…horror movie, tit movie or anime?
Fall Fantasy RPG Series, Part Whatever: Deconstruction Derby
In setting the premise for this series, The Magic Has Returned, I knew that I’d have to go back and deconstruct/reconstruct the archetypal D&D/Fantasy RPG world that almost all of us know. After all, this was a world where magic has only been back in any usable form for about 200 years. Indeed, civilization has only been back for a bit longer than that. Same goes for the various non-human races and various magical creatures.
Actually, many of the magical creatures and fantasy races we know either don’t exist yet or are still undiscovered. Hell, a huge portion of the continent the PC’s live on is totally unexplored by them…or any other group.
So anyway, I had to figure out what happened after the characters in last fall’s series brought about the return of magic. What I came up with was this…
Immediately after the “magic returning ritual” was completed: Certain groups of humans and animals began to change. A short statured race here began to change into gnomes, while one over there became dwarves/halflings/goblins/etc. A herd of horses in one area might, with each new generation, grow more useful wings. Somewhere, a small population of lizards was getting larger and would someday become dragons. But all of this would take time.
About a month later: The magical shit hits the fan when raw magical power floods back into the world. Enormous mystical “hurricanes” sweep across the planet, completely reshaping the world and destroying civilizations. Humanity, and those who were changing into other than humans, were scattered everywhere. For 50 years these groups lead a nomadic life, struggling to survive.
250 years ago: Once the magical holocaust subsided, groups of people began to gather together and settle down, forming towns and villages. As more refugees poured in, these settlements grew. Additionally, altho magic was still a wild and untamed force, a few people found that they could, with great mental effort, bend it to their will…barely.
200 years ago: Kingdoms, republics, democracies and other forms of government began to take shape, based on the half remembered civilizations of the Old Days. Some of these new civilizations are made up of humans only, some of non-humans only and others (including the PC’s home kingdoms) have more than one race getting along just fine. Out in the wild (and sometimes in more settled areas, strange beasts and monsters are being seen with more frequency. Among the practitioners of magic, the ability to cast spells has become safer (for both target and caster) and in most civilized areas mages get together to aid one another in exploring and mastering magic.
100 years ago: Civilizations perk along, with some exploration being done, especially by coastal based countries. The League of Mages is established to “Promote the study of magic, share knowledge of magic and train those new to magery”. Fore a bit of perspective: the greatest, most powerful mage on the planet knows 11 spells and can cast 4 of them in a single day…and then collapses, exhausted. In D&D terms, the most powerful spell he knows is barely second level. Among the science loving gnomes, the Gnomish Institute of Technology is established.
Now: The PC’s home kingdom, which shares borders with Gnome Valley and the Kemin Tribal Lands, has well used trade routes to several kingdoms to the north and a large empire to the south. The League of Mages has recently cracked the “4th Level” of magic. The Adventurers Guild celebrated it’s 25th year in business. The gnomes have gone mad for clockwork devices and chemistry. At sea, pirates are making trouble. And only as few months ago, the entire population of a frontier village and the nearby fort watched amazed as a dragon flew overhead at an altitude of several thousand feet.
Next time: Rolling back the amount of magic and raiding published/unpublished works to build the world.
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