Game Master Introduction
Even before we get to the practical introductions, let's start with the big picture:
Why might you want to run a game in Raios? What might you get from running a game in Raios? Currently, this Raios site contains a couple hundred articles, 200,000 words of content and 200 color digital images. We will be doubling that amount of content in less than a year, and doubling it again after that. That's a book already, with more books ahead. But this is better than a book, because it's shareable by URL and is cross-linked and searchable and printable and exportable. Because it will be evolving and growing and improving and supporting the community in ways that physical books can't do. Maybe one day we'll print it, too.
The world's fantasy settings, races, cultures, magic, monsters and deities will be familiar but also new, for you and for your players. Our priority for the world is one that feels and plays and looks like fantasy - low, high or epic - while still being based realistically on the environment and cultures and history and sciences that we know from our own planet. It's fantasy which is also credible and realistic and familiar. Which is not to say that your table couldn't play something warped and fun like Mutant Crawl Classics here. We have a great spot in mind for that, too. :D Raios is non-proprietary and open-source. It is ready now to be used for D&D games or Pathfinder 2E games or Pathfinder 1E games or Shadowdark games, because we play all of those. And we welcome co-creators to add support for other TTRPGs to Raios. And that's not hard to do. Indeed, we welcome co-creators to help build out Raios and add and share more good content in Raios. Raios has a boosted Discord server where you can gather with others who are playing games in Raios. You can brainstorm with them, co-create Raios with them, chat with them and get support from them. You can LFG for new games or LFM for new players. And you can use the boosted server's audio and video to actually play your games online, with or without a VTT, at good video and audio quality. We'll boost the server further when we have some supporters to help pay for that cost. So now let's get specific. Let's look at what is really here. First, if you haven't already done it, you'll get a great intro to the quality and quantity of Raios content and excellent site functionality if you Start with this walk through. But you're thinking about GMing, so let's go a little deeper. Two articles will introduce you briefly to The Great War which led to the The Great Cataclysm. The second article also connects the Cataclysm forward to the world of Raios as it is today, 1252 years later. And here you'll find info about our recommended Starting location for your game. But that's not much adventure content yet. What about using my own, or others'? No problem. First, we're open source. We're not proprietary like other TTRPG worlds are. And the range of geography, geology and environments across the five (known) continents of Raios mean you can likely find a good place to drop any content that you want to play into Raios and play it there. If you want some help with that, come over to the Raios Discord server. Which is a good segue to our next topic.
But again, we will release more adventure content over time and we welcome others to publish their own adventure, setting and NPC content to the community. What can you do on the Discord server? I won't repeat what's above. But to add specifics:
Why might you want to run a game in Raios? What might you get from running a game in Raios? Currently, this Raios site contains a couple hundred articles, 200,000 words of content and 200 color digital images. We will be doubling that amount of content in less than a year, and doubling it again after that. That's a book already, with more books ahead. But this is better than a book, because it's shareable by URL and is cross-linked and searchable and printable and exportable. Because it will be evolving and growing and improving and supporting the community in ways that physical books can't do. Maybe one day we'll print it, too.
The world's fantasy settings, races, cultures, magic, monsters and deities will be familiar but also new, for you and for your players. Our priority for the world is one that feels and plays and looks like fantasy - low, high or epic - while still being based realistically on the environment and cultures and history and sciences that we know from our own planet. It's fantasy which is also credible and realistic and familiar. Which is not to say that your table couldn't play something warped and fun like Mutant Crawl Classics here. We have a great spot in mind for that, too. :D Raios is non-proprietary and open-source. It is ready now to be used for D&D games or Pathfinder 2E games or Pathfinder 1E games or Shadowdark games, because we play all of those. And we welcome co-creators to add support for other TTRPGs to Raios. And that's not hard to do. Indeed, we welcome co-creators to help build out Raios and add and share more good content in Raios. Raios has a boosted Discord server where you can gather with others who are playing games in Raios. You can brainstorm with them, co-create Raios with them, chat with them and get support from them. You can LFG for new games or LFM for new players. And you can use the boosted server's audio and video to actually play your games online, with or without a VTT, at good video and audio quality. We'll boost the server further when we have some supporters to help pay for that cost. So now let's get specific. Let's look at what is really here. First, if you haven't already done it, you'll get a great intro to the quality and quantity of Raios content and excellent site functionality if you Start with this walk through. But you're thinking about GMing, so let's go a little deeper. Two articles will introduce you briefly to The Great War which led to the The Great Cataclysm. The second article also connects the Cataclysm forward to the world of Raios as it is today, 1252 years later. And here you'll find info about our recommended Starting location for your game. But that's not much adventure content yet. What about using my own, or others'? No problem. First, we're open source. We're not proprietary like other TTRPG worlds are. And the range of geography, geology and environments across the five (known) continents of Raios mean you can likely find a good place to drop any content that you want to play into Raios and play it there. If you want some help with that, come over to the Raios Discord server. Which is a good segue to our next topic.
But again, we will release more adventure content over time and we welcome others to publish their own adventure, setting and NPC content to the community. What can you do on the Discord server? I won't repeat what's above. But to add specifics:
- The #announcements channel is where the Raios team will announce releases and improvements, but also our roadmap and timeline ahead.
- The #co-creation category is where you can get involved in building, improving or supporting Raios with us, including bringing and publishing your own content, writing or art.
- Each supported game system has its own category where you can chat with others who are also playing your game in Raios. And where you can LFG for new games or LFM for new players for your games. Currently, we have character creation rules for D&D, PF1 and PF2 - but we welcome others who want to add support for your own favorite games. We'll help do that. It's not hard to do.
- The #raios-support channel is the place to go with feedback, bugs or questions about the world or the site.
- Voice channels - at boosted audio and video quality - are available for free to play online with your friends.
- Fun text channels on #ttrpgs, #other-games and #other-fun-stuff. Those will grow based on the community's growth and interests.