Civilization and its Monsters, Part 2: Rule and Ruin

Previously: Civilization and its Monsters, Part 1: CRs and CIV Scores

Civilizations overcome by monsters are ruled or ruined by them, and both of these conditions provide good base states for adventure. The monster’s success should in some way express its driving desires and compulsions, which the Monster Manual is typically pretty good about spelling out in each monster's description.

Ruined civilizations should be everywhere in D&D. Abandoned villages are extremely common; when a small community is overcome by a monster, survivors scatter, either seeking new communities to take them in, or searching for an unsettled place where they can start again. Cities are fueled by various mass migrations (often caused by the destruction of other cities or many smaller communities), and those cities either grow from villages or are founded in the ruins of older civilizations that were abandoned for good (but now forgotten) reasons. Fantasy adventure world always has a frontier, where civilization is always (re-)settling the wild, and that frontier can mutate and re-emerge even in long-settled, peaceful areas.

Kingdoms might have long histories, but not peaceful or well-recorded ones; assume that they have conquered and been conquered multiple times. A consistent dynasty that has ruled for thousands of years like the Yamato dynasty of Japan should be exceedingly rare in a D&D world. More common would be overlapping, warring, culturally intermingling states, like the warring dynasties of China.

Every civilization should have signs of this cultural trauma. The PCs should meet refugees or first-generation immigrants raised on stories of their former home. In some communities these people will be viewed sympathetically, while in others they may be stigmatized; but they should almost always be there. Again, civilizations with long histories and stable immigration and emigration should be exceedingly rare in a world of monsters and magic.

Civilizations that endure monsters are at an equilibrium, and also can serve as great adventure base states. The civilization and the threat(s) it faces both want to tip the scales and prevail. The village either will survive or it will not, but right now it is at equilibrium with the bullywugs. It is ripe for PC intervention.

Civilizations that overcome threats usually grow. When several villages unite into a city-state and drive back the minotaur king’s army, they've figuratively leveled up to the point where they will face greater challenges. Note that civilizations that overcome threats rarely eliminate them; usually only PCs will do that. Civilizations are much more likely to drive monsters away, either into the wilderness and the dungeons, or into neighboring civilizations that represent softer targets. And of course, these civilizations themselves are not inherently good, and could become monster-equivalent threats themselves. Thinking about these questions also opens a door for high-level PCs to domain-level play.