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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Developing a "points of light" campaign setting
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<blockquote data-quote="BluSponge" data-source="post: 4101250" data-attributes="member: 916"><p>From what I've seen (and I won't claim to be an expert on the matter), creating a PoL campaign should be fairly easy. It's basically a redressing of the original old school approach to wilderness adventure design.</p><p></p><p>Start small. Create either a small kingdom or sovereign duchy, county, or barony. You will want a principle community, either a large town or city. This should be surrounded by 1-6 small villages/hamlets/thorps, all within 1-2 days travel (on foot or by wagon) of the principle community. Figure most of this area is farmland, lightly habited, and relatively civilized.</p><p></p><p>And that's it. No more villages. No more communities. The rest is wilderness. If you are going for the "old empires" approach, there may be a single road (in varying stages of disuse) that will link it to the next principle community. The wilderness is mostly inhabited by monsters, isolated (small) communities (that are that way for a reason) and hermits (who are either powerful warriors or spellcasters, enough so to keep the monsters at bay).</p><p></p><p>There is little communication between the various kingdoms. No ambassadors. If there is an overarching organization, it is highly secretive and likely villainous.</p><p></p><p>You might go a step further by drawing a large scale map. Don't draw borders, just name the different provinces. Give each about a sentence or two of detail. Keep in mind that the players (and people of the starting location) will probably only have active knowledge of provinces one or two "rings" away (Starting Community > Next Community > Fringe Community), and probably then only if they are attached by the above mentioned road. If you are using the "old empires" approach, they will probably know something of the once great empire, but it will be highly skewed by rumor and legend. (EDIT: Here's a weird idea: If you want to try something weird, scrap the map altogether. Instead, just put the starting town at the center of a piece of paper and draw rings around it. Divide the first ring in three parts, the second in six, etc. Each of these is a different province. You should still write up a really brief description, but now add some idea of the geography. Now, as you develop the map along with your players, you can drop in provinces as necessary.)</p><p></p><p>Wilderlands of High Fantasy, either the Judges Guild or the Necromancer Games versions, is a great example of this approach!</p><p></p><p>Now for real fun, track down a 1st ed DMG or a copy of the Expert Rules and use the wilderness adventure rules therein to detail the wilderness as the players explore it.</p><p></p><p>WotC may be doing something completely different, but this is the impression I've been given about the PoL approach.</p><p></p><p>Tom</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BluSponge, post: 4101250, member: 916"] From what I've seen (and I won't claim to be an expert on the matter), creating a PoL campaign should be fairly easy. It's basically a redressing of the original old school approach to wilderness adventure design. Start small. Create either a small kingdom or sovereign duchy, county, or barony. You will want a principle community, either a large town or city. This should be surrounded by 1-6 small villages/hamlets/thorps, all within 1-2 days travel (on foot or by wagon) of the principle community. Figure most of this area is farmland, lightly habited, and relatively civilized. And that's it. No more villages. No more communities. The rest is wilderness. If you are going for the "old empires" approach, there may be a single road (in varying stages of disuse) that will link it to the next principle community. The wilderness is mostly inhabited by monsters, isolated (small) communities (that are that way for a reason) and hermits (who are either powerful warriors or spellcasters, enough so to keep the monsters at bay). There is little communication between the various kingdoms. No ambassadors. If there is an overarching organization, it is highly secretive and likely villainous. You might go a step further by drawing a large scale map. Don't draw borders, just name the different provinces. Give each about a sentence or two of detail. Keep in mind that the players (and people of the starting location) will probably only have active knowledge of provinces one or two "rings" away (Starting Community > Next Community > Fringe Community), and probably then only if they are attached by the above mentioned road. If you are using the "old empires" approach, they will probably know something of the once great empire, but it will be highly skewed by rumor and legend. (EDIT: Here's a weird idea: If you want to try something weird, scrap the map altogether. Instead, just put the starting town at the center of a piece of paper and draw rings around it. Divide the first ring in three parts, the second in six, etc. Each of these is a different province. You should still write up a really brief description, but now add some idea of the geography. Now, as you develop the map along with your players, you can drop in provinces as necessary.) Wilderlands of High Fantasy, either the Judges Guild or the Necromancer Games versions, is a great example of this approach! Now for real fun, track down a 1st ed DMG or a copy of the Expert Rules and use the wilderness adventure rules therein to detail the wilderness as the players explore it. WotC may be doing something completely different, but this is the impression I've been given about the PoL approach. Tom [/QUOTE]
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