Hello, friends:
This is my first post on this wonderful site.
My campaign is called Westaven, and that name also graces the principal continent whereupon the action takes place. The campaign's site is here (http://www.ormonds.net/rpg/westaven/index.php/Main_Page), and below is the general description of the setting:
"Pollexia, one of six medieval countries comprising the greater continent of Westaven, is an aggressive nation currently attempting to recreate the ancient, imperial greatness of its heritage. As such she is constantly at war with her neighbors, and hence she is divided into a number of strongholds, each with a lord to muster troop and coin. Will Pollexia succeed? Is she right to even try? Can any one person--or group of persons--impact her future?..."
This is a low power, "low-fantasy" GURPS campaign, meaning very little magic, sword & sorcery action, or dungeon crawling. After almost 2 years of weekly OpenRPG play the characters have run into no non-human races (although there is 1 minority ethnicity), and they have been attacked by one tree & a scad of skeletal guards; that's it. We're much more about character drama and realism.
Another peculiarity of my campaign (at least, I think it is unusual) is that I have the "plot" for national events already laid out, and characters will either participate in these events or experience their effects. Mainly I like to face PCs with morally ambiguous situations and let them sift their way into action. Dilemmas range from religious to social to ethical.
Take care, and thanks again for this great site!
Pyrandon, very nice site you have! I especially like your General Information page on religions in Westhaven. I think you succinctly wrote a summary of how religions in your world, and in many fantasy worlds, differ from how religions are viewed in our world.
Religions is one of my biggest fascinations about building a world and yours are very detailed and well thought out.
I love the site. Very well organized. I also like your character-driven take on the campaign. I'll have to take a deeper look in the future.
Ravenspath, thank you for your kind appraisal--especially of my religion page write-up, into which I put much thought. Religion being one of my passions (and one of my BAs), I took great care to write up the rites and beliefs of the historical pagans--not just of my or others' fantasy worlds. This notion feeds one of the premises of Westaven: what if the Middle Ages in Europe had onset without the rise of Christianity? Along with my players I thematically explore this avenue--along with others--continually. I have never enjoyed the way most RPG worlds (including my own, in the past) offhandedly introduce a tremendous number of divinities and then expect medieval "business" go on as usual. Religion comprises the most important thing to most people throughout most of the ages; changing it would completely change the world, just as a landscape seen through a stained glass window looks differently than through a dirty window, a cracked window, a ripple window, a telescopic lens, a mirror... Hence, I'm trying to honestly and critically assess a pagan Middle Ages. Odd, but I enjoy that kind of thing. Color me wacko! :)
I appreciate hearing more comments & suggestions from everyone here at the CBG! Thank you so much.
Pyrandon,
I've been going through your site some more and I have a few questions.
The first is (and I know nothing about wikis other than they are very cool) is how did you set your wiki up so that other's cannot modify it? Is that a normal feature on wikis as I thought there were designed to allow others to edit. I want to use a wiki as you have don't understand enough about them.
Your house rules for magic are very indepth which is impressive. It seems that per your comments most mages only have spells they start with and then it takes hours upon hours to learn new spells. Is that correct? That is an interesting way to limit to the magic of the world while making sure there is still some around. And I gather they can create their own spells rather than having to find one to copy. Very nice. I never understood that part of D&D.
Your write up of the OAKS is amazing. You have a very detailed history, lots of fluff and all the crunch there too. I am somewhat familiar with GURPS but the lens you mention at the bottom of the page and then in the house rules page are unfamiliar to me. Can you explain?
What did you use for your city maps? They are very nicely done.
Again, very nicely done. I will continue to watch your site for more information.
OK, I've been waiting for Pyrandon to reply but since he hasn't (bad GM, bad, bad GM :D ) I'll field the questions.
Quote from: RavenspathPyrandon,
I've been going through your site some more and I have a few questions.
The first is (and I know nothing about wikis other than they are very cool) is how did you set your wiki up so that other's cannot modify it? Is that a normal feature on wikis as I thought there were designed to allow others to edit. I want to use a wiki as you have don't understand enough about them.
If you want help setting up a Wiki like I did for Westaven--I'm a player, GM (for a different campaign) and the tech guy for our group--it's not too difficult. Feel free to email me and I'd be happy to help you.
Quote from: RavenspathYour house rules for magic are very indepth which is impressive. It seems that per your comments most mages only have spells they start with and then it takes hours upon hours to learn new spells. Is that correct? That is an interesting way to limit to the magic of the world while making sure there is still some around. And I gather they can create their own spells rather than having to find one to copy. Very nice. I never understood that part of D&D.
The general premise for magic in Westaven is defined in GURPS Fantasy (http://www.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=SJG01-1001) on page 18 for Intrinsic Magic and pages 43 and 44 for the normal and low aspects of mana. As I was the only one playing a mage (still am actually), Pyrandon allowed me to flesh out the magic rules. You are correct that magic takes hours and hours of study and practice. We had to provide some way for mages' to learn new spells without the aid of a teacher or books (study using teachers and books follows the normal study hours rule) and so I adapted GURPS' basic study rules and added the requirement for Thaumatology rolls to add that bit of chance to the process.
Quote from: RavenspathYour write up of the OAKS is amazing. You have a very detailed history, lots of fluff and all the crunch there too. I am somewhat familiar with GURPS but the lens you mention at the bottom of the page and then in the house rules page are unfamiliar to me. Can you explain?
NastyGuns, another player, did most of the leg work (if not all) on the OAKs (Order of Aenean Knights). Lenses are basically miniature templates that can be added to any character. If Gereth, my mage, decided to become a member of the OAKs, I would have to add the Base Knight Lens (http://www.ormonds.net/rpg/westaven/index.php/House_Rules/OAK_Lenses#Rank_0_.28Aenean_Knight_Base.29_.5B0_points.5D) to his character sheet along with its attendant Advantages and Disadvantages.
Quote from: RavenspathWhat did you use for your city maps? They are very nicely done.
He likes Photoshop and actually discusses how he does it at The Cartographers' Guild (http://forum.cartographersguild.com/index.php).
Quote from: RavenspathAgain, very nicely done. I will continue to watch your site for more information.
Pyrandon's a great GM, provides us with fabulous material and allowing us to help flesh out the game world (when appropriate) is a stroke of brilliance. It cuts down on his prep time and allows us to be much more familiar with the game world.
I'm rather impressed as well--I'd love to play in a campaign like that to be honest, it looks a lot of fun. At some point I may set up a wiki as well when I have maps and more information.