As I mentioned in my last post, I want to set the world up from a point 10,000 years prior to the present and let it naturally evolve from there. In general, I would like to couple mythologies with the cultures that spawned them. This means that the mythological creatures that are associated with the various legends need a home too. Beyond that, there will be races and creatures you'll want to throw in. These need a home, too.
Naturally, your world may be totally different from our earth in every meaningful way. The Core Rules should be similar in any case.
Also, one could stop the timeline moving forward to a pre-historic, hunter-gatherer society, or travel past my intended time-frame to a near Victorian steampunk genre. There is all kinds of flexibility, and it might be fun to consider.
Since I am concentrating on Europe for my own campaign, I will touch on some considerations that I am looking at to give an idea of how things might progress.
From earlier migrations out of Africa, Europe is already populated by many humanoid races and mythical creatures humans arrive (vs just Neanderthals in our own world). These human tribes migrate through the Middle East and up through the Danube river valley and spread out from there. This was the Stone Age, which lasted until about 3,000 BC. It was replaced by the Bronze Age which lasted until about 600 BC, and then the Iron Age took hold.
While I intend to start my campaign during the Iron Age, many artifacts will be preserved from the Bronze Age. As mentioned in previous posts, Spiritual power can reside in any item carried and used by a powerful hero of ages past. Also, as the Magical items are created, extra care will be taken to preserve these items. I mention this now, to help put in the back of our minds where ancient civilizations rose and fell, and where their artifacts may be found. Also, when ancient tomb is uncovered, arrowheads and other items will not likely be made of iron and so forth.
The Classical Greek and Roman Empires took place during the Bronze Age.
The questions I have are as follows:
1. What races were in Europe before humans arrived?
2. How does the presence of these races influence/change the eventual distribution of humans?
3. How does magic affect the timeline?
4. How do gods affect the cultures?
Of course, all these questions are inter-related.
We know that written languages came into use during the Bronze Age, and this would be an important development in the retaining and spread of magical power. Elemental magics in their raw, naturally occurring forms would be discovered prior to this in the Stone Age, but only simple, direct uses would be practiced by the various tribes. Much more common in the late Stone Age would be spiritual magic, as agriculture and animal husbandry would give rise to a power priest class (among others). Sustained prosperity (praise the gods!) would mean booming populations and much higher pressures to expand or protect power bases. This would push technological growth.
I would argue that these pressures would be come super-inflated, causing incredible wars and conflicts during the Middle Bronze Age. Clearly, more cultures attuned to worshipping the sources of spiritual power on scale with Egypt would have arisen and conflicted. Pharaohs and other priest-king-gods would arise and convert, sublimate or kill all who opposed them.
For the sake of simplicity, one could argue that all bonuses on a national scale equalled out in proportion with historical advantages and the same cultures dominated in much the same way. I would argue against this idea, but many of us do not have enough time to reinvent the wheel in this case. The balance of power between Egyptians, Hittites, Kassites and Hurrians might have been completely different. The Assyrian empire might have risen sooner, or the Egyptians might have dominated completely.
Certainly, the even earlier Sumerian empire could have survived and flourished and with strong magics might have expanded to the area of the later Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, or Persian Empire with Gilgamesh as their leader!
Fortunately, there are not that many major human cultures to look at and analyze, so it becomes a matter of what story you want to tell. For my part, I do not want to add too many other races to these old kingdoms, but it might be interesting to allow another race to assume the role of one of the old kingdoms.
Rather than expand old empires, you may wish to have evolutionary pressures from magic to cause all such cultures to be lessened or restrained. Other angles have played out in D&D, such as the rise of Necromancer kings and their legions of undead fighting for control of the old kingdoms. There is little doubt that many interesting ways can be invented to explain the past history of your world and how things came to be.
Back to Europe. Our European tribes left well before these Old Empires formed, though they will be influenced by any powerful cultures that enter their territory.
The Greeks and Romans are two big areas of development. Greek myths, which the Romans copied in so many ways, are very rich in content. The Greeks not only provide strong spiritual forces, they also start to define much of the material world. The Greek world and the Mediterranean are ideal for a Bronze Age campaign. As the Greeks and Romans have a direct role in the formation of Europe, their cultures will have to be quantified more carefully. The Germanic/Norse culture and the Celtic cultures also seem strong enough to hold their own in a fantasy setting, it just depends on which you want to emphasize.
All the European cultures have variations of similar creatures, such as fairies, elves, sprites, gnomes, goblins, etc. I leave it to you to develop whichever best fits your story. In my mind, Europe is largely unconquered by humans, and many forests (gone on modern maps) and mountain regions are controlled by other races. These races have variations themselves. As I mentioned earlier, there will be nine races of elf in my campaign world. Sprites will be much more varied.
Orc is largely Tolkien's name for a race of evil humanoids (akin to ogres of legend), but has been used so often, that one would think orcs were as solid as Dragons in ancient folklore. Not so much. Goblins enjoy a much longer history, and much more variation. Of course, you could name your evil humanoids 'n00bs' if you wanted to, but Tolkien showed exactly how rich a bit of research can make a fantasy writing effort. And his names all derive from his strong understanding of ancient languages and lore.
Also take into consideration the geography and ecology of your world. The entire area of eastern Europe was originally covered by virgin forests. Travel by people was limited to river routes until about the 14th century; roads and bridges appeared much later. Many places in Europe were 'remote' and sheltered. Living in or near a forest in a world or long, dark, cold winters would make anyone cautious. When those same forests are the homes of goblins or worse, no one is going to be overly adventurous.
So, I'm looking at cultures that hug waterways and fortify heavily. Hunting parties travel in large groups, and trade is slow to develop. Spirit worship is very strong and is a big part of survival. Cities have large temples, and every village has a shrine. Religious conflicts are common. Slavery is common. Theft is common. Suffering among the weak is common.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Logical World Design
As you can tell from the title of this blog, I adhere to the concepts of Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the advancements science had made in the theory since then. That in no way means I fail to appreciate the social and religious efforts to understand our place in the universe. Creating a alternate world of magic and myth brings any such appreciation to the fore.
Let us image that I was highly enamored with one ideology to the point I wanted to mold the imagined world in that view alone. It might be cool to have heroes that lived and died in honor of one mythos in a world where everyone either revered the true gods or were enemies. Dune might be an example of this type of concept. I liked Dune, but I don't recall many non-human races. Throw in a few dozen non-human races. Would all these races follow the teachings of the Orange Bible? I would hope not. Cultures that are not different in ideology, have no relevance.
One ideology for all cultures implies that no other perception of reality is feasible, or that one culture has successfully dominated the rest. Christianity has attempted to systematically dominate the western hemisphere of our world. This was achieved by many means, which I will not detail here. Even at the highest point of power for the Catholic Church, the Christian faith was divided into numerous sub-groups. Today, one would be hard pressed to identify every church that has adopted a variation of Christianity. No one ideology has ever dominated the entire human civilization, and it would not make sense for one to.
Of course, Christianity and all the other faiths of our world do not have spirits granting powerful spells (in a game mechanic sense). It is the nature of social groups to stratify, it should be recognized that every spirit that still communed with its followers and empowered their priests would be revered, even if a stronger force intervened. The stronger force would, more often than not, supplant the weaker over time, but the weaker would have more staying power among the faithful.
The Romans viewed other pagan gods in terms of their own set, which was essentially the gods of the Greeks. When they conquered other peoples, it seems they attempted to rename the gods of the defeated to their own. Later, after they adopted Christianity, they 'decreed' changes that changed pagan festivals to christian holidays in a very determined manner. It is hard to identify what would have happened if these defeated cultures still had strong communion with their gods.
I bring this up now because spirits, heroes and gods will be the main identifiers of cultures (after race). It would not seem right that a tribe of goblins would worship elven gods, but it should be clear that all goblins do not worship the same god. Elves would not either. In fact, it should be that even when large groups of elves worship the same god, there will be various factions that worship that same deity differently. Naturally, the variations will make for many interesting stories and adventures.
I encourage variation. It takes more work for the gamemaster, but it should pay dividends in the end.
This sort of thing is not the standard D&D fare, and you may find it too cumbersome for your world. As we discuss the origins of the various races and their cultures, I will point out why the variations make sense. Our own western culture marks many of its most important events by these schisms, and the cultures of our magical world will also be marked by the power struggles of the Priest-King-Gods and the factions they create. Remember that spiritual power is reflexive in this game system, so the more followers one has, the more powerful they become. Egos will clash. Belief systems will clash. Races will clash. War is always the final argument.
Switching gears, anthropologists on our world strongly believe that humans originated from the African Continent, coming out of Africa in at least two major waves in the distant past, as we have found fossils that show migrations of pre-Homo sapiens. How many divergent species of proto-human rose and fell before the the dominate strain won out is not clear at all. Moreover, as all life on our Earth comes from one original spark billions of years ago and all life here is related by this, so I recommend that all life on our alternate world is related in this way. Clearly, each culture/race will be too preoccupied to discover this, much less to admit this to themselves.
Magic, the subtle chaotic force, will be what pushes so much variation in the backwaters of time. The question becomes not where they came from but where did they end up when they rose to sentience. Our own ancient human cultures first rose around the middle east and spread from there because agriculture and the domestication of animals made these places favorable, but a magical world could have other spots that favored growth of other races. It stands to reason that human expansion would be dulled somewhat due to so much competition. This is not to say these races are all in contact. Some races could find very distant homes from the first human civilizations.
It is an interesting dilemma. The first major migration from Africa could have happened 100 million years before this cultural development, so time is not a real issue until we define who rises first. Also, humans are a very recent addition to North and South America, which becomes interesting if other races develop seafaring first.
In my own world, the dwarven race worship the Dragons, and a particularly clever dragon transports his dwarven followers to the gold-rich areas of Central and South America. Even though the human culture is there already, the dragon and dwarves make a strong case for supremacy.
Magic is a game changer. Modes of transportation change because of it, but more importantly, all forces that effect survival are changed to a degree by magic. When farmers can pray for more crops or for more herd animals to be born, the surplus of resources causes a quicker rise of skilled laborers and civilization in general. Of course, all the magical beasts and other races keep growth in check, but we have to define how.
In my world, I chose Dragons as the first sentient race. Magically spawned from the dinosaur age, these creatures have since given rise to an intelligent variety of the the species. They develop language and learn to develop a symbiotic relationship with the nearby dwarves. Dwarven language is a direct offshoot of draconic. Dwarves benefit from this advancement and serve the Dragon-Gods. Not to mention there is a sharp decline in the local giant population. I am intentionally skipping several developmental steps of my world, but choosing the first races to ascend has a ripple effect on their neighbors.
In another part of my world, an ancestor gives rise to fairies, sprites, elves and all the sylvan ilk. Can elves produce children with humans? Could half-elves be a regression of elves that can mate with humans? Shall we call them the Irish? Sorry, I could not resist.
In actuality, my world has the sylvan cultures rising on an island, and elves take the lead in sea travel. The human cultures they first interact with become influenced by them. I originally have nine races of elves populating my world. Again, variance is more true to reality and hopefully more interesting. In any case, elves are third to rise.
Orcs are fourth to rise
Humans are fifth
This is not to say humans are less intelligent, when they get it going as a civilization, than those before them. In fact, their ability to adapt and learn is a big strength.
Back to the Irish. Any cultures we take from our history have to have a reasonable origin on our alternate earth, but they are a comfortable short-cut.
Reading this back, I know I skipped around a bit. There are so many considerations that it can be a bit much. The main point is that all the non-human races rose from ancestors of a migration around 100 million years ago out of Africa, and they are all very different now. Modern humans migrated out of Africa about 20,000 yrs ago on my alternate earth and were limited in their successful migration patterns. Consequently, all the human cultures of our earth will not be represented.
In turn, the migrations of the non-human races will be taken into account along with their cultural impacts on each other. The rise and fall of past civilizations will be considered up to the present day of our campaign world. Power groups will be defined and important resources identified. The evolution of Magic Use will also be studied, allowing more spells and rituals to be identified and added to game play. Demonstrating this process will show why most magic is not generic, but culturally based. Once we have magic in place, we will be ready to playtest.
On a playtest note, I only plan to develop one human culture for characters to come from. As that group travels, I'll develop the other cultures and allow additional character choices.
Let us image that I was highly enamored with one ideology to the point I wanted to mold the imagined world in that view alone. It might be cool to have heroes that lived and died in honor of one mythos in a world where everyone either revered the true gods or were enemies. Dune might be an example of this type of concept. I liked Dune, but I don't recall many non-human races. Throw in a few dozen non-human races. Would all these races follow the teachings of the Orange Bible? I would hope not. Cultures that are not different in ideology, have no relevance.
One ideology for all cultures implies that no other perception of reality is feasible, or that one culture has successfully dominated the rest. Christianity has attempted to systematically dominate the western hemisphere of our world. This was achieved by many means, which I will not detail here. Even at the highest point of power for the Catholic Church, the Christian faith was divided into numerous sub-groups. Today, one would be hard pressed to identify every church that has adopted a variation of Christianity. No one ideology has ever dominated the entire human civilization, and it would not make sense for one to.
Of course, Christianity and all the other faiths of our world do not have spirits granting powerful spells (in a game mechanic sense). It is the nature of social groups to stratify, it should be recognized that every spirit that still communed with its followers and empowered their priests would be revered, even if a stronger force intervened. The stronger force would, more often than not, supplant the weaker over time, but the weaker would have more staying power among the faithful.
The Romans viewed other pagan gods in terms of their own set, which was essentially the gods of the Greeks. When they conquered other peoples, it seems they attempted to rename the gods of the defeated to their own. Later, after they adopted Christianity, they 'decreed' changes that changed pagan festivals to christian holidays in a very determined manner. It is hard to identify what would have happened if these defeated cultures still had strong communion with their gods.
I bring this up now because spirits, heroes and gods will be the main identifiers of cultures (after race). It would not seem right that a tribe of goblins would worship elven gods, but it should be clear that all goblins do not worship the same god. Elves would not either. In fact, it should be that even when large groups of elves worship the same god, there will be various factions that worship that same deity differently. Naturally, the variations will make for many interesting stories and adventures.
I encourage variation. It takes more work for the gamemaster, but it should pay dividends in the end.
This sort of thing is not the standard D&D fare, and you may find it too cumbersome for your world. As we discuss the origins of the various races and their cultures, I will point out why the variations make sense. Our own western culture marks many of its most important events by these schisms, and the cultures of our magical world will also be marked by the power struggles of the Priest-King-Gods and the factions they create. Remember that spiritual power is reflexive in this game system, so the more followers one has, the more powerful they become. Egos will clash. Belief systems will clash. Races will clash. War is always the final argument.
Switching gears, anthropologists on our world strongly believe that humans originated from the African Continent, coming out of Africa in at least two major waves in the distant past, as we have found fossils that show migrations of pre-Homo sapiens. How many divergent species of proto-human rose and fell before the the dominate strain won out is not clear at all. Moreover, as all life on our Earth comes from one original spark billions of years ago and all life here is related by this, so I recommend that all life on our alternate world is related in this way. Clearly, each culture/race will be too preoccupied to discover this, much less to admit this to themselves.
Magic, the subtle chaotic force, will be what pushes so much variation in the backwaters of time. The question becomes not where they came from but where did they end up when they rose to sentience. Our own ancient human cultures first rose around the middle east and spread from there because agriculture and the domestication of animals made these places favorable, but a magical world could have other spots that favored growth of other races. It stands to reason that human expansion would be dulled somewhat due to so much competition. This is not to say these races are all in contact. Some races could find very distant homes from the first human civilizations.
It is an interesting dilemma. The first major migration from Africa could have happened 100 million years before this cultural development, so time is not a real issue until we define who rises first. Also, humans are a very recent addition to North and South America, which becomes interesting if other races develop seafaring first.
In my own world, the dwarven race worship the Dragons, and a particularly clever dragon transports his dwarven followers to the gold-rich areas of Central and South America. Even though the human culture is there already, the dragon and dwarves make a strong case for supremacy.
Magic is a game changer. Modes of transportation change because of it, but more importantly, all forces that effect survival are changed to a degree by magic. When farmers can pray for more crops or for more herd animals to be born, the surplus of resources causes a quicker rise of skilled laborers and civilization in general. Of course, all the magical beasts and other races keep growth in check, but we have to define how.
In my world, I chose Dragons as the first sentient race. Magically spawned from the dinosaur age, these creatures have since given rise to an intelligent variety of the the species. They develop language and learn to develop a symbiotic relationship with the nearby dwarves. Dwarven language is a direct offshoot of draconic. Dwarves benefit from this advancement and serve the Dragon-Gods. Not to mention there is a sharp decline in the local giant population. I am intentionally skipping several developmental steps of my world, but choosing the first races to ascend has a ripple effect on their neighbors.
In another part of my world, an ancestor gives rise to fairies, sprites, elves and all the sylvan ilk. Can elves produce children with humans? Could half-elves be a regression of elves that can mate with humans? Shall we call them the Irish? Sorry, I could not resist.
In actuality, my world has the sylvan cultures rising on an island, and elves take the lead in sea travel. The human cultures they first interact with become influenced by them. I originally have nine races of elves populating my world. Again, variance is more true to reality and hopefully more interesting. In any case, elves are third to rise.
Orcs are fourth to rise
Humans are fifth
This is not to say humans are less intelligent, when they get it going as a civilization, than those before them. In fact, their ability to adapt and learn is a big strength.
Back to the Irish. Any cultures we take from our history have to have a reasonable origin on our alternate earth, but they are a comfortable short-cut.
Reading this back, I know I skipped around a bit. There are so many considerations that it can be a bit much. The main point is that all the non-human races rose from ancestors of a migration around 100 million years ago out of Africa, and they are all very different now. Modern humans migrated out of Africa about 20,000 yrs ago on my alternate earth and were limited in their successful migration patterns. Consequently, all the human cultures of our earth will not be represented.
In turn, the migrations of the non-human races will be taken into account along with their cultural impacts on each other. The rise and fall of past civilizations will be considered up to the present day of our campaign world. Power groups will be defined and important resources identified. The evolution of Magic Use will also be studied, allowing more spells and rituals to be identified and added to game play. Demonstrating this process will show why most magic is not generic, but culturally based. Once we have magic in place, we will be ready to playtest.
On a playtest note, I only plan to develop one human culture for characters to come from. As that group travels, I'll develop the other cultures and allow additional character choices.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Developmental Review
I want to present an overview of how far along we are toward developing the core rules and forming a playtest group.
Core Rules:
I. Player Character Creation
1. Ability Scores-complete
2. Races-not defined
3. Skill Tree-mostly complete.
4. Money and Equipment-complete.
II. Magic
1. Spiritual Magic
a. concept-largely complete.
b. spells-partially complete.
c. definitions of spiritual spellcasting aids-partial
d. dieties, heroes and other spirits-partially defined (specific to campaign)
2. Elemental Magic
a. concept-largely complete
b. potions-defined
c. material components-partially defined.
d. elemental 'schools'-scketchy
e. spells-not even close
III. Combat
1. Melee-largely defined
2. Time and Movement-needs work
3. Magic-not close
IV. World
1. Races-not defined
2. Cultures-not defined
3. History-not defined
4. Gods-not defined
While I plan to discuss world design here, my own world, Rheen, will not be defined here. My playtest group will have to discover it on their own. I encourage each gamemaster out there to enjoy creating their own world, and I will be happy to discuss world design concepts that I'm not going to use in contrast in this blog. In my mind, deciding which cultures/races are emphasized on your world is a person decision that relates to the story you want to tell.
What I will emphasize in this blog is the concept of Evolution, and the logical progression of events one might expect when Evolution is applied to a fantasy world. At all times I want to make clear how advantages and resources cause cultures to flourish and how there is no static universe.
Also, I will make recommendations that stray far from the cannon of D&D and Tolkien. This may take you out of your comfort zone. You do not have to accept my ideas, and I welcome clarifications.
That being said, the Core Rules look to need some heavy grunt work in listing out spells and clarifying processes. I want to begin translating some D&D spells to this system, while adding many others. As was demonstrated with Spiritual Magic, the spells are not really that similar.
Many D&D spell effects are not individualized here. By contacting a helpful spirit, the spirit magic caster has many more role-playing and tactical options to consider, rather than casting a D&D spell with only one desired effect. This fluidity is central to spiritual magic.
Elemental magic, on the other hand, will be much more like chemistry and physics. Desired effects will have to be designed, spells exact. Magic is naturally a mildly chaotic force, and controlling through the focus of the mind will have interesting variances, but most of these spells will have what I hope are logical progressions.
Lastly, I want to put forth the concepts of Cultural Bias and Veils of Ignorance. Ideally, the player will have a clear understanding of the social role of their character. To this end, I recommend that your players only be introduced to those mores and customs central to their character's origin. As I envision an ancient world rife with dangers and constant struggles, it doesn't seem to me that a more civilized world like 'The Forgotten Realms' is the right concept. In fact, the world of 'Conan' with its city-states and its despots might be much closer to the mark. Cultural identity is heavily emphasized in a world where ancestral spirits empower cultural continuation.
Gods like Thor and Zeus are not interested in cultural diversification. Defeat. Enslave. Grow in Power.
Thus, strangers are enemies. Strangers are not kindly greeted. Cities of any size have an area outside their most secure gates to quarter travellers and facilitate trade. Guards are not lax, and are often in large groups. Individuals do not travel the open road alone. The larger the travelling party, the better.
As in medieval society in our past, the vast majority of people never leave the village of their birth. Their knowledge of the outside is not based on scholarship. If our forefathers believed in the mythical, can you imagine what people in a mythical world imagine are outside their walls at night?
Part of my effort here is to change the way fantasy role-playing games are approached and played. Too often, the game starts with tired cliches that are formulaic at best. While I will not spend too much time on these concepts, I will design the rules to emphasize what the characters could realistically expect from their culture. Cultures survive because they are self-perpetuating. Magical, deity-led cultures more so.
Designing alien cultures for all the other intelligent races might be too much to take in, but I do recommend challenging convention. While it may be nice, as a player, to visit other cultures and see the familiar, cookie-cutter fantasy setting, it would seem more interesting to visit other races/cultures and have to figure things out. Try for exotic, but practical. I'll put examples of this later in future posts.
Ok, enough soapbox.
Core Rules:
I. Player Character Creation
1. Ability Scores-complete
2. Races-not defined
3. Skill Tree-mostly complete.
4. Money and Equipment-complete.
II. Magic
1. Spiritual Magic
a. concept-largely complete.
b. spells-partially complete.
c. definitions of spiritual spellcasting aids-partial
d. dieties, heroes and other spirits-partially defined (specific to campaign)
2. Elemental Magic
a. concept-largely complete
b. potions-defined
c. material components-partially defined.
d. elemental 'schools'-scketchy
e. spells-not even close
III. Combat
1. Melee-largely defined
2. Time and Movement-needs work
3. Magic-not close
IV. World
1. Races-not defined
2. Cultures-not defined
3. History-not defined
4. Gods-not defined
While I plan to discuss world design here, my own world, Rheen, will not be defined here. My playtest group will have to discover it on their own. I encourage each gamemaster out there to enjoy creating their own world, and I will be happy to discuss world design concepts that I'm not going to use in contrast in this blog. In my mind, deciding which cultures/races are emphasized on your world is a person decision that relates to the story you want to tell.
What I will emphasize in this blog is the concept of Evolution, and the logical progression of events one might expect when Evolution is applied to a fantasy world. At all times I want to make clear how advantages and resources cause cultures to flourish and how there is no static universe.
Also, I will make recommendations that stray far from the cannon of D&D and Tolkien. This may take you out of your comfort zone. You do not have to accept my ideas, and I welcome clarifications.
That being said, the Core Rules look to need some heavy grunt work in listing out spells and clarifying processes. I want to begin translating some D&D spells to this system, while adding many others. As was demonstrated with Spiritual Magic, the spells are not really that similar.
Many D&D spell effects are not individualized here. By contacting a helpful spirit, the spirit magic caster has many more role-playing and tactical options to consider, rather than casting a D&D spell with only one desired effect. This fluidity is central to spiritual magic.
Elemental magic, on the other hand, will be much more like chemistry and physics. Desired effects will have to be designed, spells exact. Magic is naturally a mildly chaotic force, and controlling through the focus of the mind will have interesting variances, but most of these spells will have what I hope are logical progressions.
Lastly, I want to put forth the concepts of Cultural Bias and Veils of Ignorance. Ideally, the player will have a clear understanding of the social role of their character. To this end, I recommend that your players only be introduced to those mores and customs central to their character's origin. As I envision an ancient world rife with dangers and constant struggles, it doesn't seem to me that a more civilized world like 'The Forgotten Realms' is the right concept. In fact, the world of 'Conan' with its city-states and its despots might be much closer to the mark. Cultural identity is heavily emphasized in a world where ancestral spirits empower cultural continuation.
Gods like Thor and Zeus are not interested in cultural diversification. Defeat. Enslave. Grow in Power.
Thus, strangers are enemies. Strangers are not kindly greeted. Cities of any size have an area outside their most secure gates to quarter travellers and facilitate trade. Guards are not lax, and are often in large groups. Individuals do not travel the open road alone. The larger the travelling party, the better.
As in medieval society in our past, the vast majority of people never leave the village of their birth. Their knowledge of the outside is not based on scholarship. If our forefathers believed in the mythical, can you imagine what people in a mythical world imagine are outside their walls at night?
Part of my effort here is to change the way fantasy role-playing games are approached and played. Too often, the game starts with tired cliches that are formulaic at best. While I will not spend too much time on these concepts, I will design the rules to emphasize what the characters could realistically expect from their culture. Cultures survive because they are self-perpetuating. Magical, deity-led cultures more so.
Designing alien cultures for all the other intelligent races might be too much to take in, but I do recommend challenging convention. While it may be nice, as a player, to visit other cultures and see the familiar, cookie-cutter fantasy setting, it would seem more interesting to visit other races/cultures and have to figure things out. Try for exotic, but practical. I'll put examples of this later in future posts.
Ok, enough soapbox.
Children of Cain
I was listening to an adaptation of Beowulf on cd and giggled when the mythical monsters of the world were attributed to the progeny of Cain. I guess that if you are going to paint our world in black and white, this is not an unreasonable way to look for the divide. While Judeo-Christian mythology can have a place in our alternate world, we have to separate each culture's perspective from the cold genetic history of each mythical creature's origin.
As I mentioned previously, defining the origin and rise of the intelligent races is key to designing the world. Dominate cultures tend to erase weaker cultures in the course of time, and the addition of numerous intelligent races to compete for resources raises the ante.
In fact, it completely puts the history of human cultures in our past on it's ear. Consider how many intelligent races are represented in classical D&D:
human
elf
dragon (several varieties)
gnome
halfling
orc
goblin
bugbear
giants (several varieties)
brownies
dopplegangers
dryads
ettins
gargoyles
gnoll
lizardfolk
hobgoblin
kobolds
jackals
were-creatures (several varieties)
lycanthropes (several varieties)
mermen
mindflayers
ogres
pixies, nixies and nymphs
sahuagin
satyrs
cyclops
trolls
tritons
troglodytes
titans
sprites and sylphs
Not to mention the ones in Monster Manual 2 or Fiend Folio...
Well, you get the point. Most of these races have a home territory and are integral to the ecology of the region. They each compete with the other races (and among themselves) for resources and influence. These are not recent additions to our alternate earth, but have been developing over the eons. The resources and areas that they inhabit are not open to expansion by humans or other races without conflict. This many intelligent races means wars are a common aspect of history. It also means that many human cultures that developed on our earth never happened on our alternate earth.
In fact, much of the migrations of humans might never have happened. It will be critical to the success of our game to understand this concept and design a world largely unknown to humans. I'm inclined to give each ancient culture its due, but must consider limiting expansions of cultures. Survival pressures are higher and technological advancement aided by magic is in play.
My original concept was to have a world developed to about 800 AD with regard to cultures and technology, but I now view that only as the absolute limit going forward. It seems reasonable to go back to 10,000 BC, place the mythical races and wildlands (where all the monsters live) and develop forward. By sketching each culture's pre-history from this point, the history will be realistic. Of course, we may decide, reasonably so, that some races peaked in power and influence before this point. The Tolkien formula is to have most of the non-human races in decline, with forgotten histories shrouded in history. I prefer to have most races still actively fighting for survival. All the races can have great(and not so great) fallen civilizations in their past, but I do not want paint the elves or any other race as descended from a more powerful races and having extra long life-spans and such. While human mythology in our world commonly makes humans to be descended from god-chosen prototypes that lived longer lives and did not have to struggle just to survive (and Tolkien's Silmarillion echoes this), I'm not inclined to follow this old pattern.
Instead, the races developed over the eons. Some may have discovered agriculture, language or magic first, and this will determine dominance. Strength alone may dictate that Hobgoblins dominate Kobolds, but magic can be the great equalizer. Certainly, some races will dominate and enslave others. So, races will have high and low points depending on their circumstance, and they may all feel like their gods chose them to rule, but that is not how I want to go about designing it.
As I mentioned previously, defining the origin and rise of the intelligent races is key to designing the world. Dominate cultures tend to erase weaker cultures in the course of time, and the addition of numerous intelligent races to compete for resources raises the ante.
In fact, it completely puts the history of human cultures in our past on it's ear. Consider how many intelligent races are represented in classical D&D:
human
elf
dragon (several varieties)
gnome
halfling
orc
goblin
bugbear
giants (several varieties)
brownies
dopplegangers
dryads
ettins
gargoyles
gnoll
lizardfolk
hobgoblin
kobolds
jackals
were-creatures (several varieties)
lycanthropes (several varieties)
mermen
mindflayers
ogres
pixies, nixies and nymphs
sahuagin
satyrs
cyclops
trolls
tritons
troglodytes
titans
sprites and sylphs
Not to mention the ones in Monster Manual 2 or Fiend Folio...
Well, you get the point. Most of these races have a home territory and are integral to the ecology of the region. They each compete with the other races (and among themselves) for resources and influence. These are not recent additions to our alternate earth, but have been developing over the eons. The resources and areas that they inhabit are not open to expansion by humans or other races without conflict. This many intelligent races means wars are a common aspect of history. It also means that many human cultures that developed on our earth never happened on our alternate earth.
In fact, much of the migrations of humans might never have happened. It will be critical to the success of our game to understand this concept and design a world largely unknown to humans. I'm inclined to give each ancient culture its due, but must consider limiting expansions of cultures. Survival pressures are higher and technological advancement aided by magic is in play.
My original concept was to have a world developed to about 800 AD with regard to cultures and technology, but I now view that only as the absolute limit going forward. It seems reasonable to go back to 10,000 BC, place the mythical races and wildlands (where all the monsters live) and develop forward. By sketching each culture's pre-history from this point, the history will be realistic. Of course, we may decide, reasonably so, that some races peaked in power and influence before this point. The Tolkien formula is to have most of the non-human races in decline, with forgotten histories shrouded in history. I prefer to have most races still actively fighting for survival. All the races can have great(and not so great) fallen civilizations in their past, but I do not want paint the elves or any other race as descended from a more powerful races and having extra long life-spans and such. While human mythology in our world commonly makes humans to be descended from god-chosen prototypes that lived longer lives and did not have to struggle just to survive (and Tolkien's Silmarillion echoes this), I'm not inclined to follow this old pattern.
Instead, the races developed over the eons. Some may have discovered agriculture, language or magic first, and this will determine dominance. Strength alone may dictate that Hobgoblins dominate Kobolds, but magic can be the great equalizer. Certainly, some races will dominate and enslave others. So, races will have high and low points depending on their circumstance, and they may all feel like their gods chose them to rule, but that is not how I want to go about designing it.
Monday, January 24, 2011
More Thoughts on Potions
So, if we define reagents reasonably, potion brewing and spellcraft should progress from that. Potions that do not rely simply on the natural effect of their contents alone, but instead hold a spell effect will require a specific gem dust to seal in the magic until the potion is consumed.
So, a potion of healing derived from ginseng root extract alone, would have a shelf life, but it would not require any spellcasting skill or gem dust to create. An elixir of firebreath would.
A couple of definitions.
Potion: any combination of liquids or suspended reagents not requiring spellcasting to create. One uses potion-making skill to create potions.
Elixir: any combination of liquids or suspended reagents that require spellcasting skill to create and that usually have a spell-like effect when consumed. One uses Alchemy skill to create elixirs.
Alchemy differs from potion-making in that magical ingredients or spell-casting is required to produce the desired elixir (or salve, etc).
Potion-making skill would involve knowing how to prepare raw ingredients to the finished product.
Herbology skill would help one locate the raw plant ingredients in the wild.
Potions (and scrolls, spell tokens, etc) can be used by spellcasters as a platform for larger spells if they have the skill.
Elemental Spellcraft derives from the framework of potions and their raw materials. A witch at her caldron is much more dangerous than the witch alone.
So, a potion of healing derived from ginseng root extract alone, would have a shelf life, but it would not require any spellcasting skill or gem dust to create. An elixir of firebreath would.
A couple of definitions.
Potion: any combination of liquids or suspended reagents not requiring spellcasting to create. One uses potion-making skill to create potions.
Elixir: any combination of liquids or suspended reagents that require spellcasting skill to create and that usually have a spell-like effect when consumed. One uses Alchemy skill to create elixirs.
Alchemy differs from potion-making in that magical ingredients or spell-casting is required to produce the desired elixir (or salve, etc).
Potion-making skill would involve knowing how to prepare raw ingredients to the finished product.
Herbology skill would help one locate the raw plant ingredients in the wild.
Potions (and scrolls, spell tokens, etc) can be used by spellcasters as a platform for larger spells if they have the skill.
Elemental Spellcraft derives from the framework of potions and their raw materials. A witch at her caldron is much more dangerous than the witch alone.
Material Components
Material Components provide an interesting opportunity to enhance both the feel of the fantasy world and depth of role playing options. The question becomes whether the time invested in stratifying the various effects of material components is worthwhile. Magic systems based on generic magical fuel, such as mana, invest little in world development. Granted, it would take much, much less time to develope a system this way.
For my part, I'm committed to making this world, this gaming experience, as real as possible. To this end, I propose that magical energy (both static and active) is found in largely fixed quantum states. That is to say, magic is easy to change from state to state if it is being influenced to do so, but when not being influence, it comes to a restive state. This restive state of material components can be defined in terms of energy by a number of d6 that it provides to a skilled caster. These quantum states for magical energy (both restive and active) follow a progression of prime numbers (1,2,3,5,7,11, etc). This is a naturally occuring pattern, that will make an interesting mechanic further in.
For brewing potions and casting elemental spells, these material components power the outcome, so their starting levels of energy are important to understand. Spiritual magic is powered by the caster's connection to the spirit world, but elemental casters must use materials they can find. Fire mages, for instance, can use any combustable fuel to aid their spells, but the quality and quantity of those fuels can range widely. Common natural ingredients(carbohydrates) wood, cloth, food would be energy level 1, but how much mass would be needed?
Energy level 1(wood or other carbohydrates):
oven dried or completely dehydrated fuels (such as from an ancient desert tomb) 10 lbs
charcoal 7lbs
air dried wood 14 lbs
green or living tree 28 lbs
water-soaked wood 90 lbs
rain-soaked living tree 120lbs
lamp-oil soaked wood 3lbs
greek fire coated stick 4 ounces
alcohol beverages with 50-80% alcohol 1 liter
Energy level 2 (flamable oils):
lamp oil-crude 4 standard flasks (soaks 12 lbs wood)
lamp oil refined 1 standard flask (soaks 12 lbs wood)
grain alcohol 90-100% 1 liter
Energy level 3 (Highly flammable compounds):
greek fire - 1/12 standard flask (standard flask can coat 40 sticks)
Energy level 5 (Explosives)
There might be some limited explosives discovered on our alternate earth, but none at this time.
Fire or heat could give a bonus to fire magic casting, just as rain or cold might hinder it. Strong sources of fire or heat can be used by a fire mage to transfer the effect into a spell. Molten lava could fuel a spell. A burning house could. Note how much fuel the mage can gather in one 5ft hex of infuence to determine how much fuel they can gather in one round at their skill level. More on this later.
Magical wood or other items that contain magical fire energy could be much stronger than these mundane examples, but not at all common.
Of course, the above quantities only represent 1d6 of energy each, so we may have to adjust them once a few spells are playtested.
For my part, I'm committed to making this world, this gaming experience, as real as possible. To this end, I propose that magical energy (both static and active) is found in largely fixed quantum states. That is to say, magic is easy to change from state to state if it is being influenced to do so, but when not being influence, it comes to a restive state. This restive state of material components can be defined in terms of energy by a number of d6 that it provides to a skilled caster. These quantum states for magical energy (both restive and active) follow a progression of prime numbers (1,2,3,5,7,11, etc). This is a naturally occuring pattern, that will make an interesting mechanic further in.
For brewing potions and casting elemental spells, these material components power the outcome, so their starting levels of energy are important to understand. Spiritual magic is powered by the caster's connection to the spirit world, but elemental casters must use materials they can find. Fire mages, for instance, can use any combustable fuel to aid their spells, but the quality and quantity of those fuels can range widely. Common natural ingredients(carbohydrates) wood, cloth, food would be energy level 1, but how much mass would be needed?
Energy level 1(wood or other carbohydrates):
oven dried or completely dehydrated fuels (such as from an ancient desert tomb) 10 lbs
charcoal 7lbs
air dried wood 14 lbs
green or living tree 28 lbs
water-soaked wood 90 lbs
rain-soaked living tree 120lbs
lamp-oil soaked wood 3lbs
greek fire coated stick 4 ounces
alcohol beverages with 50-80% alcohol 1 liter
Energy level 2 (flamable oils):
lamp oil-crude 4 standard flasks (soaks 12 lbs wood)
lamp oil refined 1 standard flask (soaks 12 lbs wood)
grain alcohol 90-100% 1 liter
Energy level 3 (Highly flammable compounds):
greek fire - 1/12 standard flask (standard flask can coat 40 sticks)
Energy level 5 (Explosives)
There might be some limited explosives discovered on our alternate earth, but none at this time.
Fire or heat could give a bonus to fire magic casting, just as rain or cold might hinder it. Strong sources of fire or heat can be used by a fire mage to transfer the effect into a spell. Molten lava could fuel a spell. A burning house could. Note how much fuel the mage can gather in one 5ft hex of infuence to determine how much fuel they can gather in one round at their skill level. More on this later.
Magical wood or other items that contain magical fire energy could be much stronger than these mundane examples, but not at all common.
Of course, the above quantities only represent 1d6 of energy each, so we may have to adjust them once a few spells are playtested.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Brewing Potions
Brewing potions is one of the best ways to make portable, helpful magic that can be used by almost anyone. Even so, it is by no means easy. Even if you know what ingredients to collect, you would still need the skills to put them together. Moreover, manipulating magical ingredients requires magical specific skill. Given the possible skills of the crafter, there are a wealth of possible potions to brew.
Perhaps it would be best to divide all such items into Elemental and Spiritual based items. Elemental potions require a precise recipe of specific ingredients, while spiritual potions require a specific ritual performed at an altar.
Let's start with Elemental magic based potions.
potion name: Heal Wounds
potion effect: heals xd6 points of physical damage, where x is the units of power of the healing ingredients.
duration: instantaneous.
So, if one pound of ginseng root = one unit of healing, how does this work? Well, the natural root could be eaten and digested giving the healing over a ten minute time frame (1d6 after ten minutes), or the ginseng root could be refined and the healing essence extracted and mixed into a salve or potion. Let's say that same one unit is now one ounce of fluid. One could more quickly consume more units and receive the benefits faster. Knowing what herbs are beneficial and where to look for them in the wild is one skill, and being able to refine their healing essence another.
The same development pattern holds true for potions that enhance abilities or skills. A potion could also contain one ounce of this benefit, and another ounce of another benefit, making interesting combo packages, though higher skill would be needed to make these.
Still more complex would be potions that duplicated spell effects. I am imagining the crushed gems might be a nice ingredient to hold the spell matrix, but this is only a thought.
The complexities only go up, and we have not even considered magical tools and ingredients, so this will take some effort.
Perhaps it would be best to divide all such items into Elemental and Spiritual based items. Elemental potions require a precise recipe of specific ingredients, while spiritual potions require a specific ritual performed at an altar.
Let's start with Elemental magic based potions.
potion name: Heal Wounds
potion effect: heals xd6 points of physical damage, where x is the units of power of the healing ingredients.
duration: instantaneous.
So, if one pound of ginseng root = one unit of healing, how does this work? Well, the natural root could be eaten and digested giving the healing over a ten minute time frame (1d6 after ten minutes), or the ginseng root could be refined and the healing essence extracted and mixed into a salve or potion. Let's say that same one unit is now one ounce of fluid. One could more quickly consume more units and receive the benefits faster. Knowing what herbs are beneficial and where to look for them in the wild is one skill, and being able to refine their healing essence another.
The same development pattern holds true for potions that enhance abilities or skills. A potion could also contain one ounce of this benefit, and another ounce of another benefit, making interesting combo packages, though higher skill would be needed to make these.
Still more complex would be potions that duplicated spell effects. I am imagining the crushed gems might be a nice ingredient to hold the spell matrix, but this is only a thought.
The complexities only go up, and we have not even considered magical tools and ingredients, so this will take some effort.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
Wow. The holidays were great, but I have let my design fall a bit behind schedule. It is not all bad, as the time of reflection led me to much deeper understanding of how magic, and particularly elemental magic, would work. Unfortunately, it is now a very complex mess in my head. I want to convey all the steps from basic to advanced elemental magic use in a logical progression, so I'll start with the smallest bit and work my way up.
For those of us who have studied some Quantum Mechanics or String Theory, this should flow pretty well. Once you get to the sub-atomic world, there are many forces and processes we still don't understand. This is not the blog for working those issues out. Instead, I want to clarify raw magical energy in terms of quantum, or waves of energy in a complex design. As we theorize that certain quantum particles pair and form larger particles (electrons, protons, neutrons) based on their characteristics (spin, charge, color) or that all matter is actually formed ultimately by extremely short waves of energy (string theory), we can inject another such string or quantum, and call it magic (elemental). These usually latent bits of magic can be energized to several set states of energy (and usually fluctuate between these states in an unpredictable fashion).
We could theorize for centuries how exactly the spellcaster can manipulate with thought the highly energized magical bits to do the caster's bidding, or how spirit magic works seemingly independent of elemental magic. There may never be a Grand Unified Theory of Magic to bring it all together, and we do not fully need one, as long as the physical results of manipulating magic follow a consistent and predictable path. The key is understanding the states of matter and how they relate to the final desired outcome of magical spells. Certainly, exciting a piece of paper to ignite is easier than transforming the same page to a sheet of copper. When we accept that magic is a force that can transform the atomic structure, we simply have to determine how much energy is required to effect the transformation and back out of the process to the caster. Is it easier to fall back on the imagination of others or spells we already know from other games. Absolutely, but I think that this will get easier once we develop the core mechanics of how these spells are brought about.
To that end, I am taking the tack that elemental magics were discovered in a process that started with raw magical ingredients found in nature and slowly moved through potion making and specialized tool making to rituals of power. Certainly, we already know how intelligent races use herb and other beneficial elements they find in nature. Add to this magical ingredients, and ultimately magical tools, to facilitate the process and potions and spells will come forth. Also, magics based on different environments would also be more true to the eventual reality. Magical uses of ice wouldn't be discovered in the desert, but their would be spells involving sand or heat. So alchemical knowledge is very specific to the terrain/culture of the mage. Mages from the desert would know dozens of uses for sand in spells, but might be at a loss on an icy tundra. Here, we see the importance of material components. Defining what natural ingredients will facilitate spells (or potions for that matter) is critical to defining the availability of elemental magical power. Certainly, items that already have a constant magical nature (unicorn's horn, dragon's lungs, magical water, magical stone, etc) would have the highest usable state of magical energy.
Mundane water, earth, air, etc would have the lowest state of magical energy (some could have absolutely none-like electromagnetic metals, which repulse magic). The question becomes how the mage can obtain the required materials. I'm leery of unbalancing the game, or simply being unrealistic to the level of magic necessary to populate a world with fantastic creatures and races.
What I am not uncertain about is that the races first discovered helpful herbs and materials, then learned how processing them (with and without magic) made them more beneficial. So, it stands to reason that I'll start with that and see where it leads.
Before I leave the topic, I want to back out to the world history view. Certainly, the alternate earth that we now consider will have many different races and species not found on our earth. Determining when and where these races rise to civilization, how they develope beyond that, and how they conflict with other cultures, will be a large task. Ancient cultures of our world may have been bolstered to survive longer or meet quicker ends with the use of magic. Defining how elemental magic proliferates will go a long way to determining some of these trends. On the other hand, we can already see that spirit magic will raise the Pharaohs to true gods, along with numerous ancient cultural leaders who will follow this path to everlasting power. Whether this prolongs their culture, or leads to implosions as factions fight for power, is part of development of cultures not clearly addressed in past gaming systems.
There is little doubt that the first God-Kings would not welcome their mortal successors, and the conflicts between different religious factions will be a fertile bed for adventure scenarios. Who can judge the real staying power of some religions? Countless such cultures have come and gone in our world, but faith may be stronger with the advent of spiritual magic. Indeed, ancient gods (a Sumerian god of war, for example) may have much more lasting power in our alternate earth, prolonging the society that spawned it.
That is fun for another day.
For those of us who have studied some Quantum Mechanics or String Theory, this should flow pretty well. Once you get to the sub-atomic world, there are many forces and processes we still don't understand. This is not the blog for working those issues out. Instead, I want to clarify raw magical energy in terms of quantum, or waves of energy in a complex design. As we theorize that certain quantum particles pair and form larger particles (electrons, protons, neutrons) based on their characteristics (spin, charge, color) or that all matter is actually formed ultimately by extremely short waves of energy (string theory), we can inject another such string or quantum, and call it magic (elemental). These usually latent bits of magic can be energized to several set states of energy (and usually fluctuate between these states in an unpredictable fashion).
We could theorize for centuries how exactly the spellcaster can manipulate with thought the highly energized magical bits to do the caster's bidding, or how spirit magic works seemingly independent of elemental magic. There may never be a Grand Unified Theory of Magic to bring it all together, and we do not fully need one, as long as the physical results of manipulating magic follow a consistent and predictable path. The key is understanding the states of matter and how they relate to the final desired outcome of magical spells. Certainly, exciting a piece of paper to ignite is easier than transforming the same page to a sheet of copper. When we accept that magic is a force that can transform the atomic structure, we simply have to determine how much energy is required to effect the transformation and back out of the process to the caster. Is it easier to fall back on the imagination of others or spells we already know from other games. Absolutely, but I think that this will get easier once we develop the core mechanics of how these spells are brought about.
To that end, I am taking the tack that elemental magics were discovered in a process that started with raw magical ingredients found in nature and slowly moved through potion making and specialized tool making to rituals of power. Certainly, we already know how intelligent races use herb and other beneficial elements they find in nature. Add to this magical ingredients, and ultimately magical tools, to facilitate the process and potions and spells will come forth. Also, magics based on different environments would also be more true to the eventual reality. Magical uses of ice wouldn't be discovered in the desert, but their would be spells involving sand or heat. So alchemical knowledge is very specific to the terrain/culture of the mage. Mages from the desert would know dozens of uses for sand in spells, but might be at a loss on an icy tundra. Here, we see the importance of material components. Defining what natural ingredients will facilitate spells (or potions for that matter) is critical to defining the availability of elemental magical power. Certainly, items that already have a constant magical nature (unicorn's horn, dragon's lungs, magical water, magical stone, etc) would have the highest usable state of magical energy.
Mundane water, earth, air, etc would have the lowest state of magical energy (some could have absolutely none-like electromagnetic metals, which repulse magic). The question becomes how the mage can obtain the required materials. I'm leery of unbalancing the game, or simply being unrealistic to the level of magic necessary to populate a world with fantastic creatures and races.
What I am not uncertain about is that the races first discovered helpful herbs and materials, then learned how processing them (with and without magic) made them more beneficial. So, it stands to reason that I'll start with that and see where it leads.
Before I leave the topic, I want to back out to the world history view. Certainly, the alternate earth that we now consider will have many different races and species not found on our earth. Determining when and where these races rise to civilization, how they develope beyond that, and how they conflict with other cultures, will be a large task. Ancient cultures of our world may have been bolstered to survive longer or meet quicker ends with the use of magic. Defining how elemental magic proliferates will go a long way to determining some of these trends. On the other hand, we can already see that spirit magic will raise the Pharaohs to true gods, along with numerous ancient cultural leaders who will follow this path to everlasting power. Whether this prolongs their culture, or leads to implosions as factions fight for power, is part of development of cultures not clearly addressed in past gaming systems.
There is little doubt that the first God-Kings would not welcome their mortal successors, and the conflicts between different religious factions will be a fertile bed for adventure scenarios. Who can judge the real staying power of some religions? Countless such cultures have come and gone in our world, but faith may be stronger with the advent of spiritual magic. Indeed, ancient gods (a Sumerian god of war, for example) may have much more lasting power in our alternate earth, prolonging the society that spawned it.
That is fun for another day.
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