This is Part 11 of a series wherein we talk about generating an entire campaign, on-the-fly, for your favorite fantasy role-playing game(s). In the future, it might have a tighter focus on either D&D or Pathfinder, but for now, let's consider this material more-or-less generic.
NOTE: All the usual polyhedron dice are used for DCS, though today, we'll only be using 1d12.
What existed before this world? Was it another world, filled with heroes? An endless plane of energy or thought? Or maybe there was nothing at all?
Unformed Spirits
Roll 1d12:
01 -- A miasma of vaguely conscious energy. Not quite a living force, but not quite natural, either
02 -- Wisps of conscious thought. These were flowing through the aether, and eventually evolved into the gods when the present world came to exist.
03 -- Random spiritual energy. Some of this was positive, and some negative, but most of it was indifferent to everything. These proto-beings were not fully bound by time or space, and occasionally visit the present world, appearing as wandering spirits or poltergeists.
04 -- The soul of every being that has ever lived or ever will. These were already present before the world began. This means that each person's soul is older than the world, itself, and may well contain all the knowledge of existence deep within.
05 -- The unformed spirits existed before the gods. They grew jealous that the gods came to control the world, and this jealousy grew into hatred. Demons and devils are said to have evolved from these spirit-like energies.
06 -- The unformed spirits are the dreams of gods. Dreams and nightmares alike are banished to the time before the world was formed, by all sorts of divine beings. These dreams sometimes leak through the ages, presenting themselves as the wild visions of seers and prophets.
07 -- The unformed spirits are the building blocks of all life. Anyone who can find their way back to this primitive time period, or can tap into it somehow, may create any form of life they choose from these spiritual elements.
08 -- The unformed spirits are pieces of a single terrible being. This being was was destroyed in a great conflict in the future, upon the world-to-come, and scattered through time and space. Eventually, the pieces all floated down to before the beginning of the world, like sediment, where they will inevitably reform into the beast once again.
09 -- The unformed spirits are actually hopes and dreams. All the unspoken desires of the heart that the people of the world-to-come will ever have float through this primeval reality. It is said that these spirit-energies settled upon the world when it was created, and attach themselves to people when they are born. If enough of these unformed spirits can be siphoned or collected from people, they can be combined to form a magical Wish.
10 -- The nature of reality is cyclical. The unformed spirits are the souls of all who will ever be born in the world of the future. When that world ends, it all starts over, and the indestructable spirit-like energies collect together, waiting to be born into the next world.
11 -- The unformed spirits are the living embodiment of chaos. This chaos will eventually get swept away, as order comes into existence and the world is created. In the future world, there will be strange cults with stranger ideas, dedicated to opening a portal to that time so they may loose chaos upon the modern world, in order to cleanse it.
12 -- The unformed spirits still exist. When the world was formed, these spirits remained, becoming embedded in the natural world. Streams, rocks, mountains, forests, and animals all bear one of these ancient spirits within them. Nature priests are said to catch the occasional glimpse of the time-before-the-world, when all the spirits dwelt in harmony, and all the wisdom and secrets of reality were known.
To be continued...
Image: Clothing, apparel, helmet and game by Ian Gonzalez, released under the Unsplash License. Modified by David in Inkscape.