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/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

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/wbg/ discord:
https://discord.gg/ArcSegv

On designing cultures:
http://www.frathwiki.com/Dr._Zahir%27s_Ethnographical_Questionnaire

Mapmaking tutorials:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48
www.inkarnate.com

Random Magic Resources/Possible Inspiration:
http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html
http://www.buddhas-online.com/mudras.html
http://sacred-texts.com/index.htm
https://mega.nz/#F!AE5yjIqB!y7Vdxdb5pbNsi2O3zyq9KQ

Conlanging:
http://www.zompist.com/resources/

Sci-fi related links:
http://futurewarstories.blogspot.ca/
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/
http://military-sf.com/

Fantasy world tools:
http://fantasynamegenerators.com/
http://donjon.bin.sh/
https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator

Historical diaries:
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/index.html

A collection of worldbuilding resources:
http://kennethjorgensen.com/worldbuilding/resources

List of books for historians:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/

Compilation of medieval bestiaries:
http://bestiary.ca/

Middle ages worldbuilding tools:
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm
http://qzil.com/kingdom/
http://www.lucidphoenix.com/dnd/demo/kingdom.asp
http://www.mathemagician.net/Town.html
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I accidentally discovered a good technique for creating rivers: make an elevation map out of kitchen foil, then pour some gravy over it.

It's damn well annoying when you're trying to reheat a roast, but it creates perfect rivers and lakes. Stick it on top of your rice/bean landmasses and you're good to go.
>>
Anyone used Dwarf Fortress as a tool to create maps for their worlds?
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>>53400905
if there would be a way to watch the world change without races, yes i totally would, it has an erosion system included, and its fucking geographically correct, the dude knows his shit.
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>>53400948
I'm considering just loading up a legends save, letting the world generate, and use it as a basis for my world.
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I don't suppose anyone got a link with campaign cartographer/city designer 3?
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Here's what I'm working on, vaguely following the basic map making in GIMP tut.
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https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator
Useful new tool, I'm in the very early stages of making a city but I need to study medieval cities and professions more.

Does anyone have that one site which lists the ratios of professions there should be in a town?
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>>53400800
Add this to the next OP: https://experilous.com/1/project/planet-generator/2015-04-07/version-2
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>>53401767
Why is it these random terrain generators are always so terrible
>presumably generated based on earth geology
>still end up with huge landmasses, like more land than ocean than anything approaching Earths land/sea ratio
>Land masses are always clumped together, not really many distinct continents like on Earth (barring Eurasia)
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>>53401889
While I agree that that generator isn't particularly good, having multiple continents isn't the norm for Earth. Continents on the earth go through a cycle of splitting up and then merging back together and supercontinents last a long time. Additionally, ice ages do vary the level of the ocean significantly.
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I'm developing a pseudo-Nordic low fantasy iron age setting, cliched, I know, but it fascinates me. Here's my setting's pantheon, do you think I've covered all of the bases?

> Tolkor, King of the Gods, God of Honor
> Yithis, God of the Underworld
> Nuthar, God of the Forge
> Unthir, God of Family
> Burzha, God of Revelry

> Zyanas, Queen of the Gods, Goddess of Beauty
> Mnu, Goddess of Magic
> Furhta, Goddess of Diligence
> Aiata, Goddess of Love
> Vaelyn, Goddess of Nature
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>>53401488

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm

Googled "medieval city per capita jobs", first result.
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>>53401966
Nothing for weather? That was and still is a very "godly" power we see in the world
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>>53401488
Neat, thanks anon
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>>53402159
storms/sky would work best instead of weather honestly though
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>>53402159
>>53402205

Hmm, noted, I hadn't thought of that. Thank you anons.
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>>53401966
This comes up every time someone posts a pantheon, but it bears repeating every time.

Don't just think of gods and their domains, that's how you end up with D&D pantheons. Think of the gods a people, with their personalities, motivations, desires and hobbies. Additionally think of their worshipers and their religion. What are the rituals like? Why are they like that? Who worships them? Why do they worship them? What do people ask for? What is the god's attitude towards their worshipers?

In the end, the gods themselves don't matter, what matters is the religion of the people of the land.
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>>53400976
>>53400948

>Wanting the world to change without races

The civilizations are functional, they've got nobility and gods, they've even got accurate hamlets and agriculture!
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>>53402628

I know, and I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. This was just a bare-bones list of the Gods, which exist primarily to allow religion in the setting.
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So, I've been wondering. Does anybody here actually answer the entire Dr. Zahir's Ethnographical Questionnaire when worldbuilding?

Are there other such questionnaires or checklists that help with worldbuilding?
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>>53401966
I find it helpful to try and fill out the Jungian archetypes: the Great Mother, the Sky Father, the Trickster, etc. They seem to be important to humans on a deep psychological level because they appear in almost every mythology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_archetypes#Examples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Jungian_archetypes
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Work in progress also my first map I'm putting effort into though I am having trouble filling in the spaces but I do wish to have some flat tall grass areas
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>>53402721
I did for one civilization and it really really fleshed things out.
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>>53402804
There better be a meteor in the middle of all that because it looks like half a crater
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>>53402900
Even if it was a crater most of the meteor would get ejected or vaporized.

Also, something that size should really have a central peak.
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>>53402628
>Think of the gods a people, with their personalities, motivations, desires and hobbies
Ehh. The gods should certainly have personalities, but you have to realize that the personalities the gods in ancient myth had were more due to those characteristics being representative of whatever he happened to be god of, and the stories in which the gods interacted with each other was more like dramatizations of real world events -- imagined or not.
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>>53403048
But we also have to assume that if the gods in the setting are real, actual beings that they could have personalities outside of their profiles instead of traits being made up because stories were being told about them.
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>>53403077
The it's also not gonna ring true.
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>>53403048
Obviously true, but also beside the point.

Additionally, if the pantheon is actually an active part of the world and not just imaginary, then they do need personalities and objectives independent of their believer's ideas (unless you're going the route of "belief creates gods," I guess).

Particularly, if the gods actually answer prayers on a regular basis or appear to believes, they need a reason to do so, some objective they want to accomplish. I guess the most classic cliche in this case would be "gods gain power from worship/belief," but plenty of others reasons could exist.
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>>53401182
Nice crispy edges, but these kinda maps always got that kinda steep contrast between the deep sea and land..

Also making my own map for fun (because god knows most players don't care) and self reference.

Trying to do a minimalist kinda meme and maybe something simpler and more old style but I dunno what. What do you guys think?
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Anybody know what the climate is like at the subpolar lows? What little research I've done into wind patterns and their effect on the climates of their areas has told me areas in subtropical highs tend to be drier, but I can't remember what it was like around subpolar lows and jetstreams as far as moisture goes.
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>>53403624
Look into what the Sami people of Scandinavia do and the live through. Northern Siberian peoples do the same
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>>53403109
>then they do need personalities and objectives independent of their believer's ideas
Why?
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>>53403792
Because the public face you show someone is usually different than the one you show your friends.
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So far happy with general layout of this setting, but the names are killing me.

The four red-bordered nations in the West are meant to feel vaguely Slavic (salt of the earth, huge population, divine right, too big to manage, Light vs Dark). The three blue-bordered northern nations are Nordic-inspired (sailors and explorers, fjords, Jarls, runes, viking raids, dragons/eagles). And the two green-border lands are vaguely Celtic (stupid amounts of magic, warring gods and demigods, faeries, the number 3, druids, knife-in-back syndrome).

I have a pretty strong image in my head of what this world's like and what it looks like, but what to call the different kingdoms escapes me. Which baffles me since I have some good name ideas for things that AREN'T countries. Anyone have some good SLav/Nord/Celt kingdom names off the top of their head?

I'll whip together some more setting info if people need more than above.
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>>53403886
Here's how I've done it in the past. Name the places in English ("Bountyful land" or "New city" or "Land of the rowers" or something like that) and then look up the translations into a slavic or whatever language of the individual words and then look up the etymology of those words and find something that sounds good and stick it together to get a name.

Alternatively, get one of those neural network name generators and stick in a large list of existing names in your preferred language.
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>>53403844
Why would that be true for gods? Why would gods consider their worshippers friends?
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>>53403942
You misunderstand. They would show one face to their worshipers and another face to each other, as is convenient or necessary for their plans. It can also go the other way, the gods show behave as they truly are, but the worshipers misunderstand and come up with their own personality. Additionally, worshipers will tend to simplify their personality to a couple of easy to remember traits (as humans do with pretty much everyone they meet) while the actual personality could be much more complex and nuanced. Finally, many gods historically were worshiped under multiple aspects, each one with a different personality and different traits, and we also often known by different names and had slightly different religions in different cultures.

Unless the gods straight up live 24/7 with the people that worship them, I consider it very unlikely that the image their worshipers have of them and how they truly are will be a complete match.
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>>53403997
>You misunderstand
No, I'm still asking why. Why is it necessary that gods have hidden plans and characteristics? It seems just as reasonable, if not more so, that the god of oceans, for example, acts like the ocean because the ocean is an extension of him and thus perfectly represents how he is.
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>>53404049
I didn't say "hidden plans and characteristics," I said "personalities and objectives." If your gods are going to be actual characters as opposed to forces of nature that never interact with believers, then they need to have a personalities and if they have personalities then they must be doing whatever they're doing for a reason.

Even if, in your example, the ocean perfectly represents how he is, that is an incredibly meaningless description. Humans don't know how the ocean is. They can just try to assign some of their own emotions to it based on their limited knowledge, which could never represent the full complexity of the actual personality.

From a more pragmatic side of things, when worldbuilding a world with active, sapient gods, you need to be able to answer questions for yourself. Questions like: Why does this god care about being worshipped, if at all? What does this god do? Why does this god do what it does? Why doesn't it do something else? Can it do something else if it wanted? Why or why not? What does it want to achieve? What is its endgame, if it has one? How will this god respond to certain events or actions of mortals and other gods? Does this god help its worshipers or does it ignore them? Why? All these questions and many more necessitate for you as a worldbuilder to have a clear idea of the motivations behind a gods actions, the cause and effect relationships that drive it. For sapient beings, one of the motivations is their personality.
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>>53404157
You said
>the public face you show someone is usually different than the one you show your friends
>They would show one face to their worshipers and another face to each other, as is convenient or necessary for their plans
This implies that their agendas and characteristics are indeed hidden.

>They can just try to assign some of their own emotions to it based on their limited knowledge
And I'm saying that that interpretation might as well be true. Especially if they have interacted with the god in question and, for example, know that he is usually calm but easily provoked into anger and then become terrifying.
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>>53404269
Please read the entirety of the post, since I have addressed all those points.
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>>53400892
lol...im reminded of close encounters
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>>53404276
>read the entirety of the post
I did.

>I have addressed all those points.
You haven't. All you've done is repeat the same claim over and over again while providing no reason for why it must be as you say.

Unless the gods are the actual main characters of your story players aren't gonna care about how they are as people, and they certainly aren't gonna care about why they want to be worshipped.
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>>53404269
>know that he is usually calm but easily provoked into anger and then become terrifying
Actually, let me expand on this point in particular, since this is a good example of what I'm talking about.

This particular snippet is exactly the kind of description that worshiper would come up with, it has no substance and it tells us nothing about the god whatsoever. Like something you'd find written in a holy book and not a description of an actual character.

The questions that come to mind instantly are: What angers him so easily and so much? Why do those particular things anger him? When angry, what is he prone to doing? How does he punish those who anger him? Why does he consider what he does a punishment? Why does he appear to his followers at all? What does he want from them and why does he want any of that?

My point is, if your god is an actual sapient character in your world, then it must have everything a character would have, including motivation.
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>>53403937
How do these sound? Adding a little description for each.

Slav
>Zemyna
Far Western nation. Founded by semi-nomads. Always on the lookout for vampires and "cossacks".

>Khalakov
Southern nation. A trading hub, this nation hosts the finest whalers in the world

>Volgan
The huge central nation. This empire is so spread out that a whole system of riders and towers had to be built to keep communication between cities tolerable.

>Nadyven
The easternmost (Slav) country. This nation was founded by a female ruler, and it features exceedingly valuable iron mines and forests.

>Askaer
The lone, northern island nation. This country prefers to tame their monsters in service to their White King.

>Theinn
The eastern, continental nation. This country was once ruled by the Elves. Its knights are some of the finest warriors in the world.

>Svaldor
The island nation in the northeast. This nation is sometimes considered feral by other human kingdoms, only resisting domination through sheer naked savagery.

>Cawdrain
The southern island nation. This country is a rich land for mining, and it boasts a powerful, immortal king.

>Addan
The western coastal nation. This nation is vast and largely untamed. The fey constantly clash with its people.
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>>53404393
Worldbuilding is not really about the players. You worldbuild for the GM, and the GM is the one who decides what to put in the game for players to care about. Often times the worldbuilder and the GM happen to be the same person, but it's better to separate it.

If your god makes no appearances in your story and has no influence on your world, then there's no point in fleshing him out, I agree. But if you're god is an active force that does things and has a real impact on the world and its civilization, then you need to flesh out a character at least a little bit so you can have a modicum of consistency and purpose to it all.

Once again returning to the pragmatic side of things. You keep asking why you should flesh out the gods. The reason for that is simple, it's the same reason that you should establish how your magic works and draw out the maps and decide how the races in your world behave and work. It's all going to end up as reference material for when you or somebody else runs a game in the world, and it will help with the most important element of all, consistency.

Why should I flesh out the gods? The answer to that question is: Because I want to have a certain consistency for when I use them for things.
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>>53404442
Do the names have any meanings?

I mean, I can say most of them fine and they mostly don't hurt my ears, so that's good.
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>>53404482
I tried using words that meant things but, eventually, I figured that the lore of the setting more or less demanded that these were the first ever human kingdoms of their kind unless you count Ragnarok happening only a few centuries before, so most likely they would be named for their actual founders. So I went through a name generator, and twisted whatever names I got from particular languages (Russian, Estonian, Ukrainian, Irish, Scots-Gaelic, Icelandic, etc).

Them not hurting your ears is a very good sign!
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>>53404396
>Like something you'd find written in a holy book and not a description of an actual character.
Descriptions of gods never have to be anything but. Even if they are active movers and shakers within the setting a mythological description is far preferable to an actual character description.
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>>53404678
Don't confuse what you give the players with what you keep to yourself and the GM for reference.
>>
I have this final North-East section to fill in before I have to worry about a western continent and can be done with geography/international layout.

Originally all those names in white in that north/east were going to be Drythan, which I got from either old Saxon or Gothic. The Drythani were going to be your grab-bag of Germanics in a migration era to early medieval range, some barbars fit for the woods of Teutoburg, some Beowulfs some Charlemagnes. However, I did not like the idea of a single nation (even if mutually unintelligible languages) enhabiting such a huge swathe of land. Color of text and/or glowy border color denotes macro ethnic group - so for instance blue text blue border is Lahiyyans, analogous to Anatolia with an Akhene aristocracy ruling over the Lahiyyan indigenous folk except with the tribes of Kulawar and Arsiya.

-I have about four untapped macro-cultural groups I can use in that empty space. Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, Norse. This refers to the names I use, the synopsis sense of a culture and aesthetics. One of those I need to use for the "Swiss Elves" tenatively titled the Myreykr. Dwell in the NE mountains, winged. So I have three to mess with for humans. for the empty painted spots (where the names aren't over colored splotches).

Idea 1: Drythan homeland is the currently empty plains east of the Rruvasa (Scytho-Saka-Sarmatians) where Hythrane is. In last few centuries, migration led across the mountains, ejecting the Arazalids (mimicry of the fall of the Western Roman Empire). Some migrated eastward - the Bjari, the Strodur, one or two more and the Rhonath being the vanguard. Pushed Celtic style Skulani/Cnerah/Aelendar/Yhir/Beothrun to the peripheries.

(cont)
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>>53404686
The GM doesn't need anything beyond that either though.
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>>53404745
Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. That's up to the GM to decide.
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>>53404749
Oh so now we're moving goalposts?
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>>53404775
No. What are you even on about?
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>>53404739

Worth noting the focus I want to pursue in the writing is away from this region. It's closer to the Raoxshanid-Innaki (the teal cities)-Harbanu (the sky blue in desert names)-Raqqan region. But I need a sense of the full world before I do so.

Idea 2: Drythan homeland is the Fahrja-Ufhausja region & Leikr islands. Migration was more southward down the straits. They inhabit the Fahrja/Drausja/Thaurban/Reiksdar region, crossing over to Uthberen but not over the river. The mountains and plains (might be forested) where Hythrane and Ufhausja are were not penetrated because they were poor as shit and are inhabited by Slav-Thracian types who are the more Teutoberg barbarous barbars while the Drythans are the civilized Charlemagnes. Drythans who stayed behind might have some of that more norsey feel. Drythans continued to expand eastward into Arazala continent, stopping either by that river the Aelendarii are next to or the Rhonath vanguard idea from before.

Idea 3: Drythans are originally from the Islands north of Cnerah and Myreykr. Swept down across the plains of Rhonath, through the river valleys after failing to breach Arazala (or the hillfolk of Ishuna). Filter across the sea, inhabit the plains on the east of that mountain. Dunno who inhabits west of those mountains, probably the Slavo-Thracians.

Think I'll do #2. Still a bit of a quandary where do I go name wise with the Swiss-elves. Could be they had a civilizing influence on the non-Drythans living southeast of them so they just share common names, in which case it's Celtic. Could do the more distinct Gaelic/Scottish for the Myreykr and the Gallic/proto-celtic for the lowlanders.

Kind of also like the idea of a "Western Europeans enclave in the 'mid east'" and might figure out where a Galatian style migration could happen.

Pardon the brainstorming spam, found it helps to write this out in the topic when I am stumped.
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>>53404786
We started with >>53402628 and then moved on to >>53403077 and >>53403109, all the way to >>53404396. All of which state the personalities and goals of the gods have to be flesehd out enough to be actual character descriptions.

There's no "it's totally up to the world builder/GM to decide is this is actually necessary or not" to be read in there at all.
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>>53404828
Holy shit, are you for real? Do you honestly believe I'm telling you that you must do something as if it were a law? I am giving a fucking suggestion, it is implied that it's up to you to decide if you want to follow it or not. I'm honestly having a hard time following your thought process now. All I'm saying that fleshing out the gods will improve the quality of the world. If you don't consider it necessary, then by all means, don't do it.

Also: >>53404775 is entirely unrelated to the whole discussion, all I'm saying there is that it is up to the GM if he wants to use the descriptions of the gods in his campaign or not.
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>>53404873
>Do you honestly believe I'm telling you that you must do something
Yes, because you totally said so yourself.
>then they do need personalities and objectives independent of their believer's ideas
For example.
>>
>>53401966
Read up a bit on Proto-Indo-European religion, because that's the one many real world religions stem from. With admixtures from whatever local faiths existed in the lands Indo-Europeans settled, of course
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>>53404913
Man, I though I was talking to an adult. I'm not going to qualify my opinion with "this is my opinion" every time I post something because that's fucking implied.

You're totally free to put whatever you want in your world, I am merely offering suggestions on how to improve it, but you don't have to follow anything. I'm not going to report you to the worldbuilding police and have them lock you away if you build a subpar world, so calm down.
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>>53404442
Russkie here. Let the nitpicking commence!

>Khalakov
Sounds suspiciously like a slavic last name
>Volgan
That's just Volga with an extra letter

>Cawdrain
What does it drain, again?

To be more serious, the names are fine as is, except for that last one
>>
https://www.notebook.ai/?referral=2d608906-ee25-4433-8f62-02f55181ba54

Notebook.ai is a great way to store, organize, and finish your notes, just so you all know.
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>>53404937
>I'm not going to qualify my opinion with "this is my opinion"
Considering that what people argued with you over was that there's no reason that what you said needs to be the case and you responded by repeating that it is necessary, you not stating that it's not opinion is the least of your worries. You're simply unclear to the point of saying something entirely different than what you think you're saying (or at least what you right now claim you were trying to say).

>if you build a subpar world
I'd actually argue that your suggestions is exactly what leads to one creating a subpar world.
>>
>two autists are duking it out again
Makes the thread so lively.
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>>53404820
>Kind of also like the idea of a "Western Europeans enclave in the 'mid east'"
DEUS VULT
>>
So I tend to make settings with a very small amount of countries in them. Is this a fatal flaw of mine or just a difference in world building strategy?
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>>53405021

There have been very popular fantasy worlds with a very small amount of nations. There are also some popular ones with a load of them.

Now if you are aiming to depict a more realistic take on decentralization, what I'll call the Crusader Kings angle, yes a small amount is not good. If you are aiming to tell more of a personal story and adventure and not a geopolitical one then a small amount is fine. LOTR had more than just Rohan and Gondor but really those two were the only ones of major consequence in the original trilogy. I like the Demon cycle series but it pretty much just has something like three polities at the start with some villages in between them.
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>>53405009
>Western Europeans enclave in the 'mid east'
Sounds more like Crusader states to me, which were much more complex than DUES VULT
But the rest of the setting sounds Iron Agey, so I'm not sure what would be a more appropriate analogy
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>>53404981
Look man, arguing with you farther is pointless, so I'm going to stop here, because you refuse to read or answer my arguments and instead insist that I'm merely repeating stuff.

>You're simply unclear to the point of saying something entirely different than what you think you're saying
I am perfectly clear and consistent with what I am saying. What I am saying is this: "If your gods are going to have a significant presence in your world, fleshing them out will lead to more consistent and purposeful actions on the part which will overall contribute to the quality of the world. However, if you don't plan to use your gods as anything but flavor, it's fine to leave as vague descriptions. Additionally, after you're done with your fleshed out gods, you keep the information as reference for you and the GM, which the GM might choose to use or not, for that is up to him."

I literally cannot get any clearer.

>I'd actually argue that your suggestions is exactly what leads to one creating a subpar world.
You could argue that making sure that rivers flow downhill makes for a subpar world for all I care. Doesn't make you right.
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>>53405021
It depends on what your goal is. If you just want a simple setting to play a few games in, then no. It's not a flaw, it's probably exactly what you want to create.

If your goal is to create a realistic and naturalistic world, however, then yeah, you probably want to look into that.
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>>53405086
>If your goal is to create a realistic and naturalistic world
What do you mean by this? I'm currently writing in it for a story but it only centers around one nation that is far away from most of the other ones
>>53405037
I guess I'm more so falling into the trap of classifying things as regions rather than nations if that makes sense. Generalization and oversimplification are my downfall I think.
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>>53405103
>I guess I'm more so falling into the trap of classifying things as regions rather than nations if that makes sense
I might be misunderstanding you but that's not an incorrect way of viewing real world places, especially through history. Look, for example, at Germany, India or China. There were multiple cultures, ethnicities and nations existing at the same time, intermixing, dying and living again
>>
>>53405037

Also I recommend just having a smaller part of the world depicted on your map with the rest vaguely existing off-screen. I personally do not like something super minimalist like demon cycle or Sanctuary of Diablo but


>>53405066

I'm going for that kind of Hyboria "prehistoric up to medieval" angle, though I'm willing to go further - the Ghozarids variously can be cast as Mughalesque (if I were to write from the perspective of a Babur, perhaps the epononymous founder Ghoza) or may end up Kushan/Saka style if they adopt the religion of the Niravahni as Kushan did Buddhism. I may have a Raoxshanid kind of marrying the idea of the Safavid Ismail (1500s) and Alexander the Great.

A pre-medieval idea for europeans in the east is the Galatians, the Celts who migrated over and maintained enough of a distinct Celtic identity for at least a hundred years but may have for well over 200. Had these Drythans civilized by succeeding lost Arazala (vaguely Roman but I like Hittite/Trojan or Etruscan aesthetics) those who continued and settled in some arid wastes of the center (Targumat going south) analogous to the Mid-East could have remained more 'barbarous'.

Targumat itself was kind of "I need something to fill in this spot", and instead of a Mitanni-Hurrian style "Indo-Euro horse lords (sans chariots) ruling over Innaki (Semites)" it could become Galatian/Outremer. But I still have to overlay along that map what I was imagining as a dominant but crumbling Assyro-Babylonian empire based on Nakkar. Some of the map is political (Niravahnam, Arazala), other parts are more ethnic (much of the Raoxshani might be ruled by Nakkar).
>>
>>53405124
I was more so talking about nations and countries than ethnicity and cultures but I see your point.
>>53405131
Thanks, I can definitely try that. I have several places that are just large regions of "there are a lot of different nations here". There are only like 3-4 big countries that I have defined outside of those.
>>
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Astarian Model 181 Service Autorevolver,

While the Astarians had been seeking a new service sidearm since before the war began, the outset of war in 179 delayed the project for nearly a year and a half as all available production was turned towards existing designs. As more capacity became available, two new pistol designs were considered, both comparing directly to the Model 166 Double-Action currently in use as the primary sidearm of the Army, Sky Force, and Aerotroopers. Two radical new designs were produced - a so called "Automatic Pistol" designed by Stone Eagle Armory, which used a spring to push new rounds into place, coupled with a "slide" which ejected spent casings and pushed new rounds into the chamber, and the Autorevolver produced by Kiralhe Arsenal. The autorevolver was a more familiar, mechanically simpler design than the Automatic, with the unique departure of being recoil operated. This lead to a much lighter trigger pull than the Model 166. While it held less rounds than the Automatic, the Automatic was prone to jamming as unburnt black powder and fouling built up in its mechanisms. The Autorevolver was also able to accept the same rounds and even the same six-round speedloaders as the 166, enormously simplifying the wartime logistics chain.
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>>53405103

Sorry I forgot to finish at my point here >>53405131 but more to your remark about 'regions rather than nations'.

What I recommend is try to figure out the macro-ethnicities or macro-nations, leave the micro or sub-nations left unsaid until they are important or relevant to the story. To use my world for an example >>53404739 the colors are coding to the macro-ethnic group. "Mazhran" is a macro ethnic group and equivalent to "Berber". "Raoxshanid" is macro ethnic and is equivalent to "Iranian" (pre-modern). Agezza and Imujjha are sub-nations equivalent to the Masmuda or Zenata Berber confederacy. Pahokan is a sub-nation equivalent to Pashtun, Svarya to Persian and Arzoda to Median.

Imagine you're telling a story of the Peloponnesian War. The macro-ethnicity of "Greeks" is too broad. You need sub-nations - Ionian and Dorian is too broad, so go deeper - Athenian, Spartan.

Imagine you're telling a story of Tarquin Superbus and the Roman overthrow of the kings. "Roman" is too broad of a category. You have to either go down to the level of Roman vs Ardean, Arician, Laviniumi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_League) or down further to the level of individual roman families.
>>
>>53405103
>What do you mean by this?
A naturalistic world would be one that reasonably could exist given the circumstances. For example, GRRM's Westeros is not a naturalistic world; it explicitly only exists for GRRM to tell his story within and the laws of it confirm to whatever the plot needs at the moment.

Tolkien's Middle-Earth could be said to be somewhere between a naturalistic and artistic world. It doesn't serve as a vehicle for the story, but rather the story simply takes place within it. It was created more to please Tolkien's own sensibilities and artistic urges, though he used many naturalistic approaches in creating it.
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>>53405173

Now reverse it. Imagine you're telling a story of Alexander the great. Tribes/families (outside of the Macedonians) is much too specific for his greek levies. Even cities is a little bit more specific than it needs to be. This is a drama on an international stage - unless you bring something highly specific (Thessalian cavalry) nobody gives a shit if you are Athenian or Corinthian or Argive. Now the macro ethnic title with exceptions is the scale: It's Greeks, Thessalian exception, Macedonians (with exceptions of more emphasis on their sub-factions), Illyrians, Thracians, Medes, Persians, Bactrians, Saka.

So in your setting do what you said >>53405149 , "there are a lot of different nations here" because they are not relevant to the main story and you do not need to document every little thing. If they become relevant you will introduce the reader to a sub-faction. The 3-4 big countries get more attention to the sub-factions.

So it sounds like you're doing good.
>>
>>53405021
A setting with a few extremely well-defined countries will often feel bigger to the players/reader than a setting with hundreds of countries with little detail.

As long as you're putting in the work then you should be fine.
>>
>>53404973
Thanks anon! I guess that works if the names sound like real names.

Cawdrain and Adda were mistyped. I meant to list those two as Celtic, as well as the Nordic names. Oops!
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>>53402804
Fill it with random villages, the World isn't filled with only capitals.
>>
>>53403886
>>53403937
>>53404442
For creating names I change the syllables places or/and change letters like G to K or R to L and vice versa.
>>
>>53407880

On the topic of creating names, I found the below link on /r/conlangs, thought it was neat.

https://www.vulgarlang.com
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>>53409633
>https://www.vulgarlang.com
This is too autistic for me, but it is pretty cool.
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>>53402804
Rivers basically never split like that to make a land mass large enough for a city
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>>53409669
It's not nearly autistic enough, actually. Some of the phonological rules it makes up on its own are seemingly completely random.
>>
I like the way my current world is coming along, but at the moment I only have humans fleshed out, and it feels weird to just throw in "thar be elves in them woods" and "thar be dwarves in them hills"

How do I put fantasy races in my setting without them being cliché and forced?
>>
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Monthly map-post

Beginning some early work on the western continent and various work all over
>>
How the FUCK do I come up with artificial gravity that isn't centrifugal?
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>>53410987
How did you make your map?
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>>53401488
there are multiple online generators that use S John's work) and others') that do a nice job, one even names the inns and populates them.
'Medieval Demographics'
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>>53410948
Depends on what you're going for. By fantasy races, do you mean THE fantasy races, or just races that don't exist in real life?

I have my own methods but I am going for a more specific sort of setting, I make my own races which are meant to be biological and not magical. That fits my setting and I could give you some tips for it, but that might not be what you are looking for.

Generally I would advise strongly against the "my elves are inca and my dwarves are greek" style. It ends up feeling very shallow, arbitrary, and inorganic.

>>53411058
paintNET, cursor drawn. A few parts were randomly generated through donjon and then edited to match the aesthetic, while other areas were generated and I haven't touched them up yet.

19 layers although only 5 are used in that pic, the other 14 are personal references like elevation/religion/etc. The 5 layers you see are water, water shine (the gradient), land, labels, and "sunglasses" which is a transparent black layer placed over the land and water to make the whole thing darker.
>>
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>>53411203
map of areas that were originally random-generated
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>>53410948
>How do I put fantasy races in my setting without them being cliché and forced?
Do you actually have some interesting ideas for fantasy races?
Do you have some specific needs or functions those races are to perform or represent symbolically in your world?

If the answer to both of these questions is "no", then you can't really. I'd say don't even bother. If your answer is going to be "no, but I still insist that I have more races in my world outside of humans", then just go back to the questions and think hard about them until you can answer them with yes.
>>
>>53411367
I feel like the world fits nicely without dwarves/elves/etc, but I'm worried it'll be stale with just humans
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>>53411394
Well, really world is humans only and I would not call it stale. It's only "stale" if you can't flesh out the humans enough. In the end, it's actually almost ALWAYS culture that drives interesting stories and fascinating tales, not racial gimmicks.

A bigger problem might be that your audience (what ever audience do you wish to create for) might demand fantasy races out of principle, because it's a genre staple and some people can't get by without them.


Fantasy races really make sense only in one of two scenarios: if you want to make a speculative fantasy (which itself is a really fucking weird thing to do, since fantasy is usually based on mythological perspective, and mythological and speculative just does not work together very well) and you really just want to play around with the good old "what if" question.
Like "what if I had a race that only eats rocks and everything organic is toxic to them?". Or "what if a mage wanted to create a perfect warrior race by crossing humans with honey badgers, but the specimens escaped into the wild"? Or "what if Gods wanted to create a race whose job is to consistently oversee the balance of dead and living souls in the world?" or something silly like that.

The other reason is because you want to create some sort of symbolism. That is how Tolkien did it. Hobbits to represent the homely, but potentially stale and self-centered "small minded" middle class people. Elves to represent the ideals of faded past. Orks to represent corruption. And so on and so forth. All of those races exist to play a symbolic role in the grand narrative, aspects of human mentality as Tolkien saw it at the time, driving principles of sentiments of the world.

If you don't currently have particular ideas for either of these paths, I would not worry about it, just skipped non-human races all together, and focused on flashing out the human societies.
>>
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What's a better idea for magical realm but also biologically realistic Dryads:

- they're just trees (or really big flowers) that evolved flowers that look like humanoid women, and they spread their pollen though men using those flowers as an onahole, getting covered in pollen in the process, and subsequently spreading them around [needs a reason why they can't just use insects or the wind like everyone else]

- they are trees whose fruit contain highly addictive hallucinogens that make human/elven women stick around them, and also makes them horny for reasons [needs a purpose too—maybe so they can defend the tree against some animal that would otherwise damage it]

- they are parasites of some kind whose life cycle involves both mammals and trees; they have some crucial beneficial effects for the trees (like how fungi at tree roots share nutrients with them), so the trees co-evolved to produce fruit that nourish the infected humans so the parasite can flourish

- a combination of the last two
>>
>>53410987

That is incredibly detailed. Painfully so. God I wish I had the time and dedication to make something that nice.

As is i'm relying on things like donjon just to get the general look I want. I may need to resort to other methods soon but I just don't have the time to learn paint.net or similar.
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>>53411017
Something where you could artificially change the mass of an object could simulate gravity
>>
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How to calculate the height of tide in trary arbiplanet-moon or double planet system orbiting a single star?
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>>53412114
I thought about that, using mini black holes to increase mass and produce gravity but the ship would need a ridiculous amount of thrust to push all that mass along.
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>>53412150
Reduce the mass of the ship to near zero during acceleration, then increase gravity while in motion and let inertia take over
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>>53410987
What's the thing east of Nornoch north of Saeroch?
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>>53412185
An array of freezing jagged islands in an area with very rough seas, the people to the south barely know it exists because it is incredibly dangerous and they don't see anything to gain from exploring it. The races of the area (Sornik, Nornochians, Ossians, Eadimik, Yotarik) mostly only sail to the east to western edges Barbos, which is twice the size of the central continent and unexplored, where there is far more profit to be made.

Unbeknownst to all but mystics and astronomers of ancient traditions (who aren't found anywhere near the barren north) and the few Portagé and Ossian sailors who have seen it firsthand, the icy north pole of this world is effectively the Antarctica of another world encircled by this layer, and it has melted significantly in the past few millennia. The lands at the center of the world have their own stationary sun and the land past the ice wall is presumed to be an arid desert. Tribals in the northern seas are aware of strange foreign raiders who sail from the north before turning around, however they falsely believe the raiders come from those desolate and irrelevant islands.
>>
Stumbled across https://mewo2.com/notes/terrain/ today as I was searching for inspiration. It doesn't do whole worlds but its promising if all you're looking for is a region.
>>
What is the best choice for a civilization. Wheat, rice or potatoes?
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>>53412943
Mostly real life civs used wheat, I think.
Of course it depends on climate and terrain.
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>>53412943
Wheat is superior for its micronutrients, rice for its ability to be grown in flooded paddies which leads to aquaculture, and potatoes for their hardiness (excepting the potato blight that lead to the Irish famine) and ease of storage and propagation
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>>53412134
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_tides#Laplace.27s_tidal_equations
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>>53402665
>>53400976
>>53400905
>>53400948


So I installed DF just to try this. Just how long does it take to generate a world because it's been going for a long, long time now.
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>>53412943
Depends of climate. Rice won't grow if it is not wet enough, contrary to wheat and potatoes. Potatoes on as meal is superior though.

And by the way, civilisation is really not that much depend on what does it eat. It's all about relation between humans.
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>>53412943
Maize and beans.
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>>53413415
>excepting the potato blight
If I'm not mistaken that was almost entirely due to all of Europe's potatoes having been grown from a ridiculously small sample of original potatoes. It's not something that would have been relevant on a continent where the potato was native.
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>>53412943
>not inventing your own fictional crops
>>
If I want to make a country or culture consider crossroads as places of power or importance, what is the best way to go about giving it an explanation based on some natural phenomena?

Like something that makes the roads people take coincide with crossings nature makes. I'm not sure that makes much sense, but it's an idea that's been in my head. I don't want to give it a v ague or coincidental explanation, like "hey once a star fell on this one crossroad". I want something like urban legends where "those you meet in a crossroad are fated to meet you again" or "never look in the eyes of someone on a crossroad least ill fortune follows your path". Maybe some sort of old warground happened to be on one?
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>>53413884
Actually, phytopthora infestans is really hard to manage, it's not just because they had poor genetic diversity. To this day if a plant gets infected they have to cull it and all the plants around it; if any infected potatoes reach storage basically the whole batch is fucked. Does about $5 billion in damage a year.

t. plant pathologist
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>>53414413
Crossroads represent a crossing of the threads of fate
Perhaps a city of traders could have come out of a neutral ground between two warring states
I don't really understand what you're asking unfortunately
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>>53412500
Sounds really interesting mate, keep it up.
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>>53414470
>plant pathologist

Very jealous desu, what did you do at uni? Biology? Botany?
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>>53414867
Plant sciences, got interested in the microbiome and their effects on plants, and plant pathology was a natural conclusion
Fun fact, there is greater species diversity in a cubic meter of soil than in the Amazon jungle (obviously the macro species)
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>>53415080
I'm in horticulture but just landscaping and all that, love plants, wish I'd done something plant related at uni.

Is there anything that can stop blight? It's fungal isn't it? I know leaving potatoes to rot in the ground can cause/spread it.
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>>53415220
It's very similar to a fungus, but it's actually an a distinct phylum called oomycetes. Because it's so similar, a lot of antifungals are effective in preventing it, but they're typically only used when they forecast an outbreak. Once they're infected though, there's little you can do outside of trying to limit the spread. If it's late in the season you can destroy the foliage and hope it doesn't travel to the tuber before harvest. Otherwise you can try to use genetically engineered or bred resistant species, but a lot of those potatoes aren't as marketable.

Fun fact, P. infestans also affects tomatoes, and sudden oak death is also an oomycete.
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>>53400800
Eyo I need help naming a pair of brother gods. One is the god of charity, wayfarers, and luck. The other is the god of debt, death, and justice.
>>
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What would make a good coat of arms for a fantasy fascist regime? I've got a character who's from a rather bureaucratic isolationist kingdom and I want to flesh it out a bit. Think Pathfinder's Cheliax, but less demons and more of just a big heaping of LAW.
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>>53414413
>If I want to make a country or culture consider crossroads as places of power or importance

So, they are like every culture ever?
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>>53416098
Use a fasces, it's a bundle of rods tired around an axe.
Good animals could be eagles or hippogriff/griffins, or wolves
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>>53416094
>>
>>53410987
Whats the font you use.
I'm pretty clueless when it come to fonts and I kinda just want some good fonts in general.
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>>53416098
A picture with the country and the most isolationist, pure creature of law and purity. The unicorn. Its also white if you're one of those crime by association types.
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>>53417268
I went with calibri size 8 no antialiasing for city fonts because it seems to be the clearest at that small size, and Deja Vu Serif Condensed size 12 antialiased for regional labels to have something semi-formal and easy to read. I plan to switch the DejaVu font to Adobe Caslon Pro which is more compact and stylistic, I like it much more than DejaVu.

The font used for Barbos (eventually it will be used for more) is Valdemar, which is obstructively stylistic.
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>>53417345
Well you certainly know your fonts.
But yeah thanks man. I'll shamelessly use them gladly.
>>
>>53410987
what's the safest, happiest part of your world?
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>>53412943

Not an agricultural expert but:

Rice as I understand is the highest intensity and could lead to the highest productivity but involves an insane amount of manpower and logistics and infrastructure. I assume that changed as rice brands expanded outside of China because the Iranians and Pakis/Indians and even Italians and such used rice but it never supplanted bread (or pasta). But climate, geography play a huge part.

Wheat is ubiqutous from Northern China across West Asia and India to Europe (and now America). Seems middle of the road though it does require a good bit of water.

Potatoes seem to be idiotproof and easy as shit. Outside of too much of a single species leading to Irish potato blight it's great. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/30/AR2010053003751.html

"Potatoes need less water than rice or wheat and produce more calories per acre." and seem to not require very fertile grounds.

So you want cheap and good? Potato.

You want laborious as hell but able to sometimes get 2 or 3 or 4 harvests a year and a shit ton of it? Rice.

You want middle road? Wheat.
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>>53411394
Consider that humans are not monoculture and go from there. Culture at its basest level is dictated by environment, consider how the environment and its stressors would influence the peoples living there.
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>>53403886

Cheap solution I used in >>53404739 is look up dead languages or nearly dead languages. You want Celtic? Instead of Gaelic or Scottish try Gallic, or try Cornish. http://tied.verbix.com/project/glossary/gaul.html You want Nord? Look up Old Norse, or better yet Gothic http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/goth_wright_glossary.html

Slav? Find proto-slav or early slav language.

Find terms you like, adjust them to figure out what the name of the nation or state would be and then the demonym.

af-dráusjan, wv. I, to cast down = gave me Drausja. I found similar 'ja' endings like háusjan (adding Uf to it). So Ja becomes like the "anni" of "Marcomanni" or the "eans" of "Phocaeans". It might mean "-men" in their tongue so the Drausja are the men of Draus, Ufhausja are the men of Ufhaus.

Or ja is used not in demonym but rather the nation like "-stan" or "-ia/ica" Amer-ica, Ital-ia, Somal-ia) in which case the demonym might be Drausja(ni), Drausja(nean) or just Drausja(n).

Is this as legit and authentic as Tolkien? Fuck no. But as much as there is insane respect and commendation for Tolkiens attention to detail it wasn't his fictional languages that made LOTR timeless, it was his storytelling and world (and in that world the linguistics were less a part than the stories, themes, aesthetics).

And better ad-hoc taken words from a dead language than fucking hyphens and apostraphies out the wazoo.
>>
>>53417821

http://www.palaeolexicon.com/

You can get some neat dead languages here. Cappadocian Greek, Carian, Hattic, Hittite, Linear B (Greek/Mycenaean), Proto-Indo-Euro, Phrygian, Old Norse, proto-Turkic. Some have just a few words but it's still a good check.

Try and check google books to see if a full copy is available for certain dead languages. I've found Middle Pahlavi/Persian there, Old turkic, some Hittite.
http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/list.php - akkadian does have a bad habit of a shit ton of -u endings to words. But you can mix and match, adjust, tweak.
>>
>>53417670
It's a tough question for how large the world is. If you want to be safe but you don't want to be lonely or extremely isolated, Mahzassyia is a good place. However they have low living standards and they are left behind in the technological upheavals (which are very stratified in this world). The only problems faced are occasional beasts, tribal border conflicts, and limited banditry.

Damarhyi is also very safe and more wealthy than Mahzassyia, but they practice harsh religious laws and do not offer the same level of personal freedom that you would find in Mahzassyia.

Portage is crimeless, high-tech, and extremely wealthy, however they boast the highest suicide rate in the world and their unsustainable conquest-driven economy will not last much longer.

The region of Aldmaran and Farcas (Marantis, although the label is too far north) is the site of the industrial revolution and soon overtakes Portage as the most modernized nation. The commoners are well-educated and have a high standard of living, but they are also brought into frequent and expensive wars over the holy lands of Ikynthea which are claimed by 11 factions.

There are countless isolated places which are in peace, it would take too long to name them all. If you wanted to live alone with limited living standards, almost anywhere on the map is feasible barring the many wastelands, deserts, and areas filled with diseases and savages. There is generally more variation within a region than between regions. For example, Carkûn overall is a very dangerous place due to its barren and mountainous landscape, hostile wildlife, and various hostile tribes, but there are remote areas of Carkûn where you could live in peace with limited resources and never worry about getting killed.
>>
How many races for a science fantasy RPG? How many should be accessible to players?
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>>53418849
>science fantasy
stop with this shit.
>>
>>53418965
No, best genre.
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>>53418849
Probably just as many as a regular RPG minus all the supplements
>>
Tell me of your famous(and infamous) philosophers, /tg/.
>>
>>53418849
>science fantasy
So fantasy with a futuristic aesthetic?

I can't answer the question because I don't know what you're trying to make. "Science fantasy" could be anything. You would be better off making what you want to make and then asking for criticism/suggestions based around what you want to achieve. By putting out "science fantasy" you're basically asking for other people to shove their opinions into your setting to match their expectations rather than making what you want to make.
>>
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>>53416094
Zim and Zam.
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>>53419171
Shit man, that's something I should work on.
>>
>>53419191
Some mysticism, some space opera, some western. Adventure, with rifles and magic and starships and whose goal is ascension.

If you've played Destiny, think of that but with a special focus on Osiris or Toland. If you know what Star Wars is, think of a decentralized Jedi Order, where Knights are mostly sent out to aid sequestered Masters; each has their own Shrine on some frontier world, and as their spirit seeps into the stone that world will come to reflect them; in time, new life will spring up. All the major players of the galaxy are in fact products of this cycle, and accept it to various degrees.

The PCs will travel from world to world, looking for old masters from which to learn; ultimately new races will spring from their teachings. Some worlds will be barren rocks, the lonesome domains of fresh masters in their shrines. Some will be frontier worlds, a secret call hidden beneath the blood and grit. Some will be cities of a billion souls and nothing to greet the party but some deep-buried bones and a deeper-still whisper. Others will be the quiet worlds of lives yet to come, some threat to those a billion years unborn.
>>
>>53417713
Source: my ass, but I'm pretty sure potatoes need a freeze or they all die. In warmer climates where there's no freeze you have to grow wheat. Or yams or something if it's really warm
>>
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MS Paint aside, any thoughts?
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>>53420336
Needs to be more broken
>>
Why the fuck do people show rivers splitting in any scenario except a river delta?

Learn some fucking hydrology prior, rivers do not split, they come together. Look at a fucking map.
>>
>>53420398
that's pretty rare here mate

>>53420336
A lot of rivers splitting here, look up how rivers work. I like the continent shapes.
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>>53420336
Some rivers make no sense. Looks good.
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>>53420351
>>53420398
>>53420451
>>53420461
Some of the rivers meet, but not all, so point taken. Thanks.
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This is my first map, please review and roast it.

Roads are based on where I plopped resources (iron, copper, gold, grain, etc.)

Mountain lines are fusions of plates

Lone mountains are volcanic

Didn't plop cities yet but connecting the resources makes where they would be pretty obvious.

I am supposed to be ready for players Sunday but now I am thinking that will be rushing it.
>>
>>53422752
There's a few things weird with the rivers. A few seem to split going towards the ocean, or travel away from the ocean for a significant time without there appearing to be any major elevation changes

However, the biggest problem is just how hard it is to see whats going on. There's so much brown and grey I cant see the details.
>>
>>53422897

I am still working out how to illustrate elevation top down to better show why the rivers are doing that. I guess it's just drawing concentric curvy lines like I tried in a few places but it looks kind of retarded to me still, like there is something about it I am not getting right.

Some of the rivers are illogical though, I agree. I will erase those or repath them.

I have a color version but it looked really obnoxious to me and I felt like it would actually take the players out of the game, but maybe I could mute them instead of going full sepia.
>>
>>53422752
forests/10
>>
>>53423134
I am wary about having huge swathes of American Midwest-like grassland, even if it is realistic. My solution was having a bunch of woods, but there are probably better ways to handle it.
>>
Ever feel your map is too similar to our Earth?
>>
>>53422752
"I watched Game of Normies" - The Map
>>
>>53424543

Not even close, shitposter.
>>
>>53418849
Just 3 baby - Men, Space Elves and fuck dwarves we're replacing them with Robots
>>
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>>53424553
>Haha the isthmus is at the west instead of the middle tahah what are you talking about bro
>>
>>53420336
So, that thing is between 30 north and 30 south, right?
>>
>>53424622
BUSTED!
>>
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>>53418849
From 0 to millions.
Frankly, it is difficult to say since ultimately race-count is influenced by the atmosphere/feeling of the setting and what is needed to drive a story.
For example, you could run a gritty setting with humans only, where there might be or might not be aliens on unexplored frontiers. More upbeat/campy/space operaish settings could throw new races at every corner.

However, you shouldn't overwhelm the player. When playing first time in unfamiliar setting, I'd recommend everyone to start human so you can introduce world more organically than just dumping it on their faces. Plus, it could be about perspective, too.

Perhaps best course IMO is having a small number of reoccuring species (3-6), and introducing fringe ones when necessary.
>>
>still haven't put anything from notes onto a map
>>
>>53411203
>and "sunglasses" which is a transparent black layer placed over the land and water to make the whole thing darker.

why though? It's hard to look at
>>
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>>53425429
It might be harder to read but the new colors are much better looking and more fitting for the setting. I have been gradually thickening the sunglasses layer over time.

Pic related is from 3 months ago when it still had bright colors.
>>
>>53415756
>>53415080
Hey, if you're still here (or if anyone else knows), is there like a giant book of plants and how they affect the body/remedies and poisons you can make from them?

I need a comprehensive guide for this subject, from a physician's point of view.
>>
>>53426153
Actually yes! You're looking for the CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants. Problem is, it's a five volume set worth about a thousand dollars, so not really viable for the average consumer. You might get access through a university library however.
Other than that, there are a few smaller books and papers that have what you want, so you could look into that.
>>
Quick question.

Why would somebody who is a pilot for a space colony ship also be a blacksmith beyond a hobby?
>>
>>53401488
An easy to remember rule for anyone who doesn't feel the need to go into to much detail while still maintaining some form of realism is; 10 farmers to feed one blacksmith; 10 blacksmiths to arm one soldier.

Do note that this is an oversimplification and the word farmers in this case isn't meant to specify only farmers but anyone whose profession is providing food. Likewise blacksmiths in this case stand in for all professions who refine materials, such as goldsmiths, cobblers, and shoemakers.
>>
>>53426282
I can get access to a university library, but that seems like a series that would be in high demand. Couldn't hurt to check though.

Any recommendations for those smaller books/papers?
>>
>>53426335
Repairing spaceship parts?
>>
>>53426335
>Why would somebody who is a pilot for a space colony ship also be a blacksmith beyond a hobby?
There is not much of a concievable rational explanation. "Because he enjoys doing it, it's a hobby, way to relax" is the best I can do.
Even if you wanted to argue that it's necessary for the ship maintenence or whatever, he'd still be engineer (albeit capable of making some of his tools himself), not a fucking blacksmith.
>>
>>53426399
Nothing off the top of my head unfortunately, just go through scholarly articles and see what's been referenced. Jstor, NIH, and Ebscohost are good at looking for valuable sources.
>>
>>53426681
Alright, thanks for your help homie
>>
>>53426429

Most would have to be machines for precision. Though a hand forged spaceship sounds badass.

>>53426430

That's what I figured, that a hobby is the best explanation. About the only thing I can think of is that the actual colony would orbit the world, and most buildings on the planet would be rather low tech, straight up log cabins, but even then that would be more of a hobby/intentional choice than required. Thanks anyways.
>>
>>53427091
>and most buildings on the planet would be rather low tech, straight up log cabins
I have absolutely no problem with the idea of a low-tech space colonies where still chop wood and hunt space-bears on the surface, requiring things like blacksmiths still hand-crafting tools. You could even say they are some kind of future Amish's or something.
But it's the overlap between a fucking pilot, which assumes a technology reliant on machine precision and complex machinery, and a blacksmith that rubs me off the wrong way unless it's an explicit hobby. If advanced technology is so difficult to come by that you are better off simplifying your society and way of life to a near-medieval level, that is fine, but then you should not have routine use of advanced high-technology such as anything that requires a pilot.
You can have advanced orbital stations that use pilots, and low-tech colonies on surface that use blacksmiths routinely, but it's very hard to explain how ONE PERSON would serve both of these roles at the same time. Presumably there is a low permeability between the two systems.
>>
>>53424543
Map guy here. I have never seen GoT or read the books, actually.

>>53424622
Guess my map is kind of similar but honestly I've never seen that series.
>>
>>53426335
Maybe he also holds a position of honor and forges ceremonial swords, like the ones various militaries have as part of their dress uniform?

Maybe its the captains duty to forge a sword made from the metal of the hull for all of his officers as a bonding thing, and then that crew is bonded for their service and they never serve on other ships, and the survivors of any ship-destroying events are sworn to never fly again

iunno
>>
>>53428351
Which society would actively force it's pilots: people usually renown for their fine motoric skills and exact knowledge of the ships systems, to waste time learning how to forge fucking swords, instead of, I don't know, TRAINING HOW TO FLIGHT?

And what would they do if the captain is a scrawny motherfucker who can't really work the forge?
It makes no sense. I would make sense that the navy hires a professional blacksmith, but it makes zero sense to force or even ask the pilot to do something like that.

It's like going to your professional football couch and DEMANDING that in order to maintain his rank and bond with his team, he HAS to write professional-level novels.
>>
>>53400800
https://chridd.nfshost.com/makewords/
Put this in your linguistics.
Seriously.
It's amazing.
>>
>>53427201

You'd got some good points. No real way to tie the Pilot part to the Blacksmithing part as more than a hobby. Perhaps an engineer who picked up Blacksmithing through metallurgy and he was specific chosen/hired for this mission because of his Blacksmithing hobby would be a more solid concept. Ties the high tech and low tech parts together more, I think.

Thanks.
>>
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>>53410987

Gonna be honest, I'm stealing your methodology for this to warp my existing map. Looks great, keep up the good work.
>>
>>53429004
As I am thinking about this, I think I had figured a possible explaination for this. It's bit of a stretch and you would have to model an entire setting around it, but you could in theory create some kind of weird widely anachronistic settings - probably with major post-apocalyptic element to justify this.

I'm thinking of a concept I had in my own world-building draft. It's a classic "post-apocalyptic" scenario of very low-tech (mostly tribal or feudal) societies that generally do not have access to things like combustion engines, electricity or anything like that, living among the ruins of highly technologically advanced civilization.

I had an idea (which I never really commited to) for a possible small society that lives along the ruins of what used to be essentially an air-field. Since some of the "ancient" technologies were build to be very durable, some of the machines there, including some of the planes still work, and some members of the society know how to fly them as the knowledge how to do that is passed as sacred among the families.

The idea was that taking one of those machines for flight is considered a sacred ritual, the people only control them based on memorized guidelines and have no idea how any of it really works, do it exclusively for religious reasons (flying the plane is considered a sort of a rite-of-passage) and purely a magical act... but they do fly, and yet they are basically a late-bronze era folks. Hypothetically, one of those people could be a black-smith (though in my mind, the right to fly was exclusive to several very special families who would more likely serve as priests or shammans than blacksmiths).
But it's a massive stretch and more importantly, those people aren't really "pilots". They can't improvise or use the planes for any pragmatic functions: to them it's a ritual in which they temporarily "become one with the bird-god" and the bird god lets them fly for a while.
>>
>>53429157

Sounds neat. I always like the idea of low tech tribes living in post-apocalyptic ruins making use of the things there without knowing the real origin.

Anyways, the character (which as you can see is still very much in concept stages) is for a home brew a friend is running, and so far he's just told us the characters as all colonists on a ship, and to have one high tech profession and one low tech one. I went for pilot first because pilots are sexy, but the Blacksmithing is more important to me and engineer meshes better with it. Not sure what the low tech part is going to be for yet, but there you go.
>>
>>53429286
>I always like the idea of low tech tribes living in post-apocalyptic ruins making use of the things there without knowing the real origin.
It's a fascinating concept, but also very played-out. I personally base my ideas mainly on works of Hayao Miyazaki (pic related): both base theme-wise and aesthetic wise.

It does not always make sense logic-wise, but then again despite my settings being vaguelly-sci-fi-ish (no real magic, only "strange" technologies), I'm actually much more interested in symbolic and aesthetic notions than proper speculative sci-fi.

That said, the whole ancient airfield concept is stretching it even for me, which is why I never commited to implementing it.

>is for a home brew a friend is running, and so far he's just told us the characters as all colonists on a ship, and to have one high tech profession and one low tech one.
Sounds like you need to discuss this more with your GM to see how his settings work. Having a low-tech and high-tech profession for colonists, who presumably will need to embrace low-tech life-style for a while before the colony infrastructure is up makes a hell of a lot sense: like being a doctor AND a farmer, engineer AND a carpenter etc... the pilot/blacksmith combo is a bit more weird. But the "hobby" angle can solve it.

Alternatively, you can just say that having two vocations was just part of the training, to have the colonists more flexible. It is likely that once the colony is established, you will have to chose which one of the professions will you be commited.

That said, it's just somewhat unfortunate that you chose two professions that don't overlap too much, and both require MASSIVE amount of commitment and constant practice, making the combo somewhat incongruous.
>>
>>53429622
Forgot the pic, damn.
>>
>>53411394
No. That's. nonworry if I've ever seen one. If you don't need any other races, the man done use any other races.
>>
>>53425336
What would you say for a setting along these lines:
>>53420232
>>
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>>53432470
I'd go with that I recommended. Some already well-spread and acquainted species, few, but don't feel restrained with throwing more weirder things on foreign worlds.
>>
How much do different provinces of a large empire interact, beyond trading? Is there much infighting? Assuming that there's some kind of communications network that the emperor uses to keep tabs on his subjects with.
>>
>>53401182

kinda looks like tamriel, not sure why
>>
>>53434083
Depends on the political structure. If it's a feudal society, then political infighting would be pretty common. If it's an absolute monarchy, then there wouldn't be much political fighting, though people world still vie for economic influence and wealth
>>
>>53429136
What do the arrows mean?
>>
>>53403886
Not sure why but I really like this map
>>
I'm working on a Hellgate: London/DOOM inspired setting, where near-future Earth is invaded by demons. How ridiculous is too ridiculous, considering that "magic" does exist in the world?
>>
Is there a way to make the mechanics of spell casting frightening and ominous? I'm trying to flesh out magic for my setting and the most I can come up with is its done through naturally occurring Philosopher's Stones that inadvertently grant some kind of madness inducing insight. Putting it in those terms however just makes it sound lame.
>>
>>53438343
Shoutouts for Hellgate: London and DOOM
You'd have to define what you mean by ridiculous, because while magic exists, it's more demonic than Harry Potter or D&D
>>
>>53438343
>How ridiculous is too ridiculous
This is entirely up to personal preference of the group and the GM.

One thing to be careful of is that if you introduce too many ridiculous elements, the game might lose any sense of importance, conflict and drama. What's the use of planning and worrying is literally anything can happen at any time with no warning?

Thus, it is important for a game (but not necessarily for a world), so you may want to introduce some rules and consistency to the demon bullshit, so that the players can at least attempt to make some plans.

For example, if your demons can appear out of nowhere like in Doom, make sure that the first time a demon appears out of nowhere doesn't ruin any of the players' plans, but is instead an encounter designed specifically to tell them "Hey, demons can teleport behind your back any time you want, so better be ready at any moment." On the other hand if the first time you introduce a teleporting demon is when the players are in the middle of a careful plan and the demon ruins their plan, all you're going to get is your players screaming "Bullshit!" and not having fun.

Basically, introduce fantastic elements before they can bite the players in the ass.

Of course, this isn't a solid rule and you should make one or two exceptions to keep them on their toes, because total surprise can be fun, but only if it happens like once or twice in the entire game and only when you're fairly certain that it's going to be fun.
>>
>>53438651
>>53438460
>and the demon ruins their plan
I meant to write "and 30 demons teleport in and ruin their plan"
>>
>>53438460
>>53438651
By ridiculous, more "rule of cool" than goofy.

Its for a skirmish wargame, so far I have things in the setting like power armored Knights Templars, mutant feral humans that survived the apocalypse that let the demons invade, science border-line cults trying to fight the demons off, the demons are like the Burning Legion in the sense they are a conquering force made up of various species enslaved.
>>
>>53438839
>By ridiculous, more "rule of cool" than goofy.
That's entirely a taste thing, so you're better off asking your group than /wbg/.
>>
>>53438839
Sounds about right for the setting
>>
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>>53434127

Well I didn't consciously use any refs... Here's how it's looking now in any case, still need to start populating it
>>
>>53404820
WTF I created a race called Drithian like a week ago.
Feels weird.
>>
>>53402804
>>53420336
>>53422752
>>53429136
All this river splitting is really niggling my noggin. With the exception of deltas and islands made from the river course changing rivers don't split. Usually smaller creaks and streams flow into rivers, which can then merge with other rivers until ocean.
>>
>>53441038
Pretty cool map, but it needs way more rivers. Dunno why people always place them so sparingly, rivers are freaking everywhere
>>
>>53441683

I feel ya on that. I find it makes the map really cluttered looking, especially at a 'world map' level of zoom. I guess make them thinner?...
>>
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I made this to help myself whenever I have to make a new race, any new voice suggestions i might have forgot are welcome.
>>
>>53442595
I like the spectrum thing.
>>
>>53442752
me too

why is prosperous the opposite of decadent?
>>
How do you name your countries, /wbg/?

I was looking at some maps and realized loads of countries are named after the people who live there.
>>
>>53443632
Prosperous=Growing in influence and population Decadent=Decreasing in both (also losing territories, which would fall under influence) and by extension, low morale of the population leading to a more moral relativistic apathetic society.
>>
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Do you guys usually start your worldbuilding by creating the geography first and then use that to inform the cultures you come up with, or do you do the opposite and invent geographies that work for the cultures you've built?
>>
>>53447575
Both work and serve the other, but I'm primarily interested in cultures and races, and will put a greek-like city-state into a mountainous region instead of the other way around.
>>
>>53447575
Geography comes first as culture has historically been dictated by geography, and if you have a large works it's much easier to create information about a country on the fly given geographic location
>>
>>53447575
I've been doing a little of both; I know there are a few cultures and places I want to steal for the setting, but haven't found a place for yet, and there are geographical features I'm working on that don't really have anything attatched to them that I'm going to use to inform what I want there.

It depends on what I'm working on. Right now, I'm working on a small, setting-within-a-setting that I can use to introduce the players to the setting. Its kind of an homage to Thunder Rift, as I loved that module to death and back back in the day.

I'm building it inside an enormous impact crater, somewhat like the Eye of Quebec but around the same size as the state of Vermont. The only problem is that I don't actually recall any places in ancient times that settled in that kind of place, and I am trying to figure out what to put there.
>>
>>53447575

A bit of column A, a bit of column B. A few countries are already pretty well-formed in my head, and with those it's pretty much just "find a spot on the map which looks about right." The rest spring up as I build the terrain and figure out where all the interesting things are happening.
>>
>>53447575
Usually, I start with a couple of central cultures to serve as a starting point for the players of the first campaign in the setting, and then some travel times to notable landmarks and other cultures, then I make a local (around 1000 square km) map to serve that, then I expand to a wider world based on that. Also I usually leave non-local maps a bit ambiguous to give me the freedom to adjust later.
>>
>>53447575
i usually start with nations (and more specifically their governmental structures/history) first then do geography after that. much easier to determine where countries are located if i know their relationships first
>>
>>53447575
>geographies that work for the cultures
Cultures are not THAT depend on geography except for aesthetics
>>
These threads are always dildos... your worlds and what not are all horrible
>>
>>53447575
The geography is built to accommodate cultures, but new cultures will pop up in the excess geography I create, since I want my world to constantly undergo drastic changes and be unrecognizable every few months. I strongly avoid the "gardener style" of building the geography and letting it fill itself realistically and naturally, I want everything to be deliberate and intentional.

Most of the land I add is between two regions rather than adding actual new land, so the original two regions that once bordered eachother are now separated and their culture, trade, and politics will be changed to accommodate it. Generally the old regions will be removed eventually, I don't like keeping old things when they can be improved or replaced. My setting is 3 years old but the oldest part of my setting is 1 year old, everything else has been removed. I do the same to stories and characters.
>>
>>53448700
Early cultures, Neolithic and Bronze Age, are very dependent on local conditions. Rivers, mountains, deserts, animals, weather, etc. will influence culture, religion, outlook on life, the art they produce, the materials they use, and a bunch of other stuff.
>>
>>53447575
The latter, first is too autistic for my taste.
I mean, making this super detailed sterile map while ideas come and go in your head is such a waste of time in my opinion. You're supposed to make it as interesting as possible, not as interesting in the circumstances given by the map. In other words I find it limitative even if technically more logical.
>>
>>53403415
I'm not a cartographer, but it looks sweet.
>>
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just started working on this map, any feedback on it so far?
>>
>>53447575
I kind of do both: a number of geographical conditions, not necessary realistic, and cool traits for cultures, and then try to mix them in a sensible way.
>>
>>53449120
This, and since all cultures build off their predecessors, all cultures are geography dependent
>>
>>53449318
If you aren't trolling, rivers do not work like that
If you are trolling, kys
>>
>>53449318
Strange mountain of two rivers. Wouldn't they erode it until there's a lake?
Where does the lowest river come from?
>>
>>53449318
Rivers generally fan out much close to the coast, not in the middle of the landmass. Look at the Nile or Mississippi rivers for example. The start of the delta should be much closer to the coast than it is to the headwaters.

Also rivers don't generally just go from one sea then right back into the same sea.
>>
>>53449160
I agree, it's like writing a book from the middle.
>>
>>53449503
But that's pretty much how books are written. You don't write books the same way you read them.
>>
>>53449552
What, you do not have a neat scheme of shit from beginning to the end that get invariably scrambled as all hell in the process of making the book?
>>
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>>53449384
>>53449387
>>53449399
alright I made some adjustments, plus added a new river. how's this look?

>Strange mountain of two rivers. Wouldn't they erode it until there's a lake?
it's a magic river that flows up over the mountain
>>
>>53449552
There are various techniques for writing books but you don't have everything laid out when you do that with a book, just generic details.
If you do that with the world you're creating you're pretty much cockblocked to serve some dumb schematic.
The schematic should serve YOU.
>>
>>53449666
Rivers generally don't cross one another. They join together to flow in a single direction.
>>
>>53449666
I see what you're doing satan.
>>
>>53449666
Remove the long river that's running the length of the landmass.
Remove the river that flows over the mountains.
Make the delta more of a fan shape rather than having it run parallel to the coast.

Also, stop wasting your time trolling.
>>
>>53449666
Does it actually touch the mountain? Magic river that flows hanging in the air while constantly showering everything beneath it seems cool
>>
>>53448938
>>53449318
>>
>>53448938
Well yeah, no one actually comes here to do worldbuilding. It's all just trolls trolling trolls. Like this guy >>53449666

He knows that his map is dumb, he's just here to troll.
>>
>>53449811
>I'm aware you're all trolls, didn't get me hehe
come on, you're better than this
>>
>>53449692
>>53449727
>>53449758
>>53449811
what's with all the hostility? i'm just an aspiring map-maker like the rest of you. i just thought that intersecting rivers would be cool.

i'm sorry, i guess i'll do more research next time...

>>53449731
the river comes out the ground and forms a column of water that wraps around the mountaintop and then goes over the other side.
>>
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>>53400905

I did that for my world, but sadly lost the original DF exports. After playing around with it in GIMP I ended up with this
>>
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>>53450288

I wasn't satisfied with that, so I tried to make it more realistic with photoshop and created this
>>
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>>53450324

Then I started to flesh out the lower left continent with some ideas I wanted for this world and made this.
>>
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>>53450375

When I was finished, it looked too simple. I still wasn't satisfied. I decided to try a different continent, and then created this, and it worked out much much better. This continent has a much more interesting feel, I think.
>>
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>>53450416

When I was finally satisfied with everything I went over it all by hand on my tablet and colored it to make it personal
>>
>>53438360
Bump.
>>
>>53450582
that's a big skeleton
>>
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>>53450656

Its the skeleton of Osen the God of Magic, a great Aerwhal from the Dreamtime. He forced Tyfin the Drakon to sleep beneath the waves of the sea, but with her last breath she ordered her brood to avenge her. They eventually did ambush and defeat Osen in glorious aerial combat, and the slain god was sent plummeting into the mountainside where his skeleton now rests.
>>
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>>53450880

When Osen died, clouds began to darken and rain began to pour. Since his death Nimbus has not stopped crying, and the ocean has begun to rise. Some say that since Osen is dead, there is nothing keeping Tyfin beneath the waves, and now she is coming to consume everything.
>>
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What's your favorite war, between 200 AD and 1500 AD?

I'm working on a medieval war generator/table/tracker, and I need some ludicrous examples to test it against.
>>
>>53404739
what editor did you use to make this?
>>
tell me about some of your more important historical figures /wbg/
>>
>>53450957
Never use five letter names ending in weak shit for your buff guys.
>>
Is there any kind of very very user friendly map designer that lets people make maps that look good? I'm fucking terrible with any image editing software and terrible at drawing and don't enjoy it but really love world building so I'm in a pile of shit when it comes to doing this efficiently and end up just not doing it.

Anything, please. I can pay for it. If not I could always commission I guess.
>>
>>53453895
there's inkarnate, i think it looks like trash but i draw my maps
>>
Hey /wbg/ - I just want to share a story relating to world building.

>Start writing a setting for a book
>Get really into it
>Need some knowledge so take classes
>5 years later starting my Masters in Geosciences, graduated Undergrad in Earth Sciences with a 3.8 GPA and a minor in Geography

... oddly enough my world building may have gone to far.
>>
>>53453949
hahahaha thats great, good for you man. im sure your worldbuilding has gotten a lot out of that

>>53453912
thank you senpai im checking it out
>>
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>>53454000
Actually has. Like, I'm not telling a tall-tale here. It's kind of made life a bit of a PITA now that I understand (to the extent of human knowledge) global climate's functions.

It's also made me re-write my world like 5 times. No one will EVER fucking care...but I will know that every biome and civilization makes sense.

>would share but now to shy
>suddenly terrified of being judged
>what if my preconceptions are wrong?
>that would invalidate my knowledge
>can express these fears anonymously
>book will never be finished
>will die alone, as the last memories of my world fade with me
>>
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>>53454137
pls share my dude im very interested

heres my ameuteur bullshit for reference

id love tips btw
>>
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Working on maping out a continent on some posterboard, but still working out alot of the terrain. Go ahead and roast my map /tg/
>>
>>53457919
looks good but is fucking huge for a fiefdom
>>
>>53457919
Man, you have rivers that don't end on the Ocean.
>>
>>53400800
Is there a good template for creating a 'world bible' of sorts for my homebrew setting? A friend was interested in playing a game in my setting, but I'm not sure how to organize that information.
>>
Okay, so I read some of the thread concerning pantheon design and execution, and now I wonder why even have a pantheon? How many of world's religions actually have a hard identity for their god? How many regions of the world have been dominated by a singular set of beliefs, large or small?

I think the key to building a good religion is by looking at the ultimate goal of the group it will serve. Ascension, renewal or maintenance through conflict, benevolence or non-intervention.

Whether a deity is necessary is not even of great concern. Roll a D4 between god(s), heroic figures, ancestor worship or just a general feeling of unity if you really can't see which serves you best.

My point is that perfectly successful religions exist that have no god or even central figure. Don't limit yourself to a God of Farming when you could have an entire religion that believes in Fantasy Jainism.

Besides, this approach lends itself better to politics for empires and whatnot.
>>
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very early wip of the main location for some slightly cyberpunkish scifi setting

the terraforming is far enough along now that the air is breatheable and the climate isn't too bad around the equator, but there's still big ice sheets in the polar regions and not much very much vegetation in most places except lichens and and grass and shit
the smaller central landmass is where most of the population and megacorp shenanigans are, but there's a fair amount of small settlements and various nomadic groups in the frontier areas and some other things

also mostly unrelated but relevant to the thread, wordcreator is a very useful program for names and shit: http://www.sttmedia.com/wordcreator
you can input whatever feed text you want and then count digrams/trigrams/syllables etc and generate words from that, so you can do things like feed it with placename lists from multiply languages and get something with exactly the right themes you want

>>53453895
inkarnate is about all there is, it still looks pretty bad but at least its way better than campaign cartographer and all that bullshit

for anything beyond that there isn't much you can do except learn photoshop though
>>
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What are some cultural traditions you've included in your settings? I'm a sucker for coming-of-age pilgrimages and the like.
>>
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>>53459680
>>53457919
There's quite a few rivers that flow into endorheic basins and dont reach the sea, but there should be some obstacle preventing drainage in that case
>>
>>53461200
I do a sort of pilgrimage with my high elves. When a couple has a child they take them with them all around the world, raising them until they reach adolescence in a wide variety of different environments and other cultures so they can get a taste for different foreign things. Wood elves are the stodgy curmudgeons that don't like to leave the forest, while dark elves are pilgrims who wind up going over the edge and getting lost in the cultures of other civilizations, like going native in dwarven mountains or human cities and stuff. High elves try to walk a fine line being being elves and also being citizens of the entire world.

Not sure if it's stupid or not, so far it's just been used for some character backstories.
>>
I want to add a "memetic lifeform" to my scifi setting. Ideas?

I'm considering something like psychological cordyceps, some ancient word that burrows into the brain.
>>
>>53463089
Read up the memetic stuff on SCP to give you some ideas. But your idea there sounds good.
>>
>>53452683

The An Lushan Revolt doesn't get nearly enough attention for a conflict that killed off 5+% of the world's population (for comparison, WWII killed 2.5-3%).
>>
>>53463089

So like Pontypool?
>>
>>53414101
This. You guys are like little babbys
>>
>>53465410
China Mieville did it better.
>>
>>53412943
>no rye

do you even winter and shitty soil dude
>>
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>>53465392
It's a pretty good one. I've used this map as an example before of as "this is what an empire looks like just before it all goes to hell".
>>
>>53452683
Big fan of the 30 Year's Wa-

>1500
Oh. Well. 100 Year's War needs more non-weeb attention. Shit, I'd settle for some Crusades as well.
>>
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>>53467268
The 30 years war almost gets an honorable mention, but it won't work for my purposes because of cannons and muskets. Ah well.

The 100 years war is an all-time classic though. Remember the time the french nearly went bankrupt building a gigantic prefabricated fortress to build during their invasion of England, and then called the whole thing off at the last minute?
>>
>>53467427
>cannons
I believe cannons made an appearance in that war though.

And I've never heard about the prefab fortress before. That sounds amazing!
>>
>>53467782
>I believe cannons made an appearance in that war though.

They did, but their overall impact was minimal. The age of the castle hadn't ended.

I'm trying to find a good source that discusses the fortress specifically, but it was during the botched invasion of 1385.
>>
I'm a bit stuck with my setting and I need some insight.

Nobles and Kings in my setting descend from saints and gods, making the divine right to rule a real thing.

I was thinking, should I make the blue blood expression a real thing too? What would happen if royalty and nobility have literally blue blood?
>>
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>>53469280
>what would happen
>>
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>>53469280
People find ways to dye their blood and fake it. This might include the royal family.

>>53467782
>>53467268
>>53465392
If you're interested, I posted my Medieval Stalemate Simulator here. Roll up a Hundred Years War in a few minutes!

>>53469299
>>
anyone has any maps? Specifically buildings and cities? I'm looking for inspiration. Doesn't have to be homebrew
>>
>>53471666
http://torstan.deviantart.com/gallery/
>>
>>53471666
>>53473042
http://brian-van-hunsel.deviantart.com/gallery/
>>
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>when you realize drawing isn't as easy as the tutorials would lead you to believe
Well, gotta start somewhere I guess
>>
>>53474810
Still leagues better than what I can manage.
>>
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>>53474810
The secret is to draw every day.
>>
>>53476791
I have no clue how people are so steady-handed with the mouse, my lines, circles etc. are all jagged
>>
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>>53477159
That's why I draw on paper.
>>
>>53477159
Get a wacom, use paper, or just do small strokes at low sensitivity.
>>
>>53477301
I like this style. Something about thin-looking knight armor makes them feel more real for some reason.
>>
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>>53477474
Thanks.
>>
>>53477447
Good suggestion I guess, thanks.
>>53476791
>>53477301
Pretty nice. I always start drawing every now and then but then stop because I get discouraged.
>>
>>53452683
The wars between romanophile Aksumites and persian-backed Yemen are a pretty cool and unknown series of conflicts, if only for the combination of familiar and exotic stuff.

Also the last byzantine-sasanian war.
>>
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>>53474810
Just keep drawering
>>
>>53478169
Holy shit that's impressive as fuck.
>>
>>53478169
Tips my dude? Nice yeti btw
>>
>>53478169
I guess I'll keep doing it this time, thanks senpai
>>
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>>53478362
thank

>>53478376
iunno, drawing this fully took me like, a full month, so don't be afraid to just do light work on it sometimes if you're not feeling full of beans

I've also got a big map that I'm drawing that I doodle when I'm feeling gassed on gorilla dick, then on top of that I have an architectural blueprint thing I'm drawing of my 'dream house'. Mostly drawing that to see if I'd like a floorplan that was based around packed-earth tire walls, because they're super hype for insulation and shit.

>>53478405
np, art is super satisfying so draw as much as you can, I work on this or my map or my house at least once a day, if not all of them intermittently. And I work full time, so don't say you don't have time, unless you work full time and are also a student then maybe its okay.
>>
>>53478441
>>53478169
Are you halycon450?
>>
>>53480011
no
>>
>>53480886
bollocks
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