Getting Back To More Solid Roots
Dungeons The Dragoning is a ridiculous concept. Its 'official' releases (if we can even call them that!) consist of only two books, the core book and the expansion called 'For A Few Subtitles More'. This would be the end of the publication of this monstrosity of a game but homebrew beget more homebrew: as a result, a game that itself is a mash up homebrew of references had a very active community which added an utterly humongous amount of homebrew races, exaltations and more to the setting. While this is all fine and dandy it made the game, at least in my opinion, lose its identity. This may seem contradictory but the original game was clearly based off a few major IP with references to others added in there. The homebrew crowd for all the good it did basically went and crammed every single thing under the sun.
This made the game lose its identity.
Without the 'core' fusion of Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, World of Darkness and Exalted it seems to me the setting lose what makes it a silly, funny crossover in the first place. D&D alone has had so many settings and re imagining under its brand that there is a massive wealth of content to base a silly, crossover space fantasy setting around it. The rest still has room to exist as dumb in-jokes or genuine (as much as such a silly game can be genuine) setting elements. As such the key settings here are:
- Dungeons & Dragons 4th and 5th Edition: Yes, really. The 3e era is arguably so much like a poor man's Planescape in some aspects that by comparison 4th and 5th stand more as their own thing.
- Planescape: The massive universe, the factions and of course Sigil.
- Spelljammer: The concept of fantasy+spaceships and the Crystal Spheres model is used here, albeit with ships looking more like spaceships than whatever the hell Spelljammer vessels were.
- Star Wars D6: The Star Wars of the early days of the Expanded Universe, before it was all defined and then thrown away to be defined again.
- Warhammer 40 000: Forms a massive portion of the lore and setting metaphysics as well as the setting history. Most of the setting's scifi window dressing take heavy inspiration from Warhammer. However, rather than the 'grimderp' Warhammer of modern times I'd rather take as many cues from the sillier Rogue Trader era.
- Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Oooh this one is going to get so much crap! That said, while it came after DTD was released there are a few elements of AoS which seems like they came out more of the space fantasy DTD than the grim fantasy world of the classic Warhammer.
- World of Darkness and Exalted: Much like how Warhammer Fantasy and 40 000 were connected, these two settings share a common root, a common publisher and many setting elements in common despite being separate. Quite a bit of the setting history and metaphysics take from these two.
The Materium
The name Great Wheel is the modern name of the known universe. It has had many other names for every culture, every species has called it something or other throughout their history as soon as they glanced upward and saw an endless sea of blinking lights where the Gods were said to live. In term of size it is massive, dwarfing our own Milky Way and is said to hold so many worlds as for them to be uncountable. The Great Wheel is also said to have four poles, based on the outdated model developed by ancient Dragons. There is some truth to this elemental models, however. The 'south' of the Great Wheel (its all a bit relative) is in fact home to much warmer crystal spheres and burning stars which can tear even shielded spelljammer vessels, for example.
Most worlds are found inside Crystal Spheres, which usually house a sun (or some close analogue) and has one or more habitable worlds inside. I'd say orbiting but that implies that a heliocentric model would always be accurate: it isn't. It is not unknown for some of these spheres to have their own oddities when it come to the laws of reality but the vast majority of them are considered to be stable and non-hostile to most known forms of life. Some spheres have air inside them, allowing people to breathe in space beyond the confine of a planet inside it. Most don't, however. Beyond this is nothing but airless void but this is hardly the end of our exploration of that universe.
There exist a massive, impossibly vast network once built and inhabited by the Old Ones and later the Eldars. It is called the Webway and sometimes the First World or Feywild. Some parts of it are small enough to exist as passages for individuals while others are impossibly vast caverns filled with glowing, alien life and some other parts are so larger as to be able to hold entire Crystal Spheres. Most of it is unexplored and dangerous, filled with fickle and ageless creatures engineered by the Old Ones. Even the passages explored and used by the ancient Eldarin have crumbled and those that remain are jealously guarded by them.
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| Like this but bigger. |
The Immaterium
When people speak of the Immaterium, in hushed tones I should add, they usually speak of The Warp:the hellish dimension of Chaos where Daemon dwells. However this is not the only part of the Immaterium, the realm of thought, souls and ideas. In ancient times it was the Realm of Souls, the Supernal Realms or The Wyld: an endless expanse of possibility and thoughts. The growth of Chaos and its ravenous powers has tainted the Immaterium.
The shallows of the Immaterium are called the Umbra or the Ethereal Plane: it is a reality which exist overlaid the Materium and is where lesser spirits, daemon and ghosts exist. This reality can be entered through astral projection or the use of spells. Deeper in the Umbra still exist certain domains of powerful beings which might be entire Planes of their own. A domain which exist parallel to the material world is the Underworld also known as The Shadowfell.
The Abyss is a massive rift in the Materium where the Immaterium (especially all the Chaos-ey and tentacle-ey parts!) is leaking. The worlds trapped inside this anomaly exist in both the material and immaterial and they are terrifying places where Daemons roam free, chaos cult is the only law and madness and mutation are a constant.
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| "I feel the Warp overtaking me!" |
Magic, The Warp and Trying Not To Explode
Most forms of Magic derive from the Warp (or rather, the Immaterium as a whole) in some form or another. This is both extremely useful, as it allow to bend the material world to one's will but it is also extremely dangerous. Psychic abilities have existed in most lifeforms in some shape or another and that power is both feared and revered in equal measure. The four most common forms of Magical powers are as such:
- Wizards, sometimes called Thaumaturge, Arcanist or Magisters rely on complex and ancient formula developed by the Old Ones (and later Eldarin and other races) which allow one to bend the forces of the Warp (sometimes called Winds of Magic) in a mostly safe and non-corrupting way. While the method itself is extremely safe and clean learning it is a whole different ordeal and requires keen intellect and solid memory.
- Sorcerers, sometimes called Psykers or Witches rely on pure will and desire alone to channel raw Warp energy. This make them the magic-users most apt at utterly spamming their powers to no end. Obviously this has a major drawback: their innate power is exceedingly volatile and an unprepared mind will find itself consume by the powers of Chaos. Having an innate connection to the Warp is a dangerous thing and often seen as a sign of mutation.
- The third major category is the one with the most names: some are called Clerics while others are called Shamans, Druids or even Warlocks. Rather than learning to channel the Warp through complex multi-dimensional formula or through innate ability they acquire their ability through some patron and higher power. This power is given and further augmented and sustained by belief and some form of code or behavior. Their abilities vary immensely depending on this outside power source.
- Finally there are Adepts: they channel the energies of the Immaterium through their bodies and mind in a more esoteric way which is both simpler and strange than the spell formula of the Wizards or the surge of power of the Sorcerer. These include the likes of the Monks, the Psion and the Paladins among others.
Most spellcaster classes are mechanically a form of Magister with the exception of most type of Wizards. There are possibly classes which, lore-wise, are Wizards but mechanically function like an Magister. The War Mage of the Codex of the Black Sun is an example which fit right in unchanged in lore or mechanics.
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