How Does This Campaign Setting Sit With You?

[Blue]

So the answer to that is that truly nobody speaks of The Well outside of it in any other Realm to anyone who is not also a resident. It's as impossible as walking on the sky.

Just to point out - there are spells and items that let you walk on the sky.

Even if you say that magic is too powerful for anything to pierce (including more powerful magic), there are still ways around it. Can your mind be read, your dreams invaded, a deity respond to a question, a corpse that is explicitly not you anymore answers a question, can the history of an object that was once in the Well be read, can a symbiote, mind flayer tadpole, or implanted slaad eggs travel back with you? A possessing ghost? A sentient magic item? Can you tell while under the effects of an anti-magic sphere or under a beholder's eye beam. Can you lie that it doesn't exist and have someone determine you are lying though mundane or magical means? Could someone with a tattoo find another magical way back, and be tracked while doing so?

I say this not to be negative to the idea, but to give a chance to come up with counter-strategies.

 

[Big J Money]

Just to point out - there are spells and items that let you walk on the sky.

I say this not to be negative to the idea, but to give a chance to come up with counter-strategies.

Yes, this exactly. My point was that the initial condition is that of impossibility. Now what are the players going to do about it? Keeping in mind that the level of power is so high here that their solution needs to be pretty clever, given that over aeons of this place's existence nobody else (including the Overlord) having cracked its shell yet. I'm completely fine with them making attempts and failing. There is no guarantee. Since this is considered an optional goal (there is no need for them to do it to complete an adventure) there is nothing lost if they never figure it out. I can all but guarantee that they won't be able to formulate a working plan until they at least have the resources of a very high level party.

Another way to think about this is that trying to discover The Well or break through its innate secrecy would be like a character in Star Wars trying to "turn off" the force across the galaxy; to wipe it completely out of existence so that nobody can use it anymore. That kind of scenario would usually not be a part of any Star Wars stoy because it goes against the point of having the force in the first place and its role in the setting. That being said, maybe there could be a character who makes it their goal to do so: they hate the force, or the jedi or the sith so much that they spend years trying to hatch a plan to eradicate the force. That would not be an adventure for low level Star Wars characters, however!

All the being said... there is something to admit about the fact that when I presented this setting, some peoples' minds immediately went to "how can I break it?" So I either need to present the campaign in a way that the players understand and are ok with how The Well operates, or I need to rethink this piece.

 

[Deset Gled]

A fair enough number of people are getting "slave" vibes rather than the intended "treasure hunters in debt" premise. Out of the folks following this thread still, what do you think about this change to perspective?

"Gari" translates to "debtor" rather than "servant" (idea courtesy of Tonquez). Little changes gameplay-wise, but I can recolor several facts. Repayment of Life-Debt to the Patron who took on the refugee PC is still the Kumpali's law. However, I will change "Covenants" that must be recited every day into "Venture Bylaws" which must only be learned once during the official initiation of their Contract. I will probably kill any Bylaws that feel overtly "social class related", like the one that says "form no relationships with natives of The Well". Of course there are still implications of social class dynamics based on wealth and success in business Ventures. The general idea here is to recolor any traces of ritual for ritual's sake with a more mercantile / finacial influenced mysticism.

Just because some people here are put off by "slave vibes" doesn't necessarily mean you need to change it for your group. I'd talk it over with the players and see how they feel before you change too much. The fact that most of the changes you're making only effect the language and not the plot shows that the baseline premise is strong. IMNSHO, the fact that some people are more comfortable playing a capitalist wage slave rather than conscripted soldier is really just a case of modern cultural norms leaking into your time travel fantasy game.

If I were playing, I would actually prefer the straight and up front rules you presented in the oath/covenant system in the OP. It sets much clearer guidelines for how the world works and what actions are allowed within the Well. Making it a more capitalist world with bylaws and social classes sounds like a lot more gray areas and complicated politics. That's all well and good if you want them to play social challenges in the Well, but it's just a big distraction if the real goal of the game is to be treasure hunting in the Realms. The best episodes of are Stargate SG1 are when they go through the gate, not when they have budget discussions with the Pentagon.

In other words, it's not intended that PCs will act to avoid paying their debt. That isn't the purpose of the campaign. It can be a player's goal to find a way to do so, but this kind of goal would be akin to defeating a god or demi-god in a traditional fantasy campaign. Possibly achievable, but not for a very long time.

Of course another option is for them to pick a Realm and stay there, never returning to The Well. I don't see a party wanting to do that because it defeats the purpose of playing in a campaign based on realm traversal, but it's certainly less of a feat than trying to make it inside The Well as a criminal.

That's exactly the summary you should give to the players to see if they like it.

 

[aco175]

When reading this, I thought it sounded a lot like most PCs background when players come up with it.

My dwarf is from a mountain village where an evil warlord came in and killed everything I cared for and only I managed to flee. I was taken in by a group who trained me to fight and I owe them a life-debt. I hope to one day avenge my family and reclaim my homeland.

There is nothing wrong with it, but it forces everyone into the same boat. I do like that you can sliders the PCs to other places. This allows one night to play in a desert ruled by gnolls and the next week you are in a jungle that floats in the sky.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Those change makes it better imo.

 

[GungHo]

If your group finds the set up problematic:

• If these folks are in debt rather than enthralled, what happens when they earn out of it? (Can they realistically earn out of it?)
• Can the debt assignment/recruitment process appear a little less predatory? (Maybe rather than being sent back into certain death they're put into a segregated colony/ghetto.)
• Can the debtors ultimately be raised in societal status or will they always be "othered"? Can they be provided "one of the good others" status?

I like the theme, though. A lot of this seems like the set up to Shogun. Guy shipwrecks coast of a xenophobic land and is thrust into a political drama not unlike the ones in his homeland. The only way forward is trying to figure out who the enemy of his enemy is, but it turns out that that guy he hooked his fortunes to and who raised him to political power will never let him go home because he's such a valuable pet.

 

[Stattick]

I absolutely hate the premise. Now, if there was some way to slip the chain and disappear into the underground of this new city, I might go for it, if the party was willing. But unless we were doing something like that, or somehow going to be in short order helping to destroy the new jackass overlords in short order, I'd nope out. You're either going to serve this group of Nazis or that group of Nazis? Hell, no.

 

[Deset Gled]

You're either going to serve this group of Nazis or that group of Nazis? Hell, no.

No one said anything about Nazis on any side. Way to Godwin.

 

[Stattick]

No one said anything about Nazis on any side. Way to Godwin.

A fascist by any other name is still a censored Nazi.

Watch the language, please.

 

[Deset Gled]

A fascist by any other name is still a censored Nazi.

As described, the Well is explicitly not a fascist society. On the main tenets of fascism is a strict class structure. While fascists have historically used slavery, the slaves are always of the "undesirable" classes, and have no opportunity to improve their position in society. The indentured servitude system (with a chance to free yourself) presented by the Well is in direct opposition to fascist dogma.

As for the Overlord, nothing has been said about his motivations. He could be driven by racism, religion, capitalism, communism, whateverism. For all we know he could be militantly democratic.

It's okay to say the premise doesn't appeal to you; it's not okay to call anything you don't like a Nazi.