ZGG: Blackmoor-Centrism

[Havard]

One thing that has been bothering me with the way many of the D20 sourcebooks are written is that they seem to present Blackmoor as a huge kingdom at the center of everything. I think one of the reasons it is so is because ZGG were limited in their lisence to detail the lands of the Blackmoor map only. The reason why I see it as problematic is because I see Blackmoor as a small and remote province one part of a huge empire (Thonia). Blackmoor is important for sure, but not as important or highly populated as one can get the impression of in some of the books.

Some examples:

Wizard Armies:
Wizards Cabal and the BMPG refer to huge battles of armies of wizards. Now Blackmoor and its surrounding lands is a fairly small region. Furthermore, the population is fairly low due to its history of conflict and death. The way I see it, only a small number of any population has the potential to cast arcane spells. The idea of entire armies of mages seems wrong.
My Sollution: I could accept armies being reinforced by spellcasters, but made up mainly by mundanes though, so that's how I interpret these references.

Number of Wizardly Organizations
Wizards Cabal, Eldritch Underground, Scroll and Sword, Ordo Elementarum etc etc. How many individuals does it take to make it an organization? With the suggestion above that arcane spellcasters should be low, in a part of the world where the overall population is also low, how can there be so many different organizations for mages to be part of if they are all based in the North?
My Sollution: These are organizations that exist not just in the North, but their memberships extend throughout the Thonian World. In the case of the Ordo Elementarum, the main bulk of the organization is even off world at the moment (as by canon). In the case of Scroll and Sword, I keep the main bulk of the membership as mundane mercenaries, but enforced with militant wizards like the Wizard Armies mentioned above.


Number of Churches
The Blackmoor CS offers a long list of deities for the Blackmoor Campaign. This is actually not a problem. Most religions will have a large number of godlike entities. What is problematic is the idea from the BMPG that up to four or five gods will have their own temples in each of the towns and villages of the North. Lets face it, most of these settlements are lucky to have one temple.
My sollution: "Temple" may read as shrine in many cases. In other cases, there will actually be only one temple, but dedicated to many different gods.


Thoughts?

-Havard

[aldarron]

I agree across the board Havard. One thing is to treat some of those "Huge" battles as scribal exagerations.

"temples" often are just small shrines in places like Japan.

Some of those wizard organizations should be widespread guilds or orders within some other organization.

[finarvyn]

This is certainly a problem with trying to flesh out everything about Blackmoor yet ignoring the fact that the Great Kingdom was off map somewhere. We do get that feeling that everything interesting is in this tiny location.

A couple of thoughts on this:

1. My understanding is that there are dozens of "triangles" in the ocean where ships sink and whatnot, yet the "Bermuda Triangle" gets all of the press. Just because one spot is particularly interesting doesn't mean that nothing else is happening elsewhere in the world, only that the scope of the campaign is more local.

2. Consider the first Star Wars movie from the 1970's, then think about how the scope changed after Return of the Jedi. In the first movie, Princess Leia was really important, Darth Vader was really important, the tiny slice of the galaxy that we got to view was really important. Later we find out that Leia is just one senator among many and Mon Mothma is in charge, Vader is second fiddle to the Emperor, and the one little rebel group wasn't that big a deal compared to a vast universe.

My point is that Blackmoor-centric isn't a bad thing. We can focus on the part of the world that is really interesting and ignore the fact that other interesting things might go on unnoticed and behind the curtain.

Just my thinking out loud.

[Havard]

I agree across the board Havard. One thing is to treat some of those "Huge" battles as scribal exagerations.

"temples" often are just small shrines in places like Japan.

Some of those wizard organizations should be widespread guilds or orders within some other organization.

Cool. for the most part this would make sense anyway. Although if something like the Wizards Cabal extends beyond the North, that too has implications.

This is certainly a problem with trying to flesh out everything about Blackmoor yet ignoring the fact that the Great Kingdom was off map somewhere. We do get that feeling that everything interesting is in this tiny location.

A couple of thoughts on this:

1. My understanding is that there are dozens of "triangles" in the ocean where ships sink and whatnot, yet the "Bermuda Triangle" gets all of the press. Just because one spot is particularly interesting doesn't mean that nothing else is happening elsewhere in the world, only that the scope of the campaign is more local.

2. Consider the first Star Wars movie from the 1970's, then think about how the scope changed after Return of the Jedi. In the first movie, Princess Leia was really important, Darth Vader was really important, the tiny slice of the galaxy that we got to view was really important. Later we find out that Leia is just one senator among many and Mon Mothma is in charge, Vader is second fiddle to the Emperor, and the one little rebel group wasn't that big a deal compared to a vast universe.

My point is that Blackmoor-centric isn't a bad thing. We can focus on the part of the world that is really interesting and ignore the fact that other interesting things might go on unnoticed and behind the curtain.

Just my thinking out loud.

Your example is failed on me since I am the biggest Return of the Jedi fan in this part of the solar system, however I do agree with you that the focus should be on Blackmoor/the North. I also agree that if you lose sight of this focus then that will make Blackmoor seem less important.

My criticism against Blackmoor-centrism in the books has to do with how certain elements are presented in a way that makes it seem like everything has to be crammed into that map.

Going back to Star Wars: In Episode IV, we are told that Leia is a member of the Imperial Senate. That doesn't mean that we should move the senate to Tatooine, which is in effect what TWC and BMPG seem to be doing.

Similarly, I like the fact that the Blackmoor/Thonian Pantheon has a multitude of Gods, but could it not be possible that many of them are for the most part worshipped off map, without neccessarily shifting the focus to that place?

As to the importance of Blackmoor, I have stated in my campaign that the fate of Blackmoor determines the fate of the world.



-Havard