Idea for a fantasy setting

[gridlore]

As many of you know, I despise the tradition fantasy RPG setting of a set of pseudo-medieval states (with the odd Imperial remnant thrown in for flavor.) It's so damn trite, and very few writers or gamers bother to actually flesh out the dynamics of such a setting. The also tend to ignore that established states mean laws and law enforcement. Very few nobles are going to accept a party of heavily armed warriors and their mage companions wandering through their territory swinging Swords of Magical Oomph with glee at everything that moves, at least not without collecting some tax revenue.

A common trope in these setting is the Big Magical Oops. Sometime, in the dim and distant past, the Glorious Empire of Magic Item Creation summoned something bigger than their collective heads and went down faster than the Titanic, leaving endless Places of Mystery and magical goodies for people to find. A typical example of this is The Rain of Colorless Fire from Greyhawk. The uniting factor always seems to be that the Big Oops is something that happened centuries, if not millenia, ago.

Let's change that.

For this setting, the fall of the Great Empire happened about a century ago; recently enough that the oldest folks can barely remember the glory that was, and the dark days of the collapse. Society has fallen, the legions have gone (or set themselves up as petty lords) and the barbarian/orcish hordes are riding with impunity over the old borders. Magic itself has changed, becoming harder and darker. Mages are hated and feared, so those who do follow the art are advised to keep a low profile or a lot of guards. The economy in most places has gone back to bartering for goods. What use is a gold coin when you need good iron for spear points?

Civilization is pretty much restricted to city-states that managed to survive the fall, and had the power and resources to survive the hard times. Some have started to expand into small kingdoms. There's a lot of room for fun here, as some places will be traditional places of evil ruled by cultists, some will be be beacons of light for our heroes to hail from, and many will be in dire need of someone to save them from the latest barbarian horde.

The old Imperial interior is fraught with peril. The few who have scouted out the old roads tell of twisted terrain, strange beasts, and strange citadels where none existed on the old maps. Rumors pass in whispers that the last Archmagi Imperial still occupies the Ocher Throne, an undead lich ruling over a court of shades and ghosts. Similar stories tell of the supposed fates of the great weapons made for various Imperial generals.

This is post-apocalyptic role-playing in Robert E. Howard land; evil sorcerers, dark gods, pirates, noble savages, dragons to be slain, and wondrous and terrible treasures to be unearthed.

What do y'all think?

Comments

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

I like it. I'd play in it.

[claidheamhmor]

I like the idea; lots of scope for good old heroic fantasy!

[pompe.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't it be the Iridium Throne? ,-)

Seriously, I like such a concept (and I liked the setup of TNE too). That's partially why my explorer_caste stuff is set about a century after the fall of, well, the Old Powers.

Plus, with a short enough timeframe the ruins can actually still be interesting without invoking some weird Magic Preserved This Castle rationale.

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

I like this set-up too, which is why, as someone else mentioned above, TNE worked well for me. I might add that the implied world of D&D is in fact much closer to what you've described than what's often shown as its paradigmatic settings. For adventuring to work, not only must the treasure troves not have had hundreds of years to have been picked over, but society as a whole needs to be in the process of recovering. Otherwise, as you say, adventurers are a threat and measures would be taken to deal with them rather than employ them.

I will note also that Sword & Sorcery Studios produced a rather nice D20 fantasy setting called the Scarred Lands, which worked on vaguely similar premises, with the Big Oops being a war between the titans and their godly children. The world was, as the setting name implies, wrecked and ruined and there were very few states in the traditional sense left standing. Instead, there were mostly city-states and similar things, with an occasional large entity with designs of expansions. All in all, fairly well done if you like D&D.

Anyway, I think this is the kind of game I'd like to run myself, so take that as you will.

[jemstone.livejournal.com]

You've just described "Part One" of the fantasy game I've been running for years. It runs in three parts - this one, a flash-forward to a few decades later when things have "stabilized," and a few centuries down the line to when this stuff happened "in the dim past."

My players love it. Shit they do in one can come about to haunt them later in another. Their actions lead to laws and restrictions being made, or liberties being established. It's an interesting dynamic.

That said, a lot of the tropes you list can be directly tied back to early fantasy writers, such as Tolkein and, yes, even Howard (although Tolkein never invented a warrior who was nearly unstoppable if he had his back to a wall...). They're so prevalent because they're the largest examples that writers have to draw from.

Given that I run it, I'd play it. :)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I think I want to re-read my Fritz Leiber Fafhrd/Grey Mouser books again. :)

Good idea. Would be fun to play in.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

It's certainly interesting, and it does show the thought you've given to the effects of collapsed empires. ;) It does have a rather strong TNE feel. (In Core sector, 'hind Black Curtain, near Sylea. // Blackwar-ravaged, no gold pavements, broken starships... I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines; // Wait in this place where the starships run from themselves....) But, you know, it works.

Usually in fantasy games there's the unspoken plea to ignore that all this treasure has been and still is being guarded by 1d4 goblins in a 10' x 10' room. I can see where it's rather annoying. Fortunately a few settings are moving away from that, such as the above Scarred Lands and WOTC's Eberron. And, of course, yours. Yours certainly has the potential to be a 'realistic' setting with quite a bit of grittiness thrown in as flavor.

I like it. =) I'd play in it!

[grimmwire.livejournal.com]

Sounds bitchin'.

Of course, within 5 minutes, the PC's will become the Ravaging Barbarian Hordes.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

ahem. Robert E. Howard. Conan and his ilk are a big force behind this idea. The Mad Max films are another influence.

[dalen-talas.livejournal.com]

Oooooh... I like that.

Coincidentally, I'm starting a GURPS Space campaign at the moment, with "Fall of an Empire" as one of the main themes.

[katster.livejournal.com]

This, I believe, would be a lot of fun to play in.

-kat

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

I like it.

[caprine.livejournal.com]

Spiff-a-rino!

[valomar.livejournal.com]

Agreed, the idea has merit. Civil law in particular is a strong annoyance point for me in game. I can recall instance after instance when a bar brawl got into a street and a fighter pulls a sword, only to be waylaid by the city guards and thrown in jail. And, inevitably, the player reaction is "...what?!"

Armed and violent individuals are a threat, and will be responded to in kind.

On a somewhat similar note, what's your opinion of mounds of treasure just sitting around in odd places?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I tend to dislike the mounds of treasure concept unless there is a reason for it.. the treasure caves of the pirate lords, dragons and their odd attraction to gold, a lost tomb that is either really lost or heavily guarded enough to deter tomb robbers. In a society where magic works, I can see tomb curses really holding off greedy fingers for a generation or two.

The other issue is the sheer volume of treasure! Ancient/Medieval societies were not cash-intensive. Barter was far more common, and when gold was involved, it was extremely valuable. I prefer using real grave goods; statues, clothing, ornamental weapons, and the like.

[mikkop.livejournal.com]

Sounds fun - I'd like to have a game in that kind of world, but sadly I have no time for new campaigns... One of the problems of having a job and a family, really. :)

Another idea I have had has been playing the fall of the great Empire or whatever. You can have law-enforcement breaking down, some people trying to halt the fall or at least slow it down, some people trying to accelerate it, all kinds of fun stuff. This idea came to me when I realized there almost always has been a "Golden Period" in the past. Why not play (some) of that Golden Age sometime?

I never really liked TNE, though.