Junk in my head. Just wanted to get it out. Critque/ignore. Whatever. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Junk in my head. Just wanted to get it out. Critque/ignore. Whatever. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
EvilVegan
10-08-07, 04:03 PM I've just got a lot of crap in my head and wanted to get it out on . . . uhhhh,
'paper'.

Setting ideas/variants:

Restructure magic to be based on Music and Dance. (Not like tales of the abyss). Various Chords/Refrains/Dances would relate to different magical effects. Divine, Arcane, and Nature would be Music of the Spheres, Shadowdancing, and the Greensong respectively. Classes would be reworked, druid would be a Greensinger, with vastly different abilities, etc. For a Weis/Hickman twist, convert psionics into a form of tattoo-based magic.
Order vs Balance vs Chaos world, with various factions vying for support. Good and Evil take a back burner. The reason for this is an ancient conflict between celestial beings, possibly Serpents/Coutl, but even further behind that is the deceptions of the fiends because when good and evil are taking a back burner, it's easier to convince people to commit evil acts. The world is slowly falling into an evil spiral and will eventually destroy itself. The characters are either focused on the struggle of OvBvC or witting/unwitting pawns of the higher powers of Good and Evil. Paladins and other alignment based classes are allowed to slip down the moral scale more easily, but this is because the evil forces of the underworld are 'picking up the slack' in supplying their power (needs work). Leaving off the good and evil secondary backdrop issue makes the campaign more OvBvC and works well. Forces of order are working on creating more perfect life forms, like warforged, and the forces of chaos are working on fleshwarping, making aberrations and monsters for use in the war. Both sides are pretty shady. The Balance forces are trying to keep the peace and are typically the more reasonable ones, though the evil Balancekeepers seek a status quo where Order and Chaos kill each other in equal numbers. Elves are the dominant order race, their long life stemming from a superior force of self-control. Orcs would be the chaotic side. Humans would tend to be Balance. Neither side would be more evil or good than the other. Any group would be playable, but party alignment would be along Ethical axis, meaning a paladin would travel with a lawful evil assassin before a chaotic good barbarian.
World of Islands. On the largest island there is major war between the Kreen (varying breeds of wasp/mantis/bee/ant creatures) forces in the east and the semi-united humanoids in the west. Elves are closer to nature, living on an island tree of enormous size, the tree is a deity and they have multiple life-cycles becoming more like fey or plants (with escalating templates) as they progress, their minor towns are founded around the tree-bodies of the most powerful elves (who become more like stationary treants). Elves are capable of 'lifeshaping' which creates plant-symbiots that have various mystical effects or practical uses (such as vinewhips and armblades, or photocysts that replace rings of sustenance). There is a race of chaotic beings, the Kvar, that are shapechangers (similar to hengyokai/shifters). There is a sub-race of occasionally winged arctic elves that are interbred with their demi-god-king occasionally, they don't have plant/fey connections, but are more like half-celestials. Buried in the earth are the demons of the Dead Sun god. Moon is enormous, causing large tidal forces, three tiny suns orbit the world one blue, one green, and one red, each with different qualities and subtle alignment differences. There are no other planes, only an infinite "material plane" with various zones. Elementals congregate in areas of elemental homogeny (fire in volcanos, earth underground, air in the upper atmosphere/clouds/mounts, water in the. . . water). The large and relatively close Moon has some adventure options. Also features gravity elementals made of solid black rock. This is an old campaign world I made about 12 years ago and never used.

Campaign arcs:

Party is law enforcement, on a payroll (similar to FF8) but the payroll is determined metagame per the wealth per encounter standard. This is more of the meta-setting. The Law Enforcement agents are also being controlled by some black ops organization, with at least one member of the group being an unwitting assassin with a trigger-word. Party would be searching for the assassin of course. Cityscape heavy.
I really want to run a Zombies based game soon, critical hits apply to Zombies. Zombies are contagious. I would use ghouls as the default "zombie" and might upgrade to ghasts, wights, and other more powerful/contageous baddies. I might use a disease variant where the zombies are technically "alive" and immune to turning. Other variants include a tsochar outbreak that creates zombie-like creatures, which are more like the resident evil ganados. I typically have at least one minor zombie outburst, but have in the past used it to "reset" the a whole world for higher level arcs.
Let me show you my Pokemans. No!

I had more before I started and of course forgot them.

Critiques/additions? Steal whatever.
Aneutralshadeofblack
10-09-07, 02:20 AM Let me show you my Pokemans. No!

This are relevant to my interest. Can I has know moar plix?

The songmagic background is something I like a lot and have been contemplating for a while. I also quite like the Order/Chaos world; you'd need Paladins of every alignment (or at least the variants presented in UA, plus a TN Paladin), though.
Amadan
10-10-07, 10:38 AM Restructure magic to be based on Music and Dance. (Not like tales of the abyss). Various Chords/Refrains/Dances would relate to different magical effects. Divine, Arcane, and Nature would be Music of the Spheres, Shadowdancing, and the Greensong respectively. Classes would be reworked, druid would be a Greensinger, with vastly different abilities, etc. For a Weis/Hickman twist, convert psionics into a form of tattoo-based magic.

For more ideas / inspiration on music as magic, you might take a look at Book of Eldritch Might II: Songs and Souls of Power.
UraniumKatana
10-11-07, 11:31 AM Thank you for the suggestions, gentlemen (guess who can't migrate their account to Gleemax at this time). I was going to begin work on the music-based campaign shortly.

Preliminary glancing at the Book of Eldritch might basically showed the essence of what I wanted, though I would use more than single notes, chords, melodies. Notes would be good effects as they have them (move action boosts is what it sounds like). But the basic ability would be a full song, not just a portion.

I was thinking about a system where you learned a song/dance and you can do it at any time. These would be similar to Martial Maneuvers (I guess), with variation. Primary difference would be that most songs/dances would require a full-round to initiate, and other people can cooperatively join you.

Furthermore, the song or dance could be more akin to 'stance' and the 'maneuvers' would be a chorus, refrain, or flourish.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
EvilVegan 10-08-07, 04:03 PM	I've just got a lot of crap in my head and wanted to get it out on . . . uhhhh, 'paper'. Setting ideas/variants: Restructure magic to be based on Music and Dance. (Not like tales of the abyss). Various Chords/Refrains/Dances would relate to different magical effects. Divine, Arcane, and Nature would be Music of the Spheres, Shadowdancing, and the Greensong respectively. Classes would be reworked, druid would be a Greensinger, with vastly different abilities, etc. For a Weis/Hickman twist, convert psionics into a form of tattoo-based magic. Order vs Balance vs Chaos world, with various factions vying for support. Good and Evil take a back burner. The reason for this is an ancient conflict between celestial beings, possibly Serpents/Coutl, but even further behind that is the deceptions of the fiends because when good and evil are taking a back burner, it's easier to convince people to commit evil acts. The world is slowly falling into an evil spiral and will eventually destroy itself. The characters are either focused on the struggle of OvBvC or witting/unwitting pawns of the higher powers of Good and Evil. Paladins and other alignment based classes are allowed to slip down the moral scale more easily, but this is because the evil forces of the underworld are 'picking up the slack' in supplying their power (needs work). Leaving off the good and evil secondary backdrop issue makes the campaign more OvBvC and works well. Forces of order are working on creating more perfect life forms, like warforged, and the forces of chaos are working on fleshwarping, making aberrations and monsters for use in the war. Both sides are pretty shady. The Balance forces are trying to keep the peace and are typically the more reasonable ones, though the evil Balancekeepers seek a status quo where Order and Chaos kill each other in equal numbers. Elves are the dominant order race, their long life stemming from a superior force of self-control. Orcs would be the chaotic side. Humans would tend to be Balance. Neither side would be more evil or good than the other. Any group would be playable, but party alignment would be along Ethical axis, meaning a paladin would travel with a lawful evil assassin before a chaotic good barbarian. World of Islands. On the largest island there is major war between the Kreen (varying breeds of wasp/mantis/bee/ant creatures) forces in the east and the semi-united humanoids in the west. Elves are closer to nature, living on an island tree of enormous size, the tree is a deity and they have multiple life-cycles becoming more like fey or plants (with escalating templates) as they progress, their minor towns are founded around the tree-bodies of the most powerful elves (who become more like stationary treants). Elves are capable of 'lifeshaping' which creates plant-symbiots that have various mystical effects or practical uses (such as vinewhips and armblades, or photocysts that replace rings of sustenance). There is a race of chaotic beings, the Kvar, that are shapechangers (similar to hengyokai/shifters). There is a sub-race of occasionally winged arctic elves that are interbred with their demi-god-king occasionally, they don't have plant/fey connections, but are more like half-celestials. Buried in the earth are the demons of the Dead Sun god. Moon is enormous, causing large tidal forces, three tiny suns orbit the world one blue, one green, and one red, each with different qualities and subtle alignment differences. There are no other planes, only an infinite "material plane" with various zones. Elementals congregate in areas of elemental homogeny (fire in volcanos, earth underground, air in the upper atmosphere/clouds/mounts, water in the. . . water). The large and relatively close Moon has some adventure options. Also features gravity elementals made of solid black rock. This is an old campaign world I made about 12 years ago and never used. Campaign arcs: Party is law enforcement, on a payroll (similar to FF8) but the payroll is determined metagame per the wealth per encounter standard. This is more of the meta-setting. The Law Enforcement agents are also being controlled by some black ops organization, with at least one member of the group being an unwitting assassin with a trigger-word. Party would be searching for the assassin of course. Cityscape heavy. I really want to run a Zombies based game soon, critical hits apply to Zombies. Zombies are contagious. I would use ghouls as the default "zombie" and might upgrade to ghasts, wights, and other more powerful/contageous baddies. I might use a disease variant where the zombies are technically "alive" and immune to turning. Other variants include a tsochar outbreak that creates zombie-like creatures, which are more like the resident evil ganados. I typically have at least one minor zombie outburst, but have in the past used it to "reset" the a whole world for higher level arcs. Let me show you my Pokemans. No! I had more before I started and of course forgot them. Critiques/additions? Steal whatever.
Aneutralshadeofblack 10-09-07, 02:20 AM	Let me show you my Pokemans. No! This are relevant to my interest. Can I has know moar plix? The songmagic background is something I like a lot and have been contemplating for a while. I also quite like the Order/Chaos world; you'd need Paladins of every alignment (or at least the variants presented in UA, plus a TN Paladin), though.
Amadan 10-10-07, 10:38 AM	Restructure magic to be based on Music and Dance. (Not like tales of the abyss). Various Chords/Refrains/Dances would relate to different magical effects. Divine, Arcane, and Nature would be Music of the Spheres, Shadowdancing, and the Greensong respectively. Classes would be reworked, druid would be a Greensinger, with vastly different abilities, etc. For a Weis/Hickman twist, convert psionics into a form of tattoo-based magic. For more ideas / inspiration on music as magic, you might take a look at Book of Eldritch Might II: Songs and Souls of Power.
UraniumKatana 10-11-07, 11:31 AM	Thank you for the suggestions, gentlemen (guess who can't migrate their account to Gleemax at this time). I was going to begin work on the music-based campaign shortly. Preliminary glancing at the Book of Eldritch might basically showed the essence of what I wanted, though I would use more than single notes, chords, melodies. Notes would be good effects as they have them (move action boosts is what it sounds like). But the basic ability would be a full song, not just a portion. I was thinking about a system where you learned a song/dance and you can do it at any time. These would be similar to Martial Maneuvers (I guess), with variation. Primary difference would be that most songs/dances would require a full-round to initiate, and other people can cooperatively join you. Furthermore, the song or dance could be more akin to 'stance' and the 'maneuvers' would be a chorus, refrain, or flourish.