I think I've been to dogmatically approaching this project. Using Rich Burlew's guide has been great for inspiration, but I've got more of a reversed idea from his. He started with his thematic and mechanical desires, while I have the backdrop in mind and want to work my way to the mechanics.
That said, let's try it like this.
History
Our world has existed as a fantasy-standard place for however long, with great wars and legends and what-have-yous for as long as needed. Our relevant history starts when humans arrive, though. I'll touch on ancient history later, or as it rears its head, and focus on this point onward.
Suffice it to say that before the humans' arrival, elves, our resident imperial militants, were at war with each other, using their subhumans as foot soldiers for the most part. They were not aware of the dwarfs who live too far underground. This will give us two nations of elves to toy around with at a later point.
And then the wizard kings' ship arrives from space, settling on the largest continent. In the relatively large and open space they touch down on (large plateau?), they begin to dismantle their ship to build a city, the first of many. Humans are used as slave labour and military might.
From this point, they rapidly use magic, something the elves are utterly unfamiliar with, and rapidly expand, carving out a small nation of their own. The wizard kings run a campaign of rapid expansion and conquering. What they can't claim and use, they scorch behind them, so that no one else can.
Losing train of thought now. I'm gonna just leave this and add to it later.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Part 3: Race to the Finish
So, here we are again, after so long. I hope you, my imaginary readers, have kept well.
Race. I am considering the matter of race for my little campaign world. Before I get into that, though, I am considering the history and nature of my world. Well, that's not true; I'm considering them side-by-side.
I know a few races I want to include, for sure.
First off, humans. Humans are everywhere, like cockroaches. Humans are the baseline races against which all others are judged. Mercifully, from at least 3.5 edition of D&D onward, there is actual benefit to playing humans, and not just exemption from an arbitrary and nonsensical level cap.
In my world, as in most others, humans exist as written. They are adaptable, which is good because it suits their origin in this world. Humans were brought here by an as-yet-unnamed superior race, in a starship (or several, but I like the idea of an 'ark' ship bringing them here as a slave race to their masters, possibly the 'wizard kings' of old).
Hmm, that Wizard King idea has merit. I like the idea that they came here in massive spacecraft that were powered by magic. Not like Spelljammer, though. Their ships were very sci-fi and hi-tech. They landed on this planet and likely dismantled their ship to set up their colony here. Their tech was powered by magic, and thus if any artifacts were found now, they would either be useless since magic is almost gone, and exists only in such a degraded state it wouldn't be compatible (although that doesn't stop ambitious DMs from coming up with a campaign to that effect), or the artifacts would be potential sources of renewed magic, or they could be used to power other tech magic-items. I don't want this kind of magitech focus to be prevalent in the game, though, so for now, let's consider these items to be all but lost, permanently.
So, right, humans were brought here by these wizard kings to be used as slaves. They are used to wage war on the indigenous races for several generations, to give a good enmity between humans and other races. Eventually, they rise up against the Wizard Kings in a massive rebellion that lasts for decades. In the end, they master some of the secrets of magic and are able to kill of the Wizard Kings, but not before the Kings can throw their doomsday plan into effect.
This brings us to a geographic feature (gimmick) of my campaign setting. The planet on which our campaigns take place has literally shattered. The planet is broken into six or seven major pieces, and a host of smaller floating islands in space. This revealed a major oddity of the planet's physical nature. The planet was never a natural structure. The destruction of the planet revealed that continents are interconnected by massive cables, tens of miles in diameter, and are all arrayed around a mysterious energy field at the core of the planet.
More on that stuff later.
In the end, Humans are left on this planet with no way to leave. The indigenous races, then, have harboured a major hatred for humans and their wizard kings for centuries, now. By now, humans have started to deal with some of the other races, but major antipathy still exists on both sides of the human/other divide.
What other major races to include? Elves. Now, I know elves have been done to death as nature-loving warrior mystics. They've been adapted into almost a billion different subraces so that if you want to play a winged, fire-breathing, aquatic, space droid elf, you can and will have three different subraces to choose from. I'd like to not do that. I want elves to be treated like humans, in that they are one race, with only superficial differences between them all.
So how do I keep my elves relatively unique without resorting to creating a whole new breed of demihuman? Like most thing, I look to role-play variations. We take for granted that elves are nature-loving mystics, near-immortal, and privy to secrets kept from humans. Almost always, this is the case. I think I prefer the idea of my elves being an imperial race, militaristic and rigid. They are more or less 'at one' with nature in that their technology is based on environmentally friendly methods of production, but they are cold and monolithic empire. I have this image in my mind that is halfway between the Roman Empire and the Kree of Marvel comics. They'll be long-lived, but not nearly the thousand-year-spanning lives of normal D&D elves. I think these guys live to maybe 250 years or so. This means, for them, the destruction of their planet happened in their grandfathers', maybe great-grandfathers' time.
Their nation was divided, I think, by the catastrophe. Thus, on our main continent, their numbers were drastically reduced, so their impending domination of human-held territories was no longer possible. They have been put in the awkward position of suddenly being in the weaker, defensive position. As such, they are only reaching out now to begin peaceful relations. They've seen their numbers halved and now realize that the humans were a slave race, so the difficult trek to truce has just begun.
I like that.
What other races to include? What's common these days? Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Half-Orcs, Half-Elves. Well, I've already taken care of humans and elves, whom I imagine to be the dominant power on the main shard of this broken planet. I wanna skip the shorties and brutes and go to Half-Elves next.
No Half-Elves. There, that was simple.
Okay, a bit of explanation, then. Half-Elves never really worked for me. They are basically humans with some elven powers. Why would you even play a human? For that matter, why are there usually no other half-breed races other than elves and orcs. (I know about the muls of Dark Sun, but I'm not fond of that setting, so I'm content to ignore it for now.) The other thing is that there are half-elves everywhere, but they're still looked down on as a half-breed race in the sourcebooks only. No one really plays up this racial tension, do they? Basically, half-elves walk around with a chip on their shoulders for presupposed racism that never eve really happens in the games. That doesn't make them cool; it makes them jerks.
I think that human-elven relations are going to be unbelievably rare, and produce no offspring. They are different races from different worlds, despite superficial similarities. Besides that, I do want to limit the number of races in my setting. Maybe that's not alluring to some players but, and I hope this isn't offensive to any imaginary readers, I hope to deter players who are always looking for the optimum build. It's fun for some people, but it's not what I enjoy. I'd like to force more role-playing variation, as opposed to stat-tinkering and build maximization. I hope this doesn't backfire on me, either.
The next race on the list is going to be dwarfgnomehalflings. Does it strike anyone else that these races are largely redundant? Especially gnomes. Gnomes tend to be a half-halfling/half-dwarf and the presence of all three races creates some real homogeneity (aka. monotony). Where do I get my next race, then? And do I bother trying to fill a shorty role?
Tell you what. I have this idea shooting around in my brain regarding a shorty race that might furnish me some ideas. I imagine a race that is almost elemental in nature. These are short, hairless fellas who live in subterranean cavern systems that more closely resemble ant colonies or groundhog holes than the traditional underground fortresses that dwarves always have. These shorties are technologically useless, using the most basic of devices in daily life. They are earth-attuned, though, and have mystical or semi-mystical abilities over that element. They live off fungus and underground animals and bugs. They don't like fire as it's too bright for their subterranean eyes, so they eat their mushroom and cockroach pie raw. They are on neutral terms with all surface races, since they've only recently reappeared. These guys might have been surfacers once upon a time, but they've lived below the surface for a millennium, only returning a few hundred years ago in the wake of the catastrophic sundering of the planet.
They still tool around underground, investigating the mysterious lines that connect the planetary shards. They also have begun trade with elves and humans, thus making them available to players as a race. These guys are almost alien to the other races, though, so reactions to them would be diverse and possibly extreme.
The last question is what to call these shorties. For now, we'll call them dwarves, but they might be significantly different enough that I may have to create a new race... which I didn't really want to do. Maybe I'll just tailor dwarves to meet this new race in-between.
Having these shorties, I'm not so certain I want halflings and gnomes, who are largely used for comic relief, anyway. For now, my dwarves are the only shorty race.
Half-Orcs. Well, I want to get away from having an 'evil' orc race, so there probably won't be any half-orcs. I do want a brute race, though, since, even before the humans arrived, elves had to conquer someone. Maybe this brute race is a slave race to the elves, making them as bad as the wizard king/human invaders. Oh, let's say that in the wake of discovering the humans were a slave race, the elves realized that they were as bad as the wizard kings had been. They felt a wave of collective grief and banned the ownership of slaves in their lands. Some people still do, but it's purely an illegal trade. So who are these brute folk, then? Are they goblinoid? Lizardmen? Ape people? Cat people? (No, not cat people... sorry anime fans.)
How about this, then? Our brute race is a race of wolfmen? I don't mean lycanthropes. That would be seven different kinds of crazy. I mean a race of humanoids who resemble canines. They could very well resemble werewolves or other breeds.
No, this isn't working for me. I think I prefer a more arboreal species. The elves live in colonized forests, in military-like camps. They might use a monkey race to perform tasks to maintain the trees, swing through the forests to deliver message, do the cleaning and hang stuff to dry in the trees. Yeah, I think we need an ape-man type race. This might even be subdivided into menial monkey workers, and big, burly gorilla warriors (who were utterly expendable).
Cripes. Now I have another race to create. Not what I had intended. Still, I didn't want too much variety, so I think I'll stop for now. Next entry might cope with trying to mix and match races to classes, saying who can and can't do what.
Race. I am considering the matter of race for my little campaign world. Before I get into that, though, I am considering the history and nature of my world. Well, that's not true; I'm considering them side-by-side.
I know a few races I want to include, for sure.
First off, humans. Humans are everywhere, like cockroaches. Humans are the baseline races against which all others are judged. Mercifully, from at least 3.5 edition of D&D onward, there is actual benefit to playing humans, and not just exemption from an arbitrary and nonsensical level cap.
In my world, as in most others, humans exist as written. They are adaptable, which is good because it suits their origin in this world. Humans were brought here by an as-yet-unnamed superior race, in a starship (or several, but I like the idea of an 'ark' ship bringing them here as a slave race to their masters, possibly the 'wizard kings' of old).
Hmm, that Wizard King idea has merit. I like the idea that they came here in massive spacecraft that were powered by magic. Not like Spelljammer, though. Their ships were very sci-fi and hi-tech. They landed on this planet and likely dismantled their ship to set up their colony here. Their tech was powered by magic, and thus if any artifacts were found now, they would either be useless since magic is almost gone, and exists only in such a degraded state it wouldn't be compatible (although that doesn't stop ambitious DMs from coming up with a campaign to that effect), or the artifacts would be potential sources of renewed magic, or they could be used to power other tech magic-items. I don't want this kind of magitech focus to be prevalent in the game, though, so for now, let's consider these items to be all but lost, permanently.
So, right, humans were brought here by these wizard kings to be used as slaves. They are used to wage war on the indigenous races for several generations, to give a good enmity between humans and other races. Eventually, they rise up against the Wizard Kings in a massive rebellion that lasts for decades. In the end, they master some of the secrets of magic and are able to kill of the Wizard Kings, but not before the Kings can throw their doomsday plan into effect.
This brings us to a geographic feature (gimmick) of my campaign setting. The planet on which our campaigns take place has literally shattered. The planet is broken into six or seven major pieces, and a host of smaller floating islands in space. This revealed a major oddity of the planet's physical nature. The planet was never a natural structure. The destruction of the planet revealed that continents are interconnected by massive cables, tens of miles in diameter, and are all arrayed around a mysterious energy field at the core of the planet.
More on that stuff later.
In the end, Humans are left on this planet with no way to leave. The indigenous races, then, have harboured a major hatred for humans and their wizard kings for centuries, now. By now, humans have started to deal with some of the other races, but major antipathy still exists on both sides of the human/other divide.
What other major races to include? Elves. Now, I know elves have been done to death as nature-loving warrior mystics. They've been adapted into almost a billion different subraces so that if you want to play a winged, fire-breathing, aquatic, space droid elf, you can and will have three different subraces to choose from. I'd like to not do that. I want elves to be treated like humans, in that they are one race, with only superficial differences between them all.
So how do I keep my elves relatively unique without resorting to creating a whole new breed of demihuman? Like most thing, I look to role-play variations. We take for granted that elves are nature-loving mystics, near-immortal, and privy to secrets kept from humans. Almost always, this is the case. I think I prefer the idea of my elves being an imperial race, militaristic and rigid. They are more or less 'at one' with nature in that their technology is based on environmentally friendly methods of production, but they are cold and monolithic empire. I have this image in my mind that is halfway between the Roman Empire and the Kree of Marvel comics. They'll be long-lived, but not nearly the thousand-year-spanning lives of normal D&D elves. I think these guys live to maybe 250 years or so. This means, for them, the destruction of their planet happened in their grandfathers', maybe great-grandfathers' time.
Their nation was divided, I think, by the catastrophe. Thus, on our main continent, their numbers were drastically reduced, so their impending domination of human-held territories was no longer possible. They have been put in the awkward position of suddenly being in the weaker, defensive position. As such, they are only reaching out now to begin peaceful relations. They've seen their numbers halved and now realize that the humans were a slave race, so the difficult trek to truce has just begun.
I like that.
What other races to include? What's common these days? Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Half-Orcs, Half-Elves. Well, I've already taken care of humans and elves, whom I imagine to be the dominant power on the main shard of this broken planet. I wanna skip the shorties and brutes and go to Half-Elves next.
No Half-Elves. There, that was simple.
Okay, a bit of explanation, then. Half-Elves never really worked for me. They are basically humans with some elven powers. Why would you even play a human? For that matter, why are there usually no other half-breed races other than elves and orcs. (I know about the muls of Dark Sun, but I'm not fond of that setting, so I'm content to ignore it for now.) The other thing is that there are half-elves everywhere, but they're still looked down on as a half-breed race in the sourcebooks only. No one really plays up this racial tension, do they? Basically, half-elves walk around with a chip on their shoulders for presupposed racism that never eve really happens in the games. That doesn't make them cool; it makes them jerks.
I think that human-elven relations are going to be unbelievably rare, and produce no offspring. They are different races from different worlds, despite superficial similarities. Besides that, I do want to limit the number of races in my setting. Maybe that's not alluring to some players but, and I hope this isn't offensive to any imaginary readers, I hope to deter players who are always looking for the optimum build. It's fun for some people, but it's not what I enjoy. I'd like to force more role-playing variation, as opposed to stat-tinkering and build maximization. I hope this doesn't backfire on me, either.
The next race on the list is going to be dwarfgnomehalflings. Does it strike anyone else that these races are largely redundant? Especially gnomes. Gnomes tend to be a half-halfling/half-dwarf and the presence of all three races creates some real homogeneity (aka. monotony). Where do I get my next race, then? And do I bother trying to fill a shorty role?
Tell you what. I have this idea shooting around in my brain regarding a shorty race that might furnish me some ideas. I imagine a race that is almost elemental in nature. These are short, hairless fellas who live in subterranean cavern systems that more closely resemble ant colonies or groundhog holes than the traditional underground fortresses that dwarves always have. These shorties are technologically useless, using the most basic of devices in daily life. They are earth-attuned, though, and have mystical or semi-mystical abilities over that element. They live off fungus and underground animals and bugs. They don't like fire as it's too bright for their subterranean eyes, so they eat their mushroom and cockroach pie raw. They are on neutral terms with all surface races, since they've only recently reappeared. These guys might have been surfacers once upon a time, but they've lived below the surface for a millennium, only returning a few hundred years ago in the wake of the catastrophic sundering of the planet.
They still tool around underground, investigating the mysterious lines that connect the planetary shards. They also have begun trade with elves and humans, thus making them available to players as a race. These guys are almost alien to the other races, though, so reactions to them would be diverse and possibly extreme.
The last question is what to call these shorties. For now, we'll call them dwarves, but they might be significantly different enough that I may have to create a new race... which I didn't really want to do. Maybe I'll just tailor dwarves to meet this new race in-between.
Having these shorties, I'm not so certain I want halflings and gnomes, who are largely used for comic relief, anyway. For now, my dwarves are the only shorty race.
Half-Orcs. Well, I want to get away from having an 'evil' orc race, so there probably won't be any half-orcs. I do want a brute race, though, since, even before the humans arrived, elves had to conquer someone. Maybe this brute race is a slave race to the elves, making them as bad as the wizard king/human invaders. Oh, let's say that in the wake of discovering the humans were a slave race, the elves realized that they were as bad as the wizard kings had been. They felt a wave of collective grief and banned the ownership of slaves in their lands. Some people still do, but it's purely an illegal trade. So who are these brute folk, then? Are they goblinoid? Lizardmen? Ape people? Cat people? (No, not cat people... sorry anime fans.)
How about this, then? Our brute race is a race of wolfmen? I don't mean lycanthropes. That would be seven different kinds of crazy. I mean a race of humanoids who resemble canines. They could very well resemble werewolves or other breeds.
No, this isn't working for me. I think I prefer a more arboreal species. The elves live in colonized forests, in military-like camps. They might use a monkey race to perform tasks to maintain the trees, swing through the forests to deliver message, do the cleaning and hang stuff to dry in the trees. Yeah, I think we need an ape-man type race. This might even be subdivided into menial monkey workers, and big, burly gorilla warriors (who were utterly expendable).
Cripes. Now I have another race to create. Not what I had intended. Still, I didn't want too much variety, so I think I'll stop for now. Next entry might cope with trying to mix and match races to classes, saying who can and can't do what.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Part 2: Class Decisions
I've changed my mind.
I was thinking about the potential of magic-using classes. I like the idea of a low-magic campaign world, but the limitations will make it unappealing for a significant portion of players. That said, I want to limit the magic-users' numbers significantly, and add other barriers to balance out the characters in the rest of the low-magic campaign. I'm thinking that arcane magic, in the sense of wizard schools, mage guilds, etc., does not exist anymore. At some point in the distant past, most wizardly knowledge was lost or purged. The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of a war against wizard kings. During that war, the powers-that-be destroyed most magic for the protection of the species; they would not be so stupid or naive as to completely eliminate the existence of a potentially powerful tool. The most useful magics would have been quarantined or sequestered, usable only by the "right people", most likely kings and kingmakers-- people interested in using the tools of magic to advance their own power, but not so foolish as to do it in bold, public ways.
There would be a high-level (politically-speaking) society (or possibly a couple with differing, maybe opposing philosophies) who control magic with the goal of manipulating the course of history. Think of the Skulls with secret magic. This would mean that these people should likely be NPC classes. Unless you're particularly interested in a campaign based around magic and political intrigue... which kind of sounds cool.
Other than these secret shadows, the largest segment of the population has been groomed over the generations to fear and hate magic. The idea of becoming a wizard would be repulsive to them. Anyone who espoused differing philosophies would probably be feared and hated.
The direct impact this has on PCs is that a) there is nowhere one can simply 'learn' magic, and b) whoever does learn magic would be a pariah if it were ever discovered. Basically, this is a world where wizard is a bad word. The study of magic would start with the unearthing of some long-forgotten artifact or grimoire that escaped the purge. If one of these were found, perhaps a dual-class could be taken, given an appropriate amount of time.
To bring magic closer to players, I thought of sorcerers. Casters with innate power could still be born. They would not only be hated and feared, some would be killed by horrified parents (if the baby's curse were visible somehow). Also, given the idea that's now stirring in my brain, which is that alchemists would be this world's 'wizards', a specialized village alchemist would be present at most births to use some kind of potion or oil on a child to detect the presence of the mark of magic. Magically gifted children would then be destroyed or whisked away from their parents. Sorcerers would actually be trained to be useful to the lords of the lands. This is not the kind of service that grants recognition like, say, a knight. These people are slaves, treated like subhumans. Part of their 'training' would be the idea that they are cursed and born part evil. This would be drilled into them, with a sense of self-loathing, along with the knowledge that the only way they can redeem themselves is through faithful service to their lord.
This way, a magic-using class can be taken, but it is limited by role-playing factors.
Please keep in mind that I am thinking of humans only at this point. The other races will be detailed a bit later on, and will likely have different opinions on magic, etc.
This brings me to thinking of other classes of magic-user. Bards spring to mind. I don't think bards would exist as a class in this world, so much as an occupation. Any bard subclass which has no magic use ability would be acceptable, of course. I'll freely admit to not being aware of all the forty million specialty prestige classes out there. Call me a classicist, but I still like my old 2nd Edition, when it comes to D&D. If I can think of a specific alteration to make to bards, I will do it before I put this all together in one final document.
That leaves us with divine magic. I would quite like to eliminate it altogether. I don't want gods to be recognizable entities. I like the idea of having religions more like they are on Earth. No one can prove that gods exist, and take it on faith that they do. Faith is stronger than certainty, in this sort of thing. Religion would then be an organization based on faith, rather than an order in service of an interactive deity.
I find the role-play ideas of this option more attractive, but it does leave us with a big problem: players. What do you do if you don't have someone who can heal? Realism is great in a game, but having your warrior spend three months convalescing after a battle with a giant is a real downer in terms of gameplay.
The idea I mentioned earlier, about having an alchemist-type class active, may be the answer. It would be interesting. It'd be a scholar class with the ability to brew potions, etc., that mimic a number of magical effects. Given the populace's reaction to wizardry, would alchemy flourish or be suppressed? For it to continue to exist, it must have its roots in something other than magic. This is where my idea for the human race would come into play...
Humans aren't from this world. They came here long ago from beyond the stars. That's where my history of science-fiction will come in to the story, as well. The race was brought here ages ago on a space ship. The exact purposes of their transplantation are still up in the air for now, but they are here, and have been here for many generations. I think alchemy would have sprung from the science of chemistry. It's kind of a reverse parallel to our world; a hybrid of magic and chemistry has evolved as a result of applying scientific principals and techniques to magical reagents and components. I like this idea; it seems I'll have a whole new class to replace (kind of ) a couple of classes.
The warrior class, and thief class are pretty much fine as they are. They need no alteration to fit into my campaign world. The barbarian and monk classes likewise need no changes. I think the only customization needed for the barbarian and monk classes will be to give histories for the organizations and clans that give rise to them.
Rangers, on the other hand, may need some surgery. I'm thinking of a nature-class warrior that uses natural ingredients and techniques in alchemy.
I should also point out that, to keep balance in a largely low-magic campaign, alchemy should be much less effective than true magic. You won't get a wish potion, for example. To balance it off, perhaps alchemists can be divided into scholarly NPC-types, and adventuring types who have taken up some measure of weapon or nature survival skill.
The lack of direct, divine intervention also means that paladin isn't really a class, so much as it is a distinction of social or organizational status.
I've made a few more changes than I imagined I would so far, so I'm going to leave it here for now. I'll have to think about these changes to see if they're something players can live with. If you have any opinion, feel free to add a comment.
I was thinking about the potential of magic-using classes. I like the idea of a low-magic campaign world, but the limitations will make it unappealing for a significant portion of players. That said, I want to limit the magic-users' numbers significantly, and add other barriers to balance out the characters in the rest of the low-magic campaign. I'm thinking that arcane magic, in the sense of wizard schools, mage guilds, etc., does not exist anymore. At some point in the distant past, most wizardly knowledge was lost or purged. The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of a war against wizard kings. During that war, the powers-that-be destroyed most magic for the protection of the species; they would not be so stupid or naive as to completely eliminate the existence of a potentially powerful tool. The most useful magics would have been quarantined or sequestered, usable only by the "right people", most likely kings and kingmakers-- people interested in using the tools of magic to advance their own power, but not so foolish as to do it in bold, public ways.
There would be a high-level (politically-speaking) society (or possibly a couple with differing, maybe opposing philosophies) who control magic with the goal of manipulating the course of history. Think of the Skulls with secret magic. This would mean that these people should likely be NPC classes. Unless you're particularly interested in a campaign based around magic and political intrigue... which kind of sounds cool.
Other than these secret shadows, the largest segment of the population has been groomed over the generations to fear and hate magic. The idea of becoming a wizard would be repulsive to them. Anyone who espoused differing philosophies would probably be feared and hated.
The direct impact this has on PCs is that a) there is nowhere one can simply 'learn' magic, and b) whoever does learn magic would be a pariah if it were ever discovered. Basically, this is a world where wizard is a bad word. The study of magic would start with the unearthing of some long-forgotten artifact or grimoire that escaped the purge. If one of these were found, perhaps a dual-class could be taken, given an appropriate amount of time.
To bring magic closer to players, I thought of sorcerers. Casters with innate power could still be born. They would not only be hated and feared, some would be killed by horrified parents (if the baby's curse were visible somehow). Also, given the idea that's now stirring in my brain, which is that alchemists would be this world's 'wizards', a specialized village alchemist would be present at most births to use some kind of potion or oil on a child to detect the presence of the mark of magic. Magically gifted children would then be destroyed or whisked away from their parents. Sorcerers would actually be trained to be useful to the lords of the lands. This is not the kind of service that grants recognition like, say, a knight. These people are slaves, treated like subhumans. Part of their 'training' would be the idea that they are cursed and born part evil. This would be drilled into them, with a sense of self-loathing, along with the knowledge that the only way they can redeem themselves is through faithful service to their lord.
This way, a magic-using class can be taken, but it is limited by role-playing factors.
Please keep in mind that I am thinking of humans only at this point. The other races will be detailed a bit later on, and will likely have different opinions on magic, etc.
This brings me to thinking of other classes of magic-user. Bards spring to mind. I don't think bards would exist as a class in this world, so much as an occupation. Any bard subclass which has no magic use ability would be acceptable, of course. I'll freely admit to not being aware of all the forty million specialty prestige classes out there. Call me a classicist, but I still like my old 2nd Edition, when it comes to D&D. If I can think of a specific alteration to make to bards, I will do it before I put this all together in one final document.
That leaves us with divine magic. I would quite like to eliminate it altogether. I don't want gods to be recognizable entities. I like the idea of having religions more like they are on Earth. No one can prove that gods exist, and take it on faith that they do. Faith is stronger than certainty, in this sort of thing. Religion would then be an organization based on faith, rather than an order in service of an interactive deity.
I find the role-play ideas of this option more attractive, but it does leave us with a big problem: players. What do you do if you don't have someone who can heal? Realism is great in a game, but having your warrior spend three months convalescing after a battle with a giant is a real downer in terms of gameplay.
The idea I mentioned earlier, about having an alchemist-type class active, may be the answer. It would be interesting. It'd be a scholar class with the ability to brew potions, etc., that mimic a number of magical effects. Given the populace's reaction to wizardry, would alchemy flourish or be suppressed? For it to continue to exist, it must have its roots in something other than magic. This is where my idea for the human race would come into play...
Humans aren't from this world. They came here long ago from beyond the stars. That's where my history of science-fiction will come in to the story, as well. The race was brought here ages ago on a space ship. The exact purposes of their transplantation are still up in the air for now, but they are here, and have been here for many generations. I think alchemy would have sprung from the science of chemistry. It's kind of a reverse parallel to our world; a hybrid of magic and chemistry has evolved as a result of applying scientific principals and techniques to magical reagents and components. I like this idea; it seems I'll have a whole new class to replace (kind of ) a couple of classes.
The warrior class, and thief class are pretty much fine as they are. They need no alteration to fit into my campaign world. The barbarian and monk classes likewise need no changes. I think the only customization needed for the barbarian and monk classes will be to give histories for the organizations and clans that give rise to them.
Rangers, on the other hand, may need some surgery. I'm thinking of a nature-class warrior that uses natural ingredients and techniques in alchemy.
I should also point out that, to keep balance in a largely low-magic campaign, alchemy should be much less effective than true magic. You won't get a wish potion, for example. To balance it off, perhaps alchemists can be divided into scholarly NPC-types, and adventuring types who have taken up some measure of weapon or nature survival skill.
The lack of direct, divine intervention also means that paladin isn't really a class, so much as it is a distinction of social or organizational status.
I've made a few more changes than I imagined I would so far, so I'm going to leave it here for now. I'll have to think about these changes to see if they're something players can live with. If you have any opinion, feel free to add a comment.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Comments Enabled
Just a quick note to let anyone interested in so doing know that commenting has now been enabled to readers.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Part 1: Purpose and Style
It's important to note that this campaign setting will be adaptable to many RPG systems. Since I'm not familiar with the latest D&D rules, and prefer the Palladium system, anyway, I'm going to shy away from using specific mention of rules systems. I will use references to classes and elements that are common to most RPGs, in order to give experienced players and DMs a point of reference. My purpose, then, is to create a world, rich in history and possibility for game play in a number of systems.
Since this is to be a setting for ongoing games, I am going to provide a number of sources of potential conflicts, while avoiding a major fantasy staple: The Enemy. Since Tolkien, the concept of one overriding, all-powerful evil who directs the forces of chaos. I find that such a unifying force of evil makes everything too cut and dried. I prefer a bit of moral ambiguity. There's no clear right or wrong, simply differing philosophies.
I also want to make this a low-magic setting, yet keep a history which has rich and powerful magic at its core. The idea of a low-magic campaign world which was once rich in magic gives a few possibilities for adventuring, such as recovering old relics of magic. Adding to that, I'd also like to include elements of high science fiction. Most of these "gimmicks" will be part of the background, providing influence on cultures and society without actually being present for the most part.
The idea, then, is a low-magic campaign world which has been previously shaped by high-magic and mega-science. I've already got a few ideas, but I'll wait until I begin detailing history before putting them forward. Suffice it to say that the landscape, which will span a temperate climate, like Europe and North America, from sub-arctic to sub-tropical, will have physical echoes of the magic and science that have shaped it, giving us some unreal landscape in some parts of the world. These physical "gimmicks", I hope, won't overshadow the kind of realism I want to put into the game.
Realism is going to be a term I use frequently, despite the fantastic nature of the world's origins.
Let's take a look at Rich Burlew's list of 11 basic assumptions which are true of many D&D settings.
Gods... Well, I think that when active gods exist and meddle in human affairs, it adds too much delineation to morality. On Earth, people believe gods exist, and even though there are no spectacular, undeniable manifestations (you know, like Old Testament stuff: ten plagues of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, pillars of fire, etc.), the influence of religion is still felt in most corners of the world. That kind of thing sounds more appealing to me. This gives rise to the very human failing of "interpretation". The same religions that dictate peace and understanding sometimes give rise to horrible atrocities as the texts are interpreted in very subjective manners. This kind of moral ambiguity seems more fun to play, in my opinion. That being the case, I think there may be gods for our world, but if they exist, they are passive and have no direct influence on mortal affairs. This means no magic-wielding clerics or paladins. Paladin and Cleric will be positions within an organization with privileges of rank, but no divine abilities.
Magic is real. Everyone knows it. Magic is responsible for some of the peculiarities of the world. Magic seems to have disappeared, through. The ancient magics have faded from the world. The knowledge has been lost, or purged, perhaps. Th idea of a war against wizards some time in the distant past sounds cool. It would make the appearance of magic a frightening thing.
I'll finish this after lunch...
That was good.
I like the idea of magic being a feared force, without it being technically evil. I'll try to evolve that idea as this project progresses.
Opposite alignments aren't enough to generate a realistic conflict. Ideologies, religions, nations clash, not "good" and "evil". Good and Evil people can often follow the same set of principles, as with my example back up there in religion. Good and Evil Christians have both existed. It makes more sense to have some more careful plotting of conflict rather than just bad and good.
The wilderness classes will largely remain as they are in regular systems. The only difference will be the druid classes. As of yet, nature isn't a force capable of granting supernatural powers. Maybe there's something else there, but at this point, no druids.
There will be some monsters roaming the landscape, but mostly in the unpopulated areas between kingdoms or countries. Very few of them will be intelligent. I'd like to have some unnatural creatures without having too many intelligent races contending with each other.
Arcane magic... I'm not sure where to go with this yet. There was magic before, but much of it has been lost or destroyed. It remains likely that arcane magic still works, but access to it is practically nonexistent, meaning that the practitioners of magic would be exceedingly rare. This doe not mean "rare, except for every adventuring party". I almost think mages must be NPCs at this point, to preserve their rarity. I'll have to figure that out as we go along.
Creatures from other dimension may exist. Perhaps the ancient, lost culture of wizards disappeared into another dimension to avoid some great catastrophe. Given the idea I have for geography (which I'll detail later), this may have some merit. If they influence the campaign world, it must be with extreme secrecy, given the fear of magic. Other than that, demons and angels, etc., may have limited lace in our world. Perhaps, if they exist, they have long been locked away, perhaps something to do with the sundering of magic from our world.
Magic items must not be readily available. Not only for game balance (mostly non-magic characters wandering about with little or no defense against magic), but because I could never stand the "magic shop". Making magic so commonplace takes some of the, well, magic out of magic. It must be rare and mysterious, both wonderful and terrible. While there may be no immediate, inherent consequences of magic, the fear it generates among the general population would be a terrible backlash. It becomes a roleplaying consequence, rather than a gameplay mechanic. I much prefer anything tat puts roleplaying, rather than roll-playing, at the forefront.
Well, I think this is a good start. In the next part, I'll tackle classes.
Since this is to be a setting for ongoing games, I am going to provide a number of sources of potential conflicts, while avoiding a major fantasy staple: The Enemy. Since Tolkien, the concept of one overriding, all-powerful evil who directs the forces of chaos. I find that such a unifying force of evil makes everything too cut and dried. I prefer a bit of moral ambiguity. There's no clear right or wrong, simply differing philosophies.
I also want to make this a low-magic setting, yet keep a history which has rich and powerful magic at its core. The idea of a low-magic campaign world which was once rich in magic gives a few possibilities for adventuring, such as recovering old relics of magic. Adding to that, I'd also like to include elements of high science fiction. Most of these "gimmicks" will be part of the background, providing influence on cultures and society without actually being present for the most part.
The idea, then, is a low-magic campaign world which has been previously shaped by high-magic and mega-science. I've already got a few ideas, but I'll wait until I begin detailing history before putting them forward. Suffice it to say that the landscape, which will span a temperate climate, like Europe and North America, from sub-arctic to sub-tropical, will have physical echoes of the magic and science that have shaped it, giving us some unreal landscape in some parts of the world. These physical "gimmicks", I hope, won't overshadow the kind of realism I want to put into the game.
Realism is going to be a term I use frequently, despite the fantastic nature of the world's origins.
Let's take a look at Rich Burlew's list of 11 basic assumptions which are true of many D&D settings.
- Humans dominate the world.
- Gods are real and active.
- Magic is real and can be used by anyone who learns it.
- Opposite alignments fight each other.
- Arcane and divine magic are inherently separate.
- The wilderness is separate enough from the cities to justify 3 wilderness-oriented classes.
- There are hundreds of intelligent species of creatures, but 99% of them are considered "monsters".
- Arcane magic is impersonal and requires no "deal" with a supernatural being.
- Beings from other planes of existence try to influence the mortal world, usually on behalf of gods/alignments.
- Magic items are assumed to be available, and game balance proceeds from that assumption.
- Magic is consequence-free.
Gods... Well, I think that when active gods exist and meddle in human affairs, it adds too much delineation to morality. On Earth, people believe gods exist, and even though there are no spectacular, undeniable manifestations (you know, like Old Testament stuff: ten plagues of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, pillars of fire, etc.), the influence of religion is still felt in most corners of the world. That kind of thing sounds more appealing to me. This gives rise to the very human failing of "interpretation". The same religions that dictate peace and understanding sometimes give rise to horrible atrocities as the texts are interpreted in very subjective manners. This kind of moral ambiguity seems more fun to play, in my opinion. That being the case, I think there may be gods for our world, but if they exist, they are passive and have no direct influence on mortal affairs. This means no magic-wielding clerics or paladins. Paladin and Cleric will be positions within an organization with privileges of rank, but no divine abilities.
Magic is real. Everyone knows it. Magic is responsible for some of the peculiarities of the world. Magic seems to have disappeared, through. The ancient magics have faded from the world. The knowledge has been lost, or purged, perhaps. Th idea of a war against wizards some time in the distant past sounds cool. It would make the appearance of magic a frightening thing.
I'll finish this after lunch...
That was good.
I like the idea of magic being a feared force, without it being technically evil. I'll try to evolve that idea as this project progresses.
Opposite alignments aren't enough to generate a realistic conflict. Ideologies, religions, nations clash, not "good" and "evil". Good and Evil people can often follow the same set of principles, as with my example back up there in religion. Good and Evil Christians have both existed. It makes more sense to have some more careful plotting of conflict rather than just bad and good.
The wilderness classes will largely remain as they are in regular systems. The only difference will be the druid classes. As of yet, nature isn't a force capable of granting supernatural powers. Maybe there's something else there, but at this point, no druids.
There will be some monsters roaming the landscape, but mostly in the unpopulated areas between kingdoms or countries. Very few of them will be intelligent. I'd like to have some unnatural creatures without having too many intelligent races contending with each other.
Arcane magic... I'm not sure where to go with this yet. There was magic before, but much of it has been lost or destroyed. It remains likely that arcane magic still works, but access to it is practically nonexistent, meaning that the practitioners of magic would be exceedingly rare. This doe not mean "rare, except for every adventuring party". I almost think mages must be NPCs at this point, to preserve their rarity. I'll have to figure that out as we go along.
Creatures from other dimension may exist. Perhaps the ancient, lost culture of wizards disappeared into another dimension to avoid some great catastrophe. Given the idea I have for geography (which I'll detail later), this may have some merit. If they influence the campaign world, it must be with extreme secrecy, given the fear of magic. Other than that, demons and angels, etc., may have limited lace in our world. Perhaps, if they exist, they have long been locked away, perhaps something to do with the sundering of magic from our world.
Magic items must not be readily available. Not only for game balance (mostly non-magic characters wandering about with little or no defense against magic), but because I could never stand the "magic shop". Making magic so commonplace takes some of the, well, magic out of magic. It must be rare and mysterious, both wonderful and terrible. While there may be no immediate, inherent consequences of magic, the fear it generates among the general population would be a terrible backlash. It becomes a roleplaying consequence, rather than a gameplay mechanic. I much prefer anything tat puts roleplaying, rather than roll-playing, at the forefront.
Well, I think this is a good start. In the next part, I'll tackle classes.
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