A while back I was reading Ringworld by Larry Niven and thought it would be cool to play a game on that sort of world. Recently I started Dming and even more recently decided to try making a campaign world. when i thought of this I remembered Ringworld. Also In the game I'm running I decided to give the dwarven race firearms (juries still out on whether this was a good idea). from these 2 things i decided to make a campaign world on a ring in the future.
I've so far come up with a way for the people to travel the immense distances across the ring, about how futuristic it is and magics role in the world, and a few other things like races and semi-new weapons.
Magic Vs. Technology
I think it was Arthur C. Clark who said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. going by this i decided to have both magic and technology in the same world, but seperate them. on one side you have tech users and on the other magic users. the two sides have a freindly rivalry that gets out of control on occasion. the magic users are elves (obvious choice), half Elf/Orcs (as in 50% Orc 50% Elf) and 1 other race, possibly gnome. In this world they'd actually have a sort of unique niche, the sneaky magic guys, but even then they seem like just a magical halfling. on the tech side are humans (fit nicely), dwarves (dwarves also fit nicely), and halflings (they have the completely unoriginal role of being sneaky. so the gnomes become somewhat redundant).
each race plays a role on what ever side it's on
humans invent things
dwarves build it
halflings run what can be summed up as a sort of mafia
elves are the researchers and developers of new methods of magic
orc/elves (need a better name) are the warrior class
gnomes would be sneaky if they do in fact exist
the Enviorment
As stated it takes place on a ring but what i decided is to give the world a greater sense of vastness and making people feel smallness there's more than one ring. i haven't decide on the exact number or if there's an exact number. my plan is to have the rings spinning not just in the normal way to generate gravity but also spinning on an axis that goes through the ring. here's a rough visual.
I had a rough visual but it didn't appear correctly so it's gone
If anyone finds a better diagram please share. the rings spin in this way in an intricate pattern to form night and day. a day varies from 12 hours to 36 hours. with an average ratio of 16:8 day and night (16 hours of day per 8 hours of night. sine the 2nd axis of spin would also produce gravity people in higher gravity areas would probably be stronger and tougher (maybe shorter). also this causes gravity to vary from 1g to 3g's depending on where you are on the ring. on the sides of the rings are extremely tall walls to keep the air in. the rings are 100's of miles thick and 10's of thousands of miles wide.
people get around the rings through an epic sized teleporter network. even before the current inhabitants knew how to build their own teleporters there were a few that entire cities were built around. the teleporters are two way but go to one place and only one place. the center of the sun. in the middle of the sun is Sol city, a city so large that you'd think the only place they'd have room to build it in was in the center of a star, which, coincidentaly, is where it was built. in Sol are billions of teleporters each going somewhere else. ever since the secret to adding on to the teleporter system was discovered people have been expanding to other parts of the rings at a fair pace. the only thing keeping people from spreading like wildfire is the cost to build a pair of teleporters (1 on the ring 1 in Sol)
Origins of the Rings
many races claim to be the original builders of the rings, these include the...
- Dragons (of course)
- Illithids/mindflayers
- The Gods (the followers of the gods claim this not the gods themselves, more on that later)
- Dwarves and humans together (humans claim they designed it and dwarves say the built it.
- halflings (don't claim they built it but claim they stole it and planned to force everyone to pay rent to the halfling race, they claim the plan didn't work because the halflings weren't able to keep track of all the colonists on all the open space on all the rings to have them pay rent, they also didn't have the manpower to force an entrance fee)
- many others
Religion
The gods of the world Are rather silent. The last time an aspect of a god appeared was never. there have been claims of hearing the voices of a god speaking to them. Most of these are quickly disproven by the fact that a person claimed to hear the same god say something contradictory. The only thing keeping the world from plunging into atheism is the clerics. They have to get their power from somewhere. The obvious answer and simplest is that the gods are real. All the gods have a loose set of I deals their worshipers hold to, mostly discovered through trial and error and personal opinion. Tech users and magic users both have clerics. this is one of the things that hold them together. though the role of divine magic items is vastly different. For example The elves found a way to modify a healing potion with arcane power to make it more potent, this ranges from temporary hit points to temporary boosts to an attribute, but the humans also found a way to modify a healing potion with nanotechnology making them much more potent at repairing the body, this also can allow the potion to help overcome poison and disease and also stimulate the adrenaline gland. this is just one example of how the two sides modify divine magic to fit their culture.
More about Individual Races
Humans
The inventors of the world. they may not live as long as most other races but has never stopped them. because of their short life span the evolved a few traits to make the best of said time. They learn fast. They're resorceful, They're ambitious. For longer than anyone can recall the humans have been freinds with the dwarves and halflings. over the ages this triad of races have been called many names, ranging from the 3 kings of progress to the 3 stooges.
Dwarves
The builders of the triad. If you need something built and need it of the best quality then you need a dwarf. The dwarves have a proud tradition of samurai. in the days of old a dwarven samurai would search out for a master stone mason and hire him to make his armor and weapon. The stone mason would carve out the armor from a solid block of granite. out of the same block he would carve out 2 swords, a katana and a wazikashi. the armor was only used in ceremonial battles as were the swords. But recently the stone armor has become practical. using anitgravity generators built into the suit and artificial muscles to increase strength and a complex process to make the granite harder the stone suit has become very practical. A very similar treatment ocurred to the swords with the swords hardened through the same process and 2 small anti-grav generators added. because of the extremely strong bond between humans, halflings and dwarves it is not unheard of and increasingly more common for humans and halflings to become samurai
Halflings
Since the days of old halflings have had a rich tradition of taking whats not theirs. This tradition is so old that It's actually to some extent legal in human/dwarf/halfling cities. when something is stolen the thief just needs to get across town to a safe house in the thief district and yell "base". people without much valuables to steal live near the thief district. It is considered rude to build a place with value near the thief district cause then the halflings complain it's too easy and promptly bankrupt the people that night. the tradition of yelling base is an old halfling joke and method of calming their nerves during a heist. In the past when a novice thief first started out one trick he got from more experienced thieves was to pretend your playing a game of tag. this technique was quite effective and it became tradition for all thieves to yell base once they got to a safe house. to people not used to the culture of the triad peoples attitude towards stealing is odd. if a thief is caught he is not put into jail for years to attone for his crime, instead he is treated to tea by the thiefs victim they'll have a few laughs and then the city guards arrive and then take the the thief to jail for at most a month usually about a week to attone for getting caught. on the way to jail and in jail escape attempts are expected. just like samurai other races do become thieves
Elves
Known for unlocking the secrets of magick, the Elves are the ones keeping magickup to date and an even match for the triads technology. because of the long life of elves, they are very patient and in no hurry. many millenia ago the elves had an alliance with the orcs. this spawned 2 things the orc/elf race and a legacy of hatred between the 2 after the alliance fell to pieces.
Elf/Orcs
after the orc/elf alliance fell apart the (god I need a better name) elf/orcs were lost, but not for long. the elves recently having lost their supply of muscle decided to graciously accept the unnamed ones. This alliance of elves and the nameless race has proven strong.
Factions
Triad
Humans
Halflings
Dwarves
Orbis Carminis
Elves
Ulrek
other races
these are races that I want incorporated somehow, but haven't decided how.
- warforged
- goblinoids
- kobolds
- possibly gnomes
- giants and titans
- dragons
The books you should look into are D20 Modern, Urban Arcana (which gives you a lot of magic and melee, as well as DnD races) and d20 future (which gives you future tech.)
Just a thought.
It has the surface area of 100's of billions of earths!
Don't make a Ringworld... it IS TOO big.
It has the surface area of 100's of billions of earths!
that's why i chose it. It's awe inspiring. it's quite different than the usual worlds of stone spheres with magic monkeys. these are partially metal partially stone rings with magic monkeys and science monkeys. (I just woke up so i have monkeys on the brain)
also with so much room there's a near infinite amount of places to go adventuring.
bottom line is it's impressive.
I guess I could make a Dyson Sphere:D
In all honesty, the fact that it's a ring world is largely flavour, so far as I can see. Who'd want to map all that stuff? Cool flavour though.
My plan was to draw extremely tiny (about 10,000 sq. miles) areas as the party gets to them. on occasion draw small areas (about the size of a world map). got to have everything relative.
I never said I would map it. Do I look Immortal to you?
My plan was to draw extremely tiny (about 10,000 sq. miles) areas as the party gets to them. on occasion draw small areas (about the size of a world map). got to have everything relative.
:rolleye2:
If your planning a limited world, then the Ringworld'ness is just windo dressing.In the novels its all about the travel and exploration.
;)
- a vehicle- acts as a command center, transport, storage and shelter
- provisions- food, water, medical supplies, etc...
- weapons, armor and things to repair them
- various other things
The PC's could with enough supplies could be away from civilization for years. If the Pc's want to explore than the option is out there. only a tiny tiny tiny amount of the rings are inhabited.
The Ulrek
The Lure
The Green
Udek hai
The orves
The elercs
I dunno anything about this ring world, but it sounds like it could make for some awesome adventures... ancient temples hidden within century old jungles, barren deserts with small nomadic tribes, and airships. I Like this concept. A lot. Gonna go find the books now...
as for gold, 1 GP = $20
and then reference table 7-1 in the core rules
I don't know the actual formula but it is logarithmic.
adding 2 or 3 points to the DC doubles the price.
DC 2, 2 silver
DC 3, 5 silver
DC 4, 1 gold
DC 5, 1 gold, 5 silver
DC 6, 2 gold
DC 7, 2 gold, 5.5 silver
DC 10, 6 gold ($120)
DC 20, 100 gold
DC 50, 6 million gold
so a glock 17 (9mm autloader) would be about 50 gold ($1000) the 50 gold sounds reasonable enough. but the $1000 doesn't. good thing I'm keeping gold pieces in the picture. so now if i make new equipment i just need to find a similar item in the D20 modern or future material that's similar in strength. thanks
where is table 7-1 I only have the System Reference documents so no chapter numbers or even page numbers. I don't know why it didn't come in PDF
so D20 modern is 7.1ed (3+4= 7() 7<7.1)
so a glock 17 (9mm autloader) would be about 50 gold ($1000) the 50 gold sounds reasonable enough. but the $1000 doesn't. good thing I'm keeping gold pieces in the picture. so now if i make new equipment i just need to find a similar item in the D20 modern or future material that's similar in strength. thanks
where is table 7-1 I only have the System Reference documents so no chapter numbers or even page numbers. I don't know why it didn't come in PDF
Actually $1000 seems a little cheep if it is a good gun, Guns are freaking expensive.
I need to decide whether to use the classes presented in D20 modern or to use the classes like fighter and barbarian.
the D20 modern classes seem simpler and somewhat easier to use, but the classic classes add the kind of flavor I want. for example one of the classes i would like to have is the dragonfire adept. They could easily fit into this world. and for equipment it's easy to design interesting and useful items. 2 tubes connected to tanks of hydrogen gas (highly flammable) the tubes end near the mouth, when the adept uses their breath weapon the canisters open and hydrogen is lit by the breath weapon, extending range and damage. That item has gone through my head constantly. and gives a sense of a normal D&D game except in the future. I'm leaning twords using just the classic classes unless there's a really good reason not to or a way to use both (doubtful)
Also notice how it balances out magic users by making them advanced classes, and if anyone complains have them read up the Technomage.
about the magic users being advanced classes, apparentlty you missed a major thing in my first post
there's 2 sides with 2 methods of solving problems
the triad (humans, dwarves, and halflings use technology
the "need a name for them" (elves and Ulrek [might change later if needed]) use magic
so while the triad are charging with powered armor and high tech swords, the magic people (can some one get me a list of possible names. all i can think of is the magic kingdom, but it's too disney) are charging right back at them in heavily enchanted armor and swords that are made of lava (cause +1d6 fire damage isn't enough)
so i need to keep magic as a base class for elves and Ulrek (I'm sure it'll grow on me)
Regnum Venefecorum
Lit: kingdom of wizards
Anuli Magiarum
Lit: Rings or magics
Orbis Carminis
Lit: Circle of Magic formula, circle of song
(Orbis terrarum, circle of lands, means the whole world, sometimes Terrarum is dropped) World of magic formula
The sheer number of meanings in that make it the best contender.
"The Orbis Carminis are coming! Get the anti magic generators on!"
thanks
The upper classes are always strong magicians why lower classes may only progress into magic a small amount or have the need for magic items.
The main reason technology is suppressed is because of the gun. Any one other than a noble with a gun is killed on site. They don't want the great equalizer shaking up their government.
Tie much of the culture to music.
The spoken languages are Draconic(upper class) and Latin (lower classes).
Magical ship engines:
Elemental rings = thrusters
Elemental turbines
Great lutes (in the center of the ship are a number of magical strings, movement is controlled by semi-magical songs that are known only to nobles)
The celestial orb (Greater artifact, controlled only be Imperial family, only a few nobles even know the nature of the control)
Drakes are used in place of fighters and tanks. Winged wolfs are also common beasts of battle. Giant turtles are fortified with enchanted towers and are used for the lower upper class, Great flying capitol ships by upper class and lesser nobles. Great lute driven ships are used by better nobles.
I need to figure something out for wizards, should i give them more power or just leave them the way they are? The fighters and rogues have more power from technology and high magic, but the wizard isn't as equipment dependant so should i give them access to more powerful spells earlier? maybe make every spell 1 level lower and make new 9th level spells (since 9's are now 8's)
thanks again for all this help.
In a story, there is a part where there is a beautiful maiden on the cliffs and rocks of a shore, and she sings to the sea a tale of longing and deep sorrow for being parted from her love. It turns out she is a Talmari, or Great Spirit (think of the Valar from Tolkien - the greater of the two types of Ainur (the other being Maiar)), and she is the Spirit of the Heavens, who has come to the world to help save her love, the Spirit of the World. In thinking about the atmosphere, the geography, the emotions, lyrics, melodies, you build up the world indirectly and in writing these tales you create the world the way you want it to, without the constraint of the 'D&D mould', though of course, you can then easily translate it into D&D terms.
I just personally find it degrading when you have to stat out a town, because then that is all it becomes - a bunch of stats with a description. I like to think of it as an actual place and things such as population are just trivial and meaningless next to the name of the pub owner of the pub the PCs are staying at (or avoiding, depending on the situation).
So whatever you want to focus on, be it wizards, fighters, elves, politics etc., see about the age old idea of showing, and not telling. Yea ok it can be safe to stat it out, but you can run the risk of it being nothing more. If you do it the other way round, you can get the stats, but you already have the fulness of what you have created.
Hope that helps.
. it's gone. thanks for reminding me to find the time to read "Lord of the rings", I'll read it as soon as I finish "Dune".While typing this up and choosing all the correct wording and spelling and grammar and thinking and comprehending about what I'm doing and making I lost a chunk of enthusiasm to worry and selfdoubt. I'm doing my best to not blame you for this though. I'm gonna watch star trek before I go to bed to get my enthusiasm back up. It worked last time this happened.
though can i get your advice on one specific thing. you seem really good at story telling so you should be able to help me with this.
currently in my game the players were in a generic setting with nothing real made. just a world and stuff to kill. I need a way to smoothly transition them into the new world. Currently I'm taking a que from Star Trek next generation with holodecks. I'll start them out where they last left off in the last session and then describe everyones in a while ho reality seems off, each time have it seem more off than the last until finally all of reality falls apart. I then describe how there in a room with completely whit walls, floors, and ceilings, no windows and no door. then a voice is heard
Voice- "sorry about that malfunction folks we'll have that fixed. you can get a refund at the front desk and pickup your equipment in the locker room"
then a door appears and opens. unless they all take stupid classes they walk through and go to the locker room and I give them the choice to make new characters or just update the old ones. then after that have them buy new equipment and then give them the general tour of the world.
any critiques or suggestions?
Ulrek racial traits
- +2 strength +2dexterity -2 wisdom -2 intelligence -2 charisma
- +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An Ulrek who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. An Ulrek’s senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about hidden portals.
- Darkvision 60 feet
- weapon proficiency- Ulreks are proficient with longswords, greatswords, longbows, and shortbows.
- automatic languages- Latin, and Draconic (only if they're a noble). bonus languages aquan, auraun, terran, ignan
- Favored class- dusk blade.
though can i get your advice on one specific thing. you seem really good at story telling so you should be able to help me with this.
currently in my game the players were in a generic setting with nothing real made. just a world and stuff to kill. I need a way to smoothly transition them into the new world. Currently I'm taking a que from Star Trek next generation with holodecks. I'll start them out where they last left off in the last session and then describe everyones in a while ho reality seems off, each time have it seem more off than the last until finally all of reality falls apart. I then describe how there in a room with completely whit walls, floors, and ceilings, no windows and no door. then a voice is heard
Voice- "sorry about that malfunction folks we'll have that fixed. you can get a refund at the front desk and pickup your equipment in the locker room"
then a door appears and opens. unless they all take stupid classes they walk through and go to the locker room and I give them the choice to make new characters or just update the old ones. then after that have them buy new equipment and then give them the general tour of the world.
any critiques or suggestions?
So would I be right in assuming the 'generic' sessions are just a hologram and the new ringworld is the real one?
Hmm if you want to transition the old to the new, and not negate what has happened before, you have the following options:
Your idea. It can work, as long as you drop in hints that the world they are currently playing in isn't real and the 'real' ringworld gets more and more prominent.
If it is going to be new, then let it be just that. New. A new slate, where what you have done before can be set aside and filed (note: not destroyed. Always keep it, even if it is rubbish so you can go back to it at a later date. You never know).
With it being what some call Science Fantasy, you can use devices such as teleportation to bring them to the ringworld, psychological devices such as the generic sessions being a dream, or that it is somehow trapped in the players' minds (perhaps a crossover of your teleportation and The Matrix... if you want it to be slightly grungy).
I don't think them coming out of the holodeck (for lack of a better word atm) and then being given a tour of the ringworld works, because if they are in the holodeck, they would actually already be living on the ringworld, and so already know about it. You could get around that by saying that the malfunction caused them to lose their memory (IIRC, films such as Total Recall and Paycheck spring to mind) and you have a campaign arc that would involve them learning (or rather, relearning) about the world, being shown by someone (an NPC guide) and perhaps looking into what caused the malfunction, if it was intended (like one of the PCs has a hidden power or something) or accidental.
A lot of it depends on the atmosphere of the world. I would avoid overly dystopian/psychological stories if you want a happy-clappy good ol' D&D setting, because that seriousness would seem out of place. If you want to go down that route, then the only ways I can think of to make it natural, is if the world is more sinister than it appears (a la political intrigue of Eberron), more dystopian (Blade Runner), or so massive that there is going to be natural vaults of yay and nay in terms of emotion (Middle Earth; Hobbiton is 'yay!' Mordor and some other parts are 'nay!'). Then of course, if you are going down the modern fantasy magic-equals-technology 'Science Fantasy' route (which I think you are ;) ) then you could always bring in the idea of teleports/gates to connect the different areas of your ringworld. You could include a history of how the gates were created, maybe different races landed on different areas and in time they each found ways to get to other areas, and for a while they shared but eventually one race wanted to dominate and so a war broke out, closing a lot of the gates and now only a few remain. That will get you moving around the world, and because of the closed gates, leave a lot of the world unexplored, and give a definite sense of mystery. Maybe the group goes through one of the gates, and in doing so, their gate closes (dunno why though...) and so the generic sessions were what happened on one side of the gate (perhaps on the other side of the Ringworld) and your actual world/setting is on the other side, in a completely different area.
Just some ideas to get you going. I like to think up ways that makes the events seem natural (even if I have to create a backstory to make it so :P ). I hate it when things are crowbarred in for its own sake - that is when things start to fail (...Forgotten Realms, anyone?).
the idea of having areas of the rings connected by gates/teleporters is already in place. this is from the intro post at the beginning of the thread
people get around the rings through an epic sized teleporter network. even before the current inhabitants knew how to build their own teleporters there were a few that entire cities were built around. the teleporters are two way but go to one place and only one place. the center of the sun. in the middle of the sun is Sol city, a city so large that you'd think the only place they'd have room to build it in was in the center of a star, which, coincidentaly, is where it was built. in Sol are billions of teleporters each going somewhere else. ever since the secret to adding on to the teleporter system was discovered people have been expanding to other parts of the rings at a fair pace. the only thing keeping people from spreading like wildfire is the cost to build a pair of teleporters (1 on the ring 1 in Sol)
my plan is to have only an extremely tiny area of a few of the rings actually inhabited by the main civilizations (triad and Orbis Carminis)
my plan was to have the holodeck they can go to when they feel like playing a normal medieval setting. their characters go to the holodeck and do a simulation. If we ever want to try a different setting or even another game system the holodeck can patch it all together into one world with the rings being the only true world. oh and I do plan on using the word holodeck to refer to the hologram room ingame.
I haven't looked at forgotten realms much so could you tell me what it's problems are so I can avoid them.
This way the only need is for them to discover a way off the island into whatever setting you want, really. Maybe an old teleport circle in the bottom of some long-forgotten cavern that the big bad is using, whatever works.
The descriptions of the horizon and sky will just have to be retconned, but most players would be pretty understanding, I think. Heck, our own game we're going to do some of that to turn it into the setting me and my friend are working on. My wife's character is the big change as the only human in the party; she's just likely to be a human survivor of Ragnarok, and possibly be modelling herself after Xena from the TV show (which is what my wife is doing).
When I said give them the tour I meant as in give the players themselves imformation of the world so they know what their characters know
Ok, that will work
the idea of having areas of the rings connected by gates/teleporters is already in place. this is from the intro post at the beginning of the thread
My bad, I should have looked.
my plan is to have only an extremely tiny area of a few of the rings actually inhabited by the main civilizations (triad and Orbis Carminis)
That seems to work, especially with the 'points of light' feel.
my plan was to have the holodeck they can go to when they feel like playing a normal medieval setting. their characters go to the holodeck and do a simulation. If we ever want to try a different setting or even another game system the holodeck can patch it all together into one world with the rings being the only true world. oh and I do plan on using the word holodeck to refer to the hologram room ingame.
As long as you're happy with it, then do it. I personally feel that you don't need the holodeck, but simply put it in another part of the ringworld (it is that massive, after all). But hey, it's your world, you must above all things be comfortable with what you're doing, and at the end of the day, regardless of what you read on the boards, you're the person in charge.
I haven't looked at forgotten realms much so could you tell me what it's problems are so I can avoid them.
Ah, well I'm not an FR player, but from the boards is that a lot of people's reactions didn't like the transition between 3.X and 4E realms, where the spellplague and 100-year gap was a hodge-podge of an effort to get a new Realms. I personally think it was an amateur move, because not only was it not explained well, but I think it may have gone against the character of the Realms, and it didn't give a positive feel (despite it being a cataclysmic event) to the world.
Basically, whatever you do in the world, it has to be viable and justified, rather than an excuse for a change. IMHO, I think that the marketing and money side of the Realms got in the way of a potentially fantastic transition that will bring a new light to the Realms. In short: you create the world, you don't calculate it.
Rather than the "holodeck" idea, maybe they're just on an isolated island? On a ringworld, an island can be pretty huge. The odity of the sky was never remarked on because to the characters, it's not odd.
This way the only need is for them to discover a way off the island into whatever setting you want, really. Maybe an old teleport circle in the bottom of some long-forgotten cavern that the big bad is using, whatever works.
The descriptions of the horizon and sky will just have to be retconned, but most players would be pretty understanding, I think. Heck, our own game we're going to do some of that to turn it into the setting me and my friend are working on. My wife's character is the big change as the only human in the party; she's just likely to be a human survivor of Ragnarok, and possibly be modelling herself after Xena from the TV show (which is what my wife is doing).
and how did they end up on said island? And when they get back to civilization we'll have to handle the shock and awe of all this new tech and magic. It seems to me that it would be easier to have them always be a part of the world and with the holodeck I can explain why you don't see an arch in the sky and multiple rings. A few of my players would grab onto this discontinuity with their lives and sink their fangs into it until blood stops coming out. plus they wouldn't be proficient with half, if not most, of the equipment. they would look at a laser pistol and say "WTF is that?" the party wizard would look at all the new magic and burn his spellbook in frustration cause he has to go back to school just to be able to match the power of other wizards. then they have to learn to live i n the new society. it would get to complicated for me.
Ok, that will work
My bad, I should have looked.
That seems to work, especially with the 'points of light' feel.
As long as you're happy with it, then do it. I personally feel that you don't need the holodeck, but simply put it in another part of the ringworld (it is that massive, after all). But hey, it's your world, you must above all things be comfortable with what you're doing, and at the end of the day, regardless of what you read on the boards, you're the person in charge.
Ah, well I'm not an FR player, but from the boards is that a lot of people's reactions didn't like the transition between 3.X and 4E realms, where the spellplague and 100-year gap was a hodge-podge of an effort to get a new Realms. I personally think it was an amateur move, because not only was it not explained well, but I think it may have gone against the character of the Realms, and it didn't give a positive feel (despite it being a cataclysmic event) to the world.
Basically, whatever you do in the world, it has to be viable and justified, rather than an excuse for a change. IMHO, I think that the marketing and money side of the Realms got in the way of a potentially fantastic transition that will bring a new light to the Realms. In short: you create the world, you don't calculate it.
thanks for the support. I have my hopes up for this all i need to do now is write up a few things and it'll be ready. writing stats for hoverbikes can wait until they can afford them. I forgot to mention I'm doing 3.5 rules for a few of reasons (this isn't a put down of 4.0)
- I don't have the money for the 4.0 books
- I already have all the books for 3.5 on PDF and by god I'm gonna use them
- I don't have the money for the 4.0 books
I know that's a pretty big detail so sorry I forgot to mention that
so the lesson to be learned from FF is to not just slap things on to change things, instead slide them smoothly into a place where it fits like a mosaic. that's actually a good way to describe world making.
Making a world is like making a mosaic each individual piece flows into the other pieces to form a beutiful work of art when seen from a few steps back.
I need to put that in my sig some day
thanks for the support. I have my hopes up for this all i need to do now is write up a few things and it'll be ready. writing stats for hoverbikes can wait until they can afford them. I forgot to mention I'm doing 3.5 rules for a few of reasons (this isn't a put down of 4.0)
- I don't have the money for the 4.0 books
- I already have all the books for 3.5 on PDF and by god I'm gonna use them
- I don't have the money for the 4.0 books
I know that's a pretty big detail so sorry I forgot to mention that
so the lesson to be learned from FF is to not just slap things on to change things, instead slide them smoothly into a place where it fits like a mosaic. that's actually a good way to describe world making.
Making a world is like making a mosaic each individual piece flows into the other pieces to form a beutiful work of art when seen from a few steps back.
I need to put that in my sig some day
That's fine. Actually, the ruleset shouldn't influence your way of thinking. It is a world, not a mould you are creating. The ruleset will only need to come into play when you want to do just that; play in the world. The 'fluff' of the world, that is, the background info, is edition independant. How that world functions (like how hoverbikes would work for example), would need a ruleset to do. But that doesn't stop you creating the hoverbikes, and designing them, does it? It's only on how you want to represent their movement, weapons (if they have any) that you will need the rules.
I suppose a more romantic version of your mosaic idea is that the world you create is a pool of water - made up of individual droplets, a single one of which could tip the pool, and when in perfect harmony, is as still as the gaze of the heavens: seamless, boundless, and utterly beautiful to behold.
.oh and CBS.com is no longer hosting "star trek: original series" anymore, so no Trek for me
Can't do anything about ST:TOS, but I suppose DVD is a way to go.
It is by no means a failure. Someone showed up. You have a world that you want to share with others.
Keep working on the world, keep trying to get players. Post on here to let us know how it's going, keep putting up ideas and your world progress.
Sniper
very very accurate but only gets a max of 2 attacks a round. gets various class features that handle staying hidden after shooting.
well I'm sure I'll have better luck next time. I'll promise them freshh baked cookies if they come. I might also see if they are free this monday since it's a holiday.
the origin is this- go read "The last Question" by Isaac Asimov. It's quite fitting actually. this'll change how religion works so now instead of clerics worshipping gods they worship different aspects of the universe, unless someone can think of a better thing for them to worship. I've also considered having them all worship Multivac and everyone interprets what he stands for the same.
a really good resource for 3.5 worldbuilding is the environment specific books they released about three years back. I'm a big fan of Frostfell, and Stormwrack and the desert version also give you a lot of good material. another resource can be the FG Underdark guide. You can take a lot of underdark concepts from there and integrate them into your own underdark.
Last suggestion, don't be afraid to create monsters of your own, it's a little extra in terms of effort, but the payoff can be really rewarding. I did a really simple creature for my 3.5 world that was really just a big fantasy buffalo(think Aurochs from MTG), and everyone loved them. It didn't have to be something amazing, just an endearing beast of burden that fleshed out the world a little, the natives hunted them and rode them and produced armor and goods from them, and it gave that barbarian tribe a lot of character, and also let me lead right into their religion and their societal focus on hunting, so just something simple like what kinds of mundane animals live there and how the people of a region interact with them can have a great payoff in terms of immersion.