Origins of your Game World

[Voi_D_ragon]

There is more, including a specific event ("The Shattering") based on this cosmology that altered the campaign world into its current state. This is just the basics.

Veeery interesting. If you care to, I would love an elaboration

Also, one of my own campaigns (well, the one I gave over to my buddy) is set in the Shattered Lands (they are also present in the wider world, and they also have a story of how the shattered, although it is known as "The Skyfall"). Weird, inn'it?

 

[Caliban]

Veeery interesting. If you care to, I would love an elaboration

Also, one of my own campaigns (well, the one I gave over to my buddy) is set in the Shattered Lands (they are also present in the wider world, and they also have a story of how the shattered, although it is known as "The Skyfall"). Weird, inn'it?

More details in my original Post on the campaign: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...alms-a-Homebrew-Cosmology&highlight=cosmology

Plus my campaign world history/timeline:

History of The Shattered Realms

The Pre-Shattering world: Most records of the world before the Shattering are lost, but this much is known. It was a relatively normal world as such things go. Elves, dwarves, the occasional dragon. Wizards and priests, fighters and rogues, kings and kingdoms. But even in those distant days the whispers had begun - the gods were growing more distant, granting fewer prayers. People found it easier to contact the fiends of the lower planes and the first Warlocks walked the land. Some even whispered that the magic was fading. Undeterred, the minds of men sought new avenues to power and advanced the alchemical and technological arts.

The Shattering (Year 0): Some say it was caused by the priests as they attempted to regain the favor of the gods. Some say it was caused by the wizards, trying to renew the fading magic. Some say it was the warlocks, trying to open a massive gateway to their infernal masters. Still others claim it was caused by the new breed of technologists, tinkering with the laws of nature itself. Perhaps it was none of these things.

The world ended in a single day. A sound was heard across the world, a sound that heralded the end. A sound of breaking glass that gave the event its name: The Shattering. Mountains cracked and crumbled, continents sank. New lands arose from the seas or descended from the skies as the fabric of reality itself was rent asunder. Entire nations disappeared, their people scattered across distant realities, while new races walked the lands in the wake of the Shattering. Magical storms raged across the lands, transforming creatures and terrain.

Magic returned to the world in full force, if it had truly been fading. The advanced technological arts were lost, except for a few scattered relics. Likewise, the alchemical arts were also lost except for those preserved by the secretive guilds of the city of Kimera.

The continent of Althule: The kingdoms of central Althule were devastated as a vast mountain range erupted throughout the interior of the continent. The once fertile plains and farmland was transformed into majestic mountains and hidden valleys. The civilized races migrated to the coasts and established new kingdoms while the more monstrous races were pushed into the interior. (This is the main setting of the campaign.)

The Dragon Empire (Year 62 to 1066): In the wake of the Shattering a new power rose in the island nation to the east of Althule. The Dragon Emperor. Legend has it that he was a man transformed into a gold dragon during the Shattering. Some scholars speculate (very quietly) that he was “merely” a gold dragon that learned enough magic to shapechange into a human. Regardless of his true origin, it is a fact that he rapidly established himself as both a military and magical force to be feared. He quickly established himself as a ruler - first as King, then Emperor as his domain expanded. His most trusted generals and allies were also gifted with the ability to transform into dragons, and within a few generations their descendants showed traits of both human and dragon - the first of the Dragonborn race.

The Dragon Emperor led his forces on a campaign of conquest against the mainland, and within a decade had conquered all of Althule. His reign lasted for a thousand years, ending a little over five hundred years ago when the Dragon Emperor vanished without warning, leaving the Jade Throne empty. Legends say that he was assassinated and his body dismembered, the pieces hidden away to prevent him from resurrecting himself. His heir vanished as well, either assassinated as well or going into hiding.

The Empire fell as the Dragon Warlords fought amongst themselves for the title of Emperor. The kingdoms of Althule united long enough to drive the fractured Emperial forces back to their islands, where they have existed as a collection of warring states for the last 500 years. None have been able to claim the Jade Throne, all who have attempted to do so have been rejected by the Throne itself, usually fatally. It is said that the Empire is cursed to remain fragmented and at war with itself until a true heir claims the throne (or the Emperor himself returns).

Even though the Empire retreated from Althule nearly 500 years ago, the Empire left its mark on the mainland nations it left behind. (Much the way the Roman Empire left its mark on Europe and the UK after it fell.) Many weapons and buildings still use Imperial designs and themes. The martial training and spiritual traditions of the Monks originated in the Dragon Empire. The Halfling Nightblade clans, the Dwarven Deepguard units, the Elven Bladesingers, etc. all originated during the time of the Empire as the Emperor required each race to provide him with specially trained warriors, mages, or scouts

Present Day (Year 1563): Most of of Althule is divided into small kingdoms and city states along the coastline. A few dwarven kingdoms control key mountain passes, but most of the mountainous interior has been ceded to the monstrous races - goliaths in the highest mountain areas, orcs in the temperate regions, and goblins in the caverns below. Below the goblin controlled caves lies the Subterrain - a system of vast caverns and underground rivers that are said to connect to cave systems in other worlds and strange realms. The Subterrain is the home of the Drow, Duergar, and Svirfneblin - twisted parodies of their surface brethren, they exist in a near constant state of war with each other, the goblins, and any surface dwellers who venture into their territories.

The City-State of Althas: A cosmopolitan port city, this city state is the main hub for adventurers and mercenaries looking for work. Opportunity abounds as goods both mundane and arcane move through the docks, roads, and Dragon Gates that link Althas to the other major cities on the continent. The reason for this is the Imperial Bank.

The Imperial Bank of Althas: It is called the Imperial Bank despite being founded after the fall of the Empire by a coalition of gnome and halfling clans . It was felt that the name invoked a sense of power and stability. That, and the gnomes and halflings couldn’t agree on which family to name the bank after. The gnomes felt that calling it “The Lightfinger Bank” would give a bad first impression, and the halflings felt that the gnomish name of Rumpelstiltskin would be too hard for the patrons to pronounce (or spell) and that the old tale about spinning gold into straw would give people the wrong idea about how the bank acquired its wealth.

The Imperial Bank’s success lies with the Pre-Shattering artifact that it uses to safeguard the money of its patrons. Patrons may purchase a deposit box for 50 gold, in return they are given a ring that will work only for them. If they take the ring to one of the bank branches in another city, they can use it to withdraw anything from their deposit box (1 gp access fee, and costs 1HP to activate ring.). It is withdrawal only, to put things in the deposit box the gold or other items need to be physically transported to the main branch of the bank in Althas. The bank charges a 5% annual fee for storing and guarding their patrons wealth.

A common job for adventurers is to guard a bank caravan that is transporting gold and other items to Althas to be stored in the bank.

There is a premium service that allows patrons to both deposit and withdraw items into their deposit box at any branch, without the need to physically transport the goods to the main branch first. The ring for that service costs 1,000 gp. (10 gp access fee and 1 HP to activate the ring).

The rings do not require attunement, but will only work for the person they are created for, and only while that person is alive and not under the influence of Enchantment magic.

The Dragon Gates: A massive set of stone portals that links to other Dragon Gates around the continent. They were created by the Emperor’s Artificers. The secret to their creation was lost when the empire fell, but someone with sufficient magic can still activate the gates.

In order to operate a gate you must be Attuned to it. You do not have any Gate Attunement slots unless you can use teleportation type magic. If you can, you have a number of Gateway Attunement slots equal to your proficiency bonus, plus one attunement slot for every Teleportation type spell you know (Misty Step, Dimension Door, Teleportation Circle, Arcane Gate, Teleportation). Certain magic items may increase this number.

So a lvl 3 character with Misty Step would have 3 Gateway Attunement slots, while a lvl 7 character with Mist Step and Dimension Door would have 5 Gateway Attunement slots.

It takes 1 hour to attune to a gate, and you can only travel between gates you are attuned too. If your Gate Attunement slots are full when you attune to a new gate, you must select a previously attuned Gate to replace with the new one.

Activating the gate requires you to cast one of your teleportation spells, and the number of people who can go through the gate is equal to the number of people the spell you use can transport. (For example, Misty Step will keep the Dragon Gate active for one person - and it does not have to be the caster. Dimension Door will allow two people to transport through the Dragon Gate, and again the caster does not have to be one of them. Arcane Gate is the spell of choice, as it allows unlimited transport of wagons and creatures for the duration. Mages with the ability to cast it can make a good living selling their services those with a lot of cargo and wagons to transport.)

The city of Althas generally charges a 100 GP fee before they will allow someone to attune to their Dragon Gate. If the person is guilty of a crime in the city, they will not be allowed to attune to the gate. People found guilty of a crime after being attuned have the attunement forcibly revoked by means of a ritual.

The Althas Dragon Gate is continually monitored and can be quickly deactivated by the Gate Guardians if something dangerous is detected coming through. While deactivated no one can connect to the gate, attuned or not.

Slavery: Slavery is not legal in the city of Althas. Slave ships are allowed into the harbor but are not permitted to dock. Any slave that manages to jump ship and make it to the shore or dock is considered a free person. Despite this, slavers often use the harbor as a safe port and a neutral place to conduct clandestine transactions.

The Arena: Despite not allowing slaves, the city does have an Arena left over from the Imperial era. While the fights cannot compare in size or variety to the Great Arena of Kimera, it does have a small but loyal fan base. All fights are voluntary. Combatants are either professional gladiators, adventurers out to make a name for themselves, or criminals hoping for an early release if they win enough fights.

Combats are rarely to the death, and deliberately killing your opponent is a crime. The arena grounds have been enchanted - when blessed by a Cleric or Paladin (i.e. they expend a use of Channel Divinity while touching the ground) all death saves within the Arena are automatically successful for 1 hour.

Private individuals can sponsor special gladiatorial events, bringing in exotic beasts or setting up special combat scenarios. They foot the bill for any expenses and hope to make it back from the sale of tickets.




The City-State of Kimera: The last remaining practitioners of the lost arts of Alchemancy, the City of Alchemists is run by the Alchemist Guilds. The guilds zealously guard the secrets of their craft, and are constantly experimenting in order to recover lost techniques or discover new ones. The region around Kimera is dangerous due to hybrid and mutated creatures that populate the area - escaped experiments, or failed experiments that were released, or just local creatures were mutated after drinking from the river that has been tainted by magically active waste dumped into it.

The city has a branch of the Imperial Bank, a set of Dragon Gates, and the largest Arena on the continent.

The laws of the city are strict and heavily biased in favor of the Alchemist Guilds. Fines are the preferred form of punishment for breaking the law.

Slavery: Slavery is legal, and those who run afoul of the law can quickly find themselves sold into slavery to pay off their fines.

Slaves are either sold to the Great Arena, or to one of the Alchemical guilds to use in their experiments.

The Colosseum: The largest Arena left after the fall of the Empire, in 500 years none have surpassed it. It features frequent fights to the death against exotic beasts brought in from abroad, or monsters created in the laboratories of the guilds. Criminals turned slaves are frequently offered their freedom if they can win enough fights. This is a very rare event, as they are usually killed by either the monsters they fight, or the professional Gladiators.

While the grounds of the Colosseum bear an enchantment similar to the Arena in Althas, it is usually not activated for fights between slaves and monsters. It is always used for a fight with Gladiators involved.

Kimera has the only Gladiator Guild on the continent. Professional Gladiators rarely fight to the death - they are too valuable. They are masters of showmanship and combat. Usually there is a manager with a stable of gladiators who work for them. Many choose to leave and become adventurers after a few years in the Arena.


The Island Kingdom of Schaden: Home of pirates and raiders, their ships are the scourge of the sea. They raid coastal villages and port cities, making off with goods and slaves that are either sold or given to their king as tribute.

Schaden is ruled by the Lich King, a powerful undead Warlock. He first appeared nearly 500 years ago, not long after the fall of the Empire. At that time Schaden was a poor nation and its people were on the verge of being wiped out by natural disasters, monster attacks, and raids by sea pirates. The man who became the Lich King made a pact with a powerful demon, and in return gained enough power to defend his people. Soon he became their leader, but felt that he needed even more power to make them truly safe. So he made a second bargain with the demon, one that required a yearly tribute of living souls. Since then his kingdom has grown, as has the power of his people. Five hundred years later, he is a lich, most of the people of Schaden are Tieflings, and they have become the very raiders and sea pirates that once preyed on them.

 

[Sunseeker]

Ok, but that isn't actually an origin story. That's a story about something that has already happened. It doesn't tell me anything about how the stuff came to be. Your story begins In Media Res, and you even acknowledge it when you say, "already-existing powerful beings..." Ok, so where did those already existing powerful beings come from? From within the universe or without it? Has the universe always existed giving rise to these new worlds for all eternity, or does it have a beginning?

The Earth is some 4.5 billion years old. You don't think something beat it to the punch? I'm fairly certain that there are planets that are older than Earth. So logically, in a universe where the first caveat is "we are not alone", other things have come into existence before the earth. Likewise, in a setting where there is a "multiverse" some universes may be older, younger, or followed different developmental tracks than our own did. The powerful beings could simply be beings that arose before those on the campaign world did, or they may be multi-dimensional travelers.

An "origin" doesn't need to have a foolproof answer, I'd rather leave it open ended to the question of "did a god do it" or "was it simply nature". That's not a wrong answer to the question of "where did it all come from".

Evolution isn't an origin. It's a process that happens to something that exists. For example, evolution, from a biological perspective, is something that happens to life and runs within processes that pertain to life. That is to say, evolution cannot actually exist without life, and comes into being as soon as life exists, but it doesn't explain life because it is a property pertaining to life.

I'm...not entirely sure you're being genuine here. It sounds like you're trying to draw me into an origins of life debate. I'm not going to play because the scientific consensus on the subject is fairly clear. You know what I'm talking about. Primordial soup, building blocks of life, evolution, all that. I kept my post brief because I wanted to post briefly on the subject. I did not feel particularly compelled to write out the entire details of my world since it is, as you point out below, rather uninteresting.

In your case, any origin story would have to explain where the magic comes from.

Why? There's energy in our universe isn't there? "Magic" as the lay-people call it, is just about having the right connection or the right code phrases to shape that energy to your needs. "Divine" magic is that same energy filtered through your deity before it gets to you. "Arcane" magic is you playing with the raw energy of the universe.

Or to put it another way, to say that there are billions and billions of years of development adds very little to the story.

And? My decision to use this approach is simply for my own benefit. The players will not deal with this information till they're at incredibly high levels. So the fact that it doesn't "add anything" is fine, it's not supposed to add anything. It simply is for ease of reference. My fantasy worlds work like real life...with some magic.

So little in fact that it could well be a property of my story without contradicting anything I said about my world.

Great, feel free to use it.

From the time of the beginning of my story to the time that History begins with the ripening of the first fruit of the Great Tree, may well have been billions of years and during that time their might have been all sorts of 'development' and 'evolution' 'pushed forward by magic' and by 'already-existing powerful beings mucking about'. But none of that is part of the origin, but a part of 'chapter 2' (as it were), 'what happened after the beginning'.

After reading this, I think we're talking about two different concepts about what an "origin" means. Beyond that, a good origin story has some blanks in it. If everything about the origination of the universe was perfectly clear and cut and dry, noone would ever investigate it!

In my setting like real life, different cultures, different species, different religions all have different ideas about how the universe came to be, because in part they lack the appropriate level of science to find out the absolute truth (as to we) and because many powerful creatures run around claiming responsibility for it.

 

[Jhaelen]

I rarely bother with an origin story for my game world unless it's central to the campaign's theme. I think most players' eyes will quickly glaze over if you bore them recounting events that happened thousands of years ago.

 

[Caliban]

I rarely bother with an origin story for my game world unless it's central to the campaign's theme. I think most players' eyes will quickly glaze over if you bore them recounting events that happened thousands of years ago.

That's usually more for the DM's benefit than the players. For some of us, world building is where a lot of the fun in DM'ing lies. You just have to be careful not to make the game a history recital instead of an adventure. Just because you have written it, doesn't mean you have to tell the players everything. It can just be background information that helps inform your adventures add little details during the gaming sessions.

 

[Lylandra]

Not really a game world, but I did one adventure in this cosmos. Originally, it was meant to be a semi sci-fi/fantasy crossover which is based somewhat on reality and mid you, it is something I came up with as a 16 year old:

When the universe started, matter and space and energy as we know them came into being. But the universe itself also bore a consciousness. And while it was powerful, it was neither omniscient, nor omnipotent, but it was curious. It drifted through the stars for millions of years until it saw, it felt that there was something else. Or rather someone else. There was life. And these living beings also had consciousness. So it studied life. And as living beings started to give themselves names, so the consciousness gave itself a name: Gaia.

Time passed by and Gaia started to understand what it was. Who it was. And that it was very different from these beings who lived on several planets. It realized that it was unique. And also alone. As Gaia started to understand, to feel like these "mortals" felt, it fell into despair. For it could never be like them. Then something more vicious started growing inside it: Jealousy. Greed. And finally, hate. At the brink of giving into these dark thoughts, Gaia finally understood that it had become a threat to these beings it envied and secretly loved.

So it took its aspects, its powers that it had obtained at the beginning of time and space and tore everything from its own existence. And from itself came five beings which represented different thoughts, virtues, abilities and powers. Power over liquids, solids, gases, and energy. Or, as mortals would call them, water, earth, air, fire and light. But the dark thoughts that nearly consumed Gaia were completely torn asunder, seemingly destroyed forever. And when the five came into existence, they realized who created them and they took all their powers to save their creator from annihilation. They took Gaia, now free of painful memories, created a corporeal vessel and took "her" to a reclusive world where she could live among mortals.

The Five, or Elements, as they gradually started to use mortal words, were bound to matter and could form bodies of their own. They, like their creator, spend time among mortals, but they could interact with them. They lived and loved and still held contact with one another. But then one day, something was amiss. Space was deforming. As if something wanted to erupt into the universe. The Elements gathered at the site of the anomaly, when suddenly something tore itself through space and time like a chick hatching from an egg. And there it was: Gaia's dark thoughts, manifested in a sixth Element, dedicated to end all life, all existence.

It was Light, or Luxa, who felt that it was the polar opposite of the Sixth. Energy and Dark Energy. Light and Dark Light. The two started a fight for life and death immediately and neither of the two was victorious for both were to be destroyed in the process. The other four feared that the resulting explosion, a violent surge of chaotic energy could destroy this section of the universe and so they combined their power to contain it. And so they sealed away the power of they lost two as they mourned the death of their sibling.

The seals were placed and the energy was funneled into a strong, living, still evolving world called Terra. Being a container for so much power didn't harm the planet, though. It seemed as if it fueled it. Life grew strong on Terra for many years. That was, until a stray asteroid crashed into it. Usually, this would have obliterated the planet and ended all life. But not Terra. The seals prevented the planet from being smashed to pieces, but it broke into five parts that drifted away all but one. The seals encased them in a protective ward until they were reformed, and "found" new stars to orbit. And the new shards were known as Unica, Thunderion, Elysia, Anoah, and Earth.

Now the setting's prime places would be Unica (containing the seal of Light) and, to a lesser degree, Earth (containing the seal of, err... Earth). Unica itself has a good deal of history itself, dealing with the events of ~10.000 years from quasi-medieval/tribal times to a technologically advanced planet which is part of an interplanetary union. It has a guardian spirit due to the seal which manifests very rarely and only when is about to hit the fan. The spirit has a mortal "chosen" proxy whose job it is to keep the people of the planet safe, which means keeping them from killing each other as well as fighting alien invaders.

 

[ART!]

It's kinda funny...

I started running my current game because a friend gave me the PHB and DMG and I knew if I said I was going to run a D&D game I'd get a lot of players. So I kind of dove into it without a plan or setting, just kind of a default generic thing. I planned to use whatever adventure modules I already had, and free or cheap stuff available online. I figured I would string it together into something resembling a narrative, and work toward a powerful and influential dragon when they got high level.

It wasn't until chargen when a player making a cleric asked what pantheon(s) we were using that I realized I needed to put more thought into the setting and it's whys and wherefores. Flipping through the pantheons listed in the books, I blurted out "Celtic!", because I have Celtic roots and because Norse and Greek felt kind of old-hat.

Over the next week or so, I fleshed out the structure of the setting based on some power-skimming of Celtic creation myths. here's an excerpt:

*****

COSMOLOGY
Most cultures of the world have some version of the following cosmological concepts:

The Three Realms
The main female god, Danu (dan-OO), is The Heavens, incorporating D&D’s Astral and Ethereal Planes and aspects of the Elemental Plane of Air.
The main male god, Dhonn (don), is The Earth, incorporating D&D’s Prime Material, FeyWild, and aspects of the Elemental Planes.
The genderless Annwyn (ANN-win) is The Otherworld, the land of the dead and home of the Tuatha De Danann. It’s not Hades or Hell, but more like D&D’s Elysium, including parts of the Elemental Planes of Air and of Water.
In the Seas, Dhonn has a realm called Tech Duinn (tek-DOON). The worthy dead go there. The unworthy become the Sluagh (SLOO-ah), the restless dead.
The Fomoraigg (fo-MAR-ee) are the dark gods of the seas. Chief among them is Balor of the Baleful Eye.

*****

I based the relative common-ness of the different races on what races the players picked for the their first characters. Two picked half-elf, so I decided half-elves were the most common race. No one picked human, so I decided humans were once more populous but were now kind of a dying race.

It's been a pretty successful game, but I tend to rely on the momentum of fights to keep things going. I'm working on ways to focus more on the character stuff and histories.

 

[Blue]

My current campaign world no - I'm using a published setting and it doesn't have one.

My most recent homebrew did. Actually, it was a big part of the second campaign in that setting, because part of the origin story had that the mother-of-all who became the planet had a first, premature child that was unfinished before giving birth to those that would become the gods. (It was a lot more detailed than that.) And that unfinished, unsouled being lacking the divine spark ended up being the ultimate architect of the problems in that second campaign. You see, even the original gods ascended into their position, setting archtypes/templates that earned to be filled. So as one collected divine power one would be attracted to an appropriate archetype, and those that possessed them were (for the most part) jealous of their power. So there were little gods, genius loci type from Greek & Roman myths, to Fisher King type of the king is the land, the land is the king, all the way up to the gods and their portfolios. But the unfinished being was before the templates, and if it ascended it would not be limited/shaped/restricted by any of them and would be able to use their divine spark to do anything.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Howdy Enworlders, I come with a simple question: have you thought of an origin story for your game world?

I created my first, most elaborate, campaign world for D&D as a teenager, it was quite derivative, of course. It was created by The Gods from a formless primordial chaos, separating the 4 classic elements (plus Light & Darkness as elements), and shaping them into flat world, about the size of Europe, in total, with a sun and moon circling it, closely, (the sun rising in the west and setting in the east for no reason I can remember, now), the whole enclosed in an iron sphere dotted with stars. The Gods who created the world made a Pact that none of them would enter or directly interfere with their creation. They also inadvertently trapped beings that had existed in the primordial chaos within the sphere, giving me some Lovecraftian monsters to play with.
The first inhabitant of the world were the Elves, formed of three of the four elements (lacking fire), who invented metalurgy & magic, and after eons of idylic existance, eventually started a civil war, in the course of that conflict, 'High Order' (6th+ level) spells were created, the elves differentiated into their various strains, and using alchemy, created Dragons (from raw elements), orcs (from captured grey elves, by infusing them with an excess of fire) and humans (from captured drow elves, but with a balance of the 4 elements) as warrior-races to continue the conflict long after the elves' slow reproduction would have left them whiped them out by attrition. After devastating much of the world, and sealing the drow behind a prismatic wall, the elves swore off the mighty magics of the war (thus the elven magic-user level limit of 11), and released their human soldiers into the recovering areas of the world, while keeping the few pristine primeval forests for themselves, and leaving the irrevocably-devastated accursed 'Wasted Land' to the remnants of the Drow's orc soldiers.
(Dwarves, BTW, somehow dug their way into the world from an alternate prime material plane, they were an earth/water race, didn't even need to breath, for instance, and dwarven patriarchs were each legendary crafters who carved their clans from living rock (settling the old dwarven women & beards debate - the dwarves were genderless). I don't recall if I ever decided where gnomes & kobolds came from... Halfings were created by a solitary wizard as companions and servants, and inherited his idylic land after he passed - someone pointed out to me that it sounded like the Smurphs' origin.)

Much later I came up with a world inspired by 3.0, I left it open whether it was flat or an actual planet, and this time it was the Dragons who were the first sentient beings on the world. They grew in arcane knowledge, size, power, and individuality. Eventually, each created a sentient race to serve it (the 'elder races' - including Mind Flayers, Giants almost certainly elves, and possibly kobolds & gnomes), and they went to war until few Dragons, and few of their elder races remained. Then, legends get contradictory. One version of the story is that the last, greatest of the primordial dragons created the youngest elder race, or oldest young race, and left the world to them. Another is that the Gods came to the world and created the first young races (including humans & gnolls, orcs, goblinoids, and possibly gnomes & kobolds). The upshot is that the 'young races' can worship gods and gain levels in classes like Paladin or Cleric - and, indeed, most humans in the setting could become 'initiates,' regardless of class, and get a Domain like a Cleric - and Elder races (and elder-blooded humans called Sorcerers) tended to use arcane magic.

I also ran a weird little game in a setting of a distant galaxy, the 'Dark Wheele,' colonized by some quite eccentric humans who mis-jumped, and created some strange cultures as they spread themselves thinly over the galaxy. The central theme was that the humans in question were exiled (perhaps by choice) from a technological/corporate cyperpunk dystopia of some kind. They're religion was reminiscent of the Dune Butlerian Jihad, computers & robots were taboo. They also practiced an almost insane from of rugged individualism, eschewing mass production and most forms of trade - if you needed something, you literally made it for yourself, and only used it, yourself. There were variations on where the line was drawn between the personal and 'commodities' that could be traded. One consistent point: weapons that could kill. Most people used nominally-non-lethal weapons, from clubs to stunners, and the original colonists had left behind equipment to make 'blasters,' arguably less-lethal, but not good to get hit with a lot, which were considered a 'commodity' for some reason. Being able to make & use a lethal weapon conferred a special status, a 'Master of Death,' - and, if you could also heal in some way, 'Master of Life.'
The whole thing was a sort of melting-pot spoof/homage of different sci-fi, comics, & games.

Then there was my Champions! campaign, an alternate Earth that diverged in 1908 when a meteorite bearing a mysterious element, Radium-X, hit Siberia and set off a chain reaction of human mutation and proto-nuclear super-science, and, again, when King Arthur 'brought magic back into the world' when he returned from Avalon to repel a WWI invasion of England. Thus the 20th century was 'The Age of Heroes.'

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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