3 ms·
Ask HN: Free fantasy world (e.g. not LotR)
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.
- dubfan 14y agoHow about western/northern European mythology (Norse, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, etc.)? The worlds you name take a huge amount of influence from these.
- staunch 14y agoYup 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
- agilord 14y agoThat 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?
- J_Darnley 14y agoI 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.
- deservingend 14y agoWell Warcraft is basically Lord of the Rings, so you could just take an existing one and modify it.
- ragatskynet 14y agoI 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?