Here is what I've come up with so far. There is an Old World and a fronter, much like Europe when they discovered the New World. Many of the nations are waring for the right to exploit the resorces that the New World has to offer. (This is for fantisy gamers that prefer a Human based campain.)There are many different cultures and places to visit, conquer and explore.
In the New World it is a human minority setting, where humans are the new comers and all the monster races (any creature that is not human, to include elves and other player frendy races) are learning to deal with them.
What I would realy like is for feedback on what should be expanded upon and what is cracked. In short I would like to have others of a like vein to Email me for a more indepth listing of what I've done and what it still needs.
This duality between a human-only (or is it human-dominant) "Old World" and a more diverse "New World" where humans are foreign colonists in the minority is an important idea in my own setting. In my own setting, I have chosen to focus exclusively on the "New World," so I decided that travel between the two can be done only by magic techniques that are now lost. For my own work, I'm more interested in humans' struggles to deal with their new surroundings and others' efforts to deal with their presence than I am in their world of origin.
There's not a lot of detail here yet, so I'm interested in hearing what you plan to do with it. How do people travel between the Old World and the New one? How long does it take? Is it dangerous? These sorts of questions are going to affect how isolated the two worlds feel, how quickly news travels, what kinds of goods and new crops get transmitted back and forth, et cetera.
In the Old World, you'll have new goods from the newly-discovered lands showing up. Maybe new crops, maybe new inventions. Europe got corn, tomatoes, tobacco, and all sorts of other fun things from the Americas, and those items were totally new and novel discoveries. You'd also have more exciting new items than vegetables (say, high-quality dwarven tools, for example.) You may also have nonhumans who have traveled back to the Old World (voluntarily? involuntarily?) and are treated as curiosities. Maybe the Old World is dealing with strong dwarven laborers, wise elven sages, malicious goblin shamans wielding never-before-seen types of magic, and all sorts of other new things.
In the New World, I'm assuming the humans are looking for ways to set up colonies, the better to capitalize on all this new real estate and its bounties? A very important question might be: "Where are they getting their land?" Conquering indigenous people, trading for it, etc? Are they getting impossibly good deals, or are the natives savvy enough to cheat them out of their money and trade goods, still keeping the best locations for themselves? How does trade between the humans and the natives work? Who needs what from whom?
P.S. - Welcome to the site. I'm always glad to see new folks register, and doubly-glad when they jump right in and start posting their ideas. :yumm:
This could get interesting, due to the fact that I'm at the preset time concentrating on the human-dominant part of the world. As for travel to the frontier is fairly simple one can take a ship and if they are lucky enough to reach the new world, in this instance it is set up much like the Americas of the years of 1500 to 1700. This is including central and south Americas. As for magic what I'm using is D&D 3.5 with a few twists. One of the major drawbacks of magic is something I like to call Paradox. (This controls how many powerful spells a magic user or a person that can make magical items can make or cast in a given time. If you are interested in a further explanation of how I've got this working please ask.) But yes a magic user of sufficient level can teleport from one side of the world to the other. And of course any intelligent species that can fly knows about the new continent.
To go from one side of the known world to the other I've set a limit of three months travel, this is about the limit of time that a ship that is somewhat sea worthy is able to spend out at sea without resupply. This is just about two weeks longer than the trip across the ocean to the new land. Now as for the culture angle, in the old world all of the monster races are rather docile and are seen as a novelty, while in the new world they are the native creatures that the humans are displacing, (much like the American Indian). Here the entire gambit of relations exist from friendly to outright hostile.
I apologize for skimming your questions so lightly but like all the other interesting things you have gotten I'm not sure where to start. One thing that may help is to ask one question at a time and maybe we can come up with some good sound plots from it.
Here is a sample.
Toll-Holoth
Once a minor jewel of the barons. Toll Holoth was the center of a bustling shipping and trade industry. Here, from lands all around the Sea of Gearnat, shops carried their goods. The market squares were filled with foreign merchants. Itinerant priests exhorted the common folk from street corners and well-founded missions built lavish temples.
But that was then, before the dark tide of death and destruction swelled out of the hills'"the murderous bands of humanoids. Toll-Holoth was too rich a target to be ignored and although it resisted, five times repulsing the attackers with bloody losses, it could not stand. On the sixth assault, the gates were sundered and the walls breached. A whirlwind of destruction entered the town. Lightning, fires, and hail mixed with the savage lusts of the attackers. Toll-Holoth burned and its few remaining people were slaughtered.
But eventually, the chiefs of the tribes met in council. The wisest of them spoke, describing the great victory they had won and praising the warriors of all the clans. But, he went on, their deeds would be dust without profit if they did not occupy Toll-Holoth and reopen it to men folk. They must have a place to trade and men to trade with. There was outrage and anger from some on the council, but the old chief was prepared. At his quiet signal, those dissenting were removed and chiefs more amenable to his ideas put in their place.
This then is the Toll-Holoth of today. Much remains in ruins, a legacy of the great conquest. But slowly the city is being rebuilt and repopulated. The city is now ruled by a coalition of tribes, split by factions and blood feuds. Over them, binding them together in fear is the chosen of Gruumish. Humans have slowly returned: none of the original settlers, but evil men with evil reputations. Half-humans freely mingle with full-blood humans and humanoids. Justice is unknown and the laws are simple, a strong sword arm being judge, jury, and executioner, a dark alley becoming an execution ground.
Still, the lure of trade and profit draws men here. But it is a much different trade from what it once was - an evil trade dealing heavily in misery and hardship. Many slaves pass through this port to stand on the block in its markets, many drugs find eager buyers, and filter their way into the peaceful lands causing decay and destruction. Many come to buy. And all are under the protection of the Lord.
Here is where I start to get into trouble, this is what I have so far on one of the major citys of the Humans.
You have come so far to see the great walled city. And so far you cannot even see the wall. Matter of fact it looks like a valley full of hovels surrounding a large castle. Not an impressive sight for the city of wonders. This group of wood frame houses is suppose to contain three of the greatest wonders of the known world?
Looking at this crowded valley you now understand why there has not been a more than a half dozen trees spotted for the last week.
One of the wonders is called the Pit, one of the greatest coliseums ever, Large enough to have quarter scale naval battles in a flooded arenas. It is said that there is a red dragon that is used in some of the beast encounters. Here there are exotic animals from all over the world both enslaved and of their own free will fighting in the games. It is said that there are large bets on outcomes of some of the most popular of the coliseums fighters.
The second of the world's wonders is simply known as the Brothel; here any exotic fantasy can become a reality. That is if you have enough gold. The madam that runs this is simply known as the Rose, who or what she is a great mystery. One of the few facts that are known is that she is waited on hand and foot by four loyal and devoted mutes.
The third of the great wonders is the temple of The Light and Dark, where in one crypt there is the bones of a god! Said to have died from wounds suffered during the battle against the Dreaded Old Ones. Imagine the forces unleashed in a conflict that could kill a god! Supposedly mortally wounded in the final conflict, lying there slowly having your life diminish over a millennia. It is one of the holiest places on earth. The other one is written about in the chronicles that are housed in the temple itself. One of the ravings of the god as it lay dieing was to beware of the place, which is there no more.
What it is based off of is Santuary of AD&D, what I would like some feed back on is how detailed to make this city. Then if it is going to be the center of humanity then how crupt should I make it? When most of the PC's that play in my games prefer to play non human charicters what would be the advantages and disadvantages?