Combining Worlds

Some like to create their own RPG settings from scratch. Others like to use premade settings. A third group likes using elements from many different settings, combining them into a campaign world of your own. A world like Dave Arneson's Blackmoor lends itself very well to combining with other settings. It has rich detail on a small region of the world, but is very vague on what lies beyond the regional map of the North.

There are different approaches to combining settings. Some try to include everything from every setting they have ever heard of. Others pick the elements they like from each setting and combine those features instead. Robert Fisher's World of Kulan is an example of this latter approach.

My own approach is slightly more complicated. I want to use settings that have a connection to oneanother. So when choosing a setting for giving my Blackmoor a framework I chose Mystara. Almost every single Mystara sourcebook refers to Blackmoor as an era long gone. The Hollow World Boxed Set (for Mystara) gives a world map of that ancient era. However, not much in the Mystara material gives detail on what is found on the continent where Blackmoor is located. This is why I looked to the Wilderlands. The Wilderlands are also connected to Blackmoor through the FFC publication and the region called the Valley of the Ancients.

So instead of just picking elements at random, there is a system at work here. Maybe I am just a complicated fellow. In any case, we have opened up a forum for discussing Mystara's Blackmoor over at the Comeback Inn. If you are interested in this topic, please come and join our discussion! The Comeback Inn is also seeing other activity these days and more MMRPG files have just been uploaded to the Coot's Nest section.

Have you incorporated Blackmoor into your campaign setting?


-Havard