Galinia Q&A

So what's Galinia all about?

The game is designed to allow me to run an AD&D game with all the things I like in it. Being selfish, its primarily there for my pleasure, because of that I put enough work in to make it a good game. However, we have a group of superb players, who also put a lot of effort into their characters and posts, and that makes it a great game..

So what are the things you like?

Well I like most of the normal character classes, some of the Zacharan ones and a couple or the oriental ones - so they are all in there. I am also interested in northern European mythology, so it has a Celtic/Norse flavour to it. But I hate trying to account for rain and snow in a game, so its set in a warmer climate than you might expect.

So how do you get all those cultures in?

Historically the area was Celtic, but they were under attack mainly from the monster hordes that come from the surrounding hills and mountains. To help fight these monsters off they raised Norse mercenaries, but more and more Norse came into the area and finally started taking control of many areas. At one point the Zacharans conquered some of the outlands, and when they were driven out some stayed behind and became integrated in society. The few Orientals there are around have travelled the spice and silk routes and forgot to go back.

That all seems a bit far fetched to me.

Well the Celts had settlements in Spain and the Near East, and the Normans, who after all were descendants of Norse mercenaries, got into Italy and the Holy Land as well. Both Spain and the Near East also fell under Moorish or Arabic influence at sometime as well - so it can be made to fit.

So what's the land like then?

Well, it is a combination of Northern Mediterranean and Northern European. A bit of a mixture, but it is a fantasy game after all. As you travel around you can come across plants and animals that you might find growing wild in Greece or Spain next to some traditional Scottish heather. It makes it more fun. Generally the civilisation is set on a couple of islands and the coastal margins, between the sea and the mountains.

And the politics?

Well there has been a major was recently and the humans lost out to the monsters. Rather than a stable single society there is a loose collection of small states each with their own rulers. They are held loosely together by a college of heralds that recognises states in different degrees and a common sense of belongs - and fear of the monster hordes, of course. There is a slight tension between the Norse and the Celts - but the Zacharans are still keeping their heads down.

And Galinia?

Galinia is one of those small states that is trying to re-establish itself. It has a new Earl, in Richard Briganda, - who has both Norse and Celtic blood. The tension between the two groups is slightly higher than in the rest of the area, partly because they are still fighting for extra land and new territory.

So what about the different cultures?

Well both the Norse and Celtic cultures here are fairly mature and have become 'soft' by the old standards. That makes it easier to play a character from those cultures and means the players don't need to know a lot about Norse or Celtic history or Mythology. However, there are small pockets of 'Old Celts' and visiting 'Old Norse', who live by the old moores, to play one of these players do need a better knowledge of their appropriate history and cultural beliefs. As I said before the Zacharans keep their heads down, so you only need to give Zacharan characters a 'flavour', rather than understand the culture in detail. The last main human culture is followers of the 'Old Gods'. These are based on some North American Indian deities and the culture is based loosely around settled Indian tribes. Again no more than a flavouring is required to play characters from that group.

So what about non-human characters?

Again, there are recognised pockets of Elves, Gnomes and Dwarves scattered about, generally following the cultural guidelines in the 'Complete Book Of...' series by TSR. However, the strongly cultural kits from these books are not generally suitable for the Galinia game. Half-Elves are generally accepted, and the better looking Half-Orcs are tolerated, but they had better be on their best behaviour.

And if I want to play in Galinia?

First go back to the web site and look though the House Rules pages. They define in more detail the cultures, classes and special rules that are used within Galinia. Then put together a character idea. Email it to me - and we will refine it together, until you have a character who will fit in. Then you have to wait for an opening. I won't take characters when the party is big enough and operating well, and I wont bring characters into the game until we reach a sensible point where you can join without disrupting the game or causing a lose of continuity.

So how do characters get experience and progress?

The party always has a Party Objective and when you do something towards that objective I award 'Story Line' experience to all the characters involved. There is also the traditional 'Combat' related experience, and Experience awards for using character skills in 'Non-Combat' circumstances. But the best way to get experience id to make lots of posts to the board. I give experience for every in-character post on the boards, the more they represent the character personality, skills and culture - the more experience you get. I also give minor special experience awards for solving problems or doing something a little bit special. The big rewards come when you do something extra special - for example we had a series of posts that dealt with a Celtic religious ceremony - the ceremony was devised (and done very well) by one player - who got extra experience for it. Another character involved was making some parts of his post in Gaelic, which was very appropriate at the time - and he got extra experience awards for that too. So basically the more frequently you make good in-character posts the more experience points you get.