Your idiomatic campaigns [Archive] - Wizards Community

Your idiomatic campaigns [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
afromonkey
02-28-08, 02:47 PM Hey there, all!

I'm a second year classicist at uni, and I often drop little historical nuggets in my campaign, and lots of the politics is shaped from my reading, but my focus is on philosophy and I was wondering;

1) Do you draw on your academic/professional training to add awesome things to your campaigns, whether you've used anything to greatly improve your players immersion in your world or just because it adds to the story/themes of your campaign.

2) Does anyone do the whole 'making a language' tolkein style thing, I got some basic phonemes down for most of my languages but after that, important things rarely come up (linguistics is my other focus in the course, and although I'd like to think my players notice, I doubt they've picked up that the -nis- suffix, or similar in related languages, indicates 'land')

(On a broader note, how do you deal with languages - i find that the system in an old dragon magazine of 4 skill points = proficiency in a language rather than 1 makes for more interesting interaction and players don't consistently know 14 languages at higher levels

3) Anyone have any interesting anecdotes of taking philosophical concepts and using it in their games, whether it's just noting down different places ethical systems, or having the PCs meet crazy manifestations of interesting ideas, or coming up with interesting explanations for the physics + metaphysics of your world (where magic presumably works)

some weird stuff happens in the classical world - take the emperor valerian for instance - after he was killed
he was skinned and stuffed with straw and used as a footrest, difficult to work into a game, however...

http://image.bayimg.com/hajjjaabb.jpg
yes i know the islands are close together, the bit in between them isn't sea though
Naderion
02-29-08, 09:18 AM Yes, I do such things frequently. I'm a major in Culture/Religion (though admitedly first semester) and it's impressive how much it can affect your approach to many things in such a short time with only some of the very basics.
I usually don't use any real world cultures or fictional cultures by other autors, but I do pick a lot of elements from other cultures as the basis to create my own. I'd say the unique cultures come right after the idea of a spirit-centric theme when it comes to what things are the important foundations of the whole setting.

I've no intention to go through with all the work to create whole languages, but I do make have use of linguistics. I've got lists mostly of traditional gaelic and germanic names and asigned those I liked to the several cultures of the world. I also researched wich word-fragments were traditionally used in place names, like "hill", "home", "brook", "ford", and so on, and made lists of them for each of the major language-families of the world. Hopefully, you just have to read the name to have a good idea from which culture a character is or in what country a place is.
Also, the world doesn't have a common language. There is High Elven, which almost all elves know, but only a small group uses everyday; Draconic, which is the language of dragons and is used in the form of many dialects by most reptilian humanoids; Goblin, which many orcs, gnolls, and giants learn to communicate wich each other; and a human trade language, which is mostly used by human traders, but the basics are also known by most people in urban areas. But usually local languages will dominate. It still allows PCs to be able to buy supplies in almost all places, but it preserves the experience to be in a foreign country when you don't speak the language of stable boys or have to wait at an outlying farm until someone fetches grandpa, because he's the only one who knows the Trade language.

I also like to add "unconventional" social norms to cultures. As free-spirited beings with rather androgynous anatomy, elves know no gender differentation which might lead to "inapropiate" behavior in human settlements or could unsettle humans in elven settlements. Gnomish homes are usually shared by several families without considerations who is related to whom. Orcs don't have a concept of ownership. Anyone may use what he needs when conflicts arise the most powerful descided, because the tribes survival is in his hands, but it makes orcs appear as bullies to other races.
Etarnon
02-29-08, 09:48 AM ...so don't worry your pretty little selves about that.

I feel vaguely insulted.

As to your post:

Yes, I use my physics/astronomy background in my Traveller campaigns to make real-feeling planets and worlds that generally follow physical science principles.

I account for solar energy, effects from nearby moons, axial tilt, greenhouse effect, orbital paths and eccentricity, distance from the solar primary, and other factors, when designing a world, and detailing it for in game colonization or habitation.

All sorts of detail goes into the background history of each world,integrating it to the larger, overall story / setting.

And I do languages, also, for each major and some of the minor cultures of my science fiction games. Traveller is set up to do that, and encourages it.

That's a nice map, also. I'm a big fan of CC2, CC3, and Fractal Terrains, but that looks like a fairly well hand-drawn digital job.

What was your process? It evokes the flavor of HARN.
Naderion
02-29-08, 11:41 AM I remember doing research about the orbits of moons around a planet to determine how it would work to have a big slow moon and a small fast moon. As I didn't want to have to complex tides I tried to find out in which way size, speed and distance of have an effect on each other.
That's so nerdy, I could just have said "there's a big one and a smaller, faster one" and everything would have been fine. :D

But I did find out that the fast moon would have longer periods between to full monns. ;)

I also worked out a detailed system how magic works and how it is connected to the inner planes and such, but I think that's actually not completely unimportant, since the focus of the world is the mysterious workings of fairy magic. Like places which ARE evil, or where fears become physical, or the souls of the dead wander the land unnoticed and stuff.
Eldritch_Lord
03-01-08, 08:03 PM 1) Do you draw on your academic/professional training to add awesome things to your campaigns, whether you've used anything to greatly improve your players immersion in your world or just because it adds to the story/themes of your campaign.

Well, I'm still a senior in high school, so I don't have very much specialized training or the like, but I am a bit of a linguistics/ancient history buff--just enough to know more than 90% of my classmates (and 100% of my players) but not nearly enough to hold my own against a specialist. Many of my relatives are lawyers, and plenty has rubbed off on me. And my particular areas of interest are physics and computer science. So my worlds tend to have basic religions, superficially complex and/or realistic languages, complex and realistic cultures and legal/moral systems, and OCD-down-to-the-last-quark magic systems, laws of physics, and cosmologies.

2) Does anyone do the whole 'making a language' tolkein style thing, I got some basic phonemes down for most of my languages but after that, important things rarely come up (linguistics is my other focus in the course, and although I'd like to think my players notice, I doubt they've picked up that the -nis- suffix, or similar in related languages, indicates 'land')

I've studied bits of Greek and Latin in my free time, and I've applied that to make internally consistent languages. I have a minor mental block where I can't just make up fantasy names--they have to have some sort of meaning, even if it's very well hidden and even if only I know what it is--so I usually take some English, Spanish, German, or French words or phrases, change the spelling, change it to Latin or Greek pronunciation, and voila: new word/language/people/country. I try to keep things consistent across racial lines--Elves are mostly French+Latin, Dwarves are German+a bit of Gaelic, halfings are a weird mix of Spanish and babelfished Russian, Gnomes tend towards pure Greek, and so on.

(On a broader note, how do you deal with languages - i find that the system in an old dragon magazine of 4 skill points = proficiency in a language rather than 1 makes for more interesting interaction and players don't consistently know 14 languages at higher levels

I sat down and figured out that, based on real-world level and skill equivalents in D&D, 1 skill point per language was pretty realistic, so I've kept that in as-is; however, which languages you can learn and how many there are are heavily houseruled.

3) Anyone have any interesting anecdotes of taking philosophical concepts and using it in their games, whether it's just noting down different places ethical systems, or having the PCs meet crazy manifestations of interesting ideas, or coming up with interesting explanations for the physics + metaphysics of your world (where magic presumably works)

Every one of my campaign worlds has a different cosmology and magic system, fleshed out as far as I can take it. I'm a bit weaker in the area of religions, but I've done a few rather interesting ones; the one I remember most clearly was a variation on social Darwinism where an entire nation worshiped a benevolent deity exclusively whose clergy prohibited citizens from physically, economically, or otherwise harming other citizens, but everything from political offices to salaries was based on "survival of the fittest" and working your way up to the top, so the juxtaposition of "Me first, last, and only" outlooks with "First, do no harm" pacifism was...interesting.

I started 2 other threads to get other posters' opinions on limited solar system cosmologies (here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=948095)) and level of campaign detail (here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=989548)) that you might want to take a look at as well.
Naderion
03-02-08, 07:56 AM I sat down and figured out that, based on real-world level and skill equivalents in D&D, 1 skill point per language was pretty realistic, so I've kept that in as-is; however, which languages you can learn and how many there are are heavily houseruled.
Take a look at the real world. Children of emigrants usually know the language of their parents and the language of their current country. Almost anywhere in europe all children learn english and school and many also a second foreign language.
This makes 4 languages for what are practically 1st level commoner, though probably with Int 12 or 14.
Eldritch_Lord
03-02-08, 10:57 AM Take a look at the real world. Children of emigrants usually know the language of their parents and the language of their current country. Almost anywhere in europe all children learn english and school and many also a second foreign language.
This makes 4 languages for what are practically 1st level commoner, though probably with Int 12 or 14.

Right; 4 languages would be about right for 12 Int and 4 cross-class ranks in Speak Language. I've made a few assumptions about the modern world when making D&D comparisons:
With advances in education, the sciences, and knowledge in general, the average modern human would be more educated than the average medieval D&D human.
With more access to information the average medieval D&D human, an average modern human's intelligence would be a few points higher, as Int measures capacity and ability to learn.
Because modern humans are more easily able to specialize and have broader skill bases, the average person in first-world countries would be better represented as an Expert than a Commoner.
Most modern adults have probably reached 2nd or 3rd level, as they have more leisure time for their pursuits and have studied, experienced, and done more than Joe Medieval Peasant.
So, taking these into account, the language system is pretty realistic. A European human child might be an Expert 1 with 4 languages known. An American human child might be an Expert 1 with 2-3 languages known, as less emphasis is placed on speaking other languages and thus fewer points would be put in Speak Language. A very focused linguist might have made Speak Language a class skill, and thus might be an Expert 3 with up to 8 languages known. And so on and so forth.
afromonkey
03-02-08, 02:34 PM Thanks to everyone who's posted, these responses are great!

To Etarnon: I didn't mean to offend, so I've removed the bit at the end that might have sounded patronising or annoying :) Your traveller campaigns sound really detailed, that was just the sort of thing i was thinking about. Reading about astronomical things always makes me want to try campaigns out in a space environment, and it sounds like you manage to work your experience into your campaigns in just the sort of way I hope to be able to.

To Naderion and Eldritch_lord: The Speak language skill system could definitley use a few tweaks, as you suggest, and I'm open to ideas about that, but as to what you said to do with your campaigns, that is, once more, just the sort of thing I was looking for, thanks, especially on your ideas to do with cultures and language - really interesting :)

I'll check out those two threads you linked to as well, thanks.
LeeAlucard
03-06-08, 09:05 AM I'm actually an Electronics major, so it would be very difficult to utilize my "field of expertise." However, I'm also a connoisseur of extremely weird/random facts, and these sometimes creep into my games.

As for language, I've never invented any for my games.

If something is said in another language and the PCs speak it, I specify that the NPC is speaking in that language.

If only one speaks it, I ask the player if he or she would want his/her character to "translate" for the other PCs. If they decide not to "translate," then I write the player a note saying what the NPC is saying.

If none of them speak it, I tell my players that the NPC is speaking in a language other than Common.
Cranewings
03-06-08, 03:00 PM I'm a paramedic. I add in quite a bit about the injuries people suffer and their treatments when there isn't a cleric around to help.

For example, one of the player characters couldn't call for help because an orc shot her in the diaphram with an arrow (: It's a good time.
Naderion
03-06-08, 03:04 PM This kind of severe smartassitism hapopen probably every time when somethings happen in a game that is somehow connected to one of the players profession. :D
Shaso_Fish
03-06-08, 10:56 PM When I came up with my campaign setting, I went through literal days tracking down little bits of history and assorted fantasy works to through into the metaphorical pot.

What I got out of it was a campaign that had ideas from a wide range of normally incompatible settings and references that (at least, according to my players) ended up quite fun and open. Earthquakes have occured, messing up large regions, allowing for all manner of quests and things to be opened up. My players have dealt with governments beyond your traditional fantasy ones (so far I am the only person in our group to have created something even remotely resembling communism in a fantasy setting).

As for languages, I generally keep it to the basic system, though I do add one minor twist for some fun. Languages are learned in three stages:

1) Basic Understanding: Player knows a smattering of the language, and could probably hold a basic conversation (This is where the skill point is spent), though certain words would remain untranslated, letting the players guess as to their meaning. Context for the sayings and phrases are slim to none.

2) Standard Understanding: Player speaks the language quite well, and could probably talk his way through a country (one level later than #1). Player understands some basic context for the language, though obscure phrases may be more difficult.

3) Advanced Understanding: Player speaks the language fluently, with no problems understanding context or wording. He is essentially a local in the manner.

While I didn't invent languages for my games, I did put some effort into finding words and phrases for others. (As an example, I'm working on a dictionary for the Tau Empire for Warhammer 40,000, with nearly 500 words cobbled together from various fluff sources and conjecturizations).
NorthWind
03-08-08, 02:43 PM I'm a fairly new DM, but I'm working on a few settings right now.

Haven't gotten the chance to try them out too much in play yet, but as I design them, I'm thinking about all sorts of things like the ones mentioned in the first post.

For example, in my tabletop Islands setting, the players are the commanding officers of a ship, and have the freedom to sail to any island they so choose - however, to capture an old-fashioned exploration vibe, they only have a small map of the entire sea available to them - they'll need to purchase or create their own maps for regions beyond their own chart, as opposed to living in a world that has been pretty much explored. I'm looking forward to when they venture off their chart :D

Also, each island archepelago (sp?) has a growing table of family names, and a few notes on culture and appearance of the inhabitants. So, for example, the islands of Manx have a set of (hopefully) phonetically similar family names: Act, Chant, Kempe, Entath, etc.

I'm also trying to get a feel of fairy tale monsters. For example, goblins are a type of troublesome spirit, and rather than having a goblinoid civilization someplace, they inhabit hollow trees, ruins, and so on.

For languages, I pick a real world language to use as a basis for names, places, and so on.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
afromonkey 02-28-08, 02:47 PM	Hey there, all! I'm a second year classicist at uni, and I often drop little historical nuggets in my campaign, and lots of the politics is shaped from my reading, but my focus is on philosophy and I was wondering; 1) Do you draw on your academic/professional training to add awesome things to your campaigns, whether you've used anything to greatly improve your players immersion in your world or just because it adds to the story/themes of your campaign. 2) Does anyone do the whole 'making a language' tolkein style thing, I got some basic phonemes down for most of my languages but after that, important things rarely come up (linguistics is my other focus in the course, and although I'd like to think my players notice, I doubt they've picked up that the -nis- suffix, or similar in related languages, indicates 'land') (On a broader note, how do you deal with languages - i find that the system in an old dragon magazine of 4 skill points = proficiency in a language rather than 1 makes for more interesting interaction and players don't consistently know 14 languages at higher levels 3) Anyone have any interesting anecdotes of taking philosophical concepts and using it in their games, whether it's just noting down different places ethical systems, or having the PCs meet crazy manifestations of interesting ideas, or coming up with interesting explanations for the physics + metaphysics of your world (where magic presumably works) some weird stuff happens in the classical world - take the emperor valerian for instance - after he was killed he was skinned and stuffed with straw and used as a footrest, difficult to work into a game, however... http://image.bayimg.com/hajjjaabb.jpg yes i know the islands are close together, the bit in between them isn't sea though
Naderion 02-29-08, 09:18 AM	Yes, I do such things frequently. I'm a major in Culture/Religion (though admitedly first semester) and it's impressive how much it can affect your approach to many things in such a short time with only some of the very basics. I usually don't use any real world cultures or fictional cultures by other autors, but I do pick a lot of elements from other cultures as the basis to create my own. I'd say the unique cultures come right after the idea of a spirit-centric theme when it comes to what things are the important foundations of the whole setting. I've no intention to go through with all the work to create whole languages, but I do make have use of linguistics. I've got lists mostly of traditional gaelic and germanic names and asigned those I liked to the several cultures of the world. I also researched wich word-fragments were traditionally used in place names, like "hill", "home", "brook", "ford", and so on, and made lists of them for each of the major language-families of the world. Hopefully, you just have to read the name to have a good idea from which culture a character is or in what country a place is. Also, the world doesn't have a common language. There is High Elven, which almost all elves know, but only a small group uses everyday; Draconic, which is the language of dragons and is used in the form of many dialects by most reptilian humanoids; Goblin, which many orcs, gnolls, and giants learn to communicate wich each other; and a human trade language, which is mostly used by human traders, but the basics are also known by most people in urban areas. But usually local languages will dominate. It still allows PCs to be able to buy supplies in almost all places, but it preserves the experience to be in a foreign country when you don't speak the language of stable boys or have to wait at an outlying farm until someone fetches grandpa, because he's the only one who knows the Trade language. I also like to add "unconventional" social norms to cultures. As free-spirited beings with rather androgynous anatomy, elves know no gender differentation which might lead to "inapropiate" behavior in human settlements or could unsettle humans in elven settlements. Gnomish homes are usually shared by several families without considerations who is related to whom. Orcs don't have a concept of ownership. Anyone may use what he needs when conflicts arise the most powerful descided, because the tribes survival is in his hands, but it makes orcs appear as bullies to other races.
Etarnon 02-29-08, 09:48 AM	...so don't worry your pretty little selves about that. I feel vaguely insulted. As to your post: Yes, I use my physics/astronomy background in my Traveller campaigns to make real-feeling planets and worlds that generally follow physical science principles. I account for solar energy, effects from nearby moons, axial tilt, greenhouse effect, orbital paths and eccentricity, distance from the solar primary, and other factors, when designing a world, and detailing it for in game colonization or habitation. All sorts of detail goes into the background history of each world,integrating it to the larger, overall story / setting. And I do languages, also, for each major and some of the minor cultures of my science fiction games. Traveller is set up to do that, and encourages it. That's a nice map, also. I'm a big fan of CC2, CC3, and Fractal Terrains, but that looks like a fairly well hand-drawn digital job. What was your process? It evokes the flavor of HARN.
Naderion 02-29-08, 11:41 AM	I remember doing research about the orbits of moons around a planet to determine how it would work to have a big slow moon and a small fast moon. As I didn't want to have to complex tides I tried to find out in which way size, speed and distance of have an effect on each other. That's so nerdy, I could just have said "there's a big one and a smaller, faster one" and everything would have been fine. :D But I did find out that the fast moon would have longer periods between to full monns. ;) I also worked out a detailed system how magic works and how it is connected to the inner planes and such, but I think that's actually not completely unimportant, since the focus of the world is the mysterious workings of fairy magic. Like places which ARE evil, or where fears become physical, or the souls of the dead wander the land unnoticed and stuff.
Eldritch_Lord 03-01-08, 08:03 PM	1) Do you draw on your academic/professional training to add awesome things to your campaigns, whether you've used anything to greatly improve your players immersion in your world or just because it adds to the story/themes of your campaign. Well, I'm still a senior in high school, so I don't have very much specialized training or the like, but I am a bit of a linguistics/ancient history buff--just enough to know more than 90% of my classmates (and 100% of my players) but not nearly enough to hold my own against a specialist. Many of my relatives are lawyers, and plenty has rubbed off on me. And my particular areas of interest are physics and computer science. So my worlds tend to have basic religions, superficially complex and/or realistic languages, complex and realistic cultures and legal/moral systems, and OCD-down-to-the-last-quark magic systems, laws of physics, and cosmologies. 2) Does anyone do the whole 'making a language' tolkein style thing, I got some basic phonemes down for most of my languages but after that, important things rarely come up (linguistics is my other focus in the course, and although I'd like to think my players notice, I doubt they've picked up that the -nis- suffix, or similar in related languages, indicates 'land') I've studied bits of Greek and Latin in my free time, and I've applied that to make internally consistent languages. I have a minor mental block where I can't just make up fantasy names--they have to have some sort of meaning, even if it's very well hidden and even if only I know what it is--so I usually take some English, Spanish, German, or French words or phrases, change the spelling, change it to Latin or Greek pronunciation, and voila: new word/language/people/country. I try to keep things consistent across racial lines--Elves are mostly French+Latin, Dwarves are German+a bit of Gaelic, halfings are a weird mix of Spanish and babelfished Russian, Gnomes tend towards pure Greek, and so on. (On a broader note, how do you deal with languages - i find that the system in an old dragon magazine of 4 skill points = proficiency in a language rather than 1 makes for more interesting interaction and players don't consistently know 14 languages at higher levels I sat down and figured out that, based on real-world level and skill equivalents in D&D, 1 skill point per language was pretty realistic, so I've kept that in as-is; however, which languages you can learn and how many there are are heavily houseruled. 3) Anyone have any interesting anecdotes of taking philosophical concepts and using it in their games, whether it's just noting down different places ethical systems, or having the PCs meet crazy manifestations of interesting ideas, or coming up with interesting explanations for the physics + metaphysics of your world (where magic presumably works) Every one of my campaign worlds has a different cosmology and magic system, fleshed out as far as I can take it. I'm a bit weaker in the area of religions, but I've done a few rather interesting ones; the one I remember most clearly was a variation on social Darwinism where an entire nation worshiped a benevolent deity exclusively whose clergy prohibited citizens from physically, economically, or otherwise harming other citizens, but everything from political offices to salaries was based on "survival of the fittest" and working your way up to the top, so the juxtaposition of "Me first, last, and only" outlooks with "First, do no harm" pacifism was...interesting. I started 2 other threads to get other posters' opinions on limited solar system cosmologies (here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=948095)) and level of campaign detail (here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=989548)) that you might want to take a look at as well.
Naderion 03-02-08, 07:56 AM	I sat down and figured out that, based on real-world level and skill equivalents in D&D, 1 skill point per language was pretty realistic, so I've kept that in as-is; however, which languages you can learn and how many there are are heavily houseruled. Take a look at the real world. Children of emigrants usually know the language of their parents and the language of their current country. Almost anywhere in europe all children learn english and school and many also a second foreign language. This makes 4 languages for what are practically 1st level commoner, though probably with Int 12 or 14.
Eldritch_Lord 03-02-08, 10:57 AM	Take a look at the real world. Children of emigrants usually know the language of their parents and the language of their current country. Almost anywhere in europe all children learn english and school and many also a second foreign language. This makes 4 languages for what are practically 1st level commoner, though probably with Int 12 or 14. Right; 4 languages would be about right for 12 Int and 4 cross-class ranks in Speak Language. I've made a few assumptions about the modern world when making D&D comparisons: With advances in education, the sciences, and knowledge in general, the average modern human would be more educated than the average medieval D&D human. With more access to information the average medieval D&D human, an average modern human's intelligence would be a few points higher, as Int measures capacity and ability to learn. Because modern humans are more easily able to specialize and have broader skill bases, the average person in first-world countries would be better represented as an Expert than a Commoner. Most modern adults have probably reached 2nd or 3rd level, as they have more leisure time for their pursuits and have studied, experienced, and done more than Joe Medieval Peasant. So, taking these into account, the language system is pretty realistic. A European human child might be an Expert 1 with 4 languages known. An American human child might be an Expert 1 with 2-3 languages known, as less emphasis is placed on speaking other languages and thus fewer points would be put in Speak Language. A very focused linguist might have made Speak Language a class skill, and thus might be an Expert 3 with up to 8 languages known. And so on and so forth.
afromonkey 03-02-08, 02:34 PM	Thanks to everyone who's posted, these responses are great! To Etarnon: I didn't mean to offend, so I've removed the bit at the end that might have sounded patronising or annoying :) Your traveller campaigns sound really detailed, that was just the sort of thing i was thinking about. Reading about astronomical things always makes me want to try campaigns out in a space environment, and it sounds like you manage to work your experience into your campaigns in just the sort of way I hope to be able to. To Naderion and Eldritch_lord: The Speak language skill system could definitley use a few tweaks, as you suggest, and I'm open to ideas about that, but as to what you said to do with your campaigns, that is, once more, just the sort of thing I was looking for, thanks, especially on your ideas to do with cultures and language - really interesting :) I'll check out those two threads you linked to as well, thanks.
LeeAlucard 03-06-08, 09:05 AM	I'm actually an Electronics major, so it would be very difficult to utilize my "field of expertise." However, I'm also a connoisseur of extremely weird/random facts, and these sometimes creep into my games. As for language, I've never invented any for my games. If something is said in another language and the PCs speak it, I specify that the NPC is speaking in that language. If only one speaks it, I ask the player if he or she would want his/her character to "translate" for the other PCs. If they decide not to "translate," then I write the player a note saying what the NPC is saying. If none of them speak it, I tell my players that the NPC is speaking in a language other than Common.
Cranewings 03-06-08, 03:00 PM	I'm a paramedic. I add in quite a bit about the injuries people suffer and their treatments when there isn't a cleric around to help. For example, one of the player characters couldn't call for help because an orc shot her in the diaphram with an arrow (: It's a good time.
Naderion 03-06-08, 03:04 PM	This kind of severe smartassitism hapopen probably every time when somethings happen in a game that is somehow connected to one of the players profession. :D
Shaso_Fish 03-06-08, 10:56 PM	When I came up with my campaign setting, I went through literal days tracking down little bits of history and assorted fantasy works to through into the metaphorical pot. What I got out of it was a campaign that had ideas from a wide range of normally incompatible settings and references that (at least, according to my players) ended up quite fun and open. Earthquakes have occured, messing up large regions, allowing for all manner of quests and things to be opened up. My players have dealt with governments beyond your traditional fantasy ones (so far I am the only person in our group to have created something even remotely resembling communism in a fantasy setting). As for languages, I generally keep it to the basic system, though I do add one minor twist for some fun. Languages are learned in three stages: 1) Basic Understanding: Player knows a smattering of the language, and could probably hold a basic conversation (This is where the skill point is spent), though certain words would remain untranslated, letting the players guess as to their meaning. Context for the sayings and phrases are slim to none. 2) Standard Understanding: Player speaks the language quite well, and could probably talk his way through a country (one level later than #1). Player understands some basic context for the language, though obscure phrases may be more difficult. 3) Advanced Understanding: Player speaks the language fluently, with no problems understanding context or wording. He is essentially a local in the manner. While I didn't invent languages for my games, I did put some effort into finding words and phrases for others. (As an example, I'm working on a dictionary for the Tau Empire for Warhammer 40,000, with nearly 500 words cobbled together from various fluff sources and conjecturizations).
NorthWind 03-08-08, 02:43 PM	I'm a fairly new DM, but I'm working on a few settings right now. Haven't gotten the chance to try them out too much in play yet, but as I design them, I'm thinking about all sorts of things like the ones mentioned in the first post. For example, in my tabletop Islands setting, the players are the commanding officers of a ship, and have the freedom to sail to any island they so choose - however, to capture an old-fashioned exploration vibe, they only have a small map of the entire sea available to them - they'll need to purchase or create their own maps for regions beyond their own chart, as opposed to living in a world that has been pretty much explored. I'm looking forward to when they venture off their chart :D Also, each island archepelago (sp?) has a growing table of family names, and a few notes on culture and appearance of the inhabitants. So, for example, the islands of Manx have a set of (hopefully) phonetically similar family names: Act, Chant, Kempe, Entath, etc. I'm also trying to get a feel of fairy tale monsters. For example, goblins are a type of troublesome spirit, and rather than having a goblinoid civilization someplace, they inhabit hollow trees, ruins, and so on. For languages, I pick a real world language to use as a basis for names, places, and so on.