D&D 4E The Search for a 4E Campaign Setting (Or the Creation there of...)

[Jack of Tales]

Come May, the fourth edition books come out (I think?) Come sometime in May I will be beginning one, possibly two PbP games and come June will be beginning a face-to-face game when I return to my home country. I began to create a campaign setting using the PoL ideas spread throughout EN worlds, the 4E forum and other places, but came up with a more intriguing ideas.

I am searching for a 4E Campaign setting to situate these three games and several possible solo games in. As such I am appealing to the DMs/Gms on this board for aid. It is not due to laziness, as will be discussed in idea #2 but rather interest. So, come forth and post links to your settings websites here if you are willing to let another DM make use of them as long as the following below fits:[sblock]

1) All Inclusive: I have a varied player base and like to appeal to what they like. As such I would need a setting that any race could find a niche in. For example, no settings that say No gnolls or no warforged.

2) Point of Light based: No massive kingdoms although small ones are quite fine. Alliances of various small towns are also good. A world that is filled with danger and plenty of far-gone ruins to explore.

3) Ability to use politicking: I like to include political intrigue as an integral part of a game. As such I need to either be able to create my own political sphere or allow players to subtly shape another's.

4) Allowing for detail: If your city already has every citizen detailed out, what they do, etc. Awesome. that works. If it doesn't, allow me to make it for small villages/towns/etc.

5) online: It's pretty impossible to use another's setting if it doesn't have an online source of some type for myself and my players to use. Also, if I could submit things to the site or the person who can update the site it would be ideal.

If there are questions about these feel free to PM me or ask on the thread. If you're interested in this post up a short summary and a link and I'll take a look! The benefits for this would be a boost to your own ego (more players enjoying your work) and aid in expanding/detailing the world.
[/sblock]

So shoot me your ideas and let's see them. Now on to idea #2.

DM Collaboration: Ever been interested to build a campaign setting with other DM's? If so, look here.[sblock]4e is coming out soon. *Gasp* I'm assuming you knew that ^^ Anyway, If you plan on running games in that system wouldn't it be fun to create a setting that is used by 2 or more gamemasters and multiple player groups? I think so.

It wouldn't have to be a huge setting, even say an incredibly detailed single city with four surrounding towns and perhaps eighteen supporting villages/farm-areas. Of course I made those numbers up, anything would be cool with me.

The Point: A PoL type setting where games could overlap (or not, it's not a requisite). The players in the games (for however many people are interested in this...probably none with my luck) would be the only (or near only) PC-classed characters in the world. The great leaders would be powerful, high leveled but an equal level PC would be a greater hero. Perhaps the PC's become the leaders eventually, perhaps not.

Current Ideas: Currently I have several ideas for such a collaborative campaign.
1) Small focus, but with enough room to have a fairly large range of players. I was thinking an area around 3,000 square miles large mostly in length with mountains, forests, hills and a coastline.

2) Unique Concepts: A wandering caravan that is in itself a small town, areas where nightfall breaches the way into the Shadowfell allowing undead to wander about, a former cataclysm causing devils and demons to wander the land, immortals and immortal spirits walking the land and being those that the people pray too (and yet they rarely directly interfere with the world, allowing towns to be ravaged by bloodthirsty demons or swayed to a cult by a demon).

I hope to garner interest about this by posting in various areas. I would love for this to work out! So if you're interested post here or PM me. I hope to hear from at least a few people. Thanks![/sblock]

 

[Bold or Stupid]

Try my gleemax blog

I'm designing a world and would love someone to work with. I'm taking the names from the PHB fluff stuff and using them to build something cool (I hope).

 

[Rugult]

For 4th Edition I am actually considering using the same setting that EN Publishing has been using for the Burning Sky setting. This is probably because the campaign I am ending 3e with is this setting.

It's got enough of a 'traditional DnD' feel to it, that I think it will be perfect to start a new campaign with.

I wouldn't do conversions to run the Adventure Series in 4e, but I really think that one could use the adventures as the basis for a setting. Plus the WotBS setting fits quite well into the points of light setting, if you set it before or after the events of the campaign.

The major benefit is that so far the setting is just a peninsula, meaning you can expand if you need!

 

[Jack of Tales]

Bold or Stupid--I really like this! Main points of Like: 1) Not too much detail yet 2) Interesting Power/race dynamics.

Notes: I'm a bit of a simulationist so exact sizes of things, how many farms/supporters are needed to maintain a city of X size and such are all within my favored domain when creating a world. Would this be out of league with the type of helper you'd like along? If so...read below:

Ideas: 1) We could figure out how big the various cities are (Btw, I love Ravenastia and may be forced to at least visit my PC's there. Teiflings + masks + Marquis de sade/Victorian ish decadence sounds like a blast!) and from that figure out how many towns and villages would be appropriate for the surrounding area.

2) You're good with allowing anything in the MM as a PC race, right? (if it's designed to be one: i.e. gnomes, shifters, warforged..) because I like players to have varience. It also gives us more to build..and I like to build in small areas >_>

 

[catsclaw]

I'm involved in a community-driven 4e setting called Harvestlands. We're always looking for more volunteers. Harvestlands is a dark campaign world, where there's a proxy war being fought by demons and devils across the land, the dwarves have mostly been enslaved, the elves have disappeared, and the gnomes have started experimenting on humans. Arcane magic is strictly licensed, divine magic is banned, and there are roving swarms of insects the length of your arm causing famine and disease throughout the countryside.

We're actually premiering two mods at Origins, so if anyone's attending they should check us out at http://www.harvestlands.com. And we're still trying to find judges (although we have to finalize our slots by tomorrow), so if anyone's attending and doesn't mind judging a slot or two, please send me an email through my profile.

 

[Jack of Tales]

From what I read on the harvestlands site it looks promising. A couple of quick questions though:
1) Do you have plans to include eladrin, feywild/shadowfell, shifter/warforged and other races to the game?

2) Would one player group's (of the major people involved in the setting at least) actions have a possible impact on others? For example if Town A has Tavern I burned to the ground by player A then if player B goes to Town A Tavern I is still burned to the ground.

 

[jaldaen]

You might check out the free Nevermore Gazetteer. It's written for True20, but the campaign itself fits you criteria above... its all inclusive (being a dreamland where anything can happen and anyone can appear), points of light based (dreamlords create "realms" within the dreamlands which are stable, while the most of the rest of the dreamlands is subject to constant change), lots of politicking (the dreamlords and other organizations are constantly at work with and against each other), allows for detail (the dreamlands are open to the details a DM/Narrator needs and can be given as much or as little detail as you like), it is online (although there is no official website for it yet... I would be more than willing to hang out in a "campaign" thread on these forums and chat about and help create a 4e appropriate Nevermore with fans).

 

[Bold or Stupid]

Bold or Stupid--I really like this! Main points of Like: 1) Not too much detail yet 2) Interesting Power/race dynamics.

Notes: I'm a bit of a simulationist so exact sizes of things, how many farms/supporters are needed to maintain a city of X size and such are all within my favored domain when creating a world. Would this be out of league with the type of helper you'd like along? If so...read below:

Ideas: 1) We could figure out how big the various cities are (Btw, I love Ravenastia and may be forced to at least visit my PC's there. Teiflings + masks + Marquis de sade/Victorian ish decadence sounds like a blast!) and from that figure out how many towns and villages would be appropriate for the surrounding area.

2) You're good with allowing anything in the MM as a PC race, right? (if it's designed to be one: i.e. gnomes, shifters, warforged..) because I like players to have varience. It also gives us more to build..and I like to build in small areas >_>

While I'm not actually a simulationist, I like my worlds to at least look believable. I'd like the cities to be quite big as I want the capability to run city based games.

Ravenica is my favorite too. I like dark, strange cities. It should probably be the largest of the cities on the map. I have some ideas of trade set up between the cities so they won't each exist in a vacum and so that I can have bandit hunting adventures.

I'm happy with almost any race being available in the setting. I'm planning on having barbaric tribes to the north one could be shifters to go with the elves (gruumsh worshipping), humans and orcs. to the east is goblinoids, and a coastal area. Obviously dwarves to the west, and a desert to the south. Down the river is more dottings of cities with another dark city. The rest of the world is sketchier I want the southern continent (Turath) to be wild, lots of brutal wilderness and fortress cities. On other distant continents I want something strange and exotic (not sure what...)

 

[smathis]

I've recently ordered a copy of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. That's what I'll be using.

With some minor modifications, of course.

 

[SoulsFury]

Check out The New World and their forums here.. Currently have 3 pbp games going and a 4th edition table top will start up soon. I also have a waiting list of players for play by post games. Everytime a new one starts up we have to turn people away. World has many undetailed cities in it just waiting for imagination to take over. The story behind the world is by me, but two others are starting to DM and design things.