I am currently at work. Tonight I'll be doing a bunch of stuff with the hubby. But tomorrow I'm going to sit down at the keyboard and try to fill out the above template for Musarra... Let's see how it goes.
Level Up (A5E) Sins of the Scorpion Age, Sword and Sorcery Campaign Setting
- Thread starter Steampunkette
- Start date
Tales and Chronicles
Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
Maybe add a few one-line NPCs for each city? Maybe as part of the Organizations section?
Also, part of the organization or notable NPC, maybe add ''blocks'' with their bond/flaw/ideal for each (and alingnment, if you use'em).
Also, part of the organization or notable NPC, maybe add ''blocks'' with their bond/flaw/ideal for each (and alingnment, if you use'em).
Faolyn
(she/her)
Include a guide for making S&S adventures (and how they differ from other types of fantasy adventures). That should take up a few pages.
Suggestions--or random tables--for making your own S&S city-state or major location in a way that's appropriate to the world.
Lists o' plot-hooks and adventure seeds, perhaps in tables like the way they are in VGR.
Monsters.
I think it's pretty clear I could write a dissertation on how to run and maintain the feel of a Sword and Sorcery game, considering I've basically done that and scattered it across the forum, here... So that's definitely an important facet of the book, and probably something I should put right up front for both players and DM's to read.
That's... that's actually super helpful, Faolyn. Like holy crap levels of helpful. Like retargeting my thought process helpful. Writing about the structure and critical understanding of what makes S&S so interesting beyond the most basic trappings of musclebound brutes and half-dressed damsels fighting the wicked machinations of the cartoonishly evil villain...
Deep Thoughts Swords and Sorcery... yeah... I could write a -lot- on that topic. Just need to figure out how to break it down into subtopics that flow into each other.
Could also use that segment of the book to introduce the player-facing mechanics unique to the setting which help reinforce the S&S in the D&D...
That's... that's actually super helpful, Faolyn. Like holy crap levels of helpful. Like retargeting my thought process helpful. Writing about the structure and critical understanding of what makes S&S so interesting beyond the most basic trappings of musclebound brutes and half-dressed damsels fighting the wicked machinations of the cartoonishly evil villain...
Deep Thoughts Swords and Sorcery... yeah... I could write a -lot- on that topic. Just need to figure out how to break it down into subtopics that flow into each other.
Could also use that segment of the book to introduce the player-facing mechanics unique to the setting which help reinforce the S&S in the D&D...
Tales and Chronicles
Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
I think little side notes with the ''thoughts of the author'' in the margin to explain the process behind specific elements of the setting would be better than a whole essay at the beginning of the book. Systems like Cypher, AGE and the 13th Age use this method and it works pretty well, I think.
GuyBoy
Hero
As well as the major cities, you could look to include examples of smaller, village-sized settlements from each of the main cultural areas. These would be interesting in themselves, but also serve as possible starting points for adventurers or be dropped in as settlements facing some kind of threat as a hook
For example:
Tywyll: The village of Tywyll is set in a clearing in Western Neasc on the forest road between Huskvrn and Camarthll. There are 60 inhabitants, eking out a poor living from hog farming and gathering of Abass nuts. In the past, there was a trade in fire moss, which holds its heat and light for several hours when lit and is therefore valued within dark wattle-and-daub huts all over Neasc.
The village Prif, or chief, is Falwyr, who lost his left hand in battle with a grimwolf as a young warrior, but still wields an axe with formidable skill. His wife died of the Red Sickness five years before, but his daughter, Hiachwyr, exhibits powers of healing as well as the ability to influence local fauna.
In the deepwoods, half a day from Tywyll, stands a moss-covered stone circle, carved with inscriptions in a language that none speak today. The villagers fear this place and tell stories of the Cerigaur, a murderous beast that haunts the place.
For example:
Tywyll: The village of Tywyll is set in a clearing in Western Neasc on the forest road between Huskvrn and Camarthll. There are 60 inhabitants, eking out a poor living from hog farming and gathering of Abass nuts. In the past, there was a trade in fire moss, which holds its heat and light for several hours when lit and is therefore valued within dark wattle-and-daub huts all over Neasc.
The village Prif, or chief, is Falwyr, who lost his left hand in battle with a grimwolf as a young warrior, but still wields an axe with formidable skill. His wife died of the Red Sickness five years before, but his daughter, Hiachwyr, exhibits powers of healing as well as the ability to influence local fauna.
In the deepwoods, half a day from Tywyll, stands a moss-covered stone circle, carved with inscriptions in a language that none speak today. The villagers fear this place and tell stories of the Cerigaur, a murderous beast that haunts the place.
GuyBoy
Hero
Linked to this idea (which is fantastic) would be two or three S&S character backgrounds, motivations etc created by you as examples of how to create interesting characters that avoid the basic trappings you mention. This could also show inclusivity without tokenism in a S&S context.
Faolyn
(she/her)
Glad to help! I know it would help me enormously, if I were to run a game in your world. As I mentioned before, my primary exposure to S&S has been through MST3k, so it's definitely not a well-rounded knowledge of the genre.
So I started in on Musarra, got halfway through the history (Up to Ancais' Conquest) and then Homebrewery just crapped out on me... So... I've saved my work in a text document for the time being.
Once it's back I'll transfer what I've got over and do some editing.
Once it's back I'll transfer what I've got over and do some editing.
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