I've only got some basic ideas for the setting thus far.
Firstly, there are no Gods in this setting- nobody worships what, in Core, would be be considered deities (though there are still cults and faiths and the like) and thusly there are no Divine classes. The vast majority of faiths give reverence to the spirits of nature (Primal). Unlike, say, Dragonlance, this is not a situation where the gods abandoned the world- or, if they did, they did so well beyond the memories of any creature living today.
Secondly, I'm aiming for an element of grit, or darkness, or whatever you want to call it, for the setting. It's still a fantastical world, but that doesn't mean things are shiny-happy. For example, eons ago, a particular civilisation of humans tried to exterminate the eladrin (the only type of elf whose presence I have decided upon for this setting, so far). In the present, the eladrin have banded together into a more technologically advanced society (magitek-based- that is, Artificer craftings and Alchemy), whereas their human 'neighbours' are still in an essentially tribal state (think the Alpinadorians, from DemonWars), and the eladrin take full advantage of that fact.
I do have some ideas for how the world fits together, but not enough... really more random bits and pieces...
*Eladrin, as mentioned before, have an advanced, magitek based civilisation. They could have become an empire, but various factors (war, plague, their own cultural downslide) has broken it apart in various city-states. Very literally, in that case- thanks to their urbanization, many of those 'city states' are the size of small kingdoms, and they can communicate between those fairly easily. Their population has taken a sharp downfall in the present day, but they aren't declining- rather, they're just slower than, say, humans when it comes to repopulation.
*The Eladrin created the Warforged to do all of the physical labor in their society, initially, but their own population downfall means that Warforged have since been reassigned to filling out the ranks of the Eladrin's armies. Warforged regiments are routine on the border between "the wilderness" and "the cities", and the Tribals hate them.
*There are myriad human civilisations across the world. The one that I've though about the most shares the same continent as the Eladrin technocracy- these humans have a cultural level vaguely akin to the Celts or Vikings: if you're familiar with the DemonWars Saga, think the Alpinadorians. They worship and revere the Primal Spirits, but are savage and superstitious- they consider Arcane Magic to be evil, and thusly loathe the Eladrin. That they have been forced away from lands they consider theirs, and are occasionally raided by Eladrin and/or Warforged bands whose intent can range from harmless terrorizing to abducting for experimentation to total massacre, does not help them get along.
*Dwarves are not the bearded mining axe-wielding drunks so common of fantasy. The dwarves of this setting shave themselves totally as part of their culture, practice the arts of Psionics, and dwell in a floating city of crystal. A fairly large one too. As in, the size of a good-sized state.
...That's about all I have, so far. So, anyone willing to give me a hand in making this a solid setting?
Like the title says, I've had the rudiments for a campaign setting of my own start piling up in my head recently. I've never really made a CS of my own before, so I could use some advice.
I've only got some basic ideas for the setting thus far.
Firstly, there are no Gods in this setting- nobody worships what, in Core, would be be considered deities (though there are still cults and faiths and the like) and thusly there are no Divine classes. The vast majority of faiths give reverence to the spirits of nature (Primal). Unlike, say, Dragonlance, this is not a situation where the gods abandoned the world- or, if they did, they did so well beyond the memories of any creature living today.
Secondly, I'm aiming for an element of grit, or darkness, or whatever you want to call it, for the setting. It's still a fantastical world, but that doesn't mean things are shiny-happy. For example, eons ago, a particular civilisation of humans tried to exterminate the eladrin (the only type of elf whose presence I have decided upon for this setting, so far). In the present, the eladrin have banded together into a more technologically advanced society (magitek-based- that is, Artificer craftings and Alchemy), whereas their human 'neighbours' are still in an essentially tribal state (think the Alpinadorians, from DemonWars), and the eladrin take full advantage of that fact.
I do have some ideas for how the world fits together, but not enough... really more random bits and pieces...
*Eladrin, as mentioned before, have an advanced, magitek based civilisation. They could have become an empire, but various factors (war, plague, their own cultural downslide) has broken it apart in various city-states. Very literally, in that case- thanks to their urbanization, many of those 'city states' are the size of small kingdoms, and they can communicate between those fairly easily. Their population has taken a sharp downfall in the present day, but they aren't declining- rather, they're just slower than, say, humans when it comes to repopulation.
*The Eladrin created the Warforged to do all of the physical labor in their society, initially, but their own population downfall means that Warforged have since been reassigned to filling out the ranks of the Eladrin's armies. Warforged regiments are routine on the border between "the wilderness" and "the cities", and the Tribals hate them.
*There are myriad human civilisations across the world. The one that I've though about the most shares the same continent as the Eladrin technocracy- these humans have a cultural level vaguely akin to the Celts or Vikings: if you're familiar with the DemonWars Saga, think the Alpinadorians. They worship and revere the Primal Spirits, but are savage and superstitious- they consider Arcane Magic to be evil, and thusly loathe the Eladrin. That they have been forced away from lands they consider theirs, and are occasionally raided by Eladrin and/or Warforged bands whose intent can range from harmless terrorizing to abducting for experimentation to total massacre, does not help them get along.
*Dwarves are not the bearded mining axe-wielding drunks so common of fantasy. The dwarves of this setting shave themselves totally as part of their culture, practice the arts of Psionics, and dwell in a floating city of crystal. A fairly large one too. As in, the size of a good-sized state.
...That's about all I have, so far. So, anyone willing to give me a hand in making this a solid setting?
Hmmmm....I see some potential pitfalls. First if this just a campaign not to worried about not allowing divine classes, but for a setting outright banning several classes is not good.
Second, if the humans are tribal, they are probably likely to worship some kind of pantheon, whether or not they really exsist would be up to you.
Third is more of a question, are you planning on using 3.5 or 4e rules? I ask because psionics is ALOT different in 4e.
That was why I thought that no Divine Classes would make an interesting setting quirk; as this isn't 3.5, the "Healbot Cleric" isn't needed anymore, Warlords, Bards, Artificers, whatever the Psionic Leader is, all of these can take care of healing the party.
I did say there are faiths and cults and the like, it's just that none of them produce what, in PC terms, would be Divine classes. But, then again, seeing as how 4th edition gods are strictly neccessary for Divine classes, I suppose I could allow them with a reflavoring...
I'm planning on using 4th edition rules- I kind of figured that posting it here, without a note about 3.5, and with reference to Eladrin (the +Dex, +Int elves of 4e) and the Primal Power Source, would make that clear enough that I didn't need to state that explicitly.
That was why I thought that no Divine Classes would make an interesting setting quirk; as this isn't 3.5, the "Healbot Cleric" isn't needed anymore, Warlords, Bards, Artificers, whatever the Psionic Leader is, all of these can take care of healing the party.
I did say there are faiths and cults and the like, it's just that none of them produce what, in PC terms, would be Divine classes. But, then again, seeing as how 4th edition gods are strictly neccessary for Divine classes, I suppose I could allow them with a reflavoring...
The only reason I'm concerned that as a setting it needs to be as wide open as possible. You could have it that those that clerics and such either draw on their own power and think its that of their Gods, or maybe some entity that isn't a god is messing with them.
Sorry about missing the references. :Shakes head:
It'd be interesting I think. Dwarves are going to be a lot different flavor wise. A suggestion is make it post apocolypic. The war between the humans and elderin devestaed both races and the world in general. The Elderian are really just starting to get their act together, the Dwarves went to their city to avoid the fallout of the conflict and the other human kingdoms either ducked and covered or joined one side or the other, but if any human kingdom came to their aid the Elderian wouldn't remember it. What about Elves and halflings?
I haven't actually thought about the other races, to be honest- figuring out their place in the world is one of the things I need help with.
Hmm... I'm thinking that Elves (+Dex, +Wis) are actually extinct in this setting. Part of the base inspiration for the Eladrin/Tribals situation was the Elfquest series, with the idea: what if the "Fey Folk", rather than allowing themselves to be pushed into the marginal territories, took full advantage of their innate gifts and used them to become the agressors? Basically, when the Tribals first turned against the "Fey Folk", the Elves tried to mediate a peace, due to sharing similar beliefs, but were mostly destroyed by the fanatical human armies- the survivors joined up with the Eladrin, and have essentially been bred out of existence, assimilated utterly into the other branch of the family tree.
Halflings... not a clue. I've honestly never really paid that much attention to them in the past.
Let's see... so that leaves these races to account for...
*Dragonborn
*Drow
*Genasi
*Shifters
*Goliaths
*Gnomes
*Half-Orcs
*Tieflings
*Changelings
*Half-Elves
*Tieflings
*Whatever races are in PHB 3
Is this list complete? I didn't include Deva or... what's their name, the Dream-Spirit bonded to a mortal from the Eberron Player's Guide, because I'm thinking I'll probably leave them out. But it might be possible to find a place for them, too.
Since you seem interested in standing some long cherished stereotypes on their pointy ears here are a few for you:
Drow: Just a suggestion of course. But perhaps the drow of this world were at one point like the Drow of most D&D worlds: Their culture thrived on intrigue, cruelty and the never-ending quest for personal power and dominance. Perhaps they were even responsible for the genocidal war between the Humans and Eladrin. But in the end, when their civilization threatened to collapse on itself due to its own depravity and excesses a prophet arose in the sunless world. I am not going to say he was Surak (sorry, Star Trek reference there) or Gandhi but he eventually led the Drow down another path towards redemption. Their society now is vastky different than it was before, perhaps more logical. I am not saying its all posies and daisies and sunshine but it is better now than it was.
Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Gnolls and Half-Orcs oh my!: Formerly pushed into the most barren and inhospitable parts of the world these races have suddenly found countless opportunities in this new world. With their former enemies either exterminated outright or exhausted from (generations?) of warfare the Orc and Goblin races are suddenly able to expand into the more fertile areas of the world. They do so and in the process discover their own ability to form kingdoms and societies. Perhaps the first are led by Half-Orcs but in time the other races may very well come to dominate these crude kingdoms. The races listed above may indeed be the dominant races in your game world. At least in some parts of it. There could be good and evil as well as nuetral Orc (etc.) nations in this world.
Halflings and Gnomes: What do 5,000 Halfling warriors do when faced with 5,000 bloodcrazed Human barbarians? Run and hide, of course! Perhaps these races are more remembered as myths more than anything else. Gnomes as trickster spirits good at repairing things and Halflings as a sort of Home body spirit. Of course if you do have these spirits taking care of hearth and home don't forget to set out treats and drinks for them from time to time lest they become wrathful at not being 'paid' for their work and break something (or mess your house up...) Of course the real question is: what happened to them? Perhaps they fled the scene of the Genocidal War between the Humans and the Fey. Perhaps the Gnomes sided with their Fey Brothers.
Tieflings: In a world that is full of such unbridled hatred and rage I imagine that Demons and Devils would feel right at home. Thus Tieflings may very well exist in the open in Human Society. Depending on how you view the Humans in your settings they may be leaders, warriors or outcasts. It is possible that they would be accepted in lands dominated by Orcs and Goblins. It is likely that Eladrin leaders would hold Tieflings up as examples of the evil and depraved nature of humans...
Half-Elves: I suspect that in the setting you have described these poor creatures wold be considered the lowest of the low. They would certainly be outcast from both Eladrin/Elf and Human societies. Unless Half-Elves in this world breed true then they would likely be very very rare indeed. If they do in fact breed true (i.e. two half-elf parents will have a half-elf child) then they may have their own kingdom/tribal lands somewhere. But it is likely that Humand and Eladrin would still likely view them as abominations to one degree or another.
Ok enough of my brain storming...
If the war was large enough it might have sucked some of the other races into it, like Teiflings might have sided with the Humans, Orcs might have just fought everyone, Dragonborn might have been mercenarys, Elves might have fought with their cousins. Halflings might not have joined either side as the dwarfs did. Also I'm assuming the enviroment was either not damaged or has recovered by this point.
I like your idea for the dwarves - maybe they have enslaved their gnome cousins like the Spatans did the Helots - I'm thinking big psi-war, but I'm not sure who would be involved.
I've finally got a few more ideas for the setting, but I'm not sure if they're good or bad.
*Given that this is a post-apocalyptic setting, I was thinking that the "primary" continent was actually shattered by the forces unleashed in the "Final Battle", broken up into many smaller islands. Of course, "smaller" is a relative term. Australia's an island, so is Hawaii, and Papau New Guinea too. The various "empires" tend to be concentrated on a small number of islands, but even then there tend to be 'wild spots' in between the various cities and towns and whatever. The islands are just what the rulers of that particular kingdom claims as their official territory- in the present day, most still don't have the strength to truly strengthen their grip on their lands, nevermind lead open war against their enemies.
*By rule of law, Half-Elves are equal to their Eladrin kinfolk. In reality, though, Eladrin tend to look down on their hybrid relatives- while they don't outright hate them for the human in their lineage, they do consider them to be blemished, or tarnished, by their human ancestry. This means that Half-Elves tend to either leave the Eladrin kingdom, or push themselves to prove that they are equal to their "Fey" siblings. The law stems from the fact that, before the "War of Revenge", half-elves were often the results of Fey women who were abused by humans, but managed to escape back to their own people. Nowadays, however, a half-elf is more likely to be the result of either half-elf parents, or an Eladrin taking advantage of a human slave. This also means that their Eladrin 'clan' tends to be both a source of protection as well as a source of humiliation. While a given Eladrin may look down on a half-elf with a blood-tie to his clan, he will still fiercely defend that half-elf against insults and attacks by eladrin of other clans- the half-elf might be a tarnished member of his family, but he is still family, and eladrin cling to that tradition.
*Other races typically don't care about a half-elf's lineage; their reaction to the half-elf tends to be based more on their opinions towards the eladrin. The "Tribals" hate and despise half-elves, who are actually more likely to be in the assault parties into Tribal territory these days then the eladrin are, but other humans are generally accepting of them, if wary, as they know that half-elves are almost invariably tied to the eladrin kingdom.
*For the curious, the war was basically started by bigotry on the human sides; some humans envied the supernatural abilities of the Fey and, in envy, sought to destroy what they could not have. They would have just been bad apples, but things really went to hell when such bigots managed to attain positions of power- chiefs and Primal classes. In these positions, they could lie and claim that the spirits the Tribals venerate had deemed the Fey abominations against nature, to be cleansed no matter what. The Elves were heretics, who abused the powers of the Primal Spirits and showed no respect to them. The Eladrin were witches, shunning the Primal Spirits for the "black art" of Arcane Magic. While the Eladrin initially retreated once they had advanced their magic into Artifice, there were those who chafed at the idea of turning the other cheek (I'm thinking that Half-Elves were prominent amongst this factor), and finally the Eladrin struck back. A supposed "holy war" spiralled into a cycle of hatreds that, finally, destroyed the very land they had been fighting over before one side finally claimed themselves the victors.
*Initially, I was only thinking of including Eladrin in this setting, but now that I do think on it some more, I have a vision for Drow. Drow, in this setting, are basically Eladrin Calibans (a race from Ravenloft; humans warped into a monstrous state by prenatal exposure to black magic and the like). All of the mystical and alchemical pollution in the Eladrin lands means that more and more are being born... "different". I'm not thinking they would be as grotesque as human Calibans would be, but they do have a distinct physical appearance. Which leads me to my next thought...
*Changing physical appearances. I was thinking that, as this is a world where I've turned a good number of cliches upside down already, it would be alright to change how some races look to accompany changes in fluff, while still retaining the crunch. For a completely hypothetical example, dragonborn might look more like 3e's half-dragons (human, but with extra draconic features, like a short tail, vestigial wings, large patches of scales instead of skin, etc) instead of being the anthropomorphic dragons they are in Core. Could I get away with this?
As for Halflings, you said that the main continent was shattered by the war and now there are lots of islands. Make it so that the seas around those islands are particularly violent and difficult to navigate. Now for whatever reason, the Halflings have taken to the sea like a duck to water (so to speak) and are the clear experts when it comes to navigating the treacherous waters between islands. This gives them a place in the world while also making it unlikely that any faction would want to bring much harm to them as they are needed to get from island to island.
With regard to the lack of Divine Classes. I too share some concern for completely eliminating them from the setting (though I agree for a campaign, it could work). My current setting that I have been running though has a similar setup. In my campaign, the major governments are Theocracies. The Clerics in power though fear Wizards in general and Sorcerors in particular (this setting was originally 3.5). There was actually decent reason for this, but at any rate, the fear of the leaders has spread to the populace at large, thereby making the "magic users" feared/hated/outcast/etc. They exist, but they are rare and generally not well-liked.
Now for your campaign, what if the leaders of the humans that lead them into the war with the Eladrin were in fact the Clerics and Paladins of the world? The Clerics viewed the industries of the Eladrins as heresies on the natural order and as abominations of the gods and called on the humans to strike down this evil. Of course, the war with the Eladrin proved to be disastrous to humanity and the people turned on the clerics and threw them from power. They've reverted to tribalism and those shamen and druids who display some level of "magic" are the new leaders. There are still a few devoted souls who cling to the old ways though, however, they need to be careful not to reveal themselves too openly. With D&D, you can even get away with not actually having any gods, but rather stating that the character's faith is sufficient to draw upon the "divine" power source.
Just an idea of course, but it seems like a decent way of providing for divine classes while still making them rare. Perhaps you could even make similar parallels with the Eladrin. Their Clerics prefered to rely on their gods to see them through the conflict, but it turns out that it was clearly the technology that won the war. This turn of events has brought the artificers and inventors of the kingdom to much more prominence while many Eladrin whisper that it is fortunate that they did not listen to the priests for they may have lost the war if they had. Now you have a world where divine classes are definitely disfavored, but still present. In fact, it could be fun from a roleplay perspective to play a member of a divine class in this environment.
Basically, in Warhammer, Gods are given existence by their worshippers: when a sentient creature imagines a god, they create its "outline", so to speak, in the Astral Sea. When the worshipper of that god dies, their soul infuses with the outline to give it life, its greater individuality sacrificed to become part of their god. The more people who die believing in a god, the more souls meld into it, and thus the stronger it becomes.
I was wondering if this element could be 'merged' with your suggestions somehow. This would basically mean that this setting does have gods, of a sort, but they are much weaker then other settings, and it's possible for them to simply dissipate back into the Astral if their faith is stamped out.
Oh, and just to point out, there are other human kingdoms besides the "Tribals", I've been using that name to specifically refer to the human nation who warred against the eladrin nation and caused the apocalypse. I just haven't been able to think of a good motif for the other human nations that still exist in the world, though one on-the-tip-of-my-brain one is a typical magocracy (wizards and/or sorcerers, as opposed to artificers).
Thank you, both for the thoughts on halflings and the thoughts on Divine powers. I like them both. Out of curiosity, would it be possible to add an element of Warhammer Fantasy to the 'theology' of this setting?
I was wondering if this element could be 'merged' with your suggestions somehow. This would basically mean that this setting does have gods, of a sort, but they are much weaker then other settings, and it's possible for them to simply dissipate back into the Astral if their faith is stamped out.
Oh, and just to point out, there are other human kingdoms besides the "Tribals", I've been using that name to specifically refer to the human nation who warred against the eladrin nation and caused the apocalypse. I just haven't been able to think of a good motif for the other human nations that still exist in the world, though one on-the-tip-of-my-brain one is a typical magocracy (wizards and/or sorcerers, as opposed to artificers).
Certainly you can merge them. What I had proposed was that the character simply used "faith" in an ideal to achieve power without any necessary connection between one cleric and the next. Basically, with your suggestion, the first cleric of *insert god here* creates the outline of the god with his faith. Then as he passes, he adds to it and future clerics/paladins/avengers etc. draw on that faith (i.e. the first character's initial faith) as more and more clerics move on, the god becomes stronger as each successive cleric adds his or her faith to the outline. In relatively recent times though, the clergy are outcasts and there are far fewer followers, as such the faith is dimisinshing and the gods are weaker. Essentially the gods draw their power from the faith of their followers, but as they lose followers they diminish. In other words, without followers there are no gods.
Now that I think of it, that also creates some great adventure/campaign hooks. If the gods need followers in order to exist, then a rival god/demon/cult/faction etc., can kill the god by killing the followers. This would explain both isolated attacks against individual followers as well as attacks against an entire community that still holds true to their god. This could really be cool for avengers in particular as they could sorta become the prototypical Dark Hero. Not well liked, but on a very important mission to their god.
As for the other human nations, will the campaign start in or next to them? If not, then you really don't need much more than a name -- and even that is debatable. Start your players off small and expand their knowledge slowly as they level.