What are those locations then? And why don’t the roads flow through the forks!!!?!? Why are the roads so far away from rivers if the scale is that huge?
Ok but for real humans live close to water not simply because of being able to drink it. Wells are easy enough to dig. Humans live on water because water is the easiest way to move goods. If you look at the majority of even pre-industrial production the order was “mine or log up river, put it on a boat for transportation to production, finish goods, put it on a boat for shipping to a distribution center. Ship it where it needed to go. Caravans were only for places that boats could not reach.
So more or less any civilization is going to have its ruins and chokepoints be on water or cutting off a line that approaches water. If you control the fork at Cae Cruach you control all logging in the faldanon and haunted forest as well as any finished good production dealing with those trees*. (Most likely this is where most of your woodworking is going to be and the side of those rivers will be lined with mills that turn trees into lumber
The second consideration is sight distance. On flat ground the horizon is about 3 miles out. On a 60 foot tower it’s about 10 miles out. On a 600 foot hill it’s about 30 miles out. So defensive and scouting structures are likely to be on hills. Plus a signal from a hill can be seen from further away making any kind of rudimentary or complex system of communication work better with those relay points.
So the headwaters at scalefells. The hill in the middle of the whispering moor. The valley between the fadren hills and the Dyrwood cruach. The forks at gwyr cynflyn and cae cruach and the harbor at the end of gwyr cynflyn. Any kind of intelligent organization would have built there. So the smugglers cove and dwarven trade post might not go thirsty but how do the goods get in and out if they’re situated on a tributary rather than the parent? Why would they place themselves on a tributary rather than a parent?
*more or less the largest river is the lowest point in the basin that contains that river excepting points Downriver of it. This is… necessary by it being the largest river. If there were a lower point all other rivers would flow to that. So roughly everything north of cae cruach flows to that fork. Every tributary, river, lake, and pond that flows flows to that fork. Any kind of trade that wants to move from one side to the other for any point in that flows to that fork.
Hey man, I'm glad you're so invested in this, I really am - nice use of exclamation marks. But as I said in my original post the hex map is empty of all points of interest as the players will need to discover them first. The whole point is the lack of information. My DM version of the map is chock-full of ruins, and hamlets, and fortresses, and mines, and dungeons, and watchtowers, and what have you. Some of them are even located in areas you may approve of.
For reasons the area is pretty underpopulated (it is called the Cruachan Wilds after all) so there's very little trade going on here - most settlements are practically subsistence, which may change once PCs get involved.
The roads are far from the rivers, 'cause they're dwarven highways, which are overland connections between otherwise underground dwarven holds (too deep. too greedy. underground routes now blocked) and logically or not my dwarves as a rule do not sail or even boat up and down a river if they can help it. It's Rothe-towed caravans all the way.
I do love fairly accurate maps, but I just want to add sometimes a city is built far from water because it is the Holy City of Nummur, built around the Sacred Relic of Lulaphion, an ancient arcane device that ensures it rains once per day for an hour and otherwise keeps the city under grey clouds all year round, despite the land being a rocky desert out to the horizon. Other times, the naga rule the rivers with an iron fist, forcing women and children to hike for miles just to offer trinkets and meat in return for fresh water.
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
The map itself is incorrect. Maps didn’t start getting accurate in this world for a very long time, let alone in some other fantasy world.
There is incorrect and then there is “London isnt on the Thames” one is a “mapping is hard because mapping is hard*” problem and the other is… a problem problem because the problem isn’t with the map it’s with how the society formed. Which is to say that it should not have.
Now there can be explanations, ruins could be along river banks that no longer have water in them or hills that no longer are tall. But there is a reason that the ruins of Rome are under Rome.
Now there could be a Silk Road type situation going on… but probably not that close to an ocean
*specifically because the earth isnt flat and instruments have errors the attempts to transpose multiple small maps into one larger map is a significant computational task that necessary introduces error. This can lead to the distances between and shapes of features being incorrectly recorded.
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
The map itself is incorrect. Maps didn’t start getting accurate in this world for a very long time, let alone in some other fantasy world.
There is incorrect and then there is “London isnt on the Thames” one is a “mapping is hard because mapping is hard*” problem and the other is… a problem problem because the problem isn’t with the map it’s with how the society formed. Which is to say that it should not have.
Now there can be explanations, ruins could be along river banks that no longer have water in them or hills that no longer are tall. But there is a reason that the ruins of Rome are under Rome.
Now there could be a Silk Road type situation going on… but probably not that close to an ocean
*specifically because the earth isnt flat and instruments have errors the attempts to transpose multiple small maps into one larger map is a significant computational task that necessary introduces error. This can lead to the distances between and shapes of features being incorrectly recorded.
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Hey man, I'm glad you're so invested in this, I really am - nice use of exclamation marks
Apologies. I had previously had some text to indicate that it was ironic. But ended up moving things around and hadnt lost that tone when I proofread it
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
I think it's just a reflection of how little Wizards' current direction really cares, I honestly believe they want to ditch all their established settings and create new content, mostly focused around non violence and exclusively kid friendly, but they know they can cash in on nostalgia so they're going to send the walking corpses of spelljammer and dragonlance at us
Idk maybe they'll be good, IDK, I don't really have any faith in them these days
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
I think it's just a reflection of how little Wizards' current direction really cares, I honestly believe they want to ditch all their established settings and create new content, mostly focused around non violence and exclusively kid friendly, but they know they can cash in on nostalgia so they're going to send the walking corpses of spelljammer and dragonlance at us
Idk maybe they'll be good, IDK, I don't really have any faith in them these days
Considering how the majority of the rules are built around violence, having D&D, the biggest TTRPG out there, focusing on something other than that is probably good for the industry. Now if they gave us some better rules/gameplay for the non-violent side of things instead of just shoving it into the existing system, I would appreciate it.
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
I think it's just a reflection of how little Wizards' current direction really cares, I honestly believe they want to ditch all their established settings and create new content, mostly focused around non violence and exclusively kid friendly, but they know they can cash in on nostalgia so they're going to send the walking corpses of spelljammer and dragonlance at us
Idk maybe they'll be good, IDK, I don't really have any faith in them these days
Considering how the majority of the rules are built around violence, having D&D, the biggest TTRPG out there, focusing on something other than that is probably good for the industry. Now if they gave us some better rules/gameplay for the non-violent side of things instead of just shoving it into the existing system, I would appreciate it.
I know that lately I'm in the minority that D&D, a game focused around combat, should have combat in it
Also that the settings D&D engages with should be treated with respect
It does make me get grumpy and feel like there's a whole lot of D&D players who literally don't like anything whatsoever about D&D and makes me question why they don't go play a better system for the specific game type they're looking for
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
I think it's just a reflection of how little Wizards' current direction really cares, I honestly believe they want to ditch all their established settings and create new content, mostly focused around non violence and exclusively kid friendly, but they know they can cash in on nostalgia so they're going to send the walking corpses of spelljammer and dragonlance at us
Idk maybe they'll be good, IDK, I don't really have any faith in them these days
Considering how the majority of the rules are built around violence, having D&D, the biggest TTRPG out there, focusing on something other than that is probably good for the industry. Now if they gave us some better rules/gameplay for the non-violent side of things instead of just shoving it into the existing system, I would appreciate it.
I know that lately I'm in the minority that D&D, a game focused around combat, should have combat in it, but I'll die on this hill
You can have combat, but D&D is notorious for combat being the easiest and most direct solution and not really focusing on other paths, with the barest of rules and advice touching on it. Like The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is a standout adventure because you can do it non-combatively, but you can also do it with combat! I doubt we're going to see a D&D without combat rules.
As far as the walking corpses of spelljammer and Dragonlance, I can't speak to dragonlance but Spelljammer had 20 releases over 4 years, I doubt this single package deal will live up to it. We'll probably need more releases. Also it's been 29 years since the last Spelljammer supplement and I have no doubt they'll update for their audience today, and not the one who played it originally in the 90s.
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I wanted to keep the spirit of the adventure so I made the hags a lot less evil, Bavlorna for instance was an old extremely lonely woman who was literally doing her best to give the kids what they wanted but it always came out wrong and led to a lot of suffering
Basically I made the 3 hags kind of manifestations of failures of parenthood, fundamental parts of the world that work fine when the archfey is present to counterbalance them
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
I don't want it to be the same, I want it to grow
I think just making what-the-hell ever up and calling it an existing setting to cash in on nostalgia, having incredibly small books at full price, abandoning combat as a core part of the rules (note they aren't even really doing this, this is just a thing you're advocating for that is a worry of mine based on some statements they've made), is a bad direction.
Yes I think the published books from Wizards pre 2020 are largely better than the ones that have come after
Edit: I'd like to point out that I don't necessarily think the new books will be bad, just that I am extremely skeptical they will be good. I really want them to be good
1. The dwarves first city was built on a mountain, because that is where they woke up when Forge bellowed life into them. When they discovered the tallest peak in the region was to the south-west, naturally they took it for their own. They built a massive straight road between the two settlements, because dwuck you, that’s why, even though it was more costly and time consuming than going around the landscape.
2. The Midland humans built their towns near rivers, for all the reasons we do that, then built a muddy road connecting them.
3. A huge inland sea was formed by an asteroid long ago. The tritons are aquatic, so they built their homes in the central point of the sea, both above and below the water. Eastling humans live by the sea, and share a trade route with them. They’re self sufficient and share no culture with the Midlander, so no roads go that way.
4. There sure would be a road between the elves, only a terrible demon duke has taken over the area between.
5. The little folk share a close bond and excellent trade routes. So what’s up with that isolated town away from water? That’s where the orcs live, and they only live in that harsh environment because no one will let them settle anywhere else.
6. Pirates! It’s actively being concealed from the rest of the world.
And that’s how you can justify anything.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
I don't want it to be the same, I want it to grow, but you don't want it to be anything resembling what it is now
ffs 5e has put TFR setting in stasis, refusing to advance the timeline with each new publication
This is only my opinion, but I'm betting is because most tables give absolutely zero shits about that. Like my group has played more than half of the published adventures at this point and the timeline has no bearing on it. The only thing we really care about is our table lore from our previous characters and how they may fit in.
Like how many groups are actually completing a single full length adventure, let alone multiple to make the advancing the timeline even meaningful. Like from here and Reddit my understanding is that my group is an outlier for being together for over 7 years now, and consistently meeting weekly.
We all complain about the books internal motivations being poor (Like the start to Avernus) let alone creating something overarching. Do I think it would be cool if they had an overarching timeline? Sure, but its super low on my things I want from WotC.
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
I don't want it to be the same, I want it to grow, but you don't want it to be anything resembling what it is now
ffs 5e has put TFR setting in stasis, refusing to advance the timeline with each new publication
This is only my opinion, but I'm betting is because most tables give absolutely zero shits about that. Like my group has played more than half of the published adventures at this point and the timeline has no bearing on it. The only thing we really care about is our table lore from our previous characters and how they may fit in.
Like how many groups are actually completing a single full length adventure, let alone multiple to make the advancing the timeline even meaningful. Like from here and Reddit my understanding is that my group is an outlier for being together for over 7 years now, and consistently meeting weekly.
We all complain about the books internal motivations being poor (Like the start to Avernus) let alone creating something overarching. Do I think it would be cool if they had an overarching timeline? Sure, but its super low on my things I want from WotC.
How many words have been wasted at the treatment of the orc race and they have a beautiful opportunity to tell us about the vast multicultural nation of many arrows in the forgotten realms to try and redeem themselves, and they are flatly uninterested in doing so? It's not filled out, it's just blank canvas right now.
I think failing to do so shows a lack of a strong advocate for the property within the company (who isn't up to their eyeballs with concerns like Perkins is)
I think Avernus shows a lack of internal playtesting
And I think Avernus and Dragon Heist show why they should have an internal lore guru after the ousting of Mearls (preferably someone less problematic)
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
I don't want it to be the same, I want it to grow, but you don't want it to be anything resembling what it is now
ffs 5e has put TFR setting in stasis, refusing to advance the timeline with each new publication
This is only my opinion, but I'm betting is because most tables give absolutely zero shits about that. Like my group has played more than half of the published adventures at this point and the timeline has no bearing on it. The only thing we really care about is our table lore from our previous characters and how they may fit in.
Like how many groups are actually completing a single full length adventure, let alone multiple to make the advancing the timeline even meaningful. Like from here and Reddit my understanding is that my group is an outlier for being together for over 7 years now, and consistently meeting weekly.
We all complain about the books internal motivations being poor (Like the start to Avernus) let alone creating something overarching. Do I think it would be cool if they had an overarching timeline? Sure, but its super low on my things I want from WotC.
How many words have been wasted at the treatment of the orc race and they have a beautiful opportunity to tell us about the vast multicultural nation of many arrows in the forgotten realms to try and redeem themselves, and they are flatly uninterested in doing so? It's not filled out, it's just blank canvas right now.
I think failing to do so shows a lack of a strong advocate for the property within the company (who isn't up to their eyeballs with concerns like Perkins is)
I think Avernus shows a lack of internal playtesting
And I think Avernus and Dragon Heist show why they should have an internal lore guru after the ousting of Mearls (preferably someone less problematic)
If they do anything they need to do an adventure involving the orcs. Lore books aren't going to sell. most players aren't going to buy them, and only a few DMs are going to try to incorporate lore books into an established adventure.
I would love to see an adventure that deals directly with Orcs and fleshes them out. I think that would be great.
Honestly I figure Wizards is trapped like the folks making Starwars. Forgotten Realms probably should be shelved for a couple decades. It's saddled with too much baggage from it's past.
Oh that reminds me I never really talked about what I did with Witchlight
So I tied it into Curse of Strahd by having Lysaga convince the hags to cause the event, but they didnt know what the consequences would be
Put in spoilers because module for Witchlight spoilers plus slightly triggering re:child abuse
1. I still have the laws enforced, harming a child causes a roll on a very nasty table, so does not giving in gift in exchange for a received gift, violating guest rights, etc. Harming is a pretty loose term, depending on what the kid agrees to do (if they make a deal with a hag for something, temporary harm is acceptable)
2. Bavlorna acts like an overworked parent who is exhausted all the time, she has a million half finished projects. Bavlorna has been granting wishes to children who are abused to "not feel pain anymore", what she does is skin them and then put the skin on a doll of them, makes a stew out of their old body and feeds it to the doll, causing it to come to life. Now they are Constructs that cannot feel pain. This is pretty fucked up, but the kids who have gone through it are happy enough, playing in normally unsafe ways without consequence. They don't think about the long term implications. Bavlorna has a half dozen kids who are "unfinished" and she has the skin of one as a cape because she keeps forgetting to finish. The players found 2 heads and boy and girl were talking to them about how they can't wait for Lysaga to finish so they can be invincible. The party convinced her* that such extreme work was unnecessary, the children didn't need bodies that prevented them from being hurt, they needed a safe place to play and grow. Sir Talavar, being in love with Bavlorna, offered to help her out on this endeavor. Bavlorna would resign her taxidermy skills to crows and the like and give the kids a fun gross swamp to play in that was safe for them, while also reading bed time stories and making them tea
3. Endelyn Moongrave acts like a mother that demands perfection from her children. She collects children who had parents that neglected them and HELICOPTERS THE SHIT OUT OF THEM. She demands excellence of them and never stops: Learn to dance, learn to play the piano, learn a language, be *better*. Her overbearing nature kills everything childlike within them, while on the surface, being the opposite of what they lacked at home. The party killed her, I feel like I hit a bit too close to Warlock player's mother, who she hates. Gleam was one of hers, someone who wants to be a professional dancer. They convinced Gleam that now that she was old enough she could probably make it without her parents and sent her home.
4. Skabatha is the opposite of Endelyn, she acts like a mother that lets children do whatever they want. Lets have fun! Toys! Games CANDY! ALL THE TIME! Sowpig is hers, Sowpig asked to never grow up, and was turned undead for her trouble. I gave her a lot more personality than the Sowpig from the book, insolently insisting that what happened to her was a good thing and that growing up is stupid. Skabatha's realm is full of children who are angrily told by her that if they don't like something, it's their fault, because she gives them whatever they ask for, as long as it isn't to go home. Why would you want to go home? The party hasn't dealt with Skabatha, other than returning Sowpig to life (against her will, leading to a lot of crying and fit throwing), they intend to ask Zybilna what to do about her
5. I haven't changed much for Zybilna, but since the players are all familiar with Tasha, I made it a bit less obvious who she really was. I have made the Palace of Hearts Desire a murderously dangerous place in its frozen state. I made the Jabberwocky invincible except to the vorpal sword. To get in while it was frozen they had to defeat a green knight that was a cleverly disguised Balor. The League of Malevolence all have player levels.
*By convinced her, the witch, who is played by my niece, responded to me idiotically saying "what do you want? whatever I have that is in my power to give, you may have" (in response to helping her) and she said "YOUR SERVICE", kind of forcing the hag into her way of doing things
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
I think it's just a reflection of how little Wizards' current direction really cares, I honestly believe they want to ditch all their established settings and create new content, mostly focused around non violence and exclusively kid friendly, but they know they can cash in on nostalgia so they're going to send the walking corpses of spelljammer and dragonlance at us
Idk maybe they'll be good, IDK, I don't really have any faith in them these days
See now you're getting it. They know that there are people for whom Dragonbait, Halaster, Strahd, Waterdeep, Neverwinter, Harpers are all words that excite the senses of the grognards and that they can manipulate these words to cause money to appear. Much like the various occultists in Lovecraft's works they have little understanding of what these words mean but as long as the Legions of neckbeardia continue their pilgrimages to their local gaming stores they know they can continue to have a steady stream of cash and who cares what terrible price there may be to pay down the road?
Witchlight had a lot of good stuff that I've pilfered, but the idea that the party should nonviolently deal with child predators is laughable to me
Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
I don't want it to be the same, I want it to grow, but you don't want it to be anything resembling what it is now
ffs 5e has put TFR setting in stasis, refusing to advance the timeline with each new publication
This is only my opinion, but I'm betting is because most tables give absolutely zero shits about that. Like my group has played more than half of the published adventures at this point and the timeline has no bearing on it. The only thing we really care about is our table lore from our previous characters and how they may fit in.
Like how many groups are actually completing a single full length adventure, let alone multiple to make the advancing the timeline even meaningful. Like from here and Reddit my understanding is that my group is an outlier for being together for over 7 years now, and consistently meeting weekly.
We all complain about the books internal motivations being poor (Like the start to Avernus) let alone creating something overarching. Do I think it would be cool if they had an overarching timeline? Sure, but its super low on my things I want from WotC.
How many words have been wasted at the treatment of the orc race and they have a beautiful opportunity to tell us about the vast multicultural nation of many arrows in the forgotten realms to try and redeem themselves, and they are flatly uninterested in doing so? It's not filled out, it's just blank canvas right now.
I think failing to do so shows a lack of a strong advocate for the property within the company (who isn't up to their eyeballs with concerns like Perkins is)
I think Avernus shows a lack of internal playtesting
And I think Avernus and Dragon Heist show why they should have an internal lore guru after the ousting of Mearls (preferably someone less problematic)
If they do anything they need to do an adventure involving the orcs. Lore books aren't going to sell. most players aren't going to buy them, and only a few DMs are going to try to incorporate lore books into an established adventure.
I would love to see an adventure that deals directly with Orcs and fleshes them out. I think that would be great.
Honestly I figure Wizards is trapped like the folks making Starwars. Forgotten Realms probably should be shelved for a couple decades. It's saddled with too much baggage from it's past.
The only things that would prevent me from spending money on a lore book would be price (the price has to match the content) and the fact that the team doesn't seem to understand why changing lore mid edition is *bad*.
I'm having a hard time being coherent with my thoughts from all the meds I'm on so I hope I havent been hostile to anyone
I am genuinely excited planescape is coming back but I'm deeply worried they didnt bother to consult the original author, given how little it would have cost them
My instincts tell me this is because they don't care about the old setting and this is just a cash grab on the name, and its only going to have loose associations with the original
I think the thing I'm most annoyed by is the creators not even knowing until they read it in twitter. Like, okay they weren't involved or even consulted but damn you could have at least surprised them pdfs or if box sets prototypes or something. So that way when you made the announcement they could be all "so excited to finally see this made public" or something, which is literally the least they could have done and would have felt immediately like they'd done way more than just a heads-up
I think the thing I'm most annoyed by is the creators not even knowing until they read it in twitter. Like, okay they weren't involved or even consulted but damn you could have at least surprised them pdfs or if box sets prototypes or something. So that way when you made the announcement they could be all "so excited to finally see this made public" or something, which is literally the least they could have done and would have felt immediately like they'd done way more than just a heads-up
This gets even stupider when you consider that before they made Dragonlance a common name amongst roleplayers and like, the first non-greyhawk setting TSR showed interest in supporting Tracy and Margaret were renowned for "their vampire campaign" which was of course Strahd Von Zhavorich. Around 4 decades later WotC decided to do the character up for 5e and ultimately talked to the creators about it because there was a foreword written by Tracy Hickman talking about the character, his influence on Roleplaying and how he was the polar opposite of what vampires had become in popular consciousness.
That foreword was dated as May 2015. The Module was released in March 2016.
Like... It's just... why wouldn't you at least talk to them if you were looking to relaunch this?
Given the timelines, development of the Dragonlance material probably coincided with the lawsuit over the newest novel. There may well have been legal reasons not to discuss it with them, and even after the suit was dropped I can imagine a reluctance to share.
(That's not meant to be an excuse -- just a possible explanation.)
When I was driving once I saw this painted on a bridge:
"I don't want the world, I just want your half"
Given the timelines, development of the Dragonlance material probably coincided with the lawsuit over the newest novel. There may well have been legal reasons not to discuss it with them, and even after the suit was dropped I can imagine a reluctance to share.
(That's not meant to be an excuse -- just a possible explanation.)
That... actually makes this so much fucking worse.
Me thinks Weiss and Hickman should visit Alan Moore to talk about getting screwed.
Given the timelines, development of the Dragonlance material probably coincided with the lawsuit over the newest novel. There may well have been legal reasons not to discuss it with them, and even after the suit was dropped I can imagine a reluctance to share.
(That's not meant to be an excuse -- just a possible explanation.)
That... actually makes this so much fucking worse.
Me thinks Weiss and Hickman should visit Alan Moore to talk about getting screwed.
I have a hard time with the super nerd creatives (Perkins, Crawford et al) still being jerks to Hickman and Weis after the lawsuit was dismissed between the authors and the suits. That's not cool.
Given the timelines, development of the Dragonlance material probably coincided with the lawsuit over the newest novel. There may well have been legal reasons not to discuss it with them, and even after the suit was dropped I can imagine a reluctance to share.
(That's not meant to be an excuse -- just a possible explanation.)
That... actually makes this so much fucking worse.
Me thinks Weiss and Hickman should visit Alan Moore to talk about getting screwed.
I have a hard time with the super nerd creatives (Perkins, Crawford et al) still being jerks to Hickman and Weis after the lawsuit was settled between the authors and the suits. That's not cool.
It's also incredibly counter-productive to your goals; Like anyone for whom dragonlance meant anything would have had an appreciation for the creators so cutting them out only serve to work against efforts to sell your product.
Thinking about starting a second Play-by-Post game on here since I can’t run any games in person right now.
Since I want to devote good descriptions and plot points to the first game, I’m thinking the second game could be extremely light and just focus on slapstick and tactical combat. I think I’ll even put enemy AC and HP out in the open, same for skill DC, just to keep it breezy in the PbP format.
With that in mind, does this sound fun?
Strike Force Claymore
As a member of Claymore’s 69th team, you will be teleported into areas of extreme danger by Claymore’s over worked Wizard-Seers to protect those in need from whatever existential threat has turned up today. The Nation is cosmopolitan, and while old racial tensions still exist on the fringes, an orc is as likely to make captain as a hedgehog-man.
The 69th is a troubled team. After several mistakes saw its captain fall on a failed mission to stop a mysterious demon, the next in line formally left the force out of the blue, leaving the rookies to fend for themselves. The budget barely extends out to the 69th—there are talks to tear the team apart and ship the rookies off to other teams, or worse, downgrade them to common town guards!
I’m thinking a weird timeframe, where everyone is still using swords, but also you can smoke a brand cigarette and read a newspaper, plus everyone has a Cantrip(TM) smart device to cast Message with. Sort of 1500… 1960… 2022-ish.
Also: If you play a warlock your patron has to be good, alien or not that evil really, deep down, even though they’ve got horns and a trident. I say that just because I am not going to provide you with the kind of roleplay that you deserve with an evil patron.
Do you want to get zapped from squared gridded battle map to square gridded battle map?
Do you want to blow up a clearly marked explosive barrel?
Do you want to land directly in the path of a golem and save a child?
Do you want to scrape together enough cash to buy fire resist potions for the upcoming mission?
Then play my game, when I bother to start it and decide on the level etc.
Posts
Ok but for real humans live close to water not simply because of being able to drink it. Wells are easy enough to dig. Humans live on water because water is the easiest way to move goods. If you look at the majority of even pre-industrial production the order was “mine or log up river, put it on a boat for transportation to production, finish goods, put it on a boat for shipping to a distribution center. Ship it where it needed to go. Caravans were only for places that boats could not reach.
So more or less any civilization is going to have its ruins and chokepoints be on water or cutting off a line that approaches water. If you control the fork at Cae Cruach you control all logging in the faldanon and haunted forest as well as any finished good production dealing with those trees*. (Most likely this is where most of your woodworking is going to be and the side of those rivers will be lined with mills that turn trees into lumber
The second consideration is sight distance. On flat ground the horizon is about 3 miles out. On a 60 foot tower it’s about 10 miles out. On a 600 foot hill it’s about 30 miles out. So defensive and scouting structures are likely to be on hills. Plus a signal from a hill can be seen from further away making any kind of rudimentary or complex system of communication work better with those relay points.
So the headwaters at scalefells. The hill in the middle of the whispering moor. The valley between the fadren hills and the Dyrwood cruach. The forks at gwyr cynflyn and cae cruach and the harbor at the end of gwyr cynflyn. Any kind of intelligent organization would have built there. So the smugglers cove and dwarven trade post might not go thirsty but how do the goods get in and out if they’re situated on a tributary rather than the parent? Why would they place themselves on a tributary rather than a parent?
*more or less the largest river is the lowest point in the basin that contains that river excepting points Downriver of it. This is… necessary by it being the largest river. If there were a lower point all other rivers would flow to that. So roughly everything north of cae cruach flows to that fork. Every tributary, river, lake, and pond that flows flows to that fork. Any kind of trade that wants to move from one side to the other for any point in that flows to that fork.
The map itself is incorrect. Maps didn’t start getting accurate in this world for a very long time, let alone in some other fantasy world.
For reasons the area is pretty underpopulated (it is called the Cruachan Wilds after all) so there's very little trade going on here - most settlements are practically subsistence, which may change once PCs get involved.
The roads are far from the rivers, 'cause they're dwarven highways, which are overland connections between otherwise underground dwarven holds (too deep. too greedy. underground routes now blocked) and logically or not my dwarves as a rule do not sail or even boat up and down a river if they can help it. It's Rothe-towed caravans all the way.
No, that was Mike Mearls' job, who they got rid of for I believe having racist friends on the MTG side and siding with them even after being called out? I think? At present I don't believe they have a lore guru, but they could replace Mearls pretty easily if they wanted
Perkins tries his best, but he's one guy and also responsible for face appearances, editing, and writing, some marketing, etc
There is incorrect and then there is “London isnt on the Thames” one is a “mapping is hard because mapping is hard*” problem and the other is… a problem problem because the problem isn’t with the map it’s with how the society formed. Which is to say that it should not have.
Now there can be explanations, ruins could be along river banks that no longer have water in them or hills that no longer are tall. But there is a reason that the ruins of Rome are under Rome.
Now there could be a Silk Road type situation going on… but probably not that close to an ocean
*specifically because the earth isnt flat and instruments have errors the attempts to transpose multiple small maps into one larger map is a significant computational task that necessary introduces error. This can lead to the distances between and shapes of features being incorrectly recorded.
Allow me to enter Sicko Mode: “Play to find out.”
Okay
Should still be replaced
Good riddance.
Strictly speaking, having a lore expert is only important if you care about the extent lore so from a certain standpoint I can see how not looking for a new loremaster makes sense.
It's infuriating for folks like me who love diving into the lore like scrooge mcduck, but it does make a certain sense.
I think it's just a reflection of how little Wizards' current direction really cares, I honestly believe they want to ditch all their established settings and create new content, mostly focused around non violence and exclusively kid friendly, but they know they can cash in on nostalgia so they're going to send the walking corpses of spelljammer and dragonlance at us
Idk maybe they'll be good, IDK, I don't really have any faith in them these days
Considering how the majority of the rules are built around violence, having D&D, the biggest TTRPG out there, focusing on something other than that is probably good for the industry. Now if they gave us some better rules/gameplay for the non-violent side of things instead of just shoving it into the existing system, I would appreciate it.
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I know that lately I'm in the minority that D&D, a game focused around combat, should have combat in it
Also that the settings D&D engages with should be treated with respect
It does make me get grumpy and feel like there's a whole lot of D&D players who literally don't like anything whatsoever about D&D and makes me question why they don't go play a better system for the specific game type they're looking for
You can have combat, but D&D is notorious for combat being the easiest and most direct solution and not really focusing on other paths, with the barest of rules and advice touching on it. Like The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is a standout adventure because you can do it non-combatively, but you can also do it with combat! I doubt we're going to see a D&D without combat rules.
As far as the walking corpses of spelljammer and Dragonlance, I can't speak to dragonlance but Spelljammer had 20 releases over 4 years, I doubt this single package deal will live up to it. We'll probably need more releases. Also it's been 29 years since the last Spelljammer supplement and I have no doubt they'll update for their audience today, and not the one who played it originally in the 90s.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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Or you know, play characters who believe that violence doesn't beget more violence.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Good work team, we rescued the children and gave those immortal malevolent child torturers a good talking to, I'm sure they've reformed forever!
I wanted to keep the spirit of the adventure so I made the hags a lot less evil, Bavlorna for instance was an old extremely lonely woman who was literally doing her best to give the kids what they wanted but it always came out wrong and led to a lot of suffering
Basically I made the 3 hags kind of manifestations of failures of parenthood, fundamental parts of the world that work fine when the archfey is present to counterbalance them
I mean, they are Fae, you could literally talk them into a deal where they can't do it anymore.
Also dude, you're coming off like the folks who ran off to Pathfinder when 4e came out. "ITS NOT MY D&D ANYMORE!"
Like I don't necessarily think they are doing an amazing job or anything, but media changes with the times and it's audience. The folks wanting D&D to be the same as AD&D, or 2e, or 3.5 or even 4e are probably in the minority in aggregate compared to the audience they've pulled in with 5e. Of course they are going to cater to that newer audience.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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I don't want it to be the same, I want it to grow
I think just making what-the-hell ever up and calling it an existing setting to cash in on nostalgia, having incredibly small books at full price, abandoning combat as a core part of the rules (note they aren't even really doing this, this is just a thing you're advocating for that is a worry of mine based on some statements they've made), is a bad direction.
Yes I think the published books from Wizards pre 2020 are largely better than the ones that have come after
Edit: I'd like to point out that I don't necessarily think the new books will be bad, just that I am extremely skeptical they will be good. I really want them to be good
1. The dwarves first city was built on a mountain, because that is where they woke up when Forge bellowed life into them. When they discovered the tallest peak in the region was to the south-west, naturally they took it for their own. They built a massive straight road between the two settlements, because dwuck you, that’s why, even though it was more costly and time consuming than going around the landscape.
2. The Midland humans built their towns near rivers, for all the reasons we do that, then built a muddy road connecting them.
3. A huge inland sea was formed by an asteroid long ago. The tritons are aquatic, so they built their homes in the central point of the sea, both above and below the water. Eastling humans live by the sea, and share a trade route with them. They’re self sufficient and share no culture with the Midlander, so no roads go that way.
4. There sure would be a road between the elves, only a terrible demon duke has taken over the area between.
5. The little folk share a close bond and excellent trade routes. So what’s up with that isolated town away from water? That’s where the orcs live, and they only live in that harsh environment because no one will let them settle anywhere else.
6. Pirates! It’s actively being concealed from the rest of the world.
And that’s how you can justify anything.
This is only my opinion, but I'm betting is because most tables give absolutely zero shits about that. Like my group has played more than half of the published adventures at this point and the timeline has no bearing on it. The only thing we really care about is our table lore from our previous characters and how they may fit in.
Like how many groups are actually completing a single full length adventure, let alone multiple to make the advancing the timeline even meaningful. Like from here and Reddit my understanding is that my group is an outlier for being together for over 7 years now, and consistently meeting weekly.
We all complain about the books internal motivations being poor (Like the start to Avernus) let alone creating something overarching. Do I think it would be cool if they had an overarching timeline? Sure, but its super low on my things I want from WotC.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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How many words have been wasted at the treatment of the orc race and they have a beautiful opportunity to tell us about the vast multicultural nation of many arrows in the forgotten realms to try and redeem themselves, and they are flatly uninterested in doing so? It's not filled out, it's just blank canvas right now.
I think failing to do so shows a lack of a strong advocate for the property within the company (who isn't up to their eyeballs with concerns like Perkins is)
I think Avernus shows a lack of internal playtesting
And I think Avernus and Dragon Heist show why they should have an internal lore guru after the ousting of Mearls (preferably someone less problematic)
If they do anything they need to do an adventure involving the orcs. Lore books aren't going to sell. most players aren't going to buy them, and only a few DMs are going to try to incorporate lore books into an established adventure.
I would love to see an adventure that deals directly with Orcs and fleshes them out. I think that would be great.
Honestly I figure Wizards is trapped like the folks making Starwars. Forgotten Realms probably should be shelved for a couple decades. It's saddled with too much baggage from it's past.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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So I tied it into Curse of Strahd by having Lysaga convince the hags to cause the event, but they didnt know what the consequences would be
Put in spoilers because module for Witchlight spoilers plus slightly triggering re:child abuse
2. Bavlorna acts like an overworked parent who is exhausted all the time, she has a million half finished projects. Bavlorna has been granting wishes to children who are abused to "not feel pain anymore", what she does is skin them and then put the skin on a doll of them, makes a stew out of their old body and feeds it to the doll, causing it to come to life. Now they are Constructs that cannot feel pain. This is pretty fucked up, but the kids who have gone through it are happy enough, playing in normally unsafe ways without consequence. They don't think about the long term implications. Bavlorna has a half dozen kids who are "unfinished" and she has the skin of one as a cape because she keeps forgetting to finish. The players found 2 heads and boy and girl were talking to them about how they can't wait for Lysaga to finish so they can be invincible. The party convinced her* that such extreme work was unnecessary, the children didn't need bodies that prevented them from being hurt, they needed a safe place to play and grow. Sir Talavar, being in love with Bavlorna, offered to help her out on this endeavor. Bavlorna would resign her taxidermy skills to crows and the like and give the kids a fun gross swamp to play in that was safe for them, while also reading bed time stories and making them tea
3. Endelyn Moongrave acts like a mother that demands perfection from her children. She collects children who had parents that neglected them and HELICOPTERS THE SHIT OUT OF THEM. She demands excellence of them and never stops: Learn to dance, learn to play the piano, learn a language, be *better*. Her overbearing nature kills everything childlike within them, while on the surface, being the opposite of what they lacked at home. The party killed her, I feel like I hit a bit too close to Warlock player's mother, who she hates. Gleam was one of hers, someone who wants to be a professional dancer. They convinced Gleam that now that she was old enough she could probably make it without her parents and sent her home.
4. Skabatha is the opposite of Endelyn, she acts like a mother that lets children do whatever they want. Lets have fun! Toys! Games CANDY! ALL THE TIME! Sowpig is hers, Sowpig asked to never grow up, and was turned undead for her trouble. I gave her a lot more personality than the Sowpig from the book, insolently insisting that what happened to her was a good thing and that growing up is stupid. Skabatha's realm is full of children who are angrily told by her that if they don't like something, it's their fault, because she gives them whatever they ask for, as long as it isn't to go home. Why would you want to go home? The party hasn't dealt with Skabatha, other than returning Sowpig to life (against her will, leading to a lot of crying and fit throwing), they intend to ask Zybilna what to do about her
5. I haven't changed much for Zybilna, but since the players are all familiar with Tasha, I made it a bit less obvious who she really was. I have made the Palace of Hearts Desire a murderously dangerous place in its frozen state. I made the Jabberwocky invincible except to the vorpal sword. To get in while it was frozen they had to defeat a green knight that was a cleverly disguised Balor. The League of Malevolence all have player levels.
*By convinced her, the witch, who is played by my niece, responded to me idiotically saying "what do you want? whatever I have that is in my power to give, you may have" (in response to helping her) and she said "YOUR SERVICE", kind of forcing the hag into her way of doing things
The only things that would prevent me from spending money on a lore book would be price (the price has to match the content) and the fact that the team doesn't seem to understand why changing lore mid edition is *bad*.
I am genuinely excited planescape is coming back but I'm deeply worried they didnt bother to consult the original author, given how little it would have cost them
My instincts tell me this is because they don't care about the old setting and this is just a cash grab on the name, and its only going to have loose associations with the original
This gets even stupider when you consider that before they made Dragonlance a common name amongst roleplayers and like, the first non-greyhawk setting TSR showed interest in supporting Tracy and Margaret were renowned for "their vampire campaign" which was of course Strahd Von Zhavorich. Around 4 decades later WotC decided to do the character up for 5e and ultimately talked to the creators about it because there was a foreword written by Tracy Hickman talking about the character, his influence on Roleplaying and how he was the polar opposite of what vampires had become in popular consciousness.
That foreword was dated as May 2015. The Module was released in March 2016.
Like... It's just... why wouldn't you at least talk to them if you were looking to relaunch this?
I stand corrected.
(That's not meant to be an excuse -- just a possible explanation.)
"I don't want the world, I just want your half"
That... actually makes this so much fucking worse.
Me thinks Weiss and Hickman should visit Alan Moore to talk about getting screwed.
I have a hard time with the super nerd creatives (Perkins, Crawford et al) still being jerks to Hickman and Weis after the lawsuit was dismissed between the authors and the suits. That's not cool.
It's also incredibly counter-productive to your goals; Like anyone for whom dragonlance meant anything would have had an appreciation for the creators so cutting them out only serve to work against efforts to sell your product.
It's such a ridiculous unforced error.
Since I want to devote good descriptions and plot points to the first game, I’m thinking the second game could be extremely light and just focus on slapstick and tactical combat. I think I’ll even put enemy AC and HP out in the open, same for skill DC, just to keep it breezy in the PbP format.
With that in mind, does this sound fun?
Strike Force Claymore
As a member of Claymore’s 69th team, you will be teleported into areas of extreme danger by Claymore’s over worked Wizard-Seers to protect those in need from whatever existential threat has turned up today. The Nation is cosmopolitan, and while old racial tensions still exist on the fringes, an orc is as likely to make captain as a hedgehog-man.
The 69th is a troubled team. After several mistakes saw its captain fall on a failed mission to stop a mysterious demon, the next in line formally left the force out of the blue, leaving the rookies to fend for themselves. The budget barely extends out to the 69th—there are talks to tear the team apart and ship the rookies off to other teams, or worse, downgrade them to common town guards!
I’m thinking a weird timeframe, where everyone is still using swords, but also you can smoke a brand cigarette and read a newspaper, plus everyone has a Cantrip(TM) smart device to cast Message with. Sort of 1500… 1960… 2022-ish.
Also: If you play a warlock your patron has to be good, alien or not that evil really, deep down, even though they’ve got horns and a trident. I say that just because I am not going to provide you with the kind of roleplay that you deserve with an evil patron.
Do you want to get zapped from squared gridded battle map to square gridded battle map?
Do you want to blow up a clearly marked explosive barrel?
Do you want to land directly in the path of a golem and save a child?
Do you want to scrape together enough cash to buy fire resist potions for the upcoming mission?
Then play my game, when I bother to start it and decide on the level etc.