Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Resurrections are extremely rare occurrences, if indeed they occur at all. It's not that there are no spells that can be performed to do it, somewhere lost among innumerable volumes of esoteric lore are no doubt a handful of rituals that would work if properly researched; the problem is in truth a matter of cost. Magic, like a great many things in this universe, is subject to the principle of Equivalent Exchange; or in layman's terms, you don't get something for nothing. Consequently, attempting to resurrect some dearly departed person inevitably means being confronted with the rather uncomfortable issue of just what is a fair and reasonable price to pay for retrieving somebody from the Great Unknown...

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Resurrections are extremely rare occurrences' date=' if indeed they occur at all. It's not that there are no spells that can be performed to do it, somewhere lost among innumerable volumes esoteric lore are no doubt a handful of rituals that would work if properly researched; the problem is in truth a matter of cost. Magic, like a great many things in this universe, is subject to the principle of Equivalent Exchange; or in layman's terms, you don't get something for nothing. Consequently, attempting to resurrect some dearly departed person inevitably means being confronted with the rather uncomfortable issue of just what is a fair and reasonable price to pay for retrieving somebody from the Great Unknown...[/font']

 

Restoring life to the body isn't all that hard, but it's not the same as bringing that person back. It's a living husk of a person at that point, in a vegetative state. And you don't know what might come to inhabit the body.

 

A smart demon rarely' date=' if ever, possesses people these days; there's just too may holy men and other assorted do-gooders running around who know how to perform exorcisms for it to be practical. When possessions are done at all, it's usually little more than a quaint parlor trick or a prank. Thus, most will instead inhabit fake human and/or animal bodies that have been created for them via secret magical processes. Since exorcism can only drive a spirit out of a body that isn't rightfully theirs, demons inside their own "vessels" are immune and can confidently scoff at whoever is performing the ritual. [/font']

 

In reference to this rule, a living body with no soul attached is "unclaimed"...a demon that takes possession can't be driven out of it via normal exorcism methods.

[The Weapon]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Resurrections are extremely rare occurrences' date=' if indeed they occur at all. It's not that there are no spells that can be performed to do it, somewhere lost among innumerable volumes of esoteric lore are no doubt a handful of rituals that would work if properly researched; the problem is in truth a matter of cost. Magic, like a great many things in this universe, is subject to the principle of Equivalent Exchange; or in layman's terms, you don't get something for nothing. Consequently, attempting to resurrect some dearly departed person inevitably means being confronted with the rather uncomfortable issue of just what is a fair and reasonable price to pay for retrieving somebody from the Great Unknown...[/font']

 

There are many spirit creatures that want to gain access to the physical world. Many resurrection rituals weaken the barrier between the realm of the unconscious and the physical world. This allows them to inhabit the body of the deceased. Some of these creatures will attempt to pretend to be the person. Memories from people who know the deceased and especially those that attempt to resurrect them are available in the realm of the unconscious so often they'll be able to fake being the person. The fake is never perfect but grieving loved ones often blame it on the stress of the coming back.

 

The motives, power and degree of rationality of such creatures vary greatly but they are always amoral or very close to it and almost always dangerous. Some of them have ways of repair "their" body from conventional damage and must be killed by mystical means. What these means are varies greatly but things like burning, reburying them in a coffin lined with silver, destroying the last thing the original deceased touched in life tend to work or anything that legend says works on vampires is worth a shot. Consult your local occultist who will almost certainly call you an idiot for trying this in the first place.

[The Weapon]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Narrators: Narrators have enhanced ability to detect supernatural threats, a knowledge of the and a willingness to manipulate people into dealing with them. They're called "narrators" because they get other people into their story whether they want to be in it or not. Typically the switch your luggage with people smuggling occult artifacts, cancel your booking so you end up in the haunted hotel or leave their car in the road so the guy being pursued by hellhounds crashes into your front porch. They are annoying, they are inconsiderate and many of them are not corporeal beings so you can't hit them in the face. Some of them do this because they love humanity, some do it because they like torturing the magicians, some do it because they have a grudge against evil supernatural beings, some do it because they think you have potential and battling the forces of darkness can bring this out if it doesn't kill you. The more sophisticated are known to lead you to things somehow related to your personal or family history. So if you think it's a coincidence that you found the body with markings like the cover of grandad's book, it's not, it's a narrator messing with you.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

interesting

dreamers

there are those mundane folks who wish they'experience magic powers to see how the would handle them they could find a certain magisthe can use but mostlty can't find the right one

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Often, the problem Dreamers have is that their imagination hasn't "hooked" the right story. If they're fascinated by Jedis, but if think that magic is a Kabbalistic ritual and don't find religion interesting, they won't be able to do magic. Narrators may use more powerful tricks, but one of the most effective is to find those dreamers and put light sabres in their hands.

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

One of the most common and easiest spells to learn is the Glyphing Spell. The spell, as its name implies, marks anything (and in somecases, anyone) it's applied to with the caster's personal symbol, or "Glyph," the form of which is chosen when the spell is learned. The Glyph may be visible at all times or it may be set to manifest under specific conditions such as when someone touches or takes the marked item without the owner's permission. A typical suburban wizard may put his Glyph on everything from the spines of his rarest and most valuable tomes of ancient lore to his golf clubs and his hedgetrimmer. Incubi and Succubi are often in the practice of marking their "pets" in this manner to discourage their fellow demons and other supernatural nasties from harming them out of turn. The Glyph of someone sufficently well known may even come to be called "The Mark of [insert owner's name here]" or "The Sign of [insert owner's name here]".

 

Glyphs also have the advantage of making the marked items easier for the owner to locate via Scrying.

[BubbaDave]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

A wizard's signature is the same as a body part for purposes of sympathetic magic, so wizards tend to be very wary of signing their names to anything; it makes it difficult to get along in modern society when the act of writing a check creates another thaumaturgical vulnerability for the magician signing the check.

[Guest Celt]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Just some paraphrases of a couple of familiar quotes on the mundane's attempts to compete with the magical and supernatural, and one about magic trying to blend.

 

"God created man, but Sam Colt made them equal to all the bogies out there."

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is the equivalent of magic."

 

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is disguisable as technology."

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Weird Science, which is dismissed by mainstream science as quackery yet somehow works nontheless, is at least partially fueled by magic. Weird Scientists who have unknowingly tapped into the mystical energies can create devices well ahead of their time and technologies that fly in the face of the known laws of nature and science. There is, of course, a toll exacted for all this; the more things the scientist "invents" that are outside the normal range of possibilities, the more his sanity erodes away.

 

The government of the United States and the governments of several other counties secretly have special agencies for the express purpose of dealing with those Weird Scientists who have become dangerous lunatics (sadly, most of them evenually) and confiscating their devices to be stored and studied at secret warehouses around the globe. The largest of these is known as Warehouse 33, which is in an undisclosed location somewhere in Canada and is rumored to house (among other things) the world's one and only Tesla Deathray Cannon and the hypnotic discoball from Studio 54.

[gojira]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

My own ideas would contradict some of the ideas already presented, so I have nothing to add. But I like a lot of the ideas in this thread, they are all very imaginative. Keep 'em coming folks.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Just noticed this thread. Not to hijack, but this might be of interest to people participating / interested in this thread; we are building out a gritty action / adventure oriented Urban Fantasy / Monster Hunting setting over in this Dark Champions forum thread.

 

We're pretty far along with a lot of support material up including 40+ characters and three mini-adventures.

 

The official site is: Here There Be Monsters

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

It is entirely possible for inanimate objects to become cursed if they were involved in sufficiently tragic events. Ranking high among the most infamous examples of this are the Judas Coins, the original 30 pieces of silver for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus of Nazareth. In addition to the taint of being blood money, a number of lost lores not officially included in the Bible state that Judas shouted a curse in Hebrew as he cast the coins at the feet of the priests. Judas's curse turned these coins into indestructible harbingers of calamity, and to this day murder, mayhem, and misfortune follow them wherever them may appear. Having even one Judas Coin in your possession is dangerous and the more of them you have the worse for you. Collect the full set of 30 is, as you can imagine, tempting fate on a grand scale. They cannot be destroyed by conventional means; they cannot corrode nor can they be melted down unless and until they are cleansed of the curse.

[Guest Celt]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Ranking high among the most infamous examples of this are the Judas Coins' date=' the original 30 pieces of silver for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus of Nazareth.[/font']

 

Jim Butcher used the 30 pieces of silver to come up with some awesome foes for Harry Dresden with a group called the Denarians. The coins imbued each bearer with great mystical powers, at unholy costs, with each bearer having different abilities expressed. Butcher has used them as foes of Harry in a number of novels, and the Roman Catholic Church devotes resources to rtrac

 

I have filed away a different use for the thirty denari. One version of Judas' end has him consumed by guilt for what he has done. He returns the silver to the priests, who themselves are forbidden by law from returning it to the treasury, so they buy the potter's field where Judas is buried.[wiki source 1][wiki source 2]

 

So in keeping with the remorse angle, I plan to have one of the silver pieces be able to be used a a talsiman, to keep at bay the monstrous urges that might otherwise consume a character, such as a vampire's all-consuming bloodlust or a werewolf's inarticulate fury. So a player character who has been trying to fight off the urges can be rewarded for their efforts by being given a focus to neutralize their disadvantages.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

With a tip of the hat to those who restarted this thread I think I'll jump back into it.

 

There are no "magical races" - the different types of vampires, werewolves, Yuan-ti, chupacubra, etc are all manifestations of the dream state or people who have been altered by some connection. That's why monsters have traditionally been area specific, even if some primal fears are found everywhere and why (for example) western magic like Alchemy is different from Kabbalism and they are both different from Feng Shui, both in methods and in goals and philosophy.

cheers, Mark

 

It is possible to travel through the dream state and encounter these changed beings or manifestations of the unconscious in their home territory. Although they all arise from the dream state each dream-world is a distinct, if small, reality. The societies call these places The Thousand Kingdoms and use the powers of dreamwalking to plunder their powers and secrets. But this is a chancy business because the dreamworlds reflect the ever shifting group consciousness of humanity and no two visits will be quite the same. In more extreme cases entire realms have been known to die as the beliefs that animate them fade from living memory. But other realms take their place and these days you are as likely to encounter Sith as you are Unseelie Fey if you go walking in dreams.

[AnotherSkip]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

Those things we would call Elves Come from the other side of the Dream State. their powers are different and based upon understanding and matter/ energy projection (but not like fireballs still). they are not called but are instead found. they cannot be collected as they are merely expenditures of energy that can have their conduits ended from the other end.

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

 

While malignant supernatural beings (such as demons) do indeed have restrictions that prevent them from setting foot on holy ground, not every church, synagogue, mosque, etc. necessarily qualifies as such. If the place in question is little more than an over-glorified social club with no authentic spiritual power in either the people or the place, it can provide no real sanctuary from the dark ones.