LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

[The Main Man]

This is a thread theme I conceived some time ago. The concept: we discuss how we as individual players/game masters might change (i.e. "hack") an official/published RPG campaign setting based on our tastes and preferences. We bring our ideas, discuss them with others, and perhaps come up with new ones along the way. Hopefully such discussion and exchanges of ideas shall be fun and stimulating as we learn ways to refine settings more to our liking. Let's get to it.

 

 

So the first subject of the "Let's Hack" threads is HERO's resident High Fantasy setting: The Turakian Age.

 

To get the ball rolling, something about the Turakian Age setting always felt bloated. It's detailed to be sure, but it feels like an impenetrable wall of a setting - it feels too detailed; too complex to run without forgetting facts and details that will need to be retconned back into the setting once realized. I think the setting could lose a few races such as the Pakasa and the Leomachi. Furthermore, I feel like there are a few too many human ethnicities to properly keep track of them all. I'd have to give more thought to which could be cut with minimal effect.

[Nolgroth]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

The Turakian Age is the fantasy setting I wanted to love and ended up, well not loving. I won't say that I hate it, as it does have a lot going for it. I think it just suffers from three major things; 1) It was written to be included in the Hero Timeline. 2) It was too large a setting. 3) It suffered from "naked baby abandoned in the woods" syndrome. Numbers two and three are very interconnected. A large, even massive setting can be made manageable by breaking down the world into individual gazetteers. I would even go on to say that the Turakian Age only has the appearance of detail. There are far too many holes in it. Many of those holes are probably intentionally placed for a GM to fill, but it seems a daunting task. And this is where #1 on my list comes in. The ultimate goal of having Kal-Turak destroy the world makes the setting difficult to get into. I mean, the characters at the default timeline will likely never see the end, but as a GM, I knew it was out there. My options were limited if I wanted to stay canon. I could not have the PCs ultimately destroy Kal-Turak (as in he's gone and nothing short of the divine intervention of an Almighty God would bring him back). And if I didn't want to play the setting canon, I might as well select or build a whole different setting.

 

All of the problems the Main Main mentioned (impenetrable setting, too many races, too many ethnicities) and the ones I listed, could have been solved by breaking up chunks of the world and creating dedicated sourcebooks for those sections. A Writers' Bible or some other guideline would have to be put into place. Otherwise the world would start to get inconsistent. But the idea of splat books for each nation or region breaks up the world into digestible chunks. Those little details that would be too much to include into the larger scale book would shine in a more focused book. Plus, the writers could slowly incorporate the impending doom upon the world. Or not. As I mentioned, that future was so far out from the default start date that it would never have been a practical issue. But it could have been hinted at instead of plopped down on the table like roadkill. It could have been painted as a potential future instead of world-sized Sword of Damocles, with chipmunks chewing on the thread.

 

Now that I've aired my problems with the production and presentation, let me get to the gritty things that I don't like. The Color Coded for your Convenience gods. It was a very obvious attempt to toss some sort of D&D-ish cosmology into the settings. I know that it is a staple of the role-playing, epic fantasy experience, but the CCfyC gods just didn't feel right. I'd rather see more rounded gods. Before the Thor movie, I would have been hard-pressed for examples. Post-Thor, I keep looking back at Loki. He was not a cookie-cutter character. He was rounded, flawed and very interesting. That's the kind of god that I think Turakian Age needs. One that transcends the whole "Good OR Evil" mold. Sure, any given god may end up on a particular side, but they don't always have to be caricatures or stereotypes. Note that the existing gods can break free from the mold.

 

I would have to go back and re-read the Turakian Age for more detailed answers. These were the things that have stuck with me though, so I thought I'd mention them.

 

And an off the wall question; does Hero Games or Steve Long hold the IP rights to Turakian Age? With Narosia potentially on the horizon, it would be unwise to attempt developing a second fantasy setting. I suppose it is not that important.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I hear people complain about the Hero timeline, but I honestly don't see why it's such an issue. It's way too easy to ignore when it gets in the way of enjoyment. I personally wouldn't want to run Alien Wars with the assumption that superheros used to exist and now don't, because it doesn't make sense to me in the context of the Alien Wars. At the same time, it's fine that Alien Wars the somewhat near future for Champions, and the past for Galactic Champions. So when I run either flavor of Champions, Alien Wars is part of the timeline...when I run Alien Wars, Champions is not part of the timeline.

 

It's such a non-issue, that I'm almost embarrassed to have spent so much time composing this post...I really don't understand.

[Balabanto]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

The problem is that everything was interconnected to the point of ridiculousness as far as Kal-Turak destroying the world, even to the point of undermining the CU with the phrase "All superpowers come from magic." Some of us are nitpicky about that stuff, because we're big fans of Hero, and it makes us think "Why would we want something like that in our setting?" In general, it's best to have multiple origins of things rather than a single unified timeline.

 

I think I would have been happier with Turakian age if it had no link to the CU whatsoever, just like I would have liked the CU way better without that one statement.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

Personally, I don't find the connections between Kal-Turak/ Takofanes to the present-day Champions Universe to be daunting to running a game in the Turakian Age setting. That only becomes a factor if you want to make it so, bringing those future elements into the past age. Unless you insist on making TA's future play out exactly as presented in the book (and how many of us use any setting precisely as written?) you can have Kal-Turak's saga progress in any manner desired. If you want your PCs to be able to destroy K-T forever before he has a chance to conquer the world, nothing's stopping you. But even if you have a desire to keep the precedent of Takofanes for using him in the present day in a Champions campaign, all that really matters to preserve essential continuity is that he ultimately be overthrown at the end of his age. If your players succeed in bringing him down as Kal-Turak the first time he threatens the world, the setting gains over two thousand years of freedom from his threat, during which the world can evolve any way you like.

 

Since we're talking hacks to the setting, the biggest one, of course, is not using Kal-Turak at all. I understand people being concerned about him overshadowing the many other potential threats and plots detailed in TA; but it's surprisingly easy to excise him from this world altogether. Aside from the anticipatory dread of him that's always brought up in the text, his actual footprint is small. His realm, Turakia, is far to north of any other peoples of the era, carrying on no trade or almost any other relation with them, so its presence on the map can be handily ignored. The "GM's Vault" section of the book describes his numerous hidden plots in the world, but in many cases the main text notes other popular theories to explain them, which a GM can choose to make the "right" explanations. Other instances of K-T's meddling involve past events which don't directly impact the world on the default start date for the setting. For the few events K-T has instituted which don't fall into the above categories, since it's almost never publicly known that he was involved, a competent GM can easily come up with another explanation.

 

Bottom line: the presence of Kal-Turak, and his future as part of the official Hero Universe timeline, are only significant if you want to use them, or to run the official universe in its entirety. Even then you can easily minimize his impact on a Turakian Age game.

 

TA is my favorite Hero Games fantasy setting, and as I've mentioned elsewhere I've hacked it extensively. When I have more time I'll gladly return to discuss it.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

And I'm going to go the other way. I think that it's pretty important for a superhero setting to have a "lost age of mystery" in its deep past. Where else are those mysterious ruins, forgotten grimoires, and lost races going to come from? Moreover, I-Can't-Believe-He's-Not-Sauron makes a great Champions mastermind/enemy.

 

So the Turakian Age makes great background material. Which isn't to say that it couldn't stand a bit of hacking.Above all, I would prefer it if its geography (and that of the Valdorian Age) aligned more closely with that revealed by modern science. Also, once I started thinking about the way that fantasy RPG characters get repurposed into superhero RPGs,* I realised that I had my doubts about the name. I could just visualise some paladin of the blue gods scowling at the idea of calling it the "Turakian Age." It would be like calling our era the Hitlerian Age.**

 

Which is great, because I get to steal a nice line from Christopher Rowley (and geology), and talk about the "Old Red Eon." The benighted age of the Scarlet Gods.

 

 

 

*-"Hey, I can't believe I've finally convinced you guys to try Champions instead of Dungeons & Dragons."

-"Whatever, dude. It'll be a good change of pace."

-"Have you decided who your superhero will be?"

-"I figure I'll just play my paladin."

"What?"

-"Yeah, like, he was frozen in an iceberg after taking out the big boss at the end of the last campaign. Now he's unfrozen, and fighting evil in a world he never made. Like Conan in that What If."

-"Uhm, okay. Well, magic armour, so that's probably a PD of..."

**Or the Internet era "The Godwinian Age." Wait, no, that's actually perfect.

[Lucius]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I think the setting could lose a few races such as the Pakasa and the Leomachi. Furthermore' date=' I feel like there are a few too many human ethnicities to properly keep track of them all.[/quote']

 

That's funny; I thought it could use a few more Human ethnicities, perhaps in place of having so many species. But then, I spend most of my time in a world that is immeasurably more complex ethnically but has a severe shortage of tool and language using species.

 

And if I didn't want to play the setting canon' date=' I might as well select or build a whole different setting. [/quote']

 

I really don't understand this statement. Why do you feel that if you use a setting you have it exactly according to canon?

 

(and how many of us use any setting precisely as written?)

 

I think I agree with Lord Liaden - it is unusual to use a setting without changing it to suit oneself or one's group.

 

Now that I've aired my problems with the production and presentation, let me get to the gritty things that I don't like. The Color Coded for your Convenience gods. It was a very obvious attempt to toss some sort of D&D-ish cosmology into the settings. I know that it is a staple of the role-playing, epic fantasy experience, but the CCfyC gods just didn't feel right. I'd rather see more rounded gods. Before the Thor movie, I would have been hard-pressed for examples. Post-Thor, I keep looking back at Loki. He was not a cookie-cutter character. He was rounded, flawed and very interesting. That's the kind of god that I think Turakian Age needs. One that transcends the whole "Good OR Evil" mold. Sure, any given god may end up on a particular side, but they don't always have to be caricatures or stereotypes. Note that the existing gods can break free from the mold.

 

Yeah, some of the Gods are pretty moldy.

 

I have a little trouble reconciling the High Faith/High Church/Hargeshite religious structure with a polytheistic theology.

 

Since we're talking hacks to the setting, the biggest one, of course, is not using Kal-Turak at all.

 

.....

TA is my favorite Hero Games fantasy setting, and as I've mentioned elsewhere I've hacked it extensively. When I have more time I'll gladly return to discuss it.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you. Starting to think maybe I should have deleted Kal Turak too, but I'm too far along to shift gears.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Did the palindromedary eat my post?

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

My personal 'hack' for TA if I ever use it will be removing divine magic and confirmable gods from the setting. Just not something I care for much; I'd rather religion actually be religion, not fact.

 

I'd probably pepper in a few more races, too, or just make it clear that PCs can be unique individuals and that they do not have to select from the pre-cooked races (which is, of course, obvious, but my players tend to forget it).

[The Main Man]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I was never bothered by the HERO timeline. That said, I think the handling of magic could have been better integrated by use of Clarke's Third Law. That is, the same concepts that are presented as "magic" in TA might be represented in, say, Terran Empire as "advanced scientific concepts."

 

Are the gods really gods as we know them, or are they really Galaxars who we see in our image a la Galactus?

 

Are the realms presented in The Mystic World really magic or simply other realms with different physical laws? Could they be entered through sufficient hyperspace travel in the future?

 

Are psionics a crude form of raw magic? Is magic a refined use of psionics?

 

These thoughts are more useful for someone aspiring to make the most of the unified timeline, but I think they are worth considering.

[Nolgroth]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

In most settings, one can change little details. In the Turakian Age, especially as part of the CU Timeline, the entire setting was underpinned by the fact that Kal-Turak will eventually destroy the world. Without that one fact, it is no longer the TURAKian Age. For myself, I found it was just a heck of a lot easier to build another setting on a much smaller scale. For the purposes of this thread, removing Ambrethel from the CU Timeline and having Kal-Turak suffer a crib death is my first hack. It is quite possibly the biggest hack that I would propose. Ambrethel doesn't need either of those conditions to be a good fantasy gaming world and is indeed diminished by those ties. In fact, I would remove the name Turakian Age entirely and simply call the world Ambrethel.

 

Now, my last message focused on the bad. Let's see if this one can be more positive.

 

The Turakian Age had a lot of classic D&D fantasy archetype packages at the ready. I seem to recall there was even a Hero Designer pack that had them all easily accessible. That would potentially save a bunch of work on the GM's part. Coupled with the Monsters, Minions and Marauders supplement, there was enough material for a GM to get a solid foundation on the rules. This is something I would keep in any hack. I think the Main Man has a point when he mentioned that there may be too many races and human ethnicities. Some sort of one or two page summary sheet with quick details would be invaluable. It would look ugly as sin in the text, but would be awesome as a resource.

 

Each province, nation, region, or whatever, had enough details to give a GM an idea of what the nation was like while leaving the vast amount of details to the GM. Note that I also mentioned this as bad, but for the hyper-creative GM, it is a treasure trove. One of those double-edged swords.

 

And of course, there is Aarn. Every epic fantasy, D&D clone world needs a "Free City of Greyhawk/Waterdeep/Aarn." I mean that. It is sort of a default to have a bastion to retreat to. Only in this case, the bastion of safety is almost always plagued by intrigues ranging from warring thieves guilds to backstabbing politics. Still, the characters can almost always sell off the loot they've earned, rest up, train, etc before being caught up in the affairs of the city. Aarn delivers this whole experience in spades. If there was one thing that I would take from Turakian Age, it would be Aarn.

 

None of this really gives a solid idea of how I would hack the setting (aside from my first paragraph). It just enumerates the positives and negatives as I see them. I really need to go back and re-read the TA book. Just glancing through it though, I really dislike the priestly magic. I'm not sure what I would replace it with, but the white-label generic makes me sleepy.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I have no problems with the PCs altering 'canon' timelines. If the PCs manage to kill Kal-Turak, more power to them. The only time I could conceive of that being any kind of issue is if I was running a FH game and a Champions game that were intended to be in the same timeline ... which I can't imagine attempting anymore. And if I did, well then, Takofanes is now someone else.

 

I throw things out of canon I don't like all the time. If I were to run Forgotten Realms, I'd kill off half the overpowered Mary Sue NPCs in the first week. Elminster, Drizz't, the lot of 'em. I ran a Star Wars game where the PCs failed to rescue Anakin Skywalker well in advance of him becoming Darth Vader, and he died. Canon is a crutch.

[The Main Man]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

Going off-canon is where campaigns get to breathe IMO. Just like off-vocals and off-instrumentation allow music to innovate and off-model makes animation shine.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

Going off-canon is where campaigns get to breathe IMO. Just like off-vocals and off-instrumentation allow music to innovate and off-model makes animation shine.

 

Pretty much. I'm reminded of a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser novel that came out about ten years ago or so...I was excited that someone was going with a new take on Lieber's awesome characters and world, but then the guy stuck so close to what had already been published that the results absolutely stank. No new characters, no new places, just some kind of half-ass attempt at a pastiche that ended up coming across as obsequious flattery.

 

Branch out! Don't be confined. A game world is not a strait-jacket. LET'S HACK!

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I have no problems with the PCs altering 'canon' timelines. If the PCs manage to kill Kal-Turak, more power to them. The only time I could conceive of that being any kind of issue is if I was running a FH game and a Champions game that were intended to be in the same timeline ... which I can't imagine attempting anymore. And if I did, well then, Takofanes is now someone else.

 

Heck, in that particular instance he doesn't even have to be someone else, since coming back from the dead is a big part of his modern-day version's backstory.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I have no problems with the PCs altering 'canon' timelines. If the PCs manage to kill Kal-Turak' date=' more power to them. The only time I could conceive of that being any kind of issue is if I was running a FH game and a Champions game that were intended to be in the same timeline ... which I can't imagine attempting anymore. And if I did, well then, Takofanes is now someone else. [/quote']

 

Heck' date=' in that particular instance he doesn't even have to be someone else, since coming back from the dead is a big part of his modern-day version's backstory.[/quote']

 

Since there are more remnants of the Atlantean Age on the modern-day Champions Earth than any other past Hero Universe era, you could keep the setting's antediluvian history just to that; in which case you might swap Takofanes' backstory with that of Sharna-Gorak.

[The Main Man]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

Speaking of which, why was there never a published sheet for Kal-Turak? Was Takofanes supposed to suffice?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I should probably clarify at the outset that I very much like the Turakian Age setting basically as it is. I like the scale and diversity of it, as this allows me to choose a region to base a campaign in which supports a particular set of assumptions and style of gaming. The level of detail suits my priorities: plenty of interesting locations, named NPCs, and plot points almost everywhere, but left undefined enough that I can readily modify and embellish them. I enjoy this world's diversity of intelligent races -- they add a level of exoticness that I and my players like exploring, particularly since so many of those races have PC templates already provided. Aside from some relatively minor elements, I like the way TA magic is handled; and I really enjoy all the attention Steve Long lavished on Ambrethel's theology.

 

I guess part of what I'm trying to say is that some of you might categorize many of the changes I made to TA for my own purposes to be more "tweaks" than "hacks." There are only a few major shifts away from the default, but many small-to-medium ones. My focus tends to be on finding elements and precedents within the setting that I think can be modified, expanded, and extrapolated to fill what I perceive as gaps in the setting, but above all to add interesting gaming possibilities. There are a couple of previous threads on this forum, one I started and another I contributed heavily to, which illustrate my approach, although for those I deliberately remained within setting canon. If anyone who hasn't read them is curious, you can look here:

 

Besruhan Intrigues

 

Indusharan destinations (Turakian Age)

 

I thought on this thread I would describe what I consider some of the more original hacks I made to Ambrethel, as long as people are interested in reading about them. One of my favorites concerns a region of the Far North of the continent of Arduna, on the western edge of the map on TA p. 157, with most of the details I built upon described on pp. 158 and 159. May I present:

 

The land of Skaalheim is bounded by the Endless Ice to the north, the Tloorkoorsaryl River in the east and south, and the Sea of Ice in the west. Dominated by the lofty Skalshaar Mountains, Skaalheim is cold and harsh even in summer. Its few animal inhabitants -- bears, wolves, birds, and rodents -- are tough and fierce, adapted to this rugged environment. Skaalheim is also home to such sapient beings as Frost Giants and Ice Dragons; but its most numerous inhabitants are the Snow Trolls. Divided into various clans each led by a jarl, or lord, the Snow Trolls claim Skaalheim as their race's ancestral homeland, and themselves as the progenitors of all Trolls in the world today.

 

Like the giants and dragons, the Snow Trolls mostly dwell in the Skalshaar Mountains during the winter, but when the land thaws many of them migrate into the lowlands to hunt and fish along the Tloorkoorsaryl River. Others flock to the numerous fjords on the coast of the Sea of Ice, to harvest fish or hunt migrating whales. The Snow Trolls are skilled shipbuilders, and millennia ago explored the continents of Arduna and Mitharia, settling in mountain ranges across Ambrethel. But in modern times many of the folk of Skaalheim undertake less benign voyages. In swift longships scaled to their great size, sometimes with a Frost Giant or two in their crews, the Snow Trolls go viking each spring, raiding the coastlines of Arduna and Mitharia as far south and west as the lands bordering the Serpentine Sea. Many a Snow Troll jarl decorates his hall with the richest carpets, tapestries, and golden dining ware, and his consort and daughters with the finest silks and jewels, seized from the holds of southern nobility. Sometimes the vikings' booty includes the fairest daughters of Men or Elves carried back to Skaalheim to a life of slavery... although few of them survive long in this harsh land, under their harsher masters.

 

(As you might guess, Skaalheim was inspired by comments among Herophiles that The Turakian Age sourcebook included no analogue to the ever-popular Vikings. I saw a ready opportunity to add one, and to take it a step further, with monster Vikings in giant longships.)

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

Speaking of which' date=' why was there never a published sheet for Kal-Turak? Was Takofanes supposed to suffice?[/quote']

 

IIRC (and it's been so long I can't swear this is 100% accurate), Steve Long responded to requests on the forum for a Kal-Turak character sheet, that K-T, like Sauron, was intended to be a force moving epic events behind the scenes, beyond the power of mere PCs to confront directly, at least in an heroic setting. Hence a character sheet for him was no more appropriate than for the TA gods. Again IIRC, Steve did indeed suggest that people wanting a sheet for him should adapt that of Takofanes from Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks, which appeared there because superheroes could conceivably be strong enough to trade blows with him.

[The Main Man]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I think if I were to remove any races, the first to go would be the Erqigdlit, Leomachi, and Pakasa. They seem to fit in the least and add little to the setting to me. The Seshurma probably would follow after them. I feel like the Erqigdlit, Pakasa, and Seshurma races would be better for a separate setting centered around animalistic humanoid races. The Leomachi feel like they bring a Greek flavor to a largely Nordic/Germanic/Celtic setting. Clashes to me.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I appreciate and respect how you feel, but my feeling is almost the opposite. The setting includes fairly close analogues to the Arab Caliphate (Vashkhor), Southeast Asia (Indushara and Kumasia), Tibet (Thon-Sa), imperial and republican Rome (the Sirrenic Empire and Besruhan), Central Asia (the Gorthundan Steppes), and others more exotic. Its diversity in human populations allows for comparable diversity in nonhumans IMHO.

 

What's telling for me is that this is an era when the gods themselves, not to mention human mages, have long meddled with the forms of sapient beings for their own purposes. Given that, it would almost be illogical for there not to be so many different races.

 

Along those lines, my own hacks of TA have tended to raise the profile of nonhumans in the setting, making them more mainstream in the affairs of the world, rather than tucked into corners. The Elves have been particular recipients of my efforts. I expanded some of the existing Elven kingdoms, and added new ones in appropriate-seeming regions with little or no significant existing activity in the setting. Notable examples include the islands of Ardenland off the coast of Thurgandia; the Black Forest to the east of Khirkovy; the Tarnwood in Tornathia; and the southern coastal Ulimar Jungle.

[The Main Man]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I'd agree with that notion if the races reflected the same. Instead they are largely Western European in flavor. Furthermore, everything important seems to come from that set of flavors.

 

This sounds like, for the diversity-oriented GM, like an avenue to take towards balancing the setting from a cultural representation standpoint. Make new races that reflect those Earth counterpart cultures and complement the various human ethnicities. I'd still cut down on the Western nonhuman races, but if I took this route I would at least trade them out for similar races from other mythologies.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

Okay, that sounds fair.

 

If taking that route, though, it would seem to be counterproductive to eliminate the Erqigdlit and the Pakasa, as you suggested in an earlier post. They're the least Western of any of the races in the setting. It would be fairly easy to substitute them in many areas of Ambrethel for some of the other humanoids described in the book, thus making them more prominent. The Pakasa in particular, as they include distinctive sub-species, would be easiest to rationalize as a more widespread, diversified race.

 

I would also caution against automatically lumping the Leomachi with the "Western" nonhuman races just because they carry a Greek name. When you examine their culture they actually resemble a curious synthesis of cultural conventions of the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. Like traditional Maasai they are semi-nomadic, with social status based on ownership of cattle. Ironically, among the Maasai the killing of a lion gave (and still gives) great social status, and was even considered a rite of passage to manhood; while the Leomachi actually are part lion.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

If I were to cut races from TA, I'd probably cut the humans, elves, dwarves and such. Tired and cliche'd, been around for, what, forty, fifty years? Break out the new stuff.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

You could also justify spreading the Vulture-Men of Sind much further than their little plateau verging Sorinsarsoun. A winged race would generally have a much easier time migrating than would earthbound beings.

[gojira]

Re: LET'S HACK: The Turakian Age

 

I have no problems with the PCs altering 'canon' timelines. If the PCs manage to kill Kal-Turak' date=' more power to them... then, Takofanes is now someone else. [/quote']

 

 

Or Taco comes back, 1000 years after the PCs defeat him, and *then* destroys the world. 'Cause undead lich are like that.

 

The only thing that really doesn't work for me is trying to glue a SciFi world onto that. Why? Just make "normal earth history" then tack "space" on the end of it and boom you're done. No need for any ancient elves or bantam weight bad guys. Don't need no supers in SciFi either; the impetus to do so leaves me scratching my head.