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<blockquote data-quote="lordabdul" data-source="post: 7909441" data-attributes="member: 6994956"><p>I don't think you can get away from any hand-wavey explanation for a flat world... I mean, that's why flat worlds don't exist <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> Discworld and Glorantha are great examples of flat worlds. The first one explains it with funny bits and vague stuff, while the second explains it all with deeply complex mythology (and, therefore, since the world is real, the mythology and the gods are real too).</p><p></p><p>I think that before you go and try to design a flat world, you would have to figure out the tone. Where Discworld is whismsical and Glorantha is mythological, what would your world be? If you want it to be mysterious, just don't explain much. If you want it to be pseudo scientific, go crazy with pseudo scientific explanations but then make the setting similarly pseudo scientific, otherwise it's just a useless thought exercise[1] that doesn't have any consequence on the game itself. So maybe it shouldn't be a straightforward medieval fantasy setting... it might be an "Age of Philosophers" setting where the countries are mostly governed by scholars and researchers and universities and stuff... and these organizations and people need adventurers to explore the world's limits to prove/disprove their theories, retrieve rare items, and do some "corporate" espionage or something. Imagine the PCs coming back after an insanely difficult 6 months-long journey: "<em>so we went through the mountains at the edge of the world, but we ended up in Larkvelia, which is supposed to be on the other side</em>", and their patron scholar goes "<em>ah naughty word, well, so much for this theory (throws away papers)... ok, well, I've got this other theory, but how long can you hold your breath?</em>".</p><p></p><p></p><p>[1]: To be clear I'm all for useless thought exercises, they're fun too! But they're kinda what created the flat earthers in the first place <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="lordabdul, post: 7909441, member: 6994956"] I don't think you can get away from any hand-wavey explanation for a flat world... I mean, that's why flat worlds don't exist :) Discworld and Glorantha are great examples of flat worlds. The first one explains it with funny bits and vague stuff, while the second explains it all with deeply complex mythology (and, therefore, since the world is real, the mythology and the gods are real too). I think that before you go and try to design a flat world, you would have to figure out the tone. Where Discworld is whismsical and Glorantha is mythological, what would your world be? If you want it to be mysterious, just don't explain much. If you want it to be pseudo scientific, go crazy with pseudo scientific explanations but then make the setting similarly pseudo scientific, otherwise it's just a useless thought exercise[1] that doesn't have any consequence on the game itself. So maybe it shouldn't be a straightforward medieval fantasy setting... it might be an "Age of Philosophers" setting where the countries are mostly governed by scholars and researchers and universities and stuff... and these organizations and people need adventurers to explore the world's limits to prove/disprove their theories, retrieve rare items, and do some "corporate" espionage or something. Imagine the PCs coming back after an insanely difficult 6 months-long journey: "[I]so we went through the mountains at the edge of the world, but we ended up in Larkvelia, which is supposed to be on the other side[/I]", and their patron scholar goes "[I]ah naughty word, well, so much for this theory (throws away papers)... ok, well, I've got this other theory, but how long can you hold your breath?[/I]". [1]: To be clear I'm all for useless thought exercises, they're fun too! But they're kinda what created the flat earthers in the first place :) [/QUOTE]
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