#worldbuilding

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I have come to the conclusion that the key element that carries Space Fantasy worlds like Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Dune, and Barsoom is not the presence of magic, but the anachronism between society and technology.

Despite having futuristic technology of the 21st century in their everyday life, people act like they live in a 19th or 18th century society. They shoot laser guns like they are musket, ride horses, keep slaves, and wear capes.

Hey there! I'm available for freelance writing for , especially . I also take commissions.
Does your home game or need bespoke gods, monsters, villains, or lore but you don't have the time or spoons? Hire me!
ofgodsandgamemasters@gmail.com
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Holy shit.... THE SHADE!!! 🙀

Villains, you did not so when your serwlån blades
Hacked one another in the sides of Kaĩsar.
You bared your teeth like opo, fawned like puk
And bowed like bondmen, kissing Kaĩsar’s feet,
Whilst damnèd Kaskå, like a cur, behind
Struck Kaĩsar on the neck. O you flatterers!

—from Julỹs Kaĩsar (Act V, Scene 1)

That word? Serwlån is an Allagan name for the sickly deep blue that colors ceruleum, what the Allagans called serwlỹm. It also happened to match the color profile of the aetheric arcs that formed the bladed edges of late Middle Allagan melee weaponry.

Session 3 with the Tome of Worldbuilding and the Nomicon, both by Matt Finch of OSRIC fame. I'm trying to stick close to the book while fleshing out a setting with a - hopefully - Heavy Metal gonzo sci-fantasy aesthetic. I say "hopefully" because I'm trying to let the dice lead the way and I'm not sure they'll go down that road.

https://blog.psionic-cyclops.org/article/tome-of-worldbuilding-session-3-broken-worlds/

I'm available for freelance writing work, folks.
Look at my work here:
ofgodsandgamemasters.com

You can also commission me to make gods, villains, monsters, and whole worlds for your home games or APs.

You know the kind of terrain I never see used in overland adventures? Forestry plantations (unless you are literally running an adventure about loggers or such).
For example: eerie quiet pine plantations, with neat, unnatural rows of trees, each tree a copy of its neighbours.

Do you ever use this terrain while mapping or prepping for an adventure? If you don't, is it because it doesn't come to mind? Or does this terrain use not exist in your world? I'm interested to hear!

What common evils lurk in your world? So common everyone basically ignores it? Like, I come from a country with free healthcare, and every time I see the American system in action, I can't help feel that is evil in its purest form.

An unspeakable horror strolls down the street and waves to a couple of people. "Ugh, not this guy. He never shuts up about some ancient evil that lurks within us all."

12.1 — From where did the inspiration for your current WIP come?

(Guess who's back?)

I've written Alistair, Fenella, and Duncan with friends (and my girlfriend) over the years. I love collaborative writing. I probably came up with the idea of Alistair maybe twelve years ago. The story (as in my current WIP) wrote itself. It was a challenge I gave myself for October.

Also, randomly, I just *love* vampires, werewolves, etc. I'm a GM for Dungeons and Dragons (and other TTRPGs). I love fantasy work. It's fun for me. I love adding my own spin to things. This story was the same. I always strive to be completely original, and I want my stories to be *different* in a good way.

Remember, not everything in your world will be finished. Perhaps there is a reason construction was stopped. Perhaps they've only just started.

(Gundelon Castle in France, being hand built using only traditional techniques.)

A four turret castle with an enclosed courtyard backed by a hall.

The first post in a (hopeful) series doing some world building using Matt Finch's "Tome of World Building". I approached it like a solo game. No specific intent of using the world at the end - although this is coming up more and more in my "GM shower thoughts".

I've got notes and maps from several sessions prior to breaking my fingers.

https://blog.psionic-cyclops.org/article/tome-of-world-building-session-1-genre-and-theme/

1/ @rorystarr asked me about some ideas for folklore-themed dungeons - specifically, dungeons that are connected to the "Feywild". So I took a look at my repository of translations of German folk tales, and here is what I found.

But first, a word about definitions. German folklore almost never uses the German equivalent of "fairie" ("Fee"). Instead, a more common term is "Geist", which is a direct translation of "spirit" - and can describe almost any supernatural entity.

Thus, in my exploration of this theme I have limited myself to places linked to entities which are (a) not clearly ghosts, and (b) not clearly demons. This is as close as we will get to "fairies", I am afraid...

The painting "Dark thoughts" by Arthur Hughes. A scared-looking man sits on a spiral staircase, while some black bat/cat hybrids are fluttering around near the ceiling.