Greetings, 3WD-verse! DM Chris here. If you haven’t been listening to the podcast lately, we’re in the midst of creating a homebrewed world from scratch called Boomtown. It’s an effort between our listeners and us in what we believe is the first attempt to assemble a collaborative campaign setting that anyone can use for their adventures. It’s been a whirlwind as we’ve added brick after brick to our burgeoning world, so I thought I’d take the time to document what we’ve got so far. Both to share what we’ve built so far with all of you, but also so I can jog my memory about the changes we’ve made. Getting older sucks.
The World
Boomtown is a post-apocalyptic world with an old west/sci-fi/steampunk flavor, where a great catastrophe, so many years ago that no one remembers, destroyed the previous civilization. The recent discovery of ancient technologies that have seemingly magical properties has fueled a gold rush, with the construction of hastily built “boomtowns” where courageous explorers venture out into the Wastes in search of money and power.
The Current Situation
The known world is currently ruled by the Trivium, the ruling body made of three separate and political arms – The Divine State, the theological arm; The Inquisition as its military arm; and the mysterious Guild as its monopolistic, business arm. The discovery of valuable ancient technology in the distant Wastes has forced them to operate using Boomtowns as waystations, where the technology is loaded onto carriages and trains heading back East. Both the religion and the technology trade is tightly controlled by the Trivium, creating a large underground black market for illegally held technology.
Gallow Springs
Our starter Boomtown is Gallow Springs, or at least that’s what the residents call it. For The Divine State and more importantly, The Guild, it’s called Boomtown 42. Most regular folks live in Lowtown, a loud and odorous place where the found tech is prepared for delivery to the Guild or bartered and sold illegally by the various criminal factions in the area. The privileged few live in Hightown, where the richest residents live in mansions and have access to the latest tech.
There are other Boomtowns all across the hardpan and sand near the Wastes, so if Gallow Springs isn’t your thing, then create your own. Just as Boomtown is a collaborative setting, so are the places and people within it. Start from scratch, or reskin Gallow Springs into the old west town of your dreams.
The Wastes
A dangerous place far from civilization, where the remnants of an ancient, advanced society lie hidden in sand and stone. The radiation given off by these ancient pieces of tech affects all who enter, and prolonged exposure leads to mutation and more. The Wastelanders, or those who lived in the Wastes long enough to be changed by it, have begun to wander into Boomtowns, with strange mutations, powers, and tech.
Likewise, the strange powers that sorcerers, druids, etc., manifest come from their exposure to the background radiation. As their exposure rises, so does their ability to cast new spells. It may even affect other classes in some way. We haven’t fully decided that yet.
Weapons & Magic
With Boomtown’s western flavor, the predominant weapon of choice for our setting is the firearm. From pistols and heavy-duty revolvers to rifles and shotguns, everyone knows how to handle some kind of gun in this world. Obviously, the martial classes handle them with real skill, but we wanted to lean into that feeling. It’s dangerous in Boomtown. Not the kind of world you want to come in guns blazing unless you’d want to end up like the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
To help make magic feel meaningful in our world, we are operating under the premise that the magic performed is most often the result of an understanding of the ancient technology the spellcasters find. Under a finer point, technology uses energy to run, so we’re going to have areas in the Wastes where magic runs hotter, and likewise areas where there isn’t enough power to pull from the environment to cast the same way.
Character Creation Changes
One of the first ideas we had for this, credit to DM Tony, is that we’d allow players to choose their two Saving Throws, rather than have them written in stone. With as much customization as we allow, this one felt right. I believe it helps players to remove some unnecessary shackles that don’t serve much purpose other than a recommended default.
With our choice to make firearms the weapon of choice in Boomtown, the issue with their increased damage became apparent. We love danger, but weren’t looking to create a meat grinder. Add the fact that folks just aren’t going to be wearing plate armor out in the desert, and our dilemma becomes clearer. In that spirit, DM Tony had another great idea – Unarmored Defense for all classes. Like Saving Throws, let the players choose which two ability scores to use. Problem solved. Still dangerous, but you let your players experience the fear without just being dead.
The old west flavor of Boomtown, along with its post-apocalyptic history, meant we needed to tweak a few of the skills to more closely align with our new world. With that in mind, we updated History to Streetwise to reflect a knowledge of how things are, but lacking any recorded history to pull from. Then we updated Arcana to Tech, with the same thought that our magic is driven by technology so it made sense. Finally, with the way religion in Boomtown is fractured between the false gods of The Divine State and the new/old gods awakening out in the Wastes, we took the Religion skill and turned it into Preach, reflecting the way that belief is spread out on the edge of society through preachers and prophets.
Final Thoughts
It was fun for me to go back through what we’ve created for Boomtown and I hope it was for you. As we continue to build, there will be more articles with more details until we finally unveil it in its finished form. Please continue to share your ideas and questions with us – remember, we’re DMs with problems who love to help DMs with problems… so send us your problems!
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