Kras'na
Scope
The motivation behind building Kras'na
What is this world being built for? Honestly, I was really motivated to make this word because my last attempt felt like a flop. I had wanted to make a world that fit the interests that I had when I was younger, back when I was really into anime, samurai, and games like Dynasty Warriors. That sort of thing. But as I wrote and struggled, I realized that I was not the same as I was years ago. If I was a WorldAnvil member back then, maybe it would have been a great world, decent at least. But I ended up feeling like a hack.
This world is being built mostly as a redesign of my last attempt. I had a few ideas that I really wanted to try written down, and I want to fully expand on that this time around, with a setting that more closely fits my current interests.
The goal of the project
Once again, the world I'm working on is being built "offically" for me to play Dungeons and Dragons in it. However, this time I want to try and make it more accessible for others who may be interested in playing within the setting, or more interested in the meta side of things.
With that in mind, I am slowly making this world through three different eyes. The first is my usual approach to WorldAnvil. I want to focus on the lore, and hopefully create something that the readers might find interesting. The second focus is for the players, offering meta articles to help with character creation and gameplay. Lastly, I want to provide potential Dungeon Masters with some extra ideas, and help make the game a little different from the more baseline experience.
Kras'na's Unique Selling point
There is a lot that makes this world special to me. One of my favorite monsters from Dungeons and Dragons are Vampires. When I was in Highschool, I wanted my Skyrim character to be a Vampire as well. I've struggled a little bit with how they're presented, proabably because I'm not enough of a reader. I've seen them depicted as irredeemable monsters. I've seen them portraid as cool and edgy loners who just need some romance in their lives. I wanted to make them more unique to me. Heavily armored, walking the thin line between the Ancient Oaths that bind them, and the unholy urges within. I love the ideas of these creatures of the night, turning to great evils because of good intentions, the things they valued most turned into something nightmarish.
I want my Vampires to be tragic, evil because of necessity. I want mortals to almost feel sympathetic towards them, and not have them as callous as they are in other settings. To me, a symbiotic relationship between the living and the undying is where the horror lies. A sheep working with wolves, or a snake co existing with its natural prey is what really interests me the most in this project.
There are a lot of other things that also excite me about this world. The Grand Campaign, shamelessly borrowing from Pendragon, is something I'm excited to work on. I'm not entirely sure how I'll manage it, but I want to write a campaign outline. The world found within the articles is the current year. The Grand Campaign starts in the modern day, and ends with the End Times. I'm also very excited to reveal the cosmology of the world, and how it ties together with what is going on currently, officially putting words to the sketches that I have made for my last world attempt.
Theme
Genre
I'm really fond of this article , so I'll be using it to help describe the mood and genre of this world in this section!
The world can be divided into four large sections (for now, this might change as Kras'na gets fleshed out). Vampire Princes are the main focus right now, sharing their territory with the grim Dwarfs who mysteriously survived a cataclysm. They are connected through ties to the Underworld.
An ocean seperates these two from a feudal land, who sends holy warriors, worthy knights to fight against the undead. Their land is diverse, and relatively unknown from the descriptions of captured warriors. The last focus for now is the Feywild, seperated by the seas of reality, wherein the Elfin Nobles seek to reclaim their wayward children and reclaim their rightful rule of the world.
There are four forms of magic. Arcane (Lawful), Divine (Good), Otherworldly (Evil), and Nature (Chaos) magic. In further articles, I plan to delve deeper into these four, making some cosmetic effects on these. In general, magic is very uncommon, though it isn't outlawed. Technology resembles that of an early medieval Europe. There's cannons too.
Reader Experience
I want my world to feel brutal :)
The world should feel terrifying, and more importantly uncertain. Like a rope that's on the verge of breaking, or watching a delicate plate tetering on the edge. I hope that my audience reads through my articles and feels the dread that I am trying to present. I want my world to feel brutal as diplomacy falls apart, witness the suddeness of the executioners axe, and the savagery barely contained within the courts.
Reader Tone
The world is a dark, brutal, and unfair place. Good people are forced to do questionable things, or become evil for the greater good. Necessity drives the common man, ambition leads those above mere mortals. Horrible things plague the lesser folk, forcing a union with creatures of evil in order to survive. Not only to survive, but prosper. We suffer in hopes that those that come after won't.
Using the Tone and Setting Alignment Chart, I would put the world between Bleakdim and Bleakcore.
Recurring Themes
Dread and Uncertainty
The main focus on the world is dread. There are monsters within the world, on the surface, and without. The more people learn of the world, the less they seem to know. With knowledge comes the dread of existance. There are far greater evils then what the unlearned know of, and the implications that there are greater dangers can drive the sages mad. On the surface level, Vampires walk a very tight edge between good and evil. They are prone to fits of madness, or allow themselves to be consumed by their urges.
Honor and Oaths
Oaths, and an individuals honor are the most important aspects of many peoples lives, and un-life. A person, no matter what alignment, has a set of morals that they are bound to. A lawful person may have more obligations than a chaotic person, but they both have unspoken rules that they follow. A noble knight may prove her honor in the field of battle, sworn to the service of a fledgling Vampire. A wizard may seek honor in the form of praise from a master of the same art, promising to bring funding back to the community. Even the thief might steal uphold anothers honor, bound by oaths to his family.
Blood and Gold
While players may strive for great ideals, or focus on self serving pleasures the world is affected by forces outside of the players control. There will always be wars, skirmishes, and bad blood between neighboring countries, realms or towns. The Fey plague the land, appearing suddenly and leaving villages destroyed. Something beyond the understanding of any who walk the lands moves, stirring. Gold helps maintain the land, gears the adventurers for battle, makes peace, and inspires others to join whatever cause the adventurers seek to accomplish. Players are encouraged to try and further the glory and honor of their families as well.
Character Agency
Adventurers have to pay their taxes too.
What I mean by that is that I don't want the players to feel disconnected from the world, even though they are adventurers. I've played D&D where I felt like an outsider in the worlds setting, despite my character being born and raised in it. Having no connections, not being told what the main religion of your hometown is causes my immersion to break. Especially when it's vital to the character. A noble should have an understanding of what your family is like, and a warlock should (at the very least) have a chance to know what his or her patron looks or sounds like at level 3.
All that complaining just to say this. Characters, in my opinion, should feel connected to the things that surround them. Character agency can come from many things, but the underlining is the community and faith that they have. Kras'na has three main types of character agency, found in the three campaign styles.
Players are not going to change much of the world at large for the majority of thier careers. The campaign has characters grow from level 1 to 20, and is arguably the longest style of play. Level 1-3 are meant to be played in an introduction to the setting, a module where characters explore through a dungeon crawl. The module introduces this settings concept of Vampirism, and introduces them to the Prince which rules over them. Levels 4-15 is the crux of the Grand Campaign. Characters rule their own manors, or co-rule together over a moderately sized plot of land. The campaign is divided by years, where players resolve issues together, and build. Premade adventures for each year will be presented in the Grand Campaign timeline, and roll tables will be provided as aid for Dungeon Masters. Level 16 and above leads the characters through the Final Days of Kras'na. Their actions through the campaign will greatly effect these final moments.
The One Shot
Every historical adventure found in the History of Kras'na timeline, and future adventures found in the Grand Campaign can be run as one off adventures. Dungeon Masters are encouraged to change these events to fit their needs. The locations, NPCs involved, and monsters encountered are subject to the needs and desires of the Dungeon Masters. Many adventures are huge, and have large scale reprocussions. With the likelyhood of player absenses, Dungeon Masters can use these to show how other heroic figures are affected.
I am NOT paying taxes
If you're not comfortable with the changes to 5e Dungeons and Dragons, or just want to play RAW you can play this style of D&D. Play the game however you want.
The Grand Campaign
Players are not going to change much of the world at large for the majority of thier careers. The campaign has characters grow from level 1 to 20, and is arguably the longest style of play. Level 1-3 are meant to be played in an introduction to the setting, a module where characters explore through a dungeon crawl. The module introduces this settings concept of Vampirism, and introduces them to the Prince which rules over them. Levels 4-15 is the crux of the Grand Campaign. Characters rule their own manors, or co-rule together over a moderately sized plot of land. The campaign is divided by years, where players resolve issues together, and build. Premade adventures for each year will be presented in the Grand Campaign timeline, and roll tables will be provided as aid for Dungeon Masters. Level 16 and above leads the characters through the Final Days of Kras'na. Their actions through the campaign will greatly effect these final moments.
The One Shot
I am NOT paying taxes
Focus
Drama
The Replacement
From across the seas there come many religious warriors. Yet there is something strange happening therein. Those that have been captured remember very little about their homeland. Despite their ships first arriving a little over a hundred years prior to the current day, the tales all remain the same.
The Underdark is making a great ploy to take control of the five centers found within the land. Despite the best efforts of the Dwarfs, they seem unstoppable.