Questions, questions, questions!

[Ancient Gamer]

Post questions or answers here.

I'll begin with this one:

How do you like Coldforged thus far?
Pros and cons please

[CaptainPenguin]

PROS (thus far):
-High level of development before you posted it; we don't have to wait for a lot of things we'd like to know.
-Astounding detail
-Atmosphere
-Finally, a dark setting! D&D cultures are too tolerant; we need witch-hunters!
-A cool presentation of many of the darker aspects of the supernatural.

CONS (thus far):
-The cultures are pretty much clones of real-world things; this isn't a problem so much as it is simply a matter of my disliking that quality.
-I still really have trouble visualizing the layout of the continent and the world, especially in relation to the Empire.
-Very little info about the Empire; most of the material so far has been focused on the north (Silmaron and such)
-All sorts of divine beings, so many that there is a wild gaggle- Gods, Angels, Demons, those Cthulhu-ish things, Dreams, and more.

IN BETWEEN:
-Elves, dwarves and so on; but they are differentiated and unique enough from the general stereotype that they're actually a bonus.
-Angels, eh. *shrug* Personally, I consider them too closely tied to the Judeo-Christian set-up to work with a polytheistic system, but you make them work in the setting, so that's fine.

[Ancient Gamer]

CONS (thus far):
-The cultures are pretty much clones of real-world things; this isn't a problem so much as it is simply a matter of my disliking that quality.
-I still really have trouble visualizing the layout of the continent and the world, especially in relation to the Empire.
-Very little info about the Empire; most of the material so far has been focused on the north (Silmaron and such)
-All sorts of divine beings, so many that there is a wild gaggle- Gods, Angels, Demons, those Cthulhu-ish things, Dreams, and more.

IN BETWEEN:
-Elves, dwarves and so on; but they are differentiated and unique enough from the general stereotype that they're actually a bonus.
-Angels, eh. *shrug* Personally, I consider them too closely tied to the Judeo-Christian set-up to work with a polytheistic system, but you make them work in the setting, so that's fine.

Okay. I skip the pros and go straight to the cons:

1. Cloned cultures: Remains as it is, but with a small change
This is a matter of personal preference and cannot be helped. I love history and I am heavily inspired by it. I will try to perfect the seam between fantasy and history though. The Conquered lands have a pure fantasy culture, but that is the only location on the Dhargenaas continent that has no resemblance whatsoever to our history. I will add more fantasy elements to the cultures though, to differentiate them from the real world versions.

2. Visualizing: Must be dealt with
This is an issue that has been bugging me for long. I have everything so vividly detailed in my head, but even my table toppers are unsure how the non-Dhargenaas nations really are.
-World map and Continent Maps must be made. Will try to create them with a "bleak, faded cold colours on parchment" look. To get the feeling of: 1. Antiquity, 2. Dark Setting and 3. Authencity. The maps must be of no less than professional quality and DnD quality maps is an absolute no-no. I must really put my photoshop skills and many, many hours to work on this project.

With the maps in place, I can continue describing the setting. I had originally planned to detail the setting country by country and thoroughly explain everything. I now consider at least some information about the rest of the setting. Some places, like Aumethorion and the Old Continent, are totally fantasy places with the only real world culture reference that of the Fascist Elven Kingdom of Aumethorion.

3. Mythology: Remains as is, but will be explained more.
I love mythology. I love this mythology. But I will try to divide the groups into some genres: Those Of the New Order and those Of the Old Order and the ones in between (The Saints).

New Order:
The Gods
The Demons
The Spirits
The Creation

In Between:
The Saints
Dreams

Old Order:
The Dreamer
The Eternals
The Other Ones
The Angels

Problem is this: I began with Mythology because it is so small
The rest of the setting is... Well... immense. I would not be surprised if the number of posts in this setting eventually went waaaaaay beyond 1000 and even 2000.

Is that a bad thing? I fear it might be.

Anyhow: The mythology will be explained further in posts and tales designed to clarify them. But for now: Top priority to the visualizing effort.

Anyone else have anything to add? Keep 'em coming.

[Chaosmark]

Something that's ticking in my mind for an odd reason is magical items/weapons/ect. I understand that most of us here like to keep the magical arms race to the lowest key possible. Quite understandable, and a good thing to do. However, I haven't really seen or noticed any sort of "legendary" weapons. You know, like the Excalibur mythos? I see none of that, and even if it is all just the imaginings of villagers; my thought is, eventually human nature looks beyond the norm, and that eventually encompasses magical weaponry of myth and lore.

To round out the setting more, you might consider some random mythos of magical items and such. Such things to me seem to make the setting more vibrant, more alive. After all, didn't we each love the tales and stories we were told as a child? Give the Coldforged children their mythos.

[Ancient Gamer]

Magic items and weapons especially, huh? Well, I certainly do have some of these, but I want magic to be special. Just giving magic weapons to anyone ruins that feeling of being special. It is kinda like a nice beef. If you eat beef once a month, it is delicious, but if you eat beef every day, the magic is gone... Catch my drift?

Oh, that was a rant. Well, I DO like my magic items. Weapons of legend are rarely magic, but some of them are. I dislike gaudy magic weaponry, but even those there are a couple of... There are bound to be extravagant wizards of poor taste you know

So: Legendary, mythical and magical weapons to the people. It will be forthcoming.

Keep them questions coming everyone.

[Chaosmark]

Actually, I wasn't wanting magical weapons/items so much as the mythos and legends of them just aren't here. Everyone likes a magic thingie occasionally, but those legends just make things...more real. Even IF they're completely false.

[CaptainPenguin]

Also AG, if it's not too much trouble (as if you don't have enough on your plate already), could you kinda' try and flesh out some things about the Elves and Dwarves? I only have a good idea of the Elves (d**ned hopeless fey-people), but Dwarves are thus far an enigma (but judging from some place-names, such as the Worker's Hive, they are community-like and superutilitarian?)

[Roack]

I have to agree with the Captain on that, the dwarves are wrapped in mystery at the moment (perhaps purposefully?) Though the Organizations could using a great deal of expansion as well.

[Ancient Gamer]

Will do! (But this will require quite some amount of time. It is on my list though)

1st priority: Forum game

2nd priority: Map & Current ideas (History book, duelling book, Acaian Duelling Sword, Desert Myths and Water Spirit Creature)

3rd priority: Places and nations, legendary weapons, elves and dwarves (and other races) & Organizations

Keep 'em coming. This thread will never have an expiration date.

[Pariah]

To go with the myths of great weapons, make "heros" to go with them.  Even if they are only heros in the grayest sense of the word.  Maybe something that ties a character to a great hero maybe.  They don't need to be nice, a bittersweet blessing is funner than a kill everything one, and in this world I think that the bittersweet ones would fit right in.

One idea that I had though, what if you had to sacrifice a life to make an item magical.  And a sentient one to make it anything but a cantrip type item.  That would cut down on the arms race a little, or at least make people think twice before commiting a violent crime.  
"You murdered someone, ehh?" the judge said. "I know just what to do with you, an eternity of undeath seems an approprate sentence. Guards, take this 'man' to the enchanter."

[Ancient Gamer]

Thank you Pariah, for those very good ideas.

Bound Souls can indeed be found in weapons and other items of power. At the moment a Coldforged campaign is running in the PBF (Play by Forum) section of this site, and it is indeed focusing somewhat upon bound souls. I have not revealed in what ways yet, but by the end of the chapter such things will be clear for all to see.

And Coldforged surely has its fair share of heroes, both failed, fallen and successful. I will listen to your advice and I will post some of the more prominent PCs to have graced my world.

I will strive to put all your ideas to good use