Points of light with high magic

[Arrgh! Mark!]

A campaign world I detailed was a cloud filled, bottomless world with floating islands hidden in the clouds. People found their way about in sky-ships because they could navigate the wind currents, and people protected their cities through powerful magics - and anti-teleport magics (to prevent armies being teleported into cities.)

Effectively, between the powerful floating city-states were the monster-prown wildernesses of the moon-filled night sky. Sky pirates, gun-mages, powerful magical searchlights and rough and ready PC's were the name of it, all in an endless game of intrigue, subterfuge and violence for a Medici-meets-steampunk fantasy, with a good bit of iron-kingdomsy goodness thrown in. (Five Fingers was five islands, built atop an acid storm..)

In these situations I quickly realised that adventure wasn't just to be had by raiding old cities and dungeons for any lost magical gear around, but in the power plays between inter-city factions and between city-states.

 

[tomBitonti]

I like the sound of it.

Can we have zeppelins, too? Big magic powered zeppelins taking people from one city to another, fighting off sky pirates and attacking aerial forces?

I'd also assume that a outside invasion would be a major problem - as such, they have to be extremely rare. Less rare, but very dangerous, would be seige type battles, with hordes of monsters attacking one city repeatedly, trying to wear down the magical protection before reinforcements can arrive.

The PC's, having access to teleportation, might quickly become experts at this sort of rescue mission. But of course, if you don't have the right 'teleport key' you can't teleport directly into a city - you have to arrive nearby, perhaps in a special 'outside the zone of protection' area that is normally heavily guarded.

When the city is under attack, the same area is still heavily guarded - but more in terms of an ambush by the evil types!

This idea just goes on giving!

I figure that travel would be either large, heavily protected convoys (magically enhanced zeppelins would fit the bill), or light, fast, small groups.

All the rest is just about what I was thinking, too. Occasional waves of monsters attempting to breach the city's defenses (or perhaps other, hostile cities, or lets say waves of monsters sponsored secretly by an allied but covetous city?) City tinkerers working on a way to bypass the wards on another city, and stealth teams working their way inwards to sabotage the same.

 

[Whisper72]

Well, to take another road, maybe travel between cities / PoL is done underground. Maybe the creatures above ground are more numerous and nasty then the underdark, and adventurers escort small caravans (goods transported using portable holes etc.) underground.

Another may be water. Maybe the monsters are generally not very waterborne (certain watersnakes, crocs etc. aside), and so cities are connected through rivers and situated on lake / sea shores. Travel is by boat. To get shipwrecked is a major disaster.

There is also the question whether the great wilderness is wild because the threat level is so high (think rampaging demon hordes), or because there are simply not enough ppl to settle the wild lands, and therefore they cannot be held safely (and most threats are more in the form of wolf packs, the odd bulette etc.).

 

[tomBitonti]

Well, to take another road, maybe travel between cities / PoL is done underground. Maybe the creatures above ground are more numerous and nasty then the underdark, and adventurers escort small caravans (goods transported using portable holes etc.) underground.

Another may be water. Maybe the monsters are generally not very waterborne (certain watersnakes, crocs etc. aside), and so cities are connected through rivers and situated on lake / sea shores. Travel is by boat. To get shipwrecked is a major disaster.

There is also the question whether the great wilderness is wild because the threat level is so high (think rampaging demon hordes), or because there are simply not enough ppl to settle the wild lands, and therefore they cannot be held safely (and most threats are more in the form of wolf packs, the odd bulette etc.).

Ya, that would all work. Travelers would naturally choose the safest routes they could find, with trade-offs between cost, speed, and risk. There could be underground tunnels that are safe until they are discovered. Important tunnels could be permanent, with wards and regular patrols and maintenance. (Actually, that sounds like the current model for the underdark.)

With high magic, the wilderness could be highly populated and rapidly regenerating. (What would it mean to have scattered positive energy intrusions?) Scaled down, the population could be less, but aggressors could be mobile and sensitive to intruders.

 

[Ry]

Portals.... portals... portals!

 

[tomBitonti]

Portals.... portals... portals!

Definitely, at least in a high magic campaign, and even in a low magic setting, assuming the portals are left-over from a previous period. (So who exactly were the gate builders?). But, there are open questions:

* How often can the portal be used? (The portal is possibly non-continuous, and may possibly have a high cost to use. Or maybe the portal creator is stingy and has put a high fee on using their portal.)

* How vulnerable is portal use? (If a portal is created, how hard is it for a hostile agent to hijack the "matter stream", and how hard is it to create an unapproved link to an existing portal? Is a denial-of-service attack possible?)

* Is there any stuff that can't be put through a portal?

* What about stuff that is too big?

Lots of room for adventure ideas, for sure.

 

[sckeener]

One of my favorite ideas I stole was the concept of a chain of cities all linked by portals, but the portals didn't transfer any metals. Poisons pets and monks were favored as body guards since they could pass through the portals unaffected.

 

[Whisper72]

One of my favorite ideas I stole was the concept of a chain of cities all linked by portals, but the portals didn't transfer any metals. Poisons pets and monks were favored as body guards since they could pass through the portals unaffected.

In a sci-fi game, I once actually turned it around. Portals could be used for goods, but the tech was not good enough to transport living organisms (they'd turn up dead on the other end). Maybe the portals (even if powered by magic) work the same. Thus, the portals can be used to support trade etc., but moving people, armies, visiting friends etc. all must be done 'in person', travelling through the wilderness...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

In a sci-fi game, I once actually turned it around. Portals could be used for goods, but the tech was not good enough to transport living organisms (they'd turn up dead on the other end). Maybe the portals (even if powered by magic) work the same. Thus, the portals can be used to support trade etc., but moving people, armies, visiting friends etc. all must be done 'in person', travelling through the wilderness...

That's a nifty idea. Puts a nice spin on adventuring too - the party are going to be one of the lucky few who get to travel from city to city.

Don't forget, there is lots of fun to be had in this kind of setting for varying each city quite dramatically - they'd be analagous to countries in another setting. One could have more of an Asian flavour, one run by a thieves guild, one as a democracy. This also leads immediately to people preaching about the 'sins' of other cities, and warning people from moving from city to city.

I really like this idea. I might steal it.