Brainstorming a new setting, need possible help

[Acid_crash]

Okay, Magic of Incarnum just came out, and meesa loves it. I also like psionics (please don't throw any daggers +1 at me ). After the last game session I was just in, and how boring it got with the same things happening in each session (I'm not the DM), I am wanting something totally different...

So... I want to run a game, in a game world, in which the focus of magic (if you will) is Incarnum and Psionics, and no Divine or Arcane magics. Another element I'd really like to put in this game is the use of pirates (my wife likes pirates and has been wanting me to run a more pirate focused game... and if I don't appease her soon I'll be even without a couch to sleep on ).

I know I could probably just hash them together and call it good, but that is just being lazy. So, how would it be possible to mold these elements together into a cohesive whole?

 

[Wraith Form]

(A slight aside - you should check out Green Ronin's Psychic Handbook. It's good stuff, and will help replace those missing magic users.)

 

[The Lost Muse]

Have you considered using Green Ronin's City of Freeport? It's very piratey, and although you'd have to re-stat a few of the characters (if you use the modules) that would be a good starting point.

 

[DragonTurtle]

Not having MoI yet it is hard for me to add too much, however I was thinking of how to add pirates to this world. Could Incarnum be a material (that is then refined into the stuff that is used by the classes) that can only be found on one island. This island controlled by a "church" does not allow the incarnum to be used by anyone but their clergy (the soulcasters). However pirate rebels raid the clergy's transport ships in order to give everyone else access to the Incarnum and its powers. Either the pirates are good Robin Hood like characters, or the profit on the black market is worth the risk.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

I always liked the idea of different islands specializing in different Psion Disciplines (Island of the Seers, Island of the Shapers, ect.) and having slightly different cultures as a result.

 

[Andor]

If you want high-seas style pirate action you're talking about some pretty advanced ship building technology. Mind you, there is no particular reason why gunpowder would be needed, but there is a definite implication of a far traveling society which will probably be fairly cosmopolitan. Or at least which ever society developed the ships will be anyway.

Flavor will probably be pretty swashbuckly. The Psi-feats make for some great, mobile swashbuckling type action. I haven't seen MoI et, so no input about that.

You might want to use some varient of the class based defense rules.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Not to hijack the thread, but I've noticed several new campaigns starting up with a pirate or swashbuckling theme, mine included.

I don't own GR's Psychic Handbook, but I've looked through it and I liked what I saw. A lot. I do own the Mindscapes supplement (a totally psionic setting), but it's for 3.0. It only takes a little tweaking to bring it up to speed, however. If you can lay hands on that, I recommend it. Is the Psychic Handbook 3.0 or 3.5?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Want to make it different?

1) Make it a Spelljammer-style fantasy in space campaign!

2) Don't like fantasy in space? Take a page from writers like Terry Brooks, HG Wells, Jules Verne, and Moebius or RPGs like Space 1889 or EarthDawn and have some kind of airships available in the campaign world. They can be lighter than air (hot air, helium) or magical/technical (bound supernatural beings, cavorite, liftwood, crystal tubes)- but they REALLY alter the way people think about the game world.

3) Another "technology" that would shape a campaign is firearms. They can be gunpowder (see Iron Kingdoms) or magical technology (Harry Turtledove's Darkness books), but regardless- they shape the world.

4) Ditch all of the usual PC races and replace them with sentient animals or animal-men.

5) Look in other products for races, like using Wookies from Star Wars D20 as a PC race.

 

[Lalato]

OK... let's borrow a bit from various sources.

1. Mindshadows, this setting from Green Ronin had a deep Psionic focus. Sure it was made for 3.0, but as others have noted, it should be very easy to convert the flavor to your new endeavor. (don't confuse this with Mindscapes, an alternate Psionic combat system from Malhavoc Press). The island of Naranjan detailed in this book would work very well for your purposes.

2. Earthsea, this series of books by Ursula K. LeGuin is set in a world of a islands. This would be the perfect place to get down with some piratey goodness. On top of that the Earthsea books talk about how magic is used to help guide ships and whatnot.

3. Freeport, this set of adventures from Green Ronin set the tone for including pirates in a fantasy style d20 campaign. If you want to include pirates this seems like a logical place to start.

OK... so how do you combine all that with Magic of Incarnum and Psionics? In Mindshadows there is a quasi-religion that involves Psionics... think of it as the d20 version of Buddhism. Psionics is a way to enlightenment. Reincarnation is part of the culture also. Souls continue to reincarnate until they reach enlightenment. Mindshadows has a very South Asian/Indian feel to it. The normal religion is somewhat similar to Hinduism. And that's where Incarnum comes in. Incarnum is the stuff of the soul... through the process of reincarnation a being learns how to manipulate this soul stuff. Incarnum likely has some form of religious context for this world.

So there are several islands. Some large some small. Ships are plying these seas constantly to carry goods and news across the many islands of this world. Where there be ships, there also be pirates!

Anyway... there's the beginning of a setting.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Lalato..thanks for correcting my "Mindscapes-Mindshadows" switcheroo. That's what I get for thinking with a migraine!