Personally I like the idea of elves essentially being Germany during the Second World War because of how overpowered and how smug they are in almost every story what’s stopping them from saying that their the master race like seriously think about it
This would definitely make for an interesting bad guy faction. Fitting for how arrogant especially the High elves are portrayed. Instead of subverting the trope of the "I am superior in everything" one could embrace it. Really cool approach!
And....you already oversimplified the reason as to how it came to WW2 and why the german-speaking (!) people were supporting it. The anti semitism was rampant in all of Europe beforehand (so it was not special to Nazi Germany), euthanasia was just as well not only wished for in NaziGermany but also USA as well as other countries, the Versailles treaty overly heavily put blame on Germany and punished it harshly for it, Germany lost land of german speaking (and traditionally more german) folk to other countries, maybe the economy crisis of late 1920/1930s played into it, but also then Nazi Germany under Hitler was tolerated by the other countries to act as a buffer to the Soviet Union. So its not as easy as to say Nazi Germany came to be (only) because of smugness.
@@backpug1228 No? I know that Germany started WW2 due to their Foreign Policy and a whole lot of other reasons, but that’s not the point as I said in the comment I just find it an interesting idea and it isn’t meant to be taken seriously
I did that in my campaign. The high elves are the type of guys who make other factions fight each other like a parasite who turns people who were kind to monsters who rather kill you. These guys are also the reason why humanity is facing extinction. They would send one guy, spread rumors, and then they simply watch everybody fight each other. After that, they claim the lands as their own. The campaign I have is pretty much an only kobold campaign trying to survive the high elf empire. These guys would soon become a greater threat in my sci-fi spin-off where they're instead called the Podvoys (podvoy being an oversimplified Russian word for warmonger).
A big element I decided on for my Campaign setting way back when was no City of Hats. A trope I am burned out on and have been since I was a kid is the Mountain of the Dwarves. The Forest of the Elves. That's where gnomes live, etc. I get that it makes some sense to have original locations, places these people perhaps came from, but I've never truly loved the idea of a story going from human civilization to token locale of {insertRace}. So my setting's first world building rule was to justify a very ethnically and racially diverse set of Nations and locales. There is almost no monoculture location in my entire setting, which doesn't span the whole world and instead focuses on one continent. The exception is some indigenous tribes that were pushes into small reclusive areas during the inviting incident that set up the framework of the setting. Because of that so much of the drama and tension of the campaign as I've built it out over the years comes from different races being intermingled, and different cultures colliding. Not all members of any given race are culturally similar, and where on the continent they wound up plays a big deal. I also do dip heavily into national and ethnic tension because that's a subject I care to explore and my players tend to be on board, though when someone isn't we find a campaign in the setting that doesn't need to focus on those elements.
I'll be the first one to admit that I tend to choose Elves or Dwarves when playing a game of some sort. But only if they're aren't any options to make my own custom race. I have made quite a few alien races myself but none of them are completely fleshed out and developed yet. And I haven't implemented them anywhere yet either. I have a few aquatic races, a few who have a culture based on isolationism and neutrality, and quite a few others with their own dark and tragic history that shaped them into what they are today. I love how you made a detailed video like this in only 14 minutes. It's not an easy thing to do and I give you a bunch of kudos for accomplishing it 😁🥳👍!
Elves and Dwarves are solid options in most Settings. But I totally get the joy of creating own races fantasy or sci-fi :D Aquatic races can be so much fun. The water allows for a whole different set of properties and movement options. I have not delved much into it myself but I would love to explore it more. Sadly my current Setting for D&D has no oceans (at least none made of water) I'm really glad you enjoyed my video. I put a lot of time into it and seeing that somebody enjoys it brings a smile to my face :)
Idk, I usually try to avoid putting in a new creature type (race) for a specific purpose. A new country inhabited by one or more of the existing races is usually better for that. Or a new culture, or religion. If a creature seems to exist for only one reason, it’s likely to feel contrived to the players. So when I do do this, it’s because the race was artificially created by a character in the setting (e.g yuan-ti in my world were created by an arch-devil). I put in races because either I just like the fantasy behind them, or I feel like the environment I’m designing requires their presence. After all creatures don’t exist for any purpose in the real world. They just are. Yeesh. If I want an analogy to real-world racism in my setting, I will make it intra-species. Elves vs drow, for example. One of the problems with real world racism is that people talk like the races are biologically distinct when they aren’t. But if the fantasy races *are* biologically distinct: then it’s technically not racist to say so. This factor muddies the waters too much. Real life racism isn’t about biological differences, or even differences of lifestyle, it’s about a history of oppression. Your illustration of the elf and dwarf was...simplistic at best and misleading at worst.
That is a good point! I wanted to encourage to not bring in a race just for the sake of it. But you are totally right. Only having one reason can lead to a shallow/artificial feeling! Havin artificial created races is fun. In my setting the half-elves are actually created artificially by the High Elves in their effort to solve low fertility.
The most important thing concerning races is for the DM to say "NO" to players having characters of races that don't fit the world. Keep the eligible number of races below half a dozen. The rest of the races are NPC only. They are the DM's toolbox. That way, you can do whatever you want with races in yer world, without getting permission from every single player, during every single gaming session.
Spicy food is a different damage type than fire. And remember, Tolkien's elves and dwarves were racist, but individuals from each group became allies and eventually friends. Racism existed, but it wasn't the sole definition of those races. More importantly, none of the other characters gave either of them a morality lecture or tried to change their minds, and they weren't cancelled or tossed out of the Fellowship for being flawed.
Another decent advice: not every world in existence has to always include one very specific weird side branch of primates. Drop out humans. At the very least, this frees up a humongous ocean of inspiration that is the real world to apply to all your fancy custom made races, without the "like humans from X but.." thing
I am worldbuilding simply for the sake of "what do I want my fantasy world to look like?" So I don't really go into the story writing or ttrpg mechanics. I simply wonder, what would be a good system for "x" For example in D&D, I want to be a necromancer, who summons skeletons and other undead(an army), but in D&D I get one skeleton at level 5 and all these other "death" spells. I don't care for the spells, I want the undead army. Now this army might be fun for strategy games, positioning, chess-like wargames, and whatnot, but it wouldn't work in Dark Souls where the fun is playing a warrior who rolls out of attacks and punishes bosses. It won't work in D&D because of the action economy and it would slow down the game. To some degree, a game tailors a specific game style, and that's normal. Right now I am ignoring that because that isn't the focus of the world I want. Then there are things I want in my world because I think they are cool, or because I want to make decisions more important. One thing I wrote down was racial weaknesses, where elves have a weaker constitution or dwarves have lower charisma. Personally, I like it when races have race-specific classes, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. I see too many people say "I want to make an orc that is actually super smart, can I homebrew my guy to have a boost to INT instead of STR?" Well, yeah, but now races are just cosmetic skins that don't influence gameplay. These people are actually pretty cool, and d&d is about whacky adventures, and being with your friends is the most important part. But I don't want D&D, I want to make something grounded. Most races have a certain aesthetic, like angels and demons, animals and constructs, nature and civilization, or something from another piece of media(tropes). Part of the fun is justifying why some of them exist or at least their most powerful members. Where angels have animal aesthetics because it is somewhat biblically accurate, and they were created by this one god in this world. Or how there was a god of cloth, and his people were made of cloth. A god of the forest who believes in survival of the fittest, and wishing to expand the forest upon civilization. Or a snake people civilization who worship the great serpent and live with dragons. Then maybe I can add another aesthetic to these snake people, like civilization, where they made these giant stone snakes, and they are dormant as walls to a city or function as bridges between landmasses(and there are two exceptionally large ones that are dormant). Did I just talk about snakes and stone? Sounds like I should introduce a Medusa creature, and maybe stone magic. Then maybe I can add Roman aesthetics as part of their civilization's aesthetic. Then there are also basilisks and cockatrices, who also turn people to stone, what created these creatures and how they related to the snake people? I think is pretty cool are driders, but I still need to find a reason why they exist. Halfpeople/halfspider doesn't just happen, what created them? Maybe they worship that cloth god I mentioned, but I need more details. Merfolk is interesting because most games and books don't bother with the ocean unless it's the main premise (like pirates/mermaids). So it is pretty easy to cut and say "There is nothing in the water, there is no ocean god, the sea is just that the sea, we're not gonna go into the water in this game, and in books, there is nothing in the water so no need to go there." Then there is the fact they have no fire, so there is only so much they can do(maybe steal metal from sunken ships. They can practically sink any ship they want, just break the bottom. Maybe they have special magic or are looking for a special item, like a black pearl that does x/y/z. Also, let's be honest, no one can conquer them except other aquatic races, so they own the ocean(except where there are monsters), no human is going to fight them to get land underwater, humans can't build, tax, or do much of anything with whatever they get from fighting them. Then maybe we can talk about elves, and I can tell you living for 100s of years means you're going to make more mistakes. And unlike humans, they will still live and remember these sins/mistakes. Maybe that is why they are perfectionists. Living with races of shorter lifespans makes these elves more broken, imagine living longer than everyone you will ever know. Imagine outliving your own children. Maybe you can be assigned to a dynasty, where you know everyone from a family tree, but it still sucks but also very interesting. Plus, it means your ancestors could be enemies with an ancient elf, and that elf is still alive(you can still get revenge). Maybe using magic makes you more hungry, and these immortal magical beings need more food. So what happened was that these elves need to spend their time gathering food than the average human(plus humans have higher populations, 10 human farmers can do the same work in one day as one elf working for 10 days. Then maybe when elvish cities formed, and the first famine occurred, they ate each other, and then came the first orcs. Raiders who pillage and devour the flesh of human-like races. Making it so that most elves are vegetarian since they don't want to be orcs, and eating the grain and barely is more efficient than feeding it to a pig, and then eating the pig.
![On Worldbuilding: Mountains in Fantasy Maps! [ ASOIAF | Dune | Stormlight ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cSFIEYmOAp0/mqdefault.jpg)
Silence(?
Also good video, i was expecting the chanel to have more subs, I hope you grow fast because of the good content ~
Right answer :)
I took a break for a while. But will start making new videos soon. I'm super glad you like the content :)
Great video dude!!! The answer is silence, it has to be xD
Thanks man! Glad to hear that you liked it.
I will reveel the answer in the next video :D
Love that episode :D especially all the animated little things 💗
Glad you like it. It took a lot of time but was so much fun 💜
Personally I like the idea of elves essentially being Germany during the Second World War because of how overpowered and how smug they are in almost every story what’s stopping them from saying that their the master race like seriously think about it
This would definitely make for an interesting bad guy faction. Fitting for how arrogant especially the High elves are portrayed. Instead of subverting the trope of the "I am superior in everything" one could embrace it. Really cool approach!
And....you already oversimplified the reason as to how it came to WW2 and why the german-speaking (!) people were supporting it.
The anti semitism was rampant in all of Europe beforehand (so it was not special to Nazi Germany), euthanasia was just as well not only wished for in NaziGermany but also USA as well as other countries, the Versailles treaty overly heavily put blame on Germany and punished it harshly for it, Germany lost land of german speaking (and traditionally more german) folk to other countries, maybe the economy crisis of late 1920/1930s played into it, but also then Nazi Germany under Hitler was tolerated by the other countries to act as a buffer to the Soviet Union.
So its not as easy as to say Nazi Germany came to be (only) because of smugness.
@@backpug1228 No? I know that Germany started WW2 due to their Foreign Policy and a whole lot of other reasons, but that’s not the point as I said in the comment I just find it an interesting idea and it isn’t meant to be taken seriously
I did that in my campaign. The high elves are the type of guys who make other factions fight each other like a parasite who turns people who were kind to monsters who rather kill you. These guys are also the reason why humanity is facing extinction. They would send one guy, spread rumors, and then they simply watch everybody fight each other. After that, they claim the lands as their own. The campaign I have is pretty much an only kobold campaign trying to survive the high elf empire. These guys would soon become a greater threat in my sci-fi spin-off where they're instead called the Podvoys (podvoy being an oversimplified Russian word for warmonger).
A very good video! Very helpful and informative.
Glad it was helpful!
A big element I decided on for my Campaign setting way back when was no City of Hats. A trope I am burned out on and have been since I was a kid is the Mountain of the Dwarves. The Forest of the Elves. That's where gnomes live, etc.
I get that it makes some sense to have original locations, places these people perhaps came from, but I've never truly loved the idea of a story going from human civilization to token locale of {insertRace}.
So my setting's first world building rule was to justify a very ethnically and racially diverse set of Nations and locales. There is almost no monoculture location in my entire setting, which doesn't span the whole world and instead focuses on one continent. The exception is some indigenous tribes that were pushes into small reclusive areas during the inviting incident that set up the framework of the setting.
Because of that so much of the drama and tension of the campaign as I've built it out over the years comes from different races being intermingled, and different cultures colliding. Not all members of any given race are culturally similar, and where on the continent they wound up plays a big deal. I also do dip heavily into national and ethnic tension because that's a subject I care to explore and my players tend to be on board, though when someone isn't we find a campaign in the setting that doesn't need to focus on those elements.
I really like your approach to the worldbuilding of nations, cultures, and races. It sounds really intriguing.
I'll be the first one to admit that I tend to choose Elves or Dwarves when playing a game of some sort. But only if they're aren't any options to make my own custom race.
I have made quite a few alien races myself but none of them are completely fleshed out and developed yet. And I haven't implemented them anywhere yet either. I have a few aquatic races, a few who have a culture based on isolationism and neutrality, and quite a few others with their own dark and tragic history that shaped them into what they are today.
I love how you made a detailed video like this in only 14 minutes. It's not an easy thing to do and I give you a bunch of kudos for accomplishing it 😁🥳👍!
Elves and Dwarves are solid options in most Settings. But I totally get the joy of creating own races fantasy or sci-fi :D
Aquatic races can be so much fun. The water allows for a whole different set of properties and movement options. I have not delved much into it myself but I would love to explore it more. Sadly my current Setting for D&D has no oceans (at least none made of water)
I'm really glad you enjoyed my video. I put a lot of time into it and seeing that somebody enjoys it brings a smile to my face :)
Is the answer to the riddle silence?
Correct!
Idk, I usually try to avoid putting in a new creature type (race) for a specific purpose. A new country inhabited by one or more of the existing races is usually better for that. Or a new culture, or religion. If a creature seems to exist for only one reason, it’s likely to feel contrived to the players. So when I do do this, it’s because the race was artificially created by a character in the setting (e.g yuan-ti in my world were created by an arch-devil). I put in races because either I just like the fantasy behind them, or I feel like the environment I’m designing requires their presence. After all creatures don’t exist for any purpose in the real world. They just are.
Yeesh. If I want an analogy to real-world racism in my setting, I will make it intra-species. Elves vs drow, for example. One of the problems with real world racism is that people talk like the races are biologically distinct when they aren’t. But if the fantasy races *are* biologically distinct: then it’s technically not racist to say so. This factor muddies the waters too much. Real life racism isn’t about biological differences, or even differences of lifestyle, it’s about a history of oppression. Your illustration of the elf and dwarf was...simplistic at best and misleading at worst.
That is a good point! I wanted to encourage to not bring in a race just for the sake of it. But you are totally right. Only having one reason can lead to a shallow/artificial feeling! Havin artificial created races is fun. In my setting the half-elves are actually created artificially by the High Elves in their effort to solve low fertility.
I wasn't aware people are afraid of architects
Silence. even speaking its name will break it.
Then it needs a nick name instead! :D
Silence?
A secret
Easy, silence
The most important thing concerning races is for the DM to say "NO" to players having characters of races that don't fit the world. Keep the eligible number of races below half a dozen. The rest of the races are NPC only. They are the DM's toolbox. That way, you can do whatever you want with races in yer world, without getting permission from every single player, during every single gaming session.
The riddles answer is SILENCE. Gimme a challenge
My class used to come up with riddles in middle school
@@ruthluther6880 that is pretty cool. I really like to incorporate a riddle every now and then in my games.
Silence
Spicy food is a different damage type than fire. And remember, Tolkien's elves and dwarves were racist, but individuals from each group became allies and eventually friends. Racism existed, but it wasn't the sole definition of those races. More importantly, none of the other characters gave either of them a morality lecture or tried to change their minds, and they weren't cancelled or tossed out of the Fellowship for being flawed.
That was really helpful! Thank you!
Glad to hear that my thoughts were useful to you :D
@@KorocDM yes! I am currently creating several cultures, so that has been helpful!
Really good quality content, it's clear how much work went into creating the video, hope you get more subs!
Thanks to you I can start my day with a smile :)
Do you know where I can find Opus Anima? The only thing I found seems to have been in German
It was created in Germany. I'm not sure if there ever was an English version. They sadly stopped working on it prety quick.
Silence, I’ve heard that riddle before
In my worldbuilding everyone is a reflavored or transformed human which is why everyone is so human.
Do you transform Human cultures into different races or fantasy races into a variant of human?
People are saying silence, but an oath of silence also works.
I think I like this answer even more than what was originally intended. Braking and oath fit well together (in a symbolic way)
Another decent advice: not every world in existence has to always include one very specific weird side branch of primates.
Drop out humans. At the very least, this frees up a humongous ocean of inspiration that is the real world to apply to all your fancy custom made races, without the "like humans from X but.." thing
I am worldbuilding simply for the sake of "what do I want my fantasy world to look like?" So I don't really go into the story writing or ttrpg mechanics. I simply wonder, what would be a good system for "x"
For example in D&D, I want to be a necromancer, who summons skeletons and other undead(an army), but in D&D I get one skeleton at level 5 and all these other "death" spells. I don't care for the spells, I want the undead army. Now this army might be fun for strategy games, positioning, chess-like wargames, and whatnot, but it wouldn't work in Dark Souls where the fun is playing a warrior who rolls out of attacks and punishes bosses. It won't work in D&D because of the action economy and it would slow down the game.
To some degree, a game tailors a specific game style, and that's normal. Right now I am ignoring that because that isn't the focus of the world I want.
Then there are things I want in my world because I think they are cool, or because I want to make decisions more important.
One thing I wrote down was racial weaknesses, where elves have a weaker constitution or dwarves have lower charisma. Personally, I like it when races have race-specific classes, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. I see too many people say "I want to make an orc that is actually super smart, can I homebrew my guy to have a boost to INT instead of STR?" Well, yeah, but now races are just cosmetic skins that don't influence gameplay. These people are actually pretty cool, and d&d is about whacky adventures, and being with your friends is the most important part. But I don't want D&D, I want to make something grounded.
Most races have a certain aesthetic, like angels and demons, animals and constructs, nature and civilization, or something from another piece of media(tropes). Part of the fun is justifying why some of them exist or at least their most powerful members. Where angels have animal aesthetics because it is somewhat biblically accurate, and they were created by this one god in this world. Or how there was a god of cloth, and his people were made of cloth. A god of the forest who believes in survival of the fittest, and wishing to expand the forest upon civilization. Or a snake people civilization who worship the great serpent and live with dragons. Then maybe I can add another aesthetic to these snake people, like civilization, where they made these giant stone snakes, and they are dormant as walls to a city or function as bridges between landmasses(and there are two exceptionally large ones that are dormant). Did I just talk about snakes and stone? Sounds like I should introduce a Medusa creature, and maybe stone magic. Then maybe I can add Roman aesthetics as part of their civilization's aesthetic. Then there are also basilisks and cockatrices, who also turn people to stone, what created these creatures and how they related to the snake people?
I think is pretty cool are driders, but I still need to find a reason why they exist. Halfpeople/halfspider doesn't just happen, what created them? Maybe they worship that cloth god I mentioned, but I need more details.
Merfolk is interesting because most games and books don't bother with the ocean unless it's the main premise (like pirates/mermaids). So it is pretty easy to cut and say "There is nothing in the water, there is no ocean god, the sea is just that the sea, we're not gonna go into the water in this game, and in books, there is nothing in the water so no need to go there." Then there is the fact they have no fire, so there is only so much they can do(maybe steal metal from sunken ships. They can practically sink any ship they want, just break the bottom. Maybe they have special magic or are looking for a special item, like a black pearl that does x/y/z. Also, let's be honest, no one can conquer them except other aquatic races, so they own the ocean(except where there are monsters), no human is going to fight them to get land underwater, humans can't build, tax, or do much of anything with whatever they get from fighting them.
Then maybe we can talk about elves, and I can tell you living for 100s of years means you're going to make more mistakes. And unlike humans, they will still live and remember these sins/mistakes. Maybe that is why they are perfectionists. Living with races of shorter lifespans makes these elves more broken, imagine living longer than everyone you will ever know. Imagine outliving your own children. Maybe you can be assigned to a dynasty, where you know everyone from a family tree, but it still sucks but also very interesting. Plus, it means your ancestors could be enemies with an ancient elf, and that elf is still alive(you can still get revenge).
Maybe using magic makes you more hungry, and these immortal magical beings need more food. So what happened was that these elves need to spend their time gathering food than the average human(plus humans have higher populations, 10 human farmers can do the same work in one day as one elf working for 10 days. Then maybe when elvish cities formed, and the first famine occurred, they ate each other, and then came the first orcs. Raiders who pillage and devour the flesh of human-like races. Making it so that most elves are vegetarian since they don't want to be orcs, and eating the grain and barely is more efficient than feeding it to a pig, and then eating the pig.
a secret
though this is only the case if others are there to hear it, so if according to this youtuber it is so, I'll be a shame.
Silence
That is correct :D
Silence
Bingo :)
Oh, silence. It took me way too long to figure that out...
Love the Rick and Morty reference :D
Glad to hear that. I really enjoy referencing pop culture in my videos :D THat you got this one indicates a really high IQ :P
That riddle was pretty weak itself
Silence
Ego
Excellent video
Thank you. I'm really glad you liked it
A point too consider which most ignore racial alignment is a cultural norm not a set thing for everyone of the race.
YES! I 100% agree.