| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Aryalómë |
Posted - 04 Mar 2011 : 23:39:25
What are your favorite fantasy settings other than FR? Why? What are your favorite races in those settings?
Mne are:
Everquest-I love this setting!!! High Elves are my favorite race, they are my second favorite fantasy race of all tme, right after Star Elves. My other favorite iare the Dark Elves, the are my favorite Dark Elves of all settings!
Warhammer-absolutely amazing!!! Many of the places in the world of Warhammer are anagolous to places in the real world. High Elves agan, third favorite of all tme. Dark Elves second, as usual. These Dark Elves are quite different from others however, they don't live ndergrond and have pale sln. But they mak the Drow look like kittes when comparng cruelty!!
The Elder Scrolls-I can't find he words to describe this one.... Yet again High Elves, ththey rock my word And yes, Dark Elves as second. These Dark Elves are different to; they aren't evil, they are quite good actually, but still dark.
Elf Language Names:
Everquest-
High Elf-Koada'dal
Dark Elf-Tier'Dal
Warhammer:
High Elf-Asur
Dark Elf-Druchii
The Elder Scrolls:
High Elf-Altmer
Dark Elf-Dunmer |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Sith_Lord_Drizzt |
Posted - 11 May 2011 : 20:00:05
Warhammer! Dark, gritty, and a great history! And great characters! My second favorite fantasy setting after the Realms!! |
| Dennis |
Posted - 04 May 2011 : 05:51:04
The world of Time Master by Louise Cooper is one of my favorites now. Cooper's great attention to detail without sounding boring nor preachy is highly commendable. I also like her system of magic. And the characters are...really endearing. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 03 May 2011 : 05:18:59
Japanese guys better? Um, okay, suuure.... Not really my cup-o-tea, to be honest. Something about their tone and timbre just doesn't sit right with me most of the time. It's okay for some of the "cute" animes, or the ones involving mostly young characters, but the English speakers sound more mature in most animes I've seen. To each his own, though. And I'm curious too, MT. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 03 May 2011 : 05:05:25
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
I have SOOOOOO stolen the 'State Alchemists' concept for my Kara-Tur.
I only just caught this now, but could you elaborate on this, Markus?
|
| Dennis |
Posted - 03 May 2011 : 04:35:32
Alystra,
Most Japanese guys are way better. [But the Filipinos are the best, bias aside.] |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 02 May 2011 : 18:55:17
For some reason, I tend to think the opposite. Many of them have voices too high or shrill for the character- this more true of the females, who often seem over-caffinated and bubbly, or just too "childish" for the character. Guys are less so, except when it sounds like a little kid playing at being a teen-ager or adult.... That always bothers me. The English ones usually at least sound age-appropriate to the character. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 02 May 2011 : 06:54:53
I found Negima weird. Never liked it. Strangely, I finished the whole series. Must have had a lot of free time those days.
I think Japanese voice actors are better than American. The quality of their voice most often matches the personality of the character. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 02 May 2011 : 05:49:03
I generally prefer the English voice acting in animes. Some of the Japanese voice actors (especially the female ones) grate on my nerves. Min-Mei from Robotech was annoying in BOTH versions! And can I throw Negima into this discussion, since we're talking about high-magic worlds? I LOVE that little wizard! Might even have to give that odd sneezing habit to a wizard in my next game- at least whenever there are women with skirts around, lol! |
| Dennis |
Posted - 13 Apr 2011 : 05:26:08
Great! While I appreciate the Japanese actors who give voice to the characters, I sometimes get distracted by the subtitles and capture only about 90% of the action as my eyes get stuck in the subs, which at times look horrible [as in the case of some of the episodes of HunterXHunter and Yu Yu Hakushu.
------
I think the world of Bleach has a potential. I just watched some episodes randomly and I must say they're good---the concept, the characters, and the setting. It's a combination of Steampunk and High Fantasy. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 13 Apr 2011 : 05:18:21
I've got several volumes of the series in English, so I'm sure the complete set comes that way, too. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 13 Apr 2011 : 05:11:39
I think I should, too. Is the DVD dubbed in English? Or just subbed as usual? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 13 Apr 2011 : 04:36:17
Which does remind me... I really need to purchase that complete DVD set. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 13 Apr 2011 : 04:07:32
Apparently, they all eat rice balls and milk or tea. As for the pokemon- I think they eat pet food. Seems I recall Misty feeding her water pokemon fish food or something once, so I guess if you extend that to the other types..... Education?! You mean they don't just learn everything by traveling?! Come to think of it, I've never seen a school int hat "world". Just lot's of Pokecenters and arenas. And all those darn look-alike cops and nurses..... My theory is it's all the same city, and they're just going in circles in the woods and the people of the city are playing a practical joke on all these kids.
MT, I SOO agree about FMA. I've borrowed some ideas from it for my own alchemy HB use. |
| Chosen of Asmodeus |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 19:58:37
Funny thing is I was actually having a debate about the pokemon franchise the other day with a friend of mine, after watching the Zero Punctuation review of the latest pokemon game. The setting makes no sense whatsoever. Is the educational system just considered a suggestion there? What do they eat? Are they all vegetarians? Do they eat the pokemon? Do the pokemon eat each other? Why have they been releasing the same game for the last sixteen years? |
| Markustay |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 19:50:31
QFT.
Look at This Guy.
The art isn't so great, but the concept is very cool - a minocentaur. Yugi's monsters put the silly Pokemon to shame (there are maybe 2-3 I like). In fact, the whole concept is better thought-out; why do the adults of the pokemon world send their very young children into the wilderness, ALONE, to find and fight monsters? 
Yeah... little girls wandering around the forest all by themselves.... GREAT idea... 
Although Pokemon proved to be more popular, I think the Yugioh premise is much more sound.
But Full Metal is off the shizzle. 
I have SOOOOOO stolen the 'State Alchemists' concept for my Kara-Tur.
EDIT: I hadn't noticed the earlier posts about The Princess Bride - I don't know of how great a setting it would make (I would probably just steal the characters and 1 or 2 places), but there is A MAP. |
| Chosen of Asmodeus |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 18:52:53
My little brother was a big fan of the Yu Gi Oh show and game. I'll give them this; some of those cards had absolutely great monster designs. More than a few of which I use for inspiration. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 09:06:27
I'm an FR fan, but I must say that's a less interesting Koryo. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 07:58:28
I thought Koryo was in northern Kara-Tur.
All this talk of 'cuteness' makes me want to scrap some catgirl off my tires.  |
| Dennis |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 06:11:45
The many worlds/dimensions in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle that Syaoran travels to in order to retrieve the scattered feathers of Sakura's wings are some of the great, brilliantly conceived fantasy settings. I particularly like the magic-awash world of Fort City Bit, the beautiful and captivating Tsarastora, the futuristic Piffle, and the mysterious parallel worlds of Koryo and Kiishimu. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 03:03:40
I find Chamo funny, not cute.
Double points, you said? Well, Chamo's just a wizard. Mokkun is the avatar of the God-Spirit of Fire. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 01:55:43
Nope. Still think the cigar-chomping ermine beats out the fox-critter in terms of "cute"! And he gets double points for being a cursed wizard! And who WOULDN'T want to cuddle the little teddy bear with wings?! I always thought Mew was sort of cute, too. And he'd make a cool familiar for a psionicist. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 01:43:06
Those other two have their own merits. But Mokkun oustrips them both. Look closely:
Mokkun in his cutest pose.
Mokkun in his angry but still cute stand.
Mokkun close up.
Chamo, Negima's familiar.
Kiro.
*Speaking of Cardcaptor Sakura, I find Yue/Yukito and Toya a very cute couple. =) |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 12 Apr 2011 : 01:19:09
@ Dennis- Nah, I think the ferret "familiar" from Nagima beats him hands down in the cute department. Or even Kiro from Cardcaptor Sakura. Come to think of it, both those animes have some stuff worth using. |
| Lily M Green |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 22:49:44
I've never been much of a fan of the Japanese / Anime settings but as a kid the story of The Goblin Rat (The Boy Who Drew Cats) used to terrify and enthrall me in equal measure! |
| Dennis |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 22:35:58
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Among a number of series that go back and forth in Japan's present day and feudal era, I'd choose Fushigi Yugi---and not because Nakago {for some bizarre reason} suddenly turns gay, but because it captures so many of Japan's folklore and has an incredible cast.
At the risk of getting myself in hot water here, I have to share my immediate thoughts on this...
My first thought was Fushigi Yugi-Oh!
Then I pictured a spikey-haired kid pulling a card from his deck and yelling. "Big Gay Al - I choose YOU!!!" 
Okay... I'm ready for my banning now. 
Yugi-Oh is silly. Even my anime-addict cousin never bothered to watch that.
Another feudal era Japan setting that I find quite interesting is the one of Shonen Onmyouji. Guren is one of the most loyal and coolest "friend" around. And Mokkun is the cutest pet/familiar that ever exists. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 20:02:17
Exactly! I've borrowed stuff from just about every source I come across. I've even got a huge moving island (on the back of a zaratan) that I swiped from Aladdin & King of Thieves. Just had some ideas for a race of talking mice (or rats, haven't decided yet) after looking in the 5$ bin at Wal-Mart this morning and finding the Secret of NIMH movies in there. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 19:40:25
In the never-to-be-finished K-T project (which was going to be in three different LARGE pdf's!), I had a special summoner class called the Yôkai-Master, that used Nomé-kop Stones (specially grown crystals) that were 'keyed' to previously caught creatures, that were stored in an extra-dimensional limbo.
I also had the Onmyoji, which is a spell-scroll caster, some of which specialized in 'decks' of placards (stiff cards) that could summon both creatures and also add affects to those creatures.
The placard-Onmyoji and the Yôkai-Master were rivals, and many famous duels were held between them in the Imperial Arena. It was a friendly rivalry, usually, and the two types would even work together in a crisis (like whenever giant monsters attacked, which happens more often then you would think in the East, for some strange reason).
All HB, of course.
I pretty-much borrow liberally from every source I can get my hands on. There is no such things as 'bad ideas', merely poor implementations. Everything has potential if you know how to look at it. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 19:17:02
MT, that would be more of a Pokemon thing. Yu-Gi-Oh would be more like "I play my Red-Eyes Black Dragon in defense!" Then again, I'd like to see a Deck of Many Creatures using those cards. Hmmm, now you've got me thinking of a summoner-type using little balls to bring forth his guardians..... His name would be Ash, of course. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 18:35:51
I have a bit of a Lolth vs Tiamet thing going on in my HB-FR (you'd think they'd be friends!)
Because of my Tlincalis vs Driders story-line, I wanted to develop a back-story for that, pertaining to why they are also similar outwardly. Basically, the Tlincallis were a group of Tiamet-worshiping Drow from Maztica that lolth cursed for having forsaken her. In my HB material on Maztica, I have it where all the Maztican gods are really aspects of the Draco-pantheon (we worked on that a bit in an old WotC thread). Strangely, that works out even better with the 4e lore (I say Maztica simply 'went home').
The reason why I used Tiamet is because Scorpionmen are associated with her in RW mythos, so it seemed fitting. I figure they also call her something different - Leviticus, or some-such (I played a VG a LONG time ago and the final boss was named something like that).
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Among a number of series that go back and forth in Japan's present day and feudal era, I'd choose Fushigi Yugi---and not because Nakago {for some bizarre reason} suddenly turns gay, but because it captures so many of Japan's folklore and has an incredible cast.
At the risk of getting myself in hot water here, I have to share my immediate thoughts on this...
My first thought was Fushigi Yugi-Oh!
Then I pictured a spikey-haired kid pulling a card from his deck and yelling. "Big Gay Al - I choose YOU!!!"
Okay... I'm ready for my banning now. |
| Chosen of Asmodeus |
Posted - 11 Apr 2011 : 17:58:55
I like to tie in some pseudo-Biblical references in my setting for flavor; as such Lolth has some heavy ties to the Serpent from the Garden of Eden, leading the original elves down the path of temptation and leading to the utter destruction of their original home, which while heavily tied into the Atlantis myth, I call Antediluvia, the name of the pre-Deluge world in Christian lore.
I save most of that for Asmodeus, who remains a big player in my homebrew. Though there are cults that believe Asmodeus and Lolth are either the same being(false), or otherwise related, a popular one being that he was the one who originally tempted her to evil. That one being a bit more ambiguous. Which is code for "I haven't made up my mind yet." |
