The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: SilvercatMoonpaw

Quote from: Crippled CrowI'm not sure the association with the elements fit the "feel" of your setting. Seems kind of misplaced.

They are associated with elements by a religion, not by actually being associated with those elements in any way.  It's like fire being one of the four classical elements despite the fact that fire is actually a combination effect.

i think fire should be chaos and ice order, because fire is unpredictable, while ice is solid. :)

Quote from: Scholari think fire should be chaos and ice order, because fire is unpredictable, while ice is solid. :)

This isn't about which side is order and which is chaos.  This is about what's condusive (or at least percieved that way) to life vs. what isn't.

I changed my summaries of Summon and Alter to be more interesting and less cumbersome.  Please let me know what you think.

Sorry, it sounds like you understood telekinesis as a reference to a spell. With telekinesis i was just referring to the effect where you move something without touching it which could be possible with scientific methods. I wasn't trying to degrade your science system to simple D&D magic.

[blockquote=SilvercatMoonpaw]Through it one can see the other side clearly, though if there are differences in lighting conditions the portal greatly enhances them.[/blockquote]Wait, so if there's a bright light on one side of a portal and a dark cave on the other side then the light from the bright side won't spill through?  That suggests that light can't penetrate the portal which would mean that you wouldn't be able to see anything on the other side (because no light can be reflected from it).

Can I throw a ball through the portal, and will it travel through the portal as if traveling through normal space?  If I stand half in and half out of the portal with different lighting conditions will I be half illuminated?  What if I built a tunnel through the portal, like a pipe, and put a big light at one end.  Does the light abruptly "stop" where the division between worlds/planets occurs?

I realize this is a cool visual effect but it doesn't make much sense as explained.  Perhaps this is a case where our differing insistences on "realism" part company but this aspect of the portals makes no sense to me, at least if I'm interpreting it correctly.

Quote from: Steerpike[blockquote=SilvercatMoonpaw]Through it one can see the other side clearly, though if there are differences in lighting conditions the portal greatly enhances them.[/blockquote]Wait, so if there's a bright light on one side of a portal and a dark cave on the other side then the light from the bright side won't spill through?  That suggests that light can't penetrate the portal which would mean that you wouldn't be able to see anything on the other side (because no light can be reflected from it).

Can I throw a ball through the portal, and will it travel through the portal as if traveling through normal space?  If I stand half in and half out of the portal with different lighting conditions will I be half illuminated?  What if I built a tunnel through the portal, like a pipe, and put a big light at one end.  Does the light abruptly "stop" where the division between worlds/planets occurs?

I realize this is a cool visual effect but it doesn't make much sense as explained.  Perhaps this is a case where our differing insistences on "realism" part company but this aspect of the portals makes no sense to me, at least if I'm interpreting it correctly.

He said enhanced so I believe he means that if the other side is brighter than the portal is really bright. If it is dark then not so much.

Quote from: NomadicHe said enhanced so I believe he means that if the other side is brighter than the portal is really bright. If it is dark then not so much.

That's right.  Sorry, probably bad wording.

Quote from: Crippled CrowSorry, it sounds like you understood telekinesis as a reference to a spell. With telekinesis i was just referring to the effect where you move something without touching it which could be possible with scientific methods. I wasn't trying to degrade your science system to simple D&D magic.

It's cool.  I figured out how to make it sound reasonably scientific.  :D

Well this setting is coming along to the point at which I'd better actually start building something rather than posting random junk.  So I'm going to switch to my note thread, but before I leave you I thought I'd give you some of the campaign ideas I've thought up:

Premise: A mild-mannered city rests on the site of an imprisioned magical entity.  This entity causes periodic outbreaks of random magical stuff and occasionally tries to get out often with the help of some power-hungry nut.  The heroes must protect the city.
Twist: The entity's existence isn't a secret, the entire city knows.  They treat the magical outbreaks like infestations of particularly annoying vermin.  The city even has a special division assigned to neutralize the messes and stop anyone who'd let the entity out.  For one thing it's a tourist attraction!

Premise: Adventures at a magic school.
Twist: It's a school for Primal, the magic that's all about screaming and waling on people with your fists.

Premise: Cold war espionage in a border region.
Twist: Both spy agencies are tired of the whole affair and instead have joined forces to protect the entire region against greater threats while simultaneously fooling their bosses.

Premise: Fantasy adventure is a region of warm oceans, sweltering jungles, and baking deserts.
Twist: These environments exist in forgotten corners of one city suburb.  All the PCs are teenagers who live in the neighborhood.
Title: Forgotten Corners (no, this is name is not a rip-off of "Forgotten Realms")
Setting: In a seemingly normal city outskirt/suburb the places where hardly anyone goes have become a unified fantasy realm microcosm.
Adventure motivation: Elements of the fantasy realm get out or threaten to get out.  Elements of the outside world threaten to get in.
What the PCs do: Keep everything in order.

Premise: The place is Nexus City, a city unique in the multiverse in that via portals it extends over 9 different planets.

And some setting mythology:
[ic]There is a legend told about the first Wanderers.  In these legends they're call Fox and Cat.  Oh, that don't mean they're anything like any fox and cat you know.  No, these are just names People gave them because People can't think without names.

So this is a legend about them......well, it's actually a myth, and while it's about them being the first Wanderers it's also about them creating the reason to Wander in the first place.  These kinds'a stories are complicated like that.

So in the beginning Fox and Cat were doing......whatever it is that was before there could be Wandering.  And so while they were doing this they came upon a group of People.  These People, they were searching for knowledge, wisdom, meaning, all those things that People need to find, I guess because they lost them sometime.  And when Fox and Cat came upon the People the People knew who they were, and said "Great Fox and Great Cat, who know many things, will you please lead us to find knowledge, wisdom, meaning, ourselves?"

And Fox and Cat, well, they exchanged a glance, and then said "Follow our pawprints, and you shall find yourselves.  For your selves are quite near."

And they were away.  And the People followed, and tracked them by their pawprints, not matter how far they were from one to another.  See, Fox and Cat have long strides, and to find their pawprints you have to search quite long.  But the people kept at it, and they kept going and going, farther and farther.  Sometimes one of the People would call out "Is it much farther?"  And Fox and Cat would call back "No, no, your selves are very near."  And the People kept following.

Even today, they are still following.

Eh, what's that you ask?  "Are they the Wanderers?"  No, remember what I said?  Fox and Cat, they were the first Wanderers.  Not the People who followed.

A Wanderer is not someone who follows and seeks.  A Wanderer is someone who goes first and calls back "What you seek is very near."[/ic]
[ic]Some people call it the "Out-there".  The Wanderers call it the "Out-here".[/ic]