The Wyrd of the Wyrmkings: Breathing Worlds to Life

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Breathing Worlds to Life

Looking out upon the world.

"Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.” -Maria Montessori

Illythria, the world of The Wyrmshadows of RPG Setting was born, in my imagination, some twenty years ago as a place where I could place fantasy tales, the kinds of fantasy tales I wished to tell. I wanted to create a world that would resonate with my sensibilities regarding what did, and did not, work in regards to a fantasy milieu. Until now, this world existed only as mental reveries and sometimes self-contradictory notes both on paper and on digital documents. After long consideration, I thought it time, with the help of highly skilled and creative contributors, to bring Illythria to life as a setting wherein gamers can set their own stories of adventure, tragedy, heroism, romance, courage and terror.

My inspiration spans the High Fantasy sensibilities of J.R.R. Tolkien, the gritty Sword and Sorcery Sensibilities of Robert E. Howard, the historical resonance of George R.R. Martin and Bernard Cornwell, as well the religious myths and folklore of our world. Illythria is a fantasy world for grown-ups, so to speak, where the fantastic doesn't remove verisimilitude from the table, where the existence of magic doesn't negate the need for complexity and believability. It's a world where the motivations for heroism make sense. Some fight for faith, some for gold, some for love, some for vengeance, and some for honor. In the Wyrmshadows RPG Setting both "good" and "evil" exist, not as tangible things, but as perspectives. Even the most wicked Illythrian villain doesn't do what he or she does to strike at "the forces of good" but instead to advance an agenda that is, for them, valid and concrete. Just as on our world, people do what they do for myriad reasons and never merely because they "fight for good" or "serve evil."

This blog, The Wyrd of the Wyrmkings, is intended to be a development journal, akin to a diary, wherein I will, as much as I am able, give the reader a "look behind the curtain" as it were. As the The Wyrmshadows RPG Setting develops and becomes more concrete you will see why certain creative decisions were made and the mechanism by which I, as well as other contributors, came to make a given choice regarding a the creative process as we attempt to balance internal consistency, believability, the fantastic, the epic and the commonplace within a setting designed to be the backdrop of countless stories told around the gaming table.

And hopefully, this blog can serve to inspire other Gamemasters who wish to try their hand at world-building. I long ago learned that a little inspiration can go a long way toward firing up the engines of creativity.

Gentle reader, may it be that you are shielded by the wings of the Wyrmkings until our paths cross again.

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The Wyrmshadows RPG Setting

The Wyrmshadows RPG Setting, mixes the familiar heroic, dramatic, high fantasy sensibilities of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, the gritty and bloody sensibilities of sword and sorcery fiction in the vein of Robert E. Howard, the historical resonance of George R.R. Martin and Bernard Cornwell, the religious myths and folklore of our world, and the dark, alien horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. I felt that The Wyrmshadows RPG Setting should draw strongly upon historical sources, not merely to create a somewhat familiar world in which to game (without falling into the trap of creating direct Earth analogue cultures) but in order to add a sense of verisimilitude of culture and custom that can sometimes be lost in settings that don't draw on the rich mythic, historical and folkloric realities of our own world.

Vast vistas, from primordial swamps, trackless forests, windswept desert and sweltering jungles inhabited by countless creatures both benevolent and malign lie throughout The Wyrmshadows RPG Setting. Cities and kingdoms are spread over vast and varied landscapes as stars are spread through the ebon expanse of the night sky, their inhabitants the beneficiaries of cultures long since passed away. Towering mountains and hidden grottos are the habitation of great spirits worshipped as gods by savage peoples. Lost temples once awash in the blood of innocents now stand silent, their darkness inhabited by the vengeful spirits of evil priests who still seek to serve their gods even from beyond the grave.

The World of Illythria, home of The Wyrmshadows RPG Setting, is a world of adventure, stalwart courage and craven weakness, of grand victories and crushing defeats, of passionate loves and fierce hatreds, of idyllic peace and brutal war, of sacred virtue and demonic evil. And overseeing all this, from their Dominions that somehow straddle the world of mortal men and that of otherworldly spirits, are the ever-present sovereigns of Illythria, the Wyrmkings, the godlike dragons who stand as the unquestioned masters of the realms of both mortal and immortal alike.