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Yes. The Otherworld, Underworld, Overworld, etc is not the same as the "spirit world" as depicted in, say, Avatar: The Last Airbender. They have their own gods distinct from those of the Middleworld. Yes. Greek mythology is a great bridge to these sorts of concepts. If you want to go all...

​To continue where I left off discussing werewolves... Werewolf mythology The reason why werewolves are the most popular shapeshifters, within Western (i.e. European descended) popular culture, is simple. Wolves, along with bears, are among the few predatory European megafauna that weren’t...

I wanted to discuss werewolves again. Coolidge’s 2006 essay on archetypes of lycanthropy lists medieval, monstrous (cursed), monstrous (diabolic), heroic and sympathetic as those relevant to contemporary fantasy fiction (fantasy lycanthropes are a miscellaneous addition). Although new fiction...

In the strictest sense, qualifiers like witch, werewolf, vampire, etc were not species in pre-modern folklore. They were descriptions of capabilities, capabilities that varied wildly. A witch, at least in the negative connotation, was someone who used magic to harm the community. They could do...

While out of the box D&D over covers a specific set of archetypes, there's a bazillion 3pp that hacks the system to make new classes. Although it's currently only compatible with Pathfinder 1e, Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might goes to show how far you can go using the D&D class formula...

Sorry. I'm still prone to apoplexy whenever I see someone claiming World of Darkness is superior to Chronicles of Darkness. I have my work cut out for me. I'll try to post some world building later when I get more time.

Can we please not get into those stupid vitriolic edition wars for the umpteenth time? For Pete's sake, you are still operating on the fallacy of never reading past the 15 years old first edition rulebooks, if even that far. Mage The Awakening included DIY magical traditions, mad science and...

Yes. Not only that, I'm interested in analyses and discussion of world building and themes. There is huge potential yet to be tapped here. I'm interested in challenging our conceptions of how monsters are supposed to work. Fiction like American Vampire and Dresden Files posit settings where...

Yes, but my overall argument was aimed at every iteration of World of Darkness. Mage: The Awakening has an entirely different set of baggage. I believe the Mage Chroniclers' Guide attempted to provide alternative options, but providing options isn't really the intent of the games as a whole...

Saturn bases aren’t bad. Where I get confused is why there’s a need to go so far beyond urban fantasy. Scifi and cyberpunk are present from the start.

You’re right. That’s why I mentioned fiction where there are multiple kinds of magic. Charmed (the reboot) featured both “witchcraft” and “Yoruban” magic. The Magicians has an entire multiverse with many different magic systems. Buffy has technopaganism. The Everlasting has a bunch of magical...

Your description of Mage perfectly encapsulates one of the problems I have. When I think about wizards, I think Harry Potter, Merlin, Dresden Files, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Magicians, The Order, and Charmed... not whatever Mage is trying to be. It’s simply too ridiculous and makes more sense as...

In general I find D&D alignment to be nonsensical and druids are just another manifestation of that. D&D never had a particularly well-constructed theology. It wasn't until 4e that primal spirits were mentioned as the source of druid powers, and they seem to have been largely forgotten as of 5e...

Of the urban fantasy games that have come out in the last three decades or so, the one that seems to dominate the market is World of Darkness. Well, that and Shadowrun. I could be wrong, that's the impression I get. What sets World of Darkness apart from something like Dungeons & Dragons, All...

It seems highly unlikely that a species would evolve in such a way that they would require three or more parents to reproduce, barring highly specific selective pressure. A scientific paper analyzed why only two sexes evolved using mathematical models. The models showed that three-sexed systems...

You're right. We simply aren't given enough information to make an informed analysis, and what information we are given simply doesn't make any sense because there were too many writers and they didn't talk enough. Pretty much every logical explanation I can contrive breaks the dilemma by...

I think we're getting bogged down in the science and missing the the bigger picture here. The crux of the problem is that the neo-malthusian population control argument is contrived to justify imperialism and genocide, but Bioware didn't think far enough to notice this. Thomas Malthus, for whom...

Maybe I didn't articulate my arguments well enough. I'll try again: The games repeatedly try to manufacture a moral dilemma where you're given a binary choice between curing the genophage or condemning the krogan to extinction. The dilemma being based on the assumption that krogans are...

The krogan population dilemma doesn't make much sense. According to the timeline, it took many centuries for their population to reach the point where they started invading other inhabited planets. This actually makes their reproduction look far more comparable to humans. We can probably chalk...

Okay then. Would anyone be interested in brainstorming simplified rules?