/wbg/ - World Building General

First impressions for my map?

The scale isn't completely decided yet, but I don't want to make it too huge. Might post some lore stuff a little later.

Oh and obviously it's nowhere near finished

is there any questionnare/random gen for religions?

I like it so far, better than my maps.

>>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?

>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?

This is my setting. Dragons have ruled over humans since the dawn of man. They have used them as pawns in their games. The only place humans have found freedom have been isolated in the wartorn borderlands between the two great powers.

A great was has been going on for five years now, and humans are seeing opportunities to rebel against their Draconic overlords.

...

Mountains are the result of tectonic plates colliding with each other. They do not make 180° turns like that.

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
Since I'm working on a setting to accommodate a few RPGs and wargames I'm interested as well as my homebrews in a single universe, cutting age is quite advanced magitech, but setting in general is more or less medieval. I'm still figuring out a good way to maintain medieval stasis.
>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
It depends. World's pretty screwed up and rebuilding/reconquering all the time, so its hard to say.
>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
Aside from a few factions, not too well. As a matter of fact, I'm consider a luddite deity a main force behind medieval stasis.
>Are the materials people use to construct machines in your setting different than the ones of our world?
Probably. I'm sure I'll use words "ether" and "phlogiston".
>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology? Entertainment? Communication? Utility? Transportation? Warfare? General Consumer Goods?
Warfare. Also entertainment. One of the minor factions will be a mechanical carnival / slaughter-fair.
>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
I doubt they benefit from anything, its a crapsack world.

>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?
You mean Call of Cthulhu?

Stimphaian birds. The ones with iron feathers that rain them on enemies like arrows.
Weapons and armor made from those feathers could be much prized.

Tell me about gypsies. What should I know about them besides "uh muh so mysterious nomads whose women are all soothsayers and have evil eye and all men are thieves"?
Which settings have done gypsies well? I know about Vistani of Ravenloft and Strigani of Warhammer already.

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
It's ancient world up untill early medieval period in comparison to real life. I would suppose that the cutting edge would be the various mechanical or automaton statues and animals dotted around the imperial quarter of the capital of Nyhem. These animals and statues can then be made to move and make noises through the ingenious workings of the imperial engineers.

>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
Most live in rural areas allthough the massive and increasingly numerous latisfundia, i.e gigantic landed estates worked by slaves, have started to force the rural population into the urban areas in hope of finding work. This has in turn lead to large slums forming in the larger cities and a massive spike in criminal activity.
>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
There's a loose political party that is championing the rights of the commoners. They have as one of there most important agenda the breakup of the latisfundia system and the parting out of the land to the common people to work it as small landholders. Whenever a new territorial gain that is suitable for farming is made the party also makes quite a ruckus in favour of carving it up into small farmsteads.
>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology?
Mostly in infrastructure as the rich people compete amongst eachother in building the most impressive public buildings and aqueducts etc.
>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
They've benefitted greatly from the increase in availible water sources and health facilities such as public baths.

What are the main features of your setting? Those questions don't answer much in your case
.Interesting.How are ghosts harvested? How was this ghost energy source discovered in the first place?
Honestly shouldn't matter unless you really really want realistic as possible geography. Though I feel that continent/island at the bottom have too many parallel mountain lines, and there's no one saying mountains have to be in Tolkien ranges.
I've done it a few times casually actually. It's kinda fun. But I know fuck all about languages beyond rudimentary understanding, sorry man.
I like the style? Do you draw much?
I could type one up, no guarantees that it would be good.
Is there a reason it has taken until the 1920's for man to rise up against dragons? What could mankind do now to make victory a possibility?
I'm still figuring out a good way to maintain medieval stasis
I've had a many difficult ponder over that myself user. No good answers so far.
Do you mean fantasy stereotypical gypsies, or information on them historically? I know nothing of either, but you can always study historical gypsies as inspiration.
For some reason I read "latisfundia" as being giant floating estates the first time lmao. Tell me about the imperial engineers though.

I'm writing a PF setting. I have the cosmology and some history and the like, but no map yet. Is this thread a place to ask for criticism?

Yes, but no guarantee that someone will read all of it.

Was trying to work to flesh-out an idea I had for a setting and was looking for help:

The primary setting's major Human civilization are refugees from a different 'prime material plane' that had begun to drift into the negative energy plane, resulting in their world being overrun by the undead on a 'zombie apocalypse' scale scenario. The gods controlling this plane created a means for those humans to escape into their world. Of course much of the precautions and preventative measures one might adopt in a zombie survival scenario (read the Zombie Survival Guide for reference) have become the custom and traditions of their society. things like always carrying weapons, shunning unarmed combat, the practice of decapitating and cremating their dead within 24 hours of death, etc... What I'm wanting to work out is how this might affect the function and organization of their communities. what kind of government would this society create? how autonomous would their communities be? would they form large nations? or autonomous city-states?

any suggestions?

I'd play in your setting user, that sounds rad as fuck. Are there different threat levels of ghosts? How are mediums perceived in this setting? Is ghostbusting a legit occupation?

>Interesting.How are ghosts harvested? How was this ghost energy source discovered in the first place?

Ectoplasm had been in use by Necromancers and other mages since time immemorial for various purposes. When this world entered an industrial revolution ala Iron Kingdoms, the demands for cheap and plentiful magic/energy grew. Eventually, a cabal of young, enterprising wizards, alchemists, and educated layfolk developed an arcane ritual that could quickly and easily draw ectoplasm from the Elemental Plane of Ghosts/Ectoplasm. They made a lot of coin off this discovery until the secret got out, and the race was on.

Later on larger Arcane Engines were developed to industrialize the process. The rest is history.

Me on the right.

Yes, though I haven't crystalized a rating system. Something like Shade

>The not!Arabs have created airships to travel the northern straits so I guess thats the most high tech thing in my world. Though I guess Roman Empire tier infrastructure is cutting edge in my setting. My setting is most like late middle ages in terms of tech (with the exception of some magical applications where mages are). Mages are few and far between in the world outside of some magocracies though so that doesn't help much.
>Many people live in rural areas with a some starting to move towards the urban centers as they start to industrialize. While the rural areas rely on help from the central city government to aid their agricultural growth, the cities operate as centers of trade, commerce, and a connection to the outside world, which is more or less the main reason why people move there.
>Only the large empires are able to heavily industrialize but then they are to control their populace either through force or other means. a lot of states turn to military police as a solution to this, sometimes mage-centered MP units. Some magocracies intitally rejected industrialization in favor of "people's union" esque mage revolts. These would die out though as industrialized trade took over the market.
>More or less the same.
>Mostly transportation and manufacturing power, but some more trade-based empires have been able to establish communication infrastructure
>Some of the mage-states have suffered due to increased military pressure from the northern kingdoms but for the most part everyone has benefited.

>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?
Fuck yes, I would love to play a war-based diselpunk mech game with psionics piloting the mechs evangelion-style. Put a bunch of mechanized warfare in there for good measure and some war crimes in the name of the empire.

Han China wuxia mystical martial arts with fighters zooming through the trees in the bamboo forests of ancient China. Though the Chinese Revolution in the 20th century is pretty good.

>Luca Turilli
Are there really Chads with that good taste ?

Ancient Chinese warlords zoomin around with sick-ass war-chariots before anyone else has even thought about wheels

So I'm making a rating system for the holy relics that are a big feature of the world I'm making, what do you guys think of this system?

>Heretical Relic: Relics imbued with powers of the Forgotten Gods, which have lost all of their power more or less.
>Old God Relic: Relics imbued with the power of the Old Gods, which are still worshiped in some places by the commonfolk. Very powerful and rival God or Er'torath Relics in power. Most of these relics were taken during the Inquisition War.
>Noble Relic: On par with the Divine Relics in power and given to the original twelve holy houses.
>Divine Relic: The most numerous of relics and either held by the church or given to the Royal Family or their close relatives.
>God Relic: Some of the most powerful relics known to the public and only given to members of the royal family.
>Er'torath Relic: The most powerful relics in existence, who's existence is only known by higher ups in the church. Kept under lock and key.

>only posts in /wbg/ to critique others
Yep, that's me!

Stymphalian birds actually have bronze beaks and feathers, magic bronze.
It's the Dresden Files universe with some minor alterations (most just mean that what we've heard from Harry, especially about Boston, is a bit off). It's basically our world with some magic and mythological things added on as something pretty much nobody knows about.

>How technologically advanced is your setting?
Not very. Most organized "nations" are really just groups of barbarians with loose governments and structure. The only thing close to a real nation was destroyed in a magical explosion cause by the equivalent of a mage's nuclear cold war.
>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
Mostly rural, but there's enough trade going around for there to be cities and city states. Around the cities, rural areas are mostly farmland. Outside of these regions, it's mostly nomadic tribes.
>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
Industrialization isn't much of a thing, but there is a trend of many member of nomadic tribes coming into contact with these city states and some assimilating, some just sieging the cities for loot.
>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology? Entertainment? Communication? Utility? Transportation? Warfare? General Consumer Goods?
Mostly warfare and utility. And by utility, I mean farming practices and equipment. Transportation is also improving as one of the city-states rediscovered paved roads from one of the fallen empires.
>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
Mostly improved, although I guess advancements in warfare make it easier to kill each other.
>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?
Tried something similar before. It was fun if the setting was rather under-cooked.

How would you go about arming an airship, let's say they're kept aloft by magic. They're primarily made of wood, and metallurgy hasn't advanced to the point having cannons, but ballista are common. So would the logical thing to do for air to group attack be having ballista with a natural low angle or would literally dropping explosives over the side or opening a trap door be better?

Dropping explosives sounds like a good strategy. I would assume ballista would be for air to air combat. Though if its kept aloft by magic maybe using magic for ground assaults is a good idea. And then there's the question of how low it can get or wants to get. Is this a high altitude airship or a low flying one?

Open ended questions:

-Is it optimal to follow the standard cardinal direction layout found in most fantasy? North is cold, south is hot, west is occidental civilization and/or new world, east and far east is asiatic. Does it trip you up for the 'far west' to be the mysterious orient?

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
Feudalism, in space, with magic enabling knights to keep existing. Cutting edge is the tech of the lords, restrained from the masses it powers allow them to cheat physics
>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
Urban mostly, coruscant types or hives a common, but there are rural worlds, and worlds that aren't fully urbanized either
>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
The farmer caste typically bitches about it as hard as possible, people have a bit of dislike of cyborgs because the elite have used to further the power gap between noble and peasant.
>Are the materials people use to construct machines in your setting different than the ones of our world?
Our materials exists, but some fictional material exists too
>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology?
Most of them.
>Entertainment?
Magic has opened a few magic circuses as well some theme parks.
>Communication?
Magic enables comms over FTL distances, meaning you can shitpost with other planets
>Utility?
I am still thinking of some.
>Transportation?
There are public teleporters, then transport em masse, better than a bus, but you gotta pay
>Warfare?
Knights are literal supermen, but on the other hand, the peasantry doesn't die in droves
>General Consumer Goods?
Again, thinking of some of them
>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
I'd say its more inclined to suffered, the elite now truly have an iron grip over the masses, no revolt is going to work. But on the other hand, they aren't many lords who sociopaths, some who are assholes in general tend to fuck up the lands they rule over.

Lets say low, like 100ft low

Archers or ballista should be fine then. Mages as well if there are enough of them. Might even have paratroopers if military is sophisticated enough.

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
It varies in different parts of the world. Some areas where Mages have more power and magic is still common are not quite "technologically" advanced, but those with access to Mages guilds live quite comfortably. Elsewhere, however, technology is effectively shifting from mid to late 17th century, and the Scientific Revolution is just coming to term. Many Mages are fearful of what this age of discovery will entail, as magic in this world is highly dependent on the sense of "wonder" of those affected by it. A man who knows an outside force will not move unless acted upon, for instance, cannot be affected by psychokinesis.

>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
Rural, though cities are growing.

>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
The Mages, as Industrialization is taking away from their monopoly of power.

>Are the materials people use to construct machines in your setting different than the ones of our world?
Not really. There's some specialized alloys and metals that can be forged via magic, but they are rare and not necessarily better than anything else.

>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology? Entertainment? Communication? Utility? Transportation? Warfare? General Consumer Goods?
Transportation has seen the biggest boost so far, with manufacturing in second.

>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
Net benefit.

>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?

I was in one once. Kind of a Shadowrun in Lost Generation Paris. It was interesting.

>large worm-like semi-aquatic creatures
>roughly the size of a cow or horse
>tameable and mountable
>race of people who live in a swampy coastal environment who are also semi-aquatic
>worms survive off of basically any plant material they can get their hands on, everything from moss to leaves, to grass

What advantages do aquatic mounts like these have to a society in terms of military and economics?

So, I've got an idea in mind for a fantasy setting with a superhero leaning. It's a city, one that's sort of a combination of various European locales and NYC. It's a coastal cultural hub with a long history of various religious traditions, lots of immigration, and control of trade routes. In fact, I think it's actually a city-state, having maintained independence through the ages because of its control of these trade routes. And ages have indeed passed; the tech level of this setting is roughly at the level of the 1980's.

My question is, given a similar amount of time and progression to our world, how plausible is it for a single city to remain independent up to the modern age, where fighter jets, advanced logistics, and communications technology all exist? And what if there's a similar political situation to the Cold War, with two (or perhaps several) superpowers vying for global dominance?

It should be noted that magic is present in this setting, at least of the spiritual/faith variety, and that deities (or creatures awe-inspiring enough to be considered such) exist.

It would be possible if some sort of cloaking magic exists. If not, I don't think so. It's extremely difficult to remain isolated and hidden in a world with satellite and radar technologies, jet planes, and all sorts of efficient modes of transportation.

Its possible they exist in a switzerland status

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
Magic powers a vast array of technology in the world, powering everything from modern plumbing to condensed mana rifles.

>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
It's half and half, the cities are dense but there are many smaller villages. Rural areas have lower grade tech and less trading but also reduced crime. Urban areas have better defenses against organized attacks though.

>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
Technology has been around for generations, so nobody is very alienated by it.

>Are the materials people use to construct machines in your setting different than the ones of our world?
Most machines and equipment are made from titanium, and gold is a commonly used conductor.

>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology? Entertainment? Communication? Utility? Transportation? Warfare? General Consumer Goods?
Utility saw the greatest improvement alongside potential warfare, but there have been no wars since the technological leap.

>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
Due to the replenishable, clean, equal access to power, there has been almost nothing but benefit.

Well, the city isn't isolated or hidden. That's the whole point; it's a known player in the international community, similar to how pretty much everyone has heard of the Big Apple. What I meant is that it's independent, with its own cultural identity unbeholden to any other nation.

That's an idea. Perhaps all the major players of the world have invested in the city's banks to the point where trying to disrupt that would have grave consequences for all involved.

What are some real-world materials that could stand in for fantastical ones? Like mithral? Or adamantine?

Aluminium and Titanium maybe?

Carbon nanotube alloys? Superaustenitic stainless steel?

Running a Traveller game (with certain SWN elements included) for some friends who play a lot of Paradox vidya games (think history sim games). What do you guys think of various worlds throughout the system being home to a conflict that very closely parallels an old world conflict, war, or just major point in history, except with more of a sci-fi twist? For example, I'm considering a world that takes place during the onset of the neo-Spanish Reconquista. The Spanish ethnostate and the various sects of neo-Islam are about to wage a massive war for a large sect of land resembling old world Iberia.

The idea itself could use a lot of work, but I like the idea of taking bits of world history, and imagining how it would play out after man has colonized space.

Obvious parallels to be drawn with the colonization of the New World (large nation colonizes smaller planet with native population). Stuff like the warring states period of both Japan and China. The Tale of the Three Kingdoms. Stuff like the Crusades just begs to be put into a sci fi setting. The colonization of Africa is great as well. The imperial conquest of india as well. The industrialization of England.

Yeah, I definitely need to flesh it out more. It's just an idea I had on the train to sort of throw a bone to my most historical setting playgroup. Granted, every world won't be a direct parallel to an old world conflict or point in history, but I'll have them scattered here and there throughout my game's universe as a "thanks for trying something new, guys" for my players.

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
About as much as our own. Quantum computing, CRISPR/CAS, caseless guns etc.
>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
Rural. Rural places are shitholes populated by untouchables in most nations, towns have some semblance of modernity such as hospitals and schools and the elites live there in fortified mansions.
>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any ludites in your setting?
With blank stare of an opium addict. No luddites.
>Are the materials people use to construct machines in your setting different than the ones of our world?
Less plastics due to relative rarity of fosil hydrocarbons. Cars are rare as untill recently, batteries weren’t good enough. Ships almost unversaly relly on nuclear power. Jet planes are military use only, large civilian plane are atom powered and use propellers. (nuclear powered jet plane is possible, but never caught on in the civilian sector)
>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology? Entertainment? Communication? Utility? Transportation? Warfare? General Consumer Goods?
Transportation and goods, duh.
>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
Bednefited, prices of vodka and opium dropped.
>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?
No.

>How technologically advanced is your setting? What counts as "cutting edge" in your world?
Depends. In the countryside, the middle ages abound. In the city, people are flying cars into buildings and creating automatons out of school desks

>Does most of your population live in urban areas or rural areas? What are the comparisons between the two?
It's about 50-50, but there are only like 2 cities

>How do people typically react to the encroaching industrialization of the world? Are there any Luddites in your setting?
There is a very small vocal minority of Luddites, but most people just roll over and go "technology is cool yo". The government is fairly afraid of technology because it's something it can't exactly control or legislate easily.
>Are the materials people use to construct machines in your setting different than the ones of our world?
No, fairly typical materials, except for random artifacts left behind from... something sometime in the past.
>In which area has there been the most noticeable improvement from the use of technology? Entertainment? Communication? Utility? Transportation? Warfare? General Consumer Goods?
Weapons and general warfare are a mixed bag. There are elephant rifles, but also flamethrowers and cryo guns. Consumer goods aren't any different from the 1920s and are of relatively the same availability, except cars are nonexistent and people rely in lizard man slave power. Communication is slowly becoming more effective, but at a much slower pace than Earth.
>Have the people of your setting ultimately benefited at the hands the advancement of technology or suffered?
This is also a mixed bag. The government's repression of technology has led to strife between the tech-liberal southern bits of the capital and the tech-servative north and west. There are occasional incidents causing more strife.
>Would you ever run a fantasy game set in the 1920s?
100% I would do it in a heartbeat. Dungeons and Gatsbys for the win.

>Tell me about the imperial engineers though.
I haven't fleshed them out at all. Basically I'm thinking that they are a bunch of knock-off Archimedes belonging to one of the myriad cults of Civilisation set to work on any number of tasks that the imperial government is currently underway with. Perhaps this particular cult have blossomed into a prestigous school of Engineering in which prodigies from all over the imperium, and some from beyond, get an elite education worthy of aiding any royal establishment.

reposting from last thread, I revamped my eye genetics system

and I'm working on a different version of my map that looks like a map, only the relevant cities will be labelled on this one

jpeg artifact because the png is 42mb

Mmm. Nice details, but the whole brown-on-brown thing kinda hurts to look at. Great as an in-universe tool, not so great for outsiders wanting to see what your world looks like.

I know, this is the reference map

Oooh, I see. Yeah ok. Still, a little more contrast would help some people.

Like pic related, which I'm still looking for a good name/font to work with it.

ok guys i need some help. might not be 100% related but i figured you guys might be the best people to ask. basically i want to run a low fantasy campaign in my homebrew setting with each of the players being from a noble family. in the lore, each noble family has a magical relic. so here are my questions

1. which system would be best for running something like this?
2. what sort of reasoning would the pcs have for teaming up/meeting?
3. what sort of premise/plot would the best for this sort of campaign?

>do all my work for me
Pathfinder. It's basically an item-crafter's wet dream already, so you have the best base to build from.

Ask your players.

Travel to ancient wayshrines to purify/unlock the power of the relics before DOOMFUCKER THE RAPEGOD OF HELL shows up, as was prophesied.

I'm looking for feedback for the backstory of a class of mine. I'd like to see it sounds reasonable.

>The Tribe of Erem, also known as the Smoke People, are a reclusive group with a reputation of being some of the top mercenaries in the land. As one of the six druidic tribes in the world, Eremi possess the ability to manipulate fire and all its attributes, however not to the greater extent of their kinsman (the Zulon in woodlands of Sidero for example).

>Once a nomadic people thought to have lived in the interior regions of the Hush Desert of Garmuun, the Erem are now encompassed in the territories of the Southern Dwarvern King Borvuk. After forcefully aquiring their traditional grazing lands King Borvuk enslaved the tribe to fight as his army, with the chieftan as their commander. Many scholars debate upon what transpired that made the Erem to submit to the king as there are little to no records of the account. However people have speculated it had something to do with a powerful force, likely magical in nature.

The Eremi is characterized by their highly militaristic behavior, sparseness with words, and show little expression. They are highly agile and dexterous while also hard in endurance from the extreme conditions living in the desert. Children begin training at the age of five and are officially considered enlisted at fifteen. Their fighting style is known for quick, strong kicks and succinct strikes with large amounts of acrobatics. The weapons of choice include a guardless curved longsword, (similar to a yataghan without the recurve at the end), a khyber knife, daggers, and chakrams. Pyromancy is used primarily for shock and awe tactics, however Eremi tend to favour unseen guerilla combat if possible. Conventional armor of the region is eschewed for a tight bodysuit consisting of a special red leather harvested from a fantastic creature known to them in the region.

>Eremi have been known to be strongly associated with dragons, one of the five ascended beasts in the world. Dragons are one of the most elusive of the beasts, second to the Leviathans. They've been known to be hostile when discussing about them. It's been speculated that the tribe protects the location of the creatures' nests. Much of the parties involved in the slaying of the two recorded dragons in the region were shortly killed, and while it was likely perpetrated by Eremi tribesman little evidence was found to convict them.

>a khyber knife, daggers, and chakrams
Approval.

>Almost fell for the map meme and lost interest in my setting.

I'm swearing off maps forever.

Thanks! A lot of fantasy influence came from the Sheikah Tribe in Zelda and the Adem from The Kingskiller Chronicles. All of the real life inspirations came from the Spartans, the Ghilman, Sub-Saharan pastoralists, Capoeira, Thai fighters, and Indian Kalaripayattu practitioners.

completely ignored for 13 hours strait; I didn't think my ideas were all that boring.

Aside from a map and a description of cities, what helps a setting come alive?

Like, I've got tables of history and pantheons and demographics, but what else?

What do people eat and drink? What is their music like? What is their clothing like? What forms of entertainment are popular? How do they treat strangers/foreigners?

Think about what people do in their everyday lives, especially the people your players would come into contact with.

In the pastebin, there's Dr. Zahir's Ethnograpnical Questionnaire.

Answering at least 50% of the questions helps a lot. Even just reading through the questions helps.

>Eltarus

>2. what sort of reasoning would the pcs have for teaming up/meeting?

Without knowing anything about your setting here are some suggestions why they would meet:

Meeting of the thing, shenanigans ensues.

The Great Jousting Game have been called together where knights from far and wide test their mettle and the noble houses conspire and form alliances in secret.

The land has recently been invaded by a powerful enemy and in the peace deal the foe have demanded hostages from the noble families to make sure that the peace is kept.

Any shadow-emperors/kings/presidents in your settings?

Don't worry, it happens. I personally like the idea.
Can't offer much advice at the moment, though.

Can't remember the names nor the details but I have the mother of the underaged King of Kings basically extending her regency well into his coming of age.
I also have a kind uncle who basically invades his homeland with a foreign army to safeguard his young nephew's rule. He manages to expel the homegrown threat. Unfortunately the nephew succumbs to an illness later on, forcing the uncle to himself take up the mantle of King of Kings.

What would a world without insects look like

Not really shadow-rulers, but due to the knights of my setting being off to fight most of the time, the admin caste is doing the paperwork, even tho their main role is get fucked.

..../wbg/, I come to you in a moment of crisis.

If you want to still follow evolutionary logic, some other class of animals would undergo convergent evolution and fill in the evolutionary niche, meaning that there would still be insects in anything but name and perhaps superficial physiological traits.

But if we want to just speculate...
The main problem with a world without insects would be pollination, honestly. Most plants rely on them, so you have to figure out a way around it. Either you dramatically alter the physiology of plants and their reproduction habits, or you figure out some other class of animals that would serve that purpose. Armies of little tiny humming birds would do, I guess. But those don't do well in colder environments. Plants would perhaps have to fire their pollen into the air more actively (meaning a lot of "exploding plants" that fire off clouds of colored dust, or perhaps plants that release their pollen with little balloons that ascend very high into the air before releasing the pollen particles in the atmosphere).
Or maybe fungi and algae would just take over most of plant niches.

Another problem would be food supply for smaller carnivores. Perhaps the world could be a little more similar-size-predation oriented, with even smaller animals all being more aggressive as they can't find smaller prey and have to fight their scale equals for nutrition.

How do you guys stick with and create in a world? Every time I start fleshing out a setting skeleton I think of new high concept cosmology shit that's incompatible with the current setting.

Sunk cost fallacy.

I rooted my settings in "realistic/real-world-like" cosmology and physicality. Cosmogonies and cosmologies of fantastic nature, pantheons of gods, mythologies etc... are all - much like in real world - inventions of those who inhabit the world, not objective part of the universe. Makes it far more interesting to actually world-build, because you are not nearly as limited and restrained by the arbitrary fictional laws stemming from your arbitrary cosmogony. Religions behave like real ones - mix, match, merge, splinter, diffuse - myths exist in variations (none of which has to be more "true" than the other ones), things can be much more layered and complex from the standpoint of possible philosophies and views.

Of course, the disadvantage (and something most people around here will find worth immediately rejecting the settings) is that as a result, magic and all those classic fantasy tropes and clichés are not readily available. The actual stories within the world have to be "realistic" to match the laws of the universe. You don't get away with stereotypical dragons, goblins, rigns of power and magical mcguffins and angry gods anymore.

But it does make things more interesting for me, and for my presumably very niche audience, who mostly grew sick of classic fantasy.

I don't think of high concept cosmology at all. If I do it's just barebones mysterious shit to help with something I'm doing on the planet. All the gods are either physical, physical in some accessible planes, a name for a magic or physical force, nonexistent or dead.
Planes are made up as I go along and the only rule is that none of them are made up of elements. If I want an "elemental plane" type of plane then I use abstract concepts like fear, freedom or pride instead.
Also keeping an air of mystery helps keep me interested in my own setting because the possibilities for things you don't know the extent of are endless.

This looks great.

If it would help you out, I could tell you about my setting. Is there anything specific you would like to know?

I need to inject some thoughts other than mine into my worldbuilding. Id appreciate it if people gave me suggestions for all of the following (if you do at least a couple Ill read/review/give suggestions for your shit).

My setting is bronze-age-y and I need:
>Reasons people in an area would be known as "Silent Folk"
>A vaguely indopersian name for a king. Something long.
>A colloquialism for weird albino demon worshipers living in a rocky peninsula known as "the spear".
>An ostentatious name for a brutal fortress-city owned by the last remains of a sorcerus empire and run entirely by chattel slavery.
>A name for a metal which absorbs sunlight.
>A name for a desert.

Id do it myself, but I find that worldbuilding is easier when you relinquish control of some aspects and let the world breathe. As this is all bullshit and the world wont invent names on its own, I figured Id turn to Veeky Forums.

I tend to come up with a theme that runs in the background that keeps me centered. Examples from other settings.
>Nothing is new.
>Things can always get worse.
>Men are parasites.
>Words are powerful.
This also prevents you from getting into settings with a moral or some garbage. Its not that every single decision should revolve around your chosen mantra, but whenever you are stuck for "how should this be different from real life?" you can turn to it.

It would be so much easier to do that in a drawing program. If you're concerned about having hexes/squares for scale, you can take an image like pic related from google (get a png) and paste it into a new layer above the map then adjust the transparency.

Standing up is actually very benefitial

I do something similar to this. I draft maps on graph paper at low scale, then scale up and add detail, then diagonal lines, then scan and trace over and make it into a map. An iterative approach is the best way to get good maps.

>Reasons people in an area would be known as "Silent Folk"
They are descended from a once-enslaved people. The concepts of "Be seen but not heard" and "speak only when spoken to" became a pseudo-religion during the slave times. Though now free, they still hold a great reverence for the spoken word. Only the patriarch (or matriarch) of a family is allowed to instigate verbal conversation, and this is seen as a holy, deeply intimate act. They are uncomfortable speaking with strangers, and so foreigners will be guided to the head of the family if they wish to speak. Despite this, they are well known for the quality of their written poems and epics, and their written "debate" papers are the standard for intellectual scholarship. They also invented sign language.
Or, you know, True Name magic and shit. That would be a good excuse.
>A vaguely indopersian name for a king. Something long.
Artacerex ib Amidelphi III
>A colloquialism for weird albino demon worshipers living in a rocky peninsula known as "the spear".
Crackers.
Blueveins (since you can see their veins?)
>An ostentatious name for a brutal fortress-city owned by the last remains of a sorcerus empire and run entirely by chattel slavery.
High Alysidopolis (poorly translated City of Chains)
>A name for a metal which absorbs sunlight.
Phosphage Steel
Mandulux Steel
(light eater, or eater of light in shitty translation of Greek and Latin, respectively)
>A name for a desert.
Glass Sea
Because it's so hot the sand sometimes melts into class, and the mirages are so bad it looks like an ocean

>>Reasons people in an area would be known as "Silent Folk"
They believe that ghosts and demons wander around in that area, which are attracted to the sound of words.
>>A vaguely indopersian name for a king. Something long.
Jahanardal Shah Jingalbarbuk.
>>A colloquialism for weird albino demon worshipers living in a rocky peninsula known as "the spear".
Spearheads.
>>An ostentatious name for a brutal fortress-city owned by the last remains of a sorcerus empire and run entirely by chattel slavery.
The Greatness.
>>A name for a metal which absorbs sunlight.
Engalf.
>>A name for a desert.
Khor.

that should be "melts into glass"

Something I started for fun earlier. Supposed to be a small area equivalent to the eastern med sea in size, a hellish place, surrounded on all sides by scorching deserts, and populated by bronze age city states vying for power through maritime trade, byzantine politics and small-time warfare. Obviously nowhere near finished.
What do you think?

Not bad. Decent enough coastlines. However, it all comes down to where you put your cities. That'll dictate how much any of that geography actually matters.

Where would (You) put cities?

Too bad inkarnate fucked up their marker symbols and you can't scale the city/village/fort icons to less than 35 percent. They used to have those nice dot markers that I could have used to represent cities of different sizes.

Obviously at the mouths of those two rivers, as well as one farther inland off the map that probably served as some big-brother state that everybody in the region were clients to. After that Id probably throw a weird one at the the western peninsula, one more on the east side of that inland lake, and one more faded from glory out in the desert to the north east.