Jump to content

Races / Species Form


StormWolfe
 Share

Recommended Posts

Do you love world building from scratch? I do. I also love long, detailed lore documents that lets me immerse myself in each race or species. However, I recognize that pages and pages of lore is not the preferred norm for many. Also, I am the lone admin on my sword and sorcery site. Although it's a reboot, there have been lots and lots of changes that required updating almost all of the lore. New races and species have been added, landmasses have moved and changed, and the history had to be rewritten.

 

So...yeah...wow! Lots of work....and still so much to do, I am overwhelmed with it all.

 

Here's the topic and the question: What fields do you feel are needed in a standardized form used to create a race or species? Same question for land/nation/kingdom.

 

I am considering something like this:

 

Basic Information

  • Race:
  • Species: List species if different from race, otherwise delete this field.
  • Affiliation: Lightborn, Shadowborn, Anliath (gray, means one parent was Lightborn and one was Shadowborn)
  • Basis: Briefly describe what the culture and nation is based on (real or fictional).

General Details

  • Briefly describe general appearance, can they interbreed and have viable offspring with other races, general characteristics (hard working, haughty, etc.)?

Magic

  • Magical Race or Species?: Yes or No.
  • Magical Abilities: Short description of magical abilities.
  • Limitations: Short description of their magical limitations.

Magical Views:

  • Short overview of how the race or species views magic and the use of magic.

Origins

  • Brief description of the origins of the race and/or species.

Population

  • Region/Country/Nation: Where does the majority of the population reside?
  • Population Numbers: General guesstimate on overall numbers (ex. <100,000).
  • Population Centers: Where does the primary race or population live (i.e. a specific region of Aereth)?
  • Economy: agriculture, manufacturing, etc.

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been on several forums now that let members create their own species and kingdoms. Most of them are defunct now, so I'm not worried about sharing the templates from there. 

 

So here's the first one, it's focused on kingdoms, since that was a crucial aspect of the board: 

Spoiler

NAME: (E.g. 'The Principality of Bob.')

KINGDOM AT A GLANCE: (Around 50 words. A very quick reference to the general idea of your kingdom.)

SIZE AND LOCATION: (Small, medium, large. A whole peninsula? A hidden valley in a mountain chain? Be general here.)

WEALTH: (Low, medium, high. Give a general idea of why.)

STABILITY: (Low, medium, high. Are there major issues causing unrest?)

DANGER TO TRAVELERS: (Low, medium, high.)

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: (The realm doesn't have to be a kingdom per se. Is it ruled by popular vote? By a guild? By a council or small group? By an ancient sorceress? Do they rule from a city, a fortress?)

FREEDOM AND OPPRESSION: (Dictatorial king? Atmosphere of fear? Relaxed little halfling towns? Is anything unusual illegal or permitted?)

COMMON SPECIES: (Vampires and their human thralls? Nymphs, sprites? An old alliance of humans and dwarves? Multicultural/cosmopolitan? Please give proportions and some idea of whether different species live together in peace.)

MILITARY FOCUS: (Mountain guerrillas? Seafaring conquerors? Doughty militias? Steel-clad legions? Magical defenses? Steppe raiders?)

TECHNOLOGY: (Stone Age? Bronze Age? Medieval? Early Renaissance? Medieval is the average and Early Renaissance is the maximum. Note that even the most advanced nations would not have access to any but the very crudest cannons.)

PLAYER CONTROLLED: (Yes or No. Do you intend to control this kingdom actively, or are you just making it as a setting?)

 

This is word-for-word what it was that we used and helped significantly when I was creating new kingdoms. Later on, I even transferred them to non-forum projects, it helped so much with the process. As for species, it's generally been really chill. Five areas of information to fill out and that's it. The one I write on currently is much more in-depth. 

 

It requires species name, lifespan, size, diet, a section describing their language, fairly lengthy one on appearances, another on habitat, species traits, history/background, and then a spot for general IC-written lore. 

  • Love 1

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really love that form! Would you object to me playing with it to see if it can be modified and adapted for use with Aereth? I'll happily give you credit.

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see why not. I didn't create it originally though, but was from a now-defunct forum. If you want to credit the forum, it was called Kingmakers. The guy who started it got a new job and his kids started school, so got to busy and the rest of us faded away as well. 

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@StormWolfe

 

This is the one I've developed for my board. Might find some of it useful or helpful. 

 

Spoiler

Name:

Parent Species (If applicable):

Lifespan:

Size:

Living/Undeath Aligned?:

Magical Element? (Air/Stars, Water/Storms, Fire/Stone, Earth/Plants, N/A):

Physiology:

Diet:

Origin:


Any subspecies:



Height:

General Build:

Distinctive Features:

Hair Coloration Spectrum:

Eye Coloration Spectrum:


Language:

Major Organizations:

Preferred Habitat:

Species Traits:


History:

Any Relevant Lore:
 

 

  • Love 1

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.