Idea Im thinking of a Scifi/Fantasy setting and I need some input and help.

[Rusty Kerman]

Hello! This is my first ever world idea so sorry if the writing and style is all over the place.. Its not for D&D, its for general RP. Any feedback would be appreciated and if anyone would like to help me write the world, that would be great.

So the idea is, Its the near future and there is a colony mission to a habitable alien planet by the name of "Altis".
Tech is still somewhat modern, No lasers, teleporters, none of that.
The human plot is, NASA finds a habitable planet in a different solar system and send a group of astronauts. Once they arrive they find out this planet is literally a fantasy world. With Elves, Dragons, Orcs, all of that stuff. And now they need to work with the natives to create the first interstellar colony.


Some players would be some of the planet natives, and others would be the astronauts. The astronauts want to set up a colony. And the aliens could choose to fight the astronauts or help them.
Each race would have there own relation to the human colonists.
There are 8 races.
Elves: Can use magic, Humanlike, See themselves as the top race on Altis, They would see humanity as a rival.
Dwarvs: Master craftsmen and resource gathers, they can easily create anything from blades to rudimentary guns, And later in the story, human tech. Can use magic
Kobalds: Quick witted and smart, They would be able to learn from human tech. Cant use magic.
Dragons: Wise and old, They would not be a player race but instead NPC's
Anths: Literally furrys, If somebody that is into that stuff, this is the race for them. Devoutly religious, See the coming of humanity as a sign from the gods. Can use magic [Please note, Im not a furry Im just trying to be inclusive.]
Shapeshifters: Able to become literally anything, Some can be kind and extremely helpful others can be seductive and mischievous.
Orcs: Hostile and annoying, There all over the planet and they usually try to steal things. There is a HUGE amount of them. Extremely durable. Cant use magic.
Humans: Astronauts, They cant use magic, They have modern weaponry and tools. IE. Guns, Drills, stuff like that. They would not have the tools or weapons for any kind of invasion.

The tech level of Humanity would be similar to the movie Interstellar or Avatar. No lasers, No gravity on ships, No teleporters or portals, EXT. Pretty much the kind of tech you might see in the next 10-20 years just with a warpdrive.

The Human characters would be a setup/scouting team that would set up the colony, 5-10 years later, the main colony ship would arrive, carrying the actual colonists. Im debating having the Human scout ship crashland or not.

The humans would be split into 3 Specialties, Engineers, Scientists and Guards/marines.
My requirements for characters would be the following. [Note Some options would be race specific so im going to put the race its related to next to the requirement.]

Name
Race
Age
Gender
Bio
Personality
Physical Description or Image.
[Humans] Specialties
[Humans] Space Suit Description or Image.
[Races that can use magic] Magic. EX: Fire, Ice, Ext.
[Every Race Other Then Human] Profession.

From the perspective of human players it would start with the landing sequence. From the perspective of every other race, it would be what they were doing at the time of "Planetfall".

I/the GM would have a character but they wouldn't be on the planets surface, They would be a human on the surface of the planets first moon and they would act as a relay between the human PC's on Altis' surface and Mission control on earth. They would never leave the moon and would only be able to interact with the PC's through messages.

Thats all I have written down. I will comment if there are any updates. Please PM me or reply below with any ideas, questions or feedback. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this.

 

[Idea]

Overall, the setting seems pretty inconsistent. I get what you're going for, but honestly I don't think there is much feedback to give. See, the most important factor in worldbuilding is consistency, specifically internal consistency. If you set up a rule, event or anything else, then following through on it's consequences, requirements and any other implications, applying it universally is the basis for good worldbuilding. Of course, more than that is needed, but if you make exceptions left and right you might as well discard the idea of exploring your setting in depth altogether.

Which is, just to be clear, to say that a story will be bad or an RP will be bad because of it. Plenty of good stories can be good with really superficial or even really dumb settings. In fact very few stories care that much for the setting. It's just that when a story does care about the setting, that setting needs to be considered as a world that at the very least follows it's own rules. There is no point to it if it doesn't.

That said I don't expect you to change anything in that regard, as it would throw your whole idea upside down at this point. So, instead, I'd like to give two small pieces of advice.

The first is, if you want to focus on the interaction of sci-fi with pseudo medieval fantasy, be sure to work out the cultures really well. What you have is extremely volatile, especially those shape shifters which are so plotbreaking I'd recommend removing altogether. As such, make sure that at least the cultures can be properly explored, interacted with and don't feel slapped together. Go real in-depth in the reasons, and avoid making any given side seem like morons or bad guys.

The second piece of advice is more technical. It's simply there is no need to tell us you are not a furry. I do understand that there are people who have a problem with furrys, and run away at mere mention of them, but honestly when you go out of your way to distance yourself from the group you destroy the trust and respect they might have felt in being included. You're shooting your own foot there.

Hope this helps, good luck and happy RPing!

 

[Rusty Kerman]

UPDATE!

Elves: Proper and formal. Almost looks down on everyone. [Think of royalty]. Some may not be this way, but this is the norm. They rely a lot on magic for a lot of things, Cooking cleaning etc, but also use normal technology.

Dwarfs: Informal and hardworking. They use magic as a tool to help, rather than to do stuff for them. They could be compared to the ‘working class’ to humans. The don’t mind manners, and could be a bit blunt.

Kobolds: A smart race with a lot of potential, Advanced past all of the other races, they have rudimentary automation and steam power. They value family/friend relations and follow many of the same Ideals as humanity.

Dragons: Dragons don’t rely on culture or traditions, they are more family/pack based if anything. They will help others, but prefer to be with family.

Anths: Segregated between “Predator” and “Prey.” Predators do most of the dangerous and strenuous jobs. Prey do most of the safe and studious jobs. They are devoutly religious and believe in a strict caste system. If anyone breaks this system they are labeled a outcast if not outright killed.

Shapeshifters: Similar to a humans culture. Protect family and friends, help others, etc. They have their own beliefs that are not as strong as the Anths, but it’s there.

Orcs: Barely any hint of an actual culture. But they are traditional if anything. Hence they will leave if Family/friend is hurt/is their birthday. But not much of an actual culture.

Shapeshifters have also had a update to there race bio and abilities.
Shapeshifters: Able to become literally anything, Some can be kind and extremely helpful others can be seductive and mischievous. When morphing into other people, they don't copy there mannerisms or body language. When morphing into complex things, they get tired out.

 

[Idea]

Great start!

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Thanks, Do you have any feedback for the update?

 

[Idea]

Feedback, huh... Well, things are obviously still very surface level, but no one would expect any big changes to be made within a day. The shape shifters are still time bombs, but other than that , and a mistake you made in your dragon description (because valuing family and the other stuff you mention about them is , in fact, culture. If you have intelligent and anything resembling interaction with others you have a culture or are part of one) there isn't any complaint I can make other than what I already have.

Good job on the rework of the anthros especially.

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Thanks, Ill probably update it later. I plan to keep the shapeshifters, If you have any ideas on ways to make them work, Im all ears.

 

[Idea]

Don't make them able to shapeshift into anything -_o_-

 

[PiperKuro88]

Have them maybe be able to shift into certain animals. Also I would love to be a part of this when you update, it sounds fun!

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Have them maybe be able to shift into certain animals. Also I would love to be a part of this when you update, it sounds fun!

Thank you! And I plan for shapeshifters to be able to become anything within reason, from objects to animals, one Idea I had is they could only become something they have actually seen and that the process of morphing would take some time.

 

[PiperKuro88]

Thank you! And I plan for shapeshifters to be able to become anything within reason, from objects to animals, one Idea I had is they could only become something they have actually seen and that the process of morphing would take some time.

That is a brilliant Idea, and very intelligent!

 

[Rusty Kerman]

That is a brilliant Idea, and very intelligent!

Thank you!

 

[Rusty Kerman]

I just dont know if I should post it in the Futuristic or fantasy setting.

 

[PiperKuro88]

It seems to be mostly fantasy and you said that it was in the near future so it's not that futuristic but near, so I thing fantasy.

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Thanks, But I already started setting it up in Futuristic. Sorry.

 

[PiperKuro88]

That works, too. It is your's anyway.

 

[PiperKuro88]

So, when do you think you can actually start the role play, or are you still working on it?

 

[Rusty Kerman]

The only problem now is that I have no clue how to set up the page...

 

[PiperKuro88]

I'm new here so I really don't know how to do that but others have just started a PM with whom ever they are role playing with.

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Im still writing this so if anyone could give any more feedback, Ideas or tips, that would be awesome. Thanks

 

[Lina Inverse]

Aren't you worried that by restricting magic to a few races that those races who can use magic will have an unfair advantage over those who can't?

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Well, Ive given the races that cant buffs. The Kobolds can replicate human tech. And the orcs are extremely hard to kill.

 

[Lina Inverse]

Well, Ive given the races that cant buffs. The Kobolds can replicate human tech. And the orcs are extremely hard to kill.

Alright, that sounds fairly reasonable.

Also, what kind of magic are we talking about. Is it strictly limited to just elemental or can it kind of do whatever.

 

[Rusty Kerman]

Well, I was thinking elemental. But I guess if they were a mage or something they could do whatever.

 

[Lina Inverse]

Well, I was thinking elemental. But I guess if they were a mage or something they could do whatever.

Meh, I'd suggest you'd stick to elemental. If nothing else, it's much easier to balance.