The Campaign Builder's Guild

The non-human species spread early in pre-history, so they're pretty evenly distributed. There are plenty of cultural differences between different regions, species really doesn't play all that big of a role - of course, the very existence of multiple intelligent species affected how culture developed, but it's not like all the members of one species shunned all the members of another. I'm still working out some of the history, not quite up to the communism/capitalism debate yet, but I do plan to draw lots and lots of inspiration from real life history and culture.

All good questions ^_^ Sorry if I'm being obtuse, I've never really talked about my worlds with other people before, I kinda don't know what to include...

Anyway: Only those five species are sentient. Most species closely related to those that are sentient have been out competed, just as most early hominids were. Most animals are more intelligent than they are in real life, which leads to a mechanic of animal companions that I have yet to really flesh out...

This is indeed an alternate history of earth, although of course events after the evolution of sentience are quite different indeed! I'm still working on the background history, but in many ways it's roughly analogous to our own. Brane because in one variant of the many-worlds theory of physics, all worlds are membranes - branes for short - next to each other like slices in a loafers of bread.

Tone... I guess realistic? I want to make the setting seem flexible, sometimes awful, and sometimes ridiculously amazing, like life. Different places, eras, and stories would have flavors of their own.

The current day is indeed urban, but I have no idea what Bojack Horseman is. Edit: upon looking it up: not inspired by that, but it sounds brilliant.

Public spaces are built to accommodate elephants, since they make up a significant portion of the population, but they can't enter most human houses, and humans and dolphins can't enter bird houses. This generally isn't a big issue in-universe.

Health is indeed different between species. For now it's not much of an issue, since this campaign is focused mainly on roleplaying and not combat, but in the future I intend to have the bonuses of flight and agility balance out the strength and durability of elephants. :)

First, to clarify about the player races: I should have said I meant those races in addition to humans. Dolphins would be limited as a PC race, basically only allowed with GM permission and a good background as to why they'd want to undergo the fairly complex and long magical processes to be able to survive on land. I chose the species I did because in real life they are the species closest to human-like intelligence, as determined by scientific study.

I would describe the races as follows:

• Dolphins - seen as enigmatic, almost alien, because of their usual habitat which necessitates isolation, and because they still live mostly in loose hunter societies. However they are really a very social and playful species, with a penchant towards what humans would consider hedonism.
• Elephants - they have a reputation for sexism that may or may not be deserved, and a tendency towards strict traditional social structures. Most elephant cultures also put great emphasis on fashion and display, partially because of human customs encountered early in their cultural development. Elephants are the species that have been living with humans the longest.
• Magpies - magpies are the only carrion-eaters of the intelligent species, and also the shortest-lived. As a species they are generally considered inquisitive and dramatic. Their cultural history of hunting has brought about controversy.
• Parrots - they're known to be anxious and prone to neuroticism, but are also very social and deeply loyal. Can be clannish, and are more prone to phobias.
  
• Humans - the last species to discover magic, thanks to our eminently useful opposable thumbs. Humans had a strong influence on the development of integrated society because of our propensity for technology and tendency to spread out.

Thanks to the joys of Magic and medical science, as well as natural talent in the cases of parrots and magpies, modification to allow physically easy speech in any species's languages is a common and minor procedure, and one that most modern-day citizens have as young children. Most people in the modern world speak Teltok, a kind of pidgin of many kinds of speech that has become a language in its own right (analogous to the origin of English).

These races achieved sentience because the existence of magic provided a greater selection pressure for intelligence, evolutionarily speaking. For one thing, minds that are capable of storing magical energy - that is to say, minds capable of somewhat complex cognition, even if they are not sentient - will release that energy in a kind of explosion upon a violent death. This provides a natural defense to animals above a certain level of intelligence. Secondly, the existence of magic negates the strict need for opposable digits to develop technological culture, since one can move and manipulate objects with magic.

Also, there is a kind of constant mild telepathic field due to the effect a mind has on the magical field. It's usually very fuzzy and not really useful for complex communication. This is most notable in the ways that it affects interpersonal and person-to-pet relationships, because the closer your bond with a person or animal, the better you can understand the telepathic signals they give off. Furthermore, one can immediately feel the difference between a smart-but-not-sentient animal and a sentient individual, which helped greatly with first contacts between the species.

As far as differences in play style, elephants are strong, humans are dexterous, both bird species can fly, and dolphins are aquatic. Also elephants and dolphins both have natural long-range communication, and both bird species have mimicry abilities.

I would imagine a significant part of that would have to do with how people would get around once the oil ran out - the U.S. runs on huge amounts of imported oil, and it would be very difficult to keep the country connected using only steam. Over time, I would expect regional differences to grow to the point of splitting, as happened with the first civil war.

Have you considered drake intelligence? You mentioned corvids as possible drake progenitors, and corvids include some of the smartest animals known to mankind. It could be interesting if drakes are more technologically advanced than your other races, since they seem to have evolved first.

Holy moly, this is awesome! Argh, I really want to play in this world...

I've been working on a world setting for a campaign for a little while now, and I'd really love to see what people think of it. The essential premise is the the world follows the laws of physics, but magic is a natural force that responds to complex cognition. I have a fairly complex system for determining how Magic works and what people can do with it, but I won't bore you with that ;P
Also there are five sentient races: two species of birds, elephants, and dolphins. In the modern era, which is analogous to our current day, they live pretty evenly mixed in with each other, except for dolphins.
The starter campaign I'm imagining is a kind of small-town adventure, mostly free-form, with a slice-of-life sort of feeling, but I can imagine a lot of potential for different kinds of plots.

Anyway I basically don't know what I'm doing and would love to receive any kind of input.

Hi everyone, my name is Yodra :)

Gaming History

I have pretty much no experience with tabletop rpgs, other than reading a lot about them. I enjoy studying game design, learning about game worlds and mechanics, and watching others play video games.

Likes and Dislikes

I like parrots, art, worldbuilding, rationality, and stories of all kinds.
I dislike intolerance, plot holes, substance abuse, and boredom.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I think I'm fairly good at macro worldbuilding. I'm also pretty good at producing alien modes of thought.
I don't really understand what makes one mechanic more fun than another, and I usually don't really know what I'm doing.

Major Influences

Zoology, physics, social psychology, Terry Pratchet, Darths and Droids, and Nighzmarquls.

Hello,

I am new to both the CBG and roleplaying in general, but I have a fictional world that I would like to share and explore with others. I kind of don't know where to start, so that's why I'm posting this here. I have some experience world building but my latest project is considerably more ambitious than anything else I've tried, and I have very little roleplaying experience. I would really appreciate it if some more experienced creators could point me in the right direction. :)