Saturday 29 August 2015

20 Questions about The Last Day Dawned

Prolific bloggisimo Jeff Rients offered 20 Questions to help define your campaign world. Here are the answers for The Last Day Dawned; mainly to form something of a road-map for defining the setting on this blog in the future!

Currently the players are rescuing children from a band of cultist-Gnolls; this has involved infiltrating a prison from Demons and coming across their first Willing Vessels and the first suggestion just how long the shadows are getting..






  1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?
    Most Clerics in the Empire of Audunfeyr worship any number of the Thousand Gods of Audunfeyr; the vast, cosmopolitan pantheon of the most pragmatic religion which has long substituted doctrinal purity in favour of quickly assimilating new cultures. Whilst your Cleric probably knows and can perform the rituals and practices of any number of the Gods, he is most likely a Cultist of one in particular. Feel free to make one up and pick your domains!

    The Empire's Patron Godling, The Chained Angel, is a god of law and human superiority. She grants the War, Law and Goetic domains. Clerics of the Chained Angel must advance the Audenfeyr where they can, and oppose the spirits of wild places.

    The Elves of the Steppe - and their subject peoples- worship the Sky God Therudaz and the Earth God Heartathen: all spirits of natural things: rivers, forests, mountains must be honoured....or ruled over. The strong rule the weak; thus is the order of things. Followers can take their pick of domains, more or less, but Tempest, War and Knowledge best fit Therudaz and Nature, Life and Death best fit Heartathen.

    If you wanna worship Pelor or Zeus or the Buddha or Lucifer we can probably accommodate that somewhere.
2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

A town or city or village for most things. For luxuries you'll need to go to Gamota or another large trading city. Among the Steppe Elves, nothing can be bought - only taken in blood or given as a gift.

This is what LDD aristos look like. 
3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

Most smiths of any real skill will be attached to a court or castle; you'll need the ear of a boyar or baron for anything specialist.

4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
Look upon my works, ye mighty....
Half the Khagans of the Steppe Elves will claim this title - their calf-skin spellbooks flutter like banners in the wind as they ride hard in a maelstrom of magic: spitting thunder and bellowing curses. The current Grand Khagan, Theddirc, is unrecognised, but with his guile and sorcery he has contained his father's folly for half a century and strives to press the other Khagans into service. 

The Rakshasa Teshei has a chance - he rules  the city of Loquista with an aristocracy of his half-fiend children and was once hailed as the greatest living magi. Now, he languors in his harem.

5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
Half the Khagans of the Steppe Elves would claim this title too. As would any bravo in his cups. In truth, the undefeated  warriors are almost all monstrosities or fiends: He-Wh0-Feast-On-Children's-Eyes and Kill-The-Gods-And-Topple-Their-Thrones are demons who lead great warbands across the steppes, glutting themselves on souls and flesh alike. 

6.
Who is the richest person in the land?
The Emperor of Audenfeyr, Eiderren III, commands enormous wealth. 

7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
The Oracle will see you now.
Good luck with that. A few exceptional priests can channel some kind of divine magic, for a favour. Most are busy as adventurers or on retainer to nobility.
 If you dare parley with the spirits of the wilds, they or their minions may salve your wounds and make you hale.
  1. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
Death cannot be cured. Pray only that the rituals are correct that you may leave this world, and not become...

Undead. Undeath is cured in numerous ways: sometimes with fire, sometimes with an axe....

Strange curses might be removed by oracles or hags. Seers and other blessed or cursed individuals abound in the wilderness, and might perform the correct rituals.....for a price.

8. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?
Wizards do not co-operate. There are two ways to gain spells:
1) Months of arduous research with no guarantee or success.
2) 'acquire' the spell-book of another practitioner.
3) Be apprenticed to a generous master who trusts you implicitly.

Wizards fight and backbite and scheme and struggle against one another. A few powerful states, like the Audenfeyr, try to create Wizard's Guilds - these are incredibly difficult to police and will require your character be an agent of Crown.
  1. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?
In large cities, specialists abound. In the wilderness, a few monasteries exists which hold esoteric knowledge. 
  1. Where can I hire mercenaries?
Anywhere on the frontier, mercenaries ply their trade. Most mercenaries are oddballs and outcasts and roustabouts.  
  1. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
Everybody carries their weapon on the frontier, and no petty lord has the power to prevent spellcraft in his domain. 
  1. Which way to the nearest tavern?
Anywhere.
  1. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
Slay the leader of a Demon Warband on the Steppe and people will sing songs of you. Destroy a Wild Spirit and the Emperor might grant you lands and title. 
Elves in LDD are not nice. 
  1. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Gamota lies in the grip of civil strife ; the election is contested by half the great families of that city. The city is now a place of blood and barricades.
The Steppe has been at war since the beginning of time, but anyone can find gold and glory there in a warband. You might come back....different, though 
  1. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes
Loquista's arena is always in need of fresh blood. 
  1. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
Cults abound for both Devils and Demon-Princes, shuffling their pieces on the board for the final confrontation. The Order of the Rat plots revolution: sometimes in the shadows; sometimes in the open in village-communes.
  1. What is there to eat around here?
How much money have you got?
  1. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
Loads.
  1. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?
Every forest  or river has its spirit, if that qualifies as a monster. There are dragons in Utangard across the sea; giants too. 

2 comments:

  1. I'm developing a real interest in LDD based on these answers, but I should mention that all the questions are labelled #1.

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    Replies
    1. I think Blogger had some objection when I moved this over from Word and changed the numbers.

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