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I have been living in Greece for several months and have been inspired for a setting.

I would like some help fleshing it out, because I would like to run a game of the Conan RPG in this setting...

The basic premise of the setting is as follows:
- There is a world similar to earth, in the late bronze/ early iron age (think Hyboria)
- a large portal opens and demonic beings come pouring through
-The cataclysm breaks up the world, and all the continents become millions of little islands
-The entities that came through the portal become the rulers of little island clusters
-as time progresses, humans are able to overwhelm the entities through magic or some other plot device
-The portals are closed with some artifact
-People forget about the demons over time, and the islands turn to constant warfare amongst themselves
-The setting begins thousands of years after the cataclysm, and the artifact holding the portal closed is missing, and the portals are opening again...

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

Austin

Sounds interesting, but I think it should involve a lot more sailing and naval combat than any Conan style story. Maybe it would feel more like Sinbad in terms of wide-ranging adventurism, swashbuckling and sorcery. You could get a lot of inspiration from the Odyssey and from Earthsea. Do all the demons swim or fly? Otherwise, how do they spread?

It reminds me a lot of Earthsea. However I guess the real question is not what the setting is necessarily but what stories you're trying to tell. It let's you focus on the little details you might need to flesh out.

Is the setting still bronze age in technology and mentality?
What do you want your players to do? Are they heroes chasing the MacGuffin? Or are they negotiating island truces, generally exploring and living?
Are the demons evil? Maybe a redundant question but portals open and they conquer your world. Is this a deliberate invasion or accidental worlds collide? Are they running an Empire of Blood to King Satan or are they like Europeans exploring the New World? Are all demons unified or are there factions, subspecies etc.

I'm not familiar with earthsea.. have to look into it!

The majority of the beasties swim and have underwater domains. They rule in a feudal fashion using lessers to extort the population and bully them into submission.

The Daemons came to this world intentionally, attempting to colonize, but ended up enslaving the population and living as kings basically. (almsot like kaiju from pacific rim, except more intelligent)
There are factions of the daemons that hate eachother etc, which is exploitable...

The story has to be a combination of "chase the macguffin" and "Swashbuckling adventure exploration"

The heroes are special because they have magical potential, which is incredibly rare.
It's very important because only humans with access to magic can activate the device and seal the portal.

Magic is drawn from the portals.. so the more you use it, the bigger the portal becomes, but it is incredibly powerful, ranging from conjuring lesser demons to sending pure energy at an opponent.

The various island cultures are mostly mediterranean in culture (think roman republic, hellenistic greece) but many of the larger islands have iron age northern european cultures, with the largest islands consisting of steppe cultures (scythians, mongols, huns and sarmatians).

Technology is early imperial rome, no later.. so mail armor, leaf swords, ballistas, falxes, recurve bows etc.


Thanks
Austin

Sounds like a good start. You have plenty of potential for conflict (island v. island, monster v. human, etc.) and a clear setting. I see the players in such a setting as akin to the demigods of Greek myth and probably pretty close to the images of gods in northern European/ Germanic myth (IE larger than life fighting terrible monsters).

Not sure that the energy blasting sounds in keeping with the setting. Usually in the sorcery and sandals genre, wizards rely on henchman or a summoned beasty to do their dirty work. Having them become ancient flame throwers or laser gunners kinda pushes them into superhero territory. Maybe consider having them work more throw debilitating curses, disorientation, etc. rather than raw blasts (unless said raw blasts also tends to pulp the wizard). Leave ranged death to the archers. Just something to think about.

 jmurph wrote:
Sounds like a good start. You have plenty of potential for conflict (island v. island, monster v. human, etc.) and a clear setting. I see the players in such a setting as akin to the demigods of Greek myth and probably pretty close to the images of gods in northern European/ Germanic myth (IE larger than life fighting terrible monsters).

Not sure that the energy blasting sounds in keeping with the setting. Usually in the sorcery and sandals genre, wizards rely on henchman or a summoned beasty to do their dirty work. Having them become ancient flame throwers or laser gunners kinda pushes them into superhero territory. Maybe consider having them work more throw debilitating curses, disorientation, etc. rather than raw blasts (unless said raw blasts also tends to pulp the wizard). Leave ranged death to the archers. Just something to think about.

That is a good point which I hadn't considered. I'll definitely make the magic in the setting more of an enchantment/summoning/curse type deal that requires a lot of time, energy and devotion.

I was thinking the characters would be very Perseus/Achilles-esque in the way they are viewed by the populace.

There is definitely Island vs Island (raids, expansion, piracy etc) and Island vs Monsters. I'm thinking the characters are going to have to tote the line between diplomats, demigods and actual heroes. They will need to convince rival islands to unite against the greater threat, things to that degree.

Thanks
Austin