World-Beast Settings
September 6th, 2011
Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. For some time now I have been considering doing an article on where you set your adventures. Unfortunately, the more I think about it, the more I realize that there is just plain too much to talk about – but when has that ever stopped me from trying? Since the issue is far too big to cover comprehensively in one article, I'm not even going to try; in fact, I won't even try to outline the subject today, such is the complexity of the issue. Instead, we're skipping the general overview-y information that should probably be covered in some fashion before I move on to any kind of specifics, and we're starting in the middle with a brief discussion of a popular type of non-traditional campaign world. With any luck, after a few such articles you will end up getting the gist of the overview-y stuff anyway.
As you will no doubt have gathered through your previous experience with fantasy books, games, and movies, most fantasy settings have a lot in common: namely, that they strongly resemble medieval Europe, with more progressive attitudes, lots of magic, and weird creatures and cultures. Greyhawk is a good example of such a setting, and so is Faerun, as well as Middle-earth. Most of our D&D games (probably) take place in these comfortable surroundings, and that's just fine. The “usual” setting has a lot going for it: it's more relatable, and therefore more believable, than most settings; it’s generic, allowing for you to customize the details without compromising the integrity of setting; and it's familiar, meaning most of your group isn't going to be put off by any weird surprises. That being said, the “usual” setting has its weaknesses – specifically, that it's been done so many times before that these settings often feel stale. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Whatever 'usual' setting I like isn't stale or generic; just because it share features with some other settings doesn't mean it's not a unique and fascinating setting!" And you're absolutely right – the little details and differentials can turn even essentially similar settings (say Greyhawk and Faerun)into wildly different places, easily distinguished from one another, and both uniquely compelling. However, since faux-Europe settings have been done so often before, you have to put a lot of work into differentiating your setting from the rest in order to be compelling. While putting in the time and effort to come up with all the little details can be rewarding, there is an easier way to make your setting stand out from the rest, say by putting it on a flat disk supported by four giant elephants riding through space on a giant turtle.
In essence that's what I want to (finally!) talk about today, worlds set on the back of giant animals. Stories of wandering island kingdoms supported on the back of turtles have been with us for as long as humans can remember. And tales of great beasts of burden supporting the world or various celestial entities have been a part of the folklore of many peoples since long before any of us were born. As such, it seems perfectly evident that these kinds of stories are compelling enough to make for a fine setting for a D&D adventure, and perhaps even an entire campaign. With that in mind, let's look at some important things to consider when trying to create a setting of this type.
Choose Your Animal Carefully!
The first thing to consider after embarking down this path is what kind of animal you want for your world. Remember that if you want to effectively use your setting, the animal in question is almost certainly going to feature in a major way, so unless your aim is to illicit cheap laughs, don't pick a mighty platypus or naked mole rat. The choice should reflect, to a certain extent, the flavor of the world you’re creating; for example, one might use a hippopotamus if they were looking to evoke visions of Africa, an eagle for Western themes, or a tiger for Asian imagery. Ultimately, you should choose a beast that appeals to you personally, and that makes sense to you as a vessel for your world.
How Does It Work?
While it might seem like an obvious question, it is important before you go any further in your world-building to consider how precisely your world-beast functions as a habitat for the people. The first critical question is, are your world and your beast separate? Consider a camel carrying a pair of twin worlds atop its massive humps as it gallops through the cosmos. The people are aware of the camel, it is perhaps religiously significant, and should the people ever escape their world they might be able to visit the mighty beast. Perhaps they spend a long time musing about the camel and its nature and on their own significance, knowing that such a beast exists as to be great enough to carry the whole of two worlds through the cosmos. But ultimately, most of the time the camel isn’t going to be all that relevant to the affairs of the worlds it carries. This kind of set-up is Ideal if you want to use the world-beast as a flavorful background element while still focusing on the regular sort of heroics the PCs typically get down to.
Next, consider a continent-sized dragon who flies endlessly through the skies of a desolate and uninhabitable wasteland. The great beast is covered with earthen soil, accumulated from dust that once blew in the breeze. Plants cover every inch of his scaly hide, grown from seeds blown in the wind (a gift from a once less desolate world) and fed by rainwater which runs in rivers over his massive form, freezing on the high parts of spine which makes up the great mountain range which splits the land in twain. The people who live there are the descendants of refugees saved by the mighty beast in the dying world’s last moments. The monsters and beasts which share the space with the civilized people are the result of natural evolution, aerial migration, and wicked sorcery. The great beast ignores the happenings of civilization, the movement of the world on his back; even the progress of terrible wars is of no concern to him, protected by his several miles’ thick hide. With this set-up, the creature’s existence is of paramount importance to the world. The geological features of a wondrous fantasyscape are a natural part of its anatomy. Additionally, the creature may be notably more important to the lives of adventurers and the common man alike: evil sorcerers and insane demons might try to destroy the world by poisoning the dragon, and the dragon’s unknowable whims might endanger (or apparently endanger) the lives of those living upon him. It might even be possible for great heroes to speak with the beast himself.
Well, that's it for this week's Grave Plots; I hope you join me next week for the very exciting Zombie theme week, and until next time, allow me to wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.