The World of Starvania, Part Two

We're presenting a campaign setting over a few posts here at the blog. You can see the first one here.

THE WORLD OF STARVANIA: CHARACTER CREATION

Design & Editing: Steve Miller & L.L. Hundal

Artwork: Frank Godwin

This post covers the first steps in creating a Starvanian player character. As with most of our posts in these parts, this is geared toward d20 System games. The material here modifies and generally takes the place of the character creation methods featured in the rules system you are using. If something isn't addressed here, assume that whatever is printed in the character generation section of the main rules still holds.

  There are portions of this character generation method that are not usually randomized in d20 System games. DMs can allow players to review the Character Creation section and pick what the race and other traits they want their character to have. Given the ever-increasing obsession with issues of racial equality and representation and so on in non-existent places and imaginary among gamers, we included this random mechanic to underscore our viewpoint that a person's genetics/race is a completely random factor in how he or she turn out as a human being. Whether someone is a good person or a scumbag, a hero or a coward, has jack-all to do with "race" and everything to do with a person's character and the culture within which they were raised. (And even with culture, people are not slaves to their background.)

STEP ONE: Generate Ability Scores
Roll 4d6, ignoring the lowest die, six times. The result is six totals ranging from 3 to 18, and these are ultimately assigned as a character's attribute score (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) as the player chooses. For now, they should just be noted and set aside. We'll come back to them later.

STEP TWO: Determine the Character's Race

There are four Human races/subtypes in Starvania. Each has a mechanical bonus and penalty. Players roll randomly against the following table to determine their race. (There's a small chance that the player may roll Elf, Dwarf, or Witchkind. If those are not used in your campaign, the player should reroll.)

   We encourage players to use these random tables, but it's just as legitimate for GMs to allow players to simply pick the race (and attendant attribute modifiers) that reflect the character they want to play.

Table One: Player Character Races
1d100 Result       Player Character Race

001-030              Moronican. +2 Charisma, -1 Dexterity.

                           (See "Moronican Characters" below for more information.)

031-060              Salvian. +2 Strength, -1 Wisdom.

                           (See "Salvian Characters" below for additional information.)

061-070              Sketish. +2 Intelligence, -1 Charisma.

                           (See "Sketish Characters" below for additional information.)

071-085              Woovian. +2 Wisdom, -1 Strength.

                           (See "Sketish Characters" below for additional information.) 

086-093              Mixed. Roll on the "Table Two: Mixed Ancestry".)

094-095              Amazon (See Amazonian Characters" below for additional information.)

096-097              Elf. (See "Elf Characters" below for additional information.)
                           (If race not in use, roll on "Table Two: Mixed Ancestry.")
098-099              Dwarf. (See Dwarf Characters below for additional information.) 
                           (If race not in use, roll on "Table Two: Mixed Ancestry.")
100                    Witchkind. (If race not in use, roll on "Mixed Ancestry Table.")

Table Two: Mixed Ancestry

1d100 Results      Player Character Race

001-045               Moronican/Salvian. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma.
                            (001-050: See "Moronican Characters" for more
                             information; 051-100: See "Salvian Characters" for more
                             information.)
046-055               Moronican/Sketish. +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma.
                            (001-050: See "Moronican Characters" for more
                              information; 051-100: See "Sketish Characters" for more
                              information.)
056-070               Moronican/Woovian. +1 Charisma, +1 Wisdom.
                            (001-050: See "Moronican Characters" for more
                              information; 051-100: See "Woovian Characters" for more
                              information.)

071-080               Salvian/Sketish. +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence.

                            (001-050: See "Salvian Characters for more information.)

                             051-100: See "Sketish Characters" for more information.)

081-090               Salvian/Woovian. +1 Strength, +1 Wisdom.

                            (001-050: See "Salvian Characters" for more information;

                             051-100: See "Woovian Characters" for more information.)

091-095               Sketish/Woovian. +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom.

                            (001-050: See "Sketish Characters" for more information;

                             051-100: See "Woovian Characters" for more information.)
096-097              Multi-Racial. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom.
                           (001-050: See "Salvian Characters" for more information;
                            051-100: See "Woovian Characters" for more information.)
098-099              Multi-Racial. +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma.
                           (001-050: See "Moronican Characters" for more information;
                            051-100: See "Sketish Characters" for more information.)
100                     Multi-Racial. No race-based attribute modifiers.
                           (001-025: See "Moronican Characters" for more information;
                            026-050: See "Salvian Characters" for more information;
                            051-75: See "Sketish Characters" for more information;

                            076-100: See "Woovian Characters" for more information.)

STEP THREE: Apply Ability Score Modifiers
Apply the appropriate adjustments to the attributes generated in Step One. Record them on the character sheet.

STEP FOUR: Determine the Character's Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Like race, a person's sex is a random quirk of Fate. Like the tables for race, we provide them here for players to randomly generate their characters' sex and gender.
    Players roll 1d10 against the following tables. While we encourage their use, GMs may allow players to just decide what their characters sex and gender is. Finally, if GM and players don't want to deal with things like genders and sexual preference, they can just stop at determining the character's 

Table Three: What is the Character's Sex?
1d10 Result    Sex
1-5.                 Female
6-10.               Male

Table Five: What is the Character's Gender?
1d10 Result    Gender
1-4.                 Female
5-6.                 Fluid (The player can choose/switch the character's gender
                       during any relevant situation.)
7-10.               Male

Table Six: What Does the Character Present As?
1d10 Result    Apparent Gender
1.4.                Female
5-6.                Fluid. (The character is equally comfortable in the
                      dress and roles of either gender.)
7-10.              Male

Table Seven: What is the Character's Sexual Preference?
1d10 Result   Sexual Preference
1-6.                You prefer relations with the sex opposite your own.
7.                    Bi-sexual, with leanings toward the sex opposite
                       your own.
8.                    Bi-sexual, with leanings toward the sex same as your
                       own.
9.                    Bi-sexual, with no particular preference whatsoever.
10.                  You prefer relations with the sex same as your own.

Next Up: The Character Creation Rules Continue
(Coming Soon...)

The World of Starvania, Part One

Welcome to a new post series/project. How long it will be, or if it will ever be completed is anyone's guest. No one can be sure how often posts will show up, either. It's being started on the spur of the moment, and despite the fact that time could be spent on more serious projects.

This first post is just going to be a little background on the setting. The second post will be some player character generation rules with additional setting information. The third post will be more character generation rules, with more setting information. (If this gets that far...)

And now... we bring you The World of Starvania!

THE WORLD OF STARVANIA: A CAMPAIGN SETTING

Design and Editing: Steve Miller

Based on "Starvania" by Felix Adler & Clyde Bruckman

A BRIEF HISTORY OF STARVANIA
In the beginning, the land of Starvania was ruled by cruel, alien gods from the Stars, foremost among them being Yog-Sogoth. Then a band of heroes banished those dark entities and the Age of Man dawned.
   For countless millennia, the peoples of Starvania warred against each other, building up and tearing down civilizations and generally rampaging back and forth across the landscape to prove who was superior and who deserved to rule others. The wars were on racial, ethnic, or national lines--and often a mixture or all three at the same time. The biggest animosity existed between the Salvians and the Moronicans, the two most populous races in Starvania. The less numerous Woovians and Skets could try to keep their heads down, or join with one side or the other... whatever they needed to do to keep what little life and liberty they could hang onto.

   Then, 654 years ago, the mighty bard-king Froot deLoom of Moronica succeeded in his life-long quest to unite all the peoples of Starvania in a shared love of beer-battered fish-sticks and accordion music. By the time King Froot passed the reins of power onto his eldest daughter, Loup, these cultural touchstones had become the foundation of a golden age of peace and prosperity.  

   This union of once-warring nations eventually came to be loosely governed by an elected parliament led a mostly ceremonial prime minister who, by law and tradition, had to be the current reigning monarch of  Moronica. Under the banner of Starvania, the people lived and worshiped and worked and played, in peace and equality, side by side. Nonetheless, discontent bubbled below the surface in some parts of the union. 

   For centuries, the citizens of the Isle of Cork and Great Mittens had resented Moronicans in general, but specifically those from the states of Moronica and Cast Toria. The islands had been settled by Salvians fleeing Moronican oppression two thousand years ago, but the waters around them had always been controlled by the Moronicans; the islanders have, ironically, never been great ship-builders but they have always excelled at sinking them. 

   Mainland Salvians felt great solidarity with their island-dwelling cousins. They had long insisted that control of the Corkscrew Straights and the Hot Sea, as well as all ports and harbors on the coasts, be surrendered to their exclusive controls. With the exception of some merchants and industrialists, and a minority of islanders who felt Salvians were superior in all ways to other Starvanians, the islanders in general didn't care terribly that the ports were controlled by Moronicans. But, this majority usually just let the radicals rant and rave, because nothing would come of their antics because no sensible person would listen to them. 

But five years ago, the Salvian Unity Party weaponized the simmering resentment in the loud minority and their allies elsewhere in Starvania. Using the rationale that the Moronicans had for too long denied the Salvians their birthrights of controlling Starvanian seas and harbors, they orchestrated a coup and overthrew King Herman of Moronica. A charismatic, but dimwitted, army corporal-turned-interior decorator named Moe Heilstone was named Grand Leader of Starvania, and any members of parliament and local governments that didn't swear allegiance to him specifically were at best hounded from office but more often than not imprisoned.

   Unsurprisingly, the people of Starvania tried to fight back against the overthrow of their government and the 600-year peace came to an end; even the Salvian-majority state of Bulge-Area . Also unsurprisingly, since the Salvians, both islanders and mainlanders, have long made up the majority of Starvanian armed forces, the rebellious states were swiftly subdued (but often with a great cost of life and property). Surprisingly, especially to Heilstone and his loyal supporters, the citizens of Great Mittens and the Isle of Cork did not accept him as their Grand Leader, but instead sent a steady stream of insults his way, declared themselves the home of the true Starvania and set up a Parliament-in-Exile with King Herman's youngest daughter, Princess Maddie as its ceremonial prime minister. 

By Jamie Patterson

CURRENT DAY STARVANIA

Grand Leader Heilstone rules mainland Starvania with an iron fist, ensconced in his palace where the states of Moronica, Jug o' Salvia, and Staywayoff share borders. His troops and paramilitary forces are everywhere, and his secret police and informants lurk among the population, looking for anyone who might express even the slightest negative views of him and his government; when found, such people are swiftly arrested and anyone who failed to report their treasonous thoughts risks the same fate. King Herman and his family (aside from Princess Maddie) remain under house arrest in their ancenstral castle, high on the cliffs above the Lake of Loons in Moronica.

   All across Starvania, groups of rebels fight either against Heilstone's secret police, his army, or foreign troops who have been sent to the region from distant lands with whom the dictator has made alliances. Some even find themselves fighting threats from other worlds, because mystics and cultists on both sides of the the battle for Starvania's future have been setting about harnessing the power of the ancient gods that once held sway over the lands, hoping to use it to destroy their foes. So far, all anyone has managed to do is unleash demons upon the land, turn the population of villagers into zombies, and attract the attention of outside threats that hadn't been present in Starvania for 1,000 years. 

   Great Mittens and the Isle of Cork has so far been able to repel all attempts to force them to join Heilstone's Starvania. Although they have been joined in their by powerful allies--including a rumored ancient dragon--it is unclear how long they will be able to hold out. So far, they have resisted the temptation to seek power from the Elder Gods, but the calls to do so are getting louder...

   Things are growing evermore bleak in Starvania. The people's suffering grows greater with each passing day. Now is the time for heroes....

Next Up: Some Rules for Creating Starvanian Player Characters!

(Coming Soon)