(Win pdf books!) Week 1 complete. Click in first post for link to the week 2 thread.

[mythusmage]

Just To Be Different, a Haiku

Lengthy discussion
Little progress down dark path
As shock come orc blades

[desired PDF: Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth]

 

[Estlor]

Recently I was working on a bit of fiction which, I'll admit, was partially inspired by D&D with a little bit of Arcana Evolved to spice things up. So I'm creating this world and it occurs to me, "How do you reconcile the hard-coded, D&D Vancian magic system with the more traditional, free-flowing system of high fantasy fiction?" I wanted to keep some sort of Vancian-inspired system that spell slots and daily usage because for this project I craved rules and balance that would give the story world some internal consistency. Of course, I also had to tackle the whole, "How does magic alter society as we know it," question, but I'll keep some focus and not get into that.

My first question was, "What is the origin of magic?" (Or in other words, from whence does this power spring?) For some background, my D&D history includes a lot of time spent in the Known World, as well as the DA series of Blackmoor modules. As such, I'm a fan of the idea that magic is a naturally occuring "force" that most people can't feel or touch, but mages can manipulate into great things. I was also using a lot of Anglo-Saxon things in my world and I wanted the race of original mages to be starkly different. To accomplish that, I tossed in a little classical greek and eastern elemental thinking. The world, in this case, is made up of six elements - Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, and Wood. Everything has a physical and a spiritual manifestation. The physical aspects of the elements are the things we see in the world around us - trees, rocks, rivers. The spiritual aspect of the elements are the elemental energies (electricity, fire, cold, sonic, force, acid - that kind of stuff). Because the world is a mingling of the elements, the elemental energies mix and flow, forming a field of energy around the planet.

Okay, enough spiritual stuff. Let's talk about mages. In this world there aren't representations for clerics and that sort. We're talking about hard-core arcane casters that throw around elemental energy and make stuff happen. But in a world where magic is drawn from the natural energy of the planet, what separates a mage from a moblin (what mages call non-caster)? The answer is CONTACT.

Think about it like this. Take a piece of paper and draw a circle in the middle of it. This is the energy of the planet, the energy of magic. Now draw a bunch of straight lines around the circle that do not touch it at any point. This is a normal lifeline, the lifeline a moblin experiences every day of their life. But suppose there was a way to alter the flow of your lifeline so that, just for a moment, instead of running by the circle without touching it, you could bring your lifeline to touch the circle at one tangential point. Go ahead and draw that line that touches the circle in a single point. That point is CONTACT. That is the difference between a mage and a moblin.

More specifically, CONTACT is when the physical of the mage meets the spiritual of the elemental energy. In the brief instant of CONTACT, the mage siphons off a small portion of that energy, charging their body with POTENTIAL. CONTACT is not something easy that anyone can do. Mages know that it requires an EQUATION to succeed. This is why every mage tattoos themselves with markings and symbols on their arms and legs. They call this the EQUATION, the mystical connection that allows them to briefly sustain CONTACT. The process is not easy, however. No mage would risk CONTACT more than once a day for fear of the harm it might cause their body.

Now, making CONTACT to store POTENTIAL is important, but it doesn't get you magic. It does make the mage feel more powerful and alive, like the very lifeblood of the planet flows through their veins. Mages become accustomed to this empowerment, essentially becoming addicted to the presence of POTENTIAL. Most report feeling sluggish, drained, and weak when all their POTENTIAL has been invested.

In order to invest POTENTIAL, that is, to "cast a spell" in moblin terms, the mage must study and memorize FORMULAS. As the mage's power grows, their mind can store more FORMULAS each day, or simply fewer, more powerful FORMULAS. Ignorant moblins might call these incantations because they often involve gestures or words to reach the actual casting of a spell, but the majority of the FORMULA takes place solely in the mind of a mage. Of course, once you've "hung" the FORMULAS on the valences of your mind, how you invest your POTENTIAL is up to you. (If you're following along at home, you've just discovered I'm using a modified version of Arcana Evolved vancian magic.)

So, really, when you get right down to it, the mages of this fantasy world are a lot like mathematicians. Magic is a spiritual force that mages co-opt and force to apply to algebraic and calculus equations that allow them to document and catalog spiritual energy in much the same way that Newton demystified gravity. They're very much like the physicists of the world, researching new FORMULAS to develop new spell effects. But, at the same time, their reliance on the limited, renewable energy source of POTENTIAL forces them to play by the codified D&D/AE rules. Plus it helps me remember what "magic" is and can do in my fiction world.

Okay, I'll confess what got me going down this route - Elements of Magic: Revised. It's a heck of a good product. And if this made you think or got the wheels of your brain spinning enough to be worthy of $5 swag, Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth would probably be a great addition to the pot of thematic elements I'm drawing from as I write.

Danke!

 

[Roudi]

Roudi is interested in Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth

 

[mythusmage]

On a More Serious Note, the Effects of Magic on Society

Which won't get answered in this post. What you get instead are three questions to consider before you decide on what effects magic has on your artificial society. The questions are ...

1. What can magic be used for?

2. How reliable is magic?

3. Who can use magic?

If your answers are, "Danged little, not very, and bloody few." then magic will have little impact. If your answers are, "A whole bunch, as predictable as the sunrise, and most everyone with functioning prefrontal lobes." then magic will impact most every aspect of society.

For your setting, how do you answer the three questions?

 

[mythusmage]

Stray Question

What exactly does it take to become a cleric in D&D?

 

[Dark Psion]

Home sick today, but then I get some of my best ideas when I have a fever.

I was thinking about how to create some different Artificers, since most I have seen are all mechanic/ tinkerers.

So far I have come up with;

A Druid /Artificer who is a specialist in herbs, leather working and carpentry.

A Innkeeper Artificer who is a master chef and crafts magical food and drink.

A Rogue /Artificer who is a MacGyver in quick crafting and trap busting.

A curse weaver Artificer who crafts cursed items to assassinate people for money.

A Traveling Artificer whose wagon is his Homunculous and is full of little one shot magic items, like potions and charms.


I don't have any of the En Critters books yet, so surpise me with any of them.

 

[EnglishScribe]

The Dragons Dawn

Deep in the mountains where still no one goes,
There stands a fair valley that time has forgotten,
Once filled with laughter and with young Elven folk,
Now full of horrors, and of evil begotten.

For now in the valley the dragon kin thrive,
Breathing their flames down the valley of dread,
And where once stood a green Elven palace,
There now stands a blackened ruin instead.

Below these foul ruins is the hall of rebirth,
Where once went all the elves who have died,
And where lies the secret of their magical power,
Which from humans the elves tried to hide.

Settle now kinsmen, for the telling is not through,
As the tale goes back to when the trouble first brewed,
I tell of the humans who heard of the magic,
Who wanted it all, violent cravings renewed.

They gathered great armies, all armed to the teeth,
And marched on the valley, minds full of war,
The fields soon flowed red, elves fled in fear,
The palace a' blazing, the elves singing no more.

They caught an elf maid and tortured her bad,
Keeping her screaming until she told them all,
Then they force marched her to her ruined home,
To lead them unhindered to the great Elven hall.

Deep down they found it, the fabled great stone,
Source of dark magic since before Eldar days,
Discarding the maid they rushed to the stone,
And where caught in a bright crimson blaze.

In the bright blaze their arms start to grow,
Spread into wings, bodies huge with scales,
Fingered curled and clawed, eyes big and green,
A reptilian snout and long flicking tails.

In that brief flash thus came to be,
Quite accidentally the new dragon kind,
In haste they fled the cursed Elven grave,
Forgetting the maid, leaving her behind.

Claiming the valley as their new home,
They gorged on the flesh of all who lived there,
Then evil things came to the once joyous place,
Darkness gathering, but no one could care.

Antony

(Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth is on my wish list)

 

[Thikket]

Serious & witty ninja with backstories are the epitome of gaming.

This will be a long post; everyone, skip to what you like, if you wish, although I feel that this should be a good read. I've had a lot of random thoughts about D&D lately and this thread seems like a very cool place to express them. Basically I hope to share good tips and observations I've found and made. My favorite part is the second one.

For me, there are four concepts that make gaming (and, roughly, life!) highly entertaining. As a DM, then, I attempt to incorporate each of these into my sessions, roughly in the order that I shall present them here.

(1) Flavorful mechanics. I usually start my sessions off with a good post-cliffhanger combat... but I hate dry combat! So description and roleplaying reign supreme even on the battlefield in my games.
(2) Smartellect and intelligeness. It's great fun to roll the dice, but it's so much more intense when I'm in the middle of a descripiton of a forest and a player, absolutely randomly, leaps up and cries, "I just figured it out! The paladins we're travelling with are fakes! They're not leading us to the hideout -- they're the real thieves' guild leaders!!" And I say, "Roll initiative!"
(3) Humor. The one thing everyone can agree on is that when everyone is laughing and having a great time, the game is a success.
(4) Story. The backdrop to a great game. I love broad, overarching stories to go along with a world -- nothing so specific as to implicitly force the players to live out a "novel" with you as the author, but things so general that the PCs' actions dictate a million consequences and form their own grand story.

I have a little story from my campaigns for each of these, so I'm going to pretend to be a competent Storyteller-Philosopher for a while and write anecdotes and analyze their importance.


(1) FLAVORFUL MECHANICS
A player approached me about his character for my next campaign. The campaign world was grim and harsh, but the PCs were heroes and I asked them to be played as such. I was aware at the time, though, that asking this particular player to play a "hero" meant he was going to exercise his min-maxing skills to the fullest and create the most beastly character Evar (as this was his preferred aspect of D&D).

So when Johnny McMunchkin came up to me and said, "I'm going to be playing a super awesome ninja," I politely reminded him to present me with the build before we began so that I could make sure it was balanced with the other PCs.

What he had done, however, was just amazing. His ninja wasn't a Ninja, if you get my drift; he was a Barbarian/Warlock.

He wore no armor, carried no shield, wielded a longsword, and took Hideous Blow and Flee the Scene as two of his invocations, along with the skill-boosting invocations.
His eldritch blast was described as shuriken -- ones that actually did damage, heh.
He hid, he ran with no noise, he ambushed, he disappeared into thin air and left a major image of himself behind, and he flipped out and killed people all the time -- in a cold and calculating (and brilliantly roleplayed) fashion. I was concerned he'd be a paper tiger without a decent AC, but purely through "cowardice" (more like, as he put it, "Fighting the RIGHT fight the RIGHT way!") he kept himself and his attacks alive. Smokesticks and spiderclimb!

*****

This reflects so much of what I love about D&D: the options. A Barbarian/Warlock makes the perfect serious ninja-type! It brings joy to my heart when a player takes a creative look on a character, and it makes me start being much more creative in my NPCs. I hope a very truncated summary like this inspires others a bit, too!


(2) THE BRAINY STUFF
A paladin in my game worships a personal Lawful Good deity -- the god of contests and overcoming challenges. The god is all about a fair fight, an honorable contest, and respecting regulations... Of course, this god also always wins, unless there's trickery afoot! She used to buy into the standard interpretation that this god was not only super powerful, but also "the very best at everything".

That is, until she spoke to a crazy old man.

The party at one point ended up "rescuing" an insane old man from a pack of ghouls (really, he was having just a fine time, thank you very much, entertaining these obviously starving houseguests). For some reason they grew extremely fond of the madman (he drank tea made of weeds, dirt and water, which apparently is quite endearing), so I decided that when they returned to visit one time he'd end up revealing a bit about himself -- and the paladin.

Long story short, the paladin ends up in a detailed conversation with the old man which seems to be simple gibberish -- but party effort determines that his very chaotic, essentially encoded speech is actually an attempt at refuting standard logical reasoning. I had him discuss logical (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-reference) paradoxes, specifically the old "If this statement is true, then (anything)" one. It took a while for them to get it, especially considering the madman was talking in code, but when they did they were surprised and excited.

Then the madman faced the paladin and told her, after more translation difficulty, this following short argument:
Your god is the "very best at everything".
In particular, your god is the very best at doing X whenever he does X.
But because he is the very best at everything, your god is also the very best at doing X the very worst all the time.
So, tell me: what exactly is your god best at?

The astounded player (and character!) opted to have her paladin take a few levels of fighter while she (and the character!) sorted this out.

*****

I think the reason why this example was one of the most memorable encounters in my campaign is because it combines two literary archetypes and eliminates the problems with both. Here, the crazy old man is both "the riddler" and "the teacher" -- yet the players get caught up in neither the "well gosh-darn I'm just plain stumped" part nor the "lecture is boring; what's the point?" part of each.

You make sure they always "win" the puzzle, but they still have that awesome feeling of accomplishment.

So try structuring your next "riddle/puzzle" encounter this way, if it sounds fun! Even my players who only love hack and slash still fondly refer to this moment in our campaign.


(3) HUMOR
The rogue/taskmage in an old campaign of mine was that guy -- the one who hits on everything female and breathing (or, at least, when he assumed they were breathing... there was this female mummy in a cloak one time...). Fortunately he wasn't a sicko about it. Nonetheless, my "Time to throw out a nasty curse/cursed item" timer went off one day and I immediately had a devious idea based on a witch's curse and something I'd found online.

So when the ladies' man hit on a leather-wearing girl at a bar playing with a ritual dagger, he soon found his future one-liners to come out much differently than intended.

See examples here:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/27MarkVanderhoff.html
My credits to Mr. Vanderhoff!
(This, of course, assumes you are familiar with standard crappy pickup lines!)

*****

Humor is so crucial. Even in dark games (like the one with the aforementioned Rogue/Taskmage), it seems like humor is integral to a successful long-term game. For one of my sessions (in fact the same one wherein the fellow was (literally!) smacked with a curse), I spent all my allocated prep time just thinking of humorous situations for the characters. The plot advanced, but everything that day was really funny and lighthearted -- a welcome change for both players and DM. I highly recommend this tactic. And google. Because while I'm not often funny, at least google always is.

PS:
To prove my point to myself, I randomly google image searched for "platypi" and clicked on the second image. Glorious.


(4) STORY
As my players read this board like mad(wo)men, I'm not going to post MY deliciously mysterious overarching tale. They have evolved cunning tactics from othermessageboardly experiences where a spoiler tag is foiled instantly by strategic mouse clicks. Thus I give them no biscuit today.

However, I want to briefly mention one of my favorite stories --
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76999
-- el-remmen's "Out of the Frying Pan"!

The deceptively simple overarching concept: poor adventurers ride a wagon train with dozens of others, journeying to slay a dragon, the likes of which has not been heard in ages.

It's this kind of thing that screams for detail at every corner, and I think el-remmen does it magnificently. Why poor? Why all the men? Is the dragon real? Are we going to get eaten alive?

And, of course, in the course of the tale these questions bloom into a thousand others.

This story, along with a few other epic ones (I'm a storyhour lurker junkie too!), has inspired me to no end. Whenever you're at a loss for a mood or feel of a campaign, I recommend heading on over to the kitchen and hopping in the skillet.



And as this post is hideously long already, I shall conclude it at that.

OH! And if RangerWickett feels like choosing this post, Lyceian Arcana is the one for me. Elements of Magic Revised absolutely fits with my feel of D&D. I highly recommend it to anyone who's not tried it before.


Back to eternal work,
Thikket

 

[demiurge1138]

Beowulf. A Series of Limericks. By Nick Herold (that's me).

There once was a fighter named Shield
To whom the mead benches would yield.
The Danes needed good kings,
So he gave out some nice rings
And didn’t die on a far away field.

But this tale isn’t really ‘bout him,
Or ‘bout Halfdane or Beow or Jim.
It’s about a young strong Geat
Who got up on his feet
And said “A monster’s reign needs to be trimmed.”

For King Hrothgar had built a great hall,
And his soldiers were having a ball,
‘Till a big ugly giant
Stopped being compliant
And decided to just kill them all.

Now, Beowulf was this man’s name,
And physical strength was his game.
None braver or bolder,
He sailed off with his soldiers
‘Cause he had a monster to tame.

In Denmark he bantered with guards,
And they led him and his troupe through the shards
Of Herorot, where he said,
“I’ll kill that Cain-son dead
It will be a good tale for the bards.”

King Hrothgar said “I’m sorry, my son,
We’ve been fighting; the battle is won.
With his terrible claws
And his ravenous jaws
Grendel will eat you one by one.”

Beowulf said “Then I’m your man.
I’ll fight him the best that I can.
None of you scored,
But I won’t use my sword
A hand-to-hand match is my plan.”

A courtier said “King, don’t be a fool.
This Beowulf fellow’s a tool.
He showed off his might
By swimming all night
This youngster should go back to school.”

The Geat said “Unferth, listen here.
With the swimming, I was wrongly steered.
But I killed some nine whale-beasts
Who would make me their feast
And I made it to shore without fear.

“Now listen you treacherous rat,
You’ve killed your own brother, that’s that.
Your future would look bleak,
But I’ll turn the old cheek.
Be happy I’ve not squashed you flat.

“But now, King, we all need our rest.
Be assured that my men are the best.
We’ll pretend to be asleep,
When Grendel does here creep.
This fight will put us to the test.”

Then in came the ogre named Grendel
Who lurked in the mists and the fen-del
The men in the gloom
Waited treacherous doom
For the monster to come in and rend-all.

When Grendel did come in the night,
He ate one soldier whole in one bite.
But when he came towards the Geat,
He was swept of off his feet
And then started a terrible fight.

Now I don’t mean to cause an alarm,
But Beowulf’s strength was the charm.
The two screamed and cried
And Beowulf nearly died
But in the end he took off Grendel’s arm.

When Hrothgar came back to the hall,
Grendel’s arm was nailed up to the wall.
The King threw a feast
For the death of the beast,
But the trouble’s not over at all.

Now, if I’m allowed a concession,
To go off on a tiny digression,
Once, Sigurd slew Fafnir,
Now, what is that doing here?
It is just a trick of my profession.

In the swamps, Grendel died and he fell,
And his spirit was sucked backed to hell.
His savage clawed mother,
Having no other,
Decided to go for the kill.

She crept into the hall for a fight,
Giving the guards a great fright.
The vicious bog-miser
Grabbed Hrothgar’s advisor
And dragged him off into the night.

Now, Hrothgar, being a bad king,
Didn’t want to go do anything
He sent Beowulf off
With a sigh and a cough
To kill this new evil thing.

And Unferth, who wasn’t so bad
Felt just a tiny bit sad,
So he gave to the Geat
A sword that was fleet
And had always helped him, just a tad.

So Beowulf went into the mere
(There were serpents and dragonsnakes here)
He was about to go down,
When Grendel’s mom turned around
And dragged him down the bog without fear.

They fought on for many an hour
And the battle was going a bit sour
For Beowulf’s blade
Was as good as a spade
For defeating the ogress’ power.

She took him down into her lair
And he found a nice sword laying there.
It was crafted by giants,
And Beowulf, defiant,
Plunged it into the creature with care.

Grendel’s mother was certainly dead,
For the blade had severed her head.
For all of its trouble,
The sword became a puddle
And Beowulf grabbed its hilt and fled.

He came back from the dangerous bog
With a hilt, Grendel’s head and a frog
The Geat proved his worth
Even to Unferth
That night, they all feasted on hog.

Hrothgar gave Beowulf many things,
Like a torque, some nice chainmail and rings
He gave the Geat some advice
On how to be nice
And sent him to live like a king.

And a king he eventually became
And he had a fortuitous reign.
He angered the Swedes
Made Merovingians bleed
But the kingdom was good all the same.

Until an ex-slave turned a thief
Went into a cave for relief
The cave’s filled with treasure
So the thief took his pleasure
Of a goblet, then made his stay brief.

The dragon who guarded the gold
From thievery, disaster and mold
Saw a piece of it missing,
So it decided, while hissing
To act just a little bit bold.

So he set all the peasants on fire
And the townsmen started yelling “Sire!
You’ll know what to do,
Through two monsters you did chew.
You’ll save us from the dragon’s ire!”

Beowulf got on his armor
To save all the peasants and farmers
From a murderous hate
And a char-broiled fate
To keep Geatland from being much warmer.

He waited till the dragon was home
And his men through the treasures did comb.
But with presence and cunning,
It sent his men running,
Leaving Beowulf to fight it alone.

But Wiglaf was no cowardly crook.
He helped Beowulf’s plan to work
The two of them fought,
But Beowulf was caught
By the dragon, who held on and shook.

Eventually, the creature was slain,
But their efforts had all been in vain
Beowulf was dying,
So Wiglaf, without crying
Helped the king and eased him through the pain.

But now all the Geats were quite doomed
For the Swedes and the Merovingians loomed
Without their good king,
They had lost everything
Except for a most-certain gloom.

(And the Libram Equitis vol. 1 and 2 compilation would be cool)
Demiurge out.

 

[RangerWickett]

Tinner went above and beyond with a great, thought-provoking, tongue-in-cheek post, so I'll be sending him Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns.

I'm also going to send Whisper72 something because he tried to continue the conversation Tinner started, and I'd like people to discuss things. I think I'll send him a bunch of Pick-n-Mixes.

There were a lot of other nice posts, but the one that personally piqued my interest the most was Dark Psion's post on alternate artificers. Way to add some flavor to the game. I'll send him an EN Critters product.


Cool. I'm happy with the responses this thread has gotten. To try a bit of structure for the next few days, I'd like to suggest the following topic:

Come up with interesting topics I can focus on over the next few days.

So yeah, today, just come up with interesting topics. Of course, a simple sentence won't get you much, so I encourage you to talk about your topic a bit, to provide something entertaining and interesting, but to leave room for the conversation to continue.

Sound good? Alright, I'll be back tomorrow.