Campaign Intro: Welcome to Fomor

This is the campaign intro that I sent to the players playing in my campaign over the summer. It is a brief document I made to introduce them to the general setting, and the guidelines for their character creation. Part of the intent of this blog is to catalogue the development of this campaign, as it is going to be my first real effort at making a large world for future games or entire campaigns. 


Background guidelines:

• I have left the world description pretty vague for a reason. I have the general idea of how the continent is set up, but specific details are very sparse. This is for YOU to fill in - tell me about your character, and make up details as you need them. Locations, factions, important people, customs, anything is up to you. Make of it what you will.

• Do keep in mind, however, that you're still new adventurers. There's nothing wrong with having some cool stuff going on, but remember that you're not quite taking on an army of Storm Giants on your own…yet. 

• Keep in mind the core idea of a background, that you're explaining why you became an adventurer to begin with! Were you driven away from your home? Set on a quest for vengeance? Or simply seeking your fortune?

• Do you have allies? Enemies? Do they consider you an ally and/or enemy? Why?

• Whatever your background setup is, do note that you will have to wind up in the center of the island when our story begins. You don't have to give a specific reason for it, but it would be great if you did.

• The way I do backgrounds is that they will tie into the story very heavily. The campaign I've been planning has very wide gaps in it, intended to be filled in by your backgrounds and the details you provide. With that in mind, I use a system that I find very encouraging for backgrounds. Every paragraph (5-10 sentences) that you write for your background is worth an additional 100 gold (to a maximum of 1000 gold). So try to flesh out your character as best you can. Note that I'll still have to approve your background to make sure you don't get too crazy.

  Welcome to the world of Fomor. The world as you know it is a vast, mysterious place; as far as you all know, there is only one continent with some outlying islands, surrounded by a vast ocean. Exploring vessels going out have never returned, or so you hear. The continent itself is pretty diverse - humans, elves, halflings, gnomes, orcs, and hundreds of other beings all live there. However, the majority groups are humans, halflings, and dwarves. There are forests, deserts, mountains, every ecosystem imaginable. The continent itself is massive - think Eurasia, give or take a few empires. It would take the better part of a year to walk the length of it, depending on what terrain you went through.

  Magic in Fomor is rare. Most people have heard of it, and maybe seen it once or twice in their lives, but it's not exactly common. In big cities there are magic schools, but the wealth needed to be a practitioner is prohibitive. As far as most people know, the only kinds of magic there is exists in Clerics, whose power is gifted to them by their god, or through rigorous arcane study of Wizards. The idea of a Sorcerer being born into power is almost unheard of, as is a Druid pulling their strength directly from nature. With magic being so rare and expensive, magic items are even rarer and more expensive. They do certainly exist, but they can be very difficult to find and purchase. My intention as a DM is to give appropriate magic items at certain points in the adventure, tailored to suit your character specifically. My hope is that this will make your character exactly what you want him/her to be. 
  Guns in Fomor are a very recent thing. Most people who know about them think they're the combat equivalent of a fad, and so far they seem to have a point. The only existing models (that they know of) are very slow-loading muskets that are highly inaccurate. Rumors have been circulating about a few expert craftsmen who are improving the models, but nothing substantial has come up as of yet. It would certainly take a very talented individual to undertake an adventure where they could practice their craft and usage of such weapons. Big cities often tote their gunsmiths' products, but are largely ignored. Peasants and even most soldiers have never even heard of them.

Politically, the continent is divided into five main categories.

• The southern regions are very rich in mineral wealth - the mountains provide a steady source of precious metals along with iron and abundant supplies of stone. This area is largely ruled by dwarves and gnomes, with varying sizes of kingdoms. The political makeup of this area is very similar to medieval Europe. The everyday life tends to be based on vassal states and nobles supporting their lords. Wars are uncommon, but not unheard of, and are almost always fought over personal slights the very proud dwarf kings observe from one another. They are not unified in any way, but the mountainous terrain makes foreign invasion all but impossible.
• The eastern region is mostly farmland. There are scattered forests and swamps, but plains and grasslands are predominant. This place has no overarching government scheme, and has an almost equal representation of each major race. Some small lords exist, and an odd castle or keep can be spotted every few hundred miles. 
• The north is a trading region. Cities and towns are very common, and roads are well-maintained between them. Halflings and humans are the most common races here, although almost everyone has at least some representation. Different cities all have different ethnic balances, as well as wealth levels. This is the only region with any sort of unified territory - although each city has it's own system of government, they do co-operate to maintain the roads and keep trade flowing. The northern region also has the most ports out of everything else. 
• The west is almost unpopulated. The entire region is a very large desert, which is very inhospitable. Small groups of nomadic lizardfolk roam the region, but there is no real civilization present. Rumors exist that something big might be out there, but nothing solid has ever been found. 
• The center of the island represents the Holy Roman Empire circa 1632, or Japan during the 1500s. There are a large number of small warlords constantly fighting each other over territory. Maybe once this place had abundant farmland, but generations of war have left it a battered, desolate place. Power players come and go seasonally, with entire nations rising to the top one year just to be wiped out the next. The constant warring provides ample opportunity for mercenaries or aspiring young adventurers HINT HINT to cut their teeth and test their mettle.

A long, long time ago, the continent used to be inhabited by a race known now only as the Formians. Very few people know much about them, as their civilization crumbled long before anyone alive today. Rumors circulate that they were scorched by dragonfire, others claim they dug deep underground and never came out. Still more say that the Formians sailed off across the sea to other lands, that your civilization could never even dream of. Most of the evidence of Formians exists out in the west, where some ruined cities have been excavated. It's theorized that the heart of their empire used to be there, before they were burned by dragons, leaving the place in it's current state of desolation. As far as you know, no dragons live on Fomor today. 
For those of you who don't know, Formians are a D&D creature that's basically a giant ant. They're highly organized, build hives, take over territory, etc.