[Uod] What the heck is Uod?

[widderslainte]

Uod is my homebrew campaign world, that's been in stops and startsfor over a decade. Stacks of notebooks and stray thoughts are slowly being pieced together and place online.

It's not hardcore western medieval. That's certainly there but I've tried to mix in some elements from Asian, Arabic, other cultures. If I had an artist to draw for me, it would be a little easier to demonstrate.

The style of culture and technological achievements vary from region to region. Airships and clockwork mechanics exist in the south, but only are accessible to the wealthy and powerful. There are some flintlock/black powder firearms - pistols, cannons, and arquebus, but and slow, dangerous, and unreliable. Slavery (from debt, crime, or war) is legal in many areas, and serfs bound to land holdings are common.

I wouldn't call it high or low magic. I'd say it 'looks' low magic. No refilling beer pitchers, magic shops, or continual light streetlamps. But there's plenty of magic around - you just have to know where to look.

 

[widderslainte]

One of the primary goals in my design was to come up with meaningful human cultures. I went to college and grad school studying Anthropology and Archaeology. You'll find no elves, dwarves, or hobbits. Yeah, I suppose there are 'elves' out in the deep forests, but they're Orlando Blood pretty boys. There are a few non-human races out there, but most are pretty isolated an not intended for PC use yet. Two of the others nogs and goblins are integrated into human culture.

Another aspect I'm looking to explore is magic and religion. As I work on rule expansions, I'll be dropping the division (formally) between Arcane and Divine magic. I'm be making more use of rituals, shamanism, alchemy, and some other strange stuff.

Hopefully someone will find this of interest. There's a lot more on my yahoo list, link below.