OK! Let's burn up another world!
World Burning Questions PDF

What's the Big Picture? What's going on in this setting that makes it ripe for adventure?
What's changing, evolving, declining?

What's the world's culture? What are the cultural analogs? Analogs can be taken from
historical earth, current events or fantasy works.

A friend pointed out some interesting info.

Posted By: Amnesiactechnology with the power to change the world: Iron.

This is awesome.
I am already imagining Egyptian-flavored Elves and Assyrian-flavored Men.

Posted By: ShaunAlso, do you want to run this game, Randy? I have no problem abdicating the GM seat :)

This sounds suspiciously like a request.

Who outside of the city actually knows about the iron? How many within the city actually know how its made? I'm thinking only a handful of people actually have the knowledge of -how- it is made.

How directly involved was this new leader (King? Warlord? General?) with the downfall of the Empire? How well liked is he (she?) by the people? Did she seize power with an iron fist, or did he win the hearts of the people with his silvered tongue (and a few well placed coins)?

Nah, I think the old Empire is good and dead.

How homogenized was the culture in the Empire? I'm thinking they came in, conquered, installed a local governor, and then left well enough alone as long as the tribute kept coming. Enough structure for there to be a bastardized common trade language, but not so much that the whole thing could be considered a single culture.

I also like the idea of the Empire having had a polytheistic religion, and that the nations who were crushed were forced to adopt it.

How involved are the gods? Do they even exist?

One of the PCs knows how to make iron.

And, yeah. I'll run it.

Ooh, what if the contracted Dwarves are exiles, overcome by their own Greed. The rest of the Dwarves want them punished for revealing Dwarven secrets.

Well, everyone's a piece of shit in Burning Deadwood. I'd like to be a little more heroic. I think that we should definitely be antagonistic toward the dictator. Maybe we're conscripts in an army that just got routed, and we've managed to escape capture and enslavement. We've just seen our homes burned, our fields salted, and our women and children hauled off by steel-armed soldiers.

Almost a good starting point. Much like the Browncoats, we're fighting for the true right, not the right that people are just going along with because it's easier. I know it's a little early for characters, but it fits nicely within the plot-I want to be a priestess to the old gods, in a church that the dictator would like to befriend for political gains. Whether the city everyone is from is the place, or soldiers against the dictator are taking refuge there, it adds some good bits. Maybe churches are still respected as sanctuary.

Posted By: ShaunIf the city itself is being expansionist, then I'd say quite a few people know about the iron - and are probably afraid of it.

Well, yeah-we have the means to come for them. Maybe the outlying cities are rising up together against the dictator, creating one big army instead of individual fractured ones.

How would all this tie into the dwarves, though? If the dictator has the iron, and we're fighting against him...

Although it would be good tasty bits if part of the conflict was that we were trying to infiltrate his iron works, threatening the very heart of his power. That gets both the heroics and fight against going.

Posted By: ShaunThat would be easy if someone plays a Dwarf.

They're the one who's helping us infiltrate.

Posted By: ArcanaShojo is Manga for women, it focuses on interpersonal conflict, romance and intrigue rather than muscles that get bigger when you growl. In other words it is sorta like what Indie games are to D&D.

That was just an awesome sentence.

So we've determined that dwarves are scarce. What about Orcs? Maybe the dictator keeps a contingent of them, to make examples out of the towns that put up a resistance. Elves? Potentially the ruling class?

Entire Empire: Gradora
Head City: Tringsly City

I dig it. A lot.

Mannish soldiers:


General Sholeh herself:

The Urdun Empire's capital city was Hesam. It was on the southern tip of the top island there (the one pinched by the new Mannish territories).

Gradora

What are the factions? We have Sholeh's Army and the Sholeh sympathizers. Who else is organizing? Someone from the Hartenblut Provinces? What do the Pharaon Elves want?

I think that water should be a very real issue in the desert, but as long as you're relatively close to civilization, it's not an issue. Hell, that could be a major reason for the Orcs to raid - food, tools, and water. But, yeah, it definitely shouldn't be a constant thing like it is in Dark Sun.

Oh yeah, what do the Orcs do?

For context, Greenskins are like the barbarians that toppled the Roman empire, only they didn't quite pull it off. They did, however, set off a slow decline.

I posted this before but here was my idea:
(Concerning Orcs) Maybe the dictator keeps a contingent of them, to make examples out of the towns that put up a resistance. Elves? Potentially the ruling class?

So I totally see that yes, Orcs are allowed to fight, but have their own special troop, separated from the others because hey, they're lower class.

Elves are just kind of the elite of the city. They just ease from one ruler to the next, because they'll still be here when the ruler's gone. They are the upper echelon, and to be allowed to party with them means you've made it.

Posted By: BabeElves are just kind of the elite of the city.

The Elves have a shit-ton of fertile land. They've been the biggest food supplier in this part of the world for as longs as anyone can remember. A few agri-barons have big, sprawling estates in the city.