Setting Gimmicks

[pukunui]

Hi all,



I am currently building my own setting for use with the D&D 5e rules. I'm going to use 4e's cosmology, and I've developed the major religions (which are mainly based on those from the Game of Thrones setting). I've given some thought to the races and their origins and such. What I need now is a gimmick ~ something to make my setting unique.

Dark Sun has quite a few gimmicks: it's a dying world where magic ruins plants, there are no gods; it has its own take on the standard races as well

Eberron has its magitech and its "do the gods really exist?" take on religion, among other things

Game of Thrones has that whole "seasons can last for decades" thing (and a similarly ambiguous take on religion)

Mystara has that whole hollow world part

Weis & Hickman's The Death Gate Cycle has five unique fantasy worlds in one series:
~ an air world with lots of floating continents and islands
~ a cavernous earth world full of lava and noxious fumes (and undead)
~ a water world in which people move from bubble to bubble chasing the sun as it drifts through the water (which also has magic-dampening properties)
~ a "fire" world that's essentially a Dyson sphere covered in thick jungle, with most people living on the canopy (the dwarves delve down into the undergrowth rather than underground)
~ a harsh labyrinth-like prison world with a peaceful nexus in the middle

Tad Williams' Otherland series includes a virtual world composed entirely of one building that just goes on forever, room after room after room

What are some other setting gimmicks out there? What gimmicks have you used for your campaigns? Please share your ideas here!



Cheers,

Jonathan

 

[GMMichael]

Final Fantasy V: magical beings (Espers) turn into magical crystals when they die. Taking another creature's life causes the crystal to bestow its wielder with magical power.

My personal game world uses a low-magic style, and a good dose of real-world physics. Which means that most people are always about two sword-strokes from death - except the PCs. The PCs have the advantage of gaining incredible powers that most people don't - for whatever plot-related reason.

Let's see...gimmick gimmick...

Ghosts are a common, and accepted presence?

People wear their alignments on their foreheads?

Instead of rulers calling themselves gods, how about gods calling themselves rulers?

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION]
I don't think you need a "gimmick" to have an enjoyable game. I mean, the classics are classic for a reason, right? And you probably already have some pretty unique things going on that you may not realize yet...

But in my world dragons were asleep for a long time, so long that most were overgrown by nature or slumbering in remote locations. The last seen dragon was an oracle almost a century ago. In my last campaign I this world the PCs sought out this dragon oracle - besides a dracolich later on it was the only dragon they encountered. In my current campaign (same setting), the dragons have begun awakening and people are scrambling to prepare defenses and figure out what it means. This is set against a backdrop of tension between humans and Demi-humans, mistrust of magic, as well as kingdom politics. It makes for a dark high fantasy feel.

That perhaps is more important than any "gimmick" - how do the different aspects of your setting work together to create something better than the parts alone?

 

[pukunui]

Final Fantasy V: magical beings (Espers) turn into magical crystals when they die. Taking another creature's life causes the crystal to bestow its wielder with magical power.

I seem to recall Espers playing a big role in FF 3 as well.

People wear their alignments on their foreheads?

LOL.

[MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION]
I don't think you need a "gimmick" to have an enjoyable game. I mean, the classics are classic for a reason, right? And you probably already have some pretty unique things going on that you may not realize yet...

Yeah, fair enough. Maybe "gimmick" wasn't the best word. Just something that sets the campaign apart and makes it a little less generic.

That perhaps is more important than any "gimmick" - how do the different aspects of your setting work together to create something better than the parts alone?

Speaking of dark fantasy, this makes me think of Dragon Age. There's nothing particularly unique or new or gimmicky about that setting, but the sum of all its parts makes for one helluva setting.

 

[Quickleaf]

I am currently building my own setting for use with the D&D 5e rules. I'm going to use 4e's cosmology, and I've developed the major religions (which are mainly based on those from the Game of Thrones setting). I've given some thought to the races and their origins and such. What I need now is a gimmick ~ something to make my setting unique.

You've actually got some interesting things happening here, if I'm understanding you correctly.

There is a Plane of Shadow, a Plane of Faerie, an Elemental Plane, and an Astral Plane (presumably where gods dwell). Yet, you are modeling the faiths on those in GoT, which implies that the only god who actually answers prayers is the Lord of Light (or whatever you've skinned it as). That's an interesting paradox right there! Why don't the other gods answer prayers? That's an interesting question that could certainly become your "gimmick" or at least a unique characteristic of your setting.

Btw, there's a great fantasy religion world building guide online for free here: http://inkwellideas.com/worldbuilding/worldbuilding-religion-design/

 

[pukunui]

You've actually got some interesting things happening here, if I'm understanding you correctly.

There is a Plane of Shadow, a Plane of Faerie, an Elemental Plane, and an Astral Plane (presumably where gods dwell). Yet, you are modeling the faiths on those in GoT, which implies that the only god who actually answers prayers is the Lord of Light (or whatever you've skinned it as). That's an interesting paradox right there! Why don't the other gods answer prayers? That's an interesting question that could certainly become your "gimmick" or at least a unique characteristic of your setting.

Kinda. I was actually going to go more Eberron and have clerics be able to cast spells, it's just that the deities don't make their existence known, so it's all a matter of faith and so on and so forth. I'm going to have the standard D&D deities (Pelor, etc) be the "old gods" that some people still worship in various corners of the world. I'm also going to leave things a bit open-ended in case any of the players want to come up with anything themselves.

I think what I'm trying to get at is something that makes the campaign world unique ~ like Athas' never-ending desert, GoT's decades-long seasons, or Ryloth's pre-retcon tidal locking. You know, something that makes it clear it's not just another Forgotten Realms or some other pseudo-Earth.

Btw, there's a great fantasy religion world building guide online for free here: http://inkwellideas.com/worldbuilding/worldbuilding-religion-design/

Thanks for that. I'll check it out.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION]
Ah, you mean the climate & ecology of the setting, gotcha.

This is the sort of thing you probably won't be happy with unless you come up with it on your own. I mean I could spend the energy to give you several ideas and you'd probably not use any of them and come up with your own in the end anyhow

So I'm going to recommend checking out Patricia Wrede's world building questions (I've linked to the section on the physical world, climate, geography, and such).

Good luck!

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I seem to recall Espers playing a big role in FF 3 as well.

Yeah, it was FF6 - which came to America as FF3 - which featured magicite as the remains of espers that you could use to learn spells. The deal with FF5 was that you found crystals, and each of those crystals contained a new class for you to master, and you could mix and match their abilities.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION]
Ah, you mean the climate & ecology of the setting, gotcha.

Yeah, that is what I meant. However, I was thinking about it this morning, and I might just go for a setting where magic and monsters faded over several centuries as the world became more civilized, but then the empire overseeing the civilization collapsed and slowly over the past century monsters and magic have started to coming back. The idea isn't to restrict magic from PCs but that commoners will not be so familiar with it, nor with various kinds of monsters. It'll be more like "Oh crap, this guy has the power to make the dead rise from their graves! Run!" rather than "Oh, look, another necromancer with his zombie servant. Woohoo."

So I'm going to recommend checking out Patricia Wrede's world building questions (I've linked to the section on the physical world, climate, geography, and such).

Thanks again for the link.

Yeah, it was FF6 - which came to America as FF3 - which featured magicite as the remains of espers that you could use to learn spells. The deal with FF5 was that you found crystals, and each of those crystals contained a new class for you to master, and you could mix and match their abilities.

All I remember is I had it for the Super Nintendo, and Espers were like magical beings that lived in their own little world in the mountains, but then the BBEG kidnaps them all and uses them to transform the world into some dark and ruined place. I think you start off with like a thief guy, and then there's a martial arts dude, and a knight, and a female general who comes over to your side, and there's a secret character you can get by being swallowed by a giant worm, and there's a guy with an airship (isn't there always?).

 

[Quickleaf]

Yeah, that is what I meant. However, I was thinking about it this morning, and I might just go for a setting where magic and monsters faded over several centuries as the world became more civilized, but then the empire overseeing the civilization collapsed and slowly over the past century monsters and magic have started to coming back. The idea isn't to restrict magic from PCs but that commoners will not be so familiar with it, nor with various kinds of monsters. It'll be more like "Oh crap, this guy has the power to make the dead rise from their graves! Run!" rather than "Oh, look, another necromancer with his zombie servant. Woohoo."

That is a good hook. Here are some follow up questions:

Why did the rise of civilization result in the decline of magic? For example, Eberron is an example of the opposite trend, where magic became technology and contributed to civilization.

Did the monsters literally fade to another realm? If not, where did the remaining monsters go while the forces of the empire hunted them/kept them at bay? To the Underdark? Does that mean they all are dark-adapted and are familiar with the Underdark?

What areas of the world were never touched by the empire which acted to diminish magic & monsters?

When a PC Mage casts a whiz-bang spell (fireball), how would common folk react? Would this be fun in play, or would it just make being a Mage a hassle?