6th edition Western Shores

[Curufea]

back in 1996 I modified the then current setting for Fantasy Hero (2e, 1990), Western Shores. Adding to it again in 2006. I'm now thinking of updating and improving it to 6e Hero System as I may run another campaign using it. This thread is for feedback and ideas on what I've done so far and what folk might like to see (and if anyone actually would like it to be done).

Locations to find this setting:

1. The Western Shores Campaign (1996, 4e Hero System, note the elite level HTML use)
2. The Western Shores (2006, 5e Hero System, some issues with transitioning wiki markup from the RPG.net site)
3. WS:Index (same as above but hosted on the RPG.net wiki)

In it's current state there are some areas with lots of detail not particularly well organised (because that's where the PCs were) and some areas that are not detailed at all.

[Chris Goodwin]

It looks like a lot of it is pretty edition agnostic.  How much work do you think it will take?

[Chris Goodwin]

A quick look through shows me that the biggest sections with game mechanics and power builds are the Magic Items, Alchemy, the Potions builds, and the character builds themselves. 

 

Granted, it doesn't take much for it to be a lot of work entering things into Hero Designer. 

 

I would love to see more Fantasy Hero source material for 6th edition!

[Curufea]

Mostly I want to tidy it to make it reader friendly. 

 

Rules wise ideally I want to:

• Create paradigms for designing spells and items (or modify existing) to fit how magic works in this setting.  It is specifically based on ley lines and mana weather.
• Code a character creator in the form of choice or random picks from locations, species, culture and profession packages that have been tweaked to fit the setting.

[Doc Democracy]

I am interested in the general play mechanics of ley lines.

 

So, if you are a wizard, you build your tower on strong, or a nexus of weak ley-lines that you tap for power. Or, do you avoid those because opponents have ready access to power sources if they attack you.

 

Are all ley lines the same, like electric cables?  Or do they have different "flavours" so that you might build on a stasis ley line with little evocation or illusion ley lines present?

 

I presume major lines are reasonably stable and predictable, like old telephone lines but outside that you might have more mobile phone like "patchy reception". 

 

Can all wizards "see" all ley lines or might they be blind to certain flavours?

 

During encounters, there may be some manoeuvring to get the best reception for your casters compared to the opposition.  How do you represent that in play and how do you adjudicate in a random encounter where little pre-planning was possible?

 

Are these the things you were thinking about?

[Curufea]

Mana and magic is fuelled by belief and worship in Western Shores - there's a high level of religiosity in the general populace and churches for the same (or similar) deity will generate the focal points of the ley lines, which stretch in a network (ie all the Loki churches are connected to each other by ley lines).  Clerics are the dominant form of magic user, the Church oppresses all secular magic (wizards and such).  Clerics have more power, but are pretty much limited to the kinds of spells relevant to their particular order and which deity they prefer in the pantheon (they can only use one flavour of Ley Line).  Wizards can tap any ley line and have a more diverse range of spells (and don't require duties to any particular deities).  The distance from a place of worship or a ley line has an effect on the skill you use to power your spells (ie this bit https://www.curufea.com/doku.php?id=roleplaying:hero:ws:casting_spells )

 

There are Ley Lines almost everywhere in the heavily populated human dominated areas.  They're sparser elsewhere.  Clerics have real problems if they visit cultures with very different religions - missionary work is almost all about establishing the equivalent of an embassy for their deity, just so they can get their magic working.

 

I've only run a couple long campaigns in the setting - one where the PCs weren't spellcasters and the other was in the alternate timeline of the Golden Age of the Elves, so sadly there's been no playtesting of this yet.

There needs to be default packages/templates that differentiate secular from non-secular magics - Clerics get easier rolls for more powerful, more limited spells and everyone else is more versatile but less powerful.

[Doc Democracy]

10 hours ago, Curufea said:

Clerics have real problems if they visit cultures with very different religions - missionary work is almost all about establishing the equivalent of an embassy for their deity, just so they can get their magic working.

 

Are you familiar with Glorantha?  The priests of the Lunar Empire suffer from their magical ability being cyclical in power until they manage to build a Temple of the Reaching Moon and extend the Glow line, within which their magic is constant.  Feels a bit similar.

 

10 hours ago, Curufea said:

Clerics get easier rolls for more powerful, more limited spells and everyone else is more versatile but less powerful.

 

Hmm.  Coming to it from a spell focus is interesting.  Every spell might come with a limitation of the level of Mana needed for it to be available.  So the more powerful spells are either cast in urban areas or need a dedicated mana engine to facilitate it's casting.

 

The mana is ambient power rather than the personal power of the caster and so the creation/ownership of such engines (relics etc, ark of the covenant) would be heavily contested.

 

I guess the way this works means that Wats of conquest are reasonably rare as defensive combat drawing on native power gives an advantage over foreign magic users.  It would also mean that civil wars are bigger and bloodier.

[Rich McGee]

1 hour ago, Doc Democracy said:

The mana is ambient power rather than the personal power of the caster and so the creation/ownership of such engines (relics etc, ark of the covenant) would be heavily contested.

The ambient versus personal power concept reminds me strongly of the (rather elaborate) magic system used in the webcomic El Goonish Shive, although that setting has the further complication of mana flowing (when things are working right) between two alternate worlds, making the occasional "clog" in that flow produce a large magical hotspot on one "side" where even the weakest casters can produce some impressive effects using ambient magic alone while the other world suffers a mana drought.

1 hour ago, Doc Democracy said:

I guess the way this works means that Wats of conquest are reasonably rare as defensive combat drawing on native power gives an advantage over foreign magic users.  It would also mean that civil wars are bigger and bloodier.

The civil war issue might be nullified if an "excommunication" concept exists.  If one side in conflict can formally declare the opposition's priests to be heretics and cut them off from the church's network completely, they'll have a huge advantage.  Of course, if the deity allows it you could also see schisms in the church with neither side able to claim primacy and "turn off the taps" for the other.