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charl
2008-12-14, 04:01 PM
I'm tinkering around a bit with a setting I've given the preliminary name of "Gremlins and Gaslights". It's a fantasy setting using the standard races and magic and such and placing it in a Steampunk setting.

Yes, Arcanum is an influence.

So far I've thought up this far:
THE CONTINENT
The main nation is the Empire of Ravensburg, names after its capital city. The Empire controls a fairly large bit of land on the Europe analog continent. The continent is made up of two large landmasses connected by a thin isthmus. The city of Ravensburg itself is situated on this isthmus and has several canals going through it with drawbridges available when not in use. These canals were built about 400 years ago, and the city grew around it. It's a major trade hub, and the empire it now controls is the richest on the continent.

To the south there is the Republic of Wistlem and the Kingdom of Stelen. Wistlem broke away from Stelen about 100 years ago after a civil war, and has since then enjoyed the support of Ravensburg. The two nations are still hostile, but relations have been warming up as of lately.

One other kingdom and one confederacy border Ravenburg. The kingdom is named The Most Serene Throne of the Sielan, and is named after the ruling family. The archduke Sielan nominally holds all the titles of his holdings, but his power is delegated to viceroys who are all relatives to him. There is a lot of scheming in the court and the archduke is old and is going senile. The Confederate states of the Church of God is a loose union of diocese holding and free cities who pay tribute to the church. The Archbishop sits in an as of yet named city and control the lands with an iron hand and his inquisitors by his side. The free cities within the confederacy are allowed a lot of freedom in their internal policies but a fraction of all income goes to the church and they are obligated to provide military support.

Further north is the Empire of Ryuska, a vast nation of dark forests and isolated villages. The emperor controls little outside the larger cities, but still has a fair degree of power. This is meant to be an analog for Eastern Europe and Russia and most of it is still unindustrialized. Lots of mystical creatures and magic, more the further north you go.

RELIGION
Except for the Republic of Wistlem, all the nations on the continent follow the Church of God. God in this case is a deity named Axalor, though most followers just refer to him as God. He has many different aspects, and people either pray to the relevant aspect or to Axalor as a whole. The different aspects differ in a alignment, though as a whole the God is Lawful Neutral. There are a few secret aspects, such as the Assassin aspect, that are forbidden by the church.

The inquisition has a lot of power in the Confederacy. It is allowed in Ravenburg but the Emperor there is powerful enough to mandate that they have to follow the laws, which is not always the case in other nations. Wistlem is a secular state and inquisitors aren't allowed there at all. Most Wistlemians are still followers of God, though not of the archbishop, and worshipping secret aspects or heretic religions can still be fairly dangerous there.

And the heretic religions, yes. In Ryuska there are lots of heretics outside the cities. Some worship strange old gods and others ancestors or spirits. Most non-human races also have their own ancient pantheons, and some still pray to their old gods in secret.

RACES
Ravensburg, which is the focus of the campaign, is home to a lot of different races. Humans are in charge however, or rather the upper-class aristocracy and industrialist are. There are a few rich gnomes and dwarves though.
Elves are considered a backward people still hanging on to old magic traditions. They come from Ryuska mostly, but those who have moved to Ravesburg are not the forest people of old but poor workers struggling to get by. I want to use the classic "elves love nature" cliché but apply it to a setting where industrialism is making that life-style obsolete.
Dwarves have found a niche in the middle class. They make good factory overseers and administrators. Their mastery of metalwork also comes in handy. The dwarves are native to the mountains of the Empire and have a pretty easy time fitting in.
Gnomes are met with the same stigma as elves, but to a lesser degree. While they are also a nature race from the north, they started moving to the cities much earlier than the elves and their contribution to technology is great. They are still seen as way too fascinated by magic and the old ways, but they have found a great degree of acceptance.
Halflings are around too. They come from a continent to the west, where they traditionally lived in cities of their own. Some have moved from the imperial colonies to Ravensburg proper hoping to find fortune and wealth, and instead ending up as criminals and poor folk.
Goblins and Orcs can also be found. Goblins fill the same niche as halflings, except they are from the same continent. A fair degree of racial tension between the groups as such. Orcs are found as bouncers and doing manual labour. They aren't respected by anyone really, but that doesn't stop them from trying. They are from the south, displaced by the civil war.

TECHNOLOGY AND MAGIC
Late 19th century for the most part. Railways snake across the continent, and steamboats travel through the canals to far away colonies across the seas. There are airships too, but they are rarely used. The city is lit by gaslights, factories run on steam fueled by fire mages and coal, and the rich dress in top hats and fancy black suits.

People wield revolvers in combat, the military has early repeater carbines and a few hand-cranked machine guns.

Magic is weaker than normal DnD. It still exists, but it is a fairly low-magic setting. Basically magic is supposed to not be good enough to replace technology but rather supplement it. You can use a wizard to provide power for your steam engine, but coal is more effective. You could have mages castings spells at each other in combat, but it's cheaper to use a gun. A magic armour is great for stopping people from stabbing you, it's not much good against a grenade, and so on. Apart from a few mystics in the north, magic is considered a mostly dying art, apart from a source of entertainment. I haven't looked over what changes I want to do to the magic system yet, but they will be pretty large I suspect.



This is what I have so far. The focus of the game will be on social dynamics and people rather than traditional adventuring, but that has its place too. Input is appreciated.

Limos
2008-12-14, 04:42 PM
You should have Artificer be a prominent class for your magic aspect. It would fit with the Technology trumps Magic angle.

That way you could still have magic but it would have a more steampunk flavor.

charl
2008-12-14, 04:49 PM
You should have Artificer be a prominent class for your magic aspect. It would fit with the Technology trumps Magic angle.

That way you could still have magic but it would have a more steampunk flavor.

Oh absolutely. I had forgotten about that class. Artificers would fit well into the setting. I can really see the gnomes using this as a way to blend their technology and magic mastery.

Considering what I was planning on doing to magic in this setting it would probably also be the most powerful magic user in the setting.

Speaking of which, any ideas on how I could downgrade magic?

Abbott
2008-12-14, 04:52 PM
Only use the adept class, perchance as magic users and use paladins for warrior priests and experts as administrator priests, perchance?

charl
2008-12-14, 05:00 PM
Only use the adept class, perchance as magic users and use paladins for warrior priests and experts as administrator priests, perchance?

Could work. I don't want Paladins though. The warrior priests will most likely be fighters instead, but I do want priests that can actually use divine spells. Maybe the easiest way is to just allow clerics, wizards and sorcerers and monitor the choice of spells allowed to mostly non-combat ones, and just deal with it as it comes along.

Abbott
2008-12-14, 05:07 PM
You could always look at the SLA-feats from CA and then simply have wizards and the like get those as their only form of magic (only they'd have to have a few extra uses). You could probably design a special priest class, based on the Bard perhaps, but with domain SLA-feats. Monitoring spell selection will still make them powerful. Major creation, for instance, would make anyone able to cast it very, very valuable.

charl
2008-12-14, 05:24 PM
Well, I was planning on using the maximum level 6-rules (can't remember the name of it right now) anyway (this isn't a setting for powerful heroes), so it might not be that much of an issue in the end. That would make max spell level 4? 5? Something like that anyway, and spell casters would still be fairly limited in that they couldn't use their really powerful spells more than a few times a day, which would make them powerful when fighting one on one (which does sort of fit the setting, magic is supposed to be impractical but awesome) but they wouldn't last in a longer fight. That also helps explain why the military prefers technology (artillery can do as much damage as a spell, but it can used until the ammo runs out instead of just a few times per day).

Limos
2008-12-14, 05:51 PM
You could always actually charge people for Spell components.

If it costs a lot of money to cast spells and they are more limited than technology it won't matter how awesome they are.

Possibly you could assign a cost in gold to each spell, and they have to buy the amount of uses of each spell. Then they still have to prepare that spell every day anyway.

They would be limited by their components and by uses per day.

EDIT: You could also assign Spell Resistance to a lot of Technology based gear. Steampunk Robots would have Spell resistance, High Tech armor as well.

charl
2008-12-14, 05:55 PM
You could always actually charge people for Spell components.

If it costs a lot of money to cast spells and they are more limited than technology it won't matter how awesome they are.

Possibly you could assign a cost in gold to each spell, and they have to buy the amount of uses of each spell. Then they still have to prepare that spell every day anyway.

They would be limited by their components and by uses per day.

Oh absolutely. Several spells will probably also have increased casting time, symbolizing that they are rituals. I will have to look over the spell lists and check on this.

Limos
2008-12-14, 05:58 PM
Oh absolutely. Several spells will probably also have increased casting time, symbolizing that they are rituals. I will have to look over the spell lists and check on this.

Aren't there specialized Rituals already? If you make most magic stick to rituals that are very powerful, but expensive and time consuming, then Tech will be the dominant force.

You also have to figure out how this urban shift would affect Druids and Rangers. They would be a good Anti-tech faction.

charl
2008-12-14, 06:29 PM
Aren't there specialized Rituals already? If you make most magic stick to rituals that are very powerful, but expensive and time consuming, then Tech will be the dominant force.

You also have to figure out how this urban shift would affect Druids and Rangers. They would be a good Anti-tech faction.

Rangers will not have spells. They will use the alternative non-spellcasting rangers, and will be used for people used to the wilds. Explorers and woodsmen from the north and natives of colonial lands and the like. Druids will be around as shamans and the like, and will indeed be an "anti-tech" faction.

To list all the base classes:
Artificers - unchanged.
Barbarians - unchanged.
Bards - around. The spellcasting ones are the more entertainment-focused mages that are around.
Clerics - priests of organized religions, including the various aspects of God, as well as the older deities.
Druids - priests of "uncivilized" religions, including shamans from colonies and spirit-worshippers of the north.
Fighters - unchanged.
Monks - not around. Don't fit the setting.
Paladins - not around either. Virtuous warrior-priests will be fighters and/or clerics.
Rangers - won't cast spells. Men of the outdoors, including explorers, woodsmen and colonial natives. Will remake their fighting styles to fit the setting, explorers for example will have a gun-focused one.
Rogue - unchanged.
Sorcerer - unchanged.
Wizards - unchanged.

I'll just go with E6 for now and deal with any spells that feel inappropriate as they become a problem.

Solaris
2008-12-15, 09:42 AM
Make wizards and other spellcasters need to use some kind of relatively expensive resource to cast spells, like some kind of magic rock (as magic's slowly fading away/never existed in great strength to begin with, it's condensed into this substance made of pure magical energy) that they drain to use their spells.
Use a variant of the spell point variant wherein spellcasters pay for their spells out of their hit points.
Heck, just make 'em have to cast spells from scrolls and no other way. That'll hinder spellcasters in a hurry.

Any of the above should do a pretty good job of gimping magic-users. I wouldn't recommend using them in conjunction, though.

charl
2008-12-15, 10:25 PM
Got a free wiki thing to house the project: http://gremlinsandgaslights.pbwiki.com/

Originally I was planning on using more fantastic steampunk tech, but I've moved to more realistic late 19th century flavour now, with a few quirks. First of all I've decided on no electricity. Second, I've increased the magic somewhat. It is still considered old-fashioned in many ways, but it does have its legitimate uses. Medicine for example is more backwards as a science in this world than it was in ours, since healing magic makes it unnecessary. I haven't begun working on it too much yet, but the setting will include things like hypodermic needles loaded with healing potions and bandages with healing wards on them, among whatever else crazy magic-medical equipment combo I can come up with.

I also decided I will use the armour as damage reduction rules. This has the effect of illustrating how armour is fairly useless against guns, as a revolver even after adjustment for DR can easily kill most 1st-2nd level characters on a single good hit.

This also means combat will be more deadly. It will in fact be insanely deadly by DnD standards. This and the fact that resurrection spells aren't around, except maybe from a few magical monsters, means that you really don't want to end up in a gun fight. That is fine by me, it's the feel I was looking for anyway.

Using E6 also easily makes magic a suitable low level affair. A wizard might be able to fling a magic missile or a weak fireball in a fight, but a fighter with a gun can easily do just as much damage.

Now I need to look over the wealth levels of the campaign. Weapons and ammo needs to be expensive enough that buying your first revolver really stings and characters will think twice before wasting bullets.

As before, comments are welcome.