New Campaign: Lakeland

[Tommi_Kovala]

I started a new GURPS campaign some weeks ago and I thought I'd share some something about it here. Very little is GURPS rules-related so I thought this was the right place.

What do we know of the world? We know that it is still young. It was not too many generations ago that the sun melted the primal winter and began driving the blackness beyond the Mountains. We live in the springtime now, watching as the longer summers and brightening days carve new lands from under the ice. But even here, where the wastes first gave way to the Thaw five hundred years ago, the world is not yet finished. Like pimples on a youth, there are remnants of the world's violent birth everywhere. A straight path that winds in an endless circle here, a crevasse with no bottom there. But they will all be gone one day, as the world takes on its final form and no winter or night remains. Until then, we must build our houses, catch our salmon and carry our wood.

Basics
Lakeland is a TL2 fantasy campaign with characters of around 300 points. There are currently four players, aged 21 to 30. At first, I wanted to set heroic Greek myths in Iron Age Russia and Finland (the lake district, to be exact), but then I started developing it into a fictional world with a distinct culture.

World

Lakeland is mostly shallow freshwater lakes connected with channels and rivers that flow into the oceans to the east and west. Most of the land is part of a vast archipelago, the size of western Siberia. The islands are usually within wading distance of one another and the horizon is visible only on the largest lakes. The climate resembles that of our boreal coniferous zone. Tall, straight evergreens cover much of the land, so dense that a step inland means you're in a forest. Indeed, the islands look like patches of woodland growing straight from the water. As the ice retreated, it left smooth rock and great ridges in some places.

To the north and south, there are mountains and glaciers where winter and night still prevail.

[Tommi_Kovala]

People

History and culture

Before men built villages and towns and worked iron, there were two kinds of humans living in Lakeland: Water-people and Earth-people. They came to live together during the first short summer and built the first city on an island in the greatest lake. They tamed animals and spirits and travelled to every corner of the expanding world. The island where the campaign starts, Ore-village, was first settled by colonists from there. The people are still not homogenous, and almost every inhabited island is bilingual. A character has names both in Earth-tongue and Water-tongue. The former is represented by the players' native language (Finnish in our case), the latter I've made by tweaking Ainu language names. A rudimentary written language exists, but it's not refined enough to express ideas above Broken level. It's mostly used for recording numbers and doing math.

Ethnically, most people look a bit like Sámi. A light complexion, narrowish eyes, with a body type suited to harsh winters and strong arms from constant rowing. Those with strong Water heritage are slighter of build and tend to be taller. There are no racial templates.

A typical town can be noticed easily by the tall wooden watch-towers, long piers and a palisade that often encircles the entire island. The houses are A-shaped in cross-section, built in concentric circles around a well. This central clearing is where meetings are held. A typical home houses an extended family, non-blood relatives and family friends who would otherwise have to live alone. There are usually two floors above ground and one or two below. The nuclear family is still unheard of and children are thought to belong to the community, not just their parents. Every girl over 15 takes on the responsibilities of a mother and helps to look after kids. When a boy turns 15, he is expected to work. As with most primarily hunter-gatherer cultures, there is not much gender discrimination. If a woman chooses to make herself useful in a "masculine" job like fishing, she's welcome to. Men have less choice in roles since they can't give birth.

Artwork and clothing are inspired by Ainu and Aleut patterns and styles. They're a charming combination of otherworldliness and practicality:
http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/costume/Ainu2.jpg
http://www.prato.linux.it/~lmasetti/.../upl/aleut.jpg
http://newsdesk.si.edu/images_full/i...ws/photo_4.jpg
Even everyday clothing is frequently ornamented with large geometric shapes in red, black and white. Animal skins are used, together with woven brown fabrics and sturdy reeds that make good raincoats. In wartime, men row out in ornamented war-boats wearing iron armour and war masks. Tattoos are common, but it's unusual for children to have them.

Politics

Everyone over 15 is an adult and takes part in meetings. They are presided over by a town chief (Status 4), who is elected by popular vote. The chief settles disputes and may call an issue for public debate and vote. If a chief can't fulfill his duties, he may resign or a poll may be called for. If over half of the people demand him to step down, a new chief will be elected. While each household usually controls their own resources, the chief may collect a tax for public works projects or a large purchase of goods. These taxes are also used to pay specialists like smiths (Status 3), healers (Status 3), midwives (Status 2), holy men (Clerical Investment, Religious Rank) and mapmakers (Status 1). No political entities above single island-states exist, but several islands sometimes form alliances.

Economy

The people live mostly by fishing and hunting. The lakes are a treasure trove of fish and seals. In the woods, large game such as elk and boar are plentiful. Whaling treks to the ocean yield enough meat, bone and blubber to last the entire long winter. There is almost no arable land and few viable crop plants exist, so agriculture is limited to slash-and-burn growing of tubers and sweet roots. A wild variety of rice has started spreading in the warmest shallows, but the climate is still too cool for cultivating it. Boys and girls collect these wild crops, nuts, berries and mushrooms to supplement an already varied diet. Honey is rarely eaten, but used for making mead.

The lake bed near the Ore-village is rich in iron ore that the people collect in huge ore-rafts. These are essentially floating mining towns that set out as soon as the spring melt-waters subside. They spend the entire summer gathering ore, living from food sent from the main island. In autumn, the ore is refined.

As for trade, barter still dominates. The limited capacity of even the longest boats has necessitated the invention of portable currency, and chiefs may sometimes send out written IOUs promising certain goods or services, often ritually prepared on rare animal skins with special pigments, signed with the chief's own blood. I suppose forgery is still possible, though.
Gold is used, but usually not worked in any way. The nuggets found in rivers and lakes have properties useful for fortune-telling if their natural shape is not altered. They contain the land's memories and can be "read" by holy men. A pouch of gold nuggets sells at a good price in any town where such a priest is present.
Almost everyone will take part in a trading expedition at least once in their lives. The waterways and currents are extensively charted on Polynesian-style woven maps and even long journeys are routine. In winter, skiing or dog-sledding is the best way to cross the frozen lake country. Few settlements are entirely self-sufficient, and travel is vital to sustain life.

Slavery is common. Slave-catching has developed into a profession of its own in towns that need lots of unskilled manual labour. It's commonly done in times of war and when another town is devastated by a disaster. A criminal may settle his deeds by voluntary slavery for a period of time.

Technology

Although the setting is early to mid TL 2 otherwise, it's retarded in several aspects such as agriculture, architecture and statecraft. Although from our perspective their democratic way of government seems even enlightened, it would make large empires impossible to run. The limitations on cultivation and masonry are due to the environment. The summers are still too short to make farming worthwhile. Stone is impractical compared to the high-quality, omnipresent wood (that's also easier to transport across the water). Usually, the most extensive stone buildings are those used for iron working.
There are no large ships, but boats are very sophisticated. They come equipped with versatile sails, sturdy rudders and shatter-resistant bows. I'm making several techniques for the Boating skill, dealing with special ways to row short distances faster, row more silently, etc. Maps are much more detailed and accurate than what you'd expect from TL2. Medicine is practical and makes use of the great local biodiversity for herbal pharmacy. Relatively good hygiene improves the success rates for surgery, making even daring operations (trepanation!) possible.
The best and most popular weapon is the spear in its many different forms. Bows are more popular with town defenders, but their use is quite limited in the "field" where battle is usually engaged from boats or in shallows where ranges are short. Weapons that can be used both ranged and hand-to-hand are most valuable. Large wooden shields are popular and techniques exist to cover the exposed flank of a boat from the enemy with a shield wall. In body armour, treated leather, iron scale and (more rarely) mail are used. Steel weapons and armour are available, but quite rare and expensive. I'm looking to expand the rules for spears, since it seems most players would rather use them. I've decided to allow Very Fine quality spears for more variation. This world skipped the Bronze Age entirely.

[Tommi_Kovala]

Spirits and Gods

Spirits are sentient remnants of the early days of the universe. Unlike other living things, they're not fully native to the world and are not given shape by it. As the world's Summer approaches, it is thought that spirit beings will settle in permanent shapes like the rest of us. As they move, they leave imprints that humans can see as dreams. When hunting for spirits, a good dreamer is what you need to find them. Although spirits are powerful, they often have bizarre traits that make them ill-suited to true life: great appetites of a substance they can never find enough, huge bodies with tiny mouths that can never eat fast enough to support them, a powerful urge to mate with the inability to conceive, and so on. Because of this, the bodies of spirits are transient and can fuse into prepared artifacts or even tattoos. Spirits bound in this way are called spells. They're tamed but not yet domesticated, so a wizard should be careful how he treats his spells. No Magery exists; anyone can basically bind a spirit. It may surrender voluntarily or be enslaved, depending on your style. The closest thing to Magery is Talent: Holy Man, which gives a bonus per level to Dreaming, Diplomacy (OS: Spirits), Fortune-telling, Mental Strength and Occultism. Mechanics-wise, possessing a spell means that we build a power with the Granted by familiar limitation and buy the spell as an Ally. It's usually bound to its master in a tattoo or item, but can take physical form if it eats ritually prepared food. Having it walk freely drains its FP, which it can replenish by eating more of the food sacrifice... or other spirits.

A god is simply a powerful spirit. The more power a spirit has, the less time it spends in any physical form. While the weakest of spirits look like unusual beetles, fish or butterflies, the mightiest of them have no physical form at all. However, as their power grows, they become more sedentary. In our games, I use the Finnish word seita to describe the gods. They're all bound to a given lake, island, forest or cave and can't be contacted directly elsewhere. For this, they use followers who have taken the god as a Patron. Holy men mediate relations between towns and local gods.

As the primal winter began to withdraw, it left remnants that linger in places and living beings. Their influence is felt the most in winter. They afflict the bearer by draining life and warmth, eventually tearing matter itself apart. The phenomenon goes by many names: Blight, Frost, Plague... The result of contracting it, however, is always the same. Frost-bearers* are banished to the bordering wastes so that they won't threaten the world of living things. Some speak of people willingly harbouring this darkness, but why would anyone do such a thing? Regardless, there is no cure and we may only hope that the final summer will mean the end of this threat.

*Lifebane, Terminally Ill, Secret, Unfit, Unhealing, Frightens Animals, Increased Consumption 1. Not available to PCs at the moment.

I'll add more info on this campaign if anything comes to mind. Ask anything or comment, please!

[Blood Legend]

I've never put this much work into a setting, but it's always nice to read about GM's who do.

[JMason]

After reading Belgarath the Sorcerer, I spent a few semesters in collage writing a 5000+ year history for a campaign world. Yeah, it was overkill.

Anyway, kudos on Lakeland, it looks interesting.

[Cernig]

Thanks for this, Tommi. I can take it pretty much in its entirety and drop it into a region of my Tethira campaign which fits the bill nicely.

Regards, C

[Kyle Aaron]

This is quite interesting. It's great to see a setting in something other than "medievalish Europe" or "mashed-up idea of East Asia". I hope you'll continue to tell us about it and your players' adventures :)

[Tommi_Kovala]

Originally Posted by Jim Bob

I hope you'll continue to tell us about it and your players' adventures :)

Well, I do keep notes, so why not? I can't guarantee to make it as entertaining as your retelling of that cool Roman campaign, though.

[Kyle Aaron]

If you just want to tell us about it, then a wiki is good so you can have your own webage without a lot of messing about with html, etc. I recommend pbwiki.com.

If you want to tell us about it, and have us comment on it, then you should post about it here! That's why I post about the Roman one. So if you liked that, found it interesting or had any questions or comments, post a response to it. This encourages me to keep writing it, both because of ego, and also because if people comment on it and keep it on the front page, it's easy to find next week to post to it again ;)

And I don't make it entertaining, I just describe what happened, so you can thank my players for the entertainment!