Post by: BFEL on February 15, 2015, 07:32:24 pm
While I'm not going to make the case that Tolkien's works aren't great, it troubles me a bit that Fantasy has become "rip off Tolkien forever" and that...well that there is such a thing as a "Standard Fantasy Setting"
This thread is for those who either want to read some stuff that is a bit off the beaten path, and even moreso for those brave forumgoers who actually have their own creative works to get some different inspiration.
This is to be accomplished by posting things that we have found to be unique from new sources, whether they be characters, settings, or miscellany.
The structure shall go as follows:
1. The concept you found unique
2. A short (or not) description of what makes it so unique (spoilered if its something absolutely major within the work)
3. The book/game/etc. that contains this concept
These rules can and will be adjusted as needed.
Discussion is of course allowed, at least until it turns into a war of "that's not original" "YES IT IS"
EDIT: ok, small clarification, when I say "new" or "original" I don't mean something made recently, what I really mean is
"something that hasn't been ripped off by every author/game dev/etc. ever"
Post by: Bohandas on February 15, 2015, 09:46:16 pm
Description They're part animal, and a larger part mushroom.
Source: WarHammer 40000
----------------------------
Concept: Elves=Aliens
Description: Elves come from another dimension, and look like grey aliens (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ufo_museum,_diyarbakir.jpg) to anyone who can see through their illusions
Source: Discworld (specifically Lords and Ladies and to a lesser extent The Wee Free men)
----------------------------
Concept: Self-Transforming Machine Elves
Description: Hallucinations from taking Ayahuasca or Dimethyltryptamine have a pronounced tendency to include visions of shapechanging elf-like entities living in a dome deep below the earth. In one famous account (http://deoxy.org/timemind.htm) they constantly transformed from elves to jeweled basketballs to elves again and went around distributing faberge eggs.
Source: stoners, Peruvian shamans, scientists who study psychadelic drugs and peruvian shamanism, and most especially scientists who are also stoners (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_McKenna#Machine_elves)
Post by: Frumple on February 15, 2015, 10:08:16 pm
Throwing some stuff out there, relative to the bog-standard sword&sorcery though...
Concept: Urban Fantasy.
Description: ... urban fantasy. Fantasy with bits of sci-fi or modern-day stuff thrown in, or the other way around.
Some notables: Dresden Files (books). Shadowrun (books, pen&paper games, video games). Mage: The Awakening (P&P games, apparently books).
Concept: Postapocalyptic Fantasy.
Description: Again what it says on the tin. Fantasy worlds set after the proverbial "end".
Some notables: Dark Sun (books, P&P, video games).
Spoiler: Because I guess it's a spoiler, in a technical sense? (click to show/hide)
Concept: Dragon as major characters.
Description: As per tin!
Some notables: There were several Krynn novels along those lines. The Basil Broketail stuff also went some interesting directions with that. There's more that I'm forgetting, obviously.
... actually, limiting it to at-most three per day sounds kinda' interesting. At least partially because my memory's failing me. Actually remember where all the off-beaten-path fantasy concepts I've ran into came from? Ach, me head. There's so bloody much, especially if you trawl used book stores and whatnot. E: And that's not getting into anime and related works. Anime has done some shit with fantasy settings.
Post by: Tawa on February 16, 2015, 12:14:25 am
Nah, that's not a spoiler. You can see discarded weapons and a bomb in the opening sequence--it's been addressed often ever since the Season 2 finale.Spoiler: Because I guess it's a spoiler, in a technical sense? (click to show/hide)
Anyway.
Y'know, if we really want to get into it, most fantasy isn't really ripping off Tolkien--it's ripping off Norse mythology, which is what Tolkien ripped off in the first place. And a lot of fantasy has elements that distinguish it further--a lot of fantasy doesn't have elves and dwarves in it, for example, so it's "ripping off" the middle ages and Renaissance more closely. There's a lot of fantasy where wizards are freaking everywhere--Tolkien, meanwhile, had five "wizards" (plus Sauron and all that, I hate specifics.)
Really, most fantasy--good fantasy, anyway--doesn't rip off Tolkien--it borrows elements, like pseudo-feudalism (pseudalism, if you will) where they play fast and loose with medieval politics, polytheism in a historically monotheistic world, and the presence of wielders of otherworldly, arcane power. A lot of fantasy borrows from other sources, too--there's a lot of Greek Mythology-based fantasy, for example. Really, the "standard fantasy setting" is more or less "Tolkien and anything by somebody who wants to write fantasy but has no creativity", because there's so much diversity.
I have nothing more to add.
Post by: Bohandas on February 16, 2015, 12:34:41 am
Really, most fantasy--good fantasy, anyway--doesn't rip off Tolkien--
D&D does though. The first edition plagiarized so much that Tolkien's estate threatened to sue Gary Gygax. That's why the game's crawling with halflings and ents and orcs that are clearly Tolkien's orcs.
EDIT:
The elves are Tolkien's elves too. They certainly bear little or no resemblence to either Christmas elves, or Tam Lin, or DMT hallucinations.
Post by: Tawa on February 16, 2015, 01:22:46 am
Post by: Bohandas on February 16, 2015, 01:27:50 am
Post by: Bohandas on February 16, 2015, 01:55:23 am
Description: Instead of fire, air/wind, earth/stone, and water, the elements are Fire, Ice, Candy, and Slime
Source: Adventure Time With Finn & Jake
Concept: Nonstandard elements
Description: Wood is added to the standard four classical elements and "earth" is replaced with "metal"
Source: Rokugan and other settings based on ancient eastern woo-woo stuff
Concept: Nonstandard elements
Description: the four classical elements are replaced by elements mapping to the five senses: "Boom", "Prickle", "Pungent", "Orange"
Source: Discordianism and discordian influenced settings (check SJ Games' products, they've got a lot of stuff like that)
Post by: Sergarr on February 16, 2015, 02:14:41 am
Description: Somewhere at the end of the game, you learn that everything you thought about the world you live in was a lie and it was actually created by an overpowered space-faring nation.
Source: Might & Magic series.
Concept: It was a sci-fi from the beginning.
Description: Somewhere at the beginning of the game, you learn that everything you thought about the universe was a lie and there are space-faring rhino-human hybrids walking around with flintlock pistols and progressive insectoid-human hybrids using non-lethal shock weapons simultaneously with overpowered fighter-wizards samurais and ridiculous brain-washing psionic aborigines because fuck logic.
Source: Wizardry 5-8.
Post by: Bohandas on February 16, 2015, 02:25:31 am
Concept: It was actually a sci-fi all along.
Description: Somewhere at the end of the game, you learn that everything you thought about the world you live in was a lie and it was actually created by an overpowered space-faring nation.
Source: Might & Magic series.
Also several Star Trek episodes (such as The World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky, and The Apple)
Also does the reverse of this a few times, and one episode, Catspaw, where the stuff going on looks a lot like both
which brings me to
Concept: Technology and Magic are Compatible
Description: magic is just part of the universe. It can be studied empirically and harnessed technologically; the distinction between magic and applied science is an artificial one. Magic is simply another part of the physics of the setting's universe.
Source: Ghostbusters. Discworld. (and to a lesser extent X-men {the cerebro machine}, Star Wars Expanded Universe {holocrons}, the GWAR mythos {Cardinal Syn's armor}. D&D {Inevitables. Murlynd. Chemically propelled spelljammers, Modrons} the live acti9n Casper the Friendly Ghost movie {the Lazarus Machine}, My Little Pony {the machime that Twilight tries to measure Pinkie Pie's precpgnitive abilities with}), but especially Ghostbusters
Post by: Kadzar on February 16, 2015, 02:44:26 am
Oh, yes. DnD rips off plenty of Tolkien. But it rips off a lot of other stuff, too. Pick a Monster Manual and peruse it. Read Wizard mechanics--Gandalf didn't have a spellbook, and he was certainly more intelligent than charismatic. Look at all those magic items--Tolkien had maybe one or two magic things per character, whereas 3rd Edition expects you to be wearing more magic items than there is glass on the Empire State Building. Or read the last DM of the Rings to see why Tolkien's works would make a terrible D&D game.For a list of authors D&D "rips off", look to Appendix N (https://yellowedandcreased.wordpress.com/appendix-n/) from the AD&D DMG. Here is a more comprehensive list of sources (http://www.hahnlibrary.net/rpgs/sources.html), compiled by some guy.
Post by: scrdest on February 16, 2015, 03:12:05 am
Description: Pretty much self-explanatory.
Source: Pretty much half of what TvTropes Punk Punk consists of (except steampunk, which is almost as generic as Standard Setting nowadays); late Discworld by way of continuity; First two Witcher books (the stories; Slavic mythology and butchered fairytales); Zeno Clash (pop-cavemen era and a LOOOOOOT of drugs involved in the creation). There is a Polish author that wrote mid-XVIII Low Fantasy, but his works were not translated to my knowledge. And, oddly enough, a lot of little girl shows (I have a sister 15-ish years younger than me, so I've been forced to sit through those numerous times) with heavy XIX century stylings and, obviously, fantasy elements but explicitly not Steampunky.
Even Medieval era fantasy could be original here - just use anything except Late Middle Ages-Renaissance and you've got yourself an original setting.
Post by: Orange Wizard on February 16, 2015, 03:20:00 am
I believe he specified good fantasy.Really, most fantasy--good fantasy, anyway--doesn't rip off Tolkien--
D&D does though. The first edition plagiarized so much that Tolkien's estate threatened to sue Gary Gygax. That's why the game's crawling with halflings and ents and orcs that are clearly Tolkien's orcs.
EDIT:
The elves are Tolkien's elves too. They certainly bear little or no resemblence to either Christmas elves, or Tam Lin, or DMT hallucinations.
Post by: scriver on February 16, 2015, 03:30:12 am
Y'know, if we really want to get into it, most fantasy isn't really ripping off Tolkien--it's ripping off Norse mythology,
No, it's ripping off Tolkien. It doesn't matter where he got the concepts from originally, it's mr JRR that's the reason they're so prevalent today.
Post by: My Name is Immaterial on February 16, 2015, 03:40:31 am
Concept: Nonstandard elementsDescription: The standard elements of the world are Hot, Cold, Spooky, Stench, and Sleaze.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 16, 2015, 04:53:54 am
Post by: scrdest on February 16, 2015, 06:22:10 am
You should all join us in Let's Create a Setting and see what we can brew up.
You're not the first person to make a LCaS Forum Game. I remember the first one... it got somewhat 2spuki, entirely by accident.
E: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=136726.0 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=136726.0)
Post by: Sergarr on February 16, 2015, 07:17:29 am
You should all join us in Let's Create a Setting and see what we can brew up.
You're not the first person to make a LCaS Forum Game. I remember the first one... it got somewhat 2spuki, entirely by accident.
E: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=136726.0 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=136726.0)
Quote
> Venus-like atmosphere.lol everybody is dead forever...
Quote
> Intelligent lava/magma squids....except for these ones (maybe)
Post by: birdy51 on February 16, 2015, 09:42:35 am
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 16, 2015, 10:07:58 am
I rather like the world that King of Dragon Pass is based off of, Glorantha. When I get a second, I'll type out all of the quirks that make that particular world tick.
Glorantha is one of the best fantasy settings in the world, bar none.
Post by: scrdest on February 16, 2015, 10:24:05 am
Quote> Venus-like atmosphere.lol everybody is dead forever...Quote> Intelligent lava/magma squids....except for these ones (maybe)
No, normal *humans*, and only the kind from Earth, are dead forever. Don't presume Earth biochemistry for explicitly non-human (Ashworld didn't even HAVE humans) species.
Post by: Sergarr on February 16, 2015, 11:10:17 am
It has elves and dwarfs. Unless they're literally nothing like any of the classic fantasy depictions of them, they're going to instantly die in Venus-like atmosphere. Instantly.Quote> Venus-like atmosphere.lol everybody is dead forever...Quote> Intelligent lava/magma squids....except for these ones (maybe)
No, normal *humans*, and only the kind from Earth, are dead forever. Don't presume Earth biochemistry for explicitly non-human (Ashworld didn't even HAVE humans) species.
Venus-line atmosphere includes 100 atmospheres of pressure, 500 Celsius of temperature and sulfuric acid everywhere. No kind of any remotely normal beings can survive this bullshit.
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 16, 2015, 11:11:13 am
It has elves and dwarfs. Unless they're literally nothing like any of the classic fantasy depictions of them, they're going to instantly die in Venus-like atmosphere. Instantly.
Venus-line atmosphere includes 100 atmospheres of pressure, 500 Celsius of temperature and sulfuric acid everywhere. No kind of any remotely normal beings can survive this bullshit.
Yeah, I think he meant more Mistborn-style atmosphere. Constantly mirky and filled with ash.
Post by: Kadzar on February 16, 2015, 12:03:33 pm
Anyway, it's supposed to be different from the standard fantasy fare, less Tolkien's LotR and more Jack Vance's Dying Earth. At one point, it's marketing slogan was "No Elves!". It will probably take some looking through to see how well it lives up to that.
Post by: Cryxis, Prince of Doom on February 16, 2015, 12:13:28 pm
Description: Humans figure out how to heavily genetically modify themselves to the point where cross breeding between different types of heavy genetic modification is impossible, then the world falls apart and goes through a dark ages type thing where war, plague, and general decline tear apart the world taking away trade, industry, and destroying education. Now fast forward a bit more there are several races of humanoids who can not breed with each other, are each very different, and live in a medevile type era making it seem like a fantasy setting.
Source: One of my game settings, the great river
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 16, 2015, 12:16:27 pm
Concept: All fantasy races are just different species of humans
Description: Humans figure out how to heavily genetically modify themselves to the point where cross breeding between different types of heavy genetic modification is impossible, then the world falls apart and goes through a dark ages type thing where war, plague, and general decline tear apart the world taking away trade, industry, and destroying education. Now fast forward a bit more there are several races of humanoids who can not breed with each other, are each very different, and live in a medevile type era making it seem like a fantasy setting.
Source: One of my game settings, the great river
You should go read The Dragon's Path. Man was engineered into various different species by dragons in the distant past.
Post by: sjm9876 on February 16, 2015, 12:23:16 pm
Concept: Nonstandard elementsActually a RL traditional Eastern thing.
Description: Wood is added to the standard four classical elements and "earth" is replaced with "metal"
Source: Rokugan and other settings based on ancient eastern woo-woo stuff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing
Post by: Cryxis, Prince of Doom on February 16, 2015, 12:24:49 pm
Oh... I havnt heard of it .-.Concept: All fantasy races are just different species of humans
Description: Humans figure out how to heavily genetically modify themselves to the point where cross breeding between different types of heavy genetic modification is impossible, then the world falls apart and goes through a dark ages type thing where war, plague, and general decline tear apart the world taking away trade, industry, and destroying education. Now fast forward a bit more there are several races of humanoids who can not breed with each other, are each very different, and live in a medevile type era making it seem like a fantasy setting.
Source: One of my game settings, the great river
You should go read The Dragon's Path. Man was engineered into various different species by dragons in the distant past.
Just when I thought I had an original idea
Post by: birdy51 on February 16, 2015, 12:47:15 pm
Description: It's a race who's whole idea is that the world works on a schedule. Things are meant to happen at this time, with these people, and that is going to happen. Nothing is allowed to deviate from that point of view. They hate new things and new ideas and desperately attempt to keep technology from falling into the hands of "lesser" or "uncivilized" races. Every individual is a cog in the larger "industry" of the world. Individuality is dangerous and is seen as deviant behavior.
Source: Dwarves in Glorantha. All hail the schedule!
Edit: They still hate elves though. Who are different from the Tolkien idea of Elves being essentially Men+ but not unique enough to mention here.
Post by: Strife26 on February 16, 2015, 01:17:16 pm
http://www.citylab.com/tech/2014/07/the-surprisingly-strong-case-for-colonizing-venus/373560/ (http://www.citylab.com/tech/2014/07/the-surprisingly-strong-case-for-colonizing-venus/373560/)
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 16, 2015, 06:55:28 pm
Post by: BFEL on February 16, 2015, 07:09:19 pm
Anyway, to go with the oft-cited "magic is really science" idea I had something of a subversion in my head once. Basically the world USED to be dominated by realistic physics and science, and then a bunch of advanced dudes tried to full on create matter but made a mistake and accidentally the universe.
So physics got its shit wrecked and works completely differently afterward as magic. The setting is mostly unaware of this, save for the now buried ship that was the test platform for the experiment.
Would have used this in Rex' thing but he already made an origin with gods and stuff :(
EDIT: But now he gets a Nice Swamp Republic. Because you don't see many nice swamps, and you certainly don't see many swamp republics :P
Also: Morrowind. All of Morrowind.
Post by: Bohandas on February 16, 2015, 07:33:39 pm
Nice, glad to see this has actually taken off. And spawned a forum game already!
Anyway, to go with the oft-cited "magic is really science" idea I had something of a subversion in my head once. Basically the world USED to be dominated by realistic physics and science, and then a bunch of advanced dudes tried to full on create matter but made a mistake and accidentally the universe.
So physics got its shit wrecked and works completely differently afterward as magic. The setting is mostly unaware of this, save for the now buried ship that was the test platform for the experiment.
Would have used this in Rex' thing but he already made an origin with gods and stuff :(
This is basically what happened during the Great Mushroom War in Adventure Time
Post by: Strife26 on February 16, 2015, 07:50:23 pm
Post by: TheDarkStar on February 16, 2015, 07:52:41 pm
Post by: bahihs on February 16, 2015, 08:10:13 pm
Concept: Magic which is one time use only.
Description: Once the spell or ritual is done, and a given known effect is produced (the effect could be figured out through research), the universe adjusts itself so that the spell will not have the same effect again or...it doesn't. Randomness.
Tolkien-esqe fantasy concerns itself with moral divides; in the end there is a big bad and a hero(es) and a journey. It's possible to turn that on its head.
Concept: The main character never goes anywhere, he stays in his hometown.
Description: What about those extras? The guys that lead you to the cave and the tavern-owner that tells you about that haunted manor? What if the story is about them and their interactions with "heroes" that come and go? To this character, the big bad is a far away thing, out of mind and sight, he's not a hero by any means, he certainly doesn't have to be "good" in the traditional sense. And he gets to see the various iterations of "hero" come and go. I think that might be pretty interesting.
Concept: The free-will journal
Description: Whatever you write in your personal journal will happen without deviation. But everyone has a personal journal.
Post by: Itnetlolor on February 16, 2015, 10:46:01 pm
The actual realm of imagination is involved, and is central to all knowledge while at it.
Description:
An intra-/exo-reality (kinda both simultaneously, really. With our reality between them.) nexus that is a reality unto itself (like another dimension of anything and everything, no limits; also kinda works like The End of Time in Chrono Trigger for intersecting realities). Kinda like if reality was made up of bubbles, this is the center of the 3D/4D-Venn Diagram of those bubbles (Star Trek meets Star Wars, Lexx, and the like; with Tolkien and such also tossed in to spice it up a tad. So what if my dragon breathes lasers that can home in on it's targets (Panzer Dragoon)?). Our imagination when utilized for invention and telling stories and such only merely taps into this reality. Someone finds a way into this reality, which is anything but real. Just as well; for anyone that wants a "political aesop" for this; The "Copyright Police"/Fun Police have captured this realm, and is monopolizing it by restricting imagination within reality, preventing anyone from thinking again; or some BS like that. Just as well, unimaginative trolls or die-hard uber-realists also bash any new concept brought upon by said realms due to how unrealistic they are (albeit, they would have a point, but where said things come from, I don't think the beings/devices from said realm care about the concept of realism), or just because they're total douchebags that can't come up with anything new, and rattle off memes nonstop. Plus, I doubt science can explain even an iota of these things, and how they're waltzing about our reality without being crushed under their own weight and such. Or how a lightning gun isn't frying it's operator when fired; or how fire is freezing things... The list goes on.
Source:
South Park and Rick & Morty had similar concepts, more or less. Oddly enough, Muppet Babies is a core reference (say what you will, it was an awesome show back then). I don't remember if they dove into an imagination world/nexus before, but they were practically reality-warpers with all the crazy stuff they did with their imagination; for example, I remember Scooter's computer was practically able to hack reality itself. He was as good a programmer with his computer as Schroeder (Peanuts) was with his piano. Hell, they were able to share thoughts/imagination clearly with minimal explanation, as if they were psychic, yet unaware of it. They could see each others' thoughts without aid.
Alt-Source:
My mind works like this at times. Not as much as it used to; but I'm working on reviving that (actually, I'm trying to make it happen again during Lent; see if I can replicate what started it in the first place). It was equally awesome and terrifying; in a good way. I called that realm the "Second Nature" as a means of expressing how naturally it occurred, and it also being an ever-present and constantly evolving realm, much like ours. Much of my art rendered what I saw within there. Funny enough, I think a marking I made apparently followed sacred geometry, before I was aware of such, that also felt like a map to the place. 3 points, 3 lines, 3 circles. The circle containing the triangle and inner circle also has the 3 points that anchor the triangle to the mid-circle, while it contains the inner circle. An outer-circle contains all of that, like a container. Thus, the intra-reality (inner circle, bound by the triangle), reality (mid-circle, containing the triangle anchored by the points), and exo-reality (outer circle, containing everything else within). I'll post it if I can find it. Basically, it was my own take on the triquetra.
EDIT:
Just remembered, plenty of my dreams are basically involving this concept more directly. Kinda why I'm such a screwball once I go lucid. It's like finding out the God Mode in games is actually more like unlocking Garry's Mod instead of gaining invulnerability. Full-integration of GMod-level imagination application upon our own reality (summon/modify/involve other games and such; lethal vuvezelas), is basically what my concept is. Not to mention, the very realm of imagined thoughts and such is it's own melting pot reality.
Post by: penguinofhonor on February 16, 2015, 11:45:27 pm
Post by: Sergarr on February 16, 2015, 11:51:45 pm
If magic is to be truly different from science, it has to break the principle of reproducibility. Meaning if you do something magical one time (a spell, a ritual, an incantation) it shouldn't have the same result a second time. This prevents phenomena from being predictable (and therefore subject to the principles of science).That also prevents it from being used consciously by anyone. Therefore making it basically author's fiat in any place where it happens.
You can make magic less reproducible by making it dependent on the phases of the moon and alignment of the planet and stuff like that; but making it completely non-reproducible just makes it unusable.
Post by: Itnetlolor on February 16, 2015, 11:57:00 pm
Thinking it through a bit more, the 4th is implied to be the central and outer area (think 4 dimensions; all 3 points and whatnot, and the 4th implied is a constant loop... or whatever), along with the outermost area. As if the inner circle repeats the cycle, and the outer circle can also become the inner circle (no beginning, no end, but is forever). So the 4th is the inner and outer seen simultaneously, or some such. Never really delved into Time Cube (first time hearing about it, really). My observation was more like a Sierpinski Triangle meets a Hypersphere, or something. I was a bit nutty at the time I first thought about it, and it was fun developing it (Plus, it was supposed to be the emblem of a pirate crew I made that can manipulate time-space to their advantage in combat. The symbol's supposed to reflect that. I posted the flagship in the art thread before, that has those powers too. I had the emblem marked on the ship as well (looks more like a blue blot though; but it's there.).Alt-Source:So... Time Cube with 3 days instead of 4?
My mind works like this at times. Not as much as it used to; but I'm working on reviving that (actually, I'm trying to make it happen again during Lent; see if I can replicate what started it in the first place). It was equally awesome and terrifying; in a good way. I called that realm the "Second Nature" as a means of expressing how naturally it occurred, and it also being an ever-present and constantly evolving realm, much like ours. Much of my art rendered what I saw within there. Funny enough, I think a marking I made apparently followed sacred geometry, before I was aware of such, that also felt like a map to the place. 3 points, 3 lines, 3 circles. The circle containing the triangle and inner circle also has the 3 points that anchor the triangle to the mid-circle, while it contains the inner circle. An outer-circle contains all of that, like a container. Thus, the intra-reality (inner circle, bound by the triangle), reality (mid-circle, containing the triangle anchored by the points), and exo-reality (outer circle, containing everything else within). I'll post it if I can find it. Basically, it was my own take on the triquetra.
Overall, really, I was just having fun. basically, that's overall the main premise of the concept as well. So the Fun Police portion actually somewhat holds substance. The Fun Police, of course, going from internet trolls to copyright trolls and just about anyone else that loves to smash dreams apart because they like the sound it makes when it breaks. I forgot to add that in; imagination retaliates against reality.
Didn't realize it immediately, but holy hell, that is nightmares made tangible; and kids are the most capable of controlling these horrors. It's like an episode of The Twilight Zone meets Nightmare on Elm Street meets H.P. Lovecraft, and then add in just about anything else that comes to mind. Actually, as horrifying as that sounds, I would like to witness that.
EDIT:
Re-reading my post, I think I played Dyad and watched Electric Sheep a little too much (what's worse, I thought about this long before I played that game, or watched that screensaver. I guess I really am short a few screws, huh?).
EDIT EDIT:
Found the image. Forgot I snazzed it up. *looks at timestamp*, holy crap, it's nearly a decade old.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Bohandas on February 17, 2015, 03:31:42 am
Description: In a certain paralell dimension the emptiness of outer space somehow has the properties of a fluid rather than the properties that we associate with a vacuum
Source: Star Trek: Voyager
Concept: Highly flammable fluid space
Description: The space between solar systems is filled with a thin, flammable, self-oxidizing, luminous fluid. This fluid is prevented from coming into contact with the various systems' suns bu enormous crystal spheres that surround each system.
Source:[/i] Spelljammer (an AD&D campaign setting)
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 19, 2015, 03:46:26 pm
Post by: Zrk2 on February 19, 2015, 04:05:15 pm
Description: Oh my fuck, there's too many to count. (http://malazan.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Races)
Source: The Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Could we just take a moment to circlejerk about how awesome it is?
Post by: Jopax on February 19, 2015, 04:35:30 pm
Description: The reason the equivalent Dwarven race is so technologically apt is actually because they're unkowing survivors of a crashed spaceship. They have no surviving record of what happened to them but they have some remaining tech that they're quite good with and they use to get even better with the stuff
Source:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Cryxis, Prince of Doom on February 19, 2015, 08:30:43 pm
Concept: The planet is a giant Ancient Greece
Description: the planet is a giant ocean filled with many islands. Some islands are inhabited with humans who worship gods. When a new god is worshipped (created by mortals and worshipped by them) it comes into existence in the eternal plane and can speak to their priests and actively make things/do things on the island(s) their worshipers live on. The gods actively do things. Titans and strange events can happen in the physical plane (the planet), titans are basicaly gods in physical form that appear randomly (like forgotten beasts, they can be worshipped but most people don't usually live long enough to be around them). Other great beasts can come into existence that are basicaly docile titans. Each god has two spheres of influence which they can do things on the physical plane through (ex: a god of war can instil bravery in their followers military. A god of farming/plants can create new plants or help the plants in fields grow into a high yield harvest) and titans usualy have one sphere (ex: a Titan of fire can come into existence as a volcano. A Titan of water can come into existence as a living hurricane). Yes most titans are natural disasters.
Source: Greek mythology and my archipelago game
Post by: Zrk2 on February 20, 2015, 12:54:37 am
Post by: Bohandas on February 20, 2015, 03:10:42 am
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141104181338/marvel_dc/images/6/6e/Map_of_the_Multiverse_002.png
Post by: Bohandas on February 20, 2015, 03:39:20 am
Desxription: The nature of time is such that a single moment or day or other duration can be lived over and over again WITHOUT resulting in a Groundhog Day style loop. Instead it merely results in one day being largely the same as the next, and a slowing down of aging, social change, and things like that.
Source: Discworld
Post by: That Wolf on February 20, 2015, 04:16:13 am
Concept: liquid planet.
Description: a massive planet with varying densitys of various liquids, the core is semi solid and hot.
The surface has floating moulds and plants inspired by earthen water lillies and other aquatic plants. The lillies have incredible roots reaching deep into the liquid planet.
The surface dwellers live inside the lilly stems and the softest and outer layer of liquid.
Like a liquid gobstoper.
As you get deeper the species are even more alien looking than the last because of some of the layers are acidic and alkali. A few layers of acid and alkali liquids touch and the intersecting points can become solid. Inside the solid structures are little intellegent pack creatures capable of greatly changing their internal pressure to traverse between the layers and collect dubris and food the deepest layers have amorphic creatures that glow different colours to comunicate in the darkness they used to live on the surface but where over taken by the many sentient forms of life on the surface. Etc it goes on and on and on.
Source: scifi, me looking at the sky at night, looking at ponds and aquatic life.
The science is most probably wrong but its fantasy.
Patent granted!
Post by: Cryxis, Prince of Doom on February 20, 2015, 09:29:30 am
As far as the archipelago idea goes, the Saga of Recluce uses it for the map.The fantasy part was active gods and titans.
And other things the gods put into the world to screw with the people that worship or are champions of their opponent gods
Post by: scrdest on February 20, 2015, 12:06:50 pm
And they have the ability to strip off any layers of your personality to take you down to your core. Which backfires in Lords and Ladies when they try it on Magrat, who turns out to be an iron hard badass under all her layers.I think that was a metaphor, not a direct ability; a side-effect of their glamour.
Post by: scriver on February 20, 2015, 12:24:39 pm
Description: the planet is a giant ocean filled with many islands. Some islands are inhabited with humans who worship gods.
Isn't this just the real world? :V
Post by: Cryxis, Prince of Doom on February 20, 2015, 12:55:43 pm
Think more greece sized islands and no gigantic continenetsDescription: the planet is a giant ocean filled with many islands. Some islands are inhabited with humans who worship gods.
Isn't this just the real world? :V
Post by: Itnetlolor on February 20, 2015, 01:02:51 pm
Why not invert it? Giant rock filled with many pools, and those pools are inhabited with fish who worship gods. Plus, underground pipelines and springs can link pools to other pools. A transit system made by manufacturing river systems and the like.Description: the planet is a giant ocean filled with many islands. Some islands are inhabited with humans who worship gods.
Isn't this just the real world? :V
And for the Plainswalkers (creatures of the land), we're uncertain; but they like to feast off the inhabitants regularly. Others are taken out into the open and returned for one reason or another, sometimes with tags on them.
In other words, it's us, except as fish, and Ry'Leh is actually New Jersey or Portland or something.
Post by: ~Neri on February 20, 2015, 01:36:11 pm
Post by: Zrk2 on February 20, 2015, 02:23:00 pm
As far as the archipelago idea goes, the Saga of Recluce uses it for the map.The fantasy part was active gods and titans.
And other things the gods put into the world to screw with the people that worship or are champions of their opponent gods
Bah, I thought you were talking about the non-standard map bit there.
Concept: Recyclable Time
Desxription: The nature of time is such that a single moment or day or other duration can be lived over and over again WITHOUT resulting in a Groundhog Day style loop. Instead it merely results in one day being largely the same as the next, and a slowing down of aging, social change, and things like that.
Source: Discworld
I don't follow. Mind explaining some more?
Concept:Magic as order vs chaos
Description: There are two (well, three) types of magic. One uses "order" to strengthen materials, help shape crafts and generally make things more orderly. This can even go so far as being used to manufacture steam engines. Then there is chaos magic, which is the more traditional fireball throwing, shit exploding, scrying-type magic. Most people who can do magic are only capable of one or the other. However, there exist those who can use both in balance, making them the most powerful wizards of all, allowing them to even extend their lives almost indefinitely.
This order-chaos interaction underlies everything in the series, and takes are rather taoisst philosophical turns in many of the novels. At one point so much chaos is created that the most powerful ordermages in the world have to work together to encapsulate it and essentially destroy all latent order and chaos in the world, resulting in magic basically dying.
Bonus points for awesomeness: At one point an armada of ships is destroyed via lava being released from under the ocean and burning all of them.
Source: The Saga of Recluce
Post by: Bohandas on February 21, 2015, 12:47:50 am
Concept: Recyclable Time
Desxription: The nature of time is such that a single moment or day or other duration can be lived over and over again WITHOUT resulting in a Groundhog Day style loop. Instead it merely results in one day being largely the same as the next, and a slowing down of aging, social change, and things like that.
Source: Discworld
I don't follow. Mind explaining some more?
To be honest I don't completely understand it either.
In the novel Pyramids an excess of time-bending pyramids prevents the nation of Djelibeybi from properly moving forward in time, people still move around and are born and die but except for detials nothing ever changes there and the country at the time of the action of the novel is for all practical intents and purposes indistinguishable from the same country thousands of years previously, whereas things change in the Discworld's other nations.
In The Thief of Time the temple of the monks of history is locked into "a single perfect moment", and largely retains the same weather and climatory conditions of the day of the temple's founding.
Post by: BFEL on February 21, 2015, 03:20:14 am
Specifically: Lord of the Flies style "no adult supervision"
Its obviously been covered in sci-fi and such, but now I want to see a campaign where everyone in the world is under the age of puberty and the PCs have to find out what happened to all the adults.
Post by: Bohandas on February 21, 2015, 03:39:43 am
Just realized something that hasn't really been covered in any D&D style stuff.
Specifically: Lord of the Flies style "no adult supervision"
Its obviously been covered in sci-fi and such, but now I want to see a campaign where everyone in the world is under the age of puberty and the PCs have to find out what happened to all the adults.
Actually I beloeve there was a Ravenloft adventure like that. IIRC.
Post by: scriver on February 21, 2015, 04:12:44 am
Post by: bahihs on February 21, 2015, 11:11:23 am
I remember a Canadian or Australian kids show from the 90s on that theme that I loved as a child. Something about a boy ending up in a coma and going on adventures in search if his missing father in an adultless world together with his nerdy girl friend and his bully.
This is pokemon.
Post by: Kadzar on February 21, 2015, 11:13:17 am
I remember a Canadian or Australian kids show from the 90s on that theme that I loved as a child. Something about a boy ending up in a coma and going on adventures in search if his missing father in an adultless world together with his nerdy girl friend and his bully.It's Canadian, and it's called The Odyssey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Odyssey_(TV_series)).
Post by: bahihs on February 21, 2015, 12:04:15 pm
I remember a Canadian or Australian kids show from the 90s on that theme that I loved as a child. Something about a boy ending up in a coma and going on adventures in search if his missing father in an adultless world together with his nerdy girl friend and his bully.It's Canadian, and it's called The Odyssey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Odyssey_(TV_series)).
...I was being flippant.
Post by: scriver on February 21, 2015, 01:46:07 pm
Post by: Bohandas on February 22, 2015, 01:40:45 am
Description: Creatures from the land of dreams invaded (literally invaded, with armies and stuff) reality in the distant past.
Source: D&D (Eberron Campaign Setting)
Concept: Dreams attacking reality
Desxription: A ghost haunting a person's dreams can cause harm inflicted in said dreams to alsp happen to the hauntee in the real world
Source: Nightmare on Elm Street
Post by: Jopax on February 22, 2015, 03:42:09 am
In any case, here's one like that.
Concept: The precursors are actually humans
Description: Humans didn't really come from Earth but from a different planet somewhere in the galaxy, they seeded a bunch of planets with small populations with wiped memories to let them grow and develop before harvesting them for genetic material at a certain point down the line.
Source:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Putnam on February 22, 2015, 03:44:01 am
Unfortunately, I cannot really give other examples, because that would be spoilers that there would be literally no way to hide.
Post by: Sergarr on February 22, 2015, 04:32:00 am
Post by: BFEL on February 22, 2015, 10:40:12 am
Actually, that's fairly common.
Unfortunately, I cannot really give other examples, because that would be spoilers that there would be literally no way to hide.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Ghills on February 22, 2015, 01:00:46 pm
Broos are creatures of chaos. As a result of their ability to mate with anything, they have the body of a man and features of their animal parent, often deer, goats, antelope, cattle, and sheep. The animal parent normally dies with the child eating its way out of the host at full gestation. They worship Malia, the Mother of Disease, and Thed, the goddess of rape and mother of Chaos.
Scorpionmen are belligerent folk, who look like a sort of scorpion-human centaur.They are described as stupid, vicious and live in violent matriarchies with a religious emphasis on devouring. They are chaotic in nature.
Ducks or Durulz are large intelligent ducks with arms instead of wings (or men cursed with feathers and webbed feet, depending on your point of view). They reside around rivers, mainly in Sartar, and have an unexplained mystical affinity with Death.
Aldryami are Gloranthan plantmen, nature and sun worshipping—mainly worshipping Aldrya, deity of plants. Unlike Tolkienesque elves, they are alien, physically plant-like and often hostile to normal humans ("meat men'"). Like many other fictional elf races, they are excellent archers.
Mostali are a machine-like dwarf race, extremely xenophobic, orthodox and insular. Inventors of iron, which has many extraordinary magical properties in Glorantha, contrasting to the primary metal used bronze.
Uz, the trolls, are the race of darkness, large, intelligent, astoundingly omnivorous, with a very developed sonar-like sense (darksense). Their societies are matriarchal, and they worship, among others, a goddess of darkness called Kyger Litor, mother of the Trolls, and the more violent and sinister Zorak Zoran. They also eat literally anything
Dragonewts are a magical race who comprise several forms of neotenic dragons, engaged in a cycle of self-improving reincarnation. They are extremely alien with an incomprehensible mindset. They must have oral surgery in order to speak human languages.
It's an extremely well-developed mythology, including handling the real-world issues of imperialism, racism, conflicting and deeply held religions, etc, that most fantasy worlds gloss over.
I want a series of novels set in Glorantha, I really, really do.
Post by: Putnam on February 22, 2015, 03:11:55 pm
Actually, that's fairly common.
Unfortunately, I cannot really give other examples, because that would be spoilers that there would be literally no way to hide.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I did, then realized that the spoiler tag only hides the name of the series, which doesn't tell you anything about what it's a spoiler for, which makes the entire tag completely and utterly worthless.
Post by: Cryxis, Prince of Doom on February 22, 2015, 11:44:18 pm
Description: For religions to form a person has to gather a following of 10 or greater, once they die their spirit may choose a follower for them to communicate through, if the followers are devout the leader who died becomes a minor god of a sphere that they represented in life.
Source: game idea maybe
Post by: Sergarr on February 23, 2015, 01:41:51 am
Description: It explains why they're actually popular.
Source: Might & Magic.
Post by: King Kravoka on February 23, 2015, 01:54:13 am
Nearly everything in my Aldartha setting.
The Elfs are based of the Carapacians and abhor magic. Humanity is incredibly magically proficient. Nearly all of the gods are actually extradimensional creatures made of pure Thaumic Energy. Magic is used for a great deal of "Sci-Fi" technology, all the way from energy shields to FTL travel. Vampires are shapeshifting giant humanoid mosquitoes.
Post by: Empiricist on February 23, 2015, 02:29:11 am
- Concept: Ambiguity about the nature of gods.
- Description: Often, fantasy seems make gods a clear cut matter. They exist, they have set personalities, affinities and only interact in clearly defined manners. What if it didn't? What if the gods are seemingly indistinguishable from lovecrafitan horrors aside from humanity being used to them? What if they never physically manifest or communicate directly, leaving questions as to whether there is a single multi-faceted entity or an entire pantheon of them? What if there is no real reason why they would not manipulate the world in a manner that people cannot recognize, if say, a god of death doesn't actually have an afterlife and instead just carefully maintains an illusion thereof to hide the fact that souls don't exist, or a god of morality is secretly eroding away the very concept of free-will to ensure that it is impossible to perform an immoral act? What if it is impossible to tell whether the gods are sentient, or even real, as opposed to some sort of massive magical fluctuation controlled by the collective unconscious or just people seeing seemingly meaningful patterns in random occurrences?
- Source: There probably are some settings that do this, but nothing comes to mind. I am currently working on a setting that incorporates elements of this.
Edit: I've been told Eberron does this.
Post by: Rex Invictus on February 23, 2015, 05:32:56 am
- Concept: Ambiguity about the nature of gods.
- Description: Often, fantasy seems make gods a clear cut matter. They exist, they have set personalities, affinities and only interact in clearly defined manners. What if it didn't? What if the gods are seemingly indistinguishable from lovecrafitan horrors aside from humanity being used to them? What if they never physically manifest or communicate directly, leaving questions as to whether there is a single multi-faceted entity or an entire pantheon of them? What if there is no real reason why they would not manipulate the world in a manner that people cannot recognize, if say, a god of death doesn't actually have an afterlife and instead just carefully maintains an illusion thereof to hide the fact that souls don't exist, or a god of morality is secretly eroding away the very concept of free-will to ensure that it is impossible to perform an immoral act? What if it is impossible to tell whether the gods are sentient, or even real, as opposed to some sort of massive magical fluctuation controlled by the collective unconscious or just people seeing seemingly meaningful patterns in random occurrences?
- Source: There probably are some settings that do this, but nothing comes to mind. I am currently working on a setting that incorporates elements of this.
Edit: I've been told Eberron does this.
I've got a setting set up where the gods ARE giant Lovecraftian horrors based off corruptions of the seven virtues, but I don't know how to set anything in the world.
Post by: Criptfeind on February 23, 2015, 08:10:27 am
Basically, both ideas are interesting, but I'm not sure how you would reconcile them into the same setting.
Post by: BFEL on February 23, 2015, 09:52:41 am
Concept: Wizard blending in to modern society
Details: With a hockey stick as a staff and a business advertising him as a Wizard, Harry Dresden still manages to maintain cover simply because of modern societies skepticism toward the arcane.
Source: The Dresden Files (the TV show in particular, I'm told he makes more effort to "blend in" then in the books)
Post by: Bohandas on February 23, 2015, 12:25:18 pm
- Concept: Ambiguity about the nature of gods.
- Description: Often, fantasy seems make gods a clear cut matter. They exist, they have set personalities, affinities and only interact in clearly defined manners. What if it didn't? What if the gods are seemingly indistinguishable from lovecrafitan horrors aside from humanity being used to them? What if they never physically manifest or communicate directly, leaving questions as to whether there is a single multi-faceted entity or an entire pantheon of them? What if there is no real reason why they would not manipulate the world in a manner that people cannot recognize, if say, a god of death doesn't actually have an afterlife and instead just carefully maintains an illusion thereof to hide the fact that souls don't exist, or a god of morality is secretly eroding away the very concept of free-will to ensure that it is impossible to perform an immoral act? What if it is impossible to tell whether the gods are sentient, or even real, as opposed to some sort of massive magical fluctuation controlled by the collective unconscious or just people seeing seemingly meaningful patterns in random occurrences?
- Source: There probably are some settings that do this, but nothing comes to mind. I am currently working on a setting that incorporates elements of this.
Edit: I've been told Eberron does this.
EBERRON
Post by: Itnetlolor on February 23, 2015, 04:29:48 pm
Virginity = Magical Potency (1st generation ability starts at age 30; future generations are a variable; most often a carbon-copy. Rare instances are preserved even/especially with families started, as an aid for raising said family. Best chances if both parents are wizards.)
Description:
Magic is reborn when a pathetic soul stumbles upon learning magic past their 30th birthday; it also happens to be that this guy is a total Johnny Bravo (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo), and regardless his undying efforts to score with women, he can never succeed with them (gender-opposite is also an option). Of course, there's a catch to this magic that is unlocked; it grants immortality, and powers beyond comprehension. However, these powers may not be used to manipulate the free wills of others (standard rule, really), nor to kill (in other words, you can't use these powers to get laid, or to get revenge, and so on; basically, it retains itself via mostly moral standards; 10 commandments is a good place to start for basic rules in keeping said powers.). Just as well, to keep said powers, you must never sleep with anyone, or else they (the Wizard abilities) will forever be lost, or at least, be transferred to the next generation.
Source:
The concept/joke of being >30 years old without getting laid makes you a wizard.
CAUTION:
I am aware this concept's rules (and the general concept) are incendiary in nature; so please, don't spark any flames with this; for the sake of keeping the thread alive. I don't mean to start anything with it, but it does add additional challenge, and better explains why modern magic is extraordinarily limited/extremely-rare in present-day era (well, most eras, more like; to be fair. More or less, nobody's innocent.).
Like I said, this concept is a tinderbox, since it's based mostly on the joke, with severe moral limitations preserving it. If it's too volatile, I'll remove it, or cut more of it down to just the utter basics. Actually, it's as simple as ignoring, or deleting the spoiler. But yeah, personally, let's not get this thread locked by setting fire from this source. I thought the idea was funny, but if were real, how to limit it so it's fair enough (religion and gender-independent, at least).
Summary: As long as you're not a dick, you keep your powers; of course, at the expense of not being allowed to sleep with anyone. However, a provided loophole is that as long as you're in love with your partner and have love towards your family (with said intent to have one with said partner in the first place), you keep your powers (if both parents are wizards, it's more potent), and your next generation starts off with the ability activated upon moral awareness. Kindness and love keeps the magic alive.
Post by: Empiricist on February 23, 2015, 08:02:10 pm
The whole thing about gods manipulating the world in dickish ways doesn't happen in Eberron, but it doesn't seem to line up with the ambiguity angle. If you define the gods enough to say that they are doing things, it seems like it would be impossible to say that there is any question of them actually existing.The idea is that ambiguity allows that possibility to be considered, not that it is necessarily happening. In the example given, a god of death might be creating an illusion of an afterlife, it also may not. If it remains ambiguous because the god in question never really communicates or does anything that rules out that possibility, people would eventually have to consider it as a possibility and/or have an existential crisis.
Basically, both ideas are interesting, but I'm not sure how you would reconcile them into the same setting.
Post by: Criptfeind on February 24, 2015, 12:04:12 am
Post by: Bohandas on February 24, 2015, 01:19:25 am
Description: Instead of a frog or something the villain turns the king into an enormous Malheur National Forest-esque mass of fungus.
Source: The Super Mario Brothers movie
Post by: Bohandas on February 27, 2015, 08:47:05 pm
Description: The king of the gods once got pissed off at the lesser members of the pantheon and forced them to slum it among mortals for a year in weakened forms
Source: D&D Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Post by: MDFification on February 27, 2015, 10:31:26 pm
Concept: Kobolds have a everpresent magical effect that causes people to forget they saw them, and are paranoid beyond all other races (they are institutionally driven to sabotage, steal and hide).
Concept: Elves are actually predators, specialized in consuming sentient beings. It makes sense; they're portrayed as just a bit superior to other species in every way, yet have much lower population numbers. This makes the most sense if they're predators.
Origin: Worldbuilding threads on /tg/
Post by: Putnam on February 27, 2015, 10:34:38 pm
The first one is also in Dwarf Fortress in the form of cave adaptation.
Post by: Bohandas on March 10, 2015, 01:44:13 am
Description: Technology can be used to circumvent the drawbacks of cursed magic items. For example, a magic text that blinds the reader could be read by a machine that then outputs the relevent information, or a magic cologne that makes the user irresistable but also ironocally makes them impotent cpuld be counteracted sith ED drugs
Source: Skyrim and Rick & Morty, respectively.
Post by: Empiricist on March 10, 2015, 05:40:06 am
Description: A contagious disease/curse destroys the consciousness of its victims, leaving them as thoughtless husks that act exactly like they already did. The invisible pandemic sweeps through civilization, thousands "dying" without anyone even knowing. Left unhindered, sentience itself would be erased, leaving everything as fleshy automatons that act in perfect mimicry of sentience.
Source: An original idea as far as I know.
Post by: Putnam on March 10, 2015, 05:41:57 am
Post by: Itnetlolor on March 10, 2015, 12:27:07 pm
Concept: Philosophical Zombie ApocalypseI think we're living that today. Ever see people focused on their phones running into all kinds of crap due to a lack of awareness?
Description: A contagious disease/curse destroys the consciousness of its victims, leaving them as thoughtless husks that act exactly like they already did. The invisible pandemic sweeps through civilization, thousands "dying" without anyone even knowing. Left unhindered, sentience itself would be erased, leaving everything as fleshy automatons that act in perfect mimicry of sentience.
Source: An original idea as far as I know.
Post by: scrdest on March 10, 2015, 03:16:52 pm
The situation would be the exact same in Pzombieland and regular world, that's the entire point of the thought experiment. Basically, you as viewed from the outside would remain perfectly identical, whereas your consciousness, your 'self', would be annihilated.Concept: Philosophical Zombie ApocalypseI think we're living that today. Ever see people focused on their phones running into all kinds of crap due to a lack of awareness?
Description: A contagious disease/curse destroys the consciousness of its victims, leaving them as thoughtless husks that act exactly like they already did. The invisible pandemic sweeps through civilization, thousands "dying" without anyone even knowing. Left unhindered, sentience itself would be erased, leaving everything as fleshy automatons that act in perfect mimicry of sentience.
Source: An original idea as far as I know.
Concept: Non-predefined universal laws (a bit hard to express as a title)
Description: As described in the Religion thread - instead of a creator setting up all the variables and laws on day zero of Creation, the parameters of the world were left undeclared, since the creator couldn't be arsed to pick anything in particular.
Sentience was created to outsource coming up with how the world works. The first creatures formed their ideas of the world around them, and the creator picked whichever submissions he liked and made them universal laws. Then came next creatures, then humans, each generation solidifying a part of their ideas of the world outside them into the actual shape thereof.
Essentially a half-brother to the Consensus Reality concept of things like White Wolf's Mage tabletops, except here, instead of being mutable at a whim of the general population, the laws are set once an idea gets metaphysically stamped. Such a world's magicians would be essentially the cosmic lawyers, finding undefined areas of reality and moulding them in a way that allows them to manipulate the resulting reality. The more secretive sorcerers of the past would create the classic ritualistic magic, as it would limit the abilities they introduced to just themselves and their disciples, whereas those who didn't care much for being privileged would make it into a quasi-science, or open-source magic if you prefer.
Post by: Bohandas on March 10, 2015, 03:43:17 pm
Description: For every concept and for every type of object there exists a perfect archetypal version in a higher level of reality, of which all real examples of that concept or type of object are merely copies.
Source: Platonic philosophy, Adventure Time (the Universal Source Code in "A Glitch is a Glitch"), and variants of the D&D Planescape cosmology that include the Ordial (http://realmofadventure.wikia.com/wiki/Ordial_Plane) Plane (http://lib.znate.ru/docs/index-141400.html?page=27)
Post by: Putnam on March 10, 2015, 04:02:00 pm
Concept: Philosophical Zombie ApocalypseI think we're living that today. Ever see people focused on their phones running into all kinds of crap due to a lack of awareness?
Description: A contagious disease/curse destroys the consciousness of its victims, leaving them as thoughtless husks that act exactly like they already did. The invisible pandemic sweeps through civilization, thousands "dying" without anyone even knowing. Left unhindered, sentience itself would be erased, leaving everything as fleshy automatons that act in perfect mimicry of sentience.
Source: An original idea as far as I know.
dae anyone who uses le technology isn't really human???
Post by: TheDarkStar on March 10, 2015, 04:40:36 pm
Concept: Philosophical Zombie ApocalypseI think we're living that today. Ever see people focused on their phones running into all kinds of crap due to a lack of awareness?
Description: A contagious disease/curse destroys the consciousness of its victims, leaving them as thoughtless husks that act exactly like they already did. The invisible pandemic sweeps through civilization, thousands "dying" without anyone even knowing. Left unhindered, sentience itself would be erased, leaving everything as fleshy automatons that act in perfect mimicry of sentience.
Source: An original idea as far as I know.
dae anyone who uses le technology isn't really human???
We are all cyborgs and don't know it :P.
Post by: Sergarr on March 10, 2015, 04:46:30 pm
Concept: Universal formsDon't forget The Chronicles of Amber.
Description: For every concept and for every type of object there exists a perfect archetypal version in a higher level of reality, of which all real examples of that concept or type of object are merely copies.
Source: Platonic philosophy, Adventure Time (the Universal Source Code in "A Glitch is a Glitch"), and variants of the D&D Planescape cosmology that include the Ordial (http://realmofadventure.wikia.com/wiki/Ordial_Plane) Plane (http://lib.znate.ru/docs/index-141400.html?page=27)