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Your baby: your own setting
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<blockquote data-quote="Scruffy nerf herder" data-source="post: 8559450" data-attributes="member: 7034614"><p>Without a doubt, probably most of us here have made our own settings for a TTRPG; but which one is your baby? The one you put the most effort and love into. That one setting your friends might have to shut you up, about, because it's uber fun to think about and play in.</p><p></p><p>For me there's no doubt, but I've never given the setting a name. It basically takes late Neoplatonism, i.e. the writings of Plotinus and Asclepius and Greek pagan thought in general before it died out, and converts my hardcore love of that literature (especially for Aristotle) into a super spicy and fun setting.</p><p></p><p>Warning, the levels of neckbeardism that follow from here aren't for everyone, proceed with caution into this shameless lore dump, or please ignore it and tell us all about your super cool setting.</p><p></p><p>Beyond the outermost heavens (actual clouds that swirl around the Neoplatonic universe and shape all of reality), there is a fundamental thing, The One, and it is beyond mind and matter. In fact it isn't self aware; in a way it's the brute fact of reality itself.</p><p></p><p>Then, there is the Demiurge. The Demiurge is thought in its most pure and exalted form, and the Demiurge looks to the One as it is the source of the Forms. The Forms are the actual content of the Demiurge's thought and are the truest natures/meanings that make up all of the building blocks of reality. There is a Form of beauty, a Form for large and small, equal and unequal, etc. and the greatest Form is The Good. The One is The Good but more on that in a little bit <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="😉" title="Winking face :wink:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" data-shortname=":wink:" /></p><p></p><p>So the Demiurge/Intellect, without exactly being aware of the universe, mulls over its own thoughts and this thinking moves the outermost heavens. The outermost heavens then move the spheres. More than anything else the Demiurge longs for the One, but cannot interact with or comprehend it. But somehow it can think about the One and in this way we have multiplicity arriving from unity. The One is simple and unified, but the Forms are not.</p><p></p><p>However, the Forms are also extremely fundamental and simple. Where are the Greek gods? They are the heavenly spheres (planets and stars) inspired by the outermost heavens to realize the Forms in the universe. They also are a tier down in awareness, and cannot see or understand the Demiurge, in spite of intense admiration.</p><p></p><p>What are the players? They're Greek demi-gods designed by the players, who must finish epic tasks in order to come closer and closer to deity. The world is filled with real places in Greece, Macedon and Sicily, and monsters and NPCs from all of the classic myths, e.g. Medusas, Chimeras, you get it.</p><p></p><p>Okay well why care about the gods or the Demiurge or the One, and why does everyone long to interact with the next tier up? Well in this universe the actual meaning of "good" is Reality. There is only evil in the universe because the Vessel (Space, the medium that the Demiurge has been supplied with in order to realize the Forms) is incapable of being fully real.</p><p></p><p>Beautiful deer die in forest fires, and bad things happen to good people because the further away from the source the less real something is. The deer doesn't die because the One is bad, it dies because it's way, way down the chain of emanation, where the Good that is Reality has less and less influence. It is why in the "real world" senses can lie, etc., something as basic as a rock is so unreal it's only an illusion. It is only there because the senses say it is.</p><p></p><p>The heroes want to realize the Good, to come closer to it, to understand it, to spread more of it in the world. The gods are fallible and can do wrong but they also want the Good and want to help the heroes become like them. So they give the heroes seemingly unsurmountable quests.</p><p></p><p>Ever wanted to be like Perseus, Hercules, or Odysseus? Have you ever wanted to battle cyclops just like they're detailed in the Odyssey? Then this might be your cup of tea.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Scruffy nerf herder, post: 8559450, member: 7034614"] Without a doubt, probably most of us here have made our own settings for a TTRPG; but which one is your baby? The one you put the most effort and love into. That one setting your friends might have to shut you up, about, because it's uber fun to think about and play in. For me there's no doubt, but I've never given the setting a name. It basically takes late Neoplatonism, i.e. the writings of Plotinus and Asclepius and Greek pagan thought in general before it died out, and converts my hardcore love of that literature (especially for Aristotle) into a super spicy and fun setting. Warning, the levels of neckbeardism that follow from here aren't for everyone, proceed with caution into this shameless lore dump, or please ignore it and tell us all about your super cool setting. Beyond the outermost heavens (actual clouds that swirl around the Neoplatonic universe and shape all of reality), there is a fundamental thing, The One, and it is beyond mind and matter. In fact it isn't self aware; in a way it's the brute fact of reality itself. Then, there is the Demiurge. The Demiurge is thought in its most pure and exalted form, and the Demiurge looks to the One as it is the source of the Forms. The Forms are the actual content of the Demiurge's thought and are the truest natures/meanings that make up all of the building blocks of reality. There is a Form of beauty, a Form for large and small, equal and unequal, etc. and the greatest Form is The Good. The One is The Good but more on that in a little bit 😉 So the Demiurge/Intellect, without exactly being aware of the universe, mulls over its own thoughts and this thinking moves the outermost heavens. The outermost heavens then move the spheres. More than anything else the Demiurge longs for the One, but cannot interact with or comprehend it. But somehow it can think about the One and in this way we have multiplicity arriving from unity. The One is simple and unified, but the Forms are not. However, the Forms are also extremely fundamental and simple. Where are the Greek gods? They are the heavenly spheres (planets and stars) inspired by the outermost heavens to realize the Forms in the universe. They also are a tier down in awareness, and cannot see or understand the Demiurge, in spite of intense admiration. What are the players? They're Greek demi-gods designed by the players, who must finish epic tasks in order to come closer and closer to deity. The world is filled with real places in Greece, Macedon and Sicily, and monsters and NPCs from all of the classic myths, e.g. Medusas, Chimeras, you get it. Okay well why care about the gods or the Demiurge or the One, and why does everyone long to interact with the next tier up? Well in this universe the actual meaning of "good" is Reality. There is only evil in the universe because the Vessel (Space, the medium that the Demiurge has been supplied with in order to realize the Forms) is incapable of being fully real. Beautiful deer die in forest fires, and bad things happen to good people because the further away from the source the less real something is. The deer doesn't die because the One is bad, it dies because it's way, way down the chain of emanation, where the Good that is Reality has less and less influence. It is why in the "real world" senses can lie, etc., something as basic as a rock is so unreal it's only an illusion. It is only there because the senses say it is. The heroes want to realize the Good, to come closer to it, to understand it, to spread more of it in the world. The gods are fallible and can do wrong but they also want the Good and want to help the heroes become like them. So they give the heroes seemingly unsurmountable quests. Ever wanted to be like Perseus, Hercules, or Odysseus? Have you ever wanted to battle cyclops just like they're detailed in the Odyssey? Then this might be your cup of tea. [/QUOTE]
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