/wbg/ Worldbuilding General

>>52496392
>Don't make them magnificent
they're kinda the opposite really. very xenophobic, a history of being needlessly hostile to foreign powers, and tons of infighting. technologically behind compared to other nations too but not extremely behind.
> similar to samurai aesthetically, but without the autistic obsession over honour.
my NotJapan!'s "samurai" are actually mostly foreign mercenaries. after the country was basically forced to accept foreigners, an influx of mercenaries and the already prevalent barbarian population (originating from their habit of just burning foreign settlements to the ground instead of just kicking them out) caused them to make a regulated guild of mercenaries that offers cheap/free weapons in exchange for guild fees. samurai aesthetically and they serve the same purpose (helping keep the peace, basic soldier work) but the culture and expectations as well as societal views on them is different.

File: fauna.png (181KB, 796x834px) Image search: [Google]

181KB, 796x834px

Creatures are difficult to come up with, sometimes.
How do you come up with new creatures? Not just monsters, but fauna in general.

If you were a city of extremely petty gods and goddesses and you could make planes of existence for whatever you wanted, what would you make?

In my fantasy setting, I have the sun as the primary city/chilling place of the gods and the other planets are locations they can visit/use for whatever they want. I was kinda focusing on what a castle/kingdom would need during the medieval ages, so I have so far:

A prison
A graveyard
A library/magical research place
A forge/factory
A vault for any and all valuables
A garden for growing whatever extravagant food you want as well as going on hunts for beasts that can challenge gods
The courts, where the guilty are judged

I was considering making a planet of luxury where there'd be parties going on all the time and arenas for combat and all that shit, but I figured they'd have all that in their home base so they could just chill there. Sorry if my word choice is weird or vague, I've been out of it all weekend.

File: d34aac7a-e665-43b9-a054-2f45797ce5e4.jpg (319KB, 1280x917px) Image search: [Google]

319KB, 1280x917px

Do you think it's reasonable to give half-dragons high amounts of defense and constitution in exchange for them only being able to heal by resting and not magical means? Like potions and lay on hands and the like?

>>52499805
Gladiator Arena Plane?

>>52500463
I feel like their healing should be based on gold. Sleeping on gold or spending it immediately for healing. But sleeping for a long time also fits the model.

The only questions I have about it would be mechanical.

File: Helicos.jpg (2MB, 2700x2003px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2700x2003px

>>52499792

Look into the past. Earth has been the host of innumerable creatures that would pass off as monsters today. Pic related.

File: Cambrian critters.jpg (126KB, 621x562px) Image search: [Google]

126KB, 621x562px

>>52501696
>>52499792

Though I prefer Paleozoic creatures (pic once again related), the Cenozoic also has a load of interesting creatures.

How does one build a setting as downright bizarre as the Elder Scrolls setting?

I can come up with some weird stuff, but I don't seem to be able to get into a mindset that allows me to take it to TES levels of weird.

Hard mode: No drugs or alcohol involved

>>52502058
Sleep deprivation
Look up some "crazy" mythologies and believe systems, like hinduism.

File: 1485735029954.jpg (83KB, 1194x900px) Image search: [Google]

83KB, 1194x900px

>>52502096
I've been looking at Stoic Physics, especially the concept of Pneuma recently for inspiration. Pneuma is basically Chakra or Mana or whatever the fuck your particular culture calls "life energy". It comes in 3 forms, one that holds matter together, one that makes organic life work, and one that makes sapient life work.

While I'm incorporating this into my setting (along with some Eastern philosophy) I can't help but fucking hate all the different names for this energy. Pneuma is fucked, and Chakra/Mana/Ki is either also fucked, overused, or a mechanic in the system I'm using for this setting, so they're all out.

tl;dr What are some good names for a vital energy in place of Chakra/Mana/Ki and shit like that? Preferably something short and catchy.

>>52504223
Sorry, didn't mean to quote this>>52502096, though it kinda fits?

>>52501783
Nice Wacky shrimp

>>52504223
"Prana" is the a similar concept from ancient india, it's basic meaning being "breath". Ancient egypt has the kinda hard to define concept of "ka", which is also a lifeforce. Though while writing this out I realize that the name doesn't really sound exciting.

File: Stirge.png (30KB, 864x864px) Image search: [Google]

30KB, 864x864px

>>52499792
>How do you come up with new creatures? Not just monsters, but fauna in general.

I have a tendency to not over think it and basically go through 2 sources when looking for fauna/monsters, etc.

>1. Steal animals from the past.
All Ice Age animals are fair game, but in terms of dinosaurs I try to keep them within the cretaceous period (since they had grass, flowers, fruit) unless something REALLY fucking cool was in the further past like stegosauruses.

>2. Steal monsters, but always try to naturalize them.
Whenever I take a monster be it from video games or folklore/mythology, I try to "naturalize" them as thoroughly as possible. What I mean by that is I give them the "in a vacuum" treatment: no intelligent races to interfere with them. If it can't live in a vacuum: I either change it or remove it if there's nothing left, sort to speak.
I usually end up with "demilitarized" monsters that are still pretty dangerous, but don't feel "unnecessarily EEEEEEVIL" .

Example:
-The Stirge is a type of very specialized bat that adapted to suck blood from the incredibly thick-skinned giant animals that mosquitoes couldn't get large enough to ever hope to drink from.... Obviously though since HUUUGE animals aren't as common as they used to be- Stirges can be quite troublesome for smaller creatures.

>>52504365
I was aware of Prana (I thought the Greeks got Pneuma from India in the first place), but I thought Ka was a much more static concept? Like, it represents your spiritual identity or soul?

>>52504530
It was a mix, it was part of the soul, but it was also the spark that distinguished the living from the dead.

File: IMG_0829.jpg (45KB, 500x366px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 500x366px

What would cause a minority group to become associated with crime besides "lol they're all evil jerks".

>>52505045
poverty

>>52505122
There's lots of poor minorities

In my setting there's one group who are mostly law abiding citizens but with a minority of crooks. I need a reason for them to get singled out by society compared to the other poorfags.

>>52505219
Cultural focus on the community over private possessions, or a strong distrust of outsiders to the community.

>>52505045
>>52505219
Basically every minority takes a turn being "the crime minority". So an easy one to use is that they're the most recent minority. Another one you can use is "a single famous criminal came from that community, and now that's the stereotype."

>>52502058
The Elder Scrolls Isn't really weird outside of a couple of concepts and character, Its just well-flushed out without going into too much detail a la forgotten realms.

It also helps that almost all the lore is exfoliated by obsessive fans who scour millions of lines of dialogue and reframe it to fit their established narrative.

>>52504930
In that case, Ka is on my short list, right alongside Vitae and Mana.

File: dorado v map 2-min.jpg (1MB, 8505x5625px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 8505x5625px

>>52499324
So here's my map. I like it how it is but I've got a question

To make things easier to track, should I limit every quadrant to one major point of interest or bite the bullet and make a big list of shit and their assigned quadrant(s), allowing multiple things in a single quadrant?

>>52505045
>>52505219
Minority are refugees in the majority's land, or the remains of a native force after invasion/take over by majority. For whatever reason (money, emotional appeal, labor, etc.) the minority make a case and are let in/let live - and this goes well for a generation or two.

Fast forward to current time. The original reasons for the mixed communities is glossed over by history, but the fuss is remembered. Now every crime committed by the minority's descendants (whether they be direct descendants, mixed, or heck, even families who came after the events but share a common history) is blown out of proportion.
"This is why we should've never let them/let them stay/didn't kill them all/etc."

You know the phrase "Correlation does not imply causation"? Take that and flip it.
All it takes is a few major events with a common thread (e.g. the minority group as perps) and a little time to blur out the lesser details for a fact to become almost self-fulfilling.
"You remember all those [events] a few years back? Caused by people belonging to this minority? We can't trust 'em."

Never mind how the statistics might add up compared to the majority group. Most of the majority will, by nature of outnumbering the minority, have less exposure and experience to any representatives of the minority group. Most of their information about the minority group will be those overblown, exaggerated tales. They come to expect that from the minority group. When a member of the ill-informed majority is forced to come to a determination about a person (who happens to belong to that minority group), they will err on the stereotype, because it is what they expect.

"Of course the minority is tied to crime, it's just common sense! I can give you events X, Y, and Z from history to reinforce that, and I've never heard or seen anything contrary to that. Sure, I'll give this guy a chance, but I'm not going to trust him."

File: 1483052814743.png (2MB, 3900x1820px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3900x1820px

>>52505693
Oh hey! Someone else is using my map pieces! How's yours coming along?

>>52506225
Not him, but I like this. What process do you use?

>>52506225
I'm fairly certain I'm the anon that you last said this to

I like this map. Thank you

Just trying to decide how I want to structure the process for fleshing out the world now

I need some kind of power to pit my not!Egyptian crocodilemen against in the south. I was thinking of making the region jungle and putting in a rival crocodilemen kingdom, flavored around Mesoamerica. Too corny?

>>52506894
Possibly. RL Egypt was bordered on the South by various African kingdoms, including Kush and Ethiopia/Aksum.

Does the power have to be crocodile-folk? What role in the setting do they serve?

>>52507014
Not really, I just need something to act as a rival power as to help explain why a kingdom of large aggressive reptilemen didn't move through and conquer their weakened northern neighbors during the last empire falling, or in general in the timeline. Well, other than the desert crossing and a dragon waking and flying through the pass between the 2 regions, royally fucking things up there for a while.

File: russia.jpg (85KB, 736x598px) Image search: [Google]

85KB, 736x598px

Ey, first time DM here and I wanted to build something vaguely off of 19th century Russia because I really like the setting / aesthetic of it, but I'm not really sure how to apply it. I was thinking of using GURPS for it, but I'm not sure on the Hook or who the players would be or what the narrative lens would be. I was thinking of them being mercenaries heading through the landscape, but I have no real experience to draw on.

Thanks in advance <3

File: 1421546927328.png (52KB, 813x664px) Image search: [Google]

52KB, 813x664px

>>52507653

File: novgorod.jpg (123KB, 624x341px) Image search: [Google]

123KB, 624x341px

>>52508234
Got it, the world sucks and the PCs are stuck in it. Now to make this fun, would I best have them be in revolutionary groups, wageslave """free workers""", mercenaries, or what? I'm not sure if it would be fun for the players to get utterly fucked by their society as they're pretty new and it'd be pretty open, so I'm not sure how to narrow it.

File: 1416872669460.jpg (271KB, 1300x919px) Image search: [Google]

271KB, 1300x919px

>>52508505
Russian Mythology has the concept of wandering heroes built in it, called Bogatyr. You could have the PCs play their role.

And to be fair, when I run my Not!Russia setting, I make sure that no matter how crushing the loss or black the night the PCs find themselves in, there is always a silver lining. 19th century Russian stories are depressing, but Russian folklore itself is a very hopeful, Noblebright setting. Keep an element of that so your players keep coming back and not slitting their wrists during a bathroom break.

>>52508612
Do you mind really vaguely greentexting what you did for your campaign? Again, utterly new and not all that creative so I'd like to see what you did, if you don't mind.

Any recommended readings for Russian mythology?

>>52499792
I don't. That's my weak spot. I can never come up with anything original, so I just tend to use real life fauna.

File: 5555484154_0f35073817_z.jpg (205KB, 640x494px) Image search: [Google]

205KB, 640x494px

>>52508691
Hmmm. This may take a while, and a bit of rambling. But in a nutshell, you have to go Old School Bastard GM. Embrace, just a little, the That GM petty little shit part of yourself, and sprinkle a little bit of it into everything you do.

Examples!
>PCs are constantly coming across piles of dead peasants due to the Monster of the Week or whatever threat is about
>No one ever seems to give a shit about all the dead serfs, from the Boyars all the way down to other serfs
>It's just how things are, is the only response they get

>There is literally no 100% Good side, except the Church
>The Church will heal you for base spell costs or less, and really just wants to keep the world chugging along for one more day
>The "Good"-Kingdom is a corrupt hellhole of backbiting nobles, but they're the only people who seem to give a shit about commoners on any level
>The "Evil"-Empire is a brutal police state run by an obvious Putin expy, but they actually do seem to have their shit together and push for a lot of "progressive" policies no one else seems to give a shit
>The Druids will go to fucking WAR if it means protecting a particular grove, but will largely allow an orphanage to burn down to the ground as it is "nature's way of clearing the chaff"
>There IS a 100% EVIL faction, the Necromancers

>Even treasure is just another way to fuck the PCs
>In my first game, the party made their way through a Heroes' Tomb, killing undead and Necromancers left and right
>a bunch of Ghosts in the tomb help them find loot
>PCs' hearts are melted by a ghost librarian who was deeply depressed, and they felt real good about helping her
>She showed them a set of magic armor that was lost
>She leaves, happy that she helped them
>It's cursed as SHIT

1/?

File: 1416731059967.jpg (545KB, 1024x1431px) Image search: [Google]

545KB, 1024x1431px

>>52509119
>One of the players is now a Drow (previously human), with a Chaotic Evil Spider-Demon trapped in their head, "advising" the PC to do things like kill the Sorcerer to assert dominance and rape the Warlock (also for dominance, and because it would be amusing to it)
>Needless to say, the above story ends with an adventure that spanded the Earth in order to find a Demon that could lead them to a Wizard that could lead them to an Egg that would lead them to an Angel that MIGHT be able to drive the shithead armor demon out

And finally, be devious in traps:
>Party enters a tower with two doors in the far wall, and a demon face with a gaping mouth
>They are told to choose their path wisely, or die
>They decide to trick the trap by opening both doors at once
>The two who do this stupid thing disappear with a comical *POP* sound
>Both end up in death-trap rooms
>One is in a room with balsawood floors that bend down into a spike bed when stepped on
>The other is in a copper room lined in iron that electrocutes anything that moves
>It also electrocutes things that don't
>They both survived, but learned an important lesson about being too clever for their own good

My point being, be a little mean to get the point across that the world sucks. But then reward them for acting virtuous and clever (but not too clever). The cursed armor is now an Artifact of Power. The tomb run ended with a pile of treasure the PCs will actually struggle to spend all at once. Backing up the "Evil" Empire guys can be smart in the short run, but karma will come back for them later.

Ramble ramble ramble I'm too sleepy/drunk for this.

File: portrait.jpg (46KB, 377x585px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 377x585px

>>52509212
Ey, thanks I'll definietly base my campaign off all the stuff you said.

I've got the base idea down: 1860-1880s peasants in Siberia after Tunguska event with magic that want to get the fuck out to the West and stuff will ensue.

Need to do a lot of worldbuilding, but I'm probably going to run low-to-medium magic with being tied directly to Divinity and relics. Different factions and religions fighting for relics that have an Ego of their own, and destroying one relic fucks over 100 or so priests.

This is gonna be fun, time to read "Demons" by Dostoevsky and gear up the sadism.

>>52509362
Sounds good. Luck to you anon!

What do you think the human reaction would be to seeing an interstellar megastructure for the first time? I'm talking about ringworlds, dyson spheres, and say a shkadov thruster? These would being operated by "friendly" super intelligent machines but what do you guys think would be going through an explorers mind if they found of these things?

Really want a sci-fi setting that feels grandiose and shows off the awesomeness that a race could create.

>>52509607
I would assume awe and some amount of fear. Awe because holy shit look at it! You can't tell me looking at the moon or Mt Everest doesn't inspire awe in people, if only for their sheer size.

Fear because who could build such a thing, are they friendly, and does this mean humans aren't special anymore?

>>52500865
That's an interesting concept, but my dragons aren't exactly the covetous type.

>>52510016
Well...then what are they? Covetous is usually a major part of being a Dragon.

Unless this is a "My Elves are 12-limbed insectoid race" sort of thing. In which case, why?

File: 9a2beb95-ce78-459c-9508-6aa166e08fc9.jpg (418KB, 636x900px) Image search: [Google]

418KB, 636x900px

>>52510051
In my setting, dragons live underground and are tasked with tending to the divine flame beneath the world that keeps the sun and stars up in the sky. Every so often, a few dragons get disillusioned with their assignment and travel to the world above and start indulging in the wealth and pleasures that were denied to them. So I shouldn't say all dragons aren't covetous, but the majority aren't.

>>52510221
Well, then you should tie their healing into fire. Fire damage (or whatever system equivalent) heals them, rather than time and rest.

>>52510254
Oh, what about taking a rest at a source of fire? Or maybe smoking some cigarettes?

>>52510725
Could work. They seem spiritually linked to flame as much as biologically.

Guys, I need soem help considering germanic and nordic mythology. So, as evil enemies and monsters they have giants, Fenrir, Jörmungandr... all big monsters, but what I'm looking for is something more "standardish", as regular enemies that serve the same purpose as goblins and orcs in your standard-fantasy setting, not necessarily sentient.

If there is nothing then it's up to wolves, boars and bears to be cut down en mass.

>>52510777
What effect does the divine flame have on mortals?

>>52510805
On regular mortals, it burns like regular fire but only more tingling in their atoms. But it empowers and heals the tribe of Erem, fire druids that watch over the divine flame alongside the dragons.

Is there a crack for Dungeon Painter Studio? I'm curious if the software is good now.

So, races. In my fantasy setting i am trying to make mine both believable and interesting. And I do realize that it is something that everybody who was semi-serious about worldbuilding attempted (unless they were going in explicitely opposite direction), but i still want to give it a go. So far the two points I want to focus on are:
- Differences from humans and their visible impact on society and culture of those beings. And I do want it to be something else than being tall/short/green/stupid - lets say a race is actually immortal but a female can produce only a single offspring and work from there.
- Diversity within the race. One of my main gripes is that in most settings, a single race can be mapped to a single real-life region. Of course it is not always the case and sometimes it is not inherently bad. Still, the idea of a race that has a culture that is almost alien and yet diverse within itself gives me design boners.
So, are there any good but not that well-known examples of this? Or just
>post your races

Ok so... as some background and history for this setting which takes place on a continent. Some 3 centuries ago a race of people finally united despite their nomadic and bandit-like culture, and it turns out that a life of constant movement and struggle made them pretty good at fucking up the other proper nations. So the continent spends a century and a half under their rule, which is a more hands off pay tribute or we fuck you up kind of rule. Obviously this isn't a sustainable way to run a nation and the cracks start to appear from within, and in half a century it all falls apart from the infighting. The original nomadic people are scattered to the wind again, some assimilate into the nations they had conquered, others return to their harsh life of constant movement and fighting and the last of them are the remnants of the old government clinging to their glory days.

So the impact this has on the current world is its a century later, everyone is more aware of their neighbors, materials and ideas intersect in ways that wouldn't have been possible before this violent unification and lastly whenever groups of those nomadic bandits start to gather everyone worries. Their lot in life has shifted from nomadic banditry and herding to soldiers of fortune.

File: species.png (48KB, 503x234px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 503x234px

>>52512860
Both are good and important points. Monocultures are shit, but you still want to explain how they ended up in the various regions.
Currently it is due to lot of jobs being in urban areas, but before there were bunch migration around - for example, after human empire got sunk, some bunch, scholars in particular journeyed through Navaros Chain to east to buddy up with Desw, while some moved up north to try to find help from Caowe.

I still think I have to develop these major species further - there are other intelligent creatures, but they are in less number and more regionally constrained, ex. javdra isn't really considered a civilization, and humans barely anymore by the definitions that roll around in the setting.
I need to think traits more divergent from general scheme of biped. Non-bipeds ( Jaculo are sort of ) or radically different activity times or regions ( aquatic ).
However, they'd probably remain smaller players.

>>52507653
I'd highly recommend basing your campaign from the time period of 18th and 19th if you want a good dynamic:

The Former period between around 1680 and late 18th century due to liberalism Science and Statecraft flourished but Religion was suppressed which caused a significant decline in public morality, the Church became intellectually and capitally impoverished and literature became frigid and sterile. Imperialism became the new state religion.

The latter period between the late 18th century and 19th century autocracy and nationalism came to dominate official policies, scepticism of science and rationalism became common place, religion's importance exploded again and culture, literature and good morality flourished to unparalleled heights but economic stagnation and corruption reduced Russia's military position in the World.

I've had a campaign where the party are non-aligned mercenaries work for both two countries that represent theses two time periods.

Is it still allowed to like medieval fantasy?

>>52514554
As long as it isn't a Forgotten Realms clone.

>>52514659
How could you do FR right?

Where are some good places to hide cities?
I'm building a new setting for a campaign with friends. I want the high elves of the setting to all live in very secluded places, and I want there to be a handful of hidden pirate cities as well.
So far I've got the north pole, an oasis, a mountaintop, and a flying city for the high elves. And I have an underwater city and a city on an island turtle (that used to belong to the high elves) for the pirates.
Anybody got ideas?

>>52515816
I couldn't, FR is literally unfixable at this point, it suffers from so many problems.

>At least three independent continually progressing timelines
>Built-in DMPC's that are so crucial to the metaplot It doesn't make any sense if they don't show up in every campaign
>Power creep, magical items are literally everywhere.
>The Harpers

etc

>>52516419
DMPCs?

>>52514216
Sorry, this is very irrelevant to everything, but are you Finnish?

>>52516419
What's wrong with the Harpers?

File: shavalla.png (185KB, 1253x823px) Image search: [Google]

185KB, 1253x823px

>>52517040
Yes. Was it because of 'varpu'?

I'm brainstorming for a new campaign I'll be running soon. Setting has a coalition of hobgoblins and other monstrous races as the main threat to mankind. Any suggestions for a name for this organization?

>>52516033
What about something as simple as a thick forest? Decease-ridden jungle is even better candidate. Elves don't care because they have perfect health, if anyone tries to find them, they die of malaria.

>>52517320
Yup. Only makes sense that we Finns hang out in these autism containment threads, I guess.

>>52499792
the harder you try the less likely that you will find nothing, just let your imagination wander and see what you find. if your imagination is not going to fauna this time, no worries, just jot down what you come up with and save it for later. do this enough and soon you will have a world's worth of material and the rest just becomes a small matter of stringing it all together.

>>52516033
Swamps, inside a vulcano, inside giant trees (every tree is one or several buildings, but from the outside they just look like trees). Good old underground caverns.

>>52518010
The commonwealth of _______
equality/justice/truth
Continentname
Etc

>>52518010
Depends how monolithic and Evil you wanna go.

The Horde
The Swarm
Confederation of Tribes
Etc

>>52499324
Can someone give me an idea for a species of hivemind controlled parasites that aren't the Zerg?

I know Zerg weren't parasitic

>>52521528
Possibly related
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tingler

File: island names.jpg (2MB, 4000x2000px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 4000x2000px

My setting focuses pretty closely to a collection of islands called Castian (pic related). The islands lie right on the equator (those desert areas are at 30 degrees, horse latitude).

What sort of armor do you wear in an equatorial climate? Assuming access to iron and some steel forging, exotic animal parts (giant, monstrous sea-life), and tropical woods.

>>52505693
europa?

So, a question. How would an average fishing community of an exclusively carnivorous race compare yo an average farming community of an exclusively herbivorous race compare to one another in terms of food production?? Assume comparable levels of technology.

>>52523222
And what's the level of technology? Lol

Drone tending of OGM megafishes, hydroponics of algae in underground robotic facilities respectively.

>>52523222
The herbivorous race would just have a massive advantage in pretty every aspect, large cities surrounded by farmland everywhere.

The carnivorous race is pretty much fucked, especially if I they don't have access to whale meat, they would be small tribes that constantly had to travel depleting fish stocks everywhere they go, every meal would have to include large amounts of fats and oils.

>>52501696
>>52501783
Adding onto this what extinct animals should I put in my setting besides dinosaurs? Preferably something that could live in a jungle environment

File: Eurypterus, sea scorpion.jpg (985KB, 1366x1024px) Image search: [Google]

985KB, 1366x1024px

>>52524244

Giant bugs, sea scorpions (pic related), giant amphibians.

Tell me more about your setting!

>>52524374

Clarification: I assumed the jungle would include rivers, swamps and so on. If not, I'd recommend you looking up the megafauna of South America before the landbridge between North and South formed.

>>52524374
Not that guy, but I love Sea Scorpions for my setting's Leviathans.

Then again, so did Mass Effect so....

>>52524374
It's a certain aspect of the setting where a medieval ancient Egyptian-esque civilization takes to exploring and settling the jungles that lie deep in the southern half of the continent. Much of the fauna their is unique to that particular part of the continent and I wanted to flesh that out a bit more.

File: 1487623295077.jpg (10KB, 300x168px) Image search: [Google]

10KB, 300x168px

>Greyhawkesque campaign setting
>The Wizard managed to break the entire plot, caused a crusade or two, destroyed hundreds of scroll with the only copies of certain spells, etc.
>After several seasons of them on the run with the entire world's combined forces hunting them they finally die
>Do one-shot set in the same setting but ??? years into the future
>Elves are now worshipped like gods because their actions with the destruction of the scrolls or something, probably gonna limit Psion/Mystic classes to their race
>Kobolds are now slave race of cute dog-people after being genocides because of the crusades
>Slavophile aesthetic slowly replacing the "old fashioned" Anglo-Germanic aesthetic including tea bricks as the main currency
>They want to permanently play in this time period
>etc, etc

I've made a huge mistake, how do I into gonzo?

>>52505219
>There's lots of poor minorities
And they're all criminals. What's your point?

>>52525116
And?

File: Illuminati-Logo.png (172KB, 800x800px) Image search: [Google]

172KB, 800x800px

Secret Societies!

Does your setting have them? Who are they? What are they planning?

>Humanity has reached the stars through much trial and tribulation
>First contact has been made with a race known as the "Dejec" in the form of a trader
>The Dejec trader quickly welcome man to the galactic community but just as quickly inform they've missed the golden age of the galaxy by about 10 millions years.
>Human scientists are dumbfounded that the Dejec trader seems to be downplaying the awe it is to be at this stage
>The Dejec promptly tells mankind to explore and see for themselves and
>Mankind does and find out that it's true
>Great megastructures litter the galaxy in disrepair from an empire that disappeared to a universe inside a computer system that surrounds a star that everyone forgot how to find
>Other races are either warlike despots longing for the past, disheveled refugees, disparate nomads, and many more.

Mankind has reached the stars only to find they've been passed by in the scale of time.

>>52527280
Yeah, but now they get free alien shit!

File: Korblocks_symbol.png (704KB, 601x858px) Image search: [Google]

704KB, 601x858px

>>52527356
make sure to make it look like a looting by the korblocks

>>52513663
I'm thinking the larger nations politics involve keeping these people in a constant state of infighting, convincing one tribe to attack another, aiding that tribe by arming them to fight those other guys and occasionally undermining the vestigial empire's authority. Eventually they should catch on, band together and start causing hell for the other nations.

File: 1475700027239.jpg (189KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

189KB, 1920x1080px

>>52521578
Thanks. Helped a little but it still needs a good bit of work

>>52523105
Named after the oceanid, not the moon. The region is the focus of refugee humans trying to find a new world to regain their bearings on after the Milky Way essentially asploded real good like

>>52526742
One of the only few organized crime efforts on the only remaining ark of humanity, the Shin Yakuza (name pending) works from the shadows to manipulate the on board companies for reasons known only to the higher ups. The head of the Shin Yakuza are said to be the few Japanese purebloods that were loaded onto the ship before Earth went pop, but the organization is not purely Japanese, as they are known to exploit the denizens of Neo Tokyo and Neo New York in their business.

The Shin Yakuza is theorized to be a network of greedy company officials hoping to overthrow the ship's Sky Marshal, but in reality they are a network of sleeper agents placed onto the ship to ensure the ark doesn't accidentally reestablish comms with an Earth that actually didn't explode, as the ark firing off before it was finished was a test conducted by Earth scientists. The denizens of the ESF Pathfinder are secretly being monitored to test the capabilities of humanity living a self sustaining life out in the cosmos.

At the end of the experiment in a few years time, the Shin Yakuza is ordered to overload the ship's reactor and kill everyone on the ship so the truth of the matter isn't leaked to the public on Earth and shut down due to public outrage.

Super rough draft, but it's still a wip

>>52522899
Had another question:

What can you potentially make a boat out of if wood is limited?

>>52528380
thin sheets of metal? thick leaves even tho if you dont have wood you prob dont have leaves. possibly bits from animals.

>>52528380
Rocks

>>52528380
Bone?

>>52528380
The Inuit and Siberians use driftwood and walrus skins.

I suppose if you didn't want them to use driftwood you can just use bone and skins.

Is it too generic to name the not!Norsemen Nords, or Nordmen? Anyone have any good names?

I'm usually pretty good at naming things and I've named 40+ human kingdoms but this one's escaping me.

File: 1427933023560.jpg (742KB, 2000x1329px) Image search: [Google]

742KB, 2000x1329px

>>52528792
>>52528914
>>52529051
>>52529247
Hmm. That's about what I figured. Was hoping I'd missed something obvious.

I once heard that space ships in 40k can take on personalities due to the Warp infecting them over time. I quite liked the idea, and want to use it in my nautical campaign. Water (and therefore the Ocean) being the spiritual source of Life, things that come into contact with it enough eventually gain Life of their own.

Ships, therefore, take on personalities over time. I thought to bind that to their materials as much as their experiences. As an example: a ship made from the wood of a Cork Oak tree would fear the deep ocean (cork being hydrophobic), and so would always seem to find land for its crew. Meanwhile, a ship made out of some sort of Freshwater tree like a Bald Cypress would seem to perform better if near rivers and other sources of freshwater. In addition, a ship that sees a lot of bloody boarding actions will slowly become bloodthirsty, possibly granting its passengers and crew a Barbarian-style Rage ability whenever human blood soaks its deck.

I also like the idea of a Captain of a ship having a mystical connection to it, what with all this magic going about. Like, a ship's captain can temporarily call up a wind to fill its sails in need, or so long as the Captain remains on deck, the ship cannot be burned with mundane fire. Or something to that effect.

What would stone ships be like?

Pic is only boat pic I have.

File: 517631.jpg (219KB, 2100x1260px) Image search: [Google]

219KB, 2100x1260px

>>52529440
>What would stone ships be like?

Just gotta balance it juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust right

>>52529488
Haha, that makes a weird amount of sense. Rocks sink, after all. So you're suggesting stone ships take the "Stealth" ship route?

>>52529529
Sounds kinda cool. Think of it like an encapsulated hot air balloon but underwater, probably used for underwater exploration or traveling without being followed

Does it comply with physics? Who cares, it's cool

>>52506225
This looks like 200 years of sea level rising or something

File: TheDeclarationOfSurrendependence.png (3MB, 1416x6534px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 1416x6534px

Posted and asked about this previous thread.

I have friends who actively participate and play tabletop. And now they plan to use a story and setting I wrote in the storythreads as their campaign setting.

I can say that this setting (look at the pic related) is a WW1type of setting, but would be advancing towards a WW2 type of transition. Taking place in the late 1910s and around the 1920s, towards maybe a very early 1930.

So go ahead and take a read /wbg/. Take a read and give some thoughts in what world building you think can be added.

That's not all, I made like two more stories based on the setting I made for the storythreads.

1/3

File: Lessons.png (5MB, 1600x7748px) Image search: [Google]

5MB, 1600x7748px

>>52529964
This one's a 2/3

File: FurtherEducation.png (2MB, 1505x8325px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1505x8325px

>>52529989
3/3

There again. Stories taking place in a setting I made for fun in the storythreads, to which my friends also saw and now whised to make their campagin taking place in it.

What worldbuilding suggestions can you give guys?

File: 1458728774355.png (2MB, 1500x1019px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1500x1019px

Do you think a character like a soldier with social anxiety would be feasible to play well? As in a sense that she'd be fine committing her duty on the battlefield, but utterly atrocious at connecting to people during the regular aspects of life.

>>52529440
Maybe a very light stone like pumice? It floats after all

>>52530251
Why not? A shy sniper sounds cool, like Leon, the Professional

>>52514216
Yeah, I agree. Currently Im working on trying to figure out how a race of underground dwellers that are functionally immortal (although not eternally young) would function and how their culture and values could be roughly shapen.
Also trying to find some common points that could actually describe humans other than "they can do everything about fine". And its not that easy. I'd have to go really alien with other races to have something that (roughly) all humans can relate to in comparison to them.

File: 4B6D46D0-FF53-4E59-8A7D-3815EF9F4EC5-2364-0000039D2F177042_tmp.jpg (2MB, 5000x5000px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 5000x5000px

>>52531744
I was thinking something more up close and personal, like a soldier in the medieval sense with swords/polearms/whatever and stuff.

>>52531786
Oh right. Sorry I always imply a modern setting.
Anyway I don't see why a good soldier would also need to be good at interacting with people.

File: 1458646834265.jpg (835KB, 986x1000px) Image search: [Google]

835KB, 986x1000px

>>52531806
Alright, cool, but I also have a similar question. Do you think that case would be the same for a mercenary? Since I figured they'd have to have a smidgen of people skills to negotiate contracts and the like.

File: stuff.png (308KB, 981x790px) Image search: [Google]

308KB, 981x790px

>>52531747
You can try to make humans not a 'can do everything just fine'.
For example, in the setting I have been working on, humans were caster-race uno, but fucked up that led their empire getting sunk. Most of them got killed, they lost magic, and had to flee their homeland, becoming nomads. In current times, they are still kinda fucked, being a minority in most regions. Generally humans in Caowe clans or in Desw empire have stable lives.
They are still generally more adept at learning and have instinctual understanding of magic, even if they cannot anymore use it. Vagrants etc. tend to be familiar with tools of survival, but sometimes get involved in crimes, while humans that grow up in more stable environments usually have good chances of becoming scholars.

They are usually viewed bit unfavourably, although Caowe tend to be fond of them. Their empire going under is a subject of schadenfreude for many ( and perhaps for good reasons, since they were bit of uppity assholes )

>>52532120
Well, this has a problem of appearing slightly contrarian. But either this or being bog-down standard, so eh, lets work with this.
For me humans would be in be physically characterized by the fact that innate usage of magic appears to be almost random (other races either always can or always cannot do it). They also can breed fairly quickly.
I'm thinking what would be the defining trait of human culture. I guess they are quick to integrate, but reluctant to allow integration. They also value life and possessions fairly high. They also have a concept of art, but its highly focused on reproducing/translating real life.
If i were to compare them to the immortal race i mentioned yesterday, those put immense value of life - an act of taking one is unthinkable in any form, and as such they struggle greatly in fight and are vegans. They also are awfully philosophical and most of they art includes abstract forms that are hard to comprehend.

What are humans natural advantages and adaptations that you could list?

>>52532946
>diversity of phenotypes
>stamina

>>52531851
It would be harder for a mercenary I guess, for the reasons you talked about. But maybe as a singolar member of a team who leaves the other members do the talk

>>52532946
>>52533007

>unsurpassed finger sensitivity

>>52532946
>opposable thumbs
>ability to stomach many different foods
>high intelligence
>group work
>reproduction and expansion akin to viruses

>>52532946
In relationship to?

>>52533206
>>52533241
Those can be easily applied to or even surpassed by other fantasy races.

>>52533264

>fantasy races

Well gosh, that kind of defeats the entire question doesn't it?

>>52532946
We're really really really fucking good at throwing things, no other animal can come close.

>>52532946

Long distance running

>>52532946
Numbers
Occasional ability to use innate magic

>>52533264
Should have asked a better question then

>>52532946
Anthropomorphism.

>>52532946
Forward-facing vision.

What do people here think about dividing up (fantasy) Human ethnicities in-games like we already do Elves and Dwarves? Underrated? For a reason?

>>52532946
>sexually active through-out the seasons, 24/7
>omnivorous

>>52536018
What do you mean? Splitting them up into High Humans, Wood Humans and Dark Humans? That's a bad idea for a good reason.

>>52537512

Indulge us and explain why.

>>52537512
Not necessarily High, Wood, Dark. But like, I have a group of humans that are mystical sailors, and a group that are berzerker knight-errants. I don't feel like the standard human traits can apply to both without players not giving a fuck about what ethnicity they picked.

>Human gives a free feat? I'll take that!
>Well what ethnicity are you?
>Eh, whatever

File: ask-again-later.jpg (48KB, 900x602px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 900x602px

>>52538148

>>52536018
You mean like blacks, whites?

>>52538848
See>>52538166

File: hittites.jpg (99KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

99KB, 1280x720px

I'm about to start off a new setting I'm possibly gonna use in a few years if I ever get a DnD 5e session together.
>everything is a dream
>the fabric of reality is kept up by objective thought, and objective thought is intersubjective.
>That means, the further you get away from civilization and other sentient life, the less sense everything makes.
>spells, creatures, emotion and all that becomes bigger out in the wild and nobody's gonna believe you when you come home to tell them about it.

>four distinct human cultures
>two halfling ones
>two or three elven ones
>two or three dwarven ones
>and a bunch of barbarians and other wild peoples

>supercontinent straddling the equator
>main part of the setting is in the northern temperate zone
>only a few islands past all that

>>52540461
>supercontinent
Pangea?

>>52540499
Yeah something along those lines. I figured a RPG setting only needs one primary landmass and I want to subvert the "sea on the left" meme.

>>52540550
What about weather system for such continent?

>>52533241
Humans suck at reproducing. If something magically had our intelligence with better design they would easily outbreed us.

Another weakness we have (also due to being bipedal) is that we do not prolapse our anuses, which is why humans need to wipe.

>>52532946
Dickishness.

File: Fiction map Take #4 - EAST AND CENTER FLATTENED GEOGRAPHY.jpg (3MB, 4283x3825px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 4283x3825px

Long work in progress. Thinking of adding more islands though I feel like some maps go a bit overboard with islands (I am thinking how in our world it's pretty much just the mediterranean, Eastern Asia by Japan, South-East Asia, the Caribbean that have a lot of large habitable islands. Though those areas tend to also have a shit-ton of islands), and add more land in the north by north-east. I am fairly settled with the South and West after a lot of editing ( http://i.imgur.com/2R5JNKx.jpg was it a long time ago), but now that I am going north by northeast I am needing more land.

Influence of warham fantasy is making me fall back in love with Egyptians despite having originally had them and written them out. Might make the southern river from a bit north of Aqnuarab down to Kaahrit and the borders of Ahbaz (Abyssinia) be "Egyptian".

Teal cities are the Innaki, Canaanite/mesopotamian inspired semites with Nakkar being the dominant entity and if given a more hegemonic status the namesake of the Nakkarumi state.

Ishuna are to be placed and were to be Iberian or slightly more arid/warm climate European 'barbarians" (so Oscans, samnites)

White northeast names were to be placed but had temporary spots and were the Drythani, more of the standard migration era Germanic mold. Arazalid a sense of slightly orientalized Rome (Like the Eastern Romans after Diocletian and especially after Justinian). Blue -u ending were bedouin of the Aramaic or biblical model. Ekkaggari being more Tuareg or modern conception of camel-based deep desert bedouin.

Niravahnam being Indo-Aryan or in this world Niravno-Raoxshani. Ghorzarid a more recent tribal migration of Raoxshani or Rruvasan nomads a'la Babur or Turkic India.

File: 1378653256393.png (101KB, 1235x474px) Image search: [Google]

101KB, 1235x474px

>>52546996

Raoxshanid as referred is Iranian. Arzoda/Svarya/Frasagard/possibly Dashtar being more plateau Iranian (settled aristocracy, deem themselves more civilized), Khashan being more rough and tumble hillfolk/mountain folk a'la Kurds and Lurs with a bit of that Khuzestan quality of being somewhat Arabized (in this world Innakized or Harbanized. Right, the -u ending are the Harbanu).
Ashragan and Baladur take vaguely more after the "every valley is a kingdom unto its own" "we half live nomadically" a'la the Iranian Caucasus or pre-Iranian caucasians.
Akhenai is more in the model of the Mycenaeans but is somewhat vacant in my long-term plot thinking. Rruvasan are missing, inhabit steppe north of Raoxshanids and are more Iranian/Slavic than Turkic in terms of language, names, or ethnicity.
Also missing the Lahiyya bordering the akhenai, who were to be kind of that "near oriental" quality of Lycia and the Hittites.
Raqqanid Arabs with more of that settled Yemeni/Omani/nabataea feel since the Harbanu are the bedouin.

More unique than just historical parallels are the nascent concepts of Shedim and Hwagari. Vague notion I am developing is man viewing the world in a threefold division: Man, "Demi-Men but not such a boring and stock fantasy term", and Shedim. Cannibalism is the chief quantifier. Demi-men and Man do not eat (normally) men, Shedim do. Hwagari are demi-men, originally inspired by the Daylami of Iran in the sense of hairy, doughty hillfighters. They developed into ditigrade hoofed and horned satyr-like folk, vaguely elf like but inspired by more the satyrs and maenads and Thracians. Was reminded of the Herodotius remark that if the Thracians could stop fighting they would conquer the world, and of all things that /tg/ "elf balkans" post

File: Fiction map Take #4 - WEST.jpg (2MB, 3000x4191px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3000x4191px

>>52547155
I like the concept, may expand them elsewhere. Shedim is a catch-all for those who eat the flesh and blood of man. This ranges from civilized Rakshasa of the afornamed island, ogres that resemble those half-cat or half-animal ogres in Persian miniatures, to properly barely sentient beastials.

Rather enticing visual that came to mind somehow was the idea of a kind of vampire dynasty ruling part or all of Raqqan. Almost or literally Albino minus the red eyes, wrapped up like Almoravids with either voluminous veils or elegant face-masks of wood and ivory and such. They might be shedim so far as they drink blood or eat the heart but not general offal and flesh.

Man and the Hwagari and other Demi-humans (want to work Jinn in but having trouble figuring out how/why) had pushed the Shedim to the peripheries of the older Eastern continent, but they exist in greater numbers in the West where the only two cultural human entities are the Jinguo and Maharasham, the latter perhaps being either refugees of the indigenous conquered by ancient Niravahni or simply the indigenous who once dwelt from that western southlands across Rakshasanam to Niravahnam. Relationship with Shedim could be different in the world world, not lovey dovey co-existence but not abject slavery to the Shedim either.

West last I left it, with vague placement of Jinguo and Maharashi yet to be placed.

File: Warhammer_AB_Chariot_Wars_full_RUS_4 (1).jpg (346KB, 1023x1489px) Image search: [Google]

346KB, 1023x1489px

>>52547243

Forgot the Yaoguai title was left there. Was originally aiming for the respective lingua francia of a region to define the cannibalistic other. The Innaki assuming a role akin to Aramaic or Sumerian/Akkadian and thus Shedim for most of the old world west of that Raoxshani mountain, the Niravahni having their own word for them, possibly the Germanic Drythan having their own word.

I haven't really gotten to plot as my mind operated more from a international affairs and interstate relations mindset, and I needed to see the layout of the world before I got to thinking of the history, the spread of religion, the vested interests of states or peoples. I am not sure if I want to write (for narrative rather than for PnP) with a perspective of an empire coming into be (think inspired by Cyrus or Babur or Shah Ismail) or more the perspective of an empire or regional order crumbling down - think collapse of the bronze age, the death of Alexander, the fall of Rome. I also really like the ancient world war quality of the Trojan war but am having trouble conceptualizing it, the Akhenai being right now more of an afterthought.

The fall of the bronze age as a loose inspiration does have an appeal of being a real epic tragedy of basically the whole world seeming to fall apart. If you play a bit loose with chronology you'd have the Exodus of the Jews, the Trojan war, the climatic Hittite-Egyptian battle culiminating in kadesh, the reaving of the sea people, the sprawl of the Kassite bedouin into Mesopotamia all happening in one miserable moment. This world isn't a clear cut bronze age analogue but rather ranges from dark ages to bronze age (and even medieval or renaissance with Ghozar-Babur) in inspiration. And I had vague notions of a religious war dynamic developing too a'la Crusades, but not so clear as "Not-Europe vs not-Arabia"
But that's not in itself a bad thing, to not quite have a clear cut historical parallel.

File: 9a7c65d6-6ec0-4cd9-a323-128cc87b76e8.png (217KB, 500x437px) Image search: [Google]

217KB, 500x437px

>>52546996
>>52547155
>>52547243
>>52547411
Shit son, I have trouble just constructing a tribe based on Bedouin cultures with Afghan weaponry. Can you tell me what sources you used and how long it took to amass all this? I have a lot of trouble distinguishing the different Middle Eastern cultures and the ilk. And do you know anything of note about the peoples and cultures of Central Asia and Russia? I'm having difficulty determining whether or not I want the eastern landmass of a country of mine to become the Eurasian Steppes or the Siberian Taiga.

>>52547603

I started with the map and nothing more than Khashan (My little favorite I loosely charted out back in 08-09 with an abortive NWN2 module my friends and I were going to do, then vaguely Afghan now more Kurdish since bachi boys is not all that appealing) about a year ago last month.

The bad news is a lot of the sources is kind of just over the years since my teenage days reading history books or researching stuff or playing total wars. Any myriad of books I don't remember the names of. The good news is I can try and scratch up some stuff to help you along and give points or brief synopses.

1) If you are in university check the library. It will depend on the university but even at my podunk drinking one freshman year I found a fair amount and with inter-library loans you can get the more rare and enigmatic stuff.
2) Check the historical wargaming topic here on /tg/. >>52525581 Osprey is not the best but it is good for synopsis/educated layperson kind of impressions usually giving a brief cultural view before going into arms, armor, military organization, ectera.
3) I am a huge fan of Harold Lamb and Robert E Howard. Easily the definitive book for me were Harold Lamb's pseudo narrative historical texts on the Crusades (Iron men and saints / Flame of Islam) and Genghis Khan and Tamerlane (March of the Barbarians and Tamerlane: Conqueror of the earth). I can't recommend the books enough, they have this incredibly rich writing style that is like a more mature Robert E Howard, and really does feel like a history book that is a storytelling at times. Think Herodotus or Thucycides but nto as dry.

Anyway, Harold Lambs books give you a glimpse into the societies of the Crusaders/Arabs, Persians of Genghis Khan's time, Genghis Khan and tamerlane. It's a little dated, it's a bit stereotypical but it helps to have you imagine a more multi-ethnic array, to imagine a semi-nomadic society. (continuing)

Urban setting set in 1980 with mixed races. PCs play as minor super heroes taking down a major crime syndicate. So basically Watchmen.

>>52523222

First of all, if fishing is from a lake or river then that puts a pretty hard cap on maximum amount.
But if the fishing community is on a lone island, like Pacific islanders, then that puts a cap on other resources like wood. And population control is a must.

Otherwise it varies by tech.
At low levels agriculture has an advantage as not-especially-seaworthy boats limit usable area.
At medium tech, fishing scales better as ships can travel further. Whereas farming quickly reaches a distance where it is more efficient to found a new settlement than walk to/from fields.
At industrial tech when refrigeration comes on line, both are limited only by wealth.

Aquatic race. What's their alternative for metal, assuming they only have thermal vents to forge shit on? Magic crystals? Very hard shells/coral? Just using metal? Trade?

Would forging metal on a thermal vent be possible?

File: 3940294902.gif (746KB, 245x190px) Image search: [Google]

746KB, 245x190px

>>52547737

>it ate my post when I misclicked

Give me a second to rewrite it. You may want to check back tomrorow or som such.

>>52548047
Oooh, sorry about that. It's no problem, I can wait.

>>52548047

You do not have to or really want to fully flesh out or make the reader/player have to consider all those nations and sub-nations and cities and tribes within. There is a triage of importance for countries. Take Warhammer fantasy and the humans: the Empire is the most important, Bretonnia the second most, ect until Ind and Nippon the least important. You need to know about all the provinces of the empire but you only need to know Ind exists and it's a bit like India. He can fill in the blanks.

I can have a few names, a reference to goods and trades with the low-priority state, or metaphors and similies have them imagine a place unnecessary for the main story. "the statue loomed high, carved of a dark basalt, as if one had captured one of those pantherine tribesmen of the jungles of Nesha, bound him in Arazalan mail to be frozen forever as some stone sentinel." Nesha is clearly sub-saharan african congo with lanky massai like natives with a fierce panther-like nature with a rich martial appearance. I will probably never have the Nesha in a story and do not need to fill in the details. But let's say I have a trader, some swashbuckling Raqqanid who boasts of sailing as far as distant Nesha. Now Nesha isn't just a word on a map but it's a steamy tropical jungle inhabited by dangerous and exotic savages.


The more important or relevant to the story a nation/race, the more the player will want to or need to know about sub-level dynamics: An empire player only needs to know Dark elves exist. A Helf or Delf player needs to know about all or most Delf houses. Delf player needs to know more about his chosen house, the Derpherps. He might only need to know the leader and theme of minor house Hurrdurr. A roleplayer playing the Hurrdurrs needs to know about his family. But interacting with an empire roleplayer said roleplayer wont' give too much of a shit about the politics of the Hurrdurrs, just the Dark elves at large towards humans. (Cont)

That aformentioned triage put into a more tangible application is the "Hierarchy of social association". Tl;dr is - the community a person associates with varies based on interpersonal interaction, and in turn the audience's need to know details about each hierarchy's level varies with the character and their interactions. We'll use four people as example. Me, an ancient greek hero named Hypatos, a modern Japanese girl named Tatsumi, and a guy from warhammer named Otto.

>Tier 1: Continent (if fantasy or ancient/medieval), Race if Modern.
Hypatos is European, I am white, Tatsumi is Asian, Otto is human.
>Tier 2: Sub-continental region
Hypatos is Southern European. I am North American or Western, Tatsumi is East asian, Otto is old worlder.
>Tier 3: Nation. The usually primary association that almost always has some importance. In pre-modern times this is usually 'race' (Greece is more the race than European to the ancients), in modern times the nation-state.
Hypatos is Ionian, I am American, Tatsumi is Japanese, Otto is Empire-er. Hypatos could go with Athenian instead of Ionian.
>Tier 4: Sub-nation. The most important association for intra-national interaction. States in a union, cities in a state, provinces, ethnic group.
Hypatos is Athenian. I am Virginian. Tatsumi is Osakan or Kansai. Otto is Middenlander.
>Tier 5: "Tribe" or major locality. Harder to quantify. But usually the most important grouping within a sub-nation. Could be regional, could be tribal, neighborhood.
Hypatos is the Leontis Tribe, I am Novan or Fairfaxian, Tatsumi is Kita/Umeda (north Osaka). Otto is Middenheimer.
>Tier 6: "Clan" or minor/intimate locality. Can again be geographic or blood.
Hypatos is from the Agathios family. I am from Herndon. Tatsumi is from _____ neighborhood. Otto is from _____ family or ____ neighborhood.

(Cont)

>>52548549

And I will get back to recommending books and sources to you, I am just on a spheel here.

Again, the importance of a tier rises and falls (to utter irrelevance) depending on the character and the nature of their interaction. Some settings will prioritize different tiers. By their nature the higher tiers (1-2) make it more difficult to have meaningful details. We know the themes of Southern Europeans - dark haired, lazy, good food, lascivious women, sun and shore and maritime, the hot blooded latin. But we don't need to know every single feature of the Southern Europeans if our story focuses on Ivar the Viking and his adventures in Britain. Maybe just a brief glimpse and vignette in commentary by the Spanish trader Edwardo. We don't need to know anything about 900 AD Italy's Tier 5 or 6 dynamics except maybe the name of Edwardo's city or a one line remark that his family is famous for selling musical instruments. We do need to know about the variety of Danish Tier 4-5-6 in the Danelaw of England, though.

So to make it relevant for you:

Your bedouin tribe with afghan weaponry (I can help you here, and I will when I am done with this shpeel) and Middle-Eastern cultures. Is the primary story dealing with an inter-bedouin war? If so, all they need to know is not-Persians are affluent, arrogant, aristocratic and love poetry and wine. If the story deals with an invasion of the Persians then you need to let them know about the major actors and politics of not-persia, which could include the history of how not-Media still smolders for losing to the not-Persians. Or how not-Arachosia is more rugged and rough and tumble than the effete and elegant Not-Bactrians.

>>52548704

In my setting if my story is primarily between the Raoxshanids and Nakkaremi (Innaki and their subjects), the most important players will probably be Arzoda, Svarya, Khashan, cities of Saharat and Nakkar. My protagonist is Khashan, the Shahenshah is Svaryan, the emperor is nakkari. The player will need to know how the culture of Khashan has been Innakized following a long conquest by the Nakkaremi. Or that the highlanders practice a more folk religion that grates the conservatism of the Arzodan. Or the major families of Nakkar.

If that story is the only story I am writing for this world at the moment, all they have to know about Mazhran goes back to >>52548382 in that all they are Berbers. Or if there isnt' a clear historical parallel all you have to know is the main theme and relevance. Warhammer: Story focuses on Orks and dwarfs of the badlands. All you have to know about Darkland Orks is they are enslaved by or often slave-raided by Chaos dwarfs. You don't have to get into the intricacies of what makes a darkland ork different than a badland ork different than a northern forests ork.


So for all this tl;dr, you just have to triage or hierarchize which of your middle-eastern not-cultures (I mean it respectfully, I use not-_____ out the wazoo) have to be made distinct and whole, which can just be evocative and not explicit. Now back to your questions next post.

File: Ghurids002.jpg (126KB, 1023x768px) Image search: [Google]

126KB, 1023x768px

>>52547603

Ok. Afghan weaponry.

Karwah: https://pastebin.com/usn7wcZn use the preview tinyurl here (I cannot post it here due to spam) Scroll down on the page I link, the inline paragraph. Summary: Karwah is a mantlet of bull hide stuffed with raw cotton. "When the footmen of Ghor place this shield upon their shoulders, they are completely covered from head to toe by it...when they close their ranks, they appear like unto a wall, and no missiles or arms can take any effect on it on account of the quantity of cotton cloth with which it is stuffed". Ghorids are 1100s-1200s Afghans who invade India and do more/further than Mahmud of Ghazni. I have never heard of this custom by any other Afghans or any others in the Middle-East. This alone invokes the idea that Ghorids are at least early on more pedestrian. That means more egalitarian, that means poorer. That means they are far less turkified or their Turkish aristocracy/generals have little impact because lol Turks fighting this way.

This is either a pavise style mantle or a Mycenaean style "Ajax tower shield" with the Telamonian Ajax strap.

Thus, your bedouin Tribe C is mostly of the mountains and highlands, they are poor but much more Asabiyyah, they have less influence from foreigners who might have introduced the equestrian arts or less influence from the richer bedouin who use horses.

Here is a hypothetical of the Karwah more like a pavise or mantlet.

>>52548830

Lakhmids vs Ghassanids. The Lakhmids were Arabs of the deserts next to the Tigris/Euphrates (whichever is the western one), Christians who were used as Foederati/Vassals of the Sassanids. Until Khusrow II done goofed, removed their rulers from power and absorbed them and was rewarded with a lot of irritable Lakhmid arabs aligning with those pesky lizard-eating Muslim Arabs 50 or so years later. Lakhmids were Christians. I believe Nestorian (Which was reviled and hated by the Eastern Romans).

Ghassanids were Arabs of the deserts of Syria and Jordan, foederati of the Romans. Funds started to subside for them with the 6th century troubles but they existed more or less by the time Abu Bakr and Omar knocked and put up a bit more of a loyal showing to the Romans. They were Christians and not Nestorians but I believe also Monophysites, meaning mild religious tension.

Cursory glance and they look like Arabs to me. Look further and you can either find or extrapolate:

-Lakhmids would have Persian advisors, Persian training, Persian help (A bunch of Persians were sent on a "And don't come back" exile to help the Yemenis against Aksum, ended up staying). As this author https://pastebin.com/rkPc3reg suggests, this means the Lakhmids would have followed an Iranian model of military tactics and been equipped by Iranian stocks when not their own. In addition, a few days or a week or so travel to Ctesphion means they are right next store to the very royal court of the Persians. But also, they are right next store to the thoroughly non-Iranian and thoroughly Jewish and Christian (and a bit Sabaean) population of Mesopotamia. So these Arabs have more Persian dress among them (Not all, but most of the elites), they might favor of the bow and sword over the lance/spear and sword, they adopt practices of the Jews and Aramaean Christians.

>>52532946
Sound investments in developing markets

>>52548950

-Ghassanids have Roman advisors, Roman training, Roman help. They are further afield from Constantinople and are less likely to have that strong influence of the Constantinople court. But they do have the Greek islands in an Aramaean or Arab sea of Syria influencing them. I believe some of the last gasps of Christian culture or leading figures in Syria in the early caliphate were of Ghassanid origin.

-Yemen is technically not even "arab" per se, is far removed from the Persian-Roman axis and experiences more direct influence of Abyssinia or India by virtue of trade. It develops a culture that is, until later bedouin migration starting before Islam but picking up afterwards, not at all bedouin. So none of that classical Arab poetry, none of the classical pre-Islamic arab troubadour/skald warrior-poet. No homeric duels like the early Bedouin influenced Muslim Arabs had with their enemies and themselves. Yemen is a bit sparse on details but one remark I remember is a story of an army pulling that Macbeth "Ghillie suit sneak up on a castle" with men using branches and leaves and such to sneak up to the castle walls.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_WUxkYlZVU3o0UVE - Gurps book on Arabs, good for RPG stuff.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_RmhYYzIyMEh4Nzg - Decline and fall of Sassanian Empire. I fear it's agonizingly dry read, but still useful.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_Sk9RdGJPTjFLWGc - Arabia and Arabs before the coming of Islam. Wholistic, gods, culture, art, architecture, ect.

>>52549009

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_T2dlYTFLbEtuNXM - Himyarite knight, some german (in english) scholarly essay thing on two or three Yemeni Himyarite relics depicting a scale clad horseman with lance and two infantry with axes. It's worth noting a prior scholarly paper suggested pitiful amounts of cavalry and only very late in Yemen's pre islamic history. This does not dispel either, but it can point to the presence of at least some cavalry and what they might look like.
-Go to the library and just check in the history or world or whatever sections for some wholistic book on the period you are interested in, or a period before or after it which might carry continuity. Just eye-browsing has paid off for me, that's how I found the aformentioned Harold Lamb, how I found my beloved high-school book on Zoroastrianism, how I've found any number of stuff. Just doing a search in google books and use one search's good hit to pursue another. Search A on Moroccan medieval military might bring up the bilad al makhzan where the government rules. Search B is Makzhan cavalry. I get a hit that mentions the irregulars who joined the tax-hunt (makhzani army going with arms to remind the arabs that "Hippity Hoppity get off my property" does not justify failing to pay the Sultan taxes) were called "Al-Mizraq" (Tip of the spear), recruited from loyal warlike tribes like Drid and Jlas. I search Al-Mizraq and it's a bust. I go back
and search "makhzan berber" to see how the state dealt with non-Arabs. I learn Alawids distinguished between unruly "barabir Al-Jabal" (Mountain berbers) and "Bababir Al-wata (lowland berbers)". Preview ends but now I can use the idea of the unruly highlanders and the obedient lowlanders.

>>52549138

Back to your questions:

In my setting I determined the macro-group and then the sub-groups. Raoxshanid is macro, Svarya is Micro. The Macro is the important thing, at a minimum I can just work with the macro. People dealing with Raoxshanids can refer to them as Raoxshanids, I only have to worry about customs of sex relations, religion, food, burial, war, politics of the Raoxshaids. Anything I want to diversify builds off that - Ashragani like to fight on foot as much as on horseback, prefer worship of the moon goddess, women have more say, but otherwise it's Raoxshanid.

So
>Distinguishing Middle Eastern cultures
Think in the macro-group. Arab, Persian, Turk, Caucasians who are not Turkic-Persian (Georgians, Circassians, Armenians), Albanians), Jews, Copts, Black slaves. You do not have to worry about the Ghassanid/Lakhmid division yet.

Think about the essential major culture points. Dress, food, way of producing their livelihood - sure most will be agrarian or pastoral in a pre-industrial society but "Turks are men of the sword and helmet, Persians are men of the pen and turban". What does this mean? If you are depicting a Crusades era Middle East - Persians can be fighters and soldiers but they are more the poets, the peasants, the gentry and bureaucracy, the mullahs and artisans. The turks are the fighters and warriors and all that involves. "Levantine Arabs keep that Phoenician spirit of industriousness, maritime activity and trade." "Most Egyptians are still humble Fellahin and as long as the nile rises and there is food and no violence they do not care if they are ruled by this king or that king or this faith or that faith". The role of women, the nature of equality or lack thereof between men, if it is more peaceful or more martial, more rural or more urban, more religious or less religious. Orthodox or folk religion and Sufism.

>>52549213

And since it's a cute quote and shows a simple quote or vignette can give you a world of imagination for a people. I think it was in a book about WW1 artillery that said there was a saying to this tune:

A Pommeranian (Prussian) marches until he dies.
A Berliner marches until he falls over in exhaustion.
A Bavarian marches until he is tired.
A wurttemberger marches until he doesn't feel marching anymore.

For Central Asia it's a complicated melange I can't begin to get into. Try books on Afghanistan, though north of Afghanistan it's a bit more homogenized in that you really only have Tajiks (Eastern Iranians) and various Turks or just the various Turks. Khanate of Khiva or other Khanates in the region in the 1600s-1800s were notorious slavers and Russia pursued conquest of the region in part because of it. The tidbits I can think of before I head out:

-The urban glory days of the region largely disappeared by the time Tamerlane and his immediate successors were gone. At that time you still had the "Men of the Pen" (Persians) for the cities and "Men of the sword" (Turks) being half in and half out. Check out the Tamerlane book by Harold lamb.
-With Tamerlane he did glorify Samarkand something fierce, brought slaves and artisans from his entire conquest to do it. Look up the Spaniard Clavijo who wrote about his visit to Tamerlane's court.
-The meme of the graveyard of empires really only begins in the 18th century and even then it's a largely false meme. The British lost in Afghanistan -before- their greatest heights, Nadir Shah beat the Afghans and they became among his best soldiers and his greatest (before madness) successor - Durrani. The Afghans did end the Safavids, but that was more of an invasion by Afghans of Iran than Iranians into Afghanistan (Outside of a siege of herat, but Herat in pre-modern boundaries was Iranian, not Afghan.

File: jezailllvariety.jpg (49KB, 739x350px) Image search: [Google]

49KB, 739x350px

>>52549284

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Panipat Is a gunpowder era battle of the 18th century but a fascinating read. Nadir shah (Turkic) or the Safavids (Turks ruling Persia but being Persian mostly) probably first created the Zamburak (A 1lb cannon on a swivel on a camel) but Panipat the 3rd is a stellar example of how much superior it was to the heavy and impossible to move showpiece artillery of the Indians.

-Jezails. Look into it if gunpowder era. Again, nadir shah seems to have really created the emphasis or professionalism of jazayerchi but they are very heavy (often with a separate gun rest) very long and very high caliber vis-a-vis a kentucky longrifle and still a bit higher than a brown bess muskets. Rifled into the 19th century, not sure if earlier, often cannibalized from British or imported muskets to India. Used as cavalry mounts or as sniper rifles. High degree of accuracy, great lethality, Ian of forgotten weapons shows you can easily shoulder it (not just hold the crook in your armpit) and aim like a normal rifle.

Importantly, Afghans and Arabs and others did not use paper cartridges but rather a powder horn, allowing measuring out for calibrating your shot. Think the stories we burgers had about our frontiersmen sniping the british and you have the Afghan infantrymen.

-There's that Afghan khyber pass knife/short sword but I don't know much about it.

Russia: Not my area of expertise. Complicated mix of Russians, less slavified Russians, Turks, even Buddhists north of the Caucasus. Remarkably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agvan_Dorzhiev was a Russian agent who sought to encourage belief in Tzar Nicholas the II being the "White Tara/Khan" a female Boddhistatva with some associations of deliverance from their enemies or salvation of Tibet and all that. Spooked the brits out of their wits.

>>52549379
>-There's that Afghan khyber pass knife/short sword but I don't know much about it.
I think Matt talks a bit about it on his videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EWVJ4m4Ius

>>52549379
Cossacks are simply put the collection of peasants, frontiersmen, soldiers, mercenaries, nomads, whatever who fled into border marches of the Volga and Don. The simple and important points are: Proudly orthodox Christian, very egalitarian and democratic in a warrior brotherhood kind of way, I do not think they were only cavalrymen or if they preferred fighting horseback or not, have had a mixed relationship with the Russians being both their valued shock troops and loyal sons but also a bit of brutalizing by the Russians, have played a big part in the pogroms of Jews in the region, fiercely independent.

I would say most Cossacks are slav but it would be foolish to assume there weren't Circassians or Turks among them.

Circassians are complicated. They are indo-European or Iranian speakers just a bit north-west-ish of the caucasus, possibly also in the Crimea region. Notorious, infamous, world famous for their beautiful women. Blondes, ottomans collected them in harems like Weebs collect loli waifus. Their men? Well, when the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt switched over from Cuman/Kipchak slave-warriors to Circassians slave-warriors they went to shit. And I think when they got more Circassian mamluks again before Napoleon came along they went to even more shit.

I would think for a layperson they fit into the Caucasus cultural archetype you have with Georgians and Chechens and others - "Every valley is a kingdom", the Arabic tribalism of "I against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, my cousin brother and I against my tribe, my brother/cousin/tribe/I against the arabs, cousin/brother/tribe/me/arabs against the world" - a perfect encapsulation of the Middle-East Tribal spirit.

File: Tulunid and Fatimid black slaves.png (640KB, 936x1160px) Image search: [Google]

640KB, 936x1160px

>>52549426

Neat! Thanks.

>>52549431

That's all it in a wordy speel. The tl;dr as best as I can would be:

-Worry about the macro cultures (Persian/Kurd/Arab/Turk, then Berber/Afghan/Caucasian/Coptic/Jewish/Greek), diversify micro cultures within (Arab tribal confederacy A or Yemenis vs Syrians, Tajiks vs Iranians)
-Karwah for pre-gunpowder Afghans, Jezail and Khyber pass dagger >>52549426 for post gunpowder afghans. Khyber knife likely precedes gunpowers.
-Since I forgot, look into Daylami. Google in books and if you want sites "Daylami Axe" "Daylami Sassanids" "Daylami shield". They were Elburz or South of the Caspian Iranians but their military style is likely how Afghan hillmen fought.
-Persians "Men of the pen/Turban", Turks "Men of the sword/helmet".
-Think vaguely of Persians like Byzantine Romans, renaissance Italians, effete era French. The cultural hegemons, the language of sophistication some secular literature and court.
-Turks as Germans - brutish, tough, love to fight, born leaders Okay don't think of Germans in that case dohohoho, kings and conquerors.
-Arabs as kind of Italians in the sense of being the merchants, mercantile, Arabic assuming the role Latin did in the West as 100% sole religious text. Became militarily almost irrelevant by 1300s.
-Berbers have no real comparison, they are kind of the half-savage, poorly equipped except for the arabized berbers, those of the hills and interiors are fiercely independent. The non Arabized berbers have a far greater female friendly culture. Lineage is even maternal. Not matriarchal by any measure though.
-Slave Warrior phenomenon. Look up Ghulam, Mamluk, Janissary, Abid (with or without the quantifier "slave warrior)". Abid being the black slaves, the rest covering white and Asian slaves.
-"mawali Convert". Get summaries there, but basically non-Arab converts to Islam in early period.

>>52549520
Gotcha, thanks for the trove of resources Anon! This is really gonna help me organize my research and get my work together.

File: Map.jpg (822KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

822KB, 1024x768px

Super WIP chunk of setting map. Aside from roads, cities, forests, lakes, etc. what needs to be done? Coastlines jaggier?
General theme I want is "shit got fucked, but it got better". Apocalypse nearly happened ~50 years ago, world still shows some of the damage.

>Note: Mountain range keeping out everything-is-fucked ruined wasteland is not entirely natural, most likely
>Landmass to the right (closer to center of world map) used to be in one piece until shit went down

>>52549691

The super smooth section of coast on the SE coast of whiteland and beige-brown next to it needs to be eroded more.

The jaggedness of the top down channels (both the island and not) look really off with the flat sides and smooth circular scallops. I am not sure if that is a limitation of enkarda or wahtever it's called or not. You did a better job on the coastlines on the south-west green territory except for the inland section where it suffers the same jagginess, but not as bad.

If jagginess in Enkarnate or whatever it's called can only look like the top-down channel regions then I would say do not make anything jaggy, make it smooth but bent like your south-east white section. Because better that then the scalloped odd looking jagginess of the far right of the map.

File: 1425678442422.png (38KB, 151x159px) Image search: [Google]

38KB, 151x159px

>>52499324
I have an alien species that, in its base state, resembles a clear ooze. When ingested or manages to get into something, it takes over its mental and motor functions and hijacks the host body

My question is: what would this race's motivation be? Just wanton infection and reproduction? Is that too shallow? Should I go for a hivemind sort of thing or is that overdone?

Quick question: Which is more dangerous, a shallow sea (20-30ft) in a storm, or the deep sea in a storm? Specifically for a ship traversing either one?

>>52549825
To experience the world through the bodily functions and senses of the host. You can't do much while being an ooze.

>>52549931
So instead of a natural step in their lives they do it out of some kind of aspiration? Maybe both?

>>52549967
I guess this depends on what you want to do with them.

>>52550055
They were kind of, for a lack of a better phrase, Neutral Evil of sorts.

File: 15b963d1dfdd344893b23c952aa2b8de.jpg (24KB, 381x600px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 381x600px

Theres a new cold war between Mars, Venus, the belt and the nations of earth, i dont want earth to be just united, what would be a good catalyst to have started the new space race /Manifest destiny 2.0? WW3? And what nations do you expect to have the most force projection across the system?

>>52550692
>what would be a good catalyst
Pollution, used up resources and the promise of unlimited riches out in space.
It depends on roughly when the story is set. Judging from now, the most likely candidates for space empires would be the US, the EU, China, Japan, Korea, maybe Russia. If you wanna be more creative, put in India, Brazil, Argentina or an upcoming African nation. Indonesia or Philippines, too.

Are proxima centauri and alpha centuari the same system? I know proxima is an range dwarf and alpha is binary

>>52552399

I'm pretty sure they are. Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri are all stars in the Alpha Centauri system, with Proxima Centauri in orbit around Alpha Centauri.

>>52552508
So its a trinary system then? Or does proxima orbit at the edge of the solar system with A and B as the 'nucleus' of the system. Wow 3 suns, that would be far too hot for any earth like worlds

>>52552527

It's not necessarily too hot, Proxima Centauri b is in the habitable zone, and an exoplanet. You might want to look and see whether or not it fits the bill for any planet you're looking to build. I'd imagine with 3 stars it could easily get fried with radiation every once in awhile, but I'm not an astrophysicist. It does seem like Proxima Centauri is far enough way from either star for that to happen though.

>>52552574
Could have a nice arid moon with a Jupiter esque gas giant shielding it from extra heat from AB orbiting proxima and further in theres more worlds in the goldilocks zone, which would be pushed out a bit more because of the added heat and rads.

>>52552399
>>52552527
Alpha Centauri A and B orbit around a gravitational center, their distance ranging between that of Pluto and our sun and Saturn and our sun. As for Proxima Centauri,
>Ever since the discovery of Proxima it has been suspected to be a true companion of the Alpha Centauri binary star system. At a distance to Alpha Centauri of just 0.21 ly (15,000 ± 700 AU),[72] Proxima Centauri may be in orbit around Alpha Centauri, with an orbital period of the order of 500,000 years or more. For this reason, Proxima is sometimes referred to as Alpha Centauri C. Modern estimates, taking into account the small separation between and relative velocity of the stars, suggest that the chance of the observed alignment being a coincidence is roughly one in a million.
So yeah, it might be another star within the same system, but it's far, far out there. In addition to that, it's just a red dwarf, significantly smaller, cooler and less dense than Sol.

File: Alpha centuari ABC not so easy to reeeachh.png (115KB, 1000x1000px) Image search: [Google]

115KB, 1000x1000px

>>52552644
Thats cool, standing on a planet in the system, either would just look like a particularly bright star

>>52529440
Robin Hobb's books had something like that, ships made of dragon foetuses. Three captain of the same bloodline have to die on it's deck for the ship to awoke and become sentient, so they can only sail with a children of the same family on board

File: Artist's_impression_of_the_planet_orbiting_Proxima_Centauri.jpg (7MB, 8000x5196px) Image search: [Google]

7MB, 8000x5196px

>>52552711

For reference for the sky here's an artist's rendition of what Proxima Centauri b might be like. The nearest star in the image is Proxima Centauri.

>>52552725
>dragon fetus
What the actual fuck?

>>52505045
Take a history class. Any of 'em. You'll find at least one instance of what you're looking for

>>52525116
Congratulations..?

>>52538166
Just make new stats for them. Have it care about nationality instead of anything else. How racially diverse each of the corresponding nations/whatever are are up to you though

>>52540461
Okay?

>>52555706
>Just make new stats for them
That's what I'm currently doing. I just was asking if the concept was fine. Most humans in-setting would identify with their home city before race anyway.

Example: Juvo is a Calamarine Human who lives in the otherwise Ronish city of Akkide. If you asked him what he was, he'd say Akkidean first, then clarify further if he caught on that wasn't what you meant.

>>52555847
Concept is fine, good even

I'm reminded of good ol' attempts/discussion to divorce biological traits from societal ones altogether across the races. While it could be interesting, I'm of the opinion that the payoff is not worth the work

File: confusion.png (298KB, 600x512px) Image search: [Google]

298KB, 600x512px

>>52555706
>Okay?
Whew lad, don't overdo it. You know posts have a limit of 2000 letters.

File: 1395730084384.jpg (5MB, 2456x3337px) Image search: [Google]

5MB, 2456x3337px

>>52556315
Cool. I've got humans split into about 6 broad groups so far, hopefully different enough.

>>52509119
Sounds pretty awesome, anon. Would love to hear more stories about the world.

I've got my first session this Saturday, also set in 19th century Imperial Russia, but with elements of Lovecraftian horror, Southern Gothic and Weird West thrown in. Pretty much going for a Darkest Dungeon feel. I can't wait.

>>52556583
>Sounds pretty awesome, anon. Would love to hear more stories about the world.
:3

I'll post more stuff once I'm off my phone.

And your setting sounds cheeky breeky! Tell me more!

I'm curious, what would something that's pastoral, large, primarily found in savannahs, meat is high in protein and moderately fatty. Something like a bison, or cow but thinner hair?

Guys how does time work in other planets? I get that planets can have shorter/longer days or years because of how quick they can go around their star or spin on their axis, but would someone on another world know the future of earth lets say?

>>52556843
No?

You're thinking of time dilation from relativity. Mercury spins faster than earth and has a very short year, but that just means from Earth we can observe multiple Mercury years with a good enough telescope.

If you're looking at Earth from several lightyears away, you would see the past, not the future.

>>52556984
Okay so lets say im on a planet in the sirius system, i call a guy in london, am i calling him in real time or am i calling him a week ago (assume we have instant communication)? like how you call a guy in brazil when its day where you are but night where he is.

>>52556748
Water buffalo.

>>52557102
Assuming truly instant communication, and bare in mind that I am in no way an expert on this, you probably just talk to whoever's there at the moment. As in, in the present. That's not taking into account the time it would've taken you to get to Sirius. Which depends on if FTL is a thing.

File: guildhall.jpg (154KB, 1024x473px) Image search: [Google]

154KB, 1024x473px

My players enjoy the idea of an Adventurers' Guild, so I'm toying with some ideas for my next campaign.

So far I've got:
>Guild provides funeral expenses + aid to survivors
>insurance for property lost/damaged while adventuring (horses, wagons, goods, gear, etc), 50% off cost of replacement
>reduced/waived taxes and fees while in Guild cities, such as no gate/road tolls
>only place within setting that dragoncrafting is available
>access to dependable hirelings and NPCs with PC levels

Trying to determine what would a fair and balanced membership fee for such services. Apart from a monthly fee, I'm also thinking that guild receives 1 share of treasures acquired while on guild quests.

Suggestions are very much appreciated

>>52557387
Oh god fuck physics. Im just gonna hand wave it as comm buoys quickly pass on communications and calling a guy on earth is just like two people calling from different time zones.

>>52549900

Deep for a boat - bigger waves.
Shallow for a ship - hitting rocks or bottom.

>>52557477
I'd say the Guild should have rates, like insurance rates. Copper Level Parties pay a tiny fee and get the barebones package, while a Platinum Level Party pays huge monthly fees, but get shit like comp'd Planar Travel and Resurrections.

>>52557534
>Oh god fuck physics
Wisely said. You will go far. Relatively. :3

>>52557609
So sailing on a shallow sea (like Sea of Azov) in a storm is suicide?

>>52557835
the guild is definitely going to have an apprentice, journeyman, master type progression to it, so I can probably shuffle better benefits into that. Thoughts on what tier gets what?

i thought an appropriate requirement to advance from journeyman to master would be to slay an adult dragon, but I haven't thought of what separates an apprentice and journeyman

>>52558025
Depends on how silly vs serious you wanna go.

Personally, I'd just set it so any Party can pay for whatever membership they can afford.

>>52556843

There are several things here.

First is timezones.
Key to those is: it is not time that is different but the clocks.
Think of them as different work shifts. One guy wakes up at the time when other guy comes home from work. But if some breaking news happens then both will see it at the same time.
Other planets complicate it further in that their day/night cycle is not just shifted but also shorter or longer. But if it is humans on both sides then they would probably use same hours/minutes/seconds so "call you in 4 hours" still works, even if it is noon in London and sunset on Mars Settlement 17.
Calendar days is more complex. But if the local cycle is very different from Terran (which humans are adapted to) or the colony is very small then they would probably live by Earth Time anyway.

Second is light speed lag. If you do not have FTL communications then it takes time for words to fly to the other person and back.
One can actually see it on TV news today, when someone calls in with a videophone. After anchor finishes talking there are a few seconds before the caller starts - this is the time for the signal to make the round trip + perhaps some processing.
At interplanetary distances the lag time gets longer, to the point where text becomes preferred and speech/video is more "Youtube response" than actual dialog.
At interstellar distances it is years, so yeah.

Third is time dilution. Time is slower for objects at higher speeds. And in more intense gravitational fields I think?
From the point of view of the other side, it is basically slow motion I guess.
But again, time is "basically same" just one side lives and reacts slower.

>>52558270
Thanks dude. To combat the com lag would an extensive series of long range comm buoys/sattelite work? Humans in this setting have expaded across sol and our only just sending guys to the centauris

>>52558365
No, they would not remove the lag.

But since you said there's instant communication in the setting, conversations work just like normal telephone calls.

>>52557874

Well it usually takes a lot of water for a big-ass storm to form and persist.
But if one is present then basically yes. Even staying at the coast can be dangerous without a wave breaker.

As soon as a ship gets stuck on any thing, the wave impact switches from lifting to smashing. For a pre-modern ship that's doom right there.

>>52558365

Any relays would make the lag worse. Because in addition to flying through space the signal would need to travel through the circuits of the relay. Much like hops/traceroute on the internet.
Making a signal stronger makes it possible/easier to receive at greater distance, but does not make it faster.

If the communications are Faster Than Light then of course it is up to you. Might well be that there are high prio lines with no lag, and economy ones that get squeezed into leftover bandwidth and (random) lag like gaming on dialup.

>>52558567
i like limiting the tech in my stuff. Dont know why, ill go with the buoy system idea, it feels more realistic to me and a challenge interstellar colonists would have to put up with. Now onto more interesting matters, how bad do you think people would flip their shit if we foud humanoid life? As in its face and body is practically human but its blue , has an antenna etc

>>52558567
>As soon as a ship gets stuck on any thing, the wave impact switches from lifting to smashing. For a pre-modern ship that's doom right there.
Alright, so IF a storm kicks up in a shallow sea, then you'd basically go from being way up high to FUCKED against the seafloor every few seconds until there wasn't a ship anymore?

>>52554534
Dragon's cocoon to be more precise. Dragons lay eggs from wich hatch gint sea serpents, who then make cocoons with the help of other dragon and their human servants and some magic mud you find in only one river, and transform into dragons.
But then volcanic stuff happens, dragons dies, human servants hide the cocoons and then dies, magical mud river becomes so acidic wood ships are dissolved in a few days.
A few hundred years later, human discover the river and the cocoon, realize dragons cocoon is immune to the acidic waters and build ship with it and trash the dragons foetuses, but their memories lives in the ships and eventually become sentients.

>>52559479
Well. That's disturbing. Thanks though!

Is it exaggerated if a single group (group = celts or scythians) dominate a whole (sub)continent?

>>52560120
How large is the continent?
To what historical era is the setting comparable?
What is the tech level?
What are the other peoples in the continent?
What is its general history?
What about the surrounding areas?
Where did the dominant people come from?
Are there any subdivisions among them?

>>52560120
Additionally: what do you mean with "dominate"?

>>52560120

Short answer, no. Long answer, answer this >>52560263

>>52558897

Depends on size of storm vs depth of water and draft of the ship..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale
has some data on wind vs wave height. Can compare this with windspeed warnings/records to see how big a storm must be and how common such storms are.

Also, a ship without engine - uses oars or sails - can be pushed into rocks or shallows by the wind. Anchors help but they can get dragged or line torn.

This is one of the main reasons why natural harbors were such a big deal throughout history: ships could shelter there in relative safety.

>>52558897
Not quite like that. Once a ship is skewered on rocks or proper runs aground, the waves cannot just lift it due to friction and suction. So they smack it on sides or wash over it.

>>52565352
>>52565897
Hm. Alright, so with my Shallow Sea, anything approaching 7 on the Beaufort Scale will just, just Fuck everything up.

File: 1485013344617.jpg (220KB, 828x1280px) Image search: [Google]

220KB, 828x1280px

Gods and mighty Spirits

What Immortal Beings inhabit/infest your world? How many are benevolent? Malevolent? Doing their own thing?

Optional: A Game!

Common immortal spirit-beings tend to include Celestials (angels), Infernals (devils/demons), Fey, and Eldritch Things. Take one of these, and CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THEM. This change cannot make the spirit completely opposite of their original nature (Lawful Good cannot become Chaotic Evil), but everything else is fair play!

File: 1438563510069.jpg (482KB, 1333x900px) Image search: [Google]

482KB, 1333x900px

>>52567099
Alright, I'll start.

>Immortals
Among the Immortal Powers are the current Elysian Gods, the previous Primordial Gods, the creator Titans, the crystal-born Elohim, the mysterious Leviathan, the cruel Devils of Hell and the Demons of the Abyss, the Ancestors, the Heroes, and the Eidolons.

>Titans
Beings of pure Mana/Chakra/Ka-type energy that makes up the cosmos. Exist as both a multitude and a single being, and all in between. Distant creator-Gods.

>Primordials
First generation of Gods. Largely drunk on power and Chaos-orientated. Possibly used to include Leviathans, Devils, and Eidolons. Overthrown and largely imprisoned by...

>Elysians
Second generation of Gods. Far more Orderly and Lawful. Didn't like watching life struggle and die pitilessly whenever a Primordial decided to just fuck their shit up, so rebelled and overthrew them. Their rule extends to the material and elemental world.

>Elohim
Physical "echoes" of mana crystals, and as old as the world. Maintains a secret society among mortals, helped the Elysians seize power in return for a stable biosphere for the planet.

>Leviathan
Sea Creature of unknown origin, unspeakable power. Its dreams occasionally spawn Kraken and other monstrous behemoths into the material world. Possibly Primordial, or older.

File: 1409959869866.jpg (642KB, 1344x2000px) Image search: [Google]

642KB, 1344x2000px

>>52567751
>Devils
Elysians who lost at straws and now reside in the Underworld guarding all the worst shit the Primordials ever cooked up in the war. Devils are Hell's Jailers, and they enjoy testing mortals.

>Demons
Beings of pure chaos, lesser Primordials. Managed to escape the end of the war. They hide in the corners of the world, eating souls and glutting themselves on whatever mischief and violence they can cause.

>Ancestors
The collective souls of everyone who has ever died. Some manage to collect themselves into gestalt entities with distinct personalities, making them a sort of Undead God. Often represent concepts important to mortals, but unimportant to Elysians (Love, Civics, War).

>Heroes
Individuals who have collected enough Mana over their lifetimes to become Gods in and of themselves (exactly like Cold Fusion). Most varied bunch of deities, often focuses of cults.

>Eidolons
The spirits of Nature. These are essentially Fey (in their alien mindsets) crossed with the idea of lesser gods and spirits (Shinto-style Kami). Tend to have dual-natures to them. Corrupted Eidolons are scary as fuck, since one could be the Ocean, or a Hurricane.

Is there enough inherent conflict in this cosmology so far? I like to have as much conflict (violent or otherwise) in settings so my players have as many options as possible depending on what they want to do.

>>52567751
>>52567793
This is good, I like this. What is mana like in your world?

>>52568705
Phoneposting, so will be brief. Mana is Life Energy similar to Ki, but it's also out in the world like the Force, sort of like the Stoic concept of Pneuma. It's the energy that makes Matter, Time, People, etc work. And it comes in States like matter.

Gods and other divinities' mana is in a "Fire" or "Plasma" state. Stars are the same way, and so I treat existing on this level as being Nuclear. Eternal, powerful, tends to burn.

Solid or Earth level is the physical universe and most physical things. All things you can touch are supported in that existence by Solid mana.

Liquid or Water level is Life. It is the inner Vital Energy within all living things that makes them alive.

Air or Gas state is Void. It fills the space of the cosmos, and the fundamental forces of the cosmos are formed from it (Time, Gravity, Light, etc).

>>52557477
>monthly fee
Adventurers are going to be out there, travelling and doing adventuring stuff with no possibility to send monthly fees back home. They will have to pay in advance for the expected duration of their travels.

>>52570580
Air is probably also mental thinking energy. And ghosts. Probably other stuff.

What are some alternate names for Bards? Preferably non-European.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with halflings. I have this idea ruminating in my head that halflings are to humans, like goblins are to hobgoblins. They're basically a smaller form of human. They can be born from humans, and a human baby can be born from halflings. I'm thinking the two are so closely tied that you don't know if your child will be a halfling or a human until they either keep growing or stop.

File: 1467832630871.jpg (24KB, 500x300px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 500x300px

Alright, so I need another round of advice, this time on my setting's races.

I feel like I'm missing something with the current lineup. Note: I say -folk a lot, but they're almost all non-furry. It's just quicker to break it all down to -folk.

>Diverse Humans (subraces included)
>Promotion-obsessed Oozefolk
>Gypsy Sharkfolk
>Cannibal Frogfolk
>Secret Crystalfolk

I recently removed an Ogre-like race due to a major human subrace fitting their role as Big Motherfuckers much better. And I've been considering a Bird-folk race based loosely off sea birds.

Am I missing any obvious niches or styles of races? It's a low-tech water-world, if anyone cares.

>>52576863
Shit man, I did the same thing once. Never got to run it, so I don't have any practical advice. Did you consider making Gnomes into small Elves?

>>52576951
>Did you consider making Gnomes into small Elves?

I considered making them not small elves, but a sort of peasantry to the elven aristocracy.

File: Harpies.png (47KB, 1080x1080px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 1080x1080px

I done did some Harpies and figured I'd share it with /wbg/!

Harpies fill a rather unique ecological niche in what is otherwise a monster-bloated-world filled with wyverns, dinosaurs, dragons, drakes, and other such fellow monstrous beasts; instead of developing fantastical biological defenses or weapons... they made themselves look like people.

They're not even completely sapient, but (most) people still don't feel entirely comfortable killing them, never mind EATING them.
Though, mileage varies since they 'are' still carnivores; watching them crush a lizard in their talons before eating it raw isn't exactly endearing- neither is their vulture-like habits of jamming themselves face first into carrion to gorge upon whenever available.

Most of the time though, people just try to shoo them away from having to look at their weird bird tits- especially older ones.

>>52576985
Sounds good. I had a setting where basically the same thing happened. Goblins, Halflings, and Gnomes attached themselves to bigger races as clients. Of course, secretly, all the small races were the same race.

>>52577600
Its like a reverse pigeonman from Ugly Americans.

>>52576951
>Peaceful whale people who just farm
>Grumpy crab people
>Deep south crocodile/alligator dudes
>Really quiet and sleepy clam dudes
>Smooth talkin eels
>Hyped up drug taking dolphins
>Zealot-like arctic insectoids

>>52578771
I forgot
>Tropical iguanas who just like to make people happy
>Dude bro turtles
>Communist coral

File: 520.jpg (587KB, 1200x1606px) Image search: [Google]

587KB, 1200x1606px

Can a smart man tell me the difference between types of sub-light(that, is, non FTL)propulsion systems for spaceships?

I look on atomic rockets, but it goes over my head.

I was thinking of just having a few types: Chemical Rockets(What we got now), Plasma Propulsion(and various sub types), Ion Drives(And various sub-types), and Solar Sails(these being more of a back up or "cruise control" type).

BUt cant think of anything else, and I dont know how to rate them in accordance with each other(which is more advanced? which is more powerful? Yada yada)

Also, I was thinking of having older radioisotope rockets that have long fallen out of favor and usage(with its heat issue, the fact that it only has one speed and cant be throttled, the fact its nothing more than a giant nuclear bomb with a crew cabin attached, constantly glowing with rads, ect), but are coincidentally good for being used as a giant, radioactive flame thrower.

Ideas? Halp?

File: Ah-Rp[1].jpg (28KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

28KB, 640x480px

>>52578598
>Its like a reverse pigeonman from Ugly Americans.

While not intentional; that is a pretty apt comparison.

Also, I need to rewatch Ugly Americans.
Loved that series.

>>52506894
Bumping to ask this again.

Didn't realize this thread has been going that long, almost posted that question again.

>>52581664
Nubian Iguana people

File: 400.jpg (402KB, 1100x1470px) Image search: [Google]

402KB, 1100x1470px

>>52579120
bump for answers, please

>>52579120
Atomic rockets shoot a nuclear warhead behind the ship, then detonate it against a giant shock absorber to reduce the jerk of the explosion.

I think plasma and ion can both be considered the same type?

The differences are going to be efficency and fuel rarity.

This sounds really deep in the weeds and no fun, and I enjoyed kerbal space program.

>>52582106
Chemical and atomic are good for climbing out of gravity wells, where one needs a lot of acceleration very fast. The Gs are main measure here, with fuel efficiency second.

Ion, some kinds of Plasma, Solar Sails and Photon drives are better for moving in the void. Where one can take their time accelerating because the trip will take a while anyway. The main measure would be max speed which relates to the speed of the exhaust I think. And Gs in second place.

>>52579120

Anon check out a guy on youtube named Isaac Arthur. Pretty good guy even though he has a lisp and covers the stuff you're looking into.

File: History.png (24KB, 648x648px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 648x648px

>>52577600
>>52504482

On a personal note: I was digging through my world building artwork and did a "side by side" comparison of the harpies I've drawn since I started drawing in late 2015.

Feels pretty okay to see I'm not getting worse (since I'm horrified of stagnation/getting worse), but I'm not 100% sure if I've actually gotten better or if I've just.. Now able to put in more effort, faster, and have a more scrutinizing quality control.
I dunno.
Maybe wrong thread.

Using a map of Earth and completely redrawing the borders for a fantasy setting; bad idea or not?

>>52582459
> Isaac Arthur.
>The Spaceship Propulsion Video

Oh fuck, this is perfect.

Exactly what I was looking for.\

Thank you.

Anon delivers again.

File: Lust.jpg (24KB, 300x290px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 300x290px

>>52582693

Oh anon stop it's my pleasure.

>>52582594
I've done it before, as had a few people. Go for it.

>>52582594
If you don't rename all of North and South America to America I'll be very upset

>>52583734
What about Afro-Eurasia?

>>52583771
Did you mean Afreurasistralia?

>>52582594
It's lazy is what it is. Whether or not that's bad is up to you.

>>52583800
>Tfw I don't know anything well enough to make a planet
I'm sorry anon Earth just works so perfect for everything.

>>52583798
I think he meant Eufricastiania.

File: 1489387348610.png (142KB, 434x434px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 434x434px

>>52583854
Oh I was getting it confused with Antafricasiastralirope

My brain hurts

>>52583843
Trying to make excuses really doesn't accomplish anything. Like I said, it's lazy. If you're ok with that, whatever.

>>52583873
I don't know how continents, tides, mountains, gravity, weather, whatever, works. You're asking a man who has never even seen the moon to fly a rocket to it.

>>52583889
Stop seeking approval from him. It's not the worst idea in the world so just roll with it. Just alter it a bit if your players call you out in a negative way

>>52583889
Are you not ok with it being lazy then? Why are you reacting so much to me telling you that? I've also not told you that you need to know anything. All I've done is tell you that you're taking the lazy way out of a creative hobby.

I'm also not asking you to do anything. It would be more like me telling you that buying a rocket kit was lazy when you could get some pipe, a cardboard tube, and mix your own apcp, but that and doodling a map aren't really comparable hobbies. As one requires you to hit dangerous chemicals with a hammer, and the other requires you to have any form of drawing medium and a thought.

Alright let's settle this!

Birdfolk: wings and arms seperate? Or combined?

File: no but wait no.gif (2MB, 316x213px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 316x213px

>>52577600
>>52582558
>males have larger breasts

>>52584204
In my setting the rule for humanoids is as follows: 4 limbs or less = evolved, more than 4 limbs = created.

File: dankest dunyen.png (447KB, 1725x1317px) Image search: [Google]

447KB, 1725x1317px

Setting up something for a Hexcrawl, going for a Darkest Dungeon/Darklands kind of dark ages feel with a mostly unexplored, very dangerous wilderness where all the things your grandma warned you about are real.

I'm hoping for some feedback on geography, since realistic terrain isn't something I've studied a ton.

Map is 12 miles per hex, 7 miles on a side. Each hex will have one or two major features keyed to start and others will be filled in (It's not like there's only one thing worth doing every hundred+ square miles)

So the terrain here is basically a big valley/depression leading to the coast. Most of the coast is rocky cliffs but where the river system lets out the elevation runs down to sea-level and there's a saltwater wetland, getting woodier as you go north. The light blue that makes up most of the land is moorland. The rest should be pretty self-explanatory. Forested foothills and low mountains, Appalachia-style, a road that follows the river where it can but avoids dense terrain where monsters hang out.

So what about the geography here could I improve to make it more natural? How could I wrangle some more terrain diversity? Given the shape of the land is there anywhere I could realistically stick some dry terrain or badlands for the PCs to explore? I'm imagining most of this being ugly gray rainy from the ocean winds but if I can squeeze out more diversity that'd be nice.

Thanks, famalam.

File: Alpha centuari ABC not so easy to reeeachh.png (213KB, 1000x1000px) Image search: [Google]

213KB, 1000x1000px

this okay for a system map?

>>52585709
Not really.

>>52586148
Need more than that my dude. Too rough?

File: 1491569273320.png (54KB, 147x548px) Image search: [Google]

54KB, 147x548px

>>52585709
You don't need all those rings. This right here is the only part of the picture carrying information. A one-dimensional scheme is enough. If you wanna do the full thing, have the plants all flying about so that info about their relative distances is available.

File: Orc_Warcamp_Map.jpg (1MB, 1400x1400px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1400x1400px

Threw this together for a session I had later that day. Orc Warcamp that the players made their way to.

>>52576951
How can they be shark/frog folk without being furry?

I really want to make a giant compendium of my world's entire history, maps, geology, mythology, fauna, flora, etc.

Every time I start I think that I will post it here and get all the (You)s and post it on r/worldbuilding and get all the upvotes.

Is this autism?

>>52588412
A little bit, especially since people here and people over there both are a lot more interested in reading isolated examples of interesting lore than an entire setting guide at once.

>>52588296
They aren't for sexual.

File: 1481615178593.jpg (39KB, 389x361px) Image search: [Google]

39KB, 389x361px

>>52588412
>r/worldbuilding

>>52588569
>website tribalism

>>52588580
Well, you apparently don't have enough autism, it's just attention whoring.

>humans have all these diverse cultures and ethnicities
>all elves are the exact same monolith culturally and live in the same place
Why does this shit trope keep coming up in settings and yet nobody questions it?

>>52588707
This is much less an issue with elves than almost any other fantasy race

You've got a billion different subtypes of elves with their own cultures - Moon Elves, Sun Elves, High Elves, Dark Elves, Sea Elves - but you're hard-pressed to find dwarves in any setting without a racewide monoculture

>>52588707
Why do you mention elves who are often split in the three standard cliche groups of high, wood and dark elves, when races like dwarves and orcs are more uniform across settings?

>>52588707
I always assumed it was because Elves have such a long lifespan that time seperated from each other has less of an effect on culture. Plus Humans are far more individualistic than elves in basically every setting, which would only further fragment cultures

>>52504223
Native Americans used 'orenda'

>>52510781
Use the Varl from Banner Saga, but maybe up the evil. Maybe Draugr, or Dark Elves/Dwarves.

>>52588769
>le cliche
Also yeah I should have used dwarves as a better example, they're more often monocultural, but still, even if you divide up the elves into the 3 usual d&d groups you still have 3 monocultures who all think exactly alike for elves and 200 actual cultures for humans

>>52504223
What about gura/yura?

>>52588794
Really? I'm not as versed in Native American philosophy. What tribes used it?

>>52589043
Haven't heard this either. Where is it from?

File: froud_trolls_1_by_steampunktyki-d5l2aco.jpg (325KB, 1280x846px) Image search: [Google]

325KB, 1280x846px

>>52510781
trolls? There are fuck tone of them, in all size. You can use goblin like trolls too.

File: froud_trolls_2_by_steampunktyki-d5l2aio.jpg (306KB, 1280x839px) Image search: [Google]

306KB, 1280x839px

>>52589487

File: image1.jpg (35KB, 474x366px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 474x366px

Quick! Post supernatural creatures from your setting.

Mære: Shadowy woman who visits sleepers, and causes intense nightmares. Mære are said to be black as night, and ride a spectral horse. If one sees this fell horse and rider on the countryside, that person will be visited by a Mære that night. Victims say the Mære sits on the sleeper’s chest and grows heavier by the hour, constricting their breath, and whispers terrible things to cause vivid nightmares. If the Mære is not expelled, the victim grows weaker, and will eventually perish.

>>52589487
Trolls were originally a kind of giant.

File: 1463470088746.png (272KB, 522x569px) Image search: [Google]

272KB, 522x569px

I think "ancient alliance of guilds that underpin the entire setting's economy" is my new favorite handwaving trope. Makes it very easy and efficient to simplify the setting.

>Why does everyone use the same currency?
Guilds accept it and deal in it
>Why does everyone use the same calendar?
It's the chronological system the guilds use.
>Why does everyone speak the same language?
It's a lingua franca used by guild traders and caravans

Having the most influential faction in the setting be essentially neutral has a lot of benefits it seems.

>>52589551
Thursen:
>mutliple heads
>made out of ice and raging snowstorms
>giants, but nobody knows how big they are because they are kinda formless
>come from the north of course
>want to freeze the entire world
>older than the ages

>>52589551
>æ
How the fuck did you do this?

>>52591652
I copied it from my bestiary on google docs

Insert -> special characters -> latin -> cool letters like ë, í, and Æ

If you do this, just make sure you learn their pronunciation rules, so you don't look stupid

>>52591872
Ah, I thought you somehow types it in 4chan. Never mind.

>>52591974
Æàåäÿtë

>>52591998
Letters go home RËËËËËËËËËËËËËËËËË

>>52588707
People question it all the time, where the fuck have you been?

>>52591974
If you have windows there are alt + codes to type them. I don't know them though

>>52591998
>homebrew elf names

>>52502058
Kirkbride Mode: Cocaine

Other than that, it's just a lot of thought and creative elaboration. Think about a trope and think about how you can invert it or flip it on it's head. What haven't you already seen? Or do what you have seen, but the cartoonishly extreme in the other direction.

Take two unlike things and mash them together, then try to make sense of it and explain it in a way that's logical and satisfying for you lore. Think about what you like. Think about what you dislike. Don't just avoid things you dislike either, find ways to twist them to make them more palpable for you without undermining the core concept. You sometimes have to get creative to accomplish that, and that's where the REAL craziness starts coming IMO.

The devil is always in the details. You could take a world that's an exact mirror in all ways of our modern one and ascribe different context to mundane objects and they suddenly become bizarre. That's a lot of what Kirkbridian writing is, explaining something in a way that makes it more strange rather than simplifying it.

When you realize that TES becomes a lot more mundane. Old race built robots. There's flying jelly fish. Random gods wander by from time to time to fuck shit up. None of those are too weird (relative to a fantasy setting) but it's the details and context, the stories associated with them, that make them memorable more so than their inherent absurdity.

File: ai443.jpg (31KB, 572x415px) Image search: [Google]

31KB, 572x415px

>>52592634
>Think about a trope and think about how you can invert it or flip it on it's head

>>52502058
I pull from everywhere, from life, daydreaming, from other mythologies, from actual dreams, sleep-deprived hallucinations, play throughs of certain games I enjoy, also, and one that probably a lot of actual mythology came from, thinking up extraordinary, even fantastical explanations of natural phenomena whose causes may not be so obvious. an example I can give of this is that in southern california during certain seasons brush fires are common and can happen seemingly without an ignition, i.e. clear day and in a place not frequented by people, so I imagined "fire faeries", creatures of flame that dance in the dry brush and start fires. also pulling from the wierd-shit your parents tell you as a little kid to behave like one of my sitters would tell me that the jeweled scarabs that would occasionally fly around were "bad Boy Bugs" that would come and attack me if I misbehaved, don't know why that stuck with me but there you go

Having an over-active imagination helps with this immensely.

Hi folks

Could any of you possibly share a keygen/ crack for Hexographer? I'd be much obliged.

New Thread
>>52596673
>>52596673
>>52596673
>>52596673