09-17-2018, 06:01 PM | #21 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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When nearly all the people who read it when it was new and exciting and they were young and excitable have died, and it still speaks to readers. When the third generation of readers esteem it highly (the first generation has the enthusiasts; the second generation has the people who don't understand why the older generation liked that stuff; the third generation is when the emotional oscillations have begun to damp down).
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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09-18-2018, 09:14 AM | #22 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
I'm very fond of the "Wells of Power" concept, and I've been tinkering around with it for a little while. A few comments from my own doodling:
Switching back and forth between the wells and the wilderness can get awkward. Characters will usually excel in one setting but not in the other. Often, Mages do well around wells and warriors well in the wilderness. Magical wells usually become the limiting resource for the society, which means you get a city around each one. Wells are easy to defend and hard to attack. This means they should be mostly politically independent, and I'd expect they're all culturally different. I often aspect the wells power for further differences, but that's strictly optional. While wells are strong against outside attack, they're likely to have some nasty politics. In the end, the Wizards who control the magic flowing up control the city. Wells allow you to use magic that would be world-breaking in other settings. You still need to figure out what it can and can't do though. -------------------------------------------------- On the human vs. non-human questions, I've slowly muddled the question in a lot of my games. I played a game for a long time where "Are they human" was a question a world-jumper had to figure out for themselves at each world. And I've come to the conclusion that its probably valid to consider elves, dwarves, orcs, hobbits, and so forth to just be subspecies of humans. with wells, I like to use one species and let the magical traditions and aspected magic of the wells/cities define cultures and peoples.
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
09-18-2018, 09:52 AM | #23 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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Edit to expand: Suppose that there exist lines of elemental power (from both sides of the elemental conflict). Where these lines cross, the power can be tapped by those with the right abilities or tech. These create the basis for points of civilization. Which elemental power create the nexus shapes the nature of the city and the people who live there - a Fire/Wood nexus is going to have a different character from a Water/Wood nexus, and a very different character from a Dark/Fire nexus. Depending on how many elements you choose to go with, you can have an extremely wide number of combinations, especially if you allow for more than two lines to cross at the same point - or perhaps to have nearby nexii overlap, such that you could have a triangular city with three crossing points (and potentially three elements in three combinations) forming the same population. Doing that also gives you a strong hook to hang your magic on; it's harnessing elemental power. It'd let you use the Powers system to build magic fairly simply; most people get one or two tricks based on their birth element(s) and some get more powers and become proper mages (or techmages, or whatever). In the wilds, however, there's either only a single elemental line to harness or the ambient magic of the world away from the lines. City mages would find magic difficult to work with there, and their technology would be unreliable at best. Mages dedicated to a single element might thrive near lines of their element, and maybe be philosophically dedicate to it as well. Out in the true wilds, people might find sanctuary from civilization at the cost of its benefits - whether that's as roaming barbarian tribes or simple agrarian villages depends on the location. Travel between cities probably sticks to the lines. The Ancients, however, reshaped the network of lines that covers the world, destroying old nexii and creating the current ones; therefore, adventurers have reason to venture into the wild between the lines in hopes of finding Ancient ruins on the remains of old nexii. Conflict and trade between cities is probably strongest between cities that share an element, since at least part of their magic will work in the other city; cities that don't share any element are strange and exotic. Last edited by Apollonian; 09-18-2018 at 10:20 AM. |
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09-18-2018, 10:19 AM | #24 | ||||
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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Also my thinking is that outside the wells you can draw power from the wilderness in the form of a pact, so you might be able to power small things. There's no way you could challenge a well-city, but life outside might still have little conveniences. Quote:
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A lot of it is an aesthetics issue: individual humans don't stick out well in my imagination. I like to mix up appearance a lot more in order to help me visualize. |
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09-19-2018, 01:12 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Nov 2016
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
Hello,
GURPS fantasy is an exquisite book; have you checked it? I started playing from that book. Now, in my experience... I would say you need to ask your players about their preferences. For example, they may have a different conception about the “generally conceived fantasy races” (elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.). Think about it, Tolkien elves are beautiful, but there are hideous elves in other universes. So let your players suggest some races and then decide what to do with races. Regarding civilizations and geography, think about the players interaction with your setting. Do you want them to explore uncharted territory? Do you want them to spend more time wandering in a city or in the outside? How will you tie time and space so they can conceive their world as it affects your players? Are you all going to be able to apply your life experience or do you need to make lots of research to be coherent? (Maybe you want them to live in the desert but all of you are from the woods, in real life). Are they going to be capable of assimilating the world, given their current knowledge? Sometimes players want to be something or someone they actually know. Maybe one of them wants to be Galadriel, but your setting only has bald elves and they are male only (and blue). Or maybe another one wants to be a vampire hunter, and has read vampire hunters 101, I guess this guy will be very involved with your setting if you let him apply his flashy knowledge. Finally, your setting sounds like “adventure time” to me. Almost no humans, ruins of “techno-magical” civilizations, nucleated settlements... Do you know about it? It could be of aid to having a “picture” of your setting (it does not have to be adventure time, but something else your players can compare your setting with so they can take it for credible, assimilate it quickly and enjoy the game much faster). - Hide |
09-19-2018, 10:20 AM | #26 | |||||
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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Quite true. I have a hard time actually making the earth nexus folks dwarves and the wood nexus folks elves. It just doesn't feel true to what makes elves elvish, and when people are purely colored elementally, it has a different effect. Quote:
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That does help. I find that cultures can work almost as well, but I have to invest energy into defining them well. Clothing and voice are often a good shorthand for culture, as is "Home terrain". I can certainly see where you are coming from with that desire though.
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
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09-19-2018, 10:47 AM | #27 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. Last edited by whswhs; 09-19-2018 at 04:47 PM. |
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09-19-2018, 03:54 PM | #28 | |||
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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09-23-2018, 07:35 AM | #29 |
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
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09-23-2018, 08:06 AM | #30 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Creative] Trying to build a fantasy setting.
Of course you're under no obligation to use any particular book. But I have to say that sounds odd, given that you started this thread by citing Uncle Figgy's Guide to Good Fantasy as an inspiration for your thinking about magic and fantasy.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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