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ArlEammon
2009-03-06, 12:54 AM
I've had my fill of Dark Fantasy up to my adam's apple. So I've done the best I can to make a grey world with a slight bent towards the light.

The Planet is Called Isolde, named after the Sorcererss in Arthurian myth.


There are Ten major realms...

Chronos (Clockwork civilization)

Psychos (Tech civilization, Steam Punk)

Persephone (heavy prophecy, oracular based civ)

Sanctum Sanctorum (Currently the most powerful civilization. They balance nature with magic.)

Alonos (Heavy "good" based civilization, famous healers, vampire slayers, and crusaders)

Moghavia (Land of "Halloween" things. They have a culture based on Spartan principles. Moghavia is huge, and native to lands of the Elder race. "wise giants".)

The Skyes (Actually smaller kingdoms with their own independant rulers. The Skyes are heavily nationalistic, despite being moral, they wage wars of honor constantly and put the nations below in jeopardy.)

Nerrahka (One of the villains. Nerrahka worship the evil Lord Kudiyama, god of divination, serpent magic, and illusion. Nerrahka's cult army and country are filled with maniacal fanatics. They have occupied their main land adversaries for over three hundred years now. The Indrani.)

Xia (Neighbors of Nerrahka.. The Xia possess a huge army, and powerful chi based mystics.)

Akuranil (Mayan/Assyrian/Sumerian based hybrid) The Akuranil are second villains of Isolde. They possess powerful, unliving warlocks, and armies of trolls, as well as skillful cavalry.

They have a heavy interest in invasion of the main lands of the setting, but they are far away.

Bulwer
2009-03-06, 03:29 AM
It looks interesting, but how are you going to introduce a group of players to the whole complex world?

Neithan
2009-03-06, 03:43 AM
I have the bad habit of being honest when people ask me to:

To me, it's not seeming interesting. Mostly my personal tastes, but it also seems quite artificial with the extremely specific and often technology oriented societies.

Ent
2009-03-06, 03:44 AM
How do they interact?

Do you have a short history of the world in mind?

Post/link a map if you have one.

Zincorium
2009-03-06, 03:49 AM
From my own experience trying to DM complex, original content campaigns, loading up the players with tons of backstory and vague impressions doesn't actually get very far.

The best method of doing so is giving your players the same excerpts you've given us, having them each pick a culture that seems interesting, and decide on a 'neutral' country (the skyes from your setting seem the best) where those particular choices could reasonably come together.

You will do yourself a tremendous favor by letting the PCs help flesh out the details of various places during their character creation. If you spend time with them during this process (outside game time), and don't hold onto sacred cows too tightly, they'll get much more involved with the game world and save you a lot of work, because you'll get a clear idea what your players care about and expect from a new work.

Just my 2 cents.

Satyr
2009-03-06, 05:25 AM
There is only one real way to determine the quality of a setting - the amount of passion, dedication and involvement the author invested in the setting. Everything else is a matter of taste and conventions. So, if you want to create setting you can be proud of, dedicate yourself to it as fully as possible. And don't get anyone else involved in the writing as long as the oter person does not show the same enthusiasm for it; that will only to unecessary strive and conflicts.

Perhaps as a result of this very short presentation, the different realms look very artificial and unorganic; if you create a setting it is always a rule of thumb to make as little suspense of disbelief necessary as possible, as it is most of the time a bad choice to ignore, underestimate or in the worst caase insult the player's intelligence. So, if you create a setting with very different power sources and elements, make sure that there is a plausible reason for each's existence and the versatility of means, or you will face many, many continuity wholes.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-03-06, 08:36 AM
Isolde/Iseult was an Irish princess, not a sorceress.

Anyhow, there's way too little detail to say anything about your setting. The descriptions are too short and too broad.

FWIW, if you can actually sum something up as "clockwork civilization", it's probably not very original. If you're going to use big cliches, you should at least try to give them a bit of a twist to make them interesting.

Kris Strife
2009-03-06, 10:47 AM
More detail is needed, for example:

How does Alonos, a land of paladins, vampire hunters and clerics (seems like a church state to me) interact with Moghavia, a militaristic land of 'Halloween things' (Undead, abberations?) with a 'Only the strong survive' mentality?

How does a nation of nature mages (Elves and/or druids perhaps?) react to a 'clockwork' kingdom?

How did a clockwork kingdom start? Rouge golems? Power mad mage?

Your players might want to know and even if they dont, this gives plot hooks.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-03-06, 10:52 AM
More detail is needed, for example:

How does Alonos, a land of paladins, vampire hunters and clerics (seems like a church state to me) interact with Moghavia, a militaristic land of 'Halloween things' (Undead, abberations?) with a 'Only the strong survive' mentality?

How does a nation of nature mages (Elves and/or druids perhaps?) react to a 'clockwork' kingdom?

How did a clockwork kingdom start? Rouge golems? Power mad mage?

Your players might want to know and even if they dont, this gives plot hooks.

Better yet, what do the two-word descriptions actually mean? "Halloween things" could mean Ravenloft or it could mean Nightmare Before Christmas. "Clockwork civilization" could mean just about anything.