[Torap]

Ok, it may be a stupid idea, but I'm a fairly new player. So there's my excuse if it is. The point is for a group of players who will be together for long enough to play through several smaller campaigns to create the real setting and back story for a larger world. This way it will have al threr personalities built in.

Here's my starting point.

The Grandmaster of the Mages Guild of Coltar has devised an experiment to study... EVERYTHING.
Over the past 287, they have created the outline of a new material plane. They have captured and bred many types of animals, goblinoids, giants, and monsters. Rumors have spread that they may have even abducted children from the civilized races for this experiment.
Skip forward 4 years…
After 291 years of hard work and careful planning, it’s almost complete. Now comes the most critical part, placement of the sustaining runes. If not placed correctly, the world will not survive, and the life’s work of many will have been in vain. The first two runes placed open a portal and stabilize a very small area, from which the real work begins. The Grandmaster himself goes on this journey, such is the importance.
Back in Coltar, the guild steward released all of the newly born creatures into the plain and then removed the sustaining rune of transportation on his end of the portal, sealing the world from all others, and claims the project failed. So begins his rise to power…
In the new plain, the Grandmaster finds the fabric of magic to be very different, effectively robbing him of a lifetime of study. Once his duties are complete, he returns to the site of the dimensional gate to return home. Long before he reaches it, he realizes something is very wrong. He and his entourage were supposed to be the only life here, but all types of creatures roam free. When he reaches the gate and discovers the treachery, he curses himself for his foolishness. However, there is nothing he can do at this point. His fate rests on him and his companions creating a place of refuge before the creatures take over everything. He finds several dozen children of varying “civilized” races at the place the gate once was. There are no gods to rule him, new magic to discover, lands to be changed, cities to be built. This is the start of a new world.
And because of the betrayal, the power to form it is his …
Fate can so fickle…


So starting about 500 years in the future is my plan. What do you think?

[Holy Deg]

I like your back story. It definitly should lend itself to doing whatever you want storywisse (not that you couldn't before, but this is different). This has the appearence of a good chance to limit a lot things (size and quantity of towns, technology, magic, history) and really let your players develop everthing (same list as before).

[super sorcerer]

Sound like a great idea. If I was a player in that world I think I would have asked you the following questions:

Is the game played on the standart DND plain cosmology but in an other material plane?
Sounds like the arcmage is basicaly the most powerfull beeing in the plane, Did he managed to "plane shift" from the world?
If not, is he still alive?
What kind of monsters exist in that plane and how did they get there?

[Cuilean]

Excellent, thought-provoking lead-in.

Be careful, though. You've painted yourself towards (but not fully into) a corner from the fantasy aspect.

You say there are "no gods to rule him", but the gods aren't necessarily limited in the traversal of planes through the same methods-of-magic that limit mortals.

If you decide (as is your right) that the gods can't reach this APM (alternate Prime Material), then you have a role that will be sorely lacking. Namely, without access to divine powers, there will have to be some other source that supports the needs of a very young society.

With arcane magic also being crippled to the extent that a archmage's learning is nearly worthless, you won't be able to rely on the arcane workaround, either. You have to figure out what/where/how this society survives without effectively becoming nomadic hunter-gatherers (unless, of course, that's your goal. )

[Dthclaw]

Extremely intriguing. It definitely puts the traditional "I'm the DM, I make the game world" philosophy on its head.

To counter some of the gameplay issues that crop up, as Cuilean noted, I would suggest having something along the following - hostile revisionism. Perhaps there are creatures or other entities in or outside of existence that do not like the state of the current universe/multiverse. Although you're presenting this character's existence as being a blank slate, maybe he's not the only one trying to shape/reshape his new surroundings.

Also, if you're really into the "I'm making up the universe as I go along" sort of thing, I'd suggest trying to find some copies of the old Myst fiction books (they were quite good, and I'm sure you could adapt some of the concepts and ideas presented there to your setting). For example, if these planes are of external creation and design, what happens when someone from home starts rewriting the universe around you?

[Torap]

I've actualy thought through alot of these things, but cut down on my first post's content, not really knowing how it would be recieved.

To Super Sorcerer
1. The plain is more of a sub-matierial plane, conectable to, yet currently hidden from, all planes save the prime matierial, to which it still has a residual link through the void.
2.The archmage is not the main point and hence has died at this point, but began the foundation of magical reaserch in the city he founded. his Lawful good legacy lives on.
3. the monters on the plain are the ones that came through in the begining, posibly plus a few sent through by the new guildmaster(old treacherous steward) to ensure noone returns. (Remember, he DID keep the dominant rune that conected his side...)

To Cuilean
1. The plan is for the first campaign players to atain godhood for the future campaigns. see above plane rules for outer god introduction. It's not that they can't reach it, it's just that it's only connection to anywhere(and the only clue to it's existance) is an obscure rune in the prime matierial plane, left over from a "failed" expiriment. I'm sure at least one or two gods know of the betrayal...
2. Arcane is crippled only to the extent that different paths are used here, and must be learned. I plan to have spells up to lvl2 and select spells to lvl5 availible.

To Dthclaw
1. Though dead now, certain monsters were alowed through by the betrayer. Several dragon eggs perhaps. If I get pissed, mabey you find a torasque.
2. The plane is complete and stablized. The runes are actualy no longer necisary to the plane's survival, but are still quite powerful.(posible Major quest option) The plain took almost 300 years to prepare and the setting took a good 5 more. Manipulation of this plane is no easier than it would be for any other.

A big part of me creating this is that it allows a relativly new player(like me) to dm a world that can legitly have only the options they fully understand or are curently studying, but is still expandable with experiance.

[Dthclaw]

Quote

A big part of me creating this is that it allows a relativly new player(like me) to dm a world that can legitly have only the options they fully understand or are curently studying, but is still expandable with experiance.

Ah, so there's the crux of it all. I'd suggest then that rather than trying to define a world ahead of time, you might want to instead just go into it with a more general idea of what's going on. Gradually introduce new material as you and your players grow more comfortable with the ruleset - the more you define a campaign ahead of time, the more confined you will be on what you can do without stretching your credibility (and, speaking from experience, you'll need time to gain the ability to make drastic in-campaign changes without causing disruptions).

For example, in the campaign I'm currently running all of the PCs have amnesia brought on by an extremely powerful curse. This allows me to control the rate of introducing material without having to ret-con a whole lot of things. If something changes, or if I have to come up with something different for an evening, I have plenty of latitude to do so without disrupting the material I've already concocted.

[Torap]

Yes, well, the only dm I've had, I've played with two times.
1)Three players, he tell the barbarian(the only expeiranced one) to play a cleric. I'm a warlock. the other is a ranger. All level one. First encounter, Oger. Game over.
2)Same three players, me a sorcerer, he gets his barbarian, the other new one gets the cleric. less than 10 encounters, we're lvl 3. at this point, we nubs have been locked out for both major battles.

all this to say, I would rather play than run, but I'd rather run it than put up with his crap. He almost made both me and "X" hate the game, and the vetran player boycoted him.

[Torap]

Sorry about that last one, I usaly don't let that side through so much.
Anyway, in a word this new, mining is VERY crude. Copper, tin. Hence bornze. So no silver or gold...
Definatly no platnum.
So everything is going to have to relly more on a bartering system. VERY advantagious if the players use it right...

[Holy Deg]

I can understand feeling frustrated about playing with a DM like that. When my wife and I first started playing D&D 2.5 years ago the DM played the strongest character in the party (3 or 4 levels higher than anyone else, plus powerful magic items for the sole purpose of cheesing him out) and most of the stuff we fought was put into the campaign just to show off how good the DM's character was. I only played 2 or 3 sessions before deciding to try DMing myself.

I decided to create my own world, and because all the planes seemed rather monumental, I decided to have them "sealed". I later discovered that the way that had worked their sealing really limited what I could do, so I had to work a plan to get them unsealed (it actually worked out to my benefit, since I decided to make it a major plot point for my players, who are actually working to prevent the sealing from coming undone too soon).

This being said, I still think that your world/plot idea sounds fantastic, and could really work for learning the game at your own speed (although, you will find that as the DM, you're going to learn it a lot faster than your players). My big recommendation would be to start playing around 1 single town, and wait to flesh out the rest of your world until either your players make it evident that they want to explore it, or until you feel your own word building skills have improved.

[super sorcerer]

I always play on worlds that I create, if I will ever run a game in a preapared world then it will be the "Oriental Adventures" world. I also never run 2 campains in the same world. It is fine becouse most of the times I am a player.

A few more questions and idea's:
1) Is there druid magic in your plane? if so then what is the role of druids in your society?
2) What kind of weapons and armor did they develop in your plane?
3) Does this plane have it's own ethereal,astral and shadow planes?
4) Which classes (both PC and NPC) are common in your plane?

Overall it a great idea of history for your world to make it an arcane made plane.

[Torap]

Thanks for the questions!

But the goal of a multi campaign world is to tailor it to the players.
1)Yes, there are druids, and other classes, on this plain. Since the goal was to recreate the nature of the prime material plane, Who better to make sure it gets done right? As for society, everyone has to be somewhat tribal and primitive.
2)The armor system will need some work. There will be leather, tin, copper, and bronze armor and weapons, and NO magic ones. But imagine the chaos the first Iron items will cause...(hint hint)
3)No. It is atachable and infact quiet atached to ALL other plains, *DM breaths sigh of relief* and can have many things show up for no aparent reason. (Imagine a tarrasque being wished away...) I'm sure the bond to the other planes will be discovered by a powerful being in the course of their studies someday soon...
4)Players handbook 1. DMG1. The Archmage was no fool. He may have even planed this to creat a "better world"... That posibility aside, He had a backup plan incase he couldn't go back. This incuded his entourage.

He brought: (* with knowlage of the risk, #without, ! had suspicions, 1 symbol per person, Reason at the end)
Druids**(Make nature natural)
Fighters*##!!!(Um.... ya... if you need it explained...)
Bards!!!! (Entertainment)
Wizards*###!!!!(it's there guild)
Monks*(to teach the children)
Cleric*(devoted only to lawful good Ideals and healing)
Ranger# (to map the land)

other options for class

Paladin-Trained by the fighter, taught by the cleric.
Barbarian-Natural to a tribal community.
Sorcerer-"what do you mean your father was a dragon?"

How does that sound?