I have an idea for a world for my players but can't figure out how to explain the new world. I imagine it as a world much like Earth but having magic and creatures from DandD world. The main character is destine to save the world from the harbinger. What I can't figure out is how to explain why some characters have access to their character sheet and level up abilities but other 'normal' characters still live much like we do. Any suggestions would be great. I don't want it to be like your typical video game like world just one where most but not all have game like abilities and progression.
Ok, first off I feel the need to advise against a "main character". The game should lift everyone to the pantheon of heroes (or villains) and not just one pre-ordained player!
Second, are you suggesting that one character plays an actual character and the others play commoners? That's all I can work out from your post, by "why some characters have access to their character sheet and level up abilities but other 'normal' characters still live much like we do". If this is the plan, I recommend against it as well, unless it's just for the first half of the introduction session.
If you're after a world where most people have heroic capabilities, I guess what you're looking for is what's called a High Magic world - magic is everywhere, logically so too is fighting prowess and skills, and the world is mainly comprised of first-level magic users and fighters, rangers, monks etc., and the party all climb above that by leveling up.
I wil lsay that the Chosen One idea would work if you made a slightly gammy prophecy ("The chosen one will be born under this star, to a woman called Alice, at midnight") and then tel lthe players to make characters that fit this criteria, so that every one of them could be the chosen one. Might make good competitive roleplay if they all think they're the chosen one, and keeps the prophecy true if they do succeed, no matter who finishes it!
I have an idea for a world for my players but can't figure out how to explain the new world. I imagine it as a world much like Earth but having magic and creatures from DandD world. The main character is destine to save the world from the harbinger. What I can't figure out is how to explain why some characters have access to their character sheet and level up abilities but other 'normal' characters still live much like we do. Any suggestions would be great. I don't want it to be like your typical video game like world just one where most but not all have game like abilities and progression.
Do you mean like why your player characters level up and have power and NPC’s don’t? There are lots of explanations you can go with (they are some of the rare people that have access to mana, etc) but the easiest and most common explanation is because they are adventurers, they go out and gain experience that makes them stronger and commoner NPCs don’t. That being said, there should still be plenty of other NPCs they encounter that ARE stronger/more powerful/more experienced than they are, particularly starting out. In a world of magic, one of the first rules is, no matter how strong you are, there is pretty much always someone stronger. Plus you want them to develop contacts and relationships with NPCs that have specialized knowledge and skills they can draw on on their quests because no party can ever become experts in every possible thing they will wind up needing along the way
Also, as a first time DM my self not too long ago, keep in mind how HARD creating an entire world from scratch is. I know you said you want to populate your world with D&D monsters, but I’d recommend drawing more than just monsters, take places and NPCs etc from the source books and just change names to fit your setting as much as you can. You can move more and more away from that as you build the world out, but creating an entire world from scratch is a lot of work
If you are looking for an Earth like setting with magic, hunt down a pdf of Urban Arcana. It was written for D&D 3.5, but it is a great book that can be mined for a tonne of ideas.
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I have an idea for a world for my players but can't figure out how to explain the new world. I imagine it as a world much like Earth but having magic and creatures from DandD world. The main character is destine to save the world from the harbinger. What I can't figure out is how to explain why some characters have access to their character sheet and level up abilities but other 'normal' characters still live much like we do. Any suggestions would be great. I don't want it to be like your typical video game like world just one where most but not all have game like abilities and progression.
Ok, first off I feel the need to advise against a "main character". The game should lift everyone to the pantheon of heroes (or villains) and not just one pre-ordained player!
Second, are you suggesting that one character plays an actual character and the others play commoners? That's all I can work out from your post, by "why some characters have access to their character sheet and level up abilities but other 'normal' characters still live much like we do". If this is the plan, I recommend against it as well, unless it's just for the first half of the introduction session.
If you're after a world where most people have heroic capabilities, I guess what you're looking for is what's called a High Magic world - magic is everywhere, logically so too is fighting prowess and skills, and the world is mainly comprised of first-level magic users and fighters, rangers, monks etc., and the party all climb above that by leveling up.
I wil lsay that the Chosen One idea would work if you made a slightly gammy prophecy ("The chosen one will be born under this star, to a woman called Alice, at midnight") and then tel lthe players to make characters that fit this criteria, so that every one of them could be the chosen one. Might make good competitive roleplay if they all think they're the chosen one, and keeps the prophecy true if they do succeed, no matter who finishes it!
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Do you mean like why your player characters level up and have power and NPC’s don’t? There are lots of explanations you can go with (they are some of the rare people that have access to mana, etc) but the easiest and most common explanation is because they are adventurers, they go out and gain experience that makes them stronger and commoner NPCs don’t. That being said, there should still be plenty of other NPCs they encounter that ARE stronger/more powerful/more experienced than they are, particularly starting out. In a world of magic, one of the first rules is, no matter how strong you are, there is pretty much always someone stronger. Plus you want them to develop contacts and relationships with NPCs that have specialized knowledge and skills they can draw on on their quests because no party can ever become experts in every possible thing they will wind up needing along the way
Also, as a first time DM my self not too long ago, keep in mind how HARD creating an entire world from scratch is. I know you said you want to populate your world with D&D monsters, but I’d recommend drawing more than just monsters, take places and NPCs etc from the source books and just change names to fit your setting as much as you can. You can move more and more away from that as you build the world out, but creating an entire world from scratch is a lot of work
If you are looking for an Earth like setting with magic, hunt down a pdf of Urban Arcana. It was written for D&D 3.5, but it is a great book that can be mined for a tonne of ideas.
Project Manager of Haphazard Projects