allgeektout

I really like lists of “Ten Things You Need to Know”, both as a reader, and as a writer. As a reader, it gives me a very good sense of the setting. As a writer, when I’m starting off a project, it helps me shape my expectations for the project and decide what I want to emphasize. It also gives me a very nice way to summarize it to anyone else I want to (regardless of whether they want to hear about it or not, ).

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on my Six Seas setting little by little. Originally I wanted to post this all at once, but I’ve been so swamped recently that I’ve found it difficult to hammer it all out at once, and I wanted to get a few posts out. So here’s the first part of Ten Things You Need to Know about the Six Seas (in no particular order).

1. Nothin’ be black ‘n white (except fer th’ Jolly Roger, o’ course). Pirates may pillage, plunder, rifle, and loot, but they are not the villains of our world. There are those who commit horrible deeds, but there are many pirates, such as those aligned with the Court of Thieves, who follow a Code. Similarly, there are many of the Anglian Warlords who will do anything necessary to accomplish their goals.

2. Piracy be nearin’ its own trip to Davy Jones’ Locker. When the pirates began to turn their back on the Heathen Gods and their Code (treating it more like a set of guidelines), the gods did likewise. The Anglians’ technology is beginning to catch up with the enchanted vessels of the Pirates, and it seems that soon the seas will be tamed by merchants and salesmen instead of pirates.

3. Here thar be Kraken. There are no dragons or kobolds in this world, but creatures of myth still abound in the Six Seas. The Kraken finds tasty ships to pray on, Davy Jones escorts the dying to the Underworld, whether they like it or not, and the ghosts of the Flying Dutchman haunt the seas for eternity.

4. Everythin’ ye know about pirates be true. If you sail on the Six Seas for long enough, you will inevitably find someone to fit every pirate stereotype. Peg legs, eye patchs, parrots, and even hooks; though some stereotypes are more common than others, all of these can be found on the Six Seas.

Anyone know of any really good lists of “Ten Things You Need to Know…”? Off the top of my head, I can think of Wyatt Salazar’s Eden post, and of course the ones in published campaign settings such as Eberron. Anything I should know about?