[Interest Check] Character-Driven Kingdom/City Building (D&D/Pathfinder)

[Catastrophy]

So. . . I have been messing around with this idea in my head for a few weeks now. . but before i put a huge amount of effort into writing, mapmaking and all the things you need to make an awesome campaign i figured i might as well check if there was anyone interested in my concept at all!'


So what do i have in mind? A single, or better yet a group of interesting and driven/motivated characters entering unfamiliar lands in gritty fable-like world conjured from a mix of my imagination and the Pathfinder adventure path known as Kingmaker. I'll loosely base things off of it and particularly i'll be using the kingdom building rules from it as a possibility that the characters can turn into a probability and then a realibility! (Rhymes better, Forgive me!)


I'll be going for either the pathfinder or the 3.5'th edition of Dungeons and Dragons rules, because those are the ones i have the best grip on and they lend themselves wonderful for a fantastic and fabulous setting like the one i have in mind. To limit it, and keep things interesting i'll be using the E6 rules (Summed up, the level for mortals, and player characters is limited to 6'th level, afterwards you gain feats rather than levels as you get more experience. I might be willing to raise it to E8)


What do i expect from my players? Ideally amazing, living, breathing characters with real hopes, dreams, goals, motivations and fears that i can take and use to further immerse everything into the game and weave the plot and story around your characters and make things really interesting.

Thank  you for reading, and please do tell me if you're interested or if you have any questions or comments go ahead as well.

[Brandon]

Im very interested though I would prefer pathfinder only. If I understood you right you intend to create the world itself but use the kingmaker rules for the kingdom building portion of the adventure?

[Kolbrandr]

would this be starting at 1 and going to 6 or 8, or starting off at either of those and xp from that point does purchases to add onto ala the E system.

[TheHangedOne]

I would be interested in playing, though I have never played Pathfinder; I am familiar with 3.5 D&D though, and, as I understand it, Pathfinder is fairly similar to it? I probably won't have any problems, might just need a pointer or two along the way.

[NatalieB]

This sounds like fun.  Ideally, for me, it'd be 3.5 rather than pathfinder (purely because I dislike the pathfinder bard.  And a shiny gold coin for guessing what class I have in mind).  But I'm not gonna throw my dummy out if people feel otherwise.

[Kate]

love the idea !

What i dont like about dnd is that during fights it gets bogged down into a cascade of minor posts on numbers / rolls, where I would prefer the gm to just godemode the result depending on our intentions, actions and capabilities, and plot.

If there is any plan to remove that problem, Im in :)

[Catastrophy]

Wow! Thanks for all the interest already! Let me try to answer some of your questions : )

If I understood you right you intend to create the world itself but use the kingmaker rules for the kingdom building portion of the adventure?

I will be creating the world myself but i will be using bits and pieces of the Kingmaker modules and adapt them to suit the campaign.

would this be starting at 1 and going to 6 or 8, or starting off at either of those and xp from that point does purchases to add onto ala the E system.

We will be starting at first level : )

What i dont like about dnd is that during fights it gets bogged down into a cascade of minor posts on numbers / rolls, where I would prefer the gm to just godemode the result depending on our intentions, actions and capabilities, and plot.

You do have a point there. Let me try to assuage your doubts.

First of all, by limiting our level to 6. We will be avoiding the unholy tangle of a mess that is high level D&D. Combat will be kept relatively simple and down to earth.

I'll be rolling as many things for your characters as i can get away with without interfering with your actions. Saves, passive skills, etc. To further save us from boggy dice rolling.

And of course, we'll generally try to make posts/dice rolling as efficient as possible

Pathfinder/3.5?

The differences between Pathfinder and D&D 3.5 are in my opinion minor. The plan is, i'll let you guys decide whether we'll be using pathfinder or 3.5 as the base, and then i'll generally allow you to use feats and classes and so on from either one of them. If we go pathfinder, sure you can take the regular D&D bard or that cool factotum or whatever. And if we go 3.5 sure you can go with the pathfinder ranger or whatever class you think is a little more juicy over on the pathfinder side.

[grovercjuk]

Sounds a very interesting concept and I would love to join. I am easy as to the system although with a tad of preference for 3.5 as I am more familiar with it.
Having the GM doing the rolling sounds wonderful as Kate says otherwise it descends into short dice roll posts.

[TheHangedOne]

Thirding what Kate said about the rolls.

How many players are you looking for, by the way? If you want another one, I think I can dig one up for you. 

[Question Mark]

I'm tossing my interest onto the pile, and my how large that pile is!  I know both 3.5 and Pathfinder, though I prefer the latter.  As for rolls, I'm okay with whatever system you decide to use.

[Senti]

Could be intrested.

[usha]

Tossing my interest somewhere in there as well, though I may not be the ideal candidate. I have never played D&D, though I have always wanted to learn. I don't want to be a burden on anyone, but I am loving this idea. So I do understand if perhaps I may not work well The heart is there, just not the wiggly little technical bits.

[TheHangedOne]

Okay, I have a question for you Catastrophy. I want to play a Summoner, and--having talked to Senti about this-- she would be interested in actually roleplaying as the Eidolon.

Would that be okay with you? If not, we understand, and it's certainly not a deal breaker for me.

[Catastrophy]

How many players are you looking for, by the way? If you want another one, I think I can dig one up for you. 

I suppose from a minimum of one to five at the very most.  3-4 is ideal, and two could be interesting as well if its two players working together to create intertwined characters.

It could even be fun to have two groups.. multiple would be Nation-builders competing with each other, or cooperating? : )

Tossing my interest somewhere in there as well, though I may not be the ideal candidate. I have never played D&D, though I have always wanted to learn. I don't want to be a burden on anyone, but I am loving this idea. So I do understand if perhaps I may not work well The heart is there, just not the wiggly little technical bits.

I think i could handle one eager and willing to learn kind of beginner. The most important part is the writing and roleplay and not the rules : )

Okay, I have a question for you Catastrophy. I want to play a Summoner, and--having talked to Senti about this-- she would be interested in actually roleplaying as the Eidolon.

Whether she plays another players minion or not it still means that theres one more player to mange, one more person that people potentially have to wait on to continue the game.

What i'm saying is that its not a loophole to squeeze in another player or get a free pass.

But it yes its a possibility.


___________________________


Just to take the temperature a bit which of the forums do people think we should unfold the roleplay?
From briefly looking through peoples profiles it seems that NC: Exotic seems to be the place to go, or?

Also seems that i have enough interest to begin working on an introduction, i'll probably post it here for feedback if you guys don't mind.

If anyone's already beginning to fumble around the the beginnings of a character concept i can tell you a few things.

There will be no over-arching pantheon of gods, that isn't to say there won't be any gods only that they are not necessarily omnipotent omniscient things watching their worshipers from other planes of existence.
Rather i'm going for a more mythical.. fable-like approach.. and the lines won't always be clear. What is a god anyways? Those few that you might come into contact with will be real tangible beings, who have somehow transcended above, but not beyond regular mortals and even other magical and mystical beings.

The ancient slumbering ent in the heart of the woods might be a forest god, and peasants will tell tales of how he was the very first seed that came before all other living things. But he will still be vulnerable, and his influence would just as much a product of the span of his far-reaching roots as it would be from his many agents and allies that strive for the same goals as himself.

Eh! I hope that wasn't too rant-like!

On top of that, i will be pouring ALL of my efforts into the regions that we will be exploring. With focus on exploring, ideally you will be unfamiliar with the new lands, not just yourselves but your characters as well. Discovering is half the fun, so basically you have the choice of either being a very very isolated persona or an outsider to the, relatively, small region.

As i am, as i said, not going to put much if any effort into anything but the very closest of neighbors that means you have free reigns to make up your own origins, cultures, lands from wenst your character came from. With all the advantages and disadvantages that entails.

What am i most interested in knowing about your character? Who is he/she/it? What has made her what she is? What are her goals? What motivates her? What are her hopes and dreams and what does she fear?  Things like that, that i can use to really make your character part of the world and the story that will unfold. And the more alive they will become, the more i have to work with the more i can do!

I hope that gives you what you need to at least get some thoughts going! If not, please ask away.

Ohh! I almost forgot. What becomes of clerics and such if they do not pray to gods? Well, there are still priests and holy men, but their talents are not given to them by the gods. Its simply another, different strain of magical talent than that of, for example wizards and sorcerers. Some have a gift for destruction and so the world and the universe has balanced things out with a few who have a gift for the opposite. I think it makes very good sense : )

Edit: Wow that was alot longer than i thought it would be! Please forgive me!

[grovercjuk]

         In regard to the forum the impression I am getting, of course I might be wrong, is that this is going to be a intensive role play as opposed to a smut play so NC Exotic should cover anything.

         As for the characters, the land you are creating is it one that is known about even if little is actually known about it by them?
What is the reason that we are together? An exploration paid for by a king? A trade mission or simply a band of travelers on the same road?

         Do you wish a basic character concept for approval or a fully polished one? And if a full one have we decided on 3.5 and how would you like the opening statistics dice roll or points?

[Brandon]

I find thats its best to go as extreme as the GM wants it to and just monitor the limits of others. Just because a game is located in NC doesnt mean all the players have to participate in non-con situations.

On a character note, Im wanting to play my Pharasman cleric whos a native of Ustalav in Golarian (think high fantasy gothic setting). If we could incorporate the lady of graves and her clergy into the setting I would be quite happy

[Question Mark]

I think NC Exotic covers all the bases nicely.  It's rare for a story focused game to go beyond those limits unless it's a specific preplanned quality of the RP.

I will also echo grover's idea that this game will be "intensive" or "story focused" as opposed to smut.  Smut's good, but I've always been a fan of "Let story dictate sex, not sex dictate story."

As for character groups ideas, I think the idea is that our characters have decided amongst themselves to try and carve out a kingdom in this hinterlands, and each intends to help in some way.  Like one may be a brash warrior who intends to take it by force, while another character could be a devious bard who intends to charm his way into the local population's graces, and so on.  That was the impression I got, at any rate.

I'm liking this already.  :)

[NatalieB]

I haven't really got a handle on the various forums yet so I'm not really gonna weigh in on that topic.  I do agree though that story should drive it - while I'm sure all your characters are lovely people I'm not really looking to just dive into bed with all of them.

Brandon - got any links to info on the Lady of Graves?  Happy to do my bit but not something I've come across before.

Whats worked well in a few tabletop RPs Ive done is to put the PCs in a list (alphabetical or whatever) and then say "Work out how you know the person after you".  So Alis Bob's sister, Bob went to Mage school with Christopher, Christopher once hired David to retrieve a scroll, etc.

[TheHangedOne]

I haven't really got a handle on the various forums yet so I'm not really gonna weigh in on that topic.  I do agree though that story should drive it - while I'm sure all your characters are lovely people I'm not really looking to just dive into bed with all of them.

Brandon - got any links to info on the Lady of Graves?  Happy to do my bit but not something I've come across before.

Whats worked well in a few tabletop RPs Ive done is to put the PCs in a list (alphabetical or whatever) and then say "Work out how you know the person after you".  So Alis Bob's sister, Bob went to Mage school with Christopher, Christopher once hired David to retrieve a scroll, etc.

I'm not Brandon, but, here you go: http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Pharasma

Also, I really, really like that idea about making it so characters are known to each other by degrees of separation.

Whether she plays another players minion or not it still means that theres one more player to mange, one more person that people potentially have to wait on to continue the game.

What i'm saying is that its not a loophole to squeeze in another player or get a free pass.

But it yes its a possibility.

I wasn't looking for a loophole to bring in one more person than you were comfortable being the GM over. I've just never seen someone do something like that before in a systems game, and I wanted to make sure you were alright with it.

[Brandon]

I'm not Brandon, but, here you go: http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Pharasma

Doh, I was about to post the same link but he beat me to it. The thing I like about Pharasma is she may be essentially a death diety but she also focuses on the two other things I like most about clerics. Knowledge and healing. However she's also a diety who focuses on bringing in new life to replace the dead similar to Saturn from the exalted setting. I see the clergy as the ones who are most likely to care for orphans and teach them things that will help them succeed in life

Anyway, the whole clergy/deity is probably my favorite in the pathfinder setting and Ive been itching for an excuse to play one of her followers

[Kate]

My gut instinct is the following

a) Concerning action fighting scene's GM posts a paragraph as you would read it in a book, I dont really care if my character is worse for it compared to if it was rolled out etc, its just that for action what is important is .... action, pace. If I walk in cowboyish and the paragraph ends with me seriously injured and none the better for it, fine .. plot moves. Over time things average out to be how well you role play and basic background of your character - if they know how to use a sword chances are they come out ok or in a reasonable strategic position. If they are a witch, they may pull off some spell first or afterwards depending on how best the plot moves to be interesting or just feels right to the gm. This would leave mechanics of Dnd For mainly "what is my character great at, what its so so at, what its useless for ... what aces up my sleave do I have, what weaknesses do I have". To me nothing ruins the excitement or suspense than "well here is numbers you loose X Hit points / health", roll for saves, roll for observation, roll for .. For MY character at least happy for me to post my basic plan only, GM godmodes the result of the entire battle in the next one post. Battle over.

EG

GM "Character X moves into take a nasty swipe at X but before her blow lands she receives a vicious hit to the back of her head. When she finally came to, she groggily gets to her feet only to see all of her followers dead, and three of the horrid monsters look up from the grisly work of eating some of them to stare at her with unblinking eyes which moves into  a frown coupled with a snarl and twitch of ears"

Player "Oh lords, this doesn't look good" Character X says, and takes only a moment to ensure she has the precious book (or whatever) before running with all the energy she has back to the village to warn those remaining of the disaster. Hopefully they will have enough time to ready horses, for no doubt she would be followed, if not immediately then soon.

This means we can have more action faster and gives much more chances for the players to actually role play, with a structure that keeps things "sort of balanced-ish". But thats must my view. Historically fights were fast and furious, three blow exchanges was ALOT, most fights were only one (first to land a blow, happens in 3 seconds, and the followup/deathblow once the other is at a significant disadvantage - either strategic (footing/balance/timing/disorientated/surprised ... fatigued etc) or almost any injury at all

b) Concerning lands / effort the GM puts into places.

I think start with one area that has mix of a few things, like a trading hub or new land that has been discovered (some pass thawed out letting us have a look see) something new. Map can be vague you know some lands that are closeby ... but flora, fauna, what is paranormal, mysterious about the place we are in => GM puts effort to.

Later when characters start exploring other regions the GM can flesh them out on a per need basis. It would be really annoying for the GM to put heaps of effort into Land X and none are interested in it.

c) Magical items, I think there should be things that don't sound like "plus 3 shortsword",
if they are enchanted they are damn good, very rare but great. If you have one magical items its way cool and enough to feel lucky. One glowing sword in a group is cool, if everyone has one it's more like a comical terry pratchet novel or a star wars feel.

Ie there are "artifacts" which are ridiculously good, most unrelated to combat (ie magic lantern, magic ruins or stone-circle, mirror etc) As well as very minor things ( like salves, potions, perhaps some scrolls ) but not much in between.

If a magic sword is known, its famous. This is how fantasy novels treat magic and it has a feel about it that does feel ... well magical.

[Catastrophy]

         As for the characters, the land you are creating is it one that is known about even if little is actually known about it by them?

What is the reason that we are together? An exploration paid for by a king? A trade mission or simply a band of travelers on the same road?

         Do you wish a basic character concept for approval or a fully polished one? And if a full one have we decided on 3.5 and how would you like the opening statistics dice roll or points?

1: Ohh there will be some common knowledge and of course rumors surrounding the wild lands, but theres little civilization so what you can learn is limited.

2: That depends very much on your characters. I can't for example set it down as an edict given by THE KING if you all decide to play a bunch of merciless scoundrels :)

3: Basic is too little, and full is too much.  I'd say a good character concept can be summed up in a paragraph or two. And no i haven't decided on whether its going to be 3.5 or pathfinder. It doesn't really make much of a difference, same goes for ability score generation but i lean heavily towards point buy.

On a character note, Im wanting to play my Pharasman cleric whos a native of Ustalav in Golarian (think high fantasy gothic setting). If we could incorporate the lady of graves and her clergy into the setting I would be quite happy

Sure, you can have your cult of the dead : )

I could imagine she might even have quite the large following, at least where you come from. How would you feel about it if the god herself doesn't exist anymore, or perhaps never existed in the first place?

As for character groups ideas, I think the idea is that our characters have decided amongst themselves to try and carve out a kingdom in this hinterlands, and each intends to help in some way.  Like one may be a brash warrior who intends to take it by force, while another character could be a devious bard who intends to charm his way into the local population's graces, and so on.  That was the impression I got, at any rate.

I'm liking this already.  :)

Whats worked well in a few tabletop RPs Ive done is to put the PCs in a list (alphabetical or whatever) and then say "Work out how you know the person after you".  So Alis Bob's sister, Bob went to Mage school with Christopher, Christopher once hired David to retrieve a scroll, etc.

Its certainly a possibility that its been decided to try to carve out your own nation.

I must admit regarding group dynamics that unless you put alot of effort into it the characters shouldn't know each other beforehand. Theres nothing more awkward than "My trusted friend who i've known and fought for two dozen years.. errhmm.. what was your name again?" this if of course extreme, but there is a shallowness that is impossible to mess when you try to fake a history together (Unless like i said you put alot of effort into it)

Rather, build a relationship and past together. "Hey i once sold you a scroll" and "hes my next door neighbor" list of arbitrary stuff seems a bit silly as well >_<* I'd rather prefer doing something slightly.. not alot more in-depth than that!

My gut instinct is the following

a) Concerning action fighting scene's GM posts a paragraph as you would read it in a book, I dont really care if my character is worse for it compared to if it was rolled out etc, its just that for action what is important is .... action, pace. If I walk in cowboyish and the paragraph ends with me seriously injured and none the better for it, fine .. plot moves. Over time things average out to be how well you role play and basic background of your character - if they know how to use a sword chances are they come out ok or in a reasonable strategic position. If they are a witch, they may pull off some spell first or afterwards depending on how best the plot moves to be interesting or just feels right to the gm. This would leave mechanics of Dnd For mainly "what is my character great at, what its so so at, what its useless for ... what aces up my sleave do I have, what weaknesses do I have". To me nothing ruins the excitement or suspense than "well here is numbers you loose X Hit points / health", roll for saves, roll for observation, roll for .. For MY character at least happy for me to post my basic plan only, GM godmodes the result of the entire battle in the next one post. Battle over.

EG

GM "Character X moves into take a nasty swipe at X but before her blow lands she receives a vicious hit to the back of her head. When she finally came to, she groggily gets to her feet only to see all of her followers dead, and three of the horrid monsters look up from the grisly work of eating some of them to stare at her with unblinking eyes which moves into  a frown coupled with a snarl and twitch of ears"

Player "Oh lords, this doesn't look good" Character X says, and takes only a moment to ensure she has the precious book (or whatever) before running with all the energy she has back to the village to warn those remaining of the disaster. Hopefully they will have enough time to ready horses, for no doubt she would be followed, if not immediately then soon.

This means we can have more action faster and gives much more chances for the players to actually role play, with a structure that keeps things "sort of balanced-ish". But thats must my view. Historically fights were fast and furious, three blow exchanges was ALOT, most fights were only one (first to land a blow, happens in 3 seconds, and the followup/deathblow once the other is at a significant disadvantage - either strategic (footing/balance/timing/disorientated/surprised ... fatigued etc) or almost any injury at all

I am not going to do it like that for so many reasons. For one, combat and conflict is no less roleplaying than conversation. If i just quickly go "ohh you beat the bad guys and save the day" only so much more elaborately... we will never have the scene with the one character decides to sacrifice himself for the other party member hes secretly enamored with.

We won't get the silly fumble that can't help make you laugh or giggle, or at the very least smile.

We won't get the awesome moment when the self-styled hero of the group rolls a lucky an opportune critical hit that gives him a super cool brief moment of awesomeness that he'll be able to brag about for years.

____________

Combat will also lose any kind of thrill or threat.

Since i'm left with either the choice of never making it lethal.. or arbitraily/randomly deciding, ohh in THIS combat.. i think brandons character is going to die.

Thats just not going to happen.
...

The way i am am going to do things will be something like this for a post to an individual character. Just a quick shoddy example:

GM: The pair of goblins squeaked as they came around the corner of the hallway. One sniggered evily as it brandished an over-sized and cruel looking blade. The other, smallest of the two, was wearing a curious mess of feathers and colored rags that gave it a nothing short of outrageous appearance. As they see Brandon the Bard they surge into motion. The bigger, blade-wielding goblin charges first and lashes out, scoring a vicious gash down Brandons arm. Simultaneously the other goblin began carving magical glowing runes out of thin air. Suddenly the runes flash brightly before surging towards Brandon in an arc of lightning that he barely manages to dodge, ducking below and cutting it so close that his hair stands on its ends.

OOC

The goblin cuts you and deals 5 damage, while thanks to your evasion you entirely avoid the damage that would have been dealt to you even when you made your reflex save against the Shamans Magic Rune!

Something like that, and then he responds, and writes the mechanical actions in a spoiler. So you can read everything as a novel more or less and then if you feel like it check the out of character rules stuff (You should probably keep check of your own! )

b) Concerning lands / effort the GM puts into places.

I think start with one area that has mix of a few things, like a trading hub or new land that has been discovered (some pass thawed out letting us have a look see) something new. Map can be vague you know some lands that are closeby ... but flora, fauna, what is paranormal, mysterious about the place we are in => GM puts effort to.

Later when characters start exploring other regions the GM can flesh them out on a per need basis. It would be really annoying for the GM to put heaps of effort into Land X and none are interested in it.

c) Magical items, I think there should be things that don't sound like "plus 3 shortsword",
if they are enchanted they are damn good, very rare but great. If you have one magical items its way cool and enough to feel lucky. One glowing sword in a group is cool, if everyone has one it's more like a comical terry pratchet novel or a star wars feel.

Ie there are "artifacts" which are ridiculously good, most unrelated to combat (ie magic lantern, magic ruins or stone-circle, mirror etc) As well as very minor things ( like salves, potions, perhaps some scrolls ) but not much in between.

If a magic sword is known, its famous. This is how fantasy novels treat magic and it has a feel about it that does feel ... well magical.

Thanks for the input.

[Brandon]

Sure, you can have your cult of the dead : )

I could imagine she might even have quite the large following, at least where you come from. How would you feel about it if the god herself doesn't exist anymore, or perhaps never existed in the first place?

Im not really a fan of that idea. It takes away the personal connection a cleric has with their patron deity. Obviously philosopher clerics are a possibility but the way I see this character I dont think it would work

[Catastrophy]

Im not really a fan of that idea. It takes away the personal connection a cleric has with their patron deity. Obviously philosopher clerics are a possibility but the way I see this character I dont think it would work

Ahh. Seems you missed my post about the lack of over-arching omnipotent gods. No, in my world faith is once again about faith and belief rather than unshakable fact. If you believe in something, in this case the need for death and rebirth then that is what the church is about. The tenets, holy books and writings and so on and so on. Your character will see things.. and have doubts of his or her is the right way. Rather than go "No wait, my god is right up there looking at me.. hey god? you alright mate? yeah cool"

This makes faith and priests real and diverse things. If a priest utterly believes in every last word of his faith hes a fanatic.. but that wouldn't be the case if the god was real and present. This way is just much more fun and interesting and believable and so on. It becomes about a characters morality, her personal struggles with her beliefs and is she really doing the right thing?

Edit: Of course, you could be a devotee/worshipper of a very real god. Maybe you write up a really story about how your character, and perhaps many other adepts of the Lady (Forgot her name) to spread her influence. Join powerful groups and exert her influence secretively as much as possible, sending secret missives back and forth between yourself and the seat of your goddess. As a level one character though i doubt he'd be high enough ranking to have much personal contact with her. Its an idea : ) It could actually be awesome, especially if its something that undermines the general values and ideas that the group upholds, Muahahha. Sorry. I love intrigues <3

[TheHangedOne]

Input time.

A.) Bringing faith back is a nice tweak of the campaign world. In a world where a God can physically manifest, or directly talk to their followers, you don't need faith, because you have fact.  However, I have a question for this: How does divine magic, then, in your campaign world? My understanding is that it works, because Clerics pray to their god for that power, and the deity goes "Hmm, yes, you are a good and faithful follower, with a good reason for wanting to do this. I'll allow it!"

Maybe divine and arcane magics are just a single degree of separation? It's all about manipulating the ether winds, or whatever magical force saturates the world?

On a tangentially related note, I will likely play a follower of Tymora, who's not too serious about his faith.

B.) Like your idea for combat, Catastrophy. Makes sense.

C.) Hmm, maybe we should wait until we all have our characters to decide how they get together?  Ooh, also, idea! What if each character is descended from nobility? Maybe a fallen noble house, maybe a direct descendant of the king, or something in-between.  Each character comes from one of the "families" that are incredibly influencial in the kingdom/city-state/whatever it is we'll start off on.

And this King/duke/ruler/leader/whatever's royal scouts have noticed a new landmass on the sea/a melting snowy path leading to a new land/whatever, and aforementioned ruler decides "Hey, you know, it's getting hard to grow enough crops to feed all my people, I'm running out of places to put stuff, this place looks totally uninhabited, I should totally send some people to check this out".

Why pick the sons and daughters of powerful families? Because somebody is going to need to rule the local areas in the name of the leader, and they should be of noble birth. Furthermore, the powerful houses represent people that can help; a merchant's son, for instance, could tap into the family resources to finance the trip, thus saving the gold in the king's coffers for other things.

This also gives some reasons for people to know each other, i.e. "Oh, yes, I met so-and-so at their father's Spring Salon" or "Oh, that's the daughter of so-and-so. I've heard she's as ruthless as the man who beget her".

Also, their could always be the chance of finding a way to weasel out of giving the lands to the leader, of them working to create their own independent realm. Plenty of reasons, too.

Eeeh. It's early, I just woke up, that is all very rough, and definitely needs refining, but I hope it helps.

D.) I like the idea of most magic items being unique, while stuff like potions are quite a bit more common, and consistent in appearance and what they do.