Campaign World Problems/ Questions/ Considerations

[AdmundfortGeographer]

1. Do unique calendars add to the game? Would you prefer a conventional calendar that reflects our own or something more fantastic?

It does add to it for me, but not having them don't detract for me either.

2. Do naming conventions matter to you? Should different areas of the campaign world have consistent language naming conventions?

Hmmm, matter? I get significant enjoyment out of it and it feels like the builder is putting effort and attention in cultures.

3. Is realistic geography important to you? Mountain, desert, river, etc. placement?

I'm a geographer. My head explodes when I see unrealistic geography that has no explanation. I understand in a world with magic some amazing things should happen, even some magical microclimates I can accept... I'm a fan of Mystara which has a hollow planet and pockets of microclimates all over the place. It works for me because there are explanations I can buy with a world as magical as it is.

But river networks that are drawn contrary to how river networks are... such as a river that comes out of the mountains and then in the middle of the plains hundreds of miles from the coast sudden split into a handful of larger flows heading in random directions across the continent... *explode!*

And no, I don't need to see evidence of plate tectonics, although someone who puts in the effort shows to me they know how an Earth-like world should work.

 

[Choranzanus]

Greetings,

My D&D campaign is moving along nicely, but recent developments are causing me to pause and ask some questions. Do me a favor and try to answer the following questions as a player -

1. Do unique calendars add to the game? Would you prefer a conventional calendar that reflects our own or something more fantastic?

I would definitely prefer conventional calendar, new calendars really bother me.

2. Do naming conventions matter to you? Should different areas of the campaign world have consistent language naming conventions?

I think they tried this in Kingdoms of Kalamar and they ended with some pretty goofy names. Based on this experience and common sense I think it is not worth the trouble.

3. Is realistic geography important to you? Mountain, desert, river, etc. placement?

It is not important, but it doesn't take a lot of effort either. So, yes, you should at least try.

I can't help it but say that none of this is really important and you should concentrate on other things when creating a world.

 

[Aeson]

1. A conventional calender works for me.

2. I want names that are easy to pronounce. If you want fantastic names provide a pronunciation key.

3. Geography can be as weird as it can be as long as it's explained. "why are those boulders floating in the air?" "I don't know. I just thought it was cool." doesn't work for me. "It's a magical affect from a long ago experiment that went wrong and effected gravity in this area."

 

[kigmatzomat]

Greetings,

My D&D campaign is moving along nicely, but recent developments are causing me to pause and ask some questions. Do me a favor and try to answer the following questions as a player -

1. Do unique calendars add to the game? Would you prefer a conventional calendar that reflects our own or something more fantastic?

Nothing that I can tell. I've tried it and it was utterly ignored. Even in my game that has lasted for quite some time, they are generally fine working off of the year and season.

2. Do naming conventions matter to you? Should different areas of the campaign world have consistent language naming conventions?

It helps. I run a DragonLance variant and they have begun recognizing the regional trends (cities ending in "us" are in western/central Solamnia, "gaards" are fortresses in eastern Solamnia, "heims" are dwarven, etc).

3. Is realistic geography important to you? Mountain, desert, river, etc. placement?

It does help a bit. Without a map most people won't notice many mistakes. I'm a civil engineer so I tend to notice unusual geology and ground water structures. I tend to be bothered more by games that are going for "realism" but the weather is utterly contradictory to latitude. If something does bother me, I wonder aloud about the odd circumstances that may have led to such atypical conditions, giving the GM a clue that a) this ain't normal and b) it could be used to help with the mystique.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

1 and 2 matter more to me than 3. Realistic geography? I mean seriously, is there such a thing? Other than for a certain Kalamar guy (no, not you Mister King of the Kalamar worlds.), I never met anyone that was interested in such a thing.

Heh.

I think "realistic geography" is important because geography/topography have a physical and mental effect on the people that live on and around it.

I would, however, agree that it's not usually important for the players. It could be very important to the DM, or not at all, depending on the DM's preferences.

For example: Nation A is bordered by tall mountains on two sides, and water elsewhere. Nation B is in the middle of plains. All other things being equal, Nation A won't expand its borders nearly as fast as Nation B. Then, emotionally, the people of Nation A might be more insular and suspicious of strangers, or treat strangers as honored guests or wondrous beings, depending on the DM's preference. And so on.

But back to the other points...

1) Calendars are usually only important to players or DMs when something has to be tracked or when referring to historical events. Otherwise, time is pretty vague.

2) As a writer, I find regional languages to be very important. If the DM uses them consistently, players will eventually be able to recognize the origin of most persons/places/etc just by hearing or reading the word. Over time, this should make the setting feel more like a real place. So it's important to the DM in setting the tone for his world. But is it important to the players? Maybe not.

 

[Nightfall]

Mark,

All I'm saying is if you guys at Kenzer want to make "realistic" geography, more power to you. I just don't want to hear some guy on the net rant about how "realistic geography is the be all and end of a campaign setting." Cause someone certainly did a while back. Good thing he's not here.

Anyway go for what you do best Mark and keep up the good fight/work.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Mark,

All I'm saying is if you guys at Kenzer want to make "realistic" geography, more power to you. I just don't want to hear some guy on the net rant about how "realistic geography is the be all and end of a campaign setting." Cause someone certainly did a while back. Good thing he's not here.

Yeah, even I wouldn't go that far...

 

[Terwox]

1. Skip the calendar, for the most part. Like above posters have said -- lots of work for little reward, that just looks for an analogue anyway (It's Hakken 4th... that's like mid-February, right? This is dead on.)

I'd be interested in a game that defined a series of holidays, although just the important ones to the PCs bear repeating. Like let's eat some ham day, and weasel stomping day.

2. Naming conventions matter. Bill from the Orient stinks.

3. I strongly prefer nonsensical magical geography. In a realistic game I'm playing in, nonsense geography does not bother me because I don't notice it's nonsense... or I've had GM's who never fudged it at all, which seems very unlikely.

Part of the draw of homebrews for me is how incredibly strange the landscape can be.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah, even I wouldn't go that far...

Exactly! Which is why, while I'm not interested in the setting (surprised? ) I appreciate the support you and the other KoK people give it.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Greetings,

My D&D campaign is moving along nicely, but recent developments are causing me to pause and ask some questions. Do me a favor and try to answer the following questions as a player -

1. Do unique calendars add to the game? Would you prefer a conventional calendar that reflects our own or something more fantastic?

I'm on the fence about this. A new calendar for the setting would be nifty, though it'd need to be frequently accessible for players & DM alike (for proper reference). As it is...

If you do make a new calendar, consider something rather mathematically simple & straightforward. If you don't care missing a couple of days a (Earth) year, then consider 12 30-day months (for a 360-day calendar), or 13 28-day months (for a 364-day calendar).

The 12 30-day month calendar may still have specific days shift around each year (i.e., 1/1 being a Sunday 1 year, then a Tuesday the next year, etc.) The 13 28-day month is actually fixed, so if 13/7 is a Saturday, it stays a Saturday (which makes it easier math-wise). And, if folks get nitpicky about time passage, just say that the campaign's solar year is the exact same amount of time as an Earth solar year, but the time units just divide up a bit neater in your campaign than here on Earth.

Or, if you want something more in line with the 365x3+366 days-sort of time scheme (like on good ol' Earth), but not just have a renamed calendar, make things relatively easy: in a normal year, 7 months have 30 days, and 5 months have 31 days (these months each have a notable day, like new year's, summer/winter solstice, or spring/autumn equinox). Each fourth year has one of the 7 30-day months gain a day (representing the leap year's day).

To add "sense" to the use of the leap year day, simply state it's a quick fix by human culture to account for time correctly, adopted from the elven or draconic calendar (or discovered by a pioneering diviner). One idea I'm using is that an elven calendar year is equivalent to 4 human years (including leap year's day). Elven ages are normally stated with this year system: so a self-proclaimed 30-year old elf is actually 120 human years old.

Or, if you want, just rename the Julian calendar days/months, and use old calenders (or even current ones) to keep track of time. However, with the irregular layout of such calendars, you'd need to keep track of how the months change each year.

2. Do naming conventions matter to you? Should different areas of the campaign world have consistent language naming conventions?

For the most part, yes. Now I say this with a homebrew campaign that has a fair number of humorous town names, like Yewhall and Redwharf. However, since I intend to have a bit of a humorous undercurrent in the game, it's OK by me. But, if you want serious, stick with serious.

That being said, for the benefit of all around, use English (or antiquated English) for place names. Assume that the names of towns & the like have been translated into Common (for the most part) by Common speakers, or possibly corrupted/slurred into a Commonish pronunciation (like many place names "adopted" into English). If "Gharakala" means "Stonewall", then just call the place Stonewall.

As for names of people, I'd say keep things simple, yet go with/promote a theme with names. However, I'd recommend using broader language ranges for naming conventions, & not just specific languages: for example, maybe Germanic-language names for dwarves, Romance-language names for halflings, Slavic-language names for gnomes, English (and it's bit-&-piece-language-adopting, mixed-up goodness) for humans, Finno-Ugric-language names for elves, etc.

However, be careful about this: specifying certain cultural-style names for a group may lead players to also assume that other cultural traits from the same Earth source are also valid for that group (like flamenco-dancing, toga-wearing, or beret-wearing for the Romance-language-named halflings, for example).

3. Is realistic geography important to you? Mountain, desert, river, etc. placement?

Generally, yes--but I'm crazy like that. Magic can explain much, but just saying magic's responsible for everything screwy kinda pushes it (esp. since what can be done by magic could be undone by magic, given the right circumstances). It takes a bit of work, though.