Vahevia.com: About the campaign setting

"Wondering where the hell you are, or what the hell Vahevia is? Read on, and perhaps the preceeding document shall enlighten you."

About Vahevia
If you're reading this, it probably means you're unsure what Vahevia is all about. In a nutshell, Vahevia is my own D&D campaign setting that's been developing and changing over the past four years, something that embodies survival against all odds, persistance in the face of what seems to be an utterly hopeless struggle, gorey and hideously violent struggles, alien environments and psychological horror in every sense of the word. My own cynicism and disdain for the generic fantasy stereotypes (specifically those derived from Tolkien's works, and those that're considered the 'standard' for fantasy roleplaying) was what inspired me to design Vahevia to be vastly different from the "traditional" fantasy norm. There's little, if any, influences from Earth's own history, traditions or mythologies, and everything down to weapons and armour are designed from scratch to reflect an entirely different evolution amidst the freezing jungles of an alien world. Because why must swords, axes and longbows be present in every civilized culture of a fantasy world?

Vahevia was created to be a 'low-adventure' setting; opposed to the 'high-adventure' feel of many other fantasy settings; e.g., powerful wizards, heroic paladins, intrepid muscular barbarians, plunging through the chaotic ranks of orc armies to confront the necromancer imprisoning the king and princess of the realm's kingdom... triumphing and being hailed as the saviors of the world. Vahevian games are best played as dark and gritty as possible, tending to involve the personal survival of the characters, rather than the protection of entire kingdoms, lands and empires (a trait often distinguishing high-fantasy settings). Being 'low-adventure' doesn't imply that there's less action or combat involved; it merely explains the extent to which a campaign's development influences the setting in general.

Running a Vahevian-campaign is challenging, for both the DM and the gaming group. Players must acquiant themselves with an entirely different field of weapons and character choices, and DMs must work to keep a campaign's atmosphere consistantly dark and explicitely violent, whilst preventing the campaign's feel from being stagnant or predictable. Gaming groups that're weak-stomached or easily-offended by gruesome material should consider playing another setting, whereas groups that enjoy delving into the darkest corridors of twisted fantasy are going to find Vahevia perfect for their tastes. This is a world where "too nasty" is an oxymoronic phrase. Vahevia wasn't intended to try and nauseate, frighten or shock players, however; the malevolance of the setting is supposed to paint the atmosphere of a world where horrible darkness is predominent, and taken for granted. Characters are frequently and openly exposed to graphic depictions of violence on the basis that everybody in a gaming group is mature and desensitized enough to handle a setting of a more adult nature. If players are potentially offended by strong material, DMs are advised to either handle the setting's content carefully, or not at all. The other danger of running a Vahevian campaign is preventing it from becoming oversatured. If gameplay becomes unrealistically gorey, or if every campaign becomes a predictable excursion through rape, torture and other horrific themes for the sake of upholding the world's atmosphere, then the nature of Vahevia's darkness is going to feel artificial and obvious.

In closing, I ask you to enjoy reading the site's content. It's by no means complete, of course, but I've every intention of updating it as I continue developing pieces of writing polished enough for me to be satisfied with uploading them. Further details of running Vahevian campaigns will be continued in other pages; for now, I feel this introductory article has mostly covered everything that describes the feel of what Vahevia is as a fantasy roleplaying setting. If there's any feedback you'd like to give, or any questions you'd like answers to concerning the site or it's material, I encourage you to contact me. I enjoy hearing the opinions and constructive criticism of readers, and I hope that this site proves to be both enjoyable, inspiring and helpful to others as I feed my imagination from the creative works of other artists and writers in turn.

Warm regards,
- John Gardner, Author of Vahevia