Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

[Hermit]

Having a devil of a time getting my group to even touch Fantasy HERO (They are sort of set in their D&D ways, and the one person who did try it with another GM didn't have a good time) I've been trying to be pseudo-creative in creating something they haven't done before. I say 'Pseudo' because I am not, for one minute, above ripping things off.

 

One idea that came to mind was a sort of Kulan Gath/Ravenloft/TORG like (Never played Torg, but heard about it and was intrigued enough to rip it off blatantly minus the tech aspects) situation where the Earth itself is conquered by another reality spilling over. Different sections of the world would become subject to new realities and their master. Tech might change to magical devices, and even people themselves would awaken to new lives as the various lords fought it over.

 

However, I am unsure what would be the most common 'arch type' realities among them.

 

So far, I think I have:

• The classic almost Arthurian realm, Knights galore, bandits in the forest, etc
  
• Conanesque style barbarian areas
  
• Rome like Empire/ Greek City states, complete with ambition, decadence, and odd beings
  
• Celtic style lands, perhaps with a touch of fae
  
• Elves? Not sure they'd fit, but one can't deny they own a lot of the fantasy market
  

 

But I'm surely open to suggestions I can rip off... err.. borrow. None of the 'rulers' of the realms would automatically be evil (They might be more like forces of nature, or even gods), and once an allegiance to one is declared, one can not be shifted by another even in another's lands. At least that's my idea.

 

The other hard part will be deciding what areas of the world will be taken by what? I could try to go with history (Much of Southern Europe becomes a mix of Roman/Greecian style, the UK finds themselves transformed to 'merry ole england and her conquered lands of the Scotti' etc) but what is most common in literature often doesn't match that. For example, I don't read too much fantasy where "The Turtlesback" is the setting, and the various tribes akin to American Indians work powerful medicine and war among themselves, yet going by history, it seems that is what would happen to much of North America.

 

I could go by heritage of the majority of the people rather than history of the land, which requires a bit more demographic study on my part. Still using North America as an example (Because it maybe likely where my players want to base, who knows) folks around the Apalachins may be Highlanders, while somehow those around the great lakes go a viking. However, this would definitely require more research, and maybe even fudging on my part.

 

I could say the beings in question just carve it up randomly by lots. This could lead to odd things like an "Athurian South" and a "Elven France" or even "Celtic Africa".

 

Any constructive input or ideas would be welcome.

[ArgentLupe]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Unless you are dead set with it being an "invasion" I would suggest a Sliders style campaign wher the party goes to alternate earths like the ones you described. This makes it easy to establish what is effected (everything) and how long they interact (device/spell/cosmic alignment becomes ready again). Technology may or may not work depending on the world's paradigm and could be a whole plot twist in itself (i.e Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny)

 

Now if you want an invasion I would get a map of the world and a bunch of darts...

 

-ArgentLupe

[Hermit]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Unless you are dead set with it being an "invasion" I would suggest a Sliders style campaign wher the party goes to alternate earths like the ones you described. This makes it easy to establish what is effected (everything) and how long they interact (device/spell/cosmic alignment becomes ready again). Technology may or may not work depending on the world's paradigm and could be a whole plot twist in itself (i.e Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny)

 

Hmm, I was leaning towards it heavily I admit. The players are going to be cautious about trying this as it is, and motivating them to go to new worlds might be a pain. Still, very good idea.

 

Now if you want an invasion I would get a map of the world and a bunch of darts...

 

-ArgentLupe

This also works. Where's my old risk board....

[OddHat]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Ever play Civilization? Ever use the Earth map but with random civilization placement?

 

Use North America. Have each state subject to a different civilization, with its own style of magic and types of magical creatures. The "invasion" centers on huge Crystal Towers that spring up in each dominated area. The paradigm of an area can be changed if a Tower is drenched in the blood of a magically powerful human; that shifts the paradigm to the area where the magically powerful human first gained his or her power. Once the paradigm has shifted, the magic of the "captured" area will fail, and the magical creatures of that area will die.

 

Pick any civilizations you want; I'd go with humans only, no D&D races. No one "follows" the Crystal Towers, but unaligned humans in the area of a Crystal Tower will find memories slowly creeping into their heads and their personalities slowly shifting, until they fully align with the culture that dominates the tower. For some this may mean a full memory re-write (Jon Baxter no longer remembers life as an accountnt; as far as he knows, he has always been a French wine merchant), for the stronger willed it may mean something as minor as learning a new language and some cultural information (Deborah Waxman knows that she's a schoolteacher from Ohio, but since the Crystal Tower came she has been able to speak Japanese and fight with a Katana).

 

Now come the wars. German Werewolves attacking your people, while German Alchemists rain fire on your towns? Get to their Crystal Tower, and sacrifice one of your minor witches. All the Werewolves will die, most of the people will stop speaking German and switch to your language in a few months, and the Alchemists will need to learn English Witchcraft if they want to keep fighting. Meanwhile, the Mongols are pouring down from Canada, and there are some insanely strange monsters making their way up from Mexico. They captured Arizona's Crystal Tower, and what the people of that state turned into was something out of nightmare ...

[BlackSword]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Its definitaly an interesting idea. Especially as players get bored with one style, they can move over to the next, okay, enough with the high magic, lets head over Swords and Sorcery land for some fun. It could be like a giany Epcot center of the fantasy genres.

 

One idea, set either in Florida or one of Mediterrean islands would be an Atlantis type setting. I would go one of two ways with this. a) Atlantis is a near paradise, with advanced (for middle ages) technology. High magic and a stable government have allowed them to build technology that borders on magic. Buildings are tall and the main palace reaches to the sky with delicate towers. -or- option its similar to Melnibone of the Elric novels. It was an advanced civilization that rules countries on the nearby coastline. Now centuries of decadence, apathy, and violence leave this country as a fragile shadow of what it once was. Some players are still powerful, they still have a strong army and navy, but they know that any military action they take will be the death knell of the kingdom. They live remembering past glories of their land, knowing that soon they will past into history. (I could see this option on Cyprus, and the previously conquered lands were Greece and coastal Turkey).

 

Part of the question would be why the areas don't mix. Why doesn't a powerful wizard walk into a non-magic area, make some noise and become ruler.

 

With an invasion theme, it could be a dimension traveling hegemony or dictatorship, and when they arrive at earth, their technology shatters the earth, and it can only be reformed by picking pieces from various dimensions, each of which followed a different path. Each part would be a very fictionalized part of the real world. The evil sets up shop where else but Mongolia, and Genghis begins to make his way across the steppes.

 

Personally I would keep it mainly in Europe as many people are more familar with some of the myths and legends of Europe and would be better able to understand and jump into. (Yeah, okay, we're on Ireland now and its the mythic land full of fae and other strange creatures). Though I do like the idea of making the different cultures in America, something about seeing Appalachian Highlanders charging down in kilts would make any man afraid.

[ArgentLupe]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Of course the invasion could be the whole planet, one ripple at a time.

 

Imagine an evil otherworldy sorcerer casting the spell of invasion. It weakens the fabric of our reality, and causes the surrounding dimensions to merge. This allows for an infinite number of story arcs, while keeping your bookkeeping to a minimum. No more wondering if item from realm A works in realm B, or having to deal with the characters being on the border of a realm.

 

A Torg style invasion would require defined borders (I'd use physical ones, sot social or ethnic ones) and a real difference to the characters worldview (who cares if everyone has pointed ears now, unless there is a historical and political change too. In other words: elven looks require an elven world.).

 

-ArgentLupe

[Hermit]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Thanks folks, I'm loving the ideas, especially Oddhats, even though I never did play Civilization.

I am probably going to rip off (I'll call it what it is) crystal towers idea. It would give a geographic 'source' for the changes and, as you point out, give something for big bads (or big goods?) to contest over.

 

 

Ever play Civilization? Ever use the Earth map but with random civilization placement?

 

 

As for Blacksword's idea of florida becoming Atlantis? Why not, serves Disney right for making a movie about it. Probably AM going to stick with mostly European fantasy in feel, both the players and I are more familiar with that as you say.

 

(However, I am open to suggestions for what cultures folks would feel work best on this 'list')

 

Argentlupe, you've sort of convinced me to keep it with physical borders... probably 'randomly' determined just for simplicity sake and I'll use Oddhat's crystal towers to suggest that. I may have large swathes 'unchanged' at the start and then see what comes of it.

 

........

 

Heck, perhaps the PCs will each (Unknown to them) have the potential to usurp the Invading "Reality Lords" , this would explain why, even though they do go through some changes, at their core, they still have more free will than NPCs. Bob might turn to Sir Robert, or have memories of being "Brok the Hyborian" and now might be stuck, but he would still be able to defy the local 'boss' (and thus, one day maybe usurp him/her?)

[Trencher]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

You can mix archtypes: Vampires and Napoleon, Chinese medivial magic and steam mechs and so on

[OddHat]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Glad you liked it.

 

One more thought; the Players may one day want to know what the towers are for, and who built them. Makes a nice background mystery. Myself, I'd say that they are a research tool. The personalities and memory sets the towers are imposing are those they have recorded in other worlds; the magic effects are a result of the dimensional energy distortions caused by the towers themselves, acting as conduits from world to world. It may be that the Builders did not correctly calculate just how much "reality bleed" would occur as the towers replicated themselves through the dimensions, or the results of that phenomena may be just what the builders hope to study.

 

Anyway, good luck with the game.

[Hermit]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

You can mix archtypes: Vampires and Napoleon' date=' Chinese medivial magic and steam mechs and so on[/quote']

 

Interesting idea...

 

I don't want to get too technological, but if the tech seems 'weird' enough it might work.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

I've heard rumors of some novel or short story about some sort of dream world, where real world people became knights, samurai, gunslingers, or what have you when they were asleep. I think it was written by L Sprague de Camp, but I don't remember exactly.

 

Anyway, the dreamworld seems like a cool idea for cross genre gaming, and things could shift drastically on a whim. My impression is that it would end up sort of like a Thundarr the Barbarian situation, with the potential fluidity of Reve de Dragon (a French RPG...English translation available at http://www.malcontentgames.com or rpgnow.com) thrown in.

[Frenchman]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

When I first discovered Hero, I just told all my players that it was fine with me if they wanted to play DnD, but I would only GM for Hero. It took me a while to get them to agree to try a fantasy hero game, but I did eventually without having to resort to any nasty tricks.

 

The sneakiness I was planning, however goes as follows.

Tell the players that you want to GM a post-apocalyptic game, with powerful mutants who wield mysterious powers, strange beasts mutated from earthly stock, including other intelligent races, and irradiated artifacts that possess strange powers.

 

If they ask about mutations, tell them that most (if not all) mutations will have some common limitations (this is your magic system), I was going to use concentration and charges, and most mutant powers have more limitations. Most mutants have many different abilities to call upon.

 

Now make your world pretty nice, instead of a wasteland. The apocalypse was war, disease, or famine, or something that killed off most humans without affecting the landscape or environment much. Then cosmic rays, a mysterious shift in the universese magical forces, or leftover nuclear waste contaminated many areas, from when all these strange mutants come.

 

When they get to equipment, outfit them with swords and bows and armor. Explain to them that the few remaining bits of modern technology are so rare, that many don't believe they ever existed (so rare in fact, that the players will never encounter one throughout the campaign...) and they rarely work anyways.

 

After a few sessions pass, ask everyone how they like it, and how they would compare it to DnD. If they haven't realized this yet, point out to them that the game they are playing is a game of Fantasy Hero.

More than a bit sneaky, but (with my group at least) sometimes people need to get smacked upside the head with a better option before they consider it.

[Trencher]

Re: Suggestions welcome for 'Reality Takeover' ideas...

 

Interesting idea...

 

I don't want to get too technological,

Switch guns with crossbows, instead of steammechs you could have golems, really big golems. You could have them look like walking pagodas filled with Chinese warriors or big, fat, smiling Buddha golems surrounded by hordes of orange clad kung fu warriors. The sun glinting of its merry face while it crushes enemies underfoot.

Anyhow my point is that you can if you need some ideas mix different concepts. Using technology is not important.

There are a lot of things to mix out there: an Arabic culture that uses elaborate masks while they ride their colorful gigantic wasps. Aztecs who have invented "magical" glass that is as strong and as useful as steel, using it for blades and armour and stuff. They want you to do your part to ensure that the sun will rise tomorrow.. Necromantic Vikings. Zulus who have mastered earth magic and can travel underground as fast as they can run.