These transcripts are going up mostly unedited. To skip to the beginnings of the actual games, look for the line in bold.
TalkingDog has entered.
Granger has entered.
Granger: Hello!
Sessie has entered.
* Sessie tries to remember how to sign out of Pyrook o_O
[RinkChat] The chat room's topic has been changed to 'Enter the world of Prismanon. TD&D begins soonish?' by TalkingDog.
* Granger gets psyched!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Background: The Old King's Faith (Part 3)
Aebereth is Aesra's twin sister. Her month signals the end of the oppressive summer. She is the goddess of secrets and shadows, twists of fate, and the winds of change. Creatures good and evil, especially ones down on their luck, pray to Aebereth to turn her winds in their favor, and Aebereth is only too happy to oblige when the outcome of doing so is unpredictable.
Venyana is the benevolent goddess of good health, good harvest, and good halflings. There are more halfling celebrations in her month than any other, and she delights in their dance and song. Venyana represents the hope that carries folks through the chill of the coming winter, and she inspires healers to keep everyone feeling well.
Zhesk is the enigmatic god of invention, knowledge, and craft and patron of gnomes. Most envision him as a kind of mad scientist. One who means well but often has experiments blow up in his face. "Trial AND Error" hangs above the doorways of many ambitious craftsmen. They know that they are a vessel for Zhesk's idle thoughts, and if lucky, one of those thoughts could be the next world-changing invention.
The year ends with the goddess of the dead. Erenya is the keeper of peace and the winter that allows nature a chance to rest. Erenya stands watch over the spirits of the dead, to see that living creatures do not wake them, and likewise, that the dead don't disturb the living. Sometimes, during a full moon, Erenya can be seen checking on the graves of the recently parted, to see that no nightmares find them in their last, eternal dream.
As promised, I have created a handy table summarizing Aldebar's pantheon. Behold!
Hooray!
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Background: The Old King's Faith (Part 2)
Picking up from Shalisai, Mokhairn, Nordaighn, and Jaavun, next up is Aesra. Aesra is the northern goddess of the sky, dragons, and war. It is told that Aesra first gave dragons their wings. Aesra grants her incredible strength to draconic tyrants and the champions who pledge their loyalty to dragon kind.
The sixth month is given to Tirago. Tirago is the eastern god of summer, fire, and greed. Tirago's fire burns in the hearts of crafty merchants, tax collectors, and thieves. Fueled by their wealth, it drives them to collect even more riches, which never quite satisfy. Tirago cares little for what's left after greed consumes people's hearts. As the butler says, some men just want to watch the world burn.
Jatka is the long-bearded old Father Time. His only goal is to see that time ticks on and that nothing lasts forever. The oldest of the world's nations are his greatest enemies, and he empowers the hordes of ruinous orcs who charge into fortified towns and settlements and leave behind only crumbling walls.
The fifth and final evil god of Aldebar's pantheon is Fizen Kuon, the Mad Whale. Fizen Kuon holds dominion over the wild and unknowable places of the world. Sailors say it's bad luck to say its name while on the open sea, lest the Mad Whale hears and sends a storm or a kraken or another of its monstrous children to tear their ships apart.
The final four and a fancy summary chart coming soon.
The sixth month is given to Tirago. Tirago is the eastern god of summer, fire, and greed. Tirago's fire burns in the hearts of crafty merchants, tax collectors, and thieves. Fueled by their wealth, it drives them to collect even more riches, which never quite satisfy. Tirago cares little for what's left after greed consumes people's hearts. As the butler says, some men just want to watch the world burn.
Jatka is the long-bearded old Father Time. His only goal is to see that time ticks on and that nothing lasts forever. The oldest of the world's nations are his greatest enemies, and he empowers the hordes of ruinous orcs who charge into fortified towns and settlements and leave behind only crumbling walls.
The fifth and final evil god of Aldebar's pantheon is Fizen Kuon, the Mad Whale. Fizen Kuon holds dominion over the wild and unknowable places of the world. Sailors say it's bad luck to say its name while on the open sea, lest the Mad Whale hears and sends a storm or a kraken or another of its monstrous children to tear their ships apart.
The final four and a fancy summary chart coming soon.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Background: The Old King's Faith (Part 1)
The religions of the world of Prismanon are practically infinite. There are thousands of known deities, many claiming similar domains. But for most of the world, the only true religion is the Old King's Faith.
Centuries ago, King Aldebar II went on a pilgrimage to every temple in his kingdom, to learn about their gods, and choose one under which to unite his people. Having learned of so many, he realized he could not rightly say there was one true god, or even several, for all of them were demonstrably real. And so, Aldebar II studied the information he had gathered and discovered that there are 12 gods mentioned far more than any other. He believed that these 12 stand higher than all the others, and that, unlike the lesser gods, the powers those 12 wield did not depend on the faith of their followers.
Aldebar assigned each month of the year to a different deity. The original names of those months fell out of common usage long ago. The first is month is dedicated to Shalisai, goddess of magic, love, and beauty and patron of fey creatures. She is one of the capricious northern gods, according to Aldebar's "The Cardinal Pantheon". To her alone, the beauty or ugliness of something is an objective property, and she finds joy when mortal eyes are able to see through to a thing's true nature.
The second month belongs to Mokhairn. Mokhairn is the dwarven god of honor, justice, and family. He is one of the proud old eastern gods. Mokhairn teaches that more fuel burns a hotter fire, and a hotter fire forges stronger steel. It takes the cooperation of many dwarves to tame a mountain from within, but through hard work and many hands, another grand city will be forged.
The third month is Nordaighn's. Nordaighn is the god of law, civilization, and nobility and the patron of humans. He is one of the southern gods, believed to have once lived as mortals on Prismanon. He abides no corruption or tyranny and seeks to ensure the world's leaders are fair in all their judgments and lawmaking, without robbing kings of their right to rule.
The fourth month is Jaavun's (rhymes with "craven"). Jaavun is one of the silent western gods and the first of the five evil gods. He's the god of fear and sacrifice and the source of power for all devil and demon kind. His ultimate goal is unknown, but Jaavun sometimes appears before weak leaders and tricks them into abusing their power, spreading fear and ignorance to keep free expression from standing in his way.
Centuries ago, King Aldebar II went on a pilgrimage to every temple in his kingdom, to learn about their gods, and choose one under which to unite his people. Having learned of so many, he realized he could not rightly say there was one true god, or even several, for all of them were demonstrably real. And so, Aldebar II studied the information he had gathered and discovered that there are 12 gods mentioned far more than any other. He believed that these 12 stand higher than all the others, and that, unlike the lesser gods, the powers those 12 wield did not depend on the faith of their followers.
Aldebar assigned each month of the year to a different deity. The original names of those months fell out of common usage long ago. The first is month is dedicated to Shalisai, goddess of magic, love, and beauty and patron of fey creatures. She is one of the capricious northern gods, according to Aldebar's "The Cardinal Pantheon". To her alone, the beauty or ugliness of something is an objective property, and she finds joy when mortal eyes are able to see through to a thing's true nature.
The second month belongs to Mokhairn. Mokhairn is the dwarven god of honor, justice, and family. He is one of the proud old eastern gods. Mokhairn teaches that more fuel burns a hotter fire, and a hotter fire forges stronger steel. It takes the cooperation of many dwarves to tame a mountain from within, but through hard work and many hands, another grand city will be forged.
The third month is Nordaighn's. Nordaighn is the god of law, civilization, and nobility and the patron of humans. He is one of the southern gods, believed to have once lived as mortals on Prismanon. He abides no corruption or tyranny and seeks to ensure the world's leaders are fair in all their judgments and lawmaking, without robbing kings of their right to rule.
The fourth month is Jaavun's (rhymes with "craven"). Jaavun is one of the silent western gods and the first of the five evil gods. He's the god of fear and sacrifice and the source of power for all devil and demon kind. His ultimate goal is unknown, but Jaavun sometimes appears before weak leaders and tricks them into abusing their power, spreading fear and ignorance to keep free expression from standing in his way.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Background: Prismanon
Prismanon, World of Many Colors, is the evolved and refined recreation of an epic fantasy setting I built for a homebrew RPG system, back around 2001 or 2002, when I decided D&D 3rd edition was too frustrating. The original version of this world, which went unnamed until this TD&D thing started a couple months ago, was extremely silly. It was the first time I had run a game where I felt like I had full control. I could write my own monster statistics and make up any old thing I wanted. Which meant I came up with some of the weirdest things. It was a world where all shops were run by the same guy, named Henry. It was a world where one of the major languages was Hoo-Hah, the tongue of the ninja. The heck was I even doing?
When I started to design a new setting for D&D 5th edition, I realized I needed a name for the first city. "Why not Oakwater?" I thought. "It's a good name, simple and easy to remember, and I can take inspiration from the old setting whenever I need ideas." As the background of this new world came together in my head, I realized its greater cosmology (which will not be spoiled here) is not incompatible with the backstory of the old Prismanon. At this point, it was inevitable that they'd become one.
Prismanon is divided into 5 major continents: Ysteran, Cenaldea, Abaranda, Hanteron, and Molacquin. I'll detail those eventually. The city locations on this map are not entirely set in stone. As it stands, this makes the world kind of small, if taken to scale, but I might be okay with that. The original version of this world was even smaller. I designed the old world in the style of Final Fantasy (generally, but also specifically VII), where an entire continent could have only a handful of towns, which you visit in sequence to continue the story. It was a bad idea. It took ages just to get the heroes to leave Oakwater.
In the next post, I'll talk about the Oakwater Heroes and their humble beginnings.
When I started to design a new setting for D&D 5th edition, I realized I needed a name for the first city. "Why not Oakwater?" I thought. "It's a good name, simple and easy to remember, and I can take inspiration from the old setting whenever I need ideas." As the background of this new world came together in my head, I realized its greater cosmology (which will not be spoiled here) is not incompatible with the backstory of the old Prismanon. At this point, it was inevitable that they'd become one.
 |
| The world so far. |
In the next post, I'll talk about the Oakwater Heroes and their humble beginnings.
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