The Campaign Builder's Guild

Finland should at the very least have crazy tree-snipers (that is they snipe from trees, they don't shoot trees): http://www.cracked.com/article_17019_5-real-life-soldiers-who-make-rambo-look-like-pussy.html
Perhaps something from the Kalevala?

I'm vaguely curious what Canada could get.  Wendigos and armies of First Nations ghost-warriors?  Superheroes like the US?

Thank you all for the comments.
But who is General Winter?
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Everything in this setting needs to be related somehow to religion or Gods. I would like to not stray too far afield from the 'concept' of the world, so I will see what I can add.

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The 'concept' of the setting is less about 'crazy creatures' or powers than a war between Godly creatures and ideals- sort of a Good-Neutral-Evil clash at the end of the world.

Evil Creatures are based in Nazi Germany, Scandanavia, and Japan

Neutral Creatures are based in Eastern Europe, Britain, Scandanavia, the Caribbean

Good Creatures are based in India, China, America, Southern Europe.

Atheist Creations are based in Russia, America, and China
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I have considered adding some indigenous African and Mayan religious figures; and perhaps I will add something for Canada's indigenous religions as well.

One thing I am trying to avoid is making this a Modern-Bureaucracy setting. I would like to try to make it a Modern-Adventure setting if at all possible. But there is so much temptation to clearly detail all the historical dramatis personae.

I think the key to keeping this interesting is to keep it focused.

Updated Japan, Scandanavia, and (perhaps controversially) added Canada.

I believe I took a very different take on Canada than was expected.


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If you were adventuring, what class would you choose?
If I was axis, I believe I would choose the Japanese Oni-Master.
If I was allied, It is a very difficult decision, but I might give the Chinese Hundred Faces a try. (See Video above).
For neutral... It would have to be the Iranian Flamewalker.

"General Winter" is said to be worst enemy of those who invade Russia. I'm sure you can figure out the rest :D Obviously not mythical. However, there is the Old Man Winter of Russian folklore...

Do you have any ideas for Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands?

Maybe you should consider having some areas be dead zones/war zones so as to ensure you keep focus on the important parts. Or maybe make some peoples non-playable and possessed or monstrous? Of course, one would have to be careful not to offend anyone with that approach...
And that Master of Disguises video... crazy. It changes in a flash.
For Aztecs/mexicans you could add couatls.

>>Maybe you should consider having some areas be dead zones/war zones so as to ensure you keep focus on the important parts.

Hmm... That may work.
I am thinking, however, of taking the stance I sort of took with Canada and America. There is strangeness lurking in Canada, but it is downplayed. the main focus is on the "demons" v. the "angels" and the chaos in Scandanavia/Britain and China/Southeast Asia.

If someone wants to play in India, I give them the tools, but hope that does not overshadow anything else. The real changes are in the direct confrontations (East Asia, Europe, Northern Africa... which I should get around to covering hmm...)

Re: Mexico... It will be a trick to integrate such a rich historical place into the setting without overshadowing other places, but I will consider that.

Once again to everyone, though, I ask the question- if you had to choose a character class in this world- which one would you choose (and why?) The answers will give me some guidance on what works and what is boring/bland/does not work.

Thanks!

Ghostman, I am giving those areas some thought.

As for General Winter. It seems to be an interesting idea, but for now I will pass on it. Russia is a very "atheist" country- with few manifestations. Although perhaps they should have a few elemental manifestations... We will see how things develop. :) Perhaps no General Winter will emerge, but perhaps some mastery over the elements may...

I would probably pick Gypsy Witch or Golem-crafter. That said, Demoniac sounds pretty nice and sounds like the flamewalker could be interesting (just not much info on them...)
generally, in a game like this, the more bizarre and non-standard the better.
So the ones i would least like to play would be those from the vatican faction and the british faction.

Thank you for your comments on the classes.

You inspired me to explain why it is "cool" to play the Southern Europeans; and caused me to brainstorm a little more.

[ooc=Sister Hellene]Sister Hellene and the Succubus

Sweat dripped from the Sister's brow and dirt covered her face. She had lain, face-down in the dirt, immobile for over two hours, but at last the Nazi troop column had passed. Only three of the men, Lieutenants marching out from the column, had stepped on her. Next time she would have to hide farther from the road. Slowly, she turned her head and looked down the road. She listened. There was no sound of boots, no sound of songs, no sound of cursing, nothing but the chirping of birds. She rose, and brushed the dirt from her face with a quick wipe. She looked down the Rue Carascoa, where the soldiers had gone, and sighed. Then she headed onto a small forest path, towards her cottage. Hide

When she neared her house, she saw someone peering into her windows. She tensed, and halted, then noticed that the peeping-tom was a tiny child, about eight years of age. Still, she was concerned; some of the little boys had become tattle-tales for the NaziDemons- who were always sure to provide the sweetest candies.

She sucked in her breath and prayed to God, asking the intervention of him through his Angels and Saints to tell her the intentions of the little one, were they good or were they ill-- and if they were ill, were they selfish or were they demonic, were they encouraged by others, or were they of the child's own decision, did they wish her harm or good or nothing, did they wish her property harm or ill or nothing. She prayed, and God answered her prayer.  Detect Intentions

She saw the child again in new light, and she knew the child was scared, he had come searching for her; he had escaped from a school-yard, and he was afraid.

She went over to the child and greeted him.

* * *

The Child was Jewish, his name was Lester. The Sister took him in and gave him tea, then disposed of the bag in a large battered wooden can that sat in the room's corner, next to a dresser. The child told her his story; of how the Headmaster was rounding up all the Jewish children to hand over to the Demons.

* * *

Sister  Hellene heard a knock at the door. She took the child by his hand and placed a finger over her mouth. "Hush." She urged. "Wait in this garbage pail. Do not move."

Once the child had climbed into the pail, the sister placed a cover on top of it, and mouthed a short prayer to Saint Anthony, to hide the child and to keep him silent. The prayer was answered and the child's every movement, every creak, was muffled. Muffle Noise.

The Sister went to the door and opened it. At the door was a winged woman, dressed in leather and wearing black, spiked gauntlets. The woman stared into the Sister's eyes, then smiled a sardonic smile. "You love Children, no?" The woman asked.

The Sister blinked. "Of course."

"Ah." The woman nodded, and pushed past the Sister. Behind her stood two tall, blond SS guards.

* * * (Fill in later)

The woman, frowning, left the home. "I heard the conversation, woman-" She threatened, placing a long black-painted fingernail at the Sister's throat. "You are hiding people."

The sister looked back to the room; the table had been moved, and floorboards upended, but the child had not been found.
[/ooc]

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2 New Classes Added:
Indian- Anthropomorph
Jewish- Gadgeteer

Quote from: Light DragonAs for General Winter. It seems to be an interesting idea, but for now I will pass on it. Russia is a very "atheist" country- with few manifestations. Although perhaps they should have a few elemental manifestations... We will see how things develop. :) Perhaps no General Winter will emerge, but perhaps some mastery over the elements may...

I could easily see the manifestations having nothing to do with the Russians at all--they're an atheist country, they focus on the power of the mind...and they suddenly discover that they were wrong about all those myths being false.  It could add an interesting dynamic; the Russians might need to form tentative truces with the manifestations, not knowing whether they're really allies at all, or they might find that the manifestations resent their nonbelief and ally with the Russians' enemies, fighting against Russia from the inside in hopes that a conquering force would respect them more.

Russia updated with

-Elementalists
-Ghosts

-A discussion on the strange elemental forces moving in Siberia.

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Pair of Dice-
Thank you for the comments. I think I might add something similar to general winter, as a presence lurking in the background; I also decided to play up the ghostly and elemental aspects of russia. I think though that I am probably going to leave the Gogol-creatures and the traditional Russian faeries and sprites out of the setting.

Scandanavia, Ireland, and Transylvania are fairly saturated with those sort of creatures... I really want Russia to be something different

I noticed "opiates" on a list of Asian demons - a personifications of addiction/opium trade?

Enjoyed Sister Hellene.  Nazi Succubus is a whole new level of fetish.

Does Godsmack exist in an alternate history before WWII or is it indistinguishable from real history up until WWII?  Hitler's pact and Stalin's Mind-powers seem to arise independently, but other manifestations (such as the sudden ability of Catholic prayer to function in a weay it didn't use to - practical miracles) seem to have arisen independelty of research.  Is there any overaching reason or source for the sudden influx of strangeness, or is it going to be steadfastly vague, interpreted differently according to one's perspective/culture?

Note to self: Respond to Steerpike in this thread

Quote from: SPDoes Godsmack exist in an alternate history before WWII or is it indistinguishable from real history up until WWII? Hitler's pact and Stalin's Mind-powers seem to arise independently, but other manifestations (such as the sudden ability of Catholic prayer to function in a weay it didn't use to - practical miracles) seem to have arisen independelty of research. Is there any overaching reason or source for the sudden influx of strangeness, or is it going to be steadfastly vague, interpreted differently according to one's perspective/culture?

1. Timeline[/b]
-GodSmack!'s timeline is mostly indistinguishable from real history until World War II with slight differences that began to diverge just before WorldWar I. Most of the changes/tweaks for now deal with Russia. The differences generally relate to Nikolai Tesla, Rasputin and some technology that popped up a bit earlier, or evolved a bit differently in this game than it did in real life. The rationale for these changes are to better justify the Soviets' success with psionics (whereas their real world experience with it generally failed.)

2. Miracles
-Miracles, as will be demonstrated, have occurred throughout history in GodSmack! in many different societies. Basically any society that has ancient myths will have had miracles granted to it.

3. Gods
-The Judeo-Christian God does not play a particular role in the setting; but different types of angels, like different types of demons/devils do play a role. (as might aliens in Canada !)

4. Why All These Things Are Here
-What seems to have happened, and which I should probably reveal more elegantly, is that demons came first with their pact.  Then all hell literally broke loose. The angels certainly could not allow demons to control the world, so they became more involved. Angels were the second core concept of the world when I imagined it. The angels- just like the different Christian hierarchical groups are intended to be anything but bland.

-The reason behind the appearance of the other oddities is more left open to the GM and players to discover. Below is my conception:

5. The World's Concept
-The original concept was to limit the world between a struggle of angels/demons/technology (US/RUSSIA). Thus, that is why I did not cover special details for the british isles or scandinavia and why I was worried about losing control of the setting. The angellic influences were reflected in Persia and in China as well as in Europe; albeit in very different ways.

-Transylvania is sort of the realm of "mad demons" so it fits into the structure. and Scandinavia has been slotted into the structure with Loki contrasted with the Einhenjir. Britain and Canada, however, fall out of the structure a bit. To pigeonhole them, I conceive Britain as the region of "mad angels". The faeries and gnomes are distorted angels that have wandered into the world and are just so "alien" that it is difficult to deal with them.

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Note2: Have resistance movements in Germany and in Japan against the Demons.

Note3: Better explain in-depth the Angellic Alliance in Europe.

Steerpike... Thank you again for the comments; Here's the opiates;

Opiates - The nightmares come with withdrawal. The Opiates take the form of torrid lovers who drain strength and health from their partners. But the partners feel quite happy after joining the opiates... and addicted. The Opiates leave after one melding, and then their partners are left longing and pining. Their hearts beat faster every day, and they see psychadellic colors and visions everywhere. Friends seem to be giant cockroaches, precipes look to have glass bridges built across them, and the world is constantly topsy-turvy, upside down and spinning. Those touched by Opiates often rage against the world as they search for their vampiric lovers. Unless an intervention is carefully coached, those touched do not live long.