Gary Ciaramella Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Due to the fact that at my game last night, my hero was sucked through a magical implosion and spewed into another dimension like so much spaghetti, I need to put together a new character for next weeks game. The characters are all of a mystical bent, so that is what I need to work with. Due to all of these mystical characters, we are somewhat lacking in technical skills... so I decided I wanted to try and plug that hole. How shall I go about bridging the gap between magic and technology in a single character? One idea I had was perhaps to make a modern day protege of Vulcan... at first I looked to see if there was a Norse version of Vulcan/Hephaestus, but it seems as if the Norse had most of their goodies created for them by the dwarves of Nidavellir... thought it would be amusing if my character had graduated from MIT (Midgard Institute of Technomancy). The campaign is a high level heroic campaign (150+100), NCM is mandatory and worth zero points, although characteristics bought as powers circumvent that. We each get 50 real points worth of equipment and can increase that pool by paying 1 point for 5 more pool points. The heroes work for a government agency called Project Olympus who are called upon to investigate and deal with magical threats. The GM says that in his mind, the world is rather "Buffy-like". If you have any ideas to share with me, based off of my ideas above, or something completely different that I have not thought of... please reply, I need some help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logomancer Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Have the guy be dwarf-like and bind elemental spirits into items to have them do, well, whatever is needed. If you want to make it a little more modern/urban, you can do things like bind concrete elementals, or trash elementals, or what-have-you. Go for the "mystical resonance" of an everyday object type idea. He could cast runes with a spray-paint can! Instant magical graffiti! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Sounds like the basic idea is pretty solid already. What might be fun if if you drop the mysticism entirely - and the mystic origin - and make an engineer/gadgeteer from an entirely scientific background, who has had demonstrated to him that magic does actually work. Now he's trying to "systematise" it. You know, use a hydraulic ram to work out the tensile strength of a rope made of moonbeams and dew. Does the tensile strength vary with the quanity of moonbeams used? Is the quality of moonbeams (mostly cloudy/partly cloudy/unclouded) important? Goblin curses strengthen animated ropes used for attacking people - can they be incorporated into a moonbeam rope for climbing? etc. That way you can have a nice modern lab with plenty of technical stuff - but also a safe full of grimoires and a harrassed graduate student who is translating all that "obscure stuff" into straighforward english for her PhD. (don't worry about safety, she's using strong encryptation ) As for character design, he'd play as a straight gadgeteer, with a mystical sideline, and you can explain his "wierd tech" by simply saying that he incorporates "entities" into it. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? You want Seppo Ilmarinen, ex-god, the Finnish Vulcan, the world smith. I used him as one inspiration for my own campaign's Doctor Doom homage. Build him as you would any gadgeteer, but add a few magic skills to his Science list and keep that techno-magic SFX in your devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Samson Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? I think the idea of magical fueled technology is cool. Think about the clockwork owl from Clash of the Titans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narratio Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? I like teh Norse Dwarf idea idea myself. It gives you so many "short stuff" humour hooks to play as well as being a magical engineer. But, how about dropping back to Greek myth? Daedalus was father of Icarus and chief engineer to the kings of Minos. He designed and built the Minotaurs Labyrinth and learnt how to bring people back to life (and forget stuff) while locked into the Labyrinth. He's also said to have been able to give statues the power of movement. There's a lot of story hooks there. Continued guilt for his sons death, mistrust of authority figures. Hmm, he may have killed hi nephew while claiming to have discovered the... saw? I forget. So we've got a big ego and a hidden berzerk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Actually, an idea I'm developing right now for an ongoing Buffy campaign, posit that he has learned a valid, functional symbology, axoim set, and logic for magic, and he's in the business of doing integrated, magically active hardware/software systems, with an emphasis on hardening those systems against magical interference. This would let you have a computer and magical (or anti-magical) computer programs in your gadget pool. In your campaign's main thrust, it sounds like a general Analyze Magic software package would be quickly useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapier Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Artificers and Enchanters, in the olden days, worked their magic on staves, rocks, swords and arrows. An Artificer or Enchanter these days would work his magic on TVs, VCRs, cars and toasters. This is a very good concept. It sounds like you've already got it pretty worked out in your head, and that's cool. But you don't even have to go god. It's a natural progression that the group of mages who deal in enhancing (ie enchanting) items move into a more technical realm these days. There are a number of newish fiction dealing with TechnoMages these days. It's a great concept, and one I just might steal. I've never thought of running a TechnoMage. Woo7! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VR Dragon Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? A Techno Mage? I know of anther game system I use to play had a TechnoWizard class. The boiled down version of the idea was simple. They took modern items like cars, plains, lasers, etc... and converted them to run on magic energy instead of normal stuff. Case in point. A Tech-Wiz finds an electric motor powered car. So he removed the batteries and some other power related systems, then installs a huge quartz crystal surrounded by several smaller quartz crystals and wraps the crystals in copper wire and links them to the central crystal. Thats the new power unit. He then enchant the unit with power and energizes it with a powerful ligntning bolt spell to charge it up. The car now will run for 1 month before needing a recharge from anther lightning bolt spell. And the sweet thing is? To a normal person the car will not work for them nor will they even understand it all. but the car will work for any other magical being with magic energy. Anther Case, A Tech-wiz gets a lazer pistol and converts the lazer system. Replaces the lazer part with a ruby and a topaz, replaces the power system with a 6 inch long quartz and silver wire. Throws in some blinding flash and there you go. 1 Magic lazer pistol that can shoot 10 shots before needing a recharge of personal magic energy/spell. And nonmagic types can't use it. So its not hard to get the idea. Think New Aged. Gut an normal item, throw in some crystals and gemstones then add some magic that kinda fits along the lines of the items normal function. But the item can only be converted to do what normally did. You can't convert a 6 shooting revolver to shoot lazers but you can convert it to shoot slugs of Telekinetic energy that hit hard like bullets but leave no cases. Just recharge the item with magical energy to reload/refuel. and if your interested, I think the game system was palladium Rifts or something. It's been a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gojira Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? I see a couple of ideas. One is Forge, the X-Men. He's a mystic and a technoligist, but he seems to have two seperate powers. The two don't interact much. He builds crazy devices and powerful guns, but they all seem tech based, even if they are completely super tech. Or he uses his shaman's bag and opens a can of magical whoop-ass on you. But the two powers seem to be mostly seperate. Two, maybe something like a mystical Dr. Reeds. Combine the tech and the magic so the two are totally fused. This is a lot like the techno-mage VR Dragon mentioned. Although I don't see the devices as powered by magic, just enhanced by it. So this guy, Dr. Magic, has a V10 super sedan named "Black Beauty" which can also fly. He has guns that are enchanted and can kill a variety of creatures, magical and otherwise. He can analyze a crime scene like CSI and also use runes at the crime scene to learn even more. He has a computer that can search forwards and backwards in space and time and is also his familiar. Etc. Just tossing out some ideas here for ya... TTFN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robyn Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Look into the Technomages (from Babylon 5), and read up on Simon Hawke's "Wizard Of . . . " series. If you can't find the latter (or order it through your local bookstore), one character idea drawn from it would be - a familiar which is also a computer, but who the character must bargain with to draw upon any magical powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? I have two C's in the current game world that I am in right now. One is an elven Alchemist/Artificer and the other one is a technomancer. The Elf is nothing more than a magical gadgeteer. He has a VPP that allows him to make special devices, but only in he's lab. He also has items that he uses all the time, a special uniform and a special .45 pistol. He has the needed skills to make these things, he then enchanted them. The other is a true Technomancer, he can make both super-tech and mag-tech and then the combo of the two. He is a PC/NPC, but he was built on an old C that was just a gadgeteer/MA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Technomancers Check out The Ultimate Mystic QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? I was thinking the same thing, in case Vitus ever gets killed, or more likely just locked up for being a danger to himself and others. My Technomancer (inspired by a 1959 Astounding Science Fiction! cover for a Jack Vance story called the Miracle Men) would be a worshipper of all the old Blacksmith gods - Haephastus, Vulcan, Ogun, etc, etc. His main defensive power and strength would come from a Density Increase dependant on the mass of machinery within a kilometre, as he calls on the spirits of the machines to strengthen his arm. Mostly shamanistic, with elaborate robes embroidered with circuit diagrams, and masks modelled after, say African blacksmith gods and made from random mechanical and electronic junk. One possible ritual out of his VVP, or Multipower, could involve a long communion with the spirit and body of John Logie Baird's original prototype television, that would work as a clairsentience acting on any area in few of an electronic camera (which is most areas, especially in these days of mobiles with built-in cameras.) Or he could rob the strength of an opponent with a single touch - after all, muscles and bones form levers, and levers are one of the Simple Machines... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alverant Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? In my campaign, my character is a technomage. His spells were defined as 1 of 3 themes. 1) Magically enhanced technology (Enchanted cell phone that can make calls to a person's mind, machine-control spells) 2) As logomaster put it, the "mystical resonance" of an everyday object (anti-aging creams that really work, healing duct tape) 3) Spells that bend the laws of physics in precise ways (generating bolts of lightning from Earth's magnetic field, flight via manipulating the gravational constant, disrupting the static electric bond between molecules, creating wormholes) I think the first option would work best because you can build technology-based devices while keeping the mystical bent. Imagine the look on Viper Agents' faces when the street they're standing on becomes an asphalt elemental. (Gives a whole new twist on the phrase, "end of the road".) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Hm. How about a gun that has a special barrel so that it blesses any bullets that pass through it? So you can buy any kind of ammo you want, and it becomes holy between the time you pull the trigger and it impacts on the supernatural baddie. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Hm. How about a gun that has a special barrel so that it blesses any bullets that pass through it? So you can buy any kind of ammo you want' date=' and it becomes holy between the time you pull the trigger and it impacts on the supernatural baddie. Just a thought.[/quote'] First, you need two rubber bands, some duct tape, and a very small priest... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Hell, research Nikoli Tesla - he's the closest thing to a Technomage this planet has ever had, even AFTER to ignore the bulk of the rubbish written about him since his sad death Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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