Floating chunks of stone drift in the sky over the heads of horned men, godless shepherds and keepers of the Valley of Thirst, it’s yellow, sallowed grass tall to their knees and yearning to be quenched in rains that never come.
Hey everyone!
Setting design can be challenging. Coming up with ideas for locations, setting up epic storylines that are ripe with opportunities for adventure...it can be a daunting task to take on. I’m not going to solve that problem for you today, but I’m going to talk about my approach and introduce some of my techniques, and hopefully you gain something from what I have to offer here.
Smash two things together
This is advice I borrowed from Stephen King. In his book On Writing, King discusses one of the methods he uses to come up with a new story: he takes two elements and mashes them together to create something new.
Here’s a personal example, and let’s make it interesting. Let’s write up two random lists, roll on them, and see what we get and what we come up with when we combine them.
LIST ONE: MONSTERS
Skeleton
Zombie
Vampire
Goblin
Orc
Elemental
Dragon
Ooze
Demon
Bandit
Spider
Shark
LIST TWO: SUBSTANCE
Bone
Blood
Jelly
Rust
Metal
Crystal
Time
Children’s Dreams
Wood
Ice
Lava
Psionic Energy
My results: Elemental [6] and Children’s Dreams [8]
Okay, how about this:
A massive storm has settled over the lands of Areyna, thick and roiling clouds of purple and crimson filling the sky, choking out sunlight. Flashes of black lightning strike between the clouds and the earth, leaving a smell like sulfur filling the air.
Areyna is cursed. Everywhere, from the shores of Usuria in the east to the Valley of Thirst to the west, children are succumbing to a strange illness, slipping into comas from which they cannot be stirred. Now, strange beasts stalk the landscape -- half formed monsters and slithering oozes, and gelatinous reptilian things that fly, and other oddities.
The worst of them are massive entities formed of shimmering energy, through which one can see glimpses of bizarre places, twisted faces, and other obscure details: these are Elementals, forged from the dreams of the comatose children.
And they must be stopped. Destroying an elemental frees a group of children bound to it, waking them from the prison of their sleep. But the elementals are everywhere. The player characters have answered a calling to rescue Areyna and free it from its curse...and to save the children.
Overall, the key is, as with anything, practice. My techniques for creating settings aren’t original or even revolutionary, it’s just taking chances with bits of things that pop into my head, inspired by what I read, what I watch on TV, video games and tabletop RPGs, and art and music I find online. Inspiration can come from anywhere. One setting concept I had was inspired by someone talking about their character background in a live stream for an actual play session of someone’s game. Just something they mentioned as their character’s motivation for entering a dungeon was enough to spark an idea for me to create an entire game setting.
Here are two more random lists that could inspire you to create something of your own. I’d love to hear back from you what you make using the lists above OR based on the lists below. You can always email me directly at thesecretdm@gmail.com.
Random List: How do you get into the dungeon?
There is a hole at the top of the Black Mountain that can be reached by bribing the Hawkmen of Calhoun to carry you there.
The road through Zendahar, the City of Skulls, is known to be very treacherous, but its the most direct route to the Gate of Nothing, beyond which lies the dungeon.
Fall asleep under the tree of the Lily Knights, in Old Gabhur; as long as the knights are away you will awaken within the dungeon. If the knights find you though, they will slay you for trespassing.
Speak to the wizard council known as the Blind Triumvirate. They will have you complete a difficult task, after which they will teleport you inside the dungeon.
The bite of the negative viper is painful, but not deadly. Within 1d4 days, you will appear inside the dungeon.
Find the Tree of Yearning in the Forest of Errond; convince the tree it still has worth, and it will open up an entryway that leads into the dungeon.
The vines of Nethrang all end inside the dungeon. If you survive the journey down before the vines kill you, that is.
When the moons of Ilsa and Adorra eclipse each other, a stairway of light appears in the Lake of Dwelling. This stairway leads into the dungeon.
Find the Endless Map, an artifact that can transport up to six people to any artificial destination. Once used, the Endless Map crumbles to dust.
Wait patiently, for one day a Garrabun will kidnap you and bring you to the dungeon.
Give one of your eyes to the Seer of the Golden Desert; he will give you a red crystal in exchange. Its warmth and glow will lead you to the dungeon.
Break a deal with Senthrax, the Oathmaker. He will banish you to the dungeon.
Steal a chroma egg from the Salt Elves of Eurheim, in the Blasted Lands. Eat its yolk as the moon Ilsa rises, and you will be transported to the dungeon.
Bind a young Hopperling in the Azure Bluffs; in exchange for its freedom, it will whisk you away to the dungeon.
Trick an Interloper from the Beyond to dream you to the dungeon. Careful though, as Interlopers are hard to trick and difficult to trust.
Pay a negamancer to take you to the dungeon. Gold is worthless to them, though, as are most things.
Sell your soul using Parchment of Binding to Vilikor, the Evil One, in exchange for taking you to the dungeon.
The Blind King, who lingers in the Valley of Nov Ral Arath, knows the way to the dungeon. But he is well guarded by Whisper Golems and Blind Demons.
The sewers of Zendahar, the City of Skulls, lead into the dungeon. This may or may not be easier than following the road through Zendahar to the Gate of Nothing.
Ride a wild Ramshackle Crawler through the City of Windows, and eventually you may arrive inside the dungeon.
Here’s a sample setting, which I just call Death Planet X. You might call it something else.
What’s the origin of the world? Is the planet a Thu-in prison world? One of the rare, stellar jewels of the Collector? Could this be the long lost homeworld of the ancient Usurpers?
Regardless of how this planet came to be, one thing is certain: it's a death trap.
Outwardly, the planet's surface is a scarred, inhospitable landscape, marred by layers of discordant technology from an endless list of long dead civilizations. There are mercury lakes surrounding spires of gargantuan bone, which border metallic jungles, beyond which lie vast stretches of machine dust deserts, where obsidian-hued obelisks rise up and gaze across the horizon, watching the edges of the world shift and flow like fabric.
Giant, translucent glass spheres float through the air, their purpose unknown.
Wild storms of dust and electricity form and dissipate with no warning.
Crystalline warriors stalk the land, patrolling the surface and destroying anything they encounter.
This is a harsh world.
So let’s see how it came to be:
The Usurpers called this planet 'home', but they were not the first inhabitants.
This isn't a planet; it's a dormant Renjin battle platform. The "surface" has built up from meteor collisions and other debris over a million years, hiding the awful weapon.
It's really planet Earth, sent back from the future to avoid destruction when Sol expands.
The Thu-in only discovered the planet within the last century, and banished their worst criminals here, all of whom have undoubtedly perished.
This was once a part of the Collector's galactic museum, but it was stolen and moved to its current location. The Collector continues to look for it...
The entire planet is an illusion, projected by a cabal of mindlinked Thought Wizards from inside one of their prism ships positioned at the 'core'.
The planet is a nexus point for all of creation; it is the only known place in the universe where all realities, dimensions, timelines, universes, etc. converge.
The planet is the legendary 'Eden', the failed genesis seed world of the Progenitors before their successful terraforming of Earth.
It's a rogue dimensional world from an alternate universe. Somewhere, there's an evil empire of goatee-shaved pirates looking for their homeworld...
It's the legendary Ixian Manifestor, whose purpose is itself a mystery. One rumor about the manifestor is that it creates a new universe, ripping apart the current one.
The planet is a sentient being that feeds on the sense of discovery experienced by new explorers.
The planet is actually the exit point of a dimensional portal, through which a hyper-advanced society disposes all of its technological and biological waste.
As always, the content presented in this newsletter is published under the terms of the Creative Comrades License (http://creativecomrades.org) and is free to reuse and republish commercially or otherwise, with attribution to Chris Mennell.