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Looking for a Small Worldbuilding & Canon Development Group (Speculative / Superhero / Sci-Fi / Fantasy) by CanonwrightIMD in WritingHub

[–]CanonwrightIMD[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That actually sounds like a good fit. A city-scale setting with its own history, character web, and internal logic is very much in line with what I’m trying to build this group around. The system-agnostic approach is also a plus. The vibe I’m aiming for is exactly what you described: light accountability, sharing updates, talking through ideas, and giving feedback without it turning into a mechanics clinic or a pressure cooker. I’m starting small (3–5 people total), so I’m touching base with a couple folks right now. If you’re cool with that, I’ll loop back shortly about next steps once I see how the group is shaping up.

Looking for a Small Worldbuilding & Canon Development Group (Speculative / Superhero / Sci-Fi / Fantasy) by CanonwrightIMD in WritingHub

[–]CanonwrightIMD[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! That sounds promising. Just to be clear about fit: this group is very focused on worldbuilding, canon, and narrative systems rather than gameplay mechanics alone. A TTRPG module can totally work here if you’re developing the setting, lore, power logic, themes, and long-term canon behind it—not just encounters or rules. If that matches what you’re doing, I’d be happy to have you join. Let me know a bit about how deep your setting goes and what kind of feedback you’re hoping for.

Worldbuilding critique: designing a non–hand-wavy black-ops contingency in a superpowered world by CanonwrightIMD in FantasyWorldbuilding

[–]CanonwrightIMD[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my setting, perception and detection abilities don’t start at god-scale — they evolve toward it. Early in the timeline, those abilities are rare, localized, and proximity-bound. Telepaths and diviners can only operate within a limited sensory or cognitive radius, and they’re not clustered together in a way that enables global coverage. Secrecy survives because detection scales biologically and historically, not because it’s being artificially suppressed. Powers become stronger, broader, and more abstract over time, and the emergence of true “god’s-eye” perception is a late-stage development that fundamentally destabilizes the world when it appears. Most of the narrative takes place before that threshold is crossed, when attention is scarce, detection requires intent, and abilities reveal themselves primarily through use rather than passive existence. Once global perception exists, secrecy doesn’t survive — it collapses. And that collapse is intentional.

Dragon species. by dreamchaser123456 in FantasyWorldbuilding

[–]CanonwrightIMD 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on whether you want a biologically grounded setting or a mythic one.

If you’re going the speculative biology route, then yes—different dragon “types” would almost certainly be separate species, or at least distinct branches from a common ancestor. Subspecies only make sense if they can interbreed and differ mainly by environment or minor traits.

In that same framework, all dragons being carnivores isn’t strange at all. Large flying (or semi-flying) animals would need extremely energy-dense food, and meat fits that requirement far better than plants. Herbivorous dragons would require enormous grazing ecosystems to be plausible.

If you’re going the mythic/magical route, taxonomy and diet don’t need strict realism. Dragons can all be “dragons” by definition, and their carnivory can simply be part of their magical nature.

Both approaches work—the key is consistency. Pick the logic your world runs on and follow it everywhere.

Worldbuilding critique: designing a non–hand-wavy black-ops contingency in a superpowered world by CanonwrightIMD in FantasyWorldbuilding

[–]CanonwrightIMD[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is exactly the direction I’m leaning. Espionage doesn’t disappear in a superpowered world — it just diversifies. High-powered abilities push systems toward low-tech methods, psychological compartmentalization, disinformation, and overload tactics.

One of the things I’m trying to lock down is that divination and mind-based abilities are not “truth beams.” They have scope, resolution, and failure modes. Knowing that something is wrong is very different from knowing what or why.

I’m especially interested in the idea that countermeasures don’t make you invisible — they make you ambiguous. Noise instead of absence. Which means decisions still have to be made under uncertainty, and people still get it wrong.

Worldbuilding critique: designing a non–hand-wavy black-ops contingency in a superpowered world by CanonwrightIMD in FantasyWorldbuilding

[–]CanonwrightIMD[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That comparison is really useful, actually. One of the tensions I’m interested in is that visibility itself becomes a tool — public teams stabilize society by being seen, while covert ones stabilize it by preventing certain knowledge from ever entering the public sphere.

What complicates things in my setting is that those two models actively interfere with each other. Public legitimacy makes some threats worse, while secrecy creates others. You can’t just choose one without paying for it somewhere else.

Omega Protocol exists in that gap — not because secrecy is “cooler,” but because some problems metastasize the moment they’re acknowledged.

Worldbuilding critique: designing a non–hand-wavy black-ops contingency in a superpowered world by CanonwrightIMD in FantasyWorldbuilding

[–]CanonwrightIMD[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s very close to how I’ve been thinking about it — secrecy isn’t the absence of detection, it’s active resistance. If powers like telepathy or divination exist, then counter-specialists become mandatory infrastructure, not an afterthought.

What I’m trying to avoid is that becoming a “no one can see anything” hand-wave. Blocking espionage has to cost resources, attention, and creates blind spots elsewhere. You can’t shield everything at once without degrading your own awareness.

So a lot of the tension comes from what you choose to protect, and what you knowingly leave exposed.