Asmor
First Post
I'm currently reading the Night Angel trilogy (which I talk about over in the media forum), and one of the things that I really enjoy about the book is how it describes the workings of magic in the setting.
In particular (very minor spoiler), there's a character named Dorian who can see the future. He goes into long trances, and kind of journeys along the future like traveling a river, with lots of little forks at every different decision someone could make. Thus, he doesn't know what will happen, only what might happen.
There are two problems with this ability, though. First, he tends to get lost in his trances, following things back and forth and in search of whatever he's looking for, and getting side tracked frequently by other discoveries. He can spend days in trances (saying, at one point, one of the greatest things he ever learned was how to feed himself while maintaining a trance). Second, if he tries to view his own future, it drives him insane. I can't remember if it's explicitly said or just implied, but this is due to the nature of looking at his own future inherently changes it and makes it branch out faster and more furiously than viewing others.
Another neat idea are the Sa'ceurai, who are a warrior culture that believes their swords are their souls. When a boy is initiated into his clan, his head is shaved except for a forelock, which is bound in a ring. The forelock is bound by a second ring when the child makes his first kill, and then he's considered Sa'cuerai. From then on, for every kill the warrior braids his slain foe's forelock into his own hair, and so the most prolific among them have dozens or more locks of hair braided into their manes.
There are some other cool things from the series, but a lot of them would spoil important plot points... so I won't go into them. But suffice to say, I'm getting a lot of things from the series to recycle into my D&D games.
Anyone have any other similar concepts from books, movies, etc that are interesting and adaptable to gaming?
In particular (very minor spoiler), there's a character named Dorian who can see the future. He goes into long trances, and kind of journeys along the future like traveling a river, with lots of little forks at every different decision someone could make. Thus, he doesn't know what will happen, only what might happen.
There are two problems with this ability, though. First, he tends to get lost in his trances, following things back and forth and in search of whatever he's looking for, and getting side tracked frequently by other discoveries. He can spend days in trances (saying, at one point, one of the greatest things he ever learned was how to feed himself while maintaining a trance). Second, if he tries to view his own future, it drives him insane. I can't remember if it's explicitly said or just implied, but this is due to the nature of looking at his own future inherently changes it and makes it branch out faster and more furiously than viewing others.
Another neat idea are the Sa'ceurai, who are a warrior culture that believes their swords are their souls. When a boy is initiated into his clan, his head is shaved except for a forelock, which is bound in a ring. The forelock is bound by a second ring when the child makes his first kill, and then he's considered Sa'cuerai. From then on, for every kill the warrior braids his slain foe's forelock into his own hair, and so the most prolific among them have dozens or more locks of hair braided into their manes.
There are some other cool things from the series, but a lot of them would spoil important plot points... so I won't go into them. But suffice to say, I'm getting a lot of things from the series to recycle into my D&D games.
Anyone have any other similar concepts from books, movies, etc that are interesting and adaptable to gaming?
The other bunch sound like samurai with even weirder hair fetishes. 
