Odraude

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy Yup. A shame that happened. Erebus is an amazing site to behold. It actually has lava glowing from its tippy top. Amazing having lava in such a frozen wasteland. Excellent for a group of PCs trying to fight a rimefire elemental or even two separate elementals of fire and ice. I like how it brings up the Frost poem in my mind. A pic of it from above. You can see the lava. A close up of the steaming caldera And here is the book by HP Lovecraft that should give some ideas for a story here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ararat_anomaly This area would be interesting for a ruins adventure. The anomaly is said to have been the remains of Noah's Ark. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transantarctic_Mountains Upon the southern continent lies... the mountains of madness And there is Mt Erebus, an active volcano in the Antarctic. Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. Why not both? Also he has a sister mountain called Mount Terror

Re: The Chronicles of the Winning Adventuring Company (Avina) The sun shone high above the windswept hills, warming the pastoral village below. Tall pine trees lined the dirt covered roads and the hymns of cicadas echoed through the summer sky. The dirt road led beyond the forest, past some cozy farms and into the town of Hillshire. Hillshire is a beautiful farming village in the kingdom of Trenai. It lies at a crossroads of a main highway where many travelers, traders, and explorers pass through. Many stop at Hillshire for rest, supplies, and company with the townsfolk. Visitors are taken away by the rustic appearance of the buildings and the beautiful dogwood trees planted across the streets. What leaves a lasting impression with any explorer is the friendly demeanor of the townsfolk. Many of the citizens enjoy seeing the fresh faces of adventures from around the kingdom of Trenai as well as listening to their stories of dangerous encounters and death defying quests. It seemed to be a way of escapism from the boring farm life of the villagers. Until now... Upon one day, a string of murders began to plague the town. It began with bodies of campers in the forests. The carcasses were desiccated and their organs were removed, yet there were no visible cutting marks. The only marks on their bodies were needle shaped holes across their chest and stomach. Between the week, more campers and hunters went missing, their bodies found a day later in the forest. It wasn't long before people living along the forest were abducted from their homes. With the town in a panic, it would take a group of courageous adventurers with steely nerves and a warrior's cunning... What they got was... the Winning Company! To be continued...

This is a thread that will house the adventures of my gaming group, the Winning Adventuring Company (an inside joke between us ), in my fantasy Hero setting. Campaign adventures will be separated into links and posted here in the first post.

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear Something I do is just have an Adventurer's Charter. This is a handy dandy certificate/badge/mark/tattoo that states that this group is allowed to carry weapons/magic implements in various areas of a city because of their occupation as adventurers. Makes some form of sense to the more realistic lovers, doesn't screw over the fighter, and everyone including the paranoid players are happy. Also makes for some interesting plot seeds, like a lord that sees your Sword of Orcslaying and wants it no matter the cost, or goblins raid the city and you need to get to your armour/weapons as quickly as possible. But hey if that doesn't solve anyone's problems... let me grab my stick. This horse needs some beating

Re: Collaborative World Ending… Post Apocalyptic eh? There are some pretty good ideas to go with so far up there. I guess here is a big list of what i've used so far. The Clash of the Gods: The Gods have a massive disagreement, causing a war in heaven. And as above, so below upon the Earth, where the gods choose champions to fight for them and claim kingdoms under their patron's name. The world is devastated by the war. Outsiders Driven Away: Nothing like a good ol "Alien" invasion. Powerful servants of a primordial/god/archdevil mate with humans and the spawn enslave the world. Centuries of darkness prevails until the spirits of nature themselves step in. They summon a massive amount of arcane energy and systematically kill all of them, with many Earthling casualties and perhaps the landscape changing a bit (shattered continent) Nature Strikes Back: Years of nature being destroyed by the civilizations have caused the anima to fight back. After destroying massive cities, they now are in charge, with pockets of survivors turning to them and appeasing them.

Re: I want to construct, with as little fuss and bother as possible... For some help with the "Can only use X-Level Y times" spell, here is something I use for my game. its a Power level system that i am sure you can tweak a bit. For my campaign, seals = levels. (Active Points + Real Points)/10, then compare the number below. 1 First Seal 2-3 Second Seal 4-5 Third Seal 6-10 Fourth Seal 11-15 Fifth Seal 16-20 Sixth Seal 21+ Seventh Seal

Re: World of Avina (High Fantasy Campaign) Almanac Equipment -Weapons Weapons in this setting will be using what is listed in Hero 6th E2 Book and Fantasy Hero. If there is a listing in both books, use the 6th Edition version. Weapons cost gold equal to their Real Points Cost. -Armour All of the armour listed here are built using the limitations Focus OIF (-1/2), Mass (-1), and Real Armour (-1/4). The DEF is equal to the highest defense that the armour provides. The cost for making armour is the DEF times 5, not including the cloth armour. Starting with 4 DEF, a person receives a -2m to basic movement, -1 to DEX based rolls, and -1 to DCV for every 2 DEF of the armour. Armour DEF Wgt A/R Cost Cloth Armour: 1 PD/1 ED 3.5 lbs 3/1 1 gp Leather Armour: 2 PD/2 ED 5 lbs 6/2 10 gp Hide Armour: 3 PD/3 ED 7.5 lbs 9/3 15 gp Chainmail: 4 PD/4 ED 10 lbs 12/4 20 gp Scale Armour: 6 PD/6 ED 20 lbs 18/6 30 gp Plate Armour: 8 PD/8 ED 40 lbs 24/9 40 gp For people that want more realism with fitting armour, you can opt to just by the armour in sections. Each piece is worth a tenth of the amount of gold of the full armour. Cloth Sections: Head (3-5) .125 lb Hands (6) .125 lb Arms (7-8) .125 lbs Shoulders (9) .3125 lbs Chest (10-11) .625 ibs Stomach (12) .375 ibs Vitals (13) .125 lbs Thighs (14) .3125 ibs Legs (15-16) .25 lbs Feet (17-18) .125 lbs Leather Sections: Head (3-5) .25 lb Hands (6) .25 lb Arms (7-8) .25 lbs Shoulders (9) .625 lbs Chest (10-11) 1.25 ibs Stomach (12) .75 ibs Vitals (13) .25 lbs Thighs (14) .625 ibs Legs (15-16) .5 lbs Feet (17-18) .25 lbs Hide Sections: Head (3-5) .375 lb Hands (6) .375 lb Arms (7-8) .375 lbs Shoulders (9) .9375 lbs Chest (10-11) 1.875 ibs Stomach (12) 1.125 ibs Vitals (13) .375 lbs Thighs (14) .9375 ibs Legs (15-16) .75 lbs Feet (17-18) .375 lbs Chainmail Sections: Head (3-5) .5 lb Hands (6) .5 lb Arms (7-8) .5lbs Shoulders (9) 1.25 lbs Chest (10-11) 2.5 ibs Stomach (12) 1.5 ibs Vitals (13) .5 lbs Thighs (14) 1.25 ibs Legs (15-16) 1 lbs Feet (17-18) .5 lbs Scale Sections: Head (3-5) 1 lb Hands (6) 1 lb Arms (7-8) 1 lbs Shoulders (9) 2.5 lbs Chest (10-11) 5 ibs Stomach (12) 3 ibs Vitals (13) 1 lbs Thighs (14) 2.5 ibs Legs (15-16) 2 lbs Feet (17-18) 1 lbs Plates Sections: Head (3-5) 2 lb Hands (6) 2 lb Arms (7-8) 2 lbs Shoulders (9) 5 lbs Chest (10-11) 10 ibs Stomach (12) 6 ibs Vitals (13) 2 lbs Thighs (14) 5 ibs Legs (15-16) 4 lbs Feet (17-18) 2 lbs -Shields Shields' costs equal their active points in gold. A large shield has a -1 to DEX while a tower shield has a -2 to DEX. All shields have a defensive mode and a shield bash attach. The tower shield allows someone to block line of sight to themselves by sacrificing their attack. Shield DEX DCV STR Min Wgt A/R Cost Small Shield --- +1 5 2 kg 5/4 5 gp Medium Shield --- +2 13 4 kg 10/6 10 gp Large Shield -1 +3 18 7 kg 15/7 15 gp Tower Shield -2 +4 19 9 kg 20/8 20 gp 2 Small Shield: 5 point Multipower; All Slots Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (5; -1/4) 1 1u) +1 DCV, 5 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (5; -1/4), 2 RP 1 2u) HTH +1d6, 5 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (5; -1/4), HTH Attack (-1/4), 2 RP 4 Medium Shield: 10 point Multipower; All Slots Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (13; -1/2) 1 1u) +2 DCV, 10 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (13; -1/2), 4 RP 1 2u) HTH +2d6, 10 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (13; -1/2), HTH Attack (-1/4), 3 RP 5 Large Shield: 15 point Multipower; All Slots Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (18; -3/4) 1 1u) +3 DCV, 15 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (18; -3/4), 5 RP 1 2u) HTH +3d6, 15 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (18; -3/4), HTH Attack (-1/4), 5 RP 5 Tower Shield: 20 point Multipower; All Slots Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (19; -1) 1 1u) +4 DCV, 20 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (19; -1), 6 RP 1 2u) HTH +3d6, 15 AP; Focus OAF (-1), Real Armour (-1/4), STR Minimum (19; -1), HTH Attack (-1/4), 4 RP -Equipment Here are some other mundane equipment. Adventures Kit (3 Torches, bed roll, food 10 days, waterskin, rope 50 ft, Backpack.) 15 gold Arrows (60) 3 gold 6 ibs

Re: Final Drive Admittedly a final drive ability should be allowed to be a bit more powerful than normal abilities. Maybe it can be a higher amount of Active Points than what is normally allowed, or something with higher Damage Class than usually allowed. That way it would be a bit more worth the drive. For example, let's say you have a Standard Heroic party. 3-8 DC and 50 AP cap all around. The warrior is a greatsword fighter who keeps taking alot of bad hits, and things are looking bad for him. Suddenly, BAM, his Final Drive kicks in and its go time! He unleashes... the Vengeance Slash! Vengeance Slash: HKA 3d6, Armour Piercing (+1/4), 56 Active Points; Focus (OAF, Great Sword; -1), Increased Endurance (x2 END; -1/2), 22 Real Points I didn't go with the conditional power Maya used because this power has to already be set to the Rage Endurance Pool. So to make sure it can't switch between the rage pool and your normal END, just don't give it the Power Can Draw END From Character Or Endurance Reserve Advantage. Now if you had multiple abilities that can be used, each one depending on the "stress level", I'd go with a multipower charge pool. The "stress level" can be equal to the amount of charges the ability needs before going off and the charges can be recovered when it meets some negative requirement (ie, I keep missing, people keep hurting me, my friends are dying). Also, you could have the Rage Pool recover the full END by just one trigger. For example, a barbarian just took an attack that has brought him to less than 25% of his Body. Suddenly his Rage Pool activates, recovering ALL of endurance because of its trigger (When Body is below 25% of its starting value). Now, the hurt barbarian can destroy what just hurt him with a primal fury! Rage Pool: Endurance Reserve (8 END, 8 REC) Reserve: (5 Active Points); REC: , Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; Whenever Character is Dropped to Below 25% their Starting BODY Level; +1/2) (9 Active Points) Total 14 Points.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? This is War - 30 Seconds to Mars Love the album. Hooked on it

Re: World of Avina (High Fantasy Campaign) Almanac Languages For the setting, everyone gets Traden and their native language for free. Everyone is literate in their native language, however not in Traden. There is 1 point to be literate in a language. -Traden Traden is the trade language of the entire realm of Avina. It is the most popular and widely used language in the entire world. It began as a way for peoples of different countries to understand one another for business and trade agreements. As time went on, it has become more of a universal language that is simple to learn. This language has become the national language of the human kingdoms. -Wildspeak Wildspeak is the language of the tribes that live in the wilderness. Barbarian tribes, primallen, and mycids all speak this language, which spans across the globe. There are countless dialects that change through the regions, from forests to the mountains. Wildspeak is a bastardized form of the more secretive language of animatic, the true language of nature and spoken by many druids, hedge witches, and shamans. -Eni Eni is the language of the peoples of Isi-Kati. The language is a very complex with various subtle syllables and hundreds of beautifully drawn letters in their alphabet. It can take many years to master the language and all of its dialects. The enisi are the majority that speak this language, claiming that it is the language of the gods. -Dreamlander Dreamlander is an alien language known natively to the Oneiroi. It is a corruption of all of the languages of Avina, mixed together from the minds of creatures into the plane of dreams and stitched together in a unique hodgepodge of a language. It is rarely used by non-Oneiroi. -X'atli X'atli is the language of the Xataqueya empire, spoken mainly by the x'atl. It is a very harsh language with alot of hard consonants and pictographs for their alphabet. Many sounds that would require lips to make (such as P and F) sound different in the language because of the nature of the x'atl beaks. -Kanihi Kanihi is the language of the kanasi to the south of the Xataqueya empire. It has some similarities in the alphabet as X'atli, but the language itself is different. It is a bit softer with more emphasis on vowels than x'atli. -Kagogin Kagogin is the language of many of the Gogoth peoples of Yann'xith. It is a very deep and hard language. -Raeniri Raeniri is the language of the Graenir. It is soft and elegant, but has a very complicated alphabet. -Garel Garel is the language of the Greil. It is known as their holy language, a very solemn and deep language. The alphabet is simple yet beautiful. Their is a form of Garel called Old Garel that is only learned by greil priests. -Syl -Kollok

Re: World of Avina (High Fantasy Campaign) Minor change. Added Witch to the warlock section. nothing big.

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply! I'm doing a campaign where I'm actively trying to make new and different races while still keeping some classic tropes that people enjoy. So far I have Humans Greil, a race of tall, athletic humanoids with red eyes, jet black hair, stolid features, and a closeness to divine magic. Graenir, a race of amphibious humanoids with echolocation and the only race that can breathe underwater Cylian, a race of lizardmen that can breath acid and live in volcanoes, resisting the fires and heat Qxq (say it with me now... K-zzsh-k), an exotic race made completely from chaotic energies of creation. Have a giant maw on their stomach, may have multiple limbs and eyes and capable of different types of vision as chosen by the player (nightvision, IR, x-ray, Meat vision ) Oneiroi, a race of shapeshifting dreamlings from the plane of dreams that are brought into the material world from people's dreams. They have black or white skin with pale blue coloured hair and eyes. Upon their hands are three orifices that aloow them to eat dreams. For more, you can check out this link http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/76897-World-of-Avina-(High-Fantasy-Campaign)

Re: World of Avina (High Fantasy Campaign) Almanac Calendar & Timeline -Calendar After the Age of Expansion and with exploration at an all time high, the majority of the kingdoms on Avina have adopted a singular method of keeping time as well as keeping historical records. This makes it easier to keep track of past events for all empires and lowers the amount of confusion. BAE means Before Age of Expansion and AE is After Expansion. A year on Avina is 276 days long, separated into twelve 23-day months. A week equals 7 days. The months are each named after the twelve morning stars in the night sky. Ibensar Early Spring Kaithar Mid Spring Jaunthar Late Spring Parryuar Early Summer Lukenciar Mid Summer Minosuar Late Summer Hakothar Early Fall Regenar Mid Fall Thanayar Late Fall Oaiar Early Winter Vonemar Mid Winter Cedecar Late Winter -The Sea of Eons (Prehistory) The Sea of Eons is the period of time before the creation of the Great Cosmic Haven. No scholar knows when it began, nor when it ended. However, many know that the period is defined as a time before the permanent deities and the races of Avina. No worlds existed, except the various motes of creation made by the capricious eliduir before being discarded and eventually assimilated back into the Sea. There are no records of this time period, only what has been spoken by the cultists of various eliduir religions. -War of the Haven (Prehistory - 40,000 BAE) The War of the Haven marks the end of the Sea of Eons. This is the period of celestial turmoil, when gods and primordials fought over the fate of the cosmos. No one know how long this war truly last, but all legends state that the end came from the very blood and flesh of the dead soldiers and cosmic beings rose together as a massive entity of the cosmos known as the Haven Avatar. It expelled the eliduir from the Haven and created the Great Pact, which would see a beginning in the limit of influence the primordials and deities would have over Avina. The gods would seed the world with their beloved races, while the jealous eliduir snuck in monsters and abominations to terrorize the denizens of Avina. -The Anophamin Era (40,000 BAE - 10,000 BAE) After the creation of the races, each one was scattered across the world. At this time, Isi-Kati was not yet created, still only a part of Yaan'xith. Primallen were the first to be created and they populated every continent. Kokorok dwelled in Louros and the kanasi settled in the cooler forests of Quexuey. Greil first stood atop the mountains of Aria and stared upon the night sky, while the graenir played along the coasts. The x'atl were merely beings of myth, soaring with their anima-deity Xataqueya. Cylians did not exist yet, nor did the gogoths, enisi, fyrkin, and illumina. Humans were the last race to be created by the gods. Luken, father of the human race, scattered the people across Aria and Yaan'xith Life in this age was primitve and brutal. The races were plagued with the horrific monsters of the Primordial Sea. Marauding barbarians roamed the lands, pillaging weaker tribes of their resources. People were unable to use magic to its fullest, with wizards being very rare. Shamanism and druidism were the predominant forms of worship in this time. Hailing from Yaan'xith were servants of the eliduir. They were sent to Avina to lead the primordial monsters and sow discord and destruction across the lands. However, they instead mated with the humans of the continent and created the anophamin, immortal ochre-skinned giants whose footsteps would shake the very earth. These titans expanded and enslaved many of the races, creating an empire on the backs of their slaves. They had even enslaved their lesser kin, the smaller gogoths race. The anophamin spread to Avina and they conquered much of the land. The Anophamin Era ended with a great upheaval, as the countless tribes of races united and rose up against their colossal masters. Shamans and druids gathered together and called upon an invocation of the star anima themselves to cleanse the world of the eldar spawn that had broken the Great Pact. Star spirits showered the lands and tore the capital city asunder, breaking apart the Yaan'xith continent into many islands and the Isi-Kati continent. They scorched the world of all anophamin, leaving their smaller cousins, the gogoths, unscathed. This act would forever be known as the Deluge of Stars. All of the anophamin souls were trapped in the shattered remains of the continent that would be known as Isi-Kati, forever imprisoned underground. Once the purging was completed, the star spirits left behind strange, mysterious statues across the lands to protect Avina from another cataclysm. -The Deitic Age (10,000 BAE - 1000 BAE) At the time of the Deluge of Stars, the deities had just finished the creation of their new home, the Divine Haven. When they looked and saw what had happened to Avina, many of the gods were outraged. Pressure was put on the anima to allow the gods greater influence, and finally the deities were allowed to walk amongst their people. Many deities saw this as their chance to subtly force their version of order and justice as they saw fit. While this would be against the Great Pact, many did not care about the pact. Only Oai, the lord of life and death, and Oacan, the god of the waters, refused to overstep their boundaries. The Deitic showed a massive growth for many races, as well as the creation of new peoples. The great battle between Mataquey (Cylic) and Xataqueya caused the downfall of the x'atl and the creation of the cylian race. The x'atl are said to have been captured by the webs of the kanasi and forced into slavery. On the newly formed continent of Isi-Kati, the barbaric humans were visited by the god themselves and merged with their servants to become the enisi, guardians against the evils of the eliduir. Gogoths fled their decendent's homes and scattered across Yaan'xith to form tribes. Humans and primallen remained in their tribal state, with humans continuing tribal warfare against each other. However, their settlements became larger and more stable, with languages and an alphabet being created amongst the tribes of men. Amongst the races on the planet, two kingdoms rose into gems in this age. The first was the greil, whom in 8071 BAE, had banded together their mountain and plains tribes to become the city-state of Arthen. Arthen was a great kingdom with an advanced knowledge in magic and fighting. The second race was the cylians, whose tribal leaders in the volcanoes of the Cylic Mountains formed the Eldar Parliment, which, in 8063 BAE, would lead the empire of Rakola. Rakola was smaller than Arthen, but was known for its great works of the forge and architecture. The two kingdoms bordered each other and countless skirmishes over territories and resources occurred before they declared outright war. All throughout the lands, the gods chose champions for their own causes. Heroes would rise against challenges of might and valor to honor their god. Many of the gods used these champions to further their agendas and take over various domains of power from rival gods, whether peacefully or by force. This time was when Omenous made a bargain with Avris, Narius, Magogouge, Manohet, and Xendyr to strike against the other gods and rule over Avina and the Divine Haven. Together, they spread their dark word across the human and primallen tribes of Aria as well as forming pockets of worshippers in the various kingdoms of the world. The largest of these dark clerics were of Narius, sister of Marthuel. Jealous of her sister's power, Narius spread her influence over some of the highest nobles of Arthen. With their affinity to divine magic, many greil flocked at the promise of great magic power and wealth. 1009 BAE marks the fall of the two great empires. Arthen culture grew decadent from the cults of Narius, with the greil cultists killing their own kind to bath in their blood and gain more power. When the cult was finally discovered by Marthuel, the numerous servants of Narius were expelled from the kingdom and became known as the nariseil, or "Red Greil". Much of the nobility were followers and with their absence, Arthen collapsed. Across from them, Rakola dealt with a great schism between their various tribes. Civil war erupted, pitting cylian against cylian over the claims of land taken from Arthen. Taking advantage of the turmoil, some human barbarians raided both empires, pillaging and murdering any that stood in their way in the name of Omenous. As it was below, so it was above as violence between the gods escalated into full scale war. Luken banded the remaining deities together to strike against Omenous and his alliance of usurpers to stop them from taking over the universe. The Deitic War began. Finally, in 1000 BAE, the Deitic War ended in a horrific final battle. Omenous and his forces clashed Luken and the remaining deities in a catastrophic battle, rending the very fabric of the Divine Haven. A maelstrom of fire formed and threatened to engulf the entire universe. Several demigods and gods gave their lives to control the expansion and finally, it stablized into the Infernal Void known today. In anger, Luken cast Omenous and his ilk into the abysm for all eternity, never to see the beauty of the Divine Haven again. While the war in heaven was over, the war on Avina had only begun, with the remanents of Arthen and Rahkrosia fighting each other as well as the barbarians of mankind. -The Great Darkness of Avina (1000 BAE - 0 AE) Turmoil befell Avina as warfare spread like wildfire. Greil retreated back to the mountains that had given birth to them while cylians continued to fight each other over territories now lost to the humans still worshipping Omenous. Across the world, the red greil had sailed to Isi-Kati to establish a colony and continue their dark worship of Narius. The enisi, already settled into small monastery villages across the lands, clashed against the heretic greil to protect their homeland from the infernal powers. Many humans and primallen still followed Omenous and Magogouge and continued the massacres across the lands, killing human and non-human alike. X'atl had escaped their enslavement to the kanasi, only to find themselves engulfed in guerilla warfare against them in a rain forest that was deadlier than the kanasi warriors. The period is rightfully remembered as the darkest times of known history. Seeing the turmoil they had caused, the deities gathered together with some anima to try and expunge the dark taint affecting their creations. Towards the very end of the Great Darkness, the gods used their champions to spread hope and gather the scattered people together into proper settlements. Human barbarians slowly cast away their bond to Omenous and began worshipping Luken once again. Greil found forgiveness with Marthuel and began rebuilding their lost empire. The x'atl used Xataqueya's guidance and protection to end their war for freedom and carve a kingdom of their own in the dark rain forests. Even the civil war between cylians finally ended, with much of their lands ravaged from the war. With order restored to Avina, the deities left for their haven to never again interfere with mortals on such a great magnitude. The Great Darkness was finally over. -The Age of Expansion (0 AE - 1072 AE) The Age of Expansion began with the rise of a new superpower to take the stage. Mankind had taken over much of the territories from the old empires during the Deitic Age, and many of the tribes had already gathered together to create larger settlements. Settlements became villages, villages became towns, and soon, whole city-states of human nations were scattered across Aria. Human expansion was unstoppable and overshadowed the rebuilding of the greil and cylian kingdoms, both of which were slowed by the lack of resources. Research into magic expanded their control over it. Many primallen remained in the forests, content with what nature had provided them. Others joined human cities and lived amongst them as equals. Across the ocean, the x'atl were expanding rapidly, taming the harsh rain forests and combining their architecture with nature. The enisi still battled with the red greil, who remain rooted firmly in one of the islands of Isi-Kati. Within all of the expansion came the fyrkin, spirits of the wildfires made manifest. Many fyrkin made small settlements along the hills and plains of Aria away from other kingdoms. Even graenir expanded to other islands in the ocean, remaining at peace with other countries. Still, not all was peaceful during this time. The period showed many human warlords fighting against each other for claims over land as well as the power to rule other humans. The wars came to an end as the city-states of man consolidated into five main nations on Aria, with one of them located on Louros. The cylians and greil kingdoms expanded slowly into their own recognizable kingdoms again. In 583 AE at the Northern Wastes of Aria, a portal opened up to reveal an invasion from Echohalls. The lord Karik launched his legions of karishayd to try and take over Aria. After a long period of warfare, the forces of men, greil, graenir, and cylians as well as their greatest mages repelled Karik and his army from Avina. However, the war left a source of black magic that still infects the Northern Wastes to this day. Known as the Blight, the black magic is ingrained into the soil and gives birth to the black-kin, creatures of great terror and violence that now plague the world. -The Age of Discovery (1072 AE - 1501 AE [Present Day]) The Age of Discovery began with the rapid expansion of the greil kingdom, led by the newly appointed Archbishop Rithmere of the Church of Marthuel. Under his leadership, rules became strictly enforced and aggressive campaigns to reclaim the territories that were lost in the Great Darkness were launched. Now the Holy Rithmere Ecclesiarchy, the kingdom of the greil began annexing various lands and enslaved the people that they had captured. Lacking resources and unable to stand against the ecclesiarchy, the tribes of the cylians formed a the Cylic kingdom and joined forces with the greil kingdom in ruling Avina. What truely marked the Age of Discovery was in 1084 AE, when the kingdoms of man unveiled the invention of a ship that would be able to cross the great seas and search for far away lands. The maiden voyage located the continent of Quexuey and its bountiful resources. With this discovery, the race of imperialism began with kingdoms across Aria mobilizing to colonize the New World. Almost immediately, the people of the Aria continent clashed with the native x'atl of the New World. Sentiment across the Arian races was that the natives were primitive barbarians that did not deserve their land, while the x'atl saw them as invaders that were just as cruel as their kanasi enemies. Settlement continued despite attacks from the x'atl. Yaan'xith and Isi-Kati were discovered shortly afterwards, with the gogoths and enisi welcoming the explorers with more open arms. Colonization didn't grow as fast on these continents, however, as Isi-Kati was already claimed by the enisi and the nariseil, and Yaan'xith, while filled with great archaeological finds and ruins, proved to be too much of a wasteland to prove profitable. Thus, colonization of Quexuey was pressured greatly amongst the kingdoms of Aria, especially by the human states. In 1440 AE, war finally broke out across the world. The Holy Rithmere Ecclesiarchy and Cylic send legions of their soldiers across Aria to sack the kingdoms of man. Each battle, the greil and cylian alliance destroyed the human opposition with ease. Within time, the ecclesiarchy added the tribes of black-kin into their allegience, making their legions unstoppable. Unable to continue to combat their army, the kingdom of Trenai sent a diplomat to Quexuey to convince the bitter x'atl to ally with them. Only then was it discovered that the x'atl made up a massive empire that spanned their continent. Known as the kingdom of Xataqueya, they reluctantly agreed to aiding the forces of man. Across the world, the conflict between the enisi and the nariseil reached a climax, with the massacre of hundreds of thousands of enisi by the hands of the nariseil. The enisi retreated from the bloodstained lands, allowing the nariseil to expand across almost half of the continent. Gogoths saw great money to be made in warfare as well as glory and fame, causing many to sell their military services to all of the kingdoms of Avina as soldiers and bodyguards. War finally ended in 1449 during the final battle between the Holy Rithmere Ecclesiarchy and the allies of man. The legions of the ecclesiarchy outnumbered the army of the human-x'atl alliance, with 80,000 men versus 10,000. During this battle, three things happened that turned the tide of battle in favor of the humans and x'atl. First, the warlord of the black-kin was killed, causing the large monsters to scatter and fight amongst themselves. Second, the leader of the cylian warriors had a change of heart mid-battle, ordering his forces to turn on the greil halberdiers. Third, due to the destruction of the forests by the ecclesiarchy, the mycids and primallen joined the fray with the forces of nature at their sides. The battle was won in the favor of humans and many of the territories that the Holy Rithmere Ecclesiarchy took were released as neutral ground. Relations between the humans and the x'atl grew stronger and Xataqueya allowed minor colonization on their island. On Isi-Kati, however, the forces of the enisi and the nariseil clashed with both sides evenly matched. Divine magic was cast between the two races and nearly tore the continent apart even more. Countless soldiers died in the battle, with neither side gaining an upper hand. After three days, the battle ended in a bloody stalemate. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire and soon a treaty, allowing each other to exist without interfering with one anothers kingdom.

Re: Designing a Magic System - semi-wild elemental magic For the ability to copy a power they see, you can build that as a mimicry VPP like it says under the VPP sections in HERO 5th and 6th.

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear Of course, there is a difference between a player roleplaying as a paranoid guy (Ill never leave Ol' Betty from my sights!) and a paranoid player. It would make sense to me to have a soldier or rouge type character that would be much more adamant about keeping their weapons on their person. Maybe the city is fine, but they had pissed off the wrong organized crime group and have to now constantly watch their backs. Or perhaps they were a bounty hunter whose largest catch just got out of jail and is out to hunt them. Paranoia in the character can be a good roleplaying benefit, but paranoia in the player can be a bad thing, especially if it is justified...

Re: battle Wear vs. Town Wear For the games I run, instead of a ban on weapons in cities, I have the adventurers just get a sort of cheap "weapons permit", allowing them to carry their weapons and armours through the streets and general areas of the city, except for certain sensitive areas like the royal palace or a place of political/economic importance. Its less annoying to the PCs for having to store their armour and weapons and is easy to obtain such a permit. I don't even bother charging them since it really doesn't affect my campaign in my opinion. My adventurers know that there are just a few rare places they are not allowed to enter with weapons. Armour I see less as a problem, so I don't bother with that in the slightest. This doesn't prevent them or anyone from buying and owning weapons mind you. This is just saying "Hey, I am totally allowed to carry my great sword around town so jog off!" Of course, it always depends on how a GM roleplays the cities. If the city isn't known for its criminal element and is pretty much the home base of the adventuring charter, being unarmed probably will never be a problem. However, if you are living in a dangerous city with knaves and bandits galore, and the GM loves to ambush you at every corner, I wouldn't think twice about keeping my greatsword close at hand. Plus, there are always ways to bend weapons laws. I'm sure in a vile city of scum and villainy, it would be easy to bribe some guards to look the other way when you stroll in with your great axe. In the end, it all depends on the city and GM style.

Re: CHAMPIONS POWERS: What Do *You* Want To See? I would like a write up of different magic spells that are generally more complicated than normal mutant powers. Like summoning weapons for a brief time or infusions or a mobile alchemy laboratory.

Re: Map Tiles While they aren't tiles, these are reusable battlemats which you can draw on using water-based markers (dont use red though, trust me). May help. http://www.chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_Megamats.htm

Re: What's in a Name? AlHazred Well there are always some good stuff to be found from Irish and English folklore. For example, fomorians were giants that were associated with chaos, something interesting for your concept. Other ideas may include ogres, oni, orc, troll, gog and magog... If you really need some inspiration for a creature, here's what I do. I look through different prefixes or words that may fit the personality and feel of the race. Then, you can corrupt the spelling or pronunciation, maybe add -kin, -folk, or some other suffix to the end and tada! New racial name. For example, I had made a race of humanoids that were close to divine magic like elves are close to arcane magic. I started with the word grail, like holy grail, and with one simple letter change, they became the greil. Here are some words for shadows and night. Hope it helps. Shade Umbra Murk Nocturne Shift -kage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Hag_Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_(mythology) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_play http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness

Re: Champions Sneak Peek #1: The Cover! I wish there was a word that could describe how awesome that cover is. I think I will go with... Love the cover

Re: Leopard Men Perhaps you can build each power with one continuing charge that is very difficult to recover. The recovery would be human sacrifice and devouring the body parts.

Re: Pamela Isley's Character Thread Game Day tomorrow btw

Re: Pamela Isley's Character Thread Combat-wise, they are virtually identical, with some differences in Combat Maneurvers. You'll do fine

Re: World of Avina (High Fantasy Campaign) Update: Changed the Pacting ability and Sorcerer drastically. Makes it work much more different and flavorful personally.