Worldly Brainstorming, part 3


Realism, or Not
One article I recently glanced at summed up an aspect of fantasy for me in a way that resonates pretty strongly. "Internal Consistency, not Realism, is the benchmark of a believable fantasy world."

If you made things realistic, it wouldn't be fantasy. No, what the audience and/or players want is to be able to make the initial leap of logic and then not have their suspension of disbelief shaken further. You're already accepting magic (in some form and measure), historical variances, and whatever else. Being given cause to question "well, why doesn't the archmage next door take five minutes out of his day to solve this problem?" takes you out of the illusion of a working world.

The world doesn't have to work/grow/develop/look like the real world, it just has to be believable within its own confines. Well, that and be at least somewhat relateable in most cases - it's hard to roleplay something/someone that is completely alien.

Monsters
Probably too much RPG background, but I like "creatures" in my fantasy settings. The problem is, then, making them fit.

Most authors seem to do a decent job, but they also keep a fairly small bestiary of the unusual. RPGs, on the other hand, seem prone to starting with a massive list of critters for the PCs to do battle with, then they get crammed in all over with no consideration of impact on ecosystems or societies around them. I can be a lot of work to include a variety and have them make some degree of sense.

Imagine just one "big" beastie, say a dragon. Maybe one between the "stupid beast killed by a spear" and "genius mastermind" - a dragon that's very powerful and dangerous, but not a mastermind. Either civilized armies will have ways to deal with them, in which case they'll probably be hunted out of known regions, or they're vicious enough that armies can't stop them and civilization is in trouble. It's thusly difficult to balance just how "present" creatures are in the world without upsetting things.

I suppose having a wild-and-untamed region beyond the borders of civilized nations makes it somewhat easier, though it's still a concern as any healthy nation willl probably want to expand into unclaimed territory.

And... I would have to include undead in some way, though I'd have to fiddle with how natural or unnatural they are. But to have them in some fashion is somehow a necessary component to a world of mine. I like using them as enemies just a little too much perhaps.

Comments

  1. kyn_elwynnAugust 26, 2010 at 1:04 PM

    I see a picket line of zombies and skeletons out in front of the lord's keep. holding signs like, "Unfair to undead!" and "Animated and Emancipated!" with a vampire holding the megaphone encouraging the chants, "Vhat do ve vant?" "Mnnnugghhhnn." "Vhen do ve vant it?" "Nyyaagh!" and of course the lich being the lawyer the duke has to deal with in courts.

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