Points of light - stable or fragile?

[Kahuna Burger]

Inspired belatedly by an older thread, I find myself wondering how stable folks consider a "point" in a PoL setting. That is to say, is the average settlement/village/town your PCs will encounter a besieged fort, constantly on the razor edge of falling to darkness, or is it a isolated but healthy community, perhaps held back from a desired expansion by the outer darkness, but not in fear of it encroaching?

Obviously "stability" is a relative term in a D&D game, where narrative causality dictates that any city, village or fort the PCs spend more time in than needed to buy iron rations will have something wrong with it. So stability means "as stable as any non plot specific city in a non-PoL campaign would be."

(I made the poll multiple answer in case you would find yourself inspired to two mutually exclusive options or would have a radical switch between continents or something.)

 

[Zweischneid]

Inspired belatedly by an older thread, I find myself wondering how stable folks consider a "point" in a PoL setting. That is to say, is the average settlement/village/town your PCs will encounter a besieged fort, constantly on the razor edge of falling to darkness, or is it a isolated but healthy community, perhaps held back from a desired expansion by the outer darkness, but not in fear of it encroaching?

Obviously "stability" is a relative term in a D&D game, where narrative causality dictates that any city, village or fort the PCs spend more time in than needed to buy iron rations will have something wrong with it. So stability means "as stable as any non plot specific city in a non-PoL campaign would be."

Hmmm.. I'd say both. IMO think Ten Towns in Icewind Dale from the early Drizzt books. Those towns are way out there and even before Drizzt & co. show up, they're constantly battling Giants, Yeti and rampaging Barbarian Hordes with desperate alliances and heroic deeds saving the towns time and again.
But somehow they've been doing all of that for ages and still got around to having normal, even joyful lives of fishing, mountain climbing and healthy family drama...

At least that'd be the D&D version. So I voted "you're dichotomy is wrong", even though "depth" might not quite catch it.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I am going with more the 25% stable, 75% fragile... Though for how I imagine it it would be a tad higher.

I see it being there are a couple large cities that are quite well defended with large city-armies, etc, etc. That are quite stable when it comes to outside forces (there can always be internal-strife). That would make up like 10% of stability, another 10% would be towns within close proximity to a major-city or within walking distance to each other. Thus they can easily be defended by the city or each other. The final 5% I imagine would be secretive, highly protected refuges and fortresses scattered about the world as well as towns and villages that have for ages been able to fight off low-level creatures (it is simply part of their daily lives to fend for their lives).

The 75% be all your small isolated towns, villages and hamlets and numerous small farm houses scattered across the world. That would be easily destroyed by monsters and such, besides for the couple that manage to fight off low-level monsters (as mentioned above).

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I see the PoL as an overall stable setting, where the balance of power between dark and light remain basically the same. However the devils in the details, so to speak. RIGHT HERE and NOW the balance is fragile and can be tilted one way or ta'ther by the actions of some Heroes.

The Heroes should need to travel about, battling the surging tides of Evil where it raises its ugly head...not staying in one place for long.

Of course, some exceptions like a border village near the slopes of Mt Doom would tend to have more of a fragile feeling to it.. but by the same means a village on the slopes of Mt Olympus would be much more stable...

 

[Voss]

Pretty even to fairly fragile.

Out west is a failing empire that has pretty much over-reached itself in conquest, its slaves (largely goblins and war captives) have revolted (particularly the goblins in their mines), and one city was just obliterated by a volcanic eruption. Taking advantage of all this chaos, several conquered lands are rebelling. Basically, they feel like their world is falling apart. Only the mercenaries are happy.

In the east, where my campaign will start, the towns (there aren't many things I'd classify as cities in the world, its very Dark Ages) are fairly stable, but the villages that support them are not. Northmen have recently conquered two, (though the inhabitants don't mind very much, since it means that there actual warriors guarding the town now). And a faction from an old Empire is stirring up mercenaries and gnolls in a bid to conquer the region. starting with a half dozen villages in the area the PCs are starting in. With other Things in the Woods, I expect at least one or two villages won't survive all the problems pressing in. Which is a shame, since the area was just starting to push out of 'subsistence' and into 'prosperity'

Up north, its all tribes and villages. Lots of hunters and warriors. Some are migrating south to join in the fun in the disintegrating Empire, others are getting out of the way of increasingly organized and powerful hobgoblin kingdom, which is starting to cause trouble for the otherwise stable dwarven kingdom. But the tribes also fight each other on a regular basis. Small scale, often just things like cattle-raids, but it takes its toll.

Down south, there is a relatively stable country, thats technically a client state of the disintegrating Empire. They're reassessing their relationship, but largely staying out of things. They keep the gnoll tribes under control (read: ride out and massacre them from time to time), and deal with raids from the sea, but mostly they just complain that there isn't anyone reliable to trade with anymore. Which will be more of a problem as time goes on, but most of their trade routes are still open. They just can't trust any of their neighbors anymore.

 

[Spinachcat]

I like it when the poop hits the fan...and the fan explodes.

Remember the Four Lands from Ultima I? I am considering doing a campaign using those maps. The world was teeming with dungeons and monsters - travel was downright dangerous. The only places of safety were the towns and walled cities...and the towns consist of a few ramshackle buildings.

Town life will be rough and tumble. Everyone is ready to fight anything at a moment's notice and sometimes the town loses. Life is vicious and hard. It is not uncommon to hear about a town that gets overrun or a town that vanishes completely. It will be up to the heroes alone to create real stability in the world.

Life in the Walled Cities is much better. High strong walls keep out the enemy and give archers and mages a long view of the countryside. Evil must creep in quieter.

Races don't mix much. They have their own enclaves and humans dominate the landscape. Trust must be earned, especially by humans. However, a hero's reputation travels fast and can often earn him a welcome.

 

[frankthedm]

Almost all will be fragile with a few bastions of stable civilization

If the heroes turn thier back on a PoL in need and claim " It is not our problem", chances are it won't be there next time. If the multi-verse is going to favor them with heroic abilities, then yes, they have responcibilties to the multi-verse.

 

[Voss]

Yep, thats pretty much how I feel about it. If a messenger comes in from another village about some trouble, and the PCs shrug and complain about it being too far, they get to witness a few tattered survivors limping into town a couple days later.

And suddenly the town they are in gets a wee bit less friendly, as they all wonder if these so called 'heroes' will help them when their number comes up.

 

[JohnSnow]

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.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

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

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