I'm about to build a world with two friends to run a small campaign with them.
One is really into sci-fi; the other into high fantasy. I dislike both and prefer low fantasy.
Any good settings to check out for inspiration on how to blend these three? How would you tackle this? What's the craziest world you've built Veeky Forums?
Warcraft is the setting you're looking for.
Where should I start to get some inspiration?
It's a science fiction scenario that takes place on a planet with low fantasy levels of technology. The characters stranded there on their spaceship and now have to get used to swords and bows and shit.
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Go to pic related. it has all the pdfs etc
I'd tackle it with the campaign starting low and power, building up to high fantasy as things get more unusual, and then have the "twist" that your magic world is actually a sci-fi one.
The trick is getting the players to stay on as you take them for this ride
What about steampunk?
Sci-fi can be found in the mechanics of the world, high fantasy can be seen in rare and strange creatures. Magic can even be implemented to a limited extent, as a sort of magical technology. You can use low-fantasy by putting limits on the technology and magic found in the world.
Dune.
I remember for the Albion campaign they literally gave Warhammer factions access to 40k tech like powerfists
What is the difference between high and low fantasy?
Does this read like author was on drugs? Y/N
So completely crazy/nonsensical=high fantasy?
Basically how grounded in reality it is, along with the presence of supernatural aspects.
As per original definition, yes. Though sometimes it's hard to tell whether that's intentional or just bad writing.
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I never thought Id say this: you need to play Numenera.
Pulpy science fantasy settings, like ERB's "Barsoom," has all the low-level heroics of low fantasy, all the techno-gizmo gobbledygook of science fiction, and all the outlandish extravagance of high fantasy. Best of all world, IMHO.
Do space fantasy. Not science fantasy, but space fantasy. You basically have a typical fantasy setting that uses some sort of magical way to get into space and claim territory on other planets. Aliens have also done the same. They're still fantasy civilizations so they still use magic and melee weapons but in space with magical protection. To satisfy low fantasy just think of the logical ways it would be possible with a more clearly designed system of magic that's very physical in practice (runes) So basically fantasy that takes place in space while grounded in a consistent and sensible logic as much as possible.
Well, my very first idea hearing all those requirements would be to play on a Ringworld whose civilization has collapsed. The world itself has fallen back to low fantasy tech, but the ring world just sustains itself. The advantage of that is that because a habitable ringworld is so fuckhuge, you can have things like an evil empire that has just been conquering unstoppable westwards for the last 100 years.
The high fantasy/sci fi could then just come from technological artifacts of a forgotten time that just seem like magic to the people, or maybe some kind of complex magical stuff exists, was the reason stuff like FTL and construction of a ring world was once possible, but was also what caused the downfall of civilization.
Read this and never look back.
A fantasy world that is mostly plains or desert with giant mech suits called Knight Frames that can only be piloted by a select few. The Frames use a strange language that barely anyone can figure out and translation is slow. They use all kinds of strange futuristic weapons that only they can use. The players are Knight Frame pilots for one kingdom in this world that is in a slowly escalating Cold War with a religious theocracy that is threatening to become hot at any moment. The twist that gets revealed if they recover data from the theocracy's archives is that the world is in fact a ruined Earth in the far future that is slowly recovering from a cataclysmic war. The mechs and their weapons are all remnants of the past humanity and the only reason that the Knight Frames accept the player characters as pilots is because it recognizes them as genetically being human.
Expand on this as you wish OP.
>The Frames use a strange language
By this I mean the strange language is on the various monitors and screens inside the cockpit. Possible upgrades for the Frames as the players go along could depend on how much of the language is translated, which each new breakthrough allowing the PCs to know what different menu options. Like they figure out what button to press for the scanners or which of the little tabs on the main monitor is to activate the beam sabre.