Borrowed bits in a campaign/kitbashed campaigns

[Psion]

Hi all,

another interesting question came to mind while I was reading over Banewarrens in prep for my review: just how would I integrate it in the campaign. Any city to which I add the spire will have a new permanent feature!

That got me to thinking about all the other *D&D/d20/other fantasy materials past and present that have become part of my campaign. To that end, I have two questions (please reply to one or both as applicable).

1) If you have your own homebrew or are running a major published setting (e.g., Kalamar, FR, etc.), what "bits and peices" of other published setting stuff has made it into your setting as permanent fixtures or major parts of the background, and...

2) Has anyone out there basically made a campaign world "kitbash" fashion, but throwing different little setting supplements together and making little links here and there? If so, which?


For me, my world is an old homebrew that I occasionally "borrow" things for. The most major edifices are:

• Undermountain - I placed UM beneath one of the largest cities in my game, with a modestly rewritten backstory. In my game, it was a "holding pen" for evil creatures created by an ancient race of wizards, not unlike the concept of Monte's Banewarrens (which is partly why the Banewarrens is a bit of a tough fit for me. My new low level game is set in the city with a labyrinth that is already very much like the Banewarrens; I may end up making the Banewarrens simply a sealed off extension of my undermountain)
• Greyhawk Ruins -- Also plopped into my campaign, also with some background rewrites.
• Country Sites -- This had a bit in it about a castle that is the host to an elven infirmary of sorts ("Palace of Broken Dreams", IIRC). The backstory was that there was once major tension between the humans and elves, but that the elves were afflicted by a "spiritual disease" which decimated their numbers, making the conflict a moot point. This whole story, and the site, has become a part of a history of the island (the same island that hosts the undermountian, incidentally.)
• Citybooks -- Various parts of the citybook series by Flying Buffalo got dropped into my games and have had lasting effects. For example, the bloodmoon school came up when one of my players in 2e was seeking a school to teach him weapon mastery; the storyline about the half-elf girl fanning the flames of racial tension became a major plotline in my game. This was also on the same island, and worked right into the history of elvish racism in the castle sites book. The "floating hotel" in another Citybook is a prominent feature in the same city.
• Deepearth -- This underdark setting from the Dungeoneer's Survival guide gave me a convenient yet little-know underdark setting for my world.

Any others?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Any others?

I always try to see if I can squeeze oD&D's Galantri somewhere in the world.

 

[spunky_mutters]

The first campaign that I DMed I pulled in everything that I could. At the time I was enthralled by 'Pages from the Mages' and any other articles by Ed Greenwood, so I made lists of all of his realms references so that I could locate them on my maps. I also used 'Barnacus:City in Peril' and 'Can Seaport be Saved.' I incorporated both of these into my overland maps as well. I actually ended up running a lot of overland and city adventures, so I must have been influenced by these ones when I made my own. I didn't really realize this before.

I also had Runequest game for 2 or 3 years that wasn't set in Glorantha, but pulled extensively from the Gloranthan religions. There was a lot I didn't want to use (mostly the elves and dwarves, but I had different ideas about the races), so I had my own world, but I used the stats and basic ideas behind the gods of Glorantha. I did mine cults of terror for all it was worth, though. That was probably the best supplement I've ever bought for sheer value.

 

[jasper]

homebrew rules

When I still had all my modules, city books etc, (where do they go I missing half)

I read the opening description /localiton and started drawing.

So G1,G2,g3 are up north on my map.
I had to create a desert for the desolution series etc.

White plume is within flying distance of villiage of hommlet

Raveloft is series of mountains near my main city.

Now my world has a huge swamp near the equator which covers a fourth of the map.

A huge mt range divides east (oriental) from west.

Of course if I ever sit down and do the weather it not going to work.

Good things about homebrew worlds
Use which every module you want. Anything special like gods will only be worship in those areas.

Players don't what worldview(greyhawk, Kalamar etc) is around the next corner.

Change names of npc in modules and adjust history is easier.
No bob you can't travel to the Emerald City to smack down Dizzit.

Bad things about homebrew worlds

Confusion
Plains next desert next to huge mountains.
More leg work on dm to do maps, npcs etc

 

[Enkhidu]

I also used 'Barnacus:City in Peril' and 'Can Seaport be Saved.'

'Can Seaport be Saved' - now that's old school!

 

[Desdichado]

I rarely use micro-level campaign setting stuff like that, but I do borrow extensively from books like the FRCS or whatever for homebrews.

But what you're asking is using modules, pretty much, right? Kitbashed into a homebrew campaign. Since I don't much buy modules, I don't kitbash that way.

I'd add Freeport of Bluffside or Hollowfaust to a homebrew, though.

 

[Pyske]

1) If you have your own homebrew or are running a major published setting (e.g., Kalamar, FR, etc.), what "bits and peices" of other published setting stuff has made it into your setting as permanent fixtures or major parts of the background, and...

2) Has anyone out there basically made a campaign world "kitbash" fashion, but throwing different little setting supplements together and making little links here and there? If so, which?

I'm a big fan of "culling" pieces from different settings and supplements. My current D20 Rokugan campaign was written around the city boxed-sets I owned at the time; it was originally intended to revolve around 3 cities, which were respectively the City of Lies set (L5R), the Frieburg set (7th Sea), and a combination of the Denver (Shadowrun) and Vivane (Earthdawn) sets. Player interest has modified the scope of the campaign to only the area of Ryoko Owari (City of Lies), but this is because it was the first one they encountered rather than a preference against conversions.

I still use a fair amount of inspiration from outside sources in the campaign, particularly adventure concepts.

----

My most ambitious kitbash was a Feng Shui variant. I mapped out a critical shift that completely revised the setting, causing the ancient juncture to be a blend of Earthdawn and Agone, the mid-juncture to be based on 7th Sea, the modern juncture to move forward to the Shadowrun setting, and the future juncture to be Fading Suns. The discovery of stelae allowed the Netherworld to be parceled out among various realities a-la Torg. These pocket realities also let me bring in a variety of other influences, and some of the junctures were further blended with outside influences (i.e. Stargate SG1, Earth Final Conflict, Babylon 5, etc.).

The unifying theme, and the cause of the critical shift, were the machinations of demons, who managed to shift the time period of the open junctures just as they staged a coup in the Eaters of the Lotus' juncture. Juncture 1 detailed recovery in a world ravaged by demons, Juncture 2 the first contacts which would begin the demons return, Juncture 3 the subtle machinations of the demons to corrupt society, and Juncture 4 the beginnings of the demons re-manifestation and the coming of the end times.

Ack. Insanely long response to a simple question... sorry about that. Guess I get carried away.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[Psion]

But what you're asking is using modules, pretty much, right?

Not necessarily. Country sites isn't a module per se, and "drop in" cities or other setting details are also things I was interested in hearing about. How did you integrate Bluffside or Freeport or one of the AEG or Mongoose cities into your game?

 

[Desdichado]

Not necessarily. Country sites isn't a module per se, and "drop in" cities or other setting details are also things I was interested in hearing about. How did you integrate Bluffside or Freeport or one of the AEG or Mongoose cities into your game?

I had a city that was very similar to Freeport in a lot of ways, so I just stole ideas out of Freeport. I didn't integrate Freeport exactly as is (had a different name, for one thing, and a different history and geography).

 

[Marius Delphus]

Golden Rules of Kit-Bashing?

My campaign's plot draws heavily from "elements" published elsewhere. One rule I've found essential to obey when assembling a campaign from assorted bits: "Don't contradict what's gone before; everything else is fair game."

For example, you might need a "hook" for the next adventure. Before introducing something new, check over all the "throwaway" bits you've accumulated and see if anything strikes your fancy. Perhaps the end of a previous adventure wasn't really the end. Perhaps an established NPC has a problem the PCs will be eager to help solve. Perhaps an established NPC has a problem with the PCs that he/she is eager to solve. Et cetera....

After assembling quite a few bits, I discovered another rule that made a lot of sense to me: "Make sure to account for the ramifications of your choices." That is, make sure everything that happens follows logically from things that have already happened. (Of course, it's all right to keep the players in the dark.)

For example, let's say you notice that your map needs altering. (When you drew the map long ago, you mistakenly landlocked your big capital city.) Don't just change the map and declare a paradigm shift next session... engineer the change in-game and let the PCs hear about it. (You could start a canal project and let that progress for a few game years, you could say that a bunch of wizards and spades of colossal excavation are involved, or you could say that a small cabal of wizards got together and cast an epic spell or two... depending on your campaign model.)

Finally, I found one other rule that helped me keep things manageable: "If if doesn't fit, throw it away." Doesn't matter how important it is: anything from major features to nitpicky rumor table entries can be discarded or retooled if it's important to your campaign's continuity.

That piece of the Forgotten Realms I mentioned before came with NPCs, plot hooks, trade routes, and all kinds of other things that just plain didn't belong in my world. My version of this region, therefore, lacks one of its main (canon) villains and links to other major regions in the Forgotten Realms that have no reasonable analogs in my world.

You can apply these little rules even if you're not kit-bashing, but to my mind fitting pieces ("quilting") is sort of a different art than creating everything from scratch ("weaving"). That's why these little rules came to mind as I was kit-bashing... enjoy!