Background
After deciding to build a fantasy setting (see Why did I create my own fantasy setting?), I knew I needed a plan. By nature, I am a planner and detail-oriented person. By having a plan and working the plan, I was pretty sure I could get enough done to create a campaign for my setting.
Process
The first thing I did was imagine the setting I wanted. To help me get my creative juices flowing, I looked at the Google+ group called World Building. This community is not specifically about creating RPG worlds; it is for game designers, setting designers, and authors. By reading a lot of blogs and posts I started to develop some ideas about what I would want. I spent at least three to six months thinking about what I wanted.
In that time I devised some parameters around my new fantasy setting.
- I wanted a large world in which it took a long time to travel from one point to another. One advantage of a large world is that there are always plenty of places to explore.
- I wanted a world that was wetter and warmer than Earth.
- I wanted a world where ordinary people used bronze for weapons, someone with more money would use iron weapons, and very few would use steel. Part of this is because metal would be rare in this world, and with all the rain, there would be a lot of corrosion and rust.
- I wanted a world with a variety of races. Some could be used as character races, and some could not.
- I wanted all the player races to be from somewhere other than Nyonia.
- I wanted a pantheon that was real (not just imaginary), interacted with Nyonia and the inhabitants. I wanted people in the world to know that Nyonia gods were real.
- I wanted magic to be unique and varied.
Geography
I decided to start with the geography of Nyonia. In recent years, with the discovery of so many exoplanets, we have more data about what kinds of planets are possible. With the information I had on reasonable planetary sizes that might support life, I turned to a fractal world generator. Fractals are repeating patterns often found in nature and can be replicated using mathematical formulas and random number generators. Here is a list of four fractal world generators you might use. I have used TerraJ and Fractal Mapper 8. Both work well for an initial map of a world.
- Map to Globe - Online globe creator based on a PNG file. It can also generate a basic fractal terrain map.
- TerraJ - An excellent open-source fractal world generator.
- Fractal Terrains 3 - A commercial fractal world generator
- Fractal Mapper 8 - A commercial fractal world generator
The output from the TerraJ tool is a graphics file. I then used a commercial software mapping tool called Hexographer to create a more detailed world map. Hexographer has a feature that allows you to load a graphics file of a map, and then Hexographer will interpret the underlying image and 'guess' what kind of terrain should be used for each location on the map. This effort provided me with enough information to inspire some more creative thinking about the rest of the setting.
After I finished with world geography, I ended up working on four things simultaneously: races, a pantheon, a timeline (world history), and magic.
Races and Creation Myths
I wanted some unique races and names for well-known fantasy races. I first decided there were no mixed races (half-orc or half-elf). Each race had its unique genetic makeup, and any attempts at mixed-race reproduction would fail. The second thing I decided was I wouldn't have elves or anything like elves in my setting. The third thing I decided was that there would be a group of races known as the Elder Races and a second group known as the Younger Races. Players could play any Younger Races but could not play one of the Elder Races.
The creation myths for the Elder Races revolve around being created by the gods in the pantheon as part of a larger divine conflict. The creation myths for the Younger Races are divided into two groups: the two races that were created (Ainu and Wangai) or those who came from some other place and/or time (Koori, Easterlings, and Samara).
I freely admit I stole, borrowed, and twisted many parts of the races based on books and myths that I have read about.
World History (Timeline)
Creating a world history was very difficult. At first, everything I made looked like I had 'warmed over' Earth history or some other fantasy setting history. Fortunately, I was able to locate a couple of tools to start the creative juices flowing. http://tripleacegame...ief_History.pdf and http://www.fantasist.../timeline.shtml were helpful for me in being innovative about the timelines. The resulting timeline can be found here. And if you click on one of the pages, you get more details but not many.
Magic
One thing I have found very annoying in most RPG settings is that every mage ends up looking like every other mage. They all have fireballs, lightning bolts, summon servants, magic shields, etc. I decided to solve that problem by having each race and/or culture have its kind of magic. Once someone learns one type of magic, they cannot learn any magic from another race or culture. The reasons why magic works this way within the setting are unknown to those who live there. The players know that it isn't possible.
Some events in world history hint at magical catastrophes, which have almost always occurred because a mage tried to combine two kinds of magic.
I also decided that magic can be learned or an innate talent.
My analogy is based on my experience learning to play a guitar after I was 30. I can learn to play songs, follow along at a jam, and maybe even solo at a straight-up blues jam, but I will never be a talented guitar player. Talented guitar players tend to learn when they are very young and strongly desire to know their instrument and explore their talent. Talented guitar players tend to go farther in their playing and often have a broad set of playing skills and styles they can draw upon.
Magic in Nyonia works the same way. Anyone can learn a few spells from their race or culture, and they might be very good with those spells, but they will be limited when compared to someone with a talent for magic. Also, bad things tend to happen if they fail to cast the spell.
On the other hand, a person with a talent for magic will have a stronger ability and a much wider set of spells within their race/culture. They rarely fail when casting a spell, and even more rarely do the effects of a failed casting have any side effects (except for the loss of time and possibly materials).
Upcoming articles
Next, I will post about how I developed technology, nations, and governments for the races and cultures of Nyonia.