24 January 2021

Vayra Asks: 10 Setting Questions

Responding to Vayras 10 Setting Questions post - and using it as a convenient setting refresh, idea spinner for my next session.

1) What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?
The most martial arts would be known by monks - though for any martial-leaning archetype (fighters, clerics of war gods, etc) I would be happy to talk about how they know some sort of style. These styles are going to be heavily modified from 'real world' ones - perhaps keeping the principle (such as a redirecting momentum into throws Judo-style) and modifying the moves. This is because there are lots of species with different physical structures that imply different styles: what can you do when your limbs are longer/shorter? When you have the muscle mass of a aaracokra or an orc? A goliaths fighting style should take advantage of their height, an aaracokra is going to need to work hard to not take blows given their flight-capable bone structure. Lizardfolk have tails and tough hides - what kind of style takes advantage of that?

This is a menagerie world with 73 species/ancestries rocking about the main city combined from d50 fantasy races from Skerples and the race-oids from Lizardman Diaries Infinigrad, the Endless City so lots of variety in body-shape, presence/absence of tail, wide variation in grip, reflex speed, muscle mass and stamina which will inform a wider variation in fighting styles.

2) Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?
Absolutely, we'll do a one on one to figure out the details, sketch in some key points of how it happened, what does it mean and then flesh it out in game as relevant. The cult of Tiamat is an open secret among the dragon-blooded noble families, Bane and Asmodeus also present, along with a fair scattering of tieflings and old hell-troopers throught the realm so there are many reasonable paths by which such a thing could have come to pass.

3) Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I'm the timelost princess of the brass city and the daughter of the sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father's vizier but I don't know that, or that I'm elf conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?
Hm - some backstory is awesome, too much locks in a huge chunk of lore. Minimum I would love a couple of major highlights from the characters past that give some nice hooks to hang things on later. Why are you out here adventuring? Do you have some sort of long-term goal? - that sort of thing. If you want to write lots of backstory, I would suggest you sketch out your highlights - timelost prince, daughter of the sun, etc. - then I can do a check to make sure there are no busts with other peoples backstories or the setting or the campaign concept. E.g. check that we are not about to try a stranger-in-a-strange-land game when you are apparently a 20 year resident of the place. I have full confidence we can match the things you want; anytime in the past I have asked for backstory tweaks, no one has had their character ruined.

4) If I eat someone's heart, will I gain their powers? What about their brain?
With the appropriate ritual preparation, maybe. But it won't be easy and it may well leave a mark. Among certain company, such things could be delicacies. Invitations to those gatherings are... sensitive.

5) These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely?
Maybe? If the class fits the tone of the game - if we are running a fairly fluffy exploration game and you want to bring in some sort of Khornate bezerker homebrew that has to provide daily skulls for his god, this may not be the game for you? Mainly, I would rather not do masses of work on cooking up homebrew rules or balancing a strange new class - if this is going to make my life hard in game prep then I'll need a really good reason to say yes. Most of my games run off the 3 core books.

If you want to work towards something odd like a steam-punk Iron Kingdoms style war-mage and their mech in what is currently a renaissance-era Discworld and fairy-tale setting, we may have to work on how those pieces come together. Certainly, it would be excellent player quest material and the knock on implications for the world could be lots of fun to play out.

On the other hand, if you turn up and tell me you want to play something truly awesome like The Extras, well, who could say no to that?

6) If I make a sword, which one of us gets to name it?
You do, of course. If you find one and it is not clear what the name is, you can call it what you like as well.

7) Am I allowed to kill the other player characters? What would I have to do to be allowed to? Do I win if I kill them all? Actually, how do I win in general?
If we are running a table where players killing players is fine and agreed, then go right ahead. I tend to run longer campaigns with a chunk of work in backstories so randomly offing other members of the party is not making the game a good time for everyone. If it makes sense within the game, then sure it can happen. The "win conditions" for my games tend not to require killing the rest of your party.

8) What language stands in for 'Common'? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?
There is a 'common' that is a derivative of elvish and draconic, spoken by many of the lowland inhabitants. Doesn't have a name, it is just what people speak in Krarland. Quite a few of the party speak other languages, like the mountain trade tongue that has dwarf and giant roots.

Some good times have been had with extra-planar Kobolds and trying to find the draconic root words they share to get basics across. Happily draconic is a very stable language over time given the long-life of its primary speakers.

9) How do I learn how to talk to rocks? No not once a day just, like, normally?
Find one that is an elemental, speak Terran at it. Your major challenge will be getting a rock to care enough to answer you back.

10) Which kinds of wizards get to serve kings and live in towers and shit and which ones are run out of town or stoned to death in the streets? Can I be both? At the same time?
Great question - wizards get judged by their actions. Those that show themselves capable of living within the city walls get to have the comforts of civilization about them. Paranoid, blasty wizards get strongly advised by the Throne and the other wizards to go find a tower in the wilderness where they can be paranoid in peace. With more power, wizards get visibly stranger and watched more closely.

Current home game ruling family has some wizard cousins, sponsors a magical university and enjoys the support of a noble houses that focuses on magic. Causing a major magical accident would lead to some harsh inquiries. Turning up out of the wilderness and attempting to dominate a small town would probably lead to them assuming you were agents of one of their unfriendly neighbours and have an appropriate threat-to-the-realm response fall on your head once the word got out.

If you want to see others answers to the same questions you can check out Locheil or SunderedWorldDM or Phlox or Anni or Aura Twilight.

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