>setting has both werebeasts and beastfolk
>werebeasts are terrible monsters that are hated and feared
>beastfolk are basically treated the same as elves, dwarves, etc.
>>46956334
Any setting where they bother explaining Magic as Science.
>>46956334
Beastfolk are just furry people. Werewolves lose their minds and eat their families once a month.
>>46956334
Are you telling me you don't like Dorf Fort, OP?
>>46956392
T H I S
H
I
S
>>46956334
Eberron has both, and in-setting confusion led to a genocide of the innocent beast people.
>>46956426
This! There is a big difference between mental faculties.
>>46956334
The existence of gods is 100% real and confirmed with no need for faith and said gods regularly intervene in mortal affairs all the time.
>>46956610
>expecting Joe Dirtfarmer to know or care about the difference
>>46956616
>Divine magic can only be obtained be being channeled directly to mortals by the gods
>unless you believe in something really, really hard which gives you the same powers but without any responsibilities
>>46956591
Shifters are descended from werebeasts.
>Gods only exist if you believe in them
>Prayer is Godfood
Fuck all you niggers who let this cliche happen
>>46956334
It can make sense if they're a populous group with a high degree of societal integration.
Less so if they're foreigners.
>>46956909
>Gods are 100% real
>All of mortal kind are pretty much playthings they just throw at eachother in their stupid autism-tier debates over morality and singular concepts
>People are actually fucking retarded enough to willingly worship evil gods
> What is fear of death? My god is just gonna get my soul when I die and I'll live in blissful paradise forever. In fact, come at me bro, I WANT TO DIE!"
Fuck "confirmed" gods. It's fucking stupid on so many goddamned levels. It doesn't matter how divine magic ACTUALLY works, but characters in the setting shouldn't be able to confirm how it works. Maybe the gods ARE real, maybe they DO channel their power through mortals, but mortals shouldn't know 100% for sure how this works. It should be vague enough for them to speculate and have multiple interpretations and beliefs. You know, actual fucking FAITH.
>>46956468
Cave Swallow Man is a real hero
>>46956334
When every kind of elf or particular beastkin gets their own isolated territory
>>46956616
>not liking gods who are definitely real and regularly prove it but never stick around long enough to answer any questions, causing numerous factions to pop up arguing about who has the right interpretations of the gods
>>46957194
In settings like that, the gods are just juvenile assholes who can't handle any responsibility. Then again I suppose thats what like 80% of Greek myths were about.
>>46957022
Faith is basically just an Abrahamic thing. The Greeks didn't have "faith". They knew that their gods were dicks. Faith is something you need when there are concrete explanations that aren't "A god did it". When the gods literally throw power at people they like, and smite people they don't like, it's worship, not faith, that matters.
>>46957239
Which again reduces mortals to playthings of greater forces that don't really need them to begin with but use them because they're dicks?
>>46957194
Commune is a 5th level Cleric spell that lets you get direct answers from your deity. Seems like it'd be pretty easy to clear up any questions.
>>46957264
Welcome to how almost every pantheon ever worked.
Even things like the Japanese pantheon where there are just more or less powerful spirits and nobody knows what they want or why they want it are full of divine or pseudo-divine beings that use mortals as playthings in their own little games.
A lot of times, members of a pantheon can't or won't directly attack each other. But goading a mortal into pissing in another god's cereal is a-ok. Sure, the mortal gets completely fucked by that other god, but mortals are fucking everywhere and the gods have bitches to fuck and booze to drink. They don't have time in their busy schedule for getting off their ass and fixing things.
>>46956961
>Fuck all you niggers who let this cliche happen
After all, it was you and me
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodsNeedPrayerBadly
"High Fantasy"
It no longer means King Arthurian setting with Tolkein Races.
It means X-Men with over twenty player races made because Paizo has to publish something this month or Lisa will have to pull the plug on their doomed MMO.
>>46957264
YOU NIGGER
Basically all pagans accepted the fact fact man is utterly helpless to fate
>>46957708
I hate non human races in general
Tolkien was working in a dark ages Celtic/Germanic framework, elves and dwarves and ettins make sense given that he was telling sanitized & reinvented versions of northern legend
He hated Narnia because Lewis had fucking slapped together elves, centaurs, intelligent talking beasts, and even fucking Santa Claus in one setting
>>46957841
>He hated Narnia because he hated fun
FTFY
>>46956392
How does one explaing magic as science?
Do people formulate magic-theories from proven magic-hypothesis?
>>46957529
Then who killed pro magic
>>46956392
>nearly all settings have wizards as high-INT casters
>this kenderspawn thinks they won't bother to research the power they have
Also, Science fantasy master race
>>46957841
>I hate non-human races in general
What wonderful and diverse taste in fantasy you have.
>>46958435
>Wizards all have high INT
>Magic is still a total mystery
>All of that intelligence just lets them manifest more elaborate effects using science
>>46957887
They just overuse "Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don't understand it"
It's just unnecessary.
>>46958435
Gross.
>>46958572
Well... tastes differ. And this thread is pointless.
>>46957841
>he hated Narnia
Given the close relationship between Lewis and Tolkien, I think "hate" might be gross hyperbole
>>46956772
He will if one of them is the guy in the village who makes shoes and the other is the ravening monster that tore a horse in half.
You are sorta assuming the beast folk came out of nowhere.
>>46957022
Annoyingly that's how Forgotten Realms used to work before the stupid Time of Troubles and ESPECIALLY before 3e rolled around. The deities had dogma sure, but they were vague enough that priests could disagree on specific matters and the gods were too busy being gods to actually waste time clarifying their mortal servants, which is why Lathander (the NG sun deity) had a HUGE section of his cult that worshippers him under a different name as an LG sun deity of law.
3e really shit up FR and basically every complaint anyone has about it these days (too much deity interference, too much generic stuff, too much Important NPC focus, too much "metaplot", not enough leeway to run adventures) is about as recent as the 3e FR core book and WotC's moronic design desicions,
I hear 5e toned a lot of that stuff down but I haven't seen the SCAG so I can't confirm.
>>46957841
Actually he had minor issues with Narnia because he had minor issues with the author over their religious differences.
People forget that Tolkien was a very devout Christian.
>>46956334
>anal circumference
>>46958805
Was lewis less devout or why? Narnia was for me a heavier christian allegory than lotr.
>>46958805
>>46958886
Tolkien was Catholic, Lewis was Protestant (Anglican?)
>>46958896
Say no more. That explains it.
>adventuring is a normal job
>adventurers find new ruins on a daily basis
>all this happens in 2 week travelradius
>>46958435
"Ok Steve, I like the sci-fi hoplite armor, I like the impractical pose, but it's just missing something..."
"I could throw a skull on his belt for no fucking reason."
"BRILLIANT!"but really, it's neat
>>46958948
>adventuring is a normal job
Honestly in games like D&D adventurers need to be semi-common to give an explanation as to why your players can't slay these <level 10 NPCs and take over the world. Why can't you do that? Because people are hiring murderhobos to protect them from other murderhobos.
>>46959043
I don't mind that. What I mind is that people find a shitload of unraided tombs with hidden treasures and artefacts when there where are 3-5 adventurepartys per square mile for the last 100 years.
>>46959093
I find myself relatively rarely using old ruins unless they are very heavily guarded/populated/hard to reach/very remote for that very reason.
Once I played a game where the DM played mild joke where the villain had to be stopped and he tricked the party into an old set of ruins to do a dungeon crawl to stop his evil plan at the bottom of said ruins as per most D&D adventures.
He ended up completing the plan aboveground using politics and conventional methods while we fucked around in a dungeon uselessly and got some random loot and shit.
He later succinctly pointed out that nothing ever ACTUALLY important happens in ruins, which is why of course they are STILL RUINS instead of actually being used and in shape.
>>46958896
Tolkien was Christian. Got it.
>Robot horses
>Magic can generate resources from thin air
>>46956961
http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/sseg.php
Also, the whole concept of the fairy-folk of Ireland is that the "real" God fucked the pagan gods up when he came about and stole their prayers; YHWH doesn't need prayer, but he just wants it because he's so alpha.
>>46959150
>I find myself relatively rarely using old ruins unless they are very heavily guarded/populated/hard to reach/very remote for that very reason.
Then it's done fine. I just know some DM's that let ancient ruins pop up like mushrooms for no reason.
That beeing said, I'd play a game where the main-location is an underground city that expands for miles and miles underground where you can find a new set of catacombs by just knocking a wall down.
>>46959242
YHWH is so based
I remember reading a norse legend about Odin meeting a christian king and offering glory in battle if he'd go back to heathenism. Viking king gives Odin a three page speech about why he sucks and to back to the darkness, unloved and forgotten by all.
>>46959202
>Magic ignores the first law of thermodynamics
>not totally OK
When you're pulling raw primal energy from a place with infinite amounts of that energy, why not create matter from nothing?
>>46956392
>>46956334
>Basic infrastructure doesn't exist, yet there are cities counted in hundreds of thousands citizens
>High magic setting with easy access to trendemous powers without any drawbacks; still feudal societies relying on (inefficient) argarian production
>All races in space settings are humanoids AND compatibile in size with humans
>There is this big church institution and it's IVIL!
>There is this religion of evil (don't confuse it with previous point) based on demon summoning, ritual murder and suffering of everyone around... and it's somehow legal, not prosecuted and accepted by people
>Non-human races stand in for entire cultural circles
>Each country representing separate culture, usually completely alien to the rest, so you have suddenly Ancient Egyptian stand-in bordering with Not!China
>Technology curve is all over the place, so you can have a Bronze Age despotic empire of Ancient Sumer bordering with Space Elves and City-State of Florence, where they are building clockpunk weapons
>Despite having powerful magic that is easy to acces, wield and use, armies never emply wizard, even if just for sieges.
>If gun powder is present, it's in the setting for few centuries already, yet all weapons are at best matchlock arquebus
>Each non-human race got SINGLE kingdom/nation/country
>When the setting is anything but mid 19th century or later and each village, regardless of anything, got inn, blacksmith, general store and a chapel
>Towns and cities exists in places when there is no reason to settle in the first place, not to mention sustain commerce
>Population being concentrated in urban areas in pre-modern settings
>>46957022
>he thinks blind faith is the only faith
>>46959590
>>There is this big church institution and it's IVIL!
>>There is this religion of evil (don't confuse it with previous point) based on demon summoning, ritual murder and suffering of everyone around... and it's somehow legal, not prosecuted and accepted by people
>>Non-human races stand in for entire cultural circles
>>Each country representing separate culture, usually completely alien to the rest, so you have suddenly Ancient Egyptian stand-in bordering with Not!China
>>Technology curve is all over the place, so you can have a Bronze Age despotic empire of Ancient Sumer bordering with Space Elves and City-State of Florence, where they are building clockpunk weapons
Like, all four of these things are actually quite realistic.
As an econfag I've learned I just have to cheerfully ignore everything having to do with any fantasy world's economy - I can't expect writers who aren't really even pretending to be experts to not make basic mistakes constantly
I reserve my right to be mad about time travel and prophecies creating enormous logical inconsistencies in stories, though
>>46956334
>Setting has both gorillas and niggers
>gorillas are ferocious animals that are feared in the wild or captured
>niggers are basically treated the same as elves, dwarves, etc.
Sorry for the /pol/ but this is how you sound.
>>46958886
Considering that Tolkien himself said multiple times that LotR is not an allegory, that's not surprising.
>>46956392
What about Quest for Glory, where doing that exact thing makes you the butt of all the jokes?
Scifi Setting-specific
>FTL travel exists, space ships exist, weapons that cen destroy planets exist... most combat is still done by guys on the ground with assault rifles that aren't much more advanced than what we currently have.
>Space Magic. Whether it's Psykters, Biotics, Psionics, Light, whatever... fuck this noise.
>Humanoid all-female races. For obvious reasons.
>Energy weapons that are less effective than conventional ballistic firearms.
>The long extinct race of super-aliens that left tons of super advanced ruins scattered across the galaxy then disappeared without a trace.
>Space zombies
>Humanoid giant mechs (think Gundams)
>Entire alien races that are thinly veiled allegories for real-world cultures.
>>46959731
Yeah, the big corrupt church institution is essentially Catholicism and the blatantly violent evil religion that's inexplicably legal is clearly Islam, there are some groups on the planet right now who live in the jungle and kill each other with spears and there are others who are cooperating on building a space station
Reality is unrealistic, I guess
>>46959312
>Christianity is literally the biggest cucks wanting to cuck all the other religions the hardest
For once I even use the term in roughly the correct context.
>>46956334
how do you bearbeasyfolk?
>>46959838
I too hate mass effect. Mostly for the dull ass gameplay and the "world changing choices" that don't matter (don't impact gameplay). It's basically at failure at everything it attempts to be: A fun game and a game where "choices matter".
>>46959814
>Niggers in any fantasy setting automatically come from a southern desert country
Why is it mandatory ? Why have them in the first place ?
>>46959838
Not sure if describing Mass Effect, Star Wars, Halo, or Destiny.
>>46959838
>I don't like Mass Effect
I just don't like aliens being capable of interbreeding with humans, or other aliens from different planets
>>46959845
It's just weird to see a combination of genuine THIS ISN'T HOW SHIT WOULD WORK!!!! combined with a bunch of contrarian, anti-cliches shit. It wraps them up and tries, implicitly and subconsciously, that these things are related
Because, if you want a giant religious organization that ISN'T IVIL then you're doing something that isn't how anything actually run by humans would work on that large of a scale, as demonstrated by reality.
But if you want a setting where not every village has a blacksmith, then, well, "reality is unrealistic"
You're tearing me apart LISA!
>>46959890
Do you not understand the purpose of melanin or something?
>>46956334
>not making werebeasts a subset of beastfolk
>not making them sacred warrior caste
>>46959890
Melanin and kinky hair are nice traits in a scorching humid climate
>>46959845
>there are some groups on the planet right now who live in the jungle and kill each other with spears and there are others who are cooperating on building a space station
Disparate tech levels on an entire planet =/= disparate tech levels of adjacent regions
>>46959908
>any and all large organizations are evil
*tips anarchist trillby*
>>46959768
Do you have any basic advice or common mistakes to avoid? As much as I love things related to trade like bazaars, caravans, trading companies and large Silk Road type trade routes, I don't actually know shit about trade and economics
>>46959973
I know I sound like a faggot, but I'm going to go off the fact that you made a *tips* joke rather than state a very large organization that is demonstrably not evil that I have some sort of legitimacy in my claim.
>Disparate tech levels on an entire planet =/= disparate tech levels of adjacent regions
there are numerous examples on the planet of this phenomena as well
>>46959928
Mah niggaImage saved
>Druids are guardians of nature
Anachronistic and boring hippie bullshit. And that's before you factor in the giant spiders and sentient man-eating plants that fantasy settings throw in.
Werecreatures are taken over by massive impulses of violence necessary to spread their disease. Intelligent wilderness creatures are simply humanoid beasts with circa-human intelligence and sentience. I don't see why having both is bad or contradictory. Beastfolk don't spread their genetics through violence in the way werecreatures do.
Beastfolk in general desu. I don't really have a strong reason, partly because they're basically just animal stereotypes but my dislike for them is much stronger than that warrants. It's not because of furries either, hated them before I even knew what a furry was.
>>46960141
>Fae are guardians of nature
>Druids are just filthy hippies
>>46960141
>killing animals is wrong!
>I've got to prevent people harvesting natures bounty!
>ignore the fact that nature brutally murders and burns shit to cinders on a regular basis
>>46956392
But magic and science (and religion) were intertwined in our own world for most of recorded history. Chemistry was born out of alchemy. Medicine was born out of 'healing herbs'/'witchcraft'.
>>46960141
>>46960303
>>46960352
this.
Druids worshipping nature's ferocity are best druids.
>>46960415
>druids worshipping nature's ferocity
>and thighhighs
>>46960056
Hmm, it's mostly pretty subtle stuff. When you have to touch on economics, keep in mind the law of demand - as price increases, the quantity demanded falls, all else being equal - and you'll avoid a LOT of common mistakes.
There are some edicts made by both good kings and evil barons in fantasy stories that would be simply unenforceable and/or would have the opposite effect than what the author thinks a lot of the time. And then there's all those conspiracies and wars that are started for some gritty complex economic motivation that the author clearly doesn't understand but thinks he does. If you aren't 100% sure you get how the econ involved works, at least try to avoid having the entire plot hinge on it, you know?
>>46959920
>>46959937
I do. It's just the fact of having niggers forcefully integrated to any setting that triggers me.
>>46959878
>>46959895
>>46959907
Does ME have gundams?
>>46961022
That's just because you don't like black people and consider white people the default. Nothing to do with quality at all.
>>46961022
Does your world not have tropical climate regions?
>>46956334
Werewolves are much bigger and more animal-like, but more importantly they are mindless berserk killing machines whose claws can shear through a concrete block. No one is going to mistake the mild mannered little bulldog man shopkeeper for a werewolf.
You may as well be comparing a lizard to a dragon because they both have scales. Or comparing a human to an ogre or a giant.
>>46956334
>setting has darkelves and drow
>they're two separate things
>dm can't tell them apart
>>46956334
>setting has both hags and old women.
>hags are vicious cannibals that are hated and feared.
>old women constantly mistaken for hags and killed on sight.
>>46961704
This sounds like something out of discworld
>>46956334
>setting has both dragons and lizardmen
>dragons are terrible monsters that are hated and feared
>lizardmen use the fact that everybody mistakes them for dragons to con supplies out of villagers and swiftly depart to go further on their shamanistic world journeys
>>46957217
Or maybe they're basically lovecraftian Gods - they're there, they're real and the majority don't really give a shit about humanity in the first place, just pop up in reality to do their business and then leave.
>>46956591
>innocent beast people
They where born wrong.
>>46958656
You're really overestimating the mental faculties of frightened peasants.
>>46959731
Not the original anon, but are you fucking insane?
You can't have BORDERING countries that are on completely different technological level, that's one of the most unrealistic things in existence, because duh, technology and science flow. You can have Iron Age Culture C, B, A and S++, but in the core they are all still the same Iron Age Culture.
We are not talking about Tribe of A on Continent 1, Nation of B on Continent 2 and Empire of C on Continent 3. We are talking about Triba A, Nation B and Empire C bordering each other. Which by itself is barely possible.
For the rest - I tip you fedora, you mong
>>46960095
>there are numerous examples on the planet of this phenomena as well
List at least 10 of them.
If this is so fucking common, you are obligated to fucking shit up 10 examples without even trying.
And you don't sound like a faggot. Sexual preferences has nothing to do with being simply uneducated teen with bunch of contrarian, angsty ideas how world "really" works.
>>46961917
How wrong do you like to be? Because look at the way Rome fought Parthia and the Gauls. Massively different tactics because they were dealing with massively different technological eras. Holy shit, just look at the Russo-Japanese war in Korea. Literally bordering with huge advances in tech for Russia.
>>46961917
So, you mean like having Francia, Saxony and various Scandinavian tribes in one age on one continent? Like the age of Charlemagne had? There are so many fucking examples it hurts to look at your stupid.
>>46961585
Point taken.
>>46961641
It does. Thankfully, our GM decided to put the dwarves there. Pretty unusual dwarves btw. So it's a nice surprise.
>>46961975
Jesus fucking Christ, how stupid are you? You've just made two comparisons by comparing exactly the same shit!
The original example was how you have Romans fighting Spanish Tercio fighting Space Marines. And you not only missed somehow such huge exaggeration, you are trying to justify it by comparing period-specific forces of roughtly the same tech capabilities.
Honestly, you could at least TRY to use Spanish fighting in Americans or Brits going after Zulu. Instead you've compared the same shit with the same shit with huge grin on your face.
This is not your everyday stupid
>>46956392
Well memed, friend.
>>46961995
No, I mean this: >>46962011 And the original anon obviously also meant something similar
Please tell me you are just pretending to be such a tool
>>46961975
>>46961995
>2016
>There are people who received formal education, yet are absolutely incapable of making comparisons
>>46959838
My tastes differ from yours, and that's ok.
>>46962005
Across the whole world? With absolutely nobody else ever in that region?
>>46961975
>Rome, Parthia and the Gauls
>Massively different technological eras
>>46956392
Fucking this, magic should be strange, occultistic and mystical. Where the fuck are rituals, deals with the demons? Why there are no side effects fucking up reality? There is always the same boring retarded ,,learn magic-science and spam fireballs,, No mystery or any unknown factor about it.
>>46961975
Anon, don't want to break it for you, but your "examples" are one huge pile of nonsense. Seriously, your claim about Russo-Japanese war is so retarded I'm inclined to assume you think the Japanese fielded fucking samurais with bows and swords, and not contemporary army of Prussian-style infantry and modern navy based on destroyers, corvettes and pre-drednoughts powered by steam turbines against Russians, who had pretty much the same shit, but with worse budget and non-existing infrastructure to make use of own vast empire.
Besides, the war took place in Manchuria, you fucking moron.
>>46962048
Rome and Parthia were close enough to equals. At the time of the Gallic wars, Gallic armies were still using stone and wood, as well as hide armour, as much as they used bronze and iron. They had only just started to use ringmail. There was about six centuries of development in Rome's favour.
>>46962074
Different anon, but someone already gave you the right example about the stuff discussed here:
>Romans fighting Spanish Tercio fighting Space Marines
>Spanish fighting in Americans or Brits going after Zulu
And you are still going about Iron Age C vs Iron Age A and how "massively" different they were.
It's just painful to read
>>46958951
It gets creepier or sadder when you realize how much smaller that skull is than his head. Guy's carrying around a baby skull.
>>46962074
You know what? At this point I'm assuming pic related.
>>46962098
How else do you keep the family together after they're eaten by sand worms.
>>46959202
It doesn't generate resource from thin air, it teleports it to you from infinite planes made up of nothing but that resource.
The real question is why dwarves bother to mine anything if they could all just learn wizardry and produce all the fucking iron and gold they'd ever need.
>>46962116
Because then it would be worthless. Basic inflation, guy.
>>46962011
Even the Zulus had muskets and, in several cases, high precision mortar.
>>46961917
>>46959731
>Like, all four
I don't think he meant to include the tech curve point.
>>46962146
Did they produce them on their own? Did they knew how to build them? Did they have infrastructure to make them?
No, they fucking buy them from Portugese and then looted some more from killed Brits
Why are you even trying?
>>46962168
Which means he was a fucking fedora tipper
This whole technology border stuff is one I have trouble with. In my setting, warfare takes two forms. Most armies are made up of regular warriors. Dragon riders and the like make up very specialist units. Mages are less useful on a battlefiend. Better for sieges and urban/guerilla warfare.
But I have a country whose army is starting to mass-produce flintlock rifles and pistols. It's an island that primarily benefits from trades and renting out their army. How long would it take for the neighbouring nations to start picking up flintlock weaponry as well? How do firearms and magic pair up in battles?
>>46956334
That makes sense if the 'werebeasts' are some sort of disease that literally turns you into a shaggy bloodthirsty monster.
It could also be a reason for strife between a region that is ravaged by such a curse upon meeting beastfolk in that they are naturally mistrustful/aggressive against things that remind them of the threat.
>>46962123
It's not about inflation, you mong, but classic issue of setting having EVERY means possible to be post-scaracity society, yet for no real or reasonable reason being fucking feudalism.
Tell me something.
You can mine, smelt and refine ore for few weeks of hard labour, with shitload of infrastructure required to pull that.
Or you can teleport finished steel from other plane, since it's high magic setting with everyone having very easy access to powerful magic that comes without any secret price.
So tell me. A guy in pointy hat is making say... 500 steel sheets per day. Meanwhile you've got 500 guys making single steel sheet for a week of total production, based on access to resources.
Tell me again - why the fuck even bother with those 500 guys?
This is what post-scaracity society is. And unless you put some SERIOUS restrictions on the magic user and his "taking things from thin air" ability, he is more economical than anything else.
Jesus fucking Christ, I've just explained you how magic makes production redundant, because you can't grasp such basic thing on your own.
>>46956616
How about Exalted, where the existence of gods is 100% real, and if one gives you lip, you can pull it out of it's hidey hole, and smack it around a bit, until it shows you some damn respect?
>>46962217
Iron's one thing, but you talked about gold. Guessing you were talking mainly for currency reasons. The cost of getting gold has little effect on its worth. As with any currency, it's about how much is in the market.
>>46962235
>You
I'm different anon, mong.
And I most definitely mean the whole thing in the concept of production geting redundant when you can ommit the part about refining resources and end up with finished thing.
As for gold, yeah, inflation. But it's not the ability to summon gold that makes magic better than industry, it's ability to completely surpass industry. We are talking about ability to materialise things out of thin air with zero effort. It takes to be really dense tool not to understand how powerful this is.
>>46962250
You the same guy arguing about this whole technology thing? If so, you need to calm down. You're getting butt-blustered across entirely different conversations.
You're insulting me for talking about a different tangent than you. I provided a reason why it's not useful to just conjure up loads of gold. Then you start talking about production goods.
My problem with setting gods is almost across the board they are baby's first Greek gods. There's the motherly fertility goddess and the emo death god and the super righteous king of the gods. I want Hindu, buddhist, or even flavors of Judeo Christian gods to show up more often. And on that note, why does every setting have a unified pantheon that all people know and worship?
>>46962217
Gonna sound childish now, but wasn't it how Avatar setting used the whole concept of magic? Like people not even bothering with certain obvious inventions, because why bother if you have a "bender" who can do that shit with few seconds of focus and proper gestures. So you could have a massive "train" build out of solid rock, moving on it's own, because hell, why not. Or high quality steel without even studying metallurgy (or developing it, really), because other guy waved his hands over the molten metal and bang, all inpurities removed, proper composition achieved.
>>46962267
Anon, can you graps the concept I'm completely different person than anyone who you've been talking with before? This >>46962217 was my first post in this thread and you instantly try to assume I'm some different anon or anons who apparently also told you to fuck off
>>46962285
No, there's just one person repeatedly calling people mongs and fedora tippers.
>>46962217
Comparative advantage. The wizard might be 3500x better at making steel as you, but he's 4000x better at protecting this plane of existence. So the best thing for him to do is protect this plane of existence while you and 3500 buddies handle the steel production.
>>46962271
Except, Avatar benders can't create anything but fire. They can produce things better, but it still takes a degree of work and it's not out of nowhere. It has a source.
>>46962270
>And on that note, why does every setting have a unified pantheon that all people know and worship?
they don't, even forgotten realms doesn't do that
>>46962270
>baby's first Greek gods
>And on that note, why does every setting have a unified pantheon that all people know and worship?
I'm always triggered by this bullshit. For me it's one of the laziest world-building elements possible.
But let's not forget that the setting Arabs stand-in will for sure have their stand-in for Islam, thus filling the niche of "some big monoteistic religion that is not Corrupt Catholic Church on steroids"
I think most of religious affairs in world building is just a nasty combination of stereotypes, ignorance and simple lazyness. It provides us in turn with badly written, poorly adjusted and nonsensical world elements.
I mean seriously? You gonna tell me there is this evil religion of evil, where they sacrifice infants and virgins every Wednesday and the preaching is all about suffering and inflicting pain... so vast masses of common people are supporting this religion and its clergy, because someone thought it would be nice to have an evil god with evil religion?
>>46962319
>>46962270
For real, this is my biggest gripe. Religions should represent their cultures. If you have a doom and gloom religion, it better be relegated as fuck to people who live in constant hardship.
>>46962301
Which part of "it's high magic setting with everyone having very easy access to powerful magic that comes without any secret price." you didn't understand?
I'm talking about a setting where every single motherfucker can become a mage without any ill effects after spending few years reading specific books and some practice. In such situation comparative advantage is a non-issue, because it's PROFITABLE to fucking train such guys for your company. Or even start doing it yourself.
Dunno, why people are so fucking focused on finding excuses when the example situation specifies they are not applying?
If you can teach 3500 buddies handle the steel production and in the same time 3500 buddies you can teach how to materialise sheets of steel out of thin air at the same price, you are simply retarded if you are going for production.
Funny how people have zero issues about it in high-end soft sci-fi, but the moment wizards get tangled in, suddenly you just can't have this shit. Same reason why you can't have guns, right? Because "they don't fit" or some other bullshit.
For me it's simply a case of shit world-building that is too focused on the fact of throwing fireballs than actually using the magic for something useful. I mean even fucking witcherverse, one of the worst internally constructed settings, has entire manufacture that has magic-school drop-outs weaving water-proof capes and selling them for pretty penny, because they are making literally water-proof material with use of magic, while everyone else can only offer waxed/greased cloth. But then again, it was written by an accountant, so go figure
>>46960451
Them's be tattoos, son.
>>46962353
My biggest gripe is when there are religions in any given setting that give people no real reason to follow them, and yet common people and uneducated masses are firm believers. This is wrong on so many levels I'm instantly thrown away. What interest has this peasant of worshipping religion based on values that mean nothing to him, offer nothing in return AND is not part of his cultural identification or enslavement (so we are not talking about stuff like caste system). It makes no sense whatsoever and for me is a massive hole in the internal logic of the setting, yet is so widespread I can't even name settings that don't have this issue
>>46962353
I'd actually say the inverse. A people living in constant hardship would have a religion of hope and joy (think black gospel music, which evolved during slavery in the south).
A fat, rich and happy people would invent a doom and gloom religion, due to their internalised liberal guilt. Like environmentalism.
>>46962402
Not to be that guy, but Westeros doesn't, as far as I can see.
>>46962200
It would be as simple as collecting the dead pistols and rifles off the dead.
Actually figuring out the bullets and powder is a different story, but medieval Europe did it so hey
>>46962402
I don't think we've seen much religiosity from peasants in Westeros - it's mostly the lords and ladies blathering on about the Seven, or the Old Gods, or the Drowned God.
Apart from the sparrows, who formed the Church Militant to wreck noble face. That's something of value to every peasant.
>>46962353
>>46962410
Seriously, you can have it both way in the same setting, BUT the thing is - it must makes sense. And for it making sense, you need to create reason why Culture A got Religion A and why Culture B got Religion B and why Culture C so easily adopted Religion E.
Contrary to what most people assume, religions as such make a lot of sense within cultural and historical context of the people who created them. If you cut out this reason and just arbitrary decide "they will pray to God X, patron of N", you end up with shitty religions and badly written cultures.
>>46962420
What?
No, sincerely. All I understood is that you are making some reference to GoT, but since I don't watch it and don't read it, I have no idea where are you going.
Please explain.
>>46956392
Exactly this.
But technology that uses or runs on magic is good, as long as the magic obeys said unscientific "rules".
>>46962410
I'm thinking particularly of the Aztecs and the literal Doom Calendar that called for mass human sacrifice. Or most of the damn Mesapotamian religions. The people were warlike and sought more, so the gods did the same. Demanded the breaking of other gods. You have a good point with the slavery thing, but that's different from living in an environment where it's an everyday occurrence that someone dies because of the environment.
>>46962438
So let me get this straight... To avoid the problem, the setting lacks religion for the masses as such and commoners are simply areligious? No cults of spirits, no ancestoral worship, no nature worship?
I'm not familiar with the setting at all, as already noted, but is sounds like sweeping the problem under the carpet and pretending it doesn't exist. Even if you have areligious societies, like Chinese for example, you still have quasi-religious practices and SOME form of worship. People might not care much about it, they don't need to identify themselves with any religion, but magic practice remains a stample all over the globe.
>>46956334
>So many people having problem with scientific magic
But... why? And I'm sincere here. What's the big deal here?
>>46959590
>Despite having powerful magic that is easy to access, wield, and use, armies never employ wizards, even if just for sieges
And how, exactly, are you going to get those Wizards to fight for you and not sod off to their personal demiplanes?
>>46962450
The northerners and wild tribes are totemist/animist believers because they live in a place where their fortunes are very much a result of living with nature. They see a bleak world they have to make their own world in and have a history of fighting people with druid-ish magic, so they put stock in gods of nature and animals.
The southerners follow a religion that was once essentially 'vikings'. Invaders brought a religion that favoured conquest and submission. As time went on, it grew into a feudal agrarian society and the focus of submission and order within the religion was emphasised. It's currently undergoing another revolution focusing on the dignity and rights of man as power grows more and more decentralised from the monarchy.
Then in the far east, a mystery cult is rising right beside the ruins of an entire country. Essentially preaching doom and sacrifice and the fight of true good v. true evil in a similar way to Zoroastrianism.
>>46956392
God I fucking hate this. Nearly ruins any setting
>>46962500
presumably the mages go through a period between "no magic" and "creating planes of existence from scratch" where they have magic that is useful on the battlefield without being utterly beyond mortal concerns
>>46959838
I think science fantasy is okay, but when you try to pass it off as regular science fiction I get pissed off.
>>46962500
What the fuck? Anon. you've got a guy that can cast motherfucking meteors from a sky once per day. And you have this fortress that can be besieged for 5 years straight. Not sure how about you, but I would fucking bombard them daily, until they surrender or there is no longer any fortress. Still faster and cheaper than just waiting, because you've just replaced artillery, the bane of all fortifications, with magic.
>>46956392
Sort of this but basically, any setting where the explanation of a power that could just be "magic" is aggressively explained in nonmagical terms that make no fucking sense. It's not an RPG, but the best expample I can think of was in Jessica Jones when they were like "Kilgrave's power is caused by a Virus, even though it effects everyone with every type of immune system as soon as they hear him speak from a physical distance of this number of feet no matter what the air flow is like in the room and stops effecting everyone in a consistent number of hours. Viruses totally work that way! Immune systems don't vary by person! Sound is an infection vector!"
Also, any setting where you can easily tell the alignment of a member of a sentient race by their physical features. Color coded dragons, "always Chaotic Evil" races, etc. Moral complexity is a good thing.
>>46962500
History lesson.
You know how France was fully unified in 15th century? By making a royal wagon train consisting of 70 cannons and bombarding every single fortress, castle and keep that was held by political opponents or people not under king's heel.
Now replace those 70 cannons with 70 mages throwing Whatever-Exploding-Or-Fire-Based-Spell on the castle which is besieged.
Is it clear now?
>>46956961
If it's good enough for Neil Gaiman, it's good enough for me.
>>46962474
The commoners aren't areligious. They're just more concerned about eating and not getting spitted on the end of a lance than about whose God can beat up someone else's God.
They're nominally religious, and would identify as followers of this or that religion, but they're not deeply invested in the theological principles underpinning them. They make the sign of the seven when they're worried because that's what daddy did, and his daddy before him, not because they've made a study of comparative religion and decided on the one that most suits their philosophical position.
>>46962676
So it's just problem sweeped under the carpet.
But yeah, it's still miles better than standard "Shit Religion That Makes No Sense In The Context"
>>46962513
If it exists you can apply the scientific method to it. If magic is a part of nature and the scientific method has been developed in the setting there is no reason that it would not have a field dedicated to it.
>>46956961
Anon, this is literally how religion works. The moment nobody is practicing it anymore, it dies.
>>46962688
Nah, it's a situation modelled on actual history, where religion was imposed top-down by the rulers, instead of pulled out of some RPGers arsehole on an anonymous image board.
>>46962696
This.
At least SOME people understand such basic concept as "things fall under scientific cathegories regardless if you like it or not"
>>46956909
It should be one or the other.
Also,
>Divine magic can only be obtained be being channeled directly to mortals by the gods
>100% confirmed real gods who interfere with mortals
>The gods just grant you spells per day and unless you do something really really out of character they don't check to see what you are doing with them.
So it's never like "Hey, I see that you are about to seriously fuck up by casting that spell that may blow up the room, so that spell isn't going to work." or "That's an immature, stupid thing to waste the divine power of the shining lord on! Fuck you, I'mma turn you bright pink instead."
>>46962706
I'm talking about the religious practice among common people, not the model of who believes in what.
>>46962644
His point is 'why would someone so powerful deign to a king', I think.
Though to be fair, there would probably be defensive mages on the other side. The tide of magic playing a role, just like a physical shieldwall battle, is pretty cool.
>>46957356
This is my next campaign idea, thanks.
>>46956392
>>46962726
>His point is 'why would someone so powerful deign to a king', I think.
Did you've just asked why military leaders follow their elected government? Or why people don't act like a bunch of petty faggots?
Because seriously, it's like asking why police officers are not raiding banks. After all, they've got guns and are the only people that could stop the bank robbery outside the walls of the bank.
>>46962054
Nah, fuck that.
>>46962706
Except that wasn't the case of most religions. Even the Go-To-Church Modeller, Christianity, didn't work like that. Christianity was the religion of people, so it became the justification of the rulers.
>>46962726
By this, we should ask why crews of those 70 guns were following king's orders and not any of his more powerful and much wealthier enemies.
>>46962760
Because centralised authority means there's someone to stop them. I mean, shit, Roman legions followed the exact principal you're talking about. They supported their own men and caused civil wars. Police and modern military leaders are suppressed from ambition by the system. Wizards, by nature of being able to do whatever the fuck they want, work above it.
>>46958435
>Implying a high-INT caster would bother explaining magic to petty plebs
>>46962782
Nah, because in one case, it's a unit comprised of many men. In the other, it's just singular dudes. If you, alone, are more powerful than the king, why bow to him?
>>46962790
>Wizards, by nature of being able to do whatever the fuck they want, work above it.
Or not. Dunno, ever occured to you they could be loyal? Or even simply owe the king? OR, as the original anon pointed out, this is a setting where you can train every single motherfucker to wield magic if you put him through study, so why king wouldn't sponsor bunch of guys with this and in return ask for favor later?
Honestly, there is FUCKLOAD of reasons why the wizard would be loyal and friendly toward own ruler/government/employer/whoever else and yet you INSTANTLY jump to conclusion of "great power = being above everything and everyone".
You know who acts like this?
Kids and teens.
Grown up people, regardless of their status, power and wealth, act most of the time reasonably and without being massive dicks to everyone around just because they can.
>>46959973
>The evil religion or evil government or whatever has been in power for several generations without pretending to be good, or being a dystopia, or being incredibly strong and difficult to topple.
or
>The new king is a good guy, and putting him on the throne solves all problems with the government with no other effort needed.
>>46958896
Lewis was Protstant earlier in life, but he was Chathlic by the time he was writing.
>>46962810
Because you are not a child. That's why.
Seriously, why this argument is brought up so many times, hell, pretty much always?
The fact you are big, strong, rich or powerful doesn't mean you act like an utter dick to everyone around just because you can. Sure, some do, but there is a difference between "some" than "all".
This anon already tapped this subject: >>46962826
>>46956392
God I hate the "Magic is just science and technology that isn't explained yet" trope. Especially because it's most often pulled by people who don't know enough about science and technology to actually explain how the magic of their world is actually scientific by our standards.
I get it if you're playing a low fantasy game and it's meant in the capacity that you get accused of being a witch because you threw a black powder bomb at a goblin or some shit. Where I get annoyed is when it crosses into sci-fi territory like "Oh look at this magic amulet that makes arrows stop mid flight!" and the GM sits there trying to say that this forcefield is actually lost technology. That's the point where I have to say no because I see it as a poor excuse for people who claim not to like magic to add magic to their settings anyway.
>>46962826
I dunno, if you look at most powerful or rich people, their ambitions usually skew towards keeping the status quo or accumulating more power. Anywho, I'm not arguing that wizards could be loyal. But they can just easily be disloyal or ambitious.
The idea that 'grown up people' don't act out of self interest and even greed is ridiculous.
But that's not even what I was driving at. If a wizard recognises that a king doesn't really hold authority over him, is he being a massive dick by not fighting for that king?
>>46962854
>The idea that 'grown up people' don't act out of self interest and even greed is ridiculous.
>I'm below age of 25 and without any responsibilities: The Post
>>46962845
But if you can give yourself all the protection and nourishment you need, what use do you have of a king? Why is it being an utter dick to not be loyal to a king you have no need of? Surely, the king is the utter dick for arbitrarily imposing his version of order on those who have no need of it.
>>46962849
>in my setting, there exist tubes that discharge explosions but don't call them guns
>there exist big automata made of metal, but don't call them robots
>people go to school to learn to do this stuff and its based off learning
>people research to learn how to do more of this stuff
>these spells and items are 100% repeatable
>totally not technology tho
UMMMMM... K?
>>46962868
Nice strawmanning. But seriously, look at the richest people in the world. Look at what happens when regular soldiers get power. It's the minority that turns out to have values of social responsibility, not the majority.
>>46962879
>Making wild assumptions to strenghten another wild assumption
Tell me something - what the wizard gains by doing so? Since apparently all your arguments boil down to "it's not profitable", what the wizard gains by standing outside of the whole thing?
Or, coincidently, what makes you think the wizard would try to get all the power for himself or consider himself instantly, as part of his "trade", perfect specimen to be the new king.
Long story short - you are making MASSIVE assumptions based on extremely simplified exaggerations. As if world was binary and there are only two stances for everything.
Like the child invoked by the other anon.
>>46959838
>The long extinct race of super-aliens that left tons of super advanced ruins scattered across the galaxy then disappeared without a trace.
basically this trope exists for a real reason known as the Fermi Paradox - if travel and colonisation of the galaxy is possible, the time it'd take is less than the time it's taken for the human race to evolve on planet earth.
Thus the question is raised: if aliens exist out there AND interstellar colonisation is possible, then where are all the ayys?
So you have the predecessor race, then you have either a mechanism (like the reapers or an interstellar civil war or something) to wipe them out and any other ayy societies and reset the local space area so that humans can emerge on rough technological parity with any other ayys nearby.
>>46962845
You don't need to be a dick, but if you are a powerful wizard, you are, effectively, one-man nation and one-man army. You might be dedicated to humanitarian cause and have allies, but it's unlikely you would actually answer to the same authority a peasant would.
Kings would probably have to treat wizards as equal souvereigns.
>>46962889
>Accuse of strawman
>Does strawman all the time
>>46962376
But not everyone can use that kind of magic, even in the 3.X-based crazyland you're talking about. Only half the population can even learn to cast. Only a quarter have the potential to cast 3rd level spells, and less than 10% have the potential to cast 5th level spells. Meanwhile, anyone can learn to make steel with a hell of a lot less time investment.
>>46962911
>but it's unlikely you would actually answer to the same authority a peasant would.
Because?
Seriously, at this point I think even if I would describe examples of settings where your arguments are absolutely pointless wouldn't change a thing, since you already decided that wizard answers to nobody, BECAUSE.
Teej, can I have a high magic setting where one nation, traditionally known for producing great magicians and being the premier innovator in the field of magical research borders another nation, which is the leading pioneer in industrial machinery and automated magitech?
The idea is that the two are on a relatively equal level when it comes to tech level, but each specializes in a different approach (with a decent amount of overlap)
Or would you say everything has to be more uniform? Like if one nation's army mostly employs soldiers with mass produced enchanted armor and polearms with basic offensive magic training, it would be dumb if their neighbors used more modern looking combat gear and magic rifles.
>>46959907
Mass Effect aliens can't interbreed with humans, mate. Interspecies mating is called "Pointless excersize".
>>46962925
>Gets example of such setting to think about
>But there is no such setting!
Anon, don't want to break it for you, but abstract thinking is not your thing.
>>46962883
That bothers me but not as much as sci-fi tech being passed off as magic, because at that point it's literally just the GM's way of saying "This is magic, but I don't want to admit it's magic because I'm closed-minded and think magic as a concept is dumb, but completely made up technology that would never work in reality is fine because it's totally grounded in realism, Anon!"
>>46962925
Nice cherry-picking about specific edition of specific game, when the original argument was purely hypothetical world.
>>46962928
Authority is derived from power to compel. If I'm caught disobeying the law (The orders of the government), they will fuck me up. So I have to either obey the law or disobey it in secret. Aithority exists as long as it has power to fuck dissidents up, or at least trick everyone into believing it.
If government can't fuck me up because I'm too powerful then I don't have to obey it, although I might have choices and preferences that coincidentally align with what it wants from me.
>>46956392
> Implying that wizards haven't and don't spend hundreds of years researching magic
You (should) realise (but clearly haven't) that even when it's not explicitly stated that this is the most common scenario. What the do you think those laboratories and huge tomes full of decades of notes are for? Something that isn't systematic research?
>>46962054
> Implying that rituals and deals with outsiders don't happen
> Implying that just because something is studied and understood by a few it's somehow boring
> Implying that wallowing in ignorance and misunderstanding somehow improves the experience
Please go and stay go. If you want those things put them in your games. If you can't summon the motivation to do that, stew in silence. Either way, keep your small minded complaining behind your teeth.
>>46962903
No, you're putting words in my mouth. Power can lead to corruption and ambition, but that's not even the point I was originally making. It was that people that powerful have no need to risk their lives for a king. They can sort all their own problems out. It's not 'why shouldn't they', it's 'why should they'. Loyalty's not a particularly good reason only because there are as many people who would be disloyal if they had the means.
>>46961847
I think you are underestimating the ability of people to find something mundane.
If Beastfolk are not a new thing, then they are going to likely end up being mundane to the average person.
>>46962957
Oh, so it's daytime in the colonies already
Please explain us what stops the king from "fucking up" the wizard?
>>46962915
It's strawmanning to look at the feudal leaders in central Africa or any market leader that has attempted a monopoly or any rich person that has used their considerable wealth to avoid losing any of them to taxes and the like? Ok, buddy.
>>46957841
In all fairness I like the idea of Santa being in any setting because I can imagine how much better the world would be for him being in it
>>46962976
That depends on the wizard. How powerful is he compared to king? If he's a lousy wizard who can just fling some fireballs, sure. If he can level the army by himself - that's different. At least there's uncertancy like between two sovereign states.
>>46959606
You, I like you
>>46962970
None of the previous anons, but people like you make me sad. For very simple reason. It proves that past 200-something years of revolutions, changing shape of the society and rapid political changes mean absolutely dick to average Joe and they can't or don't want to grasp some basic concepts that make society work.
It's truly depressive. Please don't treat this as personal insult or anything like that, it's more an insight about how people can't even value what they've got, because they don't see this as anything particularly important and take is simply for granted.
>>46961847
If beastfolk are already a present part of the setting they're mundane, and what makes werebeasts prosecuted against is that generally in most settings they lack control over themselves.
Yes, if old Billy Smith turns into a werewolf in the middle of the night and slaughters 10 people, that village is going to decide to hate werewolves. Now as an example, let's assume this town had a Kitsune living in it already as a healer.
Do you honestly think those people are going to turn on the fox-dude who's been a part of their town for years just because some fucker of another species entirely just transformed and went on a killing spree?
>>46959606
If faith isn't blind, it's fact. Or at least a theory or hypothesis.
>>46963005
Oh, so NOW there are variables, but moments ago they were non-important, right?
Got the point now? There are so many factors you've ignored in the whole "king is using wizard as siege engine" for the sake of "but no wizard would do that, ever, period" I'm actually chuckling right now when you suddenly go for variables.
>>46963009
No, goddammit. I know why society and deference to authority works in the real world. But to wizards, they have the power to work on whatever ideals they want at whatever scale. If they can break the first law, they can solve literally any problem they come across. Or choose not to.
>>46962957
>>46963005
I could probably level the entire country, so technically I can jaywalk if I please, but do I really wanna go through the hassle of summoning Rekt, God of Fucking Shit Up? Where will I shop for bread when the sky weeps fire and the oceans turn to acid? I guess I'll just obey the law.
>>46963033
I've just joined the discussion. So it's not me who said never. Either way, I'm saying that powerful wizard would not be a subject of the king, but more of sovereign state. He might make allies with king or he can not, unlike Billy the Conscript who have no such choice.
>>46961469
No, but trading biotics for mnovsky particles would improve the setting
>>46963052
You probably won't have to. If guard will tell you "Sir, you can't jaywalk" you'll say "Do you not know who I am? I'm summoner of Rekt". And he'll have to back off.
You won't necessary choose to jaywalk, but just because you don't need to, doesn't mean you can't. What if you are in a hurry?
>>46962984
We're forgetting that if wizards are that powerful A. The King will have some of his own, and B. All the Kings/royal families will probably be wizards, if only because the non-wizardly ones got their wrecked.
>>46963115
King having his own wizard runs into the same logical problem while magocracy seems plausible.
>>46962929
That sounds fine. Both are at the same magical level, and may even cooperate a bit, but each has decided that their neighbor does this better, so I'll go down my own thing and be better than them.
>>46957887
Basically.
When you know that ABC runes lead to a D effect, and understand WHY it does that and the power behind it, that is scientific principle at work.
For example, in Slayers, magic had replaced technology and was exceedingly well understood by it's practitioners in how and why it worked. That said, you still required natural talent and personal discipline to wield magic.
>>46962931
Nonsense anon! It's about the pleasure of the conquest!
Once you go blue....
>>46963078
If the Council of Magi finds out I'm threatening to summon the Ender of Ages to get out of parking tickets and demand free breads they'll censor me. Meaning no more community perks.
The king will probably hire heroes to save the world from the "deranged wizard" who keeps threatening to end the world.
Is this really worth it? A sufficiently powerful wizard could just as easily find ways to skirt the law and keep society intact, rather than flagrantly ignore it to flaunt his power.
>>46962906
So it's there to make it not a story about man being the retarded hicks who finally meet the big boys
>>46963073
I don't know what those particles are, but biotics is actually element zero being fused with your body (Particularly nervous system) doing what element zero usually does. The amount of precision it allows does not seem very plausible, but it's not magic and not even a new fantastic phenomenon.
However telepathy actually exists in Mass Effect verse, even if very obscure. Explained of all things with quantum entanglement induced in one's brain.
Space operas without aliens bother me, makes the universe feel empty and boring, at least dead space had an explenation
>>46962931
I thought the Asari's entire gimmick was "get knocked up by an alien" to the point where they're olenly racist against Asari/Asari offspring.
Turian semen is toxic to humans, thats the only prohibition I recall.
>>46963228
I know the background but the physics are basically reverse engineered to let people cast magic missile, I don't hate biotics myself, but I think that they missed a chance with the fact that mass effect drivers make every machine using them biotic, would would mean biotic geth should be a thing
>>46963195
I'm only saying that a wizard would be a sovereign state. A sovereign state will still behave in certain limits because of political ties but they don't answer to each other directly like subjects answer to their governments.
Rousvelt, Stalin and Churchill were not bosses of Hitler, but they did eventually convince him to stop while I won't be able to replicate anything Hitler did because I've got no firepower to stop even one government from obstructing my Jew-killing Poland-invading rampage.
>>46963253
The child is always asari, they do this because post space travel asari/asari parings are akin to inbreeding
>>46963253
Turian and Quarians have mirror biology. There are other unexpected side-effects.
Asari don't get pregnant like humans do. They are engineered with ability to scan and assimilate genetic traits, this is not properly sexual.
>>46963265
That's the belief. In the lore there's a bunch of asari biologists saying that it's a load of BS, but organics can be so....wilfull
>>46958482
You can still have a diverse range of fantasy stories without involving non-human races. I can get where they're coming from non-human races always come off as lazy Tolkien rip offs no matter how hard the author tries.
>>46957289
Have you tried not playing DnD/Pathfinder.jpg
>>46962250
I think this is why D&D has limits on times per day an ability can be used. Because if you have 10 spells per day you're probably going to want to keep 1 or two in reserve for emergencies, and then you maybe have the ability to make 9 sheets of iron, if you managed to get the training or whatever to learn to cast high level spells.
But yeah, this bothers me a lot with food production, more than industry. If you have plant based magecraft that is common and simple magic to learn you don't need to have poor as fuck tenant farmers.
>>46963142
Cool, thanks. The dicussion on disparate tech between cultures had me wondering if the concept was fundamentally flawed.
>>46963021
Blind faith is refusing to look for your God out of the fear it might not be there
But that kind of faith is weak- it is sheltered and unchallenged and that makes it frail. Put your faith through the ringer of introspection and philosophy and your faith will only grow stronger. You don't need all the answers- which is good because you'll never have them- but you at least need enough to know
to REALLY know
and not just hope that you're right
Tech trees rather than technological and lifestyle development that makes sense for the setting.
In anything other than a Tabletop RPG where you need to do it for game balance, spell progressions based on a tree, where you HAVE to learn these 4 useless skills to get a useful one.
If >>46962376
has a society where someone is setting up a magic factory where they take all the baby mages and set them to making steel or goodberries or magic wands, and the person has never had any other formal education, they aren't going to have the same casting abilities as a guy who spent 15 years at a wizard's college.
>>46963394
I don't know, lots of skills I learned were not very useful until I applied them to use better ones.
>>46963410
Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't learn, say, how to multiply by 12 without working in a bakery.
>>46962074
you know the gauls had superior metal-working to rome, right?
Their weakness was poor organization compared to roman legions, not technology.
>>46963450
Yeah, it's a tree. Not everything should link with everything. Although star or web should be better.
Not being able to count would probably make me a lousy baker too.
>>46963394
I think that depends on what specifically you're studying for and what all goes into achieving your desired effect.
Are you a soldier that's just looking to add basic offensive and first aid magic to his personal arsenal? Are you a smith that wants to specially enchant some of the items he crafts? Those people are gonna be studying different things.
The soldier in question will probably still have to start with entry level conjure flame before he can hurl an explosive fireball though. I imagine there would be a process to learning more advanced tiers of magic, with less difficult spells being like checkpoints on the way to getting better.
>>46959838
>FTL travel exists, space ships exist, weapons that cen destroy planets exist... most combat is still done by guys on the ground with assault rifles that aren't much more advanced than what we currently have.
>implying Nuke from orbit is always not only a useful tactic but a viable one given tendency to destroy indiscriminately
>pic related has been in service for a long time
>we still use knives
>Energy weapons that are less effective than conventional ballistic firearms
Someone get a physicist over here.
>their language is "common" or "basic"
>it canonically sounds exactly like modern English
>they canonically use the Roman alphabet and Arabic numerals
>>46963543
It's probably just translation convention. It's represented this way, but I don't think anyone uses it canonically.
>>46956426
>eat their families once a month
but how can they do that after the first time? do they regenerate? do they just sorta spawn from mid-air?
>feudal political and social structures in a technologically advanced post-scarcity civilization
>>46963543
Isn't that just for the sake of convenience? It reminds me of some quote by an author talming about using a bunch of weird names for basic concepts and how much of a hassle it is.
Like, for example, twke a setting that uses the classical elements (fire, water, earth, air) Now clearly this setting is not meant to be the planet Earth. So why call that element "earth" one might ask?
Well, because calling it Meigillum or Ustra is confusing and unnecessary and doesn't carry the immediate association with rocks and soil that the word earth does.
I think in that case it's easier to just say that earth in this case is a broad term meaning rocks, land, and soil that is roughly translated into english as "earth" for the reader's benfit, no matter the actual name of the planet.
>>46963543
I think it's more likely that "common" is called that because it will be considered whatever your table's "common" language is. Running a game entirely in Spanish? Bam, that's now what common is.
Separate note: I don't think there is enough, how should I say, regional racism in gaming. Our DM has been wise to this in the past. I was playing a shifter race and I asked at the outset, "which places would be bad for me to go to?" And the DM obliged by pointing out which regions had a dim view of "non-humans" or "non-elves" etc.
>>46963643
>>46963554
That's why I said "canonically".
For example in Star Wars, they canonically speak English but call it Basic.
>In Star Wars media, Basic is, with the exception of a few words and phrases devised by authors, the same as English.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Basic_Standard
So it's not always translation for convenience sake.
>>46962671
Neil Gaiman is probably responsible for most of the pretentious bullass in modern fantasy and its fans.
>>46963602
Eat family.
Find a girlfriend. Move in with her and her family.
Eat family.
Find another girlfriend...
>>46963676
Yes sometimes a setting is made by a person with a cock for a brain, who wouldn't have made a single successful movie if he didn't have his wife edit them for him.
>>46963697
Yeah, and it makes me butthurt.
>>46963697
But muh animal mascots! Gotta make a goofy cute race for the kids!
