Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 alexanderwales218 Nov 26, 2009 20:53:53	Okay, so I'm running a campaign in a world that's going through the fantasy equivalent of the Agricultural, Scientific, and Industrial Revolutions; druids greatly increase the food supply, which makes the cities able to support a higher population, which increases the intellectual class, which means there's a lot more study of magic, which leads to a change in how the city is structured.  Anyway, I'm trying (flavorwise) to not have it seem a lot like actual history.  That is, the events are parallel but don't look that much alike.  Magitek is the use of magic to recreate modern inventions; this is more the use of magic to recreate a historical pattern of events.  So a magic pistol or a steam engine powered by a fire elemental are out, but the increased mobility afforded by railroads is in because it can be replaced by flying carpets, teleportation, or other things the default D&D setting already has. Anyway, I want to steal a something from a series that I've been reading, and I need to figure out how to make it work.  Basically, last session the players found a supremely powerful artifact which both functions as a permanant (portable) teleportation circle, and which is inscribed with the laws which govern the universe.  Anyone studying the laws for a long enough period of time can do some pretty godlike things, because the laws are built with a lot of loopholes in them that allow for infinite magical feedback, massive death, continent creation, and other ridiculousness.  But since the universe is intelligent, any given loophole can only be exploited once before the rules get patched. Here's my problem - I want the rules to be more mystical and less mathematical.  I never want to bring up the formula for gravitational force, or mass energy equivalence, or other things like that - things that might take away from the fantasy feel.  So how to do this?  The central concept of a set of laws which apply to all of creation seems almost like it can't be disguised.  So I figured I would go here for some help.  You guys can at least tell me if the concept of the self-patching universe will need to be scrapped. The players haven't seen the artifact yet, and it won't be recognized for what it is until they bring it back to the capital city to be analyzed, so there's still time to change any of that.  Right now the world is high magic, low power; pretty much everyone knows someone who can do magic, but that magic isn't much past level 10 in power.
#2 feyberry Nov 26, 2009 23:45:33	Use stellar alignment and constellations.  Arcane symbols and ley lines.  Maybe the artifact has to be used at specific leyline crossroads.