Introductory Rambling

Feel free to skip this part if my droning about my motivation doesn't interest you


So I've been working on a homebrew for quite some and was excited to get it through a good amount of play with the release of 5e.

And then I changed my mind.

I love the setting I created and it works, all in all, quite well with 5e. But I also feel dissatisfied with it, as it lacks a strong hook to draw in players and the one place it doesn't work with 5e is race design, which is sadly at the very start of character creation, so I have to houserule all that before I can play.

And then I recently came up with a setting idea, born from my wish for a setting that is not so humanocentric and has a stronger identity than the usual jack of all trades and ambitious for humans.


The Concept

The baseline is a New World/Colonial setting.

Actual play would be oriented towards borderlands sandbox play.

Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings and Orcs are basically the same species, for now called "The Other".

The Other have conquered their continent and have an advanced civilization. This civilization is more fairy tale and less medieval. Humans and Dragons don't exist on this continent.

The Other are organized in a Caste by race society.

Orcs are mostly unskilled laborers and conscript soldiers, halflings are farmers and servants, dwarves are craftsmen and professional soldiers, gnomes are scholars, accountants and bureaucrats.

Elves take the position of nobility, with the freedom to pursue such high occupations as dancing, art, music, philosophy or intrigue.

Humans live on another continent, are at a very low tech level and live in tribal and mostly nomadic societies. They take the position of the noble savage and primitive barbarian.

Humans share their space with dragons who dominate the region and only care for them as food or temporary entertainment.

Ideas such as living in peace with nature are specifically human, though not a humans follow them. The Other are accustomed to dominate nature and form it to their wish by magic and industry.

100-50 years ago adventurers found a stable searoute to the human continent and brought back powerful artifacts and mystic knowledge thought nonexistent in these lands of horrible giant lizards and savages.

This, combined with creeping overpopulation, has resulted in a gold rush of sorts. Multiple colonies of The Other have now been founded along the human coastline.

These colonies draw all kinds of misfits and revolutionaries against the caste system. So you can play an orc scholar or a thugish gnome.

Drow/Dark Elves are an exception from the elves=nobility rule. Drow are considered cursed and not allowed any reputable profession. Many are spirited away as babies to be trained as assassins. Most become prostitutes or outlaws.

On crossbreeding: Different kinds of The Other split evenly between creating either. About one percent of same kind couplings create a "Changeling" of another kind (elf+elf=orc). But then The Other tend to apprentice their children away ASAP anyway.

Human-The Other couplings create sterile hybrids, which use half-elf stats. Variant half-elf subraces shall be homebrewed.

Orcs use half-orc stats. Orc subraces shall be homebrewed.

Dragonborn and Tieflings are rare births among humans.

The setting gets its own cosmology. For example, to not muddle the Other/human split, I want to move most of the evil humanoids out of the way. I imagine a Goblin dimension, inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Labyrinth (the awesome eighties movie with David Bowie and Muppets), populated with goblinoids, Ogres, Trolls etc.

This means a "summon goblin" spell shall be created. Portals mean there can still be your good old goblin infestation. There where no such portals in human lands until The Other arrived in force. This is an issue.


Your Thoughts

So, what do you think?

Good Idea? Bad Idea? Fresh? Booring?

Ideas to develop and flesh this out?

Any possible issues that come to mind?

Most importantly, would you want to play this?

Interesting.

Cast PCs as Humans encountering the incoming colonists or as Others here on diplomatic/colonial missions?
A mix might be hard.

Drow - people considered cursed rarely find much profit in prostitution.

A few Backgrounds to define the groups would be useful.

What are the cuases for adventure?

Here are the PCs a mixed bag of Others in a small colonial outpost. What are their hooks?

Quote from: jibbajibba;786008Interesting.

Cast PCs as Humans encountering the incoming colonists or as Others here on diplomatic/colonial missions?
A mix might be hard.

I actually intend this to be for mixed groups. I might still change the timeline. The basic asumption is that most colonies have had steady contact with the tribes in their area, with a fair number of humans trading with colonies or even living among them. Once you move inland, you start finding the tribes that had no contact with The Other yet.

PCs could be one of three things:

-Tribal. Usually only human, tiefling or dragonborn. Doesn't know common unless learned by class or background. A shaman background is a must. Folk hero can easily become tribal hero. I wouldn't use the outlander background here (to generic when tribal structures play a big part in the campaign).

-The Other from Overseas. These characters are a bit limited in choices, as you won't find, for example, a orc noble, among them. Won't know draconic, unless learned by class or background (each tribe has its own language, but all use enough draconic that you can use it for communication).

-Colonial. The Other that have spend most of their time in the colonies or where born there. Humans who are used to colonies or live among The Other. Everything goes, as long as the player makes an attempt at justification. Know Common and Draconic.

Quote from: jibbajibba;786008Drow - people considered cursed rarely find much profit in prostitution.

That depends on the curse, I would say. And when most prostitutes you can find are orcs, a curse won't stop everyone^^. That said, it is not an essential setting element. The point is, that drow will only find occupations most consider demeaning, unpleasant or vile.

Quote from: jibbajibba;786008A few Backgrounds to define the groups would be useful.

Tribals will need the most work. Hermit works fine. Making a shaman out of the acolyte and a tribal champion from the folk hero will be easy. But more backgrounds would be needed here.

Colonials and Mainlanders work well with most backgrounds in the phb and those I posted on this board, as long as most mainlanders stick to caste.

Quote from: jibbajibba;786008What are the cuases for adventure?

Here are the PCs a mixed bag of Others in a small colonial outpost. What are their hooks?

Exploration, glory and profit are causes for adventure. More personal motivations would be escaping your enemies from the mainland, hunting your enemies that ran from the mainland, hunting the orc mercenaries that eradicated your tribe etc.

At advanced levels, dragonslaying would be a big thing. Once a dragon is dead, entire new regions open up for settlement and exploration. And the big lizards sit on a lot of loot and lore.

Big heroic storylines aren't really the intend.

I envision early play to revolve around a small outpost, you know every NPC by name after the first three sessions.

PCs are newcomers with their own agenda. Bonds and Flaws will be a tremendous help in setting things up.

Exploing unknown wilderness on your own would be suicide, that alone will justify PCs teaming up, they are the only companions available.

You may want to mine out my Points of Lights 2: The Sunrise Sea for ideas. The theme is New World Adventuring.

http://www.goodman-games.com/4381preview.html

Thanks. It looks like there might be quite a few things worth mining in your book, if I get my hands on a copy over here.

This sounds reminiscent of when Islamic North Africans invaded and expanded into Iberia and up into Gaul/France.

Greed and a need for land is always a good motivator of moving people. You might also want to add in a religious element too, the desire to convert the pagan humans to the true gods.

Assuming your elves have a longer life span than anyone else they may have a long term plan going and thus less interest in immediate gains. You might want to figure out what those goals are and what sacrifices they are willing to make to advance them. ("Our 50,000 orc army was defeated on the peninsula? That's okay, at least we weakened the humans enough for an easy conquest 30 years from now.")

You might also want to define what makes colonization a recently attractive option. New ship building technique allows for larger ships at sea? (Think Chinese Junks.) Perhaps a new sail cloth material is cheaper and more efficient? A new navigation device makes sailing more accurate? Better weather prediction makes sailing safer? Maybe the sea was filled with giant serpents and a new weapon was developed to destroy them. Someone is getting rich manufacturing this weapon. A peace treaty was signed with some sea civilization (Sauhugin?) and thus the path is now open. What if that treaty is in danger of being broken?

It's got possibilities.

Quote from: Doughdee222;786051This sounds reminiscent of when Islamic North Africans invaded and expanded into Iberia and up into Gaul/France.

Haven't looked at it this way yet. I'm not very familiar with the matter, but it might be worth taking a look for inspiration.

Quote from: Doughdee222;786051Greed and a need for land is always a good motivator of moving people. You might also want to add in a religious element too, the desire to convert the pagan humans to the true gods.

I think I'll actually try to stay clear of overt religious conflict between The Other and humans. There are already plenty of hurdles integrating the two.

Besides, I don't see The Others as one big empire but rather a mess of kingdoms, duchies, baronies, city states and a few republics, so I'll probably have The Other not agreeing with one another on religious matter.

This opens up the possibility of kingdoms fighting over claims to resources and settlements.

Quote from: Doughdee222;786051Assuming your elves have a longer life span than anyone else they may have a long term plan going and thus less interest in immediate gains. You might want to figure out what those goals are and what sacrifices they are willing to make to advance them. ("Our 50,000 orc army was defeated on the peninsula? That's okay, at least we weakened the humans enough for an easy conquest 30 years from now.")

Elves certainly have the long life span. As mentioned above, the elves are not a homogenous bunch all in cahoots with one another, but individuals and small groups certainly have long running plans. Gnomes are better organized, smarter, not as flighty and live up to 500 years, so they are in the game as well. As are dragons on the other side of the sea.

Quote from: Doughdee222;786051You might also want to define what makes colonization a recently attractive option. New ship building technique allows for larger ships at sea? (Think Chinese Junks.) Perhaps a new sail cloth material is cheaper and more efficient? A new navigation device makes sailing more accurate? Better weather prediction makes sailing safer? Maybe the sea was filled with giant serpents and a new weapon was developed to destroy them. Someone is getting rich manufacturing this weapon. A peace treaty was signed with some sea civilization (Sauhugin?) and thus the path is now open. What if that treaty is in danger of being broken?

It's got possibilities.

Yeah, this is all very much still in the concept stage and a lot to chew through.

I will definitely involve Sahuagin. Though I don't see this being by way of a peace treaty, them being mad murderous shark monsters and all.