ZBB Collaborative Fantasy Conworld Thread

[keenir]

Indeed, all of this is really important, and needs to be agreed on before anything else. (Note that I’m very unfamiliar with DND, so for me this is an especially big issue.)

Pretty much everything I know about D&D is...I think the term is "our cultural zeitgeist" or "general knowledge"....basically like how, nowadays, even without reading any DC comics, most people know at least a little bit about Superman and who he is.

(and if i need to supplement anything, thats what youtube and the D&D monster manuals are for)


but now I'm quibbling.

[bradrn]

Such as Torco's race of people who arrived and are projecting the claim or appearance of being evil -- how do they get along with the people who do evil because they have tattoos that make them do evil? Does the "evil god" like these folk who are treating evil as a theatrical role?

Ooh, now these are interesting angles to think about… based on what foxcatdog said, I’d suggest the ‘evil god’ wants himself to be worshipped above all else, but I’d really like to hear Torco and foxcatdog’s thoughts on this.

Another thought on this… perhaps Torco’s people might try to associate themselves with the other ‘evil’ people, but, because they aren’t actually evil, but merely call themselves ‘evil’ without understanding the meaning of the word, this keeps on going disastrously awry. Beyond this point I’m not sure of the narrative possibilities, but I feel quite certain that they’re extensive.

Indeed, all of this is really important, and needs to be agreed on before anything else. (Note that I’m very unfamiliar with DND, so for me this is an especially big issue.)

Pretty much everything I know about D&D is...I think the term is "our cultural zeitgeist" or "general knowledge"....basically like how, nowadays, even without reading any DC comics, most people know at least a little bit about Superman and who he is.

Sounds like me, except I’ve barely even reached the ‘cultural zeitgeist’ level…

[foxcatdog]

Look some people consider forming continents over however many billions of years the height of worldbuilding but i do not and am content to make interesting shapes with as much people as possible given access to the sea.
Good as in can be trusted to not abuse power generally through in general evil members of good races exist. Evil races are generally enemy races.

[keenir]

Look some people consider forming continents over however many billions of years the height of worldbuilding but i do not and am content to make interesting shapes with as much people as possible given access to the sea.

But at the time, we were under the impression that you wanted to build the world collaboratively...and several people offered to make the continents for the project.

Good as in can be trusted to not abuse power generally through in general evil members of good races exist. Evil races are generally enemy races.

You've got gods of magic and war and nature - if they so much as exercise their power, it can cause disasters (remember Poseidon giving Athens a spring - salt water is very unhealthy for humans)...gods in RL myths tend to turn the course of wars - thats not an abuse of power?

If, in-game, its not, or its not considered an abuse of power, you need to say that.

The listed playable races are generally good i do not consider generally evil races as good ideas for players
To a degree clerics are influenced by their gods as are people through some people have many gods they worship. Also gods possibly only concern themselves with one part of the world such as this Eastern Continent. Gods can also force others to do their will but mainly through a cleric

I have no idea what any of this means. (I suspect because, like I said, I know almost nothing of DND.)

IF I understand correctly, basically, to tolkienize the statement:

The listed playable races are generally good i do not consider generally evil races as good ideas for players

= the list of races are the ones who can send members to join the Fellowship or to join the war against Sauron -- Foxcatdog doesn't want players to spend time in the game pretending to be Shelob or an orc, because they are bad.

Also gods possibly only concern themselves with one part of the world such as this Eastern Continent.

= Melkor and Sauron don't care about whats happening on other continents - they only want to spread their evil and corruption through the known lands of Middle Earth.

Gods can also force others to do their will but mainly through a cleric

= Yes, Sauron can make people obey him, but normally sends Sauruman and Wormtongue to corrupt and order people into doing things for him.

any misunderstandings are mine and mine alone.

[foxcatdog]

Where did people offer the idea to make other continents they only complained about my one. Also if it helps to think of the world in tolkienesque terms then do that.

[keenir]

Where did people offer the idea to make other continents they only complained about my one.

That (and not knowing what things like the orange was) were not complaints - those were confusion...followed by an offer:

The blobs that occasionally look like subduction arcs lead me to assume they are mountains, but you're right; we don't know. The main reason I ask is because I can make a plausible tectonic and geologic map, with a few hundred million years of history, if I can slightly rework some of those mountains.

[foxcatdog]

Where did people offer the idea to make other continents they only complained about my one.

That (and not knowing what things like the orange was) were not complaints - those were confusion...followed by an offer:

The blobs that occasionally look like subduction arcs lead me to assume they are mountains, but you're right; we don't know. The main reason I ask is because I can make a plausible tectonic and geologic map, with a few hundred million years of history, if I can slightly rework some of those mountains.

I misunderstoon then through it is in your words not hers.

[bradrn]

Where did people offer the idea to make other continents they only complained about my one. Also if it helps to think of the world in tolkienesque terms then do that.

I interpreted Moose-tache’s offer the same way as keenir. I also would be interested in helping with this — geology is something I very much enjoy.

More generally, please try not to interpret things as complaints when we’re just asking questions in good faith.

[foxcatdog]

Following norse parellels of Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar of course our elves are descended from beings of both the upper (Fey) and lower (Nilfen) spirit realms and worship gods of both realms at least in most cases. (In our central continent perhaps we have Red Elves who propogated our beastfolk and fufill a role similar to china relative to our eastern japan of Kitsunefolk who worship celestial deities). Kitsunefolk in contrast have only Fey ancestry and as such revere gods of sky, light, mist, winds and storms. Our elves probably share many of the trappings of other elves such as skill with archery and graceful weapons, love of nature and beauty, unusual beauty and grace and charm. Due to their earthiness i think our humans should have Celestial ancestry which helps explain Aasamir generally coming from them and also perhaps allowing us to explain away Tieflings if they even exist at all as in current form our world may not have devils or demons. Our kitsunefolk at least should share a propensity for illusion and shapechange as other kitsune in folklore, magical ability, immunity to charms and sleep as do Fey creatures in DND (which are elves probably do not share) and perhaps naive romanticism and eroticism. Our Navari are just like our Nekonya of the Bindingverse in their propensity for fire magic as well as craftsmanship as well as sharing dwarven enchanting object based magic. Perhaps they even forged the Sword of the West (our quests magical macguffin) upon request of our hero-priestess given their profound skill in such matters.

[foxcatdog]

Notes on the character of the gods.

Belsar at least is a classic hero god concerned more with heroism and virtue than ruling. To some degree his heroism supercedes his virtue and he blesses those who seek a challenge rather than those who act with utmost morality. He challenges are evil god partially to satisfy his own whims and also partially because he has been taught to oppose evil.

Andurie is generally lawful in his quest for knowledge and initially opposed are evil god because he saw him as chaotic through with greater understanding he too understood his dominion was inherently lawful. To some degree he believes knowledge should be freely availible which contrasts with our evil god who hands knowledge to those willing to serve him. He also opposes tyranny which are evil god has grown quite fond of through his initial impressions upon Andurie only made him think he was out to rule the world with harshness as he only wished to rule over it and to some degree guide people.

Nasaria is a goddess of good nature and believes knowledge should be used to make the best decisions. She greatly values metalwork and things which have been shaped by fire and her usual mark is to engulf someone in flames but in ones which bring them no harm except for a singular mark. She values restraint and temperance highly and generally only speaks to women through she is known to communciate with men when the situation calls for it.

[foxcatdog]

When our heroic priestess forged her sword she had one last confrontation with a black monster of our evil god which was an incarnate of him. After that she set her life to uniting many tribes but she found her original people didn’t heed her words to join them in union. She wed a husband from them and she had seven sons each of whom bore the lineage of her blade. Disputes over the blade existed and in time many of these bloodlines faded. The sword was eventually bore to the island kingdom in the southwest but the king of that lineage bore only a son and a daughter and the son proved unworthy due to his vices and they did not think to try with the daughter but her bloodline continued in a daughter whose husband became the new guardian of the island. So it remained in his halls guarded by a warden who could not summon its powers. The island was however well guarded and armies of the other nations could not break upon it for it had the protection of the Moon Elves. However eventually the sword was transferred to a new king who wed the daughter of the warden. Eventually this king’s grandchildren were assassinated and the sword was seized by the last known remaining living bloodline, the king in the north which had developed a more mercantile character to it than the other nations. He promised to guard over the kingdoms and his son eventually did in a battle with the forces of our evil god. However eventually by this king’s great grandson grew tyrannical and he led an army against the other people’s which would have proven successful as he was aided by a priest of Tyras, god of war who summoned great armies to his glory but he was eventually defeated by the forces of the peninsular nation and the southeastern nation which had long ago came under the dominion of a neighbouring people. His powers were deposed and when he laid his hands on the sword Belsar himself struck him down along with his son who he groomed into being a successor and who had become quite a sadist in his teens. However against the god’s wishes his infant daughter was also killed as they either had distinct motives on not wanting another tyrant or not wanting to see a woman wield the sword of the west again. In punishment Nasaria, goddess of fire burned down the palace of the king sparing only an infant girl, Sarai whose eyes were marked with burnt hoods and turned deep red. She became an ageless sorceress who served her masters will and eventually she was set about her task by another sorcerer, a disciple of Andurie, god of sorcery to find the heir to the sword or otherwise he concluded that its light would have dimmed. Eventually however the sword was stolen but not before our sorceress located a heir whose son would eventually take the sword back using the power of a magic ring forged by Sarai which he exchanged for the sword now held by a priest of the Airena, god of beauty who had stolen it for his people’s master god (they also worship the god of war whos shows them favour in his unceasing love for battle and tests of skill) (certain crafts and architecture which is overseen by priests of our evil god is demanded to be a degree beautiful but it is made unnervingly charming to fit in with the demands of our evil god). So ends another chapter in the tale of the struggle of our two gods.

[foxcatdog]

Notes on the magic classes (since they are most important) for anyone new to DND
Cleric: Emissaries of the god's, to a certain degree it implies divine communication which i intend to take advantage of in my campaign. Cast from wisdom since they need to understand their deities desires note this is the same ability which gives the Insight skill which helps you understand others desires. To a a degree i also think it correlates with mysticism. I imagine many clerics have been involved throughout the history of this continent.

Paladin: Kind off a cleric warrior hybrid and with generally a more noble bent. Spellcasting is Wisdom in 3.5e and Charisma in 5e so i assume a shift from paladins just being clerics to paladins spellcasting being based on force of personality. Charisma is also what you used to turn (basically make an enemy flee) undead.

Sorcerers: Spellcasters who use various magical bloodlines (listed as such is Draconic in 5e with the other bloodline being ambiguous) who cast based on charisma. At least in our world various gods would have blessed humans with the ability to be sorcerers which possibly counts as an important distinction from DND.

Wizards: At least these imply magic can be learnt rather than from natural ability and they imply magic happens through various incantations and rituals as well as various other components. Since this world is meant to include everything from base DND i had to include them. If it wasn't obvious they cast from Intelligence.

Warlocks: Also more contentious these casters are blessed by an otherworldly patron such as in base DND a fey or a demon. Since in our world these don't exist you have patrons of lesser (relative to god's at least) beings from all four god realms. I'm sure to be correct to flavour i would have to modify this class but i'm not willing to do that. Cast based on Charisma since it's more like a bargain compared to clerics.

Druids: Focus on magic based on nature and the wilds and their casting ability Wisdom leads me to believe it measures a certain degree of attunement to the world. Also under this umbrella are Rangers who cast similarly but also have combat focuses.

Monks: There inclusion implies a certain degree of magic (through its more like an anime power system) which flows through the body known as Ki. They are based on asian mythology and legend but their abilities are availible to all races and backgrounds.

[keenir]

Notes on the magic classes (since they are most important) for anyone new to DND

Paladin: Kind off a cleric warrior hybrid and with generally a more noble bent. Spellcasting is Wisdom in 3.5e and Charisma in 5e so i assume a shift from paladins just being clerics to paladins spellcasting being based on force of personality. Charisma is also what you used to turn (basically make an enemy flee) undead.

Warlocks: Also more contentious these castersa are blessed by an otherworldly patron such as in base DND a fey or a demon. Since in our world these don't exist you have patrons of lesser (relative to god's at least) beings from all four god realms. I'm sure to be correct to flavour i would have to modify this class but i'm not willing to do that. Cast based on Charisma since it's more like a bargain compared to clerics.

Monks: There inclusion implies a certain degree of magic (through its more like an anime power system) which flows through the body known as Ki. They are based on asian mythology and legend but their abilities are availible to all races and backgrounds.

Wait...why are monks stated to be based on asian mythology (which mythology in asia??), but paladins aren't stated to be based on european mythology?
(or did you mean "Ki is based on asian mythology" ? if thats the case, then my above question isn't about paladins, but about warlocks -- european folklore is positively saturated with them!)

the rest of your recent post is interesting material.

[foxcatdog]

Notes on the magic classes (since they are most important) for anyone new to DND

Paladin: Kind off a cleric warrior hybrid and with generally a more noble bent. Spellcasting is Wisdom in 3.5e and Charisma in 5e so i assume a shift from paladins just being clerics to paladins spellcasting being based on force of personality. Charisma is also what you used to turn (basically make an enemy flee) undead.

Warlocks: Also more contentious these castersa are blessed by an otherworldly patron such as in base DND a fey or a demon. Since in our world these don't exist you have patrons of lesser (relative to god's at least) beings from all four god realms. I'm sure to be correct to flavour i would have to modify this class but i'm not willing to do that. Cast based on Charisma since it's more like a bargain compared to clerics.

Monks: There inclusion implies a certain degree of magic (through its more like an anime power system) which flows through the body known as Ki. They are based on asian mythology and legend but their abilities are availible to all races and backgrounds.

Wait...why are monks stated to be based on asian mythology (which mythology in asia??), but paladins aren't stated to be based on european mythology?
(or did you mean "Ki is based on asian mythology" ? if thats the case, then my above question isn't about paladins, but about warlocks -- european folklore is positively saturated with them!)

the rest of your recent post is interesting material.

Most of DND is based off european mythology.

[keenir]

Notes on the magic classes (since they are most important) for anyone new to DND

Paladin: Kind off a cleric warrior hybrid and with generally a more noble bent. Spellcasting is Wisdom in 3.5e and Charisma in 5e so i assume a shift from paladins just being clerics to paladins spellcasting being based on force of personality. Charisma is also what you used to turn (basically make an enemy flee) undead.

Warlocks: Also more contentious these castersa are blessed by an otherworldly patron such as in base DND a fey or a demon. Since in our world these don't exist you have patrons of lesser (relative to god's at least) beings from all four god realms. I'm sure to be correct to flavour i would have to modify this class but i'm not willing to do that. Cast based on Charisma since it's more like a bargain compared to clerics.

Monks: There inclusion implies a certain degree of magic (through its more like an anime power system) which flows through the body known as Ki. They are based on asian mythology and legend but their abilities are availible to all races and backgrounds.

Wait...why are monks stated to be based on asian mythology (which mythology in asia??), but paladins aren't stated to be based on european mythology?
(or did you mean "Ki is based on asian mythology" ? if thats the case, then my above question isn't about paladins, but about warlocks -- european folklore is positively saturated with them!)

the rest of your recent post is interesting material.

Most of DND is based off european mythology.

then why don't you use the monks from european "mythology" ? they and paladins are just as fictional, after all, as anything else in myth. /no not really

[foxcatdog]

Possibly some DND monks are flavoured around western style monasteries but i'm not familiar of any warrior monks in western culture compared to china, korea and japan which DND monks are clearly based on.


Other notes
Note: WC refers to Western Crowning the year our priestess married her husband.

Culture of our Southern Talasians.
Society was organized into clans which existed across multiple tribes and were thought to be a primitive caste system. The most important of which at least according to histories were the Sky clan and Earth clan. The Sky clan (Glasa Nawa) was dominant in prehistoric times and oversaw religious rituals and possibly had come to worship Belsar. However our priestess married into the Earth (Glasa Saiti) Clan who handled diplomacy and war with outsiders (Thunder clan (Glasa Þana) handled war between tribes and was possibly the second most powerful clan and even dominant in some areas due to the frequency of wars between the tribes).

Society was based around the horse which were the individual property of men and passed down from father to son. However accounts also exist of a Plains clan (Glasa Daina) which took care of the horses and hunted for bison with them. In contrast, the Marten clan (Masita do Glasa) hunted for small game and also fished the rivers. Other horse based customs were seen such as painting them in warpaint and giving them embroided manes. Also during marriage the wife was paraded around on a horse and friends of the woman’s clan would offer gifts to them.

Women seemed to accumulate property in the form of woven blankets with the mythology of the clan and also for wealthier women silver though it was not uncommon for women to own at least one silver heirloom. Split heritage systems existed with a mother giving her eldest daughter her heirlooms as well as tools of her profession when she got married.

Religious rites like that of their relatives seem to on a primitive level be based on central sky worship. Unlike them however they conceived of the sky as masculine and possibly worshiped masculine sky deities. Religious practice also revered the earth but a similar level of primitive sea worship wasn’t seen. Belsar evidently came into their religious vocabulary with the war between them and the also more civilized but also preliterate Darens around -800 WC who spoke a distantly related language. During this war they conquered what is now the kingdom of Danaria but only settled the western portions before they were civilised by our priestess. Possibly this was preceded by a period of bear totemism

It seems the Fish clan (Kala no Glasa from which derives Kalnagjaz) had taken to building boats around this time and it alone settled the peninsula and islands and also dealt with such practices as sea fishing and naval warfare although primitive. They permitted members of the Bear clan (Tumi no Glasa) to settle their lands around -200 WC and they eventually became dominant in these regions and during our priestesses campaigns she found these peoples to be most devoted to Belsar and in fact the Miran Isles joined her kingdom willingly.

Other clans included the Dog clan (Nakwi do Glasa) who oversaw dogs and other domesticated animals as well as overseeing interactions with denizens of the upper spirit realm and Mountain clan (Glasa Domun) who oversaw the forging of metal items and also built houses.

During 150 WC the grandson of our priestess would abolish the clan system and introduce money. However various traditions continued well into the middle ages such as the marriage ceremony.

[keenir]

Possibly some DND monks are flavoured around western style monasteries but i'm not familiar of any warrior monks in western culture compared to china, korea and japan which DND monks are clearly based on.

Thats understandable - its pretty much a Venn Diagram as to how many people have heard of the Templars and Knights of St John and Teutonic Knights, and those who know that Europe had a long history of monastic orders who got involved in warfare...most don't realize that they really were simaltaneously knights and monks, and not just one playing at being both.
(i was the other way around - i started out knowing the second fact, but not the first: i didn't know the names of those monastic groups)

your entry is pretty interesting.about the goddess

[Raphael]

most don't realize that they really were simaltaneously knights and monks, and not just one playing at being both.

Interesting to know. I had generally assumed the latter.

[keenir]

most don't realize that they really were simaltaneously knights and monks, and not just one playing at being both.

Interesting to know. I had generally assumed the latter.

Happy to help.

Also just realized: D&D does have European-style warrior monks...but D&D calls them paladins.

[foxcatdog]

Revision to the map.