| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Bravesword |
Posted - 24 Jan 2018 : 20:52:11
Hello there!
I was completely amazed by the quality and storyline of the new Magic Plane: Ixalan, especially the material in the Planeshift book. Coincidently, I am the DM of a campaign located in Amn and which one of my players decided to play a Barbarian human “amazon” from Maztica.
Considering the Spellplague and the uncertainty of what could happened to Maztica, I envisioned to update this area of the setting, including Ixalan as an continent-island south of the main Maztican continent, and placing the Sun Empire as an equivalent of the Incans in my Realms. In order to allow one of the the other faction from Ixalan, I decided to update Tethyr as a similar storyline of Torrezon (the nation ruled by those paladin badass Spain-like conquistadors), considering that the realm suffered a curse similar than the one that affected Sembia, with no direct sunlight reaching in the kingdom. Tethyr would be effectively update to reflect Torrezon, in the 100 ans some years spam between the later editions.
Alternatively, I could consider that these vampires, affected someway by the Immortal Sun were a different kind of vampire, with more human-like characteristics and the possibility to walk in Sunlight (they shall have this ability in Ixalan, due to their connection with the Immortal Sun, the main artifact that is driving their conquest of Ixalan.
I would like to hear your thoughts about this, and how you would include Ixalan in the Realms.
Thanks!
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| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Bravesword |
Posted - 01 Feb 2018 : 22:09:52
@Markus,
I am still thinking in what to do regarding the “vampires” (they shall be “considered” vrykolas, in fact) and their nation. I was hoping to use some area in Faerűn to make thing easier, and considering that my story began with the PCs being hired by a member of the Council of Five against the monster nation of Murandinn/Muranheim, I believed that Tethyr could be a good place. Maybe a portal from Abeir opened and brought the vampires to a Duchy in Tehtyr, and they began the conquest of the kingdom, discovering that Ixalan also appeared in the west. With some exceptions, I am not using the Abeir materials, since I did not consider them very realmsian for my tastes.
Having some conquistador vampires fighting the paladins and clerics from Elturgard may be in fact a good idea for a crusader campaign in a near future (#knightfallfeelings).
Jakandor may be a good place to include in the Realms, but I would rather to place it near Zakhara, as you mentioned.
@Sleyvas
I was considering to use some material from Kaladesh to improve either Halruaa or even some Zakharan nations. They have an approach more indian than arabian, so I am still thinking in what to do. Those Planeshift books are really good! |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 28 Jan 2018 : 14:33:38
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Start HERE,, and you can look through all the MtG worlds, a bunch of their artwork, get the lore (some of it, anyway), NPCs (mostly Planeswalkers). they have some great stuff - I pilfer from it all the time. I love their Leonins - so much cooler than Wemics.
Yeah, just from a "look" standpoint, it would seem like their Leonins are what I would equate to what I'm calling Lenastans in Katashaka. They will be the lion humanoids. Not saying that I won't have wemics as well, but the wemics will be more savage and tribal, whereas the Lenastans will have built civilizations and be involved with politics. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 28 Jan 2018 : 00:29:44
Start HERE,, and you can look through all the MtG worlds, a bunch of their artwork, get the lore (some of it, anyway), NPCs (mostly Planeswalkers). they have some great stuff - I pilfer from it all the time. I love their Leonins - so much cooler than Wemics.
Aside from me toying with the 'Sepulchre couts' idea for the desert (which still doesn't grab me), I haven't thought much about necromancy in Katashaka. Its a BIG place, so I'm sure it will be somewhere (like your death Giants), but its not going to a major story point.
@Bravesword
I wish I had my amalgam map of the Mazshakas (what we would call 'The Americas' in our world) done - I plan to put an island chain in east of Maztica, and it would be a perfect place for you to set down the vampires from Ixalan. you could just say that was something that had arrived from Abeir (and then you don't even need any backstory, beyond that). You can just imagine one if you want, bt then your characters might want to got here after hearing about it (use any island map you want at that point - Even the Jakandor series would work for that).
In fact, Jakandor might be perfect - its got the right flavor (sort of, it works with maztica), and the islands are indeed necromancers. just turn them into the vamps and your good. You can just say that island is anywhere you like (once again, my recommendation here would be just to replace the large island at the end of that massive Zakharan archipelago). So long as your PCs never want to go there, you have no problems. Its just a place-holder so the vamp lore still works. Or, you could just replace the vamps with something more realmsian, like the Eminence of Araunt. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 26 Jan 2018 : 23:16:59
Hmmm, and there's an art book... you know, that I might like. Hmmm, and another called Amonkhet that with some of the current stuff I've been looking at with Egypt might be inspirational....
What are these kaladesh and zendikar books like? The innistrad, not so much interested in, seen enough undead books |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 26 Jan 2018 : 22:34:29
Yeah, I've been looking it over. The dinosaurs are beautiful, and I find it interesting how much we're all pursuing similar goals right now (I swear some WotC guys are here and listening, which is great in my viewpoint). The fact that in the same products though that we're both pursuing use of the phoenix (my bird folk AND my cat folk both will revere said entity) is odd. Also, they're pushing demons as a bat folk, and I'm pursuing bainligor from 2nd edition that live on the surface instead of underground. However, one of the biggest coincidences in my book... they did parrot griffins... and I was definitely pursuing that. However, maybe we both looked at the owlcat on DM's Guild and thought a similar idea. I guess I'm not real surprised with a lot of it, because its exactly like what I was planning. One things that caught my eye graphically was a picture of what looks like a two-headed tyrannosaurus, and the idea of multiheadeded or multi-limbed dinosaurs I can say is one that I hadn't really thought about. I'm now picturing some kind of dinosaur with 3 tails, all with spikes on them, and a horned frilled head. Or maybe some dinosaur raptor mount that's got two heads on long necks. Oh, and I do love the idea of the feathered dinosaurs, especially with pluma and hishna magics.
One of the things I'm trying to keep away from Katashaka (except in the hands of the red wizards) is necromancy and undead. They will have spirits, but the use of skeletal, zombie, and ghoulish undead I want them to see as horrific perversions of nature. Vampires too should be rare to non-existent, and mummies and similar prepared dead will only be in certain cultures. The death giants will be one of the few who practice necromancy, and they will be reviled by the rest of Katashaka. Meanwhile, these same people who are squeamish about undeath have no problem with ritually sacrificing someone and then say eating their heart. |
| Bravesword |
Posted - 26 Jan 2018 : 01:41:24
Great ideas, Markus!
I decided to move Ixalan to the south of Maztica - I probably shall not use Lopango or Katshaka in my world.
I was in doubt into placing the vampires from Torrezon into Amn or Tethyr. Since this specific campaign of mine is currently placed in the middle years of the 1400s, the PCs did not reached the Second Sundering so far, even considering that I am ignoring most of the changes from FR 4e, so I could include the development of a vampire nation by the late 1300s, just before the Spellplague.
Since nothing very special happened to Tethyr, and considering that a nation of vampires would be well placed in the current status of the Lands of Intrigue (with a weakened Amn losing their colonies, the monsters of Murandim/Muranheim increasing their activity and the recent genasi and genies uprising in Calimshan), updating Tehtyr to a vampire controlled nation seemed a good choice. I am using the Art of Magic: Ixalan book for more inspiration and ideas, such books are amazing (I am seriously thinking to consider Amonkhet as the updated Mulhorand after the Second Sundering).
But the development of Torrezon/Tethyr shall definitively be the most challenging part to include into Faerűn, indeed! I was even thinking into considering the "vampires" from Torrezon truly an update of the Vryloka race from D&D 4e. So all the issues related to the sun exposure and some vampiric abilities could still be kept, considering that for all purposes they are not "true" vampires, but corrupted humans that became something else - like the shades from Anauroch.
For the Brazen Coalition, I considered to use the Nelanther pirates, some Tehtyrian refugees (especially from Cape Velen) and even calishites and chultans as the inspirations for the creation of the Coalition, considering that they were on the brink of extinction due to the attacks suffered by the Conqueror's from Tethyr/Torrezon and the Calishite Armada. Even their love for artifice and inventions may be based upon some background from Lantan, so it is a win-win situation!
The merfolk from Ixalan are amazing, I am using them as presented, and considered to uptdae the sirens for aarakocra, but I may consider the raptorans, as you suggested (do you have any updates and/or ideas for raptorans in D&D 5e)? The goblins, as Ixalan natives, are a excellent choice as well!
I am also very worried to make everything make sense, and I began to let my ideas make huge changes into the Realms only recently.
Sleyvas, I strongly recommend for you to look to the Planeshift adaptaion of Ixalan, as Markus said. The setting is amazing. And its free histories at Magic website are also very good, they present an awesome background of Ixalan and all four factions fighting for the Immortal Sun! In addition, the book Art of Magic: The Gathering - Ixalan is one of the most beautiful art books that I got my hands into, and the description of the setting, its history and legends are fantastic! I miss these efforts in a D&D setting book! :-(
See ya! |
| Markustay |
Posted - 25 Jan 2018 : 04:03:42
Plane shift: Ixalan
Do yourself a favor and download the pdf - its FREE.
There's also Plane Shift: Zendikar, which is also very good. Hopefully they'll do all the MtG worlds.
There's a free adventure that's also available somewhere that goes with the Ixalan stuff. X marks the Spot: Ixalan |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 25 Jan 2018 : 02:24:55
Ok, what is this Ixalan that I keep hearing people getting interested in? It looks like something for magic the gathering, but is there some actual lore? |
| Markustay |
Posted - 25 Jan 2018 : 01:35:48
I was going to 'port Ixalan over into Lopango (lower Maztica), between the two 'arms' - its a decent fit, and its easy-enough to swap-out the swamp there for that river system in Ixalan.
However, a number of people have already been developing Lopango for 5e, and I didn't want to step on their toes. Its actually easy enough to just make it an island unto itself; I had considered this myself, but have decided to instead cherry-pick from it and add along the coast of Katshaka. The vampire stuff is a rough one - I don't think I'm going to be able to spin that in any way that works in FR. There is a huge archipelago that trails-off Zakhara to the west, and you can definitely swap the last, very large island for Ixalan, whole-cloth, without disturbing anything. Its easy enough to say that at some in the distant past, one of the Maztican Empires was advanced enough to have settled the island.
The barest glimmer of an idea:
There is one desert in Katashaka (so far), and I was thinking about putting something akin to WH's Tomb Kings in the area, but then I changed my mind because I can easily just take a dose of that and sprinkle it in southern Mulhorand, where its a better fit. So then when I started thinking about how to shoe-horn the Ixalan stuff into Katashaka, I started considering the idea of a variation on the theme: placing 'Sepulchre Counts' in the region (using the Ixalan vamps). Still in its embryo stage - I'm not loving it, so its just sitting on a mental back-burner, simmering for now. Plus, I would have to make them an offshoot of elves, not humans, but thats no big deal.
I love the merfolk and goblins from Ixalan - SO using them. The Sirens as well, but I'm just gonna make them Raptorans (which I was planning on including anyway). Maybe the Kor from the other MtG/D&D crossover - Zendikar. I might stick them in my plains, rather than orcs. Not sure yet. Thats another very good (and FREE!) book by WotC for 5e D&D. I just don't want to start using stuff for no other reason than, "Because it was there". I want it all to make sense.
Cheers |
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