Must haves 3

Low level magic is common: Oh yeah. If in some settings, you wonder how there can be an arcane caster in every adventuring party, in this one, you'll wonder why this farmer family doesn't have a potion of healing. Oh yes, that common. While still expensive, basic magic items will be buyable from pretty much every merchant.
    Why is that? Well, two things. I like magic items, I like wacky items that give you stupid abilities (I once gave a wizard a dagger that created a copper piece every time it would hit someone). For these to be available, magic how to be common. Also, magic items are fun to get for PCs.
    Might even give everyone a cantrip to use, once a day, chosen on birth, just to show that magic is in their blood. Not sure about what that would do for balance though...

Numerous sects: Without active gods, sects are sure to pop in everywhere. What I mean by sect is a religion that was dishonestly set up for personal gain (please, no debate about how every religion would be a sect with that definition). These add to this no-god world in making it more realistic (because, let's be real, such things do happen in our world, so definitely would in this one), bringing conflict (conflict is good for a setting), and setting PCs up to doubt every religion. Without that, they probably will not get the godless part of this setting, since they're used to the regular setting, with active gods.

Ninjas: Well... Out.

Samurai: I like the idea of the overhonorable fighter, but... it doesn't fit with what I want for this setting, where everyone will be mostly out for themselves... Out.

Civil War: Why? CONFLICT! Also, I don't want this to be simply a government getting overthrown, I want this to be a conflict set up around a moral issue, like what we had in the Marvel Universe, or in Skyrim. This creates moral dilemmas, forces players to roleplay a bit more ("I think they're right, but which side would Markas be on?"), and makes the conflict one where no side is right in the absolute: it's easy to pick a side when orcs are attacking a village, or when a necromancer is raiding graveyards, but in this case, just choosing whose side you're on will be one of the toughest parts.
    Also, another thing about civil wars is that you fight people you used to be friends with, maybe even family members or lovers. What does it mean? EVEN MORE CONFLICT!

Vikings: Well, not horned helmet blonde axe wielder that come in flat boats. But I like the idea of a culture living on an island, far from "civilization", and whose only interaction with it is to come and raid it every now and then. But they won't be like your regular vikings. They might not even be human. Maybe from the underground? Another plane?

No polymorph/no druid: I HATE POLYMORPH! I also don't think druids deserve a special spot in a world where gods don't exist and everyone share causes rather than gods. There you go, I've said it.

Lycanthropes: This might sound weird right after no polymorph, but I want to keep lycanthropes. In a world where polymorph is unheard of, they're actually special for being able to shapeshift. However, it won't be under their control.

Vampires: Well obviously there will be vampires, this is DnD! I don't expect to give them a particular place though.

Evil Elminster: In the Forgotten Realms, the most powerful mortal is Elminster, an archmage. He is good and keeps evil at bay, even though he doesn't intervene much (he's busy getting it on with a goddess). However, in Dragonlance, the most powerful mortal (from midway through the War of the Lance up to his death) is Raistlin, an evil, evil archmage. However, he keeps to himself and is not simply trying to destroy the old world (well, he is, but he doesn't do it, it's complicated). He stays on the side and doesn't intervene much in the mortal world. And, well, Raistlin is my favorite character ever. I need one like that. It'll probably be a lich. There will probably be a whole religion dedicated to him. But he won't intervene much, he'll stay busy with research (evil research), and may be leading a country a la Dr. Doom: not an evil country, and it's not there to conquer the world, but just so he can call himself King or whatever. I have a name for him: Dalam. It's the inverse of "Malade", french word for sick. I'll have to admit it's taken from a buddy's username on a few online games. But I like it.

An island where criminals can live: Think Tortuga. That's where you go to contact criminals. That's where criminals stay. And the law doesn't go there. Why? Oh c'mon, you didn't see it coming? Obviously, it's led by the Evil Wizard. I wanted him to rule a country? There you go. He's also the only one who can keep such a place from burning to the ground.
    Why did he do that? He would have liked to have a safe haven for himself when he was younger, and decided to create one for the next generations. Plus it serves him, like that no do-gooder comes to bother him (they'd have to go through this whole island). People most likely donate in his temples too, to keep his wrath away from them (remember what I said earlier about him being the center of a religion?).

Dinosaurs: Like them. I want a culture that has domesticated them. I want a half-dragon T-Rex leading a group of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs make everything great. The problem is, with such beasts walking around, how can regular animals survive? The cheap trick is to have them live on an island separated from the rest of the world. I'd like something more... elegant. However, I don't have any idea yet for that.

POKEMON: Yes, guilty pleasure. I've done it quite some time ago, and seen people do it since: creating DnD stats for different pokemon. Now, I don't want them to play a big part in the world, or to even be separate from other creatures: I'd just like my PCs to face a Bulbasaur eventually. It won't be called a bulbasaur, more like a Flower Toad, just like a Pikachu would be a Thunder Rat, and a Geodude, an Armed Stone. This is a very childish thing to do, but screw you. I like pokemons, and they're in.

At least one “civilized” nation led by a member of a “barbarian” race: To show the lack of racial difference, mainly. Just like a black president of the US shows that large-scale, official racism is a thing of the past (once again, I don't want your ideas on this, thank you), having a Bugbear baron of a "good", "human" kingdom would drive the point home.

BONUS!: Mutants: I like the idea of having characters who physically mutate as they gain power. It would be an NPC thing, but I'd like a faction whose member get mutations through a tainted magical source. Some positive, a great deal negative. Some major, some simply aesthetic. That does give me ideas for the type of faction it would create: if you get positive mutations, it's because our "God" likes you, if you don't, it's your damnation.
    Maybe it could be put together with the "Viking" raider culture I was talking about earlier on, to make them different from regular Vikings. Plus, the "tainted magical source" could be a reason to go raiding, as they need something from the "main world" to feed it, and they can't simply trade, as the main world attacks them at first sight due to their mutations.

BONUS 2: Traders: Those of you who know Giant In The Playground, you'll call me a copycat. I guess I am. The idea of an entire race being only known in the main world as traders, who bring some exotic wares, who are shrouded in mystery, is very alluring. I was thinking of calling them just that, the Traders, just like the Giant did, but you know, that would be stepping over the line a bit.

Here we are. 3 massive posts later, step 2 is done. I hope your list is a bit shorter than mine, and you cut a couple more ideas than I did. To complete Step 2: Define you must haves, you must have (hehe) your list, with a bit of explanation for why you want each of these things, and just some of the thought you've put into each, and how they interact with one another and with your defining aspects. They won't be the only things in your setting, and you will cut some out, but it is, I believe, an important part of the definition of your setting. Go ahead. Do it.

Must haves part 2

 After cutting my previous post short, here is the remainder of my explanation for my must haves. Hope it will fit in this one.

A group that hunts others for pleasure & Colosseum/Arena/Labyrinth of Terror culture: These two will be put together as a kind of parody of modern sports, where they have teams of assassins with a treasure hunt of people to kill (2 twins, a half-celestial dwarf, a member of the royal family...), and would be seen as stars in that culture, just like NBA/NFL/MLB players are right now in ours.
    However... This would be impossible without TVs, or any way for fans to follow their favorite sports. And that sounds like the kind of sports that can't happen in an enclosed space, so doesn't work with an Arena... And I can't add TVs to entertainment without adding them to the rest of the setting... crap, gotta lose that idea. Let's split them up again.

Hunters: So, I liked the idea of the treasure hunt murder list. However, they're not real assassins, as they don't take contracts, it's simply for competition. There could (should) be some political agenda behind the choice of the kills. And it should also be a rather small faction.

Entertainment is murder: I want a culture with a Roman-like Colosseum, an Oblivion-like Arena. But not those boring one-on-one fights, or team fights, or any of those. I want something a bit more different, kinda like Ian Livingston's Deathtrap Dungeon and Collins' Hunger Games, except live in front of a crowd. They create a "dungeon" with one-way glass for a ceiling, drop people in it, and get people to pay to watch. Use that as a way to keep citizens in line probably. There you go.

Tattoos: I like tattoos and the looks they give. They make people memorable by their looks, and give away their personality and character. I also like the idea of Spell Tattoos, one-time magical objects (potions and scrolls basically) that are tattooed on the owner. They then can then use them with only a thought. However, they can't trade, sell or give them to anyone else. Maybe some major magical items could be tattooed also (like bracers or rings, which would still take the slot but couldn't be taken off). That will be in there. Will it affect the world? Well, some groups would frown upon tattoos, because they could represent magical items. Some people will get regular tattoos, because they represent power.

Godlike dragons: I LOVE dragons. They are just so great. The problem is that they often are presented as much less than they are. Dragons should be superior beings. One of the problem you have to present dragons as such is the use of young dragons. Seriously, would you kill a dragonling if you knew its mom could destroy you with a flick of the hand?
    To make this work, no young dragons will be left alone. They won't stay with their parents either. Young dragons will group up with their brothers and sisters, and eventually, one of them will kill the other and become a full-fledged "adult" dragon.
    Another thing about dragons is that they'll be the only creatures who can polymorph (see notes about that later). Therefore, there will be religions based on the worship of dragons.

Shitload of half-dragons: If dragons are to be the closest thing to a god in my setting, and can polymorph, the analogy to Greek Gods was necessary. Given the future of true dragon children, a lot of dragons prefer to polymorph and get some half-breef children who will live a great life.
     Because yes, half-dragons are going to have great lives, be respected by (mostly) everyone (the "mom can kill you with a flick of the hand" thing all over again). And since there is no alignment, even half-chromatics will be respected.
    And not all half-dragons will be humanoids. A draconic lion would rock. Imagine a king riding its half-gold dragon horse. Or half-dragon insects while we're at it. Heck, I just like half-dragons in this setting.


Draconians: So Draconians are creatures in Dragonlance made from corrupted metallic dragon eggs. They are basically reptile humanoids, there are 5 types (one for each metallic dragon), and their particularity is that when they die, something happens: some turn to stone, others burn, others turn to acid. It makes them annoying, and different from your average orc. Also, as corrupted dragons, they'd be hated by the dragon worshipers.
    What about this: instead of corrupting dragon eggs (because if dragons are gods, who the hell would play around with a god's eggs?), they're created by the murder of the young dragons I mentioned earlier. When dragons have kids, they eventually leave the nest in groups of 3-6ish. Then, eventually, one of them kills the other ones, and from the earth where their blood was spilt comes draconians. That way, they also foster an incredible hatred for dragons (well, revenge more than hatred, but meh, whatever), leading to even more conflict with the dragon worshipers.

Exploring a new continent/Unexplored parts of the world: Interesting because of 2 things: first, the conflict between the native races and the explorers, but also because of the competition it would bring between the main powers on the "old" continent.
    However, to avoid going straight to the stereotype, they're not getting there by boat. I have no idea how this could make sense right now, but no, no seas to cross to get there. It will have to be another natural division. Mountains maybe? Underground? ooooooh! Shiny idea! They discover that there is a world underground, totally undeveloped (to them), and they want to conquer it for its (not mines, too easy...) ... non-mineral natural resources... I guess it will have to be mines. Or maybe spell reagents from body parts of a creature down there?

Highly competitive politics: Think Dwarves in Dragon Age, or Drows in the Drizzt series. You have a couple families, with a political system so complex even those in it don't understand all the rules. Assassinations and infiltration are common things. Each family wants to send their own members into the different guilds in the city so they can get these guilds on their good side. There eventually are inter-family wars. Maybe there's even an official ranking, like with the FR Drows (this is the leader of the Farnal family, third house of the city).
     Why do I want that? Instant, never-ending conflict. Plus I like to send PCs in situations where there are just so many factions, so many things going on at once that they can only screw it up. It takes them outside of their comfort zone. Plus, it's important for an RPG setting to have nobles you can get rid of without changing the status quo (sometimes changing the status quo is what you're going for, sometimes not). At least, keeping the changes small scale and not reworking the whole world.
     As to how I'll do it, dwarves and drows have already been taken, so no drows (no elves at all actually, want to change it up), no dwarves. I'd like to keep it down to a race usually seen as good. I guess it will be either halflings or gnomes. These creatures usually are only comic relief in a setting, so by doing that I turn their usual place in the world on its head. I like that. Gnomes or halfling, will decide on that later.

So after all, it will be 3 posts for the must haves... never realised it was such a long part of the job.

Define your must haves

Some of you might notice this post comes right after the first one. Screw you. Yes I had already started doing some work. Also, when I share this with others, I want them to see more than one post, so it looks like something that's already established. Also, by explaining all of that, this effect will be lost. Damn.

Alright, so step 2! Step 2 is where you define your must haves. How is that different from the defining aspect from last post? Well, your must haves won't be what define your setting. If you've played Dragon Age Origins (I've just started it two days ago, so I might be wrong [not to self: you could stop using examples from stuff you don't know about]), the defining aspect is that whole Blight thing: the Darkspawn attack the world, and corrupt a God into becoming an Archdemon that tries to destroy everything. It's what makes the world what it is. The Elves being slaves, and the whole Dwarven culture, that's one of the must haves. It's a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing. If you go to Orzamar, the Dwarven capital, you will feel the Dwarven culture, but not as much in the outside world. However, wherever you go, there's this damn Blight going on, affecting everything. For those of you who know Asterix, when you think of it, you think of that potion, and the fights with the Romans. The pirates are not always there, but they're still a part of the setting. Same for the fight between the blacksmith and the fisherman (IIRC).

For this step, what I do is a brainstorm of what I want to put in there. Brainstorm, as in don't think about it. Here you go:

• Pirates
• A religious assassins’ guild like the Dark Brotherhood
  
• A racial supremacist group (NAZIS!)
  
• A group that hunts others for pleasure
• A Colosseum/Arena/Labyrinth of Terror culture, for whom entertainment is watching people killing each other
• Spell Tattoos, and tattoos in general
• Dragons as what they really are, godlike creatures.
• Dragons also have sex with anything, so a SHITLOAD of half dragons
• Draconians like in Dragonlance
• Exploring a new continent
  
• A region led by Families/Houses, where every major group is led by members of a given Family/House, and where assassinations are so common they’re mundane.
• Low level magic is common
• Sects started left and right
• Ninjas
• Samurai
  
• A civil war somewhere
• Vikings
• Undiscovered parts of the world
  
• Lycanthropes
• Vampires
• NO POLYMORPH SPELL
• to complete my last point, NO DRUID
  
• An evil sorcerer (lich?) as the most powerful being on earth (Evil Elminster)
  
• An island where criminals can live
• Dinosaurs!
• POKEMON!
  
• At least one “civilized” nation led by a member of a “barbarian” race

There you go. Easy enough, wasn't it? Now, we'll go through them, look at what we think is so awesome about them, and try to see how we'll work it in.

Pirates: Why are pirates awesome? Seriously? The clothes, especially the hats, are what make pirates awesome. This is why you break down the REASONS why they're awesome, and work these awesome parts in your setting, not necessarily the ideas you had themselves: Do I really need them to be naval thieves to have what I like about pirates? Nope. It could be a culture that would wear pirate clothes, with large hats and bandanas. There you go, I need a pirate-clothed culture.

    Doing it like that is also useful because it simplifies deconstructions. If you want, you can just play with stereotypes, but to make a setting live on its own, you need twists. My pirate-clothed people will not speak in Arrrs. They probably won't be naval thieves. When I'll describe them, I won't say "you see two guys dressed as pirates", but "you see two guys with large hats and long trenchcoats. One of them has a red bandana under his hat, and the other has gold teeth and a hook for a hand". They're not pirates anymore, but I did add some essence of awesomeness.

    Regarding the hook for a hand thing, and the wooden leg, and the eyepatch, there needs to be a reason for this people to lose body parts so often. I'll look into that later.

Religious assassin's guild: Clear copy of the Dark Brotherhood from The Elder Scrolls series. If you don't know it, the Dark Brotherhood is an assassin's guild that serve a "god" (complicated TES mythology). To ask for a job, you have to make a prayer to the Night Mother, which then sends the message to the chapter's head. They send someone to the client, and send an assassin to do the work.

    I like this idea because of how counterintuitive it is: assassins are usually pictured as godless and amoral, but not in here. It also fits perfectly with my many religion thing. However, I need it to be different from the Dark Brotherhood, because, well, all my players will know it, and I want to bring a sense of mystery around it. For one thing, the religion should not be presented as an assassin's guild. Not even as a god of death.

    Got it. The religion will answer to the God of Ambition. And if someone drops off a donation and wishes to be promoted, or to be the heir to the throne, then all of a sudden whoever was in their way surprisingly disappears. Maybe even the donators did not know that would happen, and they maybe wouldn't even make the connection. Or even worse: you pray for your inheritence to come soon: the next day, you learn of your father's death, and that night, somebody comes, their knife still bloody, asking for their payment. Ain't it AWESOME?

Nazis: Well, not that I particularly like Nazis or think they're cool, but I think that in a world where race is not seen as defining as much as faction, there must be at least a small group that believes it is superior to other races. I’m tired of those nice hippy elves, but if they get that assignment, it’s to play right into the second most common elf tropes, the elitist elven race (Dragonlance did it, LotR did it, Skyrim did it to the Talmor, among others). Dwarves don’t feel right either. Halflings? Would be interesting, but what could they claim to be superior about? Gnomes? "Oh, you guys suck, you don't even invent machines that explode in your own face!" Halflings or gnomes would be original, but I don't think they're intimidating enough (at all) to cause the kind of trouble you think of when you think of Racial Supremacists.

    Actually, why not dwarves? Dwarves would be great! Dwarven myths claim that they are created from the planet itself. Some therefore believe that the entirety of the land belongs to Dwarves, that no other race should step on it. Not all dwarves are racists, but there is a quite large kingdom filled with nazi dwarves who would like to see members of the other races burn. Plus, it kind of fits the whole underground thing, since they don't want to join the infected surface world, with maybe tunnels being dug under other cities when they want to attack it.

     And also, with their fetish for beards, I won't be tempted to go for the Charlie Chaplin stache. And please, no armband, not even a fascist state. It will be the most democratic thing ever, because, well, Dwarves are such a superior race that even the lowest citizen's ideas must be heard.

I've only done 3, and this post will already be the equivalent of a 3 page MS Word document. The rest will come in another post.

Introduction and getting started

Hey guys! I hate introductions, but still, I guess I gotta write something...

So I've decided to run a D&D game. However, I want it to be in a homebrew setting, cause, well, I prefer it that way, and I'm addicted to creation either way, might as well do it right away.

But why am I doing that on my blog? Your players will be able to see everything? Yeah, and? Actually I have quite a few reasons: (1) it makes it more likely that I will finish the damn thing; (2) Blogspot makes it somehow structured, with its posts and all; and (3) others might look at this and see it as a tutorial for world creation. If it is the first D&D setting I create, I've created many, many worlds for other stories or games, and I've gotten quite an amount of experience. When I was starting though, I was always looking for a tutorial of how to create a world. Here you go, that's one more for you guys.

Let's get this started right away, with Step 1: The Defining Aspects. If you create a world, you have to have an idea behind your head. What do you want in that world. How is it different from the others? Where are you taking this whole thing? This is step 1 because it has to be clear in your head before you can start, because those are the foundations of your world.

For me, here are my 3 defining aspects:

   First, this world is not led by humans. Actually, there are very few racial factions: One’s race does not dictate its belonging to a group in particular. Actually, several factions prefer having a wide variety of races, given the fact that each race has its own specializations. A consequence of this is that language is not race-defined, but geographically defined. This brings an interesting naming convention: family names will be, by definition, race-defined, while given names will be dictated by geography.

    Second, the idea of a pantheon of deities is not that spread. Gods, if they exist, are subtle about it. Like in the real world, many different religions claim to hold the truth, but they all are mutually exclusive (if one is right, the others aren't). Divine magic therefore does not come from the gods, but from a cleric’s own devotion, not unlike a sorcerer’s arcane magic. As such, clerics and paladins exist outside of organized religions, devoting their lives to an ideal, and still have all the class benefits of other clerics.

   Third, it will follow the relative approach to good and evil. Alignments do not exist, only sets of values. Paladins follow an ideal and act according to it, rather than following a lawful stupid code. A paladin of Freedom and a paladin of Order will act differently, but will always try to portray the ideal that they believe in. While some values are deemed evil, and other good, these two concepts are not absolutes.What one may consider good, the other may consider evil. After all, there are more than 9 moral codes out there.

For you students, write down a few of these aspects that will define your setting. Is it fantasy in a modern setting? Is it a world with two continents, an evil one ruled by orcs and red dragons and a good one ruled by the kind human king? It it a world where humans can become super sayians? What wil important to your game/story?