Renaming of characters required
Humans are required to use Elizabethan names, not the Germanic names previously requested. This is due to the change in the background material. Elves and Dwarves will use typical fantasy name tropes.
Name generators can be found here:
Gunpowder!
Gunpowder will be added to the game. This is early gunpowder, circa 1500, nothing fancy. Will be very slow, very loud, very smokey, but otherwise an effective weapon. Dwarves like them—and potentially invented them—while Humans have made them into efficient killing machines for the large battles occurring in the world.
I need to find good gunpowder rules, prices, and such still, but otherwise gunpowder is coming to a session soon!
Demi-humans
Moldvay rules dictates race as class. We have one elf player currently. I think I will preserve the abilities and simply port them over to the new rules that are currently in the works. No changes are necessary at this time.
Setting material
I will draft a small introductory article on what the characters would reasonably know about the world around them, the political situation, the common knowledge of recent historical events, and other such items.
One thing that I want to see is players really treating this setting as a sandbox. A sandbox, by definition, is pliable. Sand can be shaped and formed and destroyed. Think about this when you are in and out of character, or in and out of session. Would characters with enough wealth and power try to create a pirate republic in the sea? Would they establish a mission in the Dwarven kingdom? Would they preach their religion to pagans? Would they build up their own kingdom and attempt a coup?
Level 1 characters wouldn’t do any of these things, but they may want to do these things. Enough wealth and power could make these things possible! Talk to me! Let’s discuss what you want to do and make it happen. I won’t automatically grant such desires, but I certainly would be interested in exploring a reasonable and balanced approach that leads to such outcomes but is still not guaranteed. Countless kings in history failed to build their empire, so why would your character be an exception to such rules? But it is also a fantastic world of heroes and villains. Maybe, if the character survives long enough, they actually can become a powerful political entity. Or perhaps they get assassinated and poisoned. Who knows!? It’d be fun to try either way!
Appendix N
Appendix N resources will be coming soon. Appendix N refers to the appendix chapter in the Original Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, where Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, authors of the rules, listed inspirational material. Such material included many many books. Mine will include the same, but also images, videos, and articles that have inspired the setting.