So since I got burned out on a previous setting I was creating by over-detailing every little thing, I whipped up a new setting this week that I'm much more happy with.  It's going to be full of action and adventure and possible more than a little pulp in it's styling.

If you could, please put yourself in the shoes of a player who's reading this as a handout for the first time. Does it fill you with the desire to roll up a new 1st level character? If, so, what class? In a few sentences, where might your character be from or what goals might he have? What parts of the world seem most interesting to you or where would you want to visit first?  If it doesn't make the old imagination flare up, then what is it missing?

So without further ado I give you...

The Kingdom of Everlyn: Land of Adventure!

It's a good time to be alive in the Kingdom of Everlyn. A great age of expansion has exploded throughout the land, inspired by a new king with a great love for all things foreign and fancy and new. Gnome tinkerers are hard at work creating all manner of new inventions to better life for everyone. Their greatest invention being the flying machine called a Skyrunner; which helped bold explorers find the long lost lands of Zhael that float high up in the heavens. It's mysterious lands and grandiose ruins are calling out to be explored by brave adventurers and thrill seekers who desire untold fame and riches, despite the whispered dangers and unknown evils.

Explorers have pushed the frontiers of Everlyn further and further into undiscovered country, where new dangers and rewards are not far behind. Barbarian raiders seeking to regain their stolen lands have become more and more common on the frontiers. Glory can be found for those with strong hands or sharp blades willing to defend the borderlands. One must also be wary of a mysterious plague that seems to grant boons to some and misfortunes for others that has reared up on the borders as well. On the far out fringes of the frontier, magic and/or science occasionally runs amok when a reclusive wizard or tinkerer loses control of his latest experiment. Even the normally peaceful druids of the land are causing quite the ruckus.

Three druid factions have begun fighting for control of an ancient artifact and the battle is slowly creeping across the land; some go so far as to call it a "druid civil war". There's the Order of Seryne who works with farmers and communities to work with, rather than against, nature. There's also Eryn'dur (elven for prophets) are a mysterious group of elves that live within the deepest parts of the forest and who, from all accounts, seek out unaligned druids to assist them. Then there are the Black Sun, a radical group who seeks the destruction of all humanoids on the planet for their sins against nature. What is this mysterious artifact and what does it do? Why are once peaceful druids turning on one another and spilling blood for it? It will take brave heroes to find these answers and assure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

Despite this new spirit in Everlyn, there are still plenty of evil-doers threatening her existence from within...and without. Across the volcanic Hellscrag Mountains lie the lands of Havock; a dark and wicked place steeped in a darkness strong that even the sun cannot win out before it's primordial power. Only the occasional cook fire or torchlight is visible from within a besieged city in the otherwise endless night. Mankind fights a losing war with the Dark Legion or, as they're better known "The Reeks"; the cruel, undead masters of Havock. Worshiping vile and long forgotten gods, they weave loathsome magics in order to summon demons with which to bolster the ranks of their dread armies.

"Reeks" have earned their dubious nickname not only to the odor that comes from their rotting flesh and organs, but for what those who have survived an encounter with them, as a general feeling of unease; a reeking aura of evil. Their burning hatred of life is matched only by their heartless cruelty and as the Reeks march forth, they conquer all the survey, turning a slain enemy into a new soldier. Without mighty heroes, brave and bold to a man, their goal of an eternal night may yet come to pass and then...may the immortals help us all.

The Republic of Ulan was known as a beautiful place to live with lush forests and crystal clear lakes. At least it was...before they went and blew themselves up. No one knows for certain exactly how or why it happened, though most scholars suspect magic, calling it the most cataclysmic arcane disaster the world has ever known. The Republic, leveled to sand and dust with only a few settlements left standing after the blast, it's now known as The Forsaken Wastes. These once great lands are now the squalid refuge for the scattered survivors of Ulan as well as Orcs, Gnolls and other evil humanoids, monsters and scoundrels. To make things worse, rumor has it that a huge dragon has claimed the entire Wastes as his own and the humanoids within his subjects. An Orcish Warchief named Thragg has united the evil humanoids in a resistance against this would-be ruler and dubbed themselves the Bloodbrood. For now they're content with slaying their draconian overlord, but if that task is ever accomplished then a united race of brutal humanoids on the loose is a terrifying proposition for the outlying areas.

The lands of Everlyn and beyond stand before you so ask yourself, where do you stand? What do you stand for? Will you explore the ruins of Zhael and uncover the great treasures within? Perhaps you'll fend off barbarian hordes or stand firm against the charging darkness that would consume the world? It is now your choice and you alone must make it so lets move onward...to adventure!

I like this overall because it answers a fairly fundamental question that many campaign setting write-ups overlook: Who are the PCs and what do they do?

I might cut down the word-count a bit. It may just be forum formatting, but it's a big eye-glazing brick of text. Stuff like the factions in the druid civil war are better explained through exposition in game than the primer right up. Hint at a lot, and make the PCs ask you if they want to know. That'll also help you get an idea of what they're interested in.

It certainly has that Zelda feel to it.

mrk:  I'm not sure Zelda was my target but there are worse things to have it feel like.

Pseudoephedrine:  I have the notion to make a paragraph write up for each race and class with suggestions for where they might be from and what their role in society is as well.  I'll take a look at the word count, but the .DOC file has images breaking up those text blocks, so I think that helps a lot as well.