Legends Setting

[Eosin]

The Beginning

 

I have ideas - and I'll bet you do as well. Sometimes those ideas just need to express themselves, like this one. I have been brewing on this idea for about a year. I figured it was high time to put pen to paper, metaphorically.

 

I am a classical fantasist. I like worlds and characters that could possibly exist somewhere. They don't have to be real but there must be some realism to them else I get lost in the glitz. Most fantasy settings lose me at this juncture -- I just can't see a world populated with millions of ravening monsters lurking in the local tomb that stretches for miles beneath the town. Sure....

 

I also don't get settings where everyone has fantastical powers. Actually, I do but those I like have the trappings of science fiction or superheroics not fantasy. I don't want to see "Melf's Moving Company" teleporting your tower from one part of the world to another. I don't like magic as technology in the fantasy genre. Street lamps of continual light and bound fire elemental to heat water just give me epileptic fits.

 

So, I thought to myself --- how do I build a fantasy world that is "different." I already have The Last Dominion which is something of a Celtic-goth setting with Arthurian underpinnings. It covers the broad sweep of fantasy with knights, wizards, mighty armies, deadly intrigue, and a great slumbering evil insidiously poisoning the world. This setting needs to be different.

 

Here is the challenge I set for myself.

• No knights - minimal armor and no horses.
  
• No D&D style big flashy magic.
  
• Small armies - someplace where a elite cadre could be legendary.
  
• Honor my pet peeves.
  
• Tap into real legends.
  
• Create visceral appeal.

 

Everything should flow from this criteria.

 

This is cross posted from Pencil Pushers Forums, my personal playground. Eventually, it will include some Hero Stuff but first I start with the background before I move to detail work.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

First Things First

The very first thing you have figure out - before you can even move on - are some ideas about mood, tone, and theme. Sure, they can come later but if you create a world named "Adventures in the Great Big Tomb" and design a game that focuses on overcoming personal flaws -- a vengeance driven piece -- the title doesn't work and I'll bet the narrative doesn't work either. It is simplest to come up with a grand concept first and then work from there. Some call this a top-down approach but as you'll see it turns out to be a blend of top-down, bottom-up, and a few other tricks thrown in for good measure.

 

Mood is a synonym for "atmosphere" or the feeling received from a work. It can be dark and gothic or lighthearted - even whimsical. Warhammer Fantasy is often touted as being "Dark and Gritty." Everyone familiar with the setting takes up this mantra. That is well conveyed mood. Another setting that has a well conveyed mood is Delta Green - it is a modern horror conspiracy. Every page of text and every player comes away feeling that there remains something "out there" beyond their sight or maybe even understanding that defines their world (hmm.. An interesting Matrix vibe). Others don't do mood so well or their mood is "this is a D&D game." Greyhawk certainly is the defining standard for "this is a D&D world" style of mood... It has everything and the kitchen sink.

 

I already mentioned that I wanted a small group of heroes to be able to make a dramatic difference. The setting should focus on this "band of brothers" type of mentality. I'll go with Heroic as a mood.

 

Tone

Tone and mood are often interchanged. Mood is what the reader or player picks up from the setting. Let's look at the definition of Tone as a literary term for a minute.

Tone

The author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. Some possible attitudes are pessimism, optimism, earnestness, seriousness, bitterness, humorous, and joyful. An author’s tone can be revealed through choice of words and details.

 

That says to me that Tone is how the setting or game views the characters. Most of my favorite Arthurian stories start with a Heroic mood but have a bitter or pessimistic tone. Everyone is going to die or be broken in the end. Contrasting that would be the tone set by the majority of comic books. You know they aren't going to kill Wolverine or Superman. Sure, he may die for a while but there is an inherent understanding that the writer will not destroy the character. Many fantasy settings suffer because of a tone that grants script immunity to everyone except the bad guys. This setting shouldn't be that far toward an optimistic tone but maybe centered towards a Star Wars level of optimism. Some good guys are going to be maimed or even die but those elements should serve to further the story rather than happening cause, "bad stuff happens to good people too."

 

There, we have a heroic Mood and a marginally optimistic Tone.

 

Now we need some themes to get this ball rolling.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

So, next in the boiler plate is the theme of the setting. This is kinda tricky. I often want to get into the methods to convey the theme such a motif and symbolism. Those are separate subjects so for now I'll try to avoid them.

 

What do you know!! I found an article that covers exactly the same topic. Rather than bore you to tears - try reading this great article on themes over at RPG.net.

 

Now that you read the article, I'll skip ahead to the themes of Legends.

 

[NOTE: I did some thinking about how I was going to work my criteria into here. That lead me to the general shape of the setting - this period formed the essential core of my setting canvas. I don't think I could get a theme without some idea of the form of the world. The two go hand in hand. I'll cover that later.]

 

I decided to use two major themes and a handful of minor ones. I don't want to force themes down the throats of anyone nor use so many that you can't see the forest for the trees.

 

Legends Major Themes

1. Human Potential

2. Inevitableness of War

 

Legends Minor Themes

The Sea

Heroic Glory and Heroic Excess

Origin Mystery

 

I am fairly confident that I can work the major themes into games along with the minor theme of the Sea. I am also sure that the players and other GMs will bring their own themes to the table.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

With the basics out of the way, it is time to do something that will fire me up. Maybe a few somethings. First, I designed a working logo. The logo should serve as a visual cue for my mood and tone. Maybe even my theme. Still, I have to rely on my graphic talents and I want something that inspires me.

 

Hmmm... I like the first attempt. It can use some work but for now it has the right mojo. I didn't really do much. Picking the font took me awhile since I wanted a specific look. I also wanted a font that I could use in the text of any book. I nudged all the letters close together by kerning them in a graphics program to create a strong, compact feel. After that it was some filters work to get the coloring right. I am sure that I will go back and do some surgery on the colors but the font and the core of the logo work. I can post the black and white version and it looks good. I can even use a text version if needed but it looks too wide and spacey for a logo.

 

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

The World of Legends

Here is what I've come up with considering my requirements.

 

After a bit of research I'll call the area and inhabitants Lykia Arcos which means Sea People or People of the Sea. The name is based off a real earth language which was mutilated by me to sound right -- to me -- this evokes a name that a people might give themselves. Like the Athan Miere or Sea Folk of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time or the Sea People in Egyptian Hieroglyphs. In fact, I'll keep that reference, it may come in handy for research later on. I'll need a "land people" as well and that sets up some nice conflict right there. Nakia Arcos is a first stab for the name of the Land People - I'll run with it for the time being but may need to come back.

 

Small, discrete units are the primary fighting forces. There has to be a reason that no one amasses 10,000 soldiers and sweeps through everyone. I already have one - the sea. Most of this area is on islands but there are some substantial land masses about. That ties in with my Nakia/Lykia conflict. One of the land masses may harbor a larger nation bent on conquest. The Islands and Islanders could have an alliance? So, the basic unit of military strength will be in marines who travel on smallish ships (I am gonna need to research this area heavily later on). Maybe 2 dozen or so on each ship. The primary commanders will be the Captains of single ships and the "kings" will command several ships. I should probably include a middle rank like Commander or Commodore but neither of those two names work well for my purposes. Time to hit google.

 

My alliance should have plenty of intrigue. Dozens maybe even a hundred petty kings with their ships vying for power and prestige over their neighbors. The big nations probably encourages treachery among the rank and file. Promotes piracy and all kinds of dastardly deeds.

 

Hmmm... Good sketch. Now I need to work on a general idea of the world. So, it is time to take a step backward. I got a little over specific before making decisions that will inform the rest of the project.

 

Before I run, I wanted to point out that this neatly ties some things down. Marines don't use horses. They also don't strap on heavy armor. So far, we don't have any "knights" in the Arthurian sense.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Creation, Cosmology, and Religion.

 

Normally, I invest a tremendous amount of time designing religions to avoid the feel of D&D while offering tons of opportunity for a fantasy feel. Afterall, most fantasies have back stories that span thousands of years with godly wars, magical catastrophes, and wizard kings ruling for centuries. I don't want any of that. I already have what I want in that vein with The Last Dominion. Here I want some mystery and feeling of entitlement.

 

How do you pull that one off?

 

The entitlement part got me to thinking about Achilles. He hung around with Ajax, Odysseus, and the other greats of his age. I could also run with a thread on Luke Skywalker or Anakin Skywalker being born to fulfill their destiny. In both cases they were born to it and still had to make a decision to achieve their birthright. Ditto for Hercules.

 

These guys were all born to greatness. They had the blood of gods in their veins (or midicholorians).

 

How to set this up? I like the idea of giants. The whole titans versus the gods thingy. How about something like this for a start...

 

The Kaithonic Gods created the world. Eventually, they were replaced by their children the Titans but the Titans were a warrior race and ruled with greed and ambition. Eventually the Titans fell to their lesser brethren the giants. The giants ruled until over thrown by mankind. There are several kinds of giants [right now I have ideas for the Anak, Ory, and Cald] who may still be found on remote island or maybe even in a giant nation that is far removed from the islands. I don't want D&D giants looming 30 feet, these guys will be between 8 and 12 feet.

 

The giants are feared by mankind although there are many children with giantish blood in them, granting massive size and great strength. The Titans are a mystery - long vanished from the world of Giants and Men. Many say that they travel among men in lesser forms and mate with humans. Giants and humans both mating with humans... kinky but again, we have some inherent conflict in this element. The titans are a big reveal in the setting and I have a good deal known about them right now but I have to keep it close to the vest. I'd hate to spoil the setting.

 

I need to figure out how to work the Kaithonic Gods. I could do a Greek Pantheon thing but that isn't quite what feels good to me. Another thought is to make them Cthulu-ish entities locked beyond but that defeats the "limitless potential of humanity" theme. I'll leave them alone for right now. Maybe I can meditate or something to find the answer.

 

Cosmology

I have some ideas on the world as a whole but those are still brewing. The most basic choice is do I make it earth (easy on reader and writer) or add some exotic elements into the game (more fantastic but a risk of being ignored unless it is simple and constantly reinforced).

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

The Map

 

So, I sat down to design a map. Lots of ideas and shapes swirling through my head.

 

Since I had decided to focus on sea travel that implied a need for sea travel. Well, the best known references for that are the Greeks. It helps that I just read Troy by David Gemmel. I looked over maps of the Aegan Sea and all the islands. That was just what I needed.

 

Also, since this setting is designed to focus on Heroes the scale is just about right. In fact, the Trojan War and the Greek legends will inform just about all aspects of the design of this game.

 

So, I got an idea now. Time to sit down and sketch out a map. I am going to borrow liberlly from the real world. It'll help when I research terrain, distances, and a dozen other things. This isn't the Greece of Troy but I can use the parts that I like.

 

Simple, complex, or artistic?

That is a heck of a choice. I'll refer back to the thread on Tone and Mood. Legends implies that the game is about people - otherwise I would have called it Legendary Places. Heroics and war. The Great Green Sea. Hmmm.. Simple but with some artistic flair sounds right. This isn't like my other setting where the land is as important as a character. Here the land will be a reflection of the heroes who populate it. A sympathy. That sounds a little like Birthright in my mind.

 

So, I took a quick trip to check out some mapping styles. I love the artsy realistic maps made with Bryce and some of the high end Photoshop guys but those won't work for this setting. I ended up running across examples of maps and thinking, "that looks like Birthright." Finally, I googled the Birthright maps and decided to use that as a template.

 

We will see how that works.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

This map took about 15 hours to design but most of that was spent reading tutorials on how to achieve certain effects. All told the maps section has about 20 man hours invested so far and I have a "center piece" but no functional map yet.

 

 

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Back to Religion

 

I finished meditating. Maybe.

 

I had an idea - literally right now. What about something like the 12 gods of creation. Distant beings -- none definably evil -- but just words and common homages in everyday life. Something like "The Crimson Bands of Cortack (sp)" of Dr Strange. The names of the 12 could be used to evoke curses and bind rituals. I don't think I am getting this across.

 

The gods are gone and people no longer visit their temples but people know of the gods that they were and continue to pay them small respects like throwing a silver coin into the ocean when beginning a journey to respect Neptuness.

 

The 12 Curses of Kaithon could be a feared hex and the 12 Blessings of Light could be a marriage or birth ceremony. The Islanders aren't really religious, they are ritualistic.

 

Of course, there must be rumors of a thirteenth who survived and hid his name from humanity.

 

BTW - Kaithonic is a bastardized spelling of a word that means "earth" or "gods of the Earth."

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Giants and Other Monstrous Things

We know that the setting has Giants since they figure into the overthrow of the Titans. Now it is time to consider what other creatures/monsters might fit with the setting.

 

Avoid

• Classical Undead - vampire, skeletons, ghouls, zombies, death knights, liches.
  
• Angels - maybe even divine anything.
  
• Fey - this isn't a fey like setting.
  
• Heck, let's throw out dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and elves as well.
  
• Planar Creatures

 

Include

• Minotaurs
  
• Naga, Yuan-Ti, Serpent People, Medusa (hmm... kingdom idea forming.)
  
• Constructs... not animated flesh but Iron Golems etc...
  
• Ghosts, spirits, and other creatures that can possess.
  
• Kraken - oh yeah, gotta have a Kraken.
  
• Lycanthropes - we are going to have to work on a non-classical concept here but bestial men seems to be a theme. It is critical to avoid a "furry" feel no matter what!!! David Gemmell Joinings come to mind especially since we are using some spirits. The essence of a rabid wolf infused into a mans body could be a werewolf like creature.

 

These lists will expand

 

Special note on demons and summoned creatures. I have a neat plan for magic and intend to include demons for the purpose of summoning. I'll get into much more detail when I hit the magic section.

 

Demons in Legends.

• Allu
  
• Averrunicus
  
• Baphomet - Taurian Demon
  
• Dirae - the furies.
  
• Dispater
  
• Incubi
  
• Lamia - Serpent Demon
  
• Orcus
  
• Sucubi
  
• Karun or Xarun- Serpent Demon

Lesser or Common Demons

• Fetch
  
• Bane

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Let's take a look at werewolves.

 

First, I can't call them that. That means I'll hit the thesaurus for synonyms of "split." Cleave, sunder, rive, riven... Follow that trail. I read up on the video game called Riven. How about we look at the origin of the word. There are a few branches that look promising but I end up following one to Rim or Rima. Pronunciation was with a silent "a." Rim. I could write that as Rime. That has a nice menacing sound.

 

Maybe I could go with something related to feral. Candidates include Rukki and Ferox. Varkul popped up. I think I played with that word for The Last Dominion. Time to open the names file and see what I did with the word.

 

There it is -- Vârcuul

 

Vârcuul actually refers to a were-vampire type creature from some Balkan folklore (I think). Now, let's spin it to see what comes out of the wash.

 

Magics that can affect the mind leave open the possibility for things to go catastrophically wrong. Usually, when a mage destroys the mind of his victim the only thing left is a drooling invalid. That is what they like to believe. Deep in the mind of many lies a primal creature, dormant for centuries as mankind developed society and culture. A feral beast that is kept chained by higher order thought. A beast that has been released from the constraints of rationality. Its only instinct is survival. The Vârcuul were once men but after the meddling of wizards they have become something far more terrifying. They are creatures of pure animal savagery likened to werewolves, werebears, or powerful beastmen. Unshackled the beast need no longer fear the wizard whose power will no longer affect the primal mind.

 

Legends persist about tribes of Vârcuul living on islands or in remote areas. Some scholars believe that the affects of unleashing the beast are somehow contagious. Others believe that those captured by the Vârcuul have two choices, go feral or perish.

 

Vârcuul hunt in packs and display a social structure similar to wolves. The pack is dominated by an alpha male who rules until he is defeated during a challenge.

 

Some dismiss the threat of the Vârcuul since they are only men. Few make that mistake after meeting the creatures in combat. They are aggressive and the lack of a rationale mind -- operating on pure instinct -- allows them to tap deep sources of strength and cunning. The creatures are much stronger then men and capable of continuing to fight after sustaining mortal injuries. It is true that these wounds often kill them minutes or hours later but there is little consolation knowing that the creature rending your flesh will follow you to the grave.

 

NOTE: This entry also hits the criteria for the theme of mans limitless possibility. These are men who transcend their moral and physical limitations to become something else entirely. The base concept is a werewolf but in reality these are just souped up people running on instinct alone.

 

NOTE II: I guess I am going to have to get into the nuts and bolts of magic earlier than I thought. It is pretty obvious that magic somehow affects the mind.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Magic - The Silver Road

 

I normally go with an exterior force for magic - some form of mana. Here, I want magic to be discrete and not D&D or TA type of flashy. I need to rethink my fundamentals. First, I look for any examples of this "subtle magic." The first thing that pops into my little brain is Jedi. I'll run with that for a little and see where it leads.

 

After some googling, I looked hard and heavy at the oriental martial arts and the concepts of chi, qi, prana - internal life force. I recall a dozen iterations of this concept in my readings including some Egyptian stuff about the 9 souls (Ba, Ka, Maat, and all that). This is definitely the right tree to be barking. I keep returning to Taoism, Dharma, and all those cool mystic monks. They had powers of the mind. They could levitate in the cold and do Remo Williams stuff.

 

The theme of Legends is unlimited human potential. Seems to be a great fit. Only I don't like psionics. D&D sorta ruined it for everyone with some crappy supplements. They confused too much 1920s spiritual hookum with the powers of the mind. Still, I like Jedi and they break psi down into Control, Alter, and Sense. That is just another way of saying - Telekinesis, Telepathy, and Clarisentience. This is going to come down to painting the correct picture.

Here are the first brush strokes

The vast untapped potential of the human mind creates reality. Our dreams and desires supercharge reality, bending the cosmos to a realm more fitting of our desires. True wizards, those who command power over nature, grow more common as the population and education of the world advances. The advances in art, literature, and music are fuel to the expanding realm of wizardry.

 

Others, incapable of directly tapping magic, use rituals, runes, and the summoning of creatures to achieve similar ends. What mankind dreams it manifests. Rituals have power because people believe. Runes have power because mankind imbues them as archetypes of a primal form. Hideous and Heavenly creatures summoned from the dreams of men take form in the waking world because they were imagined and given name and form.

 

The slumbering collective mind of mankind generates and manipulates reality to conform to our most treasured dreams and our most feared nightmares.

 

The whole idea of mankind creating reality through the subconscious expression of desires and fears isn't novel. I've read it before in fantasy (Coldfire??) but it is a pretty novel RPG concept. It just might work. It also leads me to some cool ideas on the expression of that... remember that part on gods about cursing and blessing rituals.

 

Rituals, Runes, and Summoning

These are learned magical principals that may be utilized by anyone.

 

A Ritual is a set of codified actions that has attained an independent power through belief, symbolism, and sympathy. The simplest rituals are personal in nature. They provide protection from misfortune or bless a journey. Ceremonies are more complex rituals involving more than a single participant. Knowledge of these rituals is common even though the ability to perform them is vested in a few individuals such as town leaders or priests. Grand Rites are the most complex rituals. These rituals are known to select leaders such as the high cleric of a nation or the leader of a secret society. Grand Rites are powerful convocations some have not been used in centuries.

 

Runes convey universal concepts. Although they are symbols, their formation taps into a power much deeper than mere words. They are the physical manifestation of magical power. Those skilled in the craft can manipulate and channel their power to achieve a variety of arcane effects. The body of study recognizes two types of runes — Common Runes and Greater Runes. Runes may be inscribed on an object, placed on flesh, or evoked. This is how we will create magic items and weapons - through runes.

 

The art of Summoning is a specialized form of Ritual. This form of magic utilizes the power of both rituals and runes to call a creature forth and attempt to bind it into the service of the Summoner. Lesser Summonings call ethereal creatures from dream state. These called beings have little personality or power but make effective servants. A Greater Summoning is less commonly used and typically calls a creature of divine or dire origin into the world. Unlike Lesser Summonings these creatures resent servitude and attempt to escape into the world or return to their own. True Summonings bind the greater powers of heaven or hell into the service of a mortal wizard. These are unique spells fraught with danger for those foolish enough to dabble.

TRUE MAGIC

Magic is the imposition of an individual Will on another person or on nature. A meditation and manipulation of reality. There are numerous techniques used or shunned by wizards based on their teachings and aptitudes. In theory, wizards can master any technique but in reality they tend to rely on one Primary and several secondary techniques.

 

NOTE: I want to move the connotations away from psionics so I am going to rename the techniques. I am also not doing too much with religion in this setting so that opens up some nice naming conventions.

 

Inquisitor: Spells that touch the mind of others.

Templar: Spells that enhance the body to superhuman levels.

Prophet: Spells that perceive things through uncommon senses.

Deacon: Spells that exert force without touching.

Hospitaler: Spells that affect the body and health of others.

 

~ you'll note that nothing in there is flashy. No fire magic, no storms, no teleporting, no grand fuzion balls of army annihilation.

 

Public Thoughts on magic

Those outsiders observing wizardry typically divide it into external and internal philosophies. Generally, the external arts are considered works of maliciousness since they can effect the minds of others while internal arts are considered to be beneficent. Some external arts such as healing are conveniently lumped into the internal arts by non-mages although they are obviously external.

 

The external-internal division has little bearing on mages who classify their powers with a much more precise code. It is also a simply contrived conflict between what the masses believe and what wizards actually do. Any wizard can possess the power to erase your memory but as long as they don't say, "I'm an Inquisitor" everything is fine.

 

There will be several schools. Some will focus on techniques while others on general philosophy. Lots of rivalry. Those who believe that manipulating other human minds is evil will no doubt conflict with those who believe that it is their right to exercise the power that they were born with or earned.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Legends Setting

 

COOL!

 

Something for consideration- if magic stems from the unconscious gestalt of human consciousness... where does the power of dire/divine/deities come from? You might have already thought of this, and it's a part of "keeping things close to the chest."

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

COOL!

 

Something for consideration- if magic stems from the unconscious gestalt of human consciousness... where does the power of dire/divine/deities come from? You might have already thought of this, and it's a part of "keeping things close to the chest."

 

 

The deities are dead or gone. Humans continue to use their names in rituals and rites but the titans defeated the gods in the shrouded past. One god, the Thirteenth, may linger on in some hidden fashion (since so many people believe this -- that belief may have created the god from dream stuff).

 

Demons are astral constructs - dream creatures. They only have power on earth when brought forth by summoners or evoked in rituals. I'll have to ponder on the "hells" and if demons have some greater plan other than to escape the abyss and establish themselves as creatures in the real world.

 

Maybe they are the souls of condemned people, cowards, and betrayers.

 

I figured out yesterday that I wanted to include a reincarnation foundation. The mages know from tapping into the vast gestalt of the unconscious mind that people are reborn into the world or at least a part of them is reborn.

 

So, the gods are dead. Demons are summoned entities given physical form by terror. And heroes believe that they will live again. Giants conquer and mate with mankind. Titans infiltrate and mate with mankind. Wizards possess diverse powers of the mind and study different traditions.

 

That is basically what I have right now in an abbreviated output.

 

 

Another way to look at it is through the Axis of Power.

• Giants vs Titans
  
• Islanders vs Land Dwellers
  
• Snake Empire versus All
  
• Mind Controllers vs Other Mental
  
• Primitive Mind (varcuul) vs Rationale Mind (wizardry)
  
• Possession Spirits vs Temporal Creatures - this idea will be expanded as a "Free will" style moral drama.
  
• Rebirth (heroes) vs Cast into the Underworld (cowards and betrayers)
  
• Independence (the island alliance) vs Security (the land empire)
  

[Markdoc]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Interesting. I've been running a game for the last couple of years called "7 Kingdoms". The action spreads across an archipelago, which is riven into many many demesnes of various sizes: the seven "kings" are only somewhat more powerful than their strongest vassals, and enforcing rule across all of the islands has proven difficult. Because of this, warfare is mostly carried out by a hereditary caste (called Armigers) of elite warriors, who are also skilled sailors. Since most trade is by sea, controlling fortified ports and sea lanes is the key to dominance. Armiger clans serve noble clans who concentrate more on religion and culture than war, but occasionally they can rise to dominance - usually adopting the trappings of nobility as they do so. Likewise an unusually skilled commoner can be adopted into an armiger clan, so that his children will be warriors.

 

The lands have 12 gods (13 if you count the old, original god, whose worship is still maintained in rural areas) who led the current human inhabitants to the archipelago and conquest over the original inhabitants. The current ruling people call themselves "The people of the Sea" or "Vath Moram" . The 12 Gods established the original empire which spanned the archipelago, and lived among humans, teaching them, religion, arts and magic, but then long ago, vanished, entering a temple at the giant complex called the White City and not re-emerging. Their deputies were the original seven kings.

 

In the current day, there are no major wars, but tension is rising as Samadria, the largest of all the kingdoms, is seeking to re-unite the archipelago into one empire, aided by a new - and many say, evil - form of magic more powerful than that taught in the temples. Magic is common, but mostly on a small scale, and tightly tied to religion: most magic is related to specific cults. The technology level is somewhere between high medieval and early renaissance, but without gunpowder, printing press or domestication of large mammals (there aren't any). There are also no demihumans (elves, gnomes, etc) - all players are human.

 

I guess we were thinking along similar lines

 

Cheers, Mark

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

How intriguing!

 

It sounds like a cool setting. I especially like the idea of the armiger clans. That is a nice riff. It goes without saying that I like a lot of the other points as well.

 

I find that there are often similar works because we being at the same junctures and pay homage to the same works. Even when we add our own touches the overall whole can closely resemble others works by intention or coincidence. That can discourage me at times. It can also inspire me to apply a little more mental elbow grease.

 

You don't happen to have this setting online do you? I'd love to take a look at it.

[Markdoc]

Re: Legends Setting

 

How intriguing!

 

It sounds like a cool setting. I especially like the idea of the armiger clans. That is a nice riff. It goes without saying that I like a lot of the other points as well.

 

I find that there are often similar works because we being at the same junctures and pay homage to the same works. Even when we add our own touches the overall whole can closely resemble others works by intention or coincidence. That can discourage me at times. It can also inspire me to apply a little more mental elbow grease.

 

You don't happen to have this setting online do you? I'd love to take a look at it.

 

Yep. A lot of this of course is inspired by historical events, so there's no surprise that a lot of concepts are common to multiple settings.

 

It is online, but like everything game related I have been pretty slack about writing it up the last 9 months: too busy with real life, I guess. But the basic background and history is online at http://www.rpglibrary.org/settings/gothick_empires/

 

To get to this particular corner of my gameworld choose "Races and peoples" from the top menu and then "Societies and Cultures" from the lower menu. This setting is the first one on that list.

 

Cheers, Mark

[Nolgroth]

Re: Legends Setting

 

This map took about 15 hours to design but most of that was spent reading tutorials on how to achieve certain effects. All told the maps section has about 20 man hours invested so far and I have a "center piece" but no functional map yet.

As a map lover, I am willing to go out on a limb and say that is going to be a beautiful map.

 

Looking forward to seeing a more polished product.

[Markdoc]

Re: Legends Setting

 

As a map lover, I am willing to go out on a limb and say that is going to be a beautiful map.

 

Looking forward to seeing a more polished product.

 

If'n you love maps, have you seen Fitz's?

 

I still think these are the nicest fantasy maps I've seen.

 

cheers, Mark

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Bloody hell another pdf book to get printed out.

 

Awesome

 

QM

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

If'n you love maps' date=' have you seen Fitz's?

 

I still think these are the nicest fantasy maps I've seen.

 

cheers, Mark

 

The maps are attractive. There are some river issues. But of the common variety seen in even big company maps and they have R&D departments make them. Swing by the Cartographers Guild sometime.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Legends Setting

 

If'n you love maps' date=' have you seen Fitz's?

 

I still think these are the nicest fantasy maps I've seen.

 

cheers, Mark

That is a purtiful map. Very nice.

[jaws]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Is this the end of musings on the setting? I was enjoying this a lot.

[Eosin]

Re: Legends Setting

 

Nope not the end. It is in a lull. My fantasy hero table top game restarted this last week. I've been devoting a fair amount of cerebral juice towards that. I also run a play by post that gets me doing write-up and such lately. Basically, just busy right now.

 

I have a habit of having 10 projects going at once and bouncing between them in spurts. Take a look at my campaign log :::Eosin points over there towards the fantasy hero section:::: or the Real World Places that Should be Fantasy ::::Again, Eosin points over there to the fantasy forum::::. I am far behind on updating and localizing the RW fantasy places.

 

My mind is a terrible thing. Hundreds of little doors but only a few are allowed open at any one time. GM ADD, it is a terrible thing.

 

[Nolgroth]

Re: Legends Setting

 

GM ADD' date=' it is a terrible thing.[/quote']Tell me about it. I'm exactly the same way.