Quote:
Originally Posted by Sindri
What are some plausible tricks you can use to disguise that a setting is descended from our own world? This can be something that you want to achieve in, for example, a lost and fallen space colony, a post apocalyptic setting or a post banestorm setting. Above all I think it's proper nouns that need to be obscured to avoid an obvious signal that this isn't, say, an unassociated fantasy world.
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Disguising the earth:
Mess with the Geography. There have been enough Apocalypses done in movies and TV to make this trivially easy depending on your particular flavor of apocalypse. In a short lived Thundar campaign, I flooded the great plains and let California fall in the ocean all the way to Sierra Nevada which made the US look very different.
Disguising the History:
One of my favorite tricks comes from By The Waters of Babylon where they simply fracture the names. Praying to the God Ashing (a bust of George Washington) for example. Also, those that remember suffer from the sensationalism and myth of being passed down. It's all about how you sell it....
The Suns Arrows, GodFinger, Hell from Beneath could all describe a nuclear assault.
The Ghost that Withered Them - Weaponized HIV/AIDS
The Ghost that Boiled Up their Soul - Mouth Frothing weaponized Rabies or Epilepsy
The Ghost that wringged the blood from their breath - Typhus/Consumption
Disguising the Humans:
This one is a bit trickier, Disguising THAT they are humans is tough. Disguising that they are Humans from earth isnt really that difficult at all once you sever them from Earth Culture and History.
That said, a few mutations arent forbidden for a sufficiently fantastic world. Restructure their DNA along different evolutionary lines (See Genesis : Star Trek TNG S07E19). As everything (in theory) comes from the same primordial ooze, feel free to go nuts and swap stuff around. Tails. Fangs. Fur. Wings. Venom. Leafs. Scales. Bark. Pollen. Carapaces.
Finally, just evolving or Devolving humans can make them look quite different. (The Sixth Finger - Outer Limits S01E05) and can endow them with all sorts of kewl powerz and limitations.
You're the GM. You know your group so you probably have a good idea of where their Belief suspenders get tight, but remember the further out and more bizzare you get, the easier it is to hide that human ancestry.
Nymdok
My father is a priest; I am the son of a priest. I have been in the Dead Places near us...