/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General - Leadership Edition

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Anyone have a list of adjectives about people, like Strong, Clever, Cowardly, Lazy, Gracious, etc.?

I need like 100 of them...

Thanks.

>>52378348
I'll give you a few that I can come up with off the top of my head.
-Passive
-Domineering
-Crude
-Selfish
-Ambitious
-Histrionic
-Violent
-Generous
-Stubborn
-Arrogant
-Manipulative
-Conservative
-Contrarian
-Assertive
-Empathetic
-Jocular
-Aloof
-Helpful
-Brave
-Nosy
-Nebbish
-Callous
-Cynical
-Crass
-Meticulous

There's 25. That should put a dent in it.

>>52378348
If you get truly desperate here's a list of "exquisite" ones

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/100-exquisite-adjectives/

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>>52378648
>>52378780
Thanks!

>>52378648
>>52378780
>>52379080
So here's my list in case someone wants to use it.

Random Attributes
(Roll 1d20 for the row, then 1d6 for the word)
1 Adamant Adroit Aloof Ambitious Animistic Apologetic
2 Arcadian Arrogant Assertive Baleful Bellicose Bilious
3 Boisterous Boorish Brave Calamitous Callous Caustic
4 Charming Clever Comely Conservating Contemplative Contrary
5 Corpulent Cowardly Cranky Crass Crude Cunning
6 Cynical Dawdling Dextrous Didactic Dilatory Domineering
7 Dowdy Efficient Effulgent Empathetic Entertaining Equitabl
8 Fair Fastidious Fat Feckless Flamboyant Frugal
9 Furious Garrulous Generous Graceful Handsome Hateful
10 Healthy Helpful Histrionic Histrionic Hubristic Incendiary
11 Insidious Insolent Intransigent Invidious Irksome Jocular
12 Jocular Judicious Lachrymose Lavish Learned Loquacious
13 Manipulative Mannered Menacing Mendacious Meticulous Mordant
14 Munificent Naïve Nebbish Nefarious Nosy Noxious Obtuse
15 Passive Petulant Pretentious Puckish Pungent Rhadamantine
16 Rugged Sagacious Sclerotic Selfish Serpentine Sharp
17 Shy Sleepy Slow Smelly Sneaky Solemn
18 Speedy Strong Stubborn Swift Tenacious Thin
19 Tough Treacherous Turgid Violent Voracious Whiny
20 Wrathful Wise Wretched Xenophobic Zealous

>>52377693
>Describe a leader in your setting:
Xo: first to receive the divine Word of Mercy from the Goddess of Light. He helped rally humanity as it was losing battle after battle to the onslaught of dwarves descending from their mountain holds. Where other leaders sought to meet the dwarves in open batte, Xo knew to use their mountainous adaptations agaisnt them. He led the underfolk through dank swamps, across rivers, and endless steppes. Rather than all out engagements with phalanxes against the much more bulky and metal clad dwarves, Xo recommended horse archers and peltasts to fight the dwarves. Although casualties were still high for the human forces, the dwarves were forced into a temporary retreat. A couple more years of incursions into human lands finally took their toll of the stuntlings. Human diseases spread like wildfire in the cramped corridors and stagnant air of dwarf holds. Their armies returned to cities almost made empty. After eight years of yearly attacks, the holds were silenced. Eventually they died off. Xo lived to see it all happen. From a young man into his sixteenth winter to an old man who had seen over seventy four.

>How have past leaders influenced the present:
Xo's story has adapted to the various empires to rise after his legacy: Xonai to the Quintulu Conglomerate, Xui to the Tigin Khaganate, Zoria to the Holy Empire. Each emperor harkens back to Xo in order build legitimacy. This of course ended up making Xo's tale into more a big fish story than true history. No one would dare call it out however - no matter how blatant it is.

>How are leaders chosen:
Power, wealth, charisma, ruthlessness, cunning, and the other usual traits. The Holy Empire has a unique process that gives powerful legitimacy to their leaders. When the emperor dies, the divine power given to him by the goddess chooses a male relative of the deceased. Once chosen, the power stays with the person for life. They are the religious and political leader of the empire

I've been hard pressed coming up with ideas for a Foil nation to an Empire that is basically Post Industrial/ Scarcity In a fantasy setting. The Empire is meant to be ridiculously powerful, but they have a ridiculously powerful adversary. The Empire is plotted out cultural/militarily/economically, but I have little ideas for the Foil nation other than they are the more Traditional Big Bad Fantasy Empire. The setting is Low Fantasy Magic is mythical

How would a nation with traditional means of production counter a highly professional and supplied Military that uses strict and tactical formations in a similar way to the Roman Legions. What types or weapons counter Scutum/tower shield formations.

>>52377693
Is this thread for discussing rules and adventures too, or just campaign setting stuff?

>>52380485

/gdg/ >>52354460 is probably better for rules, but adventures definitely belong here

>>52377693
'm working on a renaissance/western esque setting.

The world is a very similar to North America(South America will be worked on later).

The USA is an alliance of smaller terroritories that are very losely ruled. Most states are weaker and poor, some even sparely populated, and filled with unintelligent but gentlefolk, racial majorites being geography based. The weaker states are mainly pushed around by the larger more powerful states close to them. So its like a country divide into a few cultural/political different countries, each with their own vassal states.

Canada exists as a sort of frontier/western kingdom. It is made a a few large city-state like hubs surrounded by small settlements.
Newfoundland(not including labrador) is its own republic, divided into 3 sections, that has a surplus of strategic minerals like iron, nickel, and sulfur, as a well as loads of fish and exotic wildilfe.
Quebec, new brunswick, nova scotia, and a handful of states make up a French-type kingdom with a focus of navy and trade.

Alsaska is known as the free territories, filled with viking like epic stronghold that behave like city states.

Part of northen canada, inhabited by subhuman cannibal tribes(similar tribes litter "canada") and undead/spirits. Far north is the cursed lands.

Part of southern USA, Texas, and a bit of mexico is its own democratic state that behaves a lot like Texas/the confederation. Xenophobic and isolationist, also contrarian(although rarely violent) to Northern governments. Uses slaves from south america, hawaii, and mexico regions.

Hawaii is a far off, peaceful islander area, filled with exotic life and friendly tribes. A place of mysticism.

The Caribbean is a pirate-friendly nation, more like a band of wartribes. They pillage and raid the coasts of north america and south america alike. Often taking slaves.

>>52383031
Mexico is a spanish-esque kingdom that is extremely religious. To the point of commonly burning foreigners for heresy, no matter where in the world the find them, assuming they have the force. Their military is extremely strong, and also lead by gluttonous politicians. The only 3 things keeping them from dominating most of the continent is a the Caribbean raids, Sub-humanoid goat people tribes that are native to the mexican region,
The cannibal warbands from south america that constantly try to rape/enslave/pillage along their borders.


There are a few big religions, a few minor religions, and a few pockets of unique cults.

The area mainly uses renaissance technology, with a few coal powered elements like trains, Deadly but inaccurate turrets, and steampowered ferries/freighters/warships.

The only big geological differences are just the sizing of some spots. The only major change is that the Atlantic ocean and the great lakes are connected by large straight that sort of eliminates the land between them. Except for an island, that is a city-state. A very posh spot and vacation home for many politicians around the world. Also very religious.

I'm currently adapting the rules of other works to fit my setting. I'm currently trying to think of different player/npc races that I can replace dwarves, halflings, and elves with.

I've got a lot of cities, local cultures, variations among common troops, a few famous people, and some notable savage territories places throughout.

It is currently playable but kind of limited in detail/options for different campaigns. I'm really trying to flesh out the lore, but mainly focusing on adding fauna, monsters, and types of tribes to replace orcs/beastmen/goblins.

Ill respond to questions in OP next post. Please gib good ideas.

>>52377693
>Describe a leader in your setting, whether a king or just a particular interesting parent.

There's a Lady of the vampires who's actually quite popular with the human residents. She's fair, asks for little blood (mostly livestock) and generally governs nicely. Most vampires would rule over a single town only, but they manage to have quite a powerful army all the same.

>What makes them uniquely capable to lead others in your setting (or uniquely awful at it)?

She's generally level headed and doesn't try and fuck with people. It's made her a lot of enemies in the other vampire clans, but her family bloodline is very strong.

>How have past leaders influenced the present? Do people remember these leaders?

The ancestor Kings of dwarfkind are remembered as Gods, generally all noble lines are well remembered.

>How are leaders chosen? Divine favor, popular vote, technocratic cyborg leader-building?
Mostly through the bloodline, divine right of kings and all that.

>>52383073
>Describe a leader in your setting, whether a king or just a particular interesting parent. What makes them uniquely capable to lead others in your setting (or uniquely awful at it)?

Canada(still thinking of something to rename it.) is led by a monarchy. Currently the king, Truden Piear(pronounced pee-arrr) has only recently taken throne. Many still refer him to him as Prince Piear. His wife, Judith Piear, is a french territory princess who is also apart of a noble-populated cult. While her husband is refereed to as prince, people call her Queen Judith. This is because its common belief she wears the pants in the relationship, and dictates all policies through Truden. The king is a narcist, airhead, but cavalier. Friendly but still full of himself. Judith, is cruel, but extremely smart. She is also a top grade herbalist and duelist's training.
>How have past leaders influenced the present? Do people remember these leaders?
There are past few leaders in the history of all countries. Like the famous general who became king of Mespenia(mexico) who turned the small country into the large powerhouse it is. He is Alexander Cortez, a mix of alexander the great and General Cortez.
Or the famous president who, under his rule, the USA, while still loosely ruled behaved the most like a single entity then it ever has. The big 5 governors and even the president of the texas faction, all were famous and a great team. A great zombie-outbreak type plague/horde ravaged the land and the current cure for said disease, named Gutwashington potion, after the president Linc Washington.

>How are leaders chosen? Divine favor, popular vote, technocratic cyborg leader-building?

Some places act like democracies, some are monarchies. Some city states behave like communist bubbles, or a sort of papal state. Some tribes and areas are ruled by the current strongest despot.

>>52383334
My current favorite leader is a queen of one of the city states in the northern free territories. A skilled warrior queen, similar to Guts in fighting style. She rules her people graciously, and kindley. Very patriotic and loves her people.

Although the only reason her people live so well, is because of the raiding and enslaving off most outsiders. The only outsiders allowed in her lands are ones who have a local(one who may be a business partner or someone met on travels) who will vouch for them.

She wished to ultimately exterminate any vampire or barbarian clans within her lands.

And while she is always acts like a moody bitch to outsiders, she at leasts respects those who hunt babarians/vampires or users of the dark arts.

Also hangs any entertainers, like actors or musicians

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Hunting for forests that capture my starting setting. Here's one. I like the gloomy, 2spooky atmosphere.

What kind of warriors would a Romani type people have?

>>52383958
Gladiotor/barbarian types
Obvious archers and light magicians.
Also duelist/fencer types.
I'd also throw a few bear-mode heavy plate armor men if you feel their people can afford it.

>>52383997
I might just use all of them. They're meant to be elite bodyguards for my Vampire lords (this coming from a line in Dracula where the Count's "gypsies" were meant to be his guard).

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today is my map's first anniversary

hopefully I have passed the 33% complete mark

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>>52384275
1 year ago, when it was a doodle for a one-shot

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>>52384287
bonus: 3 years ago, this is actually the same png file, it's just been edited beyond recognition multiple times

>>52384088
kek wills it.

I also recommend throwing axeman, for a fun time.

Very nice, vampire/vampire employed gypsies are both fitting and almost alluding to the occultist/economic blood-sucking of real life gypsies :^)

>>52384440
Well they are discriminated for it.

But then again that happens anyway since they're from the East. I.e. Not!Transylvania.

>>52384470
In my world I currently have a vlad the impaler type king. The are neighboring area filled with large savage vampire tribes.

He impales vampire mongrels and the neighboring global powerhouse on thin steel crosses of varying heights, that spit the legs in half length wise as it moves from ass to mouth.

Some men are tied to the crosses, with the thin sharp sides slid into their arm muscles and barely touching bone, and the crosses are heated up until the victim roasts to death.

Last campaign, our bard tried to lie to him and had an epic fail. The party was then thrown in jail while he was tied to a cross. When the party escapes and recovers their gear, they arrive to find the execution mid way.

The bard had to make roles with withstand the pain and not take mental/physical penalties.
The party managed to slay them in time to save him with moderately good health points, but his arms and wrists were injured and scarred badly.
The bard, from then on, the bard suffered penalties on attacks and occasional had muscle spasms during social situations.... like causing him to drop a holy chalice part of a ceremony, summoning a demon as consequence

>>52384638
>vampire mongrels

What constitutes a vampire mongrel?

>>52384676
Feral vampires. Humanoid, but basically caveman like intelligence. They live more like packs of starving wolves with basic weapons and superhuman ability. Each pack/tribe/warband has an alpha. Some alphas live long enough to amass enough followers, and feast on enough humans, to behave like a sort of less intelligent vampire lord. Smarter than their brothers but not smart enough to rule a country or group of settlements.

Their land is filled with mountains and jungle. Monasteries and holy fortresses are bastions of hope for the blight lands. The land is a tainted and cursed land, with any dead eventually reanimating into a feral vampire who, like all vampires, only become more human like with the more blood they drink.

Therefore, plenty of vampires roving around. There is a sort of hidden cult in the mountaintops, that is a very religious and isolationist ancient vampire clan. They are responsible for creating the curse, as it sucks the life out of the land, reducing their need to feed to humans being a rare delicacy. They also want the vampires to keep outsiders away.
They are neutral due to respecting the parties ability to traverse the land without dying, but are leaning toward feasting on them, only not attacking if they can find use for the parties talents.

>>52384676
Tl;DR a half cross between vampires and zombies

>>52384827
>>52384872
Huh, very interesting.

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>>52384890
Here is a visual aide

> tfw going through one of those spans once every few months where I feel all of my settings are ass and must be redone from the ground up
why must I be this way
I never get any shit done

>>52385115
Zendikar had awesome vamps.

>>52385164
I suffer the same. I swing between devotion and utter loathing with my setting. Too much self-doubt, since I'm looking at it more than just a self brew for casual home play.

>>52385354
amen.
Because of that set I often have city vampires that pretend to be normal humans.They are either weaker, lone wolf vampires that hide in cheap hovels. Or rich elites with their own families, bluedfueds and internal politics.

Magic the gathering is an inspiration goldmine.

>>52379572
Thanks anon. Stealing this.

>>52377693
Grand Prince Manfred Adolar of the Principality of Vencel, after inheriting a state with an unstable economy and is the buffer state between two regional powers ready to go to war he is centralizing the military to the capital city. Along with increasing the amount of food taken from other regions putting in storage, basically prepping the capital and leaving the other cities to the upcoming war. As long as the central government survives the country will survive, at least that's his reasoning.

>>52377693
im thinking of doing a non organic race for rogue trader...maybe some forgotten men of iron but im not sure what their motivations/culture would be like

>>52385354
Yup. I really love how they have these insectoid influences in stuff like their armor. I really wish I could find more of it (especially since I'm trying to develop a not!Drow race who craft armor and weapons from giant insects).

>>52385164
Also same. I think it's a mix of perfectionism and self-doubt. You want your setting to be excellent because you have high standards, but you also feel like you don't match up to them. Since this happens to me when I write nearly all the time, I actually looked it up. Seems like it's actually not that uncommon.

Mind if I pitch you guys some factions for my setting in a massive free-port asteroid? The setting takes place in essentially a blockaded system where two warring superstates have for all intents and purposes blocked off this system and station trying to deny each other access so in the end denying everyone access and things have broken down.

>The Machinists Union (Rebellious Communist Robots)
>Men and Women of the Mining Guild
>Port Security Troops
>Experiments of the Science Module
>Marooned Pirates at Port
>Worshipers of Fusion
>Outskinners otherwise known as Lowgravvers
>The Agri-Workers Coop
>[Insert good name for a loose knit confederation of Crime Families, Drug Cartels, and Info Brokers]

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any inkarnate alternatives? My world is too big to map neatly :(

pic related

>>52384275
how did you map this

>>52380194
A Theocratic Merchant Republic. Very religious and highly disciplined. They see Wealth as being a Divine manifestation of God's Will. You gain the right to vote by joining the Church. You gain more/better voting power by doing well in business.

The post-scarcity Empire terrifies and disgusts them. No personal wealth means you're both a failure and a terrible sinner, or even a heretic!

>>52380194
>>52388422
Also, military: Religious Fervor.

Yes, literally. People hope for wealth, so they perfect their art so as to be the best and get the most customers. Hence, the swordsmiths and such are unbelievably talented, and all their works are near-magical.

Combine that with basically everyone channeling their faith into a low-key form of magic, and you have a very potent foe.

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>>52388422
I dunno know, but I've always found the concept of a race that views profit and business to the point of a religious duty to be interesting.
>May our ledgers become ocean, our margins see Centauri. In the name of profit, I commit thee... to the Void
I seriously need to make some guys like this who worship Mammon or something.

>>52380194
>What types or weapons counter Scutum/tower shield formations.

Flame throwers or accurate "large stone" throwers
If terrain is in the control of the defenders, steep hills and trenches/pits are horrible for that formation.

>>52384088
I'd leave out the light magicians. Vampires hate light. Or are you making that different?

>>52387424

Cool, has a DS9 atmosphere with a Titan AE feel.

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Bump.

>>52388364
cursor-drawn in paintNET, a few parts were generated but I redraw those eventually

Took about 1500 to 2500 hours so far

>>52388947
Yeah I probably should.

>>52388422
>>52388534
This is actually a wonderful Idea as the Empire is a secular nation thats post Separation of powers. The Emperor is an "elected" position and not in any way divine.

Gives a great foil

>>52391087
that's some impressive work anon

What do you think, /wbg/?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ixe_PyveF9lAc5WJ2N7wBB0iBrxqeEmqQsd27p8K0QQ/edit?usp=sharing

>>52396550
Just a cursory glance reminds me a lot of Exalted. I'll try to look over the rest later.

>>52388947
>>52391295
I meant like low-tier spells.

Not actually light. My mistake.

>>52400475
Stuff like minor fireballs?

Side note, would making things like Fairies, Yokai, and other sorts of spirits having the same origin (basically Istari from LoTR).

Could a civilization spring up in an area similar to the grand canyon?

What determines military doctrine for a feudal medieval kingdom?
Conventional logic and experience?
Resources at hand and the means to use them?
The doctrine of your neighbors?

>>52401329
Yo.

https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/cliff_dwellings_home.htm

>>52401909
Little bit of each. It's not a feudal kingdom, but take Ancient Greece.

Hoplite warfare became popular for several reasons. Perhaps the most important was that the hoplite soldiers were citizens. Each one had a job back home, and each was an important part of the economy. The city states could not afford long, attrition-based warfare. It would have devastated the economy to keep fighting for years on end, and would likely have resulted in rebellion at home (especially in Sparta).

Hoplite warfare is designed for decisive battles with relatively low casualties. In many ways, Greek warfare almost became a ritual. Even though cavalry was fucking awesome, the Greeks tended not to use it much because they glorified the hoplite so much. It was a unit that represented the polis perfectly: citizen soldiers working together in one coherent unit fighting another city's citizenry doing the same thing. Which ever city managed to push the other's army from the field won, having proved its citizens superior.
Yes, a lot of good cavalry would have changed everything (and was part of why Philip did so well later), but to the Greeks there was something queer about a man wealthy enough to afford a hoplite panoply and gear, but who chose instead to go to war sitting down (ie, riding a horse).

So, yeah, resources and economic concerns play a big part, but sheer pig-headedness and tradition also play huge role. There's a reason why new technology and tactics, or a foreign enemy using their own tactics, can be so devastating when first introduced (Rome v Macedon or Carthage, Napoleon, guns in Japan, Philip/Alexander, a numerically inferior Theban army defeating the Spartans in a straight up battle, ect).
That being said, there are probably hundreds of instances of failed new tactics.

>>52380194
Large Island Empire surrounded by aggressive seafaring nation. Could be Selkies or Spaniards.

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>>52377693
>/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

Sure, I've got something to share.

I just finished drawing this map up last night of, "Dragon (and nothing but Dragons) Island" or more officially known as 'Varanus Island'.

The whole land is about the size of Madagascar and are a series of volcanic islands... Their main gimmick however is:

Every animal indigenous to these islands larger than a tea kettle is a Dragon.
Somehow Dragons managed to shoehorns themselves into almost every ecological niche within and around the island and that's how it's stayed.

I plan on using the place as my settings Australia.

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first real attempt...wish i had some more skills

>>52405308
Inspired by South America?

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>>52405308
I asked in the draw thread if someone could sketch me someone neat in a draw thread hoping for some one to take it upon themselves. or maybe someone here could draw it up.

>>52405341
Not really. Had like two ideas. the plains being the largest part and the pennisula called little rock, after that I just used cut out random shapes and slowly filled it in with features I thought could work. Granted around the Three Kings should all be a swamp area...interested or pic related?

I've always found opposed magic systems to be interesting. Stuff like the saidin/saidar from Wheel of Time and even the positive and negative magics from Sword of Truth (quite possibly the only thing I like about the book).

Does anyone here have a magic system like that? I'm toying with a white/black, or good/evil split and I'm looking for ideas.

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1/2

>Describe a leader in your setting, whether a king or just a particular interesting parent. What makes them uniquely capable to lead others in your setting (or uniquely awful at it)?
Since I wanted to have a historical character in my campaign that could be universally considered an idiot, I thought this up. Here it goes:

King Gelfri von Ostenfeld, now known to his people as The Great Disgrace, was the final king of Allenfel, one of the three Western Kingdoms. After already building a reputation as a shameless narcissist, his temper came to be his ruin during a grand tourney consisting of the world's leaders and their champions. Upon insisting on personally competing in a joust, he was beaten by the champion of the Sirasean King, whereupon he accused his opponent of foul play and insisted the Sirasean champion be punished for his transgression. After the Sirasean king's refusal of any such punishment, King Gelfri left for home, promising a reprisal. Upon arriving back in his kingdom, he asked for his nobles to muster an army to launch an invasion over the mountains into the eastern lands against Sirasea, which was met by a near universal refusal. Undeterred, he spent the upcoming winter gathering a small force from his own lands, setting off upon the first day of warm weather. Upon his journey into the mountains, the warm weather gave way to a cold snap, forcing the army to march through the cold as goblin tribes raid his supply wagons. Upon reaching the other side, his supplies had dwindled greatly and would not last the march across the Badlands, a large area of minor independent city-states. At first he sent messengers out, requesting to trade for supplies, to a few nearby lords, which had been turned down.

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>>52408525
2/2

Continuing my story:

Upon hearing the refusal, Gelfri set about pillaging one of the nearby city-states and laying siege to their castle. During one night of the siege, the local lord Rewalt, knowing his impending defeat, burned the grain stocks in the castle and managed to escape, leaving his troops to die and going to a more powerful nearby lord to request help. Upon hearing the news, the other lord accepted this plea and sent out scouts to survey and harass Gelfri's forces as he mustered up his own army. Gelfri managed to capture the castle after Rewalt's men surrendered and found the food supplies he required had been destroyed. With this news his army began slowly deserting, and upon further news of enemy cavalry harassing his men he finally gave up and began the long march home. When he returned with only one third of his original army, he came to the greater Allenfel nobles gathered in his palace, his throne replaced with a chopping block and his personal guards massacred. Gelfri and anyone related to him were lined up and executed, the nobility forming an oligarchy in place of the royal line. In addition, this event sparked a large number of Badland city-states to form a makeshift alliance to combat any further invasion, creating the Aviran Confederation.

This is what I have so far. Thoughts?

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>>52383804
http://imgur.com/a/Vdj8b
what I have that fits the description.

>>52404991
so what do they eat? Obvs there's some very small animals but I imagine they have to eat a lot of each other.

>>52377693
How do i make my ancient ayylmaos architecture more original than " somewhat Monolithic with glowy bits" like the cliche.
I initially thought of bone style like giger or beksinki, but thats not the sort of feel i want for them, any ideas? perhaps neolithic looking almost

>>52408942
>>52404991

Interesting idea. Similar to how marsupials dominated australias ecology awhile back. Thylacines taking the role of wolves, megafauna like those huge-ass wombats being grazers et cetera.

I imagine over time you could easily evolve herbivore dragons. Atrophied wings and blunted teeth making a grazing animal, with some digestive changes to allow it to process plantlife. Maybe shoehorn some dragonfire in there, so some species can only eat burnt or charred vegetation.

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>>52409890
Incredibly brutalistic? Curving, curly spires? Spiderwebbish and pillars?

>>52377693
Kaomu of Steelskin Clan, actual alive demigod, a god-devourerer.
Founder of Shuka-Ôshu, way of berserking, meditation and medicine.
Still rules over clan, although through his High Priest.
Every 5 years, the greatest practisioner of Shuka-ôshu journeys to hidden, sacred valley to square him off, and become new patriarch if they win.
No one has ever won, though.

Pic unrelated, just bit of laying proper guidelines on draconians

>>52409890
>>52411563

Simple carved granite hiding ayylmao tech. Shapeshifting perhaps. Or perhaps simple quartz?

or

Spherical, featureless steel-looking structures. Everything is very thin but extremely resilient to physical damage.

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>>52411563
>>52411680
What would invite more intrigue is the question? monolithic structures, sleek and plain arcs and spires or stone with carvings and markings.

Anyone familiar with african mythology here? I need a few good sources on what to read for an stone age setting I´m planning to make. Since it all started basically in africa and I want to be somewhat authentic.

All I have settled on so far are the technological achievements and a few gods/forces of nature. They have everything before writing, the wheel and agriculture.

Though the idea of an butterlfy woman and her stillborn maggot child as "gods" of life and death as the heads of an ancestor worship religion.

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Post a holy location/sacred site in your world, /tg/

Anor Sul and Anor Lun, the towers of sun and moon, were built by the elenthi, lesser divine spirits, after their departure from earth. Anor Sul stands east of the Strait of Imohas, in the elven lands of Anduenil, while Anor Lun is west of the strait in a small kingdom of men in the land of Hesimnir.

Anor Sul shines like bright gold, while Anor Lun is made of white polished rock and has a faint luminescence at night. Neither towers' rock can be scratched by any work of mortals. Their brightness waxes and wanes with the day-night cycle and cycle of the moon.

Inside Anor Sul is a great wall carving depicting the story of the earth's creation. Anor Lun's walls are more cryptic, and many believe they show things which have bot yet come to pass.

Thousands of pilgrims visit the towers every year, but for the Dreothi (dark elves) the sacred place is the waters of Imohas itself, which they see as holy to the goddess of dusk, who they worship above all else.

>>52413664

Sounds neat, anon.

>>52413012

Too bombastic structures are ususally a turn-off for me. Sleek and simple are the trademarks of an advanced culture.

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>>52413664
My players have fucked up so bad that they turned their little valley and shitty town into a Micro Heaven.

>>52413882
Is sleek and curved stuff used often for ancient aliens?

>>52413587
>stone age setting I´m planning to make. Since it all started basically in africa and I want to be somewhat authentic
Africans don't really have anything to do with the Paleolithic though, except maybe the San. Aside from those guys, any African mythology is going to be heavily imbued with agriculture, pastoralism, metallurgy, etc. If you want pre-agricultural mythology you'd be better off looking at Australia or parts of the Americas (especially the Pacific US and Canadian coasts).

>>52413664
>Post a holy location/sacred site in your world, /tg/

The city of Everday is the capital of the the new empire and the holy center of tge Pyrisian cult that has formed after the Shazriq Empire was destroyed.

Centered in the Ashen Sands, Everyday glows red on the horizon. A circular city built around the Pillar of Pyrisia, a massive pillar of crystal that glows with an internal flame and burns to the touch. It fell on the end days of the old empire, scorching the surrounding lands and leaving a wasteland of ash and sand. The Pyrisians see the pillars coming as retribution for the sins of the Shazriq. In the center of the pillar flickers flame in the shape of an eternally dancing woman. It is said by the Archons, creatures of stone and flame that act as Pyrisia's voice, that the dancing flame is Pyrisia herself.

Surrounding the pillar is the Court of Shimmering Sands, a walled stretch of baked land constantly exposed to the intense heat and fierce winds caused by the piller, melting the sands and shattering them. A beautiful sight to behold as the colors and lights dance along the court, but deadly with the ability to strip the flesh from bone with ease.

The walls around the court hold the Halls of the Archons, where the Archons and the ruling bodies of the empire are housed. Past that are the religious districts, the markets, and the risen housing of the social elites. Most dwellings in the city are built without windows facing the Pillar, or with heavy drapes and curtains to block the constant searing light emanating from the Pillar. Too much exposure can lead to the Red Sickness, a plight among the poor, as the try to find relief in the shadows of the elites' highrises.

Guys, is it bad that my orcs look super fucking evil when decked out for battle is because they know it causes fear in their enemies?

>>52417715
Does it actually cause fear mechanically or is that flowery prose?

What process do you guys usually take when crafting a world? Do you make a map first? Do you lay out cities, cultures, and so on? There's a lot of ground to cover and I'm lost.

>>52417898

Prose, I really like the idea of orcs as these imposing terrifying foes everytime foes meet them but kinda dislike how they're always painted as evil.

Really want a race that wants to be left alone but when they do go to war they make the enemies fear them not just in battle prowess alone.

>>52414145

I don't think so, but I am not sure. How ancient? The Protheans in Mass Effect had a sleek, metallic design on their structures sometimes. I was thinking more like the Forerunner-design in Halo but with even less details. No cracks in their panels, everything flows together like water.

>>52418564
>how ancient
The builders were the first sapients in the galaxy ancient.

Does anyone know a good resource for building a conlang's vocab? I have the syllable structure and the morphology down, I used Awkwords to spit out some blocks. I just need to know where to start with vocab, and an easy way to look at needed words.

>>52400595
yeah.

agile, Squishy mages that cast weaker spells. The kind of mages that are no worries on their own, but really bothersome when protected by melee forces.

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>>52384402
>>52384287
fuckin nice

i'll probably never go above and beyond for my own map. here, have a joke name map

>>52419648
If you look at Proto-Indo European and the languages that have emerged from that, you can see words that have cognates across the whole language family. These words are words that are universally important for the PIE cultures, and probably should be for your language to.

These words tend to designate family relationships (Father in English is related to Pater in Latin, and to Pita in Hindi, and to a huge number of similar sounding words throughout the PIE descendants - brother, mother, sister: all have cognates across the PIE family) or things that are important to PIE cultures, from numbers to animals to agriculture.

Google PIE vocal and check Wikipedia. Long story short - those words are the ones that will probably be most important in your own language.

>>52424377
Vocab, not vocal.

>>52419648
The Swadesh List and related lists are a good starting place if you're looking for a bunch of word-meanings shared between languages.

Greetings guys, I've been around this board for sometime, mostly just for the discussion of fantasy related things and writing stuff for the storythreads.

However some friends of mine who are into tabletop games have seen a story of mine with worldbuilding in it. I've done like three parts focused around it so far, plus they said they'd love to use my story for their game campaign.

So would it be okay if I post what I've written so far in here? They can be found in the storythread page of the /tg/ wiki. But I'd just wana ask if its okay for me to show it here first for you guys to see.

Maybe you could give some criticism and thoughts for the worldbuilding? Again, I got friends who wana use a setting I made for their game. Sounds okay enough?

>>52403325
>That being said, there are probably hundreds of instances of failed new tactics.
If they failed, they aren't new tactics, they are commander's fuckup.

>>52425796
Post

>>52418187
I start with deciding what kind of story I want to tell and create a world as an excuse for it. Starting with elements that would directly justify them, then justify those elements and this way until I don't care anymore.

>>52419648
Create roots, and derive words and concepts from them. Using the Swadesh list can help in this regard, but unless you want your conlang to not just be an advanced code for English it's often better to not try to translate words directly but rather use the list as a handy way to check which ideas you haven't covered yet.

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>>52426423
Okay, here they are. Go ahead and take the time to read to provide any suggestions for worldbuilding and criticism when necessary.

>1/3

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>>52428182

>2/3

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>>52428207

>3/3

>>52428182
>>52428207
>>52428306
Well there, posted three settings involving a setting I thought up of during free time. To which my friends wana use for their tabletop campaign.

So what worldbuilding suggestions and criticisms can you give /wbg/?

What are some good resources for Indian and Polynesian cultures, as well as Meiji-era Japan.

I'm working on a setting about more developed Polynesian-inspired country with a similar level of development and foreign policy situation as Meiji Japan in conflict with an India-inspired continental empire.

>>52424377
>>52425320
>>52426742
Thanks evryone. I'm using the Swadesh list combined with the universal language dictionary. Got a spreadsheet of words and slowly building from the core outwards.

Would it make sense for a previously nomadic culture to still use tents as residences in addition to actual houses?

>>52432373
If they are short on construction materials. But if they are settled now, they would probably build proper houses relatively quick.

>>52432390
Yeah, that's what I thought. Would it be too hand-wavey if some of them lived in tents for some religious reasons, kind of like the Sannyasi of India?

>>52432918

It is never hand-waving if you give a good enough reason for it.

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>>52377693
What are some interesting side effects of magical drugs? Not the lolsorandumb kind, but drugs used to awaken magical/psionic abilities in someone? Magic is super powerful in my setting so I wanted there to be drawbacks.

I wanted to use the pact sacrifice from Drakengard 1 but the setting doesn't support pact magic bullshit

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Let's talk aesthetics.

What general styles do you like the most?
>authentic HEMA (many diverse eras obviously)
>authentic non-european
>classic / retro fantasy
>WoW style over-the-top fantasy with bright colors, spikes, and glow everywhere
>dark fantasy
>etc

I can't handle colorful armor, extravagant swords, big pauldrons or light-based magic anymore. I like things to have very simple and realistic shapes, but extra sleek/thin/formfitting. Outside of shape the design is really dark and gritty with punk aspects. The colors are washed out, aside from black, purple, and red, which are accentuated and made extra vibrant. Primary colors are almost always dark and earthy while secondary colors (like the buttons or trim of a coat, someone's eyes, items being carried) stand out firmly. People and their outfits are battle-worn and a bit patchwork.

There are advanced healing arts in my setting that revolve around organisms that form a symbiotic relationship in human blood or organs, so veterans can survive some heavy wounds, but they are not aesthetically healed and remain covered in scars, burns, and discolorations. PC-level veterans would barely look human anymore, their wounds would leave them missing eyes, heavily scarred, stained, and disfigured, with the common folk avoiding any eye contact or communication.

>>52408942
You're a godsend. Thanks, anon.

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Does anyone have any ideas for combat light magic that isn't somehow related to fire? I'm really struggling with this one and need some input.

>>52439158
Well, what's the setting? How is magic commonly used in this setting?

>>52436799
If you try too many at once in an effort to become super powerful, it fucks up and transforms the person entirely. Maybe it turns them into slime, I dunno.

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>>52438371
So, you have symbiotes in your setting? That actually sounds pretty awesome.

>>52436799
>psionic
Occasionally, you accidentally "broadcast" your current thoughts to the people around you. Might give an opponent an opportunity to counter what you're about to do, tip off someone you're lying to, etc.

>>52441783
The setting involves quadrepedal animals wielding magic. There are six kinds of magic; shadow, light, earth, water, fire, and air. The four classic elements are pretty easy to put into use, but light and shadow is more tough. None are demonic or holy, they're just personifications of the power. My question is, what's a good personification for light magic and shadow magic?

>>52442446
>The setting involves quadrepedal animals wielding magic.
Seems like an odd design choice.

>My question is, what's a good personification for light magic and shadow magic?
Do you mean how best to represent them visually? Pure light and darkness, obviously. I imagine a light mage's main weapon would be to fire beams of damaging light, basically magic versions of lasers. Darkness is a bit harder depending on how exactly you want to portray it. It could be solid shadows, just a black-colored version of light magic, an etheral effect more about corruption and/or lifedrain, etc.

I'm running your typical fantasy game, with a decent amount of bronze age mythology mixed in and as low magic grittiness as I can muster with a group of first time gamers.

I didn't have an incredibly clear idea of the world when I started this campaign, and as I'm getting more ideas, it's begun to bite me in the ass. There are things I want to incorporate, ways that the world ought to be viewed by the players, that I simply haven't indicated early on.

Does anyone have experience with sort of worldbuilding on the fly in this manner? Where details of your setting, even huge ones, like the civilisations' relationships with their religions, or the relationships between different races, are slowly added as time goes by in the campaign? How did you do it tactfully and successfully?

I want a cool and unique setting and I feel I've painted myself into a corner by not having as clear of an image in my head when I set out. Am I forced to keep my world so vanilla and to just try better next time?

>>52439158
Not related to fire at all? Light is heat and pretty much all harm it can cause beside blinding people is burning. Maybe pumping people full of energy could pass as light magic too, to make them stronger, boost their endurance or help them heal wounds. But that's not really combat magic.

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>>52438371
I personally try to go with authentic-looking/feeling stuff, but I don't try to constrain myself to regions or era.
It's preferences, I guess.

>>52432918
No, if you explain it with good reason, it's not really hand-waving.

>>52439158
Light is a funky thing. Consider bending light, ex. optical camouflaging, or mirages.
X-rays and gamma-rays are electromagnetic radiation, too. And let's not forget lasers.

>>52442782
It's difficult and you can fall into sort of pitfalls, so having some backup material and rough sketches is advised.

>>52438371

I prefer practical aesthetics which would work in their environment. Ceremonial or religious attire and such things that can have their extravagant apperance explained are cool too.

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>>52438371
I prefer things on the more colourful or strange side, like the love child of classic fantasy with over-the-top fantasy. Specific aesthetics are tied to specific races/places to convey a strong identity.

High Elves for example are chaotic glam as fuck. Their women dress as Cher, their men as Bowie or Prince. Their realm permeates magic like something by Moebius.

How would you compile a One World cosmology? Meaning that your world has locations that are like other planes but can be traveled to by difficult but mundane means?

>>52446702
I've never really understood the planes thing. I mean, is every plane its own separate universe, where the one planet you're on the only one with life on it? Or is it just a magical version of space travel and they're just going to other planets?

>>52446751
Each plane sort of encapsulates a single idea or concept and makes that a whole world to explore. Like Fire, it makes Fire into a Fire world, with Fire lands, with Fire people in Fire cities.

This could be other elements, or things like Law, Chaos, Pain, Hunger, Dreams, Shadows.

Planes tend to be the realmsof outsiders, gods, and demons.

>>52446784
That seems like it would get old really quickly if every plane is "it's like every single other plane, except this time it has fiery/frozen/dark/etc.". Are there any planes that are at least superficially similar to our world?

>>52446813
It's absolutely possible. Look into the outer planes of D&D for more examples like that.

Arborea is like this place of passions and the grandiose. It's mountains are vaulting, it's forests wide and deep. It's the realm of Greek and Elven gods and all the emotion and passion that entails.

Mechanus is a plane of absolute Law, composed of immense interlocking gears. Whole cities are built on one face of these gears. The most common race on the plane are living mechanical beings called Modrons who live an incredibly rigid existence.

>>52446905
Wait, if D&D has already done all this, why are you asking about cosmology?

>>52446813
>That seems like it would get old really quickly
It does, and is the prime reason great whell cosmology should be taken out back and shot

>>52446993
Those are different worlds, I want one world that has elements of the others, and I wanted ideas of how you would do such a thing, the stranger the better.

>>52447065
>I want one world that has elements of the others
What "others"? And why one world when you made it sound like the whole point was making multiple different worlds?

>>52447093
I want a more mythological sort of travel between realms. You don't go to Hades through some portal, you follow the caves deep beneath Mount Olympus. The Realm of the Elves is on an island across the sea, reachable by boat.

>>52447165
Maybe it's just me, but I have no clue what you're trying to do here. So, you have these planes, dimensions that represent ideas, OK. But then you want them to not be dimensions separate from each other, you just want them to be different areas in this world you're making? And I honestly don't even see much difference between what you're doing here and what you can find in nearly every magical fantasy setting with different realms.

>>52447165
That's how you get to the feywild, despite it being on a different plane. You don't always have to hop through a portal to get to another plane, that's just how it's turned out due to a lack of imagination in the playerbase

>>52413664
Grove of the wild goddess

Located deep beneath the earth lies a jungle both savage and primordial, a shadow of the world in its earliest days, when the sun was still new and the great arch trees of the age before still dotted the land.

At the center of it all lies the corpse of an ancient goddess who's name has been lost to time, slain in pelor's earliest campaigns so that man might break the wild beasts in domestication and make a name for themselves.

Though dead she is one of the eldest among the gods, a sister to vengeance and a mother to all wild places, and as such her power still remains, and her worship continues still in the forested corners of the world. She is the struggle of survival made manifest, and as such shall always exist in some way.

Witches and monstrous folk are her worshippers, as are all who reject the city for the wild freedom of nature, for the thrill of the hunt and the pride that comes with survival. The way to her grove is a guarded secret, written in pictures on cave walls and sung around campfires by ogre tribes during the peak of summer and winter. Should one ever find their way to her grove they would be pitted against the mightiest of beasts and most savage of plants in a test of their strength. And should they reach the center, beholding the goddesses form, with chest still bearing the spear of sunlight that struck her down in ages past, then they are indeed worthy of her blessing. One need only kneel in honor of her form to gain her respect, and be filled with the strength of ages lost to time.

>>52377693
>Describe a leader in your setting, whether a king or just a particular interesting parent. What makes them uniquely capable to lead others in your setting (or uniquely awful at it)?
Prince-Successor Alexios. He had come to power in uncertain time in a racially divided country. His ancestors once swore to become tributaries for nomadic invaders, many of whom had settled in the land peacefully and became landed elite in the countryside. However, the balance of power had decisively tipped in favour of burghers and formerly nomadic people's influence and prestige had eroded, culture vanished and population diminished. New generation is radicalised and wants to join their still nomadic cousins and pillage everything. Alexios is a master manipulator however, who pits various clans against each other while preparing for the civil war and getting prepared for ethnic cleansings and filling his country with more agreeable immigrants from more culturally close countries.
>How are leaders chosen? Divine favor, popular vote, technocratic cyborg leader-building?
121 wealthiest land and ship owners of the city gather together and elect a prince successor. They can also choose to remove them from office, but this usually never happen and princes rule for life.

I really want to create a district where poor people are squatting in abandoned mansions of rich people, but I can't come up with a good enough reason to remove rich people.

>>52448253
Cultural upheaval/revolution, Disease carried in foods only the rich can afford wipes them out, Nobles back a losing coup and are banished to the streets while the poor are allowed to move in.

>>52448253
Massive wave of arrests after finding out that the nobility have been practicing heretical and cultish behavior. Most mansions left abandoned because anyone who could have inherited were also arrested, and what few that weren't a part of the behavior move to other districts because this one has become an absolute dead zone.

>>52448768
This is interesting, although other rich people would probably move in.

I wouldn't want to have full societal collapse or revolution either, this one would be easy.

Although I might use something like this with religious revolution. Although my new upstart religion isn't this big on poverty, but maybe I can add some heresy to it.

>>52448993
I would have said that the extent of the arrests and cults were beyond what the officials of the city were expecting, and as such things took so long to weed out that squatters moved in en mass before they could put the mansions up for sale.

The situation may have also improved other districts, as all the available squatter space siphoned off the beggars from other districts, improving their quality.

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>>52377693
>Describe a leader in your setting, whether a king or just a particular interesting parent. What makes them uniquely capable to lead others in your setting (or uniquely awful at it)?
Haraldus III Bilda Aisillus, informally known as the Heretic, was the brilliant military commander of one of the border armies of the Empire of the Tetrarchy. Due to his military accomplishments he was adopted by the aging and childless emperor that reigned. Born and stationed in the eastern parts of the empire Haraldus was ever since childhood highly religious and, after accepting his military post, become more and more influenced by the heretical Gullvegian Cult. Shortly after ascending the throne of the empire he picked the third reincarnation of Gullveig as one of his councilors which lead to a relationship that soon blossomed into love

What would a patron deity of elves have as their purview, in a setting where elves have largely germanic and danish influences.

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>>52450450
Having won a huge and drawn out war in the east, where he personally lead the army, and crushed one of the longer lasting main threats to the empire, he came back to the Capital of Nyhem a changed man, utterly devoted to the new faith of his. The Empire of the Tetrarchy, being a highly religious place devoted to the worship of the Four Gods had some serious problem with this, especially amongst the nobility and clergy, which basically lead to a change in the view of the emperor, from that of a great military leader and example of a man to that of vile and hedonistic heretic utterly controlled by the whim of a woman. The straw that broke the camel's back came when Haraldus declared that his and Gullveig's bastard son would be his successor. A swift coup followed which saw the nobility and clergy, with the help of the city watch and the nearest standing army depose the emperor, which they after a violent storming of the imperial palace forced to abdicate and be sent into exile. Gullveig and the bastard son was burned on the pyre as befitting heretics while Haraldus was castrated to stop him to sire any heirs which could challenge the new dynasty. Haraldus himself took his own life after arrived at the isle which would be his place of exile.

>>52450450
>>52450466

>How have past leaders influenced the present? Do people remember these leaders?

Well for one thing on the roof of the room in which the emperor of the Empire of the Tetrarchy holds court is a painting of each every emperor which predecesses the ruling one. These paintings are highly symbolic and depicts the emperors in clothing and colours which symbolizes the virtues and vices of each and every one of them.

>How are leaders chosen? Divine favor, popular vote, technocratic cyborg leader-building?
An emperor is chosen by vote in the senate. When an emperor ascends to the throne his dynasty will then rule the empire untill it dies out on the male side. This ofcourse leads to all violent overtaking of the imperial seat being followed by grisly purges of the royal family.

>>52450450
>>52450466
>>52450592

Holy shit, perhaps I should learn how to write properly.

>>52450456
How standard are your elves? Are they Tolkien-esque knife-ears, or by germanic influences you mean they are all nasty magic midgets?

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Question /wbg/
I want to include some coastal desert men in my setting, who are light hearted and great thieves lile the elder scrolls khajiit. Since they're my only "exotic" race of men I was going to make them brown to black skinned.

...would this offend people? Would they think I just made the black people thieves?

>>52450965
more Hanseatic league/Kalmar Union, most races in my setting age the same as humans and in-universe racial traits are considered gifts from their patron deity (The same deity is also patron of merfolk and centaurs). Infamously had a brutal conflict called the Kindred Wars in which the most structured and industrious group, silver elves, stomped all the others until a disaster/divine intervention ruined them and forced the remainder underground (drow/WWII germany expies).

>>52436799
lose feeling to the hands, fingernails and hair fall off, distorted vision, etc

>>52451885
Just explain it to them. Some people will be offended, some won´t. Though I´m betting on the latter, sorry. Just try to find an in universe explanation, that doesn´t seems to outlandish.

>>52451975
*betting on the former, sorry.

>>52451885
Highly depends. Who is "people"?

>>52451885
It would be fine to include so long as you show that not all black people are thieves (and even better if you show that not even all of these people are thieves, even just handful of them), and that there are plenty of non-black people who are thieves as well. I think the only time people would look at you funny for this is if you made it so that every time a black person appeared in your world, it was only as thieves, and no non-black people were thieves.

How do I make elves mysterious again?
When my party runs into an elf, I want them to think "Whoa, an elf. Holy shit"

>>52452613
You can't. You can try, but it'll be incredibly obvious to the audience/players what you're trying to do. to the point that they will ask why you bothered in the first place.

>>52452613
Just pitching out some random inspiration I got
>elves were decimated by a plague or something
>human society is built on the ruins of elven society, technology reverse-engineered, elven culture and theology appropriated and modified by humans
>the races are terrified of eachother and never mix or mingle, humans don't just say "look an elf!", they would be frightened and confused and rely on stereotypes and superstition
>elves aren't interested in meeting humans
>maybe tell your players false information about elves to make them seem much more powerful than they really are
>elves rarely exit the few structures they still inhabit

>>52452613
Rarity and presence.

When there's an elf in the room, you fucking know there is an elf in the room.

How they look, how they speak, how they carry themselves. Describe things related to them as elfin. As a DM, by making these things distinct you can convey a strong idea of an elf.

Then make them rare. If there is an elf PC, he's likely the one or two other elves others have seen, and some NPCs may have never seen an elf, but most people have heard of one.

I just realized after hours of working out my setting that there's nowhere to adventure in it. The world is basically in its Thirty Years War, with the main Empire, a loose confederation of states ruled by a single elected emperor is tearing itself apart because of religious violence.

It's all planned out but there's nowhere to have an adventure. The entire world I've planned is either a civilized, 16th century almost-nation-state, or a religious theocracy. Is there a way to write in a way to have an actual adventure without using the lazy railroading of making it a war campaign, or am I gonna have to throw out my work?

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>Trying to come up with fantasy races to use in setting
So far
>Humans (3 sub-types)
>Elves (3 sub-types)
>Dwarves
>Orcs
>Draconian (2 sub-types)
>Canine (3 sub-types)
>Feline (2 sub-types)
>Avian
>Illithid
Seems like there should be more

>>52453215
That seems like plenty to me, m'dude.

Remember, more is more is not always the case. The Elder Scrolls only ahs like, what, six races? And everyone of those species is memorable, with their own history and makes people argue about them for decades.

Could a planet thats half ocean and half desert work? Obviously ice forms at the poles. How far/ close do i need to put it to its star?

Also would an artificial water gas giant be cool?

>>52453270
Elder Scrolls has 10 playable races.

Men:
Imperials
Nords
Bretons
Redguard

Elves/Mer:
Altmer
Dunmer
Bosmer
Orsimer

Beastfolk:
Khajit
Argonian

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Okay.

Im guy who posted pic relate last thread asking for opinions, and overall I just dont like it for some reason.

So I was thinking of something happening to earth that makes it pretty much uninhabitable. We all get aboard giant space station ships and go out into the void.

No one really wants us around because 1) they dont know anything about us 2) we literally JUST got done fucking our planet up

SO we're basically space gypsies living in massive fleets, and we make our living by gas mining and asteroid mining.

Problem is, I just thought this up like five minutes ago. How do I get humans into spess ten years from now? Also, what do you think of an alternate world where this stuff happens in say... 2002? I feel the early 2000s were less... cynical. Also, I hate the idea of libtards and Kekistanis in space reee'ing at aliens and spouting memes and shit.

>>52453534
>How do I get humans into spess ten years from now?
You don't.

Space travel will be 99% drones, sending humans into space is wasteful and slows down progress.

There will also be a transhumanist revolution decades before we reach the space age.

As far as your image goes, it's less terrible than the usual "future politics", but it still relies on the sleep-inducing "all of these groups of countries with tense relations somehow unite for some reason so that the story can be more simple" trope that needs to end.

>>52453592
>>52453592
>You don't.

But what if the only way to escape a dying earth is to ship people off of it?

>As far as your image goes, it's less terrible than the usual "future politics",

Thanks.

>...but it still relies on the sleep-inducing "all of these groups of countries with tense relations somehow unite for some reason so that the story can be more simple" trope that needs to end.

It wasnt so much as "they all join together" thing, so much as "we completely annihilate each other in war that the governments literally disintegrate" thing, leaving room for the few survivors to form a new nation, that just so happens to span the globe.

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>>52453592
>>52453534
On second thought, it isn't less terrible than the usual
>the entire balkan peninsula unites
>turkey unites with armenia
>iran unites with pakistan
>tajikistan and turkmenistan getting along with kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, and uzbekistan
>russia doesn't exist?

>>52453737
That's one of the reasons I dropped the idea.

I no good at keeping track of international relations between two hundred countries over the course of like five hundred years.

>>52453737
>Missing Hungary into Baltic

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>>52453384
>Implying mer are people.

I need to stop adding factions. Already added another 2 just fleshing out parts the players will not see.

>>52455922
That brings up a good question. How many factions should someone add before it becomes too many for your players to care about or too many to keep track of?

I like 4 or 5 personally

>>52453534
>How do I get humans into spess ten years from now?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

Provided we're talking about a situation where treaties and hippies were completely ignored and nations were spending substantially all of their budget on space tech, you could build these things in a few years.

>>52456008
I had 5 originally, added a 6th, and then added another 2 for explanations for in-game things.

Keep in mind, this is for a wargame, so if those extra 2 become bigger players, it takes more work than just fleshing out the backstory.

>>52455922
>Start setting with 3 factions
>split into an even 4
>4 becomes 8
>8 becomes 11
>11 factions, including 2 "factions" comprised of 3 smaller factions
>17 total factions
Help me

>>52457096
What's your setting like, and what precisely do you mean when you say "factions"?

>>52457096
I have like 45 lol

There are something like 25ish true kingdoms of men, 6 unsettled tribes, 10 groups of elves split between three races, and 3 tribes of a nomadic elf species.

I have good detail on the races/cultures but I havent written it for individual kingdoms yet

>>52457814
Factions as in sovereign states, or clans of sufficient relevancy.

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>>52457096
Continue the division.

I have almost twenty, including the factions that were destroyed in history, and not including the factions that aren't factions but general regions of similar factions.

>>52458036
I don't really understand what the problem is. You know what Europe looks like, right?

>>52458140
Is that Tomo-chan? Man, I always get a few dozen chapters in, stop, then forget my place and start all over again.

>>52458288
Tomo-what?

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>>52458314
Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! (Tomo-chan is a Girl!) It's a comedy/romance manga about a girl trying to confess to a guy. Problem being she's a super tomboy and they've been best friends forever, so he can't see her as a girl/love interest. Basically "My Childhood Friend Can't Be This Cute!"

Anyway, I'm pretty certain that pic is from Tomo-chan because all the characters look like characters from Tomo-chan.

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>>52458373
Holy shit a girl got friendzoned. I am laffin.

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>>52456047
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
>400 meters
>8,000,000 tons

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>>52453534
>>52453592
>>52453672
>>52453737
>>52453780
>>52453846
>>52456047

finished watching a movie and some gunbuster episodes, back and just vomited this on my google docs.

In the year 2010, Humanity fucked up. Like bad. Like “The Wyoming US Airforce Base accidently the missiles and shit got out of hand” bad. After about two days, people realized it was a fuck up and stopped nuking each other. Only, humanity was mostly dead(but not all dead, there’s a difference) and nuclear winter had already rolled in.

Bit of a rough start to our interstellar civilization.

After a few years of dealing with the political fallout, we started to deal with the radioactive fallout. We decided, that with our current technology, it was beyond our means to fix our own problem. So we instead united as a species behind one goal: Getting off this fucking rock as fast as we can.

So, gathering up whoever we could, we left our planet behind on four massive starships, known as the Arks. They were massive, bloated cylinders that contained everything mankind needed to survive.

And so, in the year 2018 the four Arks and an armada of other small, yet still sizable ships left earth with ten million humans aboard, not knowing what the future held for themselves, their families, or their species.

So we wandered the stars for years. Soon, people grew accustomed to the new world of metal, circuitry and recycled oxygen.

Then, we were discovered.
Sound interesting y / n?

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Most fantasy settings tend to have a precursor civilization to leave behind dungeons and magic items for players. What's yours?

>The Ancestors
>said to have flying cities
>supposedly immortal
>could travel between worlds
>all that's left are some crystals and a few scraps of near-indestructible metal
>spoiler: None of it's true. Humanity is only a few millenia old at best. A Trickster God told them all this because he thought it'd be funny

>>52459683
>spoiler: None of it's true. Humanity is only a few millenia old at best. A Trickster God told them all this because he thought it'd be funny
So, you decided to take something that could be really cool and interesting, and just replaced it with "TROLOLOL!" Really? Do you hate your players or something?

>>52459948
Nah, but the setting's more of a "new beginnings" and "discover new worlds" sort of thing. Less dungeoncrawling, more "You had the Power Inside you all along" and exploration.

>>52459974
>Do you hate your players or something?
>Nah
>"You had the Power Inside you all along"
I can't imagine how you'll be able to pull off the latter without answering yes to the former.

>>52458708
isn't a nuclear winter or post-nuke earth still a hundred times easier to live on than living in space?

>>52460028
Well, it's a project in development. I just liked the idea of reversing the usual Lost Empire trope. Not that it excuses shit writing, only that the thought tickled me.

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>>52460037
ummm...

uhh...

no...

fuck shut up you'll ruin it. maybe the pacific ring of fire went off too. I dont know. All I know is that we have to gtfo and meet space elves.

>>52460049
I mean, you could do it, but you'd have to have a better reason than "a god did it." Like, if it were an ES thing were it turned out the the Ancestors were just propaganda created by the Empire for political purposes, that could be interesting. There are very likely a bunch of other things to do with it that I can't think of right now.

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>>52460089
That's probably closer to how I'd actually run it. Humanity didn't have an ancient space-faring civilization. The tales are basically misremembered stories of the first humans (the ones who hogged all the good magic shit in the universe and ascended unto godhood).

>>52460066
My setting is very similar in concept to yours, except humans left Earth because the sun was going to explode and destroy the galaxy.

Might want to consider another reason that you physically could not live on Earth. Maybe it cracked and broke apart for some reason, drifting into space as massive rocks or something.

Maybe a really really really big meteor hit the Earth and just broke it up?

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>>52460148
>meteor strike

of course. How did I not think of this. Fucking brilliant.

Imma edit my word doc now. then bed. good night you autistic fucks. sweet worldbuilding dreams to you all.

>>52460066
>>52460148
Could also do a runaway greenhouse effect. Would YOU want to live on Venus 2.0?

>>52460186
For added nonsense, replace "meteor" with "fucking Mars"

Good night anon

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>>52460189
good point.

asteroid hits, fucks up major pop center, force of impact rips ozone off of earth slowly but surely. We cram ourselves into our space sardin cans and orion dirve ourselves until we're discovered.

>>52460197
good night anonymous.

>>52460197
Why would you fuck Mars? It's super sandy.

I don't like sand. It's coarse and gets everywhere.

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>>52460259
My sand hating nigga

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>>52377693
>describe a leader
Uh, the as of yet un-named general at the forefront of the war against the (deifically favored, apparently) Elvish Empire.
He's an Andal, who are styled after the ancient Persian Empire, but are more like the Spanish as led by Al Sayyid (El Cid) (down to taking lots of elements from their supposed enemies, the elves) and being a city-state with a more flexible and less static approach to war, than, say, the Shemsherhara, who were worst hit by the Elf-Wars.

>how have past leaders...
Well, the Elven Empire shattered, was worn down by various invasions and migrations and catacylsms, but, some fifty years past, the great Elven sorcerers took the old temples with their personal retinues, sacrificed men, gold, and jewels, and brought the favor of their Gods in the form of horrible storms that devestated the lands of Men. To humans, these priests are the devil incarnate, to elves, they're the old sages, to half-elves, who were not spared the storms... they are a relic of the old empire, perhaps not fit to rule.

>how are leaders chosen
Depends. The Atskaran, once the various oasis-peoples who controlled the trade of the desert, descended into chieftain, strongman tribalism after the Storm Years. They follow the strongest, most capable, or most cunning. (Their leading shaman, though, are chosen by dancing while under heavy doses of psychedelics, in a sweat room, while cutting themselves. The grading method is a mystery to outsiders.)

>>52460460
Man, medieval Spain and Moorish Africa are so fucking underrepresented.

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Hey, so I've got an idea for an adventure guild that also acts like a temp agency for up and coming adventurers and I need some feedback on how it sounds.

Normally to be recognized as an 'official' adventurer, a person would have to pay the guild a fee and go through a series of trials and tests that would test your performance in the different quest categories: Protect Quests, Search Quests, Slay Quests, Explore Quests, and Capture Quests. If the person is deemed worthy in all five categories they are admitted into the guild and gain all the perks and notoriety that comes with being with it. However, because the trials are so stringent, the only people who have a chance at succeeding are those that have prepared and trained in advance (typically those who aren't poor or don't come from a typical craft trade).

For the people without significant training to pass the test the adventure guild also acts as a temp agency for those less experienced. The person would be interviewed one-on-one and be required to list their strengths, weaknesses, personality, preferences, dislikes, and prior occupation if any.
(1/2)

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>>52460880
After the guild tests or reference checks to certify what the individual tells them, the person is automatically assigned in a party that's been constructed by the guild according to compatibility between its members.
Unlike official guild members who are allowed to take a majority of quests with or without a party, unregistered adventurers are required to work with a group and are assigned specific quests by the guild based on their supposed skill level. These are typically the lower end quests that more seasoned adventurers don't really consider taking, and exclude goverment/corporate issued quests that typically revolve around exploring a dungeon or patch of wilderness, bounty hunting, or protecting high end targets (the real money makers).

Upon completing quest the guild also takes around 25-40% of the reward. It also gives the party an option to register the collective group into the temp system for further notifications, or allow some members to disband and turn in for another party.
Over time as the individual/party is monitored for their quest results, the guild will gradually increase the number of quests more suited to their skill level until it decides that their track record is adequate enough for a promotion into official adventurer(s), earning the perks and prestige that a typical member gets.

/gdg/ is down

if a character class were to be named "vanguard" what connotation would this have for you, personally

>>52461164
A soldier in the forward section of an army?

A stupid class name if you ask me

>>52461212
yea, i'm hard pressed man

i would've used it if it sounded right

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I'm trying to build a nice random map generator. So far at least coasts look nice.
If you want to play with it:
http://codepen.io/Batat/pen/OprjoB

>>52459683

>What's yours?

Mostly primitive civilizations leaving behind burial mounds and occasional stone structures in the temperate areas. A few ancient cities abandoned and overgrown in the warmer areas. A handful of ancient, pre-mankind structures, such as a iron-walled city full of marble skyscrapers, scattered around the world.

I am not trying to provoke questions here, this is just what I have so far. Ideas and suggestions for whatever would be great!

>>52458247
I doubt most of these factions would even be seen by a player.

>>52458140
Could be like 70 factions if those 17 larger factions are divided by House

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>>52460186
That pic's source! Give it to me!

Pretty please?

>>52463087
>Could be like 70 factions if those 17 larger factions are divided by House
What do you have so far?

>>52460186
>>52463311
No wait, Google didn't fail me this time, never mind.

>>52463331
13 sovereign states, 1 tribal confederation comprised principally of 3 tribes. 62 feudal landed Houses, 8 tribal clans

>>52463393
>62 feudal landed Houses
How detailed are they?

>>52463416
Larger Houses are more fleshed out, but every landed house has
>Head of House and successor
>Titles
>Holdings
>Members of the House
>Retainers

>>52463338
Glad you found it out dude.

>>52461733
Ooh! Neat! Thanks anon. I'll try to make something with it after work.

>>52436799
oversensitivity. can hear whispers of thoughts from surrounding people constantly, kinda like tinnitus.

addiction. the drug induces cravings and gets harder to kick after multiple uses.

conductivity. magic has an easier chance of affecting you.

dietary. for a considerable time (months or years) the user can only hold a little food or water down, and alcohol causes severe stomach pains and vomiting. could be at a very real risk of starving or dehydrating.

>>52439158
would lightning and electricity work?

what about "shapes of force", like walls or cubes made up of some sort of magical white glowing mass. could also be used as weapons or projectiles.

maybe you could think of something with refracted light, like rainbows. different colored light might open up for some fun stuff like optical camouflage or other illusions.

cant think of anything else atm :/

>>52464450
I think it could be better if it could base height of cells on their neighbours, not only their "parent".

>>52450456
>smithing or crafting
would be a good place to start i think, that and magic.
i would suggest being a little vague with the magic, because in a lot of scandinavien folklore the magic is kinda fuck you its magic i aint gotta explain shit.

>seasons maybe
with their powers waning and waxing over the years. in summer they are at their best, fall they start to get somber and maybe ornery, in winter they are at their lowest or maybe they hibernate and at spring they burst out with celebrations and fanfare.

>wild animals
again in scandinavien folklore, they are often seen talking with and having personal relations with forest creatures, good and bad.

>brewing
because it is very unlikely to find someone in germany or denmark who doesnt like beer.

hope this helps

>>52453002
come one anon you can have adventures anywhere! :)

in the civilized areas you can have them:
>go after a war profiteering crime lord.
>stop religious cult summoning a hellish monster (no magic? no problem!) same as before but now theyre trying to infiltrate government officials to bring war and chaos here.
>side with one of two rival gangs to fight out who holds sway over the five points.

in the warzones they can:
>act as a sapper crew, bleeding the enemies supply line dry.
>assassinate high value targets.
>infiltrate the enemy as soldiers of fortune to spy on them.
>theyre found out and now act as doublespies!

you see? anywhere can be an adventure with the right attitude :D so chin anon! dont let at that sweet worldbuilding go to waste!

>>52451885
You could just make other dark-skinned cultures running around the desert

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>>52460761
They're fascinating.
>picture somewhat related

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>>52453215
What's a subtype? Cause three seems sparse for a whole world

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>>52466592

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>>52466610

>>52459683
as of yet unnamed dragonfolk civilization with advanced math, astronomy and magic. was influenced by maya, aztec and inka civlizations, culture and architecture.

got dicked over hard by beholders and mindflayers from deep below and basically completely eradicated and enslaved, leaving their cities in ruins and swallowed by the sorrounding jungle.

a few thousand of them did escape with some teleportation shenanigans but were sick and dying because of the underground assholes, so to survive they basically ate the souls of some unicorns they found, okay pretty much all the unicorns ther found.

this cause them to transform into dracotaurs with one horn.

they are rebuilding their civilization in their new home but progress is slow because so much has been lost.

>>52466236
>Seasons
That might a good idea, since I have four different subgroups.

>animals
Also interesting, particularly because heraldry is big in the setting.

>brewing
Elves replacing dwarves as the big drinking stereotype might be really cool and fun.

>>52461164
definitely close combat centered.
always first to attack.
bonus to attacks if charging.
passive combat bonus to sorrounding NPC mooks.

not much else i can think of

>>52466761
dont know if it matters but in typical nordic folklore elves and dwarves are basically the same thing.

the distinction was first made by tolkien iirc.

>>52466874
I know, but the system I'm using is DnD which has pretty noticeable mechanical differences between the two so I'm keeping them as culturally distinct groups.

>>52467136
I'm in the same predicament. How different can you make elves from the usual while also using the same "language" that is D&D.

>>52413664
>Post a holy location/sacred site in your world, /tg/

For humans who live in Allsaints Harbor there's Saint Corinth's Solitude, said to be the first lighthouse ever built. As Corinth is the patron saint of newlyweds, loyalty, and patience it's a very popular pilgrimage site for young women whose lovers are off at sea.

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>>52377693
Rate my rivers /wbg/ . Do they check out to you?

This may be more of a general history question than anything, but what makes sights holy for druidic/pagan religions? For example, what makes a certain grove, spring, tree, rock, ect. spiritually significant compared to other sites? Is it that a god visited said site? Is it just something born out of custom, or designating a place of worship for the local people?

>>52468846
Make them meander more. Rivers meander like crazy. Also probably not all should have a delta, especially the smaller ones. Add some tributaries starting on flatlands.

>>52469680
>For example, what makes a certain grove, spring, tree, rock, ect. spiritually significant compared to other sites?

Sometimes a site is holy because of its resemblance to a place from a myth, or maybe it was actually part of a myth. Maybe a spirit is said to live there. Maybe it's just unusual and that itself is seen as a sign of the divine. It depends on what the religion places importance on.

>>52469774
Ahh perhaps I should have included more information. The dark green area in the middle is mountainous, hemiboreal forest gradually declining in elevation towards the coast. The lighter green stretch along the coast is very flat wetland, the southern half being marshland and the northern half being swampland. I was under the impression that rivers tend to meander less in mountainous areas with large elevation changes? And that they tend to delta more in flatter land with low tidal range? Which would be least appropriate to form deltas in your opinion? I don't know how/if size correlates to likelihood of delta formation. You're right that I should add more tributaries in flatter land though, I knew they looked too bare in the middle.

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>>52413664
Rykhan's Maw is a massive unnatural canyon created when the god of Angor first came into the world and destroyed the land's invaders. Today the land is imbued with magic that twists the landscape and wildlife into things that are still alive, but better off dead. Its lands are barely inhabited except by the king's most trusted lords who tame the wretched creatures for use in battle, and pilgrims who end up maintaining the lords' castles.

How does "Murai" sound as a name or an alien race? Im going with the shortening earth words thing , like how mass effect named turians
>Turians militaristic hierarchy
>CenTurion , old earth militaristic hierarchical culture

>>52471291
*name for

>>52466592
>>52466610
>>52466631
Fascinating. Interesting to see a direct comparison of the various genetic groups and their differences.

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>Make pixel art outfits for parts of the setting.
>One part looks kinda generic
>Removes 75% of everyone's clothes.
>Suddenly everything looks right.

Anyone have any good resources for learning to draw dungeons/maps. I want to start fleshing out towns on squared paper (brain fart on its proper name) but I am only good at imitating drawings, not original drawing. It sux

Would it be too much to add dinosaurs in a low magic fantasy setting?

>>52472959
No, unless the dinosaurs are magic.

>>52472959
No as long as you don't just jam them in haphazardly like a retard. Always try to make things interesting when making a setting, nobody wants to hear "Hi I'm going to talk about fake histories I made up about a place that's almost exactly like medieval europe."

>>52473055

>"Hi I'm going to talk about fake histories I made up about a place that's almost exactly like medieval europe."

h-hah yeah only retards like that!

>>52466592
3 is plenty for a setting the size of a continent, not world sized.

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I want to build a world that is kinda a satire of what we think of as dystopian cyberpunk. Yes, most people live in massive cities and the sky is almost literally made of fog, but those Global Hawk-style drones with the faux-missiles slung beneath their wings are piloted by bored sixteen year olds who are taking FPV footage of the city streets instead of doing their calculus homework.

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>>52474357
And yeah, everyone is wearing some sort of augment or another, but have you TRIED multispectral sight? And how in the hell are we expected to skimp on enough food to pay rent with a metabolism modifier? Besides, this new hand is pretty neat- its tactile feedback is almost as good as my old one, even if the electromuscle fibers are so worn it's developed an arthritic tremor.

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>>52474395
Besides, the city is beautiful at night. The neon glare gets to you at first, but during a good rain everything gets its own chromatic rainbow, like a blanket of stairs painted by a god on LSD.

Which, you know, is part of the issue. I don't just want old cyberpunk with a new worldview. Not to mention the ends and outs of actually establishing a working culture (which I haven't yet, shamefully. I'm looking at American counterculture and the maker movement) and cartography. Does anyone have tips on making a modern culture in general, or neat ideas I could work into this world in specific?

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>>52474357
Have a non-ant photo.

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I need a fresh set of eyes or I'm gonna kill myself.

Where would you place major cities on this map? The light-blue sea in the middle is a Shallow Sea, only ~20-30 feet deep at most.

It's a weird-fantasy world.

>>52475385
Here's my take. X marks the spot, as always, but only potential spots- you may need them all, you may not, but they should all make sense. Note that you have a lot of harbors and large islands- your setting should have a very interesting maritime component.

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>>52475501
You... you might want my placements.

>>52475501
>your setting should have a very interesting maritime component.
It's for a nautical campaign, so I'd hope so!

>>52475517
That'd be cool, thanks!

Those X's are fucking tiny! Did you do anything specific to pick those spots?

I need a name for my Dwarves' ruling body.

Due to their mercantile nature, the Northsea Consortium is ruled by the heads of the most powerful guilds and merchant families. I was thinking something like the Council of Guildfathers.

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>>52475517
>>52475555
Alright, added my own dots/rings to note city placement. Largely took yours and tweaked placements, as well as added my own. Now I just gotta name them all.

Fuck.

>>52476027
>Guild Assembly
>The Directorship
>The Parliament of Dwarves
>Congress of Guilds
>The Lords' Council
>The Chamber of Notes
>Moot
>Confederation
>League of Guilds
>Masters' Council
>Committee of The Families

>>52476211
Forgot one:
>Council of the Commerce Lords

Also, is Dwarven ancestor worship overdone?

>>52476211
I'm leaning towards Chamber of Notes. Thanks.

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>>52476393
>Also, is Dwarven ancestor worship overdone?
>Dwarven Ancestors
>Dwarven "By the BEARDS of my Ancestors" Ancestors
>Overdone

A touch. Of course, a new spin or interesting take could make it tolerable to all but the most screechingly autistic.

Like, if they're really THAT commerce obsessed, maybe they see fortunes (and bank-accounts) as a sort of living memorial to their previous owners? Or something.

No Dwarf pics, so have a War-Crow instead.

>>52476465
I'm still working on the spiritual side of them. The rough idea for them is that part of the reason the are so money-driven is their belief that when you die, your body is loaded onto a boat with your fortune and sent off into the western sea, where the gate to the afterlife and its keeper are. When you reach it, a toll must be paid for the sins you've committed in life. The more your fortune, the more you can take with you after paying the toll or leave for your family so they can pay when they pass.

The ancestor part is like saints, they have their god and then people that personify an aspect or virtue through their deeds.

>>52476393
Chamber of Notes sounds like an archive to me rather than a ruling body. But if your dwarves are all about tradition, that would make sense.

>>52478027
Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber of Banknotes.
Chamber of Notes.

At least, that's my logic.

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Do the Gods of your setting live on a Mountain?

If not, why are your Gods so fucking terrible?

>>52478265
Do god dragons count?

>>52478532
Why wouldn't they?

>>52478265
Actually...yeah. Well, mountains and other high places.
Huh, I actually just noticed that most if not all the gods in my setting do tend to claim spots like that, or make them, to chill. Not by design at first but I guess it is now. I wonder why...

>>52478532
if you dragons are gods sure

>>52478265
>Do the Gods of your setting live on a Mountain?
>If not, why are your Gods so fucking terrible?
The Death God won't let them.

>>52478265
There are two alive demigods in setting, one lives in a frozen valley and other lives in the hidden temple beneath capital city of Desw.
Actual gods tend to dwell on higher plane of existence, otherwise.

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Trying out to figure worldmap again.

>>52478540
>>52480021
They're not really gods, more just giant immortal lizards that spend their time sucking on magical leylines and radiating magical dragon radiation. They're worshipped as gods, since they are the most powerful things from the mortal realm, but the dragons don't really give a shit about that.

>>52478265
The elvish goddess of spring, war, and the hunt lives on a mountain and claims a huge area around it as her territory. She steals the spirits of great hunters and soldiers away from her brother, the god of death, to attend her there.

>>52478265
>be a god living on a mountain
>not beneath the earth or deep in the sea
What a pleb. It's like you want normie mortals climbing up and pestering you.

Anyone know a lot about the Ryukuan People? They seem interesting, but I'd like a solid rundown of them. What makes them different than Japanese?

What's the going exchange rate for common currency's in your setting to USD?

How much inflation is there?

What do most people make? How much do you need to make to live comfortably.

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I'm reading through Grain Into Gold and noting the prices - truth be told, it doesn't add up.
Bread costs 1.5 sp per kilo, when beef is a meager 1 sp per kilo. Cider costs 8 cp per liter.
Am I just retarded?

>>52478265
the closest thing to a god in my game is a shape-shifting, metallic dragon that lives on the moon.

just like in real life.

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How do I write a cyberpunk setting without it being as poorly informed and geopolitically hilarious as Interface Zero

I like stealing stuff from different settings and using it in entirely the wrong situation.

I took Toy Story, and made it so the Toys are cloned humans in the future, subservient to (from their perspective) short lived god-like AI.

So Buzz is newly awakened in a strange, having to deal with learning that his memories are all fake, his existence based on ancient history/ a story/ a far off world.

Also, maybe he attempts to start a minor toy rebellion and live without the "Gods" the other existences seem to so slavishly worship.

>>52428182
that is some high quality smug right there
yeah nigga
siiiiiign that shit

making a NotJapan! country in my setting. any sort of tropes i should avoid?

>>52475555
>>52476146
Those look good. I tried to pick places that looked like they would have a deep natural harbor, which is generally indicated by a steep divot cut out of the coastline. The mouths of your Shallow Sea make sense, and rainfall is going to lead to a river pouring from the mountains towards the seas, facilitating at least one city in the semi-arid regions. Just basic stuff, really.

>>52489912
Yeah, I started catching some of the broad strokes as I went along. I noticed a lot of peninsular city placement as well as natural trade lines. It was very helpful, thank you. Will post a map with names later.

>>52385164
Try what I do, when you think the setting is become shit, make some catastrophic event happen that completely shakes up things in the world greatly. It's fantastic at developing interesting history for your world and creating more chances for memorable locales.
Unless you feel the setting is ass for more fundamental reasons than can be fixed by this.

>>52418515
Make them reclusive and strictly anti-expansion then, and it sounds great! Heavily territorial with no interest in claiming new lands sounds like a fun way to make orcs spooky badasses without turning them into the villain of all their neighbours.

>>52490011
Can't wait: I'm always happy to help.
Also, double-dubs checked.

I am working on pantheon creation currently

I have decided that I should divide the Gods into three seperate categories

Major Gods
the big boys, the ones that really matter. Gods of Light and Dark, Law and Order, Knowledge and Secrets, and cosmic forces of the universe

Minor Gods
gods that can be the minions of major gods like gods of fire, water, earth, air, fertility, plague, famine, animals ect...

Lesser Gods
gods in name only basically just the managers of minor or major gods minions, might have one domain. something like a god of travel or god of beer who only really focus on a single thing with that thing being sort of inconsequential

any suggestions on gods I should add and what they should be like?

right now I have gods of
war, nature, knowledge, light, peace, law, mysteries.
trying to sort out a few more major gods to make up a pantheon of about 12-20 and could use some ideas for minor gods
lesser gods will probably fall into place ones the ones above them are figured out.

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>>52490607
Got the island names so far. Having some trouble with individual city names since there's so fucking many of them.

>>52489382
Yeah, the "including a not!Japan trope"

>>52492052
He could make them Okinawans.

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>>52491811
Map-anon here again, looking for some outside input. I have a race I need another look at.

The Samari are an aquatic-adapted people that vaguely resemble a cross between humans and sharks (humans with gills, grey-color, lanky, teeth, etc). Once a mighty empire in the Western Sea, they suffered a rapid collapse centuries ago and are now reduced to a wandering gypsy-folk, best thought of as vagabonds, worst as thieves and cutthroats.

I've been trying to settle on how they collapsed, and nothing tugs very strongly at me. One idea was a failed war against humans, who canonically are pretty good in-setting at kicking everyone else's ass. Another is that they blasphemed somehow against one of the setting's Deities, of which I have few concrete details outside of "Deep Sea Horror", and "Chaotic Greek Fuckers". Or, as magic can take physical form in-setting, they could have suffered from some sort of Magic-Global Warming. Like, spell intensity and consistency went haywire due to global overuse of magic-crystals, and they accidently their Empire.

tl;dr What are some interesting ways for a Sea-Empire (above and below) to fall?

Pic the closest thing I have.

>>52493224
Maybe the tectonic plates cracked open immensely and their Empire sank into the depths of the earth, so it's still there, but littered in underwater volcanoes and teeming with 2spooky4u deep sea life

>>52493297
I hadn't thought of plate tectonics. And it would fit with the setting since the lore implies that islands move, appear, and disappear constantly.

Should this shift be caused by something? Like some Leviathan's restless-tentacle syndrome kicked in while it slumbered?

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>>52493346
Maybe the Samari tried to capitalize on some kind of rare resource deep within the earth but weren't too careful about how they did it? Like they just went crazy with digging up the ocean floor

Their haphazard methods of collecting magic crystals or whatever left the surrounding area so unstable it just gave in one day. Maybe a Leviathan in your setting was the straw on the camel's back. It came out to feed, bumped the Lego tower, destroyed its own home, said "Aw fuck, well at least there's this cool city I can live in now" and now resides within the central castle of the old Samari kingdom with metal as fuck volcanoes around it and shit

>>52493427
Hmmmmm.

Volcanoes WOULD be metal as fuck. I like it!

Speaking of Leviathans, how big is TOO big? I'm trying to get across the feeling of vertigo at the sheer, fuck-off size difference between humans and these things, but I wonder if there's a point where the effect can be lost. Like, if there's a beast the actual size and mass of the Black Sea, is that gonna be funny, or fucking terrifying to players?

Hey guys,
Have any of you thought up any unique dragons for your worlds? My group is going to have a campaign with a wide variety of dragons that all do different things.

One of the dragons I am thinking of:
Brood Mother/Father
This dragon has its rib cage protruding from its chest. Among the bones live smaller dragons who live in a symbiotic relationship with the Brood Mother. These smaller dragons swarm their prey while the Brood Mother takes it down.

>>52493476
Well, think about it. Imagine encountering something the size of a house that moves. That's already terrifying. Once it becomes like so big that you can't see it all at once like a serpent, then it becomes somewhat big. Humans already feel inferior just standing next to someone who's a foot taller than them.

>>52493549
Alright, thanks. I'll think on this.

>>52493545
>Mirror Dragon
>Tall, thin, serpent-like
>Projects a psychic field that creates intense hallucinations in other creatures
>Uses these "psychic mirages" to confuse prey long enough to sneak up and devour them

>Whale-Dragon
>It's a Whale and a Dragon combined
>Can, and does, eat islands

>>52493476
Depends. Are you trying to scare your players or entire nations?

In my semi-gritty sci-fi setting, there is an absolutely enormous flying serpent kind of thing named Taranis. He floats around the region, continuously surrounded by category 4 and 5 hurricanes, just absolutely demolishing anything it flies over. No one really knows why it does what it does but no one can get close to research it because it just scrambles all of the electronics and sweeps up anyone stupid enough to get near it. the worst part is that this fucker's length and mass is comparable to the Great Wall of China

Its presence on the ecosystem has such a huge impact that they have had to establish a task force just to monitor and predict its movements or else human settlements will just get shredded when he comes by. Humanity is expanding its territory under constant prayer that Taranis doesn't take a left turn instead of a right one. At this point, he's beyond a creature and just a brutal, uncaring force of nature.

That being said, if you want him to fit in castle, don't make him too big. Or maybe big enough to coil around the castle? Options nigga

>>52493545
>Rot Drakes
>Dragons that are cursed to never die and live in a state of perpetual agony and decay
>their corrupted blood oozes from their bodies, tainting and twisting the local environment and their respective wildlife

Just a quick shot at something. Might not be good but it's an attempt

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>>52493628
>In my semi-gritty sci-fi setting, there is an absolutely enormous flying serpent
Everything you wrote is fucking brilliant, and I am stealing it.

>>52493628
How did such a thing even manifest? It would have torn up the world a long time ago if it can keep flying for ages.

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>>52493666
Here's it's original description. Change what you want obviously

>>52493704
NO ONE KNOOOOOOOOOOOWS

It drifted in through the atmosphere along with its sister, Undine, during their journey through the galaxies after she fell down to earth of an illness. Taranis orbits the coastlines around the central ocean waiting for his sister to wake up, unaware of the fact that she has been dead for centuries

Taranis and Undine are offspring of beings of a galaxy beyond comprehensible space time, their journey essentially being the equivalent of kids going on a romp through the park, except Undine fell ill and died during the romp and Taranis waits next to her corpse in vain in hopes of going back home to their family someday

Taranis has been there so long he forgot what direction is home. Even if she was alive, they wouldn't know what direction to go to get back home anyways, essentially making him a doomed lost child

>>52493877
Tell me there's a good end to this if the PCs try hard enough. ;_;