Homebrew Worlds- What is in YOUR world?

[Umbran]

Some really great concepts so far.

Great concepts, or florid advertising copy? Only your editor knows for sure...

Honestly, who here thinks they can actually do justice to a well-written game world in one paragraph? I find that these single-paragraph things make my eyes gloss over a whole lot more quickly than a far longer story about something happening in the world in question would. A one-paragraph description of the world of Martin's "Game of Thrones" would look trite, while the books are riveting.

And Psion - the value of the game is not in the world, but in the stories told in the world. One doesn't need a world that sounds good in one paragraph to have a stunningly cool game

 

[kenjib]

Elisan: A world of choice, where action and inaction, can bind your soul to another from life to life. It is a land where belief can create reality, and even the darkest fears will come to life. Elisan is about the journey, both physical and spiritual, where choices lead to immortality or oblivion. In the end, Elisan is about life, its successes and failures.

I notice the world seems designed around a literary theme rather than the more material themes that are more common for world building basis. How do you infuse such kinds of themes into world building and running the game? What are the nuts and bolts that make the world support these abstract concepts?

 

[Eosin the Red]

DEATH has been made flesh by the huburis of semi-divine beings. They fled before the spreading darkness leaving mankind to fend for itself. Two wars have weakend the "wrath of life" or Enwrathi but unless the source of the infection can be found it is only a matter of time until Darkness rises again.

 

[Desdichado]

Honestly, who here thinks they can actually do justice to a well-written game world in one paragraph? I find that these single-paragraph things make my eyes gloss over a whole lot more quickly than a far longer story about something happening in the world in question would. A one-paragraph description of the world of Martin's "Game of Thrones" would look trite, while the books are riveting.

Which is why I just put the link to my setting website. Also, check out the Dungeoncraft Experiment in my sig files (or in that link right there) for more info.

If I had to super-condense it, I'd probably be better off comparing it to known commodites: John Carter of Mars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Robert E. Howard and H.P Lovecraft all thrown together in the blender to create a setting smoothie.

 

[AlphaOmega]

Ok...post a short synopsis of your world (theme etc) in a paragraph. I think it would be cool to see some others. And if you have more than one...cool.

The Prydelands: Basically a world I've worked on and off for years. A former player summed it up as "Planet of the Apes, except with lions" which I can't really argue with. Humans and some other standard races are slaves at best and more often treated as food. There are various lion-liked races (e.g. sphinx, griffon) and each of them share traits with a historical empire like the egyptians...

 

[Kesh]

Cool stuff, and in actuality it doesn't even have to be unnatural! Have you heard about the pentagon study on sudden climate change that was covered in Fortune magazine?

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,582584,00.html

There could be some great grist for your mill in there, with some bright minds having already thought out some implications of such a scenario.

Hadn't heard of that, but I'll look at it. i was going for a supernatural angle, precisely so it can be stopped and the people saved.

Also, edited my post to add the other world idea I had.

 

[Rel]

(Rel's) Faded Glory - A world where you can't even begin to imagine how screwed you are.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Did I just hear an invitation for a plug?

Urbis - A World of Cities: Have you ever wondered where all those magic items come from? Why armies still advance in tight formations in a world with fireballs and lightning bolts? Why spells like raise dead never seem to upset the social order? If you like the D&D rule set, but got annoyed with all those logical inconsistencies that seem to be common in D&D worlds, you might want to take a look at Urbis. It keeps the D&D rules as unaltered as possible - all the spells, races, monsters, and magic items from it are in there somewhere, and there are only a very small numbers of additions. But the end result is very different from the usual pseudo-medieval paradigm - most people live in crowded cities populated by hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people, with magical nexus towers protecting them even while they drain a small amount of life energy from the common people. Magical innovation meets social unrest as the cities grow...

Well, that was a rather long paragraph, I guess... I think I have written about 40,000 words for it by now, and once I hit 100,000, I'll probably publish it in some form other than my home page.

 

[S'mon]

From my website:

"Southern Ea is in chaos. Following the Bloodhammer Uprising in Imarr, the Albine Emperor has ordered a total withdrawal from the lands of the Old Empire. Some Albine commanders have disobeyed, becoming mercenaries or warlords. Countless regional rulers have declared their own independent states. The Albine administrative infrastructure has collapsed as city-state governments replace Imperial rule. New leaders have arisen, determined to carve out new Empires by the bloody hand of War…

Greatest of the City-States is Imarr: Imarr the Glorious, the Eternal City. Once Imarr was the heart of the Old Empire; now under Overking Tarkane the Usurper, is she destined to rule again?

Ea: A Time of Chaos is a PBEM game set in a Sword & Sorcery world inspired by the works of Fritz Leiber, RE Howard and others. Player Characters begin as adventurers, leaders and others within the City of Imarr, greatest metropolis on the planet. Once Imarr ruled a vast Empire. For more than two thousand years she ruled the known world. For the past two centuries, Imarr has been a mere dominion of the Albine Empire. But now the Albines are overthrown: dead, enslaved, or fled back to their homelands across the Great Ocean. Is it time to raise the standard of battle and restore Imarr’s ancient glory once more?"

- It's a "sword & sorcery world of high adventure" to quote the site. The elder races are fading, their time past - it's a human dominated world in turmoil as a relative golden age of law and order gives way to the threat of a new dark age. I've been running it for 400 years game-time, 16 years realtime though, so I've run a fair number of differently themed campaigns, not all using D&D rules.

 

[Pants]

It's like Greyhawk... only less Flaenessy.

It's really nothing special actually. There are Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, Giants, Undead. Lots of wonky economics, more magic than a bowl full of Mordenkainen, Lich-lords, powerful Vampire families, reigning Republics, and so on.