Continuing from Part Two...
Having lost my original "world map," I was already poised to launch Campaign Setting 2.0. Honestly, I was maturing in my world-building and storytelling. Time had been spent play-testing the world I'd built so far. Things were starting to come together. My next move was to prioritize and condense. Not necessarily to start from scratch, but to build only on what I'd established already - using only my own ideas.
One of the influences on the development of Avremier was (as I've already mentioned) The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip. Not everyone has the same experience with reading the trilogy as I did - and that is to be expected. It is possible I got more out of the stories than many others. It spoke very strongly to my imagination at the time. So did the rather sparse map:
The size and flavor of this setting appealed greatly to teenaged me. Actually, they still do. Large enough to encompass a variety of cultures and adventures, but small enough to feel intimate and manageable. These were important points for me - along with not retreading well-worn cultures and fantasy tropes.
Much as I loved Tolkien, during the 80s and early 90s, I was hard-pressed to find a fantasy novel that didn't compare to Lord of the Rings or Middle Earth on the cover. That was the bar, and I was tired of that bar. Writers that were brilliantly blazing new trails in fantasy were being compared to Tolkien. It seemed lazy and just a little insulting. Tolkien was Tolkien - couldn't the rest of us function somewhere beyond his shadow?
I was determined to try. After all, I'd seen and experienced many fantasy worlds. I knew what I liked. I knew what inspired me. I knew what I'd seen too much of. The things others had done before me - and done better than I probably could. A lot of time was spent setting aside the bits of culture and myth that just didn't fit my vision - such as it was. I confess I laughed a little as I typed "my vision." I'm the kind of person that usually has no easy answer when asked what my favorite something is. My favorite song changes depending on my mood or how recently I've heard it. My favorite food changes almost from hour to hour. My favorite color is green - but a bluer shade, not a yellow-green...or, is it purple - a bluer shade, not a reddish purple...unless we count black as a color...but, sometimes I really like copper. That's kind of how Avremier developed. That's why I laugh.
In the next part, I'll share more influences and choices that helped shape the setting as a whole.
Having lost my original "world map," I was already poised to launch Campaign Setting 2.0. Honestly, I was maturing in my world-building and storytelling. Time had been spent play-testing the world I'd built so far. Things were starting to come together. My next move was to prioritize and condense. Not necessarily to start from scratch, but to build only on what I'd established already - using only my own ideas.
One of the influences on the development of Avremier was (as I've already mentioned) The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip. Not everyone has the same experience with reading the trilogy as I did - and that is to be expected. It is possible I got more out of the stories than many others. It spoke very strongly to my imagination at the time. So did the rather sparse map:
The size and flavor of this setting appealed greatly to teenaged me. Actually, they still do. Large enough to encompass a variety of cultures and adventures, but small enough to feel intimate and manageable. These were important points for me - along with not retreading well-worn cultures and fantasy tropes.
Much as I loved Tolkien, during the 80s and early 90s, I was hard-pressed to find a fantasy novel that didn't compare to Lord of the Rings or Middle Earth on the cover. That was the bar, and I was tired of that bar. Writers that were brilliantly blazing new trails in fantasy were being compared to Tolkien. It seemed lazy and just a little insulting. Tolkien was Tolkien - couldn't the rest of us function somewhere beyond his shadow?
I was determined to try. After all, I'd seen and experienced many fantasy worlds. I knew what I liked. I knew what inspired me. I knew what I'd seen too much of. The things others had done before me - and done better than I probably could. A lot of time was spent setting aside the bits of culture and myth that just didn't fit my vision - such as it was. I confess I laughed a little as I typed "my vision." I'm the kind of person that usually has no easy answer when asked what my favorite something is. My favorite song changes depending on my mood or how recently I've heard it. My favorite food changes almost from hour to hour. My favorite color is green - but a bluer shade, not a yellow-green...or, is it purple - a bluer shade, not a reddish purple...unless we count black as a color...but, sometimes I really like copper. That's kind of how Avremier developed. That's why I laugh.
In the next part, I'll share more influences and choices that helped shape the setting as a whole.
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