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Old 01-29-2015, 11:07 PM   #1
Canology
 
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Default World of Domibia - GURPS content

I started a blog a couple of weeks ago to help myself focus on rebuilding my fantasy world (Domibia) from the foundations up. I talk about a variety of world-building related topics, and since the system that I use is GURPS, I decided to post updates here.

I have started writing up the various races and will be following each post with a sample or example character/NPC.

Here is the first such character post.
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Old 01-30-2015, 08:02 AM   #2
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Old 01-30-2015, 08:21 AM   #3
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Do you have a link somewhere about SAFUG and Antente I missed? I was reading 'so this is a sample Antente character but what's an Antente?'
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Old 01-30-2015, 08:46 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Canology View Post
I have started writing up the various races and will be following each post with a sample or example character/NPC.
Are you interested in hearing advice on your racial builds and other stuff?
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Old 01-30-2015, 09:35 PM   #5
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Default Re: World of Domibia - GURPS content

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalzazz View Post
Do you have a link somewhere about SAFUG and Antente I missed? I was reading 'so this is a sample Antente character but what's an Antente?'
Yes, sorry. There wasn't much GURPS content in those posts so I sort of held off my debut...
The Antente
SAFUG

I believe that there are also links on the blog site showing recent posts.
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Old 01-30-2015, 09:38 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc View Post
Are you interested in hearing advice on your racial builds and other stuff?
Yes, please! I'd appreciate any feedback and ideas.
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Old 01-31-2015, 06:31 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Canology View Post
Yes, please! I'd appreciate any feedback and ideas.
Fantastic. So, regarding the Antenté:

I get that you were trying to start off with something simple, but these guys strike me as an excessively-minimalist interpretation of the descriptive text you posted. The first paragraph states that they are, "a culture devoted to beauty and entertainment," and then we don't really see anything in the stats that establishes that. Why did Rianté create them? Did he just want there to be more good-looking people who can't read in the world (totally valid, if he's maybe a little simple-minded), or did he want there to be more people who appreciate and try to fill the world with beauty? If the latter, these guys need some touch-ups.

Bare minimum, I'd give them a Quirk along the lines of: Devoted to Beauty and Entertainment [-1]. This would conveniently bring the racial total to [0] if you like that sort of thing. Even a Quirk can make a huge difference in flavoring a culture, if it's nearly-universal. For example, you state that, "Unfortunately only the aristocracy has the time and money available to fully enjoy this way of life." So what do the rest of them do to less-than-fully enjoy this way of life? I would imagine that visual and performing arts are extraordinarily widespread among the middle class (where they are a means of entry) and the peasantry (especially free things like junk art, river clay sculpting, storytelling, poetry, acapela singing, group dance, etc, and attempts to beautify all practical tools and objects). This line of thinking could also lead to logical subcultures that stem from differing answers to the question, "What is beauty?"

For a more radical redesign, I'd start off by giving them the quirk suggested above, and then lowering ST and IQ by 1 each, both to free up some points, and because I think it fits the description better. 5'7" / 130# is not impossible with tremendous muscle-density, but small for an average ST of 10, and a disinclination toward education and intellectual pursuits counts for quite a bit when it comes to GURPS IQ, which is not all about a surplus or lack of brainpower. I'd use that 30 points to buy Willpower +1 [5] (so they have the Willpower of a normal human), Perception +2 [10] (better Perception than a human on average), and 15 points split any way between Perception, the Fashion Sense Advantage, and Artistic and/or Musical Talent [15]. These people were created by a god to do a specific job; they ought to be good at it, right? The Doctors and Architects you mention will probably have to be smarter (or obsessively-dedicated) to make it professionally, but that just means they're more likely to hire people from other races to do that stuff if there's a shortage, not a super-premium on their own professionals, unless they also have Intolerance (Racial). The few brass-tacks professionals that they do produce still retain a tendency to exhibit a signature aesthetic style that distinguishes their work from that of others, eg: a certain angle or pattern to roofing or stitching up injuries to an extent that impressive buildings and scars are analyzed by Antenté art critics. While many individuals have a positive Reputation as artists or musicians, the race as a whole does not, though it is a popular target of a 1-point "Best Artists/Musicians Ever!" Delusion on the part of all races, especially themselves, and occasionally even 5-point if the person in question will just not shut up about it even when it's irrelevant or clearly contradicted.

Character Idea: Rene Soireé, Antenté Architect / Musician: Internationally famous for designing structures that make certain tones, melodies, or harmonies when interacting with prevailing local wind patterns, but a little slow in conversations and tends to lose his keys a lot.

Last edited by Gold & Appel Inc; 02-17-2015 at 05:00 AM.
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Old 01-31-2015, 07:03 PM   #8
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If you really want to build this world "from the ground up", are you familiar with Geoff's Climate Cookbook? Unfortunately it's gotten senescent so it can be hard to find on the web. My links don't work any more. But Pixie's tutorial is based on it, and in many ways more comprehensive. The Cartographer's Guild website is also handy if you're obsessive enough to start with plate tectonics, and they have all sorts of mapping tutorials. It helps to look at the Wikipedia Page on Koppen climate classification. If you're interested to see how I've evolved in my own never-ending world building project, there's the link.

I mention all of this because a few of your deserts seem to be in odd places. Of course, if the world is magical that can explain a lot... :) But a 34-degree axial tilt is sure going to be interesting, too. So much of your world is the tropics!

Also, while your icosahedral projection is traditional in RPG circles most folks are using equirectangular projections nowadays because there is so much free software available that accepts it as input. For instance NASA's GProjector.- this is very handy for producing regional maps from a larger master world map. Or Wilbur (an incredibly handy terrain editor.) Unfortunately the Wilbur site is down right now (the guy who made it maintains it in his free time) but I think this is a good link to download it from another repository.

Last edited by acrosome; 02-01-2015 at 02:14 PM. Reason: change geodesic to icosahedral
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Old 02-01-2015, 09:19 AM   #9
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A few things pop into my mind while reading:
  • Tongues: You don't need to go the full Tolkien, as you said. Real-world is a good basis, but you might want to stick to the sounds, and come up with a naming tongue based on those sounds.
  • NPCs: Do you really want this much detail for an NPC? Your players might be mildly impressed that you have this, but it won't matter in play. I hem to the old Dragon magazine article "The Seven Sentence NPC" (issue 184) when first coming up with detail for someone important, then build from there as we play. For lesser NPCs, I stick to a few traits and a roll on table 114B from Central Casting, which you already have.
  • Gaming purpose: What do you hope to have from this world for the game? If you're talking a fantasy world, Rob Conley has a great guide (though I wish he'd add the later steps, I'd love to see them and hone my stuff). If you want full over-the-top realism, this is a pretty good site.
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Old 02-05-2015, 06:45 PM   #10
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Default Re: World of Domibia - GURPS content

Thank you for the thoughtful replies!

Gold & Appel Inc's comments in particular has made me start to rethink some of the races and maybe beef up the in-game effects of some of their beliefs.

I maybe jumped the gun on doing a cultural write-up before I had gone back and did some more work on the basics of the world.

That GProjector program is AWESOME! I finally can see Domibia as a globe!

And I may even try my hand at doing a conlang naming language using the analog languages as the "mother tongue".

Sadly, this will all have to wait, as my family is moving and my life has become filling boxes with books for the immediate future.

I'm only mentioning this so nobody thinks I folded up shop after one blog post. :)
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