Paksworld

At one point, I suggested this series as a potential setting for the Heroic Fantasy Handbook. Written by retired Marine Elizabeth Moon, it was originally a trilogy that followed the experiences of Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter, a sheepfarmer's daughter who becomes a mercenary and, eventually, a paladin. A prequel duology and sequel pentalogy have been published, for a total of ten novels, along with multiple short stories.

The series began as a character study of what type of person would become a paladin, as a sort of reaction to the Lawful Stupid paladin. If read carefully, one location from the original trilogy can be seen to have come from a classic TSR module. Naturally, paladins fit in quite well in the setting. Also appearing in the original trilogy are fighters, thieves, assassins, and chaotic clerics. An elf also makes an appearance, but without enough description to determine class. In the pentalogy, there are barbarians from the north, plus spellswords and enchanters in elf lands, along with a dwarf thief (delver would probably work) and a magelord who works very much like a ruinguard. There are also nightblades as opponents for the heroes. One thing that would need to be adapted are the gnomes. Instead of trickster illusionists, gnomes in this series are more Lawful than Law and incredible fighters. Another interesting feature of the setting are the kuakganni (sing. kuakgan), which is very similar to a druid from AD&D, but actually incorporates part of a tree into themselves - each one removes one of their limbs and replaces it with a tree limb.

Overall, the setting has a number of potential adventuring places, whether it be against orcs in the north, barbarians in the northeast, dark elves pretty much anywhere, or among the squabbling city-states of the south. At times (particularly in the early books) it shows its influence from role-playing, and it would make a great setting to play in.

I would very much like to get a license to Paksworld at some point. Great setting.

[quote="Alex"]

I would very much like to get a license to Paksworld at some point. Great setting.

[/quote] I finally thought of a better solution to the problem of the character who gains spellcasting at a high level - instead of a class change, make them a Spellsword with Delayed Availability instead of Fractional Casting. (It took me way longer to think of that than it should)

I'm not sure if it's been officially confirmed but Brewersbridge seems to match the village of Hommlet pretty well.