Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR)

Posted by agilord on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @08:20PM
from the ask-hn dept.

Is there any free (both as in beer and as in speech) fantasy world available for any kind of development (game, novel, video, ...)?

I don't know the details, but I'd assume Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons and similar popular ones are full with copyright, licensing, and fees.

( 6 comments | 2 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR) by dubfan on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @08:25PM (#5216989)

How about western/northern European mythology (Norse, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, etc.)? The worlds you name take a huge amount of influence from these.

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Re:Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR) by staunch on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @09:14PM (#5217225)

Yup and history in general works well. Authentic history and embellished history tends to be a very exciting "fantasy" world.

Heck, look at the Total War games:

Shogun: Total War

Medieval: Total War

Rome: Total War

Medieval II: Total War

Empire: Total War

Napoleon: Total War

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Re:Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR) by agilord on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @10:42PM (#5217555)

That is great, and I am personally a great fan of Celts.

However, what's up with the elves, trolls, orcs...? These are well-understood races, are they free to use?

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Re:Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR) by J_Darnley on Thursday February 14, 2013 @08:34AM (#5219343)

I agree. Age of Mythology, for instance, is a great game which combines Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology as three separate groups and stages into one story.

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Re:Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR) by ragatskynet on Thursday February 14, 2013 @03:54AM (#5218520)

I would suggest inventing a new world - it is often a great fun for me to discover new worlds and the stories behind it. I think you don't need to reinvent the wheel, just take the best parts of the fantasy worlds you like and from those develop a new-ish thing. Maybe you can start creating a new franchise - who knows?

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Re:Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR) by deservingend on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @10:45PM (#5217569)

Well Warcraft is basically Lord of the Rings, so you could just take an existing one and modify it.

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