I was recording an episode of Under the Lamplight with Brett the other day and we were talking about Monsters. In fact there’s three episodes in a row about monsters. One about three specific monsters, The Red Cap, the Goblin, and the Brain Gorger. One about monster hunting in Avalon. The last about the history of monsters in the city. I thought it’d be an interesting discussion because some monstrous creatures are native to the planet the city of Avalon is on and many others aren’t. They’re alien refugees running away from cosmic horror entities that have mostly devoured everything else out there but this last lonely little planet in the universe, or dimension, or existence. We don’t really say because it’s not that big a deal. Those in the know, know there’s nowhere to go. There’s nothing else out there. This is it. That drives most people into bad places.
To get back to my point. Brett said something and I responded with, “I am probably the person who knows the second most about Avalon in the world and I had no idea that was a thing.” To which Brett agreed that I was the person who knew the second most about Avalon. I still had no clue that what he said was true. It’s kinda like how there are Dwarves running different parts of the city in secret and probably a lot of other powerful things and people and creatures with influence all over the place. There’s just a lot going on in the city.
Some folks would say that knowing too much would be constricting. I don’t actually think that. Knowing is just giving me more room to tell stories. Providing larger contexts to make the tone of the game shine, and it’s because this stuff is all happening in the world but it doesn’t have to affect a neighborhood, or the PCs unless it’s attached to a scenario being run or it comes up during downtime. These are just pieces for GMs and players to use to tell their stories. My goal is to make that stuff useful to GMs and players by finding ways to prompt ideas for your games within this decaying cynical city that has flickering lamps of hope that are holding back the endless darkness. Literally.
So how do I make it useful?
Let’s talk about Axis Mundi. It’s coming up on an episode. Axis Mundi is a giant repository of knowledge in Avalon. Probably the largest civic building in the city next to the Clocktower…and it goes deep into the underbelly of the city. Within Axis Mundi are various books and records from mundane to forbidden texts from the Soul War locked away within the deeper floors. Now there’s a few interesting things about Axis Mundi.
- One. The Magistrate families all contribute money to keep the library running. Why? Because the documentation that makes them Magistrate families is kept within Axis Mundi. Without it they would lose their claim to make laws and uphold them.
- Two. Forbidden Texts from the Soul War which could summon foul creatures from outside and which also hold powerful magics are hidden and locked away within the library.
- Three. The research librarians here either know the information you’re looking for or can help you find it if you can pay for their time.
- Four. At the very bottom of the library is a council of Dwarves who have been guiding and facilitating the running of Axis Mundi for thousands of years.
Just from that set of four items I can think of various ways to utilize Axis Mundi in a campaign.
- Pull of a heist to steal documents that the Magistrate families don’t want to get out.
- Research information about the creation of Grey Lotus. Heck, research information on anything. Grey Lotus just feels more Avalonian because who isn’t into a good drug kingpin story.
- Find a ritual within the restricted section of the library to help deal with a magical problem.
- Just break into the restricted section to acquire information for someone else.
- Meet the Dwarves who set you upon a quest to help keep Axis Mundi functioning as it does within the city.
I’d like to rework some of the text of the book when I’m working on a more final layout to provide more stuff like this where they’re jumping off points for GMs and players. More hooks. More ideas. More stuff that speaks to playability and, grab an idea you can run with, kind of stuff. I know that’s the kind of stuff I want in my roleplaying games. I hope you do too.