Latest Homebrew Setting
For some reason I can't get my fantasy homebrew out of my head. I thought of a neat twist and I can't quit thinking about. Instead of fighting it, I'll try to let it flourish. I figure I'll share that for posterity.
When I started sketching out this world a few years ago I had a few broad goals. The first was that I wanted it to be relatively 'traditional' fantasy. While I typically dislike non-human races, you can't deny the popularity of dwarves and elves. The problem is that they've been done to death with just about every twist you can imagine (Our Elves are different! They float! And they're made of candy!). Having twisted fantasy races has actually become more trite than the traditional races themselves. So I've decided to only have a handful of playable races with a little different take on them. The goal is not to make them different just to be different (Our Dwarves like whiskey, not ale. They're totally different) but to put a spin on them that both stems from and feeds into the world itself. All of my favorite settings do this well.
I've decided that I need to make my dwarves and elves make sense. Haven't you ever wondered how dwarves live underground? And no, MAGIC! is not an appropriate answer. Why are elves always so much better than humans in the fiction? And why do we accept that superiority being neutered for game balance purposes? Can this be fixed in an interesting way that makes things not only fun to play, but will drive the story.
I think so....but I'm going to put a little more work into it before I post anything here.
Another thing I wanted was a truly ancient world. The Malazan books inspired me here as while I enjoyed the books less and less as I went on, I did enjoy the fact that the world was hundreds of thousands of years old and that fact came up into the story time and time again.
I wanted to evoke the same feeling. A few months back, when I was pondering these things, I wrote a bit of a setting brainstorm document. The following is the intro that I wrote. Enjoy.
“It is naught but human conceit that thinks there are places on this world that are yet untread. I say to those fools who harbor such thoughts; go to these ‘untouched’ places and shout your suspicions. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the mocking laughter in the echoes and whispers that follow, for the very dust you walk upon is what remains of ancient empires.” - Cathius Al-Ser
I. Epochs Gone By
Look at the world around you. How many have gazed upon the same sight? How many eyes have seen from that exact same spot? You would be a fool to think that view is unique. While the tides of time have washed away the carcasses of past civilizations, it doesn’t change the fact that the world is not new. Quite the contrary, it is ancient in such a way that few mortal minds can truly comprehend.
We know little of those whom we call the founder races, but who is to say that they were the first? None of them are around to confirm or deny our guesses. Perhaps they wiped out traces of the ones who came before them, if any did at all. Whatever the case, it remains a fact that numerous peoples and civilizations have risen and fallen on the same ground we walk on today. Sometimes we can see their legacy in the world around us, many times we cannot. Many of these peoples left things buried in the earth that we have no business uncovering. When we have pried into their hidden secrets we have paid for it in blood. Let the earth keep her secrets.
And, most of all, remember the true lesson here: We will be forgotten one day too. What legacy will you leave to make our mark on this world?
When I started sketching out this world a few years ago I had a few broad goals. The first was that I wanted it to be relatively 'traditional' fantasy. While I typically dislike non-human races, you can't deny the popularity of dwarves and elves. The problem is that they've been done to death with just about every twist you can imagine (Our Elves are different! They float! And they're made of candy!). Having twisted fantasy races has actually become more trite than the traditional races themselves. So I've decided to only have a handful of playable races with a little different take on them. The goal is not to make them different just to be different (Our Dwarves like whiskey, not ale. They're totally different) but to put a spin on them that both stems from and feeds into the world itself. All of my favorite settings do this well.
I've decided that I need to make my dwarves and elves make sense. Haven't you ever wondered how dwarves live underground? And no, MAGIC! is not an appropriate answer. Why are elves always so much better than humans in the fiction? And why do we accept that superiority being neutered for game balance purposes? Can this be fixed in an interesting way that makes things not only fun to play, but will drive the story.
I think so....but I'm going to put a little more work into it before I post anything here.
Another thing I wanted was a truly ancient world. The Malazan books inspired me here as while I enjoyed the books less and less as I went on, I did enjoy the fact that the world was hundreds of thousands of years old and that fact came up into the story time and time again.
I wanted to evoke the same feeling. A few months back, when I was pondering these things, I wrote a bit of a setting brainstorm document. The following is the intro that I wrote. Enjoy.
“It is naught but human conceit that thinks there are places on this world that are yet untread. I say to those fools who harbor such thoughts; go to these ‘untouched’ places and shout your suspicions. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the mocking laughter in the echoes and whispers that follow, for the very dust you walk upon is what remains of ancient empires.” - Cathius Al-Ser
I. Epochs Gone By
Look at the world around you. How many have gazed upon the same sight? How many eyes have seen from that exact same spot? You would be a fool to think that view is unique. While the tides of time have washed away the carcasses of past civilizations, it doesn’t change the fact that the world is not new. Quite the contrary, it is ancient in such a way that few mortal minds can truly comprehend.
We know little of those whom we call the founder races, but who is to say that they were the first? None of them are around to confirm or deny our guesses. Perhaps they wiped out traces of the ones who came before them, if any did at all. Whatever the case, it remains a fact that numerous peoples and civilizations have risen and fallen on the same ground we walk on today. Sometimes we can see their legacy in the world around us, many times we cannot. Many of these peoples left things buried in the earth that we have no business uncovering. When we have pried into their hidden secrets we have paid for it in blood. Let the earth keep her secrets.
And, most of all, remember the true lesson here: We will be forgotten one day too. What legacy will you leave to make our mark on this world?