Hello all,
Here is the second of 3 articles written by Guest Lecturer @Calebg. In his first article, Caleb wrote about Conor, a half elf, Neutral Good, cleric of Pelor, who was his all-time favorite character. Today he’s written about his favorite DnD setting. The article doesn’t give a crazy amount of details, but gives a good glimpse of the world and how/why it would be fun to play in. It sounds like the GM of this game built a world rife with adventure possibilities. I know for many DM’s world building seems like a daunting task. Here’s my advice, Create Big, Play Small. You may have modeled your entire campaign world out of clay (we have super new 3d printers that I fully expect to be used for this purpose soon) but most likely your game will start in one small village or one city or town and grow from there. Anyway, here is Caleb talking about his favorite campaign setting . . .
In DnD, the setting you play in is as much of a character as any of the PCs brought to the table. The setting, whether it’s an entire world for the campaign to take place in or it’s simply a dungeon to explore, encompasses everything the players encounter during the game. It provides the monsters and enemies to fight, the traps to bypass, the puzzles to solve, the NPCs to interact with, and the environments to survive. The game setting is basically a character the GM plays along with his or her players. It is the task of the GM to make the game a vivid, entertaining, and engaging character for the players to interact with. A boring setting holds no interesting aspects for the players. There is no reason to be there and there are no intriguing features.
Luckily for GMs, there are hundreds of pre-made settings for their games. Some of these are written and created by the professionals at various gaming companies. There are prepared campaigns that tell a story through crafted encounters and environments. There are books dedicated to entire worlds to play in, most often with unique races, classes, and features. And of course, there are settings made and shared by players world-wide. In my experience, these home brewed settings are the most fun to play in. The GM can really express complete creative control in a custom-built campaign setting. Furthermore, input and ideas from players can be worked into the setting to design a game that is exciting for everyone participating.
The favorite campaign setting that I’ve played in to date is one of these home brewed games. The game was set on a continent called Drithion. Overall, it was a typical game world with mountains in the north and a desert in the south. There weren’t any unique physics of mechanics in this world. What made this setting so interesting was the political conflict that the world was drenched in.
The desert was governed by al-Khardi, the Caliph of Rhugdon, the main capitol and largest city in the desert. Imagine Agrabah from Disney’s Aladdin. While life in the city was great, life outside suffered from food and water shortages. Riots from those living outside the city walls were a constant threat to deal with. Then we had the problems to the north. There wasn’t one major city. Instead, there was a network of villages and larger cities where shipping and commerce were major industries. These cities were policed by a group of paladins called The Crucifers. The Crucifers served as a governed body but also hunted a group known as The Blue Thorn. This was a group of arcane casters who terrorized the countryside while searching for a mysterious magical artifact. To add to the chaos they caused from their attacks, The Blue Thorn intensified the winter weather with their spells. To combat them, The Crucifers enforced strict laws against arcane magic use in every city under their control.
The key to the story that kept everything intriguing was the level of connection between the elements happening in the north and south. As it turns out, The Blue Thorn was funding the rioters in the south to act as a distraction for their research and excavation sites in the desert. There were also various political power plays going on within Rhugdon in the south and in some of the smaller cities in the north. Overall, there were many story threads that all tied together in the larger picture.
To keep gameplay fresh, the GM had us roll several characters and we alternated between them. We had a set of PCs that worked for al-Khadi and had a mission to infiltrate the rioters. Another set was in slavery to one of the war leaders of the rioters out in the desert. We had a group of PCs in the north stuck in the conflict between The Crucifers and The Blue Thorn. Our last group was a team of adventurers high in the mountains experiencing the impact of The Blue Thorn attacks and activity. We alternated characters every few sessions. This let each story build to a climax, then end at a high point. The GM ran the games like they were chapters in a novel.
I loved playing in this world. While there were no special features like other settings, say Eberron or Dragonlance, the world was rich and vibrant with great NPCs, deep plot threads and story hooks, and wonderful environmental settings to play in. Game settings don’t require new magic or unique races, but those are always fun elements to make use of. In the big picture, the core of any game setting is the story that it presents to players. This story kept me excited for every session we played. While I loved the ultimate conclusion the story arc came to, I would be thrilled to get back into this particular game setting.
If you have any questions or would like to share your favorite settings, please leave us some comments or feedback.
Thanks!!
Michael – AKA Mumbles.
E-mail us at Podcast@TheRpgAcademy
Follow us on twitter @TheRpgAcademy
Visit our Facebook Page
Join our Google+ Community Page at: The RPG Academy
Support our show by becoming a Patron at www.Patreon.Com/TheRpgAcademy
2 pings