Thanks so much to everyone who entered the campaign setting contest! The final tally is in. Here is how it played out:
In first place was the suggestion from Instagram user @stephenbogle03. I have tentatively named the setting “Shattered Lands” but will probably change it to something more appropriate.
A world which has been consumed by the void, a seemingly endless roiling blackness in which the laws of reality are warped if applied at all. None who go into it come out. As such, the great nations have taken to the skies in massive cities, which have dozens of levels upon which entire civilizations reside, supported by great engines. The higher levels are the wealthier areas, while the underbelly of the city is literally on the bottom. Travel is possible by airships of all sizes, but not everything is peaceful; some of the cities are encounter difficulties ranging from food shortages to failing engines, so war seems almost inevitable.
Although this is the winning entry, I have to say that I liked the other top entries so much that I’ll also be looping these into the campaign setting, with the presence of those thematic elements dependant on how well it did in the poll.
In other words, in addition to massive cities in the sky and the beckoning void below, there will also be:
- Viking raiders pillage the sky cities. They will play heavily into the campaign as this was tied as runner up.
- A world is torn apart and remnants of a dead world. A large part of the “original” world remains in a massive, magical floating mote between the cities and the void. Only the bravest adventurers dare travel to this world. Those that do return, speak of great riches found within the ruins of the old world.
- Natives populate the world mote, descendants of the original races that populated the planet before it was destroyed. They see the races from above as interlopers.
- Apocalypse rewind. A sense of stability has overcome the descendants of the old world. However, the signs of the old civilization are still apparent everywhere. And within those ruins are artifacts of great power.
- Feudalism and honor reign supreme in the high cities. The wealthiest of the high cities look down upon those below them and command fealty. However, supplies are growing thin and many predict that a war is coming.
- High class gothic. Years ago, one of the high cities crashed into the far end of the world mote. Rumor has it that its inhabitants are still there, but changed in some way. The natives speak tales of the masked men and women drink the blood of the young warriors who dare venture into its dark halls.
What to expect from this campaign setting.
Over the next three months, I’ll be creating material for this setting. The content will roughly follow the flow of the latest Ravnica release. This content will include:
- Introduction to the themes and history of the Shattered Lands setting.
- Races of Shattered Lands (some old, some new).
- Classes and Subclasses (some old, some new)
- Backgrounds, Feats, and Player Rules Variants
- Expanded Rules for Airship Combat and Travel
- Adventures set in the Shattered Lands
- New Magic Items, Treasure, and Spells
- Monsters, NPCs, and New Gods
I estimate the content to come out to 100 pages or more. That’s roughly 80,000 words of new, Fifth Edition content.
A lot of the material will be available here on the blog. However, the bonus content (about 20% of the campaign setting) will only be available to Patrons of any level. And the finished campaign sourcebook itself will be available to only Patrons of the Silver level or higher. There will also be printed copies available through Amazon CreateSpace.
This is an exciting endeavor, and one of the things that I wanted to do once this blog started taking off.
A huge thanks to my patrons, the folks over on Instagram, and everyone who helped come up with these ideas.
If you’d like to contribute or participate in some way (art, story notes, etc) let me know via Instagram DM. I can’t promise that I’ll take every submission that comes my way, but I’ll definitely check out what you’ve got to offer and give you a shout out when and where I can.
See you soon!
Art by CG Land.