Plumpton: A Compromise Setting

I’ve had symptomatic Covid this past week. It was (thankfully!) a mild case, but it did suck all the energy from me. As a result, this post is a little later than usual. Sorry about that.

As I’ve said before, I like a human-based campaign. Instead of high fantasy, I want set my games in a sword & sorcery or sword & sandal setting. What’s the difference? In the words of Wikepedia:

the consensus characterizes it [sword & sorcery] with a bias toward fast-paced, action-rich tales set in a quasi-mythical or fantastical framework. Unlike high fantasy, the stakes in sword and sorcery tend to be personal, the danger confined to the moment of telling.

In other words, the adventurer’s aren’t trying to save the word—they’re trying to save themselves! This matches nicely with the low level character play that I enjoy. Furthermore:

Many sword and sorcery tales have turned into lengthy series of adventures. Their lower stakes and less-than world-threatening dangers make this more plausible than a repetition of the perils of epic fantasy.

In other words, it doesn’t make sense to have to save the world from a new danger every week.

James Disagrees

Needless to say, James disagrees. He’s a big fan of high fantasy. He wants his elves, dwarfs, and halflings. He want his character to encounter evil orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc.

Amongst other things, I think he likes the moral clarity of knowing that his character can kill a band of goblins and not feel guilty about it.

My Compromise: Plumton

Humans come from the great continent. It doesn’t need too much backstory, because it’s gone. Maybe it sank. Or maybe huge volcanic eruptions made it unlivable. Or maybe winter came, and covered it all in ice making it uninhabitable. Maybe it was all of the above.

In any case the humans built a flotilla. It wasn’t an organized flotilla under the direction of a great leader, but the desperate grab of whatever would float but disorganized bands of survivors. Think of every zombie apocalypse show you’ve seen.

The ships set out in every direction. We have no idea what happened to most of them, but many landed on the eastern shores of a new continent. One such group set up the settlement of Plumton, named after some wild¹ plum trees that were found growing near the landing spot.

Humans were the only intelligent race living on the great continent. They were completely unaware that any others existed. But in this new world, they find the classic races of high fantasy. They first encounter the elves.

The thing is, the elves don’t want the humans there. The elves (correctly) see the humans as parasitic invaders that will drain the land of resources that the elves desperately need. The elves are familiar with this, as they’ve been fighting off the invasion of goblins from the west.

Politics in this world are volatile. War and alliance shifts with the wind. Humans might be allied with the elves against the goblins this month, but next month orcs and men might be raiding an elven grove.

Epilog

That’s it. Just a simple idea. It gives James the non-humans he wants in the world, but it gives me the human-centric stories I want to tell. The reflection of real history is intentional. The humans are the British (who were masters of pitting different local groups against each other until only the British could dominate). “Plumton” is from the origins of the word “Plymouth.” Making the human’s plight a desperate fight for survival rather than seeking economic gain is my attempt to alleviate the moral issues of colonialism.

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1. Technically this is impossible, as plums are a human cultivation, but this is fantasy.↩