Summery at the bottom, for anyone that doesn't want to read all of my lore.
I'm running the first session of a campaign for a custom setting I built that crosses the mythological fantasy of Theros with an Eberron-esque magipunk flare.
The world itself is a traditional mythological setting, very similar to that of Theros, where magical locations and powerful beings are abundant. The mythology is also pretty standard, organised into 4 types of gods;
Origin gods, the ones that have always been, and have no physical avatar in the world, but rather embody the world itself. They have no names, but are simply know as what they are; Magic, Earth, Sea, and Sky.
Celestial gods, like those in the Greek pantheon. They have more direct worship and presence in the world, but cannot hold a solid physical form of the material plane.
Transcendent gods, similar to the "lesser" gods of traditional mythology, have a physical form that can travel between the material plane and the celestial realm, and have domain over a specific part of a celestial god's larger domain; titles such as god of the moon or god of the north wind fall under this category.
Ascendent gods, beings that were once mortal but gained great amounts of power after doing great feats. They are not true gods, as they can be killed, but they can control the appearance of their age and other aspects of their form. Their power level as well as their titles very greatly depending on what they did to reach ascension. When a being becomes Ascendant it often creates an ascendant artifact that reflects its accomplishments. Titles such as Ascendent King of Siliweth or Ascendent protector of forgotten islands. Ascendents have a constant, tangible form in the world, but cannot enter the celestial realm.
As for the magicpunk elements, Artifice has been the focus of the Xoria kingdom for the past several centuries, quickly moving to the forefront of progress and transforming the capital into a city where with clockwork gears and magical machines power the simplest aspects of life, so that the city itself feels like a moving, pulsing machine. The Ascendent King of this land locks himself in a clockwork citadel for months at a time, only leaving to reveal his newest inventions, the newest cog in the ever-expanding machine of progress. All of this has led to prosperity among the upper fringes of society while the edges of his kingdom fall lower and lower into poverty, as any city or town that is unable to play a part in his grand ambitions is left to rot under the influence of gangs, corrupt authority figures, and bandits attacking anyone that tries to escape along unguarded pathways.
There are also two other large Kingdoms, a kingdom founded on magic that is equally corrupted but in less obvious ways, and a kingdom of elves that remains uninvolved in the affairs of either of the others.
And, mixed in with all of this, we have traditional swashbuckling elements, with pistols, pirates, and sea battles.
Summary: I will be running a campaign in a custom setting that mixes mythological fantasy, magipunk, and swashbuckling. Working within such a mixed setting, how would you approach this? How would you build a campaign in a way that none of these elements get lost? What sort of encounters ideas do you have that could combine two or more of these elements? Any type ideas or feedback would be helpful.
I think most of what you'd need to do with this is pitch the setting and genre to your players, make sure they know the asthetic of the world they're making a character for, and let the characters they create reinforce the setting for you. Make sure your players know what you're shooting for and make sure they're excited about it to.
Then all you need to do is just describe the world with all its hooks and mysteries, answer your players' questions, and build on what interests them.
Have each of the contrasting setting elements represented in stark contrast by opposing extremist factions or NPCs. For example, the forest fairy druids hate Artifice. A legion of Paladins of the Ascendant clock tower king is dedicated to wiping out magic rooted in the Originals, etc. Any time you're worried that contrasting themes will get muddled into a murky brown, show them in stark contrast by embodying their pure extremes.
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Summery at the bottom, for anyone that doesn't want to read all of my lore.
I'm running the first session of a campaign for a custom setting I built that crosses the mythological fantasy of Theros with an Eberron-esque magipunk flare.
The world itself is a traditional mythological setting, very similar to that of Theros, where magical locations and powerful beings are abundant. The mythology is also pretty standard, organised into 4 types of gods;
As for the magicpunk elements, Artifice has been the focus of the Xoria kingdom for the past several centuries, quickly moving to the forefront of progress and transforming the capital into a city where with clockwork gears and magical machines power the simplest aspects of life, so that the city itself feels like a moving, pulsing machine. The Ascendent King of this land locks himself in a clockwork citadel for months at a time, only leaving to reveal his newest inventions, the newest cog in the ever-expanding machine of progress. All of this has led to prosperity among the upper fringes of society while the edges of his kingdom fall lower and lower into poverty, as any city or town that is unable to play a part in his grand ambitions is left to rot under the influence of gangs, corrupt authority figures, and bandits attacking anyone that tries to escape along unguarded pathways.
There are also two other large Kingdoms, a kingdom founded on magic that is equally corrupted but in less obvious ways, and a kingdom of elves that remains uninvolved in the affairs of either of the others.
And, mixed in with all of this, we have traditional swashbuckling elements, with pistols, pirates, and sea battles.
Summary: I will be running a campaign in a custom setting that mixes mythological fantasy, magipunk, and swashbuckling. Working within such a mixed setting, how would you approach this? How would you build a campaign in a way that none of these elements get lost? What sort of encounters ideas do you have that could combine two or more of these elements? Any type ideas or feedback would be helpful.
I write homebrew and don't publish it. (evil, I know)
I think most of what you'd need to do with this is pitch the setting and genre to your players, make sure they know the asthetic of the world they're making a character for, and let the characters they create reinforce the setting for you. Make sure your players know what you're shooting for and make sure they're excited about it to.
Then all you need to do is just describe the world with all its hooks and mysteries, answer your players' questions, and build on what interests them.
Have each of the contrasting setting elements represented in stark contrast by opposing extremist factions or NPCs. For example, the forest fairy druids hate Artifice. A legion of Paladins of the Ascendant clock tower king is dedicated to wiping out magic rooted in the Originals, etc. Any time you're worried that contrasting themes will get muddled into a murky brown, show them in stark contrast by embodying their pure extremes.