Weird Wonder

 

 

This old post from 2021 now is resurrected.  I love building NPCs. It gives me great joy. I think the way to build an interesting world isn’t about lore that lives in a campaign Bible(what I think of as the Elder Scrolls lore problem) but is actualized by the characters the players meet. Whether it’s the cabbage man whose business the players destroyed in a battle with a Mimic pretending to be a Market Stall or the French veteran half orc married to a Warforged tower, it’s how you make the world real. Note: this approach is for important NPCs in your campaign but could be used in pieces to give more off the cuff NPCs some additional depth and flavor. Questions that inform how I build NPCs: Ask yourself, why is this NPC here? What does this NPC want? Who are they like in popular fiction? How can they help or hinder the PCs? What do they sound like? Voice/cadence, formal/informal, confident/timid? What aspects might they have? aka sentences that reflect them and their values (this is...

After my last post on collaborative worldbuilding and faction making with your players, Seed of Worlds asked me to share more about how I managed the tone of the setting and enforced the guard-rails on wide open faction creation and to speak a bit about the process and how the players reacted. Recap: My Steps for Collaborative World Building Create a basic tone, rating for the campaign  Identify roles that each players wants to play (Spelljammer has ship roles but I feel like you could do this in a non-ship based game like "Face", "Tank" "Silent Warrior" "DPS" whatever language works for you).  Each player came up with a character based on that concept and the type of group/faction they might belong to. This could be as small as a clan or as big as a religion or royal dynasty. This is where the GM sets guard rails most. If you have strong feelings about factions you should be clear about what level of faction they can make re: size/influence.  M...

This is how I built my Spelljammer homebrew setting factions with my players (and how you can do it too!) Tone, Themes, Concept, Content Rating  I reviewed the original concepts from the Spelljammer 2E books and spent a good amount of time thinking about the tone and themes I wanted to explore in my magic spaceship game. My original pitch for the game was: Setting:  Space. The Final Frontier with Giant Magic Sail Boats Tone PG-13 for gross OSR monster violence, no sexual content fade to black.  Lighthearted, humorous but with serious stakes external to you that you get pulled into unfortunately. Themes:  Exploring unknown space and getting in over your head and over your pay grade  The power of friendship  Light is not Good, Dark is not Evil. Galactic Conflict plus Existential Threats Everyone is a Mess™️ but it’s funny AND somewhat lighthearted Mass Effect style loyalty quests The Astral Sea is a Harsh Mistress/Space is Dangerous and Anything Can Be Out Th...

 As you gaze down, you find that you are now wearing a worn tabard with heraldry of a lord you do not recognize. It is rent with many holes from sword or arrow or dagger. Your teeth are clattering, clicking against one another, rapidly and frenetically. You find it difficult to concentrate or focus.  Your boots are slipping and slipping on the ground, slick with a strange slimy bioluminescent mud. Try with all your might, scraping it against flagstones, it is stuck fast. You hear a clink of coins. Looking down, a trail of large ants is descending from your coin purse, each bearing a piece of currency on its back.  The harsh circuitous winds carry the sound of the Lost Seraphim’s laughter to your ears. It is all you can hear. Nothing but the laughter fills your ears. Behind your left shoulder you hear the panting of many mouths, hot breath making the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention. A single drop of boiling saliva drips slowly onto your skin. When you tur...

The Radion PsyTower shimmers on the edge of the Groaning Gale, a perpetual malaise of wind and creaking sounds hovering over Lake Radion. Many animals and other creatures living in the lake and shore are prone to song but there is not much agreement on tune, key, or melody, hence the groaning. It is an area prone to confusion and mischief. The Psytower is not so much built with a foundation as it is an idea. If you expect it to be there, it will be.  When you expect it to be there and it hungers it manifests thus: garish colored blocks arranged in a haphazard fashion, ascending 10 stories though the upper floors are hidden by the gloom of the storm. The Groaning Gale gives it ample room, its creatures waiting to pick up whatever scraps remain after the feeding. If you perk your ears up and listen very closely over the cacophony of tuneless song of the lake creatures, one can hear the strange, confused joyful laughter of many mouths. That is the grief laughter of the Lost Seraphim. ...