D&D Setting Ideas
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 11:17 pm
So I've been bouncing around ideas for D&D settings and stuff so I thought I'd make another "how do we make D&D concepts into a sensible setting" thread.
{this one was inspired by dean's D&D cosmology}
Law and Chaos in D&D: now with less giant frog
Law and Chaos in D&D has never made sense and have been responsible for more arguments than pretty much anything in D&D. Partly that's because "the forces of Chaos" were one there as a euphemism for team evil. However Gygax for some bizarre reason decided D&D need both "Evil" and "Chaos" as moral alignments in fact it need "Good", "Law", "Evil", "Chaos" and even fvcking "Neutrality" all mixed together to make nine flavors of bullshit. So why are not just throwing out this nonsense, well it's because we want to have our cake and eat it too.
We want to have cosmic forces who are bad enough that you can be murder hobos and not feel bad about it, but we also have some kind of cosmic balance that PCs can fight for that isn't stupid. The "Balance between good and evil" where there has to be X amount of puppy kicking or the setting explodes is stupid and abhorrent. If you want a cosmic balance the PCs can get on board with it needs to not involve stopping people from stabbing Qz'zgl the baby eater in the face. So our cosmic balance is between Law and Chaos, in order for that to work Law and Chaos can't be moral alignments, they can't even be philosophical alignments. They're Cosmological alignments.
The Primal Chaos
Long ago before the gods ordered the world the primes background magic field was unstable. The Druids were able to impose some order with their stone circles but wild magic washed across the plane in great currents and storms. Many creatures drank in power and were able to grow big, strong, and strange. The fey roamed the prime unchecked. The land was full of magical beasts, elemental nexus and stuff it not a good time to be a humanoid since cultivated land or even permanent settlements were basically impossible. Survival often required living like mammals in the age of the dinosaurs or grueling servitude to mighty beings in exchange for protection. (don't think too hard about why so many humans carry the blood of dragons).
Fortunately while individual humans were weak there were many of them and their prayers and aspirations made powerful being in the higher planes which are the Cosmic Order and the will souls. The first generation of gods was united in desire to bring some semblance of order to the world. They slew many of the most terrible monsters and erected a vast infrastructure to enforce the cosmic order on the magical background field. Of course they had a falling out before they could completely finish their great project so in the deep wilderness so some places remain where magic runs wild. The forces of Law want to complete the first gods work and bring complete order to the prime. The forces of Chaos want free the world from it's bindings and let the magestorms rage once more. The forces of Balance believe that both Law and Chaos are a threat to the Prime's ability to perpetuate itself.
This is why there are so few monsters in civilized lands and so many in the untamed wilderness. Magical beats feed on the flux of the background magic field and in places where it's untamed they can support themselves on less food than the size of their bodies suggest. Of course when they enter civilized lands suddenly they have to eat a lot more and thus immediately become a problem for civilization. It's also why the Underdark is full of crazy magical crap. The gods work doesn't extend that far below the surface.
The Primal Chaos isn't entirely bad however monsters may grow strong off it's power but it also underlies the ability of mortals to grow mighty and wield magic innately. Many idealistic followers of Chaos believe that if magestorms returned now humanities understanding of magic would allow every man to be a mage in his own right ushering in a new era of freedom and prosperity. Of course the forces Chaos also contain people who want to tear down civilization to create a darwinian hellscape along with monsters who just want a return to the time when they had the run of the prime and the humanoids were less uppity.
The Cosmic Order
Of course the Primal Chaos isn't the only power that can shape reality. every soul has a limited ability to define the world especially the celestial and infernal realms. For most it's not much but can add up especially when a lot of humanoids believe in something. Like a God. But that power can be seen on a smaller scale, people don't just belive in their gods they believe in their leaders too. This is why the good king Draxl is a badass despite never adventuring his people are all unconsciously delegating some of their ability to shape reality to him. This is why some powerful beings bother ruling nations in the first place and why nations can exist at all in a world of monsters and adventurers. Some people have power that's not innate it is "invested" in the by others.
This has the nice result of Kingdoms looking a lot like the way we thing they should. The good king Draxl's knights travel around the kingdom righting wrongs and even king himself sometimes seen healing the sick because the need the peoples good will in order to retain their Paladin powers. On the other hand less nice rulers often make laws that exist solely to "prove" their power when the people are forced to follow them. So the House of Rahl bans open displays of fire because every time the peasants willing go without torches of bonfires they acknowledge Darken Rahl as their sovereign and make his access to 7th level spells just a little bit more secure.
The big thing that souls enforce collectively however is the "cosmic order". Some fundamental truths of the universe are believed to be so innate to the nature of souls that all souls automatically enforce them. The goal of many Law aligned entities is to expand the scope and power of this to the point that the Primal Chaos is completely suppressed. This would mean the only invested power would be usable. Some would like to go even further and have only one "network" of invested power exist (usually one they are at the top of so only they or the people they've delegated can wield magic). It dovetails very nicely with the classic "law" exemplars in 3e the Inevitables having their strongest members tasked with stopping people from abusing magic, toppling gods, or messing with the fabric of time.
{this one was inspired by dean's D&D cosmology}
Law and Chaos in D&D: now with less giant frog
Law and Chaos in D&D has never made sense and have been responsible for more arguments than pretty much anything in D&D. Partly that's because "the forces of Chaos" were one there as a euphemism for team evil. However Gygax for some bizarre reason decided D&D need both "Evil" and "Chaos" as moral alignments in fact it need "Good", "Law", "Evil", "Chaos" and even fvcking "Neutrality" all mixed together to make nine flavors of bullshit. So why are not just throwing out this nonsense, well it's because we want to have our cake and eat it too.
We want to have cosmic forces who are bad enough that you can be murder hobos and not feel bad about it, but we also have some kind of cosmic balance that PCs can fight for that isn't stupid. The "Balance between good and evil" where there has to be X amount of puppy kicking or the setting explodes is stupid and abhorrent. If you want a cosmic balance the PCs can get on board with it needs to not involve stopping people from stabbing Qz'zgl the baby eater in the face. So our cosmic balance is between Law and Chaos, in order for that to work Law and Chaos can't be moral alignments, they can't even be philosophical alignments. They're Cosmological alignments.
The Primal Chaos
Long ago before the gods ordered the world the primes background magic field was unstable. The Druids were able to impose some order with their stone circles but wild magic washed across the plane in great currents and storms. Many creatures drank in power and were able to grow big, strong, and strange. The fey roamed the prime unchecked. The land was full of magical beasts, elemental nexus and stuff it not a good time to be a humanoid since cultivated land or even permanent settlements were basically impossible. Survival often required living like mammals in the age of the dinosaurs or grueling servitude to mighty beings in exchange for protection. (don't think too hard about why so many humans carry the blood of dragons).
Fortunately while individual humans were weak there were many of them and their prayers and aspirations made powerful being in the higher planes which are the Cosmic Order and the will souls. The first generation of gods was united in desire to bring some semblance of order to the world. They slew many of the most terrible monsters and erected a vast infrastructure to enforce the cosmic order on the magical background field. Of course they had a falling out before they could completely finish their great project so in the deep wilderness so some places remain where magic runs wild. The forces of Law want to complete the first gods work and bring complete order to the prime. The forces of Chaos want free the world from it's bindings and let the magestorms rage once more. The forces of Balance believe that both Law and Chaos are a threat to the Prime's ability to perpetuate itself.
This is why there are so few monsters in civilized lands and so many in the untamed wilderness. Magical beats feed on the flux of the background magic field and in places where it's untamed they can support themselves on less food than the size of their bodies suggest. Of course when they enter civilized lands suddenly they have to eat a lot more and thus immediately become a problem for civilization. It's also why the Underdark is full of crazy magical crap. The gods work doesn't extend that far below the surface.
The Primal Chaos isn't entirely bad however monsters may grow strong off it's power but it also underlies the ability of mortals to grow mighty and wield magic innately. Many idealistic followers of Chaos believe that if magestorms returned now humanities understanding of magic would allow every man to be a mage in his own right ushering in a new era of freedom and prosperity. Of course the forces Chaos also contain people who want to tear down civilization to create a darwinian hellscape along with monsters who just want a return to the time when they had the run of the prime and the humanoids were less uppity.
The Cosmic Order
Of course the Primal Chaos isn't the only power that can shape reality. every soul has a limited ability to define the world especially the celestial and infernal realms. For most it's not much but can add up especially when a lot of humanoids believe in something. Like a God. But that power can be seen on a smaller scale, people don't just belive in their gods they believe in their leaders too. This is why the good king Draxl is a badass despite never adventuring his people are all unconsciously delegating some of their ability to shape reality to him. This is why some powerful beings bother ruling nations in the first place and why nations can exist at all in a world of monsters and adventurers. Some people have power that's not innate it is "invested" in the by others.
This has the nice result of Kingdoms looking a lot like the way we thing they should. The good king Draxl's knights travel around the kingdom righting wrongs and even king himself sometimes seen healing the sick because the need the peoples good will in order to retain their Paladin powers. On the other hand less nice rulers often make laws that exist solely to "prove" their power when the people are forced to follow them. So the House of Rahl bans open displays of fire because every time the peasants willing go without torches of bonfires they acknowledge Darken Rahl as their sovereign and make his access to 7th level spells just a little bit more secure.
The big thing that souls enforce collectively however is the "cosmic order". Some fundamental truths of the universe are believed to be so innate to the nature of souls that all souls automatically enforce them. The goal of many Law aligned entities is to expand the scope and power of this to the point that the Primal Chaos is completely suppressed. This would mean the only invested power would be usable. Some would like to go even further and have only one "network" of invested power exist (usually one they are at the top of so only they or the people they've delegated can wield magic). It dovetails very nicely with the classic "law" exemplars in 3e the Inevitables having their strongest members tasked with stopping people from abusing magic, toppling gods, or messing with the fabric of time.
