D&D General Let's Workshop Some Setting Elements

[Reynard]

As GMs we all have ideas for things that we want to include in our games and worlds that we never quite get around to fleshing out to the point of being able to actually use them. Things like factions and religions and cultures and historical events and discrete regions. So let's talk about some of those things and see of we can't help one another get these setting elements ready for prime time.

NOTE: This is a place for respectful, helpful feedback and constructive criticism. If you think someone's idea is stupid or boring or badwrongfun, ignore it and move on. Thanks.

I'll start: I like the idea of "barrow drakes" -- dragons that guard the tombs of long forgotten kings of old. Tossing the idea around with a friend, we came up with a rough sketch of a culture that had to content with treasure hunting dragons which could not be killed. But the dragons could be bound, so eventually a practice developed where the powerful proved their greatness by binding these dragons to their barrows. The mightier the king, the mightier the bound dragon.

And that's as far as we got. Who were these people? What are the dragons? What state are the dragons in: slumbering, petrified, awake and hungry?

 

[cbwjm]

Going with your barrow mound drakes, are they still around in sufficient numbers to bind to barrow mounds? Maybe that was the situation in the past but now most who construct a barrow mound hire sculptors to create a stone statue of a dragon to "guard" them continuing the tradition even if the dragons are no longer around to be bound to them.

If running with this idea, I'd make the dragons petrified so that entering the older barrow mounds always gives would be looters pause as they never know if these things will suddenly come alive.

 

[Reynard]

Going with your barrow mound drakes, are they still around in sufficient numbers to bind to barrow mounds? Maybe that was the situation in the past but now most who construct a barrow mound hire sculptors to create a stone statue of a dragon to "guard" them continuing the tradition even if the dragons are no longer around to be bound to them.

If running with this idea, I'd make the dragons petrified so that entering the older barrow mounds always gives would be looters pause as they never know if these things will suddenly come alive.

I had not considered that the practice still continued even after the dragons were "extinct." That's interesting. In my conception this was in the hinterlands on the edge of the civilized world, the remnants of "barbarian" kings from long ago. But the idea that modern folks emulate those barrows has potential.

 

[aco175]

I like this idea. It gives a better monster to face in the boss fight than undead or elementals, maybe constructs. For a dragon to be there for hundreds of years they should be petrified/stasis/sleeping instead of being able to roam freely in tombs. This way they do not try to destroy anything and the tomb can remain intact.

There could be a modern day group trying to free them. Maybe the numbers are down and they need the numbers. Maybe a druid group wants the natural animals free. Maybe an evil cult is trying to round them up for food/undead control/bound army/etc...

A cool adventure could involve tracking down the spell that allows them to be bound. Maybe the spell is lost or hard to get components. Also, is it really the king binding them or his mage, or his champion fighting the thing down and the king rides up in the end like the Dragonslayer movie from the 80s.

 

[NotAYakk]

Dragon's aren't just big lizards. They are titans, beings of primordial energy, the power that birthed the gods themselves.

Where they walk, where they fly, magic flows.

These bound drakes no longer walk the land, and the magic fades. The bindings corrupt the energy, and foul the land. In the places where the drakes are bound, corruption and aberrations walk the night.

 

[Fenris-77]

I might design barrow drakes as a smaller beast. Dragons temd not to fit into most dungeon corridors. Or maybe even something like the basilisk in Harry Potter, more of a worm, but still more corridor capable.

 

[Reynard]

I might design barrow drakes as a smaller beast. Dragons temd not to fit into most dungeon corridors. Or maybe even something like the basilisk in Harry Potter, more of a worm, but still more corridor capable.

In my head they are more like wyverns or drakes, not true dragons (except maybe in the case of the one Smaug level monstrosity that the most legendary king of old was able to capture). It's not supposed to be a central element of the sandbox, just a thing that explains dragons and treasure hoards.

 

[Fenris-77]

There's something inherently terrifying about a worm that fills the corridor and has sharp bitey bits.

 

[Reynard]

For the record, the intent of this thread was to be broad, not just to workshop my particular bit (although I really appreciate the input).

 

[MattW]

Here is a large scale idea that I always wanted to try:

Many fantasy settings have a back-story involving an ancient war/cataclysm that resulted in the creation and loss of magic items, powerful monsters, and dungeons.

But what if the apocalypse was last month?

Example: A group of PCs are on a long sea voyage and discover that most of their magic no longer works. When they reach their destination, local clerics can tell them that the Gods have made a decree: non-clerical magic is now banned. This is because of the GODSWAR that recently took place in the PC's homeland. However, the God of Magic (who was on the losing side) was able to ensure that magic WILL work in the PC's native country (at least for a few decades). As a consequence, mages, sorcerers, and all sorts of magical creatures are frantically trying to get into the PC's homeland - before they cease to exist in a world without magic.

Obviously, refugees are also fleeing in the opposite direction...