| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Nov 2016 : 08:59:46
So if someone were to do a new campaign setting guide what things are essential.
My personal thought is that it should be a guide to playing an rpg in that setting (either as a player or GM). So lots of information about how the setting works is essential (religion, magic, money, travel, daily life, etc).
Given the amount of regional info already available im inclined to briefly name the regions and thats it.
Note this is not a guide that deals with 5e or 4e or even 3e. Its just a guide to running the realms. The timeline and regions i intend to do separately
So what is important to people in a setting guide |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 20:56:03
Sounds like you approve. Im still going to present the other official theories as well. Im just going to work on this as the main one |
| Markustay |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 20:38:11
Since all worlds mirrored that first, destroyed world (taken directly from an article written by Gygax himself in the very 1st issue of The Dragon) the 'copies' (reflections?) would all have creatures based on the originals, and on most 'normal' (fantasy) worlds, they would develop along the same lines.
On some worlds, however, some species have gone 'divergent', for whatever reason (usually, but not always, environmental). This can vary from just some small details, to some very strong peculiarities (like those in Dark Sun). Thus, magic and evolution work hand-in-hand (and when you really think about it, isn't evolution just 'magic' with a fancier name? But I digress...)
The other planes were not shattered' during the (first) Godwar - they remain intact, and still overlap the Prime Material. Thats why its sometimes easier to travel through another dimension to get somewhere in The Prime (most of them are relatively 'smaller', and thus greater distances can be covered within them in a shorter amount of time - we've seen a few examples of this in regards to Faerie, but it should work that way with almost any of the other planes).
So besides the 'Single Origin' theory, we also have endless cross-pollination between many worlds, both through magical portals and also dimensional migrations. This is all fits-in with FR's primary premise (and I feel Toril is especially significant for some reason - perhaps it contains some important portion of the original Ymir?)
We are talking hundreds of thousands (millions?) of years for all this to have occurred. Some worlds simply stayed 'truer' than others. Oerth and Toril, for example, are very different planets, but their racial/species sampling is almost identical (There are VERY strong ties between the two, perhaps now more than ever). |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 18:17:11
Well in a multiverse filled with gods im imagining the original universe was made with a plan. Then it got broken and rebooted but only with fragments of the original.
As with anything separated for millennia, it evolved differently but along the same lines. So on some fragments we have drow and halflings, on others we have kender and no drow, on others we have mul.
Convergent and divergent evolution of a universe is what im thinking |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 16:21:33
quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
Thats why the same creatures exist on all the planets, its because they are the same planet so evolution is likely to follow the same path (with a few variations).
So explain creatures that are unique to a particular world... Like the fact that Krynn has kender, but no halflings or drow. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 12:30:26
Well im looking at multiple theories for everything and hopefully presenting them in a way that means that the gm can pick whatever they want.
With regards to spelljamming i was actually going to use that idea you had about the phlogiston being the very borders of the ethereal plane. If thats the case then all the crystal spheres actually occupy the same space they are just in different phases/dimensions and when you leave a crystal sphere you wander the border ethereal until you find an entry to the next crystal sphere.
That way i can use my theory that all the different worlds of toril, krynn, abeir, oerth are the same planet but just a fractured leftover after one or more cataclysmic event.
Thats why the same creatures exist on all the planets, its because they are the same planet so evolution is likely to follow the same path (with a few variations).
But im open to as many theories as possible.
I think a large section of the book i will devote to monsters and how they fit in and the different kinds and where they are etc. Like volos guide to monsters but actually related to the realms |
| Markustay |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 09:11:05
No, it wasn't that kind of wink, and I am no longer privy to anything Mr. Greenwood is up to.
Since my interest in Maztica and Returned Abeir have just recently been rekindled, I was toying with the notion of actually attempting a very rudimentary map of how I picture Abeir (At least three other settings rolled together, including Athas). Then I thought I'd have to 'place it' - I picture it in Toril's orbit, on the exact opposite side of the sun (and having a completely black bubble around it, obscuring it from casual observation - you'd have to literally 'bump into' it).
And that made me think about the rest of the solar system. Since WotC's plan seems to be to roll everything into FR, I can do them one better and REALLY roll everything into Realmspace. It was actually Krynn that got me thinking along these lines - I had played with the idea of placing Ansalon on Abeir (I have a 'dragon theme' going on there), but then I thought it might make a nice, small planet elsewhere, or perhaps even a moon (Toril's moon? Abeir's?). Eberron would go in its own sub-sphere (similar to Abeir) - impenetrable, but at least outsiders could look in. Something like that (basically making the rim of the atmosphere bubble into its own crystal sphere). Of course, at this point it might just be easier to ignore Eberron's cosmology altogether, considering how non-canon the rest is.
Also Mystara, Aebrynis and the dead-planet Threnody (Kiaransalee's homeworld). Maybe add Golarion, and Mongo ('the rogue planet'). Athas, the Io's Blood Islands (Council of Wyrms), whatever we have on Abeir, and a couple of odds and ends (like the Saurial homeworld) would all go on Abeir. The ultimate SJ campaign - never leave Realmspace.  |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 07:58:25
Elminsters guide was exactly what i was thinking and your wink makes me think something like that is already in progress.
In which case i can stop anymore thoughts on the matter because i cant compete with the master.
I was going to do a bit of spell jamming and planescape based on recent threada but everything would be theories and articles, nothing would be absolute fact, just what learned sages thought about certain topics.
I suppose i might continue anyway since i suspect i am willing to be far more apocryphal.
Ill take the timeline up to 1356 and thats it. But it will only be a broad timeline that affects the entirety of faerun, nothing region specific.
S*d it. Ill still do my own just because i like doing this stuff. Its going back to ogb proper though (not just what people remember of ogb, so anyone asking another person about their religion will get attacked or ignored). |
| Markustay |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 02:53:00
You mean something like the Volo's guides, or even the more recent Elminster's Forgotten Realms?
You mean, something like Ed would write? 
Funny this just came up, I was actually considering some sort of Realmspace campaign guide for Planesjammers (Spelljammer). Rebuild the entirety of the solar system, merge a few settings together, and have several planets to represent ALL the D&D settings.
I figure, anything the current designers can do i can do better, so since pissing off the fans seems to be their #1 goal, I may as well make ALL the fans angry.
The nerd-rage will be epic.  |
| Wrigley |
Posted - 19 Nov 2016 : 00:52:25
You cannot separate timeline entirely from campaign book at it deals with setting at specific time - you cannot describe a place without stating when it is this way.
What I didn't like about campaign books from newer edition is that they incorporated GM stuff into general info about the regions. I would like it to be only what common people in the region know about it. Idealy with regional stuff at the start of each chapter so there will be some idea for regional situation instead of "only one kingdom at the time" situation. I also do not think that there is a need for level of detail like Ashabenfort or Shadowdale was given and only general info with major forces POV to be included (commonly known).
Then I would add GM book stating motivation and real power of major forces in the kingdom and possible adventure hooks for the place. The same for the regions.
I know this wouldn't be a general direction that people want but I would really like it... |
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