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Points of Light approach to setting
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<blockquote data-quote="Harshax" data-source="post: 4122612" data-attributes="member: 61534"><p>The Old West is a great Points of Light example. You have settlers pushing into the wilderness to carve out their own stake. The Federal Government hasn't got a long and powerful reach, so lawmen tend to be few and far between. Men have to defend their own, instead of waiting for the US Marshalls. The land has changed hands many times, so there are Indians, Mexicans, French, and English in varying degrees who still think of the land as their own. You also have lots of unmapped wilderness, etc.</p><p></p><p>The Dark Ages is another Points of Light example. Religious intolerance and the Black Plague wipe out most knowledge or the knowledgeable. People still have more of a cultural identity instead of a national identity, so when the top falls off the stack, people go back to thinking of themselves as Huns or Goths. No one knows how to read. No one knows medicine. People are literally walking around trying to recreate the wheel - actually, their barely trying to survive. This is also the time of the mini-iceage, if I remember correctly, so food is *very* hard to come by. You also have a resurgeance of predators like wolves, and since no one really understands what the Black Plague is, you have rashes of different cultists running around telling people how to act, at sword point if necessary.</p><p></p><p>Post Civil War could also be a Points of Light example. You have a decimated southern economy, pockets of folks who didn't quit the war, just stopped wearing the uniforms, banditry, disease, towns that are wiped out, and carpet baggers from the north.</p><p></p><p>I need to belt one more out, just to prove to myself that the 'Points of Light' idea isn't far fetched, but is actually a really exciting concept that doesn't require a huge ramp up on the part of the DM.</p><p></p><p>Here. I'll take a previously published game world that is a Points of Light campaign: Twilight 2000. In the last great war, every nation is strained to capacity, nukes are exchanged, governments collapse, and the last armies fielded in Europe are told by their perspective nations: 'You're on your own' There isn't a unit out there bigger than a regiment, and those guy's primary task is running around the countryside scrounging fuel, ammunition, and food. Some whole up in a castle and setup martial law around a couple of farming villages. There's half a dozen nation's armies in Poland, and none of them get along. Some guys go completely rogue, and set up black markets in Krakow, some strip the insignias off their uniforms and go mercenary, and others are just trying to find a way home. Most parties are nothing more than the remnants of a squad. Maybe they're lucky to have an APC and a mortar, they have a mix of small arms (whatever they can pickup). Maybe they're unlucky and their is a group over the next hill that has a broken down APC, and they want yours to fix theirs. Some players light up a giger counter because they've ingested so many Rads, and driving into the equivalent of Chernobyl could mean their death.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Harshax, post: 4122612, member: 61534"] The Old West is a great Points of Light example. You have settlers pushing into the wilderness to carve out their own stake. The Federal Government hasn't got a long and powerful reach, so lawmen tend to be few and far between. Men have to defend their own, instead of waiting for the US Marshalls. The land has changed hands many times, so there are Indians, Mexicans, French, and English in varying degrees who still think of the land as their own. You also have lots of unmapped wilderness, etc. The Dark Ages is another Points of Light example. Religious intolerance and the Black Plague wipe out most knowledge or the knowledgeable. People still have more of a cultural identity instead of a national identity, so when the top falls off the stack, people go back to thinking of themselves as Huns or Goths. No one knows how to read. No one knows medicine. People are literally walking around trying to recreate the wheel - actually, their barely trying to survive. This is also the time of the mini-iceage, if I remember correctly, so food is *very* hard to come by. You also have a resurgeance of predators like wolves, and since no one really understands what the Black Plague is, you have rashes of different cultists running around telling people how to act, at sword point if necessary. Post Civil War could also be a Points of Light example. You have a decimated southern economy, pockets of folks who didn't quit the war, just stopped wearing the uniforms, banditry, disease, towns that are wiped out, and carpet baggers from the north. I need to belt one more out, just to prove to myself that the 'Points of Light' idea isn't far fetched, but is actually a really exciting concept that doesn't require a huge ramp up on the part of the DM. Here. I'll take a previously published game world that is a Points of Light campaign: Twilight 2000. In the last great war, every nation is strained to capacity, nukes are exchanged, governments collapse, and the last armies fielded in Europe are told by their perspective nations: 'You're on your own' There isn't a unit out there bigger than a regiment, and those guy's primary task is running around the countryside scrounging fuel, ammunition, and food. Some whole up in a castle and setup martial law around a couple of farming villages. There's half a dozen nation's armies in Poland, and none of them get along. Some guys go completely rogue, and set up black markets in Krakow, some strip the insignias off their uniforms and go mercenary, and others are just trying to find a way home. Most parties are nothing more than the remnants of a squad. Maybe they're lucky to have an APC and a mortar, they have a mix of small arms (whatever they can pickup). Maybe they're unlucky and their is a group over the next hill that has a broken down APC, and they want yours to fix theirs. Some players light up a giger counter because they've ingested so many Rads, and driving into the equivalent of Chernobyl could mean their death. [/QUOTE]
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