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Goopy

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@MaXenzie i feel like you need to share some of the crazy shit that occurred in Midsummer Stakes, and tell @Goopy about the coterie

Sure, we had some trouble with a few people flaking, but our core coterie was and story was:

Setting is Istanbul under Camarilla control. An archeological dig site has opened up some tunnels and has been drawing some Kindred in and they haven't been returning. Kine have yet to go into the tunnels as they're going through the slow process of recovering, cleaning, databasing and storing artefacts from the dig. The Prince wanted our coterie to be the final ones down.

River Guile, 9th gen Ravnos, we're playing V5 but ST made it so my bane is instead that I like taking things. River was a Dutch delivery driver in life, though after stealing a small black vial of Zappys' blood from a Ventrue, they were chased into the Americas were they were Sired. The Guile name gave River limited immunity from this Ventrue in undeath. River ran a courier business within Istanbul, still a neonate this was a way to prove to their Sire that they were a worthy embrace - and most importantly to the Guile family, a family of largely sectless Ravnos who survived Zappys' awakening (individual members still align themselves to sects, but the family is spread-out through them) and now devout themselves to artefact keeping and making sure elders stay sleeping and in check. (The Guiles were an ST family he's used throughout multiple chronicles and other players have played as. It was fun)

Marjorie was a Gangrel from the Americas, embraced shortly after The Great War. She was an archeologist by trade, and wounded up in Istanbul with her partner, because there's a lot more artefacts in Istanbul than there is in America. Her and River heisted a few artefacts that came from the dig site from a museum were they were being processed. One of these artefacts was a golden goblet, which we later found to be possessed by a spirit. Only Marjorie could hear this spirit, and the rest of us thought she was going insane, until a Garou Pack (An uneasy truce between Kindred and Garou in the city) assured her she was not. Marjorie affectionally called the cup Cuppy.

Our final "permanent" member, who was only there for two or three sessions was a Malkavian, who's name I forget. He spoke with a very heavy Eastern European accent (think Romanian) but swore on his heart he was from Connecticut. He had thought he was the reincarnation of Michael (both the vampire Michael and Archangel, because they're basically the same).

We also had four flakes, including:

A Banu Haqim. His player was from Turkey (we're all in NA). He signed up saying he didn't know it would be hosting at 4am his time (the discord plugin showed his local time, which would have been 4am). He said he'll be able to make it, he pinky promises. He did not show up for the first session, messages us later he was asleep.

A Tzimisce called Kazimov with a lot of money in local real estate. He had Mads Mikkelsen as a face claim so we had a lot of nice gifs to use for him. His contribution was disguising himself as a sexy lady to get us to break into the museum.

A thin-blood called Beckett, he was a member of a punk band and was struggling to balance his mortal life and his undead life. We got into a conflict with the SI and the player never arrived for the next session and was unresponsive so they got kidnapped by the SI.

A tremere who I forget the name of. She was there for a session and was entirely irrelevant.

The highlight was when we got told by the Malkavian Primogen to find a group in the market district so we could decipher the meaning of the Cuppy. Turns out the group was one of my clients (the Kinfolk, River moved around battle supplies for). He takes us deeper into the market, and into their Caern. We were met with 3 large Garou, in their war forms, surrounded by their kinfolk. Only one of them spoke to us. She had told us that she will share what she knows of the Cuppy Spirit if we help her and her kin. A brother of theirs had fallen victim to corruption, and they know he must be in pain from it, even if he can not ask for help. We must go and hunt him down, and put him out of his misery, for the Caern can't afford to by themselves.

If no one has an idea of the other WoD splats, Garou are these big werewolf boys. They don't like Vampires, Vampires are filled with the scent of a force that seeks to destroy the Earth (The Wyrm, it is a corrupter). Garou also bodies Vampires generally on a 1v10 basis (until Vampires get insanely old).

The Pack sent their finest warrior to help us, a Crinos by the name of Stalks-The-Night. We left the market together (with him in good boy form) and found where Knightmare was hiding out. An old warehouse covered in taint, filled with Fomori (humans infected and possessed by Banes, spirits of the Wyrm. Beckett, Marjorie and STK went in the front, whilst I went up top. My character wasn't much a fighter.

As they fight their way through Fomori on the lower levels, I'm stalking the upper floors by myself. Marjorie got the approval of STK and we eternally shipped them together afterwards. On the upper floor, I eventually find a strange egg, surrounded by a cancerous mass of withering tendrils and rot. I leave it alone for the time being, and I find Knightmare, and he finds me. The fun thing about being Ravnos is you're entirely useless in combat. I tried my best to make him hallucinate the ground falling beneath him, and it worked, but that made him really angry. STK came soaring up and tackled him to the ground, and I just used some more hallucinations to make it seem like other Garou from his pact were there. The fight between Knightmare and STK was looking bad so I destroyed the egg, we all got transported to the Umbra and then we got to see a cage fight between two big dogs. STK came out on top and then we tried to go home, I recall stealing something from Knightmare.

The commotion attracted Hunters which is where we lost Beckett.

From that the Garou gave Marjorie the ability to communicate properly with Cuppy and to describe the nature of the spirit itself. It turned out every time she spoke to Cuppy, Cuppy died a little.

It's very atypical for Vamps and Garou to work together, but we all enjoyed it so ehhhhh.

The chronicle ended when we began the descent into the dig. As we prepare outside of it, we all go unconscious and have some fun flash back time. My flashback was on a pirate ship, we were raiding a royal merchant boat, and I had to direct it. Turns out I was having visions from the first Guile and that was also fun. Whoever put us through the visions wanted us to learn from them, but I enjoyed just being a pirate who can't tell the different between port and starboard.

We wake up from these visions further into the crypt, the Malkavian gets visions of three white rabbits running from a snake. Spooky. We enter the main crypt to see cultists standing of a slumbering body of a very old elder. The elder was the one who sent us the visions and bought us here. The cultists tried to convince us to stop, we didn't listen, Beckett (the Beckett) was there, and we won the fight. Cuppy was the friend to the sleeping elder in their mortal days (the elder had a lost discipline type), and was happy to finally be reunited with her. She dispersed after that.

My character believed the elder should go to the Guile family, it is their duty to keep these beings in watch. Marjorie believed it should go to the Prince, her conviction telling her the job isn't done until she's in his hands. The Malk sided with Marjorie. River this whole time saw the Prince as a victim of Gehenna, that's why he was so hell-bent on getting to the Methuselah and that's why he shouldn't be trusted with the elder - after all the Prince also never really said we needed to bring the elder to him, but just to make sure the situation remains secure.

A schism broke out, one of my convictions meant I had to uphold the Guile family name. I wasn't going to win a fight with a Gangrel, no matter if the Malk was there or not. So I tried to aim for a power up. My plan was to drink The Blood of Mary (Jesus' mum) and then my Zappy blood. I had a roll for the Blood of Mary, failed and ended up KO'd from it. They took the body back to the Prince, the coterie dissolved, we all got major boons, and that was the end of the chronicle.

I know you just asked for the coterie but there's that.

e: i also ghouled one of the archeologists and he kept on having a problem with not being able to stop drinking my blood, so i took him out to a bridge, killed him, emptied his bank account to a random contact of his and dumped his body off of the side. ate a humanity loss for that one.

e41f3ef4a6008b71aee8d96b975ad858.png
 
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Goopy

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I love those interactive novels.
My guilty pleasure.
The most recent and currently I think the favourite series is the Infinity Saga by Paul Wang
So, Sabres of Infinity Guns of Infinity And Lords of Infinity.
You basically play as a officer part of the Royal Dragoons, a cavalry unit, taking part of a war. And its a mix of line infantry with swords and shields and then musket guns. Its a really good universe. And the books are all around really engaging story.
I also read 'I, the Forgotten One'. Where you lead an army during a Civil War. But its super dark and deals with brutality of war and family trauma etc. But its well written and currently my favourite novel.

Though, only VTM one I've read is 'Out for Blood'. And I have 'Night Road' in my library unread.
I've also played through Coteries of New York.. though I don't think that wasn't really my taste.
I do want to get into VTM too tho.. but I just feel there is too many books to get to start. So I'm just finishing up my current collections.

I don't have the guts for a lot of interactive novels, but I really enjoyed Parliament of Knives. People say Night Road is the best one (and its certainly quality) but Parliament of Knives beat it out for me.

Coteries of New York was very very very lacking, but the loose sequel Shadows of New York was a lot better and your actions felt impactful. Give it a shot.

VTM, especially V5 is insanely easy to get into and you only need the core books for it.

e: why don't posts auto-merge anymore
 
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Rabid

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I don't have the guts for a lot of interactive novels, but I really enjoyed Parliament of Knives. People say Night Road is the best one (and its certainly quality) but Parliament of Knives beat it out for me.

Coteries of New York was very very very lacking, but the loose sequel Shadows of New York was a lot better and your actions felt impactful. Give it a shot.

VTM, especially V5 is insanely easy to get into and you only need the core books for it.

e: why don't posts auto-merge anymore
V5's genuinely super fun. Some questionable design decisions initially but the books and erreta have really made up for that.
 
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Goopy

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V5's genuinely super fun. Some questionable design decisions initially but the books and erreta have really made up for that.

there's a few things i don't like (signature disciplines being turned into amalgams) but it's genuinely such a beginner friendly game with some strong mechanics (i LOVE hunger die). i'm forever thankful for finding it, never again will i touch dnd.
 
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MaXenzie

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alright so i need some bastards to stress test my setting by interrogating me about it

1,000 years ago, the God of the sun and light died mysteriously. The sun disappeared. All light, anything that could create light, ceased to do so. Fires were now dancing flames in pitch-blackness. Torches were sticks with hot orange tips.
The only thing that can create light is The Oil, which is something the God of the sun created thousands of years ago, which still maintains its ability to light true fires that give off light. The Oil is guarded jealously, and many adventurers delve into tombs, crypts, and dungeons to acquire more of it.
Almost every town, city, and group of people have their own lantern, lit by Oil.
Everyone needs this light, for monsters live in dark, and have had a thousand years to get acclimated to life in utter pitch-black.
And now, 1,000 years later, some of those monsters aren't afraid of the Light.
 
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pimley

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alright so i need some bastards to stress test my setting by interrogating me about it

1,000 years ago, the God of the sun and light died mysteriously. The sun disappeared. All light, anything that could create light, ceased to do so. Fires were now dancing flames in pitch-blackness. Torches were sticks with hot orange tips.
The only thing that can create light is The Oil, which is something the God of the sun created thousands of years ago, which still maintains its ability to light true fires that give off light. The Oil is guarded jealously, and many adventurers delve into tombs, crypts, and dungeons to acquire more of it.
Almost every town, city, and group of people have their own lantern, lit by Oil.
Everyone needs this light, for monsters live in dark, and have had a thousand years to get acclimated to life in utter pitch-black.
And now, 1,000 years later, some of those monsters aren't afraid of the Light.
pimley live in dark
 
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Warwick

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alright so i need some bastards to stress test my setting by interrogating me about it

1,000 years ago, the God of the sun and light died mysteriously. The sun disappeared. All light, anything that could create light, ceased to do so. Fires were now dancing flames in pitch-blackness. Torches were sticks with hot orange tips.
The only thing that can create light is The Oil, which is something the God of the sun created thousands of years ago, which still maintains its ability to light true fires that give off light. The Oil is guarded jealously, and many adventurers delve into tombs, crypts, and dungeons to acquire more of it.
Almost every town, city, and group of people have their own lantern, lit by Oil.
Everyone needs this light, for monsters live in dark, and have had a thousand years to get acclimated to life in utter pitch-black.
And now, 1,000 years later, some of those monsters aren't afraid of the Light.
My variant human Twilight Cleric who took the Eldritch Adept feat for Devil Sight not wondering what all the fuss is about
 
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Sil

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alright so i need some bastards to stress test my setting by interrogating me about it

1,000 years ago, the God of the sun and light died mysteriously. The sun disappeared. All light, anything that could create light, ceased to do so. Fires were now dancing flames in pitch-blackness. Torches were sticks with hot orange tips.
The only thing that can create light is The Oil, which is something the God of the sun created thousands of years ago, which still maintains its ability to light true fires that give off light. The Oil is guarded jealously, and many adventurers delve into tombs, crypts, and dungeons to acquire more of it.
Almost every town, city, and group of people have their own lantern, lit by Oil.
Everyone needs this light, for monsters live in dark, and have had a thousand years to get acclimated to life in utter pitch-black.
And now, 1,000 years later, some of those monsters aren't afraid of the Light.
Interrogation time

1. Does the light created by The Oil allow for plant growth? If no, how are people sustaining themselves foodwise? If yes, are there specific lanterns designed for plant growth or is it a case where there's a circle of druids who make use of the oil for it?
2. With the lacking sun, have people struggled with things like eyesight and vitamin deficiencies, or have there been alternatives/substitutions people have found to get around those issues (i.e. a cultural focus on hearing/echolocation over sight, the growth/harvest of vitamin-providing produce, etc.)
3. In a mechanical/damage based scenario, does the oil do Radiant damage, Fire damage, both, or a unique type of damage?
4. Would monsters that aren't afraid of the light still have weaknesses to it, or have they developed a resistance to it?
5. Is The Oil a finite resource, thus the only way of acquisition is through effectively tomb raiding, or is there something out there that's producing The Oil (either something people are vaguely aware of through things like rumours or a well-kept secret of the world that only the most persistent of adventurers would find out)
6. Are spells that produce light (Moonbeam, Dawn, Sunbeam, Sunburst, the Light cantrip and others that do Radiant Damage) still working or do those spells specifically fail to cast? If they do fail to cast, is this something you'll warn the players of beforehand or not, as there's the potential risk of wasting high level spell slots
7. Do different planes (ethereal, abyss, outland, etc.) still have access to 'light' or has it completely disappeared across the entire multiverse?
 
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MaXenzie

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My variant human Twilight Cleric who took the Eldritch Adept feat for Devil Sight not wondering what all the fuss is about
glowing-eyes-billy-butcher.gif


1. Does the light created by The Oil allow for plant growth? If no, how are people sustaining themselves foodwise? If yes, are there specific lanterns designed for plant growth or is it a case where there's a circle of druids who make use of the oil for it?

plants are basically a foreign concept by now, people have reverted to hunting, predominantly at the edges of town where the light is dim and some of monsters in the dark are relatively weak and still edible. think giant monstrous wolves or insects, etc

2. With the lacking sun, have people struggled with things like eyesight and vitamin deficiencies, or have there been alternatives/substitutions people have found to get around those issues (i.e. a cultural focus on hearing/echolocation over sight, the growth/harvest of vitamin-providing produce, etc.)

there's a group of people who worship the Blind God who've purposefully blinded themselves and are capable of "seeing" in the dark, beyond that, everyone is reliant on the holy light to see
in terms of vitamins, my take is that if Drow and Duergar can survive with 0 sunlight, so can the people in my setting

3. In a mechanical/damage based scenario, does the oil do Radiant damage, Fire damage, both, or a unique type of damage?
it'd probably do both with a "pick whichever they're least resistant to" clause, a la Versatility from pathfinder

4. Would monsters that aren't afraid of the light still have weaknesses to it, or have they developed a resistance to it?
they've developed a resistance enough to fight inside it, but are notably weaker within it
mechanically, the monster will be "normal" inside the light, and immensely buffed outside of it

5. Is The Oil a finite resource, thus the only way of acquisition is through effectively tomb raiding, or is there something out there that's producing The Oil (either something people are vaguely aware of through things like rumours or a well-kept secret of the world that only the most persistent of adventurers would find out)
the oil is finite but plentiful, but acquiring it is very difficult and dangerous, at least, acquiring large amounts of it. adventurers delving into tombs and crypts to find reservoirs of it is the main way, and so people generally mark down where anywhere that could have oil is so they can refer to adventurers for it

6. Are spells that produce light (Moonbeam, Dawn, Sunbeam, Sunburst, the Light cantrip and others that do Radiant Damage) still working or do those spells specifically fail to cast? If they do fail to cast, is this something you'll warn the players of beforehand or not, as there's the potential risk of wasting high level spell slots

yeah i'd ban any spell that exists to create light, like how Ravenloft bans plane shifting

7. Do different planes (ethereal, abyss, outland, etc.) still have access to 'light' or has it completely disappeared across the entire multiverse?
don't think they'd exist in this setting tbh
 
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Sil

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plants are basically a foreign concept by now, people have reverted to hunting, predominantly at the edges of town where the light is dim and some of monsters in the dark are relatively weak and still edible. think giant monstrous wolves or insects, etc
funnily enough for this im studying archaeology at university & the period where this is prominent (mesolithic) is one im a very big fan of, so if you want some interesting concepts to try and incorporate then here's a couple (dont worry if none appeal, all for inspiration)

hunter-gatherer societies would typically hunt nomadically/seasonally, so to ensure they've still got access to food their settlements would often move with packs of animals (like red & roe deer, though more fittingly with this universe probably big ass beetles or giant cockroaches).

if you want to try for a hunter society with mostly permanent settlements, within the settlement have a group of hunters that actively venture out into the dark with lanterns to seek out packs of 'docile' animals (referring back to the big bugs, or possibly some sort of shadow deer/rabbit if you want a game animal that's native to the dark)

alternatively, you could have small pockets on the outskirts of the settlement that are dark but monitored, so if some sort of prey wanders in then the lights can be turned on and the prey hunted down, creating a trapping culture for the hunters

there's a group of people who worship the Blind God who've purposefully blinded themselves and are capable of "seeing" in the dark, beyond that, everyone is reliant on the holy light to see
in terms of vitamins, my take is that if Drow and Duergar can survive with 0 sunlight, so can the people in my setting
Does darkvision still work for those who have access to it, or is the darkness caused by the lack of sun a magical darkness (like the Darkness spell, so darkvision doesn't work but the eldritch invoc Devil Sight does)?

don't think they'd exist in this setting tbh
There's a few spells that make mention of a few planes that could be easy to access, like Blink, Etherealness, and Astral Projection; do you plan on having at least the former 2 work differently or having them not work at all?

the oil is finite but plentiful, but acquiring it is very difficult and dangerous, at least, acquiring large amounts of it. adventurers delving into tombs and crypts to find reservoirs of it is the main way, and so people generally mark down where anywhere that could have oil is so they can refer to adventurers for it
Since the most common place to find reservoirs is tombs and crypts, perhaps The Oil is infact the liquified form of ancient, long-dead people (thus bringing the potential ethical dilemma of is it right to burn the oil knowing it was once a person)

Hope these have helped further, I can ask more questions if you'd like
 
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MaXenzie

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hunter-gatherer societies would typically hunt nomadically/seasonally, so to ensure they've still got access to food their settlements would often move with packs of animals (like red & roe deer, though more fittingly with this universe probably big ass beetles or giant cockroaches).

if you want to try for a hunter society with mostly permanent settlements, within the settlement have a group of hunters that actively venture out into the dark with lanterns to seek out packs of 'docile' animals (referring back to the big bugs, or possibly some sort of shadow deer/rabbit if you want a game animal that's native to the dark)

alternatively, you could have small pockets on the outskirts of the settlement that are dark but monitored, so if some sort of prey wanders in then the lights can be turned on and the prey hunted down, creating a trapping culture for the hunters

all 3 would definitely be viable, I'll make sure settlements fit these archetypes generally

Does darkvision still work for those who have access to it, or is the darkness caused by the lack of sun a magical darkness (like the Darkness spell, so darkvision doesn't work but the eldritch invoc Devil Sight does)?

I'll be removing darkvision (or the ability to see in the dark) as an option for all except 1 particular character type, that being anyone who is devoted to the Blind God, who is blind, but has tremorsense
any spell that would similarly let you see in the dark also wont work
Darkness the spell would be considered one of the most evil spells imaginable since it'd temporarily snuff out the lantern, at least until the carrier of it relocated elsewhere

There's a few spells that make mention of a few planes that could be easy to access, like Blink, Etherealness, and Astral Projection; do you plan on having at least the former 2 work differently or having them not work at all?

not sure yet, will probably need to think on it more in future, if this is gonna be a cosmology or more like Ravenloft wherein there's just the 1 plane and you can't hop anywhere else


Since the most common place to find reservoirs is tombs and crypts, perhaps The Oil is infact the liquified form of ancient, long-dead people (thus bringing the potential ethical dilemma of is it right to burn the oil knowing it was once a person)
not far off my original idea

I can ask more questions if you'd like
yes
 
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Sil

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I'll be removing darkvision (or the ability to see in the dark) as an option for all except 1 particular character type, that being anyone who is devoted to the Blind God, who is blind, but has tremorsense
As an alternative for darkvision, you could replace it with thermal vision so they're able to see things like the Predator

108190-thermal-imaging-front-attachment-gpo-spectra-ti-35-with-monocular.webp


Allowing for the removal of disadvantage against most enemies in the dark, whilst still allowing for some like constructs, the undead, etc. to bypass the thermal vision and get the jump on people.


any spell that would similarly let you see in the dark also wont work
Darkness the spell would be considered one of the most evil spells imaginable since it'd temporarily snuff out the lantern, at least until the carrier of it relocated elsewhere
Interesting. To keep in with how the Darkness spell operates, would that mean that The Oil's fire isn't technically magical (as magic light is able to dissipate the Darkness spell)? It could work in a sense where the light, being the only source of light, means that rather than magical it is instead just a standard element.

Also, for spells that let you see in the dark, there are some that may indirectly cause that (Produce Flame cantrip, Fire Bolt cantrip, really any spell that involves fire in some capacity as well as Prestidigitation and things like Artificer Tinkering or Gnome Tinkering), so would they be outright removed or flavoured in such a way to where the light it produces is so minimal that it only illuminates itself and can't cause other things to catch fire (see the Endothermic Campfires from Don't Starve for a good example of a 'cold fire' mechanically)

not sure yet, will probably need to think on it more in future, if this is gonna be a cosmology or more like Ravenloft wherein there's just the 1 plane and you can't hop anywhere else
There's a few planes that generally overlap, like the Shadowfell and the Feywild; will they still be present in a technical sense but inaccessible from this world, or will they not exist (which if you decide to go that route, a fair few races and monsters will need alternative explanations and/or creature type changes)

You could also have it be where the Darkness is either an embodiment (and infection) of the Shadowfell or with how dangerous it is, the Negative Energy Plane (which means you can have Nightwalkers roaming/lurking in the shadows)

Any questions for me, like for ideas/inspirations/explanations to help with your world?
 
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MaXenzie

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As an alternative for darkvision, you could replace it with thermal vision so they're able to see things like the Predator

108190-thermal-imaging-front-attachment-gpo-spectra-ti-35-with-monocular.webp


Allowing for the removal of disadvantage against most enemies in the dark, whilst still allowing for some like constructs, the undead, etc. to bypass the thermal vision and get the jump on people.

generally the ability to see in the dark (for players at least) will be incredibly rare, since the core concept is that you need to stick around with your party's lantern, have someone carry it, place it down somewhere when fights kick off, and guard it with your life

i think I'll only let the Darkbeasts (or whatever i decide to call the things that live in the dark) be able to innately see in the dark in this world, while the followers of the Blind God have a workaround through what is basically human echolocation

Interesting. To keep in with how the Darkness spell operates, would that mean that The Oil's fire isn't technically magical (as magic light is able to dissipate the Darkness spell)? It could work in a sense where the light, being the only source of light, means that rather than magical it is instead just a standard element.
shit good point
yeah alright i'd probably do away with Darkness too, or make it something that only enemies can use as innate abilities, though only the stronger ones would be able to muster that up

Also, for spells that let you see in the dark, there are some that may indirectly cause that (Produce Flame cantrip, Fire Bolt cantrip, really any spell that involves fire in some capacity as well as Prestidigitation and things like Artificer Tinkering or Gnome Tinkering), so would they be outright removed or flavoured in such a way to where the light it produces is so minimal that it only illuminates itself and can't cause other things to catch fire (see the Endothermic Campfires from Don't Starve for a good example of a 'cold fire' mechanically)
anything that would make light (fire predominantly) still exists, but just doesn't cast light. you can see the fires, but they don't emit any kind of orange glow to them. in this world people have gotten used to fire being a very standalone thing


There's a few planes that generally overlap, like the Shadowfell and the Feywild; will they still be present in a technical sense but inaccessible from this world, or will they not exist (which if you decide to go that route, a fair few races and monsters will need alternative explanations and/or creature type changes)
I'll probably go for entirely custom built races since this is an out-there world, i like worldbuilding my own races and creatures

Any questions for me, like for ideas/inspirations/explanations to help with your world?

so I've discussed with some folks yesterday and we were talking about the religions of this world

notably, 90% of the pantheon is lost, due to the Sun God's death causing them to literally lose sight of the planet. the only gods that can still interact with the world are:
The Blind God, since he never needed to see the planet in the first place
The Moon God, who's still there above the planet, but now no one can see her.
and the Sea God, who lives in the depths of the ocean
The Fire God, who can follow the sound of the forges being worked

i was wondering if there should be more gods, since i'd like potential parties to be religiously diverse
 

Goopy

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notably, 90% of the pantheon is lost, due to the Sun God's death causing them to literally lose sight of the planet. the only gods that can still interact with the world are:
The Blind God, since he never needed to see the planet in the first place
The Moon God, who's still there above the planet, but now no one can see her.
and the Sea God, who lives in the depths of the ocean
The Fire God, who can follow the sound of the forges being worked

i was wondering if there should be more gods, since i'd like potential parties to be religiously diverse

feel like less gods are more. it compliments hopeless settings. i'd go as far as combining blind god and moon god (a god who can not be seen, can not see) or moon god and sea good (tides pulled by the moon).

especially when the worlds been plunged into darkness, people really won't just travel. your lineage going back seven have lived in this town. your great great great grandfather went to move one day. he was found dead.

you can find diversity within how different sects of the religion respond. catholic is different from orthodox, shia to sunni. there's two different hindu sects that practice religion to the same gods drastically differently.
 
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MaXenzie

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feel like less gods are more. it compliments hopeless settings. i'd go as far as combining blind god and moon god (a god who can not be seen, can not see) or moon god and sea good (tides pulled by the moon).

especially when the worlds been plunged into darkness, people really won't just travel. your lineage going back seven have lived in this town. your great great great grandfather went to move one day. he was found dead.

you can find diversity within how different sects of the religion respond. catholic is different from orthodox, shia to sunni. there's two different hindu sects that practice religion to the same gods drastically differently.

oh i had a lot of ideas for sects

the moderates of the blind god are akin to blind seers, uncomfortable in the light, and living on the outskirts of towns where they seem to just avoid whatever wild darkbeasts come their way

the extremists live in the darkest dungeons and crypts, and venture out to purposefully sabotage the oil supplies of settlements, since darkness must be the new normal, and those that cling to light are stuck in their heretical ways
 
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Sil

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so I've discussed with some folks yesterday and we were talking about the religions of this world

notably, 90% of the pantheon is lost, due to the Sun God's death causing them to literally lose sight of the planet. the only gods that can still interact with the world are:
The Blind God, since he never needed to see the planet in the first place
The Moon God, who's still there above the planet, but now no one can see her.
and the Sea God, who lives in the depths of the ocean
The Fire God, who can follow the sound of the forges being worked

i was wondering if there should be more gods, since i'd like potential parties to be religiously diverse
Since there are a fuckton of Divine Domains in D&D, best to pick the domains you want specifically and make gods for them (for mechanical ease at least)

Blind God I'd imagine would be both Trickery and Twilight domain, Moon God also Twilight domain, Sea God could effectively be the Blind God or if you want to go more Lovecraftian then the 'Sea God' could potentially not even be a God at all, but something like an Elder Evil or a Star Spawn Emissary that's so powerful that people revere it as a God; could potentially be Nature domain, or Tempest if you want them to be a storm-producer. Fire God would be a little confusing with the death of the Sun God, so rather than they be a Fire God would probably work better as a Forge God (as there's the Forge Domain) or possibly a War God (both Forge and War Domain) who makes use of the darkness to grow in strength at the perpetual ongoing wars for things like resources.

To make the darkness more scary, having a parallel 'god' that is the darkness could be interesting, giving them the Death & Grave Domains. Allows for a unique approach with necromancy where rather than a focus on zombies and skeletons, Shadows and other less-Luminant beings are the primary undead that populate the spaces
 

Warwick

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I'll be removing darkvision (or the ability to see in the dark) as an option for all except 1 particular character type
How do you plan to re-balance races with this in mind? Some races and sub races (especially the subterranean races such as Drow, Svirfneblin etc) will become significantly nerfed this way
 

pimley

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How do you plan to re-balance races with this in mind? Some races and sub races (especially the subterranean races such as Drow, Svirfneblin etc) will become significantly nerfed this way
hmm... me think too many people see in dark now... NO SAFE FOR PIMLEY!

magic darkness stop grey skin people from seeing how they see same as surface...

me no wizard... me go ask wizard friend.
 
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