The World

[hitogoroshi]

How is there not a thread for this yet?!
...or at least, not an active thread.
Personally, I think I'm reacting in a way The Giant anticipated: I want to do what's he doing, too. I pride myself on avoiding many of the cliche elements of things like this, and making a campaign setting half as great as The World makes me all bubbly inside. :)
[EDIT: And I must say, it seems The Giant has read Guns, Germs, and Steel as well.]

[Need_A_Life]

I must admit that the articles are more than just a little good and I have actually printed the whole thing (along with other articles on the same topic) to help me build my own setting.

The thing I liked most was the Geography part, though, I never was good at drawing convincing maps (probably doesn't help that I use paint, now does it?)

Of course, I tried following the old mantra "whatever you do, always make THREE changes from anything you've seen before", so it's not enough like Rich's conceptual world to be mistaken for it

If you're interested, I have a link: Selarin

Also, get these articles back up and running! Please?

[pestilenceawaits]

I like them as well. I am a geographer in RL and love the idea of using those skills to create a fantasy world were the environment and cultures are also influenced by magic.

[Ironfist Orc]

I just read all ten, and am looking forward to the rest of the series. It's a shame that, inferring from the lack of threads, that more folk aren't reading these. (Or that the discussion threads aren't in the logical place, The Gaming Articles area...) I'd have hoped that each article would have its own thread (ala each episode of OotS.) [Edit: Aha, I see some of the threads have fallen into the mists of time. I'll have to aviod Threadamancy if I see anything commentable.]

Not serious nit-pick: I see the Inuit-type culture has, in their own vernacular, an apostrophe in their name ...

[Fronko]

Not serious nit-pick: I see the Inuit-type culture has, in their own vernacular, an apostrophe in their name ...

Yeah, thats the first thing I noticed about them. However, the giant seems to be enjoying to break any rules he comes across, so why would he stop on his own rules? ;)

Perhaps breaking the rules is inappropriately formulated. Break with any cliches/stereotypes fits better. Anyway, I am sur, you get my point. :)

[Scudboy]

I find myself wondering about the further story behind Garrick the Forger.

Particularly: What happened to his other sons? And if Royce was such a weakling, why didn't more of them break off from the empire or one of them take over from him? Did they all die in his endless wars? Were they all killed off by Royce, who while quiet was sneaky enough to see to his own succession? Was he just infertile, so only Royce (and maybe one or two others) actually survived to adulthood? Or was he as gay as Richard the Lionhearted (true fact), with the same practical results?

Fun reading. How often is it updated?

[hitogoroshi]

Maybe Garrick only had one kid? That'd certainly make sense. I mean, hes spending his whole life winning wars, maybe he was just too busy to bother reproducing multiple times.

[Maltrich]

About the whole apostrophes-in-names thing: what are they for, anyway? The obviously don't represent letters that have been left out (who could tell?), so the only spelling reason I could think of to have them is to represent a sound not occurring in the English language.

This led me to trying to pronounce them as things like clicks or unvoiced glottal stops, which usually just causes me to choke. Does anyone know who started the trend, and what the actual justification was?

[InaVegt]

Well, dutch has a sound not appearing in the english language, sounds a bit like clearing your throat, only much softer.

And if I pronounce it like dutch (spelled this way to keep the english sounds intact) ‘Ajoe Toen-gie’, you get a pretty pronouncable result which still sounds pretty foreign.

[Scudboy]

Maybe Garrick only had one kid? That'd certainly make sense. I mean, hes spending his whole life winning wars, maybe he was just too busy to bother reproducing multiple times.

That's what winter is for, dude. (Plus, have you not heard of the phrase "camp followers"? Though offspring produced in that matter would not be legitimate (assuming Western European-style marriage rules, which seem to be in evidence based on the social backdrop, and which in any case make sense barring magical paternity-testing possibilities, since otherwise inheritance becomes very complicated indeed among the upper classes...)

[Maxymiuk]

About the whole apostrophes-in-names thing: what are they for, anyway? The obviously don't represent letters that have been left out (who could tell?), so the only spelling reason I could think of to have them is to represent a sound not occurring in the English language.

This led me to trying to pronounce them as things like clicks or unvoiced glottal stops, which usually just causes me to choke. Does anyone know who started the trend, and what the actual justification was?

My personal theory is that it's supposed to represent a "hard sign" from the cyrylic alphabet, which in languages such as Russian or Belarussian indicates that the preceding consonant gets a "hard" pronunciation even if it's followed by a vowel.

To port it over to the latin alphabet, it's the difference between pronouncing Drizz't as "Drizeet" (no hard sign) and "Driz-t" (hard sign).

Although I once did read a theory that it may also indicate a sort of clicking sound in the back of your throat, so in this case "Driz-k-t" although when I actually try to pronounce that, I choke.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

I'd like to add my voice to those who find these articles awesome. I think we need more of them. I don't know, maybe The Giant is really busy.

I liked this world. I may someday run a campaign in this setting.

I also created a world once, and ran two games on it. But it lacks this background history and politics. There are just 14 cities, plains, mountains and common geography. Nothing different. But I like it.

[White Blade]

I liked it, and it has been emblazoned upon me ever since. I'd really like to see the rest of the series played out, but I'm fairly sure Rich has better things to do. At least in the opinions of the masses of OOTS fans who haven't read the articles.

[PirateMonk]

With the frequency of comics, writing another will be tricky.

My personal theory is that it's supposed to represent a "hard sign" from the cyrylic alphabet, which in languages such as Russian or Belarussian indicates that the preceding consonant gets a "hard" pronunciation even if it's followed by a vowel.

To port it over to the latin alphabet, it's the difference between pronouncing Drizz't as "Drizeet" (no hard sign) and "Driz-t" (hard sign).

Although I once did read a theory that it may also indicate a sort of clicking sound in the back of your throat, so in this case "Driz-k-t" although when I actually try to pronounce that, I choke.

Why spell it Drizz't at all, though?

[Praesidium]

My personal theory is that it's supposed to represent a "hard sign" from the cyrylic alphabet, which in languages such as Russian or Belarussian indicates that the preceding consonant gets a "hard" pronunciation even if it's followed by a vowel.

To port it over to the latin alphabet, it's the difference between pronouncing Drizz't as "Drizeet" (no hard sign) and "Driz-t" (hard sign).

Although I once did read a theory that it may also indicate a sort of clicking sound in the back of your throat, so in this case "Driz-k-t" although when I actually try to pronounce that, I choke.

While I believe Drizz't is pronounced with some form of close vowel between the z and t, the apostrophe is just an example of an attempt to make it look exotic, actual apostrophes as letters in Latin orthography are generally glottal stops, which is essentially the sound centered in the word "uh-oh" (to use wikipedia's example), however, Inuit orthography doesn't use apostrophes to show glottal stops, in the few dialects that use them it's generally a 'q'. Hawaian, however, uses apostrophes to represent glottal stops, as does Arabic's Latin orthography.

[Cobra]

I sure wish the Giant would get around to finishing up his world building. Personally I think its one of the most interesting sections of the site.

[Fireball.Man.Guy.]

I think apostrophes represent pauses. Thus, you chand Drizz't from Drissed in 1 sylable and Driz-it.

[karmuno]

Those articles truly inspired me to start creating a world of my own (key word "start"). While it wasn't my first attempt, it seemed the most focused and by far the most interesting fantasy setting I've made (nevermind the fact that it's, you know, unfinished).

It would be awesome if he brought back the series. But we'd need some object of infinite power to make that dream a reality. Some artifact whose properties make it difficult, nay, impossible, to ignore. We need... a petition!

[Phoenix Talion]

I like the world articles, they helped me a lot, especially with maps, which are my weak point.

Also, I have to say it. There is no apostrophe in Drizzt.

[kimnor2]

I sure wish the Giant would get around to finishing up his world building. Personally I think its one of the most interesting sections of the site.

I second that.

[DraPrime]

I second that.

I third it.

[TheNovak]

Fourthed. It's really, really good stuff, Giant; I'd like to see some of your adaptations from the d20 Modern system, too.

[magnar]

Fifthed (quintled?). I love these articles. Great stuff. I've even been inspired to try making a world of my own.

[Raveler1]

The other possibility regarding apostrophes is that they're there to indicate that there are two consonants that are not normally pronounced together in english, but are in this word. So Drizz't could be spelled "Drizzt" (which is EXTREMELY hard to say if you use the German pronounciation of z, "ts"). I think this is the likeliest explanation in the case of Drizz't, but in many words I know it also represents the glottal stop.

I ran across this usage in a Tom Swift book, waaaay back in the day. Tom meets an alien named M'na, who he calls "Mina" because he can't prounounce her name otherwise. Likewise, her first attempts at his name are "T'm" and "T''M", which sounds much more like Tim than Tom. [/annecdote]

[i.jason]

Indeed. After the comics themselves, the world building and enemy building workshops are my favorite things about the site.

[PirateMonk]

The other possibility regarding apostrophes is that they're there to indicate that there are two consonants that are not normally pronounced together in english, but are in this word. So Drizz't could be spelled "Drizzt" (which is EXTREMELY hard to say if you use the German pronounciation of z, "ts"). I think this is the likeliest explanation in the case of Drizz't, but in many words I know it also represents the glottal stop.

It is spelled Drizzt. According to someone over on gaming, clone players added the apostrophe to make it seem more exotic, and since more people have encountered or heard about the clones than have read the books, it's used much too often.

[scurvy_pirate43]

I've been reading the comic for months now and only just now decided to read about the world. I read the first article and then found myself unable to stop reading. This is great stuff. When was the last one written?

[mrocktor]

Far too long ago! <lapses into uncontrollable shaking>

[allahsavatar]

Not to make another "Me too" post, but maybe if enough people comment on how interesting and helpful these articles are, he might come back to them. Then again, maybe he's just too busy with other things.

[hitogoroshi]

Yeah seriously what the heck rich.