New Campaign World Idea Needs Critique

[AngryRussian16]

Recently I felt inspired enough to start building a campaign world, something I haven't done in a few years.

The main thing that I was not happy about was that I felt that my worlds main source of conflict and division was among racial lines, which feels too basic. That said, I didn't want my new worlds new source of division or basic conflict to be anything I had done before. So I wanted to try a basic caste system, but in a way that was a little Seussian.



Forgive the crudeness of the art work, I am certainly no artist.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3756/1line.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/725/2line.jpg
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/580/3line.jpg
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3276/4line.jpg
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8850/5line.jpg


These lines, which I do not yet have a name for, run from the necks to the fingertips of every sapient, non-monsterous creature in the world.

The most common and lowest ranking of these is the single line. They are not the throw away citizens that you see in most low ranking caste systems, but they still do not garner much respect from the higher up castes. I imagine that these people would be encountered in just about every job and niche in the world: fishermen, farmers, smiths, etc.

The more lines you have, the lesser in number they seem to be population wise. For instance, most nations would have a 1 line majority, with possibly only 10-15% 3s, only a few hundred or dozen 4s, and only a handful of 5s.

The more lines you have, the more respect you seem to garner, with 4s and 5s having the most respect. They would often be the rulers and top military officials of the kingdoms, even if they were not necessarily suited to be the best. That doesn't mean that others couldn't maintain those positions without having as many lines, but the less lines you have the more you would have to work for it. There would be interaction in between the castes, but more than one step above or below would be strained (a 4 could converse perfectly with no tension with a 3 or a 5, but a 2 would cause severe awkwardness and hostility and a 1 would most likely be too strained for anything other than a servant-master relation ship). The higher your position in society, the more resistance you would find based on your line ranking.

I imagine that, for instance, a king without any heirs would name his top military official as his heir. Eventually the king dies and the heir becomes king as was the previous rulers wish. The new king is a benevolent, wise ruler, but he is only a 2 line, which causes considerable tension in between the nations.

Also, I have the idea of deviant lines:

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7851/deviantline.jpg

These people would be the outcast of society. Their lines could look like the design above or anything else that wasn't the normal lines such as in the above illustrations. They would be moderately rare, but not uncommon.

In a caste system that would be ranked from 1 to 5, these people would be the 0s. They often live their entire lives in subservient roles or living outside of mainstream society. Not all deviant lines live like this, but most seem to.

Also, there are the Nils. The Nils would be born without any markings what so ever and they would be just as rare as 5 lines. They are treated as outcasts by nearly every segment of the population, including a fair amount of deviant lines. They are seen as worthless and inhuman (I understand the idea that the world isn't just humans, but you get the point). They are usually killed at birth or, if their parents choose to raise them regardless of their lack of marks, they are raised far from most traces of society.


Now, markings would be mostly genetic, that is that if someone has parents that are 2s, it is most likely that they would also be a 2, but this is not always the case. They could be a 1 or a 3, but in very rare cases they could be a 4 or even a 5. The news of these sort of events would spread rapidly and could become a source of conflict. For instance, a brand new 5 from a lower ranking case might cause a ruler who is a 4 feel threatened in their place as ruler. Mixing between castes isn't the cause of deviant marks, these rare markings just happen randomly.


Also, I have the idea of the lines being mostly black or gray, but occasionally other colors show up. For instance, some royal bloodlines might have a fair amount of descendants with purple lines or someone born with a innate talent for psionics might be born with red lines. That doesn't mean that someone can't be psionic without red lines or that everyone with red lines is psionic, but the two are exclusive in most cases.

Finally, I just wanted to say that these lines are not magical in any way. Every single person has them and they are natural. They do not give any sort of magical powers or anything of that nature.


Alright, sorry for the format of this post if it seems a bit unorganized, but I didn't know where to start sometimes. Any critiques or questions, or anything of the like would be greatly appreciated.

[Morph Bark]

That is quite interesting. Would these markings appear on both arms, or even on all limbs, legs included? How would humans and demihumans view races who naturally possess less digits (and thus likely also less lines)? Can lines also be made artificially? I could see line-less people especially trying this, or people with few adding a line to rise in status (of course, after moving to a different country, to prevent arousing suspicion). I could also see line-less people being treated exactly like monsters and being left behind in the wild or given to monstrous races or creatures to raise (causing the rise of half-humans). Are the lines magical in any way?

[Slinkyboy]

I think this is a really fascinating idea and could turn into a very rich world.

A couple of issues spring to mind that you’ll want to have thought through before gaming starts.

1. How do the lines affect players? Do players get to choose how many lines their characters have, or would this be determined randomly? Or maybe by DM before character creation? (i.e. You are all 3-lines who work for the 5-lined king of… blah, blah, blah)
2. How does magic affect the lines? Can Alter Self change how many lines you have? Polymorph? How about a Hat of Disguise?
3. What are the penalties for being caught faking lines? Would these be fairly universal, or vary by region/kingdom?
4. Would there be a mechanical difference for linedness (nice word)… (i.e. Would 3-liners get a circumstance bonus when Bluffing or Intimidating 2-liners?)

There’s probably a whole lot more, but those were the big ones that came to mind first.

The more I think about this, the more I like it, but it looks like it is going to require a whole lot of prep work… as building any new campaign world should.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[AngryRussian16]

M-Bark, thanks for reading the thread. I've actually thought about most of your questions so I hope my answers satisfy you :smalltongue:

1. I've been thinking that the limbs would at least appear on both arms, with the possibility of them leading down from the chest to the legs

2. Yes, races with less than 4 fingers could not possess more lines than fingers obviously, so they would not being able to obtain a status in a higher caste, but they are still treated as equal in the castes they happen to be in.

3. Well, in this campaign world there is no arcane magic, so magical means of creating these marks would not be likely. That said, I've imagined that there would be a desperate black market sort of tattoo market going on. However, this would be against one of the strongest taboos in existence for this world. If they were caught with fake lines through some other sort of magic or anything of that nature the penalties would be very, very severe.

4. I like the idea of people treating them less like outcasts and more like possessions or animals. I'll keep that in mind and that could be one of the defining features of an area or something of that nature.

5. No, the lines are not magical in any way. They are completely natural to the person. For instance, if someone were to lose their arm and it were to be regenerated, the line(s) would still be on the new arm.


Slinky-Boy, thank you for also reading my thread and thank you for the compliment.

1. I've thought about letting the players choose their line numbers from 1 to 3, which possibly a deviant if they really, really worked at having a good backstory or something like that, but most likely not. It could also work like you said. It would depend on the tone of the campaign I was running in this world.

2. Arcane Magic does not exist in this world, so the lines could not be affected by this. Should there be some sort of divine equivalent of some sort, I would disregard it and eliminate the spell completely. Its a little harsh, but necessary.

3. I've thought about this. I would think that in most cases, they would most likely imprison you for an extended period of time, up to life. However, in severe crimes, possibly going outside the realm of faking lines, I would think they would have some sort of divine ritual that would literally strip lines away from a person, lowering their rank to some lower, possibly much lower set of lines. This would most likely vary somewhat from region to region, but much more so with the rank of the person who committed the crime and the severity of the crime.

4. Yes, that would most likely be the case. Also, thank you for bringing that up, I had not considered that option before :)

[Morph Bark]

Thanks for answering the questions. :smallsmile:

I came up with some other things just now though... what if there was someone with more fingers rather than less? Be it a racial trait or a mutation, I presume they could have six lines, potentially? How do you think such a person would affect the world (whether they have six lines, or don't)?

Since you mention rituals that take lines away, would there be ways of getting more lines that wouldn't be illegal, but perhaps a government-controlled way, possibly to reward those who do great deeds in a unique way? This would probably be something that players would look forward to.

[Slinkyboy]

Since you mention rituals that take lines away, would there be ways of getting more lines that wouldn't be illegal, but perhaps a government-controlled way, possibly to reward those who do great deeds in a unique way? This would probably be something that players would look forward to.

Heh…

This is the first place my mind went, too, after reading about a ritual to strip lines from someone. This could be the basis or an entire campaign, or a least a series of adventures. The PCs could be tasked with trying to recover/rediscover the steps to an ancient ritual that has been lost to add lines.

OR…

It might be really interesting to have a group of PCs that are deviant liners, whose sole purpose for adventuring is trying to earn the right to participate in a ritual to turn them into 1-liners. This has the potential for some great role play as the PCs have to deal with the reactions of other people they encounter… anywhere from being treated like outcasts to being treated like animals.

[AngryRussian16]

Thanks. I would say that anyone who happened to have six fingers, and then perhaps six lines by extension, would most likely be seen as the herald or harbinger of some event and people would be bound to follow them. So yes, it is the obvious BBEG.

Also, adding lines could be a government function for rewarding those who have worked extremely hard. I imagine the government would be the only people would could normally complete such a complex and expensive ritual, so yes, this is very plausible.

[n00b killa]

This is good, very good.

Right now I am at work, but I will give you a more substantial coment on the near future.

Keep up the good work!

[AngryRussian16]

Thank you very much for the compliment and I hope to hear from you soon :)

[AngryRussian16]

Also, given the idea that people without lines are inhuman, it could also be said that all constructs are lifeless beings and are purely slaves and property.

This could give an interesting time for any player who wants to play a construct race

[AtlanteanTroll]

What if some os born with out any lines? Or does that just not happen?

[J.Gellert]

I can imagine the implications of this in fashion; sleeveless tunics will be a must for "nobility", who want to keep their lines visible. Maybe even decorating the lines with colorful stripes of cloth or paint, dots, tattoos, and so on - as long as the lines themselves are easily distinquished from tattoos.

[Thatguyoverther]

I imagine an evil BBEG coming up with an epic level spell that doesn't do anything but randomly change the number of lines everyone has.

Or maybe some sort of machine... (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CapVmQaDUgA/ShOE5GdJFsI/AAAAAAAAADE/xUuocqWrogs/s400/285_top_10_list.jpg)

[n00b killa]

This is a GREAT idea for a setting.

You can make it a mayor theme for it and then add a couple more things and en up with something similar to the Dragon Age setting (Elves are slaves, dwarves are nobility-crazed, etc).

My sugestion, though, afterter thinking about it for some time I would recomend you NOT to include any means of increasing/decreasing the number of lines. Such an important thing defines the setting so much that allowing characters to alter it (even if the proceses is extremely rare) would be disruptive to the tone of the whole thing. I can seriously see that many (if not all) campaigns would revolve around the PCs trying to alter their lines in some way. If you make them unchangeable you allow for more complex plotlines to develop.

My 2 cents here, hope it helps.