Didn't see one up, so let's get one going.
What's /tg/ been working on? What's your new favorite, your biggest headache, your idea that you want to flesh out but no one wants to hear it?
Just a general thread for share ideas, and asking for help.
How does one justify old worn science fantasy without it turning into another post-apoc wasteland setting?
Low space opera, I can't make a map because space is 3D and mostly everything takes place in Earth's orbit, clusters of space stations etc. The scale and positioning would be impossible on a 2D image.
>>44501587
make it a postpost apocalyptic setting
>>44501587
Well, you need to have ruins and an ancient civilization that disappeared long ago, but it doesn't have to be post-apocaliptic. Said civilization may have nothing to do with the current population of the world, and their disappeareance may be the result of something good, like ascending to a higher plane of existence. In fact, why not have the ancient civilization be the basis for the gods of the current civilization? Benevolent gods that try to give their ancient knowledge to the new, fledgling creatures of the world.
>>44501587
Make it not a ruined wasteland?
I have an idea for a tavern built from the wreckage of stuff jettisoned into a strange astral dimension. The party essentially gets pulled into a wormhole and "air swim" to the tavern where some people are living and working. The place gets odd alien clients, people from other dimensions, and the occasional wizard or other mage who gets there with magic.
The only "gimmick" is that closing a door means that door opens to a random dimension when opened again. So there will be people raiding other dimensions for food or supplies to bring back to the tavern. The trouble comes as "doors" are loosely defined in the tavern; so cabinets, planks boarding up a doorway, or even a sheet flap hung up for privacy can turn into a gateway to another dimension.
Some of these dimensions will be safe and some will essentially be Hell or otherwise unlivable. As the party gains strength they may fix some of the doors that have been permanently closed for years because what is on the other side.
It's pretty much a fantasy setting, except it's intended to be a kind of AU version of Blue Rose, where you play a fantasy equivalent of Special Circumstances, basically well-intentioned fantasy-CIA social engineers who go into medieval hellholes and align them politically with Aldean western humanistic values.
For that, I need lots of different cultures, nations and political situations for the characters to get embroiled in, so that's what I've been thinking about.
My latest idea is a religion that has slavery for religion - basically, sunday mass involves going to church where there's a gigantic iron statue of God, cowering, and the priest takes a ceremonial cat-o-nine-tails and ritually flays God's back for not serving his people properly.
>>44502226
While still post-apoc. This does give me an idea. The idea is the remnants of a human world that has died off, and now the creatures left behind build itself on the ruins. Basically, I'm going to justify fantasy races piloting giant mechs with it.
>>44502149
You may have to result in several maps covering different aspects; orbital paths, geo-synch positions if some have them, etc.
>>44502495
Sounds like a good idea. Reminds me of Planescape.
The empire of the Mask existed on the blood of slaves it gained from its monsterous henchmen s raids.
Beginning
The hidden rulers came from the depths of the earth, and infected surface dwellers with their curse, thus began the race of Ogre Magi.
The Magi used their powers to control tribes of Orcs and Ogres, and built great temples to sacrifice prisoners and slaves to their vampire overlords dwelling in the depths. Every temple has a sacrificial pit.
Captured dwarf craftsmen were kept alive to build elaborate palaces connected to the temples where the O-magi dwelled in luxury. Camps for orcs and slaves were also built.
The Civil War
As the slave population dwindled, the various Temple cities did war upon each other to capture enough sacrifices to satisfy their ruler. Soon the weakened cities were either destroyed from rivals of by slave or orc revolts.
Denouement
The Coastal city.
Built during the decline, this was planned as a base for pirate raids on the northern human coast, but is now overgrown and populated by monsters. It has no temple but has a great port island.
The Orc slave soldiers fled the ruins and traveled east to the verdant jungles of Attan, they occasionally raid the ruins.
The Dwarf slaves fled south to the Iron mountains where their kin had already dug out mountain fortresses.
The O-magi have returned to the ruined palaces and dream of rebuilding their empire
The underground rulers have fallen into a bloodless slumber, waiting for sacrifices.
Posting some notes for a setting I'm working on for a wargame.
I need to develop it further, but not sure where to take it.
>Desert culture
>Lives in desert because of mineral wealth, no other resources to speak of
>Trade for food, water, etc.
>Deeply religious because of encounter with a deity early in the civilizations history
How do I make this not just a port of early Sub-Saharan Africa?
>>44503559
They're nomads that track and hunt giant elementals for the minerals instead of being established mining towns and cities.
I'm trying to make a foundation for my setting where World War 3 made our planet and solar system pretty much uninhabitable. Here's the (rough)time line I have for WW3:
>WW3 started out being fought over water and water-related technologies(efficient desalination, ect)(Circa 2060 something)
>But then WW3 slowly turns into a war of acquisition, with the desired resource being nuclear materials(Uranium, Thorium, ect)and petroleums(Gasoline, Diesel, Oil, ect)(Circa 2100 something)
>At this point, WW3 had been going on for nine years
>After that, the war started up again (Some time in the mid 2100s)for the acquisition of territory
blah blah blah, war.
>Now, the year is 2343. Man kind has been at war for centuries. A beautiful planet that was once home to ten billion people is now a desolate ash-covered wasteland, inhabited by a mere 600 million, with more dying day by day.
>But today will be a day like no other, where mankind will look up from their bloodshed to the stars once again, and realize…
>We are not alone.
I've posted before, but I'm having trouble for trying to come up with a reason why the majority of humankind would be at war for nearly three centuries. I've decided it was a sort of on-off thing, with small peace treaties sprinkled through out the war that gave brief respite.
Also, humanity finally unites when ayys come down and try to bring peace by disabling their militarys. We take this as an act of war so obviously we fight back. The aliens decide "nah they too dangerous we have to murder them all to make sure they dont go on a galactic warpath", but some think we can still be redeemed so they help us fight back the fleet.
After that, they help us build The Migrant Fleet, an armada of nearly three hundred starships that are pretty much all self-sufficient(gas mining ships, agriculture ships, population centers, ect).
Shall I explain some concepts i have for humans after leaving earth?
>>44506629
For the extended war part, maybe go with the water technology had a flaw that it'd return the impurities back into the water source, so as the oceans and seas were harder and harder to purify, due to the increasing levels of pollution, the focus came to fight over better spots for water, like ice cap mining and such.
I didn't like my old setting map (barely a setting at this point, still hashing out), but what the fuck should I add to this with a semblance of realism? Just a note, it's about the size of Europe, and the mountain range is where two continental plates are making sweet, sweet love.
i want to get to a place where I can have a solarpunk city, but I don't know where to start.
any tips?
I posted some of my 30+ setting ideas in one of these threads and the anons there seemed to really like one, so I've been trying to expand on it a bit.
Basically, it's a fantasy world after the end of the world. All the prophecies, messiahs, the ancient regal empires, wars of the gods have come and gone. The magic is gone. The afterlives are gone. Death is gone. It is a time after the end of time.
And in the midst of it all, the final remnant of humanity somehow survives. Doesn't thrive, but persists. People don't die anymore. People haven't died for a long time. Instead, they simply fade to dust. The people who feel that inexplicable, awful shift that would once have been death become Pilgrims, and take the long journey to the north, where everyone else seems to be going.
Scholars and priests delve into the silent libraries and crypts of empty cities seeking possibilities that the world isn't yet over and bandits eke out a brutal existence.
Humanity isn't the only thing left, though. There are remnants and hints of old things older than time in the deep and far lonely places.
The only magic that exists are heirlooms and artifacts that had been bonded to human souls and enchanted. Powerful, but rare, and of very singular usage.
I'm trying to build a setting where I can include sexy cat girls without it getting weird.
>>44502495
>I have an idea for a tavern built from the wreckage of stuff jettisoned into a strange astral dimension. The party essentially gets pulled into a wormhole and "air swim" to the tavern where some people are living and working. The place gets odd alien clients, people from other dimensions, and the occasional wizard or other mage who gets there with magic.
reminds of the space dandy episode with the ramen soup dude
>>44510315
>And in the midst of it all, the final remnant of humanity somehow survives. Doesn't thrive, but persists. People don't die anymore. People haven't died for a long time. Instead, they simply fade to dust. The people who feel that inexplicable, awful shift that would once have been death become Pilgrims, and take the long journey to the north, where everyone else seems to be going.
sounds like wristcutters the adventure game. That moive came to mind
>>44508418
I could see a wealthy trade city growing up on the coast south of that mountain range.
>mountain cover to the north/possible mining industry
>overland travel from the eastern peninsula to the west must either go through the city or travel through some mountain pass.
>all of the towns and villages on either side of the bay could easily fall into a single sphere of influence.
What kind of creature or concept could so threaten space-time that soldiers and species from different time periods would have to be drafted into some scrap pile dimension to fight a neverending war?
>>44513678
A Worm Hole that's alive between dimensions.
And hungry.
Random thoughts. This idea has possibly been done, or even over done. But i have not seen it...
Robots that are hive minded via close range signals. If you have a robot by itself, then it has the intelligence of a small child. In a group of 10, the hive mind attribute makes the group smarter giving the overall intellect of a borderline genius. Additionally when robots are by themselves, only some of their senses function. Ex. Sight and hearing. But in groups not only can they share in real time their own senses, but additional processing power makes other senses start working like the monitoring of infrared, seismic activity, nuclear radiation etc. Also each robots body is only a husk, so they can transfer consciousness to other host bodies at will a long as it is transferable.
I realize this is not how computers realistically work, but I suppose that is the science fiction side of things.
>>44513678
Lavos
>>44513709
How would you fight that? Why would you need an army against that?
>>44513678
Hounds of Tindalos. Ramp them up to be all-consuming horde of inter-dimensional monsters. Employ geometry to fight and capture them. You can't kill them, but you can hurt them. Bullets and shells and bombs with curves actually damage them, but at the same time, they can come through the angles of the gun firing them.
You'd need to revolutionize architecture and culture through time and space. But limit how the Hounds come through, if they can come en-masse, we all lose. They need a limit.
>>44501434
> A world that is in the grip of an ice age, with most landmasses mostly covered by glaciers
> An "ring of fire" archipelago of volcanos and geothermal vents that provide moderately temperate zones for agriculture and urbanization
> the homeland of humanity in the ice-free tropical belt, destroyed by one of these volcanos
> the northern landmass is at Age of Exploration technology, with galleons and frigate catamarans skating along the ice, blown by howling boreal winds or pulled by teams of mammoth-bears when in the doldrums
> whalers hunting giant ice-whales which break through the ice with their bony head-plates
> windmages and lavasingers using their elemental magic to make things happen
> Pirates of the Carribean on ice, I guess
> the tropical areas of the northern continent are relatively cold-free and maintain a Mediterranean aesthetic, think Venice or Genoa in the Renaissance
> the southern continent is equally cold and icy, but with more of a middle eastern sensibility
> inland tribes move like a combination of bedouin and inuit, hunting, gathering, and herding wooly hippo
> the tribes have mastered the art of fashioning the bones and hide of dead animals into necromantic constructs
> the tropical areas of the northern continent have a Middle Eastern aesthetic
> the equatorial strip is mostly devoid of landmass and is roughly equivalent in width to the Mediterranean sea and is dotted with savage islands
>>44501587
Economics. Even if you have sustained over production allowing the wealthy and middle class to constantly update their tech, you'll still have poor people who are dependent on their refurbished cast-offs. Just set the story in poor, remote, rural areas
I'm working on a hard sci-fi game set in the far future.
-Earth is uninhabitable but still has a station with a population of roughly 1.5 million.
-Humanity is fuedal, with the seat of the emperor being Europa.
Jupiter is the center of wealth and power in the empire, atmospheric mining of Jupiter is responsible for the vast majority of fuel production.
-The majority of imperial power is centered around the gas giants and mars. Earth, Venus, --The outer gas giants, and dwarf planets are something of 'frontier territories' with less law enforcement presence.
-Nobles are among the only people who can grow up at 1G (In expensive to operate high G ring stations) and as a result are stronger and healthier than the majority of the population
-Powered armour is a badge of office and rank for nobles, similar to the sword of the dark ages.
That's what I've got so far, fleshing tit out to show players by tuesday.
>>44512652
Aren't we all?
Ive been working on this WH40K campaign that takes place in the 45th millenia.
The idea is, the EMPRAH has died on the golden throne. As soon as that happens, the astronomicon goes out and space travel through the warp becomes a goddamn nightmare, obviously. Some human worlds become stranded and unable to communicate with other planets, forcing a sort of galaxy wide blackout in communications. Things get bad very quickly.
Because the PC's will be from the planets that were in the dark, the campaign will focus on finding out what exactly happened.
Some good does come from the EMPRAH'S death. For one, the dark gods become silent. Their power remains and can be drawn from, but the gods themselves dont speak at all. The reason why is because as soon as the GLORIOUS EMPRAH died and came into the warp, he brought with him the power of the billions of psykers that have been sacrificed to him over the years. With that power he killed the gods AND stabalized the warp so that reality doesnt collapse from the resulting power vaccum. Their power remains, however.
The tyranids, originally coming into the milky way because of the astronomicon, go bat shit insane and start attacking each other due to a loss of direction. This severely hurts them. They still remain a threat on a sectorial scale, but no longer pose a galaxy wide threat. Not yet at least.
The eldar... I dont know, im still trying to figure this one out.
Dark eldar are doing their thing from commoragh.
Necrons stay sleeping, only arrising at the call of their leader Szarekh the silent king. Why he is raising them after what happened to the tyranids is unknown.
Abaddon loses his shit when no reinforcements come after he destroyed the Cadian Gate. Therefore he tried to make it back to yhe eye only to find in horror that it has been closed by an unknow force. Surrounded and with no forces left, he gets destroyed. (I might change hid fate later on.)
Rest of the details are to be filled out soon.
Right now writing up a totally underwater campaign for a D&D 5e game. It's heavily inspired by the Sword and Planet books being set in a world that's very alien to us.
Right now my largest headache is the playable races. I'd like as minimal changes as possible, but I also realize i'll have to omit some races entirely.
Humans will be the least changed. Taking large inspiration from the Atlanteans of the DC universe, they're basically humans that can breathe underwater.
Dwarves I want to be Crabmen, with the different subraces determined by the conditions their people have lived in.
I'm having all three varieties of elves, but aquatic variants. Wood Elves live among the reefs, High Elves in magical castles of pearl, and Dark Elves in the deep of the abyssal/midnight zones, where light is a sign of danger, not comfort.
Torn between having Halflings or Gnomes. If I take gnomes, only Forest Gnomes will be viable in some variant, like Cuttlefishmen or something. If I take Haflings I may make them general small fishpeople or something, not sure. Ideas would be appreciated.
Dragonborn are sticking around, but look like humanoid lionfish in a way, dragons are depicted more asian in influence than western, no matter their kind.
Half-orcs are Half-Sahuaginm with little changes except aesthetic.
Half-elves are also around with little change beyond aesthetic.
Tieflings are also around, but tainted by the Abyss, more tentacles, cold, and darkness, than horns, fire, and brimstone.
Again, any ideas would be appreciated.
Okay /tg/
I've got an npc Elf called Yevma who owns a bar/brothel with mostly half elf workers.
I need a name that isnt 100% cringe
>>44516315
For the bar?
>>44516353
Yep, same building.
The bar is downstairs and the brothel is above.
>>44516366
Yevma's Den. Simple enough and makes the character of some import, a good story seed there.
>>44514705
This is my new favourite setting.
So currently I'm building a classic medieval fantasy with a lot of twists I've shared multiple times before in these threads; but currently I have a more specific problem I'd like a little help with.
Basically I want to add in guns and make them both better then they should be but not prevalent. Partially because I want to add a class that makes heavy use of them.
Thus far I have many ideas; you've gotta maintain them, gotta make your own gunpowder, certain special orders are the only ones that teach people how to use them, maybe some others. But tell me your ideas;
How to restrict guns from the masses but keep them viable for small elite units (like adventurers?)
>>44502640
Xenogears?
>>44516315
Negotiable Affections?
So I know I'm never going to finish it, but I've been wanting to write some kind of book length thing. I wanted to make a sci fi setting and have been wracking my brain at work on what I want to do.
T.E.M.P.L.E.. To Ensure Mankind's Place and Longevity Everywhere.
Space ships designed with the purpose of carrying new generations of humans to distant planets to ensure humanities survival after a software glitch causes uncontrollable replication in a group of nanobots. Unable to know where the experimental jump drive will carry them or if they will even survive its activation
>>44516953
Outlaw guns.
Someone which has a gun has to mantain it by himself, the "special orders" are rogue guilds, hidden dens or foreigner agents and pirates.
Those that have guns also hunt individuals with guns which did not belong to their group, keeping what they see as their own advantage.
>>44516953
About nobles, for nobles, by nobles. Both the manufacture of gun mechanisms and gunpowder are a closely kept secret known only to the elite smiths of royal and noble family orders, and the supply of gunpowder materials and sources are known only to a few.
It costs money, more money than a peasant can ever own, and that's buying it, supplying ammunition and the upkeep of the weapon. No one outside of these orders knows how to even use them, and if you do, their agents would very much like to know how.
This is all because guns are absolutely devastating new tech, not perfectly refined, but a knight's plate armour can be pierced from across a battlefield by a rifle, a bad encounter be turned by the swift crack and impact of a pistol and a beast's hide can be reduced to mulch from a blunderbuss. These things are akin to dangerously harmful spells (if your setting has them), and they don't take years of learning or innate skill to use, training aside. Plus, their mundanity, their iron, silver and oak materials, makes them nigh-unstoppable against certain magical defences.
>>44516953
>Unreliable
>Tendency to explode
>The average man is terrified of something that uses controlled explosions to propel a piece of lead
>Machinery isn't advanced enough to manufacture small enough pieces on a large scale
>firearms are only manufactured by a handful of skilled smiths who refuse to just hand their guns out willy-nilly, and demand top dollar for each and every firearm. Attempts to reverse engineer have proved unsuccessful
>The smiths have runes inside the gun that render them incapable of being maintained by anyone without the proper incantation. Any attempt to open the firearm up without the incantation results in explosion
>Very little saltpeter in the world
>Noble Elitism won't allow firearms to touch commonfolk hands
>Ban 'em
>Another weapon like the crossbow has been used for so long that most people refuse to adopt anything new
>Mystic foreign weapon from Far Away Land
I could use some help/feedback/advise on a setting I'm working on. Not sure where to start, so here we go:
Across the planet are an undetermined number of naturally occurring springs. These springs are located where the boundary between the real world and afterlife, and is where the souls of the dead pass on (and, possibly where reincarnated souls returns; I haven't decided). Living creatures get a terrible sense of unease and foreboding when they get near one (due to the flow of souls). If a living creature were to enter a pool, however, they would absorb a huge amount of otherworldly power and be transfigured into a nigh-immortal super being. This works for people and animals, but only once.
Unfortunately, this process drains the pools of power and closes the connection. While one being becomes incredibly powerful, the area surrounding the pool becomes haunted by lost souls and creatures born nearby tend to be stillborn.
I haven't decided whether or not the springs recharge or not, but I'm thinking they do after a few centuries.
Explaining the whole magic system would take up too much room, so I'll just say there are two main branches -- one involves a person manipulating their own "soul" to increase their abilities (think ki or chi, kinda), the other is more traditional fireball-throwing magic, but is powered by burning souls (for lack of a better word).
As you can see, both are essentially soul/spirit based magics; people who go into one of those magic springs become incredibly powerful in both flavors, even with little to no training.
I'm also including a form of highly ritualized alchemy capable of creating incredible elixirs (longevity, healing, other neat stuff) or changing a person's body entirely (I don't have orcs, but alchemy can and does change people into something similar).
Water from one of the springs, both active and dormant, is the perhaps the most sought after alchemy ingredient there is.
>>44517575
The setting itself is at the tail-end of an ice age. Coastal regions across the world are suffering, but new inland territories, especially in the north, are opening up so even long established population groups are migrating. Furthermore, springs which have been inaccessible for ages are opening once more, so exploration expeditions are being funded by most of the powerful monarchs and magically-inclined orders. Tech levels are primarily early-Viking age, so stuff life plate armour is rare, but steel weapons are still pretty advanced.
Kingdoms are little more than powerful duchies able to (more or less) control their immediate neighbors. There are, however, a number of powerful guilds able to influence politics in minor ways, but their power is kept in check by local rulers being able to threaten offering other guilds patronage.
As a real-world comparison, it would be like having over a dozen mini-Catholic Churches, different groups of which have similar domains (several for magic, several for alchemy, several for competing deities). If one alchemy guild tries to lean too heavily on a local duke, he can ask another to step in and help.
Anyway, it's largely a setting designed for exploration and heroic adventure a la Beowulf.
I'm still looking for ideas for how to expand the setting. I'd kind of like to include airships, but even for a fantasy setting that'd probably be too much, right?
Also, what are your thoughts on ritual-based magic? I'd kind of like to include another flavor of magic in which humans barter power from spirits and otherworldly beings, but I'm worried doing so might crowd the setting a bit too much.
So has anyone figured out a way to legitimize early 1500s technology in a civilization that has existed for a few thousand years?
I was thinking that instead of technology people study magic instead since it has more uses.
I'm working on a Star Wars campaign, taking place before Episode 4, where the party will take a ship to claim an abandoned space station that mines a Gas Giant. (Think an evil-ish Cloud City) I envision the planetary system as having a a Super Giant (10 times the size of jupiter) orbiting a super-massive sun, with one of the planet's moons being about the size of Neptune or Uranus. On the smaller giant would be a permanent storm (Great Red/Blue Spot) and in the center of the eye, just below the clouds, lies the station. (working name is "The Eye of Abbadon")
Obviously claiming the station is a dungeon crawl where they find this station has been maintained by half functioning droids. The high pressure, low visibility atmosphere requires gas masks, they have a ship overhead that is not equipped to help them, and all the droids are missing parts. If I do this right, it will feel like a zombie apocalypse flick.
I have high hopes for it.
>>44517727
This is a common way to do it, but I've heard a lot.
>Gods smiting people down who advance too much
>Culture simply doesn't care about advancement
>Elite Wizards/ruling class keep technology levels down to keep their rule
>huge threats like dragons and giants do too much damage too often for society to advance
My personal favorite answer to this question is actually a matter of physics. Don't want gunpowder in your setting? The materials needed to make it just don't exist. Don't want people to advance to engines? Gasoline and coal never had the right conditions to form, or simply don't burn the right way. These are all possible answers, but I think a common one is just to say that this is what the tech level of the setting is RIGHT NOW, and sure people may advance in the future but that's not when the game or story is set.
>>44517189
I played Xenoblade Chronicles X too, bud.
>>44517897
Huh... People not wanting to advance seems dumb but I could get behind materials not existing and monsters making it too hard.
Thanks anon
>>44517969
>People not wanting to advance seems dumb
There are plenty of real world cultures that do not care about advancing technologically, much less in a fantasy setting.
>>44517969
There're real cultures that don't really pay any mind to progression, and not all of them are just unlucky tribes born into a poor place to work with. Europe spent some centuries going backwards.
Some easy excuses if handwaving isn't good enough is religious fear, ethical backlashes, big current issues that need to be addressed before science, general oppression.
>>44517911
Never played it
>>44513974
Sounds a bit like the Geth.
>>44517911
That's hardly an idea unique to Xenoblade Chronicles X or anon's setting.
>>44517727
That's actually a pretty good reason. Forgive me for using a fanfic as an example, but the main character inHarry Potter and the Natural 20; he's a character from a D&D game stuck in HP universehas just this epiphany. He realizes technology is progressed out of need, but in his world that need is already filled by magic. People don't even conceive of other forms of advancement; for enough money, there's some sort of magic you can purchase from a wizard to get it done.
He realizes that magic itself, his favorite thing in the universe, is the cause of his world being stuck in the middle ages for literally thousands of years.
Awhile back I was working on a setting that worked on a cycle. Every few hundred years or so the BBEG brings the world to the brink of annihilation, only to be exiled by the reincarnated heroes. Eventually, the heroes sacrificed themselves in a different way to stop the cycle: instead of banishing the BBEG, they sealed it away.
At least, this that was the background. The cycle kept technology from advancing; magic hurt advancement (as described above) and the BBEG's reign of destruction always knocked things back to the middle ages no matter how far people advanced.
I used this as the backstory for a setting with WWI era tech levels. The BBEG's "permanent" removal also got rid of magic, so eventually technology progressed.
Anyway, something like that might help, but >>44517897
has a lot of good ideas. I can't possibly answer any better than what he says here.
>>44518284
I've got a similar thing going on in my setting where the BBEG swings on by every so often to destroy all civilization. The setting is filled with ruins built atop ruins built atop ruins.
Other than this though, the church in the setting actively hunts down and destroys technology. While anyone can learn magic, the church does most of the formal teaching in the setting and keeps a strong hold on magic users and the circulation of magical goods and services. They're not actually an evil church in my setting, one of the bigger goods in fact, but they're of the opinion that allowing the common man to quickly obtain power that mages usually have to go through years of not only study but also ethical discipline is a fast track to total chaos.
>>44501434
A slight idea I'm considering, that has probably been done before.
Basiclly, it's what would have happened if the generic fantasy 'elves, dwarves, ect.' continued, for years, and they are now in the sci-fi stage due to their technological advancements.
>>44518345
Nice. I've always liked the idea of magic users trying to keep a monopoly on magic. Several of my settings have secular magic inquisitions that do just that, but I quite like the idea of melding the two.
Have you ever read The Lies of Locke Lamora? I was amused to find the author did something similar. All magic users, on pain of death, belong to one organization. If a person tries to learn magic outside of their control, they kill that person. If an outsider kills one of their members, they will kill that person as well (and possibly their whole family; it's been awhile since I've read the book).
This allows them to charge an exorbitant price for their services: if you want magical help, you have literally no other option.
It goes in almost the complete opposite direction from the "for their own good" monopolies I tend to use. In many ways, it almost makes more sense.
>>44518433
Fantasy in space is always fun. Let me know if you ever get it off the ground; the best I've ever come up with is to have each fantasy race be from a different planet, but it ended up being too much like 40k.
Hey guys.
What weapon from the ancient ages would you consider to be able to be 'transformed' or used as it is as a low area of effect weapon?
I've got an ancient setting and I'm looking for that, to give a little bit of zone control, and avoid people bunching up a lot.
I had thought about chinese flamers, but they're so big and huge, and awkward. And also about chu-ko-nus, but they were flimsy as fuck, and their bolts were thrown at really low speed.
>>44519975
a gun
>>44520067
>ancient
>a gun
>>44520086
a big gun
Are there any good programs that could be used for mapmaking?
Want to start making a game-world, but trying to jump right into free-handing it is kind of daunting.
>>44520350
Yes! Try Incarnate, it takes a while but can produce decent results. Sadly it's fantasy only. Pic related is something I made with it.
>>44520350
>What weapon from the ancient ages would you consider to be able to be 'transformed' or used as it is as a low area of effect weapon?
That largely depends on what kind of map do you need to make. The most basic and easy-to-get-into map software is Incarnate. Alternatively, you can use hexographer if hex-map is what you need.
A little more advanced stuff involves using both GIMP and Inkscape, which allow for some neat little stuff like noise-generated coast line, which looks decent.
If you want a decent isometric map (something like the famous middle-earth map by Tolkien), you'll have to buckle up and hand-draw the stuff.
There is a great website with a lot of advices here - http://www.fantasticmaps.com
>>44517727
Modern technological advancements largely happened due to combination of several fundamental philosophical paradigm-changers (if you excuse the language) - combinations of concepts that were pretty unique to the specific religious and philosophical context of Greece, Christianity, Rome and Islam. The modern technological progress is not something that happened necessarily, and there were many civilizations that existed for thousands and thousands of years without achieving the same rapid development of modern technology - pretty much just because their underlying view of the world was different.
>>44510298
I don't know what Solarpunk is but that image looks a lot like the film Tekkonkinkreet which is just modern day Japan's Jet Set Radio/Future city turned up to eleven. In fact for all I know (it's been years since I watched it) that image could just be from the film itself
>>44510315
Soooo.... Twenty minutes into the future Dark Souls then?
I'm currently fleshing out a city in my mad max/shadowrun love child setting, any ideas for street gangs or other factions that might be inclined to make life difficult for players?
>>44520660
>inkarnate
ew, everything it makes looks exactly the same.
>>44520350
Photoshop best.
I made this and I'm an artistic retard, and I think it looks pretty alright.
I need to come up with a fairly secluded (few non-player characters, not easy to leave) sci fi setting. Other than space ships and underwater bases, what are some interesting alternatives?
>>44521189
Arctic bases, moon colonies, Small caravan in inhospitable landsape
>>44521317
>Arctic bases
Damn, why didn't I think of that? Thanks, that'll be it.
>>44521140
>a gang that made a sport into a deadly fight for your life
>slavers looking for some new slaves in the slums
>A normaly well organized drug dealing gang has a sudden shift in power as the previous boss dies due to choking on a grape, the new guy in charge is currently powercrazy and makes the organized gang into a bunch of druged up psychos
>A gang that specializes in frauds(cheating in cards,pickpockets, cup game), every time the PCs call out their bullshit they run into the alleyways, more of annoyance than a threat
>worshippers of [insert god here] mistake a PC for a saint figure in their religion, hijinx ensue
More of random encounters than legit gangs
>>44521189
>Scientific base on a planet with high Vulcanic activity
>Fairly primitive village for a sci-fi setting in the middle of a jungle
>A crashed spaceship
>>44517088
I know nothing about Xenogears other than its a video game. Care to explain?
bump because Im preparing my pdf to share
>>44516624
glad to help
>>44516199
Any help on this would be appreciated.
>>44516199
>>44524559
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by underwater. All the species have gills, or something, and they whole campaign involves swimming at the bottom of the sea?
You're introducing something that'll have a profound impact on every little thing imaginable. No throwing fireballs, no swords or clubs or staff weapons or bows or crossbows or throwing knives or axes. Your players are pretty much stuck with spears of various flavors.
Can't have potions or other stuff to drink and it'll be almost impossible to store food 'cause the water will damage it and the wee fishies will be after it constantly. No fires or torches for light. Instead of wind, you'll have currents capable of blowing things miles away from where they want to be. Sound works differently.
Or are you running it with fantasypunk submarines? If so, you'll need some sort of magic to explain airlocks and such every time someone wants to leave the boat.
>>44525197
Former. Fireballs and Fire become Steam, weapon choices are more piercing than slashing or bludgeoning. Materials that are far more brittle on the surface work well underwater. There are special crossbows that act more like harpoon guns. There are also remnants of the time before the world sank, but they're ancient weapons, like copper blades that carry poison in their strike. Potions are a special case, as glass was a thing before the world sank, and may still be in air pockets controlled by the crabmen. I'm going very Little Mermaid with this, with things like Ursula's Cauldron and potions because it's cool. Light is from above, bioluminescence. or magic stones. I'm not getting too detailed with the effects, i'm not factoring buoancy or difference in sound because shit gets too fiddly. Looking for an interesting experience, not a granular one.
>>44523481
Your idea has some similarities. The plot is quite convoluted and spoilery, but first see the opening movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPlCc6SPX94
Done?that spaceship crashed 10.000 years ago, that was the beginning of inteligent life and civlization on the planet. The thing that took over the ship was the Ultimate Weapon. It creates and manipulates all inteligent life afterwards so it can process it into spare parts to rebuild itself.
Its lore can really help to flesh out your setting and a campaign on it.
http://xenosaga.wikia.com/wiki/Xenosaga_Wiki
>>44520660
Since fantasy's the intended setting, this should work fine for me. I'll task a look at it a bit later , thanks anon.
Anybody got some resources here that help in creating a world focused on exploration. Want to run it in 5E and keep the power level down with some limitations.
>>44529174
Best I've got is this:
http://bethisad.com/conculture/questionnaire.htm
It's a helpful tool for designing cultures. Exploration will require interesting maps and locations as well, but I can't offer you any help in that department. There are a few sites with helpful population distribution information, but I forgot to save them because I'm dumb. Does anyone have that site that breaks down how large an army a medieval nation could field?
>>44529313
Wait, it's on this site:
http://writing-world.com/
and this article:
http://www.writing-world.com/sf/hordes.shtml
Just remembered that I first heard about it on a site explaining how terribly dumb the battles in the Eragon books are.
Anyway, like I said, maps are important and interesting cultures equally so. I typically start with a map and only then place people; the way I see it, climate and local conditions play a huge part in determining how people in the area with act, so designing a culture and then making the map is kind of backwards. Plus, when you have to make allowances for what's already there you may find you surprise yourself. If you design a culture and then create a region that fits their culture you have too much control, imho.
What kind of exploration are you going to do?
>>44521154
How big is that world/continent you've got on the map?
One thing that always strikes me odd in many settings I've read/played in is how few towns there are. I've been trying to balance it out for my own series, but I'm not too sure if I'm juggling distances properly. It's a drag, but I wanna do it right. Any suggestions?
>>44503559
flying machines
About to start my first GURPS campaign. I have only ever played DnD, and I've GM'd a bunch of World of Darkness games.
The world, unknown to the players is a pocket world created by two wizards. They are going to start in a small country, and do a fairly simple "collect the magical objects" quest while dealing with some of the citizens, and some monsters, then when they reach the end of the first part where they confront the wizards, they will be told the truth about the world: The wizards come from the real world which was overrun with undead after necromancy began running rampant. It is now a virtual wasteland controlled by warring mega-liches that control armies of the undead.
They will have access to the wizards' sanctuary, hidden away in the arcane realm between worlds, and they will be given masks of different colors to guard them from the poisonous and rancid air, and their task will be to slowly start reclaiming territory from the liches. Eventually they will need to raise their own armies and that's about when they will be given complete freedom to do whatever they want.
Kinda want the second part to get super crazy so I might make them basically fantasy-power rangers. I'm trying to think about how to handle their would-be Zords, in which case Their final battle will have to be against a lich with his own Zord, maybe made from thousands of the undead.
>>44503689
THAT is a baller idea.
i've got a few ideas for races in my setting but there pretty long so warning incoming dump
part 1/5
>In the beginning, the world was lifeless and dark, but then the one who is all came to it and gave it life in the form of plants, water, air and magic.
>Once the world was green the one gave birth to gods and sprits. The gods were tasked with creating new life and protect them as best they could, while the sprits were to maintain the balance of nature and help what life came naturally without the gods.
>The gods then divided into three groups
>>44530036
part 2/5
>One was the collective, a nightmarish being with multiple minds and far to few bodies. They made and rule over the beastkin, a race often mistaken for monsters for both their forms and their morals, as they think nothing of breaking the natural laws of the world for power and knowledge. This race is the mad scientists/wizards of the world with an army of genetically engineered war beasts at their beck and call.
>Another was the pantheon, a group made of gods born at the same time who decided to stick together and make a race together. They made the humans and give guidance to them while allowing them to rule themselves for the most part. Humans have no real talents toward the art of sorcery like the beast kin or the elves even the orcs, a race made to never wield true magic had more raw talent then the humans and a human arch mage is a rare sight indeed.
>However the humans have two great powers no other race has. Those who pledge themselves to one of the human gods are given a small piece of their power and become paladins with each god giving differing powers. The god of fire giving pyrokinesis, the goddess of the hearth gives sharp blades and healing etc
>The other is to be able to make friends and allies no matter the race or creed, this being shown by accepting and welcoming the unnatural orcs as people rather then as abominations.
>>44530107
part 3/5
>The final group is the lone god of the elves. I don't really have a fancy name for him for him so lets call him David.
>The elves are a curiosity to many for many different reasons. They advanced quickly when the races were still young, mastering iron and bows while others were still learning that fire cooked meat but to the other races they've stagnated and seem unable to grasp new technologies and tactics. Even when the rest of the races are beginning to grasp the secrets of gunpowder and living in cites, the elves are still living in the forests and still using bows. Their really good at using those bows with one of their favoirte tricks being shooting a apple out of a flying birds mouth and into the hands of another elf but they're still just bows.
>Further more they seem almost emotionless; a child raising their voice slightly is a violent outburst by their standards and oddly their god rarely talks to his people, while the collective actively rules his people and the pantheon often talk to their paladins to give advice and walk about the people Greek god style, David almost never talks to his people or is seen save when his people are about to completely destroyed instead leaving them holy books and scripture to guide them. These two facts are related.
![grandville-des-animaux-1842-hand-col-print.-man-buried-in-book-[2]-54002-p.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/X5H3lGV.jpg "grandville-des-animaux-1842-hand-col-print.-man-buried-in-book-[2]-54002-p.jpg")
>>44530144
part 4/5
>david even when he was just born was a perfectionist. He wanted to make the best race in the world so he gave the knowledge to build an Iron Age civilisation to them right off the bat and took out all those icky nasty bits of being a person like anger, envy and sadness etc. it was only centuries later when he realised that by taking out those bits, he had also taken away their ability for righteous anger, drive to succeed, love for others and more.
>Horrified at what he had done, he slapped together a bible that basically boiled down to "be a good person, murder is bad and daddy loves you" and exiled himself to try to find a way to fix his mistake.
>>44529995
Yeah, I'll probaly end up stealing it for myself.
>>44530206
part 5/5
>The Orcs are a race made by the beastkin to serve them as slaves and thus not a "true" race without any gods or sprits to protect them.
>The beastkin gave them some magic ability and had them be used as batteries for their spells and were kept under control by giving them extremely large nutrient needs and limiting their food supply.
>This lead to the orcs developing a food based religion and practice ritual cannibalism of their dead to feed the rest, believing that the dead will give their strength to aid the living that way.
>Their slavery ended when a paladin of the hearth was captured by the beastkin and thrown into the slave pits expecting the orcs to eat the human. However they instead nursed him back to health believing that a enemy of their master is a friend to them. The human touched by their kindness aided them in escaping their masters and helped them become a close ally to the human kingdoms.
>They're hard at work trying to form their own culture beyond being slaves and have become some of the finest chefs in all the land. If you have a genetics problem you go to a beastkin, a engineering problem you talk to a human, a archery problem go to a elf but if you have a problem related to nutrition you go to a orc.
>They have even developed a new food of magic centred around their nutrient knowledge. Eat a food high in a nutrient or mineral and they get a superpower based around it for a short time.
> For example eat a carrot and get night vision and/or telescopic vision or eat something high in iron and get iron skin.
I also have a few other ideas for worlds and setting if you guy want to hear them as well.
>>44529458
Well made a map at some point, based on multiple other maps for the outline. Ran a short game in the north of the right continent, but didn't like it since it was basic medieval fantasy setting.
Want to try out a kind of open sandbox game, where the whole world is just small towns in remote locations and the pcs making their way from one place to another with hopefully some great landscape pictures, dungeons, races and stuff to explore. Got some inspirations already from imaginary landscapes and stuff, but I feel like creating a map now, would limit what you could do and what the PCs want to do.
Thanks for the questionnaire looks good!
>>44501434
Need some help
Did anyone ever do a mix of WW2 uniform and medieval armor? Or anything like that?
Are there any rules for having PCs play multiple generations similar to Pendragon for D&D or other systems?
>>44530240
Ditto.
>>44530425
Pic is the one that fits your need the most in my opinion. Jin-Roh is an alternate history anime in which Japan has a german-based opressive special police force, the Kerberos Korps.
Also:
Wolfestein: the New Order's enemy soldiers:
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/wolfenstein/images/7/77/Deathshead-Commando-Wolfenstein-The-New-Order-Villains-Concept-Art-723x1024.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140428184809
it was the best image I could find of the armored tank-class superhumans from the Uber comics:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4X9Ir-anhx0/VLelmKvZiiI/AAAAAAAASK4/ROrrGjuPMvs/s1600/Uber.jpeg
?:
http://img.ifcdn.com/images/ea5b75a78253ae24a9a6d1b0c74c47c4c0144c2014036336947e35487beab338_1.jpg
Also image-google "ww1 armor", it may be what you want.
Let this thread live.
Also, a question:
How many of you homebrew rules for the settings you make?
How many of you adapt existing rules, like D&D or GURPS, to fit your worlds?
>>44537100
I tend to make everything from scratch.
Trying to create a biopunk future where kobolds serve as soldiers in this thread.
>>44537052
>>44537083
>>44537133
>>44537202
>>44537271
thoughts?
>>44530318
>upside down northrend
>>44501434
I was looking for a execution method for a religious leader that looks as well as the cross of christ on a flag.
I thought something like being impaled, but it's too much like a penis
>>44538904
>>44538904
The Breaking Wheel is pretty brutal and would work on a flag.
>>44538904
>>44539939
that is actually extremely interesting.
if i remember correctly it was by romans too, right?
i can have a jesus that, instead of being killed by jews, was killed directly by romans.
then i can say that it was that particular execution that signed the end of the classical era and opened the dark ages
how do i make a magical realm about footjobs and other aspects of foot fetishism
>>44538904
>>44543189
>upon entering, your shoes disintegrate
>the ground is very soft and comfortable to walk on barefoot
>trees bear fruit that when picked, acts like a pumice stone
>common type of tall grass that has varying roughnesses on the reverse of the blade, acts as emory boards
>tiny cute/sexy creatures come up and suck on your toes
>>44516120
Im sorry but I have to
>Dark eldar are doing their thing from commoragh.
Their cruelty was just because they had to feed souls,so they were not eaten by Slannesh or something. Without chaos,they would propably not change much,but its worth noting
>Necrons stay sleeping, only arrising at the call of their leader Szarekh the silent king. Why he is raising them after what happened to the tyranids is unknown.
It makes no sense for Necrons to stay asleep. Their starships dont use warp to move,chaos has been eredicated and humanity scattered. They have already won the war,now they just have to conquer some human-inhabited planets
Also what happened toTau?
They coudn't use Warp,and they were expanding fast so 5 more millenia without chaos and humanity would really benefit them
This may work if you are going to introduce some bad guy on the scale of chaos and/or do something with crons because they are just too powerfull now
>>44517727
Humanity in 1500 have existed for few thousand years. Year 0 wasn't the year when civilisation started,we were pretty advanced back there
>>44521140
Gasoline Gladiators
Go full Mad Max with them
Every huge world in fantasy just looks bland,and even giant landscapes are boring when compared to the Western Europe.
I dont want to go full autism and flesh out all the different families and noble houses throughout the ages so I want to make everything important happen on the isles,while bigger landmasses are dangerous,inhabited by huge monsters,and dead civilisations etc. making any attempts of colonisation useless
TL:DR I want to make humans not a dominant race,that lives on isles. Is it acceptable?
How would this influence normal civilisations?
>>44503559
Not from region
Naturally developed for another environment
Previous region has no resources
May be ruined
Or actually had a society Africa didn't do that.
My friends and I go to a Taco Tuesday every week and I figured since we're there for an hour, lets do a world building session. Before we put down any ideas, what kind of questions should we ask ourselves to figure out what kind of world we want?
Can you have gritty, dark, realistic Fantasy in a setting with invented flora and fauna (like no horses for instance (though there are large social draft and riding animals), and desert ecologies dominated by large lizards, for instance) and completely invented cultures (very detailed, with functional invented languages and developed religions and customs) that aren't based on historical real-world cultures (though maybe influenced by and vaguely resembling them)? Or do you pretty much need to go Earthlike for it to feel right?
>>44503559
None of those things sound like Subsaharan Africa to me.
DnD 3.5
>Europe with logical consequences of magic
>Replace Christianity with Dragon worship
>Have most countries at their prime (holy rome vs rome vs spanish vs Austro-Hungarian vs vikings etc)
>all people are fantasy races based on caricature of people, kobolds are jews germans are dwarves etc
What race should scotland and vikings be if the Irish are wood elves?
>>44543891
You can. The question is will it be good? and can you do this?
>>44543938
Vikings would be kind of a sea people/ghost sailors
No idea about scotland tho
>>44517897
>matter of physics. Don't want gunpowder in your setting? The materials needed to make it just don't exist.
Uh huh...that's a matter of magic; not physics.
>>44543954
Well, I've been working on it for a while. I just wanted to make sure it won't just seem silly or... what's the word for something that tries to be serious but just comes off as ridiculous?
I just wanted to make sure that the presence of, for instance, societies whose lifestyles are based around the herding of a fictional non-horse animal, wouldn't be that.
>>44544339
>I just wanted to make sure that the presence of, for instance, societies whose lifestyles are based around the herding of a fictional non-horse animal, wouldn't be that.
I really cant judge it without knowing more
>>44544339
*rather, that should just read "around the herding of a fictional animal".
>>44544426
Well, the gist is there are humans, vaguely implied to have been brought to this earthlike planet long ago. There's non-Earthlike fauna, though most of it is things that could've plausibly evolved on Earth. I've been working on three different eras for the setting; in the first, most cultures are dominated by mystical, many-legged beings from the stars, who set themselves up as gods, and is mostly focused around one theocratic coastal civilization, in which these creatures rule over vast populations of human subjects, while other humans, seeking freedom, flee into the mountains or deserts beyond the fringes of this civilization, mostly living as nomads. Oasis cities develop in the desert, and some small kingdoms develop in the lands beyond the eastern mountains. The second is in a long, cold dark age following the collapse of the theocratic civilizations and the near-extinction of those aforementioned many-legged star beings, partially broughy about by a mini ice-age and ecological destruction brought about by overuse of magic, which in turn lead to mass drought and famine. The third is during the reign of a large, militaristic empire that arises near the end of the aforementioned mini ice-age.
Lot of emphasis on world-building (I'm basically a bored anthropologist, and these are all intended to be functional, fully-developed cultures). Also generally pretty dark and gritty, most cultures are rife with inequality, terrible things happen to completely innocent people, human sacrifice is fairly common in the first two eras, and slavery is a significant part of most economies.
started trying to flesh out how stuff might work on this world, dunno if its all bullshit or not
might be going overboard with "these guys mine shit" but the northern mainland miners mine ore while the southern guys mine gemstones and shit, and I think these will be the only two who really make their bones from mining
maybe should mention that long vertical archipelago is full of pirates, leading to that one pirate king island
>>44525423
>>44516199
Anymore help would be appreciated.
>>44544736
>>44544426
oh wait shit, I just realized what you meant by knowing more.
Basically, the thing is is that various forms of animal husbandry is a big part of the economies of most civilizations, and one of the main draft animals is basically something a lot like a Macrauchenia -- they eat it, ride it, milk it, make things out of its skin, hair, and bones, and use it to pull plows and such.
>>44543891
I think it's entirely possible, but you'll be best of finding analogical models to concepts that exist within real world. I'll give you an example from my own world building enterprise, as I was struggling with the very much same problem:
In a world I worked on some time ago, great predatory mammals never really had the opportunity to rise, and as a result, the apex predator positions were mostly kept in the claws of great predatory birds. When I was focusing on steppe environments, much akin to African steppes, I simply took the iconic position of a lion, and replaced it with Titanicus-like predatory flightless birds.
The result was that in the iconography across all the world, the specific icon of a lion (for an example, it's role as a symbol of royalty) were replaced with the image of said bird.
Similarly, we had giant flightless owls basically replacing puma's and similar forest cats, carnivorous boars working similarly as wolfs etc...
It's pretty simple as long as you don't have animals or plants that are TOTALLY out of reality, and when you versions can be easily identified with some real world counterpart.
It starts to get more difficult if you have things like Elder Scrolls Netches, which are huge flowing creatures capable of throwing lightning balls around that are (somehow) herded as a form of cattle - because we really don't have that much of a precedence of what kind of pressure, social adaptations and would a flying cattle that can cast lightnings around pressure on to people.
>>44543663
>Before we put down any ideas, what kind of questions should we ask ourselves to figure out what kind of world we want?
I realize that this is WAAAAY too late and that you probably aren't around here anymore, but what the hell:
I think the most fundamental question you need to ask yourself is what kind of world you want to make. Yeah, I know, that does not sound very smart, but hear me out:
The way I see this, the most fundamental distinction between types of world are these:
Mythological or causal.
Basically, this is the distinction between whenever you want to emulate a world within which myths can take place, versus a world in which myths can be created.
To put in in a different way: whenever your world is driven by logic of metaphysics, myths and magic, or if you want to create world which is drive by "boring" old causality. Do you want a world that was ACTUALLY created by gods, and who is governed by their will, or by magical principles, and where intentions of entities are the real powers shaping the world, or do you want a world where you follow strict and rigid causalities (even if these causal chains are different from those which we know from reality).
Do you want a world where things are the way because SOME will just makes them such, or do you want a world where things are a product of necessary laws (such as physics, even if you define them differently).
If you want a more concrete formulation:
Do you want to make world like Elder Scrolls? Or do you want one that is more like Game of Thrones?
>>44547719
That does seem like it'd be the best thing to do. Thanks.
>>44543971
What races. Race variants so on.
>>44502597
>the priest takes a ceremonial cat-o-nine-tails and ritually flays God's back for not serving his people properly.
you have parent issues
>>44543938
Same as what the other Germanics are.
Game is called Dead Men's Tales
Takes place in the Shaetar East Lakes, a massive lake system akin to the American Great Lakes. Due to an event 700 years prior, oceans are extremely dangerous to traverse. Countries in eastern Shaetar rely on the lake systems for trade. Where there is trade, there is piracy.
The players play as a pirate crew, roaming around the lakes searching for fame and fortune. Pirate crews are both famous and infamous, some acting like rock stars, others acting like marauding gangs.
>>44549244
Hope it's better than Waterworld
>>44543971
I'd make Germanics in general Elves. Some people might say the Elves should be Celts, but I think Elves work better as either Germanics or Slavs. Dwarves would make pretty good Latins, or possibly Greeks (or maybe both).
Although, now that I think of it, you could make Celts Elves. You could make Celts Elves, Germanics Humans, and, since Scots are sort of a mix of Picts, Irish, and Norse, you could make Scots Half-Elves.
>>44549573
Whoops, meant to reply to >>44543938
>>44549573
>drwarves
>not germanic
jesus christ, consider ending your misery
>>44549625
That would make you a dwarf too
>>44549625
There's really nothing Germanic about dwarves. Short, hairy, swarthy- or ruddy-skinned folk from a mountainous region, known for their technological advancements and metalworking skill yet also for their greed. No part of that comes off as remotely Germanic.
Dwarves seem to me to be equal parts Phoenicians, bearded Hittites, and maybe Christian Greeks -- definitely more Eastern Mediterranean than anything. And since Christian Greeks are the only one of those three that could plausibly fit into what sounds to be a specifically European and mostly Medieval-ish setting, I'd say make them Greeks. Or possibly Jews.
>>44551056
Culture
>>44551627
That would depend on the setting, I think. Warhammer Dwarves are the only particularly Germanic ones I can think of off the top of my head, despite their weirdly Persian placenames. Though a lot of D&D settings give them vaguely Norse naming customs.
Tolkien's dwarves were basically Fantasy Jews, though, and Tolkien himself specifically made that comparison.
>>44501434
So I'm working on a new Fantasy game (Savage Worlds) and I'm stuck on an issue: should I make orcs playable?
In this setting, orcs are jackbooted industrial militarists who recently fought an aggressive war of expansion against the humans. They were halted when the dwarves (the most powerful united military around) demanded a truce. So technically, humans and orcs are at peace and travel could go on between the two powers, but I just don't know how well that's work out if any of the players are orcs. I establish that orcs are commonly seen as mercenaries, but I plan on adding in an element of the race edge that says if the orc warchief decides to go back on the warpath all orcs have to either unite with him or be branded a traitor. I just don't know if my players are experienced enough to handle something like that well, and I've written orcs as such a great antagonistic faction I'd hate to see go to waste.
>your idea that you want to flesh out but no one wants to hear it?
Modern Planescape.
Using The Strange system, relying heavily on the translation rules for travel between planes.
Basically all the events of planescape fame have long past. The Factions wars are long forgotten. Thou many of the Factions and sects themselves have spread through out the multiverse, and taken up roots in other planar cities.
Sigil is closed, or that what's commonly thought. Travel to the Cage is much harder as the Lady is fed-up with outsiders. Inside there are still people living their lives unharmed, but leaving is extremely simply. It's much easier to find a portal to literally anyway, including well secured vaults, because the Lady wants everyone gone. It's much harder to get back in once you are out.
Other planar cities while not nearly as well connected are trying to stand in for what the hub of the multiverse use to be. City of Brass, P'unkar, Havastar. Truth be told the much hated city of Union is best place to go, it lacks any kind of portal system but you can pave your own way to anywhere so long as you have the money.
The planes are opening up to more modern ideas. The average level of living for the common berg has become closer to Earth's 1930-40s with WWII like tech reasonable common. Most of the problems are more of cold war or hidden detective mystery style threats.
That's my pitch, not 100% original but it's alot of worlds to give a face life. It's big enough.
Since I'm using the Cypher system I find it a little harder to have people who are followers of a faith without stepping all over the Descriptor or Foci or both.
>>44506629
>WW3
>made our planet and solar system pretty much uninhabitable
>WORLD War 3
>occurring in space
Surely, anon, you must acquiesce to the eminently rational notion that such a conflict would instead be called something along the lines of, "Space War 1", or at the very least, "Space and World War 1".
>>44551056
Aren't Dwarves supposed to be partially inspired by Norse myth?
I'm looking into doing an alternate-history setting but I don't really know where to start. The idea is that it's set in a version of our own world where magic is real, during WWI. (I realize this is basically Shadow Hearts, but I'm cool with that.)
Part of what's different is the existence of a fictional city-state about where Alsace is in real life, but beyond that I'm not sure what else would be interesting to tweak, or how to account for the ripple effect of changing events through history. I realize that, as a non-historian, I'm never going to get something totally accurate, but I want it to be convincing for my players.
>>44552354
In the sense that Dwarves come from Germanic/Norse mythology. But then, so do Elves. Not to mention that, in the older myths, Norse dwarves were more like pale Drow than anything. Pale Drow that were turned into stone by sunlight.
Hey Worldbuilders, quick question. I need a name of the human organization in my Space themed GURPS homebrew. Wanted to use Terran Alliance but it's too much like mass effect. Any ideas?
>>44554123
New Earth Government, or NEG for short.
>>44554200
Hmm. Could work. But they're gonna be on more than just earth.
So I want there to be a cataclysmic event that transforms the world, but I want the players to see it after the New World has asserted itself. How can I justify the PCs being out of the loop for about a year or five without saying a wizard did it?
>>44554253
need more info on current events/world
>>44554298
Big bad ancient beings who had previously lost interest in humanity, reassert themselves when presented with a man who cannot die, and reclaim dominion over the planet. The bulk of humanity is enslaved/mutated save for the outsider's select chosen people, and outsiders replace most all natural native life. Those that resist have fled and must live in the farthest corners of the continent to escape the eyes of the big scaries and try to kill the myriad horrors that hunt them.
>>44554408
got nothing.
God speed anon.
Maybe they got stuck in some catacomb/DEEP ASS caves by some minor BBEG. Fighting/finding their way out after 5 years.
>>44552292
When I mean World War 3, I mean a general collection of around half a dozen wars. First, a couple or so wars fuck up most of the earth. Then, everything gets nuked to shit, including the handful of tiny colonies on mars and luna. Then giant robot wars. Then, nukes again. Then, aliens finally come and yada yada.
Anybody wanna hear about the fleet humanity lives in now?
But yeah, I'll find a better name for it. WW3 is at least better then World War Final.
>>44552386
The only plausible way to do "alternate history with magic" is to go the Harry Potter/Dresden way and have it be a closely guarded secret. Adding something as monumentally huge as magic to "the real world" and then having history be pretty much the same is absolutely terrible writing. It would be like having the modern world we live in right now, having everyone be able to turn invisible, and then making the world otherwise exactly the same. every aspect of human history would be fundamentally different if that were the case and there is no way we'd end up with the same world.
Your best bet is to make your own setting and make it WWI-ish, or have magic added to the "real world" briefly before the time you want to set the game. That way, everything beforehand is the same and things are only now changing.
So there are your options:
Magic exists, but is a secret.
Unique setting that kind of looks like WWI Earth.
Magic enters the setting a few days/months/years before you set your... setting.
Anything else would change history on such a fundamental level it would be suspension-of-disbelief-shatteringly implausible.
>>44501434
I have a psudo-magic system/setting that is inspired in part by Nanoha. I really want feedback on it but am afraid of being called out as too weeby or LNish. Here's the pastebin if anyone is intrested.
http://pastebin.com/Zi60XNNF
>>44554123
Are there non-human races?
It would depend on the type of government and how FTL communication/travel works, but something with Confederation or League might work.
Unless FTL communication/travel is very easy and common, your best bet is to have each human world mostly autonomous, but with a shared, defensive space navy they operate together. The navy's job is to protect human worlds and regulate space trade.
A Confederation is a group of political entities working together for a specific purpose and a League is something similar.
Confederation of Terran Worlds
Terran League
Terran Trade Confederation
The Confederate States of America chose that name because it implied its states would have more power than they formerly did as part of the USA. The word implies separate entities coming together to get something done, rather than a central organization controlling smaller pieces; something they wanted badly enough to secede.
Using "United" has a similar connotation, like the United Nations, or the early concept of the United States, for that matter. But whereas the UN can't really do much aside from send angry letters or join in a war in a peripheral sense when one of its members is probably going to anyway, the US slowly became a stronger federal agency.
A stronger government, one with a powerful federal governmental body which treats planets (or parts of planets) like the US does states, or the UK does England/Wales/Scotland/Ireland would need a stronger name. Federation, Empire, and words like that work for such a government, unless they're trying to appear more decentralized.
Classical Elements-based magic(fire/water/earth/air/aether) or emotion based magic?
Which would be interesting, especially if I want my magic to tamper with time-space and reality in general(medieval time-travel and alternate universes colliding 'n shit, yo)?
>>44555367
I find emotion based magic to be very intresting to play with from a story perspective. But from a purely gameplay perspective, Classical Elements is much easier to work with.
Quick mythology idea I'd like to test.
In the beginning when the moon was whole and the world was different, no mortal could light a fire. The God of Fire jealously hoarded his flames, for while the True Flame burned in his hearth, no replica could be made. Humanity eked out a fragile existence. And so it would have been if not for Tilaron, the First Hero.
It happened that the Trickster liked to walk amongst men, for he enjoyed their determination and their willingness to worship him. Tilaron knew this, and hatched a plan. As the Trickster walked one day, Tilaron halted him, saying "What ho, there! Would you care to join me for a meal?" Now, the Trickster was never one to turn down hospitality, and he graciously accepted. Tilaron brought him to his home, and laid before him a mug. The Trickster looked at it in wonder, asking "What is this? It is brown and foamy, and smells of rot, but it is good to drink?" Tilaron smiled. "It is ale, friend," he said, and so it was - the first ale ever made. The Trickster drank greedily of it, saying "It is good! Tilaron, I give it my blessing." Tilaron swiftly refilled his mug, saying "Drink, drink! for the night is still young." So the Trickster drank, and became drunk, for ale was new upon the world and he did not know it's power. While he was drunk, Tilaron sat across from him, pretending to drink, yet taking only water, for he needed to keep a clear head for what was to come.
While the Trickster was befuddled, Tilaron spoke to him in rough times, saying "I would offer you a challenge, Trickster! You say you can steal anything?" The Tricksters drew himself up, offended. "But of course! I am the Lord of Thieves! There is nothing I cannot take - so!" And in his hand sat a glittering star, the Dog's Eye. Tilaron smiled. "Then, good Trickster, I lay a challenge upon you - go, and steal the very sun from where it now sleeps in the bed of dusk!"
>>44529480
maybe have about a day's travel between settlements, balance it to have more in more populous zones, especially nearer to major city centres
I tend to say that travelling dusk to dawn, you can get around 24 miles or 39 km
they don't even have to be particularly large, maybe it's just a ferry port, caravansary, or small farming thorp
maybe come up with one to three notable things or buildings in the settlement; building styles, towers
>>44555487
>cont
Now, the Trickster was taken aback at this. But the ale and his own arrogance whispered in his ear, and he drew himself up boldly. "Then so I shall, for your gift of ale, and let no man say that there is something I cannot steal!" With that, he donned his cloak of dusk, and his boots of silence, and trod the stardust stairs to the divine realms. There, he made for the Sun's bed where she slept, but the ale confused his sight, and he found himself standing before Fire's hearth, staring at the True Flame within. "Why," he thought to himself, "this must be the Sun! I shall take her away!" Carefully gathering up the Flame, without leaving so much as an ember behind, he quietly stumbled out of Fire's house, climbing the stardust stairs down to Tilaron's home. Tilaron waited there, with a sap-filled torch, and as the Trickster stopped to proclaim his own glory, he quickly stuck the torch into the Flame. It caught immediately, and Tilaron hid it in a satchel. "But what is this?" he cried. "I expected a lock of hair, a token of her, and you bring me the woman herself? If she were to awaken, I would be incinerated! Is that what you wish for me? Have I displeased you?" The Trickster's ale-fuddled eyes opened wide in horror. Quickly, he turned and fled up the stardust stairs, stumbling back to where he'd found the True Flame and replacing it. As he returned, though, the ale finally caught his feet, and he collapsed into a snoring heap. Meanwhile, Tilaron jabbed the flaming torch into a heap of dry kindling, smiling as it caught. He watched the fire, listening to it as it crackled, before saying the name it whispered to him, and fire was released upon the world. And that is how Tilaron, the First Hero, tricked the Trickster and brought fire to man.
>>44529480
>>44555616
Populations in medieval-inspired worlds?
I got you covered!
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm
Not super detailed, but has enough information to get you off the ground.
>>44555884
Thanks! Very useful.
We should probably compile the online resources that get posted around here. It would make for a good copy/paste for the first or second post of threads like these.
Anyone have something they want to add to this list?
Questions to ask when designing a culture:
http://bethisad.com/conculture/questionnaire.htm
Map resource:
http://www.fantasticmaps.com
Basic worldbuilding info
http://writing-world.com/
Military number limitations:
http://www.writing-world.com/sf/hordes.shtml
Population and city/town/village distribution information:
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm
Real world texts on religion and supernatural beliefs:
sacred-texts.com
I have an idea for a world that is Victorian era technology in the south and the center of culture/commerce. Kinda steampunk vibes there, but not gratuitously so. The type of industry and energy that is starting to become common place is the product of a strange thing that happens when people with a certain curse die, they project their fears out into the world like a bomb going off, or like a reality marble from type-moon stuff. There are leper colony type areas further north that at this point are a schizophrenic pit that no one enters. Anyways, there is a new type of matter that is essentially created by these nightmare explosions that people have started to experiment with since it had been taboo for a long time until mercantilism minded people were finally put in government. Far to the north is a vast expanse that stretches as far east and west as anyone has gone, made of a kind of toxic ash cloud. Even further past that is a range of harden ashen piles that resemble mountains.
>>44558528
Past those would eventually be discovered via plot purposes, that there is a ruined modern city with skyscrapers and what not, some sort of research facility that was experimenting with this nightmare shit. This chunk of future time and space was ripped out of its own world and thrown into this more primitive one hundred of years ago and the fallout of that kind of technology is what created the state of the world that we'd come to know.
Either that, or the "fantasy" world is itself a massive nightmare projection that's become its own functioning continent. I can't decide which. Maybe both and the facility was set up to study it on the fringes.
Is this awful? I have an actual story to go with the world that times the elements together, but I just wanted to post the world stuff here.
>>44557148
>http://bethisad.com/conculture/questionnaire.htm
This one isn't working.
>>44502597
Consider reading The Traitor, Baru Cormorant. It's setting is pretty much identical to what you're describing, just with more eugenics and light gay allegory.
>>44559191
I forgot the "l" in "html," sorry.
>>44559591
Wait, no, it's still not working. That's odd, I used it just fine yesterday.
That sucks.
>>44559591
>>44559621
>>44559191
Here's a similar one. It's missing a few the other had, but has some the first didn't.
http://www.frathwiki.com/Dr._Zahir's_Ethnographical_Questionnaire
>>44503689
>mfw I got this idea when I was sixteen but then my setting turned low fantasy over the course of five years
biased in favour of this idea as well, godspeed
So I wanted a world where reasonable sized mechs weren't too much unusual yet the great majority of the population live in have a early middle ages "tech level" and I didn't want no filthy magic business.
So my idea to achieve this was to have aliens crash their spaceship into not!north pole and fell into the sea. They were unable to leave the spaceship but then they used their obligatory mind powers to make humans help them.
They bullshit the humans into thinking that they were gods, humas help the aliens escape and then humans make a religion akin to the cult of the omnissiah from 40k surrounding these events.
>>44521140
street sharks
surf nazis
iron hands
>>44554123
UNE, United nations of earth
>>44506629
>WW3
>Post-Apoc.
I love it
>We are not alone
>Que Alien bullshit
And you ruined it.
>>44559731
Yeah, I ended up stealing it back for myself. Only now their are gnolls that ride Segnosaurs/Therizinosaurus. They use the giant claws to help them dig apart the elementals.
>>44554123
Sol Hegemony/Dominion
>>44555046
This helped. Thanks.
But to answer your question yes there will be non-human races. Going for a mass effect/Star Wars feel - the magic powers in those. (Maybe closer to mass effects biotics being possible however).
is basing a lot of key figures of my world's history on the many personas of David Bowie's musical career really cool or would people just accuse me of ripping off Metal Gear? the thing is i've never actually played an MGS game.
i wanted to use him and ICP as inspiration for a few things
>>44554123
New United Nations
NUNs
I need a name for pact-makers and bargainers, it's how magic works but I don't want to just call them mages, witches, or wizards. Other languages are applicable it if sounds fantastical enough.
>>44530318
>Slightly tilted Roshar
>Upside down Northrend
>Upside down Midkemia stapled to upside-down map you nicked from some fucker on the worldbuilding subreddit.
I don't think I've ever hated a map more.
>>44543604
Depends on a buttload of other details interacting with islands and their characteristics, well-defined amounts of random shit and dumb luck.
If you want to outsorce the important parts, the only forums that will willingly give some pointers are alternate history forums.
There are probably timelines which already start with this premise.
>>44563126
Sounds like fun. Good luck, anon
