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I've been contributing to Lilith's boards gleefully, and I think it's a great idea with great potential, but I really am interested in making something HERE that celebrates these boards and the people who post here.
The Gameplan: To make a D&D setting amongst us here on the boards, with its own history, nations, gods, cosmology, whatever with the intent that people here can play in said setting with their groups and really affect the world in ways that efforts like Living Greyhawk pioneered. If we make it cool enough and rich enough, and if it gets popular enough, the hope is we might even catch the eyes of the staffers here and get ourselves a little article or something written about the world we're making.
Starting points:
Since it's hard to start working on an empty canvas, here's some ground rules.
1) The world will be reasonably the same size and composition of our world, at least on the macro-scale. We want a world where people can develop varied and interesting things, and slapping a lot of constraints on the world to make it Athas or Hoth doesn't do anyone any good.
2) The races exist that exist in the D&D products. I'd prefer people to be able to play what they want. There should be a place for everything D&D here. Granted from region to region the census is going to look different and some things will be rarer in some areas.
3) Tech level should be somewhere in the neighborhood of D&D standard. The equipment lists should still work for starting characters. Not to say there's no room for exceptional nations or wonders in the world, but they should be exceptional.
4) We'll need certain starting kinds of gods no matter what, but I'd like to have a big bag full of gods by the end of this. We have a lot of good minds here, and making cool gods is a big part of the fun of something like this. We will need at least a patron god (though whole pantheons would be cool) for each race, some alignment gods, some class related gods, of course the archtypal emotion & season gods. Beyond that have at it!
I look forward to seeing what we come up with, and hopefully using it in my player group here soon.
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Since it's hard to start working on an empty canvas...
I am very interested in this and the ideas that this will generate.
That being said, I have a number of questions --
There are a number of things in world generation that must/should be fairly constant no matter how large the world is. Have these things yet been "defined"? This might include astrology/space (is Spelljamming an option?) and moons, planes and how they work/interact, and magic (does it just work without explanation, or think "the weave" from Forgotten Realms). Planes is a big subject to consider and possibly how/if the gods fit into the planes if at all.
I am assuming (perhaps wrongfully) that the "world" is on an axis, most likely tilted with cold poles at the north and south and standard seasons. I believe that we are ignoring physics (with the size of the world in mind) and understanding that the world has standard gravity, 24 hours in a day (give or take a few minutes) and approximately 360 days in a year (again plus or minus).
I am trying to think of any other "assumptions" but none come to mind.
Last thing, while this is a great starting point for "ground rules", what specifically could people contribute? Should they pick a god to develop? Should they pick out a continent, map it out, define government, history, etc? Just trying to figure out a decent starting point.
Interesting idea. I'll be curious how to see this works out (and contribute).
That being said, I have a number of questions --There are a number of things in world generation that must/should be fairly constant no matter how large the world is. Have these things yet been "defined"? This might include astrology/space (is Spelljamming an option?) and moons, planes and how they work/interact, and magic (does it just work without explanation, or think "the weave" from Forgotten Realms). Planes is a big subject to consider and possibly how/if the gods fit into the planes if at all.
I assume standard D&D planar connections, meaning no phlogeston or anything--but the vague possibility of connectedness to alternative Primes through the Plane of Shadow.
Moons would be great, and I don't think a bit disruptive if you have any ideas. Heck they could even be populated.
The nuts and bolts of planes are wide open, but the generalities are unsuprizing--the four main elemental planes with the option for others. Higher planes reflecting alignment in some fashion and some mechanism by which the dead get there. There will probably be the Nine Hells and the Abyss since they seem to be everywhere, but then no promises necessarily. There will be the standard transitive planes: Shadow, Astral, Etherial. If people want to add in some of the Variant planes, well that remains to be seen.
I would like to see "magic" work on a number of different tracks rather than just one "weave" like in Faerun. I'd like different sorts of magic to come from different mechanisms: Divine magic obviously comes from the gods; Incarnum comes from some "lifestream" of life energy of the world; Psionics and monk powers are inner power variously called "ki" or "psi energy"; Druidic and Paladin magic come from reserves of "nature magic" and "righteous magic" that should be explained. I guess a world where magic comes from a variety of places is just more flexible and interesting.
Last thing, while this is a great starting point for "ground rules", what specifically could people contribute? Should they pick a god to develop? Should they pick out a continent, map it out, define government, history, etc? Just trying to figure out a decent starting point.
No restrictions, but I would start with a continent and flesh out the nations there. That will lead to solid foundations for designing gods, history, and a great many other things. Then I'd tackle cosmology--where the world came from and what the planes are like next. That's just me though. Wherever people want to start.
You know taking our world and turning it upside down makes for a really cool land mass.
I would like to help this sounds cool so i will start some stuff because no one else will and tell me if it sucks but here goes..........
How about......
I got nothing
You know a deity I had created for a homemade campaign I'd done a few years ago would (I think) be pretty unique and I'd like to put her in the "bid" for one of the various deities for this online endeavor. I called her Zazzubola; Mother of All Monsters, Malignant or Benign. (And "monster" being a relative term. We have 4 Monster Manuals now... and not everyone of those 'monsters' are evil creatures.) In the ways of Deities and Demigods I imagine she's something on the order of 20 cleric levels/10 druid levels/10 master of many forms. She might appear as Shiva (I think) or was it Kali (sp?) from the Indian pantheon, a woman with many arms (like 6 or 8 ) but not be a marilith. Her form would be constantly shifting between creature types. I recall inventing one domain for her and calling it "Monster" allowing for some of the higher level summon monster spells, greater magic fang, and using some of those 'monstrous' spells from a Dragon issue a few years back (maybe pre-v.3.5 or just before the update). I'll try and find my notes on old "Zee" and give a better domain treatment for her, and a more decent outline. But, thoughts oh gamers on the Mother of All Monsters? (And be kind...) :-)
Ok I have a God or deity I was thinking about but I will share it with you first I have never even spoke of it till know but here goes. He is the God of the Gnomes! His name is Dimblil’Do Mick Nook .He made Gnomes by accident although no Gnome would ever tell you this. He was actually gambling with his most prized gem when he tried to cheat the God of the Dwarfs who was actually drunk. When the Dwarf god found out he try to explode the Gnome God and instead hit his gem. (he was drunk) and the Gnome God did everything to try and stop it even putting a bit of himself in to the gem! The gem still exploded when this happened but instead of the gem blowing to bits it shot out Gnomes! Toughs the Gnomes were born right there! He is what I would think a 20 level Bard 20 level Rough 20 level sorcerer. His Domain I don’t know where it would be yet? He appears as a Male Gnome with blue skin and green Mohawk, and a set of dice at his side. He is the father of Gnomes and creator of mischief.
Eh.... I read it and it sounded better in my head. Could we even use it? Is this what you are looking for guys? What do you think? How can we make him better if its we are even able to/ want to?
Ok that the last time i ever post anyhting no one ever replys
Ok that the last time i ever post anyhting no one ever replys
I'm here for ya, Haun. However I'm still trying to figure out the paremeters of this new universe and can't comment on whether or not anything is right or wrong for it. Your god sounds like he has almost folksy beginnings, which is fine and dandy for gnomes. Handling consistent tone would be the hardest thing to control in a mass authorship but I'd be all for a folkloric gameworld. Company of Wolves meets The Gnomemobile. It can't all be hack n' slash and 9 layer politcal intrigues, ya know?
His Domain I don’t know where it would be yet? He appears as a Male Gnome with blue skin and green Mohawk, and a set of dice at his side. He is the father of Gnomes and creator of mischief.
Sounds intereseting, an entire race being created by accident is a pretty cool twist on things! Perhaps his domains could be Trickery, Creation, Chaos, and Earth (to represent his interest in gems and such things. How does this sound?
Here's a thought. I know you wanted the world to fairly recognizable by DnD standards, but here's an idea to throw kinda of twist on things. Perhaps in this world the high and low plains have co-terminous points. Certain areas are subject to a kind of cosmic "bleed through" where one of the high or low plains manifests on the material plane. This could be due to long term worship, or single great acts of faith. This process can be reversed either by negligence on the part of the worshipers or and act of direct opposition by an opposing faith.
What do you guys think?
Here's a thought. I know you wanted the world to fairly recognizable by DnD standards, but here's an idea to throw kinda of twist on things. Perhaps in this world the high and low plains have co-terminous points. Certain areas are subject to a kind of cosmic "bleed through" where one of the high or low plains manifests on the material plane. This could be due to long term worship, or single great acts of faith. This process can be reversed either by negligence on the part of the worshipers or and act of direct opposition by an opposing faith.
What do you guys think?
Has the potential to create an entire realm subject to worldshaking flux like the mad swings of a wild magic arena. What's not to love? This would be a unique game world because the environment itself brings on wave after wave of adventure, like it or not. Even if you weren't one of the major players inducing or repressing these celestial/infernal touch downs, you'd experience the effects on a near constant basis in some areas:
One second you're in your rural hometown... suddenly the waterfall by the mill turns into a lavafall and naked fiends run through the streets setting the buildings aflame with their laughter.
You're a prisoner in city lock-up. Soon after hearing what sounds like an explosion in a harp factory a luminescent deity whose feet are lost in a permanent arctic fog walks into your cell and looks around. She sees you and grins, causing your shackles to pop off. She leaves without explanation.
Interesting if this realm still had magic, but not on a constant basis as it was somewhat controlled by this 'planar tide'. Perhaps wizards are nothing more than party-trick cantrippers until near a higher/lower planar manifest... then they become 9th level Merlins capable of unleashing monstrous energies for better or worse.
I want a world where copper pieces mean something..
I mean, there are millions of the things minted and don't tell me its beacuse the weaponsmiths are charing 9 gold, 9 silver and 9 copper for a shortsword instead of 10gp.
I want a world where copper pieces mean something..I mean, there are millions of the things minted and don't tell me its beacuse the weaponsmiths are charing 9 gold, 9 silver and 9 copper for a shortsword instead of 10gp.
I like that too. An extremely poor world would create an entirely different feel and potentially a different take on the standard alignment system. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly or Mad Max might be good examples of this.
I like the cosmic bleedthrough idea. Reminds me quite a bit of the Shadowlands and Wyld areas in Exalted that are created by strains in the fabric of reality letting other realms bleed through. I think that's fun.
Likewise I'm cool with the idea that copper is by far the most common minted coin. So then the question is, is everything cheaper, or is it like WWII germany and everything costs hundreds of coppers so people have to push around cartloads of money to make moderate transactions and such. That could be really interesting--particularly if there was a lack of iron as well, so the majority of weapons and armor are made from copper too.
Just a thought.
So howabout we start talking turkey and get a continent to develop?
Velasherad: Home to truly ancient civilizations nonetheless (or perhaps because of this) it is currently undergoing massive upheavals. The two old empires which long held each other in check with their impressive powers are beginning to fall apart from within, fragmenting for a number of long ignored reasons. These new factions struggle to carve the immerging nations according to their own desires. Likewise the string of formerly powerless city-states and minor kingdoms to the southwest have begun to take this new weakness as an opportunity to strike north into lands once forbidden them in avarice to expand their lands and resources. Particularly the island chain just off the southern coast, long pushed to the confines of their territory, have long sought desparately for more farmland to feed their teeming, and often starving populace--rather than be forced to trade with the empires, having to pay their ridiculous "trade tariffs".
There's something to chew on. Have fun guys!
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I started a similar thread last year to write an adventure together. F2K, Chris Wissel, Steven Greer, Koldoon, and GGG jumped in and we managed to "throw something together" ;)
Anyway, alone here on these boards might not be working, but a yahoo group (which is free) helps a lot for stuff like this. We Were_Cabbages opened such a group and posting files, pics and messages there helps a lot in streamlining and getting to the point - well, most of the time ;)
I like the idea of building a world together with the board-users here and hope this starts running.
CP as standard coinage sounds cool. Maybe a world were magic is just starting to show up (as contrary to Eberron). I love Eberron, don't get me wrong, but something which isn't already done seems better than abother high-magic world.
I like the idea of building a world together with the board-users here and hope this starts running.
CP as standard coinage sounds cool. Maybe a world were magic is just starting to show up (as contrary to Eberron). I love Eberron, don't get me wrong, but something which isn't already done seems better than abother high-magic world.
Okay something different -
You want a world with a really ancient history - that is tough in the game people talk about 5000 year old individuals much less cultures - name any culture that has lasted that long - I dare you - peopl in an area yes - but no empire certainly not one that has remained anything close to constant.
The other requirement was for magic to be new? No problem.
A map we can all work with - no problem.
On earth in the year 4,267PA (Post Ascension) The House of Durga (a religious order in the service to the New Nepalese Empire - the world leaders in "Bleed" technology) built the "Shift Render Device" an explosive device (for lack of a better term that for a brief period of time (milliseconds) nullifies the barriers between the planes. The effect is governed by an AI integrated into the device - the effect is to effectively reboot reality in the target area. Terrorists got to the weapon and detonated it. What was not anticipated was the level of sentience and personality programming in the governing AI. The AI could not stop the bomb from detonating, but it was able to shape the effect. Rather than taking central asia down to bare rock the AI spread the energy across the whole planet out past the moon and across the planes.
Sometimes referred to as "the day god died" the blast changed everything. Billions died, all meaningful technology knowledge was destroyed - reduced to its mineral roots, the knowledge to create it was destroyed as well - the books, the computer files, the gene codes. The blast changed the survivors as well, cities were shifted from across time were reseeded in the new present.
The residual energies lingered forming channels through the blade to the various planes. And it was sson discovered that certain individuals could draw onthese planar energies - thus magic was reborn.
It is 200 years since the blast magic is a fledgling art - tears to other planes have granted access to the world to all manner of creatures, and a humanity long down the road of endless variation through genetic manipulation - are now the roots of Trolls, Merfolk, and Centaurs.
Thats different - but based in a number of books/comics/films as well.
Kyr: Sounds like Rifts. Actually something you might take a look at is the D20 Apocalypse book. Not a bad idea for a setting at all, kindova post-nuke Urban Arcana.
Dryder: Congratulations! Your wish is granted! Lilith has been working on that very thing and I've been contributing heartily.
http://www.dmtools.org/world/index.php/
I guess though that I wanted something based here, since my whole motivation was to take advantage of the talent on Paizo, and sorta' benefit the community here, y'know?
How about we do use this as a home base!
all we do is find a date and time we (people who want to do this)
can all get online and talk about it?
just start throwing out times and days and will figure it out ?
Hi. I'm back (not that I was really "away" but I had a lot of stuff going on recently, it prevented me from doing any contributing.) I graduated from my business school I've been attending for the past 3 1/2 yrs (yay) and have my associates degree in Marketing & Management. Once some 'calming' events happen in my job-life (have one job, not two as I do now) I think I'll have some more 'spare' time to 'play' around here and help with the flow of creative juices. (Still want to give decent 'treatment' to "Zee" (aka Zazzubola; Mother of Monsters Malignant or Benign) and then 'help' out with the other creative aspects of this endeavour.
I like the suggestion put forth by Haun (and others?) about making this "home base" and just get a 'regular' time to meet and contribute ideas.
Peace.
When I was fourteen I created a gameworld that was the size of Jupiter. Which is a bit bigger than the world proposed here. It had a zillion locations but little focus on more than three. It was a bit all over the place and, perhaps due to my age, hard to stage anything upon with any level of specifics and sophistication. Gone was political intrigue, replaced with random adventuring in pointless areas. Of course the world and continents thereupon had a story but I deemed it more personally rewarding to paint a masterpiece on a stamp over painting a two color stick figure mural on the side of a building.
That's not to say that a bunch of adult gamers/writers can't find a way to make such a world (TITAN by John Varley?) work just fine and dandy.
Big maps don't float my boat any more, but the co-terminous planes ideas excited me to no end. Now that would be a different kind of game experience because the arena would be unlike anything I've played.
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I did a gijantical planet too, about the size of Jupiter, at about same age.
It was covered with jungle, and the atmosphere was cloudy.
You could start out as ANY HUMANOID ANIMAL YOU WANTED TO.
Then some "scientific" guy started telling me about "gravity" and "mass" and all that physics crap...what a killjoy.
I did a gijantical planet too, about the size of Jupiter, at about same age.
It was covered with jungle, and the atmosphere was cloudy.
You could start out as ANY HUMANOID ANIMAL YOU WANTED TO.
Then some "scientific" guy started telling me about "gravity" and "mass" and all that physics crap...what a killjoy.
Yeah, what nerve. The world was my oyster before someone explained that the world wasn't, in fact, an oyster.