The Campaign Builder's Guild

One day I woke up and said to me that I want to build one setting. I am not too much into the fantasy-genre but I want to try something. Here are some general and random ideas with some background included. I get confused trying to soak information and searching something that can help me among all the information available. I dont seek originality, what I seek is to build something with my own hands that I can enjoy with my friends. Please kick some direction to me.

Oh, maybe you should now this. Originally I was thinking about DnD 3.5 to run this one. My friends dont like 4E and Im little interested in it. I have heard about GURPS so I will check it out this week and see.

I would describe the kind of setting I´d like as one that tastes like mud and snow.

*Im not fond of races actually. I almost dont like elves, gnomes, and all of that. When my friends learned that I would be running 3.5E almost all of them made elves or half-elves characters and I didnt feel like taking that away. At the same time I grew interested on a world where the typical DnD non-human races would be in a decadent situation. By that time I learned about Andrzej Sapkowski´s The Witcher (Havent read the books) and looking how the elves and dwarves are mistreat living in a ghetto was helpful but thats not exactly what I want. I must decide. I know there will be ethnic conflicts.

*Monarchic power is about to fall, not tomorrow but its starting to lose control. The burgess class is taking over since they has revived the trade routes that have not been used in a long time. A burgess may have its own milicia or mercenary groups to protect themselves and the land they have appropiated while still "pledging" to the old and almost helpless king according to their needs.

*However, this burgesía is more like an outburst of individuals who had the opportunity to stand for themselves in a land where bad decisions have been made leading the common populacy to a very unstable situation. They are far from consolidation as a whole guild or social class. They are able to administrate a relative small portion of land. Yet some can be tyrannic or god-fatherly or like the shepherd through the valley of darkness.

*Those who has not the resources to initiate a trade have done things by the force, some are starting to develop anarchism tendences but these are mostly taken by outlaws giving troubles to any consolidated or growing power. Actually its starting to be common for small groups to show themselves. Not all of them are political or social at all. I want to include a variety of possibilties to explore from groups who argue whats art and what not to groups that "proposes" a better world. And I want the players to be able to influence how this world develops in no minimal manner. I want to portray some uncertainty when many many groups arise all saying what to do or in what to believe.

I have some other general/random ideas written somewhere but for now I must stop. To be honest Im kinda nervous showing this but I know I can learn from your feed backs so I will stand up showing my face.

Thanks for the given attention.

Welcome aboard. I see you joined a while ago, but you haven't posted much, so hello. I hope we can help you to create the world that you've always wanted.

From what I'm reading, you seem to be interested in an urban game that's grim and gritty. Society isn't great, non-humans are discriminated against, those in power aren't totally in control. I like it, it would be a "breath of stinky air" and a nice change of pace from some games.

What would you like the players in this world to play? What sort of adventures would you like them to go on? Are they going to be trying to stabilize the government, or are they just going to profit from the budding anarchy?

What is the spirituality and religion in your setting? Are the gods distant or are they meddling? Are there gods at all (maybe things are more like the real world, where it's difficult to prove the existance of deities or a god to someone who doesn't believe)?

I'm going to assume English isn't your first language, so I'm sorry if anything I said was unclear. Just ask me to clarify and I will.

If I'm mistaken about that, then I'm sorry for that as well. =)

Quote from: BlueSilenceI dont seek originality, what I seek is to build something with my own hands that I can enjoy with my friends. Please kick some direction to me.

Faded[/i]. On that note, feel free to check that out and steal as though it were any other published setting. As I worked on it and played a game with others, though, I came to realize that I didn't need to create my own detailed setting to make it work. It is possible to basically start out in the 'default setting' and just change things as you go, really making the world your own in the process.

Quote from: http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG31-0004here[/url].

Quote from: BlueSilenceHowever, this burgesía is more like an outburst of individuals who had the opportunity to stand for themselves in a land where bad decisions have been made leading the common populacy to a very unstable situation. They are far from consolidation as a whole guild or social class. They are able to administrate a relative small portion of land. Yet some can be tyrannic or god-fatherly or like the shepherd through the valley of darkness.

*cough*MODERN AMERICA, HECK YEAH *cough*

I like your ideas. Where do you really want to start?

Seems like a good start to your ideas so far :D  Also welcome to the CBG ;p

I've read some of The Witcher short stories, its true there are few non-humans, and those that are around are seen as monsters, even if they aren't.

I dunno if you've heard of him but Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a russian author who has a tetralogy that is somewhat similar, though its set in modern times.

Thank you guys.

Kapn Xeviat,

You assume well. However I can understand perfectly all you write. I am the one that should apologize if something is not clear or outrageously written.

About the type of adventures, I want to keep things flexible. I dont like giving them a chore list and having them following npc´s instructions just because. Since I usually have paladins and rogues in the same party I want them to argue if they will stabilize the goverment or to take advantage of the current situation. They are great players and they will handle it good. And of course, Im working on some storyplots that will involve the players.

I have worked on a mythos but this is mostly spoiler. I dont know how do you handle the spoilers here. Should I post some notes in this same thread? Still, this is not what the populace know. Religion would be more like in the Dark Ages. A central religion outstood basically after whipping out what now is "heresy". I hope Im making sense there. I also want to try polytheism. This need more work.

Ninja D,

Thanks for showing me Faded, I will sure look at it and I will let you know in advance if I can steal something. After all, Quentin Tarantino said great artist steal all the time. If Tarantino said then...

My friends are too used to DnD 3.5E. I want them to experience new things and different from like-Tolkien settings. They like it but they are open to new stuff. They are already liking the World of Darkness and the Storytelling system. Once I learn GURPS I will show it to them.

Hehehe... yeah, I found it to Modern era too and I like it.

Where do I want to start. I would say in History and the Mythos even if the Mythos is quite obscure... the "truth behind".

Llum,

Im not an avid reader, most of the authors that you all mention are unknown or little known to me. I didnt even read The Witcher short stories but I will look info about Sergei and see if I can find more references. You said he settles his stories in modern times so count I will check it out too.

Once again thanks for the comments and specially for the questions because questions help to direct things in life.

If you want to post a spoiler that's hidden from people who dont' want to read it, or people who you don't want to read it, use the spoiler tag:

[code][spoiler]Don't read this[/spoiler]

Looks like

[spoiler]Don't read this[/spoiler]

And I understood you just fine. I've been learning languages, so my grasp of grammar is quite forgiving.

And I want to say "thank you" to you not wanting to "give a chore list". That was a great way to put it.

Is your vision of a weakening totalitarian monarchy, or is that just one country?

What type of climate system?

I also need to get a handle on the scocial lwevel and tech level...and how prevalent are you thinking of magic being?

Welcome to the forums!

Your setting sounds strikingly similar to mine. I don't use demiraces whatsoever (ethnic variants of humans only), and the primary conceits of my game revolve around ethnicity, politics, commerce and the fall of the monarchy with rise to provincial lords.

The Witcher is a great analogy to make, as it carries some very mature themes that aren't often explored in traditional RPGs.

Here's my suggestion -
I would start with two countries; one that is a commercial juggernaut with a nautical locale and an older, landlocked nation that gave the world the secret of steel but has begun to crumble from within due to a vast civil war that erupted between the nobility and the peasant uprise. The peasants are being fueled by propaganda from the nautical country to rise against their oppressors (and since they control the grain, they control the coin). Serfs revolt against their "soft" masters who's name is built upon their labors for generations. Old, squabbling noble houses have given reign to cynicism and comfort, which empowers the serfs to rise (as that the nobles have isolated themselves, even in the crumbling cities they dwell within). Amongst the serfs, smaller, provincial warlords have begun to arise and cobbled together levies against the nobility. These warlords give rise to a new class; you can almost go the route of freedom fighters who employ terrorist tactics (setting fire to grainaries, poisoning fields and assassinating key targets via guerilla warfare).

Meanwhile, in the nautical country their warships have been struck by privateers of a third, emerging island-nation far off the map. The privateers could be remnants of an older, cast-off civilization that originally founded the nautical nation, but were ran off by the natives (think the founding of America).

With that in mind, you've got politics and war. Now, you need to interject some sort of strong religious presence (perhaps the nautical nation is similar to Italy or is a theocracy born from virtue) to really shake things up. Ethnic cleansing of the privateer raiders, raids along the smaller chains of islands that make up the privateer's country or even internment camps where the nautical nation is now enslaving the privateers as a "slave class", mirroring the ancient nation (giving rise to politically-funded slavery).

Cheers~

OK, lets see...

Vreeg´s Coachwhip, Right now I will concentrate in one region but the monarchy as a whole is falling. If it were in one country it could be easy for other nations to conquer it and that is not what I have in mind in terms of storyline. I want the possible riots to arise from within and if someone or something is to take the current regimen place I want it to happen from the inside.

Another reason to it is that the social and tech level to be low. Cliché aside, war is an effective resource-burner. Poor administration from the monarchy before and after war periods has let in some famine and despair. Sometimes peasants fill their mouths with earthworms or something to avoid starvation. This will start a representation of the Black Death that will strike harder. On the other hand, the nobility may be decadent but they are still able to afford or keep some relatve wealth (and they keep wasting it). They may not be able to pose in shiny armor but better to sleep within white walls that under moonless skies. Several individuals, specially most adeventurers have one way to make its living. They may be the typical bounty hunters, mercenaries, outright thug. Some even may get funds in some basis like vassals but since these funds are wearing thin or has just been cut they usually resort to other means rotting things even more.

Basically what Im doing here is to widen the gap between these poles. The contrast is big even if royalty is not that golden anymore and what we have between, the hue, are the so called struggle. "How much more my needs weight that I have felt the urge to deliver myself to this form of corruption?" Here is what you can expect some variety of opinions that come from religious, "left wing", urban, and some other spheres. To reinforce all of this I want the climate to be cold, not necessarily harsh but a persistent winter makes resources harder to gain and will help create a deep mood.

Magic beings... I must admit that even if I havent thought too much about it this time I would find hard to advance a work of mine without magic of any sort. In the case of magical beings I can think that either they have been affected by what I have described or they have managed to keep stable, not necessarily with or due to magic. In the former case some questions arise like "why they were affected if they are magical?" perhaps they were 'drained' but then "what happened to the magic that was drained, who or what  exactly caused it?" "Could it be that all the suffering that has been casted upon the people was for some entity to gain some sort of magical power?" Most likely the above mentioned 'Black Death' will play a part on this. (I have started to plot some of this). In any case I would consider most of these being abused or near extinction. In the latter case they may remain isolated, some may keep hard grudges, others may be indifferent or some may be 'just watching'.

Did this make some sense?

Moniker, I was kinda prepared to met a similar settings and their respective builders. I still do not know what Im going to do with the races, now that Im starting to abandon the idea of running 3.5E favoring GURPS. As mentioned before, some hard striking decease will contribute in the eradication of some races. I really havent too much time to the fate of non-human.

I like your suggestion but for this setting Im focusing right now on internal politics. Not among countries but among factions, there will be guerrilla movements and riots will happen. However I plan the setting to be world-wide eventually.

Since the resources are low I need to think yet on a way to motivate trade and exploring. I mentioned something about the  burgués  (yet to be) class but this is to precarious now.

Now I see I have more and more pieces to fit hahaha.

And no, I didnt forget:

 [spoiler Kapn]Kapn, I was surprised by your last comment, I must say.[/spoiler]

Christmas, this is what I get for posting while trying new Barbera blends.

Not magical beings...I was asking about the state of magic as a whole, in terms of as frequency ditribution.
[spoiler=drunken sentence structure]and how prevalent are you thinking of magic being[/spoiler]
How many people cast, how powerful at what % of the population.

At least you didn't think I was asking about magic beans....

Quote from: BlueSilenceAnother reason to it is that the social and tech level to be low. Cliché aside, war is an effective resource-burner.

Social fine but wars cause technology to advance, generally. Trying to figure out more efficient ways to kill can lead to discoveries and advancements in other fields. The internet was originally designed for military and / or government use under certain circumstances.

[blockquote Ninja D!]Social fine but wars cause technology to advance, generally. Trying to figure out more efficient ways to kill can lead to discoveries and advancements in other fields. The internet was originally designed for military and / or government use under certain circumstances.[/blockquote]

Good point, I didnt consider that. Please give some pointers here: I have this Dark Ages vision, I want to keep technology low, rustic. Weaponry development can lead to discoveries as you said. I was thinking these researchs still need some resources or if they discover that certain materials are easier to use or more effective they may not have good access to it. Tech may ger stuck there. The point is that even before this war they already were in a hard situation with few resources.

Now I must say that for now, this war is more of a possible idea. Im not 100% about going this way... yet.


Vreeg´s Barolo, I- I really dont know what to say. Since the rehab I cant get a good insight into the drunken mind and the poisoned heart... liver, I mean. I really really really reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally need some wine. Now saturday seems so far.

When I first read your words I interpreted 'magic' in a general sense. Then I got it wrong.

I find this question special because I like magic... a lot! But I dont know how to incorporate it in this world. Rigth now I only have two things in mind and one of them is wine. Vreeg´s would you mind if I answer your questions next week? I dont have any wine left. Let me work on this. RL hits hard and Im losing my train already. Seriously, I find this question special.

I may hang around but in zombie mode. I will take some of my spare time to figure something out and then I will show you some more.

-head is about to fall on keyboard-

Maybe metals are a precious resource and won't be used for anything that isn't needed. Defense would be one of those things.

Most weapons would be made of wood or perhaps bone or stone. This is some that was done in the Dark Sun setting and one of the things I always loved about it.

If wine seems like a solution to something...don't. Bad idea. Run.

Quote from: BlueSilenceI was thinking these researchs still need some resources or if they discover that certain materials are easier to use or more effective they may not have good access to it. Tech may ger stuck there. The point is that even before this war they already were in a hard situation with few resources.

Well little resource access isn't going to stop tech advancement. It will just change the focus of it (more tech for getting resources and less for using them). If you want to freeze technology then remove the reason to gain it. The Romans had the technology to build steam engines but they didn't. Why? Who needs a steam engine when you have loads of slaves? So say you want to get everyone stuck in a classic fantasy level of technology. There are some things you can do.

- Limit higher learning (far fewer inventors if the populace in general has little to no schooling).
- Make resources difficult to use or otherwise hard to turn into finished products (poor grades of local ore and stone, little timber, etc)
- Tying into the above, low grade/rare raw materials often means that the people just adapt new ways to use it. The Japanese art of swordmaking via folding metal is a good example. So add a bit of a block to stop the development of new ways...
- The best block being "divine" in nature. Make it taboo for items to be made in any other way. What is this thing that spits stone balls and smoke at the enemy? Heresy I say! Burn it and its inventor. A mill that mass produces textiles? This will bring about mass sloth! Destroy it and stone its creator!

Ninja D!, Wine is never a solution so dont worry about it. I like it a lot but never as a solution. The best solution to any problem is to talk things over or to do something to make things better. And I like that a lot too.

Hmm. One of the most complicated (yet fun and exciting if you really are into it) things are all of those tech/magic level questions and systems all over the posts. Right now I would like to start with some history/story (In spanish we use only one word to cover both ideas) and mythos background and I know I will have a better idea on tech/magic levels... eventually.

I like your suggestions, they have made me think things over.