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4E World Building
Feygor
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I got back into D&D after hearing the podcasts that came out. I ran Keep on the Shadowfell with an old group of friends for alot of fun. After the game I started to build the setting I wanted to use. I stole off of about every fantasy setting I could think of. Alot of what I used came from the old Wizards of the Coast forum from a particular user that had the idea for a "last city" simple called Home that was always on the verge of being invaded by orcs/goblins/undead...ect with the rest of the world haven being destroyed long ago. I took his idea and this is what I made it into...
Overview: The known civilized world is limited to the giant city Home. The city is huge covering a large part of several mountains and reaching the ocean. The city is ruled by the Dragon-King and his Templar. The immediate area around Home is called the Waste. The Waste is covered in the remnants of war artifacts, bones, and ruins. The area immediately outside of Home’s walls are covered in the bones of Dragons that have attacked the city and been defeated by the Dragon-King. This land is known as the Bone Field and is the only real safe part of the Waste. The Waste is a land of the Undead, creatures more feared in Home than any other. Every night those that die in the Waste come back to life as Undead. Across from the Waste is the Shield Range. The Shield Range is a (supposedly) impassable mountain range, the only creatures that live there are the Halfling flesh eaters and their troll pets. The only important place on the Shield Range is the Door. The Door is a pair of heavily guarded twin towers/keeps that protect the one real useable pass from the constant hoards of goblins, orcs, and giants trying to get into the Waste and attack Home. Home is protected from the ocean by ancient storm levies that surround it. Home is protected from attack from the ocean by the Kraken, a giant see monster. The Kraken is kept away from the few precious ships Home has by unique, irreplaceable bells. These few ships leave to try and hunt down precious food/wood and supplies. They set up small farming communities that need to constantly move to avoid danger.
Home: Home is broken up into districts and built into the end of the Shield Range. The districts include the Docks, the Temple, the Squats, the UnderFarms, the Hills. The Docks have grown out and are constantly in danger of falling apart; many people live on them in filthy conditions, the people farm kelp/seaweed and some manage to run fisheries. The Temple is the greatest structure of the city where the milita trains, the templar live and die and the Dragon-King rules. The Dragon-King is a massive silver beast the rules in a fair if but controlling manner. The Dragon-King’s decisions are not always liked but they always serve the greater population and protection of Home. The religion is of Home worships the city itself and the Dragon-King as its avatar although other faiths are also practiced inside the city. The Templar are mostly Dragonborn that trace their lines to the Dragon-King who has ruled Home since before time remembered. The Squats are the more flat land houses built on top of each other. The UnderFarm is where the dwarfs, willing volunteers, and slave goblinkind grow the fungus and heard animals (rats, giant bugs, and hideous UnderCows!!!) The Hills are where the markets and more livable areas of Home are.
Home is protected from major enemies by the Dragon-King, the templar guard Home’s spiritual and internal health while the Army guards Home from external dangers. Often small tribes of goblin creatures will make it into the Waste and the Army goes out and removes them before they can gain a foothold. The Army also has confrontation with the mountain Halflings and the Undead. When facing the undead the Army uses the help of the Templar. The Army also mans the Doors to make sure no force can march past the Shield Range. Outside the world is chaos and the rapidly breeding, expanding goblinkind armies are always at war with each other and the Undead Legions. Home is constantly under threat of invasion from these groups. All other nations have been conquered by the genocidal goblinkind or the Undead. If either group, goblin or undead could get an upper hand on the other then Home would fall next.
Home is kept running by the Guilds. The Guilds run different aspects of Home. The Sanitation Guild, the UnderGrowers, the Seekers(hunt the waste for metal), the Smiths, the Ship Masters, and the Banking Guilds. Guilds own large parts of Home and run little fiefdoms. People treat their Guild as a second family. Some guilds are large and some are very small. Guilds run operations that include retrieving exotic food, animals, metals, information, and some even seek to contact other civilizations (foolhardy, scholars know no other civilization exists, the last falling centuries ago.
The player characters are basically forming their own guild that travels into the wastes and outside the protection of the Shield Range to get supplies to keep Home running. When ever they come back into the city all of their goods are heavily taxed by the city also. I eventually want the group to try and become power players in the city's politics. I made the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure take place in the Waste with the Big Boss being a fallen Templar.
I really liked the idea of one last city and have been running with it. I would like to hear feedback on the setting and also what other people use that is outside of the norm. Mostly so I can steal your good ideas.
Overview: The known civilized world is limited to the giant city Home. The city is huge covering a large part of several mountains and reaching the ocean. The city is ruled by the Dragon-King and his Templar. The immediate area around Home is called the Waste. The Waste is covered in the remnants of war artifacts, bones, and ruins. The area immediately outside of Home’s walls are covered in the bones of Dragons that have attacked the city and been defeated by the Dragon-King. This land is known as the Bone Field and is the only real safe part of the Waste. The Waste is a land of the Undead, creatures more feared in Home than any other. Every night those that die in the Waste come back to life as Undead. Across from the Waste is the Shield Range. The Shield Range is a (supposedly) impassable mountain range, the only creatures that live there are the Halfling flesh eaters and their troll pets. The only important place on the Shield Range is the Door. The Door is a pair of heavily guarded twin towers/keeps that protect the one real useable pass from the constant hoards of goblins, orcs, and giants trying to get into the Waste and attack Home. Home is protected from the ocean by ancient storm levies that surround it. Home is protected from attack from the ocean by the Kraken, a giant see monster. The Kraken is kept away from the few precious ships Home has by unique, irreplaceable bells. These few ships leave to try and hunt down precious food/wood and supplies. They set up small farming communities that need to constantly move to avoid danger.
Home: Home is broken up into districts and built into the end of the Shield Range. The districts include the Docks, the Temple, the Squats, the UnderFarms, the Hills. The Docks have grown out and are constantly in danger of falling apart; many people live on them in filthy conditions, the people farm kelp/seaweed and some manage to run fisheries. The Temple is the greatest structure of the city where the milita trains, the templar live and die and the Dragon-King rules. The Dragon-King is a massive silver beast the rules in a fair if but controlling manner. The Dragon-King’s decisions are not always liked but they always serve the greater population and protection of Home. The religion is of Home worships the city itself and the Dragon-King as its avatar although other faiths are also practiced inside the city. The Templar are mostly Dragonborn that trace their lines to the Dragon-King who has ruled Home since before time remembered. The Squats are the more flat land houses built on top of each other. The UnderFarm is where the dwarfs, willing volunteers, and slave goblinkind grow the fungus and heard animals (rats, giant bugs, and hideous UnderCows!!!) The Hills are where the markets and more livable areas of Home are.
Home is protected from major enemies by the Dragon-King, the templar guard Home’s spiritual and internal health while the Army guards Home from external dangers. Often small tribes of goblin creatures will make it into the Waste and the Army goes out and removes them before they can gain a foothold. The Army also has confrontation with the mountain Halflings and the Undead. When facing the undead the Army uses the help of the Templar. The Army also mans the Doors to make sure no force can march past the Shield Range. Outside the world is chaos and the rapidly breeding, expanding goblinkind armies are always at war with each other and the Undead Legions. Home is constantly under threat of invasion from these groups. All other nations have been conquered by the genocidal goblinkind or the Undead. If either group, goblin or undead could get an upper hand on the other then Home would fall next.
Home is kept running by the Guilds. The Guilds run different aspects of Home. The Sanitation Guild, the UnderGrowers, the Seekers(hunt the waste for metal), the Smiths, the Ship Masters, and the Banking Guilds. Guilds own large parts of Home and run little fiefdoms. People treat their Guild as a second family. Some guilds are large and some are very small. Guilds run operations that include retrieving exotic food, animals, metals, information, and some even seek to contact other civilizations (foolhardy, scholars know no other civilization exists, the last falling centuries ago.
The player characters are basically forming their own guild that travels into the wastes and outside the protection of the Shield Range to get supplies to keep Home running. When ever they come back into the city all of their goods are heavily taxed by the city also. I eventually want the group to try and become power players in the city's politics. I made the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure take place in the Waste with the Big Boss being a fallen Templar.
I really liked the idea of one last city and have been running with it. I would like to hear feedback on the setting and also what other people use that is outside of the norm. Mostly so I can steal your good ideas.
Feygor on
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Things are much more stable in the setting I'm currently running. I'm trying to avoid all the fantasy tropes that crop up in DnD. Elves are a cosmopolitan species that freely intermingle with others, while goblinoids can find places in advanced society. Dwarves are a nomadic people who travel in hevily armed and armored caravans, riding walking vehicles called "strutters" (the name, I freely admit, is co-opted from Dinotopia because Dinotopia rules). "Strutters" have been adapted by other states as draft and war machines, but they aren't advanced enough to completely fill the setting.
Many forms of prehistoric life still live on in the setting, but have evolved (or been bred) into new forms (the two major reptilian humanoid species lizardmen and gatormen, use large, specially bred trilobites as armor). Homunculi are widely used in a variety of fashions by the more advanced nations, though they still share the weakness that their user is harmed if they are destroyed.
It's 4E, but I still use yugoloths, because yugoloths are awesome.
I think it would be more fitting in an eberon setting than in my current more generic fantasy campaign though.
Thanks for the kind words!
Tweaking things just slightly can go a long way to making a setting stand out for the players. An admirable thing about 4E is just how well monsters take to "re-skinning."