Flying Islands and Water Worlds

[Agback]

What is it people like about flying islands/castles/cities and water worlds? And, hrm. I think I know what people like about worlds dominated by evil and post-apocalyptic worlds, but if you wanna go into that, you can. Seriously. What's the appeal?

Okay. I designed a world strewn with islands back in 1988. I have come back to that world time and time over the years, and put a lot of work into it, because it is a pretty neat place (mostly for reasons that have nothing much to do with it being strewn with islands). I originally made it as it was for two reasons:

1) We had been playing a lot in a more conventional fantasy world that was continental and had a seasonal cold climate. And so I and the other players had had a big dose of snow, horses, mediaeval aristocratic cavalry, border disputes, and overland chases. I wanted a change.

2) I had got rather sick of players' default assumptions that a fantasy world must be like Hollywood mediaeval, which I found were permeating character concepts, character aspirations, and player's extrapolations about the world. Even when I told them that a world was unlike mediaeval Europe, and particularly in social respects, they would sort of sink back into Hollywood assumptions.
So to break the suction, I made a setting in which almost everything is a constant reminder that This Is Not Mediaeval Europe. Clothes are more Classical Greek than European. The climate is more like New Guinea than France. Agriculture and diet are more Indonesian than European. The economy is not manorial. Politics are not feudal. The climate is not seasonal. And heroes sail ships rather than ride horses.

That's why I did it. And I submitted that world because I have hundreds of thousands of words of material for it ready.

It's only an outside chance, though.

Regards,


Agback

 

[rounser]

Yeah, let's focus on original stuff like wussy elves with bows in the woods, bearded dwarves with axes in the caves, wizards with robes and staves, and savage orcs instead.

Yeah, but those ideas aren't being presented as if they were original and cutting edge when they're not.

Sure, chat about the flying isles, just don't overestimate their originality.

E.g:
"Wow - here's a kewl novel new idea! Half-orc Paladins! How's that for a spin on the old stereotype, eh? Bet no-one's thought of that before, how original am I? Chortle!"

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, rounser! Guess what! Nobody said they were original. I know; I just read the entire thread.

What's good about both is that --sure, they're not the first time "Wow, how'd they think of that!" ideas, but they're hardly run of the mill or really common either. Flying islands in particular allows for very discrete "mini-worlds" so you can do lots of different things and make it make sense a lot easier.

Plus, it's just something you don't see everyday. I've been experimenting with flying island settings for fifteen years or so now: long before Deathgate was written (which I've only read smatterings of anyway.) I still think it's a good idea. But it's not much of an idea by itself. It needs a fully fleshed out background to go along with it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Diveristy, you can easily explain nature with them. It is also control, you don't have to think (at least too much) about borders, interaction and such. Many DMs build a campaign world too big and have to deal with those things.


In my game world I have taken elements of both, it is a plateau/mesa world with jungle and vast grasslands around them (that are filled with dinos and dire beast), the races live on top or in the mesas. Trade is just getting started due to flying ships.

 

[rounser]

Hey, rounser! Guess what! Nobody said they were original. I know; I just read the entire thread.

Note the context of what I was replying to:

Undead Pete UGH!! Let's stop the flying islands idea NOW! Didn't anyone read The Deathgate Cycle?? Talk about unoriginal.

Yeah, let's focus on original stuff like wussy elves with bows in the woods, bearded dwarves with axes in the caves, wizards with robes and staves, and savage orcs instead.

These people are implying that elves and orcs are unoriginal, and that flying islands aren't. No, they don't state it, but they imply it. Now, begone, foul flying island fanboy!*

*: I bet you've never been called that before! Take that! Ha-HA!

 

[LostSoul]

1) It is very easy to stick in some undiscovered or forgotten island, or islet or cove where an adventure could take place without changing things too much.

Yeah. You can throw in whatever "new" stuff you want without breaking the suspension of disbelief. An out of the way island can hold a lot of strange stuff...

 

[arcseed]

Seems to me there's a lot you can do with a flying island or a water world. A lot of ways you can handle it. One island or many? How easy is travel and communication between? Are the seas inhabited? Dangerous? What about he land below the flying island(s).

For me, the appeal of the flying island is in the isolation. A flying island can't look outside itself for answers to its problems. Or scapegoats either.

There's also some neat things about elitism and class struggle...

 

[lord irial]

For myself, I like the "flying islands" approach due to the influence of painter/designers Michael Parkes and Roger Dean; there is also a great but little-known novel "the Shattered World" which gives the flying isle setting a good spin.

 

[Green Knight]

Eh, flying islands are okay, but I don't see why regular islands can't suffice. Back when I was thinking of running a Champions campaign, I intended to run a game in which the party survives a plane crash on a remote island in the pacific. No super villains anywhere in sight. They just have to get off the island (Can't just fly off, as not everyone who could fly could carry everyone else. Besides, being in the middle of the ocean, they'd have no idea which way to go and would eventually tire out, fall into the ocean, and drown). Maybe survive getting eaten by cannibals in the meantime. Sounded like a damn good idea to me.

 

[Torque]

I agree with a couple of the other posters that while the idea itself is not ground-breakingly original, it is unusual and can provide a world with a very different flavor than the typical fare. Of course, if you are relying on flying islands as your only hook, then you're screwed. While they can be a good twist, it is still necessary to have interesting locations, organizations, villains, etc. that are needed for any good setting.