Wednesday Wits (Reincarnation in Lakeport)

Hey guys, this is a bit of a different article for us. Today we’re going to take a look at one of the underlying themes of the Lakeport setting and examine how it interacts with the gods of the setting. There are also a few cultures and species that follow different beliefs (or have a different reaction to this process) and we’ll take a brief look at each of those. We’re going to deep dive into some fairly deep topics (and these are only how the apply to this setting), so grab your oxygen tanks, we’re going deep.

World Anvil (World Building Resources)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a look at another gaming resource for your world building needs.  World Anvil is a new resource for World builders and authors.  It features a variety of tools and functions for the world builder and gives you a place to collate all of your resources in one easy to find reference spot.  It’s system agnostic, which means you can create the specific entry for a critter or a location, and then in the same entry put in stats for whatever system you’re planning on using.  Let’s take a closer look, and we’ll show you the world anvil approach to our Lakeport setting.  

Plot Traps Addendum A (World Building: Myths and Legends edition)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article in our Plot Traps series.  Today we’re going to take a look at Myths and Legends and how they can help you shape your world. We’ve got a buddy who runs a channel on Youtube called Terminally Nerdy who posted a video about this topic which you can find here.  One of the most important ideas he reminded me of is that you can make your myths and legends as big or as small as you need them to be, and they can work in just about any Genre of gaming (or storytelling for that matter).  Be sure to check out the video, (and like, subscribe and favorite stuff, if you found it as helpful as we did), and we’re going to dig into some thoughts and ideas about what you can do with Myths and Legends in your game.  

Plot Traps: Bad Guys Part 5 (Antagonists)

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing.  Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect.  We’ve talked about Minions, Specialists, and Lieutenants in previous articles, so today we’re going to finish up with a discussion about Antagonists.  These are the end bosses, masters of disaster,  or world breaking tyrants.  In some cases they are background elements, like an evil overlord whose minions constantly threaten the neighboring kingdoms.  In other cases they are personal enemies that have to be dealt with in some way.  We’ve written these articles technically backwards, because we really do think you ought to start with your primary antagonist.  Once you’ve decided who or what it is, you can design the overarching scheme and figure out what lieutenants, minions and specialists you can use to build their encounter, adventure, story arc, or complete campaign.  

The Elminster Problem (World Building)

Hey guys, this article came up as a part of a discussion this morning with our friend @DroptheDie on Twitter.  The crux of this discussion revolves around the resources that a party of characters has access to, and how do you as a GM design appropriate challenges to that kind of a group.  How do you effectively challenge a group that has all the resources in the world behind them?  What if they have access to powerful allied spellcasters or a near infinite supply of money to purchase goods and/or services?  This turned into a quick discussion about the existence of high level NPC characters in your world, and that’s the crux of what i am planning to talk about.  (I’m sure i’ll find a couple of other important topics to hit along the way, but let’s dig into High level characters in your world).  

 

World Building (With a Map!)

So Game Fans, this is the 300th article i’ve published to my site.  I thought a long time about what kind of article i wanted to put together and i came to a rough idea of what i thought would be neat.  First off, thank all of you, old readers and new alike for wandering down these roads with me, and i hope you’re here around Christmas when Article 500 is published (I kid, maybe).  Today i’m going to talk about two things that i enjoy, World Building, and the tools that make world building easier and add more fun to the mix. Let’s hop in the Rambler and see where we end up today.

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 9

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the oldest gods for the setting, Ahrimaius, the Lord of Creation.. Before i get started on Ahrimaius himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 8

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more somber gods for the setting, Grath, The Lord of Battle. Before i get started on Grath himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 7

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more somber gods for the setting, Frand, The Lord of Magic. Before i get started on Frand himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 6

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more somber gods for the setting, Adelia, The Ladies of Nature. Before i get started on Adelia herself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 5

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more somber gods for the setting, Oskar, The Lord of Death.  before i get started on Oskar himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 4

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more colorful gods for the setting, Silverhoof, The Lord of Horses.  before i get started on Silverhoof himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 3

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more colorful gods for the setting, Pureheart, The Lady of Power.  before i get started on Pureheart herself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities and Other Scary Things Pt. 2

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more colorful gods for the setting, Bannock, the Lord of Civilization.  before i get started on Bannock himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Deities, Divinities, and really Scary Things

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more colorful gods for the setting, Hassur, The Lord of Hell.  before i get started on Hassur himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

The Nobility of Yeltharan

Yeltharan has a complex government that does its best to represent the people and regions of the continent with equal capability and zeal.  Yeltharan has a Constitutional Monarchy ruled over by The Empress.  Each of the major geographical regions has a Governor, who is responsible for the day to day operations within his or her region.  Every major city is governed by a Mayor, who manages the city’s needs.  Smaller towns and locales can have any number of appointed magistrates/keepers/supervisors as appointed by the Governor.  Let’s take a closer look at each level of Government, and work our way down.  

 

The Nobles of Yeltharan (Open Legend Part 4 or 5)

Yeltharan has a complex government that does its best to represent the people and regions of the continent with equal capability and zeal.  Yeltharan has a Constitutional Monarchy ruled over by The Empress.  Each of the major geographical regions has a Governor, who is responsible for the day to day operations within his or her region.  Every major city is governed by a Mayor, who manages the city’s needs.  Smaller towns and locales can have any number of appointed magistrates/keepers/supervisors as appointed by the Governor.  Let’s take a closer look at each level of Government, and work our way down.  

The People of Yeltharan (Open Legend)

Yeltharan has a population of around 14 million people.  Aside from a few large cities with populations over 100,000, most of these people are scattered into either small towns or independent farm and home steads. About half the population is involved in agrarian pursuits of some kind, and the other half are fairly evenly split between lumbering and mining.Yeltharan is a closed economy that neither imports nor exports, so it provides everything that its people need internally.

Open Legend (Work in Progress Part II)

Let's take a look at the land and the important areas of Yeltharan. 

Arcana (WIP Open Legend 1)

Another look at some setting material for Open Legend