Pall Bearer
First Post
Don't shoot the bear !
Hi all,
Brand spanking new poster here, but a long time gamer and a D20 Modern GM for some months now. Now, with the little intro out of the way, on with the show.
What we're doing is a bit different and incorporates some ideas from other games and from "real"magick as well. The basic premis is that the world is just beginning to enter (actually, it won't be really entering the new "6th World" for over a decade yet) a new phase of reality, one that is cyclical and incorporates the ideas of "the Shadows" that are part of the normal D20 Shadow Chasers Campaign but expands on it a bit.
The Shadow Worlds are as real as our world, but are set in alternate realities that are metaphysicly close to our own. About every four millenia or so those worlds, which all enjoy the same ebb and flow in "magick" that we do, come close enough to our own that many of the inhabitants can travel from one "world" to the next in an as yet unexplained manner. They are not native to our world and as such their essences are not subject in the same ways to the "laws of nature" that apply here as completely as we are. For one thing, they seem to interact with non-living matter in a strange fashion. Some of the time it seems as though it is as real to them as it is to us, while at other times they can by-pass or ignore it quite effectively.
One result of this is that all of the Shadow beings seem to be nearly immune to firearms and explosions and many seem to be able to pass (most with some degree of difficulty) through even solid objects. They do though seem to be completely vulnerable (unless the particular beasty isn't affected by the particular attack type in the first place) to fire, extreme cold na d electricty though and are also vulnerable, perhaps especially vulnerable, to melle attacks from human beings. The reason for this seems to do with the WILL of the attacker, which is why it doesn't work well with firearms but can still work well with arrows or crossbow bolts or thrown weapons of the personal sort. It is that "personal" muscle powered and will shaped nature to the attack that allows it to operate normally against them. This has had the advantage that our games aren't all centered around who has the bigger gun.
It is also a way to explain why these beings of myth haven't been seen in the last three plus thousand years... the "spheres" haven't been closely enough aligned to allow for it except in unusual cases.
Also, magick is just beginning to work "inter-subjectively" again now, BUT the collective unconscious and Will of mankind still does not accept it, so it is subjected to the immense power of that collective. If a "magickal" spell or effect has a visible effect it is automaticly rationalized away by the viewer. Formerly it just didn't work at all, but about the turn of the 20th century some effects began to work in certain restricted situations. Many men, including Aleister Crowley and Franz Bardon noted this and began developing ideals that would explain it. About the beginning of the 21st century things changed again, and now the magick does work but is rationalized powerfully. This is why visible spells never seemed to work in public, but the initiates of such groups might discuss "actual, physical effects". It is why a good mage learned to be subtle from the start. A ward that made the person feel uncomfortable or just antipathic were FAR more effective than those that delievered an electrical jolt. Nowadays the electrical jolt works just as well but is rationalized away as something else... a mechanical trap, and a high capacity battery might be found if investigators show up to look into it.
If one man/woman alone sees a mage cast a fireball spell he/she will probably believe they've either gone mad or "stress hallucinated" the whole thing. If there are even "two or three gathered together" they create a group mind that rationalizes the event as something else that all of them see. In the preceeding example they would likely see either a flame thrower being used, or a molatov coctail or something similiar. AND forensic evidence might even back them up, as in essence the group mind would create the evidence. Rationalizing is the order of the day.
This is true except for a very few... our PC's and a few select npc's
... who see the world the way that it really is. They (the folk that can see the "real" world) all have atleast one level in one of the following four Advanced Classes: Occultist, Shadow Slayer, Mage or Acolyte. These folk have come to the realization that they see the world differently, not because they are mad, but because they are gifted. Most usually start out (and many continue in this way) as victims of the Shadow Masters (many of the most powerful and experienced of whom are where we get our legends of demons and devils from) and their minions who dedicate themselves to stopping the incursion of the Shadow.
Well, this gives you a highly encapsulated idea of what we're doing. Anyone interested in details can either respond here or drop me a line.
Pall Bearer
Hi all,
Brand spanking new poster here, but a long time gamer and a D20 Modern GM for some months now. Now, with the little intro out of the way, on with the show.
What we're doing is a bit different and incorporates some ideas from other games and from "real"magick as well. The basic premis is that the world is just beginning to enter (actually, it won't be really entering the new "6th World" for over a decade yet) a new phase of reality, one that is cyclical and incorporates the ideas of "the Shadows" that are part of the normal D20 Shadow Chasers Campaign but expands on it a bit.
The Shadow Worlds are as real as our world, but are set in alternate realities that are metaphysicly close to our own. About every four millenia or so those worlds, which all enjoy the same ebb and flow in "magick" that we do, come close enough to our own that many of the inhabitants can travel from one "world" to the next in an as yet unexplained manner. They are not native to our world and as such their essences are not subject in the same ways to the "laws of nature" that apply here as completely as we are. For one thing, they seem to interact with non-living matter in a strange fashion. Some of the time it seems as though it is as real to them as it is to us, while at other times they can by-pass or ignore it quite effectively.
One result of this is that all of the Shadow beings seem to be nearly immune to firearms and explosions and many seem to be able to pass (most with some degree of difficulty) through even solid objects. They do though seem to be completely vulnerable (unless the particular beasty isn't affected by the particular attack type in the first place) to fire, extreme cold na d electricty though and are also vulnerable, perhaps especially vulnerable, to melle attacks from human beings. The reason for this seems to do with the WILL of the attacker, which is why it doesn't work well with firearms but can still work well with arrows or crossbow bolts or thrown weapons of the personal sort. It is that "personal" muscle powered and will shaped nature to the attack that allows it to operate normally against them. This has had the advantage that our games aren't all centered around who has the bigger gun.
It is also a way to explain why these beings of myth haven't been seen in the last three plus thousand years... the "spheres" haven't been closely enough aligned to allow for it except in unusual cases.
Also, magick is just beginning to work "inter-subjectively" again now, BUT the collective unconscious and Will of mankind still does not accept it, so it is subjected to the immense power of that collective. If a "magickal" spell or effect has a visible effect it is automaticly rationalized away by the viewer. Formerly it just didn't work at all, but about the turn of the 20th century some effects began to work in certain restricted situations. Many men, including Aleister Crowley and Franz Bardon noted this and began developing ideals that would explain it. About the beginning of the 21st century things changed again, and now the magick does work but is rationalized powerfully. This is why visible spells never seemed to work in public, but the initiates of such groups might discuss "actual, physical effects". It is why a good mage learned to be subtle from the start. A ward that made the person feel uncomfortable or just antipathic were FAR more effective than those that delievered an electrical jolt. Nowadays the electrical jolt works just as well but is rationalized away as something else... a mechanical trap, and a high capacity battery might be found if investigators show up to look into it.
If one man/woman alone sees a mage cast a fireball spell he/she will probably believe they've either gone mad or "stress hallucinated" the whole thing. If there are even "two or three gathered together" they create a group mind that rationalizes the event as something else that all of them see. In the preceeding example they would likely see either a flame thrower being used, or a molatov coctail or something similiar. AND forensic evidence might even back them up, as in essence the group mind would create the evidence. Rationalizing is the order of the day.
This is true except for a very few... our PC's and a few select npc's
... who see the world the way that it really is. They (the folk that can see the "real" world) all have atleast one level in one of the following four Advanced Classes: Occultist, Shadow Slayer, Mage or Acolyte. These folk have come to the realization that they see the world differently, not because they are mad, but because they are gifted. Most usually start out (and many continue in this way) as victims of the Shadow Masters (many of the most powerful and experienced of whom are where we get our legends of demons and devils from) and their minions who dedicate themselves to stopping the incursion of the Shadow.
Well, this gives you a highly encapsulated idea of what we're doing. Anyone interested in details can either respond here or drop me a line.
Pall Bearer
The best session was one that took place entirely inside the private detective's head -- the other two players were playing fictional copies of their characters and were only allowed to get just enough out of character to give him hints that something weird was going on.
