[Gaming] Inventing a Mythology

[adamdray]

If I look back at my various D&D campaigns, fantasy setting designs, fantasy game designs, and so on, I can start to see the ripples of an idea forming. Today, the small waves of those ripples have synched up and are magnified and it's pretty clear what I have been trying to do: invent a mythology.

Comments

Crowns to the Towers

[judd_sonofbert]

I like the visual link between the crowns and the towers.

Re: Crowns to the Towers

[adamdray]

Thanks! I don't know that little connections like that will be enough to become mythic, though.

What I am realizing is that mythology isn't really about the elements. Largely, what I need is a gripping story. I'm bad at stories.

[cucumberseed]

I don't know if this will help you at all, but I used to like to paint with watercolors, and my sense of mythology kind of works that way as well. With watercolors, you start out with the most dillute and subtle colors first, the things that are most in the background and then layer on stronger and stronger colors as you paint to create the picture

[adamdray]

That's a great metaphor. I need to figure out what the elements are first, though.

[cucumberseed]

That is the weakness of both media, you kind of need to know what you are doing (or you need an awful long time)

[greyorm]

Adam, you've read my Stars Over Africa game, right? If you haven't, go ahead and mine it for ideas.

(It's not a very good game, honestly, but I think the Setting Color is pretty hot.)

[adamdray]

I'll take a look! Thanks!

[greyorm]

Awesome. Let me know if you have any comments or reactions, good or bad. Always looking for constructive feedback.

[the_stalwart]

Hi, Adam.

This is based only on the stuff in this post ('cause I'm not very good at reading folks' setting stuff). But, it seems like your setting revolves around leadership. In addition to the towers & crowns, you're sure to have hierarchies among the spirits. Plus, the jungles are symbols of leaderless chaos. Tying things around a very thematic core (leadership vs. chaos) can aid in mythologizing.

Make sure you have setting bits that address the basic, universal questions of leadership:

What makes a good leader?

Are there different ways of being a good leader?

Why do bad leaders prosper?

What does a leader owe to her followers?

Is it better to be loved or feared?

Why do people need leaders at all?
Just a thought, but I'd tie the magic and everything around this thematic core.

[adamdray]

I hadn't considered leadership as the central theme. I'm not saying you're wrong, because even I don't know what the center of this will be; I just hadn't considered that. I can see how the towers and crowns can make that aspect stand out.

I think community might be the central theme. Leadership certainly plays a part in that.

More broadly, I am thinking about interconnectedness. Ecology, civilization, community, allies, friendship, and family are all tied together that way.

[selentic]

This is really enlightening!

I've found that i am always trying to do something similar in my own world-building, but i have always been unable to specify it.

Good luck trying to turn these thoughts into a concrete vision!

[adamdray]

Thanks! I think what I am realizing is that I need a central story. It sounds so obvious once I've said it. A mythology is a story.

Now to figure out what that story says.