Ye Olde Fantasy NRPs - Where did they go?

[Willy Vereb]

This thing has been bothering me for a while, where did the fantasy NRPs go?
I know we have games like States of Evolution but for many months now we have practically no classic "make your own nation" type "medieval fantasy" NRPs. It's kind of bothering me since then.

Long story short I try to remedy this. But before we start making profiles I wish to hear your inputs on the setting in particular. I have several map choices for you. Depending on which one you pick it'd pretty much decide the overall style of the game:

1.) Caeruin

Map

A nicely detailed fantasy supercontinent. People can establish all sorts of nations there and we can later agree on the actual scale.

2.) Eleysia

Map

A more dispersed world with quite a bit more water to cross. Best if you don't wish to bother too much with international politics since pretty much everyone can do whatever.

3.)Fantasy Map

Map

This map has a large continent, some sub-continents and plenty of islands to cover. Ideal for certain scenarios.

4.) Earth Map (EU4)

Map

Picking this means we'd go down on a semi-historical route and preferably age of discoveries timeline. Europe and its surroundings are the center of civilization with relatively small but highly developed countries. Blanks not occupied by players can be filled with historical NPCs for ease.

5.) Strangereal (Ace Combat)

Map

One of the best fictional world maps you can ever find. It's good for either a colonization/discovery age setting or a loose NRP with nations spread everywhere.

.

.

Choose whichever you like the best.
Another point which often needs to be discussed is magic. How much of a fantasy you wish to make the game out to be?

A.) Low-Fantasy
Grounded setting with perhaps some strange creatures or fantastical races. No explicit influence of magic.

B.) Fantasy Nations
Elf empires and dwarven clans. Dragons and griffs. Fantasy metals of great strength. And the occasional mage. Magic itself isn't common but fantastical elements are everywhere. Perhaps the easiest to RP. Barring a few exceptions Lord of the Rings is like this.

C.) High Fantasy
Magic is everywhere. You can have floating castles, legions of demons and the undead, fireball throwing mages as part of your regular army and so on. Even if it's not likely the common man bears it, magic is involved everywhere. Think of Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer Fantasy.

Pick whichever approach you like the most.
After we settled on a map and game style I will post the guide to make NS for this game.

[Hans von Lek]

Hello there. I'm interested, of course. Throwing in my vote for map 2 and leaning towards either option B or C for the second section.

[Willy Vereb]

Personally I am afraid that C option may lead to escalation.
I mean what's to stop us from using magic to explain pretty much everything? I am not against it but perhaps the best if I warn you what would happen with that.

[Natsucooldude]

I vote for map number 3 and a more low-fantasy setting as described in option B. You're right, high fantasy has a bit of a risk of devolving into a competition of "who can think up the most stupidly overpowered nonsense."

[Willy Vereb]

I wish to wait for a couple more responses before calling the vote.
I am also eager to hear your opinions in general.

[Hans von Lek]

Yeah. On second thought, I'm going for B also.

[Commodore Robot]

It's nice to see a "classic" fantasy nrp sprout up after so long. This may just be what gets me out of this transient funk of mine. Consider me interested.

As for my vote on setting, while I love me some strangereal I think maps 2 or 3 would be my ideal and option B would certainly cut down on the endless biggering that seems to plague NRPs while still giving us magic stuff to play around with.

[Malkavian]

I'm going to vote for '2' and 'B'. The reason I chose 2 is that I like a more spread out start as it gives us more of a chance to define ourselves before coming in contact with others. As for 'B', I'd prefer 'C' to be truthful as High Fantasy has always been a favorite of mine but I could see escalation being a problem unless set limits were defined and enforced that everyone agreed on.

[Polybius]

pretty standard world building questions

What are the themes/tone of the RP? Grim? Dark? Light-hearted? Epic?

Who are the major power brokers in the world? Gods? Mortals? Primordials?

Are there other planes of existence? How distant are they from this 'mortal' realm?

Where does magic come from? Who has access to it?

If this is analogous to medieval europe (like D&D) what is the largest nation/empire? Or is it more like small kingdoms relative to medieval Europe continuously fighting? Is there one BBEG that everyoen generally unites against?

What races are available? Can I use races outside of the standard european fare? I.e. Could I have a kingdom of Ifrits, Khubuth and Maarids?

[Slamurai]

Map 1 or 2 with a blend of A and B fantasy types.

Both maps offer plenty of variety and are much more interesting than the third. I'm not keen on Earth because... it's Earth, or Strangereal because it's an established part of a franchise.

I don't mind high fantasy here and there; I'm a Warhammer Fantasy fan, but I think a lower level is better suited to a RP medium. There are less complications in determining what can and can't be allowed, and players can have smoother expectations coming in. There also will, hopefully, be less conflict between players as to what's too outrageous or reality-breaking for the setting.

That said, I'm all for creative freedom and like the idea of having different races and themes and such. So something reminiscent of Tolkien in that magic is both vague and largely intangible, with few individuals capable of it. I'm very much against black-and-white morality of high fantasy and D&D, though, and support the grey shades of low fantasy.

One thing about settings in fantasy RPs that irks me is the lack of continuity between nations. IRL, the countries of western Medieval Europe were very similar, with minute cultural differences. You see common themes like feudalism, knightly orders, Latin and French being predominant languages, etc. But you also had differences: compare the feudal societies of England and France to the independent states of Italy, or the Holy Roman Empire and all its territories to pagan Eastern European lands. You have Christianity as the dominant religion, but that certainly didn't stop anyone from fighting each other.
In other parts of the world during the same time period, you have vastly different cultures with their own aesthetics, languages, fighting styles, governments and so on.
What you see a lot of in fantasy RPs is instead of grouping nations with similar heritages and aesthetics together, you end up with something crazy like an anthro-filled Not!Japan right next to Not!England, bordering a fascist demonspawn volcanoland: wildly different ideas that have nothing in common, yet somehow developed their culture in a vacuum, as if they were oblivious to their neighbors for millenia.
That's not how reality works, and for a believable world, region-specific players need to collaborate together to form a cohesive feel in their parts of the world.

[WrongEndoftheRainbow]

Interested. Will edit post when home

[eemmtt]

Im interested in this I like the look of the first and second map.

[Shorticus]

I want to express interest but I will NOT join until summer. I'm in too many RPs as it is and there's 1-2 I'm having trouble keeping up with.

With that said: Any non-real world map, Fantasy Nations all the way. I'll work my way in when summer rolls around and I have more actual free time.

[Willy Vereb]

Alright, it seems that the choice is practically unanimous.

We're using the second map and with typical fantasy NRP limits. Yes, B choice is actually the classic fantasy setting you find in nationgames.

Anyways, one more question.
Which era you'd prefer?

I.) "Medieval" age where guns are rare though not completely nonexistent (think of the Hundred Years War)

II.) Age of Discoveries (ships armed with cannons, muskets and so on)

This could influence the style of the NRP, again.

On the other hand I am working on the NS guidelines.

[Malkavian]

Medieval.

[Unprofessional]

I'm leaning more towards the Age of Discovery, it seems a bit more unique than the typical fantasy nations during medieval times.

[LordZell]

I feel like medieval era would be cool. But we could do late Medieval where the elves and other non humans are powerful then move into discovery era where Humans begin to become the masters. Also posting my interest.

[Lauder]

I would be down for this, for a map I life the first one a lot. For my second choice I like option B for a more medieval setting.

[ClocktowerEchos]

One idea going off of what Zell said could be that we're in the sort of "high late medievel" that sort of the end of an age with the old guard trying to keep the age going on as long as possible while the rise of gunpowder is convincing some its time to move on.

The AoS I personally feel would allow for more diverse nations in more areas since comparing travel between the two ages, its not hard to see which has the leg up. AoS would also let the early roots of colonization begin which is something you almost never see in NRPs.

Ulimately, I think both ages have their merits. I just kinda want to see something of a more classic-setting NRP. Also nice seeing some familiar faces ^^

[Slamurai]

Casting a vote for late medieval; something comparable to the 15th-16th centuries. At this point, gunpowder weapons like culverins, bombards and arquebuses were becoming more and more commonplace, but still shared the battlefield with more traditional compositions of crossbows, armored cavalry and infantry. I think this would allow for diversity in faction militaries, and people could always elect to downplay, or completely ignore modern trends and play something like the Aztecs in the face of another player's Spain-analogous nation.