D&D 5E The Slow Birth of an Ad Hoc Setting

[Viking Bastard]

I started 5e off with running Against the Giants with my regular group. It's been going well, if slowly (or infrequently, as we're all busy people with difficult schedules), and we're about finished with G1. When I sat down with the group for the first session/character generation, I hadn't given the wider setting much thought. I just wanted to run Against the Giants, as while I have cannibalized it in the past, I've never run it wholesale and I've always wanted to. Now I'm preparing to launch a second group (of young lads with ample free time malleable to my whims) and I intend to set their game in the same world, so I've started to give the bigger picture more thought.

And then I had a thought--I've done this so many times over the last two decades, make a setting on the go, that I don't really notice the process very much. I don't keep very organized or thorough notes, just write things down in an ad-hoc manner wherever is convenient. I thought it might be interesting to document the process, to see the world come alive, one bit of trivia at a time.


Some initial context got set during that original character generation session:

Geography:

• It's set in the Kingdom of Geoff, which is ruled by King Geoff XI of the Geoffs.¹
• The continent is called The Flan (as Flanaess didn't sound like a thing when I tried to say it).
• Geoff is one of the Barrier Kingdoms, the small kingdoms northernmost of the Highlands. The other Barrier Kingdoms are the Kingdoms of Stuart, Louie, Rufus and Brad.²
• These kingdoms lie at the roots of the Barrier Peaks mountain range. On the other side of the Barrier Peaks there are mostly giants and snow.

History:

• Six centuries ago, the Giants ruled the Flan. They were horrible tyrants, who hunted down the Elves, enslaved the Dwarves, and kept Humans and Halflings as cattle. Engineered by the Elves and led by the Dwarves, the smaller races revolted against the Giants, forcing their cruel overlords north of the Barrier Peaks.
• The four Basic races were thereafter known as the People of the Pact, and the races would all be considered equal by any law on the Flan--that is, an Elf would have same rights as a Dwarf, Human or Halfling, wherever they may roam. This does not extend beyond those four races.

Races:

• Humans are standard, but lost most of their culture and identity during their time as the Giants' food source, so they had to pretty much begin from square one.
• Dwarves are pretty standard, but are divided into...
  • Pact Dwarves, who live wherever on the surface and are deeply embedded into Flan society.
  • Hillbilly Dwarves, who live in the mountains, shunning contact with their neighbors as much as possible.
  • Deep Dwarves, who live underground and have their own thing going down there.
• Elves come in two flavors... ³
  • Moon Elves are the last surviving tribe of the Old Elves, who were the dominant race in the world for hundreds of millennia (then counted in dozens of subraces). At the height of their power, an Elf could expect a lifespan of tens of thousands of years, but each generation since lives shorter than the last (currently as per PHB). Moon Elves are all albinos (although magic users will develop brightly/neon colored hair and eyes over time based on their spellcasting habits) and they are taller than humans and gauntly-looking, with long extremely pointy ears. They are generally apathetic to other races, mostly keeping to themselves, although they will meddle in non-Elf affairs, seemingly at random. They give off an air of indifference and otherworldliness and can seem downright sociopathic to the other races, who are never sure of their motivations.
  • Wild Elves just started appearing over few couple of centuries, whole tribes seemingly popping out of nowhere. The first generations were short lived and savage, but they have developed culture and language at an unbelievable speed, with their live span extending with each generation (currently being similar to humans). Physically, they are basically D&D Elves, but vary more in color and hue, some tribes having more starkly colored skin.
• Halflings, like humans, had their society pretty much reset during the Giant reign, but were able to keep more of their culture alive within captivity--perhaps because it was more homogeneous than the humans'. They have a strict caste system and all share a religion, of the Two Divine Mares, Celestia (the sun) and Luna (the moon), who saved the world from Discord eons ago and have since ridden across the sky in circles, driving on the world. They are deeply magical, but have a very relaxed, ingrained and natural way about it.⁴ The castes are...
  • Proletarian Halflings are the most common, workers who farm the land, fish the seas, build the shoes, etc. They have a very strong bond to earth and nature.
  • Ponyrider Halflings are the warrior caste--smaller than other Halflings, but quicker and more nimble. Expert pony riders and have an uncanny ability to predict the weather.
  • Magi Halflings are the ruling caste, with a stronger connection to magic than the other castes (but still rarely produce magic users of higher level than 6th). They are thoroughly educated from birth and are expected to always put society above their own wants or needs.

.

The first session didn't see much actual play, it was mostly dominated by character generation and setup.

But more started to be added once we started playing...

----

¹ The players kept asking. They got very hung up on the name of Geoff.
² Always with the questions, jeez!
³ My original idea was just that I wanted the Elves to come off as stranger than usual, feel old, non-human and otherworldly, even a little anime-ish--but then one of the players wanted to play a "more feral elf with purple hair", which prompted my idea of Old Elves vs. Brand Spanking New Elves.
⁴ Yes, the Halflings are based on My Little Pony.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Are you sure you want to name your continent like something that's edible?

 

[GX.Sigma]

It's set in the Kingdom of Geoff, which is ruled by King Geoff XI of the Geoffs.*

Born on the first of Geoff, Nineteen-Geoffty-Geoff!

 

[Viking Bastard]

Are you sure you want to name your continent like something that's edible?

I'm totally married to it. Although I hadn't made the connection until now.

Now I like it even more.

The Flan. The Flan. The Flan.

 

[ccooke]

I'm totally married to it. Although I hadn't made the connection until now.

Now I like it even more.

The Flan. The Flan. The Flan.

Something sweet for the Tarrasque to nibble on

 

[Viking Bastard]

Going through my chaotic notes, I see that I'm not going to be able to do this on session-to-session basis. For future sessions, sure, but not for the ones already played. I don't remember exactly in what order these trivia bits were thought up, so I'm piling them together by subject matter.

First off, the general make-up of the world...¹

• The world's name is Wodan and the Flan is one of it's continents.
• It's flat and circular, with North representing the frosty hub and South pointing towards the scorched rim.
• The Sun and Moon spin around the disc.²
• It's not very big, as D&D worlds go. The Flan is smaller than Europe and it's one of the bigger continents.
• Wodan is dead-center inside a crystal sphere, semi-Spelljammer-style.
• At the bottom of the sphere is an ocean made up of water spilling over the rim of Wodan for the last million years. It is known as the Deep Sea and currently fills the sphere about 2/3rds of the way up to Wodan.
• It is said that the great Aboleth Mother sleeps with her children down in the Deep Sea, awaiting her time.
• Wodan's seas are replenished by a portal from the Elemental Plane of Water at the bottom of the Wild Seas (which are extremely dangerous to sail).
• There are various chunks of earth-matter floating around Wodan inside the sphere. The larger ones have their own inhabitants and cultures. The closer ones are known as the Cloud Kingdoms and the ones further away are the Star Kingdoms.
• The Stars are various bright lights emanating from these Star Kingdoms (their own little suns, lighthouses, bright cities, etc).

¹ I can actually pinpoint most of this stuff coming from one conversation during the third session:
[sblock]Player #1: "Is this world a planet?"
Me: "No, it's flat. A disc, like the Discworld."
P#1: "Sooo... hubwards and rimwards?"
Me: "Yeah... works like that, I guess... but we're just going with North and South. North is the cold hub, South is the hot rim. And the Sun spins around the world, not the other way around."
Player #2: "Is it on top of a giant turtle?"
Me: "No, it's enclosed in it's own little planar bubble. Just hovering in the middle."
P#1: "Hmm, if you travel to the end of the bubble, do you loop around to the other side?"
Me: "No, without the right magic, you'll bump into the Crystal Wall. Where you will be encased in crystal with the multitude of others foolish enough to try. The Crystal Wall is littered with the crystallized bodies of those foolish enough to have tried throughout history. With the right magic, though, you'll plop right through into the Bleed, the space between worlds. The bubble is bigger on the inside, so the sphere appears much smaller from the other side."
P#2: "*cough*DC*cough*"
Me: "Shush, you!"
P#1: "Do the seas spill over the sides of the disc?"
Me: "Yes. Sure."
P#1: "If it's an enclosed sphere, where does the water go?"
Me: "To the bottom of the sphere, of course. Hmm. Into the Deep Sea."
P#1: "Deep Sea?"
Me: "It's really really deep. Seriously deep. And full of horrors. Aboleths. And other Elder Horror stuff. It's slowly filling the sphere, threatening total annihilation."
Player #1: "Ok, ok. Now... explain the stars."
Me: "Various light sources from the Star Kingdoms, of course. Duh."
Player #1: "Fine."[/sblock]
² So far I'm ignoring the seasonal effects this would have, although I drafted up a calendar structure sometime on the back of an envelope (but I can't find it).

 

[Viking Bastard]

And a few little tidbits on Wodan's history:

• It's absolutely ancient. It's written history (if everything were to be collected together) goes back a million years, although most people would only be aware in broad strokes of the last couple of millennia of local history.
• Wodan's history is extremely cyclical: New cultures and factions rise out of a post-apocalyptic dark age, slowly rediscover and re-harness the secrets of their predecessors, only to self-destruct in an event usually brought about by their own hubris, triggering a new post-apocalyptic dark age. More often than not, this coincides with the discovery of 10th Level spells.
• Thus, the religions and philosophies of Wodan tend to feature a cyclical view of reality.
• Wodan was a major planar hub during one of it's past ages, seeding the world with exotic minority populations, monsters and magics.
• All of the dominant races immigrated to or were imported into the world at some point or another. Human have been completely exterminated twice in it's history, but keep re-infesting the place.
• The Moon Elves are descended from Elves who invaded the world a few hundred thousands of years ago.
• It used to have two moons, but one fell from the sky during one of Wodan's many apocalypses and is now one of the continents of Wodan (the circular one). This moon used to be the home of the Moon Elves.

 

[Voort]

At the bottom of the sphere is an ocean made up of water spilling over the rim of Wodan for the last million years. It is known as the Deep Sea and currently fills the sphere about 2/3rds of the way up to Wodan.

It is said that the great Aboleth Mother sleeps with her children down in the Deep Sea, awaiting her time.

Me: "It's really really deep. Seriously deep. And full of horrors. Aboleths. And other Elder Horror stuff. It's slowly filling the sphere, threatening total annihilation."

I like the built-in, Pacific Rim style epic quest to save the world. You have to brave the depths, fight off the horrid monsters, and set off the oblivion portal spell to stop the Apocalypse Flood. Operation Drain Plug?

 

[Viking Bastard]

I like the built-in, Pacific Rim style epic quest to save the world. You have to brave the depths, fight off the horrid monsters, and set off the oblivion portal spell to stop the Apocalypse Flood. Operation Drain Plug?

I like it too! And I made it up on the spot, although the addition of Aboleths was inspired by having recently read this at the time.

I try to prompt my players to poke at my logic as much as possible when it comes to world building stuff (less fond of it in action-resolution). I both like the challenge (a couple of my players love trying to stump me) and I find I come up with my most inspired stuff off the cuff (I can then think it through later, finesse the details, but I'm still stuck with what I said in-game).

 

[kerleth]

+1,000,000 points to improving world creation. Makes for some of the most interesting games in my experience.