Break the World: A Contest

Brandi · Post by **Brandi** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:15 am

Sylaire wrote: I'm not too fond of FRPG-style multi-deity pantheons where each deity basically has its own church rather than being part of a single, unified religious cosmology. Take the Forgotten Realms, for example: despite the fact that everyone agrees who the gods are, worshippers of individual deities are treated as if they're from completely different cosmologies and world-views (i.e. it's as if a follower of Torm and a follower of Mystra are as different as a Christian and a Hindu).

Ah, fair 'nuff.

DeepShadow of FoS · Post by **DeepShadow of FoS** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:09 pm

Well, I'm mostly through my trilogy of hooks, but I'd like to get some ideas on what kinds of things ought to be introduced with the arrival of 4E Ravenloft. We have a 4E fact thread, could we start assembling ideas about what kinds of things we should be aiming for?

Teiflings? Warlocks? A faerie plane similar to the ether? What else?

EDIT: Does anyone know if aasimar are coming along with teiflings?

Dimitri Mazieres · Post by **Dimitri Mazieres** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:08 am

DeepShadow wrote:EDIT: Does anyone know if aasimar are coming along with teiflings?

From what I've read, not in the PHB. They added Eladrins for that matter, and removed Gnomes. It looks to me that the "standard" 4e D&D is a bit more removed from Ravenloft's mood than 3e was.

DeepShadow of FoS · Post by **DeepShadow of FoS** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:06 am

Eladrins? What kind?

So...if possible, we're supposed to create an adventure wherein all the gnomes of Ravenloft are exterminated? Or turned into angels?

Meh, I don't know if that needs an explanation. The complaint has always been that gnomes are just dwarves with some odd powers, so presumably we can just let that process run its course. They'll probably keep gnomes as a subrace or something.

Eladrins as a player race is wierd, though. Strange they'd allow them but not aasimar.

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:11 am

Sadly, I have to bow out of the contest.
I would like to tell you why, but I have made an agreement on the matter.

Let's just say that there's currently something resting on my desktop that, if it comes to publication,
will by far be the best Gothic roleplaying supplement in a decade. (No, I am not the author.)

[img]http://smilies.sofrayt.com/^/r/dance.gif[/img]

Rotipher of the FoS · Post by **Rotipher of the FoS** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:10 am

DeepShadow wrote:Eladrins? What kind?

So...if possible, we're supposed to create an adventure wherein all the gnomes of Ravenloft are exterminated? Or turned into angels?

These eladrin aren't celestials, apparently. They're a humanoid race who never emigrated en masse from the Feywild to the Material Plane. (That's what the elves in 4E's generic "default" reality did, kind of like how the halflings from Birthright came from the Shadow Realm.) They may be filling the role of pre-4E gray elves, while the standard elf becomes more like pre-4E wood elves.

I'm actually not worried about dealing with that particular shift. Gnomes will be in the MM, evidently with enough rules to play them as characters; they'll just have to wait for PHB2 to get the full range of optional perks (e.g. racial feats, full descriptions of culture) that the other traditional PC races do.

For eladrin, we could either say they're an obscure shadow fey offshoot that recently emerged from the Rift, or add a new Island of Terror to the setting which has eladrin among its native population. Either way, we can alter them as necessary to suit Ravenloft, much as the half-orc race was converted into the caliban race.

In any case, exterminating the race of gnomes doesn't have to be a part of your world-breaking scenario ... unless, of course, you happen to hate gnomes with a passion and would've wiped them out anyway.

DeepShadow of FoS · Post by **DeepShadow of FoS** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:09 am

Rafael wrote:Sadly, I have to bow out of the contest.
I would like to tell you why, but I have made an agreement on the matter.
Let's just say that there's currently something resting on my desktop that, if it comes to publication,
will by far be the best Gothic roleplaying supplement in a decade. (No, I am not the author.)

[img]http://smilies.sofrayt.com/^/r/dance.gif[/img]

It's going into the contest? Sweet.

That's not going to stop me from entering. I personally think that with stuff like that going into this contest, whatever wins will be of that caliber.

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:37 am

No, just the contrary. Just was allowed to sneak into a great RPG-author's manuscript, and that will surely kill my weekend freetime. So, no FoS contest for me this year.
The project I am allowed to have a look at has absolutely nothing to do with Ravenloft. I cannot disclose anything further than it is supposed to be d20 and that it might see publication some time next year. And that there has passed some time since I read a RPG supplement I liked so much.

Besides, I think I have an idea about what you could be after, DS, and that's a way better approach than what I had in mind.

Baduin9 · Post by **Baduin9** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:22 pm

I think that Feywild and Shadowfell (despite corny names) fit Ravenloft very well, and should be definitely introduced. Shadowfell could be named Grey Realm, and Feywild Faerie, or Elfland, or Otherworld - there are hundreds of possibilities. As to interactions between Faerie and Standard Ravenloft, there is a lot of good ideas in Pendragon RGP - their storyline includes Enchantment of Britain, an intrusion of Faerie into material reality.

As regards Eladrin, I think the best way to solve the problem is to simply name them High Elves. The standard elves will be Wood Elves - problem solved.

DeepShadow of FoS · Post by **DeepShadow of FoS** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:46 pm

What is Shadowfell?

Isabella · Post by **Isabella** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:55 pm

DeepShadow wrote:What is Shadowfell?

Essentially the "dark reflection" of the material plane. If you wanted to stretch it out, you might say that Ravenloft sounds a lot like Shadowfell, but it was described as inhabited mostly by the undead; kind of a cross between the negative energy plane and the demiplane of shadows.

Il Aluk and the Shadow Rift probably have strong ties to Shadowfell, as well as the Rift being strongly tied to the Feywild.

Jester of the FoS · Post by **Jester of the FoS** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:57 pm

The demiplane of shadow by a new name, with some tweaking.

The Giamarga · Post by **The Giamarga** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:03 am

DS, here's the ENWorld 4E news forum.

Jester of the FoS · Post by **Jester of the FoS** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:00 am

I wouldn't worry or put too much emphasis on what changes will happen, this contest is more about the why. We can fill in how things have changed and the role of new additions later.

HuManBing · Post by **HuManBing** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:11 am

I second that. It's our job here to provide the break in the railroad.

I'm sure Wizards will be more than capable of supplying the resultant train wreck on their own.

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Break the World: A Contest