[BaneStorm] More continents challenge

[Dangerious P. Cats]

I really like the idea of Banestorm, a fantasy world when people from various bits of history have been ported in. That said I tend to prefer making my own fantasy settings and have a tendency to use the basic premise of squishing different historical civilisations and periods together and then modifying things accordingly, much of this being motivated by the desire to make use of as many GURPS history supplements as I can. I was wondering if anyone does the same thing and what the settings they made were like?

I also have a challenge for forum goers. I want to run a fantasy game (TL0-4) for some friends, most of whom are D&D only (until now, mwa ha ha ha). I wanted to also show off as many of the GURPS historical supplements since to my mind these are some of the best things GURPS does. The issue is I can't quite think how to combine the books I have, so I thought I'd challenge people to do it. People are entitled to more than one idea and anyone is welcome to post.

The core idea of the setting so far is such:
Once upon a time there was a highly advanced magi-tech civilisation whose realm spread over many continents. Their use of mana eventually misbalanced nature and caused a massive cataclysm that whipped out their society and caused the Banestorm. From there various people from different periods were brought to the world, as the natural order began to restore itself. The setting has no technology beyond TL4 at all. For whatever reason no one from past that TL has arrived, or if they have it hasn't affected the Tech level in the slightest. Magic will be advantage based primarily. I'm assuming that changing context and cultural contact changes a culture, and therefore cultures that are quite different (say Feudal Japanese and Sparta) will need to be geographically separate to maintain their diversity. The world is dominated by human imports who know little of other sentient creatures, that isn't to say that there aren't any, just that they don't play much of a role in human affairs. Fantasy monsters (many created by the cataclysm) are not uncommon.

The books I have are: Celtic Myth, China, Japan, Middle Ages I, Swashbucklers, Vikings and Ice Age. I don't need to use all the books, but the more the merrier. I also intend to use the 4e core rules with Martial Arts, powers and Fantasy, using GURPS magic if I have to.

[Ego Archive]

How about races and cultures from the various Infinite Worlds books?

[Dangerious P. Cats]

Originally Posted by Ego Archive

How about races and cultures from the various Infinite Worlds books?

If you have ideas I'm all ears, I should be able to borrow books from a friend if need be.

[Astromancer]

I always thought an "Africa" south of Arraterre would be a good thing. Take the old South of the Sun Ars Magica supplement from e23 and build yourself a fantasy (the parts I see as cool) "Africa" for your game. Add in any cool stuff from the real Africa that apeals to you.

[davidtmoore]

I ran a D&D 3.5e game based on Earth in AD 1455. No Banestorm or anything like that, just a fantasy parallel. Ulster is a Christian kingdom with close ties to Scotland; the rest of Erin is an Elven kingdom with other fay races in various courtly relations. Dwarves live under the Carthaginian mountains and the Alps. Sicily is a fay republic modelled on Roman myths. Denmark and Norway are Christian kingdoms heavily fortified against the Jotun/Alfar wars continuing around them.

Magic is permitted by the Church, except for illusions, mind control, resurrection and any kind of necromancy. Innate magic of any kind is sinful, but someone born with such gifts can still be saved if they don't use them. Halflings are considered essentially just little humans, and elves and orcs are considered descendants of Adam due to their ability to breed with humans, but the validity of gnomes, goblins etc. being baptised is still debated by the Church. There are Christian and Muslim dragons and reptile men - they inherited the Serpent's sin rather than Adam's, but are considered to be covered by Jesus' sacrifice - although the majority keep out of human affairs entirely. Planar magics can get you to Purgatory, Hell or the lowest plane of Heaven (where the angels live), but not to the higher planes (where redeemed souls go). Clerical magic exists; spells that detect evil work on supernatural but not mundane evil, and evil clerical magic (used by satanists) is generally trumped by good clerical magic of the same approximate level. Pagan clerical magic (in D&D terms, druidic) works and is not evil, but the Church holds that it is essentially satanic magic in disguise.

There are werewolves and vampires in the remains of the eastern Empire (Dracula, to mess with the players' minds, is a werewolf). There are guns, and the dwarves have worked out rifling two hundred years early (rifles are known as "dwarf-barrelled guns," and human engineers are still trying to perfect the technology). There are large orc tribes in the eastern Germanies, but they mostly stick to the mountains since a successful anti-Orc Crusade in the 1420s. Mehmet II is a vampire, and the Janissaries are his vampiric spawn. Northern Africa is ruled by a mix of Christian post-Punic Roman kingdoms and Muslim kingdoms; further south is mostly terra incognita.


The Banestorm is a device for combining anachronistic real-world historical elements with fantastic elements, but you don't strictly need them. Once you accept that the goal is to make a fantasy world, you can just make one and say "in this world, this has always been the case."

[SRF]

I had a setting where a "banestorm" brought humans from Italy, Germany, and eastern Europe circa 400 AD. They eventually blended into a composite culture. The world also had its effect on imported orcs (more like human barbarians now), onocentaurs, gnomes, fauns and gargoyles. All of the cultures have borrowed a bit in the last couple of centuries of enforced common rule under a powerful necromancer tyrant.

[Ego Archive]

I'm not knowledgable enough to construct the culture, but I think a region under constant invasion by immigrants of the Alexandrian Hegemony of Iskar-2 (IW, Lost Worlds p.7) would be an interesting addition. Also, Lizardmen from one of the worldlines listed in the main book could be interesting on a separate continent.

[Spudzill]

Well, I was thinking: the Banestorm is mostly a localized phenomenon on Ytarria, so perhaps there are continents elsewhere on that world that are still mostly the " Elder" races. And Ytarria was only recently settled in comparison. It would explain why the written records don't go back very far despite their long lives-it's Yrths version of Australia.

[capnq]

I've considered putting Lanterra from Caravan to Ein Arris somewhere southwest of the Djinn Lands, as the ultimate source of the various goods traded by the Southern Plains nomads.

[tantric]

This was the original basis of my Ubantu, there are still some notes around about adding Elves and Dwarves.