The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc]This is my first crack at making a setting, and right now, it's mostly just me regurgitating ideas on the screen. Hopefully, I can work on narrowing it down and refining it.[/ooc]

In this as of yet unnamed setting, the world has still not recovered from the Doom, a cataclysm of such enormous proportions that it nearly wiped out all memory of what came before it. Entire civilizations, their cultures and histories: gone. Even the Doom itself is a mystery. Judging by the scars it left in its wake, it was both an ecological and metaphysical catastrophe and an apocalyptic world war, one disaster quite possibly begetting the others.

One of the most lasting effects of the Doom is the absence of history as a concept upon which any real weight is placed. Stories are passed down by word-of-mouth and lineages are charted, but as a rule, people generally care little about events happening outside the scope of their own lifetimes. When it is said that the Doom came centuries ago, that's pure conjecture: all it really says is that it happened long enough ago that anyone who knew anyone who witnessed it is long since dead.

It is strikingly-obvious that the world is broken. It's not dying, per se, but it has been sufficiently mangled as to render it wholly unrecognizable. Most of the landscape is a vast expanse of wastelands, deserts, and salt flats; desolate, but colorful and vibrant. Mountain ranges are broken and jagged, whole peaks split right down the middle. Woodlands, forests, and jungles have a certain arcadian brutality about them. Entire seas boiled away, leaving thousand-foot cliffs overlooking lakes of silt and brine. The red sun still rises, but it seems disturbingly bloated and cross-crossed by veins of black. The moon has been sundered, half of it spread across the heavens in a massive arc: it hangs far too low in the sky, as though it might fall to earth at any moment.

Even stranger vistas than these are not unheard of: floating islands, fields of crystalline spires, trees that can hold cities in their branches, and rivers of molten lava bubbling up from the earth, to name a few examples.

Though their builders have long since passed into oblivion, the landscape is dotted by the ruins of forgotten civilizations. Often half-buried, sunken into the ground, many of them can only be described as monolithic. Ziggurats, obelisks, standing stones. Citadels, temples, palaces. Dismembered limbs of colossi hundreds of feet tall. Arches commemorating victories of long-dead kings. It is no surprise that many of these ruins have been repopulated since the Doom: whole cities are built upon the remains of the old.

Key Concepts:

•   The setting is deliberately, enthusiastically anachronistic. There is no real explanation for this, other than "that's just the way it is." Technology runs the gamut from the Bronze Age to the High Middle Ages to WWII, much of it scavenged or repurposed from the civilizations destroyed in the Doom. Motorcycles and convertibles race again horses and war-birds. Pterodactyls dance around Flying Fortresses. Warriors go into battle with battleaxes and submachine guns. The people of the world take these things for granted, and their lifestyles reflect the eclectic range of technologies.
•   Going hand-in-hand with the anachronistic technology is the presence of magic and alchemy, the boundaries between the two often blurring. Enchantments are ubiquitous and do not interfere with more advanced technologies, e.g., an autoloader pistol with magically-enhanced accuracy.
•   Certain rare "magitech" artifacts are perfect examples of the indistinguishability of "sufficiently advanced" magic and technology. Power rings than can turn gravity upon a man and reduce him to pulp. Swords made of blazing light that can cut through the thickest metals. Guns that fire gouts of star-matter or bolts of crackling electricity. Such creations are exceedingly uncommon, those who wield them alternately respected and feared.
•   Pistols are the favorite weapon of adventurers and warriors. Because it's awesome.
•   Grafting implants, augmentations, limbs, and organs is a common, widespread practice. More popular varieties of implants include clockwork, electric, pneumatic, arcane, alchemical, and even parts taken from the bodies of monsters and Outsiders.
•   Adventurers, whether wandering alone or in parties, are a ubiquitous sight. Their motivations are a numerous and colorful as they are, but they can best be summed-up as a mix of treasurer-hunters, thrill-seekers, and soldiers-of-fortune.


Races of the World

[ooc]As of right now, the player characters will be exclusively human.[/ooc]

Humans dominate the world left over after the Doom. Of course, the term "human" encompasses a much broader spectrum than one might expect. In the distant past, perhaps because of the fraying of the boundaries between planes and the subtle warping of natural principles, other creatures came and bred with humans. The plethora of subraces that came about as a result of these unions now forms a sizable portion of mankind, and many in the world carry at least a small touch of inhumanity in their blood.

•   Elementals are descended from the inhabitants of the Spheres of Primal Elements. They have an innate affinity for their ancestral element, which marks both their temperament and appearance.

[ooc]I had a lot more, but I lost them. I wasn't going to let that stop me from posting what I had though, so I'll add them as they come to me. And any ideas other members might have.[/ooc]

Nearly as numerous as humans are the orcs. They are a brutal, violent, militant race predisposed to warfare and bloodshed on what appears to be a fundamental level. It would be a mistake to assume that they are stupid or uncultured, however. They are every bit as intelligent, cunning, and creative as humans. They are also universally large, powerful creatures. Their features often have a disturbingly-arthropodal quality to them: chitin deposits, segmented joints, compound or multiple pairs of eyes. Orcs are cannibalistic.
Golems, otherwise known as un-men, are artificially-created beings crafted from various substances and animated by a bizarre mixture of magic, alchemy, and science. They can be made of metal, wood, stone, dead flesh: anything that can be crafted into a body capable of movement. The majority of golems in the world are relics from before the Doom, their unnatural resistance allowing them to function long after their creators had been forgotten.

[ooc]I'm thinking...creepy space-elves?[/ooc]

Magic

There are recognized to be two distinct classes of magic in the world, which are viewed very differently. The first is Low Magic, otherwise known as Petty, Common, or False Magic. It is the enchantments and alchemies that are so much a part of everyday life. While some enchantments can be quite powerful indeed, there is nothing considered "weird" about them, and it is possible for anyone with the proper training and supplies to craft their own without any lasting aftereffects on their own person.

On the other hand, there is True Magic. True Magics pluck directly at the threads of the world and deal directly with forces and entities that one would think it would be wise to avoid. Practicing them requires far more personal commitment and sacrifice, and using them leaves an indelible mark on the mind, body, and soul. It is for these reasons that those who study True Magic are typically treated with nervous suspicion and best and outright hostility at worst, even though their great power makes them highly-useful tools.

•   High Summoning is the art of trafficking with a whole menagerie of otherworldly creatures, including Outsiders, fiends, Fey, goetic eidolons, and spirits of the dead. The summoner enters into a pact with the creatures, anchoring them to their own body as guardians and familiars.
•   Divination allows the practitioner, known commonly as a seer or oracle, to see beyond the constraints of space and even time. However, transcending the human perspective in this manner takes a heavy toll. Blindness is a common physical side-effect. The more an oracle practices their art, the greater the pressure and the further their mind begins to crack, or else retreat into something distinctly...different.
•   Sorcery is by far the most visible, visceral sort of magic. There are few limits to what changes a sorcerer can effect in the world, though it is a difficult enough art that most choose to focus on a narrow range of powers. When a sorcerer masters a spell, they take it into themselves and weave it into their very being, a process which invariably results in gradual physical mutation.

[ooc]To come: some sample factions and a better outline of the cosmology.[/ooc]

As vague as this is, any questions would go a long way towards helping me flesh it out.

This sounds neat. Pulp adventure in an anachronistic hyper-saturated landscape.
I'm wondering what form civilization takes in this world - are there only a few independent strongholds or do you have nation-states and ambitious empires?
Is magic organized? Is it inborn or learned? Do they gather in cabals and colleges or do they walk a more lonely path?
Are the adventurers gun-toting warriors or more like Old West gunslingers?

Quote from: Superfluous CrowI'm wondering what form civilization takes in this world - are there only a few independent strongholds or do you have nation-states and ambitious empires?

I was actually planning on elaborating upon that, but I didn't want to dive into all the sociology right off the bat.

A lot of the population live in nomadic caravans, traveling the plains and wastes. Many are herders and pastoralist, nearly as many are traders and merchants, and a somewhat smaller number are bandits, raiding settlements and other nomads for loot and supplies. They get around in a number of different ways: horses, camels, elephants, trucks, giant reptiles or insects, or slave-drawn vardos. A rare few even travel by hot-air balloon.

Small villages and hamlets are scattered across the landscape, but the world just harsh enough a place that unless there is some sort of valuable resource, important crossroads, or defensible position, most would rather live in the safety of one of the larger city-states.

And on that subject, the largest settlements in the world are the great city-states, almost all of which are built on the half-ruins of previous, even grander cities. The clash between the often entirely-dissimilar styles of architecture gives them a schizophrenic look, but many city-dweller find that endearing. The rulers of these city-states command the fealty of the smaller cities that immediately surround them, but there is little in the way of a codified feudal system: their power rests solely in their ability to command loyalty through whatever means.

Quote from: Superfluous CrowIs magic organized? Is it inborn or learned? Do they gather in cabals and colleges or do they walk a more lonely path?

I'm still debating exactly how magic is going to work. I'm definitely keeping the distinction between False and True Magics, but I'm probably going to consolidate sorcery and divination into a single entity.

Anyone, with proper tutoring and practice, can learn the art of magic. Some are more naturally-gifted at its practice than others and are usually the ones to be chosen by powerful mentors, but theoretically, it's a path that's open to anyone. However, two factors typically drive away all but the truly-dedicated. First, the process of learning a spell requires you to incorporate it into you very being, encouraging a very narrow focus rather than a broad range of spells. Second, the act of weaving a spell into oneself invariably leads to pronounced physical mutations and psychological quirks. The practitioner doesn't risk losing their souls or anything of that sort, but they often stand out in a very bad way.

The negative opinion of True Magic held by most means that sorcerers, when they do associate with others, typically only do so in small, close-knit groups. Magic is taught by masters to eager apprentices, almost never more than one at a time, if at all. This, of course further alienates sorcerers and only furthers their reputations as fundamentally-unstable fonts of eldritch power.

Quote from: Superfluous CrowAre the adventurers gun-toting warriors or more like Old West gunslingers?

I'm a little confused as to the difference.

The "archetypal" adventurer I envision for this setting is, as I mentioned before, a mix of treasure-hunter, thrill-seeker, and gun-for-hire. Every adventurer has their own motivations, goals, and aspirations, but rarely are they purely driven by violence, mercenary or not.

That said, violence is something adventurers face all the time, and with a very casual attitude. Isolated villages often call upon them to deal with roving bandits or dangerous monsters. Some of them engage in said roving banditry. They fight and kill one another in all manner of creative ways over matters of honor, love, and coin. Among adventurers, it's only really frowned upon to kill someone if you know their name, so not liking a stranger's face can be as good a reason as any to put a bullet in it.

If I had to describe them in d20 terms, I'd describe the average adventurer as a cross between a fighter and a rogue. With guns, of course.

Did I answer all of your questions?

Just a quick little aside before I work on jotting down meatier fare. These are some of my bigger inspirations, so you can get an idea of where my head's at: Band of Brothers, Mœbius, more specifically Arzach, Heavy Metal (the magazine and the movie), The Dying Earth series, Dark Sun, Planescape, The Book of the New Sun, the artwork of Wayne Reynolds, Samurai Jack, The Fall, and the entire sub-genre/aesthetic of "dungeonpunk".

Feels sorta like Fallout with magic!

I'm curious why you're calling your orcs "orcs."  They don't look especially like regular orcs (chitin exoskeletons, multiple eyes, segmented joints), and when someone says the word "orc," I get a kneejerk negative reaction, imagining annoying WoW clone noble savages or one-dimensional Tolkienian brutes.

What kind of elements are going to be featured in the setting?  The standard Aristotelian set, or something more exotic (Ash, Dust, Blood, Metal...?).

Do the various otherworldly creatures have agendas?  Are there permanent gates to other planes/universes?

You mention cars/motorcycles.  Are these electric, nuclear-powered, or do they depend on fossil fuels?

How about religion - is it still around?  Aere there just a bunch of weird cults, or maybe more tribal beliefs?  Or are there religious organizations as well (paladins with assault rifles!)?

No mention of undead so far - are any forms of undead possible in this world?

No questions right now that others haven't already asked, so I'll just say I like it and will be watching for more :)

Quote from: SteerpikeI'm curious why you're calling your orcs "orcs."  They don't look especially like regular orcs (chitin exoskeletons, multiple eyes, segmented joints), and when someone says the word "orc," I get a kneejerk negative reaction, imagining annoying WoW clone noble savages or one-dimensional Tolkienian brutes.

Well, I was inspired by Houses of the Blooded, which uses the word to describe any of the monsters in the world. As much baggage and history as it has attached, it was around long before Tolkien and, you have to admit, it's an amazingly evocative word. They may be very different from their other iterations, but I enjoy both how well it characterizes huge, violent, brutish creatures and the irony of them having a far deeper culture than you might expect.

Quote from: SteerpikeWhat kind of elements are going to be featured in the setting?  The standard Aristotelian set, or something more exotic (Ash, Dust, Blood, Metal...?).

I would break it down along the lines of what they did in Planescape. There's the core Spheres of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Positive and Negative Energies. They overlap slightly, forming less distinct regions of Ice, Magma, Ooze, Smoke, Lightning, Minerals, Radiance, Steam, Vacuum, Dust, Ash, and Salt. These overlaps are not considered distinct planes themselves, and the elementals who inhabit them (and by extension humans descended from them) resemble those from one of the six more fundamental spheres with a few traits of the other.

Quote from: SteerpikeDo the various otherworldly creatures have agendas?  Are there permanent gates to other planes/universes?

The elementals occasionally do, but usually find the world far too confusing and heterogeneous to invest too much time and effort into it.

I'm still hammering out what exactly the other classes of beings will be. The Invisible Clergy (which I will explain further down) have their own celestial messengers, which are often thought of as being "good" only because they serve a higher cosmic order and not because said order isn't necessarily terrible. They encompass both angels and devils, and do not necessarily act in strict accordance to their god's will and not their own personal agendas. I might also throw in some sort of primal spirit like the Fey, and archetypal Dreams that inhabit the Astral.
There are no permanent, stable portals to other spheres, but it is possible to travel to them. I'm considering the possibility of reality "fraying" slightly, leading to localized anomalies where one of the Elemental Spheres leaks into the world and warps the surrounding area, which are strange at best and fantastically-dangerous at worst.

Quote from: SteerpikeYou mention cars/motorcycles.  Are these electric, nuclear-powered, or do they depend on fossil fuels?

Almost all of them run on fossil fuels, and none are more advanced than what would've been around in the 1960s, 70s at the latest. Of course, some have been enchanted or simply modified to not require any fuel source, or to run on more exotic substances.

Quote from: SteerpikeHow about religion - is it still around?  Aere there just a bunch of weird cults, or maybe more tribal beliefs?  Or are there religious organizations as well (paladins with assault rifles!)?

Religion's definitely gotten weird. The heavens are ruled by the Invisible Clergy, which in a feat of blinding originality, are the twenty-two Great Arcana: The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Justice, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Strength, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Sphinx, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, and The World. The rub of it is, each of them embodies multiple and frequently contradictory archetypes, and they don't seem to express any preference about which guise they are worshiped under. As such, there are far too many cults to ever hope to list, though some are certainly more powerful than others.

Yes, some cults are more militant than others and have orders of warrior-clergy that fight for their interests. Though in the world after the Doom, forcing your religion in a place where you have no support or protection is a great way to get yourself shot in the face on general principle.

Quote from: SteerpikeNo mention of undead so far - are any forms of undead possible in this world?

Definitely. You have the spirits of the dead, of course, but also creatures like ghouls (who are essentially less powerful vampires that feed on flesh as well as blood) and, possibly, beings like liches, who willfully chose the transition into undeath.

Quote from: Superbright

Quote from: SteerpikeI'm curious why you're calling your orcs "orcs."  They don't look especially like regular orcs (chitin exoskeletons, multiple eyes, segmented joints), and when someone says the word "orc," I get a kneejerk negative reaction, imagining annoying WoW clone noble savages or one-dimensional Tolkienian brutes.

Well, I was inspired by Houses of the Blooded, which uses the word to describe any of the monsters in the world. As much baggage and history as it has attached, it was around long before Tolkien and, you have to admit, it's an amazingly evocative word. They may be very different from their other iterations, but I enjoy both how well it characterizes huge, violent, brutish creatures and the irony of them having a far deeper culture than you might expect.

Haha now I want to see someone do an 'Orc' but have it be some sort of sentient killer whale or another sea monster. See how many people catch the connection.

Didn't orc also mean "foreigner" at one point? Like in the 9th century or something. Maybe I made that up/remembered it wrong...

I'm going to second Steerpike that orc does have a lot of baggage and most of it seems to be working against your setting's aesthetics (IMHO). That said, it's not a big problem, so if you like it then by all means keep it :)