Bastion

Recently I previewed an idea involving a revamped Shattered Realm campaign setting that could be used as a generic world for Front Porch fantasy campaigns. If you read the Multiverse-introducing tale "When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroes," you know that the besieged town of Palisade has been the focal point for that game world. For a bit of a fresh start, however, I'm going to shift to a new location, a city called Bastion. For the record, I'm aware that Bastion is already the name of a small town in the Druid Cycle world, but I like the name so I'm usin' it anyway!

Bastion was founded by adventurers who wanted to establish a new kind of society, one that rejected the aristocratic systems of the past and allowed the citizens to choose their own leaders. The idea of a proto-democratic government is nothing new in the annals of Front Porch fantasy campaigns (hat tip to Timothy for his efforts in The Druid Cycle beginning in the late '90s), but I'd like to take it a step further by giving all the players a more direct leadership role. I really don't want to turn D&D into a Model UN meeting, but I figured this arrangement would be an interesting change of pace from typical fantasy city-states that are led by kings or other such potentates.

In my next post on Shattered Realm, I'll discuss one of the interesting (for me, anyway!) design considerations for creating a new (or, more accurately, substantially revamped) campaign setting.