So remember when I proposed Marvel's current Secret Wars set-up as a macro-campaign world that combined every game ever? Well, I couldn't let that idea lie fallow. It started inhabiting my every free thought. And my players got in on it, and next thing you know...
I'll drop the whole damn legend (map legend, that is, though I expect this campaign to be legendary in its own right) on you, but first, a few notes on how I intend to make this work.
1. 40 places on a map isn't enough to cover every RPG known to man, especially those that haven't come out yet, or that I've never read, and which I might want to integrate at a later date. That's why I've given myself a number of outs: Not everything is on the map; there could be domed lands underwater, Battleworld could be a Hollow Earth, and I might even through in another planet in there some day. Secondly, there are a couple of lands with properties that make them perfect for using RPG settings on a temporary basis (namely, Dream Park and Amber). Dream Park will be especially useful in simulating time travel and space opera, though I think I've done a fair job of capturing the latter's feel in the TrekLands (still not the same).
2. Speaking of Dream Park, I'm using its very simple engine as a core rules set, though I'm freely adapting things from every game out there, especially those the players want to "come from". It's important to me that though we're using a Lite system, we're still capturing each game's uniqueness, so depending where you're from, your "Story Points" won't have the same uses and you might not "level" the same way (some level up, some have more control over what abilities improve, some have more versatile Story Point systems).
3. Players can adapt their characters from other campaigns and use them for this. (Some have already.)
4. The main campaign will be one that takes the characters through various "domains", but the nature of the beast (many players with no-so-overlapping schedules) means there will be one-shots and mini-campaigns run here, using side-characters and one-off characters unrelated to the main campaign, possibly even using different rule sets (Paranoia, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Toon, and again, Dream Park). To create easy ways to cross from one domain to another, Planescape's Sigil remains the City of Doors, which may well prove a staging ground for the main story.
Ok, you're as ready as you'll ever be...
The polar continent of sword & sorcery has a varied environments, bustling cities, strange religions, monsters applenty, and is peppered with treasure-filled dungeons. It is a land of magic and sharp-edged violence, divided in realms such as the Medieval Cormyr, Thay where the Red Wizards hold court, the polar desert of Anauroch, and the druidic forests of Moonshae. If one can find its way there, there is a vast underground kingdom under the continent called the Underdark, where the Dark Elves thrive.
Governor: Elminster
Seat of government: Waterdeep
Based on: AD&D 2nd ed. Forgotten Realms
Characters have access to: Magic, Miracles, Magic items, Low Tech, Fantasy races
Experience scheme: Leveling
2-Caribdus, the Pirate Peninsula
From this domain, pirates of all stripes take sail and raid the various coasts of the Northern sea and beyond. Its shores are inhabited not just by human explorers and buccaneers, but by fantastical and often amphibious races as well. In the domain's interior, swashbuckling highwaymen duel it out with musketeers, and even the border with the Forgotten Realms isn't safe from raids coming both sides.
Governor: Kimg Amemnus
Seat of government: Ograpog
Based on: Savage Words 50 Fathoms and Pirates of the Spanish Main, GURPS Swashbucklers and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Think: Pirates of the Caribbean
Characters have access to: Some magic, Fantasy races, Low Tech, a lot of boats!
Experience scheme: Leveling
3-Cretasus, the Living Land
Most of this savage land is a wild, foggy jungle in which it's easy to get lost, unless you're one of the native lizard men. Technology tends to conk out. Adventurers tend to get eaten. By dinosaurs. Humans have only really been able to tame one valley, its settlements right out of western frontier towns and about as advanced. But for horses, substitute dinosaurs. Did we mention? DINOSAURS.
Governor: Baruk-Kaah
Seat of government: New Savannah
Based on: The Living Land from Torg, and Dinosaur Planet: Broncosaurus Rex (d20)
Characters have access to: Miracles, Dinosaurs
Experience scheme: Story points
4-Al Qadim
The land of the 1001 Nights. Genies, flying carpets, great and beautiful cities, desert tribes, that whole thing.
Governor: Grand Caliph Khalil al-Assad al-Zahir, Scourge of the Unbelievers
Seat of government: Huzuz, City of Delights
Based on: AD&D 2nd ed. Al-Qadim - Arabian Adventures
Characters have access to: Magic, Miracles, Magic items, Low Tech, Fantasy races
Experience scheme: Leveling
5-'Murica
In a world that could be 50 years in our future, gladiators battle it out in autoduels: combat in armed and armored motor vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, or semis. Outside the arenas, the highways are just as dangerous, and access to fortified cities isn't granted to everyone.
Governor: Jeremiah Dark
Seat of government: Paradise
Based on: GURPS Autoduel
Characters have access to: Car Wars, some High Tech
Experience scheme: Point-based
6-Athas
A barren wasteland, the result of a terrible magical holocaust that has left the soil radioactive and its peoples desperate. Slavery is prevalent, civilized outposts are always on the watch for wild raiders, and the harsh environment has corrupted magic and its natives' bodies and minds.
Governor: Tithian, so-called Liberator of Tyr
Seat of government: City-State of Tyr
Based on: AD&D 2nd ed. Dark Sun
Characters have access to: Magic, Miracles, Magic items, Low Tech, Fantasy races, Psionics, abnormally high attributes
Experience scheme: Leveling
The island has been invaded so often, it's become a hodgepodge of cultures and peoples, including postmodern magicians, secret societies, pushers of mind-bending drugs, mutants, maniacs, outlawed psychics, intelligence and conspiracy operatives, fringe scientists, unscrupulous businessmen, rich patrons, decadent partiers, and religious nuts of all stripes. The so-called 'Martians are an eclectic group!
Governor: Her Exaltedness Monique D'Aubainne
Seat of government: The Edge
Based on: Over the Edge and Unknown Armies. Think: Naked Lunch (if that helps)
Characters have access to: Anything weird, including magic, psionics, mutations and mad science
Experience scheme: Story points
8-The Deadlands
The Weird West was created when a Native American shaman released something evil from the spirit realm to fight the European invasion. These Reckoners feed on fear and use it to distort the landscape and create monsters. Now, the Deadlands are divided between several nations (North, South, Coyote, Mormon), magic has become a very real thing, war rages between the railway companies, and gunslingers impose their own law because none is to be had.
Governor: Lawless
Seats of government: Multiple
Based on: Deadlands, with some Dogs in the Vineyard
Characters have access to: Magic, Miracles, some Steam Tech
Experience scheme: Story points
9-Nile Empire
The Wellsian alien war machines have been defeated, but humanity's worst elements have taken over using the invaders' technology. Dr. Mobius has elevated himself to the status Pharaoh and imposed a fascist order on the land. Only pulp heroes, several of them with abilities and gadgets beyond the kin of normal men keep the darkness at bay.
Governor: Dr. Mobius
Seat of government: Thebes
Based on: Nile Empire from Torg, Ravaged Earth from Savage Worlds
Characters have access to: Some superpowers, Mad science
Experience scheme: Story points or Leveling
10-The Sprawl
In the dangerous high-tech megacorporate world, corps have their own armies and are often the victims of cyber-crime from so-called Shadowrunners, through the environment of the Matrix. But to this cyberpunk future, the world of magic has returned. Many humans have been "goblinized" or been born as elves and dwarves, Natives have found power in the old rituals, and the corps have added magic users to their forces.
Governor: The Great Dragon Lofwyr, CEO of Saeder-Krupp Schwerindustriegesellschaft (Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries Company)
Seat of government: Seattle
Based on: Shadowrun
Characters have access to: Cybernetics, Magic, Miracles, Cyberdecking, High Tech
Experience scheme: Story points
11-Oith
Known as the Crap Hole of Battleworld, Oith is a a chaotic land where bacteria, bugs and worms have apparently taken over the duties of civilization. The landscape is broken and absurd. The peoples are disgusting, extreme mutations. Rolling in their own filth, Smellcasters, Dementalists and crap-manipulating Contaminators probably have the best deal in what is essentially the dumping ground of the multiversal apocalypse that created Battelworld. A reality that seems to have been created when the great GameMaster blew his nose.
Governor: Beloved Keistermeister Hugormo XIII
Seat of government: Floom on Keister Island
Based on: Savage Worlds Low Life
Characters have access to: Magic, Miracles, Psionics, Bizarre races
Experience scheme: Leveling
Note: Battleworld campaign characters cannot come from Oith. Oith-specific campaigns are still possible.
12-The Great Transcendental Diaspora
Using technology so advanced, it might as well be magic, the Diaspora is made up of civilizations built on top of other civilizations, in a gigantic landscape of wonder and invention, crafted by biotech, nanotech and metatech. Among the cultures represented, we find the Eternal Masquarade who hide behind masks all their lives, the Cyber-Slaves of the Cognitive Union, Mechanica where people have replaced all but their brains with robot parts, and many more, from Taoists who listen to Battleworld's whispers and those who have chosen to spend their lives in a computer simulation, to Replicants who keep switching bio-engineered bodies and prickly independents who cling to niche ways of life.
Governor: The Transcendental Artificial Intelligence
Seat of government: Everywhere and anywhere, through the Infosphere
Based on: Sufficiently Advanced
Characters have access to: High Tech (may simulate almost anything, including Magic and Psionics), Extreme body mods, Faction bonuses
Experience scheme: Story points
To travelers, this domain will look like unaligned wilderness, but underneath its soil is a vast sprawling underground high-tech bunker where people long ago hid from the Communist threat (well, it's a couple domains off, but nice try), surrendering their lives over to the safety of the all-knowing Computer. Society is divided into various color-coded clearance levels. Sex in unknown, as everyone is part of a family of 6 clones. For the troubleshooters who are assigned missions by the Computer, life is hard and unfair (and fatally hilarious). A domain that seems to have been created by Orwell, Huxley, Kafka, and the Marx Brothers (including Karl).
Governor: The Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Seat of government: You are not cleared for that information. Please report to disintegration chamber for having asked.
Based on: Paranoia
Characters have access to: Secret societies (these constitute treason, please report to disintegration chamber), Mutant powers (these constitute treason, please report to disintegration chamber), 6 clone bodies (it won't help)
Experience scheme: None. You will not survive an adventure.
Note: Battleworld campaign characters cannot come from Alpha Complex. Paranoia stand-alone adventures are still possible.
14-Summerland
The Event brought the Sea of Leaves into this domain, an immense forest that choked cities and drowned civilization overnight. From the trees came the Call, a lure to the weak that decimated the population. In the aftermath only pockets of humanity remain, resisting the woods’ siren song. In the endless forests lurk the Lost – whose wills were drowned by the Call – and the Wild, who have forgotten they were ever human.
Governor: The Deep One
Seat of government: The Parliament of Trees
Based on: Summerland
Characters have access to: The ability to resist the Call, Stress and Trauma stats
Experience scheme: Organic
15-The Mix
When domains officially declare war, the great and powerful GameMaster may force them to send their armies in the Mix, a landscape of discreet war zones where disputes can be settled with bullets or swordplay. This ensures the rest of Battleworld will not be disturbed collaterally, although skirmishes, rebellions and cold war tactics still go on, of course. Over time, the Mix accumulated a population of soldiers abandoned when their home domains stopped fighting, lost, and/or ceased to exist. Some don't know their war is over, others do but know no other way of life and defend what territory they have inside their war zone. A dangerous place to cross.
Governor: None
Seat of government: None
Based on: Any and all military RPGs, including Twilight 2000, GURPS World War II, Weird War II, AD&D Battlesystem, etc.
Characters have access to: Depends on home domain
Experience scheme: Usually point-based
16-ScatterPoint
Once the center of a great empire, ScatterPoint is now a crumbling macropolis held together by ancient runes and lost technologies fighting against the entropic push of chaos. It is vast, but a lot of it is rubble where tribal nomads squat. The domain is separated from all those around it by Zurvan's Veil, a wall of mists and constant storms. Magic is possible through runes or shadow religions, retro-tech is a coveted commodity, and crime is rampant.
Governor: The Autarch
Seat of government: GreyMesa
Based on: Savage Worlds Runepunk
Characters have access to: Odd fantasy races, Magic (runic), Miracles (shadow), Mad tech
Experience scheme: Leveling
17-Supertown
Actually a collection of cities defended by superhumans and costumed mystery men (though it has its supervillains too). New York, crime-infested Gotham City, futuristic Metropolis, isolated Star City where aliens have taken over and only supervillains remain to act as freedom fighters, Jokertown and others.
Governor: Vril Dox
Seat of government: The Watchtower
Based on: DC Heroes/Adventures, Marvel Super-Heroes, Aberrant, Savage Worlds Necessary Evil, GURPS Wild Cards, etc.
Characters have access to: Superpowers, Magic, High tech
Experience scheme: Mostly Story points
Note: All my past Supers campaigns - The Free Spirits, Crusaders, Rip Hunter Squad, and Justice Legion - are represented.
The seat of the GameMaster's power, the One that is Three (the three are Tam, Fortin and Raymond), the God of Battleworld. Here, homegrown players and visitors alike enter pre-pepared scenarios in the arena (or domes), games transmitted all across Battleworld (reception may vary) that might make them stars. It's also the center of power for the planet, and the city's hotels and convention centers are filled with VIPs hoping to strike trade and diplomatic deals, or simply seeking insight into the GameMaster's mind(s) through the games he/they still craft for the games. As the entertainment hub of the planet, this is also where many films are made; kung fu is a particularly strong export.
Governor: Anastasia Kiev
Seat of government: GM's Tower
Based on: Dream Park, Hong Kong Action Theater
Characters have access to: Everything, but simulated
Experience scheme: Point-based
Note: Battleworld campaign characters cannot come from Dream Park. Dream Park stand-alone adventures are still possible.
19-Kara-Tur
A mixture of ancient China and feudal Japan, the South province of Canton is full of high-flying jung fu fighters, and the North's Nippon Province is the land of honor-bound Samurai. Sometimes, these clans clash, but usually, the peace is kept by the Forbidden City, sitting in the middle of all.
Governor: Shi Huang Di
Seat of government: The Forbidden City
Based on: AD&D Oriental Adventures, Legend of the Five Rings, Qin, Flying Swordsmen
Characters have access to: Martial arts, Wuxia, Magic, Miracles, Fantasy races
Experience scheme: Leveling or Story points
20-Sigil, City of Doors
Imagine a city built inside a tire, flipped on its side, and floating in the middle of a continent thanks to a magical tractor beam dimly visible to surrounding domains. That's Sigil. Populated by swordsmen and magic-users alike, everyone here has an opinion about the nature of the universe (i.e. Battleworld) and have aligned with factions to fiercely protect those opinions politically and if need be, violently. The amazing thing about Sigil, however, is that it is filled with magical portals to other domains... if only you have the keys. Information really is power in Sigil, the true hub of the planet.
Governor: Dame Douleur
Seat of government: Split between all factions
Based on: AD&D Planescape
Characters have access to: Fantasy races, Magic, Miracles, Faction powers
Experience scheme: Leveling
Note: The access to every other domain from its magic portals is what explains the lines coming off it.
21-Amber
The true population of Amber is only its Royal Family, men and women who are veritable gods in that domain. They can see the Pattern of things and manipulate it to create whatever realities they wish. But there is a power vacuum at the top - the King has disappeared - and the princes and princesses are all trying to get the throne, using their incredible powers to fight their political and physical war using the land itself. It is incredibly dangerous to cross into Amber, because the landscape may shift under one's feet. One day it's a pastoral forest with Renaissance-era castles, the next it's Prohibition Era Chicago. You never know. And because the "little people" are just part of the land, there is always a danger that travelers will be undone when a princeling decides to erase and recycle the area he or she is standing in.
Governor: King Oberon (absent; his 14 children vye for the crown)
Seat of government: Avalon
Based on: Amber Diceless
Characters have access to: Superpowers, Magic, Psionics
Experience scheme: Point-based
Note: Battleworld campaign characters cannot come from Amber. Amber stand-alone adventures are still possible. As you may guess, this is my way to have a domain that can become any other domain I would like to include on Battleworld for any length of time, but that I just didn't know about when I built the map.
22-Languedoc
Much like Medieval France, this rural land is peppered with Covenants, magical colleges were powerful magi work, do research, and perfect their sorcerous arts as members of the Order of Hermes. The prevalent Medieval world view is true here, with Fairies, demons and angels all taking a hand in the affairs of men.
Governor: Dionasius
Seat of government: House Bonisagus
Based on: Ars Magica
Characters have access to: Magic
Experience scheme: Point-based
Note: Ars Magica-specific campaigns may require players to create a Magi, a Companion and a Grunt, play rotating between them as the adventures progress.
23-Her Majesty's Secret Nation
The glamorous world of superspies awaits! Though in the middle of a Cold War with the neighboring Red State, the Secret Nation is prospering financially. Hot spots like Monaco and Las Vegas attract VIPs and tourists from across Battleworld, as well as more than a few homegrown spies, thieves and con men. MI-6 is where the action's at, but the organization does farm out to other subgroups. Everyone is up to something in Her Majesty's Secret Nation.
Governor: M
Seat of government: MI-6, in London
Based on: James Bond 007, Top Secret, Leverage
Characters have access to: Gadgets
Experience scheme: Story Points
Those who somehow remember the old world will recognize various American landmarks, except this is a repressive Communist state, locked into a Cold War with the neighboring Secret Nation. But while KGB and SPECTRE agents duel it out with threats from without, a ferocious underground resistance is causing problems with within!
Governor: Soviet Supreme
Seat of government: New Moscow
Based on: James Bond 007, Price of Freedom
Characters have access to: Gadgets
Experience scheme: Point-based
25-The World of Darkness
The domain that probably most looks like our own, at least during the day. At night, however, blood-sucking undead come out to play, lyncanthropic eco-terrorists howl at the moon, and strange magics are practiced by twisted adepts. And all of them tortured in some way. If you really want to have sympathy for such creatures.
Governor: Veddartha
Seat of government: Ubar, the First City (location under a human city, unknown)
Based on: Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, Mage the Ascension, and other World of Darkness games
Characters have access to: Magic, Vampires, Werewolves
Experience scheme: Point-based
26-Loa
This humid, sweltering tropical land is home to a secret war between the European cults called Lodges, Voodoo spirit warriors who let themselves be possessed by nature spirits, and the Corruptors, cannibal spirits that feed on the misery of mankind. And this war is fought for every soul in the land, whether it knows it or not.
Governor: Papa Doc Duvalier
Seat of government: Port-au-Prince
Based on: GURPS Voodoo - The Shadow War
Characters have access to: Miracles, Magic, Fantastical races
Experience scheme: Point-based
27-Barsoom
The vast majority of this domain is a red desert marked by canals, home to albino apes, warrior tribes of green-skinned raiders, sky-corsairs, duels with blade and blaster, vile plots, fantastic inventions, daring rescues, arena battles, and spectacular stunts. It is a domain where ancient cities can be discovered and their lost treasures plundered, and many explorers from neighboring Victoriana are intent on doing just that, and on colonizing the natives of these far older cultures on the wane. In smaller, out of the way corners, other civilizations can be found, like the underground insect hives of Luna.
Governor: Lord Dundas
Seat of government: Syrtis Major
Based on: Space 1889, Savage Worlds Mars
Characters have access to: Steampunk, Fantasy SF races
Experience scheme: Point-based or Leveling
28-Boo York
The small domain is haunted, but don't worry, there's someone you can call! You local Ghostbusters or InSpectres franchises are just a phone call away! and they're really very good at what they do. Honest!
Governor: Mayor Lenny Clotch
Seat of government: Boo York City
Based on: Ghostbusters, InSpectres
Characters have access to: Special tech, Hospital instead of dying, Clue creation engine
Experience scheme: Story points
29-Victoriana
The Age of Steam sees this repressed British Empire looking to expand using its large fleet of ships (in particular in neighboring Barsoom). But Victoriana isn't just a land of technological advancement and proper manners, it's also the last hurray of dark magics and filthy monsters before rational enlightenment does away with them entirely. A secret cabal of Rippers is working hard to do just that, though in some areas, like the city of Goblintown, the monsters live in a symbiotic relationship with humanity. Well, if you consider having a used and abused underclass "symbiotic".
Governor: Queen Victoria
Seat of government: Londontown
Based on: Victoriana, Savage Worlds Rippers, GURPS Steampunk, GURPS Goblins
Characters have access to: Steam Tech, Magic
Experience scheme: Leveling
30-Roma
What if the Roman Empire had gunpowder weapons? Ask no longer, this is your answer. The Roman world view extends to ritual magic and the many gods they worship having some power. Slavery is alive and well in Roma, as is gladiatorial combat, political intrigue, and advances in architecture and warfare. War may in fact be brewing to the East and West, but the interior's barbarians haven't entirely been tamed yet.
Governor: Caesar
Seat of government: Rome
Based on: Fvlinata
Characters have access to: Ritual magic, Miracles
Experience scheme: Story points
31-The TrekLands
A collection of civilized oases in otherwise inhospitable terrain, it is actually impossible to cross between each oasis without a hermetically-sealed ship (called starships because they navigate by the stars) because the atmosphere is so thin, almost a void. Among the more organized clusters, we find the United Federation, a democratic haven for many races; the warlike Klingon Empire; the Roman-inspired Romulus; snow-bound Andoria; faith-driven Bajor; the fascist Cardassian Union; and the mercantile Ferengi Alliance; along with many non-aligned races and cultures, and dangerous raiders like the Borg Collective.
Governor: President Sipak
Seat of government: San Francisco
Based on: Star Trek RPGs, but any space opera could be set here (MegaTraveller, GURPS Space, etc.)
Characters have access to: High tech, Alien races
Experience scheme: Point-based
This domain may offer clues as to how Battleworld was created. The Viking sagas tell of an apocalypse called Ragnarok in which the Norse Gods kill each other taking all of reality with it. Part of the Midgard Serpent's corpse, said to be killed by Thor in the sagas, bisects Jotun, poisoning the land with magic radiation and creating horrors torn from Nordic myth. Is Battleworld the corpse of the previous multiverse, and is the Serpent's radiation creating havoc with the laws of physics across the entire planet? In divided Jotun, one side has allied forces hunting down the Nazi cult that caused Ragnarok to happen in the first place. On the other, a communist regime is doing much the same with an army of Frost Giants. It's not safe to go near the Snake, so both sides respect the border. For now...
Governor: Joseph Stalin
Seat of government: Stalingrad
Based on: The Day After Ragnarok
Characters have access to: Strange gadgets, and at a serious price, Magic, Miracles, Psionics and Superpowers
Experience scheme: Leveling
33-Toontown
In the anything goes domain of Toontown, all citizens are cartoon characters, mostly funny animals in the mold of the Looney Tunes. Even the landscape is "drawn". Your ACME mail orders arrive instantaneously. No one ever dies. You can stuff a piano into your back pocket.
Governor: Mayor Powerpuff
Seat of government: Toontown City Hall
Based on: Toon
Characters have access to: Cartoon logic and abilities
Experience scheme: Point-based
Note: While Toon PCs occasionally leave Toontown, not-drawn characters are almost never allowed into Toontown.
34-Cyberpapacy
A repressive regime based on the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, with its Inquisition and brutal treatment of heretics, the Cyberpapacy is also a domain overwhelmed with cybertechnology, likely poached from the Borg Collective of the neighboring TrekLands. Communion is achieved electronically through the GodNet, though rebels are always trying to bring down the Holy Network. If caught, their minds may end up trapped forever in CyberHell while their bodies waste away.
Governor: Cyberpope Jean Malreaux I
Seat of government: Avignon
Based on: Cyberpapacy for Torg
Characters have access to: Cybertech, Cyberdecking, Miracles
Experience scheme: Story points
35-Ravenloft
A large island covered in mists, each time you break that veil, you may find different shores waiting for you. In fact, there are some 30 overlapping domains of fantasy-gothic horror co-existing in the same space, but the mists act as a quantum (okay, a magic) randomizer for visitors. Gypsies can actually move from one realm to another while ON the island. The "capital" realm is governed by a high vampire, but other realms are governed by, and take the likeness of, werewolves, liches, mummies, mind flayers, etc. Geography and technology may differ, but no such realm is more advanced than the Renaissance. In all cases, a constant feeling of dread may be felt by locals and visitors alike, and the longer one stays, the more likely one is to become a monster themselves.
Governor: Lord Strahd von Zarovich
Seat of government: Barovia
Based on: AD&D Ravenloft
Characters have access to: Magic, Miracles, Fantasy races
Experience scheme: Leveling
36-Arkham
The objective era changes from region to region in this domain, from the 1880s to the modern day, but culture and technology seems to mostly hover around the 1920s. Though everything seems pretty normal, strange cults skulk about the land and summon Things Man Was Not Mean to Know, ancient cosmic gods with unpronounceable names like Cthulhu and Nyartlathotep, and no matter how brave investigators of the occult are, they may just leave their sanity behind. The insane asylums are already full to the brim... Strangely, when one falls asleep in Arkham, one may access a place called the Dreamlands, an ethereal "shared space" where cosmic terror and beauty comingle. It is just as dangerous for one's sanity.
Governor: High Priest of Cthulhu
Seat of government: Arkham University
Based on: Call of Cthulhu, Dreamlands
Characters have access to: Ritual magic, the Sanity stat (not a good thing)
Experience scheme: Point-based
37-The Mekton Wasteland
In the East, the radioactive desert is the home to mutated plants, animals and people. Small pockets of civlization exist, huddling together in long-destroyed cities, and questing for high tech that could prove as dangerous as the journey. This is Mad Max meets Dungeons & Dragons. In the West, humanity has shielded itself against the harshness of the land in deep bunkers, where clans enforce a strict, eugenic caste system, and fight for dominance using gigantic mecha.
Governor: Archon Princess Katherine Steiner-Davion of the Lyran Alliance
Seat of government: Tharkad
Based on: Mechwarrior, Gamma World, Mekton II
Characters have access to: High tech, Mutations
Experience scheme: Point-based or Leveling
38-The Flesh Pits
When someone misbehaves in the 37 domains, the GameMaster's patrolmen may throw them off the Wall and into the Flesh Pits. This domain is essentially a ravine with series of small inhabited pockets of life... and unlife. Yes, whether the Pit is a cabin in the woods, a kung fu school, or a crashed spaceship, zombies will eventually come a-knocking. And there's very little you can do about it.
Governor: None (the Wall keeps an eye on this domain)
Seat of government: None
Based on: All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Characters have access to: Getting killed (but seriously folks, depends on the Pit)
Experience scheme: Hahaha
Note: Battleworld campaign characters cannot normally come from the Flesh Pits. Flesh-specific adventures are still possible and make good one-shots.
After the robot revolt, humans became slaves or hunted rebels as the machines took over. But like their creators had before, they turned on each other, and now the domain is divided into 18 Zoneminds each controlled by a different A.I. For the safety of Battleworld, their forces are kept behind the Wall. It's really too bad for the humans still trapped on that side of it.
Governor: Overmind
Seat of government: Manila
Based on: GURPS Reign of Steel
Characters have access to: High tech, Robots
Experience scheme: Point-based
40-Evernight
The Wall was completed in that part of the planet when the fantasy/Medieval domain of Valusia was overrun by insectoid aliens who, because of their sensitive eyes, started their invasion by volcanically covering the skies with perpetual smoke. From the top of the Wall, all anyone could see was a black cloud cover. The domain, now dubbed Evernight, was sealed off from the rest of Battleworld. Unbeknownst to the rest of the planet, the domain's heroes rid their land of the alien threat, and have started rebuilding. As the smoke starts to dissipate, perhaps contact can be established with the outside once again.
Governor: Good King Vagran
Seat of government: King's Port
Based on: Savage Worlds Evernight
Characters have access to: Fantasy races, Miracles, Magic
Experience scheme: Leveling
Note: This is quite clearly the aftermath of one of our favorite campaigns. Enterprising GMs who would want to use this crazy scheme are encouraged to use Valusia pre-and-during the game's Plot Points.
41-The Wall
Making their headquarters inside a massive Wall circumnavigating Battleworld, the Men in Black are highly competent, sometimes powered, men and women from all across the planet, drafted into a badass unit, who act as Battleworld's police, retrieve dangerous items, throw ne'er-do-wells into the Flesh Pits, even act as the GameMaster's personal guard.
Governor: Classified
Seat of government: Warehouse 23 facility, under the Wall
Based on: GURPS Black Ops
Characters have access to: As per home domain
Experience scheme: Point-based and Story points, or as per home domain
Comments
I just loved the map and the idea and was thinking of a fantasy "weird" world that would almost be like Rifts setting. Each chunk could be anything and it's a multiverse... so your character might be a villain in one of the other lands, etc.
I like your list of how to incorporate other existing settings.
Great stuff.
Ravenloft is usually a demi-plane where each gothic horror world is separated by mists, so very much what Secret Wars is doing with walls. And it inspired my solution to putting Ravenloft on the planet.
In addition to Rifts, one inspiration is Torg.