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[Rex Invictus]

Look at that second line of my sig. We're doing pure lore now!

[BFEL]

Nice, glad to see this has actually taken off. And spawned a forum game already!

Anyway, to go with the oft-cited "magic is really science" idea I had something of a subversion in my head once. Basically the world USED to be dominated by realistic physics and science, and then a bunch of advanced dudes tried to full on create matter but made a mistake and accidentally the universe.
So physics got its shit wrecked and works completely differently afterward as magic. The setting is mostly unaware of this, save for the now buried ship that was the test platform for the experiment.
Would have used this in Rex' thing but he already made an origin with gods and stuff
EDIT: But now he gets a Nice Swamp Republic. Because you don't see many nice swamps, and you certainly don't see many swamp republics

Also: Morrowind. All of Morrowind.

[Bohandas]

Nice, glad to see this has actually taken off. And spawned a forum game already!

Anyway, to go with the oft-cited "magic is really science" idea I had something of a subversion in my head once. Basically the world USED to be dominated by realistic physics and science, and then a bunch of advanced dudes tried to full on create matter but made a mistake and accidentally the universe.
So physics got its shit wrecked and works completely differently afterward as magic. The setting is mostly unaware of this, save for the now buried ship that was the test platform for the experiment.
Would have used this in Rex' thing but he already made an origin with gods and stuff

This is basically what happened during the Great Mushroom War in Adventure Time

[Strife26]

You could also look at some of Saberhagens work, which has a final attempt at nuclear countermeasures by the US and USSR break down physics into a high fantasy style setting. Empire of East shows the results while there's still a few pieces of modern technology and then in the Swords of Power series (which is probably part of most classic fantasy lists) our world is pretty much forgotten with few exceptions.

[TheDarkStar]

Brandon Sanderson's books usually have unique worlds (especially his Way of Kings series).

[bahihs]

If magic is to be truly different from science, it has to break the principle of reproducibility. Meaning if you do something magical one time (a spell, a ritual, an incantation) it shouldn't have the same result a second time. This prevents phenomena from being predictable (and therefore subject to the principles of science).

Concept: Magic which is one time use only.
Description: Once the spell or ritual is done, and a given known effect is produced (the effect could be figured out through research), the universe adjusts itself so that the spell will not have the same effect again or...it doesn't. Randomness.

Tolkien-esqe fantasy concerns itself with moral divides; in the end there is a big bad and a hero(es) and a journey. It's possible to turn that on its head.

Concept: The main character never goes anywhere, he stays in his hometown.
Description: What about those extras? The guys that lead you to the cave and the tavern-owner that tells you about that haunted manor? What if the story is about them and their interactions with "heroes" that come and go? To this character, the big bad is a far away thing, out of mind and sight, he's not a hero by any means, he certainly doesn't have to be "good" in the traditional sense. And he gets to see the various iterations of "hero" come and go. I think that might be pretty interesting.

Concept: The free-will journal
Description: Whatever you write in your personal journal will happen without deviation. But everyone has a personal journal.

[Itnetlolor]

Concept:
The actual realm of imagination is involved, and is central to all knowledge while at it.

Description:
An intra-/exo-reality (kinda both simultaneously, really. With our reality between them.) nexus that is a reality unto itself (like another dimension of anything and everything, no limits; also kinda works like The End of Time in Chrono Trigger for intersecting realities). Kinda like if reality was made up of bubbles, this is the center of the 3D/4D-Venn Diagram of those bubbles (Star Trek meets Star Wars, Lexx, and the like; with Tolkien and such also tossed in to spice it up a tad. So what if my dragon breathes lasers that can home in on it's targets (Panzer Dragoon)?). Our imagination when utilized for invention and telling stories and such only merely taps into this reality. Someone finds a way into this reality, which is anything but real. Just as well; for anyone that wants a "political aesop" for this; The "Copyright Police"/Fun Police have captured this realm, and is monopolizing it by restricting imagination within reality, preventing anyone from thinking again; or some BS like that. Just as well, unimaginative trolls or die-hard uber-realists also bash any new concept brought upon by said realms due to how unrealistic they are (albeit, they would have a point, but where said things come from, I don't think the beings/devices from said realm care about the concept of realism), or just because they're total douchebags that can't come up with anything new, and rattle off memes nonstop. Plus, I doubt science can explain even an iota of these things, and how they're waltzing about our reality without being crushed under their own weight and such. Or how a lightning gun isn't frying it's operator when fired; or how fire is freezing things... The list goes on.

Source:
South Park and Rick & Morty had similar concepts, more or less. Oddly enough, Muppet Babies is a core reference (say what you will, it was an awesome show back then). I don't remember if they dove into an imagination world/nexus before, but they were practically reality-warpers with all the crazy stuff they did with their imagination; for example, I remember Scooter's computer was practically able to hack reality itself. He was as good a programmer with his computer as Schroeder (Peanuts) was with his piano. Hell, they were able to share thoughts/imagination clearly with minimal explanation, as if they were psychic, yet unaware of it. They could see each others' thoughts without aid.

Alt-Source:
My mind works like this at times. Not as much as it used to; but I'm working on reviving that (actually, I'm trying to make it happen again during Lent; see if I can replicate what started it in the first place). It was equally awesome and terrifying; in a good way. I called that realm the "Second Nature" as a means of expressing how naturally it occurred, and it also being an ever-present and constantly evolving realm, much like ours. Much of my art rendered what I saw within there. Funny enough, I think a marking I made apparently followed sacred geometry, before I was aware of such, that also felt like a map to the place. 3 points, 3 lines, 3 circles. The circle containing the triangle and inner circle also has the 3 points that anchor the triangle to the mid-circle, while it contains the inner circle. An outer-circle contains all of that, like a container. Thus, the intra-reality (inner circle, bound by the triangle), reality (mid-circle, containing the triangle anchored by the points), and exo-reality (outer circle, containing everything else within). I'll post it if I can find it. Basically, it was my own take on the triquetra.

EDIT:
Just remembered, plenty of my dreams are basically involving this concept more directly. Kinda why I'm such a screwball once I go lucid. It's like finding out the God Mode in games is actually more like unlocking Garry's Mod instead of gaining invulnerability. Full-integration of GMod-level imagination application upon our own reality (summon/modify/involve other games and such; lethal vuvezelas), is basically what my concept is. Not to mention, the very realm of imagined thoughts and such is it's own melting pot reality.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Sergarr]

If magic is to be truly different from science, it has to break the principle of reproducibility. Meaning if you do something magical one time (a spell, a ritual, an incantation) it shouldn't have the same result a second time. This prevents phenomena from being predictable (and therefore subject to the principles of science).

That also prevents it from being used consciously by anyone. Therefore making it basically author's fiat in any place where it happens.

You can make magic less reproducible by making it dependent on the phases of the moon and alignment of the planet and stuff like that; but making it completely non-reproducible just makes it unusable.

[Itnetlolor]

Alt-Source:
My mind works like this at times. Not as much as it used to; but I'm working on reviving that (actually, I'm trying to make it happen again during Lent; see if I can replicate what started it in the first place). It was equally awesome and terrifying; in a good way. I called that realm the "Second Nature" as a means of expressing how naturally it occurred, and it also being an ever-present and constantly evolving realm, much like ours. Much of my art rendered what I saw within there. Funny enough, I think a marking I made apparently followed sacred geometry, before I was aware of such, that also felt like a map to the place. 3 points, 3 lines, 3 circles. The circle containing the triangle and inner circle also has the 3 points that anchor the triangle to the mid-circle, while it contains the inner circle. An outer-circle contains all of that, like a container. Thus, the intra-reality (inner circle, bound by the triangle), reality (mid-circle, containing the triangle anchored by the points), and exo-reality (outer circle, containing everything else within). I'll post it if I can find it. Basically, it was my own take on the triquetra.

So... Time Cube with 3 days instead of 4?

Thinking it through a bit more, the 4th is implied to be the central and outer area (think 4 dimensions; all 3 points and whatnot, and the 4th implied is a constant loop... or whatever), along with the outermost area. As if the inner circle repeats the cycle, and the outer circle can also become the inner circle (no beginning, no end, but is forever). So the 4th is the inner and outer seen simultaneously, or some such. Never really delved into Time Cube (first time hearing about it, really). My observation was more like a Sierpinski Triangle meets a Hypersphere, or something. I was a bit nutty at the time I first thought about it, and it was fun developing it (Plus, it was supposed to be the emblem of a pirate crew I made that can manipulate time-space to their advantage in combat. The symbol's supposed to reflect that. I posted the flagship in the art thread before, that has those powers too. I had the emblem marked on the ship as well (looks more like a blue blot though; but it's there.).

Overall, really, I was just having fun. basically, that's overall the main premise of the concept as well. So the Fun Police portion actually somewhat holds substance. The Fun Police, of course, going from internet trolls to copyright trolls and just about anyone else that loves to smash dreams apart because they like the sound it makes when it breaks. I forgot to add that in; imagination retaliates against reality.

Didn't realize it immediately, but holy hell, that is nightmares made tangible; and kids are the most capable of controlling these horrors. It's like an episode of The Twilight Zone meets Nightmare on Elm Street meets H.P. Lovecraft, and then add in just about anything else that comes to mind. Actually, as horrifying as that sounds, I would like to witness that.

EDIT:
Re-reading my post, I think I played Dyad and watched Electric Sheep a little too much (what's worse, I thought about this long before I played that game, or watched that screensaver. I guess I really am short a few screws, huh?).

EDIT EDIT:
Found the image. Forgot I snazzed it up. *looks at timestamp*, holy crap, it's nearly a decade old.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I called it "The Circle of Trinity".

Come and think of it, I guess the outer-circle is too close. Then again, it was more an aesthetic choice. Oh yeah, and in regards to anything Illuminati-related, it was never intended in the first place. Just to clear things up before the jokes come flying in by the truckload.

The tunneling idea came to mind when I re-thought about the design a bit. The implied 4th corner of a 4-point pyramid. You're looking directly at it from a flat side. Though the hollow-point does kind of screw that perspective up; unless you observe it more like a torus or something. :shrugs: I think my thoughts derailed some time ago. Not often you can make yourself sound insane to yourself.

[Bohandas]

Concept: Fluid Space
Description: In a certain paralell dimension the emptiness of outer space somehow has the properties of a fluid rather than the properties that we associate with a vacuum
Source: Star Trek: Voyager

Concept: Highly flammable fluid space
Description: The space between solar systems is filled with a thin, flammable, self-oxidizing, luminous fluid. This fluid is prevented from coming into contact with the various systems' suns bu enormous crystal spheres that surround each system.
Source:[/i] Spelljammer (an AD&D campaign setting)

[Rex Invictus]

I think the setting I'm running down there in my signature (this one) is pretty unique. It's very similar to Spelljammer.

[Zrk2]

Concept: Non traditional races.

Description: Oh my fuck, there's too many to count.

Source: The Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Could we just take a moment to circlejerk about how awesome it is?

[Jopax]

Concept: Dwarves are actually aliens

Description: The reason the equivalent Dwarven race is so technologically apt is actually because they're unkowing survivors of a crashed spaceship. They have no surviving record of what happened to them but they have some remaining tech that they're quite good with and they use to get even better with the stuff

Source:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endless Legend, the Vault dwellers are this.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tho, EL has pretty much every single of it's races as a pretty unique thing when fantasy is considered, like, the swarm race is actually some sort of undead virus/instect parasite thing that was created as a weapon. You also have a faction of mages who gain power trough masochistic rituals and self-harm and are also vaguely asian in architecture. Seriously, EL has a pretty fucking awesome setting when you look at it.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Not sure if this counts but I thought it might fit

Concept: The planet is a giant Ancient Greece

Description: the planet is a giant ocean filled with many islands. Some islands are inhabited with humans who worship gods. When a new god is worshipped (created by mortals and worshipped by them) it comes into existence in the eternal plane and can speak to their priests and actively make things/do things on the island(s) their worshipers live on. The gods actively do things. Titans and strange events can happen in the physical plane (the planet), titans are basicaly gods in physical form that appear randomly (like forgotten beasts, they can be worshipped but most people don't usually live long enough to be around them). Other great beasts can come into existence that are basicaly docile titans. Each god has two spheres of influence which they can do things on the physical plane through (ex: a god of war can instil bravery in their followers military. A god of farming/plants can create new plants or help the plants in fields grow into a high yield harvest) and titans usualy have one sphere (ex: a Titan of fire can come into existence as a volcano. A Titan of water can come into existence as a living hurricane). Yes most titans are natural disasters.


Source: Greek mythology and my archipelago game