Running a game in Ataland
Running a game in Ataland requires forethought and preparation. This short section is designed to give you some inspiration and direction to help get you started.
An Open World of Possibilities
Ataland is a vast open world, boasting hundreds of settlements and nearly half a million NPCs. If your players decide one morning to travel all the way to the other side of the map, the online toolbox will be ready to tell you about the settlements, dangers and opportunities. Not only at their destination - every single location on the map has it's own history and story, even the short stops on a larger journey.
In other settings, travel is often downplayed, reduced to a short description and a single fight. Ataland is different. Let your players feel the scale of the setting. Let them be lost. Let them explore. Let the journey be as important as the destination.
Getting Started
If you are bringing in a group of pre-existing characters from another setting, consider the Catalyst Spire, this ancient construction is pulling in monsters and people from other worlds.
For newly formed parties, Adventurer's Guilds are a natural place for the characters to meet - the guild could ask them to combine forces to complete a difficult quest.
Capital cities make for good starting locations as they are common destinations for travelers.
Character backstories
Try to match the starting location of the game to your character's backstories. If a character was once an officer of the watch, it is helpful to know which watch. Clerics tend to operate near temples of their faith and so forth.
Player characters should feel as embedded in the world as the NPCs. You can help your players by working with them to choose a hometown to go along with their backstory. Players may even wish to add themselves to an existing npc family.
Story and depth
The central philosophy of this setting is to provide a background of incredible detail for your story. Ataland is a wide world, brimming with possibilities, but it is the Game Master's job to provide depth to the story. There is enough provided material that the players could do nothing but slay monsters and become wealthy, but there is not much depth there. The real magic of telling a great story is to engage the players and characters with plot-hooks that lead to deeper connected stories.
The character creation process provides all you need to create your plot hooks. What are the characters wants and needs? What drives them? Why do they get up in the morning? Engaging plot hooks draw the characters in to the story.
Self-contained stories are fine, but often give the feeling of lack of consequence. Connected stories increase the feeling of consequence. If the characters actions impact the outcome, or even change events much further down the line, this gives weight and meaning to the their choices. Allow your characters to build a collection of friends, allies and enemies. If the players decide a person or location is important to them, then integrate it in to the story. When a relationship they have invested time in is in the balance, the stakes are higher.
Adventures Unlimited
Ataland provides two kinds of adventures:
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Procedural - Guilds provide monster hunting and wanted fugitive quests. These quests consist of just a target, leaving the specifics up to the Game Master. You are encouraged to expand these quests and make them a part of your ongoing narrative.
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Lore - Ataland comes with hand-written lore. Look for the "adventures" heading on Settlements, Buildings and NPCs. These contain plot-hooks that allow you to take your players on adventures that expand upon the setting.