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View Full Version : DM Help Sword & Sorcery campaign settings?



Yora
2015-06-02, 02:47 AM
I am rethinking my campaign setting I've been working on and want to make more of a Sword & Sorcery setting, so I am looking for any published settings that would make good references to look for ideas. I have Dark Sun and Primeval Thule, which are both nice starts, but I am looking for more to search for ideas. Any seconds you can recommend or specific things you think a Sword & Sorcery setting should have?

Thrawn4
2015-06-03, 04:52 AM
Well there is one thing about Sword & Sorcery that makes magic more interesting: As you don't need a complex system or theory behind it, magic can be rare and iconic. In D&D you can just choose your spell and that's about it, but in a low magic setting you can stumble upon some pendants with a skull, a rose or a sword, and you have no idea whether those work but if they work you can assume that the shape is some indicator as to what it does.
Great, now I am second-guessing my own setting. Thanks :smalltongue:

Feddlefew
2015-06-03, 05:58 AM
I personally don't like using D&D for sword and sorcery because magic is ubiquitous- it's assumed the PCs will have access to at least some early on. It's also safe to use most spells, and the only real cost is a bit of gold for material components and investing levels in a caster class.

Burning Wheel would be my go to system for Sword and Sorcery, since using magic is innately dangerous to the caster. Well, unless the person in question is a sorcerer, but for them a spell misfiring is still spectacular, if not particularly deadly.

Thrudd
2015-06-03, 11:23 AM
Check out "Dungeon Crawl Classics" system. It specifically attempts to simulate Sword and Sorcery. It's magic system includes the assumption that the sorcerer is calling on forces that should not be meddled with, and can result in complications with demons, altering fate, permanent physical and mental problems, and death.