Campaign World Idea

[Daniel Marshall]

I've been working on a new campaign world for several years now and am finally putting it into book format to hopefully publish upon completion. I just wanted to get a few opinions on my ideas and possibilities for publishing if anyone knows anywhere. So, here goes:

Basically it's a world still set in 3.5 rules. There are several continents, each with their own histories, power structures and populations. It is a world of in depth history that most of the population doesn't know, due to a cataclysmic event that occured in the (relatively) recent past, which is to say about 1,300 years ago. The twist on this is that the world does not have a sun, or rather, the sun is hidden fromt he sky. There is logic behind why this is, but I prefer to save that for when/if I can actually publish the idea. The issues of ecology, heat, etc. have been more or less resolved, so the basics are covered. But the large premise of it is that it is a world of eternal twilight. Energies from the elemental planes leaks in, distorting some places, while making magic dangerous and unpredictable in others. I have several cultural pantheons of dieties that I'm still trying to sort through (3 years is a lot of random writing :) ) and several legends that I plan to publish in a chapter of my campaign book. The biggest thng I'm not sure of is how much information to give about particular NPCs, like the ruler of an empire, or significant history based, living NPCs. That's it for now. Just thought I would get a few opinions on the idea.

Thanks

[Doomlounge]

Interesting!

What are your basic races? I would be tempted to adapt some of the Underdark races...replace elves with a paranoid drow varient, deep gnomes over gnomes, and add an apocalyptic twist... maybe make the halflings barbaric and sometimes cannabilistic, like the Jerren (Dragon 318, maybe?) Add a wild magic quality to goblins -- maybe lizardfolk get organized and most humans are their slaves. Maybe add Changelings from Eberron, or even incorporate a Savage Species/non-traditional monster as a main race. Minotaurs or Half-ogres would be just a convincing slave race, bred for their strength.

Think of the implications of the power of vampiric beings in a world of twilight. I know lizardfolk vampire lords have been done since Tomb of the Lizard King, but I just like them!

Perhaps use a Terminator template, but lizardfolk vampires or some other dominant species replaces the robots, and the civilized races are refugees and rebels, hiding among the remains of the fallen world from the Empire of Blood...

I'd like the hear more of your thought process!

[Doomlounge]

But to get back to your question about how much to reveal about your NPCs to the PCs:

Rule #1: The winners write the history books.

Rule #2: Legends make better stories than truth.

Consider the popular modern images of George Washington -- the cherry tree myth, for example. Historians are still trying to unravel an objective understanding of who Washington was, having to deconstruct myths, legend, and exaggeration.

On the other hand, you have Benjamin Franklin. Consider the point of view that his stories of "air baths" and other eccentricies may have been exaggerated by opponents that may have wanted to minimize his contributions to the American Revolution. After all, bringing in the French was more instrumental than Washington's military actions.

Now apply those models to your PC knowledge of main NPCs. Propaganda and human/halfling/half-orc nature will led to distortions of the truth. I would give the characters half-truths about NPC leaders, and have some known heroes actually being self-interested villians, and some eccentric, disenfranchised NPCs being more helpful than advertised.

Such an approach would hopefully make NPCs question the information they receive, and realize they have to "peel the onion," so to speak, to get to the truth of things -- in other words, increased player buy-in to the process of discovering more about your world.

[Daniel Marshall]

Doomlounge wrote:

But to get back to your question about how much to reveal about your NPCs to the PCs:

Rule #1: The winners write the history books.

Rule #2: Legends make better stories than truth.

Consider the popular modern images of George Washington -- the cherry tree myth, for example. Historians are still trying to unravel an objective understanding of who Washington was, having to deconstruct myths, legend, and exaggeration.

On the other hand, you have Benjamin Franklin. Consider the point of view that his stories of "air baths" and other eccentricies may have been exaggerated by opponents that may have wanted to minimize his contributions to the American Revolution. After all, bringing in the French was more instrumental than Washington's military actions.

Now apply those models to your PC knowledge of main NPCs. Propaganda and human/halfling/half-orc nature will led to distortions of the truth. I would give the characters half-truths about NPC leaders, and have some known heroes actually being self-interested villians, and some eccentric, disenfranchised NPCs being more helpful than advertised.

Such an approach would hopefully make NPCs question the information they receive, and realize they have to "peel the onion," so to speak, to get to the truth of things -- in other words, increased player buy-in to the process of discovering more about your world.

The question, however, is not how much to reveal to the PCs, as the is something best left up to the individual dungeon master. The question is how much to put in the book written about the campaign world. I want to give a good amount of detail, but I want to leave room for each dungeon master to make the world their own to fit their campaigns as well. I could write an entire book an an academy that exists, with stats on every instructor, class curriculums, and even short blurbs about class descriptions for mages, scouts, etc. But that doesn't mean I want to put it all in the main book. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There will be no other books if the gamers aren't interested int he world itself.

As far as races, all the standard races are present. And I have modifed the cultures of some underdark races, yet the have parts that still present as well. For instance, there is an empire that is lawful in nature, ruled by a drow empire on the surface. Yet in other parts of the world, Lolth worshipping drow society still exists in the world below. I have a few new player races, including a variation on barbaric halflings, as well as a few new prestige classes, monsters, etc. I just need to get it all into the right format. I'm admittedly a bit paranoid about revealing too much since I plan on publishing this world eventually I don't want others to be able to claim my ideas as their own. Not that I was suspect anyone on these messageboards to do such a thing, but as I said, I'm a bit paranoid about it.

By the way, THanks for the suggestions.

[CNB]

Doomlounge wrote:

I would give the characters half-truths about NPC leaders, and have some known heroes actually being self-interested villians, and some eccentric, disenfranchised NPCs being more helpful than advertised.

Keep in mind, you have to figure out the target audience for the campaign setting book. If it's aimed at GMs, you can put in the truth and explain how the rumors get it wrong. If it's aimed at players, you should just print the rumors. If it's aimed at both (which is likely) then you have to be clear when what you are saying is fact and when it's just a rumor. That can be awkward.

Some General Thoughts:

First, I'd look at Eberron as a good example of what works. There's a lot that's spelled out, but there are very specific things left underdefined (e.g., what happened on the Day of Mourning, the Lord of Blades, lots of Xen'drik). You want to leave enough blanks so that GMs can tailor things to fit their campaign. Less is generally more.

Second, you'll want to be careful about what you include. Lolth is pretty clearly not OGL, so you can't use her. Getting that wrong is potentially a very expensive mistake.

Third, you really ought to decide what your setting offers that other settings don't. A deeply compelling world is necessary but not sufficient. There are literally dozens of settings out there; people need good reasons to use yours. That's a problem we faced on the project I'm working on* as well: we can't compete in name recognition, and it's highly unlikely we'll be able to compete on production quality or artwork, so why would people bother to use the setting? For us, we're building an Adventure Path alongside the setting, so you can pick up the first adventure and start playing without having to absorb all the background material as a player or a judge. We're designing it as a darker setting, but trying to avoid making it as grim as something like Midnight. And our anticipated price-point is fairly competitive as well (free, at least for the first couple adventures).

If you can figure out how to differentiate yourself from everyone else, then you'll know what to emphasize and how to market your setting.

* ObPlug: The project I'm working on, as I've mentioned elsewhere, is Harvestlands. It's worth checking out for the psychopathic gnomes alone.

[Daniel Marshall]

Sounds like a lot of good advice. Of course my target audience is both players and DMs, I'm just trying to figure out the balance of pre-designed NPCs (such as leaders of a nation) and blank spots to be filled in by the DM. I like your idea of having an adventure path alongside the setting, and I already have a series of adventures (rough drafts, and not really connected) but that would definetly be a good way to introduce people to the world.
How do You plan on actually publishing your work? I've looked at some of the print on demand places, but the cost is way higher than I think most people would pay, at least for a hard copy. And I don't want to fork out a few thousand dollars to publish myself if I don't have to (but you gotta do what you gotta do right?). And as far as my artwork is concerned... I actually only have one image thus far, one that a friend used a CG program to generate for me, but I have great confidence in my artist, so it's just a matter of time before I get the images and quality that I think this world deserves.
I realize Lolth isn't strictly OGL, though the use of the Drow is, as long as due credit is given, and what is Drow society without Lolth? Hmmm... Easy enough to work around though It think.
I'd love to hear any further suggestions/recommendations anyone has for this project.

[CNB]

Daniel Marshall wrote:

How do You plan on actually publishing your work? I've looked at some of the print on demand places, but the cost is way higher than I think most people would pay, at least for a hard copy. And I don't want to fork out a few thousand dollars to publish myself if I don't have to (but you gotta do what you gotta do right?).

We're not currently thinking about hard copies--I'm expecting to use Scribus to do the layout, because it does high-quality, print-ready PDFs. And once you have the PDF, you can always just sell that electronically. If there's a tremendous clamor, we can work out getting it physically printed later. And with the print-ready PDFs, it won't take any extra effort on our part. Assuming I can figure out the right page sizes.

I would seriously look long and hard at what I was trying to get out of it before I spent my own money to self-publish. If you just want a couple copies to show off to people or hand out to friends you can publish one-offs at Lulu. You can get paperback, 200 page, perfect bound, black and white books there for about $9 each. They even offer print on demand; charge $15 each and you're making $6 profit on every book.

If you really think you have a commercially viable product, you need to find a publisher. I'd contact all the gaming companies and see if any would be willing to take a look at your manuscript. If your campaign setting is good enough they'll be happy to partner with you and help you through the publishing and distribution process. If it's not, they'll tell you that up front.

Daniel Marshall wrote:

I realize Lolth isn't strictly OGL, though the use of the Drow is, as long as due credit is given, and what is Drow society without Lolth? Hmmm... Easy enough to work around though It think.

There's no "strictly" about it. The OGL is very clear about what's included; assume everything else is off limits. Screw this up and no publisher will touch your work with a 10-foot-pole. If you self-publish you could be liable to a fine of $150,000. Realistically, you'd just have to recall and destroy all the copies you had printed, and probably pay a lawyer to do that negotiation for you. Still not a great outcome.

Be certain you know what the OGL allows you to do, and what it doesn't. Wizards of the Coast doesn't take kindly to people appropriating their IP. If you're big enough for them to notice--and you're trying to be big enough for them to notice--you need to be sure you're not breaking their copyright.

[Daniel Marshall]

Thanks for the tip. Admitedly I've only glanced through the OGL thus far. But I've printed it off and have every intention of going through my manuscript with the OGL in hand before making any attempt towards publishing. When it all comes together, I'll change what I need to change to get the D20 logo and not violate copyrights. Most of my concepts are original anyway, so I don't expect to have to do any major overhauls, just a few name/race modifications. But as I said, I'll do whatever I need to do to keep from breaking the OGL. As far as finding a gaming company willing to publish, I've started looking around already, though I don't yet have a finished manuscript. It seems there are very few companies interested in an entire campaign world. I've also noticed that most of the ones I've found thus far are interested in buying the rights to the manuscript as well as the idea, which isn't what I'm looking for. I'd like to keep royalties and such. In truth I'd love to walk in the footsteps of Gary Gygax with Greyhawk and Ed Greenwood with Forgotten Realms, but even if I was lucky/good enough to get that far, I think it will be a long way off. I suppose I should probably start looking into publishers again (as I stopped when I got frustrated with what I found about a year ago). Perhaps things have changed and they are now interestd in the prospect of a campaign world. One can only hope right?