So far, this is just a placeholder. I've got like half of what's going to be in this first post mapped out in a word doc at home. I'd hoped to put this up on Thursday, but school and random death and funeral kind of delayed things for me.
That said, I've not been as involved in this board (either other settings or my own) as I would like for a number of reasons. There's always school in the way, but that's not all of it. Truth is I don't often know what to say or how to contribute meaningfully in regards to others' settings. And in regards to my own... well, I tend to be pretty crunch focused. I make setting material for games as I play, and it's usually pretty decent (okay... adequate), but I haven't run a long-term campaign in a while now. So I'm not coming up with as much setting material for myself either nowadays.
This thread, hopefully, will alleviate both problems somewhat, or so I hope. I'm finally putting my fantasy setting up in its incomplete state. I'm also making it a part open setting. It's open for submission of content (guilds, NPCs, nations, planes or demiplanes, divinities, monsters, etc.), I'll decide what goes (probably most of it will), and for those of you who go to the trouble of contributing, I will offer my services as an illustrator.
Instead of doing my usual (material/discussion split) I'm just gonna have everything in one place for a bit. May split it later.
And I definitely hope that once there's enough material I can run a game in this setting for the members of this board. Maybe even using the system I'm developing (lots going on in word docs that I hope to share soon).
That said, spoilers below are where I'm going to put what I've got so far tomorrow. All the little bolded subheadings are getting detail below 'em. Just wanted to put the thread up so I couldn't put it off any longer.
[spoiler=Influences]
I figure it would be good to list so you know where I'm coming from.
Fullmetal Alchemist, especially the first tv show version, is a pretty big influence on this setting. Spell research as adventure hooks, advancement within organizations, magic anyone can attempt but few can get right, and 'adventuring' casters being able to work magic faster than standard ritual/circle casters are all a big deal in this setting. Also, that world must use an active defense and wound system... it's the only way to explain all the one on one fights and multiple amputees.
Hellboy, mainly the comics, are also something I'm really interested in, and tropes from these comics are going to show up in most of my work whether I want them to or not. Summoning and binding unspeakable horrors to enhance your powers as a mage? Yes. Finding ways to cheat death? Yes. Intelligent monsters with inhuman motives? Yes. In particular, the scene in the most recent book where [spoiler]the guy whose name I can't remember binds Hecate using her secret name, tries to eat the moon (presumably he's trying to usurp her godhood or something like that), and suffers epic spell failure.[/spoiler] That scene is very in line with my setting.
Samurai Champloo, with its cast of vagrant sellswords is perfect source material for my campaign setting, mostly for characters at levels 0-5ish (because after a while it's better to settle down and get involved in guild life, going for a leadership position). The starting nation is postwar, with a bunch of unemployed vets and privately owned and run militia, so there's plenty of professional killers with nothing to do. I definitely want a big old sandbox to wander in when I'm finished with this setting, and Samurai Champloo is nothing if not adventurers wandering in a sandbox setting. And of course, I am a-ok with anachronism and a few samurai tropes thrown in with my standard fantasy fare.
Princess Mononoke is a pretty good fit overall. The idea of forests with guardian spirits and gods walking around that mortals can fight or exploit for power is a very good fit with my take on a fantasy setting. The same goes for not-bad-guys fighting over finite resources and the corrupting effects of divine power.
Mythos fiction is a source of ideas here too. Largely Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, but with a little King in Yellow or Dunsany or dreamscape (as in Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath) thrown in. I love H.P.L.'s big weird and unfathomable, the King in Yellow's sense of doom, Dunsany's sound and style (don't know a better way to put that).
Real world myth is something I've loved since before RPGs or anything else on this list. Greek, Norse, and Egyptian myth are sort of the standards used in fantasy settings. I've got to say that I'm not a fan of the ordered universe of Egyptian myth when it comes to RPGs, and I want to see if there are concepts worth borrowing from less used myths. I'm really a fan of ancient near eastern stuff. I like the bizarre elements, and the notion of praying to a deity so it doesn't mess your day up. Same goes for the views on death. I'm also a fan of some of the elements of Shinto, mainly in the form of smaller, here and now gods (as opposed to bigger over there in asgard gods).
Real world history is something I know less about, but am no less interested in. I like periods where religion fragments over when one religion grows at the expense of the rest. So I've sort of imagined that the timeline would include a Rome-like entity that fell apart, but with many mystery cults taking hold in different locales instead of just the one (Christianity). I also like mixing East/West stuff, but disregarding its origin, so if the new world religions look like Taoism, Confucianism, Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and some form of Platonic mysticism or something, I'm cool with that too. I also like conflict between old and new religions, so I like the idea of pagan or polytheistic holdovers existing locally. Especially since they get to worship gods they can see and talk to, which changes things. Outside of religion, I like periods of change. So a little industrial revolution (but short of steampunk or magipunk) is in order. Guns might be floating around making peasants dangerous and knights irrelevant. Large scale war might be encouraging nationbuilding. Feudalism and old school knights might be on the way out. I also like fragmented power. So of course, guilds, nobility, central government, the church, etc. will not be cooperating.
D&D, and RPGs in general are the larger part of where I'm getting lots of my setting information. There are elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, wizards, warriors, assassins, treasure, dragons, demons, and all that other stuff. I'm also inspired by what I hear second hand about RQ and WFRP 1 and 2, and a few other games (Elric and Cthulhu stuff mostly). I borrow the grittier combat and skill based magic often used outside D&D, but keep the quest for power theme that D&D has always done so much better than its competitors.
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[spoiler=Themes]
I don't like to think too much in terms of themes when making a setting. A setting should be like the world is. It should be diverse and incoherent, with lots of room for day to day life and people just doing ordinary things (no Adventure Towns for me thanks). That said, adventures and campaigns can and do have themes, which determine what info needs to be covered in a setting description, and in what detail. Having made the system and thought a lot about the gameplay, I've got a lot of thoughts on the kinds of sessions and campaigns likely to be run with it. So here it is.
Exploration, mystery, and intrigue are a must in any RPG I play or run, and a good fit with the genre I'm going for anyway. From an in-world point of view, this should be an old world with plenty old and forgotten places in it (from its fantasy/swords and sorcery origins), plenty of conspiratorial schemes in the upper echelons of society (the idea of a secret truth behind the apparent reality of the setting is a huge deal in things like Hellboy and FMA, mentioned above), and plenty of old magic and dead gods and such. From a gameplay point of view exploration is an excellent way to pace site-based adventures, and revelations can be used as choke-points in more freeform sessions (you find out what's going on in the first part of the adventure, solve the puzzle, and move on to address whatever you found out). It can even be used as a device to pace character growth and achievement, both mechanical and otherwise.
The path to power is a central theme in anything based on D&D. In its simplest form it just means that the more you do, the better you get at doing what you do. In setting this works as a sort of hero's journey (you go from novice as far as demigod if you play your cards right), and in game terms it gives easily identifiable win/loss conditions (level up or die). In my game, what you do determines what sort of power you accrue, in the sense that you can adventure for political or magical or monetary power and the results are not the same. In most fantasy games, and in my game, this means greater social mobility than was there at a similar time in our history.
Anarchy and instability are also a big deal for a fantasy RPG. This can be accomplished many ways, from frontier towns to top-heavy and conflicted bureaucracy to criminal underworlds operating outside the rule of law to mage cabals operating outside the rules of physics and everything in between. Anarchy and instability are good for removing obstacles that would prevent interesting things from happening, and are especially good excuses for the kind of anachronistic social mobility needed for the path to power. Of course, anarchy and instability have their place in real life, from starved peasants munching ergot tainted rye and rioting across the countryside, to people kidnapping the pope, or even blaming an emperor for a famine and then eating him, humans do crazy things under certain circumstances. Oh, and I've forgotten to mention that anarchy and instability add uncertainty to outcomes, which creates some suspense.
Risk and reward are the driving force of mechanical decisions in the system I wrote (as opposed to the standard resource management method), but they make great setting themes too. Most things players attempt might work, might fail, or might blow up in their faces. The results of one's actions are on some level unpredictable. So again there's a little suspense in not knowing how things will turn out, and the players have a definite stake (if things go really well, the adventure proceeds... if not, then failure may very well generate the next adventure hook).
The new and the old are in conflict in this setting. Pretty much all my inspirations have had it on some level, from the old gods waiting to return in Lovecraft's mythos to the monsters fading away or going extinct in Hellboy to the price of progress in FMA to the old swordsmen on the fringes of society becoming irrelevant in Samurai Champloo. In game, the forgotten old and the unfamiliar new both present opportunities of exploration, wonder, and mystery. Meanwhile, the transition from old to new ways of doing things present opportunities for anarchy. And of course, new things discovered by the players might provide the edge they need to conquer in the setting and achieve power.
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[spoiler=Cosmology, Divinity, and Magic]
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[spoiler=History]
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[spoiler=Nations of the World]
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[spoiler=Starting Nation]
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[spoiler=Cities of Your Nation]
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[spoiler=Starting City]
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[spoiler=The City's Guilds, Churches, Families, Gangs, Militia, Cults, and Cabals]
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[spoiler=NPCs]
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That is a sexy mix of influences. Can't wait.
Quote from: I HAVE NO MOUTH BUT I MUST SCREAMThat is a sexy mix of influences. Can't wait.
Thanks. I've fleshed out the first two sections. Working on the rest still. Hopefully the next bit won't take as long.