Beyond the Pale RPG, my home-brewed no to low magic world 20 years in the making

[Daniel D. Fox]

Beyond the Pale RPG is a project several years in the making. After our stint with the red box, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and eventually Planescape back, our gaming group grew bored of high fantasy material. In that, I went back to the drawing board and developed my own campaign world.

In short, it is a no to low magic, politically-charged campaign that is entirely humanocentric. Various ethnic groups vie for control of the vast nations of the world in a early Renaissance world. Some of the more interesting facets of the game revolve around the resolution of a civil war that has torn asunder one of the most influential and resource-rich nations. Houses struggle against one another against a backdrop of an impending war with a foreign power, as it struggles with political strife from in its own borders.

Both the peoples and the places of the known world are vast, familiar and yet at the same time, exotic and deeply developed. It has taken me several years to finally "publish" this world in an online format, utilizing a Wiki-style and fully searchable by term website. The entire page is riddled with clickable keywords; the website just over two years has grown to over 1,750 pages of information about the gaming world. The wiki is clean and concise; a true collection of my gaming world since it's inception in 1997. I've taken literally thousands of pages of writing and old college-ruled books and converted them into a fully searchable wiki format, replete with quotations, evocative images and deep searches. I pride myself on its cleanliness.

Criticism and kudos welcome (especially constructive criticism). Note that the wiki is private, because I do not want Google to scrape content. You will have to request access as a reader on the home page. Enjoy, and thanks in advance!

http://beyondthepalerpg.com

Cheers,
Daniel

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

The setting for my 4th edition game is on its way for full development for Year 200 Kahabro. This is the second launch of a major city by edition (I launched Belegost, the City of Ages for our 3rd edition game).

The game will take place in Kahabro, also called the City of Lights in Goth Moran. It takes a little bit of Pholtus, influence from Sigil of Planescape and the Conan series, wrapping it tightly into the most densely populated trade city of the known world (while still retaining the humanocentric, politically-charged low magic feel of the gaming world)

Organizations are still being fleshed out, as are the merchant prince houses. A lot of information has went into the districts, but little into locales and influential people.

As always, criticism and praise welcome. Feel free to visit the home page, as listed in my signature, to learn more about the general world of Deismaar.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

A bump for development of Kahabro (http://deismaar.pbwiki.com/Kahabro) and two new factions:

The Sisterhood http://deismaar.pbwiki.com/Sisterhood
The Cabal http://deismaar.pbwiki.com/Cabal
The Legate http://deismaar.pbwiki.com/Legate
The Fifth House http://deismaar.pbwiki.com/Fifth+House

 

[Moleculo]

I scanned through the wiki quickly. There was a lot of good stuff. One thing I was wondering about was the art work. The art work you have there is really great. What's its story? Did you or a friend paint them? Did you commission them or just stumble upon them?

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I scanned through the wiki quickly. There was a lot of good stuff. One thing I was wondering about was the art work. The art work you have there is really great. What's its story? Did you or a friend paint them? Did you commission them or just stumble upon them?

A lot of the work has been cobbled from Google images. Finding images that capture the feel of the world has been difficult.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

The Orthodoxy of the Saint faith updated: http://deismaar.pbwiki.com/Orthodoxy+of+the+Saint

 

[Soel]

Looks like a very fun world to play in. Might end up inspiring me to up my own political intrigue quota for my current game.

 

[Rhun]

Took a quick glance and I am really liking what I see. When I have some time to look through it in more detail, I'll provide some feedback.

 

[Arcturion]

Interesting stuff, and some nice artwork too (Michael Komarck is an awesome artist). I'll readily admit to yoinking your unlabeled map of Kahabro and some of the artwork too to describe the city for my own campaign. I also like how you mixed in a lot of elements from George R.R. Martin's Ice & Fire novels (almost done with Storm of Swords myself and then moving on to Feast of Crows), Vagrant Story (one of the best and most underrated RPGs for the PSX), and some Ptolus too for good measure. Keep up the good work!

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Map of the western hemisphere with cities and locations on a hex map (25 miles per hex)

http://ogy.cc/wh_nas.jpg
(9.5 meg file, color))