Doctor Futurity
Hero
I never really considered Dark Sun "original" as against the settings you didn't get a spark from, largely because it was still a retooling of many concepts already extant in AD&D at the time. But, as a retooling goes, it provided a unique spin on many things, and I liked it for that reason. Similarly, I felt Planescape, Ravenloft, and Spelljammer were equally unique in their spins on the familiar, while Birthright, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and Greyhawk were designed to run closer to the "classic" intent of traditional fantasy.
I have always felt that the most unique settings avoid the tropes of Tolkienesque fatasy (Talislanta, Jorune, Tekumel, and more recently Arcana Unearthed). It's not that you can' take orcs, elves, halflings, and dwarves and put countless interesting spins on them (obviously you can, as every new fantasy world keeps at it), but those worlds which seek to create a unique fantasy experience without the stanard bells and whistles are defnitely more unusual, more exotic, and most importantly, escape any possibility of preconceived notions.
As such, I think developing a really unique world would work well if you identified these classic tropes, and altered them sufficiently that they were no longer identifiable, or removed them entirely. Taking each of the classic D&D races, one could boil down the thematic intent of each: Elves are identified by the following themes: long (or eternal) life, a mysterious connection to magic and/or nature, and a (usually) distance/superiority respective to other species. Elves are classic Tolkien fare, but other authors have provided similar concepts: think of the Melniboneans of Moorcock, for example. An ancient race, disdainful of lesser men, given to arcane magics and secrets. They fit the role of elves, in essence (although Moorcock himself is disdainful of Tolkien and would probably argue against such), but with the spin. Key idea, though: they are not actually elves, and that help to sever the key racial concepts from any preconceptions of elves. In Eberron (having just pickedit up, I shall use some examples here) they introduce the Kalishtar, which are a great "elf theme" race which gets away from its origins, creating a unique new idea.
Orcs, for example: bestial in theme, and intended to reflect a species in conflict, usually with it's chaotic nature, tether to dark magic/villainy. Half orcs add the notion of battling one's beastial nature in an effort to retain your human half. Easy notions to remove from the orc as a species and look at alternative concepts. A great addition to this theme can be seen in the Shifters of the new Eberron setting.
Another way to spice it up while keeping to the thematic core: mix and match. Take elements from one species and mix it with another. Imagine a bestial race of distant magic immortals, maybe an elf/orc cross-breed. In fact, you coud probably take a list of identifiable traits in a whole bunch of thematic fantasy species, and then mix and match to create some distinct concepts. A good "archetypal list" without connections to the original races would look like this (feel free to see if you can match them; all drawn from curent gaming worlds):
race of near immortals who act as caretakers of magic/nature
beastial race spawned of chaos
halfbreed race of innocent beings
halfbreeds who fight against beastial nature
felinoids who embrace nature
canoids who serve a greater race
giant-like entities which serve as regents
enigmatic beings who seek philophical/metaphysical enlightenment
created beings seeking to understand their humanity
a bastard species which lives by emulating other beings and cultures
a parasitic species which lives in a host body
a stout race dedicated to the earthen depths
a diminutive race with a wanton imagination and curiosity
a diminutive race which seeks matamorphosis in to a new being
an alien species which struggles to retain its ancient rule
a species descended from planar beings which seeks ot understand its nature
and so on.
Now, each of these is a "being X" follow by "which does/seeks/wants Y" sort of theme. You could easily mix and match any of these to generate some pretty unique concepts.
I want an elf race, to keep to the basics. But I want weird elves, so I take the "Immortal race" theme, and add the following two ideas: "dedicated the the earthen depths," and, "struggles to retain its ancient rule." I imagine a race of elves which dwelled on the surface but which somehow became subterranean....and are not drow. They have an ancient right of rule....but either lost it, or are barely holding on to it.
In my world's backstory, I decide that the surface elves (who are are now gone but for a handful of barbaric descendants) once had a great mountain kingdom, but the goblin kingdoms of the earth challenged this realm, and a centuies-long battle ensued. In the course of the battle, elves were taken prisoner and made slaves by the goblins. Eventually, the battle was won, though the elves, devestated by the war, left their land after driving the goblins deep beneath the earth. They migrated away, and left, unknowingly, their slave brethren behind. These elves, marked by red tattoos as slaves, developed their own society in the slave pits of the goblins, and over time their children learned the goblin way. The goblins, who never recovered from their losses, remained weak, and these "red elves" rose up one day and siezed control of the goblin kingdoms, becoming their new masters. These red evles, children of their enslaved parents, had lost touch with their origins, and instead felt only abandoned and betrayed. They vowed to return to the surface world one day, with their goblin armies, and exact revenge.
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough here, but I wanted to share some ideas with you about how I go about concocting interesting and unique ideas for gaming. Hope they help!
I have always felt that the most unique settings avoid the tropes of Tolkienesque fatasy (Talislanta, Jorune, Tekumel, and more recently Arcana Unearthed). It's not that you can' take orcs, elves, halflings, and dwarves and put countless interesting spins on them (obviously you can, as every new fantasy world keeps at it), but those worlds which seek to create a unique fantasy experience without the stanard bells and whistles are defnitely more unusual, more exotic, and most importantly, escape any possibility of preconceived notions.
As such, I think developing a really unique world would work well if you identified these classic tropes, and altered them sufficiently that they were no longer identifiable, or removed them entirely. Taking each of the classic D&D races, one could boil down the thematic intent of each: Elves are identified by the following themes: long (or eternal) life, a mysterious connection to magic and/or nature, and a (usually) distance/superiority respective to other species. Elves are classic Tolkien fare, but other authors have provided similar concepts: think of the Melniboneans of Moorcock, for example. An ancient race, disdainful of lesser men, given to arcane magics and secrets. They fit the role of elves, in essence (although Moorcock himself is disdainful of Tolkien and would probably argue against such), but with the spin. Key idea, though: they are not actually elves, and that help to sever the key racial concepts from any preconceptions of elves. In Eberron (having just pickedit up, I shall use some examples here) they introduce the Kalishtar, which are a great "elf theme" race which gets away from its origins, creating a unique new idea.
Orcs, for example: bestial in theme, and intended to reflect a species in conflict, usually with it's chaotic nature, tether to dark magic/villainy. Half orcs add the notion of battling one's beastial nature in an effort to retain your human half. Easy notions to remove from the orc as a species and look at alternative concepts. A great addition to this theme can be seen in the Shifters of the new Eberron setting.
Another way to spice it up while keeping to the thematic core: mix and match. Take elements from one species and mix it with another. Imagine a bestial race of distant magic immortals, maybe an elf/orc cross-breed. In fact, you coud probably take a list of identifiable traits in a whole bunch of thematic fantasy species, and then mix and match to create some distinct concepts. A good "archetypal list" without connections to the original races would look like this (feel free to see if you can match them; all drawn from curent gaming worlds):
race of near immortals who act as caretakers of magic/nature
beastial race spawned of chaos
halfbreed race of innocent beings
halfbreeds who fight against beastial nature
felinoids who embrace nature
canoids who serve a greater race
giant-like entities which serve as regents
enigmatic beings who seek philophical/metaphysical enlightenment
created beings seeking to understand their humanity
a bastard species which lives by emulating other beings and cultures
a parasitic species which lives in a host body
a stout race dedicated to the earthen depths
a diminutive race with a wanton imagination and curiosity
a diminutive race which seeks matamorphosis in to a new being
an alien species which struggles to retain its ancient rule
a species descended from planar beings which seeks ot understand its nature
and so on.
Now, each of these is a "being X" follow by "which does/seeks/wants Y" sort of theme. You could easily mix and match any of these to generate some pretty unique concepts.
I want an elf race, to keep to the basics. But I want weird elves, so I take the "Immortal race" theme, and add the following two ideas: "dedicated the the earthen depths," and, "struggles to retain its ancient rule." I imagine a race of elves which dwelled on the surface but which somehow became subterranean....and are not drow. They have an ancient right of rule....but either lost it, or are barely holding on to it.
In my world's backstory, I decide that the surface elves (who are are now gone but for a handful of barbaric descendants) once had a great mountain kingdom, but the goblin kingdoms of the earth challenged this realm, and a centuies-long battle ensued. In the course of the battle, elves were taken prisoner and made slaves by the goblins. Eventually, the battle was won, though the elves, devestated by the war, left their land after driving the goblins deep beneath the earth. They migrated away, and left, unknowingly, their slave brethren behind. These elves, marked by red tattoos as slaves, developed their own society in the slave pits of the goblins, and over time their children learned the goblin way. The goblins, who never recovered from their losses, remained weak, and these "red elves" rose up one day and siezed control of the goblin kingdoms, becoming their new masters. These red evles, children of their enslaved parents, had lost touch with their origins, and instead felt only abandoned and betrayed. They vowed to return to the surface world one day, with their goblin armies, and exact revenge.
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough here, but I wanted to share some ideas with you about how I go about concocting interesting and unique ideas for gaming. Hope they help!
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