Tired of Traditional Fantasy Travel? Here's How to Innovate
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video we venture beyond conventional modes of travel in fantasy worlds and dive into "Path Weaving," a unique 7-step process I've developed for designing imaginative and integrated transportation modes in fantasy settings.
Discover how to make your fantasy world's transportation align with its culture, history, and technology, enhancing its depth and believability.
If you find this video helpful, please consider giving it a like, and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel for more content on storytelling, worldbuilding and fantasy writing.
#Worldbuilding #WorldbuildingAdvice #WorldbuildingGuide #WorldbuildingTips #Storytelling #StorytellingAdvice #StorytellingGuide #StorytellingTips #FantasyWriting #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice #WritingTips
00:00 Introduction
00:25 Identifying the Problem
01:51 Path Weaving Theory
05:34 Crystal Crawlers
08:55 Closing Thoughts
Alternative title ideas (for the algo)
- Escaping the Usual: How to Innovate Fantasy World Transportation
- Ditch Dragons: New Ways to Traverse Fantasy Realms
- Be Bold in Fantasy: Create Transports That Defy Expectation
Transform Your Fantasy Writing in Just 5 Minutes a Week: Sign Up for the Tale Tinkerer Newsletter here => thetaletinkerer.com/newsletter/
Leave my dragons alone, sir! 🤣
They are always a good example as a hook :) I love dragons personally as well and they are featured in my own world too. Easy to get the point across with them as example though :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer dragons are in mine too, but there are many forms of travel in my fantasy world. Dragons, griffins, horses, stags, mammoths, big jungle tigers the size of oxen, etc. One method I'm particularly proud of comes from quantum mechanics. I really like the idea of entangled particles and wanted to recreate that in a fantasy setting.
So basically there's a mineral called witchstone that can absorb and retain magical properties. Magic exists but very few people can access it naturally. Those that can wield magic embue witchstones with it to then sell on to the masses. That's the primary way mages make money, by selling magic to the mundane. Witchstone is just as good as money, and in some cases better than traditional currency.
But when two witchstones are linked with a rare kind of spatial magic, they become keystones, capable of instant travel or communication between the pair no matter the distance between them, similarly to the concept of entangled particles. There are not many keystones in the world because I wanted to limit "fast travel" to a handful of scenarios. Most people will not have access to keystones or even be aware of their existence, but yeah, I figured you would appreciate that type of thing. Those are the world-building details I live and die for. Lulz
In my stories, most of my dwarven people have domesticated otters as pets and the soldiers ride armored battle bears into battle. Retired or decommissioned soldiers bring their bears home and they are revered as honored pets and part of the family. They also make killer 'watch dogs' when the family is away.
I have a dragon in a few of my books.
In The Mage as an antagonist.
In Shadow Bound as an extinct species.
In From the Sky as a hostile monster and a main antagonist (one wyvern is tamed, but only because it lost the gem that made it a monster in the first place and my main character earned its respect by facing it in combat, then saving its life)
And in Trial of Dragons as the literal main plot point. (They can’t be tamed, but greater dragons are fully sentient and not entirely hostile)
I have other book ideas, but they don’t have dragons in them. They do, however, have other species and races of my own invention.
The Rine
The Drangulls
The Umbral and Radiant entities
The Beads
Etc.
As for modes of transportation, I mainly have horses, but Beads are also used as transportation by a race of “elves” in The Mage.
With the build of a stretched out mountain goat, the antlers of a moose, long and luxurious white fur, the face of an Elk, the strength of 10 horses due to its use of Ether to strengthen its muscles.
Basically this world’s version of a unicorn.
It forms a deep emotional bond with one rider for the rider’s entire life, and when the rider passes away, the Bead will enter a state of deep mourning before it can connect with another rider. The Bead’s lifespan is an average 700 years, and is entirely loyal to whoever it accepts as its bonded rider.
They can have one child every 80 years from when it’s 150 to 560 on average. Twins are possible, but have never been recorded.
Bead milk grants a boost to physical strength for a short while because it’s infused with Ether as the mother tries to make her baby stronger.
Basically, I’ve thought about this for a long time.
Having dragons in general is not a bad thing in my opinion of course, which is why I stated it in the video as well. As the thumbnail says, my main goal with the video was just to emphasize that we can "do more" than just the usual. My world has dragons as well, but I do expand upon the usual transportation modes with other less traditional methods as well.
"...the build of a stretched out mountain goat, the antlers of a moose, long and luxurious white fur, the face of an Elk, the strength of 10 horses due to its use of Ether to strengthen its muscles..." sounds like one hell of a unique blend though for sure :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer I’m glad that dragons aren’t a bad thing to include. That would be very bad for me.
I like my book ideas, it’d be a shame to have to basically delete some of them 😂.
I had a dream a while ago about the Bead. That’s how I first got the idea for it.
But in the dream, I genuinely thought that it was a real animal, and even shortly after I woke up, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t.
That’s how I knew that it was a good idea. A little more attention to detail, some behavioral traits, make it special maybe (gave it the ability to use a type of magic), and boom, fantasy species.
@@Iso20227In the end, your stories are yours to tell anyway - so don't let anyone keep you from including something that you think the stories absolutely needs :)
A favorite of my own is using hydras as mounts. You have to use one headed hydras though, because anything more makes it too difficult to keep them tamed. A hydra losing its birth head is like a race horse breaking its leg.
Hydras as mounts sounds interesting. Not sure if I ever heard that before. Might have seen it in a game probably but not in a novel or movie I think :)
My main characters make Dullahan his mount, but one of the female characters goes from town to town with Yokai named Kasha a fire cat/fire cart
I was really glad to see this video because travel and transportation is something I consider very carefully while worldbuilding my fantasy story. As I said in another comment, adventure is a big part of my story. Because of this, I want to make sure that any transportation options are balanced. Something I haven't brought up yet about my story is that it is not the typical medieval fantasy world. In fact, the setting is an "otherworld" (like Narnia or Alice in Wonderland) where people come to learn magic. Within the major cities, it would resemble more of a low-tech version of the 1920s. With that said, trains are a possible form of transportation though they aren't the most common; trains are only used to go between major cities because maintaining the tracks is a pain since monsters keep attacking them. I should also mention that cars or automobiles also exist within the world but only the richest of the rich possess them.
The most common mode of transport would be riding a horse or in a carriage which might be drawn by a horse or something else. While you wouldn't see anyone flying around on a stereotypical fantasy dragon, certain species of "lesser dragons" are often tamed, trained, and used for mounts. Other mounts include pegasi, griffins, hippogriffs, and probably other creatures I pull from mythology or that I make up (perhaps giant dragonflies or other insects). There will also be more terrestrial mounts like a species of wingless dragon and probably unicorns, etc. Hippocampi and some sea serpents will also be mounts for the water.
As for non-sentient travel, hot-air-balloons can be used for scaling mountains quickly. There are also sky-ships. Literally. Large boats with sails that fly. These will mainly be used for traveling vast distances over the course of months. Seafaring ships are uncommon as the ocean is home to deadly sea monsters making it the most dangerous form of travel. Because of this, very little of the oceans has been explored. Sailing still exists but as a general rule, sailors and fisherman stay within eyesight of the coast when out at sea. Even then, sailing is only done is areas that are considered safe- while its uncommon, occasionally sea monsters come to the shore. Early civilizations would have avoided the coast because of this. Fishing would be a lot more common on lakes and rivers. Very few kingdoms even have major military fleets. However, some privately owned vessels still exist- among monster hunters, killing a sea monster is considered a great achievement. Many want to prove themselves and gain fame. The sea is also bountiful with resources which has attracted those looking to turn a profit. Of course, the sea is unforgiving.
Lastly, I was surprised you didn't mention portals or teleportation as a means of transportation. This is something I do want in my world even though it could easily become overpowered. I try to be extremely careful with how I implement it. I'd rather it be slightly underpowered than the alternative. Teleportation is high level magic and comes with a price; sometimes a literal price, as in you have to pay to use it. Portals can only connect two locations in the same dimension, and most are limited in range. I also had the idea that teleportation temporarily leaves mages unable to use magic. Certain items like wands and tomes could be unable to be tp-ed. I don't want teleporting or portals to become the more form of transport. Most portals are stationary as they can't be opened by a single mage.
In terms of portals etc. I did consider it here but was torn between including it as transportation method or leaving it out as something too magic focused. But you are right that it certainly could have been included here. Might have been a bit less easy to include within a framework approach.
Overall, its great to see someone else put a lot of thought into this aspect as well. I've often felt that this tends to be overlooked in stories and sometimes does jar me out of the narrative because the chosen (or existing) transportation methods don't add up with the logical choices I would have expected.
I still kept horses in my world-building as they are still in a natural environment and bio-friendly when done properly, sailing ships are also kept, but not used as much as land interferes with the water oceans and only provides limited travel. Steam-powered airships can outdo most things of travel at 80 knots which are ideal for supplying cities. One new one is Portals, instant travel but they still have negative effects if you do too much like air sickness or jet lag is a result, you get portal sickness, which is much like a lingering hangover. Portal airship jumps the same thing but allows for quick travel where 2-3 jumps will account for a whole day of air flight time compressed into a 1/2 hour of jumping and then winding the jumper up to jump again having to wait again to spool up. Because of battle and redundancies, the Horse and cart or buggies are still the bread and butter of society travel. I did not find rail and trains necessary to add since it's a niche system and would be best suited underground, as it kind of is a pain in the ass to work around train tracks and such when a roadway is still a better choice, same for planes as they require a niche area and don't really add much value next to airships. For water, I used a jet drive and steam-powered turbine and piston system to be more effective as a Jetship across the water, and they're simple and much faster. I also use a New prototype of an Iron Golem, to use also as a ridable mount that doubles as another fighting unit platform, in our group, so our Justice League fighters and explorers can do assaults and raids. and now we have wings that allow some tactile flight, My wings were copied since I'm an avatar, with applied magic from the God realm, So even the Golems can fly around just to make it interesting like a jet pack, there quite handy to be holding you while in flight over short spans.
Some interesting stuff in there, thank you for sharing. Flying Golems are certainly something new to me ^^
And I also didn't mean to say that horses, ships or even dragons should not be used at all (I do as well). It was more meant to convey that relying only on them can limit the potential of whats possible.
Loving the content! Keep it up! 🤩
Thank you for the kind words of support. Really appreciated. I'm just getting started and will do my best to keep improving :)
I’ve come up with 2 horse alternatives thus far for a fantasy western rpg setting. Technically they are just weird horses but still. The Hühnerpferd could be described as wingless hippogriffs but more accurately are horse shaped chickens. They are fast and maneuverable but suffer from heavy loads. On the other hand there are gloomshires which are huge goth unicorns that are slower but can endure more damage and heavier loads. Horses then slot between them as a more rounded mount.
As a German I certainly had to laugh at the name "Hühnerpferd" ^^ But I love the creative thinking behind them :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer my favorite thing about the German language is that everything is named like it’s two minutes from quitting time. A dumb bit of lore is that since people only interact with female Hühnerpferd they joke that males are chicken sized horses that stand on their hind legs. The truth is that they are dangerously aggressive and breeders only keep one and keep them isolated.
I have a story called "the game of 14 rings " it is a adventure / fantasy story where whoever find all the 14 rings become an elite lord. The power systems are ANCIENT THINGS and CHOAINE and EL CERY 😅. The power balance are guardians who gaurd the people and the super hero Association they directly under the control of the main land and the helders the cursed creature there are more but I'll not tell you sorry
14 sounds like an odd number at first glance. Does it have any significance in your world? I guess it does?! :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer 14 is the reference of the 14 sides🎲
Really enjoying the content. Is there a link to your background anywhere?
Thank you for the kind words, glad that the content gives you some value. I'm working on having a website, blog etc. set up which probably will include a bit of background but still a bit out. Anything in particular you'd be interested in? :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer Are you a writer, game dev, rpg player? Something else? My wife also asked where your accent is from.
@@mattdematteo2635I'm from Germany but with a close connection to Denmark as well and have spoken English in my daily life for the last 15 years or so. So a blend of all this I guess in terms of accent :)
When it comes to my high-level background, I have a master's degree in history, have worked in game development and am still working in gaming, and have been writing, worldbuilding, tabletop rpg playing, hobby game developing on/off respectively for the last 25 years :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer thank you! It’s funny, I told my wife at first your accent was Nordic but then I second guessed myself and said German or Austrian. : ) Thank you for sharing - I’m looking forward to future videos and getting to know you better. Best wishes!
Loving the vids! Are there two of you or am I just confued? :D
Glad that you like the videos, thank you for taking the time to comment :) And no, it is just me. In case you are confused because of the difference of the first two videos on the channel and the 7 by now that followed after, the difference here is that I wasn't happy with my setup and creation process yet early on.
So the first two videos are without camera and use AI voice to still get the videos out. As of video three I was happy with everything and try to keep a consistent structure and experience from there (while continuing to improve bits and pieces as much as I can of course) :)
oh wow, not that you say it i can tell its an AI voice :D would you consider making a video of how programs like midjouney can help the creative process? I'd love to hear your thoughs on it since you used AI to aid you at first :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer
@@JacobBergqvist I'd have to think about the angle in terms of an AI focused video because I don't want to dillute the channel's focus but if I find a good one, I'll certainly consider it :)
Airships. Simple as.
Any great ideas you're willing to share to expand upon what's shared already in the video? :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer Nope I just like airships
@@wachyfanningSame here, especially infused with some magic and not just technical :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer Ok I'll admit I do have a large number of ideas in regards to airships but I'm hesitant to share them as they're relevant to a project I'm working on.
I guess I can say that airships act as a revolutionary mode of transport, and consequentially, the resources required to make them float would play a similar role in society as spice in Dune.
...der Weg ist das Ziel... 😉
...da kann man so viel draus machen...Stichwort 'Sidequests'...! 😃
"...und ihr seid da...!" ist mir zu mager...! 🙁👎
Absolut, die Reise selbst kann oftmals enorm viele Möglichkeiten bieten für die Vertiefung der Welt, der Charaktere und dem ganzen "Drumherum" bzgl. des Hauptplots :)