What flavor do you use to make your gameworld unique?

[Tonguez]

In Legends of Hawaiki (Mythic Polynesia) we have

* No large land mammals (not counting dire monstrous pigs, dogs, rats or Sealions)
* No Dwarfs - they didn't fit the setting
* No Elfs - they sux
* No Orcs
* Halflings are now ethereal fey (and not a PC race)
* Playable races include Human, Gnome, Half-elf (Half-fey), Half-orc, Half-Giant, and Goblin (NB Half-orcs are considered to be human throwbacks)
* The main antagonistic race is Sahuagin (and sometimes ogres)
* A feat which allows anyone to cast Wis mod number of Orisons
* No Arcane Magic - all magic comes from spirits and the gods according to the mana of the petitioner
* A world filled with spirits (there is one behind every rock and even hiding in the eaves of houses) including giant dire fiendish eels, celestial merrow and a cannibal rock
* An Economy based on gift exchange and 'influence'
* A Mana mechanic (combination wealth and leadership mechanic) which affects a persons influence (used for obtaining items and favours) and also there ability to use certain items (magic items have a mana level which a person must meet before its powers activate. For anyone else it is either just a mundane item or potentially lethal)

 

[Eternalknight]

I like to write one paragraph descriptions on my worlds, keeping the flavour simple and strong so as to be able to focus on it. My two most recent are:

1) Talantis: Fantasy Earth (though not set on Earth), complete with roman empire (elves), King Arthur's England, etc. Races are all xenophobic; this is due to most races being isolated from each oither by vast quantities of water, as there is no huge land mass but rather lots of island chains.

The first campaign set in this world is going to focus on the replacement of the gods by super-powerful doppelgangers (who are from space; the fact my players keep calling them 'greys' due to the art in the MM made me do it!)

2) No name as yet: The land is divided into many vast areas each held by a different race, and each area split into smaller kingdoms, though these are usually littlemore than city states. Though the races generally get along they do not intermingle much except in times of crisis. To the east beyond the Highlands is the Empire of Hell, a vast wasteland dominated by orcs, goblins, dragons and demons. A unique factor of this world is the presence of 'greystones', battery-like items that are used to power certain inventions, such as shock swords, light orbs, etc.

 

[Haltherrion]

A world filled with spirits (there is one behind every rock and even hiding in the eaves of houses) including giant dire fiendish eels, celestial merrow and a cannibal rock

What did you do with that concept? That's something I've been meaning to develop for a very long time but haven't got to yet.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Early to mid 1600s technology and tactics. (I am fond of black powder weapons...)

A crumbling monotheistic religion. (Domains are granted by specific saints for most of the offshoots of this religion.) Religious war spreads as the schisms multiply.

Magic is a force that was kept out by the power of faith, as that faith crumbles magic is returning, as are the monsters. (The PCs get to witness the first dragon spawning in 1000 years... while fishing... and dragons are amphibious in this setting... ) Sorcerous bloodlines have reappeared. The number of spells that a Wizard can cast increased greatly. (Think the change between 2nd and 3rd edition D&D.)

The islands of the high elfs returns.

An age of exploration and exploitation is in full swing, with the discovery of several new continents about 150 years ago.

The dark elfs control most of the Central and South American analogs.

Orcs are the aboriginal natives of the North American analog. The Humans, dwarfs, and ogres are invading them and stealing their lands.

Gnomes & dwarfs are a single species with different cultures.

Halflings likewise have two cultures, one settled, the other nomadic.

Ogres are not evil, and not quite as stupid as their D&D counterparts, just very ssllooww of thought. Get along best with the dwarfs. Good at chess, astronomy, and other tasks where deep thinking is required as opposed to quick thinking. (Negative Int modifier, but the ability to 'take 30' on Int based tests. The Copernicus analog was an ogre.)

Dwarfs in this world are genetically speaking giants... just very short giants!

A greater power is deliberately fomenting the schisms and religious war - weakening the faith in order to bring about the End of Days and the Final War.

Magic is illegal in much of the Old World - one of the points of schism was that the parent faith started granting 'Licenses' to wizards - allowing them to practice their abilities. These licenses are ruinously expensive to purchase, and may only be granted by very high ranking members of the church.

The most common form of spellcaster is the Hedge Wizard from Mongoose Publishing's Powerclass series. Most priests are Experts.

The Auld Grump

 

[iwatt]

Dwarfs in this world are genetically speaking giants... just very short giants!

Is this knowledge secret?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Is this knowledge secret?

No, just undiscovered. Neither the dwarfs nor the ogres know that they are related. True giants are creatures of magic, and are only now starting to return.

They are also interfertile, resulting in sterile hybrids, but in the history of the game world this has never happened. (Making this possibly the most useless bit of trivia about my game world that exists!)

Dwarfen and ogreish sex drives use an olfactory cue, neither smells right to the other.

Male and female dwarfs (while clothed) can only be told apart by the casual observer during puberty (when the females secondary characterstics become prominent for a period of about 2 years) and in late pregnancy and while nursing. All dwarfs have beards, though many keep them short. (A smith does not want a long beard getting too near the forge...)

This all resulted from the fact that Bob Ollie sculpted both the dwarfs and the ogres that I use most, and as a result have a similar appearance.

I have a long list of crossbreeding possibilities - Fey and Outsiders can breed with anything, elfs and humans produce sterile hybrids, dwarfs and elfs can't crossbreed at all.

Dark elfin- human half-elfs are more common than those of the high elfs, the dark elfs maintain a slave based economy, and slaves are property to be used as the master sees fit.

High-elf - human half elfs are only found on the recently returned Western Islands, just off the coast of the Old World. Some are infiltrating human society as agents of the high elfs, who do not like humans, ogres, or dwarfs. (The ones on their isles are an exception, being the last survivors of the old Driudic cultures. Only people from the isles are allowed to be Druids.)

High-Elf base class is sorceror, not wizard.

Both types of half-elf can take a feat at 1st level that allows them to be fertile. (Like fertile mules it can happen, it is just darned rare.) A high level Druid spell also exists that allows a fertile union. This slim chance is where the sorcerous bloodlines began. (And is part of the reason that the sorcerous bloodlines regained power at the same time that the Western Isles reappeared.) Two fertile half-elfs breeding results in a fertile half-elf.

Halfings and humans crossbreed to create humans, two half-halfings have a 25% chance of creating a halfling. (This means that halflings are a breed of human.)

Orcs and humans produce fertile hybrids. (Again, this means that orcs and humans are different breeds of the same species.)

Dragons breed only with dragons, and not all that often. When they do it is a spawning, when hundreds of dragon newts swim to the sea. Most die. Catching one on a hook is a very dangerous thing! While amphibious dragon newts are squamous (scaly), and can breath fire with a very limited range. The PCs never even realized what it was that they had caught, nor why hundreds of them were turning the river into froth. Dragons are only found in the high mountains, and must swim back upstream to finish their growth.

The Auld Grump, long winded today...

 

[iwatt]

The Auld Grump, long winded today...in a valiant attempt to make sense of the mish-mash rules for crossbreeding inherent in D&D

Fixed that for you.

By the way, I admire how in depth you went into the races in your campaign world. At least you have pages full of reasons to explain why a player can't play whatever sub-race WoTC has recently created (I have a player who always tries the newest sub-elf :\ )

They are also interfertile, resulting in sterile hybrids, but in the history of the game world this has never happened. (Making this possibly the most useless bit of trivia about my game world that exists!)

Ah, but it is these small trivia bits that make DMing worthwhile

 

[Imret]

Caution: What follows is extra-fluffy because I changed just about everything, and it's tricky to write out for me unless I'm trying to make it interesting to read. My rules set is more "d20" than "D&D".

Excepting the Endless (a "male" solar and "female" lunar power, the quiescent spirit of nature, and Death), the gods are small and physical. The world is infested with spirits and "dual-natured" creatures (physical creatures with inherent magical power), and some are worshipped for their power in the mortal world. From this worship they draw more power, and those whose worship is common in more than a single city-state can carve a personal realm in the Ethereal. These gods do not grant spells; "not razing your village" is sometimes all the reward they offer for the sacrifices provided to them.

All magic is of the same source, and anyone could learn to tap into it (EoM:ME rocks); some sorcerers are independants, some rule cities, and some serve in the temples of powerful spirits.

Primarily the human civilizations spread across two continents possess early Iron Age technology, but they and the Idwali (a related race, Small, taking the place of halflings and gnomes) are the heirs to a cultural, technological, and magical heritage that makes Exalted's First Age look a little primitive and superstitious. Of course, what little they have uncovered of the legacy of the Ancients is either utterly inscrutable or phenomenally dangerous.

The dwarven holds, linked by the Labyrinth (a bizarre, ancient network of tunnels a hundred or so feet below the surface) hide massive steam engines in their depths. These are not for powering mine cars or automatons; they are used to dredge underground seas, run a disposal belt to carry slag miles from their homes, and open surface gates that half a hundred giants would strain to move; a single piston or cog would require a dozen strong men to move into position.

The two breeds of elves are, by sorcery and martial skill, the dominant power of the known world, assuming they could somehow be roused to war. The Dawn elves, dwelling in a forested demiplane physically connected to the Worldroot Forest, are drunk on too much time, too much prophecy, and too much arcane power to take more than peripheral notice of the world around them. The Dusk elves, hailing from an island cluster to the southwest, are sailors and elementalists without peer, but their souls are at sea even with their bodies on land. They appear content to smash the hobgoblin raiding fleets and sail into the massive elemental storms of the Landless South, virtually ignoring even demands from the Elvish Deliberative, the entire race's ruling body, until it suits them to return home.

The hobgoblins, known to most of the world as the kul (and yes, it is from their culture that human language has drawn the world "cull"), are fashioned into a nation by their Tyrant, a god/spirit that walks among them. While they dwell in an unenlightened, militaristic, slave-driven hydraulic despotism, they are second only to the dwarves as engineers, particularly where warfare are concerned. In fact, the first true sewers were fashioned by the kul to make their cities better able to endure a seige.

The giants were once Titans, beings of raw creation and might. When they overthrew their gods they were cast down to the lesser beings they are today. Before this, so great was their power that their first efforts in craft, war, and sorcery spawned whole races. When a Titan first struck one rock against another to make a tool, dwarves sprang from the chips that flew; when first they hammered copper with stone to make a blade to kill with, orcs sprang from the sparks of the forge; when first they carved a mystic rune in stone, the stone removed from its design sprang into a living being. These legendary people, even if the story is true, are unknown to the current age.

The orcs are a people of elemental earth and fire, more magical creatures than mortals, locked in endless war within the Labyrinth against the dwarves. This is more than a sort of ancient sibling rivalry; orcish corpses burn hotter and longer than any other substance, and are used to power the great forges and engines of the dwarven holds.

Goblins are a Monstrous Humanoid, superficially similar to their Monster Manual origins but adapted to their environment; in the great southern jungles their arms are twice as long, with two elbows that each have full range of motion, while marsh goblins have gills, crocodilian hide, webbed hands, and a bacteria-infested bite. Each tribe is then further changed by their patron, invariably a spirit or spirit-creature of cruel nature.

When people speak of dragons, they do not mean anything like the color-coded disposable entities of D&D. While there is a gliding, firebreathing being that men call "dragons" and rarely grows larger than a bull (Discovery Channel, anyone? ), these are of bestial intelligence and primarily just predators with a curious natural weapon. What they mean are the Dragons; massive entities born of sorcery and power, like a piece of raw creation given wings and scales and an appetite for treasure. They do not breed (thank the gods), and it is unclear if they spring from or create situations of great energy; titanic wars, perfect storms, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes that last days and tornadoes two miles across at their base have all evoked a Dragon unique to that event. They are the ultimate energy consumers, mightier than the gods and spirits of the world, and largely unconcerned with world events. However, they are arrogant beyond measure and have forged a single unified religion among the mortal races; any Dragon with an individual cult invariably had that cult smashed by its jealous siblings. The Dragons do not force this worship on others, but some of their servants do out of a fear of divine punishment or a belief the Dragons will "burn the world clean". The idea that mortals could slay a Dragon is laughable - but it is a laugh tinged with fear, as some sorcerers believe their death would have catastrophic effects.

There are probably 10,000 more paragraphs I can write like that to provide my world's flavor, but I should stop now. You get the idea.

Also, AFGNCAAP, I'm using the generic classes myself; any chance you'd be willing to put your NPC class up in House Rules, and maybe a couple of the redesigned prestige classes? I'm still working on the crunchy parts and I'd love to see someone elses' approach. Plus, the less crunch I have to balance the more fluff I can spin.

 

[Eternalknight]

This is a great thread, BTW

 

[Khuxan]

My campaign setting is basically one big yoink!

Basic idea (monsters ruling everyone else) stolen from a Dragon Magazine editorial
Color-divided nations a la Magic: the Gathering
Cultures that bear a marked similarity to Eberron (down to barbaric halflings, secretive gnomes and undead elves)
Rules robbed from Arcana Evolved
Other small thinks that have been looted from one place or another


Auld Grump, I hate hybrids, but I've found Glen Cook's Sweet Silver Blues dealt with them very cleverly.