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.

Comments Enabled

Just a quick note to let anyone interested in so doing know that commenting has now been enabled to readers.

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.

1. Humans dominate the world.
2. Gods are real and active.
3. Magic is real and can be used by anyone who learns it.
4. Opposite alignments fight each other.
5. Arcane and divine magic are inherently separate.
6. The wilderness is separate enough from the cities to justify 3 wilderness-oriented classes.
7. There are hundreds of intelligent species of creatures, but 99% of them are considered "monsters".
8. Arcane magic is impersonal and requires no "deal" with a supernatural being.
9. Beings from other planes of existence try to influence the mortal world, usually on behalf of gods/alignments.
10. Magic items are assumed to be available, and game balance proceeds from that assumption.
11. Magic is consequence-free.

Well, as Rich points out, most players are human. It just follows that it's easier for your human payers to identify with a human world. I won't break that particular tradition just for the sake of being different. In fact, I'm really going to limit the availability of races. Basically, there will e two or three sentient races that dominate the world, with the possibility of a few extras, should I be inclined to add them.

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.

Genesis

(Note: this project is inspired by Rich Burlew's The New World campaign creation process. You can see the evolution of his campaign setting at http://www.giantitp.com/Gaming.html, down near the bottom of the page. I will be using a similar process, though not pilfering his ideas, no matter how amazing they are.)

to be continued