So I took one of the pocket settings I posted to the design forum and converted to 5e and added some maps.
The Hornberg
Flavour : High fantasy
Tropes: Knights of High Renown, Court Magicians, The Sidhe Court, War against Evil
Cultural Motifs: Charlemagne, Fairy Tales
Classes:
Human
Fighters - Champion, BattleMaster
Paladins - Oath of Ancients, Oath of Vengeance
Rangers - Hunters
Cleric - Knowledge, Life, Light, War
Bard - Lore, Valor
Rogue - Thief, Assassin
Sorcerer
Warlock
Wizard - all
Sidhe (various categories of faey folk covering hobbits, triefling, dwarves through High Elves)
Fighters - Champion, Eldrich Knight
Rangers - Hunters, Beastmaster
Bard - Lore, Valor
Rogue - Thief, Assassin, Arcane Trickster
Sorcerer
Warlock
Wizard - all
Goblinoids (Charak Di)
Fighters - Champion, BattleMaster
Rangers - Hunters, Beastmaster
Cleric - War, Tempest , Trickery
Rogue - Thief, Assassin
Sorcerer
Races: Human, Sidhe , Goblinoids
The Hornberg spans a broad expanse of temperate land between the lofty Marne Mountains to the West and the Silver Sea to the East. Effectively a large peninsular it is 300 miles across at the foothills of the Marne and tapers away gradually once you pass the mouth of the River Bask at Baskport on the northern shore to the easternmost Telspont some 600 miles from the mountains peaks.
The land is temperate with thick forests to the West and South thinning out to rich agricultural lands on the plain of the Bask.
The area is divided into a 7 small kingdoms, known as Duchies. The smallest being the Grey Isle off the Southern coast, home to the Citadel of Wizardy, and the largest and wealthiest being The Duchy of Vey extending from Baskport, it's capital deep into the interior. Aside from these human kingdoms however sits the Twilight realm of the Shide. For many years the two worlds lived in fear of one another. Tales of missing children, soured milk and spoilt crops let to many a barrow raising and a scouring of the deep woods and other parts of the Twilight land. However, once the goblins organised themselves into more than petty raiders the two sides formed an alliance and developed a grudging respect for each other. The Sidhe admire the human ability to craft items and make permanent dwellings and till the ground, the humans for their part are enamoured with the Shidhe's gift for glamour and enchantment.
Sitting in opposition to the Sidhe and the Seven Kingdoms are the forces of the Charak Di. The goblins of the mountains have always raided The Hornberg, indeed many saw them and the Sidhe as much the same but a hundred years ago their assaults changed and they were bolstered in number and strength. The Orcs brought discipline and the religion of their god Charak the Destroyer. They sacked Pelgar the capital of the Duchy of Hema and raised their way to the Great Bow on the Bask. But an alliance between the Sidhe and the Humans drove them back.
The Order of the Stone was founded as a group who could act apart from minor politics and territorial disputes and deal with the menace. Led by the Council, made up of representatives of each kingdom and the Sidhe court it maintains a large standing army and is is in a constants state of war.
The Charak Di continue to try and penetrate the defenses of the Order with continuous raids. Heavier assaults occur in a roughly five year cycle which many
believe have reference to the cult of Charak. The Orchish Legions are formidable but goblin infiltration and raiders mounted on wargs are a more common risk.
Meanwhile the Greymen, as the wizards of the Citadel are known and who have always acted as advisers to the kings of The Hornberg, have been working with their Sidhe counterparts to try and identify the weakness that may end the Charak threat for good.
DM Maps
(http://i60.tinypic.com/211v5u9.jpg)
(http://i60.tinypic.com/2czx0y9.jpg)
Player Map
(http://i58.tinypic.com/nnv3pl.jpg)
Additional Backgrounds (from the new backgrounds thread)
Vagabond
Fey Touched
Sidhe Court (still writing this one will post later)
Those are really nice maps.
Made the maps a bit smaller to fit the page.
Maps still need some work to be honest starting playing with mapping in photoshop on Wednesday night and this is the outcome (oh added some hexes to the DM map ... :) ) .
Quote from: Exploderwizard;786862Those are really nice maps.
Thanks.
Actually just playing round with photoshop for a couple of days really very very easy plenty of tutorials and stuff online.
Next one will be a city so need to read up how to do that. Again looks easy enough.
Ooh, nifty. I like this sort of feel a lot.
Quote from: LibraryLass;786866Ooh, nifty. I like this sort of feel a lot.
Used your fey touched background :)
I like that you've limited classes/subclasses to certain racial combinations.
and yeah, nice maps. One thing I wish I could do is mapping... But then I have absolutely no artistic ability...
Background: The Sidhe Court
Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, Arcana
Languages: Sidhe and Common
Equipment:
You start the game with 2 trinkets from the trinket table.
Feature:
The Sidhe live in the Twilight Realm that cannot be found on any map. You may cross there deliberately at certain elritch spots at the dawn or twilight hour other times you can find your self falling into the Twilight realm seemingly at random.
Those of the Sidhe Court can open the way between realms once per day with a successful ritual and a Wisdom check. Others can be shown these techniques and taught the required incantations.
The Sidhe Court rule the Twilight realm but they do not control it and many of its denizens can be less than well intentioned.
With the realms more civilized inhabitants Courtiers receive an advantage on any social rolls.
Personality:
1. The Advocate: you try to help others to make the wisest and most well considered decisions. Planning and attention to detail are key and to the Sidhe the exact wording of a promise is all important.
2. The Bacchanalian: To drink, to dance, to reveal in the moment this is what matters to you.
3. The Trickster: You love to play and tinker with others. Humans are particularly rewarding targets, so easy to dupe and to manipulate. What could be more rewarding than a well planned jape.
4.The Unctuous Courtier: You know where the power lies and will do nothing to upset the status quo. You can always be relied on to support the powerful and do their bidding.
5. The Commander: Your duty is to lead to make the difficult decisions that can determine the fate of your race and even the world.
6. The Diplomat: To work with the humans the Sidhe must learn their ways we must be patient with them and give them opportunities to come to terms with us. Through compromise and common sense the best course of action for all can be found.
Ideal:
1. Lawyer: with the Sidhe words have power and a promise made must be obeyed, but there may always be small print. (Lawful)
2. Hedonist: Take pleasure where you can and when its available, after all "The grave's a fine and private place but none I think do there embrace" (Chaotic)
3. Racial Purist: The humans are the lesser of two evils and an ally for now but Sidhe and Humans must not become too familiar nor too friendly. (Any)
4. Existentialist: you want to experience all this human world has to offer, it's foods, people and other sensations are there to be sampled. (Any)
5. Hero: Your only care is to defend the realm form these dark creatures The Human realm is a bastion against the darkness and should it fall then all are doomed. (Good)
6. Nihilist: there is no point in any of these it's just a matter of going through the motions the realms are forfeit and the Sidhe are already withdrawing from the human world (Any)
Bond:
1. A loved one has fallen to the Charak Di. You will take the fight to them until you have vengeance
2. You are only half blooded one of your parents was a human drawn into the Twilight Realms.
3. You have sworn to defend the Twilight Realm and have promised fealty to the King and/or Queen
4. You are not just another Courtier you have the Royal Sidhe blood within your veins.
5. You have been entrusted with a token from the Sidhe Queen to pass to the leader of the Order of Stone.
6. You seek someone close to you who passed into the Human realm years ago
Flaw:
1. You sold your smile to a Sidhe sorcerer in return for an enchantment which seemed critical at the time but has long since faded.
2. You are under a geas made by a rash promise to another of the court and must do as they ask for a year.
3. You suffer from the famous Sidhe lack of focus and can not stick to any task for longer than 5 rounds unless you are actively engaged – any extended task where you haven't needed to make a check for five rounds you simply give up and do something else.
4. You are highly susceptible to toxins from the human realm disadvantage on all poison saves that do not originate in the Twilight Realm
5. You are abhorred by the human practice of eating meat and will violently intervene if you see anyone harm an animal for food.
6. You are unable to resist any challenge and if anyone calls you out or dares you to perform a task you will always accept (DM can rule that obviously suicidal tasks don't count).
Looks quite nice.
You have given class choices for goblinoids, but your writeup makes it look like they are the de facto bad guys of the setting. Is this for DM guidance or for the rare goblinoids having changed sides?
Just some notes on the background:
Equipment: Comparing getting just two trinkets to backgrounds in the PHB seems lacking. Backgrounds always get a set of clothes and I feel you could flesh out your setting here, by giving out clothes unlike those found in human lands.
I'd imagine cloaks made from butterflies, shining metallic bodysuits or dresses made from glamored feathers, but that may not be where your Sidhe are headed.
Proficiencies: Common and Sidhe look like the languages a Sidhe would get from his racial choice and only make sense, if, by default, Sidhe start without knowing any language.
Feature: You hand out a hard mechanical effect by granting advantage. Note that no PHB background does this.
I'm not a fan of doing backgrounds this way, as I feel the more freeform features are one of the defining unique elements of 5e background design and are more encouraging of creative play. It's your campaign of course, but you should be aware that it changes the formula of background design.
Traits: You put hard mechanics and strong limitations into the traits. This might very well be your intend, to emphasize that the Sidhe are very different from humans.
But once again its a strong deviation from the norm and players might balk at it or be disencouraged from playing Sidhe. This might be a non issue, considering you already limit choice of class, so I guess your players are ok with it.
But it is something to keep in mind when designing backgrounds for more general use.
Quote from: Gold Roger;786901Looks quite nice.
You have given class choices for goblinoids, but your writeup makes it look like they are the de facto bad guys of the setting. Is this for DM guidance or for the rare goblinoids having changed sides?
Just some notes on the background:
Equipment: Comparing getting just two trinkets to backgrounds in the PHB seems lacking. Backgrounds always get a set of clothes and I feel you could flesh out your setting here, by giving out clothes unlike those found in human lands.
I'd imagine cloaks made from butterflies, shining metallic bodysuits or dresses made from glamored feathers, but that may not be where your Sidhe are headed.
Proficiencies: Common and Sidhe look like the languages a Sidhe would get from his racial choice and only make sense, if, by default, Sidhe start without knowing any language.
Feature: You hand out a hard mechanical effect by granting advantage. Note that no PHB background does this.
I'm not a fan of doing backgrounds this way, as I feel the more freeform features are one of the defining unique elements of 5e background design and are more encouraging of creative play. It's your campaign of course, but you should be aware that it changes the formula of background design.
Traits: You put hard mechanics and strong limitations into the traits. This might very well be your intend, to emphasize that the Sidhe are very different from humans.
But once again its a strong deviation from the norm and players might balk at it or be disencouraged from playing Sidhe. This might be a non issue, considering you already limit choice of class, so I guess your players are ok with it.
But it is something to keep in mind when designing backgrounds for more general use.
Thanks for the feedback.
Goblinoids are there if you want to play an all goblinoid game where you raid hte human lands and offer blood acrifice to Charack Di.
I agree with quite a lot of what you say, especially the clothing ideas, and will take another look. I am really feeling my way round backgrounds to see what sits where and how mechanical they can be.
the whole thing is really a thought experiment for now. I will knock up a couple more of these this week once I learn how to draw city maps in photoshop then this weekend we are running a fun combat session of Mythenders and I will get them to pick which setting they want to use for when we start our 5e campaign the week after.
I will also add some write up on factions and random background generators. Possibly some wandering monster tables for different areas on the map.
I was also wandering if there would be a market for a book of say 10 settings like this each with a 1 page write up a couple of unique backgrounds, factions random tables and a couple of pages of maps. Such a thing would need a more generic approach to backgrounds
First stab at a photoshop City... not sure i like the style .I am more of a draw each house and them them aggregate than a shave a block down but ... 1st stab
(http://i58.tinypic.com/2q2r677.jpg)
i was going to use it for the Port Kar micro setting but it looks a bit to clean...
Quote from: jibbajibba;786892Background: The Sidhe Court
Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, Arcana
Languages: Sidhe and Common
Equipment:
You start the game with 2 trinkets from the trinket table.
Feature:
The Sidhe live in the Twilight Realm that cannot be found on any map. You may cross there deliberately at certain elritch spots at the dawn or twilight hour other times you can find your self falling into the Twilight realm seemingly at random.
Those of the Sidhe Court can open the way between realms once per day with a successful ritual and a Wisdom check. Others can be shown these techniques and taught the required incantations.
The Sidhe Court rule the Twilight realm but they do not control it and many of its denizens can be less than well intentioned.
With the realms more civilized inhabitants Courtiers receive an advantage on any social rolls.
Personality:
1. The Advocate: you try to help others to make the wisest and most well considered decisions. Planning and attention to detail are key and to the Sidhe the exact wording of a promise is all important.
2. The Bacchanalian: To drink, to dance, to reveal in the moment this is what matters to you.
3. The Trickster: You love to play and tinker with others. Humans are particularly rewarding targets, so easy to dupe and to manipulate. What could be more rewarding than a well planned jape.
4.The Unctuous Courtier: You know where the power lies and will do nothing to upset the status quo. You can always be relied on to support the powerful and do their bidding.
5. The Commander: Your duty is to lead to make the difficult decisions that can determine the fate of your race and even the world.
6. The Diplomat: To work with the humans the Sidhe must learn their ways we must be patient with them and give them opportunities to come to terms with us. Through compromise and common sense the best course of action for all can be found.
Ideal:
1. Lawyer: with the Sidhe words have power and a promise made must be obeyed, but there may always be small print. (Lawful)
2. Hedonist: Take pleasure where you can and when its available, after all "The grave's a fine and private place but none I think do there embrace" (Chaotic)
3. Racial Purist: The humans are the lesser of two evils and an ally for now but Sidhe and Humans must not become too familiar nor too friendly. (Any)
4. Existentialist: you want to experience all this human world has to offer, it's foods, people and other sensations are there to be sampled. (Any)
5. Hero: Your only care is to defend the realm form these dark creatures The Human realm is a bastion against the darkness and should it fall then all are doomed. (Good)
6. Nihilist: there is no point in any of these it's just a matter of going through the motions the realms are forfeit and the Sidhe are already withdrawing from the human world (Any)
Bond:
1. A loved one has fallen to the Charak Di. You will take the fight to them until you have vengeance
2. You are only half blooded one of your parents was a human drawn into the Twilight Realms.
3. You have sworn to defend the Twilight Realm and have promised fealty to the King and/or Queen
4. You are not just another Courtier you have the Royal Sidhe blood within your veins.
5. You have been entrusted with a token from the Sidhe Queen to pass to the leader of the Order of Stone.
6. You seek someone close to you who passed into the Human realm years ago
Flaw:
1. You sold your smile to a Sidhe sorcerer in return for an enchantment which seemed critical at the time but has long since faded.
2. You are under a geas made by a rash promise to another of the court and must do as they ask for a year.
3. You suffer from the famous Sidhe lack of focus and can not stick to any task for longer than 5 rounds unless you are actively engaged – any extended task where you haven't needed to make a check for five rounds you simply give up and do something else.
4. You are highly susceptible to toxins from the human realm disadvantage on all poison saves that do not originate in the Twilight Realm
5. You are abhorred by the human practice of eating meat and will violently intervene if you see anyone harm an animal for food.
6. You are unable to resist any challenge and if anyone calls you out or dares you to perform a task you will always accept (DM can rule that obviously suicidal tasks don't count).
Did you post this in the Big Backgrounds Thread?
Quote from: RPGPundit;787564Did you post this in the Big Backgrounds Thread?
No as noted its more setting specific and bends the Backgrounds rules a bit too much for a vanilla bog standard background
Quote from: jibbajibba;787751No as noted its more setting specific and bends the Backgrounds rules a bit too much for a vanilla bog standard background
I think you should post it anyway.
It is an example how one can derive from the standart formular and it might inspire others in their design of homebrew backgrounds. Besides, it's not like Seelie are a massive rarity in homebrew settings.
Just add a note on the quirks of the background, it'll be fine^^
Quote from: Gold Roger;787826I think you should post it anyway.
It is an example how one can derive from the standart formular and it might inspire others in their design of homebrew backgrounds. Besides, it's not like Seelie are a massive rarity in homebrew settings.
Just add a note on the quirks of the background, it'll be fine^^
Yes, absolutely agreed.