GDE: Dream of Creation, Arakkoa starting experience

Call it build 7.0.0.21600

Welcome back to Game Design Exercise. The first thing you might notice is I decided to shorten the title. “Game Design Exercise” was taking up a lot of precious character space, so I decided to shorten it in case I ever need a particularly long title for one of the sections. The second thing you might notice is that the map posted this time is different from the previous one. I continue working on it and although most of the additions are things I hid from public view (because they spoil future content before it’s ready) there are some zone shape and size changes. They stem from me noticing that Ravenwood and Thornbranch are definitely too small. Most starting zones aren’t much smaller than regular end-game zones, so I thought I wouldn’t be able to realistically squish in a full 1-13 experience in those areas. They are now bigger, partially at the cost of the oversized Verdant Plains.

Another thing I wanted to talk about before the break is a concern that was raised on Twitter recently. Dream of Creation is adopting several fey creatures from Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy sources and one of those creatures is called a hag. They’re ugly troll-like creatures that undeniably bear some resemblance to a caricature of an old woman, and the term likely comes from there. To me, a person with a certain fantasy gaming experience, hags were just a normal thing that didn’t raise any red light. I was however told that the term is considered offensive. I mean, it’s obvious calling a real person “hag” is an offense, but a person was concerned that using it as a name of a fantasy creature is offensive as well, regardless of the term’s past in the genre. Personally, I don’t see it, but if enough people see it as a valid concern, I will adopt it. So, what do you think? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments below.

So, I invite you to read my take on arakkoa starting experience for Dream of Creation, an Emerald Dream expansion. They are arakkoa from the main timeline, so they continue storylines from the Burning Crusade and only influences from Warlords of Draenor are clarifications about the common past of both timelines and references – such as WoD characters showing up here in their main timeline incarnations. Enjoy!

Character Profiles: Dawn-Seeker Verroak

In-game

Name: Verroak Krasha
Race: High Arakkoa
Gender: Prefers not to specify ((male))
Age: 32
Class: Sun-Sage
Professions: engineering, jewelcrafting
Religion: New Dawn (a restoration of the old Apexis religion)
Alignment (per D&D): Neutral Good
Traits (per CK2): Quick, weak, scholar, mystic, diligent, proud, deceitful, shy, ambitious, kind

Character Profiles: Verroak Krasha

by enipnion

Name: Verroak Krasha
Race: (Outcast) Arakkoa
Gender: Prefers not to specify ((male))
Age: 67 (as of this posting)
Class: Druid (balance)
Professions: herbalism, alchemy, cooking, archaeology
Religion: Holy Light (in theory), atheistic (in practice)
Alignment (per D&D): Neutral Evil
Traits (per CK2): Quick, weak, lunatic, scholar, mystic, diligent, proud, deceitful, craven, shy, chaste, ambitious, cynical, paranoid, cruel

Lore character avatars for Twitter

Jelinek Sharpshear

Zalashji

Mangletooth

Kvaldir

Myzrael

Sunwalker Dezco

Darius Crowley

Or’kaos the Insane

Spirit Healer (Anara?)

Prophet Skeram

Fat Long-Fat

Sironas

Zul’jin

Leyara

Hakkar the Soulflayer

Mal’Ganis

Kirrik the Awakened

Dagg’um Ty’gor