World ideas that you think are lame

[Hypersmurf]

Umm... smeg's a real word. It means something Granny wouldn't like me to talk about. Something intimate, male, and biological, if you catch my drift.

The authors talk about this in the Special Features of the first season DVD.

They looked at 'real' four-letter words, and what makes them work. And then constructed a word that uses many of the same principles, that's satisfying to curse with.

Its similarity to a six-letter biological term is complete coincidence.

-Hyp.

 

[Nightfall]

Yes, Boring. I tried, and tried again, to get into that world. I wanted to, but everytime I tried reading the books I fell asleep. Plus, they reminded me too much of the writing done in most White Wolf books...and with the exception of Exalted, White Wolf books bore me.

Heathen.

Dawnforge, however, now that's not boring.

Fine. Enjoy Dawnforge. It's at least taste oriented.

 

[Nightfall]

Nightfall, give it a rest. We all know you love Scarred Lands. But not everyone else does, and that doesn't mean that they suck.

Did I say they suck? I just said PEOPLE suck. I didn't say people that didn't like the Scarred Lands suck. Buttercup, think you should read more careful WHAT is actually written than what's implied.

Btw trick don't forsee magic shops any time soon.

 

[rkanodia]

The authors talk about this in the Special Features of the first season DVD.

They looked at 'real' four-letter words, and what makes them work. And then constructed a word that uses many of the same principles, that's satisfying to curse with.

Its similarity to a six-letter biological term is complete coincidence.

-Hyp.

Funny... when a Red Dwarf marathon was running on my local publicly-funded television station, Craig Charles (Lister) showed up during the funding drives and answered questions provided by Viewers Like Me. He explicitly stated that he couldn't tell us what 'smeg' meant on the air, but that if we looked up the place where 'smeg' should be in the dictionary, we'd find it.

Not that I'm trying to get into a Red Dwarf fanboy nerd trivia marathon. Even as a non-linguist, I can spot a few similarities to existing four-letter words (single syllable, soft vowel, hard consonant ending). My personal guess would be that they started with the linguistic goal and happened upon a convenient word to derive it from.

 

[Nightfall]

As opposed to that time of the month when we knock FR?

As Buttercup said to Nightfall, just because you think the setting is the be-all, end-all of settings, doesn't mean it is for other people.

Don't think I said that, just people imply it because I happen to be more than just "yah, following the crowd of pessimitic and jaded D&Dners that want their trolls loved." Not to mention I already said I thoroughly enjoy Midnight, Oathbound and Dawnforge. Just not enough to take my favorite's place.

 

[Dirigible]

Its similarity to a six-letter biological term is complete coincidence.

I stand corrected. I thought they just hated Italian stoves.

 

[shadow]

There are several things that I absolutely HATE in campaign settings:

1. Grim 'n Gritty & Nihilistic Worlds: Some worlds take great delight in informing players that there is no hope. If there is no hope, why bother playing? I want to play in a world where I can be heroic, not get depressed!

2. Cliched Polytheistic Pantheons: Although D&D seems to assume a polytheistic model, I really hate how in every setting every culture seems to follow a pseudo-Greco-Roman pantheon. Give me some diversity! What about monotheism, which has greatly affected our history? What about dualism? What about animism? If there is going to be a polytheistic pantheon, I would at least like to see deities that aren't devoted only to adventuring.

3. Every Culture, Race, Society Speaks "Common": This makes sense for some game purposes, but it gets a little silly when everyone on the face of the planet (including, elves, dwarves, etc.) speaks the same language without any variation in accent or dialect.

4. Magic is Common and Mundane: Although I really don't like grim and gritty games, I also don't like games on the other end of the spectrum where magic is such a common thing that even the lowliest peasant has some access to it. At such a point I think that it gets silly. Magic ends up emulating technology (Crystal Ball telegraphs, Continual Light street lamps, etc.) Also suspension of disbelief seems to break down. (Why worry about getting wounded or killed if any local cleric can fix you up?)

5. Worlds with no Internal Consistency: I like high fantasy, and don't care for too much realism, but I hate worlds where things seem to be thrown together without rhyme or reason.

6. Carbon Copies of Real World Cultures: Let's have some creativity, rather than taking real world people and places and changing the names slightly. (7th Sea's Theah and Kara-Tur are the worst offenders.)

 

[Paka]

Worlds detailed to the last lattitude and longitude, where every inn-keeper is statted and detailed.

Worlds where the PC's don't have a primary part to play in a story.

Worlds that aren't comfortable with themselves and try too hard.

Worlds unaware of their roots and influences.

 

[Carnifex]

Funny... when a Red Dwarf marathon was running on my local publicly-funded television station, Craig Charles (Lister) showed up during the funding drives and answered questions provided by Viewers Like Me. He explicitly stated that he couldn't tell us what 'smeg' meant on the air, but that if we looked up the place where 'smeg' should be in the dictionary, we'd find it.

Not that I'm trying to get into a Red Dwarf fanboy nerd trivia marathon. Even as a non-linguist, I can spot a few similarities to existing four-letter words (single syllable, soft vowel, hard consonant ending). My personal guess would be that they started with the linguistic goal and happened upon a convenient word to derive it from.

Smeg is a real word, being a shortened version of a certain other word

And berk isn't just not made-up slang, it's not even just Cockney slang. It's a standard term over here in England, as are some of the other PS ones. Some are 'cockney' style, and some are of course entirely made up, but I don't really have a problem with that myself. I think it adds something to the game if used in moderation.

 

[Agback]

I don't like worlds where magic replaces technology. When you start having continual light spells as streetlamps, and speak with dead's are cast at every murder, it really looses the medieval fantasy for me.

On the other hand, if people are so stupid as not to use the resources at their fingertips in obvious ways to solve everyday problems, the setting really loses believeability for me.

Regards,


Agback