Community Worldbuilding

[Calinero]

I've never done anything quite like this before, but I've seen it done on another forum or two. As best as I could tell, no one has done it here already, so I though I might start one up.

I've noticed that a lot of people here are seemingly intelligent, thoughtful, and very creative. With that in mind, I'm curious to see what sort of setting we could come up with if we all put our heads together and gave input. Think of it as a sort of World-Building Quest, if you will--a setting created out of a group opinion. The most obvious candidate would be to create a fantasy setting or science fiction setting, but that's open to debate.

If you guys would be interested, just post here and let me know. Then we can get cracking, and see what results. Who knows? If the setting ends up being cool, maybe we can all write our own stories set in it. That might be fun.

[Darkandus]

Sure, I'll throw something in.

[Tempest Kitsune]

First we need to establish a setting. Are we gonna go for high fantasy, sci-fi, a comic-book type world, or what?

[Greybane]

I am more of a High Fantasy man, so throw my vote in for that.

[Kirai]

Any of you watched scraped princess? It's sci-fi high fantasy. as in the fantasy elements were enabled thanks to the sci-fi elements that everybody forgot were there.

Find that concept very interesting.

[Calinero]

I was also thinking something more along the lines of fantasy as well. However, as Kirai said, there's always the possibility for a bit of mix-and-matching, kinda like the Shannara books. Fantasy, yeah, but it's also in the future. Fun stuff.

Also, just noticed your sig Kirai. I definitely revoked your right to the moral high ground.

[Dervon]

I love the idea of an Arcanum-style Steam-punk+Magic world.

Of course, if we can somehow keep the incredibly cliched MAGIC VS TECHNOLOGY shtick that has been done to death to a minimum, that is.

[MEKristian]

I love the idea of an Arcanum-style Steam-punk+Magic world.

Of course, if we can somehow keep the incredibly cliched MAGIC VS TECHNOLOGY shtick that has been done to death to a minimum, that is.

Magic from Technology or Technology from Magic. It can go either way if you feel like it.

I'll mostly be sitting this one out though, since my mind has already spiraled off Urban Steam-Punk Fantasy and Urban Magitek Fantasy worlds.

[Dervon]

See, the trick is to take stuff that has been done in a certain way to death, and then give it a fresh (or in the least, freshER) spin.

Spoiler: show

Take Dwarves, in just about any setting. Let's consider that they have a number of "tags" applied to them: "Underground"/"Mountains"; "Mining"; "Technology" OR "Magic" (with the "Magic" tag often refined to "Rune-magic"); etc...

Now, in a Magic/Technological setting, how do we mess around with established tags without making it seem like we are changing stuff just for the sake of change (inb4 Tzeench)?

My take: Preserve the "Mining" tag and "Technology" tag. Twist the location tag so it is "Sea". Refine the "Technology" tag so it links to the creation of submarines (naturally, a tad larger then the ones we have IRL). Refine the "Mining" tag so it links to the Dwarven discovery of some incredibly rare metal that can only be found deep beneath the sea-bed, in some of the most inaccessible locations of the planet. Thus, they build these subs that function as clan-homes as well (an added advantage of being shorter and taking up less room then a human would be apparent), set them on the sea-bed and use water-related magics as well as a little technological know-how to create mining systems under the sea-bed. They would periodically rise to the surface in order to sell extraneous mineral wealth they'd dug up, and bring back items and perishables they could not get while, you know, under the sea. Food would be easy (you are now picturing Dwarves in Big-Daddy suits like in Bioshock hunting sharks), and air would be provided by either lol-magic or some other means.

SPOILER'D BECAUSE THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE THREAD, AT LEAST RIGHT NOW, JUST AN EXAMPLE OF SPINNING STUFF THAT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE.

[MEKristian]

Depends on what you include. Besides, without any form of starting point, you're up a creak.

[gman391]

To true it also depends on the type of story you want to tell.

I want to see a bastard elf story. Not Dark Elves just Elves. They are all complete bastards who enslave people. Kind of like Orcs before that Warrior Race stuff got added on to their back story.


On that note an Orc vs Dwarf in a technological arms race could be interesting.

[Calinero]

All right. Well, there are some basic questions we could start answering to get an idea of what we want for the setting.

Pure fantasy, or part sci-fi?
Are humans present in the setting?
Are there intelligent, non-human species in the setting?
How many continents of land (if any) are present in the setting? How many oceans?
How many nations/political bodies are there? Are any at war?
Do people (if there are people) have magic?

Edit: also, I am now picturing the submarine dwarves in a technological race against an armada of pirate orcs. Heh. And yeah, I think everyone's a bit tired of the high and mighty and wise and noble elves that we see all over the place.

[Dervon]

-As stated, am a fan of the mixed-type setting. The technological aspect need not be steam-punk in nature, of course.

-I'd say yes to the humans, with two modifications to the standard places humans seem to occupy in these settings: No to the "jack-of-all-trades"-shtick humans seems saddled with, nor being the center-point of the setting.

-I'd say yes, and quite a few.

-You guys want to run fractal-mapper a few cycles and see if something cool comes out?

-Ehhh, maybe figure-out the broader details first, afterwords refine it.

-I'd say yes, though again, would be nice to have a variant system in place to give it an intresting twist. *thinks about something for a second* Actually, I had a variant magic system plotted out for a Quest I was planning to run after Ninja Quest. If anyone is interested I could put it up for consideration.

...

On elves: Easy mode-o = Use Dwarve Fortress elves. Cannibalistic red-necks xenophobes. Think "Reavers" from Firefly/Serenity.

[gman391]

I'd like a world where Clarke's Law is in full effect
Science so advanced that it may as well be magic.

I'd prefer for a random world generator.
History is often decided by geography.

Hmm not humans as jack of all trades. I had an idea a while back where Humans had been conquered and enslaved in the distant past by elves. So racist xenophobic slave holding elves.

I'd like to see your magic/tech system Dervon.

[Kirai]

I once created a world after world war whatever, bio-enginering by humans created a shitload of races. Elves as well as Orcs, Dwarfes, and as many other races as could be thought of.

After the war these races, created for various purposes were free and made up their own creation myths. Curiously humans never showed up there^^

[Darkandus]

Well, for the elves why not have them be Manly badasses instead of pansy "We're really graceful and superior, look at how beautiful my treehouse is."

Yeah they know all about Nature but they gear their knowledge more towards killing the shit out of everyone who pisses them off. Sort of like a mix between the Vietcong, Simo Häyhä and the Spetsnaz but with more Mutton chops and beating people to death against trees with their bare hands.

[Greybane]

An example of the bastard elves that gman desires can be found in Mercedes Lackey "Elvenbane" series.

[Kirai]

Also, just noticed your sig Kirai. I definitely revoked your right to the moral high ground.

You assume I care^^ I was given that right and I'm keeping it!

[Tempest Kitsune]

Hmmm, how about turning the Usual List of Suspects on its head? Good-Guy Orcs and Dwarves, Evil!Elves, Enslaved Humans, and Trolls that are intellectual martial monk-types?

[Kirai]

Bit too easy, if you ask me. Just reversing the cliche is still kinda the cliche... don't have a better idea atm though... maybe tomorrow.

[Tempest Kitsune]

It's not exactly reversing it so much as it is re-engineering it. I just used those as base outlines, which would be tweaked and refined until they were something the majority could agree on. (Because let's face it, with this many creative minds, there's bound to be some contention we can't settle.)

[Dervon]

I agree with TK's idea here. Start with a simple inversion/twist, then develop it to fit with whatever else we've done thus far.

[Calinero]

I like the inversions I'm hearing so far. Where can we generate a random world/map?

[Dechstreme]

You guys ever read Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, per chance? I'm fairly certain he's the only person I know of that uses the Orcs as a Proud Warrior Race schtick. Are there others now?

[Tempest Kitsune]

In the Warcraft Universe the Orcs were retconned into a noble Shamanistic race that was sold out by a select group and bound to demonic servitude without knowing it, thus going from a large scattering of clans that coexisted, to the bloodthirsty Horde. They were released from that bond in the third game.