BASIC SETTING
==============

Most of Rockworld exists underground, in an infinite number of caves. The caves can be as small as a football field, or as large as a few miles wide. Some of them house farms or ranches owned by individuals, and some have entire towns or cities. Imagine it as Swiss cheese, with each cave being an individual air bubble that aren't physically connected to one another.

The strange thing is that these caves are all self-contained. They have their own soil, light, heat, animals, and plants. We'll explore how exactly this is all possible in just a moment.

Travel between these caves is done by way of "links". Any pebble lying around the cave (about half an inch to two inches wide) will transport you to another cave if you touch it with your bare skin. This "link" is between two pebbles, so to travel back to where you came from, you just need to touch the nearest pebble.

Besides the cave, there are some uniquely bizarre locations that we'll delve into later.

There are a few animals that live in these caves, mostly what we would call rodents and insects. But there is one creature which is of particular note.

The rockeater is a group of small insect-like animals that burrow through the rock. They eat rock (duh) and excrete soil. They work methodically and over hundreds of years, gnawing away bit by bit, they end up forming the caves.

Embedded in the rock are small, brightly glowing crystals known as "firestones". They emit immense heat and light and will burn you if you are foolish enough to touch one. They are located on the ceiling, walls, and under the soil of all caves.

Some caves have more than others, some have less. As a result the "climate" of the caves can vary greatly from one to another.

The crystals emit either yellow, white, or blue light.
PS. - The more I look at my illustrations, the more it seems like these must be the ramblings of an escaped lunatic.

So far I like, if mostly for the arts. I can't draw for shit either, and I enjoy the child-like qualities.

I don't know if you're going for a super serial setting, though.

it's ok, so far it seems like an old amiga game for table top

proceed...

TIME
====

The firestones always glow at a consistent rate, and so there is no weather and no day/night cycle. Because of this, people view time much differently, with little regard for dates and times.

People don't tend to sleep for very long, instead taking short naps every now and then. Several systems have been developed to keep appointments, but it's only important if you live in a larger city.

I actually like the name "rockworld" because it isn't a bad fantasy name you get by hitting a few random letters and turning it into Ish'kardazimar.

Rockworld is simple and unpretentious in contrast.

FLORA AND FAUNA
===============

There is a small variety of creatures that call this place home. Rodents, insects, grasses, mosses, etc. There are also a few "sentients", creatures capable of thought and reason. Most of them are pretty similar to humans, and they've managed to eek out a living here.

For example, pictured to the left is a Neramese person (god fucking dammit I wish I could draw). They look similar to our world's southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders, albeit considerably shorter. They tend to survive by raising and herding the native rodents, which reproduce and reach maturity very quickly. They don't tend to have homes for resting and storing possessions, instead they just sleep on the grass when they're tired. They wear little clothing, just a bit of cloth for the sake of modesty. Their society values exploration, individuality, and loyalty to your family and friends.

Here is a Cerian, similar to our Caucasian people. They are generally seen as traders and craftsmen from the towns, although there are plenty of Cerian farmers and ranchers. Their society values hard work, skill, and wealth.

And the last of the "normal" races is the Escarans. Similar to our African peoples, they tend to be farmers who cultivate the natural seed-baring grasses (similar to wheat and rice). Their society values storytelling, music, and creativity.

But not all races in Rockworld are similar to the one's you'd expect to find on earth...

NATURALS
========
Yes, there is indeed magic in Rockworld. A lucky few are born with powers. There are two races, known as "naturals" which are born with innate magical powers. Each person is born with one, and only one power. It's more like a superpower than our traditional view of magic.

First, we have the Alberians, short, stout folks, with chalk white skin and no body hair. They are born with powers which deal with non-living things. Specifically, their powers deal with stone, metal, air, and water. For example, an Alberian might be able to:

- Control the temperature of water, freezing or boiling it as he or she sees fit.
- Duplicate metal objects on command
- Telekinetically control stone

Some of their powers are particularly bizzare, such as people known as "tappers". By touching two objects, they can turn one into a lens and one into a receiver. In other words, this allows them to spy on people without their knowledge. Although this has plenty of security applications, it has also been used to make a rudimentary form of television and radio.

Their society is by far the most rigid of all the races. They are ruled by a strict authoritarian regime which exerts control over most aspects of their life. This isn't without reason, however. If an Alberian were to go rogue, he could potentially duplicate a single gold piece into a hoard, or tear apart the stone buildings of their cities.

They are peoples of routine, who live their lives by a giant hourglass which rests in their capital city, where they all live. Their society extends to the furthest reaches of the caves. They allow any farmers and herders to join their federation on the condition that the Alberians get all the goods they produce. In exchange, the people get access to their magical technologies (for example, water towers for running water) and food, which is redistributed to them.

Their society values engineering, innate talent, and intelligence.

Cool as shit setting.

ROCKWORLD is a perfectly acceptable 4e name

There is also the Svari, a race of naturals which is diametrically opposed to the Alberians.

They are very tall, and painfully skinny, with skin as black as pure obsidian. The Svari have no society per se. They may live in small groups for a time, but quickly move on. They're nomadic, traveling across the entire length of Rockworld, even beyond the caves. In fact, they tend to make their homes on the infinite expanse of The Boulders. This treacherous location is home to enormous floating rocks, in an infinite expanse of air. The only light comes from the scarce firestones in the rocks. The rocks slowly rotate and move, and it takes some skill not to fall off.

Their powers deal with living things, specifically: sentients, animals, and plants. For example, a Svari might be able to:

- Enlarge a small rodent to the size of a cow
- Duplicate crops at will
- Possess and control another sentient

Because their powers are so varied and their society is so individualistic, every Svari has a different way of making a living. Some travel from cave to cave, peddling their natural abilities in exchange for food and water. Some steal, manipulate, beg, perform, it is different from person to person. Because of their unpredictable nature, most other races are slow to trust a Svari.

They often engage in scarification and tattooing their bodies in colored ink, as resistance to pain is a trait valued by the Svari.

BEAST RACES
============

These races (which I am not skilled enough to draw), are considered sentients because of their ability to think and communicate, however they do not live in the caves, and not much is known about them. They cannot speak English (probably not the best name for this language), but instead they all communicate through a series of clicking noises similar to morse code. Although they all produce these noises differently, for some strange reason, they are all the same basic language.

- Stone Bats: these enormous bats stand about twenty feet tall, with disgusting wrinkly races and enormous yellow eyes that they can move independently of each other. They live on The Boulders, and eat the various bird-like creatures that live there. They communicate through clicking their pointed teeth together. They seem to have a shaky relationship with the Svari, with each race known for occasionally killing and eating the other.

- Crawlers: The creatures have small torsos and incredibly long arms. They reside on The Edge, an infinitely large vertical cliff-face surrounded by misty air. Moving very slowly and carefully they are able to traverse these cliffs, gripping the rock with their bend claws, which are are hard as metal. Using these same claws, they carve out tiny caves for themselves with dozens of caves often in close proximity. It's unclear what they eat, but most people assume that they eat the rockeaters, which also call The Edge home. They communicate by tapping their claws on the stone.

- Dolphin: I want to make an aquatic race, but I have no clue what they should look like. Dolphins are the obvious choice, but if they look exactly the same, that'd be weird. Any ideas?

>>8643747
Octopi are crazy smart, and they'd be able to go on land, if need be.

Also, wtfamireading.jpg

But seriously, continue.

>>8643747
Lasers. Laser dolphins with sharks grafted to their tails. Or just hyper-enlarged fin with a set of tentacles around their necks, like a collar, for manipulation, along with a series running down their belly allowing them to walk on land. Also, they should have no facial features, rather, sensory pits that work on heat and echolocation. They're the most technologically advanced of the race,s but noone has a fucking clue as they get rid of all theri goodies when they head upwards from the massive dome cities below the surface.

this seems fun. your drawings are ridiculous. who else thought >>8643072 had a hat on and was being a total bro? But anyways, proceed.

OTHER LOCATIONS (part 1)
===============
As you've probably already surmised, there are indeed many other locations in Rockworld, most of which are not very welcoming to humans. Some of them require special equipment, and some of them require special techniques to even reach them.

The Slopes - The ground here is tilted at an angle. Depending on where you visit, the ground my be only a few degrees off, or over 45 degrees.

The Air - an infinite expanse of air, where you fall endlessly. It is very unnerving since there is literally no light whatsoever, so you'd better have a flashlight (made with firestones) if you want to look around. Some people have claimed to see enormous skeletal birds the size of skyscrapers. Most researchers aren't curious enough to risk their lives to find out if they really exist.

The Wastes - An infinite expanse of great slate rock below a black sky. There are many firestones embedded in the rock, and the light and heat can get potentially dangerous. The main lifeforms here are the giant rockeaters, which are exactly what they sound like. They are exactly like the many insectoid shapes seen in normal rockeaters, except that they are several hundred feet tall. There are tales of cities being located on the backs of these enormous beasts, but most people don't pay that any heed.

The Wet: an infinite expanse of water. if you travel here, you'd better have a Svari mask, a device that acts as a link between The Air and pipes in fresh air, allowing you to breath underwater.

(picture is a very, VERY rough, unlabeled image of the world made in MS paint. I have no more hand-drawn pictures, so this'll have to do)

>>8643786
That's a good idea. I like octopi.


OTHER LOCATIONS (part 2)
=====================

The Boulders - Enormous floating rocks in an infinite expanse of air. The only light comes from the scarce firestones in the rocks. The rocks slowly rotate and move, and it takes some skill not to fall off. This location is home to the Stone Bats and many Svari.

The Wet Caves - An infinite expanse of mazelike underwater caverns. The firestones keep it at the temperature warm, and bath the caverns in a soft shimmering glow. There are plenty of fish here, of every shape and size. They seem to survive simply on the water itself, much like the rockeaters. Some of them are caught and sold as a delicacy by entrepreneurial individuals. (also, possibly home to the octopi people?)

The Soft - A bizarre location, even by the standards of Rockworld. The entire area seems to an endless expanse of soft, colorful foam. The area is closed, like a cave, and the foam itself seems to shimmer and give off light.

The Metal Caves - caves, but made of metal. There is no light, and with a flashlight and some tools, this makes for a ready source of metal without the hassle of preparing ores. Much like The Caves, this location has metaleaters, hearty creatures that resemble silvery worms more than insects. They are also much bigger than rockeaters (about as thick as your arm). Instead of soil, they excrete a disgusting oily goo that makes the floor very slippery.

The Metal Waste - similar to the metal caves, but with sky and towers of naturally forming metal reaching into the sky. The metal here is unlike anything else in Rockworld. It is incredibly hard and light, but very difficult to mine and work with. With no light, it is tough to avoid the Giant Metaleaters. Again, exactly what they sound like.

OTHER LOCATIONS (part 3)
=====================

UNNAMED - There are many many more. It is hard to verify whether a place actually exists, or is just a legend. There might be a few specific places I'm forgetting, but I think I got the major ones.

style

...i know what im playing next time i DM a game

WEIRD THINGS
============
Rockworld is not like earth. Not even a little bit. I've touched on some of the differences, such as how time is perceived, but there are a few more basic ones.

- There is no wood. The plants need to be able to grown in a limited area, and so they are vines, grasses, and mosses. All tools must be made from metal, including staffs, bows, bowls, etc.

- There aren't any reptiles, amphibians, birds, shellfish... frankly there's just not much The few beings described as birds (for example, at The Boulders) have leathery wings and are closer to how we'd imagine pterodactyls.

There are probably some more, but those seem like easy ones to forget.

Um... I think that's pretty much it actually. Any questions? Things I forgot to cover?

you forgot that metal does not bend like wood.

no wood = no bows

>>8644076
See! I said that exact same thing on /k/ and they acted like I was a moron. They said it would be easy to make a metal bow. Damn gun nuts...

A most excellent game world, OP. i love idea of the subtle horror and claustrophobia of rock that just keeps on going and going forever, with no escape.....

>Travel between these caves is done by way of "links". Any pebble lying around the cave (about half an inch to two inches wide) will transport you to another cave if you touch it with your bare skin. This "link" is between two pebbles, so to travel back to where you came from, you just need to touch the nearest pebble.

Surely any cave could have hundreds of pebbles? Do they ALL lead somewhere, or just a certain few?

>>8644045
>>8644105
You're all just so kind! I'm glad you like it.

>>8644076
>>8644104
It is possible to make a metal bow, you just have to have something like spring steel which is pretty advanced metallurgy.

springs are metal and they bend, therefore metal =/= unbendable.

>>8644116
Not all of them, just some. Sorry, I worded it strangely originally. Although you do hit on an important point: if you go through a link you may not necessarily be able to find the right pebble to go home. Travel can be pretty harrowing.

>>8644124
Exactly. in fact any metal will bend if you try hard enough, the main problem is getting them to UNbend afterwards. Again, spring steel.

>>8644119

Pretty much that. A bow can be made from any material that returns to its shape when flexed and that can be tensioned repeatedly without failing.

>>8644150
And there's likely to be animal parts (bones, chitin, teeth, etc.) that you can use for SOME kind of weapon, if you can kill the animal in question. but you'd only get that kind of thing off the BIG ones.

if all they have is metal and rock i bet they learned how to make great stuff out of it.

has anyone tried to DIG to another cave? like get a pick axe, pick a direction and start digging.

>>8644150
Well, all things considered, they'll probably use slings more.

Oh! There is one important thing I forgot to mention, one of the potential powers an Alberian has be born with is to create artificial links. In other words they can touch one pebble and then another, and create a link. When you think about it, think can make ranged weapons devastating. For example, what if the ammunition as actually a link to The Wet?

>>8644199
I'm sure they have. the problem is you could dig for years and hit nothing (i assume, given the OP's description of the scale of the world) so you'd have people going stark raving mad trying to get home, or rumors of a pebble-less paradise in the center of the earth, but the rock closes behind you if you enter/leave.....

>>8644199
Absolutely, the Alberians love bizarre experiments. They've tried to dig artificial tunnels, they've built a container (similar to a submarine in The Air that is infinitely falling (to see if it really is infinite). These experiments are rarely useful, but are cool.

>>8644205
Cool you got instakill bullets

and thats really
really
bad

there's just so many awesome things you can DO with this setting.

>>8644205
They'd have to touch the wet first to create the link, no?

>>8644205
The holes in them get wet?

>>8644239
Oh! Let me give a detailed list of the magic powers. I was a little vague before. One sec.

>>8644244
Yeah, you transport one pebble to the plane and hold onto the other. The Alberians are pretty anal about keeping track of which links lead where. But for the average person, using one of those as ammunition would be rare and expensive.

>>8644276
in addition to which, they might be able to follow the link back (depending on their magical ability) and you'd have to be very careful about where you fire and recovering your ammo. tho come to think of it it'd probably break on impact or somesuch.

ELEMENTS
=========
These are the things that a natural's powers can potentially involve.

- Alberian: rock, metal, water, air

- Svari: sentient, animal, plants
POWERS
========
- Control: telekinesis. by simply seeing and focusing on the element, they can manipulate it with your mind

- Dublicate: upon touching the object they can make an exact copy

- Links: able to form artificial links between pebbles.

- Tappers: can create a link where you can see and hear through. In other words, one object acts as a camera, one as a receiver

- Temperature: they can control the temperature of the object

- Strengthen: you can increase the natural hardness, toughness, and weight of something.


Some of these combinations are mutually exclusive, and so don't exist (strengthen water?) but some of them that you might not expect to work, do. For example, strengthening and sentients means that perhaps you can harden your fist so it's almost as hard as stone. You'll need to be creative

Can you label your map of the overall world, if it's not too much trouble? This is very interesting but I have trouble deciphering where the Air is, floating rocks, whether this is supposed to be a side or top view, etc.

>>8644413
Alright, but it's late, so I'll go to bed after I finish.

>>8644422
okay, sleep well. This is a very interesting setting and I can't wait to mess with it.

>>8644422
Thanks, OP. Great setting.

Note1: this is a hypothetical cross-section of Rockworld. If it were seen in 3D, it would probably look like a circular island with curved edges in the middle of the sea.

Note2: the planes are infinite, so they'll never meet, this is just for convenience. Oh wait... can I use the term "plane" without being sued by the Planescape people? Oh well.

Note3: Some of the weirder planes don't make any logical sense, and don't seem to fit on any map (The Soft).


1 - The Metal Boulders (originally planned to be surrounded by ashy air, which I later ignored because the ash didn't make sense)

2 - The Boulders

3 - The Wastes

4 - The Surface (I forgot this one, it appears like the top of an infinitely large ocean

5 - The Wet

6 - The Caves (main setting)

7 - The Ore (this was a weird idea I forgot to mention. Potentially still usable. Basically, there's metal at the center of the world, and it is surrounded by ore caves and ore wastes which can be refined into metal, and have other valuable things like gemstones and such on them. Now that I think of it, the metal caves and the ore caves should be a lot more dangerous to keep away too many treasure-seekers. But I'm rambling)

8 - Metal Caves

9 - The Metal Waste

10 - The Slopes

11 - The Edge

12 - The Wet Caves

>>8644449
>>8644453
Alrighty, nighty night. Thank you so much for the enthusiasm! I'm sure I'll be back when I polish it up a bit more.

Just to note, on the subject of bows:
Im pretty sure that the mongolians used shortbows made of horns and sinew. I think wood was used as well, but you could quite easily handwave it so that wood isnt needed because of the strengths of these animal parts or the like.


Either way, cool setting OP.

Great, this thread is still here. Thank god for /tg/'s incredibly slow posting rate.

So any ideas for other planes? Or maybe another name for them other than "planes"?


>>8644607
Also, I forgot to label The Air. It's that big airy-looking region.

Maybe I'll make a rough 3D model of the map. I do have Caligari Truespace.

To be fair, I didn't need to post this, I'm really just shamefully self-bumping. But I'm sure that's quite obvious.

I dig this setting. (See what I did there?)

But truth be told, I kinda like the versatility of it too. You could have serious CoC madness from endless mazes of rocks everywhere, or it could be a silly kind of "I AM ROCKMAN. LET'S ROLL." game.

I'm Bumping because I care.

Also because I think this setting rocks. One question though, with the really unreliable nature of travel between caves, how did civilisations start and spread? Surely most of them would be trapped in their own caves, with any people who left them very rarely returning. And when that pebble could transport you to a cave full of ravenous mole-people or whatever, and there's no way to let the folks back home know whether it's safe or not, I'd sure as hell not want to travel at all.

this is awesome and someone should archive this

>>8651257
Aww, you are so sweet. I didn't think anyone cared.

But yes, it can potentially be treacherous to travel, but overall it is pretty easy. Even if you do get briefly lost, you will almost always remain in The Caves. Travel to the other areas... what's a good term for them? I'd like to say "The Outer Planes," but I worry that I'm ripping of the Planescape setting enough already. Anyways, what I was trying to say is that travel to the areas outside The Caves requires special circumstances. For example, touching a pebble at the same moment that the other pebble in the link is destroyed (if that makes sense). Or touching a pebble at the bottom of a lake would take you to The Wet Caves or something. Admittedly, the kinks haven't been fully worked out.

Anywho, early people explored out of necessity, they needed to find more plants, animals, etc. And over time, they learned to scout out places first and if it was okay, they'd save the pebble. In other words, most people have a collection of pebbles leading to various other caves. People carefully avoid accidentally touching a pebble.

I'll talk about the "civilizations" if we can call it that, in my next post.

There aren't exactly any civilizations in the way that we think of them. The two main forces in this setting are Independent Towns and The Collective. Let's start with the Independent Towns.

There are some large caves just happen to have a lot of links leading to them. Logically, the larger a cave is, the more pebbles there tend to be, and the more visitors it gets.

Over time, these places naturally become trading spots. Farmers and herders keep these links ready so that they can sell their excess goods. The smaller ones are basically just linen tents held up with metal poles. Trade is done with a barter system, and stores ranging from blacksmiths to barbers to inns can be found here.

The larger ones are more orderly. They have stone buildings, a rudimentary government lead by guilds, and most importantly, they have what can best be described as a "tourism board". Certain brave individuals are employed to travel abroad and distribute links to the town. The governments pay handsomely for links (a pair of stones, with each one linking to the other), and many are bought from the Alberians.

The cities realized a long time ago that competition was healthy for everyone, and so the major cities all contain links to one another. So if you can find one city, you've functionally found them all. Other than this, the cities all remain staunchly independent of each other, operating more like companies than governments.

This picture is how I imagine some of the larger independent cities.

The Collective is a bit more unusual. I briefly mentioned this before, but the Alberians spend a lot of their time recruiting individual farmers, herders, and craftsmen to work for them.

When the Alberians find an independent farmer, just making ends meat, they provide them with an offer: in exchange for a fairly large quota of food, The Alberians provide them with their magical technologies. These include water towers (regularly refueled on patrols), sturdy stone houses, strong tools, and television*, just to name a few. The Alberians redistribute the food they collect, and use the excess to feed themselves. Other than this, the farmers' life hasn't changed much.


*It's worth noting at this point that these "televisions" are different from our own. They are simply visual and auditory links between two objects (in this case a plate of metal) which allows the viewer to see and hear things in the direction of the "camera" object. In other words, it's like if television was always live, seen through one camera. I know this sounds limiting, but it allows people to watch plays, listen to music, hear lectures, and lots of other things they could otherwise never experience. Damn that all sounds complicated... I should draw a diagram.

Here is one of the smaller monstrosities you may encounter in The Wastelands. There is a human with a staff on the right for comparison.

>>8651705
Why can't you do it yourself? Sup /tg/, bottom of the 'archive' page.

If anyone has any ideas about how to streamline this setting, I'd appreciate it. Maybe I just worry too much, but some parts that seemed simple when I was designing them now seem pretty difficult to explain easily. Maybe I should just cave in and use portals? Then again, those wouldn't be portable, you couldn't take them with you...

Well, in the meantime, I'll be slowly drawing other locations

It's already been archived, but I updated it. Good work OP!

Why is it that humans come in three distinct nation/race flavours? Surely if the world is an endless plane of tiny, isolated communities with travel being dangerous and unreliable, then there'd just be millions of inbred family groupings with trivial genetic differences instead of monolithic cultures.

>>8642684
I LOVE this artwork, OP.

I.
Fucking.
Love it.

Doc, if you find yourself without a system, I'd gladly offer Stranger Times for this. I'll need to have a word with my law-sorcerors, but I'd hate to see this go unnoticed.

Also, the setting does not need streamlining in the least. If anything, it could use more meat.

Firstly, do you all think "links" is a good term? It feels a bit awkward to say. Is there another term that would flow better?

>>8653884
I dunno really. People do move around, and have contact with one another. But the real reason is that I wanted to have some variety whithout the single group of generic white people you tend to see in fantasy. Also, I figured that it'd be tough to survive here, so it'd make sense for different groups to be sort of specialized to different ways of life.

Oh! Just had an idea. Maybe each has family/clan/group has a link that's passed down through generations, and it leads to a village where people from their race congregate and meet and marry and whatnot.

If you have an idea, or think it'd be better to change it, I'd really appreciate the feedback.

>>8653940
*blush*

Th... thanks! I appreciate hearing that mister.

>>8654103
Oh yay!

Well, to be completely honest, and this is embarrassing for me to say, but... I genuinely have never played a tabletop RPG and I don't really know anything about the systems they use. My knowledge basically extends to whatever system was used in Baldur's Gate. So, um... I don't really know what to do here. Whatever you think is best, I guess.

>>8654267

So I recall from your first post. Oh, and on a fluff-related note - Links is a fine name for the pebbles. The idea of central hub-caves where the specific ethnicities may hold their festivals, religious services, marriage ceremonies, and major trade or government operations works very neatly indeed.
System can be worried about later - and like I say, while I'd love to offer Stranger Times, I have no idea how that might affect my copyrights yet. Might even demand hiring you on, at least as freelance. Anyway, I'll peruse what you've posted in more depth and make what suggestions I can.

>>8654328
Thank you. I really do appreciate the feedback and interest.

There's some really good ideas here. The only thing I would comment on - and this from more of an academic than a gameplay perspective - is that your treatment of race in the game is a bit... regressive? I know D&D does similar things, but I wish games would 'progress' somewhat. I'd maybe emphasize that their 'culture' values certain things, not their innate genetics or whatever. But even that is a bit controversial - culture is very much constructed by circumstance, and will change rapidly once circumstance change. I don't mean to be inserting political correctness into your game, I'm just throwing out the idea that more fluid 'races' might better reflect how societies function without stereotyping, but still retaining the features you want.

Link to a summary of an interesting article on the issue: http://fazeer.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/lazy-japanese-and-theiving-germans/ (you can follow the links to the actual book chapter).

>>8654206
Yes, I think you're better off just having humans who come in all the colours and temperaments that humans do in the real world but belong to one gigantic hegemony who speak one language and have no particular cultural affiliation beyond extended family. I don't see big power structures or notions of racial or national identity fitting into a world like this, really. You have some cool ideas but the standard-issue Fantasyland races just make it more generic.

Keep the weird elemental rockworld peoples though, they're fine.

>>8654206
>Oh! Just had an idea. Maybe each has family/clan/group has a link that's passed down through generations, and it leads to a village where people from their race congregate and meet and marry and whatnot.

Actually now I think about, that is pretty cool. Think about it: you've got a pretty standard tribal culture but, barring the most devious subterfuge, no tribe can possibly find its way to another's homeland without being invited. You've created a world where war is impossible!

Which is nice, really, though it's a good thing it's full of monsters and hostile environments to keep things interesting.

>>8654419
>>8654432
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more it seems... what's the word? Pointless? Haha. There's really no reason for it.

You know, the irony is that originally I didn't want to have humans. I wanted to have humanoid creatures that were very similar to humans but with just a few weird things, like blue skin or a third eye or short stature, etc. But then a while back I came here to /tg/ and asked if this was a good idea. The resounding cries of "NO" lead me to change the races so that they were more similar to what we might expect.

But I'm rambling. The point is that I think you're right, the current system serves no purpose.

>>8654478
Yeah, I do like that idea too, but it'd work just as well with "clans" or whatever other term we want to use. Know what I mean?

Could be a cool setting for Fantasy Craft / Savage Worlds.

"Crawlers" - To refresh your memory, they live on The Edge. They have flat, square bodies, a single long eye, long spindly legs, and incredibly hard claws.

Mmm... not as proud of that illustration.

Does anyone have suggestions for what should be illustrated?

Archive this shit, it's awesome!

>>8654826
>Does anyone have suggestions for what should be illustrated?

FUCKING EVERYTHING

Seriously, OP, you will probably never win awards for your art, but it's pretty awesome, and not camp awesome.

And I like that crawler picture, goddammit.

>>8654964
You're embarrassing me! Hehe, I'll keep it up then.

OP, I've got a few things I want to say to you

First off, bravo. This is a wonderful setting, that I admit, I don't have the time to FULLY read, but what I have read of it, its very creative and interesting.

Second, double bravo that you bring it to /tg/. /tg/ is a hateful festering pile of shit that would gladly make you suffer as much as possible... if you did not hit the right blend of honest, likable art, and well throught out and well developed setting written well ahead of time.

Third, I really do like the art style and concept of underground living. Look up the games "Cave Story" for PC, and the flash game "Level Up" on Kongregate.com. They've got a similar Amiga-style graphic feel, and a "Endless Underground Adventuring" feel. I suggest you take a look at those.

Lastly, continue the art. Its a sick sad truth that art makes people pay attention and help give them ideas how things work. Art, nevermind the quality of it, can mean the difference between an ignored setting and an accepted setting.

>>8654964

I think what I like about the art is that it's like a refined version of kid's art. I don't mean that in any negative way - kid's art is filled with this hidden, fanciful imagination.

Also, I support the archive motion, but since this is OP's work-in-progress intellectual property, the choice should be his to allow/disallow.

+1 approval for OP

>>8655361
>>8655237
>>8655178
Thank you all very much. It really is encouraging me to keep this up.

Secondly, about my permission, I mean... I didn't make this up in order to keep it to myself. Share it, enjoy it, add stuff to it if you want to. As long as you don't try to make money off of it or take credit for it, then I don't mind at all.. In fact, I encourage it.

>>8655237
Thread was archived a looooooooong time ago.

Yeah, but the more info, the more it needs refreshed.

>>8655728
suptg archive automatically refreshes once an hour until the thread is dead, bro

Alberians live in a strict society. They base their life on the teachings of their ancient mythological leader, Alber. They are taught that Alber founded their capitol city, invented the written alphabet, and sired 144 children, all before ascending to godhood at the age of 256. The other races are considerably more skeptical of these claims.

Their capitol city is in fact the ONLY city they live in. Bizarrely, the Alberians have never seemed to have a need to name this city, simply referring to it as "Home". They constantly carve out more and more of the cave, reinforcing the ceiling as they go with enormous metal support beams. Their innate powers allow for easy construction, and their buildings tend to be a metal frame with colorful walls made from semi-precious stones.

In the center of the city is the enormous hourglass that was supposedly designed by Alber himself who felt that it was more efficient to sleep longer so that it won't interupt your day. One turn of the hourglass measures what we would consider eight hours. Each citizen lives their day by the turn of the hourglass. One turn for work, one for free time, and one for sleep (24 hours total in a cycle).

Their work is different depending on their innate power, with some being civil engineers, some being guards, and some exploring The Caves for more people to join the Collective.

The Alberians tend to get a bad reputation because of their strict government, but they're decent blokes on the whole. They love games and have invented dozens of complex tile and board games. They are the only humans to have developed a written language, and they have libraries full of fine literature.

Their reproduction is hypothetically limited to Home, but tales of single mothers with unusually pale children are not uncommon. These children possess innate powers, and the Alberians make quite an effort to find these children and take them Home.

The powers that naturals wield are not to be taken lightly.

Some Svari are born with the ability to control sentients. Their powers are already immense at birth, and with training, they can reach god-like levels.

This rare breed of Svari can telekinetically control any body-parts from sentient beings. They can tear the limbs from enemies with ease. They can possess any sentient being and make them into a slave for as long as their concentration lasts. They can animate and control dead bodies, severed limbs, and blood.

But if their mental prowess is strong enough, they can exert their control over their own bodies. They are potentially able to slow their metabolism to a crawl, prevent their cells from aging, and heal severe wounds. A few of these Svari who hold an intense fear of death have been known to set up immense fortresses, sometimes built from corpses, in order to preserve their lives.

Nice work, OP.

Also, I managed to draw a skeleton. Because those guys in the previous post can animate skeletons.

Feet are difficult to draw..

>>8659350
So, is there anything balancing the Svari against the ordinary humans?

>>8659415
Check out
>>8644397

Their powers involve either sentients, animals, or plants. The ability to control plants or duplicate animals might lend itself to some interesting battle abilities (endless hamster ammunition?). However, not all abilities are devastating.

Also, the Svari and Alberians have notoriously weak bodies. The Svari are freakishly skinny and frail. The Alberians are tiny and not used to any kind of physical exertion. In retrospect, I probably should have mentioned that before...

Also, I left out one of the potential powers from that list: size. The ability to control the size something (metal, animals, etc) I'll rewrite the magic stuff to be more clear, but right now I should sleep before I pass out.

If there's no wood, how do blacksmiths fuel fires to make things out of metal?

>>8659528

Anthracitic coal.

(The slow troll penetrates the shield...)

>>8659509
Interesting. Thanks.

>>8659528
also the OP mentioned they have elemental fire gems, so that's easy to forge with

>>8659528
Collected firestones are often used for light or heating. Dried and bundled reeds are used as fuel for cooking fires. Coal and coke are used for heavy-duty things like blast-furnaces and whatnot.

Am I the only one that actually likes the illustrations?

Something about the childlike, primitive yet still identifiable art style just appeals to me. I felt if there was a Rockworld book, many of the illustrations should be done in this style.

>>8659746
I like it, in fact it reminds a little of both Superjail and Adventure Time's art styles

>>8659746
>I have not read the thread, so I have not seen all the other people who love OP's art