My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

[Scalenex]

I have more Baronies.

A mafia-esque Barony that attracts the detrius of Kantoc's society.

Spoiler: Mallocaballo (Spot 2)

Mallocaballo (Based on Spanish for bad horse)
Tentative Geographic Assignment: Spot 2
Basic Concept: This is the Kantoc’s Las Vegas. What happens in Mallocaballo stays in Mallocaballo. The Baron runs the realm like a mafia don.
History: The current Baron of the realm is the descendant of a bastard son of a Kantoc king who became bandit lord and leveraged his power and influence to stage a coup over the previous Baron of Mallocaballo.

Government Style: The official title of the realm’s ruler is the Dread Baron. The Dread Baron blurs the line between hereditary absolute monarch and warlord. The heir is usually the eldest son of the previous Dread Baron, but poisoned cups and bloody daggers sometimes title things to a younger son or a nephew. The government is a kleptocracy. Nearly everything is legal is here, as long as the Dread Baron gets his cut, and he takes a relatively small cut. The Dread Baron officially endorses free commerce.

Goblins, Aranea and more mercenary kobolds realize that gold and gems have value, but they cannot eat gold. The Dread Baron will accept treasure from these monstrous groups and give them back weapons, armor, regents, potions and other things that they can actually use.

Basic criminal activities like prostitution, gambling, forbidden magical regents, narcotics, fencing stolen goods, and falsified documents are common place. The Dread Lord takes a percentage but he rarely gets personally involved with this stuff. What the Dread Lord values most is performing assassination, espionage, and other high end cloak and dagger activities for publicly respectful Kantoc and Meckelorn nobles who want or need things but don’t want to get their own hands dirty.

To his trusted aids, the Dread Baron likes to say “Gold is good, respect is better, secrets are best.”

Character of the Realm: The aura of the realm is the aura of a neighborhood under the sway of the mafia. People are polite and formal but there is an edge of barely detectable fear in most day-to-day interactions.

Religion: All religion is permitted here. The Dread Baron is publicly a polytheist who worships all the Nine equally. Unofficially, he makes under the table deals with the Masks, Lanterns, Testers, Children, Rovers, and sometimes even the Stewards. The Dread Baron tries to carefully maintain the balance, so no single priesthood gains too much power. He works to make Khemra’s Keepers and Hallisan’s Guardians feel unwelcome here but he is open to working with any of the other seven deity’s followers. The permissive nature of worship here has made Mallocaballo a haven for religious heretics of all sorts.

Challenges: Not even the Dread Baron is aware that Mallocabllo houses more than triple the usual number of theurgists per capita. The various priesthoods are gearing up for a holy war. The Bachites of Nami, the Paladins of Mera, and an unlikely triumvirate of Lanterns, Guardians, and Keepers are all planning to make a move to overthrow the government. Ironically, the Bachite Rovers don’t want a full coup, they just want to convince the Baron to join their order and stop being so polytheistic. The Children and the Testers are both planning to goad the three warring religious faction into killing each other and then swooping in to defeat the weakened victor. The Children and Testers have spies in all three of the main warring factions but they are unware of each other’s plans.

In general, the Dread Baron is hated by Kantoc, the dwarf nations, and the other Border Barons. The crime is tolerable to them, but collaborating with goblins and monsters is unforgiveable. So far, the Dread Baron’s brutal lieutenants and his ample supply of blackmail material of the rich and powerful of these other realms is keeping hostile foreign powers bay. The moment the Dread Baron outwardly shows weakness is the moment that his many enemies are likely to dog pile on him at once.

Honorable warrior culture that is beleagured by many problems that are hard to solve by simply hitting them.

Spoiler: Red Stream, Spot 16

Red Stream
Tentative Geographic Assignment: Spot 16
Basic Concept: This realm is a pretty unremarkable feudal land whose main claim to fame is that there is a portal to Fae Realm nearby.

History: For most it’s history, Red Stream was ruled by Barons who wielded arcane magic bestowed from warlock pacts from the Fair Folk. Over time the Barons fell deeper into madness until eventually they were deposed by a charismatic warlord in what was called the Battle of the Red Streams. They renamed the Barony after this battle. That was over a generation ago. The original Warlord’s son is currently the Prince of the realm. He is almost ninety and not very spry. His son and heir apparent is running things under his father’s name.

Government Style: Red Stream is run under a basic feudal system. At the top is the Prince, below him are Thane, below them are Champions (basically knights who favor fighting on foot). Chivalry and honor is very important to the nobles of Red Stream. They are very formal. The nobles take their vows to protect and serve the people very seriously. They are generous to the poor and downtrodden but they come across as arrogant when they do it.

Character of the Realm: For those who are/were Game of Thrones fans, think of Winterfell. The nobles are just, brave, generous and maybe a little naïve when it comes to realpolitik. The common folk are good and simple folk, honest and hard working. Arcane magic is widely distrusted. Warlocks are not tolerated at all.

The two dwarf nations hold Red Stream in high regard, but they don’t have a lot of reason to trade with them.

Religion: The Prince and all his vassals are publicly a Hallisan worshipper. The Guardians support Red Stream thoroughly. Khemra has a small priesthood here as well. The Keepers are also supportive of the status quo. The commoners usually worship Korus and/or Mera primarily.

Challenges: It’s not clear what the Fair Folk want with the realm of Red River, but they clearly aren’t done meddling in this realm. They lost control over their puppet realm and they want it back. There is portal to the Fae Realm here. The portal changes location frequently, but it never moves far.

Relative to the other Baronies, Red Streams has comparatively less fertile arable land, so they cannot sustain as large a population as other Baronies.

All the Border Baronies have to deal with monsters to some extent. Red River has to deal with them more than most. Also, the various mortal monsters are backed surreptitiously by the Fair Folk. Goblin raiders and other threats are known to experience uncanny good luck and fortuitous coincidences.

If Uwchradaredia decides it wants to expand its territory again, Red Streams is probably where they will attack first.

This is the realm that is likely to have a completely different government system every time the PCs visit. Also there is a vampire.

Spoiler: Transizionalvania Spot 17

Transizionalvania (based on the Italian word for transition and Translyvania). Currently the Barony is called “Prophet’s Pass.” I am going to default to Prophet’s Pass in the narrative below because it’s easier to spell.
Tentative Geographic Assignment: Spot 17
Basic Concept: This barony tends to have a complete revolution every ten years or so, give or take. Each government is a nominally in the thrall of a vampire puppet master.

History: The Border Baronies are known for being unstable and having lots of coups and revolutions. Transizionalvania is the most unstable nation in a region known for its instability. Common wisdom is that the realm is unstable because Stahlheim, Fumaya, and Swynfaredia all interfere with the government here a lot. They do interfere a lot, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

The realm is very strategic to the above mentioned foreign powers. Prophet’s Pass sits along one of the widest and safest passages between Stahlhiem and Fumaya and Swynfaredia. The area does not provide a lot of food resources, but it is fairly close to some of Stahlheim’s richest mines, so it’s a trading hub as Stahlheim trades ore or basic metal tools and weapons in exchange for foodstuffs, wine, and ale.

Centuries ago, Vladimir, one of the so-called True Vampires, tried to literally take over the world. For over a hundred years, Vladimir’s hundreds of vampire lieutenants, thousands of regular human soldiers, and tens of thousands undead shock troops, hardly ever lost a battle. It seemed he had a good chance of actually taking over the world but virtually every nation and religious faction in Scarterras signed a treaty to unite against him. Vladimir was also opposed behind the scenes by two of his True Vampire siblings, Rallark and Lorshellis.

Then Vladimir was assassinated by

Spoiler: party or parties unknown.

Rallark.

Vladimir’s lieutenants had a “dragon’s vote” for who should succeed Vladimir. In other words, every single one of Vladimir’s lieutenants believed that they were his rightful successor. They couldn’t fight each other and a united humanity at the same time.

At least half of Valdimir’s vampire childer and grand childer were destroyed. The remainder scattered to the four winds. Most of which now live in secret and most of which have staked out a territory somewhere remote and isolated, such as the Borderlands region of West Colassia. I may change the identity of the vampire puppet master later, but I’m thinking of having it be a female vampire named Emerande.

Emerande pulls the puppet strings over whomever is currently the leader of Transizionalvania. She has a fairly extensive spy network. Her spies use bribes and selective information to entice petty political opportunists from Stahlheim, Swynfaredia, and Fumaya to encourage them to plot coups in the region. When Emerande believes the current puppet leaders have outlived their usefulness or they are close to figuring out there is a vampire in their midst, she allows one of the would-be revolutionaries to succeed.

Like most fully sapient undead creatures of advanced age, is thoroughly insane. She orchestrates more coups than is strictly necessary. She also false into states of torpor and dormancy for years at a time. Sometimes the government is overthrown without her direct involvement.

Government Style: The region has been a commune, a republic, an absolute monarchy, a warlord’s demense, and many other things. Currently the realm is run by an oligarchy of five individuals who vote on all major decisions called the Pentarchy. The Pentarchy is made up of the highest ranking Steward of Korus, an elected representative from among the guilds, the commander of the army, the eldest man and the eldest woman. The current realm’s name of Prophet’s Pass is because the Barony is located along an important mountain pass and the realm currently boasts a very powerful oracle of Korus. The oracle is not a part of the Pentarchy because, like many oracles, she is a little bit off.

Character of the Realm: Whatever form the government has, the guilds usually have a say in how things are run. In a way they are the most permanent thing in this impermanent land. Whatever form the government takes, it usually keeps taxes relatively low and is friendly to merchants. In general the commoners are honest but not naïve, hardworking and industrious people who are naturally very flexible and adaptable. Since they are along an important trade route the area is very diverse and cosmopolitan.

Religion: Barring the rare times when Transizionalvania falls under theocratic rule, the commoners are usually fairly polytheistic, but their piety does not run very deep. Emerande works hard to keep any one priesthood from gaining too powerful lest some nosy theurgist discovers her presence.

The Rovers of Nami run a temple that doubles as an inn for travelers. This temple has been in use for over a century. Emerande considers the Rovers relatively unthreatening. For their part, the instability of the realm is pleasing to Nami’s faithful, and since Nami is a patron of travelers, the location of Prophet’s Pass along a major trade route is just icing on the cake. The Stewards central temple was only consecrated to Korus recently. It was built after the previous coup.


Challenges: Obviously, the realm is plagued by constant turmoil and political upheaval. Emerande has yet to catch on to the fact that the Oracle of Prophet’s Pass is well on her way to figuring out who, what, and where Emerande is.

Trade caravans have to frequently deal with brigands, both human and otherwise.

The Merchant Prince of Centrum finds it infuriating that this unstable chaotic has more merchant traffic than his realm. He has deployed numerous spies. The Merchant Prince wants to stage a coup in the region and install a puppet ruler that obeys him, or barring that he wants to discredit or weaken the realm so thoroughly that their commerce is crippled forever. He is juggling different scenarios in his head, but his best plan is probably to stir up anti-dwarf sentiment in Prophet’s Pass hoping that this will convince Stahlheim to take their business elsewhere.

A puppet realm of Swynfaredia that is also an expansionist puppet realm.

Spoiler: Uwcharaderedia and New Uwcharaderedia, 18 and 20 respectively

Uwchradaredia (based on the Welsh word for “secondary”) and New Uwcharadaredia
Tentative Geographic Assignment: Spot 18 and Spot 20
Basic Concept: This is a puppet state of Uwcharadaredia where Swynfaredians dump their non-sorcerous children

History: A century ago or two ago, the Barony that used to exist here got in a trade dispute with Swynfaredia. There was a big brawl between Swynfaredian traders and local Borderlanders that resulted in three Swynfaredian commoners dead. The Swynfaredians called the event an “unprovoked massacre.” The Swynfaredians fabricated a flimsy chain of evidence linking the massacre to the Border Baron and then they marched their army in.

To placate the Swynfaredians, the Baron apologized and ended up pledging his son to marry the king’s non-sorcerer daughter. This was the Swynfaredian king’s plan all along. Swynfaredian law states that only sorcerers or sorceresses can inherit land or titles. Usually Swynfaredian nobles will send their squib children to a priesthood, set them up as merchants, give them token minister jobs, or outright disown them. Another option is to send them to Uwcharadaredia where they have a good shot of getting an official title and a small plot of land.

With the backing of Swynfaredia, thirty years ago, give or take, they conquered the Baron of Vulnerable Monarchia and rechristened it New Uwcharaderedia.

Government Style: Uwcahradaredia operates as a feudal system with egalitarian succession primogenial succession. That’s a fancy way of saying the first born son or daughter inherit. The ruler is a duke or duchess. Below the duke are duchess are various counts and countesses. Below Barons, below them knights.

Character of the Realm: Byzantine politics. There are lots of nobles competing for small scraps of land. Because every bit of land and prestige counts, the nobles tend to be harsh oversees and micromanagers to their peasants.

Religion: Religious practices are all over the map. Swynfaredians in general are not very pious but some Uwcharaderedia nobles opt to become publicly pious to distance themselves from their uppity sorcerer cousins and some do not. Others cling to Greymoria in the hope that this means Greymoria will bless them with sorcerer children or grandchildren.

Most peasants favor Korus and Mera. Peasants who consider themselves being occupied by hostile powers favor Hallisan, Nami, and especially Zarthus. Zarthus Lanterns are a major thorn in the side of the nobles.

Challenges: Even with two border provinces under their jurisdiction, Uwchraderedia has at least twice as many noble per capita as most feudal lands and Swynfaredia keeps sending more of their unwanted squibs here. All of the counts and barons have a much smaller piece of land their title would imply. Except for the duke’s champion, all the knights are landless. The various nobles are not very united. They squabble with each other for tiniest pieces of land, wealth or prestige. Lots of petty squabbles start with one noble or another trying to move the border fence six inches per year have led to bloodshed.

When the realm conquered New Uwcharaderedia, they brutally and publicly executed the previous Baron, his entire family, and all his advisors and vassals. The common folk have not forgotten this blood bath, and their fallen ruler was much beloved by the people. Even thirty years later, they view the Uwchraderedian nobles as an evil occupying force. Their resistance movements are quietly back by the Lanterns of Zarthus and assorted Fumayan nobles from House Deorac (who also hate Swynfaredians). The two dwarf nations do not like Uwcharaderedia much but they simply choose to ignore them.

Once in a while, squib children of sorcerers will unexpectedly conceive sorcerers. A lot of these sorcerers and sorceresses choose to make their way back to Swynfaredia where they are usually welcomed with open arms. One sorcerer and one sorceress have a different idea. They married to form a magical power couple. Their plan is to usurp the realm the entire realm of Uwcharaderedia, murder all their squib cousins with the petty little titles and estates, then repatriate into Swynfaredia with themselves serving as a proper Dragonblooded Duke and Duchess within Swynfaredia itself.

Since Uwcharaderedia recently conquered one of their neighboring Baronies, the other Border Barons are naturally concerned that Uwcharaderedia will not stop conquering their neighbors. Most of the Baronies nearest to Uwcharaderedia have a mutual defense treaty. An attack on one is an attack all. Most of them are using economic pressure, spies, and other cold war tactics to try to hem in and weaken the realm.

 

[pendrake]

A heraldry notion for The Barony of Red Streams

Spoiler

(Try and pretend it is even and more symmetrical. Sharpie pens for scale.)

The design is legit medieval heraldry that can be blazoned (that is described solely with words):

Green, two piles wavy pale-wise Red, fimbriated White.

—or if medieval colour names feel more authentic—

Vert, two piles wavy pale-wise Gules, fimbriated Argent.

 

[Scalenex]

The design is legit medieval heraldry that can be blazoned (that is described solely with words):

Green, two piles wavy pale-wise Red, fimbriated White.

That is part of the reason why I like simple names whenever I can. They are easy to remember and they lend themselves to straightforward heraldry. I'm not likely to keep Uwchradaredia long term.

The only question I have is do I like "Red Stream" or "Red Streams" better. Either is fine.

 

[pendrake]

That is part of the reason why I like simple names whenever I can. They are easy to remember and they lend themselves to straightforward heraldry. I'm not likely to keep Uwchradaredia long term.

The only question I have is do I like "Red Stream" or "Read Streams" better. Either is fine.

If you go with Stream, singular, the heraldry could be simplified to one Pile. (A pile in heraldry is a narrow pointy triangular shape. Making the edges wavy sells the stream idea to a contemporary viewer.)

Uwchradaredia, the unsymbolisable, could be assigned the Chequered Black and Gold banner.

 

[Scalenex]

Uwchradaredia, the unsymbolisable, could be assigned the Chequered Black and Gold banner.

That makes sense. Swynfaredia LOVES putting Dragons on their heraldry, but Uwcharaderedia is founded by Swnfaredians who had the "blood fo the dragons" run thin. If they put a dragon on any of their banners, Swynfaredia would be furious and cut off all aid.

I cannot think of any animal they would want instead. The ancients had many therukels which translates in Draconic to "some combination of servant, slave, and vassal" but no specific therukel was considered better than the others. Then again there are dozens of noble families that all are trying to stand out in Uwcharaderedia so probably do have a lot of weird heraldry that nobles in a real realm wouldn't be caught dead with, beholders, delvers, etc.

But plain checkers certainly works for the realm as a whole.

 

[pendrake]

Uwchradaredia was Welsh for secondary? Filipino for secondary is:

Pangalawa

(Much easier to mispronounce) Spell it Pângalâwa for that you know it’s a fantasy name because of âll thôsê pôînty hêâdêd vôwels look.

 

[Scalenex]

Uwchradaredia was Welsh for secondary? Filipino for secondary is:

Pangalawa

(Much easier to mispronounce) Spell it Pângalâwa for that you know it’s a fantasy name because of âll thôsê pôînty hêâdêd vôwels look.

In only took two semesters of Spanish so I'm not sure how to pronounce those accents when I see them. Umlauts, I know from my five years of almost learning German.
öüä

Pangalawa is a much more pronounceable word but for the moment I'm going to stick with Welsh (but I can pick a word other than "secondary"). Swynfaredia is based on the Welsh word for "magic" plus some other word I forgot. Every Swnyfaredian NPC I have created has a name provided by a "Welsh baby names" google search.

Child is "plentyn". Plentana rolls off the tongue better. Unwanted is "dieisau." I actually stole the concept for Swynfaredia off of a friend's fantasy world named Discermercordia. I might make the spinoff realm Diesaurcordia.

 

[Scalenex]

So we got ten realms with names and concepts and ten blanks. It might be a good idea to leave a few blank so as not to paint myself in a corner. A blank barony could either "undecided what kind of government or people is there" or it could be just wilderness.

1) Barony of Duraleon aka Barony of Tollmore. A bureaucratic realm where there is a fee or toll for everything.

2) Mallocaballo, ruled by the Dread Baron. This is a mafia-esque realm

6) Altudaredia, ruled by the Dragon King. A poor copy of Swynfaredia.

7) Freistadt, ruled by the Baron. A refugee settlement founded by ex-slaves.

10) Platinum Peak, a company mining town run by the Tengku.

13) The Barony of the Dead, ruled by no one. Evil in a can with guards

14) Silfûrhëim, ruled by the Prince. Collection of elven exiles and outcasts

16) Red Stream, ruled by the Prince. Warrior realm fighting with the Fae.

17) Prophet’s Pass (aka Transizionalvania), Unstable state with a vampire puppet master

18) Uwchradaredia, ruled by the Grand Duchess, dumping ground for the Swynfaredian's unwanted nobles.

19) Centrum, ruled by the Merchant Prince, scheming mercantile realm.

20) New Uwcharadaredia ruled by the Grand Duchess, attempt by Swynfaredia's unwanted nobles to assert their strength.


So some concepts I still have on the table.

-Why have one vampire controlled puppet state when I can have two, or three. This is a very vampire friendly region.
y
-Why have a vampire control a puppet state when I can have some weird subteranean monster do it?

-Maybe a dragon relishes the idea of being a big fish in a small pond and rules over a barony. The dragon could be a brutal tyrant that demands live maidens to be sacrficed or he could be a benevolent (but condescending) protector. Maybe both. I like the idea of brutal tyrants who see themselves as benevolent protectors.

-I'm still working on developing the Underdark and the factions that live there. What if a Barony was unkowningly built on top of the flash point where two underground factions are fighting a brutal war?

-I don't have a realm that really likes dwarves or really hates dwarves.

-The Barony of the Dead is sitting on top of an ancient evil. What about a recent evil that brought the area low in living memory? What if a barony was recently conquered by goblins or orcs. Or hit by a natural disaster or a plague? What if a Smaug like dragon moved in and killed everyone and now rules over a Barony of One.

If a monster or disaster killed all or most of the inhabitants of a barony and then left, how long would the land realistically lie fallow before a groups of newcomers moved in?

-I want to have at least one realm with a really weird system of picking their leader, but that cannot be the only distinguishing feature right? That's just lazy writing.

-I want at least one realm controlled directly or indirectly by a crazy cult.

-I want at least one realm to be hiding infernalists.

-The realm is generally defined by Chaos, a lot of the realms lean towards Chaotic Good. What about a Barony that is hyper lawful with an unsually rigid buearcracy?

 

[pendrake]

Why have a vampire control a puppet state when I can have some weird subteranean monster do it?

I'm still working on developing the Underdark and the factions that live there. What if a Barony was unkowningly built on top of the flash point where two underground factions are fighting a brutal war?

I DID suggest having a Mushroom King and Mushroom Men.

So try picturing this (I am too weak to draw right now). There is an island in the middle of a lake. It has the appearance of a crater lake. The island is riddled with caves. In these caves are the halls of the Mushroom King. There are humans and other overworlders in various settlements scattered around the periphery of the lake. There are two tiny trading posts permitted by the Mushroom King on his island. These are located on opposite sides of the island. They are owned by different rulers. The trade mostly consists of:

Magical Fungal reagents =><= finished goods of various kinds/luxury items.

Underground conflict: the dwarfs would like to wipe out the shrooms but that lake makes reaching them problematic.

Ruler: Overworlder Baron 1, The Mushroom King, Overworlder Baron 2; ...it depends on who you ask.

 

[pendrake]

What about a Barony that is hyper lawful with an unsually rigid buearcracy?

Baron Tolbert

That might be a nickname and not his “true name”. Baron Tolbert is all about laws... intersecting, overlapping, redundant is good, conflicting will work, ...laws. As long as the law results in somebody paying a toll it is all good. He sends armed toll collecting parties to establish toll-pikes across trails and roads. If they set up slightly outside his demense that’s just fine. Every bridge is a toll bridge.

Medieval robber baron with the law on his side.

Heraldry: Per pale Black and White: sémy of Bezants on the Black half; a Tower Black On the White half. (Bezánts are bright yellow discs, as if they were coins.)

 

[Scalenex]

I DID suggest having a Mushroom King and Mushroom Men.

So try picturing this (I am too weak to draw right now). There is an island in the middle of a lake. It has the appearance of a crater lake.

I know you like islands but I'm not sure an island is the best feature to put in a spot between two mountains. Though I suppose Lake Titicaca, which is between Bolivia and Peru is more or less in the mountains.

Perhaps an "island" in a swamp would make more sense. Also, Mycanids should love swamps because swamps mean nutrients.

Magical Fungal reagents =><= finished goods of various kinds/luxury items.

Makes a lot of sense.

Underground conflict: the dwarfs would like to wipe out the shrooms but that lake makes reaching them problematic.

Not sure about this. Why would dwarves be threatened by mushroom people. Do they want to eat them? That seems awfully evil for dwarves.

An interesting thing about mushroom people which is also a limiting factor about mushroom people. Mycanids don't need resources the way that other creatures do. One reason D&D mycanids are so peaceful in a realm that is not known for being peaceful is because the mycanids are not competing for scarce resources. They can survive almost anywhere. They basically need privacy and dampness. I suppose Mycanids could be camped around a lifestone and every underground race covets lifestones but Mycanids like to have lifestones. They don't need them to live the way others do.

Baron Tolbert

That might be a nickname and not his “true name”.

Awesome concept!

Baron Tolbert is all about laws... intersecting, overlapping, redundant is good, conflicting will work, ...laws. As long as the law results in somebody paying a toll it is all good. He sends armed toll collecting parties to establish toll-pikes across trails and roads. If they set up slightly outside his demense that’s just fine. Every bridge is a toll bridge.

Medieval robber baron with the law on his side.

Heraldry: Per pale Black and White: sémy of Bezants on the Black half; a Tower Black On the White half. (Bezánts are bright yellow discs, as if they were coins.)

Baron Tolmore is a good foil to the Dread Baron of Mallocaballo. Both Barons fleece everyone they can, but Tolmore backs up his claim to people's money by wrapping himself in law. The Dread Baron cloaks himself in intimidation.

I see one minor detail has a huge impact on the Barony of Tollmore. Is the Barony overlooking an important trade route or is it isolated.

If the Barony is overlooking a major trade route, the Baron can fleece travelers and merchants for tolls and leave his citizenry largely alone. At the very least the locals know the ways to sneak around toll collectors and they know the loopholes and technicalities to minimize tolls. In this case, the locals would at least tacitly support the status quo.

If the Barony is isolated, Baron Tolmore could only fleece his own people. It would basically be a like a corrupt company town where the Baron pays the people for their labor and produce and then docks them with a hundred little fees. Technically, the people are free but in reality they are serfs. In this case the locals would resent the Baron, a lot.

If I want Baron Tolmore to primarily fleece outsiders, I probalby want to put him spots 1 or 2 to fleece Kantoc travlers or 18 to 20 to fleece Fumayans and Swynfaredians. The latter would require me to move Uwchradaredia but i'm okay with that. It's not required that they be geographically close to their parent country since Uwcharaderedia is where the Swynfaredians dump their unwanted children, they might prefer it if they were far away.

#2 could set up an interesting rivalry with the Dread Baron of Mallocaballo given that they basically run their realm the same way but they are both convinced they are morally superior to the other. The Dread Baron thinks Tolmore is a cowardly hypocrite and Baron Tolmore thinks the Dread Baron is a savage thug. They are both right.

If Baron Tolmore is fleecing dwarf pilgrims than he would probably be somewhere in the 8-12 range. I'm thinking the best case scenario for Baron Tolmore would be to have his realm adjacent to the Barony of the Dead. "You can either pay your tolls or you can walk through the Necromancer's Valley!" This would give the Baron more power to be an jackass.

Spot 3 might let Tolmore fleece Kantoc and Stahlheim, but I'm leaning towards Spot 2.

 

[pendrake]

This is why I simply numbered the map so that the pieces can be shifted around until the optimal fit is achieved.

 

[Scalenex]

Barony of Duraleon aka Barony of Tollmore
Tentative Geographic Assignment: Spot 1
Basic Concept: Beuracratic mess with a tax or fee for everything.
History: Sir Alban was an ambitious young knight in Kantoc. He chafed at serving a chaotic and undsciplined lord and he left his lord's service with a troupe of soldiers and swept in to a leaderless Border Barony to establish himself as the new leader, so he could shape the realm in his image. Now Baron Alban, better known as Baron Tollmore, is an old man and has one of the longest continuous reigns of any Baron in the history of the Borderlands.
Government Style: Baron Alban created order, but he created it with a very thick rule book and lots of red tape. Safety and secuirty is valued but personal freedom is not.
Character of the Realm: The common folk hae learned how to navigate the red tape. They are very tight with their purse strings and they choose their words very carefully. There is an air of politeness over everything. Outsiders accuse them of being two-faced.

Religion: Baron Tollmore's value set seems to be very pro-Phidas, but publicly Baron Alban endorses Khemra profusely and he denounces Phidas. He believes this legitimizes his money grubbing. He is also somewhat remorseful for deserting his former lord decades ago, even though it led to the greater good (in his opinion). In some way, his Khemra worship is atonement for the actions of his youth.

A lot of the Baron's ministers and agents are drawn from among Khemra's Keepers. Normally Khemra endorses giving all nine of the Nine appropriate worship but these Keepers are neo-heretics. They are far less tolerant of the three chaotic deities than more mainstream Keepers. They are also incredibly likely to interfere with ALL of the other deities' followers, not just the chaotic ones. The local Keepers know they won't get appointed to government positions if they are not anti-Phidas so they parrot the Baron's prejudices.

Most of the non-Khemra worship is done in secret, even the deities that normally get along well with Khemra.

Challenges: Baron Alban is an old man. His mind is still sharp, but his body is failing. His taxes and tariffs make him fairly unpopular with his own people and with his neighbors, but he runs a tight ship. The military is well-equipped, well-trained and well paid. The people are fairly safe from monsters and external threats. Everyone gets enough food. His son and heir, Lord Lardillo has his father's love of money but not his prudence and attention to detail. Lardillo enjoys the finer things in life. It is likely that Baron Lardillo (or his children who are now spoiled young adults) will drive the Barony into the ground with greed and waste. Most of Baron Alban's enemies and rivals are waiting for him to die a natural death and they are planning to vent their frustrations on his son.

The Baron's enemies in waiting include but are not limited to: the Dread Baron of Mallocaballo, the Masks of Phidas, the Testers of Maylar (who have already converted one of the Baron's grand children into the Decedents), the Lanterns of Zarthus, and more than a few intelligent monsters.

Just because this isn't complicated enough, lets make one of the Baron's younger children a true believer of his/her dad's political and philosophical outlook (ie be greedy, but be greedy for the common good). Mights as well make it his youngest daughter. Baron Alban is so hidebound it would be (almost) unthinkable of him to change the succession laws in such a flagrant manner. Whether or not she can convince her father to change the succession laws, Lady Belde is already scheming against her older brother.


The heraldry is a stately lion reading a scroll symbolizing the Baron's power and forethought. Color is up in the air but I'm thinking gold lion on a grey background.

 

[pendrake]

Color is up in the air but I'm thinking gold lion on a grey background.

Go with gold on black.

In heraldry there are not 256 colors. Any paint or ink that is dark and is not distinctly blue, green, or purple .... is Sable (that is Black).

 

[pendrake]

I see one minor detail has a huge impact on the Barony of Tollmore. Is the Barony overlooking an important trade route or is it isolated.

#2 could set up an interesting rivalry with the Dread Baron of Mallocaballo given that they basically run their realm the same way but they are both convinced they are morally superior to the other

Spot twelve reaches/touches seven others. If Tollmore was there it could have tentacle-like extrusions betwixt all its neighbors.

Or 12 could be where Lady Belde sets up shop if she winds up exiled.

 

[Scalenex]

Spot twelve reaches/touches seven others. If Tollmore was there it could have tentacle-like extrusions betwixt all its neighbors.

That could work.

Or 12 could be where Lady Belde sets up shop if she winds up exiled.

The Game of Thrones response for Lady Belde would be to marry a Baron who is either pliable or already has a gripe with Tollmore. Then feed her new husband information about the realm to pave the way for a conquest using her bloodline and her son with the rival Baron to legitimize the outside Baron's claim to Tollmore.

If she has time to establish some spies and sabeteurs in Tollmore before she is exiled, her brother doesn't stand a chance.

 

[Warden]

So much good stuff here.

Some thoughts in no particular order (started at page 14 and worked my way from there):

Besides one-on-one apprenticeships and magic schools, there is another option for someone to learn wizardry. Someone can join a coven. I understand a coven means a group of warlocks or witches but in the case of Scarterra the definition of coven is this:

A group of mages (usually wizards) who legally owns and rules over a small piece of land that is part of a feudal hierarchy.

This is the arcane version of a bishopric. A Coven owns a parcel of land and they have the full farming, timber, fishing, and mining rights for their land. Much like a bishopric or feudal lord, a Coven draws income from their land and answers to a feudal superior. Unlike a feudal lord, instead of providing gold and military levies (or in addition to providing gold and military levies), a Coven is obligated to provide magical services to their feudal lord when requested.

In most cases, a Coven is allowed to select their own leader without the feudal lord having any input. Usually, a Coven leader is the most powerful wizard in the wizard, or sometimes the oldest. In most cases, a Coven is allowed to choose their new recruits without interference from their feudal lord, but some lords require a coven to maintain a maximum or minimum of members. One-on-one apprenticeship is the norm, but after the apprenticeship is over, someone other than the neophyte’s mentor probably administers their initiation test.

Covens are not generally threats to princes because their legal rights and privileges are all backed by feudal contracts. Some princesto have Covens, others view them as more trouble than they are worth. It’s very common that a newly established Coven will be very deferential with the wizards falling over themselves to obey their prince’s every request. Three generations later, the Coven leaders often show an attitude “You called me for something this small, your majesty.” More than a few princes prefer to have a wizard among their personal retinue as opposed to giving them land and a title. That way their court wizard knows that she can be fired the second she tops being useful to her lord.

I really like the idea of your Covens (arcane bishophrics), this is a concept I would love to see more of.

In one of the fantasy worlds I constructed, the main kingdom of the setting was split between three power groups: the King, the Nobles, and the Magi (aka the clergy), who ran their business much like the Church of the Middle Ages. The Magi had numerous "magical orders" based on religious orders, one for each of the magical schools of thought/elemental flavors of magic, and all competed with each other for power, while simultaneously running the day-to-day business of ruling their fiefs.

King Drosst of Uskala set up the world’s largest magic school. In theory, the magic school is independent of the government. Anyone who demonstrates basically literacy and has hundreds of gold pieces to spend can attend. In a lot of cases, nobles send their children there because it’s cheaper than hiring a tutor. If a candidate is literate and demonstrates exceptional intelligence, King Drosst will front the gold to provide a scholarship for a penniless wizarding student in exchange for five years of government service. In most cases, alumni get a government position for money after their mandatory five years. The magic school has about a hundred students and twenty instructors at any given time. Drosst may be evil, but he recognizes the value of using carrots as well as sticks.

Interesting idea for a wizarding school, I probably missed it but in this world is magic something that anyone can learn, or are their varying degrees of innate talent for magical ability?

So how can a prince regulate magic users in his or her realm?


1-A prince can try to influence who is or isn’t trained in magic.

2-A prince can try to pass laws limiting who can cast magic and when.

3-A prince can bribe magic users to back his regime.

4-A prince can kill magic users who threaten him in some way.

5-A prince can control the supply of regents or materials that magic users need.

Great list, gives the Prince (and the story-writer or DM) a method to control the use of magic within the confines of the story. Bookmarked this and the musings that came with it.

There were historical examples of slave soldiers. I personally think that’s guano crazy. The Unsullied in Game of Thrones were an exaggerated version of real world eunich soldiers. Basically they were brainwashed from a young age to lack the capacity to rebel. But in Game of Thrones, they did rebel anyway. I don’t know any real world examples of slave soldiers mutinying, but Spartacus was a gladiator slave who led a massive revolt.

I certainly cannot picture the dark elves of Kahdisteria arming any of their slaves as soldiers. That doesn’t close off the possibility of other nations having slave soldiers, but that’s still weird to me. I don’t know if any nations would have gladiator traditions, perhaps as means of capital punishment or elsewise. In the real world, it was not that uncommon for gladiators to survive a match. It’s expensive to keep and train gladiators, game masters had an incentive to let their gladiators to fight again. Not every gladiator was a slave. Some freemen fought for gold or glory.

In a world where magical healing is a real thing, gladiatorial conflict can be visceral and bloody without being automatically lethal. There is still is a good chance that someone can die in the arena (and the crowd probably secretly is hoping for a death) but gladiatorial combat with magical healers waiting in the wings could make blood sports less suicidal, so free gladiators fighting of their own accord is more feasible.

Where and how should I include gladiatorial combat in Scarterras, if ever?

I have been researching slave soldiers recently, specifically the ones used by many of the Islamic caliphates. Ottomans used the janisarries to great effect and ultimately to their detriment when they essentially owned the government. Mamluk slave-soldiers wound up taking over their whole empire in Egypt!

Ultimately the slave soldiers seemed to be a way for the ruler to 1) take power away from minority groups within his kingdom, or 2) build a private army loyal to him and him alone, with no bonds of kinship/other loyalties to get in the way. They started off as very effective forces in the short term, but of course the system was very prone to problems down the line.

The right to bear arms....or not.

Youtube channels that focus on HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) or medieval history have argued about how common weapons and combat training was in the medieval world. The medieval period covers a long stretch of history and a wide variety of nations and cultures. There were times and places where the lower classes were not permitted to carry weapons. There were times and places where most adult males were required to own and carry swords. These examples from real world history are pretty limited. It seems like in most places, kings didn’t pass a lot of laws or decrees about how well armed the lower classes are.

So skipping over to Japanese history:

1) Prior to the Sengoku era it was uncommon for commoners (except for bandits) to have weapons. Only the warrior class or the nobles had them. But as the nobles became more decadent and stopped conducting their defensive duties, the countryside began to fall apart. Citizens began to arm themselves. Huge numbers of weapons began to arise in the countryside as the locals armed themselves against the bandits, then due to poverty they became bandits and started robbing other locals, who then started arming themselves against even more bandits... and so on. Soon most everybody had a weapon, and the warrior-caste of the samurai and daimyo became a staple of the decentralized-government that was falling apart.

2) Then after Tokugawa (and the previous two big lords) took over Japan, they started "sword hunts" in order to re-centralize power (specifically swords) into the hands of the powerful faction (the Tokugawa clan) only. Noone except for a samurai could have a sword, and you couldn't be a very successful samurai unless you were on the payroll of the Tokugawa clan.

What I get out of this is the number of weapons that would be found in the setting/area within the setting probably correlates to how centralized or decentralize the local government is.

More centralized = bigger central army = less weapons in the local populace
Less centralize = lots of smaller armies or armed groups = more weapons carried by local populace

I think I would rather have the Mushroom Kingdom be underground. Keeps plumbers away. I tend to be a big picture guy. I would prefer to come up with an overarching narrative for the Underdark and then work on the details rather than come up with a patchwork of minor details and stitch it together.

Scarterras is going to have the surface world, where the vast majority of stuff I talked about is. An underwater setting, an underground setting, and the Fae Realm. MAYBE the Aetherial Realm (aka the sky where the gods live) will be a setting too, but I see a visit to the Aetherial Realm is more of a player reward than an adventuring location.

Creatures can move about between the sea, the underdark, the surface and the Fae Realm but most people live in one realm. The creatures that routinely live in two or more realms are either very powerful creatures like dragons who can live whereever they want because who is going to stop them? You? And fairly weak creatures like kobolds who migrate between the surface world and underdark routinely because they are not fully welcome in either.

I think I like the idea that a disproportionately high number of Faerie in the material world are outcasts and criminals who are on the naughty list of the Faerie Kings and Queens. Because most of the Fae that mortals witness are jerks, this gives the Fair Folk in general a bad name.

I definitely want to include mushroom people...eventually, but not soon.

Mushroom people! Saw this picture recently, if they had tweaked it a bit it would have made a great Samurai (Jack) Mushroom:



I enjoyed that video. Though it offers a very tame look at mushrooms just sitting around getting high... they don't seem to do much.

What about a group of fanatical mushroom expansionists? Recently I played (in Stellaris) a fast-breeding and decadent Mushroom Empire, intent on bringing the light of their spiritual Emperor to the rest of the galaxy, and building lots of mushroom towers in the process. Quite fun.

One page from a sketchbook has been sacrificed:


View attachment 58355

Big red dashed lines correspond to thin pencil lines on certain world maps.

Amazing map

The Barony of the Dead

sometimes known as...​

The Vale of the Necromancer

or...​

The Valley of the Necromancers (plural)


Long ago someone started carving rock tombs in a rugged valley. Over time the tombs spread out into the valley floor, small mausoleums, cenotaphs, dolmens, obelisks, and other markers were added. Hundreds of tombs in at least twelve different styles were created. No one knows if it began as a Valley of Kings, or in the aftermath of a large battle.

Today, the dead rest uneasy in this desolate place. Many of the living have gone to explore the silent city, many fewer have returned. There may be a single necromancer who guards his realm vigorously. There might be as many as three who refight battles long since finished over and over. Some visitors report a strange Count who has hosted them in a castle overlooking the valley floor. Others have reported the castle deserted. Three of The Nine maintain a temple or monastery overlooking the Necropolis, perhaps guarding it, studying it, or keeping the undead in check. The priests attached to these edifices are almost as quiet about their purposes as the restless dead.

View attachment 58381

Another amazing map. I like the idea of the power struggle between various factions in this undead vale.

Would also make a good Realm of Death setting for AOS.

 

[Scalenex]

The Magi had numerous "magical orders" based on religious orders, one for each of the magical schools of thought/elemental flavors of magic, and all competed with each other for power, while simultaneously running the day-to-day business of ruling their fiefs.

Magical orders are something I might get to later.

Originally I created four magical traditions. Hermetic wizardry, barbaric wizardry, warlock magic, and sorcery. Each one recharged their quintessence (the game mechanic that limits arcane magic) in a different fashion. Each one learned new spells in a different fashion. Each one had a different weakness.

For instance, wizards recharge quintessence by studying a spell book. Barbarian wizards, warlocks, and sorcereres recharge their quintessence by meditating.

Acolytes of Barbarian magical styles have an emergency supply of quintessence, they can deliberately sacrifice their health (similar to hit points). That's their power. Their weakness is they have mystic tatoos or ritual scarring. Anyone even mildly familiar with barbarian wizards can tell just by looking "oh that guy's a wizard!" Anyone who is learned (they have the Spellcraft skill) can look at a barbarian wizard's tattoos and figure out by looking "Oh, he specializes in illusion and invocation magic."

Wizards have the advantage that they can learn spells by study alone. They have the disadvantage that they are unable to recharge their quintessence if their spell book is lost or stolen.



My players told me they didn't like this system. They preferred to use the Merit and Flaw system to customize their character's approach to magic. So now instead of 4 magical traditions, I have about 100 depending on what combination of Merits and Flaws the arcane caster takes.

So for now, any arcane spell-caster can regain quintessence by study (rolling Intelligence + Spellcraft) or by meditating (rolling Wits + Enigmas). In most cases a spell-caster will have a higher dice pool in one of these and that's what they will gravitate towards. Anyone can get quintessence without a roll by sleeping near an arcane font. That's part of the reason every mage wants an arcane font if they can defend it.

Here are the Merits and Flaws if you are interested.

Spoiler: Arcane Merits and Flaws

Note, it's a three point Merit to be an arcane caster.

Arcane Caster Merits
Scribe Scroll (1): You can store active spells on scrolls.

You do not need this merit to use a scroll someone else made. Any arcane caster can do this.

Brew Potion (2): You can store active spells in potions or magic oils and make a few assorted wondrous items with clearly finite use such as magic candles that last until they burn up.

Craft Charged Magical Item (2): You can store multiple active spells in an item such as a wand. It does not have to be wand. You can store spells in a stick, the hilt of a sword, or the hem of your robes among other things.

You do not need this merit to use a charged item that someone else made. Any arcane caster can do this.

Eureka Moments (2): Most arcane casters can learn new spells from studying books, researching in a lab, studying under mentors, or bargaining with fae or spirits. You can still learn magic in traditional ways, but you sometimes spontaneously develop new spells without study. You can roll Intelligence + Hearth Wisdom or Spellcraft (player’s choice) once per month regardless of what else you did that month. For every three successes you can get a first circle spell, six successes for a second circle spell. These successes can be banked indefinitely. New spells still require experience points be spent to acquire them but they do not require mentorship.

Magic Blood (2): You can choose to take an unsoakable level of lethal damage to replenish five points of quintessence any time as a free action. This damage cannot be healed with magic, only with rest.

Craft Permanent Magic Item (3): You can make a permanent non-charged magic item. It could be a ring, clothes, weapons, armor. Anything that is not a wand, potion, or scroll fits here.

Favorite Energy Invocation (3): When using the school of invocation, you inflict +1 damage when using your favorite energy (fire, cold, sonic, or lightning). This can be taken multiple times for multiple energy types.

Natural Quintessence Generation (3): You get 10 quintessence points every day you get a good night’s sleep, on top of other sources of quintessence.

Pain Tolerant Caster (3): Wound penalties are halved (round up) when casting spells. You need a Stamina of 3 and a Willpower of 5 to qualify for this merit.

Practiced Silent Caster (3): You receive a +1 difficulty penalty when forgoing verbal components while casting arcane spells rather than the usual +2 difficulty.

Practiced Still Caster (3): You receive a +1 difficulty penalty when forgoing somatic components while casting arcane spells rather than the usual +2 difficulty.

Specialist Caster (5/6/7): You are especially practiced at casting one of the eight schools of magic. Casting difficulties are reduced by -1 and quintessence costs are reduced by 1 per spell. First circle spells cost a half quintessence points rather than zero.

You can buy this multiple times, your second specialization costs 6 freebie points, and your third (fourth, fifth, etc) specialization costs seven freebie points.

Arcane Caster Flaws
Arcane Marks (2): Your character prepares spells and regains mana from mystic sigils either tattooed or scarred on his skin or sewn on clothes that he has to wear every day. This means most peasants can immediately identify that you are a mage. People trained in Spellcraft can make an educated guess on what your relative power level is and which schools of magic you favor.

No Silent Casting (2): You cannot even attempt to cast spells silently.

No Still Casting (2): You cannot even attempt to cast without somatic components.

Book Bound (4): Your character cannot regain quintessence without a spell book (or some other talisman) or a magic font. Spell books are not irreplaceable but they are fairly expensive.

Focus Bound (4): Must be an arcane caster. You cannot cast arcane magic without using a wand, athame, icon or some exterior focus. It’s not impossible to replace your arcane focus if it’s lost, but it should take at least a full week to craft a new focus or a couple hundred gold to buy one. Caster’s choice whether they use one ueber-focus such as an ornate staff or one focus per each school of magic such as using an athame for necromancy, an amulet for abjuration, and a crystal lens for divination.

Bardic Mage (5): Your character uses music to cast his spells other than power word spells. Silent casting is impossible and you receive a +2 difficulty penalty if you cast a spell without a music instrument (unless it’s a power word spell in which case you don’t need an instrument). It does not have to be a masterwork or exotic musical instrument (unless you also take Focus Bound).

I suppose an arcane caster may not have exactly the Merits and Flaws her mentor has, so maybe a I could reintroduce the four magical traditions and say "they tend to have X, Y, and Z." That's a little crunchy and not very fluffy, so I haven't spent too much time on that because this sort of fine tuning of the dice mechanics doesn't help storytelling much.

Interesting idea for a wizarding school, I probably missed it but in this world is magic something that anyone can learn, or are their varying degrees of innate talent for magical ability?

In theory, yes. Anyone of average inteligence or greater can learn wizardry. In practice it takes years of intensive study, usually a decade or more, to unlock their first ● effect. Once they get their first bit of magic, the rest flows faster.

A person who is vigorously studying magic is a commoner who is not working in his father's field or a noble who is not helping run his father's realm. At the very least, if you want your son or daughter to learn wizardry you have to be able to afford feeding them while they do not contribute to the family for over ten years. Not everyone can afford to do this.

Now, if the wizard mentor requires payment for his tutelage, even fewer people can afford it. It takes a lot of time for a wizard to teach an apprentice. Unless they really like teaching it's uncommon to have more than one apprentice at a time. A mentor is either going to demand a lot of gold (which most commoners don't have) and/or demand the opportunity to mold their apprentice towards the mentor's world view (something a lot of nobles balk at). Most wizards are the children of rich people. A few wizards were commoners who were exceptionally brilliants or exceptionally unique in some way that caused a wizard to accept apprentice for free. In a lot of cases, peasants are thrilled to give away their kids to wizards. It's one less mouth to feed and it assures their son or daughter more opportunities in teh future.

Warlocks cheat. They form a pact with an otherworldly being to get their first magic and get to skip ten years of training. Sorcerers sort of cheat to. They are born with magic and get their first magic at puberty. Some warlocks are born with magic too if their parent or ancestors made a pact that covered their descendants.

More centralized = bigger central army = less weapons in the local populace
Less centralize = lots of smaller armies or armed groups = more weapons carried by local populace

That's a good rule of thumb. Most of my nations are fairly decentralized. Uskala and Khemarok are very centralized. Swynfaredia, the Elven Empire, and Kahdisteria are medium centralized.

I enjoyed that video. Though it offers a very tame look at mushrooms just sitting around getting high... they don't seem to do much.

What about a group of fanatical mushroom expansionists? Recently I played (in Stellaris) a fast-breeding and decadent Mushroom Empire, intent on bringing the light of their spiritual Emperor to the rest of the galaxy, and building lots of mushroom towers in the process. Quite fun.

If you want to write something up about mushroom people, I will consider it. No promises though. I don't seem to be as fond of mycanids as you or Pendrake.

I like the idea of biology and evolution shaping behavior. Given that real mushrooms generally live passive lives I have trouble picturing them living aggressive lives. The sole exception is in The Last of Us, but it's not the spore zombies that make that game interesting, it's the human drama.

Amazing map

Indeed.

 

[Scalenex]

My hypothetical fantasy novel about a gnomish cobbler that is pulled into an adventure against his will is now slightly closer to being a real thing. I now have a basic premise for why the cobbler is plausibly dragged into an adventure.

-A band of righteous heroes are fighting against Big Bad of some sort. They steal a mcguffin from said evil tyrant.

-With the Big Bad's agents closing in on them. The heroes hide the mcguffin in a pair of shoes in a random cobblers shop.

-Our cobbler protagonist is arrested or kidnapped as an accomplice to the heroes. The heroes either won't or can't convince the bad guys "This little guy isn't with us."

-The cobbler and the heroes escape prison together. Since the cobbler is considered a foe of the Big Bad, he has no choice but to stick with the heroes. Because he is occasionally useful and the heroes feel bad he got roped into it, they tolerate him.

I am now slightly closer to having a story. I just need to figure out:

Who is the Big Bad?

Who are the heroes? I am fond of the Five Man Band. The cobbler is probably going to be "the heart", at least initially. I might make him "the heart" and "the brain." I am certainly planning to have him solve a lot of problems with common sense solutions that the other party members didn't think of.

What is the McGuffin?

If the villain is an evil tyrant, the heroes will probably be righteous rebels. If the villain is a crimelord or barbarian warlord, the heroes are probably agents of a good (or at least reasonable) prince.

I'm thinking the scale should be relatively small. The heroes aren't trying to save the world or topple a mighty evil empire. Local heroes are fighting a local threat.

The local heroes are good people but not super competant. If they were super competant, a lowly cobbler woudn't have anything to contribute. The villain is probably not super competant either, otherwise he couldn't likely be thwarted by a lowly cobbler. I can always make the villain a minion of a stronger, smarter villain. That way it could scale up in the sequel. After the cobbler has been toughened into a seasoned adventurer he can fight tougher opponents.

 

[Warden]

If the villain is an evil tyrant, the heroes will probably be righteous rebels. If the villain is a crimelord or barbarian warlord, the heroes are probably agents of a good (or at least reasonable) prince.

I'm thinking the scale should be relatively small. The heroes aren't trying to save the world or topple a mighty evil empire. Local heroes are fighting a local threat.

The local heroes are good people but not super competant. If they were super competant, a lowly cobbler woudn't have anything to contribute. The villain is probably not super competant either, otherwise he couldn't likely be thwarted by a lowly cobbler. I can always make the villain a minion of a stronger, smarter villain. That way it could scale up in the sequel. After the cobbler has been toughened into a seasoned adventurer he can fight tougher opponents.

I agree keeping it "smaller scale" then a world-ending apocalypse; maybe going the criminal underworld route? This way you could interpose the conflict of the characters themselves onto some other conflict within the world itself, maybe a civil war or ongoing campaign between two larger kingdoms, or alliance of kingdoms.

Who are the heroes? I am fond of the Five Man Band. The cobbler is probably going to be "the heart", at least initially. I might make him "the heart" and "the brain." I am certainly planning to have him solve a lot of problems with common sense solutions that the other party members didn't think of.

Five man band would be good; is each one of them going to be "themed" together, like all of one race/class/hometown or are they going to look more like a group of player characters? Both sides have pros and cons:

- A group of similar characters (say, a bunch of dwarfs led by their prince who are trying to reclaim his birthright and treasure hoard from the dragon that stole his old house) are going to seem more visually unified, but run the risk of all "blending together" with your gnome character standing out more

- A group of widely dissimilar characters (human fighter, half-elfish ranger, dwarf cleric, elfish wizard, gnome cobbler) are going to need more of an explaination as to why they are all on the same side. I think the overarching story for Journey to the West (where a human monk winds up in the company of a dragon-horse, a water-demon, a pig-fighter-demon, and a monkey king wizard/fighter/super-shapeshifter-who-is-super-powerful) is actually done pretty well as in they all clearly come together as a group over the course of the story, despite widely different backstories they all have the "theme" of being against the hero (the monk) but are convinced to join his side and his quest.

I would ask these questions: why are your hero's (prior to the gnome cobbler because you figured out how he gets into the story) all fighting for the same goal? What is keeping them working together? Do they have shared goals or is it all about the money? Do they like each other (fighting together due to friendship/bonds) or not like each other (relationship of convenience)? Are some of them wanted criminals, or are they all members of some bandit gang that is known/unknown throughout the countryside?