| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 20 Jul 2014 : 20:34:14
This thread was originally for the creation of the Maztica Campaign Guide, but I am editing it so that this first post contains all netbooks that have been or will be created (hopefully) in the future. There will also be the latest version of each working draft for books that are in progress. I would like to include a description for each as well to distinguish whats here from my signature.
Third Edition
Monster of the True World - Maztica and Lopango
This netbook contains dozens of monsters specifically designed and updated for the Maztica setting and creatures from Lopango and local islands as well.
The Great Skyhome - Maztica and Spelljammer
Throughout Maztica's long history, contact has been made with "The Great Skyhome" many times. This netbook describes the history of Maztica and highlights the numerous connections it has made to the Spelljammer setting in the past.
Lopango - Land of the Sacred Sun
Lopango is the Inca-based setting just to the south of Maztica. This book contains everything needed to run a campaign within this part of the True World.
Claw and Sting - Scorpionfolk of the True World
The Maztican underdark is the demesne of the dreaded scorpionfolk. This sourcebook describes their cities, culture, gods and introduces many new creatures and subspecies never before seen.
Itla Tlayohua - Something Dark: A Maztican Compilation
Itla Tlayohua means "Something Dark" in Nexalan, and this is a fitting title for this collection of legends and adventures.
Fifth Edition
TWC1-The Maztica Campaign Guide
The first in a series of books that will bring the entirety of the True World into 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons and the Forgotten Realm. This book is a fanon equivalent of the Player's Handbook for Maztica.
TWN1-Azure Skies (DRAFT)
A Maztican novel which describes the transition of the True World continent from Abeir back to Toril, and the repercussions therein.
TWA1-The Curse of Zarzumotl (DRAFT)
The first adventure for the new Maztica Campaign. In the desert of the House of Tezca a great fire has destroyed much of the young city of Tukan's stores for the year. Starvation now faces the survivors of the fire unless a brave party of adventurers can broker a trade agreement with the merchant lord of distant Kolan. The trip takes a desperate turn to an underground city that most others do not even know exists! [Netbook is being completed in collaboration with SJS from the Dragonsfoot community] |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 15 May 2023 : 19:01:53
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
I haven’t thought about a tactile angle yet - that’s interesting. I’ve used a necessity of untying the knots to unlock the magic. Therefore the process is more kike taking an action to drink a potion than it is to read a book. I think both concepts could work well, particularly with quipu you want to be reusable.
FYI I’m doing a lot of reading on Peruvian cultures from the time of the Inca and previous civilizations as well. There’s a goldmine out there. Not as much as I was able to find with Aztec and Mayan but wonderful and plentiful nevertheless. I’m looking into some magical gardens now that take the form of terraced farming - a technique that is definitively pre Inca.
That works for a one shot type magic item (if a quipu is meant to work like a scroll for instance as you note). However, as you note, if the quipu is meant to work like a spellbook (or elven gemstone kiira), then untying it destroys it. Just to quickly throw out there some possible uses for something like this as a reusable medium (and again, it would be more like an elvek kiira).
you can get a visual representation of a site (a map) by touching a quipu, and it puts imagery in your head of someone walking through the site prior to it devolving into its current state.
you can memorize a spell like a spellbook using a quipu
you can use a quipu periodically to cast a spell much like a staff or wand, and reading it by touch places the necessary words and images of how to cast the spell into your mind (in some ways like old rules of reading a spell from a spellbook to cast a spell directly instead of memorizing)
A quipu can be held by someone to implant an image of a person from their mind into it, then passed to others so that they can "see" the image. Think "wanted poster" in some instances, but also "bank safety deposit" as a method to control who can access a certain box.
What's some other ideas?
Oh, and I really like this idea when combined with multiple mediums (i.e. not just ropes). I think this make for a really great form of pluma magic as well when worked with feathers that might be knotted together, etc... |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 13 May 2023 : 02:16:12
I haven’t thought about a tactile angle yet - that’s interesting. I’ve used a necessity of untying the knots to unlock the magic. Therefore the process is more kike taking an action to drink a potion than it is to read a book. I think both concepts could work well, particularly with quipu you want to be reusable.
FYI I’m doing a lot of reading on Peruvian cultures from the time of the Inca and previous civilizations as well. There’s a goldmine out there. Not as much as I was able to find with Aztec and Mayan but wonderful and plentiful nevertheless. I’m looking into some magical gardens now that take the form of terraced farming - a technique that is definitively pre Inca. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 12 May 2023 : 19:08:05
Ok, you got my interest. I'll grab it later to look. When applied with magic, I definitely could see something where there might be incredibly detailed knotwork using individual threads.... things that tactilely you might not be able to read by touch... but that information could be relayed magically because you touched it. I'm not sure if this is where you took it yet, and maybe you don't go into the "how" so much as just go into the game mechanics. The knotwork might also be dependent on the material (for instance, using individual vanes from feathers of certain birds used in knotwork might convey entirely different messages with the same methods of knotting). In other words, using vanes from the feathers of a peacock knotted in the same ways as vanes from the feathers of a chicken might convey a totally different message. Both of thoses might be entirely different from knots made with cotton, leather, etc.... |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 10 May 2023 : 22:33:29
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Updates on the True World Campaign:
A few new books have been released on DMsGuild in the past few months that specifically deal with Lopango.
These include:
1. Monsters of Lopango
2. The Book of Lopangan Lairs
3. Mystical Quipus
4. Flamelords of Kuntur Rapa
Along with the original campaign guide, two small articles (called Karaikarai and Trenntrenn, and Qhaix Xok), that constitutes the whole Lopango line of pdfs.
Currently, I am working on a book I placed in Lopango, but only in location and not much in feel. I loved the concept of Ythryn in Rime of the Frostmaiden and have been in the process of homebrewing a similar crashed floating enclave. Here is the current WIP which you might get use out of.
I had not noticed these. This mystical quipus one... so its based on a culture that "writes" using knots? There is an actual basis of that in South American culture? I saw something exactly like that in the apple tv series SEE where the blind people were using knots to record things, and I couldn't picture it actually working. I'd be intrigued to know more about that.
Yes, quipus were very much a real thing and like you, I found them super interesting. I don't think in the real world they could convey as much as writing, but there was definitely loads of data and information that could be "recorded" within them.
In Lopango, of course, I am taking this to an extreme, using it as a means for them to record mystical concepts such as what we might find on spell scrolls. The article has a whole collection of magical items based on quipus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 10 May 2023 : 22:17:14
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Updates on the True World Campaign:
A few new books have been released on DMsGuild in the past few months that specifically deal with Lopango.
These include:
1. Monsters of Lopango
2. The Book of Lopangan Lairs
3. Mystical Quipus
4. Flamelords of Kuntur Rapa
Along with the original campaign guide, two small articles (called Karaikarai and Trenntrenn, and Qhaix Xok), that constitutes the whole Lopango line of pdfs.
Currently, I am working on a book I placed in Lopango, but only in location and not much in feel. I loved the concept of Ythryn in Rime of the Frostmaiden and have been in the process of homebrewing a similar crashed floating enclave. Here is the current WIP which you might get use out of.
I had not noticed these. This mystical quipus one... so its based on a culture that "writes" using knots? There is an actual basis of that in South American culture? I saw something exactly like that in the apple tv series SEE where the blind people were using knots to record things, and I couldn't picture it actually working. I'd be intrigued to know more about that. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 10 May 2023 : 04:38:39
It’s been a while since I’ve worked on anything Maztica/Anchorome/Lopango related but here is a WIP of an adventure that starts in Lopango and ends up as a bit of a planar adventure before returning. It’s already 22 pages in with a bunch of updated monsters that you might at least get some use out of.
[url=“https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nq78GTBpkw2f7pjVuxM-fmhrvPdEUwLw/view?usp=drivesdk”]Halcyon Days WIP 5-09-23[/url]
Also, the book from the previous post is in fact now done. It’s called Krin Dolan and is up on DMsGuild |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 16 Jan 2023 : 04:23:25
Updates on the True World Campaign:
A few new books have been released on DMsGuild in the past few months that specifically deal with Lopango.
These include:
1. Monsters of Lopango
2. The Book of Lopangan Lairs
3. Mystical Quipus
4. Flamelords of Kuntur Rapa
Along with the original campaign guide, two small articles (called Karaikarai and Trenntrenn, and Qhaix Xok), that constitutes the whole Lopango line of pdfs.
Currently, I am working on a book I placed in Lopango, but only in location and not much in feel. I loved the concept of Ythryn in Rime of the Frostmaiden and have been in the process of homebrewing a similar crashed floating enclave. Here is the current WIP which you might get use out of.
|
| sleyvas |
Posted - 30 Nov 2022 : 18:14:08
I watched it, and a lot of it is somewhat like things we've discussed here. The big thing I see is that he's positing that there was possibly a great human civilization HERE prior to the ice age that got wiped out around the ice age suddenly. He ultimately leads into a concept that he believes that there may have been not a single comet hit, but possible tens or hundreds of hits of fairly large debris falls over a relatively short span of time. The idea is that the ice caps were hit by very hot small impacting items, such that geologically there wouldn't necessarily be "craters" left behind. This creates a flash flood effect in various areas as the super heated water then starts pouring into other lands and ultimately raising the oceans. When the oceans rise, those cultures living NEAR the oceans suddenly find themselves under water and they die out spectacularly fast (they show how there a portions of Asia that are now islands that would have been a contiguous land mass, same with Bermuda, same with areas near Italy, etc...). Part of it is also that we find a bunch of kinda like step pyramid structures in high ground areas in relatively recent decades that have all of these chambers built down inside of them that seem to hint that people went under the earth to survive a catastrophe, and they may have all been created around the same time (the younger dryas period for those that want to look that up). There's also some wonder if Antartica might not have been totally frozen over as much as it is today based on several maps from just a few centuries back.
I found the series interesting as you say. He specifically does not call himself an archaeologist and notes that that industry has a problem of infighting that makes people hesitant to buck "established theories".... which I can totally buy, given what we saw with the wars of science and religion just a few centuries back... or the hatred that teaching Darwinism invoked just last century. Even moreso, look at the fervor of some realms historians about making changes to the history of basically a world that's make believe, and one can see how real life historians might be extremely fickle. He points out that there's some things that people see that people just refute without actually coming out to take a look, and he seems to be trying to connect the dots of a lot of other people who are focused on a region they're studying that archaeologists are having issues with (some of which they've turned around in recent decades and given in).
So, I definitely see why you want to discuss how this might be related to Maztica/Anchorome. I would say that these multiple stories all over Anchorome of the people "coming out of the caves" could definitely hint that they went below the earth due to a cataclym of some sort. Many of the storylines have cultures coming to Anchorome via underdark tunnels under the ocean from Faerun or Kara-Tur, but it may just be that they were reemerging after having gone under the earth to survive an apocalypse. Also, since the story of Quetzocoatl and Quotal are near identical (i.e. he brings civilization and then is forced to leave, promising to one day return, etc...), there's obvious symmetry to our own world. I would definitely try to skew away from having Anchorome/Maztica being a "copy" of earth being sent to Toril though.
So, without committing ourselves to any specific idea, let's spitball some things.... because that's what is fun... the one thing I want to try and stay away from too much is possibly directly copying concepts that I saw in Mystara (i.e. hollow world, etc...). I also want to steer away from invalidating some of the things that the two of us have developed.
Ed says that "Anchorome" is a collection of islands, but TSR canon would have it that Anchorome is a continent. What if BOTH of these are true? By that I mean, what if when the ice melts on the continents north of Anchorome, much of it becomes flooded, resulting in the high points that are islands.
So, if that's the truth, what happened that now its not covered by water? Why is Evermeet not aware of this humongous continent off its shores, nor of the elves that live there? Why did Faerun only discover this continent RIGHT after the Time of Troubles?
Well, what if the elves are not the only ones who have dealt with magics that reshaped the world (i.e. the Elven Sundering) and which "reached forward and backward in time". What if the human creator race existed prior to the ice age? What if the spellweavers work also might have had some effects? What if the Netherese (who apparently knew about some black obelisks that can change time) got involved with some time magics.
What am I leading into with this? Well, what if the Maztica/Anchorome we see in 2e is pulled from another time stream. What if the underdark tunnels that suddenly erupted with lava in the rockfire disaster and led to dark elves and dwarves coming to Maztica were the result of a displacement in time of Anchorome in the past to move forward in time.... in other words, could the rockfire disaster be tied to the creation of the ice age in the past, and then SOMETHING picked up the continent and hurled it forward in time to "rescue" it.
For that matter, what if Abeir isn't another "plane" but another "time stream" and the rules we know of in chronomancy are just plain wrong. Maybe you CAN cause changes that ripple forward in time, and maybe you CAN ALSO cause changes that spin off an entirely new time stream. Essentially just like eventually someone can "double their lifeline" in chronomancy, maybe one could also "twin a timestream".
Along these same lines of a "flooded" Anchorome, we had been discussing the idea that Katashaka and Lopango had previously been connected along with the story of the Gold Clad Giant Kings, and I had also been discussing the idea that Katashaka and the large island directly to its east may have been connected. So maybe there's buried cities beneath the oceans there.
Now the question that comes with all of this... if Anchorome should be flooded and a portion of it was sent forward in time and isn't flooded.... where'd the water go? Did Auril gain in power? Did the ice caps grow and absorb water? When this ice age transfer forward occurred, was that what increased Auril's power? Ed does say that the Auril that was active after the spellplague may not be the Auril that we know. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 29 Nov 2022 : 02:31:23
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Watching a show called “Ancient Apocalypse” on Netflix which posits a civilization that existed long before the Aztecs, Egyptians, Babylonians, etc. The real world speculation is dubious at best but I can imagine how this applies to Maztica and the True World. Any thoughts?
hmmm, will have to search that
The concepts became repetitive after a while and the host has some bizarre “war” with the entire community of archaeologists going on, but it is interesting nevertheless and he makes some wonderful points. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 28 Nov 2022 : 17:45:22
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Watching a show called “Ancient Apocalypse” on Netflix which posits a civilization that existed long before the Aztecs, Egyptians, Babylonians, etc. The real world speculation is dubious at best but I can imagine how this applies to Maztica and the True World. Any thoughts?
hmmm, will have to search that |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 26 Nov 2022 : 04:01:57
Watching a show called “Ancient Apocalypse” on Netflix which posits a civilization that existed long before the Aztecs, Egyptians, Babylonians, etc. The real world speculation is dubious at best but I can imagine how this applies to Maztica and the True World. Any thoughts? |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 02 Apr 2022 : 22:08:38
Dragonglass is up on DMsGuild
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/392374/MZA7-Dragonglass |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 11 Mar 2022 : 02:05:08
Progress!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pO0I4nu4Dnz01zd-e6n3l5GH9xVZHnPs/view?usp=sharing |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 04 Mar 2022 : 23:09:38
quote:
Originally posted by louis_bowwow
This looks pretty cool. Can’t wait to see where it goes and what it does to the True World.
Thanks for bringing attention to the Minds Eye articles. I had never really looked into them, but now I am really intrigued by the lore. I probably would have never known they existed. Good stuff from what I have read so far. I particularly like the article on the vestiges.
Oh vestiges! How I miss the Binder class! I think they were killed by the warlock - too much concept overlap.
Anyway, I will try to continue to update those articles to 5e. My next goal is to see if I can contact the original authors while I continue the adventure.
|
| louis_bowwow |
Posted - 04 Mar 2022 : 05:53:53
This looks pretty cool. Can’t wait to see where it goes and what it does to the True World.
Thanks for bringing attention to the Minds Eye articles. I had never really looked into them, but now I am really intrigued by the lore. I probably would have never known they existed. Good stuff from what I have read so far. I particularly like the article on the vestiges. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 01 Mar 2022 : 21:00:49
Maztica has no high level adventures and part of that is because I’ve had no clue how to write one. Levels 17-20 has always been quite the challenge for me because I always felt the encounters wouldn’t be realistic when you are trying to challenge players in god mode.
Well, I’ll do my best.
I’ve written the first act (out of two) for an adventure I am calling Dragonglass for those levels and here’s a little summary.
Prologue - PCs start wherever you want them to (nominally Waterdeep) and are approached by a gem dragonborn who tries to get them involved in the adventure. With a teleportation circle they end up near Tukan in Maztica in the desert. The PCs travel through the desert to a lonely mountain where there is believed to be a portal after finding some hints.
Note that the adventure borrows heavily from the old Mind’s Eye articles on the WotC website. This will include the articles on the banished obsidian dragon thane of Sardior named Seradess, the three headed gem dragon Blithen, the Demiplane of Ectoplasm, the Aleithian Dwarves, ectoplasmic dragons and a few other monsters.
Act 1 - The PCs encounter aleithian dwarves who guide them through a portal to the Demiplane, where they meet Blithen who informs them of Seradess’ evil plans.
Act 2 - Using Blithen’s assistance, the PCs head towards the hidden ruin known as Tewahca, the City of the Gods. It is here that Seradess has come to use the source behind the power of plumastone (what she and others call dragonglass) in order to ascend to the status of Greatwyrm once again. Up until this point she was reborn after Sardior destroyed her and has been combining with her echoes across the Prime.
So really what this adventure does is combines all the Mind’s Eye material (updating so much of it), factors in a ton of Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, and has monumental repercussions for the True World to boot.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SKADtwTO6Lptc8JxR6E50ocaFZqOYPth/view?usp=drivesdk |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 26 Feb 2022 : 21:11:25
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Certainly. Do you just mean a stat bar or to use within the lore?
Just a rumor/name drop maybe in the lore. Not doing much with it other than to reference this giant king who may have a beef with the tharch of Lopango (and the tharch of the Western Pridelands).... storyline will essentially be that "The Daeronness" Shenandra Tarsorek of Thoros helped recover Thoros' hammer by pretending to be "the goddess Eldunna". The hammer gets brought back to the city of New Kensten in Lopango. The gods tell the Metahel (and Rashemi, many of whom have converted to Metahel gods) to sacrifice at the altar of Thoros and his children (with things like rune carved horn daggers, rune carved spears, rune carved metal weapons, gems, etc...). The priests are directed to bring these items around their settlement. As they do, magic stabilizes locally... at first for divine magic, and then for arcane.
Later, those metahel, rashemi, and some mulans (and some azerborn) decide to leave Lopango to form a settlement in Katashaka. They go to the western pridelands. Just a handful of years later, the idea of forming the united tharchs is put forth. Some rashemi and metahel would prefer NOT to be in a magocracy (roughly half), as well as most of the azerborn. They go to some islands off the coast nearby. The western pridelands tharch is formed, but its definitely different as it values physical prowess in addition to magic, worships metahel gods almost exclusively, etc...
Ok will do, likely in Kuntur Rapa. I wonder if the new That supplement will tie in well with your tharchs . I’m looking forward to getting that delivery.
Yeah, I finally feel up to writing about them enough to make each tharch fairly different with at least a small focus on the major cities of each tharch. I also played with some high level (beyond 20) rules to play with making NPC's, and I've been revamping a lot of the early release 5e rules I had done. I also kind of got sidetracked for a week or two on a races book for katashaka. Wish I could devote the time I could when I was younger to this type of stuff, but it is fun to write, even if its more for myself than anything. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 26 Feb 2022 : 17:57:17
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Certainly. Do you just mean a stat bar or to use within the lore?
Just a rumor/name drop maybe in the lore. Not doing much with it other than to reference this giant king who may have a beef with the tharch of Lopango (and the tharch of the Western Pridelands).... storyline will essentially be that "The Daeronness" Shenandra Tarsorek of Thoros helped recover Thoros' hammer by pretending to be "the goddess Eldunna". The hammer gets brought back to the city of New Kensten in Lopango. The gods tell the Metahel (and Rashemi, many of whom have converted to Metahel gods) to sacrifice at the altar of Thoros and his children (with things like rune carved horn daggers, rune carved spears, rune carved metal weapons, gems, etc...). The priests are directed to bring these items around their settlement. As they do, magic stabilizes locally... at first for divine magic, and then for arcane.
Later, those metahel, rashemi, and some mulans (and some azerborn) decide to leave Lopango to form a settlement in Katashaka. They go to the western pridelands. Just a handful of years later, the idea of forming the united tharchs is put forth. Some rashemi and metahel would prefer NOT to be in a magocracy (roughly half), as well as most of the azerborn. They go to some islands off the coast nearby. The western pridelands tharch is formed, but its definitely different as it values physical prowess in addition to magic, worships metahel gods almost exclusively, etc...
Ok will do, likely in Kuntur Rapa. I wonder if the new That supplement will tie in well with your tharchs . I’m looking forward to getting that delivery. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 26 Feb 2022 : 17:20:25
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Certainly. Do you just mean a stat bar or to use within the lore?
Just a rumor/name drop maybe in the lore. Not doing much with it other than to reference this giant king who may have a beef with the tharch of Lopango (and the tharch of the Western Pridelands).... storyline will essentially be that "The Daeronness" Shenandra Tarsorek of Thoros helped recover Thoros' hammer by pretending to be "the goddess Eldunna". The hammer gets brought back to the city of New Kensten in Lopango. The gods tell the Metahel (and Rashemi, many of whom have converted to Metahel gods) to sacrifice at the altar of Thoros and his children (with things like rune carved horn daggers, rune carved spears, rune carved metal weapons, gems, etc...). The priests are directed to bring these items around their settlement. As they do, magic stabilizes locally... at first for divine magic, and then for arcane.
Later, those metahel, rashemi, and some mulans (and some azerborn) decide to leave Lopango to form a settlement in Katashaka. They go to the western pridelands. Just a handful of years later, the idea of forming the united tharchs is put forth. Some rashemi and metahel would prefer NOT to be in a magocracy (roughly half), as well as most of the azerborn. They go to some islands off the coast nearby. The western pridelands tharch is formed, but its definitely different as it values physical prowess in addition to magic, worships metahel gods almost exclusively, etc... |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 26 Feb 2022 : 00:28:54
Certainly. Do you just mean a stat bar or to use within the lore? |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 25 Feb 2022 : 23:41:18
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Making some slow progress on Monster of Lopango
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eihzgq_d2P9HGU9f8QDwpcm9A-WfYuu6/view?usp=drivesdk
Speaking of the Gold Clad Giant Kings, mind making one who was humbled (Volgarik the Aurikong)? Maybe he's now "picked on" by the other Gold Clad Giant Kings and now overcompensates. I need to spruce up the story a good bit, but the gist is that a former mulan mage-priestess of Talos converted to the worship of the Metahel god Thoros. She still has a magically animated tattoo of 3 lightning bolts on her forehead. After the spellplague, she actually ends up carrying his spirit for a short while, just so she can recover a lost hammer which was taken by one of the gold clad giant kings. Story obviously mirrors an old Norse story.
Following the transfer to Abeir, magic was unstable to say the least. This began to change however once the gods began appearing amongst the mortals that had worshipped them on Toril. In 1390 DR, a one-eyed merchant appeared in New Kensten bearing a feather dress for sale, and it caught they eye of “The Daeronness” Shenandra Tarsorek. She was a former mage-priestess of Talos who had switched to the worship of the metahel god Thoros twelve years earlier. became a willing avatar of Thoros and grew to the size of a giantess. The god told her that she must present herself as “the goddess Eldunna reborn” to Volgarik the Aurikong of the Gold Clad Giant Kings. The god then said that she must offer to be Volgarik's wife in exchange for a powerful hammer artifact in their holding, and that this hammer would bring protection to their home. Naturally, the mage priestess agreed, and also naturally, her sometimes husband, Targuth Agneh, was less than enthused with the arrangement. Targuth announced that he would travel with her, carrying a black axe possessed by the spirit of Skaragos, god of bloodrage and executioner of the gods. They find themselves in a mountain home with azerblood dwarves being kept as slaves. They humble but do not kill the Aurikong after he breaks the Rites of Hospitality by drawing weapons on them. In return for his life, they demand the freedom of the Azerblood as well as the hammer. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 25 Feb 2022 : 21:16:16
Making some slow progress on Monster of Lopango
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eihzgq_d2P9HGU9f8QDwpcm9A-WfYuu6/view?usp=drivesdk |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 08 Feb 2022 : 03:45:26
I decided to go ahead and make the base underdark one that covers all of Anchorome, Maztica, Lopango, and Katashaka (so basically a bottom layer of those continents that's white, with the overlay of the surface with about 15 percent total opacity). In between those two layers are 3 other layers for upper, middle, and lowerdark. It's saved as a PDN version format, so it only works with paint.net. If you do decide to try downloading that program and want a copy to start planning with, just give a yell. I'll throw it up for you to download. The file itself is 355 meg, so I'm definitely not emailing it, but space is getting to where it costs pretty much nothing nowadays.
You got me thinking about icons for underdark cities. Most of the city icons are surface ones.... not really caverns like you'd see for a drow, duergar, etc.. city. It might be something where we put creature pictures instead, as we can find those easier or make them. I might actually be able to make some cities in 3d without a lot of detail as welljust to make icons from various angles..... stick hanging stalactites, etc... show a waterfall, etc... |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 06 Feb 2022 : 17:09:08
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
That’s excellent. I mean, the learning curve will probably take some time. I still can’t figure out Inkarnate very well but I will give it a try when the time comes. What it might eventually lead to is a map similar to the black map in the Underdark supplement.
Just to see if I wasn't leading you down a wrong path, because I hadn't actually tried it, I just took my Katashaka map and played with it to make a white background of the continent itself and then just showed some tunnels and a lake. Then I took a picture real quick. I'll detail the steps after I show the picture.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xJH2cxQrA5moBL9PN_gBdKJKL7el_UwW/view?usp=sharing
First, I opened the map PNG file. I then used the magic wand to click the ocean water. I played with the tolerance until I just had water (I think I hit that at 24%, but when I use the wand I'm always playing with the tolerance number to make it capture what I want). I know that seem odd since what we want is the continent. I then pasted into a new image. I noted that it had followed the rivers into the interior of the continent. I picked the wand again on the new drawing and clicked where the empty space was, then paint bucket white into there (I tried black first, realized afterward white is better). I then click the paint brush, change its size to huge (like 400) and just color in the interior rivers and lakes white. I now have a solid white continent.
Wand again, click the white continent. Go back to the original drawing (which we've changed nothing, just did a select then copy/paste into new image so far). In the original drawing do "paste into new layer". Name that layer underdark base (I skipped that). I then magic wanded the area around the continent and just pasted in blue to show the ocean. Then go to the original layer of the drawing and do layer > layer properties and change opacity to a relatively low number and move that layer ABOVE the underdark base layer. You could then EITHER draw directly on the underdark base layer.... OR EVEN BETTER.... make 3 new layers and call them upperdark, middledark and lowerdark. Then you could draw in the specific layer of the underdark in which you picture something existing. You could then have 3 separate underdark drawings for each "layer" of the underdark by just turning off layers (unchecking them), OR you could show all 3 on one map IF you wanted (an idea there could be something like having different colored tunnels on different layers.) I didn't go that far in this screenshot. I just drew directly on the base..... that being said, this has given me some ideas for both Katashaka AND Peleveran maps in the doing of this (more Peleveran of which I've mostly only done 3d views so far but since its a city built into canyon cliffs it could be interesting to see it going into the underdark). |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 04 Feb 2022 : 17:58:55
That’s excellent. I mean, the learning curve will probably take some time. I still can’t figure out Inkarnate very well but I will give it a try when the time comes. What it might eventually lead to is a map similar to the black map in the Underdark supplement. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 04 Feb 2022 : 13:02:33
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Quick Update of projects that are in the idea phase and links to the three that I have done a little work on already. This will be the most updated version and I will return here often with updated WIPs of each book. I am going broke paying for art even though it is mostly Shutterstock stock art, but I feel like the books deserve it.
1. LPS1 Monsters of Lopango: This book should eventually have over 50 monsters, about a dozen of which are done already. Monsters are taken from South American mythology and a helping of Lopango specific lore.
2. LPS2 Flamelords of Kuntur Rapa: A regional guide centering on a volcano and its environs. Azer and their azerblooded descendants, firy giants known as sollux, phoelarch and phoera, and a new race of dragonborn live in relative harmony keeping the azer forged workings of a carefully crafted venting system up and running while enemies hope to destroy the balance.
3. LPM2 Qhaix Xok: A guide to dimensional warpers and the outpost they have constructed hidden in the southwestern mountains of Lopango. Note that the cover to this is just has a sketch from the artist I hired which will obviously be updated.
A few other books that I have been collecting notes over are for the following.
4. MZS4 The Maztican Underdark: This will be a guide specifically tailored to its namesake and will be written much in the same manner as the 3e supplement "Underdark."
5. ANS5 Avian Kingdoms: A book on the aearee and birdfolk of the realms. A significant chunk will be dedicated to the last remaining refuge of the aearee in northwestern Anchorome.
6. MZA7 Plumastone and the Dragon: An adventure for Maztica where the ancient obsidian thane Seradess (of Sardior) attempts to make use of Maztica's abundant plumastone.
So as you can see the current focus is on getting some Lopango content but certainly not abandoning the Maztica or Anchorome. There might also be an adventure brewing at some point, but I haven't thought of a good story arc yet. The Land of Men with Tails from Dungeon Magazine seems like a good adventure to adapt to Lopango with some major changes to monsters and other antagonists.
Hey,on the idea of the Maztican Underdark, an idea just occurred to me that might be useful to you for just planning things out. I know that having a map in front of you can sometimes just open up the ideas. So, if you wanted to, there's a free program called paint.net out there (it works similar to Microsoft paint, the main difference being if you have a selection made you can't effect anything outside that selection, and to deselect an area press Ctrl +D... once I realized that the program became easy). In it, you can add a separate layer and add things there, and then turn on and off viewing lower layers, or move one layer below another. If you save the drawing as a PDN (paint.net's default format), it keeps the layers in place, so you can close it and open it to add to it over time.
I'm thinking with that idea, you could take the aboveground map and create a layer that you place above that. Name that layer Underdark, and then use the magic wand to select the continent and paste it into a new layer that you call "black continent" or "white continent". Use the bucket then to turn the selection you just pasted black (or white). Move the Underdark layer above that, and you can then just place placehold references like a dot and a site name, so that you have a basic layout and idea of "hey this is below this civilization, below these mountains, below this lake, etc.....". In doing this, its not so much using it to make a final map, but helping you place things while you plan. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 04 Feb 2022 : 01:56:44
Quick Update of projects that are in the idea phase and links to the three that I have done a little work on already. This will be the most updated version and I will return here often with updated WIPs of each book. I am going broke paying for art even though it is mostly Shutterstock stock art, but I feel like the books deserve it.
1. LPS1 Monsters of Lopango: This book should eventually have over 50 monsters, about a dozen of which are done already. Monsters are taken from South American mythology and a helping of Lopango specific lore.
2. LPS2 Flamelords of Kuntur Rapa: A regional guide centering on a volcano and its environs. Azer and their azerblooded descendants, firy giants known as sollux, phoelarch and phoera, and a new race of dragonborn live in relative harmony keeping the azer forged workings of a carefully crafted venting system up and running while enemies hope to destroy the balance.
3. LPM2 Qhaix Xok: A guide to dimensional warpers and the outpost they have constructed hidden in the southwestern mountains of Lopango. Note that the cover to this is just has a sketch from the artist I hired which will obviously be updated.
A few other books that I have been collecting notes over are for the following.
4. MZS4 The Maztican Underdark: This will be a guide specifically tailored to its namesake and will be written much in the same manner as the 3e supplement "Underdark."
5. ANS5 Avian Kingdoms: A book on the aearee and birdfolk of the realms. A significant chunk will be dedicated to the last remaining refuge of the aearee in northwestern Anchorome.
6. MZA7 Plumastone and the Dragon: An adventure for Maztica where the ancient obsidian thane Seradess (of Sardior) attempts to make use of Maztica's abundant plumastone.
So as you can see the current focus is on getting some Lopango content but certainly not abandoning the Maztica or Anchorome. There might also be an adventure brewing at some point, but I haven't thought of a good story arc yet. The Land of Men with Tails from Dungeon Magazine seems like a good adventure to adapt to Lopango with some major changes to monsters and other antagonists.
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| Seethyr |
Posted - 28 Jan 2022 : 18:25:51
With the recent update on Lopango, I figured it is most certainly time for some supplements. Of course plans change, but for now here is what's on the agenda for upcoming articles and supplements.
Monsters of Lopango: A full monster manual with creatures pulled from a variety of south American sources, most of which have never been seen before. There will also be some updates to creatures from past editions that fit the setting in one way or another.
Here is a WIP for Monsters of Lopango
Flamelords of Kuntur Rapa: In the eastern portion of Lopango a society has formed within a volcano centered on a condor shaped unique phoenix. There will be sollux (giants from Dragonlance), phoelarchs, humans and other races here and the main antagonist will be Bazim-Gorag.
Qhaix Xok: A settlement of dimensional warpers. The book will delve into their society, origins and desires in Lopango. I have included the first few paragraphs of the book below.
It will take many months, but I do hope to get all three of these complete.
Qhaix Xok
Find a secret place and be unreachable! And then, in the silence of solitude, the things you cannot reach in the crowds will meet you there!
-Mehmet Murat Ildan
About
This article describes the very secretive location known as Qhaix Xok. It is a sizable outpost of the enigmatic beings known as dimensional warpers, who were first introduced in the **Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (MC11)** in 1991 and have since only made an official (albeit short) appearance in the 1998 Forgotten Realms adventure **For Duty and Deity**.
According to their original description, the dimensional warper society was “based entirely on seeking knowledge,” and that “no one has ever seen the home of a warper.” In this book, both of those assumptions will be examined and challenged.
Qhaix Xok is nominally set in the Forgotten Realms in a land known as Lopango, but this article is designed so that it can be placed almost anywhere. Portions of the article that refer to Lopango and Realms specific locations, people or events can easily be changed to suit a DM’s own personal needs.
The Outpost
In the southern reaches of the Lopangan jungles at the edge of a small mountain chain lies an old abandoned Natican outpost. The occasional predator roams its overgrown pathways but the sentient races of Lopango simply have no reason to visit. Out of the way and unappealing - that is exactly how it’s true inhabitants known as the dimensional warpers like it.
Qhaix Xok is not the ruin itself, but is rather set just behind it inside a sheer cliff with no apparent entrance. The dimensional warpers, who actually refer to themselves as Xeaqe (SEE-ak), are masters of spacial manipulation and do not require standard doorways.
The Xeaqe are capable of altering their dimensions so that they are no taller than a sheet a vellum and in this form they can enter their cubic outpost through a similarly shaped opening. In fact, there are no doors in the normal sense of the word in Qhaix Xok and the warpers move from chamber to chamber only while in their two dimensional form.
Between chambers, there are walls many feet thick with only the slightest seam indicating rooms are connected at all. Beings who do not share the Xeaqe’s supernatural ability have very few options for passage without the express assistance of a warper ally.
Qhaix Xok is a large community with well over a hundred dimensional warpers. This may be the largest gathering of such creatures in Toril’s history.
Why are they here? Well to further their knowledge of course? But has that always been the sole motivation for the Xeaqe?
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| sleyvas |
Posted - 26 Jan 2022 : 14:13:11
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
PS Sleyvas. I’m sending you another email. That map is turbo charging all sorts of ideas.
On that map front, in my notes, I've had ideas for like probably 40+ races in various areas, just to give an idea of what a region might look like to a visitor. I may take that map and kind of draw circles on it and put names to the types of creatures I see there in overview. For instance, while certain areas have "cat folk" they may be of multiple varieties (tabaxi, leonin <calling themselves lenastan>, and rakasta <calling themselves Tigran>)... but others might have leonin and wemics and lamia... all lion folk..., but not the other varieties
I had originally tried to do this with images inside of CC3+ but they didn't turn out so well. I may actually just edit in a paint program from here on out on the existing map and add creatures as an overlay. Will play with that today hopefully, but otherwise lists of creatures to a region that I'll circle. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 25 Jan 2022 : 12:03:16
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
I had a new thought recently tied to Zeromaru’s and Sleyvas’ thoughts about dragons in Maztica and the True Workd in general. At some point I might try to develop this.
In the old Mind’s Eye articles there was a mention of obsidian dragons led by their own thane (what would now after Fizban’s likely be called a “greatwyrm” named Seradess.
She was ambitious and though I have to read the lore again, I believe she betrayed Sardior in some way.
Perhaps she could become a menace in Maztica but for a very specific reason. I mean, plumastone is a very hard, steel-strength version of obsidian. Imagine if Seradess was seeking out the secrets of plumastone in order to wield it against Sardior’s other thanes? Perhaps she believes somehow infusing it into her body could give her a power boost of some sort? This would be a great reason to have her arrive in Maztica and possibly head towards Tewahca (the City of the Gods where the most pure plumastone is canonically found). There’s an adventure in there somewhere though killing her would only be a goal for the highest of tiers of play.
PS Sleyvas. I’m sending you another email. That map is turbo charging all sorts of ideas.
Great minds think alike. It was implied that she betrayed Sardior, but not necessarily that she was "wrong" in doing so. However, it was somewhat implied that obsidian dragons now might be evil due to resentment of that treatment.
And on plumastone.... obsidian dragons that merged with the land of Maztica.... or maybe were FORCED to merge with the land not of their free will. Sleeping in the earth, their influence may have been felt in the obsidian nearby. Obsidian being in volcanic regions would make this a good addition to possibly Lopango. Maybe they can be reawakened.
Not sure how, but .... Zaltec wielded a maca of night or something like that as well, when he "killed Maztica"... could try to link it into the story of the fall of Maztica. |
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