Endless Winterlands Sign up and OOC

In the land of Equestria, the world is at... Relative peace. A benevolent goddess watches over her people, heroes rise most every day to protect their friends, and evil will never triumph. Not for long, anyway.

This is not the story of Equestria. This land had a name, once upon a time. Now, crushed beneath a magical blizzard for eternity, the continent has become the Endless Winterlands.

Before the Fire of Friendship blazed in the sky, as a beacon for camaraderie and the spirit of harmony, there was a time when the world was ruled by chaos and fear. In a land far from Equestria's future birthplace, the three Pony Tribes shared an uneasy alliance. The Earth Pony Tribe would till the land, and use their talents to grow food for all... When the weather and sun allowed. The Pegasus Tribe would extort food from the Earth Ponies, in exchange for controlling the weather, and promising good harvest. At the same time, the Unicorn Tribe would demand food as well for their people, in exchange for using their combined magic to move the sun and moon. Nopony was happy with the arrangement in the end, and the growing frustration would one day summon the Windigos, legendary beasts that fed off of hatred and infighting. With the Windigos' arrival, the Endless Winterlands fell prey to snow the likes of which had never been seen before or since. Forced from their homes, the leaders of the three tribes set off to find new lands to settle, eventually finding Equestria... and creating the Fire of Friendship, banishing the Windigos from the new homeland.

As the story of Equestria was only beginning, though, the story of the Endless Winterlands continued... unseen.

Not all ponies made the journey across the planet, seeking a new home. Some, stuck in their old ways and refusing to give up land to the other tribes, remained behind to keep up their settlements. With more than half the population of squabbling ponies gone, the Endless Winterlands thawed as the amount of concentrated discord lowered... Barely. Even not quite so frozen, the land was still not suitable for harvest, and what food the Earth Ponies could create dwindled down further and further. Now without enough food to follow after their brethren to the new land, the ponies of the Endless Winterlands expected the end of their way of life. Worse happened.

Dragons.

The Migration of Dragons passed over the frozen land once in a generation, and as this one passed by, the ponies below were just desperate enough to try something. Summoning together their powers, the Pegasus and Unicorn tribes, on the suggestion of the Earth Ponies, made an attempt to bring down one of the legendary firebreathing beasts. Pegasus assaults plunged one gigantic green dragon from the heavens down to the ground below, while Unicorn teams held the beast down to the best of their ability. All to give the Earth Ponies a chance to try something. They made a deal with the dragons.

The Endless Winterlands remained the frozen tundra it always was, thanks to the Windigos continuing to spread their influence. Not knowing of their powers, however, the Ponies believed they could enlist the help of the Dragons to melt the eternal frost, leaving room for the Earth Ponies to grow food. The dragons, in turn, enraged to be asked anything by the meager ponies, demanded something in return... Gemstones. Not a paltry sum, not enough one massive tribute. By the Dragon's order, the Ponies would be forced to supply a steady stream of mined gems to the Dragons who chose to stay every month, or the Dragons would leave the Winterlands, and the Ponies, to their fates.

That was over a century ago.

Today, you and your friends live in the Endless Winterlands. You've grown up under the rule of the Dragon Kingdom, tested time and again by the cruelty of those above. The Pegasus, Unicorn and Earth Pony tribes have all been made equal, by threat and force, under their Draconic rulers. For your lives, the world you knew was one of servitude and despair. You, though, might just have what it takes to change the Endless Winterlands... Or escape it.

Will the rule of the dragons destroy your spirit and leave you in the depths of the Mines for all time? Or will you break your chains and live free of tyranny's flame?

Gather your weapons. Summon your spirit. And forge unyielding bonds. The Endless Winterlands shall be free... Burned to the ground, frozen in time, or saved once and for all.


The canon three races (Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns) will be suggested to stick to, but Dragons will also be available. Dragons will be involved in the story differently than a pony might, but they can be included for a unique experience. For other or custom races, please PM me and we can discuss what accommodations can be made.

Starting at Level 1.

All Elements available, and while diversity is encouraged, duplicates are allowed.

This roleplay is set to take place over 1000 years before the main canon's beginning, and thus information on events and ponies not around yet (such as the Alicorn Princesses, Discord and so on) are not permitted... For obvious reasons.

The goal is open-ended, though suggestions will be made you don't need to follow them.

You will be traversing the whole of the Endless Winterlands and perhaps beyond, which means a lot of snow and ice... But more than a few populated areas as well, including towns and castles.

Looking for around six players. And, if I turn out a rotten DM for the game, I'm likely to appoint a replacement DM based on who I think will be suited to the task.

I'm no Killer DM, so you can relax. Even if someone does somehow die, expect me to be generous. ...In fact, I likely will have to turn down the generosity anyway.

So there you go. Different setting, different atmosphere, hopefully a different kind of game. Hope this campaign strikes your fancy, and even if not, thanks for reading this long. Have a good one.

You mind if I sign up?

If you want to, and have something to bring to the table. Go right ahead.

I applode your campaign pitch here Mind Reader. Really top notch. I think I might send a character for this one. Or at least try to send others to join this.

To be honest, I've had an idea for a campaign rumbling around in my head, about a party that actually takes a swing at conquest of an evil kingdom. War, politics, espionage, the whole nine yards and a touchdown. After figuring that would probably be incredibly hard to pull off, I took the setting, stripped out the war plot, and added in some extra bits to make it more accessible. ...Plus, I may have a few little surprises plot-wise to throw at the party. So if you do join up, Xel, it'll be great to have ya. ...Just hope I can live up to it as a DM.

Hmm, seems interesting. Resistance against dragon overlords? A plotline I myself have explored in the past. Perhaps I can dig up and repurpose or otherwise come up with a character...

Can I use a recycled character? Other games recently seem to be picky about building new characters explicitly for the campaign, but I'd like to get some mileage out of my preferred character.

*looks at Fury and Bronymous* You say these things just to make us cry don't you?

Not everyone has the free time to make a million different characters for a million different games. I just want to play with my guy in a game that lasts longer than two weeks.

Well Dusk, I hope I'll have something you can enjoy... And not expect.

Fury, go right ahead. If you think it fits, have fun. If you break the game, I may have to employ a bit of "competitive re-balancing" regarding the enemies, but still...

Recycled character? Sure. Honestly, I'd like it if you could take a bit of time and rework the character's backstory to fit the setting, but go with what you want. This is for fun, and a good story after all.

I was just kinda teasing actually. That said, I just know I enjoy it more playing with original characters. (And as GM it's kinda insulting to craft a setting to be met with pre-gen characters. But, maybe that's just me.)

@Bronymous: Would that be the guy you used in Elfy's game? Because that guy feels really out of place/sorta annoying in any MLP game. (Also I suspect there'd be major overlap with Fury's default character in personality & attitude.)

Speaking of overlap, I think I might wait a bit before submitting a character, get a feel for the group and its personalities before making a character. I do, however, have a vague concept of a fiery yet shrewd preacher type, burning with the desire to incite rebellion against the dragons...

Oddly, I went and made by combat build first for once. Characterless Character. Not quite sure what I plan to do for a character per se quite yet. Probably will later in the evening.

Going to need permission to see it, Ramsus.

Mind Gamer wrote:
Recycled character? Sure. Honestly, I'd like it if you could take a bit of time and rework the character's backstory to fit the setting, but go with what you want. This is for fun, and a good story after all.

Well of course. This is a specifically "not Equestria" setting, so my catchall "any Equestria" backstory doesn't fit.

And no, it's not Phoenix. He's currently in a game, or half of one at least.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nMH3m-_AO-SlohSmdHo1Qa4c6Lwy_T5ZHAt3QDuHs2U/edit
I updated him relatively recently, so I don't think I need to change anything on him as of right now. I will come up with an appropriate backstory, and post it separately.

Oops, set sharing.

@Bronymous: Well, you might want to look over the combat build for him again as some things are out of date. Or make a new one. Preferably with less d10 + Wild Lightning killing your own party madness. Actually looking at his non-combat, think that's out of date too (and certainly displayed in a confusing way).

Well I thought I had it up to date. Dem racials.... and FK... items...

You know what, let me just go ahead and redo him.

We'll be right here waiting for him. Take your time, we have the space.

Now to wonder if anyone in the group plans to step up and try to assert a leader position... Hmm...

Mind Gamer wrote:We'll be right here waiting for him. Take your time, we have the space.

Now to wonder if anyone in the group plans to step up and try to assert a leader position... Hmm...

*waves and points at his firebrand concept* He'll be using a bunch of the Warlord talents, at any rate. It'll be a challenge playing somepony with force of personality given that I have none, myself...

Well, I can't tell you how to play your pony. I might suggest you get yourself into their frame of mind... Into the frustration and passion that must be going on inside them. Then just let that loose with your more passionate speeches.

Also... Yeah, this isn't much of a spoiler, so... If your group plans to fight instead of a pure diplomatic run, I'd suggest AoE at least on standby. ...We are talking about a kingdom here.

When roughly in the timeline is this game taking place btw?

Ahem... It's kind of relevant to what plot I have in my mind, but the timeline is basically like this.

We know that at least 1000 years have passed in Equestria since the Pony Tribes moved. That's the whole Mare in the Moon ordeal. Add to that a decades or so in my mind where it was Luna and Celestia together, before Luna became Nightmare Moon. Then add another century or so when it was Discord running Equestria with the chaos schtick, then maybe another century for them to get Equestria founded in the first place. That puts my estimated timeline of how long it took the Ponies to move before time caught up with the series to be about 1250 years, give or take a century.

I might be off with my numbers by forgetting something, and if I am feel free to pipe up, but as far as where this campaign takes place, you can set it around the 1150 mark. Long enough for Equestria to be working, but before Celestia and Discord came into the picture. That clear things up?