I'm creating a world inspired by the 1800s

[Sneaky Graham]

Seems most fantasy is inspired by either medieval europe or a post-apocalyptic future. I don't aspire to be different for different's sake, I'm just genuinely fascinated and in love with the silliness and awesomeness of the 1800s. Seems a bottomless well of inspiration.

Think arrogant colonialism imposed on beautiful and exotic cultures by a pompous master race, obnoxiously destructive safari's and offensive heirarchial theories on racial differences by know-it-all know-nothing scientists. Abominable mistreatment of proud natives and "oddities" aka unfortunate deformed people.

Think also cryptozoology, quick sand, air ships, child labour, sports and smoking tobacco at the same time, slavery and slavery abolition, ninjas, pirates, cowboys, savages and gentlemen, yetis and sasquatches and abominable snow men and king kong, volcanoes, frankenstein, rendering silly flightless birds extinct, world's fairs, charles darwin boating around the world documenting the diversity of life, voodoo, sherlock holmes, gold rushes, foundries and factories, jack the ripper, bicycles, cobblestone, krakken and giant whales and fish and other sea monsters that attack ships, treasure island, redcoats, blue lagoon, bare knuckle boxing, bare knuckled boxers with cartoony fighting styles getting womped badly as soon as they let black guys take part, hobos and train ridin', settlers and trappers living off the land on a new foreign continent, sinbad the sailor, zany idiotic impractical contraptions, phrenology, absurd human durability, scheisters and grifters and snake oil salesmen ....

this is my brain storm list so far of 18 hundredsy things....

Now in case it's not already really really obvious. I actually am a mega noob to your world. I don't know anything about RPGing and hit points and stuff like that. The only RPG I've done honestly is elder scrolls and fallout on playstation, yeah that's right, playstation, not even on PC. But I feel passionate about this world I want to create. I don't know what my end goal is with it. I kind of want to die with a body of work based on this world, novels, childrens books, paintings. I'd love if people also adopted it and made RPGs out of it and video games. That's the dream, that it basically just becomes a beloved fantasy world with a cult following. But honestly I don't even care if nothing becomes of it, I find it fun and will die happy if I simply continue working on this.

I've done some crappy mspaint maps. I won't even bother sharing them now I'll just say there are 3 major continents with islands and then 2 significant island archipelegos.

Barraden - inspired by australia and africa and accompanied by islands inspired by melanesia.

The Yurient - islands inspired by japan and korea and also polynesia.

Deyenbria - A large continent basically like mainland asia, a mongolia/china inspired nation, a soviet/russia inspired nation, a middle east/arabian desert nation and an India/ceylon analogue.

The Kodish Isles - Britain and Spain basically, but with a wild pagan island (I know not 1800s but meh).

Suhnica - The americas, a kind of civilised aztec/inca/mayan etc nation (again not 1800s but whatevs), a jungle south american type nation and a wild west north america type nation.

The peoples are divided into 6 strains, which are then further divided into lineages. It's all very scientific, but that kind of rudimentary over-simplifying 1800s science.

Every strain is something "bran", so named after a common ancestor missing link ape-man known as "branson man", so named after Cecil Branson, the kodish archaeologist who discovered branson man.

The strains are as follows-
Melabrans - found in the islands north and north east of barraden as well as on the northern peninsula of barraden. They're inspired by africans and melanesians.

Barabrans - Natives of Barraden, descended from Melabrans. Inspired by australian aborigines.

Yuribrans - The people of the islands in the yurient, who also have populated the western side of Deyenbria. Inspired by polynesians and oriental people.

Sunebrans - The natives of Suhnica. Inspired by native americans (north and south), mexicans and aztecs/mayans/incas/etc.

The Kodish (or Kodebrans as insisted by Cecil Branson buffs) - Natives of the Kodish isles, but have set up colonies in suhnica, deyenbria and barraden. Inspired by spanish and british people.

Deyebrans - The people of Deyenbria, inspired by indians/sri lankans, arabs/persians, and russians.

Right now I have each strain having 4 distinct lineages with their own strengths and weaknesses and quite different cultures. Some tribal, some very civilised, some somewhere in between. The Gorri's for example are a barabran lineage which are kind of a mash up of aboriginal culture and the wild west, they're ranchers that farm/hunt (blurred line) semi-domesticated buffalo with dogs. They are governed by elders which assign lawmen to different areas (usually their nephews). They also have to contend with a colonial kodish city in their nation and kodish settlers trying to start up their own farms, often not respecting the traditional laws. Funnily enough they actually get along ok as their cultures are somewhat compatible. There is however still tension.

Over to the west are the Khorri which are an extremely hostile hunter/gatherer tribal warrior lineage of barabran that stand around 7 foot tall while being extremely athletic and powerful and will not tolerate Kodish intruders, or anyone else for that matter. Attempts to pacify them have all failed miserably and they are now deemed wild animals by the Kodish, with only the "bravest" manliest kodish gentlemen travelling to The Khorri Lands (their country has no other name) on gross big game hunting safaris, often with reluctant Gorri guides.

To the north on barraden are the Torruan people, known as Torri by the native Barabrans, the Torruans are actually Melabrans that landed on barraden relatively recently from Nabua and set up a fairly advanced militaristic dictatorship. The Torruans trade with the kodish colonials (sometimes human beings, unfortunately) but do not tolerate them creating colonies on their land...

That's a small taste of Barraden to start.

My world won't be as "high fantasy" as the medieval fantasy worlds and I feel this is true to the concept. People were a bit more scientific and knowledgable, so I think it's fitting "magic" is subtle and limited to black magic voodoo curses and the like. Ghosts would make appearances though and there would certainly be a lot of unexplained odd happenings and a hell of a lot of cryptozoological elements.

So?? Thoughts so far? Feedback welcome, harsh negative feedback also welcome but please minimise the RPG specific criticism about bonuses and penalties and + hit points and stuff because I simply do not understand. What the hell you can criticise from that angle too, I might learn something.

For what it's worth I am working on a system of "strengths and weaknesses". Will fill you in on the various strengths and weaknesses of the different lineages later if anyone is interested.

[johnnydeviant]

Congratulations on making it so far in the brainstorming process. I am trying to also penn up an idea for an 1800s type campiaghn setting that has a lot of real world analogues. I agree that most settings are either medieval or apocalyptic, and that this could e some unexplored territory. That in mind, I enjoy where you are going. Honestly, I do not like how magic is restricted to voodoo and all that, though that may just e my taste showing. I like though how you have captured the idea of "scientifically" founded racism from culture to culture and have more than just modern cultures in the world.

[Sneaky Graham]

Hey cool a reply!
Thanks for your feedback.

I just honestly can't think of magic ideologies that were big in the 1800s other than black magic/voodoo and other shamanistic stuff in tribal societies? I'm not a huge fan of magic but if it was a major thing in the era I'm trying to pay homage too I'd feel obligated to include it. But I can't think of anything? Ghosts I think would have to be present, despite me not liking them, because ghosts were all the rage in the 1800s, but magic? I'd feel like I was shoehorning it in where it's kind of out of place.

Can I ask what sort of magic you'd put in a 1800s inspired world?

[Hazzardevil]

In my opinoin most of the magic in an 1800's world is either practical magic that would be used for construction and manufacturing to enable industrialization or it would all be blasting magic, warfare could end up something like in The Black Prism, the armies are made mostly of musketeers and cavalry are the mages. The mages ride around blasting massed formations and the musketeers line up, shoot and when it comes to melee sword, bayonet or clubbed musket.

With 1800's here, what level of technology are you referring to? Napoleonic era when firearms are still fairly inefficent and take 20-30 seconds to reload or something like US Civil War or Franco-Prussian war era?
US Civil War had the begging of repeating firearms and most people were armed with revolvers or Rifled Muzzle-loaders.
Franco-Prussian war had breach-loading rifles and were beginning to resemble WW1 firearms.

[Henlein_Kosh]

I like the idea, some good alternatives to the "standard" settings is always good:smallsmile:

as to magic in the world, a few suggestions could bee Illusionism (though in reality just tricks, a few true illusionists could exist) and as you mentioned shortly shamanistic traditions (imo the various shamanistic traditions of north american natives differ a lot from voodoo)

still "true" magic should be rare to such a setting, not something everyone believes even exists.


just my thoughts, good luck with the project

[Hazzardevil]

Magic depends on the setting you're going for.
I think that in an 1800's setting magic makes sense as something well-defined and understood, magic couldn't exist in dnd form with not everyone knowing about it.

If it's an uncertain thing, is it something that the "native" groups use, something abstract like in Native American culture where they would perform rituals which they believed had effects, the people colonizing see it as superstition and think they can understand given enough time.

[Sneaky Graham]

I like the idea, some good alternatives to the "standard" settings is always good:smallsmile:

as to magic in the world, a few suggestions could bee Illusionism (though in reality just tricks, a few true illusionists could exist) and as you mentioned shortly shamanistic traditions (imo the various shamanistic traditions of north american natives differ a lot from voodoo)

still "true" magic should be rare to such a setting, not something everyone believes even exists.


just my thoughts, good luck with the project
Ofcourse! Magicians, forgot all about them. That could be an interesting thing to explore.

I agree magic should be something a lot of people don't believe in, it's an age of science and reason (albeit often flawed) so a lot of people will look down on magic as silly nonsense, but then yeah I think there could be magicians/illusionists, many of which just do dorky tricks, these dorky tricks understood by the scientifically minded who then dismiss all magic, but then like you said some could be legitimate and then turn out to have some secret society or something. In battle a magician could potentially turn an enemies machete into a bouquet of flowers, throw playing cards like they're ninja stars or put a burning torch in their mouth and then blow fire. They could also make themselves disappear in a puff of smoke and then appear somewhere else. So yeah everything they do could be reasoned as some kind of illusionist trick by skeptics, I think it's important the skeptics can reasonably maintain their position that magic isn't real, at least in civilised societies (seriously weird unexplainable stuff could happen in primitive tribal societies, witnessed by the odd explorer who is then derided and ridiculed by the people back home when they try and explain what they saw or experienced). Magicians/illusionists are perfect for getting magic into civilised society because it's kind of ambiguous if its magic at all.

Thanks a lot, this was a big oversight on my part.

[Sneaky Graham]

With 1800's here, what level of technology are you referring to? Napoleonic era when firearms are still fairly inefficent and take 20-30 seconds to reload or something like US Civil War or Franco-Prussian war era?
US Civil War had the begging of repeating firearms and most people were armed with revolvers or Rifled Muzzle-loaders.
Franco-Prussian war had breach-loading rifles and were beginning to resemble WW1 firearms.
This is a good question and something I'm still tossing around. Keep in mind different cultures kind of represent different eras (which is true in real life), I mean there are nations of tribal people which are living as people did in 60 000 bc still today. So in my world there will be different levels of technology in different places. There definitely will be repeating firearms in some places, "cowboys" are gonna be a major part of the game (not necessarily called cowboys), but yeah it would be a shame not to touch on napoleonic stuff (and an analogue to napolean himself), that silly line up and take turns shooting each other kind of battle is too absurd and funny not to address. I'm not sure how the world can have both. I'm thinking about possibly only having repeating firearms on the "cowboy" colonies, like somehow they don't get back to the mother country, the criminal outlaws learn to modify their own weapons or something... it's pretty implausible that the "redcoats" wouldn't get their hands on them though, but maybe tradition will dictate that back home they keep going with the muzzle loading take-turns shooting each other style of war. This could all be taking place in kind of an awkward transitional period, because yeah I really feel like I need to include both cowboy style guns and combat and also napoleonic guns and combat. In most ways the cowboy colonies (the analogues to australia and north america) will be less advanced than the mother country, but in certain ways relevant to their interests it will make sense if they're ahead. Outlaws modifying advanced repeating weapons and leading the way on the cutting edge of gun technology makes sense to me.

Generally the world really references 1700s through to very early 1900s in some ways, but then also ancient pre-history as well with stone age tribes. Then I'm determined to also include an advanced civilisation that's on a different path and analogous to the ancient civilisations of central and south america (which is more like 1600s at the latest?). Reason being I really want to address spain kind of, well, ruining them. Pompous know it alls boating around ruining stuff while acting like they're doing everyone a favour is kind of the key theme, and the destruction of those central and south american civs is just a classic tale within this theme. Generally though most of the good stuff happened in the 1800s and the 1800s really embodies the attitude I'm talking about so the world will generally be set in a time like that.

[Sneaky Graham]

So I've had a little think and I think my world could squeeze in - illusion, hypnotism and black magic (which encompasses witchcraft, voodoo and shamanism). Black magic having it's roots in primitive cultures but there could be keen enthusiasts in the modern world that study the dark arts from these cultures, even travelling to the far away exotic lands, and then returning to practice them in modern society. Also you'd have migrants/slaves and etc that still practiced the old ways.

There would also be alchemy but I'd like if one's ability to be treated or harmed with alchemy would correspond with their belief in it. A man of science who believed in medicine and relied on it could not be healed by some shaman's potion, but a superstitious tribesmen could be. Conversely a tribesmen would suffer negative side affects to medicine more severely than a civilised person.

Also grifting and scheistering and conning would be notable aspects of the world as they were in the 1800s. I'm tossing up if naivety should be an attribute category which actually has pros and cons. You can be scheistered more easily with high naivety but also genuinely healed with placebos.

Where does escape artistry go? I definitely would need to pay tribute to houdini and his shenanigans but is this magic in any way? Why do I instinctively link it to magicians?

I really want to avoid struggling to flesh out and expand on magic beyond it's welcome, I think I'll just have a family of attribute categories that are just generally not physical, some will be kind of magic, others definitely not, and others somewhere in between/ambiguous. The end result being that magic is really only hinted at and there's always the option to be a skeptic and dismiss it as being not real (although with enough mysterious and odd things happening to make it very difficult to doubt at times).

[Sneaky Graham]

Would love feedback on my attribute system so far, I know it's fairly elaborate and too many categories but it's not really a problem because this isn't actually for an rpg, it's kind of just a reference for myself at this stage. I want to fill it out for every race, just to remind me of their tendencies and natures to keep things consistent with any work I do, and then I'll also fill it out for any individual characters I create.

I'd really like to hear suggestions on the wording/phrasing I'm using because I feel like it's kind of clunky or silly in parts but I can't think of anything better.

Any other suggestions welcome too.

Physical Attributes
Speed:
Strength:
Agility:
Durability:
Stamina:
Reflexes:

Combative Attributes
Blunt: (clubs, hammers, maces, rocks)
Blade: (swords, knives, machetes, axes)
Throwing: (spears, stones, boomerangs, bolas)
Projectile weapons: (bows, guns, cannons, blow pipes)
Striking: (unarmed kicking and punching etc)
Grappling: (unarmed wrestling)

Survival Attributes
Fishing: ..
Hunting: ..
Trapping: ..
Gathering: (gathering wild foodstuffs, knowledge of what is edible)
Growing: (growing crops of food like fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, etc etc)
Husbandry: (tending to livestock and raising/using companion animals)

Crafting Attributes
Metal:
Stone:
Wood:
Bone:
Clay:
Leather:

Traversing Attributes (traversing? lol I dunno)
Sailing:
Rowing:
Riding: (horses and other mountable beasts, also possibly bicycles)
Driving: (crude automobiles and carriages)
Rail:
Flying: (flying airships and also gliders and other zany flying contraptions)

Reasoning Attributes
Medicine:
Logic & Maths:
Reading & writing:
Skepticism:
Science:
Philosophy:

Spiritual Attributes
Alchemy:
Faith:
Witchcraft:
Hypnotics:
Illusion:
Clairvoyance:

Labour Attributes
Mining: (I want this to mean mining but also just digging in general?)
Carpentry: ..
Harvesting: (working picking crops and etc)
Mechanics: (I want this to mean they're good at fixing and making guns and clocks and automobiles and factory machines etc)
Felling: (like lumberjack work?)
Masonry: ...

Financial Attributes
Buying: ..
Selling: ..
Investing: ..
Gambling: ..
Grifting: (like scheistering and conning people out of money)
Networking: (like socially good business wise, making partners and doing deals?)

Criminal Attributes (not happy with "criminal"?)
Stealth: ...
Composure: ..
Disguise: ..
Ruthlessness: (no guilty conscience)
Guile: (cunning and craftiness)
Deft Hands: ..

Artistic Attributes
Painting:
Sculpting:
Architecture:
Dance:
Music:
Acting:

___________

I have this idea that certain combinations will create an aptitude for certain professions. A great professional wrestler for example (the fake stuff) would likely be good at strength, agility, grappling, illusion, grifting, selling and acting.

A rodeo rider - strength, agility, durability, reflexes, grappling, husbandry, riding, composure. A cowboy and you add projectile weapons, guile, gambling and leather.

A ninja - Agility, reflexes, blade, throwing, striking, metal, philosophy, alchemy, illusion, stealth, composure, disguise, guile.

Just as a couple of examples... Any given character could have any combination of attribute classes advanced, but if they stumble onto certain combinations that fit certain pre-ordained archetypal occupations or lifestyles they'd get a bonus elite aptitude at that occupation/lifestyle. If there chosen advanced categories don't fit any discernable mold then they're just a bit of a jack of all trades master of none or master of something specific but with limited real world benefit and basically no "magic" happens to turn them into a master whatever. Some other combinations would make master pirates, missionaries, voodoo priests, gentlemen, big game hunters, biologists, mad scientists, scheisters, farmers, hunter gatherers, stage performers, soldiers, snake oil salesmen, settlers... etc etc, going to be a huge list.

As I type I already realise I've missed stuff on my list of attribute categories, even though there's so many there's some really critically important ones still missing. Disease resistance for example is hugely significant. The khorri Barabrans for example are just grossly superior wilderness warriors and hunter gatherers but hindered in cities and towns due to poor disease resistance. I also have this idea that man originally evolved on Nabua, an island off barraden, making the natives of barraden the only race which in their long evolutionary history have never travelled anywhere so they actually suffer from sea sickness when travelling and home sickness when away from nabua (the further away the more home sick). Sea sickness can be taken care of by simply having nought sailing skill but I need something to cover home sickness. Each race will be on a scale relating to home sickness correlating with the amount of migration in their evolutionary history. Part of the reason the colonial race are so adept at exploring and travelling and colonising new lands is they've got a long evolutionary history of migration, they're the furtherest away from Nabua basically. As a result they suffer no ill affects in exotic lands and prosper and thrive (obnoxiously lol), indeed at some point in history their ancestors were probably natives of those exotic lands.

So yeah still a lot of fiddling to do...