About (Grisaire Supplement)

Author's Note

I originally made many 5e world campaigns that sort of remained unfinished throughout the course of many campaigns. Grisaire is the culmination of all of those broken pieces put together into one world. I wanted something smaller to manage than my grand 4e setting with two time eras, so this one is much more set, with simpler countries, themes, and a less doom-and-gloom world overall.

Concept and Themes

The idea is that the number 12 was appealing. There are 12 core classes, 12 months, 12 nations, etc. It combines the number 3 (Judeo Christian trinity) with 4 (number of death in many Eastern Asian numerologies). So, there are 12 gods. There were also 12 gods in Greek myth, which also subliminally inspired this. The idea of very human and flawed gods is very present in Grisaire, where they constantly screw up and don't seem to do what their worshipers want.

Culture

Since Forgotten Realms for 5e largely threw out Kara-Tur and stuff like the Calimshite empire, I added in those sort of cultures myself to more accurately present a very diverse world. But the cultures in this world ultimately do not correspond directly to any one culture in real life, since that would be too restrictive. So, they are more like amalgams limited by my own research.

Time Period

In terms of time, it's sort of a mirror to the Victorian Era, when technology is a growing trend. There was some inspiration I took from The Jungle to show the hardships of a rapidly developing world, where the environment and fellow people are sacrificed in the name of curiosity and progress. This also allows for better integration of the non-core artificer class, which some of my players wanted.

Class Design

I also have come to appreciate many of the foregone mechanic-narrative-roleplay tie-ins that defined how classes worked in 2nd-Edition. This setting also gives me the ability to try them out and write them out for the official classes. They work a bit like variant rules of how to run a class, as they are not mandatory since I understand not everyone may find it fun to find out that they can't use their features to the best of their potential because they haven't done their daily prayers yet.

Lovecraft

I definitely owe a nod to Lovecraft and his works for inspiring the nebulous Uncreated threat that lurks within the heart of Grisaire. Where the 12 gods are very human and flawed, the Uncreated are very alien and unknown. It's a bit paradoxical since they are both meant to be unfamiliar and yet also somehow instinctually familiar. Fear is something in many living things beyond humans. It defies exact understanding, but it is something we know without understanding it.

Special Thanks

Thank you to Solid Swag and Mann for having played quite a few sessions in this setting while it was still in a nascent state. I would not have had motivation to develop it further if not for their characters playing around.

Grisaire Navigation

Grisaire Campaign Settingv
	Players Guide	Races, Backgrounds, Classes, Spells & Magic, Downtime Activities, Feats
	World of Grisaire	History, The World, Society, Cosmology, Religion, Worldly Mechanics, Languages
	Dungeon Master's Guide	About, Treasure, Bestiary, Tables, Help, Adventures, NPCS, Variant Rules,
	“ The gods have let the story slip out of their fingers. It is ours to control. ” —Scientist Griks Zalow, Premius Research Convention

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