Calamia is a large world with many different regions and continents. Drenabon is a continent of mixed cultures, and is essentially an open book for varying cultural influences and racial inhabitants. Drenabon is a large land mass, at least as large as Auraton and Ethardowan combined, located just East/Southeast of the massive continent of Tresvath. Of course no one will see a map of this land area, as it is well out of the current map’s range and its overall geography, towns, cities, etc, are all player determined.
With Tresvath (the Demonic Fallow) so close it brings in the possibilities of demonic attacks, given the mindless demonic hoards most of the world is familiar with, the Corrupt, live there. This adds possibilities of strategic or even random demonic threats to Drenabon, which players are welcome to use. Drenabon is a vastly uncharted area and is a great place for new and veteran players alike to try their hand at some creation, take the lead and run some threads. Drenabon is also a great place to start and learn about the Dark World RPG; how our game mechanics work, our posting structure, and how to interact with other players. There will be no GM run threads in this region – all threads will be dependent on player driven interactions.
Of course all threads in Drenabon are still moderated by the GMs and all players are still expected to follow the rules and the game world’s limitations (magic items are still rare, all game mechanics still apply, etc.). However, the geography, the adventures, and the overall plots are all up to those who play there. Unlike the major plot lines happening in the central map area of the world, there is no ‘main’ arch – only what the players create. Drenabon is an open canvas and players are welcome and encouraged to create.
We do expect some realism in the scenarios for Drenabon – like if a village is destroyed; it isn’t going to come back within the next post or the next week. Yet, if you want to blow up a village by a demon attack, then sure. If you want to have a city besieged by undead, go for it. If you want to have a powerful druid mass an army of rabid squirrels that is terrorizing caravans, all the more power to you. New players can jump right into Drenabon threads and not worry about timing or place – just join and begin your adventuring!
Most new players will begin their adventures in Drenabon, unless the GMs determine otherwise. Veteran players are welcome to play in either region as they see fit, but as always characters still need GM approval. The only thing we require is that Drenabon characters stay in the Drenabon region and same with characters in the Central areas – there will be no character crossover’s between these regions unless the GMs permit it.
Think of Drenabon as an open sandbox region – lots of flexibility and freedom to do whatever players want adventure wise, with no GM’s running plot lines. The rest of the Dark World Central realm is structured – there’s some flexibility for players, but threads follow along with the game’s overall storyline, and are run by GM’s. Both are great to play in, and it’s all still the Dark World RPG – same game mechanics, just different people in different places doing different things.
All new players will begin in their adventures on the continent of Drenabon. There are several reasons for this. One, it is often much harder to introduce new characters in the GM run threads as it takes appropriate timing, a lot of planning and often heavy plot revising to accommodate. Second, it can also depend on the character as well; because even though we don't care if the character's in threads don't always get along they have to have basic commonalities that would make them travel/work together.
Also by starting in Drenabon new players can see if you'd even want to join the GM run threads, and if you did it would help them determine which one they'd would enjoy being in. While taking the time to think it over, new players continue developing their characters and learning how to play; flesh them out, interact with other characters in their current thread, and have fun, as that's what the game is for.
If moving to the other area is what a player ultimately want to do then the GM's will assist in the process. With this in mind a new player can chose to move to one of the GM run threads after their probation period (two months). We'd help to set up an appropriate place/time to introduce the character into a thread they like and then their character would start out with a clean slate (all Drenabon history/interactions will be erased). Or, they could create a new character to fit into one of the threads and submit it for approval. By doing this they could still play in Drenabon with one character as well as in the GM run thread lines with another. We support players who wish to play multiple characters so long as they can meet posting requirements. Once they are introduced in the new thread they would then need to effectively write the character out of the Drenabon thread line (if they chose to move that character and not create a new one).
This also works for players in GM run threads. If they chose to move to the Drenabon thread line they are welcome to do so. Informing GM's of this decision and writing out their characters from the GM run thread lines is the first step. Then they can begin posting in Drenabon with that character, again with a clean slate.
However, this transition may take time due to the state of the thread the player wishes to join.
All threads in Drenabon should be structured like any other Dark World post. Each thread has a date and time, and that date and time does not change until the plot leader or the players as a group decide to move it forward. Some threads can spend months on the same day ( for example, Dark World RPG has been running nearly ten years now and the furthest thread in the time line is only four months in game time!). Thread names should not change every week, please keep some consistency. Your character’s name should also appear in the title in (brackets). For example:
Thread Name (Your Character Name)
Listing of place, date and time should also be used. For example:
(Florarest 21st, 3119 ADW, Afternoon, Teskis City, Drenabon)
We ask that all Drenabon characters try to follow a good time line. It doesn't have to be strict, but being aware of it will help prevent inconsisencies and problems for these threads. Ending posts should end with a [Tag], a direct tag [Tag – character name] which is a request for a specific character to answer, or a closed thread [Closed – to be continued]. OOC messages can be placed in the post if necessary, after or even inside the [Tag].
Example Post Setup
City Meetings (Miyale)
(Florarest 21st, 3119 ADW, Afternoon, Teskis City, Drenabon)
Miyale glanced at the perfumes as Milo spoke of them, and then picked one up and sniffed it. The perfume was very attractive, the scent lingered like a suggestive caress. For a moment she half wished she wasn't in the process of making friends with the treasure seeker, for she'd have loved to 'relieve' him of one of the perfumes. Alas, it couldn't be helped now and even so, she couldn't help wondering how good a chance she'd fare against what she could only assume was a well practiced fighter but who was handicapped by being half her size. She could most certainly outrun him at the very least and generally speaking that was all she ever needed to do, really.
She put the perfume down wishing she had coin to throw around on it. She looked round as Milo pointed out two men she recognized from lunch. The vibrantly dressed one caught her attention more so than his plainer garbed companion, she rather liked his style, but otherwise she didn't find anything astounding about the pair. She shrugged uncaringly.
"Looks like it, yes."
It wasn't entirely shocking that the two might come to the town center. It was, after all, where most of anything interesting to do would be and there were one or two people she also recognized from the tavern wandering around.
"I have to say, I like that one's taste."
[Tags]OOC: I'm going to try to drive us out of town and into something more excited next round of posts. If there's anything anyone was planning on doing before we leave, let me know via the OOC board. Otherwise I think we could all do with something a bit more exciting, yes??
If players have any more questions about the continent of Drenabon or the rest of the game realm, feel free to email us.