Regional Geomorphs

Why does every campaign you buy have to be an entire continent? Half the fun of being a DM is creating worlds so why steal that? There is the time issue but that's not really an answer. I don't think published modules should cover so much territory in such limited detail. 

I'm thinking of Regional Geomorphs as the title says. IMagine if TSR had develop a micro-setting (like the wilderness in B2 but a bit bigger) then dropped B1, B3 and B4 and others into that setting to really populate the Regional Geomorph with adventure and create a sandbox. Then develop a micro-setting for C1, C2, etc. That second setting could be next door or miles away. Encourage the DM to create a world but enable them to drop these microsettings into their creation.

This is a far more useful level of information for a DM to work with. The DM could then handle the big picture (or not, do adventurers really need to know the extent of the continent in most cases?

If the idea happened now DMs could homebrew their own and make it available (for sale or free, you do you). A DM then starts with one and chunks together a greater world when the players start to explore near the edges.

The only sticking point would be Gods and the Cults that worship them. Cult Geomorphs is another place it would have been nice if the DIY side of the hobby had explored. Imagine if DMs wrote up their religions and posted them online for free, or sold them, and other DMs would have the ability to pick and match however they saw fit. 

I'm imagining a buffet approach to world building and I think it would be better than what we have now with the Meh Forgotten Realms dominating a massive section hobby.

Best of the Web - Furca, Design Layout, and Religion

Phil Viverito has a post on Furca called The Hobos Have Them... The title wasn't particularly interesting but I clicked through anyway because Phil writes good stuff. I was surprised and amazed. I've read a lot of history and yet never came across such wonderful usable detail into a piece of equipment. The Roman Furca should have been part of everyones campaign long ago.  

Brian C. Rideout at the Blog Welcome to the Deathtrap has a post called Designing Layout and Information in Adventures. I think we need more of this type of thing, including designing for PDF (which seems to have been skipped but is all over the place and has certain different requirements). The game world is filled with awful design (some of it self-congratulating itself on how great and useful the design is) and bad design can cause folks to hate a great book or great game.

Great Job! at boxfullofboxes has a post called Those Faiths Which Bind -- A Religion generator. The generator is a great start giving an overview of a religion. It goes nicely with a few other boxfullofboxes generators. 

Create some religious myths and the Holy Books using So what do we do 'till the stars are right? and Step on a crack and you'll break an Elf's back! -- A superstition and myth generator and Hey, what's with this weird book? (with a wee bit of judicating unfit results).

Generate some holidays & game and food enjoyed at those festivals with A Red Letter Day - a holiday & festival generator, Oh, What Games they Play - a Contest and Diversion generator. and with a slight bit of effort the Yeah, but what do they eat? - A Local Cuisine Generator.

I think Religion and Cults (or lack thereof) are one of the primary ways to define a campaign area and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of this sort of thing.

Best of the Web - Religion & Octopi

Elfmaids & Octopi has a trio of nice posts about Religion.

Ye Gods! Cosmological Musings on the New Gods which lays out the cosmology and 12 gods for the home campaign.

Common Cults of the Elder Evils which gives 4 different 1d12 tables of cults that could be developed and dropped into any campaign.

Local Harmless Cults which provides 4 different 1d12 tables of colorful, quirky cults, some of which are actually harmless and most of which might seem dangerous to information starved adventurers.  

It would be nice if someone put together another book like Pettygods filled with deities like the ones linked above. Fantasy Worlds should be filled with a few big religions and lots, and lots, of little ones. The more a GM has to choose from the better.

Best of the Web - Gonzo Cults, Religion in D&D

Gonzo Cults
Skerpies had another mind blowing post on Coins and Scrolls called OSR 1d8 Gonzo Cults in which he lists out 8 cults. The cults are interesting, shocking, and definitely gonzo but it was one cult in particular that got my attention. The Cult of True Healing. And it wasn't the cult so much as a couple of throw away bits about their healing that got me.

Healing Touch. If target is healed over their maximum HP, they must Save or gain a random mutation.

I love this so much. Every healing potion should have this as a blowback, make players really consider if its worth topping off. I'd also like some kind of extra points total so if you go over the top by 2 points here and 3 points there the numbers can act as as a penalty against a save why? Fail the save and the Flesh Reborn special ability from the same cult applies, that's why.

Flesh Reborn. On death, becomes a ravening Chaotic Psychoplasm or something equally hideous.

Critically fail that save and the Mutation Burst effect occurs.

Mutation Burst. On death, a True Healing Cultist's flesh unknits. 10' radius, 1d4 acid damage, +1d4 acid damage per round until washed. Save to dodge.

You don't even need the Cults he lists, these abilities are gold for anyone addicted to healing potions.

Rethinking Clerics and Religion
Swords of Mass Destruction has an interesting post called Rethinking clerics and religion part 1, and Rethinking clerics and religions part 2.

I've always thought D&D blew it on religion when they made Gods, Demigods and Heroes a book of deity stats and not information about how Clerics organized and worshiped. I've written a bit about Cults and Religion under my Cults heading. I mean even polytheism is complicated, Druids, Hindu's and Romans had one set of priests for all gods in the Pantheon with the Hindu's and Romans sub-contracting out Priests to different temples (I assume Greeks were similar to Romans since the Romans copied their Gods); Japanese and Chinese seem to have had different priests for each temple, at least until Buddhism moved in; Babylonian and Aztecs appeared to be polytheistic but they had groups of Gods added on as part of imperial conquest more than a natural growth. Lots of fun potential that nobody has written about game-wise.

Then mix in alignment and you probably see Lawful trending towards monotheism, neutral towards the polytheism with shared priesthoods as mentioned above, and Chaos as a bunch of stand-alone cults with the occasional one growing large and out of control before being put down by everyone else. There is a lot going on with religions without worrying about statblocks for the Gods and D&D missed it. I blame the early rapid growth combined with the satanic panic but still, they've had time and nobody has done much to fix the situation which is sad.

While reading part 2 I had a thought. Gary used to start players off at 3rd level as he found the 1-2 a bit dull. Goodman Games slaughters everyone with the funnel at 0 level to make them earn 1st level status. What if every human started out as multi-class. That is you get 1 free level of any class you like before you begin play. Religious upbringing you get 1st level cleric training. Grew up in the gutters before entering Wizarding schools you can take a level of thief training. If you grew up in your fathers footsteps as a mercenary maybe you start as a 2nd level fighter instead. Just a thought but it gives the character a tad of worthwhile background to start with.

Blog Roll
I've been reading The Alexandrian for awhile and just realized I hadn't included it on my blog roll. It is now added: The Alexandrian. I particularly liked his stuff on open tables, I'll probably directly link a few of those at some point.