Kevin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alliancesjr) wrote2007-01-05 03:13 pm
alliancesjr) wrote2007-01-05 03:13 pm
Campaign Setting: The World
The D&D game I'm running right now - theoretically, that is - is based off of a thought I had one day. I thought about something, and said to myself, "Hey, that would be a pretty good game."
A few revisions later, and here it is.
The next series of posts I make will be expositional; describing the setting and characters therein with greater detail, in such a way as to not ruin the story-yet-to-come - I will include all common-knowledge information that I told to my players (and some that I didn't, because they didn't ask/I didn't know at the time).
These will likely all be incredibly lengthy, and possibly boring if you aren't invested in this.
Wall of text crits you for 3d6 + 9 damage.
The World
The world of my as-yet unnamed setting is one that is fairly familiar to all; the generic earth-like world. There are continents, there are oceans, there are lakes and forests and rivers and mountains, there are snowy tundras and sweltering deserts. There are cities and villages and farms, much like there are in this world. There are also the Ruins of the Old Cities, which I will touch upon later in this post, but expand and explain in a later post.
The basic theme of this world is post-post apocalyptic. No, that's not a typo; many people create post-apocalyptic societies and stories where civilization is struggling to reform itself - Stephen King's The Stand is one of my favorite examples of this, especially since you saw the apocalyptic situation unfold.
But what about after? Not after the apocalypse, but after civilization reforms itself? After the kinks in the new system have been hammered out, and society becomes whole once again, whether going back to normal or creating an entirely new society because of the events of the apocalypse and the post-apocalyptic struggles? You don't see that very often.
So what kind of apocalypse did I want, and what kind of post-apocalyptic struggles did I want to be over with?
Imagine a world and setting very much like our own. Technologically advanced, fairly mundane, nothing overtly mystical? Magic was a rare event, and pretty much a myth to most of the world. While it did exist, no one outside the small magical community knew about it or even believed it existed. I use the word "community" pretty loosely; only a handful of people were able to experience it, and even fewer found others that could.
Experiments were made on magic, naturally, as humans are a curious and exploitative race, and a rift was opened to another land. The terms "realm" and "dimension" were thrown about, but the truth behind it was that the world had a "mirror-self", an existance where magic and magical creatures were in abundance. Those in the "real" world who had sensitivity to magic were in fact created because of magical leaks between the different sides of the world.
However, when the rift was opened, the separation between the so-called "real" world and the "magical" world started to dissolve. Creatures started appearing. People were being born with increased abilities and powers. Exotic buildings would suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere - or worse, in the middle of an inhabited area, often killing those that just happened to be occupying that spot at the time. And most peculiarly of all, a famous landmark on the east coast of one of the more powerful nations changed from a majestic woman to add weaponry.
You will probably guess now that I'm not talking about a generic world like our own; I'm talking about our world. And yes, instead of a torch and a tablet, the Statue of Liberty changed - seemingly overnight - to be holding a sword and shield. All of this takes place in the not-too-distant future (Next Sunday, A.D.).
The inhabitants of the "other" world were likewise pulled through - for the lack of a better world, since they viewed our technological and human world as invading theirs, instead of the other way around - as the seperation was further lost. Creatures that mankind had once believed fantastical and fictional were suddenly surrounding them; orcs and dwarves and elves, dragons and kobolds, demons and lycanthropes. Cities were suddenly under siege from the hordes of undead, while beings took up swords and attacked the "invaders".
Mankind didn't sit idly by when this was happening. Swords were met with assault rifles, dragons by fighter jets, undead with chainsaws and shotguns. Guns then met their match against wizards and sorcerers, who conjured terrible fires that kept burning, mystical bolts of pure arcane power that pierced even the toughest armors.
The two World Wars were viewed as simple skirmishes and arguments when compared to the chaos that reigned for years after the merging. Each faction was composed of those who shared the same home aspect; the technological denizens joining up together in an alliance that they had previously only dreamed of, while the magical and fantastical denizens simply treated everything as they always had.
Each met their match in the other, and the stalemate was long and devastating. There were, of course, political emmissaries that went across the lines to try to open communication, but for the most part, the attitudes of each side were the same; it was MY world first.
It escalated. Oh, how it escalated. Soon, aerial bombings were a common sight, while demonic and magical plagues raged across the human lines.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped. No one knows precisely why - perhaps each side had simply lost so many numbers that neither had the resources to continue warring, perhaps they reached an agreement - but the fighting stopped. The great human cities were in ruins, as were the castles and strongholds of the elves and dwarves and the dragons.
History leaves a large timeframe blank, since no one is quite sure what exactly happened, but fifty years after the end of the Great War, civilization started to rebuild. Humans worked together with dwarves and elves and even orcs to form communities, and governments, and to create new cities. Neither side had been able to reseparate the world aspects, and had most likely just decided to live with that fact.
Some of the Ruined Cities were demolished. Some were discarded as dangerous (or alternatively, left as they were as grim reminders of the losses). A few were rebuilt entirely, though not as they originally were.
Technology was a rare commodity at first. Most of the records and designs and blueprints had been destroyed, and very few humans were left who knew how to make things like cars and guns and televisions. What was used in the beginning was whatever had been scavenged from the wreckage of the Old Cities - such archaeological expeditions lasted for centuries afterwards, pulling more artifacts from the Ruins. Many things were able to be reverse-engineered and recreated, though resources were hard to come by, as processing plants and factories were one of the first things demolished.
Governments were reformed. Alliances were made. Boundaries were drawn, and nations were formed. Humans still outnumbered the other intelligent races, but for the most part, racial differences were ignored. (This isn't to say that there weren't tensions and conflicts, but eventually things were smoothed out - more out of necessity than anything else.)
One hundred years after the Great Rift War began, the Earth had become relatively peaceful once again. There were nations and cities, communities and partnerships. There were businesses and governmental offices.
Four hundred years after the Great Rift War is where the campaign begins.
Tune in next time, when I discuss the ruleset I used and what revisions and changes I made.
Part I: The World
Part II: House Rules
Part III: The Current Setting
A few revisions later, and here it is.
The next series of posts I make will be expositional; describing the setting and characters therein with greater detail, in such a way as to not ruin the story-yet-to-come - I will include all common-knowledge information that I told to my players (and some that I didn't, because they didn't ask/I didn't know at the time).
These will likely all be incredibly lengthy, and possibly boring if you aren't invested in this.
Wall of text crits you for 3d6 + 9 damage.
The World
The world of my as-yet unnamed setting is one that is fairly familiar to all; the generic earth-like world. There are continents, there are oceans, there are lakes and forests and rivers and mountains, there are snowy tundras and sweltering deserts. There are cities and villages and farms, much like there are in this world. There are also the Ruins of the Old Cities, which I will touch upon later in this post, but expand and explain in a later post.
The basic theme of this world is post-post apocalyptic. No, that's not a typo; many people create post-apocalyptic societies and stories where civilization is struggling to reform itself - Stephen King's The Stand is one of my favorite examples of this, especially since you saw the apocalyptic situation unfold.
But what about after? Not after the apocalypse, but after civilization reforms itself? After the kinks in the new system have been hammered out, and society becomes whole once again, whether going back to normal or creating an entirely new society because of the events of the apocalypse and the post-apocalyptic struggles? You don't see that very often.
So what kind of apocalypse did I want, and what kind of post-apocalyptic struggles did I want to be over with?
Imagine a world and setting very much like our own. Technologically advanced, fairly mundane, nothing overtly mystical? Magic was a rare event, and pretty much a myth to most of the world. While it did exist, no one outside the small magical community knew about it or even believed it existed. I use the word "community" pretty loosely; only a handful of people were able to experience it, and even fewer found others that could.
Experiments were made on magic, naturally, as humans are a curious and exploitative race, and a rift was opened to another land. The terms "realm" and "dimension" were thrown about, but the truth behind it was that the world had a "mirror-self", an existance where magic and magical creatures were in abundance. Those in the "real" world who had sensitivity to magic were in fact created because of magical leaks between the different sides of the world.
However, when the rift was opened, the separation between the so-called "real" world and the "magical" world started to dissolve. Creatures started appearing. People were being born with increased abilities and powers. Exotic buildings would suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere - or worse, in the middle of an inhabited area, often killing those that just happened to be occupying that spot at the time. And most peculiarly of all, a famous landmark on the east coast of one of the more powerful nations changed from a majestic woman to add weaponry.
You will probably guess now that I'm not talking about a generic world like our own; I'm talking about our world. And yes, instead of a torch and a tablet, the Statue of Liberty changed - seemingly overnight - to be holding a sword and shield. All of this takes place in the not-too-distant future (Next Sunday, A.D.).
The inhabitants of the "other" world were likewise pulled through - for the lack of a better world, since they viewed our technological and human world as invading theirs, instead of the other way around - as the seperation was further lost. Creatures that mankind had once believed fantastical and fictional were suddenly surrounding them; orcs and dwarves and elves, dragons and kobolds, demons and lycanthropes. Cities were suddenly under siege from the hordes of undead, while beings took up swords and attacked the "invaders".
Mankind didn't sit idly by when this was happening. Swords were met with assault rifles, dragons by fighter jets, undead with chainsaws and shotguns. Guns then met their match against wizards and sorcerers, who conjured terrible fires that kept burning, mystical bolts of pure arcane power that pierced even the toughest armors.
The two World Wars were viewed as simple skirmishes and arguments when compared to the chaos that reigned for years after the merging. Each faction was composed of those who shared the same home aspect; the technological denizens joining up together in an alliance that they had previously only dreamed of, while the magical and fantastical denizens simply treated everything as they always had.
Each met their match in the other, and the stalemate was long and devastating. There were, of course, political emmissaries that went across the lines to try to open communication, but for the most part, the attitudes of each side were the same; it was MY world first.
It escalated. Oh, how it escalated. Soon, aerial bombings were a common sight, while demonic and magical plagues raged across the human lines.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped. No one knows precisely why - perhaps each side had simply lost so many numbers that neither had the resources to continue warring, perhaps they reached an agreement - but the fighting stopped. The great human cities were in ruins, as were the castles and strongholds of the elves and dwarves and the dragons.
History leaves a large timeframe blank, since no one is quite sure what exactly happened, but fifty years after the end of the Great War, civilization started to rebuild. Humans worked together with dwarves and elves and even orcs to form communities, and governments, and to create new cities. Neither side had been able to reseparate the world aspects, and had most likely just decided to live with that fact.
Some of the Ruined Cities were demolished. Some were discarded as dangerous (or alternatively, left as they were as grim reminders of the losses). A few were rebuilt entirely, though not as they originally were.
Technology was a rare commodity at first. Most of the records and designs and blueprints had been destroyed, and very few humans were left who knew how to make things like cars and guns and televisions. What was used in the beginning was whatever had been scavenged from the wreckage of the Old Cities - such archaeological expeditions lasted for centuries afterwards, pulling more artifacts from the Ruins. Many things were able to be reverse-engineered and recreated, though resources were hard to come by, as processing plants and factories were one of the first things demolished.
Governments were reformed. Alliances were made. Boundaries were drawn, and nations were formed. Humans still outnumbered the other intelligent races, but for the most part, racial differences were ignored. (This isn't to say that there weren't tensions and conflicts, but eventually things were smoothed out - more out of necessity than anything else.)
One hundred years after the Great Rift War began, the Earth had become relatively peaceful once again. There were nations and cities, communities and partnerships. There were businesses and governmental offices.
Four hundred years after the Great Rift War is where the campaign begins.
Tune in next time, when I discuss the ruleset I used and what revisions and changes I made.
Part I: The World
Part II: House Rules
Part III: The Current Setting