theme for a fantasy campaign

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Bengt

Do you plan to have for example Jungle Elves and Taiga Elves be significantly different?

I haven't given it much thought, because I expect to run a campaign with a narrower geographic scope. But it makes sense that there would be at least different cultures, and perhaps different elven "races." Just as the men of the tropical savannah and the men of the steppes would be different.

Bill Stoddard

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Hans - Jotun and jättar, thurs and troll... these are not precise taxonomic divisions we're talking about. It's probably more a matter of dialect word for "big and scary".

Barring the existence of some Swedish folk tales of which I'm unaware, trolls and giants are two quite distinct types of creatures. I admit that some trolls are quite large, but most of them are not.

And turser (or rimturser as they are also called (rim means hoarfrost)) dwell in Utgard, north of Jotunheim, in Nifflheim. They are frost giants.


Hans

[Anders]

I thought about it some more, and you are probably right. For the application whswhs is thinking of - large, scary things living in the far north - I think thurs would be the best word.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

I thought about it some more, and you are probably right. For the application whswhs is thinking of - large, scary things living in the far north - I think thurs would be the best word.

How big are these guys? I'm looking at the males being maybe 7-8 feet, and the females less than half again that big. I wasn't thinking of their being big enough so a party could camp in one's glove. Does "thurs" suggest that size range?

Bill Stoddard

[Anders]

Originally Posted by whswhs

How big are these guys? I'm looking at the males being maybe 7-8 feet, and the females less than half again that big. I wasn't thinking of their being big enough so a party could camp in one's glove. Does "thurs" suggest that size range?

Bill Stoddard

Jötunn* which is basically the same creature, ranged in size from about the size of the Aesir (i.e. man-size) to as large as Ymir, from whose body the world was created. So, large to gigantinormous.

At least one Scandinavian dwarf (Allvis - "All-wise") turned to stone when the sun went up, btw. If you want to incorporate more Norse mythology.

*"ö" is pronounced like the "u" in "purr".

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Jötunn* which is basically the same creature, ranged in size from about the size of the Aesir (i.e. man-size) to as large as Ymir, from whose body the world was created. So, large to gigantinormous.

At least one Scandinavian dwarf (Allvis - "All-wise") turned to stone when the sun went up, btw. If you want to incorporate more Norse mythology.

*"ö" is pronounced like the "u" in "purr".

So like the ö/oe in "Goethe"? Or a bit different?

I wrote up Ymir for GURPS Underground Adventures. I made him a bit smaller than the actual Earth; I think I made him long enough to stretch from the northern tip of Norway about to Morocco.

Bill Stoddard

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I wrote up Ymir for GURPS Underground Adventures. I made him a bit smaller than the actual Earth; I think I made him long enough to stretch from the northern tip of Norway about to Morocco.

Heh. Largest thing I ever used in a game was earthquake dragons, which I reasoned were the length of whatever faultline they were associated with (so the San Andreas was some 800 miles long, and strong enough to move the relevant crust. They only talked to an avatar, though).

[Anders]

Goethe is a good example, yes.

What Size Modifier would that be? :)

The Ymir legend is ancient. There's a similar theme in the Indian legend of Purushamedha, where a giant is killed and his body is used to make the world (and the castes). I get a a feeling of awe when I think that the myths I know go back thousands and thousands of years...

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

What Size Modifier would that be?

The Ymir legend is ancient. There's a similar theme in the Indian legend of Purushamedha, where a giant is killed and his body is used to make the world (and the castes). I get a a feeling of awe when I think that the myths I know go back thousands and thousands of years...

I checked, and +40.

Another legend along those lines is Adam Kadmon, who appears in Kabbalah.

Bill Stoddard

[Bogie1494]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Dwarves are underground in every mythos I know of. Either they produce food by magic, or they trade, or they eat rock. I figure trade. There doesn't have to be a huge population of them, after all, and if they're quite small, their food requirement will be less.

[SNIP]

Bill Stoddard

Have you considered the possibility that the dwarves could cultivate some form of subterranean livestock as a food source? It is probably a bit cliche to bring in the Dragonlance series, but I think the dwarven folk used some form of stone-dissolving(consuming?) worms as a means of efficient tunneling. Mollusks and other marine creatures, including some marine worms, can secrete acids to dissolve rock for burrowing purposes. It would be a slight stretch, but that ability could be translated to a terranean creature.

Or perhaps they cultivate a new form of lichen to feed a subterranean herd animal. Lichen is a symbiotic relationship of algae and fungi. If a new algae type utilizing thermal energy instead of solar to grow were to mix with the right fungus, a viable feed crop might be possible. I'm not suggesting that they actually developed the lichen, but perhaps stumbled upon it in underground delvings around geothermal vents or similar.