I was wondering if any of you add race/class restrictions to your campaigns.
Absolutely. There are a few restrictions which I think serve to make my world what it is:
-No gunslingers. For me they are hugely problematic, not for damage or balance reasons, but because of what gun powder means for a setting. When guns came on the seen full plate armor and melee combat became obsolete. I like my world to be eternally medieval.
-No musical bards. I find it hugely annoying how bards sing music while a giant ogre is trying to crush the party's bones. I know this is a world of magic and fantasy, but I've always found bardic music lame. I
n my campaign, you can play an archeologist if you want to go bard.
-Reflavor all eastern classes. If you want to play a ninja, you call him a rogue. If your ninja/monk has a ki pool, you rename the pool. My fantasy world is 100% middle earth/medieval Europe inspired.
-While this is not a must, I may prohibit certain absurd race/class combinations. For example a half-0rc would never be welcomed into an order of paladins.
Ah, seems I misread that class/race restrictions as being similar to 2nd edition (only certain races could be certain classes).
I do have a few race and class restrictions for my world. There is no Witch class, no Cavalier class (merging that into the Fighter), and when the ACG comes about, there won't be the Arcanist, Brawler, or Shaman classes either. There is also no Samurai (since there's no Cavalier) and no Ninja (it's merged into the Rogue).
As mentioned in a previous post of mine, humans are extremely limited, as they are my world's equivalent of Golarion's orcs, goblins, gnolls, etc: my "enemy race" due to world lore reasons. Goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, gnolls, and kobolds are available as a player race, though I modified my kobolds to be more dragony, and the goblinoids do not resemble their Pathfinder equivalents.
I do have guns and black powder in my world, but they are the early forms, and are only available in any capacity within my gnome nation. And speaking of my gnomes, they have also been modified from their Golarion/Pathfinder equivalents. They are no longer the fey-like tricksters who cast illusions. They are a militaristic race that gave up the happy-go-lucky trickster lifestyle so long ago, again due to world lore reasons.
I do have asian equivalents. Eberron was a large influence on my world once it came out, and my love of steampunk has bled into my world as well. And now, I must resume work on my setting, as this thread always gets me into the mood of doing so.
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I like stringing together my campaigns into the same world/timeline, and often incorporate semi-realistic advances in technology based on the passage of time.
It sounds like you have a good background setup and a general idea of your plot points. If you're playing with friends (by which i mean people who like you outside of Pathfinder and won't be a@$!&%$s if you mess up GMing) then my advice is just to start. If you don't have everything planned out that's okay. If you do have everything planned out the PC's are going to go to the one place you didn't plan out anyway and you'll need to make something up on the spot. I found that once I started I got better at filling in the holes as I went.
Oh, believe me, I am quite close to actually getting something going! Unfortunately, as I haven't really acted as a GM more than a few times, they'll be rail-road'd for a tiny bit, I'm focusing on just expanding the world,so that when they DO wander off, there will be something there! I can honestly say I'm..decent at the on-the-spot gameplay at times, but I also took a note from either the Core or the GM Guide, and twist their paths so that they all eventually lead to one certain place! Uunseeming rail-roading to them; surprise surprise!
If you click on my name it will take you to a couple of threads where I asked for advice on building worlds. I've done one to completion, a post apocalyptic fantasy where the end of the game was pretty much the beginning of Genisis and one I've been building for a whiiiile about the planes. In a nutshell, they all used to be one plane and the first archon's of the Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, and... Some killer whale race... Any who, they crafted then"anchors" that split the elemental planes and created the material planes. That happened a loooooong time ago, so long that humans came into being AFTER the fact. Few remember the lore of what actually happened except for the guardians of said anchors and a cult that is going around trying to destroy them ;)
My ultimate goal was to have one campaign for each of the four anchors, roll new characters each time as if they are happening concurrently. The final, fifth campaign in the arch, the players pick one of the four characters they have played and go off to fight the Big Bad.
It shall be... *dramatic pause* my Masterwork.
Awesome stuff! I have to say I really like the idea for your final arch type of thing; so cool! I think I may have to borrow such an idea good sir! I should really get around to posting my campaign's details..
I've been running the same world since my first 3.0 campaign. It's evolved to include new rules and classes, but the bones of the setting have remained the same. Past characters are legends now, and my wife's been playing since before we were dating in the world. She's always finding some nugget that I put into new adventures that she recognizes from her old characters' experiences (there has been a literal ROFL moment in one campaign when a certain realization dawned on her).
My world is complicated, and I'm still trying to force myself to stop being lazy and actually get it all written down, but I've already gotten illustrations for the allowed base classes' iconics drawn up, and biogs for all but one deity done. Mechanical tweaks and flavor text are needed, and my goal is to eventually spin it all into a campaign reference document that can be the go-to for most house rules and flavor.
The world is vaguely inspired by action movies, anime, and Final Fantasy, with an eye to logical niche in the world for races and monsters. Dragons are extremely rare, dwarves are like shogunate-era Japanese vikings, elves are Heian-era Japan inspired (I was an East Asians Studies major...). This campaign has existed for almost 14 years now, so it's always interesting to see where the world turns next.
Oh wow, nice! I don't think I could really imagine my own campaign going on for 14 years..that'd be crazy stuff. I however, can't say my world is too complicated as of yet haha
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I was wondering if any of you add race/class restrictions to your campaigns.Absolutely. There are a few restrictions which I think serve to make my world what it is:
Well, to each their own, but there's not a single one on that list I would like =)
To answer the question for my own world, all of my NO. I make the game as open as I possibly can. I prefer to add things rather than remove. If you want to play a race that has never been present in the setting, I will happily sit down with you prior to the game and hash out where they've been all this time, what they've been doing, how much the rest of the world knows about them, and what their involvements in history have been. And then it'll get added to my notes somewhere and become a permanent part of the setting. Ditto for classes, for organizations, for religions, and just about anything else.
I am currently working on my own game world at the moment, titled "Tharenika". Its a lot of work, but im hoping that being able to run it for my players will be worth it :)
It's definitely worth it! There's nothing quite like running your own world, especially after spending hour after hour, day after day, month after month..or even year after year of working on it! However, as we're all definitely aware, building your own world is exhausting at times. Just gotta keep workin'!
Players in this setting should expect to spend a lot of time delving...
Jeez! You certainly have a lot going on!
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I have a campaign world called Oceaq that takes place in an entirely aquatic world where the two major races are the sea elves and the sahuagin, with dozens of less populous races struggling to eke out an existence amidst the raging wars and conflicts that constantly occur between the two major societies. I borrowed races, classes, and battle mechanics liberally from the Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting by Alluria Press when I discovered it as they had a ton of stuff that was essentially a well fleshed-out and polished version of similar mechanics I'd been crafting at home.
Between myself and the members of my group we created all kinds of great custom creatures and threats and had an absolute blast. I remember our "Purple Tides" adventure where a strain of spicy shrimp were introduced into a population of shrimp-like mind controllers resulting in a massive swarm of shrimp that would drive entire populations into frothing rages, leaving death and devastation in it's wake. The party had to man a shrimping vessel with magical nets to try and break the swarm up into a manageable size, all while avoiding having party members come into contact with shrimp lest they go berserk. The latter half of that encounter involved the party monk tripping and running from the group's maddened rage prophet while the druid and bard desperately tried to man boat and nets with only two sets of hands.
The latter part of that campaign involved the party trying to unite the various political factions of the world to give one side of the major conflicts raging across the world enough power to force stability and repel and otherworldly invasion of horrific aquatic aberrations led by an ancient aboleth psion.
Good times.
That is a really cool idea! You should post the outline for that campaign someday; I'd definitely love to give it a go! haha
Another world I had "created" was essentially an exact clone of 1600's Earth in the Mediterranean for a pirate-themed game. The major nations were all there, but certain races dominated those nations. Elves were French, Dwarves were British (Scottish!), Orcs were Norse, Gnomes were German, and Halflings were Spanish.
That actually sounds pretty awesome!
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I was wondering if any of you add race/class restrictions to your campaigns. I like the idea of a campaign where the only spellcasters are Summoners. (Because that's how magic works, you make a pact with an Eidolon who will grant you spells and control over his aspect.)
I'd also like to GM a campaign based solely on what the players come up with for their characters. This includes exotic races, classes, etc.
I myself pretty much just like players have free reign over their characters; it's enjoyable to see the odd combinations they can put together, and how I'll incorporate them into the world.
I don't add in race/class restrictions, as I always disliked such things. It, to me, stifles some of the creativity of players. I prefer variety and options, which is why I enjoy Pathfinder.
I have many races available for choosing, with about half of them homebrew. There's a chance that I even have too many races. While humans exist, I will try to dissuade anyone from choosing, as they are my world's equivalence of orcs, goblins, gnolls, etc. That is, they are about the only true "enemy race" in my setting (lore reasons).
And thank you, Storm Sorcerer Arcturus, for starting this thread. It has kickstarted my booty into delving into my setting and continue with the conversion to Pathfinder, and the creation of more of it.
I'm very glad I could help you! Tis a good day when you help a fellow writer and GM. And I also very much agree with your statement!My all time favorite character, and the one I usually mention when making examples, is my 7ft tall Lizardfolk character, whom is a royal knight of an illustrious grand city (think of his order being like the Judges from Final Fantasy XII). In our world, that one city was the most technologically advanced, and peaceful place, despite consisting of nearly all beast race population (though, it was more like a safe haven for any race, as anyone was welcome so long they abide by our laws)
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I'm thinking about building a setting designed to be expanded collaboratively with its players. It would allow the players quite a bit of liberty in describing their home nations.
It starts like this:
The First Age
People awaken, wrenched from their homeworlds, in a strange new land. Their gods and champions are gone. They must rebuild from scratch, while struggling against the bizarre threats of this unknown world. They soon discover that other races have been brought here in the same way, each race alotted an empty nation to develop by whatever power summoned them.
As far as anyone can tell, the world is flat. In its centre stands a terrifying black tower that seems to reach upward forever. In a ring around it, each in the centre of one of the new nations, stands a tower of similar design, albeit much smaller.
The players must each pick a different race, from the Pathfinder races (within reason, some may be incompatible). This determines the races that are warped into this world and placed in a ring of nations around the black tower.
It is an age of exploration, untold dangers and wild, untamed lands. Monsters are plentiful and prey on poorly developed villages. A group of heroes must seek out and claim the world's hidden power to protect their people.
The campaign would have mythic built into it. The black tower and its surrounding 'sovereign spires' are mythic locations. The sovereign spires are places of great power of rulership and divinity. The one that claims the throne at the top floor of a sovereign spire gains several deific powers (these would be bonus mythic abilities, scaling by tier) that makes them the god-king of that nation. As soon as a spire is claimed, people can begin worshipping that character as a god and gain clerical powers.
Since players may want to play divine classes prior to the ascension of the god-kings (which are likely to be the first group of players themselves), worshipping the unknown power that created this existence may be an option.
The Second Age
Decades, or even hundreds of years after the first campaign, players may adventure in the same world in its more developed nations that the original group helped shape. They may worship the pantheon of god-kings the first group ascended to become... and perhaps even quest to challenge them for control of the sovereign spires.
New spires may appear in further, unexplored lands, creating a kind of 'go(l)d rush' amongst adventuring parties.
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Here's ours. =)
..Oh my. I see a lot of text heading my way! Haha I'll favorite it for a later read!
My world building style is Big Picture first. I can't seem to function without a fully made world map. I don't do full write-ups of all of the countries, but I just gotta know where in the world they are located. Then I go more small scale, and flesh out where I would like the campaign to start and etc.
I've yet to actually draw up a map, or really write in where countries are located. Good thing you made this post, I really should get on that!
Well in my most recent campaign, my players have figured out that all of our campaigns for the last ten years have been in the same world, we have just been moving backwards along its history :-).
It has been a very fun ride and now in my current campaign they are finally in the golden\first age and things are getting very interesting...
That's pretty cool! I really hope it turns out to be everything you wanted! I've never actually considered moving backwards in the history of my world..tis a thought!
I have been playing in -and creating- homebrew worlds since I started roleplaying. Every game I play, Pathfinder or otherwise, I prefer to make the world completely different than the norm for the rp. Every time I create a new world, I use bits and pieces from older worlds, so each world is more fleshed out and deep than the last. So far it creates some fun combinations and interesting situations.
Most of the people I play with cannot settle on a character, so my newest homebrew "world" is actually many worlds, across different timelines and through different material planes. These worlds have what are called "World-Wounds" and "World-Souls". World-Wounds are portals to other worlds in different universes or timelines and World-Souls are the only people who can traverse them safely. However, each time a person travels a World-Wound, they becomes someone else (and start again at level 1). So, for example, Gruck the Level 5 Goblin Ranger goes through a World-Wound... and comes out the other side as a Level 1 Ifrit Sorcerer.
They are not locked to staying to each world, and can switch back and forth freely. The enemy himself is a World-Soul and the main campaign draws from each of the worlds, in addition to each world having a main story that extends from level 1 to level 30. Needless to say, I have been spending a lot of time working on this and it isn't even close to being done. Won't be for another few months, at least.
Wow, that's actually a pretty creative idea. I also find that most of my current group can't stick with a character for very long, and your way seems to settle that easily! We just..well, they usually run into deadly traps to see their characters off, instead of simply retiring them..dammit haha. I myself never really like delving into Timeline stuff; I've never seen a display where timelines didn't make everything grim dark sad I very much just like one consistent world, though time travel I allow, I just put a very specific rule on it; should you time travel, you'll simply replace the past you. Sort of like, if you traveled back to the area you guys were in while you were level 1, your character would appear as his say, level 20 version and no one would suspect a thing. It's a shaky design, but I plan on ironing out the details soon enough.
I was wondering if any of you add race/class restrictions to your campaigns.Absolutely. There are a few restrictions which I think serve to make my world what it is:
-No gunslingers. For me they are hugely problematic, not for damage or balance reasons, but because of what gun powder means for a setting. When guns came on the seen full plate armor and melee combat became obsolete. I like my world to be eternally medieval.
-No musical bards. I find it hugely annoying how bards sing music while a giant ogre is trying to crush the party's bones. I know this is a world of magic and fantasy, but I've always found bardic music lame. I
n my campaign, you can play an archeologist if you want to go bard.-Reflavor all eastern classes. If you want to play a ninja, you call him a rogue. If your ninja/monk has a ki pool, you rename the pool. My fantasy world is 100% middle earth/medieval Europe inspired.
-While this is not a must, I may prohibit certain absurd race/class combinations. For example a half-0rc would never be welcomed into an order of paladins.
I can see the reasoning in this, seems fair sir! Though, the one thing I think I can't really get into it the no gunslingers thing. I mean don't get me wrong, if it messes up the world and just doesn't fit, by all means remove it! But, for my campaigns, a lot of the full plate armor nullifies any damage from a measly bullet I like to go all high fantasy with it occasionally, where like the..oh I don't know, the Armor of Kings you received from a royal tomb can withstand the heaviest of hits, and bullets simply crumble into dust or barely dent it when shot at. I suppose it's occasionally unfair to gunslingers, but I LOVE knights. Plus it gives something that the pew pew guys have to think twice about fighting.
I'm thinking about building a setting designed to be expanded collaboratively with its players. It would allow the players quite a bit of liberty in describing their home nations.
It starts like this:
The First Age
People awaken, wrenched from their homeworlds, in a strange new land. Their gods and champions are gone. They must rebuild from scratch, while struggling against the bizarre threats of this unknown world. They soon discover that other races have been brought here in the same way, each race alotted an empty nation to develop by whatever power summoned them.
As far as anyone can tell, the world is flat. In its centre stands a terrifying black tower that seems to reach upward forever. In a ring around it, each in the centre of one of the new nations, stands a tower of similar design, albeit much smaller.
The players must each pick a different race, from the Pathfinder races (within reason, some may be incompatible). This determines the races that are warped into this world and placed in a ring of nations around the black tower.
It is an age of exploration, untold dangers and wild, untamed lands. Monsters are plentiful and prey on poorly developed villages. A group of heroes must seek out and claim the world's hidden power to protect their people.
The campaign would have mythic built into it. The black tower and its surrounding 'sovereign spires' are mythic locations. The sovereign spires are places of great power of rulership and divinity. The one that claims the throne at the top floor of a sovereign spire gains several deific powers (these would be bonus mythic abilities, scaling by tier) that makes them the god-king of that nation. As soon as a spire is claimed, people can begin worshipping that character as a god and gain clerical powers.
Since players may want to play divine classes prior to the ascension of the god-kings (which are likely to be the first group of players themselves), worshipping the unknown power that created this existence may be an option....
You know, starting out at the beginning, sounds like quite a lot of fun. That would actually be something I would like to play, on either side of the screen.
I'm thinking about building a setting designed to be expanded collaboratively with its players. It would allow the players quite a bit of liberty in describing their home nations.
It starts like this:
The First Age
People awaken, wrenched from their homeworlds, in a strange new land. Their gods and champions are gone. They must rebuild from scratch, while struggling against the bizarre threats of this unknown world. They soon discover that other races have been brought here in the same way, each race alotted an empty nation to develop by whatever power summoned them.
As far as anyone can tell, the world is flat. In its centre stands a terrifying black tower that seems to reach upward forever. In a ring around it, each in the centre of one of the new nations, stands a tower of similar design, albeit much smaller.
The players must each pick a different race, from the Pathfinder races (within reason, some may be incompatible). This determines the races that are warped into this world and placed in a ring of nations around the black tower.
It is an age of exploration, untold dangers and wild, untamed lands. Monsters are plentiful and prey on poorly developed villages. A group of heroes must seek out and claim the world's hidden power to protect their people.
The campaign would have mythic built into it. The black tower and its surrounding 'sovereign spires' are mythic locations. The sovereign spires are places of great power of rulership and divinity. The one that claims the throne at the top floor of a sovereign spire gains several deific powers (these would be bonus mythic abilities, scaling by tier) that makes them the god-king of that nation. As soon as a spire is claimed, people can begin worshipping that character as a god and gain clerical powers.
Since players may want to play divine classes prior to the ascension of the god-kings (which are likely to be the first group of players themselves), worshipping the unknown power that created this existence may be an option....
That's a pretty wicked idea for a campaign, I'd hop right on board in a heartbeat!
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My biggest issue to coming up with stories for my campaigns.
My biggest issue to coming up with stories for my campaigns.
Story is the best and worst part of making a campaign, I find. A lot of the time, I'm building the story at the same moment the players are playing through the game! Right now, I have them heading to basically the capital city of the world nearly (it's ruled by the strongest leader since ancient times). The city has gone dark for about..near 200 years, surrounded by a violent, ever raging storm that tears anything that gets close to it to shreds. Promises of untold riches, vials of immortality potions, and everything else added sent them on their way. And..that's about it right now! I think I'll probably have them usher in the New Age by reviving the kingdom, eventually scaling to a world war. The good thing about being the GM, however; the PCs dont have to know every little bit of the story! They just need some lore to go on, and while they think you have it all laid out, you can be planning behind the screen.
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Here's ours. =)..Oh my. I see a lot of text heading my way! Haha I'll favorite it for a later read!
Thanks =) Comments and inquiries appreciated!
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@Storm Sorcerer Arcturus: You seem so enthusiastic and motivated in your posts, it just brings a smile to my face! Just needed to say that.
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A brief for the world of Novus, the isolated plane described in my previous post.
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Jeez! You certainly have a lot going on!
Players in this setting should expect to spend a lot of time delving...
I'm not actively running any of them (only even prepping for the last one, which will probably remain as just a one-shot).
There's two reasons. One is that I'm a completionist and not that great at improv; the more information I have, the better I can extrapolate (rather than create entirely out of whole cloth). The second is that I've found that working on multiple settings simultaneously actually benefits me.
Most specifically, it lets me contrast them, to ensure I have different themes, not too much similarity in the settings. Even better, having multiple settings means that when I have a brilliant new idea, I can put it into the setting where it belongs, rather than going off-message to shoehorn in a new concept that really doesn't fit.
I expect that for the Four-Fold World, I won't have a lot of player input in the initial world design; that one's really my baby. For After Atlantis and the Tome of Battle / Oriental Adventures mash-up one-shot, I'm actively getting player input.
I've run a couple of one-shots in After Atlantis, simply dodging the mechanical issues of building or picking out the E8 rules to use by running at level 8 or below. And I've given the players the ability to help define the regions they come from with their characters. So now I know that Carthage, in addition to making quite a bit of money off of selling slaves, is intensely bureaucratic. And that some elite warriors among the Hebrews wear heavy armor known as Godplate, etched with scripture. (Yes, the setting includes Hebrews; this is a big part of what makes it potentially controversial.)
For the one-shot, when I send out the email with house rules and all, I'm going to ask the players to provide me (before the game) with a bit of information about the martial school their character trained at (and represents) - what classes its students have, what weapons they use, what disciplines they study. And describe another member or three of the delegation that school is sending to the tournament.
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My setting began with the tips of ye olde Dungeon Master Guide, starting with a single detailed area in a bigger world that became more and more detailed with time.
Ten years on the road and lots of campaigns happened in the more or less core regions, shaping the history of the world, while some elements of the outside regions creeped in in small fragments (a character from the necromancer lands, a god from the desert, a legend from another place, this kind of thing).
Now the setting is about the same size that it started, but much, much more developed. Now my players are so immersed on it that they asked for a GT-like (grand tour) kind of campaign, that took them to all kinds of different places in the setting, and there's actually so much developed material in the setting that I've taken to writing an article per week about a Region/Organization/People of the setting (player's choise what they want to know each week).
I guess my tip is: If you're making a setting for home-game purposes (and not for commercial ones) take it easy and follow Ye Olde DMG and the tips from Monte Cook in the old dungeoncraft articles on dragon magazine. Start small, with your core cool idea, an interesting regional map and a big map with the far-off regions and no more than some lines about its coolness; the rest will come and you'll develop. I see too many dms creating extensive work before even playing on their settings, and in my humble opinion this can backfire when you can't SHOW people what you created.
I was wondering if any of you add race/class restrictions to your campaigns.
Half orcs are not a hybrid, they are a brutal race unto themselves that I named the Guti. And they're not green. And with the exception of the Anpur from the Hamunaptra boxed set by Green Ronin games there are no "animal races".
There are no gunslingers, ninja, or samurai in my settings, either, as gunpowder doesn't exist and there is no Japanese or other oriental areas in my homebrew.
My setting began with the tips of ye olde Dungeon Master Guide, starting with a single detailed area in a bigger world that became more and more detailed with time.
Ten years on the road and lots of campaigns happened in the more or less core regions, shaping the history of the world, while some elements of the outside regions creeped in in small fragments (a character from the necromancer lands, a god from the desert, a legend from another place, this kind of thing).
Now the setting is about the same size that it started, but much, much more developed. Now my players are so immersed on it that they asked for a GT-like (grand tour) kind of campaign, that took them to all kinds of different places in the setting, and there's actually so much developed material in the setting that I've taken to writing an article per week about a Region/Organization/People of the setting (player's choise what they want to know each week).
I guess my tip is: If you're making a setting for home-game purposes (and not for commercial ones) take it easy and follow Ye Olde DMG and the tips from Monte Cook in the old dungeoncraft articles on dragon magazine. Start small, with your core cool idea, an interesting regional map and a big map with the far-off regions and no more than some lines about its coolness; the rest will come and you'll develop. I see too many dms creating extensive work before even playing on their settings, and in my humble opinion this can backfire when you can't SHOW people what you created.
This is a thing I am trying to focus on now, because I do tend to spend far too much time on the big picture. I've gotten better. Now I look at the big, big picture (cosmology, pantheons, and core story themes), and other than that, I try to focus on a single area.
Hence, the Four-Fold World has a lot of regions... but the Clan plateau is the only one I'm seriously detailing. To the west are Wilds, to the east are city-states, to the south is a river and a port on a bay, and to the north are mountains. Within those, I'm looking at the city-states to contrast with the Clans, and as a general antagonist that could draw the Clans together, but that's about it. The south, I'll want to finalize a city name and talk a bit about the trade through it, but that's it. Really I'm focused on the Clans directly, and only a couple of towns for now.
@Storm Sorcerer Arcturus: You seem so enthusiastic and motivated in your posts, it just brings a smile to my face! Just needed to say that.
Well thank you very much! That just made my day :) I love Pathfinder, and the people here are always nice and have all these ideas; it's hard for me not to be enthusiastic!
I've been working on a setting for quite sometime now, with two major regions outlined and a third pretty well worked out. My big internal debate at the moment has been trying to figure out the level of technological development in the West Europe analog. Part of me really like a lower tech early dark age feel for the place, but part of me also appreciates a more 15th century approach, including early fire arms, etc.
Right now my biggest issue is trying to figure out a novel take on an asian analog region....I'd like to avoid the warring kingdoms/alt Japan/monolithic Chinese Empire approach.
I've been working on a setting for quite sometime now, with two major regions outlined and a third pretty well worked out. My big internal debate at the moment has been trying to figure out the level of technological development in the West Europe analog. Part of me really like a lower tech early dark age feel for the place, but part of me also appreciates a more 15th century approach, including early fire arms, etc.
Right now my biggest issue is trying to figure out a novel take on an asian analog region....I'd like to avoid the warring kingdoms/alt Japan/monolithic Chinese Empire approach.
Mm! I never actually stop to think about technological advancements and stuff like that actually...whoops! Haha. I usually like to base my tech for certain countries, cities and rulers on their collective wealth. Eventually, tech can appear anywhere in my world, either through the villages trading, stealing, raiding; all those sorts! I myself am trying to avoid the super advanced long lost civilizations stuff, and more so like.."yeah, this civilization has tech that surpasses yours by 50 years, and they're knocking on your door."
For your asian analog..perhaps they're the only peaceful region at this time. I'm not saying like they'd be all monk level down to earth type of deal, though that would be awesome, but just like, they're the guys sitting in the corner peacefully while everyone else bickers haha.
Just my input! ...Unless I'm totally not getting the scenario, to which I say..ignore my statements!
Small Edit:For my campaign, it's generally sort of..an arms race, really. If you want to stay in the lead, your inventors better be whipping up stuff quick! Or else Jimmy the dusty dwarf redneck will some magic firing gun, and claim his business empire.
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I've always built my worlds around a story. For example, my world of Saritobia features a nation in a state of decline. Think global government falling apart. New nations are appearing and there's not a whole lot the government can do to stop it. There's a lot of infighting and warlords and regional battles as grudges get "settled." Some areas are lawless, some have "businessmen" as lords, others are trying to remain loyal to the old government in hopes of a reunification, but are cut off from its resources.
As a result, monster races like Orcs and Goblins and such are becomming bold and trying to claim out territories for themselves. There's an area where an order of wizards are working to summon dragons from another plane to become the "air force" of their own undead army.
The player's actions start out in a small area (perhaps clearing out some Goblins trying to stake a claim near a village) and grow in scale as they level (maybe try to take out the order of wizards).
Everything I create is to support aspects of this overall storyline. I work independently with each player to craft a backstory that brings them to the moment they meet the other pc's. Then we explore and affect.
I've always built my worlds around a story. For example, my world of Saritobia features a nation in a state of decline. Think global government falling apart. New nations are appearing and there's not a whole lot the government can do to stop it. There's a lot of infighting and warlords and regional battles as grudges get "settled." Some areas are lawless, some have "businessmen" as lords, others are trying to remain loyal to the old government in hopes of a reunification, but are cut off from its resources.
As a result, monster races like Orcs and Goblins and such are becomming bold and trying to claim out territories for themselves. There's an area where an order of wizards are working to summon dragons from another plane to become the "air force" of their own undead army.
The player's actions start out in a small area (perhaps clearing out some Goblins trying to stake a claim near a village) and grow in scale as they level (maybe try to take out the order of wizards).
Everything I create is to support aspects of this overall storyline. I work independently with each player to craft a backstory that brings them to the moment they meet the other pc's. Then we explore and affect.
Woah, awesome! While I do love to throw in good monster race fights, generally, in my campaigns, monster races are pretty much regular folk at times. In the world I've been building, there's a rather large wealthy city, and at it's base, it's ruled by a small Goblin capable of reading. My players beginning actions aren't always...as simple as they should be haha usually I have them facing down groups of low level bandits, minor warlords or bandit captains, and then end stuff is like slaying Great Old Ones. Eh then again, I usually never make them start at level 1, I usually go to 5 (for the more experienced players, not new peeps).
And nice! I'm trying to work everything into the story, but usually I go off on these sub stories that don't tie in at all but sound really cool haha but I suppose that's all the fun of being a GM! Weaving everything together at the end point. Our group is..rather bad with backstories. If I don't press them to at least somewhat detail their character, usually nothing comes of it (they never really make a character they stick with for more than a few sessions, a common problem). I've been thinking of taking each player aside, and running small one shots with them to bring them all together for the actual first session, but it's still iffy. I really like what you do though! Sorry if I didn't completely understand what you were saying, it's uh..it's quite late here!