Campaign world 'settings'

[Dice4Hire]

In my campaign, the characters are soon finishing a 11 year story arc and will be getting a massive ability to make changes to the campaign world. After this, the current characters will be retired, and if there is interest, we will continue with the new crop.

Now how to do these changes? We (I have a co-dm) want to try and keep is simple, so we were thinking of ten categories for the world's 'settings' (Think stereo audio settings, not campaign worlds) on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being pretty much non-existent and 5 being omnipresent.

I have thought of

Background Magic 1 The world is pretty mundane overall.
Gods 4 Lotta influence and a broad pantheon.
Technology 2 Steel weapons and armor, and that is about it.
Education 2 Nobles can read, and some others, but not peasants
Planer travel 1 In this world, it really just does not happen.
Character level 3 Most everyone is capped at 10th level
Spellcasting 4 Mages, clerics, psionics, but few other spellcasting traditions

So could anyone help me by suggesting other categories?

I am unsure about

Races: Not sure I want them to be able to commit genocide.
Monsters: Might work, right now the world is probably a 3


Ideas much appreciated!!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Change races to "diversity," and include monsters in it. The higher the dial, the more everything from the monster and race books is included. (Maximum number means that everything published is somewhere. A 1 would mean only humans and normal animals.)

 

[Quickleaf]

Are these metagame changes that will happen out of character or are these categories more for DM reference as a guideline to interpret PC actions?

How about...

Government/Civic Society
Urbanization
Arts
Trade/Banking
Kung Fu

Ok, the last one is a little silly. But it does relate to laws against serfs possessing weapons, a la Okinawa.

 

[Mark CMG]

Maybe you could ask them to each name their five favorite fantasy books and their five favorite fantasy movies and develop a setting that blends the aspects of the most popular two or three and adjusts your categories for you.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Are these metagame changes that will happen out of character or are these categories more for DM reference as a guideline to interpret PC actions?

They are really both. The changes will happen between campaigns, most of them instantly.

How about...

Government/Civic Society
Urbanization
Arts
Trade/Banking
Kung Fu

I like government, arts and trade. Maybe I should break psionics apart from magic and religion, and make is a third wheel. I am really a fan of psionics and it could easily include monks and the like.

Good ideas.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Maybe you could ask them to each name their five favorite fantasy books and their five favorite fantasy movies and develop a setting that blends the aspects of the most popular two or three and adjusts your categories for you.

This sounds like a good way to start a totally new game, but right now I am looking for tweaking the existing homebrew.

Note: I know at least one of my players reads a lot mro than me, I may have no idea what books he is talking about.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=55066]Dice4Hire[/MENTION]
What about a "Map" category where players could opt to add things to the homebrew world map? This could run the gamut from villages to dragon lair's, from shipping lanes to new kingdoms.

 

[Mark CMG]

This sounds like a good way to start a totally new game, but right now I am looking for tweaking the existing homebrew.

I see what you mean. It might help you to more clearly define the aspects they do suggest, though. For instance, someone might suggest a tech level of 2, meaning Sherlock Holmes (the newer movie), since it is low compared to real world now, but compared to many Medieval Fantasy campaigns that might rate more of a 4 out of 5. Maybe get their ratings first and then ask them if they can give you some media laden examples to help you get a better handle on the rating?

Note: I know at least one of my players reads a lot mro than me, I may have no idea what books he is talking about.

Thank the power that be for the Internet!

 

[Dice4Hire]

[MENTION=55066]Dice4Hire[/MENTION]
What about a "Map" category where players could opt to add things to the homebrew world map? This could run the gamut from villages to dragon lair's, from shipping lanes to new kingdoms.

EXCELLENT Idea.