Lidania

[Thinker]

I've decided to make a new campaign setting. I'm not sure I'll ever use it, but I'm feeling creative and so I'll be creating it here on the Playground. I love questions so please feel free to ask any sort of question you can think of as you read through my posts. I'm going to go at this starting with broad strokes, which will inform the rest of the setting and allow me to fill in details with finer points later on. I already did the hardest part - I came up with a name (see above), which may change if I think of something better.

First, I'm going to hit on the feel and style of the setting, which will allow me to decide on later areas. This will include a rough technology level, how magic works, and any overarching climate or geography of the setting. Then, I'll move on to player roles and dive into what players can expect to do in the world and how they can do that. After that, I'll come up with a few major factions, including independent states, their goals, and their resources. That will let me create some minor factions, which will likely be more localized and will include a section describing which major factions they affect. Those last two might be multiple posts on their own.

Once I have those, I'll get into threats. Those differ from factions in that they'll be more a discussion of what might go wrong - Faction A wanting to overthrow Faction B would be a threat, though Faction A independently might not be. It would also include things like a volcano that will soon be erupting, the awakening of a long-dead tyrant, and terrible prophecies. None of those would be guaranteed to happen, but they would be able to happen in the context of a game.

I think at that point I could get more into more details about the world. I would discuss the local geography and climate, points of interest like dungeons, cities, etc., and the role of religion. I know I want magical creatures in the setting already, but I haven't fully fleshed them out yet in my mind so I'll worry about that at this point. After all of that, I will consider what game system I want this to work for. That will likely be several more posts as I get into the specific game mechanics for players, though the rest of the setting should be workable for a wide variety of game engines.

What do you think? A good plan to get started?

[Gwaednerth]

Well, in my experience, worldbuilding usually takes on a life of its own well before any plan can be completed, but it's certainly a great way to get started, and it will make sure you don't have any major holes in your world.

[Chuhn]

Im excited to see how this goes!! I am also in the middle of a world building mission!

[Thinker]

I am planning to make this campaign available to the public, not just as a campaign setting for my players. I may not publish it and make any money out of it, but I do hope to make a setting that people want to play. That means my style can't just be "everything in DnD" or "like Shadowrun, but...". Those would quickly be rejected by anyone looking for something new. At the same time, my style can't be to turn everything from DnD on its head; having evil angels, virtuous demons, and vampires that give everyone else life would quickly bore people, though twisting a few things might be good.

So, what is my core concept that isn't DnD or Shadowrun? I'm thinking a world of magic and monsters, of folklore and mythology. That's not something well-represented by standard fantasy places like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk. It also coincides with my interest and studies of world religions, fairy tales, and folklore.

So, what does it mean to be influenced by folklore? It means magic everywhere, but often subtle. The wizard doesn't conjure down a rain of fire, but might whisper to the winds. It means spirits in every house, every forest. It means heroes going on quests to rescue someone or some place from danger. It also means isolation. "In my grandmother's time or maybe it was her grandfather's, everyone lived at the edge of a forest." I can extend that to the edge of the sea, the edge of the desert, the edge of the lake, and so on. The point is, there's wilderness everywhere and people are just interlopers into that world. The woods are fraught with dangers that can only be faced by those with the right values, the right goals, or the right aptitude.

Maybe I could work that last bit into the game somehow. It's been years since I played Exalted, but I remember they had a system for a character's values including temperance, compassion, courage, and conviction that would allow a character extra dice if she was doing something in accordance with her values. That sounds like an opportunity for action points or something similar. Or, if I'm doing something more like Apocalypse World, it might just mean those will be the base stats. I'm not sure yet, but it's interesting to think about.

Anyway, I've got my ideas for the folklore feel. What am I going to do about mythology? Mythology often means gods and god-like beings and in a lot of religions, they took a personal interest in the world. Gods and demons duking it out is a common trend in mythology. There's often also more neutral deities or at least those more willing to play by the rules to achieve their goals. The gods also often live in some place reachable by those who are able - sounds kind of like my virtues from before. Anyway, the gods have an active hand in the world, but more so than in standard fantasy worlds. They are likely to walk the earth and commune with their followers (or at least their priests) in a way that leaves little doubt that the god is talking.

That also leads to priesthood. In a world where gods are a known quantity, priests become more important. Following the ritual the right way is important to the community to stave off disaster. There wasn't a belief that all earthquakes were always intentionally directed at people by Poseidon, but there was a belief that he had to create them, but he might weaken their effects or be able to redirect them to the less devout. That reminds me, gods weren't all-powerful. No mortal could hope to contend with the greater gods in combat, but they could certainly have their plans foiled. Lesser gods, demigods, and the like could also be defeated by those with the martial aptitude. Maybe that's another consideration for a character background - characters can choose to be a demigod, which would have various benefits and drawbacks.

What about society? This has all been about the magicy bits, but society is important, too. Well, I've already decided that priests are going to be important. If the world is dangerous, that also means warriors will likely be important. So, there's two clear social classes. I'm not sure if I want a merchant class - after all, if travel is dangerous, would there really be that many merchants? Little trade means people making things becomes important, too. So, there's an artisan class. Maybe I'll keep the merchant class, but it's rare to see a merchant and they have very specific, better-protected routes that they travel on - you won't see one in any villages, that's for sure. So then there's farmers. That's most of the people, but probably not the characters since an adventure of staying on the farm and harvesting grains and vegetables isn't all that interesting. There would also be bonded people - those who owe debts to others; that might be available to the players since that sounds like it could be interesting! I don't think I want to worry about a real nobility - having a chieftain as part of the warrior class is good enough for me.

So, what does this leave me with?
It is a world with subtle magic - less fireballs, more spirit whispering.
I also like the idea of magic being gifted by powers, rather than being innate (unless that's another character background - innate magic, but most of it will be gifted).
A world where everyone is at the edge of the wilderness. You might be under the protection of the chief, but it's still a dangerous day and a half trek to his longhouse.
Spirits inhabit everywhere, but are most apparent in the wilds. Your house probably has a family of brownies, but they only come out at night or you might be unlucky enough to have a poltergeist, which could ruin your life.
Gods will be active in the world and will be physically manifested.
Pantheons and individual gods will have places that can actually be visited by those wise, brave, and virtuous enough.
Characters will be judged based on their values, wisdom, bravery, and mettle.
There will be god-like beings that will seek out to harm the characters or things that the characters care about.
Religious ritual also matters.
As does prophecy (sounds like a character of destiny might be another character background).
What social class a character is a member of matters.
Travelers from nearby are uncommon enough to be worthy of mention, travelers from far away are rare and cause for alarm or celebration.

[Thinker]

I've gotten a pretty good handle on the broad strokes of a setting. That's great to understand what the world is about, but equally important are the broad strokes of the main characters - the PCs. Shadowrun has characters playing the roles of underworld scum contracted to work dangerous missions for megacorps. Dungeons and Dragons involves characters raiding tombs, exploring danger, and toppling evil overlords while wielding earth-shattering magic and gear. What the players do lets everyone know what to expect out of the game.

In my game, I want the PCs to primarily be the heroes of the tale. I want Beowulf, Odysseus, Cu Chulain, and Merlin. I also want Coyote, Aladdin, and Sinbad to have their place. None of these folks are all-powerful beings that fight earth-shattering threats. Beowulf saves a mead hall by defeating a monster and later dies to a dragon while in old age. Odysseus fights in the ninth year of a war and then takes a long time to get home again to reclaim his island kingdom. Cu Chulain is more powerful, but is really only focused on threats to his home of Ulster. Merlin gets a little bigger and is concerned with all of England.

That's a major split from DnD. The characters encounter problems that require martial might, clever trickery, or magic to overcome, but those problems are often amplified by their own personal issues. Achilles has his general disillusionment with the war and thirst for glory, which contributes to his companion, Patroclus's, foolhardy decision and subsequent death. The rage that filled him ultimately caused his death. Arthur united England, overcoming all of the other petty kings of the land, but was poisoned by his own and his knights' personal issues like infidelity and jealousy.

They overcome problems and often use martial might, clever trickery, or even magic, but the story isn't so much about the existential threats as it is about their ability to deal with their inward problems. Achilles is the greatest warrior of the Greeks, but he is unmotivated to fight, filled with a lust for vengeance, and ultimately slain by his hubris. Arthur unites England and vanquishes invaders, but is betrayed by his own infidelity and jealousy.

Before, I mentioned wanting characters to be reliant on their virtues as heroes for their actions. I still think that's a good way to go, I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want those virtues to become the character's ability scores (replacing things like strength, dexterity, etc.) or if I want to have them as ways to gain bonuses to various rolls. Right now, I'm leaning toward the former. I also want a character's personality flaws to matter.

Right now, my in-my-mind method for making flaws matter is awarding XP when they come up. A character with a flaw about rage will gain XP when he acts out of rage and it puts her or her party in danger or inconvenience; the ferry captain makes fun of the character's short stature and he tells off the captain so the captain decides he doesn't want to ferry them across after all. A character who has an honor-above-all flaw would gain XP for putting herself or her party in danger; a character announces his presence to an enemy, ruining the opportunity for ambush because it's far more honorable to face them head on. The characters would be responsible for coming up with their own flaw with approval by the GM, though I might want each one to have two flaws. What does everyone think of this mechanic?

Combat should be risky and lethal. A player should feel that every combat encounter is risky for the character. In most stories, there aren't 4 encounters per day. There's often one at the climax with maybe another one in the opening act and/or the conclusion. Promoting other things to do for the characters is important - I just need to figure out how. Maybe each threat will carry with it three acts and a timer for how it can progress to the next act. That seems interesting.

Just because I want combat to be risky doesn't mean I want the characters to fail. I like the idea of fortune smiling on the characters. It's the extra edge that they get for being the protagonists of the story. What I'm thinking is that every character will begin with 10 points of fortune. They can spend the fortune to reroll a roll after they know the results, to turn a more severe wound into a less severe one, or to avoid death. These points would be non-refundable and when a character is out of fortune and out of HP, her luck has run out. What do people think about this one as well?

So far, for players, this is what I've got:

Virtuous, but flawed characters
Fighting and adventuring is lethal
Fortune smiles on the characters
Adventures are not focused on world-endangering calamities, but on relatively small areas (perhaps the size of a kingdom)