Realm of Lothayron Setting

[Rhomal]

Years ago I came up with my own custom fantasy setting which is currently named Lothayron. Over the years with the help of some kind folks who have contributed it has grown to a fairly robust setting. It is a low magic world.

 

I have recently gotten the urge to revisit it and do some more development work with it. I would appreciate getting some feedback on it, suggestions, constructive critisism and the like.

 

http://www.nwn2news.net/modules/wfsection/....php?category=3

 

I appreciate your time.

 

p.s. I should add, I suppose I took the idea of a theme of no theme from the setting of Harn. That to a drgree was a influence on my world as well.

[kirottu]

Hmm? Very aD&Dish, like forgotten realms. I was kinda hoping something totally orginal. I don

[Drakron]

Its very Forgotten Realms indid.

[Oerwinde]

I came up with my own setting a couple years back called Acerbitor, which was a combo of Acerbus and Nitor, the latin words for Light and Dark. It was a world that was once technologically advanced, but a mad wizard called down a meteor which screwed up the orbit of the planet causing one side to constantly face the sun, the other to be constantly dark. This also caused the collapse of the technological societies and pretty much reset everything to medieval. 200 years later, the old societies are being excavated and slowly rebuilt, but only a few nations have the knowledge to build their own mechanical stuff, the rest can only excavate it and restore it.

 

I thought it was neat. One thing we did was only have 3 gods. Dark, Light, and Time, all of which were neutral.

[Rhomal]

Its very Forgotten Realms indid.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Really? I find that quite interesting.

 

I say that because I GREATLY dislike the fr setting and was aiming to develop the anti-fr. For example the low magic..

 

None the less I would appreciate it if you peeps could point out exactly how it is in your opinion like the FR. I would be very interested understanding that.

 

The sources & inspiration I took for it was LotR (of course), the movies excalibur and legend, and ancient history (specificly the roman empire and its period, middle ages middle east, and dark/middle ages british isles.

[Aaron Contreras]

Ooh, cool. I'll check it out when I have time.

[kirottu]

I say that because I GREATLY dislike the fr setting and was aiming to develop the anti-fr. For example the low magic..

 

None the less I would appreciate it if you peeps could point out exactly how it is in your opinion like the FR. I would be very interested understanding that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Low magic... *cough* I

Edited March 26, 2005 by kirottu

[Monte Carlo]

My main problem is the format you've used; there's no executive summary of what the setting is about. I ploughed through it and came away with no real sense of a theme, or of what you are actually trying to say.

 

Given the long history of D&D it is very difficult to come up with a genuinely new and original campaign setting. Even Ebberon, the new D&D 3.5 setting isn't exactly mind-shatteringly original in my humble (I can spot a half dozen influences straight off the bat from sources as diverse as Elric's Young Kingdoms to Pratchett's Discworld).

 

So that you have created something generic is quite unsurprising. Fear not. Generic doesn't mean boring, does it? Thousands of people enjoy the FR, which is cookie-cutter pap most of the time. It's the game. It's the fancy icing on the cake; if the cake is stale nobody cares about the cherry on top. A well-written and executed adventure can take place anywhere.

 

I think top-down world building (which is what you seem to have done) is wrong. You need to go the other way perhaps; create a small town and have fun figuring out who everybody is and what they do. Then work outwards from that; why does the priest of 'X' forbid the use of even the humblest cantrip? Why does everybody heed his advice on the issue? Is this a parochial thing? Why do the militia excel at the crossbow but eschew polearms? Is iit because of a particular foe? where do they come from? Why?

 

From this mixed bag of seemingly small issues you can begin to create the building blocks of your campaign. And it will feel organic, not forced.

 

My two pence.

 

Cheers

MC

[Drakron]

Really? I find that quite interesting.

 

I say that because I GREATLY dislike the fr setting and was aiming to develop the anti-fr. For example the low magic..

 

None the less I would appreciate it if you peeps could point out exactly how it is in your opinion like the FR. I would be very interested understanding that.

 

Well drow is now pretty much a FR mark, the only other setting I remenber having drow is Greyhawk and no CG goddess there.

 

Anti-magic nation also exists in FR

 

As for the elves ... well I blame the FR novels to "LotR" the FR elves.

 

Perhaps FR does have a lot of LotR marks.

 

Anyway ...

 

Monte Carlo and kirottu have a point.

 

When I get feed up with FR I tried to break away from the D&D mold and come up with a very incomplete setting of my own and its hard, damn hard to escape doing D&D.

 

I think the most radical thing I did was the wild elves religion that was a wierd varient of D&D druid with spirit totems, I would possible piss off a lot of people with the two major nations in my setting being non evil dark elven nations.

[Rhomal]

So much to reply too.. hehe.. here we go

 

> Low magic... *cough* I

[Drakron]

Again Greenwood stole drow from Greyhawk where they came from.

 

Dificult to say, he used the same basic drow that existed in Greyhawk but later autors expanded the drow.

 

Still there is no Elistraee in Greyhawk.

 

I didnt include drow orginally but the pro-drow ppl finally beat me down over time. And I gave in, but I tried to but a orginial spin ont he drow.

 

I included the dark elves in my setting not because I was "beat down", they are a center stone of a lot of my setting history.

 

Yes the surface elves made them flee undergound (due to the fact the drow by accident destroyed the elven city), and yes  it still a mostly female run society (as the 'great retreat' the females rose up and over threw the males, as their leadership of the drow race wasnt going to good.. lay waste to the elf city.. then p*ss off the surface elves even more by trying to coup which leads them to fleeing underground.. the females were pretty ticked by that point..). But then I decided to take it to another level.

 

Its a very classic take on the drow, its similar to both FR and GH.

 

I decided my version of the underdark wasnt some nice cozy place where it was little different from the surface without the sun. I decided the underdark was a very harsh place with limited resources. The drow race broke up into 'clans' and its survival of the fittest. They mostly live like barbarions (which besides cleric is the most popular class for drow in lothayron) firging for the limited food, water and resources between themselves and the other creatures that live in the underdark.

 

One thing I avoided was making a underdark.

 

True there are mining tunnels and underground cities in my setting but no underground world.

 

Thus go great cities and drow walking aouns in fine clothing and eating like kings. Its a harsh, difficult existance living in stone huts and living off the land per se. Their society has, more or less, devolved into a primitave mentality. Unlike the rest of the surface races.

 

Then you just have a alternative to orcs and goblins.

 

none the less thats my take on the drow.

 

That is very "classic" D&D inspired to create what basic is taller goblins.

 

My take on the drow was simply made then dark elves, they are not the classic underground cruel evil but another elven varient (lacking spell resistence) that live on Maia style cities in jungles, even sociality religion is a departure from the drow standart and closer to the standart elves.

 

Of course that lead to a problem, there was no room for the standart elves with then so they replaced the basic D&D elves, they do exist (well besides the wild elves that make a very large community, they could be the lagest race in my setting if they managed to count then all) but mostly in human nations.

 

What I tried to do was a departure of D&D classic ideas of the drow without turning then into just another sub-race choice or another monster varient.

 

theres a difference between low magic and anti-magic

 

Depending on were you play in FR you can end up in a low magic campain.

 

I give that FR does have more easy access to magic and more types of magic but in the end there is only what the DM puts in there.

 

At least my elves are not trying to 'leave the land of men acorss the sea'. As in lotr where greenwood got that idea from. They are quite happy in their forest in fact they see themsevles, to a exent as the caretakers of the land. Thus it wouldnt be wise for them to leave int heir eyes.

 

Dont blame Ed for that, that was Elaine idea to make the Retreat LotR like ... then again my impression of her work is that she is too much LotR influenced to let it go and do something not lifted out of LotR.

 

What Ed Greenwood did was giving dungeons to explore and loot a reason to exist, Myth Drannor and Undermountain were created as dungeons first and as cities later, you end up having a reaon of "why" of a certain dungeon exists and "emeny stronghold" only carries as far.

 

I made the Glass Desert and the Crystal Tower for that purpose, if players really want to challange a nasty place full of loot they can go there, there are also some first era ruins lying around in the Moon Sea created during the Night of Dark Tears.

 

Many.

 

Yes, expecialy when other autors started to make stuff for it.

 

I am not trying to re-invent the wheel. If its not broke.. which the basic concepts of fantasy are not IMO. I am trying to modify a solid base and put my own twist on it.

 

Hopefully this clarifies for you all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Ah but the issue ends up why?

 

Pick Legend of the Five Rings and you see a complety diferent feel, the problem is that if you end up doing something that closely resembles the generic D&D world then there is not much of a point.

 

Take the underdark for example, its something you can completly remove from FR and most people would not be affected by it because they dont go there, making a game "low magic" means little if the DM continues to use standart D&D rules in making the adventure.

[mkreku]

Could I suggest you rename the setting "Lothayron" to " Lotharyon" instead? No? Damn, I thought it felt better saying Lotharyon..

[Whitemithrandir]

I came up with my own setting a couple years back called Acerbitor, which was a combo of Acerbus and Nitor, the latin words for Light and Dark. It was a world that was once technologically advanced, but a mad wizard called down a meteor which screwed up the orbit of the planet causing one side to constantly face the sun, the other to be constantly dark. This also caused the collapse of the technological societies and pretty much reset everything to medieval. 200 years later, the old societies are being excavated and slowly rebuilt, but only a few nations have the knowledge to build their own mechanical stuff, the rest can only excavate it and restore it.

 

I thought it was neat. One thing we did was only have 3 gods. Dark, Light, and Time, all of which were neutral.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Amazing! That's silver screen trilogy material there, duder.

[Rhomal]

> Ah but the issue ends up why?

 

Because I wanted my own world with the themes and setting I envisioned. No other setting quite has IMO the mix of low magic and classic middle ages feel.

 

Again the fantasy formula isnt broke. Thus I see no need to do something to radiaclly different to it for no other sake, then breaking the mold. The mold works which I beleive most of us agree with. So its a matter of views, degrees and personal preference.

 

Thats my take anyways.

 

I appreciate all the feedback If anyone has idea for the various elements i'd be happy to hear.

[Rhomal]

I suppose I should add.. the idea of a no over riding theme was mostly inspired from the setting of Harn. I really respected the fact it was just a lot of detail and background but no over reaching plot/theme.

 

It was like a can of play dough. it all ready to be used, you just have to mold it how you'd like. I took the same mins set with lothayron.

[Oerwinde]

I came up with my own setting a couple years back called Acerbitor, which was a combo of Acerbus and Nitor, the latin words for Light and Dark. It was a world that was once technologically advanced, but a mad wizard called down a meteor which screwed up the orbit of the planet causing one side to constantly face the sun, the other to be constantly dark. This also caused the collapse of the technological societies and pretty much reset everything to medieval. 200 years later, the old societies are being excavated and slowly rebuilt, but only a few nations have the knowledge to build their own mechanical stuff, the rest can only excavate it and restore it.

 

I thought it was neat. One thing we did was only have 3 gods. Dark, Light, and Time, all of which were neutral.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Amazing! That's silver screen trilogy material there, duder.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks. We tried to screw up the racial stereotypes a bit too, like having an expansionist elven kingdom, Dark Elves neither being evil, or living underground, simply being the elves that lived on the dark side(where they tended to prefer mountain strongholds). Dwarves were pretty much a slave race for the humans, not officially though. They were paid for their work, but they were forced into employment. They were more valued for their skill with machines than their stonework or smithing. Goblins and orcs were just the names given to humans mutated by the magic and radiation from the meteor. Mages were outlawed except for the order who fought against the mad mage before he called the meteor. They are now a militant order of mage slayers who kill any mage not trained by the order, where before they were simply record keepers and scholars.

[kirottu]

Oerwinde, that

[Monte Carlo]

@ Rhomal: Having read your replies to the feedback I've come to the conclusion that you are after attention, not any sort of critical dialogue. Your dismissive attitude to criticism is interesting.

 

Your work is derivative and not wildly original. However, despite the feedback you've received you still seem very pleased with it and, indeed, yourself.

 

Why did you ask for feedback?

 

Cheers

MC

[Rhomal]

@ Rhomal: Having read your replies to the feedback I've come to the conclusion that you are after attention, not any sort of critical dialogue. Your dismissive attitude to criticism is interesting.

 

Your work is derivative and not wildly original. However, despite the feedback you've received you still seem very pleased with it and, indeed, yourself.

 

Why did you ask for feedback?

 

Cheers

MC

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Attention? Please.. like I dont get enough of that already... In fact more so then I'd perfer.

 

The fact is there was no feedback given that I found specificly useful. 'Its not ground breaking orginial' (which wasnt my goal) does not really help me in any measurable way.

 

Nor does saying 'its like setting x', of course it has elemetns of this or that. As does most other fantasy. Neither feedback is very enlightening or helpful when you state the obvious.

 

Now if someone was to say 'well you could take aspect x of the dwarves you've written and add element y, that would be cool.'

 

Now THAT has substance and something one could sink their teeth into from a feedback standpoint.

 

As of now, I havent seen anything of note except general comments that could almost be applied to any setting/work.

[kirottu]

Well, you could replace elves with sidhe, from Torn. Chicks with tail, cat ears and big anime like eyes. What more could you ask from fantasy setting? :cool:

[Rhomal]

Well, you could replace elves with sidhe, from Torn. Chicks with tail, cat ears and big anime like eyes. What more could you ask from fantasy setting?  :cool:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Now this I like. I have always liked the idea of using a feline race as a major element in a setting such as this. My only concern would be will nwn2 allow such? (if not as a PC even if just an NPC race of models). I am not sure bit I have a feeling we wont even get a humanoid feline NPC race.

 

But that aside, just for kicks, lets toss some ideas around. How do you envision such a race on this setting? what kind of society? religion? etc?

[kirottu]

Well, this feline race would not have any males and therefore would have to hunt for human males for breeding purposes. If a male would decline, he would get tail spanking until he

[Musopticon?]

Kirottu, you damn otaku!

[mkreku]

Finnish humour at its best..

[Azarkon]

But that aside, just for kicks, lets toss some ideas around. How do you envision such a race on this setting? what kind of society? religion? etc?

 

Raksasha all the way.