DShomshak

Most important paragraph:
 
There's still a lot of work to be done, however. It's not clear yet if this no-beginning causal approach can allow for physical theories that we can work with to describe the complex evolution of the Univese during the Big Bang.
 
Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but once again the headline ought to have been, "Theoretical Physicist Plays With Freaky Cool Math; No Evidence It Describes Anything Real."
 
The article mentions string theory, and that's a case in point. In 30 years of grand promises, last I heard string theory still has not produced a single testable prediction.
 
Still, I've used string theory as the rubber physics for an SF setting. The question that matters is: Can we use this for games?
 
Dean Shomshak

Richard Benjamin? 😉

Richard Benjamin? 😉

Richard Benjamin? 😉

Richard Benjamin? 😉

Shatner Returns From Space
 
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew –
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
 
John Magee, High Flight
 
I like to think that's engraved on a marble tablet at Starfleet Academy.

I know. Lady P's friend was one of the people who said that.
 
Turns out he was also one of the 1%.
 
I hate this disease so much. 

A few days' travel along the coast north of Wefford there is a cliff jutting out into the western sea. It's not a very impressive cliff, just a big grey slab of granite just lying there, reminding passers-by of a beached whale. But on the head of this rock, over the breaking waves, stands some stairs. They lead up to an arch of roughly dressed stones, that looks worn and pitted and somehow more ancient than the cliff below. The keystone might have had a carving of a face at one time, but it's hard to say now; a pair of seagulls have built a nest on top of it.
 
Mostly, that's it. In the evenings, if you stand in the right place, you can see the sun set through the arch. At night, it's a great place for star gazing.
 
But when the mist rises in the spring, or when the storms roar by in the fall, the local fishermen won't go near it. A warm light glows through the arch, and if you're near enough one can hear the sound of merry voices raised in conversation and song, fiddles and harps playing, and the stomping of feet in dance ...

Most important paragraph:
 
There's still a lot of work to be done, however. It's not clear yet if this no-beginning causal approach can allow for physical theories that we can work with to describe the complex evolution of the Univese during the Big Bang.
 
Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but once again the headline ought to have been, "Theoretical Physicist Plays With Freaky Cool Math; No Evidence It Describes Anything Real."
 
The article mentions string theory, and that's a case in point. In 30 years of grand promises, last I heard string theory still has not produced a single testable prediction.
 
Still, I've used string theory as the rubber physics for an SF setting. The question that matters is: Can we use this for games?
 
Dean Shomshak

Most important paragraph:
 
There's still a lot of work to be done, however. It's not clear yet if this no-beginning causal approach can allow for physical theories that we can work with to describe the complex evolution of the Univese during the Big Bang.
 
Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but once again the headline ought to have been, "Theoretical Physicist Plays With Freaky Cool Math; No Evidence It Describes Anything Real."
 
The article mentions string theory, and that's a case in point. In 30 years of grand promises, last I heard string theory still has not produced a single testable prediction.
 
Still, I've used string theory as the rubber physics for an SF setting. The question that matters is: Can we use this for games?
 
Dean Shomshak

Most important paragraph:
 
There's still a lot of work to be done, however. It's not clear yet if this no-beginning causal approach can allow for physical theories that we can work with to describe the complex evolution of the Univese during the Big Bang.
 
Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but once again the headline ought to have been, "Theoretical Physicist Plays With Freaky Cool Math; No Evidence It Describes Anything Real."
 
The article mentions string theory, and that's a case in point. In 30 years of grand promises, last I heard string theory still has not produced a single testable prediction.
 
Still, I've used string theory as the rubber physics for an SF setting. The question that matters is: Can we use this for games?
 
Dean Shomshak

Not what I said... 
To repeat
"This allows me to slip in some 21st century values believably into a medieval ISH setting."  so no, it's not 'just like they are in the time I live' Any game master picks and chooses what is and isn't in their game world. Saying the sexes will be treated more equally is no more "forced" than deciding it will have only four races to pick from as playable characters, or that magic in the setting will work from the same source.  Each pick of what is or isn't in a gameworld; it's peoples, it's cultures, is a good prompt to 'How did it get there?' I've found it allows a rather natural means to speculate upon and fill out backstory and history for each culture.  I don't sit down with the players and go "This is what I wanted and that's why", they're bright folks, and they know everyone has their style and preferences and that I try to take theirs into account.  
 
If they show an interest in a part of the setting, and their characters are either locals or have the right knowledge skills, What I do is say "One hundred years ago today, the Patriarchs of the  city of Vircombe declared the already beleaguered women of their city to be property of their husbands, and those unwed to be auctioned off as brides to the highest local bidder to fill the treasury. The women prayed to the goddess Tymyrsa for rescue, and the Patriarchs were blinded by her holy power. Their rule was cut short, and the women, knowing their prayers were heard, rose up and demanded to be full citizens. Your party has arrived on the anniversary of that event, and that explains why so many are wearing red blindfolds (of course, of such thin material they can still see through it) to honor that day."
 
If that feels forced to you, well, so be it, but the players liked it and it was a fun world crafting moment for me.

My Magozoic setting is not quite bog-standard D&d because I am me, and I don't like all the standard races and cosmology. My current campaign is set in the Plenary Empire, chiefly inspired by the Byzantine Empire. As "Fantasy Constantinople," its capital Pleroma has a quarter-million people. Its second city, the great port of Thalassene (Fantasy Alexandria) has a population of 150,000. The numbers had been twice that, but I used Medieval Demographics Made Easy to work out plusible populations for the Empire, province by province and then in total, and decided that having 25% of the population in these two cities was too great a logistical challenge -- though it is still a setting point that the declining Empire's chief cities are swollen with refugees from lost provinces, and the Empire must import food despite having the most efficient and intensive agriculture in the region. I decided that one in eight people living in these cities was enough.
 
(Pleroma's population figure comes with an asterisk, as the number of souls is greater than the number of people. Its catacombs connect it to Bathys, the city of ghosts. The dead of the Empire who do not pass to the gods, Hell or oblivion also flock to the capital.)
 
The campaign is set in Thalassene. The population is mostly human, but there are neighborhoods of elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, and other folk, as well as significant mixing in other neighborhoods.
 
There are cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in other countries -- likewise imperial capitals or former capitals -- but these locations do not require such detailed development. Other cities, in the Plenary Empire and beyond, may sometimes reach 20,000 people, but most are 10,000 or less.
 
Dean Shomshak

The other two forms of magic in the World of the Five Gods have associations with deities, but are not actuzlly controlled by them. Sorcerers are possessed of demons and gain use of the demons' powers. Demons come from the Bastard, but a sorcerer doesn't need the god's permission. Shamans possess an animal spirit that grants their powers. Such spirits have an association with the Son of Autumn; a connection that may allow that god to communicate with them more easily than with other mortals; but the Son does not control them or their powers.
 
I am sure other people here can cite other ways Fantasy has handled divine power.
 
Dean Shomshak

Right. Just don't say it in the Roknari Archipelago, unless you can fight reeeally well or run reeeally fast.

It's remotely possible someone might find it useful to see the actual initial infodump/sales pitch I gave players of my "Scion High" campaign. It had to introduce core game concepts as well as give the campaign premise, since not all players knew anything about Scion.
 
Printed out, it was 2 pages long. For what it had to do, I think it was fairly concise.
 
SCION HIGH: STUDENT ORIENTATION
 
WHAT IS A SCION?
From time immemorial, Gods have mated with mortals. The children of such unions are Scions. Although Scions are mortal, they inherit a trickle of divine power. This enables Scions to perform amazing, superhuman, or outright magical feats. With practice, a Scion gains power and gains a greater proportion of divinity. In time, a Scion can become entirely divine and leave the mortal World for the realms beyond.
 
You are a child of the Gods, raised among mortals. Your divine parent — long absent — recently came back into your life and decided that you should know your heritage, develop your power and fulfill your destiny as a new generation of heroes to perform deeds worthy of legend.
 
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
Long ago, the gods defeated their malevolent progenitors, the Titans, and bound them in the prison of Tartarus. The prison has crumbled, though, and the Titans are free. Their minions and spawn already commit badness in the mortal World. The Gods need Scions to do things in the World that they, for various reasons, cannot.
 
Oh. You mean, why are you here at this school, all together? Well, Scions need training at using their powers, but they also need practice at being people within the modern World. Your divine parents gathered their Scions in one place, where it’ll be easier to keep an eye on them. They also hope for new, cross-pantheon alliances between Scions. The old Gods have difficulty transcending the myths about them long enough to work together. Scions have no such trouble.
Thing is, Legend — the power underlying everything supernatural — attracts more of itself. Because you, a group of Scions, are here, other creatures of Legend come too: other Scions, minions of the Titans, creatures allied to neither side, you name it. Some of them came to the area long before you did, for Legend acts across time. If there’s a dragon sleeping under the school gym, it’s here because you’re here. Or, you’re here because it’s here. It’s confusing. Just expect all sorts of weird stuff to come out of the woodwork.
 
Your divine parents believe this isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. You can practice your powers and learn about the secret world of Legend while it tries to kill you, recruit you, destroy the World, or at least make you fail algebra.
 
High School Heroes
The ancient mythological epics describe heroes whose lives are an unending melodrama of passion and conflict. Nowadays, we call their emotional condition “adolescence.” Modern teens easily feel the wrath of Achilles, the love of Sigurd and Brunhilde, the friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, or the betrayal of Arthur and Lancelot. Only, the grown-ups around them don’t take them seriously. Adults know that the fate of the World doesn’t really depend on who asks whom to the prom.
 
What if those sensible grown-ups were wrong?
 
Scion High takes the Scion game and filters it through modern high school. The style is that of TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Smallville: basically action-adventure, but with heaping helpings of teen angst and soap opera. Characters face titanspawn monsters and evil cultists, but they also face the challenges of sports, dating, afterschool jobs, parents and teachers. The big game may decide the fate of a soul; school cliques can represent supernatural factions; the mall is a goblin market of wonder and horror; a jealous classmate or a mean teacher can be a monstrous servant of the Titans.
 
Welcome back to school!
 
The Scion Condition
Once upon a time, Gods and the monstrous spawn of the Titans acted openly in the World. The Gods fought the Titans, and both sides fought amongst themselves. The Gods began as offspring of the Titans, but contact with humanity changed them. Titans have will and sentience, but they are not people, strictly speaking, and they have no use for people. Contact with humans taught the nascent Gods how to be people, and they liked it. The Gods wanted to continue being people, and their Titan progenitors objected. The Titans tried to destroy the Gods, and the Gods objected. Hence, the war between them.
 
Gods are immensely more powerful than mortals, and Titans are more powerful than Gods. The power of Fate, however, constrains mortals, Gods and Titans alike — and Fate gives mortals a terrible power over Gods. When Gods use their supernatural powers in front of mortals, Fate may bind those mortals to them, and the Gods to the mortals. The humans become part of the God’s story in fixed roles, whether as friends or foes. All the mortals “Fatebound” to a God try to push that God into playing certain roles in return. Long ago, the Gods figured out that if they did not hide their power from mortals, they would lose their free will and become trapped in the stories that mortals tell about them. For at least 2,000 years, Gods acting in the World have disguised themselves as mortals and avoided using their full power, to prevent Fatebinding. At any given time, dozens of Gods live on Earth in mortal guises.
 
One consequence is that Gods no longer appear to their mortal lovers as showers of gold or otherwise reveal their divinity. (Usually.) Sometimes they sire or bear children in their mortal guises. Before long, though, Gods must leave their mortal partners to resume their duties in the Overworld. Other times, Gods take the place of particular mortals for the express purpose of producing Scions and placing them in a particular family. The upshot is that by and large, Scions are raised by mortals and think they are mortal until someone tells them differently.
 
When a divine parent reveals the truth to a Scion, it’s called the Visitation. A God usually tells the child directly, but can do this through a messenger. For instance, the Norse Gods often delegate the Visitation to Odin’s ravens, Hugin and Munin. Hey, Gods are busy.
Even before the Visitation, though, blood tells. Scions tend to show interests and aptitudes related to their divine parents. A Scion of Ares gets into fights; a Scion of Isis has a taste for esoteric knowledge. A Scion’s name often hints at the divine parent’s identity, if only because Gods themselves seem compelled to adopt revealing pseudonyms.
 
Six pantheons produce most of the extant Scions: the Aesir of Norse mythology; the Japanese Amatsukami; the Atzlánti of Central America, most notably the Aztecs; the Greco-Roman Dodekatheon; the Loa of Voodoo; and the Pesedjet of ancient Egypt. Gods of other pantheons also produce Scions, though, and any of them might become students at Scion High.
 
THE NITTY GRITTY
 
Your Scion character has Attributes and Abilities that represent his mortal skills and aptitudes. He also has Epic Attributes that go beyond human limits. A Scion with Epic Strength can lift more than the greatest Olympic weightlifter; a Scion with Epic Manipulation can talk damn near anyone into damn near anything; and so on. Boons represent explicitly magical powers, such as flying or turning invisible. Boons are grouped in Purviews such as Animal, Fertility, Justice or War.
 
As part of the Visitation, a God typically gives the new Scion some presents, collectively referred to as Birthrights. A Creature is a pet that can range from a kitty to Pegasus. Followers can be summoned to fight on the Scion’s behalf; for instance, einherjar called from Valhalla. A Guide is an advisor that can range from a knowledgeable mortal to a talking scarab to some sort of spirit. A Relic is a magical object. A Relic might have enhancements that make it more useful than a mundane object, such as a sword that inflicts extra damage. Other Relics summon Creatures or Followers, which prevents awkward questions about your pet unicorn. Most importantly, Relics enable Scions to channel the power of their Boons: No Relic, no Boon.
 
Scions call on the power of Legend. In stories, heroes can do superhuman deeds. As a Scion, you are part mortal and part story. Your overall Legend rating limits the power of your Epic Attributes and Boons. With experience, however, characters can raise their Legend rating, and so acquire Boons of greater power and higher ratings in their Epic Attributes. Many Boons or Knacks require spending Legend points. A starting character does not have many Legend points, so they are the primary resource to manage. Like your divine parents, however, each time you exploit Legend you risk mortals becoming bound to you, and you to them. Your parents request that you try not to let mortals know about the genuine supernatural world around them.
--------------
Dean Shomshak
 

Awww
 
 

Wow, that joke just keeps going!
 
I read the text of the original "Turboencabulator" when I was in high school, more years ago than I care to remember, in a book called A Random Walk in Science.
 
Dean Shomshak

'Earthshine' is dimming and that's bad news for the climate

That, Sir, is the whole reason I do it: I can have as many magic relics as I want (or don't), and dont have to have the entire world at some,magic level that it almost makes sense that people lose these sorts of things without spending their lives looking for them again.  While in some precious age, it might have been easier to just replace them, in this one, not so much.
 
It also goes a long way toward justifying the inability to just buy or create another one od that cool magic thing the bad guy has.
 
It helps explain isolated pockets of civilization without having to go into evolution and the migratory habits of African Swallows, and it allows unexplanable wonders to exist without explanation.
 
And, in reference to another thread, it helps explain "mideval stagnation:"  we aren't still here; we are here again.
 
Yes: it does rule out some,interesting ideas, but the value it brings to our games far outstrips the potential missed opportunities, at least for us.
 
 

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

The largest City is Falernia  at Grid square 10, 5.  it's probably about  400,000 with it's port mixed in. It's food intake is supplemented with a vast fishing fleet and seafood is a large portion of the local diet.
 
Map legend to indicate population sizes: 

 
Hope this helps