World Building - First Steps and Factions

In last week’s world building article we touched on prep and research and it got a lot of response. Today we’re going to touch on the next step in the process. The problem is the next step in the process is subjective. It’s all about the idea that sparked in your mind to start your world building idea.

Some people mentioned they liked to start with a map of where they are creating. Whether you’re working on a full world, a country, a province or just a city as we are. Some people want to start with NPCs, some with the military and there are a hundred other places you can begin from. In this instance what catches my fancy is factions.

In my mind this city is still just barely moving out of chaos. The write up for Lung Bingci showed that his father was the first recognized Jueyin (roughly Duke) of the City of the Whispering Winds. With a newly recognized noble there are bound to be groups trying to gain his favor, depose of him, use his ascension for their own ends or control him like a puppet. If I can lay these things out in my head I think I can get a better idea of what the city will be like.

These factions are not fully formed with a list of members but they are ideas of what forces are moving around within the city itself. Once we have the factions laid out the discussion of who belongs in which faction becomes easier and opens the flood gates to actual NPCs. Again this is just my process and my starting point, you can start somewhere else and leave factions for later if you like.

The Royal Family

Since we’re basing this on the character write up I did it will just be the Jueyin (roughly Duke), his wife, three children and I will probably add a brother or two. I’m thinking one who backs his brother and one who secretly seeks his position. Family infighting is always a good plot hook.

The Royal Court

The duke and his brothers of course will be included. I’m thinking an emissary from Tengu to keep an eye on things. Probably a trade leader of some kind as well as the royal treasurer. I’m thinking the older brother controls the military but maybe a captain of the guard advises on internal issues. There could be more but this is just bare bones.

Thieves’ Guild

We won’t call them the thieves’ guild of course that’s boring. However, we’re talking about Ratfolk here and to not do a large organization of cutthroats and thugs would be a grave disservice. In this case though I don’t see them as being completely adversarial to the new nobility. Growth of the city means further opportunities to make money and I can see this guild aiding the local government on the sly.

Cult of a dark god

Again these are very vague ideas, but I really enjoy religion in polytheistic worlds. I’m thinking maybe a god of plague or pestilence. If we wanted to go really evil they could be worshipers of the Horsemen of Pestilence.

Plot to over throw the Duke

This faction was actually one of the first to pop into my head. Just a group that doesn’t want a royal line and seeks to remove the Jueyin and his heir. Secretly aided by one of the Jueyin’s brothers of course, because family squabbles are the bread and butter of political intrigue stories.

And that’s just what I have off the top of my head right now. But that leads me another minor topic, bouncing ideas off other people. One of the best ways to create is to talk things out with someone else. I have a few friends that I bounce ideas off of. I also post to facebook and reddit with the hope that I can get a dialogue going with more people. The more ideas you open yourself up to, the better your creation will be.

So those are the factions I’m going to flesh out soon. Do you think there are other factions that should exist within the City of Whispering Swords? Other major players within the political fabric of the city’s reality? Let us know what you’re thinking.

World Building - Prep and Research

A friend of mine, a guy who plays in some of my games and runs the Rise of the Runelords game I'm in, has convinced me to talk a bit more about actual world building. The thing is it's a massive topic and just talking about it doesn't always help. So he's also talked me into doing a series of articles where I do some basic world building.

Now some of the old time GMs will already have world building down, but even the best GMs know that there's always more to learn. A lot of this will be good for first time GMs and people interested in expanding the worlds they're in. I'm also sure people will have a lot to add to the topic. But these will just be my views and my process, it may not work for everyone but it works for me.

So when I was an early GM I wanted to build my own worlds something fierce. I always had a million and one ideas and I wanted to shove them all into one place. A culture like this, a city like that, a monster race that had its own civilization. The thing is building a world from scratch is not that easy. So we're gonna focus this particular exercise on expanding an existing world, in this case Golarion, to fit our needs.

A lot of people dislike kitchen sink worlds, a game setting that has a little bit of everything so that you can mix your roman based civilization and an asian based civilization with slightly off technology levels. For a writer and a GM kitchen sink worlds can be a boon. It gives you the option to tell the story you want to tell and you can change stories and themes without having to change worlds.

The idea I'm going to run with is one that I started when I wrote my character background for Lung Bingci. On the continent of Tian Xia there is an area that is ruled by Tengu and in this area there is a city that is controlled by Ratfolk. Now eventually I'd like to flesh out the entire area of the Tengu lands, but to begin I'm going to just start with the Ratfolk city. One of the toughest things for a writer to do is focus on one thing when so much is going through their head. But aiming so big from the start is also one of the reasons a lot of writers fail.

So the first thing you need in prep is an idea. We've covered the idea, a Ratfolk city in the midst of a Tengu controlled area of Tian Xia. The next thing we need to do is research. Now whether you're building your own homebrew world or working with an existing one it is best to know what you're talking about. If your idea for a homebrew is a roman based civilization with a senate, then you'd better know how the roman senate worked.

I've already done a lot of the research for the character I wrote so I'm just going to post a few links. All of these are from the Pathfinder wiki which is invaluable when trying to find information that is spread out over a number of game books and possibly novels and web tales.

Ratfolk 

Here is where we learn about the Ratfolk invasion of Tian. That's right the Ratfolk swarmed up from the Darklands and claimed a dozen or so provinces before faltering and being driven back. Not what a lot of people think of when they think Ratfolk but it also tells us about a Ratfolk controlled city.

The page also mentions a city of Ratfolk called, the City of Whistling Swords. Now there is zero information on the city itself which is perfect for our use because we want to create something uniquely ours.

Kawnlai 

The Tengu nation on the western coast of Tian Xia. Again not a lot in there but good for our purposes. When we expand out from the City of Whispering Swords at some point it gives us a lot of freedom to run with. Although it does list a ruler

Lady Sutarai-Gongen 

A half celestial Tengu and cleric of Hei Feng. She’s spiritual leader to the people of Kwanlai so I would imagine Hei Feng would be important to the Ratfolk as well.

Chinese Noble titles 

Something I had to look up because the character I wrote was the son of a noble. You’re going to one some kind of immersion and being an Asian (mostly Chinese) analog it’s good to work with some things that will keep you in the world.

And there we go, we’ve prepped and researched. We took our idea and decided where to begin. We’ve researched the area we’re working with and the kind of people that we’ll be dealing with most. And we’ve looked at some possibilities for the future of our project. 

Next time picking a starting point and working our way out. 

Do you have any ideas for our Ratfolk city? Make sure to check out the character background and see what I’ve already decided is true.

Character Ten: Kokan Hybusa

I hadn't really hashed out any mechanics this time around just that he is a base rogue but here is the tale of Kokan Hybusa.

Before we get into it here are the random rolls in case you forgot.

Born in Tian Xia but relocated to the Andoran port city of Augustana along with his family and a flock of other Tengu, Kokan Hybusa has always been a bird out of place. Bullied by his sister before they moved, bullied by the human children when he arrived in Avistan and all but forgotten as the middle boy of eight children by his parents. Life seemed ever so rough for the young Tengu. It didn't help that as he grew older he spent most of his time in books, absorbing as much knowledge as he could possibly get his wings on.

Kokan's search for knowledge didn't just stop at the temporal. He spent much time studying magic, although he had no aptitude for it, and religion as well. One of his early mentors was a Halfling sage named Ilsa Tanglebriar. The young Tengu would listen to her tales of the days she was a slave in Cheliax and her musings on the portents of the future. When asked about his future though she would furrow her brow and don a dour face, claiming not to be privy to that information.

Kokan was set to go off to study with masters in the Universities of Almas when he finished his studies in Augustana. But fate has a way of changing plans for you. Although he was very used to being bullied himself, now that his younger brother the, runt of the family was in school the bullies had started in on him. One day on the walk home Kokan's brother Takaaki was ambushed by a group of young thugs. Kokan ran to his aid and for the first time fought off attackers. Kokan was unaware of his own strength in in a fit of mindless rage one of the bullies fell, impaled on Kokan's beak.

Kokan was beside himself, he never intended to kill anyone. The bully's friends sought to slander him, but witnesses not the least of which was the Halfling seer Isla painted a better picture of his selfless act of defense. Still with the stain of death on his beak the offer to university fell though and Kokan was left with no future.

In the intervening years Kokan held a number of jobs and seemed ever the picture of the hardworking peasant. But in this time the Tengu was plotting and waiting. He kept his eyes open and his mind sharp, learning everything he could about the underworld of Augustana. Until one night he said his prayer to Calistria and took up a mask and a blade and stalked the streets. He stopped a mugging that first night at the cost of two broken ribs, but his true mission in life had begun. No more bullies, no more scavengers preying on the weak, just vengeance.