Quote"Three Worlds"? Stat Block
System: D&D 4E/Mutants and Masterminds (both house ruled)
Theme/Tone: Grand adventuring in a big world, organic world.
Inspirations: Lord of the Rings, D&D, Future Earth, Western and Eastern Mythology.
Genre: High Fantasy
Technology Influence: Late Medieval to Early Renaissance: Iron and Steel weapons and armor, Stone fortresses still in effect, cannons and muskets are new, and age of exploration-style wooden ships.
Magic Influence: Magic is common, Spellcasters are uncommon but not rare. Magical Rituals are as simple to do as cooking, where one can be better than others but anyone can follow the instructions. Actual casters who can fire off "magic missile" till the cows come home are more rare. Magic is codified within the five elements (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Aether), which enter into many facets of life.
Ecology/Races: The existence of six major civilized races other than humans make humans less omnipresent than on Earth. Much of the world is pristine wilderness, protected by powerful spirits and populated by uncivilized races (some more savage than others). The flora and fauna of the world are quite different from those on modern Earth.
Religion: Largely shamanistic and animistic, with some powerful spirits being elevated to god status. Few gods have monotheistic-like churches, such as the churches of the Knights. Gods are spirits who are worshiped to receive their blessings and guidance, while Demons are spirits who are worshiped to avoid or redirect their destructive actions.
Planar Cosmology: Two-Planes, Terran (the material plane) and The Spirit World (home of gods, demons, and all manner of fey and the spirits of the dead).
Geography: An entire world, the size of planet Earth. The majority of the current setting takes place on a large continent the size of Asia and a smaller island continent the size of Australia.
Places to start/Points of Interest: The Holylands, the home of the renaissance; The Capitol Hunerst, with its grand mile-high spires.
Links: To be added later.
10 Words: Epic in scope and tone, yet "realistic" in its nature.
The italic points are contradictory, which is why I have started this thread. Long ago, before 4th Edition D&D in fact, I had decided upon a 3 plane setting for the core of my setting. Originally, these three worlds were meant to be three different settings within the same cosmology, with a magical world of the fey, a material world of swordsmen and sorcerers, and a shadowy world of darkness and death. I do not think Wizards was directly copying me, in fact I consider it to be more of a case of "great minds think alike" since I was basing it off of common fantasy tropes. For a while, I was running with it, and decided to keep it as I had started it.
It has been ten years since I started working on my setting, and probably five years since its current form was established. But as I have done more reading and thought about it more and more, I am not entirely sure that I want to have three different planes. I now think I could easily merge the planes of Spirit and the Dead. Nature Spirits and the spirits of dead mortals could reside in the same world. Or I could keep them separate.
If I merge them, then I clearly need to change the name of my setting.
What would the strengths be of having the Spirit World and the Land of the Dead as separate places? What would be the benefits of merging them? I need a few more cooks for my pot.
Well I don't see any strengths or weaknesses in having them merged or not. It really depends on the idea you have of your Spirits and your Deads. Personally I'd merge them, because it might get easier in the future to explain certain phenomenas, but that's just me.
Maybe I could give you better suggestions if you told me what does the Dead do/become when they die (and get into the Land of the Deads) and same for Spirits. What are spirits, are they actually cosmically/materially real or are they the fruit of pure humane imagination. (Or not so humane)
If I were you, I'd merge them. Combining the two allows you to really flesh out a distinct and separate world without having to divide your focus between them. Flighty nature spirits and the dismal unliving can all be one in the same; in fact, it actually adds a lot of character to them. In fact, it could almost be a mock heaven, what with it having gods and the dead all in one place, but it doesn't need to be the shining example heaven is usually compared to. It could be a fun take on the idea that "heaven" isn't all that great in some spots.
Name-wise, Two Worlds has been done to death in video games and RPGs, but I don't have a good grasp of the setting as is. I'm also terrible with names :P.
Spirits are cosmically real, and often materially real. Everything has a spirit, be it a rock, flower, tree, river, mountain, or ocean. Spirits all have power, but not all spirits are sapient (and not all powerful spirits are sapient either). The spirit of a mountain is usually stronger than the spirit of a rock, but if that rock was the sling-stone that slayed Goliath and is worshiped by generations after generations of people, then the rock's spirit could be stronger than the mountain. Spirits range from the small (pixies, which are flower spirits), to medium (dryads are spirits of trees), to large (the Stag who protects the Kinoryn forest), to the truely grand (Ivenodia, the dragon aspect of Aether).
As for the dead, the world is a world of reincarnation. Usually, the dead die, travel to the realm of the dead for some time before they are called back into mortal service as a new life (there may be some sort of limited spiritual energy). Most dead leave an echo of themselves, an ancestral spirit that may be bound to some place important to their life (the site of their death, their home, their grave, or their favorite place in the world). Some of these echos were from people so important that they become deities themselves (the spirits of the Five Knights' swords are inhabited by a spirit made of the combined spiritual energy of their wielders through the ages). Others guard ancestral sites like temples or homes important to their families. Some guide their descendants. Others are consumed by darkness and become wraiths, shadows, and ghosts.
Oh, then I don't see a reason for them to be separate. Merge them! Hehe.
I like it, too.
I agree, merging is good. As for a new name, well, as stated above Two Worlds is a bit rubbish, so a complete change is needed. What sort of name do you want to go for, a phrase-in-english type (Forgotten Realms, Jade Stage, Clockwork Jungle) or a fantasy-proper-noun type (Eberron, Celtricia, Cad Goleor)? Either way it seems like it needs to be something pretty grand-sounding due to the scale of your setting.
Consider them merged. I think I want some type of phrase name, since the setting is these two worlds, not one or the other. The setting itself focuses on law vs. chaos and civilization vs. wilderness ...
Off the top of my head:
the Wild Laws
Crumbling Legacy
Spiritgrounds
Spiritmeet
Two Pillars
there are definitely some misses, but perhaps som partial or close hits? Rip, tear, cannibalize, combine.
I'm thinking something with "Horizons" in it. It captures the scope I'm going for. Someone here once had a "Shattered Horizons" setting, so not that. Not "Forgotten", or even "Mysterious" ...
Two Pillars is real cool. It or something like it is definitely in the maybe pile.
Twin Horizons?
That has a nice feel to it. It would end up making me have to work on the Spirit World more, instead of having it come off as a cosmological thing. But that might not be bad, and would give the setting more uniqueness.
Otherwise perhaps distant or faded horizons?
Endless Horizons?
Quote from: Xeviat
Endless Horizons?
I like it - gets the Horizons things in that you wanted and a good name for an RPG with adventure setting.
Now to get a group that can get together more regularly than my current group so I can run something long term. Might have to do a PbP or a irc game ...