Setting Idea: Wounded Gaia

Shades of Green · Oct 2, 2009

I'm thinking about re-imagining Barin's Stand. Instead of the upper, inhabitated level of an old, mostly abandoned Dwarven complex, I was thinking about making it less linear. The "active" Dwarven town would occupy the upper level of the last active mine in the area (mining iron, most likely); a human trading-town would grow up on the surface near its entrance.

A number of old, abandoned, (mostly) depleted mines would exist in Barin's Stand vicinity. Some were abandoned when the economy collapsed at the coming of the Winter 500 years ago. Some still lingered, surviving on the remaining local trade, but their ore was gradually depleted. The old mines occupy two small valleys near Barin's Stand (a few of them each). Now, monsters wandered in, turning the abandoned mines into their homes; mostly goblinoids, bandits and a Snow Orc band which had recently lingered in the region after a raid in a particularly cold winter five years ago, but rumors speak of deeper levels where more fearsome beasts await.

And if you'll buy enough drinks for the local old miners, they'll tell you stories about the old Deep Mine, leading to the old Dwarven town deep beneath the ground, abandoned in a hurry when the big Winter came, a place of legend probably filled with untold treasures and old technological wonders.

The idea is to make a number of small upper mine sub-levels, each with its own opening to the surface. Some would be connected to each other in either overt or secret passages; a few will connect to the lower Deep Mine, from which one might be able to get to the old Dwarven town (which should consist of a few sub-levels itself).

What might exist there is open to suggestions - it could be anything from vengeful elementals to rampart machines to undead to cults worshiping the bestial Mother Goddess or the ice-cold Clockwork God...

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Any thoughts?

GandalfMithrandir · Oct 3, 2009

Probably at some point in the history of the mines the dwarves could have started using machines and constructs after switching their religion to the Clockwork God, recently, people in the human settlement have heard reports that there are still large veins of precious metals left in the mine, apparently the deeper mines didn't run out, but something horrible happened that the dwarves simply abandoned their homes without taking very much with them, you have been hired to take a team of miners down into the mine to scout out what the dwarves left behind...

that will give a reason to go deeper into the mine, you could possibly include evil construct minions of the Clockwork God, as well as give a good reason for the characters to go into the mines.

Shades of Green · Oct 4, 2009

GandalfMithrandir said:
Probably at some point in the history of the mines the dwarves could have started using machines and constructs after switching their religion to the Clockwork God, recently, people in the human settlement have heard reports that there are still large veins of precious metals left in the mine, apparently the deeper mines didn't run out, but something horrible happened that the dwarves simply abandoned their homes without taking very much with them, you have been hired to take a team of miners down into the mine to scout out what the dwarves left behind...

that will give a reason to go deeper into the mine, you could possibly include evil construct minions of the Clockwork God, as well as give a good reason for the characters to go into the mines.

I like this! Thanks for the idea!

Aramax · Oct 8, 2009

An idea struck me as I was reading this thread(good stuff BTW)-How about having some gods that lost most of thier mojo when civilazation fell,
leaving former major god now shells of thier former selves?Good canadates
would be gods of agriculture,engeneering,magic(many fewer casters)racial,
health and law.The weakened gods would be angry possibly walking the earth like cosmic hobos,even to the point of a drunk or druggy.Also room for angry crazed cults.

Shades of Green · Oct 8, 2009

Aramax said:
(good stuff BTW)

Thanks

Aramax said:
How about having some gods that lost most of thier mojo when civilazation fell,
leaving former major god now shells of thier former selves?Good canadates
would be gods of agriculture,engeneering,magic(many fewer casters)racial,
health and law.The weakened gods would be angry possibly walking the earth like cosmic hobos,even to the point of a drunk or druggy.Also room for angry crazed cults.

I had in mind more or less monotheistic view of the pre-Winter world, with the Mother Goddess (agricultural/natural) being the main deity (though quite "diffuse" and with multiple facets), and alongside her a huge number of spirits existed. The cause for the Winter was the artificial creation of another god, the Clockwork God (technological) out of the mother Goddess' energy.

But anyhow, some of the major spirits (which could be treated as minor gods), especially those tied to the now-dead cities or to polluted tracts of nature, could become corrupt. I was thinking about the transformations that could happen to the Dryads of frozen trees or the Nymphs of polluted streams...

Shades of Green · Oct 16, 2009

I'm thinking about moving the setting to the north, where more ice and snow could be encountered along with the appropriate beasts (such as snow-orcs, mammoths, woolly rhinos, smilodons and short-faced bears), at least in the winter. I might be looking for an area bisected by the snow-line, so the southern half of the map will be snow-free in the summer (allowing serious agriculture) and the northern part of the map will be icy all year long.

Most of the material so far such as Barin's Stand and Olafsville could be easily transplanted into such a setting.

The reason I'm thinking about this is that I feel that the current map is too temperate, missing the whole unique and exciting fun of exploring an icy setting.

Any thoughts?

Shades of Green · Oct 17, 2009

My idea would be to set up the default setting in a particularly large (glacial?) valley in the mountains, slowly climbing its way up. The lower parts of the valley floor will have an ice-free summer long enough for extensive agriculture; the deeper you go into the valley the higher you climb into the mountains, shortening the growing season and eventually reaching the area of permanent ice. The mountains at the valley's sides would also have permanent ice and snow on them. And at the top of the valley would be the Frozen City - once a prosperous trade and mining city located in an old mountain path, now buried beneath the snows.

With all the snow and ice around, water will probably be quite abundant in the valley, so there would probably be a river in its middle (frozen in the winter) and a few swamps around it.

Shades of Green · Dec 13, 2009

I guess I should tell you all why I'm working on Wounded Gaia, even though this isn't my current campaign.

My current campaign, a DM-and-player affair with me as the DM and my spouse as the player (playing a Dwarven MU), while being a very enjoyable game, suffers from certain weaknesses. You see, I didn't prepare much before starting this current campaign, only a little background information regarding the outlying kingdoms, so most of the stuff I have to either wing up during play or prep between sessions. This means that this campaign is very vulnerable to DM burnouts, writer's blocks and similar diseases I unfortunately tend to suffer from time to time; this also means that the time intervals between sessions could be pretty long if I suffer from one of the said inflictions while having to prep a whole new adventure from scratch.

In short, I've learned the hard way that without a solid foundation, a D&D-type campaign is prone to certain recurring and annoying problems.

So I've decided that the next time around I'll start a D&D-type campaign, I'll be prepared in advance with a very solid foundation. While I know very well that some prep will still be necessary between sessions, a good and solid foundation with some of the adventure locations and hooks prepared beforehand will probably allow for a faster pace of gaming (one session per week or every other week rather than one every month or so) and also make things easier to wing up when necessary. It will also allow me to indulge in sandbox play, which is a play style I'm eager to try (especially since my spouse tends to be very exploration-oriented when she plays RPGs).

So I'm preparing Wounded Gaga quite a long time in advance as my "standard world". I'll also prepare a default setting, a semi-frozen mountain valley, to play around with.

GandalfMithrandir · Dec 13, 2009

Shades of Green said:
But anyhow, some of the major spirits (which could be treated as minor gods), especially those tied to the now-dead cities or to polluted tracts of nature, could become corrupt. I was thinking about the transformations that could happen to the Dryads of frozen trees or the Nymphs of polluted streams...

Maybe all of the corrupted fey creatures would blame all humanoids for the harm that came to the Mother Goddess and would attack any humanoids they came across in a blind rage that could only be stopped with either a holy symbol of The Mother Goddess, proof that the players hate the Clockwork God or death of the fey.

Shades of Green · Dec 13, 2009

GandalfMithrandir said:
Maybe all of the corrupted fey creatures would blame all humanoids for the harm that came to the Mother Goddess and would attack any humanoids they came across in a blind rage that could only be stopped with either a holy symbol of The Mother Goddess, proof that the players hate the Clockwork God or death of the fey.

I like this idea... So Druids might be able to calm angry corrupted spirits... Interesting...