Could use a few ideas to help get things rolling...

[Merksalus]

While starting a new campaign for a few friends of mine, I appear to have run face first into the great wall known to many as "writer's block." Curious if anyone has any suggestions at to possible directions for the ideas I'm already working on.

1. A human only world. Humankind was once united together under a great empire but the empire eventually collapsed and the realm of man split into seven factions. Now, centuries (or more) later, the seven different factions of humans each have their own culture, personalities, quirks, et cetera.

2. Magic is rare (both divine and arcane). While there are still spellcasters in the world, their are more rare (thus making them that much more powerful once achieving a few levels). Magic-using (and resistant) monsters are also rare to balance things out a bit. Magic items, weapons, armor, et cetera are even rarer. The ability to create such items will need to be tweaked with to take this into account. All magic items in the world are unique and will be generally more powerful (i.e. finding a longsword +1 will not happen, every item will have something unique about it).

3. The world is monotheistic. There is only one true god, aptly named God. The religion will be based loosely upon the catholic faith. All races (human races at least) worship him in form or another. Celestials will be replaced with angels. The "devil" of the world IS a fallen angel who waged war upon heaven with help of the nine demon lords of hell (the lords of nine). Demon and devils, as presented in the monstrous manual, do not exist but will be replaced with several new races of demons that dwell in the underworld. The war between heaven and hell is not the focal point of the setting but rather something that is always taking place in the background, beyond the sight of mortal men.

This is about as much as I've gotten so far. There are still plenty of holes to be filled (the geography and history mostly) as well as the "bad guys" for the setting. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Well, that sounds like a world that is ripe for adventure. For more ideas on such a setting try hopping over to the story hour forum and reading Sepuchrave's story hours (Heretic of the Wyre, etc.)

That being said, how about this:

A large but loosely organized empire covers about half the lands where this church wields power. To the east, another empire wields power but it is hard pressed by the savage humanoid hordes. Although it was once a part of the first empire, hundreds of years ago one of the emperors left half of his empire to each of his two sons. The church in the Eastern empire, although sharing the same beliefs as the western church has a separate organizational structure that dates back to the time the empire was divided.

The western empire is loosely organized--the emperor wields little power outside the borders of his hereditary lands except by the force of his armies. His power is technically limited by a constitution and a councel of nobles but really what limits it is the fact that the any large group of nobles has the military strength to defy him and get away with it.

The eastern empire is highly centralized and enjoys more effecient structures but is decadent and its territory is constantly shrinking due to the humanoid incursions. It now controls less than half the land it once did.

To the west, in an independant kingdom (not a part of the empire), the ruler just arranged for his friend to be appointed as the local head of the church (equivalent to an archbishop). He supposed that this friend would go along with some of his plans to remove the legal privileges of clergy but the friend has decided that his duty as an high clerist ("What, he's decided to take those oaths seriously?) comes before his friendship with the king and has turned into an implaccable opponent of the king's schemes and a defender of the clergy's traditional perogatives.

Revealing my sources--why not mine medieval and/or Reformation history for some interesting ideas and/or conflicts. That's where my suggestions come from (Holy Roman/Byzantine Empire more or less) and Henry II and St. Thomas a Becket.

 

[Sidran]

here are some emerging rules for faith that you might find useful...

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23754

Otherwise I say your on the right track ( although I wouldn't have a single raced world personally nor a monotheistic world either because look we have god we have Shiva, whe have buddha we have Allah ( not much difference than god, alright I know but...) We have the Greek Pantheon ( The roman) the Egyptian

If anything I would have one kingdom be the Catholic faith, and the other be the Islamic (Similar) faith both based loosely off of a cleric from the orriginal kingdom. ( It provides conflict which is one of the most needed things for a world to feel real)

 

[ScarletDuke]

With magic being rare, sounds like the veil between the magic realm and the prime material realm has thickened making magic a harder thing to wield. What if you have a Coven of witches and Warlock that wish to unleash the dogs of hell to reshape the world to their vision. Or a mad scientist/wizard who is experimenting with humans to create a new race.

If their is one GOD you should ask yourself how active is he/she in the everyday dealings of man. His/her power may be secure, since there is only the one. So any clergy of this God may think of themselves as the chosen. This can lead to a very Egostitical Cleric trying to carve out a place where his legacy will live on forever and ever.

Now take these two ideas and merge them together, you have Wizards and Clerics vying for the supremacy of the world. This can be the one theme or just one of the many themes.

Take for instance, since their is only the one God, how about a young adventuring group stumbling upon an old alter to a long forgotten God. Which brings up, what actually happens to Gods once their disciples stop praying to them. Do they die or do they just fade away. If they fade away that means their essense is still out there. Even if the one existing God is of good alignment he/she is not going to want some new God musclin in on his/her turf. So you can have this new God secretly using these adventurers to gain power. Imagin a God who only has say 6 worshippers, to what length will he/she go to to protect his/her only link to the mortal world.

With seven different factions of humans, one of these factions could start to mutate. Now this mutation can be magic oriented, meaning they begin to display magical talents. Not the actual magic-user class but say one specific talent.

You could also have one of these factions condemned to die through falsehood and slander from this one Egotistical cleric who thinks himself the right hand of God.


I am just throwing out something you might can use.