Recently my splat Cities of Sundara: Ironfire was the deal of the day at Drive Thru RPG. It got enough attention that the publisher has decided to pass the savings along to all the curious folks out there who decided to grab a copy. As such, my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting is on sale until March 13! So if you've been holding off on picking up particular splats, they're currently part of the Drive Thru RPG GM's Day Sale. And if this is your first time hearing about Sundara, well, keep reading and I'll tell you a bit about what my goals are, what I've put out already, and what you're going to see from it going forward.
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| Seriously, come check it out! |
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What is Sundara?
The short version is that Sundara: Dawn of a New Age is a fantasy RPG setting that is going to be familiar enough to fans of the genre that they'll be able to pick it up quickly, but that there's still plenty of differences just beneath the surface to make it feel new and unique for those who aren't expecting said changes.
As a for-instance, this setting is available both for Pathfinder's first edition, and for Dungeons and Dragons' 5th Edition. It's full of magic and mystery, and there are all sorts of different species one could choose to play as, as well as hundreds of different monsters roaming the setting. At a glance, it seems like just another cover song of the same genre we've seen before.
But if you scratch the surface you'll notice there's a lot of things you don't expect. Things like:
- No Nations: Sundara's largest political entities are city states, regional confederacies, and guilds.
- No Monolithic Species: Every species in Sundara has a variety of ethnicities and cultures, as well as potential origin stories and creation myths that may or may not be true depending on whom you ask.
- No "Common" Tongue: Language, much like culture, is diverse in Sundara. While some languages are more popular than others, and there are a number of so-called trading tongues, you will not find "Common" on the sheet. Nor are there specific species languages; so no "elven," "dwarven," "orc," etc.
- No Alignment: One of the biggest reader requests was that there be no alignment in the setting going forward. So alignment was removed from classes, gods, faiths, and the world as a whole, which has a lot of far-reaching repercussions.
I even talked about some of this over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (and if you haven't subscribed yet, you should, because I'm going into greater depth on some topics in the coming weeks).
More than these changes, though, Sundara is a setting that is fundamentally about forward progress. So many settings take their cue from Tolkien and focus on the mythic, lost past, trying to return to former glories. While Sundara has had empires rise and fall, it is fundamentally a setting about not looking back. Rather it is about finding fresh solutions to old problems, and about discovery of new and interesting ways of doing things. From creating mass-produced pattern-welded steel in volcanic furnaces, to building sky ships that take to the air on the cast-off scales of powerful wyrms, Sundara is about invention, curiosity, and finding unique solutions to problems.
Fun as a Whole, Or in Bite-Sized Pieces
For the Game Masters out there who might be reluctant to jump ship to a whole new setting, or who really want to keep using their own, homebrew worlds, I've designed Sundara in such a way that you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Because this is a one-man show, I've purposefully released the setting in small, bite-sized splats. In a way it's kind of like a serial RPG setting, and readers are exploring it along with me as we go along rather than just getting one thick tome of information that contains everything. However, because I chose this method of release, I've also designed each setting to be at least somewhat self-contained. So while there might be small nods and references to other parts of the setting, and callbacks to previous installments, everything is meant to function on its own, or to be folded into a different setting if that's what a Game Master wants to do with it.
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| Some parts of the setting are weirder than others, I'll admit. |
While it's entirely possible to run a session in and around one of the cities I've created, and using the species guides that have been released, it's equally possible for Game Masters to just take elements or aspects that they like and fold them into their worlds. Perhaps they like the sky ships from Hoardreach, and they think the idea is neat. Maybe they enjoy the idea of a city powered by the undead, so they want to put Moüd in their game, but without any of the rest of Sundara. Perhaps they just like the idea of a Wyrm Mark, or the backgrounds I created for career mercenaries, so they make those available. Or they find the approach to gods and the divine a lot more flexible and fun in this setting, so they adopt that without anything else.
One of the goals for these books is to provide Game Masters with the tools that suit their needs. So whether they want all of Sundara, or just a part of it, the goal is to make it as plug-and-play with their particular games as possible. My hope is that the more players and GMs alike read of the setting, the more they're going to want, but I understand that sometimes folks just want one particular tool rather than the entire set, and I want to make something that appeals to them as well.
Why Not Take a Look For Yourself?
I took a brief break on making new Sundara content at the start of the year, but I've already finished one new supplement, and I've started work on the second piece of 2022. Sellswords of Sundara is full of unique archetypes/subclasses for mercenary companies that come with their own themes, histories, NPCs, rumors, and more, and that should be coming out shortly. I'm also working on Towns of Sundara, so that folks have some smaller places to put between the cities that are just as interesting and unique in their own ways (and which acts as a good follow up to 10 Fantasy Villages, which kicked this whole project off in the first place).
Cities of Sundara
The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!
- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 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 DND 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 DND 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.
- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.
- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.
Gods of Sundara
- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.
Species of Sundara
Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.
And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.
- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!
- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.
- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.
- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!
- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.
- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.
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