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steriaca

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16 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

Not as "out there" as you might think! Converting letters to numbers is part of gematria, an important part of kabbalism. 10-15-5 just approaches it a little differently.

 

Dean Shomshak

Humm...I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. By the way, 10-15-5's parents call him Joe.

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23 hours ago, Cassandra said:

 

Or Cindy Crawford.

 

Okay, while that was _hilarious_,

 

I have to point out that the only thing I have in common with her is minor, but relevant:  she and I have both passed the deadline for dying young.  :lol:   However, I cede that she will likely leave a far better-looking corpse than I ever could. 

 

15 hours ago, DShomshak said:

Not as "out there" as you might think! Converting letters to numbers is part of gematria, an important part of kabbalism.

 

Beat me to it.  I've got to get out here more.  I just don't have time to check everything anymore.  :(

 

 

15 hours ago, steriaca said:

Humm...I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. By the way, 10-15-5's parents call him Joe.

 

3 hours ago, DShomshak said:

 

Figured that out. :)

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

And to prevent that, I would like to offer this suggestion (depending on how much "flavor" and "roleplaying" factor into your sessions, of course):

 

use "the Olde Tongue."   e.  ?  "Tonguee?"   Speak fake ancient jive.  Yeah.  That.

 

Make one of two charts:  either A through Z (omit C and Y to really sell it, and stump very casual decoding).

 

Wait.  Omit "candy?!"  That sucks!

 

No; just trust me. C is either S or K, and Y is pointless either I or E or IE or EE anyway  (and on this farm he had some ducks, ...)

 

 

underneath each of these letters, write a one or (and I don't recommend this) or two-syllable word.  Any word.  Make up a word.

 

Now compile a list of "power words" -- that is, words that would trigger his powers, and "translate" them to this ancient tongue.  Yeah, it's so stupid simple, but you'd be surprised the flavor it adds, especially to fantasy games.

 

 

Option 2 (the "I am a bad person, and must be punished" option):

 

Decide how the Ancient Ones would have handled math:

 

1-10?  Did they like the relative ease of multiplication and division?  Or just one for each finger?  1-8, because thumbs don't count?  1-10 for women, 1-11 for men?  

1-20, because they were barefoot?

1-5, as there are only five fingers on the counting hand; the other hand was used for pointing at the fingers on the counting hand?

1-99?

1-100?

 

Was there a zero? 

 

How did their math work?

 

Once you know how they counted and how (or if) they did math, you can make that same list of the alphabet (with or without the candy; you're choice)  and number it according to how ye Oldie Ones whould haff dunn it.  e?  What was with the damned e tacked onto everything?!  Was it pronounced, or merely decorative?  I'm beginning to think it just meant "space between words" in old english.  Where's Tribble when these questions arise?

 

do the same thing:  a single syllable for each number (or for each digit, if they did math, with a special syllable to denote the level of the digit:  2 might be "hos," but when it's in the tens place, it's "hostet" or something.  Go as complicated as you want.

 

Now make your list of power words again.  This time he's using the _ancient_ magic of numbers as opposed to the one that revealed itself when I read the National Enquirer backwards at 33-1/3 that one time.....

 

 

Either way-- particularly that other way-- you get that same "numbers to letters" theme, but you also get three other bonuses:  a code that isn't broken by accident, pronounceable words that don't take four seconds each to say, and flavor.  Lots and lots of yummy, yummy flavor.

 

:)

 

 

(this is a holdover from that one Fantasy campaign I spent nearly a year building only to watch it tank out of the gate because "What you do _mean_, "no elves?!""  I translated an entire DAMNED DICTIONARY (small, elementary student companion one) into the language (well, the words)  of the Amphii just to give that flavor to this world, and every damned player at the table (except the one who wanted to be a human) showed up yelling "But you said 'Fantasy!'  _I_ was going to be Legolas!"    What the FU(*$(#%  kind of game can you run for seven Legolae?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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35 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

(this is a holdover from that one Fantasy campaign I spent nearly a year building only to watch it tank out of the gate because "What you do _mean_, "no elves?!""  I translated an entire DAMNED DICTIONARY (small, elementary student companion one) into the language (well, the words)  of the Amphii just to give that flavor to this world, and every damned player at the table (except the one who wanted to be a human) showed up yelling "But you said 'Fantasy!'  _I_ was going to be Legolas!"    What the FU(*$(#%  kind of game can you run for seven Legolae?)

Simple. Ork shooting gallery.

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Some idea spells for 10-15-5:

 

Multiple Spell: By chanting "10-15-5 times (number)" he can duplicate himself up to nine times. These duplicates are only basic humans with his own mentality (no spellcasting for them, but they all chant numbers). Killing them or stunning them only causes them to go "poof". Maybe instead of true duplication, it could be a set illusion and telekinesis linked to it.

 

Zero Spell: By chanting zero and pointing, he can make what he points to not exist. This spell is almost impossible to cast on living things in the Earth Dimension, but he can use it on missiles aimed at him.

 

Web: Creates a magical web entraping targets.

 

Ice: Creates an icicle which races twords the target.

 

10-15-5 There: Teleports him to the area he points to.

 

Fire: sets objects on fire.

 

Kill: victim pointed gets damage with lethal random force. Heart attacks are common, but random lighting strikes. And spontaneous combustion is not unheard of.

 

Can anyone help. I'm using a simple A=1 code. The standard alphabet is 26 letters. I assume Old English might use less letters.

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1 minute ago, Duke Bushido said:

Ah yes; of course! 

 

Sorry about that; I missed the connection.  I thought it was a reference to her apparent refusal to age. :)

 

Cindy Crawford, Lea Thompson,  and  Andie MacDowell don't age.

 

Neither does Carmen Villalobas.  She's playing a woman who looks 25 with a 20 year old daugher.

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10-15-5 thoughts.

 

Just read the Wikipedia entery on Old English. Only 24 letters in there alphabet. Assuming that Farie humans keep Old English rules and simply add to them, and my simple cyper, we have...

 

A=1

B=2

C=3

D=4

E=5

F=6

G=7

H=8

I=9

J=10

L=11

M=12

N=13

O=14

P=15

Qu=16

R=17

S=18

T=19

U=20

V=21

VV=22

X=23

Y=24

 

Which makes it a 24 letter alphabet. Old English has no K, Q, nor Z, but I made an exception and added Q (in the qu form). The double capital V (VV) is basically W, and used just for looks.

 

This changes the name of our villain from 10-15-5 to 10-14-5 (Joe).

 

Work arounds: Since in my cyper there is no K and Z, he needs some combo of letters which can mimic the "ka" and "ze" sound. He would probably use "ca" (3-1) for K, and "se" (18-3) for Z.

 

Note to self: He probably can't affect objects with K and Z in there names, and his "KILL" spell is probably rather week. (3-1-9-11-11 according to my own rules). He might use the old english word instead? Heawan looks ike an interesting substitute (8-3-1-22-1-13).

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Okay, Steriaca:

 

Neil is done, and we did a really unprepared and unscripted, terrible, terrible video to demonstrate how easy this is- if you're interested (personally, I'd have gone with a more complex-- ie, makes math possible-- numbering system, but as soon as I started explaining the idea, he got all excited to dive in.  (he is currently building a new "language" as we speak). 

 

Got about fifteen minutes or so for it to finish uploading, and I'll drop you a link. 

 

My apologies:  I am not a video blog guy, but it was fast and fun, so we did it. 

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1 hour ago, Duke Bushido said:

Here you go, Steriaca:

 

 

 

I've spent the passed few minutes trying to coax him into going over his ideas on pronunciation, etc,  but no dice.  He has moved on to other things at the moment.  If I get a minute, I'll go over mine, if only because video has an audible component that text lacks.  ;)

Great video. Thanks for the idea of fealing through the powers.

 

Humm....using the Old English alphabet ( modified), change it to numbers, then come up an alternative pronunciation for it...a=1=ah, b=2=bo, c=3=ca, well, this will take a while to do all 24 letters.

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It's remarkably easy:  an eleven year old just knocked it out in roughly ten minutes. 

 

Some suggestions I'd make:

 

No more than half your sounds end in vowels; no more than half your sounds start in vowels.  Makes pronunciation of your final assembled word easier. 

 

As Neil suggested: eliminate double letters  in the real spelling before 'translating" to your new language. 

 

Your just making something that _sounds_ mysterious, so don't be afraid to chop it up into words in places other than where the real word breaks.  That is, even if you're in the middle of the real word,  UT your new word sounds like two words, then make it two words.  Conversley, don't be afraid to merge words if it gives a more natural-sounding flow, and create liaisons or alter pronunciation a bit when it helps somethg move across the tongue more easily-- just like all the real languages do. 

 

Have fun with it. :D

 

(Neil says high) 

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2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

It's remarkably easy:  an eleven year old just knocked it out in roughly ten minutes. 

 

Some suggestions I'd make:

 

No more than half your sounds end in vowels; no more than half your sounds start in vowels.  Makes pronunciation of your final assembled word easier. 

 

As Neil suggested: eliminate double letters  in the real spelling before 'translating" to your new language. 

 

Your just making something that _sounds_ mysterious, so don't be afraid to chop it up into words in places other than where the real word breaks.  That is, even if you're in the middle of the real word,  UT your new word sounds like two words, then make it two words.  Conversley, don't be afraid to merge words if it gives a more natural-sounding flow, and create liaisons or alter pronunciation a bit when it helps somethg move across the tongue more easily-- just like all the real languages do. 

 

Have fun with it. :D

 

(Neil says high) 

Nell is a smart kid. Tell him I say hello back. Or, better yet, tell him I said " Ha-eh-ah-ba-ah-eh".

 

Zero=0=nu

A=1=ah

B=2=ba

C=3=co

D=4=da

E=5=eh

F=6=fo

G=7=ga

H=8=ha

I=9=is

J=10=ah-nu

K=11=ah-ah

L=12=ah-ba

M=13=ah-co

N=14=ah-da

O=15=ah-eh

P=16=ah-fo

Qu=17=ah-ga

R=18=ah-ha

S=19=ah-is

T=20=ba-nu

U=21=ba-ah

V=22=ba-ba

W=23=ba-co

X=24=ba-da

Y=25=ba-eh

Z=26=ba-fo

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1 hour ago, Duke Bushido said:

Love to be able to help you there, but the mysticism thing never really tripped my trigger. 

 

I'm sure someone will be along, though: Dean is not only well versed, but responsible for a lot of it, and their is no one more familiar with the published stuff than LL, so I have no doubt some has got you covered.  :D

 

 

I was thinking Stronghammer, but I am mighty sure we can't use him. Runehammer? A cousin who appeared on Earth for a small time, enjoyed it, got the t-shirt and a VIPER blaster out of his first visit, and wants to return. (T-shirt slogan in Dwarf "My cousin went to Earth and all I got was 2 experence points and this t-shirt.")

 

Basically a brick and "rune caster". If they can prepare the battlefield ahead of time, he will carve runes in the ground for heroes to trigger.

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Duke's faith is flattering. 😌

 

If we're talking official Champions villains, prime candidates would be Stingray and Zorran (Champions Villains Volume Three). Both are versed in magic, desire power, and come from races with much longer lifespans than humans, so could easily still be active in 2050. Stingray provides the "muscle" you suggest Demonologist would want. Zorran rivals D himself in occult knowledge and skill, and while his spells may be less potent in the future, his several magic artifacts bolster his abilities.

 

The Basilisk (also in CV3) is another possibility. Besides being able to transform into a supernatural reptile-man with a petrifying gaze, he's a scholar with knowledge of the occult, as well as several other fields Demonologist would probably respect.

 

Demonologist was responsible for inflicting the curse of the lycanthrope on Black Fang , so may be able to control that werewolf, or just create a new one. He is also able to perceive that Frag is a child of the Zodiac Working; while Frag has no interest in the occult, D might find another product of the Working who is. Maybe one of the supernatural products of the Working could pass down their power to one of their own children. (Both villains are in CV3.)

 

Minor supernatural entities such as werewolves and vampires existed during past eras of low magic, so you could create a new character with that background. Of existing Champions vampires, I would suggest Velleda McFarlane, a minor mystic as well as a vampire, and a member of the extended Sylvestri clan of black magicians (Champions Villains Volume Two). She might have betrayed her clan and fled to Demonologist for protection from their wrath; or just pretended to, so as to become the Sylvestri's spy in the new Devil's Advocates.

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