Game Masters, There's Nothing New Under The Sun (So Don't Stress About It)

There is a fear I have seen among a lot of writers out there. In short, it's a desire to make something genuinely new and different the no one has seen before, which is driven by a fear that someone will accuse their work of being derivative, or of simply being too similar to other stories that have been told before. And, for some reason, this fear seems to affect Game Masters (particularly newer Game Masters) to an even greater extent. They worry their players will guess their twists, figure out their inspirations, or that once they get a bit of insight they'll be completely uninterested in the game because it won't be new or fresh anymore.

Now, I don't often turn to the bible in situations like this. Not my faith, not my book. With that said, though, I'd recommend Ecclesiates 1:9 for advice. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

I'll be damned... it's right in the book.

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Seriously, Just Embrace It!

There are a lot of Game Masters who likely laughed, shook their heads, or rolled their eyes at the introductory paragraphs. I've lost count of the number of people who are all too happy to list the books, movies, and even other RPG settings they've stolen their ideas from, talking about the various NPCs, locales, and plot arcs they've snagged from other places to make their own Frankenstein creatures to serve up to their players.

And in some cases the GM had wider, deeper, or older tastes than the players, so nobody realized the campaign, world, etc. wasn't spun entirely out of whole cloth. However, most of the time realizing that a Game Master took inspiration from a particular property (or even an entire part of history, for those who know that Game of Thrones is based on the War of The Roses) doesn't ruin the experience for the players... because it's not about being utterly and completely unique in a way that no one has ever done things before. It's about providing your players an experience that's unique to them and which has your signature style on it.

Put another way, think of your campaign as a grilled cheese. Everyone knows what a grilled cheese is, and everyone has probably had them dozens of different ways over their lifetime. Now, you might make yours in a slightly different way that some people (maybe your cheese is spicy, maybe you use mayo instead of butter to ensure the bread is toasty, perhaps you like to put bacon bits in it, whatever it is you do), but others are going to take one bite and it will be instantly familiar to them. That doesn't mean they stop eating the sandwich, especially if you prepared something they like in a way that is fresh, delicious, and which is served up on a platter to them.

Case in point...

I've got plenty of examples in my own catalog where I embraced the inspirations for a particular project. My elevator pitch for The Curse of Sapphire Lake is, "The love child of Beowulf and Friday the 13th," after all. And fans of classic action movies will quickly recognize the inspiration behind my Army Men mission module Assault on Outpost 13, since even the title is an homage to the film Assault on Precinct 13. My Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy RPG setting completely does away with the convoluted multiplanar structure used in Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons, opting for a simpler, more streamlined system of the material world and the Prim, which I explained in Gods of Sundara... and it's going to look very familiar to any fans of the Warp in Warhammer 40K as far as structure goes.

Hell, even my World of Darkness supplement Evil Incorporated just looked at historical atrocities (and modern ones) committed by corporations and billionaires. The introductory fiction even has a veiled call-out to the owners of Hobby Lobby who (at least allegedly) paid a ridiculous amount of money to terrorists in the Middle East to purchase stolen relics which they kept in their own homes.

Now, I'm far from unique in this aspect. Zon-Kuthon, from Pathfinder is clearly heavily inspired by the cenobites of Hellraiser, but not only that, the nation that worships him is steeped in winks and nods to Melnibone, the nation from the Elric novels by Moorcock. The same can be said of the supposedly cursed kingdom of Valyria from Game of Thrones, for the record. There are references all over our games to works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, to say nothing of Tolkien. And that's before we get into the copious use of world mythology, and great works of fiction like Arthur and his knights of the round table.

So while a particular game might have a different flavor, or a unique twist on things (such as a medieval fantasy game where you have to investigate the Cthulhu Mythos, or recreating the Trojan War as a starfaring space battle using mech combat), the inspirations are going to be present. There is always going to be a story that came before you, or a character someone else has seen, that bears some similarity to what you're doing at your table. More importantly, if you spend all your time focusing on what you don't want your game to be, then you're going to define it by what it isn't, rather than what it is.

I'm not saying you should shamelessly copy someone else's homework and just change a couple of the names around (I'm looking at you, Games Workshop). However, if you're tying yourself into knots worried that your players are going to figure out that your particular order of cavaliers is based on Lancelot, or that they're going to guess the plot twist for the traitorous noble because he's basically Count Dooku with a bastard sword, don't sweat those kinds of things. Instead, focus on the presentation and preparation for your game.

Everyone has had a grilled cheese before. Just make sure the one you serve them is perfectly crispy, melty, and delicious, and everyone will probably enjoy it!

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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 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!

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Sailcloth and Socialism in Silkgift, The Latest "Cities of Sundara" Supplement

A lot of the time when we look at fantasy cities we see they're built on a history of violence and bloodshed. They were often strategic military outposts, or places where great conquests have happened, and you often see timelines of wars, uprisings, pirate fleets, bandit legions, etc. in the annals of these places' histories. And while that's certainly one way to create a fun and unique part of the setting (and it was a strategy I used for Ironfire: The City of Steel for those who grabbed either the Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons 5E version), my goal with Sundara: Dawn of a New Age was to have places across the map that are different not just in appearance and culture, but also in history, philosophy, and goals.

Which leads us to Silkgift, a place where invention, ingenuity, and ideas are used to benefit the entire city, and to achieve things those who lack imagination would say were impossible.

This place is just as nuts, but from a different direction.

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We Built This City on Community and Industry

Before it was a city, Silkgift (available for both Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition as well) was a collection of three villages. It had access to open water for fishing, and lumber for building, but it was the village of Archer that turned an unwanted crop into a necessity. Using spider weed, a plant that grew on the mountainside that seemed to have no real use, the spinsters of Archer created some of the strongest sailcloth anyone had ever seen. Able to withstand storms and last for years, it was relatively slow to make, but since it was so durable that never put a strain on the supply.

This cottage industry was enough to help support not just Archer, but all of the surrounding villages. Fishing boats used the cloth, as did windmills. And just as the labor to make the cloth was done as a group, so too were the resources it generated shared as a group, thus ensuring that everyone in the three villages had the things they needed.

What changed the scale of creation was the advent of Clever Elsie, and the institution she created known as the Ingeneurium.

Where ideas become reality.

Elsie understood the process for spinning and weaving the materials for Archer cloth, but it was not something her hands were skilled at. Fortunately, though, she was capable of making additions to the looms and spinning wheels used to make the cloth. When her additions increased the yield and decreased time and energy it took to make the cloth, Archer's spinsters were intrigued. And in a unanimous vote, Elsie was given a team of apprentices and told to explore until they found more useful discoveries.

And the Ingeneurium found answers. From more effective methods of irrigating crops, to breeding unique variants of spider weed and other plants, to storing energy from the wind by raising heavy weights via winches, to experimenting with compressed air tanks, the curiosity of the ingeneurs led to strange and bizarre discoveries. And in perhaps the most energy-intensive undertaking, it led to them cutting a huge canal through the countryside, effectively making Silkgift a massive center of trade when previously it had been nothing more than an out-of-the-way collection of towns with a unique product to trade.

Wealth, Freedom, and Community Support

Silkgift was based on the idea of community, and as it's increased in size and power that's only grown more ingrained into its official policies and government rules. With more work than ever before done with the strength of machines that utilize the wind, and the flow of water, citizens are allowed to reap the benefits. Everyone has a place to live in Silkgift. Everyone has food, clean water, and trades are taught freely to those who wish to learn. People are allowed to pursue their passions, and the city boasts a fair number of artists, crafters, and niche artisans who can pursue their calling thanks to the city's safety nets.

However, there's more that's unique to Silkgift than just its worker-owned means of production, and community-based decision making. Because those are the dropped stones that cause interesting ripples for the city.

Through cooperation you can do almost anything you set your mind to!

One major difference for Silkgift is that the city's setup eliminates several standbys of fantasy cities in RPGs. You won't find beggars in Silkgift because the city provides for all those who come to it that don't have the means. You don't find a lot of gangs or bandits for the same reason; when you have a house, a community that wants to help, and food in your belly, the potential of a violent death in the wilderness is a whole lot less appealing. You don't tend to find gaggles of mercenaries seeking work for the same reason; with no wide-sweeping threats to protect against, why would those in the iron trade be necessary on a large scale rather than as occasional guards for caravans or ships that are also just passing through?

Leaders are elected by the city, and profits from Silkgift's enterprises are decided by the residents, who own both the industries and the machinery that makes them run.

So Where's The Conflict, You Might Ask?

Silkgift, The City of Sails was a unique enough addition to the Cities of Sundara series that I felt I needed to add a section for game masters who wanted to use it. Because while the city has all sorts of unusual goodies like net launchers, aether weapons, and other unique tools for adventurers to get their hands on, it isn't the sort of place where the party gets caught up in street brawls between criminal enterprises, or where the local lord has raised crushing taxes, or is throwing political dissidents in jail.

That doesn't mean there isn't anything for adventurers to do, however.

Industrial espionage is one potential theme for a campaign. The Ingeneurium can be secretive, at times, and there are other organizations and powers in the setting that would like to steal research and ideas in order to turn them to their own advantage... or to bury them so it doesn't challenge their own power. Sabotage is another theme, as the Silkgift canal was a major game changer in terms of trade routes and travel, and it redirected a lot of people away from other cities who might want that commerce back. Some inventors might be fleeing shadowy pasts where they weren't as moral in their experiments as they might pretend, or prominent ingeneurs might be the subject of kidnapping by those who want them to turn their intellect to crafting weapons for a syndicate.

Those sorts of games might not be to everyone's tastes, and they may not be the first thing someone thinks of when they sit down to play a fantasy RPG. It is, however, the sort of things that Silkgift is best used for. Of course it's just one part of Sundara as a setting, and there are plenty of other corners you can explore to find the sorts of plots that appeal to you in this Dawn of a New Age!

The Setting So Far!

If Sundara sounds like the sort of world you want to get in on, there's several more installments yet to come! However, those that have been released include:

- Ironfire, The City of Steel: The center of the iron trade, the volcanic furnaces of Ironfire produce high-quality dragon steel, and draw every stripe of sellsword and adventurer from across the region. Available for Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5E.

- Moüd, The City of Bones: A lost city in a blasted desert, Moüd has gone from a necropolis to a metropolis once more thanks to the efforts of the Silver Wraiths. This guild of necromancers controls the city, sustaining it through their arts. Available for Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5E.

- Silkgift, The City of Sails: A place of ingenuity and invention, some are fascinated by the strange devices and methods devised within Silkgift. Others are just glad for the canal that turns months of travel into barely a week. Available for Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5E.

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, 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!