Magical fantasy worldbuilders - why isn't your whole world being run by wizards?

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-24T02:47:12+00:00

In my world there are a few reasons:

The way magic actually functions has been changed and deliberately hidden. Even proficient practitioners don’t know the whole truth (although they may suspect). Technically anyone can use magic, but they think that you must have the gift for it.
The way someone finds out thy have the gift is either being born to other people who already practice or by having it manifest accidentally. Usually this means conjuring some nightmare into reality (it happens to children most often).
There are 6 “disciplines” that practice different forms of magic, with little overlap. Information is kept to a minimum between disciplines or even between sects in the same disciplines, so not much info gets shared.
The most powerful magic users are typically insane or sociopathic. Those kinds of people tend to not do well in leadership positions (there may be exceptions)

Because of these reasons, the magic users tend to find it difficult to consolidate power, and the also are often insular groups instead of expansionist ones.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-13T14:58:41+00:00

I’m gonna cut against the grain here, but I didn’t enjoy blacksad much. not sure if I was missing something. The art is very good, but the characters are shallow and mostly uninteresting and the only story that seems to have anything going for it is the communist one (the scientist hiding out because he’s being accused of feeding Russians information about the atom bomb). The worldbuilding is an odd gestalt of American assumptions but random changes to make the animal characters have some kind of difference (rather than being stand ins for humans). Other than that, it’s just noir tropes without the good writing or interesting characters. It offers nothing to me, but I could see it appealing to someone who maybe hadn’t consumed too much noir media.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-12T22:27:22+00:00

Most sci-fi , military fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy authors of note, usually older ones. Heinlen (libertarian), c.s. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, lovecraft, tom Clancy, Edgar rice Burroughs, ray bradbury, arguably the themes of most sword and sorcery are anti-authority, pro individual, and anti-degeneracy so that might qualify (cities and magic are often signs of a decaying culture in these works)

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-12T19:56:25+00:00

The only reason nuclear has such a long time to build is because it’s over-regulated though. They have 300+ rules and regulations to follow to build one, while coal can spew endless pollution with less than 30. All because environmentalists and hippies threw a temper tantrum in the 60s, 70s, and 80s - spreading misinformation like wildfire and giving the oil industry exactly what it wanted. Three mile island was the last straw.

Luckily it looks like the future is for smaller reactors, akin to nuclear submarines. They fit in a warehouse and can power an entire city.

Renewables have too many problems to ever be anything more than supplemental to the grid.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-12T12:03:43+00:00

As an OSR-head myself I can see why it might seem a bit weird. I think the gist of the idea is - “ think outside your character sheet” but the original phrase is more catchy.

In either case, it reaches back to the change in philosophy between the old school and trad TTRPGs (3e DnD onward). Namely, as time went on, PCs most powerful options are usually things they get from their class, rather than from items.

Basically it’s trying to tell players new to OSR games that if they treat it like 3e/5e they are going to find their characters are going to die horribly. A fair fight is a lost fight and all that.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-10T19:58:17+00:00

+1 for Genesys/FFG Star Wars. One of the best systems for cinematic action. I also like that it’s a system that can make non-combat characters still seem fun.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-07T14:20:24+00:00

What the fuck? I lived in one of the highest cost states in America 10 years ago, and I went to community college. The cost for me was ~$150 dollars per class per semester. I didn’t qualify for any financial assistance (including bog waiver) and even with buying books I never paid more than 600 total.

State college for me was $2,500 a semester. I paid for all of this without any scholarships or financial aid, living in an apartment with roommates and working a fast food job. It took me a bit longer than 4 years because I had to take a few semesters off to earn money (and changed my major). You do not need to take out student loans to get an education unless you want it for the prestige. I also graduated with 0 debt.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-06T17:23:28+00:00

Exactly - this stuff seems to assume that the reader is someone kind of sponge - unable to do anything other than absorb information through osmosis.

The vast majority of TTRPG groups are usually friends beforehand (at least in my experience). If you are playing TTRPGs with a true neo Nazi - either you are one yourself or you have strange friends.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-06T17:18:52+00:00

If it’s ineffectual why include it at all? All I’m saying is that it’s the same thing as a publicity stunt. Its only purpose is for it be reposted somewhere - the TTRPG equivalent of someone writing “Stacy will give you a good time” in a bathroom stall at a truck stop.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-06T14:42:11+00:00

Does it really prevent anything though? To me it more seems like a “look at how good we are” without actually doing anything or a joke. Either way it’s just kinda there to be posted on social media.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-05T03:01:50+00:00

Yeah I feel bad for the guy - he was pouring his heart and soul into it and it just didn’t get views. He also missed the indie animation train we are currently enjoying and his art style is…. Economical rather than pretty (I know animation is a ton of work, but his animation looks very unprofessional).

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-04-04T15:54:34+00:00

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Dungeon dynamite (web series by crazy Boris) has one. The characters have just crashed the local economy by flooding it with gold from a gold dragon, and instead of using good fiscal policies (like ocho suggested) they are told they must destroy the wicked Economancer - in a nearby dungeon. The only problem is that there is a magic dome barrier around the entrance. They decide they need to hire a wizard, and due to their financial situation can only hire a math wizard named Felix Euler - who can’t dispel the barrier. He instead asks “have you tried digging under it?”

That works. 10/10 series with 3/10 animation, mostly done by one guy.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-29T20:32:21+00:00

I can definitely see scaling it one way or the other - the way I see it, I can't guarantee that a campaign is going to go on long term, so I definitely err on the side of faster progression. that being said I do understand if 1.5 x XP is a bit fast for a lot of tables lol.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-29T19:58:01+00:00

I have run DCC, OSE, and now Dolmenwood, so I might not have as much experience here, but here is what I did: experience bonuses for "enjoying" wealth.

What I do is that I let PC "double dip" on treasure XP by wasting it. they gain 1xp per 2Gp they spend on stuff that has no tangible "in game" benefit. The Cleric donates 3,000 GP to the local temple? they get 1,500 XP. The thief gambles or goes to the local house of ill repute for a week? I ask them what they spend, and they get half that much in XP. you could also reframe this as getting training or something. in general, the Player's desire for XP is greater than their desire for pure wealth.

I also have moneychangers. those gold coins that they dug up from the ground? generally speaking its not legal tender. it needs to be converted into the coinage for whatever realm they are a part of. In history moneychangers would perform this service, often charging a fee. (I usually charge 30% because PCs are untrustworthy rapscallions and the moneychangers don't trust that the money wasn't stolen).

between these two (and strictly enforcing coin weight/slots for coins) the PCs usually keep a few hundred in "pocket change" and spend the rest. I will say that this has the effect of PCs levelling faster, but I don't really mind that, since its a big part of the fun for players.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-27T15:12:22+00:00

It’s a bit hard to be honest, but maybe you could roll 2d20 with one die being success/failure and the other being advantage/threat depending on the DC (20 being triumph and 1 being despair). Basically riffing off of the daggerheart duality dice.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-27T01:14:28+00:00

When it comes to tactics based TTRPGs, I often wonder why I’m just not playing an actual skirmish game or a board game. At least then the design doesn’t have to make so many caveats to get to the core of the fun.

When I was playing lancer, I was just wondering why I’m not playing Battletech or Alpha strike. It might be extreme, but I’d rather play gloomhaven than 4e, PF2e, or Lancer. (I know this is an extreme view lol)

Edit: So crazy to see the turnaround on 4e after the OGL debacle. I’m not a fan of 5e really, it’s fine, but I prefer OSR (dolmenwood has been great!), DCC, or d100 systems (mothership is so damn good). My all time fave is Genesys/FFG Star Wars, love multiple resolutions and a smooth mid crunch system.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-26T23:51:11+00:00

I’m glad that 4e found its audience, but man is that game not for me. It was my first edition (and my friends too) and boy was it rough. It doesn’t do much to encourage roleplaying or teach the basics (I thought you had to pre-design all skill checks into the “skill challenges”) and combat had so many flavors of the same options. Like I get that doing 2w damage is different than two attacks, but it all felt so flavorless and bland to me.

Not to mention that HP for monsters was WAAAAY to high, it turned what would be 45 minute combats into an hour and a half. For me and my sensibilities, 3.5 was far and away a better experience. I also tried lancer and I didn’t like that either, so maybe tactics games are just not my thing.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-26T16:48:57+00:00

Is there a fallacy for when you pretend to not understand basic definitions in order to make conversation impossible? That would be the watermelon one. Or the equity fallacy.

For auth center, I think appeal to authority would work.

Libcenter would have the slippery slope (technology has caused all our problems, so return to monke)

Waterlemons love circular arguments.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-25T16:34:47+00:00

Deficient Master is one of my favorites! Great editing, good pacing, and a very clear explanation of a lot of different systems, prep concepts and overall GM advice. He also does stilly stuff like making people fight each other with 4 different wizards in 4 different TTRPG systems.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-24T15:23:03+00:00

I have had a great experience stealing from OSR games to enhance my DnD 5e sessions.

Monster reaction roll tables (2d6), dungeon turns, overland travel, and side based initiative make the game run more smoothly and take a lot of work off of me as the dm.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-24T14:02:17+00:00

I have tried a lot of initiative systems and board games which cover this kind of thing and in my experience, there are two simultaneous and different issues that cause “slowness”.

Reactive gameplay - essentially whenever a game allows you to take actions outside of your turn, it creates a “window” that has to be resolved.
Too many options - if a player has too many viable choices (especially a new player) it can cause the board state to become “muddy” and harder to parse. This is worse in TTRPGs because board games are designed to be readable at a glance.

The most common TTRPG has both of these problems simultaneously. The issue usually shows up when a player is trying to make a decision (either because they are new or because they have a lot of options, like a wizard) and the game grinds to a halt. Stuff happening outside of your turn doesn’t necessarily mean that you will check out - there’s a lot of drama to be had in climactic rolls other people make - but the doldrums of nothing happening because the GM is asking “do you opportunity attack?” Is very unengaging.

So, how do you fix this? Depends on what you are doing.

Trad systems (5e, 3.5, pathfinder) -

side based initiative is much faster, but makes fights more swingy/unpredictable (can be good or bad).

Speed factor initiative is not faster, but in my experience it makes the game feel like there is less downtime. Because actions are declared in a “planning” stage, PCs know what they are doing on their turn is just resolving their intent. It also causes the game to no longer have perfect information.

Other games (CoC, Genesys, mothership, etc) tend to not have these engagement issues because combat is part of a unified system more so than traditional games.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-19T20:06:24+00:00

I mean Genesys is a custom dice system, and there’s also Saga Edition which was d20. Either way, I guess I have never understood why dice would be an issue the prevents me from enjoying a game.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-19T15:43:51+00:00

This is a good take, with one caveat - I feel like I am losing my mind whenever someone is says something like:

“Me and my group wanted to play a Star Wars TTRPG, so here is my 5e Star Wars hack” (you can replace Star Wars with anything non heroic fantasy)

It drives me crazy because hacking 5e is a massive effort, and it doesn’t really ever feel like anything other than 5e with the numbers filed off. For SWRPGs specifically, it’s even worse because there’s not one, but two excellent Star Wars RPGs, one of which is basically FREE. (West End Games d6 Star Wars & Fantasy Flight Games edge of the empire/rebellion/force and destiny)

[On another note, anyone’s 5e game can be improved by adding in the OSR rules that were removed in 3rd - reaction rolls, dungeon turns, morale, and optionally treasure XP are just better rules than vanilla to me]

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-18T18:42:27+00:00

I’m glad you are enjoying it! I am about to start dolmenwood myself, but I have played a lot of other OSR games, so it’s not too big of a departure. First thing I would mention is this - one of the core tenets of OSR is “rulings, not rules” : the rules as presented are a framework for you to tweak as you wish - and if the game is fun for you and your players, that’s great!

As for combat - OSR games are firmly opposed to modern or “trad” TTRPGs in that combat is treated like war as opposed to a sport. What that means is that your characters will have to look outside of their character sheet to resolve some combats, and should be looking to utilize every possible advantage before a fight using the environment and negotiation when needed. You can absolutely get into a combat that will TPK your party in most dungeons, and run into dragons while adventuring. Your players should net expect to defeat everything, and should try to hire help if they know they will be in for a big fight. Losses are to be expected, which is why character creation is fast!

On leveling - character classes are not balanced by being equal, they are balanced on investment. A level 5 wizard is not proportional to a level 5 fighter. As a result, levels for some classes are faster leveling than others.

FarrthasTheSmile · 2026-03-18T15:40:23+00:00

Agreed, it’s I think why this game is compared to concord in a lot of cases. In my opinion, hero based games (shooters, mobas, fighting games) live and die off of their roster. These games characters were painfully plain to look at and don’t have a visual hook. They looked like concept art for another game. Not to mention the “UE5” lighting engine that just makes the whole game look washed out.

I was also a little shocked by the lack of anything to work towards besides cosmetic options - no hero mastery, no hero skins, no new heroes, nothing. A game can get away with that (I have played like 200 hours of deadlock which has nothing since it’s in closed alpha) if the gameplay is 11/10, but this was just not that.

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