Just Starting Out

Ok, so this is new. I'm going to be using this to flesh out and write down the details of this setting I've been working on in my head, and assorted notebooks, and on various pieces of scrap paper for upwards of 10 years now. If anyone out there ever actually reads this, feel free to make suggestions, criticisms, comments, or any other remarks.


The world of Alterra is a mish-mash of different ideas borrowed (stolen) from different authors and real-world history and mythology. I have listed on the side some of the biggest influences and sources to the universe of Alterra. I make no claims to a great amount of creativity or imagination, but I do think that I steal from the best sources. Hopefully the combination will be something that someone will find interesting.


This world, and the universe it is set in, has been used as a setting to run Dungeons & Dragons games in, and as a place to set short stories I have written. When I get around to it I will post some of them.


I am currently working on a set of custom rules for an RPG for the world of Alterra, and there will be the occasional word or three about my views on RPGs. I am not a wonderful game designer. I freely admit now that it will be essentially a heavily modified version of AD&D First Edition rules, mixed with the best parts of both 2nd and 3rd Edition D&D ,elements of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and anything else I find useful or interesting. Game balance will not be a major goal of these rules. Making all classes and races perfectly balanced in power with each other will not be a huge concern. Creating the correct feel and modeling the way the universe of Alterra works will be. I consider game balance to be the purview of the Game Master running the game, and it is his or her responsibility to make sure that everyone has fun during a game; the rules should model the reality of the world, not arbitrarily limit the power of, say, magic, so that those who can't wield it will be on an equal footing with those who can. A person should want to play a Fighter because they want to play a Fighter, not because they know that their Fighter will be just as powerful as a Wizard.


So, let the train wreck begin!