i
have this modern reissue of the ad&d monster manual, that ive been
trying to change into a setting, so that each page or each spread of two
pages is a place, and all the monsters that appear on this page appear
in that place, which is very concrete and a bit eclectic, putting lots
of weird monsters together, and sometimes i write stuff in this monster
manual, but it mostly sits on the shelf
so i split the monster manual into 5 realms: the blightlands (hell and ghosts) the labyrinth, the viklands (oceans, pirates), shep (sort of idyllic place of druids), and ur, where the story is set to take place. travel between the realms is usually done through portals, either in known locations or in portals that open up sporadically - the main connections are like
blightlands - labyrinth - ur - viklands - shep
so that ur is sort of a ‘neutral’ place between the ‘evil’ blightlands and ‘good’ shep (but there are good and evil forces in each realm, and alignment isnt strict anywhere) - the campaign is sort of starts in ur and sort of facing towards the blightlands (but viklands and shep are there also)
ur is a sort of dusty desert realm where many civilisations have risen and fallen.
in ur, a key location is a place called the TENT CITY, or CARNIVAL, or simply UR - home to mainly goblins, rock gnomes, gnolls. folk also make golems there, to fight in the great arena. it is a coming-together place for merchants and for mercenary companies, where folk worship BANE - who is BAHAMUT in his form as a great golden bull. the tent city is filled with agents of LEVIATHAN, an incredibly expansive organization that seeks to control all armies and every place and the mind of every person, and which is aligned with the cult of BANE, but operates largely in secret, noone knows who is a leviathan agent and who is not. and various smaller operations that seek to escape the notice of LEVIATHAN, or otherwise operate outside its influence.
in the mountains to the north of carnival are several IRON FORTS where hobgoblins raise mercenary armies for campaigns across many worlds.
in the labyrinth, demons from the blightlands gather at a golden palace where they plot incursions into ur to threaten BANE.
in the blightlands, theres a good-aligned place called the DOGLANDS where dogs run shit, as like knights and princesses and stuff thats largely disconnected from the civilization on ur. theres also dinosaurs (TERRORSAURS), dragons, dwarves, elves, and giants. since dwarves and elves are not playable races in the campaign, theyre just like whatever, ill figure it out later.
but something thats key is that on each plane there is a great arena - and at each arena powerful creatures gather - and bane makes his home in the arena of ur, and has some way to spy on these others, is why he’s been able to secure this great expansionist military success - is he spies on the elves of the blightlands, the demons in the labyrinth, etc,
i meant to mention the playable races which is from the 4e monster manual: bugbears from the goblin road - the war road in the labyrinth. dopplegangers from the blightlands. drow are the samaritans, the natives of the labyrinth. goblins from tent city, hobgoblins from iron forts, kobolds, githyanki and githzerai, basically as space aliens, gnolls and gnomes from tent city, minotaurs and orcs from viklands, shadow folk from the shadow realm, dogs (shifters) and warforged, who are golems from the arena
so i split the monster manual into 5 realms: the blightlands (hell and ghosts) the labyrinth, the viklands (oceans, pirates), shep (sort of idyllic place of druids), and ur, where the story is set to take place. travel between the realms is usually done through portals, either in known locations or in portals that open up sporadically - the main connections are like
blightlands - labyrinth - ur - viklands - shep
so that ur is sort of a ‘neutral’ place between the ‘evil’ blightlands and ‘good’ shep (but there are good and evil forces in each realm, and alignment isnt strict anywhere) - the campaign is sort of starts in ur and sort of facing towards the blightlands (but viklands and shep are there also)
ur is a sort of dusty desert realm where many civilisations have risen and fallen.
in ur, a key location is a place called the TENT CITY, or CARNIVAL, or simply UR - home to mainly goblins, rock gnomes, gnolls. folk also make golems there, to fight in the great arena. it is a coming-together place for merchants and for mercenary companies, where folk worship BANE - who is BAHAMUT in his form as a great golden bull. the tent city is filled with agents of LEVIATHAN, an incredibly expansive organization that seeks to control all armies and every place and the mind of every person, and which is aligned with the cult of BANE, but operates largely in secret, noone knows who is a leviathan agent and who is not. and various smaller operations that seek to escape the notice of LEVIATHAN, or otherwise operate outside its influence.
in the mountains to the north of carnival are several IRON FORTS where hobgoblins raise mercenary armies for campaigns across many worlds.
in the labyrinth, demons from the blightlands gather at a golden palace where they plot incursions into ur to threaten BANE.
in the blightlands, theres a good-aligned place called the DOGLANDS where dogs run shit, as like knights and princesses and stuff thats largely disconnected from the civilization on ur. theres also dinosaurs (TERRORSAURS), dragons, dwarves, elves, and giants. since dwarves and elves are not playable races in the campaign, theyre just like whatever, ill figure it out later.
but something thats key is that on each plane there is a great arena - and at each arena powerful creatures gather - and bane makes his home in the arena of ur, and has some way to spy on these others, is why he’s been able to secure this great expansionist military success - is he spies on the elves of the blightlands, the demons in the labyrinth, etc,
i meant to mention the playable races which is from the 4e monster manual: bugbears from the goblin road - the war road in the labyrinth. dopplegangers from the blightlands. drow are the samaritans, the natives of the labyrinth. goblins from tent city, hobgoblins from iron forts, kobolds, githyanki and githzerai, basically as space aliens, gnolls and gnomes from tent city, minotaurs and orcs from viklands, shadow folk from the shadow realm, dogs (shifters) and warforged, who are golems from the arena
