Its important to know why monsters are there, and why the adventurer is there. I know there are Gangs, but I don't hunt them. Thematic settins are cool, probably limit monster selection but make cohesive story, like we expect from novels. Not many novels have every race... Tolkien did... but they didn't have a lot of the Greyhawk stuff either.
Kind of what we are working on. We aren't super worried about what isn't yet. We know dragons aren't at the moment. We have tweaked somethings, but most it'll be done as we go. -Nerdarchist Dave
going off when you guys talked about the difference between the far realm and the plane of chaos. the plane of chaos is basically chaotic matter/reality that only needs a strong enough will to mold it into something stable (albeit temporarily). The far realm is basically the chaos realm after being shaped by minds with a very alien concept of reality.
Something to consider as well is your end game. You have a lot of massive powers involved in your world theory, and no more than one can win - all at the expense of the players and the world at large. Can the players pit one Power against another (The Enemy of My Enemy), or will the Dragons learn of the deceit that lead to their exile? The Demon cannot rule if the Elder God comes to power, and vice versa. Do they know of each other. Do the Dragons know of them? How will the players come to any of this knowledge? Will the ancient Behemoth constructs come into play as either weapons or a tools/powerplants to close the gates? Depending on where you would like to scale your end game, it's important to figure where the players should be level-wise when this comes to fruition. It doesn't necessarily take a level 20 to "push that button that activates the construct-powerplant-trap-thing-that-closes-the-portals-event", but a decent power level to get to that event wouldn't hurt. If you wanted another starting campaign right after that, the fallout of this final event is also important. Do the Dragons return? Is there a struggle to control this old technology? Does it lead to some sort of "Steampunk revolution"? Are all remnants of an Elder God cult removed, or do they plot revenge? Does one of the players unknowingly carry the seed of the Demon after he only partially comes through, meaning that the Teifling who comes int he next campaign figures into future events? The End writes the Beginning. When I write, I see the story like the teaser for an epic movie. An introductory shot, some flashes of important characters, important sequences/action scenes/lines through the story, and some sort of cliffhanger ending. The ending is the most important, because it's the point to the whole journey. "The destruction of the Ring is the reason the Hobbit takes his first step" - sort of thinking. The journey is important from a storytelling and roleplaying point of view, but without a good ending, the story becomes anti-climactic. Just my opinion.
I believe that in this case they are world building not story building. While creating a world you get ask all those questions like: What is here? Why is it here? What affects does it have on the environment, people or creatures? How will characters interact with these things? You create the Lore of the world. Campaigns on the other hand are more story driven based on the Lore that exists in your world/universe. To me world building isn't like a campaign, where you have a beginning, middle and end. It seems as if they are generating a universe, basically, where multiple campaigns and multiple heroic groups play a small part in changing the world. I, personally, think that having a large cataclysmic event that is triggered by the players and fundamentally alters the world could be entertaining. But, more often then not this type of thing kills the special quality of the world. I mean, Tolken's story pretty much ends the 3rd era. The elves leave, the dwarves power is waining and the humans become the dominant race controlling middle earth. For a trilogy of novels this is great, for a one time epic campaign this is great. For a world this is bad, because after the world changes you get non-magical creatures living in a mundane world that get to play amazing classes such as Todd the Accountant and Larry the Janitor. I mean, isn't middle earth supposed to be the precursor to our earth? The Nerdarchy world isn't supposed to be earth, as far as I can tell, so when the Dragon's are finally released from their Banishment/Prison there will still be some really exciting things to happen, but the anticipation of that event can have some amazing consequences. Basically, don't be in a rush to change things too quickly. Which I know is an ironic statement about a world whose basic foundation is change (i.e. chaos). I believe they are creating a world that moves more in epochs rather than human years. The chaos bleed could have been around for centuries, as they mentioned in the video isolated towns and villages might not know anything is wrong even after hundreds of years. Small bands of adventurers are not the norm for any world at large. And so far they have only really explored one city and its surroundings. Tales of strange things happening in distant lands doesn't mean anything to a local who has to work every day to put food on the family table. So, I could see the world very slowly change. Maybe the first campaign or two is just exploration and discovery. Maybe another campaign or two (or more) learning what they could do to save/change the world. Then if they start to get bored of the current state, have a campaign or two working with the knowledge that their forbearers have uncovered, to actually implement a plan to save the world. This could happen generationally. I think it would put some really interesting spins on the universe to have some of the longer lived races continue adventuring with new party members of the short lived races to keep things cohesive, one of those "I knew your father" type of deals. Plus, I believe any sufficiently large civilization should have a bit of protection from the chaos bleed. Either the collective order of a society has a nullifying effect on Bleed Hot Spots or the Deities themselves have erected some protections around their children. If a society can unconsciously counteract some of the Bleed's effects; that leads to the possibility of some kind of large hive mind type of race who could easily traverse Bleed Hot Spots because they are shielded from its effects through having their entire society in their mind at the same time, kind of a collective hold on reality/order that prevents all but the strongest Bleed Phenomenon from affecting them. Hive minds usually suggest insect races but that doesn't have to be. Perhaps a race of Elves have merged their minds in order to protect themselves from the Bleed, and these elves could be the first Psions in the world, teaching other races because they see it as the only weapon they have against the Bleed. These Psions would be pretty good as the Chaos Bleed Prospectors, they would have natural protection from the mind altering aspects of the chaos bleed, as well as having some form of telekinesis to shield or move objects. If they are constantly in contact with each other any interaction with the Psions would be a rather strange and creepy experience. I think there should also be effects from time dilation. In particularly strong chaos areas, time has no meaning. A person can enter as an adult and come out aged 10, 50, 100 years or more. For some races that would be the end of them. People or things could be frozen in time. Or they could slip through time to another era, which could be a good story device allowing the current group or maybe an NPC to be thrust forward to a point after the Dragon's return and pulled back so that they know what they need to do to prevent the events they saw or thrust backward in time and actually see an important event as it is happening. Whether or not they will be able to do anything about what they saw is unknown, perhaps they are considered insane and nobody believes them, or perhaps the knowledge they were given has no current applicable solution. I mean think of how crazy a person might become if they were shown the future and how to prevent it, but also given the knowledge that NEVER in their lifetime would they have access to the power or technology to actually do anything about it. Unusual technology could pop into existence from the future or the past. Warforged, if you wanted them could be robots from the future or another dimension that have fallen through the chaos, you could then have a Mastermold type story where a single Warforged creature could spend all its time building more. Chaotic time would wreak havoc on environments and creatures. I mean if some normal creature gets warped by chaos then finds a bleed that allows it to live hundreds of years in a matter of seconds, an unknown race could pop into existence in a matter of days, technically native to the planet, but has a culture that spans over 10,000 years of history. More subtile aspects could be a chaos warp opens up but does nothing beyond aging everyone 20 years, if it was a small area some would die of old age, other would become adults with no experiences, a blank slate, others would just feel out of place as their friends and family no longer see them as the person they were only seconds ago. Anything can happen. World building to me is more like a mystery unfolding and the Nerdarchy group are the detectives following the clues to find the world. It already exists but they have to chip away at the rock to reveal the world within.
Falsteph Gamer I must disagree, as world buidling and campaign building are the same. The environment affects the events, as the events change the environment. That which a player interacts with in a world is the environment in a larger sense, whether it is a plot device, creature, terrain feature, or another player. When world building, these things need to be considered. That seems to be especially evident when the world that is being built seems rife with factions, creatures and otherworldly entities that have a massive effect on the world dynamic. The return of dragons? World dynamic. Demon Lord returns to influence a territory or continent with his minions/plans? World dynamic. Whether or not the players of any group get to this sort of end game material is not the point. *If* they get there *is*, as it affects the world dynamic. The description of the power levels of characters in the high teens to level twenty is evidence of this: "affecting entire worlds", I believe, was the descriptor. Otherwise, it's a Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk world where same old/same old is the name and it's business as usual.
And a good opinion. I like to things unfold organically. So I may come up with some end game ideas and theory, but I'll wait good while before fleshing them out. Also we are currently running two campaigns in the setting. Ted is at the helm of one and I've got the other. Who's to say which if either will see a culmination for those arcs. Might be a future campaign that trips the end game. Only time will tell and as long as we are all enjoying the game I'm to concerned with the time table of things. - Nerdarchist Dave
Falsteph Gamer I believe stories are like ecosystems. Interaction and reaction constantly changing and altering the people and the landscape. I agree with Dave that an organic approach is best, whether that is by developing stories that affect the world or developing world events like the world dying in Darksun that control all stories within the campaign setting As I was reading your reply I immediately thought of Thrikreen as the hive minded psionic race. For 5th edition I am working on psionics being a different way to magic rather than a completely different set of power. I will have a brainstorming session with the rest of Nerdarchy and we will record it for you all.
Inclusion of the Nothics is a great plot driver. -A Nothic with a partial grasp on it's former intellect may be the only one who somehow knows the answer to a clue or puzzle the players need to solve. -A Nothic driven to find a suitable Chaos Bleed to fuel his restorative transformation may leave clues, signs, scratchings, etc. to lead parties toward one Chaos Bleed or another. -As you have mentioned, one may have that "Gollum" obsession with getting to a Chaos Bleed but needs the group to unlock or obstain something so he can "go home". -A Nothic Slave uprising may end up being "sold" to the players as an "invasion" by an unscrupulous Mining Guild to enlist the group into suppressing it. -The players need to find a particular key mage, sorcerer or warlock that has been transformed into a Nothic, then cure him, as his restored self is the "only one" who can prevent a calamity due to a lost rite/ritual that only this former caster knows. The Nothic may have no memory of this former self, so capturing him alive and curing him, all against his will, will be challenging. this is a complete story arc by itself that involves the discovery of the caster, the understanding of Nothics, the method of it's capture, the method of it's cure, and the ritual itself against whatever catastrophe. ...that catastrophe may well be Ted's beloved Mr. T. Rasque. (27 Carnage Lane, just off Highway 12, past the red barn) It may be the prevention of the return of Dragons It may be the plugging of a portal that unleashes demons/Old Ones/A New Kids On The Block reunion. All horrific.
Your comment had me laughing my ass off. You also have some killer points. I meant to do a non combat encounter last session with a nothic, but it got pushed aside. - Nerdarchist Dave
Lol I had a Nothic in my game that gave the party a puzzle. There was this locked door at the end of the dungeon and if they asked him about it he said they must "look within themselves" to find the key to the puzzle. This meant they actually had to barf up the key, as he had magically teleported it into one of the party member's belly
You must do a "Sleepers Awaken" arc when the Sojourner calls to the mortal realm and the creatures that hear the call are compelled to the chaos storms and with the Nothics , preform a ritual where they Changed into "far Creatures" . the nothics would be "experimenting on curing themselves" but really the are making more "far realm" creatures for the Sojourner.
I can just imagine Modrons trying to repair the giant mechs, and make them sentient! Great idea using the Nothic, and of course some can and should have spellcaster levels! It might not be a remnant of a past life, just as a result of them researching the depths of arcane libraries for their ultimate goal. Oh and thanks for the shout out, my GF was all like: "Goblinerd, ... is he talking about you???" to which I replied "YUP!" as I grinned, lol
Not really familiar with the nothic in general. Don't know if they're the way they've always been or if this iteration is special. Regardless, thanks for bringing them to my attention!
***** I'm not really familiar with them from earlier editions either. I was looking at cr2 monsters when I stumbled upon them. I read their flavor text and ecology, instantly fell in love with them for Gryphongaff. - Nerdarchist Dave
I love all the theory-crafting that goes into world-building, so these videos are a lot of fun. The more I hear about the Harbinger though, the less I like his design. He seems too perfect for a being of chaos with his meticulous plans. Nate's physics analogy actually cements that this being's thought processes are too organized and logical for him to truly be chaos incarnate, unless he is the ultimate paragon of chaos by being a LAWFUL agent of chaos which makes so little sense it just might work. I also dislike that he's able to manipulate all the gods so perfectly despite being a supposed fledgling god himself. At a certain point, some of the gods would catch on to his ulterior motives and have plans & machinations of their own in place. Currently they just appear as little more than a backdrop to set this divine Littlefinger up as an evil Mary Sue that succeeds in all his goals, but the thing about Littlefinger-type characters is that nobody truly trusts them, and everybody is trying to manipulate their obvious duplicity to serve their own ends. Also, for every Littlefinger, there should be a Varys. It's no fun if the chess match is so one-sided that even the gods themselves are pawns. Just my thoughts. I look forward to watching more of the world of Discordia's evolution!
I think Warlock is just awesome with monsters. Something like a Demogorgon contracted warlock being able to reason his way out of an encounter with Merrows is just neat.
Forgotten Realms has no overarching theme, but each region does. Think about it as a composition of campaign settings rather than a huge one with everything.
Things like the Winter lord's and/or by the Mind flayer conclave's impact on regions makes sense and is a great addition to a campaign world. I'd treat it all like a Legendary Monster's Regional Effects! Also, did you consider tying certain monsters to Player races in a deeper way? In the setting I'm working on, Humans and Centaur were created by the same God. This God also created horses and the first men were nomad horse riders. These humans are in direct competition with the Centaur for their God's attention, and this Divinity put them in this position to satisfy his curiosity! "Which is the better? A man on a horse, or a creature made half horse/half man?"
Tangentially related, I thought you would get a kick out of this story. I belong to a group on Facebook whose primary purpose relates to religion. Yesterday someone posted a meme image that held a rather negative view of D&D (along with a 'can you believe this is still happening?" comment). That post started a discussion on how many of us play D&D. That led to a discussion on starting a D&D group. That led to me starting a group on FB that now has about 20 members! This happened all in one day. Quite frankly I give you guys the credit for inspiring me to want to start such a group. Seeing you hang out and have fun and sharing your stories gives me the kick I need to do the same. So, Nerdarchy, it's all your fault! :P Thanks!
That's awesome! This is why do it. I love hearing stories this, because it pushes us to want to do even more. It's great to see other gamers pushing the hobby forward so no sir, thank you for spreading the nerdy. - Nerdarchist Dave
Im Doing an Ebberon campaighn where one of my PC's was an orphan and was found and raisesd by a nobel house and dicovers that out of all the family he's the onloy who dont have a dragon mark.
the adoted family, Hes playing a drow being raised by an elven nobel house. His character accepted the fact that hes adoted and his bond is to find his true parents.
I've always had issue with how to justify the human, elf , dwarf race domination in the average campaign world. Why are they realistically the dominant races in a world where there are far more powerful and numerous other intelligent races ? Where is the influences of intelligent monsters on those societies that are dominant on a world ? There are numerous questions like these when you consider monsters and races from the angle of a world with many multiples of intelligent species. Any ideas on how to aspect this aspect in campaign design ?
Hey guys I've been listening to your campaign idea videos, and I believe they are awesome so much so I'm gonna steal some. However, I'm going to change some bits like instead ok giant mechs I may use The Rod of Seven Parts. I hope you don't mind.
That is why we do it. We'd love if you guys started doing your videos based off our world building sessions. Maybe could create a giant play list or something. - Nerdarchist Dave
That would be awesome, however, I'm going to need to find a party and somehow manage to gather the resources to begin a TH-cam channel, you stuff like a laptop or desktop before I video content could be made.
Ranger Roy most of our early videos were done on my iphone. There are plenty of soloist doing great video content. You could go it if you wanted. - Nerdarchist Dave
Another great video guys. What I really appreciate is the effort and thought you put into creating an ecology that makes sense for your setting to that the world is internally consistent and not just a strong of #RANDOM #MONSTERS #ATTACK ! I think this episode also helps to emphasize the collaborative nature of a successful long-term campaign. It's not just all DM fiat. It can be a joint effort. Again, lots of good ideas to keep in mind, adapt and use. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it. As dm I've always have cheated by getting the players to do as much of the work as possible. Plus it's more fun when everyone feels vested. - Nerdarchist Dave
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
Its important to know why monsters are there, and why the adventurer is there. I know there are Gangs, but I don't hunt them. Thematic settins are cool, probably limit monster selection but make cohesive story, like we expect from novels. Not many novels have every race... Tolkien did... but they didn't have a lot of the Greyhawk stuff either.
Kind of what we are working on. We aren't super worried about what isn't yet. We know dragons aren't at the moment. We have tweaked somethings, but most it'll be done as we go.
-Nerdarchist Dave
going off when you guys talked about the difference between the far realm and the plane of chaos. the plane of chaos is basically chaotic matter/reality that only needs a strong enough will to mold it into something stable (albeit temporarily). The far realm is basically the chaos realm after being shaped by minds with a very alien concept of reality.
Something to consider as well is your end game. You have a lot of massive powers involved in your world theory, and no more than one can win - all at the expense of the players and the world at large. Can the players pit one Power against another (The Enemy of My Enemy), or will the Dragons learn of the deceit that lead to their exile? The Demon cannot rule if the Elder God comes to power, and vice versa. Do they know of each other. Do the Dragons know of them? How will the players come to any of this knowledge? Will the ancient Behemoth constructs come into play as either weapons or a tools/powerplants to close the gates? Depending on where you would like to scale your end game, it's important to figure where the players should be level-wise when this comes to fruition. It doesn't necessarily take a level 20 to "push that button that activates the construct-powerplant-trap-thing-that-closes-the-portals-event", but a decent power level to get to that event wouldn't hurt.
If you wanted another starting campaign right after that, the fallout of this final event is also important. Do the Dragons return? Is there a struggle to control this old technology? Does it lead to some sort of "Steampunk revolution"? Are all remnants of an Elder God cult removed, or do they plot revenge? Does one of the players unknowingly carry the seed of the Demon after he only partially comes through, meaning that the Teifling who comes int he next campaign figures into future events?
The End writes the Beginning. When I write, I see the story like the teaser for an epic movie. An introductory shot, some flashes of important characters, important sequences/action scenes/lines through the story, and some sort of cliffhanger ending. The ending is the most important, because it's the point to the whole journey. "The destruction of the Ring is the reason the Hobbit takes his first step" - sort of thinking. The journey is important from a storytelling and roleplaying point of view, but without a good ending, the story becomes anti-climactic.
Just my opinion.
I believe that in this case they are world building not story building. While creating a world you get ask all those questions like: What is here? Why is it here? What affects does it have on the environment, people or creatures? How will characters interact with these things? You create the Lore of the world. Campaigns on the other hand are more story driven based on the Lore that exists in your world/universe.
To me world building isn't like a campaign, where you have a beginning, middle and end. It seems as if they are generating a universe, basically, where multiple campaigns and multiple heroic groups play a small part in changing the world.
I, personally, think that having a large cataclysmic event that is triggered by the players and fundamentally alters the world could be entertaining. But, more often then not this type of thing kills the special quality of the world. I mean, Tolken's story pretty much ends the 3rd era. The elves leave, the dwarves power is waining and the humans become the dominant race controlling middle earth. For a trilogy of novels this is great, for a one time epic campaign this is great. For a world this is bad, because after the world changes you get non-magical creatures living in a mundane world that get to play amazing classes such as Todd the Accountant and Larry the Janitor. I mean, isn't middle earth supposed to be the precursor to our earth? The Nerdarchy world isn't supposed to be earth, as far as I can tell, so when the Dragon's are finally released from their Banishment/Prison there will still be some really exciting things to happen, but the anticipation of that event can have some amazing consequences. Basically, don't be in a rush to change things too quickly. Which I know is an ironic statement about a world whose basic foundation is change (i.e. chaos).
I believe they are creating a world that moves more in epochs rather than human years. The chaos bleed could have been around for centuries, as they mentioned in the video isolated towns and villages might not know anything is wrong even after hundreds of years. Small bands of adventurers are not the norm for any world at large. And so far they have only really explored one city and its surroundings. Tales of strange things happening in distant lands doesn't mean anything to a local who has to work every day to put food on the family table. So, I could see the world very slowly change. Maybe the first campaign or two is just exploration and discovery. Maybe another campaign or two (or more) learning what they could do to save/change the world. Then if they start to get bored of the current state, have a campaign or two working with the knowledge that their forbearers have uncovered, to actually implement a plan to save the world. This could happen generationally. I think it would put some really interesting spins on the universe to have some of the longer lived races continue adventuring with new party members of the short lived races to keep things cohesive, one of those "I knew your father" type of deals.
Plus, I believe any sufficiently large civilization should have a bit of protection from the chaos bleed. Either the collective order of a society has a nullifying effect on Bleed Hot Spots or the Deities themselves have erected some protections around their children. If a society can unconsciously counteract some of the Bleed's effects; that leads to the possibility of some kind of large hive mind type of race who could easily traverse Bleed Hot Spots because they are shielded from its effects through having their entire society in their mind at the same time, kind of a collective hold on reality/order that prevents all but the strongest Bleed Phenomenon from affecting them. Hive minds usually suggest insect races but that doesn't have to be. Perhaps a race of Elves have merged their minds in order to protect themselves from the Bleed, and these elves could be the first Psions in the world, teaching other races because they see it as the only weapon they have against the Bleed. These Psions would be pretty good as the Chaos Bleed Prospectors, they would have natural protection from the mind altering aspects of the chaos bleed, as well as having some form of telekinesis to shield or move objects. If they are constantly in contact with each other any interaction with the Psions would be a rather strange and creepy experience.
I think there should also be effects from time dilation. In particularly strong chaos areas, time has no meaning. A person can enter as an adult and come out aged 10, 50, 100 years or more. For some races that would be the end of them. People or things could be frozen in time. Or they could slip through time to another era, which could be a good story device allowing the current group or maybe an NPC to be thrust forward to a point after the Dragon's return and pulled back so that they know what they need to do to prevent the events they saw or thrust backward in time and actually see an important event as it is happening. Whether or not they will be able to do anything about what they saw is unknown, perhaps they are considered insane and nobody believes them, or perhaps the knowledge they were given has no current applicable solution. I mean think of how crazy a person might become if they were shown the future and how to prevent it, but also given the knowledge that NEVER in their lifetime would they have access to the power or technology to actually do anything about it. Unusual technology could pop into existence from the future or the past. Warforged, if you wanted them could be robots from the future or another dimension that have fallen through the chaos, you could then have a Mastermold type story where a single Warforged creature could spend all its time building more. Chaotic time would wreak havoc on environments and creatures. I mean if some normal creature gets warped by chaos then finds a bleed that allows it to live hundreds of years in a matter of seconds, an unknown race could pop into existence in a matter of days, technically native to the planet, but has a culture that spans over 10,000 years of history. More subtile aspects could be a chaos warp opens up but does nothing beyond aging everyone 20 years, if it was a small area some would die of old age, other would become adults with no experiences, a blank slate, others would just feel out of place as their friends and family no longer see them as the person they were only seconds ago. Anything can happen.
World building to me is more like a mystery unfolding and the Nerdarchy group are the detectives following the clues to find the world. It already exists but they have to chip away at the rock to reveal the world within.
Falsteph Gamer I must disagree, as world buidling and campaign building are the same. The environment affects the events, as the events change the environment. That which a player interacts with in a world is the environment in a larger sense, whether it is a plot device, creature, terrain feature, or another player. When world building, these things need to be considered. That seems to be especially evident when the world that is being built seems rife with factions, creatures and otherworldly entities that have a massive effect on the world dynamic. The return of dragons? World dynamic. Demon Lord returns to influence a territory or continent with his minions/plans? World dynamic. Whether or not the players of any group get to this sort of end game material is not the point. *If* they get there *is*, as it affects the world dynamic.
The description of the power levels of characters in the high teens to level twenty is evidence of this: "affecting entire worlds", I believe, was the descriptor.
Otherwise, it's a Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk world where same old/same old is the name and it's business as usual.
And a good opinion. I like to things unfold organically. So I may come up with some end game ideas and theory, but I'll wait good while before fleshing them out. Also we are currently running two campaigns in the setting. Ted is at the helm of one and I've got the other. Who's to say which if either will see a culmination for those arcs. Might be a future campaign that trips the end game. Only time will tell and as long as we are all enjoying the game I'm to concerned with the time table of things.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Falsteph Gamer
I believe stories are like ecosystems. Interaction and reaction constantly changing and altering the people and the landscape. I agree with Dave that an organic approach is best, whether that is by developing stories that affect the world or developing world events like the world dying in Darksun that control all stories within the campaign setting
As I was reading your reply I immediately thought of Thrikreen as the hive minded psionic race. For 5th edition I am working on psionics being a different way to magic rather than a completely different set of power. I will have a brainstorming session with the rest of Nerdarchy and we will record it for you all.
Inclusion of the Nothics is a great plot driver.
-A Nothic with a partial grasp on it's former intellect may be the only one who somehow knows the answer to a clue or puzzle the players need to solve.
-A Nothic driven to find a suitable Chaos Bleed to fuel his restorative transformation may leave clues, signs, scratchings, etc. to lead parties toward one Chaos Bleed or another.
-As you have mentioned, one may have that "Gollum" obsession with getting to a Chaos Bleed but needs the group to unlock or obstain something so he can "go home".
-A Nothic Slave uprising may end up being "sold" to the players as an "invasion" by an unscrupulous Mining Guild to enlist the group into suppressing it.
-The players need to find a particular key mage, sorcerer or warlock that has been transformed into a Nothic, then cure him, as his restored self is the "only one" who can prevent a calamity due to a lost rite/ritual that only this former caster knows. The Nothic may have no memory of this former self, so capturing him alive and curing him, all against his will, will be challenging. this is a complete story arc by itself that involves the discovery of the caster, the understanding of Nothics, the method of it's capture, the method of it's cure, and the ritual itself against whatever catastrophe.
...that catastrophe may well be Ted's beloved Mr. T. Rasque. (27 Carnage Lane, just off Highway 12, past the red barn)
It may be the prevention of the return of Dragons
It may be the plugging of a portal that unleashes demons/Old Ones/A New Kids On The Block reunion. All horrific.
Your comment had me laughing my ass off. You also have some killer points. I meant to do a non combat encounter last session with a nothic, but it got pushed aside.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Lol I had a Nothic in my game that gave the party a puzzle. There was this locked door at the end of the dungeon and if they asked him about it he said they must "look within themselves" to find the key to the puzzle. This meant they actually had to barf up the key, as he had magically teleported it into one of the party member's belly
You must do a "Sleepers Awaken" arc when the Sojourner calls to the mortal realm and the creatures that hear the call are compelled to the chaos storms and with the Nothics , preform a ritual where they Changed into "far Creatures" . the nothics would be "experimenting on curing themselves" but really the are making more "far realm" creatures for the Sojourner.
I can just imagine Modrons trying to repair the giant mechs, and make them sentient!
Great idea using the Nothic, and of course some can and should have spellcaster levels! It might not be a remnant of a past life, just as a result of them researching the depths of arcane libraries for their ultimate goal.
Oh and thanks for the shout out, my GF was all like: "Goblinerd, ... is he talking about you???" to which I replied "YUP!" as I grinned, lol
Lol that's funny. Nerdarchy doing what it can for the live lives of nerds everywhere.
Oh yes there will be super nothics for sure.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Not really familiar with the nothic in general. Don't know if they're the way they've always been or if this iteration is special.
Regardless, thanks for bringing them to my attention!
***** I'm not really familiar with them from earlier editions either. I was looking at cr2 monsters when I stumbled upon them. I read their flavor text and ecology, instantly fell in love with them for Gryphongaff.
- Nerdarchist Dave
I love all the theory-crafting that goes into world-building, so these videos are a lot of fun.
The more I hear about the Harbinger though, the less I like his design. He seems too perfect for a being of chaos with his meticulous plans. Nate's physics analogy actually cements that this being's thought processes are too organized and logical for him to truly be chaos incarnate, unless he is the ultimate paragon of chaos by being a LAWFUL agent of chaos which makes so little sense it just might work.
I also dislike that he's able to manipulate all the gods so perfectly despite being a supposed fledgling god himself. At a certain point, some of the gods would catch on to his ulterior motives and have plans & machinations of their own in place. Currently they just appear as little more than a backdrop to set this divine Littlefinger up as an evil Mary Sue that succeeds in all his goals, but the thing about Littlefinger-type characters is that nobody truly trusts them, and everybody is trying to manipulate their obvious duplicity to serve their own ends. Also, for every Littlefinger, there should be a Varys. It's no fun if the chess match is so one-sided that even the gods themselves are pawns.
Just my thoughts. I look forward to watching more of the world of Discordia's evolution!
I think Warlock is just awesome with monsters. Something like a Demogorgon contracted warlock being able to reason his way out of an encounter with Merrows is just neat.
I serve a bad boss you serve a bad boss can't we all just get along?
-Nerdarchist Dave
Forgotten Realms has no overarching theme, but each region does. Think about it as a composition of campaign settings rather than a huge one with everything.
Things like the Winter lord's and/or by the Mind flayer conclave's impact on regions makes sense and is a great addition to a campaign world. I'd treat it all like a Legendary Monster's Regional Effects!
Also, did you consider tying certain monsters to Player races in a deeper way?
In the setting I'm working on, Humans and Centaur were created by the same God. This God also created horses and the first men were nomad horse riders.
These humans are in direct competition with the Centaur for their God's attention, and this Divinity put them in this position to satisfy his curiosity! "Which is the better? A man on a horse, or a creature made half horse/half man?"
Tying races to other monsters is a great idea and something we'll have to explore further.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Tangentially related, I thought you would get a kick out of this story. I belong to a group on Facebook whose primary purpose relates to religion. Yesterday someone posted a meme image that held a rather negative view of D&D (along with a 'can you believe this is still happening?" comment). That post started a discussion on how many of us play D&D. That led to a discussion on starting a D&D group. That led to me starting a group on FB that now has about 20 members! This happened all in one day. Quite frankly I give you guys the credit for inspiring me to want to start such a group. Seeing you hang out and have fun and sharing your stories gives me the kick I need to do the same. So, Nerdarchy, it's all your fault! :P Thanks!
That's awesome! This is why do it. I love hearing stories this, because it pushes us to want to do even more. It's great to see other gamers pushing the hobby forward so no sir, thank you for spreading the nerdy.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Im Doing an Ebberon campaighn where one of my PC's was an orphan and was found and raisesd by a nobel house and dicovers that out of all the family he's the onloy who dont have a dragon mark.
His real family or the adopted one? Is he gonna have a sad moment when he discovers he's really adopted? I love Eberron by the way.
- Nerdarchist Dave
the adoted family, Hes playing a drow being raised by an elven nobel house. His character accepted the fact that hes adoted and his bond is to find his true parents.
I love videos like this, guys. Keep it up!
Thanks. More to come in 2015.
- Nerdarchist Dave
I've always had issue with how to justify the human, elf , dwarf race domination in the average campaign world. Why are they realistically the dominant races in a world where there are far more powerful and numerous other intelligent races ? Where is the influences of intelligent monsters on those societies that are dominant on a world ? There are numerous questions like these when you consider monsters and races from the angle of a world with many multiples of intelligent species. Any ideas on how to aspect this aspect in campaign design ?
Hey guys I've been listening to your campaign idea videos, and I believe they are awesome so much so I'm gonna steal some. However, I'm going to change some bits like instead ok giant mechs I may use The Rod of Seven Parts. I hope you don't mind.
That is why we do it. We'd love if you guys started doing your videos based off our world building sessions. Maybe could create a giant play list or something.
- Nerdarchist Dave
That would be awesome, however, I'm going to need to find a party and somehow manage to gather the resources to begin a TH-cam channel, you stuff like a laptop or desktop before I video content could be made.
Ranger Roy most of our early videos were done on my iphone. There are plenty of soloist doing great video content. You could go it if you wanted.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Could go to ?
Another great video guys. What I really appreciate is the effort and thought you put into creating an ecology that makes sense for your setting to that the world is internally consistent and not just a strong of #RANDOM #MONSTERS #ATTACK ! I think this episode also helps to emphasize the collaborative nature of a successful long-term campaign. It's not just all DM fiat. It can be a joint effort. Again, lots of good ideas to keep in mind, adapt and use. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it. As dm I've always have cheated by getting the players to do as much of the work as possible. Plus it's more fun when everyone feels vested.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Mind Flayers do not come from the space, they come from the future in 5e... still aliens though...
I thought they came from a different dimension.