Questions tagged [low-fantasy]
For questions focused on worlds where magic exists, but is rare, in a world otherwise abiding to natural laws.
92
questions
1
vote
2answers
77 views
How to best do a Rock->Paper->Scissors city states with Technology->Military->Religion being the over arching theme in a fantasy setting
Background
My setting an, ideally, low magic fantasy setting will be ruled by 3 City States. I don't want any of these to feel right. As in there's no good guy. i.e. the reader is not supposed to see ...
3
votes
2answers
130 views
Could intelligent animals stop civilizations from colonizing too much land?
I am trying to create a world where humans can survive and thrive, but they are unable to colonize every piece of fertile land available. There are great civilizations (early medieval technology) and ...
3
votes
1answer
59 views
Feeding Shadow Striders
Alright, so creatures in the Forbidden Forest called 'Shadow Striders' (Striders for short) are plotting on how to obtain their favorite food: humans.
These creatures have the following traits:
They'...
4
votes
3answers
136 views
How useful would it be for a hunter to be able to climb trees really well?
I'm writing a medieval fantasy hunter character whose gimmick is that he's really good at climbing trees. If you can imagine a tree being climbed, then this guy can climb it without breaking a sweat ...
5
votes
3answers
122 views
How would medieval Europeans react to discovery of fantasy races? [closed]
My question is inspired by this question
Infinite flat world
Basically instead of the Earth being a planet it is instead a small portion of an Alderson Disk. According to the writer Larry Niven "...
7
votes
10answers
1k views
Dedicated castle assault unit
Medieval warfare can get ugly, particularly during sieges. Most will agree that the best course of action is to sit tight for a year or two and hope the defenders starve before your attacking force ...
0
votes
1answer
82 views
How these characteristics effect war doctrines? [closed]
I like to put a few humanoid races in my world, each with some boons and/or banes. While it is easy enough to figure out the major implications of a single isolated characteristic, things get more ...
1
vote
2answers
60 views
Best Superpowers Gained From Arthopod Essence? [closed]
Please assume the following:
Humans were taken by aliens and relocated to another planet. They have no memory of this event.
High oxygen levels and alien alterations (which made them capable of ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
What are ways for a renaissance culture to combat my invasive species? [closed]
My world is on the verge of being overrun by animals and plants from other planets that are well-adapted. Some of these creatures are magical in nature and more powerful and long-lived than the native ...
3
votes
3answers
239 views
An alphabet with alternating reading order
I am in the middle of designing a con-lang that features, among other things a letter reading order that alternates by line from left-to-right to right-to-left and back again. My justification for ...
-1
votes
1answer
113 views
On what timeline could modern know-how turn a late medieval kingdom into an industrial war machine? [closed]
Portal fantasy. A small team of modern-day experts is brought to a low-magic fantasy world, tech roughly that of mid-15th century France. They must help a sympathetic feudal kingdom defend itself ...
6
votes
9answers
3k views
Can an Umbrella deflect a Great Wyrm Red Dragon’s Breath?
From Giant in the Playground Forum:
Well a Great Wyrm Red breathes hot enough to theoretically liquify[melt] 4
inches of solid iron across an 80 foot or so line. So an 80 foot wall
of iron 4 inches ...
6
votes
2answers
163 views
How to explain a fast-acting “tar pit” projectile weapon?
In movies or on TV usually for entertainment reasons, quicksand is quite often and inaccurately portrayed as a kind of super fast acting, almost inescapable and extremely deadly trap capable of ...
12
votes
17answers
5k views
Could normie beat a psionic in a swordfight?
I'm writing low fantasy set in alternate Earth with technology level of 6th century.
In my world I have psionics, born something like 1 in 10,000. They are several times stronger than normals, from 3 ...
1
vote
4answers
146 views
How close together could trees conceivably grow?
(low fantasy) I like things to make sense at least somewhat logically in my world, and I'm wondering how close trees could be planted together to create a "wall." Obviously, this could be ...
14
votes
10answers
3k views
Is it possible for the tribe to ignore useful technology?
I'm worlbuilding a low fantasy inspired by the dark ages something like 6th to 9th century in our world. The geography is completely different with one supercontinent containing almost all the ...
0
votes
0answers
46 views
Making Laws for your world [duplicate]
How do you create laws for your fantasy world? do you just have code of honour? or do you have a list of rules?
7
votes
4answers
168 views
How does a species with heat cycles deal with over population?
I'm at the very early world building for a potential story where I have a sort of humanoid feline species that I need to have been known as expansionist and/or war-like in the past but not be ...
8
votes
5answers
1k views
What limitations make sense in the context of a narration-based magic system?
The storyteller sits down. He has a tale to tell, a tale of a village
that was suffering a drought. A tale of the desperation of the
villagers. The desperation that led them to seek the help of ...
15
votes
11answers
4k views
Can a low-tech sailing ship tell how deep the water is?
I'm trying to figure out the challenges faced by a low-tech civilization mapping its world. They have access to roughly Renaissance level technology, plus some (not very abundant) magic.
One question ...
6
votes
6answers
3k views
How could liquid nitrogen weapons exist in a medieval society?
It’s been awhile since I’ve been on here, and in all that time, I’ve developed my fictional world by a lot.
But I’m still confused by something.
You see, the society of my world is one modeled on ...
6
votes
8answers
509 views
How Many Soldiers are Needed to Patrol/Defend a Medieval Wall?
I have a walled city in a medieval RPG setting. It's out in the middle of a desert and has an impossibly efficient means of acquiring water and producing food off of farmland inside the walls (magic ...
9
votes
3answers
610 views
“African” states alliance?
To start this off I will dispel preconceptions: Africa had great empires and was not technologically inferior to Europe before the invention of guns. They had quilted armor (the equivalent of ...
2
votes
4answers
1k views
How Much Gold to Pay Off Death Sentence? [closed]
So, you've got a fantasy kingdom that has had the better part of its treasury stolen by a dragon. They tracked the dragon back to its lair and trapped it permanently inside... but the dragon refuses ...
-1
votes
1answer
127 views
In battle, how many soldiers would an indestructible fighter be worth? [closed]
There is a magical set of armour that protects its wearer from all physical harm. The armour is absolutely indestructible; blades will break against it, battering rams would bounce off it, even ...
8
votes
5answers
406 views
What binary poisons could work when ingested?
What are two non lethal substances that will combine to create a strong poison when ingested close together?
Hopefully my character would be able to drink one of the substances mixed in to a wine or ...
4
votes
1answer
147 views
Class system economy
I want a class system in an enclosed citadel with Roman times technology.
It is based around the idea that the farmer class work the land to bring food to the entire country.
All farm lands are ...
2
votes
2answers
102 views
Would the ability to magically reduce one's body mass/density allow for higher mobility, nimbleness, agility and speed?
I want one of my characters to be a full blown "ninja".
By this I don't mean an actual japanese ninja mind you, but merely someone who embodies the various tropes that ninjas have become associated ...
7
votes
8answers
1k views
How effective would a pole-arm blunt weapon be?
No metal weapons allowed I'm limiting this to wooden or composite ones only (for example the use of something as tough or harder than lignum vitae and other materials).
I accept far fetched answers ...
16
votes
6answers
4k views
If it could be shaped, would chitin from giant insects make decent body armor?
I found a previous question on using chitin from giant insects to make weapons and armor, but the answer left out something I had considered for the medieval fantasy setting I'm developing. The answer ...
8
votes
6answers
2k views
How to trap and kill a T-Rex-like creature?
The story: in a fantasy iron age world, a T-Rex-like animal (actually more like the size of allosaurus) has emerged from the forest and started killing people. The animal always retreats to the forest ...
4
votes
7answers
606 views
What Stops Dragons From Causing Ecological Collapse?
In my setting Dragons evolved on a n isolated continent far from where man evolved. But in the past thousand years dragons have been introduced to the human inhabited continent, which is filled with ...
7
votes
7answers
272 views
Best Military Use of Mercenary Giant Ape Men?
In my setting there is a race descended from Gigantopithecus blacki.
These creatures retain much of their ancestors physical features, such as:
•An impressive height of 2.75 meters (9 feet in freedom ...
20
votes
9answers
4k views
How to utilize dragons that are too small to ride in warfare?
Dragons in my setting are significantly smaller and less physically powerful than most depictions. The large males reach about 100 kilograms and just over two meters tall. This means that they ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
What is the maximum population density in a settled land where farming and homesteading is impossible?
Let’s say that early middle ages humans discovered and expanded into a newly discovered land. Those humans made a concentrated effort to populate this new territory; they shipped several ships of ...
3
votes
2answers
183 views
Magic system involving contracts with a mysterious being [closed]
I am planning a series of fantasy novels, want to make sure my worldbuilding makes sense. I will focus on the magic system for now but I do think that some basic context of what kind of story I am ...
48
votes
20answers
7k views
How to make this “friendly war” plausible?
I'm trying to come up with this scenario in a sort of "medieval fantasy" setting.
There are two towns. One, Caertydin is a large city with all the appropriate tropes, while the smaller town, Siege is ...
5
votes
4answers
217 views
Biological Features Necessary for a Humanoid to Have a Much Higher Rate of Reproduction?
So for this question there’s a Mad Scientist/Dark Lord that wants to engineer a race that can out breed mankind and carry him to victory. He has access to sufficiently advanced genetic engineering/...
1
vote
2answers
168 views
How Large could this Optimized Preindustrial Population Get?
There are a lot of questions on this site about historical population levels and densities, and they have good answers about taking into how hard it was to survive in the past, and how inefficient ...
7
votes
10answers
574 views
Medieval military tactics, given the presence of a single invincible champion in every nation's army
The setting is low fantasy medieval. Magic (and other supernatural things) belong exclusively to the realms of the gods, and are not for mortal beings to wield. However, there is one major exception.
...
25
votes
10answers
10k views
What early middle ages weapons would suit an extremely strong child?
I'm worldbuilding low fantasy with technology level of the early middle ages. Very few of the people could tap into psionic power, which makes them faster and stronger than common people. Average ...
4
votes
0answers
64 views
How would a Jupiter sized planet impact humanity? [closed]
So while worldbuilding I was pondering the effects of such a large planet on humans and their development alongside magic, technology, society, etc. So the planet is like Earth in water/land ratio, ...
51
votes
14answers
11k views
Why do goblins never form societies bigger than about 500 members?
The goblins in my world are classical fantasy goblins. They aren't too smart, have primitive technology, live in tribes, and use tamed boars, wolves, and other wild animals. They usually have a boss, ...
63
votes
23answers
11k views
Why would people bury their dead in tombs when they might become zombies?
This is partly a Skyrim-inspired question, but also relevant to a story I'm trying to flesh out.
In this world, magic and necromancy are perhaps not commonplace, but certainly not unheard of. Walking ...
3
votes
1answer
166 views
Anatomical Feasibility of a Humanoid Derived from Orangutans?
Of the living great apes, humans are most closely related to the chimpanzees and bonobos. We retain quite a few features from that side of the simian family, and it got me thinking about what a ...
22
votes
16answers
6k views
Modern military equipment in a fantasy world
So we've (re)discovered a portal to a magical realm akin to 12th century Europe but with magic. We have giants, trolls, dwarves, wizards, etc. One faction calls upon our aid. Invoking a supposed ...
3
votes
2answers
138 views
How does this dragon's self-defense mechanism not burn the user?
A type of dragon in my world, simply named the Thick-horn, has a well-known mechanism to use to defend itself despite its clumsiness.
They are freakishly large, tend to be slow, and find it hard to ...
13
votes
8answers
5k views
Could accuracy compensate for lack of strength in archery?
Setting:
I'm worldbuilding a medieval fantasy which I try to keep as realistic as
possible. In my world, fantasy races are subspecies of the humans, which I define as compared to humans:
Humans (same ...
5
votes
6answers
258 views
How would the dwarven Stone Sense work?
Dwarves have been a popular character race for fantasy stories since at least J.R.R. Tolkien.
Common lore bestows upon dwarves a unique and all-encompassing relationship to the stone that composes ...
30
votes
14answers
8k views
In a world without stars, how would travelers navigate at night?
On Earth, sailors would navigate the oceans at night by using the stars as guides; since there are no landmarks in the ocean like there are on land (save for the occasional island), that's pretty much ...
