[note]By the by, I am formerly Xathan, and if you donâ,¬,,¢t get the reference of my current name, you really need read more.[/note]Hello, my fellow CBGians! (CBGers?) Iâ,¬,,¢m finally back to normal usage, though I wonâ,¬,,¢t be able to get on AIM regularly until Friday, when I go back to school. The purpose of this thread is twofold. One, I want to show off some of the ideas I have been playing with, and two, I want people to let me know what they have been creatively up to, so I can go and look at it. Iâ,¬,,¢ve been gone for awhile, and I do apologize, but I intend on getting back in fully swing finally. So, post on this thread links to things you want me to look at â,¬' Iâ,¬,,¢m working a four hour shift tomorrow with nothing to do, and I plan on printing out bits of settings to review to fill the time. I have about four of these shifts coming up, so anything to do during them is most welcome.
Now, for the spoilers of what I have in the works: Iâ,¬,,¢ve been a very busy beaver, and as always, I am a complete and total whore for feedback, so any thoughts, even a simple â,¬Ëlooks goodâ,¬,,¢ will be welcome, and all of these will fall under the â,¬Å"Review Reciprocation Policyâ,¬Â, a fancy name that basically means anytime anyone reviews something of mine, I will review something of theirs, doing my best to make my review around the same total length as your review of my stuff is. If you have something specific in mind, then I will happily review that â,¬' if not, Iâ,¬,,¢ll just review something random, most likely your most recently updated thread. Iâ,¬,,¢ll still review other things, of course, but if you want a guaranteed review, then review some of my stuff and Iâ,¬,,¢ll happily return the favor.
[spoiler=Ifworlds]
The Ifworlds series will be applying a very simple question to Earth, both present and future: What if. Here are some settings I have already in progress:
What if Hitler had waited another five or ten years before starting WWII? What the natives of the Americas had been more technologically advanced? What if humans had evolved alongside dinosaurs? What if there had been other intelligent native species on Earths? What if there was another habitable planet within our solar system? What if extraterrestrials conquered Earth halfway through the Middle Ages? What if Rome had never fallen? What if there was an 8th continent?
All of these are ideas Iâ,¬,,¢m working on, and more. They will all fall within the Ifworld series of worlds, all will be made without rules in mind but will be easily used with the d20 modern system OR the World of Darkness core rulebook, and all these worlds will be between five and fifteen pages in Microsoft Word. I am making these small â,¬' just enough detail to flesh out the world, and thatâ,¬,,¢s all. They will be written like encyclopedia entries, and will contain enough information for a game, a novel, or anything else to take place in the world, as long as the DM or Storyteller does the work of fleshing out the little details. If there is a large amount of interest in a single world, then I will happily flesh it out further, but these are ideally going to be projects that I can finish within a day, a week at most: perfect for my erratic attention span. Some Ifworlds will have fantasy elements, but they will still be based off of Earth.
The Ifworlds are going to try to be as historically logical as possible, so if you notice errors in them, please point them out. (i.e. having the wrong King in the wrong era, or grossly misrepresenting the way a historical figure would have acted, or even any suppositions that you just find to be totally impossible given the premise of the world. Iâ,¬,,¢m going to avoid initially combining multiple ifs â,¬' an Ifworld will for now have a single point of deviation from our timeline, and everything else will change because of that if. (So I wonâ,¬,,¢t do a world that asks â,¬Å"What if the region that is now the USA had remained in British controlâ,¬Â AND â,¬Å"What if aliens life forms landed on Earth in the 1920s.â,¬Â)[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Aelithia]
An old name for a new setting, Aelithia is going to be my fantasy setting. Singular. I am officially discontinuing all existing fantasy settings, though if you reviewed those previous settings, donâ,¬,,¢t worry: I am going to be cannibalizing them for ideas. And, furthermore, with one notable exception, Aelithia is going to be the last new setting I release until Aelithia is written well enough to finish it. No more new pure fantasy settings for me, period. Besides my own settings, Aelithia will draw inspiration from all forms of media: look for ideas inspired by: Diablo, H.P. Lovecraft, The Discworld series, random webcomics, [note]Despite the Discworld and Webcomic influence, Aelithia will have a serious overall tone.[/note] with a healthy dose of my own original content made especially for this new setting. Iâ,¬,,¢m not unveiling much more about it yet, not until I get the big thread up.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Supermodern]
After reading some wonderful comic book material over the past three-four months, Iâ,¬,,¢m going to pick up Supermodern again, and from it create a rich superhero world, from which I intend on spinning multiple alternate universes in true comic book fashion. Things to look forward to:
Heroes and Villains! A whole slew of new heroes and villains, many of the legacies of other greats, as well as an expansion of my existing cast.
Aliens galore! Over 14 Alien races, complete with templates for Mutants and Masterminds 2.0 and racial histories.
A whole Multiverse to explore! Outlining the cosmology of the Supermodern universe!
AND MORE![/spoiler]
I also have one project that is so secret, I canâ,¬,,¢t let my own eyes see it or my own fingers type it, but trust me: It will be awesome. Only thing I can say is, it is the one exception to my no more fantasy settings rule, but itâ,¬,,¢s worth it. Iâ,¬,,¢ll have some parts of an Ifworld up as well as the Aelithia main thread as soon as possible: for now, feel free to comment on the Ifworld ideas, or on Supermodern (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?18973.post).
Enjoy, and show me what you have!
Xathan
EDIT: I understand it's actually Guildonians. Thanks for the info, ElDo.
just to remind you: couatl stats. if you want, though, you can feel free to ask around and see if anybody else would be willing to pick up where you left off. like i said when you started, time isn't exactly a big issue on this.
The Ifworlds series looks quite interesting. There are so many possibilities there...
Maybe Mars could be that other planet in the solar system that was habitable, or even Venus. I have some more floating around in my head that i'll be happy to contribute.
I can't wait to see what becomes of all three.
For all the new(er) members, Xathan has requested that I spin a tale of his exploits. So sit down on the rug by the fire, but not too close, and prepare to hear a tale of one lonely lurker finding home.
Xathan joined the forums like everyone else, and quickly rose through the ranks with his nonsensical postings and intellectual thoughts finding their way into many threads in massive quantities. At one time, he was the first member-moderator of the CBG, i.e. he was promoted and not granted power at the creation of the Guild forum. Forced to resign because of the devilish monstrosity known as real life, he left on a mysterious journey into the mountains of "Hiatus".
Returning once again with settings galore, because all he ever seems to do is make more worlds, joy was felt throughout the entire guild. However, due to conspiracies of an unknown nature, his internet access has been erratic and fairly non-productive since.
However, he has once again returned to our fair guild, and I am sure we all wait with baited breath for the resumed posting of our long-time faithul member - Xathan, Last of the Fallen, Captain Redclaw, Hobo Alchemist, and many other titles to come. Welcome back comrade, and let's see some reviews!
Ok, now that that's over with, you have new settings...
Ifworlds: Personally not my thing, and very comic-bookish, I'll make an effort to read them anyway. Although alternate realities are fun and all, I am of the opinion that a bunch of them in tiny Word documents is much less productive and entertaining than an afternoon spent pondering with an intellectual friend. However, as always, I reserve judgment until I see the final product of your work.
Aelithia: I am impressed by your grand intentions, and cannibalizing old worlds is always a good idea. However, does this mean the end of Sooth (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?8283.post)? It was a great thing, and it seems a shame to discontinue it... I'm sure a betting pool will materialize somewhere on how long you can restrain ourself from making another fantasy setting, but I can say I'll be on your side laughing when the nay-sayers are left to pay up.
Supermodern: Cosmologies? Awesome! Alternate Realities? Cool! Aliens and Superfolk? W00tness! I can wait, and with the growing number of M&M owners on the boards, I'm sure others can't either.
What I've been up to...
Well, Hubris cracked and fell apart, but as a phoenix, my new setting (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24196.post) has risen from the ashes. I'm sure you'll check it out when you get the time.
Also, you should check out the Review Badges (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?22227.post) thread. It'd be really cool to give your new settings some bling. ;)
This thread poses an interesting question.
What the heck HAVE I been up to?
x. :question: :poke:
Hey, Xathan's back! :yumm:
Xathan, it seems I owe you numerous old Showcase review for settings as recent as Supermodern and Sreth, and as old as Datrik and Thaedra. I've been avoiding reviewing any of your stuff because I don't know what is and isn't current anymore, and I'd rather give you useful comments than review things you may have lost interest in.
In essence, let me know what you most strongly desire to have read, and I'll follow your suggestions.
Oh, and WELCOME BACK.
@sdragon: I'll get to work on those once I get back to school, all my files are still there. No promise on when I'll get it to you, but don't worry - I haven't forgotten.
@Realm Weaver: I thought about making Mars habitable, but that has been done so often and done so often well, that I'm shaky on doing it myself and still being original. Venus would be interesting, though it's hard reconciling it's location and temperature with organic, carbon-based life. (changing Venus' atmosphere would work, perhaps...)
I think I'll make the Ifworlds, once I get a few done myself, open to anyone to make a setting and call it an Ifworld, so long as you follow some sort of template/format/guideline or something.
@Crit: An excellent summation, and I do thank you. :)
The Ifworlds are admittedly not for everyone, but I do hope you enjoy. The format is something necessary for me: my attention span with real world related material is even shorter than with fantasy, and I have tons of ideas I want to use.
Sooth is the hardest setting to give up, especially since it has the least amount of useable material for Aelithia. I may have to keep it open and updating, but if I do post there, it won't be for quite some time (ideally, at least). I know I've said "This is it" before, but I've been playing with the idea of Aelithia in my head for two months now, with minimal other ideas, so I think this may indeed, be it.
Supermodern: Glad you like, and I hope I don't disappoint!
I'll definitely check out your new setting and get to those long awaited emails tomorrow, so fear not. :P
@ElDo: An excellent question, one I do believe only you and the man I have hired to watch you can answer.
@LC: It is good to be back, Sir Drawing Wax of Illumination. As for those old reviews: I appreciate it, and would love you to review Supermodern, since that's the one I still am going to be active with. I will eventually, at some point, go back to my old settings, and when I do, I'd love it if you would review them. If you want to review something else of mine...just wait for my new stuff to come out. :D
Thank you, and it's good to be back, Radiant Colored Illustrating Implement. :)
Quote from: Natural 20What I've been up to...
Well, Hubris cracked and fell apart, but as a phoenix, my new setting (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24196.post) has risen from the ashes. I'm sure you'll check it out when you get the time.
Ah, well I'm flattered...
Welcome back Xathan!
My newest and only current project has been revisiting Kishar (http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?23055.last) with some fresh perspective. I'd be interested in your thoughts.
Your ideas for Aelithia sound great, so I'll be sure to watch and see when you have more on that.
Thanks, Phoenix. congrats on the silver Tortise, and great job with the hosted site. I think I may use it for Aelithia, if I can pull off something like that.
It seems my home internet still hates me, so I'll start offically posting again come the 12th, when I'm back to school. *kicks home computers*
XATHAN!!!!!! (you threw me with the name change. I only realized it when I was looking through some of my sent PM's and the ones I sent you had a strange name next to it)
What have I been up to? (Almost) Absolutely nothing. I think I added some stuff to my setting. (which I can't even remember the correct name for right now something like Advera. Its been a while since I've touched it.)
Ifworlds: Where do you get the names for your settings? :P Skimmed through it and it sounds like an interesting (and fun idea).
Aelithia: Bbbbbut, but, but *sniff* no more Pirates? *Cries*. Sigh, I suppose I will have to read this one since there isn't going to be anymore updates to the other settings. *sniff* :( *in a weak voice* Pirates... *sniff*.
:P
Supermodern: Hey now that I have M&M, I may be able to comment on this setting as well. With your Review Reciprocation Policy, I suppose I will have to get to work again. (but I am soooo lazy)
Sorry, no Pirates. I'll eventually probably revisit everything, but I have to focus on one thing right now.
I look forward to A) seeing more of you stuff and B) seeing your reviews on Supermodern and Aelithia (once I post it) :D