Merged WotC setting search winners/losers thread

[River]

My Observations.

1. I've read this far and my brain is turning to MUCK I understand why the judging took so long. Those guys deserve a medal or something.

2. Not to be a jerk or anything, but the honest truth is that most of these are crap! I'm sorry, but it must be said. Most of the posts on this thread just did not get it. Maybe 5-6 of them are any good.

3. There are a few VERY good submissions here, a few really stand out and to avoid being flamed or questioned I won't distinguish which from which, but a few peopel did REALLY get it, and I plan to brazenly rip off one or two ideas I've read tonight for my own game, so thanks to those folks.

4. Finally, its very easy to generally slam the community at large without sticking one's own neck out; so here is the submission I sent in I hope it provides an inspiration to somebody.

It is Copyrighted


1. Cauldron Bay, a world where the refugees of the shattered mammalian races struggle to rebuild in a world dominated by reptilian civilization.

2. Cauldron Bay is a world badly in need of heroes. Brave halfling sailors of the Fortunatan Imperial Navy connect far-flung civilizations in the service of a royal family few believe ever existed. Young idealists serve the Guardians of Splendor, a group of chromatic dragons with a strangely humanitarian agenda. Explorers for the Cauldron Bay Company make a business out of taming a rich wilderness for colonization. Failed revolutionaries of Naka Tava flee to distant regions seeking to build the fair and just society they could not build at home. The reluctant heroes of the Ringing Depths defend a cavern where refugees build a new society between the lizards above and the darkness below. And in the south, rigidly honorable reptilian warriors are forced to learn the art of intrigue.

3. Warm-blooded heroes in this world focus primarily on rebuilding. The mammal races have been exiled to the corners of the earth too cold for reptiles to thrive. Conditions in these communities are harsh. Heroes focus more about advancing the community than personal gain. Often this will involve battling orcs and goblinoid races for desperately needed arable land and natural resources. Other times it will involve battling bandits and pirates who survive by preying on the weak.

Although banned by their laws, reptile factions, both noble and wicked make increasing use of warm-blooded mercenaries. These troops are sought for their unusual skills, vitality in colder conditions, and often for their disposability. Such service is often dangerous and degrading, few can stomach the reptile’s arrogance. On the other hand compensation is often lavish, and many struggling communities are desperately in need of the things reptilian coins can buy.

Reptilian heroes fight against the rapid decay of their civilization. These fiercely noble warriors find themselves ill equipped to fight enemies, cloaked in shadow, armed with poisoned cups and whispered lies. It will take more than their skill in battle to overcome this growing evil.

4. The battle to determine the destiny of the world has been fought and lost. The reptilian races now rule all but the coldest lands. But the reptiles have started to turn on each other. The noblest dragons are being lost in a shadow war with the Cult of Alash. The Cult is on the rise, and if it becomes dominant, what fate for the mammal races? What fate for the world?

For the warm-blooded races the greatest threats are the natural results of overcrowding and the threat of famine. This is made worse by those who use the crisis to gain power, who use hunger as a club. Most reptiles view humanoids as monsters, and in some cases they’re correct.

5. Magic is the same as standard D&D with a few additions. Cauldron Bay follows the "Psionics is Different" rule with heavy emphasis on different. The reptile races are utterly without psionics. This is one of the few trump cards left to the mammals.

6. In reptile held lands the warm-blooded heroes are surrounded by a grand globe spanning culture populated by lizard races and molded by dragons. Men are the monsters in this world; they have no place. Mammals cannot travel openly in this world without a reptilian escort and permission to be there.

In mammal held lands the Players Handbook races are tattered refugees rebuilding civilization in inhospitable places. Reptilian heroes in this environment meet fear and hostility. What more have they come to take?

Dragons are not monsters. While some dragons may be villains, they are intelligent, interesting, integral players on the stage. You will find dragons in the cities, often in power, not in remote places. Reptilian civilization in built around them.



River

 

[CMonkey]

Breizh

This one is my favourite so far. (It's on page 2 of the thread if anyone is listening...)

CM.

 

[Mirth]

Re: commentary

Eidus…because its better than my setting damnit and the panatheon is a great idea.

That's the second favorable comment about this setting and, to be honest, I thought my vanished god setting was the much stronger idea. Now I wonder if I should have written up my third idea that I thought was too off the wall...

Thanks Vengue for the positive feedback.

Jay

 

[absurdum]

my brilliant setting

A world oppressed by a tyrannical regime, wherein a hero must have hope above all else.

Heroes of this world come from all aspects of life, with the most prevalent being the villagers. These are hard working men and women fighting to protect there land, homes and people against invasion and domination. These heroes are bred of strong men and women who worked hard to build everything they have, crafting it all from nothing, and they will not let anyone take it from them. Examples of these heroes include the intrepid fighters and horsemen who refuse to submit to the invaders. They prove themselves as leaders by inspiring feelings of courage and hope in there people, rallying together many villages to form a front against the invaders, even fight against them. They are gifted and powerful sorcerers born with the talent to shape the energies of life and death who form the only defense against the invader's powerful wizards. They are those who venerate the spirits of the land in order to heal the sick and wounded and protect the weak. Heroes exist on the other side of the line but; the heroes from within the regime are a special breed. They go against all they have been taught, the laws they have been told to respect, and moreover they risk everything they have for there beliefs. What all the heroes have in common are that they are courageous people, filled with passion and desire to protect there beliefs, there loved ones and there lives.

The heroes of the land fight to protect there people, not only against the regime but also against the predators of the land and anything else that may harm them. They fight with strength and valor, they win not by fighting all there battles alone, but by leading there people courageously against their enemies. Some of heroes in the regime have formed an underground cabal with the intent of overthrowing those in power. This cabal consists of scholars, rogues, soldiers, and general revolutionaries who want peace and freedom for all. They undermine politics, make key assassinations, rally support against the leaders, and fight out against there oppressors.

The chief treat to the world comes from the tyrannical leaders of the regime, who corrupted what was intended to be a political system that benefited all, into a means in which to further there own selfish desires. Because of this the people of both the land and of the regime become threats to each other. With the people of the regime invading the lands of common folk, and assimilating there people. In retaliation the people of the land fight back against the people of the regime, pillage there cities, and torture their captives. Yet other threats outside this conflict exist, many orc tribes and villages are banding together once again, under the banner of a particularly charismatic leader. The orcs are building their own civilization, and are strengthening there forces getting ready for expansion. Also deep in the dwaven mines the residents have uncovered a sinister force that has the potential to overshadow all the other evils.

When anything dies its life energy leaves its body and dissipates into the atmosphere. This life energy exists everywhere and around everyone, although invisible to most. Those few who have the ability to see this life energy also have the ability to shape it to there will, and they call this process magic. The elves studied this sorcery, and refined it into an art, one in which you did not have to be able to see the life energies to cast magic, just understand them. This alternate way of casting magic is now taught by the regime to all those within it who wish learn the arcane arts, in the great colleges of the arcane.

Things are not as black and white as good and evil; there are only shades of grey. It is not as easy as to say the regime is evil and the people of the land are good. For the regime was created by the elves with good intentions, to culture the humans and form a nation that could stand up against any invader. Even though the leaders have become corrupt and now follow there own agenda most of the people that fight for them believe that they are doing well. The people of the land although fighting for there freedom are still bloodthirsty and savage in there ways. This sense of indifference is one of the key factors in what makes this world unique.

 

[jakal]

ratings rather than a comp

I think that it would be better to have a simple (or not so simple) rating system for the entries rather that another competition (a hot or notfor campaign worlds). That way we can rate the ones we read, look at the best rated ones, look at the newest ones and so on. It would also mean it could be kind of an ongoing thing, rather than a one off, if people want to submit new worlds (which would still have to stick to the current format) or change there old ones, they could. It would be much more flexible than just trying to run a popular vote and would also mean you wouldn’t have to read all of them to vote, you just rate how good you think the one you are reading is.

 

[Kyrion]

I posted mine on my weblog

If you go to http://www.gamersnook.com/blog you'll find mine. I'd appeciate comments there as I'll be able to track them better than in this topic.

 

[Agnostic Paladin]

Man, going back and reading this again, I'm really not surprised I didn't get picked. Some pretty distressing writing here...

Aerith

1: Aerith is a world where warlords and politicians vie for power and influence, drawing heroes and villains alike into their schemes. In the process, adventurers may discover hidden empires, continents new and old, and the one-time rulers of the planet.

2: While the various old human and halfling kingdoms of central Aerith produce many a knight errant and bored wizard, and the independent towns of the northwest provide all the rugged wilderness warriors that a group may need, there are many other sorts of heroes to be found battling villains and monsters across the continent. With barbarian orcs from the frozen north, ascetic gnome monks from the east, disillusioned lizardfolk hunters far from their swamps to the south, tattooed and pierced elves from beyond the western mountains, and armor-clad berserker dwarves wandering far and wide, there’s usually at least a few interesting visitors in any given community.

3: Many of these characters spend most of their often short lives fighting and plotting in the name of one power group or another. There are a few that take little interest in which warlord gains control over which village though; they seek instead to discover the secrets of Aerith.

4: While the nations of Aerith, new and old, good and evil, fight over territory and resources, an ancient dark elven empire, long believed destroyed, is looking toward Aerith as a potential slave supply. Across the oceans, on the other side of the world, the only kingdoms that haven’t fallen completely into dark age barbarism are those that have fallen under the control of ancient vampire lords or hungry demon-controlling illithids. And hidden throughout the world are the one-time masters of the planet – the True Dragons.

5: As all the big-city magic academies teach in the first week, “magic simply is, and as wizards, we shouldn’t try too hard to figure out why it works”. There are a few people on Aerith who know the truth; magic works because the people believe it does. And since most people on Aerith believe that magic requires extensive training, devout prayer, or rare natural ability, those who can wield it are rare indeed.

6: Aerith is a world of secrets. Some secrets are for the characters to discover, and others are for the players. The biggest secret is one for the players to discover: Aerith is what Earth might have been if magic had existed. With a variety of intelligent races, all with access to magic, science and technology were never conceived of, and the world became a much more crowded place. And once players have figured out the nature of Aerith, the history of the world and the Dragons that once controlled it, and perhaps even the nature of magic, they will find that their characters still have much to learn about the world.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

I'm just happy I can look at my own entry, 2 months later, and still like it.

My other favorites so far were

BENEATH THE GRAY

The Chronicles of Pirithia

CABERA: Lands of Law and Chaos

The Anthro/Were/Beast entries looked like they would be fun to play, but they also looked like the classes were race specific (No unicorn rogues, No werewolf paladins, No insect wizards, ect). I like being able to choose odd combinations.

I did find listing class/levels in some of the entries a bit distracting.

 

[alsih2o]

uberlame

1. a world dominated by colonization and rebuilding, where magic and religion struggle against one another to decide the future after a terrible epidemic has forced the settling of a new continent.

2. heroes are those bold enough to settle new lands or search for their original homeland. true heroes are chosen by the church to set off across the great divide in search of home, and a way to restore it.

3. heroes attempt to map and settle new lands, or head out in search of their cultures original home. mounts must be aquired from the fertile plains occupied by the 6 "uncivilized tribes, treaties must be made the humanoids of the new world and the lands surrounding maissen and the desert coast must be explored

4. the theocracy of maissen has led the people to peace and prosperity, at the cost of speedy advances and is threatened by the power hungry mages of the desert coast. one year after landing the newly founded mages guild split from the religious leadership, seeing magic as the only resolution to the challenges of the new world.

5. magic arises from the desires of the populace. those intelligent enough to understand it, or wwith the power of personality to harness it benefit the most from it. in the desert coast wizards are abundant and encouraged, while magic in maissen is rarer and belongs mostly to sorcerers who gaurd their knowledge, keeping it secret for fear of repraisal

6. two hundred and fifty years ago a terrible epidemic struck the homeland while its three princes sailed in dearch of gifts to gain favor with their father. as a lat ditch effort to save their entire culture, these three and their retinues were sent off course by the kings mages and ushered through magical winds to a new world.
as this world is settled by only a few hundred from the homelands, the world is dominated by halfbreeds. racial purity is used along with religion to subjugate the masses. many adventurer wait in nearly uncharted lands and those who prove themselves through exploration are most likely to be funded and blessed by the church on a quest to find home.
the new lands are sparsely populated by the standard humanoid races and the 6 "uncivilized" tribes(so named by the new settlers). horses and other domesticated animals are still in short supply, and the major architecture of the world is still being built.
as the three princes sought a foot hold for civilization an argument erupted amongst them, causing the mage voulkos to stike down his brother kalin. in response, fedspar, the cleric of pelor, cast out voulkos and his retinue, and they went on to found the magocracy of the desert coast which is still stuggling secretly to overthrow the kingdom of the fair fedspar.

this is one of the drafts at least....just to give a flavor of the submission

 

[Vicente]

Congrats to the eleven winners. They sure deserve it.

And another thing: someone knows what has wizards asked to the eleven winners for their 10-pages? Would be nice to know what it is...