Legends of Adwrent

[MBene]

Hey all.  I'm the same guy from the Wizards boards of the same name, and I figure I'd say hello with a post about the premise of a new world I'm working on.  I was working on my KM setting, as posted on the Wizards Forum; however, I lost interest when I decided I needed to do something with a traditional flavor.

The Legends of Adwrent is a working title, I had to come up with one on the fly today when I joined this forum.  A great deal of work has already been done, but I happen to have a terrible streak of being ignored on forums, so I'm only going to post my premise of it and see if anyone bothers to respond to this.

If it goes well, then we'll go on from there.

Without further ado I present those cobbled together world notes and ideas:

World Notes:

Traditional western D&D campaign with no apparent theme: Basically, like a Faerun or a Greyhawk style world, not themed on Oriental Adventures or anything of the sort.  

Equivalent real world medieval time period of the game: High Middle Ages (1000-1300 C.E.)

This means:

-   By in large, the barbarian invasions have come to a halt, and only very few enclaves of the old ways and savage humanoids exist in the immediate continental area.  Once in a while a large group will challenge the stability, but major barbarian invasions have ceased.
-   The Churches of the Gods are still the supreme power in the land, commanding respect and obedience from all.  While they do not have the scope and range of power that they had in the centuries prior to the current time period, they are by far without a doubt the most powerful institutions and have only become richer.
-   Orders of Knights have become more firmly rooted in society, for good or ill.  
-   For many nations, it is the high point of feudalism, with local lords supposedly owing their allegiance to the king.  Very few kings have a strong grasp of their territories, though occasionally a warrior king does arise and all but subvert the feudal system.  Smaller principalities and chieftainships are far more common than the large, unified nation-state.
-   Castles, so commonly misplaced in fantasy games, are being constructed but are still barely past rather primitive stages.
-   The climate is warmer than previously, allowing for a surplus of food to support larger economies and population densities.  Foodstuffs that may require warmer temperatures are being farmed further north than every before.  Because of this, wide scale famine is exceedingly rare.
-   The former frontiers of the Empire, which had depopulated after its collapse, are being re-explored and repopulated.  This is leading to a fairly substantial population movement as the most destitute are trying to find new lands and new lives.
-   Architecture is primarily Byzantine and Romanesque; however, Gothic structures are appropriate for the setting.  Most buildings are being constructed of stone, due to a greater understanding of quarrying techniques.

--

All in all, those are fairly generic things to be writing about.  I still need that little OOMF that makes it a bit more unique, and not just a medieval europe clone.

Any thoughts?

[Numinous]

Why is the world getting warmer?  Why have the invasions stopped?  Anyway, you're setting is a bit average, but that can be remedied easily enough.  What you need is what meakes your setting different.  Change something from the core books that you don't like, and follow it all the way through.  Don't change too much or it will get confusing, but change enough to make the world special.  

I usually use a conflict to add interest.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a war, but having opposing forces present in the world can really add to a setting, no to mention providing lots of plothooks.

[MBene]

Well, its somewhat average for a reason.  I have custom races, and custom gods, and customized most everything else.  The only reason is that I'm sick and tired of making these ideas that my group at home won't play because they're "too different".

Blah.

I'll post more of my original stuff, if you'd like.

[Numinous]

Yes, that'd be delightful.  Also, your signature mentions Kousekai Monogatari, maybe you could put up some stuff on that too.

[Kalos Mer]

Anyway, you're setting is a bit average, but that can be remedied easily enough.  What you need is what meakes your setting different.  Change something from the core books that you don't like, and follow it all the way through.  Don't change too much or it will get confusing, but change enough to make the world special.  

No offense intended, but back off the man!  This kind of advice is great for a novice designer who's lost and doesn't KNOW what he wants to do, but people who specifically *want* to design 'average' settings, and those who want to use straight-up core rules are well within their rights.

*Ahem* I'll take that argument elsewhere.  (As far as conflict goes, Crit, I think Hochiu was pretty straightforward about there being loads of conflict in his setting, what with the political struggles between lord and vassal, etc.) To rerail:  Hochiu, tell me more about the Gods, I do love to hear about them.

I'd also argue against your classification of castles as 'misplaced' in other settings, particularly since development in fantasy worlds has NO obligation to parallel real-world development perfectly.   That reminds me of another question - what's magic like in this world?

[Numinous]

Wow, my post looks different quoted than it did when I was typing it, sorry if my intent was misinterpreted.

[daggerhart]

i would like to hear more about this setting.

please keep us informed Hochiu.