#omnia trivia

[recordsofelysia]

This is basically Path of the Arrow:

Which I may as well present in full. It's a hilariously cool concept I think, and while none of the class features themselves do anything crazy, just the playstyle that they facilitate (basically a brawling archer) is extremely cool, and I'd honestly love to give it a try myself.

[recordsofelysia]

With some of the concepts I have for the Nohria factions and their boons, there is a lot of potential for self-destructive behaviour in order to gain power... oh if Phuzz were to get his hands on any of that

[recordsofelysia]

Fun campaign behind-the-scenes:

The first encounter with Mira was always intended to take place within the keep itself.

She would’ve ambushed Baldringr within his quarters, or the bar, and it would’ve been a really unfavourable 1v1 until the rest of the party gradually arrived on the scene.

I would have had a system where each party member would bring up to 2 guards with them, and they would have been torn to pieces by Mira.

The party deciding to completely vacate and go to The Garden meant I had a case of “right, it’s now or never ig” having Mira ambush the campsite instead. So really, the party has averted severe casualties to the Unkindness.

Her ambush could’ve occurred at any point over the course of the last 4 or 5 sessions, but it never felt appropriate or an opportune time.

[recordsofelysia]

Temple of Mila Layout

ouuuggghhhh there's so much to go over and unpack, I feel like I didn't even hit everything, but for now here is the layout of the Temple of Mila upon Deathblossom:

The cistern is not pictured upon the map, but is directly beneath the main entrance and of similar size.

Because of the... chaos, and increasing time pressure, I largely handwaved the top-right section of the lower level, but there wasn't really anything of detail or interest there anyways, genuinely.

I was quite pleased with making a cyclical dungeon that looped back on itself continuously, even if it did make for some navigation headaches

[recordsofelysia]

If you want a good idea of what Vetrheim military music sounds like, No Justice (Fire) from Fire Emblem Fates pretty much nails it, I would absolutely be using that track for combats set in Nohria when we get round to it

[recordsofelysia]

Anathaema update, and a smidge of Black Flame lore

To go along with my update to Camilla, I decided to redo her opposition that she should totally just kiss, Lady Anathaema. She didn't undergo much of any design changes, but the ceremonial blade lands a definite place in her design.

To coincide, I thought I'd lay down a little more info about the Black Flame itself, since I can't recall exactly how much I've explained about it. It is the object of Anathaema's worship, and what the Lanterns have been built around, wielding it themselves for their own designs.

The flame itself differs from ordinary fire in that rather than emitting light, it consumes it, and not only that, but it can reduce almost any other material to nothing but ash and smoke. I like portraying it as basically monochrome, so even with the name it may very well display shades of grey.

As for its source, I of course can't divulge that here and now, but it is unknown to basically everyone, save very few. What I can say is that Black Flame is connected to different forces than those of the Nocturnal Storms, and the darkness that chokes all of Nohria. Multiple flavours of darkness and evil are making a fucked smoothie out of Nohria.

It is also greatly inspired by the recurring imagery employed in fromsoft games, such as the dark pyromancies in the souls series, and the godskin incantations of elden ring. Black fire is just fucking cool.

[recordsofelysia]

I counted it out for some wiki trivia, and there have been a total of 6 player character deaths across Omnia campaigns (with one getting revived)

I am responsible for 3 of them (Otto, Phuzz, and Eyra), Dawson is responsible for the other 3 (all his own characters)

[recordsofelysia]

Within the drought, I’m always rocking around ideas for D&D sessions and campaigns, and I’ve honed in on a couple ideas:

- there is of course, the white whale of a full Nohria campaign, a very open-ended, open world that mainly revolves around the characters trying to survive it

- I also have an idea for a mini-campaign set in Nohria that basically involves trying to beat a single mega-dungeon, and it’s the kind of thing I’m up for making very deadly, and have it be around learning, strategising, and ultimately mastering the dungeon

- Lastly, and more out of left field, is an idea for a return to an area I have run before for different people, that being Twistwood Gulch, which would be a very wilderness-themed, a little Southern Gothic, Appalachia style campaign of monsters and weird folk, like it sounds utterly bizarre but imagine something inbetween Monster Hunter and Gravity Falls. An insane sentence I never thought I’d utter.

So yeah, that’s what continues to rattle around the ol’ noggin, we’ll see where we end up, and of course there’s that island of doom we still need to conquer (or be consumed by)