Lorywn - A High Fantasy Campaign Setting [Archive] - Wizards Community

Lorywn - A High Fantasy Campaign Setting [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
jarzium
09-10-07, 06:45 AM Lorywn is an upcoming Magic: The Gathering expansion that is set in a high fantasy world. It's an exciting expansion because it compiles new creature types (merrow, boggarts, flamekins) with old creature types (treefolks, faeries). I think this would be a very fun campaign setting to work on.

Lorwyn is a world at peace, where the warm sun never grows too hot and never sets. The forests are generally calm and tranquil, the fields cool and breezy. Instead of oceans, a network of cold, clean rivers and ponds crisscross the landscape. Even the swamps, as smelly and slimy as they are, do not hold the kind of threats that many other worlds' swamps do. There are no marauding dragons, no flesh-hungry undead, no selfish humans seeking to exploit the land and its people. Of course, just because there's no one out to destroy the world doesn't mean there isn't any conflict. With the wide variety of races and attitudes across this plane, it's inevitable that there will be some head butting.

The Races: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/422

Kithkins
Magic Affiliations: Green/White
Possible D20 Alignment: Neutral Good

Merrow
Magic Affiliations: Blue/Black
Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Good/Neutral Evil

Treefolks
Magic Affiliations: Green
Possible D20 Alignment: True Neutral/Neutral Good

Giants
Magic Affiliations: Red (Possibly white or black)
Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil/Chaotic Good

Flamekins
Magic Affiliations: Red (Possibly black)
Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil

Faeries
Magic Affiliations: Blue/Black
Possible D20 Alignment: Neutral Evil/Chaotic Good

Boggarts
Magic Affiliations: Red/Green (Possibly black)
Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil

Elves
Magic Affiliations: Green/Black
Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil/Chaotic Good

Changelings
Magic Affiliations: Blue (Possibly black)
Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Greater Elementals
Magic Affiliations: Possibly all 5 or various combinations
Possible D20 Alignment: True Neutral (Or maybe all combinations)
Riven213
09-10-07, 10:06 PM None of the creature types you mentioned are actually new to D&D. Merrow, for instance, are aquatic ogres in D&D, and have been since at least 2nd Edition. Boggarts are not original creations of either Magic: the Gathering or J. K. Rowling (or D&D; as with most of Rowling's bumpetty-bumps, they've real-world mythological origins, but they have appeared in earlier D&D supplements).

Also, if you get rid of dragons, undead, and humans, you're removing a great deal from the game (the dragons' integral trademarked status aside). A loss of humans is a removal of a reality base... unless you're keeping them, but they simply aren't power-hungry (which some might say is just as sacrificial of any notions of reality). The trend of simply removing things that have been present in the game, since it's been a game at all, and making something else to fill the same niche, is (to my mind, anyway) not as good as making things interesting all over again through creative roleplay and an expansion on existing concepts.

Are you writing a basis for any of this, or is it simply "how things are" in the world? There's a strong tradition of either, of course, in D&D; Gary Gygax, for instance, declared that explosive powders simply "don't work" in Greyhawk, via the laws of physics of the prime material, thus prohibiting firearms in the original/3rd Edition core setting.

Geographically speaking, while our own understanding of the physical sciences makes such a world unlikely... it's quite interesting (and I do realize this is a high fantasy setting; I simply wish to point out that the greatest works of high fantasy had a grounding reality; Middle Earth, for example, has been repeatedly remarked on by geologists and such as being a physically 'possible' realm).

Question... how far apart, on average, are these rivers? Would a map of this world be covered entirely by a blanket of islands, or does it have an awfully high percentage of land area?
jarzium
09-11-07, 04:33 AM When i said 'new' and 'old' creature types, i was referring to M:TG rather than D&D.

It's really hard to imagine a world without any undead, dragons or human, BUT, that's when creativity kicks in.

For example, which race will be the 'human' of Lorywn? I would go for Kithkins for their sympathetic and trusting characteristic. The 'undeads'? Probably elves or faeries. The 'dragons'? Easy, the Greater Elementals.

As for your question, i would like to imagine the rivers being more like roads for merrows. Not big enough to consider as a major obstacle, yet big enough for them to swim.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jarzium 09-10-07, 06:45 AM	Lorywn is an upcoming Magic: The Gathering expansion that is set in a high fantasy world. It's an exciting expansion because it compiles new creature types (merrow, boggarts, flamekins) with old creature types (treefolks, faeries). I think this would be a very fun campaign setting to work on. Lorwyn is a world at peace, where the warm sun never grows too hot and never sets. The forests are generally calm and tranquil, the fields cool and breezy. Instead of oceans, a network of cold, clean rivers and ponds crisscross the landscape. Even the swamps, as smelly and slimy as they are, do not hold the kind of threats that many other worlds' swamps do. There are no marauding dragons, no flesh-hungry undead, no selfish humans seeking to exploit the land and its people. Of course, just because there's no one out to destroy the world doesn't mean there isn't any conflict. With the wide variety of races and attitudes across this plane, it's inevitable that there will be some head butting. The Races: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/422 Kithkins Magic Affiliations: Green/White Possible D20 Alignment: Neutral Good Merrow Magic Affiliations: Blue/Black Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Good/Neutral Evil Treefolks Magic Affiliations: Green Possible D20 Alignment: True Neutral/Neutral Good Giants Magic Affiliations: Red (Possibly white or black) Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil/Chaotic Good Flamekins Magic Affiliations: Red (Possibly black) Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil Faeries Magic Affiliations: Blue/Black Possible D20 Alignment: Neutral Evil/Chaotic Good Boggarts Magic Affiliations: Red/Green (Possibly black) Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil Elves Magic Affiliations: Green/Black Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Neutral Evil/Chaotic Good Changelings Magic Affiliations: Blue (Possibly black) Possible D20 Alignment: Chaotic Evil Greater Elementals Magic Affiliations: Possibly all 5 or various combinations Possible D20 Alignment: True Neutral (Or maybe all combinations)
Riven213 09-10-07, 10:06 PM	None of the creature types you mentioned are actually new to D&D. Merrow, for instance, are aquatic ogres in D&D, and have been since at least 2nd Edition. Boggarts are not original creations of either Magic: the Gathering or J. K. Rowling (or D&D; as with most of Rowling's bumpetty-bumps, they've real-world mythological origins, but they have appeared in earlier D&D supplements). Also, if you get rid of dragons, undead, and humans, you're removing a great deal from the game (the dragons' integral trademarked status aside). A loss of humans is a removal of a reality base... unless you're keeping them, but they simply aren't power-hungry (which some might say is just as sacrificial of any notions of reality). The trend of simply removing things that have been present in the game, since it's been a game at all, and making something else to fill the same niche, is (to my mind, anyway) not as good as making things interesting all over again through creative roleplay and an expansion on existing concepts. Are you writing a basis for any of this, or is it simply "how things are" in the world? There's a strong tradition of either, of course, in D&D; Gary Gygax, for instance, declared that explosive powders simply "don't work" in Greyhawk, via the laws of physics of the prime material, thus prohibiting firearms in the original/3rd Edition core setting. Geographically speaking, while our own understanding of the physical sciences makes such a world unlikely... it's quite interesting (and I do realize this is a high fantasy setting; I simply wish to point out that the greatest works of high fantasy had a grounding reality; Middle Earth, for example, has been repeatedly remarked on by geologists and such as being a physically 'possible' realm). Question... how far apart, on average, are these rivers? Would a map of this world be covered entirely by a blanket of islands, or does it have an awfully high percentage of land area?
jarzium 09-11-07, 04:33 AM	When i said 'new' and 'old' creature types, i was referring to M:TG rather than D&D. It's really hard to imagine a world without any undead, dragons or human, BUT, that's when creativity kicks in. For example, which race will be the 'human' of Lorywn? I would go for Kithkins for their sympathetic and trusting characteristic. The 'undeads'? Probably elves or faeries. The 'dragons'? Easy, the Greater Elementals. As for your question, i would like to imagine the rivers being more like roads for merrows. Not big enough to consider as a major obstacle, yet big enough for them to swim.