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Post by Mr Darke on Apr 22, 2018 15:53:28 GMT -5
Overview
The first rule of monsters in the setting is this: Monsters are monsters and their alignments are what they are.
With the overall setting being both heroic (with a dark tinge) and ultimately about humanity taking its proper place (the original version had no demi-humans) in the universe; there is no room for the newer attitudes in gaming on monsters. Monsters like Orcs were created to destroy humanity and demi-humanity and they retain that drive. Other monsters fall along their alignment lines and rarely deviate. Of course; angels, demons, devils and such are the embodiment of their alignment and will never deviate from this. Their very nature cannot even fathom the idea of deviation and they are driven by that internal nature.
The people and the Church both know and accept this and have rose to counter the incursions and invasions of evil monsters. No one would think that an orc could be good or that a red dragon would be benevolent at all. They know that many creatures are twisted forms of creation and fight the abomination they represent. This has also changed the history that we know. For example, The Crusades would be a series of wars led by an alliance of Christians and Muslims against a humanoid held Holy Land. The fall of Rome may have been cause by an orc invasion and so forth.
The number of monsters and nature of them would also mean humans and demi-humans have less wars over things like religion or philosophy. Wars like this are still political and resource based but petty differences are usually not a reason to fight them. The changes on history due to monsters actually existing are something that is and will be considered as the setting progresses.
The biggest thing to remember is that the setting excises the new school notion of turning most monsters on their head or making ethical dilemmas concerning them and does not consider doing this unless it needs to be done for gameplay purposes.
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Apr 22, 2018 17:54:20 GMT -5
I really like it. Though I do like settings like Eberron where Orcs & such are not always evil; I still like games where monsters are still evil as well. I can't wait to see what else you have in store Mr Darke . |
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Post by Crimhthan The Great on Apr 22, 2018 21:24:09 GMT -5
I like this, this is how I run it, orcs, ogres, trolls and etc are evil and the hate humans, they will talk and bargain when it suits them, but if they think they can win, they are coming at you.
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Apr 22, 2018 22:08:37 GMT -5
It begs the question: Are citizens of Karstlands referred to as Karstasians?
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Post by Mr Darke on May 6, 2018 16:33:06 GMT -5
LOL...Karstlanders actually. Occasionally they are also referred to as Highlanders due to the area technically being a highlands, the proper name of the region being The Karst Highlands.
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Post by Mighty Darci on May 14, 2018 21:58:58 GMT -5
LOL...Karstlanders actually. Occasionally they are also referred to as Highlanders due to the area technically being a highlands, the proper name of the region being The Karst Highlands. This is a great setting! |
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Post by Mr Darke on May 25, 2018 19:19:52 GMT -5
Humanoids Part I: Goblinoids, Orcs and Ogres
This first part is written for classic D&D and was in the older version of the setting. The second part is the revised version that works to make humanoids much more scary and tied to S&S/Pulp ideas.
As stated above many, if not all, of the humanoids found in the world are wholly evil. This is due to them being of an otherworldly nature-with morality alien to ours- or being created as mockeries of God's creation with a mission to destroy humans and demi-humans. Of course, this has made most of history a struggle between the mortal races of pure blood and those that are tainted. For example, it is known that in the texts of the Book of Joshua that the battles between Israel and the tribes in what would be Israel were with those of a tainted linage and not other humans. As a side note the term Nephilim on this world refers to these abominable creations or interlopers from other worlds and realities thus you could say that there is a world wide struggle with (demi)Humanity and the Nephilim.
Goblinkind (which includes goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears and maybe ogres) first came to Earth through faerie gates in the early days of the world. The original goblins were not unlike the goblin found today as they had not been altered as of yet. The elven histories show hobgoblins appearing not long after but their origins are uncertain. Some say they are a natural mutation, others say they are a cousin race that found its way to Earth and still others say they were created by another being. The unfortunate loss of the elven histories have left gaps in the records concerning the appearance of most humanoids.
Bugbears and Ogres came later and their first appearance were tied to either the Atlantian sorcerers or were wholly created by the demon lord Balor during his reign in what is now Scotland and Ireland. Scholars have observed that all four races come from a common stock ancestor however the Ogre is shown to have giant blood and has similarities to early trolls. This suggests that they may actually be an older or separate race that just shares features of goblins. However non can deny their origins in the darker regions of faerie and the fact they still have ties to it.
Orcs are a wholly different story. There are suggestions that the orcs came from an alternate reality or demonic realm brought in as soldiers by one of the dark lords who ruled in the eastern deserts. There are also records of them invading Egypt and Israel and working their way north. Orcs also appeared in Balor's army and in the armies of Russia during a war between them and Eastern Europa. Luckily most of the tribes have been broken up and scattered but hordes do form from time to time.
This world's orc goes back to the pig faced variant used in early D&D (pics below). They are wholly evil, twisted and chaotic. Their physiology makes it impossible to mate with humans thus there are no Half-Orcs in the world. The fact that orcs tend to eat humans alive also makes mating hard. It cannot be stressed enough that Orcs are not goblinkind and are hated by anything with a shred of conscience.
Revised Humanoids
Forget the above. Due to burnout and a night of watching cheesy fantasy movies, the decision was made to remove things like Goblinkind, Orcs and such and replace them with something that would make humanoid creatures scary again. It worked.
The new paradigm on humanoids follows the idea that they are degenerated, mutated, devolved or inbred creatures (or a combination of the above). Instead of clear cut races like orcs you have things that have cross and inbred to a point that its (demi)human origins have been lost. Thinking of things like the C.H.U.D., Morlocks (especially the newer version in the most recent time machine movie), or the grendl from The 13th Warrior. While you can still use the stats for the common humanoids, the idea here is to describe them different. Most parties will yawn at a goblin raid but, make that raid a group of hunched over, diseased things with obvious mutations and unnatural appearance speaking a foul guttering language; well you get terrified players.
The first time I did this the players were in a cave fighting a group of beings that were covered in improperly cured furs that grew into their bodies with a strange language, sacrificing to their 'god'. They fought them with primal fury and then called their god down which was a mutated bat of huge size. The players were sweating even though the stats had them fighting goblins and a monster I cobbled together. The effect was a game that was tense and where the players showed true fear.
Thus the regular campaign is played with this option rather than the traditional one.
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Post by Mr Darke on May 25, 2018 19:36:24 GMT -5
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