Setup for my Sandbox Campaign

So I'm prepping for a sandbox campaign I plan on running using LotFP.  It will be my first time running LotFP, so that's kind of exciting.  I was also planning on running it in the style introduced to me in the West Marches Experiment--which essentially allowed for multiple parties and ease of adaption for players dropping in or out--but I may just end up with a single-party affair, which is fine by me.  The setup has the players exploring the western edge of a barony, where the furthest reaches of society border the unknown wilderness.  Since I am a big Old D&D fan, and this is my first time trying out LotFP, I wanted to bounce some ideas off the community.

Elfs
Like all demihumans, Elfs are somewhat of a rarity in the human-dominated lands.  Most Elfs are haughty and aloof, but those few who have spent more time around humans in their youth tend to be more down to earth.  These wayward sons and daughters of Elfen descent are usually treated as alien in human society, with reactions ranging from uncomfortable to spitefulness--many such Elfs learn to hide their inhuman origins.  Even rarer are the Elfs who are raised by humans--these Elfs may choose to take the human classes of Fighter, Magic-User or Specialist in lieu of the Elf class, but not Cleric.

Dwarfs
I've been thinking about taking inspiration from James Maliszewski (Grognardia) and making all Dwarfs male, with new Dwarfs coming from their shape being crafted out of stone.  I am not sure if or how I will handle the idea of having to pay back your maker, though, as that would force all Dwarf PC's to start the game with a debt.

Halflings
I have not yet come up with any specific details for Halflings, but I would like something to help fit them in with the other races, where both Elfs and Dwarfs are essentially "on their way out" and humans are now the dominant race.

"MONSTROUS" RACES

I have been reading James' advise on the matter of "common monsters", but at least with this first foray I would like to have some manner of wild societies that the PC's can interact with beyond the edges of civilization.

Goblins
Goblins are foul creatures with an elongated nose and arms.  They cannot care less in the trappings of societal structure and rarely think beyond the present, making them very difficult to manage even by men of evil intent who wish to purchase their services.  They have little regard for life, even their own, and goblins can be suicidal just as often as they flee for their lives.
Like Dwarfs, goblins have no females or children, though this is not widely known by other races.  They are instead born from great cauldrons or pits of mud.  Goblins also sometimes willingly climb into boiling cauldrons of water or mud, with their bodies melting and joining with other goblins to create other creatures of their family.  One such creature is the hobgoblin, which is twice the mass and more cunning than its progenitors.  Sometimes six or more goblins can join together in this matter to form a bugbear.  There are legends of some great beast similar in appearance to a goblin called a troll, but whether this is some other, more rare concoction of goblin make, few if any know.

Wild Men
Once, long ago, before the Builder chiseled the first Dwarf from the northernmost mountains, the lands of these protohumans stretched far and wide.  The ruins of their once mighty structures can still be found, though usually in a much more deteriorated state than those of the Elfs.  Now they can usually be found in small tribes, without language, culture, or will to climb out of the primordial state they have fallen to.  Fiercely territorial, they do not have any relations with other races and typically attack on sight.
Though extremely rare, there are some Wild Men who live in family units rather than tribes.  These self-imposed outcasts display a greater intellect than their tribal brethren; and though they have no knowledge of their race's past greatness or language, sometimes they can be heard, morosely singing the songs past down to them from generations past, almost as if they are remembering...

Orcs
Bestial men, the feature that set them most apart from humans is their pig-like heads.  Their society is loosely clan-like, and their chief occupation is war.  Many bands of orcs roam the land as either bandits or mercenary units, depending on the state of peace in the area.  They are not usually found up north, and the west has had few if any encounters with them.

Ogres
So far the only thing I have played with is making ogres descendents of giants.

Gnolls
These hyena-headed men live in a very strict theological society, with their priests ruling in the name of their earthbound god.  Their society functions through the sweat of slaves, whose numbers are filled by raiding parties into the lands of other races.

So please let me know what you think, and if you have any of your own inspirations to add.

Last edited by islan (2011-10-09 06:30:27)