Questions tagged [low-fantasy]
For questions focused on worlds where magic exists, but is rare, in a world otherwise abiding to natural laws.
247
questions
5
votes
2
answers
92
views
Weather, climate, tides and meteorology on the internal surface of a sphere
In the world I'm building I have a something similar to a Dyson Sphere. This is a fantasy world, not hard sci-fi. However, to make the world immersive I want to make sure the physical environment is ...
- 49.2k
17
votes
9
answers
9k
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 ...
- 6,940
19
votes
16
answers
3k
views
Possible downsides of not dealing with the souls of the dead [closed]
My fantasy world has a fairly rigid system of dealing with the souls of the dead and ferrying them to the afterlife. However, this system is in peril and in danger of collapsing. This would mean that ...
- 1,001
1
vote
1
answer
114
views
How would I calculate the damage someone suffered from various strikes? [closed]
So, I’ve been developing a TTRPG and am wanting to present a realistic fantasy world. This doesn’t mean fantastic things wouldn’t happen - demigods can swing swords at the speed of light. But when ...
- 296k
15
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Will a Humans Tolerance Keep Going Until Full Immunity?
Context: This is a post apocalypse low fantasy, soft science world. In it megacorps have built a protected city for citizens to survive. The world outside the walls in dangerous, with toxic gas, ...
- 2,770
3
votes
5
answers
642
views
Air magic only used to decrease humidity and improve living conditions?
I'm writing a world with an overall warm and very humid climate (Eocene-adjacent, although it does not have to be 100% realistic). Population is very low compared to Earth. Humans generally live in ...
- 81.9k
6
votes
4
answers
1k
views
A Sea of Mist and Steam? How would boats move?
How would a boat be designed for sailing through a sea made from mist and steam?
This sea of mist and sea is a naturally occurring place in the world I made, it is in a deep, giant underground cave, ...
- 4,209
34
votes
16
answers
8k
views
Best Way to Style Ridiculously Long Hair (for magic purposes)
Okay, so for the story I am working on, I have a problem-or, rather, Serena the Shaman/Witch has a distinct problem. She has only one low-mana spell-Hydro Jet-and it deals low but consistent damage. ...
- 21
1
vote
2
answers
360
views
Looking to shape a magic system based as much as possible in actual science [closed]
I am looking to create a magic system that is grounded in science. My initial thought was the ability to manipulate electrons on the atomic level. Since I do not want the magic users to be walking ...
- 5,549
19
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What would mice use as raw materials for clothing?
This is my first question and I hope I didn't go beyond the scope of this forum.
I am working on an amateur tabletop role-playing game, and I'm wondering how to make clothing & architecture feel ...
- 32.4k
5
votes
4
answers
804
views
How can an evil empire build a fortress that stands for a thousand years?
I'm in the fairly early stages of writing a story. My world is a low-magic (or even no magic- I haven't fully decided yet) fantasy setting, and I'll be adhering pretty hard to the medieval stasis ...
- 31.1k
6
votes
4
answers
762
views
Is it theoretically possible for a planet to orbit a star that is orbiting a black hole outside of the event horizon? And what would it look like? [closed]
I have written a book in which a planet orbits a star that orbits a black hole. I would like to know if this concept is completely impossible, or if it could, in theory, occur. I realize this all ...
- 25.6k
8
votes
15
answers
3k
views
How to build a defensive wall that Stone Mages can't easily deconstruct?
Assume that the time period takes place at some point before cannons and other later siege equipment (medeival, antiquity, bronze age, etc.)
Stone mages can affect materials that follow the geological ...
- 223
3
votes
0
answers
173
views
Implications of a flat earth [closed]
I’m interested in exploring the implications of a flat earth with a sun much smaller and closer to the earth than our Sun, and which moves from east to west each day. Gravity just pulls down; it’s not ...
- 1,538
19
votes
19
answers
8k
views
How can children dying increase fitness?
There are three true gods in the world: Order, Chaos and Nature. All of them patron a couple of humanoid races that carry their values. While Order and Chaos carry on their petty feud fought by their ...
- 2,242
11
votes
12
answers
5k
views
Valid reason for not having plate armor in early medieval, low-magic fantasy setting?
I'm world building a low-magic, early (to high) medieval (early 12th century-ish) fantasy world for a ttrpg. This world revolves around humans, but -while not something commonly encountered by humans- ...
- 704
1
vote
3
answers
195
views
Societies After A Sudden 'Ice Age'
About 300 years ago, my world underwent massive climate change. It suddenly shifted from something we'd consider normal/livable to a climate similar to that of the last glacial maximum. (Side note: I ...
- 364
9
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Alternative chalk board materials
For the sake of context, this is a fantasy setting where this character has no access to magic and lives in a small village. He would like to write a book and since wiriting materials are a little ...
- 4,666
11
votes
15
answers
5k
views
How can kaiju exist in nature and not significantly alter civilization?
I'm building a world where kaiju-sized creatures exist alongside regular-sized creatures. How these kaiju don't crumble under their own weight doesn't matter, and can be explained away by them being ...
- 598
26
votes
10
answers
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 ...
- 29.6k
12
votes
16
answers
5k
views
How to serve the gods
TL;DR: How can a mortal become worthy of being listened to by the gods?
I'm seeking a logical framework to establish a specific relationship between gods and mortals.
The Relationship:
Mortals can ...
- 622
12
votes
7
answers
2k
views
What would a potion that increases resistance to damage actually do to the body?
Alright, we are in a medieval fantasy setting. In this setting, northern warriors (basically vikings or typical fantasy barbarians) have berserkers that use certain potions that make themselves ...
- 276
5
votes
3
answers
362
views
How to non-lethally capture a sapient gorilla using only what can be found in an average American kitchen? [closed]
I'm writing this story where a good friend of the main character gets kidnapped by a clan of sapient Gorilla-like creatures. In order to find where they are keeping him captive, the MC decides that ...
- 28.9k
10
votes
15
answers
5k
views
Unconventional ranged weapon for primitive sci-fantasy race?
This race lives underground in massive caverns/cave network. Hundreds of square miles large per cavern. Large/wide/tall enough that they have their own atmospheric conditions, essentially large ...
- 15.3k
5
votes
1
answer
270
views
How long do Brown Bear coats/pelts last?
I have a character who intends to wear the pelt of a Brown Bear at a particular point in time. That doesn't come about for a decade. I was wondering how badly degraded, or preserved will the coat be ...
- 4,765
3
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Building a settlement in a place in temporal stasis. What problems the settlers would face?
In my low-fantasy world there is a place where the environment has been frozen by magic in some kind of temporal stasis. It's an antarctic type of environment, with mountains and huge ice sheets: ...
- 351
1
vote
6
answers
576
views
Star that creates millions of galaxies through a massive coronal mass ejection. Does this make any sense? [closed]
I want to base my novel off of the idea of a star creating millions of galaxies from a gigantic coronal mass ejection. Due to this it spawns the void which threatens to absorb the entirety of space, ...
- 101k
16
votes
11
answers
5k
views
What problems would a truly gigantic fantasy city encounter?
Supposing a world that falls somewhere between low and high magic, what would stop a city of truly epic size from existing?
The city is a city-state that has existed for millennia.
It is pretty much ...
- 17.4k
9
votes
8
answers
6k
views
How can I heat my buildings without fire in a low-fantasy setting?
In my low-fantasy setting there is a civilization of blind people living in a very safe and isolated region of the world. Thinking about how this civilization could have developed throughout the ...
- 2,535
6
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Removing slaves' digit to prevent uprising
What digit, if removed, would hamper a human from fighting using medieval weaponry? (I'm toying with both thumbs but this may be too limiting in the work that the slaves can do or both little fingers ...
- 126
30
votes
20
answers
9k
views
Would dual wielding daggers be a viable choice for a covert bodyguard?
In the setting of a royal court in a stereotypical 'medieval' low-fantasy world, the royal princess must obviously be guarded. Assuming this society sees it as 'unbecoming' for a woman to be armed, ...
- 101k
3
votes
1
answer
741
views
Peak Copper Age Society
How far could the technology of a copper age society get; Could they work up to the level of late antiquity?
Context:
Im working on a si-fi/fantasy world were people have been transplanted onto a ...
- 326
3
votes
1
answer
128
views
Help with a planet that resembles Mercury: double sunset/sunrise etc
I'm new. I'm here because I need help for the geography of a fantasy planet I'm building. I don't want to be scientific, but I also want that my planet is credible. I imagined a planet that has maybe ...
- 920
7
votes
3
answers
292
views
Can ecological collapse happen in a person's lifetime?
I'm writing a story for a character who is a an old monster hunter. In his younger days, he used to make a living by hunting the most dangerous monsters which are basically the story's equivalent of ...
- 17.9k
6
votes
5
answers
832
views
Question on gravity and its relation to weight and force
I'm working on a character for a story that has the ability to somewhat play around with gravitational forces, mainly weight reduction stuff but I'm sure there's other applications. Practically this ...
- 32.3k
6
votes
2
answers
637
views
Formula for calculating aging rate of a decaying half-elf dynasty
A powerful human king had a child with an elf princess. His life expectancy is about 70 years (human average), hers is 2000 years. The half-elf prince is expected to live for about 1000 years, more or ...
- 32.4k
0
votes
1
answer
392
views
Humans breeding with dragons [closed]
Firstly, by dragon I am referring to the type with 4 legs a tail and wings. Their actual sizes vary greatly, from the size of your average house cat to feasting on planets in one bite. Most are ...
- 17.4k
0
votes
4
answers
141
views
Amazon drones controlled by magic, how to control as many as possible with your brain given low technology level but runic alternative to coding [closed]
My research:
In the real world the technology to read and interpret the human brain has been arround for almost a century now and the idea of controlling devices with your brain has been around for ...
- 78.4k
10
votes
9
answers
3k
views
How do you motivate people to post flyers around town?
This one feels a bit trivial, but I am genuinely stumped on how best to word a job specification that one of my characters is posting in a fantasy world.
The basic idea is I have a dwarf who is in a ...
- 11.9k
1
vote
3
answers
640
views
How do I Make the "Anime Girl Warrior Physique" Realistic?
In some Anime, Women look nothing at all like men, yet are capable of nearly the same exact feats of physical strength:
Image from Dragon Ball Super
Is there a way to manipulate biology and ...
- 305k
12
votes
14
answers
5k
views
How to prevent super-strong slaves from escaping and rebelling
I have a fantasy setting that is about as advanced as the late 15th to early 16th century. There are humans and many other sapient non-human species; humans are one of the only species to create large ...
- 4,666
12
votes
6
answers
3k
views
How can I make combination weapons widespread in my world?
I'm writing a low fantasy fiction in a XVIII century-tech kind of world.
The reason of the setting is that I love early modern muzzleloading weapons, and I think guns can make fantasy more interesting....
- 11.9k
4
votes
3
answers
275
views
Sea serpent evolved into dragon anatomy?
In my story there are scary monstrous sea serpent like creatures of all shapes and sizes. What the people don’t know, is (reverse whale evolution theory) they came to shore and turned into something ...
- 32.1k
31
votes
14
answers
9k
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 ...
- 11.5k
8
votes
5
answers
331
views
A Pangaean civilization has its land split apart by something
I want to write a story that has a Pangaean like world, but human civilization already existed during that era. Basically, the earth just has one giant piece of land while the rest is the sea.
People ...
- 128k
3
votes
1
answer
162
views
How to design a “legendary looking bow” that fits a Medieval European fantasy? [closed]
Introduction
We often see bows and archer heroes (and heroines) being depicted in various fantasy series, wielding some “legendary bows” with bizarre and pointy shapes which looks like unattended ...
- 305k
0
votes
1
answer
228
views
How would technology differ in a society with different intelligent species than just humans?
In my story, Longhorn, there’s five races descended from five gods of the same names, which consist of humans, keratas (anthropomorphic big cats w horns) lykos (anthropomorphic Wolf/hyena creatures) ...
- 128k
8
votes
5
answers
3k
views
What's a viable reason for why underground societies are more accepting of slavery?
In fantasy, a relatively common trope in fantasy settings, particularly D&D, is underground societies that are more willing to endorse slavery than surface-dwelling societies.
We see it in the ...
- 1,477
1
vote
2
answers
170
views
Clothing preference and Skin type of race which can absorb heat energy via skin?
My alien race is able to absorb energy via the skin, like plants using sunlight for photosynthesis.
The race eats a lot of food, like humans, But they need this absorbed energy for their proper inner ...
- 5,631
8
votes
4
answers
227
views
Is there development of advanced polymers/composite materials?
Background: seeking modern technologies, resources, etc that could potentially be discovered and applied in a fantasy setting where manufacturing processes, while advanced, are more akin to the late ...
- 45.5k