Dungeons and Dragons, "World Building"

            This is going to be another blog about Dungeons and Dragons.  That means it will simultaneously be impenetrable to normal people and get more views than any content I put out that is aimed at a general audience.

            Months ago, I did a micro series of blogs on world building, (part 1, part 2, part 3) but didn’t follow up with some of the most basic parts of world building.  I was taking a perspective a lot of academics do and started out too high in the clouds, so high in the clouds I was talking about concepts and inspirations rather than maps and regions.  That is not what people reading about world building are looking for.

            With all of that in mind let’s take a different tactic and focus on a continent sized perspective.  And we will do that with the help of this map:

            This map comes from Uncharted Territory's (Etsy Page) “Steal this Map” (facebook page) an artist that creates maps for fun, profit, and to build a portfolio (I am guessing) in much the way I write this blog.  The idea being that once the lovely map is provided people can populate it how they like.

            For this map, I will take you thru my creative process, I will go in Clockwise order using generalized placeholder names and trying to point to various eras in history that inspired me.  When you make up countries or regions I always recommend taking from history and then adding the magical element to them.

            Whether people admit it or not, even the stupidest events in history have some internal logic and feel real and human to people, even as fanciful elements like dragons and pixies are slip into them.  That is why King Arthur or Hercules continue to hang out on in the cultural consciousness, they were reflections of their times and mixed in fanciful elements that spoke to their culture, they feel realer (even when you look at all the really stupid stuff that goes on in each).

The Continent as a Whole

            Let us start with the first big thing, you want something that ties the continent together, and for that I would recommend pulling an "Eberron" and have the regions defined by a recent war/calamity that they all participated in and now defines their interactions.

            Much like the Napoleonic Wars defined interactions all over Europe until World War I completely upended the status quo, only to have it up ended again by World War II before a new status quo could even be established, having a big central event that everyone knows about and defines their view of the world serves as a good base to work from.

            Think of how many people in the 30-45 range have their entire worldview defined by 9/11 and the Great Recession.  Think of how many people’s view of politics is defined by Monica Lewinski being the height of “immorality”, and how Watergate was to an older set, or Iran Contra, or McCarthyism, or Teapot Dome.  Think of how any of these groups would react to politics now.

            So, let’s say that one of those five big blank banners went to war with another one, and then each of the other banners started going to war until the whole continent’s view of things was turned upside down.

The Five Blank Banners

            Let’s just take them one at a time in clockwise order.  Talking about their worldviews, and the real life historical inspirations for them.  We’ll want to make them distinct, so that an adventure in any region would feel different from the others, but not so distinct that they feel like they are from totally different worlds.  Good thing all of these inspirations come from Earth and primarily Europe so that they will feel similar.  What should be the name of the continent as a whole?  Let’s go with a placeholder, this will be the “Continent of While”.  As in, “While, we’re here”.  (It is a pun)

1 O'Clock- The Mau Empire

            Defined by nationalist sentiment but also assimilation, they push out their boarders via conquest and being able to build really good roads, but when doing so they have traditionally granted citizenship to the conquered.

            At least the Mau Empire used to grant citizenship to the conquered.  The last war was about their efforts to expand to the West side of the continent and make those conquered into second class citizens under "client-kings" and extort material wealth from them like colonies without extending them rights as citizens.

            The Mau Empire lost the war and now numerous proud and capable military leaders are all vying to be the new Emperor while trying to keep the old Empire from breaking up completely or falling to an invasion from the South.

            Think Rome after the sacking by the Goths.  Rome throughout its history expanded and attempted to integrate people all over their Empire into their social order, but toward the end of the Western Roman Empire they stopped doing that and started treating conquered peoples as second-class citizens with little or no ties/loyalty to Rome and instead having loyalty only to their commanders.  This fragmentation led to the Western Empire’s collapse.

3 O'Clock- The Divine Feudal Kingdoms of Horral

            This is a kingdom defined by "Divine Right".  The King is the direct descendant of a good aligned god, the entire aristocracy is Aasimars and see themselves as naturally more just, giving, and by virtue of their blood worthier of the status leader.

            While the Horral aristocracy do run things well and there is a logic to all their actions that promotes the public good, they often use excessively brutal means and justify those means by citing their own divine bloodline as justification.  "We know what is right," is their frequent refrain.

            The aristocracy were the primary opposition to the Mau Empire during the last war, but only won because of the internal strife and confusion of the Mau Empire and the help of the other powers on the continent.  Their military resources are nearly depleted but they are trying to keep up an appearance of strength for fear that the Mau Empire might manage to pull together against them before they have time to recover.

            Think Persia mixed with King Louie's France, which is an odd combination but I think it makes some sense.  Persia was the primary rival to Rome in the Middle East and had a strong enough central leadership pulled together during the fall of the Western Empire then the East might not have held together either.  The Concept of Divine Right of the French Aristocracy couples together well with this idea, the Persians would often characterize their leadership as divine or semi-divine (not as much as an Egyptian Pharaoh, but some) and King Louie believed he was king because God wanted him to be King and used that to justify his poor leadership decisions.  And King Louie was deposed after a costly war with another Empire emptied the coffers domestically and left the populace unhappy with the aristocracy.

5 O'Clock- The Southernmost Trade Kingdom of Kul

            This peninsula was defined by trade between the East and West sides of the continent.  Prior to the war caused everyone to cut ties with the Mau Empire shipping from one half of the continent to the other was to pass around this bend and this area grew rich from it.

            All ships swinging around the bottom of the continent stopped in Kul and often just made a quick trade and headed home rather than continue further along the trade route in search of greater riches.

            This transient nature and midpoint status makes Kul the most polyglot of the 5 powers, and it arguably suffered the most from the war.  Smugglers, pirates, and a small criminal empire of deserting soldiers have come to dominate the area.  The economy has collapsed and aside from fishing their agriculture is not providing enough food to support the nation, as they previously were cultivating luxury items like flowers for perfume, silphium, and incense.

            Kul should be seen akin to Indonesia after China stopped trading with the Indian Ocean to focus on its war with the Mongols.  Here is a video about that from Crash Course.

            The elements of Piracy and criminal activity should be seen akin to the piracy that plagued China’s seas for centuries.  Adapting a character akin to Ching Shih as the de facto ruler of the area and emphasizing the cutthroat and backstabbing between rival groups of pirates that are preying on the numerous trade vessels trying to re-establish the economy after the war and coming into conflict with navies “protecting” those groups seems like a great hook.  You could also look to how the Portuguese tried to dominate Indian Ocean trade thru piracy of a different kind, building forts and issuing trade licenses, and then confiscating ships that didn’t have a license (ignoring the fact that they had no authority to issue licenses and were acting like a mob boss, here is a video on that too).

8 O'Clock- These are the Confederated City States of Lum

            The numerous rivers in Lum have cultivated dozens and dozens of city states tied together by easy trade along the rivers, but kept from fully pulling together by difficult overland travel.  The lack of bridges and ferries prohibiting such road based travel.

            But separation by rushing rivers is not the only barrier to full unification, the Counts and Princes of Lum have banded together into a secret society called the Luminous.  This secret council wishes to keep government small, religious influence weak, and keep control on the value and power of hard currency.  Why they chose to do this derives from the perceived corruption in Horral and loss of individuality in Mau.  Not all of the Counties and Principalities participated in the last war and as such certain groups are seen as cowardly (but admittedly wealthy for having stayed out).

            The military is fractured into roving bands of mercenaries, errant knights, and merry men who protect the populace while living lives untethered to any singular kingdom.  Adding to the difficulty of each County providing troops to the effort, it is hard to put together a unit large and cohesive enough to then send hundreds of miles over pirate plagued sea to fight the most powerful military on the continent.

            (I link a few videos in here.)

            For Lum think a cross between the very loose alliance of German city states that would one day become Germany, the numerous small states of pre-Italy, and the mythical England of Robin Hood.  All three of these areas were defined by decentralized government, militaries that were more mercenary in function, and a sense of freewheeling “freedom”.  The secret society, the Luminous, is almost a direct take on the Bavarian Illuminati, even the name being a pun.

10 O'Clock- The Tribe Lands of Nor

            These were the “nations” that Mau was trying to invade that started the last war.  Dozens of tribes and petty kingdoms spread across a hilly landscape they are defined by a combination of warrior ethic and shrewd tradesman sensibilities.  They like fights they can win and are quick to avoid those that they can't.  They are not stupid and will take to raiding, ambushing, or retreating to keep an advantage and not take a loss devastating enough to wipe them out.

            The Tibes of Nor almost certainly would have lost to the Mau Empire eventually.  The Mau had built roads right up to the border and were already promising wealth and prestige to those kings and chiefs of Nor who would join the Mau Empire without a fight.  But the Mau Empire kept getting duped by the Nor, who were happy to just keep pumping them for money, and then leading the Mau troops into ambushes.  The Nor’s entire countryside is now a burning wreck, hiding hidden wealth conned out of the Mau Empire and stored in secret vaults and remote holds.

            The few roads laid down by the Mau to facilitate their imperial ambitions have allowed the Nor to rebuild somewhat, but they know that the Mau might be back and much like the Horral posturing, the Nor are making their first great attempt to fully unite into a single nation so as to dissuade any future attempt by the Mau Empire to ever invade again.

            I was inspired to create the Nor by picturing a cross between Scotland after the Romans were repelled and Russia after they beat King Charles XII in the Great Northern War.  A country that was not previously a united country, coming together after realizing how much stronger they were together.

Themes

            In history, you can often see the formation of new grander alliances via war.  Where once there were nations there is a nation, where once there were lands there is a single land.  The idea that a massive conflict by the most united nation led to other countries drawing closer together and the aggressor ending on the verge of disintegrating is interesting.  The idea that the country defined by trade is falling into piracy because of the war pulling the silk rug out from under them is interesting.

            So, a campaign here should be about the characters coming together after the war to deal with the unrest in each of the areas.  Recover treasure in Nor to help them rebuild and become a new nation or take what can be taken before they can get themselves together?  Working against the Luminous to unite Lum, or to work with them to keep the lands diffuse and “free”?  Destroy the pirates, or become a pirate?  Break the Divine Right of Kings, or protect the aristocracy so that a new generation can learn from the war and become new leaders?  Help a new military leader to take the reins of Mau, or encourage the infighting to keep their military dominance from ever threatening the continent again?

Player Input

            Pick one for the area of interest, but have it that characters come from any of the other areas, and have them explain why they are there.  If the game is in Nor than the idea that a Pirate from Kul is there to steal something, that one is not hard to figure out.  But if the game is in Lum, why would someone from Mau be there?  If gives the players enough structure to focus, but also enough freedom to be creative.  That balance between Freedom and Structure is also a theme of the setting, CRAZY.

Some Missing Things

            I did not bother to talk about the presence of Elves, Gnomes, and what not in this setting because this is already over 2,000 words long and my hands are getting tired from typing.  Try to think how those groups would fit into each of these instances.  Where are orcs, where are gnolls, where are Kuo Toa?  Populating the continent with things other than humans, even sliding in other whole countries can do a lot to make these ideas digress in wildly different ways.  Maybe the Mau use Giants, maybe the Horral have dragons, and maybe Vampires are controlling the Luminous.

            This is bare bones and it is still pretty detailed for an outline.  Try doing this sort of exercise with the blank map provided.  Take it in as different a direction as possible, and then post it somewhere and put a link to it in my comments.  See how different the same map can become.

            Have Fun.

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