The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I generally start with climate and sources of income. Climate informs fashion, so generally you can take a climate that corresponds to a real-world society's climate and use that as fashion inspiration (do they wear furs? How much clothing is considered acceptable? How do they think about hair?). Sources of income will give you some ideas about where towns are, some minor cultural stuff, and what people are going to start wars over. So if there's, say, a super magical grove with healing powers, maybe a sick king from the neighboring country decides to yoink it. Get a little bit of war, with results depending on your themes. How does the grove feel about a war being fought over it? That can have interesting results. Income will give you things like "ok it's by the river, we've got a fisherman population. The poorer population eats the fairly untasty water plants that grow in the river, since fish is a little more expensive. Rivers let you set up windmills, meaning the farmers who are spread out across the land have reason to come to this town to grind their wheat. Maybe they all come once a year, and everyone has a fun party! The fishing town might also have, I don't know- some fancy snails in the river that can be made into really pretty dye. That means people will want to make clothing there, so we've got another industry. The clothing makers will need cotton from the farmers, or maybe flax. Since it's high-end clothing, nobles and rich people have a reason to visit the town. How do they interact with the town? Do they come around festival time, or try to avoid such peasant fripperies?". That's one town/city, depending how many other industries you add to it, and how it interacts with its neighbors. Macro stuff is often more along the lines of "is this city valuable enough for people to want to raid it?". A wealthy kingdom will only do this for a really shiny prize, but the poorer barbarian sorts have lower standards. Feel free to crib shamelessly from real historical economies and wars- we've spent thousands of years thinking up ways to make money and reasons to fight each other, so there's plenty to draw on. Good luck, and hope some of this was helpful!

So earlier today I was working on my original story, and I was writing a scene where the protagonist enters a room which is basically a library containing more or less all the books in the country. And I just put in some big numbers for the dimensions of this library and the size of the shelves, and then I thought "hang on a second... this is a lot of books." I did some rough sums and it turned out the library would contain literal millions of books, which is way too many.

But that then got me thinking: how many books would be a realistic amount? So I decided to try and calculate it... and realised I didn't have the numbers. Because I don't even know the population of the country. I've done basically no proper world-building. There's been a bit of work on the magic systems and languages, but barely anything on history, geography, culture...

And to be honest, I don't really know where to start: I've never learnt to build a world before. It's the disadvantage of writing fanfiction: all the world-building's already been done for you. So I guess I need help: how do you go about building a fantasy world? Any tips, ideas, recommendations?

Thank you!

Sometimes you can't even keep the smallest candle burning. Luckily 'I hope that didn't happen' is a fairly small hope to have extinguished, in the scheme of things, especially in light of Delta's comment.

[Post extended to clarify meaning.]

hS

The impression I got from Minh's post was that it was the other Discord - the wossname, Whateley Academy - that was doing that. I certainly would prefer to believe that's the case. :)

hS

I’m not going to get into your political views because I have neither the time nor the energy to get into that kettle of fish.

We have made it clear from the start that it’s the constant ranting that we’re sick of (and to a lesser extent the disregard for our whole no swearing rule). I really suggest you go read the Constitution—really read it—and if this keeps happening regardless then yes, I am absolutely re-opening the vote.

That being said, I’m appalled and dismayed that you were talked about behind your back in the Discord. If I’d been awake while it was going on, I would have told them to take it up on the Board.

So for everyone who was involved: I don’t care what beef y’all have with Minh, that was out of line and inappropriate.

Per the Constitution, section 2, article 6.5: “The rules of civility and respect do not disappear outside PPC community spaces, or while talking about someone. Don’t engage in bullying behaviour, and don’t say anything about another PPCer you wouldn’t say to their face.”

I don’t think I need to say how disappointed I am at this point.

You know, there are many people on the Board today who, through no fault of their own, are sane. Some of them were born sane. Some of them became sane later in their lives.

It is up to people like you and me, who are out of our tiny little minds, to try and help these people overcome their sanity. You can start in small ways with ping-pong ball eyes and a funny voice, and then you can paint half of your body red and the other half green, and then you can jump up and down in a bowl of treacle going "squawk, squawk, squawk!" And then you can go "Neurhhh! Neurhh!" and then you can roll around on the floor going "pting pting pting--!"

(This message brought to you by The Reverend Arthur Belling, Vicar of St. Loony-Up-The-Cream-Bun-and-Jam, and his python, Monty)

HELLO MUSICALS ARE FANTASTIC

I’m also working my way through Le Mis, and although it’s long and literally puts me to sleep some nights, I’m really starting to enjoy it.

For your newbie gift, you may have a hat that definitely was not stolen from the Newsies prop box.

The mere fact that this conversation exists is mentally draining enough I feel lightheaded when I think about it. I do not want this to happen again.

You seem to think I said "I would like you to explain your position more clearly over multiple Board posts."

What I meant was "I do not care a whit for your nuclear takes and I am not alone in this, knock it the hell off."

My apologies for not being clear.

Mate, I thought we thoroughly established a long time ago that I don't disagree with the politics in question. I have no problem with feminism, homosexual relationships, climate change (something that I strongly believe needs to be addressed before we deal with any of our societal issues), alternate sexuality and gender situations (which I will refute that I am strictly neutral on, since I don't really give a damm whether someone was born male or female or whatever; and thus will treat such people as I'd treat someone of the gender they present as/treat someone as I would if they lack gender and wish to be treated as such/ect), or any of the other controversial issues that have come up in the shows I have such a negative opinion on.

I'm sorry if I've come across in a way that is contrary to my actual opinion. I do have communicative issues, and I don't always phrase my arguments and explanations in a way that conveys my exact meaning. Remember that massive argument that I had with you all when people were calling me right wing, and I was trying to prove I was left wing? I have trouble with stuff like that, and it got really stressful. I don't deal with stress well, and when multiple people are accusing me of belonging to the political right; I feel pressured, and thus I end up digging myself a deeper hole, so to speak.

Look, if you want to ban me, that's the community's decision. I won't argue it, I won't come back with sockpuppet accounts like a certain individual (you all know who I mean), and I'll respect that you don't want me here. I'm not so immature that I'll throw a tantrum about it, nor am I the sort to dump responsibility for my actions on the shoulders of others. If I'm banned from the community, it's not because 'other people are horrible' or 'it's bullying'; it's because I've been a ass, and I made the wrong choices.

I understand that I'm a abrasive person with a tendency to rant about things I dislike; and I understand that this community has told me before that what I'm doing is Not OK. To be fair, I really didn't understand that you meant that the rants were the problem. I thought everyone meant that talking about my dislike for something in a direct manner was the problem, not just displaying dislike in a indirect manner.

In the end though, I have done wrong by everyone, and in the end; all I can say is that I'm sorry. It means nothing, but it's all I can say. I've made an ass of myself, I've damaged my reputation more than I've contributed towards anything productive, and I've earned the ill-will of this community. It's now increasingly apparent to me that I'm just not very well liked online. I thought that people on Whateley Academy at least valued me as a member of the community, but then I walked in on the Discord talking about me behind my back and saying they hated me. That's one of the three online communities I'm actively involved in right now, and this group is one of the two others. I do need to fix my ways.

Tl;dr? Sorry.

Or fourthing, or whatever the number is. I hereby make it known that I think re-opening the vote is a good idea that should be acted upon.

I downloaded it, but how do I sign in? I think I might have made another profile by accident? I'm kinda new at this, so...

Every time I open it I go to the new account and I don't want that. I also ended up having to use another email server, which does not help...

If Doctor Who wanted to be diverse, they'd have picked a ginger for their 13th Doctor. Only 2% of humanity is ginger. ~50% is female. Why not a ginger man or woman? ;)

The Orville has two gay characters, one of whom is transgender, and they have a transgender child. Do I have a problem with Commander Bortus, Klyden, and Topa?

No, because- while the show spent a entire episode on the matter- it isn't brought up at every available opportunity, or used as the entire personality for the character.

BSG replaced Dirk Benedict's Starbuck with Katee Sackhoff's Kara Thrace. Do I disagree with the replacement of a male character with a female character?

No, because Katee Sackhoff does a much better job in the role than Benedict, while making her Starbuck distinct from the original Starbuck. On the other hand, Jodie Whittaker just rips off a combination of David Tennant and Matt Smith for her Doctor's unique personality. She doesn't make the character distinct.

The Expanse has a bunch of people from many different ethnic backgrounds, including Pacific Islanders, Asians (a ethnic group which I belong to, just as an aside), and caucasians. All are equally represented, and the show just presents the situation without comment. Do I dislike this diversity? No, because it isn't forced.

The Orville, Expanse, and BSG are very diverse shows. I love all of them for their approach to storytelling, and their avoidance of being overly preachy and heavy handed. It's not that I dislike woman and ethnic groups having representation. I dislike it when that's focused on to the detriment of storytelling or the fact that television is meant to entertain first, and inform last (unless it's a documentary).

It’s not the diversity I disagree with; but the hijacking of good storytelling for the purpose of being overly diverse, and creating forced diversity.

Case in point: The Expanse is diverse, and does it without having to remind the veiwer both in-show; and in IRL interveiws that x character is diverse. Result? The expanse is a well-recievedshow.

Doctor Who S11&12 spends a ridiculous amount of time focusing on political messaging to the detriment of the story and overall quality. Result? Doctor who has had steadily declining ratings.

Many a psychologist has commented that I- along with most other neurodiverse individuals- have trouble expressing things in shades of grey, so to speak. I’m self-aware enough to realise this, and I do recognise it’s a problem.

Just one I’m struggling to fix.

My favourite companion is Ace. Y’know, the one who hit a Dalek with a baseball bat.

I don’t disagree the screaming women bit was sexist as hell. I don’t disagree that I’ve come across as a wee bit sexist.

But don’t you dare assume for one second that I’m outright sexist. I love the diversity in The Expanse. My favourite character is Naomi Nagata, and she’s about as diverse as you can get.

It’s not that I don’t disagree with the politics. It’s the heavy-handed fisting of propoganda these shows try to do to the audience that really gets me mad. Good writers should use allegory to convey messages. Not have the Doctor stand up at the end of each episode and lecture everyone watching. That’s just poor screenwriting.

They're both good books that I'd recommend, but they're rather different in terms of mood.

Left Hand was a rather serious sort of book. I came out of it satisfied with how the plot went and the experience of reading it, but mostly with a bunch of thinking about government and xenophobia and how biology shapes culture and so on. It's a book that's meant to get you thinking about things while still being enjoyable, and it does that. (And I should probably read more of the Hainish Cycle at some point, since I've only done Left Hand and The Dispossesed)

Long Way, on the other hand, was a much lighter book overall. It left me wandering off to AO3 to get more of that multi-species found family fluff. That also might've been a result of some of the less fluffy plot points though. It's got a lot of nice worldbuilding (especially compared to a lot of space opera) and is a fun read that makes some important point but doesn't have that same philosophical bent as Le Guin's works. The sequels are similar - good stuff, makes a point, but it doesn't have that same feeling of contemplative weight.

• Tomash, rambling his opinions about books at the Board at 11 PM

I got it. Thanks!

I'm so glad we share a lot of fandoms:)

*Tries not to cry because someone has actually heard of Elisabeth.

I've heard great things about Waitress, but I'm not familiar with it. Perhaps I shall listen to it this weekend:)