#worldbuilding class systems

[redd956]

I need world-building questions for royalty and class systems, please

Sure!

Worldbuilding questions to get the creative juices flowing 32

Theme: Class Systems

Now it's been awhile since I've researched or worldbuilt this stuff, so I did some side research to make sure I'm bright on ideas

Now class systems are very very complicated. I'm not very confident in them myself, so at the end I've added some nice videos to watch, thing to research on, and places to start.

How many classes is your society divided into? Is it a feudalism system, caste system, slave system, or something else?

Can all classes take part in the ruling class? If not what classes can? What roles in society can rule? Is the ruling class its own class?

How is the population distributed by class? How is the hierarchy built? Who has it the worst? Who has it the best?

What advantages does each class have? What disadvantages does each class have? What decides who's in what class?

Class systems are not just divided by economic status. In fact they can be divided by many things at once. So what divides yours? (race, economic status, birthright, religious, species, magic branches)

What helps keep lower classes low? What helps keep higher classes high?

What type of change is occuring? Is it more peaceful? More chaotic? More violent? Is it looking successful?

What cultural divides play into classes? How does culture differ across classes?

What group controls the society? How does this group do so? What could happen to cause this group to lose this power?

If the current ruling class was overthrown what would the aftermath be like?

Not every class runs off of our five modern ones. Go back in time and class systems change sometimes drastically. So name your class levels. Where do these names derive from?

What class systems did the society go through in the past? How does this affect their modern day?

How do class groups view each other? Is there discrimination? Is there privilege?

What decides a class' value? What makes them that valuable?

What does education, economic status, and potential religion do for the class system?

What does the current events; war, sickness, alliances, etc; affect the class system? (These events tend to be great moments for classes to change)

Extra:

Class Systems to study

Our Modern Social Class

Medeival Social Class

Ancient China Classes

Caste Systems of India throughout time

Japanese castes

Native American Roles

Amazing Videos

How Class Systems Fall: https://youtu.be/bbkSim9iaOQ

How Class Systems Work: https://youtu.be/8tjvul5e1y4

Historical Moments

Russian Prohibition

French Revolution

Any bit of Soviet History, really I'm not kidding, the formation and fall of the USSR was a big class system historical fuckery mess

American Progressive Era

Republic Era of Qing China

Finally Books that have good class system worldbuilding

Grishaverse Book Series

Watership Down

Tale of Two Cities

[lorebird]

I sunk 24 hours of rendering into this piece so MAY AS WELL POST IT

I had to design and illustrate an underground city for my concept art class, and decided to go with subterranean aliens building a vertical metropolis! I’m very inexperienced and no real good with xenobiology, so they ended up like walmart brand bug ferrets….. but I’m definitely happy with the style of architecture!!

[timemachineyeah]

Mashle: Magic and Muscle is like the spiritual opposite of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. HPMOR was like ‘what if Stephen Hawking went to Hogwarts and became the Coolest Wizard by being So Smart?’ and Mashle is like ‘what if One Punch Man went to Hogwarts and became the Coolest Wizard by being so dumb but good at punching things?’ anyway the second one is a funny anime and unlikely to start a weird rationality cult so probably is better.

[alqualonde-s]

i’m going to write about this later but what gets me is fics casually mentioning our royal elves having maids or whatever… like if you lived forever and also could just live in the woods and hunt and gather legally and easily would YOU have a job you didn’t like? why would there be a “lower class”? elves are utopian communists and that’s that. they clean up after themselves and pitch in for big jobs. yes i know tolkien said a lot of stuff and he’s wrong because he loved old english epics where people had to live under feudalism or whatever.

[draconic-absurdism]

INTRO TO XORRYADDANS

Xorryaddans, or Xors, are a group of 5 sub-species of alien who evolved as apex predators in various niches on their home-planet. In order: diggers (vok'unek), fighters (ro'riku), gliders (vi'ivivek), jumpers (zi'ijikek), and runners (vaveer)*. Also pictured is a cityscape on their current planet, New Xorrya.

Their ocular organ is set inside their skull above their mouths. Their bones and skin function as one-way glass. This allows them to see almost 360 degrees without moving their heads. When bright light hits their head right, you can vaguely see the outline of their skull and "eye" inside their skin.

*The terms are approximate translations; their language is made up of an incredibly complex set of clicks, chirps, teeth clacks, and other sounds that can be made without a tongue. Humans would not be able to properly pronounce words from their language!

Story under the readmore:

Xorryaddan society quickly industrialized and formed into classes, and capitalist societies drove much of the wildlife to extinction within a few hundred years. Ads lined the streets, and corporations plastered their logos over the night sky. Work was hard, and pay was little. They had to quickly evolve to subsist off of ionizing radiation from nuclear waste, rather than consuming solid food. The greed of the wealthy eventually led to the total collapse of the ecosystem, and eventually, the end of the world.

Hundreds of thousands of workers hijacked billionaires' airships, locating a safe new planet with plenty of radiation to feed on: they called it New Xorrya (pictured), a planet so radioactive that the only other thing living on it were various types of radiotrophic fungi.

New Xorrya is the closest planet to the sun in the same solar system as Daeji and Pyrexia. It's a rotation-locked planet, unbearably hot on the sun-facing side and unbearably cold on the other, so Xors settled on the strip of perpetual twilight. New Xorrya provided an unexpected opportunity to restart and create a new, better society.

Xors continued to develop their technology, but this time without a profit motive. Quick and accessible public transportation between walkable cities. The ability to vote on local issues on secure mobile devices, built to be convenient rather than addictive and ad-filled. Massive housing complexes that are both communal and provide ample private spaces. In-depth storytelling and history lessons told through video games, virtual reality, and technically impressive performances with practical effects.

But they still mourn for their lost world. When called upon, they will assist other worlds in overcoming a capitalist ruling class and saving their ecosystems. They spread the message: we were a rare exception, most of you will not get a second chance. You must protect your planet. All power to the people.

[littlebigmouse]

People like to make fun of YA worldbuilding tropes that sort teenagers into arbitrary categories based on arbitrary characteristics that nonetheless have a huge impact on the teenager's future.

This is not unrealistic however, because the german education system sorts 4th graders based on their "academic merit" as determinded by one of their elementary school teachers into one of three (sometimes four) further type of schools, which has a drastic impact on the likelihood of you even getting the qualification to attend university.

Yes, your entire academic career path is dependent on whether your elementary school teacher likes you or not. Don't worry, some states think that's bullshit too and instead make fourth graders sit entrance exams for the education level of their (parents') choice. (Although the teachers still get a say). That's why sometimes have news articles about the burn out rates of elementary schoolchildren in Bavaria.

But don't worry! Politicians love to complain about... to many people in recent years receiving the qualification to attend university...

[lovelyrotter]

to this day i cant believe how many people full heartedly dont want any kind of conflict or antags doing antagonistic things or even just well written, nuanced, realistic teenaged characters fucking up and making bad choices in HS. like are. are we reading the same thing. have we been reading the same thing. yall didnt pay attention in eng lit AT ALL i see

[thenamesblurrito]

Oh thanks for the alt modes! For Shockwave tho I was kiiiiiinda moreso wondering how it fits into the functionist world? Like I don't like the functionists but if your AU is still kinda in their worldview a little, what "purpose" does an ambulatory vehicle like that have? Perhaps all terrain exploration?

oh this Cybertron is very functionist. however, the class determination is a lil wonky and not dependent solely upon alt mode. an ambulatory vehicle like Shockwave isn't super special, in that he can essentially fill a whole variety of functions. it's a less common alt mode than cars or trucks but just as if not sometimes more versatile than wheeled alts, so there is no single function here like some very specialized alt modes may have

middle to low class mecha with this alt mode are likely to be given fairly standard odd jobs that suit their alt mode in a whole variety of fields, or perhaps the undesirable ones if a specialized alt isn't available. middle to high class mecha are likely to be given unrelated functions that may focus on interpersonal/emotional/data work instead of being strictly alt mode related. this is typical of very common generalized alt modes like trucks too, where class will determine how locked into your alt mode's purpose you are. this is one of the reasons you'll find every kind of frametype in every possible function out there. turns out absolute unyielding functionism doesn't work really well and exceptions, compromises, and quick fixes must be made. if you put every single one of your many, many car alt mode mecha in the racing function, you'll have a sudden lack of folks to fill more mundane roles like cashiers, accountants, cleaners, nannies, etc, which are much more vital functions than just using wheels to go fast

(this is also applicable to marginalized frametypes like beastformers but for a very different reason. high class/better treated/freer functioned beastformers are pointed to as an example of how oh they aren't really oppressed or discriminated against, see?? how could there be beastformer senators if nobody was willing to assign higher functions to your frametype? don't complain, just work harder and maybe someday you'll be worthy too!)

Shockwave specifically had a very good upbringing that gave him status as relatively higher class, even though his alt mode was unremarkable. this along with his intelligence put him on track to get alt mode exemption so he could have a function other than his original assigned urban planning function. he eventually wormed his way into politics and now his official function is being a Senator, although he's on furlough while he's principal of the JAAT

[nobodieshero-main]

EDUCATION

youth learning - basically kindergarten + pre-primary, more focused on teaching kids about boundaries and sharing etc, gets them ready to go into primary school

primary school - from ages 6-16, teaches regular school shit (reading, writing, maths, health, arts, social studies etc); for casters there are often specific classes, after-school programs or out-of-school clubs to teach them all about the hows and why's of casting - in some cities or larger towns there might even be a separate school (eg. the Academy in Prota, which also partially acts as a boarding school)

usually after completing the 10 years of primary education, kids will go on to do a 2 year (minimum) apprenticeship in the subject/trade of their choice before going to university; but it's not a huge deal unless you're in the fancier parts of Nevmones (those fuckers are judgy about education).

secondary education - things like university and apprenticeships, really any kind of semi-formal education that goes beyond the 10 years in primary school

[rocaillefox]

yknow what i should include in the eeveelution vn. food and fancy dishes based on pokemon mystery dungeon berries etc. ooooooough i could have a whole menu of foods based around them hehehe

[adriartts]

Nightling wing thoughts

[romanomomano]

Here’s Unironic Ironic Worldbuilding:

The world and everything in it is made up of basic, primary, universal material that settles into different forms and states. We call this matter: Stuff.

Types of Stuff:

Solid Stuff

Hyper-Sparse Stuff

Sparse Stuff

Dense Stuff

Hyper-Dense Stuff

Liquid Stuff

Sentient Beings

Monsters

Ephemeral Stuff

Realized Stuff

Dissolute Stuff

Outside of Stuff, a few other concepts exist, namely Souls and Things.

The Nature of the World:

The world is an incredibly volatile place, full of adventure, treasure, and danger. Scattered throughout the world are naturally occurring structures called Dungeons, which contain magical Artifacts. Every week at midnight on the first day of the week, the world shifts and changes, old Dungeons are lost and new ones are formed, filled with new Artifacts for intrepid explorers to claim. This event is called the Weekly Reset. There are havens from the reset, places unaffected by the phenomenon, referred to as Anchors, where most of civilization resides. At the Reset, all the Stuff in the world outside of the Anchors is blended up, shuffled up, and settles back into forms based on the density of that Stuff. 

Solid Stuff:

Solid Stuff comes in a variety of densities, but the long and short of it is that Solid Stuff makes up all the physical matter of the world.

Hyper-Sparse Stuff

Utilized heavily in spellcasting, otherwise unnoticed as it makes up the atmosphere we live in.

Sparse Stuff

Generally speaking, this is everything. Rocks, trees, oceans, anything physical.

Dense Stuff

This Stuff is what Dungeons are made of. Much like salt settles into cubic shapes, Dense Stuff settles into dungeons.

Hyper-Dense Stuff

Within the Dense Dungeon, Artifacts are formed of the densest Stuff.

Liquid Stuff:

After the Solid Stuff settles, a different state of stuff settles into place within the world and within the Dungeons. Liquid Stuff is what living entities are made of, and living entities are divided into two major categories: Monsters and Sentient Beings, often referred to as People.

The thing that separates a Monster from a Person is the presence of a Soul.

Since Monsters are simply amalgams of Liquid Stuff, their forms are varied and strange. Shifting and squirming, or simply grotesque and unnerving, Monsters are always weird and hard to look at. Some Monsters have been ‘Domesticated’, in that they were brought to an Anchor and kept out of the Reset for a few weeks, causing their Stuff to settle into a less energetic state. Domesticated Monsters provide a passive source of Stuff for the Anchor’s citizens to utilize.

People, while also comprised of Liquid Stuff, have more definitive forms. Mostly bipedal, two arms, feet at the end of legs, hands at the end of arms, and a head on top of a torso to which the arms and legs are connected. Beyond that, however, sizes, shapes, skin materials, colors, textures, and any other qualifier you could think of are wildly varied. Chitonous Insectoids, Cloud-Clad Celestials, Earth-Skinned Terrans, the vast variety of people is truly overwhelming at times.

As mentioned earlier, the difference between a Monster and a Person is the Soul. We don’t know exactly what the Soul is, but we know it isn’t Stuff, nor is it a Thing. It interacts with Stuff in several ways, particularly Ephemeral Stuff, but it itself is made of a strange immutable material.

Ephemeral Stuff:

When a Monster perishes, whether at the hands of a Person or by natural causes, the Liquid Stuff that makes it up evaporates into Ephemeral Stuff. This Stuff then dissipates into the environment until the next Reset, or is absorbed by a nearby Soul. Once inside the Soul, the Ephemeral Stuff can be used for three primary purposes: 

Currency

Powering Devices

Enhancing one’s abilities via transmutation into Realized Stuff

Currency is fairly self explanatory, for rendering services one expects compensation, and that compensation comes in the form of Ephemeral Stuff.

Powering Devices that convert Artifacts into Dissolute Stuff, Devices that convert Dissolute Stuff into Things, and any other Device that serves any varied purpose.

Realized Stuff is Ephemeral Stuff that has undergone a ‘hardening’ process and become attached to the Soul, enhancing the physical or mental abilities of that Soul. Souls come in an assortment of shapes and sizes, called Classes, that determine what types and how much Realized Stuff can be applied.

Artifacts are rendered into Dissolute Stuff via Foundry Process, and that Dissolute Stuff is then rendered into Things via Forging Process. Many different Devices exist for rendering Dissolute Stuff into Things, as there are countless Things that can be made. Weapons and Armor, Spellbooks and Potions, Ammo and Dungeoneering Tools, even Food and Drink, all are Things forged from Stuff.

What happens when someone gets caught in the Reset?

When a person is outside of an Anchor during the Reset, or when a person falls in battle, their Liquid Stuff dissipates, and their Soul returns to the nearest Anchor. Then, after the Reset, their body is reconstituted using a mixture of the Realized Stuff in their Soul and a reserve of Ephemeral Stuff within the Anchor itself. This reconstitution occurs immediately after the Reset, so if a person dies on day 3 of 7, they’ll need to wait until the next Reset before coming back.

How does difficulty scaling work?

The further you get from an Anchor, the more volatile and dangerous Monsters become, the more twisted and complex Dungeons become, and the more dense and pure Artifacts become. While Dungeons found at the midpoint between Anchors are highly contested, there are areas where Anchors are few and far between, where the loot is plentiful and danger is abundant.

I’ve maxed out the capacity of my Soul! What now?

Nearby to Anchor 55 is a dungeon that always generates in the same spot. A massive obsidian tower reaching up into the blood-red sky, piercing the blasted landscape. Dubbed “The Endless Dungeon”, no adventuring party has been to the end of it, all have perished in the attempt. Rumors of what could be at the top of the tower are abundant, and it has become a sort of bragging right to claim how high one has climbed the Endless Dungeon. If you find yourself needing a challenge after filling your Soul to capacity, give it a try! Once you die, you’ll have room for more Stuff!

[guerdieb]

Y'all, I’ve been worldbuilding a story for three years now. THREE. YEARS !!!!!!

😭😭😭😭😭😭

I’m finally figuring it out but it’s getting tiring 😩

But like, dude. At this point, I don’t think I’m writing ‘just for fun’ anymore 💀💀💀💀

Anyway, maybe will I post about it (because I’ve been desperate to find people who would listen to my nonsense of a story for loooooooong time now), but right now it might be tight (is that even an expression 😭) with my exams - I’m graduating high school this year, yikes - and my English exam is literally at the end of the month (which I am not entirely prepared for 😅✌️)

As happy as I am to FINALLY🥳 be done with high school by the end of June, I am not ready for the exams coming up….. can’t I just skip that and get to fashion school directly ????😭😭😭😭

Anyway, I’ve been rambling for too long. Bye y’all !

Btw, I think I’m gonna start something like :

A GIF FOR A POST’S MOOD !!!!!!!

Here’s this one’s :

Okay, I’m real gone this time.

[monsterblogging]

"I know JK Rowing is a terrible person but her books are so good-"

You sure about that?

I mean, just for a start, have you taken a good look at her fantasy creatures lately? A whole bunch of them are straight-up based on malicious and dehumanizing stereotypes about actual people.

Remember the werewolves? And being a werewolf was made into a kind of metaphor for having AIDS?

And you know how AIDS was first associated with gay men? And how conservatives back in the day were claiming gay men were preying on children in order to convert them to gayness?

Remember how Fenrir Greyback preyed on children in particular? Yeah, she put that subtext in there. She was an adult in the 90's. She knew damn well what she was doing.

Remember the house elves? Remember how most of them loved to serve and needed to have a home and a master or else they just wouldn't know what to do with themselves?

Did you know that's literally what slavers in the American South said about the Black people they kept enslaved? Go look up the happy slave myth.

Do I even need to get into the goblins and the antisemitic tropes they're based on? No, folkloric goblins were not gold-hoarding bankers waiting for their chance to stab humanity in the back.

"But the characters are so good!"

Are you kidding me?

Most of her characters are pretty one-dimensional, including Harry. Her idea of making a morally complicated character is giving a tragic past to a bully. Numerous characters are little more than stereotypes. (Looking at Fleur right now.) Literally anybody, including you, can easily make dozens of characters just as good, if not better. (It doesn't exactly take a lot of character designing skill to go, "hey, actually, having a sad backstory doesn't make it okay to bully children" or "hey, maybe I should not base a character on the first stereotype that pops into my head.")

"But the rest of the worldbuilding!"

Sorry, but her worldbuilding is just as basic as her characters. Magical castles and secret passages are stock tropes. Magical people who keep their true nature secret from humanity is the premise of pretty much every White Wolf TTRPG. Most of her fantasy creatures are just common European fairy tale and folklore creatures with shitty stereotypes projected onto them.

I'm not saying "basic worldbuilding bad." I'm saying, you could do just as good, if not better, with minimal effort.

Also there's her magical bioessentialism, where only Harry's abusive blood relatives could provide him with supernatural protection from Voldemort. Rowling thus effectively declared that non-biological family isn't quite real family, and that abusive biofamily can give you some essential thing that a loving, supportive family that isn't related to you just can't.

The Hogwarts houses are one of the most insidious elements of her worldbuilding. The idea of being sorted gives you a little dopamine hit because wow now you have a li'l niche where you belong!

But the actual function of the houses and sorting system and the House Cup is teaching children to see each other as rivals, and ensure that the most toxic views of the upper class get passed on to every new batch of kids sorted into Slytherin.

Hogwarts effectively prepares children for a dystopia where magic serves to distract its citizens from how nightmarishly awful it is. Economic inequality is so bad that people like Arthur and Molly Weasley can barely afford to put their kids through school, casual sadism is just an accepted norm in everyday society, and non-humans are second class citizens. Rowling sorta acts like she thinks this is a bad thing with certain lines she gave to Dumbledore, but in the end, her special boy protagonist becomes an auror; IE, a defender of the status quo. So.

If you've never seen it, Lily Simpson's video goes into even more detail on how the worldbuilding of Harry Potter is actually incredibly fucked up, and how it betrays small-minded attitudes on Rowling's part. There's no separating the art from this artist, because Rowling's rotten values pour out of nearly every page.

Yes, there are many things in Harry Potter that evoke feelings and inspire people, but there's absolutely nothing in it that this series has a monopoly on. You can find those same experiences in much, much better media.

[projectgalaxyfae]

Hierarchy & Class - Pixiula Ecology & Sociology

Hierarchy Structure

For Pixiula Class is determent by a mix of ones own intelligence, ability to form connection and network, skills, creativity, and wealth. when it come to the role of leader Pixiula tend to have two co-rules witch are often a pair of twins, with each one getting there own title and having to deal with certain aspects of ruling.

The Pixiula Hierarchy is generally set up in the following list: Monarchy > Oracles > Court-royals + Nobility + High Priests > Court-nobles + Priests + Scribes > Artisans + Merchants + Performers + Worriers > Servants + Farmers + Hunters

- hierarchy diagram to be added -

The Monarchy

Pixiula hierarchy structure generally includes a pair of rulers at the top usually given the titles: Nicnevan & Elphane, though it is typically not a absolute monarchy but is in fact a constitutional one. the Monarchy decisions can be overruled and they can even be removed from power: by ether the Oracles if the majority of them chose to or if most people of the domain call for an election.

The Monarchy is often not hereditary as it is more based on nominations and so technically anyone can become the next Monarch but usually the Nominations are ether: members of the current royal family / Court-royals, Nobility or even Court-Nobles.

The Monarchy tends to change in a few ways: death, retirement or voted out via election, if the monarchy is alive when they lose there power and title they can leave a nomination for the next Monarchy but they are not allowed to actively talk and partake in the meeting about the nominations thought they may listen in.

As the Monarchy is a set of twins when one is replaced the other must be as well, thought when it comes to the new Monarchy only one twin need to be nominated but both are often discuses when the choosing of the next monarchy is in prostration. 

The nominations for the Monarchy are often done by the Oracles, and a collation of random picked people from all class levels, in witch they will hold a large meeting to discusses and pick who will be ruling next, these discussions can sometime last several days.

The Nicnevan & The Elphane

The Nicnevan and The Elphane are the titles for the current ruling twins Monarchs of a particular domain, thought they both hold a lot of power they perform different roles and govern different parts of the domain and it's society.

The Nicnevan's Role includes: Intra / Local Domain issues, Privet issues, restricted events and celebrations (naming ceremonies, coming of age ceremonies, ect), civil unrest, protests, laws & law changes

The Ephane's Role includes: Inter / Cross Domain issues, Public issues, public events and celebrations (festivals, marriages, ect), trade agreements, treaties and cross domain wars.

Upper Class

Oracles - Oracles are those who have been special chosen by the Deities, a Oracles job includes: cleansing, blessings, curse braking, leading rituals, and relaying or interpreting divine messages.

Court-royals - the partners of the current Nicnevan & Elphane + the immediate family of partners of the current Nicnevan & Elphane + select Nobles and there immediate family. 

Nobility - non-immediate Family of Monarchy & Court-Royals + family of Oracles + select high class and/or rich families (including notable Court-nobles, Scribes & Artisans)

High Priests - High Priests are those who used to be Priests who have been recognized for there skills and spirituality, with there jobs being to documentation of religious history, poems, songs, and Oracles visions. High Priests also ether work as a spiritual aid for other or as a personal aid to a Oracles.

Middle Class

Court-nobles - non-immediate Family of Nobles + family of High Priests + select high class, and/or rich families (including notable Merchants, Performers, Worriers, & even servants)

Priests - Priests are those who have chosen to devote them selves to The Daities and who's job includes documentation of religious history, poems, and songs, they also work under a High Priests as an aid.

Scribes - Scribes are those who often work as a witter or tutor for the upper class with the job of documenting history, old poems, old stories, old song and teaching children. Scribe also induces the following occupations: poets, authors, accountants, architects, doctors, tactician, & scientist.

Artisans - Artisans are those who often work as ether a: builders, seamstress, tailors, carpenter, blacksmith, glassblower, Jeweler, engineer, painters, artists, and other such jobs. Artisans can ether work personal for a sole high class family or as general businesses that sells to all that can afford.

Merchants - Merchants are those who work as a trader, seller, and transporter of all sort of goods, merchants often work for a particulate high class family, or a business often for a set pay. thought rare some can become independent Merchants that don't relay on pay from a business or high class family

Performers - Performers are those who work as a: musicians, bards, dancer, gymnast, actor, jester, comedians, magician and other such jobs. Performers can ether work solo on the streets, in a travailing troop, or work personally for a high class family

Worriers - Worriers are those often ether work as personal bodyguards to the upper class or those who can afford it, there is also the royal army witch also work as the protectors of the people in witch they also must deal with criminals.

Lower Class

Servants - Servants are those who work for middle and upper class people, to domestic duties and other such jobs. Servants tend to live next on or on a particular area of there employers estate.

Farmers - Farmers are those who ether farm and tend to plants and mushrooms or care for and manage domesticated animals, Farmers often ether sell there produces to make money or work for middle and upper class families on there farms.

Hunters - Hunters are those who make there living by hunting, fishing and foraging, Hunters will separate there spoils by what they wish to use and what they will sell to make money. hunters may be paid by middle and upper class to ether hunt for a particulate thing or to be there personal hunter.

[prokopetz]

The tendency for indie RPGs to turn into massive worldbuilding tomes with perfunctory mechanics bolted to the side is often overstated; however, to the extent that this characterisation is accurate, I don't think it's a coincidence that many of the things that received wisdom within the indie RPG sphere regards as archaic D&D-isms which "real" RPGs can do without are also basic tools for communicating a game's implicit milieu without resorting to pages upon pages of explcit lore.

Like, equipment tables? Sure, maybe nobody "needs" to know how much a hundred feet of rope costs in your setting, but a well-constructed equipment table is a perfect opportunity to showcase a bunch of weird shit that exists in your setting without needing to contrive a specific lore-related excuse to bring it up. You can just drop your setting's equivalent of that table from early iterations of Dungeons & Dragons with stats for thirty different kinds of polearms and let that percolate in your reader's brain.

Or spell lists in fantasy settings. Freeform magic is well and good, but no amount of long-winded exposition about your setting's magic system will ever characterise it even 10% as effectively as a dozen pages of worked examples of specific things the people who live there actually do with it, ideally with flowery titles and entertainingly cryptic asides about the surprising fate of the wizard the spell is named after.

Hell, I'm half-convinced that the reason Powered By the Apocalpyse games took off the way they did is because after a decade-plus of indie RPG designers insisting that character classes are for losers, Apocalypse World reminded folks of what a well-conceived character templating system can do in terms of characterising a milieu!

What I mean to say is that several thousand words of florid microfic has its place, but if you really want to set the creative juices simmering, you don't set up a diorama – you hand out a box of toys.