tgame/docs/11-setting.md

Setting

Generic medieval fantasy. Swords and dungeons, bubbling cauldrons, candle-lit libraries, foggy moors, hooded figures. We lean on the player's existing fantasy vocabulary rather than building a world from scratch.

What this means

• No worldbuilding burden. No proper-name continent, no original pantheon, no faction-history primer. The world is the world the player already knows from D&D, Warhammer Fantasy, Tolkien-descended fiction, every fantasy game they've played.
• Standard vocabulary works. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, mages, knights, druids, necromancers, paladins, rogues. Iron, mithril, oakwood, moonsilver, dragonscale. Forge, alchemy, enchantment. None of it needs explaining.
• Standard visual library applies. Stone keeps, oak doors, hearth-light interiors, tapestries, candles, ironwood doors, parchment maps, banded leather, plate armor, glass vials, clay pots.
• Players bring their own headcanon. When someone meets Mira the Devout, paladin, they fill in a paladin from their own imagination. We don't have to teach them what one is.

What we explicitly don't include

• Science fiction, modern, or near-modern elements (no firearms beyond hand-cranked oddities in gnomish corners, no electricity, no laser-swords, no plasma, no holograms)
• Specific original-world lore ("This is Aelorian, the Eternal Realm of...")
• Original pantheons or religions that require setup
• Factional politics that need a primer
• Made-up vocabulary the player has to learn

Flavor pockets (allowed sub-tropes)

These are well-established fantasy sub-tropes that give us visual / mechanical variety without breaking the generic-fantasy permission:

Gnomish steampunk

• Visual vocabulary: brass, copper, gears, steam, monocles, goggles, leather aprons, clockwork creatures
• Item variety: clockwork fittings, gear-driven mechanisms, brass-tubed contraptions, pressure-glass vials
• Zone: a workshop enclave (think Gnomeregan / Mechanus / Dishonored's Karnaca lite)
• Patrons: tinker-magnates commissioning clockwork prosthetics, brass armor, steam-augmented weapons
• Tonal note: lightest pocket — quirky, inventive, not grim

Dark elf necromancy

• Visual vocabulary: obsidian, bone, purple-black gemwork, ritual circles, drip candles, shadow-veins, sigils
• Item variety: necrotic reagents, bone components, cursed bindings, shadow-touched gems, soul-glass
• Zone: subterranean enclaves, ancient crypts, moonless groves
• Patrons: cabalists commissioning dark blades, anti-paladins in disguise, secret cults
• Tonal note: darkest pocket — sinister, secretive, not edgy-grimdark

Mainline (the rest)

• Standard medieval-fantasy human / dwarven / elven / mixed cultures
• Standard knights, mages, druids, clerics, scholars, merchants
• Standard zones: forests, mires, ruins, mountains, river valleys, ancient roads
• Tonal middle — mature, atmospheric, neither gnomish-light nor dark-elf-shadowy

Naming conventions (quick reference for procgen pools)

• Human names lean Latin / Germanic / Celtic roots: Theodric, Mira, Theora, Aelis, Bran, Caewin, Roderic, Una
• Dwarven names lean Norse / Germanic-hard: Brokk, Durin, Tora, Halgrim
• Elven (high) names lean Latin-flowing: Aelandir, Sylvana, Faedron, Elara
• Dark elven names lean sibilant / apostrophe: Vae'shar, Drael, Lys'thala, Karovar
• Gnomish names lean alliterative / quirky: Tinkin Tappet, Wibble Wickum, Glia Greaseworth, Pim Pendlebrass
• Place names use generic fantasy conventions: the Mire, the Ironwood, Greybell Hollow, Ashfen Marsh, the Cracked Tower, Last-Light Crossing

Why this works for the game

• Patron variety. Three tonal pockets × multiple class archetypes = a wide patron board without needing original lore. A patron is "gnomish artisan named Glia who wants brass-fittings for a clockwork hawk" or "dark elf cabalist named Vae'shar who needs a cursed dagger pommel" or "Knight-Captain Roderic who wants ten Fine longswords for his guard."
• Zone variety. Three pockets × multiple environments = many distinct expedition destinations. Players see meaningful art variety without the world-building cost.
• Recipe variety. Mainline crafting + clockwork + necromantic = three overlapping but distinct material/component vocabularies in the recipe book.
• Visual variety per zone. The tone doc's muted palette guidance still applies, but each pocket gets its own warm-vs-cool / earthen-vs-shadowed bias.