Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Magitech

8 (27.6%)

Mythic Fantasy

7 (24.1%)

Post-Post-Apocalyptic

4 (13.8%)

Prehistoric Fantasy

3 (10.3%)

Steampunk

4 (13.8%)

Wuxia

3 (10.3%)

Total Members Voted: 29

[Tack]

Eh, primitive elves are kind of a typical trope subversion by this point.

Thing I've never thought about- if elves are immortal, lithe, dexterous and wise, why aren't they the most technologically advanced race?
We always see them being the ones who sling around magic, but what if they're the ones who build the biggest buildings and shoot the shootiest guns.

[scriver]

How about a post-post-apocalyptic mythic fantasy game where the gods return to the destroyed lands of the sentient races to rebuild the world?

Or a post-post-apocalyptic world where the apocalypse itself were a war between gods or generation of gods (Aesir-Vanir or Greek Pantheon-Titan style) or a similar concept (Gods vs Hell, for example). Seeming as Titans pretty much represent concepts of the natural world you would basically have the gods waging war against the world itself during such a struggle. I'd like to think that would have huge consequences on the world.

Eh, primitive elves are kind of a typical trope subversion by this point.

Thing I've never thought about- if elves are immortal, lithe, dexterous and wise, why aren't they the most technologically advanced race?
We always see them being the ones who sling around magic, but what if they're the ones who build the biggest buildings and shoot the shootiest guns.

They're usually also the ones who build the buildiest buildings and magic is the shootiest gun

[micelus]

Hmm...what about a setting where humans are the rare ones with other races being more dominant? Humans could be a migratory people for one reason or another with maybe 1-3 other races being more sedentary. I think too many races would reduce each race to a stereotypical 'planet of the hats' situation so maybe there should be more focus on cultures within species than the races themselves?

If we're going with the apocalyptic/mythic fantasy idea, maybe the majority of humans rebelled against the gods and sided with the titans for one reason or another and have been collectively punished ever since?

[Rex Invictus]

Getting rid of that idea. I might run a forum game based off that.

[Rex Invictus]

Results for the poll were:
Arabian Nights
- 1 (3.7%)
Gothic Horror
- 0 (0%)
High Fantasy
- 0 (0%)
Lovecraftian Horror
- 1 (3.7%)
Low Fantasy
- 1 (3.7%)
Magitech
- 3 (11.1%)
Mythic Fantasy
- 4 (14.8%)
Old West
- 2 (7.4%)
Post-Post-Apocalyptic
- 4 (14.8%)
Prehistoric Fantasy
- 3 (11.1%)
Science Fantasy
- 2 (7.4%)
Steampunk
- 3 (11.1%)
Wuxia
- 3 (11.1%)

I'm going to cut the poll down to Magitech, Mythic Fantasy, Post-Post-Apocalyptic, Prehistoric Fantasy, Steampunk and Wuxia and reset the votes.

[Rex Invictus]

Bump.

[Tack]

Kinda in the mood for cthulhupunk.

[micelus]

Maybe you could combine aspects of the 3 top results?

[Rex Invictus]

Maybe you could combine aspects of the 3 top results?

I mean, that's the idea if we have 3 that have 4-5-5 or whatever. The issue was that there was way too many in the last poll.

[Rex Invictus]

Come on, people! Let's do this!

[micelus]

The poll is pretty even right now so I suppose you'd have to combine them. Here's 2 suggestions for an overall setting:

-The world is in period of time a few millenniums after the War in the Heavens wherein the gods of Order(or Civilisation or something else) imposed their will on the gods of Earth. The divinely blessed Celestial Empire of 'blank' is the foremost power of the world (or at least the nearby region). By virtue of divine blessing, it has achieved many wondrous advances in science and the arts. Expanding on the ancient spells and rituals passed on from the Heavens, philosophers binded spirits into mundane objects. This eventually resulted in the near-ubiquitous use of magitech throughout the empire. Of course, not all are happy with the rule of the Empire or its treatment of Nature. Barbarians of the Steppes, Islands, Valleys and distant Bharut (India expy) constantly test the might of the Empire both through combat and more clever ploys...Prominent races include humans and dragons, ancients who sided with both Earth and Heaven; rare but often have direct duties from the divines. Several serve the Empire. Other races to be suggested?

-The gods are fickle beings who are easily bored. As such, they created the world to entertain themselves. As such they crafted it in such a way that theatrics and overly-done ritual could and would translate into actual power. Martial arts, combined with ingenious inventions made by the local mad inventor (enlightened by those very very bored deities) have proven popular with most of Heaven's demographics. Even so, some are not keen on seeing the rulers of the universe spending eternity on their arses; as such, some have sent agents and creatures into the world to destroy it...or at least cut out the connection between Heaven and Earth long enough to get something done.

[Rex Invictus]

If it stays the way it is, I was going to make a thread where we each contribute one piece of information or lore about the setting.

My starting bit would've been:

The Celestial Emperor sits upon his throne. Part-man, part-machine, all divine, he watches over his people and ensures that the gods work together to ensure the smooth running of the world as the techmancer does with his clockwork. His words are holy, his rule is law and his mind works, sped by magical theorems contained within the throne itself.

[LORD GOAT THE 120524TH]

That... is awesome. Congratulations on the cool writing Rex Invictus.

[LORD GOAT THE 120524TH]

I think that, if steampunk gets it's way(this may seem kind of cliche), we should have floating (Flying) and/or underwater cities. Possibly actual floating cities on the water but that's not very steampunk

[Flying Dice]

Looks like mythic fantasy is leading. Huzzah.

If it stays the way it is, I was going to make a thread where we each contribute one piece of information or lore about the setting.

My starting bit would've been:

The Celestial Emperor sits upon his throne. Part-man, part-machine, all divine, he watches over his people and ensures that the gods work together to ensure the smooth running of the world as the techmancer does with his clockwork. His words are holy, his rule is law and his mind works, sped by magical theorems contained within the throne itself.

Seriously, don't do anything as a knockoff/expy of 40K unless you're aiming for the silly tone that it originally had before the grimdark gummed up the works. And don't do it anyway because it works for jokes but falls apart in practice.

'sides, I said it before, there are much better things to take cues from if you're doing anything related to mythic fantasy.

--

Here's an idea, actually: have a Promethean figure be the original source of magitech; he/she/it taught the first human practitioners of a new system of magic which relied upon precise calculation and careful thought, bearing altogether more relation to the realm of natural philosophy than to the ritualistic and unknowable magics of the world before. These disciples warred against the children of certain gods, who acted on their progenitors' wishes to destroy human knowledge of the source of their power.

But the new magics were strong and easily transmitted to the uninitiated. With their knowledge the mage-inventors of the Second Age crafted wondrous works of bronze and jade, instruments to collect and channel mystic energies through prescribed arrays, allowing even the most base farmer's child to strike at the godblooded and their servants.

Now it is the Fourth Age. Great towers stretch into the heavens, buttressed by sprawling magical diagrams. Galleys cast from iron ply the seas, jetting along more swiftly than even the fastest horse. The products of magic are everywhere, in homes and workplaces, magic turned to the simplest of conveniences. Still, just as it was, so does it continue to be: the root of magic is not easily comprehended, and save a handful of gods and goddesses favorable to humanity, the rest have withdrawn to their stronghold far to the north-east, from which they send forth vast armies of men and constructs bound to their will, led by ever-increasingly powerful children of their lines.

It is a time of prosperous life and hopes for the future, a true dawning of a new era. It is the final twilight of humanity, the jaws of fate closing down upon the handful of true heroes and heroines who remain dedicated to their unending war.

--

Just as an off-the-cuff example. It's got elements of both themes and establishes a very slight skeleton of a setting around which new ideas may be arrayed, leaving open most possibilities. It also establishes two potential underlying super-main plotlines for the party, depending on whether they want to play as "good" or "evil".