Post by gamedave on Aug 8, 2017 14:40:26 GMT -5
The "default" setting for the Tales of the Yawning Portal campaign will be the Savage Kingdoms, a deliberately vague setting which can (and should) be expanded and filled in collaboratively by the DM and the other players as the campaign goes on.
The Savage Kingdoms are a collection of squabbling petty kingdoms and city-states. They are often isolated, separated by monster-infested wilderness. They are also often built amidst, and on top of, the ruins of earlier civilizations and the remnants of previous empires. They are a land of wild adventure, where a brave heart and a strong sword-arm can gain fortune and glory - or an early grave.
The key concepts of the setting are listed below.
The World is Big, Old, and Deep
In the world of the Savage Kingdoms, some peasants have never left their home village. An overnight trip to the nearest market town or the lord's castle is a significant event. No one is even sure of the extent of the Savage Kingdoms or how many there are. Maps are sketchy, incomplete, and often wrong. The world is Big. There is always a new land to explore, a new road to travel, a new horizon to seek.
The Savage Kingdoms are referred to as such because their inhabitants realize that they are young and raw compared to the earlier, more sophisticated civilizations whose remnants they see all around them. Countless nations, religions, empires, even whole races and civilizations, have risen and fallen, in many cycles. Even the most studious scholar has a sketchy and incomplete idea of the history of his own region, much less the world at large. The world is Old. There are always more mysteries to be solved, more secrets to reveal, more artifacts to be discovered, more histories to be recovered.
Underneath the Savage Kingdoms is an entire subterranean world of caverns and ruined passages. Some are natural formations, others the remains of previous civilizations. None are fully explored. The world is Deep. There are always more levels to find, deeper depths to delve.
Dungeons
The deeps of the Savage Kingdoms are usually referred to as dungeons. They may be unexplored caverns filled with strange creatures, the monster-infested ruins of a fallen empire, or the cursed temple of forgotten gods.
The folk of the Savage Kingdoms know that these dungeons usually contain wondrous secrets and fabulous riches - and horrific dangers. A few courageous souls are willing to brave the dangers, and journey into the unknown dark. Most never return, but those who do are often laden with riches and powerful secret knowledge. Or simple relief at having survived.
There are always more rumors to investigate, more treasure maps to follow, more legendary locations to seek out.
Adventurers
The folk of the Savage Kingdoms refer to those who explore dungeons as "adventurers". They are viewed as brave and glamorous - and more than a bit crazy. Most will die horrific deaths in dark places far from hearth and home. Some will rise to great wealth and fame. But even those never seem satisfied, always seeking new treasures and new challenges.
Adventurers don't quite fit into the normal social order. Commoners, women, foreigners, and outcasts who become adventurers receive a degree of respect and social access far beyond their normal station. Nobles who would never deign to speak to a mere peasant will fete that same individual if he returns from a successful adventure.
But along with all of that is lurking fear and suspicion. Anyone who would risk body and soul for so uncertain a reward is obviously...not quite normal. And who knows what weird corruptions they have encountered in their delves into the dark, what evils they may awakened, what Things Mortals Were Not Meant to Know they have uncovered.
Adventurers are heroes who transcend the normal limits of their society - but will never quite fit in again.
The Gods Work in Mysterious Ways
The Gods of the Savage Kingdoms are unknowable and remote. Certainly, Their priests claim to know and do Their will. Some of those priest can even perform miraculous magics in Their Name. But sorcerers and others can also perform magic, and most priests are simple scholars and counselors without miraculous powers. And the Gods never seem to appear or intervene directly.
In the Savage Kingdoms, priests of a god of healing are usually the kind, compassionate sorts they appear - but one can never be sure. Even the most venal and corrupt priest can serve for decades with none the wiser, drawing his miraculous powers in secret from a different source - or perhaps from the same, uncaring God.
The Savage Kingdoms are a collection of squabbling petty kingdoms and city-states. They are often isolated, separated by monster-infested wilderness. They are also often built amidst, and on top of, the ruins of earlier civilizations and the remnants of previous empires. They are a land of wild adventure, where a brave heart and a strong sword-arm can gain fortune and glory - or an early grave.
The key concepts of the setting are listed below.
The World is Big, Old, and Deep
In the world of the Savage Kingdoms, some peasants have never left their home village. An overnight trip to the nearest market town or the lord's castle is a significant event. No one is even sure of the extent of the Savage Kingdoms or how many there are. Maps are sketchy, incomplete, and often wrong. The world is Big. There is always a new land to explore, a new road to travel, a new horizon to seek.
The Savage Kingdoms are referred to as such because their inhabitants realize that they are young and raw compared to the earlier, more sophisticated civilizations whose remnants they see all around them. Countless nations, religions, empires, even whole races and civilizations, have risen and fallen, in many cycles. Even the most studious scholar has a sketchy and incomplete idea of the history of his own region, much less the world at large. The world is Old. There are always more mysteries to be solved, more secrets to reveal, more artifacts to be discovered, more histories to be recovered.
Underneath the Savage Kingdoms is an entire subterranean world of caverns and ruined passages. Some are natural formations, others the remains of previous civilizations. None are fully explored. The world is Deep. There are always more levels to find, deeper depths to delve.
Dungeons
The deeps of the Savage Kingdoms are usually referred to as dungeons. They may be unexplored caverns filled with strange creatures, the monster-infested ruins of a fallen empire, or the cursed temple of forgotten gods.
The folk of the Savage Kingdoms know that these dungeons usually contain wondrous secrets and fabulous riches - and horrific dangers. A few courageous souls are willing to brave the dangers, and journey into the unknown dark. Most never return, but those who do are often laden with riches and powerful secret knowledge. Or simple relief at having survived.
There are always more rumors to investigate, more treasure maps to follow, more legendary locations to seek out.
Adventurers
The folk of the Savage Kingdoms refer to those who explore dungeons as "adventurers". They are viewed as brave and glamorous - and more than a bit crazy. Most will die horrific deaths in dark places far from hearth and home. Some will rise to great wealth and fame. But even those never seem satisfied, always seeking new treasures and new challenges.
Adventurers don't quite fit into the normal social order. Commoners, women, foreigners, and outcasts who become adventurers receive a degree of respect and social access far beyond their normal station. Nobles who would never deign to speak to a mere peasant will fete that same individual if he returns from a successful adventure.
But along with all of that is lurking fear and suspicion. Anyone who would risk body and soul for so uncertain a reward is obviously...not quite normal. And who knows what weird corruptions they have encountered in their delves into the dark, what evils they may awakened, what Things Mortals Were Not Meant to Know they have uncovered.
Adventurers are heroes who transcend the normal limits of their society - but will never quite fit in again.
The Gods Work in Mysterious Ways
The Gods of the Savage Kingdoms are unknowable and remote. Certainly, Their priests claim to know and do Their will. Some of those priest can even perform miraculous magics in Their Name. But sorcerers and others can also perform magic, and most priests are simple scholars and counselors without miraculous powers. And the Gods never seem to appear or intervene directly.
In the Savage Kingdoms, priests of a god of healing are usually the kind, compassionate sorts they appear - but one can never be sure. Even the most venal and corrupt priest can serve for decades with none the wiser, drawing his miraculous powers in secret from a different source - or perhaps from the same, uncaring God.