constructively carving up D&D

[On Puget Sound]

The kitchen sink approach of default D&D means there is a place for anything and everything. this is good for player options but I feel it leads to a world without a distinctive flavor. I'm often inspired by what is NOT in a setting. for example, the lack of a Divine class in Dark Sun helps to strengthen the bleakness of Athas; the only powerful beings to which players might appeal for aid are the bad guys.

So i'm thinking of carving my next campaign universe into distinct pieces and asking my players to agree to start in one "realm", possibly staying in it for the entire campaign or possibly exploring other realms at higher levels. Dividing the allowable races by realm helps define the flavor; the monsters and challenges they face will further flesh it out, and there may even be some minor rules differences as they move from one realm to another.

The realms I have come up with so far, and the allowed player races in them, are as follows (the working names below will be changed to less derivative and more original ones later).

GYGAXIA - Traditional High Fantasy. human, dwarf, elf, gnome, half elf, halfling, half orc, mul, orc. MONSTERS: The classics.

DROAAM - Monster Kingdom. human (slaves or persecuted), bugbear, gnoll, half orc, hobgoblin, kobold, minotaur, orc, tiefling. MONSTERS: invading humans, other tribes and factions.

SHADOWLANDS - Realm of Darkness and Death. human, changeling, revenant, shadar-kai, shade, vryloka. MONSTERS: undead, incorporeal and creepy things.

FEY FOREST - Faerie-touched Lands. human (rare), eladrin, gnome, goliath, hamadryad, pixie, satyr, wilden. MONSTERS: unseelie fey, dangerous fey creatures, political machinations of the archfey.

UNDERDARK - Subterranean Realm. drow, duergar, dwarf, warforged (built by dwarves - add darkvision). MONSTERS: oozes, aberrations, bugs, mind flayers, each other.

BEASTLANDS - Animalistic Jungle/ Savannah. human (considered "apefolk"), bullywug, dragonborn, hamadryad, kenku, minotaur, shifter, thri-kreen. MONSTERS: dinosaurs, giant insects, wild beasts, carnivorous plants.

MOS EISLEY - Crossroads of the Planes. human, bladeling, changeling, deva, dragonborn, genasi, githyanki, githzerai, kalashtar, shardmind, tiefling, warforged. MONSTERS: demons, devils, elementals, starspawned horrors.

A few races were placed to ensure that each of the six stats had a "bonus race" other than human in each realm (though not each of the 15 possible stat pairs). This helped to find homes for goliaths and warforged, for instance.

What do you think? Does anything look out of place or missing? What other realms can you think of, and who would populate them? Where would you start?

 

[Dice4Hire]

Overall looks interesting to me, but a couple of the names are almost painful (Gygaxia and Mos Eisley) But overall it looks like a good idea for a limited worldview, and some could exist onteh same plane, just separated by the gods or others to see how the races live in each kind of area.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I think when I consider this kind of thing I think more about what sort of world concept/theme/tone is involved and why each decision supports that. So come up with a single sentence about each realm that sums up what makes it unique and interesting and distinct. Then build around each concept. I think it is nice if you can for instance have a nice balanced selection of races in each one, but I'd rather have a world with a good theme where maybe there's no race with some specific stat combo. Maybe wizards just aren't that common in some worlds, etc, or maybe they are just a bit less optimal.

Anyway, the concept of building on a limited subset of the material is fine. I just think you will need to sell it to the players so you really want to make it sexy.

 

[Tony Vargas]

What's the point of dividing player options among various 'realms,' is the PCs start in one of them? Would they change characters as they visited new realms?

 

[On Puget Sound]

The idea is to play in a more limited, and hence more cohesive, world.
Whether they ever even visit a different one is up in the air; these might be 7 different campaigns. I'm just looking at ways to define the parameters of a campaign, and choosing the available races seemed like an interesting way to begin that process. The possibility of a group of heroes from one realm eventually visiting another could make an interesting story, too.

 

[Rechan]

BESTLANDS: MONSTERS: dinosaurs, giant insects, wild beasts, carnivorous plants.

UNERDARK: MONSTERS: oozes, aberrations, bugs, mind flayers, each other.

SHADOWLANDS: MONSTERS: undead, incorporeal and creepy things.

I'd be very frustrated in any of these places if all we'll be fighting is a short list of things for level after level after level.

I understand you want to limit options to create a more cohesive theme, but if you limit too much, you kill variety and make it boring. Widen the scope. Compare your Shadowlands to Ravenloft. Ravenloft is dark and foreboding, but it doesn't limit iteslf to undead - it's historical and thematic horror. So not only undead but werewolves, doppelgangers and gargoyles fit in, along with other horrors. The world spans from misty Transylvanian castles to the sands of mummy-haunted pyramids. And Ravenloft is sure as hell cohesive.

For instance, instead of Beast Lands, where everything you fight is an unintelligent animal, just run a Jungle themed game. So you can have your dinos and beasts, but also yaun-ti and monkey men, tribes of headhunters and voodoo witch doctors.

Compare your limitations to Dark SUn's "No divine classes". Yours are far more severe.

And, before you start limiting things so stringently, you better take it up with your players. Too much limitation and I'd walk, flat out.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Agreed with AbdulAlhazred and Rechan. Limitations is one way to define your campaign, but this would be a hard sell for many players -- me included.

 

[On Puget Sound]

yes, i didn't intend those two or three words to encompass everything in a particular realm, just to indicate direction and flavor. Each realm will have a variety of challenges, events, and notable NPCs/ villains; I'd like each realm to have enough diversity to encompass an entire tier.

I think of a realm as similar to a novel. It may have several different villains, plots or challenges, but likely there is one unifying theme. The characters share at least some common heritage or culture, or if there is an "outsider", that is a notable trait in itself. There are recognizable literary tropes that may be honored or subverted, but are there.

So, for instance, other traits of the Beastlands might be:
low metal/ low tech - bows, spears and clubs. If heavy armor is available it is made from the shells or carapaces of creatures, or of shaped wood.

inherent bonuses - there will be some magic items, but they are created by spirits and not by mortal casters.

strong primal energy - rituals that normally require Religion can be used with Nature skill instead. Many natural features have spirits that can communicate under certain circumstances.

xenophobic, inward-looking cultures; tribal conflict but ritualized to a degree. Disputes over hunting grounds may be settled by some sort of contest or challenge rather than all-out war.

the lines between sentients, animals and spirits are blurred. A hunting cat companion may be as important as a family member; eating a slain enemy is just common sense for many cultures; an oath to a waterfall's spirit is as binding as an oath to a chief.

scary natural hazards - volcanoes, quicksand, sudden storms are part of every adventure

 

[Rechan]

I didn't intend to be quite so negative. Instead I'm offering some examples:

The Great Dark North: Beyond the Teeth of the World mountains, the sun has stopped shining. Snow and darkness has covered the land for two hundred years. Some have allied with blood-drinking fiends to keep them warm, fed and safe from the other horrors of the dark and cold, while some bits of humanity have allied in frost-coated fortresses to save them, but food grows scarce.
Themes: Barbarism and Bleakness when the Sun Goes Out.
Races: Humans, Dwarves, Shadar-Kai, Half-Orcs
Monsters: Vampires/undead, anything that hates the sunlight or loves the dark, cold-related monsters (frost giants etc), werewolves, barbarians, PC races raiding one another for food/resources.

The Green Horror: Long ago in the cradle of civilization, where man was born, he learned hubris. As he sought what was not meant to be known: what lay beyond the stars. It spelled death for them. Now the ruins lay choaked in vines and weeds. But the spirits are returning life to the jungle. Sentient peoples are slowly emerging, either having been kept safe and asleep by powerful spirits, having been hidden away deep in the jungles from the horrors that befell, or new forms emerging whole.
Themes: The Horrors That Were, Savagry, Exploration
Races: Basically your Beastlands
Monsters: Basically your beast lands, but other jungle-themed enemies, and some aberration/horrors.

The idea here is having two flavor concepts - one major, one minor. Ye Typical Cold North gets a Shadowfell feel by taking the sun away. Ye Olde Jungle gets a Lovecraftian feel by tossing old cycloptian ruins.

 

[Rechan]

[MENTION=68988]On Puget Sound[/MENTION] - Ok, that sounds better.