/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General Wizard Edition

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Necromancy and playing with godly thing or things that should stay dead. It is universally seen as taboo to mess with dead. Resurrection magic is a thing, but it is very hard and only a handful of magis in whole world know how to do it. Even they require a lot of resources and assistants.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Most likely they become apprentices to wandering magis who teach them slowly how to do magic. This is the basic teacher-apprentice system. There is several schools that teach magic, but most known is City of Magis. Whole city started by magically attuned people, because in that place there is more life energy than in other places in the world. City is the place where all magis who want to be something great go in hopes of learning from the best of the world.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
No. Clothing does not hinder the usage of magic. If your equipment can be inscribed with runes that help in magic it is done so. Combat magi with rune inscribed full plate is very dangerous opponent.

>1. The fancy squiggly text on the map is nearly unreadable.
Yeah, I'm thinking of getting rid of it for everything except the first letter.

>2. The whole Orc invasion thing is kind of cliche. That's fine if you want, but I'd suggest doing something more with it.
It's important the the setting because the idea is that this is a post-war, almost post-apocalypse setting. The orcs were genocided by the new god of the sun and it's up to the people who play in the setting to deal with the ramifications of genocide, even if it was of a standard evil race. How does that affect society, how people act, the balance of good and evil? That sort of thing. But it's not very fleshed out, I'm not exactly sure if I want to or not.

>3. Are the southern kingdoms on the other side is the sea? How big is it? It seems like a pretty big barrier to population movement, especially invading orc armies.
Yeah, on the other side of the sea. I guess it's somewhere between the size of Lake Superior + Lake Michigan and the Adriatic Sea? When I say refugees, I don't mean millions; I'm mean thousands. Even just 3000-5000 refugees would be a major strain on a medieval nation's resources, I thought, and would cause major upheavals.

>4. I want to know more about the rapacious harpies.
There's more. They live in clifftop cities carved from stone, maybe. They raid the hills and valleys around the mountains for sheep and men, whom they use as slaves. They're fairly primitive technologically speaking, equipped with leather armor and wood or stone or bone weapons. But they have an intricate culture of song and painting, and they are among the most fervent worshippers of Ur-Kazak, the universal God of the Dead in the setting that exists in all pantheons because of that. Basically, Ur-Kazak is a deification of Stone Age oral storytellers and painters, and is the psychopomp of mortal souls, and that's why the harpies are among his most sacred species.

make a seperate version where you have notes along with the actual work

What do you mean?

This is nice, but a few things:
>The fonts on your maps don't match your booklet font; actually or themematically. It gives it an inconsistent feel, comic sans and a serif font don't really mix.

>Your images could be improved by a legend and/or scale

>some colours don't read well; the vlue 'airhey river' in the wardgate castle for example.

Thanks, the font does seem to bug a lot of people who see them. As for a scale, I'd have to think about that; I haven't really determined sizes and distances yet. I have kind of an inkling that Mannax is about the length of Albania or something like that but I'm not sure yet.

I have no motivation to work on my setting.

Look at other peoples settings and be inspired.

Its more setting ADD. I work on one thing, then start thinking about how people would like the other setting, work on that, and the bouncing back and forth has just drained me.

I was like that until I started putting stuff down on paper. Now that I see that my setting info is incomplete, I'm much more inclined t work on it instead of all my other stuff.

I've done that. My biggest problem is I'm looking at it from a commercial stand, and the market has an over-abundance of fantasy skirmish wargames right now. The only big things I got going for it is a Mediterranean classical era feel for it, instead of classic Medieval, and its a bit more fleshed out than the other one.

Another note on the sea and armies:

I was kind of thinking about how the Vandals conquered the North African territories of the Roman Empire when thinking of how Orcs could cross the ocean and attack northern lands, and about how the Ottomans moved into the Eastern Roman Empire's lands in Anatolia. It's meant to be the sort of Sauron invading Middle-Earth level of crisis, especially with the Gruumsh leading his armies and such.

One of the inspirations for the setting was a quote that I'll paraphrase:
>What was Aragorn's policy towards the orcs?
Well, the answer is that the orcs were exterminated. Why would the orcs be exterminated, and not be around like they would be in a standard D&D setting? How does that affect society, affect people's morality?

Unalash isn't a gentle god. He demands sacrifices, blood sacrifices, preferably of orcs. He is the Lash of the Gods, who enforces divine judgement. He is the slayer of gods, who killed the previous sun god of the pantheon for failing to protect mankind and then hunted down every last orc god wherever they could be found. He is the burning sun of drought, the blinding sun that destroys sight. But he is also a bringer of warmth and a protector of mankind. If your people, your race, turned to a god like that collectively what kind of effects does that have on the world?

I'm currently trying to figure out something out for my magic system in my current setting. Background info: It's magic with a physical form, so you have to go collect some magi-chunk before you can do anything with it. The more complex, the more powerful, and the larger effect of the spell, the more magi-chunk you need. The more magi-chunk/the more complex the easier it is to miscast. Enchanting is a thing too, embedding magical properties into objects.

So how should I treat magic directly applied to the body?
-Should it cost more? Should it be due to complexity or just some handwaved lifeforce bullshit? Or both?
-Theoretically, a temporary change would cost more than a permanent one. Should this be how it actually works?
-What's to stop people from making multiple smaller changes in a clinical setting?
-Should I have a bullshit handwave for polymorph but not for medical magic?
-Should I let people enchant parts of their body?
-Should I let people enchant things like tattoos?
-Should I allow other alterations of body state, like a "Powerword: Endorphins" type of spell?
-Should I allow any of it at all in the first place?

>Commercial
You can't let that be your overriding goal. You have to ask yourself if you like what you're working on first, because if you look at it commercially you don't have the resources to compete with actual companies with people who write about wargames for a living.

So it's warpstone.

For the polymorph and stuff, you can go the Earthsea route, where you change the appearance but without know the true name, you can't actually really change it. You can easily say that medical magic would need direct contact with the magic chunk to affect the lifeforce and change it.

Personally, if I was going with a physical material, I'd use some magic inks and stuff. Imbued magic paint for temporary effects, tattoos with magic chunk in the ink for permanent stuff. Could also use it to get out of the too much problem, too much exposure like that could be toxic and start having negative effects.

>where you change the appearance but without know the true name, you can't actually really change it
The problem there is that there isn't too much mythology actually attached to the magic itself. It's just this weird stuff that exists and you can do wonderous things with it once you get some practice in.

>I'd use some magic inks and stuff. Imbued magic paint for temporary effects, tattoos with magic chunk in the ink for permanent stuff.
Well, as it is, it takes more effort to change something and then change it back than it is to just do changes once. A lifeforce handwave could make it so the body warps it back, but that also makes people inherently magical by virute of being alive which raises all sorts questions I'm not sure my feeble mind can even start to pick out much less answer.

>Could also use it to get out of the too much problem, too much exposure like that could be toxic and start having negative effects.
I actually do have that already. Mostly with inhaling it or eating/drinking it like a dumbass. It's magic, so it takes whatever form it pleases. And if it gets inside of you while you're milling about in a magically-active area (helloooo enchanted forests) Bad Things can happen.

Have you looked into how Eberron handles Dragonmarks? That sounds kind of similar to what you're asking about.

I don't think Dragonmarks are really similar to that at all. Did you mean Dragonshards?

>So how should I treat magic directly applied to the body?
>-Should it cost more? Should it be due to complexity or just some handwaved lifeforce bullshit? Or both?
>-Theoretically, a temporary change would cost more than a permanent one. Should this be how it actually works?
>-Should I let people enchant parts of their body?
>-Should I let people enchant things like tattoos?

Dragonmarks and temporary or false dragonmarks address these, I think. It's been awhile and I haven't seen 5e Eberron yet.

I believe that dragonmarks let you cast specific spells or spell-like effects a number of times per day, the simplest method. You could have them on different parts of your body, the temporary ones could be removed or added for some kind of cost. Basically, it was like 4e's at-will powers but only for people who were dragonmarked.

At least, that's what I remember.

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
low
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
arbitrary code injection into the laws of reality, making a temporary exception
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
anyone can do it, technically, but it's really hard and of dubious use
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
a series of complex repetitive movements, timed chemical reactions, mostly a lot of math. there are many possible solutions to get the same effect, so it depends on the spell and personal technique. always show your work.
>How effective is the magic?
for the most part, it's a shitload of effort compared to the payout, so it's really situational. one could perform a two hour ritual to walk through one wall for instance. that would be great if you were escaping from prison, but wouldn't help you escape from a pursuer, for instance.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
not many people even know about it, and fewer believe in it. the rituals being performed look positively ridiculous, so I guess you'd be considered a weirdo if someone caught you in the act.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
there's an obscure, but not at all secret society offering magic tutorship at a few colleges
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
why not? people already think you're a larper or something.

You know, I can't think of how to treat magic in my setting. I feel like going the D&D route is too high, but I also don't want to go the Warhammer Fantasy route where it's limited and deadly. I'm thinking more of how Escaflowne applied it, or how Berserk does it, but are there any systems like that?

You're getting caught up on the word tattoo. I just wanted to ask about that because it related to enchanting the body directly. If you can't enchant the body proper, what about things deeply tied to the body? Other things that might count would be things like a prosthetic limb.

Honestly, for me it's either video gamey or plot-demands-it.

Anything else feels to gimmicky and unmagical.

And video gamey should only be applied to video games, because it too is dumb.

Magic should be magical, not scientific.

The true dragonmarks aren't tattoos though. They are embedded in the body. Different ones have different effects, but they're always temporary spell abilities, not permanent alterations.

Well, if you want lower magic but something still reasonably safe and usable for gameplay purposes, you could have magic be very specific.

For example, say the only basic spell in the world is a cone of fire. How good of a mage you are determines how many you can toss out before exhausting yourself.

Then, outside of that, everything is lost knowledge, secret and risky rituals, and generally part of the plot to remain mysterious.

Essentially, it makes being a dedicated Mage difficult, but not impossible, and it makes only a tiny fragment of magic understood enough to be used regularly.

My problem is that I have freeform magic and I need to figure out what difficulties one might encounter by trying to cast Enlarge Dick.

Is there a way to justify hovercars, lightning guns and so on in a setting but no Internet?

That's what Starwars did.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story)

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
high magic
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
giant ass magical furnace in the planet's core, no one knows how it got there
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
with exposure to it successive generations will gain inborn magic powers for themselves, usually how it works depends on races (humans learn magic quickly but it's completely unstable, elves are stable but requires centuries to use it anyway efficiently)
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
they channel it through their bodies though some can use "other means" of increasing and gaining more magical power, though it is risky
>How effective is the magic?
goes in ranks from F class being outclassed by household appliances to S-class who are basically gods
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
those "other means" can cause people to go insane and combined with their great power they become demons about 5 global-spanning "demos wars" were fought because of that shit
Likewise S-class humans due to their unstable magic has the risk of "ascending" where they inadvertently created a pocket dimension where they trap themselves in for all eternity
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Through schools mostly. Best schools are in the central kingdoms (see: Arabian nights)
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
you can

Tried looking up FATAL?

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Pervasiveness is high, but general knowledge is nonexistent - my usual setting is modern-day, and magic and other weird shit happens behind locked doors. People who witness it either get memory-wiped, killed, or forcibly recruited into one of the magic factions.
>If you have magic, how do you power it?
Three types of magic - Wizardry, that anyone can learn with decades if not centuries of study, Sorcery, which has a random chance of mutating into an individual (sorcery is highly variable and hard to control, but more powerful and doesn't need study) and the Wild, a hereditary magic that empowers one's physical traits (Captain America juice).
>Where is the source of the power?
Wizardry uses physics in terms of energy - before a wizard duel, the air will go still and the temperature will drop as the wizards consume the energy. Wizarding duels have no flash at all - the most common form of attack is simply exerting kinetic force on your target. Non-magicals use cryogenic weaponry to suppress wizards. Sorcery uses the energy of the soul (another post entirely) and the Wild is just your body's energy.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Everyone can learn wizardry, though it takes decades to. Sorcery is a random mutation, and the Wild is hereditary (though it often lies dormant).
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Wizardry needs to be initiated by a catalyst; highly trained wizards need only to twitch their finger or whisper a syllable, but it needs to be a conscious expenditure of energy. Sorcery is mostly instinctual, but one can learn to control it. The Wild is physical.
>How effective is the magic?
Pretty fucking effective. A powerful wizard can decimate armies, a lucky sorcerer can X-man it up, and a Wilder can punch cities to death.
cont.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Most of what would be taboo (necromancy etc.) is so impractical there's no real law against it. People who make pacts with demons are generally regarded as idiotic, but taken seriously.
>How does new mages learn their craft?Schools, apprentices or something else?
You either have to find an ancient tome on wizardry or find a master. Sorcerers all control and express their power differently. The Wilders can find masters pretty easily, but SHADE (another post) usually snaps them up fast.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Optional, but "lolretro" hipsters love 'em.

>Players want interesting elves in my sci-fantasy world

Do virtual elves that essentially play real life seem dumb to you guys? As in they've ascended to the point of living in a open air database on this planet and inhabit and control machine bodies seem dumb to you?

Not bad, but wouldn't it make more sense to have a list of ruins and smaller villages than cities? What are the chances players will spend long in cities?

No.

I think having Elves be sentient AI is a decent twist on the typical space elf thing. They're usually just some sort of long lived race that's wise, so justifying both of those by making them digital (so they're immortal and incredibly smart) is quite nice.

I'd personally go for Holograms over machine bodies myself, but you do you.

Actually I don't think they'll meet the old but wise tropes. Ehh I think I'll call them something different then elves.

Elden or some shit.

I want them to be rather mean and not give much of a fuck about life in the real world.

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Now just roll 1d20 for each column and find instant inspiration

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Some of these might be interesting locales, events happening in an area, or even magical laws for your world

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>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High. It is very much a high fantasy setting.

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Magic runs through and across the world, like a current. Spells are cast by funneling this power.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Most magic users need to study to be able to actually draw upon the flow of magic. Anyone with basic training can use spells, but only those that study it and devote themselves to it are able to craft spells and manipulate the winds for their needs, as opposed to relying on the favor of the currents.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
All magic is performed by drawing and passing magic through a rune or runes of power. Usually these runes are printed onto an item. While any physical item works, most prefer a sturdy item that can be used to hold the runes away from themselves, as channeling magic is dangerous, and can lead to discharge, overheating, or combustion.

>How effective is the magic?
Magic is very effective, but unstable. The most common and effective uses is alchemy and enchanting. Alchemy is achieved by the use of runes to alter substances for the desired effect.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Resurrection of the dead is an almost universal taboo. The only known exceptions are the Returned of the Sobki, though this is not through earthly means, but the spirit returning to its mummified corpse; and the secret practice of Vitamancy, a practice limited by the Lich Priests, as to not draw the attention of the Goddess of Death.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Depends on the culture, but most have a structured form available.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
No.

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Mid magic and lower. Magic's primary resource is time, so if you want to do something more than a combat fireball, you're going to have to dig into some day/year/decade/millenium long ritual to cast it.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
The source of magical power is the Spirit, which partly makes up all living things. Spirit is its own form of Matter, separate from the physical.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Everyone can use magic. Magic is something you can specialize in just like a fighter specializes in fighting and a thief specializes in stealing.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
If its combat magic, it doesn't require anything more than a few words or a small motion. Your body is the focus. If you want to affect something more, then you'll need to perform a ritual that takes a proportional amount of time. Casting a spell on a village might take weeks, while a spell on an entire nation might take decades.
>How effective is the magic?
100% effective against something that has a spirit, or is made of spirit. Less effective against things that are physical only.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Necromancy is usually disliked as is polymorphing, but if you can convince people its for good purposes you might be able to get away with anything.
>How do new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
All of it. Learning magic isn't conceptually different from learning any other skill
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Sure, for those who want them

Bump for my pooinloo friend

What are people's thoughts on hybrid or half-breed races in settings? Things like half-elves or half-orcs?

Do you include them at all? Have them be the simple result of such pairings? Have some strange circumstances for them to occur?

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It depends on the kind of message I want to send.

If, for example, blood and genetics really matters, then there are no half-breeds. A mother's race probably takes precedence, or something.

If, on the other hand, it's a setting where cooperation and mingling is important, yeah, half-breeds galore.

>It depends on the kind of message I want to send.
>he says, and accidentally sends the wrong message

For the mall stuff, do you just use simple things from Earth or try to make up new variants of them? Like, do you have apples and oranges and mangos or some weird made up fruit? Poker or Pairs? Chess or Tac?

I just figured I should expand on what I meant.

I tend to not like them, unless there is some sort of strong magic in play. So half-dragons cane make sense to me, but not half-orcs. The exception would be if I had a setting where part of the backstory was that elves and orcs are both on the ends of a sort of spectrum, and don't realize that humans are the elf/orc hybrids. So a half elf is actually 3/4 elf, 1/4 orc.

Why not just have half-human half-everything?

I'm trying to hammer out the world for an upcoming campaign and I want it to be unlike anything I've done before.
>world of exclusively humans as the sentient race with vague technological/societal levels of the 1800s
>previous work of eco-terrorists unleashed fungal monsters (giants, tentacle beasts, mind-fucking spores, etc) centuries ago, making the surface of the world more or less uninhabitable
>resourceful as humanity is and given its desire to survive, people escaped to build cities and towns among the trees, on top of mesas, around coastal spires, etc
>this is made possible by widespread, common use of gigantic birds of every variety (birds of prey, water birds, barnyard fowl, etc) as mounts, which shaped their culture
>thinking about having a centralized government structure that resides on a massive floating city using "technology forbidden to the masses" and rations crucial resources not readily available to keep the various cities/etc subordinate and paying taxes
>players can be from any uniquely themed city-state with their choice of avian mount with unique strengths and weaknesses

I still can't decide on how the ecology of the world entirely works. I'm fine with the carnivorous birds eating the surviving deer/cattle/etc that the fungus creatures don't have interest in, and the herbivorous birds eating enlarged nuts and fruits from the same kind of magic/science that caused the growth of fungus, but insectivores are the trickiest. I don't think I want to also have gigantic insects, but I don't know how something like a giant swallow would survive on anything else.

Also, is it completely ridiculous for a world to be dominated just by giant birds and nothing else? My rationale so far is that the leader of the eco-terrorists was/is a "witch" with a fondness for birds, so the magic/science also affected them and nothing else.

Also, I'm against having traditional airships in this setting, so does having a floating city but no airships seem handwavey?

Eh, it wouldn't work if there's absolutely nothing else, but take a look at dinosaurs for an example of how you can have a bunch of giant things dominating the ecosystem with the occasional small things elsewhere.

You'd still have insects and probably small mammals as well, but they wouldn't be a dominant force or anything.

So I have a setting where guns are the major method of fighting, but I am using a traditional health point system to determine wounds, healing, and damage.

Since the guns in this setting are mostly post apocalyptic and scavenged or jury-rigged, what are some ways to justify their weakness compared to what they actually are.

>Survivors are just 'tougher' then modern humans?
>Guns have less direct power in their bullets?
>People are just unnaturally lucky?

What else?

People using Ki to make their bodies like iron?

I think it could be a combination of the fact that jury-rigged and scavenged guns probably aren't going to be as strong, combined with armor typically being thick and heavy to stop it.

I mean, is it really that much stranger to shoot someone with a gun and they not die than with an arrow? Or swinging a battleaxe?

If you do need to justify it, having the survivors be tougher might be a good method, basically implying that anyone tough enough to survive the apocalypse can more easily shrug off bullets.

If you have spellcasters, how rare are they? How rare are the highest level of spellcasters?

If you have soldiers, whats the average amount of competency you might have? Are you going off of human normals, or is it a world where warriors punch out bears for fun? How would a skilled fighter who can casually punch out bears be perceived by the people around him?

So really, who reads these threads?

I was thinking that actual spellcasters, like magic missile throwing wizards, would be fairly rare. But you'd have a lot of "spellcasters" in most communities who are more like potion-mixers and whose magical abilities are derived from their alchemical mixes. They might all be able to feel and sense magic, and with study they could start to learn it, but actual combat magic takes years of study and training.

Soldiers are just normal human soldiers.

I'm not sure if I should work on my modern fantasy setting or my high fantasy one.

Truthfully my urban fantasy setting has a much better direction and vision currently behind it; it hasn't changed so much over the past 6-9 months I've been working on it, I've just been refining parts of it and the gameplay that goes with it to make it interesting and well worth the time. I've really loved it.

But at the same time, I essentially have no high fantasy at the moment and it really bums me out. My high fantasy setting has changed so much, seemingly every few days, with a completely different feel and direction and new rules make it hard to care about or build on- I need to cement things down now and make it truly feel alive and unique. High fantasy and gonzo settings are something I love but it's almost impossible for me to really worldbuild this thing until I finalize what I'm going to do with it. Also I feel like a hack fraud of a DM if I can't even make a sword and sorcery setting, which is like the bread and butter of this board and worldbuilding in general.

What do?

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
technically I'd say High Magic as Magic is fairly common, although most practitioners only know a couple spells

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Arcane Magic to some extent infuses everything, although some people can draw it out better than others, and certain substances contain more of it than others, Divine Magic is generated through belief and rituals(whether any gods actually exist is another thing entirely), Primal/Druidic Magic, Necromantic Magic, and Infernal Magic overall act as combinations of the two in how they're generated

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
technically almost anyone can use magic(indeed a subconcious form of it infuses any being with "Class Levels", even ones that don't otherwise use magic), but only certain people are able to use it to an extent worth noting, at least for direct spell usage, anyone can use a magic item if it's been prepared properly

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
little bit of everything, as implements, rituals, and materials/sacrifices make spells easier to do, but technically a lot of spells don't need them, they just become a hell of a lot more draining for most people(and they usually become harder to control, not to mention you can rarely do permanent effects in such situations)

>How effective is the magic?
depends on the spell, effectiveness can range from as simple as lighting a candle, up to potentially making a volcano erupt, depends on a lot of factors

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
depends on the culture and government

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
there exists schools of magic in the setting, although until fairly recently Apprenticeship was the most common method

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
yes

depends on the races being mixed and the setting, usually though when races breed together the offspring mostly lean towards one parent or the other with a minor trait or two from the other parent(so a Hobgoblin and a Ogre mating might result in Ogres that are a bit smarter and more nimble than the norm, or Hobgoblins that are stronger and slightly more disorganized than the norm), Half-Elves and Half-Orcs are exceptions to this for reasons no one is quite certain of

I'd just emphasize that most hits to one's HP aren't actual hits and instead represent a bunch of different things, which is the sane way to handle HP in my opinion

>If you have spellcasters, how rare are they? How rare are the highest level of spellcasters?
depends on the population size, but assuming we're talking about spellcasters with class levels(and not just the local medicine woman or holy man with a minor trick or two) probably somewhere between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1000

>If you have soldiers, whats the average amount of competency you might have?
pretty much the standard range that real life has, at least not counting people with class levels in fighting classes(who follow a ratio similar to spellcasters at 1 in 50 to 1 in 500 depending on population)

>Are you going off of human normals, or is it a world where warriors punch out bears for fun?
as mentioned most people are normal, but yeah people with Class Levels in the fighting classes might do that after a couple levels if they wanted to

>How would a skilled fighter who can casually punch out bears be perceived by the people around him?
probably depends on his character and deeds more than anything

what is the most interesting aspect of your High Fantasy setting, perhaps focus on that for now, might be able to solidify it more by doing so

Perennial fence-sitters who never finish fantasy novels, forever DMs, and people like me who are too afraid of actual human contact to find an RPG group.

>what is the most interesting aspect of your High Fantasy setting, perhaps focus on that for now, might be able to solidify it more by doing so

The world is run by a celestial bureaucracy?
Gnomes and Giants were the first races, that 'painted' the world into being?
There are Minotaur people as a primary race?

That's the problem, there isn't enough there.

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High magic but low power. Think "Disney movie".

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Mana, which exists as space radiation that collects in your body. The infinite lights in the sky radiate magical energy through all of creation.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
"Mage" refers to any arcane spellcaster who can perform the trifecta of basic spells, ie: "Clean a thing", "Fix a thing", and "Make some light".
Nearly everyone has some path to spellcasting, unless you're a lazy piece of shit.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Depends on the method. Cast times vary between instantaneous, a couple seconds, and several minute-long to several hour-long rituals.
Most professional spellcasters carry a wand or staff to avoid blowing themselves up on a spell failure.

>How effective is the magic?
Basic input:output, so it's reliable.
For effectiveness, it's a low power setting. A master Wizard could throw around some fireballs while flying around, and most practitioners have enough cheap utility spells to live a comfortable lifestyle.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Depends on who's doing the teaching. Most collages frown upon Necromancy in general, and several legal systems have strict laws against manipulating someone's mind.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
The only "official" school of magic is a military academy, which is far flung from a stereotypical Hogwarts and only teaches the absolute basics. Most alchemists or artificers have to apprentice with someone already established in the field, or join one of the guilds or unions, in order to advance their studies.
There's a demi-god that wants to open a proper WIZARD COLLEGE, though.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Depends on the Wizard

For the people who commented on the map, does this look better?

Here's a setting I've been working on for-fucking-ever. Used it for a game and I've thought of writing a novel or short-stories in it from time to time.

World is based around Chaos/Shadow/Evil vs Order/Light/Good. God basically made the world and then got shanked by Elder Beings from beyond the universe. His blood washed over creation and created all mortal life. Took a while, but he reincarnated as one of his "creations" while the world was ruled by insane Monstrous evil god-things that couldn't leave once they entered the world. He, or rather She, ultimately either killed/banished/converted them all and re-established something resembling order.

Fast-forward a few millenia and we got ourselves a 30-Years/Great War combo war as everyone starts fighting over Not!Jesus/Charles V's empire after a cult throws him out his own window on top of the Not!Alps, successfully murdering him. A Dragon conquers the North while the Not!Moorish Wizard Kings invade from the South, the Elves are down to less than 5 total members due to genocide (they fucking earned it to be fair), and a war between the last remaining Divine beings left in creation might just be on the horizon as the third Reincarnation of the Sun has been prophesized to happen within the next few years.

Pic is the North's Capitol, currently ruled by the Dragon. Beneath the city proper is a couple miles of Dwarven actually Goblin tunnels and architecture. Interplanar trade goes on in the Black Markets down there.

Will post a few more pics. Ask me anything if it interests you.

Map that one fine user modified for me. Cunt wouldn't tell me his process, so I'm boned for making more like this.

Continent shown is Ambria. Basically 17th Century Europe. Used to be the Homeland of the Goblins. Then they were enslaved by Elves. When humans came over from Not!Africa, they tried to do that same to us.

As previously mentioned, there are only half a dozen or so Elves left. Make of that what you will.

>Quarry
>Next to Nobles
>Not near Merchants
Something is off.

The City was thought to have been built by Dwarves. There is a huge segment of the city that is essentially a massive Quarry-style hole they built their capitol in. The humans (and Dragon) who currently reside here used this area for similar purposes. It's fuck-off huge and architecturally and engineeringly impressive, being a cluster of massive, ancient palaces and entrances to the Underground.

tl;dr The name is a misnomer. It's an indented area that's far nicer than the rest of the city, and serves as the administrative area.

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
High Magic in the sense that magic is incredibly powerful. Like, rewrite reality and fuck Physics like a gas station whore powerful. It's almost Low Magic though, since the actual Art of it is so insanely, 40K Warp dangerous to wield that almost no one

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Reality is made of strings (energy, matter, thoughts, etc). Plucking, tieing, or otherwise manipulating them does magic stuff.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
While aptitude is a thing, all you really need is an education and the willpower to perceive the Strings. Few are born with enough of these three to become Mages, and it's a dangerous line of work so most who can, don't pursue it.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Hand motions, usually a knot-tieing motion. These are specific, however. Mostly this serves as a handicap, allowing casual use of magic, as opposed to hour-long castings.

>How effective is the magic?
Very.

1/2

I finally cracked the code on how to make good Wizards.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Altering people's minds is very taboo, as Personality Death is a very real and observable thing. Most mages hate it, and most Rulers don't want to open that particular Pandora's Box. Necromancy is also a big No-No, but not because of any real moral issue. It's a waste of time for Wizards, as it is impossible to alter Time sufficiently to reverse a Death. Those who try to bring back loved ones are seen as sad, pathetic fools more that evil monsters. Unintelligent undead are useful cannon fodder, but otherwise need too much supervision to be worth the time and effort.

>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
There used to be a major, Imperial School of Sorcery to teach and regulate magic. But when the current civil war exploded, the entire ruling council got dumped into the astral plane via an upsized Portable-Hole-Bag-of-Holding trick. The system collapsed shortly afterword, and now most mages are trained in apprenticeships through local universities supported by local monarchs.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?
I love pointy hats. Imperial law forced Mages to wear them, and most still do so due to tradition.

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Kinda weird, in that magic can get stupid powerful, but as a general rule most people's experience with magic is limited to, at most, someone who knows a few cantrips. Typically a priest or someone like that.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
Overwhelmingly comes from the divine, spirits, or other such entities. Even "arcane" magic is manipulating the leftover power from the moment of Creation.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Anyone can use it, though some are born with a natural aptitude. Normally it takes a ton of dedication.
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Really depends on the mage. Long rituals are used by the more patient and subtle, however.
>How effective is the magic?
Extremely impressive. Outside the "civilized" lands are a ton of separate tiny kingdoms ruled by a magic-wielding god-king. Barbaric folk are easily awed by the displays of magic by such folk.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
Yes. The Church is suspicious of magic anyway, and the raising of undead is right out. Using it to manipulate minds is also considered deeply wrong by the Church.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Generally schools in the civilized lands. Both Church-governed areas and the Heretic Kingdoms have magic schools, though they're invariably extremely difficult to get into. In territories controlled by "god-kings," it's less formalized.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?
Yes

NPC only?

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?

It very much depends. Much of the planet is a gigantic labyrinth that has existed since the dawn of creation. The "normal" races and cultures outside the labyrinth are very much low fantasy, but magic grows stronger the deeper into the gigantic dungeon one goes. The races who call the labyrinth home are high fantasy, at least the deeper ones are.

>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?

Magic, or whatever you want to call it, is an intangible force that emanates from the very center of the labyrinth. It grows stronger the closer you get, though none have successfully, to the world's knowledge, made it to the center...

At least this is the case for most people. There is a culture that derives its magic from enslaved djinns, beings especially good at harness magical forces.

>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?

Any one can learn, but some races, mainly those who have lived long within the labyrinth, are better innately at magic than others. Though the labyrinthine races are also quite bizarre and alien, so there are downsides to being a native.

>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?

Spells are magical energy woven into tangible form. The faster casting spells are simpler, whereas rituals take time to weave.

>How effective is the magic?

Godlike if you are deep in the labyrinth, rather lackluster outside of it.

>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?

Depends on the culture. Cultures outside the labyrinth don't have strong enough magic to require taboo.

Inside the labyrinth is another story. Each culture has its taboos, but they all share one: Don't, either through magic or by any other means, fly above the labyrinth walls. Taboos differ, but all imply horrible death.

>Pointy hats Yes or No?

All kinds of hats.

Make them die.

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Low i suppose. It's not a cut and dry magic "systrm" per say. It's more mysterious and magical like tolkein
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?
The element that exists in between worlds, quintessence
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?
Elf like race can channel the quintessence naturally, humans must use rituals and incantations
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?
Sort of explained above
>How effective is the magic?
Depends on the person. Can range from simple trick/illusions to bolts of lightning/eaves of flame
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?
It is generally looked down upon outside of the elf like daces lands
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?
Humans must study and practice rituals and incantations. The elves have inherent skill
>Pointy hats Yes or No
Some say there's a bearded hermit living in the woods of goretill that fancies pointed hats

Does a sci-fi world where all the aliens are some mutant off shoot of humans seem dull?

Aliens will come up later but for now I robot body humans, rock people humans, standard ass humans, and psychic spindly humans that are smart as shit.

That seem dumb?

>Magic, is your setting low magic, high magic or no magic at all?
Everything (even friendship) is magic. Mundane things are part of the same natural system as magic. Magic is just a subversion of those systems.
>If you have magic, how do you power it? Where is the source of the power?

Mages pull energy from different stages of the Energy Cycle and exploit the properties the energy possesses at those stages.
>What makes you mage? Is it born power only given to few chosen or can everybody use it?

Most COULD use it but it requires sound understanding of the principles of magic and focus. (The ADD kid prolly can't do it.)
>How does the magic users do magic? Do they need staffs, long rituals or just by flick of a finger?

A naked person can magic but staffs, wands, reagents, etc. are tools that can enhance ones abilities.
>How effective is the magic?

Super effective.
>Is there taboos or forbidden things in magic?

Magic is neutral. Some cultures may forbid certain types but there are no inherently evil magics.
>How does new mages learn their craft? Schools, apprentices or something else?

Yes.
>Pointy hats Yes or No?

Cultural but for my tastes, yes.