mdt wrote:
Interesting. Sounds like Tekumel (Empire of the Petal Throne) in which there are areas that are magically rich and others that are barren. I haven't used that in my game although I have mulled it over. The barren areas would cause the magically inclined PCs to scream like branded calves though... probably make the fighters smile though :)
LOL,
I fully expect all the PC's to scream like branded calves when/if they ever visit the island. Magical equipment? Oh, you should leave that behind. It might detonate if you take it to the island. :)
Forbidden power is always fun, and good for a disaster. Also for megolomania. Nice combo.
Thanks. :)
I used the Chaos Wars (Elves vs. Demons} and Kinstrife (Elves vs. Elves) in my world to explain numerous aberations, humanoid races, chimerical beings and those piles of magical weapons and gear that always seem to be scattered around. Not to speak of the crater shaped rings of mountains, lakes, seas etc. War and natural / unatural disaster, the Dms friends :)
Yep,
You can explain so much stuff through human(oid) greed and stupidity, and nobody ever questions it.Kind of sad really, that nobody questions people doing the stupidest thing you can think of.
Nice. Psionics neatly explained, isolated and made into an adventure of discovery. Good one. I've looked over psionics, never used it in game though. Partly my own prejudice ("magic for nonmagic users" was the first thing I grunted back when Eldritch Wizardry introduced it to the original D&D, the second was "balance issues" and the third was "maybe later"), partly indecision over how to introduce it to a setting that hasn't had it since then and may not really need it. I can see some people racing to pillory me for that. Ahh, well, I like how you've done it.
Yep, I like the idea of psionics, but it bothers me the way it's transparent with magic. I can't help but think anyone who showed some psionic potential would be sent to magic school, or try to learn magic, since that's what most everyone expects, and that would probably subsume the talent. Here we have people who can't use magic, so the psionics are encouraged.
That's another thing i've considered but stayed away from, magical technology. I have come close with the ancient Elves (who used magical golem transports, interplanar portals to maintain there artificial environments, etc.) but never given into it in my current era setting. again, isolated, discoverable and potentially cool loot :) Interesting stuff. I can see you're players faces light up with the possibilities when they run into it. Or maybe, light up with fear, depending on what they run into...
I'm expecting them to light up at the flying ships, and get very scared by the projectile weapons. :)
I like the way you've handled disparate elements that are outside the norm for the regular D&D magical world. Allows PCs to encounter it and maybe even dabble in it without it dominating your game. Well done. I still don't know about the psionics angle, but you've got me thinking about what could be found on the stars and planets that dot the inside of the giant spherical shell that contains my world. Not too many visitors over the years. Could be a fun place to intro some ancient Elvish "tech".Thanks.
Nope, thank you. Nice to have the work appreciated. And yeah, that's what this thread is for, to give other GM's some ideas. I've gotten several so far. :)
The problem that "we" have is that the idea of man in ages past making such things is difficult to understand. People forget that our brain stopped any meaningful development 100K years ago and that "stone age" man had the same reasoning abilities as "modern" man.
A common misconception is ancient man= Dumba$$ modern man= Smart.
Yea, cos we are soooooo smart ;)
The issue boils down to "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".
And warfare...From another thread.
I have used such ideas in a strange campaign I ran at University many, many moons ago.
If anyone is intersted I could dig out the campaign notes and post snippits up here. Basic premise was that if magic/technology worked hand in glove what could be possible. Input was from all sides mostly after a few beers.
Yep, the biggest hurdle to ancient man building tech was not intelligence, it was the pool of knowledge. They had to teach themselves everything, without building on what people knew before. Books fixed that (although that got set back by the Catholic Church burning science books as 'heretical').
My belief in why D&D type societies are all non-evolving is because of Magic. All the stuff you really need technology for can be handled by magic.
Irrigation -> Create Water/Call storm
Fertilizer -> Plant Growth
Construction -> Stone Shape
Medical -> Cure Wounds/Disease
Transportation -> Teleport/Fly/etc
So all the big things are handled by magic. Even bows and crossbows are enhanced by magic, so no one thinks 'Hmm, what would happen if I blew up this stuff inside an iron tube with a ball of led in front of it?'.
Good stuff
Agreed but how common is magic?
I'm a bit old school in my thinking (Dwarves not being arcane casters) I'd admit but its human(oid) nature to be curious to pull things apart to see how they work and improve on it. It seems that D&D worlds just sit and stagnate with no technological progression which just doesn't sit right with me.Not everywhere or everyone has "magic" at their finger tips and surely these places would adapt and improve. See the advances the real world has (or hasn't) made in the last 2000 years or put another way five elven generations.
I'm not for a second suggesting anything over the top but surely someone would think of a way to do X better using technology *and* magic combined?
I don't know exactly what but anything is better than stagnation.
Good stuffAgreed but how common is magic?
I'm a bit old school in my thinking (Dwarves not being arcane casters) I'd admit but its human(oid) nature to be curious to pull things apart to see how they work and improve on it. It seems that D&D worlds just sit and stagnate with no technological progression which just doesn't sit right with me.
Not everywhere or everyone has "magic" at their finger tips and surely these places would adapt and improve. See the advances the real world has (or hasn't) made in the last 2000 years or put another way five elven generations.
I'm not for a second suggesting anything over the top but surely someone would think of a way to do X better using technology *and* magic combined?
I don't know exactly what but anything is better than stagnation.
I think the default is there's lots of low-level magic (0 and first level) what with hedge witches, priests/clerics of various faiths, druids, etc. I think it's the 5th or higher class level stuff that's relatively rare. Thing is, invention in ancient times didn't happen on farms or remote villages. It happened in big cities or big citystates. take Rome for example with the Aquaducts. That happened because of a need. Trains came around from a need to move people and things long distances fast (by industry). The problem is that big cities attract more magic, and if kings and emperors need something done in a D&D setting, they go to the magic users. They don't need to pay people to figure out how to build a better mousetrap, they pay a mage to put a warding circle vs vermin up. If he needs to kill enemy soldiers from a long distance he get's a magic ballista or pays a warmage to cast spells. It's proven tech, doesn't require research, and you can use them for peacetime uses when not at war, like stoneshaping your walls or enchanting you up some nice armor and equipment.
I agree there would be people who would be interested in how things work and figuring out new ways of doing things. The biggest problem I see is that people wouldn't trust it, or wouldn't see the need for it. We been doing it this way my whole life, why do it different? It was good enough for great grand dad, it's good enough for me.
On top of that, if a wizard's guild exists, they might not like a disruptive technology, and might see to it something nasty happened to someone who came up with a way of making them superfluous.
Good stuffAgreed but how common is magic?
I'm a bit old school in my thinking (Dwarves not being arcane casters) I'd admit but its human(oid) nature to be curious to pull things apart to see how they work and improve on it. It seems that D&D worlds just sit and stagnate with no technological progression which just doesn't sit right with me.
Not everywhere or everyone has "magic" at their finger tips and surely these places would adapt and improve. See the advances the real world has (or hasn't) made in the last 2000 years or put another way five elven generations.
I'm not for a second suggesting anything over the top but surely someone would think of a way to do X better using technology *and* magic combined?
I don't know exactly what but anything is better than stagnation.
Magic is not as common in my game as some, and yeah, the idea of a Dwarvish magic user is... wierd. I used a past magical empire to explain a lot of what does lay around. And yeah, PCs always seem to want to "recreate the wheel", or at least to recreate their favorite bit of real world tech. Usually gunpowder. Convincing them that there characters wouldn't know what they know always took time.
So I re-did my worlds "physics". The result is that gunpowder doesn't exist / work and the world is a lot stranger "under the hood" than it looks. Science is in the same realm of discredited theory that "magic" is in our world. The basis for life is the Five Elements (the classic four elements plus Spirit). Different creatures have a slightly different "balance" of the elements or lack one or more. Things fall, not because of gravity, they fall "down" because they are supposed to fall in that direction. That effect can be altered, in terms of directions or it happening at all. Simple really. You can, in fact, fall off the edge of the world. My world is essentially a table top with the table set in a sphere which contains the air. Connections to the elemental plains keep the world "fresh".
I like my world to look like "the real thing", "feel like the real thing", but be different under the hood. It keeps it interesting and the philisophical exercise in explaing things can be fun. The really funny thing is that players who would argue real world physics with you all day long, just nod and go "OK" :D
*edit*
MDT said:
"I agree there would be people who would be interested in how things work and figuring out new ways of doing things. The biggest problem I see is that people wouldn't trust it, or wouldn't see the need for it. We been doing it this way my whole life, why do it different? It was good enough for great grand dad, it's good enough for me."
This makes perfect sense to me. That is the medieval attitude in a nut shell.
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I'd like to think of my approach, to use your analogy, as the following:
My world is the grocer. I decide what is for sale (rules) and for how much (disposition), and even sell some recipes (archtypes/suggestions).
My players decide what to cook (characters) and how to cook it (roleplaying).
All the recipes (adventures) combine together to form the banquet that is my world history.
I have three home-brew worlds, though technically two of them are the same world millenia apart. Each world has different levels of detail. The default world is more like a farmers market where most things are found for a price. My other world(s) are more limited.
Finally, I have a "superworld" where pretty much anything is possible - this is where I do stuff like allow players to pretend they are Maiar.
Speaking of settings, I'd like to run a few things by all of you and see what you think. The first concerns disease...
In keeping with my "alternate basis for existence" (the Five Elements, etc.), and the setting being "different under the hood" if not in daily experience, I use alternate means for other common every day experiences. Diseases are spirits which possess bodies to drain characteristics and spawn more of their kind. In the process of this they do (mostly) temporary characteristic damage -- with the type based on the disease spirit type. It has a couple of in-game effects besides the obvious impact on a characters ability (nothing like a Wizard who can't use spells of a given level due to a Fever Spirits drain on his intelligence). It alters several spells, i.e. Cure Disease is an abjuration in my game casting the spirit out and preventing it from returning. Clerics of the right deity could "turn" diseases. Shamans can grapple with diseases and literally throw them out of the person they are possessing. And, of course, diseases are on the encounter lists with other monsters. I'm currently looking over the stat blocks, considering the reasoning, other mechanics and deciding whether or not to keep this, alter it, or go "straight Pathfinder". What do you think? Yes, no, alternate ideas and other comments are all welcome. Thanks, in advance.
The problem that "we" have is that the idea of man in ages past making such things is difficult to understand. People forget that our brain stopped any meaningful development 100K years ago and that "stone age" man had the same reasoning abilities as "modern" man.
A common misconception is ancient man= Dumba$$ modern man= Smart.
Mdt wrote: I agree there would be people who would be interested in how things work and figuring out new ways of doing things. The biggest problem I see is that people wouldn't trust it, or wouldn't see the need for it. We been doing it this way my whole life, why do it different? It was good enough for great grand dad, it's good enough for me.
LOL!
A bit like Psionics, 4Ed...
Would it be a threadjack to post potential ideas for discussion or would you rather see it somewhere else?
most of the gods in my world are from the human pantheons we have from our real life myths; so, I just do the research and fill them in like that.
One thing you might consider is practicality; most rites and believes have a reason; usually survival related; of why things are done a specific way; then after the cause is eliminated; it sticks around and becomes "morally right" long after people forgot why they do things that way.
want an example? here is a quick on; ever seen a Catholic Mass, during high mass; the priest hold the communal wafer up and blesses it; then eats it; nice ceremony right; now, it didnt used to be that way; the wafer is held up so it can be examined by all; the priest eats it first and drinks the wine first; reason; lots of nobility were getting poisoned during communion; so, the priest checks the <now very flat> food and looks through the wine for impurities; then drinks it; but now the chalise is metal; gold or silver or stainless steal; so little change there.
so; this is a small illustration of how some rites change and evolve due to social pressure which can add all kinds of additional flavor to your game.
Speaking of settings, I'd like to run a few things by all of you and see what you think. The first concerns disease...
In keeping with my "alternate basis for existence" (the Five Elements, etc.), and the setting being "different under the hood" if not in daily experience, I use alternate means for other common every day experiences. Diseases are spirits which possess bodies to drain characteristics and spawn more of their kind. In the process of this they do (mostly) temporary characteristic damage -- with the type based on the disease spirit type. It has a couple of in-game effects besides the obvious impact on a characters ability (nothing like a Wizard who can't use spells of a given level due to a Fever Spirits drain on his intelligence). It alters several spells, i.e. Cure Disease is an abjuration in my game casting the spirit out and preventing it from returning. Clerics of the right deity could "turn" diseases. Shamans can grapple with diseases and literally throw them out of the person they are possessing. And, of course, diseases are on the encounter lists with other monsters. I'm currently looking over the stat blocks, considering the reasoning, other mechanics and deciding whether or not to keep this, alter it, or go "straight Pathfinder". What do you think? Yes, no, alternate ideas and other comments are all welcome. Thanks, in advance.
I like it, it's consistent internally. It's a lot of work, but then again, you knew that going into it. I'd say your diseases got a lot more powerful under PF though, as the new poison/disease rules are harder on people.
Poisons are another thing, if you are doing this for diseases, poisons would be the same thing. People would basically be 'summoning' spirits into the poisons by mixing them up. Or, they would be merging weaker spirits together to form a stronger one. You'd need to add in some rules for how to 'build' a poison spirit.
Mdt wrote: I agree there would be people who would be interested in how things work and figuring out new ways of doing things. The biggest problem I see is that people wouldn't trust it, or wouldn't see the need for it. We been doing it this way my whole life, why do it different? It was good enough for great grand dad, it's good enough for me.
LOL!
A bit like Psionics, 4Ed...Would it be a threadjack to post potential ideas for discussion or would you rather see it somewhere else?
Can't see how it would be a threadjack. The idea is to discuss world building. That's a huge giant hairball with lots of stuff that goes into it. So anything that's part of a world is fair game.
most of the gods in my world are from the human pantheons we have from our real life myths; so, I just do the research and fill them in like that.
One thing you might consider is practicality; most rites and believes have a reason; usually survival related; of why things are done a specific way; then after the cause is eliminated; it sticks around and becomes "morally right" long after people forgot why they do things that way.
want an example? here is a quick on; ever seen a Catholic Mass, during high mass; the priest hold the communal wafer up and blesses it; then eats it; nice ceremony right; now, it didnt used to be that way; the wafer is held up so it can be examined by all; the priest eats it first and drinks the wine first; reason; lots of nobility were getting poisoned during communion; so, the priest checks the <now very flat> food and looks through the wine for impurities; then drinks it; but now the chalise is metal; gold or silver or stainless steal; so little change there.
so; this is a small illustration of how some rites change and evolve due to social pressure which can add all kinds of additional flavor to your game.
Nice point. It goes back to the 'try to be internally consistent in your world' and a good history of major events is the best way to build a world IMHO.
In game I have used this as a source of iron for enchanting. Adds a nice game world flavour for metallic items which get wet.
*edit*
And this has a nice take on Cold Iron.
*edit* I have used this in game for flavour for when PCs want to create Holy Swords or Bane Weapons. Treating the bog as holy ground.
Backstory: This boggy morass was created in ages past when the forces of Law fought Chaos. Tales say that the blood from wounds and sparks from the weapons clashing flew into the ground and small fragments of these ancient battles can still be found to create weapons to aid fight demons.
I like it, it's consistent internally. It's a lot of work, but then again, you knew that going into it. I'd say your diseases got a lot more powerful under PF though, as the new poison/disease rules are harder on people.
Poisons are another thing, if you are doing this for diseases, poisons would be the same thing. People would basically be 'summoning' spirits into the poisons by mixing them up. Or, they would be merging weaker spirits together to form a stronger one. You'd need to add in some rules for how to 'build' a poison spirit.
I've got poisons down as substances that effect the "balance" of an individuals elemental make up, effecting their abilities in the process.
I do have dream spirits. Dreams effect peoples skill / characteristic / combat checks or rolls :) That nightmare about creature X could effects either your attack throw, armor class or perhaps a saving throw when you next encounter something. A dream that allows you to work something out ahead of time may gives bonuses in a similar way. I try to keep it fairly generic, given how little people often remeber of most dreams it works. Dreams can be encountered, sent by the gods or even sent by spells (divine or arcane). A recurring nightmare about being attacked by, say undead, can really mess you up when that next creepy encounter happens. Again, shamans can "interpret" dreams, banish them, alleviate their effects and so on. Certain priests can effect dream spirits rather like others can undead. The effects of dreams fade over time as well.
Dreams come in several "flavors / alignments" (dream and nightmare) as well as various "strengths / levels of power", from little daydreams to overpowering nightmares. Fun stuff. Does require some book keeping but it can be interesting. And again, I'm looking for opinions / ideas.
In game I have used this as a source of iron for enchanting. Adds a nice game world flavour for metallic items which get wet.
*edit*
And this has a nice take on Cold Iron.
*edit* I have used this in game for flavour for when PCs want to create Holy Swords or Bane Weapons. Treating the bog as holy ground.
Backstory: This boggy morass was created in ages past when the forces of Law fought Chaos. Tales say that the blood from wounds and sparks from the weapons clashing flew into the ground and small fragments of these ancient battles can still be found to create weapons to aid fight demons.
Nice bit of backdrop / color. The old Runequest RPG had a similar origin for some metals in Glorantha (it's setting) iirc. Something about the bones of the gods (iron) or maybe it was bronze (found their as a metal not a composite of copper and tin). Can't recall for sure, but it's a nice idea.
Nice bit of backdrop / color. The old Runequest RPG had a similar origin for some metals in Glorantha (it's setting) iirc. Something about the bones of the gods (iron) or maybe it was bronze (found their as a metal not a composite of copper and tin). Can't recall for sure, but it's a nice idea.In game I have used this as a source of iron for enchanting. Adds a nice game world flavour for metallic items which get wet.
*edit*
And this has a nice take on Cold Iron.
*edit* I have used this in game for flavour for when PCs want to create Holy Swords or Bane Weapons. Treating the bog as holy ground.
Backstory: This boggy morass was created in ages past when the forces of Law fought Chaos. Tales say that the blood from wounds and sparks from the weapons clashing flew into the ground and small fragments of these ancient battles can still be found to create weapons to aid fight demons.
It was actually first used in my Runequest Campaign. Seige of Whitewall and the Orlanthi need a secret weapon against the Crimson Bat. The iron in the bog was remains of sparks when Storm Bull fought Chaos in the First Age. Break through the Lunar Army camped around Whitewall to get the iron which was turned into a head for a giant ballista bolt which was fired from a device copied from the Sun Domer's Harpoon into the Bat.
And you're right bones became metals and the blood magic crystals.
Funny story.
Each month of the year is a spice or herb in my campagin.
Without a ruling body (not one out in the open) so when it comes to viewing the world we often judge it's currents of time by nature.
Rating age with summers passed is a comman troope as I understand.
So if not forced into some goverment system I thought they may call different time periods by when they harvest a good.
Enjoy the rest of Saffron.
Funny story.
Each month of the year is a spice or herb in my campagin.
Without a ruling body (not one out in the open) so when it comes to viewing the world we often judge it's currents of time by nature.
Rating age with summers passed is a comman troope as I understand.
So if not forced into some goverment system I thought they may call different time periods by when they harvest a good.Enjoy the rest of Saffron.
LOL,
That's got to be the most on-topic post in this thread yet. :)
Nice bit of backdrop / color. The old Runequest RPG had a similar origin for some metals in Glorantha (it's setting) iirc. Something about the bones of the gods (iron) or maybe it was bronze (found their as a metal not a composite of copper and tin). Can't recall for sure, but it's a nice idea.It was actually first used in my Runequest Campaign. Seige of Whitewall and the Orlanthi need a secret weapon against the Crimson Bat. The iron in the bog was remains of sparks when Storm Bull fought Chaos in the First Age. Break through the Lunar Army camped around Whitewall to get the iron which was turned into a head for a giant ballista bolt which was fired from a device copied from the Sun Domer's Harpoon into the Bat.
And you're right bones became metals and the blood magic crystals.
Yeah,
I always avoided using humanoid body bits for spell components unless you were EEEEEEEEvvviillll. I usually even avoid sentient's body parts except for evil characters, even fossils. About the only exception is dragon parts, and even then, good uses evil dragons, and evil uses any dragons. ;)Just something about using the bits of a sentient being always seemed evil. The evil dragons being somewhat of an exception, due to their evil subtype.
Yeah,
I always avoided using humanoid body bits for spell components unless you were EEEEEEEEvvviillll. I usually even avoid sentient's body parts except for evil characters, even fossils. About the only exception is dragon parts, and even then, good uses evil dragons, and evil uses any dragons. ;)Just something about using the bits of a sentient being always seemed evil. The evil dragons being somewhat of an exception, due to their evil subtype.
Different setting, different expectations.
I have made use of this idea in 3.5 (Law v Chaos & weapon sparks) to give the PCs items that touch of awesomeness and to kinda explain the whole cold forged iron v demons/fey thing. What sounds better, I made my holy sword from lumps dug out of the ground or my holy sword is forged from the very same metal that "Insert Heroic Good Deities Name Here" used to defeat "Insert Iconic Evil Guy Name". I also include the cost of retrieving the metal towards the overall cost of the item.
I guess you could use the blood spilt as Ioun Stones.I understand where you are comming from about body parts though. The two magic hands in the DMG are a bit creepy for a LG to be using. There is nothing written in the rules to say they are intrinsicly evil so technically a Paladin could use them but from a roleplaying perspective it would be poor form.
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Well that doesn´t have to necesarily be the case, it depends on the cultural significance it is given on any given game.
My example would be native american (and native south american) traditions where the use of every body part of an animal after it´s death was not only customary bit a sign of respect towards nature. So why would that not apply to spells or magic items?
On a pre-hispanic flavored game I ran a while ago it was common for good mages to use powdered condor bones, or puma claws as part of their spells. And the idea was that using otherwise useless parts of the animal to acomplish good deeds was endorsed by the goodly gods of the realms. And of course there were guinnea pig skull necklaces to protect from evil hehe (kind of mean but it did fit).
Different setting, different expectations.
I have made use of this idea in 3.5 (Law v Chaos & weapon sparks) to give the PCs items that touch of awesomeness and to kinda explain the whole cold forged iron v demons/fey thing. What sounds better, I made my holy sword from lumps dug out of the ground or my holy sword is forged from the very same metal that "Insert Heroic Good Deities Name Here" used to defeat "Insert Iconic Evil Guy Name". I also include the cost of retrieving the metal towards the overall cost of the item.
I guess you could use the blood spilt as Ioun Stones.I understand where you are comming from about body parts though. The two magic hands in the DMG are a bit creepy for a LG to be using. There is nothing written in the rules to say they are intrinsicly evil so technically a Paladin could use them but from a roleplaying perspective it would be poor form.
Yep, although I usually, for the hands, specify they came from an ape or such, so still an animal part. And I agree, it's just a personal foible.
I do like the holy sword forged from steel of <blah>. I usually require something like that as part of the cost of creation if someone is making a Holy weapon (so, need a shard of a sword wielded by a great Paladin, or a chunk off an axe blade for an axe, etc).
Well that doesn´t have to necesarily be the case, it depends on the cultural significance it is given on any given game.
My example would be native american (and native south american) traditions where the use of every body part of an animal after it´s death was not only customary bit a sign of respect towards nature. So why would that not apply to spells or magic items?On a pre-hispanic flavored game I ran a while ago it was common for good mages to use powdered condor bones, or puma claws as part of their spells. And the idea was that using otherwise useless parts of the animal to acomplish good deeds was endorsed by the goodly gods of the realms. And of course there were guinnea pig skull necklaces to protect from evil hehe (kind of mean but it did fit).
Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with animal parts as bits required. It's the killing a sentient (Self Aware) being for parts that I think comes down to evil. I don't consider animals sentient.
I was discussing some world flavor stuff on another thread (not the original threads purpose, and the thread has basically dissolved into a 'I'm right you're wrong and a bad GM' argument. So I thought I'd start a new thread to discuss world flavoring and how different people look at it. I was hoping it might be a good thread for any new GMs out there that need some help on how to make their world seem more interesting.
<Snip>
Regardless of whether I use a standard world or create my own, here's how I do things -
Each race, country and religion will have 1-2 allies or associated race, country or religion, 1-2 enemies and most of the time ignore the rest.
So Dwarves get on okay with Humans, know little of Elves and fight again Goblins and Duergar. Dwarves and Wolfmen used to fight hundreds of years ago, but called a non aggression pact with the rise of Trolls in the region (This ties in current racial attitude with an evolving history of the world)
LG church of Light and Strength is on good terms with CG church of Art and magic, even if they treat their priests as younger siblings. The CG church will alert the LG church to the activities of undead, but both churches will try to get people out of harms way.
LG church may concern itself with law, undead and fiends, but have no policy regarding elementals or other realms. They may refer those matters to a knowledgable wizard in the area or to their allied churches. Another example is Nature churches may have no policy towards city crime and let each member make up their own mind, but may cooperate with anyone against undead who are against nature.
For magic if people want to learn fireball as an acid ball, they don't spend feats, they just learn it as Acidball, use fireball stats and replace the damage type as acid. In fact I encourage players to use a theme with their spells and roleplayed casting descriptions to add style to the game.
I do not allow magical items shops or sale/buying of items to wizards. Items are always given or loaned in return for quests. The item is reward or price of a favour done, so this prompts another adventure to tie into the main or sub plot.
Most people in towns and villagers when elemental or invocation magic is performed in public will run away, afraid of the noise and sights, and suspicious of the people/creatures causing such things.
Likewise I use dreams, superstitions, crystal balls, animal recognising planar beasts etc, so that magic everywhere in different ways, not just X spell/item does Y effect. There should be much about the world that the characters do not know, but through interaction with people they can find out.
Even religion is not everywhere, having two races atleast who follow animal totems instead of gods.
History-wise I have regular events from major players, such as attacks from Duergar every 80-100 years if they are going to be a major threat in this game. If it is on a standard re-published world then I fill in areas that lack detail with events from races/creatures that are often neglected (such as Rakshasa or Duergar).
This way players can tie in motivations to events and threats, just like GMs can aswell.
Damn, and here I thought this was a food thread! ;_; Great stuff, keep on writing!
The way I do it, I have to nail down genre/mood first and foremost. From there, work in anything that deviates from the norm or adds something to the actual gameplay through some backstory. Other than that, I work a lot up on the fly.
In my experience, you can sit down and write up volumes of content, spend a few weeks working up a pantheon, cosmology, churches and all, but the older players tend to just want to play their dwarven cleric of Moradin; they're the hardest sell for any homebrew material. You have to be able to boil everything down to, 'This is the idea, this is how it affects play,' and from there, you work the flavour to revolve around that summary and they know what they're getting. That helps for keeping things consistent too.