CED Setting

Carceres et Dracones Setting

Carceres_et_Dracones

Rough text from Recruitment thread to edit up

General

As far as campaign flavor, I'm envisioning a definite Romano-Byzantine bent: for instance, decurions instead of serjeants, cataphracts instead of knights, etc. However, like any sword & sorcery millieu, my campaign world will certainly crib from a mishmash of sources including Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, the Successor States, various Persian dynasties, Eurasian steppe cultures, etc.

A detailed knowledge of Roman history is *not* required to play in the campaign. Much as "typical" D&D is very loosely based on Western Europe during the Middle Ages, my campaign world will be very loosely based on Rome. The period that I know the most about would be roughly late fourth century CE to roughly late sixth century CE (i.e., Adrianople through Justinian's reconquest of Ostrogothic Italy), so the prime influences aren't going to be from the period that most influences the Hollywood depiction of Rome (Late Republic to Marcus Aurelius).

I think I'll probably stick with demihumans, although I'm envisioning them as dwindling, largely forgotten races found mostly in odd corners of the world, underneath misty hills, etc.

Classes

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wheel-of-samsara.blogspot.com/2010/09/gedankenexperiment-recasting-bx-demi.html

• The Woodsman Class

The Woodsman class is a human class aimed at emulating outdoorsy, woodwise characters from fantasy fiction who do not use magic spells. Woodsmen might be barbarians, nomads, or savages, or they might be scouts, explorers, hunters, or trappers from more civilized cultures.

The Woodsman class uses the Dwarf XP chart and the Fighter saving throws.

The Woodsman uses the Fighter hit chart with ranged weapons and with normal swords. With all other weapons, the Woodsman uses the Cleric hit chart.

When wearing no armor up to leather armor, the Woodsman class has the following advantages:

• Only a 10% chance of being detected when hiding in woods or underbrush
• +1 to hit with ranged attacks

The Woodsman loses these advantages when wearing any armor more encumbring than leather.

The prime requisites of the Woodsman are STR and DEX. When one of these stats is 13+, the Woodsman gains +5% to earned XP. When both of these stats are 13+, the Woodsman gains a +10% to earned XP.

The Woodsman can also do "ranger stuff": the main mechanical effect of this is that parties moving through the wilderness do not need to find a "reliable guide" (see page X56) if accompanied by a Woodsman.

The Woodsman rolls d6 for hit points. However, at first level, the Woodsman rolls 2d6. Thereafter hit dice only increase by one (e.g.. 3d6 at 2nd level, 4d6 at third level). Like the Fighter, the Woodsman reaches name level at 9th level. Similiarly, at 10th level and subsequent levels, the Woodsman no longer gains additional hit dice but does gain 2 additional hit points.

Wow, this woodsman class sounds really intriguing. What cultures in this era would produce people like that?

1.) "Barbarian": I want to flesh things out as the campaign develops, so I don't have a list of cultures in mind. Barbarian characters can be based on real world "barbarians" such as Picts, Sarmatians, Saxons, Huns, Goths, etc., based on fictional barbarians such as Howardian Cimmerians or Howardian Picts, or based on a mishmash of real-world cultures or a mix of real-world barbarians and fantastic barbarians. My campaign millieu is not going to be so closely based on the real world that each historically appropriate barbarian culture will have a direct analogue in the campaign world. If you are inspired by historical "barbarian" cultures, be just that: inspired. Don't feel that you need to strive for historical accuracy, as this is, after all, a D&D game, and not set in an Earth, fantastic or otherwise.

2.) Civilized (scare quotes optional): Explorers and army scouts could well be of the Woodsman class. So could frontier troops trained in fighting barbarians. I am also envisioning the milieu as dystopian enough that large portions of civilized territory will have gone to seed, so peasants, farmers, and hunters may well have had enough opportunity stalking through forests and abandoned farmland to become woodwise.

3.) Civilized/barbarian: Barbarian federates settled in civilized territory, civilized slaves of barbarian masters habituated to savage life, and persons from frontier zones who don't fall neatly into one category or another. Isolated cultures dwelling within the boundaries of civilized lands (similiar to real-world Basques or Isaurians) would also produce large numbers of Woodsmen.

I'm also fine with terrain-specific reskinning of the Woodsman class, so that they get a bonus to hide in deserts or mountains instead of woods, if that fits better with anyone's character concept.