On System and Setting, Magic and Mundania

Newoldearth started its life in the days of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D (really, there's not much difference between the two) with what became known as the Simon Sellsword campaign, after its most famous and charismatic PC. However, a lot of its development came about during the 3e era (particularly the Band of the Wolf campaign), and many of my cheat sheets and NPC write-ups reflect that. It's never had a 4th or 5th edition game set in it, though it would most likely work quite well with 5e.

Newold isn't a "low-magic" setting by any stretch of the imagination. It's had powerful artifacts, spelljammers, a dragon henchman (henchwoman), and tussles with god-like archmagi in it. It is, however, what I would call a "rare-magic" setting. That is, while there are powerful magics out there, you're not going to find cities lit by continual light spells, armies fighting under flying citadels, trade taking place through permanent teleportation circles, and so forth. For most people in Newold, magic exists and God and/or the gods work in their lives, but it's mostly in small ways . . . a priest's blessing, a lucky amulet, or taking the long way around the goblin wastes. There are times when the powers of Chaos and Magic invade the realms of Law and Banal Civilization, but those are few and far between, quickly fading into the backdrop of history and everyday life and widely regarded as exaggerated legends by those blessed not to live in them.

The great kings of the world have their attendant priests and court wizards, of course. However, wizards of real power prefer their independence and research time to dealing with court intrigues and the petty concerns of mere mortals, and the truly faithful (and therefore powerful) servants of Heaven are rare and act independently of all but the most powerful of emperors. Ether way, you won't see many clerics, let alone wizards, riding to war over petty mortal concerns such as who controls the mines of the Lychara Hills. Only when the realm that they serve faces and existential threat will most choose to take part.

Which is not to say that you won't find the agents of darker powers working with brigands or cohorts of humanoids--but they do so for their own reasons, not for petty pay. Likewise, barbarian raiders may go forth with the blessing and power of a druid--but the druid will not be a mere hireling of the chieftain.

None of this limits the types of classes and races a player-character party may be comprised of, or the types and magical capabilities of their foes, of course. By their very nature, PCs--whether mercenary treasure-hunters or selfless heroes riding under the Banner of the Wolf--operate on the fringes of society and delve into the shadowy wilderness that lies beyond. Like Conan, they discover the hidden ruins of eldrich civilizations that civilized men whisper of and steer clear from. Like Aragorn and the Dunadain, they guard the fat innkeepers of the world from foes who would freeze their blood if they but knew of them.

When you're trying to set a particular tone for a campaign world, the system you choose will have a huge impact. Third edition, with so many prestige classes which gave magical powers to otherwise mundane classes and with no limitations on demi-humans, has a tendency to make the PCs too magical too early. While 5th edition seems to be a well-balanced system, I can see some of the same tendency in it. I wouldn't call this a flaw, just an aspect of the system.

That being the case, I've decided to re-build Newold using Swords & Wizardry as my rules-set. I haven't quite decided on which version. There's a part of me that would love to build from the ground-up using the White Box rules, but knowing the kind of players that I tend to attract, they'll want more options. So for the time being, I'm going to work from the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules. It does a good job at de-emphasizing the need for high stats while giving everyone a good mix of races and classes to choose from.

That's not to say that I won't happily steal from any other system as I like, of course. After all, Newold is the world where we once played through a massive war between good and evil by using a custom map and the rules to Risk.