Lineage/Evolution EditionWelcome to /wbg/, the official thread for the discussion of in-progress settings for traditional games.Here is where you go to present and develop the details of your worlds such as lore, factions, magic and ecosystems. You can also post maps for your settings, as well as any relevant art (either created by you or used as inspiration for your work). Please remember that dialogue is what keeps the thread alive, so don't be afraid of giving someone feedback!Last Thread: >>93103178Resources for Newfags: https://sites.google.com/view/wbgeneral/Worldbuilding links: https://pastebin.com/JNnj79S5https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/view/Eo+fK41FKVR7xDpbNO0a0N4k0YYxrmyrhX3VxnM14Ew/Fantasy map generator: https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generatorThread questions:>If you have more races in your setting than humans, what are the means by which they evolved? >Did it occur purely by natural means (or near enough), or are there magical influences in the evolution of certain races?> Did some races "evolve" via an ancient cultural schism and diverge as a result?>What are the edge case races/species in your setting? Do they have explanations? If so, what are they; if not, what about them defies explanation?>Do any of the races/species in your world share a last universal common ancestor -- one which would enable them to inter-breed and evolve further?
A second brain-map showing where each non-human race is in the setting.
>>93164706>were international rebels and insurrectionists a thing pre modern times?It's worth pointing out that in medieval Europe titles to land could easily ignore state-boundaries. As such a person might find themself in the situation of being the vassal of multiple people through their various claims and as a result have a complex web of priorities towards their loyalties. Furthermore, historically speaking control over territory (especially in more periphery places) could be quite loose meaning that while a region was technically under the soverignity of X it wasn't uncommon for local tribes and inhabitants to just pay lipservice, if even that, towards being ruled by X. Within such a context you'd could also have nomadic groups who move inbetween the official borders of states as they regard the land as theirs rather than belonging to some distant overlord. Such people could often become a nuissance but could also be a great tool in a state's geopolitical arsenal. Naturally these type of places where a state holds little sway are fertile breeding ground for rebel activities. Not only would a clampdown on them be costly logistically speaking but it would also risk the locals rallying against the state by virtue of its agents being outsiders who seek to meddle in their ways.
>>93183334>Did some races "evolve" via an ancient cultural schism and diverge as a result?No, but I really like this concept. I could see someone explaining dwarfs through some kind of cappadocian underground city-esque society on steroids. If you make the reason for them seeking shelter underground being protection against elven raids you could explain the seemingly ubiquitus elven hatred amongst some takes on dwarfs as a socially conditioned evolutionary trait to the extent that they have developed a genetic phobia like humans have against snakes and spiders etc.
I love use pseudo-science for my fantasy settings too.Made one once where astrology was real, so the world was divided into 12 tribes, each representing one astrological sign. People would make sure to time their pregnancies so that their children would be born under their own sign, but often parents would be forced to send their children to another nation.
>>93183334>Thread questions:>If you have more races in your setting than humans, what are the means by which they evolved?Elves woke up by divine will at the beginning of time; most other humanoid races, including humans, came about by their selective breeding programs.>Did it occur purely by natural means (or near enough), or are there magical influences in the evolution of certain races?See above> Did some races "evolve" via an ancient cultural schism and diverge as a result?Drow originally split off from elvenkind in protest off High Elven eugenics programs, choosing to live in greater harmony with the earth, but they were driven underground by the dominant social class (high elves) and took the people that would become dwarves with them.>What are the edge case races/species in your setting? Do they have explanations? If so, what are they; if not, what about them defies explanation?There's a human race called Sirruns that were never subjugated by elves. They're bigger, stronger, and longer-lived than other humans to the point that it's debatable whether or not they're human at all rather than something more. Unfortunately there aren't very many of them left to study, as an artificial plague engineered specifically to target them wiped out the majority of their population.>Do any of the races/species in your world share a last universal common ancestor -- one which would enable them to inter-breed and evolve further?Humans are able to interbreed with most humanoid races and many non-humanoid ones, since elves effectively used them as a genetic "blank slate" for their breeding programs.
>>93183334Please stop injecting magic questions into every OP. This isn't just a fantasy general.
One of the major races in my SF setting were once a technological power, but got scraped off most of their colonies in a war of mutual annihilation with a peer power. The remaining colonies regressed back to neolithic-type levels.What I need is a reason for them to remain at that level, across multiple completely separate planets, for tens/hundreds of thousands of years. Any ideas? They're human-ish psychologically/biologically (well, they're 8'-9' tall protandrous hermaphrodites who have superhuman agility/strength, but other than that...), so I can't use that as an excuse.
I want to have a firmament in my setting, but one of the ideas I've had floating around in my head too was a space rock that wizards teleport to and use as a tower. I haven't really come up with a good way to meld the two as of yetAlso I'm pretty sure I had a novel spin on what the sun was but because I don't write shit down I have forgotten and am seething rn
I'm curious to know, in your settings is lineage political or genetic?Is Jane powerful because Janes family has always been powerful, politically? Or is Jane powerful because her genetics are enhanced, even though she was raised as a homeless tramp?
How am I supposed to decide on things for my fantasy setting? I've started campaigns in made-for-the-game settings or just used published adventures for years, but whenever I try to make something complete and just for myself, I can never decide on anything. There are so many aesthetics to crib from, so many cool cosmologies and ideas, so many things that could be picked and are exclusive to each other. How do you decide on anything?
>>93188187pick a theme and stick with it
>>93188187Pick a stick and theme it.
>>93188187>How do you decide on anything?Pick whatever feels fun or right in the moment and run with it rather then mulling over the consequences of one choice over the other. Worldbuilding is part art, and like any art, it is inherently iterative where going back and changing things is a natural part of the process.
I quite like traditional fantasy races, but I also quite like the idea of having a "humans only" or at least "humancentric" world. In this fashion, I came up with a small idea which I'd like to get some feedback on.Essentially, the fantasy world's version of real life races are instead manifested as the fantasy races, but all are "from the same stock" so to speak. So the generic humans, elves, and dwarves all exist; but instead of being separate races all are capable of interbreeding and are essentially different ethnicites of the overall "mankind" group.The lineup would include humans (or tall men, to take a page from dungeon meshi) who are the "average joe" of all of the races and could also be what happens if three or more of the races mix, the sort of mutt race. Then elves, dwarves, giants, wildmen (furry stand in), and finally mooncalves or white-haired spooky people, similar to a more humanized drow or underdwelling race. All of them look and have similar, but distinct, cultures and biology that is partially based on where they live in the world.How do you feel about this concept?
>>93183334Kys d*scord cancer.
>>93190066>The lineup would include humans (or tall men, to take a page from dungeon meshi) who are the "average joe" of all of the races and could also be what happens if three or more of the races mix, the sort of mutt race.Question, if interbreeding leads to 'tall men', then what is the proportions of the different populations look like and how does that impact what the average 'tall man' look like? And a thought: you could have it be that there is a geographically isolated reserve populations of each 'race' who then come out from the mountains/underdwellings/forests and interbreed to make your 'tall men'. But with each combo of races producing a slightly different stock of 'tall men' as a result
How would coastal cities in pre-modern times have enough water for the populace?
>>93192831River, nearby lake(s), wells and/or aqueducts.As a rule of thumb most cities tend to be located close to a source of freshwater.
>>93192916Would rivers be fresh enough? I figured they'd be brackish near the sea.
>>93193021I don't know shit about fuck but if that's the case then I guess they'll just have to take the water from further up the stream.
>>93193021Generally, yes. The salty sea water is heavier than the fresh water and settles underneath, unless whipped up by winds.
>>93188187The more you already have, the easier it is for the seeing to design itself. You just have to pick something, even at random, and save the other ideas for another setting. You have to tell yourself you can always make more, and you can always remake the same idea twice later on.
>>93193021>Would rivers be fresh enough? I figured they'd be brackish near the sea.So you build the city just above where the water becomes brackish but below where it becomes unnavigable to shipping or make it navigable to shipping with dredging or locks, problem solved
Working on religions and I've hit a bit of a snag. Right now I have 3 main gods/religions A neptune/posiedon/dagon type underwater manThe founder of a human empire who has been deifiedAnd a pair of death/funerary gods.Now, I have a couple of other ideas for another deity as not exactly a protestantism analogue but another big religion the main one (the founder worshipers) can argue with. But I'm not sure if I should go for it because 4 feels like a lot, but it would also have a kind of symbolism because there is another secret god who has a lot to do with hands, so having 4+1 would be a nice little symbol, but again I'm not sure.
>>93183334I’m working on a wizard duel tournament for my setting and could use some help with it please. Basically, once every hundred years a specialist in every category of magic/type of spell is chosen for a grand tournament, one in which the winner of each bout gains the magical knowledge of the loser, the mages growing stronger as the tournament continues, until the final winner becomes the most powerful mage in the world, and the head of the mage's council for the next 100 years, a bit like a magical version of Highlander. I just need some more types/specialties of magic in order to pad out the brackets a bit, no matter how if they don't seem useful in direct combat or not like healing spells or the various kinds of divination, since I want to have every branch of magic possible to be included in this besides the go-to ones like illusions, summoning, artifice, elemental spells, or necromancy. They can be as specific or broad as you want, like the last thread’s suggestions of Cartomancy, cryptomancy, runic magic, crystalomancy, mysticism, spirit magic, knots based magic, shamanism, and witchcraft.
>>93183334Humans evovled naturally except where the Formless Ones ensured a specific sort of evolutionary path by modifying the prehistoric ancestors with certain traits that would manifest millions of years later.Doing so would "lock in" certain evolutionary traits and allow Humanity to express those traits naturally making them suitable vessels for the reincarnation of the Formless Ones.
>>93195393I have a lot of based suggestions that will go really far for creating memorable and popular wizards.>Menstruation magic (wards, healing, and buffs(>Cum magic (time and space and mind manipulation)>Vomit magic (healing, monster summoning, and fertilization)>Crying magic (raising undead and curses)>Piss magic (fireballs and buffs)
>>93193783You should just go for it.There are dozen of religions on my setting.One religion have 3 different denominations. There's even a secret illuminati-like religion.I find it fun to figure out how these religions and their believers react to each other.
I am creating a little republic, one founded by religious dissidents and breakaway cults of the main religion of the setting. It's a trading republic, a wealthy one with high literacy by premodern standards. These are people, in other words, with a lot of access to wealth that allows a leisure class of intellectuals and to ideas.For the sake of simplicity, we shall accept it's politically stable.Now to the main topic. I want them to be the first nation in the setting to get the scientific revolution. I want them to understand the scientific method and to utilize it in every aspect of society from war to industry. I want them to know chemistry, mathematics, and all other sciences. I want them to be comparable to the modern First World countries in a few centuries.What factors are necessary for that? I have wealth and literacy locked down, and they have sufficient material resources to build everything that Europe had in the 1600s. They can do it, but how would they? What are the elements that will provoke their intellectuals to adopt the scientific method and revolutionize society?
I need a name for a school of magic involving controlling people's minds and emotions more based on temporary statuses (like courage, fear, rage, confusion, tiredness, etc.) then something based on memories or based on illusions AND which follows the naming convention of "-ation" at the end.The current schools are cribbed from the Elder Scrolls & D&D (Alteration, Restoration, Evocation, and Conjuration). I would just use "illusion" to cover it, but it breaks the naming convention.So far my choices are;>Obfuscation >ObscurationBoth of which I quite like, or>DominationWhich I think fits best, but sounds too evil and broad in application for my liking. Are any of these names good, or do you have a better suggestion?
Finished a new map for my fantasy setting.
>>93183334I suppose while I'm here I can answer the thread questions for my setting >>93199490.>If you have more races in your setting than humans, what are the means by which they evolved?They did not evolve, by-in-large they were created by the Gods. They might evolve culturally and ethnically but the different races all basically came out of the ground as their distinct races. >Did it occur purely by natural means (or near enough), or are there magical influences in the evolution of certain races?Some races have changed significantly due to magical influence, either by connections to demons and creatures of that sort, or through magically twinning bloodlines with fae or other creatures. Certain kingdoms have historic lineages as vampires, dragon-kin, or werewolves as a result. > Did some races "evolve" via an ancient cultural schism and diverge as a result?Sort of, one race, the Karkai, are avian and they evolved due to a combination of magic and cultural shift. While on other continents, they are white feathered and capable of flight, on Sondra, they are black feathered and flightless. This is because, it is said, that they are all descended from Tumo the Black. An ancient Karkai king who, in his hubris, tried to steal the sun to prevent it from setting upon his empire, and in the act his feathers were burnt black and his wings were burned away entirely. He was dethroned for his crimes against the gods and sent into exile with his family and relatives and the remainder of his bloodline was purged.>What are the edge case races/species in your setting? Do they have explanations? If so, what are they; if not, what about them defies explanation?The Elves in my setting, simply called the Elders, are unique in that they are left overs from a previous age that have managed to trick the world into letting them remain, even when rightly they should not.
>>93199490May I provide unsolicited feedback?Things I don't like:- Titanite Mountains- titanite is a glowing green gemstone. Unless they have Titanite, this throws me off.- Erie Mountains- SOAIF ruined this-Your large sea names leave a lot to be desired. I don't like "Nimbus sea", "Sea of Void" "Sea of World's edge". "Laconic" is a reference to Laconia, our the southern greek pennisula housing Sparta.-Krathus makes me think of Karthus. But that's my own brain worms, not yours.-I bet the "Kingdom of Yarl" has Viking Jarls.Things I like:-Your bay name, river, and lake names are wonderful.-Your mountain ranges clearly follow fault lines beutifully and I can see you've thought of the geography, the middle seas make sense because of this.-Your cluster of empires around the inland seas makes absolute geopolitical sense and it's incredibly pleasing.-The Acadian mountains are cool, even though it's going to pull me out of the setting slightly.Things I love:-Your rivers. Finally someone fucking understands how rivers works. Your rivers get me rock solid.-Your naming conventions. With a few noted exceptions there's a lot of thought as to the naming conventions you use. Sevr has a clearly slavic inspiration. Yorn feels very steppe-ish-Your desert is properly aligned assuming W->E trade winds (which is the only sort that makes sense given the inland seas). This is incredilby satisfying-Drakide is beauifully laid out and I want to know what the "wending sands" are. That sounds so evocative. -Singing Island. I want to go to Singing Island. What's on Singing Island?-The People's of the Gap. I love it. Is it a tribal confederation? I want to travel there and meet these people. I'm guessing they're a very rich civilization and form the passageway between western and eastern trade routesOverall a solid 9.8/10 map. Really well thought out. Really easy to draw stories out of. With permission I'd love to adapt it to my yet-to-be-made campaign.
>>93199490Can I credit the creator somehow? Do you have a way to share who this is? A pen name? I'd like to credit this if I choose to re-make this map in wonderdraft. It's really quite stunning.
>>93199894Hi, thanks for the feedback, and I don't mind you borrowing the map and adapting it at all, go wild. To address some of your comments:>Titanite MountainsYes they do absolutely have Titanite! The Titanite mountains are known in setting for their granitic pegmatites which often contain many large gemstones, most common being titanite but also aquamarine, topaz, and corundum. They are prized across the lands for their unusual size. >Erie Mountains I was originally inspired to name them that based on Lake Erie. I wanted a name that was very straight forward and communicated what they were and evoked the idea of a misty, dark, and mysterious place. In the lore of the setting, the Erie Mountains were once inhabited by a race of goblins before the Drakide Empire killed them. Now all that's left is darkened holes in the sides of cliffs, full of bones and little else. >Large Sea NamesSome are admittedly more afterthought than others, but I can explain my reasoning. This world has a defined center but no defined edge, just infinite ocean. The Sea of Void is furthest from the center and deepest, while the Sea of the World's Eye (Not edge), is closest to the center, called in lore the 'Eye of the World'. Nimbus Sea I'm not sold on either, just wanted something that evoked wind and clouds and adventure. Laconic Sea is meant to evoke the literal definition of the word, like Pacific. If you have some names you think might also fit I'd love to have some suggestions. >Kingdom of YarlThey're a proper kingdom, with a Queen even. Her name is Magnilia the Quiet. They do draw from some scandinavian inspiration, but more like the wealthy kingdom of Sweden during the late medieval period rather than a bunch of viking chieftains.>GeographyThanks for noticing and appreciating. I'm actually a geologist professionally, so all of this is based on my actual knowledge of the field. >>93199899I've got a bunch of different online handles, but I go by Varcifer on /tg/.
>>93199490What program did you use to make that beautiful map?
>>93200620I used Paint.net. It's far from the best program for this kind of thing but it's the program I'm skilled with.
>>93200559 Okay now this is fascinating. I'll make sure to credit Varcifer if I wonder-draftize it in my homebrew. Do you have a reference document you'd care to share? These ideas are really fascinating.
>>93200741I don't have one singular lore doc on it sadly. But I've got several years worth of notes scattered across discord dms, /tg/ threads, session and campaign notes both physical and digital, all spanning several years. I'm trying to get an actual master doc hammered out, but I don't have anything worth posting here. One of the unfortunate complications of how I made this setting, basically worldbuilding it piece by piece whenever I felt like doing something. If I do ever get a proper reference document, I'll be sure to post it.
>>93188187Let's see your map. Make. A. Map. First. But first, you need to find out what a map even is. A map is an ACCURATE (as accurate as possible) physical model of the world. You will need this because the entities in your world live here and what happens to them impacts the word, and vice-versa. So... your Elves went on a pilgrimage many centuries ago. WHY? Your map will tell you why, even though the real reason is because you want them to. Why are Gnomes the intuitive thinking race (assuming they are)? The map will tell you why. Basically, the map is both overrated and overlooked as a part of world building. For every new worldbuilder who thinks "I don't care how my world looks, I just want it to be cool and work for my purposes, there are 10 worldbuilders who will tell them that the way their world looks is the most important thing about the world. This is ESPECIALLY true when planning out fantastical things like big magic events and ... wars. EVERY worldbuilder uses war in some way to shape their world, and its story. But, you don't know WHY this war is happening unless you have a map. So.. make a map first. If you don't know how then this guide is the best I've seen:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/55266/A-Magical-Society-Guide-to-Mapping
>>93202089>several years worth of notes scatteredGet a handle on this. Not sure how old you are, but as you age, your brain will take a toll by way of being able to remember details. I will be over 50 years old soon, and as I've aged, I realize that I must organize my notes for my most precious creations, or else lose them. Oh, the things I've lost thinking I'd remember them, or where I put them. The only good part is later when you stumble upon them randomly some day and finally put those ideas to good use, albeit not the use you originally intended. Good luck. Seriously, go ORGANIZE!
>>93202399I'm young enough that hopefully won't be a problem for a while yet, and I'm steadily working at getting organized. It just takes a while. Also while it's not as nice looking as the Sondra map, here's a map of all the continents in the setting. The other landmasses have basically only a single paragraph of lore on each of them.
I've been off-and-on on the idea of "dogfolk" resembling modern breeds. The catch is that their origin is kinda fucked up: their ancestors were slaves, and they were also put through breeding programs
>>93202399NTA, but is there a solution in the vein of an offline MediaWiki (besides using a local or private server)?
do you give a lot of though to power blocs in your settings?
>>93203805That's kinda interesting. Are they still slaves or have they found their freedom? I generally feel like dogfolk should usually be made to resemble more historical natural breeds. Why would slave masters breed a slave race that looks like pugs for example?>>93203812I basically do that. I keep notebooks on all my campaigns. When I have multiple notebooks for a campaign I'll take all the pages and transfer them to a binder. >>93203855Do you give a lot of thought to the things you post? The fuck do you mean by power blocs? Like individuals, nations, what?
>>93203908Good question. And yeah, by the "present day", that whole thing has long been outlawed.Secondary idea: "mutt" is to these people what the N-word is to us
>>93183334What’s a good rule of thumb for determining whether or not two races, like humans and elves for instance, can have fertile offspring together or not? How divergent can you get before it’s not possible anymore?
>>93204170Bonobos and chimps diverged 1-1.5Mya, and have generation lengths of 25y on average. That's about 40-60,000 generations, and they can still interbreed.Humans and chimps diverged 5.5-7Mya, and have generation lengths of ~30y on average. That's about 180-230,000 generations, and we cannot interbreed with chimps.So, as a rule of thumb, you could say 100,000 generations or so (3Mya for humans) means you can't interbreed any more. Note that generation length is an AVERAGE, not a MINIMUM. A woman who starts pumping them out at 16 and keeps going at a steady pace until she's 44, has kids who are on average 30 years younger than their mother, for a thirty year generation length.The specifics of Robertsonian translocations and stuff is probably not worth it.
>>93183334What color should a microwave beam in sci-fi be?For typical radiation I have it as blue, and advanced more powerful radiation is violet and purple (to signifiy the higher frequency).I was thinking orange for a microwave beam to signify the longer wavelength but I feel that'd also give the implication that it is "weaker" than normal radiation, when that isn't the case for the weapons
>>93183334>Thread QuestionMy setting has a lot of human-animal-hybrids due to experiments by dickbag elves thousands of years prior (no dog-humans or cat-humans due to entirely different reasons). However, all my other non-human races are so completely alien that "goatman" and "human" look really really similar, so basically anything that's at least half-human gets defaulted as "human".
>>93203207I highly suggest you check out that PDF I linked to help you establish essential things like terrains, weather patterns and a water cycle (rivers). This is how you know where to place your settlements. It's also how you know where to put a desert, for example. I see you already have lines of longitude, add latitude and establish an Equator, Prime Meridian and tropics zones. Establish a scale so you know how long it takes people to travel. This ties in with the above, for knowing where the major rivers run for transportation, and which ones might be frozen over in winter. Just an example of how much stuff can open up for you just with some simple map refinements. As stuck as you are, I think it will really help you start moving in a good direction. Nice looking continents.
>>93203812https://obsidian.md/ Currently transitioning from notepad/vim to this. It's very powerful. You can link these notes to an online wiki that your players or DM can see. Or just use it as an organizational tool.
>>93198787I would suggest affectation. The real world definition fits what you're looking for.>speech or conduct not natural to oneself : an unnatural form of behavior meant especially to impress others>the act of taking on or displaying an attitude or mode of behavior not natural to oneself or not genuinely feltAnd the word affect is associated with emotions, and affecting another person.The only part it doesn't really work for is the memories but I think it's close enough. And it'll make you seem original.
>>93204243Note that this isn't absolute. For some reason camels and llamas can interbreed, despite their last common ancestor living tens of millions of years ago. Through some happenstance they just happen to still be genetically compatible.
First time making a world map, but it's still incomplete. I gave very little thought to realistic geography and where mountains should or could be. Many names are placeholders.
What's the best way to crop the Greek/Roman pantheon down to 4 or 5 deities for the purpose of a campaign? I've rolled Athena, Ares, and Nike down into one single deity so far, and I'm thinking that I'll have all the death/underworld gods rolled into one as well.
>>93205527I'm quite familiar with how river, continents, and weather patterns work. This would also doesn't work like a conventional one, given that it is a flat and infinite world where all currents and weather patterns revolve around the center of the world. >>93208567Not terrible, I'd recommend playing with the shapes a bit more. If you look at real maps you'll see that they rarely form simple blobby shapes. The forces which shape terrain don't lead to it forming those kinds of blobs. It's more like stretching and pulling taffy.
>>93208567Is this a complete world map pole to pole? If so why do you have forests at the subtropics
>>93208825Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Dionysus were technically speaking the core six deities of the greek pantheon. What are you trying to trim the pantheon down for? Why not make your own pantheon?
>>93209016Cool, I'll see what I can do with those six. I'm not likely to keep Dionysus around because my setting already has two (or three) gods of alcohol.>What are you trying to trim the pantheon down for?I don't like the Pathfinder 2e range of deities, so I'm writing up my own list.>What are you trying to trim the pantheon down for?My setting has a belief system for each of the four countries, as well as one for dwarves and one for most elves. I'm shooting for around twenty gods total since that's what Pathfinder 2e has. With religious overlaps in consideration (the northernmost and southernmost countries follow the same god of sea and trade, for example), it works out that I should have 4-6 gods per country.>Why not make your own pantheon?I'm currently making five other pantheons. And this particularly country is intended to be Roman-esque, so I have decided to use the Greek/Roman pantheon as a jumping-off point.
>>93197549I'm just not sure what I should do for it. I have a few ideas but they're not all that fleshed out and I'm not as happy with them as I am the others.Most of this debacle is caused because one of the characters I'm focusing on was part of a convent, and another character (who hates her) is an ardent member of the founders religion and to me it just feels a little odd them both being of the same faith. While at the same time I don't feel like she fits in with the other two religions either. It's all a mess
>>93193021Rivers don't become brackish unless there is a bay where the sea and the rivers mix. The flow of the river normal prevents sea water from flowing back up inland.
>>93208883Why'd you cut it that way instead of this way?
>>93209600Cause I wanted to put Eyverdin in the middle. Who are you to accuse me?
>>93209699I'm your boss, and you're fired for drawing the map funny.
>>93209752
>>93208883>If you look at real maps you'll see that they rarely form simple blobby shapes. The forces which shape terrain don't lead to it forming those kinds of blobs. It's more like stretching and pulling taffy.So more jagged coastlines, or smaller continents with irregular shapes? I actually started with jagged coastlines but smoothed them a bit when I read somewhere online that that's actually rare IRL except in the Mediterranean. Maybe that advice was wrong?>>93208965>Is this a complete world map pole to pole? If so why do you have forests at the subtropicsIt is pole to pole. I wanted jungles for the Lizardmen in the 'African' far south. I didn't think about the climate much. I did consider the poles to not have ice at one point, but I did want Midgard and Jotunheim to be cold. I haven't decided yet. The presence of ice giants or it being a certain god's domain could also account for the cold. Are the jungles on my map >>93208567 illogical? They're supposed to be roughly in the same places as Brazil, the Congo and Thailand (going west to east). Pic related is the only local map I've made so far, it's the home of the High Elves (middle continent on the left on the larger map).
I have an idea for a setting where the entire world is a singular massive mountain (maybe three separate mountains squashed together) but I want there to be areas that are on the outside of the mountain as well. Would it be too jarring to have several plateau-like areas scattered about, where trees and such can flourish?
>>93210153>So more jagged coastlines, or smaller continents with irregular shapes? Not exactly. It's not about jaggedness vs smoothness. It's about how the crust gets pinched and pulled to form continents. Take some clay or something, roll it flat, then pinch it in some areas and pull it apart in others. The areas you pinch will get thicker, becoming mountains, they areas that you pull apart will get thinner and thinner until they break apart.
>>93210193Based on your post, I am assuming this is a fairly accurate depiction of you, anon.
>>93210234What an absurd assumption to make. I use a spear, not an axe.
>>93210221I've circled and numbered the blob-ish places I assume you're referring to. 1) Jyttland, fairly blobby but also mountainous and volcanic.2) The top part of the western African continent. Should it lose some land to become more crescent or banana-shape? 3) The back end of what are the Russian far east. I wanted some extra open space there so I had a place where the orcs come from and they needed space to explain why there where so many of them when they pushed the elves off the continent in the world's history. 4) Just south of that, Wutai (China) and Central asia. If you were talking about other areas please let me know, I appreciate any and all advice.
>>93204616Any suggestions here?An idea I had was a mixture of orange and blue (such as a blue core and orange edges) to signify that the beam is different but still has a large amount of energy.
>>93210153>It is pole to pole. I wanted jungles for the Lizardmen in the 'African' far south. I didn't think about the climate much. I did consider the poles to not have ice at one point, but I did want Midgard and Jotunheim to be cold. I haven't decided yet. The presence of ice giants or it being a certain god's domain could also account for the cold.>Are the jungles on my map >>93208567 illogical? They're supposed to be roughly in the same places as Brazil, the Congo and Thailand (going west to east).>Pic related is the only local map I've made so far, it's the home of the High Elves (middle continent on the left on the larger map).As a baseline the bands I showed in the map should be desert(and semi-desert) in red and jungle+savanna in green.Eastern coastlines facing large oceans should be humid(think southern US, Caribbean and Southern China+Japan) even in the red bands but monsoonal winds can deflect moisture away even at the equator(think Somalia and Kenya), though I don't see an example of that in your world.Talking about Monsoons if you have a large landmass face an equatorial ocean this place can experience strongly season rains in the summer and thus also have some kind of "jungle"(the definition of the term is vague)
>>93210396For the spots you've circled:1) yeah that could do with an adjustment. Look at real world volcanic islands, they are never circular, they tend to have parts that stick out due to what side they erupt from, what direction the lava flows, and what way the wind blows debris they kick up.2) No it shouldn't become crescent shaped, I actually think you should give the horn that extends from the bottom end of it more peninsulas and other jutted out sections, use the mountains to inform you where land should be extended. 3) Again, that's part of the continent that I don't have much problem with, instead, try and take all the other nob-like peninsulas that stick out at the other end, varying up how far they extend inland and their shapes so the center part of the continent looks less like an amoeba.4) That part looks fine. Then for some thoughts of my own: a.) The southern half of the lizard man continent needs some rethinking. It looks like a fucked up kidney. b.) Please fix your islands. Make them form into chains, look at real world islands for inspiration. The way they are placed is incredibly haphazard. The only ones that kinda work are the ones surrounding the White Isle, but those are placed into a weird circle.c.) Chaos blasted lands, make its shape more interesting. Try drawing a tectonic plate map. It's not hard and you don't need to know any mechanics. Just cut out a bunch of weird shapes from your map, decide which way they're going, and where they are going into each other is where mountains and islands form, and where they are going apart is where big oceans should be. I did some scribbles on the other map you posted earlier, maybe this'll help you visualize, maybe it's unreadable, idk. I hope this helps.
I am trying to figure out some kind of materialistic magic that doesn't involve fucking nanobots or ancient, postapo infrastructure generating anomalies as a service, but I am coming up with nothing, guys...Anyone see something like this in a system or had their own ideas?
>>93210777Just explain shit as being linked to alternate dimensions and call it a day.
>>93183334What are some ways to make not!Genasi more distinct from the original version? Like the race’s name for instance, especially if you are trying to remove the Genie association.
>>93204616Well, the effect of the radiation on the air it’s passing through should definitely be considered.
>>93204616Well Maser Weapons, microwave lasers, wouldn't really light up on the visual spectrum. They'd super heat the air, as well as anything they touched. So really what you'd most likely see is a heat ripple in the air, and a jet of plasma that would erupt from whatever they hit.
How do mountains form if they're not situated at the lines between two tectonic plates? I had a look at the ones on Earth and many mountain ranges were in the middle of a plate. >>93210489Interesting, how did you add the climate zones on top of the map? This is something I hadn't considered either. In this case, the top red zone would be a temperate European climate, the green zone is hotter with arid lands, especially the landlocked parts in the eastern continent(s). The bottom red zone includes my desert regions and tropical zones in the west and east. Would the distance from the sun and size of the planet explain my world's variations from Earth's climate? The jungles in the south are where they are because I wanted a wood elf and dwarven realm north of the European human cultures without that region being too snowy. I started on the north and worked my way south.Fantasy India is supposed to have rains held by the high mountain range there. I suppose the same can be said for Latin America. >>932105901 + 2) I'll see to elongating Jyttland a bit and adding some islands south-east of the first African continent.>the other nob-like peninsulas that stick out at the other end3) Part of the reason it looks like that is the idea that they were land bridges (isthmuses I think?) that where destroyed during cataclysmic wars in ancient times when old magic got thrown around. It also helps with navigation, now that factions could plausibly sail a fleet through to attack other people elsewhere. >a.) The southern half of the lizard man continent needs some rethinking. It looks like a fucked up kidney.I had some islands with zombie pirates at the southern tip, but moved them up north to be closer to foreign colonies so they could get 'fresh' recruits and ships more easily. I might put them back then. comment too long 1/2
>>93210777>materialistic magic What precisely do you mean by that?
>>93210590>The only ones that kinda work are the ones surrounding the White Isle, but those are placed into a weird circle.I took inspiration from Warhammer's Ulthuan, I considered them not as real grounded islands but chunks of land held there by ancient elven magics. In between you have thick mists, whirlpools that can easily capsize an intruding ship. Moving islands might also sink unwanted guests. >c.) Chaos blasted lands, make its shape more interesting.Will do, might turn it into a flat 'U' with a semi-enclosed inner sea. That's where demons have a bit of a permanent foothold in the material realm.
>>93211973I know, but it's a sci-fi setting so I kind of want everything to be visible by defaultI do like the rippling idea though- I think I'll mix the heat distortion with the orange and blue idea.
>>93212880You could do what they did in Heisei era Godzilla movies, where the Maser beam itself doesn't have color but it lets off powerful electrical discharges when fired like lightning bolts. Or you could do what Volkite weapons did in 40k where they're so hot that they cause the air in the path of their blast to briefly become plasma. The color thus is typically an orangey-yellow.
>>93212457Plate boundaries have not always been in the same place. The Urals, Appalachians, Scandes, Pyrenees, Transantarctics and many more were all once the site of tectonic collisions that concluded and ceased long ago. There are also processes that can form mountains far away from plate boundaries like flat-slab subduction (where young and buoyant oceanic plate refuses to sink at a subduction zone and instead grinds along the bottom of the continental plate far inland, which is why the Rockies are so wide), delamination (where chunks of the dense lithospheric layer underneath the crust founder and peel away, allowing the crust to become more buoyant and rise, contributed to the Sierra Nevadas), magmatic underplating (where magma accumulates at the base of the crust, inflating, thickening and uplifting it, as found under the Cumbrian highlands) and mantle convection (a plume of hot, buoyant mantle material like a hotspot lifts up the lithosphere above it, as in the several Saharan mountain ranges).
>>93212457>Would the distance from the sun and size of the planet explain my world's variations from Earth's climate?AFAIK no, the region around the equator is the most wet because it's hotter and it's hotter almost by definition, there is really no way around it.I feel like made your temperate region shift too southwards, look at Europe and appreicate how horizontal it really is, measure the distance from Oslo to Palerm and then compare it to the distance from the north pole to the equatorial line>How do mountains form if they're not situated at the lines between two tectonic plates? I had a look at the ones on Earth and many mountain ranges were in the middle of a plate.They would be older mountains, decently eroded. See Appalachians, afaik
>>93212962I see, that's a good idea. I do like the Godzilla style electrical discharges, so I'll go with that since it'll look distinct.The general idea is that the faction uses radioactive dust as weapons, so I wanted a sort of "flamethrower" like weapon as well that is basically molten corium. The effects are not 1-to-1 realistic though as I intended the molten corium to corrode anything into oily smoke.I'm not sure what colour to make the molten corium however. I had the regular dust as blue, and the "advanced" dust as violet (since violet light is higher frequency than blue).I was considering making the molten dust/corium as violet as well but I feel that'd give it a somewhat acid or poison like vibe.
>>93183334I was thinking that all the races were once human, but over time they changed, from a combination of magic and natural evolution, into separate races, each tied to an aspect of one of the elements of the world, like Elves representing the aspect of Earth relating to trees, and Dwarves tied to the aspect of Earth involving veins of buried metals and gems, what do you think, and what races would you associate with each element after examples like Merfolk and Water?
game/setting pitch: Like Halo, there's a galactic three way war between humanity, a religious empires with greatly superior numbers and technology, and a space zombies.However, humanity is based on pic and while lacking in most fronts, makes it up with dark magic and demonic powers. Instead of supersoldiers like Spartans, you have possessed knightly orders donning full plate armors impervious to plasma bolts and warlocks curse-murdering enemy COs across the battlefield.The not!Covenant are still genocidal zealots, but the enemy they're trying to wipe out of the galaxy is a bunch of primitives wielding unholy powers, so their actions can be seem as perfectly reasonable.
>>93215121Forgot to ask the question: Yay or nay?I feel it could be fun, but on the other hand it's definitely very edgy.
>>93215121>>93215145I say go for it, but double down on that edginessLike make it where demon babies or some shit are used as currency for how much raw potential energy they have within them
>>93213052Thank you, very interesting! I'm now on the fence about either adjusting some geography or just disregarding all that because the setting's creator god made the world that way. Part of me thinks going too far in the scientific geological explanations kills the magic a setting can have. I wonder, do Middle-Earth, Westeros, DnD's Toril and other places stand up to thorough geological examination? Pic related is a map of Faerun from DnD. >>93213179I removed the poles from my current WIP world map. If you can't see them, they could be an indeterminate distance to the north and south. That way, I can put the equator line on the equivalents of the Latin American and Congolese jungles and have it make sense. The Mythaian jungle is a bit further north from the equator, but I checked the real world and saw Thailand/Vietnam were further north as well, so I hope that's all good. I might post a slightly revised version later.
>>93215695Westeros is notorious for how bad the map really is. Faerun is not at al trying to be geologically accurate and it isn't.Middle earth unsurprisingly stands up to higher levels of scrutiny because Tolkien
>>93215695I'm no one who replied to you before butI say just make the map look however you want. Make it look cool and don't give a dick about realism. Italy looks like a boot? Add a hand shaped country or some shit.
>>93215121>picrelSo, humanity turns itself into Chaos Space Marines?
>>93216026>Make it look cool and don't give a dick about realism.I'm going to do a mix of both, but the equator comment got to me so I started anew with a grid pattern I'll remove later and a warning sign on the equator. However, it seems now fantasy India is below the equator. Does anyone know if this mess with the monsoon season? There is going to be a mountain range in the north. And would the Caribbean being below the equator (around where Brazil is) change weather patterns (sunny but with hurricanes) a lot there? Many thanks for any and all comments.
>>93209432>it just feels a little odd them both being of the same faith.I don't think it's odd for two person with the same faith hate each other.In fact, i've seen someone use his own faith to attack other with the same faith as him in real life.Faith is different between individuals. So, a clash between faith within the same religion is something normal.
>>93217353NTA but I'll try.>monsoonFrom what I can tell, the rainy season for fantasy India would still be during its summer (which, since it's south of the Equator now, would be winter for the northern hemisphere), but the monsoon effect it has will be noticeably weaker than what RL India has, although the rainy season might be longer instead, likely extending into its fall.>tropical stormI imagine it will be less frequent with its new location due to a lack of large landmass south/southwest of it, which seems to be a major factor in how strong/frequent tropical storms are (compare North America and especially East Asia to South America and eastern Australia). In a way, both of these changes are driven by a similar mechanism, namely the presence of large landmass in the mid latitude of that hemisphere. Basically, land (generally) makes the doldrums move further away from the equator than on ocean, resulting in more significant prevailing wind change in the (eastern) regions between the doldrums and the equator. This both drives the monsoon season and tropical cyclone formation. In your world's case, I think most of the tropical storms south of the equator would likely be hitting Nazambi and maybe the southernmost part of Enbesinia. Eastern not!India might get some as well but likely not much.
>>93216748That does sound kind of cool actually.
>>93183334How exactly would something like green, blue, or red skin or hair evolve in a humanoid race that shares common heritage with humans, like picture related? I mean, how would that even get selected for, and what would the advantage of looking like you took a bath in colored paint be?
>>93220224Orcs are not the result of evolution, anon. They have literally never - EVER - been depicted as natural animals arising from evolutionary processes. Ever.The belief that science has any relevance to fantasy demonstrates a profound failure to understand what fantasy is.As it just so happens, in the foundational works of modern fantasy genres in which orcs exist, they were created through supernatural means. Their appearance / physiology is the consequence of the blasphemy of their existence. Deal with it.
>>93220224>I mean, how would that even get selected for, and what would the advantage of looking like you took a bath in colored paint be?I dunno, ask lizards.
>Reworked the map to keep things that should be above the equator above it. >Moved Latin America far to the east so it's more accessible for other civilisations and people don't run into the high elf island>This also makes more sense as the Lizardmen cultures are closer together and can use less bandwidth teleporting between cities or something>Ocean below fantasy India needs to be kept clear for weather reasons but there is room for an Australian landmass and something in the south-west>Big red titles still need workI'm a lot happier with this map, but I wonder if it holds up to geographical and climatological scrutiny?
>>93215695Given my real-life profession I can be really autistic about geography and geology, but even I know when to put the brakes on it and curb the realism a little bit, or at least have explanation follow purpose. Fantasy maps especially just don't need to make complete sense - people don't expect it to. I might gnash my teeth at the worst cliches of fantasy geography, but ultimately I understand than making it "realistic" comes second to making an interesting world that's fun to play in or create stories with.
>>93183334What do you need to consider for the inclusion of winged races, especially in regards to their evolution?
>>93221396What have you personally considered about winged races and their evolution?
>>93221396Their body weight, size and strength
>>93221396The obvious thing would be to figure out how their arms evolved into wings. If you want to go with the wings being their own seperate appendage rather than adapted arms then you need to figure out what sort of pressures etc would allow for the evolution of a third pair of appendages, which, if you wanted this winged species to be somewhat related to humans would be a major evolutionary schism likely requiring considerable familial distance if not some really freak mutational event since I'm not aware of any mammals who aren't still to some extent working off the four limbs-structure.Another important thing to consider is the weight of the species. As far as I'm aware birds evolved hollow bones and other light-weight adaptations in order to make flight easier which in turn saves on the wingspan. However a flying species is also going to need some big special muscles to help with the flapping which in turn should be anchored to a suitable bone structure which is why birds have such a big sternum.
>>93220224>what would the advantage of looking like you took a bath in colored paint be?Seems like a good candidate for a secondary sexual characteristic. Basically, the ladies find the colour hot and so the guys who have a tendency towards it gets laid alot more than those who don't. Give it a couple of generations and it becomes a more or less ubiquitous trait.Another explanation for it could be that it serves as warning to predators that they're toxic to consume. Yet another answer is simply that it helps dealing with the sun and/or other types of radiation. The reason white skin came to be a thing with humans is that it helps the absorption of vitamin D, which is something that people in sunnier climates don't have to worry about. However the lack of pigmentation also means that white people more easily develop skin cancer.
>>93222095>Another explanation for it could be that it serves as warning to predators that they're toxic to consume.that is a good fucking idea, I didn't even think of thatI'm not the original anon but that is such a simple and realistic explanation
>>93222012The hollow bones more so helps by storing oxygen. Flight is very energy-intensive and the air in the bones ensures a steady supply of oxygen. Their bones aren't actually that much lighter than mammal bones of similar sizes. It's possible that birds have inherited the hollow bones from dinosaurs that evolved at a time where there was less oxygen in the atmosphere, and storing air would help with explosive movements.
>>93183334Had a cool dream, was talking to some Snaid "two-headed" (one for senses + genitals the other for eating) t-rex/elephant equivalent. Eyespots at every limb tip and weird almost rolling gait, could make for a cool fake hydra sorta ayy.>>93215981I dig Second Apocalypse's Earwa, something about it just "clicks" for me.>>93215121Seems the not!Flood are missing out on the pseudo-religious goodness. If Covenant are all about submission to their (possibly psycho-projection) religion while humanity are industrially exploiting theirs perhaps the Flood are violently antitheist nihilists (again Inchoroi, Dunyain and Nonmen from SA are cool touchstones). The hilarious thing is that Halos would be seen as holy yet inadequate by them, yes the put the ensouled to rest but not permanently (humanity + Covenant re-evolved) and not within the paradise-in-flesh which they conceive their hive mind as being.>>93210777Recursive simulation hypothesis. Either use admin codes or create your own microworlds and enact changes on them with the expectation that you're "downstack" from some other version of you doing the same thing.
>>93183334I was trying to come up with race ideas for a not!Japan in my world, like Tengu, Kitsunes, and Oni, are there any other Yokai that would make a good fit? And what might lead to a race that’s closely related to humans naturally developing horns, anyway?
>>93221396I mean anything is possible with magic, but through miracle or other means, the trait was able to be passed on naturally. The big hurdle is rationalizing the huge wings that a humanoid would need to fly, and warping the towns/cities around it. All buildings would have open high ceilings if they had ceilings at all...Like Unicorn Overlord (good game btw) which has an angel race that plays the religious prideful archetype, that you later find out were failed experiment
>>93222830>what might lead to a race that’s closely related to humans naturally developing horns, anyway?You could just make them humans, that through disgrace, dishonor or what have you were cursed with horns, a physical depiction that branded them as bad. And the curse can be passed on, and only if the dishonor/disgrace is mended in some manor or atoned for, will the curse be lifted from the bloodline. Leading to communes of them sticking together and creating little tribes to survive.
>>93222830Jorogumo, bake-danuki, bakeneko/nekomata, yuki-onna, snow monkey.
>>93220337WoW, though I will admit that they only turned green because of demonic corruption, but that still leaves goblins, trolls, and night elves.>>93220998I'm talking about in mammals, especially primates.
>>93212485the physical world is real/primary and not just a projection of some other system>>93210787>>93222202These answers are grim, because that's sorta the way I was leaning already... but it's just so miraculous and hyper-potent, it takes the challenge out of the world and makes it inherently less worth investing into, looking from outside in.
>>93220224>how would that even get selected forLike most traits, it would likely be the result of those skin colours providing some kind of advantages over the others in terms of surviving in their environment (more on that later) and/or it is selected for breeding i.e. the opposite gender of the race prefers to sleep with people with funky colourful skin. In fact, the latter might be more important than the former considering how sexual selection has resulted in many traits that are straight up detrimental to survival.>what would the advantageIf it is strictly based on sexual selection, then it does not have to have a practical advantage, although it is also possible that those skin colours are the results or side effects of some metabolic processes that do help with survival. You are basically free to come up with whatever to justify it (or not). For human examples, the Fugates from Kentucky are famous for (once) having blue skins due to methemoglobinemia. It is genetic in nature but it is apparently not severe enough to kill them early. It would not be too far-fetched to imagine that methemoglobinemia can help against some specific disease in fiction and results in the "blue skin gene" becoming more widespread like how sickle cell anaemia makes people more resistant against malaria.
I wanted a fantasy EMP spell that would primarily serve as an anti-magic toolBut I also wanted it to possess some method of harm against regular mundane things.I'm not sure how to write how it would hurt regular organisms though
>>93224957Maybe life itself is inherently magical even if they don't/can't use magic?
>>93225000Hm I think that would work.I might just describe it as something similar to force damage from D&D
>>93224084>I'm talking about in mammals, especially primates.There are potential mutations for weird skin colors in mammals (e.g. baboons, Blue Fugates). It's only our hair coloration that's biologically restricted.
How do you merge genres or themes without coming across as corny? For the setting im working on i want to have the science horror that you get from dinosaurs and genetic experimentation with some supernatural elements in the background from the history of the area which is a silent hill kinda mess of serial killers, hauntings, vanished people that kind of thing instead of the full on evil dimension stuff.
>>93223211>bake-danuki, bakeneko/nekomataI get the others, save maybe snow monkey, but why those?
>>93226569Intelligent, distinct race (versus something like ghosts or werewolves), roughly humanoid (for playability).
Have roughly worked out some conditions for plausible and exciting melee combat in sci-fi.>armor has surpassed weapons at the infantry scaleYeah you can't really block the BIG weapons (vehicle mounted, missiles, etc.) but chemically propelled munitions can be plausibly negated by materials science.>said armor enhances physicality of the usersBasic power armor argument. It exists, and it makes you better than a human could normally do. By adding a cybernetic angle, stuff like "drones pinpoint targeting weak points in armor" can be mitigated. Drones become a suppression tech, not a kill tech. You use them to limit approaches since they can "maybe sometimes" incapacitate or kill.>drone vs droneEvery operative needs a drone that can provide some kind of support and keep up with the operative. Suit AI and drone AI can integrate as well to provide additional computational power and feedback. Also ECM can be considered here >why not carry the big guns? Powered suits could carry extra large weapons, power packs, etc, but then you're slower, heavier, and a larger target. Might asll keep those on a vehicle with even more armor. Not convenient in tight quarters like a ship or hive streets neither.>how does melee get around the armor?Crushing force is effective, so is high voltage in the gaps between non-nonductive material during a grapple. The pollax's descedant becomes popular presumably, now with several times the strength behind each swing. >muh fancy mini lasers, plasma guns, etc?The power requirements of those kinds of weapons is silly for man-portable scale. So chemical munitions remains most common. No laser swords either sorry.Feels consistent to me. What am I missing that would make this not internally consistent? Some factor I haven't considered?
>>93227246>chemical munitionsWhoops, I meant conventional not chemical. My bad. I should have probably just written small arms in the first place anyways.
>>93227246>By adding a cybernetic angle, stuff like "drones pinpoint targeting weak points in armor" can be mitigated.If cybernetic can mitigate rong range attack, what is stopping it from mitigating melee attack?
So for a bit of fun with spare bits, im starting a project after seeing things like Trench Crusade, Turnip and Sludge, but instead of making everything filthy and covered in scabs I want to attempt to do the opposite, not that there is anything wrong with those settings I just want to see if I can come up with something where the battlefields are actually beautiful, and the fighters themselves arent covered in mutations and dirt.>fictional not-earth, set just at the turn into the 1900s where a WW1 event happened but they had AI during this war where they developed interface computers, but not tanks, for instance, in this setting a pseudo martini henry is the standard rifle of all factions, not an automatic or laser weapon etc. The result of having AI during this time was that the AI allowed them to cause maximum damage to each side, some non convential scenarios happened via reliance on AI. Things like augmenting people to have cybernetic limbs that were aided by AI, weather manipulation and trying to make robots>during the initial rollout of the robot soldiers, the AI became self aware. This new faction had access to all sides weaponry and used it to gas most of the planet, as well as shell everything, and use weather control to flood most of the planet>it didnt take long for all sides to rid themselves of AI technology and digital equipment, and some even have a skepticism towards electricity itself now. The AI seems dormant and unable to do anything now, but the damage was done, and fears the AI still exists has made most factions shy away from more advanced technology>so now, the remaining humans exist in their own seperate zones and fight for control of habitable land, of which has been absent of human touch for over 200 years resulting in overgrown cities and fields of flowers that have grown where humanity no longer dwells.What do you think for a premise. Id continue on with the factions etc but if this isnt working then Ill try something else.
>>93227774At close ranges you are heaving an object with substantially more mass, if a bit slower. Both sides in a fight are roughly equivalent in speed/reactions, and strength. You might be able to deflect off a shot of 50 BMG, but taking a 3-5kg mass to the chest or head has the quality to kill the man inside even if you don't penetrate the armor (but you still might be able to get that crushing force through). Of course both sides are dueling, so the armor and cybernetic systems (plus human intuition) are at play to prevent this from happening. Just moving you fast enough in some direction can kill you, and extra mass can deal more damage even if you have to apply it in an inconvenient way (melee). Mitigate? Yeah. But it's part of a combined system that intends to make you get it done faster when vs a peer force.I'm trying to visualize a semi-plausible operator of the future, and with no general artificial intelligence so you can't just day "robots do it for us". Letting a "dumb" AI do "tactical" decisions for you and having the human operator handle the "strategic" while supported by backup drones that can apply better suppression than any human marksman made sense. But also being so durable that anything short of an anti-tank weapon, and being able to smash through doors and crush skulls when rushing through a building at a sprint seems useful, and mostly plausible. For everything else there is vehicles and planes that can dish out damage that destroys entire cities. An extremely precise, plausible, human-centric manner of fighting.I hope that is convincing.
>>93183334Given how often we see Amazons in fantasy settings, assuming that they’re not deliberately getting rid of the male babies, what might cause a population of humans or near-humans to develop a heavy predisposition towards female offspring, with one out of ten or so births being male?
>>93228610Wolbachia. Otherwise, nothing - Fisher's principle means that sex ratios naturally approach 1:1 outside something like that.
>>93228610does it matter why they're like that?
>>93228610They're just a race that never gives birth to men. Simple as. BTW- the highest cause of death for women back in the day were complications related to childbirth, and a large part of that was that women had to be constantly pregnant when most children died before they reached age 5. You can directly correlate womens rights to child-mortality and access to contraception, since women can afford to fight for rights when not constantly immobilized by pregnancy.
>>93228610>latent magic that causes births to be skewed heavily towards females>caused by their own priestesses>caused by their lizardmen allies>side-effect of jungle plants they eat>side-effect of the local fountain of youth
>>93228758Aren't there plenty of species that have skewed gender ratios? Like Bees.
>>93230024Those don't use chromosomal sex determination like how mammals do.
>>93183334There’s the descendants of Sun Wukong of course, and possibly dragons depending on how you spin them, but what other races would work for a fantasy China setting? Because I’m out of ideas.
>>93231046>>93222830why are you like this
>>93222830Kappa.
I wanted to write a swordsmanship style based off Juyo from Star Wars, which was once described as>seemingly unconnected staccato sequencesWhat are some other good ways to describe itl? I thought of>a series of disjointed strikes, each one bold and from a strange angle.>Each blow struck with power and speed, with a variety of angles and abrupt stops that left Jonah uncertain of when and where the next blow would come in from
Hey I was thinking about a cyberpunk New York setting and trying to sketch out what gangs might operate where. Trying to come up with a balance of pretty typical gangs (cartels, italian mob, triads, etc.) with some more zany cyberpunk/vaguely post-apocalyptic groups. Anyway I was thinking for Harlem to make them stand out a bit more that they'd have a sort of gang-confederation going of the different black gangs, rather than like splitting them between haitians and ethiopians and so and so forth. I was think that they'd maybe be some sub-factions like that (like I like the idea of Haitians and other Carribean-background gangs all deciding to wear obnoxious hawaiin shirts that piss everyone else off), but that the guys at the top would be like classy 1920's styled gangsters in clean-cut suits. Can't think of any sort of name for them though. I want something that evokes a sense of dignity that also communicates that they are a wide-spanning and not necessarily wholly unified group. Also I could use similar ideas for what to do with the hispanic part of Harlem. I figure like actual south-american cartels would be out of place (they're too hardcore to really be allowed to operate even in dystopian New York). I was thinking little dominica's thing would be that it's the big biker gang territory since it's at the fringes of Manhattan.
What exactly makes one fantasy setting stand out from another? What makes a fantasy realm feel "unique" as opposed to "generic-fantasy-made-for-this-game"?
Rate my prophecy:1.You have summoned meadopted son of the Gods,To tell of times long goneand not yet passed.2.I peer into the Divineand I see all.Lonely Gods and the Gleaming Light.The birth of The Sonsand from the Gleaming LightThe kosmos taking shape.3.The empty void in exchange of souls;the food of the gods made manifest.the countless trials before their work was perfected.Failures driven undergroundand the earth given over to humanity.4.The One-Eyed walking amongst them;Giving them fire and teaching them order.The hubris of man proven;The Gods’ releasing the Sea-Giants.Dare I say more, World-Steward?5.Holy Gods taking pity on lost creation;Golden Eyes visits the Founder,Teaching him well of Gods’ plan;Rising from the north,The Bulwark of Hopevanquishing the unbelieversand setting the wheels spinning.6Wise ruler gone too far,peering into the Divine;he gluts himself on frivolities while empires fall.Son shall rise to take the seat;restoring the world.Dare I say more, World-Steward?7.The witch shall burn,four times not enough;like grass in the seasons;the Herald of Ending.8.Sharrapu shall break free;The Ash-Father finding his brood of Seven.The earth shall shake and crywhen he marches to doomwith the dragons in tow.9.The Gods intervention;too late due to hope.The end of the world made certain by rainfall.The great gate smashed and the world in splinters.
I ain't reading that.
>>93235170Fair.
Is there any sort of throne design for a centaur that isn't like this lounge chair?I'm not against this lounge chair design, I just wanted to see if there are any other feasible possibilities
>>93237082maybe some sort of raised platform they could rest their belly on? I don't think chair design is really in the centaur wheelhouse
>>93228070It's convincing.I just find it peculiar how everytime someone tries to justify melee on sci-fi setting, they completely make long range obsolete.
>>93183334>not using the superior four western elements
>>93186104You should decide on Zodiacs first.
I have been imagining something that would be a mix of communism and the imperium of man, probably done already but I want to see what people here think of the notion and if it already has been exhaustively done better to have something to read up on. By communist I am talking Marxism-Leninism inspired communism not the new left type socialism. Someone mentioned that communist societies aren't possible in 40K but I have doubts on this because communist countries constantly were paranoid of infiltrators and purged regularly. People would be constantly under scrutiny of secret police forces seeking out chaos cults or gene stealers. So is it then true that a communist Imperium of Man would look like the PRC? Paranoid purges from accusations of chaos infiltration? A fight against galactic xenoimperialism in a forever war? Space marines inspired by the new Soviet man?
>>93239300The main difference between WH40k IoM and a commified version would be the absence of markets and the lack of any noble titles. (Of course, Songbun shows that you can even get a certain degree of caste system in a commie state.) They're really quite close otherwise.
>>93235133I think unique isn't so much the issue. Plenty of great fantasy settings are pretty generic. Like the Witcher franchise is mostly 'unique' in that it has more polish mythological elements, and the Witchers while cool, could be one of any 'coolguy' factions that are common in fantasies. I think what's most important is you have a hook that makes exploring the world interesting. For the Witcher it has a cynical tone that is tempered with sincerity, and a lot of those polish eastern european cultural overtones that are fun to explore (history not being kind to the poles, they have the view that bad guys are just gonna win sometimes and that's how history gets written). To use the Elder Scrolls as an example, people like to talk about how weird a lot of its lore is, but that's largely background fluff. On it's face it's a lot of generic tropes thrown together, which is exactly what Arena was. It's hook is it's freedom to go anywhere and explore at your own pace in terms of gameplay mechanics which is something that keeps bringing people to the franchise despite their frustrations with Bethesda.So my advice is focus more on what your hook is that'll make the setting fun to explore, rather than what makes it not 'generic'.
>>93239520True, the main differences would end up being aesthetic and for a war game that's fine. I do think other differences would exist, especially in how they deal with the rest of the galaxy. I think they'd really fucking hate the Eldar to a degree the IoM doesn't appear to. While the Necrons also are feudal, they lack the opulence of the Elder to rage over. Working class idealization was a part of the soviet culture even if it was bureaucratic rule in practice, space marines made to work the factories and farms like Hercules working the Aegean stable as a part of their regime and instill their minds with the value of labor. The Eldar are elitist, degenerate and are as bourgeois as you get in 40K. The Eldar would be natural enemies of a communist/soviet imperium. On the otherhand, the IoM may be friendlier to xenos compared to 40K IoM. But in practice be like the Tau about it where they assimilate and indoctrinate the xenos they take over to the marxist worldview, or as they'd call it, liberation. Outside of that I agree. There's ways to rationalize mass sacrifices to the god emperor (who'd get more Mao and personality cult aesthetic) and integrate psykers. And the Mechanicus would look basically the same and have the same relationship, maybe with a bit more soviet lab freakiness going on. The Inquisition gets an extra KGB degree of brutality. The Imperial Guard already is inspired off the red army along with WW1 mass infantry, so they'd be the same as well but with more babushka. The other matter is the IoM is an amalgamation of all sorts of horrific human societies already, including the soviet union so these changes I describe probably already exist regionally in the Imperium of man as it currently exists. To the point i'd not be surprised if there was a sector where they tried communism again but ended up simply being more IoM to the point the IoM just expects tribute (to which the local rulers comply).
>>93238130The aim wasn't to make it obsolete, but create a scope where you aren't going to use your ranged weapons because they are overkill. After all, an ICBM is a weapon with no real countermeasures right? But it's also too much for killing off a terrorist cell. A Predator-type drone is long-ranged and can sling missiles down from above, but again might be overkill, or isn't covert enough. So we still send in infantry.I hope it didn't come across entirely like making long-range obsolete since that's not really the point. It's just that combat where it makes sense to send in boots on the ground doesn't involve very long ranges. I'd like to clarify that the drones could totally kill one of these power-armored fucks, but moving quick between cover and around corners inside buildings or narrow streets keeps their odds of surviving high. And even a human with a large enough gun (maybe something like an M2?) could definitely fuck you over. Since every operative in one of these has a drone with them, that is their ranged weapon and they are leveraging it to both cover themselves and eliminate targets. Presumably some operators might even prefer to micromanage 2-3 drones in close proximity to themselves instead of charging around with a melee weapon. Hell even if it's less convenient there is plausibility to having a gunner in a squad with his own M242 or something equally silly in a more defensive role, all locked down behind fortifications and supported by drones.But its really hard to straddle the line between "near-future tacticool" and "power armor badasses smashing shit up with sci-fi hammers". Clearly.
I want to expand on a science fiction race. The basic concept is that they were gengineered “gardeners” for a now extinct species, and thus are pacifistic, environmentalists, and biologically immortal. They are meant to be “wise elder race” types. But I feel like they need just one more thing to really make them pop. Any ideas?
>>93241569They are immortal because they grow their own organs and body parts back. And not in their bodies, those parts are in the garden.
Monsters in my world have a core of "dust", aka magic stuff, and it can sell for millions. It's really useful for all kinds of industrial and scientific applications. But since only Mages can hunt them without dying at high rates, Mages have all but monopolized them. And since Mages tend to be really hard to beat without help from priests, this leaves governments a little worried about the power they can accumulate.They can't just ally with priests because priests nag them about being immoral and corrupt, and demand they do something to help the poor and weak sections of society. But naturally, all types of oligarchs and politicians hate that.Is there any way normies could get Mages to fight each other so that they can't effectively take over? I don't know how to induce such a societal breakdown when you're the weaker side.
>>93242795Mages are prone to magical mood swings based on their chosen schools or elements of magic, it's the price you have to pay for having such incredible power. As such, "mundanes" are much more stable and can actually do things like hold down a normal job, which wizards can't really do, leading to wizards being easier to gaslight or not liking each other.Each Wizard has their own unique view of the world and their own magic, which even master-apprentice wizard pairs are slightly different. As such, they cannot congregate or form societies. Even the most powerful wizard will always be a man alone, constantly seeing the other "false" wizards using and corrupted the vision of magic that they have.All wizards are effectively sterile, thus meaning Wizards cannot have kids. As such, normal people have extended social groups that Wizards don't, meaning they will always make up a great majority in a society and can work together better then Wizards can. Wizards can fight for power with each other but if they kill a mundane, he'll always have backup, the wizards just don't.Due to social and cultural reasons, Wizards care very deeply about their image to normal people. Being depicted as an evil witch or demon-summoning sorcerer is really bad for Wizards, as such they always listen to what mundanes have to say and try to tow the line.Wizards require a special type of extremely common magical reagent to cast spells. Monster "dust" is the best and useful, but there is a temporary version of it produced by all living things, regular humans included. As such, Wizards like to live around people and join in with "pacts" with large populations for permission to harvest their dust each day or night to power their spells. This is akin to a local election or "town mascot", but requires some form of mystic consent. It is also not "shelf stable" the way monster dust is, only lasting about a day, so they need constant approval.
I wrote a full rule book for a ttrpg. How should i get it into a polished state and publish it. Was gonna pay for a cover page on fiverr but what then?
im working on a project about a jurassic park type place where a corporation has remade extinct animals as well as altered a few mixing both prehistoric and modern animals so i wanted to ask what animals from prehistory do you think are underrated and deserve more representation?I'm more of a 3d artist and my project is for my class, im going for a real resident evil, horror kinda theme
>>93243799>so i wanted to ask what animals from prehistory do you think are underrated and deserve more representation?Chalicotheres and pterosaurs, imo.
>>93244238excellent choices, i was planning on adding some of them already : )
>>93242937Get other people to read to it. Ask them if anythings confusing, difficult to understand, or seems incoherent. You want to know if your book conveys information well and has a good flow.
>>93242879Well, Magic is already basically weaponized egotism that overlays the Mage's reality over the real one.So them being egotistical loners could fit.....
>>93244415Look up Unknown Armies for good inspiration on the topic. If you're less into standard fantasy cosmologies, the "Adepts" could fit as your mages and the "Avatars" could fit as your priests, one going against the flow of humanity in their own egotistical way and the other moving with everyone and acting out important, meaningful roles.
>>93244428Or Jujutsu Kaisen.
working on a map for my project, this island cluster is in the middle of the north pacific. i have a few questions if anyone is willing to offer me feedback or advicewhere should i put the mountains?how do i use the ocean current or temperature maps of the pacific to build the enviroments on the islands? and more generally, whats a good size for these islands? i want them to feel big and expansive but if you were to look at the earth from a sattelite view they'd be easy to miss
>>93246202>how do i use the ocean current or temperature maps of the pacific to build the enviroments on the islands?It's complicated! Temperature is generally determined by latitude over currents, ie. if it's in line with mexico it's going to be hot no matter what current is around it, yeah? That being said, a warm ocean current, like the gulf stream in the atlantic or the black stream in the pacific does wonders for heating. On the northern hemisphere, you get warmer weather on the right side of the warm stream, and colder on the left. On the southern hemisphere, that's reversed. Also, you should remember that oceans and large bodies of water tempers climates, making the extremes less so.
>>93246202>and more generally, whats a good size for these islands? i want them to feel big and expansive but if you were to look at the earth from a sattelite view they'd be easy to missPuerto Rico and Socotra are reasonably easy to miss, so something in the 4-12,000km2 range is probably about right.
>>93248678>>93248678New thread!
>>93241569Are they the Hork-Bajir of Animorph's? >Species of six legged parrots completely bork their homeworld environment>The sole exception is an equatorial canyon where giant redwood like forrests grow, however that too is on the risk of going extinct. >So the species modify one of the native animals that are a type of tree climbing dinosaur to keep mending the trees to ensure that biome stays viable. They subsist on tree-bark. >the result is they aren't just tree-climbing dinosaurs, they also are have machetes grafted onto their arms, legs, and tails alongside thick claws that both aid in climbing, but also are used to chop-off tree-bark. They're inadvertant living weapons. >However they also have an average IQ of human children. Being simple vegetarians that just climb trees and eat bark they're very pacifistic, and their creator species leaves them alone occasionally popping into the jungle, but otherwise living in bunkers in the canyon walls. >Things are going well, until the Yeerks, parasitic brain slugs who accidentally got handed a ton of spaceships by the Andalites (alien centaurs that have invented functional shapeshifting) invade looking for new host bodies. And decide the Hork-Bajir are perfect hosts. >The creator species VASTLY underestimates this threat, deciding that they aren't worth conquering and as a precaution genetically modify themselves to be completely incompatible with brain-slugs. This just leaves the Yeerks to turn them into slaves the old fashioned way as they take over the entire Hork-Bajir population. >Occasionally Hork-Bajir are born that are much smarter than average, of average human intelligence or above. These are called Seers in their communities, and are considered natural leaders that the entire community should defer to.
Did you know threads now autosage 7 days after creation?
>>93228610one simple way is for there to be communities of men that the Amazons breed with, and they give the male infants to them.
