Hoardreach is The Place For All Those "Too Weird" Characters To Come From

There are, generally speaking, two kinds of GMs when it comes to fantasy RPGs. There's GMs who want to embrace the full scale and spectrum of possibility within the setting as it exists, and there's GMs who want to limit as many player options as possible when it comes to how weird, wild, or strange they get.

You can usually identify the latter because they'll tell players to stop trying to make "special snowflake" characters.

Now, I talked about all the issues I have with this line of thinking back in It Only Has To Happen Once (Weird PCs and The "Special Snowflake" Argument). In brief, though, if something is allowed by the rules of the game, and is possible within the setting, then players should be allowed to choose those options. Whether it's an orc paladin, a goblin wizard, a dwarven sorcerer, or any other basic combination of species and class that isn't expressly banned by the rules.

Because sure, it might be weird. It might be unconventional. But it's fantasy... stretch your imagination, because that's the name of the game!

Frost Fang approves of snowflakes of all kinds!

It is for this purpose that I created Hoardreach for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting. So if you want the freedom to get weird, wild, and bizarre with your characters, this is going to be right up your alley!

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Hoardreach is Where The Weirdness Lives

For folks who haven't been tuning in, one thing that I threw out the window with Sundara as a setting was the alignment system. While that means you no longer have alignment requirements for classes in Pathfinder, it also means there's no such thing as species-based alignments, or culture-based ones. Everything has to be evaluated on its own, rather than always having that Good, Neutral, or Evil label hanging over it to color your perspective of what you're looking at.

Oh don't you worry... there's still plenty of initiative that needs rolling.

However, while Sundara as a setting is about progress, discovery, and finding creative solutions to existing problems, several readers have mistakenly thought that makes it a world without conflict. There are plenty of conflicts for adventurers to get involved in, from protecting trade secrets, to dealing with outbreaks of undead, to trying to soothe tensions between two powers that might go to war... but what Sundara lacks is the idea that you can just kill certain creatures because they're evil without thinking twice about doing so.

And that, my friends, is where Hoardreach comes in.

Hoardreach is a sky island (a unique mountain location with drastically different conditions due to its height, as opposed to an island that floats in the sky... don't worry, we'll get to that later), and it was the strangeness of this location that drew the Founders. 5 dragons, rather than battling over the territory, agreed to each allow the others the part of the mountain they wanted for their lairs, and to act in the defense of all. While fairly young dragons individually, all 5 working in concert wielded far more power than anything short of a great wyrm could have managed.

After negotiations with one another, and meeting with a representative of the Adeptus Draconis (an order of knights tasked with keeping peace between dragons and non-dragons that was first mentioned back in 100 Knightly Orders), the Cooperation reached out to their neighbors. In exchange for tribute, they would extend their protection to surrounding areas, and assist with dangers they faced. While many were reluctant at first, the benefits of the dragons' aid far outweighed the cost asked.

As word of Hoardreach spread, people started coming to see it for themselves. While there were explorers and merchants, along with scholars, the city also drew outcasts who'd been forced away from their own homes. Goblin tribes that had been hunted, harpies who were unwanted, the remnants of orc mercenary bands who found no welcome, and dozens of others all sought places within Hoardreach. As the city grew it drew still more (and stranger) inhabitants who were able to lend their unique skills and abilities to make the city run smoothly. Soon the Founders were able to conserve their energies only for dire emergencies, while the various corps throughout the city took over the day-to-day labors.

Now Hoardreach is known far and wide. For in addition to being the City of Wyrms, it is also the place where the fledgling industry of air travel has been born. Ships shingled in the cast-off scales of the founders, and carefully constructed for form and function, have opened the possibilities of new types of trade and travel... as well as warfare, for those who would consider making the dragons of Hoardreach their enemies.

When Weird Becomes Normal

Everything in Hoardreach is utterly bonkers and bizarre... which means that to those who live there, this is completely normal.

It's not unusual to have different seasons going on in different districts, the very elements influenced by the presence of one of the Founder's Wyrm Marks. Flying ships are an everyday occurrence, as are pseudodragons, fey dragons, kobolds, and others. Sorcerers with draconic heritage are fairly common, many coming to the city hoping to learn at the feet of powerful dragons who might (albeit distantly) share their bloodlines. Ogres catch lines to help anchor ships, goblins and orcs sell soup in bowls around one of the main squares, and a frost giant is one of the head shipwrights who designs the unique sky ships of Hoardreach.

This is the Fantastical Mundane in action. If there's a monstrous species players have access to in the setting, chances are there's at least a handful of them in Hoardreach. If there's an unusual magical specialty, a strange family history, or just an odd magic item, it's a safe bet you could find it there. If you wanted to play a goblin who grew up in a major city surrounded by their family instead of being hunted like vermin, or a gnoll who was raised by an adopted halfling family, or a sorcerer who learned magic in the lair of a dragon, or an ogrekin looking to make their own way in the world... that's just Tuesday in Hoardreach.

So if any of that sounds like something you want to add to your game (as each of the Cities of Sundara can be enfolded into a different setting, or played as part of Sundara), get your copy of either the Pathfinder Edition of Hoardreach, or the DND 5th Edition of Hoardreach today!

Don't Forget The Rest of Sundara as Well!

If Hoardreach sounds like your cup of tea, remember that it's the 4th installment in the Sundara setting thus far! Not only that, but the others all have their own weird, wild, and unusual goodies to offer as well. So take a moment to check out:

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

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