subtitle
a Bronze Age High-Fantasy Campaign Setting for use with SAGA & other roleplaying systems
fromWhy another high-fantasy campaign setting?:
There are so many high-fantasy campaign settings and worlds to choose from when beginning a roleplaying campaign, it does seem a little excessive to write another. However, despite the universality of this genre, fantasy gaming and literature are overrun by awful stereotypes, idiotic conventions, and otherwise stupid trappings that ruin what should be an infinitely refreshing and renewable territory.
Everyone who has played a fantasy RPG or who has experienced some kind of fantasy media knows these trappings I'm talking about… Elves are all nimble archers who live in the woods; Orcs are all brutish, savage warriors with the intellect of a pea; Dwarves drink mead and beer by the gallon, have long beards, speak in ill-conceived Scottish accents, shoot blunderbusses, wield axes, and mine the depths of the planet; Trolls are stupid, axe-throwing beasts; Goblins are wicked, snickering, child-like tinkerers, who all love to build machines; Humans are the most widespread race, and they have such a diversity of skills and talents that they get no bonuses or penalties; fantasy worlds must contain Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, Trolls, Goblins, and Elves; all societies in fantasy worlds are perfect reflections of the European middle ages, and monarchy is a desirable and fun governmental system to live under...
These conventions go on and on, each stupider than the last. My purpose in writing another fantasy campaign setting is to completely abolish all of the these stereotypes and to create a believable, complex fantasy world. It is also my intent to create a fantasy setting based on my own anarchist politics. To some degree, I've tried to do this before…. However, I've never really succeeded in creating a world-scenario that encapsulates my politics. Hopefully, Braythmar does so.