Otherworld · Design Spec

◐ Nothing here is decided yet. This page records what we want, the concept work so far, and the questions we still have to answer. Decisions get added only once they are made.

☤Intent

Where the idea comes from, in Teknium's words. These are goals, not designs.

Touchstones

EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online and Ashes of Creation, in a modernized but stylized version. EverQuest vibes.

Stay in the world

Not too many things that pull people out of the world, e.g. no auto-teleporting into dungeons like modern WoW. Closer to classic WoW, Classic+ and WoW Forever.

Races

A huge set of races, 40+: counterparts to the races of WoW, EverQuest and its expansions, EQ2, DAoC, Ultima Online, Skyrim and other popular MMORPGs, plus the axolotl race and a variety of unique ones.

Classes

A ton of classes with a ton of different play styles, plus things like talents. A good number of spells and skills from trainers, and a huge amount gained through quests and EverQuest-style epic quests for later-game abilities.

Crafting

A super rich trade skill system with a huge range of crafting skills, and a lot of useful stuff made by crafting.

Gear

A ton of different gear slots.

World

A vast world built for exploration.

◈Art Direction

Chosen from the style tests so far. Still open to refinement.

Not too realistic, so the look does not date quickly.
Preferred direction: the gritty, weathered middle style from the style tests (worn materials, muted palette; Diablo IV and Baldur's Gate 3 were the reference points).
Concept work is shown as renders of 3D game models, not drawings, so we can judge how the style would look in game.

Style test: studio turntable of game models

Style test: gameplay frame mockup (HUD text is placeholder)

✦Race Concepts

First-pass race concepts to explore the range. Names, looks, pitches, sizes and groupings are placeholders; nothing about the roster, homelands or traits is decided. The "Echoes" tags note which existing races each concept answers to.

◆ Heartland Humans 6 ✦ Elvenkind 7 ◇ Smallfolk 10 ▣ Giants & Brutes 7 ⚔ Beastfolk 9 ⚗ Spirit, Undead & Made 5 ☤ Otherworld Originals 7

◆Heartland Humans

Human concepts.

Medium

Meridians

Heartland humans of farm, keep and crown. Adaptable, ambitious, the default face of the world.

Setting idea: River-kingdoms of the temperate heartland
Echoes: WoW HumanEQ HumanDAoC BritonSkyrim Imperial

Large

Nordrin

Towering northern humans of longhouse and longship. Cold-proof, loud, superstitious.

Setting idea: Fjord coasts and tundra of the far north
Echoes: EQ BarbarianDAoC NorsemanSkyrim NordWoW Kul Tiran

Medium-Tall

Velsarin

A tall, cloistered caste of humans bred for the arcane. Brilliant, arrogant, and divided by schism.

Setting idea: An island city of libraries and towers
Echoes: EQ EruditeSkyrim BretonEQ2 Erudite

Medium

Qadari

Desert sword-dancers and caravan lords. Fierce honor codes and the best blades in the south.

Setting idea: Dune seas and oasis cities of the south
Echoes: Skyrim RedguardAshes KaelarUO desert nomads

Medium

Brannoch

Highland clans of moor and standing stone. Pipers, druids and berserkers in tartan.

Setting idea: Misty highlands and stone circles
Echoes: DAoC CeltDAoC HighlanderDAoC Avalonian

Medium

Eldmar

Half-elves who belong everywhere and nowhere. Natural go-betweens, rangers and bards.

Setting idea: Borderland towns between forest and field
Echoes: EQ Half ElfDAoC Half ElfAshes Vaelune

✦Elvenkind

Elf concepts.

Medium-Tall

Aelthari

Golden high elves of white spires. Ancient magic, rigid castes, and a long memory for slights.

Setting idea: Marble spire-cities on a sunlit coast
Echoes: EQ High ElfWoW High/Blood ElfSkyrim AltmerAshes Py'Rai

Medium

Sylvar

Wood elves of the treetop city. Hunters, druids and singers who rarely set foot on the ground.

Setting idea: A city of platforms high in giant trees
Echoes: EQ Wood ElfSkyrim BosmerDAoC Elf

Medium

Vael

Underground elves of a glowing mushroom-cavern city. Cruel courts, brilliant necromancers.

Setting idea: A vast bioluminescent cavern city
Echoes: EQ Dark Elf (Teir'Dal)DrowWoW Void Elf

Tall

Nythari

Tall moon-touched elves who keep the old groves. Nocturnal, patient, and very old.

Setting idea: Ancient moonlit forests and barrow-groves
Echoes: WoW Night ElfWoW Nightborne

Medium

Cindral

Ash elves of the volcanic lands. Ancestor worship, smoke-temples, and grudges older than kingdoms.

Setting idea: Ash wastes beneath a smoking mountain
Echoes: Skyrim Dunmer

Medium

Ysmeri

Snow elves of the glacier halls. Pale, quiet, master ice-carvers and wardens of frozen tombs.

Setting idea: Glacier temples in the high north
Echoes: Skyrim Snow ElvesEQ2 Coldain flavor

Medium

Thalassi

Sea elves who live on ships and reef-cities. Navigators, pirates and storm-callers.

Setting idea: Floating reef-cities and the open ocean
Echoes: Skyrim MaormerSea Elves

◇Smallfolk

Small-statured concepts.

Short-Stout

Dverga

Mountain dwarves of the deep halls. Smiths, brewers, and stubborn to the bone.

Setting idea: Carved halls beneath the mountains
Echoes: EQ DwarfWoW DwarfDAoC Dwarf

Short-Stout

Grimmar

Forge-dark dwarves who dug too deep and came back changed. Grey skin, ember eyes, molten craft.

Setting idea: Lava-lit forges far below the dwarven halls
Echoes: WoW Dark IronDuergarSkyrim Dwemer flavor

Small

Cogwyn

Tinker gnomes. Clockwork, alchemy and explosions, roughly in that order.

Setting idea: A clockwork city of gears and steam
Echoes: EQ GnomeWoW GnomeGW2 Asura

Small

Hobben

Halflings of the hill-burrows. Cheerful, lucky, and much better thieves than anyone expects.

Setting idea: Rolling hills dotted with round-door burrows
Echoes: EQ HalflingLotRO HobbitFFXIV Lalafell

Small

Snikkit

Goblin trade-barons. Every deal has fine print, every gadget has a self-destruct.

Setting idea: A smoky port of cartels and auction houses
Echoes: WoW GoblinEQ Goblin

Small

Skrit

Ratfolk of the sewers and back-alleys. Scavengers, information brokers and surprisingly good alchemists.

Setting idea: Tunnels beneath the great cities
Echoes: EQ2 Ratonga

Small

Kobbin

Cave kobolds with big ears and bigger appetites. Excellent miners, trappers and shamans.

Setting idea: Warren-caves beneath northern forests
Echoes: DAoC KoboldEQ Kobold

Tiny

Sylphae

Winged fae of the flower courts. Bright, fickle, and dangerous when slighted.

Setting idea: A city grown inside a giant flower
Echoes: EQ2 Fae

Tiny

Umbrae

Fae who chose the night court. Bat-winged, shadow-touched, and loyal only to their pacts.

Setting idea: A twilight hollow beneath a dead tree
Echoes: EQ2 Arasai

Small

Vulpin

Desert fox-folk caravaners. Scrappy scavengers who can make a home out of anything.

Setting idea: Wandering caravans across the badlands
Echoes: WoW Vulpera

▣Giants & Brutes

Large-statured concepts.

Huge

Gorruk

Ogres. Massive, dim in some ways and frighteningly cunning in others, once rulers of an empire.

Setting idea: Ruined fortress-cities of a fallen ogre empire
Echoes: EQ OgreWoW Ogre

Large

Mossback

Swamp trolls with moss and shelf-fungus growing on their hides. They regenerate almost anything.

Setting idea: Fetid swamp-cities of stilt and bone
Echoes: EQ TrollWoW Troll

Large

Grask

Orc clans of the steppe. Honor-bound warriors and shamans who remember a stolen homeland.

Setting idea: Wind-scoured steppe strongholds
Echoes: WoW OrcSkyrim OrsimerAshes Vek / Ren'Kai

Huge

Jotun

Frost half-giants of the glacier halls. Rune-carvers and berserkers who speak to the cold.

Setting idea: Glacier halls at the top of the world
Echoes: DAoC Midgard giantsGoliathJotnar

Large

Lithari

Stone-skinned mountain folk who are part rock. Slow to anger, impossible to stop.

Setting idea: Quarry-cities in the mountain roots
Echoes: DAoC Troll (Midgard)Rock trolls

Large

Firren

Gentle forest giants. Herders, druids and wardens, slow-speaking and slow to forgive.

Setting idea: Ancient misty woods and giant cairns
Echoes: DAoC FirbolgWoW Furbolg flavor

Huge

Bovarn

Bull-headed nomads of the plains. Totem-carvers, drummers and immovable shield-walls.

Setting idea: Grassland mesas and totem villages
Echoes: WoW TaurenDAoC Minotaur

⚔Beastfolk

Animal-featured concepts.

Medium

Saurrak

Jade-scaled lizardfolk of jungle ziggurats. A fallen empire, cold discipline, and necromancy.

Setting idea: Jungle ziggurats of a fallen empire
Echoes: EQ IksarSkyrim ArgonianEQ2 Sarnak

Medium-Tall

Rakhari

Feline nomads, once of the moon, now of the savanna. Proud warriors and wandering bards.

Setting idea: Savanna kraals and a city in a great canyon
Echoes: EQ Vah ShirEQ2 KerraSkyrim KhajiitFFXIV Hrothgar

Small

Pondren

Frogfolk paladins and shamans of the marsh. Pious, earnest and unexpectedly brave.

Setting idea: Marsh-temples of reed and stone
Echoes: EQ Froglok

Large

Vargr

A cursed people who wear the wolf. Gothic nobility by day, the hunt by night.

Setting idea: Walled gothic towns in the dark pine forests
Echoes: WoW WorgenSkyrim werewolves

Large

Ursari

Bearfolk monks and brewers of the mountain monasteries. Jovial until they aren't.

Setting idea: Terraced monasteries in the misty peaks
Echoes: WoW PandarenWoW Furbolg

Medium

Strix

Owl-headed scholars of the cliffside libraries. Wizards, enchanters and silent scouts.

Setting idea: Cliffside libraries above the clouds
Echoes: WoW Owlkin / ArakkoaD&D Owlin

Large

Gargath

Winged gargoyle-folk from a sunken abyss. Stone-hided, honor-bound, terrible to fight.

Setting idea: A city carved into the walls of an abyss
Echoes: UO Gargoyles (Stygian Abyss)

Medium-Tall

Drakari

Dragon-blooded people with horns and scales. Proud, long-lived and caught between two worlds.

Setting idea: Volcanic aeries of the dragon isles
Echoes: WoW DracthyrFFXIV Au RaEQ2 Sarnak

Tall

Seraen

Horned, hoofed exiles from a world that died. Crystal-craft and faith, hunted by old enemies.

Setting idea: Crashed crystal-ships turned into cities
Echoes: WoW DraeneiTieflingAshes Tulnar flavor

⚗Spirit, Undead & Made

Undead, plant, construct and elemental concepts.

Medium

Hollowed

The risen dead who kept their wills. Bitter, practical and very hard to frighten.

Setting idea: A ruined capital under a plague-sky
Echoes: WoW ForsakenEQ2 undead

Medium

Vesperi

Vampiric nobility who broke from their masters. Elegant, hungry and politically lethal.

Setting idea: A walled twilight city of manor-houses
Echoes: EQ2 FreebloodSkyrim Vampires

Medium-Tall

Kindled

Living constructs of brass and stone, woken by a soul-spark. New to the world and asking questions.

Setting idea: A silent vault-city left by its makers
Echoes: Skyrim Dwemer automatonsWarforgedWoW Mechagnome

Medium

Verdani

Plant-born people who wake from the pods of a great tree, each born with a dream.

Setting idea: The roots and boughs of a mother-tree
Echoes: GW2 SylvariWoW Dryad

Medium

Emberkin

Fire-touched people descended from a planar pact. Hair of flame, tempers to match.

Setting idea: Obsidian cities on a lava sea
Echoes: GenasiEQ fire planar flavor

☤Otherworld Originals

Concepts with no direct counterpart in other games.

Small-Medium

Lotl

Cheerful axolotl-folk of stilt villages and flooded caves. Regrow limbs, never stop smiling.

Setting idea: Lakeside stilt villages and flooded caverns
Echoes: Original (axolotl)

Small

Sporekin

Mushroom-folk of the deep woods. A shared spore-mind, alchemists and slow, strange druids.

Setting idea: Fungal forests and fairy rings
Echoes: Original (myconid)

Medium

Lumoth

Moth-folk lantern-keepers drawn to light and lore. Dusty wings, soft voices, uncanny seers.

Setting idea: Lantern-lit cliff villages at the edge of night
Echoes: Original (moth-folk)

Medium

Carapax

Crabfolk armorers of the tidal reefs. They molt their armor and sell the old shells.

Setting idea: Tidepool forges and reef markets
Echoes: Original (crab-folk)

Medium-Large

Testudar

Tortoise sages who carry their homes and libraries on their backs. Patient beyond reason.

Setting idea: Wandering, slow caravans along the old roads
Echoes: Original (tortoise-folk)

Medium

Scarabim

Beetle-folk architects of the desert tombs. Iridescent shells, sacred geometry, sun-worship.

Setting idea: Sun-temples and tomb-cities in the deep desert
Echoes: Original (beetle-folk)

Medium-Tall

Lumen

Crystalline people grown in deep geodes. They hum, refract light, and grow wiser as they grow.

Setting idea: Singing geode-caverns
Echoes: Original (crystal-folk)

?Open Questions

Foundational calls to make before most systems can be designed. Options listed are examples, not recommendations.

PvP and factionsUndecided

How players are divided and whether they fight each other.

DAoC-style realms (2 or 3 sides)EverQuest-style faction web (per city and group standing)Open-world PvP (Ultima Online / Ashes)PvE-first with opt-in PvP

Death penaltyUndecided

How much dying costs.

EverQuest corpse runs and XP lossClassic WoW ghost run and durabilitySomething in between

GroupingUndecided

How much leveling depends on groups.

Group-centric like EverQuestSolo-viable like classic WoWA mix by zone or level range

Pace and progressionUndecided

Level cap, time to max level, and how power splits between levels, quests, gear and alternate advancement.

Character modelUndecided

Attributes, resources (health, mana, endurance, others), resistances, XP curve.

Combat and effectsUndecided

Hit, miss, crit, mitigation and threat rules, and whether spells, procs, consumables and crafted bonuses share one effect system.

ItemsUndecided

The gear slot list, what an item can carry (stats, effects, sockets, durability, binding), and how crafted and dropped gear relate.

Class rosterUndecided

Which classes, roles and play styles; trainer vs quested abilities; epic quest structure; talent model.

Trade skillsUndecided

Which gathering and crafting professions exist and how they feed each other.

WorldUndecided

Continents, homelands, starting cities, travel, size.

Engine and serverUndecided

Technology for client and server.

Unreal Engine 5 + SpacetimeDBUnreal Engine 5 + RedwoodUnity + AtavismOther

↳Changelog

v0.2 · Removed pillars, lineage, tech and art rules that stated undecided design as fact. Page now separates intent, concept work and open questions.
v0.1 · First draft with 51 race concepts.