New players should also read the Chronicles of Morlund Estrelle, documents written in the style of diary entries from the most knowledgeable historian and sage of the World Continent and which contain information on the calendar, political systems, nations, secret societies, interviews with various personalities in the world, and so forth.
The Samothian PC Builder section is also a must-read, containing information on the various races and classes available for play.
Special thanks goes to Calrossie Man, from whom I "borrowed" the format for this World Primer.
Fiction: Tolkiensian fantasy has actually very little to do with my world. The main literary fiction influences include Robert E. Howard's Conan and Solomon Kane stories (including the Marvel Comics adaptation in the 70s and 80s), the Dune series, and a book of short stories called Liavek.
Movies: No single movie has had a big impact on the flavor of the world since the majority of the fantasy movies out there have been pretty terrible. For a good idea of what a typical large urban area looks like in the western part of the world, the city of Acquitaine from the movie "Ladyhawke" provides a good example. The village in "Brotherhood of the Wolf" provides an example of a smaller village on the borders in the west.
Historical: Actual earth history is the main source of inspiration for the campaign. I like world history and have therefore attempted to use this influence to create believable cultures. I like the juxtaposition of different eras of history as well as different world cultures, so you can expect to see renaissance, medieval, Byzantine, ancient Chinese, feudal Japanese, ancient Middle Eastern, ancient Egyptian, and medieval African cultures in the campaign. The level of technology across all cultures is roughly equivalent to early renaissance Europe without the firearms.
Game Worlds: I began the World of Samoth about 15 years ago by basing my world roughly on the World of Greyhawk. The campaign has altered greatly since then and bears almost no resemblance to this game world any more. The "Known World" of the basic D&D game and the world of Hyboria (from the Conan stories) have had a large influence on the political structures and cultures. I have never played in the world of the Forgotten Realms, but recently purchased the 3rd Edition Campaign Setting for this world so there will be a few influences from this in the world. Lastly, I am constantly buying campaign settings from Wizards of the Coast and other 3rd Party Publishers, all of which have constant, subtle influences on the world. Two of the main sources from these are the 1st Edition Oriental Adventures and the 2nd Edition Arabian Adventures from TSR, both of which were helpful in fleshing out the Asian and Middle Eastern areas of the World of Samoth.
Each time we play, the players will have several choices of adventures placed before them, and they can choose which they want to do based on the feel of each adventure. For example, the players might have the choice of stopping some humanoids (or even some pagan humans) from raiding trade routes, or recovering an artifact from a rival religion, or getting involved in political machinations, or doing something of personal interest to one particular character (based on that character's background). Stopping the humanoids would have more of a "hack-and-slash" feel, recovering the artifact would more likely have a traps and puzzles feel, and the political escapade would be more dialogue and role-playing driven. The players can choose amongst the adventure based on what sounds appealing to the group at the time. If they choose to do the humanoid adventure, then the next session would have a replacement "hack-and-slash" adventure (maybe rescuing some slaves from the local slaver's guild), but the religious and political gigs could also be back, or they could also be replaced by other adventures of a similar nature.
Some of the adventures will tie into longer situations that will take several sessions (not necessarily contiguous) to resolve. Some of the adventures will tie into the bigger campaign storyline, but the players will soon be able to recognize most of those and may ignore them if they choose. The characters will find out about new adventure opportunities through a variety of means, including travelers whom they come across, people who hire them for jobs, local entertainers and storytellers, and so forth. Once they take an adventure hook, the adventure may very well drive itself toward a common goal of the players.
