Okay, I'm running a (mostly) solo game for a girl, who decided to start as a lone wandered, who's currently travelling through the steppes. I'm racking my brain trying to come up with anything interesting about them, but I just can't.
Any help here? Pic mostly unrelated.
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Long, flat and wide valleys with smooth terrain and uniform geology under it? Perfect for horse-mounted warriors and lightening fast raids from all angles.
Sounds like a perfect place for going unnaground. The exact opposite of the Mongol stye lightening raid.
Pic VERY related. You makes steppes more interesting by adding hot steppe princesses to them.
Think "The Revenant"
Russian fantasy. Nomad tribes. Beat tribes. (Pack of wolives led by wolfwere or something). Merchants traversing not-silk road. Wanamaker hunting, raiding merchants, matching on civilized lands. Steppe worms (a la dune worms). Archaeological or exploratory expositions. Spirits of the wild. Plains fires. Storms. Unnatural weather caused by eidolons. Slavers. Snake cults. Thulsa Doom. Other wanderers (Conan). Dragon. Roc. Herds of wild horses. Purple worm. Crashed spelljammer. Drow raiding party that got lost and came to surface in the wrong location.
Man, duck my phone.
Beast tribes. wolves. Warband ... marching. Expeditions.
Play Pathologic for inspiration. You will never think of steppes as boring ever again.
What's the time and setting? Is it Earth or a fantasy world? What technology is available?
Buffalo stampede.
Mongolian death worm.
Out-of-control brush fire.
Roving gnoll pack.
Random hobgoblin fortress.
Mysterious lone wanderer.
Procession of 400 cultists walking single-file to who knows where.
Horse goes lame. Must find new horse.
Running low on supplies. Steal from a tribe, or try to hunt?
Giant alien insect corpse. Wolves eating it.
Tribes fighting for control of an oasis.
>Man, duck my phone.
Duck your phone, indeed.
Feel like going for sp00ky wasteland feel to it would probably be the best with hints of civilization being noted by the merchants and armies that pass through every so often.
Good dog! You presented your paw just like Mistress wanted you to! And you put out that dangerous fire!
These are good.
Also remember that steppe dweling tribes were pretty much always at some level of feuding or all out war with another tribe.
Have her wander into an ongoing battle, or have the ongoing battle wander into her.
Also: Mastadon riders.
I am now picturing Beat Tribes facing off against packs of Wolf-Olives while incompetent hunting merchants flounder uselessly in the distance.
You've got a great imagination, user.
OP here, some very good suggestions here. What sort of civilizations can I put into steppes other than mongols lite?
Cannibal Scythians lead by witch-queens and half mad seers who reside in skin tents where they burn sacred herbs that grant them "visions".
Their hordes are vast and nomadic, often raiding out of the steppes into civilized lands; their stories and magical traditions are all orally transmitted, and their gods are fierce and primeval.
They are known by the whole flayed human hides and dragon pennants that they fly on their lances, and by their motley garb of horse hide and plunders silks.
Their chieftains are resplendent in gold jewellery and scale arm,our of bronze or horn, and high ranking men often bear highly stylised animistic tattoos.
Slavs.
Or Plains Indians.
I'm also a big fan of the pseudo-mongolian Ogres from Warhammer Fantasy.
I'd scatter the terrain with ruins of another civilization. Either one long conquered by nomads, or that died out after a catastrophe.
Could be human or not.
They don't think it be like it is, but it do.
I think you're doin a fine job OP
>What sort of civilizations can I put into steppes other than mongols lite?
Do the Huns count as "Mongol-lite"?
Huns are more of Mongol-plus
For Central Asian history there's mostly the Iranic branch and the Turkic/Mongol branch, but aside of religion and language they're actually pretty similar as they intermingled a lot and ended up absorbing each other and lived similar lives.
>They don't think it be like it is, but it do.
See, I have it on good authority from a friend who knows about such things that while it may look like it does, in fact, be like it is, based on new scientific data, there is good reason to question the validity of the prevailing viewpoint that it does, in actuality, be like it do. The issue apparently hinges on quantum uncertainty and the subtler implications of superpositioning, which may cause it to do like it be while simultaneously being like it don't. Naturally, it still does what it is, but only once observed can we be certain there is no chance it wouldn't what it doesn't.
>animal herds
>large birds of prey
>pastoralists' camps
>rolling mountains
>shallow rivers
>grass and rolling hills, with some sort of mountain range in at least one direction
>other travellers, travelling on official duty, for business or on family matters. Could be anything from envoys to newlyweds on their way to their new homes to martial artists dressed up as specters who got paid to transport a decased's body to his or her homeland.
》newlyweds
Mongol wedding procession. Invited to join in.
Silk road
Huns didn't conquer all of China.
Places breed certain kinds of people. Vast steppes next to deserts generally create nomads. But if you add a lush river valley next to a gold mine, next to a steppe, you can suddenly add little cities.
If you're interested in what mongol culture for your game I recommend "The Secret history of the Mongols", Eldengtei and "Choiji: Golden History"
You learn things from mongol customs like "Eating in front of others without offering them your meal is punishable by death" or the shamanistic believes they embodied, which make great story elements.
>not-silk road
All kinds of crazy shit can happen with this. You also have tribes that "protect" certain areas of the road, extracting tolls from travelers and harassing those that don't pay.
S_C_Y_T_H_I_A_N_S
C
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Remember that the Scythians occasionally sort of settled down and integrated with city folk that lived on the fringes of the steppe.
Alternatively, a Mongol funeral procession, where the final tomb is supposed to be a secret, and they attack you.
There's also the Khara-Khitai Khanate, which was like, nomadic chinese.
...
...
...
They also made kick ass art objects.
Halflings
On dinosaurs
Just watch Game of Thrones and pay attention to Dothraki culture.
Leng
my tribesman
Scythians work out well. Them and their early steppe kin had interesting ways to combat the civilized folk.
Early on in history, the Sumerians were organizing the first cities into a conglomerate. This grouping gave them large numbers of troops - 1000 men organized into an army back then was a doomstack - to conquer and defend.
They favored infantry blocks with long spears and tall shields made from wicker or rattan. This allowed men with little training to come together like a spiny hedgehog against the foe's army. It worked really well... except in certain cases.
Those cases happened when they were attacked and raided by tribes from the northern steppes... and also when they attempted to STOP them from raiding.
They approached in a square formation. The spears pointed forward in order to ward off any charges. The shields would be held forward or above the formation depending where the soldier was standing.
The steppe tribesmen would ride towards the formation full speed. This got the Sumerian phalanx to tighten as they braced for a charge. Suddenly the charge would give way in two directions. The horsemen would circle around the square.
The Sumerians had little cavalry, and their archers hid within the spear square so the steppe tribesmen would rapidly surround the men of Sumer.
They would loose their arrows at any archers that attempted to stand up and launch an arrow at them. While they suppressed the Sumerian archers, one can imagine that this hail of arrows would cause the square to tighten even more as the men inside panicked.
The steppe tribesmen would launch their next weapon of choice into the spear square: the lasso. It would hook around a man's arm, head or neck before tightening instantly.
They would be pulled from the formation by sheer force. If it did not snap their neck immediately, they would be drug around until they fell apart or were dispatched by another rider. That's how you make the steppe interesting.
...
They did it against every Empire that came at them with infantry as their main tool of conquest
Is this a copypasta? Yet?
>Is this a copypasta?
Nah, I just drank too much caffeine.
my man of fine patterns on comfortable clothing
BRAND NEW COPYPASTA.
Also, what said. It's worth noting with Silk Road stuff, that the steppe could be between two otherwise interesting places, like the Middle East and Mediterranean, and East Asia.
Cossacks.
You can't go wrong with cossacks, OP.
Has no one mentioned fury road yet? You could definitely add elements of that to a campaign
Fury Road was just Road Warrior meets Dune. Neither is relevant in this setting.
Where does Dune come in Fury Road?
Hydraulic despotism?
Is there some fanfic where sand trout stole the water from the greenlands?
Two thoughts:
>The Steppe is a huge and vast place with lots of variety. You can have extremes of weather, mountains, desserts, vast lakes. Historically there was a bewildering array of cultures and tribes, all practising mad ideologies. Just up your scale to 11
>Go the other way. Make the endless, maddening expanse of nothing the dominant feature. Treat it like an ocean of grassland. Have the players run out of water, get lost in the nothing, stave off madness etc
Read about native tribes of Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and their neighbors on Wikipedia.
All very well. Really interesting ideas!
>But fellas, what is the bottom line here?
I assume that OP wishes to seduce this young lady, as any worthy GM with a lone female player would.
>Sooo
You want to set a relaxed, sexy atmosphere. Low light, nice music. Start slowly, set the tone, the ambience.
Then...
Then yeah, why not, create lush natural landscapes. The steppes might not be your typical romantic place, but, use the sunset, rivers, little ravines, describe the vegetation slowly swaying in the wind. Embed the subtle beauty in little things.
>That's right, let her see that you are a seasoned veteran and have a way with words and images, but can also be sensitive AF.
The lonely plains can then surprise her. Thunderstorm? Bison charging. Tenderness? A small child, injured and confused, in need of help.
The best option? Yup. The lonely interesting stranger. Your own alter ego. He can talk freely about anything, he can be bold, and dare where you would not.
Get her thinking about it. Get her to talk about it. In a friendly, easy, natural, but sexy way...
If that does not work, hardly anything will. Remeber she probably wants to hang out with you anyway, but she is shy and does not want to be rejected.
>Yes, she foresaw and planned this! Or do you think you are the one who seduced her??
Have fun!
Give her the dick OP.
Even if she looks like a freshly shaved Genghis Khan.
That sounds like the best sort of girl to dick, your sons will be warriors!
Yes. Lower the lights, and add a couple shots of vodka. But still.
BTW, no penetration without protection.
>cute girls on the steppes
>no Otoyomegatari
Veeky Forums pls
>posting weeb shit on Veeky Forums
You are right. Sorry I got swept away.
See, this is what I'm talking about.
you don't.
there's literally nothing there.
>mfw going to war in my PJs
Read 1491 by Charles C. Mann.
Well its pretty easy. Try to read about some steppe history take a look at the culture of turks(the steppe ones), mongols etc. Making her come across a funeral of a great khan would be a pretty interesting event. She can come across old tribal graveyards, old battlefields, raided villages, tribal warfare, merchants, tribal festivals, tribal events (like electing a khan), battle between nomads and other settled people, slave bazaars. I mean I can go all day if you want.