Another WOTC Setting Search semifinalist speaks...

[RSKennan]

Re: Kudos!

That was an excellent write up and sounds like a fantastic idea!

It sounds like Rome falling the way the Romans would have wanted it to fall. Cast low at the hieght of its glory by the will, not of the gods, but of the tragic cunning of the universe. Not to mention the whole new gods vs. old and the influx of newer and lesser races.

Yep, falling or triumphing at this point is just the way Rome would have wanted it. None of that sticking around for centuries and trying to adapt themselves around their own inherent flaws.

I really like the 'archetypal' villains. 'The Green Knight' is my favorite Arthurian villain.

You definitely get it!

Do the heroes of the world actively attempt to subvert the canticle, moderate it, delay it, or simply accept its inevitable victory? Does it contain, or potentially contain, the seeds of its own thwarting within itself?

A hero could take any of these positions with regard to The Canticle. I imagine most would opt to at least try to take it down. The short answer to your second question is yes.

Does the canticle have one consistent style or many voices?
And how does it communicate itself, through one master book, many texts, or a class of oracles?

The Canticle makes itself known to each culture in its own way. Any more would be telling...

 

[RSKennan]

Re: Re: Another WOTC Setting Search semifinalist speaks...

First let me say that I wasn't ignoring you by not responding to your post, Gez. I was just trying to think of a way to respond properly. BTW, I find your idea fascinating...

But yes, I did have it a long time ago, for my homebrew world. I just found it something cool to have, and wanted to have the superstitious inhabitants of my campaign world to think it was the home of the gods (like Mount Olympus for the ancient Greek). Then I changed my mind and decided it wasn't a superstition, and that it would indeed be the replacement for all outer planes, and have clerics gaze at the moon at night with spyglasses to awe before the glory of divine cities, and eagerly look how the occasional battle between divine legions go on.

There's definitely something major going on on Thraxis' Moon...But I don't want to ruin it....

But then again, a setting where gnomes are not merely comic relief probably hadn't its chance with WotC.

I've always hated how they do that....

 

[mkletch]

The common thread of these submissions (a golden age; where the ancient empires have not fallen; etc.) makes me wonder how much use the actual winner will be for me. I and my group hunger, truly hunger for a low fantasy setting, something to balance the egregious and overly fantastic excess of Greyhawk and The Forgotten Realms. How about an age where great empires have not yet risen, where magic is vague and mysterious. That was my setting. Not in the 11, and I can see where it just did not fit into WotC's paradigm.

I'm currently compiling everything anyway from my disparate records. Is there anybody else that currently runs, or is looking for such a campaign setting?

-Fletch!

 

[Tsyr]

I'm currently compiling everything anyway from my disparate records. Is there anybody else that currently runs, or is looking for such a campaign setting?

-Fletch!

I am.

That's why I'm waiting with such frustration for Midnight .

 

[RSKennan]

Honestly, mkletch, I agree that magic is not mysterious enough in standard D&D, and I love a good low fantasy game. Morning Star began as an exercise in exploring how to bring back the wonder that magic should inspire. Even though it is quite common in Morning Star I am striving not to make it humdrum. Magic is definitely not a toy on Thraxis.

 

[Buttercup]

I am certainly exploring my options right now. I am seeing whether it would be more viable to start my own company (hopefully with partners), or to get to work with another.

Well, one way or the other, I dearly hope you get to fully develop and publish this world, because I can't wait to run a campaign in it! The Canticle is a fabulous idea, and I love the moon, too. Lots of possibilities here!

 

[RSKennan]

A bit of news: I have recieved an offer (no specifics yet) from an up-and-coming publisher. I have decided to take it if the offer still stands. Let me just say that I am very impressed with their products so far and if every publisher put out material like theirs I'd run out of organs to sell.

 

[Psion]

Still kicking myself... seeing elements of my own game in common with these entries. In this case, my "canticle" is the "Tome of Ages..."

(And I have a habitable moon, but I bet that one's not so uncommon...)

 

[Gez]

First let me say that I wasn't ignoring you by not responding to your post, Gez. I was just trying to think of a way to respond properly.

There's absolutely no problem, you don't have to excuse yourself.

BTW, I find your idea fascinating...

Thanks.

(And I have a habitable moon, but I bet that one's not so uncommon...)

Argh ! Another !

Well, I guess that in fact, the Twin Paradise of Bytopia can be seen as a variant on that theme also... It probably have precedence over most D&D worlds. (And I won't speak about Mystara's Hollow Moon. It was inhabited, but not on its surface; so it was just another silvery ball AFAIK.) Although the "Man on the Moon" theme is old, making the moon a fertile world rather than a barren rock is rarer. (But now that I think of it, in Star Wars, aren't both the rebel base in Ep4 and the shield generator in Ep6 located on verdant moons ? Even if, in these cases, the planets themselves are giant gasball, and thus you don't have twin worlds here.)

 

[Tsyr]

Still kicking myself... seeing elements of my own game in common with these entries. In this case, my "canticle" is the "Tome of Ages..."

(And I have a habitable moon, but I bet that one's not so uncommon...)

Yeah, I've got one too. It's fun!