So I love D&D and all the myriad worlds that the game has spawned over the years. However, I've noticed something that all campaigns (at least all published) have in common: history. In classic Tolkien fashion, Oerth, Toril, Eberron, Krynn and the Orient all have histories which span at least centuries and most often eons. So I'm thinking of creating a new world...a brand spanking baby new world. I'm thinking that humanity has just barely progressed to the agricultural lifestyle; in fact most of it still practices the hunter/gatherer way of life. Therefore, there is no written history; the only library is merely the trade records of the only king of the only city of the only acricultural nation in the world. While this sounds great to me, I already foresee one problem: character $$$/survivability. I'm a fairly young DM and have no interest in dabbling in limited-wealth campaigns (though I have yet to make the DMG wealth chart work in practicality without throwing in extra treasure on top of what I roll randomly for each encounter).
So my problem is this: how do I provide PCs in 'New World' with the basic wealth and magic items if the oldest and most powerful wizard/magic producer is a mere century or so old? The only solution that I have thought of is as follows: the deities of New World are very human-like. While the hunter/gatherers practice animism, the agricultural nation reveres a pantheon of Greek-like deities. In either case, the deities are seen by humanity as merely powerful people/spirits with their own agendas and ambitions. Therefore, wealthy individuals (PCs) can ritualistically offer up their personal wealth to their favorite deities, who in return replace this wealth with magical items. Good deities use this wealth to benefit their goodly worshippers while evil deities use the wealth for their own goals.
Please share any input you have regarding this wealth issue and/or this campaign idea in general.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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A couple other alteratives:
Use Iron Heroes - the classes don't rely on magic and would probably work well in a low tech setting.
Precursor Race - This is the dawn of humans, but some other race predates them (illitids, elves, sharn, etc), and that race left behind the secrets of magic/magic items.
In any event, if you solve the magic item problem, you still have to deal with things like wizards and bards. If you have an pre-literate agrarian society, these classes are pretty unlikely to exist.
Edit: Don't forget the other problem with a dawn of man campaign - no dungeons. The Tolkien model assumes all sorts of other races (by all sorts, I mean dwarves) of creatures built those tombs/dungeons/etc that are the namesake of the game. Remove early civilization and you've removed a significant element of the game.
Actually, bards should exist. In a pre-literate society, they are the teachers and keepers of history. Think of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, which survived in the oral tradition for centuries before ever being written down, and yet we still know the name of the creator.
Wizards might need mild adjustment, but it shouldn't be a big deal. I visualize wizards drawing intricate runes rather than recording spells in a spellbook. Consider the spells that would normally be in a "spellbook" as the ones that a wizard is able to draw from memory. This does strengthen the wizard a bit, as they can't have their spellbook stolen, but as a DM I don't think I've ever taken someone's spellbook from them...
Done correctly, your idea of sacrificing wealth to the gods in exchange for magic items could be extremely cool. I imagine you'd need to select the appropriate god for the enchantment you're seeking. Make sure there are plenty of overlapping choices - for example, in the Greek pantheon, if you wanted a weapon, you could choose Ares (god of war as destruction), Athena (goddess of war for defense), Apollo (god of soldiers), Artemis (the huntress), or any of several others.
You may want to have a couple of "nations" that have developed around agriculture. In the Greek motif, the empire around Athens was based on agriculture and scholastic achievement, whereas the empire based around Sparta was based more on warfare and taking the necessary resources from others. Both groups could worship the same set of gods, and in fact, the gods might be encouraging each group into competition with the others as part of their own internal politics. Or if you want something less recognizably related to the Greek mythos, adjust it from there, but in history, there have been many highly civilized populations that have eventually fallen to more agressive conquerers from rival, more primitive cultures.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Actually, bards should exist. In a pre-literate society, they are the teachers and keepers of history. Think of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, which survived in the oral tradition for centuries before ever being written down, and yet we still know the name of the creator.
The Greeks were not an agrarian society barely done with the hunter gatherer thing at the time of Homer. I agree that bards are useful in societies where literacy is not widespread, but I don't think they predate written languages. Basically, a bard is something that won't show up until a society has enough excess resources to support someone that doesn't provide much other than entertainment. That's a little way up the civilization-meter from a recent post-hunter/gatherer lifestyle.
All the magical rituals that we might concieve of in the classic literature genre could happen just as easily in a more primative campaign. Describe what goes into making an item or a weapon. Forging a weapon with the blood of orc heores makes it an elven bane weapon, or the fey spirits have blessed the weapon with the ability to cast light. OR the weapon increases with the character. The barbarian's axe becomes sharper and keener the more foes he fells with it, eventually reaching epic status.
Economics almost never changes. No coinage means no money but there is always wealth to be had. Allow PC's to trade, barter, excange goods and services.
I had an idea similar to this for a homebrew world setting. The world was very new. I'll post the intro to it later tonight. Many of the ideas were conceived before Eberron ever came around - some parts of my world setting deal with dragons, so please don't think of it as an Eberron clone.
That would be awesome to see your campaign ideas, Lilith.
Is Dawnforge a published setting or something online, CS?
Many thanks.
I'm going way back here, I know, but maybe Paizo has it, or you have the Dragon CD-ROM archive or can do some hunting on E-bay--but Dragon #68 had an excellent article on running Ice Age Adventures called "Thrills and Chills." Superb article--I ran a mini-campaign one summer with the players as stone age tribesmen battling rival tribes and feral demi-humans for wooly mammoth hunting grounds. I highly recommend this article for what you're looking for, if you can find it.
Wow, I'm looking at the article right now in my CD-ROM archive and I'm getting a temptation to run something like this again as a mini-campaign....it was great bloody fun.
I agree with Sebastian that Iron Heroes might be the way to go for a "Dawn of Men" campaign. The system is tailored for it and the book has a nice, gritty feel to its contents. I admit that I haven't run an IH campaign yet, but it's a nice book.
A great way to go about creating your setting is to do what professional game designers would do in your situation: go to the library. Pick out some books on archaeology, anthropology and folklore and pick out what strikes your fancy. I would maybe advance the clock a teeny tiny bit to about the time of the druids in England; the guys that put up Stonehenge and things like that. It could be really interesting to have the major religion of their civilization practice some form of human sacrifice, just to toss in that fun murky morality; "Look, if we don't sacrifice this guy's virgin daughter, the sun MAY NOT rise tomorrow. I don't know about you, but I really can't risk it. We're scared of the dark, okay?!"
Wow, the brainstorms that can happen during a 4 hour work shift answering telephones is amazing. So here's my new idea:
I do away with wealth and alternative level-based AC bonuses. Instead, characters receive Heroic points at each level which they can use to awaken innate spell-like abilities (all of which happen to mimick magical items). These abilities would each be associated with a different body chakra and would mimick only the most basic items (the plethora of magical cr@p available to players drives me insane as a DM). This obviously takes the term "magically rich campaign" to the next level, as every person alive would have the potential to create personal fields of force and such.
Thank you all again for past and future input.
Okay, here goes. It's very Greco-Roman in feel, and the "origin myth" is meant to be told from the perspective of a bard/storyteller. Oh, and the creation myth isn't meant for kids (in my opinion) - it does deal with some topics that are adult-themed. It was also partially created to keep some of the "vanilla standards" of D&D, as at the time I was formulating this idea I was helping an after-school Introduction to D&D.
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The Beginning
There was a time, long before the present, called the Beginning, where there was naught but Chaos. Chaos ruled supreme and all the powers of the universe was his to command. After a time, eons in our thinking, Chaos grew lonely and out of the blackness and raw energies of the universe he wrought the Earth. Chaos' powers were lessened, but in his joy at no longer being alone, he forgot this.
Earth was everything that Chaos was not - where Chaos was darkness, Earth was light. Where Chaos was raging and violent, Earth was serene and calm. Earth, who was everything Chaos lacked, created the land out of the dark waters of creation. She sought to populate the land she had created with all manner of wild beasts and flora, creating a paradise under the dark night of the Beginning.
Chaos now finally realized his error - he had created Earth as an equal, not a lesser. Earth had all the powers that he did, and Chaos could not tolerate this lessening of himself. In a violent fit of rage, frustration, and anger, Chaos raped Earth, venting out all of his frustration in a single moment.
Earth, weeping in despair and betrayal, plotted revenge. Fleeing into the dark waters of creation, she took Chaos' essence and became pregnant. She gave birth to Sol, the Sun, and Luna, the Moon. Lighting up the darkness of the Beginning, Sol and Luna sought to overthrow their father Chaos. Chaos retaliated and created his own beings to battle Earth's children - Hel and Lanius.
The first gods now walked the lands that were to become Sharendur - and thus began the Twilight Aeon.
The Twilight Aeon
The waters of creation roiled with the gods' new handiworks. Hel, Sol, Lanius and Luna created their own creatures and minions from the waters and heaven and earth shook with the violence of the battles that ensued. It was during this time that the first races looked up with fear and wonder at the battles that raged across Sharendur. Some sided with Chaos, others sided with Earth. Those who sided with Chaos were granted some small measure of Chaos' power - for Chaos would not be so lessened as he was when he created Earth. These races were to become the goblinoid races - goblins, orcs, bugbears, hobgoblins and other ilk like them. Earth's new allies were given life longer than all except the gods - they were to become the Elves. Such a gift would not be without a price - for Earth would not be lessened either. Earth tied them to the land that she created - a long separation from it would kill the new race of Elves.
As with all things, when the balance tips dangerously to either side, something will happen to cause the balance to be maintained. The universe had not known balance before until the Pancaraksa willed themselves into existence. Pancaraksa - the five goddesses of Magic - Gabijia, goddess of fire; Liluri; goddess of earth; Ninlil, goddess of air; Hara Ke, goddess of watter; and Sophia, goddess of the spirit. The Pancaraksa walked into a large camp of creatures thatt had rermained out of the battle - Humans.
While Earth and Chaos battled against each other with their children in a locked battle, the Pancaraksa taught the humans the ways of magic. They taught them to tap into the primal forces of the universe. With the Pancaraksa themselves leading, the humans entered into the fray between Chaos and Earth. In a titanic battle that created the Ocean of Souls, the humans wrought magic that has not been seen since to unravel the very existence of Earth and Chaos. The power that was contained within Earth and Chaos was scattered and fell to Sharendur in great torrents of fire and lightning. From this destruction, the other gods of Sharendur were created - Hekate, goddess of travel and crossroads; Themis, goddess of judgement; Eris, goddess of discord; Biakratos, goddess of strength; Lupercus, god of the forest; Tyche, goddess of luck; Nemesis, goddess of retribution; Nyx, goddess of secrets.
Exhausted beyond all measure, the Pancaraksa withdrew into the lands of Sharendur and left the humans, elves and goblinoid races to sort out a new life from the remnants of the battle.
Thus ended the Twilight Aeon.
The Dawning
During the time of the Dawning, man-, elven- and goblinkind sought to carve out a new existence. The Elves retreated to where they first felt Earth's presence, only to find that She was no longer felt. Despairing, some looked to other parts of Sharendur, seeking to find Her presence again. The goblinoid races had no such loyalties to Chaos, and fell to conquering the new lands before them. Mankind settled in new places, returning to the life they knew before the Pancaraksa arrived, though not forgetting what they had taught. In time, as with all things, the races of Sharendur flourished and grew. Mankind formed temple-schools to Pancaraksa, learning how to use the gifts they had brought to man. Elvenkind formed great tree-cities in the forest and vast cities in the mountains. Goblinkind formed their own civilization in the mountains of the east, though it is not known what drove them to band together to do so.
What the gods of Sharendur did at this time is not known - perhaps they merely waited for the coming storm that was to be the Age of Dragons. What is known is that the passions of these newer gods fell into casting their lot with eiether the daughters of Chaos or the children of Earth. Hekate, Themis and Nemesis sided with Sol and Luna. Eris, Biakratos and Nyx sided with Hel and Lanius. Lupercus wanted nothing to do with either side - he retreated deeper into the forest that had become his home. Tyche, always mischievous in her control of fortune and luck, remained in the middle.
The Age of Dragons
Though Chaos' essence was scattered, his will was not. Listening to the dark whispers of his daughters Hel and Lanius, he quietly gathered up his will and formed up the five Dragon Kings - Nahozrexiel the Dark, Amazael the Fiery, Rinasael the Tainted, Anahesiel the Cold, and Sirdael the Rager. No creature like the Dragon Kings have ever walked Sharendur before or since. Terrifying creatures of immense size and power with vast wings that split thunderclouds before them, they fell upon the newly formed kingdoms of Elf and Man with their armies.
Man and Elf fought bravely side by side against this common threat, but to no avail. The Dragon Kings were merciless and cruel, destroying all who stood in their way. Those who managed to escape their wrath fled to the west, leaving behind their cities and their wealth.
It is in this time that we now face. The Dragon Kings, no longer satisfied with the wealth they have plundered in the fallen empires of the east, look hungrily to the new kingdoms of the west. It has been a thousand years since the Dragon Kings warred upon Elf and Man, and it is not known whether or not we will survive this new battle. I know the Dragon Kings have already sent their spies - spellcasters tained with the blood of these Kings, spellcasters that know not the training of the Pancaraksa.
I write this last note in haste, for my duties call yet again. Our new-found friends, the dwarves, bring an emissary to speak with us. Till now, our meetings have always been informal - the learning of cultural mores and the understanding of language have barred anything else. What little I have learned from them is truly astonishing - these workers of stone and metal are able to call upon the power of the gods they worship to work magic! Such a discovery would surely stop the hearts of the cardinals in the Pentagrad. Whether it would be because of this threat to their dominion over magic or over such a new idea - that gods can grant magic to be wielded by mortals - is debatable.
Such thoughts make me feel old, and I am barely past my fourth decade. I fear the storm that I know is coming soon. I can only hope that whatever fortunes smile upon this world that something will start to swing the balance in our favor.
- Iahrus, called the Wise
I love your storyline Lilith; I once created one similar that centered around dragons. I sense that Earth will soon create five dragons of her own to combat those of Chaos?
Why yes, She did. :-D That was covered in Iahrus' next journal entry. The dwarven emissary turned out to be a representative of the Dragon Kings opponent - the Dragon Gods (not very original name I know, but it worked). The Dragon Kings are all the chromatic dragons, while the Dragon Gods are the metallic dragons.
I love your storyline Lilith; I once created one similar that centered around dragons. I sense that Earth will soon create five dragons of her own to combat those of Chaos?
Thoughts:
Problem: No history for magic items in the world to be inherited.
Suggestion: Have the magic items be primordial, by which I mean, each one is strange and wonderous and new: a gift from a god, the result of wild powers of magic free in the universe, a demon trapped in a vessel, or the like. These are the kind of events that can happen in the course of the game in a young world still raw and rough around the edges. In general you're going to be off the treasure charts for this game anyway in a world where gold nuggets would be the currency more than gold coins, so the thing to do would be just to review the characters every so many sessions. See who's falling behind the expected treasure value by level and set up a scene in the story where they receive something that bumps them to where they need to be by their next level or two.
You'll get characters with a few high power items this way, but personally I like that approach better than having character's whose every wardrobe item is a minor trinket. It's also a good place to use Legacy Items from the Weapons of Legacy book. Events the characters participate in around the time of the founding of the world are the sort of things that should found Legacy Items for later campaigns.
Disposable items - scrolls, potions, etc are likely gifts from allies or plundered stashes from enemies with specific ambitions.
Intelligent items are a great way to represent items with powers from the time of creation locked away in them. Stormbringer from the Elric cycle is probably the best example of this.
Old myths are repleat with magic items handed out by the gods themselves, either in obvious form or while disguising themselves to pass amongst humanity. Time for the party to get a gear upgrade? Have them sent on a mission by an enigmatic old smith who puts them up for the night as he tells them of the need for their heroism and reforges their key items to take the nicks and dents out. The next morning the party has a handful more gear plusses and abilities each, and the entire smithhouse they spent the night in has vanished from around them leaving them only a few tokens by which to know that their dream was not merely a dream. Want to give one character a very specific item to play up their strengths? Have a sympathic stranger (actually a patron diety in disguise) on the road gift in to them, leave it with them, lose it to them in a gambling contest, or otherwise bequethe it to them.
(I also like muchly the idea of heroes with built-in powers replicating the abilities granted by items. This sounds like a great way to get the same flavor as we find in some of the old myths.)
I'm also tremendously impressed with Lillith's creation myth. Very couragous to bring the strong stuff of rape into the first moments of the story to explain what might create such wounds as would echo across the world for centuries in the wars of men, elves, and goblins.
I'm also tremendously impressed with Lillith's creation myth. Very couragous to bring the strong stuff of rape into the first moments of the story to explain what might create such wounds as would echo across the world for centuries in the wars of men, elves, and goblins.
Too often, mythologies that are told to children have been sanitized from their original stories. Sex, rape, death, incest - many of these are part of the original creation myths that are glossed over or ignored in many modern retellings because they offend modern sensibilities. Both the Egyptian and Greek deities were brother/sister, yet many of them had children together. That particular part of the story wasn't told about in any Lit class I took in school, but it is there. One of the things that I enjoyed about many Greek myths is that it really boiled down to a family dispute. Sol, Hel, Lanius and Luna are all really children of Chaos and Earth, so it is easy to distill into its absolute nature as a family dispute (albeit on a grand school).
It is a fun creation myth and a potentially fun world - I hope to return to it someday. :-D