SmilingPiePlate
First Post
I'd been wondering about this myself: Midnight is one of my favorite settings. Ramble incoming, you were warned.
As far as a 4e Midnight goes, for starters, I think restricting divine magic to servants of Izrador is an integral part of what makes Midnight Midnight. It's important as a flavor thing, but also for the horror factor. There is only one god, and he is the elemental darkness of the universe. That's a scary thought, it's one of the things that makes Midnight such a dark setting.
On the other hand, the Warlord is supposed to be the non-magical alternative to the cleric, isn't he? You don't need a cleric because he can cast heals, anymore.
That's one of the features of 4th edition that seems like an excellent fit. If you take a party of a fighter, ranger, warlord, and wizard, you're primarily a party that does things through conventional means, where combat is a test of skill, mettle, and bloody determination, and that fits the setting well. Magic items being less of a necessity is, again, in keeping with the setting, and 4e supposedly being much less about how good your gear is fits the flavor well.
I'm not sure what to do about magic. In 3e Midnight made reality-bending magic harder to access by default, which dials down the weirdness of normal adventurer tactics, which means Midnight doesn't need to houserule as many core spells/abilities out of the game or dramatically delay the party's access to them. 4e, however, seems to do this as part of the normal system, so the magic system might not need as extensive rewriting.
I did really like the system for casters continuing to cast when they ran out of spell energy by burning Con, though.
I guess it'll depend on how arcane casters end up working. I think the important things for Midnight's setting flavor is to
a) prevent the party from being able to just go to Steel Hill and kill everything with magic,
b) prevent the party from being able to casually circumvent conventional obstacles,
c) maintain the dark, rare-magic flavor of the setting
Granted, I agree with the people in this thread. The Midnight game I still really really want to play/run would involve the party trying to unite the freerider bands and scattered human resistance, and attempting something big and defiant. Retaking a city, or relieving a dwarf holdfast, or capturing Steel Hill, something like that.
Limited healing surges might do it. Maybe just say you regain them more slowly.
Also, my interpretation of the hit point rules in 4e is that you haven't actually been injured until you're bloodied. Maybe make being bloodied a bigger deal, same with being taken to negatives. Those could give you lasting injuries that apply a penalty (maybe a penalty to the use of healing surges, or just general combat penalties) and could only be healed the hard way.
As far as a 4e Midnight goes, for starters, I think restricting divine magic to servants of Izrador is an integral part of what makes Midnight Midnight. It's important as a flavor thing, but also for the horror factor. There is only one god, and he is the elemental darkness of the universe. That's a scary thought, it's one of the things that makes Midnight such a dark setting.
On the other hand, the Warlord is supposed to be the non-magical alternative to the cleric, isn't he? You don't need a cleric because he can cast heals, anymore.
That's one of the features of 4th edition that seems like an excellent fit. If you take a party of a fighter, ranger, warlord, and wizard, you're primarily a party that does things through conventional means, where combat is a test of skill, mettle, and bloody determination, and that fits the setting well. Magic items being less of a necessity is, again, in keeping with the setting, and 4e supposedly being much less about how good your gear is fits the flavor well.
I'm not sure what to do about magic. In 3e Midnight made reality-bending magic harder to access by default, which dials down the weirdness of normal adventurer tactics, which means Midnight doesn't need to houserule as many core spells/abilities out of the game or dramatically delay the party's access to them. 4e, however, seems to do this as part of the normal system, so the magic system might not need as extensive rewriting.
I did really like the system for casters continuing to cast when they ran out of spell energy by burning Con, though.
I guess it'll depend on how arcane casters end up working. I think the important things for Midnight's setting flavor is to
a) prevent the party from being able to just go to Steel Hill and kill everything with magic,
b) prevent the party from being able to casually circumvent conventional obstacles,
c) maintain the dark, rare-magic flavor of the setting
Granted, I agree with the people in this thread. The Midnight game I still really really want to play/run would involve the party trying to unite the freerider bands and scattered human resistance, and attempting something big and defiant. Retaking a city, or relieving a dwarf holdfast, or capturing Steel Hill, something like that.
Limited healing surges might do it. Maybe just say you regain them more slowly.
Also, my interpretation of the hit point rules in 4e is that you haven't actually been injured until you're bloodied. Maybe make being bloodied a bigger deal, same with being taken to negatives. Those could give you lasting injuries that apply a penalty (maybe a penalty to the use of healing surges, or just general combat penalties) and could only be healed the hard way.
Last edited:
