Meta-Concepts Guide
Starting something new can be quite difficult at first, but this article will hopefully provide a succinct explanation of most of the newer concepts players might need to grasp to make the game a bit easier. Many of these concepts are staples of older Dungeons and Dragons settings or have been around and not given a name in every instance where they are used. You are welcome to review the more indepth articles about these concepts to learn where they came from, what they hope to achieve and how they interact with the Nebula- but it is not necessary to read all of the articles linked in this guide.
Point to Point Cartography: while in the aether of the nebula, between realms a first time adventurer may be tempted to start mapping detailed paths between the realms. The danger of becoming lost or falling victim again to some hazard is a harsh reality to many unprepared travelers and so, a map would become an effective tool to alleviate these issues.
An error like this is common, the land changes day to day and even the realm shards travel within the Aether. It is for this reason that explorers have taken to using point-to-point cartography to mark the more solidified aspects of the multiverse, connection, stellar bodies, and shards. Like great constellations, the tried and true routes with connections are marked between the shards and the stellar bodies that influence them are marked with notes. This is the same model of map that is used outside of game to denote lanes of quick travel for expeditions. It should be noted that traveling secured connections will never provoke a random encounter or many interesting hazards- allowing players to get right in on the action.
This is also a very effective method for mapping out expansive dungeons with long corridors and tunnels. Mapping every five feet of a dungeon so expansive is inefficient and having the interesting fragments mapped out with picture resources or point-to-point maps is excellent for facilitating adventure.
Hex Exploration, while the aether of the nebula is a vast chaotic ocean, the shards that exist within it are oases of stability and the bedrock to civilization in the multiverse. Hex exploration is a more detailed abstraction of a complete map, perfect for exploring the shards of the Nebula. During hex exploration, travel time and distance is throttled by the type of hexes you are traveling. These six mile hexes can be further divided into half mile hexes, which is perfect for the exploration of highly developed hexes (cities, battlefields, ruined sprawls).
This level of abstraction is useful for generalizing travel times into simple matters of arithmetic but also useful for encounters and exploration incidents. Due to the nature of the arcane that brought the shard into this multiverse, hexes are also literal geological formations allowing for simple geometric maps to made of the worlds that are explored.
Multiverse: Coming from other settings, it is important to note that in this is a multiverse and the de facto cosmological model for Nebula. While easier for new players, veteran players have to discard the extraneous information pertitent to the Great Wheel Cosmological model and it's associated children models. The Nebula also contains the various planes of existence within it, as shards, this includes planes such as Nirvana, Hell, Abaddon, and the varied elemental planes. Unlike the Great Wheel, these are not infinite realms rather fragmentations from their main plane. If one were to refer to parallel worlds, it is replaced by the aetherial sea which does not get displaced by realms that move through it. They exist in the same space in parallel with one another, as the Aether is the fabric that incorporates the shard (and vice versa).
Pathfinder 2 Edition Remastered the selected tabletop roleplaying game for this campaign. It has some core mechanics that are very well adapted to a West Marches style of game. Most hazards, NPCs, towns, items and spells can be scaled using the core leveling system (level 1 to level 20), this allows some more at a glance proofreading when performing prepararation to see if content is level appropriate. Futureproofing has extensively been utilized throughout the system allowing new modular extensions to be added throughout, which is also ideal when campaigning in a multiversal world.
Character creation is a cornerstone feature that allows players to express what kind of character they wish to create with bountiful options. Multiclassing has been altered to both embrace the archetype system Pathfinder pioneered and expand the abilities of the character with minimal odds of dramatically breaking encounters. With the combination of improved Ancestries, Backgrounds, and Classes with dozens of options between them it is unlikely that players will be playing the same character and there is plenty of inspiration abound to spark roleplaying.
West Marches Style the core concept of the campaign. Using a large, unexplored campaign world up to 40 players explore the unknown, exchange rumors and reconnaissance and plan more expeditions into a frontier. A player directed game, it does not have a long overarching plot inherant to the campaign, a "regular party", "regular time/place/location", or even the same gamemaster- it is united through the same game world setting. Combined with technology it has historically been run through chat rooms, email lists, message boards and play by posts.
This campaign will retain the unifying theme of a Western Marches campaign and apply it to the multiverse genre, utilizing ritual and down time rules to capitalize on resources they find and interact with the game world. The setting of the Nebula varies in that it is incredibly large, and also incredibly small. Shards are both readily accessible and remote, requiring time investment to reach for exploration. A West Marches usually operates using an unexplored continental coast or similar region with expansive hex maps, differing from the smaller, denser numerous hex maps being used in this setting. Overall the desired endgoal is a setting with a high bandwidth for different ideas to permit game masters to produce gameplay content without the restrictions of unified theme or period.
Starting Locus in the same vein of allowing a wider bandwidth of ideas for game masters to create content- players have been provided with four loci for the players to originate from. Each realm is unique and relatively stable, with all of the drama recently tied up or resolved indefinately they are made markedly dull for the purposes of drawing adventurers into the Nebula. Each locus comes from a different time period of technology and popular genre of fantasy allowing players to have room to play what they wish to in a setting with many small, specialized worlds.
Sanctuary a safe place to rally, plan, rest and resupply. Each starting locus has an estate, hamlet or plaza that is considered a sanctuary from any danger the setting might provide. While it is not the intention to have player characters explore the starting loci, it is only discouraged. For the purposes of assisting the players with the beginning of their adventures, a wide variety of meager resources has been supplied at each sanctuary. Furthermore they are all bound by the first connection, the Gray Path.
Expedition the primary format for planning adventures into the Nebula. As a worldbuilding tool this is a form of diegetic interface to initiate play with others in the world of the Nebula. Providing the time/place/location to the gaming session, but also a directive and list of available resources for the session, it is also a tool to help assist the game master in the creation of content for the play session.
Planned amongst the players themselves, contracts are utilized to propel forward player agency in the campaign with the game masters working reactively in this regard. Normally a game master has to operate multiple hats to rescheduale weekly/biweekly sessions but with contracts, gameplay and worldbuilding becomes more collective with the onus coming back to the players to initiate play they are engaged with.
Geographical Concepts
Nebula, is akin to a place like Limbo- a plane in the Great Wheel Cosmology used in traditional Dungeons and Dragons in the aspect that it is a tumultuous changing realm with many morphic qualities, but a resemblence given at a shallow glance is the extent of these findings. As a place that houses thousands of worlds, all bleeding into a shifting aether sea, the great churning tide certainly gives the appearance of chaos. Understanding some of these cartographical concepts will help alleviate some confusion that may occur when interacting with these maps.Point to Point Cartography: while in the aether of the nebula, between realms a first time adventurer may be tempted to start mapping detailed paths between the realms. The danger of becoming lost or falling victim again to some hazard is a harsh reality to many unprepared travelers and so, a map would become an effective tool to alleviate these issues.
An error like this is common, the land changes day to day and even the realm shards travel within the Aether. It is for this reason that explorers have taken to using point-to-point cartography to mark the more solidified aspects of the multiverse, connection, stellar bodies, and shards. Like great constellations, the tried and true routes with connections are marked between the shards and the stellar bodies that influence them are marked with notes. This is the same model of map that is used outside of game to denote lanes of quick travel for expeditions. It should be noted that traveling secured connections will never provoke a random encounter or many interesting hazards- allowing players to get right in on the action.
This is also a very effective method for mapping out expansive dungeons with long corridors and tunnels. Mapping every five feet of a dungeon so expansive is inefficient and having the interesting fragments mapped out with picture resources or point-to-point maps is excellent for facilitating adventure.
Hex Exploration, while the aether of the nebula is a vast chaotic ocean, the shards that exist within it are oases of stability and the bedrock to civilization in the multiverse. Hex exploration is a more detailed abstraction of a complete map, perfect for exploring the shards of the Nebula. During hex exploration, travel time and distance is throttled by the type of hexes you are traveling. These six mile hexes can be further divided into half mile hexes, which is perfect for the exploration of highly developed hexes (cities, battlefields, ruined sprawls).
This level of abstraction is useful for generalizing travel times into simple matters of arithmetic but also useful for encounters and exploration incidents. Due to the nature of the arcane that brought the shard into this multiverse, hexes are also literal geological formations allowing for simple geometric maps to made of the worlds that are explored.
Multiverse: Coming from other settings, it is important to note that in this is a multiverse and the de facto cosmological model for Nebula. While easier for new players, veteran players have to discard the extraneous information pertitent to the Great Wheel Cosmological model and it's associated children models. The Nebula also contains the various planes of existence within it, as shards, this includes planes such as Nirvana, Hell, Abaddon, and the varied elemental planes. Unlike the Great Wheel, these are not infinite realms rather fragmentations from their main plane. If one were to refer to parallel worlds, it is replaced by the aetherial sea which does not get displaced by realms that move through it. They exist in the same space in parallel with one another, as the Aether is the fabric that incorporates the shard (and vice versa).
Campaign Concepts
Introductory ParagraphPathfinder 2 Edition Remastered the selected tabletop roleplaying game for this campaign. It has some core mechanics that are very well adapted to a West Marches style of game. Most hazards, NPCs, towns, items and spells can be scaled using the core leveling system (level 1 to level 20), this allows some more at a glance proofreading when performing prepararation to see if content is level appropriate. Futureproofing has extensively been utilized throughout the system allowing new modular extensions to be added throughout, which is also ideal when campaigning in a multiversal world.
Character creation is a cornerstone feature that allows players to express what kind of character they wish to create with bountiful options. Multiclassing has been altered to both embrace the archetype system Pathfinder pioneered and expand the abilities of the character with minimal odds of dramatically breaking encounters. With the combination of improved Ancestries, Backgrounds, and Classes with dozens of options between them it is unlikely that players will be playing the same character and there is plenty of inspiration abound to spark roleplaying.
West Marches Style the core concept of the campaign. Using a large, unexplored campaign world up to 40 players explore the unknown, exchange rumors and reconnaissance and plan more expeditions into a frontier. A player directed game, it does not have a long overarching plot inherant to the campaign, a "regular party", "regular time/place/location", or even the same gamemaster- it is united through the same game world setting. Combined with technology it has historically been run through chat rooms, email lists, message boards and play by posts.
This campaign will retain the unifying theme of a Western Marches campaign and apply it to the multiverse genre, utilizing ritual and down time rules to capitalize on resources they find and interact with the game world. The setting of the Nebula varies in that it is incredibly large, and also incredibly small. Shards are both readily accessible and remote, requiring time investment to reach for exploration. A West Marches usually operates using an unexplored continental coast or similar region with expansive hex maps, differing from the smaller, denser numerous hex maps being used in this setting. Overall the desired endgoal is a setting with a high bandwidth for different ideas to permit game masters to produce gameplay content without the restrictions of unified theme or period.
Starting Locus in the same vein of allowing a wider bandwidth of ideas for game masters to create content- players have been provided with four loci for the players to originate from. Each realm is unique and relatively stable, with all of the drama recently tied up or resolved indefinately they are made markedly dull for the purposes of drawing adventurers into the Nebula. Each locus comes from a different time period of technology and popular genre of fantasy allowing players to have room to play what they wish to in a setting with many small, specialized worlds.
Sanctuary a safe place to rally, plan, rest and resupply. Each starting locus has an estate, hamlet or plaza that is considered a sanctuary from any danger the setting might provide. While it is not the intention to have player characters explore the starting loci, it is only discouraged. For the purposes of assisting the players with the beginning of their adventures, a wide variety of meager resources has been supplied at each sanctuary. Furthermore they are all bound by the first connection, the Gray Path.
Expedition the primary format for planning adventures into the Nebula. As a worldbuilding tool this is a form of diegetic interface to initiate play with others in the world of the Nebula. Providing the time/place/location to the gaming session, but also a directive and list of available resources for the session, it is also a tool to help assist the game master in the creation of content for the play session.
Planned amongst the players themselves, contracts are utilized to propel forward player agency in the campaign with the game masters working reactively in this regard. Normally a game master has to operate multiple hats to rescheduale weekly/biweekly sessions but with contracts, gameplay and worldbuilding becomes more collective with the onus coming back to the players to initiate play they are engaged with.
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