The "Create a Universe" Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:48 am

Hereâ€™s a little side thing we can collaborate on as a group if you feel like it. What this is, is a chance to stretch our imaginations a little in the fantasy vein and see if we can make an idea that was good in concept but poor in execution a viable fantasy setting to tell stories in.

I have posted it on this forum because I wanted it to have absolutely nothing to do with role-playing games or game mechanics of any kind. That said, this time around it may have a familiar ring to many of you who have played Dungeons and Dragons in the last, oh, twenty years or so but please understand me Iâ€™m not out to rip-off anything. I only want to improve on a basically good idea.

What basically good but tragically fucked up idea am I speaking of? Why the one presented to us in TSRâ€™s Spelljammer campaign setting in which familiar fantasy role-playing tropes ventured forth gallantly into Space! Alas the fairly fun setting with its oddball assortment of products, novels, and rule-sets that came along with it while initially entertaining left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the way the handled it. I canâ€™t explain it really something about the way the ships were just jumped up sailing ships with a spelljamming helm tacked on or the way playing the party wizard both vitally important but horribly un-fun. Anyway all that is not important, what I want to focus on is what I see as the fundamental concept behind the now-defunct game based world.

SETTING CONCEPT:
A space adventure setting in which magic has completely substituted technology which has been essentially stymied at pre-industrial levels.

Like I mentioned before, this is an exorcise in world building and if a story grows out of it that would be cool too. Feel free to participate and throw in your two, five, ten, or fifty cents at your leisure.

Some things to consider:

â€¢ In a setting defined by its magical arts, defining just how those magical arts work (in a general way) is probably pretty important.

â€¢ Many fantasy works include humans and a number of other fantastic races, which ones should we include?

â€¢ Should the space setting itself be vast (an enormous galactic worldscape) or compact (a single or few small solar systems)?

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:22 am

Here is one of the suppositions I will be working under until I get sold on a better idea.

The magic in the setting will be very scientific in its approach almost like advanced mathematics (which honestly is pretty mystifying to me). I see them as using numerous runic alphabets, arcane logographic systems, and advanced symbolic languages to bind magic spells and effects into constructed objects and conduct magical research. Anyone can learn these things but no mater how talented or clever a student is at his magical studies one must still posses the â€œsparkâ€ of magic within them in order to bend the universe to their will.

In its most basic form, using magic simply means describing to the latent magical potential what you would like done and for how long (through various runic expressions) then willing the effect into being.

I imagine this would create three basic classes of magic users

1. True Wizards: There are people with both the inborn talent for magic and the education and skill necessary to completely define and cast a spell on their own.

2. Mages: or â€œsparkersâ€ or some other nick-name. These are people with the inborn talent for magic who did not get or want the proper education to become full fledged wizards but still have enough wit to sell their power to those who can do the hard work for them.

3. Rune Men: these are exceptionally bright people who are able to fully comprehend and define magical language and effects, but lack the inborn power to activate them themselves.

Under this system magic is so closely tied to the language used to express it that most magical effects will be expressed in the numerous works of magical artifice that the settingâ€™s space fairing culture will be built around. I see wizards who routinely cast spells from memory as being rare (due to the precise nature of magical language) and those that do keep spells handy usually already have the proper runes and sigils prepared ahead of time in some way (written on a number of discrete scrolls, etched on a handy staff or wand, or tattooed right onto the wizardâ€™s flesh... oh yeah and in books).

Where magic comes from and how it knows what it is reading is a mystery better left to ponder later (or not at all)

Well this is my idea of magic should be in this setting, any questions, comments? Like it? Donâ€™t? Got a better Idea?