D&D 4E Suggestions for designing a 4e setting

[Irda Ranger]

I'm writing a campaign setting I've always dreamed of, and I'm curious what suggestions you folks have about how to make a setting suit 4e (based on what we know so far)?

First, I endorse Drammattex's post. You'll get a much better world if you build from the ground up. You may already know that though.

Dr. Strangemonkey had some good questions: are you allowing non-human PC's at the start? Does that mean the Phoenix has already arrived?

To be clear: are the PC's trying to "put things back the way they were" or are they trying to help their little corner of the former Empire adapt and thrive in the new world? I think the second option if more likely to succeed, but a hail Mary can be fun every now and then ...

Based on your introductory script, the only thing I would take out are references to the foreign kingdoms. If you're aiming for a PoL setting (and it seems like you are), there should not be any "nations" or "kingdoms", just city-states and villages surviving on their own. I would also assume that the fallen Empire was vast enough in scope that the PC's needn't worry about anything going on beyond its (former) borders. Too far away to even think about.

I think you also need to address the "gods" issue. In a world with clerics and paladins, your PC's are going to want to know what their options are.
1. Who did the Imperial Church worship? I'd pick a 3E god for now, but change the name to avoid having your players jump to conclusions.
2. Was the Imperial Church the only game in town, or were there other gods? Was their worship open, or hidden, or only in the country-side (but driven from the main cities by "the Church")?
3. Are there new prophets walking the land? New faiths popping up among once uniformly Church-going people, like crocuses from the snow? How do you tell the difference between a "demon cult" and a "true faith"?

The elder races are a distant memory, magic is rare and mysterious, and the Otherworlds exist. Outsiders are restricted from entering the world by the Veil. Wizards (indoctrinated to be loyal to the empire) are governed by a body of rights & limitations known as the Compact.
Campaign: Prophecies of the Phoenix Age are whispered by hearths, and carried from village to village by bards. With the rebirth of the Phoenix the elder races will return, magic will blossom, tyrants will be deposed, and the slumbering fires within the earth will purify the land.

My last comment is: this sounds like a totally awesome campaign. Your players are in for a treat.

 

[WayneLigon]

Step 3) Mold whatever you had in mind to fit the New Official Vision of Fantasy Roleplaying.

You know, there's really just no call for stuff like that even if you do tack a smiley on it.

Quickleaf, there's no reason I can think of that your setting wouldn't 'fit' 4E but you have the right idea in the beginning anyway: adjust the system to fit the setting. You really can't go wrong that way.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'm writing a campaign setting I've always dreamed of, and I'm curious what suggestions you folks have about how to make a setting suit 4e (based on what we know so far)?

My suggestion: Don't create more than you need. Just sketch up to the horizon or just beyond. Then fill in everything for the "setting you've always dreamed of".

And of course include the same for the players.

And probably best not to "finish" it either, so you can just keep growing / changing it.

EDIT: 4e isn't really going to limit campaign design too much. I think it will be non-modern or medieval. In that our current world is not what a D&D is. No knowing anything at the click of a button. Or going wherever you want, whenever you want. No brightly lit world.

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks for your input!

As an aside, why is the imperial church so powerful in a magiocracy? That sounds like an interesting story in its own right.

Ancestor worship was common, and rebels had witches who summoned up ghosts to fight alongside their guerillas. The witch-finders had trouble tracking down these guerillas and couldn’t defeat the ghosts (who would return with the ancestors of the witch-finders in tow to haunt them!). Thus, it was convenient to ally with a temple that could undermine the ancestor worship of the commoners...

The Imperial Church negates belief in the Underworld, only allowing worship of the living aspects of the gods, and forbids worship of the entirely Chthonic deities. Doctrine is that there is no eternal reward, rather reincarnation until guardian angel/ancestor status is achieved. Thus ghost-summoning witches could be accused of (a) denying their ancestors the chance to ascend, or (b) summoning devils disguised as ancestral spirits. While the Imperial Church was responsible for helping the emperors to steal land and subjugate the people, it has been the only institution of the government to help villages in the wake of the empire’s collapse, providing guards for religious pilgrims, sending healers to remote villages, and offering prayers and ploughs to help farmers secure a good harvest.

Is it the body that also happens to enforce the compact? Has it become so oppressive precisely because in the degradation of all other aspects of civilzation enforcing the compact is the only unifying trait the culture has left?

Interesting comment. The Compact was created in the wake of disaster, driven by fears powerful wizards had of uncontrolled magic. It was originally enforced by a council of wizards, but when the Imperial Church rose to power, many high-ranking clerics attained seats on the council. Now that the church has less ability to enforce the Compact, it is up to the wizardly council to enforce it. In practice, the Compact is reserved for powerful magic-users (the ones who can cast world-shaking spells/rituals).

Are non-humans only going to appear after the rebirth of the phoenix? Or might the PC races themselves be heralds of the coming of the actual elder races.

Dr. Strangemonkey had some good questions: are you allowing non-human PC's at the start? Does that mean the Phoenix has already arrived?

The non-humans will return with the phoenix’s rebirth – which will probably happen once the PCs reach epic level (21st). Only PC race available is human – each with a common lineage (heroic/supernatural lineages accessible via feat, some of which can make the hero a herald for the return of an elder race).

To be clear: are the PC's trying to "put things back the way they were" or are they trying to help their little corner of the former Empire adapt and thrive in the new world?

At first the latter, and then outright revolution to overthrow last of imperial control.

1. Who did the Imperial Church worship? I'd pick a 3E god for now, but change the name to avoid having your players jump to conclusions.

Imperial Church worships celestial objects as deities – the Divine Court (Sun King, Full Moon Queen, Crescent Moon Queen, New Moon Queen, Mother of the Sky – black section of night sky, the Prophetess – a comet, various star demi-gods (constellations), etc.

2. Was the Imperial Church the only game in town, or were there other gods? Was their worship open, or hidden, or only in the country-side (but driven from the main cities by "the Church")?

Other Chthonic gods were relegated to the country and driven underground.- icons had faces smashed or covered with veils.

Are there new prophets walking the land? New faiths popping up among once uniformly Church-going people, like crocuses from the snow? How do you tell the difference between a "demon cult" and a "true faith"?

I haven't done much work here yet...
I like the idea of "monster cults" - that unique monsters are extremely charismatic and exert supernatural influence over people, attracting courts, armies, religions, even city-states. For example, a medusa bard might represent a culture's vanity turning to stone its ability to empathize with victims...disguised as an oracle she develops a cult around her.

 

[Quickleaf]

Witching Grounds

Ok, I went back to the drawing board, and here's what I came up with...

Witching Ground

Core Ethos: Benighted heroes raise the phoenix banner against oppression, but in these haunted lands the real fight is for personal redemption, liberation, and awakening.

Heroes: Lysander, eldest son of Thane Bayethdeir, is a devout Knight of the Chalice, emulating Saint Elaesin through his charitable works, and renowned for rescuing clergy during the Great Fires. What folks don’t know is that Lysander, in a fit of jealousy, abandoned his best friend to die in a well and he walks the “holy path” to atone for his grave sin.

Nettle is an acerbic ranger hardened to the guerilla warfare the peasant revolutionaries wage against the remnants of the empire. One of the cauldron-born who escaped servitude to the Hag Queens, he carries the spirit of a ghostly crusader who died fighting Nettle’s ancestors; Nettle struggles to find peace with this animating spirit while exacting his revenge on the Hag Queens.

Sulys is a doe-eyed faun, an ingratiating guide to the Avel Wold with a voice like a babbling brook. However, there is something forced about his good will; in fact, Sulys is one of the glimmerfolk – conmen illusionist bards – and was cursed by the wood hag for his prodigious lies. Sometimes lost travelers never return from the Avel Wold, left to the wood hag who Sulys appeases to avoid his gruesome fate.

Urathne, an eladrin heir to the Everautumn Throne, has the blood of witches in her veins, and is one of the greatest intellectual minds of her day, conducting alchemical experiments that push the frontiers of magic and science. Her dark secret, if revealed, could destroy her reputation and end her life – Urathne is slowly being possessed by a warlock in the Mirror World.

Threats, Conflicts & Villains: The Church negates the peasants’ belief in an afterlife, defacing village idols and graves, even as it provides aid to farmers and guards religious pilgrims. Meanwhile, within the Church a debate rages about the nature of grave sins, and the threat of a sectarian fracturing is imminent.

The throne of Lost Darsidar has been vacant for over a quarter century, but recent competing claims to the throne are rapidly polarizing would-be heirs along racial lines. Euphides, the masked oracle of Darsidar, refuses to acknowledge any of the claimants.

Ravaging mercenaries like the Farseer and Skullhelm Banners, once imperial soldiers, occupy villages when not fighting in nobles’ feuds, depleting larders, press-ganging youth, and hanging imperial loyalists.

Scions of the Witch Queens plot for a return to the halcyon days of High Witchcraft, allying with shadow fey – hags, satyrs, redcaps, goblins, trolls – who seek to subvert society in their image.

Witch-finders of the Empire hunt down those with the gift for magic, to twist them to the Emperor’s will. Holy Inquisitors flush out cultists and warlocks, using ruthless tactics to achieve their ends.

Courtiers with secret ties to thieves’ guilds and occult secret societies, manipulate events to seize power.

All the while, the rakshasa simmer in the Mirror World, waiting for the chance to restore their Silent Empire.

Nature of Magic: Mysterious and fluid, magic is a force of change in the world of Ythra – like a stone cast into a lake, the more powerful the spell the further ripples will be felt. Yet magic also obeys rules of familiarity and sympathy, and wizards and witches alike make use of foci and components. Magic is also bound to times of power (phases of the moon, seasonal celebrations, meteor showers) and places of power (sacred groves, faerie cairns, dragon thrones).

What’s New: Heroes carry dark secrets – personal quests which can destroy them or remake them like the phoenix born from its ashes. Secret societies and cabals lead the resistance against the empire, each with a different vision for utopia and a different motive for heralding the phoenix’s return.

 

[ferratus]

I have to say that I like the dichotomy you set up between the church and the witches. On the one had the church is representing oppression of civilization, favoring elites and supressing freedom. On the other hand, the people whose liberty they are oppressing will raise you as an undead spirit and are allied with monsters. The only thing scarier than revolutionaries are revolutionaries allied with redcaps *shudders*. I have to say, I can certainly see myself joining up with the church to try and suppress the Cthonic dieties, but I could see myself joining up with the other side if I didn't have family or property.

Both sides seem to have some redeeming features aside from the penalties listed above, so it is a break from the "organized religion bad, paganism good" default of most fan-made D&D settings.

 

[LostSoul]

Campaign: Prophecies of the Phoenix Age are whispered by hearths, and carried from village to village by bards.

That really grabbed my interest. Why not make these prophecies into some sort of game mechanic? That would be cool.

eg. "Speak the name of the Phoenix, and fear will be burned from your heart." Swift action; remove all penalties from Fear effects.

edit: Well, that's not much of a prophecy, but could be cool. I was also thinking about Rituals that bards would cast when they tell the prophecy, something that changes all who listen.

edit2: Just saw the new stuff you posted - very cool! I would run that with Burning Wheel, but that's just me.