Wenderweald World-building 2
The 20 questions players will ask about The Wenderweald
World-building can be deeply rewarding — for me. For my players, though, world-building is an exposition dump stalling their fun. That’s why I distinguish between world-building and world design.
World-building is the creative input that gives a fictional place a cohesive structure.
World design is when we turn that world-building into something humans can use to have fun together.
That creative input is important to me. It's not important to the players until it's designed for them to explore, hack apart, and loot. And it feels alive when their choices affect how it grows.
That’s not to say my players are protagonists — they’re not. The heroes are important, but they’re not the only important characters. Protagonist players know there’s no game without them, and that can feel just as empty as playing in a world built to make them feel insignificant.
For this project, I want to make gameable content that's player-facing without being player-centric. To do that effectively, I’m making explorable environments populated with motivated NPCs. Both will reinforce the player’s significance by reacting to their decisions proportionally. And both will carry on without them — whether they know it or not.
I’m starting with the 20 quick questions for your campaign setting featured on Jeff’s Gameblog. Answering these questions develops a setting for players first and leaves room for discovery later. The exceedingly creative
resurfaced these questions for their own setting Avalon recently — I’m following Thog’s lead.Welcome to The Wenderweald…
What’s the deal with my cleric’s religion?
The Neven Prophecy reveals our creed and your charge. Our divine fathers and mothers are on The Great Hunt in The Umbral Vale where they seek The Enemy, Hernogrir. But The Enemy has set the wytch and the demon upon us to draw the gods away from The Vale. As Saint Neven revealed, they will return triumphant and look to us to purge the wytch and the demon from The Wenderweald. So it is written: “Lo! then shall the supernal hart stride the bitter waters of The Vale to guide the divine host home.”
Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Gideon’s Reach is the largest town in The Wenderweald and home to the finest bowyers for a hundred miles around. Folks there work leather, too, but most of the metal goes to The Stag Knights. They buy it up on market days to forge their swords and mail. When a knight is slain, they believe the armor is hexed and give it to the smiths to salvage. Odds are good that knight fell to a wytch's magic, and that magic is still in the iron. Most say it's best melted into nails.
Where can we get plate mail custom-fitted for this monster I just befriended?
Platemail? No one has platemail in The Wenderweald. No one has even seen plate outside the tapestries the Sun Kings left behind. If you want armor — real armor — go to the wytches. They ward off death as if smoking out bees. And it must be you’ve got wytching in your blood if you can tame a beast as you say. Stay away from this place, you hear!
Who is the most powerful wytch in The Wenderweald?
Heslina, The Grand Swarm merged her flesh and soul with The Wenderweald itself. She made of herself a sentient wilderness to escape the pain of being human. The jaundiced bogs are her blood. She watches with the myriad eyes of prey and predator. The Grand Swarm speaks with the crawling things that transform all death into new life in the loam.
Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
For some, Wulnir, The Half-haint is a loathsome oath-breaker and wytch-lover. For others, he is a fallen knight redeemed through war and death. But we all remember him slaying The Haintheath during the failed crusade. For that bloody deed, The Wenderweald restored him to a kind of life, and the Stag Knights condemned him to another death. They’ll never find him though. I’m not sure they even want to…
Who is the richest person in the land?
Lady Cannora, Sovereign of The Reach and The Weald. As a child, her father traded her like a broodmare in exchange for more land. As a woman, she secured lucrative trade with The Black Shore clans on behalf of her invalid husband. As a widow, she inherited 13 dutchys claimed through war and writ.
Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Smugglers barter with the wytches in The Weald and bring their elixirs and unguents back to town. They’re costly within the walls — they might get you mugged or hanged if The Stag Knights find you with it. If you’re desperate enough, look for Rister Rateye by The Greenwall. Say nothing about who sent you.
Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
The Apothecary Chessibel keeps cures and inoculants against hexes for The Stag Knights. Though oathbound to The Order, the knights mistrust her and some say she is a half-wytch. They’re only half wrong. Chessibel keeps wytches in the dungeons and experiments on them. She extracts their secrets and even bottles their magic. The apothecary claims, like venom, the affliction is the cure...
Is there a magic guild my magic-user belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?
The Bloodroot Covenant is a secretive order of demon hunters beholden to no gods or sovereigns. They utilize any tool — including wytchery — to fell their hated foe. Some among them are wytch hunters practiced in the art of the craft they fear. Some are wytches themselves who fear their power falling into the wrong hands.
Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?
Dr. Einrach is a bewytched academic in Gideon’s Reach. The wizened old man hobbles through town on deliveries, humming tunelessly to his wirey borzoi hound “Clubface.” He insists his cure-alls are medicinal but The Stag Knights remain unconvinced. They often confiscate his materials for “inspection.” None are ever returned. The doctor has learned to keep his secrets including a small library open to those he trusts.
Where can I hire mercenaries?
The Marchguard are a rough order of vagrants, laborers, and often criminals. They are sworn to maintain and patrol Lady Cannora’s ever-expanding borders. Their building projects are expensive — they welcome coin from anyone. You'll find their outposts in the swamps and heaths. They're ramshackle things that look like grave markers watching over the borderland hamlets.
Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
The Stag Knights control Gideon’s Reach, and they enforce the laws — their laws — with ruthless and religious fervor. Wytches are hanged. Bewytched folk are exiled. Smugglers are locked in the oubliette and suffer interrogation. Residents may use blades for cookery, labor, or hunting only. Non-residents cannot carry weapons within the walls.
Which way to the nearest tavern?
It’s in the lower ring of town, next to The Brewery on the banks of Hewer’s Pond — The Skunk Drunk Friar, folks call it. You’ll see the horses tied up out front and the stablehands grooming. Slip them a copper, and they’ll sneak double portions for you and one of the worn booths with fewer splinters. Ramil cooks his sausage-stuffed cabbage on cold evenings and the brewer Gijar makes a sweet sbiten to wash it down. His wife Sysa plays the gudok and sings. Travelers can pay 5 coppers to stay the night on a pallet and fur blanket — a silver for a private room with a straw mattress.
What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
The Snallygaster is an ephemeral beast that haunts the swamps and grey gloom. It is a lumbering ophidian thing the size of a tower — a scaled bulk of reptilian flesh, leathery wings, and asymmetrical limbs. Its long, serpentine neck is crowned with a domed skull socketed with five compound eyes. Tentacles drool from its beaked maw. When it dives down from the pewter mist, it screams a terrible warning that sounds too human.
Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Everyone can feel it: war is brewing. The lowfolk despise The Stag Knights and plot to oust them from Gideon’s Reach. All their petitions to Lady Cannora have failed, as she depends on The Knights to defend her realm. In the western hills, the giant kings drive their raiders deeper into The Wenderweald for plunder. To the north, trade deals have collapsed with The Black Shore clans. Now they poach the sacred timberlands to build their ships. And all while the wytches plan their vengeance for the failed crusade.
How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
The Stag Knights host monthly melees to encourage recruitment. They award champions finely crafted armor and weapons. The Archers of Gideon likewise host regular competitions. The winners earn masterwork bows and leathers donated by the sponsors.
Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
The Free Archers of Gideon are a secret union of hunters, smiths, and smugglers plotting to overthrow The Stag Knights. Browyn Hardhands pools the lowfolk’s resources for the union. She buys up the iron and smiths weapons for the day when the people finally rise up. She wants to preserve Lady Cannora’s reign, believing the sovereign is a hostage same as the rest of The Reach. Others in the union, though, want Cannora's rule — and her house — ended.
What is there to eat around here?
We Wenderfolk like hearty food that fills the belly and fends off the cold. We like a lot of pork and dark bread. Any pub house will offer pork-stuffed cabbage rolls or egg and sausage soup served in a rye-bread bowl. On colder days, folks fry pork and sheep cheese dumplings on the street or open the hunter's pot. Visit the bakers for steader’s honied pastries — you'll want the cheese with it. To drink, we like kvass, vodka, sbiten, kumis, and black tea.
Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
The Reliquary of Saint Neven drove The Bishop’s failed crusade into The Wenderweald. The gold, begemmed box contains Neven's skull. The wytches of The Wenderweald keep the reliquary and claim Neven was a grand wytch who augurs the wyrd beyond death. The war drove the wytch and the relic deeper into The Weald, and none know now where it is or indeed if it survived. Whoever finds it must be chosen by the gods.
Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure? In the western hills you’ll find the balacko Kings Ungarth, Hanar, and Mudtooth — three heads with one crown. They are a giant fused by the magic they stole from the gods. Now the beings are cursed to an eternal life of anger, paranoia, and madness. They host a warband of marauders and raid The Wenderweald for wealth and wytchery. But the kings don't hoard their plunder. The Marchguard say the kings are looking for something in their mountain of gold worth more than all that lucre.
Utterly dripping with depth and actionable content. Excellently done!
I dig it! Fantastic Fantasy!