Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Tommy talks about his world of Oryn. The world was created with a lot of input from his players. This includes asking a question of the players at the start of each session to further develop the world and the PCs position within it. The PCs are exploring the world and have discovered the ruins of an ancient mind flayer empire. Tommy throws in lots of prophecies along with the players participating with tarot readings to keep him on his toes as he has to make the predictions come true. Of course we learn about the best cheeses that are available in the lands of Oryn and folk lore heroes inspired by Marvel superheroes.

Kernel walks us through the Final Lands. All the races of the world have huddled together on an island the size of Ireland. At the center of the Final Lands is a crystal tower called the Soul Forge. The tower is surrounded by a formidable wasteland that magically drains the life of travelers. Additionally, dragons live around the Soul Forge. Every two years a comet passes over head signaling the beginning of a contest. The first to reach the Soul Forge is granted a wish, but there's a hidden catch...Kernel also runs an active guild for the upcoming Ashes of Creation MMORPG. They are creating little bits of story that align with the lore of Ashes of Creation so that when the game releases they can jump right into a roleplaying server with all their relationships and history preestablished and ready to go. If you'd like to learn more about Ashes of creation you can check it out here: https://ashesofcreation.com/

Rob tells us about his world, Garou. We get a unique perspective for our podcast as Rob's campaign in Garou recently concluded. Garou is a single continent world where the landmass is shaped like an apple. The world is a dumping ground for the rest of the universe resulting in an odd mishmash of races and factions that do not fit the typical mold of fantasy worlds, resulting in them being dumped from more traditional worlds into Garou. The judges of what don't belong are the gods, thus the only god of Garou is Wee Jas. She came to Garou to collect the world's magic in the form of orbs. These orbs are similar to mythals, imposing laws or empowering magic in a small area around them.Rob is also the cohost of the Storyteller Conclave podcast with Sara who featured on Episode 13 of Setting the Stage! If you'd like to check them out you can find more at https://storytellerconclave.mixlr.com/ or on the same platform/app you're using to access this podcast.

Natowa/Michael tells us about his campaign world, Akrimyos. The magic of Akrimyos is a strange and mysterious thing with many different ways of accessing the flux, raw magic that exists throughout Akrimyos. Natowa uses the same names as many of the gods from the Forgotten Realms but with very different domains and personalities to make them his own. Akrimyos also includes a few science fiction elements within the world's lore with aliens, a living planet, and an inhabited moon.Natowa's campaign events have focused on the Kingdom of Calham on Ardentia. Calham is kept safe from the giants in the north by the Giants' Wall mountain range and the dragons that stand guard. An intricate political landscape exists within Calham and the kingdom is on the verge of civil war.Natowa has a lot of the material on his campaign available at World Anvil in French. It's an easy Google Translate away from being readable in any language. That's how I read it! Check it out: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/akrimyos-natowa

OnslaughtSix tells us about his DMing style, his gaming products and his world, Aerda.Onslaught uses almost exclusively modules for DMing, but not in the traditional way. Instead of running a module or adventure path from start to finish, he takes bits and pieces from different modules to form a complete adventure of his own. We talked about his use of Curse of Strahd in this episode and there are some minor spoilers.Onslaught is a game designer with a few different projects under his belt at his own company, Tidal Wave Games. The biggest one is See You Space Cowboy (CUSC), a rules light way to play out scenarios similar to the Cowboy Bebop anime. The first module for CUSC, Ceres: The Planet That Never Sleeps, is coming out soon. Onslaught also gave us a small preview of a new game he's working on called Crawl, which is focused on the quintensencial dungeon crawl that we all know and love. You can learn more at https://tidalwavegames.com/And of course there's also the world of Aerda. Long ago the dwarves came to the surface and met the elves. Upset that the elves were not god dwelling on the surface as they suspected, the generation animosity between the two races began. Dwarves build more dwarves from rocks and earth. Elves reproduce by a simple kiss that makes the recipient woman pregnant. Aerda is defined by cycles of gods leaving and returning to the world. Onslaught has had all of his adventures in Aerda take place over a two month period with different campaigns in different regions of the world. He suspects that an apocalypse is brewing for the world, but who knows for sure?

Kima tells us about his cyberpunk world. In the future after a nuclear apocalypse the survivors huddle together in separate cities with a nuclear wasteland in between. Kima focuses in on C-City which is ruled by the Datafield corporation. The datafield is a powerful WiFi-like network that surrounds the city. This allows for instantaneous transfer of information for those who are connected as well as the performance of amazing, almost magical feats when characters tap into the network for power. The heroes must negotiate a urban landscape controlled by corporations, the uber-wealthy, and undercity gangs. Horrific monsters are made in experiments, both cybernetic and bio-genetic.Kima runs his world using the Soulbound system. Character rules emphasize a character's growth alongside an increasing power of the character's weapons and items. Soulbound also uses a setting similar to the cyberpunk world that Kima designed, making it an easy transition for the flavor of the rules he used. PCs increase in power by getting new cybernetics, gadgets, bio-augments, or greater control over the datafield. The rules for Soulbound and the creator's other games are available here: https://www.andimakes.games/Kima also mentioned a Spotify playlist he uses which can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4k8soP6q5NLOFf0oLUzzQs?si=4994e4698f6b44a0

A special episode with the DM that taught me to play, John! When I was nine he ran us through a campaign he'd designed previously called Olnap. The name for Olnap is derived from the real-world map of OLympic NAtional Park that John used to design the campaign. In the campaign my friends and I rampaged across Olnap defeating monsters and solving problems that had come up due to the physical breaking of the peninsula's luck into pieces. Of course we succeeded in the end. John is also the father of Will, the cohost of our first episode, Tolkien, WW1, and Shelob's Farts.John is in the process of designing and playtesting his own rule set for roleplaying games. The system is called Epic Power. It's similar to GURPS with a realistic bell curve for action resolution. Additionally, players have a resource called Epic Power which they can use to influence die rolls or perform amazing feats. If you want to learn more about the system or possibly use it yourself you can email John at epicpower@johnlamping.com

Alec walks us through the different Noman Empires in his world. Noss Farii is an imperial empire dominated by a restrictive theocracy. Hyrend is an atheist society where anything goes when it comes to magic, even necromancy. Brevtensa is a plutocratic wild west society where money is king and a plethora of different faiths thrive alongside each other. Outside of the three empires are the States of Cambella composed of numerous smaller nations that are trying to compete against the larger countries. The Noman Empires have beholders, demon lords, ancient vampires, and solidified magic. Come for the Zer'Sun! Stay for the Drothal!

Garrett talked with me about his setting, Pyrim. Instead of being a whole world, Pyrim is a single city built on top of a dwarven mining town. A civil war was stopped in the town by four brave heroes, but it cost one of the heroes her life. To consecrate her resting place the remaining three heroes placed three blessings on Pyrim. Water always flows, crops always flourish, and no one can die in combat within the city walls. This garden of Eden has attracted people from across the region to settle in Pyrim and take advantage of its gifts. Recently the town was taken over by a cult that broke the blessing of combat and now control the water supply. With an iron grip on water the rest of the town is enslaved by the threat of dying of thirst. Garrett also does an excellent job of weaving in conspiracies that involve PC relatives and friends.