Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Well, let's see ...

First, I am assuming the figures represent who lives where. So, we got:
- A primitive with no head and their face in their chest. I have seen those in other stories, though don't remember a monster entry for such in BFRPG.
- A person with Dumbo-ears. Don't know if they can actually fly, but assume so. Again, somewhat touching my memory from other stories, but not in BFRPG that I can remember.
- What I assume is a cockatrice.
- A gnoll, I guess? Not sure.
- A robed figure with their face and hands completely hidden. Could be pretty much anything.
- On the smallest big island is what I figure is a monopod.
- The northeast ocean has a face with a single glowing eye.

The most interesting thing to me, however, is the "N" in the center of the map and the way the ocean lines are drawn that is concentric around that point. Is this the north pole? Is this a world that spins on its side and the north pole points to its sun?

Also, the projections on the side imply the highlighted area could be either a small part of a globe or the center of a "flat earth". The name of Paradaxia implies it could actually be both at the same time.

Lots of leading hints. Look forward to see what else comes of this effort!

I take the map to be the entire half-sphere, not just the illuminated area which, I think, is there to show the observer.

daryen wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:50 am The most interesting thing to me, however, is the "N" in the center of the map and the way the ocean lines are drawn that is concentric around that point. Is this the north pole? Is this a world that spins on its side and the north pole points to its sun?

You got it bud. I wanted to see if that part reads. Thanks man! Sun in the center, and North in the center, so on the right is a view of two models of what the residents believe their world is shaped like. The rim then is the point where the world is in total darkness. The rest is a work in progress.

It's also not BFRPG stuff I'm pulling this from medieval legends and folklore, at least my own amateur understanding and research of it all and adding my own twist to it. Not that BFRPG hasn't already done that like the detail griffons attack horses is straight from a medieval bestiary I just want to start from scratch and see if I can come up with something unique. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it once I'm done. Campaign setting maybe, or do some comics or short stories off of it or something. Maybe just let it be a weird looking map and move on to something else. We'll see. It's inspired by the Hereford Mappa Mundi.

Dumbo ears is a Panotti by the way. Already moved them to their own chain of islands near the rim. Little adorable 1.5 foot people who live in caves and shield themselves from the cold with their giant ears. They can't fly with their ears as far as I know but maybe they should. Headless men with faces in their chests are akephaloi or blemmyes and seem to be a popular myth back then. I think they made their way into D&D. Both would make a great addition to BFRPG. The hooded figure is a mourner. More on that later. And the angry chickensnake a basilisk. I'm looking at how they drew this stuff in bestiaries and what they believed about them that I can figure out and going from there.

Seven wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 1:54 pm I take the map to be the entire half-sphere, not just the illuminated area which, I think, is there to show the observer.

Very close but the edge of the map is meant to be the edge of the light. I'm wondering if I should square it or make it fade to black to get the idea across better, maybe even a rim that says "penumbra". It totally looks like a top down of a globe though so I can tell exactly why you're observing it that way. While drawing it I kept finding myself trying to round stuff off the edge like I was drawing a spehre. Upside though is both of you got that the center is North. Really appreciate the feedback! That's a big help.

Do you have any good wiki or other places that describe the Panotti or akephaloi/blemmyes? The latter in particular, are they just normal humans other than the head-in-the-chest thing?

As for the basilisk, yes, what D&D calls a cockatrice is what lots of traditional sources will call a basilisk. So, it is a cockatrice for BFRPG purposes (or close enough).

On the world, this sounds similar to a tidally locked world, where the world's rotation matches its orbit around its sun, meaning that the same side always faces the sun. This is different, however, as the world's orbit is perpendicular to the sun. But the effect is similar with one part of the world getting perpetual sunlight. So, that north pole should be a burned out hellscape from the constant sunlight. Or it is the only real habitable zone and the rest of the world then ranges from increasing cold to a frozen hellscape.

Or, does the light intensity vary for some other reason. If it does, then it becomes very hard to have real-world-ish orbital dynamics. Or there is kind of second massive planet that periodically blocks out the sun, creating an utterly bizarre day-night approximation. I am interested to see where you are going with this world. Even if you don't map out the setting, just knowing how the broad mechanics of the world as a whole is supposed to work would be great.

I see. So the gnoll is actually a cynocephali?

daryen wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:31 am are they just normal humans other than the head-in-the-chest thing?

It depends who's writing about them it seems. I'm finding allot of references to Pliny the Elder's Natural History and plan to dig up a pdf or copy and see what he had to say. I haven't found any good go too websites unfortunately. Just been relying on wikipedia mostly but wikipedia is notoriously inaccurate. I'd guess from allot of the artwork at least at some point in history they were considered human. They're often shown using tools, living in towns, behaving like people. It's interesting though because I know there was scholastic discussion about if the monster races they believed existed or could exist were "sons of Adam" or not. You might find this interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-5RZBKBl_A

daryen wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:31 am Or there is kind of second massive planet that periodically blocks out the sun, creating an utterly bizarre day-night approximation.

That could be really cool. I hadn't thought of a day night cycle via eclipses. Could even be several moons blocking out the sun at regular intervals.

Seven wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:34 am I see. So the gnoll is actually a cynocephali?

That's right, at least another attempt at one. The gnolls in D&D though aren't much different. Maybe those were inspired by cynocephali to begin with.

That's wild. I just love the absolute acceptance that all of these "monstrous humans" existed. And the fact that there were just way too many to try and list them all.

Back to the akephaloi/blemmyes, that isn't really what I meant by being basically "human". I was assuming they were sapient, had society, etc, like any other typical BFRPG humanoid. What I meant was, are they taller, shorter, stronger, weaker, smarter, wiser, dumber, more foolish, more advanced, more primitive, etc.? Can't make a monster listing without knowing how many hit points they get and how much damage they can do.

daryen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:30 pm That's wild. I just love the absolute acceptance that all of these "monstrous humans" existed. And the fact that there were just way too many to try and list them all.

Back to the akephaloi/blemmyes, that isn't really what I meant by being basically "human". I was assuming they were sapient, had society, etc, like any other typical BFRPG humanoid. What I meant was, are they taller, shorter, stronger, weaker, smarter, wiser, dumber, more foolish, more advanced, more primitive, etc.? Can't make a monster listing without knowing how many hit points they get and how much damage they can do.

There's wiggle room. There's different accounts. I'd say 6 feet tall, given that's with no head that's a very large frame so they'll be stronger and tougher. There are some writings where they're described as 12 feet tall so you could go with that too if you want or even put them all over that range. They usually look like tribesman to me. So primitive. No head, no brain, so I'd say dumb and dangerous. Maybe they're head hunters who don't like necked people in their territory. The way they're depicted they look like hunters. Spears, bows, no armor, that sort of thing. You could definitely change it up though. Maybe they're wise peaceful creatures living in nature, or just a goofy harmless oddity, or completely civilized and incorporated all over society.

daryen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:30 pm That's wild. I just love the absolute acceptance that all of these "monstrous humans" existed. And the fact that there were just way too many to try and list them all.

Even modern explorers embellished their record with fantastic creatures.
For example, Marco Polo wrote about men with the features of dogs.