The Essentials to a Good Campaign

[So-Keher]

I have recently posted my campaign Astraea: The Chaos Within on the homebrew forums.

I have (so far): a history of the world and a short description of all nations, regions of origin, and two new races.

What does my campaign (or any for that matter) need to be considered a fully-fledged campaign world?

In other words, what makes a good campaign setting? What requirements need ot be met for it to be considered a living, breathing and playable world?

[Poseptune]

The is no real requirement that need to be met for a campaign to be playable or considered living and breathing. If you feel that your world is playable then it is. From what you have described above it sounds like you have enough to start a game. A setting doesn't need to have 150,000 words to be considered living an breathing. It could be a bunch of brief descriptions about nations and events that have happen. The more you have on the setting the less work the DM will have to do to run a campaign. The less you have gives the DM more room to fit things he may want.

A good campaign setting would probably be defined as "A setting in which the DM enjoys running adventures and campaigns as well as the players enjoy playing." Everybody differs in what they want from a setting. That is why you have people argueing that Eberron is the best/worst setting out there and the same goes for Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk and any other setting.

As for your campaign setting I have not read it as of yet, but I will start after I submit this post.

[So-Keher]

I agree compeltely, but I know that there must be some gaping holes that need to be filled. For example: a pantheon. That's one thing that is a MUST for every world.

Do i need to describe the way that magic works or is practiced? I see that in a lot of other peoples' worlds.

[Poseptune]

If the magic of your setting differs from the core system then yes. If there is something that one particular race or nation does with magic that will be described in their flavor text. So it is up to you if you feel the magic of your world needs to be described or if certain aspects stand out then put it in.

A world does not need a pantheon. You could use the core pantheon, create one, or have none at all. Currently I am debating whether my world will have a pantheon or not. Clerics can worship gods that are not there and still get there power (it may be from a source that they don't know about) or they can be followers of ideals (Which they pick their domains to match). I think there is a thread already started where someone has clerics following ideals or orders rather than gods.

[So-Keher]

I really like that idea about clerics following ideals. It would be almost like they are worshiping their domains instead of being granted them by deities.

I want the campaign to have common magic but i want magical items to be rare artifacts, with more powerful items even having level requirements to use (but players don't know it like that).

[Poseptune]

Magic: Then you will probably need a section called magic where you explain the level of magic (high/mid/low/none) and that magic items are not common. You would need to come up with a system for deciding what level requirement an item would need so that when a mage creates a custom item the level requirement is known. I don't have any ideas for this right now. Edit: actually if you do something similar to the system used in the book Weapons of Legacy it might work really well for your purposes.

If I can find the Cleric thread then I will post a link to it here for you to read.

Edit: Cleric thread

[So-Keher]

Alright i will do that. I will work on the lvl reqs. and everything after i get the whole magic theme figured out.

Thx.

[So-Keher]

1.   Humans       te the world.
2.   Gods are not real. Clerics follow orders based off of alignments.
3.   Magic is real and can be used by anyone who learns it.
4.   Opposite alignments disagree, but only rarely come to serious conflict.
5.   Arcane and divine magic seem separate, but are really just different manifestations of the same energy.
6.   The wilderness is separate enough from the cities to justify 3 wilderness-oriented classes.
7.   There are hundreds of intelligent species of creatures, but 99% of them are considered "monsters".
8.   Arcane magic is impersonal and requires no "deal" with a supernatural being.
9.   Beings from other planes of existence do not interfere with the inhabitants of the world. Rather, some live in it and become a part of it.
10.   Magic items are rare and treasured artifacts, and game balance proceeds from that assumption.
11.   Magic is not consequence-free. Need more on this
12.   Truth vs. Deception is the ethos. Exemplified in two great supernatural beings who are source of all magic energy: I like the whole Sun vs. Moon concept but is there something that is better and not so common?

Edit: The aasimar/teifling would work well for #9 and fits my theme well.

[SDragon]

q: what is absolutely essential- internal consistancy, unique flavor, a completed pantheon, a rich history- to a great campaign setting?

a: 42.

[So-Keher]

q: what is absolutely essential- internal consistancy, unique flavor, a completed pantheon, a rich history- to a great campaign setting?

a: 42.

huh? if that is a serious question i would have to say unique flavour and rich history.

[Poseptune]

42 is a reference to the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. It is the answer to life and everything. I think he is saying that all he has listed is essential to a great setting.

[SDragon]

or more to the point, im saying the question is too vague and is entirely subjective. so-keher may say a rich history, luminous crayon may say internal consistancy, i may say a unique flavor.... for the people giving the answers, theyre all right.

 i've always felt that FR doesnt have the most unique flavor to it, so it tends to grow tiresome after awhile for me. it does, however, have a rich history (something xiluh doesnt have, although i would like to work on that), so for people that look for that, its a great setting.

[Tybalt]

I kind of agree with the above; FR seems rather a muddle and I never enjoyed it.

A good campaign should be like a great story. Some modern games allow the possibility of the players just sitting around doing character stuff. A good game should draw them in, make the idea of exploring strange places exciting, should make them ambitious to play the heroes.

As an example take the Dark Sun campaign. You have the exotic elements of a post cataclysmic society where everyone lives in a harsh desert world. Useful metals and water are the main important commodities, things what remains of civilization needs for survival. Almost everyone lives under the thumb of a benevolent or despotic tyrant. Slavery is common. The city rulers are worshipped like gods. It is a harsh unforgiving world, and the players can either knuckle under or be brave adventurers. Immediately there's that sense of challenge in the game, and the whole setting is so exotic that even chosing weapons and a mount is unusual.

I think that's another element: for me rpgs have to have something of the fantasy element in them, something that you wouldn't do in real life at all because it simply isn't possible.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

The thing about Dark Sun, (and Midnight, and LotR, and others), is that the whole campaign is essentially based around only one story.  Sure, stories are important - even critical - but the problem when you have only one story being the basis for a campaign, is that eventually, that story is going to end and resolve, and where does that leave the campaign?  Dark Sun was a wonderful world for novels, but never much of one for playing in, because the heroes (or hero) were already chosen to defend the world and defeat the Dragon Tyrants (or whatever they were called), and all you could do was stand back and just watch much more interesting battles than anything you could be a part of.  Same with LotR used as a campaign world.  Then there's Midnight, which has that over-story, but at least the authors have made it as clear as possible (without coming to your house and forcing you to do so) that the story will not be resolved by the death of the tyrant, Izrador.  Anyhoo, my rant.  I be done, lots to do today.

[Xeviat]

In my opinion, a campaign setting requires only two things: that it is compelling to your players, and that it is big enough to suit your and your players' purposes. My world is huge, because it will house most of my novels and all of my games; since I belong to a 40+ person gaming group, I'll eventually be DMing many games.

Ishmayl has a very strong point; A world with a single arching storyline is only great for one story. But these worlds can be fun to run a single story in if you really like creating worlds but don't want to detail them too much. Think final fantasy.

And PS: Welcome to the guild. I expect your dues of one flattering comment by next week.  :halo: