I am going to be posting a lot about a new campaign I am running that i have dubbed Cloud 9. the party will all be starting as humans from the village of Ghacia on a high plateau above the problems of the world. the low landers view these high villages as paradise. and in a way it is, the small community is highly efficient and because the players characters have not started to display powers that could make them of use to the village they are being sent on a quest to re-establish contact with the outside world.

Meanwhile the Villains of the game are well established overlords one bent on world domination and the other on bringing about the Apocalypse. there is a prophecy of 4 heroes who leave home without powers but gain great power and save the world from tyranny and destruction. both villains will also be PCs. the players playing the villans will start at level 10 and can be of any humanoid race in my game within reason

im using the iron heroes book for character gen with the exeption of the racial powers everything gets, and the varied powers humans gain.

High Humans: the humans of this world are a little more bad ass then humans tend to be in other systems, men range from 6 foot 6 to 8 feet on average, these small villages train their children martially from the days they can walk, and the children with the gift are trained in magic. They are far more rare within the world, only living on the tops of the plateaus. the main thing of note is that humans are the only race with varying racial powers every human tends to have a power of some kind. and your power can be improved through feats. upon character gen pick a power you want that goes with your character concept. purely combat powers will not be that potent. but other useful powers that have less bearing on combat are cool. for example if you wanted a power that lets you put things/take things from an extra dimensional space that would probably be a standard or move action to do initially but with a feat id let you do it as a free action once a round, and with a second feat id let you do it a few times a round, so you could have a character that switches combat styles instantly or who leaves his weapon(s) in an opponent to make it harder for them to move. but even without the feat he could be in rags then suddenly equip himself with sword, shield, and full plate in a round from seemingly out of no where. or he could take different feats to try and remove an item of equipment from an opponent.

Grimlings: Grimlings are the goblins of this world, they are everywhere and there is always a band of them bugging a village. they have a tough rocky carapace around their main body and along their spine and tail. they would be considered demonic if people believed in an underworld. they can do a short distance teleport as a move action 10feet+5 feet per hit die. and have 1 recall spot per hit die. so often they run in grab some food or something then all recall to there settlement. so they are less likely to stand an fight then your standard goblinoid but also much harder to actually kill. there is a puff of smoke every time they teleport. a puff can transport a thought from one to another, so they teleport past each other to communicate sometimes, or they can communicate instantly in large enough clouds of the stuff and it does not actually impair their vision as it does to other races.

Eagles: every animal has a power in the world too, but in the case of eagles and the other big birds of prey they also have human or greater intelligence. the racial powers of eagles are long distance sight and hearing and they can boost there fly speed right before they strike in a very flashy manner. though no where near as dangerous as a dragon they rule the skies with numbers and intelligence

Emperor Wasps: generally humanoid wasps about the size of a grimling. they also have an "ant" form which is about the bulk of a human although shorter still. and they have combat forms where they lose there hands but gain more natural weapons. they have another power that lets them control lesser insects and store them in there hive like abdomen. they do not form large communities due to their need to control other insects.

more on history later when my home computer decides to work again
more races also to come

history(at least as your character knows it)
the world reached a great age of magic, mighty humans ruled the world and battled its evils. Then mans greatest challenge appeared, the arrival of the beast, prophets and wizards tracked its approach and saw that its arrival would shatter the world and that it would not stop until the world as they knew it was gone. they turned the great beast to stone and stopped its arrival but the clash was enough to shatter the very energy of magic and distort the landscape of the world. this scattered a civilization dependent on magic for its greatest works. over the passing ages new races emerged to fight for supremacy. your people are high above the problems of the world below,situated on the southern end of a high plateau. your people are very efficient and all contribute to the village. you have been trained in a profession or craft your whole life, as well as in a style of combat. what you lack is something special that sets you apart and makes you invaluable to the village. You know its because you don't have a power yet. the old lady in the store can make plants grow faster, so your people can grow any crop in weeks not months. the blacksmith can breathe fire into his blades as hes forging or in combat. you know the elders are somehow responsible for holding back the monsters living in the cave systems of the plateau. but as of yet none of you have displayed a gift so you must prove you can serve the village in some other way, you are to make contact with other villages and see if you can find out why no traders have been seen since you were kids. The Great bird in the moon looks down onto the start of a journey. Smoke began to pour out of the caves to the east of your village


after or during players character gen, decide whether your a good boy who just has not developed powers or whether you hid them so you could get a chance to leave

the rest of the races:

Low humans: the humans of the low world are smaller then the villagers of the players town, and are more given to excess, becoming fat, or greedy, prideful, lustful and generally un-utilitarian. the people of cloud 9 know none of this, but the peoples of the high villages are seen as almost mythological to the low-landers. Besides the size difference the tend to be similar to the high land humans, everyone having a unique power, but less cultural emphasis on perfecting its usage. and more dense populations.

Auran: the Auran look like a cross between an eagle and a man, the have pure white wings and plumage, arms with more human hands, and large clawed feet. feathers cover their legs, back and wings, darker feathers cover the back of the head almost looking like hair, the rest of their bodies is pale skin. in size the are a bit smaller than lowland humans. but their enormous wings make them seem bigger, when fully opened they have about a 20 foot wingspan for a 5 foot 5 Auran. even then the bones in their bodies are too heavy for them to be able to more than leaps and glides, only with surgical modification are they capable of sustained flight. Aurans have power over electricity, they can generate a small electrical current, flights of Auran are thought to be the cause of lightning.


Shadaemon: these creatures look similar to grimling but are the largest of the humanoid races, they are also usually the most docile. most live a symbiotic relationship with Auran. Shadaemon have power over metal, the are the best miners of any race, and they can shape metal like clay, using this ability they create the implants that allow the Auran to fly properly and the Auran provide electricity while they sleep to power the machines of the Shadaemon. as a result the homes in symbiotic cities tend to have electrical lights and other marvels.


4 players will have to be high humans, 1 other player can be of any of the 6 humanoids, and so can the villain(s)

link for the book, http://rapidshare.com/files/59733463/Iron_Heroes.pdf

cloud 9 never got off the ground, but i will keep it on back burner.