Post by Mr Darke on Feb 25, 2015 11:24:10 GMT -5
As stated before, the design philosophy behind the world comes from my initial assumptions about the setting of the game. When I started playing it was with AD&D 2e and even then, my assumption was that AD&D took place on a fantastic version of our world. Whether this be a parallel world, Earth in the past or even the far future it would still be Earth. Also understand that where I lived did not give me access to campaign settings, supplemental material or other items of the day. In short, we made most of it up and many of us went with Earth as the world.
The assumptions of the game can be broken down into these points:
* This is Earth possibly after the fall of Rome and it is well into a Dark Age.
* Given the spells in the books the world is Christian in nature.
* Legends like Atlantis, Lemuria and such are truth on the world.
* It is a mixture of high-heroic fantasy, Sword and Sorcery and everything in between.
* This could be the world long after The Lord of the Rings given the nature of demi-humans (See the Dun Kells campaign for another take on this)
* All material in the core and even supplemental books, unless otherwise stated, defaults to this world.
Now, these assumptions have evolved over time and what you see is the current version of my ideas on the setting. This helped to drive the direction the setting would take and how to shape it. The next idea would be the design goals of this world. Having grown tired of canned settings, the current dogmas prevalent in the OSR, and a fierce devotion to the 'Saints' of the game the first goal would be making this a world I wanted to play in using my own assumptions and take on the game itself.
Thus the goals of the setting would be:
* Provide my own 'default world' for the game I want to run and play in.
* Be flexible enough to run long standing campaigns, dungeon crawls and even mass combat.
* Work towards a dynamic world that changes as the campaign goes on. First by player action and followed by events out of their control.
* Be able to provide continued development over time.
* Work with a codified set of rules to create a complete game.
As for the last point, I work under the idea that the last letter in RPG does mean Game. Games have rules and there must be a logic and consistency to them. This does not mean rigid rules adherence or rules lawyering. What it does mean is that the rules must be applied in a consistent and fair manner. Allowances will be made to fix rules that do not work or adjust them as needed but they must remain consistent with the idea of this being a game.
The base system for the game is Swords & Wizardry Complete as I find it as an exercise as what OD&D would look like as a unified system (All supplements in one book, corrections and minor changes taken into account). There are also a few house rules to make the game a bit closer to the original game and to fit the game to the style of campaign I am running. Since OD&D is meant to be adjusted as seen fit this fits into the whole of the OD&D idea perfectly.
Any additions to the game will be made on a case by case basis and drawn from only a few sources. These break down in the following priorities: 1) S&W material beyond the core books 2) AD&D but adjusted down to OD&D standards 3) House material. Again this is to provide a bit of uniformity and consistency to the source material and game itself. As it all fits within the paradigm I am content with the idea.
As for this forum, I hope to maintain the above idea and will add in all material needed to better understand the setting and provide easy access should you want to used the setting. On a final note: unless otherwise specified consider the material presented on this forum as Open Content. There are only a few things I want to retain certain rights to just in case the future brings something along.
The assumptions of the game can be broken down into these points:
* This is Earth possibly after the fall of Rome and it is well into a Dark Age.
* Given the spells in the books the world is Christian in nature.
* Legends like Atlantis, Lemuria and such are truth on the world.
* It is a mixture of high-heroic fantasy, Sword and Sorcery and everything in between.
* This could be the world long after The Lord of the Rings given the nature of demi-humans (See the Dun Kells campaign for another take on this)
* All material in the core and even supplemental books, unless otherwise stated, defaults to this world.
Now, these assumptions have evolved over time and what you see is the current version of my ideas on the setting. This helped to drive the direction the setting would take and how to shape it. The next idea would be the design goals of this world. Having grown tired of canned settings, the current dogmas prevalent in the OSR, and a fierce devotion to the 'Saints' of the game the first goal would be making this a world I wanted to play in using my own assumptions and take on the game itself.
Thus the goals of the setting would be:
* Provide my own 'default world' for the game I want to run and play in.
* Be flexible enough to run long standing campaigns, dungeon crawls and even mass combat.
* Work towards a dynamic world that changes as the campaign goes on. First by player action and followed by events out of their control.
* Be able to provide continued development over time.
* Work with a codified set of rules to create a complete game.
As for the last point, I work under the idea that the last letter in RPG does mean Game. Games have rules and there must be a logic and consistency to them. This does not mean rigid rules adherence or rules lawyering. What it does mean is that the rules must be applied in a consistent and fair manner. Allowances will be made to fix rules that do not work or adjust them as needed but they must remain consistent with the idea of this being a game.
The base system for the game is Swords & Wizardry Complete as I find it as an exercise as what OD&D would look like as a unified system (All supplements in one book, corrections and minor changes taken into account). There are also a few house rules to make the game a bit closer to the original game and to fit the game to the style of campaign I am running. Since OD&D is meant to be adjusted as seen fit this fits into the whole of the OD&D idea perfectly.
Any additions to the game will be made on a case by case basis and drawn from only a few sources. These break down in the following priorities: 1) S&W material beyond the core books 2) AD&D but adjusted down to OD&D standards 3) House material. Again this is to provide a bit of uniformity and consistency to the source material and game itself. As it all fits within the paradigm I am content with the idea.
As for this forum, I hope to maintain the above idea and will add in all material needed to better understand the setting and provide easy access should you want to used the setting. On a final note: unless otherwise specified consider the material presented on this forum as Open Content. There are only a few things I want to retain certain rights to just in case the future brings something along.