loseth
First Post
(multi-forum post: rpg.net, ENworld, Gleemax)
Like many other people, I’m getting ready for my first 4e campaign. There’s a lot of stuff that I’m excited about in 4e, but the one thing that I’m most excited about is the ‘points of light’ concept. As a result, most of my preparation is focused on building a game-world concept around the points of light in the darkness concept. I’m determined to meet three essential goals for the setting:
1) It will be built around the concept of ‘small, isolated points of light scattered across a big, dark, dangerous world.’
2) It will be coherent medieval fantasy. That means it will be medieval and it will be fantasy, but the two will be combined in such a way that everything in the world makes sense, from monsters to the economy.
3) It will be a dynamic world. Points of light will never be static. Sometimes they will grow brighter, sometimes they will fade and sometimes they will be snuffed out altogether, but they will always respond to what’s happening inside the particular point of light, what happens between points of light (e.g. trade, war), what’s happening in the darkness outside the points of light, and what the PCs and major NPCs do.
It’s that third goal that I’m getting my head around now. One thing that’s become clear to me is that if I want truly dynamic points of light, I have to have a clear idea of what the darkness outside them is and how the darkness affects the points of light, causing them to wax and wane. So, I’ve come up with a tentative list of the ways in which the darkness constantly threatens the points of light, keeping in mind that the elements must be coherently MEDIEVAL and FANTASY. Here’s the list so far:
ELEMENTS OF THE DARKNESS
1. RAIDERS. Mongols. Vikings. Magyars. The Knights of St John. They strike fear into the heart of civilized folk. They live outside the boundaries of civilization and have their own unique (and not necessarily evil) societies. They may be humans or humanoids. However, in either case they view the civilized world as prey and use their mobility (horses, mountain ponies, longships, wargalleys, pegasi, etc.) to attack quickly, grab what valuables and slaves they can, and then disappear before the troops of the local town or feudal authority can arrive. Or, instead of mobility they may use their familiarity with a certain type of terrain (like forests or mountains) to strike and then disappear. In this manner, raiders are constantly sapping the strength of the points of light. However, these raiders are inevitably traders as well, so for every point of light that suffers a raid, there’s another that gets to trade for the stolen goods. Also, raiders have a vested interest in making sure that the points of light are never wiped out completely—after all, there would then be nothing left to raid or trade with.
On rare occasions, raiders may be united under strong rulers who turn raids into conquests (like the Mongols of Ghengis Khan’s time or the Vikings who conquered England and large parts of Scotland and Ireland). They will then ‘farm’ the points of light more directly, imposing massive tax burdens and massacring those who refuse to pay up.
2. CRIMINALS. Outlaws. Bandits. Robber Knights. Pirates. They hide within or near civilization, but make forays out into the darkness, and there await their quarry. They prey on those law-abiding folk who must also travel outside the points of light—mainly merchants. Of course, they profit from the merchants they rob, but in doing so they sap the strength of the point of light that the merchants came from. The point of light is prevented from getting vital supplies and commercial income through trade, and so its lanterns become dimmer.
3. BEASTS. In the real middle ages, wolves and bears presented a serious danger to those wandering too far into the wild. In the medieval fantasy world, the situation is even worse. Dire animals, wyverns and ankhegs live in the darkness and hunt for their food there. They will pick off travellers and merchants, again sapping the strength of the points of light from which the travellers came. In times of drought, beasts may become desperate and wander into the points of light themselves, devouring unlucky inhabitants and dimming the lights of the community.
4. DEMONS. The people of the real middle ages were terrified of demons, and in the fantasy medieval world, they’d better be—because they’re real. Like the ‘wild hunt’ of the real middle ages, demons sometimes ride through the darkness spilling blood for the sheer pleasure of it. Once again, travellers and merchants are lost, and the strength of the points of light diminishes.
5. DEVILS and SHAPESHIFTERS. Again, the people of the real middle ages were ever fearful of corruption by cunning demons (‘devils’ in 4e parlance). These devils work to darken the points of light from the inside, tempting people into committing acts of sin and foolishness, hurting their communities and making the flame of the point of light sputter. Shapeshifters like werewolves were also a major fear of real medieval people. Like devils, these creatures of the dark can blend into communities and chip away at them from the inside.
6. FEY INTERLOPERS. The fey world is normally separate from the mortal realm, but sometimes fey cross over. In the real middle ages, people employed all sorts of spells and charms to ward off the fey, and in the fantasy medieval world, the danger is even greater. Fey creatures may be driven by mischief, malice or other motives to enter the mortal world and interfere with the lives of mortal folk. By instilling fear, they cause the points of light to become insular, and by sewing mischief, the fey sometimes weaken the points of light from within.
7. UNDEAD INTERLOPERS. Unfinished business in the mortal world, black magic, trapped souls, ill winds, the influence of demons…any of these can cause inhabitants of the land of the dead to cross over into the living world. The undead may pray on travellers, weakening the lifeblood of the points of light, and they may even assault points of light directly, damaging or even destroying them.
8. UNTAMED LAND. In the medieval world, marshes, forests, rivers and deserts presented formidable obstacles that few could successfully cross, particularly without roads and bridges. In the fantasy medieval world, of course, roads and bridges will be under threat from various nefarious monsters, from trolls to dragons. In this world, the land itself will defy the efforts of merchants to travel across it, bringing the trade that is so vital in keeping the lanterns burning in the points of light.
My question to posters is:
What other elements can you add to the darkness surrounding the points of light? Remember that they should be based as much as possible on real medieval beliefs and the realities of medieval life.
Thanks in advance,
loseth
Like many other people, I’m getting ready for my first 4e campaign. There’s a lot of stuff that I’m excited about in 4e, but the one thing that I’m most excited about is the ‘points of light’ concept. As a result, most of my preparation is focused on building a game-world concept around the points of light in the darkness concept. I’m determined to meet three essential goals for the setting:
1) It will be built around the concept of ‘small, isolated points of light scattered across a big, dark, dangerous world.’
2) It will be coherent medieval fantasy. That means it will be medieval and it will be fantasy, but the two will be combined in such a way that everything in the world makes sense, from monsters to the economy.
3) It will be a dynamic world. Points of light will never be static. Sometimes they will grow brighter, sometimes they will fade and sometimes they will be snuffed out altogether, but they will always respond to what’s happening inside the particular point of light, what happens between points of light (e.g. trade, war), what’s happening in the darkness outside the points of light, and what the PCs and major NPCs do.
It’s that third goal that I’m getting my head around now. One thing that’s become clear to me is that if I want truly dynamic points of light, I have to have a clear idea of what the darkness outside them is and how the darkness affects the points of light, causing them to wax and wane. So, I’ve come up with a tentative list of the ways in which the darkness constantly threatens the points of light, keeping in mind that the elements must be coherently MEDIEVAL and FANTASY. Here’s the list so far:
ELEMENTS OF THE DARKNESS
1. RAIDERS. Mongols. Vikings. Magyars. The Knights of St John. They strike fear into the heart of civilized folk. They live outside the boundaries of civilization and have their own unique (and not necessarily evil) societies. They may be humans or humanoids. However, in either case they view the civilized world as prey and use their mobility (horses, mountain ponies, longships, wargalleys, pegasi, etc.) to attack quickly, grab what valuables and slaves they can, and then disappear before the troops of the local town or feudal authority can arrive. Or, instead of mobility they may use their familiarity with a certain type of terrain (like forests or mountains) to strike and then disappear. In this manner, raiders are constantly sapping the strength of the points of light. However, these raiders are inevitably traders as well, so for every point of light that suffers a raid, there’s another that gets to trade for the stolen goods. Also, raiders have a vested interest in making sure that the points of light are never wiped out completely—after all, there would then be nothing left to raid or trade with.
On rare occasions, raiders may be united under strong rulers who turn raids into conquests (like the Mongols of Ghengis Khan’s time or the Vikings who conquered England and large parts of Scotland and Ireland). They will then ‘farm’ the points of light more directly, imposing massive tax burdens and massacring those who refuse to pay up.
2. CRIMINALS. Outlaws. Bandits. Robber Knights. Pirates. They hide within or near civilization, but make forays out into the darkness, and there await their quarry. They prey on those law-abiding folk who must also travel outside the points of light—mainly merchants. Of course, they profit from the merchants they rob, but in doing so they sap the strength of the point of light that the merchants came from. The point of light is prevented from getting vital supplies and commercial income through trade, and so its lanterns become dimmer.
3. BEASTS. In the real middle ages, wolves and bears presented a serious danger to those wandering too far into the wild. In the medieval fantasy world, the situation is even worse. Dire animals, wyverns and ankhegs live in the darkness and hunt for their food there. They will pick off travellers and merchants, again sapping the strength of the points of light from which the travellers came. In times of drought, beasts may become desperate and wander into the points of light themselves, devouring unlucky inhabitants and dimming the lights of the community.
4. DEMONS. The people of the real middle ages were terrified of demons, and in the fantasy medieval world, they’d better be—because they’re real. Like the ‘wild hunt’ of the real middle ages, demons sometimes ride through the darkness spilling blood for the sheer pleasure of it. Once again, travellers and merchants are lost, and the strength of the points of light diminishes.
5. DEVILS and SHAPESHIFTERS. Again, the people of the real middle ages were ever fearful of corruption by cunning demons (‘devils’ in 4e parlance). These devils work to darken the points of light from the inside, tempting people into committing acts of sin and foolishness, hurting their communities and making the flame of the point of light sputter. Shapeshifters like werewolves were also a major fear of real medieval people. Like devils, these creatures of the dark can blend into communities and chip away at them from the inside.
6. FEY INTERLOPERS. The fey world is normally separate from the mortal realm, but sometimes fey cross over. In the real middle ages, people employed all sorts of spells and charms to ward off the fey, and in the fantasy medieval world, the danger is even greater. Fey creatures may be driven by mischief, malice or other motives to enter the mortal world and interfere with the lives of mortal folk. By instilling fear, they cause the points of light to become insular, and by sewing mischief, the fey sometimes weaken the points of light from within.
7. UNDEAD INTERLOPERS. Unfinished business in the mortal world, black magic, trapped souls, ill winds, the influence of demons…any of these can cause inhabitants of the land of the dead to cross over into the living world. The undead may pray on travellers, weakening the lifeblood of the points of light, and they may even assault points of light directly, damaging or even destroying them.
8. UNTAMED LAND. In the medieval world, marshes, forests, rivers and deserts presented formidable obstacles that few could successfully cross, particularly without roads and bridges. In the fantasy medieval world, of course, roads and bridges will be under threat from various nefarious monsters, from trolls to dragons. In this world, the land itself will defy the efforts of merchants to travel across it, bringing the trade that is so vital in keeping the lanterns burning in the points of light.
My question to posters is:
What other elements can you add to the darkness surrounding the points of light? Remember that they should be based as much as possible on real medieval beliefs and the realities of medieval life.
Thanks in advance,
loseth
Last edited:
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
