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So, I've gone back to look at step one once more, which in my opinion is looking at what inspired you to do this in the first place.  Needless to say, there are tons of things that helped to meld this project over the course of time!  In fact, these influences will likely never cease!  Art mimics itself and mutates from these memes that continue to spread through our world. 

So, the same could be said for RPGs.  After all, Ravenloft is the answer to Gothic Horror and Dark Sun is the answer to Conan-esque Sword and Sorcery.  Now, defining the roots of my game?  Originally it started as a cool idea I had when I was in high school.  What if there was a world where users of magic and inventors of high technology could unite for better or worse?  ...

Another take I want to go with Arothe is that the hub world isn't quite a hub world, it's a cluster of packed planes and dimensions, barely held together by a ruthless psychic force that refuses to let go of them.  In this version of the setting, the psychic weave that is the power of Arothe and beyond keeps several realities close nit in a web.  Each province or realm has its own barrier of psychic energy.  These are there to protect the rules set in place by this reality.  If this reality has no magic, magic will not work here.  If this reality won't allow for laser technology, you're lugging around heavy scrap metal.

One direction I could go with this is having players find ways to break the rules, resulting in a cosmic force trying to track them down.  A...

So, one of the ideas I've had for developing Arothe is to make it a living world complete with not just multiple dimension, but multiple eras and time periods in which you could visit.  Space-time shenanigans!  This would allow the player to not only travel across realities, but see them develop from multiple points in time.  Plus, I'm already sampling about of series like Planescape, Star Gate, and comic universes in general.  Why not sample Back to the Future, TimeSplitters, Looper, and Doctor Who as well?

What if Arothe developed from the ground up?  In the post-Cataclysm era, it represents something typical of the post-apocalyptic genre.  This world is in ruins and everything is lost.  The new world must adapt while trying to salvage the secrets of

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So, I've established the world has all sorts of bizarre elements that mirror aspects of multiple genres.  In the end, I've decided the "Weird fiction" monicker that authors like China Mieville use suits my needs the best.  But, where to go from there?  Do I mold my world as a broken up themed universe like Golarion and the Forgotten Realms?  Do I stick to a central theme and build around that?  Do I have a changing series of themes that starts in one style and evolves into another (Like it or not, The Forgotten Realms matches this approach) 

Perhaps the dominant continent matches the "weird fiction" amalgamation that I have crafted, a cherry picking of all the genres mentioned in my last post.  From there, have other lands pertaining to a specific theme,...

So, what is Arothe?  Uhhh, well...  That's a tough one to describe.  While you can call Gamma World post-apocalyptic fantastic-science and call Dragonlance a romantic fantasy, this one is an effort to create the hodge-podge mood.  It's a world not only at war with itself, but with its identity and its reality.  As such, I wanna explore what kind of genres and tropes I'm sampling!

High Fantasy - Well, this is an obvious one.  It's a world where the paranormal is commonplace and pretty well known...  At least on the hub world.  Arcane powers are utilized by those with the talent or those with the money.  Some heroes in these realms are the noble minded crusaders who seek to protect the innocent from the many evils of the world.

Sword & Sorcery -

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An often overlooked element of world building are organizations. Even if they are included, organizations are often limited to the role of antagonists. This might be to avoid heroic groups that might be seen as deus ex machina (or a dreaded Dungeon Master PC). This does a disservice to groups as they can play multiple roles in a campaign setting and have varied benefits for a setting.

There are innumerable examples of organizations in official worlds. Dragonlance is especially known for its organizations with the Knights of Solamnia, Knights of Takhisis/Neraka, the Legion of Steel, and the Wizards of High Sorcery. Dark Sun has the Veiled Alliance, Eberron has the Order of the Emerald Claw, and the Forgotten Realms has several such as the Red Wizards,

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Hello again!  Before I mentioned that I wanted to develop my own campaign setting that aspired to be something truly unique.  But, you know what they say, "everything's been done."  With that I say it's how you present it.  With that, I'm going to further develop some concepts here, mostly through notes.  These notes cover ideas for major cities and enemies.

For a recap on my setting.  Arothe is the center of the multiverse created from a space-time calamity that merged alternate versions of many realities into one.  After stabilizing, the world of Arothe truly evolved into something unique, complete with new challenges and adventures ranging from super science to sorcery to somewhere in between.  In a nutshell it's a mix of Thundarr, Wizards (Ralph...

A convention of D&D campaign worlds and much fantasy fiction is the great metropolitan capital, the focal trade-city and hub of the continent, which is often a nation unto itself. This only somewhat reflects reality: there are many great cities in the world but few tend to be city-states, which predate the medieval periods D&D bases itself on. Large cities tend to be a rarity in the medieval world, having size limitations.

And yet every D&D setting has some large city. Greyhawk takes its name from the central Free City of that setting. Dragonlance has Palanthas, the Forgotten Realms has Waterdeep (and others), Eberron has Sharn, and so on. Planescape has Sigil. The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories have Lankhmar and the Discworld novels

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I made it my goal during 2013 to build (and hopefully complete) a home setting that has housed a few short adventures at most.  I've been tinkering with ideas for it since its more primordial incarnations that date back to my days in Middle School.  Now, more than a decade passed, all these ideas are finally starting to mold into something a lot more concrete.  Hopefully during my freetime, I aim to share my progress and post various ideas and brainstorm sessions.  Who knows?  Perhaps I can publish my result one day.  Now, I realize for every Amethyst (I love Dias Ex Machina), there are tons of unknown games that fade into the obscure.  But, fame isn't what I seek.  I just want a cool game world that others will like too!  Here's to that goal. ...