One of the most important ideas for my campaign setting is that the world is based on what people believe to be true. Let me elaborate:
People used to believe that world was flat, as far as they were concerned this was entirely true and they had no doubt about it. This was (and is) false, though. In my CS I decided to change things up a bit and make the ideas that people believe true to be so. So... if the majority of people believe the world is flat, then the world will be flat. This, of course, has a huge impact on everything. Say you were a dwarf. For some reason or another you find out how the world works, how if humans believe in something then it is true. You now find yourself in a pretty awkward situation... Do I exist because I breathe and eat and well live... or am I just here in this world because humans believe in my existence? Is my life dependant on the thoughts of others?
It's kind of an abstract concept, I know. Yet, I found it to be pretty interesting and it developed into many things... For instance an order whose sole purpose is to make sure that this bit of information isn't known by the public. Many other things have changed because of this... For instance, wizards are thought to be (After an event) insane... so, whenever a wizard-type approaches a city (Where there is a big number of individuals) he starts becoming mad.
Of course, the effects that occur because of this may change from area to area if the belief is different. Like the last example, wizards become mad near cities (or in them) but they live perfectly normal lives in small tribes which respect the art of magic.
My problem is... I've got this (I think cool) idea that's basically fluff... And I need to make it fit into the D&D system. For the wizard example, I think some kind of will saves are to be made. There are more complicated things to be taken into account though. For example, say this evil NPC finds out about this knowledge and starts convincing people he's a great warrior (When he's not). After a while, a small town believes he's a mighty hero and because they believe it he actually becomes it. Sorry if all of this sounds a bit confusing... I guess I have to balance the number of people that believe something with what becomes reality.
In a slightly different note, what do you think of the idea? And what problems do you see with it? Or maybe a question you've got about it??
Thanks beforehand.
I'd treat it like a deities' ability to create a Godly Realm:
[table=Subjective Reality]
[tr][th]Community Size[/th][th]Area of Control[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Throp[/td][td]100 feet[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Hamlet[/td][td]200 feet[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Village[/td][td]300 feet[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Small Town[/td][td]400 feet[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Large Town[/td][td]500 feet[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Small City[/td][td]1 mile[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Large City[/td][td]10 miles[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Metropolis[/td][td]100 miles[/td][/tr]
[/table]
The area of control is the area outside of the population center, so it would be an entire metropolis plus everything in a 100 mile radius around it.
As for groups, I don't really know. I'd have to say the size of the group would need to be around the size of a village to surpress a little-known fact. It would have to be larger to supress a more well-known fact. And if basically everyone in the world beleived in something (the world is flat, for example), then it could just be.
I'll read the first post more later today. (I should be sleeping)
It would seem a very charasmatic leader with a proper propaganda campaign could change the world to what ever he wants. Especially if he makes people believe he can't die. Or even make people think magic doesn't exist.
What would happen if someone convinced the world's population that what they believed didn't change anything in the world?
Very abstract, as you said. It could work out really well ust be careful not to take it too far or else the PC's will become frustrated. Mayhaps the PC's are watching as this happens but it does not affect them (or not as drastically) as NPC's, therefore you get your feel and concept without inturrupting/disturbing ther PC's rate of play and enjoyment.
Or not, it depends on what the party thinks. I always ask the party first just in case, it really helps.
Quote from: PoseidonI'll read the first post more later today. (I should be sleeping)
It would seem a very charasmatic leader with a proper propaganda campaign could change the world to what ever he wants. Especially if he makes people believe he can't die. Or even make people think magic doesn't exist.
What would happen if someone convinced the world's population that what they believed didn't change anything in the world?
i think this would be fair reason for an order to keep knowledge of the subjective reality a secret.
although, i doubt magic could be willed away that easily, seeing as magic would be an unwitting minipulation of the reality; essentially, "i think, therefore i do".
i think this is a wonderful idea, and id love to see how it develops
@ Limetom: This is actually a very simple way to solve part of the problem. Thanks for the input :)
@ Poseidon: Actually, this fact isn't known by the public. In theory, there could be a charismatic leader that could make people think that and would be so because of it, but... The idea is that people do not know of this power and there's an order out there whose sole purpose is to make sure no one knows this (Or else everything would be a mess).
@So-Keher: I haven't really figured out how to mix the fluff with some crunch... Because this fact is unknown, it shouldn't really bother the PC's and gameplay in a strictly direct manner (Unless I make it so). Part of the reasons why I posted this thread was to see how I could fit it in the CS using rules, like the one Limetom posted. I'm open to anything, though, if you've got some ideas.
@Sdragon1984: Actually, magic has been affected by this subjective reality, but not in the way you think. Since wizards are thought to be mad, arcane knowledge has been partly lost, so while magic does exist... people who would be interested in studying it can't really train as easily. Magic exists in my CS but it's used differently... I prefer the idea of having schools (or elements) and a number of effects that you could create based on those elements. The spellcaster would, then, choose which effects she wants to apply to her spell and cast it. Oh, and thank you very much for liking it :D Once I've got some loose ends tied up I'll post the complete CS so you can see how most of it developed