Let's talk about the worlds that aren't part of official D&D settings that are in various mediums and how those worlds and how we can translate them, or some of their elements, to D&D and games of its ilk.
Thinking back, there are two anime series that have a bit of a D&D feel to them that I haven't heard all that many people talk about. I'm sure a lot of people talk about Record of Lodoss War, and yes, that series practically looks and feels like D&D sessions. But I haven't heard a whole lot of people talk about Chaika: Coffin Princess or Scrapped Princess in terms of D&D. Both have some great lore, mechanics, Classes, Subclasses, and the like to draw on for any number of play experiences. I recently went back and looked at a few episodes of Chaika, so I'll talk a bit about that. In summary, Chaika: the Coffin Princess is about a series of events after a war, the war was ended when the king of a vast kingdom that had started the war was slain by a band later known as "The 8 Heroes" and each was awarded one of the pieces of that king by their ruler and hid them because of some strange magic that king had used caused his body to not be touched by the natural world after being killed, fast forward a few decades and a number of similar looking teenage girls all calling themselves "Chaika" appear carrying or dragging coffins with them, all claiming to be that defeated king's daughter, seeking out the pieces of that same king who had died; the story proper starts when one of the main characters encounters one of the Chaikas and dedicates himself to helping her in her pursuits.
The approach the series takes to magic use is distinct, to use magic you need a special tool called "gaunder" but what form that tool takes can vary, the Chaika we spend most of our time with in the series uses a sniper rifle-looking gaunder, we encounter a few different gaunder types throughout the series but most seem to be a type of firearm. The rules for spell use are unique, to me anyway, in that the price to use the spells must be paid in mental energies; the price is usually negated by using fossils in some way, the more powerful the spell the greater the price, but we are told if you are devoid of fossils the price you will pay will [Spoilers]. The series also gives us two potential new subclasses, one probably could just be its own class, in the form of the Sabatouer, a possible Rogue subclass, and Dragoon Cavalier, which could be either its own class or a subclass of Fighter.
Scrapped Princess is a little different, it's setting and approach are notable. We see all sorts of people in different what basically amount to D&D type roles, one of the main characters is even stated to be caster akin to a sorcerer. Scrapped Princess takes place on a place known as the "Continent of Trashbin" and all about we see remnants of a once technologically advanced world that has now been dropped technologically into medieval era and has been stuck there for generations for an indiscernible amount of time. The story of the series itself centers around girl who was born a princess but had a prophecy that states she is the "poison that will destroy the world" on her 16th birthday, so there are a lot of people trying to kill her before that happens after it is revealed she did not die as an infant. Fortunately, she is kept safe by her older siblings as they move from one place to another in attempts to keep her safe. Her older brother is a warrior of some kind, what kind is revealed in the story at a certain point, and her older sister is a magic user akin to a sorcerer.
I highly recommend both series, despite their settings being somewhat different setting structures. Both offer up some great opportunities and I'm a bit disappointed so few people even have some working knowledge of the two series.
So, what are some series that you think would make a good D&D campaign setting? What are your thoughts on what has been brought up so far?
Let's talk about the worlds that aren't part of official D&D settings that are in various mediums and how those worlds and how we can translate them, or some of their elements, to D&D and games of its ilk.
Thinking back, there are two anime series that have a bit of a D&D feel to them that I haven't heard all that many people talk about. I'm sure a lot of people talk about Record of Lodoss War, and yes, that series practically looks and feels like D&D sessions. But I haven't heard a whole lot of people talk about Chaika: Coffin Princess or Scrapped Princess in terms of D&D. Both have some great lore, mechanics, Classes, Subclasses, and the like to draw on for any number of play experiences. I recently went back and looked at a few episodes of Chaika, so I'll talk a bit about that. In summary, Chaika: the Coffin Princess is about a series of events after a war, the war was ended when the king of a vast kingdom that had started the war was slain by a band later known as "The 8 Heroes" and each was awarded one of the pieces of that king by their ruler and hid them because of some strange magic that king had used caused his body to not be touched by the natural world after being killed, fast forward a few decades and a number of similar looking teenage girls all calling themselves "Chaika" appear carrying or dragging coffins with them, all claiming to be that defeated king's daughter, seeking out the pieces of that same king who had died; the story proper starts when one of the main characters encounters one of the Chaikas and dedicates himself to helping her in her pursuits.
The approach the series takes to magic use is distinct, to use magic you need a special tool called "gaunder" but what form that tool takes can vary, the Chaika we spend most of our time with in the series uses a sniper rifle-looking gaunder, we encounter a few different gaunder types throughout the series but most seem to be a type of firearm. The rules for spell use are unique, to me anyway, in that the price to use the spells must be paid in mental energies; the price is usually negated by using fossils in some way, the more powerful the spell the greater the price, but we are told if you are devoid of fossils the price you will pay will [Spoilers]. The series also gives us two potential new subclasses, one probably could just be its own class, in the form of the Sabatouer, a possible Rogue subclass, and Dragoon Cavalier, which could be either its own class or a subclass of Fighter.
Scrapped Princess is a little different, it's setting and approach are notable. We see all sorts of people in different what basically amount to D&D type roles, one of the main characters is even stated to be caster akin to a sorcerer. Scrapped Princess takes place on a place known as the "Continent of Trashbin" and all about we see remnants of a once technologically advanced world that has now been dropped technologically into medieval era and has been stuck there for generations for an indiscernible amount of time. The story of the series itself centers around girl who was born a princess but had a prophecy that states she is the "poison that will destroy the world" on her 16th birthday, so there are a lot of people trying to kill her before that happens after it is revealed she did not die as an infant. Fortunately, she is kept safe by her older siblings as they move from one place to another in attempts to keep her safe. Her older brother is a warrior of some kind, what kind is revealed in the story at a certain point, and her older sister is a magic user akin to a sorcerer.
I highly recommend both series, despite their settings being somewhat different setting structures. Both offer up some great opportunities and I'm a bit disappointed so few people even have some working knowledge of the two series.
So, what are some series that you think would make a good D&D campaign setting? What are your thoughts on what has been brought up so far?