Help me blow up my world.

[Devon Mannix]

I'm designing a new 3.5 story arc that's done in the style of a traditional console adventure/rpg. As such, I've already pretty much mapped out the story progression all the way up to the end. When the arc ends, the world will basically suffer an apocalyptic event.

All races and classes from the Player's Handbook exist in this world, as well as the complete spell list.

Basically, the world that the game takes place on was at one time a barren rock. The gods decided to bring life to the planet, so they stuck four crystals on it: the Crystal of Water brought rivers, seas, and rain; the Crystal of Fire brought warmth and magic; the Crystal of Air brought skies and wind; and the Crystal of Earth made the ground fertile so that plants and animals and stuff would emerge.

At the end of this story arc, the PC's will do battle with a big bad who's looking to destroy the crystals, thereby stripping the entire planet of life. During the battle, one of three crystals will be destroyed (the Crystal of Air is exempt cuz it's intangible at that point).

I haven't decided yet which crystal I want to bite it. I may just determine it randomly during the battle.

If the Crystal of Water is destroyed, the sky will cease to produce rain and the world will suffer a terrible drought. The survival of entire cities will depend upon the few people who can create water using magic. Travel will become almost nonexistent, forcing communities to become isolated.

If the Crystal of Earth is destroyed, the ground will no longer grow new plants and world will suffer a terrible famine. Communities will flock to the sea for food.

If the Crystal of Fire is destroyed, the world will suffer a terrible ice age and magic will become all but nonexistent (I kinda hope this one happens).

The second story arc will take place hundreds of years after the destruction of the crystal. The players will have new characters who will be charged with recovering the shards of said crystal in order to reassemble it.

The crystal shards will be spread around the world in various places. In an area where a shard lies, there will be a kind of oasis, where the world is as it was before the crystal was destroyed.

Some of the crystal shards will actually reside within creatures. These creatures will be augmented and made more powerful and chaotic due to the power of the crystal. They will attack the party and defend themselves, because the only way to retrieve a shard from a creature is to destroy it.

At one point, later in the game, the party will discover that some of the shards that they seek are hidden within the heroes who fought to recover the crystals so long ago. The players' new characters will have to face off against their old characters.

Anyway, what I'm looking for is ideas on fleshing out the world after the crystal is destroyed. How would life be different if the rain stopped falling, or if the ground wouldn't produce crops, or if the temperature was always below freezing?

 

[alaric187]

That's pretty cool. I would play the game, either RPG or cRPG.

As for extra effects, I think you just drag things out to the logical outcome.

If it is earth, not only doesn't the ground produce plants, but that pretty much kills of plant eating animals, which kills of carnivores, etc. Maybe only several types of grain grow after that and people become garden nomads, roaming the world trying to find the few fertile places. Which leads to massive communities around these shards, just for the growing power. Which also leads to an entire village of unhappy people if your PCs take the only thing that keeps them alive. That would be a good twist, these town people don't want you to save the world. Or you could have earthquakes along with infertility. Then your PCs could storm underground, unhappy villages to get these shards.

The lack of rain would lead to the same thing. It would also harm the oceans by not replinishing evaporation and erosion loss. Plus rain seeds the ocean with fresh chemicals, which would lead to algae and plankton loss. That might kill of most of the ocean population as well.

Alaric

 

[Devon Mannix]

[...] Which leads to massive communities around these shards, just for the growing power. Which also leads to an entire village of unhappy people if your PCs take the only thing that keeps them alive. That would be a good twist, these town people don't want you to save the world. [...]

That's going to be one of the big themes in the game, I think. These communities that have built up around the shards guard them fiercely. It's no secret that the shards are there. When the PC's go to take a shard, they're going to either have to steal it, or convince the townspeople to give up the shard for the greater good. In a world ravaged by natural disaster, I don't think many people are going to be too willing to give up their only means for survival to a bunch of strangers promising to fix the planet.

 

[frankthedm]

That's pretty cool. I would play the game, either RPG or cRPG.

As for extra effects, I think you just drag things out to the logical outcome.

If it is earth, not only doesn't the ground produce plants, but that pretty much kills of plant eating animals, which kills of carnivores, etc. Maybe only several types of grain grow after that and people become garden nomads, roaming the world trying to find the few fertile places. .....

The lack of rain would lead to the same thing. It would also harm the oceans by not replinishing evaporation and erosion loss. Plus rain seeds the ocean with fresh chemicals, which would lead to algae and plankton loss. That might kill of most of the ocean population as well.

Alaric

While i am all for 'believable' game worlds, i don't think that level of scientific thought needs to be put into things.

When the PC's go to take a shard, they're going to either have to steal it, or convince the townspeople to give up the shard for the greater good. In a world ravaged by natural disaster, I don't think many people are going to be too willing to give up their only means for survival to a bunch of strangers promising to fix the planet.

Be prepared for the PC's to kill people to get those shards. From the way you describe things those villages are dead one way or another and the restoring the world would be far more important than individual's lives. Once the players realize this, whole town's lives are forfit.

Don't forget In FF the townspeople can't be killed, in D&D they make great sword sheaths. In Crpgs peasants are road blocks, in D&D they stop being speed bumps when you get fireball and great cleave.

 

[Anabstercorian]

Frank makes a good point. Be prepared for your players to take the violent route... I'd be careful to do the following, if I were designing this in to a CRPG:

Offer at least four solutions for each crystal shard. They can either take the crystal using stealth, take the crystal using violence, take the crystal using diplomacy - all of which will eventually doom the town unless they can reassemble the crystal in time - or find some mysterious, magical alternative that manages to create an enduring oasis whereever the crystal was housed, so they the grateful town will freely give them the shard. Stealth, violence, fast talk, and heroism.

 

[BlackMoria]

If you use any scientific reality, the destruction of any shards is probably a extinction level event for most of the world. Since real life consequences would suck, I assume that some force doesn't make it so.

One consequence - the peoples turn on their gods for two principle reasons. One, the gods allowed this to happen (did nothing or didn't fix it) so most worshipper (except for the most devout) will turn to elemental powers who would provide some localized remedy to the problem (Since the elemental powers are in the best position to provide some remedy in exchange for worship).

Using a example - a world without water would turn to elemental powers of water to get water. Every local area of civilization would have water priests would would do daily rituals to get the essentials water for life. And if those elemental powers demand sacrifices in exchange for water, so be it.....

So, it means that the whom is worshipped and how would greatly changed.

Another consequence - good would be a rarity. You have set up a dog eat dog world in which any means to an end is justified. Getting back to the water example - villages may routinely raid each other to steal water and captives to die under the blades of clerics who use the victim's 'water' in rituals to obtain more water. A decanter of endless water would be worth a kingdom's ransom and would be worth more than a wagonload of vorpal swords....

So, in brief, the world falls apart and opportunist powers of the elemental planes or the infernal planes step in to fill the power void and provide for the need 'for a price'. Learning and technology is set back and maybe, even lost. People are not benevolent by nature anymore - the world would run like a post apocalyptic 'survival of the fittest'.

Into this bleak world, your heroes go forth...

 

[Hand of Evil]

I always liked the wobble. Basicly the magnetic field of the planet is stripped away, the poles shift and the planet is recharged, about 70% to 90% of all life is gone and the whole globe changes. It is said the earth may do it in 1000 to 2500 years or so.

If you apply it to a fantasy game, the wobble takes three to ten days, earthquakes, floods, shifting land masses but you have ruins. Then there is that strong magnetic field, could be magic, could be psonics. Life would be hard for some years as the races climb back from the stone age.

 

[The Goblin King]

I would go with either Fire or Water. Maby a 50% chance determined randomly. Huge climatic changes trigger mass extinctions. Mass extinctions create gaps in the ecology. Gaps that will be filled as Nature abhors a vaccum. If you have a pet creature that you think deserves more attention now would be the perfect time. If horses suddenly died out it would be logical that another animal such as the chocobo took its place.

 

[Nightfall]

My advice, if it's cataclysmic event, then kill all the lawyers first.

But my advice, blow up the water. They can always drink vingear.

 

[Eccles]

My advice, if it's cataclysmic event, then kill all the lawyers first.

But my advice, blow up the water. They can always drink vingear.

My opinion as a lawyer is yah boo sucks.

My p.o.v. as a player is that there's no way you should destroy the water crystal, as the later party would then be wandering about under a permanent raincloud. Which would be uncool.

If they are carrying these critical gem-pieces, presumably they're going to get a lot of followers and hangers on, too...