 251 years have passed. This crystal led to several weird occurrences, most notably the telepathic bonds of everyone in this village. Every resident can read the mind of any other resident, which is why they don't talk to one another. But this telepathic bond doesn't affect anyone unless they settle down to live in Oxeye. Snow storms are pretty common in the summer, forest fires are usual in winter, and zombie farm animals rise from the dead, a phenomenon that is unusual but well-known by local farmers.

Locations


The inn is the oldest building, located in the middle of Oxeye, near the main road the village was built around. It has been renewed several times and always was the center of village life. There were even times when it was a building more important than the mayor's house. Lesatha, the half-elven barmaid, can be found there at all times, along with Iuchra, the fortune teller, and Arno, the sad Goliath. There are other men who stop by, mostly farmers and woodcutters. The inn has a ground floor where tables, bar, and kitchen are located, an upper floor where there are four bedrooms with three beds each, and a cold cellar where food and drinks are stored, accessible through the kitchen.
Jo's house is located on the edge of Oxeye, far from the main road. It has been abandoned for the last 50 or so years, until Everynn–the female half-elf who seems adventurous–moved in last month to guard it. There wasn't that much inside anyway–most stuff had already been sold to travelers, and the hidden entrance to the cavern beneath the hamlet has stood hidden for a whole 50 years. Everynn knows how to enter it and regularly checks the crystal.
barred cave entrance can be found outside of Oxeye, about two hours of walking to the northeast. Surrounded by forest, it has several signs placed around it, warning everyone not to enter in the common, elven and halfling languages. Goblins usually reside around it, occasionally trying to pry the old planks open and stealing animals from farmers in order to survive.

Occupants

Common male names: Lanty, Tyward, Wilston, Lantern, Cantor, Gotart, Jecourt, Tennance, Jonston
Common female names: Sterla, Ainkella, Stibira, Noora, Kazandra, Roseta, Awelia, Arfinna

1d100
Profession
1-33 Farmer
34-50 Woodcutter
50-66 Merchant
67-80 Tailor
81-90 Child
91-93 Hunter
94-100 other

1d10
 Problem
1Cows, pigs and rabbits return each night to eat the crops off the fields. When approached, they prove to be dangerous and they keep returning. Closer inspection reveals that these are in fact zombie animals*.
2A sleuth of bears has moved to the edge of the forest where woodcutters are currently working. One detail about this, however, seems to be off... they are polar bears.
3 A merchant asks for help with... a debt. After he describes the person who owes him some money, this person can be seen exiting his house and running as far from the shop as he can.
4 The tailor needs some of her precious silk which can be collected in the forest, but she is afraid of going there by herself, because the creatures near the silk have grown to become giant frogs.
5 A small child runs around screaming for help because his dog is different now. Turns out the beast has over night turned into an aggressive blink dog.
6 Local hunter needs help hunting down an animal not usual for this regiona woolly mammoth.
7 One of Oxeye's guards can be seen in the Inn, looking for help in catching a thug.
8 A meteorite strikes the Inn. Seeing several memphits coming out from the meteorite itself, the least of townsfolk's troubles right now is repairing the Inn.
9 Another group of adventurers passes by, staying in the inn for a night or two. 
10 A temporary portal to different plane of existence has been opened in Oxeye, and there are invaders coming through!

* Zombie animals have stat blocks identical to ordinary farm animals with added Resistances to poison and necrotic damage, and Undead Fortitude trait (see Zombie stat block).

Wild Magic

Underneath the village is a large cavern that hides floating crystal from the world above. Range of its effects is 1 mile; they last until the next Wild Magic Surge and they are centered on Oxeye unless noted otherwise. The Surge gets triggered whenever a spell of 5th level of higher is cast within range, when the crystal is moved or at midnight. Additional rolls can be done under DM's discretion.

1d100
 Wild Magic surge
1-5Snowstorm.
6-10Rainstorm.
11-15 Sandstorm.
16 All the fire, both magical and non-magical, within the range is rainbow-colored, and deals radiant damage instead of fire.
17 The area within range is under the effect of Reverse Gravity spell.
18 The area within range is under the effect of Antimagic Field spell.
19 A temporary portal to different plane of existence opens for 1 minute.
20-27 Random creature within range changes its skin color. The effect lasts even after next Wild Magic surge, and can be removed with Remove Curse or a stronger spell.
1d8 Colors
1 Red
2 Orange
3 Yellow
4 Green
5 Blue
6 Violet
7 Magenta
8 Pink
28 Lightstorm.
29 Earthquake.
30 Everyone within range is immune to being intoxicated by alcohol.
31 Nobody within range leaves footprints.
32Every creature rolls a Wisdom Saving Throw upon finishing a long rest (DC 12) or be too lazy to do anything. 
33A single dog that's within range turns into a blink dog.
34 A single spider that's within range turns into a phase spider.
35A single shrub that's within range awakens.
36 A single bear that's within range turns into a boar.
37A single bear that's within range turns into a polar bear.
38A single wolf that's alone and within range turns into a loan wolf.
39A single wolf that's within range turns into a winter wolf.
40 A single wolf that's within range turns into a worg.
41A swarm of bugs that's within range turns into a bag, large enough to fit a book.
42A swarm of bats that's within range turns into 1d8 wooden clubs.
43 Every humanoid within range rolls a Constitution Saving Throw upon finishing a long rest (DC 10) or they get hiccups. These interrupt spells requiring Verbal components and can be spread by touch. Each creature affected by hiccups can repeat their Saving Throw at the beginning of their turn.
44 Birds can't lay eggs for the duration.
45-50 Every creature within range thinks its name is (1d8):
1 Jeff
2 Fine
3 Hungry
4 Notsorry
5 Harold
6 (name of the PC to your left)
7 (name of the player to your right)
8 Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff
51 There appear to be additional moon.
52-60Nobody in the range can pronounce letter (1d8):
1 R
2 L
3 S
4 M
5 N
6 V/W
7 T
8 G
61 Every humanoid is invisible until it makes sound or until next Wild Magic surge (whichever comes sooner).
62-65 The humanoid closest to the crystal gains a monkey tail.
66-75 Every humanoid that's within range rolls a Wisdom Saving Throw upon finishing a long rest (DC 15) or they can't help but sing and dance as if they were a part of musical. All singing humanoids are singing to the same melody and can't help but know lyrics as if they had it all practiced.
76 Rockstorm.
77 Fishstorm.
78 Bloodstorm.
79 Solar/Lunar eclipse is visible from Oxeye.
80 A meteorite strikes within 1 mile of Oxeye.
81 Spectacular lights in the sky are visible above Oxeye at night. 
82 A rainbow is visible above Oxeye.
83 The moon seems bloody red when viewed from Oxeye.
84 A tornado arises near to Oxeye.
85 All the flames that are as large as campfire or smaller are extinguished and can't be lighted up.
86 1d6 dead beasts that died within last week rise from dead.
87 1d4+2 animals become giant versions of themselves.
88Whenever two humanoids touch, they both get a static shock.
89 Whenever sleeping, all humanoids have nightmares about rabbits.
90-95 All the animals can speak and gain human level of Intelligence.
96Bark of all trees within 100 feet become hard as steel.
97 Loud music starts playing whenever anyone attempts to cast a spell with Verbal component.
98Everything appears black and white.
99 The female closest to the crystal at the time of Wild Magic Surge appears as beautiful as nymph.
00 Oxeye ceases to exist. All of its citizens are moved to locations they'd logically reside in, and everyone (including beings outside of range) believes that Oxeye was gone at least for the last 100 years. This effect is permanent and affects everyone inside and outside of range, except for the ones who were in the cavern with the crystal.

Update: Added more Wild Magic Surges, added link to the stat block for the Loan Wolf
Update 2: Fixed stylistic mistakes

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Introduction

A young human looked across the grasslands and breathed in deeply. The sounds of insects and birds filled the air along with the smell of flowers as he admired the colorful scenery in front of him. He finished writing a sentence into his book, threw it back into his bag and started walking.

Welcome to the first official post of this blog! My intention is to dedicate it to homebrewing settlements for D&D 5th Edition.

From experience I know how difficult it is to build a settlement from scratch. It is often something one needs help with, and also a work that's never finished and always improved upon. There are NPCs to think of, locations to describe, plot hooks to catch on and secrets to discover.

I'll always start with a post about settlement, which will be followed by posts for NPCs, locations if they are complicated enough, and also other stuff if there is enough content to warrant separate posts for them. Each post will begin with a paragraph written from point of view of Max - a travelling human that wants to see as much of the world as he can.

Feel free to use any of the stuff I'll be writing about, and even to modify it. All kinds of comments are welcome, including critique, suggestions and appreciation. I am not the best writer, so if you want to correct me, don't hesitate - I am open to improving myself!

Hope you'll like this content, and have a nice day!

- Edward