/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General Wizard Edition

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This is nowhere near finished, but it is a very rough draft of the atlas I'm making for one of my worlds. Basically, it's my attempt at a D&D setting; I generally don't enjoy the D&D official settings, and I don't enjoy using D&D tropes because I prefer low-magic fantasy. But since this one is closest to D&D I figure this is the one worth working on since it's similar to what people already know.

I guess I'm looking for feedback, for suggestions, for praise too.

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High Magic.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Mana for wizards, seals or rituals can also substitute this.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Anybody can use it, but there is a gradient of "natural talent". If you suck ass, you generally don't bother.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Incantations for wizards, but some groups (e.g. summoners) need rituals. People who aren't talented at magic can use seals. Tools aren't necessary, but are helpful.
>How effective is the magic?
Depends on how good you are. Untalented people will produce shitty magic, but talented people can be worth 100 soldiers. That said, there are some species that are magic immune and will murder the everloving shit out of you.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Demon summoning, necromancy. Sacrifice. The usual stuff.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Apprenticeships or churches usually. There is a guild for wandering mages.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Not a requirement, but many wear it anyway.

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>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
low magic
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
The discipline of a sentient's soul
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
See above. Different schools teach different methods of disciplines. Some schools are more esoteric than others, and many are specialized towards certain races
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
All of those. Depends on the school for a few methods, though
>How effective is the magic?
Very effective if the sentient's soul is mastered properly
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Mostly harm and corruption to other souls, sentient and non sentient
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Villages, towns and cities have gatherings of dedicated mages. Most gatherings have certain applications of their magical powers. Almost all of them charge an entrance fee, though they do pay for students that have talents in mastering their souls
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Yes

>>50384549
I like how detailed the history is. It looks like you really put some thought in how a medieval kingdom would develop from a more primitive civilization, which is a lot more than most published settings do.

A few things:
1. The fancy squiggly text on the map is nearly unreadable.
2. The whole Orc invasion thing is kind of cliche. That's fine if you want, but I'd suggest doing something more with it.
3. Are the southern kingdoms on the other side is the sea? How big is it? It seems like a pretty big barrier to population movement, especially invading orc armies.
4. I want to know more about the rapacious harpies.

>>50384128
>>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?

I'd say more High Magic overall

>>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?

Every sapient creature is born with a fragment of divine energy, akin to a soul. Gods are basically made of the stuff, and one such god created a well of the energy for all to use. This energy refreshes regularly, so it's hard for someone to run out.

>>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?

Typically, using magic requires having a more powerful than average soul. The typical person can't use theirs at all, save to send it to their god of choice, who in turn grants it to their favored priests. However, just having a more powerful soul isn't enough, as one must also gain knowledge of spells from somewhere. The most typical wizards are those who draw from the well that god of magic created, though it is difficult as there is a massive unknown drain upon it that nobody can trace. Aside from them, there are noble families with strong magical bloodlines who know a few spells instinctively, as well as those individuals who turn to gods or demons to learn magic.

>>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
>>How effective is the magic?

Those from noble families can cast without any sort of implements and tend to do so with ease, though their effects are usually weaker. Other magic users use a variety of implements, but staves are most common. Rituals are usually the result of several mages pooling their energy for a greater effect.

(cont)

>>50384128
>>50384755
>>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?

Necromancy is a big one, as once somebody passes their essence is tied to their mortal remains, rather than their soul. Whatever their values were can have subtle effects on where they're buried, and it functions as sort of a restful afterlife. Using a corpse for necromancy effectively erases any personality in the remains and overrides them with the Necromancer's values.

Making deals with entities outside of the major accepted gods is pretty taboo as well, though not quite as immediately scorned as Necromancy. Deals with demons are the major one looked down on, as their deals tend to require souls in return, and they are known for being insatiable. Deals with other entities are viewed with suspicion, but tend not to be so blatantly evil in their motives.

>>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?

No large mage academies exist, and it can be hard to find a teacher or a powerful wizard at all. This is due to the noble families wanting to keep something of a monopoly on magic, aside from the priests. It isn't outright banned, but there isn't enough support to try and make one. Thus, many mages are self taught or study together in small groups. Nobles teach their own children magic, or have a relative do so, while priests find those most faithful who might serve as initiates.

>>Pointy hats Yes or No?

The exact style of hat varies from region to region, but there are some circles and covens who prefer the more traditional point.

>>50384128

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Low magic. Once in the past magic was much more powerful, but due to decline of gods the ability to control magic has went down.

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Simple term is life energy. Every living being has life energy inside them. Magis use the excess life energy they gather inside them to do magic. If magi uses too much life energy, he/she is going to use their own life power basically shortening their lives. Trained magis gather excess life energy all the time, especially if they rest and are not stressed or fatigued. Life energy being in everywhere means that animal/human sacrifices are viable way to power more powerful magic or rituals.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Everybody can learn magic, but it would take lifetime for normal human to learn the basics so it isn't really viable. Normal people can learn how to control rune magic, magic struck into runes a lot easier. This is the requirement for usage of rune weapons.
For somebody to be able to use magic properly they need to be attuned to life energy, usually this does not show up at all and the lucky person will live long and good life with good health. Most roving magis can feel if the person is magically attuned and this is the way they are spotted most of the time. Of course children of magis have bigger change to be attuned and if both parents are magis and their grandparents also it is more or less guaranteed.

cont.

>>50384769

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
They draw the power inside them. At least that is how they explain it. Most magis have some kind of equipment with different runes to channel life energy from land around them and from within. This equipment can be a staff, sword or even a normal household item. Runesmiths can make "batteries", basically items with runes that can store life energy. These "batteries" have limited usage, but are important for magis if they need that extra pinch of power.

Normal magis can do magic quite fast, but in limited power. If enough magis band together they can coordinate their rituals to do much more effective magic. While more primitive tribesmen do not have as high quality magical training, they can use sacrifices and mass rituals to get effective magic going.

>How effective is the magic?
Normal magi well versed in combat magic can fling half a dozen small fireballs or similar magic. Set their sword on fire for longer periods of time or enhance their bodies to be better than trained knight. Mass rituals are powerful, but the magic they can make is restricted. Usually they are different buffs or enhancing magic, but wishing for good luck from gods is common in countryside.

cont.

>>50384781

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Necromancy and playing with godly thing or things that should stay dead. It is universally seen as taboo to mess with dead. Resurrection magic is a thing, but it is very hard and only a handful of magis in whole world know how to do it. Even they require a lot of resources and assistants.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Most likely they become apprentices to wandering magis who teach them slowly how to do magic. This is the basic teacher-apprentice system. There is several schools that teach magic, but most known is City of Magis. Whole city started by magically attuned people, because in that place there is more life energy than in other places in the world. City is the place where all magis who want to be something great go in hopes of learning from the best of the world.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
No. Clothing does not hinder the usage of magic. If your equipment can be inscribed with runes that help in magic it is done so. Combat magi with rune inscribed full plate is very dangerous opponent.

>>50384754
>1. The fancy squiggly text on the map is nearly unreadable.
Yeah, I'm thinking of getting rid of it for everything except the first letter.

>2. The whole Orc invasion thing is kind of cliche. That's fine if you want, but I'd suggest doing something more with it.
It's important the the setting because the idea is that this is a post-war, almost post-apocalypse setting. The orcs were genocided by the new god of the sun and it's up to the people who play in the setting to deal with the ramifications of genocide, even if it was of a standard evil race. How does that affect society, how people act, the balance of good and evil? That sort of thing. But it's not very fleshed out, I'm not exactly sure if I want to or not.

>3. Are the southern kingdoms on the other side is the sea? How big is it? It seems like a pretty big barrier to population movement, especially invading orc armies.
Yeah, on the other side of the sea. I guess it's somewhere between the size of Lake Superior + Lake Michigan and the Adriatic Sea? When I say refugees, I don't mean millions; I'm mean thousands. Even just 3000-5000 refugees would be a major strain on a medieval nation's resources, I thought, and would cause major upheavals.

>4. I want to know more about the rapacious harpies.
There's more. They live in clifftop cities carved from stone, maybe. They raid the hills and valleys around the mountains for sheep and men, whom they use as slaves. They're fairly primitive technologically speaking, equipped with leather armor and wood or stone or bone weapons. But they have an intricate culture of song and painting, and they are among the most fervent worshippers of Ur-Kazak, the universal God of the Dead in the setting that exists in all pantheons because of that. Basically, Ur-Kazak is a deification of Stone Age oral storytellers and painters, and is the psychopomp of mortal souls, and that's why the harpies are among his most sacred species.

>>50384826
make a seperate version where you have notes along with the actual work

>>50384845
What do you mean?

>>50384549
This is nice, but a few things:
>The fonts on your maps don't match your booklet font; actually or themematically. It gives it an inconsistent feel, comic sans and a serif font don't really mix.

>Your images could be improved by a legend and/or scale

>some colours don't read well; the vlue 'airhey river' in the wardgate castle for example.

>>50384890
Thanks, the font does seem to bug a lot of people who see them. As for a scale, I'd have to think about that; I haven't really determined sizes and distances yet. I have kind of an inkling that Mannax is about the length of Albania or something like that but I'm not sure yet.

>>50384128
I have no motivation to work on my setting.

>>50384968
Look at other peoples settings and be inspired.

>>50384982
Its more setting ADD. I work on one thing, then start thinking about how people would like the other setting, work on that, and the bouncing back and forth has just drained me.

>>50385009
I was like that until I started putting stuff down on paper. Now that I see that my setting info is incomplete, I'm much more inclined t work on it instead of all my other stuff.

>>50385027
I've done that. My biggest problem is I'm looking at it from a commercial stand, and the market has an over-abundance of fantasy skirmish wargames right now. The only big things I got going for it is a Mediterranean classical era feel for it, instead of classic Medieval, and its a bit more fleshed out than the other one.

>>50384826
Another note on the sea and armies:

I was kind of thinking about how the Vandals conquered the North African territories of the Roman Empire when thinking of how Orcs could cross the ocean and attack northern lands, and about how the Ottomans moved into the Eastern Roman Empire's lands in Anatolia. It's meant to be the sort of Sauron invading Middle-Earth level of crisis, especially with the Gruumsh leading his armies and such.

One of the inspirations for the setting was a quote that I'll paraphrase:
>What was Aragorn's policy towards the orcs?
Well, the answer is that the orcs were exterminated. Why would the orcs be exterminated, and not be around like they would be in a standard D&D setting? How does that affect society, affect people's morality?

Unalash isn't a gentle god. He demands sacrifices, blood sacrifices, preferably of orcs. He is the Lash of the Gods, who enforces divine judgement. He is the slayer of gods, who killed the previous sun god of the pantheon for failing to protect mankind and then hunted down every last orc god wherever they could be found. He is the burning sun of drought, the blinding sun that destroys sight. But he is also a bringer of warmth and a protector of mankind. If your people, your race, turned to a god like that collectively what kind of effects does that have on the world?

I'm currently trying to figure out something out for my magic system in my current setting. Background info: It's magic with a physical form, so you have to go collect some magi-chunk before you can do anything with it. The more complex, the more powerful, and the larger effect of the spell, the more magi-chunk you need. The more magi-chunk/the more complex the easier it is to miscast. Enchanting is a thing too, embedding magical properties into objects.

So how should I treat magic directly applied to the body?
-Should it cost more? Should it be due to complexity or just some handwaved lifeforce bullshit? Or both?
-Theoretically, a temporary change would cost more than a permanent one. Should this be how it actually works?
-What's to stop people from making multiple smaller changes in a clinical setting?
-Should I have a bullshit handwave for polymorph but not for medical magic?
-Should I let people enchant parts of their body?
-Should I let people enchant things like tattoos?
-Should I allow other alterations of body state, like a "Powerword: Endorphins" type of spell?
-Should I allow any of it at all in the first place?

>>50385114
>Commercial
You can't let that be your overriding goal. You have to ask yourself if you like what you're working on first, because if you look at it commercially you don't have the resources to compete with actual companies with people who write about wargames for a living.

>>50385131
So it's warpstone.

>>50385131
For the polymorph and stuff, you can go the Earthsea route, where you change the appearance but without know the true name, you can't actually really change it. You can easily say that medical magic would need direct contact with the magic chunk to affect the lifeforce and change it.

Personally, if I was going with a physical material, I'd use some magic inks and stuff. Imbued magic paint for temporary effects, tattoos with magic chunk in the ink for permanent stuff. Could also use it to get out of the too much problem, too much exposure like that could be toxic and start having negative effects.

>>50385262
>where you change the appearance but without know the true name, you can't actually really change it
The problem there is that there isn't too much mythology actually attached to the magic itself. It's just this weird stuff that exists and you can do wonderous things with it once you get some practice in.

>I'd use some magic inks and stuff. Imbued magic paint for temporary effects, tattoos with magic chunk in the ink for permanent stuff.
Well, as it is, it takes more effort to change something and then change it back than it is to just do changes once. A lifeforce handwave could make it so the body warps it back, but that also makes people inherently magical by virute of being alive which raises all sorts questions I'm not sure my feeble mind can even start to pick out much less answer.

>Could also use it to get out of the too much problem, too much exposure like that could be toxic and start having negative effects.
I actually do have that already. Mostly with inhaling it or eating/drinking it like a dumbass. It's magic, so it takes whatever form it pleases. And if it gets inside of you while you're milling about in a magically-active area (helloooo enchanted forests) Bad Things can happen.

>>50385131
Have you looked into how Eberron handles Dragonmarks? That sounds kind of similar to what you're asking about.

>>50385618
I don't think Dragonmarks are really similar to that at all. Did you mean Dragonshards?

>>50385634
>So how should I treat magic directly applied to the body?
>-Should it cost more? Should it be due to complexity or just some handwaved lifeforce bullshit? Or both?
>-Theoretically, a temporary change would cost more than a permanent one. Should this be how it actually works?
>-Should I let people enchant parts of their body?
>-Should I let people enchant things like tattoos?

Dragonmarks and temporary or false dragonmarks address these, I think. It's been awhile and I haven't seen 5e Eberron yet.

I believe that dragonmarks let you cast specific spells or spell-like effects a number of times per day, the simplest method. You could have them on different parts of your body, the temporary ones could be removed or added for some kind of cost. Basically, it was like 4e's at-will powers but only for people who were dragonmarked.

At least, that's what I remember.

>>50384128

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
low
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
arbitrary code injection into the laws of reality, making a temporary exception
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
anyone can do it, technically, but it's really hard and of dubious use
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
a series of complex repetitive movements, timed chemical reactions, mostly a lot of math. there are many possible solutions to get the same effect, so it depends on the spell and personal technique. always show your work.
>How effective is the magic?
for the most part, it's a shitload of effort compared to the payout, so it's really situational. one could perform a two hour ritual to walk through one wall for instance. that would be great if you were escaping from prison, but wouldn't help you escape from a pursuer, for instance.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
not many people even know about it, and fewer believe in it. the rituals being performed look positively ridiculous, so I guess you'd be considered a weirdo if someone caught you in the act.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
there's an obscure, but not at all secret society offering magic tutorship at a few colleges
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
why not? people already think you're a larper or something.

You know, I can't think of how to treat magic in my setting. I feel like going the D&D route is too high, but I also don't want to go the Warhammer Fantasy route where it's limited and deadly. I'm thinking more of how Escaflowne applied it, or how Berserk does it, but are there any systems like that?

>>50385618
>>50385634
>>50385746
You're getting caught up on the word tattoo. I just wanted to ask about that because it related to enchanting the body directly. If you can't enchant the body proper, what about things deeply tied to the body? Other things that might count would be things like a prosthetic limb.

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>>50385856
Honestly, for me it's either video gamey or plot-demands-it.

Anything else feels to gimmicky and unmagical.

And video gamey should only be applied to video games, because it too is dumb.

Magic should be magical, not scientific.

>>50385910
The true dragonmarks aren't tattoos though. They are embedded in the body. Different ones have different effects, but they're always temporary spell abilities, not permanent alterations.

>>50385856
Well, if you want lower magic but something still reasonably safe and usable for gameplay purposes, you could have magic be very specific.

For example, say the only basic spell in the world is a cone of fire. How good of a mage you are determines how many you can toss out before exhausting yourself.

Then, outside of that, everything is lost knowledge, secret and risky rituals, and generally part of the plot to remain mysterious.

Essentially, it makes being a dedicated Mage difficult, but not impossible, and it makes only a tiny fragment of magic understood enough to be used regularly.

>>50386006
My problem is that I have freeform magic and I need to figure out what difficulties one might encounter by trying to cast Enlarge Dick.

Is there a way to justify hovercars, lightning guns and so on in a setting but no Internet?

>>50386132
That's what Starwars did.

>>50386132

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story)

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
high magic
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
giant ass magical furnace in the planet's core, no one knows how it got there
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
with exposure to it successive generations will gain inborn magic powers for themselves, usually how it works depends on races (humans learn magic quickly but it's completely unstable, elves are stable but requires centuries to use it anyway efficiently)
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
they channel it through their bodies though some can use "other means" of increasing and gaining more magical power, though it is risky
>How effective is the magic?
goes in ranks from F class being outclassed by household appliances to S-class who are basically gods
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
those "other means" can cause people to go insane and combined with their great power they become demons about 5 global-spanning "demos wars" were fought because of that shit
Likewise S-class humans due to their unstable magic has the risk of "ascending" where they inadvertently created a pocket dimension where they trap themselves in for all eternity
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Through schools mostly. Best schools are in the central kingdoms (see: Arabian nights)
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
you can

>>50386039
Tried looking up FATAL?

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Pervasiveness is high, but general knowledge is nonexistent - my usual setting is modern-day, and magic and other weird shit happens behind locked doors. People who witness it either get memory-wiped, killed, or forcibly recruited into one of the magic factions.
>If you have magic, how do you power it?
Three types of magic - Wizardry, that anyone can learn with decades if not centuries of study, Sorcery, which has a random chance of mutating into an individual (sorcery is highly variable and hard to control, but more powerful and doesn't need study) and the Wild, a hereditary magic that empowers one's physical traits (Captain America juice).
>Where is the source of the power?
Wizardry uses physics in terms of energy - before a wizard duel, the air will go still and the temperature will drop as the wizards consume the energy. Wizarding duels have no flash at all - the most common form of attack is simply exerting kinetic force on your target. Non-magicals use cryogenic weaponry to suppress wizards. Sorcery uses the energy of the soul (another post entirely) and the Wild is just your body's energy.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Everyone can learn wizardry, though it takes decades to. Sorcery is a random mutation, and the Wild is hereditary (though it often lies dormant).
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Wizardry needs to be initiated by a catalyst; highly trained wizards need only to twitch their finger or whisper a syllable, but it needs to be a conscious expenditure of energy. Sorcery is mostly instinctual, but one can learn to control it. The Wild is physical.
>How effective is the magic?
Pretty fucking effective. A powerful wizard can decimate armies, a lucky sorcerer can X-man it up, and a Wilder can punch cities to death.
cont.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Most of what would be taboo (necromancy etc.) is so impractical there's no real law against it. People who make pacts with demons are generally regarded as idiotic, but taken seriously.
>How does new mages learn their craft?Schools, apprentices or something else?
You either have to find an ancient tome on wizardry or find a master. Sorcerers all control and express their power differently. The Wilders can find masters pretty easily, but SHADE (another post) usually snaps them up fast.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Optional, but "lolretro" hipsters love 'em.

>Players want interesting elves in my sci-fantasy world

Do virtual elves that essentially play real life seem dumb to you guys? As in they've ascended to the point of living in a open air database on this planet and inhabit and control machine bodies seem dumb to you?

>>50384549
Not bad, but wouldn't it make more sense to have a list of ruins and smaller villages than cities? What are the chances players will spend long in cities?

>>50386793
No.

>>50386793
I think having Elves be sentient AI is a decent twist on the typical space elf thing. They're usually just some sort of long lived race that's wise, so justifying both of those by making them digital (so they're immortal and incredibly smart) is quite nice.

I'd personally go for Holograms over machine bodies myself, but you do you.

>>50386861
Actually I don't think they'll meet the old but wise tropes. Ehh I think I'll call them something different then elves.

Elden or some shit.

I want them to be rather mean and not give much of a fuck about life in the real world.

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>>50387030
>>50387072

Now just roll 1d20 for each column and find instant inspiration

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Some of these might be interesting locales, events happening in an area, or even magical laws for your world

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High. It is very much a high fantasy setting.

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Magic runs through and across the world, like a current. Spells are cast by funneling this power.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Most magic users need to study to be able to actually draw upon the flow of magic. Anyone with basic training can use spells, but only those that study it and devote themselves to it are able to craft spells and manipulate the winds for their needs, as opposed to relying on the favor of the currents.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
All magic is performed by drawing and passing magic through a rune or runes of power. Usually these runes are printed onto an item. While any physical item works, most prefer a sturdy item that can be used to hold the runes away from themselves, as channeling magic is dangerous, and can lead to discharge, overheating, or combustion.

>How effective is the magic?
Magic is very effective, but unstable. The most common and effective uses is alchemy and enchanting. Alchemy is achieved by the use of runes to alter substances for the desired effect.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Resurrection of the dead is an almost universal taboo. The only known exceptions are the Returned of the Sobki, though this is not through earthly means, but the spirit returning to its mummified corpse; and the secret practice of Vitamancy, a practice limited by the Lich Priests, as to not draw the attention of the Goddess of Death.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Depends on the culture, but most have a structured form available.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
No.

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Mid magic and lower. Magic's primary resource is time, so if you want to do something more than a combat fireball, you're going to have to dig into some day/year/decade/millenium long ritual to cast it.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
The source of magical power is the Spirit, which partly makes up all living things. Spirit is its own form of Matter, separate from the physical.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Everyone can use magic. Magic is something you can specialize in just like a fighter specializes in fighting and a thief specializes in stealing.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
If its combat magic, it doesn't require anything more than a few words or a small motion. Your body is the focus. If you want to affect something more, then you'll need to perform a ritual that takes a proportional amount of time. Casting a spell on a village might take weeks, while a spell on an entire nation might take decades.
>How effective is the magic?
100% effective against something that has a spirit, or is made of spirit. Less effective against things that are physical only.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Necromancy is usually disliked as is polymorphing, but if you can convince people its for good purposes you might be able to get away with anything.
>How do new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
All of it. Learning magic isn't conceptually different from learning any other skill
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Sure, for those who want them

Bump for my pooinloo friend

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What are people's thoughts on hybrid or half-breed races in settings? Things like half-elves or half-orcs?

Do you include them at all? Have them be the simple result of such pairings? Have some strange circumstances for them to occur?

>>50392375
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It depends on the kind of message I want to send.

If, for example, blood and genetics really matters, then there are no half-breeds. A mother's race probably takes precedence, or something.

If, on the other hand, it's a setting where cooperation and mingling is important, yeah, half-breeds galore.

>>50392700
>It depends on the kind of message I want to send.
>he says, and accidentally sends the wrong message

For the mall stuff, do you just use simple things from Earth or try to make up new variants of them? Like, do you have apples and oranges and mangos or some weird made up fruit? Poker or Pairs? Chess or Tac?

>>50392750
I just figured I should expand on what I meant.

>>50392375
I tend to not like them, unless there is some sort of strong magic in play. So half-dragons cane make sense to me, but not half-orcs. The exception would be if I had a setting where part of the backstory was that elves and orcs are both on the ends of a sort of spectrum, and don't realize that humans are the elf/orc hybrids. So a half elf is actually 3/4 elf, 1/4 orc.

>>50395034
Why not just have half-human half-everything?

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I'm trying to hammer out the world for an upcoming campaign and I want it to be unlike anything I've done before.
>world of exclusively humans as the sentient race with vague technological/societal levels of the 1800s
>previous work of eco-terrorists unleashed fungal monsters (giants, tentacle beasts, mind-fucking spores, etc) centuries ago, making the surface of the world more or less uninhabitable
>resourceful as humanity is and given its desire to survive, people escaped to build cities and towns among the trees, on top of mesas, around coastal spires, etc
>this is made possible by widespread, common use of gigantic birds of every variety (birds of prey, water birds, barnyard fowl, etc) as mounts, which shaped their culture
>thinking about having a centralized government structure that resides on a massive floating city using "technology forbidden to the masses" and rations crucial resources not readily available to keep the various cities/etc subordinate and paying taxes
>players can be from any uniquely themed city-state with their choice of avian mount with unique strengths and weaknesses

I still can't decide on how the ecology of the world entirely works. I'm fine with the carnivorous birds eating the surviving deer/cattle/etc that the fungus creatures don't have interest in, and the herbivorous birds eating enlarged nuts and fruits from the same kind of magic/science that caused the growth of fungus, but insectivores are the trickiest. I don't think I want to also have gigantic insects, but I don't know how something like a giant swallow would survive on anything else.

Also, is it completely ridiculous for a world to be dominated just by giant birds and nothing else? My rationale so far is that the leader of the eco-terrorists was/is a "witch" with a fondness for birds, so the magic/science also affected them and nothing else.

Also, I'm against having traditional airships in this setting, so does having a floating city but no airships seem handwavey?

>>50395452
Eh, it wouldn't work if there's absolutely nothing else, but take a look at dinosaurs for an example of how you can have a bunch of giant things dominating the ecosystem with the occasional small things elsewhere.

You'd still have insects and probably small mammals as well, but they wouldn't be a dominant force or anything.

So I have a setting where guns are the major method of fighting, but I am using a traditional health point system to determine wounds, healing, and damage.

Since the guns in this setting are mostly post apocalyptic and scavenged or jury-rigged, what are some ways to justify their weakness compared to what they actually are.

>Survivors are just 'tougher' then modern humans?
>Guns have less direct power in their bullets?
>People are just unnaturally lucky?

What else?

>>50396753
People using Ki to make their bodies like iron?

>>50396753
I think it could be a combination of the fact that jury-rigged and scavenged guns probably aren't going to be as strong, combined with armor typically being thick and heavy to stop it.

I mean, is it really that much stranger to shoot someone with a gun and they not die than with an arrow? Or swinging a battleaxe?

If you do need to justify it, having the survivors be tougher might be a good method, basically implying that anyone tough enough to survive the apocalypse can more easily shrug off bullets.

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If you have spellcasters, how rare are they? How rare are the highest level of spellcasters?

If you have soldiers, whats the average amount of competency you might have? Are you going off of human normals, or is it a world where warriors punch out bears for fun? How would a skilled fighter who can casually punch out bears be perceived by the people around him?

So really, who reads these threads?

>>50397414
I was thinking that actual spellcasters, like magic missile throwing wizards, would be fairly rare. But you'd have a lot of "spellcasters" in most communities who are more like potion-mixers and whose magical abilities are derived from their alchemical mixes. They might all be able to feel and sense magic, and with study they could start to learn it, but actual combat magic takes years of study and training.

Soldiers are just normal human soldiers.

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I'm not sure if I should work on my modern fantasy setting or my high fantasy one.

Truthfully my urban fantasy setting has a much better direction and vision currently behind it; it hasn't changed so much over the past 6-9 months I've been working on it, I've just been refining parts of it and the gameplay that goes with it to make it interesting and well worth the time. I've really loved it.

But at the same time, I essentially have no high fantasy at the moment and it really bums me out. My high fantasy setting has changed so much, seemingly every few days, with a completely different feel and direction and new rules make it hard to care about or build on- I need to cement things down now and make it truly feel alive and unique. High fantasy and gonzo settings are something I love but it's almost impossible for me to really worldbuild this thing until I finalize what I'm going to do with it. Also I feel like a hack fraud of a DM if I can't even make a sword and sorcery setting, which is like the bread and butter of this board and worldbuilding in general.

What do?

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
technically I'd say High Magic as Magic is fairly common, although most practitioners only know a couple spells

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Arcane Magic to some extent infuses everything, although some people can draw it out better than others, and certain substances contain more of it than others, Divine Magic is generated through belief and rituals(whether any gods actually exist is another thing entirely), Primal/Druidic Magic, Necromantic Magic, and Infernal Magic overall act as combinations of the two in how they're generated

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
technically almost anyone can use magic(indeed a subconcious form of it infuses any being with "Class Levels", even ones that don't otherwise use magic), but only certain people are able to use it to an extent worth noting, at least for direct spell usage, anyone can use a magic item if it's been prepared properly

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
little bit of everything, as implements, rituals, and materials/sacrifices make spells easier to do, but technically a lot of spells don't need them, they just become a hell of a lot more draining for most people(and they usually become harder to control, not to mention you can rarely do permanent effects in such situations)

>How effective is the magic?
depends on the spell, effectiveness can range from as simple as lighting a candle, up to potentially making a volcano erupt, depends on a lot of factors

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
depends on the culture and government

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
there exists schools of magic in the setting, although until fairly recently Apprenticeship was the most common method

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
yes

>>50392375
depends on the races being mixed and the setting, usually though when races breed together the offspring mostly lean towards one parent or the other with a minor trait or two from the other parent(so a Hobgoblin and a Ogre mating might result in Ogres that are a bit smarter and more nimble than the norm, or Hobgoblins that are stronger and slightly more disorganized than the norm), Half-Elves and Half-Orcs are exceptions to this for reasons no one is quite certain of

>>50396753
I'd just emphasize that most hits to one's HP aren't actual hits and instead represent a bunch of different things, which is the sane way to handle HP in my opinion

>>50397414
>If you have spellcasters, how rare are they? How rare are the highest level of spellcasters?
depends on the population size, but assuming we're talking about spellcasters with class levels(and not just the local medicine woman or holy man with a minor trick or two) probably somewhere between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1000

>If you have soldiers, whats the average amount of competency you might have?
pretty much the standard range that real life has, at least not counting people with class levels in fighting classes(who follow a ratio similar to spellcasters at 1 in 50 to 1 in 500 depending on population)

>Are you going off of human normals, or is it a world where warriors punch out bears for fun?
as mentioned most people are normal, but yeah people with Class Levels in the fighting classes might do that after a couple levels if they wanted to

>How would a skilled fighter who can casually punch out bears be perceived by the people around him?
probably depends on his character and deeds more than anything

>>50398524
what is the most interesting aspect of your High Fantasy setting, perhaps focus on that for now, might be able to solidify it more by doing so

>>50398004
Perennial fence-sitters who never finish fantasy novels, forever DMs, and people like me who are too afraid of actual human contact to find an RPG group.

>>50398936
>what is the most interesting aspect of your High Fantasy setting, perhaps focus on that for now, might be able to solidify it more by doing so

The world is run by a celestial bureaucracy?
Gnomes and Giants were the first races, that 'painted' the world into being?
There are Minotaur people as a primary race?

That's the problem, there isn't enough there.

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>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High magic but low power. Think "Disney movie".

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Mana, which exists as space radiation that collects in your body. The infinite lights in the sky radiate magical energy through all of creation.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
"Mage" refers to any arcane spellcaster who can perform the trifecta of basic spells, ie: "Clean a thing", "Fix a thing", and "Make some light".
Nearly everyone has some path to spellcasting, unless you're a lazy piece of shit.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Depends on the method. Cast times vary between instantaneous, a couple seconds, and several minute-long to several hour-long rituals.
Most professional spellcasters carry a wand or staff to avoid blowing themselves up on a spell failure.

>How effective is the magic?
Basic input:output, so it's reliable.
For effectiveness, it's a low power setting. A master Wizard could throw around some fireballs while flying around, and most practitioners have enough cheap utility spells to live a comfortable lifestyle.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Depends on who's doing the teaching. Most collages frown upon Necromancy in general, and several legal systems have strict laws against manipulating someone's mind.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
The only "official" school of magic is a military academy, which is far flung from a stereotypical Hogwarts and only teaches the absolute basics. Most alchemists or artificers have to apprentice with someone already established in the field, or join one of the guilds or unions, in order to advance their studies.
There's a demi-god that wants to open a proper WIZARD COLLEGE, though.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Depends on the Wizard

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>>50384549
For the people who commented on the map, does this look better?

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>>50384128
Here's a setting I've been working on for-fucking-ever. Used it for a game and I've thought of writing a novel or short-stories in it from time to time.

World is based around Chaos/Shadow/Evil vs Order/Light/Good. God basically made the world and then got shanked by Elder Beings from beyond the universe. His blood washed over creation and created all mortal life. Took a while, but he reincarnated as one of his "creations" while the world was ruled by insane Monstrous evil god-things that couldn't leave once they entered the world. He, or rather She, ultimately either killed/banished/converted them all and re-established something resembling order.

Fast-forward a few millenia and we got ourselves a 30-Years/Great War combo war as everyone starts fighting over Not!Jesus/Charles V's empire after a cult throws him out his own window on top of the Not!Alps, successfully murdering him. A Dragon conquers the North while the Not!Moorish Wizard Kings invade from the South, the Elves are down to less than 5 total members due to genocide (they fucking earned it to be fair), and a war between the last remaining Divine beings left in creation might just be on the horizon as the third Reincarnation of the Sun has been prophesized to happen within the next few years.

Pic is the North's Capitol, currently ruled by the Dragon. Beneath the city proper is a couple miles of Dwarven actually Goblin tunnels and architecture. Interplanar trade goes on in the Black Markets down there.

Will post a few more pics. Ask me anything if it interests you.

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>>50399595
Map that one fine Anon modified for me. Cunt wouldn't tell me his process, so I'm boned for making more like this.

Continent shown is Ambria. Basically 17th Century Europe. Used to be the Homeland of the Goblins. Then they were enslaved by Elves. When humans came over from Not!Africa, they tried to do that same to us.

As previously mentioned, there are only half a dozen or so Elves left. Make of that what you will.

>>50399595
>Quarry
>Next to Nobles
>Not near Merchants
Something is off.

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>>50399663
The City was thought to have been built by Dwarves. There is a huge segment of the city that is essentially a massive Quarry-style hole they built their capitol in. The humans (and Dragon) who currently reside here used this area for similar purposes. It's fuck-off huge and architecturally and engineeringly impressive, being a cluster of massive, ancient palaces and entrances to the Underground.

tl;dr The name is a misnomer. It's an indented area that's far nicer than the rest of the city, and serves as the administrative area.

>>50399644
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High Magic in the sense that magic is incredibly powerful. Like, rewrite reality and fuck Physics like a gas station whore powerful. It's almost Low Magic though, since the actual Art of it is so insanely, 40K Warp dangerous to wield that almost no one

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Reality is made of strings (energy, matter, thoughts, etc). Plucking, tieing, or otherwise manipulating them does magic stuff.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
While aptitude is a thing, all you really need is an education and the willpower to perceive the Strings. Few are born with enough of these three to become Mages, and it's a dangerous line of work so most who can, don't pursue it.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Hand motions, usually a knot-tieing motion. These are specific, however. Mostly this serves as a handicap, allowing casual use of magic, as opposed to hour-long castings.

>How effective is the magic?
Very.

1/2

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I finally cracked the code on how to make good Wizards.

>>50399745
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Altering people's minds is very taboo, as Personality Death is a very real and observable thing. Most mages hate it, and most Rulers don't want to open that particular Pandora's Box. Necromancy is also a big No-No, but not because of any real moral issue. It's a waste of time for Wizards, as it is impossible to alter Time sufficiently to reverse a Death. Those who try to bring back loved ones are seen as sad, pathetic fools more that evil monsters. Unintelligent undead are useful cannon fodder, but otherwise need too much supervision to be worth the time and effort.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
There used to be a major, Imperial School of Sorcery to teach and regulate magic. But when the current civil war exploded, the entire ruling council got dumped into the astral plane via an upsized Portable-Hole-Bag-of-Holding trick. The system collapsed shortly afterword, and now most mages are trained in apprenticeships through local universities supported by local monarchs.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
I love pointy hats. Imperial law forced Mages to wear them, and most still do so due to tradition.

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Kinda weird, in that magic can get stupid powerful, but as a general rule most people's experience with magic is limited to, at most, someone who knows a few cantrips. Typically a priest or someone like that.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Overwhelmingly comes from the divine, spirits, or other such entities. Even "arcane" magic is manipulating the leftover power from the moment of Creation.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Anyone can use it, though some are born with a natural aptitude. Normally it takes a ton of dedication.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Really depends on the mage. Long rituals are used by the more patient and subtle, however.
>How effective is the magic?
Extremely impressive. Outside the "civilized" lands are a ton of separate tiny kingdoms ruled by a magic-wielding god-king. Barbaric folk are easily awed by the displays of magic by such folk.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Yes. The Church is suspicious of magic anyway, and the raising of undead is right out. Using it to manipulate minds is also considered deeply wrong by the Church.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Generally schools in the civilized lands. Both Church-governed areas and the Heretic Kingdoms have magic schools, though they're invariably extremely difficult to get into. In territories controlled by "god-kings," it's less formalized.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Yes

>>50399797
NPC only?

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?

It very much depends. Much of the planet is a gigantic labyrinth that has existed since the dawn of creation. The "normal" races and cultures outside the labyrinth are very much low fantasy, but magic grows stronger the deeper into the gigantic dungeon one goes. The races who call the labyrinth home are high fantasy, at least the deeper ones are.

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?

Magic, or whatever you want to call it, is an intangible force that emanates from the very center of the labyrinth. It grows stronger the closer you get, though none have successfully, to the world's knowledge, made it to the center...

At least this is the case for most people. There is a culture that derives its magic from enslaved djinns, beings especially good at harness magical forces.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?

Any one can learn, but some races, mainly those who have lived long within the labyrinth, are better innately at magic than others. Though the labyrinthine races are also quite bizarre and alien, so there are downsides to being a native.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?

Spells are magical energy woven into tangible form. The faster casting spells are simpler, whereas rituals take time to weave.

>How effective is the magic?

Godlike if you are deep in the labyrinth, rather lackluster outside of it.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?

Depends on the culture. Cultures outside the labyrinth don't have strong enough magic to require taboo.

Inside the labyrinth is another story. Each culture has its taboos, but they all share one: Don't, either through magic or by any other means, fly above the labyrinth walls. Taboos differ, but all imply horrible death.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?

All kinds of hats.

>>50399797
Make them die.

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Low i suppose. It's not a cut and dry magic "systrm" per say. It's more mysterious and magical like tolkein
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
The element that exists in between worlds, quintessence
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Elf like race can channel the quintessence naturally, humans must use rituals and incantations
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Sort of explained above
>How effective is the magic?
Depends on the person. Can range from simple trick/illusions to bolts of lightning/eaves of flame
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
It is generally looked down upon outside of the elf like daces lands
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Humans must study and practice rituals and incantations. The elves have inherent skill
>Pointy hats Yes or No
Some say there's a bearded hermit living in the woods of goretill that fancies pointed hats

Does a sci-fi world where all the aliens are some mutant off shoot of humans seem dull?

Aliens will come up later but for now I robot body humans, rock people humans, standard ass humans, and psychic spindly humans that are smart as shit.

That seem dumb?

>>50384128

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Everything (even friendship) is magic. Mundane things are part of the same natural system as magic. Magic is just a subversion of those systems.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?

Mages pull energy from different stages of the Energy Cycle and exploit the properties the energy possesses at those stages.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?

Most COULD use it but it requires sound understanding of the principles of magic and focus. (The ADD kid prolly can't do it.)
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?

A naked person can magic but staffs, wands, reagents, etc. are tools that can enhance ones abilities.
>How effective is the magic?

Super effective.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?

Magic is neutral. Some cultures may forbid certain types but there are no inherently evil magics.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?

Yes.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?

Cultural but for my tastes, yes.

>>50400034
Uninspired maybe, but sci-fi has been doing that forever, so nobody's going to fault you on it.

>>50400059

I can see uninspired.

Got any cool idea for aliens anon?

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>>50399845
>>50399860

No. Simply put, you have to make Wizards into a totally different kind of role that you would normally think; Wizards should be kings of tiny useful utility spells, not blasting niggers. It explains much more worldbuilding and opens the door to more interesting stuff.

Basically; I've decided to take this too heart when designing magic users, and I think it works really well. Not everyone can be a Wizard, but most have to be 'inducted' into the mysteries. This can be anything, but is typically a kind of ritual or near death experience set up by Wizarding groups to induct their new apprentices and members.

For instance, a Wizard may require his apprentice to live in his home for 3 years, during which he must acknowledge the Wizard and his wife as 'mother' and 'father', not allowed to mention or come into contact with their biological parents. This is a identity crisis that eventually causes a 'crossing over' into the realms of magic. Something has to happen to you, however emotional, physical, or mental that causes you to change.

This means magic users cannot be 'just anyone', but 'anyone' can learn it. It also explains away people trying to learn magic to cause a le magitek industrial revolution, only a very specific caste and type of people can learn magic, and few live in such a way where that sort of thing is important to them.

I think it's really good, mystical, and creates excellent backstory.

>>50384128
>>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Super High magic, and everyone hates it. Ie all the people IN the world hate it. Because it's retarded, hyper dangerous and difficult to understand.

>>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
No one knows. It came into existence some time ago and wizards became common. Like 1% of the population common. 60 million wizards. And unsurprisingly the world fucking ended and now all thats left is a great big magical wasteland thats been reality fucked into a coma.

>>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
People are born into it now, at a lesser rate, but you can also become a magic user by murdering a magic user. If you're already a magic user, killing another user makes you more powerful, highlander style. Oh and as you get more powerful you get all physically mutated and crazy.

>>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
They can do it without any objects, but objects act like guns with preloaded spells that don't drain the wizard's mental stability to use.

>>How effective is the magic?
Depends. Low level wizards are about as dangerous as a Bic lighter. But at high levels they can literally kill people with a glance.

>>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
The average populace fucking hates magic users because they're both powerful and unpredictable. If you show signs of the taint you can be run out of town or murdered. Magic users themselves have personal taboos sometimes, but there's no organized concept of a "forbidden" spell.

>>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
A lot like walking, it's an inherent ability that takes time and practice to learn.

>>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Maybe. I mean, we met (Murdered) a wizard who had bug antennae and he had a pointy hat. but only because of the antenna.

>>50399505
That looks a lot better. A+ anon.

>>50400511
Should I talk about the rivers in the economy section?

>>50400560
Only if any particularly important trade occurs along them.

I'm hoping that this is the right sort of topic for this... long story short, in my setting, I'm building a race/culture who're basically the Shin'hare (in short: imperialist slaver blood-magic-practicing rabbit folk with a Communist China/Russia style disregard for the lives of their own people) created and led by a cabal of elven necromancers who turned into something akin to Suelese Liches (incorporeal liches who constantly possess living hosts to interact with the material world).

Anyway, I've got all the crunchy details for the race worked out, but there's one key problem: a name. I'm absolutely *terrible* with names. Can anyone help me by suggesting a name to call them?

Anything will do, but as the race was created by elves and is basically being manipulated by vengeful elfin lich-wraiths, I'd like if it could "sound" a little elfish. I've been calling them the Draeg (as apparently "Drag" is elfin for "hate/malice" in AD&D FR), but I know how stupid that sounds, so I really need a better name.

>>50400616
Slyvhar (Slave-hare).

>>50400585
I'll have to think about that then. I considered lumber being a major export but I guess it can't really be a major one.

>>50400667
Oh, that actually sounds pretty good! I'm open to further suggestions, but that's definitely looking like the replacement. Thanks a ton!

>>50384344
niggers learn magic, need whitey to fix their fuck-ups (yet again)

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all? High magic

>>If you have magic, how do you power it Where is the source of the power?

Magic is fueled by Mana and is the source of creation; however Mana is not found everywhere, Some places have higher concentration then others, also most living things have a natural resistance to mana and if too much is gathered inside a body it will bleed off excess.

>>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?

About anyone can preform magic if they have enough mana on hand however since living things have a high resistance to mana and the horrifying results of having a lot of extra raw energy inside a body; The main problem is gathering enough of it together, not having it react to anything before hand, and having the proper training or ritual to use it effectively to perform a spell

>>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?

Anything will do since you are drawing on the mana inside of you. Bad things happen if you try to draw on mana that's around you.

>>How effective is the magic?

Since mana is the source of creation; very effective. However it also makes it vary dangerous since it constantly wishes to change into something. As a example if you hold a large amount of mana inside your body at once it may suddenly change every blood cell into a ant.


>>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?

The main list of taboos come from people doing stupid things with mana such as why you don't cast spells in a highly saturated area (because if you say make fire by magical means then ALL the mana around you wants to become fire)

>>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?

The most successful pay the gods to train them. Usually having one of there servants to over watch them and to teach the appropriate rituals and the most effective way to use mana.

>>50399505
Love the comfy delta in the east.

>>50400616
On a similar line of thought. What would you lads call a half-orc, half-fairy (like Tinkerbell, but obviously big enough to get raped by an orc)?

>>50401297
Boggart

>>50401452
Yup, that fits the bill.

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>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Rather low-magic.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Lot of scholars debate on this, with common theories being about tectonic plate movement, sun, ambient ether, etc. Actual source is original chaos, where all creatures come from.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
It can be learned and taught, but it is tricky thing. It is bit like art in a way, you can have theory and study it, but there is also talent and creativity involved.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
It varies a lot. Two people can cast same spell very differently, and method that works for one might not work for another.
>How effective is the magic?
For most mages, not overly effective. It's great to have around, and it is used to accomplish something technology necessarily can't. But when it comes to it, lot of people prefer technological solution.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Necromancy isn't really looked favorably on, but it is mostly because people feel that there are ethical/moral questions involved. Demonology is really taboo, since the main function is getting people killed, and lot of things can go wrong.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Apprenticeships are most common, just because of above.
Teaching someone magic is great deal of effort - lot of guiding is needed to find the 'path', the methodology, tricks, and whatnot.
Although theory of magic is taught in some universities as well, it shouldn't be confused with learning actual magic. The difference is learning art history vs. actually painting.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Yes, although it is more symbolic. When master considers his/her apprentice sufficiently learned, he/she commissions a pointy hat for him/her.

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>>50384128
>Pointy hats Yes or No?

Anyone who says no to this is a fucking faggot.

>>50400034
If done right, can be interesting. For example, in AT-43, the Therians are actually post-singularity humans. Its their divergence from what we know as human that makes them so alien. If you can find a copy, also look at the book All Tomorrows. Its a speculative history book about humanity evolving into dozens of sub-species.

What you are working on sounds a lot like Beyond the Gates of Antares. It has standard humans, rock people, tiny mutant slave soldiers that use big battle mechs, and a few other sub-species.

>>50401819

HEY ARTFAG
WHERE IS YOUR GOD DAMN SETTING DOCUMENT WITH THE CUTE DRAGON AND SLUG PEOPLE?!

GET TO IT NIGGER

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>>50402031
>>50400034
speaking of All Tomorrows, have an early Christmas gift

>>50398004
Me

I dont even post

>>50398004
Nobody reads them because the only people who post in them think people care about their settings as much as they do, and ramble on and on and on and...

>>50402683
The questions are a way to expand your own personal knowledge of your setting. Whether or not other people comment on it is a moot point.

>>50398004
None but faggots, faggot.

>>50404063
Then why post here?

>>50404099
Sometimes there's a proper discussion.

>>50404136
We only seem to talk about the process of worldbuilding.

Speaking of: Reddit's getting better. I'd say a solid quarter of them have a decent idea of what they should be doing.

>>50404644
If be fine with talking more about the process of world building. Right now I'm at the stage where I'm having trouble organizing details and getting something coherent.

What even is a page eleven.

>>50408938
There is a Page 11?

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>>50408949

There's a page 11 in my heart

Alright so, I'm ready to start building a setting.

Where do I start?

>>50411244
well what kind of setting are you thinking of making, and if you plan on running a game with it, what's the most likely system(s) you'll run it with(as that might inform certain decisions)?

>>50411292

High fantasy.
Dungeon Crawler
OSR

>>50411314

>dungeon crawler
>OSR

you start with the dungeon, make it interesting, everything else in the world is only ancillary and supportive of details in the dungeon

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>>50408949
>>50408938

I have a very barebones idea for a setting, only have the metaphysics right now, but I know I want it to be an animistic setting, I know I want it to have the aesthetic of something like The Witcher or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I know that the players are marked in some way by the spirits, and that through play the players will become corrupted by spirits growing in power but becoming less human. I have an idea of what kind of system I want to run it in, likely Fate, but I don't really know anything else beyond the nitty-gritty of the metaphysics and the kinds of practices of magic there are.

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>>50412377

Now comes the hard part

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>>50411314
well do you want to layout a specific dungeon(or group of dungeons), or would this be more of a general setting?

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>>50412717
and because why not, going to dump some other maps of this sort I've got lying around

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>>50412721

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>>50412732

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>>50412736

>>50384344
The gods have grown creatively stagnant over the aeons and start using the souls of dead artists of all kinds to write fate and draw the ever-expanding universe.
An intrepid necronaut has entered the afterlife and discovered this cosmic writer's workshop.

>>50412736
>>50412732
>>50412721
>>50412717

I love these

>>50412717

Just the general setting.

>>50412822
thanks

>>50412867
maybe take a look at this for some inspiration;

http://gameswithothers.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/other-frontiers-dungeons-megadungeons.html

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Working on a map for a future campaign. Anything I should add?

>>50413190

>barren northeast

why

>>50413190
Seems fairly empty so far. I'm guessing you're asking about what other sorts of things should be present?

>>50413161
>maybe take a look at this for some inspiration

That was great actually, thanks.

I'm literally the worst homebrewer in the world, but I'm trying to create a setting that's basically Bloodborne; A gothic society with a heavy Church presence that uses blood transfusions to keep it's people alive, all of which is actually the influence of the Old Gods, who are waking up and want to fuck things up.

But...I dunno where to start. Like, I don't know how to build a whole setting from scratch, it's not something I do since I edit and run published stuff mostly.

Not even sure what I want the primary motivation to be. Stop the Writhing Moon from descending? It sounds cool, but I don't see a link to that from level 1.

>>50413368
If the setting is basically bloodborne, then why not just use bloodborne?

Aside from that, there are a few places you can start. One would be to start big, decide how the world works on a grand scale in terms of magic, beings, gods, etc. The other would be to start on a small scale. Focus on an individual or a town in the world, decide what you want them to be, and figure out how other pieces of the world would interact to give you those results.

As for a primary motivation, surviving with one's sanity is always a strong one.

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>>50413278
>>50413338

Hence why I said "working."

>>50413404
>If the setting is basically bloodborne, then why not just use bloodborne?
Because I don't really want to. I want to do something horror-y and Lovecraftian, and that game basically did both of those together already. I don't want to write "Bloodborne: The RPG Setting", I want to write something that happens to be inspired by similar things and probably treads a lot of the same ground.

>decide how the world works on a grand scale in terms of magic, beings, gods, etc.
>Focus on an individual or a town in the world, decide what you want them to be, and figure out how other pieces of the world would interact to give you those results.
It wouldn't be written like a traditional fantasy setting, because I really hate the "Go from town to town on a magical fantasy rollercoaster" stories. I'm more interested in staying in one place, a city that's big enough to encompass all the places needed for a campaign.

>>50413724
In that case, staying on a smaller scale would be better. Focus on the city itself. Where was it built and why? What sorts of people live there?

If the group stays in the city, you don't need that much detail on the outside world, just broad strokes to make it feel like there's one out there.

>>50413190
Why is there a forest in the middle of a valley and not along the edges? Was the rest of it chopped down?

>River-splitting
Your rivers are kind of backwards. They're like the opposite of roots; they lead into bigger rivers, they don't branch out. /wbg/ has to talk about this at least once per thread because it's an easy mistake to make.

Why do you have mountains right up along the coast? Is it the remnant of a volcanic crater? Because otherwise it's a very odd place for the island to have mountains.

Why is there a separate lake and river leading to the ocean? You don't need to have the lake be connected to the ocean; it just looks odd that it isn't a bay or something like that.

Is this all one temperature range or are there going to be different ranges of ecology based on temperature and height?

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>>50413368
>>50413724
I've been fiddling with a similar setting concept for a while now, what I did to make it stand out a bit more from Bloodborne was to change around certain style influences, rather than being a semi-Victorian style city like Yharnam is(although one could argue that it's more Georgian than Victorian in many respects, and there's some solid Edwardian influence as well), I went with a city that's instead influenced primarily by New York City of the period between the late 20's and early 40's, as well as various Pulp/Noir/Weird Fiction of the era, as well as mixing in some D&Disms(since the system I'm going to be running this with will probably be a OSR system of some sort)

so what might be needed is finding the right sphere of influence to make your City stand out properly(I could see an Early 70's Las Vegas expu or late 80's to early 90's Los Angeles expy work well for a Bloodborne influenced setting if you don't mind going semi-modern for example), and to make it a large enough enough to be the primary place where your campaign will take place(as seen by the map I'm borrowing for my concept, it's rather large, although there's a couple key locations outside Ravencastle that they'd be able to go to for adventures as well)

>>50414088
>Why is there a forest in the middle of a valley and not along the edges? Was the rest of it chopped down?

I was thinking that the winds blow west to east, so the clouds blew right over the mountain and instead formed closer to the center of the valley. Am I getting that wrong.

>River-splitting
>Your rivers are kind of backwards. They're like the opposite of roots; they lead into bigger rivers, they don't branch out. /wbg/ has to talk about this at least once per thread because it's an easy mistake to make.

I see, thanks.

>Why do you have mountains right up along the coast? Is it the remnant of a volcanic crater? Because otherwise it's a very odd place for the island to have mountains.

I just placed my mountains willy nilly. I'm not a geologist. Where should I think about placing them?

>Why is there a separate lake and river leading to the ocean? You don't need to have the lake be connected to the ocean; it just looks odd that it isn't a bay or something like that.

Where?

>Is this all one temperature range or are there going to be different ranges of ecology based on temperature and height?

>>50414253
Woops. missed the last question. It's going to be more or less the same temperature range.

>>50414253
If it's west to east, there should be drier deserts or plains in the rain shadow of any mountains. Having a forest on the other side of that is a bit odd, though with the distance it might be okay.

>>50386132
no idea but I usually put my games in older period fantasy just to avoid imagination restriction like why the cops aren't fixing themselves?
Why aren't everyone one-shotting this BBEG with artillery or missile strikes instead of the PCs?
Make coming out with heroic campaign far more easier and make it easier to justify everything.

>>50414297
My thinking was that the rivers flowing down from the mountain was providing enough boost to the "wetness" of the general area.

>>50385926
I know how you feel. I don't give my characters any personality traits or flaws unless the plot demands it, and I drop them as soon as they are not needed. Anything else feels too gimmicky.

But in seriousness, >>50385856 , Think about what you want magic to do. Think about what it can't do. Go from there. It doesn't have to be complex, videogamey, or scientific to have internal logic to it.

>>50414361
you'd be amazed how many probably you can't solve with more artillery.

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>>50414520

gustav pls

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So I want my game world to have a sort of magical community separate from the nonmagical one, without it being a 'secret'. Setting is medieval-ish fantasy, as always.

Should there just be segregation? The 'colorful quarter' in each town, home to the Wizards? Elite monasteries? Or mix and match them both a bit?

>>50384128
>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High magic. Pretty much everyone can cast some basic spells and it's all integrated into daily life.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Magic is fueled by willpower: you temporarily impose your own will over the universe's, telling the laws of physics to sit down and shut up for a minute. A spell is a particular rehearsed action which achieves a specific magical effect.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Everyone can use it, and you get better with practice, same as anything. Powerful mages are no rarer than accomplished athletes.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
For simple spells, nothing is really required, but many people use totems--items with specially-designed carvings that help a spell align with the universe in such a way that makes it easier to pull them off.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
People typically cast their first spell (often accidentally) around age 3-4, during an early burst of focused emotion. They'll typically learn a few spells from their parents and neighbors (there are some "safety spells" akin to "stop, drop, and roll"); if they want to pursue it more seriously, they can research the work of past mages or seek an apprenticeship or some other training program.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
They don't DON'T wear pointy hats.

>>50415129
Maybe something like Laputa from Gulliver's Travels?

Not exactly the same, but the basic idea of "the powerful elite controlling the masses through threat".

>>50415129

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>>50415270
of course forgot pic

>>50414686
well he wasn't exactly wrong

>>50413190
Where is this island located on the planet? How big is it? What's the general tone of the world you're trying to achieve?

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>>50414145
Honestly, I think normal fantasy works just fine. I want things to be muddy and gritty.

I'm really thinking it'd be cool to do a city that is just improbably large, like to the point where we never actually address whether or not the city actually does just go on forever. It just continues with no signs of stopping, though still divided into distinct districts and places. Just one of those things to be slightly "off" about everything.

My current quandry is; What kind of society would use magical blood (Vampire blood? Werewolf blood?) as a mainstay of their lifestyle? Would it just collapse if that source of blood was taken away? Maybe fall to using corrupted blood in a last-ditch effort, which turned everyone into monsters? Maybe go full Rapture?

I like the idea of the players starting the game cursed because somehow, they were saved by being transfused with some of the last of the non-tainted blood, which is why they're not fallen like the rest of the city.

>>50415129
Could treat it like Jewish Ghettos in the Medieval to Early Modern Period. Magical Folk must live in certain areas (the ghetto), dress in certain ways (pointy hats), and can only take certain jobs (magic-ones).

>>50415269

They are not 'better' then anyone else. They are not the 'elite', they are just a totally separate society.

I just always thought it was weird when fantasy worlds have magic shops in the middle of town mingling about with the 'non-magic' using folk. You'd think they'd be more heavily segregated.

>>50415339
why?

>>50392375
They're mostly shit-tier garbage. If they are included, they should be treated as such in-game. People literally throwing up and organizing lynch mobs when one is seen.

>>50384549
>The race of man is
What next?!

>>50415351

Why would Wizards, who are a different sort of people then regular people, have businesses that cater to them and pretty much only them in the middle of towns mostly filled with non-wizards?

That's what always confused me. It seems like they would be in their own segregated little communities instead of among the common folk. The local medicine man doesn't live with the tribe, he's isolated because his talents make him 'different' from everyone else. Even though he is not 'better' then anyone else nor is he persecuted because his talents are highly valued.

>>50415310
Eh, I think it's a good idea to make it clear that the city does have an edge. The important thing is that it's either impossible or difficult to leave, or it's so much worse on the outside that the city is the better option.

Vampire blood doesn't seem like the best option, as they seem more like the sort of thing that would result from over reliance on blood of others, rather than the source.

As for making it a mainstay, all that requires is that the blood be very effective for a purpose and easy to get. If werewolf blood is the only way to make healing potions and is useful in a lot of spells and alchemy outside of that, then you'd probably get people trying to farm them, infecting the poor with lycanthropy, shoving them in an iron maiden with silver spikes, then waiting until they transform and impale themselves on the interior.

Rapture might also be a good place to look, but it's important you consider what the downsides of using it are. Is it like rapture where overusing it has bad effects, or is it only a matter of if it's corrupted? This is the sort of thing you want to work out as the foundation if blood magic is going to be the mainstay of your game.

>>50415351
>One day, Merlin decided to summon a Devil to extract some of its ichor for an experiment.
>Twelve seconds into the extraction process, the neighborhood cat startled him.
>One second after that, the city of Imbon was turned into a pit six miles deep and four across.

>>50414253
>Where should I think about placing them?
Coastal mountains ARE possible (there's a range in Canada literally called the Coast Mountains; to say nothing of Japan, though as the other anon noted, that's due to volcanic activity). The key is to think about where the faultlines are and in which direction the relevant tectonic plates are moving. Mountains tend to pile up where they run into each other, while rift valleys form where they separate.

>>50415402
Housecats are the bane of wizards so that's unsurprising.

>>50415391
But are they actually a different sort?

Sounds like a whole lot of "depends on the setting"

>>50395034
>So half-dragons cane make sense to me, but not half-orcs
Y'know, generally, primate species are capable of interbreeding as long as their last common ancestor was within 2 million years?

Homo sapiens interbred with most other homonid species to some extent, the Neanderthals especially. It's hardly outlandish for humans and orcs to be able to make babies; it'd almost be weirder if they couldn't.

>>50415310
>City unprobably large
>Ravnica.

>>50392375
Half-breeds aren't super common, due to the simple fact that an elf is less likely to think a human is attractive than another elf (or what have you), but they do occur. In some pairings, there's about a 50-50 shot of the resulting offspring being infertile, but they're usually healthy otherwise.

>>50415339
>>50415391
Now I'm imagining wizards being the inconsiderate neighbors of the fantasy world.

>No wonder we're losing money. What with that awful restaurant stinking up the whole block and the magic shop turning half our customers into frogs.

>>50384128
>Magic?

Yes, high.

>How to power?

By breaking a cultural taboo, you siphon some power from those nearby that would consider it a taboo. This is because god of being an inconsiderate jerk made it that way.

>What makes you a mage.
Either being a total jerk, moving to a different culture and continuing to do things the old way you used to, etc. Anyone could do it, as long as you do not get lynched or sth.

>How to evoke it.
Rituals are the best. Some magic can be done in social situations - this is usually weaker.

>How effective?
From mild suggestions and healing wounds to literally rewriting rules of reality for a short time. You need to basically make half the world really angry for the latter

Making *everyone* angry makes you a demigod, though this does not stop powerful enough lynch mobs alone.

>Is there taboos.
Magic itself is, literally, fueled by taboos. Most mages tend to be fine with anything, in order to avoid their power being siphoned from them. Mages are universally disliked for obvious reasons.

>How do mages learn.
Fucking up hard enough and magic manifesting to barely save them, usually. Some exceptions exist, court jesters are total dicks that often posses some magic just due to their craft - they are often feared soldiers in times of war.

>Pointy hats.
Only if ugly enough to offend everyone.

And yes, this is a setting where you could probably cure your migraine by wearing socks with sandals.

>like fantasy
>Start getting into cyber punk
>want to write a semi-gritty story about merc operators stealing government secrets to sell onto the gal-net

Fucking... what the fuck is going on?

>>50392375
Depends what you want out of the setting, as does the rules which govern them both genetically and socially.

I generally avoid "human but different" non-humans, and as I see it, when it comes to hybrids you need a setting with shapeshifters, scifi genetic fluff, or non-humans that are just humans but totally different (which if you didn't guess from my tone I feel is cheap to begin with).

>>50415600
Diversification of interests.

>>50415401
Less...all of that. My goal is, hopefully, to evoke a world that feels horrific, kind of insane, and very dreamlike. It's meant to be a horror themed game, so as soon as things feel traditional, they'll stop being tonally appropriate.

I'm not talking "Werewolf blood makes good potions so we started using it", but more "The entire medical structure of this place is built on the concept that this magic blood from...somewhere, keeps people alive and healthy so they depend on it."

In my head, at least in some way, the blood is connected to some Cthulu-style Old Gods, and it's their waking up that drives everyone who's used the blood crazy.

Or, maybe it's not that. Maybe people going crazy and needing to be hunted down is a regular occurrence and not completely out of place?

I wanted there to be multiple factions that all orbit the same core concept, like a Church that worships the Old Gods, but sees them as angels of healing and mercy (complete with church imagery that is traditional Catholic fare, but with hints of tentacle-y shit in the fringes), an Academy that wants to expand their minds with these beings, and some others.

But I think I'm stealing most of these ideas from a game I've never played (I wouldn't know, having not played it).

>>50416004
Well, yes, but if the blood is just keeping people alive and healthy, how did they start depending upon it in the first place?

To use Rapture as an example again, Tonics didn't start as this horrific risky thing that people were dependent on. It started off as something mundane and innocent looking. That's what allows it to propagate and become commonplace, and that's what allows for the later horror when society has built itself up around this thing only for it to go horribly wrong.

This isn't to say you need to introduce your players to this stuff as the fall happens, but you need to have a reasonable explanation in place for why things are the way they are.

Before the old gods awoke, there were probably lots of theories on what this blood was, and if a church worships them, they might have had entirely different ideas concerning them.

Basically what I'm getting at is that while you want your game to be a terrifying horror city, you need to make sure you know how it got to that point, and what things are like before.

>>50416004
you know full well if you actually use something called blood, and don't mask that in anyway then people are just going to call you on making bloodborn: your version.

>>50416223
I kinda already mentioned that.

>>50416223
So check it; It's really fucking similar, and definitely inspired by. I get that.

Which is what I want to figure out so it doesn't end up being a carbon copy.

How would you delve the same ideas, without ripping off something readily identifiable?

>>50384128

Hey /tg/ I've been thinking of making a comic. Wanted feedback on the setting.

>>>87974741
>>>87974768
>>>87974824
>>>87974913

>TFW cross-board threadlinking not working

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>>50416622
>>TFW cross-board threadlinking not working
FUCK, copypaste time

Well, since you love worldbuilding, I'm drunk and spilling my "big idea" I've had kicking around, so I'd really like any thoughts on it.

"Skelebros". Yes, cashing in on the skeleton meme.
The Nightlands, and an established setting and concept you can read up on. The Last Redoubt is a fortress at the end of time, on a dead planet, after the stars have died out, surrounded by lovecraftian horrors waiting for the last of it's shielding to fail so they can eat the final souls inside. All other Redoubts on the planet have already been cracked. In my comic, necromancy exists, and the Redoubt casts out it's dead as undead to serve in an auxiliary and first-line defense. They're fed and kept in check by limited payouts of magic in capsules which keeps them "alive". This operates as a loose "army" of sorts which never actually sees the living. They don't keep their memories, save for fragments, and the eulogy when they die the 2nd and final time involves a reading of their life in the Redoubt from people that knew them. Service as Undead is seen as redemption. There's several divisions of forces. Ground troops are Army of Darkness, fighting man-sized horrors enmasse. Airforces are recon and support, consisting of both skelecopters and skeleplanes. Those are small highly trained small teams with specialized individuals, EG sharpened arm-bones for propellers with wing-armed skeles and a gunner supplied by magic-pods for long-range missions. The most veteran are recruited as the remade. The remade have had the outside of their bones recast in (limited) magic alloy, and serve as elite ground teams.

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>>50416636
Some are put into "giants"-teams, highly trained skeletons which mass up to form a giant by all holding onto each other, with a captain to yell orders for manuevers which are carried out telephonegame style ("LEFT FORWARD", "RIGHT HOOK", ETC) with skeletons in position contracting or pushing as trained. These are for fighting Kaiju-grade threats.
The Sentinels are the last defense. AWOL skeles have their bones ground and cast in alloy to form Golems with no free will, which is seen as horrifying by the normal undead.

General plot follows a "pearl". Refers to the newly made undead having pearly-bones. Major events so far: 1) Popular-good-guy elite dies, eulogy reveals he was a piece of shit in life. Skeles ponder the concept of redemption. 2) Lost recon skeleplane that goes down with magipods into an acidlake. A remade team is sent to recover the magipods, the downed skeletons are disposable and know it but try to survive. 3) A resupply mission is sent to one of the destroyed redoubts, where they find a small tribe of undead hiding, trying to survive. Some of the remade knew them as friends, had assumed them fully dead, and completing the mission would ensure the death of those in the colony.
4) A member of a skelecopter team is killed. The rest of the team deals with grief and trying to train a replacement.
4) Pearl starts recovering fragments of life memory and cue philosophical discussions. 5) A rare expedition of the living leaves the Redoubt. Their faces are never seen, and the skelebros are rightfully terrified of them.
6) All lines fail, and the Sentinels are deployed with horrifying efficiency. Everyone ponders why these aren't the defacto defense, why everyone isn't made into a Sentinel, and whether the morals of this would balance out, and what rights the living really have to do any of this.

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>>50416642
7) The shields fluctuate. Weapons built into the redoubt are used in a final plot twist. Everyone is relieved, but worried about the energy left if they've had to resort to necromancy this long.
8) A small rebellion is staged. Finally it is quelled by necromancers from the Redoubt.
9) The shields unexpectedly fail. It's over. Many undead go AWOL, some stay and fight to the end. The future of "life" as undead is questionable, and very limited. Soon the survivors that fled will run out of magic.

Minor events:
One popular entertainment is theatre, though "arts" are embraced in general. Comedies making fun of the living and the fact they have flesh is popular.
Team-building exercises for Pearls involve betting games, where they pretend to be each other. When you finally call who they really are, you can test with a fingerjoint that's taken off before the game, it will snap in place to it's owner. This helps establish identity and familiarity when everyone looks similar.
Battle of the bands, because why wouldn't they.

Eh, I'm forgetting a lot of smaller worldbuilding stuff, especially minor events fluff and stuff, but I've downed a 6 pack of beer and that's like 60-70% of the concept that I had.

I've had this idea kicking around, but frankly I think nobody would give a fuck since it was indeed spawned from the skelecopter concept, then applying too much thought to the concept of militarized skeletons.

Anyway, I thought /tg/ might like the thought exercise of militarized skeletons.

>>50416600
have you considered not just a different substance, but perhaps no substance at all? perhaps this unifying theme need not be an object so much as an idea or action?

>>50416722
You're gonna need to back that up with an example, or I just have no idea what you're talking about. Like, in practice, I don't know what that means.

>>50416729
Ideas have power within them. Why do you need blood to heal your wounds? Why will faith, practiced faith in whatever you want to call your healing church not enough? Tiny rituals people do just because they are to be done, not truly understanding them, never asking to, never needing to.

Something like that. Making an item meant to be eldrich physical gives it more understanding than having it not be an item at all. Certainly gives you a very different approach to work on, of course you'd need to figure out where the details fit into place, and where details are painfully slim.

>>50416788
Well, mostly because it's just less tactile, and horror-y. Plus, if a ritual or incantation or prayer is the healing people can become addicted to, how is it kept secret? Don't people need to know how to do it to, you know, do it?

Not like a thing that is regulated by a specific order of Clerics or Scholars which keeps its mystery.

>>50416622
What? You just go >>>/co/87974741

>>50416813
>crossthread posting works
FUCK

Sorry for double posting. I've hid 6 beers + an Md20/20 and I really wan tot know interest.

>>50414253
was thinking that the winds blow west to east, so the clouds blew right over the mountain and instead formed closer to the center of the valley. Am I getting that wrong.
That's not how mountains and clouds work, generally. Depending on their height, mountains can be a barrier to clouds and force them to condense and rain or they're too low to do anything and the rainclouds will just pass the island most times. If you have a forest, we can say the second scenario is unlikely, but even if the western mountains were enough to block clouds you'd still have the trees growing on the mountain's slopes rather than or in addition to being in the valley. Of course, the mountains could be sharp and steep if they were volcanic.


>Where should I think about placing them?
They're alright there, it's just odd if you're planning a European-style fantasy map. Though I guess you could look at terrain maps of Aegean and Mediterranean islands and see if it works out.

>>Why is there a separate lake and river leading to the ocean?
On the west. It just seems odd geographically speaking, but I guess it could exist. Though I'd say it's more likely to not have the river and just have the lake on its own.

>>50416828
Alternatively I'll take music recommendations. Implying I have anything else to do on the weekends while drunk off my ass than listen to weird al.

Thank fucking Christ for firefox's spellcheck.

>>50416812
Now see you say you want eldrich, bit lovecraftian, and now you're going and trying to apply too much logic to things.

How is something tangible something you can observe, touch, feel, less horrifying than something that exists only in the minds of men? Of waking men, or slumbering?

You say a thought can't be addictive, can't be controlled, yet people so easily forget, can be so easily lead astray. It doesn't have to be secret if you don't understand it and don't care to wonder. Why would it need to be?

You need it all the same. Have to keep going to the sermons, to hear the thoughts you knew you had. Some like minded folk about you. This is normal, this is cozy, peaceful. You don't want to forget. Be alone, separate from it all, what would your parent's think? The neighbors? What if you get sick who will care for you?

>>50416886
>How is something tangible something you can observe, touch, feel, less horrifying than something that exists only in the minds of men? Of waking men, or slumbering?
When I said tactile, I meant it's more tangible in the sense that it's easier to build off of. If you start with something in-hand like blood, you can build off of that, blood churches, blood monsters, blood rituals, blood items. It's a thing people can actively interact with.

I did consider involving a dream aspect in some way, like all the players sharing a nightmare they're all in together (Sort of like in Bloodborne, but also that show Falling Water), but not sure yet.

As to the rest, I'm just not feeling it. A whole city falling and needing the players to go kill people and things because somehow the whole city was a cult just doesn't jive. It doesn't seem remotely as interesting.

>>50416930
Fair dues I suppose. I just don't like to know things in my horror. Don't think you're supposed to. Might lead to people getting ideas...

>>50416949
Take it in another direction;

What does the "blood" (whatever it ends up being) turn people into?

Just feral people? Ghouls? Vampires?

Does it twist them into abominations? Or do they just become more aggressive versions of themselves?

Maybe instead of stealing from one game, take another and mix it in, with the blood working by causing regeneration of flesh to keep the user healthy, but overuse causes them to become warped, twisted remnants of what they used to be? (This is literally just me thinking out loud as I draw a picture of an Executioner who's had his axe merge with his arm weirdly)

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>>50413368
>>50414145

I don't know if this helps you, but I'm creating an urban fantasy world in a similar way. It's more gumshoe detectives and mafia psychic-aliens then lovecraftian bloodborne though.

Basically the city is just 'all that exists' in terms of civilization in the world they are in; the people here are either born here and trapped from another dimension and sent here. Beyond the city limits is only endless wilderness.

Even if your world is not that extreme in terms of being different in terms of seperation from the real world in your setting, you could just go with a fun example of having the post-apocalyptic event destroying the rest of the known world. The only place that's left is the city, at least as far as the people know.

>>50417038
so malifaux?

>>50417021
More doodling, more ideas actually coming. (Again, this is why I'm shit at homebrew, I need to actually talk my ideas out before anything starts coming).

I'm into the idea of the whole city sitting on this special magic that lets people live, but also warp their own flesh, sort of like Rapture, and that it eventually corrupts the people to the point where they need to be killed. I was into one faction being a Church that worships the Old Gods and the healing miracle they provide, but another cool faction might be a legion of Doctors who monitor people's use and help people warp their flesh in useful ways. Basically, take Plague Doctors, but make them plastic surgeons. I was drawing one and ended up on the idea of them just gliding around the city in pairs, their long robes making it look like they're floating, but under their heavy robes and leather and masks, they're basically inhuman monstrosities

I like the idea of the Night being a regular thing, a regular event where those warped by the Blood go feral and have to be killed, and this time the Old Gods have been called and the Night doesn't end unless they players sever the tie and prevent the Writhing Moon from descending.