Parley Hatch
2abfe4abd1
Working title 'tgame' is provisional. Top-level samples/ and docs/samples/ are gitignored; visual/art pipeline lives outside this repo.
58 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
58 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
# Setting
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**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.
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## What this means
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- **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*.
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- **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.
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- **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.
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- **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.
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## What we explicitly don't include
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- 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)
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- Specific original-world lore ("This is Aelorian, the Eternal Realm of...")
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- Original pantheons or religions that require setup
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- Factional politics that need a primer
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- Made-up vocabulary the player has to learn
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## Flavor pockets (allowed sub-tropes)
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These are well-established fantasy sub-tropes that give us visual / mechanical variety without breaking the generic-fantasy permission:
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### Gnomish steampunk
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- Visual vocabulary: brass, copper, gears, steam, monocles, goggles, leather aprons, clockwork creatures
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- Item variety: clockwork fittings, gear-driven mechanisms, brass-tubed contraptions, pressure-glass vials
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- Zone: a workshop enclave (think Gnomeregan / Mechanus / Dishonored's Karnaca lite)
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- Patrons: tinker-magnates commissioning clockwork prosthetics, brass armor, steam-augmented weapons
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- Tonal note: lightest pocket — quirky, inventive, not grim
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### Dark elf necromancy
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- Visual vocabulary: obsidian, bone, purple-black gemwork, ritual circles, drip candles, shadow-veins, sigils
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- Item variety: necrotic reagents, bone components, cursed bindings, shadow-touched gems, soul-glass
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- Zone: subterranean enclaves, ancient crypts, moonless groves
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- Patrons: cabalists commissioning dark blades, anti-paladins in disguise, secret cults
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- Tonal note: darkest pocket — sinister, secretive, not edgy-grimdark
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### Mainline (the rest)
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- Standard medieval-fantasy human / dwarven / elven / mixed cultures
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- Standard knights, mages, druids, clerics, scholars, merchants
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- Standard zones: forests, mires, ruins, mountains, river valleys, ancient roads
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- Tonal middle — mature, atmospheric, neither gnomish-light nor dark-elf-shadowy
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## Naming conventions (quick reference for procgen pools)
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- **Human** names lean Latin / Germanic / Celtic roots: Theodric, Mira, Theora, Aelis, Bran, Caewin, Roderic, Una
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- **Dwarven** names lean Norse / Germanic-hard: Brokk, Durin, Tora, Halgrim
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- **Elven** (high) names lean Latin-flowing: Aelandir, Sylvana, Faedron, Elara
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- **Dark elven** names lean sibilant / apostrophe: Vae'shar, Drael, Lys'thala, Karovar
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- **Gnomish** names lean alliterative / quirky: Tinkin Tappet, Wibble Wickum, Glia Greaseworth, Pim Pendlebrass
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- **Place names** use generic fantasy conventions: the Mire, the Ironwood, Greybell Hollow, Ashfen Marsh, the Cracked Tower, Last-Light Crossing
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## Why this works for the game
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- **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."
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- **Zone variety.** Three pockets × multiple environments = many distinct expedition destinations. Players see meaningful art variety without the world-building cost.
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- **Recipe variety.** Mainline crafting + clockwork + necromantic = three overlapping but distinct material/component vocabularies in the recipe book.
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- **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.
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