Fallen Elphame Introduction

 I have devised an sort of introduction for my new setting- now named Fallen Elphame. It is located on my Obsidian Portal website for the campaign.

"The continent known to those to the east as Elphame was once home to a highly technological society. This was nurtured by the gods themselves in a location known as the Halls of Knowledge. However, the goddess Lolth betrayed the Seldarine resulting in a war between the drow that she corrupted and the rest of the elves. This devastated the continent, reshaping the very land and even resulting in the creation of twisted new forms of life. Eventually the drow were cast out, but the ascension of the great war leader to the position of Overqueen resulted in a second schism where the wood or wild elves broke off from those that would eventually be known as the high elves and left Elphame for other continents.

A significant number of goblin slaves rose up against the drow, driving them further into the depths of the continent and beyond. These goblins took up the drow’s instruments of war and bent them for their own purposes. Thus began their wars against elvenkind. For.a time the high elves were able to resist, even though they eschewed the use of much of their knowledge. However a few thousand years ago the tide began to turn. The goblins mastered more and more technology and the elves lost more and more knowledge. Kingdoms fell and even the Overking was overthrown.

Once the goblins reached the eastern lands known as the Azure Havens the elves began to pursue a new strategy. They reached out to the lands of the humans and even their estranged cousins. They began to bring in armies of these people, promising them riches and even land taken from the goblins. The Azure Havens took some losses, but also managed some victories in the face of great odds. The tide may yet turn again if the goblins can finally be driven back. Also rumors persist that the Halls of Knowledge still exist and contain knowledge that could be used to counter the advanced technology of the goblins."

The Halls of Knowledge and the Azure Havens

 So I have been giving more thought to my Post-Apocalyptic Alfheim campaign and my megadungeon now has a name- The Halls of Knowledge. Or possibly Halls of Divine Knowledge. Also, I have decided that I will be saving the creation of this adventure for later and for now will be focusing on a simpler scenario to start the game. Here is some of the background I have been developing

The campaign will start off in the Azure Havens, a series of elven nations along the eastern coast of the continent. Specifically, one of their cities has been greatly expanded to accommodate traffic from the continent to the east, one more similar to medieval Europe. This is where many of the elves emigrated long, long ago due to a second, less destructive schism with those who wanted to follow the leader of the Great War as their Overking and those that did not. Essentially those that followed the Overking were high elves and those that did not are wood elves, though I am uncertain as to whether I will have a mechanical difference between the two.

 This city is a mix between the old elven city and newer, largely human architecture. There are large sections devoted to the armies coming from the lands of men. Much of this is devoted to kinds of entertainment that the elves would eschew... Not far from this city is a citadel that has been destroyed by the goblinoid horde and has yet to be reclaimed... partly because the ruins have been occupied by fell creatures, including some remaining goblinoids. To clear out this citadel will be an early goal of the campaign. I am considering even having a portal to the Halls of Knowledge in the ruins of the citadel.

 I have given some thought to the other races. The dwarves are also generally split into hill and mountain dwarves...  with "hill dwarves" being those on the outskirts of the dwarven hegemonies (there are seven, one for each of the dwarven forefathers, though some are more centralized/intact than others) and the "mountain dwarves" are those in the metropolitan heartland, including the subterranean homelands, each centralized aground a great "manor," that may or may not be still inhabited by its original denizens. Except on the elven continent are the duergar, who dug too greedily and too deep and disturbed eldritch beings which altered them. Part of the drow have been corrupted by these same eldritch creatures after being driven into the depths of the world by their goblinoid former servants (though some remain under the drow's aegis).

Post-Apocalyptic Alfheim

 Well while I do want to continue that campaign, my Fate of the Realms campaign is facing difficulties. Therefore I have given some thought into future campaigns I would like to run. In particular, one I call "Post-Apocalyptic Alfheim" seems most promising. Basically its a setting that is many, many years after the war between the elves and drow, except in this world it took on apocalyptic levels due to the presence of advanced technology. 

The advanced technology the elves had came directly from their gods, which is kind of meant to have taught them and other gods not to do that sort of thing. Possibly even having led them to curtail the advancements of other settings. Now the goblins and orcs have used leftover advanced technology to conquer much of the elven continent, leading to the elves importing adventurers and mercenaries from other lands to defeat the goblinoid hordes.

 I am giving some thought to a megadungeon to go with the setting, but am considering delaying that due to the sheer scale of building a megadungeon along with the complications added by the atypical setting. One idea I had was an elven arcology. Another was a large science facility like Half-Life's Black Mesa or Fallout's Big MT. One complication with this is a difficulty in deciding where to begin with this project. So I am considering starting off with some smaller adventures. I still could use some help with deciding what that smaller adventure should be like.

Campaign concepts I'd love to play

Here are some campaign concepts I would like to play, but have not gotten a chance to. More may come later and I may elaborate on one if there is interest.

Alfheim Wasteland: The elves once had a highly advanced technological society, before war split their race and resulted in the use of weapons of mass destruction. The elves' civilization was destroyed and most of their lands ravaged. Now ten millennia later the remnants of ancient ruins dot the wastelands, guarded by mechanical and mystical guardians. Techno-barbarian orc tribes rule much of the continent, though the remnants of the ancient elven empire hold fiercely on to the territory they retain. They have reached out to the great elven diaspora and their allies for help, promising them territory in exchange for their military services.

American Fairyland: It's Earth, but not as we know it. Two planes have collided, resulting in a fusion between the two, which resembles the world outside your window, but with magic and mythical creatures. Few remember the world as it was, with an entire history of magic having overridden our own. The culture remains fairly similar, only altered by the presence of magic. Creatures like dwarves, elves and orcs all have a place in this new world.

Guardian's Realm: A more "gonzo" setting, with inspiration taken from anime, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, etc. A deity has created their own demiplane and filled it with bits and pieces from other worlds. This deity resides at the top of a great tower, surrounding which is the principal city of the planet.


Star Wars: Destiny of the Republic: The players follow Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn on "damn-fool idealistic crusades," as the Galaxy falls into the chaos of the Clone Wars in an alternate universe. The Mandalorian Clan Wars rage, but a possibility of peace exists in the young Satine of Clan Kryze.Out of the Arkanian Civil War a galactic threat emerges, the lifeform known as Atha Prime, as well as Clone Masters who desire to gain profit from their now unused skills.

D&D Campaign Setting: Earth: the Planes

Here's what I've been working on on the "D&D Earth" Campaign Setting I talked about earlier. It's a work in progress, but it is about D&D Earth's relationship with the rest of the planes.

A D&D Campaign Setting: Earth

There are a lot of references in D&D to Earth, such as why and by whom the Forgotten Realms were forgotten and Oerth being one of five alternate worlds with varying amounts of magic, Earth being the least magical. So yesterday I got an idea to detail Earth as a D&D Setting, where the PCs would either be visiting from D&D worlds, or being Earth natives dealing with D&D elements crossing over. This has sort of been done before, with d20 modern's Shadow Chasers and Urban Arcana, but I'm thinking of a somewhat different version, including a bit of "Yog-Sothothery". Other inspirations is the 2e Historical Reference series.

The world has had periods of waxing and waning magic, with the earliest having been in prehistory, during the time of Atlantis. The waning of magic contributed to Atlantis's destruction, but magic eventually came back during the Age of Myths, including the age of the Greek heroes. By the time of Classical Greece most magic again disappeared. Magic again peaked during the Dark Ages, including the reign of King Arthur (who yes, exists in this version of Earth), then started to wane again during the Middle Ages, eventually reaching it's lowest point. However by the 20th Century magic again began to be restored, slowly and subtly. By the modern day it has again started to take hold again, and subtly effects society in the background.

Not all myths are true, but they do tend to be partially true. Mythological figures may have had somewhat different motives or be slightly different than they are presented in myth, different kinds of creatures might have been confused for those of a different type, or their may be more than one of a creature that was thought to be unique. The conventional understanding of history is wrong as well, since you know, myths and legends are true.

Most people, even many "bad guys" tend to be neutral, with optional rules for "unaligned" characters and "temporary" alignments, so that characters like paladins don't get completely nerfed. Hitler is evil however.

Just a few of my ideas. I will post more later.