The Barbarian Class

Barbarian

Hit Dice: 1d6+2 (+3 hp per level after 9^th level.)

Armor: Light or Medium armor, shields.

Weapons: Any except crossbows.

Skills: Barbarians are skilled at feats of strength and endurance.  They are also skilled at survival, climbing, and swimming.

Restrictions

Superstitious: Barbarians mistrust overt displays of magic and sorcery.  When presented with displays of such magic they must succeed at a saving throw or be stunned for one round.  A barbarian character may overcome this restriction, but permanently loses 1d6 hit points.

Class Features

Dominate: Against creatures with one hit die or less, a barbarian makes one attack per level each round.

Powerful: Barbarians have advantage in feats of strength and endurance.

Rage: The barbarian can go berserk in combat, gaining a +2 bonus to hit and damage, but suffering a -2 penalty to his armor class.  This increases to +3/+3 at 5^th level and +4/+4 at 9^th level. For purposes of language and communication, the barbarian’s Intelligence score drops to 3. The barbarian’s rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to the barbarian’s level.  While in his rage, the barbarian focuses on his foes until they are dead.  He cannot use skills except for feats of strength, and no skills that take longer than a round. If his rage continues after his foes are gone, he will attack his nearest ally unless he makes a successful saving throw.

The barbarian’s rage can be reawakened or extended beyond its normal duration by making a successful saving throw each round.  Each successful save extends the rage by one round, incurs a cumulative -1 penalty on subsequent saves to continue, and lowers the barbarian’s Strength score by one point after the rage ends.  The Strength penalty disappears after 8 hours of rest.

Animal Reflexes: At 3^rd level, the barbarian gains advantage against surprise attacks and traps.

Cleave: When the barbarian drops an opponent to 0 or fewer hit points, he may make a second attack with the same weapon against a new foe that is within reach.

Tenacity:  At 7^th level the barbarian can continue to fight after losing all his hit points, so long as he is raging.  The barbarian ends when the rage does.

Youngblood: At 7^th level, a barbarian gains a 1^st-level barbarian henchman.  If the youngblood dies, another will replace him the next time the barbarian gains a level, depending on the circumstances surrounding the death of the previous youngblood(s).  Barbarians are not particularly put off by frequent deaths, but the death of a youngblood by sorcery or other foul means are viewed with distrust and may incur repercussions.

War band: At 9^th level the barbarian becomes a leader among his people, whether he likes it or not, and can summon a war band to accomplish a particular task or objective.  The exact number and makeup of the war band will depend on the goal to be accomplished.

Whirlwind: At 11^th level, while raging, the barbarian can make an attack at every creature he can reach without moving at his normal attack bonuses, but suffers a -4 penalty to armor class (instead of -2) while doing so.  The barbarian cannot chose to hit some creatures and not others. 

Steppe Nomad (Barbarian Variant)

Steppe nomads are members of migratory horse-riding cultures.  They are renowned for their skill in fighting from horseback.  Their traditional weapons are powerful short bows and curved sabres.

Skills: Steppe nomads have riding instead of swimming.

Saddleborn: Steppe nomads have advantage in riding instead of feats of strength.

Mounted Warrior: Steppe nomads lose the Rage class ability and gain the Mounted Warrior ability in its place.  The bonuses remain the same, but apply only when the steppe nomad is mounted.  There is no duration to this feature, and no penalty to Armor Class.

Cleave: This ability only functions when the character is mounted.

Whirlwind: This ability only functions when the character is mounted.  There is no penalty to Armor Class.

Zealot (Barbarian Variant)

Zealots are fanatical religious warriors.  They occupy the same place in cult hierarchies that paladins do in divine orders.

Skills: Zealots are skilled at religious lore and local lore instead of climbing and swimming.

Fervor: This ability is the same as rage.

Divine Aid: This ability replaces Animal Reflexes.  Once per day the zealot can cast cure light wounds upon himself.

(The terms advantage, knack, and skilled are defined on the Game Design page above.  The license for this entry is located in the Legal page above.)

On Classes: Martial classes

I'm a "iconic concept" sort of guy when it comes to class design.  Every class should express a core, iconic concept clearly and as simply as possible, and without infringing on other classes except by design.

At the moment, I've come up with four martial/warrior classes, with the potential for at least three more.  They all share the same save progression, to-hit chart, and hit points (yes, even the barbarian), but they do different things.

The fighter is the most generic.  She gets a weapon mastery bonus that slowly progresses as the character levels up; this bonus can be applied to one, two, or three weapon groups.  Concentrating on one weapon gives the highest bonus.  She also has strong defensive ability that can be used in place of an attack, and finally gains a second attack per round.  Fighters can also apply their Strength bonus to their to-hit chance, currently the only class that can do so.

Barbarians don't gain weapon mastery, but they do rage.  This gives a bonus equal or better than the fighter's, but has a limited duration and some potentially serious penalties as well.  Barbarians are also the best at slaughtering massed hordes of weaker creatures, with cleave and whirlwind of steel abilities.

Rangers are the implacable foe, and gain a bonus versus certain types of opponents.  The bonus and number of opponents increases at 5th and 9th level, both to reflect the ranger's increasing expertise and the likelihood of encountering certain creature types.  This bonus applies not only to attacks and damage, but saves and checks as well.  The creature types can easily be changed in different campaigns: evil or outlaw humans, monstrous humanoids, monstrous creatures, spellcasters, etc.

Paladins are the divine opponents of supernatural evil, and hew reasonably close to what's been done before.

Knights, soldiers, and swashbucklers aren't fully defined at the moment, but the concepts are visible.  If barbarians are the masters of brute combat, knights are the elite one-on-fighters of the battlefields, duking it out with the big bad boss monster.  Soldiers are tough, adaptable survivors - sturdy and reliable.  Swashbucklers emphasize dexterity and movement over force and stamina - the chief problem with this class is that it could be very similar to the fighter in execution.

The Illusionist Class

Illusionist

Prime Requisite: Intelligence.  An illusionist uses her full Intelligence score to determine languages known and adds her full Intelligence modifier to the number of skills known.

Hit Dice: 1d6 (+1 hp per level after 9^th level.)

Armor: None

Weapons: Dagger, Dart, Staff

Skills: An illusionist is skilled in feats of intelligence and perception; magical lore; legerdemain; and lying, smooth-talking, tale-telling, or yarn-spinning.

Class Features

Persistent Illusion: Any illusion the illusionist casts with a duration of “concentration” persists for a number of rounds equal to her level after she stops concentrating. 

Pierce the Veil: Illusionists have advantage on saves against illusions.

Face in the Crowd: At 3^rd level the illusionist can cause herself to appear so normal, mundane, and unexceptional that she blends into her surroundings.  All creatures in the area treat her as if she belonged there, effectively ignoring her.  Creatures that directly interact with the illusionist make a save to disbelieve the illusion, and mindless creatures are not affected by it.  The illusionist can do this for one minute per level per day, in increments of one minute.

The illusion does not turn her invisible or allow her to disguise herself as a specific individual or type of person.  She retains her general shape and appearance.

At 7^th level the illusionist can extend this ability to include any companions within 30’ of her.

Sense Deception: By 5^th level, an illusionist has developed a keen sense of what is real and true, and what is not.  She gains a knack for sensing illusions, lies, and trickery.  This knack does not necessarily indicate what is an illusion or what is a lie, merely the presence of one.  It does not replace a saving throw.

Mirror: At 9^th level, the illusionist can appear exactly as another individual of roughly the same body type, and no more than twice as tall or half as high.  The illusionist looks, feels, smells, and sounds just like the target creature.  The effect requires the illusionist to have a portion of the target creature (a hair, drop of blood, a tooth) or significant item ( a scepter or crown, an amulet, a personal weapon).  This item is incorporated into the illusion in its true form, and the effect ends if it is separated from the illusionist.

This effect does not confer any special knowledge or abilities on the illusionist, but the duplication is otherwise seamless.  Creatures that interact with the illusionist do not gain a save to disbelieve.  The illusionist’s actions, or lack of specific knowledge, can cast doubt on her identity, but her true identity cannot be discerned without magical aid.

Mirror lasts for one hour.  The illusionist can extend the duration beyond an hour by making a saving throw, with success indicating the effect lasts for another hour, and failure ending the effect. 

Permanent Illusion: At 11^th level the illusionist can cause one illusion to become permanent.  The caster can attempt to make as many permanent illusions as she wants, but doing so requires a saving throw for each additional permanent illusion.  A failed save means all the illusions end.

(The terms advantage, knack, and skilled are defined on the Game Design page above.  The license for this entry is located in the Legal page above.)

Update Monday: Changes to the Game

A quick summary of obvious changes from the base S&W ruleset:

Abilities:  I've toyed with changing Wisdom to "Spirit" and Charisma to "Presence", but have not done so here. 

• Strength gives a bonus to damage.  Only fighters (and maybe soldiers) get a to-hit bonus right now.
• Constitution gives a bonus to hit points.
• Dexterity gives a bonus to armor class.
• Intelligence gives bonus skills and languages.
• Wisdom gives a bonus to saves vs magic.  I think.
• Charisma gives a bonus to reaction checks and the number of henchmen and/or hirelings a character can have.

Ability Scores bonuses: 9-12 +0, 13-15 +1, 16-17 +2, 18 +3

Rolling Ability Scores: I'm going to try a hybrid approach.  Players will have a set of bonuses (+3 or +4) to distribute, and then will roll to determine their exact score within that range.  For instance, a player with a +0 modifier in Strength will roll a d6.  A roll of 1 means a score of 9, 2-3 means a score of 10, 4-5 means a score of 11, and 6 means a score of 12. 

Experience: I don't do it.  I do my best to balance the classes, and leave it at that.  There are so many experience schemes out there, use whatever one appeals to you.

Prime Requisite: So without XP, what does PR do?  Every character will have two Prime Requisites, one from class and one from race.  Characters get full modifier effects of their PRs, and a +1 in anything that qualifies for a bonus but isn't a Prime Requisite.  Yes, right now this means that PR only affects scores of 16 or higher.  I'm still working this out.

Example: Abilard the Dwarf (PR: Con) Thief (PR: Dex) has a 16 Con, 16 Dex, and 16 Strength.  (just go with it).  He gets a +2 bonus to hit points, a +2 bonus to AC, but only a +1 bonus to weapon damage.

Levels: I stop at 12th level.  Some high-level spells will be moved down.  If I do a 12+ level game, it'll move into divine territory and I'll figure it out then.

Advantage: Means a +2 bonus.

Knack: Succeeds on a roll of 16 or higher.

Skilled: Succeeds on a saving throw.

Skills: I'm winging them, more or less.

Feats of...: Catch-all category for bending bars, lifting gates, sundering doors, forced marches,starvation,   puzzles, and stuff like that.

Boons: Feats.

Recharging:  Some abilities will have a "recharge" feature.  This usually isn't a full recovery, it means the effect can be pushed for another round by making a save.  And another round after that with another save.  Exact details will depend on the ability.

Leshii (S&W Race-As-Class)

Note: The leshii classes (male & female) should be used in concert with, and not instead of, the racial abilities in the previous post.

CLASS FEATURES (Male Leshii)

Prime Requisite: Constitution, 13+ (5% experience.) Leshii men rely on durability and stamina to outlast their opponents
Hit Dice: 1d6+2 (+3 hp per level after 9th level.) Leshii men are hunters and brawlers, honed and hardened by their spartan lifestyle.
Armor: Light or medium armor and shields
Weapons: Any.
Class Skills: All leshii are skilled at moving silently and hiding in natural environments. Leshii men are skilled at breaking doors and feats of endurance.
Class Advantages: Their rugged nature gives leshii men advantage (a +2 bonus) on saving throws against poison and disease.

CLASS FEATURES (Female Leshii)

Prime Requisite: Charisma, 13+. Leshii women are naturally charming and skilled at reading others.
Hit Dice: 1d6 (+1 hp per level after 9th level.) Leshii women are adept spellcasters, not fighters.
Armor: Leshii women can wear light armor, but are not skilled with shields or heavier armor.
Weapons: Leshii women can use clubs, daggers, darts, and slings.
Class Skills: All leshii are skilled at moving silently and hiding in natural environments.
Class Advantages: Leshii women can cast spells as a magic-user, and are particularly skilled at enchantment and charms, gaining advantage (either a +2 bonus to a caster’s check, or a -2 penalty on a target’s saving throw) when casting these kinds of spells.

(The terms advantage, knack, and skilled are defined on the Game Design page above.  The license for this entry is located in the Legal page above.)

Leshii (S&W Player Race)

Leshii (Forest Hunters)

The leshii are a race of humanoid nature spirits seemingly hewn from wood.  Male leshii are six to seven feet tall, with nut-brown skin looped and whorled like the rings of a tree.  They are lean and muscular, with rough, craggy features and a crown of branch-like horns.  Leshii women are smaller, and their skin is pale and smooth, reminiscent of birch bark.  They have long gold or ebony tresses and delicate features.

In the Shadowend Setting, leshii are more common in the northern woodlands, notably the Gonenfall, Driathorn, Jarnwold, and the northern reaches of the Shadowend Forest.  They inhabit the deepest forests and woodlands, and are both predator and protector to the other creatures that live there.

Leshii society is attenuated at best; they live solitary, nomadic lives and avoid other leshii when possible.  Their lairs often center on a human or humanoid settlement, or follow the route of a nomadic tribe, who honor and propitiate their guardian spirit. Nature spirits like the leshii are similar to but distinct from fey, who are ultimately other-worldly creatures. The most powerful male leshii in a forest takes the title Druhtinaz, or warlord-king, but this is a title with little real power.

 Leshii are, first and foremost, primal spirits of the forest and the hunt.  Of the nonhuman races, they are the least human in manner, being guided solely by deep instinctual urges and their own whims.  They only faintly understand the concepts of empathy, laws, and civilized society in general.  Leshii are curious and inquisitive, but well-tempered with a predator’s caution and cunning.  They are patient and prefer contests of skill and wit to games of chance, and are adept at feigning weakness or passivity to lure an opponent in.  They are territorial and protective of anything they consider theirs, including adventuring companions.

Adventuring leshii are rare but not unknown.  Young leshii go abroad to find new forests or gain experience, while older leshii become bored, or simply never settle down.  They seek out companions to protect and watch over, and live itinerant, mercenary lives for as long as it amuses them.

Leshii do not use names among themselves, but adopt names given to them by other beings.  As such, their names vary.

RACIAL ABILITIES

Leshii have the following racial abilities:
Knacks: All leshii have a knack for tracking and forest survival.
Nightvision: They can see at night without penalty, but not underground.
Defenses: The tough, bark-like skin of leshii men gives them a +1 bonus to their Armor Class.
Advantages: Leshii women have advantage (a +2 bonus) whenever they need to make a check to influence another person; they can also create a fascination effect similar to a charm person spell.  The leshii must be visible and focused on the target, and the compulsion only lasts a minute.  They cannot fascinate the same person twice in a day, and any obvious threat to the target breaks the fascination.

(The terms advantage, knack, and skilled are defined on the Game Design page above.  The license for this entry is located in the Legal page above.)

Gnomes

This is a very, very rough overview of gnomes in my campaign. I wrote it for one of the perennial "gnomes have no identity" threads on EN World. There's a single sentence summary of changelings tucked in here; I've meant for them to be a player race for decades, but the concept didn't gel until recently. Suffice to say, changelings are pretty screwed up.

---

Here's a slightly more exhaustive rundown of gnomes in my campaign. I feel this presentation is true to the spirit of gnomes as presented in most of D&D, but have their own identity separate from elves, dwarves, and halflings.

Gnomes live in the wild border lands, in hills and moors and woodlands. They are highly valued by adventurers and other who sojourn into the wild places, for a gnomish village is often the closest and safest refuge to a dungeon or ruin. In the summer months most gnomes live in small family steadings, or warrens, scattered throughout their domain, and in the winter they gather in large winterhalls dug below the roots of the deep forest. The winterhalls are where gnomes keep their records, libraries, and schools, and the most accomplished gnomish spellcasters remain in residence here throughout the year.

Gnomes are independent, preferring their own rulers to those of other races, and both adaptable and militant when necessary, able to field short-bow and hand-axe wielding guerrilla fighters as well as companies of crossbowmen and pikemen. Their proficiency in digging and tunneling allows them to quickly seed a battlefield with pits, spikes, ditches, and ramparts, as well as sap fortifications and enemy emplacements.

They are clever, careful, and cunning, fond of puzzles, riddles, and esoteric lore. They consider themselves guardians of knowledge the other races have forgotten, and are driven by a sometimes almost pathological need to "know more". In a well-balanced gnome (and most are) this drive manifests itself as a constant curiosity and inquiry into the world, and is lightened by a childlike sense of levity and joy. They do not hoard the knowledge, but simply seek experience for its own sake. Gnomes who become bards or minstrels do so to travel and interact with people, and satisfy their curiosity that way.

It is not difficult, however, for a gnome to become consumed by their thirst for knowledge. This doesn't usually manifest as cackling, handwringing evil so much as a cold amorality; nothing matters except their obsession. Some, like the spriggan or fhmor, manifest this through greed or hoarding; others with intricate deceptions and manipulations. The svartneblin are among these; their cities contain illusions so deep not even they know what is real, and interaction between individuals is so rare and so clouded they kidnap human children to serve them and supplement their numbers, returning and abandoning them to the upper world when they reach adulthood, prematurely wizened and bent, with senses honed by years in a glamoured underworld, and utterly overwhelmed in the sunlight.

Metagame notes:

• I haven't used halflings in my campaigns for years, finding them unheroic and frankly rather boring. I'm reconsidering that decision, but halflings would be rebranded as domovii and described as something like "humanity's familiars", a quasi-fey race that lives in symbosis with humans. In any case, I see the similarities between halflings and gnomes as pretty much height and nothing else. 
• I find tinker gnomes grating. Really, really, grating. 
• Kender are twits. Gnomes aren't twits. They are curious, even recklessly curious, but they're not fearless, they're not stupid, and they have a plan. 
• Gnomes as fey is fine, and mine are mostly there, but it's not enough to just say that they are fey. What does that mean? How does "being fey" manifest? 
• I find it both amusing and depressing that so many people accuse gnomes of being weak imitations of elves and dwarves, as if not being copied from Middle-Earth somehow makes them less original.

Articles never written, circa 1996

In the past week I've finished grad school, had a minor medical procedure (totally routine), my daughter turned 6, and am desperately trying to find time to put up the Christmas tree which is living on our front porch. In a bucket. Tomorrow I drive 8-hours round-trip to pick up my Mom and bring her back here.

I will sleep so hard in January....

Anyways, back in ye goode olde days of TSR and AOL, we'd write up "articles" and post them in TSR's file library to share.  I wrote several, and outlined a rather ambitious series of articles.  Of the list below, from April, 1996, I actually wrote & released the Halfling Warden, the Githtorai, the Illithid, and the Wizard's Collections 1-3.

            Classes:

Assassin -- A revised assassin for the 2nd edition AD&D game...complete with kits: blooders, bone men, burkers, executioners, glassmen, hawks, quicks, and scrags!

Fili -- A master bard and true jack-of-all-trades, the fili combines warrior, wizard, thief, and druid into one (play-tested) character!

Halfling Warden -- A halfling "paladin"/defender, this file includes 16 (or so) new and rewritten priest spells for use by wardens, halfling clerics, and other priest characters.

Mage-Smith -- Part mage, part warrior, the mage-smith is an artificer and creator of the highest caliber, able to fashion magical items of nearly any sort.

Monk -- Life, beliefs, philosophy, and kits.

Races:

The Complete Book of Half-Humans: Half-elves, half-orcs, half-ogres, half-goblins, tieflings, aasimar, alu-fiends & cambions, half-fairys, half-dryads, half-satyrs, half-drow, half-aquatic elves, half-dwarves, and more.

The Githtorai -- The last race of the gith-kin, the enigmatic hunter-killers of the UnderDark...the only race less trustworthy than the drow...the githtorai (coming soon to a really nasty, despicable area near you).  [githtor.txt]

The Host of the Sidhe: Asgard, Vanaheim, & Jotunheim -- The races of aesir, jotunkin, and vanir in the realm of Faerie!  Details on relations between the vanir & the Fair Folk, the troldfolk & the jotun, and the aesir & fir bolgs.

The Host of the Sidhe: Dwarves & Gnomes -- Dwarves in Faerie; wood gnomes and stone gnomes; the gifts of Faerie.

The Host of the Sidhe: The Fair Folk -- The four races of Sìdhe: sidhe, gruagach, sithkin, and pooka.  Notes on Sidhe magic and the realm of Faerie.

The Host of the Sidhe: The Giantkin -- Fir bolgs and formors in Faerie, and other giantish races.

The Host of the Sidhe: The Outcasts -- Changelings, shadow elves, and humans in the realm of the Host.

The Host of the Sidhe: The Troldfolk -- Three new PC races: bridge trolls, trollborn, and trow; and a new troll "monster", stone trolls.

The Illithid -- One of the nastiest, most despciable, revolting villainous races can now be a PC!  Don't you just want to cheer? [illithi.txt]

            The Wizard's Collections:

Wizard's First Collection: Notes from Raliard the Mage -- A hodge-podge of thoughts and ideas from 5 years of DMing and 10 years goofing around with AD&D, Wizard's First Collection includes a revised reincarnation table, 3 new wizard kits, and details on a unique magical weapon. [wizcol1.txt]

Wizard's Second Collection: More Notes from Raliard the Mage -- Includes 3 new (and well-received) spells: Lesser Spellease, Dragonbond, & Spellease, revised experience table, and information on a new player character race, the wrowl. [wizcol2.txt]

Wizard's Third Collection: Notes from Tuernathen the Deceased -- The UnderDark edition in this fine series of stuff from my hard drive...thoughts on the magical radiation and special abilities; two new underdark PC races:mreen and tarikik; Gereint the Dark, his Holding, and pages from his Grimoire. [wizcol3.txt]

Wizard's Fourth Collection: Raliard's Chapbook  (chapbook: a small book containing ballads, poems, tales, or tracts.  Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary) -- Information on the Order of Seven, various characters from the True World, Campaign Notes, and perhaps a tale or two, and some other neat stuff.  (No poetry though.) [wizcol4.txt]

Wizard's Fifth Collection: Welan's Workbook -- Mage-smith kits, enchantments, and magical items.  Welan Artorius, an NPC mage-smith.  Moulder dwarves, a new player race.

Wizard's Sixth Collection: Observations of Raliard the Mage -- Revised Ranger and Druid classes.  Magical items, kits, & Campaign Notes.

Wizard's Seventh Collection: Notes on the NewLands -- Detailing the NewLands campaign setting, including history & culture; races & classes; and new kits.

Wizard's Ultimate Collection (One?) -- Wizard's Collection 1-4,  mage-smith & halfling warden classes, illithid & githtorai races (with S&P info).

Please Hold ... Someone Will Be With You Shortly

I'm about two weeks away from graduating with a MLA (masters in landscape architecture).  It's been a rather long road (and a long story that I'm not going to detail; suffice to say nothing dramatic happened - it's just long).

I'm also a very distracted person, and having two (or three) new followers makes me want to post something to entertain them, but I can't afford to take the time.  But it weighs on me.  So this is my compromise.  I'll tell myself I'm posting something real, but I'll just list a bunch of stuff I might write about later.  Feel free to leave a comment if something sounds particularly interesting, or you want to make a special request.

• Notable Priests of the Shadowend (the notable spellcasters post was really wizard-heavy).
• Magical Societies & Orders
• Non-Magical Societies & Orders
• Map sketches n' stuff
• New/expanded info on the Dalerain, Typhos, & the Envidier.  (explanation here: I see the campaign from a sort of "middle" viewpoint - neither ground level nor "creator deity".  The gods are a soap opera of characters, and their interactions often serve as catalysts and actors in campaigns I run.  So, I  like detailing them.  It's my thing.)
• more adventure hooks.  I've got this theory that everything ought to have an adventure hook or two.
• translate some stuff into Swords & Wizardry.  I had a brain surge a few nights ago and ended up scribbling down ideas for merging my nascent RPG-clone (everyone has one) back into S&W (where it started anyhow).
• Winter stuff.  Because it's winter.  And Joukahainen, the frost giant sorcerer scion of Cheneitha, is totally kick-ass, if I could just finish a decent write-up of him.
• Unearth some 2e stuff and post that.  And maybe update that to S&W, or downdate, or whatever.
• More geography.  Because I love geography.
• Some kind of riffing about what lies beyond the Shadowend.  Years ago I adopted the idea of putting all the cool stuff on the map where I would use it, rather than off the map where I wouldn't.  As a result, the areas beyond the map have actually become less detailed over time, as the Shadowend keeps dragging them down dark alleys and  taking their stuff.  But there are still ideas that don't fit on the map, and they lend some context to the Shadowend, which is really sort of a backwater.
• The Fallen.  Because I like them.  And because they're blatant ripoffs of Glen Cook's Taken.
• The Shimmering Plain.  Because I myself know nothing about it, and that fascinates me.
• More "monsters from the tome of horrors and where they live", except now I've got the ToH COMPLETE, so this project could go on for -years-.
• Races.  I always do troldfolk, because the writeup hasn't changed in about 12 years, and I think I did leshii, but firjotun and talvijotun and them-all could still use a moment in the sun.

Maps & Mapping

Periodically I redo my campaign map.  I'm never 100% satisfied with it, and I like to tweak it to reflect things I've discovered every few years.  These "discoveries" are usually things within the Shadowend itself that either are or aren't working for me.  The last iteration of the map, done back in 2007, featured a lot of little kinglets and principalities around the Greenwater.  Some of these work for me, some don't.  Dore, which is a rather significant part of that map, didn't exist in previous versions.  Dore definitely works.  Utgard, on the other hand, works, but does not work well.

If you haven't seen the map, click here.

One of the "meta-mapping" strategies I used was dividing the map into four quadrants - The Near North, Utgard, the Woodmarches, and the Hundred Kingdoms.  This gives me different zones of culture, society, and adventure-type.  I'm satisfied with that, but the exact nature of the zones hasn't gelled quite right.

So, eventually there will be a new map.  The biggest change will be in Utgard, which will flip from the eastern (right) side to the western (left).  The water will push towards the center of the map, particularly in the north. Dwarves and giants will be the powers there, with isolated settlements, wild forests, and many small hill and mountain outcroppings.  Gaidrilar will be the only significant human city in the region.  The feeling here is perpetual, untamed wilderness, with Scandinavian/Slavic flavor.

The Near North will remain much the same, except further east. I may try to open it up a little and give it more of an "open plains" feel, but it's a tricky balance.  I want to establish a clear wild border between Dore and Larenyss that can spawn real threats to the two realms, but still leave routes of travel between them.  Kaulderzhun and Coldstone will probably remain in the Near North, though there's a good argument for moving Coldstone with Utgard.  This is your "bastion against the orcish hordes" and "the last kingdom of the High Race of Man".  I will probably tweak Keldru and Kameurgard - possibly eliminating (for now) the former and making the latter more "viking" (more fjords!).

Larenyss is going to shift to a stronger north-south orientation and encompass the Greenwater Vale, making it the real core of the region.  Asavar is going to go away again, Guanes will revert to a barony or somesuch, ditto Kestrellar and probably Shalaen (which might just go away).  Roen's status is uncertain.  Arramor will remain as a foil to Larenyss.  The Grey Hills and Dwarfmoor will shrink - they take up just too damned much space right now.  The Glimmering/Glittering/Shimmering Plain is very much staying.  Ditto Everglass, which I've perpetually put off detailing out of fear of screwing it up.  Most of my campaigns have centered here, so there are more fiddly little bits to consider.  The conflict between the fey Queen Aliana and her successors is unresolved, and that needs to be reflected in the political landscape.  This is very much the area of the feudal Middle Ages and  fairy tales.

The Hundred Kingdoms is probably the biggest unresolved point.  It's meant to be a squabbling place of tiny, tiny little independent principalities, but it's not really exciting me at the moment.  It's also the link to the "outer world" and sees itself as the bastion of civilization, whatever that means, but civilization is not all that enthralling to me.  There is also a strong possibility that the "greater" civilization has pretty much fallen completely apart (whatever a post-apocalyptic medieval fantasy world looks like, that could be it), leaving the Hundred Kingdoms really and truly as one of the bastions of civilization.  This might partially be a matter of scale - one of the things I want in a new map is smaller mountains, and that would give me more delicacy in political boundaries.