The Adventurer's Toolbox

I believe that, after race and class, one of the most defining aspects of a character is what he carries around, what he chooses to stick in his backpack before going out and adventure.  As such, whatever the RPG book I'm reading, the equipment section is the one I often go to first.  After all, I might not be playing a game with different races or even classes, but all games (that I know of) have gear.

The Three Boxes

There are three large categories of equipment an adventurer might need, in my opinion: weapons, armour, and gear.  Weapons are the tools of the trade for most characters; they might not all wear actual armour, but everybody carries at least a dagger, just in case some slobbering monstrosity gets too close.  Weapons, I've found, also includes the implements of the spellcasters.  In 4th Edition D&D, while they are not listed with other weapons, they act in the same way as weapons for warriors.

The weapons list I'm currently working from is a strange cross between 2nd, 3rd and 4th Edition.  Weapon groups have been kept, mostly as a keyword for abilities that work with or better with a certain type of weapons.  The fighters Slashing Fury ability (in its current form) requires the wielder either use a heavy blade or an axe, while the rogue's Cruelest Cut requires a light blade to be used.

I've also come up with a rough damage expectation for characters and monsters at this point, and it looks like the d8 is going to be the "average" dice for weapon damage.  So the big, classic murder tools, the longsword, the warhammer, the mace and the battleaxe, are probably going to use it as their damage dice.  You might feel removing some of the diversity in damage and in properties will make those weapons bland, but I decided to put some of those into the abilities of the characters using them.  A fighter will use a mace in a very different way than a rogue would, for exemple.

Weapons also come in a variety of materials which alter the way they work.  As of right now, I can't really go into details, but let's just say a fighter who wishes to squeeze the most out of each attack will want to pick up an adamantine axe or something.

I've always felt armour diversity in 4E was anemic, it lacked diversity.  I've decided to bring back some of the previous editions' varieties: studded leather, chainshirt, banded mail, etc.  As it stands, the armour chart has double the varieties of the base 4th Edition one.  I've also added back the tower shield to the game; picking it is costly as it slows you down some, but it is meant mostly as a situational tool.  As for the rest of the armours' stats, I've decided to stick to a simple, 4E-like approach (so your armour will have an AC bonus, a price, a penalty to certain checks, and some will modify your speed).  I am working on a different system for encumbrance, one where you don't have to track every pound of gear you're lugging around.

Armours also get an additional diversity with superior and rare categories.  You can find a piece of cloth armour in pretty much every armour shop in Kyrohn, but only the finest stores in Kelestas will have a robe of feysilk in stock, and a celestial weave mantle can only be found in the dusty ruins of Aurathis.

Finally gear is a problematic category.  We'll all agree that thieve's tools, rations and rope are a crucial part of the fantasy RPG experience, but what about alchemical fire?  Healing salves?  Ladders?

What I've found is that there is a way for both "adventuring gear" and "trade goods" to exist in a single RPG book.  The latter, though, might take too much space within the limited space that can be afforded to equipment, so they will get a sidebar that will help those using the system to adjucate their price and impact in game terms.  A sturdy ladder might cost you a gold crown and make climbing any surface an easy task, while a waterclock will be both harder to find and vastly more expensive.

 The magical stuff

Magic items have a long and prestigious history in the realm of fantasy RPGs and D&D more specifically.  From the lowly healing potion to the mighty Holy Avenger, all of those items strike a particular chord within players or DMs; they are sometimes the object of entire quests or they are everyday commodities for adventurers.

Something that always bugged me (well since the later 2nd Edition era) were +X weapons and armours, and I strove to remove them from Forbidden Skies' system.  Effectively, they've been folded directly into the characters' progression.  As for the rest of the magical items list, I'm currently in the process of whittling down a list of "core" items that will be included in the base system: cloaks of elvenkind, rings of protection, gauntlets of ogre power, winged boots, bags of holding, etc.

I want most magic items to have personality, so I'm toying with a list of traits that can be randomly selected and that can add bits of story to what tends to be just loot. I'm hoping it will make players more attached to what treasure they find. 

And on a final note, while I like the simplicity of the typical D&D coinage (copper, silver, gold and platinum pieces), I also like the idea of either changing the names of those coins to something more setting specific or even introducing competing currency (I highly doubt I'll do the latter one though; too much trouble).

That's about it for now.  I still have a lot of work to do on that specific aspect of the game, but I have a very strong framework on which I can build.  Next time, I'll show you some specifics on one of the key nations in Forbidden Skies and I'll elaborate on my process for creating kingdoms and realms for the setting.

Thank you for reading this, and be well.

E.L.F - AKA The Choice

Dragon's Eye View

Today, I thought I'd take it easy and leave the writing to a guy who knows just about as much of the world of Forbidden Skies as I do.  Ladies and gentlemen, give a hearty welcome to Bhorrel the Dragon Tamer, Keeper of the Iron Tower and Loreseeker extraordinaire!

Kyrohn, an Overview

The land we call Kyrohn as changed much in the past few hundreds of years.  Back when the fallen empire of Rydii still stood, you could walk from Nadjir to the Sunrest Ocean, but the coming of the Gods changed all that; broke the land when they fell, and tore it apart as they warred with each other.  But I feel you are not here for a history lesson, are you?  You want to learn more about the land as it stands now, so I will attempt to paint the clearest picture for you, young explorer.

Kyrohn is now split into three large landmasses.  While it is possible to travel between them in a number of manners, they now stand apart and have developped their own... characters, to put it mildly.   

Raveyn lies furthest to the East, between the Endworld Mountains and the Tear.  It is a land of dark jungles and soaring peaks, and the folk who live there reflect the exotic locales they inhabit.  The Broken Lands of Rydii lie at the Southern end of Raveyn and separate it from Djehram, a land spoken of in many legends and where adventurers bold enough to brave its towering mountains and frightening fauna go to seek treasure buried in alien ruins.  It is a land of mysticism and ancient, forgotten lore.  The scars of war are still fresh here, and the influence of the former Nadjiri overlords still lingers.  Still, the Raveynians have ever been a colourful and eclectic folk and I do not see that changing any time soon.

The middle-lands of Ordalhia lie West of Raveyn and the Tear.  Many kingdoms and nations dot its landscape, and it is often refered to by sages such as myself as "the last bastion of civilization" in Kyrohn.  I use those terms ironically, though; I do not believe the other regions of the known world are as barbaric or as hostile as some in the scholarly community would have you believe.  Its people are as diverse as those from neighbouring Raveyn, but their garb and attitudes seem much more grounded and subdued.  Perhaps it is because they were not as influenced by Rydian culture, in their nations' infancy.  Where eldritch sorcery defines the Eastern Lands, Ordalhia is the land of steel and flame; with rivaling Orlian and Tarecya fighting for technological and commercial supremacy, and the great forges of Mordenhar producing ever deadlier weapons of war.  I foresee many conflicts in the region a quick wit and a strong blade will be able to put right.

The North and Western reaches of Ordalhia are called the Periphery, and while they are not separate geographical entity, they still deserve mention for they have their own character, their own peculiarities.  Cities are rare there and kingdoms rarer still.  Those who would have the power to pull bands of humans, elves, dwarves or other folk together to form nations need to contend with an unforgiving nature and the less than civilized inhabitants of these lands.  Where Tarecya might send a detachment of knights to crush some ogres terrorizing the frontier, people in these parts have no Legion to call upon.  As such, they are rugged individualists, difficult to bring together.  This as made them a resilient lot, but it has also led to much bloodshed and violent tribal rivalries.

To the South of Ordhalia, across the Sea of Flames, Corsiri sits, shrouded in mists.  It is a strange land filled with strange, inscrutable people.  It is where the Last God, Eimroth, the Spelllord, fell, and in Its death, it unleashed a monstrous mystical cataclysm that ravages the land to this day: eldritch storms break out without warning, fiery whirlwinds rise up in blasted plains, at times, the land warps and bubbles beneath your feet, and those who enter a shimmering mist-shrouded moor might come out the other side as scarred, monstrous abominations, their flesh and mind eroded by the magics that permeate the land.  Only a narrow band of the island is densely populated, with walled city-states controlling the surrounding territories.  The North-East portion of Corsiri is home to the last remnants of once mighty minautor realms.  While they are wary of outsiders, they recognize the need to trade with the few rare travellers that brave the mystical storms that wrack the land.  At the heart of the island stand the ruinsof the fabled elven realm of Aurathis, conquered by Eimroth in the Age of Starfall, and ravaged by the god's calamitous death throes.  Adventurers delving into the mystical better be prepared to face doom when they dare enter the blasted halls and haunted streets of Aurathis, for the city is home to magically warped creatures that prey on those foolish enough to venture within the scarred realm.

Beyond the Known World

Many wonders await those who would seek their fortune beyond the lands of Kyrohn.  Across the Endworld Mountains you will find the glimmering sands of Nadjir, its proud desert riders, its cities filled with intrigue and exotic beauties.  It is a nation on the brink of civil war, and cunning heroes could carve themselves a name in its history.  But beware, for the Nadjiri are perceptive and tolerate no insult from outsiders.

Travelling further East, you will find a great kingdom built around a deep crevasse: the glittering realm Huruan, with its misty forests and snow covered peaks.  The sparkling depths of the Zanah, the scar that splits the realm in two, contains many wonders and riches, but it is also home to fiends bound there by mystical chains that have grown fragile in recent years.

As I said earlier, to the South of Kyrohn stands Djehram.  Once, the empire of Rydii extended all the way to it, but when the gods fell and shattered the old empire, our contacts with the locals diminished drastically.  Today, only a small Tarecyan trade outpost stands on its sandy Northern shores and sporadic reports from the region indicates a great tragedy may have occured there during the Age of Starfall.  Rumours speak with reverance and fear of a "Veedrah", and expeditions inland have brought back nothing of substance... when they returned at all.

What lies beyond the Sunrest Ocean, even I cannot tell.  Some say another land waits the sailors brave enough to travel the traitorous sea while others claim that beyond the sea, there is only the starry void, and that those foolish enough to sail there will simply fall to their doom.

---
Well, that was something, wasn't it? Next time, I talk about equipment, gear and the way I want to tackle magic items.

I hope you enjoyed this entry.  Be well.

E.L.F. - AKA The Choice

Power Struggle

(Did I mention I love my mid-to-late 90s/early 2000s rock?  Well, I do.)

How a game presents character options is kind of the central element of gameplay on the player side of the table.  In editions prior to 3rd, Dungeons & Dragons there were no real "active" abilities for non-caster characters (well, outside of lay on hands, maybe), 3rd Edition D&D added feats that could be selected as "features" (some were flat modifiers, some modified some existing abilities, etc.): Power Attack, Expertise, Spring Attack, etc. Fourth Edition brought in the idea of "powers for everyone", and while it was a gigantic step forward for several classes (the poor rogue and fighter benefited from it the most), it came at the price; every class "looks" the same.  Notice how I used "look" and not "feels" or "plays" the same; I've seen dramatic variations of gameplay within a single class that put 3rd Edition characters to shame (it my opinion, the 3.X rogue was the worst example of "every character plays the same").

So the challenge that lay before me when I started design work on classes was this: How do I ensure class mechanical parity while also diversifying the gameplay of each class?  I still haven't come up with a perfect answer, but I'll show you some of my work by contrasting the progress made on the Fighter with the some of the concepts done for the Wizard.

Definition of a Warrior

What makes a fighter a fighter?  What defines the class?  I have to agree with Mike Mearls (at least I believe it was him who said something to that effect) that designing the fighter was tougher than designing the monk.

Fighters are touchy to design; they're a broad archetype with dozens of valid interpretations: from the brawny battlerager to the dashing swashbuckler, the master marksman to the dedicated dwarven defender, all of those are exemples of fighters in various editions of D&D.  Compared to the monk or the ranger, he lacks a singular feature that defines both in combat and in the fiction of the game.  They also face a problem of identification; look at images of fighters in D&D-like games or systems and you'll discover that, at times, it's difficult to tell them apart from paladins, rangers, clerics or even rogues!

So the fighter has a bit of an identity crisis.  Still, there are a few areas where they have a clear place in the greater fiction of the game.

The defining trait for fighters seems to be their rapport to weapons; whenever one is portrayed, he or she is always wielding some sort of implement of war.

The Process

I decided upon three fighter archetypes for the original system document: the "sword-and-board" defender-type fighter, the aggressive, large weapon wielding-type fighter, and a sort of commander/battlefield marshal take on the class.  I then went through the powers list for the class, picking a few from the 4th Edition Warlord's list and began combining them into a sort of branching powers "tree".  The results were... less than satisfactory; it lacked personality and felt like an unoriginal retread of the 4E fighter.  That version got scrapped, and I looked to how Essentials D&D had approached the class.  There again, I found some interesting seed ideas, but nothing that struck me as something I could take up wholesale.

The break I had been looking for came when I began to look at the fighter's polar opposite: the wizard.  I found that, like the wizard, the fighter should have a currency, something that both symbolized its powersource and could become shorthand for its mechanics.  Where I settled on Essence being the wizard's currency, fighters got Bravery.

Once I had this figured out, I ran into another problem.  My process was still flawed, I was still trying to translate the list of 4E powers straight into my new system, applying a cost in Bravery to attack powers and utility powers... the end results sucked!  I was still faced with a bland class that lacked the depth of tactical play that the 4th Edition incarnation of the Fighter had, and because I had so many powers to choose from, I felt frustrated by how narrow I had to constrain myself.  But then it hit me: I'm not designing a new, full edition of D&D, and I should aspire to simply make a good little game that works and develop systems that work within themselves.

Bravery, Stances, Weapon Science, etc.

The core of the Forbidden Skies Fighter is Bravery; there are many ways for a fighter (and other classes I'll write about later) to gain Bravery, but they generally start an encounter with zero, and get more as the fight progresses.  Those points can be spent to trigger a number of different maneuvres that are tied to what weapons he or she is currently wielding and what fighting stance he or she is adopting.  Stances are the basic fighting postures the warrior can choose.  A Fighter might start knowing or mastering a single stance, but as he gains levels, he may choose to learn new ones.  For exemple, the defensive stance makes a fighter more adept at blocking attacks and making him tough to get by, while the aggressive ravager stance allows the fighter to deliver punishing blows and pushing his foes away with vigourous blows.

A Fighter begins his career mastering one specific set of tools.  As he gets more experienced, his mastery grows and he increases his skills with his primary weapons, but also masters other weapon groups.  The mechanics behind this feature closely mimic the 3rd Edition Ranger's favoured enemy ability.

Still, there remained a hole in the system: what about utility powers?  That came later... much later in fact.  And I'll write about this a little later, when things crystalize and take clearer shape.  Next time, I'll start an overview of the world of Forbidden Skies, the lands of Kyrohn.

Thank you again for reading, and be well.

E.L.F. - AKA The Choice

Gods and Monsters

When the Divine Becomes the Reviled

[...] For the gods had grown vain, and bickered amongst themselves like children.
Fearing they might destroy the celestial realms, the Divine Creator cast them low,
falling to Kyrohn as fiery comets.  The coming of the gods heralded great darkness and
misery for the Creator's children.  Thus began the Age of Starfall [...]
The Book of Creation; tome III, Into Shadows

"The gods are dead, and we killed them."

This was the sentence that started it all, that pushed me down the path that I am treading.  It was also one of the most problematic things to conceptualize once you got down to it: who were the gods?  Who killed them?  Why?  How?

For the longest time, I figured the gods were killed by a bunch of heroes who travelled to each of the deities' domains and murdered them, fought them, whatever.  This seemed pedestrian, but it fit with a lot of end-game, epic, D&D stuff.  After all, some of Paizo publishing's own adventure paths ended with the PCs killing an immensely powerful extraplanar entity (Adimarchus from Shackled City, Kyuss from Age of Worms, etc.).  It seemed... in tone with the common D&D mythology.  But once you got down to its core, this idea lacked drama or the potential for "campaign secrets".

The Dungeoncraft Experiment

I'm a big fan of DM/GM advice columns; I'm always looking for new points of view, new perspectives or ideas on how to run games.  One such advice column, the one I often go back to, is Ray Winneger's old Dungeoncraft series.  They used to be published in Dungeon magazine, but you can now find them online fairly easily.  The single best piece of advice from those columns is what he called "The Second Rule of Dungeoncraft": for every major piece of the campaign world, always devise at least one secret related to that piece."

This is great advice from a campaign-building perspective, as it "bakes in" adventure plots and campaign arcs that PCs can latch on to.  From a DM's point of view, it makes the world seem more dangerous and it gives you an ace in the whole to spring on unsuspecting players.  Even when using the collaborative narrative approach presented in the DMG2, this invaluable piece of advice will help make the world come alive by keeping the players guessing and the PCs searching for clues of what is amiss.

So, to create more mystery and make the menace of the gods feel more viceral,they had to have come down to earth as it were, had to have a physical presence that could be killed.  Still, why kill them?  And what secret could hide behind the death of so many divine entities?

The Age of Starfall

So the gods fell to earth for the sin of hubris, cast down by their mighty Creator.  Classic fantasy/mythology trope, right there.  How would the mortals have received them?  As saviours?  Probably not.  If you read the (bad) opening fiction for this entry, you'll see I've described them as "falling... as fiery comets".  The gods literally fell to earth causing untold devastation, destroying an entire country in fact.  So humans and the other races were a little wary at their arrival, and, for a while at least,

I love the Time of Troubles from the old Forgotten Realms storyline ; it's both visceral and mythic in scope, and the consequences for it were felt deeply and over a long period.  When a god died during that event, it mattered, and it rocked the world to its core (well OK, nobody cried when Ibrandul died, but I still shed a tear for fallen Torm, even though he got better).  But the FR deities knew what they had to do to get back.  What would happen if the gods of Forbidden Skies knew they could never go back to their celestial abodes?  How would they react?

The gods of Forbidden Skies are largely based on those that we know from mythology and epic sagas in that they are mostly humanoid and possess flaws that represent human failings.  Contrary to "modern" real-world religions, they are not perfect entities, and their worshippers know as much.  So what would insanely powerful supernatural entities that just so happen to also be jerks do if they were stuck in a place with a bunch of mortals?  If you answered rule over them like god-kings through a combination of fear and awe, you're completely right!

When they first arrived, the gods swore an oath of non-aggression, but soon that pact was broken and they began warring against one another.  At the same time, worshippers close to the gods began to notice how mentally and physically unstable they seemed; their minds seemed gripped with delusions, and their bodies looked warped, sometimes bloated or literally mutating with new limbs sprouting from their torsos.  The deities waged war on each other, and their flock paid the price, left to unadorned graves on battlefields or returning home to see their god demand more extravagant sacrifices from them.  If anything is surprising, it's that the Age of Starfall, from the fall of the gods to their demise, lasted over a thousand years.

Eventually, humanity (and the other free people of Kyrohn) threw off their shackles and turned against their divine masters, who had become monstrous, abomination spewing, creatures who lorded over the masses from cyclopean abodes or ruled vast stretches of land (or sea), hunting down all who dared trespass.  The first to fall was Ourghex, Lord of the Sightless Depths, ruler of the Northern Sea.  Of the hundred or so gods who fell, none remain.

The Current Situation

The gods are coming back; some have already established new domains in the Astral Realms, others, still too weak to ascend, hide amongst the mortal races.  Priests of these new gods are rare, but their numbers are growing daily.  The gods and godesses appear different from their predecessors: more even-tempered, less war-like and demanding of their worshippers.  Arteon, God of the Winds and Lord of the Storms has one of the first large temples, not dedicated to the Divine Creator, in all of Kyrohn, and his faithful wear his sigil without fear of reprisals in most towns and cities.

Still, people fear the return of the gods.  What if the madness and corruption consumes them again?  Could they survive another Age of Starfall?

That about does it for now.  Next time, a look at the "power mechanics" for two classes and a closer observation of the Fighter as a class.

Thank you for reading, and be well!

E.L.F. - AKA The Choice

Looking under the hood

Looking Under the Hood

The original idea for Forbidden Skies was to design something completely system-less.  The reasoning behind this was that I could run it using, say 4th Edition D&D rules one day while one of my friends could use Pathfinder for it or, if it ever struck me to do this, I could run the campaign world with Savage Worlds or some other system.

While this is still something I am toying with (at the very least, the "World" portion of this project will be written as "system-less" as possible), recent events have pushed me towards a different approach.

 The Engine

Right now, the game runs on an engine similar to 4th Edition D&D, but, in light of recent developments, I have begun to rethink this.  So, while I will still base the game on 4E's "basic" system, the progression of PCs/monsters, the classes and the races will all go through some amount of change. How much change is still up in the air: I will not be using the standard at-will/encounter/daily/utility power scheme, but I won't go back to a "Vancian" system either, classes will go through a major overhaul with the Warlord most likely not being part of the rules (probably folded into the fighter), etc.

Modding it up

 Along with some changes to classes, I decided to change the way skills work.  In 3/4E, they are bound to an ability score, making them feel "static" in my opinion.  By "freeing" them from those restrictions, I believe skills will gain in uses and become an essential tool in role-playing with their uses depending more on creativity than on rote uses.  A character could roll, for exemple, Wisdom + Arcana to perceive magical energy or Dexterity + Perception to search some hole in a wall for a switch or a secret compartment, etc.

Feats, as they are known in 3/4E, are gone.  I have felt for a while that they were too broad, and that a lot of them were traps for gullible/inexperienced players.  Do metamagic abilities belong on the same list as "toughness"?  Of course not.  A lot of those abilities are now folded into the character progressions.

Another problem I perceive with the base D&D rules for the past two editions of the game is multiclassing.  In 3E, it was mostly a trap, with saving throws taking a plunge unless you were careful what classes you were combining, and caster classes having no reason to do so unless it increases their caster level and spell progression.  Fourth Edition had a different problem, with multiclassing eating up precious feats.  Both editions missed their mark, and did not succeed in scratching the itch I had for 1st/2nd edition-style multiclassing.  I took inspirations from those versions of the game and from a concept developped at the tail-end of the latest edition (Themes) to replicate, in some ways, the multiclassing experience of previous iterations of D&D.

An early decision in the design process was to throw out alignments as a game mechanic.  Further along, I decided to remove them completely from the game, and replace them with a concept from (of all places) d20 Modern: affiliations.  While those are nice for intelligent creatures, I also added the concept of "motivations" to monsters and adversaries.  Those provide me, or anybody who wishes to run the game, to quickly see what is the driving force behind a creature's behaviour (is it territorial, motivated by greed or a simple, mindless force of destruction).

Finally, I wanted to give each class its own distinct power usage scheme, its own mechanics for gaining and using abilities.  Recent experiences have made me reconsider the differering methods of obtaining abilities, but the method by which classes use them will be different depending on the player's choice of class.

The Concept Car

I need to put this car analogy thing away...

Right now, I have four classes and four races in an early stage of development.  I hope to be done with them in early october, and plan on playtesting until late december while still working on the other classes I have planned and mapped out.  I believe the final "game system" document will contain 12 classes, some classic to a D&D-like game, others, different interpretations of well-known archetypes.

Next time, a quick look at the divine in Forbidden Skies, and how folk perceive it.

As usual, thank you for reading, and be well

E.L.F
AKA The Choice

A World Without a Name

Like I said in my previous post, I restrained myself from writing any sort of mecanics for my new campaign. This was in part to allow me the opportunity to just create a world without being bogged down by system limitations, but also because, if I was to design a new system that could fit this campaign world, I wanted to see the full scope of what this world was before I did create mechanics for it.

"Why don't you put the whole world in a bottle?"

An exercise I like to do every once in a while is trying to sum up whole works of fiction in a single sentence; the simpler the sentence, the better. This has led to numerous attempts at summing up movies with: "The guy dies at the end" (see almost every movie Liam Neeson/Sean Bean is in. On a side note, I was quite surprised when Neeson DIDN'T die at the end of Taken... spoilers I guess). I made a similar attempt with what, at the time, had no name: A dark fantasy world sitting beneath empty, silent skies where heroes from broken lands and fractured nations fight to reclaim the destiny of the free peoples and where the forces of progress and civilization clash with ancient entities bent on obtaining what they were denied at the dawn of time.

I won't go into a deep analysis of every term in that sentence. I will instead focus on a couple of key terms that form the "backbone" of the setting.

Dark: The word "dark" is brutally abused in a lot of entertainment marketing-speak: "a dark retelling of a classic tale", "a dark, gritty take on the world of professional sports", "this sequel presents a darker story than the original", etc. It's used so much, it lost a large chunk of its meaning.

In the context of Forbidden Skies, "Dark" implies a tone and a general "feel" (one day, I am going to have to write something about how I do not like the word "feel" with regards to mechanics) to the world. It's a world where hope was crushed for a long time, and where folks had to hold on to the tiniest, faintest glimmer of light. It's also a world with a Noir aesthetic approach; heroes might succeed, but at great cost, villains are often fallen figures of virtue, etc. All of that exemplifies the "darkness" found within the setting.

Fantasy: This is a fantastical world, filled with magic, wondrous creatures, and featuring breathtaking, enchanted landscape. Forbidden Skies is also a place where magic is tricky and behaves in ways that make it both alluring and dangerous. I sought to bring back an air of mystery to the practice of magic, to make its practioners seem more unpredictable to players. I took a lot of inspirations from pulp writers in their portrayal of mystical forces, but also from classic literature and its early and more modern exploration of the supernatural.

Broken lands, fractured nations: The Age of Starfall reshaped not only the political landscape of the world, but also its actual physical appearance: mountains were crushed, vast land masses were wiped from the map, seas devoured coastal towns, and families were split up as rifts tore territories asunder. Most heroes were born in the New Age; to them, this is how the world always was. But some remember, and some others dream of reuniting the once proud empires now lost to time.

Along those key words are concepts such as "progress", "civilization", "ancient entities", etc., I'll try to provide more details about those specific aspects of the game/setting in future posts.

Overview

Over a thousand years ago, a cataclysmic event shook the world to its core: the gods, servants of the Divine Architect, fell from the skies as fiery comets. They soon became the flesh and blood shepards of the people of Ordalhia, Raveyn and Corsiri, the three major regions of the continent of Kyrohn. They swore pacts that outlawed agression and warfare amongst themselves; what they had failed to achieve in the Heavens, they would accomplish in the material world. Soon though, the rivalries that had plagued them as celestial beings flamed anew in the mortal realms. Fearing destruction, they sent vast armies of their followers to attack rival powers and unleashed apocalyptic magics at whoever dared to oppose them.

As their wars went on, their physical forms became warped and corrupted. They transformed into hideous, twisted monstrosities that fed on the worship of their devoted and cowed servants.  Their reign lasted a full millenium of darkness, torment, and war, until heroes from around the world rose up and slew them all, ending the Era of Starfall.

Barely a century as passed since the slaying of the Last God, and a fragile peace holds. But new stars shining in the Heavens signify the return of the gods, and a dark fear grows in the hearts of the Free Folk of broken Kyrohn.

Themes

Among the themes I hold to be central to the setting is the idea of destiny versus individual choice. It is an old theme, common in many types of fiction, but I feel it takes a different form in a world where the divine is seen as alien, impersonal and threatening. In a lot of ways, the people of fantasy universes take comfort in the belief that sins are punished and good actions are rewarded, even after death, but what if you can't trust the arbiters of divine justice?

Horror is also an element that I feel represents well Forbidden Skies. Existential horror, specifically is a tone, but also a theme that I wish to put forth as central to the setting. Faced with terrifying challenges what are simple mortals to do? What happens when you face creatures bent on nothing less than absolute, abject destruction and mayhem? What if you fear you are one such creature?

Inspiration

As much as possible, I try not to draw inspiration from "classic" fantasy literature; Tolkien is fine, mind you, but it's been done... a lot!  And by better writers and designers than me at that! So I try to find sources that are more, dare I say (at the risk of sounding like an absolute hipster), "obscure" or that channel that same sense of wonder that the great fantasy classics seem to convey.

One source that I have been going back to recently predates my love of D&D (and RPGs in general); it's something I read before I was allowed in the "mature" section of my town's only public library: choose your own adventure books, namely the Lone Wolf series.

The world of Magnamund is so richly detailed and filled to the brim with classic fantasy tropes, but it spins those in interesting ways: evil plague-brewing druids, mutated lords of darkness, corrupt old kingdoms... it's got a lot going for it! The way the order of the Kai functions is a key source of inspiration for both the "ranger" and "monk" class that I am working on.

Dungeon Siege (the first two games) are also wells that I have been drawing from. The vast wilderness of the setting, its immense, intricate dungeons (I guess that's where the name came from), the general look and "feel" of the world, the scope of its stories are all elements that scream fantasy role-playing game to me. The way the lore of the setting just enhances those elements is something I am trying to incorporate through the writing of both the setting and the system.

In general, I try to avoid "self-referencing" material: drawing inspiration from books designed for D&D. Of course some Forgotten Realms supplement is going to be a solid representation of what D&D is, it was specifically made for it. Still, two works make the list simply for being clever twists on the fantasy genre: the Eberron campaign setting (created by Keith Baker), and Ptolus, city by the Spire (by Monte Cook). Both present excellent exemples of "urban" fantasy settings, and both tackle subjects that are typically outside of the traditionnal D&D fiction. I honestly wish I could design a city as detailed and as vivid as Ptolus for my campaign.

Aside from all of those, I am drawing from tons of literary sources, most of them not fantasy in their nature. Crime novels (I love Noir and detective fiction), historical narratives, and books about exotic cultures (mostly Western Africa and South America right now) are what I mostly read these days. I've also been pawing through my old collection of Magic, the Gathering cards, and leafing through various RPG books that have recently come back into my possession. For mechanical design purposes, I've been dissecting the PHBs from 4 editions (and a half) of D&D, and mining other RPGs for ideas and mechanical tidbits that I can plug into the system.

Finally, I listen to a lot of music. When I write, I get bothered if I hear lyrics, so I tend to put on some classical or electronic music, perhaps a soundtrack (cue Inception horns), but, and I will end this section on this, the biggest inspiration for the campaign as been metal.  I am hoping to create what will be a heavy metal setting and game.

That about does it for this post. Next time we'll have a look at some of the base mechanical choices that went into crafting the Forbidden Skies system.

Thank you for reading, and be well.

E.L.F. - AKA The Choice
(10/08/12)

Forbidden Skies : Genesis

If I managed to avoid sounding pretentious with my previous post title, I am miserably failing at doing so now...

(Damn it! Not that Genesis! Now anybody who's a fan of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis is going to hate me.)

Last winter, my opportunities for gaming fell to pretty much zero. A combination of school, school-work, work and home life got in the way of putting together a group and coming up with stories to tell. For a while, it got depressing.

In early January, when classes started back up, I picked up a "writing techniques" workshop as one of my options. I didn't exactly know what to expect; the description had been vague, its focus seemed to be all over the place, and my first glance at the reading material left me with a bad impression for a number of reasons. But the first hour of that class changed my opinion from apprehensive to positive. By the third week, it was probably my second favourite class of the semester (Ms. Silas' Tuesday class was still the best; so many quotable moments).

At that point, I got a little better; my spirit was up, and I felt the fog of my seasonal depression lifting.  I figured that, while I did not have time to game, I might just have the time to come up with something worth playing once my schedule cleared up. D&D Next had been announced, and every word coming out of the designers' mouth (or their respective blog post, interviews, etc.) turned me further away from whatever game they were producing. While I was still willing to listen to them, I knew that the next iteration of the game I liked the most would most probably not interest me, would not suit my particular needs as a GM.

I spent a solid week scribbling concepts and ideas in notebooks and loose sheets before one Monday evening that changed the way I was envisionning my next gaming endeavour.

"It's like a storm for your brain"

I have a very averse reaction to the expression "brainstorming". It puts me on edge. It reminds me of corporate speech, and the time I spent working for big telecoms. It brings to mind sterile, air-conditioned rooms with bad coffee and "workshops" led by middle-management types in ugly shirts and uglier ties trying to get us pumped up about the "Next Big Thing" we were going to be asked to shill for our customers.  Mostly though, it does not bring to mind any sort of "innovation", any sort of "idea". "Brainstorming" meant "tell the guy shouting in front of the (glitchy) Power Point presentation (that only worked 33% of the time) exactly what he wants to hear so you can go back to your desk and attempt to have a good day". It meant not bringing anything new to the table, because that's a "creative's" or a "management's" job.  It was all about uniformity, conformity, ostrasizing the different. This isn't what I got from that class.

To be honest, after the first few brainstorming exercises, I had no idea how far those 20-30 minutes spent shooting ideas at the teacher and at other students would impact my creative processes. It did not start to sink in until much later, during a break in my Thursday evening class. I had nothing to do: my water bottle was almost full, my mp3 player was dead, so following the Habs game on the radio was out of the question (if they even played that night), all my notes were in order... so I grabbed a piece of paper and started jotting down words. At first, I wrote full sentences, cobbling a story from idea fragments that had been floating around in my head for a week or so. But then I stopped and remembered the lessons from monday's class.

Words came quickly; fantasy tropes and personal favourites from fictions flowed freely onto the page.  Themes began to emerge, names of places I did not know yet appeared, and a list of peoples that lived in this land that was slowly coming into view. And then one sentence, one unbroken string of words came. It took a full line on the page, written in my blocky, clumsy script: The gods are dead, and we killed them.

I stopped writing at that point. That sentence, to this day, still hits me. Hard.

I folded the piece of paper and slipped it in my bag; I could not let it distract me from the rest of the class (linguistics is hard, people). I would not touch it until late on Friday.  I was reassured in my sanity when I read its content aloud, that evening; it had seemed like a dream, and I had come to actually doubt its reality.

The Oath

I wasn't sure what I held in my hands, that weekend, but I knew it was different from all of what I had done in the past as far as RPG design went.  I made myself swear that I would hold on to this, whatever it was.  I also swore that I would not design anything relating to mecanics until the picture became clearer, until I knew how deep this rabbit hole went.

So during that weekend, whenever I had some free time, I went and typed up whatever came to my mind: I would brainstorm for 15 minutes, and then elaborate on what I had just thought up.  I refused to censor myself, letting go of ideas only when they failed to inspire me or when they lacked any connection to the core of what I was slowly developping (in the early evening, many of the things I thought up related to food, strangely. One day though, I might come up with a campaign world where Piri-piri chicken and pizza feature prominently).

On Sunday, I had the broad outlines of a world.  I imagined it dark, dangerous, filled with secrets, lies, corruption and conspiracy.  A fantastic world of valiant heroes, exotic locales and infused with profound mysticism. For the first time in a long while, that world lived and breathed inside my mind.  All it needed now was a name. Strangely enough, it would take me a solid month to figure that one out.  Guess brainstorming can't be good for everything.

Next up, we look at the world of Forbidden Skies, its themes, and its many sources of inspiration.

Thanks for reading and be well.

E.L.F.
AKA The Choice

Welcome

I fiddled around with a bunch of different ideas for the opening title for this new blog. All of them endend up sounding profoundly pretentious, so... here we are, welcome.

What I hope to do here is present the creative process behind the creation of my new RPG campaign. I will start by charting out the genesis, the very silly (and kinda accidental) origins of Forbidden Skies, and then proceed to explain a lot of the decisions that went into crafting its system(s) and the campaign world. This is going to be a long process, but I have lots of ideas that, I feel, will make for an interesting read.

So, thank you for reading this. I hope you enjoy coming here and reading some of the stuff that spills out of my brain. If you have any comments, please share. I'm not above taking suggestions and advice.

Thank you again and be well.

E.L.F. AKA The Choice