ewoods
2012-05-17, 02:51 AM
I'm starting a new campaign with my group and need a little DM advice/input for a low-magic world I'm creating. I've written out an entire "history of the world" but it's sort of long so the gist of it is that at one point the world was flooded with magic items. Think kids playing with ion stones, bums sleeping under cloaks of elemental protection, and pretty much everyone carrying around +5 weapons. And then recently (maybe 50-ish years ago) an event occurred and suddenly all magic items were immediately and permanently dispelled (with the exception of artifacts). The end result is that there are now two warring factions: those who see this as a chance to start over, and those who see it as punishment for "magical decadence." I'm thinking it can create interesting power struggles as well, as high-level magic users race to rebuild their supplies and gain power. New magic items can be created with no restrictions, per standard item-creation rules, and I'm considering using the crafting points variant from Unearthed Arcana. Also, to be clear, all magic items didn't "disappear," they just ceased to be magical.
I think I have the world pretty well created and mapped out, and the whole backstory worked up, and lots of story hooks and a good story arch ready, but I need help with brainstorming the kinds of things that might come up in such an environment. Some things I've thought of so far:
1. Some towns and cities might have been so dependent on magical items that they could no longer sustain themselves and collapsed.
2. Magic items are so rare that they're almost never found for sale (since the creators would probably be creating them for themselves), and when they are, they're likely to be VERY expensive.
3. Materials for creating magic items might be rare as well.
4. Con artists might try to sell people "fake" magic items. I've even thought that perhaps some magic users might imbue mundane items with a simple, low-level magic aura with no real power at all (to save them the time and costs of creating real magic items), so that a detect magic spell might not be useful for spotting fakes.
5. Some areas might encourage and even reward people for creating new magic items, while other areas might outlaw magic items and their creation altogether.
6. There are likely to be people who actively seek out magic items and attempt to take them.
Other considerations:
1. Players will probably want to create their own items, so I'll need to give them time and a location to do so.
2. What sort of balance issues among classes should I watch out for and how might I avoid such issues?
3. In an attempt to keep things as balanced as possible, I've restricted their character creation options to only the three core rulebooks.
4. Should I somehow speed up the process/lower the cost of item creation?
5. What are good alternative rewards for PC's (since magic items will rarely be found, and large amounts of gold would be required to purchase even a single magic item)?
6. Does this sound like an interesting concept for a campaign world?
Any and all input is greatly appreciated.
For reference, no Vow of Poverty or any other such feats are allowed.
I think I have the world pretty well created and mapped out, and the whole backstory worked up, and lots of story hooks and a good story arch ready, but I need help with brainstorming the kinds of things that might come up in such an environment. Some things I've thought of so far:
1. Some towns and cities might have been so dependent on magical items that they could no longer sustain themselves and collapsed.
2. Magic items are so rare that they're almost never found for sale (since the creators would probably be creating them for themselves), and when they are, they're likely to be VERY expensive.
3. Materials for creating magic items might be rare as well.
4. Con artists might try to sell people "fake" magic items. I've even thought that perhaps some magic users might imbue mundane items with a simple, low-level magic aura with no real power at all (to save them the time and costs of creating real magic items), so that a detect magic spell might not be useful for spotting fakes.
5. Some areas might encourage and even reward people for creating new magic items, while other areas might outlaw magic items and their creation altogether.
6. There are likely to be people who actively seek out magic items and attempt to take them.
Other considerations:
1. Players will probably want to create their own items, so I'll need to give them time and a location to do so.
2. What sort of balance issues among classes should I watch out for and how might I avoid such issues?
3. In an attempt to keep things as balanced as possible, I've restricted their character creation options to only the three core rulebooks.
4. Should I somehow speed up the process/lower the cost of item creation?
5. What are good alternative rewards for PC's (since magic items will rarely be found, and large amounts of gold would be required to purchase even a single magic item)?
6. Does this sound like an interesting concept for a campaign world?
Any and all input is greatly appreciated.
For reference, no Vow of Poverty or any other such feats are allowed.