Brainstorming: Lord of the...WTF?!?!

[Dannyalcatraz]

Not bad, but the Aral Sea was really just beginning to seriously shrink in 1989.

But I’m sure there are some other good wastelands to be found in the USSR in that time period. Maybe a strip mine, a leveled mountain, toxic waste site...or maybe a weapons testing area being phased out due to the talks resulting in 1987’s Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Is there any way to shoehorn beings like Tom Bombadil or the Ents into such a campaign? Cybernetic Nazgul and wuxia mages are one thing, but ancient beings/creations that rival or surpass Sauron in power while being distinctly different from him in the context of this campaign are problematic.

If Sauron is a proto-AI spy satellite system in this setting, what else from that era of human culture and technology would be fit analogues?

 

[Bedrockgames]

Is there any way to shoehorn beings like Tom Bombadil or the Ents into such a campaign? Cybernetic Nazgul and wuxia mages are one thing, but ancient beings/creations that rival or surpass Sauron in power while being distinctly different from him in the context of this campaign are problematic.

If Sauron is a proto-AI spy satellite system in this setting, what else from that era of human culture and technology would be fit analogues?

You could have other systems that were started secretly but abandoned or even alien technology

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

An Area 51 themed “something” makes sense. An alien Bombadil...

Wish I thought of it- thanks!

Oof...I just remembered that Alien came out in 1979. The xenomorphs don’t really fit the style of the setting, but they’re so damned iconic. Maybe...they could be the threat in the Tron-inspired Moria set piece. “Bugs”/“Glitches” perhaps?

 

[Bedrockgames]

An Area 51 themed “something” makes sense. An alien Bombadil...

Wish I thought of it- thanks!

Oof...I just remembered that Alien came out in 1979. The xenomorphs don’t really fit the style of the setting, but they’re so damned iconic. Maybe...they could be the threat in the Tron-inspired Moria set piece. “Bugs”/“Glitches” perhaps?

I think reskinned in that way, they fit a lot more.

 

[Eltab]

Is there any way to shoehorn beings like Tom Bombadil or the Ents into such a campaign?

A few Ents still wander out-of-the-way corners of the Pripet Marshes, working to keep the area boggy and forested and generally not prime farmland. Chernobyl (probably) killed off the last ones. In your time frame, a dozen could masquerade as trees by day, avoiding Soviet attention (and the Soviets did not let anybody else travel without purpose, so there is a lot of unused space to hide out in).
The PCs get their first clue that something is up when they find a half-dozen hillocks of vines and tangled hedges in a line. They clang metal when the PCs climb up top for a look around and find a Panzer Mk III - hopelessly ruined by now - under all the plants. The upper hatches are caved inwards like a powerful physical blow - not an explosive - struck the top of the tank. The treads were ripped off, again not shot away.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’m talking more in terms of thematically fitting, not location. Ents- massive magical sentient creatures who have been around from time immemorial don’t fit too well within the parameters of the campaign setting.

I mean, even in wuxia films, with all of their mystic and fantastical tropes, you don’t see all that many fantasy creatures.

A thought...what if there was a metaphorical tip if the hat to them? What about having a group of eco-activist hedge wizards called Ecological New Terra Soldiers or some such?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The organization’s name needs work.

Eternally Numinous Terran Soldiers
Esoteric Naturistic Thaumaturgic Society

 

[Bedrockgames]

I’m talking more in terms of thematically fitting, not location. Ents- massive magical sentient creatures who have been around from time immemorial don’t fit too well within the parameters of the campaign setting.

I mean, even in wuxia films, with all of their mystic and fantastical tropes, you don’t see all that many fantasy creatures.

You don't see them in Wuxia but you see them in related genres, or movies that blend wuxia and other genres. A Chinese Ghost Story has a tree demon for example.

A thought...what if there was a metaphorical tip if the hat to them? What about having a group of eco-activist hedge wizards called Ecological New Terra Soldiers or some such?

You could make this literally too. If these people were insane enough they could create actual Ents to protect the trees from Humanity (and maybe when the Ents are awakened it is discovered they are truly ancient, that the trees were aware and intelligent all along).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That bears comsideration.