World wise the game is sort of floating in an undefined world which is just now starting to come together. I started thinking I'd just place it in the Goodman Games Known World but I've departed from that idea. I considered briefly using my Lords of Light/Steel Remains homage setting Udarth but decided it was too big a departure from established canon.
Talking about cannon the approach I'm talking is the world is only defined through play so I'm going to try and resist filling in "gaps" in the world through the massive mental wankery which is world building. Oh sure I'll do some. I wont be able to avoid it but I want to deliberately keep it really lean and leave in game creativity as the source of the world detail more or less. However I will use a Harn, Seven Kingdoms, Pendragon, "High Medieval transitioning into Renaissance" setting as my guide and the world will be Ayruth because it simple - this was my erstwhile game world as we were growing up so it has the nostalgia factor and its also just easy.
The world is more or less undefined at the moment no one has seen a map yet and no one other then the Mage would conceivably have this information maybe the Cleric. So the world has very little definite form right now;
What form it does have can been seen in the list below:
- The Characters know they are all regarded as "Norter-landers" (Norter essentially a European type content)
- The content referred to as the Common-Lands comprises the ares know as Nort-Land, Mid-Land and Hoj-Lands (also Mid-Nortland and Hoj-Nortland)
- The Rafike live to the south across the waters and the dominant Rafike culture the "Omaedin" invaded southern Nort-land and the part of the nation of Cylmira (Silmira) and the city of Aessenttia
- To the far North ("Hoj-Lands") are the Varden, hardened barbarians of the Conan, Fafard mien
- To the far East are the Sun Rise lands home to the Sunrise Horde which many years ago invaded into the Common-Lands
- The PC's are all from either The Freeport City State or they are from the Nation of Cylmira
- The Capital of Cylmira is Aessenttia
- Three towns lay between Aessenttia and Sandpoint/Saltmash one of which is Seaton
- Seaton is the seat of the Baron Valrith and he has a castle here
- The Pirate nation of Freeport exists far out off the coast of Nortland
- The Gods are known as the 100,000
- The groupings among the Gods are the Lords of Light, The Night Lords, the Mad Gods, The Elder Gods, The Spirits House and hearth, The Ancestor Spirits, The Greater Elemental Lords, and Mother Nature and the All Father.
And that's about all that is known of the world.
We have been playing this even though we are "meant" i.e. had planed to be doing Shadowrun and this has suited all of us so far.
On the Shadowrun front I've established a 2060-ish date as the "now". The players will be going through Brainscan and some other adventures to pad out Brainscan. I'm also wanting to make this game a sandbox one so I'm looking at how that can be done in Seattle. Brainscan will kick off the Sandbox and provide a backdrop for the Players to explore their own in game agendas I'm hoping.
I'm still planning a Sci-fi game but biding my time for the release of an updated X-plorers, A couple of expected books for Traveller or Traveller2300 or even a look at Cthonian Star. While I expect I will ultimately use Stars Without Numbers, X-plorers, Classic Traveller, Diaspora or my own OSR Sci-Fi Hack, the other games will inform my design too. If we use Traveller it will be as a rule set not as a setting as I'm - dare I say it - starting to find the Imperium dull going compared to a more focused setting with less Imperial Sci-Fi underpinnings. You can tell form the list above that I'm still culling down the system options. One of the most beautiful things - to my way of thinking - about the OSR is it takes system to the back seat and focuses not on design, system, milieu or setting but on the most important aspect of the game and that's play.
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