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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Mar 2006 : 23:00:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
Now here's a question which I don't recall ever having been asked here: in what year of our Common Era did Ed first "discover" the Forgotten Realms?
Ed started/wrote stories for FR when he was 9 years old and it was in the mid to late 60's. 1967 or 1969 I believe the years were. Somewhere around there. :)
Wow! Thanks.
I got onto this train of thought from this question I posted on Ed's scroll. Now I'm curious: what are the origins of other people's campaign worlds and to what extent have they have merged them with Ed's Forgotten Realms? I know that M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel (the world of Empire of the Petal Throne) arose from his childhood fascination with languages and with the Indian subcontinent. Vanity, vanity, saith the Preacher! -- my game world was actually inspired by Bugtussle, hometown of the Clampett family, long, long, loooong before I discovered D&D; all that has survived from those ancient days of world-building is the shape of a single bay, but I generally keep my own world separate from my FR campaign. What about other folks?
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Archwizard
Learned Scribe
USA
266 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 02:10:06
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I still feel awe every time I hear/see the mention that Ed had the spark of what became the Realms as early as age 9. I was far less coherent or capable at that age and my memory of the time is not precise at all.
The world of my own devising that I started to focus on came about from a strange convergence of several ideas that occurred little over a year ago. It was more or less created from bits and pieces cobbled together from spare ideas I had floating in my mind. I never gave creating an entire world much serious thought, I have always just worked on different components here and there without intentions of fitting them together into anything coherent. What changed? It was probably because of the rereading of some of my favorite books, then learning more of Ed's process for creating material, trying not to go for real world analogies and putting detail to everything to make the places and people feel alive. So the Realms are one of the major inspirations. I guess it was sort of a critical mass, chain reaction type effect; I finally had enough pieces to fill a world or at least a significant portion of one.
The pieces included scattered material from short stories I wrote about a decade ago, the poorly worded scribbles of an 11 or 12 year old. The details I had for several races from a sci-fantasy story I was working on eventually became this world's version of elves and gnomes because I felt they were too fantastical for their intended story. A friend and I were to work on a fantasy story based on a vaguely Mediterranean-inspired Atlantis-type civilization, for my own I wrote up a history of the time before the formation of this civilization. The project was scrapped and I adapted the prehistory for my own use.
Perhaps the oddest source of inspiration was a most unexpected one. One of the regions of my world was vaguely inspired by a broad concept from the first D&D movie. It stemmed not so much from admiration of the movie's contents, but dissatisfaction. The region embodies my own attempt for smoother execution of one of the movie's concepts. The concept was a dragon-influenced magocratic empire with significant discrepancies between class (divided by magical talent) ruled by a young empress who must struggle against a multitude of factions and individual wizards of power. The only reason she is safe from these scheming groups is because she is the only one attuned to an artifact level scepter that calls forth an ancient golden dragon (just one!) who is the patron (and rumored founder) of her bloodline. Essentially a reworking of Izmer, but done in what I hope is a more coherent and detailed style with some Realmsian cues. Some inspiration was also drawn from a Final Fantasy IX image, the one with Alexander facing off against a dragon (Bahamut?) in a city (I never played the game). I guess I have a habit of working off material most fans find to be weaker examples of their beloved franchises.
More recently the images and promotion materials for FFXII has also played a part, as have a multitude of books, graphic novels, games, history and art. I also haven't considered possible connections to the Forgotten Realms, haven't thought that far. |
Edited by - Archwizard on 25 Apr 2006 02:13:42 |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 02:45:05
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I just sent an e-mail to Elaine Cunningham in which I mentioned that while I was never previously interested in the Spelljammer line, now that I have (finally!) started reading the Cloakmaster Cycle (part of which takes place in Rauthaven, and one of whose central characters is from Westgate or thereabouts), I am far more amazed by some of the various Prime Material "other worlds" than I have ever been by other planes. (I may have simply become jaded after decades of reading about other planes, but I find Planescape far less astounding than some of the bizarre worlds in other "crystal spheres.")
Even "Realmspace," the crystal sphere in which Toril is located, has some amazing things, such as the Wanderers, an endless line of thousands, perhaps millions of people who walk on the inside of the sky, and miles-high inscriptions that (apparently) not even the gods can read. These fantasy/scienece fictional elements may have equally mind-blowing counterparts on the surface (or near-surface) of Abeir-Toril, but so much effort has gone into documenting Faerun that we tend to forget that it's only about fifteen per cent of the surface area of the planet, and that most of the world is Toril incognita.
North of Maztica is an almost completely unexplored continent which has a population of elves with mohawks. That's only one tribe/race/nation from one tiny corner of a continent as large as Faerun, perhaps no more representative of their greater land than the locals of Icewind Dale are representative of Semphar and Calimshan.
South of Maztica is an almost equally large continent about which almost nothing is known (except that -- maybe! -- the Tabaxi came from there). What wonders would DMs place there? Perhaps Rider Haggard's pillar of living fire which grants immortality to whomever steps into it ... once; I'd certainly want to have that represented somewhere on Toril.
Elsewhere on Candlekeep and the Wiz boards people have speculated on just who or what Jergal is/was, and how he came to become god of the dead. Some have remarked on his resemblance to the Thri-Kreen. Is there a homeland of Thri-Kreen -- unknown to the folk of Faerun -- somewhere across the ocean? Have they built empires which rose and fell countless times over millions of years before the serpent folk first crawled out of the grass thirty thousand years ago? The race of Thri-Kreen have been known to fantasy gamers for decades; have any DMs placed them on Toril, far from the Realms which have been so well documented elsewhere?
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36782 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 03:20:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
The race of Thri-Kreen have been known to fantasy gamers for decades; have any DMs placed them on Toril, far from the Realms which have been so well documented elsewhere?
Thri-kreen have had a place in the Realms for a while. The 3E Shining South places some in the Shaar. As I recall, they were also in the first FR appendix to the Monstrous Compendium, MC3. |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 03:32:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
The race of Thri-Kreen have been known to fantasy gamers for decades; have any DMs placed them on Toril, far from the Realms which have been so well documented elsewhere?
Thri-kreen have had a place in the Realms for a while. The 3E Shining South places some in the Shaar. As I recall, they were also in the first FR appendix to the Monstrous Compendium, MC3.
And I believe Eric Boyd said Jergal isn't related to the thri-keen. :) but I don't recall the quote and it looks like I didn't save it. Someone go ask him. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
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Jindael
Senior Scribe
USA
357 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 15:56:21
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I can’t boast the same level of young creativity. Not in the slightest. When I started DM’ing games, it was always based out of whatever the module said. It wasn’t until I got the old grey box (a while after it came out) that I started using the realms.
But I imagine that everyone who has ever tried their hand at running a game has tried to make their own world. I’m no exception.
The world that I’ve been using for the last few years stems mostly from me deciding that I’m no longer going to try and make a marketable world. I’ve seen far to many DM’s making up worlds that are different enough from established worlds just so that they can later sell it. This usually ends up with some bizarre set of misfits, created just so they don’t match established stereotypes. (And if we didn’t have a fondness for a certain amount of stereotypes, we wouldn’t be playing D&D.)
Back on track; what I did with my world was take all the elements from previous DM created worlds (Both mine and others that I have played in), including characters and NPC’s, and then stuck them all together somehow. The challenge (which I find fantasticly fun, and am still working on) is somehow getting all these elements to match. A large tribe of Viking-like folk living on tropical islands near a great spire of earth that juts 400 feet straight out of the ocean and is inhabited by dwarves…two totally different games, and about 15 years apart in real time; now I have to find out how they interact and why they are where they are.
I’ve stolen stuff ( I won’t even try and use the word “borrow”: I stole it) from so many other sources that I can’t even begin to cite them. Just about the only thing that I haven’t stolen stuff from is Ebberon, and that’s because the regular D&D stuff, plus FR, take up most of my gaming budget. (The exception being the Eberron stuff in the MMIII.) I’ve got the stories of hundres of Hero’s and Villain’s from old campaigns wedged together, and most of them won’t make sense if I plug them all in, but that’s the fun: making it make sense.
As far as how my own world connects and interacts with FR; I have two portals that I’ve used in the past, with the potential of adding more. One is in Unther (and there was a pretty big plot point from that one; one that dispersed the Mulhandri (sp?) pantheon into the general population of the Faerun Pantheon) and one in the High Forest, where I am plotting a campaign that will likely never get played due to the “mature” theme. (And total lack of gamers.)
I know that this isn’t a great deal of detail on my campaign world, but it’s really so scattered and nonsensical (I have probably drawn 50 maps, each more convoluted than the next, and then have to scrap them as I remember some random tidbit from when I was 11 and suddenly need to incorporate it.) that all I have, really, is disconnected details. Suffice to say that it is pretty standard fantasty fare: elves live in the forest, dwarves in the mountains, there was once great empires of non-humans until the last 1000 years or so, leaving plenty of ruins, etc. Not really original, but horribly fun for me.
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Beirnadri Magranth
Senior Scribe
USA
720 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 17:41:21
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I used to play the videogame Goldeneye 007 after which i would map out bases etc with the location of cameras etc. When 3.0 D&D came out I got hooked on amking these kinds of maps of dungeons etc. and then eventually I started thinking about other campaign setting etc. I was always interested in Sociology Languages theology physics (Astro geo everything) and fashion and architecture so I started making my own fantasy world...
almost a year ago I stopped working on it and retconned it so that it was less typical fantasy setting stuff... now i have just been coming up with notes etc. on elements that i would like to include... and themes to be used in the campaign world
(like the search for legitimacy.... taste and appreciation of beauty... the concept of evila dn good etc.)
Ive named my campaign setting Hypnogogia: Eval Lacuna because as part of teh retcon the "sleeping overpower" shifted sleep patterns so nothing is the same.... also i experienced hypnogia and hypnopompia for a while it is sooo bizarre.
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"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."
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Dhomal
Senior Scribe
USA
565 Posts |
Posted - 26 Apr 2006 : 05:51:56
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Hello-
Well - I have to also admit to some world-designing.
However - that was a long time ago - and with having to actually Work ofr a living and such - I don't have time for it anymore. 
That being said - I came about my own world in quite an odd way.
We had gathered for our regular game. I was not the DM. The group decided (for reasons I can't remember at all) to not play the 'regular' game.
We were sitting around - looking through our books and such - and someone was leafing through one of my Dragon magazines. (*Ironically - this was the first one that I bought new at the store - I have now gone and nearly completed my collection.) There was a module in the issue - and he thought it looked interesting - mentioned it to a couple of others - and convinced me into running the module.
It ended up as the beginning of a 'campaign' that lasted for probably 6-8 months or so as I recall. Not a long time really - BUT - I was in high school - and it seemed like it lasted forever - and people were always clamoring for more.
The Dragon magazine was issue #83 - the first in the 4-part 'chessboard' series of covers by Denis Beauvous (sp?) - completely striking cover - and I admit - a good part of the reason that I bought the magazine. The module was based on a 'tessaract' and was quite, odd, - but it was fun.
However - I did not really want to run it.  So - I added a small room between two of the rooms in the module. It was little more than a 10x10 foot room - but - it had a window in it - and it showed a large city in the distance - and that was enough to get the players to open the window and hop out. Of course - that was a one-way trip - and they went to the city.
The short of it was - they met a lot of people in the city - and I recall working up a number of members of the local Magic School - and stealing borrowing all sorts of names as I wanted to illustratre things to help both myself, and the players, remember who was who. As an example - the Mage in charge of the planar 'division' of the school was named Reed Richards. OK - OK - just keep in mind - it was spurr-of-the moment - and I was a LOT younger then. However - the familiarity of the names I used helped re-inforce with the players the roles and noteriety of the NPCS they met.
Anyway - the only really notable thing about the game world that I feel is somewhat unique in my experience - is that I decided the planet was torus-shaped - and can recall on several occasions holding a bagel or doughnut near a lamp - and moving it around and spinning it to determine what the light cycles during the day and night would look like. I remember deciding that the 'middle' was air-filled - but that gravity pulled away from the center back towards the surface.
Anyway - like I said - I dont have a lot of time at this point to work on a completely-homebrew world. However - if I were to get that time - I would probably keep the torus idea - as I thought it was interesting, and somewhat different.
Dhomal |
I am collecting the D&D Minis. I would be more than willing to trade with people. You can send me a PM here with your email listed - and I can send you my minis list. Thanks!
Successfully traded with Xysma! |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 27 Apr 2006 : 21:23:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Beirnadri Magranth
I used to play the videogame Goldeneye 007 after which i would map (snip)
Ive named my campaign setting Hypnogogia: Eval Lacuna because as part of teh retcon the "sleeping overpower" shifted sleep patterns so nothing is the same....
(snip)
Erudite and amusing -- a lovely combination!
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 27 Apr 2006 : 21:30:32
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Here's a hint for DMs who suddenly start getting creative during a game without having NPC and locations pre-named and pre-statted: keep a few 3 X 5 cards handy and at least write down their names as you use them (even "Reed Richards"). Some of my players's favorite NPCs have been people I made up on the spot with no intention of ever using them again. A few weeks ago a (duly licensed) sewer hunt beneath the Sea Ward led to my having to promise to give "Red Shirt Number Two" a real name and background because he turned out to be a very fun character (and a fantastically good fighter).
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 30 Apr 2006 : 11:43:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
The race of Thri-Kreen have been known to fantasy gamers for decades; have any DMs placed them on Toril, far from the Realms which have been so well documented elsewhere?
Thri-kreen have had a place in the Realms for a while. The 3E Shining South places some in the Shaar. As I recall, they were also in the first FR appendix to the Monstrous Compendium, MC3.
And I believe Eric Boyd said Jergal isn't related to the thri-keen. :) but I don't recall the quote and it looks like I didn't save it. Someone go ask him.
Here's something he posted from over on the WotC boards -
"It has been speculated by more than a few Realms fans that the image of Jergal in Powers and Pantheons makes him look like an evolved or ascended thri-kreen. As such, several theories which try to explain this supposed connection have arisen here, and on other boards."
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
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Tell us about your world
