The World Below

This might have far reaching consequences as far as preconceived notions for our campaign setting, but a fleshed out shared vision of a campaign is better than the storyteller having a clear view of his story.

We decided to take the collaborative approach to the campaign backstory and I suggested we use Microscope. I taught everyone the rules over the course of an evening and then this is what we came up with:

The Big Picture

“A colonized star system is isolated after a cataclysm”

Bookends

Start - Meta-humanity finds something they weren't supposed to. (Dark)

End - Progenitor Race returns to the star system and releases the bioweapon. (Dark)

Palette

Yes Resource scarcity Gene-splicing Mecha (practical) Artificial Intelligence (limited) Sentient plant life Bionics

+ It has been three years since we have last caught up with you. A few things have changed in DunMorde: Erodel was slain during an uprising in Morde. Marlow has overthrown his employer and is the kingpin of the criminal underworld. The magical rock known as Green Fire has been growing in power. 

+ Describe yourself. 

Basic statistics (age, height, etc.)

Skin tone

Facial hair

Your most distinguishing feature

Do you have any scars? If so, how did you acquire them?

Accessories 

What kind of clothing do you wear?

What kind of vocal tone do you have?

+ What have you been doing all this time? I imagine you’ve been quite busy. Were you still employed by Marlow when you overthrew his employer and took over his operation? Did you remain in Dun this whole time? Did your exploits take you elsewhere? If so, where?

+ During your travels, what do you think your greatest accomplishment was? Was it a theft, a contract or...? What about it was so satisfying?

+ Tell me about your fears. What is your mortal fear? Three major fears? Why do you have these fears? Why can’t they be overcome? Choose something that would not instill fear in a typical hero. Something that has (on or off-screen) been encountered and will be encountered in the future. Relevant to the story!

+ What is your passion? Something you would fight over all obstacles for? This is something you live for. Why is this your passion? What sparked this passion within you? Tell me about it.

+ Who trained you in your current skills? How do you feel about them or the organization they represent? Did Marlow give you additional training if you continued to be employed by him?

+ How do you come across socially? Do you have a comfort zone? How do you react to people from loud and boisterous to quiet and meek? Do people tend to get along with you? Do you put on a facade to make them? How do you treat people? 

+ You are a member of the templars. Not exactly a role someone falls into casually. Did you practice any trades before joining the templar order? What drove you to becoming one? Was there a particular moment that led you to joining the ranks? A catalyst?

+ What do you look like? Distinctive physical traits? Do you have any accessories that stand out? How do you hold yourself? When you are among the other races do you hold yourself in a dignified and holier-than-thou composure? 

+ How do you feel about the civilizations of the world? Though your own race has been driven to the brink before the plague how do you feel about the others that have been driven just as far? Some are gone completely.

+ Now that you have joined Saethe and the others on their journey, do you have share any of their goals? How do you feel about your companions? Do you feel as if your bonds with any of them might grow stronger?

+ What are your moral beliefs? How far would you go to defend these moral beliefs? Did the templar order instill these beliefs into you or were these already there, tempered by the world you were born into? 

+ How do you feel about killing? What would drive you to kill, and why? How do you feel about death? Do you believe in the afterlife? Describe your beliefs.

+ What are your personality traits and personal habits? How do you treat other people? How do you handle their personalities and quirks? What personalities irritate you the most? Why?

As of June 5, 2015

Primary Party

Saethe the Skirmisher A leader who seeks to build Soaring Heights into a stronghold

Raziel the Templar A warrior seeking to purge this realm of taint and infection

Sage the Mage A mage that has been groomed as an apprentice by Leon

Secondary Party

Fritz & Octavia Villagers of Old Ashton, the City of Lights

The Deceased

Let’s go through the 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide together! It’ll help stimulate creativity and encourage us to give some feedback. Please give your creative input, but you don’t have be thorough. If you want your answers to be left vague and open to interpretation by all means do so! If you want to ask questions back in kind, I highly encourage it. Bouncing questions back and forth is very effective.

Don’t just echo my sentiments. Do not leave a statement without adding something! That would be very keen advice. This is our campaign, not my campaign. This is our story, not my story. I want it to feel like that.

Let’s get started.

The World

Much of the World is Untamed While most of the world is afflicted by the Godsplague, ask yourselves… - Where are the civilizations that might have survived? If these people have survived how did they do it for so long? Was it their remote location? They means of handing the plague creatures? How? What made them unique? - Are there any natural creatures still lurking within dungeons, atop mountains, or out in the wild? If so, are a percentage of these creatures immune to the plague just as some of the humanoids are? Is it a certain strain of them, or just completely random?

The World is Ancient - Civilizations might have documented cases of the plague reaching back to the beginning days of the outbreaks. If so, what kingdoms might be the most curious of it? Why?

Conflict Shapes the World’s History N/A. Not on an epic scale like most fantasy. This is a story about survival. This is a story about you. I think the world will get on just fine by itself, thank you.

The World is Magical - Green Fire will have a big impact on things to come. - Dungeon World shakes things up (spell pools and manaroot no longer having mechanical use) so with that being said should it be said that magic is slowly returning to the world to reflect the system change? Is there even a point in doing that?

The World is New - New kingdoms have formed, if civilizations are capable of gathering in large enough numbers despite how everything is falling apart in the World Below. - Name three (each of you) kingdoms and give it a three sentence description). Then tell me about it! As much as or as little as you want. Key points about it. Plot Point: Did a great cataclysm (i.e. Laryn uplifting the land) and other calamities shift the continents? Not only were there wars among the divines at the climax of the Godsplague when they were laying blame upon one another for it but there but there were a myriad of natural disasters and other god awful things happening, surely!?! * It would make all maps of the Known World before the Godsplague erroneous and thus make it a truly a New World ripe for exploration! Fun!?

Monsters are Uncommon - Plague Creatures are constantly evolving. They should be physically and mentally. How? Suggestions?! - What about our standard fantasy monsters and creatures. Do they have a place here in this campaign? If so, where?

Miscellaneous

Larynaar Is it best suited as a: Militocracy, Oligarchy, Theocracy or a Democracy?

Currency Is there even a point to using it? It’s very much a D&D convention. In our campaign I don’t see there being anything other than a barter system (done via roleplaying) and Dungeon World doesn’t have a real use for them. What are your thoughts?

Gods Perhaps there is a method to attain deification. Perhaps it is an ancient rite or ritual one must endure to prove their worth. Lost – one that must be sought out. Secret location – hidden to all but those worthy? – New Gods. Are they omnipotent? I’m not keen on the idea. – Did the world embrace a loose pantheon before the Godsplague? A god of travel, luck, etc. – Instead of a rigid pantheon (i.e. a very small group of gods) – Though it is a godless land that may be because… A) No one can ever replace a god… B) No successors were chosen C) The rite was lost – What do you all think

Soren Heights This is your home base! Do you have any plans for it? Does your characters see this as becoming a more permanent home if people become drawn to it? This is a very real possibility given the desperate desire for hope in people. Do you want to make groups of your own? Recruit followers? Establish guilds? If you draw people in your actions will set the tone for the future.

Airships Will they work? Do they work? Can they work? - Dirty Engine (something like Green Fire?) - Steam - Something from the home plane of DunMorde - Is there a culture far away on the World Below that has already mastered the technology but is too far away to visit?

Elves They retreated into the Feywild. Why?

Drakarn Where are they hibernating? What makes them different than you, Raziel? What does their Broodmother mean to you? What about their almost hive-like mind?

- Do you even care about the Larynaar Reserves anymore? You are so far away from home. Everyone you’ve loved is dead and the only remaining tie you have left is Soren. If questioned on his allegiance to the city he only smirks and takes a swig from the bottle of Private Reserve and says survival is more important than allegiances. That’s the most you had gotten out of him.

- Tell me a childhood memory of you and Ifor.

- Now that you are leader of your ragtag group of adventurers, I’d like to know a little bit about your goals. Give me two long term goals and three short term goals.

- Is there even a point in making the arduous journey to By’wynne? That can take months and it’s already been proven that mere days it all it takes to claim the lives of your most beloved companions. Is it better to live for your party?

- What is your primary motivation now that everyone is gone? What is driving your forward? Why don’t you just give up now while you’re ahead?

- How do you feel about your current party? Soren, Raziel and Urzul? Who are these people to you? And these two strangers who you met in the city of DunMorde? Are they mere tools to utilize or are they friends? Can they even be called friends?

- How has being forced into a leadership role effected you?

- Do you even want to go home - to Larynaar - and back to what’s waiting for you? What is waiting for back home? Is there anyone waiting for you back home? Did you and Ifor have family? Is there a significant other? Perhaps the fact that no one is there waiting for you is the reason why Ifor’s death impacted you so gravely.