/wldbldgen/

It looks like it is made up of several campaign maps because your territories tend to have overall block shapes. It is a bit like a video game map where you can see the expansions.

Kind of funny that you bring up Jurassic Park, because the race is a bunch of sapient dinosaurs. And the big game hunter thing fits perfect, because they live on the steppes and hunt stegosaurs

Give them awful Australian accents.

Done - Any time I try to do an accent of any sort, it always drifts into Australian. It's a weird default setting for me.

The whole SE portion is straight from Mystara

lol, yeah. I basically put together the whole world using a half dozen or so AD&D/OD&D quests that I wanted to run. Right now we're wrapping up Against the Cult of the Reptile God. I'm hoping they get high enough level so that we can do The Apocalypse Stone.

Yeah, gonna be doing Isle of Dread soon. In my universe all of those areas are ruled by halflings (not 'hobbits'. That's a disgusting slur), and exist in a state of constant petty bickering.

Maps are the best part of this hobby.

I seriously need to know, OP. Map is a 10/10 for me aesthetically and looks to be a 8/10 lore-wise (from what I can infer).

Bumping for maps

that is a very nice map. I assume there's a reason why there are big reaches of land that are just empty of forest?

even just political ones?

oh look, it's Europe again!

I mean yeah, obviously. No harm in it, is there

not at all. but I do suggest using a more easily readable font.

tell me about orcs, /wbg/

I don't really have orcs. However, I got humans whose god abandoned them. No other god wanted them so they had to accept primal chaos instead. This makes them ugly because chaos is not very compatible with divine human image. They assembled a horde and made war on everyone trying to kill them and their gods. They destroyed Rome expy but couldn't reach anything else and with time their madness reached point when they became savage beasts with no intelligence or organization or whatever.

It's very nice of you to include blacks in your worldbuilding.

GM wants to use this for the next campaign.

I ripped them off Warhammer 40k. Living weapons with dieselpunk+mad max+borderlands theme.

I would change the font.

So check out my terribly inefficient military organization

>Kingdom is divided between large landowners called dukes
>Each owns large plots of lands dotted with villages
>To each village they send a knight (or sometimes promote a villager to a knight) to perform all the administrative duty, taxation, but most importantly - train and equip fixed number of able-bodied men to be soldiers
>When war comes, dukes raise their knights and their trainees all equipped as much as they can afford
>This ragtag bunch marches somewhere, hopefully together
>Each band fights together under knight
>Though of maybe making a line or have archers or horsemen from different villages band together crosses people's minds, but they only ever trained to follow one guy

On the other hand, each levy is its own party of adventurers.

Are you making a joke about Feudalism?

My idea was to make it like feudalism, but somehow worse.

Did I just make it feudalism?

What you've written is pretty darn typical of feudalism.

Even this is accurate:
>This ragtag bunch marches somewhere, hopefully together
because desertion was a big problem when you have an army of peasants who don't give two shits about some jackass lord's claim to a region he's never heard of.

The only difference I can see is that in your system Duke's 'send knights' to administer villages, I think it was more likely for the lesser noble to be a local who pledged fealty to the Duke or the King directly.

>The only difference I can see is that in your system Duke's 'send knights' to administer villages, I think it was more likely for the lesser noble to be a local who pledged fealty to the Duke or the King directly.
Yes, I decided to treat the lower level nobility as employee rather then hereditary.

Just because. I guess I'm too hipster to copy it 1 to 1

Feudalism was often horrifically inefficient anyway, you just need a monarch so weak that no one gives a shit if he demands that they raise armies for him. Even then the armies that are raised are often a rabble of unenthused semi-trained peasants who will give you 30 days tops before they have to return to the farm, and even then they will only campaign during certain times of the year.

You will get a bunch of knights of varying quality as well, often seeking glory, which helps. And the whole project gets much easier if you promise riches to everyone who participates, which means your rabble may now have a vested interest in winning so they can get some loot, but if you fail it will be a big hit to prestige and it will be harder to raise an army next time.

nice as all hell. puts us to shame

>because desertion was a big problem when you have an army of peasants who don't give two shits about some jackass lord's claim to a region he's never heard of.

peasant armies weren't a thing until the 18th century.

>peasant armies weren't a thing until the 18th century.
That isn't entirely true either. The model really differed from land to land. In Bohemia, armies consisting of levies and volunteers from the peasantry were common up till 13th century, in England and Scotland, most villages had obligations to send a certain number of soldiers to serve their lords through out most of the history - there is no unification or perfect agreement on when and how much peasantry had participated in wars in what specific historical era.
Customs differed from kingdom to kingdom and from century to century.

So, this is a stupid question, and probably one that gets asked every thread, but whatever, it's just a way of keeping the thread alive.

What are your inspirations for your setting(s)? I don't mean only historical periods or countries. Books, films, comics, or videogames are also valid form of inspiration, so talk about them.

In my case, my setting is inspired by the 5th and 6th centuries in Asia, although I also take inspiration from earlier and later periods, and there are references to other regions, like Sassanid Persia, or the Indus Valley civilization. They're not the main attractions, but exist to give a bit of meat to the periferical regions of the setting. Most inspiration comes from history or folklore, but if I see any idea I think it's interesting, chances are that I will try to include it in the setting as longas it makes sense.

I was first enticed to make this setting thanks to the Three Kingdoms series (which I know takes place in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, btw) and the Yoshinogari park. Later additions were more of an attempt to include your usual elements like dungeons and ancient temples, or mysterious islands.

I know it's far from original, and it's probably shit, but I'm doing this as a hobby, so I'm not particularly concerned about it.

I'm currently in the process of making a map for the setting. For now, I'm just reading tutorials and looking up software, but I'm beginning to create a picture of the future map in my mind. I hope I can make a good map. Tips and advice are welcome, of course.

>What are your inspirations for your setting(s)?
Seems like I happen to take interest in somewhat similar settings and era.

Mine is almost entirely derived from a short picture book by Hayao Miyazaki called "Shuna's Journey". I took too much inspiration from it, actually - the main setup is basically ripped off Shuna which is bad because now I've reached a point where I actually want to do something with it, potentially commercial, but the similarities worry me.
I also took quite a lot of inspiration from the manga version Naushicaa of Valley of Wind (same author).

In terms of cultures, places and periods, I mostly derive my inspiration for landscapes central Asia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and those regions, as well as Turkey, Crimea, Iran, Caucas.
With cultures it's a bit more complicated, as there are several different periods of history, each inspired by somewhat different stuff:
The oldest history borrows quite a bit from Mesopotamia cultures, Phoenicia and kingdoms like Scythia, Bactria, Göktürk empire.
Later cultures borrow a lot from Armenians, central Asian nomadic cultures, medieval Arabian culture and a hefty dose of Aztecs too.

I haven't touched my worldbuilding in ages, only dug up my materials and notes few days ago, but I'm really compelled to jump right into it again.

Really fucking nice, but I can't help seeing a senile old fox

I took most of my inspiration for my current project from the Neverending Story and Dark Souls 2, because I like how these two are both different takes on the idea of a cyclical setting that's at the same time both high magic fantasy and also very mundane, grounded in history and folklore. They're both fantasies where the world is an active protagonist, if you know what I mean. They're both bleak and full of wonder which is a balancing act I love when its done right, and they're both centered around the question of what happens when you think you're powerful enough to fuck with destiny, which is the best hook for a setting-defining antagonist ever imo.

They're also very self-contained settings and those are easier to manage than globe-spanning multinational ones.

The fact you weren't being ironic makes you even more autistic. 0/10 you actual retard.

I'm totally stealing that map landscapes method btw

Ayy Lmao

Describe your pantheon to me, Veeky Forums. I need some more ideas.

Dragon Age got it all.
>Ancient primeval Gods
>"One true god"
>Jesus
>powerful nongods become like gods
>just powerful spirits worshipped as gods
>other primeval entity

Or just a twist that there are no gods at all.
Just an endless meaningless cycle.
Like in Pillars of Eternity
Man I liked that pantheon.

There are two sets of Gods in my world, but only one of them is really worshiped. (I read up on the Veeky Forums unified setting and adjusted it to my tastes.)

The Divines, who created the world, beings, and the other gods, are pretty much unknown to the races.

The second pantheon, which is recognized by the people of the world, are the now deceased draconian council. There were twelve seats in the council, and one member betrayed the rest and the draconian people as a whole. When the rest of the draconians died, only the council members survived, though they all retreated to their own planes and are essentially trapped there.

Of course, the whole "council" part is not known by the public. All they know is there are gods, and there are twelve of them. Some have found draconian ruins, but so far nobody has been able to link the ruins to the deities that they worship.

Not wholly original, but it's enough of a spin on the formula (while still sticking to the formula) to keep me and my players happy.

>There were twelve seats in the council, and one member betrayed the rest and the draconian people as a whole
nononono

It's a bit of a long story as to why/how it happened, but he was the most powerful by a significant margin. Like I said, it's quite unoriginal, but it keeps us happy.

Caesar betrayal is better.
Have one strong leader be betrayed by one half or 1/3, then destructive civil war.

It isn't original either, but far better than one doing it all.

I do like this idea, but the council exists to stop a single strong leader from existing.

Essentially, there were two brothers of the council who were well known to be the most gifted. One was always jealous of the other. Some members of the senate used this knowledge as leverage to convince him to betray his brother, which caused a huge cataclysmic event (they were both incredibly powerful even before ascending to godhood).

>council exists to stop a single strong leader from existing.
Just like caesar and senate.
Large part of Council/Senate don't like that "strong individual" wants to change "insert important thing".

What do you guys use to draw your maps? Do you just freehand them in Sai or something?

Might I ask what's the reason behind making knights an administrative part of the state?
Has it something to do with military practices making the class somewhat obsolete which have created a need to refocus the attention and priorites of a highly militarised part of society in a way that doesn't lead to civil war?

Not campaign material but visual aids and general nerdery for a setting I'm trying to write stuff about.

Can we post modern/post-apocalyptic world building here?

Why not?

Faintly plains indians inspired boar men created by the chillest of the demonic titans. Mostly want to be left alone, and hate anyone and anything trying to control them outside of direct paternal ancestors. Live in small, extremely tight knit villages, hold the safety/hapiness of their community second only to their personal freedom. They have a kind of corporeal communal bond, where anything that would affect one is divided among all of them, so what should be a killer plague just makes all of them slightly sick, and the shaman blessing one guy makes the whole tribe stronger

...

I posted this once before but this is a map I did for my brother's worldbuilding project.

I don't know the lore super well but I know the orange and red nations in the north are at war but were once one country. Exiles from the Green and Blue nations live in tribes in the forest and I think raid outlying areas from time to time. And Blue is primed to wipe Green off the map or vice versa, can't remember which.

Not really. I thought of it more as of system arisen from need to fight off raiders from nearby regions, placing emphasis on rapid reaction of local militia.

I have an idea for a late-80s dystopian campaign, set in Seattle, with a focus on cars. The players are all car buffs, so scrounging for parts and finding 80s-era cars would be exciting. I want there to be some semblance of civilization; less Mad Max, more like areas of Fallout where the bombs didn't hit.

So I'm in serious need of assistance with world building. Im looking for a reason besides nukes, zombies, aliens, etc. that the world would have gone to shit by 1980. How do I stress the importance of car ownership without ripping off of Mad Max? Is a city like Seattle even a good setting for such a campaign?

I know it's a really rough idea, and it's obviously silly, but I think there's fun to be had here. Not a world building question per se, but would Savage Worlds be a good idea for a campaign like this?

Skeleton uprising

>4 original gods who shaped the world, one of them dead, the other three in exile
>~200 Saints who are basically deified humans or mythological heroes with divine powers that can be asked for favors particular to their domain

Descended from super-soldiers created by the goddess of war, or rather the infirm, the untrained, the elderly, etcetera, who were left behind when the War Goddess took all the actual soldier orks to war and subsequently died.

THey're currently split between a load of hunter-gatherer tribes and fiercely defended primitive agricultural settlements, both of whom hate each other. They're expert blacksmiths by nature, and thus there is a third community outside of the Grand Forest that is traditionally their home in the various human nations acting as smiths, mercenaries, etcetera. The first two refer to themselves as the Orkar, and the last as merely Orcs.

Oh shit, I didn't expect to see the map I made for you again

I used Paint.NET

The big one is Warhammer Fantasy. First fantasy universe I got really interested in, and this setting was practically fan-fiction - big HREish kingdom, jungle-loving lizardmen with an Aztec aesthetic, KNIGHTS!, etcetera.
After that, probably a couple of fantasy video games - Age of Mythology probably being the biggest. Originally it was a rather wargamey setting in the Total War sense, I have sheets sitting around on my harddrive with 'Lord/Wizard/Hero:HeavyCav/LightCav/StandardCav/AerialCav/etcetera' on them.
As my interest in general worldbuilding grew, I tried to make into a more coherent setting, and distance it from others - the nature-loving lizardmen become borderline industrialist druids (why bother with sustainable forests when you can chop one down and grow it back in a week), other inspirations slipped in, such as ASOIAF and it's lovely detailed histories.

In terms of cultures, since it's a whole world, I tried to shove everything in. Nordic Russo-Inuits, Germanic Cavemen Orcs, Romano-Ottoman Malians, Australians, etcetera.

And yes, I know the map is pretty rubbish. I don't know how to into rivers, and I don't have the excuse I have for the mountain ranges of 'the Earth Goddess started chucking mountains at the other gods'

>1 Unknown Creator-Destroyer God
>First attempts at creating life, weird alien demon shit
>Five Gods of Water, Metal, Nature, Earth and Magic, and derivatives thereof
>Lesser Gods
>Men worshipped as Gods

I haven't fully fleshed the whole pantheon yet - there are some 20+ cultures each with somewhat different religions, though a lot of them are overlapping. I don't intend to actually describe each and every one in detail, it's unnecessary.
The way I go around religions is that I establish several religious categories.
>General beliefs - these are sort of "common" folk believes shared often across multiple cultures.
They lack complex inner structure or centralization. Each culture or tribe might have somewhat different names or images of the gods, but the core remains more or less the same.
These include things like cult of Bodhana, a two-faced fertility goddess, The Great Bull, a nomad-centered cult beliving the land itself is a body of a dead (or sleeping) divine animal, The Old Ways which are an assorted collection of Slavic-like and Celtic-like primitive paganisms etc...
>Churches and state-religions, which have their own inner rigid structure and centralization, often play administrative or state-related roles.
There is Atonism, only monotheism in the world, that believes the whole world is like a giant clockwork, revolving around "divine watchmaker Aton", and emphatizes machine-like order in society.
There is Many-and-One, a formerly primitive shamanism transformed to accommodate Imperial family cult, not unlike Japanese Shinto.
Or the Golden Seven, seven divine aspects protecting the city-state of Caliopa.
>"Special" and local cults.
These involve religious-philosophical movements or orders, like the Circulars who believe time is an endless cycle in which we - reflection of true divinity, are trapped (they have a lot in common with Gnostics), The Cult of a Mad Jester, a bastardized mad version of Atonism, or The Followers of the Moth - an ascetic beggar order that operates across the whole world.

There are no "real" gods operating in my world, and ironically enough that means there are too many beliefs and religion to even keep track off.

There is no real pantheon, but there are several creatures worshiped as gods. It used to be common for people to worship extraplanar entities with lots of power in traditional D&D style but after the ascent of the Rome-equivalent there was a period of scholasticism that ended serious consideration of those creatures as actual gods. A lot of people still worship them, in what are called the Small Faiths, but it's mostly the poor/uneducated who don't know better or care more about "muh crops" than salvation, and elves, who refuse to accept the legitimacy of human theology.

Most people on the planet subscribe to one of two major religious traditions, called the Church of the Holy Maiden and Kantorism. The Church recognizes the existence of a demiurge Abrahamic-style tri-omni creator but does not worship it. They instead venerate the Holy Maiden Adrastea who was a cleric that created an afterlife free of suffering for all the people that followed some basic commandments, 1) worship no god, 2) repent of your sins, and 3) venerate the Holy Maiden.

Kantorism is an ascetic, pantheistic, and animistic faith that believes a former !Roman emperor named Kantor was the messiah who died and revealed the immanence of divinity. Kantorists do not believe that anything is a god, for everything is part of the same transcendant godhead.

There's also a few minor religions like the Five Cults, which worship really powerful living creatures as gods, and the Stonefaith of the wildmen which is kind of like a religious version of Randian Objectivism, with perhaps a bit more human sacrifice and cannibalism.

Infected cocaine supplies turned all the corporate execs into mutant overlords.

Something something Titanomachy something something Götterdämmerung. Long story short, the gods are long dead and only barely whispered about. This gives me a justification for why I'm so vague about this particular part of my setting because I suck at coming up with gods.

Did that giant die taking a shit or something?

Looks like he was taking a knee and bracing himself against some onslaught.

Why the hill in the back? Was it a city once or some gift? It looks oddly out of place

Yeah, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for an actual rock to be directly behind him; it'd be more plausible for it to just be a hill of sand like what buried the Sphinx for several centuries.

But hey, sometimes artists don't think about that shit.

What font did you use for that map?

>The Apocalypse Stone

Is that the one where you burn down the whole setting and tell them you're playing the new edition now?

Play some Dominions 4 if you're having trouble coming up with gods. It's fucking mental.

yup

Territory labels: EB Garamond SC 08 (Title Case)
Forest labels: EB Garamond SC 12 (lower case)
Large towns: EB Garamond 08 (Title Case)
Ruins and small villages: EB Garamond 12 (Title Case)
The ocean: EB Garamond SC 08 (Title Case)

Mount Stormdevil: Cormorant SC (lower case)

Basically the Garamond and Cormorant font families.

Thanks m8

This map/environ-moodboard seems like a great idea and method

Here's what I've been working on for a while.

GUYS

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

PLEASE

STUDY TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS OF THE REAL WORLD BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR OWN

I BEG YOU

>making a planet
>not just making a plane or a disk

I like this.
Thank you, user

Help me out, Veeky Forums.

Where should the capital of the Empire be?

I did as best a job studying it with regards to mountains, tectonics, climate, wind/water patterns, as I could but I'm getting to the point of "I dunt give a fug no mo". And what glaring errors topographically would you recommend people take into consideration?

Still think we should compile a succinct and straightforward list of do's and don'ts. Stuff like:

-Mountains need to either be relatively near a coastline or have been near one historically (in which case if it's further away it should be more eroded),
-30° North or South give or take will be where your big deserts are.
-Wet vs dry side of mountains.
-Clockwise vs counterclockwise wind patterns with the doldrums at 30°.

Istanbul/Constantinople

Wherever one or more rivers meet.

...

why is that important?

...I thought it was a team effort, bro

yuki.la/tg/45627619

The three major religions in my setting, though each has its own offshoots and cults associated with it as well.

a bunch of gods and goddesses who squabble a lot. They didn't create the world and don't know what did, but they are content enough with messing with everything and everyone. They aren't thought to interact directly with human affairs, instead preferring more subtle approaches.

another religion believes in a single god figure who is believed to take a more hands on approach. Each time this diety has walked the earth, they have taken a different form; sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes both, sometimes neither, sometimes as an animal. In other stories, the form the god appears as is different for all who gaze upon them, and they see whatever they need to see.

The prominent religion to the south believes their god created the world, and that he had a helper who made sure the world was created properly. Then both fucked off and don't mettle in human affairs at all, but instead deputized six angels to act in their stead.

I'd love to fuck your face, after I have broken your jaw.

Forgotten empire have fleet power equivalent to mine. Do you think it's time I can take on them? I want their ringworld.