Role-playing games (RPGs) are about characters being played in alternate settings. Working with the game master (GM), the players create a story. The settings for these games are as varied as the imagination of the players involved, which means you can create anything and everything. For this to work the best for everyone, there needs to be a level of trust and acceptance between the GM and the rest of the players.
There are GMs who like using a well-established setting of another person's creation. This is totally acceptable. Using an established land means a lot less time involved by the GM to run the game. I have ran and played in games that work this way. Everyone involved enjoyed the campaigns.
There are also GMs who want to try out new settings of their own creation for the games they want to run. I know I do and many of the GMs I talk to like to do the same. This allows us to explore ideas we come up with that don't fit into other settings we have gamed in. I have explored a couple of my settings in articles I have written over the past few years. However, I just started playing in a game a friend is running and the twist involved has made for some enjoyable game play.
The Set Up
We started out creating characters for a traditional Dungeons and Dragons game. To start, our GM gave us one point to start with—no rogues/no thieves. The group then started talking about what we wanted to do.
If you follow what we have been doing, you know we run a campaign where everyone is an orc. We also recently finished up a campaign where all the characters were elves of one type or another. It was thrown out that we could continue this vein of activity and pick another race. It was suggested we all play dwarfs from the same clan. The idea stuck.
Our GM then gave us the basics of our campaign backstory.
We were sent to war by our king and have been there for a couple of years. The war hasn't been going well and there have been questions raised because we have been battling other "civilized" races that we hadn't fought against before. We know something isn't quite right.
We were just heading out on a major offensive when everything took a devastating turn. Everyone in the army who was trained in stealth (i.e. all the rogues) were sent ahead as scouts and sappers. They were eliminated by the enemy and our commanders have given the order to retreat.
The retreat turned into a rout. Every commander was being targeted by enemy fire. We quickly realized that anyone carrying a hard magic item was somehow being identified and killed. We escaped the battle and were on the run from those who were hunting us down.
This gave us our starting information. We were starting at third level and no one had any hard magic. Potions, scrolls, and low level wands were the only magic we could have.
More Information
During our second session, as we were working our way back home we discovered more truths about where we were fighting. It is either a different continent or another part of the prime material plane. Personally, I think we are in a pocket dimension.
We have also been involved with a game where players bring in armies to pit them against each other every few years. After a winner is determined, everyone who has survived the game is basically turned loose in the land to make their own way. But power is tightly controlled.
Magic items are regularly hunted down and passed up through the powers-that-be. It is dangerous to own an item.
There are no rogues or thieves' guilds. When advancing, there is no available training as a rogue, so that class is forbidden to us.
All precious metals and gems are also gathered in by the players of the game. The monetary system is mostly barter with some other aspects of tracking personal wealth and trade with others. Because of the continuous game, weapons are abundant and cheap. Pick one up out of the field, cheap. Adventuring items are almost impossible to get hold of because those controlling the war game don't want people to be able to leave the land.
No one is known to have left the land we are now in. After a while, most give up trying to leave and settle into making this their new home. Currently, we have a suspicion there is some level of magic at work where residents eventually lose memory of where they originally came from—this is why I think we are in a pocket dimension.
The GM also has tweaked the magic systems for all spell casters. Arcane casters are having to learn to be more in tune with the elements. Divine casters are still being recognized by the gods, but the gods are identified by slightly different names and their symbols are also modified.
What Our GM Created
We have a unique experience in this campaign setting. Our GM listened to comments from players while we played and worked them into his setting. Not just while we were talking about this specific campaign, but over time playing in other games.
In many current games, magic items are basically unlimited because once they are built they are almost impossible to destroy. Here, we will be lucky to ever find a magic item. And if we do and decide to keep it, we mark ourselves a target from greater powers.
Because there are so many retired armies in the land, mercenaries are cheap. A character with skills is valuable. We are moving from a combat oriented campaign to one based on the other things we can do.
The powers wanting to control the game don't want adventurers. They are a threat to the secrecy of the game and those who take up the life of an adventurer is reported as being shot as they become targets with bounties worthy enough to entice others to hunt them down.
Initial Response
Our group has enjoyed the first couple of sessions and there have been a number of side conversations about how we are going to move forward with our characters. At first, we thought it was just going to be a run to get away from those who were hunting us and then a turn to make a change in the war. Now we are working on learning about the "game" we were brought into, how to survive in our current setting, and how we can get out of here (if we can).
During our second session, after we learned more about our circumstances, we sat and talked in character for over an hour about what we knew and what we wanted to do moving forward. During that discussion no one rolled any dice, nor did anyone break character.
We have had fun with this setting. I hope this gives some inspiration to you and what you can do for your group.
