New Homebrew... Thoughts?

[ThaDium]

Gnomish and Dwarven parents tell this tale to their children. It is both cautionary and true.


"Long ago, the Nine Cyclops were stewards of all Knowledge. In their paranioa and vanity, they tried to contain the Knowledge; keeping it to themselves.

The Knowledge was displeased with this and rebelled. The Nine were destroyed and the world changed forever. No longer was there peace. The Golden Times had ended.

Closest to the eruption of energies were the Dragons. Already mighty and grand, their powers grew.

Next closest were the Giants. They too found themselves forever altered by the energies unleashed. Their strenth and wisdom grew; as did their awareness.

The remaining energies dissipated throughout the land. Of their full effects, none can be sure.

What is known, is that eventually, the Elves were able to tap some of the Knowledge. They used it to manipulate and bend others to their will.

It is in this way that they conquered the surface world."


I had more but lost it. (Stupid being a newbie to the board.) I'll leave this for now. Let me know what you think and I'll post more later.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Salutations,

Sounds interesting- what form does this power take? Arcane Magic? Psionics? Something else?

SD

 

[ThaDium]

The Details

O.K. Here are the details I lost last time:


The Elves are the Big Bad. The main conflict is freeing the surface world from their rule.

The knowledge the Elves gained was the use of magic. They have used it to conquer most of the humaniod races of the surface world.

The races of the surface world believe the Elves to be benevolent Guardians. They are unable to perceive the truth that the Elves are actually cruel tyrants looking out only for themselves.

The PCs will be rare individuals who have broken free from the Elven enchantments of their perceptions.

Deep underground, the Dwarves and Gnomes have formed an alliance. Fearing the power of the Elves, they are working to challenge them. Literally an undreground resistance.

They have learned to harness the power of steam and have used it to create many wonders of technology.

One of these wonders is a mechanical suit that allows it wearer to channel the magical forces of the world. (Think Mechs.)

They have also created a large wagon capable of transporting people and goods through the Underdark along rails made of iron.

But the Elves have been able to steal some of this railroad technology and are trying to create a similar system on the surface world. They are set the humans to work on this, because of their impressive problem solving skills.

Arcane Magic can be used by anyone, although the Elves rarely share their knowledge on how to wield it with any of the other surface races.

This leaves Sorcerers as the more common non-Elf Arcane caster. It's also a good way to explain why they've broken from the Elves control.

The Gnomes and Dwarves use their Mechs to cast Arcane spells, this means I've had to change some things for the sake of flavor. For example their familiars are small steam driven robots. The effects are the same, it's just the appearance that is different. (At least, so far.)

Divine Magic is different also. There are no Gods. Clerics get their spells from very powerful Giants, Dragons or Elves. Because these creature exist on the same plane as the characters, there is occasionla bargaining and at times the Divine Caster is asked to repay their benefactor for the favors they have been granted.

Druids and rangers, however, still get their spells from nature and are therefore left unchanged.


Well, let me know what you think. I'll post the DM only stuff later on when I know my Players aren't looking.

Thanks for your time,
ThaDium

 

[Knightfall]

Very steampunkish... I like! Do you know that Fantasy Flight Games is putting out a steampunk book as part of their Legend & Lairs series called Sorcery & Steam (its due out in April).

Here's the link:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/dd40.html

The book is definitely on my to buy list, as I'll need it for my own steampunkish style campaign setting, Time of Ages.

A link to my website:
http://www.geocities.com/rielun/campaignsframe.htm

There are a few races done up there as well the initial start to my history timeline. I'm waiting to get Sorcery & Steam before getting back to it.

Cheers!

KF72

 

[ThaDium]

I'm actually trying to shy away from Steampunk with the exception of the Gnome and the train plot.

It's classic fantasy, with the other stuff just for flavor.

i.e. No Victorian stuff.

I'm doing the Gnomes up different to make them more interesting and hopefully to get people to play them, my group tends to largely ignore that race.


The Big Question I'm encountering is:
Why do the elves need a train when they have magic and can therefore fly/teleport/etc...?

Does any one have any thoughts?

 

[Sagan Darkside]

The Big Question I'm encountering is:
Why do the elves need a train when they have magic and can therefore fly/teleport/etc...?

Salutations,

I want to respond more when I have time, but they could build it for the "betterment" of humans.

While they have everyone charmed, they still have to keep them happy. The more unwilling they are to be compliant, then the more they can resist the charm.

SD

 

[dglass]

The simplest explaination I can think of is that there are not enough wizards. If wizards high enough level to make difference were a minority they would spend time doing more important things they serving as public transportation.

What if magic is not distributed in a uniform fashion across the world? A purely mechanical steam engine would be able to cross areas inaccessable to magic.

Perhaps magic is not an inexhaustive resource. Too much spellcasting drains the 'mana' from an area. A teleport hub would quickly make an area dead to magic.

Teleportation is dangerous. I once had an idea for a world where teleport spells were effectively outlawed because using them was too dangerous. Wizards sometimes never arrived at the destination, sometimes they reappeared with nightmareish creatures in tow, sometimes the casters seemed perfectly fine but were in fact dopplegangers.

 

[ThaDium]

That's a great idea!

Sagan:
Good call with the this is for your betterment stuff. I'll work that in down the line. Right now the PC's only know that most of the humans have gone missing.

dglass:
I like the teleportation bringing demons idea. Thanks!

I may even run a plotline in which the players fine the area where all the elves seem to be telepoting to, it'll effectively be a demon holding tank.

More stuff:
I ran the first game last Monday. It went pretty well. Light and airy, which is how I wanted it.

(My main world is low magic and very dense. I'm running this one because we've lost a player for a bit and the old world has come to a halt as a result. And to try another flavor of DnD.)

This world sort of feels like a superhero comic. I like that. High magic, high power, brightly colored. Totally different from the other one.

A few new thoughts:
Drow are magically enhanced elves engineered to hunt for rebels in the Underdark.

I think I may work a Gladiator Ciruit into the plots eventually as well. It seems like something those evil elves would do to their rebel slaves.

Thanks for the thoughts so far. Keep 'em coming.

 

[ThaDium]

Scrolls

So, I've been running the game for a little while now, and things are starting to fall into place.

Scrolls have become a theme.

The knowledge was lost by the Nine Cyclops when they tried to trap it in scrolls. Those scrolls are now powerful arifacts, one dedicated to each alignment. The scrolls are sruggling against each other to gain dominance. This is the driving factor behind conflict in the world.

The elves who grant divine spells are called "Quartet" They each possess one of the nine scrolls. They have the LE, NE, LN and TN scrolls.Currently, the evil of the former two scrolls is overpowering the neutrality of the latter two.

The PC's are each mentioned in prophetic scrolls. Each PC has an individual scroll connected to their very life essence. This scroll grants them certain powers (see my "Magic Scrolls, Need Power Ideas thread.) but also makes them vulnerable to the Nine original scrolls.

This plot device also helps to explain why they aren't affected by the elven enchantments.

So, any thoughts on where this thing has gone?

 

[ThaDium]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueler?

So, does anyone have any thoughts on how this world is coming along?

Advice? Things you find cool? Anything?

I could use some feedback, here.