CHAPTER X: THE CAMPAIGN WORLD

Kuranes had awakened the very moment he beheld the city, yet he knew from his brief glance that

it was none other than Celephais, in the Valley of Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian Hills where his spirit had dwelt all the eternity of an hour one summer afternoon very long ago, when he had slipt away from his

nurse and let the warm sea-breeze lull him to sleep as he watched the clouds from the cliff near the village. He had protested then, when they had found him, waked him, and carried him home, for just as he was aroused he had been about to sail in a golden galley for those alluring regions where the sea meets the sky. And now he was equally resentful of awaking, for he had found his fabulous city after forty weary years. But three nights afterward Kuranes came again to Celephais. As before, he dreamed first of the village that was asleep or dead, and of the abyss down which one must float silently; then the rift appeared again, and he beheld the glittering minarets of the city, and saw the graceful galleys riding at anchor in the blue harbour, and watched the gingko trees of Mount Aran swaying in the sea-breeze. But this time he was not snatched away, and like a winged being settled gradually over a grassy hillside til finally his feet rested gently on the turf. He had indeed come back to the Valley of Ooth-Nargai and the splendid city of Celephais.

- H.P. Lovecraft

Celephais

Worldbuilding Design Triad for OSRIC: An essay on worldbuilding philosophy for the OSRIC rpg

Regional Groups: These tables can be used to detail nations or other regional groups.

Fortresses, Castles, Keeps & Towers: These tables can be used by the DM to detail strongholds, keeps and castles along with their inhabitants and rulers.

Settlements: These tables are for the DM use in detailing all sizes of settlements, from small camps up to capital cities. The Settlement Record Sheet in Appendix XX is ideal for recording the information generated here and elsewhere.

Inns & Taverns: These charts detail the different types of establishments the PCs may be likely to frequent.

Markets & Bazaars: These tables will generate the vendors and wares for common markets.

Schools & Training Halls: The DM can use the tables here to detail learning and training institutions.

Shops & Structures: These tables aid in detailing the most common mercantile, public sites, guilds and other settlement sites.

Crime & Punishment: These tables aid in determining crimes, bounties and sentences in a given locale and in detailing gaols & prisons.

Adventure Design: These tables offer a variety of adventure situations which can be expanded upon by the DM to create an entire adventure.

Exotic Times & Places: The DM can use these tables for inspiration when planning a new adventure or campaign. They might also be consulted when applying the effects of certain spells, like a Wish.

Esoteric Magic: These are inspirational tables sharing the common theme of magic. The DM may consult them for ideas when planning a scenario or campaign.

WORLDBUILDING DESIGN TRIAD FOR OSRIC™

Those readers familiar with real-world military engineering may be familiar with the design triad for tanks: Armor, Firepower and Mobility. For instance, one cannot hope to build a very mobile tank with a lot of armor and a large gun. Likewise, a tank with a lot of armor is not going to be very mobile in the field. With that in mind, the OSRIC GM who is constructing a setting for his or her game would do well to consider the following Worldbuilding Design Triad: Functionality, Realism, and Adaptability in order to craft a top notch setting from scratch.

Functionality in setting design encompasses design considerations like how fun the setting will be for the players and GM, how durable the setting is for long-term campaign play and how suitable the setting is for the rules being used (in this case, OSRIC). Ideally, the GM's goal is to present a challenging setting for the players. In order to fully meet player expectations a good setting must include opportunities for player character development in several directions while also offering up appropriate rewards. While some might enjoy reading about a “dark and gritty” setting with very low levels of magic and treasure - players in a roleplaying game like OSRIC rarely enjoy grinding their way through adventures only to find they cannot make meaningful progress or that their actions had only a very limited impact on the setting at large. With this in mind, it is important for the GM to provide a setting that matches the players' expectations by including game-specific opportunities for training and advancement and treasure and magic items commensurate with the risks taken to acquire them. At first, the GM may find that a single well designed village or small area may be enough to satisfy player needs. As the campaign progresses however, it will become necessary to construct larger areas - a city or an entire nation in which the characters can expand into high level activities like stronghold construction, domain management and extra-planar adventuring.

The second consideration for the world-building GM is Realism. While by its very nature a fantasy role-playing game like OSRIC is not realistic - the very best settings like Gygax's Greyhawk, Stafford's Prax and Bledsaw's Wilderlands always include setting information that hightens the verisimilitude of the setting. Such considerations can encompass things like geography, weather, history and cultures that are consistently 'realistic' in that setting. GMs interested in hightening the realism of their own setting would be wise to borrow from real world history, natural science, culture and folklore as much as possible. while keeping in mind that the players do not simply expect to be tourists in the setting but active participants in their own right.

Finally, a good setting must be adaptable. This tenet mainly encompasses the GMs expectations for the setting and what kinds of adventures he or she plans on using. If the GM intends to present pre-published scenarios or modules there must be extensive room for dropping these into the setting as the need arises. Likewise, the GM should consider the purpose of the setting itself. If the intention is to play a single, regional campaign it may not be necessary to exhaustively detail the world at large.This could involve simply leaving extensive areas of the setting undefined until, or if required - and detailing only those areas where certain events and locations will be most likely be encountered during play or at least become known to the players - such as the venerable Keep on the Borderlands or the Tomb of Horrors. On the other hand, if the intention is to play a wideranging swashbuckling campaign on the high seas, the GM will want to spend some time preparing several islands and coastal nations, and consider deeper campaign-specific questions such as ocean currents, famous pirate or slaver bands and the like. Whatever the purpose, the GM should leave room for further expansion and remember that Gygax's World of Greyhawk was built in a series of steps beginning with only a single, small area (Avalon Hill's Wilderness Survival map).

In conclusion, the GM should remember these three tenets when using the random tables and optional design tools in this book. Simply designing an entire set-piece setting as one might for a novel is not the GM's primary purpose - that purpose is to present an interesting, dynamic and challenging environment for playing OSRIC. So, with that in mind - let's get cracking!

METHODOLOGY FOR CAMPAIGN WORLD DESIGN

1. Choose a Scale: This can be as large or as small as required. For general home play as opposed to publication, it is suggested that the GM limit the area to be developed to an area no bigger than the British Isles. Some real-world comparisons of popular commercial settings:

The British Isles: 315,159 square miles

Greyhawk (the Flanaess): @28 million square miles or a little bit bigger than Asia (17, 212,000 sq.mi.)

The Wilderlands: @795,000 square miles = a little bit bigger than the Mediterranean (970,000 sq. mi.)

The Forgotten Realms: @9,500,000 square miles = @ three times bigger than Europe (3,930,000 sq. mi.)

2. Make a map: It is recommended that the GM either create a hexmap or adapt one that is suitable for their purposes. The major advantage of a hexmap is that the GM can then set the scale of each individual hex for convenience (1 day's travel works well). Hexmaps also break up an area into easy to handle chunks when generating setting information like political boundaries, prominent terrain features, encounter locations and so on.

3. Determine the predominant regional groups: These groups can be as specific (individual nation-states, empires, tribes, etc.) or as vague (cultural spheres of influence) as the GM wishes. Depending on the focus of the campaign, the GM will probably want to decide now which portions of the map are predominately human, which are demi-human and if desired, which are under the sway of humanoids or social monster groups.

4. Determine a cultural motif for individual regional groups. These motifs are largely based on real-world historical cultures. Following this the GM should During play it will aid in player immersion if they have some preconceived notions about how such a culture behaves or is structured. Conversely, the GM could introduce completely fictional cultures into his or her campaign setting but in general, this will require a lot more background work on their part and later, during play will also require a lot of top-down explanation of setting details for the players - who presumably will not have access to the bulk of the setting background details.

If necessary, the GM can also make some notes on regional history, languages, religions etc. which might help guide their decisions later on.

REGIONAL GROUPS

(EMPIRES, NATIONS, LARGE TRIBES, EMPIRES, CITY-STATES, etc.)

DIRECTIONS: To determine a regional human group the GM should first generate the number of settlements or lairs in the group. Next, generate the general tech level, making note of the PC classes and spell levels available. If desired, a cultural motif and belief(s) can be generated as well.

Note: These indices are only intended to describe the overall cultural trend and not every individual with the given society.

Tolerance: This describes the culture's opinion of other races and cultures, and their standing in society. This figure can also be used to determine the frequency and standing of demi-human and humanoids in the area.

War: This describes the importance of war and conquest in the culture and the importance of Fighters. This figure also be applied as a modifier to determine the frequency and scale of castles and fortresses in the area as well as the overall level of preparadness of area troops.

Trade: This describes how welcoming of trade and commerce the society is and the importance of Merchants. This figure can also be applied as a modifier to determine the frequency and level of marketplaces and trading posts throughout the area.

Religion: This is the overall level of piety and religious institutions and the importance of Clerics. The figure can also be applied as a modifier to determine the frequency of temples, shrines and the like.

Magic: This represents the social acceptance of spellcasting, magic in general and the importance of Magic-Users and Illusionists. This figure can also be applied as a modifier to determine the frequency and scale of magical institutions and groups.

Laws: This describes the general attitude toward law/authority in the society and also the importance of Thief classes. This figure can also be applied as a modifier to determine the frequency and size of local criminal groups like Thieves' or Assassins' guilds.

The final step is to determine the Tech Level of the particular culure or nation by rolling on the following table and applying the modifiers to Tech Level according to the Recent Cultural Trend. The DM should add both the Cultural Level totals (all 6 categories to the Tech Level as rolled to determine the Overall Cultural Strength factor which is useful for comparing with neighboring cultures or nations to determine which side is probably dominant. Cultural Levels will also play a part in designing individual settlements later.

CULTURAL TECH LEVELS & AVAILABLE FEATURES

Descriptions and Examples of Tech Levels

TL0 - Primal: These societies are utterly savage. They are mostly made up of small bands of nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter/gatherers. Examples: Paleolithic Men (tribesmen).Most cavemen, trolls, ogres, lizardmen

TLI - Primitive. Examples: Neolithic Men (tribesmen). Bugbears, Kobolds. Stone/Hill Giants.

TLII - Archaic. Examples: Bronze Age Men (Berserkers, Amazons, some Pirates, Buccaneers, Bandits, Brigands). Fire Giants.

TLIII - Historic. Example: Iron Age Men (Berserkers, Amazons, Bandits, Brigands, Girovaghi). Dwarves. Halflings, Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins.

TLIV - Modern. Examples: Steel Age Men

TLV - Anarchronistic.

FORTRESSES, CASTLES, KEEPS & TOWERS

picture_1

Castle Rooms & Facilities

Wizard's Towers (Roll once per column)

SETTLEMENTS

DIRECTIONS: To generate a settlement of a given type, first generate the population and note the base availability of goods for sale. Next generate the resources available, modifying according to size, population or other factors and modify the base availability as noted in the sub-table. Third, generate the tech level and note the primary feature of the settlement, and generate a settlement theme if desired. Finally, generate the settlement ruler.

RESOURCES: This table determines the general resource around which the settlement was built. As always the GM should exercise common sense to place settlements in or near terrain appropriate for the resource. (i.e. a fishing village must be near the sea or a river while a mining settlement should be near hills, mountains or another source of ore, etc.)

THEMES: A settlement's theme roughly provides the GM with some “hook” around which to design the rest of the locale, and may even inspire adventuring ideas.

DEFENSES:

GOVERNMENT & RULER(S):

SETTLEMENT DETAILS

Settlement Districts

DISTRICTS:

DISTRICT DESCRIPTIONS

Crafts: Workshops, cottage industries, trade guildhouses, small shops

Trade: Shops, marketplaces and caravanserais, trade guildhouses, many inns and taverns

Maritime: Docks, quays, drydocks, some inns and taverns

Religious: Temples, shrines, hospitals, few inns and taverns

Military: Defenseworks, prisons, gaols, parade grounds, barracks, few inns and taverns

Political: Palaces, courts, few inns and taverns

Educational: Universities, schools, libraries, few inns and taverns

DEMI-HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Directions: To generate a demi-human settlement, roll on the appropriate racial column to determine the particular settlement type. Then roll to determine the settlement's age and again to determine the local culture, and finally the settlement condition. Further details should be generated using the Settlement tables presented earlier.

ON THE STREETS

Directions: The GM may use this table for rapidly generating something particularly noticeable about a certain area, block, district etc. Roll d% as normal. If desired, the DM may roll a d10 on each category of the table to more substantially define the area. The DM may also simply choose the appropriate or obvious feature(s) and roll only for the other categories.

INNS & TAVERNS

Directions: These tables are used for generating an inn or tavern. The GM should first determine the general type of inn or tavern and the consult the appropriate chart to determine the exact details. Further events, rumours and other details can be generated as needed using the tables presented at the end of this section.

STANDARD INN & TAVERN FACILITIES

NOTES:

• Inns or taverns may also offer sleeping space on the common room floor (1-3cp) or in the stables (1cp or free)
• Meals are grouped in 7 rough categories: FEASTS (7 courses), EXCELLENT (3 courses), GOOD (steak dinner), AVERAGE (a good stew), FAIR (bread and cheese), CHEAP (a vegetable gruel) and POOR (beans or rice)
• Events should be checked for every hour during normal hours and every ½ hour during 'happy hours'
• Clientele are grouped in 10 categories: NOBLES (wealthy merchants or nobility), COUPLES (pairs or groups of revelers), DANDIES (young men on the prowl), ANDVENTURERS (NPCs alone or in a party), GAMBLERS (con-men or sharks), LOCALS (tradesmen and guildsmen), TRAVELERS (overnight guests), THIEVES (alone or in groups of 2-3), THUGS (single or groups of 1d6 hired brawlers), and HARLOTS (usually accompanied by a pimp).

MARKETS & BAZAARS

SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES, & TRAINING HALLS

Directions: To generate an educational institution the GM should first roll on the School Class and Size table before consulting the indicated result on the chart listed below. Finally, the GM should determine the nature of the curriculum, age of the school, and tuition on the final set of tables.

EXAMPLE: Bogschwartz Academy is a typical institute of magic (Type C) housed in a stone tower near a crossroads in an average sized town. The Academy was established 80 years ago. The current headmaster, Flax Blentle, is an 11^th-level Magic-User. He is aided by a diverse faculty made up of 4 Magic Users, an Illusionist, a Sage, and an Alchemist - for a total of seven. In keeping with the Bogschwartz Academy's motto - “Exsisto Paratus Pro Pessimus” (Prepared for the Worst) - the school offers a liberal curriculum in General Magic, Illusionism, Alchemy and Linguistics. The tuition is quite reasonable.

SHOPS & STRUCTURES

Directions: This table allows the GM to randomly generate shops and other structures present in a settlement. If the structure is a shop or other kind of business, the GM should determine the shop quality and modify the base wealth accordingly. Wealth is the average yearly income in gold pieces for a business, modified by the quality of the particular business. Typically, a shop will contain merchandise equal to 3d10gp x modified Base Wealth and coinage equal in gold piece value to 1d10% of modified Base Wealth.

TRADE GUILDS

DIRECTIONS: To generate a guild the GM should first determine the type of guild and its general alignment. For details of criminal or other underworld guilds, the GM is referred to that section later in this chapter.

GRAVEYARDS & NECROPOLI

Note: These tables only generate the graveyard itself. For individual tombs see Graves & Tombs (pp. XXX-XXX). Results on the Mortuary facilities and security tables should be considered cumulative with the results above.

GAOLS & PRISONS

Note: for Goalers and Wardens (see pp. XXX-XXX)

Typical Prisoners

UNDERWORLD GUILDS

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

URBAN ENCOUNTERS

URBAN ENCOUNTER SUB-TABLES

ADVENTURE CREATION

ESSAY: RANDOM ADVENTURE CREATION.

- jot down some must-haves before beginning, A location, etc.

-

NPC FRIENDS & FOES

Example: