So, most of you know that I can't seem to shake the RPG bug, despite all my best efforts. At this point, it's only been approximately 20 years of DMing (or STing, or...whatever) RPG games. I'm really starting to finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it.
So why a website?
As my latest D&D game enters it's final chapters (Not too final, at least 15-20 games to go), I realize that I've been using this same home-brewed world (that most of you have played in) for the last 10 years or so, and I'm still not satisfied with it. So, in the interest of inevitability that I run another game again (or, any of us get together and play again), I'd like to make a better world. No, really.
So to start, I'm looking at the planet. No monsters, no Gods. Just the geography and environment to which this world may unfurl. Climate, landmarks, etc. How many suns does it have? I've long loved the constant-cloud-no-sun thing that I've cribbed (as it allows maximization of undead), but I'm willing to entertain any and all good ideas. How big is the world? Is it best to have a moon, maybe 4 moons? Large lakes, frozen wastelands, desert dunes, mountain reaches - what's the best?
So, feel free to throw in any and all ideas. I'm going to eventually use these to help formulate a open map. We'll go from there.
Better world, indeed.
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So its funny you should ask as I am converting my 3.5 game NPCs into 4th Ed. as I type... Something I've been working on is a campaign taking place on a planet where humans have caused the planes to crash into each other, acting like a global natural disaster. Lots to play with in the idea, especially with the geographical changes. Not just gross surface changes like new mountains, lakes, and canyons, but resource and water availability too. Other cool effects on world history, planar bleed, economy, magic, monster populations; some cities gone, some being changed forever. Then you get refugees creating cultural displacement, intellectual centers moving, etc. The problem with that idea is you have to come up with a whole world AND destroy it. I tried to run it three generations (60ish years) after the Cataclysm, but I might have done the stories 5-6 generations instead. I also tried to incorporate nomads into it. Lots of different terrains lend themselves to nomadic populations, (prairie, tundra, desert, islands) and they allow for interesting cultural traits. I like gypsy-esque reindeer hunters! Finally, I vote for random map generation. Zen ink brush work or splatter paint!
ReplyDeleteI should note early and often that I'm still wrestling with the concept of Planes (material, spirit, etc - not the flying kind). Generally, I feel that they're an overly complicated add-on that satisfies nothing more than to explain where Gods live and randomly summoned monsters originated from. However, I guess they fall in the general category of geography, so I'm open to discussing them at this point.
ReplyDeleteAlso, for the record, I plan to generally make this off classic fantasy/classic d&d models, as opposed to other possible sci-fi/fiction elements. I'll add races, cities and their effects as I go, and retcon geography to fit.
For the elements, you can add positive (holy), negative (undeath), wood, and cold, the para-elementals (classical amalgamations: mud, mist/fog, smoke, magma) and the quasi-elements (classical and positive/negative: slime, vacuum, ash, radiance, lightning, I don't remember the rest at this time). Past that, you are looking at Pokemon style elements (light, dark, and creature type specific, but you are really stretching at that point, or strong concepts (such as clerical spheres of influence.
ReplyDeleteAs for planes, 4th edition has streamlined the planes alot, primarily down to the astral (where the gods also live, elemental chaos (which also holds demons, devils, elementals, and the hells), the plane of shadow, the feywild, and the far realm (cthulhu-esgue). When dealing with other planes, you can just consider them planar bubbles within another plane - when they have served thier purpose and are no longer being actively maintained, they degrade back to the plane they sprang from.
As you were speaking of Cthulhu earlier, you could have the summoned creatures come from the far realm, adding the psuedonatural template to them and whatever other narrative surprises you choose.