Paridon Gazetteer

[Tobias Blackburn]

We do need to be careful about how many monsters we put into Paridon. Timor city fell from 30,000 people to 5,000 very quickly and if we populate it will killing monsters we'll suffer the same problem in Paridon.

The Doppelgangers may kill, but they also live the lives of those they kill, keeping the people from notcing much of a drop. They likely have to get permission before changing their personna. After all, they stayed unnoticed for a very long time.

I can see the inclusion of Jackelweres, vampyres and a small number of red widows. Those creatures live among the populace but keep their existance secret and don't have to kill to survive (except for the red widows). Then we also have the marikith. Too many monsters will decimate the population of Paridon just as fast (if not quicker) than Timor, where there were only the Doppelgangers (albiet more voracious ones) and the marikith to worry about.

[Jasper]

Paridon is much more sutable to human monsters. Serial killers, mad doctors, sadists, street gangs and the like.

Then again there is nothing saying the Doppelgangers couldn't take the form of monsters to scare the 'norms' away from sticking thier noses into Doppel buisness.

[Undead Cabbage]

Paridon is much more sutable to human monsters. Serial killers, mad doctors, sadists, street gangs and the like.

Then again there is nothing saying the Doppelgangers couldn't take the form of monsters to scare the 'norms' away from sticking thier noses into Doppel buisness. Smile

Hence why I was thinking it would be prudent to make a section in the appendix on Psychological Disorders. However, this is only if we have room for it.

We do need to be careful about how many monsters we put into Paridon. Timor city fell from 30,000 people to 5,000 very quickly and if we populate it will killing monsters we'll suffer the same problem in Paridon.

The Doppelgangers may kill, but they also live the lives of those they kill, keeping the people from notcing much of a drop. They likely have to get permission before changing their personna. After all, they stayed unnoticed for a very long time.

I can see the inclusion of Jackelweres, vampyres and a small number of red widows. Those creatures live among the populace but keep their existance secret and don't have to kill to survive (except for the red widows). Then we also have the marikith. Too many monsters will decimate the population of Paridon just as fast (if not quicker) than Timor, where there were only the Doppelgangers (albiet more voracious ones) and the marikith to worry about.

I agree that all Paridon monsters must have to live among humans, only striking when the authorities are not looking. Also, remember that the dopplegangers may want to protect the humans from other threats.

In a way, the human population is a crop to the Dopplegangers. A crop that needs to be defended from humanity's numerous enemies.

Well, host actually might be a better word than crop, as Dopplegangers are parasitic in nature. Either way, any monster that doesn't keep itself hidden would likely meet an 'accident'.

[Jester of the FoS]

Well, realisticly, every land in the Mists would be rapidly depopulated from all the were and undead. The only real deaths are the ones in adventures and individual stories/campaigns.

We don't need to list every monster, just set the stage for them and allow DMs to decide which to include and what the body count should be.

[Undead Cabbage]

Any creature in Paridon should have to compete for its life. Dopplegangers live in constant political turmoil, being elected leisurely positions one day, and then finding themselves replaced due to Sodo's paranoia the next. Humans live in a constant struggle for life, resources, and success. Everyone in Blackchapel will do anything for enough coins to live in the Bowels. Everyone in the Bowels strives hard to make a name for themselves to live in Shadewell. Shadewell businessmen constantly harp the nobles in King's Quarters for more rights, eventually seeking to over throw them (which they would have done by now, had it not been for their inability to trust each other and make a unified movement.).

Riverside square, due to its ideal location for business, constantly replaces its businesses and store owners. Stores pile ontop of stores in order to be part of 'the great market', and always prices are being chopped to try and bring down competition. The residents of Southshore district live in constant fear as many local human residents press to shrink or even abolish the ghetto.

Everything is Paridon is constantly battling and suspecting others of treachery; no one can be trusted. Everything is Paridon changes on a daily basis, and there is no stability in anyone's title, fame, lifestyle, food; you can lose everything you have in the blink of any eye if you're not extremly careful.

[Undead Cabbage]

Ok Tobias brought up that there are coal mines in Paridon (surprise, surprise, the canon material creates another head ache).

Where should they be? Maybe part of the Riverside factories?

[Tobias Blackburn]

Any creature in Paridon should have to compete for its life. Dopplegangers live in constant political turmoil, being elected leisurely positions one day, and then finding themselves replaced due to Sodo's paranoia the next. Humans live in a constant struggle for life, resources, and success. Everyone in Blackchapel will do anything for enough coins to live in the Bowels. Everyone in the Bowels strives hard to make a name for themselves to live in Shadewell. Shadewell businessmen constantly harp the nobles in King's Quarters for more rights, eventually seeking to over throw them (which they would have done by now, had it not been for their inability to trust each other and make a unified movement.).

Riverside square, due to its ideal location for business, constantly replaces its businesses and store owners. Stores pile ontop of stores in order to be part of 'the great market', and always prices are being chopped to try and bring down competition. The residents of Southshore district live in constant fear as many local human residents press to shrink or even abolish the ghetto.

Everything is Paridon is constantly battling and suspecting others of treachery; no one can be trusted. Everything is Paridon changes on a daily basis, and there is no stability in anyone's title, fame, lifestyle, food; you can lose everything you have in the blink of any eye if you're not extremly careful.

Something to keep in mind is that Doppelgangers do not all live political lives (at least, not among the population). They are broken into clans and each clan has claims over different hunting rights for positions in human society. The doppelgangers of lowly clans are stuck with the poor, uneducated workers, while the most powerful clan probably doesn't have a single "son" who isn't in a seat of power. Within the clans, the doppelgangers would vie for the right to take better positions in what the clan is allowed to hunt. So while Doppelgangers prefer to stay in positions of power, the majority are out among the rest of the human population, trying to please their elders until something better comes up.

[Undead Cabbage]

On this note, the Dopplegangers would probably have to watch out for each other as much as possible. I'm sure the lower doppleganger clans would do anything to upseat the higher ones. Any sign of weakess would be an opportunity for them to strike.

Homocide is a big thing for this realm. Humanity's greatest threat is other humans. Anyone on the streets can become your worst enemy if you happen to show your purse or look at them in the wrong way. Dopplegangers would have no problem seeing other dopplegangers fall in the ranks. Remember that Sodo became a Darklord by slaughtering the elder dopplegangers. In Paridon, your enemies can be anyone, anywhere, at any time, be they dopplegangers, petty thugs, ambitious businessmen, or serial killers.

[Undead Cabbage]

I had an idea for a game mechanic in Blackchapel.

Poverty and crime are absolutely rampant in this area. 2/3 of the population is crammed into 1/4 of the space. The number of houses in the area does not come close to meeting the number of people living there, let alone is there enough food, work, or water to supply for the population. This has left the locals in Blackchapel desperate for anything worth money.

Characters that are walking in Blackchapel with a certain value in gp of gear showing might suffer a percentile chance of being mugged every hour. Just some numbers off the top of my head:

Characters with at least 50gp worth of gear visible on their body suffer a 25% chance of being 'mugged' by 2d8 commoners every hour. Characters should still have to role powers checks if they kill them, as these commoners don't have any choice in what they are doing. This chance increases to 50% at night time, for obvious reasons.

Some other modifiers:

-10% if the character is obviously armed
+10% if character is obviously a foreigner
+5% for every 25gp worth of gear above 50gp
+10% if character is alone
+10% if character walks into an alley
-10% if character is in a group of three or more
+10% if character is female (I don't mean to be sexist, but in slums such as this they would be seen as vulnerable)
+10% if the character is dressed like an upperclass member of Paridon society
-10% if character is dressed like an lowerclass member
-30% if character is being escorted by the authorities

A hide check (DC 15+1 for every 25gp above 50gp) can be made to avoid this effect.

Thus meaning that if a foreign woman with 100gp worth of gold walks into an alleyway in Blackchapel at night alone, she suffers over a 100% chance of getting mugged, as there is no way this type of character would be safe in this section. Or, we might cap it at 90%, since there's always that chance of not being noticed.

Any ideas on this mechanic?

[Spiteful Crow]

Why should players have to make a power check if they kill them in self-defense?

Those muggers made their choice, and they should face the consequences.

[Jasper]

This gets me thinking, what would Paridons police force be like? Would you ever see them in Blachchappel?

[Undead Cabbage]

Why should players have to make a power check if they kill them in self-defense?

Those muggers made their choice, and they should face the consequences.

We're talking commoners here, like possibly even women and children trying to mug the players. The powers check would be because it's obviously apparent that they are making this attack out of pure necessity.

It's a gray area really. On one hand, the players are just defending themselves. However on the other hand, the players might take the option of subdueing, or even injuring them without killing them.

However, say the GM wanted to throw some members of a gang at the players, then there would be no powers checks for killing.

This gets me thinking, what would Paridons police force be like? Would you ever see them in Blachchappel?

Think Paridon's police force should be corrupt? An area like Blackchapel would harden any policemen. Most likely there would be police in the Blackchapel area nearest to the Riverside factories.

The idea was brought up of rooftop police to safeguard vegetable gardens in Shadewell and the Bowels. King's quarters would likely have its only personal guards. The Docks and Riverside would be very well guarded, as they are economically essential for Paridon. Don't know about southshore, probably concentrated more on stopping raids against the half-vistani.

[Spiteful Crow]

It's a gray area really. On one hand, the players are just defending themselves. However on the other hand, the players might take the option of subdueing, or even injuring them without killing them.

Should it depend on the tactics the muggers use it? Like, if the muggers are obviously aiming to subdue (armed with saps or blackjacks and dealing nonlethal damage), then killing them calls for a power check, but killing muggers who are a real danger to the player's life shouldn't require a power check.

[Undead Cabbage]

Should it depend on the tactics the muggers use it? Like, if the muggers are obviously aiming to subdue (armed with saps or blackjacks and dealing nonlethal damage), then killing them calls for a power check, but killing muggers who are a real danger to the player's life shouldn't require a power check.

This would also be a factor. As well, generally speaking the 2d8 commoners couldn't afford weapons. They'd probably try and use their fists, thus only dealing subduel damage.

If the players fought back with their fists, then there would be no powers check. However, if they decide to beat the snot out of the desperate, unarmed common folk with a war hammer or something, then its considered unfair tactics. Monk's would also have to voluntarily use subduel, as part of the path of the Monk is knowing when not to apply excessive force. The percentile for failure would be 1% for every commoner they killed. Failure would result in them reflecting the common urban bully, such as gaining bonuses to strength and such.

Of course, if they were instead mugged by several trained gangsters with knives, killing them is fair game.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Since Powers Check %tiles are purely a game-mechanic anyway, you might consider tying it to the EL of the encounter. If you're low-level enough, yourself, to receive an experience award from fighting that many poorly-armed commoners -- don't assume it'd always be bare fists BTW, even from the dregs of the poorest of the poor; thrown bricks and boards with nails in them are scroungable for free -- you don't have to make a check for defending yourself with all the force you can muster, because defeat was a genuine possibility. OTOH, if the encounter is too wussy to warrant an xp award for someone of your level, by the DMG charts, then you must make a Powers Check for using lethal force against desperate foes who, even if they really were trying their best to kill you, never actually stood a chance of succeeding.