Having decided that I want to do a twist on generic fantasy, I should probably figure out exactly what those twists are going to be.
Don't worry though. Everything's going to be fine. I have a list. Actually, two lists. Let's start with what I'm taking out.
Elves. I mean, come on. Does anyone seriously still like elves? They're annoying and immortal and constantly state the obvious. Plus, in this setting, they'll have nowhere to live. Because the next thing to go is...
Forests. Mostly, because elves live there.
Dwarfs. (Dwarves?) Don't get me wrong. I love Dwarfs. They're not nearly as played out as elves. But I really want to do them properly, in one of the other- actually, the only other - fantasy setting in my vague to-do list, and I don't want to bleed ideas from one to the other.
Actually, most 'generic fantasy races'. We're probably better off working on a whitelist rather than a blacklist here, otherwise I'd be doing this all day.
Airships. This is a pet peeve of mine. Yes, steampunk is awesome, but not every setting is improved by adding airships. Sorry guys.
Ubiquitous Horses. For two reasons. First, mounted combat is always a pain, in every system. Ever. And second, for the same reason I ditched airships: I want travel to be difficult and dangerous and adventuresome.
Hordes of Undead. They're overused. 'Specially zombies. Though I reserve the right to throw really weird ones in occasionally. Like mummies, or something. But no skeletons and stuff.
Spell slots Vancian magic is an abomination which should die in a fire. I don't know what I'm going to replace it with yet, but it can't possibly be worse. #famouslastwords
So having ripped out and/or eliminated from potential inclusion all that stuff, we're left with humans on foot with swords and some unknown type of magic, fighting monsters everywhere except forests. That, to me, sounds like a pretty good base to start adding things to. AND ADD I SHALL.
Goblin hordes. But civilised ones. Think Mongols or Huns, not monstrous savages. Probably, they will even be a playable race, though I haven't decided yet. Probably also, being Mongols, they will have access to horses.
Trade caravans. Because guarding a caravan is a fantastic adventure hook. There aren't any horses though, so they'll have to be pulled by something else. Yaks, maybe. Or gigantic sentient lizards. I dunno. I'll think of something.
Deserts With all this Skyrim love, there isn't nearly enough desert-related fantasy happening right now. But deserts are great! They're full of mysteries, and dangers, and untold riches!
City states Smaller, independent city-states, I reckon, will give more chance for variety than, say, a homogenous empire or a couple of kingdoms. Which will, of course, mean more work, since the advantage of an empire is that you can just say "oh yes this is part of the empire" and everyone will assume it's similarly themed to all the other places, instead of you having to make it up. But I'll take that bullet.
Bird people I dunno why. I just feel like putting bird people in. You'll probably be able to play as these guys too, and hopefully they won't end up being elves in all but name.
Pistols (but super rare.) I guess this is part of the aforementioned pet peeve about steampunk. I like pistols - like, flintlocks and such - and I want to prove that you can put them in without necessarily dragging the whole steampunk theme in too, or unbalancing the entire game.
Blood magic I like the idea the magic is difficult and costly and will kill you if you use it wrong or overdo it. Sort of like casting from hitpoints.
Giant bugs Again, this is related to the zombie one above. Bugs are scary, and come in huge numbers. Why don't we have those instead of zombies? That'd be pretty cool.
A city inside the vent of an active volcano. Because.
Alright, I think I've got enough to work with there. I'll probably go through that point by point and flesh each of those out properly with background and philosophising and maybe even stats.
Tomorrow, though, I think I'll make maps.
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