40 "important" questions answered about Generica.

Recently Scrap Princess on Google+ (who writes an incredible blog, Monster Manual Sewn From Pants, check it out!) wrote out a list of "important" questions that every DM should eventually be prepared to answer about their game world. Said list was inspired by a similar, but more straight forward, list of questions made by Jeff Rients.

Below are my answers to both. They've been mixed and mashed up together into one big list. You wanna parse them out, you gotta visit their original author's sites, which you should do anyway because they're cool people.

1. Is there weaponized squid?

Yeah. You can get them in the Jagged Bone Islands, along with dinosaur mounts. That place is straight up Monster Hunter.

This is where you gotta go.

2. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?

You can worship any deity you can come up with, though he/she/them may not be recognized by ordinary folks, who will lump them in with either the "old gods" or the "new gods", neither of which are thought well of.

3. Is there undead robots?

Zomborgs. They patrol the corrosion wastes of the Praxis Territories. They have rust monster powers and can only be killed using weapons made of Rowan and Ash in equal measure, or so the old coot dwarves say.

"Fused in unholy union of flesh and metal..."

4. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

Every town of a 100 souls or more must have an 'item shoppe', where most inventory items can be purchased. Smaller villages make due with travelling tinkers and caravans. The best place to buy supplies is the capitol city of Gran Remiel.

5. Where is the nearest dragon or monster with type H treasure?

In Remlia? The Ice Queen is a monstrous despot who has a tower in the northwest corner of the country, along the shore. The Ice Queen is dead. Her 'type H' treasure sits unguarded and unclaimed in her tower.

The queen is dead. Long live the queen.

6. Any legendary lost treasures I can be searching for?

The monarchy still offers a sizeable reward to anyone who can recover the lost crown of Ventrix Battlehammer, lost in a ruin deep within the Everwood. It is said to be a coronet with the eyeballs of seven grand medusa inlaid in its band instead of jewels.

7. What is the most significant tree to the economy of the starting place?

A large lemon tree, planted on the small island where Gran Remiel was founded. "...and to mark that sweet moment, our people planted this lemon tree. Lemons being the sweetest fruit available at the time".

8. How much money can I make inventing siege engines?

Innovations in siege warfare technology are greatly rewarded by the monarchy, as titans are becoming a growing threat to the country. Covenants known to reward such inventions are the Lady's Alliance, the Slime Riders, and Red Falcon.

9. Do icebergs walk across the land?

Not since the age of fire, but few venture far north enough to see the great ice flows anymore. They very well still might.

10. What do birds know?

Where the worms at.

11. Where can we go to get plate-mail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

Gran Remiel has the best smiths, though Glassbridge is a close second if you're out in the wilds.

12. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

In Remlia, Headmistress Von Palaque, archmage and elected leader of the Gran Remiel magic college. South of the border, there are seven evil high magister elves who rule the desert nation of Figaro. All of whom are more powerful.

13. Who is the greatest warrior in the land? 

Tavish Sang. Human warrior, ex-leader of the Remlian army, now the Red Hand of Tiamat. Tavish Sang was killed on the moon by adventurers. The cult of Tiamat has yet to find a new Red Hand. 

14. Does medicine work like it does here but no-one knows CPR or does it work like a cartoon so I cure amnesia with more head injuries or does it work like medieval euro people though it did with demons in your teeth?

When in doubt, cartoon rules apply. However, not everyone is aware of this. Especially not those who practice medicine.

15. I want to play a hobbit but really I'm the fleas controlling the hobbit. Where is that in the book?

So friend of the blog Natalie Bennett has applied a ruling that I like to use. "When making a character, you have to be able to explain it to me while keeping a straight face in order to be allowed to play it". This is known as the Bennett Rule. 

16. How much could I rent my body out to spirits before I lost control of my character?

A human body can hold up to 1d6 spirits at a time. Dwarves 1d4. Elves, tieflings, and other fancy fey races can hold up to 2d12. Half-orcs and halflings can only hold 2, which it's believed is because they have tiny minds. If you go over your allotted limit, the spirits drown out your original personality, and you cease to exist as a person.

Payment for a rented body is typically 6 soul gems a month. Double if the body is considered really hot. 

An abundance of ghosts.

17. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

Port Martel has a famed underground gameosphere, where pirates and lizardfolk do battle for the amusement of garish nobles. Its very Thunderdome.

18. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?

Zöströ is a secret cabal of nobles and trade concerns who aim to rid Remlia of its queen, end the divine Battlehammer line, and institute the dreaded practice known as democracy. They are frequently linked with the mercenary company Red Falcon.

19. What is there to eat around here?

Remlia produces a great deal of pigs (spherical) and cows (cube-shaped). Both of which produce cylindrical haunches of meat held around a single bone. This life restoring meat can also sometimes be found held within the broken walls of dungeons.

How food make.

20. What level do I have to get my character to before I am the GM?

I dunno. 10th level? If you've stuck around in this campaign that long, I don't see why not.

21. What is the dumbest thing I can spend my money on?

Debatable. Either the "100 pies for 100gp" special held by Myrtle's Fine Baked Goods and Supply in Gran Remiel, or a really expensive and stupid looking hat, probably.

22. How ugly can my guy be? Like Can I basically be a walking fish?

"Walking Fish" is a derogatory term used to describe dragonborn, which you can play. You can be as ugly as you like, provided you can roll with people reacting to you in kind.

23. Which way to the nearest tavern?

In Gran Remiel, down. 

24. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

Titans.

They are exactly how they look and sound.

25. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?

Remlia is currently at war with the southern nation of Figaro, where all the evil elves live. They're also technically still at war with the Dragonborn in the Praxis Territories to the north. Conflicts with the Ice Queen have ended since her death.

26. Is there reverse fire? If so, is there reverse water?

Not as of yet, but we have our top men working on it.

27. Can I invent an insect?

I dunno, can you? I'd probably say yes.

28. Which is the rome but with lava fire country in this world?

One of the city states of Figaro is that. It is ruled by the High Magister Fanfar, Master of Infrastructure. Hail Fanfar, lord of flame.

29. Who is the richest person in the land?

In Remlia, the princess-regent Penelope Battlehammer.

Elsewhere, High Magister Mindartis of Figaro, Master of Coin. Mindartis is dead, killed by a 'hold person' spell and a 1000 foot drop. Hail Fanfar, lord of flame.

30. Where can we go to get some magical healing?

The church of light allows all good aligned creatures into its halls to be healed...for a "small" donation of coin and blood.

31. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

Poison/Disease/Curse can be removed in any major church/temple, for a fee.

Lycanthropy/Polymorph/Undeath require older magics and remedies. Seek the druids of the Everwood.

Death can be reversed with a Reincarnation ritual. Raise Dead does not currently exist in Generica as it is currently written.

Alignment is not real. It is an invention of gods to hold mortal beings back. It does not exist.

32. Can my character not be real , but a hallucination of another character?

Yes. That said, if you want to play that, its on you to bring the bulk of the rules to the table for it.

33. What cultures approve of cannibalism?

Figaro elves, desert halflings, and the savages of the Eastern Badlands.

34. Can I start with weapon hands?

Catpeople and sometimes Golems start play with claws, which deal short sword damage. If you're playing a character whose hands got chopped off/replaced with/transformed into weapons, you can use it normally but take disadvantage to most charisma-based situations.

Also, you can't hold kittens/shake hands/masturbate with sword hands. So there's that. 

35. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

The magic college of Gran Remiel is the largest collection of non-elven magical knowledge in the country. You can often learn new spells there (plus get your degree in under three years!).

The only thing approximating a magic guild is the Remlian Mage's Union (local 667), which you need to be registered under before you can legally cast spells in the capitol.

Gran Remiel magic college and tower.

36. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?

Gran Remiel for highbrow, fancy experts. Port Martel for lowbrow 'street' experts.

37. Where can I hire mercenaries?

Mercenary companies that aren't evil are rare. It's much easier to buy a Pawn.

38. How does physics work in this world?

migelfutosi on Twitpic

You ever see an anime? It's like that most of the time.

39. The lamp oil? Is that like cooking oil, kerosene, white spirits or napalm?

Kerosene. You can chuck a lamp at an enemy and it'll do the same damage as a flask of oil + torch. You'll ruin your lamp though.

40. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?

• Gran Remiel: Magic is regulated but the bureaucracy that enforces it is bloated and ineffectual.
• Port Martel: Magic is outlawed and is punishable with excruciating death.
• Greenest: This halfling town has banned piercing/slashing weapons. People staying in town must have their weaponry peace-bonded in clinging-gel.
• Fort Woodsummit: Any/all able bodied women and men can be conscripted into military service in the event of a Dragonborn attack. Refusal is considered treason, punishable by death.