The Campaign Builder's Guild

NOTE: Readers will probably get more out of this thread by starting at the bottom than the top.


Travel method: Fluctuations in gravity fields creates holes in the fabric of space that cross the universe.......or dimensions (no one knows which!).  These holes aren't always open and must be coaxed to do so (though occasionally they manage it on their own), though it's a bit dangerous to keep them open.  Holes will only open near significant sources of gravity (i.e. at least a medium-sized moon), and only in certain spots, but there are methods for determining which exit the hole opens to.  Interesting thing: it's easier for holes to open nearer to the center of the gravity, but the further from the center the larger the hole can be.

UPDATE: The holes have been formally named "rifts".

The natural way for the holes to work is to only open to one place at each end. You cross through and you're there. Then to get even further you have to find a new hole that goes to another place'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦etc. until you end up where you want to be.

Opening the holes depends on how sensitive they are to interaction with their warped spacetime. Most holes will respond to being "fed" the right kinds of energy, possibly opening because the energy allows them to fuel whatever force keeps them in that state. However some holes seem to be so sensitive that any reasonably solid matter either brushing up against the hole or in some cases just moving near the hole triggers this response'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦and often triggers an additional "suction" force drawing the matter in. Scientists speculate that these extra-sensitive holes may be responding to the increased distortion of gravity cause by the denser nature of solid matter. Unfortunately/fortunately these sorts of holes are rare and in hard-to-find places.

As to changing where a hole leads: It's been known to happen naturally in a few holes where one end of the pair is not fascened, and that one end jumps around destinations. It is possible to duplicate this phenomenon a few different ways, most reliably with application of a rare form of spacetime energy. However many people believe that this is a dangerous idea, worried that once an end is moved from its natural spot it will become permanently unattached and too erratic for travel in either direction. In fact fringe theories hold that this is what happened to the Ancient Ones when they tried to create a quick method for traversing the cosmos (and consequently made their planet the epicenter of every Lost Land myth).

UPDATE 2: How to Alter Physics and All That Jazz
There are no "magics" or "psychics/psionics" or any sort of "divine/spirit" powers in this setting.  However "special powers" do exist in this universe, and are scientific at their core, but are not well understood.
One example is "spirits" or "programs": living energy patterns existing coiled up in the extra dimensions proposed by string theory, able to respond to material beings' requests to alter reality.
Another is less well understood: the ability to cause fluctuations in the spacetime continuum.  This appears to be a rather unsubtle ability, mostly useful for transportation.

ORIGINAL POST: First interesting thing this means is that civilizations can make contact with each other even if they lack spaceflight technology.  All they need is a way to make the holes open.  Fortunately reality-altering powers exist in forms that can be used for this purpose, and while some are technologically-based enough aren't.

So in the end you can end up with the sort of galaxy-spanning civilization you see in so much sci-fi but without bringing the middle-man of deep space into it.

Notes: Panian: Essentially means the same thing as our word "humanoid", except it isn't based upon referring to one species and thus is not considered specist.  When referring to human-like head/facial features the word hominid is used.
Regarding references to personality: I'm not going for the "one species, one outlook" trope.  What I say about a species' personality is just a very broad generalization.
On hybrids: Hybrids between species happen.  Unfortunately the relative chances of success are difficult to predict, even disregarding the influence of '" powers.

Tek: Panians with feline features blended into a hominid face.  Compared to humans the most striking differences are the feline ears, the tail, and the coat of crowded, short fur that sometimes leaves observers with the impression that tek simply have colored/patterned skin.  In terms of the face it is mostly hominid, but with a feline nose, thinner lips, and in some cases a slight projection of the mouth area.  Many tek grow longer fur from their heads, similar to human hair, but some cannot and the difference is due to regional genetic groups.  Said groups are also responsible for the different fur colors/patterns.  Tek range in height from 5 to 7 feet, and walk on plantigrade feet with four same-sized toes.  Despite their feline features tek are not especially carnivorous.  Tek become sexually mature at around 15 standard years and usually live and average of 200.
Tek have often been at the forefront, or backers, of many interplanetary processes including scientific and sociological development and exploration of new planets and contact of new cultures, both currently and in the past.  The tek are also prominent in interplanetary history and society for another reason: the total tek species has no one homeworld currently, instead occupying many far flung planets among the cosmos.  This has led some to speculate that the tek have some special relationship to the ancient civilization that left artifacts lying across most of known space.

Gekkani: It is said that they gekkani are what the tek would have been like if the tek had been descended from a much smaller species.  In this case the species is lapine: long, lens-shaped ears, short, triangular tails, and a slightly different shape to the nose.  The rest of their features match those of the tek.  While they mature a bit faster (around 12) unfortunately they also have a shorter lifespan, usually expiring around 100.

Maicoh: Canine panians.  Their heads are very much canine, though with more forward-facing eyes and having molar-like teeth.  Their whole bodies are covered in fur except for the pads on their four-digit hands and digigrade feet.  Colors are generally browns, golds, black, grey, or white.  Only the females grow longer fur on the head.  They are not exclusively carnivorous.  Their sexual maturation can actually vary wildly, between 10-20 for the extremes, but they average out more to 200 for lifespan.
Maicoh are rare among the inhabitants of the multiverse in that every member of their species possesses some form of Alter/Summon power.  The manifestation and strength vary between individuals, with members of bloodlines having a greater chance of inheriting similar abilities.

Koryuu: In outward appearance no different from small, rodent-hunting felines, the koryuu are in fact fully sentient.  In addition that have a very unique ability: despite their bodies seeming more appropriately suited to four-legged existence they function quite well moving about on two and using their paws as hands.  Of course it helps that many koryuu posses Summon powers, though some of their cultures are well-known for brain-affecting Alter powers.  In coloration and appearance koryuu vary widely, with furless to long-furred varieties in many shades and patterns of black, white, brown, orange, and grey.  They become sexually mature at 16, but can live for up to a surprising 400 years.

Cenan: Hexapedal cervines with the portion of the body forward of the second pair of legs resting upright.  This foreward torso is panian while the head is still cervine, though about half as long.  Nearly all have the same coloration: brown, with a cream chest and underbelly.  Mature at 12, max around 120.

Kellen: Furless hominid panians, but possessing multiple vulpine tails.  Their ears, while located on the sides of their heads, are pointed, and some individuals develop fur on these.  Certain bloodlines are well-known for having Alter-Summon powers.  Mature at 15, max around 120.

Atausiqa: Dwarf equines, standing no more than 3 ft high at the shoulder having less knobby legs and slightly shorter (some would say more primitive-looking) heads than most equines, with a single horn in on the forehead.  They use that horn as the antenna for their communication Alter powers.  Their lifecycle is quite long, maturing at nearly 70 standard years and surviving well over 1,000.

Heyaafoura: A very unique species resembling mantid insects, heyaafoura are not in fact biological organisms.  Though their bodies mimic biological functions there non-bio nature can be seen in their ability to upgrade via modular parts.
The basic form of a heyaafoura is a nearly rectangular semi-chitonous torso, with appendages at each corner and one pair in the middle.  The legs each have two normal joints and one "wrist" joint, plus a "hand" with an average of six finger-like claws.  Their heads are triangular with the point toward the jawed mouth and large eyes at the other points.  They do not possess any form of antenna.
All other aspects of heyaafoura appearance depend upon what parts they have on their bodies: they can be large and hulking or smaller and thin; they may utilize four of their appendages as legs or only two; color can vary, but is usually either a sandy gold or dark blue-grey.  The parts are easy to deal with: the heyaafoura enters a "trance"  and then can just tug out a part and place in a new one.  The only limitation to this procedure is that the brain of the individual is unreplaceable.
Heyaafoura reproduction is surprisingly simple method given their "biology": each mating individual, and there can be more than one, produces a "seed part" which can then be attached together and grow into a new heyaafoura.

Guruwe: Porcine panians.  In addition to the porcine snout and floppy ears their heads and faces are wider and less tall than standard hominid.  The fingers of their hands from the last joint are covered in horn.  Their feet are plantigrade and they have four toes, but unlike the tek and gekkani their toes are graded from largest to smallest starting on the inside.  They also have no tail.  While their skin is smooth and hairless it is reasonably thick and protective.  In fact all parts of the guruwe body are quite tough, especially their strong stomachs that allow them digest many foods that would at least sicken other species.  Their hardy bodies give them long lifespans, easily pushing 300 years.  They are normally considered adults at around 15.

Etau and Omoachel: A startling case of sexual dimorphism, what appears at first to be one species of males and one of females is actually the different genders of only a single one.
Etau are chimeric panians whose scale-covered lithe bodies seem reptilian but their heads more a mixture of cervine and lupine: they have a defined stop to the nose bridge and muzzle that smoothly tapers just slightly toward the end, but the nostrils flare and the ears become tubular before entering the body.  Unlike reptiles Etau grow hair, copious amount in fact, including facial hair and a a tuft on the end of the tail in adults.  In addition they also grow antler-like horns from near the ears.  The scales covering their bodies more resemble fish than reptile.  Their most common colors are brown, green, blue, and white.
Omoachel are much simpler, being avian panians with scaled hands and feet and wings growing from a third pair of limbs on the back.  Their beaks are small and point forward, but the upper beak curves down toward the front.  Both their feet and hands have three main digits and one opposable.  Their tail feathers grow into a long fan that can be raised.  Their colors are usually gold, red, orange, yellow, and blond.
Both sexes mature at 80 and can live to be nearly 1,000 years old.

Feel free to comment.

Do the Tek/Gekkani walk on their toes like cats?

Also, are you planning on including any reptilian/amphibious/marine species?  Or will the species be very strictly mammalian?

Any special reasoning behind the word Panian? Or did you just pick it randomly?

Quote from: SteerpikeDo the Tek/Gekkani walk on their toes like cats?

D'oh!  x.

Quote from: SteerpikeAlso, are you planning on including any reptilian/amphibious/marine species?  Or will the species be very strictly mammalian?

I'm not entirely certain.

The main issue I have when designing a race/species is that if I want to use them regularly I have to like the way they look.  For humanoids that means they generally are mammalian or have significant mammalian body-parts (such as griffins).  Reptilian/amphibian/fish/etc. don't lend themselves well to anthro-ization and if done they work better as something more non-human and fancifal (such as reptiles becoming a dragon).

I think it's got a lot to do with the head: certain mammal species have heads and facial features that are much more compelling than others.  Reptiles/etc. heads loose out on this and thus are just very hard to keep focus on and in turn make any species derived from them difficult to feel like interacting with (the exception seems to be insect species with jaws: e.g. ants, mantids, beetles).  So if I make a reptilian/etc. species I might still have to give it a head similar in form to one of the compelling mammalian species if I wanted it to keep my interest.

(Also I get a lot of my inspiration for this angle from pictures created by the furry fandom, which is very lopsided in favor of mammals and even certain mammals at that.)

Quote from: LlumAny special reasoning behind the word Panian? Or did you just pick it randomly?

There's an interesting story: I have a book that at one point argues that humans aren't really "wise man" (homo sapien) but should really be considered the "storytelling ape" (pan narrans).  Since pan is the genus of our closest genetic relative, the chimps, and using it links us with them, I decided that it made an interesting statement to use it to refer to something "humanoid".

How are these crossings done, and how is it determined where they lead out.

Or:

How do you dial and engage the stargates? :)

Quote from: Stargate525How are these crossings done, and how is it determined where they lead out. Or: How do you dial and engage the stargates? :)

The natural way for the holes to work is to only open to one place at each end.  You cross through and you're there.  Then to get even further you have to find a new hole that goes to another place'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦etc. until you end up where you want to be.

Opening the holes depends on how sensitive they are to interaction with their warped spacetime.  Most holes will respond to being "fed" the right kinds of energy, possibly opening because the energy allows them to fuel whatever force keeps them in that state.  However some holes seem to be so sensitive that any reasonably solid matter either brushing up against the hole or in some cases just moving near the hole triggers this response'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦'¦and often triggers an additional "suction" force drawing the matter in.  Scientists speculate that these extra-sensitive holes may be responding to the increased distortion of gravity cause by the denser nature of solid matter.  Unfortunately/fortunately these sorts of holes are rare and in hard-to-find places.

As to changing where a hole leads: It's been known to happen naturally in a few holes where one end of the pair is not fascened, and that one end jumps around destinations.  It is possible to duplicate this phenomenon a few different ways, most reliably with application of a rare form of spacetime energy.  However many people believe that this is a dangerous idea, worried that once an end is moved from its natural spot it will become permanently unattached and too erratic for travel in either direction.  In fact fringe theories hold that this is what happened to the Ancient Ones when they tried to create a quick method for traversing the cosmos (and consequently made their planet the epicenter of every Lost Land myth).

And at this time I'm going to formally name the holes "rifts" because it just sounds better.

The Systems United Nexus (aka SUN): ("Nexus" in this case is a word used to describe a group of worlds connected by rifts.)  The largest and most famous government in the Known Regions, encompassing hundreds of native and colonized planets.  It is a full-sufferage representative democracy with constitutional articles guaranteeing freedoms of speech, religion, and political assembly, and barring public policies based upon intolerance of species, culture, religion, or non-harmful choice in sexual partners.  Though it has a military they are primarily a self-defense force.  Since the SUN also lies next to the Frontier it is the focal point of most efforts to investigate and utilize that region.

Princess Ouchan: Third generation of a royal family in exile from their home planet in the Frontier.  Unlike most of her relatives and their retainers she has no desire to see her family restored to the throne and instead just wishes to be a normal teenager.  Unfortunately at the moment she is too afraid of her family's reaction, and continues to act as if her "royal station" is all-important to her.  Species: To be written.

Doc Hazard: "The Walking Disaster".  A loser from 1940s Earth accidentaly transported into the greater cosmos.  Finding himself in  a world resembling pulps and movie serials he fashioned himself a "scientific adventurer" and set about fighting injustice and trying to find a way home.  An accident-prone buffoon, his greatest success has always come about either because his bad luck rubs off on the bad guy, or because his retinue of loyal "Science Rangers" has done all the work.  Despite this reputation he is genuinely viewed as a champion against tyranny.  Species: Human, though if anyone from Earth knew they'd ask why he hasn't aged.

Evil Emperor Thanos: The Doc's arch-enemy, a cunning mastermind even if he always overestimates his intelligence.  Fortunately wherever Thanos shows up to seize power that infernal Doc Hazard and his meddling Science Rangers are never far behind.  Thanos is quite certain that the Doc is the only one in existence with skills to match himself.  Species: (TBD).
Thanos never caries out an evil scheme without his standard group of henchmen:
* One femme fatal personal assistant who inexplicably falls for Doc Hazard.
* One brutish lieutenant who's so dumb that a dress and a long-haired wig convinces him that the wearer is female.
* One small yet brainy lieutenant with shifty eyes who's job it is to yell at the troops if Thanos isn't there to do it and to constantly plot to overthrow Thanos.
* One seemingly endless supply of themed warrior-mooks who have face-obscuring helmets.

Ixator's Discount Villain Supplies: "Ixator's, where you always know what to buy because it's the same stuff you bought last time!
Ixator's is not responsible for any failure of our merchandise due to the cleverness and/or incompetence of a plucky/ragtag (band of) hero(es) and/or your own minions even if you bought them at Ixator's."
Ixator's appears to be a multidimensional service  catering exclusively to the basic needs of villains: elaborate costumes, showy gadgets, fully-stocked lairs in out-of-the-way places, even henchmen and mooks.  Villain's never have to seek out Ixator's: if they are suitably villainous a salesthing from Ixator's just shows up to present a selection of merchandise and take orders.  Oddly no money has ever changed hands in these sales, leading many to wonder what exactly it is that Ixator's takes as payment.
Non-villains are acquainted with Ixator's through the distinctive logo stamped somewhere on all their products: a large, painfully obvious red circle with the words "Do Not Push" written on it in a selection of regional languages.

"Big Boss": Most mob bosses you see aren't the physically toughest people.  You can tell because they always have someone whose body language says "I break people for a living".  Not Big Boss: he's got the brains, he's got the charisma, and he's 8 ft of pure muscle and hide.  When he goes out he's surrounded by people whose body language says "I'm payed to stay out of the way and clean up afterwards".

[blockquote=Goons]One seemingly endless supply of themed warrior-mooks who have face-obscuring helmets. [/blockquote]

Ahhh... these are the guys I was looking for!

Quote from: Steerpike[blockquote=Goons]One seemingly endless supply of themed warrior-mooks who have face-obscuring helmets. [/blockquote]

Ahhh... these are the guys I was looking for!

You can get all this and more, at Ixator's Discount Villain Supplies!  Ixator's, where you always know what to buy because it's the same stuff you bought last time!

Ixator's is not responsible for any failure of our merchandise due to the cleverness and/or incompetence of a plucky/ragtag (band of) hero(es) and/or your own minions even if you bought them at Ixator's.

(No, seriously, there really is a Discount Villain Supplies store.)

So I take it this is supposed to be a fairly light-hearted style of game.

I get the feeling it's meant to hover on the edge of wacky but rarely devolve into all-out slapstick... but that's just my impression, Silvercat probably has a much clearer idea about the tone of the setting, of course.

Let's put it this way: dark stuff causes me to get confused.  I'm not totally sure why, the discovery process is still ongoing.  Possibly it just requires brainpower I don't have to spare.  Thus I do light-hearted stuff because I can manage it.  In terms of how comedic it is I'd say it could get slapstick if the right opportunity came up, but it's easier to set a whacky scene and then wait for the right opening then to completely mess everything up trying to get that one specific joke you wanted out.  It's the most important thing I've learned about collaborative comedy.

Also I should note that what you've seen so far isn't one setting: it's a metasetting, designed to fit whatever genre (except space opera, no real loss) I feel like using and the reasoning behind transitioning from one to another in-game should my tastes change.  The metasetting is a toolkit with which I can build worlds.

How to Alter Physics and All That Jazz
There are no "magics" or "psychics/psionics" or any sort of "divine/spirit" powers in this setting.  What does exist are two kinds of reality-bending forces.  The first is known as Alter, which can change the state of the superstrings that make up matter and energy (String Theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Theory) in case you haven't heard about it).  The second is Summon, which warps spacetime to change the positions of things.  Used together these two forces can account for all known "special powers" existent in the cosmos.

Heh, sounds like TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage?from=Main.Main) would be a goldmine of inspiration for something like this.
[spoiler](Warning: TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife).)[/spoiler]

If you're going to do this as a metasetting, then it might be a good idea to keep it as generic as possible. Stuff like NPCs and even races may be better kept in the realm of the settings proper. Keeping world-related things in separate threads would avoid confusion. Just some food for thought :)

Quote from: GhostmanIf you're going to do this as a metasetting, then it might be a good idea to keep it as generic as possible. Stuff like NPCs and even races may be better kept in the realm of the settings proper. Keeping world-related things in separate threads would avoid confusion. Just some food for thought :)

NPCs are here in case I need something to do when I'm stuck on anything else.  (as suggested by Vreeg on the Creativity Malaise thread)

Was metasetting the wrong word?  Because I thought it meant "the big overarching setting into which are the smaller settings fit".  That's how I've been using it.  So everything (except for the NPCs) is already intended for multiple kinds of settings.  But they aren't intended to be completely generic: all the elements mentioned are tied in to the larger setting, and by there existence in multiple places support a view of the smaller settings and being interconnected.  So if I set up a single fantasy world and then feature gekkani then you the player understand that there's got to be a connection to the larger world and that makes the place feel more open.

Ah, so all the settings are connected via the metasetting. Then it makes sense that races and such are shared.

Campaign points are the smaller settings within the metasetting.  Note: This also includes historical periods.

Gateway, City on the Edge of Everywhere
A futuristic city that sits at the crossroads between the Known Regions and the Frontier.

Frontier
The multiverse lying between the Known Regions and Unknown Country, a place still full of secrets where colonies are established and new civilization are contacted.

Chaos Rim
Region of the Frontier where the tech is antiquated, the environments dangerous, the secrets well hidden, the villains power-hungry maniacs, and the heroes always willing to risk danger.

The Gatelands
Connected worlds, at the farthest part of the Frontier, where "magic" and swords still rule.

Chaos Rim sounds pretty awesome.  I love frontiers and that whole dynamic of "Safe"(Gateway)/Dangerous.  Very cool.

Quote from: SteerpikeI love frontiers and that whole dynamic of "Safe"(Gateway)/Dangerous.

Yeah, I really feel that a setting needs places which you don't know much about so that there is an easy source of new things to base plots around.  At the same time I feel lost without the grandness and variety (not to mention relative security) you find in a city.  So a city right at the border allows me to have all those elements plus I can have PCs nip out into the frontier for a change of pace.

Also gives you a handy "prize," a place to be coveted by villains and defended by heroes; and because of their size they're an essentially endless NPC/plot factory.

Deleted section.

I've updated the Species section with Maicoh, Koryuu, Cenan, Kellen, Atausiqa, and Heyaafoura.  Organizations now includes the government for the Gateway area of space, the SUN.

If no one has any question or needs clarification I'm going to move on to whatever my next project happens to be.

...So are you saying the setting is as finished as you need it to be or you're just bored with it or you'll come back to it at some point in the future, perhaps?

I love the Heyaafoura and I'm curious about the culture and racial politics of the Dream... are Panians all regarded similarly or are there some species that despise ech other, or are there racially informed cultures, or is everything just totally culturally anarchic (which in itself could be really cool!).

I'd be sad if we got no more of the Dream.  I do hope my interest/enthusiasm for what you're creating has come through, despite my whining about the pulp genre or similar nitpicks.

Quote from: Steerpike...So are you saying the setting is as finished as you need it to be or you're just bored with it or you'll come back to it at some point in the future, perhaps?

Well, when I wrote that I wasn't entirely sure whether to continue this or do some action-adventure featuring space cops.  I'm mostly back on this now, but I've decided that I want to focus on one part.  I want to do some more with the actual people of this setting (i.e. NPCs) and I think I'd feel better about doing that with a more narrow view.  I'm liking something about characters at the moment, so maybe this'll be good for me. :D

Quote from: SteerpikeI love the Heyaafoura and I'm curious about the culture and racial politics of the Dream... are Panians all regarded similarly or are there some species that despise ech other, or are there racially informed cultures, or is everything just totally culturally anarchic (which in itself could be really cool!).

I'm not sure what you mean by cultural anarchic, but I get the feeling it has to do with the cultures being too small and jumbled up to get catalogued.  I'd say I'd go with that since with multiple species spread out over multiple planets, many of which I'm assuming can generate just as many cultures as Earth, it's just not worth it as anything other than right when character flavor comes up.

Of course there's still going to be times when conflict between groups over "differences" surfaces, it's too good a plot motivation to pass up.

Quote from: SteerpikeI'd be sad if we got no more of the Dream.  I do hope my interest/enthusiasm for what you're creating has come through, despite my whining about the pulp genre or similar nitpicks.

Oh, it's come through.  I just have a rather unfortunate tendency to A-D-D my own ideas. :hammer:

[note]Gateway, City on the Edge of Everywhere: At A Glance
* Genres: Pulp-like heroic adventure

* Tone: Medium cartoony

* Elements Included: "Aliens", Interplanetary Travel, High Tech, Towering Cities, Ancient Ones and their Super Tech, a Frontier That Everyone Wants, Swanky Nightclubs, Gangsters Wear Pinstripe, Endless Mooks, Culturally Anarchic[/note]

Planet:

Geography:

Environment:

Rift connections:
*13 Frontier planets.
*The capital of the SUN.

Foxden University: The premier institution for the study of Ancient One ruins and artifacts.
The Silver Cat: Gateway's most infamous nightclub, most well know for its colorful history with the city's gangsters.
Medicine General Hospital
The Underworld: The area formed by the extensive enclosed lower portions of the city, especially the sewer system.
The Daring Soceity Club Building
Gateway Central News Building
The Maria Griffin Museum of Ancient History
Liberty La'sha High School
City Hall
Grey's Diner

Feel free to keep commenting.

[note]Sangoshou: At a glance
*Genre: Anime

*Tone: TBD

*Elements Included: Humans With Accessory Body Parts, Monsters Pop Up[/note]

Planet: Sianu, an oceanic/island planet, only place to find humans in large quantities.

Geography: Lying off the western coast of Treasure Island the city extends from the mainland across scattered small islands both natural and artificial until it comes to the Gateposts about 2 miles out.
History: Before and during the Pirate Wars this semi-arid island was known by various names: Faerie Island, Il Oth (Other Island), The Isle of Doors, all related to the belief that it was a place of trickery and a gateway to another realm.  (The location's concentration of rifts only confirms the superstition.)  This factor combined with the existence of islands located more conveniently for the trade routes along the West Edge ocean ensured that Treasure Island was ignored by the nations around it.

This made it a perfect spot for the rejected and the persecuted.  The first were mystic cults who wished to tap into the supernatural power said to pervade the place, and/or escape the intolerant orthodox authorities back home.  However soon the criminals arrived: pirates, to be sure, but anyone who had a price on their head could come and seek refuge, though a harsh and cut-throat one.  The feared and ignored the island was now the secret capital of the West Edge's criminal underworld.

But its tone began to change early in the Pirate Wars: refugees and political dissenters who could find it flocked to the island, having to turn to piracy themselves since the island could not support them.  Being mostly honest and kind people they squeezed out the bloodthirsty element and instituted codes of behavior and rules for who and what could be pirated.

Environment: Subtropical.  Winters are cool but never cold, their most distinguishing aspect being seasonal fogs.  Summers are hot with cooling maritime winds.  The temperature variance between the two seasons is minimal.  Up into the mainland the terrain is semi-arid forest.

Rift connections:
* Djii: Famous for most low-lying areas being shrouded in perpetual thick fog, the "sea of clouds".
* Lapis: Rather arid world.  Good source for rare minerals.


The Pirates' War: When despotic tyrants ruled the nations rebels, both heroic and villainous, took to life on the sea raiding despot ships.

The Sea War: The marine nation of Tethys, led by the so-called "descendants of Oceanus", attempts to conquer and "cleanse" the rest of the world.  The resulting alliance of other nations begins the formation of a global government.

Sianu: The homeworld of humans, it's most pervasive feature is the oceans: a majority of the planet is covered by them.  However they range in depth from true ocean to shallow seas.  The remaining surface area is land broken up in a multitude of islands, none larger than 7.6 million square kilometers, though on Sianu areas sharing the same shallow sea floor are often considered "marine continents".  Toward modern times many nations facing land shortages simply built their cities in these shallow waters, leading to the Sianu term "marine nation".
Historic Events of Sianu:
'"'"The Pirates' War: When despotic tyrants ruled the nations rebels, both heroic and villainous, took to life on the sea raiding despot ships.
'"'"The Sea War: The marine nation of Tethys, led by the so-called "descendants of Oceanus", attempts to conquer and rule the world as their "natural right".  The resulting alliance of other nations begins the formation of a global government.

At this point I'm thinking of moving a lot of this stuff onto another thread so that it has a cleaner presentation and leaving this one as the discussion thread.  But I want to get some advice on one aspect before I do that:

Under "Altering Physics and All That Jazz" in the first post I describe two powers that take the place of all my magic/psionic/whatever needs.  Thing is they aren't as exciting that way.  I'm hoping to go back and take out the actual description parts, maybe even just turn it into a section stating that power exist but no one knows how many different kinds there are or exactly how they work.  However I still want to convey that these aren't metaphysical powers, I just don't know how to do that in an interesting way.

Also is there anything else people think would help clean-up and/or clarify this metasetting?

There are fault lines in spacetime that allow for things to jump vast distances if they take a wrong step.  On Earth many of these lines litter the American Southwest, particularly along a "trail" that leads to a place known as West Gate City.  Here a mishmash of realities come together to trade with one another while not letting the Earth humans in on what's going on (not because they have some sort of "primitive protection" clause or thing humans would be afraid of them, but because Earth people are annoying).
Fortunately they have help in the form of their own kind and humans in the know acting as superpowered public protectors (and a convenient rational for the existence of "special" powers).


Guardian Force (1941-1954)
The Cat: Shapeshifting trickster with vast knowledge, famous for his wit and mild cynicism.  Disappeared in 1953.
Angel: Light/heat controller who flew by growing luminous wings.  Her powers were deliberately self-inflicted in order to get revenge on the Nazi spies who'd murdered her parents.

-----: (1955-1969)

New Gods (1969-1981)
Loki:
Thor:
Fenrir:
Bastet:
Anubis:

Magic idea: All magic is based upon calling on the help of spirits.  The spirits exist in everything; they are the beings responsible for ensuring the cycles of the world.
Anyone can call on the spirits of they know the right way.  The most basic is a prayer, calling a spirit reciting its titles and then asking in detail what the prayee wants.  Knowing the name of the spirit means one can skip most of the prayers.  Prayers only work on certain kinds of spirits which only dwell in certain locations.  Mages are people who spirits have taken a liking to and follow around, so they always have spirits nearby to do their bidding.
Asking the spirits doesn't mean they'll do all your work for you: spirits have jobs they have to do, so the longer the request needs to keep them away from that job and the more the request deviates from that job the less likely a spirit is to respond.  The spirits following mages don't have quite the same restrictions.

Magic conflict: Science vs. Faith : There are only two ways to perform magic in this setting: appeal to the gods or create the right mixture of substances.  Both sides seek "transcendent perfection", but in different directions: faith away from the material, science into the material.  Also there are no gods of the new science-magic, nor of technology at all, only old-style crafting.

Magic technological: Magic as technology in certain areas: standard flying ships, communication mirrors, that sort of thing.  Medicine has greatly improved.  Has not lead to a major industrial revolution or guns.

Magic technology: A regular person cannot bend physics.  Magic science, the knowledge of energy flows, must be used to build devices capable of this.

Science vs. Faith: The major faith of the world clashes with science.  Both sides seek "transcendent perfection", but in different directions: faith away from the material, science into the material.  They compete for power both politically and magically.

Ancient artifacts and ruins: At least one civilization able to build magic tech has come before, and their buildings still exist intact.

Magic:
'"'"natural ability: Natural magic powers.
'"'"Devotional: Always granted by some very powerful being that possess natural magic in exchange for doing what the being wants.  In most cases by a god (or, at least, by a representative of that god), but sometimes by other spirits such as devils and nature spirits.
Note: Even in the case of gods this does not necessarily mean direct worship.  A god of knowledge might grant power to those who study intensively.
'"'"Technical: Cannot actually do magic on their own, but like a scientist studies the way power flows through the world and then builds devices to alter that flow.

low-think anime fantasy

People: The beings that feel the need to gather together in social groups and build "civilization".  Many feel the need to find "meaning", eventually leading to the need to the need to bash each other over the head because of disagreement.  They seems to have many needs.
Most are quite weak creatures, and few have any sort of inherent magic.
They like to divide themselves up into categories known as "races".
----Humans: Furless primates, humans are characterized by two things: a need to prove themselves and the further dividing up of their race into even smaller groups based upon minor physical details.  Also for being horny enough to try producing a hybrid with anything at least once.
----Nekojin: Officially the "universal symbol of hotness", nekojin have so many stereotypes swirling around them that their true nature has become obscured even from many of their own kind.  Even their name nekojin, "cat people", is an erroneous description for the vague resemblance of their top-mounted pointed ears, long tail, and fur patterns to felines.
----Half-dragons: Dragons are horny bastards.  Humans, as previously established, are also horny bastards.  Enough so that they managed to produce a distinct hybrid race.  Half-dragons just look like humans with small reptilian horns, wings, and tail.

Non-People Beings:
--Unicorns: Pretty white or black horses with an obsession for getting involved in causes.
--Demons: Universally considered the "coolest" of beings, demons just look like other creatures with extra bits added such as horns or wings.  Unfortunately the closer a demon looks to an average ideal of attractiveness for that type of being the more likely that demon is to suffer from a massive superiority complex.
--Dragonettes: Creatures that resemble miniature dragons, but without the hornyness.
--Trolls: Wise beings who live underground and have a connection to the earth.
--Taur: Massive "humanoid" bovines often gifted with great cleverness and insight.

Zodiac-inspired Fantasy races
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer: can breath water, has tough skin
Leo: centuric, has female-dominated culture, creators of the Virgos
Virgo: artificial life forms, all female
Libra: meddlers in world affairs
Scorpio: desert-dwelling, tough skin, related to the Cancer
Sagittarius: centaurs
Capricorn: have goat horns, can swim and breath water but do not have fish tail
Aquarius
Pisces: can change legs to fish tail

We play now fantasy games set in worlds that are often a pastiche of Earth's history.  But an intriguing question came to mind recently: what would a fantasy world designed for audiences of the far future be like?  Unfortunately I don't have the kind of patience for a real thought experiment, but I am thinking of using the idea to build such a fantasy world.

So what would I build?

Superhero world:
New or Old: Are there too many in Old?  Too few in New?
Too few = not enough people.
Too many = weight of history.
Weight => can't quite be heroes.
Don't feel like being hero anyway.
Agents?  Agents in the world of heroes?  Super-agents?
Maybe one place feels too limited.  Maybe more space = more space to be creative?

It's about too little room left to do anything in.  I can start with heroes already there, but the more there are the less there are left to do.  I want people to look up and go "Oh superhero" not "HOLY ******* ****", but not have to make all those heroes.

I hope I can pull it off.

[ic]There is a legend told about the first Wanderers.  In these legends they're call Fox and Cat.  Oh, that don't mean they're anything like any fox and cat you know.  No, these are just names People gave them because People can't think without names.

So this is a legend about them......well, it's actually a myth, and while it's about them being the first Wanderers it's also about them creating the reason to Wander in the first place.  These kinds'a stories are complicated like that.

So in the beginning Fox and Cat were doing......whatever it is that was before there could be Wandering.  And so while they were doing this they came upon a group of People.  These People, they were searching for knowledge, wisdom, meaning, all those things that People need to find, I guess because they lost them sometime.  And when Fox and Cat came upon the People the People knew who they were, and said "Great Fox and Great Cat, who know many things, will you please lead us to find knowledge, wisdom, meaning, ourselves?"

And Fox and Cat, well, they exchanged a glance, and then said "Follow our pawprints, and you shall find yourselves.  For your selves are quite near."

And they were away.  And the People followed, and tracked them by their pawprints, not matter how far they were from one to another.  See, Fox and Cat have long strides, and to find their pawprints you have to search quite long.  But the people kept at it, and they kept going and going, farther and farther.  Sometimes one of the People would call out "Is it much farther?"  And Fox and Cat would call back "No, no, your selves are very near."  And the People kept following.

Even today, they are still following.

Eh, what's that you ask?  "Are they the Wanderers?"  No, remember what I said?  Fox and Cat, they were the first Wanderers.  Not the People who followed.

A Wanderer is not someone who follows and seeks.  A Wanderer is someone who goes first and calls back "What you seek is very near."[/ic]
[ic]Some people call it the "Out-there".  The Wanderers call it the "Out-here".[/ic]

Out-here isn't a setting, it's a place for settings to exist.  Out-here is a huge multiverse, containing countless worlds, peoples, conflicts, and just plain weird stuff.  Most of it will only remain a vague background to whoever the characters are and what they do, but they'll never need to save it.  The point of Out-here is stability: it's so vast that there's not way it could all be bad.

Species Revised

Notes: Panian: Essentially means the same thing as our word "humanoid", except it isn't based upon referring to one species and thus is not considered specist.  When referring to human-like head/facial features the word hominid is used.
On hybrids: Hybrids between species happen.  Unfortunately the relative chances of success are difficult to predict, even disregarding the influence of ah'rem powers.

Tek: Perhaps one of the most fascinating, if not the most common, sentient species of the Pawprints, the uniqueness of the tek lies not in appearance or special abilities but in a peculiar genetic lefover.  During gestation a tek's genome regarding their outer appearance mutates and rearranges itself constantly, shut down only by the presence of a certain hormone.  From then on a tek's appearance remains stable, only affected by normal aging hormones.
This gestation-form-shifting means that there is no one tek look, thought they are all panians.  Tek can most often be said to resemble other creatures: feline, canine, equine, lapine, and rodent are a few of the possibilities.  Mammalian tends to be the most common, however.  Coloration varies widely, too, from muted to bright tones and in many kinds of patterns.  Extra features such as additional tails or wings are uncommon but not rare.  Tek hybridize easily with many other panian species, though because non-tech genes are not as readily malliable the resulting offspring will still resemble the non-tek parent as usual for that species, and in fact their form will be mostly from that parent.
Because of this lack if inherited form tek societies do not carry many of the notions more stable species develop: bloodline and blood power, racial groupings and prejudice, and partner choice and family make-up.  Tek are known throughout the Pawprints as a generally tolerant and accepting species, and they are often called upon to make first contact with a new culture.

Koryuu: A small species descended from rodent-hunting predators Koryuu are a hardy and adaptable race.  Their bodies are well equipped to survive in extreme environments, hot, cold, arid, and even a semi-aquatic existence.  Their digestive systems are especially tough, allowing them to eat foods that would sicken or kill other beings.  Their eyes can see into the infrared spectrum and their hearing is quite accute, allowing them to operate relatively well in conditions of no light.  But their two most important traits are their multi-pedal lifestyle: they can switch between quadrapedal and bipedal modes without trouble.
A koyruu's head is somewhat feline with a short muzzle and large eyes, though more streamlined in that the muzzle widens toward the back and smoothly joins the cheek area.  The ears are long and narrow, almost lapine, and come to points.  The body and legs are more canine, though the legs look powerful.  The tails are not long in relation to body length, and are usually covered in fur.  Coloration is often various patterns of blue-black mixed with orange, red, and/or gold, though solid coloration of those latter three as well as blue hues are known.  Eyes are mostly dark colors, red and purple being common.

Sonata: The supposed ancestors of the tek, the sonata were shapeshifters who could supposedly alter not only their outer appearance but their entire body structure and mass.  Unfortunately all of what is known about them comes from legends: they are considered to have been extinct for thousands of years at least.  Some individuals have appeared claimed to be one of them, but invariably they turn out to be mutant tek throwbacks.

Notes: Panian: Essentially means the same thing as our word "humanoid", except it isn't based upon referring to one species and thus is not considered specist. When referring to human-like head/facial features the word hominid is used.


Tek: The most common sentient species in the known galaxy, and for good reason: they are the most adventurous, cosmopolitan, and one of the most adaptable species in the known galaxy.  They owe most of this success to a genetic leftover from their ancestors: during gestation a tek's genome regarding their outer appearance mutates and rearranges itself constantly, shut down only by the presence of a certain hormone. From then on a tek's appearance remains stable, only affected by normal aging hormones.  Because of this lack if inherited form tek societies do not carry many of the notions more stable species develop: bloodline and blood power, racial groupings and prejudice, and partner choice and family make-up.
This gestation-form-shifting means that there is no one tek look, thought they are all panians. Tek can most often be said to resemble other creatures: feline, canine, equine, lapine, and rodent are a few of the possibilities. Mammalian tends to be the most common, however. Coloration varies widely, too, from muted to bright tones and in many kinds of patterns. Extra features such as additional tails or wings are uncommon but not rare.
Tek hybridize easily with many other panian species, though because non-tek genes are not as readily malliable the resulting offspring will still resemble the non-tek parent as usual for that species, and in fact their tek DNA seems to adapt so that the form will be mostly from that parent.

Humans: An unremarkable panian species upon first discovery, humans have become characterized for their genetic self-modification.  Whether adapting their physiology to colonize a new planet, boosting their systems to live longer and heathier, or simply accessorizing their bodies, humans have wielded genetic engineering so casually that the are now as distant from their homeworld ancestors as those people were from their forebears.
Humans appear mostly as they did when first contacted, those these days they sport skin, eye, and hair colors impossible naturally for their species.  In addition many have accessorized features such as animal ears and tails.

Sonata: Limited shapeshifters, some scientists aren't sure if the sonata represent an actual species so much as an inheritable condition.  This confusion stems from their reproduction: sonata can reproduce with many different panian species (especially tek, whom they are the ancestors of), and the resulting offspring at first appears to be of that species but will eventually develop shapeshifting and the perceptiveness of a sonata.  Even sophisticated genetic testing often fails to notice this trait until it has fully matured.
Sonata are capable of appearing as nearly any panian species, though the forms seen in tek are the least difficult.

Heyaafoura: A very unique species resembling mantid insects, heyaafoura are not in fact biological organisms.  Though their bodies mimic biological functions there non-bio nature can be seen in their ability to upgrade via modular parts.
The basic form of a heyaafoura is a nearly rectangular semi-chitonous torso, with appendages at each corner and one pair in the middle.  The legs each have two normal joints and one "wrist" joint, plus a "hand" with an average of six finger-like claws.  Their heads are triangular with the point toward the jawed mouth and large eyes at the other points.  They do not possess any form of antenna.
All other aspects of heyaafoura appearance depend upon what parts they have on their bodies: they can be large and hulking or smaller and thin; they may utilize four of their appendages as legs or only two; color can vary, but is usually either a sandy gold or dark blue-grey.  The parts are easy to deal with: the heyaafoura enters a "trance"  and then can just tug out a part and place in a new one.  The only limitation to this procedure is that the brain of the individual is unreplaceable.
Heyaafoura reproduction is surprisingly simple method given their "biology": each mating individual, and there can be more than one, produces a "seed part" which can then be attached together and grow into a new heyaafoura.

Koryuu: One of the more extreme-living species in the galaxy, Koryuu are capable of surviving in environments ranging though hot, cold, arid, and even a semi-aquatic existence.  Their digestive systems are especially tough, allowing them to eat foods that would sicken or kill other beings.  Their eyes can see into the infrared spectrum and their hearing is quite accute, allowing them to operate relatively well in conditions of no light.  There is one factor that limits their spread: they are quadrupedal, and their front paws do not have the manual dexterity for the complex work required to create and maintain interstellar technology.  Thus they must rely on other species for travel.
A koyruu's head is somewhat feline with a short muzzle and large eyes, though more streamlined in that the muzzle widens toward the back and smoothly joins the cheek area.  Their ears are large and pointed, matching the head in size. The body and legs are more canine, proportioned for running rather than sprinting. The tails are not long in relation to body length, and are usually covered in fur. Coloration is often various patterns of blue-black mixed with orange, red, and/or gold, though solid coloration of those latter three as well as blue hues are known. Eyes are mostly dark colors, red and purple being common.


Symphona: The supposed ancestors of the tek and sonata, the symphona could supposedly alter not only their outer appearance but their entire body structure and mass.  Unfortunately all of what is known about them comes from legends: they are considered to have been extinct for thousands of years at least.  Some individuals have appeared claimed to be one of them, but invariably they turn out to be mutant throwbacks.

low-think anime fantasy

People: The beings that feel the need to gather together in social groups and build "civilization".  Many feel the need to find "meaning", eventually leading to the need to the need to bash each other over the head because of disagreement.  They seems to have many needs.
Most are quite weak creatures, and few have any sort of inherent magic.
They like to divide themselves up into categories known as "races".
----Humans: Furless primates, humans are characterized by two things: a need to prove themselves and the further dividing up of their race into even smaller groups based upon minor physical details.  Also for being horny enough to try producing a hybrid with anything at least once.
----Nekojin: Officially the "universal symbol of hotness", nekojin have so many stereotypes swirling around them that their true nature has become obscured even from many of their own kind.  Even their name nekojin, "cat people", is an erroneous description for the vague resemblance of their top-mounted pointed ears, long tail, and fur patterns to felines.
----Half-dragons: Dragons are horny bastards.  Humans, as previously established, are also horny bastards.  Enough so that they managed to produce a distinct hybrid race before the dragons mostly disappeared.  Half-dragons just look like humans with small reptilian horns, wings, and tail.  They also act exactly like humans, except they have a tendency to think of themselves as superior to everyone because they're part-dragon.

Non-People Beings:
--Unicorns: Pretty white or black horses with an obsession for getting involved in causes, benign or malicious.  Obviously they tend to be rare.
--Demons: Universally considered the "coolest" of beings, demons just look like other creatures with extra bits added such as horns or wings.  Unfortunately the closer a demon looks to an average ideal of attractiveness for that type of being the more likely that demon is to suffer from a massive superiority complex.  They do, however, have a lot of inherent magic going for them.
--Trolls: Wise beings who live underground and have a connection to the earth and its powerful magic.  They generally appear as mounds of mud and leaves with limbs and faces, but really they can look like anything they want.
--Taur: Massive "humanoid" bovines often gifted with great cleverness and insight.  They rarely use magic, not out of any fear or hatred but simply because they prefer their wits as weapons.
--Wyverns: Creatures that look like dragons except they have only one pair of legs.  They also aren't hyper-smart or -powerful like dragons, although they are intelligent and friendly enough to be used as mounts.
--Grunts: Warped mutants used by powerful sorcerers as muscle.

This setting is intended to exist in Gold Rush Game's San Angelo setting, though with some minor modifications and borrowing occasionally from Freedom City and other sources.

Powers: "Psionic" and "magical" powers actually have scientific basis, though their users are not aware of this nor cognizant, most of the time, that their powers do not operate and affect the world as they believe.

Rarity of super-people: Super-anything isn't especially common anywhere in the world.  People who gain super-powers in any way are rare to start with, and not all of those become heroes or villains.  Most of those latter tend to operate locally anyway, leaving the final list of well-known heroes and villains short enough that ordinary people can often remember it.
For geographical distribution the prime area is California, followed by the former Soviet Union and Germany (as the result of super-soldier programs by the Soviets and Nazis, respectively).  After that it's pretty much a crap shoot.

Technological status: While limited by rarity, super-geniuses have not been completely useless.  Their contributions have allowed space exploration to progress to the point at which a colony satellite is a realistic goal being pursued by the international community.  Advances in energy technology have unleashed efficient hydrogen fuel cells and reliable fusion power plants.  Light-based technologies such as holograms and laser weapons are in use by some government agencies.  While the world still mostly resembles 2009 RL it may not for very long.

Focus Area: West Gate, "City of Sunsets".  It sits somewhere between San Fransisco and Monterey.

Title: Nexus City

Premise: Adventures in an sci-fi city.
Twist: The city occasionally seems to leak into other dimensions.

Setting Conceits Regarding 'Mental' Powers and the Like: There are no spiritual powers such as psychics/psionics, magic, or divine/spirit/chi.  Everything is scientific at its core.

Species: There are only three sentient species: humans; semi-organic AIs (shi-lin); and highly advanced shapeshifters.

Universe Backstory: At some point the shapeshifters -- a dwindling population now consisting totally of scientists -- got a hold of some humans, enslaving them for use in genetic experiments and as a labor force.  As the shapeshifters explored the galaxy they took humans with them and altered them to fit a planet's environment.  Finally the shapeshifters were spread too thin to be effective overlords, and the humans overthrew them, in the process also freeing the shapeshifters' AIs.  Most of the shapeshifters were imprisoned in far-off systems, but a few who had aided the rebellion were allowed to remain free.  But without the shapeshifters to keep them in line the humans went right back to their old habits of beating each other up over petty details.
It is several hundred years later.  While some humans still fight each other there are increasingly more who wish to find peace and have joined together in an interstellar alliance.

Aliens:
Base Humans

Sagittarians (humans with horse-like ears/horse centaur)
Leonans (humans with lion-like features/lion centaur)
Aresans (humans with ram horns and ears)
Aquarians (merpeople)

---- (anthro horse/horse centuar)
---- (anthro collie/collie centaur)
Duskwalkers/Sunracers (sentient wolves)
---- (sentient burrowing owls)

Zodiac Alliance setting

Game Ideas
Series Title: Primal Force
--Tagline: "Unleash the animal within!"
--Premise: "Sangushou, the shinging jewel in the crown of the Zodiac Alliance.  But in the forgotten corners of the capital Coral City rests an ancient and powerful secret, and one the iron-fisted Atlantians will stop at nothing to get.  Only the heroes of the Primal Force can stand in their way!"
--Protagonists: The Primal Force, supeheroes with an animal theme.
--Antagonists: The Atlantians, a civilization of human control-freaks who have mastered biotechnology to subjugate nature.
--Setting: Sangoshou, a tropical paradise planet.

At the trailward edge of Alliance territory sits the planet of Cali.  Sitting on the edge of the Peaceful Expanse Cali is in a perfect position as a hub of trade with the nations of the Sattva arm while remaining out of range of their conflicts.  In addition to trade the climate of Nexus is sub-tropical year-round, which makes it a favored tourist destination for the species residing within the Alliance, and contributing to the planet's grand prosperity.

However there are some who come to the planet for a different reason: phenomena of the paranormal, commonly reported on the nearby arid planets, are centered in the popular mind around Kali.  This draws truth-seekers of all types to the planet, whether in search of definitive explanations or a spiritual awakening (the latter helped by the presence of Sattva's Bodhi religion).  There are many people convinced that a galaxy-shattering secret waits to be found on Kali, especially within its capital city of Nexus.

What is Nexus City?
It's the paranormal phenomena and new age mysticism living in the southwestern US centering itself around California convinced that there is some secret key there and translated into a spacefaring setting.  Both "aliens" and "magic" will features in, and the setting has a really big secret: the Peaceful Expanse (aka the Pacific Ocean), thought to be empty but in fact contains hidden systems with their own inhabited planets, fantasy-style planets, accessable only via concealed portals on Kali.  It can do Paranormal Investigators, it can do Superheroes, it can do Pulp Adventure, it can do Loose-science Sci-fi, and whenever you feel like it you can hop through a portal for some Fantasy.

Normally when I come up with a setting I write a bunch of stuff up on a thread in the Homebrew and then wait for a response.  And don't get one or much of one.  And I think I understand why: I'm not posting anything people find original and/or creative enough that it's worth peoples' precious time to read.

So rather than do that process all over again this time I want to present the main ideas and see if they intrigue people, and if not find out what I might do to change them to make them more interesting.  I really would like questions and critiques of these ideas.

Multiple worlds linked by a ground-level method: One world feels claustrophobic, and just doesn't have enough different places to draw adventures in/from.  Can't do space-travel because space feels too open and empty.  That leaves travel by portal.  I kinda like it because it eliminates the need for the whole spaceship industry and it suggests that people (and characters) might not be able to just hop to whatever point on another planet they like, as with spaceship travel, or hide out in the vastness of space.
The portals would be naturally occurring because I like the idea that people aren't the ones responsible for creating the most important element of their universe.  However there's something to be said for people having some control somewhere in this travel method, so I'm thinking that while the portals occur naturally they have to be "activated" somehow, so they generally wouldn't open on their own.  To keep having a portal from giving you access to everywhere I'll say that most only connect to one other point.
The impact on society and economics is not something I can figure out: would it really be that different from having one world, just a huge lot more places in it?

Impersonal, unintelligent magic: I like magic.  But there's something I hate about it when it operates according to the worldview of people.  I'd rather have it work its own way and people have to figure out it, they way they have to approach science.
Also I don't like there being an intelligent force behind or controlling magic.  This applies both to gods and the "minds/souls" of people, and even to the idea that magic understands "words".  Magic should be a natural force, and like all natural forces it doesn't have an intelligence.
I like magic, and I like it this way, but I wonder if I've taken all the bits out of it that really interest other people.

High-tech and magic coexist and complement one another: This setting still advances science even with magic around.  In fact they can use magic to help science, to help technology do more incredible things and to study something with precision science alone can't match.

Magic is a part of the natural world: None of this "magic is separate/comes from another dimension" stuff.  Or the "magic is unnatural" stuff.  Magic is an integral force to this universe and allows for quite fantastic things to be part of the natural order.

Practitioners of magic fight about it's proper use: Flashy Summon vs. subtle Alter; emotional Primal vs. disciplined Soul; cyclic Green vs. draining Black.  These are a few of rivalries and conflicts that have sprung up in those attempting to understand the ways of magic.

Sentient species who look kinda weird but aren't incomprehensible: Aliens with incomprehensible minds and that look really weird are okay for authors that want to show that kind of stuff, but I need the species of this universe to be able to come to understand one another (and for the players to be able to play them) and to generally have forms that people dealing with the setting will understand and will invoke associations with similar looking things on Earth.  This doesn't mean that all sentients would be humans with funny foreheads or even obviously something ripped from Earth, but could be described by referring to Earth things.

Conflict happens, but mostly locally: If something like a war starts somewhere the bottlenecking nature of the portals usually means the war itself doesn't go farther than its own planet.  Other aspects, such as spies and terrorism, might, but it's really difficult to control that anyway.  And reprocussions of the war, such as disrupted trade and refugees, might go very far.

There isn't anything that can threaten the multiverse as a whole or even large areas: No apocalyptic evils or wars that span a large number of planets.  I think this sort of stuff should exist on a bit more personal level.  And it keeps the setting intact.

Old but not stagnant: The civilizations of the multiverse often have roots that trace back ages, but that doesn't mean they've been the same all that time: technology, science, magic, and society have progressed from the ancient days.

Full of secrets and people who know them: There are secrets everywhere from the olden times.  But the multiverse is so vast that you'd lose the pieces if you searched yourself.  Fortunately there are groups that have sprung up, from societies of conquest or hording lore to one of travelers and their waystations.

For the multiple worlds thing I suppose portals could work but they're going to be pretty darn crowded, and will totally revolutionize the way commerce works (imagine London, New York, and Tokyo being instantaneously connected).  The portals would have to be housed in massive buildings (like airports) and would be dominated by vast amounts of cargo being shipped constantly in and out.  The instantaneous travel-method would lead to the formation of inter-connected super-cities which, while technically not existing on the same planets, would overlap and become essentially continuous.  Cities would of course be built around the portals: they're the most sensible places to start building.  The military implications also boggle the mind, as does the potential for terrorism.  The whole overlapping cities thing is a cool idea in and of itself, but perhaps not what you're going for??

I have three suggestions that you might want to ponder about this one:

1) Have space-ships but emphasize the ships, not the space.  Travel could be accomplished on huge spaceships that resemble cities/luxury ocean liners.  All of that darkness/emptiness/void stuff could be played down, and travel could even potentially be glossed over almost completely.  Think Indiana Jones but with the red line on a star-chart instead of a planetary map.

2) Have a big planet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Planet) with lots and lots of moons, a planet absolutely enormous but low-density and thus earth-like in its gravity.  Travel between the moons could be very quick, and would be much more visually appealing than the blackness of space since the view would constantly be dominated by the surface of the planet or the moons themselves, as opposed to the abyssal void.

3) Go the Dune route and have traveling-without-moving or foldspace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holtzman_effect) technique, tesseracting basically, which has to be accomplished by a trained navigator-psychic or powerful computer or something.  In Dune of course the Spice gets involved, but I get the feeling the implications of something like that wouldn't be up your street.  Foldspace technology would work similarly to portals but still requires a ship in orbit and makes travel somewhat more difficult, evading the potential problems of the overlapping-cities inevitability if you have land portals.  You could I suppose work this in with wormholes ("rifts") although the idea that all of the rifts are close to planets seems a little too convenient to me.

For the magic thing, this sounds totally cool to me, and frankly not all that uncommon an approach.  I've personally encountered lots of settings where magic isn't a sentient force and isn't particularly human-centric, but is treated like a form of energy, magical study becoming a science.  Could magic actually form part of the standard interplanetary travel-method?

:huh: Wow.  I actually expected I was going to get the full thing written up and then post it somewhere else, but I'll answer questions now.

Quote from: SteerpikeFor the multiple worlds thing I suppose portals could work but they're going to be pretty darn crowded, and will totally revolutionize the way commerce works (imagine London, New York, and Tokyo being instantaneously connected).  The portals would have to be housed in massive buildings (like airports) and would be dominated by vast amounts of cargo being shipped constantly in and out.  The instantaneous travel-method would lead to the formation of inter-connected super-cities which, while technically not existing on the same planets, would overlap and become essentially continuous.  Cities would of course be built around the portals: they're the most sensible places to start building.  The military implications also boggle the mind, as does the potential for terrorism.  The whole overlapping cities thing is a cool idea in and of itself, but perhaps not what you're going for??

Actually that all sounds perfectly fine to me, even the military and terrorist implications.  For those last two I should remind you that you can't just create portals anywhere, so unless there's one you haven't found you can pretty much control what gets onto your planet.  And the idea that the bad guys could find one you don't know about and start covertly moving in has good adventure potential.
Also in a version that actually appears in the first post of this thread the portals come in pairs that only connect to each other.  So you can't find one portal and then have access to the entire rest of the multiverse.

For your three space suggestions they're each good ideas but I don't think I'm going to use any of them.  Each has aspects that don't quite work for me
Suggestions 1: I tried this in the earlier version of Pulp-Dream, but it's just not enough of an elimination for me to feel comfortable.  Plus I do like how the portals eliminate the need for people to have their own ships in order to travel how they want.
Suggestions 2: This one is actually really, really intriguing, and I'd use it, but I feel like it eliminates the adventure possibility of finding totally new or forgotten places that you have to have multiple unconnected points for.  It seems to me that a civilization with space-faring technology would have been able to explore the surface of an entire planet, even a giant one.
Suggestions 3: I actually had a version like this at one point, where you had to get on a ship, go far enough from the planet, then "jump" or whatever.  It just seems silly when I don't care about the intervening distance.

Quote from: SteerpikeFor the magic thing, this sounds totally cool to me, and frankly not all that uncommon an approach.  I've personally encountered lots of settings where magic isn't a sentient force and isn't particularly human-centric, but is treated like a form of energy, magical study becoming a science.

Good.  The whole point is that magic doesn't need to be this restrictive thing like the laws of physics, but that like all natural things people can only manipulate it, not control it.

Quote from: SteerpikeCould magic actually form part of the standard interplanetary travel-method?

In fact in the very first version of all this, way back when, the multiverse's earliest method involved special mages who could open the portals, and this was the only way until someone found space-warping ore that could create portals.  At that point in my process there wasn't the "you can only open these in certain places", but that was back when being able to travel was more important than the implications of that travel.

Totally off topic but I just had an awesome thought pop into my head. Something bad is about to happen, perhaps someone is about to set off a "nuke" in the city or something similar. The players hijack a small air speeder and barrel it through the portal buildings big front window and fly it through the portal right before the bomb goes off.

And this has been another edition of 'crazy things PCs would totally do'.

Yes, they could do that, so long as they don't mind blowing up whatever's on the other side. :P

But I can see that if I'm sparking those sorts of ideas I do have at least a grain of something good on my hands.

Now that I've got the basics of a setting to use it's time to make up some random campaign ideas:

Premise: A mild-mannered city rests on the site of an imprisioned magical entity.  This entity causes periodic outbreaks of random magical stuff and occasionally tries to get out often with the help of some power-hungry nut.  The heroes must protect the city.
Twist: The entity's existence isn't a secret, the entire city knows.  They treat the magical outbreaks like infestations of particularly annoying vermin.  The city even has a special division assigned to neutralize the messes and stop anyone who'd let the entity out.  For one thing it's a tourist attraction!

Premise: Adventures at a magic school.
Twist: It's a school for Primal, the magic that's all about screaming and waling on people with your fists.

Premise: Cold war espionage in a border region.
Twist: Both spy agencies are tired of the whole affair and instead have joined forces to protect the entire region against greater threats while simultaneously fooling their bosses.

Premise: Fantasy adventure is a region of warm oceans, sweltering jungles, and baking deserts.
Twist: These environments exist in forgotten corners of one city suburb.  All the PCs are teenagers who live in the neighborhood.
Title: Forgotten Corners (no, this is name is not a rip-off of "Forgotten Realms")
Setting: In a seemingly normal city outskirt/suburb the places where hardly anyone goes have become a unified fantasy realm microcosm.
Adventure motivation: Elements of the fantasy realm get out or threaten to get out.  Elements of the outside world threaten to get in.
What the PCs do: Keep everything in order.

Premise: The place is Nexus City, a city unique in the multiverse in that via portals it extends over 9 different planets.

Premise: Elite troubleshooters in the employ of a peaceful monarchy undertake missions to stop evildoers on their home turf and nearby worlds.
Adventure Ideas:
Spear of the Lioness Queen: A daring robbery of the new Treasures of the Moon Court exhibit sets the PCs on the trail of four leonan amazons and a weapon that can control the minds of all men.
Pirates of the Broken Land: Lately the pirates that appear along the trade route crossing the Canyon Sea have become strangely organized and effective.  It's up to the PCs to track down the pirates' secret before this important economic artery becomes impassible.

Premise: A seemingly ordinary city hides gateways to alternate worlds, leading to a secret community of offworlders.  Guardians must protect both the community from the outside world and the outside world from offworld threats.  Annoying community politics doesn't help much.
Factions:
The 12 Great Clans: Beings gifted with the powers of animals: Rat, Auroch, Big Cat, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Antelope, Monkey, Jungle Fowl, Wolf, and Wild Boar.  (There is also a 13th clan, the clan of the Fish, but it members generally seclude themselves deep in the oceans and thus not counted.)  Members of each clan have the ability to transform into their clan's animal as well as any hybrid form between that and human.  When among those in the know they often go around as humans with animal accessories such as ears and tail.

[/size]

[ic]Opening swoop shot, coming around a towering metropolis in the air.  Except as the view moves the lighting changes, from day to night in the sky but the light spilling everywhere.  And if you take time to notice the architecture you maybe can make out 6 or 7 different style groups and functional builds.  And there are different horizons: desert canyons, gleaming oceans, tropical jungles, frigid mountains, sweeping savanna, and ancient ruins.

This isn't any ordinary city.........[/ic]

The Silverse is my own take on a 4-color superhero Earth.  I think of it as a setting where the superheroing is less extreme than most but no less heroic.  The uni/omniverse in this case, and Earth most specifically, does not experience the sort of major events that characterizes other settings (such as Freedom City's Terminus Invasion).  If a supervillain or event becomes threatening it's generally more localized such as on one city or directed at a group such as a corporation (all supervillains follow this plan outline: 1. Take first step in evil scheme; 2. ???; 3. WORLD DOMINATION!).  If a mastermind actually does manage to threaten a large area (say the entire Earth) the scheme never gets to the public before it's foiled.
But the setting still has aliens, lost worlds, ancient magical artifacts, ancient magical artifacts that were left in lost worlds by aliens, evil bad-guys Hell-bent on doing something evil, and lots of fistfights.


Setting Overview

Earth

West Gate City: A major metropolitan city lying on the west coat between San Fransisco and Vandenburg AFB, West Gate has been known since its earliest days for being the focus of strange phenomina.
----Sunset Bridge: Lying across the straights that lead into Vista Bay the Sunset bridge frequently becomes the gateway to other dimensions.

(insert name of secret organization that deals with aliens and covers up their existence): Too many conspiracy theorists postulate the creation of alien cover-up agencies as occurring concurrent to or just after "flying saucers" entered public consciousness.  Yet they also believe aliens have been visiting Earth since humans evolved.  These people never manage to spot the error.
There have always been shadow groups working to keep aliens a secret.  The Egyptians, the Indians, the Chinese, the Romans, the British, the Americans, there has always been one group, someone whether supported by a government or not.  They keep ordinary people from knowing the truth, and keep aliens from messing the world up.


Outer Space:

The Star Alliance: A standard benevolent-yet-heavily-armed space republic.

The Atlantian Empire: A racist state focused on the superiority of the human species over all others.  Not actually Atlantians, the Empire is made up of extraterrestrial humans influenced by displaced Atlantis believers from Earth's early 20th century.

Aliens (overview):
Notes: Panian: Essentially means the same thing as our word "humanoid", except it isn't based upon referring to one species and thus is not considered specist.  When referring to human-like head/facial features the word hominid is used.
----Extra-Terrestrial Humans (ETH): Humans resettled on other planets by unknown aliens sometime between the end of the last ice age and the beginning of recorded history.  In appearance they are usually indistinguishable from Earth humans except they possess genes that cause impossible hair and eye colorations.  They are sometimes referred to as Eths.
----Tatu:  Aquatic panians with skin scales so fine that when wet they blend together and give the tatu the appearance of having smooth cetecean skin instead, and combined with their whale-beaked heads and fluked tails causes most to believe they are related to dolphins.  However unlike ceteceans tatu are cable of breathing in water.
----Tek: Minor shapeshifter ancestry causes the individuals of this species to vary radically in appearance.  To Earth humans they seem to be anthropomorphic animals, though sometimes featuring colors, patterns, and extra body parts not seen in their terrestrial reflections.  They are the most common species in the Star Alliance.
----Sonata: Either a species of shapeshifters or a genetic condition.  The original species were the ancestors of the tek.
----Heyafouraa: Biological machines with insectoid appearance and the ability to trade out modular parts of their bodies without harm.
----Koryuu: Small, hardy predators that can function effectively on two legs or four.


The "Supernatural" World:

Díyú, aka Bureaucratic Hell: The place that enforces the laws of the supernatural world, sending out agents to undertake such missions as collecting souls that have escaped their afterlife or correcting some obscure error in proper mythological operation.  The rest of the supernatural world lives in audit-like terror at the thought of Diyu coming down on them.  Despite it's title including the term "Hell" Diyu is really a place of pure bureaucracy, not caring about the morality of the mortal world so long as procedure is followed.
----King Yama: Overseer of Diyu.  He's got red skin, a profusion of black hair, two small horns, and wears a business suit.  Also he's a giant.
----Dispatcher: The guy who gives out the missions to Diyu agents.  That's not a title, that's his name.
----È Mó: Diyu's best agent.  A white-skinned anthropomorphic demonic-mare with red hair and a red dress.  The cross-dressing gay son of the mythological Ma Mian ("horse-face").

Organizations

The 13 Great Clans: A significant power within the mystical community of West Gate, the 13 are combination mob families and ethnic groups, whose roots stretch far back in Asian history.
Each of the clans has an animal as their sign: Rat, Auroch, Big Cat, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Antelope, Monkey, Jungle Fowl, Wolf, and Wild Boar.  Members of each clan have the ability to transform into their clan's animal as well as any hybrid form between that and human.  When among those in the know they often go around as humans with animal accessories such as ears and tail.  (There is also a 14th clan, the clan of the Fish, but it members generally seclude themselves deep in the oceans and thus not counted.)


Aliens

Extant Species

Tek: The most common sentient species in the known galaxy, and for good reason: they are the most adventurous, cosmopolitan, and one of the most adaptable.  They owe most of this success to a genetic leftover from their ancestors: during gestation a tek's genome regarding their outer appearance mutates and rearranges itself constantly, shut down only by the presence of a certain hormone. From then on a tek's appearance remains stable, only affected by normal environmental and aging influences.  Because of this lack if inherited form tek societies do not carry many of the notions more stable species develop: bloodline and blood power, racial groupings and prejudice, and partner choice and family make-up.
This gestation-form-shifting means that there is no one tek look, thought they are all panians. Tek can most often be said to resemble other creatures: feline, canine, equine, lapine, and rodent are a few of the possibilities. Mammalian tends to be the most common, however. Coloration varies widely, too, from muted to bright tones and in many kinds of patterns. Extra features such as additional tails or wings are uncommon but not rare.
Tek hybridize easily with many other panian species, though because non-tek genes are not as readily malliable the resulting offspring will still resemble the non-tek parent as usual for that species, and in fact their tek DNA seems to adapt so that the form will be mostly from that parent.

Sonata: Limited shapeshifters, some scientists aren't sure if the sonata represent an actual species so much as an inheritable condition.  This confusion stems from their reproduction: sonata can reproduce with many different panian species (especially tek, whom they are the ancestors of), and the resulting offspring at first appears to be of that species but will eventually develop shapeshifting and the perceptiveness of a sonata.  Even sophisticated genetic testing often fails to notice this trait until it has fully matured.
Sonata are capable of appearing as nearly any panian species, though the forms seen in tek are the least difficult.

Heyaafoura: A very unique species resembling mantid insects, heyaafoura are not in fact biological organisms.  Though their bodies mimic biological functions there non-bio nature can be seen in their ability to upgrade via modular parts.
The basic form of a heyaafoura is a nearly rectangular semi-chitonous torso, with appendages at each corner and one pair in the middle.  The legs each have two normal joints and one "wrist" joint, plus a "hand" with an average of six finger-like claws.  Their heads are triangular with the point toward the jawed mouth and large eyes at the other points.  They do not possess any form of antenna.
All other aspects of heyaafoura appearance depend upon what parts they have on their bodies: they can be large and hulking or smaller and thin; they may utilize four of their appendages as legs or only two; color can vary, but is usually either a sandy gold or dark blue-grey.  The parts are easy to deal with: the heyaafoura enters a "trance"  and then can just tug out a part and place in a new one.  The only limitation to this procedure is that the brain of the individual is unreplaceable.
Heyaafoura reproduction is surprisingly simple method given their "biology": each mating individual, and there can be more than one, produces a "seed part" which can then be attached together and grow into a new heyaafoura.

Koryuu: One of the more extreme-living species in the galaxy, Koryuu are capable of surviving in environments ranging though hot, cold, arid, and even a semi-aquatic existence.  Their digestive systems are especially tough, allowing them to eat foods that would sicken or kill other beings.  Their eyes can see into the infrared spectrum and their hearing is quite acute, allowing them to operate relatively well in conditions of no light.  There is one factor that limits their spread: they are quadrupedal, and their front paws do not have the manual dexterity for the complex work required to create and maintain interstellar technology.  Thus they must rely on other species for travel.
A koyruu's head is somewhat feline with a short muzzle and large eyes, though more streamlined in that the muzzle widens toward the back and smoothly joins the cheek area.  Their ears are large and pointed, matching the head in size. The body and legs are more canine, proportioned for running rather than sprinting. The tails are not long in relation to body length, and are usually covered in fur. Coloration is often various patterns of blue-black mixed with orange, red, and/or gold, though solid coloration of those latter three as well as blue hues are known. Eyes are mostly dark colors, red and purple being common.

Tatu:
There is an important Tatu colony on the seafloor lying within the region of sea sometimes know as the Dragon's Triangle.

Extinct Species

Symphona: The supposed ancestors of the tek and sonata, the symphona could supposedly alter not only their outer appearance but their entire body structure and mass.  Unfortunately all of what is known about them comes from legends: they are considered to have been extinct for thousands of years at least.  Some individuals have appeared claimed to be one of them, but invariably they turn out to be mutant throwbacks.

You may wish to ignore the following stream of consciousness.

space planet tropical future high-tech modern-tech fantasy monarchy giant-wolves lots-of-really-weird-science city-on-the-coast fantasyland-in-arid-inland lot-of-water-around-city city-built-on-water ancient-secret-under-water

sea-coast-with-crashing-waves-and-breeze fantasy-shall-an-alien-device-be-responsible can-it-exist-unsecreted-without-guns

Pimp my tropes II: Fantasy Setting Edition

Intelligent, talking animals: Various special animals in this are not only sentient but have their own societies.  Right now the only one I'm certain of is at least two (maybe three) societies of canines, but large pig-like beasts of burden, horses, and probably some birds of prey are also possibilities.

Animal theme: I want animals and animal images to be an important part of this setting. Ex: Aside from the example above I'm also having at least one of the two magic types be linked to animals.  Also the one god worshiped is known as Black Cat.

Only one god: Both to keep things simple and because it might be interesting I'm gonna stick to one deity for everyone (at least everyone in the region I'll care about).  Different interpretations of doctrine and some nature/spirit worship will be the deciding factor of how a religion is different.

Outside technological influence: One really important part is that one location in this setting is linked to a sci-fi city which lies on another planet (though vast majority of the inhabitants of said city are unaware of this), and has been for not a short time.  So the fantasy setting is interspersed with bits of advanced technology smuggled over and reverse engineered, though a lot of this latter actually uses magic.

Science-y device magic: One of the two kinds of magic, the kind that can be learned by anyone, is not based on doing magic yourself but rather building devices that do magical things.  With this definitely comes magic technology.  There would be different disciplines and schools based upon the type of devices.

Primal magic: the other type of magic is based around inherent power and activating it via instincts.

Impersonal, unintelligent magic: I like magic. But there's something I hate about it when it operates according to the worldview of people. I'd rather have it work its own way and people have to figure out it, they way they have to approach science.
Also I don't like there being an intelligent force behind or controlling magic. This applies both to gods and the "minds/souls" of people, and even to the idea that magic understands "words". Magic should be a natural force, and like all natural forces it doesn't have an intelligence.

Magic is a part of the natural world: None of this "magic is separate/comes from another dimension" stuff. Or the "magic is unnatural" stuff. Magic is an integral force to this universe and allows for quite fantastic things to be part of the natural order.


Intelligent animals:
Wolves:
---Duskwalkers: The name given to all wolves who are traditionally seen as independent of the cultures of the People.  However the truth is that Duskwalkers are wolves who have held on strongly to their traditional system of clan groupings, which in some cases leads them to choose living in areas remote from People settlements.
-----Three-Eye clan: One clan of Duskwalkers that can be found among People they are sometimes known as "ninja-wolves" due to their skills at the art of stealth.  Their true power lies in their perceptiveness and sensory magic.
-----Underbrush clan: A backwoods group of forest-dwellers, who generally choose to keep to themselves despite being quite friendly people.  They are unmatched trackers even among wolf-kind.
-----Twilight clan: A legendary clan said to live in the mid-world between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead.  They are rumored to be skilled illusionists.
---Sunracers: The wofl society that has integrated with People cultures.  They have no groupings of their own to speak of.
Eagles
Burrowing Owls

Artifice: A type of artifice is defined by whether it focuses on the type of device made, a school, or on the process of making it, known as a discipline.  (So yes, you could be a member of a school who practices a certain discipline.)
---Lens School: Makers of devices that deal in light and vision the Lens school focuses on ideas relating to visual perception, both to enhance and confuse (the latter by means of light projections) as well as more mundane qualities such as optics and careful study.  They are frequent patrons of visual art forms.  Members of the Lens School always have some sort of spectacles or monocle on them even if they do not need it.
---Hand School: Gloves are what most people think of when they recall the Hand School, but hand-jewelry is also an important part.  The magic of the Hand School is varied, from attacks to defense to manipulation, any sort of effect that could be reasonably linked to the hand (and for this reason named after a body part rather than a type of device).  Often the butt of popular jokes about greed and lust.
---The Wizard School: Derided as not a true school the Wizards concern themselves not with the device they make but on the practice of magic itself.......and how people perceive them.  Thus they shape their devices into "traditional" shapes such as wands, staffs, tombs, and other such parphenalia, and dress in long robes embroidered with shapes or "mystic" letters.  Most common folk consider them more humorous than respectable.
---Forge Discipline: Metal shaped by fire from a random lump is chaos molded into a pattern.  Forge magic concerns itself exclusively with working earthen elements that can be affected by heat, mostly metal.  Elements important to artifice: type of metal used, shape of the forged item, engraving/inlay, inclusion of gems/crystals.
---Woodcarving Discipline: A discipline that spends as much time expounding the virtues of nature and "natural living" as it does its techniques and choice of materials.

Themes:
Transformation: I have absolutely no idea what this means.  It just makes sense to put it here.

Places:

Sleepwalking Earth: This is the Earth you get when you hide all the cool stuff because you know regular people can't handle the truth.
Galactic Republic: The Big Alien Government of Sleepwalking-Earth.  Very Prime-Directive-ly driven in their dealings.  It is nearly a unitary state, only the parliament having real control.

Weird Earth: Just a hop over, dimensionally, from Sleepwalking-Earth is an Earth where the weirdness stopped being secret and now everything from aliens to other dimensions is considered perfectly normal and no one gets freaked out by it.
Galactic Federation: The Republics Weird-Earth counterpart, these guys are a lot more open to the idea that just because a civilization is less advanced than them does not mean they can't handle some open visitation.

Galactic Alliance: A third version of the Galactic X, this one in a universe where Earth does not seem to exist.

Otherworld: A fantasy realm that lies dimensionally next to a futuristic setting.

San Christoph: A city lying on the California coast just south of Monterrey.  It doesn't seem like an unusual place, given that it exists in a world of super-powers.  But what makes San Cristoph unique is that all the portals to fantastic lost worlds and broken mirrors of Earth exist not only in their usual locations but also are hidden around the San Christoph metro area.

Adventure Ideas
Title: Primal Force
--Tagline: "Unleash the beast within!"
--Premise: Underneith the surface of the bay rests an ancient and powerful secret, and one the iron-fisted Atlantians will stop at nothing to get.  Only the heroes of the Primal Force can stand in their way!
--Protagonists: The Primal Force, supeheroes with an animal theme.
--Antagonists: The Atlantians, a civilization of human control-freaks who have mastered biotechnology to subjugate nature.
--Setting: Weird Earth, somewhere on California's coast.

Once when I was younger I created world to write stories in.  I even wrote up some fact sheets on it.  I never got far on the stories.  But for some reason I'm able to remember a lot about even now, years later.  And it's still one of my favorite.  So now, not really having any other ideas to go off of I'm going to revive it and see if I can't have some more fun.

Note: This world is probably going to be filled with the sort of logical inconsistencies you get in things like D&D where people build Medieval-style castles despite the fact that there's probably an archmage out there who can go "boo" and make the whole thing fall down.  I'm just going to warn you that I've decided I like these inconsistencies, not necessarily for genre-emulation but because I just find realizing :wtf: to be the best kind of feeling.

How the original draft went:
The world was a high-tech scif-fi with lots of fantasy elements, especially magic, mixed in.  It was supposed to be a distant future of our Earth (I hear there is a fantasy series already out there with the same idea, but I didn't get mine from there), after the human species had pretty much turned the place upside down with nuclear and biological weapons.  So that added the possibility that a given fantasy trope (i.e. creature) could either have come from science or magic or both.  And the current day was intended to be so far in the future that only the cliched Secret Person Who Is Really, Really Old would remember.
The focal point of the stories was the capital city of the world's largest country, neither of which I ever was able to name to my satisfaction.  In what I thought was a brilliant move of government at the time I had to country reverse the model of the USA and throw out a useless democracy to replace it with a semi-competant monarchy.  It turned out to be the best move, as the city went on to conquer everyone else on the continent over the next hundred years and as the stories were opening was about to celebrate 3200 years of existence.
The city itself was supposed to be one of those impossible cyperpunk-ish megacities where you can't see the ground because the overgrown skyscrapers are in the way.  At least, that's what the downtown looked like, there was at least a ground-level part of the city to the south.  The whole place was in the same location as Chicago, so it had the lake to the east.  Oddly I decided the city rested smack-dab in the middle of a creature/danger-infested (or they thought it was, at any rate) region called a wasteland (despite not being that uninhabitable).
I never managed to get much into the rest of the world, there isn't anything to say about it.

For the people that inhabited this nation I came up with five races that were most common/important:
Normal humans.
Humans who had magic powers only because they were bonded with sentient talking animals (whose reproduction and life-span matched humans more than their actual species).  The type of animal seemed correspond to the kinds of magic the mage could use.  ((I basically stole this idea from a book I was reading at the time.))  In one case I had the bonded animals of an important mage bloodline related to each other nearly an exact match as their human counterparts.
Shapeshifting humans.
Werewolves.  They had colorful patterns on their face that denoted their family line.
Griffins.
So needless to say the place was crazy, although I found out you could get some pretty interesting uses out of these guys.  As for the minor races I can only think of one noteworthy:
Dwarves were apparently exactly like the fantasy stereotype.  Except they hated politeness and preferred to shout at each other.  And this actually led to them being the most pacifistic and diplomatic people on the planet.

As for magic I never developed it.  It was just there, ready to do a task I guess because I didn't feel like science was supposed to do that task.  In a sense magic was supposed to be just another part of the world, and people in the world didn't think about what they were doing wrong because that's how things were done.

There were a few other minor things, like the world's (comic-book) superheroes and my making up quotes for famous people.  Thew world did have some details.

Tune in later and maybe I'll rework this into something.

Setting Style: Semi-contemporary look (probably more 1990s) with structural elements of high-tech future and pieces of fantasy.
----What is Science and what is Magic?: Left unexplained.  To the inhabitants the actual distinction is meaningless, it being more important that the desired result be achieved than how it is achieved.  The only real distinction anyone remembers is that magic is intelligent.
Also magic is not seen as unnatural or in any way not part of natural reality.
----Tech Level: Flying cars, holograms, artificial intelligence, one step beyond fusion as power generation.  Space flight still limited to rockets, mostly crewed by AIs these days and more about caring for satellites.
----Limits of Magic: Common magic parallels the limits of the setting's science (can't revive someone who's been dead more than maybe 30 minutes, for example), but faster and rarer and possibly including its own AI.  There are believed to be very rare magics that can do anything, though the same is said about very rare sciences.

Human "Races":
----
----Werebeasts:
----Sorcerers: Humans are generally incapable of calling magic.  It is generally assumed that they lack a key biological or spiritual factor.  However a few bloodlines

Title: Earth Rangers
--Tagline: "Go, Terra Team!"
--Premise: "It is the 42nd century of the Galatic Alliance, and a new inhabited planet has been discovered: Earth.  A new target for every criminal and evil space empire Earth needs guardians who can stand up to the might of alien technology.  The call goes out, to the most talented of the Alliances Elite Rangers: defend the planet Earth.  Go, Terra Team!"
--Protagonists: The Terra Team, Elite Rangers who have abilities and skills that go beyond the norm brought together to defend Earth.
--Antagonists: The scum of the universe, especially the Atlantian Empire.
--Setting: Earth, just arriving at the dawn of the 22nd century.

Title Primal Force
--Tagline: "Unleash the beast within!"
--Premise: "By the 23rd century humans had destroyed Earth with their rampant pollution and tampering with nature.  The benevolent citizens of the Ygdra Empire gave them a new planet on which to settle their people.  Named by the humans Gaia there is a mysterious energy created by its lifeforms.  And one faction of humans, the Engineers, will stop at nothing to get it.  Only the Primal Force can stand in their way!
--Protagonists: The Primal Force, people who have unlocked the secret energy of Gaia and use it to transform themselves.
--Antagonists: The Engineers, humans who have used genetic engineering to subjugate their own natural bodies to science.
--Setting: Gaia, a planet pervaded by a mysterious energy born from nature.

The Silverse is a 4-color superhero setting where the superheroing is less extreme than most but no less heroic.  The uni/omniverse in this case, and Earth most specifically, does not experience the sort of major events that characterizes other settings (such as Freedom City's Terminus Invasion).  If a supervillain or event becomes threatening it's generally more localized such as on one city or directed at a group such as a corporation (all supervillains follow this plan outline: 1. Take first step in evil scheme; 2. ???; 3. WORLD DOMINATION!).  If a mastermind actually does manage to threaten a large area (say the entire Earth) the scheme never gets to the public before it's foiled.  Superheroes do not always fly in with their cape flapping, sometimes they sneak around and act like super-spies.
But the setting still has aliens, lost worlds, ancient magical artifacts, ancient magical artifacts that were left in lost worlds by aliens, evil bad-guys Hell-bent on doing something evil, and lots of fistfights.  It's Superheroes meet Pulp action-adventure!

West Gate City:
----Sunset Bridge: Lying across the straights that lead into Vista Bay the Sunset bridge frequently becomes the gateway to other dimensions.

Hidden Races and Alien Species:
----Extra-Terrestrial Humans (ETH): Humans resettled on other planets by unknown aliens sometime between the end of the last ice age and the beginning of recorded history.  In appearance they are usually indistinguishable from Earth humamns except they possess genes that cause impossible hair and eye colorations.  They are sometimes referred to as Eths.
----Tatu:  Aquatic panians with skin scales so fine that when wet they blend together and give the tatu the appearance of having smooth cetecean skin instead, and combined with their whale-beaked heads and fluked tails causes most to believe they are related to dolphins.  However unlike ceteceans tatu are cable of breathing in water.
Most Tatu live in colonies on the Pacific seafloor.  A few are native off-world, most likely the result of the same resettlement that produced ETH.
----Tek: Minor shapeshifter ancestry causes the individuals of this species to vary radically in appearance.  To Earth humans they seem to be anthropomorphic animals, though sometimes featuring colors, patterns, and extra body parts not seen in their terrestrial reflections.
----(----): Blue-skinned, pointy-eared hominid panians with orange hair and eyes.
----short people with cat ears and tail
----liontaurs
----cervitaurs
----kitsune

Outer Space:
The Galactic Alliance: A standard benevolent-yet-heavily-armed space republic.
The Atlantian Empire: A racist state focused on the superiority of the human species over all others.  Not actually Atlantians, the Empire is made up of extraterrestrial humans influenced by displaced Atlantis believers from Earth's early 20th century.

The "Supernatural" World:
Díyú, aka Bureaucratic Hell: The place that enforces the laws of the supernatural world, sending out agents to undertake such missions as collecting souls that have escaped their afterlife or correcting some obscure error in proper mythological operation.  The rest of the supernatural world lives in audit-like terror at the thought of Diyu coming down on them.  Despite it's title including the term "Hell" Diyu is really a place of pure bureaucracy, not caring about the morality of the mortal world so long as procedure is followed.
----King Yama: Overseer of Diyu.  He's got red skin, a profusion of black hair, two small horns, and wears a business suit.  Also he's a giant.
----Dispatcher: The guy who gives out the missions to Diyu agents.  That's not a title, that's his name.
----È Mó: Diyu's best agent.  A white-skinned anthropomorphic demonic-mare with red hair and a red dress.  The cross-dressing gay son of the mythological Ma Mian ("horse-face").

The Rangers: A Golden Age team who where always relegated to second-page news due to their "unusual" make-up.
----Kitsune: A Japanese-American illusionist who wore a Japanese-style fox mask.  During the war she was used as the governments "scapegoat reason" for refusing to work with the Rangers.

The Iron Warrior: A Mongolian-American engineer who, after suffering head trauma at the hands of a mugger, believed himself to be Genghis Khan reborn.  Building technologically advanced, yet ancient looking, weapons and armor he took to the streets of San Francisco to defend "his people".  Though seen as crazy and dangerous by some (at less lucid times he would insist the city was his "empire") he was held up as a cultural hero by the Asian-American community for defending them against bigots.

"The Constellation Alliance, the greatest force for peace in the known galaxy. Composed of various semi-independant member nations both tiny and huge the Alliance is a union dedicated to the betterment of the entire universe via the inclusive process of democracy. But Evil has the advantage of dictatorship, meaning the Alliance can't afford to wait for everyone to agree when the Psion Collective mind-slaves a planet or the Atlantian Empire threatens to use a new superweapon. That's when the Alliance needs beings of extraordinary talent to stand up, put aside their differences, and fight for Truth, Justice, and Freedom!  YOU can be one of those beings.  Join up and become a Star Ranger today!

The Star Rangers: Shine with Truth, Justice, Freedom!" -- Star Rangers official recruitment pitch

Themes
Defending the universe against the forces of EVIL
Pushing the boundaries of SCIENCE
Boldly discovering NEW PLACES, NEW PEOPLE, NEW WAYS OF GETTING IN TROUBLE
ROMANCE
Groaning at OVERLY COMPLEX POLITICS AND POLICIES
Living in a universe containing POP CULTURE
Emphasizing the most important part of a dramatic sentence by using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Realizing that the universe is absurd


Star Rangers is a setting of Saturday morning cartoon heroics.  The heroes are hapless yet valiant, the villains malevolent yet bumbling.
 
Alien Species:
Humans: The usual hairless apes.  Humans are neither the most common species in the Constellation Alliance, nor are they the most adaptable, cosmopolitan, or friendly species in space.

Prominent Cultures:
Scrap-ship Nomads: Wandering traders of technology and information, dwelling primarily on giant ships that have been cobbled together from much smaller vessels.  Unlike many other merchant cultures the Nomads have a reputation for honesty and hospitality.

Evil Enemies:
Psion Collective: A not-secret secret society that espouses belief in the "power of the sentient mind over reality" and the idea that by joining all the minds of the universe together they can bring about an age of pure harmony.  Naturally considering themselves superior they have decided to "enlighten" everyone else for their own good by whatever means necessary.
Atlantian Empire: A human-dominated sector that has gotten the idea into its head that humans were once the reigning force in the cosmos, only to loose it when their home of Atlantis was destroyed in a war with the "degenerates".  Declaring their "right to rule" they now routinely search for ways to conquer everyone around them.

Benevolent Government: Constellation Alliance (capital:
----The Trinity Alliance: the Taurian League (capital: K-Taurus), The Gaian Republic, the United Planets system
----The Sonata Commonwealth (formerly the Tek Imperium)
----The Star Court

Random Planet Names:
----Weavend
----Crokkus (swampy planet)
----Titanus 2

Interstellar Police Force: Star Rangers (motto: "Shine with Truth, Justice, Freedom!")

Evil Enemy Dictator:

Other Enemies:
----Raknus (pirate captain)

Business Names:
----StrongByte Security
----Teelo's Diner

"The planet of Nexus.  A seemingly ordinary planet, inhabited by seemingly ordinary aliens going about their seemingly ordinary lives.  Yes, Nexus is a prosperous planet, blessed with tourist-attracting balmy weather and a location at the intersection of many trade routes.  But behind that facade lurks a secret..........a very, very weird secret.  You don't know what it is, but the planet is a magnet.  A magnet for crazy.  A magnet for trouble.  People fall in holes to other worlds.  Important aliens come to visit for no good reason.  You get super-powers.

"And you have to live here."

The game would essentially be a weird hodge-podge of aliens, superheroes, alternate dimensions, whatever weird stuff seems like fun.  The point would not be really be combat or intrigue (though it'd have some of those) but rather to try and create some wacky hyjinx in a world gone crazy.

There amount of whackiness vs. seriousness would depend on what everyone decides they want to play.  The game could be something just plain silly like Futurama or Hitchhiker's Guide where the entire universe is made up of freaky things, or the universe can act a bit more serious and take itself kinda logically like what you might get in a comedy anime or Saturday-morning action-oriented cartoon series (though the events driving the game would still be pretty weird).

Setting Outline:
Place Name: Nexus City , Nexus

Government Name: Constellation Alliance (capital: Ursus Minor)
----Government Type: Standard benevolent super-republic plagued by annoying bureaucracy.
----General Society/Culture: Supposedly demo- and meritocratic, but the real culture being a media-blitzed "lowest-common denominator" consumer base.

Alliance Interstellar Police: The Star Rangers (motto: "Shine with Truth, Justice, Freedom!"; HQ: "The Observatory")

Alien Species: To be described on a case-by-case basis.  No aliens differ from humans in terms of psychology.

 Cultures: Other than the galactic monoculture not many of note.

Other Random Planets:
Crokkus (swamp planet)
Kali Flower (planet of deadly plants and major agricultural producer)
Reh 3 (savage frontier planet filled with deadly creatures and cults)

Scientific Magic:

----Methods:
Channeling (summoning and directing energy)
Access (spacetime manipulation)
Pattern (Channeling + Access = altering normal arrangements of matter and energy)

----Elements:
Earth (solids, great resistance to moving and pattern change but stays put once done)
Blood (the common elements of living things (mostly carbon), doesn't resist too much but has a tendency to backslide)
Air (gaseous elements, little resistance but will continue to change afterwards)
Lightening (energy, trivially easy to move but epically difficult to keep in pattern)


sentient races:
human
formshifter
nekojin
jird
frog-lizard (humanoid)
eel snake (humanoid)
griffin (humanoid)
griffin (animal shape)
magical horse (humanoid)
magical horse (animal shape)
large wolf (animal shape)

hybrids:
half-cat (human/nekojin)
lamia (human/eel snake)
pegasus (animal horse/animal griffin)

[blockquote=SCMP]Superheroes do not always fly in with their cape flapping, sometimes they sneak around and act like super-spies.
But the setting still has aliens, lost worlds, ancient magical artifacts, ancient magical artifacts that were left in lost worlds by aliens, evil bad-guys Hell-bent on doing something evil, and lots of fistfights. It's Superheroes meet Pulp action-adventure![/blockquote]
Well you certainly have quite a detailed idea of this.  Slightly more realistic fantasy, I guess.  SOrt of Doc Savage-esque?

Quote from: Lord Vreeg[blockquote=SCMP]Superheroes do not always fly in with their cape flapping, sometimes they sneak around and act like super-spies.
But the setting still has aliens, lost worlds, ancient magical artifacts, ancient magical artifacts that were left in lost worlds by aliens, evil bad-guys Hell-bent on doing something evil, and lots of fistfights. It's Superheroes meet Pulp action-adventure![/blockquote]
Well you certainly have quite a detailed idea of this.  Slightly more realistic fantasy, I guess.  SOrt of Doc Savage-esque?

:huh:

I've gotta say "wow".  I wrote that moths back, I'd completely forgotten about it.  What convinced you to read enough to you singled out that one post?

In answer to your question: I thought of it more as modern super-spies and then adding stuff the superheroes basically inherited from pulps.  I don't necessarily know Doc Savage all that well, but that's probably pretty accurate.