What's needed for a Setting?

I've been playing in Nick of Paper & Pencil's "Warlock Moon" game lately and it's interesting to watch.  Nick's a meticulous GM when it comes to designing his levels - the paper shuffling in the background, quality and quantity of tricks/traps, and hint of a multi-level notation system confirm this.  Yet, Warlock Moon is still a setting in it's infancy, two session have been run, and the ideas and feel of the setting are still being hammered out. Watching this process, and doing setting work of my own on the Apollyon, I've been thinking about the question "What's the minimum of resources one needs to run a compelling and unique setting".  I mean most people who've played a game of D&D or even stumbled about Skyrim for a few hours could gin up an amusing enough vanilla game with a system book and a piece of graph paper.

You can get going with something along the lines of "goblins have been killing farmers, and you're the local tough guys".  Cave map, some goblin stats and instant cliched default game setting. This isn't what I'm talking about, though these sorts of games can be fun, and can grow interesting as the world expands organically.  What I want in a setting is something that has a distinct feel, different from what one can get in a million other places.  In order to do this certain considerations must be made.

Baby's on Fire.

So Adventurers love oil, they like to pour it on the floor, douse things in it, and most of all to throw Molotov cocktail style bombs of it at everything that looks remotely flammable.  All this pyromania should have consequences.  Below is a table for effects of fumbling with flaming oil bombs. The effects are not pleasant, but one or two fumbles will have any surviving characters considering oil based grenades with a bit more circumspection...

1D10 (+ or -)	The table of accidental incineration (Flaming Oil Fumbles) Roll 1D10 and add or subtract the appropriate DEX bonus/penalty
-2	Inferno of Death – Somehow You've managed to coat yourself, and every party member within 10' in a flaming haze of oil doing normal oil damage. That's not the worst though. The flames have caused a chain reaction as any oil bombs in the party's possession explode, unless a save vs. Paralysis is made for each vial. These vials will do 1D6 damage per explosion to the individual carrying them.
-1	Airburst – A perfect throw scatters flaming oil over all party members in 10' of the oil thrower. The oil does normal flaming oil damage.
0	Premature Impact – You've thrown the vial perfectly, assuming you were attempting to drench another party member. Randomly pick another party member and do full oil damage to them for three rounds.
1	It's in Your Armor – Not only did you manage you break the oil over yourself, but you managed to light it after it had soaked into the nooks and crannies of your armor. Take normal oil burn damage for the next three rounds as the trapped fire takes longer to burn.
2	Self Immolation – Your doused in flaming oil. You're on fire and it hurts. Take normal oil damage.
3	Friendly Fire – You've doused 1D4-1 party members in flaming oil for normal oil damage.
4	Splash Damage – It wasn't a clean hit, but you've splashed 1d4-1 party members (including yourself) with flaming oil. All will take 1D4 points of damage.
5	Ceiling of Pain – Now the Ceiling is covered in flaming dripping oil. Everyone in a 10' radius must save vs. paralysis or take 1D6 points of damage for the next two rounds. If outdoors treat as a roll of (-1).
6	Hot Foot – You just dropped a flaming bottle of oil on your foot. Take 1D4 damage and roll a Save vs. Paralysis to hop away before taking an additional 1D8 next round. In any event you're jumping around with a flaming foot, unable to act for 1D4 rounds.
7	Fails to Light – The bottle clash against the ceiling, a branch or your fighter pal's helm and douses 1D4-1 party members in oil. Luckily it was unlit, and your allies are simply soaked in highly flammable oil.
8	Covered in Oil – You managed to break the bottle over your head and are now soaked in oil. It's not on fire, but it could easily get that way.
9	No Retreat – Whoops, slippery bottle. The oil lands directly behind your party and blocks any hope of retreat until it burns out in two rounds.
10	A Perfect Disruption – Arcing with perfect aim the oil bursts between the shield walls and creates a flaming barrier that prevents melee combat between the belligerents for two rounds. Missiles may still be used,
11	Drops in Eyes – The oil flew off fine, despite missing embarrassingly, but a big splash of unlit oil ends up in your eyes. You'll be blind for 1D6 rounds, attack at -4 each round or rub your eyes and save vs. Paralysis to get the painfully stinging junk out.
12	That's not Oil – You threw something else by accident, GM decides what else in your pack was hurled, and its effects, but hobgoblins are nonplussed by holy water, and that potion of heroism you were saving, well now it's on the shattered on the floor.
13	Stoppered Vial – In the excitement you forgot to light or unstopper the darn thing and it bounces off a target landing unbroken on the floor. Maybe you can pick up it later.

Old Brewery - Murderers' Row

OLD BREWERY - AREA 3

Bandit's Roost - Jacob Riis - Pre 1890

3. Murderers' Row – This series of fourteen small rooms was once offices and work spaces for the brewery, but now they are private residences of the more intimidating and dangerous poor. The hallway connecting them is dingy and smeared with streaks of black greasy soot.  The entire area smells of woodsmoke and urine. For each room entered roll on the table below to see who currently resides in it. These inhabitants can change with each visit as there is much competition for these spaces.  Special areas have been given their own notations and descriptions.

SESSION VIII - Spacemen Zombies!

SESSION VIII

The secrets of the the obelisk are revealed, Lemon is paralyzed by the secrets of the universe while Huxley is haunted by his old life and ancient technology.  Finally great treasure is unearthed, but proves a dangerous burden rather than a boon.

Grimgrim – Fighting priest of the fierce God of Dooms, Monstcrom! (M) Cleric 1

Lemon Jackson – A wizard, who prefers to go without clothing, has strange yellow eyes and who tattoos himself with spells. (M) Magic User 1

Huxley McTeeth (Hux) – A gaucho with a past, clad in plains finery, possessed with in strength disproportionate to his years and small frame. (M) F1

“Eyestabs” Nell – A scary woman armed with many poison hat pins and a dead dwarf's crossbow(F) A1

Drusilla – Eleven lass of surpassing beauty(for a creepy eyed, fanged, and noseless monster), disturbingly unpleasant affect and taste for human babies - Pole arm and scimitar (F) Elf 1

The party again encamped in the shrine and reset their traps – expecting a counter attack by the cultists (and not realizing that the cultists were almost out of undead guards, scared and spending the night besieged by ghouls).

Grimgrim speaks to Jackal-mask when he appears and the god seems far less perturbed this time. He tells Grimgrim that his priest seems delayed, but to expect him in another day or two, though after the success of the day the party should have no problem with the remaining cultists, and if they kill them the next day his servants will reward them “beyond all imagining with riches from the ancients.” With a divine promise of wealth in mind the party gathers their equipment and quickly decamps.

Space Zombie - by Soren Bendt, 2010

In walking across the grounds the group is assailed by strange visions of ancient battle, the smell of ozone and burnt flesh are accompanied by explosions and the sounds of plasma discharges. Ghostly figures in fishbowl helmets dart through the fog just out of sight. 

The party is undeterred by these harmless phantoms and makes it to the smoke blacked steps. Bits of burnt zombie appear to have been scattered about and gnawed on in some kind of disgusting feast, but nothing moves. Inside the entry chamber things are even more messy, a strange corpse with blacked finger bones protruding from rotten hands lies on the floor surrounded by smashed skeletons and several splattered corpse fleas. The doors that the party left open are all closed and planks have been nailed across the door leading to the office.

The adventurers search carefully, and their caution is rewarded when Nell discovers that the door to the cloak room has a thin wire attached to it. After snipping the wire Hux kicks open the door and sees that the wire led to a wooden prop holding up a lit bowl of coals and that the floor has been covered in oil soaked rags. Lemon gingerly removes the coals and places the bowl in the vestibule while Nell checks the next door and finds it braced, but not apparently trapped. The band fears that Nell simply failed to detect something sinister, and even after listening at the door and hearing nothing (“well zombies waiting to jump us don't make any noise”) is afraid to press on.

Ubi Mel Ibi Apes

Wizards are a key element of ASE, individuals of every walk of life driven insane by super-science or sinister magic. Not many are strictly human, and all are very dangerous.  Wizard's represent the real power in the Land of 1,000 Towers and it's only a matter of time before any party of PC's will have to tangle with one or more of them.  Below is the write up for one such Wizard, Hexamacht the Apiagimon. Should my party continue to wander South-West of Denethix Hexomacht has a good chance of becoming a major part of the campaign, either as a patron or big-bad.  I kind of like Hexamacht, he's more a tragic figure than a cackling villain, but that's not going to stop him from being a horrible danger to civilization.

HEXAMACHT the APIAGIMON -Android Entit

Hexamacht

the Apiagimon

Android/Wizard (Fighter 7)

STR: 16 +2 melee hit/damage

INT: 15 (Special)

WIS: 12 No Bonuses

DEX: 16 – 2 AC/+2 missile to hit

CON: 19 + 4HP/die

CHR: 15 -1 Reaction Rolls

HP: 57

AC: -1 (w/DEX bonus)

Equipment: Integral clockwork armor (as platemail +1), +3 Golden nanocluster longsword (1d8+3), Heat-ray beamer (1D8 as laser pistol with 10' cone area of effect), Giant Riding Bee, Pouch of (25)100gp gems. All of Hexamacht's magic items will melt into a fine golden grit within 1D4 days of his death.

Abilities: Resist Magic 25%, Immune to poison, sleep and charm.

Detect invisible (65%), Speak with insects. Regenerate 2HP per round.

Alignment: Lawful – A cold machine intelligence that seeks to encourage agricultural renewal and order.