Introducing the Five Peoples

The premise of Deep Rock is that it is based around a city inhabited by the 'small races'.

Few details are known about the 'exodus' but soon after the opening of the 'The Great Tear', and the following cataclysm, the Five Peoples agreed to band together and made their way deeper into the earth where it was safe and they would carve out their great city of Deep Rock.



The Dwarves-Stout and strong, the Dwarves were peerless stone workers and had lived under the earth for centuries. It is no surprise that they were essential in the founding of the great city nation. Today the dwarven clans are responsible for the vast majority of mining in Deep Rock. Dwarves are also the most numerous among the ranks of the city watch and militia. Dwarves are also known as being very pious and many Dwarves are among the most devout worshippers of the Ancestors.



The Gnomes-The Gnomes are not natural underworld dwellers, but they soon adapted out of necessity. Cut off from their fey home due to whatever cursed powers were invoked to create the 'Great Tear'. Gnomes are studious and academic. Gnomes usually lead in arcane research. They are talented bureaucrats and lawmakers. On the flipside, they are also the most talented musicians and entertainers.



The Halflings-The Halfling were more burrowers then underworlders much like the Gnomes, but they quickly adapted to survive and were a boon to them. The Halflings are natural entrepreneurs and risk takers. The most successful merchant houses in Deep Rock are Halfling. The Halflings are also known for their ability as scribes. Halflings are brave and next to Dwarves are the most numerous among the ranks of The Watch and militia.



The Goblins-Once natural enemies of the Dwarves, it became necessary for the two races to work together or be annihilated by the cataclysm. The Goblins are natural engineers. It was their genius that was mostly responsible for the conveniences of heat, running water, and light that graces Deep Rock. The Goblins are also the most numerous (next to the Kobolds) and so make up a majority of both the workforce and the disaffected. As such, there is a large community of Goblin criminals. Goblins are also the most outspoken and active.



The Kobolds-An unfriendly race much like the Goblins, they too had to adapt in order to survive. The Kobolds were initially mistrusted by the others, but they earned their place among the Five Peoples by their resourcefulness and ability as underworld scouts and explorers. They also had a talent for cultivating underworld flora and fauna and the majority agriculture workers are Kobolds. Kobolds are also the most numerous scouts and explorers who look for new caves and tunnels for resources and to keep a careful watch on possible dangers.



Together the Five Peoples have created a community that has grown and thrived over the centuries. Their past enmities have been lost to memory though they all butt heads from time to time, but they always rally together in mutual defense.



I have some cool ideas for religion in Deep Rock and will probably open up that topic in the next post. I plan to cover both the 'State' religion and some of the cults both odd and disturbing. I will also flesh in my ideas about the cataclysm and 'The Great Tear'.

Thoughts on Deep Rock

So, I've gotten the GM bug again. I haven't GM'd for quite a while, the last time being when I ran a Savage Worlds Conan game.

I have recently been toying with the idea of reviving an old concept I had called Deep Rock which was a campaign world I began developing a while back for a D&D 4th Edition campaign that I started running. I really only had some basic ideas for an underground civilization made up entirely by the unification of the short races (Gnomes, Dwarves, Goblins, Halflings and Kobolds). It was a pseudo Steam Punk world deep under the earth created after some great cataclysm.

That was about all I had for it and just wrote a couple of adventures for my gaming group based on a couple pages of notes I had written on the idea. It quickly ran out of gas and had nothing further prepared to move the game forward. The players loved the idea of playing character only from the five races listed above and they liked the general theme and feel of the world. They were pretty disappointed when I passed on the GM baton rather than try to wing an unprepared campaign. I was partially inspired by the movie Time Bandits, but also by the game reports of Philippe-Antoine Menard a.k.a The Chatty DM who posted some game reports in his game blog about a campaign that took place in a subterranean city surrounded by a massive dungeon.

I've decided that I would really like to flesh out Deep Rock and give it a lot more depth (pardon the pun) and fully develop it as a setting for 4th Edition D&D and hopefully run a full campaign there with my weekly gaming group. I will post my ideas and progress here on this blog along with the occasional tangent on my gaming exploits.