It reads like a great idea, i just don't like the drawing part a lot (but that's my personal problem against the way we usually make rpg maps in a way that's too modern). But I'm likely to steal this idea for my own future games! I'm a huge fan of the idea that what matters most is the game played at the table and less about what happened before, so this idea makes a perfect match.
alphabethunter
joined 1 year ago
Playing Star Wars 5e, short campaign, first time DM, we did fine for the whole 3 games we played, all four players were playing fine, taking smart choices trying to make it the best experience for our friend who was dming for the first time ever. All until we got to the end of the campaign, time to confront the big baddie. I missed an investigation check to spot a trap, we take massive damage, dm tells us to roll initiative, we all roll really low (under 5), DM says we see a laser coming from a vantage position, starts rolling multi-attack, 3 straight nat 20s, massive damage rolls, 3 out of 4 members of the party died instantly, me included. The remaining member was a doctor, we felt we had a chance... DM says the big baddie has legendary actions. After around 12 hours of gaming, across three days, we all died in less than 10 minutes. Fun times, we still make fun of him whenever we remember. The worst thing? I took a look at the encounter later, it was not even that badly tuned, it was really just piss-poor luck.
Fairly interesting read, but I think it has missed potential. It fails to consider the effects magic would have on the laws of a society, and also the impact that monsters abound would have over the common folk. In a world where monsters do exist, the likely scenario would be one where small villages or settlements wouldn't exist, and people would flock together to bigger towns or cities, behind the protection of walls. With crowds, comes business, and then the need to travel through dangerous wilderness, and with it, the job of a sword-for-hire, and, the ubiquitous presence of fortune-seekers, adventurers, lacking a place of presence or belonging. And then it would all depend on how the population of a certain place sees these adventurers, trust or distrust built upon decades of dealings and the actions of such people (adventurers).
Another point to consider, is how magic could develop to aid in judicial matters, maybe spells specifically crafted to tell lies from truth, or to trace the scents left on a dead person to their killer...
And I guess this is why most editions of D&D do not really concern themselves with this topic, it's a bit too hard to point out exactly what would be the laws and such. However, I do like the thought exercise, and you can take it a step further, and write down a small set of simple laws and societal taboos for each region that could be relevant and meaningful for your game.