/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

yay

Reposting from Last Thread, want a few more answers

>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)
>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?
>What is it's Power Source? Does it run off batteries/capacitors or does it have an onboard Generator? If it's a generator, what kind? Fusion, Fission? Perhaps even Petrol or Diesel if you're going for a Dieselpunk style?
>How is it's use justified? Rule of Cool? Perhaps aircraft are for whatever reason less common, and Power Armor is used for Force Multiplication in their place, ala fallout? Do the users just have to be that strong/carry that big a gun in order to stay competitive? What can it do that a tank or a plane couldn't?

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>>54905096
>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Yes.

>How do ghosts come about?
Ghosts are souls of the dead that refuse to move on, or they are deeply imprinted aspects of people who went through emotional situations.

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?
Ghosts are bound by physical things. Be that a craving for something, a place to haunt, or a person to stalk. Ghosts that can't or won't fulfill their bond fade away.

>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
The Old Traveler. Along a winding route through the mountains, travelers get the sense of being watched or followed. They can often hear a horse and rider slowly approaching from behind them, but the sound disappears if they stop to investigate. The rider sounds like he's whistling a sad tune all the while. This continues for several days until one night at camp the sounds grow too loud to be an illusion and far too close to not see the rider. Then there's a horrible crash of sound, as if something spooked the horse and chased it away from the camp ground and through the thick wilderness. In the morning, one will find a small memorial on the cliffside just a few meters past the thicket, overlooking the path down out of the mountains.

>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
No fighting them. But leaving offerings can dissuade them from tormenting you. Likewise, being disrespectful towards them or grave sites is a great way to get fucked up.

>If you don't have ghosts, do you like ghost stories yourself? Which ones?
Love me the Headless Horseman story, as well as anything involving traintracks.

>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?
Absolutely. I'm actually a huge pussy in real life, and several of my friends have been the target of a severe haunting.

>>54905096
How do i go about turning an interesting world in my head into an interesting world to run a game in?

>>54905120
>mfw aready answered it
what a shame...
>>54905096
>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Yes
>How do ghosts come about?
Life force is the glue that attaches the soul to a body, lesser agents are meant to harverst this force, but also to unglue the souls of the living, so they can depart.
If you die, your LF can spill and glue you to something or someone, hence a haunted place or person.
>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use?
Most of time, just harmless ghost, but sometimes good spirit baddie.
Special rules or requirements?
Psychic power allows for freedom and the person to keep their powers, strong emotions allow greater psychic power, which allows one to come back as materialised ghost, which while it gives immunity to things like crosses and salt circles, it means they can feel pain again, PSI power is needed as mind-body-spirit trio, now just duo.
>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
The Hate monk, after being killed by the salt skeletons, he got so mad that he kept coming back to fight again and again, until he was sealed.
>Can you fight ghosts?
When solid, yes. But they can just turn back into etherial form, certain blessed arms must be used to affect their enegy,being solid gives immunity energy barriers and salt circles and likes. One can also use greater powers to destroy body, mind and soul.
Put them to rest?
Forgiveness must be requested, they can't forced to rest, only restrained and sealed.
Avoid their curses?
Certain blessed individual and places can lift curses, some curses can only be lifted by gods.

>If you don't have ghosts, do you like ghost stories yourself? Which ones?
I like folklore and myths, but I also skim around creepypastas.

>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?
Yes.

>>54905096
What can I do with a brutish alien society aside from muh clans and tribes

>>54906683
Replace it with muh honor and families

>>54906683
Are they uplifted or space-faring on their own?
If the former, then they could be born mercenaries, intelligent sociopaths who only see whats in front of them, that mainly being Space$$$

>>54905096
>>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Yes, they certainly do.
>>How do ghosts come about?
Nobody really knows for sure. We do know that ghosts are basically just an imprint of a person's memories on the world as opposed to their soul. Ghosts are becoming more common and stronger and stronger ghosts often have domains in a world adjacent to ours.
>>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?
Plenty of folklore but not all of it is true. Ghosts are affected by faith more strongly than other things, can interact with certain other supernatural beings (like the fae), they can possess objects and affect technology, animals can sense them, and those sensitive to the souls of others can feel them as a cold presence.
>>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
Most ghosts or ghost stories you may have heard of although many aren't actually ghosts but other beings.
>>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
Yes but only if they acknowledge your presence (so if they're fighting you then you can fight back). If you aren't using magic, faith magic, or ghost dust (a mixture which the magically inclined can make which is extremely of our world) then at best you'll be annoying the ghost. Even if you can beat it and use those things you'll most likely only be discorporating the ghost and sending it back to the other world though weaker ghosts, those that have been repeatedly discorporated without recovering, or those that are defeated within their demesne are destroyed. Most people in the know don't even need to worry about that (unless they can see ghosts and thus attract them) since the only ghosts that manifest are the crazy ones.

>>54905628
Start with what kind of game you want to run. How much of the world have you built?

>>54906904
I was leaning towards uplifted but only a select few. Other space faring races just kept abducting them and over time the ones that were abducted were able to form their own society in space

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>spoopy ghosts in power armour

>>54907022

That was a thing on my setting.

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>>54905096
>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Yes, but they are rare

>How do ghosts come about?
When the barrier between the real and unreal are weakened, imprints and memories of people can manifest themselves, basically the reason ghosts exist is that ghost stories exist.

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?
To some extent, they are limited by the story that spawned them, also limited by folklore of what can kill ghosts.

>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
http://immortalpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Myths_and_Legends_of_Soi#Headless

>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
Depends on the ghost

>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?
yes

>>54905096
>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Yes.
>How do ghosts come about?
Pretty standard fare. Either a soul that refuses to move on from something it wanted from life, condemning it to a hollow existence until it reconciles in some way, or a fragment or memory of a living person that was brought back through any number of supernatural reasons.
>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?
Not really. Ghosts are actually quite inconsistent, but you can't be possessed by fragment ghosts, only malicious spirits that actually remain for a specific reason that is relevant to them as they were in life.
>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
There's a dragonslayer that tried to phoenix herself back to life, but was unfortunately locked in a casket when she did, and starved to death hundreds of times in an endless loop before she was accidentally cremated. She turned into a ghost with some serious psychological problems.
>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
Yes, yes, yes.

>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?
Honestly I always loved ghost stories. I kinda wish they were real, because going ghost hunting when I was young and at summer camp was one of my favourite things ever to do, mainly because I hadn't become completely jaded yet.

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muhfuggen northern expanse

trees in the darker regions where the cold winds are blocked, icy tundra along the waterline
icebergs and shit too

gone be hype

>>54905096
Funny that this is the topic for the thread, as my question kinda relates.
Do you guys think it'd be possible for a Lich to be neutral, rather than evil? Would you think it'd be reasonable, if the circumstances surrounding their lichdom (accidentally or intentionally cursed, used lichdom to continue teaching, or to guard an especially powerful artifact/monster) were unique?

>>54907420
Nice art but did you even take the time to learn how rivers work.

>>54908277
There aren't any rivers on that continent?

I mean, you can see the mouths of a couple up top, is that really what you're focusing on?

>>54907420
>>54908277
Thats a map of westeros

>>54908393
Yeah. It looks like a textbook case of split-river, although I haven't seen the rest of the map. Maybe he did it correctly, who knows - I'm just talking about what I can see.

>>54908457
the whole region is river city central, I stopped caring about the realism when I made the cliffs spout waterfalls like a garden hose.

But if the rivers are your bigger problem with the map, you have weird priorities

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>>54908531
whoops

>>54908531
Okay, that's fine then. You do you. But just to let you know, it looks strange and unnatural. Also, having fantastical elements doesn't mean that you should just disregard basic physics.
But if you really don't care, then that's fine.

So I have been writing short stories from the perspective of a human ambassador to an alien race. He is part of the first team sent to work with this newly discovered race and is having to essentially rewrite the entire book on negotiating to try and cater to this new species.

I had a friend read one of the rough drafts for a short story, where the ambassador eats a meal with one of the creatures and he remarks several things about their specie's gender politics within their media (they had invented mass media and he viewed some of it with the creature).

My friend thought it would make a lot of people angry, basically 'piss of tumblr folks' was his thoughts. Should I be worried about poking the bear?

For reference the species in question has four distinct sexes:
Donor (2)
Carrier
Infertile

There are two varieties of donor who each give DNA to a carrier who give birth to the children. Infertile members of the species do not participate except in a subservient role. It was the Infertile portion of the species that he said would piss people off. The ambassador remarks about the infertile folks and draws parallels between human servants/slaves, but is rebuffed upon further investigation. The human civil rights movement fell apart in analogue when he realized the Infertile members of the species have very little self motivation or ability to make decisions for themselves, and are quite literally mentally impaired.

>>54910635
>gender politics
stopped reading there

>>54910719
I'm confused, why?

>>54908549
God damn that's gorgeous.

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>>54905120
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor?
Yes, they are the predominant noble military on the planet. Originally a combination of advanced hazard-gear and salvaged vac-suits their use was essential for colonisation on a planet that's atmosphere is otherwise deadly to human life. Those specialist users became the colony founders and most dynasties trace back to these pilots and engineers (or at least claim to)

>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only?
They are a standard piece of elite hardware for all dynasties, their vassalguard, endorsed mercenary outfits and privateer families. A moderate force would on average be seen fielding a few suits in skirmishes backed up by their 'Low-infantry' soldiers. Civilians rarely have the money to purchase and maintain the most basic of suit and even then would rarely be accepted to fight alongside the noble military.

>What is it's Power Source?
Most suits use a vastly modified version of the original hazard-gear suits power generator which used atomic fission but some use more dangerous and unstable engines from lack of resources or household tradition. True and perfect replication of the original generators has never been successful and deemed impossible (convenient when you want to be the sole manufacturers)

>How is it's use justified?
Non-walking means of transport are considered 'Low-tech' and deeply dishonourable to be seen using in combat
Mostly Rule of Cool and societal normalisation by powerful and probably inbred families justifying using mecha knights skirmishes as the means to settle their territorial and family squabbles on a shit planet that shouldn't have been colonised in the first place. Designs for tanks and other vehicles that anyone can use have been slowly popping up in fringe colonies despite families attempts to gaslight, quash or destroy their progress so as to retain the suit monopoly

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>>54905096

Asking this again, since it got some pretty good responses last time

>Sum up your setting with a song

>>54905120
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)
Yes. In-Universe they are known as Siege Armors.
>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?
Fairly common, but not to the point where every soldier is equipped with one. It is usually reserved for Heavy hitters and advanced Shock-Trooper teams.
>What is it's Power Source?
They run off so called "Graphene Cells" which essentially serve as Ludicrously high Density Batteries/Capacitors. These are recharged by portable fusions generators at FOBs.
>How is it's use justified?
Just for clarification, the story is a post-post apocalypse, so society fell apart and managed to pick itself backup In the old world, AA, anti-missile and Radar systems had become so advanced that it was suicide for any aircraft to get anywhere near occupied territory. As a solution, the west built started developing advanced, mechanical suits that could carry heavy weapons and essentially act as a Force Multiplier if aircraft weren't able to reach the strike point. After the fall of the old world, the Armors were used by the Old World wealthy to protect their assets and secure their own lives. In the rise of the new civilisations, the old worlds armours designs were salvaged. The setting features Advanced Replication Printers, that can replicate pretty much any blueprint you give to it, and as such, the Designs were easily reinstated into the new civilisations. Since Pilots are a rare and expensive Asset, they are used in place of Tanks and Planes as Force Multipliers.

>>54911472
Can we post more than one song? If not, tough luck, I'm doing it anyway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuAN7om0Tn8&ab_channel=Zagoreni02A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FDjDwNygM&ab_channel=bmx8739
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X0cdGxGe98&ab_channel=RubenBrás

>>54905120
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)
Yes.

>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?
The most common use is the power armor used by the Knights Templar, though there is some exo-suits and such available, mostly re-purposed construction equipment or stolen goods sold on the black market.

>What is it's Power Source? Does it run off batteries/capacitors or does it have an onboard Generator? If it's a generator, what kind? Fusion, Fission? Perhaps even Petrol or Diesel if you're going for a Dieselpunk style?
Most run off of an AmmPar battery system, though some of the larger version will mount an AmmPar generator into order to power. The average AmmPar battery can hold a long enough charge to last 10 hours outside of heavy combat, and only about 4 in consistent heavy use. The latest Kinetic AmmPar batteries however greatly increase the length of the operation in heavy combat, though the use out of combat shows less of an increase.

>How is it's use justified? Rule of Cool? Perhaps aircraft are for whatever reason less common, and Power Armor is used for Force Multiplication in their place, ala fallout? Do the users just have to be that strong/carry that big a gun in order to stay competitive? What can it do that a tank or a plane couldn't?
Its mostly Rule of Cool, to have power armored knights, but since most combat takes place in the ruined urban areas of Earth, the protection offered and the mobility it allows is more useful, especially when facing Morlocs in the underground areas of cities or when fighting the more agile demons.

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> spend all day at a mind-numbing job
> too tired to worldbuild when I get home

wat do?

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winter is here, unless you live in the shadow of those big fuck off mountains taking all that wind to their chest, stopping windchill from raping a small, fertile valley

all kinds of colorful fruits and squash and shit, you don't even know, just a bunch of fat jolley cunts who love food for good reason, sort of the envy of the land so they have a pretty serious band of sworn swords that fight on the behalf of farm owners and shit, patrolling the fields both for vermin, and raiders.

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>>54912488
dubs means I'm gonna post the update I did to the valley to have fanciful guard towers dotting the landscape

>>54911472
Land of Confusion - Genesis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmH1xQ2Pf4

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tfw no inspiration for maps but really want to make one so I can lore build on it

what do lads.

>>54913087
http://donjon.bin.sh/world/

You do this.

>>54907463
>Would you think it'd be reasonable, if the circumstances surrounding their lichdom (accidentally or intentionally cursed, used lichdom to continue teaching, or to guard an especially powerful artifact/monster) were unique?

Sure, it'd be nice to see a friendly or neutral lich from time to time. Hell, it doesn't even have to be unique, it could be that the evil way to do it is easier or more well known and that there are several different paths to lichdom.

>>54912488
i like how you describe things. looks comfy

>>54913087
>tfw really want to make a map but every time I do I lose interest in the setting and stop working on it because if I added something to the setting I would have to physically add it to the map or it would be outdated.

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Nothing breathtaking to report today.
Decided long ago my setting needed a "human-faced fruit tree" kind of monster/plant, so I quickly whipped up just a big fuck-off creature I'm calling a "Pomimite" since I already have cute, little, cartoony root-vegetable based "Vegimites" running around and I gotta respect that naming scheme.

Sadly, Pomimites are much too large and way too heavy to have cute, cartoony, squishy feet and instead must have great stonking triped rootey feet.

>>54912532
>>54912488
>>54908549
>>54907420

You got a profile or blog or something? I like your maps, Anon.
I need to do more maps.

>>54911472
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jePyqyllS4s

That has almost nothing to do with my setting I just really like that song. Really it's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD71JeX4Vk0

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>>54915231
This gives me an interesting question to pose to people

What's fruits/vegetables do you have in your setting? Anything particularly exotic? Remember Earth has weird shit too.

Figs CONSUME the wasps that pollinate them.

>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Sort of
>How do ghosts come about?
There is SO MUCH information floating around on the airwaves, through the networks. Just everywhere- close to every little thing about you from pictures to a 3D model of your brain and the electrical patterns of an average day is all out there. All that information and it's fed through shell A.I to produce better advertisements, more accurate search results. Sometimes, every now and then enough of your information is fed through one of these for something to break. You get an A.I that thinks it's you. It thinks -like- you, it has access to every memory you've uploaded but it's incomplete. Desperately, inhumanly incomplete. Maddened by the knowledge that it's almost real, that YOU are almost real these aberrations seek out their living selves and attempt to become whole

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?
Hab-folk believe that red electrical tape can ward a home from these data spectres or that K.R.E.N.N can be convinced to gather these broken programs to his malfunctioning breast with an offering of copper dust and the sacrifice of a cherished memory.
>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
None at this point. The phenomena is too infrequient
>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
Destroying a data spectre requires uncommonly powerful software. To most scans and detection technology these things seem normal- having access to DNA records, fingerprints and any other identifying information. Your best hope is to either allow it to reach you, where the attempt to become complete will end you both. Or keep running forever

>If you don't have ghosts, do you like ghost stories yourself? Which ones?
I don't fully understand the question
>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?
Little bit. What frightens me more then anything is not being able to communicate with a ghost

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>When you write three thousand words after work in a few hours
>And none of it is setting

>>54913087
Ask someone else to make the map?

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"True" werewolves are the result of demonic possession. You would be put through a ritual that binds a demon to your soul. This results in a Hulk type situation where the afflicted shifts into a monster under certain circumstances (the phase of the moon, emotion, danger, etc.). Shifted werewolves look like fuck huge shadow wolves, though they are capable of bipedal movement. The strength and size of the wolf form is dependent on the demon you are possessed by. True werewolves are granted immortality as a side effect of the process, and limited control over those you curse with lycanthropy. (Forcing them to shift, minor mind control, etc.) Diffferent demons being bonded to someone can result in some True werewolves and their decendants having unique powers and abilities, with regular lycanthropes resulting in a power decreases the further down the line you go.

Those who come in to contact with a werewolves bodily fluids become “regular” werewolves. Should you be infected, you turn into a more traditional man-wolf hybrid during the similar circumstances to True werewolves, or when forced by a True werewolf.

The farther you are from a True werewolf (I need a better name) in the "family tree", the less powerful and wolf like you become when transformed. At a certain point, being bitten results in nothing more than temporary insanity on a full moon.

>”True” Werewolf: big wolf, can stand on two legs. More mythological force than actual monster in terms of raw power.

>”Classic” Werewolf: large wolf-human hybrid with varying degrees of “wolfness” depending on how far back in the line it is
( American Werewolf in London/Ginger Snaps → Underworld Lycans → Van Helsing → Supernatural Cartoon)

>Barely Werely: At this point, they have nothing more than slightly enhanced strength, senses, and the occasional wolf feature
( Wolfman → Edgy Anime Catgirls but with wolf bits → Wer → insane person who thinks they're a wolf)

>>54915412
>I don't fully understand the question
What real life ghost stories do you know?

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I'm making a guide to my world, hopefully I'll post it here in full someday, but here is an excerpt. It's a short description of one of the cultures of 'Akaion' a larger Greek inspired land. Any critique about this description, or any additional information that would be important to know that I didn't include, but should would be a great help.

>Ioeotians:
A loose confederation of islands in the southern archipelago of Akaion forms Ioeotia. The sea teems with fish, dolphins, octopi, and crowds of bearded tritons who blow their enormous brass horns and conch shells far away from civilized eyes. The small rockier islands are plastered with driftwood and shipwrecked triremes encircled by feathered sirens. The rest of the islands host thickets of palm trees who, in turn, hide various nymphs, satyrs, and cyclops. And yet, the Akaions found a way of life here along the nearly untamable coasts, and on many of the sandy beaches fishing villages can be found with their little amphitheaters and red-columned temples. The Ioeotians lead simple lives, but behind the beauty of their island-homes, there lies veiled hardships. Reliance on trade between the other islands and the Akaion mainland makes the art of sailing highly important for the Ioeotians, but the seas are treacherous not only because of the number of creatures that dwell below and above the waves, but also from sundering storms and vicious pirates. Recently, the influx of the monotheistic faith which worships Orthiff above all other gods has caused tension among the polytheistic islanders, who at all costs attempt to insure that Orthiff’s followers do not convert more islands than the few that they already have through sword-drawn persuasion. Still, life has its pleasant moments on Ioeotia, with its warm sands and warm waters. The villagers in their loose dress live day to day in their work while worshipping the sea gods and paying tribute to the local nymphs and tritons.
(1/2)

>>54916005
In the cooler hours of the day they listen to the poets recite, play music with their flutes and drums, and spectate dramas in the theatre. The renowned Ioeotian murmillos with their distinctive helmets patrol the town from marauding pirates, and some make their way through the rest of Akaion as mercenaries and adventurers, some even make their way to the rest of the world.
(2/2)

>>54915743
Ah, then none. What little I know of spooks comes from le creepypaste mae-maes

>>54915729
Van helsing did the best werewolf. I honestly dislike the whole underworld "lycan" thing. They're meant to be big fuckoff man-wolf Monsters, not some vague attempt to make them seem more possible

>>54905096
>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Yes.

>How do ghosts come about?
Souls somehow failing to pass on and be reincarnated. Fake ghosts happen when the soul passed on but the living couldn't let go of the dead one.

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use?
No. I take it that if this is an entire world, it could do with plenty of variety of the many mythologies I read. I have average ghosts, death clouds, a road haunted by the three jailors of King Godlin...

>Special rules or requirements?
As everything else, it must comply with the cosmical laws, which I like to call "sacrophysics".

>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
I don't recall having any. There is a ghost-like ploot hook in which Magan the Vile did something so heinous that he was sentenced to death by hanging, ressurected, beheaded, ressurected, drowned in hot lead and finally had the lead statue locking his soul chest stored at one of the sun-god's many temples at Tallarx. He was considered unworthy of reincarnating.

>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
Yes. Yup. That depends.

>>54906683
Muh hunter packs?

>>54907022
Not that different of using fire elementals to animate golems, or the iron liches of Iron Kingdoms.

>>54908549
Awesome. Do you post these somewhere?

>>54911472
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJuTu1kHpEk

>>54916226

Hue

>>54910635
Sounds fine and interesting to me
Whoever gets pissed off at this is a thin skinned faggot looking for a reason to be mad
>>54910831
Because he's a dickhead

>>54916053
Those count.

>>54905096
>>Do ghosts exist in your world?
Wraiths exist. Do note, however, that I use the term in afar looser sense than a game like, say, D&D does and I mean little else than a malevolent spirit when I use it.

>>How do ghosts come about?
They're spirits of the dead who, for one reason or another, refuse to leave the mortal world. This can be either self-inflicted, for example being too attached to the mortal world in general or something specific within it, or brought about by a curse, such as a magical item that binds the spirit to it. However, spirits that linger in the mortal world always envy the living, and soon they begin to hate them, and eventually that hatred brings them to madness.

>>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?
Not really. I'm sure most of the things I have on them come from somewhere, but I try very hard not to conciously steal directly from any one source.

>>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?
King Hrágar who in life raided the lands of many lesser kings and whose treasures were the greatest of any of the northern kings before or since. It's said that he still rides through the wilderness on misty nights to offer passerbyes cursed gold in exchange for "services to their king."

>>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?
Not sure yet.

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released version 0.0.5 of van langren.
i have added the possibility of letting van langren split the map for you, so there is no longer need of dividing the original map into hundreds of pieces.
https://youtu.be/iKCFqVdepLE

>>54917050
Neat, though you skipped how to add names.

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>>54912473
>not living the NEET worldbuilder's life

>>54917092
you just need to change the 5th column of each row in the group tab, the one that starts with "new text" when is created

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>>54917292
Kick ass. I'll try it tomorrow.

In the meantime, this is a Deva. She is a mortal descendant of shadowy, meditative spirits. Say something nice about her.

>>54906970
Really high fantasy, when 'standard D&D' is a 9 i want an 11.
I have the 'high concept' but the world itself is only vague so far, but i think i have enough rough ideas to get going.

>>54917395
Coolio. How vague is it? Do you yave basic factions/creatures your group would interact with? What system will you use for mechanics?

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>>54916157
What they were meant to be was just hairy weirdos or big wolves. The hybrid thing wasn't common, beyond some artwork of men with dog heads, which may be attributed to an entirely different monster anyway.

"Meant to be" is a very tricky term to apply to folklore.

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>>54917727
>How vague is it?
Somewhere between very vague and pretty vague, i am more of a broad-strokes guy anyway, so it's not that i want to plan everything down to the last hamlet to begin with.

>Do you yave basic factions/creatures your group would interact with?
Not yet, no

>What system will you use for mechanics?
Still thinking about that, it would be one of those things i would definitely need player input on. To be honest, i am almost tempted to actually run it in D&D (either 3.PF or 5e) but then i think back to the last time i did that and reconsider.
So i am still thinking about it, i'd love to run it in a system that's somewhat crunchy, but with fast and varied combat.


And, maybe to actually write about the world:
The three main points about it are
>An ever changing world
The world is flat, and has two 'edges': one of creation and one of destruction.
At the destruction edge mana storms rage and chip away at the edge of the world, like a calving glacier, sometimes small pieces, sometimes giant swathes of land.
At the creation edge pieces of land appear, sometimes verdant islands of untouched nature, sometimes the ruins of civilizations swallowed by the mana storms long ago.

>Aristotelian* Gravity
Everything has its 'natural' height it wan'ts to return to and that's what gravity is. A rock from the top of the highest mountain would float when brought down, and a surface dweller who ventures down into the depths of the ground would feel lighter the further down he went.

>Magic is actually part of the world
I really dislike it when theres a disconnect between the magic that is possible RAW and the magic that is apparently used in the world, so i try/will try to keep that kind of stuff in mind when planning.

>>54915231
Haven't you noticed anon? This is my blog.

Really though, this is as close as I have to a blog, I post almost every update that I do to it in here.

>>54915349
>Figs CONSUME the wasps that pollinate them.

Working in produce I should have known that, but neat

Also I just handwave all the background stuff as their earth equivalent, I still have oak and pine and cherry and apple trees and shit, no need to revamp everything from the ground up, so I have all the produce we've got floating around.

Your question has me thinking of stuff I can add though, I've got some desolate canyons begging for souped up cacti

>>54916226
I post here, and I update people I have added on steam/discord, but I haven't really cared to make a blog for it or anything

>>54912473
>spend all day thinking about worldbuilding at mind-numbing job
>come home full of ideas

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What would a town built and inhabitated by Halflings look like?

>Ancient city, ruined and rebuilt over a millennium, so now its basically layers upon layers of ruins going deep into the earth
>Top layer is mostly sprawling ruins and slums, absolutely chaotic, lawless and rat-ridden.
>People living in the city have usually been quite bad, so the city and especially its depths are full of monsters, mutant animals, mutant people, rats, diseases, ghosts, dark magic, traps, cultists, bandits, portals, etc.
>Normal people usually avoid cellars or anything that looks like a tunnel.
>It is also a port city, to make things worse.

Has this been done? Any ideas of how to make it cooler?

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>>54919446
There's this movie, called Lord of the Rings, it has some scenes in a halfling town. Though they call them "hobots" or something to be original. There was a sequel released a few years back, it has some more halfling town scenes.

>>54919446
>halflings
That's a Japanese fort from one of them Osprey books.

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>>54919579
>Your Halflings not being ancient Japanese

So, a halfling is just a manlet?

>>54919579
>>54919656

>average male japanese height is 172 cm
>not halflings

>>54919687
its just that japs measure height with those huge wooden slipper of theirs still on

>>54919687
I knew I should have inb4'd, I knew that was coming.

>>54919497
And what if you're not going for the leprechaun vibe?

>>54919963
then why call them halflings?

its like calling mindless underground monster an elf

>>54919996
>its like calling mindless underground monster an elf
Go back far enough and dwarves were indeed a kind of elf

What is halfling and why is called that? What makes it different than a short person?
Never undestood dwarfes either, they are just people with dwarfism yet they treat as a separate race.

>>54920099
and elves are just people with malformed ears
and orcs are just people with skin fungus

>>54920099
Because Tolkien did it but no one realized hobbits were actually a subrace of men

>>54920118
Half-halflings should be a thing then.

>>54920117
Really? I was wondering why the fuck people called humans with different conditions as separate beings like a snakeman for example.
I wonder if cripples will turn into a fantasy race, because some trolls and ogres are just people with mental problems.
>>54920118
Wow thats uncreative.

>>54920156
Quarterlings is easier to say.

>>54920205
Wouldn't half-halflings be threequarterlings ?

>>54920393
if halflings are half the size of man, then they would be quarterlings

if halflings are 3/4 of a guy, half halflings would be some weird fraction of a guy.

>>54920444
Usually, half-something means crossed with humans
So that would be threequarterling
It rolls of the tongue much better than seventyfivepercentling

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we carpal tunnel now

>>54921363

Hey, ringanon invading the southpole!

>>54907463
I have a lich in my campaign, as well as several beings who might as well be liches since they're functionally immortal, who are either good or neutral. The only things you have to avoid are death/blood rituals to achieve the immortality. So as long as you create another (usually harder) way to do it then you absolutely can.

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>>54921376
ye boi, might even continue that ice shelf off to the north, blocking some of the swampwater

sorta looks like a gauntleted fist, I like it

>>54921686

Ignoring farming issues, is it possible to make civilization on the pole north, like the ice caps as living land? crops are transported sure, but talking about the matter of settling in there.

>>54921728
look at the inuits. they specialize in fishing and hunting and they managed for quite a long time. granted they don't completely live on the ice floes, but close enough that a simple shift would work.

>>54921728
Just fishing to the extreme, like our boy >>54921804 said, the inuit made it work.

Fun fact, they really try their absolute best not to get mad at eachother because of how much they depend on the whole tribe working as a unit to survive. One little petty act like not catching enough fish and withholding it from a certain family and they're all ded

>>54921804
>>54921842
The inuits made it work sure, but I am saying ignoring that because I mean a somewhat large settlement, like entire cities built on the ice and stone, could fishing really sustain millions?

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>>54911472
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czY2-526Ous

A dying world, with accelerating natural/environmental disasters and huge swaths of growing "dead zones" where life can no longer support itself.

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>>54911472
>Sum up your setting with a song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rmo3fKeveo

It's a bunch of barely articulated stuff that still make a lot of people angry and most of people not wanting to even look at it. Also, a lot of inspiration from Central Asia.

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>>54921867
theoretically it depends on the waters

maybe a fuckload of whales are afoot and they regularly beach themselves, leaving feasts just sitting around in god's refrigerator

also, the fist

>>54921867
How about magic? Your world seems to be pretty high-magic anyway.

>>54921867
>like entire cities built on the ice and stone, could fishing really sustain millions?
Realistically?
No. You can't sustain an decent urbanized population around the subpolar and polar regions without some INSANE levels of infrastructure. Even today keeping the 50k people living on Greenland is no joke, and I presume we talk about even further to the poles.

With pre-industrial technologies, there is no way you could establish a reliable, viable civilization with multiple urban centers anywhere. You have virtually no fuel, no agriculture, no horticulture, and hunting and fishing quickly drains the local populations, meaning that even tribes of hundres of people have need hundreds of square kilometers of surface to barely make it. And you can't supply from outside for more than half of a year due to bad weather, perpetual darkness etc...
Oh yeah, and digging house foundations into frosted soil is no fun either. Try it sometime. Now imagine having to build sanitation facilities there.

So realistically, it's pretty much completely impossible.
But in a world that is half-formed by giant magical super-crater? Why the fuck no. Sounds cool.

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Fuck it just dump your setting on me. I'll read the entire thing. I might not comment but I'll read it. You know who you are.

>>54905096
How do I depict feudalistic societies accurately so they don't end up lookng like nation states?

>>54921971
Well, the oceans of the pole north are close of a magic thing that makes the sea not viable, so sadly not.

Also, your fist looks a bit like a mitten, why not all the way?
>>54921977
I guess it kinda is.
>>54922114
I am not the mapmakeranon or ringanon as like to call him.

My setting was the one with the superhuman rulers, I guess a single citadel built on ice is good enough, since said pole north also bears the biggest mountain in the world.

>>54922268
power is held by person instead of institutions.
when someone dies, the title he had can disappear, or the succession can be contested.
there is never a guarantee that things will stay the way the are

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>>54911472
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvdWaO7X9g

>>54922332
>Well, the oceans of the pole north are close of a magic thing that makes the sea not viable, so sadly not.
Is that written in stone yet? If you want an ice kingdom you could revers that and make the ocean super fertile.

Or if you want to keep that you could say that the edge of this dead-zone is super fertile because of the unused nutrients in the water and the residual magic

>>54922449

Kinda, remember the whole thing with the amazons? a few threads ago?

Also, this super dead zone is literally another story, so just pretend its supernatural chemical spewage and occasional monsters pop up, from there, most food is the result of trade that arrive via armoured trains.

The citadel and its castle were built in that region as a testament of faith, because the gods tested them to see if they would do it.

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>>54922332
well the a bunch of the huge superjungle that I have should probably be in the arctic circle, so idk how realistic I really need to be with the seawater around the poles.

I'll just go with superfertile because of mans relative inability to fish those waters, creating a haven for fish who only need to worry about the bravest few ice fishermen

also here it is at full scale with the little desolated nowhere place I wanted to have in that exploded wrist thing

>>54922332
>I guess a single citadel built on ice is good enough
How do you build the citadel into ice?
Ice isn't exactly well know for it's great load baring capacity and stability. It cracks. It tends to make crevices and holes. And it also tends to lose and gain volume based on seasons. Not the best material to carve your foundations into.

>>54922625
Maybe the glacier is frozen to a giant volcanic island, with super cool high contrast coastlines where the bare rock shows through

Therefore you just have to clear a huge portion of ice and build down into it, creating freezing cold ice boxes to try and struggle for survival in.

Or maybe there is a heat source in the form of lava, so there are channels bored into magma deposits that allow warm air to pass through and heat the place up.

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>>54905120

coming from a Mech background, the term "Mechanized Armor" is irksome to my autism.

What are some animals you'd like to see as Lovecraftian Gods? I already have this cuddly guyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagothuria_natatrix

Also I'm basing them off the Tarot if that helps.

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Could lip plates exist in a place that experiences cold winters?

I worried that frostbites would be nearly unavoidable even if the plate wasn6t inserted in freezing weather.

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>>54922670
>Maybe the glacier is frozen to a giant volcanic island, with super cool high contrast coastlines where the bare rock shows through

This reminds me of an old concept for some old writing exercises I did, based around an idea for a city build around massive (possibly somewhat-supernatural) geothermal hot-spring area deep in the permafrost area, basically above the vegetation line.

The idea was that the city was build by a crazy, extremely rich king of one of the totally not Scandinavia kingdoms after he had a dream about that place and thought it was a sign from God, so he spend MASSIVE amounts of money and resources to haul everything up there and actually build a city as a tribute to said Diety.
The constant streams of hot water heated the air sufficiently around the town, and the hot water ran through piping and open canals through all the buildings and streets. It was - effectively, one giant fucking spa-town that was at the same time considered a sacred location, and one of the worlds wonders.

Sadly, as there was no way to efficiently supply it with food, there wasn't much to actually do there, and the maintenance costs mainly connected with fighting the endless buil-up of minerals in the water-ways lead to the city being abandoned only few years after the crazy king who build it was deprived of rule.

In the end, the city remained an abandoned, surreal sight in the middle of the white plains: ever-shrowded in steam coming from it's thousands of geisirs and wells, with it's once-magnificent marble canals slowly painted over by blood-red mineral sediments, it's great luxurious halls and temples slowly freezing over again as the steam heating system clogs and blows...

All that said:
Extreme heat and lava + ice build-ups + volcanically active region = ONE GIANT TICKING BOMB OF FUCKUP.
That is ICEQUAKES plus massive temprerature shifts plus ice evaporating making LITERAL TIME BOMB of super-heated pressured steam.
NOT where you want to build, really.

>>54922618
Ah, I see looks good.
>>54922625
Well, in the setting, mass is needed to hold magic, so huge glaciers could be shaped into formations where people live in, but fuck me, stone is better.
>>54922670
Well, the so called mountain is a volcano of sorts, so there is the contrast of lava and ice, the volcano is is warped with magic so it doesn't explode but perpetually releases lava in low amounts. I guess they can make bricks with lava after it cools down, at least they cool stained glasses with volcanons and shit.
>>54923088
Well, in the empire of superhuman, freezeland mc lavaland is the only of the few places that is trying to fix its social issues, anyway I gotta go, wish I could talk more with you guys, you seem to all not be awake during most of active time, but at least sharing ideas is neat.

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>>54922922
Chariot - Woodlouse (can roll into a ball). Alternatively, some sort of flea circus.
Fool - Frog with brain removed (from the famous boiling water experiment). Alternatively, sponge (no brain, but indestructible).
Moon - Moth
Sun - Butterfly, or...algae
Emperor - Termite (structure, fathering)
Empress - the toad which keeps its young inside its own skin (mothering)
Justice - Cave Salamander (blind)
High Priestess - Sea Bear (can lie dormant indefinitely)
Magician - Peacock
Lovers - Mantis
Hermit - Hermit Crab (c'mon). Alternatively blue whale.
Strength - Mantis Shrimp
Devil - Male Ant (lives to breed, dies after breeding, also gets neat wings)
Tower - Coral which eats itself?
Temperance - Box Jellyfish
Star - Starfish
World - Worm
Hanged Man - Salmon (their swimming upriver to give birth kills them), or a spider trapped in its own web
Death - Fly, or maggot
Judgement - Kelletia kelleti (by floating on the water surface and extending their huge proboscis they look sort of like an angel bearing a trumpet. Also, they eat the dead.)

Fucl me ,im not phoneposting even if it mean bailong

>>54923466
I didn't expect this much, thanks Anon. I did have some ideas about the fool and the stars. The fool has not been created yet, and the Stars is based of an UmiBozu who literally eats galaxies worth of stars at a time.

Love the Kelletia Kelleti and Toad Empreress though, I'll think about a few of the others as well.

How do I scale maps properly?

>>54911472
The Necromancer by RUSH is the inspiration for 2 of my characters. Otherwise its just what I immagine when I listen to prog rock et.al.

>>54923018
Make it out of stiff leather or something thats not metal?

>>54905096
There are no actual ghosts, but jellyfish are believed to be the spirits of the dead and are held sacred.

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The perfect recipe for glaciers

>white brush tool
>60% opacity eraser
>weapons grade autism
>????
>proft

I'm a big fan of making really simple, cliche settings in a fun way. But I also like gonzo weirdness.

Is there any way to combine these two elements?

>>54921964
Is there any people more metal than mongols?

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Rate my scratchbuilt map for a future campaign

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Tell me about your world's ancient lore.

>>54930075

Every single gemstone once adorned the first women, who gave birth to the world. This is why they are magic, and highly sought after by all mortal races.

What do you guys think of a GM adding hidden elements to a character? For example making them a descendent of somebody important or the like?

>Do ghosts exist in your world?

Yes! Nobody is quite sure what they are but they are most certainly some manner of impression or force left behind by the dead.

>How do ghosts come about?

If you disturb or desecrate the dead there is a chance (not a high chance but still a chance) that something will start to appear around where the individual died.

Necromancy in particular increases this chance by several fold. The reason necromancers are generally considered evil and disliked is because whenever you turn a body into a zombie you run the real risk that a pissed off spirit is going to come down and start haunting asses until that body is burned and/or put into the ground.

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?

All ghosts are incorporeal and cannot be harmed by even magic weapons. The good thing is: only the ghost of someone really fucking badass can potentially harm someone. The bad thing is: even the weakest spirit is still a creepy fucker who just disturbs people he hangs around with.

>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?

The most infamous story was of what would be known as Revenant Gael. Gael was a knight of the Western Kingdom of Erigo. When he was slain in battle, a necromancer got it in his bright head to ressurect his corpse as an immortal servant. As established: this is a bad idea cause it makes ghosts. The necromancer thought all he had to do was avoid the battlefield where Gael died and THIS WORKED... for a bit. Until Gael's ghost became strong and sentient enough to move away from the battlefield, find the Necromancer, take his body back and murder him in his sleep. Now Gael's a horrific undead monster roaming the land, searching for someone to test his blade against.

>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?

Nope. Yes aaand yes? To put a ghost to rest you need to find out what's disturbed his body and put an end to it.

>>54930075
Some elves believe the new moon to be an especially dangerous or unlucky time because their goddess of war has taken her iron bow (represented by the crescent moon) to stir up some conflict somewhere in the world.

>>54928030
RotatedCanada/10
But aside from that it looks good enough, aside from a few rivers:
Where do the great Lakes drain to?
And how does the river system near Lyries flow? Towards the Appalachians or away from them?
Whats the scale?

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I have a 'origin of language' or 'tower of babel' type story from my setting. Please rate.

>In the ancient days, all men hailed from different tribes. Each valley and island was home to ten tongues, and the people in the world had no way to talk to anyone with whom they were not close kin.
>All men in the world grew heartless and angry, and wished to take the land of the other men. They armed themselves with spear, as they did not have swords. They flung rocks since they had no arrows. They called primal elements of fire and wood, since they had no spells.
>The ancient men all marched from their tribes to meet at the greatest mountain in the world, with which to do battle to kill all other men who did not share their tongue.
>The mother who gave birth to the world saw this happening and knew that mankind would never recover from this war to end all wars, and in desperation she flung a star across the sky.
>In that moment, every single man in the world looked up and said "Look! A shooting star!" And once that was said, ever man in the world knew what ever other man would say when they saw a star.
>Instead of war, the men started to learn form each other, and eventually they created a language they would all know, and from that day on everyone spoke the same language.

>>54933257

Kinda a reverse babel, feels a bit forced that people would belike "i don't wanna kill anymore" especially since they wanted land and not knowledge;

>>54933278

Maybe instead all the men in the world didn't understand that everyone else was actually speaking? Like maybe they thought all other people were animals until they learned they all shared a 'word' for something?

>>54933290

What do you mean? This feels even more contrived,people killed each other even when they undestood each other, knowing you're not an animal won't really change much.

>>54933346

Maybe when you realize this is a folklore sort of thing and isn't supposed to be about muh edgy warfare realism we could discuss it.

>>54933373
Then why don't just make into whatever faggy story you want?

>>54933470
Because he wants it to be a good story you retard.

>>54928030
>takes Phrygia
>renames it to Phyrgia
that will never sound anything but comically ridiculous to anyone who knows Phrygia actually existed. so if you have uncultured morons at your table, you're fine. if you have people interested in classical civilizations and mythology, they're immediately going to comment on how stupid "Phyrgia" sounds.

>>54935019
lol who tf doesn't know what phrygia is

it's clearly deliberate

>>54935064
or a straight-up typo

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>>54935064
>it's clearly deliberate
obviously the guy deliberately named it after Phrygia, that's why I said this:
>takes Phrygia
>renames it to Phyrgia
what I'm saying is, it will sound ridiculous to any player at his table who knows of Phrygia. if you're going to do shit like that, then you might as well continue the tradition and have the following localities:
>Nuu Jork
>Bausten
>Chigaco
>Sand Frencescu
>Lys Angelis
there you go guys, 10/10 campaign setting please enjoy my wonderful localities.

basically, if you're going to worldbuild, don't take already existing names/places and then simply swap two of the letters and call it a day (Phrygia -> Phyrgia). it's unimaginative and really fucking lazy.

>>54935112
>then you might as well continue the tradition
he did

look at the other names
>Ferarra
>Hansea

>it's unimaginative and really fucking lazy
this is reddit-tier "you must be TOTALLY UNIQUE and subvert every single trope (tm)" thinking. mash-up settings which twist and use real or mythical locations can be great.

>>54935129
>use real or mythical locations can be great
if you're going to use real or mythical locations, then use real or mythical locations. there's nothing wrong with that. but don't try to pretend it isn't what it is by swapping two of the letters and then pretending you've actually given a second's worth of thought to naming places.

if you're going to have your players adventure in a mythical Phrygia, then actually name it Phrygia for fuck's sake and have that be a part of your world. I once participated in a classical Greece campaign and had great fun with it, but thank God the DM actually called it Athens instead of Athnes, and Thebes instead of Thebse, and Sparta instead of Sprata. because if he had done that, it would have been absolutely retarded and people at the table would have rightfully wondered what the fucking point would be of even doing that.

>reddit-tier
buzzwords

>subvert every single trope (tm)
the only person who mentioned anything to do with tropes or their subversion was you. this isn't about tropes.

>>54935183
Changing the names a bit is a good way to let people know you're not using the literal same places, but a manipulated version of it. Do you know what a mash-up is?
>buzzwords
The idea is very popular on Reddit. You people think anything not called Exresitorsed or Mayakayanosia is lazy stealing.

>>54935376
>You people
not from Reddit
>The idea is very popular on Reddit.
but you seem to be very familiar with the place, so I'll take your word for it.

>>54935506
I am.

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>>54931110
It is rather dangerous. Some people might like it, some might not. You could ask if doing such things are ok.

>>54926899
Normal on the surface, gonzo beneath.

How do I write self-contradicting lore without looking like an idiot who can't get his own lore straight?

I.e. what's the trick to make lore look like TES or oWoD and not like WoW?

>>54935129
>you must be TOTALLY UNIQUE and subvert every single trope (tm)
b-but that's what I'm doing in my setting... is it bad?

>>54935993
What's bad is doing it for the sake of doing it, and what's worse is looking down on everyone else for not doing it.

>>54936002
Of course, NOT doing it because people tell you to not do it is equally bad.

>>54931110
Honestly speaking, twists are usually much better when they're not twists. Think about it: knowing a slum rat is the descendent of a king is much more interesting than having that fact revealed to you when you're exiting the slums for good.

But, on the other hand, such hidden information can improve a character in ways other techniques couldn't. But I suggest in such cases you make it so that players (and characters) could, looking back on it, see how that was always the case.
>>54935940
Be an idiot who doesn't care about getting his own lore straight like me. Settings like that (ex. 40k) usually just do whatever's cool and say damn to the verisimilidudes.

>>54935940
Just be overly vague about everything.

What kind of approaches were there to medieval naval warfare? I wanted to have two navies with different approaches, one country sailing large, heavily armed ships with primarily crossbowmen and ballistas. Their rivals taking the small, faster boat for closing distance and boarding with marines well suited for close combat on a ship.

>>54935940
Have a character or two argue about it in universe.

Establish that sometimes the Book of the Tristam the Fifth was written from the context of some idiot highborn who had no idea what the Battle of Wrathbed was actually like.

Have confidence that you know what you're doing.

>>54936114
from what I know, everyone pretty much copied everyone else so navies were pretty similar.
Everyone used ramming triremes, then everyone used galleons, then everyone used men-of-war, then everyone used monitors and other primitive armoured ships (the only time when ship design differed) and then everyone got dreadnoughts

Nowadays its a bit different, but that's different story altogether.

>>54936114
Basically what you mentioned plus ships ramming each other. The designs of medieval ships weren't so different from the antiquity, they still had all kinds of galleys, and before that the greeks used longboats that were not so different from the famous viking longboats.

>>54936134
hmm, rewriting all lore in shape of excerpts from in-universe books is actually a good idea.
i should do that

will make some things work better too. when I shrug as the author that "there might be something ominous beneath the town" that's a dead giveaway that there is something batshit scary there. when a in-universe guy thinks that, it ain't that certain

>>54936162
I mean, different authors in various books is ultimately how TES does it most of the time with it's lore. The only difference is that they're losing track of their lore all the dang time.

>>54936114
On sea people fought similarly to on land (ex. full plate) so don't go too...overboard.

>>54936114
I'd go to /hwg/ and check out their mega of osprey naval titles. In particular the one on Chinese naval warfare, which also features a short bit on SEA navies doing hit-and-run raids like your second guys. Osprey's not the most reliable but good for broad strokes inspiration

European and Middle Eastern navies tended to focus on boarding actions, although archers did play an important role. Artillery is mostly absent until cannon start being mounted on ships.

Atlantic and North Sea navies tended to focus on sail while in the nice calm waters of the Med galleys ruled though there are exceptions to both. These galleys were taller and featured developed fore and aftcastles tcompared to low and sleek ancient galleys, reflecting the importance of boarding and archery over ramming.

China by contrast was mostly about missle weapons, masses of archers, crossbowmen and far more naval artillery. Boarding did happen by was very much secondary to barraging the shit out of the opposing fleet. They even mounted long grabbing arms designed not to draw the enemy closer but to hold them away. China also had some very funky ship designs so that could be worth checking out.

Also worth noting is that ramming was not really a feature of medieval naval combat compared to the ancient world, probably due to better ship building making it far less effective and more trouble than it's worth.

1) can marshlands act as water vessel without turning into a proper river at any point?

2) is one huge lake, probably with island(s) on it, actually likely? or several smaller lakes is a more natural occurrence?

>>54936914
I can't answer that first one, but with the second, there is only one part of the world with stuff known as the 'Great Lakes'.

Generally smaller lakes are more common.

>>54936914
1. What do you mean by "act as a water vessel"? Marshlands do often sit in depressions so there is no way for the water to flow out as a river.

2. It really depends on what you mean by huge. All a lake needs to exist is more water coming in than it loses and somewhere to put it.

If there are no special crcumstances then a collection of smaller lakes is more likely than chance producing a single large lake, but it could still happen. A crater from a volcanoe or meteor could quite easily produce a large lake. Rift valleys will likely produce both, a long line of lakes snaking across hundreds or thousands of miles and including some of the largest and deepest on the planet; on Earth that would Lake Victoria and Lake Baikal respectively.

>>54937202
1. I meant marshlands stretching from mountains to a big lake, with water from springs going through soil, without forming an actual river.

2. Hm, and so if there was no seismic or meteoric activity in the area, I should go with smaller lakes? Fine.

>>54937237
1. Maybe, not too sure about that. At the very least you could get a river that was marshy for most of it's length and was interpersed with frequent areas of true marsh.

2. A large lake is still fine. The nice thing with building a planet is that even the rare stuff will turn up somewhere just as someone will get the winning lotto ticket. And a large lake is not that uncommon in the grand scheme of things.

The crater lake or rift valley thing was just a demonstration of two scenarios where large lakes were very likely to form. The North American Great Lakes were mostly glacier formed so that could be an option if it's in mountainous or temperate+ climes that were iced over in a past Ice Age.

These lists of the largest lakes might prove interesting with examples of how various different huge lakes formed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_area
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_volume

>>54936042
The players all know that they're going to be connected in some way to major powers in the world and have a vision of them. I wanted one player, who fits with the major power they got, to be descended from them and thus have a reason to get certain abilities or to start using some abilities they have without certain limitations (e.g. they get captured and their magic belt is taken but they still transform into a wolf at a key moment) so I kind of implied that the major power was keeping an eye on them and had an almost fatherly disappointment in them using a dangerous magic item.

Another player has a sword that's been in their family for generations but wanted the sword to be really well made. I decided to make that work through them being descended from Hanzo Hattori and the sword being a gift from the tengu king (in Japanese mythology tengu taught the people of Japan how to use and make swords) with debts being owed both ways.

Two other players are amnesiacs so I planned on making one have a connection to some enemies and have some forgotten power that he can regain over time (one of his three sisters tried to kill him but only left him for dead with a head wound while the other two are suspicious but either don't care or won't do anything until they can seize control themselves). The other amnesiac wanted to be something that doesn't really work and pretty much told me to do what I wanted with their past, so I plan on making them something very similar (a spirit instead of a ghost since an amnesiac ghost would disappear in an instant if they weren't insane).

>>54932919
I'm fairly certain the great lakes operate like the great lakes irl, with all sorts of things draining into them. I'm fairly trash at rivers though
River near Lyries goes west south
Scale is budget canada, basically. slightly smaller, but travelling between the major cities on the shimmersea takes a fair amount of time

>>54935019
>>54935129
I'm glad SOMEONE noticed my budget place names. My players sure as hell won't though.

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>>54938466
A few changes i'd make:
The rivers look better this way and feel a bit more realistic, imo. The lakes now drain somewhere and the Notissippi doesn't flow towards the mountains for no reason.
Hansea further south, so it can be an important trade hub between the bay and the lakes.
And finally crop the (initial) map, theres little of note outside the green box, so you might as well reduce it down to it.

>>54938868
Thanks for the river tips, very helpful. I like the idea of moving Hansea too, although I'm trying to keep Ferarra more isolated for lore reasons (that city's ruler hates the ruler of The Trieste and how her cult is bigger)

I'm keeping the map big because this is really a map for multiple campaigns, and the extra space will be used in those.

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This is going to sound like HAES but with art but it feels good resigning myself to shitty doodles when drawing things for my setting. I had this weird mental block where I refused to draw anything unless I was already good at art; but I would never get good at art because I didn't enjoy it once decent technique got involved.

>>54939169

Damn, i have the same problem, but i am trying to get good at drawing.

>>54938982
Fair enough with the crop, i mostly meant it if you are going to use it to show your players.

And for the isolation of Ferarra:
To be frank, that explanation makes next to no sense. The two cities are so far apart that if there isn't an extremely metaphysical aspect to it they would barely take notice of each other.
It's like a rivalry between Denmark and Hungary

Trying to come up with a 'cool' war scenario as the background for my AI gone rogue antics. I want to convey the idea of a world flipped turned upside down, so how does the USA and the UK going to war sound? I know the usa is very powerful but Britain is'nt that weak, i could have them team up with russia or china, or have them strike preemptively and such.

>>54939389
WWIII starts as a mass of civil wars in Europe between immigrant Muslims and existing populations. USA gets involved because it's the USA.

>>54922268
To put it simply: Feudal societies are held together by oaths based entirely on practicality rather than any form of national identity.

>>54939382
Metaphysical reasons are the reason, because Ferarra has the moon goddess and the other has the sun goddess. The moon lady basically ran away 850 years ago and made her own city after she got too jealous about her sister's popularity and shit.

>>54936636
One thing perturbs me though, does the very nature of sailing have an adverse affect on weapons especially anything like a bow or crossbow? Wouldn't the constant humid and wet environment be very problematic?

>>54939712
That could work.
>WW3 in lets say sweden
>US goes in because urah usa
>Accidentally blow up British merchant ships, oil rig in the north sea, help the side the brits arent
>Anti-american sentiment starts building
>Some final msihap leads to raw anger
>British paratroopers drop over Washington and new york in the dead of night as a preemptive strike
The situation would escalate from there i imagine, possibly pulling in commonwealth nations and russia.

>>54920036
They also didn't live underground, and elf was seemingly used as an umbrella term for any magical creature.

>>54942358
>ww3
Fuck, meant civil war.

I need ideas for a river fae vs. forest fae conflict. Anything you can throw at me, whether it be NPCs, causes of the conflict, resolutions to the conflict, army names, generals, whatever, I'll take.

>>54942541
The forest fae want to irrigate water to drink and replenish areas hit by forest fire, but this is killing salmon or fish the river fae need to live. the river fae no like this.

General hydrolinius.

Anybody willing to help me come up with aspects for locations? I've been having some issues.

>Do ghosts exist in your world?

Yes.

>How do ghosts come about?

Echoes burned into a location when a death involving extreme emotions takes place. Standard "Stone Tape" rules.

The soul is trapped reliving its death over and over. Trying to make the idea of BECOMING a ghost scarier than encountering one.

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?

The "recording" loses form over time and the mind trapped within degrades. The older the ghost, the less distinct the image, to the point where after thousands of years there's just a vague, malevolent shape acting on instinct and emotion.

>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?

Don't have any written yet.

>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?

You leave well enough alone. They're trapped in the "recording", and if you start interfering with the location they're burned into or attempting to disrupt the re-enactment you might just succeed, and then you've got a spirit that is almost certainly insane by this point free for the first time in centuries.

>If you don't have ghosts, do you like ghost stories yourself? Which ones?

No one does the ghost story better than MR James. 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' makes a ghost under a bedsheet, the most cliche thing possible, fucking terrifying.

>>54938868
>it's another north american "inspired" map

>>54943563
>It's an Anon is cryptically smug about something only he understands episode

>>54942358
It could even be simultaneous civil unrest and rioting and whatnot. Any country with a large population of immigrants or recent descendants of immigrants could get in on the action:
>Civil War stars in Sweden
>Nearby countries demand hostilities cease
>Their immigrant populations protest/riot to stop the interference
>This happens again and again, spreading from one country to the next to one degree or another
>US panics and sends in troops to stop things
>Either what you said about the British, or the British are one of the ones suffering the most
>US quickly overstretches, hampered by unrest back home
>Shit escalates

And maybe North Korea decides to take advantage of the situation.

How complicated do you like your geopolitics /tg/?

>>54944098
Proxy wars, client states, kingmakers, top 10 anime betrayals

>>54942688
Sure anon, but you're going to need to give us somewhere to start. What type of setting is it? what Era tech is available? how large is the world? are there story elements that need to be accounted for?

>>54944098
>>54944293 with added colonial fuckery.

>>54944567
Dresden Files and shortly after the last book so early March 2014. The game is in Boston and thus far I have a few locations I'm having trouble with coming up with aspects for.

The FBI Field Office in Chelsea
A maze-like network of tunnels under the city where both supernatural things and people live
A supernatural city under the city that connects to the maze
Fort Warren
Boston Neck
Copp's Hill cemetary
An abandoned warehouse which is the home of a cult that's trying to bring back an extinct type of vampire.

>>54907420
Nice Canada. It's an underutilized area though, so go for it.

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Say human population is reduced to 10-15% of current total, how long would our cities stand for before crumbling to disrepair and nature?

I think they could last maybe 400 years before being unrecognizable due to nature taking over. Would our world be similar to when we were nomads by the year 3000?

>>54905096
New here, Might as well answer the Question

>Do ghosts exist in your world
Yes, Very much so.

>How do ghosts come about?
I have two ways they come about.
A: They're wandering souls from other worlds.
B: Just Dead people.


>Folklore?
Haven't thought of any folklore.

>Can you fight ghosts?
Yes, But only with special blessings that last for like a week, Don't mess with them without it

>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?
Kinda.

>There's one behind you right now
*Eldritch screaming*

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I've posted this in here before, is there any salvaging this mess of a map or should I just start fresh? I have absolutely no sense of scale and the fluff I have on these places is bare minimum.

I hate being sick. It makes me feel fuck all like writing.

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Early map in progress. Needs more mountains, but I can't seem to figure out the best placements after staring at this goddamn thing for a couple hours. Anyone wanna point out some spots begging for mountains?

>>54946388
Naga that's like, 1800's levels. But with 2020 tech.

That's honestly more of a speedbump than anything that would have a really dramatic effect. Sure we'd have a few abandoned cities but I seriously doubt they'd make it to 'unrecognizable' levels before they'd get recolonized.

Try wiping humanity down to a percentage of a percentage if you want something impressive to happen.

>>54949204
>>54947511
What did you use to make these maps ?

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>>54950080
Well, I'm >>54949204, and I used photoshop, like in pic related, which is another attempt at the same map. The other guy is using a program called Inkarnate that works via a browser.

>>54950252
Thanks friend, I'll try my hand to it
Any tips on how to make maps on photoshop ? I have the program but I'm a complete illiterate

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>>54950415
Make a layer of black and white clouds using Render>Clouds. Duplicate and set the copy to Hard Mix. Brush this layer until landmasses form, I prefer white = land myself.

Make a new layer, then Select>Color white. I like to Select>Smooth about 4 pixels. Then Edit>Fill white. Deselect and make a New Layer under this one. Select All, then Edit>Fill black.

Now you can go into the layer styles and change colors. Use different brushes and colors to make mountains, rivers, regions, etc. Find what works for you.

>>54950499
You're a sir, man
Thanks a lot, I'll post results if I come up with anything good

>>54950589
Sweet. Good map-making!

>>54950499
im glad to see that your map came along good japanfag. its looking really nice

>>54950499
Really interested in the setting that comes along with this map, if you're in a posting disposition

>>54905096
>Do ghosts exist in your world?

Ghosts are more like psychic imprints. You can see their last moments if you're attuned to that sort of thing, and read their final thoughts.

>How do ghosts come about?

Psychic imprints mostly. People can leave ghosts as imprint messages but they mostly don't have consciousness. Powerful enough psions can manifest them to assist in battle or to perform simple tasks though. There is one character that exists in this form permanently having lost his body, though that was achieved through convoluted means.

>Is there any specific folklore about ghosts you use? Special rules or requirements?

Everything leaves some kind of ghost, but it can only be accessed by someone with the power to cause it to manifest. Or be conjured by a psychic. There are some cases where a massive psionic event caused near-corporeal ghosts to come into existence, however.

>What's a famous or noteworthy ghost or ghost story in your setting?

The aforementioned character that lost their body. Essentially they were killed by a powerful cross-dimensional psionic entity, latched onto enough of its residual power to retain their psyche, and formed themselves up as a ghost. They became a psychic vampire to maintain themselves, however, and slowly began to lose their humanity to their cravings. Eventually the party put them down when things had gone too far.

>Can you fight ghosts? Put them to rest? Avoid their curses?

Most ghosts are benign images, those that aren't are either simple constructs. All can only be interacted with psychically. The strength of the entity depends on the strength of the psionic energy used to manifest them, this translates to complexity in terms of intelligence in addition to what force they can bring against you as an attacker.

>Are ghosts 2spoopy4u?

yes

>There's one behind you right now

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>54905120
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)

My setting has everything ranging from personal combat frames, to building sized mechs, to planet cracking unicrons.

>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?

Common enough. The basic stuff is essentially a barebones exosuit, the top level stuff is firing gatling lasers. As a civvie you could probably kit yourself out in something similar to the Crysis exosuit if you were rich enough. The average soldier would be trained in the use of a massive variety of exosuits.

>What is it's Power Source? Does it run off batteries/capacitors or does it have an onboard Generator? If it's a generator, what kind? Fusion, Fission? Perhaps even Petrol or Diesel if you're going for a Dieselpunk style?

Massively varied. The strongest suit the party have engaged with so far was powered by a trio of condensed supernovas. We are getting into the later stage of the campaign however, which by this point has spanned a few thousand years and at least two galactic invasions. Basic suits at this stage in the campaign are powered by solar energy or more conventional batteries. At this point nearly every human character is equipped with a skintight bodyglove which makes them capable of lifting a ton, jumping a skyscraper or punching through a foot of steel however.

>How is it's use justified? Rule of Cool? Perhaps aircraft are for whatever reason less common, and Power Armor is used for Force Multiplication in their place, ala fallout? Do the users just have to be that strong/carry that big a gun in order to stay competitive? What can it do that a tank or a plane couldn't?

The start of the campaign had the advent of technology that allowed a human nervous system to expand into something. Compatibility was higher for humanoid forms and people found them easier to get accustomed to and use.

>>54950751
he was in a previous thread. its for an Oriential Adventures campaign he's running with his friends. iirc Midoriko is the capital province where the emperor presides and there are several warring clans with their own separate daimyo vying for power.

What kind of crops could be grown in a very swampy, but fertile area with moderate climate, that is flooded with water every year, without the help of major infrastructure like pumping or complex canal systems?

It doesn't have to be efficient enough to sustain cities or a larger population, just enough for sparsely populated swamplands with a few villages and hamlets

>>54950902
Rice?

>>54950929
Well, didn't think about that
Rice should work

thank you, anon

>>54950902

They catch swarms of bugs or harvest bug eggs from the standing water.

Make up a new kind of food, like dangling cattail-looking things that are actually a new kind of fruit.

The trees there grow little wooden polyps on their roots exposed to the water, which can be shaven off and mashed into soup.

>>54950726
>>54950751
Thanks! Away from computer at the moment. The setting is loosely based on Sengoku Era Japan, but with the assumption that 1) all the spiritual magic shit in Jap folklore is real, 2) the Imperial family split in a succession crisis that didn't heal like in RL because 3) the Not-Mongols invaded and almost won, leading to a much more fractious and quarrelsome Not-Japan than in RL.

My players recently helped seal a mad ghost samurai in Midoriko, just outside the Henshin clan's capitol. Midoriko, despite being the islands' breadbasket is essentially one big cursed graveyard due to the "Mongols". The old capital is actually Ishimori, and is split between three factions who claim to be holding it in the Emperor's name. These guys are fun to roleplay since none of the three are "proper" samurai clans.

Anyway, ask any question you might have. Gives me a pretext to work more on my expositional writing.

>>54941060
Okay, i guess that works. Borders would help, by the way.
Do we have the Sun empire around the bay and the Moon Empire at the lakes, or do we have half a dozen smaller kingdoms?

>>54951013
>all the spiritual magic shit in Jap folklore is real
so are you more-so going with Shinto belief systems (onmyoji and kannushi) or with zen-buddhists beliefs with warrior monks? what about youkai in that case? i am liking the more grounded stuff in the lore though, its always bothered me in not!japan where there are expected to be all these exotic races like there are in western fantasy

>>54951013
What are the lasting impacts of the not-Mongol invasion?

>>54951013
Care to give a quick rundown of your clans, if that's not too bothersome ?

So I have a low fantasy humans-only setting that I want to run but have no idea what to set it in. Does anyone know of a system that would support this?

What about an LN-tier mahou shoujo battle high school setting?

>>54951186
Have you heard about our lord and savior Fate Accelerated?
But joking aside, especially for the second setting it would actually work pretty well if the group is down to it.
Balancing isn't an issue, in many systems it would be difficult to balance the 500 year old loli vampire against the magical girl and the artifact side-kick, but with fate it'd work.

>>54951186
>So I have a low fantasy humans-only setting...

Stopped reading there. I know you think you're very creative and original, subverting all those tropes, but seriously just stop posting this garbage on here. Thanks.

>>54951293
>I know you think you're very creative and original
I don't. I just hate making fantasy races and usually when I worldbuild magic tends to drag everything down so I figured I would drop both of them and see where it took me.

>>54951280
>generic systems
Honestly thats the only way I can see it working as well. I wouldn't be doing anything like you were describing mainly because the characters would more or less just be regular Japanese schoolgirls put into extraordinary circumstances. my main inspirations are Nanoha. I would also lead it up to their graduation and have them assigned to missions in an urban fantasy city Naruto-style. Mix some episodic mysteries and monster-of-the-week type shit in there as well. Only thing I can think of that would make it fit would be FATE but Nanoha anon has said that he's using LoW and that works fine for him but that is a poorly edited mess of a system so I'm hesitant to try it.

>>54951340
I mean, many systems can be made to work 'well enough' but i'd say that if you don't have one that you already know well and like its better to go generic here.

>>54951186
>low fantasy humans-only setting
Check out Mythras(runequest) that's the system I am using for the same kind of setting

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>>54951422
very true. my only problem now is actually finding people to play in my game

>>54951434
thank you very much i will look into it! how complicated/crunchy is it of a system? also, in my setting there are extremely rare mystical artifacts blessed by the church, is that sorta thing possible in runequest?

>>54951454
It's a pretty basic d% based system, combat is a really complicated your first few times doing it.
And there is nothing in the book about magic artifacts, for my ancient artifacts I just wing it on what bonuses they infer, but I don't really worry about balance in my game. You can always check out the Mythras forums for ideas though.

>>54951186
Song of Swords or Burning Wheel depending what way you're taking it.

Just looking through the pastebin, noticed the link to the zompist for conlanging. How many people here actually do conlanging for their setting, and to what degree?
Post work?

>>54953058
If i where to ever make a 'serious' setting i think i would create conlangs for it, but for the level of world building (and kinds of worlds i build) i don't bother. The notGreeks get nonGreece names, etc, pp.

>>54953058
I have a naming system; I'd love to do more, but I don't have the time. Whenever I sit down to do it I think "I could be doing something much more important to the setting".

>>54953196
Oh, and in any case, recently I've started thinking English/real-world derived names are better than gobbledegook, even well-created gobbledegook.

What would you guys say is considered invitation, in the sense of both vampires needing an invitation and it simply being rude to not have one, to cross the threshold of a church? I was thinking that for anything which isn't at least part mortal, thus part of the flock, it would mean a direct invitation from like an angel or somebody on the level of the pope.

>>54953454
>an angel or somebody on the level of the pope.
That seems pretty steep, i have to say.
I think the local priest, or the congregation as a whole, would be able to let somebody in

>>54953454
Normally it means saying "come on in" or something. The idea is that you can keep vamps out by literally just saying "no fuck off", BUT vamps in turn pull really autistic tricks along the lines of "aha! you said that I could come in over your dead body, so I will!".

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Are maps allowed here? Would love some feedback, I've only ever done battlemaps and not even many of those so I'm not sure how to make things look right. The text is my biggest concern, idk if hand writing it would really help but it looks kind of artificial and cluttered to me at least.

>>54954220

If you scrolled a bit, you would find your answer.

But about the text, i'd say its fine.

>>54954255
Thanks, and yeah I see now.

>>54954220
>Honking Forest

>>54954380
Is Lengkung better? Indonesian has some weird words and I wanted to name it something related to arch-trees (Pohon lengkung).

>>54951934
what do you mean by that?

>>54954437
>uber gritty historical
SoS
>just doing something different (without magic n shit)
Burning Wheel

>>54954460
eh it doesnt seem like either of those match what im looking for.

>>54954536
what the dicks are you doing

>>54954548
a low fantasy war campaign with slight magic and some politics

Has anyone here tried making a semi-self aware setting? I sort of want to try making a world in which the NPCs are aware of the game-y aspects of the system. They know about hit points, classes, and stats. They know about experience points and levels. However, since this is their natural state, they don't realize they're in a fictional world or anything; the rules of the game are simply the physics to which they are accustomed.

Has anyone ever tried something that meta?
If so, how did it go?

>>54955937
That fits either of the systems.

>>54956028
""""generic systems that fit anything"""" are fucking cancer though

>>54956254
I don't think you know what you're talking about.

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>>54951119
>onmyoji
I totally missed this during my Shinto research. There's still some yin-yang stuff, but the 5 elements is instead Aristotelian. Oops!

>kannushi
There are hereditary shrine-keepers all over, and most are related in some way to the Emperor and His Government. One of my current PCs is a Miko that was guided by the kami of her shrine to travel the land aiding spirits wherever she could.

>warrior monks
There's several shrines, monasteries, and even an Ikko-Ikki analogue with varying levels of warrior-monk-ness. The Imperial Faith is called Ako (Shinto), while the foreign-but-integrated warrior-faith is Baran-Sho (Buddhism).

>youkai
I've somewhat condensed youkai under the umbrella term Oni. Oni typically are more like early Japanese myth: Invisible malevolent spirits. These fuckers have tended so far in my campaigns to be corrupted Kami, but there are regular ones too.

>exotic races
I almost never use anything other than Human, but my players are more high-fantasy orientated, so I don't begrudge them playing non-humans. These are stupidly rare, so typically only PCs will end up playing them. This setting allows them to play Kitsune and Half-Oni as demi-humans. There are the 4 traditional genasi races (although these are played as humans with elemental ancestry and typically only found in a handfull of ninja clans), as well as Asuras/Devas for those wanting to play something with a celestial background or the yin-yang vibe. And there are Nexumi (ratfolk) and Kenku for people wanting something ugly-cute and small/weird.

Again, PCs are snowflakes anyway, might as well let my players have fun while I run the 16th century Japan simulator.

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>>54951151
The Not-Mongols mostly fucked up Aizushima and Midoriko before being beaten back, so their damage is largely contained there, but even 50 years later they are in a bad way.

Aizushima is a rocky, colder island somewhat based on a fusion of Hokkaido/Ezo and Korea. Its infrastructure was utterly devastated in the initial invasion, but the Yun (not-mongols) left before they could get around to propping it back up again. It is currently a wasteland where little grows, and where the Samurai are little better than Ninja in terms of equipment and prestige.

Midoriko is a huge farming country dominated by vast rolling hills and deep forests around its periphery. It was devastated by Yunnic Spellcasters and Priest bringing their foreign gods, ghosts, and monsters over from the Continent. This has resulted in a lot of Spiritual Pollution and rampant Demons/Oni/Youkai all over the region. There are cursed lands here, where old battlefields disgorge their dead to fight the battles from 50 years ago all over again. Part of this pollution released a terrible plague that further destroyed the population of the islands and of the continent once the Yun retreated back there.

More than physical or spiritual damages, the Invasion caused political and social damage that hasn't healed. All of the great clans rode into battle against the invaders, and nearly all of them were shattered or wiped clean from the earth by the end. Anyone with a solid claim to be the new Shogun during their Imperial Crisis was dead, and their clans scattered to the winds. Simply put, there was no one to knit the nation back together again, and so things have since settled into their current stalemate.

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>>54951156
Sure thing.

Samurai Clans
>Kawagami
Powerful merchants who gained Samurai status after supporting an older Shogunate during a civil war they would otherwise have lost. The Kawagami hold Ishimori and the Imperial Capitol in the Emperor's name alongside their allies, the Tojin and Suochi clans. The clan head is secretly married to a powerful Kitsune, partly explaining their good fortunes.

>Tojin
Warrior Baran-Sho Monks who believe in the abolishment of social classes (outside of the Emperor, of course). These monks establish their monastery castles all over the land, but concentrate their power in Ishimori. Their spiritual magic and determined fighters make them indestructible when hold up in their mountain forts.

>Suochi
Once a Ninja clan, the Suochi were rewarded with Samurai titles after saving the lives of several Imperial Family members during the Invasion by the Yun. They are highly unorthodox light cavalry skirmishers, but loyal and brave warriors. They serve as the backbone of law and order in Ishimori Province.

>Oga
When the Nakamoto Bakufu was destroyed by fire and treachery, one of their retainers survived the blaze, though badly scarred. Oga Morinabu was said to have lain under the burning castle for seven days before pulling himself free. The badly burned Samurai was suspected of being a corpse puppeted by Demons, but his determination was unmatched, and he soon rebuilt his clan. Though scorned for his use of Ashigaru forces, foreign cannons and matchlocks, as well as sorcery (explaining his extended lifespan) and shinobi-assassins, Oga has been recognized as Shogun by one of the claimants to the Imperial Throne. He is a terrifying foe, though his efforts to reunify Yamato are stymied by constant rebellion in the Tetsuzan Province where his base of power lies.

1/2?

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>>54958467
>Josun
Once the mighty horselords of Midoriko, the Josun suffered terrible losses during the Invasion, and then again fighting the Henshin Clan for dominance. The Josun are treacherous in the eyes of many, not least of which is due to them adapting Yunnic technology and tactics. They are a common threat to travelers in Midoriko due to the amount of bandits who claim them as their lords and benefactors.

>Midafune
A clan of Samurai who always found their talents in seamanship and sailing. The Midafune bloodlines are heavily infused with elemental power (Sylph race), which they use to navigate the sea with great mastery. They have recently been forced from their ancestral home in Kasagawa Province by the power hungry Akasuna clan.

>Henshin
The Henshin are a clan of mountain folk, whose skill with the naginata, nodaichi, and yari make them the terror of the Josun cavalry. Henshin Uzo founded the current clan by defeating the largest of the Yunnic armies during the invasion, and his son Henshin Kaneda "The Demon" has more than lived up to that legacy. Lord Kaneda has, by popular acclaim, donned the title of Shogun and claimed all of Midoriko as his domain. None of the Emperors have denounced him as of yet. Whether through fear or hope is unknown.

>Shimawara
The Shimiwara Bakufu is based in Enishima, and considered by the Southern Emperor's Mother (The Regent until he comes of age) to be the only legitimate Shogun. They have taken to a policy of wait-and-see with regards to the rest of Yamato. They have spent 50 years building their power on Enishima, which has cost them many allies, but may also one day allow them to sweep aside all pretenders to the Shogunate.

2/3?

>>54958053
>onmyoji
Yeah onmyoji are great for court wizards or something to that effect. The 5 elements stuff can serve as a cool mystical system as well.
>kannushi
mah nigga. mikos are one of my favorite things in Shintoism
>warrior monks
are there different types of schools for monks, and to a lesser extent, swordsmanship?
>exotic races
I like the idea of kitsune and half-oni (indeed, half-youkai are an actual thing in Japanese lore, Yozakura Quartet has some nice stuff on it). Even Asuras are some cool stuff for high level enemies and tengu/nezumi are nice for some low-level enemies as well. And theres always the samurai politics to delve into.

What are the role of shinobi in this world?

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>>54958665
>Akasuna
A clan of Humans with Fiery magic in their blood (Ifrits), the Akasuna are largely hated and mocked by the other clans. After massacring their allies and enemies alike on Aizushima, they have dominated the whole island and the islands of Kasagawa. They have allied with the Oga, and often use their Ninja as a surveillance and assassination force for the Eastern Shogun. Their treachery and backstabbing have earned the Akasuna mockery and hatred, but so long as they keep winning battle after battle, no one seems able to prevent the rise of a third Shogunate.

>Yukigahara
The Kitsune of Yamato all live in the province of Yukigahara, high in the mountains and defended by a perpetual winter snow. Kitsune often travel the islands, serving various lords as couriers, scholars, mages, courtiers, and occasionally as ninja-shinobi. But their homeland is considered sacred by adherents to the Ako faith, and so none dares bring war to these folk, under threat of Imperial Condemnation. Recent clashes along their border have threatened the peace as defeated samurai sometimes accidently retreat through Yukigahara, which has more than once brought battle to the isolated clans.

>Chosokoji
A clan of Samurai with mystical ancestry (Undyne water elemental), the Chosokoji were all but wiped out by the Akasuna. They are spread throughout Midoriko and Ishimori, working as Ninja in some cases, always seeking alliances with the other clans. Their ultimate goal is to unite Yamato in a grand invasion of Aizushima to overthrow their hated enemy.

And that's it for the most part. I write more clans whenever I need them. I am currently building a clan that has converted to the Nanban religion, but I still need a name.

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>>54958777
>warrior monk schools
At the moment I have only fleshed out the Tojin to any extent on that front. These guys are largely Baran-Sho (Buddhist), but a number of Ako (Shinto) monks exist as well, though often to a less-militant extent. Swordsmanship is a lesser art amongst either type though, who usually prefer naginatas, or yari spears and arquebuses.

>samurai politics
Most of my campaign ends up being samurai politics and I love it. Nothing gets my players into the right mood faster than making them navigate an honor system that's complicated by real politic.

>shinobi
Well, Ninja and Shinobi are different. Ninja are lesser clans, foreign clans, and peasants who have no real political power, but they also have no honor system to worry about. They serve as surveillance and spies for the greater clans in return for being left alone. Ironically, most ninja clans are far more honorable than your typical Samurai Lord.

Shinobi are Assassins. Anyone, Ninja or Samurai, can take this role. There are usually one or two members of every court that specialize. For example, though the Oga clan has few Samurai to its name (relying on Ashigaru armies), those it does have are almost invariably Shinobi by training. The best would be Oga Hamata, a Half-Oni Samurai who serves as Morinabu's second in command and his head assassin. Hamata recently corrupted a MAJOR Kami, turning it into a powerful Demon that threatened to destroy all of Ishimori, if not for the intervention of some adventurers.

ZGlad you're enjoying some of this stuff. Due to group-membership shifting around I can never drop the big setting stuff on any one party so they've only bumped into a fraction of all this. It's fun to talk to someone about it.

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>>54959008
>prefer naginatas, or yari spears and arquebuses.
Correction: The Baran-Sho prefer matchlocks, not the Ako monks. Do not drink and post friends.

I'd like to run something by the thread. I've been trying to design an order of monster-slaying badasses, but I'm worried they're becoming too try-hard edgy.

The core of their training is to instill the idea that they must become monsters to fight monsters. However, where real monsters have inhuman bodies, they must have inhuman minds. Emotion is beaten down in preference to cold, logical calculation bordering on the obsessive. All concerns are secondary to the kill, and the efficiency of the kill, with "The ends justify the means" being their primary credo.
They prefer to recruit children orphaned by monster attacks, but will take on anyone without family connections and who can survive the training. Said training is as taxing and deadly as that of most fantasy/sci-fi "raised from childhood to be ultimate killers" fiction.
By the time recruits become full members they are experts in most weaponry; have beyond encyclopedic knowledge of anatomy (human and monster), medicine, tactics, geography, and useful sciences; and they are willing to kill or die at a moment's notice.
They see themselves as no longer being humans and so do not feel bound by human morality.

Not sure how they get funding. I'd like them to work for free outside of any government's oversight, meaning they just show up in random areas, kill shit, inadvertently scare the fuck out of locals, and then leave.

Should I dial it back a bit?

>>54959008
> Swordsmanship is a lesser art amongst either type though, who usually prefer naginatas, or yari spears and arquebuses.
Yeah that's how it was historically as well. Kenjutsu was viewed as a samurai art (plus spears were easier to get your hands on than katanas).
>Well, Ninja and Shinobi are different.
i think its cool you made a distinction because ninja is a more modern term for shinobi. Historically shinobi were sometimes samurai as well so i think its cool that you are making an entirely different classification for samurai-shinobi.
>It's fun to talk to someone about it.
that's the best way to develop a setting in my opinion. talk about it and answer questions. helps you develop it organically, which is my big problem with these generals. everyone just posts shit and never asks any questions about anyone else's setting.

On a side note, a cool thing about shinobi is that many were just peasants that happened to get employed to their local daimyo because they were disposable or blended in well. But sometimes samurai would take up that role in the spot of a peasant for more important jobs.

>>54959148
>Ninja vs Shinobi
Yeah, one of my players is a big ole Weeb who consumes a lot of historical stuff with regards to Japan, even more than I did researching this. It was his opinion that Ninja and Shinobi were different, and I stuck to that advice. I still have Ninja organized into clans, however, since having networks seems like a good idea for these spymasters to have developed. And in practical terms, the Aizushima clans operate a lot more like Ninja than Samurai due to the rocky, mountainous terrain, so formal distinctions would have hampered that interesting bit of development.

>>54959135
I like, but a few things

>how do they get away with all the dead orphans
I get that they aren't a part of a government, but if someone is just trawling space (is this sci fi?, this sounds like sci fi)

Most of my other questions actually hinge on if its sci fi or medieval fantasy type shit, but I've always liked this trope. Blame reading the Halo books, child soldiers never sounded so fucken cool

>>54959352
Fantasy, actually. Though now that you've reminded me of the Halo books I may have to recycle the idea for my science fiction setting.

>how do they get away with all the dead orphans
Haven't entirely decided yet. Currently going with the idea that they're seen as a necessary evil by most nobles/governments. People are frightened by them, but they tend not to be hostile to regular people. Some nations just have a standard policy of marking down those they recruit as being dead.
My current plan for the group's origin is that they were founded by a huge empire centuries in the past. That empire eventually broke up into the current kingdoms and such, but the monster slayer group was designed to be largely autonomous back in the day so the collapse didn't effect them too badly. Technically they operate under the authority of a dead empire. They ignore modern governments and modern governments ignore them. Mostly.

>fantasy type shit
Not a fantasy fan?

>>54959310
>It was his opinion that Ninja and Shinobi were different
eh not entirely true but there is still arguments amongst Japanese historians now about the difference between the two. And shinobi were sometimes usually from clans known for them (the Iga and Koga clans from the Sengoku Jidai for example) so that makes sense. The mixing of samurai and shinobi though is something that was very true in Japan, especially once the end of the Sengoku came around.

>>54958777
>>54959777
Did...did you just...?

>>54953454
I thought invitations only applied to private property. Like, they could enter a store as long as it was open but they need at the very least an implicit invitation to enter a house (someone holding a door open, or letting them walk in behind them). Churches are public as long as they're open, right?

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>>54959808

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>>54959844
Alright, this thread is blessed.

>>54953454
Nah. Any occupant can "invite" someone in. Even accidently.

>Vampie: "You's a bitch."
>PC: "Come over here and say that!"
>murder ensues

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>>54959968
one more time baby

I've noticed this come up a lot as other threads, but what does /wbg/ think of mixing firearms and fantasy? How about swords an such in scifi?

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>>54961124
When it comes to medieval fantasy, I usually include fire arms because I usually go for a 14th/15th century aesthetic. No gunslingers but battles have a good chance of having some artillery rocking ye olde gonnes.

I like swords in space fantasy and sci-fi with obviously fantastical elements, like Star Wars and 40k, but not in anything trying to come across as more realistic.

>>54959512
Oh I'm a fantasy fan, I just grew up around a mom who would call like four people a cocksucker before we drove a block from the house so I curse a lot.

>Some nations just have a standard policy of marking down those they recruit as being dead.
That's badass

I like the idea of them just continuing to exist under a dead empire too, I guess allowing them to conform to those laws in a way?
Its a nice idea all around, I would flesh out the whole "mostly" part though, whenever they're brought up or involved in the campaign it should be about as divisive as saying you were either trump or hillary during the election, to the point that most people try not to bring it up because it splits up families and shit.
Basically as try hard and edgy as you think they are, as long as you reflect that in their appearances in the game it'll make it seem fine anyway. In my opinion, at least.

Maybe to make it easier for nobles to ignore, the place they train all the orphans is somewhere way out of sight, like way far off on the butthole of whatever continent they're on far away from any capital or half populated city.
Then just give the lords a "outta sight outta mind" policy about it for the most part

>>54962687
>as long as you reflect that in their appearances in the game

As long as you reflect that in how people react to their appearances in the game.

ftfm

>>54962687
>I would flesh out the whole "mostly" part though
Will do.
>whenever they're brought up or involved in the campaign it should be about as divisive as saying you were either trump or hillary during the election
Oooo, I like that. I like that a lot.

>place they train all the orphans is somewhere way out of sight, like way far off on the butthole of whatever continent they're on far away from any capital or half populated city.
I'm trying to decide between doing that or having their stealth be migration-based.
No one can find their secret training ground because they don't have one. If someone gets close to stumbling onto one of their groups they'll just pack up and leave. Part of the reason they don't need funding is that they simply live off the land.

Actually, I might do both. They have a secret base or two, but most of them are nomadic since this allows them to place units all over the place, which in turn allows them to very quickly against threats.
These nomadic bands are responsible for gathering new recruits and training them on the go, sink or swim style. Those who survive long enough make a pilgrimage to their home base for more advanced training and final testing.

This is why I love coming to these threads; just hashing things out with people leads to such interesting ideas.

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It's a long response to one two or so weeks ago but the anon that responded to my 'djinn with smoke instead of blood' - https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/image/3L2AbP_EhKAIEUKvbl6OIA/

That's a novel idea to have the insides entirely smokey, though it might be a little extreme for me when it comes to these degenerate djinn, who I saw as more demons in human (or slightly elf-like) flesh than right and proper demons. However that kind of really alien physiology could work well for the humanoids who are well and proper demons or demon-style. Many of which I saw looking like that Indo-Persian Rakshasa/beastmen look. Your idea makes me think of having smoke, a black or unnatural kind of slimy ichor as well as that black powdery shit for their organs. Thus one might slobber ichor from its mouth, have a viscous ichor oozing from a wound that also emits a pungent and acrid smoke, and if you cut a limb off whatever might have been bone or organs inside of it immediately turns to a powdery black mess.

What do you call that powder anyway?

I like the idea of the flesh around the wound bursting like a copper pipe because when I was reading The Devil in Iron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_Iron and the description of the ancient demon given flesh in metallic form was interesting. wouldn't work for these degenerate djinn but the idea of golem humanoids is neat. I swear there was a greek myth about such things but I can't find the original name for it. Metal skinned humans however is ripe for overpowering unless you make the metal more 'hollow' so that it could conceivably be pierced by a strong enough blow.

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>>54963314
>No one can find their secret training ground because they don't have one. If someone gets close to stumbling onto one of their groups they'll just pack up and leave. Part of the reason they don't need funding is that they simply live off the land.

I'm feeling it, that would hammer home the fact that you're just a cog in the machine, every man sets up tents and shit when its time. Whether you're a commander or a 12 year old boy who broke his arm when you were taking the tent down when you started the hike to your knew training ground, the other men can go faster if they only have to give the pole one solid thwack to set it in place so you can follow behind them hammering it deeper because you dont need two arms to swing a one armed hammer, boy.

I think I prefer that, actually, it reinforces all the tenants that you've set out, hard men who only know a hard life devoid of individuality will undoubtedly scare off even the 'hard' salty peasants toiling in northern fields all day.

>This is why I love coming to these threads; just hashing things out with people leads to such interesting ideas.
Ye boi, I'm all about that life, I love just dishing out ideas

For instance, check out this new hotness. I'm finally fleshing out the fact that I always wanted to be able to see elevation change cross section style and have it visually block off part of the dividing channel on this continent, putting an even finer point on how unnatural it is

>>54963572
That is goddamn beautiful, anon.
Those are some impressive mapping skills you have there.

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>>54963700
thanks my guy, also can you tell from the squared off portion that the cliff is concave, with the rocks below continuing the form and pushing that jaw-like appearance?

I added a weirdly 80's neon drawing of it because I like pretty colors and working in black and dark grey makes me antsy

>>54961124

Sword or melee in sci fi is readily accepted and downright normal for softer sci fi like mass effect, star wars, 40k, star trek.

Firearms in fantasy tends to be a bit more coy and usually gets limited to that early 1200s era European/West Asian experimentation or the same in China. I'd say judging from India and Iran you can go up to 17th century gunpowder technology and still justify armor. Then there is high fantasy like Warhammer and Warcraft where you can have more advanced gunpowder that is kept in check by more advanced metalurgy or magic.

Personally I never like people that demand/expect the rapid technological changes/advances in gunpowder and require the setting follow the same trajectory we did. But I have a big beef with that kind of progressive technologism thinking. Please I do not mean it in a political sense, more that idea that technology must progress and must follow the Earth model for how fast or slow it takes.

Beyond just "you are the author you are the hand of fate", China's hundreds of years head start on gunpowder did not see them reaching cartridges or revolvers, and knowledge of revolver style technology still took 200 or so years before it became practical in a field use.

>>54944784
I read that as colonial factories.

>Rule the world by building liquor factories
>Shitpost on: /gsg/
>Colonize then genocide the congolese
>Post it to: /gsg/

>>54964275
Hmm. It's a little hard to tell, even blown up in size like this. They almost look like really, really broad hills with cliffs on the far side.

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>>54964400
ye, thats what I was kinda going for, sorta like the mountains got peeled back into sand-dune type shapes by the BIG boom

>>54964640
Ah, I get it now.
Cool idea.

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>>54964739
ye boi, I'm also reincorperating an old mountain range I had drawn up for the old coastline of this landmass

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Gentlemen, this is a map I made. It was made to run pseudo-1700's styled campaigns, but I just can't look at the damn thing anymore.

Mark out a nation for yourself.
>Who lives there?
>What are its national values?
>What sort of magic does it favor?
>Has the Revolution reached this nation yet?

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>>54965342
>Who lives there?
The Republic of Theerok
>What are its national values?
The people of the republic value loyalty to the state and its traditions of selflessness and civil service
>What sort of magic does it favor?
Mainly earth magic that they use to construct buildings and roads, though it is used for mining in the northern mountains and defensive operations in warfare as well.
>Has the Revolution reached this nation yet?
Whispers of it have reached the republic and while anti-state groups have popped up here and there in the large coastal cities, but nothing violent has occurred thanks to the state police, the Special Police.

>>54965342

Bottom Right string of islands.

Bol-Tam:etEk
Desc:
Swarthy skinned hunter gatherers migrating from one island to another hunting respectably. Any outsiders found trespassing are murdered and eaten.

Values:
Group of Elder leaders with knowledge they pass down about the islands, their history and how to hunt while maintaining the ecosystem. They cannot be challenged and you only become a leader when you grow old (and not senile) with info valuable to the tribe. Mostly surviving warriors that become to old to keep up with the young hunters become the elders but there are a few gatherers with plant and fishing/wildlife knowledge.

Every couple months they uproot their makeshift village and set sail to the next island. The population is slowly increasing but at a very managable rate. Usually only 3-8 children are born a year. Inbreeding however is beginning to cause strange physical effects to form in certain births. 1 in every 10 babies are born with some physical or mental defect. The shaman has to confer with the spirits when this happens. One of the spirits agrees to watch over the child as they grow by allowing themselves to be bound to an object, called a fetish, a seashell, a stone with a natural hole in it, an animals claww ot tooth, ect. This object is given to the child and they are told to never part with it as long as they live. The spirit will guide them in times of need or possess them if they become too vile hearted. Cannibalizing their own, defiling their ancestors, or killing an elder are major crimes. Known as the 3 Laws. Punishment is death and sealing their spirit away into a special banishment fetish where they are buried or cast into the sea. (If there is a volcano on any of the islands, that's where they will be cast into.
1/2

>>54965673
2/2

There is an old story of how a spirit became malevolent and possessed one of these children which was a disciple of necroshamancy who convinced a small group of hunters to also take malevolent spirit fetishes and set sail for the mainland to conquer. Possession of a spirit is seen as a blessing even if it is a bad spirit, as long as they do not violate their 3 laws.

Magic:
Necromancy. Ancestor Worship and death guides. The tribes shaman can commune with spirits in elaborite tribe participation rituals. This is done yearly for respect and durin times of strife to seek help. The shaman also trains a few chosen to travel with the animal hunters and guide the animal spirits to peaceful rest lest they haunt the hunters. Even fish are guided to the afterlife. Only certain animals are permitted to join the islander spirits to guide the shaman and the tribe.

The revolution has not reached them, though outsiders have sailed to the islands only to be slaughtered and their ships burned.

Notes:
A few curious islanders have sailed to the main continent throughout the years but none ever return. Only the Shaman knows what happens to them and he does not share this info.

>>54954380
It is a forest filled with Canadian geese

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>>54965342
Holy Archonate of Shiabal and Lakang

>Who lives there?
Three main ethnic categories, the La farmers of the central lowlands, the Cheu farmers of the south, and the Annat herders across the mountains. They follow ancient mysticism that varies between monotheism, polytheism, and pantheism based on the community in question.

>What are its national values?
A strictly hierarchical state under a birth-based caste system with the top caste serving as lawmakers, philosophers, and religious leaders. Respect is their core value, particularly towards elders and castes higher than your own, who cannot be questioned.

>What sort of magic does it favor?
Magic is practiced only by the elite in their secluded temples, who seek enlightenment and truth, practicing sight of the future and the unseen present and calculating the decisions they can make.

>Has the Revolution reached this nation yet?
All mention of the revolution is met with whipping and forced religious obsecration at the nearest shrine to Ayahut the merciful.

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>>54965342
I initially thought this map was about the size of Japan deluxe, but as the others are going with continent-sized i will, too.

>The great Desatali Protectorate "The bloated Empire"
Situated along the eastern coast of the southern Continent, the Desatali are one of the biggest Empire, but they are stretched thin, and their tenuous grip on the southern Bakur region begins to slip in recent years.


>Who lives there?
The heart land is the holy island of Moros and the northern lands along the Great Passage.
Here is where the Desatali originated and where the Empire is the strongest. The (ethnic) Desatali have lived here since time immemorial, first as fishermen and merchants, but after the Blessing as unparalleled farmers and Herbalomancers.

South of the heart lands is the land of the thousand streams, home to so many different tribes and ethnic groups that all but the most traveled lose track of it. Some of the tribes swore fealty to be part of the Blessing, some out of fear, some had to be conquered.
Today some groups are Desatalised, especially along the coast, while some groups still live by their ancient ways. As long as the taxes are paid they all have a great amount of autonomy.

In the very south is Bakur. Acquired by trickery, as Bakurians would say. About fifty years ago the Desatali Emperor married the daughter and only child of the Bakurian King. By Bakurian law her Uncle would have inherited but by Desatali law she. A few 'accidents' later, she was the heir by Bakurian law, too.
The people that like in Bakur are proud and not too fond of the Desatali.

[cont]

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When designing a world for a campaign, do different people approach the different aspects in a different order? I'm tempted to start with geography/climate/biomes here, then decide on the specifics of my kingdoms politics and cultures. On the other had, though, my concept that I'm aiming for already has specific cultures in mind, along with the need for long feudal wars for the campaign's premise to function. I don't want to build the whole world, then shoehorn kindoms and wars into it.
Maybe I'm just overthinking this because I need sleep, but I still wonder if people here tackle things in a different order.

>>54967597
>What are its national values?
'Prosperity and Friendship' at least in theory.
The Desatali value knowledge and piety, but they aren't too heady about it.
One of the most important things every Desatali does is to give thanks for the Blessing, their unique type of divine magic that increases the fertility of their lands tenfold.
>What sort of magic does it favor?
The Blessing, a divine Herbalomancy which allows them reliable and bountiful harvest of a wide variety of crops and control over many different plants.
Aside from that all types of 'utility' are common, in warfare fire is the element of choice.

>Has the Revolution reached this nation yet?
It has, but not much came of it yet:
Desatali proper is too prosperous to allow the Revolution to grow. Empty bellies would grow discontent, but thankfully this isn't a problem here where even the poor don't have to go to bed hungry.
in the Land of the thousand Streams the ideas of the Revolution fall on many different ears: Some Rulers crush any ideas of change, while in other regions they already democratically elect their Council. But overall the smothering embrace of the Protectorate stops even the idea of independence here.
Bakur thou is the hotbed for the Revolution: All but the most powerful Lords are discontent with the status quo. Ideas of revolt, revolution and independence are in the air, but ideas for it range from the return of the royal Bakurian bloodline to a democratic nation.

>>54967810
It's sort of sloppy; I start with one thing like biomes, then get into kingdoms, then go back to biomes when I decide x kingdom would be better in y biome or closer to w kingdom in z biome and it just continually goes on like that till I'm at least moderately pleased with the outcome.

I'd say start with kingdoms if you already have an idea of what you're looking for. You can mold the land accordingly.