How do you make a fantasy setting not generic?
One of the arguments by people that are happy with the end of WHFB is that the setting was generic. How do you make a fantasy setting that's not generic but that is not so out there that it deters customers?
>>46312304
Try Morrowind. It was the right balance of familiar and outlandish. In fact, things that lean towards the "Discworld" type of fantasy setting tend to run the just right amount of outlandish and "standard" fantasy components as to allow freedom for unique stuff without being something difficult to grasp like say, Flatworld.
fill it with memorable regions, kingdoms, characters and events
>One of the arguments by people that are happy with the end of WHFB is that the setting was generic.
those people are just using generic to mean "thing I do not like"
>>46312304
WHFB wasn't generic at all, taking place in the Early Modern period including the Age of Exploration and an Americas analogue in its setting.
Go back to basics. People have been re-inventing fantasy tropes so long that going back to the original source material again can be fresh.
For example, Tolkein is seriously overplayed, but Swords and Sorcery is such an underloved genre in gaming today that a Hyborean Age campaign can feel like a breath of fresh air.
>>46312411
Not saying I agree with it, just that Age of Smegmar shills play that card a lot
>>46312411
It only seems that way because as soon as Warcraft branched out of it and from Warcraft came Clash of the Clans/League of Legends/Defense of the Ancients/Countless Tower Defense Games, WHFB's aesthetic has prettty much become the stand in for generic CRPG fantasy.
>>46312304
Well the obvious answer is to use your imagination and don't use other fantasy settings to base your work off of. Go to mythology or folk tales, the source of what makes fantasy what it is, and don't be shy when it comes to what myths and stories you grab, mix Slavic creatures in with Indian deities, slap on some shit about the chupacabra for good measure. It's amazing how much mileage you can rip off and still make things seem fresh as long as you vary your sources.
>>46312490
OP Here: not making a setting, just curious what people thoughts are.
Seems like some percentage of customers are gonna want to play as dwarfs/elves whatever because it's familiar so if you go too far out there you risk alienating people who don't want to delve into the lore of your universe. Also if the whole setting is entireley based on your own lore there's a risk that the lore you come up with is shitty
>>46312717
Lore sh'more, if you can't write a consistent world where the actions everything takes follow an easy to follow train of thought then that's your own damn fault.
>>46312717
>millennial detected
IRL, people don't get to unilaterally change the definitions of common English terms - except on university campuses ...
The phrase "fantasy setting" has long had its parameters broadly defined, but hipsters call anything common or popular "cliched" or "generic" because they're such super-jaded cosmopolitan jet-setters who fly high above the unwashed rabble known as "everyone else." Or maybe they're just narcissistic douchebags. It's one of those. Anyway, here's the answer to your riddle:
Write a "generic" setting first, then go back through the galleys and edit the draft so it's delightfully fresh and unique - like you!
Also, people who complained that FB was too much like generic 80s fantasy were just as vapidly clueless as those now lamenting that the Emprahverse is a static setting. Just go back to reading your comic books and leave /tg/ alone gaiz.
kthxbai
Why do elves and dwarves have racial weapon proficiencies? Is their whole population implies to have mandatory weapon's training? Are they constantly prepared for war?
WHFB was only 'generic' because its so old.
And it did not really resemble the supposed generic standard fantasy setting beyond the superficial level. The only place that did was that way for a reason.
Recognize that games and movies always have a thoroughly chewed, homogenized, generic take on anything.
Fantasy lit is far more adventurous... Prince of Nothing and the Bas Lag stories come to mind. Hell, even Gormenghast, book of the new sun, and Vance's Dying Earth present a world more original than any world that has fucking elves and shit, and those were books that actually inspired fantasy gaming.
You can also cry quietly to yourself as you labor over your super original setting because the most popular fantasy franchise in the world is about a world where european style knights battle each other for dominance, with occasional cameos by wizards, dragons, and exotic princesses.
>>46312304
1) Look at what your social structures are. Is everything monarchies and empires? Is everyone important a king, queen, knight, wizard or priest?
2) What sort of people are you populating your world with? Are they elves, humans, dwarves and Orcs or, if not, are they clearly just those races with the names changed? Maybe try something different.
3) What are the conflcts and dyanmics of the setting? Is an ancient evil set to rise and an expansionist empire rising in the west? Maybe try somethign different.
>>46316137
Weapons that are based on tools make sense - e.g. dwarves mine so picks are a natural. If they were known as woodsmen then the ages would make sense too. Really it's probably just a cultural thing like say the hoplites using spears or the Franks using axes or whatever.
>>46317509
Ages should have been axes
