General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
It reminded me of my previous post (above) and made me think- depending on how you think of corals mechanically (IOW, if they can be targeted by "Awaken"), you could potentially have some truly alien and powerful intellects in the deep waters of the world. Possibly even a challenge to Aboleths and the like.
Coral colonies, as I recall, grow by cloning themselves. Imagine, if you will, a coral polyp being awakened, then cloning itself over and over again, for thousands of years...a colony of intelligent clone-siblings.
A coral colony could be a truly formidable opponent, especially if the sedentary lifestyle of coral is unsatisfactory to the awakened polyps...and they go insane.
OTOH, they could also have quite a sophisticated culture.
Possibilities. Possibilities...
One key problem is that coral colonies are, well, stuck. They can expand, slowly, but they can't really move themselves once they are established. Awakened or not they simply lack the physical means. As for what a coral intelligence might be like, Corey Doctorow has a story that addresses that somewhat. At least, I know I read a story like that and I think Corey Doctorow wrote it. His stuff is CC, so check out "I, Rowboat". I think that's the right story. Even if it isn't it's good and should be freely available to you.
One key problem is that coral colonies are, well, stuck.
Right...which is why I said:
Quote:
A coral colony could be a truly formidable opponent, especially if the sedentary lifestyle of coral is unsatisfactory to the awakened polyps...and they go insane.
Imagine being a human stuck in the deep sea for a few thousand years...You'd probably be a nutter.
I was thinking more along the lines of them using their time to develop unique magics or psionic abilities that let them expand their zone of influence.
They might even be a good alternative to the Elder Brains of Illithid biology...or there could be a little magical convergent evolution, and they could develop a motile form...
Let us gather a mighty hoard of adventure and campaign ideas, compressed to what was most important about them.
From me:
Tides of Homeland: Four heroes with no place to call home come together to stop a mind flayer's attempt to save his people by destroying all other races. The mind flayer seeks an ancient magic to drive all the world mad with rage, and after his first defeat he secrets himself into the mind of one of the heroes, Harley, a lost and emotionally vulnerable woman whom he uses to further his plots. Only the friendship formed within the group can free her soul and save the world.
The Fall: The son of a demon summoner discovers that his mother's dying bargain was to trade his soul for the death of a paladin order that had wronged her. The problem is, the demon never fulfilled its bargain, and the son finds himself in the middle of an infernal game. Temptations abound -- power, fame, and vengeance -- but even the corrupted can still fight a greater evil.
Winds of Change: A group of adventurers hire on as bodyguards for Vidania, an air mage apprentice on a pilgrimage to find places of great aeromantic power. In their journeys they discover an ancient air mage who was thwarted many times in the past is attempting to dissolve the world into the elemental plane of air. Will the winds blow in the party's favor, or has this villain's luck changed?
Scourge of the Burning Sky: As a world-spanning empire falls, generals and archmages scramble for power, threatening to destroy the world amid their warfare. Refugees from the empire assemble in a resistance and one by one take down these new emperors, walking the line between saving the world, and becoming its next tyrants. All the 'ancient artifacts' that might exist in a fantasy setting are created and used in this war, but the most powerful force is held by a would-be ally, hidden in ever-reflecting secrets.
The Graveyard of Steel: Three creators of a steamtech doomsday device flee to keep their masterpiece from destroying the world. Heroes could have discovered the true conspiracy and saved the world, but the best hope for salvation is a group of criminals, murderers, and madmen. The world (not to mention the GM's sanity) is doomed.
On a covert mission to infiltrate the organization of Sir Nicholas, a famous dragon-slayer, the PCs must face two wyrms -- the blind serpent Ugra Vyakti in his lair where the eyes of a dead mad god sear insanity into the minds of any who carry light, and the leper drake Wazir Ghul Khota, who holds a kidnapped princess in his canyon river labyrinth where he intends to sacrifice her on the summer solstice to break his curse -- in order to win Sir Nicholas's trust. Then they undertake their true mission: to fight alongside Sir Nicholas as he aids the prince of a warlike nation in a battle against Lsi Rae Bo, lord of the four winds, a mighty elemental dragon whom the prince must defeat in order to succeed his ailing father. Fighting atop a sentient airship in the chaos of a giant storm, the PCs must sabotage Sir Nicholas's efforts and ensure the prince dies, without implicating the nation that hired them.
__________________ Ryan "RangerWickett" Nock
Author of the War of the Burning Sky serialized novel, free at EN World. Part Two, The Irons Have Tolled, now available.
Reign of Steel, the King Returns: This one's set in the GURPS Reign of Steel setting, where the world has been taken over by Artificial Intelligences, and humans scrape out an existence where they can. In this world, the PCs are reborn Knights of the Round Table, questing to reawaken Merlin and Arthur and return England to humanity.
Lifewarpers: An heir of House Vadalis, the breeders and animal-herders of Eberron, starts breeding enhanced human shock troops to replace warforged... and intends to restart the Last War to make sure there's plenty of customers. Little does he know that the daelkyr are behind his inspiration, and seek to spread their lifecrafted creations through his House throughout the world.
__________________ What can change the nature of a man?
Gateway to a Thousand Worlds
Sometime in the 21th century, a strange gateway buried under some half-ruined medieval castle was found, an arcane gateway to worlds beyond. Now, the Government sends you - an elite squad of soldiers and scientists - to investigate what lies beyond. And there, in the darkness, lie other worlds: worlds where magic is still alive, worlds warped and different, worlds ranging from the familiar to the alien. While your modern weapons give you an edge against the lesser horrors found behind the gateway, the greater horrors can only be fought and defeated by utilizing their own magic against them - and they must be defeated, lest the devour our earth!
__________________ In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.
- Korgoth about Classic Traveller
For our Mother Earth!
In 2111 AD it has finally happened. Earth was successfully invaded and turned into yet another subject-world of the alien Imperium. But not all is lost: some of earth's colonies managed to escape subjugation, joining forces with the Imperium's sworn enemies: the reptilian Renya-kin of Nayen Tellana. The PCs are the human and Renya-Kin crew of a privateering spacecraft, out to exact revenge on the Imperial fiends, terrorize the enemy's trade-routes and bring back much needed supplies to the besieged colonies. But can they survive against the cybernetic horrors used as space-marines by the Imperium?
__________________ In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.
- Korgoth about Classic Traveller
Off the coast of the great Celestial Kingdom in the far West, are a chain of islands ruled by feudal warrior lords. Waves of raiders from the sea have plagued several of the remote islands now for a few generations. These raiders steal the few valuables possessed by the poor inhabitants of the isles, and these inhabitants have begun to fight back. Instead of fighting them directly, they fight using methods of steath, infiltration and fear against these raiders and their trained monkey and parrot minions. Which side will win in the end?
__________________ "Y'know, I think my favorite thing about being a hero of destiny is that it gives you all kinds of narrative justification to just slay any ol' jerk who gets in your way." -- 8-bit Theater
"i did not serve with napolean in his artillery. but i did play wargames with him and his men." -- diaglo
Just discovered this beauty of a thread, and like to add my own campaigns:
Mage Wars
Centuries ago, the Mages waged their wars. From their towers, constructed both using their own magic and the engineering knowledge of the Dwarves, they waged war upon eachother.
The lesser mages soon fell, as did the temples of the priests, and everyone and everything else that happened to be in the line of fire. Only once the remaining mages where out of reach did the war halt.
The world's population was decimated. Races intermingled, orc mixing with human, halfling mixing with elf. Over time, the concept of Gods was forgotten, people focussing on everyday life, with the constant threat of a Mages Tower reminding everyone that the use of Magic of any kind was a sure way to get you killed. Swift, Violently, and without concern of bystanders.
Now, something has changed. A small group discovers that there are magic users active again. Some of them among their own. The effect is local, which is made painfully obvious when they enter the realm of another mages tower and witness the destruction of an associated magic user there.
Theirs is the task to gather information from the ruins of the small mage towers, to rekindle the believe in the Gods, to fight the evil magic users that rise alongside them, and to find out what happened.
(campaign with an abundance of half-races, with the 'evil' race being Dwarves (because they helped the Mages build their towers). PC's used currently include a half-ogre barbarian, a half-stonechild Cleric, an Elan Psion, a tiefling Wizard, an elf Ranger and a Draconian Dragon Shaman. )
Time Campaign
A small group of neanthertalls go on their quest to bring down the mighty mammoth.
Then, after centuries, stoneage people rember their former lives and adventures as Neanthertalls.
Again, centuries later, memories are awakened, the same group realising they have met before. They start to wonder about the reason, and start encountering others that live beyond the single life. Where does it lead to?
(A campaign with rotating DM's, each subsequent DM starting after several 100 years with the same characters, but (obviously) in a new time period, in a semi-historical setting located in the Netherlands. We've gone from neanthertalls 'till 30 BC now, and we're not sure where it will end....)
__________________ If you, at any time, downloaded a conversion from the conversion library, would you be so kind as to upload it? The conversion library seems to be gone forever, and rather than waiting for recovery, or new creations, we would like to try to recollect earlier work. Thank you: Attempt to rebuild the conversion library. Please upload conversions to 3.5 here.
Last edited by Herzog; 13th August 2009 at 04:58 PM..
Damn, I had a pretty good idea for this thread a few days ago and now I can't remember what the heck it was.
__________________ "Y'know, I think my favorite thing about being a hero of destiny is that it gives you all kinds of narrative justification to just slay any ol' jerk who gets in your way." -- 8-bit Theater
"i did not serve with napolean in his artillery. but i did play wargames with him and his men." -- diaglo
Imagine, if you will, a coral polyp being awakened, then cloning itself over and over again, for thousands of years...a colony of intelligent clone-siblings.
A coral colony could be a truly formidable opponent, especially if the sedentary lifestyle of coral is unsatisfactory to the awakened polyps...and they go insane.
OTOH, they could also have quite a sophisticated culture.
Possibilities. Possibilities...
The easy way to do it would be to use the Treant as a template, make it a Coral Colony - some kind of aquatic creature with telepathic or psionic abilities....
__________________ WotBS 4e subscriber Casting Magic Missile at the darkness since 1981
Take any FRPG setting & mix of races that you like, but eliminate the humans.
Things in the world have been relatively quiet. However, several scholars from various races and cultures have all independently come to the same conclusion: there is a great upheaval approaching, but it is one that can be minimized or completely avoided by the action of a great hero or heroes.
Legends vary as to the details of the method, but they all agree on one thing: it is a human who is the key to success.
The party is one of many adventuring groups tasked with somehow bringing back humanity. A committee of scholars will try to interpret the various myths and legends in an effort to make sense as to how that is to be done. As each myth is decoded, an adventuring group will be sent out to complete the mission.
How many humans and for how long is open to the interpretation of the party.
Whether humans are a new race yet to be created, an old race wiped out (possibly in a huge magical war thousands of years ago), or the root race from which the others evolved (so that some kind of retro-engineering would work) is up to the DM, and each option could drive the campaign in different directions.
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