An E6 Setting

[Ry]

This thread will be home to my thoughts and development work for an E6 setting.

First order of business: Concept.

In my games so far, I've run E6 on a small island kingdom called Staunwark, one of the larger islands in a long chain in a mediterranean sea. Staunwark was mostly a self-contained game, and a small setting, but to show off E6 I think we need a big setting. The reason is: I don't want E6 GMs to have the impression that they have to dial their games down to play E6.

So concept: Big world, big conflicts. The campaign will start in the calm before the storm, and provide various options for how that storm arrives. The original Dragonlance campaign that leads into the War of the Lance is a good example of this kind of start. The guidelines for creating a character in the setting will include suggestions for hooks that relate the characters to the campaign's central conflicts. The setting should give the impression of a complex set of dominoes.

The E6 campaign setting needs to be familiar, but distinctive. GMs should be able to bring their favorite low-level material to the table and expect it to fit in. But the setting should provide a context - and frankly, it needs to be cool. At the same time, things need to be familiar enough that players can be filled in quickly - we don't want anyone bored or pushed away by the campaign's "required reading."

Now I've got to pick the main conflicts, think of some good hooks, and talk about different styles within E6.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Nifelhein]

How human centric do you want it to be is a thing to ponder, the presence and number of other humanoid races and al that. I for one like to have the fantasy races but tone down the monsters in the wild aspect of things, this usually means monsters are closer to unique or rare than to every day things to worry about.

A single Bullete, for instance, could be the basic of an adventure. You then have to chose whether those monsters are naturally occurring or created by some power or force. this ties itself well to the conflict as well.

A few thoughts to the storming jar.

 

[Ry]

There will definitely be humanoids, but I think a mostly human-centric world is still the way to go.

I'm trying to think up some flavorful twists on the major races.

The elves once had multiple, massive empires, so that the globe was dominated by elves and the other civilized races were subjugated. After destroying itself (with help from seething hordes of human and humanoid barbarians), the Elven culture has fractured in two:

The Accepters, who accept that Elven Civilization is over (and probably a bad idea to begin with), and thus try to exist in harmony with the younger races.
The Deniers, who continue to try to build up elven civilization once again (usually in conflict with other races).

Great elven heroes and villains in the setting will have a LOT of feats.

Domino 1: Elven Deniers intend to make a play for power in a kingdom / city-state that the players are likely to be connected to. They believe that the Elven Accepters in the same region are their main obstacle.

 

[Ry]

The older elven empires collapsed ~3000 years ago, but some particularly disastrous Denier kingdoms city states have existed for 100-800 year periods since then in various corners of the globe.

 

[Nifelhein]

Masters of druidical magic the elves have suffered great losses by the workings of the gods they left behind to dabble in the arcane and nature's magic, even the accepters look with suspicion to followers of the gods.

 

[Aegir]

Something to consider: is magic in the state it is now because its always been that way, or because of some sort of calamity? Netheril comes to mind (from Forgotten Realms), where a group of haughty wizards ruin it for everyone by overdoing it and nearly destroying the world.

Of course, it doesn't need to be that extreme.

 

[phindar]

Humanoids are People too

Humanoids tend to fade in high level D&D, they never exactly disappear but they do get sort of transparent. Since in E6 even low-level humanoids remain threatening throughout the course of the campaign, I like the idea of giving them a real place in the world.

 

[Aegir]

I think it might be worth considering that goblinoid races might have a pretty substantial place in this world. In a world where people cap out at Lv 6, the goblinoids relative lack of individual strength would be lessened, and their ability to multiply like rabbits would be magnified.

 

[Nifelhein]

That is where the organized humans and demi humans get an edge over the scattered humanoid tribes. Unless you want to make them also have an organized government and the like.

 

[Aegir]

I wasn't implying that there are huge kobold nations scattered about, but the idea of villages of kobolds, goblins and the like would seem like it'd be more common then under a more traditional setting, where their numbers serve as a much greater source of strength.

Orcs on the other hand... I'd think they may well have a fairly sizable niche in the world, as their only real weakness is a lack of organizational forethought.