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Author Topic: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World  (Read 5533 times)

Boksi

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #30 on: November 23, 2009, 02:36:17 pm »

Since, normally, the game would've had a branching story, and I actually thought of several storylines, I'd have to pick whichever one I like the most and make that one canon.

That's a real toughie though, since I like imagining the different ways the characters can develop but it would allow me to share my little story with you guys.

Choose the one with the second-crappiest, non-premature ending.
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Bricks

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #31 on: November 23, 2009, 03:36:04 pm »

On made-up names and other fantasy words:  I think it adds a lot if your characters are named in a non-obvious but tone-appropriate way.  Since you are potentially dealing with an enormous fantasy world, there should be a cultural influence on the names that you choose that help the reader/player understand at the character's introduction who that character might be.  I don't think going around and naming your characters after actual things or characteristics is all too impressive.  One character named "Waterfall" might be interesting, but when you introduce "Butte" and "Archipelago" the reader/player may begin to lose patience (unless you want to have a culture with very natural sounding names).  Other names (like the White and Black example posed) are awfully contrived.  They scream "THIS CHARACTER HAS MORALITY ______," and smack of a boring sort of ethnocentrism (I believe white has a mostly negative connotation in China).  They are also very haughty, and since these cursed fellows seem like the main characters, you will want them to be more relatable.  If you want to call a bad guy "Sorrow" or something similar, that's fine, just don't overdo it.  For that underground culture you spoke of, I think you would want the names to be extremely alien.  If you go so far as to make up new words, make sure they are of a reasonable length and pronounceable.  It's kind of hard to remember the difference between "Grshkl" and "Mbgntl" even though they are mostly different words (though Grishkel and Mibguntul aren't that bad).  Don't forget titles, either.  Sounds like the cursed will be high-up political figures, possibly even rulers.
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Aldaris

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #32 on: November 23, 2009, 03:42:58 pm »

Since, normally, the game would've had a branching story, and I actually thought of several storylines, I'd have to pick whichever one I like the most and make that one canon.

That's a real toughie though, since I like imagining the different ways the characters can develop but it would allow me to share my little story with you guys.

Choose the one with the second-crappiest, non-premature ending.
Thank you for the flamebaiting.

He does have a point though, the endings are somewhat abrupt, but as a hobbyist forum writer I can say that's nothing that can't be fixed while still keeping the plot the way you wrote it. The Sun magician one doesn't count, as he's a justified Load Bearing Boss.
As for names, do they have to be english? You could build a partial fictional language. (Only a few words explained) and just drop the meaning of the relevant words (and some others as decoys) in situations were the character isn't being actively mentioned, footnotes work well for this. (Especially words for things english can't really describe, I have a few of those in stock.)
(Also, I'm using ()s a lot in this post, aren't I?)

A branching story can be interesting, but you could experiment with creative achronistic orders. For example, take one of the possible ending situations, have a character there explain what happened in that timeline, then skip back to the relevant moment and branch the timeline. Or have a historian describe the events that took place in a branch of the timeline he doesn't inhabit. (Again, footnotes.) Originality often works best when born from nesessity. (sp? I think there should be a 'c' in there somewhere)

Also, I'm pretty good at making up alien words, with various levels of pronouncability. (Aynrin, Tyskrl, Gathru/Gafru Trenten, etc, although those are names for a nation, a species, a space station and another nation respectively.)
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JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #33 on: November 23, 2009, 03:48:54 pm »

Well, I wouldn't name them english words, but maybe like, some old name with a double meaning that wouldn't be immediately obvious, and the double meaning would be more of an Easter Egg for devoted fans that actually bothered to look up the meaning of the names.

Like, for example, one of the character names I had in mind was "Carwyn Cadoc" which is Welsh for "Loves Battle", which fits his personality spot-on.

Also, for the branching story conundrum, if I tweak some background things, it'll be possible to combine them into a single storyline while maintaining the emotional impact I have in mind.
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Boksi

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #34 on: November 23, 2009, 03:56:56 pm »

Since, normally, the game would've had a branching story, and I actually thought of several storylines, I'd have to pick whichever one I like the most and make that one canon.

That's a real toughie though, since I like imagining the different ways the characters can develop but it would allow me to share my little story with you guys.

Choose the one with the second-crappiest, non-premature ending.
Thank you for the flamebaiting.

Actually, I wasn't talking about the quality of the ending, but how many nasty things happen to the characters. I can understand the confusion, that wasn't the clearest wording possible.
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ein

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #35 on: November 23, 2009, 09:47:43 pm »

I want to name a character Blaidd Drwg, but that would probably be too obvious.
Even if I changed the spelling a bit.

JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #36 on: November 23, 2009, 09:53:13 pm »

I don't get it.
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ein

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #37 on: November 24, 2009, 12:10:09 am »

It's Welsh for Bad Wolf.
Doctor Who reference.

JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #38 on: November 24, 2009, 12:52:16 am »

Alright, bio time! Now, it's just me, but I like doing villains/antagonists first, so let me introduce them:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sorry if I was a bit wordy. I have some more bad guys in mind, but I'll write them up later.

EDIT: Added Beasts and Warriors.
« Last Edit: November 25, 2009, 04:03:01 pm by chaoticjosh »
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ein

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #39 on: November 24, 2009, 01:52:31 am »

You shoulda given links to all the tropes listed under tropes used.
Woulda been a recipe for fun.

JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #40 on: November 24, 2009, 02:12:41 am »

No, I think I'll spare you.

Also, I forgot to give Agrippa an appearance!
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Aldaris

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #41 on: November 24, 2009, 01:52:16 pm »

Nice so far.
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^Totally not out of context, promise.
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JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #42 on: November 25, 2009, 02:58:39 am »

Added three more entries, Warriors and Beasts, these ones are all controlled with magic.
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JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #43 on: November 29, 2009, 03:38:00 pm »

Alright, I'm really busy, but let me continue this bit by bit.

The protagonists:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There's more protagonists that this, I'm just a little short on time and can only do a few.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2009, 01:38:35 am by chaoticjosh »
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JoshuaFH

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Re: My Imagined Magic System And Fantasy World
« Reply #44 on: November 29, 2009, 11:58:31 pm »

More of the main characters:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Putting my thoughts into words takes a while, sometimes.
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