dmdrowenforcer
Squire
Posts: 25
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Drow
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Post by dmdrowenforcer on Jun 10, 2018 21:42:35 GMT
Hello, I have always been fascinated with using real historical time periods as dungeons and dragons settings.
I do not mean inspiration but literally playing in ancient Rome or Babylon, with gods and magic of course.
Because of this I have decided to create a setting called Mythic Earth.
Basically, it is a map of our own world but each region is in its most romanticised time period.
For example, Roman Empire, ancient Sumaria, and futile Japan.
I have not written anything yet but I plan to create this setting and when it is finished post it here for your free use.
Since I am posting it here I would like your input.
Interesting ideas, stories of your own campaigns in historical settings etc.
So far I am planning twelve regions.
Ancient Britain, Viking lands, Rome, Greece, Sumaria, Ancient Egypt, Arabia, Futile Japan, Emperial Chinak, North America, Latin American natives, and Pacific islands.
Also if you have any good resources on any of these regions, straight forward histories, d&d gods and magic, etc.
It would be greatly apreciated.
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Post by randosaurus on Jun 13, 2018 3:15:01 GMT
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
The 3.0 supplement Deities & Demigods was solid for pantheons-- it included Olympian, Asgardian, and Pharoic pantheons. The 2.0 supplement Legends and Lore taught me most everything I know about mythology, no better resource for a middle schooler-- Amerindian, Arthurian, Aztec, Celtic, Chinese, Pharoic, Olympian, Hindi, Edo, Nordic are all included. Really fantastic, but with that 90's era feel of comparative religion text written by anglo dudes in Wisconsin.
The other book that kept me busy in the John Adams Middle School library was Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were. Just a fantastic source of lore from all over the world.
I haven't read it, but Neil Gaiman has a book of Norse mythology that gets great reviews He also wrote a television script / novel about the London Underground and its magical denizens who have existed going back since Roman Brittania. A good read! Duh, while we're on Gaiman, there is of course American Gods, or who various divine entities are getting on in this modern era-- American Gods1600s and Enlightenment, you should read a The Baroque Cycle by Stephenson. You should, but I can understand if you don't ( pages). Has England, America, Europe, India, Phillipines, and Japan included but maybe at too late an era for your purpose.
Otherwise, go read the original texts-- Epic of Gilgamesh, Arthurian Romances, El Cid, Tale of Genji, etc.
As usual, I would caution just using the mythos and culture as exotic wallpaper-- it is very challenging to write a campaign in a non-euro culture without being very superficial.
For my own purposes, whenever I set a game on 'Earth', I flip the map over so players don't immediately recognize landmarks and geographical features.
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dmdrowenforcer
Squire
Posts: 25
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Drow
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Post by dmdrowenforcer on Jun 13, 2018 20:14:44 GMT
I completely forgot about legends and lore.
Unfortunately it does not contain babylonian pantheons but it has almost everything else I need.
The encyclopedia of things that never were looks interesting as well.
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Post by DM Onesie Knight on Jun 14, 2018 16:00:52 GMT
You can do lots with Latin America and their very strong traditions of human sacrifice. Even the less bloody cultures had forms of it; Mayans entombed sacrifices in caves, and the Inca left them on mountains. Do a quick google on Chac the lightning god, and Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent.
Cool little bit of Aztec history: the Aztecs did not originally build Tenochtitlan. They found it in ruins and thought the gods built it for them. So that's practically ready-made for a "forgotten ancient evil" plot.
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dmdrowenforcer
Squire
Posts: 25
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Drow
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Post by dmdrowenforcer on Jun 14, 2018 16:36:44 GMT
Another thing I thought of would be crossovers of cultures that could never have met in real history.
Think japanese samari crossing the ocean to perge the fowl barbarians that kill men on on the altars of there dark gods.
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dmdrowenforcer
Squire
Posts: 25
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Drow
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Post by dmdrowenforcer on Jun 15, 2018 19:39:13 GMT
So now that the background has been established I would like to focus on the first region I will be creating, namely, the celts.
Ideas welcome.
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Post by DM Onesie Knight on Jul 12, 2018 21:24:03 GMT
So now that the background has been established I would like to focus on the first region I will be creating, namely, the celts. Ideas welcome. One of the biggest repeating themes in Celtic lore is this idea of the human world and the world of spirits aka otherworld. It's what the feywild in 5e is based on. It's the home of the fey, who represent natural forces, and is the afterlife destination. The otherworld can often be accessed at special locations, like caves, springs, remote meadows, and fairy rings of mushrooms. Also, at certain times, the border between earth and otherworld becomes easier to cross, namely the solstices and equinoxes, and the hour following midnight (which is why we call it the "witching hour"). That's actually the origin of halloween and christmas in the pagan traditions. There's a great podcast called Myths and Legends by Jason Weiser, and he does a couple of Celtic and Irish myths. He also does stories from around the world, so you could get a taste of many different cultures. |
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dmdrowenforcer
Squire
Posts: 25
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Drow
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Post by dmdrowenforcer on Jul 26, 2018 0:00:45 GMT
That podcast sounds amazing.
Yes, the fae are huge in celtic myth, and there are so many to choose from.
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Post by Mariok Soresal Hillick on Jul 26, 2018 5:43:36 GMT
That podcast sounds amazing. Yes, the fae are huge in celtic myth, and there are so many to choose from. There are so many ways to write Fae!: fey, fae, fairy, faerie, etc.! You could also use the Irish or Welsh word for fey. Especially if you make elves the fey because the word "elf" comes from the Old Norse word "alf". |
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Post by Mariok Soresal Hillick on Jul 27, 2018 12:53:14 GMT
That podcast sounds amazing. Yes, the fae are huge in celtic myth, and there are so many to choose from. There are so many ways to write Fae!: fey, fae, fairy, faerie, etc.! You could also use the Irish or Welsh word for fey. Especially if you make elves the fey because the word "elf" comes from the Old Norse word "alf". Sorry, I'm incorrect, "elf" comes from a related word to "alf" from Old English. Just checked. Sorry! Still Germanic though and not Celtic! |
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