I've recently started blogging again about my developing Celtic-inspired campaign. Here's the newest update:

The Green Lands - Part 1

And so, about my campaign.

Something I realized some time ago was that, for my purposes in developing the settings, I needed to write (originally three, but now) four books. Basically, I needed to organize my thoughts about the campaign setting, and put it all down in b&w, in order to build it into something special. I needed the skeleton.

Really, it was a bit like going back to the earliest days of my RPG experience. When I read the DMG et al, it was like having a launching pad for my imagination. I couldn't wait to get out there and discover my own worlds.

Besides, I needed to settle and fix in my own mind how all the rules would fit together. It also gave me something to give my players. When the campaign (finally) gets under way, I'll be telling players - get the big BRP book, the Magic Book, and I'll give you pdf's of the rest.

I'm not going to post the four books online, as there's too many copywrights violated - but I'm more than willing to summarize them and post excerpts. And so...

The first book is the Player's Book. It's meant to have all you need to get a character up and running and provide necessary info on how the rules will be used. Here is the introduction I wrote for it (thanks to Greg Stafford, from whom I stole some phrases:

Welcome to Green Lands, a campaign setting for Chaosium’s Basic Role-Playing system. The Green Lands setting is inspired by Celtic mythology and history. Note carefully that I say inspired. What that means is that it does not, in any way, attempt to be consistent with the world of the historical Celts or Celtic mythology in general. It is a fantasy world inspired by those sources. The druids of Green Lands are not the druids of Celtic history. The cultures are not the cultures of the ancient/medieval British Isles or Europe. It is hoped that this setting captures the feel and spirit of Celtic myth. That is the goal. Seek not for historical versimilitude within these pages, o best beloved. You will not find it. I make no bones about what are probably obvious influences. The three cultures are clearly based on the medieval/ancient Irish

(Chaosium’s Pagan Shore for Pendragon gave me the foundation for describing this culture), the Picts (again, drawn heavily from the depiction in Chaosium’s Beyond the Wall, which was also based on the Picts of Robert E. Howard’s stories of Conan and Bran Mak Morn), and the Saxons (again, Chaosium’s Saxons and Vikings! were the models here). GURPS Celtic Myth also helped shape a lot of concepts. As did the Glorantha setting for RuneQuest, from which many ideas were drawn. Other influences include Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, A.A. Attansasio’s Arthurian trilogy, Morgan Llewellyn’s historical

novels, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books, Evangeline Walton’s novels based on the Welsh Mabinogion,

and films such as “Excalibur” and the recent “Secret of Kells.”

So, what we have here is an iron-age world, a pagan .world where men have carved kingdoms. from the wilderness, fight with sword and spear and worship many gods; a magical world with. mysterious sources of power which can be. wielded by the brave and talented, and where. strange creatures, forces of dream and nightmare, lurk just beyond the pathways of men. The wild places are filled with monsters. Ancient powers hold sway over ancient territories. Anything might happen.

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