DShomshak

Oh, right. For reference, assault is quoting from "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti.
 
Backwards up the mossy glen
Turned and trooped the goblin men,
With their shrill, repeated cry,
"Come buy, come buy."
 
In similar vein is William Butler Yeats' "The Stolen Child":
Come away, O human child!
To the water and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
 
I think it's often a good idea to go back to source material, or to see what great artists have done with it and steal shamelessly from them.
 
Dean Shomshak

While I haven't tried to do a census of magic items from myth and folklore, my intuition is that most of them weren't kaboomy, "gamerish" magic. The most powerful, such as wish-granting items, tend to operate at narrative levels that are hard to quantify. I will grant you, epics from India have army-destroying magic such as the discus of Vishnu, while China's Fengshen Yanyi has plenty of kaboomy magic such as the Umbrella of Chaos.
 
An item that cures disease, such as the brazen serpent of Moses. That would be worth fighting wars to possess.
 
Truth-verifying item, such as a mirror that darkens if someone tells a lie. If you don't mind the pun, a "ring of truth" that chimes when someone nearby tells a lie.
 
Resurrection magic. Maybe single-use such as the Honey of Heaven that Lemminkainen's mother uses to bring him back, from the Kalevala. An even bigger deal if it functions repeatedly, such as the Black Cauldron of Celtic myth. (The original actually did raise the dead. The version in Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain" series reanimated the dead as zombies; still formidable.) Again, people would do much to possess such an item.
 
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." A scrying/clairvoyance item, especially if it can locate people or objects.
 
Here's a real object that sounds like it ought to be magic, though I don't know what it would do. Years back, The Economist ran a science story about chemical archeology -- deriving information about the past from chemical residues left on objects. The most spectacular example was a coin found in a Roman sewer, that over the centuries had turned bright blue. Aluminum from clay and phosphorus from bones dumped in the sewer had reacted with copper in the bronze coin to coat it in a thin layer of turquoise. So... coin from a sewer, color of the sky. What can it buy?
 
Dean Shomshak

First picture of Mercury from Europe space mission
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58754882
 
British climber complete 83 ascents in the UK in 2 months
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-58774152

If you want goblins as the small, magical tricksters of troll-kind, don't forget the Goblin Market that sells treasures and wonders, where the price is always right... and so very, very wrong.
 
Dean Shomshak

While I haven't tried to do a census of magic items from myth and folklore, my intuition is that most of them weren't kaboomy, "gamerish" magic. The most powerful, such as wish-granting items, tend to operate at narrative levels that are hard to quantify. I will grant you, epics from India have army-destroying magic such as the discus of Vishnu, while China's Fengshen Yanyi has plenty of kaboomy magic such as the Umbrella of Chaos.
 
An item that cures disease, such as the brazen serpent of Moses. That would be worth fighting wars to possess.
 
Truth-verifying item, such as a mirror that darkens if someone tells a lie. If you don't mind the pun, a "ring of truth" that chimes when someone nearby tells a lie.
 
Resurrection magic. Maybe single-use such as the Honey of Heaven that Lemminkainen's mother uses to bring him back, from the Kalevala. An even bigger deal if it functions repeatedly, such as the Black Cauldron of Celtic myth. (The original actually did raise the dead. The version in Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain" series reanimated the dead as zombies; still formidable.) Again, people would do much to possess such an item.
 
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." A scrying/clairvoyance item, especially if it can locate people or objects.
 
Here's a real object that sounds like it ought to be magic, though I don't know what it would do. Years back, The Economist ran a science story about chemical archeology -- deriving information about the past from chemical residues left on objects. The most spectacular example was a coin found in a Roman sewer, that over the centuries had turned bright blue. Aluminum from clay and phosphorus from bones dumped in the sewer had reacted with copper in the bronze coin to coat it in a thin layer of turquoise. So... coin from a sewer, color of the sky. What can it buy?
 
Dean Shomshak

Campaign-shaking but not obvious WOW THAT'S BIG MAGIC stuff, eh?
 
There's an called The Freeshooter, in which a man makes a deal with the Devil to get a gun and set of bullets that never miss... but one of the bullets is cursed to loop around and kill the gun's wielder. Maybe something like that with a crossbow and a set of bolts. Win any archery contest, a la William Tell, or make the "nigh impossible" shot to hit the dragon in its one vulnerable point a la Smaug... but each time there's a chance that instead you will die. And even if you dare, each bolt can be used only once. You won't use this weapon lightly.
 
(I just did something like this in my D&D campaign. One PC comes from a family of crossbow-makers. She just learned that her grandfather sacrificed his life to a Goddess of Vengeance to make a set of bolts that would never miss, in order to avenge the death of the PC's older brother. There's one bolt left. No curse this time, but what will she do with just one shot that is sure to succeed?)
 
Dean Shomshak

I didn't realize that Chilton's made a manual for a Tardis.

Likewise, hopeful but wary.
 
I think when JMS said, "No children or cute robots," he meant as ongoing characters. I hope he sticks to that: There are children on the station, yes, but the same child is not turning up week after week, inexplicaly involved in the serious business of competent adults.
 
Especially, please, no Magic Genius Kid character, a la Wesley Crusher.
 
In the same vein, let any robots be practical machines serving practical purposes, not comic relief. Goodness knows one can tell plenty of serious stories about robot characters, and I wouldn't mind seeing JMS do so, but B5 already has so much to do there would scarcely seem to be room. I suppose, though, a new series could give glimpses of issues and events going on elsewhere.
 
OPn a more frivolous side, remember the ep where Delenn appeared in a dream doing a Tarpt reading? I'd already designed a B5 Tarot by then, and I know I'm not the only person to have done so.
 
EDIT: I revised the B5 Tarot as seasons passed.Here's the final version:
 
THE BABYLON-5 TAROT
 
The Fool Zathras
The Magician Kosh
The High Priestess Delenn
The Empress Ivanova or Lockley
The Emperor Sheridan
The Hierophant Valen
The Lovers Shadow and Vorlon
The Chariot Marcus
Justice Garibaldi
The Hermit Mr. Sebastian, his cane glowing
The Wheel of Fortune Londo
Strength Lyta
The Hanged Man G’Kar
Death Bester (riding over William Edgars)
Temperance Franklin
The Devil Mr. Morden (with Londo and Anna Sheridan in chains)
The Lightning-Struck Tower Whitestar crashing on Z’Ha’Dum
The Star Lennier
The Moon Talia Winters
The Sun Vir
Judgment Lorien
The World Babylon-5, superimposed on Draal in the Great Machine
 
Dean Shomshak

I assume that's not really a serious question, but I'll give it a serious answer.
 
The Sun is the card of innocence, joy and new beginnings. That's Vir -- though he is rather less innocent by series ending, he his destiny is a new beginning for the Centauri.
 
The Moon, OTOH, is... rather sinister. My little book of occult ready reference describes its meaning as, "Intuition. Latent psychic power. Astral journeys. May also mean unforeseen perils and deception." Though IIRC Talia turned out to be a peril and deception for the Psi Corps.
 
Dean Shomshak

Not Zathras, Zathras!

Likewise, hopeful but wary.
 
I think when JMS said, "No children or cute robots," he meant as ongoing characters. I hope he sticks to that: There are children on the station, yes, but the same child is not turning up week after week, inexplicaly involved in the serious business of competent adults.
 
Especially, please, no Magic Genius Kid character, a la Wesley Crusher.
 
In the same vein, let any robots be practical machines serving practical purposes, not comic relief. Goodness knows one can tell plenty of serious stories about robot characters, and I wouldn't mind seeing JMS do so, but B5 already has so much to do there would scarcely seem to be room. I suppose, though, a new series could give glimpses of issues and events going on elsewhere.
 
OPn a more frivolous side, remember the ep where Delenn appeared in a dream doing a Tarpt reading? I'd already designed a B5 Tarot by then, and I know I'm not the only person to have done so.
 
EDIT: I revised the B5 Tarot as seasons passed.Here's the final version:
 
THE BABYLON-5 TAROT
 
The Fool Zathras
The Magician Kosh
The High Priestess Delenn
The Empress Ivanova or Lockley
The Emperor Sheridan
The Hierophant Valen
The Lovers Shadow and Vorlon
The Chariot Marcus
Justice Garibaldi
The Hermit Mr. Sebastian, his cane glowing
The Wheel of Fortune Londo
Strength Lyta
The Hanged Man G’Kar
Death Bester (riding over William Edgars)
Temperance Franklin
The Devil Mr. Morden (with Londo and Anna Sheridan in chains)
The Lightning-Struck Tower Whitestar crashing on Z’Ha’Dum
The Star Lennier
The Moon Talia Winters
The Sun Vir
Judgment Lorien
The World Babylon-5, superimposed on Draal in the Great Machine
 
Dean Shomshak

Likewise, hopeful but wary.
 
I think when JMS said, "No children or cute robots," he meant as ongoing characters. I hope he sticks to that: There are children on the station, yes, but the same child is not turning up week after week, inexplicaly involved in the serious business of competent adults.
 
Especially, please, no Magic Genius Kid character, a la Wesley Crusher.
 
In the same vein, let any robots be practical machines serving practical purposes, not comic relief. Goodness knows one can tell plenty of serious stories about robot characters, and I wouldn't mind seeing JMS do so, but B5 already has so much to do there would scarcely seem to be room. I suppose, though, a new series could give glimpses of issues and events going on elsewhere.
 
OPn a more frivolous side, remember the ep where Delenn appeared in a dream doing a Tarpt reading? I'd already designed a B5 Tarot by then, and I know I'm not the only person to have done so.
 
EDIT: I revised the B5 Tarot as seasons passed.Here's the final version:
 
THE BABYLON-5 TAROT
 
The Fool Zathras
The Magician Kosh
The High Priestess Delenn
The Empress Ivanova or Lockley
The Emperor Sheridan
The Hierophant Valen
The Lovers Shadow and Vorlon
The Chariot Marcus
Justice Garibaldi
The Hermit Mr. Sebastian, his cane glowing
The Wheel of Fortune Londo
Strength Lyta
The Hanged Man G’Kar
Death Bester (riding over William Edgars)
Temperance Franklin
The Devil Mr. Morden (with Londo and Anna Sheridan in chains)
The Lightning-Struck Tower Whitestar crashing on Z’Ha’Dum
The Star Lennier
The Moon Talia Winters
The Sun Vir
Judgment Lorien
The World Babylon-5, superimposed on Draal in the Great Machine
 
Dean Shomshak

From JMS on Facebook:

 
 

Most people assume they live in a kind of stasis, whether they do or not.
 
They have vague ideas that some places are older or younger than the place that they live. Or that some places are much more wealthy or much poorer. But they assume that people live much the same way as they themselves do.
 
I remember back in high school that an illegal immigrant from Mexico was discovered half-starved locked up in the back of a trailer of an 18 wheeler.
 
The police took custody of him but none of them could speak any Spanish and the guy couldn't speak any English. But on the trip from the freight yard through the more squalid parts of the tiny town to the courthouse (which was built in the 1930's and looked more ancient and run down than that), the guy kept saying dahleeze over and over.
 
The police eventually had to resort to sending for the high school Spanish teacher because no one knew anyone who could speak Spanish.
 
So the teacher eventually showed up and talked to the guy.
 
He was under the impression that because the "vast city" he was driven through on the way to the police station was so magnificent, that he must be in Dallas.
 
He knew that vast wealthy cities existed because he'd been told about them. But he lacked whatever it was that it'd take for him to grasp the scale of difference between a town of a few thousand people with paved streets, modest homes, and electricity vs a metropolis with a million people and (comparatively) unlimited wealth. Because apparently, he'd had no experience with either a tiny modest middle-America town or a thriving metropolis.
.
.
.
If you take away TV, public education, and yearly releases of new versions of the I-Phone, why would anyone assume that they were living in anything but an eternal stasis, whether it was true or not?
 
People don't automatically know stuff. Most people aren't motivated to find out stuff even when the knowledge is easily available. People see and people accept what they personally see. What they don't personally see might as well not exist and certainly isn't very important.
 
You could have vast upheavals in social systems in most eras and within 30-50 years, most people would accept things as they are and not think about things as they used to be or about how things might be.... 

The only published Fantasy setting I can ever imagine using is Exalted, because the setting of Creation is so tied to everything else in the game. But Creation has seen significant changes over the centuries. The history that matters starts with the Primordial War, when the Exalted were given power so they could overthrow the world's creators. Then came the millennia of the Old Realm, also called the High First Age. That ended with the Usurpation, when two kinds of Exalted overthrew two of the others, establishing the Shogunate of the Low First Age. The Shogunate sort of limped along for several centuries until the plague called the Great Contagion killed 90% of the world's population. It was not a natural disaster: It was created by the ghosts of some of the Exalted murdered in the Usurpation, who had gained new power from the ghosts of some of the world's slain creators. Then things got even worse when the Fair Folk invaded from the primal chaos outside the world in an attempt to unmake it all. Their literally infinite hordes were stopped only when a young officer somehow found a way to activate the ultimate weapon of the Old Realm. She then founded a new Scarlet Empire with herself as its Empress, beginning the Second Age. She has ruled most of the world, to varying degrees, for more than 700 years since then. Five years ago, she vanished. All the conflicts she kept in check are starting up again -- and the power of the Exalted slain long ago now seeks new mortal hosts. Though some of these new Exalted are different in ominous ways. The Time of Tumult is at hand.
 
That's the history of the world as a whole. Every country has its own history too, in some cases reaching back to the Old Realm.
 
The way to keep a setting from seeming static is to begin with the premise that things will change, and some of those changes and events will matter for current people. A lot.
 
Dean Shomshak
(Full disclosure: Though I was not part of the initial design for Exalted and Creation, I did a lot of work on the Second Edition. A few things, I even think I did well.)
 

The high school parts were challenging in part because my own high school experience was trying to avoid any contact with my classmates, as this was rarely pleasant. Not a milieu for which I have a natural feel. I solved this in part by taking a cue from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game and saying that the campaign was emulating a TV series, a la Buffy, Vampire Diaries, etc. So I only had to get in the head of TV versions of teens instead of actual teens.
 
It was still challenging to give each PC their own ongoing subplot, and to tie everything back to high school activities.Like, dating across rival cliques? Jaeda Magdalena, bad girl scion of the Aztec goddess Tlazolteotl, gets involved with Gary/Geirrod Vetterson, football hero and frost giant from Crosstown High. Fortunate;ly, I have good players who were willing to carry some of the load.
 
Dean Shomshak

Incidentally: I never ran a Ravenswood campaign, but I sorta did Teen Supers with my "Scion High" campaign. White Wolf's Scion game uses the premise that gods of myth still have semi-mortal by-blows who are destined for lives of adventure. Influence of the "Percy Jackston" stories should be obvious. Though I hadn't read those stories at the time, I sort of went back to the source by having teenage children of the gods attending a modern American high school. They were asked to keep the Mythic World secret, as their divine parents preferred. Various troubles came looking for them. They had rivalries with the Titanspawn students at Crosstown High. Romantic troubles. Afterschool jobs. The challenge was to try interweaving the mortal and divine: the giant talking wolf crashes the Homecoming Dance to deliver its ultimatum, the plain girl who became a hottie over the summer doesn't know she was turned into a monster (but might be cured), etc. It was probably the hardest campaign I ever ran -- for the high school parts, not the mythic parts, or even for wrestling with the typically clunky WW game mechanics. But it turned out really well.
 
Dean Shomshak

The closest comic-book parallel I can think of is the New Mutants, from Marvel. And no, their adventures did not involve responding to bank robberies or the like. A lot of times, the action came to them: Living in the X-Mansion, they were targets for all the X-Men's enemies.  (The Hellfire Club even had its own junior auxiliary, the Hellions, going to its own private school nearby.) Several characters had extensive baggage from their prior lives that came looking for them, or that they had to leave the school to deal with and the whole class came along.
 
Though it helped that this was late '80s/early '90s Marvel plotting, where no story could be completed in less than 4 issues, so in a year of comics there weren't actually that many stories. Especially given the teen angst for padding. Even still, you are quite right: Many of the situations were contrived, to put it mildly.
 
I presume a Ravenswood Academy campaign would operate similarly.
 
Dean Shomshak