Fantasy Adventures

Description does not do justice to the wortd I beheld—a vision the likes of which cannot be conceived by those who struggle behind oxen nor those who spend their lives govening a paltry few thousand in the largest cities we know. Though impossible to tell my course and the distance traveled, spread before me was a city of such vast magnitude that one of the steel and glass towers raised before me would house dozens of villages. Steedless metal carts thundered through the air, and pegasi were being ridden high along the less-traveied sky paths. It was a glorious sight to behold.

— Excerpt from The Travels of Kandalon, Volume II

Building a Future

Designing a future for any campaign can be done methodically, with great attention paid to a logical progression of events, or the DM can improvise, making a few broäd assumptions and filling in the rest on the go, DMs are encouraged to completely detail at least one future before winging it.

Foundations of the World

There are five areas of concem when future building: politics, society, religion, economy, and magic and tedinology. Each of these must be dealt with to provide a firm setting.

Politics. This foundation covers the rise, expansion, and fall of governments, whether kingdoms or empires. In most settings, the current politicai state is one of military might. Those who control the most weapons control the most land. Warfare is covered in this section, since it is a means of expanding borders.

Society. This area deals with the different levels of society and how they prosper and relate to each other Any major concern not covered by other foundations is found here. These are mostly the natural threats of floods, earthquakes, or large monsters which endanger huge areas (dragons and the like).

Religion. This area cannot be ignored for a world in which the divine can grant powers or even intervene. Religion can actually control the political state of an entire land and have an effect on the zeal of society. In times of prosperity, religion has a tendencv to seem less important, but it is always present.

Economy. The base ot a world's economy changes as society advances. The change from a barter society to a monetary one does not take place immediately but in most cases it eventually happens.

Magic and Technology. These interdependent factors deeply influence the other foundations. Warfare depends heavily on magical and technological support. Advancement in these areas can improve the economy. At the beginning of most campaigns, technology is at a low, and magic rules supreme, but this might eventually change.

Shaking the Foundations

How each of the five areas change is dependent first on DM desire, and second on a logical progression of events, Game play is everything. lf the players are enjoying themselves, some details that don't quite fit are often overlooked. If a completely incredible scenario is necessary for the timeline to mesh, pick the best point and send in some NPC chronomancers to tie a rough knot into the timestream and create the implausible bridge. Should players discover the chronomancer tampering and wish to straighten it out, it's a ready-made adventure.

To assist the DM in detailing alternate futures, guidelines are listed below to give a basic idea of how fast things should change.

Political Movement. Wars do not spring up overnight. The reasons behind them can usually be detected years, or even decades in advance: increasing friction between neighboring kingdoms, including several peace talks and failed attempts at congeniaity; population pressure over a number of years that finally forces a country to expand its borders; even the romantic but unlikely scenario of two kingdoms going to war over a kidnapped princess does not mean instant armies and battlefield combat. More likely a year or two of war by assassins transpires, followed by skirmishes while armies are buiit up ior large confrontations, Somewhere in here are several failed peace attempts, and then finally all-out war.

When war arrives, it rarely brings great political change. Borders don't often move much. The rulers stay safe at home, so they are not removed from power. Most times, the oniy change is the devastation to both sides. It might take two or three wars before one kingdom finally annexes another, As a side note, when moving borders around, it's best to use natural boundaries. When portions of another kingdom are taken, often the enemy was pushed back to a defensible posirion iike a river, mountain range, or dense wood.

If warfare seems a slow means of change, politics is even slower. A monarch usuaily holds power until death, which could mean upwards ot 100 years (with the age-restoring powers of many magical items). Sometimes a king might die young, and a child rules (likely through a regent), but often the king's heir is middle-aged before taking the tlirone.

The power of the people is a nice theory, but even if commoners make up over 50% of the popuiation, they are stiil leery about facing the ruler's professional soidiers. It often takes years of oppression before they revolt, and change takes even longer if they try to work within the system. It might take a decade of pressure before the king agrees to a voting council of elected commoners (which he can veto).

Social Movement. Progress in the area of social reform moves slowly, which is helpful to the DM. There is rarely an event that can be pointed out as the one thing that led to improved relations between dwarves and elves, or the upper and lower classes. Old bigotries die hard, over decades if there are centuries of hatred to overcome, just to attain a neutral relationsliip. If nothing happens to set back progress, which usually does, the races or castes spend several more years or decades building trust and coimng to understand each other better. In the case of an ancient rivalry in which wars have been fought and lifestyles are fairly alien to each other, elves and dwarves for instance, it would take centuries.

Much ot how liberated the society is has to do with the economy and the development of technology that aids the lower class. Over a course of centuries, the lower class expands upward, creating a larger middle class with the rise of professionai workers. Peasants, or the unskilied, become fewer.

Religious Movement. During prosperous times, interest in religion falls off as people find other things to do with their time. During times of hardship, people are likely to turn back to religion to seek comfort or aid.

Churches are not weak in prosperous times, though. They have their own course of development, and when resources permit, they work to advance those goals. There are churches that become large financial powers and those that create a theocracy, for instance.

Economic Movement. The first major step is the standardization of metals. This comes along with a spreading empire of loosely knit kingdoms. Changing from precious mefals to a printed standard is next. This might be tried severai times before success. It requires a stable govemment to enforce the regulations and support tlie money. If the government destabilizes, so does the currency.

Magical and Technological Advancement.Technology, in some form, eventuaily matures. A majority of these progressions are likely in the hands of wizards, but everyone can contribute to the overall rise. DMs shouid not worry about the speed of cliange, though.

The deveiopment of new technology and new magical techniques is most often a iocalized phenomenon. lt could take years for a new spell or device to reach common use in a single kingdom—at least two decades before it is used throughout an empire. This is due to the lack of mass-production and the carrying of news by word of mouth. Improvements to a device or new applicatiöns for a speil are thought up every day by different individuals, but most of these are kept quiet. It takes almost as long for improvements to spread as the original did.

This system speeds up eventually, so be prepared. As production improves, more devices can be made even more cheaply. As communication improves, devices spread faster. Always know the status of these conditions for any era.