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I like that you’re giving ideas that can be explored in our worldbuilding process.. thanks, learned a lot!

hamza ahh intro lmao

Lord tea is my world building sensei... 🫡

I'm doing a militar fantasy novel were humanity faces superhuman crystal monsters and the aesthetics, devices and equippments are based around that. For example, instead of swords, the militia used against the crystal monsters are armed with hammers, that, although don't break the monster, they use it to toss it off since the monsters are almost weightless. Or, in matter of Shields, they use a common design made to connect between them to form barricades and are recovered in brea against the monsters lava spits.

About basing your fantasy culture on a real culture (copy/paste): to some degree it can't be helped. Your desert culture is going to bear some resemblance to real-world desert cultures because if it doesn't, it probably doesn't make sense. If you decide from the start "this culture isn't going to be anything like the Egyptians, the Arabs, or the Anasazi," then it's probably a culture which would never survive in the desert, because they aren't doing the reasonable things which the Egyptians, Arabs, and Anasazi did. That doesn't mean you have to duplicate things right down to a sphynx, bowing towards a holy city, or growing maize. But there are going to be some similarities, and that's OK. Maybe instead of living along the world's longest river, they live in oasis which are scattered across the desert and often occur in chains. They are somewhat like the islands of Polynesia, only separated by sandy desert instead of salty ocean. You'd still have some similarities with Earthly desert culture, but now you also have necklaces of flowers, and since no there's no ocean to pull tons of fish out of, maybe there are huge flocks of migratory birds. I don't think a double-hulled canoe is going to get very far sailing across sand, so maybe you do have caravans of some desert animal, but these would be Arabic or even Mongol flavorings of your alternate Polynesian culture. Or they live in the Arctic and sail ice boats, and the culture is modified for this new environment (what if the Hawaiians had sailed north and colonized Siberia or Alaska?). This culture, based on Hawaiians, is going to inevitably have some Inuit or Saami flavor (otherwise they would all die), but it's sure going to be different from any other Arctic culture I think I've ever seen portrayed. BTW, that's what I'm doing: Ice Sailors.

As a history buff I heavily disagree: The lore in Elder Scrolls is arguable the BEST that modern gaming has to offer!

An example on how (and why) place names change over the centuries: There was once a slavic settlement called "Kosericz". In the process of the Ostdiedelung of the teutonic order it got germanized into "Köseritz". Later holy roman settlers (mostly german) founded a sister settlement called "Eichenhauhe". As the germanic settlement outgrew its sibling it was given the right to hold a market, thus changing its name to "Markt-Eichenhauhe". Later, after right of holding market days was no longer needed, the Markt part was dropped from "Eichenhau", as it was called back then. During the german empire (and its writing refom) Köseritz and "Eichenau" (yet another name change) grew together. Thanks to the allied bombings, the city was destroyed but later, under the soviet occupation, rebuild as the city of "Eichau" (a name change thanks to the soviets) as we know it nowerdays. Today, the district "Neu-Kösitsch", is a district of the city of "Eichau" and a reminder of the humble beginins as a slavic settlement.

Fuji doesn't mean fire tho.

Funnily enough, I feel like you could make an entire campaign for beginners out of the stuff you discuss here.

Have anyone told you that you look like Robert Pasut

I like your videos about worldbuilding and this one is honest and useful as usual. In an old D&D supplement (Martial 3.5) it is said that the more magic there is the more modern warfare is. And it is true - magic in war is just tech. But this leaves 3 important questions - how the wielders become wielders : such a power turns its wielders crazy and undisiciplined if they are not socially hold tight, like magicians in Warhammer Fantasy’s Empire. See skaven magic, see even Saruman - how the soldiers cope with highly murderous wars : it needs a lot of (hope of) prosperity, ideology and patriotism to make a WWI soldier. Bet the bannerman of a little baron runs away quite quickly in front of a Nazgul fell beast-like. To make them fight a dragon, you would need magic pervitin or captagon. And don’t ask what they’ll do when the fight is over huh. They did not need that to make fuss in the beginning… - how the environment will cope. Magic is usually like power under the form of a hidden web or currents. When you use it, it can destroy or alter environment. Past a certain display of power, it will have nuclear consequences. Sure their wielders won’t get popular in the area !

I am working my way through these videos: they are a great reference. Thank you.

Very insightful video, but PLEASE do something about that hair. I promise you it does not look as good as you think it does.

The Brotherhood Without Banners imo is a great example of bandits done right. They have a good backstory, motivation and logical methods with how they operate. It’s funny too because in the world they exist, you would expect them to not actually be protecting the weak and innocent they claim to and just to be using that as an moral excuse to rob people, yet we actually see them protect the weak and innocent, even at the cost of their own people and be loved by the ones residing in the region they operate.

Awesome breakdown of this first episode!

One way i have heard to handle bandit culture is to look at the Norse in the Migration period and think 'the difference between a raider and a trader is how well defended the folk they encounter are'. When you treat bandits as mercenaries without investiture, they can bounce between helpful and sympathetic and ruthless and self serving. Often depending on who pays better or how desperate they are.

Mt. Doom

Glad I found your channel. You have great insights.

D&D Idea: The bandits "spawn" & attack. After the battle, there's no bodies. Investigation discovers they're an undead group who's trapped there until some players release them from their curse.

This is so useful for me right now. My DND players are having different shadowy Dwarven factions rapidly pull them into their problems, because the party arrived and questioned a lot of political realities that the Dwarven people had accepted as simply being true.

I made a group of bandits all dressed like 1920s gangsters. The are in a gang called The Baddies on the alignment chart I made them just Evil.

Great video! Really enjoy that kinda deep dive

A lot of semi-nomadic tribal societies have a kind of permanent low key state of war with their neighbours. They might hire out as mercenaries or caravan guards, or run trade caravans of their own, but they’re also opportunists who’ll rob anything that looks rich and poorly defended. This is a Conan trope, but it’s actually quite realistic. Other bandits are leftovers from previous wars. A lot of bandits in the Wild West were former soldiers from the Confederate side. Unemployed mercenaries, soldiers trying to get home from a war, Japanese ronin and so on might also end up doing some spontaneous banditry to make ends meet. Even a completely lost cause can give rise to an ongoing guerilla movement, which turns into bandits/terrorists over time. In feudal settings that doesn’t work as intended, you also get bandits. Might be peasants who’re driven from their farms as punishment for paying insufficient taxes, run away from press gangs, or they might be the official militia of the local ruler who take up “road tolls” because they’re not getting any actual salary. Finally, in fantasy settings as in the real world, some outlaw societies might operate as cults, recruiting from the local population with some mix of ideology, religion and brainwashing. Or just kidnapping. Early Chinese communists, present day Daesh or Hell’s Angels are rw examples, but imagine what could be done if you’re a sorcerer or demon or nature spirit with magical conversion therapy! So my advice is to use bandits as storytelling devices, revealing how your world works and its recent history. Cheers

I always find "bandits" a bit weird in games, as historically it was mostly upper class dudes. There was a big problem in europe with sons of lords, who had been trained in the arts of swordfighting etc. That they would travel out of their family's province, and then basically extort/rob/whatever have you, to the people of other towns. Who was to stop someone who is good with a sword, it wasn't an uneven playing field when it came to these kind of things. This is also one of the big reasons "chivalry" was pushed so hard as a costum that these boys should strive to become. So the reason fantasy games made bandits be poor and desperate people, or sometimes just seen as pure evil, is a bit weird in my mind. Like they're not really human anymore. But that said, it could definetly be that the bandits stopped bigger roads, cause these are trained knights/boys who can take on anything, and back in the day, there was A LOT of feuds. People didn't see the town over as family/more interconnected, but gossip and hatred was very prevalent back in the day. (Like Romeo and Juliet have families that hate each other.) Of course people took kindly to pilgrims/people they shared their social class with, but the world in and of itself did function a lot more differently, and you could certainly get away with a lot more. It was the lord's responsibility to patrol their roads, so as long as that lord wasn't your father, then it didn't really matter. Or well, there's a lot of different rules for different places. My point being: Bandits historically were not poor, and people who don't have any experience performing combat, will not seek to attempt it either unless they're forced. Letting it be mecenaries can be smart, as it grounds it more, but then it's important to also keep in mind that mecenaries live on their reputation, so if they were to perform banditry it would most likely be done against their prior employer, as angering citizens or killing them would not really be very smart. (Who are they to trade with then for food? unless you plan on them moving a lot in the region). If you were to make it more historical, then think of it like small gangs, but of boys who don't stand to inherit anything, but have been thought by very experienced mentors how to fight, and now feel like they can go and do whatever they want. Edit: Also this is not pirates. Pirates were kinda the opposite, and much later.

One bandit faction idea I love is a coalition between humans and "monsters" (goblins, minotaurs, gnolls, lizardfolk) who work together because the humans are pariahs and the monsters just want to exist and not have their land taken or their people killed. I like keeping my monsters sympathetic for the most part, if they are thinking and sentient I treat them like people. My goblins for example, hate humans yes they absolutely do but for justifiable reasons as humans essentially enslaved and colonized them but the goblins at the end of the day have families, loved ones, hopes and dreams, they are not too different from humans aside from being short and green.

I've always thought of Adventurer's Guilds as more or less just being a Mercenary Guild by another more fantastical name. Like you say they fulfill more or less the same role, so it doesnt make sense to have both of them operating in the same place in the same manner. However I don't think that means Adventure's Guilds are necessarily a bad idea, its just good to be mindful when using them that they're pretty much just a reskin of something like a mercenary company or bounty hunter association with a more high fantasy aesthetic.

I just discovered their content and it's really great. I want to take a look at their other content when I have time. There are probably creative people who produce something on your discord server, I'd like to come to discord but the link doesn't work or is it closed now?

Very thought provoking. Makes me really think about ways to breath life and verisimilitude into an encounter type this often taken for granted.

WHat anime are thoe scenes from? :)

I almost completely agree to the motivation of bandits. However, I think they might be able to feel the urge to follow honor and duty depending on their origin. If e.g. some soldiers got, let's say, exiled because they could not save the life of their protégé, or maybe they just escaped from the horrors of war, whatever, they got exiled and now have to become bandits in order to survive. Most of them would still have this feeling of honor and duty, the urge for effectiveness, so under the right circumstances they might actually abandon their thievery in order to serve again. I also think that unless you can actually convince them to serve again, they might probably be the most dangerous bandits, as they received military training and probably own weapons and armor. I think it's most important not to forget that these bandits are also people, characters with motivation and goals and even if their motivation isn't as important as the protagonist or player to the Story, it still should be there and perhaps mentioned.

I disagree about the " there's no central criminal organisation with specific rules and goals" , case in point the " Mafia " , specifically the Italian Mafia is a ( mostly) centralised family based organisation, with rules ,taboos, rites and somewhat strict hierarchy ( from what I know the same can be said about the Russian mafia and the yakuza ). Also, as an organisation, it maintains its power by building trust and helping normal citizens and benefits from the citizens' lack of trust towards the centralised government. It's a sort of " culture inside a culture " and the " members are in the "know" and have a specific code of honour to enact ( doesn't mean that they're necessarily good, more of a lawful evil/neutral), on top of that, the group is very old, it literally showed up in the south of Italy while it was still under a feudal system, so it's perfect to base a "fantasy thief guild " on.

No! formations is a base of warfare thats why linear tactic existed even when we had guns spreaded on battlefields. Cause you cant comand people who is not in the formation without radio or something like this and loose formations is more likely to retreat faster because they can and they dont have anybody to stop them when they deffinetly will feel outnumberd at some moment. So even magic could not affect formations exept it's o powerful to wipe it out in seconds then there wil be mo formations cause only magicians will be fighting each other🎉

Ok, the Stonemason guild story from WoW is complete nonsense and not a good example at all. It would never happen that a bunch of stonemasons would be gathered together, rebuild an entire city, and then ask payment. They would be divided up in particular projects for particular buildings, and there would have to be ongoing payment or work would stop.

My DnD setting is the byzantine empire. I have several groups of bandits in Anatolia. Called "Apelates". Most of them are former soldiers. One group was led by an captain nephew of the previous emperor. This groups has heavy armor and tactics. Most of them raid the neighboring towns. Other group has talisman and silver weapons. Because their leader is cursed by the God of death a.d sending ghosts, ghouls and shades to kill him. An other group has Amazon's. Other ond tha guards some fortresses has equipment for siege warfare. The last is a dragon cult in Caucasian mountain dressed like the people thera. Expert ambushes.

Bandits? Not Brigands, maybe their Highway Men, the girl at the brothel said her ex was a Highway Man.

Stayed because I was jamming to the Gothic musics :3 After watching some interviews with actual villains I noticed how humane their reasoning is despite unreasonable execution - want to be rich? Sell drugs to children instead of honest work - posses an excuse "they are aware what they are doing, I am just a simple monger offering a safe marketplace". And many more. It's quite easy to make well fleshed out banditry if we put our good deal of focus to them - easy way out is "where laws fail we take things into our own hands ", but even more trifle reasons are quite good like taxation of specific trade goods (smuggling and monopol enforcement [via violence]) or excitment-seeking (men from the mountain which are abiding laws of their own and martial prowess). Yet the bandits being just bandits or evil done just for evil - it's rather a good pulp 'cuz it's simple not overwriten and full of action not pondering. If I am writing or playing for giggles, it's a way to go. Otherwisely I am behind "make up things as you go" - but being aware that bandits are usually human too... Yes, we all should've bare it in mind. Have a great one, mate! Godspeed!

Love this gothic soundtrack

In my fantasy world, my characters learn magic at Hogwarts-like academies. It is also common for students to form adventuring parties for exploring around the kingdom. Since my characters are children, they are seen as easy targets for bandits. Because of this though, the areas where students are allowed to travel are also highly patrolled. However, this doesn't mean they never run into trouble. Delinquent students from rival schools enjoy picking on younger students and stealing their lunch money. Aside from troublesome students, any other bandits will just be small groups of criminals that hide out in the countryside. These bandits aren't organized groups. There are organized gangs that rob people, but they aren't specific gangs of bandits. I mean, all someone needs to do to be a bandit is rob travelers. So, bandits can be literally anyone who needs or want money. Maybe the local lord is hiring criminals to rob those traveling through his land- or he decides to rob them himself because he's bored. But mostly, banditry would more commonly be a crime of opportunity.

Currently running a growing group of bandits ran by a genius tactician who was part of the daggerford militia and the flaming fist. Retreating after a failed coup this charismatic leader took a small group of soldiers who trusted and followed him, then began to recruit vagrants, criminals, undesirables, etc. Training them with military tactics and turning them into fighters. Hes amassed a moderately sized, and fiercely loyal army , hes also extremely careful when planning and robbing travelers and caravans and tried to keep the amount of bloodshed to a minimum. Often stealing everything through intimidation and coercion. Hes been a fun sympathetic villain so far with achievable gosls.

something that historical bandits did was skulk around a remote but often travelled place and "tax" people for being let through an area they "secured" (e.g. a protection racket) so you could have it as an option to a party that wants to avoid a fight to just pay the fee, make the bandits pretty clearly heavy hitters so it's a dilemma for the party if they want to risk a hard fight or hand over some gold/gear (and have a 1 in 20 chance the bandits try to take them for everything anyway)

I see Dismas, I click.

Building on the idea behind the Stags bandit group, why do they need to be ex soldiers? During the 100 years war between England and France there were often large intervals of time when truces were arranged between both sides. However, for the soldiers of the time who didn’t yet form into a standing army, this meant that they were unemployed. What do armed and experienced men do now that they were suddenly unemployed? Why turn to banditry! As a side note, many of these men would eventually wander into Italy to form mercenary Free Companies. What I’m driving at here is that the bandits need not be ex soldiers, just layed off ones. And the reason why the local Duke or Barron or whatever hasn’t wiped them out yet is that the war could start up again any day and he’s gonna need the bandits help as soldiers again. Food for thought.

Bandits should have various levels of skill, equipment, and training just like real criminals range from petty crime to big time masterminds and expert thieves and robbers. Each group should have different standards and tactics too. Some may prefer using casters and axemen, using a frontline/backline tactic, while others might use guerilla tactics and sniping with bows.

I remember learning that one of the reasons pirates would take slave ships was because they could hold a lot more people on board. The pirates wanted to board the ships they were fighting and overwhelm their target. Less bloodshed means more loot.