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.