The Campaign Builder's Guild

As you all know, I've been doing much thinking about the underlying structure of the world, magic, and the self.  I am now to the point where I will begin peicing together the setting.  I will continue to update this post as well as the following posts as material is developed, but feel freet to post your comments here.  For the sake of minimizing walls of text, I"ll make liberal use of spoiler boxes.

What is <needs a name>?
Just beyond the pulsating effulgence of the fire's light, in that flickering twilight where your eyes strain to catch glimpses of some evanescent shape in the night, something catches the eye.  Somewhere across the moors, an owl cries out, or was it warning blast from an elf's horn?  Hairs stand at attention as general chills advance up the spine and beads of sweat poise themselves on the brow.  White knuckles rap around and warm the leather hilt of the sword as eyes dart to and fro.  An itch assaults the eye and the omen is made painfully clear '" something bad is about to happen.

Welcome to <needs a name>, a world cast into darkness by the downfall past civilizations and the loss of knowledge, a world where trolls and ogres haunt the woods and goblins threaten to steal babies for their stews, a world where even a lowly slave can fight his way to fame, freedom, and glory, a world of myth, legend, superstition, and magic where fairytales come to life.

Themes
Exploration & Discovery
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Himself
Religion vs. State
Knowledge is Power
Power Corrupts
Tradition vs. Innovation
The Glory Road is paved with pointy rocks

Influences
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Serial Experiments Lain
Beowulf
Grimm's Fairytales
Various Works by H. P. Lovecraft
British, Celtic, Germanic, and Norse Myth and Folklore
The Barsoom Novels by Edgar Rice Boroughs

Game System (Because soemone will inevitibly ask)
GURPS

 [spoiler=1. History][/b][/color]
 [ic=GM Notes]Humans did not originate in this part of the world.  The first humans to arrive in this region sailed here from the original home of Man and settled the southern reaches of known world.  There, they encounterd the ancient giants whose Cyclopean civilization spread across the land.  

It should be noted that this information has been lost to the current inhabitants of the world and a variety of creation myths have taken its place.
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 [spoiler=2. Geography & Climate][/b][/color]
The known world consists of several large landmasses whose total area is similar to that of Australia.  The two primary islands are seperated by a channel-like sea and surrounded by many islands of varying size.  The western island also contains two inland seas that connect through each other to the central sea.

The land is a mix of forests, tundra, and grasslands scattered across rolling hills, mountains, cliffs, and plains.  Some regions have deep fjords carved into them while others are dotted with lakes.  The land is not without its share of bogs, fens, moors, marshes, and heaths, however.

The climate ranges from subarctic in the northern reaches to mild temperate in the south.  Waters moderate temperatures near the coasts and create cyclic winds that bring moisture to and from the world.

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 [spoiler=3. Governance][/b][/color][/spoiler]


 [spoiler=4. Economy][/b][/color][/spoiler]

 [spoiler=5. Infrastructure][/b][/color][/spoiler]

 [spoiler=6. Demographics][/b][/color][/spoiler]

 [spoiler=7. Technology][/b][/color][/spoiler]

 [spoiler=8. Culture][/b][/color][/spoiler]

Incidentally, in case no one noticed, this setting is in need of a name.  I'll update everything with names once one is chosen.  Thanks.  :)

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>>The known world consists of several large landmasses whose total area is similar to that of Australia. The two primary islands are seperated by a channel-like sea and surrounded by many islands of varying size. The western island also contains two inland seas that connect through each other to the central sea.

With so much water and so little land, will aquatic adventures and creatures play a large part of the world?

That would be an interesting facet to add to a world; few worlds focus on the water, and thus far yours seems to have a grand variety of watery and semi-watery biomes.

Hmmm... now that's a tough one. :D

While I'm not going to throw some names pulled from my mind (or an online random name generator :P) I can offer some suggestions:

* Name of the world (I mean the planet/plane/etc.) itself (as in my own setting, "Aeryl")
* Name of an imagined or real metaphysical figure, some god/dragon/etc. (as in "Eberron")
* Short phrase describing a imagined or real property of the world (as in "The Forgotten Realms")
* Name of one of civilization's accomplishments in your world (as in "Urbis")
* Name of a special place or event in your world (as in "Babylon 5")
* Name of a special (dominant or hidden) organization in your world (as in "Mage")
* Name of the prominent or dominant or most important species in your world (as in "Werewolf")

Quote from: Raven BloodmoonWhat is <needs a name>?
Just beyond the pulsating effulgence of the fire's light, in that flickering twilight where your eyes strain to catch glimpses of some evanescent shape in the night, something catches the eye.  Somewhere across the moors, an owl cries out, or was it warning blast from an elf's horn?  Hairs stand at attention as general chills advance up the spine and beads of sweat poise themselves on the brow.  White knuckles rap around and warm the leather hilt of the sword as eyes dart to and fro.  An itch assaults the eye and the omen is made painfully clear '" something bad is about to happen.

This is a very good introduction. The language evokes a strong athmosphere and stimulates the imagination. Definitely sparked my interest to the setting :)

QuoteBritish, Celtic, Germanic, and Norse Myth and Folklore

Out of curiosity, why the "Baltic Fantasy" part in the title of this thread? Your stated influences seem to suggest more of an Atlantic (Celto-Germanic) feel.

Overall, I think you have the potential for good stuff here. I like the Dark Ages theme when it's done well.

You could also just use some phrase that sort of evokes the feeling of the setting ("Jade Stage", "Memory Fading", "Cadaverous Earth" etc.)

Quote from: Ra-Tiel* Name of the world (I mean the planet/plane/etc.) itself (as in my own setting, "Aeryl")
* Name of an imagined or real metaphysical figure, some god/dragon/etc. (as in "Eberron")
* Short phrase describing a imagined or real property of the world (as in "The Forgotten Realms")
* Name of one of civilization's accomplishments in your world (as in "Urbis")
* Name of a special place or event in your world (as in "Babylon 5")
* Name of a special (dominant or hidden) organization in your world (as in "Mage")
* Name of the prominent or dominant or most important species in your world (as in "Werewolf")

This is a very good introduction. The language evokes a strong athmosphere and stimulates the imagination. Definitely sparked my interest to the setting[/quote]Out of curiosity, why the "Baltic Fantasy" part in the title of this thread? Your stated influences seem to suggest more of an Atlantic (Celto-Germanic) feel.[/quote]not[/i] line up with the Spirits in the Material World post; even the most accurate ones.  At best, a cult might form around a particularly powerful spirit, but even that is akin to describing the Mona Lisa by examining one corner of it under an electron microscope.

Thank you all for your support.  I'm heartened that this seems to be a path worth walking.  I may be slow updating it as I want to give it a lot of thought.  I'd like to do a good and proper job on cultures and history for once.  NEed to cover previous migrations, cultural interchanges.  Figure out what actually happenned in history and then how it's been distorted by lack of records and interceding generations.  Need to flesh out what technologies are around and were around.  Need to probably work up a few naming languages and dialects.  Should make a more detailed map than my initial hand sketch.  But first, wriggle your big toe....

I think you mean the British Isles, not the English Isles.... Anyway, it looks to be a promising setting. Dark-ages style fantasy has always held a certain appeal for me, certainly more than heavily high-medieval influenced worlds.

Yeah, Brittish Isles, sorry.  I'm working a graveyard shift and am tired.  I'll be going to the library again today, so hopefully some more goodies will be up soon.  I will say, I can understand why it's called the Dark Ages - even now, it's a pain to find infromation on the times.

I chose Dark Ages style fantasy because for all the musings I read on here and elsewhere, I don't think I've ever seen it suggested.  Considering its proximity to traditional fantasy, I am surprised that the closest thing is usually just a viking game.  Considering the prevalence of beliefs in magic and monsters, I figured it'd not be much of a stretch and it's make any adventurer's deeds seem that much more mythic.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know much about dark age architecture or civil technologies?  I'd hate to assume they have something they don't.  Heck, what were the crops they grew?  Aside from wheat for bread and beer, had they started growing beans yet?

Lastly, while I'm still bogged down with research, are there any pitfalls or problems anyone has encountered with such a setting before?

One pitfall would be falling back to popular stereotypes (*), either because you failed to find the information you need, or because all you found was a source that perpetuates those stereotypes. There's lots of outdated information, faulty information, and outright misinformation about history in general. The 'dark ages' seem to be particularly vulnerable to misinformation, perhaps because of a lack of reliable information to dispel myths.

[note=*] However, stereotypes aren't always bad. Sometimes there's actually some truth behind them - and sometimes they're just plain more interesting than the real deal.[/note]Another pitfall would be relying on research too much. When building a stand-alone fantasy setting, the goal should not be replicating history with added magic & monsters (unless that's what you really want, I guess). If you need to change something or make stuff up to make the setting better, go for it. You'll probably have to anyway, due to the nature of source material. Fill in the gaps, change a thing here and another there. Add your own twists. Mix and match (with moderation). Getting the world to invoke the appropiate "feel" is much more important than having the people eat exactly the same foods as were eaten in 7th century England.

Yep though if he's anything like me he'll want to know anyways. So I shall indulge as best I can.

[spoiler=lots of blah blah]
Architecture of the time was largely wood/cob brick/straw along with anything else the common man could get his hands on. Stone was rarer than it had been in the Roman Era though it could still be found wherever someone managed to steal from Roman ruins/pay enough money to get it quarried. In feel the buildings of the time followed the architecture of those that supplanted the Romans. Lombard and Moorish style buildings for example were quite common. The former being an early form of the Gothic style with tall spires while the latter contributed to the feel of Spanish buildings (a mix between medieval European and Muslim styles).

Civil and Combat technologies of the age were largely an extension of the previous era. The ballistae of the Romans was still to be found as were the standard counterparts of such weapons. Trebuchets and catapults both played a role as did the Ram (which continued to advance technologically). Swords, axes and many other hand to hand weapons were in use as were bows and crossbows. Armor was still in the chain and scale phase with plate mail not to come into regular use till the 14th-15th centuries. That transition was a gradual shift as scale and chain mail was reinforced with plates over time.
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Thanks guys.  I'm trying not to research all of this just to recreate dark ages europe, but so I can mine it for stuff that would fit in.  I've found one book about Scandenavian folklore that is a treasure trove of old wives tales, myths, and customs.  I expect much of it will filter into different cultures in some way.  I also attacked the history section, since the anthropology section was missing the one book there on the time period.  I'm hoping to start by just getting a feel for what the times were like so I can better understand what people were working with, both socially and technologically.  Naturally, if it gets in teh way of a good story, it's out, but truth often is stranger and more interseting than fiction.  I figure since I steal most of my ideas from other sources, I might as well pilfer from the best.  =)

Some ramblings...

I was doing some geneological research of my paternal grandmother's lineage, as she's done some family tree research for her family. She's an Irwin which is Scottish and a noble house in Scotland. MacBeth turns out to be the brother-in-law to my ancestor, King Duncan Irwin. The Irwin's came from Erinviene, which means "noble of the west (Ireland)", since Northern Ireland Ulster Kings established a Kingdom that claimed south central Scotland from the Picts.

King Nial of the Nine Hostages was probably a distant relative (0 AD), he took the princesses of nine royal houses as hostages to maintain a "high kingship" over much of western Europe at the time and is said to have fathered nine kings of Europe.

Some Erinviene fought under the Fergus king against the Romans, but lost so they up and relocated to Norway for 20 or so years, until they could build up new armies to return. Some Erinviene's chose not to return to Scotland, but joined others going west and south and joined Atilla to fight the Romans in the East. It was said that some of the Erinviene were giving the title of Count, and a branch of the Irwins live in the region of Czechoslovakia...

The fact the people traveled so much and across huge distances in 200 AD, though were considered "primitive barbarians" compared to Rome astonished me. This is well before Viking Era which is late in the Dark Ages, so no longships or knaarls to take you across the sea. Probably coracles which are bowl shaped, single-masted boats with whale bone and wood frame and stretched and sealed skins bound externally to the bowl shaped frame. (St. Andrew is said to have taken several coracles from Ireland across the Atlantic to what is presumed to be Virginia, USA, around 500 AD - so says the "history".) So long distance sea travel could be coracle or viking long ship, whichever your flavor.

I read some historical fantasy book about the "real" King Arthur being a Roman trained Briton General who served the actual King. It reflected the lack of lead to refit the plumbing that once served Romano-British sites and the irrigation system established was failing. They were losing the Roman technology it took to maintain that society. The fractured nature of post Roman Europe broke down communications, trade, and travel. The Turks took control of Greece and science and mathematics fell into the Muslim hands, away from Christian Europe.

Yes, they lost technology, but they didn't become cave men hunter/gatherers, still still grew and ate beans. Europe has been an agrarian based culture for thousands of years, and still so during the dark ages. The high technology and science was lost, but farming techniques maintained.

Several (I can't name them) "new idea" technological advancements occurred during the Dark Ages, so it wasn't like everyone got stupid during that time. Religion became the bond the held the remnants of Roman, and on and off through the Holy Roman Emperor, or several strong Popes. So religion inhibited scientific advancement as heresies to the Church. It really depends on your point of view as to what was really "dark" about the Dark Ages.

Final point. To me, you're better off looking at a pre-christian Europe something like 500 BC to 0 AD. They were still world travellers apparently, but they lacked the technology of Rome and Greece. They hadn't been stilted with what was lost in the dark ages, as they never had it yet.

GP

Thanks, Gamer Printshop.  Very interesting read and in line with what I am discovering as I read a couple of books I checked out of the local library on the Dark Ages.  I'll probably end up pushing the equivalent date further back.  Though, I'd first like to see how much of what makes the Dark Ages feel like normal fantasy is purely cultural and how much is a result of different technology.  It could be possible that Dark Age levels of tech are fine if socially, it is divergent.  After all, there's no Roman Empire or Chatholic Church here, so I already expect there to be a major difference in feel.  It could still be a good jumping off point, I guess.