Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jürgen Hubert 05-11-07, 09:47 AM	It's been a while since I last posted (http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-329801.html) about the homebrew campaign setting I am developing. However, I haven't been idle - I've continued to work on it, created new maps and many more details. Now the writeup has reached a length of 120,000 words (not including the Table of Contents and the index), and I've converted the entire text into LaTeX, allowing me to create formatted PDFs with ease. The formatting still has some rough edges, but I am working on that... But enough rambling. I present to you: Urbis - A World of Cities (http://juergen.the-huberts.net/dnd/urbis/UrbisDraftv3_01.pdf) Urbis is a world built around the rules assumptions of D&D - while turning the social assumptions of most traditional D&D settings on their head. Instead of the usual pseudo-medieval paradigm, society is based on the 19th century Age of Industrialisation. Instead of largely rural nations, vast city-states with populations ranging into the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people dot the landscape. And while many of the standard D&D and fantasy tropes were included in the setting in one form or another, most of them were subtly altered to make them interesting again. You have a dwarven nation that is so conservative that dwarves of low station actually build ramshackle boats to escape to the freedom of human lands. You have a mountainous nation of halflings where every adult male halfling keeps a crossbow in his home, and has to practice with it regularly. You have an Elven Island Kingdom in the west of the main continent that is forbidden for humans to visit upon pain of death - or at least, it used to be forbidden until a human armada of ships forced it to open a few years ago. Now the country is going through its own version of the Meji Restoration... And that's just a few of the details in the setting - like I said, this is a huge work. I hope you enjoy it.
Jürgen Hubert 05-12-07, 12:06 PM	*bump* No comments? No questions?
die 05-12-07, 02:14 PM	Kinda a lot to take in at once but... I really like the Lake of Dreams intro blurb about Alanthos and the places in that region, the philosopher ruled metropolis of Ascenon, hooded priests of the Nameless God, cloud giant vintners of Epholos, a bunch of cool stuff. I want to play a human ranger raised in the swamps of the Corrun Forest in the Hobgoblin Dominions. Maybe visiting the elf lands of Avareen and after a few duels finds he dislikes them more than hobgoblins :D Then gets hired to look for the Fountain of Youth by The Athanatos Club when they find out he has been there before
TheDarkPrince 05-12-07, 02:48 PM	Hey, I'm reading all your stuff right now. Post on it when I'm done, but it might take a while...... Looks really good so far. Cheers. :D
Jürgen Hubert 05-13-07, 01:18 AM	Kinda a lot to take in at once but... I really like the Lake of Dreams intro blurb about Alanthos and the places in that region, the philosopher ruled metropolis of Ascenon, hooded priests of the Nameless God, cloud giant vintners of Epholos, a bunch of cool stuff. I want to play a human ranger raised in the swamps of the Corrun Forest in the Hobgoblin Dominions. Maybe visiting the elf lands of Avareen and after a few duels finds he dislikes them more than hobgoblins :D Then gets hired to look for the Fountain of Youth by The Athanatos Club when they find out he has been there before Well, glad to see that you find the setting inspiring. ;) There's actually a group out there that plans to use the setting for their own campaign - they plan to play urban vigilantes, inspired by "Batman Begins" and "V for Vendetta". I'm currently trying to set up a Wiki for them...
queenfange 05-13-07, 11:54 AM	This is impressive... Similar to what I hope to eventually do to my campaign setting. Any advice? :D I like the fact that there are appendixes on legal spells and such, and that in the introduction you mention you've worked to create realism. I love worlds with versimilitude!!! Once I've read some more I'll post again... It's a huge document.
queenfange 05-13-07, 12:09 PM	Since your document is so huge, I’m going to limit these comments to the races section (I hope you don’t mind me posting several times, as I think I’ll end up doing). In summary, the culture you detail in the races section is quite well done. Plus, you clearly know grammar and spelling (lack of it is my pet peeve). :) If you published this, I’d buy it. Seriously. The anti-gnomish pamphlet excerpt immediately made me think of anti-Semitism. Was that your inspiration? It’s the same sort of idea; hating a slightly different group of people for being financially successful. Whether intentional or not, I really like it; very realistic even though it’s not pleasant to think that in a fantasy world there’s lots of hatred even between usually good races. The footnote on changelings is a good idea. Cruel treatment of children, especially those who looked or acted differently, has been common through history, so the abuse of some half-elf children in this situation seems very realistic. I noticed you haven’t finished the religion, language, and names for hobgoblins. Are you still working on that? As a female, I like your approach on sexism; to ignore it would be utterly unrealistic. I’ll write more later once I read the next section...
Jürgen Hubert 05-13-07, 04:22 PM	Since your document is so huge, I’m going to limit these comments to the races section (I hope you don’t mind me posting several times, as I think I’ll end up doing). In summary, the culture you detail in the races section is quite well done. Plus, you clearly know grammar and spelling (lack of it is my pet peeve). :) If you published this, I’d buy it. Seriously. Thanks! And as it happens, this is my eventual goal... (Though admittedly, I recently printed the document out and are going through it chapter by chapter, and I've found quite a few spelling and grammar mistakes which I am in the process of correcting...) The anti-gnomish pamphlet excerpt immediately made me think of anti-Semitism. Was that your inspiration? It’s the same sort of idea; hating a slightly different group of people for being financially successful. Whether intentional or not, I really like it; very realistic even though it’s not pleasant to think that in a fantasy world there’s lots of hatred even between usually good races. The parallel to anti-semitism is spot on. As I've said on another board, to get into the right mood read through the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and replace every mention of the word "Jew" with "gnome". Bigotry has been a constant companion of humanity throughout history, and I felt that it would make the setting less plausible if I omitted it. These feelings aren't universal (and the PCs presumably stand above it), but they are a strong enough background element. Besides, bigots present a target that the PCs can inflict violence on without feeling guilty about it... ;) The footnote on changelings is a good idea. Cruel treatment of children, especially those who looked or acted differently, has been common through history, so the abuse of some half-elf children in this situation seems very realistic. And that's actually what happened to more than a few children in real life history that were assumed to be changelings. In reality, they were more likely to be either the child of an adulterous affair or somehow deformed at birth, but calling them "changelings" did away with any guilt the family might have had for mistreating them... I noticed you haven’t finished the religion, language, and names for hobgoblins. Are you still working on that? Yup. Actually, there are still quite a few things that haven't been finished yet in the document. But I figured it would be better to make it available now than wait until it is completely polished, since it's better to get feedback sooner... As a female, I like your approach on sexism; to ignore it would be utterly unrealistic. Thanks. When I first raised the question of sexism in the setting, more than a few people worried that making it an inherent part of the setting would annoy female gamers who had to deal with sexism in real life often enough. But I didn't want to ignore it, either - thus, the disclaimer.
Jürgen Hubert 05-14-07, 04:09 AM	This is impressive... Similar to what I hope to eventually do to my campaign setting. Any advice? :D Come up with some big themes, and gradually fill in the details. Read anything for inspiration, and take a notebook (the paper variety) with you everywhere you go to make sure you remember your ideas when inspiration strikes. Go through many iterations, and print out your work from time to time so you can read it from beginning to the end. Using LaTeX will take care of the Table of Contents, index, and formatting with a little practice. I like the fact that there are appendixes on legal spells and such, and that in the introduction you mention you've worked to create realism. I love worlds with versimilitude!!! Well, some of the more cinematic worlds might get away with major inconsistencies as long as they are in-genre. But I really wanted everything to hang together...
Jürgen Hubert 05-16-07, 05:39 AM	By the way, what do you think of my explanation for a "Common" language within the setting (page 19 of the PDF)? ;)
DwarvenArcher 05-16-07, 08:08 PM	Urbis is awesome, well done. It's better than most of the published dnd settings. I do think seperate languages would suit your setting better. There are so many great clannish groups in urbis, languages would accentuate that I think by giving the people another barrier between them. Common works in dnd because most of the races get along really well. Also, your fighter description basically says that they are useless in wars. Couldn't an attacking city use their nexus towers to load up their troops with mass spell resistance/spell immunity/elemental resistances to counter the "fireball everybody" defense? Maybe urbis fighters should have spellcraft skill in-class if they're costantly encountering magic(or all characters, for that matter).
AdventChild 05-16-07, 08:47 PM	http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12419210
Jürgen Hubert 05-17-07, 12:39 AM	Urbis is awesome, well done. It's better than most of the published dnd settings. Thanks! I do think seperate languages would suit your setting better. There are so many great clannish groups in urbis, languages would accentuate that I think by giving the people another barrier between them. Common works in dnd because most of the races get along really well. Well, I plan to go into more detail on languages other than Common - they aren't all gone, by all means, though especially in the Northwest Common has gained dominance. But one of the basics for Urbis was that I wanted to use all of the standard D&D tropes - and a "Common" language is a big part of them. I long thought about how to justify this. But finally I thought to myself: "Hey, why not make Common a magical neurolinguistic virus?" :D Also, your fighter description basically says that they are useless in wars. Couldn't an attacking city use their nexus towers to load up their troops with mass spell resistance/spell immunity/elemental resistances to counter the "fireball everybody" defense? Maybe urbis fighters should have spellcraft skill in-class if they're costantly encountering magic(or all characters, for that matter). Maybe I should rewrite that part to emphasize that they are not useless at all in warfare - it's just that fighting in tight formation warfare is a really dumb use of their abilities. Fighters are supported by magic, too - especially if they are good ones. But they are unlikely to be used in open field battles (because they are so few of them). Instead they are used as a type of "commando units" - raiding or taking important strategic positions of the enemy in lightning raids, before the enemy has the chance to get organized. In such case, they are supported by other characters with a diverse range of abilities - not unlike an adventuring party, really, and indeed playig an elite military unit could make for an interesting campaign. I mean, fighters are a very useful part of any adventuring party, and they can do enormous amounts of damage - but like other characters, they are much more effective when supported by magic and magic-using characters than when they are on their own. That's the standard I'd apply to Urbis, and I don't think it makes them useless. And I'd hesitate giving all classes Spellcraft. Sure, fighters who frequently fight magic-using enemies might take it as a cross-class skill, but this is a difficult field that needs first-hand knowledge of spellcasting to truly master. Instead, I expect experienced fighters to know tactics that any expericend adventurer is likely to know, such as: - Don't let your unit stand in right formation when there's a chance that an enemy spellcaster can cast area effect spells on you. - If you see an enemy casting spells at you, try to take him down fast. - Hitting a spellcaster while he attempts to cast a spell is a good way of wrecking his concentration. And so forth. Such fighters are also likely to know many possible spell effects - which means that while they might not be able to identify them during casting, they won't be surprised much by them once they happen.
Jürgen Hubert 05-18-07, 07:12 AM	http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12419210 Yes...?
queenfange 05-19-07, 05:52 AM	I recommended your campaign setting to someone interested in doing a Steam Era campaign, and they seemed to like it. The thread is http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=847464. Anyway, I finished reading the setting and I do really like it. I think its biggest weakness is a lack of sample adventures or story ideas. One or two of those would be very helpful to give DMs a starting point; it's hard to imagine how to run an adventure in an unusual setting without one or two to look at.
Jürgen Hubert 05-20-07, 09:28 AM	I recommended your campaign setting to someone interested in doing a Steam Era campaign, and they seemed to like it. The thread is http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=847464. Thanks for spreading the word! ;) Anyway, I finished reading the setting and I do really like it. Wow - that's fast! I think its biggest weakness is a lack of sample adventures or story ideas. One or two of those would be very helpful to give DMs a starting point; it's hard to imagine how to run an adventure in an unusual setting without one or two to look at. I have been contemplating an adventure for starting characters, but I haven't had the right inspiration for it. Besides, I'd have to flesh out Dartmouth a bit more, since it would have to take place within that city. Though I do hope that the adventure seeds I have added to the regional descriptions will help somewhat - eventually, all regional writeups will have two or three adventure seeds in them.
Jürgen Hubert 05-20-07, 02:46 PM	As a female, I like your approach on sexism; to ignore it would be utterly unrealistic. Since we are on the topic, what did you think of the fact that it is humans who are the most sexist within the setting? ;)
queenfange 05-20-07, 04:35 PM	I liked that; makes lots of sense. The other races, with how they're presented in the Player's Handbook seem to have little gender bias. On an unrelated note, could you post more information about those Digital Initiative and Pyramid Online things? I'm working on various adventures, campaign settings, and new races, and I'd like somewhere to post some of it. Also, if I post some stuff on those sites, that shouldn't be a problem if I actually end up publishing it, right? Thanks. :)
Jürgen Hubert 05-21-07, 10:35 AM	I liked that; makes lots of sense. The other races, with how they're presented in the Player's Handbook seem to have little gender bias. Well, some of the other races have gender biases, at least in Urbis. The halflings do have clearly defined gender roles (though they are considered equal, without any expected subservience on the part of the women), though they tend to dismiss any "aberrant" behavior on the part of younger halflings on the lines of "Oh, she will grow out of it eventually...". The dwarves are egalitarian... mostly. "You can do any job you want - after you have given birth to and raised two children." The gnomes are very pragmatic. "We don't really care about this stuff, but the humans do, and there are more of them than of us - so we'll act the way they expect in front of them." The elves are essentially egalitarian, though they will have male-only and female-only social groups for the sake of style. And the hobgoblin see little functional difference between the two outside of the area of romance and anatomy. So if you want to play a female character who doesn't act the way humans expect, just play a nonhuman. ;) On an unrelated note, could you post more information about those Digital Initiative and Pyramid Online things? I'm working on various adventures, campaign settings, and new races, and I'd like somewhere to post some of it. Also, if I post some stuff on those sites, that shouldn't be a problem if I actually end up publishing it, right? Thanks. :) Pyramid Online (http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/) is a long-running online gaming magazine (its precedessor was in print format and simply called "Pyramid"). It features weekly articles (totalling a few thousand words) and costs $20 per year to subscribe (and if you do subscribe, don't forget to give your referral bonus to "jhubert" ;) ). Its articles are largely "generic" gaming articles, with a strong dose of GURPS and the occasional articles supporting d20 and other gaming systems. They pay $0.03 per word, or twice that in Steve Jackson Games gaming articles. For this they buy all electronic rights to the article, which you should probably keep in mind. For further details on what kind of articles they want, see this page (http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/writing.html). The "Digital Initiative" is the new online magazine (?) Wizards of the Coast are planning instead of the Dragon and Dungeon magazines (now that they have pulled the plug on those). IIRC it is supposed to start in October or so, but details are hazy. However, I do suspect that you will be able to submit articles to them, too.
Jürgen Hubert 06-15-07, 11:53 AM	I've uploaded an updated version of the document - you can download it here (http://juergen.the-huberts.net/dnd/urbis/UrbisDraftv3_02.pdf). This document actually has a shorter page count than the old one, but this is merely the result of a different layout - it's word count is actually higher! I am especially proud of the new rules for custom-creating new organizations (starting on page 13). I'm looking forward to what people will do with them...
Hochiu 06-15-07, 10:49 PM	I'm reading through this and I want to say that I'm impressed. I'm impressed with the level of work you've put into the world itself and how you tie it in with easily recognizable similarities within Western culture. The world you present is streamlined in regards to itself and, as you said, it seeks to prevent large problems that other settings just kind of gloss over with a "its fantasy" excuse. It's helped to ground parts of my own setting down so I can make it seem a little more realistic, despite it being a completely different flavor. Kudos for attempting to represent a fanastic version of a period in Western history that's generally glossed over in the D&D rules. Good luck, and I'll be keeping an eye on it.
Jürgen Hubert 06-17-07, 06:32 PM	Oh, and one group has actually begun to playtest Urbis. I've arranged the creation of a Wiki (http://atze.walismus.de/englwiki/index.php/Main_Page) for them, and they've started posting some material there...
Jürgen Hubert 08-23-07, 02:21 PM	I've been working on a new cover design for Urbis (http://juergen.the-huberts.net/art/Urbis/CSCoverFinalSmall.jpg): http://tn3-2.deviantart.com/fs21/300W/f/2007/233/d/5/Urbis_Campaign_Setting_Cover_by_jhubert. jpg (http://jhubert.deviantart.com/art/Urbis-Campaign-Setting-Cover-62878369) (Click on the image to see a larger version at DeviantArt.) While I'll probably change a few things for the final cover, I rather like the general layout. I only regret that my artistic skills aren't good enough to emphasize the fantastic nature of the setting more. Beyond elongating the ears on the guy, that is. ;) So, what do you think? If this goes over well, I might consider using this basic layout for an entire line, with different illustrations and cover schemes for different books.
Hochiu 08-31-07, 11:21 AM	Well, it certainly captures the fact that you're reflecting the 19th century in your work. It does this very, very well. I like it. If you could add additional fantastic elements, that would be good, but I think it works well enough as is.
Orion__ 09-02-07, 07:07 AM	Excellent work! I must admit I have a mild dislike of non-medieval campaign settings, but in this case I must take my hat off. I can only dream about creating something as big and complex as your world someday...
Alexeduardo 09-02-07, 04:17 PM	so does it count as piracy if i use wht you have posted here? Because I might as well print it various times...:D
Jürgen Hubert 09-07-07, 07:16 AM	so does it count as piracy if i use wht you have posted here? Because I might as well print it various times...:D If you want to use that cover image for private purposes only, I permit it for the time being - though you shouldn't redistribute it. Printing the PDF is not only permitted, but encouraged - the more people read this and give me feedback, the better. Although I do hope you will buy the final version once it gets sold at RPGNow... ;) Leaving that aside, I have an announcement to make: Urbis is now also available at Eruvian.Com (http://eruvian.com/locale.asp?localeID=74), which offers a new way of presenting the setting - and it allows fans to add their own material as well. Have fun!
Jürgen Hubert 09-12-07, 08:50 AM	Excellent work! I must admit I have a mild dislike of non-medieval campaign settings, but in this case I must take my hat off. I can only dream about creating something as big and complex as your world someday... Well, it has been developed for a long time - more than five years now. So I recommend starting out with some big, thematic ideas and simply adding to it whenever something new comes to your mind. It worked for me... ;) I also recommend anything you can find about any conceivable subject - history, geography, other countries and cultures, philosophy, religion, and more. Absolutely anything can serve as inspiration for writing a setting, and the more you read, the more will you be able to make the connections that bring the setting to life...
Artifact 09-13-07, 11:42 AM	I just wanted to drop in and offer my appreciation. Urbis is a very beautiful, vibrant setting, far beyond anything a simple "homebrew" could ever hope to be. Its as solid as any professional work I've ever seen. I don't say this lightly: You should seriously consider submitting this for publication (and I mean more than just as a humble PDF, of course ;)). I really like the cover artwork, very nice. That must be a wonderful thing, to be able to design, write and draw. Color me envious ;). I haven't had time to dive in fully just yet, but I just wanted to say I like it and thanks.
Jokerboxer 09-13-07, 08:53 PM	The first that i thought when saw this thread was 'what about the druids'. And what if I played a druid that believes that the cities are an abonation to nature. You know since their is less nature and all.... It would intresting if it was her goal to requettify that. I have always personly loved urban campaigns but could never keep one together or play in one. It is a true role playing opputunity. The deal is all of my friends are all hack-n-slash.
Jürgen Hubert 09-15-07, 07:58 AM	I just wanted to drop in and offer my appreciation. Urbis is a very beautiful, vibrant setting, far beyond anything a simple "homebrew" could ever hope to be. Its as solid as any professional work I've ever seen. Thanks! Although there are still serious gaps in the material - some regions still need to be developed further, and there needs to be more detail on daily life in the cities. I don't say this lightly: You should seriously consider submitting this for publication (and I mean more than just as a humble PDF, of course ;)). Well, I am considering Print On Demand possibilities. I recently purchased a hardcover of Greg Stolze's Reign (a brilliant fantasy RPG with some very well thought-out rules on running large organizations) from Lulu, and the physical quality of the book didn't seem to be worse than of most other hardcovers in the industry. So I will probably do this as well... I really like the cover artwork, very nice. That must be a wonderful thing, to be able to design, write and draw. Color me envious ;). Actually, I can't draw that well yet - the illustrations were swiped from ClipArt.Com, which has a huge selection of 19th century period artwork (if you want to see what my own artwork is like, take a look at this page (http://juergen.the-huberts.net/1hp/main.php?g2_itemId=23)). So the cover was more design work than actual drawing - I just took the right illustrations and arranged them in a way I liked, and I had inspiration from some art books borrowed from the local public library as well (especially the German Jugendstil illustrations of the early 20th century helped a lot). I haven't had time to dive in fully just yet, but I just wanted to say I like it and thanks. Well, I hope you like the rest of it, too. And I'd really appreciate it if you were to take some time and comment on individual components of Urbis at Eruvian.Com (http://eruvian.com/locale.asp?localeID=74) - the comments and ratings I have received so far have been very useful in figuring out what parts of the setting work and which don't - and when I have to explain a certain aspect more clearly...
Jürgen Hubert 09-17-07, 09:49 AM	The first that i thought when saw this thread was 'what about the druids'. And what if I played a druid that believes that the cities are an abonation to nature. You know since their is less nature and all.... It would intresting if it was her goal to requettify that. Well, Urbis has a fair bit to say about druids (http://eruvian.com/class.asp?classID=11). And there are indeed quite a few who want to bring the whole system down - but the smart ones realize that they won't be able to do that by force, or at least not blatant force. Thus, they need to understand how the system works now in order to change or topple it, and get away with it. I have always personly loved urban campaigns but could never keep one together or play in one. It is a true role playing opputunity. The deal is all of my friends are all hack-n-slash. Well, let's hope that you will get more opportunities in the future...
Eldritch_Lord 10-28-07, 12:53 PM	First off, I'm very impressed. I'm in the middle of writing my own setting, on page 80-something of a planned 100-something, so I understand all the effort you went through, and I must say, the level of detail is superb, the writing is excellent, and the setting as a whole is very different from the norm. Aside from the generic praise, a few particulars: 1) Finally, finally, FINALLY someone had the good sense to treat magic logically! No more phalanxes vulnerable to a wand of fireball, no more wizards going unchecked in a large city, no more ridiculous item creation systems, and no more treatment of magic as a perfect panacea with no downsides! The nexus-towers-as-creators-of-slums was a particularly inspired idea. 2) Usual attempts to advance the timeline to Renaissance, 19th-century or other time periods either fail miserably or attempt to mimic real-world history too much; you've found a good balance point which both isn't cliche ("19th century = D&D + gunpowder") and is internally consistant while retaining the flavor you're looking for. 3) I like that you've built in organization guidelines from the beginning. Too often organizations, the nobility, and other "flavor" aspects are not given enough mechanical rules and therefore are either ignored or ruined; yours is the first setting in which I might actually consider joining an organization for more than fulfilling a PrC prerequisite, because it actually means something. 4) The addressing of diplomacy and espionage instead of out-and-out war is sorely lacking in many settings. Like my last point, because mechanics for RPing (Diplomacy, Charisma, etc.) are less robust, they tend to be de-emphasized in favor of hack-and-slash adventures in the majority of worlds (at least in my experience). 5) The little details. The pun on "life insurance," the side notes to help DMs, the "gnomes as Jews" tract in the Races section, and other things were nice touches. I noticed there were some sections without information in them and unfinished sentences, so I assume this is still a work in progress. Keep up the good work; when my current campaign rolls to a close, I might be able to persuade my group to playtest this if you'd like. Once again, kudos on a job well done.
Slash_Z 11-27-07, 08:34 AM	I must say that the sheer win this setting contains makes me dizzy. I can see this is not finished yet, nevertheless I am impressed by the depth of the PDF. Some time ago I thought about a Urbis-like setting for my Planescape campaign [well, we need to innovate, right? :) ]; but Urbis is pretty much everything I wanted in the scenario. That's the kind of work I wish I had written... :D 10 star thread :cookie:
J?rgen Hubert 01-30-08, 11:00 AM	First off, I'm very impressed. I'm in the middle of writing my own setting, on page 80-something of a planned 100-something, so I understand all the effort you went through, and I must say, the level of detail is superb, the writing is excellent, and the setting as a whole is very different from the norm. Aside from the generic praise, a few particulars: 1) Finally, finally, FINALLY someone had the good sense to treat magic logically! No more phalanxes vulnerable to a wand of fireball, no more wizards going unchecked in a large city, no more ridiculous item creation systems, and no more treatment of magic as a perfect panacea with no downsides! The nexus-towers-as-creators-of-slums was a particularly inspired idea. Glad you like it! The Luddites of Britain gave us the image of factories as "Satanic Mills", and I wanted to see if I can top that. And too often, certain spells and magic powers have consequences which should change settings significantly - but don't for some reason. I found this unsatisfying - and as William Gibson said, "the street finds its own use for things". 2) Usual attempts to advance the timeline to Renaissance, 19th-century or other time periods either fail miserably or attempt to mimic real-world history too much; you've found a good balance point which both isn't cliche ("19th century = D&D + gunpowder") and is internally consistant while retaining the flavor you're looking for. I cheerfully plunder real world history for any inspiration I can get (and you will find a lot of homages if you pay attention), but the main reason for those similarities is that players will be able to recognize something familiar in the setting and thus have an easier time understanding it. And there are plenty of parts that are startingly different from real life history - the magic, the nonhumans, and all those city-states instead of nations. I used real life history to provide a framework for the fantastic elements instead of seeing it as the main point of the setting. Hey, it worked for Warhammer Fantasy, so why not for me? ;) 3) I like that you've built in organization guidelines from the beginning. Too often organizations, the nobility, and other "flavor" aspects are not given enough mechanical rules and therefore are either ignored or ruined; yours is the first setting in which I might actually consider joining an organization for more than fulfilling a PrC prerequisite, because it actually means something. Thanks, though I'm still not satisfied with those rules and I'm working on a revision. I've been inspired by the Reign RPG and the Mandate of Heaven rules for Exalted, both of which feature abstract systems for running organizations and even nations. I plan to create something similar for d20 - a system where organizations can directly interact with each other and attack aspects of other groups (military, financial, reputation) - and make it compatible with existing rules for memberships in such groups. 4) The addressing of diplomacy and espionage instead of out-and-out war is sorely lacking in many settings. Like my last point, because mechanics for RPing (Diplomacy, Charisma, etc.) are less robust, they tend to be de-emphasized in favor of hack-and-slash adventures in the majority of worlds (at least in my experience). In my mind, non-violent ways are often preferable of dealing with villains. Kill him, and he just gets ressurected at the next opportunity. Ruin his reputation and his finances, and he will be left without defences. 5) The little details. The pun on "life insurance," the side notes to help DMs, the "gnomes as Jews" tract in the Races section, and other things were nice touches. Wait until you see the Zionist dragonborn! :D I'm currently trying to work out how to fit in the changes for D&D 4E - including the new races. I think I have some decent concepts for them, and I'm eager to see how 4E turns out. I noticed there were some sections without information in them and unfinished sentences, so I assume this is still a work in progress. It is indeed. Check out this website (http://eruvian.com/locale.asp?localeID=74), where I am currently developing Urbis with the help of others. Feel free to add reviews on individual sections. Some other people have also written material for some parts of the setting (in the Hobgoblin Dominions and Praxus sections), and I've got their permission to use the material in the eventual Urbis Core Setting Book. Keep up the good work; when my current campaign rolls to a close, I might be able to persuade my group to playtest this if you'd like. Once again, kudos on a job well done. Glad to hear it! If you do, by all means tell me how it went.