Dynama: World of Swing n' Sorcery Take 3 (or is it four?)

[LoA]

Hey everyone!

This is take three or four on this setting.

For those of you who weren't there, the first original homebrew world I made was a dieselpunk Dnd world. Not even kidding. However it went into all kinds of directions. Technology vs. magic, straight magitek, big huge world, small continent. It became as twisted as a pretzel doing yoga, and I eventually burned myself out, and the original is now lost to the back logs of these forums.

But now I have a firm direction! You see I did some deep introspection about what I want, and really there's one genre of scifi I absolutely love, and that's Alternate History. Love the stuff! Can't get enough of it, and what should I happen upon, but a copy of Shadowrun? A futuristic world where magic all of a sudden came back into being, and races suddenly appeared, all while being set in a dystopian earth where the entire world fell to crap?

And of course I had my muse. Make an alternate history world where magical planes made connections to our world, and where magical beings came back into existence in the 19th century, and now it's the early 20th century? Yeah that could work.

Yeah I know I have all of the focus and determined drive of a squirrel that just burned through caffiene, but I really like this direction! So please, feel free to share your thoughts, and feelings while I work on the first draft and post it later.

[Seraph]

Make an alternate history world where magical planes made connections to our world, and where magical beings came back into existence in the 19th century, and now it's the early 20th century?

If this stuff came into the world during the 19th century it seems like it could be cool to place the blame on some of the Victorian magical societies, like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, or perhaps something older like the Freemasons or the Rosicrucians.  Or you could say it was Illuminati (always been questionable whether they exist or not).  Maybe in this setting Aleister Crowley is an actual demon they summoned up instead of just a kook who likes being called "the wickedest man alive."  Maybe have something similar of Rasputin.  The guy was poisoned, stabbed, beaten, shot, and drowned in a river before he actually died. Gotta be SOMETHING supernatural at work there.

[LoA]

Make an alternate history world where magical planes made connections to our world, and where magical beings came back into existence in the 19th century, and now it's the early 20th century?

If this stuff came into the world during the 19th century it seems like it could be cool to place the blame on some of the Victorian magical societies, like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, or perhaps something older like the Freemasons or the Rosicrucians.  Or you could say it was Illuminati (always been questionable whether they exist or not).  Maybe in this setting Aleister Crowley is an actual demon they summoned up instead of just a kook who likes being called "the wickedest man alive."  Maybe have something similar of Rasputin.  The guy was poisoned, stabbed, beaten, shot, and drowned in a river before he actually died. Gotta be SOMETHING supernatural at work there.

Going a bit more light hearted than that, but I do appreciate the input. I will say that certain cults will become superpowered after the "Dynama Enigma" though.

[Seraph]

Well, those things don't have to drag down the whole tone of the world.  Have you seen Anastasia?  Rasputin was some crazy mixed-up thing held together with evil magic, but that movie was still light-hearted and sweet and Disneyesque (though not everyone realizes it was not actually a Disney movie).  And his bat-servant Bartok was ADORABLE.

[LoA]

Well, those things don't have to drag down the whole tone of the world.  Have you seen Anastasia?  Rasputin was some crazy mixed-up thing held together with evil magic, but that movie was still light-hearted and sweet and Disneyesque (though not everyone realizes it was not actually a Disney movie).  And his bat-servant Bartok was ADORABLE.

I love Anastasia! I'm a major animation buff, and I have to say I actually like Anastasia better than some disney princess movies.

[Humabout]

How obviously is magic back at work in the world?  Are talking about a bunch of underground societies and countercultures seeping through from the Nevernever or full-on D&D in 20th century Earth?  Either could have its appeal and still be lighthearted, but I think the prevalence/recognition of magic's existence will play a large part in shaping the setting.

[LoA]

How obviously is magic back at work in the world?  Are talking about a bunch of underground societies and countercultures seeping through from the Nevernever or full-on D&D in 20th century Earth?  Either could have its appeal and still be lighthearted, but I think the prevalence/recognition of magic's existence will play a large part in shaping the setting.

Will with a dragon taking absolute control of the communist party in russia, the newly elected president of the united states being a mythological creature that I have yet to decide what it will be, and Germany ruled by a giant demonic falcon, i'd say it's pretty prevelant.

So yeah full on dnd in the 20th century is pretty much what I had in mind.

[Humabout]

Ok, awesome!  Germany reminds me of Goodbye Blue Skies!

So what sort of ideas/themes are you looking to incorporate?

[LoA]

Ok, awesome!  Germany reminds me of Goodbye Blue Skies!

So what sort of ideas/themes are you looking to incorporate?

Love that video!

So here are some of the big ideas.

Speciesm: I want America to be in the midst of a paradigm shift. Speciesm has been going on since the end of the Civil War. The Klan was wiped out by dragons because they killed a hatchling and now it's a conflict between Human Supremacists and pretty much all of the other fantasy races which so far consist of Kobolds, Unicorns (yes really), and other such creatures although they don't always get along with eachother either. The first non-human was elected to the presidency and no one knows what's going to happen next.

Industrialized Magic: Nazism has gained power in Germany, and are rapidly getting stronger due to their dabblings in paganism and the occult, and now they have an extreme amount of magical power. Britain's navy was defanged after WW1 and now they desperately seek new alternatives as Germany is growing in power. So far they have been able to employ sea serpents and other monsters to help keep the Nazi threat at bay so far. America has it's own magicians sure, but technology still has the upper hand in the States. Still the American magicians are probably the most inventive magic users in the world.

[Humabout]

Speciesm:
Are there more humans than other races or vice versa?
What do the humans have at their disposal to defeat the other races?
What do the other races have to defeat the humans?
Are you seriously telling me that a Flak Gun or even a simple Browning M2 Machine Gun can't shred a dragon?  How would they survive?
For that matter, how do the newly present races not get torn to bits by the world's militaries?  They are lacking infrastructure, manufacturing capabilities, etc.

Inudstrialized Magic:
Yay Thule!
Is Germany inventing rockets?
Is Brittain?
What about air forces?
How are Americans blending magic and technology?

Other Questions:
How does magic and technology blend?

[LoA]

Speciesm:
Are there more humans than other races or vice versa?
What do the humans have at their disposal to defeat the other races?
What do the other races have to defeat the humans?
Are you seriously telling me that a Flak Gun or even a simple Browning M2 Machine Gun can't shred a dragon?  How would they survive?
For that matter, how do the newly present races not get torn to bits by the world's militaries?  They are lacking infrastructure, manufacturing capabilities, etc.

Inudstrialized Magic:
Yay Thule!
Is Germany inventing rockets?
Is Brittain?
What about air forces?
How are Americans blending magic and technology?

Other Questions:
How does magic and technology blend?

Ok to take this in order:
Speciesm
1. Well there are more humans, but the races do have unique abilities and a far greater aptitude for magic. Humans have the lowest magician per capita rate amongst all of the other "races".
2./3. At the moment nothing, and the same goes for the other side. Humans don't have that many advantages over any of the other races. And really all of the other races still have a tendency to bicker with one another to really unite against humanity.
4. Dragons have an extremely powerful anatomy. It takes alot just to shout down a regular aircraft fighter, and dragons are probably just as well armored, plus the fact that dragons don't explode, and can heal their wounds, and are much bigger. In theory though you could imbue a gun with magical properties to hurt dragons. The best weapons however are heavy shell cannons, like the kind you see on navy ships, or better yet other dragons.
5. Once again, magic was far more prevelant with all of the other races, and were able to hold their own. In the United States, many magical creatures sided with the union, and in return were recognized citizens by Lincoln at the same time the blacks were set free. Not everyone is happy about this, but ultimately nonhuman sentients do technically have equal rights as normal humans in the united states.

Industrialized Magic
1. Yaaayyyy
2. One of the things that gives the nazis the edge is there embracing of magic, and they are currently trying to imbue there technology with enchantments (zeppelins, bombers, submarines etc). So yeah rockets are probably under development.
3. Britain is frantically trying to re-arm itself by any means necessary. If they can build something they will.
4. Air forces are a tricky one. Planes were used in WW1. However after the communists took Russia with the aid of a dragon, everyone became a little paranoid about how effective airplanes would be with dragons. However there are dogfighters who specialize in dragon combat who are quite effective.
5. Enchantment endeavors in the united states are entrepreneurial efforts. America has a strong Christian foundation and so magic isn't exactly popular, however there are some things that have managed to take hold in the states but they tend to be knick knackish and kind of expensive. However when Prohibition passed and no one was selling booze anymore, many people actually turned to magical elixirs to generate similar effects since they weren't technically illegal. It also had side effects though and many "Lixours" have been known to imbue people with magical powers.

Other Stuff
1. It's actually not that different from imbuing a sword with magical effects. It tends to vary though and it can actually get pretty creative what some people have done to enhance machinery with magic.

[LoA]

Hey guys! I've decided to rename and reuse this thread as I see fit to talk about certain aspects of my setting. So here's the rub.

I've been trying to brainstorm forms of magic in this setting. I've decided to use Artifice (Eberron), and I think I'm going to reflavor psionics to be more fantasy like. But I did come up with another form of magic.

Lixour: Lixour (sometimes known as Magahol) is basically magical booze that can emulate the effects of being drunk. This became extremely popular in America after the prohibition act was passed. It was soon discovered that by coupling it with other types of elixers you could cast magical effects like fireballs, and freeze blasts and on and on.

The basic idea came from Bioshock, and I've been wanting to use something like this for a long time. However I'm not sure how to make this work Mechanics wise. I really like the idea of having "magaholics" that can cast powerful spells at the cost of taking constitution damage for instance.

[Xathan]

Lixour: Lixour (sometimes known as Magahol) is basically magical booze that can emulate the effects of being drunk. This became extremely popular in America after the prohibition act was passed. It was soon discovered that by coupling it with other types of elixers you could cast magical effects like fireballs, and freeze blasts and on and on.

So it's basically plasmids that make you drunk? I see that going horrifically and hilariously wrong. And as for casting, I'd go with points a-la psionics but at a much lower value, allowing them to lower their wisdom and/or dexterity to get the points they need to cast above and beyond their "tipsy" level. (BTW, the 0 level cantrips/orisions should be called "sips" IMO). I wouldn't go with con damage - casters are flimsy enough as is, draining your con is basically suicide - that and alcohol really impairs judgement and motor skills before lethally poisoning you.