Ok, so my home brew takes place in Phandalin after the events of LMoP. It turns out that the the Wave Echo Forge was actually drawing its power from something deeper beneath it. After some investigation an immense discovery was made; there were, not one but three, at least, nested dungeons sprawling under the region. These are strange, ancient edifices that self populate and are fueled by both divine and arcane energy. The miners wanted to keep it a secret and hoard access for themselves but the governor had different ideas. He sent messengers to every corner of the realm touting the wondrous find and inviting investors, researchers, treasure hunters and adventurers of all stripes to come and try their hand and test their luck. Furthermore, being a half orc who grew up with and being sick of discrimination for the color of his skin, he passed an additional edict; no matter ones race, or religion, or place of origin if they swear fealty to Phandalin and uphold and live by the laws they would be granted citizenship and all the protections that entailed.
The small community became a boom town going from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand in just a few months. A whole economy sprang up overnight as businesses around the region realized how much money was to be made catering to those interested in the dungeons.
What I need is to populate this wonderful new city with teams of adventurers. I have the party and the handful of groups that they will be interacting with as a part of the story but I want this place to be a wild, teeming place full of its own life. Part of the plot is that all of these teams are competing against each other for treasure and glory and profit. I only need to build out about half a dozen for what I’m doing but I want to be able to describe real teams and groups in the background and in the dungeon to give it depth and also to build tension and a sense of competition. I would love to include your party in a cameo or as background characters! If you’re down just respond with your party name, if it has any theme ( childhood friends, all clerics, mercenaries, etc), any individual character detail, as much as you feel like giving, any sigil or crest they use and that’s it....I’ll make sure they get the credit they deserve in this crazy new city.
Oh and the dungeon ranks each team as it enters giving it access to certain areas based on power level so please give me the averaged level for your team so I know where it would make sense for them to appear. thanks! Greg
The fang clan -- all half-orcs and orcs. Symbol is a dragon's fang. Listed by rank.
Norg Fang -- Orc barbarian, the leader and father of Sutha and Ortan. LN, willing to bargain for gain, but will kill mercilessly if necessary [barbarian 10]
Sutha Fang -- Half-orc fighter, the muscle. CN, leads the group into combat. Secretly plots to usurp her father Norg (will the players exploit this?) [fighter 8/barbarian1]
Jarlag Fang -- Orc Cleric and cousin of Norg. NE, his villanous tendencies kept in check by Norg. [cleric 9]
Ortan Fang -- Half-orc rogue, the assasin. LN, his job is to get in a devastating hit on the enemy while they are distracted by Sutha and Norg. Rarely speaks, leading to a fairly low rank. [rogue 8 assasin subclass]
Other than that I leave it up to you. Ortan Fang and Sutha Fang are both characters I have played as.
The Poor Sisters of the Sorrowful are a mendicant order of nuns (paladins, clerics, monks, celestial warlocks, and a few zealot barbarians), dedicated to charity, teaching, and demon hunting among the poorest of society. They are recognizable by their gunmetal-gray tunics, black scapulars cinched with a knotted rope, and their simple sandals. In cold weather, they wear white capes as well. They don’t really take part in adventure-based economy, but wherever there’s a boom town there is sin and desperation. So a few members might have made a home there, encouraging the forces of good with works of charity and kicking the asses of fiends and their agents (this doesn’t include blind bigotry towards tieflings, that’s the crux of their irreparable schism with the Inquisition).
In Faerun terms, they'd be non-denominational, and have members from lots of churches. Most of them would be aligned with the Triad of Tyr, Ilmater, and Torm. But the endless screwing around of the deities of Toril in the last 200 years would have led many of them to focus on the mission first and the altar decorations second.
Scree aarakockra moon druid 6 a defender of the woods CN the ranged dps will kill anyone who kills an animal unless they give him a good reason
Shalaha silver dragonborn paladin 6 of bahamut the muscle LG will attampt to promote peace
Scara lightfoot halfling monk 6 likes money will grab wverythin
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
This Mug immediately shared with me a transcendental tale of an Infinite Mug that anchors the Universe and keeps it from folding in on itself. I filed this report under "illogical nonsense" and asked why its sign is in Times New Roman font, when it is basic knowledge that Arial Black is a far superior font. I wondered: How did this mug even get past the assembly line with its theistic beliefs and poor font choices?
quote from Romantically Apocalyptic byVitaly S Alexius
This Mug immediately shared with me a transcendental tale of an Infinite Mug that anchors the Universe and keeps it from folding in on itself. I filed this report under "illogical nonsense" and asked why its sign is in Times New Roman font, when it is basic knowledge that Arial Black is a far superior font. I wondered: How did this mug even get past the assembly line with its theistic beliefs and poor font choices?
quote from Romantically Apocalyptic byVitaly S Alexius
The Redletter Crew are my favorite group I've ever run for, a gang of ex-thieves who now form a benevolent village council. All are very greedy, but not bad people. They're a bit less serious than the tone of most of my games—the campaign was styled like Ocean's 11 or The Lies of Locke Lamora, but a bit more lighthearted.
—Nehemiah "Neh" Greenskin (Barbarian 4) is a shrill-voiced, short-fused chatterbox of a goblin, and the de facto leader. By far the greediest and backstabbiest of the bunch, an opportunist who always finds Option C, but he'll risk his own life to save an innocent.
—Faux (Cleric 4) is a cold and laconic halfling who serves a trickster god.
—Ramon (Bard 3) is a strangely plain human who's often forgotten.
—Herm, aka Villager (Monk 2) is a human with a massive nose who speaks only in grunts.*
*We later realized, to our consternation, he was a Minecraft homage.
The Heirs of the Forest are a group of close family friends who have embarked adventures after irresponsible mingling with dark arcane arts killed part of their family. The core members are children of a royal elven bloodline from Evereska that was exiled two decades ago, so their main motivations are shaking off the chains of the past weighing them down and carving a new path for themselves. (Their classes and races are normally a mixing pot of different realms settings, so I've included alternatives if you want to use just FR material.)
Ianes Tibovza 19 years old, Variant Human, trans boy Short blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin with light freckles, 5'7" Echo Knight Fighter 12 (FR alternate: Champion Fighter 12) The brawn of the group, highest stat is str/lowest stat is wis, weapon of choice is longsword and shield, tends to make brash decisions and has a short temper, believes the world is out to get him due to years of living under suffocatingly abusive parents with impossibly high expectations, was cursed by aforementioned elven bloodline and is a human instead of part-elf because of the curse that their exiled family would never have a "full" elven heir again, takes insults very easily, worships Lathandar
Solahel Tibovza 21 years old, Half-Elf (other half is aasimar), cis girl Shoulder-length blonde hair, left purple eye (prosthetic) and right brown eye, fair skin, metal prosthetic right arm and metal prosthetic legs, 5'4" Battle Smith Artificer 4 / Bladesinger Wizard 8 (FR Alternate: Lore Bard 4 / Bladesinger Wizard 8) The brains of the group, highest stat is int and cha/lowest is str, weapon of choice is a longsword, quick thinker and problem solver, built her own prosthetics and is very proud of her work and mechanical capabilities, deals with survivor's guilt as it was her mistake that caused a house fire that killed her mom and sisters (and took her legs — she lost her eye and arm while adventuring), has low tolerance for dealing with people and very particular about change (re: autistic coded but that's up to you if you're comfortable including that), very grumpy, wears steampunk goggles around her neck, engaged to Eirarve (see below), worships Darahl Firecloak of the elven minor pantheon
Eirarve Faldrin 19 years old, Kalashtar (Hollow One), cis girl Chest-length blonde hair, completely white eyes, grey skin with an abundance of freckles, 5'10" — will disguise herself with Mask of Many Faces to have blue eyes and fair skin Soulknife Rogue 8 / Undead Warlock 4 (both are UA so here's official alternates: Mastermind Rogue 8 / Undying Warlock 4) The charm and face of the group, highest stat is cha and dex/lowest is str, weapon of choice is... Eldritch Blast or daggers/psychic blades, very good with people and insightful, the "mom friend" of the group and gives out advice to the others/helps them deal with their problems/etc, died in the fire that Solahel inadvertently caused and then was subsequently resurrected by a group of Vecna cultists and forced to become a warlock of his, has been open about her patronage with Vecna to the party and is the one most afraid about how he'll use that against her, engaged to Solahel (see above), worships.... nobody really... Vecna unwillingly
Tervarses Faldrin 18 years old, Half-Orc (other half is Shadar-Kai elf), trans girl Chest-length dark brown hair, completely black eyes, green skin, 5'7" Phantom Rogue 10 / Twilight Domain Cleric 2 (FR Alternate: Assassin Rogue 10 / Death Domain Cleric 2) The enforcer of the group, highest stat is str and con/lowest is cha (she's a str rogue), weapon of choice is a shortsword and shield, absolutely terrible with people and she and Solahel are often the grumpiest ones around but she's much worse off due to her low charisma, doesn't talk much and simply prefers standing in the background lurking and making sure things are all going smoothly, will be the first one to step up and defend her friends if things start to look tricky despite having crap intimidation, is a cleric of the Raven Queen as her absentee father was a Shadar-Kai elf (you can imagine this goes over well with the fact that her sister is an unwilling warlock of Vecna... it does not), would do anything to get Eirarve out of Vecna's service but is also very loyal to the Raven Queen
a crew of people that run general stores in the area
the store is run by dodger a some what shady human who comes from a shipping town somewhere and kite (in the wind) a friendly tabaxi who plays the lute in his off time.
Dodger
Rogue Lv 3 thief
Kite (in the wind)
bard lv 3 College of lore
They regularly smuggle goods inside the city to avoid taxes
The Cup of Joe team: Joe Doe (orc ranger), Joe Schmoe (orc wizard), G.I. Joe II (orc fighter), Joe King (orc rogue) and Friender Foe (orc sorcerer/mastermind)
Just a fun bunch of orcs who would do what all good orcs do in times of danger: RUN AWAY!!!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Rogue Shadow, the DM (and occasional) PC with schemes of inventive thinking
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Ok, so my home brew takes place in Phandalin after the events of LMoP. It turns out that the the Wave Echo Forge was actually drawing its power from something deeper beneath it. After some investigation an immense discovery was made; there were, not one but three, at least, nested dungeons sprawling under the region. These are strange, ancient edifices that self populate and are fueled by both divine and arcane energy. The miners wanted to keep it a secret and hoard access for themselves but the governor had different ideas. He sent messengers to every corner of the realm touting the wondrous find and inviting investors, researchers, treasure hunters and adventurers of all stripes to come and try their hand and test their luck. Furthermore, being a half orc who grew up with and being sick of discrimination for the color of his skin, he passed an additional edict; no matter ones race, or religion, or place of origin if they swear fealty to Phandalin and uphold and live by the laws they would be granted citizenship and all the protections that entailed.
The small community became a boom town going from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand in just a few months. A whole economy sprang up overnight as businesses around the region realized how much money was to be made catering to those interested in the dungeons.
What I need is to populate this wonderful new city with teams of adventurers. I have the party and the handful of groups that they will be interacting with as a part of the story but I want this place to be a wild, teeming place full of its own life. Part of the plot is that all of these teams are competing against each other for treasure and glory and profit. I only need to build out about half a dozen for what I’m doing but I want to be able to describe real teams and groups in the background and in the dungeon to give it depth and also to build tension and a sense of competition. I would love to include your party in a cameo or as background characters!
If you’re down just respond with your party name, if it has any theme ( childhood friends, all clerics, mercenaries, etc), any individual character detail, as much as you feel like giving, any sigil or crest they use and that’s it....I’ll make sure they get the credit they deserve in this crazy new city.
Oh and the dungeon ranks each team as it enters giving it access to certain areas based on power level so please give me the averaged level for your team so I know where it would make sense for them to appear.
thanks!
Greg
The fang clan -- all half-orcs and orcs. Symbol is a dragon's fang. Listed by rank.
Norg Fang -- Orc barbarian, the leader and father of Sutha and Ortan. LN, willing to bargain for gain, but will kill mercilessly if necessary [barbarian 10]
Sutha Fang -- Half-orc fighter, the muscle. CN, leads the group into combat. Secretly plots to usurp her father Norg (will the players exploit this?) [fighter 8/barbarian1]
Jarlag Fang -- Orc Cleric and cousin of Norg. NE, his villanous tendencies kept in check by Norg. [cleric 9]
Ortan Fang -- Half-orc rogue, the assasin. LN, his job is to get in a devastating hit on the enemy while they are distracted by Sutha and Norg. Rarely speaks, leading to a fairly low rank. [rogue 8 assasin subclass]
Other than that I leave it up to you. Ortan Fang and Sutha Fang are both characters I have played as.
Proud poster on the Create a World thread
The Poor Sisters of the Sorrowful are a mendicant order of nuns (paladins, clerics, monks, celestial warlocks, and a few zealot barbarians), dedicated to charity, teaching, and demon hunting among the poorest of society. They are recognizable by their gunmetal-gray tunics, black scapulars cinched with a knotted rope, and their simple sandals. In cold weather, they wear white capes as well. They don’t really take part in adventure-based economy, but wherever there’s a boom town there is sin and desperation. So a few members might have made a home there, encouraging the forces of good with works of charity and kicking the asses of fiends and their agents (this doesn’t include blind bigotry towards tieflings, that’s the crux of their irreparable schism with the Inquisition).
I’ve already written them both in!
which Gods do the Sisters align with?
In Faerun terms, they'd be non-denominational, and have members from lots of churches. Most of them would be aligned with the Triad of Tyr, Ilmater, and Torm. But the endless screwing around of the deities of Toril in the last 200 years would have led many of them to focus on the mission first and the altar decorations second.
The defenders
Scree aarakockra moon druid 6 a defender of the woods CN the ranged dps will kill anyone who kills an animal unless they give him a good reason
Shalaha silver dragonborn paladin 6 of bahamut the muscle LG will attampt to promote peace
Scara lightfoot halfling monk 6 likes money will grab wverythin
This Mug immediately shared with me a transcendental tale of an Infinite Mug that anchors the Universe and keeps it from folding in on itself. I filed this report under "illogical nonsense" and asked why its sign is in Times New Roman font, when it is basic knowledge that Arial Black is a far superior font. I wondered: How did this mug even get past the assembly line with its theistic beliefs and poor font choices?
quote from Romantically Apocalyptic by Vitaly S Alexius
Scara will randomly pickpocket people
This Mug immediately shared with me a transcendental tale of an Infinite Mug that anchors the Universe and keeps it from folding in on itself. I filed this report under "illogical nonsense" and asked why its sign is in Times New Roman font, when it is basic knowledge that Arial Black is a far superior font. I wondered: How did this mug even get past the assembly line with its theistic beliefs and poor font choices?
quote from Romantically Apocalyptic by Vitaly S Alexius
The Redletter Crew are my favorite group I've ever run for, a gang of ex-thieves who now form a benevolent village council. All are very greedy, but not bad people. They're a bit less serious than the tone of most of my games—the campaign was styled like Ocean's 11 or The Lies of Locke Lamora, but a bit more lighthearted.
—Nehemiah "Neh" Greenskin (Barbarian 4) is a shrill-voiced, short-fused chatterbox of a goblin, and the de facto leader. By far the greediest and backstabbiest of the bunch, an opportunist who always finds Option C, but he'll risk his own life to save an innocent.
—Faux (Cleric 4) is a cold and laconic halfling who serves a trickster god.
—Ramon (Bard 3) is a strangely plain human who's often forgotten.
—Herm, aka Villager (Monk 2) is a human with a massive nose who speaks only in grunts.*
*We later realized, to our consternation, he was a Minecraft homage.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
The Heirs of the Forest are a group of close family friends who have embarked adventures after irresponsible mingling with dark arcane arts killed part of their family. The core members are children of a royal elven bloodline from Evereska that was exiled two decades ago, so their main motivations are shaking off the chains of the past weighing them down and carving a new path for themselves. (Their classes and races are normally a mixing pot of different realms settings, so I've included alternatives if you want to use just FR material.)
Ianes Tibovza
19 years old, Variant Human, trans boy
Short blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin with light freckles, 5'7"
Echo Knight Fighter 12 (FR alternate: Champion Fighter 12)
The brawn of the group, highest stat is str/lowest stat is wis, weapon of choice is longsword and shield, tends to make brash decisions and has a short temper, believes the world is out to get him due to years of living under suffocatingly abusive parents with impossibly high expectations, was cursed by aforementioned elven bloodline and is a human instead of part-elf because of the curse that their exiled family would never have a "full" elven heir again, takes insults very easily, worships Lathandar
Solahel Tibovza
21 years old, Half-Elf (other half is aasimar), cis girl
Shoulder-length blonde hair, left purple eye (prosthetic) and right brown eye, fair skin, metal prosthetic right arm and metal prosthetic legs, 5'4"
Battle Smith Artificer 4 / Bladesinger Wizard 8 (FR Alternate: Lore Bard 4 / Bladesinger Wizard 8)
The brains of the group, highest stat is int and cha/lowest is str, weapon of choice is a longsword, quick thinker and problem solver, built her own prosthetics and is very proud of her work and mechanical capabilities, deals with survivor's guilt as it was her mistake that caused a house fire that killed her mom and sisters (and took her legs — she lost her eye and arm while adventuring), has low tolerance for dealing with people and very particular about change (re: autistic coded but that's up to you if you're comfortable including that), very grumpy, wears steampunk goggles around her neck, engaged to Eirarve (see below), worships Darahl Firecloak of the elven minor pantheon
Eirarve Faldrin
19 years old, Kalashtar (Hollow One), cis girl
Chest-length blonde hair, completely white eyes, grey skin with an abundance of freckles, 5'10" — will disguise herself with Mask of Many Faces to have blue eyes and fair skin
Soulknife Rogue 8 / Undead Warlock 4 (both are UA so here's official alternates: Mastermind Rogue 8 / Undying Warlock 4)
The charm and face of the group, highest stat is cha and dex/lowest is str, weapon of choice is... Eldritch Blast or daggers/psychic blades, very good with people and insightful, the "mom friend" of the group and gives out advice to the others/helps them deal with their problems/etc, died in the fire that Solahel inadvertently caused and then was subsequently resurrected by a group of Vecna cultists and forced to become a warlock of his, has been open about her patronage with Vecna to the party and is the one most afraid about how he'll use that against her, engaged to Solahel (see above), worships.... nobody really... Vecna unwillingly
Tervarses Faldrin
18 years old, Half-Orc (other half is Shadar-Kai elf), trans girl
Chest-length dark brown hair, completely black eyes, green skin, 5'7"
Phantom Rogue 10 / Twilight Domain Cleric 2 (FR Alternate: Assassin Rogue 10 / Death Domain Cleric 2)
The enforcer of the group, highest stat is str and con/lowest is cha (she's a str rogue), weapon of choice is a shortsword and shield, absolutely terrible with people and she and Solahel are often the grumpiest ones around but she's much worse off due to her low charisma, doesn't talk much and simply prefers standing in the background lurking and making sure things are all going smoothly, will be the first one to step up and defend her friends if things start to look tricky despite having crap intimidation, is a cleric of the Raven Queen as her absentee father was a Shadar-Kai elf (you can imagine this goes over well with the fact that her sister is an unwilling warlock of Vecna... it does not), would do anything to get Eirarve out of Vecna's service but is also very loyal to the Raven Queen
Ryan (he/him/his)
Extended Signature
The goldview trading company
a crew of people that run general stores in the area
the store is run by dodger a some what shady human who comes from a shipping town somewhere and kite (in the wind) a friendly tabaxi who plays the lute in his off time.
Dodger
Rogue Lv 3 thief
Kite (in the wind)
bard lv 3 College of lore
They regularly smuggle goods inside the city to avoid taxes
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
The Cup of Joe team: Joe Doe (orc ranger), Joe Schmoe (orc wizard), G.I. Joe II (orc fighter), Joe King (orc rogue) and Friender Foe (orc sorcerer/mastermind)
Just a fun bunch of orcs who would do what all good orcs do in times of danger: RUN AWAY!!!
Rogue Shadow, the DM (and occasional) PC with schemes of inventive thinking