Developing a "points of light" campaign setting

[Cactot]

I can haz you guys as DM's?

Some of your descriptions of your settings were extremely interesting and got me pumped for 4e.

Irda Ranger deserves special mention, I would LOVE to play in that campaign. Jollyninja and blusponge had particularly good ideas also. I have never had a DM that had such a solid grasp on the kind of campaign that interests me the most, and the kind of commitment and drive to make a fun campaign as some of you enworlders. My hat is off to you.

Vulcan_idic, that campaign plot could be extremely cool, but it will require PHENOMENAL DM'ing and storytelling. Flynn had it right in his analysis of it. You need to make sure that the type of campaign it is (as cool as it sounds) both fits the interests of your players, and your style and ability as a DM. I know that I have nowhere near the storytelling or DM'ing skills to be able to pull of a difficult setting like that. (hell, i am not sure if i have the Roleplaying skills to thrive in that sort of a setting either = P )

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

If you're developing (or have developed) a "points of light" campaign setting, what did you do to get the right atmosphere (so that I can steal it from you)?

Coincidentally (to the release of 4e, that is) I have been listening to the Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Book 1, Robert Jordan) on audio book.

I highly recommend it as a study in how to reveal the larger world and larger plots in ever expanding circles.

I just listen to like 20 minutes each way on my commute.

 

[hexgrid]

I'm not sure if it counts as Points of Light, but I plan to start my first 4e campaign immediately *after* the local chaos cultists have succeeded in unleashing a Lovecraftian horror on the PC's home plane.

This will lead to the PCs escaping into the Astral Sea on a magical, sentient ship, and the campaign will be sort of a Planescape/Spelljammer mash-up using the 4e cosmology. The wacky, Moorecockian aspects of D&D will turned up to at least eleven, and there will be a lot of mind-flayers.

Okay, I guess this description isn't even remotely points of light. Oh well.

 

[mmaranda]

I'm not sure if it counts as Points of Light, but I plan to start my first 4e campaign immediately *after* the local chaos cultists have succeeded in unleashing a Lovecraftian horror on the PC's home plane.

This will lead to the PCs escaping into the Astral Sea on a magical, sentient ship, and the campaign will be sort of a Planescape/Spelljammer mash-up using the 4e cosmology. The wacky, Moorecockian aspects of D&D will turned up to at least eleven, and there will be a lot of mind-flayers.

Okay, I guess this description isn't even remotely points of light. Oh well.

It could be, the fleeing from something bad on a living ship is kind of like Farscape.

And if the the campaign turns out to be more episodic as they flee the cultists or their beast all the while searching for a way to defeat it. They will have some tough questions "Do we dock at this place and risk the sentient people/spirits there or press on even though we need supplies/repairs/information"

 

[mmaranda]

My idea of PoL

Points of Light is a grand idea and as such it is really what you make of it.

Obviously there should be lots of darkness that constantly threatens to snuff out the light. Often people assume it goes hand in hand with a lack of knowledge and understanding of what is "beyond" because most people fear what they do now know. Many people consider the light to be existing civilizations but it could be that the PCs are the light and their actions build a bonfire.

PoL should be dark and should force the players to always ask questions. It can be a simple question like
"What is over there?"
something more complex
"Gee, the dark woods of death seem bad, do we think we are strong enough to help the elves get back their captured prince?"
or very complex
"If we go into the village the pack of demons might follow us but we need to talk to the witch there and see the tattoo that will lead us to the artifact that will stop all the worlds demons. But if we aren't there to defend the people of the village they will all be slaughtered, but if we are there to defend the people we might be slaughtered with them. Of course if we don't go into the village then the tattoo map to the artifact will remain a secret and others could find out about it and stop the demons. But then how do we help stop the demons? What do we do?"

 

[KarinsDad]

I will be using the Judges Guild setting for my POL setting.

The main aspects of the campaign setting as published will be relatively unchanged, but there will be no player maps handed out per se. Even going to a cartographer will gain a sketchy map of the world at best. Going to a university or library (in the largest of cities) will result in vague information. The PCs will be forced to travel to any location that they want detailed information about.

 

[vulcan_idic]

Some people thrive in this kind of setting, while others would be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that lay ahead and the oppressive nature of the setting. It really depends on your players as to whether or not this will succeed. For me, I don't think I'd enjoy it, but then again, I've never played under you, so you might be able to carry it off and make it feel more like Robin Hood than Oppressive Tyrrany. Can you engender hope in your players instead of despair?

As an aside, what you describe almost sounds like a homebrew version of the Midnight setting, so if you want some suggestions and details that you could possibly integrate into your setting, check out Midnight and get some ideas.

Ultimately, the question you have to ask yourself is "Will the players have fun here?"

With Regards,
Flynn

My hope is that it will avoid being too depressing precisely because the tyranny is also trying to disguise itself to better appeal to the common folk and that most of the "Banites" are just normal people who believe the outward dogma the church seems to espouse rather than being true enemies. You can't be mad at people just because they're fooled into believing a lie. I'll look at the setting though, thanks for the tip!

 

[Cactot]

another thing i would have to agree with flynn on, check out midnight, great setting.

 

[howandwhy99]

Coincidentally (to the release of 4e, that is) I have been listening to the Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Book 1, Robert Jordan) on audio book.

I highly recommend it as a study in how to reveal the larger world and larger plots in ever expanding circles.

I just listen to like 20 minutes each way on my commute.

I remember those. The 1st book of that series, maybe the first 2 or 3, really did make him famous. They are excellent at hinting at a larger world. If only...

 

[Vecnasaurus]

Don't forget!

You can still have your Rome in a PoL-style campaign. Rome still existed in the Dark Ages, but the actual city was a trembling shadow of it's former glory. Such a city could be the home of a petty usurper king, or a ceremonial emperor, living like a late-period Caliph (hiding in his palace while his 'underlings' weilded the real power), or even divided into mini-city states, with petty warlords controlling sections of what was once a huge capital city (a nice place for those who like urban campaigns).

PoL doesn't necessarily mean that you can't have significant population centers, just that if they exist, they should have excessive cultural gravity and be known, at least in legend, over a very wide area.