A Revisionist History of Roke: Setting

A few years ago, I had an idea for a 5e campaign taking place in a magical university, and built up a setting around this, an archipelago of eighty isles, the most important of which was called Roke. If this sounds identical to the setting of Earthsea, that's because it is. But, I'm looking to change that up now and in this series I'll build a more original world, while also talking about the role settings play in a D&D campaign.

As it stands, Roke is an island in the Eighty Isles with a university teaching the arcane, divine, martial and creative arts, called al Drnan. Roke was ruled for a long time by King Darfin, who expanded the island's power until it controlled the entire archipelago, but his empire fell about a century ago. Since then, between periods of unrest, powerful wizards have formed councils that control the island, the third of which has ruled for a few decades now. The world as a whole is a pretty typical D&D setting- across the archipelago and wider world, most fantasy races exist, there's a wide pantheon of gods with tangible power in the world, and monsters of every variety can probably be found somewhere, though won't be a common problem in the average person's life.

This tells us a lot of what we'd need to know to run a campaign here- there's a time and place, some clear conflicts which could be explored, and a lot we can assume from the wider genre- there are definitely dragons out there, for example. However, it's also a massive rip-off, and I made it quite a few years ago, over which there's a lot I've decided I want to change. To begin, I want to get some understanding of what a D&D setting needs, and how I should go about making this one.

Making a Setting

Settings give context to a campaign and the PC's role in it. As well as defining the time, place and tone of the story, they also act as a sort of premise, setting up what'll be important in the campaign and possible long term goals for the party. The existence of an expanding empire on the continent your characters live, implies that the campaign may involve taking on this empire, or that war could be an important theme. In a TTRPG, some of the setting is inherent in the rules- D&D has laws governing magic, classes who rely on the existence of powerful gods, and monsters from many planes of existence, all included in the core rules. While the simplicity of 5e's basic system means you can create a game in almost any setting, the more it deviates from these central assumptions, the more work is required on the part of the DM to create consistency in the world.

In a similar way, a lot of how players engage with a setting is in defining it against a set of assumptions. I described Roke as a 'D&D fantasy', suggesting a high-magic medieval based world, with a range of races, technological advancements, feys, fiends and celestials, and dragons. 'Gritty realism' would suggest a similarly medieval world, but with little or no magic, a darker tone and more lethal foes. So a unique setting is often best described in comparison with an established genre: 'D&D fantasy but there're no humans and the people are ruled by dragon liches'; 'High School Drama but its tieflings in hell'; 'New York mob intrigue but magic exists'. In all of these, the genre conveys a whole load of ideas that are really more important for the player's experience- it gives a clear indication of tone, a bunch of shorthand for how things in this world will work, and what they can expect. In Nine Hells High, despite being surrounded by devils, you can imagine it'll be quite campy and fun- whereas the mafia world will be darker and PC death both more common and more final.

For most worlds or campaigns, the buts are a lot less dramatic, and many finer details will come across during play, as the players encounter things which go against what they expected. And the amount of work which needs to go into creating a setting reflects this. If you have some major differences, there's a lot more to either figure out so it makes sense, or a lot more to hand wave, depending on the tone and type of game. These are also really important in how much detail you should have before playing in a world. In a classic campaign, where the heroes meet in a tavern on the edge of a kingdom, solving problems in villages, then towns, then cities, then maybe even saving the world, you don't need that much to begin with, and you can build on the lore and details as the adventure requires. If you're building a world for a specific campaign with a story in mind, you'll probably need to understand elements of the wider plot a lot earlier on, and work out some important locations or characters who play a role in the story you want to tell.

It's also often more useful to start with a good understanding of the setting than having pages of notes. While these are definitely helpful and for some situations could be necessary, if you have a strong idea of how your world works, and can imagine it well in your head, when a player asks a question you weren't prepared for it's a lot easier to give a good answer because you know what would make sense. The notes are there somewhere in your head. For example, you don't need a map to know what services are available in a town the PCs stop off at if you have a good idea of what a normal town in this part of your world at this time looks like, and the little variations which would come from its specific location or recent events. Generally, your notes will build organically, as you figure more out about the setting from playing in it, and get more invested in it. This applies as much to a high concept world where you started with a few detailed pages as to a more typical Forgotten Realms one where you begin with the name of the first town and a nearby goblin mine. Of course, this will be different for different people and depends on the type of games you want to run, but getting to know the setting in your head will really help make it real, regardless of how much you like to write down.

A Revisionist History of Roke

Looking back at what I already know about Roke, you can see it is a playable setting- however, there are some quite important things missing, and it relies heavily on other sources. While there's nothing wrong with borrowing ideas, I'd like to make this world a bit more original. Roke and the university are very clearly from Earthsea, King Darfin is a bit like King Arthur (Arthur, Darfin, hmmmmm) meets ancient empire, and the name of those wizard councils will be familiar to anyone who's read Six of Crows. I do really like the general ideas, but there's a lot here to work out. What kind of empire did Darfin lead? The legacy of it will definitely influence a lot of this world, so that needs to be figured out. Also a new name. How involved in the world are the gods? I already have quite a lot about the pantheon, but the creation myth needs changing and a lot of the details need some work. Who's on the third council? The fact that I don't have answers to these kind of questions means the campaign I'd like to run here probably isn't ready. Over the next few weeks or months, I'll basically go through whichever bit I want to work on at the time, write about what's changing and why, and hopefully end up with a stronger setting for a campaign set in the Eighty Isles.