At first glance the Midgard campaign setting might seem familiar, flavored with a strong dose of European and Middle Eastern mythos, a medieval level of technology, and races taken directly from the greatest fantasy traditions. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find some surprising twists that take Midgard from standard fantasy to exceptional vision.
A Flat World
The flat world of Midgard floats in a vast space of living stars (see Cosmology of Midgard ). The heavens are accessible to great heroes who dare to visit them, by climbing a tower into the heavens or sailing to enormous heights on Void dragon wings. A great serpent surrounds the world, or so claim those few travelers who have been to the edge of the world. What lives underneath? No one knows for sure. Midgard is not a modern world dressed up in a few medieval bits of armor and weaponry. Midgard makes the mythic real, with a world to explore from edge to edge.
Elemental Dragon Lords
The dragons of Midgard correlate to the elements rather than to colors and metals (though all the traditional dragons are present). They obey an urge to power and rulership, and they exercise that rule through an entire empire that carries their name. All dragons seek to rule their provinces and to carve out power, the better to amass treasures. As their willing servants, dragonborn, kobolds, and drakes are rewarded with lands and wealth of their own. The dragons of Midgard have no interest in sitting in a lonely cave, counting coins. Their greed makes them ambitious, and that ambition makes them extremely dangerous. They do not wait for their fate to visit them, but instead they climb aloft and survey the land, knowing it is all theirs for the taking if their claws are strong enough to hold it.
Gods That Dabble and Plot
The Midgard pantheon has needs, and the urge to meddle. The gods dispense spells and miracles to their faithful, but they make clear demands of their worshippers and priesthoods. The gods also argue, sire children to rule kingdoms, and foment wars and feuds. Divine murder and enslavement are possible, and this is part of the reason why the gods of Midgard wear masks (see Gods and Their Masks). Their hatreds and rivalries spill out from the heavens and into the mortal streets and kingdoms.
Every deity has distinct goals and desires, and they specify what they expect of their followers.
Hidden Races
The Midgard campaign features the traditional humans, elves, and dwarves as well as new races, including the ravenfolk, minotaurs, kobolds, dragonborn, and trollkin. These races had a place in the world from the start, their ambitions leading to the founding of unique kingdoms.
Concealed races still hide in the corners of the world to surprise adventurers, such as the intelligent, ghoulish darakhul, the feral catfolk of the Southlands, and the mysterious Winterfolk. Humans are the most numerous people and their kingdoms are grand, but Midgard offers many flavors of nations and a wide range of heroes and villains.
Ley Lines and Shadow Roads
The land is alive with ley line magic, and some know how to harness that power for spellcasting and magical travel. The elves used the magic of ley lines ( see Ley Lines) to create and sustain the shadow roads (also called the fey roads), making it possible to connect a far-flung empire. When the elves retreated from the world, some of their roads remained, and humans and the shadow fey learned to tap into the ley lines that sustain this magic. Adventurers and villains alike can use these wellsprings of power, which flow invisibly everywhere—though the most powerful ley line conjunctions are warded or guarded, used as the foundation of great fortresses or thriving cities. In Midgard, you can increase the level of magical power to unheard-of levels, without destroying the reality of the setting outside those ley line conjunctions.
Shifting Borders and Falling Kingdoms
Midgard is a world of cultures designed to change, collapse, and grow over time. Borders have shifted, crowns have been seized or restored, and cities have been plundered or rescued from ruin. Midgard is a setting intended to change after every adventure; the work of the heroes in Midgard challenges the existing order, gives rise to great new lords and ladies, or sees the failure of hope and the death of kings.
Time Flies, and Status Matters
Two optional rules make Midgard special. The Status rule (see Prestige & Status) gives player characters a type of advancement linked not to level, but to their prestige and renown. The social status of PCs makes a difference in who they can visit and how they are treated—not that important in most dungeons, but possibly vital in the Court of the Imperatrix of Dornig, or when trying to counter a Dragon Empire ambassador’s plots.
Similarly, the Time Flies optional rule advances campaigns quickly, so that months and years can fly by, and events of a campaign roll out at a less hurried pace. Generations can rise and fall, and adventurers can see their careers as a long arc rather than a brief set of fireworks.