What's up with all the 'evil' books lately?

[Maraxle]

Simple, goverments have existed in many forms. They are just different in the laws they allow. Evil, on the other hand, is neboluous. There are many myriad forms it takes and not all are easy to spot.

So in other words, a theoretical book on governments is generic, but a book on evil isn't, because there's more types of evil than types of government? Something about that strikes me as wrong.

Now, would anyone like to speculate on what the next big trend might be? I'm guessing alternate skill/feat systems or books on specific places. Someone might make a government book, but I doubt it will be a big trend.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Like I said Furn, don't mean to get this thread political. I was just trying for a historical thing.

heh, no worries- you may want to go read up on Stalin

and comparing someone responsible for mass murder to a fictional character could be a bit.. frustrating to some people..

ack, couldn't resist!


FD

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Someone might make a government book, but I doubt it will be a big trend.

I would love such a book- especially if it took into account how governments would work with low/mid/high magic in mind.

Even on the "small"-scale of a city would be great for plug&play ideas.

FD

 

[Nightfall]

heh, no worries- you may want to go read up on Stalin

and comparing someone responsible for mass murder to a fictional character could be a bit.. frustrating to some people..

ack, couldn't resist!


FD

Yeah well it's been awhile since my dad and I discussed Stalin and the Communism regime.

As for my comment Margogyle, it may be wrong but it IS the truth and part of the daily reality. More evil is done, in many different ways than people though possible. Stalking someone online can be done in a magical society by casting some divination spells. Or perhaps child molostation/child slavery. These kinds of things are common as well both then and now.


As for the next trend, I don't guess trends. I just follow what I like.

 

[Maraxle]

I would love such a book- especially if it took into account how governments would work with low/mid/high magic in mind.

Even on the "small"-scale of a city would be great for plug&play ideas.

Definitely! And what about how a magocracy would effect day to day life, compared to a standard monarchy or republic? Sure, in a monarchy you don't want to badmouth the king when there's anyone within earshot, but in a magocracy, they could be scrying on you at any moment.

 

[Maraxle]

As for my comment Margogyle, it may be wrong but it IS the truth and part of the daily reality.

(...snip...)

As for the next trend, I don't guess trends. I just follow what I like.

Man, do you have a problem with me or something? Seriously, there's no need to get mean. Please be courteous enough to spell my name right, as I do yours. I disagree that a book on government is more generic than a book on evil. In fact, I would argue the opposite as "evil" is generic in itself. But I guess I'm wrong because you say it's the truth.

Also, if you don't want to discuss trends, then don't. I'm pretty sure nobody is forcing you.

ps - I'm truly sorry if you're having a bad day.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Definitely! And what about how a magocracy would effect day to day life, compared to a standard monarchy or republic? Sure, in a monarchy you don't want to badmouth the king when there's anyone within earshot, but in a magocracy, they could be scrying on you at any moment.

ooh, yeah.

Wizards being the primary citizens (able to vote), sorcerers and bards being second class citizens, and non-casters being the lowest of the low.

Public churchs would be banned- after all, who needs to serve when the power is at the fingertips of man.

Hmm. Perhaps it would be a republic- most wizards would align themselves with similar wizards (elemancers, necromancers, magic item creators) into guilds. Guilds would gather in the form of caucuses- to have block voting on issues, but being overly-arrogant and paranoid wizards, they would not have a central leader- everything is by vote. Which means everything is debated.. to death.

Decisions come rarely, but when they come- you have a city of wizards agreed to support that decision.

*ponder*

Guards would mostly be made up of sorcerers, but crime is rare- divination spells expose most criminals.

The prison could be the aviary- where standard criminals are polymorphed into birds, to keep down the cost of keeping them inprisoned.

Serious criminals are handled in much more.. imaginative manners.

Crimes involving an entire guild could leader to the banning of the guild- and all of them becoming blacklisted from the city's services.

Err.. ok, I am hijacking at this point, haha.

FD

 

[Buttercup]

So when are you going to write this book Furn? It looks like you've done some thinking about it.

When you do, I'll buy a copy.

 

[hellbender]

That logic only works if you assumed all D20 companies co-operated like that.

For example, they all meet, have dougnuts, and deicide "Hey! We need an evil book or two!", and then company A decides to do a villan book and company B decides to do a book on running evil games, and the rest of the companies decide to do something else.

Doesn't work like that in the real world, though.

I am sorry, I couldn't resist, we all make typos, myself included, but this one made me jump in.

The image of d20 companies sitting about for 'doughnuts and deicide' struck me as too funny, especially in a thread regarding evil.
Deicide seems rather an extereme measure when writing books.

hellbender

 

[Sammael99]

ooh, yeah.

Wizards being the primary citizens (able to vote), sorcerers and bards being second class citizens, and non-casters being the lowest of the low.

Public churchs would be banned- after all, who needs to serve when the power is at the fingertips of man.

Hmm. Perhaps it would be a republic- most wizards would align themselves with similar wizards (elemancers, necromancers, magic item creators) into guilds. Guilds would gather in the form of caucuses- to have block voting on issues, but being overly-arrogant and paranoid wizards, they would not have a central leader- everything is by vote. Which means everything is debated.. to death.

Decisions come rarely, but when they come- you have a city of wizards agreed to support that decision.

*ponder*

Guards would mostly be made up of sorcerers, but crime is rare- divination spells expose most criminals.

The prison could be the aviary- where standard criminals are polymorphed into birds, to keep down the cost of keeping them inprisoned.

Serious criminals are handled in much more.. imaginative manners.

Crimes involving an entire guild could leader to the banning of the guild- and all of them becoming blacklisted from the city's services.

Err.. ok, I am hijacking at this point, haha.

FD

You are. But you got me thinking too...

I really think that one of the great elements of believabilty in settings is how countries are run. A lot of DMs (myself included) lack culture and background elements for this kind of design even without magic. And the impact of magic maked all things a lot more complicated, even outside of a magocracies : how do you punish magic criminals ? Do you send other mages after them ? How does your king stay king when any mage can teleport in, blast him and be gone in three rounds ?

So many questions... I would definetely like a "toolbox" style supplement on how to design believable governments in a fantasy setting. And if no one does it, Furn and I will. OK Furn ?



One last item (on topic) : why do people write books on evil and not books on governments ? Because the former is "easy", you just need imagination, the latter requires research and work. Plus the average player is a tad more likely to buy the book on evil, admittedly