And what are some examples of fantasy settings done right?
>>93891582You should be more specific on your questions. I think the Witcher setting is interesting in it started out as a series of fairy-tale parodies but expanded out into a pretty large myth arc about realities colliding with each-other and the inevitable rise of the Nilfgaardian Empire. Elder Scrolls I think is interesting in that it's caught between very esoteric lore and a much more bog-standard kitchen-sink fantasy appearance. And of course Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings remains the gold-standard for a reason.
>>93891582As far as I know what makes or breaks a setting is actually presentation. Names no matter how weird they are don't seem to have an effect as long as the setting is presented properly.
>>93891619>I think the Witcher setting is interesting in it started out as a series of fairy-tale parodiesDid it end up how it is in the games though? I think Clarke's third law is the dumbest shit that can be applied to fantasy, including science fantasy. The whole "um ackshully vampires aren't undead demonic hellspawn they are aliens from another dimension and hemoglobin has a similar physiological effect on them as alcohol does to carbon-based lifeforms in this dimension" thing is genuinely lamer than the sparkly vampires in Twilight.Anyway to answer OP absolutely nothing approaches Tolkien or ever will but Glorantha is fantastic. And the Elder Scrolls is pretty great, mostly because Hindu theology is pretty great. Most video game settings are trash. The D&D settings are a mess. Anything from GW is just "everything that was cool about sci-fi/fantasy in the 80's thrown into a blender". WH/WH40k feel unique though. Pathfinder's setting is also a hodgepodge but it looks and feels like one which makes it trash. Golarion is genuinely the second worst setting I'm personally familiar with. Don't ask for the first.
>>93891582>Big enough world that you feel like you can't explore it all>Lots of places that are actually interesting to explore>Stuff between the interesting bits that provide a break from the routine>A method of traveling that allows you to get from place to place without dealing with unnecessary shit>Something to do that isn't just chasing money or dealing with one person's drama
>>93891846>Big enough world that you feel like you can't explore it allTo this end I think it is VERY IMPORTANT that we not get global maps. There should always be unexplored places on the borders of the map that are too far away or too dangerous to get to.
>>93891820>Golarion is genuinely the second worst setting I'm personally familiar with.How come?
>>93891619>>93891820>lord of the rings is le good>doesn't give a single reason why Yeah I'm thinking it's overrated garbage
>>93891582There is a worldbuilding general newfriend.
>>93891619>>93891817>>93891820>>93891846>>93891999>>93892144>>93892277>>93892285Hooga Hooga
>>93892144Because it doesn't even attempt to separate all the incongruous parts. I'll put up with anachronisms if there's some space between them but when you've got the 18th century pirate and Van Helsing countries, 15th century medieval countries, 10th century Viking country, and the stone age caveman and jungle tribesman countries all sharing borders on a single landmass it's just stupid.
Me
Age of sigmar fulfils it
>>93891582Numerous artists brainlessly copying this same clichea/generica idea and making such maps en masse to mock lack of creativity in fantasy worldbuilding is so fucking ironic
>>93891582No one creates cooler fantasy maps than worldbuilding snobs trying to mock cliches.
>>93891582Internal coherence in the setteing and good scenarios/images are sufficient. Radical "wordbuilding" and fetishism about "plate tectonics / tides and no-no stereotypes" are an evil greater than civil rights and Communism combined.Glorantha is good, but you can see by miles that Stafford is a historian or anthropologist.Dark sun is a good setting as Ravenloft in its clarity.
>>93891582A great setting is pitched by the GM and realized by the players. You really don't need more than the broad strokes for the players to take what you have and help you refine it through play.
>>93891582The Old Kingdom from Jean-Philippe Jaworski.
>>93893118Unironically true. Might even run a "parody game" set in one of those world maps.
>>93891582To me, the best fantasy settings are ones that introduce a specific bit of lore or rules, and then set up or tell stories in that world that could not exist without that lore. The end result being that these are stories that no other setting could tell, at least not without copying your homework to an unreasonable degree. Fantasy Kitchen sink #837 with wizards, elves and dwarves will never be interesting no matter HOW deep you go into detail about 'your' wizards, 'your' elves, or 'your' dwarves because the end result is still a story that I could swap into a hundred other settings and no one would be able to tell the difference. The differences only matter to you, to everyone else its the same sludge as usual with a couple of different bits floating in it. Something like Made in Abyss, however, has plot points and character motivations that *only make sense* in a setting where the Curse of the Abyss is a thing, and would not make sense in any other context. Bondrewd the Novel is a great character that couldn't function in any other story, and thats perfect. That means that the author is taking full advantage of something that no one else can give me.
>>93891582What makes a setting good is the presentation of it and the execution of the stories that are done in the setting. That’s what I think makes it breaks a good setting.>>93892285I don’t think that the 40k role play general counts so op is within reason to make this thread. At least it isn’t another asinine 40k question thread.
>>93891619>>93891820>the Witcher settingI remember reading interview with Sapkowski (many, many years ago), where he basically said, that Witcher reality is our world after apocalypse, which pushed humanity back to Middle Ages from godlike status and all the monster, mutagens, magic and other stuff were just relicts of bygone era, where technology was indistinguishable from magic. Not sure why, but it somewhat soured my experience from books.
>>93896783As it should, that kind of twist is always bullshit. I have literally never once seen it done well.
>>93896783You may be thinking of a different interview, or misunderstanding something, because the Witcher world is not Earth. Earth did get apocalypse'd but the presence of vampires and shit is unrelated; post-apoc Earthers got funneled onto Witcherplanet, along with vampires and garbo during the Conjunction of the Spheres.
>>93896783>>93891820>>93891619I wasn't expecting the witcher universe to be a bit over the top like this Never played the vidya, watched the show or read the books. Does it really matter when I am to enjoy the universe while at the same time get inspiration for worldbuilding?
>>93891582>What makes a setting a great setting?Sincerity and depth.>>93891619>>93891820Good posts.>>93892144Inconsistent kitchen-sink full of insincere nonsense and thematic anachronisms. It only got worse the longer Golarion was around, and by PF2 it's absolutely irredeemable.
>>93892285>muh generalGo fuck yourself.
>>93891619>Elder Scrollswhat I liked mostly in Morrowind and a bit in Skyrim was the concurrent power structures.in morrowind, vvardenfell is now part of the empire, but the legion is hold up in its fortresses and a few small towns. the houses and guilds have similar functions, the native cults are standing next to and against the imperial cult. Slavery is outlawed by the empire, but the telvanni pretend they never heard that and the imperials pretend the telvanni dont run an open slave market in their main city. the nords are also there, especially in solstheim. I liked that, normally you have different "states" with different laws next to each other, but the mess of concurrent power politics is way more interesting.
>>93891582Obligatory>Thread questionApplying pic related
>>93907497>There is a dedicated containment ground for your shit>FUCK YOU! I'M GONNA SPAM!
>>93891582All-Creators create Primal-CreatorsPrimal-Creators create Life, Death, Magic, Light, Dark, ElementsPrimal-Creators create TitansTitans create Primordials (Medusae, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Cyclops, Giants, Trolls, Hydras etc... other mythological creatures)Titans oppose Primal-CreatorsTitans get shattered by Primal-Creators but in return Primal-Creators also get shattered in to Greater GodsGreater Gods create Dragons, Fey, Angels, Demons, ElementalsDragons oppose Greater GodsDragons have so immense power they shatter Greater Gods in to Gods with specific portfoliosGods create Immortals races to destroy most of DragonsImmortals races start abusing Magic and Elements destroying most of their Paradise world and weaken the Gods yet even moreIn a final push Gods create Mortal races and Gods are turned in to Tree-like states.Mortal and Immortal worship their Gods based on portfolios and the world is left on to ever staging wars between Mortals and Immortals.r8 setting.
>>93891846>Big enough world that you feel like you can't explore it all>A method of traveling that allows you to get from place to place without dealing with unnecessary shitMutually exclusive.
>>93907774Seethe in impotent rage, backseat janny.
>>93908950>generic fantasy elements, generic fantasy creatures, generic gods and titans backstoryYawn.
>>93895890Damn, that's... that's pretty good.So how do you analyse the difference between... say... Middle Earth, vs the Hyborian Age, vs the Young Kingdoms?
>>93891582The stories told in it. No setting for novels is great except the writing makes it so. No setting for RPGs is great except the games make it so.Ideas don't count for shit. Execution is all that matters.
>>93909762One of the biggest things and in my opinion a breakthrough in Fantasy Settings is that the Continent of Men is already the size of Tamriel, called literally Westfall. You have vanilla European temperate lands called Atlantean for the White Germanics and Angalos which is the Capital land. Northernlands for them Scandinavian Viking larpers. Highlands for Irish and other Northern Mongols.Moonpass for Chinks, Asians, Japs and Koreans. Clearsand Desert for them Berbers and we wuzzzzz kingz and shiiiet Africans North of it is the Aryan Steppes for Indo-Aryan Persians, Muslims, Turks. There is also Iberria for Italian, Spanish and Frenchies. Dalmacia and it's literally bordering a land which is called ''Boderland''. Which is your typical Balkan and Slavic fodderlands to fend of the Orcs, Undead armiesWhy? So you can have Black Paladins or do your Stormguard Viking themed Human armies. When you think of it. A lot of RPGs should have dome that instead of just going ''they are all black or white lmao''. The Humans used to be in ancient times rivaling Tribes but then the God-Blessed Emperor united all the men to fight off the Orcs.Also the Human Empire gives citizenships to Half-Elves, Half-lings and Gnomes.
>>93891582The things that make a great setting are the things I like.Some examples of fantasy settings done right are the settings I've made for TTRPG campaigns and personal creative writing projects that incorporate the things that I like and want to see in a fantasy setting.
>>93892480Have you payed in it? What tool did you use?
>>93900897Don't bother with the books unless you're into cuckoldry and cliffhangers. The Witcher is not good for worldbuilding.The games, however, are great. Play all of them and have fun, probably starting with the second one. They can help you write interesting dialogue and do more realistic situations. But you really want to complement with something more complete for the worldbuilding part.
>>93909004That's what was I thinking. Travelling methods should not be completely relievable or free from danger. Otherwise you will be soon playing tourist simulator.
>>93909004>>93911019This will probably fly over your dumb, empty fucking drums that you use to grow hair on, but I will try anyway
>>93900897The setting and worldbuilding in the Witcher books is literally window dressing. And the writer is VERY upfront and explicit about it. There is literally nothing pissing him off more than retards overthinking the setting on any other level than "a story needs a setting, I guess".Which, if you ask me, is great attitude for the whole worldbuilding bullshit - you just do what's needed, when it's needed, and when someone asks you how it works in detail, you tell them to fuck off, because it doesn't matter outside serving the story.
>>93911856Either explain your point with that novel or eat shit, faggot.
>>93910056Did you answer to the wrong post?
>>93909004>Take a ship thats reasonably well crewed and armed to the next island rather than swimming there and dealing with twelve encounters with sharks so you can get to the actually interesting partsYeah dude let's just fucking walk to Mount Doom, God forbid we skip another copy pasted wilderness encounter instead of doing some dungeoneering. Reliable transport doesn't mean "clap your hands and get there". It means "get to the interesting part without all the chaff"I've done hexcrawls where getting anywhere was incredibly arduous, and I've done railroading "here's your next spot" style games and both sucked shit. A happy medium exists somewhere in there.
>>93913759Have you tried not playing D&D?
>>93892395It's not really that far fetched. Even on this real earth you had countries that were splitting the atom and putting humans into orbit meanwhile a few hundred miles away there were whole nations living like medieval peasants.
I like Conan and Elder Scrolls because there's so much crazy shit going on in the background.
>>93917014So is it better to cram as much as you can into a world or keep things simple?
