Kitchen Sink Fantasy Setting

[Brimshack]

I am trying to put together the beginnings of a campaign setting. One of the central ideas of this setting is that all the peoples of the real world should have a place in this one. So, I am looking to produce regions loosely based on various real-world places. All the continents will be re-imagined as archipelagos (cause I want a world of islands), but I need to rename them.

On the one hand this naming thing is a trivial question, but on the other it gets to the heart of a central design question. How much do I want this imagined setting to sub-reference the real world? I can create a place called the "African Islands." But that is so direct, it falls flat for me. I can make up a new name entirely. Or I can come up with an arcane sub-reference of sort (perhaps using not-so-common terms or archaic terms long since out of use). The idea here would be to produce a name that is not so common-place as to jar folks out of the fantasy world, but suggestive enough to remind people of the source material.

For example, I might name Native North America "The Turtle Islands." I'm of course using a common pan-Indian metaphor here for North America. That's obscure enough to keep a little mystique about it, but it's also enough to suggest the allude to the source material a bit.

Languages are a little tough. Roughly speaking, I intend to use major language families as the model for regional languages in this world. So, for example the Athapaskan language family would turn into one simple language spoken by any in-game group inspired by peoples such as a Apache or Navajo that would have spoken languages in that family. Whether or not to rename the languages, and if so whether or not to attempt allusion to the real world, I haven't decided.

Anyway, what do people think? Better to recreate from scratch, or do such references work from your point of view? If so, any suggestions for good source? I tried googling obscure or archaic names for Europe and found it surprisingly difficult. I'll take another crack at it here in a couple days.

These are literally my first thoughts on the subject, btw. So, if this seems half baked, it's because that would be a generous description of my progress so far.

[Brimshack]

Hm...

I've tapped out 3 or 4 versions of the above post. In an effort to cut out the rambling, I think I left out too much of the context. This if for the Game System, WOH, which I've referred to a few times on the forum. The game system is designed for high fantasy role play. The combat mechanics are very crunchy, and the implied setting could be described as LOtR+, with the plus being all the peoples I am talking about in the OP.

So, the assumptions of the game setting:

1) It's high fantasy, essentially sword and sorcery.

2) All the peoples of the real world are present in this one. Each will be added in at different stages of historical development, and of course each will be reimagined.

3) The historical development (metaplot?) behind the setting is early exploration and colonization. In fact I want the 'European' peoples to be doing this, just doing it early, so to speak (middle age technology, but with magic and flying creatures facilitating the travel). The primary motivations for doing this will be magical rather than conventional economics (though the beginnings of some mercantile economics might make for interesting sub-themes). So, one possible campaign plot will be the usual find-the-magic-McGuffin, but I want the metaplot to sit far enough in the background that a campaign could easily be set up on other preferences. If the reason for a colony is a search for some magic power, not everyone has to be aware of, or even care about, this purpose.

4) The world is all islands. This facilitates modular building. I want a GM to be able to literally plot down an island of his own whenever and wherever he wants to, or conversely to pull one out of the setting if he doesn't like what I've done with it. In place of continents, we will have archipelagos, and peoples not normally associated with sea life will simply live in the interiors of large islands.

5) The world is flat. Heck, it even has a center. (I think that is where I will put the elves.)

6) History should be part of the setting, as in, things will change over the course of a campaign. I think I actually want to try and build the prospect of historical developments into the setting a bit. Nothing too elaborate. Just make a place for the GM to plot major developments and changes, chart the spread of inventions or trade goods, note regional conquests, etc.

[Dr. Velocity]

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay uses fantasized versions of real-world cultures and geography, in a lot of places, using very ancient base and root words and phrases such as Brettonia and Nippon, vaguely recognizable but not in common use, so without duplicating that exactly, you might look into historical root words and native and foreign terms for the various cultures and nations as you've done with your Turtle Island, which I kind of like rather than using the native word, you've translated it back into a more recognizable term.

[Brimshack]

Thanks Doc.

I finally sat down and pressed the issue to something like a tentative conclusion. Rather than looking for obscure root words, etc. I opted to continue with descriptive terms such as "Turtle Islands." Most actually do not have the sub-reference qualities of that one, but that's okay. Coming up with alternatives for the languages was a little more difficult, but less important. For now, I have kept the names of various language families as the descriptions of regional languages in this world. The result crowds some language families more than others, but it's just a jumping off point. I may eventually rename all the languages to something completely fictional.

So, I made a map just to see if I could get the archipelagoes into some sort of workable spatial relationships and that worked to my satisfaction. ...i.e. I have the beginnings of an idea as to how this will work.

Step next - Mystical Twists

1) Trait Bias. Worlds of Hurt uses a system of opposed binary traits as a means of structuring relations between creatures of different qualities and people of different moral values, etc. Most simply this means raising Aid bonuses to allies by 2 when you share a Trait and raising damage by 4 when you possess a trait opposite your intended victim. One thing I want to do is bias every region with a prominent conflict. Simply put the affinity and opposition bonuses for one pair of opposed trait will be raised by 1 in that region of the world. So, depending on where you are the major conflict may be between good and evil or it may be between art and science, etc. The idea here is to define each major region not by a single value, but by a conflict. If you go there, you will be caught up in the central conflict as it is always going to be just a little more important than the others. Now, I am beginning to think about how to assign the conflicts to the different regions.

2) A quirk. This will be just some specific twist on how things work in a given part of the world. I will use these to facilitate a relationship between geography and meta-plot schemes. I have one in mind now, and that is for the Isle of Elves, which is in the center of the world. If you sail out of a port in the elven isle, you will get some benefit to the journey. Now I will basically write it into the history of the world that the elven isle recently opened up 1 or 2 ports to other regions and this is one of the things that has begun to facilitate exploration and colonization. ...I may even locate a school of navigation on the sylvan Isle and/or a sort of Prince Henry. Why the elves are suddenly interested in facilitating travel is another matter?

[Brimshack]

Let's see if I can fit this in here:

Regional Breakdown

Reference * * * Name * * * Known Language(s)

Dagons * * * Isle of Wyrms * * * Ur*

Native North America * * * Turtle Islands * * * Algic, Caddo, Hirokone, Muskogee, Nadené, Pinutian, Salish, Teton, Uto

Native Central America * * * Xictlico Islands * * * Mayan, Nauhuatl, Yuman   

Amazonia * * * The Flooded Isle * * * Tupi   

Andes * * * Isles of the Sun * * * Andean, Mapadungun
   (Includes South America other than the Amazon)

Elven * * * Sylvan Isle * * * Sylvan*

Sub-Saharan Africa * * * Cradle Islands * * * Bantu, Khoisan, Nilotic   

Oceania * * * Coral Islands * * * Melanesian, Micronesian, Polynesian   

Arctic * * * Bear Islands * * * Aleut, Sami, Siberian

Europe * * * Sunset Isles * * * Celtic, Germanic,Mediteranean, Nordic,Slavik

Oriental * * * Sunrise Islands * * * Arabian, Indus,Indonesian, Persian, Semitic, Dravidian, Khmer, Malaysian. Sanskrit, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese

Asia * * * Wisdom Isles * * * Han (Might split out a few from this), Korean, Mongolian, Nipponese, Tibetan

Australia * * * Under Isles * * * Aboriginal

* Indicates a Kindred Speech rather than a Regional Dialect.






Regional Breakdown

Place * * * Common Values * * * Major Value Conflict(s)

Isle of Wyrms * * * Social vs Solitary

Turtle Islands. * * *  ??            

Xictlico Islands * * * Death vs Life      
   
The Flooded Isle * * * Enigmatic vs Imposing

Isles of the Sun * * *                

Sylvan Isle * * * Art vs Science
   Quirk: Sailors aboard any ship that sets into port at the Sylvan Isle will reduce all chances of random disasters by 1 for the balance of the intended journey to a maximum duration of 1 month per point of the Captain's Presence.

Cradle Islands * * *                

Coral Islands * * * Carnivorous vs Herbivorous   

Bear Islands * * * Darkness vs Light

Sunset Isles * * * Commoner vs Noble

Sunrise Islands * * * Art vs Science

Wisdom Isles * * * Violence vs Pacifism

Under Isles * * *

[Brimshack]

So, just thinking one of these through a bit, what about "The Coral Isles"? Okay, this is Oceania. Right now, I am just going with 3 languages for 3 regions. I'm not even basing these on language families so much as simple regional differences.

So, I will make a series of islands with 3 general regions. On the map, much of this will be unexplored. We might just pick one or two islands and give some details about each. I intend to do this primarily through first person narrative, then break out a side-bar with a few relevant game stats for the region (population, languages, kingdoms, etc.). Somewhere in there I also need to describe the general technology (lists of weapons, armor, etc.) and fauna (including monsters and such).

A GM could then locate a sequence of games on a known island, thus taking advantage of narrative already provided in the game book, or she could fill in one of the unexplored parts with something of her own creation.

So, then what do I want to make the central regional conflict? The idea here is to take something loosely associated with the region and spin it into a fantasy plot point re-enforced by a skewing of the trait system.

I can think of two ideas off-hand, one of which is represented in the actual chart up above.

1) Carnivore vs Herbivor. When I first plotted this one out, I had more something like lions versus unicorns in mind. But, the islands have many stories of cannibalism (to say nothing of Euro-American ideas about islanders, or for that matter actual practices of cannibalism in some islands). So, the potential to play off this is huge. I automatically give any creature of person with a hint of cannibalism the trait "Carnivorous", and this sets up the potential opposition.

Think Shark-Men, raised with the advice that they must never eat meat, and when they do, then turn into ravenous monsters, eating their neighbors. Think stories of cannibal spirits which must be defeated by local heroes to ensure safety of their people. Think of European characters travelling to an isle of cannibals they expect to fight and finding out when they get there that the cannibals are not people, but goblin-type creatures in the mountain. Lot's of possibilities.

Problem: The herbivorous angle is weak. Most everyone out there eats fish and other things. So, if cannibalism works as an exaggeration of meat-eating, the other end of the dynamic is weaker. I can fudge this in a variety of ways. I can say that in the isles eating fish doesn't count as meat. Then leave eating pig as ambiguous or even ritually scheduled, okay at some times not others. Alternatively or in addition to this, I can set out another extreme for the opposition between carnivor and herbivore. Perhaps only the priesthood (completely fictional in this instance, no longer trying to tap the real deal) is herbivorous, as are some magical forces in the area. People are expected to be in the middle. So, the conflict remains what it is, but characters will be pulled back and forth by the sides, not necessarily being expected to take one side or another.

2) Wandering vs Nesting. Here the issue is rooted more in social structures as many of the islands have a tradition that some people came from outside and some were local. This gets worked into historical narratives and kinship system, etc. I can even say that everyone on an island gets one or the other trait, depending on their clan identities. Now add that outsiders arriving will necessarily be associated with the outsider status and hence treated as 'wanderers' and we have an interesting buy-in for both local plots and for islander-meets-outsider plots.

The guiding principle in this choice is not accuracy. It's a question of how best to cerate interesting plot hooks with some of the flavor of the source material. Either way, once I pick a major point of conflict, I am going to build a small mythology around it. That mythology will have points in common with the real thing, but it won't match. Some features of this imaginary world will be dictated by the logic of the game, though the intent will still be to establish some of the flavor of pacific islands.

What kind of games or campaigns will be set in this part of the world? Three main possibilities.

1) Purely local. You're character is native and you have a plot of a purely native kind. You encounter native peoples and beasts and fight a battle over native interests. Perhaps heroes sent t destroy cannibal spirits, or explorers in search of an island to settle, etc.

2) Your an outsider and you come here for some reason relative to the metaplot of the world. How do you treat the natives? Do you help them? Hurt them? Think they are good? evil? Do you get what you want? Do you change your mind about what you want?

3) Your a native and outsiders show up on a boat. What are they here for? Will they be of help to you and your people? Will they harm you? Do you want to make them go away? Do you want them to stay? Can you use them as leverage in a local plot? ...etc.