Tag: world creation

Rootless

On By JeanNadiraIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I wanted to do something different this week, so I wrote about one of my favorite homebrew classes: The Rootless.  This isn’t a class like fighter, mage, or rogue.  This is a class of people like farmers, merchants, noblemen, or craftsmen.  They are considered holy people, and a little out of their minds.  Like kleptomaniacs can’t help but steal, the Rootless can’t help but explore and learn.  Though the Rootless were created for a fantasy world, they can be adapted to any setting.  In a science fiction world they would be scientists, scholars, and explorers.

You can read all about them by clicking this link: The Rootless

I got the name, and the idea, from a song by S. J. Tucker titled, you guessed it, Rootless.  There is a beautiful sign-language performance of this song on YouTube, here: https://youtu.be/fUvm4FJ92P4

Have a great weekend, and may you discover something new every day!

 

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Deacon and Rosa

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A pair of strong and strong-willed merchants, Deacon and Rosa Yumi run the best and most famous inn/tavern in Ellay: the Drunken Dagger.  This week’s post is a character sketch of Deacon and Rosa.  Next week I’ll post about the Dagger itself.  With luck, there will be a map.

Click the link to read about Deacon and Rosa Yumi

May your ale be strong and ever-flowing, and your bed be free of fleas.

~Jean of Ellay

 

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Maxy

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I’m enjoying creating character sketches in a story-like way.  Maxy is a young man who finds himself on the wrong side of the law.  He’s shot in the back while running from police, and winds up in a world that is more than a thousand years in the future.  It takes him years to learn how to live in his new home.  His only regret is that his mother would never know what happened to her boy.

Click the link to read the full write-up:  Maxwell Carter aka Maxy

Have a great weekend!

~Jean

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Shadows Pouncing

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This week’s blog is a character profile – for a cat.   I used Shadows Pouncing, and his mentor Stub Tail, as familiars and companions for my Sonora game.  However, they are characters in their own rights.  I based the concept, very loosely, on a book called Tailchaser’s Song, by Tad Williams (which I just learned is in production for a 2018 movie release. Huzzah!)   I highly recommend the book.

So here he is, Shadows Pouncing

It’s nice to do different things, sometimes.  If you wanted to run an all-animal game in Sonora, you could. Cats, dogs, raccoons, coyotes – emerging sentience, burgeoning societies, old enmities.  What could be better?

May you catch enough prey to keep you from hunger, but not so much that you become lazy.  And may you never lose your tail in a dog fight.

~Jean “Tiptoes” Nadira

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

VIPs of Ellay

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This week’s post is a short one, with character sketches for the three most powerful people in Ellay: the Mayor, the Commissioner, and the Deputy Commissioner.  These three men rule Ellay and the surrounding area, which gives them control over trade between the west coast and all points east, since Ellay sits smack on the crossroads.  You can imagine how they would view smugglers attempting to circumvent Ellay and the taxes placed on trade goods.

The post is here: Who’s Who in Ellay

Have a glorious weekend, and may the guard never find your secret shrine.

~Jean

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Ellay

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When I ran the Sonora game on AOL, Ellay was the center of our game play.  This week’s post is considerably longer than any of the others because it contains the local background essential to running the game.

Edit: Whoops!  Forgot to include the link to the blog post, though you should always be able to find the page in the navigation menu.  So here it is, your link to Ellay.  Thanks to my beloved for noticing that lapse.

I’m still learning how to use WordPress, and this week includes my first ever table.  Hopefully it will render properly for you good folks.  Please let me know if it does not.   It’s been a while since I’ve used html coding.

Have a great weekend, and may the guards never find the dagger hidden in your boot!

~Jean

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Pennsylvania

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The last of the established Nations of North America: Pennsylvania – a rapidly growing theocracy taking over the east coast.  They absorb surrounding territory like an amoeba, stretching out pseudopods to taste an area, then settling in and assimilating it.  Resistance is futile.  Well, usually –  so far the Cloisters have been unable to take in the mountain Clans, mostly because the Clans are too stubborn and independent to bow to the Council Elders. Then there’s that ban on alcohol the Elders have.  Yeah, screw that.

The Pennsylvania write-up is here.

There are other city-states and peoples, including New Yor (what’s left of New York City) and Cajun (in western Louisiana).  However, the six I’ve detailed here (The Nations of North America) were the most organized and/or powerful political entities in my game.  So many possibilities; so little time to play.

Have a great weekend!  May your travels bring you fortune and glory, and may the Guardsmen never claim more than 10%.

~Jean

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Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

the Tribal Nations

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This week it’s a little blurb about the Tribal Nations who occupy the Rocky Mountains and a large chunk of north western real estate stretching into Canada.  They’re short descriptions, so I’ve grouped them together on a single page.  These people are the descendants of the Lakota and the European settlers of the American northwest.  They have a language that is the bastard child of Sioux, English, and French.  Their religion is constructed from fragments of belief systems that helped them survive and cope with the Great Death, molded into a new whole.

The Tribal Nations of North America

Hope you folks have a fantastic weekend, and may your dice always roll in your favor!

~Jean

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Mormon

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This week I give you a little about the most sophisticated society in North America – and possibly the world.  When disaster hit, they clung to their faith but, more importantly, they held on to their social structure.  This means that they recovered more quickly than other areas and never devolved into the mindless barbarism that consumed other places.  Their religious fervor, however, serves to keep them from advancing.  They are basically stuck in the mid-twentieth century.  For now this gives them great advantages, but eventually the surrounding nations will catch up – and then surpass them.

Mormon -“God’s Country”

Hope you enjoy this little slice of relative civilization.

Have a great weekend!

~Jean

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Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

the Sonoran States

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This week, a little about the area that gave the game world its name: the Sonoran States.  They’re not really “states”.  They’re just a collection of villages and towns living on the raggedy edge inside North America’s hottest desert, the Sonora.  They’re self-interested bastards, ruthless and cruel.  If anyone ever manages to bring them together under a single banner, the rest of the continent will be in serious trouble.

the Sonoran States

This week I also want to shout out to some fine folks making awesome game-related content.

Dyson Logos, of Dyson’s Dodecahedron – he makes great maps and adventures.

Neal Litherland, who has two blogs:

  • Improved Initiative, a gaming related blog that addresses everything from character concepts to dungeon dressing
  • the Literary Mercenary, a blog for writers. It’s great advice for any story creating you might want to do.

and M Stephen Joy, @ http://mstephenjoy.com/  He draws maps of dungeons, towns, temples, ships – even star ships. You’ll also find the occasional cartoon or game resource like the Adventure Planner.

Check these guys out, and if you like their work consider supporting them on Patreon.

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Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.