Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

[Damon_Dusk]

And when I say Wild-West Fantasy, I don't mean Deadlands.

 

I'm looking to create a setting that has a very wild-west appeal, but using only fantasy/medieval technology. Basically, I'd break it down like this:

 

-There is a smaller continent where most of this campaign's kingdoms reside. They are somewhat separated from the "main area" by a large body of water. This wouldn't be an Atlantic Ocean-sized distance, by any stretch. Perhaps only a 7-10 day journey by ship.

 

-There are colonies of the kingdoms upon this new continent where they are trying to settle. They are fairly civilized, but not nearly so much as their homeland.

 

-The majority of the campaign area is unsettled, unexplored, and holds a vast amount of resources for the taking.

 

-But there is an indigenous people/monster race living there that are not too keen on invaders.

 

Some extra things that I want to include:

 

-There are cities/artifacts/remnants of an ancient civilization that was apparently destroyed long, long ago.

 

-Deep, deep into the wilderness, the relatively few survivors of this ancient civilization live protected in their last fortress. They are incredibly powerful and overly paranoid.

 

-Very few "races" in the world in general (just trying to get away from the "my character is different because he's an *elf*", and go more toward the "my character is different because he grew up in the mountains of whatever, where his town was oppressed by the followers of religion, but he secretly believed in said religion, and often informed the oppressors of heretic plans"). I want to have only a few different races (1-3 besides human) and for each of the races to be somehow related to humanity (either through being a half-breed, descendent of a long lost ethnic group, having a trace of "inhuman blood" in their lineage, etc.). Basically, any of the non-human races will look very similar to humans, but perhaps have some distinguishing feature or trait. They are generally accepted by most humans, but there can always be distrust. An extreme but easily recognizable example would be vampires. They look human, can easily pass for human, but die in the sunlight, and everyone hates them. I don't plan to use vampires per se, but it's a valid example. Any ideas on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

-I want to include a lot of the politics, etc. of the kingdoms as each tries to stake their claims on the "new world". The wars, treaties, etc. that would ensue, and the PCs involvement in them.

 

-I want to include the aspects of settlers, fortune-seekers, ne'er-do-wells, mercenaries, and general "wild-west-iness" of people trying to settle in an untamed land.

 

-I want the "new world" to generally be "unconquerable" except by concentrated effort by the kingdoms. In other words, they can be claimed, but holding onto such land is difficult unless the colonies somehow band together. But I intend to set things up in such a way that this banding together is unlikely, the relatively close proximity of their home kingdoms goes a long way toward ensuring there is no massive revolution.

 

-The world is generally medium-magic level; magic are uncommon and difficult to master, but wizards can become very powerful. The most powerful magic was possessed and wielded by this ancient civilization, but that knowledge is long lost or forgotten.

 

-Religion will play a big part in the world (much as it did in our own in medieval times). There will be a few distinct religions: Two religions will be based around the belief that there is only one god, but will have very different takes on how to follow that god. Another religion will promote spiritual balance as its main theme. A fourth religion will be very shamanistic in nature, with the belief that spirits fill the land, influence all life, and shape the natural world. A fifth religion is the antithesis to the first two (a somewhat "evil" god/devil), promoting selfishness, the strong rule, and the weak were meant to serve others mentality (this religion is a secret society type, oppressed and not tolerated by most of the others). The last religion that I have is kind of the "old religion" which spawned the first two religions. It consists of a council of gods/goddesses that serve a very advisory role in society. They are generally passive, though members of this pantheon have definitive "aspects" that they cover (i.e. god of the sun, goddess of death, etc.). To try to sum this up, I'm going for a feel that there is a lot of religious differences even though there are few directly opposed "forces". A lot of problems arise from which religion believes they are "right" as well as suspicion about who is really a follower of "the devil."

 

-I want there to be a few distinct styles of magic. First, I want the typical wizard type, of which I would probably go with a VPP style (with all spells needing to be created beforehand; created by me or approved by me) and all spells being "powered" by an END Reserve. Second, I want a sort of sorcerer style. I would either go with the character spending the full Real Points of individual spells (which are the same as wizard spells) and all spells "powered" by the character's own END, or the character buys a Multipower Pool, with every spell powered by his own END. The difference being that a wizard is more refined and able to channel the magic "around" him, whereas a sorcerer channels the magic "through" him. I also would like to see a style of arcane magic that focuses around summoning powerful spirits that perform the spells (in effect, it would cover a lot of the same ground as the other two magicians but include the ability to actually Summon creatures, the other two would not). I see this is being a Multipower, perhaps with all spells costing 0 END, but having significant side effects (the demon/spirit gets angry and rips into the summoner with its spiritual force). There will be divine magic as well, which I'm seeing as a Multipower as well, with 0 END spells and no side effects. Lastly, and I think it overlaps a bit with the spirit summoner type, is a shamanistic style (perhaps they work the exact same way, but have a different mentality; one pursues it religiously, the other uses it purely for power).

 

-On the nature of magic, I'd like to go with the idea that magic is an invisible element (mana, etc.) that covers the world (more concentrated in some areas and almost non-existant in others). Those with "mage-sight" can see the flows and weaves of this element, and can manipulate it with the proper incantations, gestures, foci, etc. They can manipulate this energy to create almost unlimited effects, but there are a few things that it can't do. It can't create permanent items (though it *can* be infused into specially constructed items to create magic items), nor summon creatures (though it *can* create an artificial life form with a very short life span), nor resurrect the dead (though it *can* infuse a dead body with an artificial life force). Another aspect is that death of a living thing returns its energy to this pool of mana covering the world. Resurrection is not possible because it's like trying to find the exact formula for a person and infusing it into the body again, into a body that can no longer sustain life. Animating dead is possible because it's using the magic not to grant life, but to move a dead body in a "programmed" fashion (which brings up issues of "turning undead"). I haven't decided how a nearby death could affect a magician. In effect, it will increase the local mana available, but I'm not sure that it should have any immediate effect. Any ideas on what to do with this would be greatly appreciated. I suppose it does open it up for a style of magician that uses sacrifices to augment his power (somehow harnessing the energy from the dead body upon the time of death).

 

-Another idea that appeals to me greatly is the thought that even mundanes who somehow achieve an incredible level of skill in something can tap into the flow of magic to perform near magical abilities (like "super-skills" from DC). So warriors of incredible talent (measured in how many points they have in Martial Arts?) can perform "super-human" abilities (like many legendary martial artists were claimed to have been capable of doing).

 

Hmmm...This post is really long. Anyway, I'm looking for ideas and comments as to where to go with this. I've started writing a lot of this down, but a little inspiration from you would go a long way.

[OddHat]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

7-10 days by sea is nothing. Unless there was some kind of endless storm keeping people out, or the continent just came in from another dimension, this is not a "new world."

 

Otherwise looks fun. Maybe you could introduce magic or steam powered boating technology to explain why this place is now just next door, or use the David Gemmel idea that it was dropped in from another world. That lets you have the destroyed lands that were crushed under this new landmass, and a huge disruption in world sea levels to throw all the old empires into chaos.

 

Reading some Roman history could give you ideas of the problems faced when attempting to "civilize" far off lands without modern communications technology, and looking at the Iraq news every day will give you some plot hooks for the problems faced even with instant world-wide communication.

[Damon_Dusk]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

7-10 days by sea is nothing. Unless there was some kind of endless storm keeping people out, or the continent just came in from another dimension, this is not a "new world."

 

Yeah, I threw the number out there without really knowing how long it took Columbus, etc. to cross the Atlantic. I'd like to keep it mostly "mundane" (i.e. no dimension hopping continents) but I agree that 10 days is too short. Any suggestions as to a length that would make it unlikely to have a mass emigration to this new land. Or maybe a good reason why it doesn't happen that isn't too unbelievable (frequent storms, hurricanes, etc.). Distance is fine, but I'd like to keep it a bit closer than Europe to North America...

 

Thanks for the advice, it definitely helps.

[OddHat]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

I'd go with storms then, and geography. Say the New World is less than six weeks journey from the Old World (still fairly close), but that storms make the journey very dangerous for most of the year. Add in the idea that the big Old-World civilizations are mostly on the other side of the continent from the New-World, and that the costal areas easiest to reach had very little in tems of real wealth worth taking home. Maybe a few other attempts at colonization have been made in the past, but always failed for one reason or another. Perhaps the New-World had its version of the Aztec Empire, and at the height of their powers they were able to repell several Old-World attempts at conquest. Now, with population pressures in the Old-World building and the old Empire in the New-World broken by a wave of plagues and civil-wars, colonization is finally beginning.

 

Hope some of that helps.

[Damon_Dusk]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

Those are some really good ideas. I definitely like your Aztec idea, as it was in many ways the direction I was thinking for this "ancient powerful civilization." I will use those ideas when setting up the geography.

 

Thanks again.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

Sounds like you're working up something very similar to what I'm working on.

 

-There is a smaller continent where most of this campaign's kingdoms reside. They are somewhat separated from the "main area" by a large body of water. This wouldn't be an Atlantic Ocean-sized distance, by any stretch. Perhaps only a 7-10 day journey by ship.

 

I use storms and sargasso seas to provide a barrier. As a matter of fact, I want my New World to be all but cut off from the Old.

 

-There are colonies of the kingdoms upon this new continent where they are trying to settle. They are fairly civilized, but not nearly so much as their homeland.

 

-The majority of the campaign area is unsettled, unexplored, and holds a vast amount of resources for the taking.

 

My cities will be fairly civilized, having most of the campaign's industry, aristocracy, and luxuries, and some analogue to a Thieves' Guild (I think for this last, I'm going to go more with "gangs", as portrayed in Gangs of New York). The frontier areas will less brick-and-mortar, and more log forts.

 

-Very few "races" in the world in general

 

I'm going with the regular RPG races, and maybe a few more, but I'm making them all Phaeree creatures and giving them appropriate Disads (Vulnerability to iron being a major one, and one that I expect will keep them out of the hands of munchkins). On the other hand, I've tried to make the colonies' cultures interesting enough that a player can get the same "outsider" factor by playing a foreigner as he can from playing an elf.

 

-I want to include a lot of the politics, etc. of the kingdoms as each tries to stake their claims on the "new world". The wars, treaties, etc. that would ensue, and the PCs involvement in them.

 

-I want to include the aspects of settlers, fortune-seekers, ne'er-do-wells, mercenaries, and general "wild-west-iness" of people trying to settle in an untamed land.

 

What I've done is to draw a GM's map of the continent with "hard borders", meaning the areas that are unquestionably under the control of that particular colony. The players' maps will all show considerably more area under the control, or at least under claim, of the colony which has produced the map. The disputed areas will often ebb and flow, depending on warfare between colonies, warfare with the natives, gold rushes, etc.

 

-I want the "new world" to generally be "unconquerable" except by concentrated effort by the kingdoms. In other words, they can be claimed, but holding onto such land is difficult unless the colonies somehow band together. But I intend to set things up in such a way that this banding together is unlikely, the relatively close proximity of their home kingdoms goes a long way toward ensuring there is no massive revolution.

 

Different religions between the colonies can keep them from getting too chummy.

 

-Religion will play a big part in the world

 

I've got witches as a major source of villainy in my world. Not Wiccans, but plague-bringing, crop-killing, devil-worshipping witches as portrayed in the 17th century. Your underground religion seems like a pretty good analogue. Any folk tales or folk knowledge about witches should provide some plot hooks involving them, or rooting them out of decent society.

 

-I want there to be a few distinct styles of magic.

 

I'm personally waiting to see Valdorian Age before I settle in on how several styles of magic will work. My more arcane type magic style is based on some of the discussion generated on these boards about Ars Magica. I'll post the thread after I find it.

EDIT: http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8999

 

There's also a thread with some ideas similar to this...I'll post that too.

EDIT: http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17109&highlight=frontier+fantasy

[cutsleeve]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

akira kurisawa's yojimbo or seven samurai both of these movies had their plots stolen to make fist full of dollars and magnificent seven.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Wild-West Style Fantasy Idea - Looking for ideas

 

You're forgetting one of the most important things that keeps the new world isolated from the old. Sure, there are storms, but what about that gigantic sea serpent that eats 80% of the ships that try to cross? Scylla and Charybdis anyone?