Request: melancholy sense of wonder

[jasin]

Reading Ghostwalk and taking note at what parts especially clicked for
me, made me think of this question. It's going to be rather vague, so
bear with me.

I'd like a setting like Vance's Dying Earth. By that I mean rather
static in the big picture, with most of action taking place
interpersonally. Not many wars or empires or world-shattering threats.
Lots of ruins, lots of wilderness, lots of travel. Lonely towers with a
single wizard and his apprentice or run-down forts with a single knight
and his two squires are more appropriate than wondrous cities of magic
like Silverymoon or great fortified strongholds like Citadel Adbar.

But more importantly, it needs that sense of wonder that comes from
weird, evocative, mysterious imagery scattered through the world. The
parts from Ghostwalk that sparked this:

Argalos, the Great Stone Giant: a 100 ft. tall stone statue, half-sunken
in the sea, upside down. Believed to be a petrified god. Sometimes
grants the effects of pearls of power to clerics for small sacrifices of
jewelry.

Lairs of the White Hound: an large, white, apparently intelligent dog is
sometimes seen along a particular stretch of the coast. She rescues
people from the water and protects them from danger, and has recovered
from seemingly mortal wounds.

Also, the flavour text for maenads (what little there is) in the XPsiHB:
small, often ignored fishing communities of psionics with abilities that
point to an intriguing history WRT control of emotions, or lack
thereof...

(Interestingly enough, all three examples include the sea. Not sure
why.)

Of the settings I know, Ghostwalk seems to be doing well so far with the
evocative imagery, and is relatively static, but it still a bit to...
alive (heh), with all the big countries around Manifest.

Planescape can have lots of travel and lots of weird imagery, but it's
not quite it because of its cosmopolitan cynicism. The fact that the
books'/NPCs' reaction to almost everything wondrous is "Eh... nothing
special. Think it is? Heh, n00b." works against the sense of wonder for
me.

I know there's some sort of Dying Earth RPG out there, but I don't know
much about it. Is some sort of setting book available?

Well... that's it. I'm not really sure what I want, and I'm also coming
down with a flu, so it might be a bit more confused than I'd like, but
still: any suggestions?

 

[diaglo]

I know there's some sort of Dying Earth RPG out there, but I don't know
much about it. Is some sort of setting book available?

yes.

Well... that's it. I'm not really sure what I want, and I'm also coming
down with a flu, so it might be a bit more confused than I'd like, but
still: any suggestions?

suggestions? are you asking for a setting suggestion? are you asking for some incite into Dying Earth? are you asking for what else you can use in Ghostwalk? are you asking if melancholy is contagious?

i'm sorry. I'm not really understanding what you are looking for nor asking.

 

[Nareau]

You might want to start with some old Twilight Zone episodes. It sounds like they might provide some of the feel you're looking for: Isolated subtle anomalies that have tremendous impact on the protagonists. Nothing flashy or world-altering, but wondrous nonetheless.

Spider

 

[afreed]

You might want to take a gander at The Inner Circle's Violet Dawn campaign setting. There are parts where things are "in motion," but you can easily downplay the armies in favor of lonely wilderness and sad, forgotten ruins.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of setting material beyond the website (though a mini-campaign should be out shortly). To get a feel for the mood, you could try the introduction to the campaign book.

(And yes, I've worked on the setting.)