Points of light - stable or fragile?

[Fallen Seraph]

Yeah I plan implementing that idea into my game to. I am thinking of doing a far-amount of 1-2 game-sessions later implementations of showcasing what their choices did, instead of immediately showing the consequences.

So as been stated, if PCs turn their back on the town, next game session or the one after they may find a refugee camp of the people left alive from the town. Perhaps even bounties have been placed on their heads by those that survived, etc, etc.

 

[Dausuul]

Something in between, really. Most settlements will be essentially stable, simply because those that are balanced on a razor's edge tend to fall off. The surviving settlements are tough enough to deal pretty easily with the "ambient threat level" of the Outer Darkness(tm). Outlying farmsteads may get picked off now and then, but the towns themselves have sturdy defenders who do a solid job of keeping the Darkness at bay.

On the other hand, the Outer Darkness also contains much, much deadlier things than run-of-the-mill ogres and goblins. Once in a while, one of those things wakes up and goes after a settlement. When that happens, the settlement had better come up with some heroes fast, or it's all over.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I went for the first two options, being somewhere in between those two and depending on the location in the world. For the most part, towns aren't falling or being destroyed. They might become a hideout for bandits who take over or fall under sway of an evil mage, but if you return to an area, the town you remember will still be there, except in rare exceptions, mostly involving plot hooks (which are supposed to be discounted for the poll). It's a harsh world, but not that harsh.

 

[Voss]

You know, I can see it as ALL TOO stable....

PoL, again, could be a very monolithic, hard and oppressive empire by example....

Heh. I've got two of those. Its one of the reasons there are no fey and few non-humans in the southwestern part of my main continent. If its non-human, there is a 600 year policy of 'dead or enslaved'.

Makes for a fairly stable interior, but it isn't a nice place to live.

 

[kennew142]

I wasn't sure if I should even answer this poll, since my campaign (described on my gaming blog - see url below) may not be a true PoL setting.

Humans (and other civilized humanoids) have very stable places they can call their own. Major population centers exist along the coasts and waterways, but there is a limit to how far they can project force into the dangerous wilderness. Eladrin have flying ships and humans have powerful dromons armed with naptha. Dwarves and elves are relatively secure in their own communities, but with fewer connections with the outside world. The defeat of the Witch Queen Xandia, 150 years ago (the anniversary celebration will figure into the year one storyline) left many of her savage mercenaries scattered throughout the region without any central leadership or controls over their behavior.

Even stable population centers aren't completely safe. The dwarven citadel of Karadhur seemed secure until a serious shadow eruption in the lower levels drove the inhabitants to seek safety in the human kingdom of Maruvan. Other examples abound.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

While not Empires, my City-States work under similar ways. They allow non-humans but they certainly don't treat them nicely. Any Elf, Eladrin, or Tiefling (Halflings get it easier since they are the main river-traders with Humans) that winds up in a human-city will more likely then not be forced into the ghettos.

There are also many patrols in the area surrounding my City-States that round up non-humans, search them, interrogate them and if they don't already have a identification, make them go to the nearest city to get one.

The City-State to the south does enslave though as well, though they are less picky, if your born of lower-class then no matter what race you are you can be sold as a slave.

 

[Simm]

Almost all the points are stable because the darkness is not monolithic. From a human perspective the scattered villages are relatively safe, raids can be driven off before they cause too much damage, and some of the more traveled routes between them can be traveled easily. Outside these bounds, however, most travelers unless very well gaurded quickly fall prey to attackers. From a goblin perspective, however, the only saftey is in their traveling bands and wanders are killed or captured by other monsters or humans. The stablility is maintained because from each factions perspective they are points of light and all else is darkness.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Unless the setting has a recent event that has thrown the balance over to the dark forces, the way I see it, most are stable, but only a few are thriving. They are holding their own or else they most likely would have been wiped out by now.

Sometimes the PCs will find a PoL that is failing and they will have the chance to save the day. Other times they might find one that is stable and their actions might influence the ability of the PoL to grow.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

To answer my own question, I voted 75% stable, but would make it up to almost all in some areas of the world. The appeal of a PoL for me is the isolation of communities and the perils of travel, not fear of imminent destruction.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I took the final option.

To me, the Points of Light are relatively safe except when they're not. Yes, the wilderness is hazardous. Yes, communities are isolated. But settlements aren't usually in danger of imminent extinction.

However, when they are, if the PCs turn their backs on a community in need, it may well be devastated or destroyed the next time they pass that way. And sometimes, they'll run across a community AFTER disaster has struck.

This is a good summary of my approach, as well.

A point of light can exist for a century, living in relative peace (if in isolation), but when some threat emerges, that point of light will be almost certainly doomed.

I guess I can describe it as the points of light are themselves stable, but the connections between the points of light are extremely fragile. However, if a stable point of light is surrounded by points of darkness (this is quickly turning into a Go or Othello analogy), then the point of light will falter and succumb to the darkness very quickly. Overall, the stability of points of light is only relative to the strength of the forces of darkness in that area.