I think that to this day, belief, in a sense, creates magic. When I lived on the Navajo Reservation as a child, everyone took it for granted that skinwalkers, ghosts and curses were real things that could have real negative consequences on a person’s life. The power created by this common belief system was almost palpable. I enjoy it when fantasy operates in much the same way, because it seems more realistic.

In re magic. I made magic rare enough that society has no immune system. If only 2 or 3 people in the kingdom have spells that can really wreak that sort of havoc, then people don’t do anything about it. To counter “Mages Gone Wild” I’ve made it that all mages live in fear or renewed persecution that they suffered from centuries. They’re trying to lie low, escape notice. Otherwise everyone’s collective butts could be on the line. Pretty much taken from Ars Magicka, but it makes everything hold together and provides interesting decisions for PC mages.

Starting world-building with the constraints like “Castles, towers, temples, and medieval society all have to still make sense” is really the core of what I did. And I think it pays off. Glad you liked the blog.

I have always liked my settings to be real, earthy, dirty – and believable, which is kinda difficult when you add the twin pillars of religion and magic into the mix.

I always tried to look at the ’system’ and ‘community’ that was working behind the scenes. Villages towns etc. how did they develop where they did, what keeps them ticking, how does that feed back into their behaviour, how would they react to whatever threat the plot has thrown at them.

Living in the UK there was a huge backstory of history to call on for adding realism, but that always shifted things towards the medieval (not a problem for me – but for some of the other players they wanted less realism and more high fantasy).

My other bugbear was always the view of NPCs and critters as mere canon fodder. Surely they would structure themselves and work in such a way to overcome their weaknesses. A hoard of goblins wouldn’t throw themselves at a party capable of smiting them with magic. They would use cunning, plan attacks, use their strengths, ambush, weaken villages by stealing crops, etc. yet that never really happens in games. It’s more a case of kill them, find their letter of appointment from the ‘real’ villian (or at least the next one up the chain) – then onwards and upwards.

For me the other awkward area is the impact of Magic (and religion where you do have powerful dieties) on the socio-economic setting as well as the physical environment.

How do villagers make a living from farming for example in a world where powerful magic exists that presumably has the power to conjur up food and products from nothing ? (unless you try and restrict magic to transformation only, so that raw materials are always required, for which there will be a demand, and therefore a living to be made for the underclasses).

In such a society there would be such a huge divide between those with power and those without. This hardly ever comes out in fantasy settings which do allow high levels of magic. Such divides would breed contempt, fear and would provide for a very interesting background.

Buildings (my own personal interest) is another area that is effected by magic (or powerful clerical spells). How do you design a castle for example to combat magical threats ? They would need magical protection. If such heavy duty magical protections and glyphs exist, then is there a need for such large cumbersome (And expensive) castles and towers – where a large wooden house could be re-inforced by powerful protection wards.

I’m not sure I could create a a world where castles, towers, temples etc. didn’t exist.

Very interesting blog – looking forward to part 2

Martin