There were some good suggestions to the last post. I'm glad people said no need to make it historically acurate because its a pain in the ass to get the time line correct - even sources sometimes conflict! I want to get the day to day stuff right (how they dressed, how they ate), but dont want to be too stuck to correctness on timelines, politics, etc.
So here is my opening bit to the setting:
“The Time is the mid-900s AD and all of the British Isles are divided by kingdoms, principalities and earldoms and the occasional independent city- state ruled by “clerics†- warrior monks of Christianity. These kingdoms are peopled by many types of tribes: the Britons, Angles, Saxons, Vikings (Danish, Norwegian), Picts, Welsh and Scots. Ireland was also divided into several kingdoms and princedoms, some ruled by Vikings and others ruled by the Irish kings and princes.
The King of the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex is the most powerful king in all of Britain: Edward the Elder sits in uneasy truce with the Danish King of Anglia, Guthrum II. The Kingdoms of York and Scotland were to the north. To the west lay the kingdoms of Wales, of which Gwynedd in the north and Dyfed in the south are the most powerful. All pay homage to the king in Wessex, but some of these kings and princes are quite independent and seek to break free of their duties to the Wessex king. And for many kingdoms, Wessex is far away and has little influence on life within their borders for all but the most high-born.â€
The internet is amazing. I used to write all this stuff into lined notebooks and draw maps and pictures by hand, or use pictures from Dragon magazine. Now there is a plethora of free artwork and even ready-made maps one can use to get a game started. About 60% of the work I am doing is cut and paste, the rest writing. I’m pulling mainly from historical sources, fan sites and the occasional site that seems to be writing new material based on historical sources. So now I have a campaign book coming together which I expect to be 8 to 10 pages long. Right now I have completed the political / geographic description of the world and its time frame, as well as a “what people believed†section which introduces the land of the faeries or “fae†where I use the name Arcadium, and how they intereact with humans and how geographically they come into contact with humans. But I don’t spend much time on what faeries are at this stage…
Of course, their magical nature is revealed which moves nicely into a description of magic, which starts thus:
“Yes, even magic which very much exits in Olde England! “Bagh!†you say!?
Well, I can tell you, only a fool does not believe in magic and the power of holy men! Everyone knows magic is real and works (usually…) But of course one must be careful in these times, for the priests of the Church do not much like magic as too often they find it used for selfish and evil reasons.†Here, I discuss the difference between Sorcery and Wizardry, and further between “learned and courtly†mages, and common “hedge wizardsâ€.
I have chosen that sorcery will mostly be considered “bad†magic as it involves the control and enslavement of spirits, elementals, demons and the dead, while magic generally affects the physical properties of the world directly through the study of ancient Celtic, Roman and Greek texts, and the use of incantations and components. Hedge wizards have the simpler spells passed down usually verbally and may be the local “healer†or “fortune tellerâ€.