Silus
2013-04-16, 02:35 PM
So I'm in the process of crafting a campaign for Pathfinder and I've hit a snag with naming stuff, so I was wondering, how do you Playgrounders come up with names for things (cities, worlds, campaign titles)?
My deal: Can't think of a proper name for this campaign (Carrion Crown, Legacy of Fire, etc), or a name for the world.
1. The world1. The world
The world will be a homebrewed world with the following attributes:
-Low Fantasy: No mythical monsters or creatures (fey, outsiders, abberations, dragons, etc).
-High/Low magic: High arcane, Low Divine (Divine casters are allowed, they’re just less prominent than arcane casters (Druids are far more common than clerics though)
-Medium technology: The overall tech level is around the Industrial period (steam and coal power being “things”)
1A. World summery (spoiler free)
The world (thus unnamed at this time) is planarly locked via a planar barrier. That is the first major thing you should know. Access to the other planes of existence is restricted up to the Divine level so that even Gods cannot interact with the world. This barrier has been up for as long as anyone can remember and no records remain of how or why it was put up. In addition to keeping malevolent and mischievous outsiders from causing trouble, the barrier also restricts the powers of the Gods to be little more than observers at best. This restriction has caused the practice of divine magic to decrease in favor of arcane or druidic magics.
Due to the lack of planar shenanigans and the lack of, say, dragons, society and technology has been allowed to advance as per “normal”. The dwarves constantly pioneer new types of engines to run their cities, the drow in their underground cities perform amoral experiments to further the research of biology and a crude form of genetics, and gnomes blur the boundaries between what is technology and what is magic. There is however a noticeable divide between technology and magic, with whole nations being devoted to one practice or another. The northern reaches of the world, which become saturated with magical radiation the closer one gets to the northern pole, is dominated by more magic-leaning nations for example.
2. Plot summery (spoiler free)
The planar barrier that shields the world from the unspeakable terrors of the “outside” has stood for longer than anyone can remember. Without it, your world would not be where it is now. But strange things are beginning to happen around the world. Talk of the dead rising and devouring people, only for the freshly dead to rise and attack others. Of nightmares walking the streets of cities, leaving twisted, mutilated corpses in their wake and driving people insane. Of the lines of reality beginning to blur and people claiming to have seen creatures that should by all rights not exist. And at the center of it all, a mysterious robed figure in desert garb. Nobody knows what his agenda is, but most that have seen his work can agree, it’s not good.
I was thinking of the name "Dreams and Steam" for the campaign, but that seems a little...meh.
My deal: Can't think of a proper name for this campaign (Carrion Crown, Legacy of Fire, etc), or a name for the world.
1. The world1. The world
The world will be a homebrewed world with the following attributes:
-Low Fantasy: No mythical monsters or creatures (fey, outsiders, abberations, dragons, etc).
-High/Low magic: High arcane, Low Divine (Divine casters are allowed, they’re just less prominent than arcane casters (Druids are far more common than clerics though)
-Medium technology: The overall tech level is around the Industrial period (steam and coal power being “things”)
1A. World summery (spoiler free)
The world (thus unnamed at this time) is planarly locked via a planar barrier. That is the first major thing you should know. Access to the other planes of existence is restricted up to the Divine level so that even Gods cannot interact with the world. This barrier has been up for as long as anyone can remember and no records remain of how or why it was put up. In addition to keeping malevolent and mischievous outsiders from causing trouble, the barrier also restricts the powers of the Gods to be little more than observers at best. This restriction has caused the practice of divine magic to decrease in favor of arcane or druidic magics.
Due to the lack of planar shenanigans and the lack of, say, dragons, society and technology has been allowed to advance as per “normal”. The dwarves constantly pioneer new types of engines to run their cities, the drow in their underground cities perform amoral experiments to further the research of biology and a crude form of genetics, and gnomes blur the boundaries between what is technology and what is magic. There is however a noticeable divide between technology and magic, with whole nations being devoted to one practice or another. The northern reaches of the world, which become saturated with magical radiation the closer one gets to the northern pole, is dominated by more magic-leaning nations for example.
2. Plot summery (spoiler free)
The planar barrier that shields the world from the unspeakable terrors of the “outside” has stood for longer than anyone can remember. Without it, your world would not be where it is now. But strange things are beginning to happen around the world. Talk of the dead rising and devouring people, only for the freshly dead to rise and attack others. Of nightmares walking the streets of cities, leaving twisted, mutilated corpses in their wake and driving people insane. Of the lines of reality beginning to blur and people claiming to have seen creatures that should by all rights not exist. And at the center of it all, a mysterious robed figure in desert garb. Nobody knows what his agenda is, but most that have seen his work can agree, it’s not good.
I was thinking of the name "Dreams and Steam" for the campaign, but that seems a little...meh.