Vote up a Fantasy Setting

[combatmedic]

Something in Ryan's post stuck with me.

'Story.'

This isn't a story. It's a game setting.
It will have history, of course, but that’s something else. IMO, 'story’ in an RPG is usually something that emerges in the actual gameplay. We can't dictate that in advance or at least I don't think we ought to try to do so. Not with a shared setting.

Of course, certain elements of the setting as we develop it will probably suggest particular themes or moods. The history and cultures of the setting will suggest certain campaign ideas, and make other ideas perhaps less likely or less attractive. Maybe just less obvious. That’s fine. A world with morally dubious or risky magic and a lot of vampires and werewolves suggests Gothic horror. But it could also be run as hack-and-slash ‘dungeon fantasy’ or even ‘Fearless Vampire Hunters’ comedy.


I hope that all of this makes sense.

[Purple Haze]

The definition I was taught:

"low fantasy" - Magic is something ordinary people use in their daily lives.

"high fantasy" - Magic is not something an ordinary person would encounter, but where it exists it is world defining.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Purple Haze

The definition I was taught:

"low fantasy" - Magic is something ordinary people use in their daily lives.

"high fantasy" - Magic is not something an ordinary person would encounter, but where it exists it is world defining.

As you like. There's nothing wrong with those definitions-- they are just not the ones I know and use.


It doesn't really matter for this thread.

But I do welcome your sweet, sweet votes, Purple Haze.

[combatmedic]

There will be a vote on the relative frequency and 'power' of magic, later.

That''s assuming that 'magic exists as set of cultural beliefs about how to interpret the world, but not as a set of powers that can be statted in game terms' is not the winner.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I use it.

I don't know any other useful definitions for 'High' and 'Low' fantasy. Maybe you do know some.

I prefer to make a checklist, and the more things are checked off, the closer it is to the platonic high fantasy. A world unlike our own (Mythic Britain is unlike our own world, despite nominally being our world, while Harn is quite a bit like our world, despite being completely fictional) certainly belongs on that list. Others are an epic scale, good and evil being an objective fact, and a variety of heroes (wizards can't solve every problem by casting a spell, warriors can't solve every problem by hitting it with a sword, even hobbits can shape the fortunes of all)*. That makes it very difficult to say "A is high fantasy, B is low fantasy" but that's par for the course of genre definitions.

Originally Posted by combatmedic

But you've hit on part of the reason why I chose not to open with a 'what kind of fantasy' question. Vague or contestable labels would not help much, and might lead to a pointless tangent about literary subgenres. We aren’t marketing or reviewing a fantasy novel—we are designing a shared world for gaming purposes.

Better, methinks, to just ask a series of questions about setting to be designed. The answers will give us a basic picture of what things are like. If you wish to label the resulting framework 'high', 'low' swords and sorcery', or whatever, it doesn't matter to me. I won't quibble with your personal definition.

Agreed on all counts (best not to ask, labels would be a distraction, and this thread would be siderailed if we continue this discussion here).

* A warrior centered fantasy tends more toward heroic fantasy, and rogue centered tends more toward urban fantasy.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Agreed on all counts (best not to ask, labels would be a distraction, and this thread would be siderailed if we continue this discussion here).

Yup.

Not that I don't find the tangent interesting and fun. But it should go elswhere.

I await further votes.

[samd6]

Shape and Nature of the World
• Mostly Earthlike, but with some fantastical geography (flying islands, crystalline forests, vast underworld caverns, wandering mountains)
• World not yet fully formed from Primal Chaos, subject to change by powerful magicians, heroes, villains, gods



Magic System please pick one. Or, if you really want more than one, choose 'Other' and specify
Other: Magic-as-powers for inherent (and quick) abilities, something like RPM for learned magic.

Tech Levels
• TL 2 (Default)
• TL 3 (without gunpowder)


Races/sapient creatures
Other: Humans and non-humanoids

Connections with other worlds
• World hopping is possible but rare


Gods
• One pantheon for the world (gods may be known by different names and aspects to the various cultures/races)

[Ji ji]

My votes:

Shape and Nature of the World

Strange seasons, day-night cycle, or climates


Magic System
Magic as Powers (+ rituals for very powerful magic)


Tech Levels
Please vote twice, once for ‘default’ TL and once for the maximum TL that maybe included. These may be the same TL, if you like.

default TL 3, with only matchlock firearms

possibly TL 4; in this case, this is not intended as a world approaching a big scientific and cultural improvement like in our history, but a world in TL 4 from long time


Races/sapient creatures

Humans, humanoids, and non-humanoid races exist, may include spirits or talking beasts


Connections with other worlds

World hopping is possible but rare


Gods

The gods are mysterious, distant beings—some mortals may even doubt their existence

[Grouchy Chris]

Shape and Nature of the World
Other: Earth, with Earth's geography, cultures, etc., but with fantasy elements overlaid.

Magic System
Ritual Path Magic.

Tech Levels
Default: TL4
Maximum: TL4

Races/sapient creatures
Spirits and Humans only (with "spirits" broadly defined so as to include fairies, demons, and the like.)

Connections with other worlds
Isolated

Gods
The gods are mysterious, distant beings—some mortals may even doubt their existence

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Vote up a Fantasy Setting

I'm just gonna say, right off the bat, that I don't really like Tolkienesque fantasy. It's been done. Therefore, I hope my answers don't completely skew the results.

Shape and Nature of the World
Multiple votes are fine if the options can be reconciled, such as a hollow but Earthlike world, or a flat world with strange seasons

Mostly earthlike, but with quite a bit of fantastical geography. Perhaps the only land is floating islands and everything below is ocean. Or void. Crystalline forests are cool, too. I can see magical weather, but otherwise the seasons and climate should be fairly standard.

Magic System please pick one. Or, if you really want more than one, choose 'Other' and specify

Other. I'd like a "low" magic and a "high." High could be magic as powers (or psi), or Realms magic, while we could use RPM for the "low." If not RPM, then something else that has a potentially more folksy feel to it. I'm also not at all married to the names low and high; just to the idea that some magic is limited to a specific group (for political reasons? for bloodline reasons? for religious reasons?) while the other is more for everyone.

Tech Levels
Please vote twice, once for ‘default’ TL and once for the maximum TL that maybe included. These may be the same TL, if you like.

Tl 3^, with gunpowder.

Races/sapient creatures
Choose one option

Other: Humans and a variety of non-humanoid sentient beings--intelligent animals, spirits, and the like. Human variants would be fine, even if they are quite different, but I don't really want human/dwarf/elf/orc.

Connections with other worlds
Choose one

Gates are common, but to specific worlds: the Dreaming, the Spirit world, the Shadowlands, etc. Actually, I quite like Hellgate, so perhaps a gate to a nearby Land of the Dead as well. It doesn't have to be a proper Heaven/Hell/Hades type place, but perhaps the first stop in the journey the dead must take, and it's possible for mortals to travel there. I really like the Lost Souls in that book. I'd like to see them, or something like them.

That being said, while Gates could be common, they don't necessarily have to be easy to open.

Gods
choose one

Other: No gods, per se, but many spirit beings. Some are powerful, possibly even very powerful. Most live in the Spirit World (or on one of the other planes) and perhaps can't leave that plane (or can only do so at certain times or if summoned). Some are able to pass through to the different worlds with relative ease, and may work with those spirits that are stuck; they would count as angels or demons. Or as a neutral spirit of some sort; we'd need a name--perhaps Elemental, but maybe with different types of Elements. Maybe use the Chinese elements here. When is that book coming out anyway?

Divine powers are possible, and arise in people who have bonded, perhaps literally, with such a spirit.