The Campaign Builder's Handbook

[Gnomemaster]

Magic

Every now and again I see a campaign setting with its own magic system that focuses on will or whatever. This is a good way to make your campaign stand out. Sometimes campaign settings are based completely around Psionics, or Incarnum, or vestiges. There are different ways of going about magic as presented by Wizards of the Coast. Here are some:

Spells are your generic Sorcerer/Wizard, Cleric, Bard, and Druid (and Ranger and Paladin at higher levels), itâ,¬,,¢s presented in the playerâ,¬,,¢s handbook and almost every player is familiar with this style.

Psionics are the powers of the mind. A psion, Wilder, or Psychic Warrior get so many powerpoints or PP (gotta love abbreviations) that they can spend on Powers. Powers work just like spells. They are presented in the Psionics Handbook, you might want to pick up the Complete Psionic to.

Vestiges, Shadow Magic, and Truenames are all available in the Tome of Magic. It presents three classes that supplement and use the three systems. Vestiges are powerful beings that mortals make pacts with for power, Shadow magic manipulates energies from the shadow planes, and Truenames are made up of the language of creation.

Warlocks use eldritch energies and are slightly evil. They take invocations that supplement their eldritch blasts. Read all about it in the Complete Arcane.

Incarnum is a completely new system based on souls. I canâ,¬,,¢t suggest to get it because I donâ,¬,,¢t have the book and never really read it. It might be worth reading first then buying, but make sure itâ,¬,,¢s going to be important to the campaign before you spend 40 dollars on it.

Some players feel that the way magic is done today in dungeons and dragons is unwieldy, and they wonder why DnD has yet to use Mana points for spells. In Unearthed Arcana rules are given to make Mana points part of your house rules. Itâ,¬,,¢s completely up to you if you use it, remember, youâ,¬,,¢re the DM.  

The way you go about it is completely up to you. In your campaign you may want to remove divine magic because there are no gods (like Dragonlance right after the cataclysm). If you do something that drastic, you may find youâ,¬,,¢re giving up a lot that makes DnD what it is. However, you may have a party thatâ,¬,,¢s not interested in clerics, so itâ,¬,,¢ll be ok.

In The Archipelagos, The few gods grant spells to their worshippers, the shifters and wild elves are mostly Druids, and arcane magic is well spread out. However, the xeph and kalashtar both have been pushing for more Psionics, missionaries search islands to find children with the talent, and then they take them to be trained.

 

[Yair]

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  As a fledgling world builder, I thank you.  

[Gnomemaster]

Yair, im glad you read through it. you're the first person to post in three days and i thank you for it. i almost had given up. i'll write another installment just for you.

[Numinous]

Check your views rather than your comments.  I've been reading along, but I just don't feel I can add much.  I'll be glad to lend you my opinions and writing talent if you plan to publish this.  I will say it can definitely use some polish, and maybe some other opinions.  Keep up the good work though!

[Poseptune]

I'm reading along as well when you have updates. I don't have any more comments at the moment, so I haven't posted anything.

[Gnomemaster]

Pirates

Everybody loves pirates. From the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and ride, to Erryl Flinnâ,¬,,¢s swashbuckling films, they are a popular piece of pop culture. You may be tempted to add Pirates to your campaign in one form or another. This is fine, but you may want to stay away from potential pitfalls. Here are some Pirate clichéâ,¬,,¢s.

-Pirates always say â,¬Å"Arrghâ,¬Â or â,¬Å"Yarrâ,¬Â or â,¬Å"Yo ho!â,¬Â or â,¬Å"Me heartiesâ,¬Â.
-Pirates with eye patches.
-Pirates with pets (parrots or monkeys).
-Pirates with missing limbs (such as hooks for hands or peg legs).
-Pirate flags with skulls.
-Pirates love booty (as in treasure you dirty minded kids) and bury it on islands.

Here are some good ways to avoid these. Pirates with eye patches make little or no sense to me. Supposedly, the reason they are missing an eye is because they lost it in a sword fight. How lucky of a swing does it take to hit someone in the eye and slice it out without killing them? As a DM you may be tempted to make an NPC pirate have only one eye, because it will make him look tough. Try not to unless you do it well. The reason being is that DnD has enough one eyed characters running about (Vecna and Gruumsh to name some) why add another to the list? What may seem cool might turn out to be hokey to your players.

Scurvy is a disease that many sailors get from a lack of vitamin C. Sailors get scurvy from staying away from fruits for months at a time. Though pirates did not know this, the way to cure scurvy is just to eat some fruit. That is the main reason why the shipâ,¬,,¢s surgeon would amputate infected limbs. In a DnD  setting, this isnâ,¬,,¢t much of a problem. Instead of a surgeon most ships probably have clerics who can remove diseases and heal wounds. So there is little or no reason for pirates to be suffering from scurvy.  

Pirates with parrots that screech, â,¬Å"Awwk! Shiver me timbers! Awwk!â,¬Â are pretty well done. Same with monkeys.  If you want to give a Pirate a pet, try any different animal or unintelligent beast. He may keep a displacer beast on board for when they raid ashore. That give it a unique taste.

The reason a Pirate may hide his treasure is to keep it from being stolen from his ship. Most pirates had hangouts where they could hide when the navy was coming too close to catching them. In a DnD setting, instead of a cave a pirate may use Mordenkainenâ,¬,,¢s Mansion to create a home away from home.

In a DnD setting, Pirates are made up of more than just rogues, fighters, and swashbucklers. Clerics of the sea take the chance to help sailors and to create a wind when it dies. Sorcerers are drawn to the power they are given, because spellcasters are so useful they are almost always made officers. Wizards would probably dislike the lack of privacy they are given on pirate ships, Paladins would hate the company, Rangers would probably enjoy the nature and calmness away from civilization. Another twist on the classic Pirate is to use airships instead of ships that sail in the water. You could also team these ruffians up with Pterodactyls that they would ride into raids.

Want some inspiration? Look to Pirates of The Caribbean: Secrets of the Black Pearl, and Dead Manâ,¬,,¢s Chest. Or visit your local library and check out the kidâ,¬,,¢s section. They usually have great books with wonderful illustrations that put things into perspective.

[Hibou]

Mmm... some good points on pirates. Most of the stereotypes for them are exaggerated largely due to children's literature, and it makes them less appealing. In my own worlds, pirates are definitely recognizable due to the style and format of garb they wear, but for the most part they don't look much like what our culture views them as. In fact, in one of the frigid northern regions of Aath the people looked more like stereotypical pirates than the real pirates did :).

What do you have to say on Demons, Devils, Yugoloths, and Undead?

[Gnomemaster]

Staples of the Dungeons and Dragons Game

The trick to DnD is to make sure that your game is unique, yet it still needs to be recognizable as Dungeons and Dragons. Otherwise your campaign turns into a completely different D20 game. Thatâ,¬,,¢s why you need to watch out for â,¬Å"staplesâ,¬Â, I call them staples because they are what keep DnD together (plus, calling them adhesive strips just seemed silly).

Dragons: duh! Dragon is in the name of the game! No DnD game would be the same without it. In fact, if you remove dragons completely just call your game â,¬Å"D20 fantasy game without dragonsâ,¬Â. Whatâ,¬,,¢s that you say? If you called it that no one would bother reading your post or play your game? Well, again I repeat the word Duh. Now, the key is that you can make dragons take different roles than huge monsters that horde treasure and need to get killed for it. Doing this reduces the Dragon to the equality of an orc guarding a treasure chest. Here are some great examples of what can be done with Dragons:

-Dragons are an endangered species, on the brink of extinction. The PCs are asked to find out what is making them all die.
-Dragons are wily manipulators and are rarely seen in their natural form. Usually they are found polymorphed and serving as advisers for kings.
-Dragons are the masters of the ancient empire that civilization is built upon.
-If you want, you can cut out the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons, and instead replace them with Sea Serpents (as seen in Dragon Magazine) or Crystal Dragons.

consider that part one. next i'll probably go into demons and devils together, followed by undead, and probably dungeons. the reason im ommitting the yugoloth here is because to me, the loths aren't a staple. they aren't even in the monster manual. which is unfortunate because i do love them so. in my opinion they are alien enough that you could replace devils and demons with them in your setting. so keep an eye out for all that, i gotta go to work soon.
'Nuff said!
the Gnomemaster

[BlueSilence]

Hey, just what I needed. This will surely help me organize my ideas, I ve just read the first part and did great for me. So Im resurrecting the thread, that way others may read it. Thanks.

[Gamer Printshop]

Gnomes are crafty and sometimes insidious. They head the most dangerous organization in the entire Archipelago known as the Gnomish Mafia. In Gnomish it is referred to as â,¬Å"La Guierrasiaâ,¬Â

Interesting, I've got a homebrew I've played in for several years with the Gnomic Syndicate, a racial thieves guild that weaves throughout the entire gnome culture with their "rules of acquisition-styled" Gnomicon - gnomic spiritual guide. My gnomes are gun-runners, slavers, slave-breeders, smugglers, and anything to do with the black market - which they dominate. They have a shrinking pantheon, as their own gods kill each other off to takeover portfolios of power, so to does the gnome government. These aren't tinker gnomes, but traditional gnomes with a diabolical twist.

I see someone else thought of that too!

GP

[Slapzilla]

For a few years I had many befuddled ideas clunking around in my head and I found that all my builder ideas were completely unclogged when I finally began to write down the deities and their relationships.  Everything flowed from there.  I knew many of the deities that I wanted and what their roles were to be in history.  Since the deities were the personifications of what was important to the peoples of the world, I found that I could recreate history by knowing what was important to the people.  The ideas exploded after that for a month straight.  So Gnomemaster's first rule that there is no right way... may I humbly suggest... be adjusted to 'there are many right ways'.

Elves (and most creatures) in my world were created by dragons capturing and raping proto-fey (and most creatures) early in the first era to add weapons to thier arsenals of personal power.  The deities of the fey then, were protective, noble, mystery solvers with a looooong memory.  This also gives flesh to personality types of the fey themselves... secretive, slow to trust, controlling/manipulative etc..  Magical preferences, art and sociology became clear to me.  Their relationship to their world became something that stood out as obvious etc..

I also found that (strangely) it was easier for me to work on two hitorical periods at once, the first era and their ramifications in the third era.  Did this with a great many races.  Soon I had a genuine history, a 'place' to go, a living world to build and populate.  Wherever you get the 'unclogging' don't matter of course, but get it somehow.  I think a timeline could have helped me, too.

My two cents on the 'handbook' is that you must understand that unless you are Mozart, you will rewrite much.  Work on different sections in smaller doses because things like religion and history and revolutions normally intersect.  Don't try to create one, then the other, then the other because you will have a harder rewrite and more will get edited out.  Knock out the major ideas and/or important events just as dramatically as you please.  Fill in the rest of the details later.  No need to stay linear.  You will be able to connect the dots later.  Let them be.  Local flavor will come.  Relax.  Just do it.  Y'know?