Another WOTC Setting Search semifinalist speaks...

[RSKennan]

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.

 

[Fayredeth]

Awesome, truly! The setting seems so rich, especially when the part about the villains and conflict in the world came up; I was getting excited thinking of all the possibilities! I surely hope this will end up in print, as it certainly is deserving! Although I had to think, if it were to be put in as a setting book, would The Canticle be written up, or would there just be sketches? Definately an inspiring idea... maybe it'll motivate me to make the little setting I'm working on half as interesting....

 

[RSKennan]

I don't know if it is an intentional parallel but the fight to save "a golden age of magic" sounds like some Pendragon campaigns I've played in where one of the main conflicts is between the old pagan gods and the new 'rational' world. With the entrance of the christian god the old pagan magic begins to fade.

I'm not familiar with Pendragon other than a vague memory of reading about it in Dragon ads years ago. That's an Arthurian setting, right?

I would say that my primary inspiration is the decline and fall of the Roman empire. Magic itself isn't threatened, but the old gods are. The fact that my inspiration is the ancient world doesn't speak to the technology level of the setting. Other inspirations include pagan folklore (I treat elves and fey similarly to the way they were treated in the movie LEGEND) The Dwarves are more brutal than are found in most settings, and other Races have their twists as well. I firmly believe that fantasy races should be more than "Dextrous human that loves nature" or "Short, Durable human that loves rocks" The goal is a world that is at once familiar, yet strange, and to bring back the wonder of the first game the players ever had.

As mentioned by someone else it also implies some celtic overtones also.

True, there's some of that - in as much as ancient Rome is involved in my thought process... but there are other cultural influences as well. I look at what other real world cultures might have become if they were sustained by magic. Africa is neglected in most other settings (The highly-acclaimed Nyambe setting excepted), as is Mesoamerica. Other influences include Angkor, Cambodia, and Northen and Eastern India. All are given the D&D treatment, and are never simply dry ripoffs of the real world. The nonhuman races have their empires and nations(except for the halflings, and they're looking to buy some lands) as do a few monsters. There is a lot of cultural crosspollenation injected with heavy dose of fantasy.

Thank you for the compliments Ysgarran, and everyone else!

 

[RSKennan]

<snip>...Although I had to think, if it were to be put in as a setting book, would The Canticle be written up, or would there just be sketches? Definately an inspiring idea... maybe it'll motivate me to make the little setting I'm working on half as interesting....

let me quote from my 11 pager...

The Canticle is a thing with a will of it’s own, and each time it is thwarted, it adapts. Verses restructure themselves in the unholy texts, and a new route to destruction is plotted... <snip>

...The Canticle has been divided into two parts by scholars, the Greater and Lesser Canticle. The Greater Canticle consists of those verses that speak of trends and large scale changes that no one person or event could prevent, but if defeated, would greatly weaken the Canticle. The Lesser Canticle speaks of specific figures and seemingly isolated events that can be thwarted with enough effort. The Lesser Canticle provides fodder for one-shot adventures, and the Greater Canticle provides goals that can unify a campaign.

The Greater Canticle would be outlined in the book, replete with cryptic verses a la Nostradamus, and the Lesser Canticle would be the domain of individual modules and individual DMs. Not every campaign needs to involve the Canticle, of course.

 

[Undead Pete]

Now THIS is what I was expecting from the semifinalists . BRAVO!....By FAR the best I have seen to date of the semifinalists. It still has the Golden Age idea, but show originality as well.

I highly recommend you continue to develop this world with another company.

I, for one, will definitely buy it.

 

[RSKennan]

That is high praise indeed, considering your stance in the FFG thread. Thank you very much. I really hope to bring it to print.

 

[Undead Pete]

That is high praise indeed, considering your stance in the FFG thread. Thank you very much. I really hope to bring it to print.

If nothing else, I am blunt with my opinions.

If I like something, I really like it.

If I don't, everyone knows it.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Very cool world RSKENNAN! I wish you the best of luck in getting your world published!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

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.

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?

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?

I love the premise and I'm interested in anything that can bring Angkor Wat to the gaming table. And I have to say that as cool as it looks to play, there seems to be ssssoooo much to steal!

A little off topic, but... ...I really liked Gez's idea on a planetary home of the gods. There was a little bit of that in the Aztec pantheon of 2e's Legends and Lore, but it was as tacked on as Spelljammer.

 

[Gez]

Re: Kudos!

A little off topic, but... ...I really liked Gez's idea on a planetary home of the gods.

Thanks !