The Waken Isles (D&D 5e Homebrew Setting) (1x1 or 1x2)

[Idea]

Coded Semi-Coded

• Intro Requirements Actual Proposal Further Details

  • Greetings everyone! How are you doing?
    
    Name's Idea, but feel free to address me as you wish, I like nicknames XD. As I am still getting a feel for the site, I decided to start out with a single roleplay proposal to see how it goes before I make a more comprehensive interest check/search thread. Do be sure to check out the requirements before moving on to the plot though! It would be a bit disappointing to get excited over a plot only to find out logistically it wouldn't work out, wouldn't it? :P
    
    But before that, a bit about myself as a roleplayer. I have been roleplaying since I believe 2013, and would generally consider myself a first person, past tense advanced/novella roleplayer, though my vocabulary seems to differ from the one used in this site (do forgive me for sticking with the old one for this first thread). My grammatical and vocabular competence I'll let you just for yourselves, and more importantly I certainly favor long detail-rich posts. I won't be stuffing the posts with meaningless fluff of course, but I do value using descriptions to worldbuild, to set up things, to create atmosphere and so on, so it is both as important part of how I write, but also something I find somewhat necessary in a partner as well.
    
    Regarding NSFW stuff, while I am not opposed to it per say, it's not a focus for me. Further information can be found on my profile (I believe?) or you may ask me directly :)
  • Requirements
    (Things I can't do without)
    
    
    • A friendly and passionate partner- It will be hard for the roleplay to go well if we don't get along or if you aren't genuinely showing interest and effort. If nothing else, I would like somewhat frequent OOC communication as a bare minimum, but I would love it if we could become friends as well!
    • Art Images for Characters, no Photos or things close to Photos
    • Post Requirements- 500 Words Per Post, Except During Combat, In which Case 300 Words per Post. However, feel free to take as much time as you wish to reply. I want juicy, long, quality posts. I don't care if it takes a month of wait for it, I will happily wait so long as I get that great post in the end!
    • For this very particular roleplay, it is essential my partner can juggle multiple characters as well, and thus it is a requirement.
    • Having a discord will be required for OOC communication, and for things like rolling.
    
    Bonuses
    (Things that earn extra brownie points but aren't strictly required)
    
    
    • Being an Anime Fan - As someone who consumes industrial amounts of anime and manga, the kinds of characters and stories I write and enjoy are inevitably influenced by that medium. Someone who also appreciates it is very welcome.
    • Being a planner or Willing to Plan- I find that I work a lot better with people who engage with me with chatting about and planning out arcs and scenes. I can do things more by the seat-of-my-pants as well, but generally the more I'm allowed to plan the better I find roleplays, statistically speaking.
    • Showing Curiosity- I am opinionated and quite passionate about the stuff I work on. I am really happy to answer questions, especially when they show someone is taking personal interest in something I created or think.
    
    Limits
    The only limit this time around is that I don't want politics injected into the roleplay or into our conversations.
    
    
  • D&D 5e: The Waken Isles
    The Waken Isles are a homebrew setting of mine still in development, specifically in development in regards to the campaign side of a D&D setting. My hopes with this RP would be to have a roleplay in this setting in which we use D&D 5e mechanics. We would play a party, each player using 2-3 characters, and through this RP I would be able to further develop the campaign side of the setting.
    
    Below are some of the possible adventure starters:
    
    The Gardens of Evenswald
    The characters gather in the small town of Riverstick, where their an annual event called the Nothwing Chase is about to begin. In it, participants collect Philocerite (a core material for many magical creations in the Shiverhowl Kingdom) within the enclosed area and give what they have collected to the city for rewards. However, something is different about this year's competition, as one of the greatest mages in the kingdom personally comes to inform participants that this year, there is an additional thing they may search for during the race.
    
    Kidnapping in the Kirkatum Desert
    Gali Zidna, the Lord-Ruler of Kavanir (a city at the border between the Shiverhowl Kingdom and the Kirkatum desert), has been secretly recruiting adventurers. On the surface, he is evaluating potential new recruits for a new division in his personal armies, but in reality, something more urgent is at play: It appears as though his daughter, officially said to be bed-ridden with an illness, has actually been kidnapped. He suspects that one of the neighboring cities in the desert may have been responsible, but he wishes for capable individuals to find evidence, and more importantly, find and rescue his daughter. The desert cities are heavily dependent on cooperation to survive so he cannot afford to endanger the political position with them with any more open measures, not without evidence. Thus people not associated with him will be dispatched, and rewarded should they succeed in this task without causing a political downfall.
    
    Kingdom of Graves
    Centuries ago, an undead plague swept the Great Kingdom of the Thunderfalls. The entire continent had no choice but to evacuate to the surrounding islands the undead would not travel to, and those who didn't joined their ranks. The causes, and the lives in the Great Kingdom are now long since dead, and have grown hazy... but like those dead, they did not stay buried. The Greylight order of Paladins has decided to take on the tasks of assisting a settlement doing something previously thought impossible: Assist people in creating a settlement, taking over even a portion of the Great Kingdom's former territory. The order is now hiring adventurers who will join them in this perilous venture, if not to be the vanguard, then at least to assist the settler's protection.
  • More Information Regarding the D&D Part
    
    1. Characters will begin at level 3 or 4.
    2. UA is allowed, all official content is allowed (planeshift included) and homebrew is allowed if we both agree to allow it, on a case by case basis.
    3. Reminder that we will be using multiple characters, 2-3 of them.
    4. If one chooses starting items instead of rolling for gold, they can can sell items from their starting items. In return, if you roll for gold maximize your first dice.
    5. Modified rules for stats, described in the spoiler below.
    6. If you're new to D&D, that is fine by me.
    
    
    Modified Stat Rules

    Modified Standard Array: 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
    
    Modified Rolling: As per the usual, you roll 4d6 and drop the lowest for each stat. However, you roll 4d6 one additional time, and may replace lowest of the other 4d6 rolls with that. (note: Rolling will be done through discord)
    
    Modified Point Buy: The stats start at 6 (new minimum), maximum score for the base stat is set to 18 players start with 39 points, and it costs 1 less point to go from 13 to 14, 15 to 16 or 17 to 18 than normal.
• Intro Requirements Actual Proposal Further Details

  • Greetings everyone! How are you doing?
    
    Name's Idea, but feel free to address me as you wish, I like nicknames XD. As I am still getting a feel for the site, I decided to start out with a single roleplay proposal to see how it goes before I make a more comprehensive interest check/search thread. Do be sure to check out the requirements before moving on to the plot though! It would be a bit disappointing to get excited over a plot only to find out logistically it wouldn't work out, wouldn't it? :P
    
    But before that, a bit about myself as a roleplayer. I have been roleplaying since I believe 2013, and would generally consider myself a first person, past tense advanced/novella roleplayer, though my vocabulary seems to differ from the one used in this site (do forgive me for sticking with the old one for this first thread). My grammatical and vocabular competence I'll let you just for yourselves, and more importantly I certainly favor long detail-rich posts. I won't be stuffing the posts with meaningless fluff of course, but I do value using descriptions to worldbuild, to set up things, to create atmosphere and so on, so it is both as important part of how I write, but also something I find somewhat necessary in a partner as well.
    
    Regarding NSFW stuff, while I am not opposed to it per say, it's not a focus for me. Further information can be found on my profile (I believe?) or you may ask me directly :)
  • Requirements
    (Things I can't do without)
    
    
    • A friendly and passionate partner- It will be hard for the roleplay to go well if we don't get along or if you aren't genuinely showing interest and effort. If nothing else, I would like somewhat frequent OOC communication as a bare minimum, but I would love it if we could become friends as well!
    • Art Images for Characters, no Photos or things close to Photos
    • Post Requirements- 500 Words Per Post, Except During Combat, In which Case 300 Words per Post. However, feel free to take as much time as you wish to reply. I want juicy, long, quality posts. I don't care if it takes a month of wait for it, I will happily wait so long as I get that great post in the end!
    • For this very particular roleplay, it is essential my partner can juggle multiple characters as well, and thus it is a requirement.
    • Having a discord will be required for OOC communication, and for things like rolling.
    
    Bonuses
    (Things that earn extra brownie points but aren't strictly required)
    
    
    • Being an Anime Fan - As someone who consumes industrial amounts of anime and manga, the kinds of characters and stories I write and enjoy are inevitably influenced by that medium. Someone who also appreciates it is very welcome.
    • Being a planner or Willing to Plan- I find that I work a lot better with people who engage with me with chatting about and planning out arcs and scenes. I can do things more by the seat-of-my-pants as well, but generally the more I'm allowed to plan the better I find roleplays, statistically speaking.
    • Showing Curiosity- I am opinionated and quite passionate about the stuff I work on. I am really happy to answer questions, especially when they show someone is taking personal interest in something I created or think.
    
    Limits
    The only limit this time around is that I don't want politics injected into the roleplay or into our conversations.
    
    
  • D&D 5e: The Waken Isles
    The Waken Isles are a homebrew setting of mine still in development, specifically in development in regards to the campaign side of a D&D setting. My hopes with this RP would be to have a roleplay in this setting in which we use D&D 5e mechanics. We would play a party, each player using 2-3 characters, and through this RP I would be able to further develop the campaign side of the setting.
    
    Below are some of the possible adventure starters:
    
    The Gardens of Evenswald
    The characters gather in the small town of Riverstick, where their an annual event called the Nothwing Chase is about to begin. In it, participants collect Philocerite (a core material for many magical creations in the Shiverhowl Kingdom) within the enclosed area and give what they have collected to the city for rewards. However, something is different about this year's competition, as one of the greatest mages in the kingdom personally comes to inform participants that this year, there is an additional thing they may search for during the race.
    
    Kidnapping in the Kirkatum Desert
    Gali Zidna, the Lord-Ruler of Kavanir (a city at the border between the Shiverhowl Kingdom and the Kirkatum desert), has been secretly recruiting adventurers. On the surface, he is evaluating potential new recruits for a new division in his personal armies, but in reality, something more urgent is at play: It appears as though his daughter, officially said to be bed-ridden with an illness, has actually been kidnapped. He suspects that one of the neighboring cities in the desert may have been responsible, but he wishes for capable individuals to find evidence, and more importantly, find and rescue his daughter. The desert cities are heavily dependent on cooperation to survive so he cannot afford to endanger the political position with them with any more open measures, not without evidence. Thus people not associated with him will be dispatched, and rewarded should they succeed in this task without causing a political downfall.
    
    Kingdom of Graves
    Centuries ago, an undead plague swept the Great Kingdom of the Thunderfalls. The entire continent had no choice but to evacuate to the surrounding islands the undead would not travel to, and those who didn't joined their ranks. The causes, and the lives in the Great Kingdom are now long since dead, and have grown hazy... but like those dead, they did not stay buried. The Greylight order of Paladins has decided to take on the tasks of assisting a settlement doing something previously thought impossible: Assist people in creating a settlement, taking over even a portion of the Great Kingdom's former territory. The order is now hiring adventurers who will join them in this perilous venture, if not to be the vanguard, then at least to assist the settler's protection.
  • More Information Regarding the D&D Part
    
    1. Characters will begin at level 3 or 4.
    2. Unearthed Arcana is allowed, all official content is allowed (planeshift included) and homebrew is allowed if we both agree to allow it, on a case by case basis.
    3. Reminder that we will be using multiple characters, 2-3 of them.
    4. If one chooses starting items instead of rolling for gold, they can can sell items from their starting items. In return, if you roll for gold maximize your first dice.
    5. Modified rules for stats, described in the spoiler below.
    6. If you're new to D&D, that is fine by me.
    
    
    Modified Stat Rules

    Modified Standard Array: 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
    
    Modified Rolling: As per the usual, you roll 4d6 and drop the lowest for each stat. However, you roll 4d6 one additional time, and may replace lowest of the other 4d6 rolls with that. (note: Rolling will be done through discord)
    
    Modified Point Buy: The stats start at 6 (new minimum), maximum score for the base stat is set to 18 players start with 39 points, and it costs 1 less point to go from 13 to 14, 15 to 16 or 17 to 18 than normal.

---

So yeah, that's it for now. I hope you liked what you read, and if you wish to try this out, or just wanna ask some questions, feel free to post in this thread or send me a PM!

Have a wonderful day!

 

[ERode]

Heyo, I'm pretty interested in doing the Kingdom of Graves idea. Just a couple of questions though...the Waken Isles is a homebrew setting, but does that mean that all these issues exist at the same time or in the same history of the world? e.g the main continent is a zombie apocalypse in all three plots, and the events of the Kidnapping and the Gardens both take place on adjacent islands? And are you expecting the mood of the Kingdom of Graves to be more dreary and dark with vibes like Darkest Dungeon, or is it lighter than that?

 

[Idea]

Heyo, I'm pretty interested in doing the Kingdom of Graves idea. Just a couple of questions though...the Waken Isles is a homebrew setting, but does that mean that all these issues exist at the same time or in the same history of the world?

They do take place all the same time, but not in the same region. There are four main continents in the world, though only two of them have dedicated plots thought out for them already.

e.g the main continent is a zombie apocalypse in all three plots, and the events of the Kidnapping and the Gardens both take place on adjacent islands?

The Kingdom of Graves plot takes place in the second of the aforementioned continents, whereas the other two take place in the first (numbered after the order in which I developed plots for them).

And are you expecting the mood of the Kingdom of Graves to be more dreary and dark with vibes like Darkest Dungeon, or is it lighter than that?

Well, it deals with undead, so I do intend for there to be a slightly darker tone. I wouldn't necessarily say a more mature tone, but the kidnapping plot deals with political intrigue and such, but there are definitely a lot of dark themes associated with death that are intended for Kingdom of Graves. That said, like any campaign it does still depend on the characters, and what us players try to explore in it. It could just as easily become a more bright-eyed heroic crusade against zombies waiting for slaughter, if that is more within the style of the players.

Hope this answers your questions!

 

[ERode]

Aye, got it. Could you tell me about all the continents in general then? I feel like the evacuation a couple centuries back would've also lead to a truckload of immigration, unless the islands are fairly substantial in both resources and landmass. Also, what sort of power level is the setting itself at? Are there lots of level 20s walking around, or is something like level 12 considered the height of power, with anything beyond being mythological?

 

[Idea]

Could you tell me about all the continents in general then?

Sure!

First thing to note about the continents, is that they aren't really aware of each other. Some individuals within them have some notion that there are other major landmasses out there, but for the most part the other continents are what the American continent was to most people prior to the discoveries. Each continent has its own people and cultures, geography and problems, and to the people living in them, they are pretty much all there is to the world. Worthy of note are that, two common factors within all continents, is that they are high magic settings and gods walk the Earth, local gods of varying power and nature.

So the first and currently most developed continent is the continent of Quarterfall. As the name suggests, it is divided into four regions:
1.the Kirkatum Desert to the Northwest, a relatively elevated region covered in a desert, where frequent wind storms push any water that might otherwise irrigate the soil onto one of the various enormous holes in the desert, or to its outskirts where have become submerged other than what are now some islands. Civilization on the continent mainly consists of a few cities that cooperate with one another to overcome the difficulties of life in the desert (even if they remain mostly on the edges).

2.The Jorvungad Jungles to the Northeast are a large area filled with a hyper-dense jungle, inhabited by a few mystics that rejected or wanted to get away from the civilized world, as well as several primal deities and their few worshippers, the descendants of the fallen yuan-ti civilization.

3.The Howlz-Farland region to the South contains, as the name would indicate, both the Kingdom of Shiverhowl and the Farlands, the region that surrounds it. Shiverhowl is the biggest civilization in Quarterfall, containing both the central kingdom and the allied city-states that have a partial subordination to the king, but remain mostly self-ruling (I won't go into too much detail on that here). The city-states border the great forests of Howlz-Farland, as well the decrepid Farland regions mostly inhabited by barbaric tribes known for raiding travellers. The Shiverhowl kingdom is rich in the resource known as philocerite, a magic-rich material useful for the creation of various magical items, including but by no means exclusively, being at the core of the golems that serve as the guards of many cities.

4.The Underground, a network of mysterious tunnels containing all kinds of ancient relics, right underneath the rest of Quarterfall.

Until about a century ago, Quarterfall's inhabitants lived side by side with the deities of the land, who aided and protected them, or subjugated the inhabitants, or at times simply killed anyone who approached. The land changed when the Dragon known as the Great Tyrant performed a spell that gave him absolute control over all the deities in Quarterfall, and through their power imposed mystical laws upon the people. Heroes managed to defeat the Tyrant and the deities in time, sealing away those that couldn't be killed. However, the death of the deities had repercussions on the land.

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The second continent, Thunderfalls (named after the kingdom itself), is a relatively small (for a continent) landmass surrounded by many islands. As the plot goes, it was once populated by a prosperous kingdom, but after an event of unknown cause, was suddenly filled with undead, and the survivors fled to the islands that surrounded it, forming independent "nations" within those islands.

There isn't much more to say, as the islands themselves have diverse geographies and political situations but there are a lot of them, and the continent inside is inhabited by undead, which isn't exactly a type of creature known to be overly industrious or innovative...

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Go'ah is the third continent, and the one that has most explored the world. The original founders of the Shiverhowl kingdom originally came from Go'ah in fact, though it has been forgotten. In the later's case though, this is more intentional, as one of the clans that inhabits that land has been steadily conquering the rest and actively surpressing that kind of knowledge.

Aside from that Go'Ah is a contradicting land, where both active volcanoes and snowstorms coexist, as the gods that walk upon it act by their whims without consideration for others nor for consequences. Fortunately, the magical material left behind by them is capable of serving as a basis of an ecosystem of sorts, though very few actual plants could thrive in these conditions. As a result, hunting and fishing become that much more essential for the inhabitants.

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The last continent lacks a name, as no one with the capacity to speak has set eyes upon it in a long time. Steep mountains and steeper cliffs, broken rock everywhere, the place is like a titanic battlefield. Only recently has it begun showing signs of having any inhabitants at all, and those are abominations and other horrors for which "alive" might be a stretch as a characterization.

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I feel like the evacuation a couple centuries back would've also lead to a truckload of immigration, unless the islands are fairly substantial in both resources and landmass.

Well, it's more that there weren't a lot of people that made it to the islands. Without wanting to spoil too much, the undead overtaking the continent happened practically overnight, so only the people on the fringes of the continent even had a chance to escape.

Also, what sort of power level is the setting itself at?

You could play 1-20 adventures on basically any of the continents here, as there are threats spanning that whole range on all but the last continen, which unless you're looking for a desperate horror campaign I recommend being at least (level) 18. Even then...

For Quarterfall, a relatively talented person in a small village would be about level 3, whereas top figures are more around 15-16, not including of course the greatest legends or beings in the land.

With Thunderfalls, most people in the islands are around level 1 or 2, and the top tiers would be closer to level maybe 10 or 11. The undead are a different story though, and they get more dangerous the closer your get to the heart of the continent.

I'm not sure yet how it will be for Go'Ah, and the unnamed continent as I already mentioned you wanna be on the top levels to even step foot in there.

gods in all of these places start at level 20 or around level 20, but many go beyond that. They are gods after all, even if not as mythologically grand as a typical god in most settings.

 

[ERode]

Got it. Seeing how Gods essentially inhabit the land (as opposed to having different planes of existence to call their own), does that mean there's no multiplanar shenanigans going on with the Waken Isles? And do you have any details on the Greylight Order, as well as their general reputation? Are they an organization based on a single island, or are they more spread out and have some influence over the entirety of Thunderfall's survivors?

 

[Idea]

Got it. Seeing how Gods essentially inhabit the land (as opposed to having different planes of existence to call their own), does that mean there's no multiplanar shenanigans going on with the Waken Isles?

There is, otherwise a lot of spells and stuff just wouldn't work and I can't have that, but I wanna avoid spoiling too much. Depending on the kind of character you and any other potential player make, I will reveal more to give context to how that decision might play out in this particular setting.

And do you have any details on the Greylight Order, as well as their general reputation? Are they an organization based on a single island, or are they more spread out and have some influence over the entirety of Thunderfall's survivors?

They own a trio of islands and have influence over several more, though not sovereignty. The order helped assist survivors in escaping the mainland of the continent, which is where a lot of the devotion to them comes from even among those who are not directly in their territory. The Greylight Order was built around one of the local gods in the kingdom of Thunderfalls, and believe the fact they remain blessed with his power means their god is still out there alive in the kingdom and defending their temples against the undead. That is what makes them confident that, with enough of a force, they could slowly retake the territory.
For a paladin order they are a pretty lax group and don't make a lot of demand or cast quick judgements as an order. Occasionally prey, follow your oath, wear their insignia somewhere and don't be a full blown monster, and pretty much anyone could be part of the order. However, they do hold respect, reverence and loyalty very highly, and you can quickly fall into their bad side if you openly display lacking such qualities.

 

[ERode]

Gotcha, so the Order doesn't actually have any 'purge the heretic' tenets going on, yeah? What's the state of adventurers in the Thunderfalls then? Are they largely considered to be just gig workers, or is it considered a proper profession with a union/guild that they're associated with, which gives them the ability to, say, travel and work in different islands without being looked at with too much suspicion?

 

[Idea]

Gotcha, so the Order doesn't actually have any 'purge the heretic' tenets going on, yeah?

Yep. The only exception there are those who directly deal with like devils and demons, or are heavily suspected of such. Aside from that, the Order has enough on their plate and a goal to focus on, there's no time to be adding extra purge the heretics stuff.

What's the state of adventurers in the Thunderfalls then? Are they largely considered to be just gig workers, or is it considered a proper profession with a union/guild that they're associated with, which gives them the ability to, say, travel and work in different islands without being looked at with too much suspicion?

They are a loosely connected group of people who usually have entirely separate occupations and occasionally do some jobs mercenary style, but often with less fighting involved. They are usually just responding to some parchment announcing there are available positions for this or that odd job. The usual perception of them is "useful but hard to handle and lacking in hygiene".

 

[ERode]

Alright, cool. Seeing how continents are largely isolated, are there any races that don't exist in Thunderfall? Also, right now I'm looking at a Death Domain Cleric (who pretends to just be a fighter) and a Living Weapon Monk as possible characters.

 

[Idea]

Seeing how continents are largely isolated, are there any races that don't exist in Thunderfall?

I generally tried to keep every race and class available in some way. There are a few races that have particular signficance in some part of the lore, but for the most part there should be no issue with any.

lso, right now I'm looking at a Death Domain Cleric (who pretends to just be a fighter) and a Living Weapon Monk as possible characters.

If we're going to start discussion the more specific private details of our campaign, then I would like to move to discord for that conversation. Should I PM you my discord, or could you PM me yours?

 

[ERode]

Ay, just PM your discord then.