Mr. R

Not being familiar with DND 4th, can you give some examples. Note I do own the Book of Nine Swords and I really liked their take on Martial Adepts. I remember describing one 9th level strike being able to do over 100 hp damage and he went OverPowered, till I said Power Word Kill!

True!

We have the spell users, what ever the flavour you have chosen. But what do you give the warriors/ rogues so that they don't feel overshadowed. I have been in games with both, A ) a DND 2nd edition game where we quickly learned that warrior had durability (HP) and great saves B ) a Palladium game where we learned that the raw power of a caster totally overshadowed any similar leveled warrior and that the argument "But you get magic items to compensate!" was.... yeah! So to those GMs of fantasy..... How do you keep the non-casters feeling special? I am looking at thing like Tuala Morn's Warrior feats or abilities like 25% Dam. Red. (only when aware of the attack), or even abilities and talents that you restrict to the warriors only

True!

I like this!

So as many of you have been following me in my quest to fix up a setting book I have for a campaign I would want to run using here Thanks to Killer Shrike I have three types of magic One a traditional learned form One based on totem animals but again learned One based on runes (for all those neat magic items) Also an Alchemy system for the ubiquitous potions/ lotions/ salves/ oils/ etc I was planning to make the bad guys giants, but I was in conversation with an old friend and I remarked about one thing I was disliking in Fantasy Literature. The "being born with magic" trope. Royal families and ruling classes that can control elements, shapeshift etc. NOBODY seems to learn magic ie go from no magic to a study of it and gaining control of said force. IDEA Make the bad guys those who have intrinsic magic. They are the nobility because they have these powers. But they have let it go to their heads. They have gone from We have been blessed with the ability to protect them to We are born to rule as we are superior and thus deserve their fawning obedience But I have a few questions When should I set the story? At the beginning when the new magics are coming out and people are now being given the tools to protect themselves? ( this would have a very resistance like vibe, but without the England to help out) At a point when the new magics are more established and have countries of their own as a base? The old magics are at the periferies? Deep in the mountains, far in the forests, island fortresses offshore, desert fastness protected by powerful magics! This would be a more "Old People's" type game with ruins all over the place. And them coming out of their strongholds occasionally to revenge themselves on the lesser people who has spurned their "gentle ministrations"

This is from an old COH conversions I did a while back. This is in Hero format! Background/History: Penelope Ogilvie is your quintessential English young lady. She went to public school, got good grades and looked ready to head into the family business. Which was not very legal. Problem was she hated the life. Her family had become wealthy enough that they could go legitimate. But they were enamoured of the life-style. Then came the Event, when (insert villain) tried to bring an eternal night to the nearby city as a stepping stone to more power. Unfortunately he over extended himself and when the device stopped working he was defeated. But it had an effect on Penelope. Latent powers of darkness and the mind awakened in her. Now she had the power to step away from her family and use her powers to help people that take from them. Only her brother, now a member of (insert evil villain agency) disagreed, and hunts her to try and bring her back into the fold. He doesn’t realize it is a lost cause. Obsidian likes he new life.Personality/Motivation: Penelope is a curious young lady who wants to make up for all her family’s crimes. That her powers allow her to sneak around effectively, and she has a skill set for getting into places and areas, and she makes for an effective starting investigator. She realizes she needs more skills and is working on trying to find someone to train her!Quote: If I’m careful, they’ll never notice me.Powers/Tactics: Obsidian’s powers are a combination of mental powers and darkness. She has a dark shield that gives her protection and allows her to levitate. It also can be extended to darken an area with extra shadows to make it harder to see her (think a dark fog effect). Her other abilities are mental attack that have a visible dark manifestation. Her favourite is the Presence of the Night as it can scare opponents away if she does it right. But she’s not afraid of lashing out with what she thinks will work best.Campaign Use: A young hero with ties to a criminal life she is trying to leave behind. I am sure you can think of something.Appearance: Pale peaches and cream complexion and blonde hair, she is 165 cm and 68 KG. Her costume consists of a pair of leggings (dark grey) and a loose top (same) with a dark hood under which she hides her hair.

A classic use of this group comes from an Organization group called The Blood and Dr. McQuark. In it the PCs run into TI as they are stealing some device from some research comp. WHY? To use it to find and loot a crashed, ancient spacecraft full of potentially valuable tech. Though TI were tangental to the plot really, you could make them central. Agents of TI are found setting up safe houses in the city. As players clash with the agents, PM and his supers come in during the actual robbery to keep the players from intervening with the theft. Now to track down the device and stop what ever plans TI have. Season appropriately, serve to the PCs.

Thank you!

I'll take THAT advice to heart!

Thanks!

A) I didn't think of that, but it is cool actually. I do plan to give some nice stuff to the "Pure" Warrior types. Almost magical, but not. Think "Book of Nine Swords" C) That was what I was thinking. I played in a Palladium game where all the most powerful people were dual classed casters (Wiz/ Mind Mage or Wiz/ Warlock or [my favourite] Wiz/ Diabolist/ Summoner). I'll have to come up with a reason for no cross over.....

Basically I'd like to know how much land does it take to support a midieval town? So how many sq mi (or sq km for the rest of the world) will it take to feed and support a town? For a good beginning assume a population of 10000 to a max of about 50000!

AS I was rooting around Sir Shrike's pages, I found another Magic System the caught my interest. Now already I planning on using his Metier System as my basic wizard type, and there is NO gift, anyone can learn it! http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/metierSystem.aspx Also to give a rational for all those magic items http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/Runecrafting.aspx But I want a system for those simpler types. This would be the magics of the nomads but also the, I don't want to say poor people, but yes marginalized would fit http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/TotemicShamanism.aspx So, my questions: A) is this too many? B)Am I going down a path where the Casters get all the goodies and the non casters (you know, the warrior, rogues, etc) don't get anything NICE? C) Should I make a hard wall between Magic Users? By this I mean should practicing type 1 preclude you from learning type 2 or type 3? Any comment welcome and appreciated!

Really. That is a fairly powerful team. How did you do it?

Aaron Allston commented in his Strike Force book that his players were not working as a team but a bunch of individuals who happened to be working together. So he introduced a team made up of NPC that were built on 50 - 75 pts lower than the players, but who used code words and team tactics and covered for each other. Then he let them loose on his players and they got trounced. BUT they did learn the lesson and next time the PCs won. SO.. What is your "teaching team"? The group you made to make the PCs finally gel!

Basically what it says on the title. The game setting I am working with has such low populations in such large areas that as it stands Pop Density is 1 person / Sq Mi. Even if I triple or quadruple it, that leaves HUGE amounts of land undeveloped. So with that in mind I have heard of PoL settings. But how do they work? What are some of the buy ins? Anything I should know before setting out?

After taking a second (or is it 22nd?) look at the map, and the descriptions of the cities and the populations I cam to a realization. This world is actually a Points of Light setting. Example Tenryk above. It is 350 by 450 miles roughly so approx 150000 sq mi. Population 160000 people. 15000 in the capital, 10000 in a big port city called Arelios and three more with 7500 each the rest scattered (yeah right) through the country. This gives us a pop density of 1 person / sq mi (as a comparison Mongolia is more densely populated) Even if I triple the population it means at least 50-75% of the land is uninhabited wilderness. Am I wrong with this idea?

The last and probably the best of the bunch

And Looks like you have similar ideas. I will have to look into this!

So the next two nations are something like the USA in the 1850's. A slave free north and ......

The Aaman half If you are curious, here is how I am portraying the God of Commerce So my major question is: How do you keep the entire class responsible for most of your wealth (merchants) at such a low status/societal level?

In M&M's Atlas of the World, he was actually a Rakshasa from India working to foil his people's plans for moving outside of India!

The Star Crown Empire and the Sea of Fates. It is an old ICE Shadow World module.

I am convinced that the writers had recently read Talislanta, especially Aaman and Zandir, as the next two nations fit this totally. The next nations, Thosque is a theocracy (with a dose of misogyny), And the nation following is the Moregador, a nation the literally should not be existing in its current state for over 2000 years. If any countries need an over haul it is this one and Thosque. For this country I need a government that keeps the individualism and drive for action, but gets rid of the CONSTANT instability. Some of my ideas at the bottom One idea is that the leaders that are placed are actually figureheads. In reality a very well entrenched and well educated bureaucracy handle most of the governing and let the nobles think they are in charge by occasionally supporting some of their more offbeat plans. Another is could be an example of a land that is in flux as the political situation has started to fall apart. Before it was something akin to Ireland with the Kings and High King situation. But recently the High King dies without naming a successor and instead there has been jockeying for position as people climb up in power and others try to supplant them. And all the while the bureaucrats (for a want of a better term) are trying their best keeping the country in one piece. Basically it is a search for a new High King (yes there is a pantheon of deities ) that has gotten the blessing of the Gods/Godesses! Just had another thought. The Players (those thrill seekers) are those tasked right now with protecting the country, sort of like the Fianna! Any other ideas? I am open to anything that keeps this from becoming "We are taking over for your own good. Children need to grow up!"