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World Geography


Trifletraxor

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For the single world, how should we create the goegraphy? I can see three ways:

1) Using world generation software - it would provide us with global maps of the landmasses, climate and sea currents. These software produce quite "realistic" worlds for us to develope further.

2) Just drawing up a map, like done with Questworld.

3) Many islands, which can be made individually to fit with what work people have done allready. If someone have created a world, where only certain parts of it is developed, they could move that part over to the shared world if it can be fitted in with the rest.

I like option 1, but see many advantages with option 3 too. What do you think? Any other ideas?

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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I would suggest option #3. It works best for me, since I have only created an island continent; about the size of Australia.

I a sure that there are some people who have developed a whole planet with land masses, races, and cultures, but I would venture that most have just focused on one area.

Option #3 would be the more than likely be the best way to integrate everyone's ideas with the least amount of the pigeon-hole effect.

BRP Ze 32/420

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Didn't you have a world map on the Greenback Clan's site a while ago? I remember seeing a world with a mountain range curling around the centre of a continent.

Perhaps it was somewhere else.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. 

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Didn't you have a world map on the Greenback Clan's site a while ago? I remember seeing a world with a mountain range curling around the centre of a continent.

Perhaps it was somewhere else.

islandiamap.jpg

This one? I have it as a poster. Made in 16th century, so no copyright there! :D

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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Ah, no, I remember now, it was on Mr Qwiki and was the Mongoose Shared World map at http://mrqwiki.com/wiki/images/d/d5/001_World_of_Mongoose.pdf so if we had a Gate we could move between BRP Shared World and Mongoose Shared World.

Many Systems, One Family.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. 

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...if we had a Gate we could move between BRP Shared World and Mongoose Shared World.

Sure. Don't bother bringing back any Runes, though... ;)

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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For the single world, how should we create the goegraphy? I can see three ways: ...

Use all three. Use every idea you can get - never discard an idea.

Use software to generate a random template (#1), take existing islands/countries people want to 'donate' (#3) and slap them onto the map somewhere, anywhere. I'd also suggest everyone who's interested should contribute 2 or 3 ideas (at least one of which should be wacky) about geography/nations they'd like to see on it - and slap them on it too. Then re-draw it a bit (#2) to fit together as well as you can. No matter how hard you try, I expect there will be quite a few absurdities about it. Good - then the creative bit of explaining how it came to be that way can begin...

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Find out who is really going to work on the project. Get a confirmed list of those who want to make an "island" or "culture".

Generate a map with the islands and lands.

Have a "draft" to allow the participating creators to pick what islands and areas they are going to use.

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For the single world, how should we create the goegraphy? I can see three ways:

1) Using world generation software - it would provide us with global maps of the landmasses, climate and sea currents. These software produce quite "realistic" worlds for us to develope further.

2) Just drawing up a map, like done with Questworld.

3) Many islands, which can be made individually to fit with what work people have done allready. If someone have created a world, where only certain parts of it is developed, they could move that part over to the shared world if it can be fitted in with the rest.

I like option 1, but see many advantages with option 3 too. What do you think? Any other ideas?

SGL.

I kind of like option 2 for a fantasy world. I am fine with mythic explanations for things like geography and weather, though option 1 is o.k. by me.

I'm not as big on all islands, each with its' own author for a couple of reasons, first that it kind of defeats the purpose of shared world generation, and second that it really just moves many of the geopolitical issues (who's powerful compared to who econimically and militarily) to the naval power area. Aditionally, islands limit many terrain/culture types (great plains or deserts and nomads for example) unless they approach the size of small continents anyway. All of this is not to say that there couldn't be 1-2 continents and a bunch of islands, allowing those who want to work on the relatively closed system of an island to do so but also allowing work on part of a larger land mass.

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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I'm not as big on all islands, each with its' own author for a couple of reasons, first that it kind of defeats the purpose of shared world generation...

Yes, first and foremost. If "every man's an island" then SingleWorld would suffer from lack of integration (pehaps even more so than the GateWorlds).

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Rurik and Triff,

Questworld was actually Option 3 not Option 2. Questworld is a bunch of islands, and rather than just drawing up a map, the designers worked out the weather patterns and ocean currents. One benefit was that you could follow the currents and sail around the world.

It really is an ideal shared world concept becuase you can have one group over on island A and another group on B, a third on C and so forth without problems.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Yes, islands are not ideal at all. If contributors are allocated particular islands (or whatever areas) then their ideas will be cut off from each others. They may well get into the mind-set of "this is mine - you can't touch it!" (and others may not like to, for fear of 'trespassing'). Integration/interaction won't be as good as it needs to be. What we should do is put everyone's ideas together and mix 'em up good an' proper!

I reckon, everyone should give a list of a few geographical features they want on the world (including wacky ones, hopefully), then get a rough map (perhaps randomly generated, if someone has some software) - and bung the listed features on it, semi-randomly. Then we can discuss modifying/rationalizing it as necessary.

Rinse and repeat for cultures, religions, races, technologies...

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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I disagree. Islands are easy and they can slot next to each other but they aren't shared and release very little synergy..

:rolleyes:

Anyone from the UK want to comment on this? Or do you lack the synergy?

Being someone on a larger landmass...

Half the world ancient civilizations sprung up around islands, so I don't think they are a bad idea. Plus some of those Questworld islands were pretty big. If we are dealing with a low tech culture, we could all share one or two islands easily.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Anyone from the UK want to comment on this? Or do you lack the synergy?

Hi, y'all! Over here in cute lil' En-ger-land (well Yorkshire actually), I don't object to having (geographical, physical) islands. I'm just worried that if people are "given" an island to develop (or in fact, any other specifed area) they may slip into insular thinking. Shared islands would be fine. There are plenty of factions over here: the UK isn't as United as outsiders may think (it's only been a 'Union' for a few hundred years - a historical lunch-break - and may only be a temporary 'blip'...). (That's a thought - how long should history be, American cousins?)

For SharedWorld it'd be better, initially, to get a number of ideas (like Rurik's Asherayne/Portal), whack them on some sort of map, and then together we can work out how they'd interact (and their histories).

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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... a few hundred years - a historical lunch-break - and may only be a temporary 'blip'...

A few hundred years? That is the entire length of history over here...

We really should use more emoticons. Could get into trouble, otherwise. Allow me to deploy a belated :P;)

Seriously though, the 'size' of History may need debating too, but another time, another thread.

Meanwhile, are we any closer to a Geography? The ideas are coming, and need a home...

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Yeah, I forget those things too sometimes. :ohwell:

I was jesting too - sort of. :eek: Many of us yanks really do have a much shorter sense of history, as our national identity only goes back a few hundred years. COuple with the fact that the whole universe revolves around us and really none of that other stuff matters. :D

And we are predisposed to think large landmasses are inhrerently better than islands. >:-> :P

Now :focus: :thumb:

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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And we are predisposed to think large landmasses are inhrerently better than islands. >:-> :P

A balanced approach with some of each, is probably best I guess.

But should there be any off-the-wall features? Like, er... hollow, cuboidal, floating sky-nations, flat (though not necessarily held up by elephants), a bridge to the moon(s), stars are nearby holes into heaven, oceans of heavy gas, rivers of mercury, upside-down mountains, ice-'cap' around the equator (or even north-south), magic dead zones, crystalline/d12-shaped, banana-shaped...?

I like the style of the old map of Iceland, but it's probably not suitable.

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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I am all in favor of a flat world - or some other shape, though I think the old flat with falling off the edges works fine for a fantasy world. Rivers of mercury, upside down mountains and the like are all good.

Perhaps the sun does not rise or set, but fades in and out for the day night cycle, remaining stationary. The lands directly under the sun are hottest (possibly uninhabitable - by normal beings) and the world gets colder and darker in all directions outward. Stars as holes in the sky is cool (must be bright beyond it though - perhaps it is night on the other side of the sky when it is day on this world so the stars are not visible until it is night here and day there). Bridge (or tower?) to the moon is cool too.

I'm no great mapper but I have campaign cartographer and there is a style from last year's annual (which I also have) specifically for maps in the style of the old one Triff posted - I like it too for ancient worlds (though it is a style that arose around the 15th-16th century if I recall right).

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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