Partially inspired by Old Gods of Appalachia podcast, partially by Witchwood, and my thoughts around changing the feel of DnD 5e to encourage more RP.

The goal is a low magic feeling world themed around exploring the old magics and gods from the perspective of people who grew up on the edge of the Wood.

Episode 24 of OGA captures the feel I want pretty well. Episode 17 also captures some thematic aspects I'm embracing. Episode 29 also has some nice bits of feel I want around creatures of power.

The goal would be to mostly use DnD 5e rules, because they are simple and lack complexity, and reskin them to make them feel more thematic without having to do the work of writing a rules system.

Y'all grew up on the edge of The Wood as one of the Woodsfolk. The city folk had other names for The Wood, depending which of the cities they came from. The northern elven city called it the Wyldwood, and claimed most of it was owned by them owing to ancient claims of blood. The southern halfling city calls it the Deep Wood, and say they own it because of the treaty signed at the end of the Tallfolk war. In fact, each of the other races have a great city that claims the Wood with a different name and a different rational for the claim. And it seems like every decade or so one city or the other sends a force to try to enforce the claim. The woodsfolk know better than to argue with them, because none of them will be around for more than a few months. And while each of the great cities is the home of a given race, the woodsfolk are not so foolish to care about race; and realize family and neighbors mattered way more than an accident of parentage. And so when cityfolk came to lay claim, its best just to let them say what they say, and let The Wood take care of them.

Now as Woodsfolk, y'all know how to wander the edges of The Wood and when not to wander. There are places in the Wood that are very old, and some of them don't much like people. Y'all know to avoid being out at night during the full moon, or the new moon. Stay away from river when it has a red tinge, or a green one. If you see a circle of mushrooms, you know to grab iron and to stay well away from them, and to definitely not thank anyone you see nearby no matter how kind they are. And y'all know better to call out blasphemy of any god, as its known the Wood listens and the old gods can be quite wrathful and subtle.

Swapping to a more OOG summary: Magic exists in the world, but its mostly things you heard from legend. With that said, a lot of things have been lightly reskinned. For example, a wizard may be reskinned as an alchemist where his morning spell preparation involves preparing a bunch of vials and elixirs to allow a number of effects to be generated later that happen to basically be wizard spells. A paladin may be reskinned as less of a holy warrior and more of a motherly figure who knows the right way to sooth a harm; or sharp biting words to accompany an attack to make it hurt that much more. Its possible to serve powers (like cleric or warlock) but those may be a more fraught choice than in many campaigns.

The campaign is set in the outer edges of The Wood. The Wood is probably a couple thousand miles across. Its not generally thought of as possible to cross The Wood, and merchants talk about it taking more than a year to make a complete trip around the outside of the wood.

Names have power. Knowing a name can have power. As can Calling one. There's a reason all good parents Know that the best way to find a lost child is to Call their name, and somehow that child can be found in places where even the most diligent of bloodhounds had failed to turn up a scent.

Some folks, especially Elders and Grandmas and those inclined to be unnoticed, keep their names to themselves. A lot of the folk have use-names. Some think that part of where an Elder gets their power is from getting old enough that folks forget their Name.

Sometimes you are wandering and you find a spot, and sometimes you find a Place. Places can be Light or Dark, and have Stories. There are places that are so safe that even the rabbits don't feel the need to bolt. And there are places that aren't.

Most folks are living in the Wood. There are small clearings for gardens and a larger cleared area that is the town. There are some known Roads that lead to known places. Common wisdom is to not stop in the Wood for the night unless you have a known safe Place to camp. There are things that wander the woods, and travelers do sometimes just leave and never return.

• Basic Rules Races only (Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Human, Tiefling*, Aasimar*)
  • Dragonborn, Tiefling, Aasimar generally blend in and appear to be one of the other races - when choosing to play one choose your “cover” race
    • all look mostly like their cover race and generally only have one or two features distinct that reveal their true race
    • generally looked on very suspiciously if noticeable; and some races take the marks of these 3 races as signs of deals with evil entities and a plenty good reason to run a person out of town
    • please note that Tiefling & Aasimar likely come with limitations that may make them especially challenging and need DM approval
      • as it likely means one of your parents made an unwise decision that haunts their descendants
  • Long lived races don't mature any slower than humans; and generally only live twice as long humans at most
  • There has historically been conflicts by race, as well as Tall races vs Short races
  • Half-Elf & Half-Orc are both distinct races with a distinct racial identity
    • it is unusual to be one by having one parent who was an elf or orc.
    • most of the time the child matches one parent's race

Initially each class will have 1 or 2 advanced paths. Not all classes will be available initially.

• Classes not available: Artificer, Bard
• Classes not available initially, but possibly unlockable: Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer

Path available: Berserker, Beast

Path available: Battlemaster, Champion

Commonly referred to as Brawler

Path available: Drunken Master, Open Hand

Paladin renamed to Elder. Sometimes referred to as a Grandma.

• Lay on Hands
• Divine Smite → renamed “Scolding Word” - make a biting comment about your target to deal additional damage
• Spellcasting - largely reskinned as inspiring speech, though some involve preparing specific items. For example cure wounds spells are usually home made cookies or other snacks administered with an encouraging word.

Path available: Ancients, Devotion, Watcher

Ranger renamed to Greenman. Sometimes referred to as a Grandma.

Ranger spellcasting is RP'd as embracing knowledge from nature. Sometimes it involves using powders & potions & items collected from the Wood.

Path available: Hunter

Path available: Thief, Swashbuckler

Warlock renamed to Pact Bound

Most warlocks have made a pact with an old and dark creature; and most of these pacts are made at times when the warlock would have otherwise died.

Warlocks are among the few that open spellcast and generate things clearly magic. Though most attempt to keep from being known for doing so, as most folks are quite uncomfortable around magic.

Path Available: Undead, Undying

Wizard renamed to Trickster. Spells are largely replaced with various potions, powders, bombs, ungeants, and small devices.

Wizards are alchemists, sideshow stage magicians, tinkers, or scientists. Regardless they rely on preparation and appropriate props to generate effects that any rational person could clearly understand if only they knew how the tricks were done. Most wizards know that if their tricks became revealed, they would stop working and guard these secrets closely, relying on obscure ciphers to keep their tricks private.

• Spellbook is replaced with Formula Book
• Spell preparation is done as mixing & filling vials, preparing tools, or otherwise preparing for their chosen way of doing magic

Path available: Enchantment, Evocation, Necromancy

• Alarm - can be ritually cast to ward a campsite and make a camp that is not a Place, a Place temporarily. If cast daily for a year will become permanent. Additional augmentations to flavor the type of the place are possible. When ritually cast lasts until sunrise.
• Detect Evil and Good - can detect some types of places
• Detect Magic - can detect some types of places
• Goodberry - does not generate berries. Generates snacks as appropriate to the materials used in casting. Butterscotch candies are a popular material component.
• Magic Circle - can be augmented similarly to ritually cast protection from evil.
• Prayer of Healing - effect is doubled in an appropriate place
• Protection from Evil - can be ritually cast to ward a campsite and make a camp that is not a Place, a Place temporarily. If cast daily for a year will become permanent. Additional augmentations to flavor the type of the place are possible. When ritually cast lasts until sunrise.

• see also gm lore additional spell changes

• Standard point buy planned, but used Generous starting stat block - 18/16/14/12/10/8 ; can take races with 2 +1's and combine in to a single +2.
• Basic Rule Classes - note that subclasses are very restricted, but additional ones may unlock through player choices; and if they become available there may be options to swap to the newly unlocked subclass
• Start at 3rd level
• Multiclass generally disallowed without DM approval; but a reasonable backstory allows it. Story events may also open up specific multiclass options (*cough* warlock *cough*).

• Sessions
  • Ideas
• GM Lore
  • Locations
    • Teleport Circle

• 5e.24 rules changes

• Dave's Summaries Gdoc
• Dave's wiki - likely replacing the previous link