Game Ideas
I thought I'd write here about the game idea I'm rolling around. This should be background for starting, so it won't really be anything new or game-spoiler info. I also wanted to talk about some points that I'm hoping I can develop, as they're elements to storytelling that I find cool.
Main elements:
Elements of the classical epic and the hero's journey. I like the classical Homeric epics of the Illiad & Odyssey.
* The escalation of the players from mortal to heroic
* The journey to some mythical place (often the classical underworld, but more it's completely different than their own world)
* A message to take back that humanity (or the mortal world) needs to know.
From other books and stories, there's some elements here that I want to somehow incorporate:
* Myth Drannor from Forgotten Realms
It was a mythical place, sealed off by at least Elminster (may have been others??) because of its danger. But it was an ancient elven city, long left to ruin. Inside, however, were magics and mysteries beyond belief.
* The Shadow War from Babylon5
Good & Evil set on its ear. I think my version will be more cut and dry. Really good vs evil, instead of JMS' order vs chaos.
An ancient race now thousands of years dead that created and lived in an ancient city, highly religious, ruled by a Cleric council. They reached their pinnacle, but got corrupted from the inside out. Too much power and too much blind faith by those choosing to follow the believers instead of believing themselves. Mostly Elves, but other races lived in this metropolis, called the "Web of Faith", now called the "Web of Fate". It's been abandoned and sealed off. The gods have turned away from mortals, angry at those who could not see the coming darkness.
It was the fall of mortals, and Lolth was at the center of it. She corrupted the high priests in the Web and turned the faithful against one another into civil war. She was eventually banished to the demonweb pits, but not without revenge, as the heart of the city lay in ruins.
Current day, the outskirts of the Web of Fate are ruled by Theocrats. They govern with their own brand of religion and is most often oppressive. The neighboring lands are city-states, mostly in their own little feifdoms, few venture outside the city limits, mostly traders.
The dwarves have confined themselves to ther mountain strongholds, and there are rumors of dark-skinned elves that raid the trade-routes and those that go too far from the cities.
So, that's a taste of the premise. I'm really not going to go heavy into spiders, but certainly Lolth will want to come back and enslave the world that banished her.
Main elements:
Elements of the classical epic and the hero's journey. I like the classical Homeric epics of the Illiad & Odyssey.
* The escalation of the players from mortal to heroic
* The journey to some mythical place (often the classical underworld, but more it's completely different than their own world)
* A message to take back that humanity (or the mortal world) needs to know.
From other books and stories, there's some elements here that I want to somehow incorporate:
* Myth Drannor from Forgotten Realms
It was a mythical place, sealed off by at least Elminster (may have been others??) because of its danger. But it was an ancient elven city, long left to ruin. Inside, however, were magics and mysteries beyond belief.
* The Shadow War from Babylon5
Good & Evil set on its ear. I think my version will be more cut and dry. Really good vs evil, instead of JMS' order vs chaos.
An ancient race now thousands of years dead that created and lived in an ancient city, highly religious, ruled by a Cleric council. They reached their pinnacle, but got corrupted from the inside out. Too much power and too much blind faith by those choosing to follow the believers instead of believing themselves. Mostly Elves, but other races lived in this metropolis, called the "Web of Faith", now called the "Web of Fate". It's been abandoned and sealed off. The gods have turned away from mortals, angry at those who could not see the coming darkness.
It was the fall of mortals, and Lolth was at the center of it. She corrupted the high priests in the Web and turned the faithful against one another into civil war. She was eventually banished to the demonweb pits, but not without revenge, as the heart of the city lay in ruins.
Current day, the outskirts of the Web of Fate are ruled by Theocrats. They govern with their own brand of religion and is most often oppressive. The neighboring lands are city-states, mostly in their own little feifdoms, few venture outside the city limits, mostly traders.
The dwarves have confined themselves to ther mountain strongholds, and there are rumors of dark-skinned elves that raid the trade-routes and those that go too far from the cities.
So, that's a taste of the premise. I'm really not going to go heavy into spiders, but certainly Lolth will want to come back and enslave the world that banished her.