Elves, Gnomes, and Mutability

Both the elves and the gnomes of Terafa (and also the ælves and goblins, of course) are arrivals on Terafa from another realm - from the Feywild in the case of the elves, with the origin of gnomes being more open to dispute. Both of these are extremely mutable creatures, who have retained some part of the mercurical nature of the plane that formed them.

In the case of the elves, they can perhaps be regarded as noble trees, growing tall, strong, and straight - beautiful, magestic, and proud. The goblins, on the other hand, are a much more fecund and hardy breed - they tend to be much more wrinkled and twisted, like shrubs, fungi, or otherwise life of the many varieties found in the woods (or the seas, mountains, or even under the earth).

One consequence of the mutability of both elves and gnomes is that they are much less fixed and permanent in appearance, albeit within certain bounds.

Elves have a variety of skin tones and colourations, though these tend to be both colours found in nature, and also not those found amongst humans - elven skin ranges from a rue white to a true black, through all manner of greens, golds, browns, and even blues and violet. It's worth noting also that elven skin colouration is not fixed. (Tattoos are therefore extremely rare amongst elves, fading quickly in any case. However, many if not most elves have various whorls and marks on skin that are much the same in aesthetic impact as tattoos are amongst humans - indeed, it is entirely possible that the practice of tattooing amongst humans was inspired by the elves.)

The same impermanence also gives elves the ability to heal small hurts more fully than humans, albeit over a fairly long time. For that reason, elves very seldom have scars, and even then only for a time. Even missing fingers, toes, ears, and even eyes and hands can eventually regrow.

Gnomes and goblins are similarly variable in their appearance, although humans tend to be blissfully unaware of any changes. Gnomes and goblins tend to become more wrinkled and bent as they age, and they generally grow all manner of lumps, hairs, and other growths. It is not at all uncommon for gnomes and goblins to have six or even more fingers or toes on one or more of their limbs. Additionally, gnomes and, especially, goblins regrow teeth at a prodigious rate, and even grow additional teeth wherever a space may be found.

In terms of skin colouration, gnomes and goblins are much more mutable than elves as a collective, but much less mutable as individuals. That is, gnomes and goblins of any and all colours may be found, mostly in tones similar to the environment around them. And, indeed, a goblin may not be of a single colour - stripes, spots, and other marks are very common. However, once a gnome or goblin reaches adulthood, their skin colouration remains fixed for the remainder of the life.

In much the same way, gnomes and goblins have the ability to heal many small hurts, but this trait manifests rather differently for them than for elves - goblins scar readily, and tend to remain scarred, but they are seldom impeded by these lasting marks. Likewise, a maimed goblin won't regrow a lost finger or toe... but is likely to grow an entirely new finger or toe to replace it. Thus their limbs remain entirely functional, despite sometimes looking like a mismatched collection of parts - though, of course, that is entirely a judgement made by humans, and who is to say that human notion of aesthetics is of any real merit?

Gnomes and Goblins of Terafa

The origin of gnomes and goblins is a matter of significant dispute amongst philosophers. Some claim that they are an ancient people who migrated to Terafa from the Feywild in ages past. Others claim that their origin was the Shadowfell rather than the Feywild. Yet other claim that they are not a people at all, but rather a manifestation of the energies of one or other of these planes made manifest in the realm.

For their part, gnomes and goblins keep their own counsel, and tend not to be drawn. Although many of them are offended by the bracketing of their peoples together: both gnomes and goblines vehemently deny the association with the other.

Whatever their origin, there is no doubt that gnomes and goblins have dwelt upon Terafa for a very long time - indeed, for as long as the elves. However, where the elves have a long and storied history, gnomes and goblins have seldom made the same mark. They have no great empires to speak of, no mighty works, and they have fought no wars. Their achievements tend to be much smaller, more personal, and less apt to be discussed than those of other peoples.

Beyond that, there is not much to say about gnomes and goblins, or at least not much to say as a collective. For both gnomes and goblins are a varied people, with little commonality between branches. Whether it is due to a multitude of mutations in their base stock, or experiementation by mad mages, or simply due their own inherent variety, both gnomes and goblins are split into a great many branches - some foul and poisonous, some gentle and magical, and some that appear the one but are actually the other.

Perhaps there is one more thing to say: both goblins and gnomes can be found in a wide variety of environments, and they are always marked by those environments. Further, it appears that this is not simply a correlation, with each branch seeking out those places best suited to them. Instead, it appears that goblins and gnomes fairly rapidly adapt to, and are moulded to, whatever environment they find themselves in. Perhaps this is the source of their great variety after all - simply that they have adapted wherever they find themselves?

The Death of Queens

Amongst both elves and ælves the Queen is immortal, or rather undying. However, per Cavcari's Last Invocation, anything that has a beginning must have an ending, and so it has proven amongst elvenkind. Some three hundred years ago a great plague sprang up amongst both elves and ælves. The source of the plague is unknown - perhaps it was a magical persilence, perhaps it was simply the will of nature, or perhaps it was a pollution of the ambrosia on which they fed. But the plague was most lethal... and seemed directed specifically against the Queens of those peoples. At a stroke, it seemed, every elven Queen was slain.

With the loss of their Queens, the elven hives were vulnerable, and their enemies were not slow to take advantage. Orcs and dvergar, and indeed sometimes human and dwarves also, struck and struck hard. Many hives were simply wiped out, others were decimated never to recover.

But by the grace of Choriam, that was not the end. Although reduced to a mere handful of Lords and Ladies, the elven and ælven peoples did include some Maids in their number. New sources of ambrosia were found, sources untainted by whatever pestilence had brought them low. New hives were founded, and the elves endure.

Alas, they are much diminished. Elven Maids who are promoted to Queen after reaching adulthood seldom have the same wisdom and majesty of those born to the role. The oldest living elves are now scarcely three centuries old, much younger than is the norm for those kin. And with so much of elven lore and history being passed on orally, much has been lost forever.

There is hope for the elves. As the next generation matures and new Queens are born into their role, their powers are restored, and the number of elves can increase rapidly. For now, though, their position remains precarious.

Reboot, Reset, Reimagine

With the release of "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", WotC have now published guides to three of the 'classic' D&D settings (if you count the "Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide"). In each case they've taken a somewhat different approach to the material: the Forgotten Realms is essentially a continuation of the ongoing lore, albeit with a quasi-reset from the 4e material; Eberron is once again presented essentially as-is; and Ravenloft has been reimagined for a new era (and to remove some problematic material).

So, what to do for the other settings? Here's my recommendations:

• Greyhawk: I would be inclined to present Greyhawk essentially as an historic artifact - reset it back to the state at the end of 1st Edition (that is, before the "Greyhawk Wars"), explicitly don't include homes for Dragonborn and Tieflings, and lean very much into the "Appendix N" derivation of the whole thing. That means it is more than a little rough around the edges, but it does also mean it has something to distinguish it from the Forgotten Realms, which any sort of an update is likely to lack.
• Dragonlance: This setting suffers from a huge focus on the War of the Lance and, even more specifically, the Heroes of the Lance. For a new version, I would be inclined to reset this setting back to those Wars, but remove the Heroes - the campaign is about the PCs and their place in the war. Crucially, the setting would be almost entirely focused on the War of the Lance - while other settings may have wars, this is the one that is about an all-consuming war.
• Dark Sun: The 4e version of this setting more or less did what was required. There are a couple of further tweaks required, mostly surrounding the issue of slavery, but I would build on what has been done rather than re-re-imagine it.
• Spelljammer: I would essentially just republish this setting as-is. Though I would de-emphasise the links to Greyspace, Realmspace, and Krynnspace, while also putting in canonical links to those settings that came after.
• Planescape: Other than merging some elements of the classical Great Wheel with the 4e World Axis, and resetting the setting prior to the Faction War (albeit, perhaps with some different factions), I would largely leave this one alone.
• Birthright: This setting I would reimagine to be closer to "Game of Thrones", and probably aim at a significantly older audience as a result.
• Mystara: Unfortunately, Mystara is all sorts of problematic - too much of the setting is based on real-world cultures with the serial numbers filed off, in a manner that simply isn't acceptable these days. So, much as I hate to say it, this is a setting that I would leave fallow, except insofar as it can be stripped for ideas for other settings (such as, for example, Glantri).
• Al Qadim, Maztica, the Horde, Kara Tur: Technically, these are all parts of the Forgotten Realms. As with Mystara, they're all problematic for real-world reasons, and are probably best forgotten.
• Taladas, the Hollow World, Jakandor: By this point we're getting into very obscure settings (and, incidentally, Taladas is technically part of Dragonlance and the Hollow World is part of Mystara). My expectation is that none of these would ever be revived, but if they were I would be inclined to recast each as a transplantable setting component - divorce them from any existing setting but instead present them as an area that can be dragged and dropped more or less anywhere.

And that is about that, really.

Bogged Down

I mentioned in my previous post that I had made a mistake in "A Quest for Memory".

The problem is fairly simple: I built up to the first crucible, locked the PCs into the dungeon... and then the whole thing bogged down. They've reached a point where they're on hostile terms with all the factions within the dungeon, so now it's a case of explore a bit/fight/explore a bit/fight/repeat. There's not a huge amount of interest left there, I could really use an opportunity to organically write one of the characters out, but because they're locked in we're all somewhat stuck.

There are two big lessons to learn from that:

Firstly, don't lock the PCs into a location for very long. Keep the crucibles short!

Secondly, make sure there's plenty of interesting things within the dungeon, so that even if the PCs do get locked in the whole thing is less likely to come to a grinding halt.

As regards the current campaign, the way forward is relatively straightforward now - cut a lot of the unseen material (or at least gloss over it) so that the PCs get out of the crucible and on to more interesting things as quickly as possible. That feels like a bit of a cheat, but on the other hand it's preferable to spending another six sessions stuck.

The Mists of Lamordia: Act Three

After a break due to an Easter holiday and then paternity leave, I will be resuming "The Mists of Lamordia" on Thursday. We left the campaign with all the key mysteries revealed and a more-or-less clear path to the endgame in place: the PCs have to confront the vestiges of the Dark Powers, they have to end the curse of the Neverborn, they have to exorcise the demon from Katya Rose, and they have to confront the Dark Lord of the Domain.

All of that will take time, of course, but I think my intention is to seek to bring it to an end before the end of this calendar year. Additionally, I'm looking at the PCs gaining three or four more levels in the remaining sessions, taking them up to 10th or 11th level. And then there will be a break before the next campaign... if indeed there is a next campaign.

Looking back, the campaign has been reasonably good, but I think we spent way to long in the first section (in Ludendorf), and consequently not enough in the second (Lamordia as a whole). That's something I'll want to recify in future (and indeed, a mistake I haven't made in "A Quest for Memory"... though I have made a completely different mistake instead).