Nevermore Design Diary #1: What is in a Name?
For the past year I have devoted myself to a name and a concept. The name was Nevermore and the concept was the creation of a unique campaign setting. The former sprung from reading too much Edgar Allen Poe as an adolescent and the later from a desire to do “something completely different” as an adult, which may in fact come from watching one too many Monte Python skits as a child. And thus it might be said that my entire life has lead me to this moment, to this designer’s diary, and to the question I hope to answer for you today… What is Nevermore ?
The Short Answer
Nevermore is a d20 dreamscape capstone campaign setting.
Translation, please?
Nevermore is a surrealistic and living campaign world designed to be used in conjunction with other d20 campaign settings or as a standalone campaign setting.
Now the above translation might not be the best, but it does hit the important themes I wanted to portray in the Nevermore setting and that I’ll deal with a couple of them in the rest of this designer diary…
Surrealism– The Ever-Changing Pillar
Nevermore is first and foremost a dreamscape campaign setting and this is the “hook” that is meant to entice consumers enough to hopefully open the front cover, flip through a few pages, and say to themselves, “Looks like I’ve got myself a book to read tonight.” This surrealistic hook influences every rule and bit of fluff in Nevermore and the result is that about half of the book is spent “transforming” races, classes, skills, feats, and other aspects of the Core Rules into more fantastic renditions of themselves. I cannot go into detail here about all the changes (as doing so would mean I’ve have a very long designer diary and nothing else to talk about later), but I can say that as with all good fishermen I put a worm on my hook…
Living– The Breathing Pillar
A central theme in the design of Nevermore was the desire to bring the bizarre, fantastic, and grotesque to the fore, not only as props, but also as living and breathing elements within the realm. Toward this end I spent a good amount of time and effort over this past year, shaping the setting in such a way that the land itself, could interact with adventurers on a meaningful basis and play a central role in their campaigns. This decision to essentially “personify” the world was a pivotal one and naturally led to the notion that Nevermore could be likened to a living and ever-changing creature, a shapechanger of sorts that could birth both dreams and nightmares. So how do you design a campaign world that is ever-changing and shifts landscapes, seasons, and even creatures upon a regular basis?
Actually that is a good question to delve into in the next designer diary entry… so tune for: Designer Diary #2: A Shapechanger Named Nevermore and a more in-depth look into Nevermore and the concept of the “living” campaign setting.
Feel free to make comments and post questions to this thread... I'll try to answer as best as I can or tell you if what you are interested in will be dealt with in a future Designer Diary.
Good Gaming!
Joseph Miller
Lead Designer/Writer for Nevermore CS
For the past year I have devoted myself to a name and a concept. The name was Nevermore and the concept was the creation of a unique campaign setting. The former sprung from reading too much Edgar Allen Poe as an adolescent and the later from a desire to do “something completely different” as an adult, which may in fact come from watching one too many Monte Python skits as a child. And thus it might be said that my entire life has lead me to this moment, to this designer’s diary, and to the question I hope to answer for you today… What is Nevermore ?
The Short Answer
Nevermore is a d20 dreamscape capstone campaign setting.
Translation, please?
Nevermore is a surrealistic and living campaign world designed to be used in conjunction with other d20 campaign settings or as a standalone campaign setting.
Now the above translation might not be the best, but it does hit the important themes I wanted to portray in the Nevermore setting and that I’ll deal with a couple of them in the rest of this designer diary…
Surrealism– The Ever-Changing Pillar
Nevermore is first and foremost a dreamscape campaign setting and this is the “hook” that is meant to entice consumers enough to hopefully open the front cover, flip through a few pages, and say to themselves, “Looks like I’ve got myself a book to read tonight.” This surrealistic hook influences every rule and bit of fluff in Nevermore and the result is that about half of the book is spent “transforming” races, classes, skills, feats, and other aspects of the Core Rules into more fantastic renditions of themselves. I cannot go into detail here about all the changes (as doing so would mean I’ve have a very long designer diary and nothing else to talk about later), but I can say that as with all good fishermen I put a worm on my hook…
Living– The Breathing Pillar
A central theme in the design of Nevermore was the desire to bring the bizarre, fantastic, and grotesque to the fore, not only as props, but also as living and breathing elements within the realm. Toward this end I spent a good amount of time and effort over this past year, shaping the setting in such a way that the land itself, could interact with adventurers on a meaningful basis and play a central role in their campaigns. This decision to essentially “personify” the world was a pivotal one and naturally led to the notion that Nevermore could be likened to a living and ever-changing creature, a shapechanger of sorts that could birth both dreams and nightmares. So how do you design a campaign world that is ever-changing and shifts landscapes, seasons, and even creatures upon a regular basis?
Actually that is a good question to delve into in the next designer diary entry… so tune for: Designer Diary #2: A Shapechanger Named Nevermore and a more in-depth look into Nevermore and the concept of the “living” campaign setting.
Feel free to make comments and post questions to this thread... I'll try to answer as best as I can or tell you if what you are interested in will be dealt with in a future Designer Diary.
Good Gaming!
Joseph Miller
Lead Designer/Writer for Nevermore CS
