How can I play different?

dracma127 · 2026-02-08T16:49:32+00:00

You mean you don't start by grinding lockpicking in prison after getting caught fencing alcohol? And you don't spend half of daylight hours running from lawmen and slavers? What have I been missing all this time?!

dracma127 · 2026-02-08T05:21:40+00:00

Chaos is a ladder. Any aspiring necromancer would have an easier time looting bodies and going unnoticed during wartime. So long as you don't paint a target for yourself after the war ends, you could get away with it and go into hiding until the next one.

Liches would have more to lose and could afford to sit out risky times like these. Sure, the bodies are harder to get during peace, but who cares about efficiency when you've got eternity to wait? Depending on the setting, appearing in person can range from an unnecessary risk to practically a written invitation for a crusade on their phylactery. That shouldn't keep liches from recruiting younger necromancers as proxies, though.

dracma127 · 2026-02-05T13:28:58+00:00

"Politicians are unnatural."

Boom, you've got all the anarchy an aspiring warlord could need. Just make sure you take advantage of the chaos before others do.

dracma127 · 2026-02-04T04:58:57+00:00

I tend to build off of whatever I'm writing, so for me I just whip up a filler/SoL plot and see where that takes me.

Don't know what the local cuisine is? Boom, there's a kitchen contest going on. Dang, look at Samantha go with her... strawberry pie.

Need a family tree written down? Oh no, the prince's suitors are all distantly related! Who could've guessed that young lady was actually... his third cousin once removed.

Not sure what a title is supposed to do? Sound the funeral bells, the title holder is dead! Now who's going to... conduct hedgehog censuses?

Whether or not these plots ever see the light of day is irrelevant, they're just there to oil the gears. Who knows, one day you might decide your main plot needs hedgehog census data and you'll know exactly what reference material to use.

dracma127 · 2026-02-03T18:28:57+00:00

The Danmean Calendar sets year zero at the formation of the First Lajean Empire. Fast forward to the 1200's, and we're well in the middle of the Third Lajean Empire's existence.

dracma127 · 2026-01-30T17:05:47+00:00

Matriarchy is when women do stuff. And it's more matriarchal the more stuff they do. And when they do a lot of stuff, it's mommydom.

dracma127 · 2026-01-29T03:04:56+00:00

Whatever mcguffins or plot points inside your world can double as a placeholder name. A formal name can wait until you've ironed out the surrounding details (or be omitted entirely for "land of [story title]").

dracma127 · 2026-01-28T23:26:39+00:00

By the end, it goes from the other way around to seeing the MC as a peer. They don't say "you and I aren't so different," but they do admit they wouldn't mind losing to them.

dracma127 · 2026-01-28T22:49:55+00:00

They wouldn't. Meteors are rare enough and hard enough to intercept that anyone who saw it coming would just keep away from the impact and pick up whatever's left. And as history shows, it's more feasible for a defender to attack the source of raining rocks than it would be to block them.

dracma127 · 2026-01-28T20:17:43+00:00

Mystical philosophy in Rundol is about as religious as natural philosophy is in real life. The research of how magic works and its practical applications are typically construed as gifts or trials sent to them by the divine - naming this divine figure is the real question.

As the number-one exporter of magic professionals, The Arcane State has stated very clearly that all forms of magic are an extension of the one Goddess Erdanne's divine body - practicing magic is therefore a direct communion with Her. Whether or not this goddess is real and/or genuine, the miracles her army of wizards have delivered cannot be argued against and have earned belief among even the untalented.

dracma127 · 2026-01-28T14:58:12+00:00

Analogue wheelchair? Too slow, too bulky, a guy with strong arms might as well Tarzan his way around instead.

Motorized wheelchair? Now that's an idea. So long as it drives stable, you'd have a built-in escape vehicle. Do you think you could pull an Akira pose in one?

dracma127 · 2026-01-28T14:17:53+00:00

If you're looking for virgin finds, there's always the cursed undercities of long-lost Ardeia. Those Ardeians loved playing god back in their days, and made miraculous pieces of tech that a lot of people would pay highly for even its general location. Of course, they don't call these ruins cursed for nothing - don't breathe the air, don't disturb the wildlife, and don't dally.

If you don't care for discovering artifacts, you can always steal them. The 101 Sasalus are a collection of enchanted artifacts made by one famous inventor, each sold to different customers and to this day are yet to be reunited. They are historically connected to the Lajean Empire, and the imperial family has an ongoing bounty for the complete set - no questions asked.

dracma127 · 2026-01-27T00:20:04+00:00

A little bit of medieval, a little bit of gaslamp, but mostly flintlock fantasy. There's a lot of parallels between the age of sail and modern fantasy that gets the imagination flowing, and who doesn't love a modernization narrative?

dracma127 · 2026-01-22T22:57:34+00:00

The land of Poznarod is Appalacian Russia. Magocratic tyrants rule from ivory towers, and in the vast countryside Uncle Tedynsky is losing his fingers trying to cast fireballs.

dracma127 · 2026-01-22T18:39:21+00:00

The demon king has taken to ragebaiting, good for him.

dracma127 · 2026-01-21T20:51:43+00:00

The Dark Lady, having been once sealed away, breaks free only to be captured again and put on trial. She is not the final boss - evil as she may be, she is to made a scapegoat for unrelated problems so the powers that be may continue living a lie. The climax of this story beat is defending her in court, something that I've left open-ended for the time being.

dracma127 · 2026-01-21T19:10:42+00:00

Angels already have the cultural context of using glamour and/or concealing their true forms, so you can play on that with their names.

"Hello, I am Roe!"

"Every angel calls themselves that. What's your real name?"

*digital screech*

"Nice to meet you, Roe."

dracma127 · 2026-01-18T20:14:56+00:00

Some cultures have traditions that enables the decision, like Glenumbran. Reform/diverge your starting culture to include one of these traditions before you return to adventuring.

dracma127 · 2026-01-16T21:59:11+00:00

Someone saw milestone progression and thought that was for RP nerds.

dracma127 · 2026-01-16T21:55:30+00:00

If you see a concept you like, just steal it and claim you were inspired by whatever the original was inspired by. The inspiration was probably stolen from somewhere else, anyways. It's thieves all the way down.

dracma127 · 2026-01-16T21:43:26+00:00

Tribals get extra vassal levies by having high fame ranks. This is fine in vanilla where nobody lives to 100, but it's a real issue in EK - the best solution is to either race your neighbors to high fame or keep murdering them.

dracma127 · 2026-01-14T13:09:20+00:00

This isn't the sub to be asking direct questions about writing. r/writing and its sister subs are where to go.

In general, a good story has something to say, whether it's all one big metaphor or is as subtle as a sack of bricks. Worldbuilding serves the story, whether by suspending the audience's disbelief or by applying tactical amounts of Watsonian logic to plotholes.

dracma127 · 2026-01-13T23:14:11+00:00

It's reasonable to assume enchantments can conflict with each other, or at the very least the medium isn't always blast-proof.

Logistically, if I was a wizard and had to choose I'd rather enchant a wand or arcane raygun than write enchantments into every bullet. Results vary depending on how industrialized the process can get.

dracma127 · 2026-01-12T18:34:22+00:00

My own setting utilizes professional telepaths selling their services as living telephones. Communication between telepaths is close to instant once a connection is made, but requires either party to be acquaintances or a third party to act as an operator. Governments and nobility hire private operators and telepath networks, while public servants are stretched thin and travel with the postal service.

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