Designing a "kitchen sink" world

[Remathilis]

Core D&D draws inspiration from alot of different times and places, from dark age barbarians to oriental monks to crusader paladins to celtic druids.

Alot of my campaign settings have ben exclusionary (based on a theme or tone I wish to project, like low magic or arctic survival) but now I want back to brass tacks. I want to homebrew a world that combines everything nicely with a thin veneer of continuity to keep things plasible if not correct. Specifically...

I want to keep as many options from D&D (mostly wotc stuff) available. That means finding homes for an oriental setting (samurais and ilk) and psionics.

I want to use the core races, the new ones from the races books, and perhaps some neat ones from other places.

I want to hint at some real world cultures without outright ripping them off (pyramids in the desert is ok, a pharonic pantheon is out)

I want some of the cliche, but some new stuff to keep people on their toes.

I'm not sure about using the PH pantheon vs. creating a new one. If I did, I might be interested in trying dualism...

I want a plausible (that is explained even feeblily) way of having ninjas fighting pirates!

In short, I want it all, but I want a place to put it!

What I'm asking is for some brainstorms: some neat ideas for making this kitchen sink work. Some ideas for cultures and blending, faiths, nations, and monsters. Give me everything you got. I'll sort through the stuff and mix it together (perhaps in a different thread, for now I want ideas and such)

Fire away!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Easy.

200 years prior to the start of the campaign, the world was the battleground for a planar war. In a climactic end, one of the warring factions that was losing collpased the gates and restored some peace and stability to the world. However, you still have all these nutty cultures from everywhere and everywhen right next door to each other.

Does that work for you?

 

[Remathilis]

Its a start...

 

[Macbeth]

Well, if you want pirates fighting ninjas, imagine a real world map. Now remove North and South America, and blend the Atlantic and Pacific into one smaller ocean. Now you've got ninjas living on Islands that pirates are exploring for riches. Maybe there's even dinosaurs still living on some of these islands...

Basically, if you want pirates fighting ninjas, it shouldn't be hard, just take a culture that creates ninjas (Asiatic) and a culture that creates pirates (European), put them close enough together, and give them something to fight over (maybe the ninjas already have something the pirates want).

If you want something for them to fight over, you might consider having gunpowder in your game (assuming you don't mind guns in your game) require some exotic mineral. This mineral is only found on certain islands, conveniently located between pirate and ninja areas. Pirates need gunpowder for their cannons, so they want the gunpowder. Ninjas use gunpowder for their disappearing tricks, so they want it to. And no matter what, anybody can find an interested buyer...

 

[cincinnati reds]

If you want something for them to fight over, you might consider having gunpowder in your game (assuming you don't mind guns in your game) require some exotic mineral. This mineral is only found on certain islands, conveniently located between pirate and ninja areas. Pirates need gunpowder for their cannons, so they want the gunpowder. Ninjas use gunpowder for their disappearing tricks, so they want it to. And no matter what, anybody can find an interested buyer...

That's genius. I just might use that for a season-long mini-campaign.

 

[Lobo Lurker]

Here's a tip. Leave your preconcieved notions (some of them anyway) behind. Just because those guys are ninjas, doesn't mean they can't be 6'7" black dudes. And why couldn't you have oriental pirates?

You could have a feudal nation of bugbear samurai, hobgoblin monks, & goblin ninja for instance. You could also have a nation of ogre knights clashing against gunpowder-weilding lizardfolk.

Ostrich-driven caravans could be a staple of your world.

The point is, it's your world. Do whatever you want with it.

 

[Razuur]

I wanted my world to have some of everything in it. All of my favorite things from all of my favorite fantasy books, RPGs, etc. So here is what I came up with.

I chose one core product (in my case Middle earth) as my foundation and built outwards from there. I then had a massive war occur in which the big bad dies - in my case Melkor(his captains survive). The fight was titanic with the gods (in my case Valar and Maiar) taking sides. The struggle was so immense that it threatened all of creation. At the conflicts end, the creator of all (in my world Illuvitar) divided up the world into regions, and divided the gods up with them, assigning some to each. The Creator decreed that the gods of that region would have free hand in shaping the civilizations in that region, but not in others. To seperate them, he divide the world by these inpenetrable magical barriers (in my world - Cloud Walls) locking each of them away from each other.

Thousands of years pass. Entirely unique civilizations evolve. Races Strive. Races Die. Cultures, customs, mythologies evolve on their own, supported by the dieties that watch over them.

Despite the devision, the captains of the dark power survived, though each in a different region. In a concerted attack, they all struck at the same time trying to gain control of their region. In some places it succeeded. In others, it failed. Whatever the result, something happened to to the world, and the cloud walls began to dissipate. No one knows why the ancient barriers began to fall, not even the gods, for the Creator has been silent. In the end it doesn't really matter, because for the first time in several millenia these cultures are now coming into contact with each other... sometimes smoothely, but for the most part casing great conflict. Colonialism, Religious wars, simple empire building, darkness encompassing, the world has been thrust into a new age - the Age of Fire.

The above scenario allows me to have a world with the following in it:

Middle Earth
Ansalon (Dragonlance)
Eredane
The 7th Sea
Nyambe
The Iron Kingdoms
The Shattered Empires
Regions from Conan's Hyboria
Mesopotamia
Talislanta
Regions from Testament
Regions from Trojan War
Naranjan
Hamunaptra
Regions from Maidenheim
Regions from Arduin
Mythic India, Japan, China, Viking, Celtic
plus my own fantasy material

Now I have a fully complete world, fully supported by dozens of gaming products that are 99% applicable, because each region believes their cosmology and religions are right- and they have been for thousands of years.

I can run adventures/campaigns in any of the above settings, or cross settings if desired.

Now all of these races, empires, religions, gods, variant magicks, technologies are coming into contact for the first time.

Amazing story possibilities.

Plus anyone familiar with a region, can GM in it.

I will never fantasy game anywhere else.

Hope this helps.

Razuur
(edited for spelling)

 

[Li Shenron]

In short, I want it all, but I want a place to put it!

Planescape?

 

[Turanil]

I hate Kitchen Sink campaigns except for one that I truly love: The Amethyst campaign setting. This is a huge but free download available on my download page (see link below), or on the author's website (in my d20-links page).

Amethyst:
-- Earth in a distant future, where "bastions" of technology (d20 modern/future) are surrounded by a world where the myths and legends of ancient Earth have been reborn (ninjas, pirates, hobgoblin nations, etc., etc.).
-- A coherent and great explanation for all of this.
-- Must be downloaded!

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Simply brilliant Razuur!
Consider this 'borrowed'