Tag: worldbuilding

I already asked about horse farms.

There should also be ranches for food animals such as cows, chickens, and/or pigs.

Addendum: oxen.

• burial grounds
• holy mountains
• blessed springs
• holy rivers
• sacred groves
• faery rings
• henges
• holy cities

Kingdoms/states/realms that field armies need hundreds if not thousands of horses. Not just mounts for cavalry troops but draft horses for wagon teams.

I have a soft spot for fantasy political structures that are pre-Medieval. Every city should be a city-state with its own king. Its own polity, I should say. Theocracies, magocracies, et. al.

Celtic Britain had the office of High King because there were so many petty kings—many of them ruling over nothing larger than their tribe/clan.

The 5e class description of Monks says

“Small walled cloisters dot the landscapes of the worlds of D&D, tiny refuges from the flow of ordinary life, where time seems to stand still. The monks who live there seek personal perfection through contemplation and rigorous training. Many entered the monastery as children, sent to live there when their parents died, when food couldn’t be found to support them, or in return for some kindness that the monks had performed for their families….”

When you actually look at official D&D settings, this very clearly seems not to be true for most of them. Classes like wizards, clerics and druids tend to be incorporated directly into the fabric of their settings. Magic schools and organizations, churches and temples of various gods, and druidic circles are all present and accounted for, providing easy hooks for players of those classes to directly attach their characters to core elements of the setting.

But monasteries that produce D&D style monks? They’re basically nonexistent. If a setting has some ersatz-[East Asia] equivalent, there might be some suggestion that many monks hail from there, but this notion of monasteries that “dot the landscapes of the worlds of D&D” is plainly not true. If there is a monastery, it is far more likely to be a western-style religious institution that produces clerics than a shaolin-style haven for martial arts mastery….

It all seems like a pretty major disconnect to me between the supposed official lore on monks that they come from these monasteries dotting the landscape, and the reality that basically no creators of official D&D content for most settings has bothered to incorporate them in any way.

— RPG.net Forums

Author’s emphasis. I could not have said it better, myself.

Cannot have wine without vineyards. And wineries.

One important thing (almost) always missing from RPG outdoor maps are mines. Gold doesn’t grow on trees!

• gold
• silver
• copper
• tin
• iron
• diamond, ruby, bloodstone, et. al.
• coal
• salt
• lead
• mithril, voidstone, and other fantastical ores
• stone (quarries)

I was recently reminded how many opening sequences of television cartoons are masterpieces of exposition, specifically the monologue. A first-time viewer hears everything they need to understand the setting and characters they are about to see. I present two of the best that I know of.

First, a rare two-minute sequence for Thunderbirds 2086 that extolls the higher, non-violent calling that is International Rescue:

The best there ever was is for Thundarr the Barbarian. Not just worldbuilding but defining of the heroic protagonists—in 60 seconds:

Perfection.

7 Myths Everyone Believes About Druids suggests that druids should be fractious.

Dojo Storming is but one example showing that martial artists are violently rivalrous about their skills, masters, and/or schools.

So, too, should magicians because it would be an identical situation. Spells are analogous to martial art maneuvers: most are common but advanced ones are secrets known to perhaps only a single master and her disciple. How shall all other magicians in the world learn such secrets? By force, most likely. Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series—a major influence on Dungeons & Dragons’ magic system—depicts all wizards as jealous hoarders (and thieves) of the hundred spells left in that world.

Xenograg’s homeworld of Panadus has not yet advanced to where schools—of any kind—are common. Indeed, the Imperial School founded by Demograg was part of his sorcerous revolution. The three masters that coexisted as the Veler Magi were unique; likewise their College where the sum of their knowledge was taught.

Xenograg is the only person to ever be a student of both those schools. That fact predates this retrospective but this is not a retcon. The old and this new dovetail nicely. The original narrative portrayed Maret, the last Veler Magi, as very wise and peaceful. Amazingly, it is Maret who invites Xenograg into the College. Xenograg did not seek it; would have believed it impossible. To his mind, Xenograg would have had to “storm” the College to get the spells within.

Now there is a “What If…?”

Addendum: I neglected to include the witches coven. Either through temperament or necessity, female magic wielders are often depicted as working together in small groups.