Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 remoray Oct 05, 2008 3:14:45	Real-world geography is stable over generations of human civilisation, which makes things easy for cartographers. But does this need to also be true in a magical fantasy world? Could it be possible to have a world where the large-scale geography was re-arranged on a regular basis? Say several times in a single lifetime? Mountains could move around, rivers seek out new routes, seas dry up and re-fill, etc. One advantage to the GM is that it would remove the need to map out entire continents for the campaign world. The GM could literally make up the world as the PCs moved around, and introduce new geographical elements when needed. Picked up a scenario based on mountain caverns? Just move the mountain over to the PCs and run it from there. This would work especially well with a pantheon of nature-based deities. Pray to the river god enough and the river will move over to the city you want to trade with.
#2 snug Oct 05, 2008 3:49:38	Hmm.. I can't see why not. If that is something you and the players want. The beauty of Dnd is that you can customise to suit players tastes... If its not a problem for anybody then go for it. As far as i know there is no DnD police that go to your sessions and murder people that don't play by every rule in the books.
#3 Dargurd Oct 05, 2008 4:10:26	If you did want to map your campaign though just start with a very small area - no more than maybe 20 miles in each direction. Its easy then to say there is any type of terrain you like just over the horizon off the edge of the map. I guess this also fits into 4ed Points of Light concept.
#4 rambaldi Oct 05, 2008 4:34:43	I like the sound of this, you have to start getting every1 to worship or the ever strengthening earthquakes are going to tear the town apart...
#5 Neutronium_Dragon Oct 05, 2008 5:24:36	The primary problem is that civilization would have a hard time developing in such an unstable environment. I suppose you could posit that, for reasons unknown, as civilization begins to develop in an area, it grows more stable. (And if civilization collapses, so does that stability.) That would certainly have some social ramifications, though.
#6 magius_del_cotto Oct 05, 2008 7:00:27	I'll go with everyone else, and say that it sounds like a great idea, especially for a PoL campaign. Heck, you could use it as a reason why the ancient civilizations collapsed if you wanted to. Magius out.
#7 yellowdingo Oct 05, 2008 7:31:51	Been thinking about this myself. I have decided to go with the String theory version of Geography: You create it by going there. That way the assumed position of a location is irrelevent. Castle Fibble sits on a hill that can only be aproached by way of the Villages of Westwash, Furnwood, Huppington and only during the last week of Spring. If they aproach the castle at any other time and/or from any other direction they find the way misleading and become lost. First Rule of Stringtheory applied to Geography: The other side of the world is geographically different because the experiences of those who live there are different.
#8 nowiwantmydmg Oct 05, 2008 13:36:57	I like the idea of moveable geography, I'd say that populated areas are immobile though.
#9 battleaxefield Oct 05, 2008 14:15:08	I like the idea, but I have never found the need to map out an entire campaign setting, even when assuming the geography is constant. My current campaign "map" started out with a village. When it was necessary, they found out there was a front to a war a couple days march from the village. When direction became important, my players asked and I said West. When the need for a city arose, I made it a couple weeks journey East of the village. I know the next adventure site after that will be behind enemy lines, but I'm not quite sure exactly what or where. I will solidify that when and only when it becomes important to do so. Those things "always" existed in the same place, and the PCs have known about them all along, but the players didn't find out about it until there was a need to know.
#10 Krusk Oct 05, 2008 19:02:00	have you considered making one of these http://www.primarygames.com/science/dinosaurs/games/sliders/dino_slide.htm for your map. Then just jumble everything like 2d12 moves a day. or something similar. Gives the feel of at least a minor ammount of stability, but also lets you change things as you want.
#11 strand0 Oct 07, 2008 3:45:16	oops
#12 strand0 Oct 07, 2008 3:52:39	What do you mean NO MAP? You have to have a map and it will be getting redrawn every game month or so. People will have all kinds of direction finding devices, automatically redrawing maps, and other useful items for this changable world. Beside you need a map. So that anyone making a change can say, "I make a sieries of foothills rise along the west side of that big swamp and flood out the orcs of the east side, while driving the lizardfolk away from the once swamp-surrounded castle. " DO NOT LET the players have control over this power at will. (IMHO) You'd be getting a game where every problem is solved by a valcano blasting up under it. Once in the campaign for each player should be more ten fair, and other beings (NPCs) will be changing/valcanoing the terrain as they see fit. Too messy for my tastes... :lightbulb Maybe all(many) of the cities are up in the sky.
#13 Krusk Oct 07, 2008 10:46:13	DO NOT LET the players have control over this power at will. (IMHO) You'd be getting a game where every problem is solved by a valcano blasting up under it. Once in the campaign for each player should be more ten fair, and other beings (NPCs) will be changing/valcanoing the terrain as they see fit. /QUOTE] I was suggesting you have this happen at random, or a precalculated time. Not whenever the players want to.
#14 pass_the_remote Oct 07, 2008 13:15:50	I've been thinking about this idea as well. My reasoning would be to have had the Primordials win their ancient war against the Gods. However, because there is no heirarchy in the Elemental Chaos, and therefore never any clear consensus of how things should be on the material plane, things are never consistent. Mountains shift, oceans move, forests disappear and so on, and so forth. I think you should go for it, just make sure the amount of changes is very low. Say, in the grand scheme of a campaign that lasts a whopping fifty years the continents shift maybe once, or once at the beginning of the campaign and once near the end. But I wouldn't do it anymore than that. Best of luck though; it sounds interesting.
#15 strand0 Oct 09, 2008 3:26:48	DO NOT LET the players have control over this power at will. .... I was suggesting you have this happen at random, or a precalculated time. Not whenever the players want to. I thought someone suggested it. Glad to hear you were not planning it... But (to flip-flop) if part of the world background is its changing nature... the players SHOULD get the change to use that to accomplish something. ;)
#16 Krusk Oct 10, 2008 1:34:51	I thought someone suggested it. Glad to hear you were not planning it... But (to flip-flop) if part of the world background is its changing nature... the players SHOULD get the change to use that to accomplish something. ;) It might be a fun epic level ritual. This would allow both the enemy and the Pcs to do it. Maybe each casting of the ritual allows you to shift one square of terrain. (Im still imagining this based off those puzzles i linked to previously)
#17 eldritch_lord Oct 10, 2008 1:55:33	I was working on (but have since put on hold) a world where the whole world is alive, complete with moving geography. Take a look at the draft on the Campaign Builder's Guild and see if you get any ideas.