Conglomeration of ideas

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    • Conglomeration of ideas

      Having the books for a few days now I am in the introductory ideas for campaign writing and “tweaks” I am throwing to the world.

      These are just ideas, and I haven’t had time to read the entire book so they may already be implemented in such, but this is my early stuff.

      First, the farther away from the “cities” one gets the less civilized areas become. Among the remote regions I am separating off animal species by regions, i.e. animals that would regularly be found in bogs and swamps will be what is found in the bogs and swamps, animals from the coast (walrus, sea gulls, etc…) will be on the coast. These regions are going to be “ruled” by the apex predator species or a conglomeration of such. I like the games current concept, and I am using that to address the more civilized areas; however I wanted barbaric areas as well, so I am taking the inside out approach.


      -Travelers “traders, messengers, and missionaries” are bringing the concepts of the civilized areas to the more remote areas but there is resistance from some areas because some "in power", don’t want all the changes. In a "might makes right society", the mighty don’t want to give up their “status”, and the arts play a much smaller role (to them).

      Anyway, one of the concepts is a swamp area (ruled by gators) has recently (last 5 years) had somewhat of a drought going on. Not only is the water dissipating at a rapid pace, but the temperature is steadily climbing. With gators this leads to a few problems.

      - Territory. Gators don’t “need” water, but they relish it! The lack of water had started turning them against each other for "rights".
      o Mulke (working name for head honcho gator) recognized the issues and knew an easy way to unite his people was to turn them against a common enemy. Being a smart cookie, the enemy he named was the land, rather then a specific set of peoples. He said we need to extend “our reach”, how do we do that? Which way do we go? Can we do it without war?

      - Gators, being a thermo relegated species (in real life the sex of their eggs is determined by the temperature the egg is incubated in) have not had a female child in 4 years. (I am keeping their births male because they tend to be more aggressive, it makes them more of a threat on a subconscious level. I don’t have them laying eggs, but I do have the temp issue carrying over.)
      o This creates the real dilemma for the players when they are attempting to sort this mess out. As a species if this keeps up, they will see very real ethical issues come to pass, as an entire generation will not be able to reproduce.

      - Puma’s (mt. lions) are also native to the swamp areas, but also being an apex predator their territory is more “inland”, (away from the equator, thus slightly cooler, and less affected by the drought- or so the gators believe).o Regularly the gators and pumas get along well (trade between the lands is good; they pretty much don’t’ bother each other), but the competition for resources has driven some recent conflicts. The pumas don’t want the gators in their territory, because they know that it is going to lead to conflicts with “who is in charge”.

      All told I am only mentioning the “ruling bodies”, the societies are made up of other native fauna (birds, snakes, etc…) which regularly inhabit the areas. They have travelers to both areas (about once a year to the gators, and about once a season to the pumas) so they are not ignorant to the outside world, they just are resistant to change. For instance the birds with flight can leave any time they wish, yet they remain for the most part.

      Anyway, still working out the details on it, will post more as I modify it and change it up a bit. Other things I am thinking about...

      A Viking like society, (raiders from the sea). Coming up with berserker traits, and having their arts (knotwork, weaponry, dress) foreign to the main world. They would bridge the gap to another continent (with Native American type society). I am doing this for a number of reasons, but mostly because of my gamers. They are currently rather combat heavy (sword and board), and it would be a brash adjustment to have them just jump to a more “role-play” environment. They do role-play but it is offset with a great deal of action. They have interest in the game; however, some of the concepts are very foreign to them. It will be easier to get them to shift styles once they care about the characters and game world. “baby-steps”! :P

      I am more familiar with Native America history and culture. Not that I am adverse to learning more about the Eastern ones but I have to take "MC Hammer" pants in smaller doses. Besides I think the challenge of the eventual integration will be fun.

      - I am currently getting a grasp on the way the races are made so I can make a moose (using the established bison entry and making some adjustments to make it more "mooseish" if anyone is half way decent at drawing, maybe we could tag team this and present it to the community on these boards, My art skills lack). I plan on using them pretty heavily in the Native world, where I am going to swap the apex idea to large herbivores (deer, elk, moose, rams, and bison) being the “chiefs” and having the predators take the brave role. Somehow, in my head the aforementioned animals just preach wisdom, which keeps this society from imploding.

      I am also working out some details for rattlesnakes (basically using established snake rules, but adding the drawback of the rattle when excited, meaning they will never get surprise attacks, in addition I am toying with the idea of not giving them legs and just leaving them with arms and tail).


      One area I am having some problems with is new animals, it seems some of the categories given are very broad and they encompass a lot of ground. Dogs for instance are summed up into large and small.
      – I tweaked some of the advantages to make adjustments for scent hounds, sight hounds, and guard dogs, and in theory that looks to be working out well, but will see what happens when they are put to play.

      While I know the animal world is huge, I fail to see where another 80 are going to come from (platypus, wombat, emu, excluded). But I may implement a third continent with “walk-a-bout” society and use the more Australian animals. At this point I have not decided to allow the kangaroos into the main society game as I may hold them back for this idea.

      Other ideas (and I don’t like the idea of converting them to “half-human”) are fish, and insects. I may do some adjustments to them and have them be primary antagonists. Insects are pretty easy, find a hungry ant the size of a full grown horse and you got a real problem, much less a hive of them. What happens when a city, or tribe become the main food source for them? Exoskeleton at that size can be a bit difficult to punch through.

      Anyway, so far I am loving the book/game, and its generating ideas in me like a movie theater popcorn machine.

      Any views, ideas, critiques, are welcome. Like I said this is just in the very early stage of ideas, nothing hard-core yet. Ultimately I plan to run the game in its pure state, but like I said I have to do some things to ease my players into it.
      ToG

      "Violence may not be the best option..... but it's still an option!"

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Tides of Gore ().

    • RE: Conglomeration of ideas

      These are some fun ideas Tides!

      I especially like the whole scenario centered around the sort of "backwater" areas and the various Zoics that live there based on their preferences and specialties... Well thought out and distinct from the more generic plotlines that often crop up in most RPGs I've played in the past...

      Your "Viking-ish" idea could be pretty interesting played out as well... If you're wanting to have your players experience an existing Dárdüni culture that's somewhat nomadic and tribal, consider having them interact or even begin as a Hardazi! These guys are like tribal, nomadic Mongols, with a Khan and everything! They even practice a faith system that is different from the rest of the world, so your folks can be "rebels" in the face of the commonly-played world societies...

      Or potentially the desert raiders known as the Scourge, who are like Vikings of the sands, in a way... Nomadic raiders that live in the southwestern deserts, known for their ferocity and cunning... Imagine what they could be like if you gave them cool looking "sand skiffs", sailed vessels on crystal blades made to glide along the dunes as they raid remot villages near the edges of the deserts, or swarm upon unsuspecting caravans...

      We're glad to hear that our world and all its strangeness is inspiring you toward all kinds of new an different ideas... We think it's GREAT that you are choosing to change up stuff and make it your own... Sounds like your players are going to have a wild time!

      Keep up the creativity!

      Scottie ^^