The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: GhostmanIf you're going to do this as a metasetting, then it might be a good idea to keep it as generic as possible. Stuff like NPCs and even races may be better kept in the realm of the settings proper. Keeping world-related things in separate threads would avoid confusion. Just some food for thought :)

NPCs are here in case I need something to do when I'm stuck on anything else.  (as suggested by Vreeg on the Creativity Malaise thread)

Was metasetting the wrong word?  Because I thought it meant "the big overarching setting into which are the smaller settings fit".  That's how I've been using it.  So everything (except for the NPCs) is already intended for multiple kinds of settings.  But they aren't intended to be completely generic: all the elements mentioned are tied in to the larger setting, and by there existence in multiple places support a view of the smaller settings and being interconnected.  So if I set up a single fantasy world and then feature gekkani then you the player understand that there's got to be a connection to the larger world and that makes the place feel more open.

Ah, so all the settings are connected via the metasetting. Then it makes sense that races and such are shared.

Campaign points are the smaller settings within the metasetting.  Note: This also includes historical periods.

Gateway, City on the Edge of Everywhere
A futuristic city that sits at the crossroads between the Known Regions and the Frontier.

Frontier
The multiverse lying between the Known Regions and Unknown Country, a place still full of secrets where colonies are established and new civilization are contacted.

Chaos Rim
Region of the Frontier where the tech is antiquated, the environments dangerous, the secrets well hidden, the villains power-hungry maniacs, and the heroes always willing to risk danger.

The Gatelands
Connected worlds, at the farthest part of the Frontier, where "magic" and swords still rule.

Chaos Rim sounds pretty awesome.  I love frontiers and that whole dynamic of "Safe"(Gateway)/Dangerous.  Very cool.

Quote from: SteerpikeI love frontiers and that whole dynamic of "Safe"(Gateway)/Dangerous.

Yeah, I really feel that a setting needs places which you don't know much about so that there is an easy source of new things to base plots around.  At the same time I feel lost without the grandness and variety (not to mention relative security) you find in a city.  So a city right at the border allows me to have all those elements plus I can have PCs nip out into the frontier for a change of pace.

Also gives you a handy "prize," a place to be coveted by villains and defended by heroes; and because of their size they're an essentially endless NPC/plot factory.

Deleted section.

I've updated the Species section with Maicoh, Koryuu, Cenan, Kellen, Atausiqa, and Heyaafoura.  Organizations now includes the government for the Gateway area of space, the SUN.

If no one has any question or needs clarification I'm going to move on to whatever my next project happens to be.

...So are you saying the setting is as finished as you need it to be or you're just bored with it or you'll come back to it at some point in the future, perhaps?

I love the Heyaafoura and I'm curious about the culture and racial politics of the Dream... are Panians all regarded similarly or are there some species that despise ech other, or are there racially informed cultures, or is everything just totally culturally anarchic (which in itself could be really cool!).

I'd be sad if we got no more of the Dream.  I do hope my interest/enthusiasm for what you're creating has come through, despite my whining about the pulp genre or similar nitpicks.

Quote from: Steerpike...So are you saying the setting is as finished as you need it to be or you're just bored with it or you'll come back to it at some point in the future, perhaps?

Well, when I wrote that I wasn't entirely sure whether to continue this or do some action-adventure featuring space cops.  I'm mostly back on this now, but I've decided that I want to focus on one part.  I want to do some more with the actual people of this setting (i.e. NPCs) and I think I'd feel better about doing that with a more narrow view.  I'm liking something about characters at the moment, so maybe this'll be good for me. :D

Quote from: SteerpikeI love the Heyaafoura and I'm curious about the culture and racial politics of the Dream... are Panians all regarded similarly or are there some species that despise ech other, or are there racially informed cultures, or is everything just totally culturally anarchic (which in itself could be really cool!).

I'm not sure what you mean by cultural anarchic, but I get the feeling it has to do with the cultures being too small and jumbled up to get catalogued.  I'd say I'd go with that since with multiple species spread out over multiple planets, many of which I'm assuming can generate just as many cultures as Earth, it's just not worth it as anything other than right when character flavor comes up.

Of course there's still going to be times when conflict between groups over "differences" surfaces, it's too good a plot motivation to pass up.

Quote from: SteerpikeI'd be sad if we got no more of the Dream.  I do hope my interest/enthusiasm for what you're creating has come through, despite my whining about the pulp genre or similar nitpicks.

Oh, it's come through.  I just have a rather unfortunate tendency to A-D-D my own ideas. :hammer:

[note]Gateway, City on the Edge of Everywhere: At A Glance
* Genres: Pulp-like heroic adventure

* Tone: Medium cartoony

* Elements Included: "Aliens", Interplanetary Travel, High Tech, Towering Cities, Ancient Ones and their Super Tech, a Frontier That Everyone Wants, Swanky Nightclubs, Gangsters Wear Pinstripe, Endless Mooks, Culturally Anarchic[/note]

Planet:

Geography:

Environment:

Rift connections:
*13 Frontier planets.
*The capital of the SUN.

Foxden University: The premier institution for the study of Ancient One ruins and artifacts.
The Silver Cat: Gateway's most infamous nightclub, most well know for its colorful history with the city's gangsters.
Medicine General Hospital
The Underworld: The area formed by the extensive enclosed lower portions of the city, especially the sewer system.
The Daring Soceity Club Building
Gateway Central News Building
The Maria Griffin Museum of Ancient History
Liberty La'sha High School
City Hall
Grey's Diner

Feel free to keep commenting.

[note]Sangoshou: At a glance
*Genre: Anime

*Tone: TBD

*Elements Included: Humans With Accessory Body Parts, Monsters Pop Up[/note]

Planet: Sianu, an oceanic/island planet, only place to find humans in large quantities.

Geography: Lying off the western coast of Treasure Island the city extends from the mainland across scattered small islands both natural and artificial until it comes to the Gateposts about 2 miles out.
History: Before and during the Pirate Wars this semi-arid island was known by various names: Faerie Island, Il Oth (Other Island), The Isle of Doors, all related to the belief that it was a place of trickery and a gateway to another realm.  (The location's concentration of rifts only confirms the superstition.)  This factor combined with the existence of islands located more conveniently for the trade routes along the West Edge ocean ensured that Treasure Island was ignored by the nations around it.

This made it a perfect spot for the rejected and the persecuted.  The first were mystic cults who wished to tap into the supernatural power said to pervade the place, and/or escape the intolerant orthodox authorities back home.  However soon the criminals arrived: pirates, to be sure, but anyone who had a price on their head could come and seek refuge, though a harsh and cut-throat one.  The feared and ignored the island was now the secret capital of the West Edge's criminal underworld.

But its tone began to change early in the Pirate Wars: refugees and political dissenters who could find it flocked to the island, having to turn to piracy themselves since the island could not support them.  Being mostly honest and kind people they squeezed out the bloodthirsty element and instituted codes of behavior and rules for who and what could be pirated.

Environment: Subtropical.  Winters are cool but never cold, their most distinguishing aspect being seasonal fogs.  Summers are hot with cooling maritime winds.  The temperature variance between the two seasons is minimal.  Up into the mainland the terrain is semi-arid forest.

Rift connections:
* Djii: Famous for most low-lying areas being shrouded in perpetual thick fog, the "sea of clouds".
* Lapis: Rather arid world.  Good source for rare minerals.


The Pirates' War: When despotic tyrants ruled the nations rebels, both heroic and villainous, took to life on the sea raiding despot ships.

The Sea War: The marine nation of Tethys, led by the so-called "descendants of Oceanus", attempts to conquer and "cleanse" the rest of the world.  The resulting alliance of other nations begins the formation of a global government.

Sianu: The homeworld of humans, it's most pervasive feature is the oceans: a majority of the planet is covered by them.  However they range in depth from true ocean to shallow seas.  The remaining surface area is land broken up in a multitude of islands, none larger than 7.6 million square kilometers, though on Sianu areas sharing the same shallow sea floor are often considered "marine continents".  Toward modern times many nations facing land shortages simply built their cities in these shallow waters, leading to the Sianu term "marine nation".
Historic Events of Sianu:
'"'"The Pirates' War: When despotic tyrants ruled the nations rebels, both heroic and villainous, took to life on the sea raiding despot ships.
'"'"The Sea War: The marine nation of Tethys, led by the so-called "descendants of Oceanus", attempts to conquer and rule the world as their "natural right".  The resulting alliance of other nations begins the formation of a global government.

At this point I'm thinking of moving a lot of this stuff onto another thread so that it has a cleaner presentation and leaving this one as the discussion thread.  But I want to get some advice on one aspect before I do that:

Under "Altering Physics and All That Jazz" in the first post I describe two powers that take the place of all my magic/psionic/whatever needs.  Thing is they aren't as exciting that way.  I'm hoping to go back and take out the actual description parts, maybe even just turn it into a section stating that power exist but no one knows how many different kinds there are or exactly how they work.  However I still want to convey that these aren't metaphysical powers, I just don't know how to do that in an interesting way.

Also is there anything else people think would help clean-up and/or clarify this metasetting?

There are fault lines in spacetime that allow for things to jump vast distances if they take a wrong step.  On Earth many of these lines litter the American Southwest, particularly along a "trail" that leads to a place known as West Gate City.  Here a mishmash of realities come together to trade with one another while not letting the Earth humans in on what's going on (not because they have some sort of "primitive protection" clause or thing humans would be afraid of them, but because Earth people are annoying).
Fortunately they have help in the form of their own kind and humans in the know acting as superpowered public protectors (and a convenient rational for the existence of "special" powers).


Guardian Force (1941-1954)
The Cat: Shapeshifting trickster with vast knowledge, famous for his wit and mild cynicism.  Disappeared in 1953.
Angel: Light/heat controller who flew by growing luminous wings.  Her powers were deliberately self-inflicted in order to get revenge on the Nazi spies who'd murdered her parents.

-----: (1955-1969)

New Gods (1969-1981)
Loki:
Thor:
Fenrir:
Bastet:
Anubis:

Magic idea: All magic is based upon calling on the help of spirits.  The spirits exist in everything; they are the beings responsible for ensuring the cycles of the world.
Anyone can call on the spirits of they know the right way.  The most basic is a prayer, calling a spirit reciting its titles and then asking in detail what the prayee wants.  Knowing the name of the spirit means one can skip most of the prayers.  Prayers only work on certain kinds of spirits which only dwell in certain locations.  Mages are people who spirits have taken a liking to and follow around, so they always have spirits nearby to do their bidding.
Asking the spirits doesn't mean they'll do all your work for you: spirits have jobs they have to do, so the longer the request needs to keep them away from that job and the more the request deviates from that job the less likely a spirit is to respond.  The spirits following mages don't have quite the same restrictions.

Magic conflict: Science vs. Faith : There are only two ways to perform magic in this setting: appeal to the gods or create the right mixture of substances.  Both sides seek "transcendent perfection", but in different directions: faith away from the material, science into the material.  Also there are no gods of the new science-magic, nor of technology at all, only old-style crafting.

Magic technological: Magic as technology in certain areas: standard flying ships, communication mirrors, that sort of thing.  Medicine has greatly improved.  Has not lead to a major industrial revolution or guns.

Magic technology: A regular person cannot bend physics.  Magic science, the knowledge of energy flows, must be used to build devices capable of this.

Science vs. Faith: The major faith of the world clashes with science.  Both sides seek "transcendent perfection", but in different directions: faith away from the material, science into the material.  They compete for power both politically and magically.

Ancient artifacts and ruins: At least one civilization able to build magic tech has come before, and their buildings still exist intact.

Magic:
'"'"natural ability: Natural magic powers.
'"'"Devotional: Always granted by some very powerful being that possess natural magic in exchange for doing what the being wants.  In most cases by a god (or, at least, by a representative of that god), but sometimes by other spirits such as devils and nature spirits.
Note: Even in the case of gods this does not necessarily mean direct worship.  A god of knowledge might grant power to those who study intensively.
'"'"Technical: Cannot actually do magic on their own, but like a scientist studies the way power flows through the world and then builds devices to alter that flow.

low-think anime fantasy

People: The beings that feel the need to gather together in social groups and build "civilization".  Many feel the need to find "meaning", eventually leading to the need to the need to bash each other over the head because of disagreement.  They seems to have many needs.
Most are quite weak creatures, and few have any sort of inherent magic.
They like to divide themselves up into categories known as "races".
----Humans: Furless primates, humans are characterized by two things: a need to prove themselves and the further dividing up of their race into even smaller groups based upon minor physical details.  Also for being horny enough to try producing a hybrid with anything at least once.
----Nekojin: Officially the "universal symbol of hotness", nekojin have so many stereotypes swirling around them that their true nature has become obscured even from many of their own kind.  Even their name nekojin, "cat people", is an erroneous description for the vague resemblance of their top-mounted pointed ears, long tail, and fur patterns to felines.
----Half-dragons: Dragons are horny bastards.  Humans, as previously established, are also horny bastards.  Enough so that they managed to produce a distinct hybrid race.  Half-dragons just look like humans with small reptilian horns, wings, and tail.

Non-People Beings:
--Unicorns: Pretty white or black horses with an obsession for getting involved in causes.
--Demons: Universally considered the "coolest" of beings, demons just look like other creatures with extra bits added such as horns or wings.  Unfortunately the closer a demon looks to an average ideal of attractiveness for that type of being the more likely that demon is to suffer from a massive superiority complex.
--Dragonettes: Creatures that resemble miniature dragons, but without the hornyness.
--Trolls: Wise beings who live underground and have a connection to the earth.
--Taur: Massive "humanoid" bovines often gifted with great cleverness and insight.

Zodiac-inspired Fantasy races
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer: can breath water, has tough skin
Leo: centuric, has female-dominated culture, creators of the Virgos
Virgo: artificial life forms, all female
Libra: meddlers in world affairs
Scorpio: desert-dwelling, tough skin, related to the Cancer
Sagittarius: centaurs
Capricorn: have goat horns, can swim and breath water but do not have fish tail
Aquarius
Pisces: can change legs to fish tail

We play now fantasy games set in worlds that are often a pastiche of Earth's history.  But an intriguing question came to mind recently: what would a fantasy world designed for audiences of the far future be like?  Unfortunately I don't have the kind of patience for a real thought experiment, but I am thinking of using the idea to build such a fantasy world.

So what would I build?