The Refuges: Worlds of Safety, Worlds of Terror

Every race has a home, every home has a master, and every master is terrible...

The refuges is an inter-dimensional fantasy setting with no main world. Its emphasis is on a wide variety of exotic settings -- and on keeping those settings exotic even to those who have previously seen a lot of other settings.  It achieves this through custom magic systems, alternate physics and world topology, and through flora and fauna. It also achieves this goal through keeping the various exotic elements of the game mostly separate -- magic can do anything if you find the right world... but its likely to not be able to do the other things that you want. Each world will have a distinct feel.

Campaigns in the refuges are about exploration, politics, and facing down the odds. On every world is a new environment that may or may not include magic, and natives much more experienced than you. Its should also be possible to play a campaign based on a single world.

The Refugees

The most common races in this setting are referred to as the refugees. They should be pretty familiar to you: Humans, Goblins, Dwarves, and Elves. These races can be found on many worlds, and form the basis of the societies adventurers are mostly likely to encounter. They also form a class of 'arcane-weak' individuals. While individuals may have magic talents, these races generally excel in spite of magic, not because of it.

While the refugees think of each other as 'common races', they don't have a sense of camaraderie. In fact, they don't tend to have a sense of camaraderie with their larger race as a whole: loyalties are much more likely to be cultural.

The Worlds

Each world in this setting will be unique, with its own geography, fauna, races, and magic. Some worlds will be flat, some round, and some completely new shapes. The biggest division between different worlds will be how strong the local magic is. In worlds with powerful magic, there will be a ruling species that establishes a caste system and rules over the less gifted with varying levels of an iron fist.

Racial Templates:

Human[0]

Humans are one of the most populous and successful races in existence. It is not known how they have done so well or why they are so populous, though many theories abound. Humans are quite diverse, and though they are called “exiles” no one is sure exactly where their homeworld is. Theories abound, however.

Goblin [-7]:

ST -2 [-20], Night Vision 2 [2], High Pain Threshold [10], Reduced consumption 1 (cast iron stomache) [1] 

Goblins are also extremely common throughout the refuges. Goblins are small, green, and hardy. They have a reputation for being able to live anywhere. They hail from the perpetual twilight of Ternog, a harsh world with harsher masters.

Dwarf [1]

Move -1 [-5],  Night Vision -2 [0], DR 1 (from fire) [3],  +1 lifting ST [3]

Dwarves short, bearded, and prefer to live in tunnels. They seem to have a natural gift for working with metals, their primary job on their homeworld. In fact, dwarves seem to be poor farmers, and tend to thrive only when they can get someone to grow their food. Fortunately, craftsmen are appreciated by most folks, and once magic is out of the picture, dwarves are pretty good fighters. Their homeworld of Handak is an underground labyrinth of darkness.

Elves [10]

ST -1 [-10] Perfect Balance [15] Magery 0 [5]

Elves come from Slythana, but have spread out over the worlds. Elves are famous for changing themselves into different forms, and the version given here is an elf without access to magic. Most elves are quite old and have a number of permanent enchantments on themselves. Elves are unusual in that on their homeworld of Slythania, they are the rulers ... at least a few of them are. The elves who do not rule often flee their tyrants of the mind. They don't have the magical power of back home, but they are also no longer at the bottom of the mystic food chain.

More Is Coming

This is the beginning of a variety of worlds I will be creating, a fantasy multiverse with a range of fantastic worlds. I hope you enjoy it!