Tell me your about your setting.
Explain how you deal with problems like:
This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
How does magic WORK?
How do gods work?
Do different factions worship the same gods?
Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
How do each of these things get made?
Is necromancy evil?
How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
>>45377158
Isn't it also lame when your humans have realistic cultures but the cultures for non-humans are really just "themes", eg "Dark Dwarves", "Wood Elves", "High Elves"?
What are "elements"?
Does real world science exist in your world?
Are there atoms and molecules etc?
If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
>>45377158
Shit! Nice questions. I'm just going to take a gander at a few of these.
>How do you find the will to live?
Making something is better than making nothing: I think the act of creating something in a society of passive consumerism is worthy in of itself, even if the stuff you create is utter shit.
>How does magic WORK?
It doesn't "work". Magic should only follow a set of rules when you absolutely need it to, like in a video game or when someones playing a wizard and you need to give them guidelines. Giving magic rules is a limitation you have to work with sometimes, not the goal.
>Is necromancy evil?
I don't think so.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce?
Fucking?
orcs reproduce like this
>>45377461
>>45377598
>>45377158
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
I just make culture from scratch. If it already exists (or something like it) fine, it'll be more understandable for my players.
Also there are quite a few multi-racial cultures and separate cultures in the same race.
>How does magic WORK?
You absorb mana from leylines, then use one of several methods of invocation to get your effects. Magic "charges" air allowing you to maintain stronger magic.
>How do gods work?
They don't anymore. They became suns that spread mana through aforementioned leylines.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
No. Everyone has different interpretations and gods themselves don't care anymore.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
It is.
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Yup. Card-carrying villains too.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Zombies are voodoo zombies.
Ghouls are corpses that appear in areas supercharged by Life magic. It reanimates dead cells and turns them into very dumb feral creatures that attack everything around except other ghouls.
Ghosts may or may not exist, nobody is sure. Elves can leave psychic echos when they die, but those are not really ghosts.
The only skeletons are of lichy variety and of "bored sorcerer's string doll" variety.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Because skeletons are puppeteered with levitation magic. Zombies are humans, but eating world's worst fish and chips does funky things to your brain, mon.
>How do each of these things get made?
Already explained.
>Is necromancy evil?
Life magic isn't evil, but it tends to make things generally harder if there's too much of it present.
Turning people into zombies is a dick move, though.
How cheating is it to take a real-world location and simply rotate or flip the map? Would players notice?
>>45378278
darn it, forgot to close spoiler.
>cont.implying anyone cares
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
All goblinoidsincluding humansreproduce normally. how they came to be is a different story involving ancient troll magic, FUCKING ELVES and reincarnation.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
LET'S ASK MY DEAR FRIEND, THE CULTURAL ICEBERG!
but really, i go from the roots, through the development and then hammer out the nuances.
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
Again, most cultures are shared among several races. The only monoculture in the setting are FUCKING ELVES, and they are more sci-fi than fantasy.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Eh, it's good enough. Players don't explore culture to the depth anyway, so i mostly do shit because it's fun and plausible settings is my fetish
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Well, not real world, but i got a shitton of inspiration from spelljammer, dungeons: the dragoning, general sci-fi and 80s-90s animu. It's not ingredients, it's what you make of them.
>What are "elements"?
A way for a mage to visualize what the fuck is he doing easier.
>Does real world science exist in your world?
Yes, but it also takes magic into account.
>If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
Gunpowder was discovered not by wizards and calculus has existed for centuries. The only thing that's left of medieval stasis is melee weapons - they are practical, don't harm spaceships and with the advent of personal shields, better armor materials and people who can tank several shotgun rounds they still are effective.
>>45378289
No more cheating than just drawing a random blob and labeling stuff.
>>45378362
Well this way I get realistic rivers, mountains, and town placement.
What's the most seemingly-unrealistic country I could copy? I want someone to complain about how inaccurate my topography and trade routes are.
>>45378437
Italy
>>45378457
Though it might not be obviously boot-like when upside down.
>>45378437
Just draw a dong in inkarnate and paint random blotches of terrain on it.
>>45378457
Italy does look silly.
>>45378473
Now it looks like a bigger boot, or like someone smushed the United Kingdom (and moved Ireland).
>>45378477
I might recreate it in Inkarnate, but I want the excuse of coastlines and terrain matching real life to some degree.
>>45378289
>>45378530
That's how I did my setting.Just flip europe and redraw the coasts.
Then take medieval european nations and combine/remix them.
I did a whole bunch of "research" and eventually just made up some kingdoms and history.
The "Fantasy" stuff is either in the distant past or tucked into the wilderness corners between cities.
For the religions I based the human mythologies on ancient elven/dwarf heroes that got rolled into national epics and conveniently turned into humans.
>>45378788
Neat map, I probably wouldn't have noticed if you didn't point it out.
What did you make this in?
>>45377158
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
Because I've made it, duh. But also, because it deals with a technological era (Interbellum) and motifs atypical of the fantasy genre.
>How does magic WORK?
Since this is more of a "hard" fantasy setting, it's not so much magic as it is biology, technology, and physics.
>How do gods work?
About the same as in reality--though polytheism has remained popular longer in this world than it did for us.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Quite. The nations of this world are long-established and are entirely willing to kill one another for political reasons rather than perceived heresy.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Yep.
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
All the time. Insidious evil is best evil.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
>How do each of these things get made?
>Is necromancy evil?
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
N/A
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Take a place, create critters that are well-adapted to that environment, give them intelligence, add historical events which become part of their mythos, continue until the plot starts.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
Yes, which is why I use bits and pieces as inspiration and adapt them.
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
I guess?
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Not at all. In worldbuilding, ignorance allows for divergence from reality.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Not really. It's unique enough, and that's all you can hope for.
>>45378826
Potatoshop, it's tons of layers.
Here's another one using the same principal of ripping off the real world.
>>45378899
Last one, this is a setting based on AD 500
>>45377158
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
The idea isn't original, but the implementation is. It's up to me to present the setting as well as I can and encourage the players to engage with it. Though I'm not playing a fantasy setting, I'm going more post-apocalyptic US, so I have to compete with things like The Road and Mad Max.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Well, my setting isFallout, so that sorta comes with the territory.
>>45377158
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
Because it hasn't really been done before, at least in the way I'm doing itand because it's Texas
>How does magic WORK?
That's actually a pretty highly-debated issue in the setting.
Magic is a relatively "new" phenomenon, that only "came back" after the absolute devastation that was The Cataclysm tore the world apart (TL;DR Robot uprising, mass famine, plague that killed off 1/10 of global population, and total social breakdown). Magic begins to re-appear about twenty years after total breakdown occurs, and is at first reviled, but later accepted as being a part of the new reality. It is overwhelmingly more common in women, but men who display magical abilities are either significantly more powerful or are significantly less powerful than females are.
The Witch Cults view magic as a tool that is gifted to them by the Gods, and believe that it makes them superior to anybody who is non-magical. Furthermore, they believe that since women are more capable with magic, women are therefore divinely ordained to be superior, and all non-magical males were demoted to literal property status, with non-magical females being a "middle class," and magical females as being the ruling class. They were overthrown in a mass slave rebellion and ruthlessly exterminated.
The East Texas Empire was formed after the mass slave rebellion that overthrew the Witch Cults. As Christian religion was a major unifying force behind their rebellion and their success, they believe that there are two kinds of magic - light and dark. "Light" is power granted by the Almighty God, and those who wield it do so only by channeling His will into the material world. "Dark" magic (which the Witch Cults overwhelmingly used) is used by forming demonic pacts, channeling the raw hatred and unholy powers of The Devil, and through sheer malice and hate, and its practitioners are universally hunted down and executed.
Cont.
Your work is purely derivative.
>Play E6 so the old is new again.
How does magic WORK?
>The dragon that curled up to form the world grants it to mortals through his blood.
How do gods work?
>All gods are either beings who came from outside reality or mortals who gained enough power. The pantheon has been wiped out and replaced several times.
Do different factions worship the same gods?
>Of course, the gods don't care about petty political squabbles.
Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
>Not if their armor/robes are godly artifacts.
Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
>Of course. Bluff/Disguise ftw as well.
What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
>Necromancers using strategy
Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
>Because fucking magic.
How do each of these things get made?
>Lots of different ways. Ghouls are made when a cannibal dies.
Is necromancy evil?
>Yes.
How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
>Sex, for both answers.
How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
>I look at the geographical and societal pressures on them and how they would solve those.
Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
>No; not if you add a twist.
Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
>Huh?
Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
>Nope. I always add a twist to try and make it feel unique.
Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
>I guess? In my current campaign, I offer the players Joy and Gloom similar to action points, and many ancient artifacts are powered by these. It's quite possible to be gloomy without being evil.
>>45379036
Cypress (fortified city-state along the crucial 290 trade route) views magic largely as the ETE does, but doesn't really attach much of a religious aspect to it. It's rare enough that it's not common, but it's common enough to merit consideration. Magic-users in Cypress are overwhelmingly either trained in healing or are sent to the Imperial Academy of the Blessed in East Texas. Use of magic in combat isn't a part of their tactical doctrine, and their near-constant border skirmishes with raiders and bandits coming out of the ruins of the Greater Houston Area means they are constantly in need of healers.
The Republic of Texas doesn't know what to think about magic. They believe it's something genetic, and seek to somehow study and unlock its secrets through experimentation and in the process control it. Those who even believe it exists (many in the Republic don't) feel it is far, far too risky and poorly understood for use in combat.
The Nueva Azteca use magic all the time, and Dark magic is a pretty heavy part of their pre-battle rituals. They are led onto the battlefield by a War-Priest(ess), who will perform sacrifices and seek to bestow the blessings of the Gods upon the Aztecs, and many higher-level ones are even capable of raising the dead and compelling them to continue the fight, and there has been more than one occasion where a Flesh Giant has been created (essentially a giant, living humanoid figure fused together and imbued with a shadow of life from piles of human corpses).
Despite the diversity of opinions, magic isn't very common in the setting. It's still there, and people will use it, but even the most basic of magic is treated as being a strange and abnormal thing.
I find myself getting bored of top-down designing and worldbuilding. Rather now I just come up with small ideas and things that inspire me, and put things together from the bottom up. I build part of the world from the players of my characters, their input being key in what races are actually in the world, and how they are depicted. I like that there are unanswered questions to the world.
>Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live?
By not caring. I steal things liberously, and throw shit together that I steal into different combinations. Everything is derivative of something else, no point in being upset about that. I don't know if my settings are any good, but if my players like them and others do to then i'm satisfied.
>How does magic work?
I have no particular set way it works, but I have a few I quite like. Can't go wrong with the leylines, with them magic has a physical mark in the world with places of power and I love the imagery of wizard towers being like radio towers picking up magic signals. Also I like spirit magic, magicians don't actually do shit, spirits do and you need to cajole them into doing magic for you.
>How do gods work?
I don't know how a god works, or even if there really are gods, but there are priesthoods, faiths, and cults with all the ceremony, artistry, and power that comes with it and that's what really matters to the world. A god doesn't do jack shit except in legends. It's the faithful that do the gods work. Yes different factions worship the same gods.
>>45379060
Why are you greentexting your own text?
>>45377158
>How does magic WORK?
The basic principles are explained, to the degree that humanity knows of them. Well, mostly. No need to go into a level of metaphysics detail that will bore your average player. It's hard enough to get them to read what's already there.
>How do gods work?
There's no evidence of their existence.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Some remnants of religion doubtless survived from the modern age, but less widespread than religion is currently. What kind of religion depends on the location, obviously.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
None of them exist.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
And neither do orcs, or any other generic fantasy race.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Who says I've created new cultures? Not to mention the current state of the world is vastly different from modern day Earth.
>>45379331
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil? Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Sure it's lame, and evil people should dress normally, but I also love a stylish villain.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc. Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow? How do each of these things get made? Is necromancy evil?
A zombie is slow and fleshy and groany because it remembers being alive and it wants to be alive again, cause being dead sucks. I depict my zombies not as ravenous or monstrous. They look incredibly "human" and sad, shambling and moaning around. Their gestures toward you aren't groping and grabbing, they're open like begging and inviting like they want to take your hand or hug you. Zombies are slow because they're listless and depressed. To them, being dead sucks and so they mope around. A zombie is often made by a curse or sickness or as guards by a necromancer, and are freshly dead.
Ghouls are flesh and carrion eating creatures, scavenging and cowardly. They feast on dead flesh and rot. They haunt graveyards like all you can eat buffets. While still fleshy like zombies, they're thin and emancipated, hardly wear clothes, and have slightly twisted bodies. They're born from cannibals and often are the result of a curse. Due to their cowardly nature necromancers employ them as scouts for their lairs.
Skeletons are cruel tricksters, always smiling with their morbid grin. It's like they're all in on some big joke that's at the expense of the living. Free of all fleshy form they have no hunger, no emotion, no desire, no joy, and yet they smile and cackle at you. They're also the telltale sign of a necromancer as no curse can animate bones without any flesh to move it. The magic animating a skeleton acts as the ligaments and muscles to move it. They're also the more common undead of a necromancer, as graves about to be used without raising the suspicion of suddenly missing townsfolk.
>>45379696
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
Orcs are a tricky thing because I like mine as mutts. There's goblins, hobgoblins, ogres, half-ogres, -half-orcs, and orcs, but they're all "Orcs. It's a brutal meritocracy, where those taken into the orcish fold are broken down and raise up by their own ruthlessness, strength, and cunning. Despite that there is some idea of power inherited through the blood, and they mix blood wantonly to get the strongest orcs. A force that impresses an orc will find their women taken as slavemates. Women are taken as opposed to men and it's more economical to have nearly all orcs fighting ready than just the males. Orc tribes will absorb others, break apart, and reform depending on the whims and strength of the orcs in charge. As for their technology, they steal it and what they don't steal they've been paid. They haven't been wiped out because they're too damn numerous and too damn useful as sellswords and mercenaries. Half-orcs themselves are born from orcish and human or dwarven parents. Those not born from slaves are more likely born from dalliances when an orcish mercenary group had some time off and caught the eye of an adventurous human or dwarf.
>>45380082
How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Whatever strikes my fancy or makes sense. I take inspiration from everywhere. Lizardmen can both be weird subterranean tribal traders and dragon worshippers while also being the secret force behind the politics of the realm, disguised as key people of influence.
Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
Not at all, I mean you shouldn't rip cultures wholesale, but take inspiration from real world cultures and rip bits and pieces from them, assembling them into strange and different combinations.
Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
Do ogres worship dragons?
Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Nope, besides researching different cultures is fun.
Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
That would be lame and uninspired, yes. If you're insinuating if a world with landmasses surrounded by water and that has it's own four seasons is copying our world, well i'm afraid that stick is so far up your ass it's addled your brain. That's like bitching about using the colour blue or speaking English/countries native tongue as Common. You need to understand what the fuck you're playing or reading to actually get it.
>>45380230
>Oops forgot to greentext last post.
>Isn't it also lame when your humans have realistic cultures but the cultures for non-humans are really just "themes", eg "Dark Dwarves", "Wood Elves", "High Elves"?
That is lame. An archetype or trope should be the starting point, not the bar.
>What are "elements"?
Fundamental material building blocks of a world.
>Does real world science exist in your world?
I don't tend to use it, no. More likely hermeticism, natural philosophy, and pseudo-science.
>Are there atoms and molecules etc?
I don't think there are.
>If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
Jack Vance's magic in Dying Earth was built upon mathematics. As for gunpowder, wizards have, found the substance abhorrent, and now actively suppress it. Like they'd give that kind of power to the masses. That shit is for wizards.
>>45377158
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
So, I thought to challenge this and wrote a small blurb for a race that I just thought up. I think I'm going to use this is a setting one day, but who knows?
Hooded pig men who turn into pig-bears during the nights where they think the pigman in the moon is frowning. They have a meeting of their elders to discuss if this is actually happening or not, which their decision is announced to all of Pigmenia and they turn into Pigbears. This is a physiological transformation that, upon the high Pigmen-pigbear moonpriest’s word, is activated. The citizens do not have a choice in the transformation as it is hardwired into their species as a whole, and when they hear their word they will begin the transformation. Sometimes they fuck up and think they hear the call of transformation, causing a lot of embarrassment for the pigbear. By our terms, it would be considered dishonourable to change without the Moonpriest’s word. He must then go to the priests and ask them if it's okay that he made a mistake and changed. If they say no, he must go to the Temple Of Frown (mentioned later) until the next transformation, when all are frowned upon by the moonpigman, who shares with them his sorrow. They will turn back to a pigman with the rest of their kind at the end of the next call for transformation.
CONT
>>45380870
The Pigmen are fairly good craftsmen. They have mastered the resources of their land and can make nearly anything out of nearly anything. During the period where they are hooded pig men, they make lots of straw houses with chain linked pigbearium (the metal native to their lands that they invented and named) supporting it so assholes can't body check through their homes. They also have cerimonial armour for when they are pigbears, which is decorated in straw and yellow rocks. Armour with colours other than yellow rocks are considered lesser, but painting non-yellow rocks to be yellow is considered okay, as long as the paint job is kept up.
During the period where they become pigbears (size, shape, and fur of a bear, but with pig bodies, heads, and tails) they loose their hoods and journey to their neighbours for trade and to find what has caused the moonpigman to frown. Additionally, they are very strong and can pull wagons on their own because they keep their man-like hands while in both forms. They don't really know that, but they think they're part of the pig physiology.
While wagon pulling is an honourable part of being a Pigbear, the true honour comes from finding the source of the Moonpigman’s frown. All villages taking part in the investigation will put forth a band of frownslayers and search for what may be the cause. These bands are usually composed of warriors but have been known to take Moonpriests with them in times of dire frowning. During the course of this hunt, any and all who are engaged in activities which could cause the moonpigman to frown are captured and skinned. If their hide is mostly hairless, the skinned body is kept and the hide thrown away. If the skinned hide is covered in a grand coat of fur and/or hair, it is brought back to be used for crafting.
CONT
>>45380883
When they feel their time of death is coming upon them, they hide in their temple of the frown, giving them the ability to hold their pigbear form without permission from their pigmen-pigbear moonpriests. Upon entering and taking the Pigbear due to their imminent death, they will not be allowed to leave and become an elder of the temple. They will work and live within the Temple of Frown for the rest of their days. Once death takes them, their Pigbear form is skinned and turned into garments worn by the priests of their clan. When a Pigbear dies, his soul is considered to be searching for happiness and looks for the nearest happy being to inhabit their body. Newborns are considered the highest point of bliss, as they do not know the frown of the Moonpigman. The two souls will mix together in the newborn’s body and that newborn will its former body’s hide with pride and become a moonpriest.
Both pigs and bears are legendary creatures in their world, but when mixed together with anything they're rather mundane and common. Piglizards of one of the most common food sources in Pigbear land, with Turkeybears being the pigman’s natural predator, as they hunt in packs and look fucking scary.
That's the end of what I have. It isn't finished, but it'll do for now. I plan on fleshing this out and making this race viable for all time periods, techlevels, and magical users as well. Should be fun!
Hope some people on /tg/ know a bit about metallurgy/ergology.
What physical properties would make sure that a metal is best used to make chainmail armour, and less attractive for making plate, helmets and weapons? Malleable, but brittle? Light?
I'm trying to make a not-bullshit reason for why mithril is restricted to chainmail and perhaps scale armour.
>>45378899
Really dig this map.
Did you expand on this setting or do you just make maps?
Also how do I do religion in a mech/sci-fi setting?
>>45377158
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
I accept that I'm too lazy to make everything BRAND NEW for a table top game that will be mostly dick jokes and just whole heartedly embrace the cultural appropriation. The only creativity that matters is what you do with it
>How does magic WORK?
No idea. Humans can't cast spells and it's predominantly a human setting, so there's no real theory on how magic works, it just does. Alchemists are a thing though, working natural spirits that are too weak and mindless to have wills so their behavior can be empirically determined. Beyond that, I'm actually making the alchemist in the party derive a theory on how it all works. For now it just does. That's for mundane magic though. CREATION magic comes around every 1000 years and can remake reality, and thus itself. Once again, there's no theory on how it works because it's so rare. It just does work. (people will eventually figure out that there are spirit tides ebbing and flowing against the central axis of the world)
>How do gods work?
There are no gods. There are angels though, which are manifestations of CREATION magic made living. Their power is finite though. Think a being with 1e7 points of lay on hands, that has to spread them out over the next 1000 years and then he dies.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Of course different factions worship different angels. It's mortals that get their grubby little hands on CREATION magic when it comes around, so it's mortals that made the angels, so there's no intrinsic Truth to any of them. They all exist, but they can't say they're objectively correct in their teachings.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
They dress rich because they can afford to dress richly
>>45383412
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
ghoul's are artficially created by a being such as a vampire, no difference between zombies and skellies from an arcane perspective, just palettes for different statblocks. Ghosts however are spirits that retained their personalities after being torn from their bodies at death. Think FFX's Auron.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Less mass to move around per unit spirit
>How do each of these things get made?
I'm not saying it was spirits, but it was spirits.
>Is necromancy evil?
Well, humans can't spell cast. Doing it alchemically doesn't involve chaining tortured souls to bleached ones and shocking them with electricity constantly, it's just using a body as a cheap golem. It's seen as disreputable.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
By putting their dicks in their vaginas and having litters. Orcs have brains just like humans do.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Depends on what they are. Typically I focus in on some aspect of their biology and build everything off of that.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
I don't even know what you're talking about
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Limited knowledge means I'm not stealing much and filling in the gaps myself.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Hell no. That's the best setting as long as it keeps all the hatred and racism and theological war.
>>45377158
>Explain how you deal with problems like:
8<snip laundry list of irrelevant and petty concerns>8
I deal by ignoring all of that to focus on player immersion. The party is going to meet individuals or small groups - not whole cultures - so macromanaging the environment to that level of complexity is obviously a huge waste of time for GMs.
>how do creatures like orcs reproduce
None of my players have ever wanted to RP as a biologist, or wanted to talk about green dicks. Sorry about your group.
>do you feel like a hack
>is it lame
Wow, you're really bad at his, aren't you?
>>45377158
>Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live?
By never attempting to reinvent the wheel.
The success of my work does not depend on it being unique among all works.
I am just trying to make a very good wheel that I think many would enjoy.
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
It organically flows from its origins to the current setting in an internally consistant way that makes sense.
>How does magic WORK?
Hard to encapsulate briefly, but there are several sources of power that allow individuals to use or "hack" the systems that control the universe.
>How do gods work?
Powerful living beings and spirits that have unlocked the secret to gaining power through worship and sacrifice.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Yes. And some opposing factions worship the same god and do not know it.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Define "dress evil."
I can get behind an occassional evil guy wearing sinister or dark clothes, it can be cool.
All evil guys looking evil is indeed lame and stupid.
Wearing baby skin loafers is right out.
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Of course.
>>45385057
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Zombie: animated corpse with no will of its own, destroyed when body is damaged enough.
Ghoul: soul tethered to their corpse that remains animated by feeding on flesh
Ghost: a spirit that remains in the mortal world, waxing and waning in power and strength
Skeleton: animated skeleton with no will of its own, difficult to reanimate permanently, destroyed when enough bones are broken.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Fresh zombie might be fast, as muscles might function.
Rotting zombie is dragging weight and held together with physical means in addition to magic.
Skeletons are more magically costly.
>How do each of these things get made?
Ghouls and ghosts are created situationally, although spirits can be summoned from other worlds.
Zombies and skeletons are created by concentrated magical spells/rituals.
>Is necromancy evil?
No. Technically, all Godly power is a form of necromancy.
Binding souls against their will or using them as a power source is almost universally considered evil.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce?
Original NotOrcs were flesh golems. Then "nature found a way" and now, well, when a mommy orc and a daddy orc love each other very much, or are horny, they give each other a special hug.
In either case, their experience could only be improved by eating your face before, during, or after.
>How do they make their technology?
Mostly stolen and copied, just like everyone else.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Figure out what I want them to do, then figure out what sort of culture would promote that activity.
Also, I make them non-human.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
Mostly. Some elements are okay, even if they are defining elements, such as wandering Romani.
>>45385106
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
Are the said Ogres from the Chinese-inspired land? If not, then that's weird.
Also, I thought Ogres were Scottish or Canadian.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
A bit.
Mainly when I realize I've used something with an understanding gleaned from tv.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
That would be, if it were.
>>>45377158
>Isn't it also lame when your humans have realistic cultures but the cultures for non-humans are really just "themes", eg "Dark Dwarves", "Wood Elves", "High Elves"?
I work hard to avoid that, hopefully successfully.
>What are "elements"?
The concepts bound to the Elder Gods of Creation. Mostly metaphor, though few know that now.
>Does real world science exist in your world?
Science: the study of the world.
So, yes.
>Are there atoms and molecules etc?
Yes. If anyone living has discovered them, they haven't told me.
>If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
Who says they didn't?
Wizards actually conspired against the discovery of gunpowder and widely distributed the inexpensive, "Ignite Gunpowder" spell that then must be warded against to keep gunpowder useful.
Thus, guns are prohibitively expensive and mages benefit from its use rather than suffer from it.
As for calculus, I was taught calculus and derivative calculus, but I never learned what's it's used for.
See the above answer regarding feeling like a hack.
>>45377158
>Its been done before
Still do it.
>How does magic WORK?
By having a magic elementary particle that can be influenced by a focused, sentient mind.
>How do gods work?
By being works of fiction.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Yes. Some factions have multiple gods.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Fashion is relative.
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Yes.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
>How do each of these things get made?
>Is necromancy evil?
Necromancy doesn't exist though necromancy-like practices do. It being evil depends on the culture.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
Sexually. By making it themselves or trade. A high-skilled apprenticeship and/or college degree is recommended.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Try to consider how their environment affects their physiology and needs. Think up ways how they deal with it and what kind of culture arises from those practices.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
No.
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
When Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more environmental things in common and are actually in contact while the European-inspired humans are on the other side of the planet then, no.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
No.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Well, it is the same size as the earth if that's what you mean.
>>45377202
>Isn't it also lame when your humans have realistic cultures but the cultures for non-humans are really just "themes", eg "Dark Dwarves", "Wood Elves", "High Elves"?
But I've trying to make actual cultures for other races too, sempai.
>What are "elements"?
Initially fundamental forces used in magic. Being expanded into alchemy-like psuedochemistry.
>Does real world science exist in your world?
Yes. Its supposed to play a big part in the rise of a small empire.
>Are there atoms and molecules etc?
Yes. Added a "magic" elementary particle too.
>>45385662
>If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
Magic is a crutch. There are those doing research into other things in the current time frame. Got to give players a chance to actually do something to change the world.
>>45378289
guy made an entire earth based on this idea.
but he recalculated temperatures and etc.. since turning upside down the map would influence the earth stuff
http://www.worlddreambank.org/T/TURNOVIA.HTM
I am making a settting that will be basically be metal the genre, the setting, and so this kind of stuff was never done (with rpg, /mu/ already done with music using colorfield painting as the seed genre and the result was tonefield the genre).
I am actually listing down the characteristics that form metal sub-genres and genres, and using logic, musical theory skills and writing/rpg skills to convert them to monsters characteristics, places, classes,.....
>>45377158
>How does magic WORK?
Magic is just a fundamental force of the world, it's like gravity. That being said, how the cultures inside the setting use it varies. Some use it like a science in that it can be devastating like the a hydrogen bomb but require real knowledge and materials to accomplish. Other cultures have a much more generic take on magic with throwing fireballs and other standard shit
>How do gods work?
The gods are left ambiguous. They may or may not exist and the miracles that happen and are attributed to them very well may just be happenstance than followers take as proof of their existence
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
No, the factions are far removed as to know that the other factions exist but not enough to the point where they have intermingled or are even familiar with each other
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Zombie is a mindless re-animated corpse that does nothing but go around and try and eat alive things. Ghouls are people with no souls or souls taken from them, they function relatively the same as zombies but they look more like skeletons with a brown, drained coat of skin over a very skinny frame. Ghosts are almost the opposite of a Ghoul, a soul with no body and can be killed using magic/faith/talking to them until they feel at peace. Skeletons are just skeletons controlled by someone using magic.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Because zombies have rotting flesh and meat and shit and are just mindless dregs basically. Skeletons are magically controlled by someone or something and are thus an extension of that thing's will and senses.
1/2
>>45377158
>>45387382
>How do each of these things get made?
Zombies are the result of plague/diseases, Ghouls are a conscious act by someone, Ghosts are naturally occurring but rare, Skeletons are basically magical pawns
>Is necromancy evil?
Depends on the faction/culture. Some use Necromancy as our world's old definition i.e summoning ghosts and spirits to learn the future, some use it was your typical black magic, some use a form of ancestor worship which is basically asking your dead family's ghosts to do stuff for you, if they want to, they might
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Big figure of debate for me, not sure if I want non-humans to even exist. Might want it to be a low fantasy world where there are just cultures of people that are so radically different they have no chance at peace or co-existing rather than different races
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Slightly, but I feel like I take variations to make them foreign enough to be interesting, for instance, there are the atheist savannah dwelling mongolians who I have not decided a name for yet
Really fucking stupid shit i plan to do nothing with
2/2
>>45377158
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
It's fun for me and my players, don't think it would be that good outside a game.
>How does magic WORK?
Gods
>How do gods work?
A big god with lesser gods in charge, plus dead evil "gods" whose essence corrupted some shit way back then
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
No. Most humans like having a large pantheon, but nations and groups like making one or more their patron deities. Non-humans' religion becomes more unique also
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Sure is
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
I do, yeah
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Different corpses or rituals.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Skeletons are basically necromantic ventriloquy
>How do each of these things get made?
Magic doing things with corpses
>Is necromancy evil?
It's a current topic of debate in the setting
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
When a mamma orc loves a daddy orc... Tribes have rough weapons, but the nation has proper metallurgy.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Comfy nights with coffee. I look at history, most of the time.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
Yeah. I try my best to not put non-human races under a single human culture.
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
I'll be honest, I don't know much about China, never interested myself in them.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Eh
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
You need something for the players to relate with, otherwise it's too alien.
Problems with problematic characters
DMing in a game right now that's got two evil characters and two CN characters, the two evil characters decided to go door to door in a tavern robbing each person they see, one runs off and tells the town guard (which they knew she did) and then broke down a door and proceeded to murder two innocent people that were sleeping in their bed. The town guard show up and they jump out the window, and then complain that they're being hunted down by guards. What do I even do at this point?
Nobody in this thread is going to respond to anyone else, are they?
What I will respond to is the OP; why do you choose to have edgy questions?
>>45388900
I'll respond to you anon
>>45388923
What do you want me to say?
>How does magic WORK?
Imagine the universe is a painting. In some places, it has been painted over several times, leaving the paint thick and slow to dry. In other places, it's thinner, and dries more quickly. In either case, those who are able to see the paint are able to push and smear it, reshaping the image to their liking, provided they can pull the right colors of paint from what's available.
>How do gods work?
It all depends on what you consider a god. Powerful spirits, immortal beings with a bit of a cult following, and dead people who were remembered and revered might all be gods, or a set of specific entities with specific domains might be the only things worthy of the title "god". Theology and semantics run pretty close together in this setting.
>[evil]
"Evil" does not exist in this setting. It's just a word used for things most people consider pretty morally reprehensible, not some kind of tangible force or faction.
>[humans/non-humans/cultures]
Humans do not exist in this setting. There are some races inspired by human cultures and races, sure, but they are treated as about as connected to each other as any one of those is to, say, a race of anthropomorphic chickens or humanoid taro root people. As for real-life culture inspiration, I try to make it my own and consider the ways my world differs from the real world. For example, the not-aztecs conquer the not-amerindians pretty early on in the bronze age, and after that point their culture deviates strongly from their real-world counterpart to the point of being only lightly flavored like it. It becomes its own thing, no longer simply amerindians with magic. I use real-world cultures as a base and a little bit of a guideline, but they're not left as they are for all eternity as if cultures never interact and change.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Yeah, sometimes. That's why I focus on other planets in the setting a lot now.
>>45378788
>Aquilane for aquitaine
>Pers-Ilys for Paris
>Esplendia for Spain
>munichen for munich
>Abyssid for abyssnie
>boureaux for bordeaux
>belgundia
>vojvod - apest
kek t b h that's sneaky
![1870142[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/WK8pUD2.jpg "1870142[1].jpg")
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
Because every other Not!Japanese culture doesn't have fat, manlet, raccoon people with fast food restaurants ran by wizards.
>>45377158
>How does magic WORK?
Magic flows through everything. It's like a body of water in which everything resides. In some places it is shallow and you can barely get your feet wet. In other places it collects and stagnates in pools. "Magic" is learning how to make waves and splashes in this giant pool.
>How do gods work?
The Goddess is the only figure of a major organized religion. She does not communicate with mortals or grant blessings, nor has not touched the world in a millennia but people still worship her. A variety of smaller religions are based around concepts, mortals, magical creatures, idols, or any number of worshippable things.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Sometimes yes, often no. The worship of the goddess is the most widespread but there are innumerable regional variations to her worship even among her church.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Doesn't apply. Though some of the evil guys are hideous monsters. Think less LotR and more FFT.
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Yes
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
One is an animated corpse, one is another word for an animated corpse, one is an incorporeal spirit, and one is a really old animated corpse.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Both tend to be slow but exceptions abound
>>45389202
>How do each of these things get made?
Magic
>Is necromancy evil?
It has no inherent moral standing to it. However, the population of the world almost universally finds it a disgusting abomination and will attempt to suppress its knowledge, persecute its practitioners, and destroy its creations. Despite this, there are good and beneficient necromancers.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
Sex and through science respectively, just like everyone else. Orcs are not brutish warriors in my setting, they are just a hardy people who prefer cold climates and pungent food.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Everyone gets two hats, a racial hat, and a cultural hat. Everyone of a race shares the racial hat and everyone of a nation/area/culture group (can include many races) gets the culture hat.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
N/A
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
What?
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Hurr check ur privledg shitlord durr
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
N/A
>pic related
Where the players started out recently.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
I mean, the nazis did it.
Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Of course.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Different arcane bindings causing the host body to form in different ways. Usually, metal bars or other components are used to fortify more advanced undead.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Better mass-to-magic ratio. Easier to disrupt, though, since the bindings are typically more exposed.
>How do each of these things get made?
Raw soulmass stuffed into an soul-vessel (read: corpse), then held together and controlled by magic.
>Is necromancy evil?
Only because a basic force of nature says it is.
>>45377158
>Tell me your about your setting.
it's currently a mess. Needs serious refining and refreshing.
>Explain how you deal with problems like:
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
I address these issues by not giving a fuck who else did similar, and continuing to expand on them because I find them interesting.
>How does magic WORK?
no one (in setting) really knows. generally only gods (and powerful outsiders) can truly do magic and as such they can bestow a small smattering of their powers to mortals as a gift, there are a few that can do weird shit with their minds but their power is even less understood.
>How do gods work?
exactly how they work for anyone who is even slightly religious. Just because there's a pantheon doesn't make them any less divine.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
sure, why not.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
who told you that?
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
... this is a joke question right?
>Is necromancy evil?
depends on the specific spell we are discussing. more often than not the answer winds up being "yes" but that may have more to do with the major deity presiding over necromancy is itself evil.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce?
they don't all Orcs are sterile, they are the product of goblins fiddling with alchemy to create a half-goblin, half-boar super warrior to serve them (until it backfired).
>How do they make their technology?
it's appropriated from Goblins and their defeated enemies.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
same way I do for human cultures, I keep expositing shit until I hit on an idea that I think "fits", and by "Fits" I mean "sounds good".
I'm not going to answer all those questions, instead I'll just post a picture.
>1st question
My setting is just a thinly veiled excuse to have kung fu fighting in a futuristic setting.
>How does magic WORK?
Psychic powers that work using a focusing crystal embedded in the user's nervous system
>How do gods work?
Not a part of the setting
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
The different factions worship their own method of human enhancement. Biological, mechanical, and psychic, respectively
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
Nah, the most evil guys are also the guys who can afford to deck themselves out in the most bizarre augmentation or alter their genes to the point that they're hardly even human so it makes sense for them to be bizarre and inhuman looking.
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Sure, low level thugs for the PCs to punch.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
I have been playing around with the idea of reanimated corpses, but it would only be zombies.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
There ain't no skeles in my setting
How do each of these things get made?
Nanomachines, bio-science hand-wavery, psychic control, I dunno yet.
>Is necromancy evil?
Totally.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
None of them non-humans in my setting
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
N/A
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
Nah bro
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
The region would probably inspire culture than the species, so no.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
I don't use any real world cultures.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
Mine is based in the real world, so no.
this is going to take several posts;
>>45377158
>Tell me your about your setting.
well currently developing a setting that is basically showing what happens when you take a stereotypical Mordor knockoff(indeed several of them in a single region) and have it develop over the course of centuries/millennium into an actually functional civilization that by real world standards isn't all that evil anymore(and similarly a group of stereotypical "fantasy good guy" kingdoms off to the east have gone into a decline towards decadence and oppression)
>Explain how you deal with problems like:
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live?
everything has been done at some point, so I see no reason to make a big fuss about it
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
not sure if I can call it good, but I find it fun and interesting to tinker with
>How does magic WORK?
more or less the way it does in most D&D derivative settings and systems(FantasyCraft's is probably the closest, since it's the system I'd most likely use for this as it can handle what I need right out of the box)
>How do gods work?
they exist and grant power to followers, but rarely directly manifest unto the physical world and have minimal role in it's politics
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
depends on the factions really
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
well for the people of the "Dark Lands" what's often considered stereotypical evil people outfits are simply traditional clothing for them(but then relatively few people there are actually Evil)
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
sure(if mostly cause actual Evil is incredibly rare so there isn't a set style for it)
1/?
>>45391743
>this is going to take several posts;
How about instead, you don't?
Nobody is reading, nobody cares.
>>45391743
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Ghoul's are semi-living(and if created from a very fresh corpse or even something still living, can reproduce biologically), Zombies and Skeletons are normally soulless constructs composed of corpse matter and necromatic energy(this applies to most corporeal Undead without souls), Ghosts are souls bound to a body formed of ectoplasm and necromatic energy
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
mostly has to do with the magic used to create them, Skeletons are actually fairly complex on a magical level, Zombies meanwhile are among the simplest Undead that's possible to create(to the point where they sometimes will spontaneously spawn in areas with enough necromatic energy lying around)
>How do each of these things get made?
various forms of magic, making a Zombie uses a fairly simple spell, while some particularly complex types of undead can take weeks or even months or years to construct and then animate
>Is necromancy evil?
only if you bind a soul while doing so, and only if said soul is unwilling(at least if you're using an already dead body, turning someone still alive into an undead is often pretty damn evil, if mostly cause most methods would violently kill said person in the process)
2/?
>>45391766
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
Orcs(like most non Human or Demi-Human races) originate as the result of alchemical experimentation, they are fully capable of normal reproduction though(occasionally someone might craft some with alchemy though, especially those who have ample time and magical resources but little in the way of money), as for technology, well Orcs are more or less around normal Human intelligence, and most other races tend to average out as such as well(although this varies, as plenty of races are dumb in some areas, but geniuses in others), even the dimmest races like Trolls are fully capable of learning how to read or do math if one takes enough time to teach them, so overall they can make their own technology, although a lot of the more complex stuff is often outsourced to others who are better at it(so a group of Orcs could cast some cannons fairly easily, but for something like a particularly fancy musket they'd probably just order some from the Azer)
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
for a lot of them I take what's been established by others, and then mixing in bits and pieces of various real world cultures as needed(for example most of the Dark Lands cultures have a general mix of Eastern European/Russian, Central Asian, and Indian sub-continent cultures into their makeup, while the League of Light off to the east is more East Asian in makeup for the most part)
3/?
>>45391758
way to be a complete douche
>>45391777
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
not really in my opinion, at least as long as you put actual effort into it, and give them their own unique twists
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
not really, at least assuming said Ogres are in regular contact with said "Chinese" humans
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
not really, I take it as a chance to learn more about said cultures, and if I make a mistake that could cause offense than I'll try and correct it if possible
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
current setting isn't really
4/4
>>45377158
>This culture already exists in the real world
To be fair, though, it can be a useful short hand - you're running a game for people, not writing a novel. A quick summary along the lines of "they're like the Welsh, but..." can often give players enough to get started with.
>>45391743
>>45391766
>>45391777
>>45391802
Don't care as much as the effort you (clearly) put into this.
>>45392183
there's like a dozen other people who answered OP's questions here, not sure why you're singling me out, mine only took so many posts due to 4chan's horrid post text limitations
>>45392303
You posted 4 posts after you were expressively asked not to.
Everyone else posted one or two, you decided to be a snowflake and take up extra. I think that is why people are upset at you.
>>45391366
I had a similar idea as Fearsome gods, however all the planets were dead gods (or their heads rather) and the moons and the other space objects(comets etc.) were living gods.
Been working on a magitech setting where Humanity has established itself as a massive military power, with its newfound technology, most primarily Black Powder and it's explosively anti-magical properties. Something something massive war/many mini skirmishes between human empires and their neighbors.
As an odd side-result, though, those that have died in battle since the invention of Black Powder don't stay dead, but come back as Undead. With no memory of their past selves, they typically wake up miles away from where they died, and have served as an odd bulwark between Humanity and the rest of the humanoid world- finally putting fear into the Human Empire.
Definite work in progress, though.
>>45377158
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
Because it's the execution and little details that make a setting good, not how similar it is to other fictional settings when painted in broad strokes. I'm primarily using it as a campaign setting for a future D&D group so even if it isn't top-quality, we all know most players won't care enough to even find out most things about the setting in the first place.
>How does magic WORK?
The world itself in inherently magical, with leylines threaded throughout the land. But magical energy must be taken out of your surroundings and channelled through one's own body to produce spells, which is why there are still limits to how much magic one can produce before having to rest.
>How do gods work?
There are countless natural gods which are more local rather than all-encompassing. They're mostly worshipped by the Elves and variant, smaller human cultures, although everyone acknowledges their existence. Human gods are a small pantheon of people who were once mortal but ascended to protect the primary continents of the setting from the chaos (think tame version of 40k chaos) on the other side of the world. Heaven is a pocket dimension created by the human Gods when they ascended.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
>How do each of these things get made?
Zombie is a mindless animation of a corpse, while a ghoul is a soul forcefully bound back to its corpse. The process isn't gentle on the soul, and the result is an animalistic monster.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
I think of what flavour I want the culture to be in (merchant city-states, imperial, loosely-united eastern states, tribal) and then build everything else from the ground up based on what environment they're in and who their neighbours are.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
It isn't.
>>45378437
Rivers and climate wouldn't be realistic if the earth turns the other way round #nitpick
>>45386179
>>45392474
Oh I forgot
>Is necromancy evil?
Not inherently, but it's viewed as such by the masses. The schools of magic were pioneered by disciples of Mage God of the human pantheon, and the Necromany dude basically went traitor, it's a long story. So that's the official reason of why Necromany's not okay, plus there's just the innate reason of not many people being comfortable with the idea of raising the corpses of loved ones.
It doesn't help either when so many liches cause trouble for people, and necromancy is a relatively easy source of producing a willing army for an evil person looking to conquer/cause trouble. Ultimately, necromany's not seen as a good thing by anyone based off of ALL the stories and first-hand experiences with it that most people have.
>>45392332
well I couldn't fit my responses into just one or two posts, at least not while also keeping the questions there so it makes sense, still don't see why you have to be such a donk about it
>How does magic WORK?
It has something to do from drawing power from one of the origins with hermetic methods, but lot of it is a mystery. Otherwise it wouldn't be magic.
>How do gods work?
Gods and deities are beings that emerged from white source at beginning of creation. There are many, but they have limited effect over the material world, and don't usually care about people, outside of devout followers whom they might or might not sponsor.
Very few are actually benevolent.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Yeah, they can. But necessarily don't.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Usually normally, yes.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
Animation via magic, possession or souls that got trapped in material world.
>Is necromancy evil?
Just disrespectful.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
No orcs or analogue of orcs.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Just try to figure interesting things about them.
>Isn't it also lame when your humans have realistic cultures but the cultures for non-humans are really just "themes", eg "Dark Dwarves", "Wood Elves", "High Elves"?
Not really the case. Cultures are regional mostly.
>What are "elements"?
Yes.
>Does real world science exist in your world?
Yes.
>Are there atoms and molecules etc?
Yes.
>If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
Wizards did not do it, but they have gunpowder and calculus.
>How do you find the will to live?
I don't, I just find killing myself inconvenient.
>>45377158
Muh setting is based on history instead of other science fiction, so if anything it's derivative of the real world.
Seriously, I regularly find myself coming up with something really great, and then think "oh shit this really existed, the world is great".
It also has strong general themes - mankind fucking itself up, exaggerating the absurdity of real history, satire and industrializing the supernatural. I know what to stick to.
>How does magic WORK?
There kind of is none. That is, the world's laws of nature are so fucked up you could call them magic - but the "wizards" are just engineers with pointy hats. Uranium irradiates people because it's a cursed metal, zombies are made by doctors and the alchemists were right.
>How do gods work?
Depends on who you ask. Every civ has its own version of The Truth. Angels and demons exist, but there is no way to be sure that either of them have anything to do with the gods.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Absolutely no, they need as many reasons to hate each other as possible.
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil? Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
There are no "evil guys". Every empire is The Evil Empire to all the other empires. Like above - all the factions hate each other, there is some good and some evil in every of them, mostly the latter though.
What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
>There is none, undead is undead.
Is necromancy evil?
>Not for the necromancers.
>>45377158
>Unoriginal work:
No one cares. If people pick up a fantasy book they're gonna expect magic elfs and stupid orcs and headstrong humans. Delivering something unusual is going to take them out of their comfort zone and that's ALL they're going to be looking at instead of concentrating on the story.
>Magic & Gods:
They can work however you want them to because they're NOT REAL.
>_>
>tips fedora just to be on the safe side.
But really you're just making them up for the sake of your setting. Just do what you think sounds right. If you like it and it moves the plot along, great.
>Evil ppl:
Depends on the story but unless you're doing a fantasy version of The Usual Suspects you're probably gonna want your antagonist to be clearly defined.
>Undeads:
Depends on the setting but 9 times out of 10 they're evil because convention is they're evil and you go along to get along unless it's plot relevant otherwise.
>Orcs reproducing and technology:
YOU'Z A GIT!
>Real world culture applied to made up races:
Cause it's ready made and easily tweakable.
>>45377158
>>45392740
Shit, fucked up the green arrows.
Continued.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce?
I dun have orcs, but I suppose they just screw like us humans?
>How do they make their technology?
Sticks and stones, polymers and glass. Tech has no magic code of conduct, it's just sticking together different parts to do a thing for you.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
All culture comes from shit like demographics and caveman-level economy. If your non-human creatures are just humans with extra horns, then there shouldn't be that much difference.
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures? Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
If they live in the same place, then their culture's gotta have something in common. Also there's trade, idea exchange etc.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world? Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
But I want a copy-paste real world. It's a "what if?", not playing God. I tweak some dials and then see what color does it explode.
>>45377202
>>45392812
>Isn't it also lame when your humans have realistic cultures but the cultures for non-humans are really just "themes", eg "Dark Dwarves", "Wood Elves", "High Elves"?
Dune humans, jungle humans, fancy humans, commie humans. Not really.
>What are "elements"?
Things you can't split.
>Does real world science exist in your world?
Partly, and only from chemistry upwards.
>Are there atoms and molecules etc?
I suppose not, but nobody gives a shit and neither do I.
>If the wizards are so smart then why haven't they discovered gunpowder or calculus yet?
They have, the rocket to the moon starts next thursday. It will explode violently because stratosphere is made of phlogiston.
>>45392332
>>45392183
Fuck off, lazy shitposter.
>>45377158
>Why do you think your setting is any good?
My players seem to enjoy it
>How does magic WORK?
Most of the "universe" is poorly defined unreality, where narrative rules are more important than physical rules. MOST magic consists of ripping a small hole in the universe, and allowing that unreality to seep into whatever bit of habitable reality you're in, and using that moment of the unreality finding equilibrium with reality to trick reality's rules into being something different, thus producing a magical effect. Different traditions learn how to do this differently: faith, instinct, force of will, practiced repeatable effect, sublime understanding of narrative rules etc...
>How do gods work?
Most of the things people call gods are extremely powerful beings that exist in the unreality surrounding the habitable bits of the setting. They exist more as archetypal ideals that shape themselves to match whatever narrative they're around.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Frequently, though they don't always call it by the same name, and if it ever shows up (rare) it's unlikely to behave the same around both, because the thing shapes itself to fit its surroundings.
>>45377158
>>45396350
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Often, fitting the archetype of a particular narrative role can make magic easier, so it actually has a purpose.
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
All titles given by mortals to explain the unreality-soaked experience of undeath, which is still poorly understood. They're more of broad categories than anything else.
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Says you. That's an awfully broad assumption.
>How do each of these things get made?
Ressurection is a poorly understood "science" and the real secret of it all is that bringing a mind and soul back from unreality after it's returned is like trying to fish the same bucket of water you just dumped into the ocean back out. You use the collective memories of the individual to try and make the process better, and to make a better copy of the bits you couldn't find, but it can, and frequently does, go wrong.
Alternatively, it's also possible to just fish a random animating force out of the unreal aether to make a corpse walk around.
>Is necromancy evil?
Not necessarily, but it makes people uncomfortable, and necromancers are all liars for telling people they can bring their loved ones back
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
The usual way, just like us.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
Very few cultures are mono-race. Being a bastion of reality against the constant threat of alien/fey invasion from the aether will do that to you. Dwarves, are, however the most common race, and "common" is actually dwarven.
>>45396350
>>45377158
>>45396443
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
I guess, but other than painting certain Ork tribes as an amalgum of the many "invaders from the north" trope, there aren't any truly mono-race cultures. For many of those Orks, it's a knowing choice to allign themselves with a repeated trope within the aether, to gain power from it. There's also some weird Djinn slaver shit to the south, but I tried to add a bit of tongu-in-cheek Ryndroid parody to them as well.
>Isn't it weird when Ogres and Chinese-inspired humans have more similar cultures than do European-inspired humans and Chinese-inspired humans?
I immagine that would be weird, and in WHFB it was a bit, until you realized that Cathay was China, and the Ogres were the Mongols, and the Mongols had more in common with China than Germanic Europe had in common with China.
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Naw. Interesting story>accuracy
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
I'd say it isn't, but even the parts that are (the Draconic Empire being Tzarist Russia meets Shadowrun for example) are fun enough, and open enough for storytelling opportunities, that nobody seems to mind. Maybe if my setting were the most important part of my games, then it'd be a problem, but the setting is just a backdrop for the stories of the PC's, and THAT's the most important thing. I also try to keep everything in enough of a state of undefinition that I can improvise when I have to, so I don't obsessively plan out every little cultural detail. The Dragons being Tzarist Russia thing was an off-the-cuff improvisation, because I sort of wanted to do a russian accent that day, and we sort of just ran with it.
>>45377158
I just started working on my setting, so there's not much to tell, but
>This culture already exists in the real world. Warhammer has already done it. D&D has already done it. Everything you think of has already been done. Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live? Why do you think your setting is any good?
It's fun. I toned down most fantasy so I have an excuse of "It's like IRL". I also try to avoid many unnaturaly arising cliches
>How does magic WORK?
I didn't quite decide it. General idea is that a person who unlock his gift has his powerset defined by virues of vices he exemplefied
>How do gods work?
Gods do not exist. However magic dictates certain code of conduct to empower you making magic community quasi-religious
>Isn't it really lame that all the evil guys dress evil?
>Do you have evil guys that dress normally?
Yes, I favor villains who dress appropriately - the most prominent human baddie dresses in what passes as medieval business suit
>What's the difference between a zombie, a ghoul, a ghost, a skeleton etc
A zombie shambles around aimlessly. Ghoul is driven by supernatural hunger. A skeleton is actually a telekinetic conduit or it would fall apart
>Why is a skeleton fast but a zombie slow?
Because flesh shows you down. In fact, contrary to many setups, my skeletons are actually powerful
>>45396650
>How do each of these things get made?
Zombies are reanimated by magic forces. Ghouls are sick humans. Skeletons need constant empowering
>Is necromancy evil?
In my setting to access necromancy mages would need to indulge in certain vice. Haven't decided which yet.
>How do creatures like orcs reproduce? How do they make their technology?
My orc-like fellows actually value their craftsmen and wives for making war possible. But they aren't the kind of orcs we know and love
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
I only need one. There are certain traits I wanted them to have so I justified them with geography. Gave them slightly different psychology. Otherwise stuck to human-like goals and values
>Isn't it a bit lame to just give real world human cultures to fictional creatures?
It's inevitable. But I don't make them into counterparts
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
Yes. I feel like a hack who can't be arsed to make a research. Still can't be arsed.
>Isn't it really lame that your world is just a copy of the real world with some slight name changes?
I must've missed the global cataclysm that destroyed everything advanced with only barbarians and colonies survived
>>45377158
I don't read history books or literature, and none of my friends do either, so everything we make is original from our perspective.
>>45392183
>>45391758
>>45392332
>I think that is why people are upset at you.
Nobody was upset with that anon.
It was just asshole shitposting.
Although "Nobody is reading, nobody cares." seems to be fairly universal to these threads.
Still, worldbuilders get to talk about their setting, which they (we) love to do, without infodumping on players who just want to play.
It seems a fine thing.
Also,
>>45377158
>Tell me your about your setting.
>>45392767
>Depends on the setting
All of my wut.
>>45377158
The thread is already filled with very long answers to the questions that nobody seems to read, but the one thing that seems worth addressing without boring anyone with the particularities of my own world:
>Don't you feel like a hack using your very limited "knowledge" of real world cultures to create ones for your world?
>Your work is purely derivative. How do you find the will to live?
This is some of the most absurd and dumbest shit I've ever seen. Leaving the whole retarded "originality is a value" shit aside: understanding how real world societies work, and then using that knowledge to speculate about potential different configurations IS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT.
World building isn't interesting because you are making something super duper mega original: worldbuilding is interesting because you get to play around with concepts from real world in a speculative fashion.
Complaining about using your real world knowledge to model fictional cultures is like complaining about using real science while writing a sci-fi novel:
It's LARGELY THE FUCKING POINT. And it's the most praiseworthy aspect of the whole exercise.
I can assure you: people don't know NEARLY as much about the real world as they should, and every little bit of information they can internalize and think about is a small victory in itself.
It's not lame, it's something to be proud off.
>>45378788
Those names feel insulting
>>45399558
I can't tell if the OP is attempting reverse psychology and failing, or if its really just shitposting, but either way, the OP is terrible and the only reason this thread is still going is because there's no worldbuilding thread up.
>>45399675
I actually felt they were interesting questions, if asked in they most passive aggressive assholish way.
But your point stands.
>>45399922
>I actually felt they were interesting questions, if asked in they most passive aggressive assholish way.
I don't have a problem with most of the questions regarding the actual contents and concepts of your world: though I do see a problem with the "this will inevitably result in people dumping long walls of text that nobody is going to read through. I have a problem with the parts revolving evaluation: the innane bullshit about originality and about the insane proposition that utilizing real-world knowledge is somehow a bad thing.
Otherwise, I'd merely say that it's better to pose one or two questions at a time, so that people can give more focused and through replies, and people can actually discuss the problem without walls of text disencourging everyone from reading anything.
>>45400046
>Otherwise, I'd merely say that it's better to pose one or two questions at a time, so that people can give more focused and through replies, and people can actually discuss the problem without walls of text disencourging everyone from reading anything.
That's always a problem with wb threads. People want to dump everything, instead of focusing on one or two things at a time. And I don't blame them, its hard to not want to share the whole picture, especially since context helps with the problem areas.
>>45400046
>innane bullshit about originality
Agreed
>insane proposition that utilizing real-world knowledge is somehow a bad thing.
I took it as using real world knowledge poorly or clumsily is a bad thing.
>Otherwise, I'd merely say that it's better to pose one or two questions at a time, so that people can give more focused and through replies, and people can actually discuss the problem without walls of text disencourging everyone from reading anything.
Agreed 1000%
>>45377158
>How does magic WORK?
Faith-based or originating from some other, higher being. I have one that's based on songs and vocal cord evolution/mutation + necromancy and shamanism, one that's based around kinetics and energy, and one that's based around six specific kinds of knowledge.
>How do gods work?
Too broad of a question. There's 'gods' that live in the world in some kind of form and some that choose not to. There's no formula behind how they all work.
>Do different factions worship the same gods?
Not usually, different countries can worship wildly different gods, and even within a country the 'proper' way to worship a god can differ greatly.
>Is necromancy evil?
Not inherently, in fact many parts of what is traditionally considered necromancy are the foundations of one of my religions.
>How do you come up with cultures for non-human creatures?
The only non-human creatures that are close to or surpass human intelligence are whales and the things that live under the ground. Whales have an advanced culture among themselves, but have only one 'home' to speak as they travel all across the world.
