Xathan's Brain Now
So I've been incredibly stuck on various ideas. Every time I get started on something, at some point, my brain goes "wait, what about X" and then the whole thing collapses. So instead of just sitting here staring at my screen, I thought I'd go old school CBG on y'all and post some of the various ideas I've been having in a big old list of things and see what everyone thought. Questions and comments are always welcome.
[ooc=Eschaton] For those of you who remember it, Eschaton will draw heavily on one of my long dead settings - Thaedia. Toqeph is supposed to be a fusion of ki and psionics with a bit of otherness thrown in.I love the (what I feel is vastly underused) mythology of semetic peoples, both outside of Judaism and the stuff that pre-dates Judaism as we know it, as well as stuff found in Christian apocrapha. Eschaton is a setting that combines those loves with my love of postapocalyptic settings.
About 50 years ago, the Elohim, beings of incredible power, returned to Sheol and made war with the Halyonim, the divine beings that guarded the Firmament. The war was devastating, and while many of the Elohim were driven back, many of the the Halyonim fell as well, and the Firmament was shattered, opening the doors for the fiends - fallen Halyonim that had allied with the Elohim and were banished in time before time with them, known collectively as the Qliphoth - to begin their own invasion.
Humans, Nephilim, Rephaim, Anakim, and the Elioud - the mortal races caught in the middle of this - are forced to begin fighting for their own place in what once was there world without being annihilated in the continued skirmishes between the remaining Elohim, Halyonim, and Qliphoth. In service of this, they have begun to develop new magics that draw upon a uniquely mortal power - a fusion of the energies of the mind and soul and make use of the strange properties of certain crystals. Given the term Toqeph, it has been instrumental in turning the tide of reclaiming Sheol for mortals. [/ooc]
[ooc=Casus Belli]I love various "alternate punk" settings. Casus Belli is a fusion of my love of biopunk and deiselpunk with my love of made up Solar System layout and inventing new races and alternate history into a setting. Set in on alternate version of Earth where nuclear weapons were never developed, Casus Belli takes place in the aftermath of World War III, which was fought with super advanced deisel technology. Enough time has passed where we've been able to rebuilt again, and World War IV looms on the horizon as tensions once again rise and the solar system (which features several new planets) is being militarized. In addition, as part of World War III and the aftermath, new races were made, collectively called the Nu-Men, and are struggling to find their place in the world.
Technology is going all out crazy. Massive flying fortresses that border on outright cities are owned by all major powers, battlesuits using propellers and armed with gatling guns, planes far more advanced and heavily armed than any we saw in the real world, cyforms blur the line between lifeform and machine - machines augmented with biological components, and more!
Casus Belli also features the rise of various new nations, breaking away from older ones or forming from imperial action. I have a huge list of ones that broke away from North America...and almost none for the rest of the world. I'd love some thoughts on what nations would form if they managed to break away from their current nation - as in, who would do it and why, given they had the technology to do it. (Keep in mind the USSR is still a going concern)[/ooc]
More ideas will be coming in the future as I keep this brain up to date, and any questions to help me elaborate would be immensely appreciated.
[ooc=Who Will Save Us Now?] [spoiler=Now in it's own thread!]I love play by post games because they allow for more flexibility as far as time commitment goes, and because one of my favorite times in roleplaying - ever - was playing in Steerpike's Underdeep game. The problem I've been having with this is coming up with something that doesn't completely overload me, which was the problem I had with Forbidden Arts. Here's what I've been toying with.
Who Will Save Us Now?: The greatest superhero team of all, the world's mightiest, the saviors of the planet numerous times...have been lost in dealing with the threat of The Null Terminus. Now, the b-listers, the also-rans, the sidelined, and the antiheros are forming their own teams, hoping to protect the world against the rise in super-crime...and also get the coveted spot of "greatest team there is!"
This game would work much like Underdeep, but with some variations. You'd start of with a team of 3-4 heroes. You would go around dealing with super crime and alien invasions and such...as well as media opportunities and chances to grow your rep. Teams could make alliances and even join forces and share the spotlight, or backstab each other to (in the end) look best in the public eye. You could also focus on media opportunities to build your reputation, but if too many teams do that super-crime will go unchecked.
System wise, it would use a parsed-down Mutants and Masterminds, because a known system makes things so much easier. Combat would be handled by me between turns.
If there's any interest in this, I'll get the ball rolling on getting it working ASAP.[/spoiler][/ooc]
[spoiler=Early Who Will Save Us Now? FAQ, See Own Thread]So I've learned over the years that my brain works best when people ask me questions. This has gotten me in the habit of posting things that are vague and nebulous and hoping people ask me questions to get the ball rolling. This...is not the most productive way of handling settings, since people often look at my vague thing and it's too vague to have them to comment on, or even know what questions I want them to ask. :P Therefore, I am going to go on in this thread "FAQ" style, since it seems to help with the writing process. Here's "Who Will Save Us Now?" done in this style first.
[ooc=Who Will Save Us Now?]
How many players would you be looking for?
About 4-5 ideally, though I could go higher. It would need at least 4 to work the way I want it to.
How big is the scope?
The world. This is about protecting the entire planet. Heroes can have their bases anywhere on the planet or even in orbit (although the orbital option will require a heavy investment to get up and running) and will have possible fires to put out anywhere. Therefore, hero teams can start anywhere on the globe.
What is the time commitment?
I'm envisioning turns taking 2 weeks, on average, so it'll be pretty low. I can make turns shorter or longer as the group decides on how much they want to play. Each turn will take about a week in universe.
How do turns work?
Stage 1) I reveal the results of the last "turn" in game and reveal new information learned.
Stage 2) Players communicate with each other and plan their orders.
Stage 3) Players finalize their orders.
Stage 4) I reveal, via PM, things they learn carrying out their orders that require responses (if any.) For example, if two hero teams cross paths and weren't expecting to, I give the commanders a chance to decide how to respond - without knowing what the other is planning.
Stage 5) Players finalize those modifications, if needed.
Stage 6) GOTO 1.
Will hero teams be locked once selected?
No! Heroes can quit if you don't want to use them anymore (or if they become liabilities in the media, or turn traitor) and death is possible (though most fights against non-mooks will end in one side escaping, or being temporarily captured, as is befitting a comic book style). New ones can be recruited as well. Teams can grow as large as you can support!
Do all my heroes have to move together?
No. Heroes can move as individuals or pairs. However, there is strenght in numbers, so it's riskier to move them alone...and if they get a media boost, it'll be less if the entire team isn't present (although higher for the heroes actually on site)
What is the starting gear?
You start off with a surface base, two Super-Jets capable of taking you to anywhere on the planet and back within a week (I'll et individual customize the names), a system to monitor the news for possible threats, one friendly contact in law enforcement in your home country, and one friendly media contact in the location of your choice. And, of course, any gear that your heroes come with (an Iron Man style battlesuit, for example)
How do you get more?
You will earn Reputation from various missions. Reputation can be spent to recruit new heroes or minions and get more law-enforcement or media contacts. Your reputation at the start of the week also earns you Wealth from merchandise and licensing opportunities, which is used to buy physical objects (new bases, vehicles, etc).
How will the system work?
It's going to be a simplified version of Mutants and Masterminds 3e, broken down to work better with the more streamlined nature of the game. I've got some notes, but I'm saving doing too much work on it until I've got enough interest. :)
[/ooc][/spoiler]
[ooc=Eschaton]
Reserved
[/ooc]
[ooc=Casus Belli]
Reserved
[/ooc]
Quote from: XathanI love play by post games because they allow for more flexibility as far as time commitment goes, and because one of my favorite times in roleplaying - ever - was playing in Steerpike's Underdeep game.
Aww, thanks! I still feel bad you never really got to play the Derro. Underdeep probably set my dissertation back a couple months but it was super fun while it lasted :P
Eschaton looks like a really cool idea. The weirdness of Judeo-Christian apocrypha is often untapped. Angels shouldn't be these guys (http://truthbook.com/images/gallery/Gustave_Dore_Angels_525.jpg), they should look like this (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8jmo41oDw1qz88jjo1_500.jpg), or this (http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/294/0/b/burning_throne_by_frosted_feathers-d5ijdhq.png) or this thing (http://40.media.tumblr.com/127b0613264169786c02cf53fd05d7db/tumblr_mq9suaVrv81ru27yso1_1280.jpg). Seraphim are six-winged men being perpetually immolated who constantly chant holy phrases, not pretty dudes in plate armour.
Who Will Save Us Now? could be interesting. I don't know if I could really commit, but I'm intrigued. How much book-keeping are you envisioning? Anything close to Underdeep?
The whole thing reminds me a bit of the whole Battle for the Cowl miniseries. If I were playing I would totally want to play an homage of the Bat Family grieving the loss of their leader. Either that or a Suicide Squad inspired group.
This looks pretty intriguing. I'm with steerpike on the whole concept of angels as frightening unearthly creatures. I can't think of too much to say since you've done a pretty solid job of explaining the whole thing. One thing though, how exactly does worldwide travel work? Is it crunchy or more fluff focused? Do you have to use super jets or are you free to craft your own fast travel method?
I would so be about Who Will Save Us Now it's ridiculous.
Quote from: Steerpike
Quote from: XathanI love play by post games because they allow for more flexibility as far as time commitment goes, and because one of my favorite times in roleplaying - ever - was playing in Steerpike's Underdeep game.
Aww, thanks! I still feel bad you never really got to play the Derro. Underdeep probably set my dissertation back a couple months but it was super fun while it lasted :P
Hahaha, I can imagine! It was a ton of fun.
QuoteEschaton looks like a really cool idea. The weirdness of Judeo-Christian apocrypha is often untapped. Angels shouldn't be these guys (http://truthbook.com/images/gallery/Gustave_Dore_Angels_525.jpg), they should look like this (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8jmo41oDw1qz88jjo1_500.jpg), or this (http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/294/0/b/burning_throne_by_frosted_feathers-d5ijdhq.png) or this thing (http://40.media.tumblr.com/127b0613264169786c02cf53fd05d7db/tumblr_mq9suaVrv81ru27yso1_1280.jpg). Seraphim are six-winged men being perpetually immolated who constantly chant holy phrases, not pretty dudes in plate armour.
That's what I have in mind for them! I deliberately used Halyonim and Shedim for angels and demons respectively to help get away from the classical "dude with wings" and "horned dude with tail" images so I can go full on old school nigh Eldritch Abomination style with them - crazy things that bear little resemblance to humans. Some will be able to take human form, of course, but even then they will be not-so-subtly off (Ie: A Seraphim in human form would still have eyes of flame from which utter their holy litany, while their mouths speak more directly with mortal beings)
QuoteWho Will Save Us Now? could be interesting. I don't know if I could really commit, but I'm intrigued. How much book-keeping are you envisioning? Anything close to Underdeep?
The whole thing reminds me a bit of the whole Battle for the Cowl miniseries. If I were playing I would totally want to play an homage of the Bat Family grieving the loss of their leader. Either that or a Suicide Squad inspired group.
I'm going for much, much lower book-keeping. You'll have to keep track of your base and your heroes aaaaand...that's about it. Since modern technology is a thing, movement will assume "by the shortest path" unless you specifically say otherwise in your orders, and even if you recruit more heroes it would take awhile to get to 5 or 6 to keep track of. New construction would finish within the week, too, to avoid keeping track of that. The only real bookkeeping you would have to worry about are A) What your base currently has (which would be included in the update) B) Where your heroes currently are if not at base (which would also be included in the update) and C) Anything you learned which...would be included in the update. :P
A Bat Family homage or Suicide Squad inspired group would both be completely viable. The former group would have a bit of a challenge ahead of them, lacking true superpowers...but then again, that's part of what makes the Bat Family so badass (or should I say...bat-ass?)
[spoiler]No. No I should not.[/spoiler]
Quote from: Nomadic
This looks pretty intriguing. I'm with steerpike on the whole concept of angels as frightening unearthly creatures. I can't think of too much to say since you've done a pretty solid job of explaining the whole thing. One thing though, how exactly does worldwide travel work? Is it crunchy or more fluff focused? Do you have to use super jets or are you free to craft your own fast travel method?
Just to be clear, Eschaton and Who Will Save Us Now? are two different things...although super heroes drawn from Judeo-Christian apocapha would be kinda absurd and awesome. :) (I got confused by your reply and wasn't sure if you thought they were the same thing. >.>)
Worldwide travel is much more fluff focused. "super jets" are just the catch all "Can go anywhere, but there is some travel time" method that hero teams will start out with - to give me the opportunity to have things interfere with your travel plans. Sub-orbital rockets or even teleporters would be viable options later, but to start off, just assume super-jet means "travels in atmosphere and moves fast enough to get pretty much anywhere on the globe and back within a week." And fairly fluffy - so if you want it to be a dragon you all ride (even if the dragon is actually part of your team) or a winged chariot or something, go for it!
Quote from: Superbright
I would so be about Who Will Save Us Now it's ridiculous.
Glad to hear it! That's one definite "I'm in," hoping to get more. But with the positive response so far, gonna start working on hammering out some of these rules some more, maybe get a proper thread started soon.
Quote from: XathanThe former group would have a bit of a challenge ahead of them, lacking true superpowers
I'd probably give them minor powers, and/or sufficient technology to compensate, but keep the whole "themed around X" aspect of the Bat Family (well, some of them) and have all them relate to the absent hero in some way (widow, son, ex-sidekick, etc).
Man, I'm super tempted. Would the fortnightly schedule be 100% required i.e. if you miss a week you're seriously "behind"?
Quote from: Steerpike
Quote from: XathanThe former group would have a bit of a challenge ahead of them, lacking true superpowers
I'd probably give them minor powers, and/or sufficient technology to compensate, but keep the whole "themed around X" aspect of the Bat Family (well, some of them) and have all them relate to the absent hero in some way (widow, son, ex-sidekick, etc).
Man, I'm super tempted. Would the fortnightly schedule be 100% required i.e. if you miss a week you're seriously "behind"?
Not at all. Like I said, I'm willing to adjust for players, and if for some reason you miss a check in and finalized orders, you're really going to just miss out on a chance to increase rep and stop the bad-guys - but since we're dealing with much smaller forces than you would be in Underdeep or a similar game, the fact that you don't recruit any new heroes or upgrade your base or gear will just mean you might have to hold back a bit before going up against major threats.
And the "theme team with minor powers and/or gadgets" would work perfectly and be all kinds of awesome.
Cool. I'll certainly follow the project if you go ahead with it, and might join in if I feel I can scrape together the time.
Quote from: Steerpike
Cool. I'll certainly follow the project if you go ahead with it, and might join in if I feel I can scrape together the time.
Decision is made: rules thread and discussion thread will go up soon. :)
And...they're up. More updates to come as time goes on. Going to remove Who Will Save Us Now? discussion from this thread to focus on Eschaton and Casus Belli.
Eschaton is the most appealing and interesting of these ideas for me personally. If it's a post-apocalyptic setting, then that begs the question of what the world was like before the war of the Elohim and the Halyonim, seeing as the game will be taking place in the ruins of that world. What sort of development level was the pre-war culture at, in terms of technology and infrastructure? Considering the influence, would it have been a world closely based on the ancient near and middle east, or are you transporting the themes and concepts to a different landscape and tech level? Part of me really likes the idea of the judeo-christian mystical fantasy being grafted wholesale onto a stereotypical crusty mad max spikes-and-leather stenchcore post-apocalyptic outback, but I expect that's not exactly what you had in mind :P
Quote from: Kindling
Eschaton is the most appealing and interesting of these ideas for me personally. If it's a post-apocalyptic setting, then that begs the question of what the world was like before the war of the Elohim and the Halyonim, seeing as the game will be taking place in the ruins of that world. What sort of development level was the pre-war culture at, in terms of technology and infrastructure? Considering the influence, would it have been a world closely based on the ancient near and middle east, or are you transporting the themes and concepts to a different landscape and tech level? Part of me really likes the idea of the judeo-christian mystical fantasy being grafted wholesale onto a stereotypical crusty mad max spikes-and-leather stenchcore post-apocalyptic outback, but I expect that's not exactly what you had in mind :P
Well, I was going to make it close to the ancient near and middle east, but that's because I hadn't considered the classic post apocalyptic Mad Max style outback overload with a Judeo-Christian fantasy, which is so cool I now really need to sit down and completely rethink the entire setting because holy god that mental image is awesome. :P
Hahaha, amazing. Or what about doing BOTH? Maybe a part of the apocalypse-event involved the mashing together of peoples from cultures of wildly differing development levels, so you can have your Samsons and Humunguses all running around the same crazily dangerous desert full of ruins - ruins of both oil refineries and ziggurats.
Quote from: XathanWell, I was going to make it close to the ancient near and middle east, but that's because I hadn't considered the classic post apocalyptic Mad Max style outback overload with a Judeo-Christian fantasy, which is so cool I now really need to sit down and completely rethink the entire setting because holy god that mental image is awesome.
I did a Biblical post-apocalypse game once set after the world ended in a quasi-cyberpunk near-future. It was a solo game and the PC was War, the rider from Revelations, though his steed was a souped up motorbike (I don't think either of us had read
Good Omens yet). There were a lot of vampires (spawn of Cain), cults, witches, and areas where a Danteesque Hell was seeping through into the world, so you'd be riding through Nevada and suddenly you'd be plunged into the Grove of Suicides or the frigid plains of Cocytus. Was kind of a blast. If we'd kept playing the plan was to eventually kill God and Satan both I think. It was all very
Preacher meets
Dark Tower.
Quote from: Xathan
Well, I was going to make it close to the ancient near and middle east, but that's because I hadn't considered the classic post apocalyptic Mad Max style outback overload with a Judeo-Christian fantasy, which is so cool I now really need to sit down and completely rethink the entire setting because holy god that mental image is awesome. :P
Go and read Apocalypse World (if you haven't already) while you're working on your Max-Max-themed madness - it is dripping with inspiration (and incidentally has a hella-cool system), and you will thank me for it.
Quote from: Kindling
Hahaha, amazing. Or what about doing BOTH? Maybe a part of the apocalypse-event involved the mashing together of peoples from cultures of wildly differing development levels, so you can have your Samsons and Humunguses all running around the same crazily dangerous desert full of ruins - ruins of both oil refineries and ziggurats.
That...that is all kinds of awesome. I think I have to do this thing. Or at least debate it. Part of the idea behind Eschaton was to go a bit more "classic low tech fantasy, on the edges of sword and sorcery" than I usually do, but man, that idea is so cool. Maybe do a "worlds collide" thing in a literal sense, where a dieselpunk world was slammed into Eschaton as part of the apocalypse. Of course, I'd need to find a world to collide....
*eye Casus Belli menacingly*
Quote from: Steerpike
I did a Biblical post-apocalypse game once set after the world ended in a quasi-cyberpunk near-future. It was a solo game and the PC was War, the rider from Revelations, though his steed was a souped up motorbike (I don't think either of us had read Good Omens yet). There were a lot of vampires (spawn of Cain), cults, witches, and areas where a Danteesque Hell was seeping through into the world, so you'd be riding through Nevada and suddenly you'd be plunged into the Grove of Suicides or the frigid plains of Cocytus. Was kind of a blast. If we'd kept playing the plan was to eventually kill God and Satan both I think. It was all very Preacher meets Dark Tower.
Is this posted somewhere? Because I want to read the setting notes from this so badly. It sounds like 18 different kinds of awesome!
Quote from: HippopotamusDundee
Go and read Apocalypse World (if you haven't already) while you're working on your Max-Max-themed madness - it is dripping with inspiration (and incidentally has a hella-cool system), and you will thank me for it.
I've heard a number of good things about Apocalypse World. No one has ever bothered to mentioned it was actually Mad-Max-esque. My friends obviously do not know me as well as I thought they did, because you just sold me on the system.
Xathan-
If you search "Angellic Creatures" in my Godsmack setting, I also had a little venture into the land of the Biblical Apocalyptic WWII... http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,68604.html (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,68604.html)
I was doing some idle thinking about Casus Belli today and came up with a couple of ideas for alternate nation-states if you ever decide to do anything with it in the future.
First, the reunification of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, and other parts of northern South America into the Neo-Bolivarian country of Gran Colombia. It's a dieselpunk setting and they're sitting on some of the world's largest petrochemical fields, so unification and mass military mobilization was key if they wanted to resist being inevitably re-colonized by a fuel-hungry foreign power as conflicts heated up. By they lacked the huge industrial base of Britain or the United States, so instead, they've invested heavily in "wet technologies" and much of their forces now consist of engineered organisms and biological hybrids enhanced with mechanical implants. Obviously, there's a lot of social tension between the military establishment and the Catholic Church about the armies of mutant cyborgs guarding their borders.
Second, I was originally thinking that China would've broken up by this point, but it'd be more interesting to see it resist Communist overthrow and persist as the Republic of China (and not just because I love their beautiful stupid five-color flag). Better leadership and assistance from whatever version of Germany exists in this world gave them the strength to repel Japanese imperialist aggression in World War II and then really set the Pacific ablaze when they counterattacked in World War III. With World War IV on the horizon, Republican China is a dominant cultural power and a military force to be reckoned with, but it's suffering deep internal divisions: its armies are commanded by regional commanders instead of a central government and the shared threat of war with the Soviets and/or Japanese might be the only thing staving of a military uprising.
The global situation seems perfect for the formation of one of my favorite tropes: pirate nations. In places like the Swiss Alps and the Hindu Kush, you have collectives of dispossessed rogues armed with salvaged or stolen military technology forming anarchic collectives to pillage and raid the skies above neighboring countries, cunningly weaving across national borders to avoid pursuers.
Various extra-orbital space installations launched before and during the Third World War were left abandoned by their home nations and were forced to band together for survival. The extreme pressures of space survival have forged them into an ultra-militaristic fascist polyglot culture of eugenically-modified mutants totally adapted for life in low-gravity, low-oxygen environments. On the rare instances they do make landfall (encounters that are always hostile), they are restricted to bulky, mechanized suits that can support their elongated frames and prevent oxygen poisoning.