The darkness surrounding the points of light...

[Castlin]

Not exactly "darkness = evil" around the points of light, but rather simply "darkness = unknown"

Remember that they should be based as much as possible on real medieval beliefs and the realities of medieval life.

I believe to the medieval mindset, "darkness = evil = unknown".

Anyway, what about intelligent predators. They fall somewhere in the middle of raiders and beasts. They are going to steal you away from your home... and eat you. Ogres are the first ones that come to mind.

I think you also have to assume that not every village has the resources to deal with all these threats effectively. That is why they need HEROES (enter PCs, stage right).

 

[PeterWeller]

Ruins of a Better Time- The Europeans of the Middle Ages lived in a land that was full of crumbling relics of the Roman Empire hearkening back to a "better" time of learning, unity, and civility. However much this was true, and however much this was just wishful thinking on the part of European peasants doesn't really matter. What does matter is that scattered ruins should dot the landscape, whispering of ancient empires, fallen kingdoms, and most importantly when magic is worked into the equation, lost knowledge.

 

[mrtomsmith]

A few off the top of my head. I'm thinking of the fantasy angle more than the historical, or at least leaning that way within the intersection.

DRAGONS: A subset of Beasts, surely, but a critical and unique subset with its own problems. Intelligent, hugely powerful Beasts, possibly with their own society.

NONHUMANS: In a D&D setting, many of your Raiders and Criminals are going to be of the various non-human sentient races, which creates a different dynamic. For example, it's easier to have many different types of Raider groups, as each race generally doesn't get along with the others. Some of these may even be semi-civilized, making for multiple antagonistic sets of lights. "If you have infravision, everything's a point of light"

ANCIENT EVILS: Dark wizards who experiment on passers-by. Ancient demons who have been chained under the temple for thousands of years, corrupting the land around them. Evil gods. Portals to other worlds. Cities cursed by the Gods. These can corrupt large areas and make them points of darkness rather than light.

WILD MAGIC: Depending on how you view magic in your world, there may be vast areas where the basic rules of reality don't work quite right. The Plains of Madness where anyone entering is driven insane. The Lands of Eternal Darkness. Various ancient permanent magical changes that turn more lights into darkness and make travel difficult.

XTREME NATURE: Based on the Monster Manual, there are various flora and fauna that aren't quite beasts, but do make areas inaccessible to humanoids. Places where the basic herbivores shoot lightning or gore for 2-20 damage. Treant forests. That field where it rains poisonous frogs every afternoon. Of course, if there is a sentient creature that CAN inhabit that land, it might become a Raider or other stronghold instead.

WARLORDS: Petty dictators who take over a point of light by force, turning it dark. Even easier to do in a world where magic can make individuals very powerful. Gets yerself a +3 Sword and +2 Plate and you could walk into any of the smaller points of light and have your way with them. And the Warlord won't always be of a PC race - outsiders, dragons, high-level non-humans, and others can take over areas and rule on their own. If it works in Myanmar, it works here.

UTOPIAS: It's not terribly well known, but back in Medieval times, there were many little groups of people who would go off into the woods and found their own little societies in an attempt to get away from the corrupting influence of everyone else. Often religious heretics, but not always. Throw some magic or some non-humans in and they get a lot more interesting. Leave them alone for a while and they usually get very xenophobic. If you've played BioShock, you can quickly realize the possibilities for D&D adventures here.

CORRUPTED: A former point of light that has been thoroughly corrupted from within. Everyone is now under the thrall of the powerful vampire and/or spellcaster and/or demon. Everyone crosses between their town and Faerie every night for The Ceremony, and comes back confused and half-asleep. There are a few Conan stories (REH originals, of course) that give good examples of these.

 

[eleran]

Wow, all good stuff folks. I should just send you my campaign outline and let you go to town designing some things LMAO

Keep it coming.

 

[sckeener]

22) cursed / environmental disaster areas: points of light get abandoned when bad things happen. Rome stopped being a city when people forgot how to repair the aqueducts and the water stopped coming.

23) Inbreeding: Limited stock think the hunchback. Some places probably have a "The Name of the Rose" type of look...everyone in the village is someone's cousin.

24) barter: I'd give out more goods than coinage in a PoL campaign. Most people in the middle ages never used a coin and forget about paper money.

25) Market festivals: if there aren't major PoL near by, there are probably seasonal market festivals

26) Social Classes: Even if I didn't go with the feudal system, I'd definitely have the Haves vs the Have Nots with different rules and customs for each....such as law won't get involved if the crime is between Have Nots in most of my PoL.

 

[loseth]

Have a look at the Wikipedia entry for the Warhammer Setting

Cheers!

 

[loseth]

Would it be likely the town is walled? I think a wall would be to restraining as the town is growing currently due to trade. The wall would have to be expanded or replaced every few years, which seems inefficient.

I think that in a world this dangerous, you'll want a wall if you can build one. In the real middle ages a twon of 1100-1200 was probably just big enough to be able to afford a wall if it was fairly prosperous, but since travel is so much more dangerous in a 'points of light' world, the cost of stone may be too high for them (unless they have a local quarry). If they can afford to build a stone wall, they should. Growth problems can either be solved by building upward (as in the great cities of the medieval Islamic world) or making the poor folk build their houses outside the walls (as in much of Christian Europe). Once those poor people start to prosper, they can build a second wall, increasing the defences of the town even more.

If your town can't afford a wall, it should be able to build a rampart around the main village and mount a pallisade on top of that. Though not as good as a stone wall, that should give the townspeople the ability to defend themselves reasonably well.

 

[loseth]

I think you also have to assume that not every village has the resources to deal with all these threats effectively. That is why they need HEROES (enter PCs, stage right).

Definitely. My plan is that the PCs will HAVE to take an active stance, because without them, the world will eventually end up as only darkness, with no points of light at all.

 

[loseth]

Thanks for all the great responses so far, guys. I’ve expanded the list based on ideas from Sleeper (rpg.net), mtferris (rpg.net), mindstalk (rpg.net), Redbeard67 (rpg.net), Paraxis (ENworld), sckeener (ENworld), PeterWeller (ENworld), Castlin (ENworld), mrtomsmith (ENworld), smorgasboard of pie (WOTC boards) and LordZordran (WOTC boards). Apologies to anyone whose name I’ve forgotten or misspelt.

9. BLACK MAGIC. One of the jobs of the medieval inquisition was to find and route out witches and sorcerers. Black magic was seen as a terrible corrupting influence, because it was useful (helping with childbirth or to curse a rival), but inevitably brought a community closer to evil. In the fantasy medieval world, of course, black magic is very real, and if it isn’t stopped it can easily turn a point of light into a flame of darkness.

10. INFIDELS AND HERETICS. The real middle ages give us a sad picture of religious war and oppression, but in the fantasy medieval world heretics and infidels may genuinely worship dark corrupting gods. Even worse, they may convert members of the communities in the points of light, bringing them over to the worship of the dark gods so that they eventually become part of the darkness themselves.

11. BAD BLOOD. The real middle ages were a story of constant warfare. Christian against Christian, Muslim against Muslim, neighbour against neighbour. The fantasy medieval world is no different. Envy of natural resources, ancient claims on a neighbour’s throne, trade disagreements, territorial disputes and the like can all lead to one point of light undermining or even going to war with another. Of course, in the fantasy medieval world, devils will be hard at work helping this process along.

12. STRANGERS. Strangers were unusual in the real middle ages (since travellers were few) and were greatly feared. Lords passed laws against peasants harbouring strangers. In the fantasy medieval world, strangers are even more dangerous. Is that group of merchants bringing vital supplies trustworthy? Should we let them through the gates? Or are they a pack of werewolves, just waiting for night to fall so that they can shapeshift and get at the townspeople’s throats?

13. FAMINE. Food storage systems were not very advanced in the middle ages, and what surplus was produced was often sold off for cash by the lord. If there was a bad crop, people would go hungry. Two or more famine years in a row would spell complete disaster. Unfortunately, in the fantasy medieval world, there may be dark sorcerers, malicious fey or other powers actively working to bring on famine. And the terrible danger of travel means that bringing in food from outside won’t be easy.

14. PESTILENCE. Infectious diseases were horrendous killers in the middle ages. The Black Death killed between 1/3 and 2/3 of the population of the areas it passed through, and killed somewhere between ¼ and ½ of the entire European population. And in the fantasy medieval world, things are even worse. Plagues may be magical or supernatural in nature, and may even be artificially created through black magic or the worship of dark gods.

15. DOGS EATING DOGS. Of course, the various elements of the darkness will prey on each other just as much as they prey on civilisation. Wyverns will eat raiders, raiders will raid bandit camps and so on. Most of the time, this helps the points of light. However, points of light can sometimes find themselves dragged into conflicts between rival elements of the darkness, just as medieval Poland found itself drawn into the conflict between the savage Teutonic knights and their enemies, the Pagan Lithuanians. In addition, if one element of the darkness defeats enough of its rivals, a much larger and more sinister power may develop. Ghengis Khan started out as just another leader of just another tribe of steppe raiders. Similarly, as strong Viking rulers emerged, the Viking raiding parties of the late 8th century were replaced by the Viking invasion armies of the late 9th.

16. THE ‘LESSER’ EVIL. Sometimes points of light may have to accept the protection of a less than savoury overlord, because he’s the only one that can protect them. And what if there is bad blood between two points of light, one much more powerful than the other? Should the lesser point of light accept the overlordship of a dark power to protect itself?

17. TEMPTATION AND SIN. Let’s face it: humans don’t need an external power to generate darkness. Corruption was rife in the middle ages, from the harbour master to the papacy. Greed, ambition and prejudice can affect otherwise good folk. Add lust and arrogance to the mix, and the communities of the points of light may be perfectly capable of turning the light to darkness all by themselves. And of course, the devils will be there to help them…

18. BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH. Astrology. The conjunction of planets. Eclipses. Comets. Certain points on the calendar and certain omens herald dangerous times when the shadowfell, the fey world or even worse realms intersect with the mortal world. Sacrifices and prayer will be necessary at these times, lest creatures of the otherworld come for the mortals of this one.

19. THE UNKNOWN. In a world where travel is so dangerous, information is scarce. Is the goblin village you’re sending merchant caravans to still there? Or has it been over-run savage human raiders who will be all too happy to receive your goods? There’s an old ruin 20 miles from the village. Is there something in there that could help protect the merchants on their way? Or will those who disturb the place unleash an army of undead upon the point of light?

20. PLACES OF EVIL AND MAGIC. Long-forgotten wars between sorcerers, gods and other beings of power have left some areas brimming with magical energy that can cause all manner of undesirable effects. There are also ancient places, such as monuments to forgotten gods of evil, that may look harmless to the casual traveller, but that actually harbour great evil. These places can infect travellers who come near, causing them to take the evil back to their points of light, contaminating them.