Monday, May 14, 2012

campaign concept: Mormons & Morlocks

Howdy folks!  The semester is over so time to get back to bloggering about games.  Here's a campaign concept I've been kicking around.  It sort of follows the Wessex line of thinking in adapting someone else's non-wizardy setting for D&D play.  Instead of borrowing from Thomas Hardy, this campaign would lean on the Book of Mormon, the third testament of the Latter Day Saints.  It's a pretty intriguing text.

According to the Book of Mormon America was settled by four different groups, each descended from people mentioned in the Old Testament.  The first group, the Jaredites, rode across the ocean in vessels kinda like Noah's Ark way back when the Tower of Babel was under construction.  They avoided the confounding of languages and thus spoke the original language of Adam and Eve.  Because they exit the Middle East prior to Abraham and Moses and the Babylonian Captivity, their culture would have very few points of contact with ancient Judaism.  By the traditional Mormon chronology the Jaredites arrive in the New World around 3,000 BC.  For two and half millennia or so they are the only human on the continent and they eventually flourish into a kingdom of 2 millions, somewhere in the north.

Near the time of the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the Babylonian Captivity, which can be fairly certainly dated to 587 BC or so, the other three groups arrive.  The Nephites and Lamanites, both descended from a prophet, settle fair to the south.  The Mulekites, consisting of the last prince of Judah and his followers, settle much closer to the land of the Jaredites.  By the time the Mulekites, Nephites and Lamanites arrive Jaredite civilization has gone down the crapper.  The Mulekites encounter the sole survivor, the last king to rule over the Jaredites.  His kingdom is in ruins.

The campaign would be set three hundred years after that point, when the Mulekites and the other two groups discover each others' existence.  Local PCs would consist of members of any of the three extant tribes of humanity, as well as the three standard demi-human races.  Halflings would be of the homo floresiensis variety, though whether natives or fellow travellers with one or more of the human races I don't know.  I'm thinking elves might be the descendants of Cain and/or Lilith, who live as a secret enclave within the ranks of humanity.  Dwarves would be descendants of the dudes that helped the Supreme Being create the world.


The adventurers would be based in a remote frontier town on the edge of Zarahemla, the kingdom of the Mulekites.  Sessions would consist of expeditions into the desolated realm of the Jaredites, in search of their lost cities.  Since the Jaredites had 2,500 years to themselves they could have developed all sorts of whacky super-science, so in addition to your standard gold and jewels their ruined cities could contain all sorts of death rays and hover cars and robots just ripe for the plundering.  Obviously there would also be degenerate subhuman remnants of the Jaredites, Cthulhoid entities and giant freakin' snakes.

25 comments:

  1. "Obviously there would also be degenerate subhuman remnants of the Jaredites, Cthulhoid entities and giant freakin' snakes."

    I love how on your blog that is obvious :)

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  2. Cool idea. I've been reading a bit on Mormon cosmology lately and it is ripe for a fantasy treatment. This ought to work pretty well.

    I know Mike Allred did a comic book series based on the Book of Mormon called "The Golden Plates" but I've never read it. Might be worth checking out.

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  3. That's awesome. You're familiar with it's use in Battlestar Galactica (and supposedly Dragonlance), right?

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    1. The Dragonlance connection I wasn't familiar with, but I knew that the original BattleStar Galactica owes a lot of its majesty to the BoM.

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  4. Hey, it's Meso America - it's giant freakin' snake central!

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  5. do I even have to say I wanna play this right now just let me make a quick character?

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  6. FANTASTIC campaign concept!

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  7. Mind if I steal it?

    Great idea.

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  8. Jeremy10:43 AM

    As a Mormon myself I think a pulpish reimagining of one of my major religious texts seems kind of cool.

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  9. The setting of the Book of Mormon would make an excellent D&D campaign world. And it would FINALLY give us a D&D setting in which the cleric character class fits just about perfectly. The Book of Mormon has many examples of armed and armored Christian holy men who kicked serious butt.

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  10. I meant to write: "The Book of Mormon has many examples of armed and armored Christian holy men who kicked serious butt and also worked miracles."

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  11. As a regular visitor to the blog, I must confess that, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (popularly known as Mormons) I was a bit cautious about the title of the post. I came to it ready to ask if any other religions' sacred texts would be treated in the same way.

    After reading the post, I must say that I could see this as a viable game-setting. I also have to thank you for a reasonably respectful treatment of a sacred text. Kudos, Jeff.

    And @Geoffrey: you see why I like playing the Cleric class? Armed and armored holy men who kick serious butt! [Grin]

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    1. Jeremy11:33 AM

      @ Boric G

      I had the exact same reaction - cautious skepticism followed by the realization that Jeff was doing it right.

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    2. I came to it ready to ask if any other religions' sacred texts would be treated in the same way.

      The Bhagavad Ghita would probably kick some ass as a setting. The Old Testament has some great material.

      After reading the post, I must say that I could see this as a viable game-setting. I also have to thank you for a reasonably respectful treatment of a sacred text. Kudos, Jeff.

      It's nice to see I haven't made a complete ass of myself with this post.

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  12. Anonymous12:33 PM

    On to the important question:

    Does this mean we're playing D&D on Wednesday instead of Traveler?

    --Fred the Dwarf.

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  13. As someone who grew up LDS I wonder: Is everyone going to have super ripped arms and run around in jaguar pelts, dwelling in tents when they aren't warring with each other over who gets to be the good guys next?

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  14. This sounds pretty awesome. It's the summer, so I might be available for some Google+ gaming in this world...

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  15. Needs more Morkoths.

    And HP Lovecraft's "The Mound."

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  16. This is something I'd steal.
    I'd probably change all the names, but I'd steal the crap out of it. ;)

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  17. I'm thinking elves might be the descendants of Cain and/or Lilith

    For the later, I've written about that idea for The World After:

    Mother of Elves

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  19. Considering the subject I have could not imagine it make any better sense that this.

    BTW I also agree that the Gita would make a kick ass setting.

    The era of King David and Solomon is swords & sandals as first imagined. Game on.

    ...and relax all religious people, keep the faith and relax. We're here to have fun.

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  20. Great campaign concept. Really awesome. It has a great view about Mormons & Morlocks. Thanks for your kind to share it.



    http://thedisciplemd.com

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