While laying plans to found a new gaming group, I've pondered several interesting campaign concepts, from Sword & Sorcery Greyhawk to a weird science/fantasy Fomalhaut-style setting. One campaign idea I've always thought would be fun is a fantasy version of Europe, set primarily around the Baltic, which provides all the classic fantasy terrains of fjords, mountains, cairn-filled hills, dank fens, ancient forests, etc. My concept for the setting is:
Sword & Sorcery Baltic:
The year is 800AD. Four-hundred years ago, the Mad Emperor, Honorious Caesar, makes a pact with unfathomable ancient beings from beyond to save Rome from conquest by the ravaging barbarian hordes. The Great Seal, the barrier that seperates the physical world from the metaphysical, is broken, and our world is filled with the creatures and sorcery that previously existed only in legend and myth.
Four centuries later, the known world is solidly in the grip of the Dark Age. Northern Europe is broken into small kingdoms and tribal barbarian lands. The Western Mediterranean is firmly in the grip of the immortal Mad Emperor and his priests of the Great Old Ones. In the East, the Shining Empire struggles to keep the spirit of civilization alive from its capitol of Byzantium.
The campaign takes place primarily in the regions surrounding the Baltic Sea, where men survive on the strength of their swordarm, ever respectful of the reality of things that go bump in the night, and the powerful influence of the gods. The characters will explore mysterious islands, hunt down fell beasts of legend, and venture into an Underworld that has become all too real. If they survive to reach the heights of power, perhaps some day they will forge kingdoms of their own, or take on the Mad Emperor himself in hopes of ending the Dark Age.
That sounds pretty damn awesome! I'd play that game.
ReplyDeleteI'd play it. Will Christianity or Islam exist?
ReplyDeleteVery nice concept, love to hear more.
ReplyDelete@Risus
ReplyDeleteChristianity, yes, centered around Byzantium, though somewhat more primitive than we know it today, as there has not been the opportunity to absorb all the pagan holy days, which are still observed in their native lands and forms.
Islam, not sure what to do about. It got started in 610, which places it two-hundred years after the breaking of the Seal. Some interesting possibilities to ponder there...
While I get that Risus Monkey might want to go 13th Warrior here, I don't think Islam would have developed as it did historically.
ReplyDeleteI think the presence of the Old Ones would stifle new faiths from developing. A common enemy would tend to unite Christians.
Islam might be a militant sect of Christianity though.
I will concede I don't know all that much about the beginnings of Islam so 'grain of salt'.
It is a cool setting idea. Runequest would work great with it IMO.
If you ever hexmap the region, I'd like to see how it'll become. Good luck with this endeavor.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought on seeing the map was "Hmm, Vasa alt.history?" But Varangian S&S antics in a Dark Ages Wild East works too.
ReplyDeleteTchernobog hungers! Pile high the fire and keep your sword sharp.
I'd play that. If you ever want to develop it, I'd gladly help!
ReplyDeleteRichard Tierney. Take a look at his Simon of Gitta novels. Gnosticism might just flourish in this sort of setting, though it'd probably be even more heretical and unorthodox than Byzantine practices.
ReplyDeleteWhat would it take to carry out a slave revolt in this dark-Cthulhu-esque Roman Empire ala Spartacus if such a thing were to even be attempted under a mad emperor like you're describing? Shudder.
Ever look up Baltic, i.e. Latvian werewolves? Very interesting critters. You should be having a great deal of fun with this setting.
"though it'd probably be even more heretical and unorthodox than Byzantine practices."
DeleteHUH? That's a very odd description for the city that was the seat of Christendom for quite some time!
Wow! Poland in D&D :-)
ReplyDeleteNetherWerks: The werewolves were, specifically, from Livonia. There's a good article on them here.
ReplyDeleteWhoops! Forgot to add the late 17th century testimony of Thiess. There's a bit on him here, but the real places to look are in Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies by Claude Lecouteux, Apollo the Wolf-God by Daniel Gershenson, or either of Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath or The Night Battles by Carlo Ginzburg.
ReplyDeleteCool. I do like me some alternate history.
ReplyDeleteI approve of this idea! :D
ReplyDeleteI like and approve this concept. :) Check out Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson (recently re-read and I made the wife read it also) for some ideas.
ReplyDeleteNice! No fjords in the Baltic, though - you need the Norwegian coast for that...
ReplyDeleteWow. That's pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever take this anywhere? I love the sound of it!
ReplyDeleteI like this idea so much, I think I'm actually going to run this. I've knocked up a hex map and am doing a quick compendium of house rules and the like. Want me to send any stuff over to you if and when I run it?
ReplyDeleteSure! I'd be happy to add a a link to the page here.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! Love to see what you do with this.
ReplyDeleteIdea to ponder... What if you pull a D&D? D&D origionally based the Greyhawk region on North America (if you put Chicago where Greyhawk is and adjust Mexico to the south, you can sort of use your imagination to see it with the coasts and mountains). Make the area around the baltic that you highlighted its own world, with the emporor ruling across where Denmark, Southern Sweden, and East Poland are (which would explain his rise to power as the seas would be controlled by his gateway to the ocean, lol). The Shining Empire could exist where Russia, Latvia, and Estonia are, and you could change some coastlines and add fjords and other climates where you want them. Just something to think about.
ReplyDelete