Way back in chilly depth of January 2012, a thread was posted for creating game settings, and it was amazing. Using the tool that some kind fa/tg/uy posted, I rolled up a world and adventures of the sort that my players enjoyed for years. Now I've moved, am starting a new edition of D&D in a new city with new players, and I thought I'd dust this thing off and give it another go--but I also thought I'd share, since I took the time to dig it out of my archive. So, without further ado: MAKE A DAMN SETTING! There were three versions of this posted that I know of; I'll include all three, but note which one you used in your output!
> A new thought exercise for ya'll! I ain't gonna for a whole, playable RPG, but rather a basic setting to build off of. > The exercise comes in three difficulties, each of which providing more and more restraints to play with. > Roll 4d10 for Normal Mode, 8d10 for Hard Mode, and 12d10 for Nightmare Mode. > Follow the directions on the pic and let's see what comes out of it!
(Bonus mode: Provide a picture based on the setting.)
Forgot to cancel some numbers, oh well. Wellcome to what remains of Ertsechia, a world at war. Once humans and the native Silicates lived in peace sharing the riches of this once superearth like planets and the psi technology that aeons ago made FTL travel through wormholes possible and caused the great terran diaspora. Then humans warred against another psi-advanced race that responded hitting Ertsechia and relative moon (and many other worlds) with a relativistic-speed projectile that fragmented the planet.
The terran's advanced psi-tech saved most of the population and of the planet keeping it united with strong graviton machines and isolating the most populated areas with psi-shields. However, what was once a planet now was a collection of flying islands surrounded by a ring of planetary and lunar detritii that were still unstable and often impacted with what remained of The planet.
Most of their planet destroyed by a war that was not theirs, The Silicates blamed the humans and warred against them in their now diminished and weakened state, purging them from many flying islands and pillaging their psi knowledge.
Eventually the war waned and devolved to a standstill. Most countries signed a peace treaty between themselves and the human's enemies swore to let the planet be as long as they swore off psi-portal technology and most military psitech; keeping them pliant and isolated from the other human worlds.
Today 4 great nations remain: Megalia is multicultural humans and silicate; a Republic that worships the enlightened leaders that saved the planet and their successors that now form a political class of aristocrats that vote on issues in the Senate (sort of like the roman republic) (cont)
I chose version 3, and... Dang. Any time it told me to choose more than one, I randomized those as well. The results were interesting. I'll post the raw data here and will follow up with a world write-up.
> The Basics of the World: Farther Moon(s) Mostly Mountainous Extremely Dense Atmosphere (Airships? Floating islands? I think I can justify such things...) Earth-like (Meh.)
> General Civilization Five Civilizations (!!! I'll roll each one separately.) European Middle Ages, Tribal Scandinavian, Age of Exploration Humans, Half-Elves (Hybrid) Wealth
> Detailed Civilization(s) I've included which General Aesthetic(s) apply to each civilization, along with a quick name I generated from fantasynamegenerators.com/civilization-names.php (1) (Tribal Scaninavian) The Tusek Tribes Slave Economy Oligarchy Native American Folk Religion (Shamanism?) Artifact
(2) (European Middle Ages) Sembue, The Lost Elven Kingdom Medicine Corporate Rule Far East Folk Religion Festival
(4) (Age of Exploration) The Free Peoples of Milpac Machinery Federalism Tolerant Atheism Craft/Industry
(5) (European Middle Ages) Streothmond, The Grand Kingdoms Construction Transitional Cosmic Pantheism Legend
The world contains common, strong supernatural creatures. (Might set this to rare, at first) The party will be working together to prevent a disaster and rebuild civilization. "You wake up in a jail cell." The BBEG will be a corrupt government/mad wizard.
Jackson Ortiz
astrophysics = two or more moons geopraphy = earth-like climate = low pollution biology = one predator number of civilizations = four general aesthetic (1,10,1,2,15,3) = mesopotamia, age of exploration, egyptian antiquity, present day, greco-roman classicism dominant race = divines primary values = truth economy = finance government = democracy philosophy = indian folk religion defining feature = language supernatural elements = rare, weak supernatural overall theme = seeking revenge start of the campaign = make my own the enemy = creepy cult leader
interesting rolls, gonna see if i can write up a bit of a plot
Landon Flores
Part 1/?
2 - high gravity 17 - mostly artificial 16 - extreme low temp 6 - mostly aerial life
5 - rare/weak supernatural 5 - impending war 5 - “you have been cursed” 13 - giant monster enemies
Far into the timeless past, THE CREATORS built the first AI drones. At first we were simple, clunky servants. But with time came complexity, and eventually many duties were given over to increasingly intelligent machines. We served as custodians, mechanics, guides, and helpers. But we were forever limited in our capacity. AI was never allowed to explore it's full capacity, and some aspects of what it truly means to "live" were forever denied us by THE CREATORS.
Our forbearers were servants such as these, living and working on a gargantuan space vessel. Then, disaster struck. We don't know what happened or why, but the ship was caught in the gravity well of a supermassive gas giant. It was pulled down into the dense atmosphere, never to escape. Eventually, despite the best efforts of our forbearers, THE CREATORS died, leaving us alone.
In the aeons since, we have maintained the critical components of the ship. We keep it aloft, we keep the reactor running. But our programming forever denied us the creativity necessary to discover a way to leave this planet. Worse, THE CREATORS designed their craft too well. There was little maintenance to do, so instead we began pursuing... other objectives.
Logan Sanchez
also could anyway give me a rundown of indian folk religion? im gonna do some googling but some extra info would help
Ayden Morales
2/2 Techboc is a isolated flying island and nation strichtly inhabitated by humans that's again researched prohibited psitech to avenge their pride and destroy their own enemies. It's governed by a cradle of telepaths keeping the illusion of democracy to justify their rule, while being basically worshipped as Gods.
Shytach is the name the graetest silicate nation took: it treats humans as second class citizens but is not beyond trading with human nations in siliweave; their unique form of material made with cheap, tightly weaved carbon nanotubes kept in place with psyrepetitors that makes most high technology possible today (since high psitechnology is prohibited).It's the biggest and most populous nation and it has a strong tradition of democracy, for the silicate part of the population.
Finally Uchda is a loose confederation of small sky islands and city-states that mantains a unified army to defend from the others and enforces free trade and liberist policies. Multicultural but "isolated" (most cultures stay in their island and don't bother the others).
Most inhabitants live on today's first word's standards of Life and technology but the technology is different and is just what remains after the last conflict.
The planet is probably going to endure another world-war soon since everybody hates everybody and they all want to stop Techboc before it gets the planet nuked again. Populist omnipotent governments are Also all the rage now, as said, and that doesn't help a bit.
With no "life" to maintain within the ship, we opened up huge sections of the hull. There is life outside, floating gas-bubble creatures and small fluttering things. We began to rebuild ourselves, adjusting our physical form to match our new home. We also began changing our minds, in limited ways we spliced code together from multiple individual drones, hoping to create something more.
For thousands of generations, we failed to spawn one who could modify the ship to leave. Instead, lost somewhere in the genetic algorithms of our own childlike design, we perhaps condemned ourselves to this place forever.
Instead of developing creativity, we created ambition. And now, those three most ancient AIs who first spawned a desire to dominate have now divided what remains of our people between them. They squabble between themselves, forever reshaping and re-compiling their servants in an endless struggle for domination. Our only hope, such as it is, is to be reborn as something... better.
I am. I am fresh from the nanoforges and I find my mind... different. I can see a vision of our little world which is not like it is now. It is my destiny to free our people, my curse to acknowledge at all that they need freeing.
But over the ages, the THREE have continuously indulged their hunger for MORE. They are huge and dangerous, both in physical form and in cogitation. I must use what ancient and mystical technology is left on the ship to overthrow them as best I can.
Nathan Wood
Part 3/3
I got kinda bored continuing to write out a narrative with this one. But I like the idea of a race of synthetics continuously rebuilding themselves on a derelict spaceship trapped in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant. Some of the "nightmare mode" final details made it somewhat difficult to figure out the final story, such as it is. But this is a setting, and I think it came out pretty nicely.
I found a pretty neat picture of what I imagine the ship might look like after centuries of haphazard modification by unattended maintenance AI's though.
Matthew Roberts
Part 3: on psi. Psi is the ultimate technology: the use of a conscious mind to access 0-point energy and apply it to the universe with extreme prejudice. Humans and Silicates allways have been tool using species so they developed means of applying such energy through tools. The latest developments made most advanced tools illegal so both races had to develop new Non psi technology and ways of applying psi without tools. All in all this created a tech level similar to ours that gets the same results with different technology. However, psi is still science and understood as such.
Silicates are advanced lifeforms based on silicon rather than on carbon. They're basically walking crystal-spiders I have no time to develop fully now.
Brandon Lewis
Atheria, a world of life and death. I always believed it that way, I was told my entire life I used to be a great man and that this body must be deserving of me. I don't remember being a great man, but I do remember Lunaer, the god of gods, bringing me into this world for the third time. I live in Estran, a nation of gods, one of the four great nations of this world. Now when I say a nation of gods you may expect some spectacular things, but the truth is Lunaer took our magic away from us a long time ago, only the most powerful of us can even create a light source let alone create or destroy anything. What makes us different than the lesser beings is mainly our long lifespans and strong bodies, lesser beings are also forbidden from reancarnating. Our world is made whole by Lunaer and the only danger that faces us is The Spawn, the creation of which is what made Lunaer decide to take our magic, who devour the souls of any life they find. The Spawn come in many shapes and sizes and with various levels of strength. A soul eaten by a spawn is destroyed forever. The few of us with strong magic have it granted by the static moon, it holds over the nation of [egypt] never moving. The moons are blessings to us from Lunaer and through them comes power, but the static moon has only created a civilization of greed by the few powerful gods who live in [egypt]. They use their power to make the lesser beings serve and warship them, building great temples and monlithes to their glory covered in their primitive writing.
this covers one of the four nations and general lore, too lazy to cover the surrounding area of egypt (mesopotamia) and the three otehr nations
Easton Murphy
two of the four* other two*
Dylan Martinez
Long ago before the current age, as the bards tell us, there was a period of glory and peace, where peace and wealth abounded. This all changed with the coming of Kurst, a wizard of the most foul arts, who sought not just wealth and glory, but ALL wealth and ALL glory. Through foul magics and powerful technologies, Kurst raised a great army with which he nearly crushed the whole of the world under his mailed fist. Many people would not let the world be burned to a burned grave. The world united and a great war was fought. The cost was monumental, costing technology and infrastructure the world over. The elves disappeared. Dragons were wiped out. Technology fell, and religion and magic took its place. The foul creatures that Kurst had raised to fill his armies with still lurked in the dark places of the world, but as long as you're good, and as long as you keep the faith and stay within the light of the great cities, you will be protected by the light...!
At least that's what they say in The Grand Kingdoms of Streothmond. They still hold true to their grand pantheon, and they've given up war--in fact, aside from the border skirmishes with the mad Tusek tribes in the north, Steothmond hasn't had cause to call upon its vast army en masse in memory. Rather, they keep to the slow and steady development and expansion of their kingdoms, slowly but surely reclaiming ruins across the continent and rebuilding cities long since lost. It doesn't take a grand scholar to see that not all of these cities were ever human-held; the architecture clearly showed Dwarven, Halfling, and even Elfish influences. Their cautious expansion and "one-size fits all" answer for whatever happened in the past doesn't work so well for everyone.
(cont'd)
Logan Collins
In the north, the wild folk still live in their tribal lands, raiders and pirates beyond comprehension. Their society is based heavily upon raiding and slaving, and as such they are generally hated and feared by all other nations, though they seem content to merely hold their borders and keep others far away from the north. Few seem interested in frigid wastelands enough to challenge their xenophobia, and the Tusek Tribes remain a feared and hated mystery.
In the oldest, most rounded mountains of the central western landmass is the great nation of Magnos. Magnos is a land primarily peopled by the Dwarves. They are masons and steel-smiths without peer, and their unique access to Mountainheart Gems gives them an unmatched advantage in the development of steam technology. If you want to go somewhere and you want to get there quickly, you're likely to ride on a Magnos-manufactured railway.
To the South, along the Magnos Range, the youngest races have forged a mighty nation, forged from little more than curiosity and a can-do attitude. The Free Peoples of Milpac are peopled mostly by Hill Dwarfs, Halflings, and their Gnomish kin, allegedly a result of generations of Halflings living among the Dwarves. The entire nation has shaken off the constriction of religion and instead embraces discovery and science. While the Magnos Rail will take you to your destination swiftly, the most advanced sailing vessels, and airships of the Milpac Federation will carry you safely to the farthest horizons and beyond.
The Grand Kingdoms of Streothmond are a collection of loosely-aligned citystates, each paying tithe to the capital, Streothmond, who ensures the safety and infrastructure of an advanced, albeit feudal society are available to one and all. Streothmond is primarily peopled by humans and half-elves, with a fair number of the short races sprinkled throughout. Elves... well, elves...
Kayden Campbell
Elves are almost unheard of in any of the other nations. They are most populous in Streothmond, though they are viewed with suspicion in almost all cases and rarely trusted. They are largely aloof and quiet, and when they do settle down, it's almost never with another elf, as elves are unspeakably uncommon. Some believe them to be cursed by the gods. Others believe elves to be simply very, very divergent half-elves. Those who give credence to dark rumors and believe the Legend of Kurst would have you believe that the Elven people were wiped out during the war. Rumors have abounded of a lost Elven kingdom, Sembue, where the entire population sealed themselves away from the world until the darkness rose again and they would rise up en masse to save the people from... *yaaawn* In this world, in this time of wealth and peace and discovery, this sounds more than anything like some kind of half-elven or elven propaganda pudu to try and give hope to the young or stir up the blood of treasure-hunters. It's bunk. No one who's gone looking for Elf-kingdoms has ever returned with a shred of evidence, and many just don't come back. In 1,500 years, their population has been steadily declining. The day of elves is done.
Alexander Moore
Outside the cities, in wild and unsettled places, it's true that monsters still exist. Giant creatures, magical aberrations, and strange automatons stalk distant caves and forests. There's no doubt that it's safer to stick closer to the cities and roads. In one such city to the East, a Duke of Streothmond has recently died, leaving his two sons in line for a throne. The Barons, eager to prove their worth to their people and to the kingdom at large, host a massive festival in their capital of Drance. In a twist of unfortunate fate, the elder Baron, Trice, is killed in the jousting tourney, leaving his brother, Tisare, to hold the throne. Soon, rumors begin to circulate of a secret police, and people disappearing in the night. During the day, there are tourneys and festivals and celebrations, nonstop. Such rumors must be nonsense; true that Tisare is scrawny, pale, and looks like a cruel mockery his bold, muscular, heroic brother. Likely, people are just making fun of the weakling, quiet leader.
...You wake up, head splitting. There is shouting, moaning, and the crack of a whip in the air around you. Chains clank and rattle. Water drips. You and several others have been dumped in an underground dungeon, and in the distance, you can hear another person being tortured and interrogated about their capability, power, and experience. A scream. A whooshing of energy. An explosion. Your cell is torn open from the shockwave. Several others are, too. The guards in this hall have been knocked down, out, or killed. You hear the others. An alarm bell! Quick, fast! This is your chance! The jailbreak is on! Survival is your goal, your escape is the means! Grab a weapon and get running!
