Cooperative Campaign Setting

[konrad13]

With the talk of campaign settings and the idea for a cooperatively built campaign setting, I've started this thread. I'll post some ideas for discussion, everyone can chime in as well, etc. etc.

1 - How old is the world? Is it a newer world of just a few hundred years or an ancient world with oral (and possibly even written) histories going back thousands of years?

2 - What will be the setting 'core races'? Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfing are a given, but will Half-Elves and Phaerim also be around enough to constitute them being a playable race?

3 - Single pantheon of deities (or singular deity), or several pantheons? Do the Elves and Dwarves worship the same deities or even recognize the validity of the other's deities and things like that?

4 - Will humans be monocultural or will there be several cultures to be from? What about the other races? Are all halflings gentle farmers who smoke pipe tobacco and eat a lot, only getting caught up in adventures due to the crazy antics of those around them?

5 - What is the tech level and is it universal across the whole game area? Will I be able to buy chainmail on one side of the land as well as the other?

6 - What supplements will be used to help the setting?

7 - How well do the player races get along with each other? Are Elves and Dwarves suspicious of each other, or are they strong and faithful companions?

8 - How large is the setting? A string of islands or a continent? Or continents?

9 - And my last question: How did 'Common' and the gold piece become the universal language and currency? Are they the universal language and currency?

[konrad13]

I think I'll post my ideas to the previous 9 questions, though I doubt they will make it to the end in tact, if at all.
1 - Preferably old. Like real old. 15,000 years or so, if not older. However, I like the idea that the various player races only started to arrive in the area of the core zone of the setting ~5,000 years ago, though some may be there much longer. That would give the timeline enough room for the rise and fall of several nations, tribes, empires and what not.

2 -Core races plus Half-Elf, Canein, Phaerim and maybe Gnomes. Not 100% fond of gnomes, since no one can quite figure if they should be more elf like, dwarf like, fey like or what. Canein are just a cool race and Phaerim would be an interesting race to see get more play.

3 - Easy: Multiple and often competing/contradictory pantheons. I just like the idea of scholars and priests in the world trying to explain away how the gods/powers/ancestors work and stuff based on their ideas/faith.

4 - I don't mind some of the races being so called 'monocultural' so long as it works and makes sense. But humans? No, there should be several cultures.

5 - Equivalent to the core rulebook, but make it where tech and supplies vary region to region. You won't find much heavy plate armor in the desert, but plenty of light leather and such.

6 - Not sure on this one. We can all hammer this one out though as we go along.

7 - We can go either way.

8 - I'm imagining a medium sized continent with a few large islands and strings of littler islands, though most of the player races will live near one another despite being in different kingdoms or what have you.

9 - Easiest one: A previous human empire that had almost all of the civilized lands (and some not civilized lands) under their control, making it's language the lingua franca of the setting. But it could be cool if there was no lingua franca except amongst maybe clergies and diplomats.

[-1warrior]

I personally agree that the world should be old. I would personally like gnomes in the game. I would make them the fey variety, rather than the Dwarvish type.

[-1warrior]

Here's my full answers:

1. It should be at least 10,000 years old.

2. I'd going with the following as playable races:

Human
Elf
Dwarf
Halfling
Gnome (the Fairyish type)
Half-Elf

And these as the bad guys:

Orcs
Ogres
Trolls
Giants
Gnolls
Dark Elves

I would drop the goblinoids. I think they're used way too often. Just my opinion.

3. I would say that there should be many different pantheons. Probably several for each race.

4. I would say each race should have several separate cultures within it. The exception might be evil humanoids, who are probably all similar.

5. I would use a fairly universal tech level. As to what that level would be, I would try to make it as simple as possible. Some normal items might be out. I would also create a fairly low-magic world, but that's just my style. In many of my games I take out about half of the magic items in the books.

6. Well, the gnome and half-human ones would be a given. I would also use Druids and possibly Rangers. I don't like Paladins. I could care less about other sub-classes. You might also want to use some of the item supplements.

7. I would think that each culture would get along differently with the other cultures.

8. I would make it fairly small, at least to start. Just to keep things simpler.

9. I would necessarily use them as the universal constants. Mix it up a little.

[SmootRK]

Well considering that I created Caneins and Phaerim, I am liking what you got going on so far.

On Phaerim this I can tell you right away, my daughters and other young female friends of them gravitate to these, becoming the A#1 choice among these young ladies. Elves aren't even considered as a choice with these girls. Also regarding play-testing of these ffolk, they are quite weak physically but the wings/limited-flying helps greatly to keep them out of reach of short melee... as GM to keep things dangerous you have to sprinkle in foes with missile weapons or have other flying creatures to keep them evenly challenged, at least some of the time. I would suggest looking ahead in any module with an eye to modify some encounters to keep these little fairy types from simply flying over all the obstacles.

Noting again, if you play with young female players, the Phaerim appeals to them more than dwarves, halflings, or even elves... a big hit in my little circle of players.

[-1warrior]

Not to be rude, but Phaerim just aren't my cup of tea.

[SmootRK]

Not to be rude, but Phaerim just aren't my cup of tea.

Not for me either... my point was that if you have female players and want something in there that caters to their interests more directly, Phaerim make a great option.

[-1warrior]

Okay. I've only ever had one female player in any of my campaigns. She was better than almost every other player in the group.

[LibraryLass]

I will be honest: if I can play some kind of fairy, a mermaid, or a talking animal (I hesitate to specifically call out MLP-style ponies, but yeah, especially them) I will jump at the chance, but I think I'm girlier than most in that respect.

[-1warrior]

I've had guys in my campaigns play mermen.