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View Full Version : A small world building, for fun, yes, fun.



YPU
2007-08-08, 03:57 PM
Once I a while its just fun to run a now target world building treat on these boards. Basically, you are allowed to state one thing about the world per post, and you may not post until somebody else has posted after your last post. Anything is fair game, from new uses of old classes to the addition of pink winged hippos. Until somebody has brewn up something else, assume the basic dnd fantasy system.

I will start with: in the campaign there exists a cult of warriors who are dedicated to the ways of the ghost. They are mercenaries but are know to have a agenda of their own, one that often hunts for big money and power.

This cult consist of Ninja, called Phantom disciples.

ArlEammon
2007-08-08, 04:02 PM
OOC:Interesting:

The planet is the source of the Cosmos'es arcane power. The gods are created through magical energy instead of divine power, although divine power, since it has been unused for countless thousands of years is also incredibly strong.

Jarelk
2007-08-08, 04:09 PM
The society of the world is Anarchy. This works surprisingly well in the world due to the lawful nature of the race. "Crimes" are punished by the audience. When someone murders someone for example, the word will spread and they will resent and punish the culprit.

Punishes exist of:
-Leaving him/her in a desert (Worst punishment)
-Executing him on sight
-Locked up in an underground "cel", linked to the surface via tunnels. The prison acts as a maze for he who tries to escape.
-Whip! (The ol' classical way.)
-Convescation of a possesion.

Malic
2007-08-08, 04:09 PM
Because of the power of the Devine Arts most people who devote themselves to it ussually end up in places of power. The Devinions (dev-in-yins)(as so called) are deep seeted into the sociaty as rulers and noblemen.

Maldraugedhen
2007-08-08, 04:24 PM
Technology is varied as one travels over the surface of the world. The least technologically capable are actually the dwarves, who are seen as primarily a slave labor race, used most often in logging and farming operations. The most advanced peoples are the half-elves, having the advantages of both of their parent races' knowledge and curious natures.

Zeta Kai
2007-08-08, 06:49 PM
I have nothing of cosmic relevance at the moment, but here we go: in the campaign is a pervasive worldwide semi-legitimate criminal organization, whose hidden dark side is that it is actually an evil death cult, whose goal is to turn as many members into liches as possible.

Moff Chumley
2007-08-08, 06:56 PM
I have so wanted to post this somewhere: magic comes from fooling yourself that it's possible.

Zeta Kai
2007-08-08, 07:03 PM
I have so wanted to post this somewhere: magic comes from fooling yourself that it's possible.

How's that work, a Bluff check vs. your own Sense Motive check? That's rather funny.

Xefas
2007-08-08, 07:28 PM
There are no female halflings. Instead, male halflings must mate with the females of other races, who then give birth to horribly disgusting maggot-like larva. Several years after their conception, the larva metamorphosis into massive flying lizards (not unlike dragons), called drakes. The drakes live for around a decade before being inexplicably drawn to an existing halfling settlement, where they hide in wait to die. Upon their death, around a dozen adolescent halflings emerge from the carcass with no prior knowledge of their creation or alternate forms.

They never question why their are no halfling women nor why they have no memories before age 14 or so. The Universe takes great pains to insure noone is capable of learning the secret of halfling creation. If someone asks a woman whos been with a halfling and then given birth what exactly happened with the baby, they change the subject as quickly as possible. If that fails, they get angry and take offense. If that fails, they emit a high-pitched shrieking sound and fall unconsious.

Deme
2007-08-08, 08:18 PM
Local fauna includes 6-legged ferret-like creatures, which are often used as non-magical powersources (hamster-on-a-treadmill-style) for some technology. They do not tire easily, and can run, although at only a moderate speed, for hours on end without a break.

Fuum Bango
2007-08-10, 01:28 PM
White and Black swans are common arcoss the world and thought of as scouts for the Gods. There are seven immortal maidens that can transform into swans.

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 01:40 PM
*snip*

That's so awesome.

The primary source of meat for the people is the goblin.

Kiren
2007-08-10, 01:45 PM
That's so awesome.

The primary source of meat for the people is the goblin.



Goblin meat tacos is a delicacy

Cruxador
2007-08-10, 01:45 PM
There is an enormous society of giant goblins, who eat only radishes and spend their time writing poetry and plays.

Kiren
2007-08-10, 01:47 PM
There is an enormous society of giant goblins, who eat only radishes and spend their time writing poetry and plays.

And they make for the best tacos

Were-Sandwich
2007-08-10, 01:59 PM
Although the justice system works by the people collectively deciding on a punishment, there exists a small society of wandering Magistrates who are viewed as being wise and fair in their sense of justice, and are deferred to in matters of criminal justice. They also have superhuman powers of flight, teleportation, precognition and combat ability. They are fond of Goblin-Kebab.

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 01:59 PM
Rather than hill giant, cloud giant, etc, there are human giants, dwarf giants (Only 8 feet tall), elf giants, etc. Orc giants are closely intertwined with orc tribes, usually as leaders and high priests.

ChrisMcDee
2007-08-10, 02:00 PM
In contrast to their more primative cousins the existence of a race of elusive and evil pale-skinned demi-dwarves, with access to a powerful combination of magic and technology, is doubted by everyone. The Dwarves deny their existence and the only eyewitness accounts are from types that most would consider insane anyway. Noone believes the mad farmer when he says he was carried away by Dwarves.

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 02:05 PM
I have so wanted to post this somewhere: magic comes from fooling yourself that it's possible.

Good. And now I build on it like an uncreative jerkface:

Akin to the Planescape universe, belief holds a significant amount of power, as does disbelief. So far, the people don't know it, but it sure seems like the pessimists are always right.

Kiren
2007-08-10, 02:09 PM
Psionic powers can only be accessed from psychotic people

Ceres
2007-08-10, 02:14 PM
The world does not have a sun, so all the light of the world comes from a huge ancient tower in the centre of the world. This tower stands in the arcane city of Lum, currently the capital of the anarchistic faction.

Naturally, the people who posess the tower posess great political power, and many wars have been fought over it. The last one between the giant goblins (who lost) and the anarchists. The land is darker the further away from the tower it is, and in the depths of the everdark there reside powerful and evil creatures who wish to snuff out the light of the world forever.

How's that? :smallsmile:

Were-Sandwich
2007-08-10, 02:19 PM
The world is liable to explode at any moment.

Kiren
2007-08-10, 02:24 PM
The world is liable to explode at any moment.

The Arcane/tech generator is in disrepair, it runs the planet and is at the middle of the planet, the caves to the bottem were blocked off by rocks and it has become inaccessible

Premier
2007-08-10, 02:44 PM
All civilised races (halflings don't count as civilised here) have died out millenia ago. All those humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes etc. running about, building cities, fighting wars, and just generally "living" their lives are undead, brought back by the inherent magics of the world. They still live the same lifestyles they remember and experience the same emotions and thoughts as they did back then. New individuals are "born" from great pits into which destroyed bodies are cast.

Curveball, catch!

Jarelk
2007-08-10, 04:19 PM
The most dangerous of all demons and monsters are bunnies. They're 25 feet tall, have the ability to change color of skin to blend in with surroundings, they can eat almost everything, they can shoot arcane laserbeams from their eyes, they have large, poisonous fangs and claws that numbs you when you're hit, they have large body armor that grows with that and that can withstand any temperature and physical attack, they have extremely good hearing and can even pick up signals, and their fluffy ears work as translator for code signals.

Bunnies are awesome.

Edivad
2007-08-10, 04:52 PM
This is great! My favorite idea, as of now, is Premier "world of undeads". it would be really funny and ironic if there were still some living people around as monsters. Xefas also wrote really interesting - and creepy - things.

The World of Immortals
The civilized races and the "ruling class" of the world are effectively immortal, immune to aging and common diseases. However, they are either not very fertile OR there is some form of population control. Since people do not die from age and can effectively hope to live forever, there will likely be lots of experienced heroes and ancient kinds and rulers and the like around. People would be able to learn and experience all kind of things - some Immortals might even grow bored and decide to "quit"life.
There are also some people - both whole races and members of usually-immortal races - that are fully mortal and vulnerable to death by aging. Some say they are a "degeneration"of the immortals, and that they will bring the end of the world. Whatever the case, these mortals are usually VERY bitter and resentful at the immortals who rule the world. And they want to exploit the fact that these so-called "Immortals"are not immune to death by violence...

I also have some other world ideas, but I'm waiting before posting them, since we have said only one world idea/post...

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-10, 05:06 PM
By a curious example of magics, the undead civilized races still eed to eat, but instead of normal food, eat large quanties of wolfsbane and goblin meat.
Those who used to grow grain now grow wolfsbane, and think nothing of it.

DracoDei
2007-08-10, 05:40 PM
There are universities for psionics... only post graduate studies teach actual use of such however... the undergraduate level offerings are specifically designed to drive the students insane in the proper ways and include:
-Torture (two seperate classes, one to get tortured, the other to develop your sadistic side).
-Non-sense (Alice in Wonderland level weirdness, often with contradictions, and/or encouraging making things up on the fly)
-Secrets Humanoids Were Not Meant To Know (taught by creatures from the far realms)

Tuition is quite reasonable and job-placement is 99.9% within 1 month of graduation.

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-10, 05:59 PM
The world does not have a sun, so all the light of the world comes from a huge ancient tower in the centre of the world. This tower stands in the arcane city of Lum, currently the capital of the anarchistic faction.

Naturally, the people who posess the tower posess great political power, and many wars have been fought over it. The last one between the giant goblins (who lost) and the anarchists. The land is darker the further away from the tower it is, and in the depths of the everdark there reside powerful and evil creatures who wish to snuff out the light of the world forever.

How's that? :smallsmile:

The light from the tower contains no colours. Every creature in the entire world only sees in black, white and shades of grey UNLESS they have been regularly eating a herb called "Uispriage" which only grows in extreme light (i.e. very close to the tower).

An order of Paladins exist, who believe that seeing in colour, and use of the herb is heretical. They are called the Unchromatic Saints.

Xefas
2007-08-10, 06:45 PM
Within the past several decades, mages of the undead races have developed a new use for necromancy- raising dead undead people from the dead. These new "Stillnotdeads" are regressed from undeath like undeath is regressed from life. Life has flesh, blood, and a heartbeat. Undeath has useless rotting corpses that are still somehow animated in a mockery of life. Stillnotdeath is composed of nothing animated into a mockery of unlife.

The non-existant Stillnotdeads are largely believed to be a myth, but their creators insist that they're there "It's just kind of hard to tell because them being there means that they are inherently not there".

This discovery has lead to fierce philosophical debates about the nature of existance and whether those that don't exist do exist simply by virtue of them not existing, as someone who doesn't exist can't truly do anything, and not existing certainly is somthing that someone who doesn't exist is capable of doing.

Kiren
2007-08-10, 06:56 PM
Rouge mindless zombie attacks are way to common

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 07:25 PM
Any resurrected creature momentarily experiences a few moments of true life, seeing the twisted creature his civilisation has become and the fates of all his friends. This results in an erosion of morals, and possibly sanity. Everything revealed in this flash of insight is forgotten soon after, but the effects remain (In game terms, Wisdom damage, not constitution.)

ArlEammon
2007-08-10, 07:25 PM
Wizards are magicians that devote themselves to their craft and to philosophy and religion.

Clerics are simply white magicians schooled by the Church.

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 07:35 PM
Angels and Demons are, in fact, just demons, but seperated into those who wish to destroy civilisation through whatever means they choose, and those (the angels) who pretend to be good and protect the world from the REAL angels, who are attempting to reveal the twisted, undead nature of the world to it's inhabitants.

Edivad
2007-08-10, 07:37 PM
The World of Twins
Everyone in this world has at least one identical twin here. That, there is no thing such as giving birth to a single child.
Also, the more twins someone has, the higher his social status - meaning that in noble houses there are a LOT of pretenders and princes fighting for power! However, there is a catch: when someone's twin dies, the surviving twin(s)is weakened too, so even if there are conflicts, people will always avoid killing their their twin, preferring to imprison them.

ArlEammon
2007-08-10, 07:41 PM
Demon Dragon Titan Djinn Ascended

There are 5 known types of the gods, otherwise known as Powers. They are the Demons, evil outsiders, dragons, titans, djinn(arcane elemental gods) and the Ascended, those humans or humanoids that became gods.

Others exist but only the 5 known types of gods receive attention.

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 07:57 PM
Demon Dragon Titan Djinn Ascended

There are 5 known types of the gods, otherwise known as Powers. They are the Demons, evil outsiders, dragons, titans, djinn(arcane elemental gods) and the Ascended, those humans or humanoids that became gods.

Others exist but only the 5 known types of gods receive attention.

That's six.

Anyway:

Shadows, rather than being determined by the direction of light, are determined by location of birth. Being born close to the Tower creates people who cast no shadow and have a glow to their skin, and these are regularly entered into church work. The farther one travels from the travel, the bigger the shadows of those who are born there. Those who are born where no light is cast are nothing but shadow, and after eviscerating their mother, leave to join their undefined brothers in the dark.

Edivad
2007-08-10, 08:05 PM
The World of the Gifted
Everyone on this world possesses some kind of natural power.
Powers can be either arcane/magical or psionic(and maybe nature related, like a Druid's).
Though the powers are usually random, members of the same family or bloodline tend to have related powers. So, if both parents have natural psionic powers, it is very unlikely that their son would have magical powers...unless one of his grandparents DID have psionic powers.
In "rule terms", everyone, even the weakest NPC, would have some ability to use some low lewel psionic powers or sorceror/druid spells. People that actually want to develop their powers will also have appropriate class levels, plus the appropriate classes will always be favored for them.

mikeejimbo
2007-08-10, 08:15 PM
The most dangerous of all demons and monsters are bunnies. They're 25 feet tall, have the ability to change color of skin to blend in with surroundings, they can eat almost everything, they can shoot arcane laserbeams from their eyes, they have large, poisonous fangs and claws that numbs you when you're hit, they have large body armor that grows with that and that can withstand any temperature and physical attack, they have extremely good hearing and can even pick up signals, and their fluffy ears work as translator for code signals.

Bunnies are awesome.

The only weapon capable of harming the bunny monster is a round, thrown object which is blessed by a priest to explode on contact.

(Sorry, it was inevitable)

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 08:22 PM
The race of "Gnomes" claims that, whilst humans, elves, and indeed everything else have their giant versions, THEY are the giant version, and that there are a race of tiny humanoid people who remain hiding in the underbrush. This is, in fact, the truth, and the Gnomegiants have the ability to call on swarms of gnomelings with an ululating cry.

Fualkner Asiniti
2007-08-10, 08:59 PM
There is a plane that is an unending library, containing every fact, peice of knowledge, and happening in the multiverse. very important people have books about themselves, sometimes more than one. In this library there are thousands of chosen ones called "Scrivengers." They write all the important happenings in the world down. One man, called the Relinquished, actually creates stories. What he writes becomes fact. Only natives of the material plane can become the new Relinquished.

Cyrano
2007-08-10, 09:06 PM
Lycanthropy, rather than a curse, is a great honour. One cannot become a were-creature by being bitten, only through birth or a complex and painful magical process. The anarchist faction includes several groups of were-creatures that are well respected, even loved, for different traits.

mikeejimbo
2007-08-10, 09:20 PM
In addition, vampires are locked in an eternal struggle with the lycanthropes. They are fundamentally opposed forces, and very little could make them cooperate.

Likewise, pirates and ninjas are fundamentally opposed. Pirate and ninja vampires both exist, but they do not cooperate just because they are vampires. Similarly for lycanthropes.

jindra34
2007-08-10, 09:24 PM
People find it easier to see int he dark as opposed to in light.

Xerxes Shadow
2007-08-10, 10:59 PM
The planet is hollow. Underground live the races that survived the cataclysmic whatever that made all the races undead. They live to defeat the undead and reclaim the planet for the living. They are: the Githzerai, Githyanki, Drows, Lizardfolk, and Deep Dwarves (assuming that the Hill Dwarves are the ones used for manual labor). Also, all the halfling women. They subsist on lichen and have a network of spies infiltrating the clashing factions (vampires, lycanthropes, ninjas, and pirates). Their government is based on instead of the strongest, the weakest, for they are seen as gifted with the most intelligence (because Intelligence is a dump stat for someone focused on strength, and vice versa). Their military consists of infantry monks, mounted rangers, and flying dragon sorcerers as air and magical support.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-11, 01:07 AM
Every 6 hours, a Cyndi Lauper song is broadcast from the light-giving tower.

It is immune to Silence, Dispel, and any effects to stop it. There is no escape.

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-11, 05:39 AM
An extra-planar group of Gythanki -numbering in their thousands- attack the tower whenever Time After Time is played. They wear pink spandex.
Whether they hate it or worship it, no one can say.

Maldraugedhen
2007-08-11, 12:53 PM
ooc: Six words some of you will loathe.

ic: We are in the bronze age.

The most advanced technology we possess is bronze-age level in complexity, and is possessed by the elves and humans.

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-11, 04:04 PM
That contradicts something you've already stipulated.


Technology is varied as one travels over the surface of the world. The least technologically capable are actually the dwarves, who are seen as primarily a slave labor race, used most often in logging and farming operations. The most advanced peoples are the half-elves, having the advantages of both of their parent races' knowledge and curious natures.

AND something that someone else has


In contrast to their more primative cousins the existence of a race of elusive and evil pale-skinned demi-dwarves, with access to a powerful combination of magic and technology, is doubted by everyone. The Dwarves deny their existence and the only eyewitness accounts are from types that most would consider insane anyway. Noone believes the mad farmer when he says he was carried away by Dwarves.

Xerxes Shadow
2007-08-11, 04:38 PM
An evil race called the Mechanisms exists even deeper underground than the survivors. They wish to rule the world with their immense technological power. Their armies are composed of robots and constructs, their heavy units being Enlarged Apparatuses of Kwalish with Lightning Bolt blasters on the sides. Their entire race is also electrokinetic.

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-11, 08:19 PM
The huge, slender Tower of Lum is nearly 1.25 miles tall (dwarfing every other building in the capitol by, well, almost a mile and a quarter), but the top thousand feet burn with the light of the Top, which can re-kill an unprotected visitor in less than thirty seconds. The great machines which operate the Top's Light are kept there, and are tended nonstop by a sect of specially-bred Illumians.

Those top thousand feet are also inhabited by a Large-sized race of silent positive-energy beings (remember, everyone is dead, so positive energy does not heal) made of pure light. These beings are generated by the Top; they see the true undead nature of the world (it often drives them near-insane), and try to "cleanse" anyone who visits the Highest Levels.

The light-beings tolerate the Illumian maintenance sect, but often attempt to show them the true nature of the world. As such, these Illumians are generally half-mad with revulsion themselves, their sight flickering between Reality and the standard.
They are almost all psions, as a result; occasionally two of them (twins, see) go insane, attempt to destroy the Top, and must be thrown from the tower. Often, when this happens, at least one of the mad psions survives the fall (creating a definite problem for the city below).


The machinery that maintains the world is split into eight Huge devices, which exist half on this plane and half on another. One, the largest by far (it's Gargantuan), is located below the central city; two are located underground below the outskirts of other Anarchist cities, and the remaining four are lost. It is unknown whether they are being operated, or how many must stay running to keep the world stable.

EDIT: Oy, that's a great big wall of text. Oops. If anyone doesn't like it, I'll cut it down...

Cyrano
2007-08-11, 09:25 PM
Lycanthropy does not necessarily mean werewolfism. It means the capability to shift into different forms. All were-things have 3 forms: Man, elf, orc, or whatever their base is, the create (Wolf, bear, etc) and an in between form that adds between 50 and 100% height, doubles to triples the weight, and combines the best traits of both creatures in one. Some have differences: Werespiders, for instance, turn into the base, a half-spider, half base, massive form, a gigantic spider, or a swarm of spiders comprising a massive number of the tiny creatures equal to base body weight. In addition, formshifts are made at will, but become more and more incontrollable the farther one is from the Tower.

Maldraugedhen
2007-08-11, 09:58 PM
That contradicts something you've already stipulated.

Half-elves don't usually have their own society--figured they'd be drifters between the two social groupings (the declaration of this post).

If you were pointing out the 'varied tech' comment--tech can still vary, just under bronze-level. Hence the comment about the most advanced being held by the humans and elves. Most everyone else would therefore be proto-Bronze.

And I don't see how it contradicts ChrisMcDee's post at all. Combination of magic and tech, woo. That could be enchanted catapults. It's just bronze-age tech.

However, seeing how so many people want sharks-with-laser-beams style stuff, forget that post anyway. Just--from my perspective, at the point of that writing, neither of those posts contradicted.

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-12, 12:44 AM
I don't see any problem with a Bronze Age technology level, but then again I have a very poor idea of what that would exactly mean. What would you think about using magic to approximate later developments?

... not to contradict the part of your post that says "forget this stuff", but I'm curious.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-12, 12:54 AM
Instead of regular stereotypes- All Dwarves have yiddish accents, and liberally sprinkle yiddish words into their sentences.

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-12, 01:24 AM
Instead of regular stereotypes- All Dwarves have yiddish accents, and liberally sprinkle yiddish words into their sentences.
Simularly, Gnomes are Arabic, and gain weapon proficeny with the Scimitar, just for te kicks of seeing a gone with a scimitar.

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-12, 02:43 AM
Additionally, Gnomes cannot grow beards and are bald of pate. Thus their only facial hair is eyebrows and moustaches, which both grow long and bushy and -according to current fashion- must be waxed.

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-12, 02:55 AM
Undead CAN grow hair.

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-12, 04:22 AM
In fact, most humanoids cannot stop growing hair under any circumstances; whether dead, undead, stillnotdead, or living, hair (and fingernails) will still grow. The only way to permanently halt someone's hair growth is to shave off a tiny layer of their skull-bone (under the scalp), or to cut off their hands. As such, it is customary among most Anarchists to bury their dead in hats and gauntlets (the poorest people use cloth skull-caps, and crude gauntlets of wood).

Stillnotdead hair is composed of nothingness, by the way. It's possible to hear the approach of a stillnotdead non-spirit by the very-nearly-inaudible sound of nothing-hair rustling across the ground.

Halflings are an exception to all of the above.

EDIT: and yes, if done properly, you can make someone go bald by cutting off their hands. It isn't a sure thing, though; there's a 10% chance that they will still grow hair.

Emperor Demonking
2007-08-12, 04:44 AM
The halfling drakes are often stolen by the underground races. This is because they have powers to repel and destroy the undead.

Xuincherguixe
2007-08-12, 04:48 AM
No one is quite sure why, but when two dragons touch each other they explode. Dragons are born when a large group of people express a strong emotion. But this is not known. The most commonly held belief as to how dragons are born is that exploded dragon bits also leave remnants in a parallel plane, which grow into new dragons of the various colours. But there are many other theories. Some people insist to the dragons that they do not in fact exist.

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-12, 04:57 AM
EDIT: holy crap, someone ninja'd me. In this thread, how is that even possible?

Anyway, drakes who overuse their turning power mature into batches of kuo-toa, who have a different method of reproduction entirely.

Emperor Demonking
2007-08-12, 05:14 AM
The underworld has four streams of fire, air, earth and water. Somehow all four of these flow. These are used for several purposes and can also be used to go to the palaces of the djinn.

NakedCelt
2007-08-12, 05:28 AM
Through it all wanders a small, foolish bald man called Fred, who, for reasons no-one understands (least of all himself), is utterly immune to all magic and any form of damage whatsoever, including aging.

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-12, 07:22 AM
In lieu of Gold, dragon collect Hello Kitty plushies and consume, in lieu of Fair Maidens, Goblins.
This has lead to a sharp decrease in dragon-slaying. The exception to this being small children who REALLY want Hello Kitty toys (As Hello Kitty has yet to be invented, the origin of these toys remain a mystery noone really cares about) and, of course, goblingiants, who make delicious tacomeat.

The dragon population is kept under control by the fact that when two touch, they explode, making traditional mating impossible, and the lack of undead having emotions.
Theory suggests that, because of this, only large groups of newly-born halflings can spawn dragons through their emotions.

Maldraugedhen
2007-08-12, 08:28 AM
Half-elves are made by physically splicing half of an elf onto half of a human. Which halves are up to the madman performing the surgery.

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-12, 08:34 AM
Half-elves are made by physically splicing half of an elf onto half of a human. Which halves are up to the madman performing the surgery.

It is notoriously difficult for half-elves to find mates for life, for some madman may splice a female top onto a male bottom or vice-versa.
Rival scientists hate half-eves, just because the half-elves have better technology.

jindra34
2007-08-12, 10:10 AM
Dragon scales are only extremely tough if they are from a dragon that exploded by touching a different dragon. otherwise they are about as tough as a sheet of rice paper.

Emperor Demonking
2007-08-12, 01:06 PM
Those at the lowest level of the world, are kept from the rest of the world by a curse. Their robots can still get through.

Smiley_
2007-08-12, 04:01 PM
The "classical" elements (earth, air, fire, and water) are replaced by the elemental planes of:

Smoke
Ice
Magma
Acid
Dust
Steam

Spells that elemental damage are replaced by other elemental types. Fireballs would have to be studied so as to create a blast of lava, acid, or ice shards, each element type being studied as a separate spell. This makes evocation and conjuration the same, save for force spells.

Evil outsiders would have resistances to acid, smoke, ice, and magma.

Dragons would have breath weapons set to these elements

Green(acid)
White(ice)
Blue(dust)
Red(magma)
Black(smoke)
Bronze(steam)
Copper(Smoke)
Gold(Dust)
Brass(Magma)
Silver(Steam)

or something to that effect.

Cyrano
2007-08-12, 04:08 PM
Whilst most technology is at Bronze level, the world is littered with strange relics of a much, much higher power. The foremost example is the arcano-technological power of the Tower itsself. These do not appear to be left behind by a more powerful race. These items can manifest anywhere from a dank cave to a street alley, and have lead to the creation of a cult that believes the items are an expression of the land itself, that are grown out of the earth. The truth remains unknown, however.

jindra34
2007-08-12, 04:12 PM
The world is a toriod (donut shape).

Xefas
2007-08-12, 04:22 PM
Priests often write fanfictions of their religious texts in which they, themselves, are characters, and have very little flaws to speak of. Invariably the hottest creature of the opposite gender in the religious text ends up falling for the priest's character, even though it goes against all of the canon of the original text. For unknown reasons, the priest's character always saves the world from humongous unspeakable threats from beyond the stars before the fanfiction is over, but never until they've had a emotastic explosion of unfounded self-doubt.

The priests slip these fanfictions into the church's libraries. Others find them. Such are the origin of infallible Saints spoken of in literature. Noone questions why all of them seem to be almost exactly the same or why none of it makes sense and that a good deal is heresy to begin with.

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-12, 04:52 PM
Twin Saints are worshipped by many fanfic priests as the original matyrs who-did-not-die but instead ascended to immortal godhood (after a suitable period of self-indulgent reflection summarised by the oft quoted "But how can I leave my loved ones?")
They do of course occasionally re-visit the mortal world to solve the unsolvable, re-live their mortal angst (because deification didn't change them _that_ much) and drink ales with their old friends. Their names are St. Mary Sue and St. Marty Stu.

ChrisMcDee
2007-08-12, 05:07 PM
There's actually some interesting stuff in here, someone should compile a summary for the OP.

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-12, 07:07 PM
The semi-hollow "underground" area, at the center of the world, is filled with rushing wind currents that perpetually flow upward. Dust elementals ride the currents; lizardfolk admire them and treat them as companions.

Smiley_
2007-08-12, 07:27 PM
Ogre's live on clouds, making toys for small children.

Thanatos 51-50
2007-08-12, 07:35 PM
Ogre's live on clouds, making toys for small children.
....

which hide bombs.

jindra34
2007-08-12, 07:41 PM
All oozes live in the tower.

Moff Chumley
2007-08-12, 08:08 PM
Admsion to the material plane requires a 10 gp fee, to keep out the rif-raf.

Ceres
2007-08-12, 08:23 PM
The mountains of the world are, in fact, alive and sentient. However, they operate at a much slower speed than other life. Over the course of the last three millennia they're conversation has been as follows:

"Oy! How'd it get so bright all of a sudden?"

"Beats me"

"I think I'll go put it out."

Eighth_Seraph
2007-08-12, 08:55 PM
There are only seven 'true' mountains in the world (all others are just tall hills). At the center of each mountain in the world is a small orange ball with a number of red stars from one to seven. Each ball serves as the heart of the mountain and were it to be removed, the mountain immediately dies, becoming just a stony corpse. Should all seven hearts of the mountains be brought together, it summons the two grand elementals of dust and magma, which turn those who removed the seven hearts into the incarnation of mountains, essentially becoming medium-sized earth elementals with class levels and the ability to mold their appearance at will, along with an array of psi-like powers.

Should any of the mountains discover that another's heart has been stolen, they will stop at nothing to use their vast psionic powers to discover and destroy the thief and resurrect their fallen brother.

Cryopyre
2007-08-12, 09:07 PM
The world is a toriod (donut shape).

Everyone lives on the outside, and the planet experiences night and day by slowly rotating (so that if a dot were drawn on the inner part of the toroid, it would be on the outer part in 12 hours). Obviously, the only thing that doesn't move is the tower and the city that has the tower, which appears to float on the ground as a boat on water.

This also has an odd look to the horizon, appearing that you've got an arch over you at one point in time, then you're on the edge of a ring, and finally it appears earth-like, but only at night when it can't fully be apreciated.

penguinreich
2007-08-12, 10:53 PM
All vegetation is ALIVE!! they have their own societies, they raid "meat plants" and run of with their (unliberated) plants




VIVA LA REVOLUTION

Raroy
2007-08-12, 11:42 PM
Polygamy is common and even honorable.

There, thats better then what I had before.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-12, 11:57 PM
The badger is such a fearsome foe, that most adventurers flee from it on sight.

Only when severely outnumbering the badger, by about 30 epic level characters, does any group of adventurers dare initiate combat with it.

The only monster stronger than the dreaded badger? ...a fluffy white bunny.

Cryopyre
2007-08-13, 12:16 AM
Everyone lives on the outside, and the planet experiences night and day by slowly rotating (so that if a dot were drawn on the inner part of the toroid, it would be on the outer part in 12 hours). Obviously, the only thing that doesn't move is the tower and the city that has the tower, which appears to float on the ground as a boat on water.

This also has an odd look to the horizon, appearing that you've got an arch over you at one point in time, then you're on the edge of a ring, and finally it appears earth-like, but only at night when it can't fully be apreciated.

Following up on the whole rotation thing one would figure that the line drawing the circum. of the outside would be greater than that of the inside, so therefore, as the toroid rotates cracks start appearing. The cracks are of loose earth that suck up stationary objects during the night, so towns are planned to not be built on these appearing cracks.

Fualkner Asiniti
2007-08-13, 12:51 AM
Kobolds can initiate a death charge. This is done by charging into battle, yelling a very convincing battle cry, after which they explode with incredible results.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-13, 12:59 AM
Kobolds can initiate a death charge. This is done by charging into battle, yelling a very convincing battle cry, after which they explode with incredible results.

They explode into candy, specifically.

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-13, 03:44 AM
Following up on the whole rotation thing one would figure that the line drawing the circum. of the outside would be greater than that of the inside, so therefore, as the toroid rotates cracks start appearing. The cracks are of loose earth that suck up stationary objects during the night, so towns are planned to not be built on these appearing cracks.

This whole toroid thing is actually quite an awesome idea!

The citizens also quite like it, having numerous festival days simply for appreciation for the structure of their world.

Unfortunately there was a Tarrask attack during the recent past and the creature took a small bite out of the toroid, leaving it with a half-eaten-donut look.

Ceres
2007-08-13, 06:27 AM
The world is a toriod (donut shape).

The world has a small moon that passes through the donut-hole twice a month, in such a way that its "orbit" is shaped like an "8" :smalltongue:

Emperor Demonking
2007-08-13, 09:02 AM
The reason why the people live on the edges, is because the large top half has an incredible heat and the bottom half is incredibly cold.

Cyrano
2007-08-13, 11:14 AM
Can someone PLEASE explain to me how you got a donut shape without contradicting the previous "Center-of-the-world-machine"?

Gygaxphobia
2007-08-13, 11:27 AM
Good point, but... hollow ring donut? Still possible.

Ceres
2007-08-13, 12:48 PM
Can someone PLEASE explain to me how you got a donut shape without contradicting the previous "Center-of-the-world-machine"?

I'm trying hard to picture it. Trying and failing.

jindra34
2007-08-13, 01:19 PM
Can someone PLEASE explain to me how you got a donut shape without contradicting the previous "Center-of-the-world-machine"?

A toriod does have a center. its just not a part of the object. and i apologize for any minds i have blown.

MostlyHarmless
2007-08-13, 04:25 PM
The city of Lum floats in the center of the toroid, out of phase so that the moon that orbits does not crash into it. The city cannot be seen unless also phase shifted but the light from the tower does shine on both phases of reality. However, when the moon is passing "through the donut", it envelops and conceals the light, shutting the entire planet into darkness.

EDIT: Well, I see I missed some posts that explained the tower. Oh well. Perhaps it's a very large moon that so precisely fits through the hole that buildings over one story tall are all crushed, and giants have to duck (in the darkness of course). All except for the out of phase tower, which merely passes through the inside of the moon.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2007-08-14, 12:06 AM
The tower is suspended by great bridges of stone, and the moon has long since smashed its way through the ones in the way, leaving the rest unharmed, supporting the tower. These bridges are known as "Cheese"

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-14, 12:13 AM
The city of Lum floats in the center of the toroid, out of phase so that the moon that orbits does not crash into it. The city cannot be seen unless also phase shifted but the light from the tower does shine on both phases of reality. However, when the moon is passing "through the donut", it envelops and conceals the light, shutting the entire planet into darkness.

EDIT: Well, I see I missed some posts that explained the tower. Oh well. Perhaps it's a very large moon that so precisely fits through the hole that buildings over one story tall are all crushed, and giants have to duck (in the darkness of course). All except for the out of phase tower, which merely passes through the inside of the moon.

But... how can it be the anarchist capital, if it floats hundreds of miles up in the sky and is also out of phase with reality?

And how can it have any bridges to it, if A) the city is out of phase with reality and B) the moon destroys anything on the toroid that's more than twelve feet tall?

How do giants and lycanthropes survive that? How does any non-flat terrain survive that?

EDIT: If the world has a day-night cycle, does that mean that everything born at night kills its mother and runs away? Considering that the evil darkkids continually lurk in the darkness, does that mean that they are forced to run, nonstop, away from the sunrise, at hundreds of miles an hour?

EDIT EDIT: I really did expect everyone to live on the inside of the toroid, and that the hollow-underdark area was in the center of the donut. Oh well, I guess that sort of thing is inherent to this sort of thread.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-14, 12:20 AM
Allow me to fix your problem, Inyssius.

The universe of our little toroid planet has a distinctly different set of physics than our own that specifically allows a certain level of whackiness that is beyond our petty mortal brain's comprehension. :smallamused:

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-14, 12:27 AM
So... god did it? Bah.

How about this: all darkness, of any kind, forms direct portals to the Plane of Shadow. Even people's shadows.

That fixes one problem, but I just can't see the moon or the bridges.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-14, 12:31 AM
So... god did it? Bah.

How about this: all darkness, of any kind, forms direct portals to the Plane of Shadow. Even people's shadows.

That fixes one problem, but I just can't see the moon or the bridges.

Specifically, the God from the machine did it, if you know your latin. :smallwink:

Cryopyre
2007-08-14, 12:40 AM
EDIT EDIT: I really did expect everyone to live on the inside of the toroid, and that the hollow-underdark area was in the center of the donut. Oh well, I guess that sort of thing is inherent to this sort of thread.
OOC:
Well, I figured, but that seems to cliche (halo, ringworld, dyson sphere)

Inyssius Tor
2007-08-14, 12:53 AM
It is possible to escape from the Plane of Shadow by standing in a real-world shadow and just walking toward the light; unfortunately, finding real-world shadows is almost impossible, governed mostly by chance. It's also possible, though hard, to control any shadow creature that escapes from the darkness via your personal shadow; with training, people can sort of "nudge" shadow creatures toward their shadows.

It isn't nearly as hard to enter the Plane of Shadow.

OOC: Well, I figured that the whole structure was kind of underground, not floating in space.

Emperor Demonking
2007-08-14, 04:23 AM
Underground all stones projest a strong light above ground the property is lost.

deathregis
2007-08-14, 04:40 AM
Makeup is a decadence widely partaken of by the wealthy and powerful. Such powders and creams are made from rare herbs, strange minerals, and the blood of kobold-giants, processed only by mad soulknifes. Naturally, it is extremely expensive. The use of makeup has been condemned by almost every church in the world, though some dark cults wear eyeliner as a wicked sacrement.

In addition to enhancing appearances, makeup gives a constant high to all that wear it. It increases ones physical prowess, and has also been known to improve ones aptitude for magic. However, it can slowly eat away the mind, leaving only violent mindless husks of the zombie people the users once were. Therefore...

Rouge mindless zombie attacks are way to common

Maldraugedhen
2007-08-14, 11:07 AM
Underground all stones project a strong light, aboveground, the property is lost.

This is due to the light-blocking properties of the top scant few inches of topsoil and vegetation. Thus, the brightest regions of the entire world are overfarmed farmlands, quarries, and the tops of the true mountains. This cast light, however, is a dull, diffused light that does not impair normal vision unless focused with lenses.

As an additional side-effect, sieging catapults launching lightly glowing stones is quite an intimidating sight, and makes launching catapults at night to avoid the defenders spotting them is a more fruitless effort.

Emperor Demonking
2007-08-15, 04:02 AM
On the moon are the last living humans, elves, dwarves, orcs and gnomes, each group possessing one spaceship each, getting them from the electrokenetic beings..