Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 4032321" data-attributes="member: 18280">My homebrewed campaign world has, among other things, the following PC types:*  Humans partially descended from giants, who have a pact with a demigod living in the mundane world (Alderhald and Ska)*  Elves, gnomes, and faerie animals (Westernized hengeyokai) that are fey.*  Giants and dwarves as (medium) giants.*  Talking animals.*  Anthromoporphic animals.*  Humans who have been "touched" by the Beast Lords of various animal types, giving them animal-like qualities.*  Humans who are inherently tainted by evil forces (Caliban).*  Half-fey humans that are not half-elves (Spirit Folk).In addition, my world has, among other things,*  Evil slavers from the moon.*  Literally millions of spirits that act as minor divinities.*  Civilizations that span from the Stone Age to the advent of firearms (limited to the dwarves at the moment).*  A living colossus that stands over a harbour, speaking one word each morning, and one word each night.  Some believe that it is counting down to the end of the world.*  Dinosaurs that are part of the ecology (as opposed to part of a Lost World).*  Also, intelligent, spellcasting dinosaurs.*  Imprisoned gods that seek to destroy the world if they are released.*  An intelligent, extra-dimensional "wandering dungeon" that seeks to entrap and devour adventurers.*  Places where you can travel from one end of the world to the other without needing to cast a single spell (Backroads & Crossroads).*  Ley lines and power nexus rules from Heroes of High Favour:  Elves.*  Flying monkeys.  Actually, you could have a flying monkey PC......*  A "nameless day" every four years where the walls between the worlds of the living and the dead are especially permeable.And, despite all this, I still agree with you 100%.  For every fantastic element, there must be a greater corresponding slice of the mundane just to keep the fantastic fantastic, and to ground the PCs in the world.  For every ghost-haunted Selby-by-the-Water, there must be a corresponding "mundane" town like Long Archer; for every Ravenlady of Rookhaven (magical town ruler), there must be a corresponding rule by a combination of nobles, elected officials, and/or guild interests.  Moresoever, however fantastic the Ravenlady may seem, it is important that Rookhaven itself seems like a place that could exist....and that means a certain level of the mundane.  As an example, Selby-by-the-Water, subject to collapses and drownings, is haunted by ghosts and other undead.  This is something people must take into account to live there.  The remains of drowned homes and businesses can be seen through the clear lake water (and explored by PCs who dare).  Water-breathing aquatic sheep graze on the weeds, and some claim to have seen blue-skinned herdsmen there in the depths.  Lake monsters are seldom seen, but to hear their booming mating calls in the spring is considered a sign of good luck.  Go into the sewers, and you might face ghouls, or uncover old streets now long forgotten and built over as the town has recovered from its first tragic collapse.  Small pterodactyls vie with gulls for scraps in the harbour.Selby-by-the-Water also acts as a free port, with a Charter and an elected mayor.  There are aristocrats in the town, but they do not rule.  Guild interests, and the interests of trade, are the primary considerations not only for what laws exist, but also for how they are enforced.  The town gaol is essentially a large, damp pit with guarded walls; not a few die due to the conditions within long before their case can be seen by a Magistrate.  Citizens take the undead seriously.  Few go out after night falls, and being placed in the stocks past dark is reserved only for serious offenses.  Innkeepers sell bags of salt to draw circles around customer's beds that are thought to keep some types of ghosts at bay.  Patrols are well-armed at night, and go in strong company....and even then are unlikely to tangle with a ghoul if one is spotted.  During the last Day of the Dead, when many undead creatures left through the South Gate, the guards simply made way and pretended nothing was happening.  When another collapse occurred (aboleths are mining away the undercity), it was followed by an outbreak of cholera that threatened to leave Selby a town of the dead and the undead.  The cholera was cured when a band of adventurers recovered the Skull of St. Brendan from Rookhaven, and that holy relic was paraded around the city.It is this combination of the fantastic and the mundane that makes D&D work, IMHO.  The mundane details make the fantastic seem grounded, and thus more believable.  The common makes the very rare stranger by implication.  RC</blockquote>

Verification