Serpent-Men, Lizardmen, and steel (campaign advice)

[That DM Guy]

First post here, so hello board!

My group has been held hostage in playing 3.X games set in the Forgotten Realms for almost two years now. I'm the kind of guy that can enjoy himself no matter what and the games were fun, but we've not been able to play anything but 3.5 or Pathfinder due to a set of brothers. I'm DM, as always, and have had success in giving the players a fun time. Their last adventure ended in a full party wipe of their high level characters that they started fresh from level 1. It's a whole can of worms and I'm really just relaying this information out of two reasons: First, a point of pride for my group that they took the deaths of their characters oh-so-well, and second, to reveal my excitement in to finally playing the DCC RPG.

I was going to use one of the published level 0 adventures as the funnel, but I decided to take up my pen and paper and make my own funnel. I've been bouncing ideas around for my own personal setting. The more I thought on it, the more I wanted something more Conan or Barsoom. I've always liked the idea from comics of reptile men being the masters of the ancient world, where mankind were slaves. I wanted to set a game set in that harsh era. I think it came from too much Forgotten Realms with so many heroes already established and so much history that the players needed to know to truly become invested in the world. I'd like the players to dictate how my world evolves. They tell me where the nations of man start, as they'll be something of the world's first heroes.

So, with that in mind, I think the best place for a funnel would be them escaping as slaves. With little of anything and trying to become free from an outpost or even a city. I have a few modules from Basic and AD&D in mind for inspiration and I have plenty of reading, but I would like some suggestions or advice on some things:

1.) I was considering putting the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings all as slaves for the reptile races (Lizardmen and Serpent-Men). The players are usually Dwarf or Human focused. The players don't care one way or another, but I'm on the fence about allowing the demi-humans. This is one of those things I can't really make up my mind on and just wanted opinions.

2.) I want Serpent-Men and Lizardmen at odds. I'd also like them different from one another. I love that the DCC RPG focuses on detail. Forgotten Realms has tainted me into seeing the Serpent-Men as Yuan-ti. I'd like some advice or suggestions on how to make them different via culture rather than just stats. I was thinking that the Lizardmen dressed in feathers or were akin to the Cyndiceans from B4 The Lost City, but I'd really like to flesh them out so they're not just dangerous and mysterious, but enough so that when the players see a Lizardman and a Serpent-Man, they're very different from one another, not just in shape, but also in culture. Historical analogues would be awesome, if anyone can think of any!

3.) I do own the Conan RPG. I've never really played it, but it comes with a nifty little chart for "primitive weapons". They are exactly what I want for my ragtag group to have access to at first, to really contrast what the Lizardmen and Serpent-Men have access to. For the sake of simplicity, I'm declaring that the weapons in the DCC RPG are iron or bronze. I'd like to do the idea of the forging of steel to be a secret. Magic items will be nearly nonexistent in the setting so I figured the concept steel being superior would fit right in to the narrative. I want a good way to represent superior metal being used. A friend said that using the 3.5 adamantite rule where it acts as a non-magical +2 enhancement could work, but I was also thinking that damage would just be one up the dice-chain. Any DCC RPG veterans have any ideas or know of any similar homebrews?

4.) Serpent-Men and Lizardmen gods. I'm drawing a full blank here other than Set. Actually, my pantheon and patrons in general. I probably could use them straight from the book and justify them as I go, but, again, suggestions would be awesome.

Alright, sorry for the long-winded post. Any suggestions on one or all of my problems would be a huge help! Thanks!

[themightyeroc]

Overall, i say go with your gut. It all sounds really cool so far.

1) If you want to leave out demi-humans, just change them into human sub-humans bred by the Serpent Empire for specific tasks. Hence the dwarves are stocky albino humans that see in the dark because they were bred in the mines. Halflings are stunted humans bred as household staff for the serpent overlords, and elves are.... Ah crap I don't know, you could get weird here... half-human half-reptile bastards hated by all!

2) check out some background info on the Silurians from Dr. Who for your Reptile civilization. Be aware there are land and Sea types in Dr. Who. Go with the aztec thing for the Lizardmen.

3) Starting with crappy primitive weapons and fighting and scraping for better stuff looted from the vile overlords! Sweet!

4) I'd go with the Gods from the book and just reskin them. Change a name and off you go! Less work for you too.

[Gameogre]

Posting on my nook so cut me some slack.

Use aztec culture for lizardmen! It works really well and always seems to impress the players.

Last time I gave them the advantage of diseases they were immune to and that spread like wildfire to the civilized people. Kinda reverse history!

[Gameogre]

Posting on my nook so cut me some slack.

Use aztec culture for lizardmen! It works really well and always seems to impress the players.

Last time I gave them the advantage of diseases they were immune to and that spread like wildfire to the civilized people. Kinda reverse history!

[oncelor]

The characters in my mythic Northumbrian campaign are getting ready to travel through a gate to an ocean moon of Saturn. I had plans to populate an island of this world with rival lizardman clans, but I like your idea of snakemen vs lizardmen. If I write up anything for these guys that might be of interest, I'll post it here. My party is 6th level, though, so most of the stuff I'd work on will probably be geared toward a higher level of power.

The god of one of the clans is the frog lord, Coax. Coax *is* the planet Saturn in this campaign. (In addition to frogs, Coax is also the god of poison, storms, and video cables.)

[GnomeBoy]

...video cables...

*smacks forehead*

[That DM Guy]

Thanks for the replies guys! I definitely was thinking Aztec or something like it for the Lizardmen. I decided on making the Serpentmen focused on dark magics and arcane and the Lizardmen focused on sacrifices to sleeping "gods" that are physically there. I liked the idea of a giant sleeping lizard or snake in the heart of their city and the like.

I just finished the funnel for the first group, since I had to separate the game into two groups due to a lot of friends wanting to play all of a sudden. They're making a pact with a very small tribe of Orcs. I'm interested to see where it goes!

Thanks for the replies, again! Happy gaming!