What Would It Take For You To Check Out "Sundara: Dawn of a New Age"? (Pathfinder & DND Setting)

As regular readers around here know, I've been releasing content for my own fantasy RPG setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age for about four years or so. A supplement-based setting that can be used either on its own, or pulled apart into its component pieces and integrated into your own homebrew world, the idea seemed pretty sound when I first started putting out stuff for it. And while there has been some interest in the setting as the years have gone on, it does seem to have waned over the past year and change.

The question is whether that's a result of changes to the algorithm, or changes in the audience... which is what I'm asking everyone out there to help me with this week.

Such as this one, which is a setting bestseller.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

What Is Sundara, Exactly?

In case this is your first time hearing about it, Sundara: Dawn of a New Age is a setting that's been released for both Pathfinder's first edition, as well as for Dungeons and Dragons' 5th Edition. The setting removes alignment entirely, and simplifies the metaphysical into a single realm referred to as the Prim; a place of raw possibility, where dwell thousands of gods, spirits, and outsiders, and which is the place all magic is drawn from. The setting also attempts to move away from the idea of a backward-looking golden age, and it's intended for players and Game Masters to be able to engage with the world and come up with creative solutions to the problems they face in their adventures.

And, as was mentioned above, the setting has been released in condensed supplements, rather than in a single setting book. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, it really brings home the modular nature of the setting, allowing you to get and use what you want at your tables. Secondly, this is a very small operation from a relatively small publisher; releasing the setting in parts and pieces like this is far more feasible for me to keep working and paying my bills than rolling the dice and hoping I can successfully Kickstart it if and when I get all the parts and pieces assembled over several years of work.

There's also a 50-video series about the setting over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and you can check them out in the Speaking of Sundara playlist if you wish!

So... What Would Get You Interested in This Setting?

If you want a game, setting, or even a novel series to keep expanding, it needs to have a core audience that supports it so that it can justify its existence to the publisher. And while there's plenty of stuff left that I'd like to explore with Sundara as a setting, I'm trying to get a sense of whether or not there are players out there who would support it... and if you don't support it as it stands now, what is something that could be done to change your mind, and potentially get you to walk through that door?

There are some people reading this post right now (I hope) who don't need to hear any more; they've already interested. For those folks, please scroll down and check out the links to the various Sundara releases that are currently available at the bottom of this post. However, if you're still not entirely sold, or there is something you would need to see in order to get you to check out the setting for yourself, what would do it for you?

For example:

- System Conversions: While available in DND 5E and Pathfinder, do you play a different system that you would like to see a conversion for? Would you like to see the setting converted to Pathfinder's 2nd edition, perhaps? Or Savage Worlds? Even something like Castles and Crusades, for those who enjoy a more niche game?

- Different Products: We currently have setting books, factions, gods, player species, and even tables of Whispers and Rumors to go along with the various cities, as well as novellas set in Sundara... but would you want to see something else? Adventure modules have been discussed as a possibility, for example, but there would need to be a loud demand for them. Would you like to see additional stories? Guides for playing additional species (gargoyles and minotaurs have both been discussed)?

- Actual Plays: While I will be the first to admit that actual plays take a lot of time, energy, and work to put together, that is something that could be possible if there was enough support over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel for it. It might also be possible to run games at conventions, if and when I reach the point where I'm attending events that have a game room once again.

Or is there something else you would like to see from this setting as a player? Villainous factions, perhaps? Lost legends that could lead to additional campaign seeds? Or something else entirely? Leave it in the comments below, or better yet, comment on this video (Speaking of Sundara: Is There Support For The Setting?) to guarantee that my publisher sees your words so we can hear your thoughts loud and clear.

I come to you all this week and ask this because, like I've said in other posts and videos, I do like making content for this setting. I love when players and GMs who've followed it get excited about the new releases... but I'm not psychic. So I'd rather just ask folks what they want to see more of, than to sit here with a crystal ball guessing at shadows. I want people to actually play in the sandbox I'm building, and to try to make that happen, I want to know what it is that's going to get you excited to really dig in!

Catch Up On "Sundara: Dawn of A New Age"

Cities of Sundara

The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.

Gods of Sundara

- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.

Species of Sundara

Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.

And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.

- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!

- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.

- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.

- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!

- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.

- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.

Organizations of Sundara

Phase 3 has been going strong, but there's still a few titles left in it! So if you haven't seen them, consider checking out:

- Sellswords of Sundara: With power structures being smaller in scale in Sundara, standing armies aren't often maintained for long. As such, soldiers of fortune are quite common! This supplement contains 10 mercenary companies, their history, uniform, sample members, whispers and rumors, as well as either an archetype or subclass for playing these unique warriors. Grab your copy for Pathfinder of DND 5E.

- Cults of Sundara: Faith comes in many forms in Sundara, and there are as many gods in the Prim as there are dreams in the minds of people. This supplement contains write-ups for 10 cults, their histories, sample members, rumors about them, their beliefs and tenets, and a unique magic item for each. Get your copy for Pathfinder or DND 5E.

- Guilds of Sundara: While cities and villages may be relatively local, guilds are spread across the length and width of Sundara. From professional orders of skilled miners and dredgers, to monster slayers and bounty hunters, this supplement has 10 guilds with histories, sample members, rumors, as well as unique feats one can take to represent the skill and benefits of joining this order. Available for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E.

- Merchants of Sundara: While city states might be the largest form of government you find in the setting, merchants hold an outsized amount of power. From huge mercantile houses, to small brands infamous for their quality as much as for their price, there are a lot of options listed in this particular world building supplement.

Rumors of Sundara

The newest series of supplements in the setting, these are meant to add to the cities, and to give GMs ideas for plots, or just to provide a little extra grist for the mill in terms of what people are gossiping about!

- Whispers and Rumors For Ironfire, The City of Steel!

- Whispers and Rumors For Moüd, City of Bones!

- Whisper and Rumors For Silkgift, The City of Sails!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

If You're Going To Make a Setting, Ask Yourself This One Question

One thing I've noticed over the years is that a majority of folks in the RPG community seem to want to make their own worlds for games. Whether the RPG system in question was meant to be a grab-and-go game, or the folks in question have to scrape off all of the meta plot and world building associated with the core game, a lot of Game Masters out there seem determined to make their own world, and to play the game their way.

Nothing wrong with that. That is one of the oldest traditions in the RPG space. But there is often a question that I feel like a lot of folks don't ask before they roll up their sleeves and start building cosmologies, nations, histories, and dynasties.

Simply put, what does your world provide that other worlds don't?

It is, surprisingly, not a question a lot of folks ask.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Why This World?

A lot of Game Masters reading this probably had the mental equivalent of bringing out charts, maps, and notes, laying out what makes their settings unique and special. However, too often we get attached to our settings because they're ours, when that is really the only unique thing about them; the fact that we made it.

The difficulty that so many of us run into is that when we make a game world, we often design it to be played with a certain game's mechanics in mind, and the trappings of an expected genre. And if you designed a setting to be played with Dungeons and Dragons, or Pathfinder, or any other system, chances are that you molded the flavor and fluff around the bones of those mechanics and expectations so that it would be smooth to play.

That's good world design... but it can also reduce the unique selling point of your world.

Why do we want to go here?

Let's reach for some low-hanging fruit. You're making a setting for Dungeons and Dragons 5E (now that the heat is off, and you aren't going to have WoTC come knocking on your door). You design all the cities, you create a new pantheon of gods, you put plot hooks galore across the countryside, draw up new maps, and everything... but what can people do in your world that they can't do in another world? What have you done to offer a different, unique experience?

I talked about this some time ago in Fantasy Writers, If You're Just Changing Something's Name, Don't Bother, but I feel this lesson is important for Game Masters to consider as well. Because if you're reading a standard high fantasy novel where the elves are called Duranen, and the dwarves are called Thrusken, and the orcs are Raskol, but nothing else has changed, then why are you bothering to give them a new coat of paint? The same thing is true of your fantasy setting for a game. Just because you re-arranged all the existing pieces and present them differently, that isn't a unique selling point that would make people want to play in this setting.

And this goes double if your players could play the exact same campaigns, and the exact same plots, in a world they are already familiar with, instead of trying to learn a completely new setting that doesn't change anything but the surface-level stuff.

Also, while I'm on the subject, consider hopping over to 5 Tips For Creating Fantasy Towns and Cities if you haven't read that article yet. Cities are tough to get right, and I wanted to share what insights I've gleaned from all the ones I've made so far.

Go Deeper, And You'll Make More Interesting Worlds

A lot of what we get caught up in is the surface-level nuance of our world design, but asking what your world does that no other worlds do is often far more important. Not just because it validates all the work you're putting into it (personal opinion), but because it makes players more inclined to come play in your sandbox because you have stuff in there they can't play with in other sandboxes.

As a for-instance, was the elven nation responsible for imperialism and totalitarian dictatorship, only overcome by an alliance of humans, orcs, and dwarves that overthrew their total control? Does your setting have no humans at all? Is your game in a flooded world with only rare spits of land, and legends of floating cities that avoided the Great Downpour? Have you eliminated alignment entirely from a system where it usually plays a major role? Have all the gods been wiped out, leaving the mortals to struggle alone in the darkness without the divine to call on for aid?

Is it some combination of all of those factors?

Whether you want to run a bronze-age game, fantastical steampunk, grimdark pirates on the black seas, or something else entirely, it's important to survey the landscape and see what already exists. Because if you propose the next campaign take place in your setting, and your players ask, "Why should we use that setting instead of Forgotten Realms/Ravenloft/Starjammer/Golarion/etc.?" you'll have an answer for them.

And if it's a good answer, your players may never want to leave that new world.

Speaking of New Settings...

Regular readers know that I've spent the last few years releasing content for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting for both DND 5E and Pathfinder Classic. While it was on hold for a while during the whole OGL situation at the start of this year, I've been working on some new content for it.

As to the unique sales pitch, there's a 32-video playlist all about the setting on the Azukail Games YouTube channel. Consider giving them a watch, subscribing to the channel, and if the setting sounds like fun, giving Sundara a look for yourself!

Cities of Sundara

The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.

Gods of Sundara

- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.

Species of Sundara

Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.

And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.

- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!

- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.

- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.

- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!

- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.

- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Daily Motion channel!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

For The Love of God, Play a Different RPG

I've been playing RPGs for almost half my life now. That's longer than some, and nowhere near as long as others. However, there is a very curious trend I've noticed among a lot of tabletop RPG players, and it's something that never ceases to confuse and fascinate me in equal measure.

Namely that they'll find a game they like, and then just stop. They don't want to hear about other editions, they don't want to try out other systems, they have this one thing, and they will not be moved from this hill. And this often leads to people turning themselves (and their games) inside out instead of just making their lives easier by playing a game that already does what they want (but which their current/favorite game doesn't do).

Please... on behalf of all designers out there... play something else.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

The Right Tool For The Right Job

If you were going to enter a drag race, you'd probably want to bring a muscle car to that event, right? Something that's got a lot of pick-up and go, that hits its speed fast, and that will send you rocketing over the finish line inches ahead of the other guy. Now, maybe you're not used to handling that kind of machine. However, bringing the dusty old VW bus you're used to driving to this kind of event basically guarantees you're not going to make it over the finish line at all. No matter how much you chop down, re-rig, or alter this machine, it's never going to perform as well at this task as a vehicle purpose-made for it. It's even possible that you could cut it down too much, and end up with the whole thing just dying right under you.

For those who aren't sure what this metaphor is talking about, keep reading. You're the ones who most need to hear this.

Because sometimes you just cannot make an X into a Y.

What I'm getting at is that RPGs are built and designed for a purpose. Even games that claim to be broad-reaching and genre-neutral still have limitations regarding what you can and cannot do with them, or alterations you can make to them.

But there are a lot of players (and a lot of GMs) out there, who want to take their game of choice, and twist it in an attempt to make it do something it was never designed or intended to do in the first place.

A perfect example is something I saw the other day. I love Pathfinder, as my regular readers know. I have an entire Character Conversion master list that covers concepts from the Death Korps of Krieg from Warhammer 40,000, to The Incredible Hulk from Marvel, to Sandor "The Hound" Clegane from Game of Thrones, because there's a lot you can do with this game. Something you really can't do with it, though? Run a modern fantasy game where the players are all vampires in a secret world, and who are differentiated into a bunch of different clans each with their own unique power sets and heritages.

Why would someone attempt to run Vampire: The Masquerade using Pathfinder rules? I don't know, but there was someone on a forum who seemed bound and determined to make it happen!

I hope they eventually stopped.

This is the clearest example of this kind of thinking. For one thing, Vampire is a classless system with no levels, and Pathfinder has classes AND levels. Beyond that basic issue, though, vampires are an extremely potent threat in Pathfinder, far beyond something that PCs are supposed to have access to. Not only that, the magic systems are completely different, with Pathfinder using Vancian magic and Vampire using trees of unique powers that cost blood to activate.

It may be the most extreme version of this, but it's certainly not the only one that just wasn't going to work. From trying to remove magic without a replacement from Dungeons and Dragons to make a gritty, "realistic" game (forgetting that high magic as a resource is a major pillar of the game's mechanics), to trying to twist a game as simple as FATE to run a full Werewolf: The Apocalypse campaign, you're just going to be better off choosing the right tool for the right job.

Mechanics Cause Ripples. Flavor Usually Doesn't

As someone who hasn't had the disposable income to purchase a new RPG of my own in most of a decade, I know the struggle when it comes to keeping things fresh around the table. Sometimes you really want to do something different, but you have to work with what you've got. And sometimes you want to change things up, but your group is really loyal to a particular system, and don't want to play anything different, even as a sampler. As someone who's sort of made converting content from one game into content for another my personal niche, let me offer a piece of advice that will save the GMs out there a lot of time, energy, and sweat.

Changing mechanics causes more issues that changing flavor. However, when mechanics and flavor are closely linked, you end up needing to change both of them.

Sand in the gears, and the whole thing falls apart.

Let's say, for example, you wanted to run a DND 5th Edition sci-fi game, but you didn't want to use the rules created by products like Ultramodern Redux. A simple change would be to re-write the classic fantasy species as genetically-engineered creatures, and aliens. Turning orcs into a gene-spliced species of super-soldiers, or making elves into highly-advanced aliens, would change none of the mechanics, but give you all of the flavor shift you want. Changing the species name would likely help, too.

Then there's simply shifting high magic to high tech. Now instead of wizards you have something like Ingeneurs, who use their unique tools and foci to create changes to the world around them. Each school becomes a unique discipline of the sciences, and their "spells" are now cast via implanted neuro devices, handheld computers, and even their familiars might be little more than intelligent, hard light projections. Sorcerers become psionic anomalies altered by a variety of cosmic events, gene-tampering, or alien influences, armor is given a clean up and a name change while the stats remain the same, and so on, and so forth.

That would be a lot of work, but it would be a functional change because the underlying mechanics of the game haven't really been touched.

Could you strip out all magic entirely? Sure, you could. Could you then replace it with a completely different system of high technology? Yep. But at that point, you'd basically be writing your own game, and having to re-balance some really big issues, and to make sure the rules and content you created kept things fair and balanced. And that is a lot harder, while also presenting the real potential for the whole thing to come apart at the seams in the way that flavor changes wouldn't.

So, if you feel you have to alter a system you have in order to run a game it wasn't meant for, keep this in mind. It's going to save you a lot of time, energy, and effort going forward.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Does Your Campaign Require a Whole New World?

I've been a gamer since I was about 19-20 years old, which at time of writing is more than a decade and a half ago. I've played a pretty wide variety of games since then; some were good, and some were bad. In all the time I've been gaming, though, I've never once decided to run a campaign in a homebrew world of my own design. And I can safely say, having been designing Sundara: Dawn of a New Age for months now, I would never even consider doing all this work if there wasn't a check attached to those efforts.

Speaking of, the floating city of Archbliss just released!

However, since it seems like a good 40-50 percent of people I talk to (and who leave combative remarks on my content) run games solely in worlds of their own design, there is a simple question I'd like us to think about today. Especially the game masters out there who are newer to the hobby, and who think this is some kind of rite of passage, or the "proper" way to run a game.

In case you didn't read the title, the question is to ask whether the campaign you're running really requires a whole new setting in order to make it work?

As always, to stay on top of all my latest releases sign up for my weekly newsletter. And if you want to help me keep the lights on and the motor running here on Improved Initiative, consider becoming a Patreon patron today!

The Ups and Downs of a Whole New World

Academically, I understand the appeal of making your own campaign setting for a game. It's world building in a literal sense as you rearrange everything to your liking. From altering the appearance of tieflings, to changing the assumed history of orcs, to drawing your own maps and forging your own timeline, there is something freeing about making your own setting from the ground up.

However, with that said, I feel there are a lot of stumbling blocks in this approach that we don't often think about. Because, as I so often say in comments sections, the ability to build a good world and the ability to run a good campaign are two completely different things.

Worlds are complex things.

First, let's talk about the upsides.

Making your own world can be creatively fulfilling. It can be fun to play around with the primordial goop of a setting, molding it and making something fun and unique. It can get you more attached to it, and if you play your cards right you can even get your players in on the action. Letting them contribute can give them that feeling of attachment that this is truly a shared game that you're all playing.

It can also let you erase aspects you don't like, don't want, or would rather not deal with that would have changed the core setting of the game too much to just make something a house rule.

For every up, though, there is a down.

There are downsides to homebrewing your own setting as well, though.

Perhaps the biggest issue I've come across in terms of homebrewed worlds is that a lot of GMs end up missing the forest for the trees. They focus on the handful of things that they were most interested in, or which they wanted to dedicate the majority of their time and effort to, but they end up forgetting they need to fill out the rest of the world, too.

Some examples of this from my own experience include:

- Completely forgetting to create a pantheon of gods in games with divine casters

- Having 2-3 major cities on a continent, but no other settlements

- Lacking the names and histories of ruling bodies and influential families in the capital city where the campaign was taking place

- Only fleshing out a few species in the whole world, leaving the others vague and unfinished

Even if you make an entire setting with no gaps or missing parts, though, there's often a disconnect between your setting and your players. Because if they can't actually read about things and look stuff up on their own, the world can seem ephemeral. If you are the sole lens that the players can learn information through, it can be frustrating for both of you... especially if you misremember something you told them, or there's a disagreement over an important aspect of the world, and it only exists in your head rather than on a wiki somewhere.

And if coming up with all of this stuff is hard work, then writing it all down and organizing it in anything resembling and engaging fashion is downright exhausting!

Do You Need To Do All This Work?

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from making their own settings to play in. If it's something you want to do, you should do it. However, it is important to take a moment to ask yourself if the story you're trying to tell actually requires that amount of work being done behind the scenes in order for your players to get the proper experience, or if you can just use an existing setting with a few additions in the blank spots on the map to get your game going.

Because if your campaign doesn't require a new setting all its own in order to function, then making one from scratch might be akin to one of those scenarios where a master chef tries to recreate the Big Mac. Even if you provide full flavor, great taste, and masterful presentation, it still took you hours of effort and a lot more work in terms of ingredients, sweat, and resources when just spending $5 at McDonald's would have yielded the exact same results with a lot less energy expended. Energy that you could instead focus on actually running the campaign.

Work smarter, not harder.

Making a whole setting isn't easy. It can take years of work if you're going it solo, and even a team of creators will take months to get all the details straightened out. Everything from the history of the world, to the rise and fall of empires, to the names and lineage of the Elf Kings, to the political relationships between the dwarven holds, to the names, faiths, and philosophies of all the disparate gods, that's all on you to figure out.

So take a moment and ask if you really need to do all of that work yourself, or if store bought is fine.

Because as a game master, and now as someone who's building a setting from the ground up, I can tell you that the reason Sundara exists is that it is the place for all those players and GMs who want a Pathfinder or 5E game where there's no alignment. Who want a game that's about striding forward into progress, rather than constantly referencing some lost, golden age. It's a world filled with bright, unique, and bizarre species options, strange gods, and extremely unusual places to explore.

But if a game didn't require all of that work? And if it wasn't my job to find a niche to fill for other game masters out there who might be struggling? Well, there's very little chance I'd have put this much time, energy, and effort into making Sundara a reality.

Sundara So Far

Speaking of my setting, the first 5 of the Cities of Sundara series have dropped. I'm switching gears after this to Gods of Sundara next month, and then after that delving into the species of the world and what makes them unusual and unique. If you're looking for a setting that's about progress, fresh solutions, and where the old conceits of alignment are thrown right out the window, then Sundara might be for you.

Also, you can slot these locations into existing settings to use on their own, if you're just looking for something to plug into an empty spot on your campaign map!

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and 5E): A city in the sky, Archbliss was legendary among those on the ground. The home of great sorcerers, it took being born with power to ascend to that place. The flying city has stopped its wandering, and opened its gates a crack to those from the world below. Darkness lurks behind the glamour and wonder of the City of The Sorcerers, though... and once someone falls through the cracks, there's no coming out again.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Activist GMs Are Something I Try To Avoid

Generally speaking we expect a judge to act dispassionately, and to weigh a case on its merits to see how the law as it's written applies to a criminal or civil matter. While these individuals tend to have some discretion in how they use their authority, the expectation is that they are attempting to implement the rules of society as they exist, rather than as they might like them to be.

An activist judge, by contrast, is someone who uses their position and authority to attempt to change or alter the law as it exists to better suit their personal belief system and ideology. This term is most commonly used for judges who sit on the supreme court in the United States, as there is not really a higher power above them that can double check their work for bias, personal slant, etc. when they rule on how a law should be applied. Best you can hope for if a ruling affects you in a negative way is that whoever sits in the big chair next undoes that ruling.

Game court is now in session!

I generally think this is a good framework to use when you're a game master as well. It isn't your job to rewrite the game, or to twist the rules outside of what they actually say because you don't like them. You're there to oversee that the rules you've all agreed to are implemented fairly for everyone.

For more use of this metaphor, take a look at my post Table Attorneys Vs. Rules Lawyers: How To Be Fair Without Bogging Down Your Game. Also, if you want to make sure you don't miss out on any of my fresh posts, be sure you subscribe to my weekly newsletter!

Rule 0, Cooperative Play, and GM Neutrality

I'm sure there are a lot of folks out there who are already preparing their rebuttals for the comment section, but before you put on your Caps Lock let me break down the totality of what I'm talking about when I say we should avoid being "activist GMs," and how that interacts with things like Rule 0, homebrewing, etc.

There's a lot of text here... so let's take it one issue at a time.

Now, to begin at the beginning, an activist GM is not someone who homebrews their own setting, who writes house rules for their game, or any of the dozens of other examples one could probably think of. I'm not advocating that we all play our RPGs exactly how they're written in the books with no changes or personal touches ever. That would make for a game that got pretty boring pretty fast.

As I've said repeatedly on here, every table is free to customize their game and setting however they choose to do so. If you want to make your own classes, alter how certain feats operate, change spells, or ignore anything from falling damage to alignment restrictions, you are absolutely free to do that... provided that as a GM you are A) up-front about any changes to your players, and B) that your players agree to the new changes and limitations you have made.

However many or few those changes may be.

So what would make someone an activist GM? Well, let's say you're looking over a player's sheet, and the swashbuckler they're running has a morning star. You decide that, though Swashbuckler's Finesse expressly says they gain weapon finesse with all light and one-handed piercing weapons that the spirit of the class was to recreate the Three Musketeers, so that ability only applies to rapiers and daggers. Also, they can no longer use the feat Power Attack combined with a finesse attack, because you feel that just isn't in keeping with how a dexterous fighter should function.

It's not that you're changing the rules... it's that you're changing them based solely on your personal opinions about what the so-called intent of the creators was (or should have been), typically in ways that disadvantage your players. Doing that without having a discussion with your players, or making it clear that's how you're going to run things just adds insult to injury.

It's like if you were making a case in court, and then the judge declared that you weren't allowed to cross-examine witnesses, or present more than three pieces of evidence, because they felt that was more in keeping with what the founders of the court intended when they wrote the law. Even if that's not what they actually put down on paper.

Let The Dice Fall Where They May

RPGs aren't perfect, and sometimes we can't house rule out all the issues we find in them before the first session. There are even times where you don't realize something is even a problem until you're halfway into the campaign, and suddenly the issues with a given mechanic are front-and-center. We're always going to have to make tweaks and changes as things go.

When we make those changes, though, they need to be with the consent and input of the players. Not only that, but changing something to better fit with your personal tastes or desires (whether it be giving half-orcs automatic negatives to Intelligence and Charisma because you think they're ugly and stupid, or stating that barbarian players don't get to control when or how they use Rage because you feel that's not how anger control issues work) means you're putting yourself before your players and their experience.

GMs should have fun, there's no two ways about that. You're a player, along with everyone else. However, you are just one player at the table, not a director telling the actors what to do as part of your personal vision. There needs to be room for everyone's fun and ideas at the table (within reason, of course), and you all need to be operating under the same rules.

And if those rules do need to change, they should be changed to make the game better for everyone involved, not just because they don't jive with a GM's personal image of how a game should run.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Alignment's Roots Go Deeper Than We Might Think (How Much Stuff Do You Lose Pulling It Out?)

Since I recently started doing my Alignment Deep Dives series, I've been thinking a lot more about alignment as a concept. Because while it doesn't exist in all games, and it's been mostly de-fanged in the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, it still has quite a lot of teeth in my preferred game of choice, Pathfinder. And while I've seen a lot of people saying they want to remove alignment from their games entirely because it, "just gets in the way," I thought I'd take a moment to go down that rabbit hole. Because I've found the roots go a lot deeper than we tend to think... both mechanically, and otherwise.

So, if you're someone who is serious about yanking alignment out by its roots, here are some things you're going to have to change, re-write, or re-conceptualize.

Trust me, in the end it's just not worth the effort.

First, The Obvious Stuff

There are a lot of obvious parts of the game that rely on character alignment to determine certain effects or limitations. Paladins must maintain their lawful good alignment, barbarians cannot be lawful, clerics must remain within a step of their deity in order to maintain their connection to their powers, druids must remain neutral, etc. This is the most obvious thing alignment is used for, and honestly I think it's about as far as a lot of players and DMs think of it; it's just an impediment that stops them from playing certain characters, or which restricts the actions they can take in-game without dealing with consequences.

No, Geoff, you cannot play a barbarian/monk with Way of The Great Ax.

 

And sure, alignment does do that. It also stops players from claiming to be good characters on one hand, and then casting spells with the Evil descriptor on the other hand. It makes it clear that certain actions, use of certain items, and even certain classes require you to maintain a certain philosophy and behavior. If you're going to be an antipaladin, a bloody jake, etc., then you've got to devote yourself to that.

To be very clear, alignment doesn't actually stop players from taking in-game actions. However, if you are a character that requires a certain alignment to maintain your powers, then altering too far in any particular direction might mean you face consequences for those actions. And if your character doesn't depend on alignment at all? Well, they might consider their actions necessary for the greater good, or they might think of good and evil as philosophical concepts rather than anything physical. The character may not even think in terms of good and evil, but only in terms of what is expedient and efficient. That doesn't stop them from being good or evil, but it means they themselves are not concerned with those labels since it doesn't affect their life in any meaningful way. And unless there's a local spellcaster, they'll probably go their whole life without ever having someone use a spell to check and see what their alignment actually is.

Another consideration is that eliminating alignment either removes or severely undercuts many abilities in the game. From smite, to domain powers, to specific spells and magic weapons, alignment is one of the major guiding forces that underwrites them, or makes them useful at all. So if you get rid of it, you either get rid of these things, or you need to re-write them. From the holy avenger, to holy/unholy weapons, to spells like holy smite and chaos hammer, they cease to function without alignment to determine their effects.

But alignment affects far more than just the party. It is a huge part of the cosmos at-large. Without it, entire aspects of the game just fall... the hell... apart.

When Heaven and Hell Are Real

In the Golarion setting (as in a majority of other settings I've seen for fantasy RPGs), there is a planar multiverse. And without fail there are planes that are attached entirely to certain alignments. So there are planes that are wholly good or wholly evil, wholly lawful and wholly chaotic. Most games have at least one heaven, and at least one hell, though Golarion has the hells and the abyss, as well as heaven and the celestial realms, among other places.

Go then... there are other worlds than these.

Alignment is predicated on the idea that there are places, beings, actions, and things that are wholly good, or wholly evil (wholly lawful or wholly chaotic as well, but that tends to get less play in most games). Good and evil are facts in these settings, not philosophies, or opinions. Because if that were not the case, how could demons and devils exist? How could angels, celestials, and other beings that are wholly determined by the aligned energies that spawned them? How could the realms they are from (and even the gods who command them) be truly good or truly evil if good and evil were up for debate, rather than cosmic facts of the universe? And if we get rid of these places, and the creatures that live in them, then what becomes of their results on the world? With no angels or devils we have no aasimar or tieflings. We lose the celestial and infernal bloodlines, and all the things that draw power from them. Because the alignment of these outsiders is their main, defining attribute... without it, their reason for being sort of fades away.

Perhaps the biggest example of why alignment is often necessary is the idea of divine judgment. When characters die, they go to the afterlife they've earned/deserve based on their actions... but what determines whether those actions were good, evil, lawful, chaotic, or otherwise? What determines whether they were proper adherents to their particular faith, or people who just said the words and never followed the dictates of their deity? The very idea means there must be actions that are good or evil, and that the gods have a checklist they can use to grade someone to determine where they end up.

For divine judgment to function, good and evil must be facts. If you remove alignment, it throws that aspect into chaos, and removes that basic building block.

You May As Well Go Back To The Drawing Board

This rabbit hole goes a lot deeper when you stop and ask just how many creatures, outsiders, antagonists, and even nations (in the core setting, at least) are resting on a foundation of alignment. From Cheliax's obsession with devils, to Nidal's embrace of dark powers, to the Worldwound itself, so many of these things rest on good and evil being real, tangible facts in the setting. While some of these aspects might still function without alignment, others are going to topple right over like dominoes that hit an unfortunate breeze. And as anyone who's ever tinkered with a mechanically complex game knows, the more things that fall over, the more you're going to have to do to back fill what you changed... which could come with its own unexpected consequences.

Do you need alignment to play fantasy RPGs in general, and Pathfinder in particular? Absolutely not! Just because it's a traditional element doesn't make it required to play in the slightest. But if you want to rip alignment out of a game where it already exists, actually has a function, and is sewn into the fabric of the setting, all you're going to do is rip the lining out of your blanket, and drop all the fluff on the floor.

And that isn't going to get you anywhere. Trust me.

I say this as someone who writes and tinkers with RPGs as a living... you are just going to make a colossal amount of work for yourself if you try to remove a functional alignment system. Instead, if it is such a problem for your table, consider playing a game that doesn't use alignment at all, or where it's a completely vestigial thing that will have no effect on the game. Or, if your only issue is a relatively minor component of how alignment works in your Pathfinder game (the aforementioned barbarian/paladin multiclass), dig through the rulebooks and ask questions on the forums... chances are good there's actually a way to do what you want without changing a single aspect of the rules as they're written.

It might be obscure, and it might be in the reams of optional rules that have been written for the game, but I can practically guarantee you that it's out there, and it's an option. Don't go in to remove an organ that's connected to so much stuff if there's a way to do what you want without elective surgery.

 

Also, before we go, I wanted to let everyone know I've got a new novel out from Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press! If you've got a soft spot for cats, and you'd love a hard-hitting noir mystery set on the mean streets of New York City, then Leo's adventure in Marked Territory is definitely one that you don't want to miss.

Seriously, go get your copy today!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!