Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DungeonMastering 10-06-07, 12:47 AM	Hello everyone! I'm currently building a world and campaign setting and I would *love* to get a few extra ideas. But I want to keep things simple. Can you think of a cool concept I could add to my world that can be described in 50 words or less?
Zousha_Omenohu 10-06-07, 12:57 AM	What kind of concepts are you looking for?
DungeonMastering 10-06-07, 12:59 AM	Anything cool. Not game-mechanics related. More mood, atmosphere and fluff. Maybe stuf that was a hit in games you've played before.
Orloff 10-06-07, 01:15 AM	Here's a campaign concept that a DM I had played around with: Every world has renaissances and dark ages. The world of the campaign is a word in decay, a kingdom of sunset. The times of glory and advancement are over; now, great monuments crumble, religion and politics corrupt, groups fragment, and adventurers must strive to halt the fall of civilization itself. 50 exactly.
DungeonMastering 10-06-07, 01:19 AM	Great idea and exact word count! That's what I was looking for!
DX2052 10-06-07, 01:40 AM	How about a one word one:Flat
DungeonMastering 10-06-07, 01:52 AM	I like that too! Short and concise.
locustechpriest 10-06-07, 02:01 AM	Gods once roamed the world waging holy wars with armies numbering in the thousands. Artifacts remaining from that time are rumored to hold the very spark of divinity, if one knows how to grasp it. A thousand proxies seek to reclaim these powers while as many mortals would steal them.
JulesCARV 10-06-07, 03:01 AM	The Blood War is waged on the material plane in this world, between Baatezu and Tanar'ri client states, with few unaligned states. The world's states are like unstable, violent banana republics, with coups, wars, and rebellions backed by Baator and the Abyss acting like the USSR and USA. (Over 50 words now: I think a pastiche "Latin" flavor through most of the world would be kinda cool, although not really necessary, with Mariachi bards, Capoeira-fighting monks, sombrero-wearing peons on fruit plantations, etc. It would still be a "swords, chainmail, and magic" setting, of course, but in terms of flavor elements like music, names, dress, politics, etc, it might be more Latin.)
Angel Black 10-06-07, 11:26 AM	Hello everyone! I'm currently building a world and campaign setting and I would *love* to get a few extra ideas. But I want to keep things simple. Can you think of a cool concept I could add to my world that can be described in 50 words or less? The planet is a "living" planet. Discworld? mogo (http://www.glcorps.dcuguide.com/profile.php?name=mogo)? Ego (http://www.marvel.com/universe/Ego)?
Xaer 10-06-07, 11:52 AM	Haiku? Muffin land is nice Blueberry men with CR 4 Campaign is tasty
Return of the Flumph 10-06-07, 01:47 PM	*laughs uproariously at Xaer's suggestion* Now, for mine, The prime material is a fortress against the fiendish hordes. The world is basically a demiplane surrounding the celestial realm and surrounded by hell. Good and evil ARE the red team and blue team.
Delfedd 10-06-07, 03:26 PM	And the material plane is blood gultch.
AnonymousInternets 10-06-07, 05:41 PM	Alright, I'll try to come up with a few... ------------------ Journey to the center of the Earth. ------------------ It is discovered that Gnome blood (or some other race) can function as magic fuel. They start getting treated like animals and are threatened by genocide. ------------------ Awakened construct creates and awakens his own constructs, and those do the same, and the chain reaction creates an enormous construct army (think Terminator's backstory). ------------------ Through magic, space travel is possible: interplanetary campaign. ------------------ The players adventure through two worlds: the the normal world (while they're awake) and a post-apocalyptic world (when they dream); these two worlds affect each other. ------------------ Polyhedral world. ------------------ Real Earth world (with historically accurate nationalities and whatnot), but with magic. ------------------ The entire world has flooded, and no areas more shallow than about 1000 feet have been found, let alone actual dry land... yet... ------------------ The entire world the players know is really just a plaything of colossal*10 creatures, and they are almost microscopic compared to the real world. ------------------ Players are wandering spirits than can use Magic Jar as a Sp at will. ------------------ The life force of the world is being drained; the only way to stay alive is to kill others and take their life force. ------------------ That's all I can think of right now. Any of those interest you?
Senevri 10-06-07, 06:20 PM	As immortality was sought after, the world was broken; All dead rise as undead, simple lifeforms, such as plants, breed at an insane pace and the crashed planes and times have formed walled communities defending themselves against an endless wilderness filled with the undead. No idea of the word count...
JulesCARV 10-06-07, 11:01 PM	Magic is a result of an increasing breakdown in normal scientific physical laws; it's effectively the exploitation of the deterioration of the fabric of reality, and also accelerates that deterioration. The laws of time and space are eratic, locations shift unpredictably, and aberrations and deformity become increasingly common.
ihatenuma 10-07-07, 12:06 AM	The Demons and Devils reach a truce, and heaven doesn't give a damn.
Naderion 10-07-07, 06:49 AM	Every world had a time, "when the land wasn't completely explored and devided among the nations, and the races mixed with each other and created allied empires. Dragons still roamed and the wilds were the exclusive domain of fey. Wizards were few and magic foreign and people lived in small villages with wooden baricades." In this world, it's still that time. (My campaign) Remember the stories of Earlann and Ammarindar, when the first netherese were all excited about the discovery of magic and places like Waterdeep were just a tiny collection of damp huts and there was no humanoid soul save some savage goblins for houndreds of miles around the place that is now silverymoon, and when the high forest covered more than half of all the North? That's the time! A mix of Braveheart, the 13th Warrior, and Lord of the Rings (without all the Ring-stuff).
Aneutralshadeofblack 10-07-07, 06:51 AM	The Wizards of the Coast forums are filled with people who actually use the Search function and even better, occasionally scroll down to the bottom of the first page, or to the forbidden realms of pages two and three. It'd be an awesome world concept, no? (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=930531) :P
JulesCARV 10-08-07, 03:48 AM	A curse from a potent deity or fiend turned all humanoid males evil. Adventurers seek ways to undo this (probably women; glory-seeking evil men seeking to undo the curse to acquire fame and fortune might come along) while avoiding male thieves, con-artists, murderers, rapists, and feuding warlords' depredations.
Absynthe_minded21 10-08-07, 05:47 AM	Here are a few I use. Scattersky. Half the world is composed of flying islands that move about at random while various factions try and restore their own kind of order to a devasted world. The other half of the world is now slowly turning into a plane of the abyss. Flying ships and sky whales. 1000 Kingdoms. The land is made up of hundreds of tiny kingdoms (pop < 1000) constantly at war with each other (like a text based web game!) and the real power rests in the hands of champions guilds (since it's cheaper to hire a hero for a one time defense then try and maintain a standing army) that undermine each other, keep the world ununified, and put major pressure on nonmember PCs. Autumwall Vale. The Lords of Frost and Sorrow have awoken and a forrest valley in constant autum is all that stands between the world and endless winter. The ruler is a powerful nature spirit, but she can't hold out forever and recruits a ragtag band of adventures to find a way to defeat them. Shadow Bridge. The plane of shadow over laps the primematerial a bit too closely here and when the sun sets the two merge together. The School of Inate Ability. If Hogwarts were an art school for college aged sorcerors this would be it. The school encourages independance and with plenty of free time drunken sorcerors wander the surrounding city and magical mishaps run amok. Help Wanted. The Falling Empire. The Empire has over expanded it's self and is slowing crumbling but the ruler has lapsed into madness and refuses to cease his conquest. The Silver Isles. Extremely powerful elves ruled by their god-queen live on these small islands and open doors to countless pocket dimension where slave races supply them with food and resources. Half Buried City. A megacity from a long past civilization exists half buried beneath the plains. The tallest buildings now serve as homes to many races short enough to use the windows as doors, but beneath it all the cursed population still roams the dark, longing to return to greatness. Those are a few things I use, most of which can be easily fitted into an exisiting campaign. Infact, in my current setting The School is in the town of Shadow Bridge, nestled between mountains at the very southern tip of Autumwall Vale bordered (via mountain tunnel) by the 1000 kingdoms to the west. The half buried city lies under the plains to the south, and the falling empire is east, being consumed by winter (Autumwall curves around a mountain, pointing south at one end and east at the other) while the mad ruler throws legion after legion against the endless magical might of the silver isles. Hope some of that helps. -21
Zousha_Omenohu 10-09-07, 10:54 PM	The City of Sinners This city's seedier elements have overrun it completely. All the power rests in the hands of various crime lords, syndicates and gangs that each control different parts of the city. The red light district has become the largest part of the city, with prostitutes catering to every gender, every type, and every perversion. Almost everyone in the city has some dark past or secret, and all have a dark future. Visitors had best beware, for many who venture into this hive of scum and villainy never leave, whether tempted into a vice-laden life, or killed by the many criminals that the city is home to.
Suzu 10-09-07, 11:31 PM	The whole world is a huge lake, with a towns, villages, etc floatig around on big wooden platforms. And it rains all the time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At random intervals, the world becomes covered in a darkness that can only be illuminated by natural fire sources (i.e. lanterns and torches). In the darknes, the landscape becomes twisted and horrible, and terrible monsters appear out of nowhere. (see Silent Hill for more info)
Tacitus_Acheros 10-10-07, 12:20 AM	The world is separating into its four component elements: air, earth, water, and fire. The PCs have to do something to stop it, though it isn't going to be easy operating in places without an atmosphere... A world in the primeval past. The great elven empires haven't even reached their zenith yet, while the humans aren't much different from orcs--in fact, the elves constantly war against the savages to keep them from despoiling their domains, and even take them as slaves. A world threatened by the forces of...good? An overzealous battalion of angels has taken over a powerful theocracy, and is now embarked on a crusade to purge the world of evil and nonbelievers. What matter of allies will the PCs find to help stand against this tide of misplaced faith? The world is dying--tremors wrack the earth, the sun has been hidden behind clouds for close to a year, the soil has turned to ash, and the very air is becoming dead and stale. The heroes must find a new world and help organize a massive exodus. Flipside: a world's population has fled to a new realm. The land seems familiar enough, but they're already encountering strange creatures—or are some of them strange “people?” It's up to the PCs to act as trailblazers and explorers, to determine their peoples' place in their new home. The City of Sinners This city's seedier elements have overrun it completely. All the power rests in the hands of various crime lords, syndicates and gangs that each control different parts of the city. The red light district has become the largest part of the city, with prostitutes catering to every gender, every type, and every perversion. Almost everyone in the city has some dark past or secret, and all have a dark future. Visitors had best beware, for many who venture into this hive of scum and villainy never leave, whether tempted into a vice-laden life, or killed by the many criminals that the city is home to. The iniquitous man and his sins of the night has built himself a metropolis against the kingdoms of the light - Skorbut map description, UT04
fodigg 10-10-07, 12:59 PM	A lich raises every humanoid corspe in the world at once with an Artifact magical device. Anything that has ever died and still has remains that can be turned into an undead creature. (33 words)
Zousha_Omenohu 10-10-07, 10:51 PM	Rakuun City (Three guesses as where I got this name and the first two don't count!:rolleyes: ) This city was once a vibrant, lively place, where trade and the arcane arts flourished. Unfortunately, the city leaders dabbled in very powerful necromancy and accidentally unleashed a wave of negative energy that killed everyone in town and turned them into zombies. The bizzare thing is that these zombies are all fully sentient, and are even capable of speech. Life, or rather "unlife", in the city goes on with the zombies carrying out their business and basically doing what they did before the accident. Clerics of any faith are warned not to turn or rebuke the citizenry, as are any paladins that visit. Arcane magic is viewed with similar suspicion, since it was a cabal of mages that formed the event that brought the city into it's current state.
locustechpriest 10-11-07, 02:40 AM	Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, or maybe it was Resident Evil... (All of which I have watch far too recently.)
ssvegeta555 10-11-07, 04:04 AM	A world where steam technology and magic coexist. Steam powered mechs of clockwork designs fight side-by-side with magical airships in a war torn world of technological and magical might. The two sources of power are not seen as the antithesis of each other, but as friends complimenting each other's abilities.
Naderion 10-11-07, 06:49 AM	A world where steam technology and magic coexist. Steam powered mechs of clockwork designs fight side-by-side with magical airships in a war torn world of technological and magical might. The two sources of power are not seen as the antithesis of each other, but as friends complimenting each other's abilities. Eberron?
ssvegeta555 10-11-07, 04:46 PM	Eberron? They have Steampunk mechs? If so, I might buy the setting.
Zousha_Omenohu 10-11-07, 05:20 PM	Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, or maybe it was Resident Evil... (All of which I have watch far too recently.) All of those could work I suppose, but I was thinking of Resident Evil specifically, since the name of the place is a play on Raccoon City (Why in the world would someone name their city Raccoon City? It makes no sense to me!)
CombatMedic 10-11-07, 06:49 PM	In response to the question about Eberron: Eberron doesn't have steam tech. Iron Kingdoms has tons of it. Check out IK.
Holy_Beholder 10-11-07, 10:23 PM	The world is flat. On one side is our world, on the other, theirs, a horrible dark place, where the sun is all but dead and darkness runs amok. And one valley has been dug deep enough in both worlds, that it has connected them, letting in untold horrors.(48 worlds)
DX2052 10-11-07, 11:20 PM	low magic high psionics.
Tacitus_Acheros 10-12-07, 12:14 AM	A world in which an archvillain has inscribed a permanent Symbol of Insanity...on the surface of the moon. Chaos reigns every night as sensible folk seal their windows and barricade themselves indoors to try to stave off the fools who stayed out too late.
locustechpriest 10-12-07, 04:08 AM	All of those could work I suppose, but I was thinking of Resident Evil specifically[...] Yes, you said the first two didn't count... The world is flat. On one side is our world, on the other, theirs, a horrible dark place, where the sun is all but dead and darkness runs amok. I was considering that some life might be sustained by negative energy. Yes, life. This world might do well with that concept. Each side would see the others as monsters, but both are rational... in their own eyes.
Zousha_Omenohu 10-12-07, 02:17 PM	Yes, you said the first two didn't count... I also forgot to take those other two items into account. In retrospect, I see that all three don't fit quite the right way, since I threw in that twist that the zombies are intelligent. Such is life. *shrug*
locustechpriest 10-12-07, 06:08 PM	Such is life. *shrug* ... I suddenly dislike you. :(
Shiftkitty 10-12-07, 09:15 PM	Evil guys are conquered and banished to another dimension, 18th century Earth. Doppelganger-type BBEG takes place of George III, ruler of the mightiest empire on the planet. This new "King George III" ain't no "Farmer George", and he's got some uppity colonies to test his new might on. (Of course, his evil DnD monster cronies have taken an active hand as well, commanding British units in the colonies and serving as colonial governors.) I've played this one with great results. Being Americans, the players all chose to be rebels. I didn't tell them at the start of the campaign that they would be meeting orcs, dragons, mindflayers, etc. They enjoyed it once it dawned on them what I had done.:plotting: :evillaugh
Zousha_Omenohu 10-12-07, 09:27 PM	... I suddenly dislike you. :( What's wrong? Did I say something callous? If so then I apologize. I hadn't meant it like that.
locustechpriest 10-12-07, 10:30 PM	What's wrong? Did I say something callous? If so then I apologize. I hadn't meant it like that. You committed vile trechery by asking a question without a true answer, but in light of your current response, I will forgive you. :)
Zousha_Omenohu 10-12-07, 11:33 PM	You committed vile trechery by asking a question without a true answer, but in light of your current response, I will forgive you. :) What do you mean "I asked a question without a true answer"? Please elaborate.
Smerg 10-13-07, 04:42 PM	The Eternal Struggle Warring Gods have ripped time, space, and reality around them creating a giant never ending dust cloud. People from all over the world have gotten sucked into this typhoon and returned with strange tales. When and how people return from is never certain but all report of contests to survive.(50 words) More Explanation Sometime in the past, future, or present gods have gone to war in a battle that has ripped apart time, space, and reality around them. What the battle concerns and who is involved in the battle is unclear to the community. The result is an endless swirling storm that travels in a desert region off to the edges of civilization. Ancient scholars say that the land that is now desert, once flurished with life and civilization but now is routinely scoured by the forces of the great cyclone. Despite the cyclone staying within a set location on the world, tendrils of the cylone reach out and sometimes grab people from across the face of the known world. Many reports have two people speaking with someone only to have a sudden gust of wind and sand obscure vision. The person taken has even their footprints erased by the sudden gust of sand. People that have been taken have sometimes gone for seconds, hours, days, months, and years. Sometimes they return as if they have not aged a second from their experiences and sometimes they have aged decades. Sometimes they return without a stitch of clothing and sometimes they return with bags filled with strange treasures and gold. To avoid people randomly being taken, some communities have developed methods of choosing people to go into the desert and join the Eternal Struggle. Some of these people are volunteers, some are chosen by lottery, and some are tied to animals and put in the path of the storm. People that return from the Eternal Struggle have certain common memories. The first common memory is of a place that is usually called the Carnival or Circus. The Carnival is where most people first 'arrive' when they are captured by the cyclone. It is a sprawling series of tents that have a carnival or circus theme. People have come to think of this as a holding and waiting area. Some have even suggested that the Carnival is a projection of the realms where the gods live and has been created to maintain their avatars and champions. The second common memory is that people will from time to time find themselves 'plucked' from the Carnival and appear in other locations, places, and times. There seems to be no uniformity in these situations. Sometimes they are things like a cavern that requires exploration. Sometimes they are ancient temples in the middle of jungles. Sometimes they are formal balls in great palaces. The only unifying thing to these shifts of reality is that the people that appear at the location usually have some sort of task that they need to attempt to accomplish. The task may or may not be easily discovered but there is always something and sometimes several things that needs to be done. Completion or failure of the tasks usually determines when the people involved are returned to the Carnival. It is surmised that the completion of the tasks has some affect on the balance of power in the war of the gods. Unfortunately, there is rarely a clear indication of who will benefit from a particular task being completed. People that have had close ties to what they considered to be a particular divinity have later said that they could rarely be sure that any particular converstation was truly with who they thought. Some scholars have even postulated that trickster spirits or deities may even purposely use such suppositions to manipluate and alter contests in their favour or towards their objectives. More on the Carnival There are some regular people and places that appear in the Carnival. A general description of the Carnival involves that it is always in a hazy form of light. Sometimes the light is brighter and sometimes it is darker. It is never totally dark or totally bright. If it is darker then lanterns are often seen giving some additional light. There are never stars or moons seen in the sky above. There is the Big Tent. The Big Tent is almost always open. Some scholars have postulated that the Big Tent only is closed if something is severly affecting the Carnival. Most people that have been to the Eternal Struggle have never seen the Big Tent closed but a few have on rare occasions said it might close. The current act in the Big Tent changes and sometimes repeats. Sometimes there are clowns, sometimes trapeze artists, sometimes animal acts, and sometimes other acts. Some scholars have theorized that the acts in some way relate to the contests that people are involved in and if a person could see as gods see then they could truly witness people going through their struggles. While people like this idea, it may be totally wrong and the Big Tent may exist strictly to entertain the champions when they have nothing else to do. The Ringmaster and the Ringmaster's wagon. The ringmaster is found often introducing acts at the Big Tent but also is discovered walking through the Caranival or at the Ringmaster's wagon. One of the significant things of the Carnival is that people often describe the same 'people' like the Ringmaster differently. People have tended to describe the Ringmaster to be of many different races and sexes depending on who is encountering the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster though seems to be a constant and seems to always be in charge of events that occur. Many people have described killing the Ringmaster and even destroying the body only to find a 'new' Ringmaster (possibly looking the same and possibly looking different) replacing the 'old' Ringmaster. Even if the physical appearance of the body changes, the mannerism and the character remain constant. The Ringmaster's personality is best described as cruel and manipulative. The Ringmaster is one person that may give people information on a task that they will soon be sent upon. Trusting the word of the Ringmaster is often dangerous but ignoring the words of the Ringmaster is often more dangerous. The Fortune Teller and her booth. The Fortune Teller seems to be the Ringmaster's opposite. The Fortune Teller seems to know as much of events as the Ringmaster and will often make counter proposals to people that request her insight. The Fortune Teller is often seen with the Strongman who acts as her bodyguard. People have said that this relationship is not a requirement as the Fortune Teller has survived what some races have described as certain death often through some forsight or manipulation at the last moment. The bazzaar is where people can find food, equipment, and goods. People have stated that at various times they have 'found' money in their pockets. Attempts to save this money has resulted in money placed in the 'saving' spot disappearing. Spending all the money on things other than food has resulted in starvation. It is not certain if it is possible to starve as no one has returned from the Carnival having stated that they starved but could not die. Many though have told of having starved themselves for a while and nothing being done by the citizens of the Carnival from preventing the person from continuing to starve. There is thus the theory that if a person chooses to starve themselves to death that they will die. There is even a religion that advicates this policy when taken by the Eternal Struggle to show the disfaction with being used by the Gods as tools in their conflict. Other religions though consider service in the conflict a holy duty that only the fortunate get to be chosen. Another feature of the Carnival is that it never seems to be crowded. There are always around thirty to fifty tents. With a constant supply of people. Yet, the people appear and disappear at random. A person that turns a corner out of sight one second may be totally gone when a following person turns the corner. There seems to be some system to try and keep people that work or have relationships together but even this seems to very and at any point it may not be possible to find a particular person in the Carnival or surrounding grounds.
Mr_Seth 10-14-07, 01:29 PM	Draconia THE QUICK EXPLANATION: The world is divided into 20 kingdoms, each ruled by an elder immortal dragon - one of each chromatic, metallic, ferrous and gem breed. There is peace between them - instead of wars, they play an incredibly elaborate game, each using mortal agents to upstage the deeds of the other Dragon-lords' citizens. (50 words!)
ThorGuy 10-14-07, 07:34 PM	The material plane is literally never-ending; extending forever to the East, West, South, and North. Infinite civilizations flourish, fade and make war. A desert or ocean may stretch for tens of thousands of miles, but there is always a larger one somewhere. For characters with magical transport, distance is no problem, but with infinite destinations, where does one go? (slightly longer than 50 words, sorry) I just realized; by definition, this contains every campaign world ever thought of, and every one never thought of to boot.
locustechpriest 10-14-07, 08:51 PM	I just realized; by definition, this contains every campaign world ever thought of, and every one never thought of to boot. Unless, of course, your campaign doesn't happen to be on an infinite plane (geometrically speaking). A spherical world for example, or better yet, several spherical worlds which are all demonstrably not connected... Well, I just had to go and shatter one more dream before bed. Night night.
Kezot 10-14-07, 11:41 PM	The world is a double planet, with each planet having its own ecosystems and populations. Recently, through powerful magic or strange technologies, it became possible to travel from one world to another. Maybe the worlds are at war, or perhaps exploring a new planet is the purpose of the campaign. (50 words exact. Weird) Heck, if you wanted too, this could appear as a development later in the campaign: if the moon suddenly is replaced by an Earth-sized planet, more than one person is going to wonder what's on it.
locustechpriest 10-15-07, 01:19 AM	I'm gonna hijack the twin-planet/two-sided-sheet concept here. 1 On one side/planet is normal life as expected, but on the opposite is something quite unfamiliar. Strange living golems of negative energy (not warforged) are spontaneously born from the earth, and live bizarre mortal lives. Undead are considered natural, and contribute to the wellbeing of this land. A breach, or expedition brings the two, vastly different worlds into contact! 2 (unrelated) The world is a huge cube with rounded edges, but only the most learned think of it as anything other than a sheet. Cartographers attribute the aberrant landscape to the huge floating mountains, suspended in the air, which they theorize to warp dimensions or confound the senses. Almost every person is aware of at least one airborne peak, usually attributing it to ancient wizards or deific artifice... little do they know, they are a natural part of the world. The earth-scorning behemoths are the corners that were cut by whatever great power created this world! (bad pun)
goldomark 10-15-07, 03:21 AM	All the known races live on the six moons orbiting a gas giant. The races are young and just a few demigods reside in the stars. Recent magical discoveries lead to space travel... and a fractured planet, at the outer rim of the solar system. What as awaken their? 49, groovy.
Holy_Beholder 10-15-07, 09:40 AM	Actually 6 moons on a gas giant has a lot of potential. As in, with space travel, the gas giant is accessible. The gods live in it.
goldomark 10-15-07, 02:46 PM	Yup! Put I would rather see a star as the home of a god, at least thats the way worshippers see it. Each night, when they look into the heavens they see their patron's home, guidining them. Theirs also a potential for astrology. The new concept of the Astral Sea and the Realms of gods as floating islands made me think of stars in space.
locustechpriest 10-16-07, 02:15 PM	I've come to think as stars as positive energy hot-spots. As such, I wouldn't stick a divine realm inside... those poor petitioners would be exploding in sequence! Curiously, if a planet were to be encased in a crystal sphere, a la Spelljammer, that would include its moons, right? Interesting.
goldomark 10-16-07, 02:43 PM	The realm of a god glow like a beckon to the profane. Guiding and inspirering mortals. Some say the night skyes can be read, unlocking universal truths. I wanted a world where you can see the realms of the demigods in the heaven. The «stars» that are the homes of the demigods, don't have to be real stars or even be the actual homes of the demigods. They could just be an analogy to the new Astral Sea and the divine realms floating in them. The «stars» could also be the actual realms of the demigods, but a city made of gold or ruby or jade, depending on the demigods. So they look like stars of different colors: Hellion the Crimsom, home of Zor' Hok the Tyrant, Asperion the Green, home of the Groove Queen. I don't have to decide unless the OP ask us to elaborate on our 50 words pitch :D . In spelljammer, whole solar systems (and beyond) were inclosed in crystal spheres, not just planets.
locustechpriest 10-16-07, 10:36 PM	Woah, that's something I overlooked. But you know, a gas giant with moons really does almost have the feel of a star system... (yeah, I totally failed.) Here's one: There are no gods. Souls go to one of two places -- the "soul circle" or the burning depths. Powerful souls can become "death guardians" but some souls are corrupted and return haunt, and consume, others. "Death guardians" exist to protect the living, and guide the dead to their proper afterlife. 50 on the spot. :D
Art_Tillary 10-17-07, 07:34 PM	MountLookAtThat Inhabitable world consists of a spire of land that's about the size Texas in overall size. This plataue is 40 miles high, but only the top 3 or 4 miles are inhabitable by humans or other "normal" D&D races. Terrain isn't flat, so the effective surface area is larger than Texas. Lots of tunnels and cities carved into the cliff sides. All races or societies fight for light so they can grow crops to feed their populations. Basic geography comes from a Larry Niven SF book.
DungeonMastering 10-17-07, 07:41 PM	Thanks everyone for all the replies. I now have more than I thought I could get from this thread. But feel free to keep the ideas coming.
locustechpriest 10-17-07, 07:48 PM	All races or societies fight for light so they can grow crops to feed their populations. Throw in a pacifist society that is trying their best to resolve the conflicts, and a long stroy of failure as their world erupts into conflict after conflict. Maybe have some form of light gathering apparatus (lighter-than-air) that they plan to tether to the spire, a tool to end all wars... but will it be used the way they inteneded (think Deathstar)?
Zousha_Omenohu 10-17-07, 09:39 PM	A world ruled by orcs. The orcs have a much more enlightened (in most cases) society than their kin on other worlds, forming an empire that is devoted to the principles of truth, and led by a mighty philosopher-emperor. Here, the other races live as slaves. The elves are primarily used as household servants, like maids and butlers, and are generally treated very well by their orcish masters. Dwarves do more heavy work, such as in quarries or mines. The halflings and gnomes are usually servants or messengers. Humans and their half-elf offspring are regarded as savages by the orcs, who clash with them frequently on the borders of their empire. Half-orcs are viewed with utter disgust by both races, and are usually put to death shortly after they're born. Those that aren't are generally loners who attempt to pass themselves off as full-blooded orcs in order to survive, usually turning to criminal enterprises.
Ragitsu 10-23-07, 10:08 AM	Dragons are good, humans are evil.
Bigbeni 10-23-07, 06:06 PM	Based on a very good portuguese book by José Saramago (i cant remember the title now): Suddenly, no one can die. People just stay almost dying forever. The population starts to grow beyond control and no one knows where to put humans. Suddenly an evil wizard (this is not on the book anymore:D) discovers a way to "kill" those people. Trough a very painfull process the soul is striped away from the body piece by piece in a ritual that takes days. The world needs a solution. But what is the price to pay? Can our heroes find another way to restore balance to life and death? - Bernardo
locustechpriest 10-23-07, 06:18 PM	Suddenly, no one can die. People just stay almost dying forever. What is the nature of this "almost dying" state? Are they aged to the point of death but without release? Do they suddenly stop aging at the point of maximum racial age? Are they invulnerable to mortal wounds? Do their bodies reform after major discorporation? I'm watching this rather recent anime Baccano! which deals with immortality and the Elixer of Life. Upon drinking the elixer, the individula stops aging. Any corporal harm the person takes is literally reversed. Blood gathers back into their veins, pieces of flesh and bone reassemble. The only method of release is to be consumed by another immortal. (This doesn't much work if the entire world can consume others.)
lulzapalooza 10-23-07, 06:22 PM	The world is broken, and the survivors of a great catyclism live on floating continents of debris, made of stones and iron. The people closest to the sky grew to be religious zealots and the ones closest to the core of the planet became self-interested and industrial.
Zousha_Omenohu 10-23-07, 06:37 PM	Music has great power in this world. Talented or well-trained musicians can perform almost miraculous things, while others use cacaphony to cause pain and destruction. The deaf and mute are outcasts, the deaf unable to hear the music of their world and the mute unable to aid in making it. 50 words exactly. . .I think.;)
Esgay 10-23-07, 06:52 PM	The world is hollow, the demonic realms are inside, eternally shrouded in darkness. The material plane is outside. Demons have been slowly hatching a plan for decades to turn the world inside out
Kezot 10-23-07, 08:50 PM	Though this is entirely unoriginal, it is based on a pretty amazing world (blatantly stolen from Septerra Core). The world is made of floating continental layers, called shells, linked by a polar spine and turning around a central core. The seven layers give way to different cultures and biomes, with the lowest shell being mutated by the core's heat and radiation. Legends speak of a key that can access the core, giving the one who enters the powers of a god. I don't know if that is anywhere near the word limit, and the setting itself would need a serious overhaul in order to work with mainstream D&D (Septerra Core is more of a sci-fi game with fantasy elements, not fantasy with traces of sci-fi). The magic system alone may be worth it though: Spells are cast using magic tools called fate cards, each one of which casts a single spell, similar to a reusable scroll. A person uses their own internal energy to supply the power for these spells. The biggest change is the ability to combine multiple spell effects together to cast more powerful spells. A combination of the "fire" card and the "summon" card summons a powerful fire beast to deal tremendous damage, while the "law", "chaos", and "mirror" cards create a micro black hole that can destroy a large building. However, a person can only use a single card at a time, so multiple people must be involved to cast the deadliest spells. Obviously, this would require some creativity on the DM's part, with some cards acting as metamagic abilities, like "all" and "mirror", and others ranging from direct damage to curative abilities. Basically, you might have to kiss the current magic system goodbye if you use this. The complication of making combinations of spells is also present. But think of the different spells you could create (air + death + area (3 times)= vacuum field) That was probably more detail than anyone wanted, so I'll shut up now.
lulzapalooza 10-23-07, 11:08 PM	Though this is entirely unoriginal, it is based on a pretty amazing world (blatantly stolen from Septerra Core). The world is made of floating continental layers, called shells, linked by a polar spine and turning around a central core. The seven layers give way to different cultures and biomes, with the lowest shell being mutated by the core's heat and radiation. Legends speak of a key that can access the core, giving the one who enters the powers of a god. I don't know if that is anywhere near the word limit, and the setting itself would need a serious overhaul in order to work with mainstream D&D (Septerra Core is more of a sci-fi game with fantasy elements, not fantasy with traces of sci-fi). The magic system alone may be worth it though: Spells are cast using magic tools called fate cards, each one of which casts a single spell, similar to a reusable scroll. A person uses their own internal energy to supply the power for these spells. The biggest change is the ability to combine multiple spell effects together to cast more powerful spells. A combination of the "fire" card and the "summon" card summons a powerful fire beast to deal tremendous damage, while the "law", "chaos", and "mirror" cards create a micro black hole that can destroy a large building. However, a person can only use a single card at a time, so multiple people must be involved to cast the deadliest spells. Obviously, this would require some creativity on the DM's part, with some cards acting as metamagic abilities, like "all" and "mirror", and others ranging from direct damage to curative abilities. Basically, you might have to kiss the current magic system goodbye if you use this. The complication of making combinations of spells is also present. But think of the different spells you could create (air + death + area (3 times)= vacuum field) That was probably more detail than anyone wanted, so I'll shut up now. Yes! That's what my post was based off of, too! Wonderful, amazing game! I actually started a thread about four months ago in this forum about it, but it dropped off the edge of the map with just a few posts.
JulesCARV 10-23-07, 11:47 PM	The hobgoblins/kobolds/duergar/whatever who're always trying to conquer the world? They conquered it centuries ago. Elves/gnomes/humans/etc live in ghettoes and plantations, having mostly internalized their supposed inferiority. Guards -- whether of the conqueror race or collaborators among the conquered -- enforce obedience and occassionally rough people up. Otherwise, life goes on.
Bigbeni 10-24-07, 11:08 AM	What is the nature of this "almost dying" state? Are they aged to the point of death but without release? Do they suddenly stop aging at the point of maximum racial age? Are they invulnerable to mortal wounds? Do their bodies reform after major discorporation? Well... I really dont know. But you are a DM use your most powerfull tool: your imagination! From what i can remember anyway... If they were mortally wounded they could be uncoscious and started to enter in coma and everything you can imegine... But the heart never stoped or in anyway they would never die. I think its like getting stuck at -9 forever... As for aging i think they would get stuck at the point they would eventually die. Their eyes would close but they would remain living... Its a bit hard to explain... But i think its interesting, i am thinking of using it in my next campaign. - Bernardo
locustechpriest 10-25-07, 07:12 PM	As for aging i think they would get stuck at the point they would eventually die. Their eyes would close but they would remain living... That seems a bit odd. I'm not sure how that would result in overpoplulation, but as you said, imagination. ^_^
nabuchadnysar 10-27-07, 09:31 PM	Bikini world! Only females, in fure bikinis. A dream or a nightmare for players? :D
Bergtann 11-04-07, 09:00 AM	a) A world where the alignment of common races are reversed. Orcs are a good, if brawling warrior race, elves evil slavers living in hidden enclaves, halflings are a badass nomad culture like a cross between Djengis Khan and locusts. b) A world low down on the mulitversal food chain. Unstable, parts of it will phase out, and be replaced with chucks of other worlds ranging from island to country-sized. The world is a patchwork quilt of ecosystems and climates. An unusually large number of creatures and species have established themselves over the millenia. Far more than would naturally evolve. (A world concept explaining the the vast number of intelligent species and top-level predators seen in D&D. Brian Daleys "A tapestry of magics" and Jack Chalkers "Changewinds" have similar concepts.)
skio 11-04-07, 09:28 AM	Faerun 1000 years in the future, where technology has replaced magic, faerunians have colonized the sea of stars and automatons are an everyday sight.
Arco Versipellis 11-04-07, 10:24 AM	Music has great power in this world. Talented or well-trained musicians can perform almost miraculous things, while others use cacaphony to cause pain and destruction. The deaf and mute are outcasts, the deaf unable to hear the music of their world and the mute unable to aid in making it. 50 words exactly. . .I think.;) I love this message, but I thought i would point ot thatarguably the most famous composed of all time, though not necesarily my favorite, was deaf. Beethoven, of course, was not born that way. In spite of beinging deaf, a person in this campaign may still be able to assimilate. Also, the mute would be able to play instruments, so perhaps they wouldn't wind up as outcasts either. At the least, these could be interesting character obstacles.
Delfedd 11-04-07, 12:41 PM	How would one do that? The magic is music idea? Make perform required for all mages?
CombatMedic 11-04-07, 12:46 PM	Magic could be a skill based system, like Truenaming. You'd have to balance it carefully, though.
NorthWind 11-04-07, 06:35 PM	I've come to think as stars as positive energy hot-spots. As such, I wouldn't stick a divine realm inside... those poor petitioners would be exploding in sequence! Personally, I try not to describe natural phenomena in terms of DnD rules - but that's not the point of this post. Here's my pitch (Haven't read the thread, mind you, so if it's been done, sorry) Through some sort of cosmic mishap, the souls of the dead are whisked away to the center of stars - on their Journey, they get caught up in the stars, which falsely guide them. For thousands of years, souls have been exploding in the depths of stars, making the points of light that people see in the heavens. The heroes have been charged by a powerful deity to set the afterlife to rights.
Araes 11-04-07, 07:19 PM	Adventures in something akin to the plane of earth. The world is an infinitely extending foam of rock, dirt, and tunnels with underground cavern seas as vast as those of our world and life throughout. There are no stars, or sky, or sun, only the endless walls of stone. Though this is entirely unoriginal, it is based on a pretty amazing world (blatantly stolen from Septerra Core). Yes! That's what my post was based off of, too! Wonderful, amazing game! That was a pretty great game, and suprisingly original in its execution, mechanics, and story. Too bad it seems almost no one actually played it. Really ought to go back and go through my copy again.
Artifact 11-06-07, 06:36 PM	Here's a pretty straight-foreward concept I've always been curious to explore (but never taken the opportunity): It is a bizzare reversal of fortunes: Over a century-and-a-half has passed since the last human died of anything other than outright violence. On the flip side of things, the demi-humans decline rapidly in years and pass away within a handful of decades. The setting could be exotic or plain and simple. A lot could be developed by how the humans and demi-humans handle such a reversal. Perhaps the humans, for the first time in their existence as a race, face a future that is all too tangible and ever-present. Do the dwarves retreat from the call of war they have followed for so long? What is left for them to focus their inhuman efficiency on? What do the elves devote themselves to with the few short years left? /\ Art
Teh_Darkness 11-06-07, 07:25 PM	Heres an idea I had for a desert themed, swashbuckler inspired, and high magic campaign realm. In the desert world of Ahlm, the ocean is a vast sea of silver sand with wild arcane magic flowing in each grain. Each man and women is born with magic in their eyes. And the first tear of every child transforms into a birthstone that holds their very soul. Word Count 50 exactly!
Manmadegod 11-07-07, 03:49 AM	I have a homebrew along these lines: Ages ago, long forgotten - an ancient evil was bound to a budding plane into the center of a forming planet to trap it there for all of eternity. Life slowly came to the planet and still trapped in the center is a ancient evil bound and chained forcing its nightmares to materialize on the world. ( The planet is of course a gigantic prison, custom built to hold this nasty which is destroying the prison as the game progresses so that the campaign gets progressively more dangerous and the PC's level. This scales the world as the world is in fact a manifestation of a prison world working and a nightmare creature locked away in the center.. Makes for epic dungeon crawls.. doubly so if you have min/max'ers in the PC party. )
Zousha_Omenohu 11-07-07, 10:53 AM	Cool! Kind of like OotS!
StruckingFuggle 11-07-07, 03:41 PM	Renaissance culture and airships in a world of floating islands on a gas-giant-type world with a layer of storms that keeps people of the mysterious Core. - - - - Not a world, but a city. A massive and haunted city, big enough that no one's ever seen the boundaries, with a Tarrasque chained at the center, harvested for materials, corrupted and twisted by its blood and meat.
Dreamender 11-07-07, 09:16 PM	A horrid plague has ravaged the lands and the only way the mortal races could survive was to merge with steam powered machines. Loosely based on the Battle Angel Alita Manga and Anime. :P
locustechpriest 11-07-07, 10:58 PM	[...]Not a world, but a city. A massive and haunted city, big enough that no one's ever seen the boundaries, with a Tarrasque chained at the center, harvested for materials, corrupted and twisted by its blood and meat. I have thought about this a dozen times. Usually, I think of it's head being chained in a permanent wall of fire (more than one, obviously -- to keep it unconscious) while this is all happening. Want teeth? Speak the command word and the wall shifts backward allowing the head to reform. (^-^)
Lord QZip 11-07-07, 11:31 PM	- In a huge blinding flash of light an entire nation was obliterated. Now, the air is full of the visably black dust of those gone. A mage believes he can reform the dust into people's loved ones. After awhile, the mage reveals his true plan. When he reformed people, he actually made a way for them to uncontrollably follow his every mental command so he could take over the world. - The Kobolds, historically scorned and hated, have been busy for centuries. The ground is full of inter-connected tunnels. They strike (leaving few traces, but no obvious holes in the ground, yet they must), seemingly at random, kidnapping or killing (no one knows) people in an attempt to get revenge for all the years of hatred and end the attacks on their people. - Everywhere people are watched by the government through a large network of controlled scrying automatically recording people's actions into a large network of files somewhere. The government uses this information to ensure all crimes are punished, and to tell you how to live your life (automated psychic responses to certain 'bad' actions). People think this goes too far but the government refuses to stop as they attempt to shape all of human behavior. Those are all probably too long, but I got a million more... Those just randomly came to mind.
Peter Newman 11-10-07, 04:28 AM	"Fleeing from the Mind Flayer tyranny, the last BattleGalley, Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely oceanic quest...a shining island known as Earth."
Peter Newman 11-10-07, 04:32 AM	"The planes: the final frontier These are the voyages of the Adventuring Group, Enterprise Their Epic Level mission To explore strange new planes To seek out new life and new civilization To boldly go where no player characters have gone before."
Peter Newman 11-10-07, 04:36 AM	For a score of years Grandfather Sun has burned brighter in the sky. The land scorches and dies, you travel northward to a new home. Landing in a new world you discover it is peopled with the evil hobgoblins and the friendly dwarves. Battle to claim a new homeland!
Peter Newman 11-10-07, 04:42 AM	"Long ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. They promptly escaped to the underdark. Today, still wanted by the king, they survive as adventurers. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the PC's." Well, this one is more like 55 words.
Bobfred21 11-14-07, 07:08 PM	The worlds axis lines up with the sun, rather than being like our world. As such on one side of the planet is a tropical world, constantly bathed in sunlight, on the other: A frozen wasteland. The world currents are artificially maintained by ancient magical mechanisms and only one question remains... How did the world get this way? (Note: For life to develop it couldn't have originated with that kind of axis)
Mr_Seth 11-14-07, 07:39 PM	*Congratulations... you're dead. Now trapped in a prison plane for enraging one of the gods, and mutated almost beyond recognition, you and your comrades have to figure out how to survive... how to make your way in this hell... and, dare you say it, how to escape! ~~ *Curses can be a terrible thing... you'd know. Your party is all cursed one way or another, and now the whole misbegotten lot of you villainous scum has to perform a quest for the temple - no less than a covert war with your former masters - before you can be cured! ~~ Admittedly, that first one is a blatant plug for Enter the Abyss (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=951929)...
Amon_V 11-14-07, 09:42 PM	LAW has WON. As the modrons and inevitables destroy the Slaad Spawning Stone and The Hells purge the abyss, all color, taste, sensation and smell fades away. Can the PCs get it back? People have learned how to communicate in dreams; but as a result, random people have been plagued with horrible nightmares. What is the cause? Garl Glittergold, determined to initiate time travel, rewrites the laws of physics to eliminate cause and effect. Now actions and reactions no longer follow their old pattern.
Daybreaker 11-16-07, 04:30 AM	You're zooming through space in DragonStar when you find yourself caught in the tractor beam of an enormous artificial world originally designed to serve as a prison for dragon criminals. The warden has gone insane with age and is now using the prison world to attack the empire. Good luck!
Zousha_Omenohu 11-16-07, 09:55 AM	Wow. D&D. . .IN SPACE! I thought I'd never live to see the day. (Spelljammer is technically D&D in space, yes, but that was before my time, so it doesn't count.:P ) The PCs stumble across an artifact that they accidentally activate, unleashing a wave of infernal and abyssal energies, forcing the sins of all senitent beings to become actual physical properties, twisting their forms into frightening new shapes. The PCs begin trying to find away to effectively put the fiendish energies they released back into the artifact. Oddly, even as the PCs race to repair the damage they've caused, the societies of the world adapt to their new forms, and begin to form an even better society than what was before, as their iniquities are now on display for all to see. The PCs notice this, and eventually have to decide whether they really want to restore the status quo, or if they want to continue with the uglier, but ultimately more moral world that they've created.