Seas of Vodari Campaign Setting
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Get ready to set out on a voyage to visit a world of islands surrounded by an endless sea.
Vodari is a world that grew out of various one-shots and full campaigns I have run for players over the years. I created this world to provide my players with new experiences, when traveling across the monster filled wilderness between exciting locations. I thought that sailing from location to location would make typical wilderness travel feel completely new. I filled Vodari with islands for us to explore, with the next adventure just over the horizon. I wanted to run more than just a pirate campaign, so the islands and inhabitants vary widely from the frigid north to the scorching south.
Vodari was inspired by stories full of adventure, exploration and intrigue such as The Three Musketeers, Star Trek, Stardust, Pirates of the Caribbean, Zorro, Indiana Jones, The Count of Monte Cristo and Treasure Island. Adventures on The Seas of Vodari typically focus on the crew of a ship hunting sea monsters, exploring mysterious uncharted islands, visiting bustling port cities, following maps to find buried treasure, and battling cutthroat pirates and raging barbarians. The setting is also well suited to running campaigns in its large port cities, with swashbuckling heroes getting mixed up with fierce rivals, notorious crime syndicates, feuding nobles, and scheming politicians.
Vodari contains all of the iconic things you’d expect in a fantasy setting, but in a world with more water than land, much of the familiar becomes surprising and new. Dungeons can be found below the waves in the form of shipwrecks and lost cities. Dragons slumber deep below the waves in undersea lairs. Goblin bandits attack seaside colonies, escaping on waveskippers to their hideouts. Isolated pockets of civilization are replaced by bustling ports filled with travelers from distant islands. Halflings live in floating villages made of interconnected boats and anything else that can float. Gnomes find themselves on opposite sides of a battle of civilization versus nature. Hill dwarves are respected shipbuilders and sail the seas looking for relics from their sunken homeland. Elves are found living high in the treetops and far below the surface of the seas. Armies built to defend kingdoms shift into imperial navies that battle each other and hunt pirates and smugglers. Nature becomes as dangerous as the most powerful monsters with furious hurricanes, catastrophic tsunamis, and fiery volcanoes.
Seven Things Your Need to Know
Anyone who is visiting Vodari as a player or GM should know the following.
1) If it exists in a typical fantasy world, it can exist in Vodari.
Vodari has a place for all of the core elements of the world’s most popular fantasy role playing game. While it is a seafaring world full of islands and endless ocean, you will still find dungeons, dragons, and other typical fantasy elements. Nevertheless, much of what is familiar had been altered, creating unexpected experiences for players old and new. You’ll also get a chance to encounter giant krakens, marid tricksters, deadly sirens and other enemies you would only find while sailing the open seas.
2) An ancient and broken world.
Long ago, a vast continent called Varanu was annihilated in a war of the gods. This Godwar created such destruction that all but the outer edge of the continent sank to the bottom of the sea. The devastation left only a scattered few to start rebuilding their civilization on the islands. Today, on the seas of Vodari, adventurers will find a broken world full of lost cities and forgotten secrets. Vesi’s Rage, a massive storm still rages where the heart of a continent once was. The storm is so powerful that only settlements protected by mountains or forests have been able to survive its devastation over the centuries.
3) A dangerous place to explore.
Adventurers in Vodari can travel to port cities, treetop kingdoms, lost ruins, mountain fortresses, and more. While most nations in the southern islands live in relative calm and peace, Vodari is a dangerous place with many perils. To the north are the wild, uncivilized lands of the barbarians, orcs, giants and other monsters. To the west are the lands of the reclusive Aubori elves and their mysterious forests. To the east, the dwarves are at war with an enemy deep under their mountain realm. On the southern seas you’ll find pirates, giant sea monsters, crime filled ports, and countless unexplored islands. At the center, the wind, rain and waves of Vesi’s Rage make travel anywhere nearby deadly.
4) Another world exists under the waves.
Under the seas of Vodari you will find a vast, dangerous and alien world ready for countless adventures. Under the waves, adventurers will find the coral spire villages of the Voda, sea devil war camps, deep trenches mined by dwarven machines, tall undersea forests, unending deserts, gargantuan sea monsters, and the ruins of the old world.
5) A world fought over by the gods.
If anyone needed proof of the gods existence, a war among the gods spilling over into the mortal world was the ultimate confirmation. Vodari was all but destroyed and a raging storm hundreds of miles across appeared where the vast continent of Varanu once was. After fighting for millennia, the gods have stuck an uneasy peace and have managed to avoid another war. To settle their quarrels, the gods of creation and destruction meddle and plot against each other, using mortals as pawns to suffer the consequences.
6) A world of ancient magic.
In Vodari, magic is a mysterious force, with much of the knowledge about it forgotten over the ages. Today magic is found in powerful artifacts and a few individuals who gained access to magic through prayer to the gods, ancient knowledge, a pact, or a bloodline. Schools where magic is taught are rare and often available only to those of noble birth or obvious talent. The elite few who have access to magic through artifacts or their own abilities, control much of Vodari.
7) A world of technological wonders.
With access to powerful magic unavailable to most people, ingenuity has led to the advancement of non-magical technology, providing wonders you would not find in a typical fantasy world. The Great Leap recently unleashed steam power, black powder, and other technology to the world, revolutionizing travel, manufacturing and war. Alchemists continue to develop new metals and materials. While most people embrace these advancements, there many who oppose their use.
