Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;222002How's that for now? It simplifies things a bit, but makes it a bit more accessible, hopefully. I'll write up a DM Primer sometime in the next few days.

Excellent stuff. I look forward to seeing the DM primer soon.

Man, gnomes are pretty crazy in 4e. For one thing they have those freaky black eyes, and on the other hand, they are closely linked to the Shadow power source which derives from the Shadowfell, the plane of the dead.

Monsters:

Gnomes

Gnomes are linked to the Shadowfell, the kingdom of unruly ghosts. Their black eyes are wells of death-energy which can mesmerise and beguile. The gnomes were originally the grave attendants of the Dawnmen, created to construct tombs, to properly prepare the bodies of the dead for entombment, and to quell the unquiet dead. They first developed their powers of illusion to make mangled and ruined carcasses look pleasing for grieving relatives, but modern gnomes are far more sinister. Though they feed off of the act of death itself, gnomes are not adverse to eating the bodies of dead things as a concurrent ritual act. The more powerful and wise the creature, the better the meal for the gnome.

Gnomes in Dwer Tor are respectable morticians and healers, the squalor and short lifespan of the slaves keeping them well-fed. They are generally members of the thaumate caste, but often serve in the army, returning home fat and sated.

In Kaddish, Murder-Gnomes are a gruesome reminder of the faded legacy of past days. The gnomes are part of the underclass, the first to arrive at any murder, riot or outbreak of disease. They are beyond the law, and the most they may hope for is that one of the powerful necromancers will hire them to procure body parts and other unsavoury reagents for his trade. Most are employed as ratcatchers and killers of vermin, a subsistence-level of death.

Right. I've  compiled the setting material from this thread into a couple of wordpad documents (along with relevant the City of Kings stuff), have recruited a few players and am sitting down to write my first adventure.

I'm kickstarting the campaign with an Indiana Jones style in media res opening - play begins with the PCs at full strength during the opening seconds of a dungeon battle, moments after triggering a lethal trap which killed their employer/guide. The setting is 'The Basalt Stair,' which is the tomb of a slaughtered demon (a subordinate of Yeenoghu) guarded by disease carrying soil-and-clay hyena constructs. The Stair is haunted by a tattered remnant of the demon, which manifests as a spectre variant. The PCs will also be vying with another small group of tomb robbers, whom can be heard (and communicated with) via a series of narrow ventilation tunnels that honeycomb the dungeon. The Stair is located beneath the city of Kaddish, and forms the spoke of a larger dungeon that sits beneath the Plaza of dead Gods (cf. City of Kings).

That's the basic premise, anway. I'll let you know how it pans out when we eventually get around to playing.

That sounds fucking awesome, dude!

Good luck, and if you ever need any help or ideas, feel free to ask.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;222618That sounds fucking awesome, dude!

Good luck, and if you ever need any help or ideas, feel free to ask.

Thanks, and I will.

Actually, I've just thought of one- have you had thoughts on the placement of 4e's canonical gods within the setting? One of my players will be running a Tiefling paladin who follows the Raven Queen, and I'd be interested in hearing of any local variants you may have come up with.

Quote from: Drew;222621Thanks, and I will.

Actually, I've just thought of one- have you had thoughts on the placement of 4e's canonical gods within the setting? One of my players will be running a Tiefling paladin who follows the Raven Queen, and I'd be interested in hearing of any local variants you may have come up with.

I wouldn't use them myself, but I think they can pretty easily be slotted in as parts of the Kaddish pantheon.

Personally, I'd make the Raven Queen the name of the paladin's daimon unless he _really_ wanted to be connected to a temple. Remember that Paladins and Clerics get their powers from the daimons that invest them, rather than from being associated with a church or a god. So if he's willing, he can not just be _a_ paladin of the Raven Queen, but _the_ paladin of the Raven Queen. Then you can just use the fluff from the books, but it only applies to him, and she could even communicate with him if you wanted (whether in speech, or in dreams, or in omens, or however else).

How does that sound?

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;222624I wouldn't use them myself, but I think they can pretty easily be slotted in as parts of the Kaddish pantheon.

Personally, I'd make the Raven Queen the name of the paladin's daimon unless he _really_ wanted to be connected to a temple. Remember that Paladins and Clerics get their powers from the daimons that invest them, rather than from being associated with a church or a god. So if he's willing, he can not just be _a_ paladin of the Raven Queen, but _the_ paladin of the Raven Queen. Then you can just use the fluff from the books, but it only applies to him, and she could even communicate with him if you wanted (whether in speech, or in dreams, or in omens, or however else).

How does that sound?

Really good. In my haste to get a group together I completely forgot about how daimonic investiture of power works in your setting.

I'm also thinking along the lines of the Raven Queen being emblematic of a philisophy or theological proof that the paladin's daimon is schooling him in. Kind of like the relationship between Buddha and buddhism, where the Queen takes on an iconic significance that stems from her embodiment of the sacred teachings rather than through any inherent divinity. Simply put, the daimon would be the Raven, and the paladin's level progression would be the Path of the Raven Queen.

Quote from: Drew;222631Really good. In my haste to get a group together I completely forgot about how daimonic investiture of power works in your setting.

I'm also thinking along the lines of the Raven Queen being emblematic of a philisophy or theological proof that the paladin's daimon is schooling him in. Kind of like the relationship between Buddha and buddhism, where the Queen takes on an iconic significance that stems from her embodiment of the sacred teachings rather than through any inherent divinity. Simply put, the daimon would be the Raven, and the paladin's level progression would be the Path of the Raven Queen.

Sounds like a good idea, and very cool for a tiefling paladin especially.

Demon Summoning (Ritual / Skill Challenge)

Level: Minimum of 11
Category: Binding
Time: 12 hours
Duration: 1 day per success
Component Cost: Level of Demon x 300 gp
Market Price: 2400 gp
Key Skill: Arcane

A caster can summon a demon of a level equal to or less than their own. When they summons the demon, they must initiate a skill challenge with it of a complexity they chooses. This represents attempting to persuade the demon to serve him through displays of mystical potency, the invocation of ancient pacts, sheer force of personality and outwitting the demon. The skills that can be used in this skill challenge are Arcana, Intimidate, Bluff, and Diplomacy. All skills use hard level-appropriate DCs. The caster and their ritual assistants are the only ones who may participate in this skill challenge, and they do not receive XP for it.

If the caster and their assistants beat the skill challenge, the demon serves the caster (only) for a number of days equal to the number of successes in the skill challenge. If they fail, the caster loses a number of healing surges equal to the number of failures they rolled as the demon uses the arcane bond of the ritual to drain their life, and the demon is free to do as it pleases, including attack the caster and their assistants. Assistants may pay the healing surge cost instead of the caster.

Summoned demons used in combat or skill challenges receive a share of XP equal to a PC who participated.

Note to self:

Dungeons:

Ashlands of Dlak
Bloodpits of the Vampire Cultists
Molten Whore
Giant's Grave
Spiderweb Mountains
Cyclopean Barrow
The Winter Palace of Kalak-Who-Blinds
Ruins of Amber
Canals of Kaddish

Adventuring Sites:

Brokenlands Forest
Harrow Downs
Flooded Quarries (Dwer Tor)
Maruk Bastion
Pyramid Mountains
Nightmare Vine Ziggurats
The Marktongue
The Unknown Hyperborean Lands
The Great Southern Road

Kaddish

History:

The city of Kaddish is the oldest continuous settlement in the Dawnlands. It was founded by the Dawnmen, and formed the capital of the Kingdom of High Kaddish. The kings were overthrown a few hundred years ago by the "Orthocracy" a group of priests, merchants, wizards, crime lords, charismatic demagogues and discontent nobles who mustered the peasantry and townsfolk and expelled the royal family and their supporters.

Government:

Since the revolution, the city has had no unified government. An orthocrat today is simply any powerful person, whether by reason of wealth, charisma, force of arms or magical might. There are several thousand of them of varying importance. Each orthocrat is attached to one or more factions in the city, often as the leader of it, and they support their factional followers as they see fit.

There are several competing codes of laws that operate in different districts, and the Kaddish are used to handling criminal matters themselves, with the assistance of whatever association or faction they belong to. Most serious criminals who are caught are sacrificed to one god or another, and the violence of everyday life in Kaddish means that the hungry gods always have their due.

Geography:

Kaddish is located on an alluvial plain between two rivers that carry snowfall and spring runoff out of the mountains to the sea over a distance of approximately 175 km from the foot of the mountains to the coast. The rivers are approximately 75km apart and mark the northern and southern boundary of Kaddish power.

The land between the two larger rivers (the Birth and Death) is filled with lakes, tributaries, and springs. It is one of the most water-rich regions of the entire Dawnlands, but can be prone to flooding. It has some of the best soil for farming and ranching, and hosts the largest temperate boreal forest in the Dawnlands. The land is mostly flat, and grades slightly down to the sea.. Most towns are built around forts or encampments near water sources and are economic colonies of the city of Kaddish.

The city of Kaddish itself is equidistant between the two rivers and connects to them both through a series of canals and multiple waterways that stretch out of the city towards the rivers. Though originally a plain, the canals, reservoirs, brickpits, rice paddies and ruins collect water, so that it is very nearly an island in the middle of a man-made lake.

Factions:
Factionalism is a fact of life in Kaddish. Everyone is connected to one group or another that supports and protects them in exchange for service. The most common kinds of faction are clans, collegia and cults. Most Kaddish belong to all three, in addition to whatever other allegiances they may have. A faction can make various demands on its members depending on its function.

Clans - Kaddish live in large extended family groups. Kaddish society is polygamous and collectively matrilineal, with all the children of a single mother-group seen as relatives. Like most polygamous societies, a few men have many women and many men have none. Prostitution is rampant, and the excess population is siphoned off into economic colonies and military service. Clan members tend to help pay one another's debts off and ransom one from slavery.

Collegia - A collegium is an organisational unit from the revolution that continues to the present. Theoretically, it was responsible for providing a certain number of men to the Kaddish military. In practice, they are organised gangs of veterans who combine the functions of organised crime and government in one. The members of a collegium are typically interested in extorting as much money as possible from other collegia while protecting their own members from extortion and crime. Collegia are usually run by an orthocrat, and there are usually no more than one or two per district. They typically both organise and put down riots as it suits them. The heads of collegia are orthocrats.

Cult - Religion is ubiquitous in Kaddish life. The ancient gods of the Dawnmen, the Celestial Cattle and the Stone Pack, are rarely worshipped in modern Kaddish. Kaddish religion is cultic, centred around the fulfillment of a cult rather than conscientious adherence to a dogma or creed. The Kaddish have hundreds of gods, some with more than one cult and temple. Many strange features in the city derive from the various forms of worship the gods demand. Human sacrifice of criminals is common, and demon worship is permitted. Most Kaddish switch faiths opportunistically to advance their status. Cults help their members with difficult problems that other institutions can't, since they can often muster magical resources for their followers. The high priests of more popular temples are orthocrats.

Other factions - The Kaddish may also hold allegiance to a particular gang, to a powerful wizard, a charismatic leader or to their employer, amongst others.
 
Municipal Geography:

The city of Kaddish is organised into roughly 25-35 districts or wards. The boundary of a given district is fluid, but the canals serve as rough borders. The number and nature of districts change relatively rapidly - new buildings rise up, old canals silt over, a gang leader might seize three old districts and build bridges between them, uniting them into a single area. Typically, districts are organised around a landmark. In the absence of canals to organise boundaries, the ability to see a particular landmark or building indicates which district one is in, as well as giving it its name.

Broadly speaking however, there are three main areas of the city into which districts might fall.

Inner City: The old city of Kaddish. This was the city of Kaddish in the time of the Dawnmen, and in the kingdom of High Kaddish. It is surrounded by an irregularly maintained wall, and has seven districts in it, most of which are stable. The fewest number of canals can be found here, only three running parallel from east-to-west. They are heavily silted, and bridge traffic is in the hands of gangs of the Burnt.

Some Inner City Landmarks / Districts:

The Granary - Perhaps the most heavily fortified area of the city. It is surrounded by a true moat and wall with armed guards stationed on both sides of it with halberds and bows. Most of the actual storage is underground, dug into the soft soil. The surface buildings are actually a large stock market run by  collegia and merchant families that sets the value of Kaddish scrip, trades in rare commodities like gold and silver. The collegia and the merchant families pay for the guards, and many live within the boundaries of the district. The granary is a frequent target of riots, and mercenary gangs roam the area deal roughly with outsiders. Almost anything in Kaddish worth stealing passes through here at one time or another.

Spire of the Screaming God - A traditional Kaddish deity who has experienced a popular revival, the Screaming God offers the typical package of blessings for its righteous followers and torment to their foes. His cult is focused around the Spire, a large metal spike in a pit of unknown depth. The priests of the Screaming God were one of the instigators of the revolution, and to this day, they punish traitors to the Orthocracy (an intentionally loosely defined category) by casting them into the pit. The pit itself has no railings or other barriers to keep someone from falling in, and a well-known traitor may often by joined by others in the press of the crowd. It is also a popular place to dispose of bodies. The spire forms the centre of the greatest concentration of temples in the city.

The Forgetower - Here is the windowless basalt tower of the soulforgers, chased with bronze. Here is the real wealth of Kaddish, its learning. Surrounding the Forgetower are schools teaching anything and everything that is known in the Dawnlands: Swordplay, astrology, torture, music, rhetoric, magic, strategy, engineering, sexual techniques, cooking, assassination, economics and whatever else a roving master might advertise. Student from the more militarily-minded schools roam the district, and philosophical disputes are settled as often with a club to the face as a sharp tongue. Because no powerful orthocrats live here except the Masters of the Forge, who do not care what happens outside their tower, the Forgetower district is one of the most lawless and wild places in the city. Many budding orthocrats received their first taste of power as the leader of a student gang in this district.

Capitol - The former king's palace, now ruined, is a mass of ramshackle housing constructed from the remnants of that palace. The people of the Capitol district are poor, hungry, and malcontent. Elves, halflings and the Burnt cluster here. Capitol sees almost as many riots as the granary does, and supplies the rioters for both. It is split between rival gangs.

The DM is encouraged to fill in other districts of the Old City as they need.

[More to come]

Nice. My group should be coming together soon, so I'll let you know how things go.

Any maps you have of the region would be cool, too.

I'll try to get some scanned ASAP.

WHile it is certainly cool to name landmarks like rivers 'birth and death' or some other opposed pair, there would need to be some sort of cultural reason for them to adopt such names naturally.

Consider the role of flooding. Does 'Death' flood frequently and violently? Does Birth flood like the Nile, regularly and evenly, depositing rich soil for farming?

How far from the rivers is Kaddish? Most large cities would be close to the water due to the resources available, not limited to fish and rich farmlands, but including trade routes and so forth.

Quote from: Spike;231707WHile it is certainly cool to name landmarks like rivers 'birth and death' or some other opposed pair, there would need to be some sort of cultural reason for them to adopt such names naturally.

Consider the role of flooding. Does 'Death' flood frequently and violently? Does Birth flood like the Nile, regularly and evenly, depositing rich soil for farming?

How far from the rivers is Kaddish? Most large cities would be close to the water due to the resources available, not limited to fish and rich farmlands, but including trade routes and so forth.

Kaddish is about half-way between them, about thirty kilometres from each (a little over a day's walk when the kingdom had roads). The area between them is a flat plain cut with rivers and lakes, and the city itself (if I can get my map scanned in) is near to a small lake and several tributaries that feed the city's canals and irrigate the surrounding land.

I'm tempted to come up with some reason that the B and D are so-named, but I think it would just end up sounding lame. They do dump their dead into the Death River, so that at least accounts for its name.