Foundations and Truths

What makes the Skies of Mor-ladron the Skies of Mor-ladron? What are the things that must be? These are the setting’s Foundations, and it’s a pretty short list. 

• It must be a world set in the sky with floating islands and airships. 
• A lot of things can be true, but the central theme is one of freedom versus control. 
• At a minimum, there should be background tension between the players’ goals and the aims of the powers that be, who wish to retain or gain control, often via magical power or through knowledge, money, or other things. 

As long as the world meets these requirements, in my mind, it is the Skies of Mor-ladron. 

Now, I hear you. What about features like races, lore, magic, etc?

These would be what I call Truths. 

I stole the idea of Truths from the game Ironsworn by Shawn Tompkin, which I would describe as a Powered by the Apocalypse (PBTA) game on steroids. Ironsworn’s setting has a list of defaults and a list of Truths with different options. Choosing from among these options allows you to control, say, the presence of magic, monsters, and the undead and explain why the area your character lived in was called the Ironlands. Your choices help shape the worldbuilding for your campaign and provide creative guardrails. His most recent project is called Sundered Isles and will be a great source of inspiration for this setting since it is based on sailing adventures. 

I used the concept of Truths in an adventure I ran in 2021 called Prophecy of Dragons. I had two groups playing at the same time, and each group chose their world’s Truths, creating two similar but not identical universes (see below for the complete list of Truths). Group A created a desert environment with local gods living amongst their followers, and dragons were a relatively common threat. Group B chose a more European-style environment. They had access to some steam-based technology, and dragons were considered more myth and legend than any real danger. The concept for both campaigns was basic: a good dragon collects heroes and warns them about a bad dragon threatening their plane of existence. 

I used Fizban’s Treasury for the idea of a greatwym becoming increasingly powerful by claiming its essence from multiple planes. The heroes in each group had to kill their world’s version of this red dragon to prevent a greatwrym from forming (he only collected the essence if he killed his other selves himself; don't think about it too hard).  

Allowing each group of players to choose their own Truths was intended to create games that would be different but not too different, with the ultimate goal of giving me less to prep. It didn't quite work out that way, however. I was able to use a dungeon map making only minor changes during the middle section of the campaigns, but other than that, creating separate world Truths didn't cut down on prep time. 

Both games were still a lot of fun since the player groups were invested in the worlds they helped make. Here are the Truths I created for Prophecy of Dragons.

At first, I considered using world Truths as part of rebuilding Skies of Mor-ladron and letting different groups choose features they wanted. My experience with Prophecy of Dragons taught me that the Truths are a lot of fun but don’t save much time. 

I decided to go a different route. Instead of offering up a list of Truths to choose from, I sent a survey to my players (12 people) asking what they wanted in a game. Here are the questions I sent them. 

As you can see, these questions were not quite as vague or wide-ranging as the Dragons of Prophecy Truths. I felt that if I left the questions more open, I would wind up with too many different opinions to try and make a setting from. I wanted to narrow it down so people could still have opinions, but nothing would be too difficult to reconcile. Giving concrete examples sparks ideas, and quite a few players used the “Other” option to expand upon a choice and offer up cool ideas.  

Let's go through the questions in more detail. I'll explain why I asked them and how the players responded.

Races

I'm a fan of including fewer races because it’s easier to make sense of their presence in the world. I included a range of five to nine races, which seemed appropriate. 

I know from being a player and from my players’ perspectives that “making sense” of the races doesn’t matter much as long as they seem to fit the setting. As a worldbuilder, though, figuring out the races is the kind of thing I like to craft, even if it never sees the light of day for my players. (That’s one of the reasons for making this blog—people will actually see some of that work!) 

So, five to nine races felt like a reasonable amount, and I gave the option for 9+ if anyone wanted a lot of options. Of course, just knowing the number of races wasn't enough, so I asked if there were any specific races or racial archetypes that my players wanted to see. I asked about racial archetypes to see if players wanted halflings, for example, or if they were okay with any small, stealthy race.

Most of my players didn't care about the amount (as long as there were choices). I got a few 6-7 responses, so it’s looking like there will most likely be five to seven races. Of course, the players listed over ten different archetypes they’re interested in! 

I’m still considering the list to decide what I want to include and how I can build them into the world. I can already say that a version of humans, elves, and dwarves will be in the revised game, along with a Skies or Mor-ladron favorite, the fungorians. A few people mentioned flying races, so I will definitely think about that. Do I give elves wings? Have dragon or bird folk? Come up with something new? If you have thoughts or ideas on flying races, please leave a comment below!

Gods

In the original Skies lore, the gods had fled. This part of the lore was mostly so I didn't have to come up with a pantheon at the beginning. The lore of the gods would show up at some point, such as when the heroes delved into ancient ruins or found powerful divine artifacts, but that would come later, and there would only be one god at a time. I like the concept of the gods having fled, but I wanted to see what my players thought. 

As it turned out, most of the players liked the current lore. Players who selected other options wanted things like local gods or the children of gods walking in the world. I’m excited to continue developing these ideas, and I think I can give them a twist and put them in the world in a way that satisfies the lore and my players. More to come on the Skies pantheon in future posts!

Experiences

Experiences are pretty self-explanatory: do players want to be in the middle of a war, do they want to be pirates, do they want to delve into ruins and find treasure, or do they want to set foot in a city and never leave, finding adventure in the urban areas? 

Player responses were common to most fantasy games, like exploring the wilderness and finding odd magical phenomena, so I don't think I need to add anything special here, at least not at the beginning. However, a significant minority of players wanted cities to do heists in. We will see how well the MCDM RPG will handle that sort of thing! (Maybe I need to make a Forged in the Dark game set on one of the islands! Now, when I say “make,” I mean create new playbooks and maybe a different skill list—nothing too fancy. Some of my players are huge Forged in the Dark fans).

Technology

I asked the technology vs. magitech question (as I’m sure a lot of the tech, at any level, will be run by magic) because early versions of the setting had a strong pirate vibe and an “anything goes” mentality regarding technology. Players used bows next to firearms next to magical robots. I wanted to check in and see what the players wanted going forward. My bias was for the Golden Age of Piracy years, which is why I included a specific time frame for it.

Not surprisingly, a lot of players wanted the whole kit and caboodle.  More than one player suggested having different levels of tech/magitech depending on the island—all with different reasoning—which I think is a good idea. I still want a base level of technology that most places will follow and understand. 

Given the choices of the players who didn't want it all, the Age of Exploration will likely be a significant source of inspiration for the revision of Skies of Mor-ladron. I’m excited to learn more about that era; I need to do some research, which will give me plenty to work with.

I also need to figure out how airships fit that level of technology and magic. If spells or runes make them fly, would levitation magic be commonplace? Is it only possible to use levitation magic on large items, like ships? Or are the airships made from a special type of wood that has floating properties? I anticipate coming up with numerous similar questions that will shape the level of technology/magitech in Skies. 

What’s Next? 

Hopefully, the World Foundations and Truths will give Skies a different feel than a typical D&D setting. If my players ever get sick of it, we can always play in MCDM’s primary setting, Vasloria. The Skies of Mor-ladron won't be the only setting I run games in; it's just the main one. 

In the coming weeks, I want to delve deeper into each subject we discussed today, along with some history and starting cities. First, we’ll take a break from lore building(as I stall for writing time). The next post will be a piece of short fiction, possibly one that shows why the Storm Scarred are so feared and so desirable as crew members.