Here's a little bit on Frostholm (to be released Q1 2005) from Justin...
Frostholm is a fantasy world caught between the desires of conflicting aspects of two powerful deities. It is a cold world, almost forever gripped in the icy clutch of winter, but here and there in the world, potent fires burn. Indeed, though these fires may warm the world, they are unholy, for the underworld — Hell itself — is a physical part of Frostholm.
This is less of a high-fantasy medieval world than it is a brutal world in the throes of its own dark ages. In fact, think of Dark Ages without the emphasis on vampires, and you have half of it. It’s an age of faith, and an age of chopping to flinders things that are at odds with that faith. It’s "dark fantasy" in a mature context: Torquemada and Savonarola are lawful good in Frostholm’s context. Obviously, morality is a key concept in this setting, and I plan on borrowing heavily from my experience with those themes from Vampire and implementing them in a more swords-and-spells game.
As far as real-world cultural influences go, I want a combination. Predominantly, Frostholm should feel a bit like the Holy Roman Empire, a barbarous place claimed from the wild only by the tenacity (and in this case, faith) of its people. Less prevalent but certainly present are the obvious Norse and Scandinavian influences, especially their stormy mythologies. Finally, I’d like a bit of Celtic flavor, but not in the traditional Ren Faire game goober way — I’m more interested in the turgid rites of Crom Cruach and the bloody survivalism of Herne than I am in "Goddess Bless" and mead and all that popcorn paganism horse
. Look to these cultures for flavor, but don’t transplant them from our world to Frostholm, please — allow them to have grown and developed locally. Frostholm is its own individual identity, and should use these other cultures for resonance, not as the basis for itself.
He does go on to say he will be borrowing liberally from Midnight if that helps...
Cheers,
A'koss.
