Mannapunk (Race and Class ideas anyone?)

[Storyteller01]

Dragonstar: Magic does what physics can't (Ships teleport or enter the Astral Plane for FTL travel, the galaxies biggest highway links ten planets via teleportation rings, dragons rule the galaxy AND its economy, etc).

Prepetrated Press: 'Arsenal' and 'Factory'. All armor, firearms, robots, electronics, etc are magic devices or constructs (magic that reached mass production stages). Illustrations provided show street punks walking around with the cheaper magic pistols.

Mechmorphosis: Think 'Transformers'. Every character gains at least one special ability that mimics a D&D spell.

Virtual: Think 'Tron'. Spells are actually program rewrites that effect the local environment. Since the 'spells' take effect in a computer, they have a secondary effect on the real world, depending on the effect.

 

[tadk]

cool ideas Stormborn

very neat ideas
I would like to read more of what you have done already
Also got me thinking about it all in that fashion
usually dont want magic to replace tech only have it be alongside

 

[Stormborn]

I realize, going over game book invintory in my mind, that I have some books that are kind of "mannapunk" already. The Red Star Campaign Setting, for instance, is definitly Magic as Industry in a Corrupt World, but isn't really what I want. Chaositech has some elements, and might make it into a campaign one day. I also have the aforementioned Arsenal, which isn't exactly what I want but can be mined for ideas.

That, eventually, is the problem. Lots of stuff that can be mined for ideas, almost nothing that works for all, or even a majority, of what I want.

I am hoping that the Eberron Explorer's Handbook will give us some more details on the elemental powered transports of the setting. I'll use my seemingly-cursed-to-almost-but-never-quite-be-published rules for constructs (last slated for the ill fated 4th issue of EnWorld Gamer, now in limbo) and develop grafts from there working with the already existant WotC rules for grafts or a varient thereof. D20 Future/Apocolypse has rules for mutations that can be adapted, as does the aforementioned Chaositech. d20 M's Urban Arcana has some tattoo rules that might work, and maybe on a larger scale the dragon marks of Eberron for permanent versions.

Still looking for a lot of that other stuff, especially the stuff that needs mechanics and not just background flavor.

As far as races go, all the standards are fine, but I feel like such a setting would need some that aren't just what are, essentially, humans of different sizes and specialities, while avoiding some of the played out cat/dog/lizard people of traditional fantasy.

A construct race I think is a must. Whether that is warforged, ironborn, or something else I don't know.

An amphibious race, balanced against a human, but I don't know if the DnD mosterous froglike races work well as player races.

An insect races, I am thinking of taking the Faen from Arcana Unearthed and adapt them into a race of humanoid insects (maybe again taking a que from Perdido Street Station and have all the sentient members of the race be one sex, while the other is a mindless breeder caste.)

Plant races? Flying races (I think races of the wild had one)? Others? Ideas?

 

[DMH]

First I want to update my post where I mentioned the artificer from Morningstar (having just reread it)- not only can the artificer summon spirits to power your constructs, at 12th level, one can take a newly dead body, reduce it alchemically to "essential salts" and then use the salt to provide a construct with the mind of the creature. You can find the revised version here:

http://www.thecanticle.com/downloads.aspx

With the essential salts bit, you can create a "race" of constructs.

If you buy pdfs, check out Primal Urge at rpgnow- they have many races and all of them are unique, if sometime very strange. Maybe you can use some of them as results of alchemical spills.

How not-Earth do you want to go with this setting?

 

[Stormborn]

I don't really know what you mean by non-earth like DMH. Are you asking about physcial properties like suns, moons, seasons, tides, etc? In which case, I don't really know.

 

[DMH]

That and animal life, vegetation, if humans exist (or are a minor race), and supernatural background bits (like flying cities and other wierd things).

 

[Stormborn]

That and animal life, vegetation, if humans exist (or are a minor race), and supernatural background bits (like flying cities and other wierd things).

Well the setting is still being fleshed out, obviously since above is mostly brainstorming, but I do want humans, and humans as the dominant race, at least in the primary setting. Animal and plant life wouldalso be mutated, especially in areas of wild magic outside of cities. However, having said that, if things are too non-earth standard, I find that they are hard to maintain. Eventually you forget that you are supposed to use a bipedal bird beast for cross country mounts and just stick in horses.

I invision a place where powerful magics have had a profound impact on the land. Shaped and abused it completly. Sentient jungles, deserts of black sand and abandoned towers of polished glass, seas of blood, cities with floating towers, etc.

So I guess pretty fantastically non-earth like.

 

[tadk]

Have you read any of Michael Moorcock's books

The last few posts really remind me of his writing especially the first Corum Trilogy The Sword Trilogy
Knight of Swords
Queen of Swords
King of Swords

Not so much the second trilogy.
You could also look for the Corum game book. Here is a link to that.

http://www.darcsyde.org/Corum/

 

[DMH]

I invision a place where powerful magics have had a profound impact on the land. Shaped and abused it completly. Sentient jungles, deserts of black sand and abandoned towers of polished glass, seas of blood, cities with floating towers, etc.

Sometimes I feel like I am a damn ad for various publishers because I have enough books that when someone says I want to create this and I reply with where it has been done before. And here I go again, though it may not be exactly what you want.

Morningstar has a mechanic for having powerful beings magically change the land around them. It is not a fast process and the creatures have to stay in the area for at least a month. The more powerful the creatures, the more powerful the effects (mostly casting and some roleplaying effects and changes to the land). If you have any questions, I think I can get the author to respond.

 

[Stormborn]

Sometimes I feel like I am a damn ad for various publishers because I have enough books that when someone says I want to create this and I reply with where it has been done before. And here I go again, though it may not be exactly what you want.

Morningstar has a mechanic for having powerful beings magically change the land around them. It is not a fast process and the creatures have to stay in the area for at least a month. The more powerful the creatures, the more powerful the effects (mostly casting and some roleplaying effects and changes to the land). If you have any questions, I think I can get the author to respond.

I know exactly how you feel. However, I don't think I would want such abilities to be accessable to the PCs. I am imagining these kinds of effects as a by product of long term magic manipulation. Like changes in the landscape, both flora and fauna, do to human activity in our own world. Whether it be the slow shaping of land due to constant farming, as in Europe, or more modern industiral pollutants.

Thanks though. I need to look into Morningstar, i have seen it mentioned several times around here.