20 Campaign Setting Questions

A seminal post over on Jeff Rients’ blog asks 20 questions about your campaign setting which are bound to come up in play and are better thought through ahead of time.

Survey posts like this are a good way for folks to quickly find out if they like my stuff or not, so this will be a little intro to my campaign setting. For a game that has a setting other than "generic fantasy land" it is key that the setting reinforce the rules and play style put forward in the system.

My campaign setting is essentially a customized version of the Isles of Andrik, a Norse hex crawl setting found in Shadowdark’s zine Cursed Scroll (#3, Midnight Sun). I’ve also sprinkled in elements from the Wormskin zines (now Dolmenwood RPG and setting) and Frostbitten and Mutilated to make it slightly more weird. And I like to use the towns from classic modules because they are already fleshed out for me.

1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?
For player characters, there are six deities to choose a patron from: Odin, Loki, Thor, Njord, Skadi, and Surtr. Temples can be found in cities and sizable towns. Various orders are dedicated to each of the six. NPCs may worship one or all of these, but more insular villages and most monsters will instead worship some local ancestor, demon, or spirit. Notably, choice of god or gods does not affect starting abilities in my system. Any direct benefit a player character gets from their religiosity happens in-game through some temporary boon or permanent blessing.

2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
I separate my equipment list into mundane, complex, and specialty. Mundane can be had in any settlement including small villages, complex in towns or larger settlements, and specialty only in cities. Everything on the list is considered possible starting equipment (though some is impossible to afford based on starting gold limits). To find anything on the list in an appropriate settlement requires no special effort.

3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

Master blacksmith/armorer in a large city.

4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

The most powerful wizard is the namesake of the spell Jovius’ Glitterdust and can be met by adventurers with some regularity on special encounter tables. He is rather unassuming and so eccentric in his impossible age that getting any purposeful service or secret from him is a moot point. He is a great source of rumors and esoteric information, just not about whatever is directly asked.

5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?

Kjellfrid the Man Slayer is the only daughter of the late Jarl Steinar (aka Old Evenhand). When Steinar died without a son, two other Jarls marched into his domain with claims to the throne. Kjellfrid beat both of the jarls’ chosen champions in one-on-one combat and maintained her inheritance. Those who were embarrassed by her victories still hold a grudge…

6. Who is the richest person in the land?

Before he died, Jarl Steinar was the wealthiest person, though much of it was real estate in his large kingdom, not so much liquid. Since his death the kingdom has lost the confidence of some landowners and merchant guilds who believe the 'ladyjarl' will not last long, and they took their ventures elsewhere. Kjellfrid reacted harshly, which did not improve the people’s outlook, though it may have kept some wealthier citizens from leaving. Now, Bwana Mkubwa, a great merchant southlander who has been the only significant outside trader for the last several bitter winters, is likely the richest person despite having no lands here to speak of. 

7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?

Apothecaries, sages, adepts, and hedge mages in smaller settlements are your best bet. The healing will generally be in the form of a gnarly concoction, but these local yokels are much less likely to ask for a favor in return for the aid. 

8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

A high priest may be able to raise a dead player character but any god that deigns to help will place a quest on the returned soul. For healing lesser but serious ailments the folks mentioned in #7 will not have a 100% success rate. Some good ol' fashioned research may be needed to find a cure and/or professionals to apply it.

9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

The Seers are an esoteric establishment that player character seers are a part of by default. They have some magics, but the more obscure magics are only to be found by exploring (particularly old troll haunts, considering they were the ones who invented magic in the first place). Arcane magics are generally mistrusted and organized arcane societies are verboten since the last ones awakened some of the old giants in a spat. Player character magic-users may be called, "One of those ones responsible for the Awakening" or some such epithet.

10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?

Alchemists and other specialists can be found in the cities, or occasionally in a middling size town.

11. Where can I hire mercenaries?

Almost any settlement will have at least one or two wandering sell-swords. Larger towns and cities will have them by the dozens.

12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?

See #9. The seers, who possess some arcane teachings, are accepted as advisors to jarls, etc. Speaking of seers, their headquarters is the one place where carrying a sword is forbidden, both because of its status as a sacred site, and so the seers can maintain the appearance of neutrality.

13. Which way to the nearest tavern?

All campaigns start either in Orlane (yes, that one, just more Norse themed), Hommlet (yup, that one, but Norse'd as well), or one of the other classic product settings. I like to have all my settlements begin with different letters of the alphabet to keep them straight in player's minds (and mine). While exploring the wider world, if the party is aware of where they are, they can backtrack and use landmarks to return to the town they set out from, or navigate to a town they know. If they are lost, they need to roll on a navigation table that randomly determines their progress and hazards per watch.

14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

Drakes will always bring renown and reward if slain; the bigger the better. These serpentine dragon kin, once big enough, like to grab the local sheep and other livestock for an easy meal. Townsfolk will quickly become amiable to player characters that help slay any bothersome drakes. My monster blocks all have a variant version that appears if very high hp is rolled for the one(s) appearing. That is where the majority of notice board bounties will come from, so that there is a chance to meet the special monster(s) even on a regular wandering monster roll while traveling.

15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?

There are plenty of rumors that one or more jarls will try to depose the Man Slayer from her throne, they are supposedly just waiting for her political strength to reach its nadir. There are also the annual raids by the Nord, which can end up in guerrilla war in foreign lands. Worth mentioning here: the Nord/Nordmen are the human racial group of large northerners native to the isles. Many "southlanders" (a very generalizing term for humans that are not Nord) have immigrated to the isles over the centuries and are diverse in stature, accents, skin tone, etc. Most Nord are biased against southlanders and this has caused animosity both ways. Racial tensions occasionally flare, particularly in cities or during the raucous lead-up to the annual maritime raids.

16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

Thieves can find fight clubs in any sizable settlement by following secret signs. Once a year before setting off for the late summer and fall raids, the Nordmen gather at the coast for a moot that determines who will lead each ship by means of naked hand-to-hand combat.

17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?

Seers fit in here again, not for making war but definitely politicking and plotting. Otherwise, players have to discover these things for themselves. Expect to stumble across thieves guilds, cults, mercenary companies, assassins, etc.

18. What is there to eat around here?

Fish, mutton from big puffy sheep and goats, gruel, meal, porridge, root vegetables, stew, fermented stuff.

19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?

Plenty. Each time you run into Jovius, he is likely to mention his lost sword Wayedge. He misplaced it a century ago or more and would handsomely reward the person who returned it to him. Each time you ask about it, however, he will tell you a different story about when and where he misplaced the blade.

20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?

Full dragons (typically called 'wyrms') have not been seen on the isles for a few generations, but given their long life it is doubtless there are some out there, in caves and mountains and dark places, slumbering in their hoarded gold and treasure. Their kin the sea serpents have been the scourge of the seafaring Nord of late, eating entire ships and carrying the treasure therein by the gargantuan belly-full around the seas just awaiting some force powerful enough to tear them open and take the booty.