Flat World design
Gilladian
Adventurer
I know I want the Star-crystals to be required for any and all permanent magic item creation (this will be a 3.5e campaign, using E8 rules mods that I've developed). I'm also sort of thinking that the "raw" crystals are mutagenic - being exposed to them for longish (months) periods of time is what creates weird monsters. This would be a fairly well-known side effect, so PCs could easily avoid being exposed by finding safe ways to transport them. I'm not wanting to spring weird mutations on my players without them knowing it well in advance.
So yes, they would make good quest items. They are also dangerous, and normal folk want nothing to do with them. Having them be what is needed to kill a dragon is an interesting idea, too. Maybe the mutagenic property prevents dragons from healing, for some reason, so normally even a "slain" dragon can heal, but by using a raw crystal sword, for example, would inflict permanent wounds. But be very dangerous to the weilder!
I hadn't thought about the dragons recruiting adventurers. That's a good idea; maybe they can be sent into other dragon domains to spy on them, and can go adventuring as a sort of "cover" for their spying. That would appeal to my players. I'm officially stealing this.
Gilladian
Adventurer
Heh, Athas is one of those things I've never read, so any resemblance is totally coincidental.
Mostly I pointed that out so you could check out some Dark Sun stuff on line to help you. Admittedly, it sounds a little like it......in terms of the dragon rulers.
For what's down below, I'm thinking maybe more wraparound. If you dig deep enough you reach the place where the antipode would be if your world were an azimuthal projection of a sphere
Sort of? Maybe? I think it comes down to the mountains at the edge being a ring and circles not being able to evenly tile a plane.
Gilladian
Adventurer
Ummm... I'm not so worried about circles and planes... I'm just thinking if you existed on what was effectively a mobius strip, would you think of it as a circle? No matter how it could be drawn out? I'm thinking maybe there are two discs; upside and downside. One is the opposite of the other in many ways, and the only ways to get from one to the other are:
1) drilling through the mountains to appear on the "other side" of the "other disc".
2) going through the hole, against the "current" (at least from this side to the "other side" that I haven't even begun to think about yet) through the Light of the World volcano.
3) magic.
Side note Re: Star crystals
My 4Ed dwarven Starlock was a member of Clan Skyhammer, whose stronghold was atop one of the highest mountains around. Their duty was to defend the world from incursions from the Far Realm. The incursions they monitored most closely came from “seeds” that resembled false meteors. So they scanned the night sky with telescopes and divinations nightly, seeking them, and sending out parties to investigate and destroy likely candidates.
Origins like that would explain the mutagenic properties of your own Star crystals.
aramis erak
Legend
One big consideration about flat worlds: Visibility.
The vision limit varies by weather, but the maximum is really about 250 to 300 km for any useful information, with a peak acuity of about 0° 0' 28".... or a width of 0.000135748×Distance per "pixel"...
So, at 1 km, that peak sensitivity "pixel" is roughly 0.14m; At 5km, it's roughly 0.6m, which reduces a man to about 1x3 pixels, with a separation of two men in ranks basically being about the same.
A 20m tower is limited almost exclusively by the vision. It won't see individuals. It will see units at about twice as far as on earth, if not further.
On earth, the 30m is diminishing returns... not so much on a flat world.
Large troop movements can be seen from tall towers... and taking a trebuchet, but making the cup a swinging bucket for a man, and 20m trees, you can easily get a man 30m up....
you can even put that on a stone tower or earthen motte 10m high, to get 40-60m up. On earth, the curve makes that less useful, but on flat world.... spot the neighbor's army at 50km...
The vision limit varies by weather, but the maximum is really about 250 to 300 km for any useful information, with a peak acuity of about 0° 0' 28".... or a width of 0.000135748×Distance per "pixel"...
So, at 1 km, that peak sensitivity "pixel" is roughly 0.14m; At 5km, it's roughly 0.6m, which reduces a man to about 1x3 pixels, with a separation of two men in ranks basically being about the same.
A 20m tower is limited almost exclusively by the vision. It won't see individuals. It will see units at about twice as far as on earth, if not further.
On earth, the 30m is diminishing returns... not so much on a flat world.
Large troop movements can be seen from tall towers... and taking a trebuchet, but making the cup a swinging bucket for a man, and 20m trees, you can easily get a man 30m up....
you can even put that on a stone tower or earthen motte 10m high, to get 40-60m up. On earth, the curve makes that less useful, but on flat world.... spot the neighbor's army at 50km...
Gilladian
Adventurer
That's cool info to know! I wonder, since I'm planning to use dragons a LOT in this world, what a creature a mile high in the air could see? How far? Maths is my absolute weak point, so I can't even try to work it out...
