Podcasts and such on writing // Mistworld

• http://www.wordplaypodcast.com/
• http://storywonk.com/
• http://readingandwritingpodcast.com/
•  and, of course, http://www.writingexcuses.com/
• See also http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/27-writing-podcast-show-notes.htm

Writing is very useful for game and game design and especially scenario design.

One difference is that with a scenario you can sometimes get away with more exposition.

You would think a world where the souls of the damned sink into the ground to mingle with undead and demons in a radioactive hell wherever light does not reach would not have the description "pastoral" -- but you would have missed just how far the light reaches.

Not how I plan to introduce Mistworld if I do a D&D reboot, (introduction and link to the proof of concept pdf here:  http://www.adrr.com/story/mist001.htm)  -- given that I've actually got D&D adaptations that have been done of parts of it, I've been giving that some thought -- but it is the sort of thing that is possible.

Many areas of Mistworld have this for a pattern:

1. steadings -- one to four families.
2. holdts -- overgrown steading with servants and attendant families.
3. vills/shrines --  a place at the center of several steadings or holdts with a shrine and an attendant of some sort.  No one else lives permanently at a vill, if it is just a shrine, no permanent attendant is there either.
4. villages -- a shrine with people living there
5. towns -- has tradesmen, two or more shrines, more people, may be walled, may have a patron.
6. cities -- has a permanent market and temples.

I've been thinking of doing something on the lines of the Regular Folks campaign to go with the reboot.

The characters would start as 0 level characters living at steadings.  A message would come from the shrine with a quest of sorts, an assignment, to hunt for verdigris foxes.  There probably aren't any, but they are a harbinger. d3+2 hit points, do d3-1/+1 when they bite (the physical damage is d3-1 so from 0-2, +1 magical damage from decay).  unarmored, +1 from size and high dexterity.  Their moral breaks easily.

Turns out that there are some (2d2 worth).  The report that there really are some is not good news, it means that the beneath is drawing closer in this location

The characters are sent to the nearest town to take the news, and seek back-up, after they are sent to warn those in the steadings.

While they are at the town, refugees arrive, with news of a disaster.  At this point they can choose to be initiated and begin to adventure.

• The seven deadly sins: Pride; Envy; Gluttony; Lust; Anger; Greed; Sloth.  Each has a species of undead tied to it.
• One can gain access to matrix magic by being initiated to one of the pathways of the seven saints.  In return, the initiate has a duty, a compulsion, to travel and strive against evil for a season.  Many people choose this "easy" path to magical enlightenment, wear the colored magical shirt of their patron saint, and travel for somewhere between eighteen months and two years. 
• The seven virtues (one to each of the seven hero saints that go with the seven moons): Chastity (purity); Moderation (self-restraint); Generosity (vigilance); Zeal (enthusiasm); Meekness (composure); Charity; Humility (humbleness).  

I had roughed this out, with a number of encounters, creatures, etc., before, but I lost my copy of the rough, which was done for BRP.  I'm now thinking of redoing it for OD&D/D&D.  I'm just not sure it is worth the effort.

But it did give me a different introduction to the setting.