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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psychotic Jim" data-source="post: 2394717" data-attributes="member: 547">In this day and age, the cookie-cutter vanilla fantasy world could BE your gimmick. Take a lot of the normal D&D assumptions and try to flesh-out reasons for why they exist.  For example: long ago there was some Glorious Golden Age that was laid low by violent conflicts due to cultural misunderstandings and warfare.  The end of the Golden Age was heralded by the appearance of demonic outsiders fueled by the strife. Only because of a number of great individuals was the threat put down. Fearing a second cataclysm, the Gods blessed the mortal races with a Common tongue as well as the use of divination and teleportation spells, for two reasons. 1. To prevent such cultural misunderstandings from occurring again. And 2.) to reward the brave individuals who ended the fiendish menace.The practice of the 4-member adventuring team arose as the best response to the fiendish threat, and so hundreds of years later it has become a standard practice. Adventurers who are benevolent or at least helpful are seen as a boon to society because of the great deeds they have allegedly accomplished.  Lone wizards isolated in towers are feared because they break this mold and keep their magical secrets to themselves.The presence of magic and its clear worth has made it into somewhat of a commodity, easily transported for its worth and valuable to nearly every creature. The presence of a Common tongue as well as communication magics and widespread literacy allows the various races to intermingle with each other in the same communities.  Despite this, the remnants of the strife of the last cataclysm lingers on in the collective mind, so certain races often act hesitantly when dealing with other races.  The common presence of monsters though contributes to a sense of cooperation however.  The core races are the ones that have learned how to best cooperate, thus explaining their prevalence. In a counter-movement to the development of adventurers, societies have commonly adopted the feudal model to keep a more orderly atmosphere away from the dregs of history's previous societies.  However, adventuring plays a societal safety valve here: it allows anyone from different classes frustrated with the system to go out on their own.  Successful adventurers become a new elite, often forming their own towns and strongholds.As an alternative to the cookie-cutter gimmick, here are a few unusual hooks:1. The Gilded Age: The world is experiencing a Golden Age like it never has before.  Magic healing is common place, monsters and strife are scarce.  The government works for the benefit of the people under the banners of logic and benevolent religions.  War is a thing of the past.  All in all, good times.  Or that's what they would have you believe.  The presence of magic has jaded the population and became enmeshed with the system.  Many different ways to get around or confound magic, particularly divinations, have evolved as well. People, especially the aristocracy and adventuring classes, have become overly dependent on magic.  The government works to keep things stable and orderly over what is good.  Open warfare doesn't occur because it would be suicide in a magical world, so conflict is done under the table and through manipulation (charms, etc).  Monsters have survived, but only subtle ones- like doppelgangers.  An underground, dirty rebel movement thrives with the aid of illusionary magics. Healing magic demands extensive amounts of money as well as faith. The various religions now support the raw belief power of the church itself, with the gods themselves fading into the background.2. Planar breeding- Long ago there was some great conflict involving extensive outsider interference and multiple planar conjunctions.  It left many of the mortal races exterminated or severely devastated.  Many outsiders were cut off from their planes or ripped of their philosophical heritage, becoming natives.  To survive, all the survivors remaining on the Material Plane, both mortal and immortal, bred together. Millennia later, half-breeds have become the standard rather than the exception.  Tieflings, aasimar, and genasi replace some of the standard races.3. The Kobold Theocratic Empire- The kobolds have seized upon the nobility of their draconic heritage.  They have forged a Heavenly Theocracy of Sorcery.  Sorcerers rule as nobles and kings.  The clergy serve as the speakers of the Draconic Pantheon.  In addition to gods, dragons are worshipped as the father race of kobold-kind.  Numerous dragon-worship cults exist, often mixing with practices of ancestor-worship. And what about the mammalian species? Perhaps second-class citizens, rivals, or pests to be conquered.</blockquote>

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