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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 4155632" data-attributes="member: 1003">Introduction: In Bo9S there were a lot of implied setting elements. It wasn't just the names of the powers, but also the story side-bars. It was (strongly) implied that cruel Hobgoblin Academies established one school, that desert nomads established another, etc. You didn't need to accept these assumptions to use the rules, but I did (as an experiment) and it was an interesting experience to incorporate all those assumptions directly into my campaign. They took my campaign in directions I hadn't planned on, which I think it pretty cool.The Point: What if we do the same in designing a 4E campaign setting?  Not just to work with the races and classes given, but to really run with the ball on all the elements (or all the ones we idiosyncratically like, at any rate).  I've got some ideas:The Towers of High Sorcery (very broad)Name stolen from Dragonlance, obviously, but what if all Arcane-Powered classes have a central meeting place; a neutral ground. This would include Swordmages once released; they're the physical guardians of the place. Bards too, if they're an Arcane class.You may think at first that Warlocks and Wizards should have nothing to do with each other (thematically they are quite different), but I'm trying to work with the rules as a thought experiment to help break me out of prejudices I may not be aware of. You should too, just for the exercise, no matter how you end up deciding to go. Once you ask yourself "Ok, why would they collaborate?" you can think about how Rituals might bring them together.  Also cool plot ideas might arise, like how the Orb-Wand-Fey alliance is angling to neutralize the hegemony of the Staff-Infernal Cabal while the Shadow Warlocks retain their traditional neutrality and acceptance of death and fate.Or, if one Tower of High Sorcery is too unitary for your taste, you could always go with competing schools of Orb, Wand and Staff traditions with Swordmage Monasteries and each Warlock for himself; but at least make that choice knowingly.The Marshals of Rohan (very narrow)All of the persons in the world who have Mounted Combat Power XYZ studied with the Border Guards of Rohan. A similar thought would be the Ninja clan that controls dissemination of knowledge regarding particular Rogue powers.Half-Elves of IlmoriaTo the extent that any racial builds allow for choices (e.g., +2 Dex or +2 Con) you use this to establish ethnicities, historical reasons for the difference, religious beliefs about the difference, etc.  The idea is to make everything in your campaign a package of crunch and fluff that can't be chosen in isolation. You shouldn't be restricting rules choices (like making certain race/class or class/class combos being taboo) and certain generic feats can be allowed for pretty much any nation or background (e.g., Weapon Focus) but that doesn't mean that Weapon Focus can simply be taken without any further thought. "Oh, you have Weapon Focus, eh? What academy did your PC attend? You can't be that good with a sword without training, you know. Who are that school's rivals?"Does anyone else have some good suggestions for how we can take the rules and use them as a springboard toward some cool campaign design?</blockquote>

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