The Genesis of Blood Throne, Part 1
The genesis of the blood throne setting began back around the time WOTC had their setting search which eventually yielded Eberron. I continued to work on blood throne, though with a slightly diminished sense of purpose.
After all, how could WOTC deny me my rightful place among greats such as Ed Greenwood? How could they just dismiss my setting? Didn’t they see the potential for greatness that I saw in blood throne? 
Naiveté is a funny thing. It’s like living in a misty bubble that obfuscates truth. It clouds your mind. All you can see are your hopes and dreams made real. What’s worse, you tend to believe other people see the same things you see. Critical thinking goes right out the window. You tend to ignore suggestions other people have, especially if they don’t fit your vision. In the end, when the truth finally comes to light it can be very disheartening.
But it can also be useful if you learn from it.
Once that bubble burst, I was forced to re-examine my goals for blood throne. Lacking any real feed back from WOTC, I looked over the original document, scrapping concepts that I began to realize had been done before. I wanted an original fantasy setting, and I was determined to create one!
More naiveté.
What I think makes great fantasy may or may not be what you think makes great fantasy. So, I decided not to try, decided not to create a completely original game world, because I came to realize that, in one sense, it simply cannot be done. There are just too many great (and not-so-great) settings out there already. Too much ground has been covered for anyone to lay claim to originality in the sense that; we’re talking about fantasy after all. If you look hard enough, you can find similarities in any published setting. During my research, I came to the conclusion that originality ultimately depends on how you approach it.
Could I create a gritty war-torn, post-apocalyptic fantasy setting expect people not to compare it to Midnight®? Could I integrate black powder weapons and elements of steam punk into Blood Throne and expect people to ignore the fact that Iron Kingdoms® has already covered this territory? Could I develop a world with horrific elements in spite of the fact that Spirosblaak® exists? Could I add elements of intrigue and high fantasy and expect people to forget about the Forgotten Realms®?
Of course not.
So back to my original goal. The setting needs to be original. But I’ve established that from a certain perspective originality is elusive in a fantasy setting. So what needs to really shine through and set Blood Throne apart from others, even though there will invariably be similarities in thematic elements?
Characters, history and especially a strong, focused metaplot which helps players and narrators to feel like they are taking part in an ongoing story, but gives them the freedom to immerse themselves in the story as much or as little as they wish.
I’ll examine these elements in PT:2 of the genesis of Blood Throne.
