Human Names: This is more of a regional thing and my suggestion is to find a baby name book. (a baby name book for naming characters of any race is great!) For northwestern Tridon, I would use Irish or Scottish names. For Southwestern Tridon I would use good, old English names. For Tayke, Japanese and for Eastern Tridon I would use Native American names, and I don't mean Gold Eagle or Running River, I mean actual Native American names. For Ariella I would use Roman names or even African names. For any of these places snatching fun names from fantasy movies and books is always fun.
Next week: Dwarves
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Races of Martapa Part VIII
Adventurers: Humans become adventurers for a myriad of reasons. Most want to see the world and find treasure. Some what to find knowledge of magic or lost civilization. Some leave because of a bad situations in their home village or town. What ever the reason, humans are curious about the world around them and want to know about it or try to control it.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Races of Martapa Part VII
Religion and Alignment: Humans are very diverse. Alignments run from Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil, though player characters should be more on the good side unless there is a really good reason not to be. Religion is the same. Every God in the pantheon is worshiped by humans, though the Gods of Light and Neutrality are more openly revered then the Gods of Dark. The humans of Ariella and northern Tiana are much more religious then those of southern Tiana.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Races of Martapa Part VI
Relations: People of the north frown upon their southern counterparts. They find them soft and unable to survive the rigors of true honor. The people of the southern reaches find their northern neighbors ignorant barbarians and thus find them in disdain, even the nobility of the north. The people of Tayke find other humans as children, though more in a protective parent way, then a degrading remark. Their civilization was (and still is) more advanced then the rest of Tridon and they want to help the rest of the world settle into peace and harmony as they once had. The people of the plains do not judge a person by origins, but on the person themselves. They prefer to be left alone and the like the simple life, though that does not make them simple. The people of the Empire believe themselves better then all other humans, and do not get along easily with the humans of the north. Humans find all non-humans intriguing, though most do not care for minotuars or ogres.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Races of Martapa Part V
Occupations and Trade: Agriculture and forestry are very important, as is fishing, in northwestern Taina. Calabay houses the largest fleet of merchant and fishing vessels and makes the finest ships in Tridon. Timber, fishing, and farming are the big trading opportunities in south western Taina, along with trading with the Empire which brings in good amounts of gold.
The peoples on the east side of Taina are dependent on agriculture, and in Tayke's case, intellectual pursuits are also important. There are many foods on the east side that the west does not have, and visa versa. Llama wool is also very sought after by those on the west side, and the people of eastern Taina do very well by selling this.
Ariella has agriculture, minerals, (lots of gold and silver, along with gems), and meat. But things like lumber have to be imported in great quantities. Fishing on the coasts is also very important to the communities that live there. The Empire has vast estates farmed by slaves, while free peoples are more like to hunt and gather.
The peoples on the east side of Taina are dependent on agriculture, and in Tayke's case, intellectual pursuits are also important. There are many foods on the east side that the west does not have, and visa versa. Llama wool is also very sought after by those on the west side, and the people of eastern Taina do very well by selling this.
Ariella has agriculture, minerals, (lots of gold and silver, along with gems), and meat. But things like lumber have to be imported in great quantities. Fishing on the coasts is also very important to the communities that live there. The Empire has vast estates farmed by slaves, while free peoples are more like to hunt and gather.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Races in Martapa Part IV
Culture: Culture in the north Taina is very clannish. People are not broken up by caste, but rather how they are related to one another. Commoners play with royalty with out a second thought. In the north the focus is on surviving the environment and creatures, not jockeying for power. Protecting the clan's honor is more important then most everything in the north.
The culture of southwestern Taina is very medieval knight like, with much more English roots then any other culture. Caste is a big thing in southern Taina and people are reminded of how lowly they are all the time.
The culture of Tayke is very Japanese, save women can have an equal role in the world. Family is very important and loyalty to a leader is absolutely necessary. The Tayke culture actually comes from a small island nation which is long gone by the time of the High King's Sword, so their culture is very well established.
The culture of the Empire is very much like the Roman Empire of old. Men serve in the military for two years, women are subservient to men, though not as bad as the old Roman Empire, and there are slaves. Being a noble definitely means freedom here. They are also very religious and take the Gods very seriously. A slight against the Gods is a slight against them.
The culture of southwestern Taina is very medieval knight like, with much more English roots then any other culture. Caste is a big thing in southern Taina and people are reminded of how lowly they are all the time.
The culture of Tayke is very Japanese, save women can have an equal role in the world. Family is very important and loyalty to a leader is absolutely necessary. The Tayke culture actually comes from a small island nation which is long gone by the time of the High King's Sword, so their culture is very well established.
The culture of the Empire is very much like the Roman Empire of old. Men serve in the military for two years, women are subservient to men, though not as bad as the old Roman Empire, and there are slaves. Being a noble definitely means freedom here. They are also very religious and take the Gods very seriously. A slight against the Gods is a slight against them.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Races of Martapa Part III
Physical Descriptions: The people of north Tiana and west of the Tsalagi Mountains are hardy individuals who are large, strong people with red or dark hair, though blond is also possible. They tend to be pale in complexion and wear at least some bit of fur upon their clothes. Most of the men grow beards not unlike dwarves, decorating not only them, but their hair as well with beads, small, hollow bones, and braids. Clothes of the north are sturdy, sometimes leather, other times of good, stout wool. They are usually decorated with fanciful creatures or designs. darker colors are preferred, though bright colors are used for wedding and other important events.
Humans of southwestern Taina have blond or brunette hair, pale skin and most of blue eyes. They are more lithe then their northern counterparts. Clothes are thick wool to stave off the chill of the ocean breezes. Dress is conservative, and men wear doublets with billowing shirts beneath. hats with long feathers for the men are the fashion, along with shoulder length hair, loose or in neat ponytails. Woman wear their hair in fanciful braids or loose. They speak with an English accent, heavier on the coast.
Humans on the eastern side of the Tsalagi Mountains appear Japanese in appearance and a good portion of their culture is Japanese like. Humans on the far eastern section of Taina are more Native American in appearance and somewhat in culture, leaning toward Lakota and Cherokee nationalities.
Humans of Ariella are just as diverse as those in the north, but bare black skin, black hair with brown eyes. They stand a little taller then the average Taina human. They wear togas with pallas defining those of the upper crust and of the military, or simple, no sleeve dresses for the woman with pallas of their own.
Humans of southwestern Taina have blond or brunette hair, pale skin and most of blue eyes. They are more lithe then their northern counterparts. Clothes are thick wool to stave off the chill of the ocean breezes. Dress is conservative, and men wear doublets with billowing shirts beneath. hats with long feathers for the men are the fashion, along with shoulder length hair, loose or in neat ponytails. Woman wear their hair in fanciful braids or loose. They speak with an English accent, heavier on the coast.
Humans on the eastern side of the Tsalagi Mountains appear Japanese in appearance and a good portion of their culture is Japanese like. Humans on the far eastern section of Taina are more Native American in appearance and somewhat in culture, leaning toward Lakota and Cherokee nationalities.
Humans of Ariella are just as diverse as those in the north, but bare black skin, black hair with brown eyes. They stand a little taller then the average Taina human. They wear togas with pallas defining those of the upper crust and of the military, or simple, no sleeve dresses for the woman with pallas of their own.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Races of Martapa Part II
Humans are the most diverse and adaptable of all the races on Martapa. They are independent thinkers, strong users of magic, and worship all of the Gods. they also differ greatly from region to region. Maratpa has two major continents, Tiana and Ariella. The northern continent, Tiana, would be equivalent of say Ireland, northwest America, and the plains of North America all wrapped around by the typical northern hemisphere coasts. The southern continent, Ariella, is a mixture of Africa and Australia, (just depending on where you are). Ariella is by far the biggest, but Tiana is where I spend most of my story time, thus it is by far more flushed out, and thus, so are the races.
The humans of Tiana vary by region. Tiana is separated by a large mountain range in the middle, Pacific northwest/Ireland region on the west, plains on the east side. On the west and the north would be more your Ireland region. Here is the home of light skinned, red and brown haired, (and lack of a better term), barbarians. They aren't really uncivilized but they are the most hand to hand trained, hulking humans of the kingdom of Tridon. To the south lays your Pacific Northwest type people. They are lithe, blond and brown haired, blue eyes are common and these people would bring to mind your knights in shinning armor type of people. On the east side of the mountains you have a lot of Native American looking people, (though in the time of my book there is a lot of western looking humans over on the east side, and a small pocket of Japanese looking people.
To the south is the Empire of Ariella and free pockets of humanity. The Empire covers nearly two-thirds of the continent, starting in the east, and the people here are black skinned, (though of varying hues,) and black haired. To the west are the free pockets of humanity who live in free cities amongst the other races of Martapa. These people appear Indian, with olive skin and dark hair.
Tomorrow: Humans continued.
The humans of Tiana vary by region. Tiana is separated by a large mountain range in the middle, Pacific northwest/Ireland region on the west, plains on the east side. On the west and the north would be more your Ireland region. Here is the home of light skinned, red and brown haired, (and lack of a better term), barbarians. They aren't really uncivilized but they are the most hand to hand trained, hulking humans of the kingdom of Tridon. To the south lays your Pacific Northwest type people. They are lithe, blond and brown haired, blue eyes are common and these people would bring to mind your knights in shinning armor type of people. On the east side of the mountains you have a lot of Native American looking people, (though in the time of my book there is a lot of western looking humans over on the east side, and a small pocket of Japanese looking people.
To the south is the Empire of Ariella and free pockets of humanity. The Empire covers nearly two-thirds of the continent, starting in the east, and the people here are black skinned, (though of varying hues,) and black haired. To the west are the free pockets of humanity who live in free cities amongst the other races of Martapa. These people appear Indian, with olive skin and dark hair.
Tomorrow: Humans continued.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Races of Martapa
The first step to making a character for the world of Martapa is to pick a race. This will be an important choice as it will shape how a person speaks, looks, acts, and responds to various events, not to mention how others will view your character. A dwarf or human will be accepted every where, an elf would be looked upon with awe, while a minotaur or half-ogre would be looked upon by disdain. Elves make better mages, while minotuars will be great fighters. The following entries will discuss the back ground of each race in a little bit of depth, what each race looks like, and where they are most likely to be found.
Each race will have some sort of bonus to one or more stats along with some sort of negative to one or more stats. Each one is meant to balanced, so no one race has an advantage over another, other then to make them better at one class or another depending on the race.
On Martapa there are many races to choose from. Following is a list of the races of men, though there are other races, such as fairies and centaurs. These, I feel, are the races that should be allowed in a campaign.
The races of men are: Humans, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Ancient Elves, Akicitia, Tsula, Half-elves, Minotaurs, Ogres, Half-Ogres and Skiegs.
Tomorrow: We'll start with Humans!
Each race will have some sort of bonus to one or more stats along with some sort of negative to one or more stats. Each one is meant to balanced, so no one race has an advantage over another, other then to make them better at one class or another depending on the race.
On Martapa there are many races to choose from. Following is a list of the races of men, though there are other races, such as fairies and centaurs. These, I feel, are the races that should be allowed in a campaign.
The races of men are: Humans, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Ancient Elves, Akicitia, Tsula, Half-elves, Minotaurs, Ogres, Half-Ogres and Skiegs.
Tomorrow: We'll start with Humans!
Monday, October 13, 2014
High King's Sword: The Roleplaying Game
I'm laughing as I type this. My big project, now, since I'm only revising my stories at the moment, is to truly do a workable roleplaying game system. Since my husband and I played so long in my world, you'd think it would be an easy task, but I'm beginning to see why it takes so many people to make a roleplaying game. Over the next months, I'm going to try and write my blog articles like sections in a gaming book. I'm hoping things will go smoothly, but we'll take it one day at a time. Hopefully, by the end of this endeavor, I'll be able to give a person a working model of a roleplaying game system which they can just print out and go with.
I'm going with the assumption that this is more a supplement to a D20 gaming system, so all information will refer to rules for D20. There are a lot of D20 gaming systems out there, though I recommend Pathfinder as your base D20 system. Then, feel free to use my gaming world using that system. I hope you have fun!
Tomorrow we will start with races!
I'm going with the assumption that this is more a supplement to a D20 gaming system, so all information will refer to rules for D20. There are a lot of D20 gaming systems out there, though I recommend Pathfinder as your base D20 system. Then, feel free to use my gaming world using that system. I hope you have fun!
Tomorrow we will start with races!
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Updating Your World
Just like writing a story, your roleplaying world may need to be revised from time to time. As you play in your world you notice things, places, people which need to be changed in one way or another. Perhaps the ability is not balanced, perhaps you found a better way to do something. Here are a few ideas I have for putting these new items into your world without messing it up.
1) Keep track of your changes. Sometimes, in our busy lives, we forget what we've changed and players like continuity. I changed my "Priest" title from "Mage" to "Priest" because it was just too confusing as to who was a Mage versus who was a Priest. I had to go back through all my notes, (and stories) and fix all my "Mages" who needed to be "Priests".
2) Try not to make huge changes. Don't suddenly make your world magical after having limited magic. The repercussions in your campaign would be huge. Try to keep them small, such as an item's ability changing from "protection from magic" to "protection from fire". Try to keep the changes to your world small, unless there is a very good reason to change.
3) If you have to make a huge change, justify it. I'm not sure about you, but when Dragonlance changed from super magical to no magic, I protested with my wallet. Same can be said about the Star Wars series that went to a Borg like race. Huge changes in the way a world has to make sense and not change the feel of the world. Now if a huge earthquake rips the world apart, but doesn't change the use of magic, (or lack of use), but adds to the tension, then feel free to use it, just do so with caution.
Happy roleplaying!
1) Keep track of your changes. Sometimes, in our busy lives, we forget what we've changed and players like continuity. I changed my "Priest" title from "Mage" to "Priest" because it was just too confusing as to who was a Mage versus who was a Priest. I had to go back through all my notes, (and stories) and fix all my "Mages" who needed to be "Priests".
2) Try not to make huge changes. Don't suddenly make your world magical after having limited magic. The repercussions in your campaign would be huge. Try to keep them small, such as an item's ability changing from "protection from magic" to "protection from fire". Try to keep the changes to your world small, unless there is a very good reason to change.
3) If you have to make a huge change, justify it. I'm not sure about you, but when Dragonlance changed from super magical to no magic, I protested with my wallet. Same can be said about the Star Wars series that went to a Borg like race. Huge changes in the way a world has to make sense and not change the feel of the world. Now if a huge earthquake rips the world apart, but doesn't change the use of magic, (or lack of use), but adds to the tension, then feel free to use it, just do so with caution.
Happy roleplaying!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Keeping Track of Your World
As I tried to think of a good topic today, whether help aids or ideas from my world, I couldn't think of something I hadn't done yet. I know there are things that I haven't done yet, but trying to figure out what that is, I'm at a loss. So here are a few things I think I'll do in the next week or so:
1) Make a list of topics. I have been keeping track of my blog titles, but they are badly organized. I think if you keep things organized by people, places, things, ideas, etc, it would be easier to see what I've done.
2) Make a list of ideas you want to work on. I have a lot of down time when I'm subbing for the secretaries at our schools, so I should use that to think of possible ideas. Usually I've been using that time to work on Battle of the Books stuff, (also a school relate thing), but I can probably sneak in a few minutes for myself.
3) Have hard copies of each article so you can refer to them later. I have a word document with my articles, separate one for each article type and then update about once a month my hard copy. The updating is the hard part. There is that time thing again!
4) Review what you've done on occasion. It will make things easier if you know what you've written.
Happy Writing!
1) Make a list of topics. I have been keeping track of my blog titles, but they are badly organized. I think if you keep things organized by people, places, things, ideas, etc, it would be easier to see what I've done.
2) Make a list of ideas you want to work on. I have a lot of down time when I'm subbing for the secretaries at our schools, so I should use that to think of possible ideas. Usually I've been using that time to work on Battle of the Books stuff, (also a school relate thing), but I can probably sneak in a few minutes for myself.
3) Have hard copies of each article so you can refer to them later. I have a word document with my articles, separate one for each article type and then update about once a month my hard copy. The updating is the hard part. There is that time thing again!
4) Review what you've done on occasion. It will make things easier if you know what you've written.
Happy Writing!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Tips on How to Keep Writing
As I miss doing my blog this week because of a bump in my life I realize that I need to keep writing, no matter what, especially after said bump. So here are some things which I'm going to start doing in my own life to keep doing what I love.
1) Give myself time. As busy as my life is with two kids, a temp job, and a ton of volunteering that feels like a full time job, I realized I need to give myself time to write. I've scheduled myself, (because I live and die by a schedule), an hour in the morning which I use for writing, editing and brain storming. It doesn't always work, but it's there so I will at least try.
2) Get that idea on paper. As I lay in the hospital awaiting my procedure I realized there was so many story ideas I hadn't even written down and that how would my kids ever know about them? Even if you just jot the idea down it will feel good. Maybe you will never get to the idea, but maybe someone in your family will.
3) Write where ever. I keep a tablet with me pretty much where ever I go. You never know when a good idea will hit and you'll have to write it down or forget it. I suggest pulling over if you are driving when the idea hits. :)
4) The most important thing is don't let an opportunity pass you by. Just because you think you will never get published, as a amateur genealogist I love to read my dad's stories and the histories my grandma wrote down. Maybe nobody but family will read it, but it doesn't mean it's not worth the effort!
Happy writing!
1) Give myself time. As busy as my life is with two kids, a temp job, and a ton of volunteering that feels like a full time job, I realized I need to give myself time to write. I've scheduled myself, (because I live and die by a schedule), an hour in the morning which I use for writing, editing and brain storming. It doesn't always work, but it's there so I will at least try.
2) Get that idea on paper. As I lay in the hospital awaiting my procedure I realized there was so many story ideas I hadn't even written down and that how would my kids ever know about them? Even if you just jot the idea down it will feel good. Maybe you will never get to the idea, but maybe someone in your family will.
3) Write where ever. I keep a tablet with me pretty much where ever I go. You never know when a good idea will hit and you'll have to write it down or forget it. I suggest pulling over if you are driving when the idea hits. :)
4) The most important thing is don't let an opportunity pass you by. Just because you think you will never get published, as a amateur genealogist I love to read my dad's stories and the histories my grandma wrote down. Maybe nobody but family will read it, but it doesn't mean it's not worth the effort!
Happy writing!
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