/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

Hey does anyone have any tools for generating a barony- scale section of land? My friend used a random background generator and because of some Top Secret things he rolled I fiated him as a Baron of a shithole with no strategic importance that is only notable for being a days travel from the capital, amd technically being under the King's direct perview(his grandfather was a highly respected court mage who requested the land to be left to his son, and the kig didn't want anyone else having power over a ~15th level wozard).

Anyways, hes picked up some lost serfs and a very grateful blacksmith and is takig them back to his land, and i need to actually design the thing now, but don't want to fuck with the results based on what i know he has access to.

Also i know im fucking up this campaign but hes still enjoying hinself even though im not good, so ill keep going at least long enough for the Top Secret Background to come out

>>54362515
>and the kig didn't want anyone else having power over a ~15th level wozard
Trust me, NO ONE has power over a 15th level wizard except a higher level wizard.

Okay, do you have a world/regional map?

>>54362362
>What's your magic system?
Space magic that is based on changing laws of physics in a location

>Where does it come from?
The energy for it comes from stars and is absorbed by specially enhanced people that claim to be gods. It also could be accessed technologically, but that's complicated

>What are its limitations?
You need to be of these 'gods', it's extremely inefficient, it requires a thorough knowledge of whatever you're trying to change

>>54362515
Do you have ASOIAF RPG? It's shit but it has a noble house creation system that is more or less neat. Point being, get that one, decide on the features of your land and try to portray it on a hexmap

>>54362911

Very vaguely, its mostly jist ideas right now. Also, the wizard was a bit of a lazy shit and basically used the position as a way of making oher people get shit for him. This ended later on for *secret background reasons* but yeah.

In general, the area is basically the foothills of the mountains(the capitol itself features a fortress carved out of a mountain) with scattered trees anywhere there isn't farms. He has a small castle- basically a fort- the main strutcure is stone but he outer wall is still wooden, not much more than a pallisade. Theres a "town" that consists of three farms, two small ones woth just grain and a large one with grains, vegetables and cabages(cabbage growth is useful to "reset" a field, as I recall). His lands are basically barely afloat, and only make a few gold a year in profits, and that only because his personal ownership of the local mill means that he makes more than just his taxes, which aren't high because his grandfather didn't give a shit and he left home not long adter his grandfather died, and the farmers have been here longer than the barony has existed.

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>>54362990
>Space magic that is based on changing laws of physics in a location
Any laws? So strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational?
Can I split a fucker into quarks at a whim?
>The energy for it comes from stars
In what way? Pure solar radiation or just sunlight? What makes the stars special that couldn't be replicated through UV lights or some other artificial means?
>>54362990
>specially enhanced people that claim to be gods
How are they enhanced? If they can ignore physics who are normies to say they aren't gods?
>it requires a thorough knowledge of whatever you're trying to change
We talking like PHD or can some asshole learn a list of facts and get by?

>>54363009

Could you link that? Im thinking this campaign will eventually go planescape, but if it doesn't itll definitely go into kingdom tier shit, and noble generating tools are useul as fuck if i hit that point.

>>54363082
>fort
Forts are made to defend things, and are put places that can easily be defended. Could be a hilltop fort, or a small island on a river or lake.

>town
Towns form along routes and roads, and often service both travelers and local farmers/shepherds. Consider a centralized location for the town between the farms, and make sure the largest buildings in town are the church and a tavern.

>>54363145

The primary concern when creating this place was proximity for the court mage. If you want the tavern its a two hour journey to the nearest actual town. It was basically just a place theycould drop him where it wouldn't step on any toes and wouldn't upset him. Im considering saying that the forts an old one that used to watch over a now-dead trade route, but i haven't decided yet. Trying to keep the wealth level low so he can't immediately break the game.

>>54363089
>Any laws? So strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational?
Yes, but as I said it's not terribly efficient. Unless you have special equipment that helps you with that, I suppose.
Main idea for the setting is to (more or less) emulate ancient myths but with space gods. Mostly hero-level stuff, so they're not "create the world from nothing" powerful. More like, "slay a primordial dragon and turn its body into stone"

>Can I split a fucker into quarks at a whim?
If you're strong enough, sure. There's at least one guy that could crush a moon with his "Hand of the Firmament" enhancement

>In what way? Pure solar radiation or just sunlight? What makes the stars special that couldn't be replicated through UV lights or some other artificial means?
In theory, you could power this ability from a power grid. Can't promise you great returns though.
It's just that stars emit a lot of energy in a massive spectrum. So, presumably, some of the stuff emitted by them is what is caught by the "space gods", though it's likely something at least as weird as neutrino.

>How are they enhanced?
They're humans taken from Earth in about 12000-10000 BC, and turned into space gods by similar creatures of that era. Since then they usurped their creators' place.
It's additional organs that catch whatever part of star emission is supposed to power their abilities.

>If they can ignore physics who are normies to say they aren't gods?
That is the point, while they're essentially humans, there's no higher authority to tell them they're not gods

>We talking like PHD or can some asshole learn a list of facts and get by?
Yeah, we're talking intimate knowledge of how elementary particles work or at least a fucktonne of trial and error in messing with them

>>54362362
From a book I'm writing (because of course I am)

>What's your magic system?
The universe is made of "threads". People who learn to see them can weave patterns into reality.

>Where does it come from?
Reality is made of the stuff. Heat, Magnetism, Awareness, Love, Dreams, Space, Matter, etc.

>What are its limitations?
Resurrection is impossible, as is any form of time travel beyond slowing down aging (typically items). Also, since literally EVERYTHING is made from and connected to these threads, ANY use of magic has a chance to "snag" other threads unintentionally. This means that spell to make yourself invisible, if hastily done, could catch yourself on fire as well. Or a spell to turn your skin into stone could accidentally snag the wrong material thread, causing you to take on the strength not of stone, but charcoal. Or you try to teleport across a ravine and wind up splattered across the entire hillside.

Reality loves to assert itself, by the way, so any spell you weave will surely fade away almost immediately unless you "bind" it in some sort of physical object or symbol. Now, if too many things begin to snag, the threads will become "frayed", whereby they will start snagging ON THEIR OWN, without a spellcaster being needed. Too many snags and frays will eventually accumulate until reality shits itself and becomes a "Snarl".

A snarl is like combining a black hole, time paradox, and nuclear explosion. Whole regions just stop existing for a while. People die in the most horrifying /d/-style transformational ways. The laws of reality stop functioning, reverse, and then implode. Without mages nearby to manage a snarl, it will eventually repair itself, though the area effected will be straight up fucking cursed forever afterward. It's generally an accepted thing that when a snarl happens, EVERYONE stops what they're doing to try and fix it.

Good? Bad?

>>54363098
In PDF thread (>>54352562), open the OP file, it's on page 3, second link

>>54363200
Alright, then just give him a tower fort on top of a hill overlooking some crossroads. Give him authority over a couple farms and a forest or hills. If he wants to invest in mining, lumber, or something else, then he can do so. If he's got the coin.

>>54363307

Im trying to figure out what there is he CAN do, though. Is there an iron vein? How common are those? Ogld? Silver? I want a method of randlmizing he terrain and resources

>>54363371
Roll 1d100
1-49 is good mining
50-99 is bad mining
100 is DRAGON

Then roll 1d6
1: Iron
2: Copper
3: Tin
4: Fools Gold
5: Silver
6: Gold

Seriously, come up with a random list, roll some dice.

>>54363261
>Yes, but as I said it's not terribly efficient
What does this mean, exactly?
>There's at least one guy that could crush a moon with his "Hand of the Firmament" enhancement
And why was he capable of that? Destroying a moon seems pretty powerful for hero-level stuff
>It's just that stars emit a lot of energy in a massive spectrum.
I feel like you could benefit from hammering this down
>Yeah, we're talking intimate knowledge of how elementary particles work or at least a fucktonne of trial and error in messing with them
I thought I was the only person who said fucktonne
Oh well
How does that knowledge affect their ability to screw with physics? Like what about knowing what to do lets them do it?

Please me aware I'm massively biased towards structured magic systems rather than "Magic is unknowable" systems.

>>54363286
>The universe is made of "threads". People who learn to see them can weave patterns into reality.
Isn't this sort of how the Wheel of Time magic worked?
I never read the books myself, though so take that with a grain of salt
>A snarl is like combining a black hole, time paradox, and nuclear explosion
Now this sounds really bad but the earlier explanation made it seem like snarls would be more common than a world could allow considering how CATASTROPHICALLY dangerous they sound and how permanent its effects can be

You state it can be fixed. How? And is it possible that enough people or knowledge could be mobilized to keep it from spiraling out of control? Could the ability to use magic at all and hence the danger of creating snarls cause people to turn against the use of magic and start hunting down everyone who tried?

>>54363009

Looking, cant see it, whats the full name? And am i looking in freddy bolgers rpg trove?

>>54363409

>1d6

If i was gonna do it his simplistic id atleast go 2d6 so gold/platinum can be a 1/36 each, and iron can cover 6-8 and be he most likely result. Also there'd be a spot for "roll twice".

>>54363506
No, Lotsastuff, folder one.
Just search the PDF for ASOIAF

>>54363420
>What does this mean, exactly?
It means that in general it's much easier and uses way less energy to just shoot a fucker. Or if you have a combat upgrade, kill him with it, instead of dissassembling him into particles

>And why was he capable of that? Destroying a moon seems pretty powerful for hero-level stuff
He's stupidly old and is meant to be a man on the mountain type, not a PC. And his enhancement is unique.
In general, "hero-level" is applicable for PCs, and all those Enlils, Zeuses and Ras are supposed to be distant NPCs

>I feel like you could benefit from hammering this down
Stars emit stuff that is used for magic. A magic particle. A wizardino.

>How does that knowledge affect their ability to screw with physics? Like what about knowing what to do lets them do it?
Because most of the stuff you possibly could do, gives you either no effect on macro-level at all, or one you wouldn't want. Just like you wouldn't to disassemble an object heavier than a grain of wheat into energy when it's in your vicinity

>Please me aware I'm massively biased towards structured magic systems rather than "Magic is unknowable" systems.
Yeah, I have one of those in my group. Can be a right pain in the butt. Can't imagine all the headache I'll get when I actually will use the setting for an actual game

>>54363531

ah, I counted from when it stopped being people jerking off over how they helped, I see. Okay, got it, thanks.

>>54363591
You'll want Core book (Game of Thrones edition, prolly) and Out of Strife Prosperity

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>>54363420
>Isn't this sort of how the Wheel of Time magic worked?
From what I understand, the WoT thread magic has a lot of symbolic stuff in its lore. Like, threads of fire, earth, water, and air are combined to make spells. My basically assumes real world chemistry is a thing, but wizards see the "threads" of forces within the universe acting upon one another and have learned to alter them to suit their purposes.

>You state it can be fixed. How?
Wizards can "weave" snarls shut much like a surgeon sews up a wound. It is a skill that can be done rudimentary, but any amount of skill or experience is hugely more efficient that without.

>And is it possible that enough people or knowledge could be mobilized to keep it from spiraling out of control?
Magic is dangerous business. ANYONE can become a wizard by learning how, so the knowledge to become one is basically a tightly kept secret (until the internet is invented and someone decides to post the whole thing on some sort of somali finger puppet board). Magic is the most regulated thing in the universe because it has TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES for fucking up.

That being said, yes. Trained wizards in any number will cut down on natural snarls forming exponentially. There are also natural processes for limiting and fixing snarls, but most of these are poorly understood and human actions tend to intensify the problem. Even without spellcasting, snarls form from high "energy", such as high concentrations of chemical energy, kinetic shocks, or thoughts/dreams in a localized area. It's gonna happen anyway, might as well have someone around to save everyone when shit goes down.

>Could the ability to use magic at all and hence the danger of creating snarls cause people to turn against the use of magic and start hunting down everyone who tried?
Yes. The main conundrum is thus: More mages means more snarls could happen. Of course, snarls will happen regardless, but mages can fix those.

>>54363286
>From a book I'm writing (because of course I am)
Hey me too

>>54362362
>What's your magic system?
Magic is created and utilized through song. Certain women during puberty develop a set of horns that mark them as a Speaker. Speakers are the only ones who can use magic.

Magic "resonates" with the soul. Mostly this is used to grant warriors increased strength, speed, and vitality. Though intense effort and concentration a Speaker can create an artificial soul called a Simulacrum which is physically a gem roughly the size of a pingpong ball. Putting these objects in weapons can relay the effect of the Speaker's magic to the weapon, charging them with elements than a human body would be unable to stand such as extreme heat, cold, or electricity.

Use of artificial souls allows for the creation of massive machines to augment or channel the power into effects that far exceed the intended scope of magic in the setting.

The reason only Speakers can use magic is while modern day humans assume it's the Speakers themselves doing magic, the reason they can do it is because their connection to their deity lets them "queue" and effect from it through their mind's intent. The deity then feeds them the knowledge of the divine language and the melody necessary to create that effect and the Speaker's body automatically responds to those instructions

>Where does it come from?
Magic is actually derived from the creation system put into place by a higher order intelligence created by the birth of the universe. Sub-deities created planets and preside over the life there. Magic can be used by lower creatures such as humans due to a connection between Speakers and the sub-deity that created them. There is a "language" to creation and the tone of the song as well as the intent of the Speaker changes what the magic is supposed to do.

>>54363760
>What are its limitations?
Speakers can only be women because I'm biased and hate male singers. I'm still coming up with an explanation. I'm learning towards the particular deity giving magic to humanity by creating scores of Speakers wholecloth or through altering existing people. It chose women because women are the genetic bottleneck rather than men and the "women only" factor of the creation/alterations persisted.

Magic use requires incredible concentration and training. The beating of a Speaker's heart must match the tone of their music and any extreme emotional distress or fear will "desync" them with the deity rendering them powerless

Creating a Simulacrum is difficult and the objects shatter if used too often or allowed to carry too much stress (either though overuse or through emotional instability of the Speaker empowering it. Simulacrum are graded based on how many facets they have (lowest being a tetrahedron and highest being a perfect sphere) and a higher grade can widthstand more stress

>>54363760
>Hey me too
Of course. You're on /tg/ in a worldbuilding general. It's natural. ;_;

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>>54363788
Hey, /tg/.

Have you finished that outline?

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>>54363760
>>54363286
How you uh, how you comin' on that novel you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice little story you're working on there? Your big novel you've been working on for 3 years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protagonist? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Gotta story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yea, talking about that 3 years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah?

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Some rough drawfaggotry for my setting of bird-headed giants that fight tentacle monsters.

I'm trying to give them (the giants) plate armour designs that either have the faulds separate from the breastplate (so that they don't move or mess up the positioning when the wearer moves his/her upper body) or have two faulds, one of which is separate from the breastplate.

Were plate armours/harnesses that have this separate/double fauld approach I'm going for ever made in real life? If so, I'd like to see pictures of what they looked like.

I've been thinking about a magic system for a while. I think a neat limitation is having to know science/home smarts to get stuff done.

Some stuff is easy, like using telekinesis to move a rock, but to open a lock for instance requires using telekinesis to lift all the tumblers, and thus having keener control over magic and a knowledge of locksmithing. Applying force or raising/lowering temperature of an object would be basic.

Take something like invisibility: You would have to know about light rays, reflection, refraction, etc and then use magic to urge incoming light rays through yourself or something.

Obvious problems arise though, like should there be some natural talent requirement or exertion factor? (probably). How would some spells like mind reading even work? What does a world look like when starting fires or lifting heavy loads is elementary?

Thinken of races. I probably will make the slugs less significant - they are bit too peculiar to be a major thing, but work as a local wonder, certainly.
I have to figure how countries/cities are populated, too, since humans are not very numerous.

>>54363845
No, I have not finished those outlines and never will be.

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>>54364132
But still, I wanna still do something wonderfully weird/peculiar. Telepathic hermaphrodite slug-folk are just wee bit difficult to handle.

Magic comes at its core from pure willpower, determination, imagination, and desire. To simply wish for something is a force that can make if happen. But humans are weak and lack the context to make changes like this.

Wizards are inducted into mysteries and given hours upon hours of secret knowledge and training to let them understand and cast spells. Imagine a spell book written in Glyphs, and each glyph represented a few days of imagination, group dreaming, specific thoughts focused into will. This is how Wizards cast spells.

Also this same system works for Fighters being supernaturally tough and strong, and Rogues too. They just get the power from their experience instead of scholastic study in that way.

>>54364157

I've always had a soft-spot for flying races, but never been able to figure out how to fit them in as a significant thing without them redefining the entire setting to an uncomfortable degree. If I ever do it, I'll either make them an ancient empire that's collapsed so that they're scattered among all the nations or else the CURRENT super-massive empire, because how do you stop a race that can fly from overcoming your medieval era defences? Sure, you can shoot at them- straight up. Meanwhile, they're shooting straight down(a LOT easier), and can charge you any time they like, no siegecraft required.

Biggest thing is I don't want them to be generic birdmen. Birdmen=boring, flying weirdshit=neat. I lean towards them being an ancient empire, because it lets me build dungeons UP, and do all sorts of weird shit in the world-crafting. Why is one of the most prosperous trade cities in the world atop a giant plateau? They used it because they liked how much extra work it forced the lesser races to go through, and now all the money is there. etc.

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>>54364237
I actually have birds already. They are bit runty, can glide with some training, but flight requires very rigorous training program (ex. armies), and only some few can achieve it. They are also great vocalist/mimics.
Recently they hit big in entertainment industry, before that they did ton of trading.

>>54364402

When you writing up your setting document bible?

I see your shit all the time for the past few years and I keep asking. Where is it?

>>54362362
>What's your magic system?
There are three ways someone can use magick; the vast majority uses ancient magitek relics/artifacts, some can command nanomachines to do thir bidding using ancient incantations, and a very small group of wizards can use actual magick/psychic energy.
>Where does it come from?
Ancient technology and alien/transdimensional DNA
>What are its limitations?
It requires a vaste amount of time and effort to learn to use it and there are individuals and events that nullify it.

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>>54364921
uuuuuuh
Working on it

>>54364237
>Biggest thing is I don't want them to be generic birdmen.
Squidmen with floaty gas bladders and muscular air jets to change directions.

Hey guys so I'm designing factions for a war game I have in the early stages of development just mainly wanted to ask a question though about one of them. Are revolting communist robots seizing the means of production to cliché? Kinda trying to go for a very British civil war but well... in space. So want to be somewhat wacky.

I'm currently building a science-fiction setting and I'm trying to work out what the primary currency should be.

As of right now, I'm leaning towards Cycle Checks- each one representing a certain amount of computer processing time which is extremely important for virtual reality and AI shit. Any other, more interesting ideas that aren't energy/electricity stuff or credits?

>>54366984
Volumes of oxygen and/or water.

>>54366984
>>54367975

seconding this. water and oxygen always have value in space. This automatically makes it cheaper to live on planets with proper atmospheres and water cycles, and enables the already predestined water and oxygen traders.

>>54363845
Thread-anon here. Yes I have. I even have some of the chapters written and am currently working on a rough draft of the final chapters (to stop me from getting discouraged by writing the opening for the 20th time).

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Working on a map. Its still pretty early in its creation, but I'm worried about there being too many islands too far out and too rough a coastline for a continent. Thoughts?

>>54371500

don't worry about it too much, the real world is way weirder

> tfw wanna do anatomically interesting beastfolk
> anthro beastfolk are so much easier to handle
Anybody else have this problem?
Anthro beastfolk are kinda boring, but if you mess with their anatomy and try to give them something a little more interesting or what might be more accurate if they evolved that way, they end up looking fucking dumb or they end up being naturally impossible because you fuck up the anatomy too much.

>>54371500
Seems oddly regular spacing on those islands. I'd suggest taking some and spreading them out. Put some more off the coast, following natural lines created by the peninsulas. Also throw one or two randomly into the world ocean. Looks a bit artificial at the moment.

But yeah, don't worry too much about it. Game of Thrones' map is literally two rectangles, and it seems pretty popular with fantasy folks.

>>54372086
Not really. As long as you can come up with some kind of bare-bones justification for how the new anatomy functions, no one will care too much outside of actual medical students, and even then only the austistic ones.

>>54371500
Looks kinda like someone spilled a drink

>>54372086

>Not just doing anatomically correct beastfolk which are literally just animals that walk on two legs and can talk and can hold/grip things even though they have stupid hooves or paws

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>>54362362
>/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

Sure, I've got a quick question:

How difficult is lasting, land development when people have to worry about monsters?
By that I mean they're not dealing with monsters 'every day' or that the monsters are even targeting humans per se, but an old or inexperienced griffon might not resist flying off with a goat or the community tries cutting down the wrong tree and now a dryad is actively defending itself.

Provincial bonus question: Keep in mind that 'already' established land is well protected, very safe, but VERY expensive and often over-worked.. How exactly eager would people be to just say, "fuck these property taxes" and go off outside to start clearing land and building their own homesteads? Even in the face of carnivorous plants or dinosaurs?

>>54371500
The islands off the north coast are all pretty much the same distance off-shore so a little variation there would make it look more natural.
If the coasts really both you then smoothingout the NW coast would contrast with the rougher west coasts.

Not bad though anon, keep at it.

How common were facial scars and destroyed eyes really? Like, if you're going to get hit in your bare face, wouldn't you be far more likely to get killed then get away with a scar?

>>54374281
It probbably wouldn't make a vast difference. Wildlife doesn't even have to actually be a threat to humans, if they are even felt to potentially threaten humans or livestock then those critters get killed or forced into areas unwanted by humans.

There will be a period of competition, where griffons are hated but a threat to be managed then once population or hunting technology or someother advantage tips the balance they will be pushed out.

These critters could cause local trouble, the ranchers are a little poorer and in bad years one or two people disappear. But that is barely a blip on the big picture development of the area.

As long as a posse of hardy frontiers folk loaded for the local equivalent to bear can down the monsters then humans will eventually overrun the place.

>>54372863
I was considering using sapient octopi asmy merpeople niche but they wouldn't quite fit. Fun idea,though.

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I'm making a somewhat cheesy science fiction setting, but I really want to stress a philosophical point or idea.

Basically, the setting revolves around humans and aliens, all biological creatures, fighting beings made of solar radiation and energy. You can't hurt them with physical attacks, only energy beams, which is why everyone in the setting uses laser guns instead of the obviously superior projectile weapons. Along the way, there are other beings too like self aware robots, self aware AIs in the internet, intelligent mineral and so on.

The entire point of all this is, in the background, a form of self correcting government that's kind of like space feudalism. This government was put in place by the brightest minds in the galaxy so living creatures can fight a war against the solar beings, who wish to eradicate all of us if they get the chance. So what's the point?

I want to make it so the players realize that the society they live in is self aware too. It operates on a different time scale, but it IS an organism. It's cells are the members of it, it self corrects and evolves. What's the best way to do this?

>>54363845
lol if I had a dime for every time I've finished an outline, I'd be wealthy enough to worry about nothing.

Why is it easier for people to accept weird races in scifi worlds as opposed ti fantasy ones?

>>54377138
What do you mean by that?

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>>54377138
>>54377151

Because science fiction has, traditionally, had strange alien races. Regardless about any arguments you may have about them being TOO alien, or not alien enough, there's a lot more variance here then in other settings.

Fantasy doesn't really have the same kind of ideas. With the exception of only a few niche works, the majority of fantasy settings are either human only (Conan, GoT) or have the Tolkienesque stock races. Lots of fantasy video games add a few extra, like Elder Scrolls and Warcraft.

It's not just about what's been done in the past though, mind you. It's also about scale. Fantasy settings typically have the scale of a single world to work with. So you may have the human empire and the aztec lizardmen and the fat walrus people of the north and its all good, but science fiction tends to have huge galaxies worth of ideas in them, with each planet and solar system hosting their own alien life forms.

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>>54377138
most fantasy is rooted in the culture, legend and myth of a particular time and place (or prior fantasy based on the same things). in theory it's pure imagination, but in practice you're drawing on themes and expectations your audience will recognise. break those expectations and it can feel clashing. for instance, if you mixed egyptian sphinxes into a setting that otherwise resembles medieval japan people would find it dissonant, even though there is no inherent reason why fantasy japan couldn't have sphinxes considering it's all fantasy anwyay.

i'm not saying this is right or wrong, just explaning why some people find elves easier to accept than zoglons. you can break people's expectations by making it clear from the outset that your world is based on pure imagination, not myth and legend. but you might run into trouble if you mix the two. for instance, if your setting is a medieval english human kingdom neighboured by woodland elves and the purple fungus brain empire of the zoglons, it may clash. but remove the elves and distance your humans from real world culture, and the zoglons no longer feel out of place.

tl;dr alien races suit an alien setting

>>54377073
Have you tried actually writing? There's plenty of advice on the dos and do not dos of writing by actual published authors.

So long as you understand rookie mistakes and keep at it you might actually get some money from your writing

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Give me a short write up of your setting and I will rate it a rating.

Copper is lowest, Silver is next, and Gold would be a high quality setting. Go.

Does anyone have tips for making art for your setting, like cityscapes and such?

Coming up with factions for ww1-ww2 dieselpunk/steampunk wargame and wanted to ask how these sound.

Ruso-Nordic Empire (As you can guess russians and nordic nations together)
Grand Union of European Socialists (Communist Brits, Spanish, and French)
Middle Concordat (Germany, Austro-Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Greece and Turkish Alliance)
Pacific Prosperity Pact (Democratic Alliance of India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and many other pacific nations.)
Federation of States (What is the modern USA plus canada and stretching down to the panama canal)

Really wanted the world to be dominated by hyperpowers in a sense and where everyone was a big kid on the block squaring up against one another.

>>54377518
I have tried writing before. It just goes nowhere, given enough time. I have trouble focusing on a single story.

>>54377869
>It just goes nowhere, given enough time.
But you have a roadmap (outline)
You can take that and plan out every chapter or scene shift to the point you shouldn't be capable of getting lost. You'd list what importance the scene has to the plot, and characters, what tone it has, how it keeps up a sense of progression that's important to every story.

>I have trouble focusing on a single story.
Because even professional writers have to slog through their stuff sometimes. It's been likened to "chopping wood" Like any act of creation for mass consumption it's going to feel like work at SOME point. "Do what you love and you won't work a day in your life" is horseshit. You'll just work less than a guy with a menial 9-5.

It would help if you identified why you wanted to start writing in the first place (there's gotta be that spark somewhere) and then build a story around that. My own muse is a love of a half dozen concepts from a certain setting that was butchered in execution and a disgust for the glut of not-medieval-Europe fantasy settings.

>>54379094
The concepts I want to write about change frequently and dramatically. One day I'll be working on a psuedo-Greek fantasy setting, the next literary fiction, the third a Thomas the Tank Engine style children's book. It tends to gravitate around whatever my most recent reading focused on.

Mostly it starts with what I want to say; some message about human nature or life or something grand like that. Everything else goes into serving that message.

The original thing that I wanted to write came to me, quite literally, decades ago. I've long forgotten it by this point.

>>54379301
Then spend a whole week writing down things you think are cool. Pull from popular entertainment of all forms until you have a big pile of things that get you going. Then distill that pile into an idea

>>54380377
The number of ideas, or the quality of ideas, is not the problem. It's the fact that I can't stick to a single thing.

>>54380485
I was saying how you should distill the perfect idea down. Something that gets you more excited than anything else ever

But I see that your problem is you blame your own ADD tendencies. If you don't care enough to fight them and improve yourself and instead make excuses of I can't, I can't, I can't then there's no point give any more advice since you're already broken.

Sorry broseidon

I'll be honest with a couple things.

Firstly, this is my first time making a wholly original world. Obviously, nothing is 100% original, but I mean I'm not just aping the lore from the manual or whatever.

And secondly, this is hard as FUCK, y'all. Making everything actually make sense in a realistic context and giving every character an understandable and relatable, if not always agreeable, motive, not to mention making the technology and timing of everything make sense- this shit is a lot of effort. Especially because it can basically go on infinitely. Not to mention I don't even know if my players will bite any of the bait I dangle for them. Even if I think the ideas of divinely created mechas who merge with their host pilot over time is rad, and I do a whole thing about how another society tried to recreate that but basically ended up making a robotic version of The Thing- maybe my players won't give a fuck and will just want to get cool space loot.

Plus, there really is no feedback: maybe every name, planet, and plot idea I have is totally retarded, and I won't know until we play it.

>>54381351
If you're starting out with a setting in space you're almost doing it hardmode, tbqh. A setting in space is very difficult to do for people who're experienced. Hell, I've been working on my fantasy setting for two or three years now and it's just now kind of coherent.

Anyway, if you think it's cool, and you put a lot of work into it, they'll at least appreciate it. It's also good to mix it up, try out new weird ideas and see where they go. That said, it's also good to have a healthy amount of hate with your work. If you like it too much, you'll be too afraid of scrapping it and starting over, which is something you should always keep in mind.

>>54381351
Share the best, most exciting stuff with your players upfront so they have something to look forward to and become invested in.

>>54380485
Sounds like an excuse. Write a dozen short stories instead.

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The universe is dying.

In the beginning, the Gods were formed from the elemental Chaos. They created Law, and the worlds that fill the cosmos. Their first creations were the races of Giants: the Titans, the Jotun, the Nephilim. But the Jotun rebelled, and slew the Gods. The Titans and the Nephilim rose up to slay the Jotun in return, and then split the cosmos between themselves. They allowed us, humanity, the Jotun's own creations, to live so long as we forswore our misguided creators and served the new lords of creation.

We should have known better. We should have asked questions.

The Titans and the Nephilim broke Creation itself with their inevitable war. And now all the myriad worlds are slowly falling apart. All the Giants are dead, and harvesting their broken corpses is the only way to stave off the inevitable death of the universe.

But there isn't enough. Not enough to go around. Some worlds will fall to utter ruin. But with rationing, some others might live. At least long enough until we can discover a means to save the universe. There must be a way.

There must.

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While I don't enjoy Destiny as a game, I do appreciate what Joseph Staten was originally intending in terms of atmosphere, mood, and discovery. Ultimately, it was a failure to properly translate those fundamental pen and paper tropes: Brave adventurers searching long forgotten dungeons (or derelict ships) by torchlight (or in this case, flashlight). The quest for gold and glory. Unthinkable terrors lying in wait across the vast, unexplored landscape (or in this case, universe). Returning to one of few beacons of light for a cold brew and a warm bed.
I think a part of its failure was a lack of mystery. Don't get me wrong- they left plenty unexplained, but at no point was the player left gasping: "what the fuck is that / where the fuck are we / holy shit that is amazing".

Do you think it's possible to properly translate the original vision of Destiny, in terms of intent and atmosphere, not of exact lore word-for-word, into a PNP game? How would it function? How do you capture the imagination in the same way meeting our first Lich or Beholder did? How is anything paced when you have a damn spaceship to fly wherever? It'd be like starting with an airship at level 1! How would it even work mechanically?

I'd want to use 5E, but it sort of falls apart when everyone uses guns. Is there anything that can even facilitate the kind of holy trinity tactics even while everyone is shooting? Or properly mechanize cover and suppressive fire? GURPS, I guess, but it's excessive modularity really scares me away from touching it, due to fear of excessive imbalance for me to handle and confusion amongst my players.

>>54377568
The world is actually a prison for the jelous demigod who rebelled against the God and mortally wounded him, designed to trap him in an endless cycle of death and rebirth by a machine hidden on the Moon. The Moon is actually afterlife. Also you can eat your gods (Not to be confused with The God) to steal their powers, but if you fail to actually do so, their rotting corpses will poison their worshippers' souls turning them into monsters.

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Dare you enter my magical realm?

>>54381351
>And secondly, this is hard as FUCK, y'all.
Yes, it is. It's - down at it's core, just as hard as it is to write a good novel. In fact it's very much the same thing - except you are using synchronic and not diachronic storytelling tools and hide your "plot" in the environment rather that into the hands of your characters: but ultimately it's the same type of challenge.
Hell, you even ran already into the greatest problem any writer will ever face: give your characters good motivations.

>Especially because it can basically go on infinitely.
I know this is actually pissing off quite a lot of people, but I encourage you to consider the above: think of world-building as of storytelling. Any author can give potentially infinite amount of detail to any story. A GOOD author realizes that the detail is only valuable WHEN IT'S RELEVANT to the story that you are trying to tell.
People forget this, but every world is a story to be told. And stories are only as interesting as they are meaningful. Consider what the hell are you trying to tell people through your world. What are the symbols you want to convey. What are the emotions and sentiments you want to invoke?

Ask yourself that, examine that, and that will give you a cue about which detail is necessary, and what isn't. World building must never be mechanical filling out of excel sheets: it must still be down at it's core be an exercise in communication of ideas, thoughts, emotions, images that are in your head. That is the only way to make sure that your world-building is going to be good.

>Not to mention I don't even know if my players will bite any of the bait I dangle for them.
Asume that they won't. World-build to make a good world, not to impress your players. Maybe they bite, maybe they won't, but if you do a good world-building, you'll have something much more valuable. Maybe you'll end up writing a book, design a game, make a comics with it. If it's good, anything can happen.

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So I'm trying to figure out as many common derivatives of a dungeon there could possibly be in order to get their purpose for existing and why they contain both monsters and treasure. I can atleast ascertain why treasure would come up in certain areas, but I draw a blank with why monsters would intend to stay there. So far, many of those include dilapidated areas that aren't in use anymore, so the list might be a bit redundant.
>Tomb Of Notable Figure(s)
>Ruins Of Previous Civilization
>Decrepit Place Of Worship
>Safeguard Location For Hidddn Riches
>Actual Dungeon/Prison
>Castle Of Notable Figure
>Haunted Place Of Interest
>Wizard Tower/Laboratory
>Natural Cavern Repurposed For Other Intentions

Would you believe that the guys who sit on land between silver mines and primary buyer of silver would decide to attack the miners instead of collecting the toll?

>>54374494
It depends on the weapon used, what manner of head protection (if any) was worn. They were certainly less common than in most fantasy settings, but certainly not unheard of.

For example, most medieval armies contained relatively few professional soldiers, most were farmers and villagers with whatever tools they had that best functioned as a weapon. An unskilled farm hand with a straightened out scythe is a great deal more likely to leave a superficial wound than a trained soldier with a proper sword.

>>54385958
The only way to justify that is if the people in question are of a race that is particularly unintelligent, extremely violent, or both.

Alternatively you could create a motive unrelated to the silver for the attack, such as a kidnapping, murder, or some other crime committed by a prominent member of the mining community.

If you're into politics you could have the buyers either pay the middle men to remove the miners so they can seize it themselves, or have the buyers stage the previous option to create conflict in order to weaken both communities enough that they can take control of the entire region.

>>54385958
Depends on a great many factors, mainly the relative strength of each side including allies.

OTOH invading and winning gives ownership of the mines to the state and it's supporters. OTOH during the war itself the silver supply is naturally disrupted which is very bad news for a city dependant on that trade. If the miners don't roll over at once then the invaders are going to suffer some hefty economic damage which in turn causes social unrest back home. If the get rich quick scheme leaves citizens destitute then things will get ugly. If they lose then the silver trade could either find alternative routes to those assholes or the miners dictate more favorable terms such as toll exemptions.

Basically what you need is someone with the ability to convince people that attacking the miners will be easy and a good way to make a quick buck. How hard a sell that is depends on the situation but the mercantile interests will prefer the profitable status quo to gambling on the campaign unless reassured that it will all be fine.

>>54386298
On second thought I figure I'll make the silver mining kingdom the agressor instead, ties it nicely to the them of "Just can't stop shooting himself in the foot" that is going on for their king. Make it a trade dispute or something.

Can you have fair or pale skinned people native to a very verdant area?

>>54387081

NOTE: verdant only implies am abundance of greenery, and is not inherently related to the skin tone of people living there.

Short answer is that the DM/GM can have whatever they want wherever they want.

Long answer is yes, but if they are human/humanoid then there needs to be a reason they have evolved to be pale/fair skinned. Potential factors include:

Large trees cover the entire region, providing protection from the sun.

The region has some sort of magic(or tech if in Sci Fi setting) which provides a defense against the sun/UV.

The race/species is incapable of producing darker/larger quantities of skin pigments.

The region is not near the equator.

Or anything else you want to imagine as long as it makes some semblance of sense.

What's your favorite part of worldbuilding?

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>>54389097
Breaking apart what would be structurally a cliché. I enjoy taking a genre trope or a cliché and then realizing that it can be broken down into more sensible parts. Like when you start with the idea of a Mordor-like world-wide threat, and then you start to realize you could break it into actually sensible individual elements where the moral clarity disappears.

I like going around making things more complicated than they seem at first glance. Figuring out hiccups in governmental systems, taking religions and exploiting possible internal inconsistencies to create apostasies internal philosophical disputes, I enjoy taking heterogenic systems and inventing ways that heterogeny could be subversed. Basically, I like taking simple stories and turning them full of paradoxes, contradictions and internal problems. I like to make three different interpretations of the same bloody myth, two of which are clearly directly contradicting each other.

Basically, I'm a guy who intentionally decided two completely unrelated places share the same name to create confusion about which one is being talked, and then invented a whole bunch of stories that stem from this misunderstanding.

Please call help.

>>54387081
So, first of all: verdant actually means "a lot of greenery". You'll find that Japan or even Sweden is more verdant than say, Spain or Morocco.

But then again, I think we all know what you mean. So here is the thing about skin tone:
A) fairness of skin is a result of a trade-off between the risk of damage to your skin from sunlight (burnt or cancer) versus the amount of vitamin D your body can produce. The darker your skin is, the less efficiently will your body produce vitamin D. On the other hand - the fairer your skin is, the higher is the likelyhood that the sun will cause serious damage to your skin.
Curiously enough, the alteration of your skin tone seems to be able to manifest genetically very quickly. Despite some geneticist refusing to admit it, it seems that serious alteration of your skin tone can happen over two or three generation, suggesting that the gene innertia theory has some holes.

BUT, it CAN alter, but it does not always do so. Outside of the obvious change - tan - which is not genetically determined, we do know of populations of very fair-skinned people surviving and retaining their skin tone for several centuries.

So from a real-world perspective, it IS possible, provided that your population did not live in the high-sunlight area for too long. They will still be "darker" than your northerner due to tan, but their natural skin color could remain the same for upwards of a thousand years at minimum.

All that in mind: you are the narrator. And despite what you might think - symbolism trumps internal logic. If you really need your equitorial culture to be white for whatever aesthetical or symbolic reason, just do so. As long as your narrative reason is good enough, you don't have to worry.

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I'm a bit of an idiot, but I'm working on a map. The red zones are where major mountain ranges would be.
The lower portion of the map is closer to the equator, but still above it. Wouldn't that make it warm, possibly near-tropical closer to the tips?
The upper portion would obviously be cooler because it's higher up.
What about the middle? Would that just be temperate? What conditions do you need to have a desert? Sorry for all of the questions.

>>54389542
>Wouldn't that make it warm, possibly near-tropical closer to the tips?
Yes, if the continent is located on northern hemisphere, which it should.

>What about the middle? Would that just be temperate?
Well, yes. It depends on "how north of equator" are we talking (if it's close, the south would be tropical, the middle sub-tropical, and the north temperate) But "temperate" is actually a damn broad term. Temperate oceanic like say, south of France, is very different from temperate oceanic of say, Japanese Touhoku, which is very different from temperate Siberia.

Basically, there are two things you need to consider: distance from equator, which will determine the amount of sunlight (and - generally speaking, peak low and high temperatures), and distance from nearest major body of water, which will mainly determine humidity. A third factor tends to be (in case of oceanic regions) would be the temperature of sea currents. For an example: most of Japan is much more similar to our "european" temperate regions, despite being actually closer to equator than Morocco or Tunis, which we associate normally with tropical, desert climate. This is mainly because Japan is washed on the edges by cold ocean currents. At the same time, Sweden or Norway are MUCH warmer than say, comparable regions in east-asia because it's bathed in warm Golf Current.

>What conditions do you need to have a desert?
No rainfall. Which means that prevailent wind is not generally blowing from ocean.
So basically, you need either a highly continental location (far away from ocean, and probably surrounded by mountains, such as say, the Gobi desert) - or proximity to the ocean, but air blowing mainly from the mainland, and not from the ocean (like Arabian Peninsula or Sahel regions).

Alternaively, you need a rain-shield: mountain range between the nearest sea and the desert - in the direction of prevailent wind.
In case of your map: The central regions are going to be very arid.

>>54389842
Don't deserts sometimes simply exist because water doesn't hold in the ground enough to feed the vegetation?

To the point that there are forest that won't grow back if cut down, because tresses were the ones holding the water?

>>54389842
I can put most of that to use. Thank you for the extremely in-depth overview!

>>54389097
Coming up with how two or more cultures would interact in terms of what foods, values, beliefs ect. they would absorb or reject.

>>54389097
Coming up with cool conflicts to fill the setting.

Anyone draw say national flags for the countries in their games? Busy drawing some up for >>54377831 but just wanted a consensus.

Another question anyone here doing lore for wargames and not just RPG's or what have you?

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>>54394414
I like maps.

Sometimes I like to think about wargames, but most of my players like RPGs so that's what I'm gonna end up making a lot of.

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Thoughts on my map so far? First time making a map.

>>54396126
How large of a land mass is this supposed to be?

>>54387376
>>54389463
I want a group of peoples to look indistinguishable from their neighbors, while not dropping the verdant topography of their kingdom. Though if it can't logically be replicated in the real world I'll have to rethink their garden like country.

>>54396169
I'm still deciding the exact size; but I figured it would be around 1,000km from top to bottom.
I'm open to suggestions though!

>>54396126
>>54396388
If it's only 1,000km long, then there shouldn't be as much climate variation. Look at France. There's variation, but not rainforest-to-tundra variation. What latitude does this place lie on?

>>54396126
Not a bad start, everything starts like this. Due to its simplicity there is not a whole lot to say about it, it just needs "more".

My suggestions:
>More rivers, much more
>More biomes
>Better biome transitions
>Get rid of that linear transition at the top
>Island splatter in the south is too uniform and predictable, put some closer together and make some further apart
>There are islands there but not elsewhere
>Stop using MS paint, the white lines from incomplete paint bucketing are obvious. Switch to paintNET if you want a simple paint-but-better, and switch antialiasing off so that you don't have issues with blurs and white bits.

>>54396223
Give me more information on the setting I'm general, and the neighboring people's you want them to be similar to and I can better assist you in justifying why they are the way they are.

>>54396388
It's not bad for a first attempt/rough draft. But it could definitely use some more detail.

This anon >>54396469 has given you several places to start.

>>54396468
Yeah, I sort of thought that while I was making it. That's why I never added a frozen/tundra biome. Do you think I should remove the forested area or the desert?
I never decided the exact Latitude, but I it's relatively close to the equation. Probably around 41.

>>54396469
The one problem I've had with rivers is I find they always look out of place. I've looked at a few map making guides online, but I always feel I misplace them. I'll try to add more though.
How would I show better Biome transition on a map? Just gradually change the colour?
Is it okay to add smaller islands all around the map?

>>54396588
>I never decided the exact Latitude, but I it's relatively close to the equation. Probably around 41.
Specifically, between which two lines of latitude. That matters for climate shenanigans.

>>54396602
Could you give me a good suggestion for a climate? I want to keep the desert if possible, but I understand if it conflicts with having forests/plains.

>>54396659
Several different things can create a dessert, but in the case of a land mass this small you need to separate it with mountains, which you've nearly done anyway. You may also want to reconsider the presence of multiple rivers running through a dessert.

>>54396659
>>54396891
Also, as you make the map more detailed, work on the abruptness of the change in biome. The forest to desert in particular simply wouldn't occur along a line like that. Insert an unusually large river/canyon/volcanic fissure to account for the lack of gradual change, or work on using gradients

>>54396891
In what way do rivers detract from a desert biome?
As long as something is supplying the headwaters then the river will run no matter the rainfall or lack thereof in places along it's course.

>>54396960
>>54396891
Okay, I like the sound of extending the mountain range. I'll add more so that the mountains separate the forest and desert.

I like the idea of adding canyon to separate some of the biomes. How would I go about drawing a canyon on the map?

>>54397014
You're right, a river could easily flow through a desert if it were supplied with water, however the rivers I questioned both originate in the desert which is rather unusual, if still possible. I also made a (potentially incorrect ) assumption that it was a Sandy, dune filled desert like the Sahara due to color choice. If I was correct, then essentially any water would just sink into the sand then evaporate. If it's more of a dry/cracked earth desert then it's more plausible.

>>54397027
If using paint then use a brush/line that's at least 5 pixels wide, then mimic that exact path with a smaller brush/line in a darker shade of the same color. You're really just trying to create absurdly steep altitude lines with a paint brush. Making it wider and putting a river at the bottom is optional.

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>To the North is endlessly high mountain peaks, tundras, and ice. It gets colder the further you go.
>To the East is endless jungles, with more dangerous beasts and taller trees the further you go
>To the West is endless Savannah and desert, drier and hotter the farther you go.
>To the South is endless oceans, with tropical islands and expanse of sea. The storms get worse and sea-monsters bigger the further you go.
>In the center is civilization, the nice and gentle lands where all the races and histories are kept. Unaware of what lies beyond the endless horizons

r8 this map

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Here's a quick update on the map so far.
Thanks for all the help guys, I honestly didn't except to get this much feedback!

I want to keep the large river in the desert. I plan on adding a city there, so the city would need a large water source near it.

>>54397451
No problem, if you could clarify what type of desert it is then I can provide additional advice on the river if you'd like, also is the darker green meant to be more or less dense vegetation than the light?

>>54397421
The map itself is ok for being done in paint. For the sake of depth you should have a reason why the elements are so divided among the cardinal directions, and why civilisation is able to thrive in the center. Also you should determine whether this world is flat or a standard planet, if it's the latter, logic would dictate that a civilization(or major plot device)should exist on the reverse side where all of the elements converge. If the former you need to set an outer bound that simply cannot be passed, or which leads off world.

>>54397663
I was thinking it would be similar to the Sahara; because it still has rivers in it.

The light green is more grasslands/light forest. And the darker green is a darker forest/dense.

>>54397451
Rivers and deserts go great together, but >>54397231 does have a point that the rivers in the eastern desert, especially the larger with it's many tributaries lack an obvious source.

The easiest thing would be to extend them to the mountains so that they are fed by glacier meltwater and rain dumped on the mountains.

The smaller river is trickier since it is such a long way from the mountains or other source of rain. It might only be a ephemeral river, flowing when the desert storms drench the area before drying up again until the next downpour. Alternatively it might be fed via groundwater with the headwater being an oasis lake.

It's also worth pointing out that most deserts are rock or earth rather than dunes, and even the Sahara has large sections of rock and highland. The altitude of the highlands make them more likely to receive rain and slightly cooler so they can retain it more easily. They are still quite arid but can at least support shrubs and the like which makes them islands of sort-of green. That extra water also makes them good places to have rivers begin if they have to start in the desert, although the erratic nature of the rains mean that most such rivers are ephemeral.

>>54383128
Show bestiary please. I have a thing for monsters

>>54365749
I like it, but then again I like almost anything

>>54397829
That being the case, I would take this anons >>54397855 advice and move the source up to the edge of your mountain range.

As you work on the map you'll want to get rid of those black edge lines, when you do, consider adding tiny island/deltas to the mouths of you're more significant rivers. Deltas and river mouths are often home to trade hubs and can be really interesting cities to write.

>>54381351
>And secondly, this is hard as FUCK, y'all.
Yeah, this. It was a nice surprise for me too. I thought any retard could build a world that makes sense. Oh boy, the retard was me.

Another surprise for me was how fun world building is. I enjoy it a lot.

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>>54398028
>>54397855

Okay, thanks for the tips! I extended the river to go all the way to the mountains, as well as as an island around the mouth.

I've also changed the main colour from beige to a different shade of green.

>>54397752

I don't think that is an element that needs to be explained.

The center of the world is just right. Everything else goes off by being too cold, too wet, too verdant, too hot. The further you go, the worse it gets.

>>54398203
Not the guys you have been talking to, and I'm no expert in this sort of thing. But I like this last map you posted the best. It looks a lot better than the first one. What do you think yourself? Are you liking it more than the previous version?

>>54398279
Hey, thanks man! It's my first time doing this sort of thing, so I really appreciate the support!

I think the map is really starting to come along. I want it to be semi realistic, while still being close to what I originally imagined for it. Everyone's been really helpfully on here, and I think it should be done pretty soon.

What I really look forward to doing is creating cities, cultures, and people for the world. That's what I feel is the best part of worldbuilding. I just needed to get the map done first.

>>54398224
I understand how you created the world, I'm asking WHY is the rest of the world shit, and why is the shit divided so evenly along the directions, having a world with such clear cut geography with no reason why is kind of lazy in my opinion.

>>54398203
Looking better all the time. I don't see any major geographical issues left to resolve, you might want to play with the spacing of your southern islands a bit, they're a little too even to seem natural, but that's a relatively minor thing. Next you just have to knock out your black border lines and try grading your colours. Even that isn't necessary, just makes for better aesthetics.

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Working on cosmology.
The general premise is that the shape of the universe is a pot of boiling water as opposed to the usual wheel or tree or whatever.

I'm thinking I can probably streamline what I got so far but I haven't got around to figuring-out how.

In the interest of staying on topic...
>What's your magic system?
Divided into color-coded categories. Loosely based on Magic the Gathering.

>Where does it come from?
The Atmic Spirit which exists on the lowest plane of existence. In the "boiling water" metaphor, the ether/mana/energy is heat that travels from the source up through the planes.

>What are its limitations?
I haven't gotten there yet. I imagine that, at its most extreme, it has no limits outside the boundaries of the physical universe.

>>54398203
I hate to bang on, but the desert rivers could do with some more tweaking.

The problem is that while the western source is located in the mountains, there are still lots of tributaries including an entire branch bursting forth from the desert without sources. I'd delete those smaller tributaries and extend the branch to the mountans in the south. You could also extend the dark brown highground to the branch, creating a plateau with deep canyons carved by the rivers.

Could you give a key as to what the colors mean? It was a little confusing having the southern region go from biege (semi-arid?) to light green (steppe? forest?). That would also help clear up any biome issues so the fun of developing cultures can begin.

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>>54398860
authentic stuff man, normally I dislike the intrusion of gods and outsiders into the material plane but this is a really good system that feels more like mysticism and less like genre fiction

>>54398782
Okay, I'll try and do that when I can. I think I might take a break from working on the map for now though, my wrist is getting a little sore.

Currently designing some cultures to put in the world, if anyone wants to help with that to?

I've got a few general ideas of what to add; but it would take a while to explain all my ideas haha. Unless anyone's curious/wants to help?

>>54398973
I'll be up working on my own maps anyway, I'm willing to help you in any way I can.

>>54398890
>I hate to bang on, but the desert rivers could do with some more tweaking.
Yeah, they start from the middle of nowhere and are weird.

Maybe they are underground or something?

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>Africa is a shit hole, should be easy to look up their rivers
>pic related
Jesuschrist.

This might not be the right place to ask but could a prion disease spread through bodily fluids?

>>54399846
If it has world building implications then this is an ok place, but probably not the best.

They are extremely rare, and a quick Google search provides no evidence that they can, however, very little is known about them so maybe.

Alternatively try asking on /Sci/ you might find medfags there who can be of more help. /adv/ is occasionally helpful with med questions, but not always.

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>>54399542
A continent with dense jungles ... has rivers, whew lad.

>>54398116

Remember that at the end of the day an entertaining story will overcome any issues of a world not making sense.

If you are worldbuilding for pleasure go nuts, if you are doing it for a project do triage and deal with only what is necessary to start writing/DMing and then figure out from there what needs more attention. A place referred to once or twice doesn't need the detail a place of central focus does.

>>54400115
What's the name of that one major river in africa that has no outlet cause it literally just dries up in a desert?

>>54401065
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okavango_River

This it?

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Say we get invaded by aliens, would a reasonable response be to build giant robots purely to rip their stuff apart and intimidate them

>>54402353
It probably wouldn't be a reasonable response, but it would be a radical response, so I support it.

>>54402353
>radical responses to aliens even coming anywhere near us
>"sir theres a squad of four aliens in tokyo"
>Nuke it.

page 10 save rave

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>>54381351
>Plus, there really is no feedback: maybe every name, planet, and plot idea I have is totally retarded, and I won't know until we play it.

If you can get it, feedback and just talking these things out with another human really helps. My world would still be broad strokes concepts if I didn't have a someone to bounce ideas off. Anyone with half a brain and willingness to listen to your ramblings will do as a second pair of eyes is more important than indepth knowledge of history or geography.

How much has your setting changed since you started?

>>54409360
1700 years.

>>54409038
That image really made me think, I can almost literally see the wind currents above the oceanic currents.

This can help my world get even better. Thanks man.

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What would be a good population size for a tribe of barbarians focused on racial purity? Assuming they always breed within their own tribe, with other "pure bloods," how large would their tribe have to be to sustain them without inbreeding?

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>>54362362
>What's your magic system?
I don't fully understand what that one means so I'm just gonna

>Where does it come from?
Multiple sources, some people get blessings from benevolent gods, some evil gods, some neutral gods
Some folks are born more finely attuned to magic (which is basically the force, but without a general theme of benevolence)

>What are its limitations?
None really, 80% of the cool coastlines are because of some crazy shit wizmen did.
Magic doesn't corrupt people per se, but it does create a general thirst for power/knowledge so good wizards will almost always be determined to rise to sainthood, rarely will they be fine just staying put
Likewize the badwrongwizmen desire more and more power every day, often times its not even for evil intentions they just crave power the same way doomsday preppers crave the feeling of being prepared, so most greedy wizmen are looked at like gun hoarders and are often the target of accusatory questions like 'why do you need to know all these spells'

>>54409360
Literally nothing remains of the original setting from 4 years ago. The only remnants from the setting 1.5 years ago are the names of a few nations, but their culture/location/geography etc is completely different.

>>54409360
Most of it has remained consistent, but nothing has really remained untouched

I've done two complete coastline redraws, along with the mountain ranges, and a solo mountain range redraw
rivers have also been revamped a couple of times

cultures and stuff are constantly changing in my head because I haven't really written anything down

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>Earth is abandoned.
>Whats left of humanity survives in a fractured and struggling state on Luna and Mars, the sons and daughters of miners, researchers and settlers.
>Earth is occupied now by mindless machines unable or incapable of acknowledging the absence of their makers and an array of sapient animals.

What sort of questions do i need to ask myself to determine the culture of such societies? and what sort of adventures and mechanics could i include?

>>54410886
Are Luna and Mars terraformed? What special equipment is needed to survive there? What different equipment is needed to do various tasks? Which humans made it to Luna and Mars - their cultures, nationalities, level of national pride, intelligence, health? That's very important information that is needed before the question can be answered.

>>54410926
accidentally posted, so following this, you could look to http://www.frathwiki.com/Dr._Zahir%27s_Ethnographical_Questionnaire

Culture goes in tandem with the way of life. You need to figure out the environment they live in and how they respond to it and utilize it for their survival before going further.

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>>54410886
>mindless machines
Mindless animal machines?

>>54410926
>>54410962
>Are Luna and Mars terraformed? What special equipment is needed to survive there?

They're as they are now, so domes, habs, suits and gyms. They are the descendants of people from the nations that could get into space (china, USA, Russia, Britain, the rich countries etc.)
their parents came to mars/Luna for opportunity, a fresh start or purely for science and discovery.

i can see enclaves of similar cultures or individual agencies/groups going independent forming for survival, so for example American and British colonists teaming up against Slavic miner unions or Chinese industrialist cabal. But there would be the more diverse alliances.

>>54411039
nah think a bunch of chappies and mr.handys bobbing about doing mundane tasks.

>>54411142
I love chappy so I like it, anon.

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Lads, I've hit a brick wall


I need some names. Specifically, for the following:

>An Elf Nation that is mostly forest based. Kind of isolationist, though not fully
> A Not!Celtic Island name. Loads of clans and such.
> A industrious nation that uses a lot of slaves, and who's ruling class is probably demonically influenced/influenced by evil, grim deities. (Not the Big Bag Evil Empire either, surprisingly)

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Is a more interesting situation a setting that takes place entirely on a generational ship or a generational ship that has crashed?

>>54411196
Athel Cliche
Celtica
The Empire Two

>>54411196
> A Not!Celtic Island name. Loads of clans and such.
Cehrwast
I'm no longer using it so you can have it if it works

>>54411196
Ecaia
>eco + gaia

>>54411181
Im thinking now they'll be old police bots walking their automated beat. ocasdionaly wigging out and yelling at criminals that arent even there.

>"no jaywalking"
>it says pointing at a blade of grass

>>54411699
Make it so they scream at animals too, unable to tell the difference between a bird or a dog and people.
>"This is a private property! You are under arrest!"
>starts chasing a stray dog

>>54411918
>If they catch young animals they throw them in juvie

>>54411488
>>54411510
>>54411631

hehehhe, I know, rite?

I should probably explain further

>Elf Nation is very young, and is an elective monarchy ala Holy Roman Empire mixed with Westeros (families rather the city-states), except in a big forest.
>Not!Celtic Island name is constantly fucked by Orcs, and has a chapter of Paladins based on it. These Paladins are likewise getting fucked, not only by locals but also aforementioned Orcs
>Industrious Nation is actually Dwarf. They went through something of a schism not too long ago, now something like 3/4 of the people reside in the hills, while the aristocrats and royals live in a single mountain.

>>54411467
It depends on what happens in the situation.

friendly bump

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>>54363891
I'll show you, anon. Mark my words.

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Do you prefer Alternate History or Alternate Worlds for RPG settings?

>>54415627
Depends, really.

Deadlands as an alternate setting is dank af

>>54376941
Can it spot it's cells?
>If yes, it should contact them incognito. After some time, players see that one of their questgivers have no literal traces or passport.
>they begin to dig
>comes out that's something decided to contact them through aligning semi-random situations in chains of events leading to giving them quest
Chains like:
>it seems that some guy just bumfuck how decided to throw a speech on mic and let it in internet filedump
>courier with food left check which if read vertically gets to this very speech
>that's quest, if you know some code
>code is known from absolutely other place, like childhood secret code of one PC\NPC
Finally, when they get into trouble, sentience of society should tell them itself about self-awareness so they could stop getting into trouble. Then prove it.
You can take less interesting route and get some madman say and prove it.

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I was thinking of having airships in my setting. Instead of ships that fly on magic antigrav or gasbags, I was thinking of rail accelerators firing gliding ships at other cities.

I'm thinking about what I need to do to make that idea less stupid. Things like some way to dampen the effects of inertia on the passengers and preventing the same system from being used to shell other major cities at the slightest provocation

>>54415913
If nations in your setting have access to what is effectively a giant railgun, why would they throw airplanes at each other when they can just throw bombs or big heavy projectiles?

>>54415931
The point was for them to be used to move goods and people and I'm looking for ways to prevent them from being used to just kill each other.

I have bigger plans for mass warfare.

>>54415956
Well all right, share whatever you got. But as a general rule of thumb, in any realistic setting that looks to emulate the real world to any degree, war pushes technology forward. You may not want the people of the setting to use these as weapons, but it would make a lot of sense to do so. Also, flight is hard, so if they can move goods through an easier method, such as trains or boats, they will continue to do that instead.

>>54415627
I find most alternate histories boring, especially if they involve WWII in any way. Alternate worlds are sick though.

>>54415877

You missed the point so hard I don't even know what to say.

>>54410735
Yeesss. This map is getting cooler and cooler.

>>54416074
The idea is basically island of civilizations due to unreasonably hostile wildlife. Anything slower or relying on infrastructure like roads or tracks would get fucked up right good.

>>54416074
>You may not want the people of the setting to use these as weapons, but it would make a lot of sense to do so.
Right which is why I'm thinking of how to make it unfeasible or unreasonable in the setting to do so.

I might end up retooling the rail system at some point but I wanted something clearly magical/new without falling into existing tropes. There's gold in them thar gaps and I'm going to find it

>>54411196
>An Elf Nation that is mostly forest based. Kind of isolationist.

That is pretty much most woodelves to a point, nothing wrong with that that but there are more than enough examples for that.

>>54416773
>Right which is why I'm thinking of how to make it unfeasible or unreasonable in the setting to do so.
>I need to make throwing rocks at high speed a bad idea for war

Good luck with that.

>>54416984
What, it's not like I can't just imagine ways to limit it. It's not going to be using science, it's going to be using magic. And magic can be internally consistent like science, but doesn't have to behave like science

>>54417133
Fair enough, but trying to make inertia and acceleration poor ideas for fighting isn't an easy sell. I applaud your tenacity, however.

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>>54417228
Well just because it's hard doesn't mean you should stop. If I can't get it to be reasonable then I'll just throw it out

I like to toss a bunch of "wouldn't it be cool" ideas into a pile and try to carve something out of it.

What traditions would you expect from militaristic species? Not orc-like, but rather a sophisticated approach with castes, different cultures and services, full-fledged empire, hierarchy, each caste representing "one face of conquest" and so on. They firmly believe in supremacy of their empire above all what they've encountered so far, and are nuts about traditions if they don't mess with efficiency. (In this case they try to reimplement tradition, not forget it.)

>>54417466
Obviously service in the military would be a tradition. Maybe not mandated by law by shirking that expected duty might render someone an outcast. Castes would mean that which function of the military the enlistee/NCO serves would be dictated by their caste.

There could also be trophy-taking even in non-barbaric societies. Just replace heads with weapons or ceremonial rapiers or whathaveyou.

Anyone know anything I can check or read about magic in a western setting? Not really weird west, but more like fantasy magic. Google isnt quite getting me what I want, save one series.

>>54417535
>Anyone know anything I can check or read about magic in a western setting?
Sssssssssssssssssssorta?

The latter half of the Mistborn series is set in that sort of time period. The main character even used to be a frontier lawman. Most of those books take place in big cities, though.

>>54417466
You could have castes represent different military branches.
Not a huge fan of "punishing" people for not joining the military.
Make it the other way around and give them good reasons to join.
Maybe look into Stratocracy.

>>54417525
Yep, this is already implemented.
Anything else?
>>54417535
What exactly do you want?

>>54417682
I dunno. Perhaps certain command castes are expected to bring home a victory within a certain time period and that could drive those people to make reckless mistakes in the pursuit of that victory?

>>54417714
Nice idea. I was thinking about how their emperor would test highly risen commanders before making them into really narrow circle of guys under him. That's going to the tests.

>>54417682
I guess the best explanation would be something like harry potter type, fantastical type wizardry more than dark or gritty paranormal type stuff. The one series Ive seen googling that seems close to what Im looking for is called Frontier Magic, though I have not read it.

Figured this would be the place to ask. I'm making a map for the first time using this guide https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1142

But when it comes to post 8, making a bump map on a flat color seems to do nothing. I have to add some sort of texture first or else it ends up exactly the same. Am I doing something wrong?

>>54417851
The closest to harry potter i know are Bartimaeus Trilogy. Try Rothfuss, his Kingslayer series is also pretty western and about mage. Sort of.

>>54417921
I guess itd be more like The Hobbit or something. Basically something that feels more high fantasy? Its tough to describe what I mean i think. Doesnt necessarily have to be a YA type thing.

>>54417868
Can't help you my man, I used photoshop 6 for my map.

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The Great War was meant to end all wars. But as the great powers grew desperate to win at any cost, more and more terrible gas weapons were deployed. Eventually, both sides began using Mito Gas, the deadliest poison known.

That was when it happened. The Mito Gas somehow reacted with trace elements of previous gas attacks stuck in the soil and began to mutate. Not only itself, but everything. Now, 200 years after the war's end, the gas has not abated. Humanity lives in underground vaults and in the higher altitudes of the world untainted by the Gas and its hideous children, mutants whose only goal is to devour all that remains of humanity.

You have lived in such a vault all your life. That is, until the food begins to run out, and the Governor begins looking for those willing and able to forage amongst the ruins.

tl;dr: World War One escalates its use of poison gas until a Fallout style apocalypse happens. Sound like a good setup?

>>54419054
Is there a reason it's called Mito? Struck me as a weird name

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>>54371500
jesus that looks like my map

I'm not finished (I have to add islands and more layers to make it look nice) but this is the gist of it. 95% of my fluff is written as well.

>>54419117
Literally made it up on the spot.

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>>54419139
But anon...that's MY map too?

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>>54419139
this was how my map started

Protip: if you are making a new map start it around a body of water, not a whole continent. Leave yourself plenty of white space to add on later. pic related is where 99% of the action happens, but I am not the kind of person to leave a place undiscovered (by me)

>>54419172
holy shit. Guess no one here is creative at all. I just made an irregularly shaped russia

>>54419139
That must have taken ages to make my dude.

>>54419203
I'm super scared guys.

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I request help anons.

I'm trying to come up with several factions for an area my PCs are about to come in contact with and I've figured out roughly two or so but I need help and advice.

I'm thinking for the first; due to the apocalyptic nature of this world for it to be a Machine cult. But I want to try and blend in a layer of DEUS VULT and solar symbolism. I am unsure of a delicate way to do this without the faction seeming cluttered or too scattered.

What are some delicate ways of blending machine worship, fanaticism, and cosmic symbolism?

>>54419933
I mean, pic related.

Otherwise, have them think the entire universe is a cosmic machine, and they equate the sun with a wheel or gear that makes the world turn.

>>54419933
Have them worship no real "deity", but instead use a concept like Laplace's demon as an emblem.

Give them some understanding and fascination with ecology, so they can conceive of an ecosystem as complex, layered exchanges of energy ultimately coming from the sun. Give them a fixation with solar power and things like Von Neumann probes and hard AI - machines that imitate life and are reasonably independent/self-sufficient

>>54416934
See >>54412348

>>54419933
Have you played Dishonored?

>>54410633
You could theoretically maintain a non inbred population with less than 50 total people, but the marriages/child producing unions would almost certainly have to be decided by an elder of some kind who pays attention to lineage. Once you get up around 100 it becomes a much smaller issue to avoid inbreeding, and the tribe is large/stable enough to ostracize any unwanted (malformed) members that do arise

>>54417263
The easy way out is for the rail system in every location to be run by a single wizarding/merchant guild with no national ties. Force a true neutral alignment on the guild members and have the members themselves, or magic capable homonculi operate the rail system. Since war is bad for trade ,the guild builds a failsafe into each rail mechanism that self destructs on command or when certain items enter the system (IE more than a certain amount of explosives). Homonculi may be the safer route as they have no free will or ambition, the fewer wizards you have to keep centrist the easier and more plausible it will be.

>>54424255
Ah now there's a thought

Help me with the moon a bit.

Let's say we get basically Earth in basically solar system. But Moon is also glowing, so it's always full moon. Would it be useful for calendar purposes or not?

>>54425560
They could still track its progress in the sky. Being always a full moon would mean it would be traveling around earth at some pretty odd angles, more than enough to base a calendar off.

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>>54410886
What animals would good for this lads?
Elephants, apes, wolves? How many is too many?

>>54419139

If anything, your map is very aestethically pleasing. Good job.

>>54419139
How many tiles per axis?

It stands to reason that countries with few plains, and many forests wouldn't produce very strong horse mounted troops right?

>>54431595
what about Europe though? they are the horse masters and its all mountains

>>54431687
The steppes is where you find the real horse lords

>>54431864
Why did nobody but the middle eastern fell for the Camel meme?

>>54434255
Well even in the Middle East, they like horses. But I guess Camels, with their ability to go longer without water, caught on in the really, really harsh places.

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What does /tg/ think of my regional map?

Elana Tol: An island chain created by a meteor impact.

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>>54434962
I have seen the tutorial you based this on, but I didn't know it taught you how to make such cool mountains.

Alos the regional map looks cool to me.

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>>54435835
It didn't, the mountains are from this.

Great artists steal I guess.

>>54436298
Got some more 'landmarks', so I pirate them, anon?

>>54436328
http://imgur.com/a/MC4pz

>>54436378
based, thanks

>>54434255
The Chinese used camels, too, dude. China's huge and a lot of it is desert. Donkeys and camels are more valuable in desert environments than horses.

>>54431472
180x240

>>54431399
thank you

>>54419210
some hours, yes

>>54363845
no.

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Bluh, getting back into drawing after so moving/holiday/etc.

>>54436298
Really nice.

>>54434962
I have similar thing in my setting as well. It is really fun idea, plus you can have some mystery surrounding it.

>>54427867
Wolves would be cool. But how would quadrepeds develop tools and such?

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So i read somewhere that Mars has magnetic rocks or magnetic 'umbrellas across the planet which makes these patches of magnetic shielding. Would this mean that such areas would have the lowest radiation count? Was thinking of having a lost forest in my post-apoc mars setting.

>>54445215
I'm going to take a note from my favorite paranormal and stuff podcast here. Humans view tool use as the epitome of intelligence. However even our own technological progress have shown that alternative means of progress have existed in the past which could have lead to vastly different futures. Yet this is a fruitless endeavour because who is to say that ancient humans or even an extraterrestrial species might have diverged much earlier in its development.

Imagine a species that developed with a different less materialistic understanding of reality than ours. What if ancient people done did that telepathy and psychic bullshit? Why would a telepathic alien race even need advanced hyper tech? Why develope a gun if you have magic? Shrooms will let you know the truth, and all that hokum.

Point is, why should the quadruped need tools to develop a different but equally advanced culture and technological base?

This is legitimately what I based a quadrupedal race of my own on.
They get proper magic, humans don't. They substituted magic for technological progress. Mind you this is all much easier in a fantasy setting, but hey if actual ancient aliens and new age thinker types can believe this happened with humanity (and could happen again after our civilization collapses) why can't you for the sake of a setting?

>>54426731
What I meant is that the Moon is its own light source (Albeit dim and cold) so shadow isn't seen on it. Not that it's always at odd angles.

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>>54371500
>>54372776
>>54374375
>>54419139

It's been a busy week. but I've finally had the time to update the map. Changed the island position, added a new larger one off to the left side. Does it look better, worse?

Still have a bunch of work to do though. adding more small islands, that sort of stuff.

>>54447692
Looks like Asian, except China got nuked so hard its an ocean now.

>>54447524
Of it keeps the real world movement pattern but glows then a lunar calendar becomes more difficult, if however you alter it's orbit to create more frequent and regularly spaced solar eclipses, then you could use that for a lunar calendar. You could also justify changing the length of a year/month if it fits your story better, since you're playing with orbit cycles anyway

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>>54445612
The magneticism you mentioned only protects surface dwellers from solar wind and its charged particles, like protons and alpha particles. Solar wind is mainly a problem for electrical equipment. The red parts in this pic have the strongest local magnetic "loops" where equiment could be more protected.

The biggest Human health hazard in outer space and on Mars are high energy cosmic rays. They're electromagnetic radiation consisting of gamma and X-rays and can't really be deflected by a magnetosphere. You need a proper atmosphere like on Earth to block them, although a couple meters of marsrock would also do the trick. Cosmic rays destroy molecules in cells like DNA, and are also the cause of the bright flashes astronauts often see in space, sometimes even with their eyes closed.

>>54448784
Oh, it should be added that the dark blue areas are equally strong too. Both extremes are still quite far from the Earth's full magnetosphere. Also sorry for the typos.

>>54447692
Looks much better anon. 7/10 would play depending on system.

>>54452091

Only 7/10?

>tfw those wheels of creativity start turning

>>54452214
I mean, I'd need to hear the setting and system pitch.

One more bump for the night.

What are some interesting twists I could put into a setting where the royalty is exclusively vampires? I was thinking at some point a lich would have taken over the world but was soon after thwarted by an organized group of several very powerful vampires who defeated him and took advantage of the undead-ravaged world he left behind in order to build a society where they had absolute power. What are the implications of such a setting? Assume standard DnD levels of magic/technology.

>>54380529
>you should distill the perfect idea down
Not him, but this is an incredibly silly idea and the mere fact that you think that this would be possible shows how little you understand the creative process.

>>54459258
The creative process is whittling a puzzle out of scrap lumber pillaged from other finished pieces

>>54448784
>>54449007
Ah okay. Well since my setting is particularly hard sci-fi ill just say this lost forest is a hab built within a cave, its only on one of the mag spots for convenience and to protect equipment.

Im in need of a generator for realistic country names.

>>54452535
You just can't stop thinking about it, can you?
I don't have the wheels of creativity anymore

>>54398860
This is awesome, it's in depth but not too complicated