The Hand and Eye of Vecna

All this talk of Artifacts has got me thinking about my two favorites: The Hand and Eye of Vecna. I think you'd have to work in order to make a dull campaign with those two things in the spotlight. Think about it this way: if you put those in your campaign, there is going to be some evil dude trying to get his or her hands on them. Now, any villain that is actively seeking to chop off a hand and poke out an eye in order to gain immeasurable power is one bad-ass cat and is sure to make for a memorable villain. I think this one is going on the dock as a future potential campaign. Now, if only I could, you know, get some players....

Artifacts vs. +1 Daggers

Although our preferred play styles and the games we enjoy tend to be very different, Jeff over at Jeff's Gameblog always has great posts that get me thinking about my own play style and campaign setting. In his last post, he mentions Artifacts from an old D&D Supplement and that got me thinking about magic items in general in my own campaigns. I like the idea of doing away with most magic items - the rods, staves, wands, swords, shields and armor, rings, etc. I'd keep single use items like potions and scrolls, but any other magic item I introduced into my game would be an Artifact. So, the +5 Holy Avenger would be in there, and probably some very powerful Wizards Staff, but these would be legendary items that would be much whispered about. They would require an extensive quest in and of themselves to obtain, not just randomly discovered. I'll have to go through all my old DMG's and pick and choose some favorite Artifacts to include and come up with some decent history. 

EDIT: this ties in nicely (for me, not the players) with my Brotherhood of Valar who's duty it is to protect these Artifacts. So not only are magic weapons rare and hard to find, now you've got an entire group of people who's sole purpose is to keep these things out of your hands. 

Asian Flavored Dwarves and Other Race Miscellanea

It just struck me how awful of a fit viking-flavored Dwarves are (oh, that wasn't an awkward phrase or anything). I mean, based on the standard Tolkien Dwarves, they really should have an Asian feel to them. They're isolationist, they cherish honor and honesty above all else, they both have dragon issues (ok, stretching it on that last one, but still, Dragons feature prominently in both cultures). This is all stereotyping quite a bit, and I certainly wouldn't make Dwarves Asian full-out, but just pepper the basic Dwarf with a few things that hint at an Asian influence. 

Also, it always struck me as odd that the original D&D had Elves and Dwarves and Halflings as Classes, instead of Races. But now that I think about it, it would do wonders for a campaign world in which you really wanted to strike home a very specific feel for what those races are. Not only that, but human versatility stands out even more when the other races are only classes and have no choice in their abilities. Something I'll be thinking about. 

Some 2nd Edition love

Second edition has been on my mind a bit recently, and I just need to give it a little love here. It really was an elegant system, despite the flaws it did have. Sure, I'm biased since it was the system I learned D&D on, the system I was introduced to roleplaying games with, but it's been years since I've played 2nd edition and I still come back to it as a favorite. I remember character development just happening without really having to think about it. The classes were archetypal; each having their own "thing" that made them unique. With the advent of 3rd edition, there was a lot of overlap - each class can step of the toes of another class. I realize this was done intentionally so that a party wouldn't be gimped without having a cleric, or a rogue for example, but it makes each of the other classes shine a little less bright because of that. 

But the thing I've been thinking about, the thing that makes me want to play a little 2nd edition again, is the "backwards" rules; rolling under for some things and over for others. The idea of rolling below your stat for an ability check is just great, from a GM stand-point. Think about it: I don't have to come up with some number out thin air like you oft do with 3rd edition and its "Difficulty Check". Just roll under your ability. Need to raise a portcullis? Roll under your Strength. It's a simple, easy mechanic that just makes the GM's job easier. 

Now, I wonder if you could make a new Saving Throw chart, based off the old one, that could reverse Saving Throws so that you roll under for them too? Like subtract the listed number from 20 and that's the new number you have to roll under. That way it's one more thing that is "roll under" so as to be a little more uniform. I doubt there's anything to be done for combat, though, high rolls are still good there and I don't think anything can be done about that. Not that I'd want to anyway. Imagine the amount of "20's" you'd roll if suddenly "1" was a critical hit? That's tantamount to gamer sacrilege. 

[Aeonia] Influence

I got to thinking the other night, trying to solidify the direction of where Aeonia is going and the perfect analogy came to me: It's Ravenloft as GMed by Guillermo Del Toro. Take Pan's Labyrinth and smoosh it into Ravenloft and you'd have Aeonia. While an exciting concept (to me anyway), it really just made me depressed because it looks now like all I need to do is run Ravenloft and sprinkle on extra Fey. It sort of makes all the work I've been doing kind of obsolete. 

But even if it does, it's probably still a good mental exercise. 

[Aeonia] History

I'm taking a different tact than most people probably would when building their homebrew campaign setting. Instead of detailing a long and sordid history of my world, I'm....not. Basically, I don't care what happened in this world before my PC's get into this world; what I care about is what happens after they get dropped into it. Several advantages here:

• If ever I need to have history, I can make up whatever I want without having to worry about it clashing with what history I would have already had. 
• I don't waste my time with things that don't end up being used or is not important to the players.

Mostly it comes down to laziness - that and not having a whole lot of time to think about these things in the first place. I want to pencil just enough details into the world to have some jumping-off points for the players; they can fill in the rest of the details in play. 

Next up: I want to design an "Intro Adventure"; and adventure designed to give new players a sense of what my world is all about. So it'll probably have a Druid and a bunch of evil Fey or Elementals. Or maybe I'll deal with the Orc traders to the North. Anyway, assuming my friends are still interested in playing C&C (which I've decided is the official rule-set of Aeonia) I'll slowly add in details of my world into their adventures and use them as a sort of unknowing guinea pig. 

[Aeonia] Brotherhood of Valar

This is a group of guardians that stretch throughout Aeonia. They guard old artifacts and try to keep them hidden and squelch any knowledge of such things. They are Librarians, Scholars, Wizards, Assassins, and Warriors (not limiting any classes here, just setting up an overall feel). It's a bit of a rough write up, but I think the concept will solidify through play - that's always what it takes for me.  

The Brotherhood of Valar was created 3 centuries ago by a powerful cabal of wizards; they saw the near-destruction of all living mages when a former ally abused a powerful artifact. The few remaining wizards banded together to hide what artifacts they could find in separate locales across the continent. They then formed the Brotherhood, consisting of various trustworthy allies from all walks of life to guard their powerful secrets. 

Since that day, the Brotherhood has guarded the terrible secrets unfailingly. Each member is entrusted to use whatever means necessary to do their duty; be it assassination, bribery, or spying. The Brotherhood operates outside the Law, and though some members have positions of authority within regular society, it's expected of all members to avoid being caught on duty.