I've come to a sad realization as of late: that I, myself, have differing interests from my players regarding settings. I've been working on a single setting, known as Avernus, for several years, and for the most part love it, as do my players. But I've been taking note recently that my setting, filled with dreamlike landscapes that exuding a somewhat whimsical atmosphere, doesn't really mesh well with my player's wanting for gritty, classical, medieval fantasy. Something a little more run-of-the-mill, with dwarves, elves, gnomes, etc., and with a compelling plot and characters. Call me what you will, but I've always wanted something a little more exotic out of a setting, something that really inspires wonder and excitement... not that the latter couldn't, but I'm talking from my own perspective, not others.
So, for better or for worse, I decided to leave Avernus as a more "standard" fantasy setting for my players and I to enjoy, and also to make an effort to create a setting that satisfies my need to exercise my creativity. I may or may not get anyone to play within my new setting, but thats something I guess I'll just have to learn to accept; my drive to create something has been set in motion, and nothing will stop it now. Besides, variety is the spice of life, no?
Anyways, I've got a goldmine of other minds out there on this board and I figured, why not use them? So here I am, presenting the bare bones of a setting and getting some feedback. Forgive me if it isn't much, I literally thought of this yesterday:
The setting in mind will build off the premises of my prior setting, the idea that the world itself is the result of a greater beings thought, but rather than the world itself being the dreamer, the being had "fallen asleep" and abandoned the world, leaving it unfinished. Thus, large parts of the world would be left in shambles. I've nicknamed these places "wastelands" for now, but the name is definitely pending. The wastelands are vast places cluttered with scrap metal (some "pieces" stretching miles into the sky) and half finished landscapes. I want this Creator to have been "putting the world together from separate pieces," but didn't stay around (or awake?) to finish the job. Crisscrossing these vast expanses of wasteland are super fast railway systems, pulled by shooting stars captured from the skies, connecting the finished parts of the world, places of indisputable beauty, with magnificent cities that stretch into the twilit skies, glorious mountains that glow against the mid-morning sky, and forests that stretch as far and as deep as you dare (the imagery that comes to mind of a train going through a deep forest is that of the Polar Express, a book I was quite fond of as a kid).
Within the wasteland are the wandering Minotaur, outfitted with crude metal armor and hammers, who know their way around the heaps of metal like the back of their hand, and will rip apart any poor soul foolish enough to wander too far from the tracks. Within the more civilized realms, guns will be plentiful and deadly, and magic will be abundant. There will be no dwarves, gnomes, orcs, or halflings. There will be humans, and I'm thinking of making elves some sort of progenitor race that had vanished some time ago, but I'm not sure. Either way, they would be far more alien than your regular elves. I have in mind an idea for a smaller sized race, called the Sidhe, who have purplish skin and antennae and big, cat-like eyes, with a knack for mechanics, or something.
Before I go any further, I just want to say "I don't know why, but I'm looking for a reason." Basically, I don't know why there are trains crisscrossing the wastelands, or why I have these little Sidhe guys, or why Minotaur are the way they are, but I'm open to interpretations. The way I think of things is by first finding a satisfying mental image, and then working within it to make sense of it. I understand its kind of backwards thinking, but I find it challenges me to exert my creative thoughts in new ways. I understand a lot of this might not make too much sense to anyone, but I'm using this thread as a canvas for my thought processes... I'm sure I can think of ways to link it all together, but for now its just here for me (and others, if they wish) to see and lend their thoughts or ideas. I'm open to anything, really, I'm just looking for something new and mystical. I've made a note to look over all my favorite childhood books and my favorite fantasy art books to help inspire me to create something new.
I apologize to anyone who thought there would be more, but right now, this is just rampant speculation.
No need for any apologies. I like the concept of a universe left unfinished. That could actually be used to justify (intentional) breaks of internal consistency, apparent paradoxes where the creator-being had left out critical pieces of it's intended design.
The sidhe sound kinda like aliens out of some pulp-era sci fi yarn.
Thanks. I've been thinking about adding a few of my older drafts on various WOTC races that never made it into my standard setting. I had an idea for Goliaths to actually come down in hollow meteorites, where they break free like a bird hatching from an egg. They would take a piece of their "star stone" with them, possibly going so far as to forge weapons out of them or something. Because of their method of reproduction (falling from the sky), there would only be one gender of Goliaths, or they would be unisex.
I'm also trying to establish just where exactly the level of technology is for this world... they have trains led by shooting stars, guns, and all other sorts of things, but when magic is intermixed, it gets tricky.
I like the idea of intentional paradoxes, Ghostman. Perhaps there are unseen things the creator left undone, like having physics work improperly in some areas or passing through certain doors could inexplicably lead you to far away places. Portals, as they could be called, could be valued gateways and alternate means of travel. Basically, there could be invisible wormholes riddled throughout the world... not enough so that casually walking down the street would send you miles away behind a scrap heap, but frequent enough that it's not unheard of to stumble upon something and end up somewhere far away. I like it! Thanks for the input.