My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

That's not a bad rough sketch. Presumably the "real" symbol the nine points would equidistant but I cannot draw something that exact by hand either. I haven't actually thought about a symbol for the Nine collectively but I have scribbled down some individual symbols for the Nine.

I didn't name my gods at random. They all have (or had) a mneumonic device.


Turoch. I based the name off the Terasque because both of these creatures are monsters that want to eat everything.

Phidas the god of commerce is based off greedy Midas

Khemra is the sun goddess and her favored people have a neo-Egytian nation. Egypt was also called the land of Khem.

Hallisan is sort of a male version of Pallas Athena.

Greymoria is the goddess of magic, it's based on "grimorium" a fancy word for magic book.

Korus. I forgot why I named him Korus. Sorry

Mera. Mera is the goddess of the sea. Aquaman's lady friend is named Mera. Both are based off the Latin word for sea "Mare" though I personally used the German word for sea as my base which is "Meer."

Maylar is evil and destructive. Derivative of "malice".

Nami controls the weather. She is female, Sue is a common female name. Think "Sue Nami."

Zarthus is a chaotic good avenger with a rapier sword. Think "Zorro."

Hmmm, I was going to offer sending you my Player's Handbook in which case I condensed 160 pages of fluff into 40 pages.


Most fantasy settings give each nation or tribe their own god or set of gods. In my case the Nine are everyone's gods. I do have the notion that across the world while the deities are the same, mortal's perceptions of them would not be the same.

Hallisan could have a dozen different names. He's still the god of valor, metalsmithing, honor, etc but other people call him different names. Some people might refer to Hallisan as a goddess not a god. While this approach is realistic, I have held off on implementing this to avoid confusing my players (and readers).

I figure sigils of the gods would differ even more than names and identities. These are the symbols I came up with. I also figure stylitic versions of dragons would be popular symbol.

Turoch: Turoch's most common symbols are a black sun (as the dark progenitor) or a giant mouth (because he wants/wanted to eat everything).

A "Turoch Dragon" is an Ouroboros snake eating it's own tail.

Hallisan: He values hard work and righteous war. His symbols are often a weapon and a tool crisscrossed. I am midly concerned this could be confused for the communist symbol though.

A "Hallisan Dragon" is a regal dragon with polished steel scales and very large claws. Often holding a tool.

Khemra: She is the sun goddess. I figure most her symbols are stylistic suns. She is the patroness of law and writing, so some scholars may favor her symbol being a quill or pen that is on fire.

A "Khemra dragon" is a majestic golden dragon blazing with fire and light.

Phidas: Turoch ripped off his face in battle, so Phidas took Turoch's skin and forged it into a silver mask. Thus a silver mask is a common symbol and most of his priests and priestess wear a silver mask when on duty. Another symbol of Phidas is a merchant's scale with coins on one side and a silverwood tree on the other showing how Phidas balances his two main rules as protector against the Void and god of commerce.

A "Phidas Dragon" is a fairly dark wiry dragon that wears a silver mask.

Mera: Mera is both the water goddess and the hearth goddess. A lot her symbols involve a covered lantern or fireplace floating on the water though I am concerned that symbol is too close to Zarthus' symbol.

A "Mera Dragon" is an aquatic dragon with kind eyes.

Korus: Korus is the patron of agriculture and the god of the wilderness. If a symbol needs to represent both then it's probably going to be a sickle or other farming implement resting against a tree.

A "Korus Dragon" is a green or earthy brown dragon covered in vines.

Greymoria: I haven't made up on mind on this one. There are SO MANY symbols tied to magic that it's hard to choose. Also, Greymoria's followers are factionalized by their flavor of magic. The pro-wizard's faction would favor a book as the symbol (in fact they call themselves the Keepers of the Book), the pro-sorcerer faction would favor draconic imagery, and the pro-warlock faction would favor mysterious sigils and runes. Greymoria is also the Mother of Monsters. Fangs or claws could be a viable symbol.

A "Greymoria dragon" would be wiry, have intelligent eyes and an ambient mystical aura.

Zarthus: Zarthus is the moon god, so most of his symbols would be stylistic protrayals of the moon. He is also the patron of arts and music so you might see a moon shaped musical instrument. He is also the god of righteous retribution, so it's common to mix weapons with moon imagery. His artistic symbols and benign stuff is usually associated with the waxing moon and his weaponry and violent imagery is usually associated with the waning moon.

A "Zarthus dragon" would shimmer like moonlight and probably arange itself in a crescent orientation.

Nami: Nami's clergy are known as the Rovers on the WInd. Three wavy lines can represent wind. More complicated imagery could involve any weather. Rainbows, clouds, rain drops, lightning bolts, tornadoes, etc.

A "Nami dragon" would probably be made out of storm clouds or surrounded by lightning.

Maylar: Elegant in it's simplicity, Maylar's symbol is a blood soaked spear though other bloody images are acceptable. Maylar is also the Father of Disease so his more subtle followers would favor iconography like vultures or emaciated faces.

A "Maylar dragon" would probably be muscular covered in blood unless it was a dragon of sickness in which case it would be sickly and emaciated.

I'm not 100% set on sacred animals yet, but here is what I have if only so I can figure out who responds to summoning spells.

Mera Dove/Bat Dog
Hallisan Eagle Lion
Zarthus Owl Cat
Korus Hawk Noble Wolf
Khemra Kite Leopard
Nami Zephyr Mongoose
Greymoria Raven Polecat
Phidas Magpie Fox
Maylar Vulture Hyena/bloody wolf

For simplicity, there is one generic set of stats for flying summoned spirits and ground based summoned spirits. The differences between the deities are purely cosmetic. So Hallisan's Guardians would summon normal sized lions and Zarthus' Lanterns would summon extremely large house cats.

 

Here is a very crude map of Fumaya. The borders are probably less uniform. Real borders tend to follow landmarks which are rarely this universal. For instance the lands of House Polnoc could loop around and share a tiny bit of border with House Frymar's lands.

Even this crude map can help me add depth to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw (along with eventually name changes). An ancestor in Hufflepuff's ruling house maybe could have had an illicit love affair with a wood elf at some point in the past. Ravenclaw could have taken in an influx of refugees from an ethnicity that Synfaredia displaced and now left without a homeland in generations past.

 

They didn't just bum rush him.

Since the Nine normally fed Turoch tributes of souls, A plan was made to poison him. Greymoria created the spiritual poison by torturing mutiliating thousands of souls, so that they would weaken him when consumed.

Phidas delivered the poison. He was also the first one Turoch retaliated against.

Korus convinced the Nine to join forces in the first place.

Khemra drafted the plan for the Nine's cooperation, known as the Compact.

Mera shielded the bulk of the world's mortal souls so they could repopulate the world after the Rebellion.

Zarthus claims he came up with the poisoning idea but not the horrific method. He also battled the Traitor in single combat. The Traitor is a servant of Turoch who remained loyal. Before the Traitor, "the Nine" were actually "the Ten."

Hallisan led the frontal assault, leading an army of souls into battle. Most of these souls died but the survivors gained a tiny portion of Turoch's essence and became the first dragons.

Nami arbritarily altered the Nine's battle plan at the last minute. This meant that when the Traitor tried to rat out the Nine, her information seemed false.

Maylar held back most of the battle, and even played possum for a while, but he ended up sucker punching Turoch and scoring the killimg blow.

Yes, but for game balance, every one of the Nine needs at least one aquatic minion.

 

I certainly like Osprey better than dove. I don't know about fighting seals though. As for why I didn't make a nautical summoning creatures, my gaming group certainly has the attitude that it's better to learn by doing and jump in fixing problems as they come up with. If they didn't say "Let's just make characters and try this out." I would have probably spent a year developing rules and stats before we started.

Because the players were uninterested in playing Salty Dog characters, but they do like playing wilderness savvy characters, I started the game in a landloced country and didn't bother to develop many aquatic creatures.

I did make a couple aquatic creatures associated with Mera but they aren't commonly summoned.

 

Maybe, but the Demons didn't have names amongst themselve, but their enemies gave them names. Names are important for me to keep track of different groups.

What the mahrlect is Aubergine? I am a biological male so I'm still stuck on on the eight colors in my first box of crayons. Don't ask me what mauve is either.

(I'm sure I can google these things but I'll forget it in five minutes)

I like the idea of nine different groups. The Demon Lords sort of fit that model. There were eight Demon Lords. Scholars believe that most of them had personalities mirroring one of the Nine. Which means a lot of doomsayers are waiting for the ninth Demon Lord to show up fashionably late.

Good call.

Barely sapient lumbering monster was what trolls were for most of D&D. The Order of the Stick comic had gods arguing over trolls showcasing the rich mytholgical history of trolls.

"I think trolls should be hardworking blacksmiths, toiling away underground to forge magical weapons."

"No, trolls should be vile monsters living under bridges and harassing goats!"

"You're both wrong! Trolls should be tiny wrinkled men with big poofy hair collected by old women!"


I am thinking either dumb lumbering monsters (the Fae Courts can probably use a few lumbering monsters) or skilled blacksmiths (they can certainly use skilled blacksmiths).

 

The top three villains in Fumaya's Crime Syndicate

They each are advanced a fair bit above starting level PCs.

Etch

As a youth, the doppelganger Etch was a late bloomer into developing his/her shape changing abilities. When s/he took on disguises they would often slip at inopportune moments and this led to him/her getting bullied and beaten up, in some cases nearly killed while shouting at him/her that Etch was a “demon lover.” Foolish humans, don’t they realize that the doppelgangers rid themselves of the Infernalist race traitors centuries ago?

Etch wasn’t satisfied hiding in the system and merely surviving. Etch wanted to make the humans and other mono-forms pay for their crimes against doppelganger kind. Through hard work, Etch perfected his/her shape-changing powers. Other doppelgangers said Etch was being foolhardy. Etch ended up in Fumaya because it has relatively few doppelgangers and it represented a weak human government that would be easy to exploit.

Etch mostly impersonated poor people who were invisible to their betters in society, but being invisible let Etch gain knowledge and knowledge is power. Through a variety of guises, Etch became the leading underworld figure in Fumaya.

Etch’s proudest achievement is simultaneously becoming Fumaya’s two greatest crimelords (who of course are bitter rivals). Kroket Caskfoot, an outcast Dwarf and Bledig, a disowned Swynfaredian who was beaten and abused and thrown out for having no sorcerous talent. Most of his minions believe they work for Caskfoot or Bledig. If Etch needs to cut a minion loose, said minion will invariably die on the orders of his boss’ rival.

Etch’s other favorite aliases include Ablinka, a lowly human serving wench. Tadeas, surly human laborer/low level enforcer, and Vasati, an attractive and flirtatious but seemingly naïve wood elf maiden on Rumspringa. I might throw in more aliases as needed but I’m assuming Etch can manifest twenty different aliases with a short realistic backstory if needed.

Spoiler: Etch's Stats (repost)

Willpower 7 Lethal Soak
Dexterity 4, Strength 3, Stamina 3, Appearance 4, Charisma 3, Manipulation 4, Intelligence 3, Perception 3, Wits 3
Simple Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Dodge 3, Empathy 1, Etiquette 3, Intimidation 3, Leadership 2, Stealth 2, Subterfuge 3
Abilities: Archery 1, Commerce 1, Hearth Wisdom 1, Investigation 2, Law 2, Medicine 1, Melee 3, Seneschal 1, Survival 1
Specialized Abilities: Expression 1, Performance (acting) 3, Ride 1
Rare Abilities: Escape Artist 3
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarf
Merits: Doppleganger, Guild Member

Vusnitt

Vusnitt is a native to Uskala. He was a very brainy gnome but compared to the average gnome, Vusnitt lacked his race’s famous silver tongue. He didn’t like subtlety. He got a merit based scholarship to Uskala’s wizarding school though he still graduated with a lot of debt.

Most gnome wizards specialize in illusions. Illusions are cute and all but what really interested Vusnitt was the school of Enchantment. Why bother using your silver tongue to convince someone to do what you want when you can use charm magic to force people to do what you want. He paid off his school loans by talking people into handing him their money.

Eventually, this caught up with him. For a while he avoided punishment by bribing or magically charming authority figures but eventually the entire gnome quarter rose against him as one and made a stink to the authority figures and demanded he be brought to justice. Vusnitt managed to escape thanks to illusion spells which he avoid casting for so long, his enemies didn’t even realize he could do it.

Life as a fugitive forced him to learn subtlety. Vusnitt made tracks to Swynfaredia and then to Fumaya where he opted to keep a low profile and use his charm magic sparingly. He caught Etch’s eye and was brought into his/her criminal empire. Eventually, Etch revealed its true form to Vusnitt (he had already deduced Krocket and Bledig were not truly rivals).

Vusnitt’s weakness is that he is an outcast gnome. He put hundreds of miles between him and the authority figures who wanted to arrest him, so he is no longer a hunted gnome but to be safe he avoids other gnomes and he learned to fake a Fumayan accent. Gnomes are incorrigible gossips. They don’t know what Vusnitt did but they have an inkling that Vusnitt is on the run from his past, so the gnome community is keeping tabs on him. If the PCs or the local authority figures are able to identify Vusnitt as a member of the crime syndicate, his fellow gnomes will be able to report on his movements in great detail.

Spoiler: Vusnitt Stats

Vusnitt
Willpower 7
Dexterity 2, Strength 2, Stamina 2, Appearance 2, Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Intelligence 4, Perception 3, Wits 4
Simple Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 1, Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 2, Empathy 2, Etiquette 2, Intimidation 2, Leadership 2, Legerdemain 2, Stealth 3, Subterfuge 3
Trained Abilities: Commerce 3, Hearth Wisdom 1, History 1, Investigation 3, Law 1, Melee 1, Seneschal 2, Survival 1
Specialized Abilities: Expression (oratory) 1, Ride (horses) 1
Rare Abilities: Arcana 1, Spellcraft 3, Use Magic Device 2
Casting Attributes: Divination 2, Enchantment 3, Illusion 2
Merits: Specialist Enchantment Magic (5), Practiced Silent Caster (3), Scribe Scroll (1), Guild Member (3),
Flaws: Book Bound Caster (2), Marked Outlaw (4), Outcast Gnome (2)
Spells: Divination: (1) Detect Magic, Identify (2) Clairvoyance/Clairaudience, Detect Thoughts
Enchantment: (1) Charm, Sleep, Compulsion, (2) Despair, Hold, (3) Dominate, Geas, Heroism
Illusion: (1) Blur, Ventriloquism, Ghost Sounds, (2) Invisibility, Noisy Image

Wenham
Wenham was an orphan or abandoned child growing up on the hard streets. He eventually fell in with a band of pick pockets under the ironfisted rule of a Fagin-like petty crime lord. After a few years of living through that misery, Wenham murdered his gang’s boss and took over.

His combination of cunning and ruthlessness made him one of the most powerful and feared thieves in Fumaya. Although he had respect and fear, he rarely had wealth. Eventually attracting Etch’s attention. Armed with Etch’s insider information and connections, Wenham is enjoying a higher life style than he ever had. In return he is Etch’s top enforcer.

Wenham is a ruthless bastard, but he has one weakness which he sees as a strength. His original crew of child pickpockets, now adults. They are his brothers. His loyalty to Etch is conditional on the welfare of his brothers.

Spoiler: Wenham Stats

Wenham
Willpower 8
Dexterity 4, Strength 4, Stamina 4, Appearance 2, Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Intelligence 2, Perception 3, Wits 3
Simple Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 1, Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Dodge 4, Empathy 1, Etiquette 1, Intimidation 3, Leadership 3, Legerdemain 3, Stealth 4, Subterfuge 1
Trained Abilities: Archery 3, Commerce 1, Investigation 1, Medicine 2, Melee 3, Seneschal 1, Survival 3
Specialized Abilities: Ride (horse) 2
Rare Abilities: Escape Artist 2, Use Magic Device 1
Merits: Guild Member (3), Light Sleeper (1), Sneak Attack! (5)

I'm open to feedback, espcially for Etch. I feel like I need to give Etch a weakness. Etch is not prideful. Etch wants true power, not the trappings of power. Many dopplegangers, once they gain the ability to mimick beautiful rich people, they refuse to impersonate ugly poor people. Etch doesn't have this problem.

But I need to give Etch some kind of character flaw, or a line s/he won't cross, or a tiny semblance of honor. The other two have those things, but I feel like Etch lacks a solid character definition (pun!). All doppelgangers share a weakness that they get dizzy and have severe headaches on the night of the full moon if they are wearing a form other than their true form, but most doppelgangers can get around this by simply staying in that night. I need a personal weakness limited to Etch.


Next I need to figure out who who the midtier crime figures are. Most/all of the midtier characters will be unaware they are working for a sneaky doppelganger. Some of them would turn on Etch in a second if a character could prove their boss is a doppelganger. Doppelgangers are pretty universally loathed.

I'm a big fan of Quark in Star Trek DS9, so I'm going to try to make a loveable scoundrel Kenku. Kenku are crow people, don't have a lot of fluff in D&D so I'm reimagining them as non-lecherous Fereghi.

 

I mean more about a character weakness or shortcoming.

Something like that but I figure doppelgängers would have mores against harming their own kind and this is unlikely to come up.

Phobias are good. I need to mull over what is an appropriate and interesting phobia.

It's pretty but I don't want a random map generator. I want a planned map.

 

I decided to stop using Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff as placeholders. Here are the last two major houses of Fumaya to round out the cast.

Spoiler: House Nerozik (formerly Ravenclaw)

House Nerozik
(Nerozik is a mangling of the Polish word for corner)

Formerly I facetiously called this “House Ravenclaw.” I guess I can keep that going and have their sigil be a raven. While very few of House Nerozik studies wizardry now, their house founder was a powerful wizard and ravens are often associated with arcane powers. Their lands are the southwest corner of Fumaya. Being on the corner means they are exposed to more foreigners. They border Swynfaredia, the Border Barons, and Meckelorn.

Lord Narcyz is a good man who wants the best for his people and his king but he is not a strong man and lacks confidence. His advisors basically run his realm because he agrees with whatever they say. The Guardians basically control his armed forces, his seneschal handles most day-to-day decisions. Fortunately his advisors are good people. If his advisors slipped or were replaced by less moral people, Lord Narcyz probably wouldn’t notice. All of his vassals are very concerned about the Swynfaredian threat on their southern border. His vassals are split between the Hawk and Escapist camp though most Escapists are pretending to be hawks.

House Deorac is a lesser noble house, their blood line can be found in nearly every region of Fumaya but the lion’s share of them are banner men or knights serving House Nerozik. More than a few Nerozik’s have Deorac blood in them. House Deorac used to be the royal family of Talama, a small kingdom that used to border Fumaya until it was annexed by Swynfaredia nearly two hundred years ago. The Deorac family members that didn’t flee to Fumaya mostly were killed. Those who carry the Deorac blood in their veins hate and fear the Swynfaredians.

(Deorac is a mangling of the Gaelic word “exile” and Talama is likewise based on the Gaelic word for land. I’m going to give most Talaman descendants a mix of Polish and Gaelic names.

Lord Sanyi Deorac is the most charismatic and influential of House Nerozik’s vassals and the de facto leader of the “Hawk” faction. He is also a fairly powerful wizard. His branch of the family hired as many wizard tutors as they could for generations figuring the family needed a magical counter to Swynfaredia’s sorcerers. If you live in an echo chamber where you hear about Swynfaredian’s stole your family’s land, murdered your great-great grand parents, and also oppressed wizards despite their superiority to sorcerers you suddenly have a bunch of lords and ladies that really hate the Swynfaredians. They are looking forward to a war with Swynfaredia because they want revenge.

Lord Kade Spadoch is the second most influential of House Nerozik’s banner men and he is a lot more subtle. While his mother’s family was Deorac and he has a little bit of wizards training, but he is otherwise the complete opposite of his cousin Lord Sanyi. His hatred of the Swynfaredians is overpowered by fear of them. He would never dream of conspiring with the Swynfaredians and he hopes Fumaya can hold off any Swynfaredia, but he is making plans to leave and he is aiding others who wish to do the same. The escapists plan is to seek immediate shelter in the Border Barons. Then keep going west and try to find asylum in Kantoc. They are planning to take a lot of gold with them. Maybe they can parley their noble blood and money into a position of some influence in Kantoc.

But wait, there is more. Lord Narcyz’s wife, Lady Kalina, was unfaithful in her youth with multiple men and most of their children are probably not his, but Lord Narcyz is blissfully ignorant. Do you know who isn’t ignorant about this, Etch.

Etch (through intermediaries of course) has been blackmailing her. Etch also quietly dispatched most if not all the courtiers that also knew of this, including the very spy who brought this to his/her attention. Etch hasn’t asked for much, mostly for innocuous information about the court’s day to day dealings, but he he’s keeping Lady Kalina’s secret as an ace in the hole.

Spoiler: House Palbuc (formerly Hufflepuff)

House Palbuc

The lands formerly called Hufflepuff are at the toe of Fumaya’s boot, so I’m basing the ruling house there for from the Polish word for “toe” and “boot.” Because they used to be Hufflepuff I might as well make their sigil a badger.

House Palbuc claims to have the blood of a wood elf princess in their veins but that was many centuries ago. Palbuc are very human and the wood elves deny this connection citing the many contradictory love stories as evidence that it was fabricate. Never the less, the lands of House Palbuc share more border with Loren then with Swynfaredia.

House Palbuc’s lands are a bit more forested than the rest of Fumaya and the people of the land claim to have a greater kinship with the land than the rest of Fumaya. Wood elf visitors on rumpsringa claim this is extremely exaggerated. They are no better or worse than other humans. Wood elves in general are not hostile to House Palbuc but they are far short of friendly.

Lord Vern of House Palbuc is only sixteen. He is of good moral character and has a keen mind but he is of course hampered by inexperience. He doesn’t know that his uncle Lord Farzin actually killed his father by hiring an iterant Maylar priest to afflict him with a terrible disease while he was on a hunting trip and far away from any divine healer.

He was planning a subtle means to kill his nephew before Vern could sire an heir, but now that Synfaredia is saber rattling on the southern border Lord Farzin does not want to be Lord of Palbuc right now. Ideally this situation with Swynfaredia will blow over but not until after Lord Vern tragically dies in battle against the Swynfaredian menace. He is advising his beloved nephew that he needs to openly show strength and fight besides his men. He is also advising that sixteen is too young to think about marriage and he should wait for the Swynfareidan issue to be resolved before seeking a bride.

House Palbuc has a unique resource/ally. They have the only bishopric in Fumaya. A Bishopric is a province that is ruled by the church, in this case the Church of Korus. Technically the bishopric is a direct vassal of King Henryk, but possession is nine tenths of the law and they are surrounded by the lands of House Palbuc. The bishopric is primarily used as training temple. New recruits for all of Fumaya, parts of Swynfaredia, and even a few rare recruits from Loren come here to train before being sent out to other temples. Because the specialty magic of this temple is Plant magic, acre per acre, the bishopric provides way more food than the second most fertile lands.

The bishopric’s leader High Stewardess Brynn (might have to come up with a better title than High Stewardess) is a Swynfaredian by birth but she spent most of her life at the Bishopric and considers herself a Fumayan now. She is outwardly apolitical but her sympathies lie with Fumaya against Swynfaredian aggression. As a high ranking priestess of Korus, she has a much easier time entering Loren peacefully than almost any other human. She is trying and failing to get some kind of support from Loren pointing out that if Swynfaredia takes over Fumaya, that Loren will be the next most tempting target for future expansion. It’s something of a slippery slope argument but she also postulates that if Swynfaredia carves a piece from Loren’s southern lands, this will embolden Uskala to try to take a piece of their eastern lands.

So every house has concerns caused by geography and external features and ever House has personal problems and some form of dirty laundry or moral failings holding them back.


EDIT: I think I'm going to give Etch a phobia of large crowds because it makes him/her think of angry mobs.