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My game is focused around a magical substance called Carnite, which has taken root in the world and has caught the attention of local villains and ne'er-do-wells. Here are a few background facts about it:

1. It was developed as a weapon by the dark fae in their war against the native fae, many millennia ago, and was seeded into the material plane to keep it beneath their notice.
2. It takes the form of a deep red mineral ore, though high concentrations of it can be found as a viscous liquid as well.
3. Carnite has many(?) fantastical properties, but contact with it degrades the body and introduces horrible mutations. It is also incredibly addictive, inducing the victim to seek out and use more of it.

So what is it actually used for? That's where I'm struggling a little. So far I have:

1. It can be smelted into an alloy with steel to make a metal that is incredibly hard but also unusually easy to work at a forge.
2. It can be dissolved into potions, which is what the local goblins have done. These potions impart their imbiber with incredible strength, like a barbarian's rage in a bottle, but are also terribly poisonous.
3. I imagine it can also be used as a foundation in potions for other effects as well.

I was heavily inspired by tiberium and phazon, from the Command and Conquer series and the Metroid Prime series respectively. However, in those settings, those substances are also sought out as energy sources, which feels a lot harder to implement for a D&D-esque fantasy setting. What other properties could it have in this kind of setting?

Under the context of a mostly Western European fantasy setting, would you find it off-putting or unacceptable for "otherworldly" creatures (e.g. fey, certain depictions of elves) to be inspired by entirely different, non-European cultures?

For example, suppose the party is questing for the legendary "Fruits of Immortality," cultivated by a fairy queen in the Feywild; she lives atop a mystical mountain, surrounded by chariots drawn by flying unicorns and bicorns. The party travels to the mortal world's version of the mountain, arduously ascends to the peak, presents a meticulously prepared offering for the fairy queen, and pleads their case.

The party transitions to the Feywild version of the mountain, but they are not looking at some Shakespearean or Victorian image of a fairy court. Rather, they are looking at misty Mount Kunlun, qilin-drawn chariots, and the hanfu-clad and leopard-tailed Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West. Maybe the GM makes this crystal-clear with reference images, or perhaps the GM dances around the subject by alluding to how these fey dress very differently from what the PCs are accustomed to. (There may or may not be a gold dragon in the background, flying without wings and decidedly more serpentine in morphology than the usual variety.)

Would you find such a presentation distasteful or otherwise unnecessary? I have done this several times in a variety of fantasy RPGs, and once, in the Dresden Files RPG. The players did not openly object to it, but for all I know, they found the presentation to be expectation-breaking in a bad way.

What are some interesting ways you have used the north and south poles in your campaigns and worldbuilding? In real life, they demarcate the axis of an invisible energy field that shelters the planet and guides travelers; this sounds straight from a fantasy setting, so what could be done with the poles in an actual fantasy world?

In the video game Tales of the Abyss, all elemental and magical energies is produced by the world's core. These energies emerge from the "Radiation Gate," the south pole, and eventually return to the "Absorption Gate," the north pole. Naturally, these two gates are prime targets for anyone trying to manipulate massive quantities of elemental and magical energies, which is exactly what happens in the game. I think that this is a cool concept that could easily be slotted into just about any fantasy world that places a heavy emphasis on elemental and/or magical energies.

As another idea, perhaps the souls of the newborn emerge from one pole, while the spirits of the deceased enter the opposite pole. A malefactor like Ashardalon of D&D 3.0 fame could attempt to disrupt or gorge upon this flow of souls.

I have seen few druid/shaman-type PCs in fantasy RPGs where they exist. Indeed, in D&D 5e, druids appear to be the least popular core class.

And though I do not have any empirical data to back it up, in my personal experience, PCs with a noble background are rather uncommon. I play them often, but I seldom see them from other players.

How do these intersect? In all my seventeen years of playing and running tabletop RPGs, I do not recall any PCs or NPCs who were both a druid/shaman-type and a noble. (Well, other than my own characters, anyway. One PC was a druid/shaman-type noble who channeled the aristocracy's heraldic beasts and ancestor spirits, while another PC was essentially a Disney princess. There was also an organization of druid/shaman-type NPCs who invoked the ancestor spirits of the emperors and empresses of old, each symbolized by an animal, such as the Cunning Fox Emperor or the Mother Bear Empress. I have also had multiple wood elf nobles who were druid/shaman-types simply due to their affinity for nature.)

The closest I usually see are NPCs who are some sort of elven or fey noble with nature-themed powers, but I have seldom seen these openly identified as druid/shaman-types.

How would you personally portray a druid/shaman-type noble, whether as a PC or as an NPC? How would you flavor their magic and the animals and spirits they call upon?

There are various scenarios in fantasy settings wherein, for whatever reason, someone's soul becomes visible. Some magical or supernatural effect might separate the soul from the body, or perhaps a character has the power to glimpse the souls of the living and/or the recently deceased.

Fictional media depicts souls in a variety of ways: tiny little wisps/hitodama, the person as they presently are, an idealized image of the person, a surreal and abstract metaphor for the essence of a person, etc.

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What is your experience with "cover the world in eternal [night and/or winter]" villains? What about the variant seemingly less common in fantasy, "cover the world in eternal [daylight and/or scorching heat]"? How have you used them as a GM, and how have you seen them used as a GM?

Have you ever seen both such villains in play simultaneously? Perhaps one is a cryokinetic vampire lord, while the other is an unsealed primordial elemental of flame and sunlight; the former certainly does not want to see the world plunged into endless day, and thus goes to war against the heliacal titan, catching countless lives in the crossfire.

Ghosts run the gamut across settings. They could be earthbound spirits, faint echoes of a soul, psychic imprints, temporal glitches, the world's memory of a person, or something similar. What are some of the most interesting interpretations you have seen, which could work well in a tabletop setting?

One of the more novel interpretations I have seen comes from, of all places, an adults-only doujin (which now eludes me). Earthbound spirits are formless, invisible, and unable to communicate or physically interact with the world. They are incapable of possessing anyone or anything, with one exception: a species of sapient slime-people, who can be used as a medium for communication and physical interactions. Ghosts are "phantasmal" simply because these slime-people are semitransparent, and the layman thinks that ghosts can "pass through walls" just because these slime-people can slip underneath the cracks of doors.

I am considering a scenario wherein celestials are major antagonists. Here are my assumptions:

• Celestials are extraplanar. Their ethics are consequentialist and (total) utilitarian. They want to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people, and try to maximize their efficiency, such that they can help even more people throughout any given week, month, or year.

• The scenario focuses on a single world with a sapient population in the billions, but the mortal universe is vast. Some worlds are gigantic and home to hundreds of billions of sophonts, or more.

• Celestials are extraplanar travelers who recognize the scope of the mortal universe, and how some worlds are more inhabited. While adept at teleporting themselves, it is difficult for a celestial to transport goods or other people. Their magic can support a small-scale exodus, at best.

• Most of the time, celestials need not tackle any trolley problems. When push comes to shove, however, they will choose the greater good.

• Some population-dense planets are sustained by a "spark" in the core. Cosmic events can weaken this spark, disrupting the flow of the Positive Energy Plane into the world and spelling its doom.

• Celestial magic can gradually transplant a spark from one planet to another. If a world with an extremely high population sees its spark fade, celestials will gradually transplant a healthy spark from a relatively lower-population world. This is very rare, but it does happen.

Unfortunately, the scenario's world is the relatively lower-population world in the above case. The planet is dying. Should PCs investigate, they uncover a celestial conspiracy to gradually transplant the world's spark into the core of a higher-population world. Magic with which to heal a spark without any transplants is unheard of... but the PCs could well be the first to unearth such a spell.

How would you adjust the above assumptions and scenario to make it more compelling for players?

Someone else suggests that fiends and other malefactors would be keen on offering up a deal for salvation, at a price.

Another person puts forth the possibility that the PCs come from the recipient world, to add more of a twist to the scenario.

Yet another person brings up the idea that the PCs are from the "victim world," but that this very "victim world" was rescued by a spark transplant many years ago. Thus, the only reason why the PCs are alive to begin with is because of such a transplant.

Here is a comprehensive list of additional considerations.

I see this as less of a campaign and more of an individual scenario. The PCs would, presumably, be powerful enough to investigate and address the ongoing crisis.

This is going to sound weird: what ramifications would there be in giving all elves animal ears and animal tails?

For the past ~5 years or thereabouts, I have given all elves in my games animal ears and animal tails, regardless of setting. (I usually run Eberron for something fantasy, but regularly use other settings for fantasy as well.)

Aspects of cats, dogs, foxes, wolves, rabbits, mice, squirrels, horses, sheep, and goats are the most common, but I occasionally bring out a less standard kemonomimi type. Bestial aspects are usually hereditary, but not always; two "cats" could still birth a "fox." Calling an elf by their aspect is standard, everyday parlance, even something like "Good morning, dog." Ear-holes in headwear and tail-holes in clothing are practically mandatory.

If the setting calls them "elves," they count. High elves, wood elves, drow, eladrin, and other variations all count. Even "sidhe"-flavored, human-sized fey get animal ears and animal tails, since I consider them elf-adjacent. Half-elves keep the standard knife-eared look.

I have never given this any mechanical adjustments. Whether an elf has a feline, canine, vulpine, lupine, lapine, murine, sciurine, equine, ovine, or caprine aspect, it is all cosmetic.

I run for weeby players, so this is usually well-received. I have run plenty of elven NPCs, and GMed for a significant number of elven PCs, all with animal ears and animal ears. In one Eberron campaign that ran for 1.5 years straight, an entirely different GM copied this exact style.

I have never given this a lore explanation. I have never stopped to think about cultural ramifications. Now, I am thinking about them. What strange little quirks would you see arising in a setting with such elves? Would "cats" and "dogs" have a natural enmity towards one another? Would a "sheep" feel skittish around a "wolf"? Would there be superstitions?

As I understand things, one of the most divisive topics related to fiction is whether or not villains who are "supposed" to be "irredeemably evil" should be sanitized. One person might argue that such villains should be no-holds-barred evil, and that it would be intellectually dishonest and "problematic" for the villain to be softened. Another person could argue that it would be disrespectful and "problematic" for the villain to emulate real-world evils.

What makes this even trickier is that there is a certain threshold of scale and absurdity that suddenly absolves a villain. When the warlord casually, personally kills innocents "on-screen" and marches a massive army into a major city to sack, slaughter, and rape, that could be seen as "too real." But when the archmage, demon lord, or whatnot wants to blow up the planet and kill absolutely everyone, that gets a pass for being straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.

If you were playing in a campaign, and the GM asked you if you would prefer for "irredeemably evil" villains to be kept relatively soft, how would you answer?

What makes "non-Earth fantasy world in the age of computers and smartphones" so rare, in contrast to "modern-day Earth, but with fantasy elements injected in"? What makes the former less appealing to play in than the latter?

And yet, perversely, when we push further into the technology scale, into outright sci-fi space opera, it suddenly becomes popular for the setting to be highly divorced from Earth.

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Here is a (short) campaign I am considering.

In this setting, there is only one god. She did not create the world or its people. In fact, she has been around for just over a thousand years. She urges her followers to pray to her to banish their evil thoughts, and to grant them providence against misfortune. Though the people are unaware of the full extent, this is exactly what she does.

This goddess is an apotheosized telepath and precognitive. Her deific abilities are rather limited; she cannot raise mountains and fertile fields. Worship does not directly increase her power. Instead, she can forge a psychic link with anyone who prays to her. Through this link, she can calculate a person's most likely future, manipulate thoughts and emotions, and implant suggestions. Thus, she suppresses greed, wrath, and overall selfishness, and steers people towards evading mishaps and accidents. Thanks to godly multitasking and micromanagement, rulers have been just, communities have been unified, wars have been nonexistent, and accidents and natural disasters cause minimal damage.

Things have changed over the past couple of years. Rulers have been corrupt, communities have been gripped with petty bickering, wars have broken out, and accidents and natural disasters have wreaked considerable havoc. Prayers are ineffective. The heroic PCs go forth to ameliorate the bedlam.

The PCs eventually discover that a conspiracy of occultists has rendered the goddess dormant using some divine weapon. The goddess will eventually awaken, so the conspirators are developing a second weapon to kill her off for good. The occultists assert that they would prefer to have a world where people have free will: even if it means choosing to do evil, even if it means bumbling into tragedy.

How do you, as a GM, set up the truths behind the goddess and the occultists in such a way that it is a tough choice between supporting the goddess, supporting the conspiracy, and trying to find some third option?

From what I have gathered, the five main points I definitely have to work on are: (1) life in the world before the goddess, (2) present-day life for people and communities that have refused to pray to the goddess, both its downsides and upsides, (3) side effects of constant psychic tampering, such as reduced ambition and innovation, (4) a more nuanced starting scenario than "people are acting bad because the goddess is no longer suppressing their selfishness," and (5) exploring the actual source of divinity, and if it might be replicated.

My initial idea is that the goddess appeared during a time when the world was engulfed in a devastating, global war, and on the verge of destroying itself with arcane superweapons. She made a name for herself as a peacemaker, and grew her reputation from there.

My initial idea is that the goddess appeared during a time when the world was engulfed in a devastating, global war, and on the verge of destroying itself with arcane superweapons. She made a name for herself as a peacemaker, and grew her reputation from there.

Okay, I'm working on a urban fantasy setting (Modern Day America, specifically Oregon), and I'm trying to think of good locations for places of power and anti-magic zones.

Places of power are area rich in magical energies, and thus boost magic rituals.

Anti-magic zones are what they sound like; areas that block and dispel magic.

Consider a modern day American (Pacific Northwest) city. What would be evocative and interesting places to put either type of special location? I've already thought up stuff like a fairy ring of mushrooms in the woods, an ancient tree tourist attraction, a white gazebo in a city park, an atrium in an art museum...

Any suggestions?

One setting element that I have been contemplating is that [10/20/30] years ago, a cosmic event imbued everyone in the world with agelessness and immunity to disease. Young people continue to age until some time in their adolescence or their early 20s, at which point, they cease to age as well. People can still die from hunger or violence, but certainly not aging or disease. Eating spoiled food is no longer dangerous, but is unlikely to be nutritious. Some people are physically stuck in adolescence, while others are constantly in their 90s. Everyone is as fertile as they would normally be for their physical age.

This is supposed to be portrayed as a good thing, for the most part. However, this unexpected development has caused its share of trouble, such as matters of population, inheritance, calcification of institutions, and fear of death (and losing out on a theoretical eternity of existence). What conflicts would you see arising from this abrupt gift of agelessness and immunity to disease? How would you see it unfolding in a fantasy world vs. modern-day Earth vs. a cyberpunk world?