This is a piece of world design I've been toying with over the last few years. It's an attempt to create a low fantasy setting that touches on the tropes of traditional fantasy races without requiring the ubiquitous presence of elves, dwarves, etc.

It outlines a nameless, implied setting where non-humans are the exception. Several human cultures have been designed as drop-in replacements for the common races in a traditional fantasy setting. The idea being that, by doing so, you can ground pre-existing fantasy roleplay material without much effort.

Grounding Fantasy

The game features humankind for a reason. It is the most logical basis in an illogical game.

• Dungeon Master's Guide by Gary Gygax, 1979

Similarly, Gary sought to ground his fantasy in order to maintain a mostly logical setting and do so by limiting the non-human elements, in this case playable character races. Which begs the question: what does a mostly logical fantasy look like?

A better term is perhaps "consistent" or at least internally consistent. When we think about fantasy we mostly (there's that word again) imagine a psuedohistorical setting. When we think about low fantasy, we imagine a world that has the trappings of historical realism and where magical elements merely intrude. Or, to put it simply, where magic is the exception and not the rule.

We do this because, once you infer the ramifications of ubiquitous magic, psuedohistoricism becomes inconsistent and inconsistency breaks the world, making it unbelievable and therefore unrelatable. Or so the mostly-logic follows.

Of course, tastes may vary. Modern players have higher fantasy expectations and are happier to hand wave inconsistent magic. And, to be fair, only the lowliest of low fantasies doesn't require some handwaving. Indeed, isn't handwaving what we might call entertainment? Isn't magic the very definition of handwaving? We want to be transported, to slip the grey shackles of mundanity and flee to worlds unfettered by our physical limitations.

Yet, I think there is still an appetite for grounded fantasy. Some of us don't feel transported by shining fantasies. We look at the real world and wonder why a world with magic would be any better. It might even be worse. We're not sure and so the question lingers.

In this case grounded fantasy offers us an escape, but only an escape to certainty. In a low fantasy the world is assuredly grubby and cruel so the question no longer lingers. Our most cynical fears are confirmed and extinguished, even if just for a short time.

That's the somewhat cold and clammy entertainment of it all.

And, without a doubt, humans, in all their grubbiness and cruelty, ground our fantasy the best.

The Fantasy Itself

This work was written to the following principles:

• Replace common fantasy races with human cultures ("folk")
• That still touch upon the tropes of the originals
• While avoiding bio-essentialism,
• Avoiding racist stereotypes
• And avoiding appropriating real-world cultures.

Each folk lists the tropes it seeks to replace. A goblin tribe can be re-interpreted as a band of hidling bandits. A dwarven smith might translate to a holder exile, sharing his highcraft with the common folk.

The various folk are described without judgement. All cultures have their arseholes and all the folk here certainly do, but they aren't defined by them. I've given some examples of both "good" and "bad" factions. These aren't prescriptive and you are invited to create your own.

The Descendants

Tropes: high elves, dark elves

The Ancestors are long gone but, as with all things related to these mysterious beings, nothing truly dies. The Ancestors escaped annihilation by disembodying their spirits. Now they return as the descendants: souls reincarnated, cursed to live life after life as mere shadows of their former selves.

Descendants are reborn randomly, scattered among the common folk, isolated, weak and broken. Through their many lives they have forgotten much, yet their sorcery still eclipses even the greatest wizards of the common age. They jealously horde this knowledge and prefer to live alone, even among their own kind.

The Fourth Schooling

It is said that three descendants have convened for a legendary Fourth Schooling in the city of Laggard. From across the lands sages and students flock, eager to learn at the side of the very Ancestors themselves or, failing that, grab whatever scraps might fall from their table.

Yet, is all as it seems? Some mutter about fool's gold and wonder to themselves how one might tell a true descendant from a mere mummer. Is this actually a Fourth Schooling, or is it just a canny gambit to entrap the gullible and ensnare what arcane knowledge they might have?

Agra

How the mighty Ancestors have fallen that they must partake of the dead to sustain themselves. Take Agra, who haunts graveyards, picking delicate folds of decrepit flesh off the bones of the dead. All so that he might escape the circle of reincarnation his kind are trapped in.

As his body rots before his eyes it gains a new quality that is, if not vitality, a sturdiness as of flesh embalmed. A quality that prolongs, if it does not exactly sustain, a form of life.

Why does he tolerate it? Because of the gift of time. Time for Agra to ferret out a fairer kind of immortality. Time to consolidate his power. Time to gather other descendants together. Time for the Ancestors to return once again.

Holders

Tropes: dwarves, duergar, kobolds

Holders are the remnants of the ancient Craft Empires who survived the war with the Ancestors by retreating to their holds: vast complexes hidden deep in mountains or far underground. Here, they continue to hoard the knowledge of their legendary highcrafts while the rest of the world descends into a dark age.

Holders are highly communal in nature and identify strongly with their hold. All is shared, in particular child-rearing. Holders are considered children of their hold, having no family names, and are known primarily by given names and secondarily by the name of their hold.

As the centuries pass the holds are starting to wane, falling to war and age. Many holders are forced to leave the comforts of their ancient homes for the lands beyond.

Clan Obel

For Clan Obel their hold has become a lightless tomb. These holders dwelled too long in their darkened halls. Their bellies have grown hungry and their hearts cold.

At night they strike out, ensnaring travellers with their highcraft weapons and dragging them underground so they might steal their food, set them to work in their mines or worse, much, much worse. Those few who escape return aged beyond their years.

Tread carefully through the Cradle Mountains.

Hidlings

Tropes: fey, gnomes, goblins, halflings, wood elves

If you're one of the few who have heard the tales of the hidlings (and believe them) they are a rare folk who are notable for hiding from the rest of common civilization. Sometimes they are close, living alongside other folk in secret, and sometimes apart, hiding in the remote or forgotten places that dot the lands.

The stories speak of a rule which defines their existence: no hidling may reveal where they sleep to non-hidling. A simple law, yet it's not always clear what it means precisely.

Some hidlings prefer to remain completely hidden, living cautiously so as never to be seen or heard. Others travel far and wide, never staying long enough in the same place to become known. A few live otherwise settled lives, only returning to hidden quarters at night.

Hidlings form into tight-knit bands such as clans, families or small settlements. A few survive through forage, theft or banditry, but most simply get on with their lives, working trades and raising their families.

What all hidlings fear most is having their homes discovered. This usually means displacement as a new retreat must be found. For nomadic hidlings this isn't usually too much of a problem, but for their settled kindred this can be catastrophic. All too often discovery of a hidling sanctum can lead to extreme measures to silence witnesses.

All hidlings are known to each by secret gestures and signs.

Summary

On reflection the above is a little too idiosyncratic for its intended purpose. It certainly has legs but it's a bit fiddly and outré for your standard fantasy roleplay game. It might work as a standalone setting, but then it suffers from some blandness. Which is a shame. It remains here to serve as either a lesson or conversational piece for further thought and discussion.

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