The Campaign Builder's Guild

hmm... I will have to explain my idea of functional anarchy. But that means I have to dig out the Shadowrun Germany book and read up on Berlin to refresh my philosophy. Given a few days I will post the theory of functional anarchy applied to Venetia in Darkstone, then update the robotics section and maybe start on some new stuff soon.

new stuff, yay!  I oughtta re-read this and comment again.  Glad to have you back!

Automatons and Logic engines have been discussed, and the overall idea is limitation. Logic engines are incredibly powerful but are also extremely-expensive gigantic-machines requiring much care and maitenence. Automatons come in every size and shape and can serve almost every purpose, but are limited in their ability to understand the world around them and to carry out their orders. There is one example of nearly limitless automation in Darkstone, however. Sentient machines, humanoid automatons without a logic engine, but rather some secret artificial brain that gives them thoughts and life. Only one company in the world, The Turing Foundation, can make them and they take great care to keep it that way. They are difficult to make, and there are not so many in the world as an assembly-line world might expect, but they are out there. Whether they are serving the will of the Foundation, wandering experiments, or emancipated servants, they are alive, they are unique, and they are capable of feats that only a machine can accomplish.

The Power of Crystals
[spoiler]The Turing Foundation was a low-end high-risk technological company. They researched, developed, and manufactured humanoid automatons and prosthetic modifications. The focus always remained on research, however. Most of the profits went right into elaborate experiments and expeditions to discover new ways to simulate life. The dedication paid off when a Turing expedition into the Icy Waste discoverd an electrically charged liquid that constantly shifted between a solid crystaline and liquid state.  The electric charge generated by the substance was tremendous, more than a small darkstone generator. The patterns and designs created by the constantly shifting crystals were beautiful beyond words. Scientist experimented with this strange liquid crystal substance as a power source. Through years of experimentation, they eventually found that the crystals responded to external stimuli, reforming into completely unique patterns, responding to every stimulus. They even responded to emotional and social stimuli; The Crystaline Neurological Matrix was born. Enough of this rare liquid crystal is encapsuled in a highly-complex (and extremely expensive) support network of miniature logic engines and other strange machines to produce an end result of a functioning artificial sentient mind. Once bombarded with enough stimuli, once wired into enough sensory input systems and enough expressive output systems (i.e. camera eyes, phone ears, speaker mouth, mechanical hands) the Matrix becomes self-aware.[/spoiler]

Tin Men... coming soon

For the basis of functional anarchy (and how you can get in on it), check out http://aforanarchy.org/. Some (or all, I'm not sure) of these ideas will be applied to Venetia.

"Fool! To blame this 'Outsider' is complete idiocy! Do not suppose that you know anything of the horrors and wonders that compose this which you so ignorantly refer to as "the Outsider". You know nothing of horror or wonder! Your eyes have never seen what I have seen, nor will they ever after I have said my peace.

You call them "the Outsider", and yes, they have come from a place beyond this one. More than that they have come from beyond your ken, beyond our mortal laws and reason. You do not understand, but it was they who made our laws, one and all, including the laws we have yet to discern from this spinning tempest of entropy and life. Laws and reason are nothing compared to their power and their motive, the things which direct their conflict, their strife.

You pitiful wretch! I do not refer to what happened to you. Your people are but game peices, meaningless fragile toys. The true war is fought amongst them. To call what you have seen "the Outsider" proves your inability to comprehend what they are. They are not one single force, set upon this earth to torment you and your wretched kin. They do not act in accord to topple your leaders and destroy your world. They do this all in contest, in game with each other.

They came from the ineffable darkness, the uncontrolled miasma of life, heat, energy, creation an destruction that was the beginning. They were made by one, and one was made by none, and all strive to please the One. The One brings all that is good in this life, and in all others, and it is in the name of the One that I kill you now."

-Overheard by custodial staff at Avalonian Tonicamisk University, from the late Professor Doctor Elinwyd's study

Dr. Elinwyd was an elven survivor of his peoples horrible civil war, and a professor of ancient history at the prestigious Tonicamisk University in Addigond, Avalon. He was found dead, stabbed  between the eyes with a sharpened lead pipe, when local constables inspected his room, minutes after the staff had informed campus authorites of a "dreadful dialogue" occuring from the doctors room. The speaker has never been identified.

"I heard 'em roarin down the alleys an streets from a block away. My mum always nagged on how it's a crude and decadent machine, a foolish bastardization of what my da used as a constable, but I don't care. I think those chaps on their big crushers are the toughest geezers around."

"'Crusher' is the common street slang applied to a super-heavy velocipede, also known as a 'street sweeper' amongst the earlier constabulary who first implemented the vehicles as a law-enforcement tool. Normal electric velocipedes have air-inflated rubber tires, and are commonly used to transverse countryside. Steam-powered velocipedes are much much heavier and far more powerful than their battery-charged counterparts, due to the massive darkstone-fueled engine that provides a tremendous amount of power. The tremendous weight of such a machine requires a durable locomotive surface, meaning a tread or solid wheel similar to a tank. The incredible weight combined with the super-tough wheels gives the vehicle its most dangerous quality and its colloquial name; its tendancy to 'crush' anything which comes underfoot. This makes it almost entirely unsuitable for off-road navigation (except for the rare tank-treaded version, which suffers from mobility and stability problems), and makes it a menace on the streets. It is common sport among the thug operators of such machines to run down and crush flat anyone who doesn't flee with haste from the horrible cacaphonus racket which the rolling, crushing, pounding sounds the machine makes."

I decided to add Victorian steampunk urban motorcycle gangs to Darkstone. Sky pirates just weren't enough.

I'll provide some drawings of a huge steam-powered uber-cycle soon. Think like a big-ass motorcycle combined with a train locomotive combined with a tank.

This was entirely inspired by my job, where I drive a 3000 pound little forklift that goes fast and makes a great racket. Driving around in that thing makes my job fun.

I'm starting to question the base fantasy aspects of the game, especially the elven civil war. I might eschew these things for a more alternate history steampunk style game, with fantastic and magical elements to make the science fiction and political intrigue a little more exciting. Otherwise, just toning down the classic tolkein-esque fantasy aspects. Prolly leave dwarves the way they are, make elves a bit more alien and strange (less ideal humans and more strange immortal beings), and generally remove anything that's too close to lord of the rings.

Basically, I'm thinking of making Tadjinar either a) a different place with a paralell to something in the real world (perhaps india or china somesuch not yet represented in my game) or b) getting rid of it altogether. But this would elminate one of the cooler aspects, Talos.

I think I'm just spinning my wheels here, being indecisive about whether I want Dragon lords and dark elves or I don't want Dragon lords and dark elves.

Okay, so I'm sure of it now; I hate Tolkein. Nowadays, I find the whole "genre" boring and overdone. IMPORTANT NOTICE: I recognize all art and forms of creativity have some merit, and are to be judged on a solely subjective basis. I simply don't dig it anymore.

So I've decided to completely obliterate elves, orcs, gnomes, haflings, dragons, wizards, tree-men, and anything else I find to be "too tolkien". I will be keeping dwarves, based on their own merits. Maybe I'll read more up on Snow White's story. Goblins will be mean little green skinned monsters. Trolls will be big lugs with tusks and horns and yorkshire accents. Both will stand in place of half-orcs in previous mentions thereof. A twisted, strange, and more fairy-like version of elves, "the Shide" will stand in the place of elves in all previous mentions thereof. We're talking evil little black hearted bastards with butterfly and bat wings and antennae and stuff. No underwear models with swords here.

I've decided to take more from other sources, like Grimm's Fairy tales. I want a darker, more horrific and gothic feel for Darkstone, and tolkein just won't do it. So witches are a plenty, apparently, and they eat children as a rule. I'm also looking for a more pulpy and adventurous feel for certain locations and adventures, so I'm also going to target classic movie monsters like "The Wolf Man", "Frankenstein", "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", "Dracula", etc. for plagarism. Especially Frankenstein; The themes of reanimation and resurrection will be strong in Darkstone. Lycanthropy (real badass lycanthropy, with a combination of that uncontrolled lunar killing spree and the ability to draw upon a monstrous form when necessary) will also be big.

I'd also like to incorporate exotic mythology, like grecian Minotaurs, Egyptian death-worship, Aztec blood sacrafice, African folklore, and "Arabian Nights". I need to do alot of reading and see what I come up with.

All I know is that I'm running full-tilt-boogie away from Tolkien and Dungeons-and-Dragons cliches and gimicks. No elves allowed. (Shide welcome) All-in-all, more horrific and weird. Adventure and heroism are still big, but these heros dont win the day with magic swords. They must win with their wits (or a sufficiently destructive amount of explosives).