The Shattering (Notes to Self)

 “The Shattering” is the new campaign world I've begun to design for an eventual return to in-person gaming. Here are my base points:

 -- I’ll run some flavor of D&D, most likely Moldvay B/E. Initial design will be version (and system, I guess) independent.

 -- PC level independent, at least in initial design. Populating the encounters will need to wait until it's decided if the players want to start with fresh PCs, or continue with developed (and at this stage, probably ridiculously equipped) PCs. The PCs in my group are always happy to dungeon delve, so those subterranean complexes can be designed now, and stocked later.

 -- The actual "world" will be designed as a network of interconnected locales. Completing the scenario in the current location will provide clues/quests for choosing the next course of action. As the PCs explore the setting while gathering information along the way, they can choose whichever opportunity looks most attractive to them. In campaign design, I always try to have at least two possible paths available when players are finished at the current locale. Ideally, my creativity and the players' curiosity make this work.

Initially, there will be no reason to set the location of a particular locale in a frozen spot on the network. It’ll take some time for the players to gather enough information to assemble what will only be a vague map. Locales of interest can be shuffled into place as necessary, and I can always throw in an encounter or an unexpected location along the route to the next destination.

Five minutes with pencil and paper produced this sketch to provide me with a source of inspiration.

 

A common plaint from the people that I game with is: "But that doesn't make sense!" (1). So I always need to think through the setting and see where I might need an explanation for what they're seeing. Seat-of-the-Pants explanations are fun, when they're good ones, but a little self-critical analysis will hopefully expose some of the more glaring holes before play begins.

Some excuses / explanations:

 -- The ancient cataclysm was the result of powerful magical forces gone awry, although the PCs may never discover this. So, with a little hand waving, I can justify many bizarre effects / events. For example, an ancient city that winks in and out of time. The PCs could step into a city from 10 000 years past, its residents uneffected by a cataclysm that won't happen for another 1000 years.

 -- Anywhere truly ancient and patrolled for portions of its history will have been picked over long ago, leaving few items of value for the players to discover. Why is it that treasure, magical and otherwise, still exists to lure PCs? Perhaps The Shattering was fizzing with such magical energies that man or beast (or extra-planar entity) couldn't exist within its boundaries for centuries / millennia afterwards. Smaller pockets could still be inaccessible for this reason -- Recent earthquakes or landslides could expose places long buried -- New incursions of bandits/humanoids/monsters could occupy ancient ruins, bringing their accumulated loot along.

 -- I need an explanation for why traffic through The Shattering fell off to nothing, at least at the starting location of the adventure. Perhaps there was a reason to short-cut through this town that no longer exists. The trading regions beyond The Shattering are now under hostile control -- a vital bridge has collapsed -- the College of Wizards has relocated to the other side of the continent -- the fabled caverns of Iszantium are now under water -- a large region formerly under evil control was liberated, negating the need for a bypass.

 -- How do creatures and settlements in the Rift survive? If traffic has ended, at least in some areas, there must be food and resources locally available. There must be verdant vales, rolling forests and babbling brooks scattered about The Shattering. Settlements within The Shattering but adjacent to well protected areas (e.g., Elven Kingdoms) will engage in limited trade. But they must have something to trade with. Goods / valuables scavenged from the ruins might work. Assume that evil creatures are well-provisioned from the Underdark (if they can’t get enough PC to eat.)

 -- No doubt I'll think of more problems.

Notes

(1) If the Players object too much on this or any other aspect of your GMing skill, you can always task them with tracking their iron rations and torch usage, and remember to check their magic items for damage after every combat.