Geography and scale is that of modern day Earth
Time frame is medieval, typical high fantasy, DnD
Magic users are rare, magic items are very rare
People/races follow roughly stereotypes
North America - tribal society, noble savage/druid/barbarian types
UK - mostly dwarf some halfling and human
Scandanavia - Viking types
Europe - Bureaucratic


Noble Races - The most plentiful of the races of the Earth, forming the largest societies and controlling/governing most of the world.
Human - political power in regions throughout the world
Elf - major political power in central and western Europe
Half Elf - major political power in western, southern Europe, the Mediteranian
Dwarf - major political power in the UK
Dragonborn - major political power in Scandinavia
Tabaxi - major political power in central and South America
Lizardfolk - major political power in parts of the Americas
Loxodon - major political power in in south and East Africa, and India
Leonin - major political power in sub Saharan Africa
Goliath - major political power in far North America and Greenland
Aarakockra - major political power in far Western North America
Who is the political power in Australia

Non Planar Races - races that don’t originate on earth, but can be found on earth, rare
Monster races to be determined.  I kind of favor as non playable, and that these races are as rule evil.

Any race can be found at any place on earth, but (aside from humans) most races are found predominantly as listed below, and would be rare outside of those regions
Dragonborn - Scandanavia
Dwarf - UK
Elf - Europe
Gnome - UK, Europe
Half Elf - Southern and Western Europe, Mediteranian
Halfling - UK
Half Orc - None (no half races with the exception of half elf)
Human - Everywhere
Tiefling - Middle East, Persia, India
Leonin - Africa
Satyr - Mediteranian
Aaracokra - Western North America, Persia
Genasi - Middle East
Goliath - Far North America
Aasimar - Non Planar
Bugbear - Monster
Firbolg - European forests, maybe Australia?
Goblin - Monster
Hobgoblin - Monster
Kenku - Found everywhere, but rare
Kobold - Monster
Lizardfolk - North, Central, South American desert regions
Orc - Monster
Tabaxi - Central and South America
Triton - Sea
Yuan-Ti - Monster
Tortle - Island nations, Non noble
Changeling - Anywhere, extremely rare
Kalashtar - Non planar
Shifter - Balkans, North American forests, rare
Warforged - Mainly Europe
Gith - Non planar
Centaur - Persia
Loxodon - Africa
Minitaur - Africa
Simic Hybrid - Non planar
Vedalkin - Non planar
Verdan - Anywhere, very rare
Locathah - Sea
Grung - South America

In reply to The World (msg # 1):

Some questions:

1) What do you think about using the Risk map?
2) Which countries/regions are allied? Which are actively at war? Which are in a strained peace?
3) Which nations are diverse and incorporated? Diverse and segregated? Diverse and in a state of internal conflict? Homogeneous? Where will a diverse party expect to be welcomed, watched, or refused?
4) Which nations are well controlled by a central authority? Which nations have rulers in name only? (e.g. New England in 1820 vs. Wyoming in 1820)
5) I'm in favor of reducing the number of races sufficiently large enough to be common knowledge, and requiring a roll (History) for less known races as they become relevant. They can be surprises/free agents within their own territory that can be fleshed out if/when it becomes pertinent.
6) Which nations are wealthy? From where does their wealth come? Is their wealth centralized or distributed?
7) Which nations are militarily/violently powerful? From where does their power come? Is their power centralized or distributed?
8) Which nations are diplomatically influential? From where does their influence flow?
9) Which nations are in decline? Ascending? Along which dimensions?
10) Which national norms are known the world-over?
11) What norms dictate the interaction between people of different nations? Between nations?
12) How do nations communicate? Are trade routes well-established? Are they primarily by land, or are there additional sea-routes? Are the sea routes safe? Controlled? i.e. How are we getting around and where are we getting news?

At first glance, Lizardfolk are set up in the rules to be more like swamp creatures.

Being that there are desert lizard IRL, we should maybe replace the breath holding feature with something like fire resistance, or at least hot weather endurance or something.

Have not read Matt's questions.

In reply to Matt (msg # 2):

1)Good idea
2)not yet determined
3)not yet determined
4)not yet determined
5)I am also in favor of reducing the number of races.  I'd go as far as Human, Elf, Half-elf, Dwarf, Halfling, and Gnome (the human-like races), but I didn't want to limit playable races if someone really wants to be something else.  Anyway, I'm cool with whittling down races.
6-11)not yet determined
12)I would say the nations communicate via written/sealed messages delivered by messenger, and in rarer circumstances by magical means.  Trade routes would be well established by both land and sea, but what exactly those routes are is not yet determined.  Land travel and sea travel are both prone to attack by pirates/bandits and monsters, but safety depends on the route.  Merchants and/or governments with a vested interest in a particular route would generally be willing to have it policed/patrolled so that it would be safer.  Travel is slow and generally by foot, horse, or ship.  There are magical means of travel, but not generally or readily available.

feel free to throw in ideas.

I was also thinking that spells would be unique to the caster and would follow a theme for each caster.  You would make up your own spells.  You can reskin book spells.  Themes could be elemental (air, fire, water, etc.), but could also be anything else you can think of as a theme for your caster.  Maybe your spells all have a trickster/mischievous element, or maybe a religious theme, or something like that.  Just something to tie it all together.

In reply to The World (msg # 4):

Sorry -- Those were just the kinds of questions that I think I, as a player, would have about the world that I, as a character, would have some level of general knowledge about, maybe with some kind of loss function for distance from my nation of origin.

Something I was considering for the constitution was that these questions don't need answers, so much as players need assurances that their characters will not misstep--i.e. the GM will intervene before confirming an action where the character would know better than the player. Even if that takes the form of "Your character is not sure that the OK sign means the same thing to a Lizard person as it does to them -- Do you still give the signal?" Character personality traits could determine whether that warning comes more or less frequently as well.

Here is a crack at trade routes on a risk map

I had a thought. A lot of cultures (all?) have some kind of creation story.  Would it be fun to run a campaign that was the creation story of the world that would later be played in?  Maybe the players could be the gods that create the world.  Or the demigods that are the thorn in the gods sides that serve as the catalyst for the creation or something like that.

"Ok, I mate with a rock, then pluck a star out of the sky and put in on the rock, then I eat the rock, then I cut myself in half, and chop up half of myself into bits, then scatter the bits into the sea."

In reply to Ratt (msg # 8):

Right, roll um... a constitution check...

In reply to The World (msg # 9):

But only if you care about the rock's satisfaction.

I like the idea of each playable species (aka race) having their own distribution for each stat.  So halflings might roll 3d6 keep highest 2 for strength, or maybe 4d4 keep highest 3, but for dexterity they would roll maybe 6d6 keep highest 3 or something.  Dwarves might roll 4d8 keep highest 3 for constitution etc.

I agree. I think that is a neat idea. I have a scheme more or less fleshed out for that, which I want to say I posted in an old game that Matt, Allan, and I played in. Or something like that.

In the end though, I like the system I stole from Pathfinder II which is that you take your baseline stats (either from point buy, set, or some low rolling scheme), then modify them with race, class, background, and free.

Of the Tasha's method which throws racial stats out the window and you just get the same number of boosts for a given race, but you can choose different abilities. Make for more variety.

But really, I think that any stat scheme beyond 3d6 straight down is a way of trying to force a specific result, which either leads to disappointment or so much manufacturing that you might as well choose stats.

Sorry, this isn't constructive.