Building A World Using WORLDS WITHOUT NUMBER - THE TERRAIN (Original Dark Fantasy TTRPG Setting)
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2022
- Can we use the oracles in Worlds Without Number and a smattering of other random table books to create an original dark fantasy setting for a tabletop roleplaying game? Only one way to find out!
Project Bleakwood is the working title for a dark fantasy #ttrpg setting fleshed out entirely based on the input of various random tables and following the world building method outlined in the "Worlds Without Number" core rule-book.
The content generation is broken into recorded sessions of about 30 - 40 minutes and uploaded to the "Kill Ten Rats RPG" CZcams channel. Comments will be taken into account during world generation, giving the process an additional and essential layer of community participation.
#worldbuilding #roleplaying #solorpg #worldswithoutnumber
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Regarding the Caves and delvings in the swampland; maybe prior to the swamp, it was a volcanic landscape with natural lava tubes underground. Many of the lava tubes did not flood, but only the native culture knows which ones. Im thinking of an Icelandic or Hawaiian landscape but replace the snow and tropical parts with swamp.
That's a cool option, too! Giving the native peoples a bit of an edge is also a nice plus!
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
I realize that this project fell by the wayside some time ago, probably because it had relatively narrow appeal, but I find this kind of live thought exercise fascinating, helpful, and inspirational. If you're ever short on video ideas, consider picking this back up for an episode or two.
Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to comment even if it was a long time ago. I had to step away from CZcams for a bit and got a little frustrated by that, so I wasn't answering comments like I should have. Apologies for that!
It only really faltered because I couldn't make videos any more, I'm not too interested in numbers or mass appeal and I'll be doing this type of worldbuilding stuff fairly regularly now that I'm finally back to making videos. Maybe not this particular series, as it floundered when it was still in the early concept stages, but I'll be revisiting the idea and rebooting it from the ground up to build some better momentum on the creative side soon.
Lot of cool lore ideas here! Here are my thoughts:
1.) Perhaps there are some large hills or small mountains riddled with caves at the center of the swamp which are seen as the thing you need to control to actually have control of the swamp. Naturally, the one of the major groups of swamp folk have been living there for a while.
2.) What if the uncanny disaster was what caused the rift among the orc clans? Some went underground as a response, others stayed on the surface, still others fled far away. All because they had different ideas about what kind of message their gods were sending them through the disaster?
The swamp control point concept is intriguing and putting some elevation in place to explain the caves also makes sense to me!
I really like the idea of the uncanny disaster being hailed as a "message from the gods / spirits" and creating an interpretation schism. Good one!
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
Just gonna join the (small) choir that wants to see the continuation of this, I need the Dorcs!
Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to comment even if it was a long time ago. I had to step away from CZcams for a bit and got a little frustrated by that, so I wasn't answering comments like I should have. Apologies for that!
Regarding continuation, I'm a bit hesitant after this long of a break and having only laid down the bare fundaments for the setting before being forced into a CZcams absence.
I'm leaning towards rebooting the core ideas of the setting and giving it a fresh start. It feels a bit stale and difficult to put myself back into that exact concept execution after this much time has passed.
Poor Dorcs though! They never got their moment in the sun!
@@killtenratsrpg Life happens! Cool to get an update, actually wasn't too long ago I randomly remembered that WFRP podcast and wondered what kind of Fated Doom it had met!
Totally feel you on picking up an old project vs starting fresh, there's a reason I have hundreds of random voice memos with guitar riff ideas and _somewhat fewer_ finished songs...
Caves/delvings in the swamp = great trees or formations of trees form “cave-like” areas (but with water) like grottos.
Yeah I feel like that's definitely an option. Some sort of arch-trees with roots lending stability and "caves".
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
All good. Hope to see new content soon :)
Im very interested in this series. I love worldbuilding, to an extend that I have been looking for a solo game where Factions fight, with rules for what the other factions do, not decided by myself
You should pick this project back up
Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to comment even if it was a long time ago. I had to step away from CZcams for a bit and got a little frustrated by that, so I wasn't answering comments like I should have. Apologies for that!
I'm hesitant to get back to this considering how long it's been sitting there now and how early on it was. I'm probably going to pick the basic idea of it back up and spin it into something new, I'm really bad at picking things back up again after they've "gone stale" for a while unfortunately.
So much to digest! My thoughts on the swamp caves are that maybe it is like a mangrove swamp only the trees are much larger and the people make their homes beneath the the knotted root systems of the mangrove trees.
Other ideas would that although the barriers protecting the world from chaos and law are strong there are still anomalies where the barrier becomes stretched this could account for strange creatures, horrors and apparitions that can’t be explained.
Maybe the thing awoken in the swamp is such a creature. I have visions of the swamp thing lol. This could tie in with the old capital. Maybe they were at war with the elves and, unknowingly they had built their capital where the barrier was very stretched, the elves knowing this used what magics they had to break the barrier releasing chaotic forces into the city. The raiders that you spoke of are the consumed bodies of the people from the old capital that feed upon anything that lives.
Really enjoying the channel. Keep up the great work 👍
The mangrove-root-cave idea definitely has some potential legs. Makes sense! As for the rest, this would be interesting to explore once we turn towards history. Maybe that'll nudge us in a more definitive direction. I do like the idea that there's some sort of thematic "barrier parallel" in play that mirrors the cataclysmic world-sealing barrier of more recent memory. Interesting!
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
For the swamp: I've seen a video on YT which showed a swamp that dried out over the summertimes. Leaving caves and other things temporarily accessible. Maybe this is sort of a thing players can discover. In the summer there are ancient cave there. and who knows what lives in there.
maybe the swamp is located somewhere unusual, like on a mountain plateau. It's a fantasy setting after all. ;)
I love the "drowrcs". But they need some cool twists. Just being underground doesn't cut it.
For the folks that is a "dealing" with the "predators": The preditors need a motivation. what do they want?
Whatever that is, the tribe there might provide it for them in order to contain them. but it has a grim twist. maybe there's even a cult forming about those eldritch horrors they are trying to appease. but the tribe slips into madness because of that.
I like both swamp versions. The summer accessible caves are a neat twist. Adding both to the options! Looks like we're ending up with six distinct flavors of cave so I'll just roll for it.
I agree that the drow-orcs still need a twist. Hopefully we learn more as we flesh out their area and history!
And indeed, the predators need some sort of reasoning behind their... "predatoring". I'll mark it down for later use!
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
@@killtenratsrpg No worries. We all have lifes away from the screen. Have fun with your puppy.
Bandits/Raiders could be the shades of other treasure hunters. They could also be like claim jumpers who try to steal the resource (macguffin) that everyone is trying to acquire. These shades were created to rebuild the glory of the city. And some being or force is using the resource in a new working. Old Capitol
If somebody is trying to rebuild this place that might be a good option, especially if they're a bit hamstrung by being momentarily incorporeal or some such. It'll probably be a minute before we can branch out into the old ruins up there but once we do, it'll be intriguing to puzzle all of this together. I'm gonna be keeping pieces like this around once a theme develops to see what slots in and what contradicts.
I kind of like the idea of Day-Orcs and Night-Orcs. Night-Orcs being cave dwellers who come up at night to access hunting (food) and the sacred area.
That's an interesting thought. Would create a strange dynamic between the orc variants that is very unlike the "elf/drow" one, where the night and day orcs perhaps aren't even at odds, but sharing. Very cool!
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
Great worldbuilding episode! For the wastes maybe the precious resource isnt just one type of thing like a crystal but more like a "law" corrupted object, like a rock or plant that when it was corrupted transformed into a mandala type object with repeating patterns. The police bandits might be a sect of zealots for the monotheistic religion that collect them and use them for their rituals?
Maybe the swamp caves used to be underground at one point but some sprt of seismic upheaval brought them above ground in the form of sheer cliffs that eventually eroded due to the flow of water, still useful for military purposes because of the height and cover they provide. Maybe the some of the caves are flooded and the natives are adept at swimming and navigating them to the point where hidden cities are built underground that invaders dont have access to unless guided there.
That mandala warp idea is really neat, I like it a lot! Tying it into the "law abiding raiders" also makes sense I feel. Good stuff!
And yeah, formerly underground caves now standing like a sheer cliff face is a pretty cool image, I'll note that one down, too.
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
Caves for swamplands could be something along the lines of mangrove (northern variations) caves where the natives build their dwellings. Along with the cannibal idea i wrote earlier this could be a very freaky place.
Yeah, we also got recommendations of cenotes that are only occasionally or only partly flooded and serve as burial places, perhaps with a few walking dead thrown in. This swamp is going uncomfortable places!
@@killtenratsrpg You mention undead and I immediately started thinking about cannibals and undead and how that could lead to some interesting/uncomfortable/unsettling ritualistic stuff.
Delvings in the swamp could be underwater caves with some waterdwellers that are not particularly fond of the people that moved in and take over their 'land'.
Would it not be funny if there is a civilized empire of Orcs behind the shrublands, but no-one made contact with them apart from the ones meating the Orcs on relegious triel in those lands. So everyone has a very wrong picture of Orcs to begin with only seeing something like the relegious caste.
Yeah the trend of "underwater caves as last refuge of some original indigenous culture here and REALLY not happy with everyone trampling in, around and over nowadays" is somewhat consistent throughout the feedback received, so we're probably just gonna go with that, whatever flavor it may take (we currently have cannibalistic halflings in the mix alongside aquatic cultures and some other hopefuls).
As for the orcs, yeah - that's the direction I really want to take this. Basically set it up in a way that the orcs are "evil by interpretation" because the only people who ever get to see them are the ones that intrude upon their sacred ground while they're in the middle of some kind of spirit journey to the old homeland or something, while their actual culture is extremely different from what can be observed by outsiders. Basically having the statement of judging them to be evil reflect back on the ones making it, and not in a good way, as they're the ones committing sacrilege on a scale so massive the orcs just kill on sight (and perhaps retaliate in a raid every now and then).
Ohhhh yeaaaa!!
Swamp riddled with caves/delvings...cenotes. Massive cave like sinkholes that were used for all sorts of purposes. Temples or marketplaces. Even like a Thing or a Moot. Florida has these they are also in central America. Cenotes have been known to have crocodiles in them. The previous culture could have beliefs that these are passages to the afterlife/underworld ala the river Styx. Maybe there are several larger cenotes that are being used as catacombs with the Mayan version of draugr.
This series has certainly been an education into how many subterranean water options exist out there. I like the idea of some mythical afterlife passage. I wonder whether this may point towards some culture having been there prior to the current occupants moving in. Seems like it might fit!
Make more!!!!!
Caves and delving in a swampland could take on many different meanings.
Woodfall is a dark fantasy swamp mini setting by Lazy Litch that comes to mind for me. Could be good to checkout.
Different parts of the swamp could be more solid and contain cave systems, dungeons, or barrows maybe. Other delving could be upwards in giant trees or buildings.
Interesting recommendation! Had a look at the publisher's preview, it does go into a somewhat different direction so bending it towards an outlaw haven governed by witches is perhaps a bit too rippey-offey, but I get your meaning: a swamp doesn't need to just be a bog full of mosquitoes. Neat!
Sorry bout the horribly late response, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. A new puppy hit the house and wrecked my schedule. All good now!
The scrublands are sacred lands (burial grounds) and therefore off-limits to outsiders. This is a cultural/religious artifact of the Orks. Both groups believe the land is sacred because this predates the schism. Both groups are constantly raiding and trying to drive each other off. Outsiders that wander in here are attacked on sight. Meaning that the Orks are seen as evil, because the explorers are ignorant of the culture of the Orks.
Yeah I'd definitely like to play around with the "orcs are evil" idea in a way that it reflects badly upon those actually assuming this is true, rather than making it true. Some religious purpose and burial rites, combined maybe with a rite of passage, could well explain why both sides are invested in the area and why they're resorting to "kill on sight" for intruders, making themselves seem horribly aggressive while they're really just responding to the ultimate sacrilege.
Is this series going to continue? It's fantastic
I got stung by the #dungeon23 bug so the time that was supposed to go in here is currently going into the Evennight series (and then some) but I'm not giving up on this one, even if the break will be longer. I'll have to see how my time management works out. The #dungeon23 stuff is getting easier to produce and it's quite likely I can manage to build a backlog for Knave (or other actual plays) again after moving house next week, so that'll potentially free up a bi-weekly Friday for Worlds Without Number in the second half of February. That's the current outlook at least!
What ifg the 'elves' that lived up ion the north were depending on magic and the access to the planes, so when the barriers were put up that did give our empire the win, but changed the world more than expected. Raiders in such badlands could then be 'elves' looking for to them very necessary rare ressources that are no longer readily available.
Sounds a bit like a bunch of elves who'd ask you to "remember the Sunwell!" at the drop of a hat. Having the "raiders" effectively be mana-starved husks that can't stray too far from their power nexus is an interesting explanation. I guess it depends on the timeline a bit. I'm not 100% on when this "old empire" fell and whether the new empire in the South even existed yet at that point in time. My gut feeling was that they brought themselves down by messing with something they shouldn't have been messing with but maybe that's not what history tells us once we roll for it!
Instead of being a deity holding the forces of Law and Chaos at bay, it would be super cool it it were some sort of extremely powerful human, that is in constant meditation for the past XXXX years. He could have a cult of followers protecting him, and maybe helping him somehow. We could go all Emperor of Mankind a la Warhammer 40K, haha.
I love the idea. Could be a good plot hook to tell PCs that this dude was or will be killed.
But I would rather make it like a small group to keep them at bay. A special order. So there's not a single point of failure for the balance. 😂
@@maxmusterspace6037 yeah it's cooler if it's just a small group, a secret order!
Damn this is such a cool concept to explore, wow! Marking them down a "the neutral entity" to further flesh out for certain. Human is an option but let's see what other factions pop up before we settle it for good, I love it!
Late to the party. But what if what makes the areas subterrainan, and drives living, underground is some aerial super predator? Its simply too dangerous to stay in the plains for too long. And the rite of passage or whatever the orcs do, is defeating the monsters?
Late to the party, even later for me to respond, huh.
I appreciate you taking the time to comment even if it was a long time ago. I had to step away from CZcams for a bit and got a little frustrated by that, so I wasn't answering comments like I should have. Apologies for that!
As for the subterranean aspect... the idea of having some kind of predatory threat kicking around there has definitely crossed my mind. Making it aerial and also the target of hunts as rites of passages make a lot of sense. Cool concept!
Great show! Out of curiosity, what is the font you use on the printed sheets?
Thank you! Apparently the text body font is called "Consolas", the headers are "Castellar". Not sure how I ended up with "Consolas" to be honest, never used it before or since. Might be a holdover from looking for thumbnail fonts for "Starforged".
no part 3?
The swamp natives natures could have been corrupted in a way that maybe they are now some kind of cannibalistic society that holds the bottleneck to the north. Thinking of Darksun halfling culture in a way.
Oh hah, Darksun Halflings meet Crannog-men from A Song Of Ice And Fire... and that's when the cannibalism started. Well, it's certainly not out of the question! Based off some other input received I'm toying with the idea of having an indigenous swamp culture (which may well be this society of people-eaters) that were in turn also driven deep into their territory by the culture driving in from the South fleeing the early signs of plague and cataclysm. Might work!