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  1. - Top - End - #61
    Firbolg in the Playground
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    Farmpunk horror = awesome.
    I personally like the idea of the "Other Side of the Farm". Inside of the farm, life as normal. Outside? Filled with aberrations and horrors. The "Horrors" would be lovecraftian monsters that occasionally enter the farm and wreak havoc. Being kicked off the farm is essentially a death sentence.
    Aberrations, of course, include Government Agents, the Slender Man (Can't find link, though), and other such human-looking entities.

    My personal take on the whole "Anti-moonshine" issue is this: The Horrors are empowered and healed by pesticides (negative energy), but the government agents drink gin (Which is D&D-style poison). [/2cents]
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  2. - Top - End - #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    I think prohibition, in this setting, would be more enforced by the Government Man, under the pretenses of Religion, but as with the Government Man, no one truely knows his motives. (Or who "he" really is). Best guess is to wipe out the Farmman and take over their frontier. How better to do that then take away the moonshine? A'course, that's just a guess, I reckon we'll never really understand the Government Man. Womans suffrage? How about Peoples suffrage? Dosn't matter if you write Erik John Joman, or Elisha Smith on your ballot, your still voting for the same Government Man.
    I think this is something we need to consider. It really works the horror angle to have "the Government" be some kind of ominous, terrifying force opposed to all that is farmly, but it feels kind of off to me. Too dualistic. I don't like settings with one clear bad guy or objective - you either can't win any meaningful victories, or you win a meaningful victory and then the setting is boring.

    What if there's an actual ineffective, corrupt national government in addition to a Lovecraftian "Administration Entity?" No one, not even the real government, would know where these Administration Men come from - they're just this terrifying hive-mind with an agenda all their own. Of course, they always say they're from the Administration, so a lot of people think they are from the government proper.

    I also think it'd be better to romantasize the hobo rather than explain its existence, this is Folklore, not economics.
    I don't see that those are exclusive. Something can be awesome and romantic and still have reasonable basis.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Let's organize the setting a little. I suggest having rings, organized by more to less civilized (in a fashion). From inside to the outside:

    The Golden City (mainly 1920s): a kind of almost-Utopia of jazz clubs and rich people, but carefully gov'ment regulated.
    The Outer Cities (mainly 1930s): what the Golden City is built on. Industry, crime, poverty, depression.
    The Outskirts (late 19th century): here, there's railroads, technology is spreading, the old ways clash with the government influence.
    X (no name yet, earlier wild west): farmers, cowboys, wide, open landscapes.
    The Wild (pre-19th century): dense forests, mythological creatures, mysterious happenings and brave pioneers.
    Roughly this, although it could afford to be less completely dystopian. Things don't have to be totally awful to be Not Nice. Particularly, I'm not sure about having one city that's great and a whole bunch that suck. Every city should have its sterile havens of wealth and privilege surrounded by crime, industry and urban culture. Also, remember that classy as jazz is, it came out of the Harlem Renaissance, and was kind of disliked at the time.

  3. - Top - End - #63
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    This isn't how I originally intended it, but its growing into something very cool, so I'm just going to sit back and watch which way it grows before adding much more commentary.

    Btw, just to throw it out, what about the 'dreaded revenoo'?

  4. - Top - End - #64
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    Quote Originally Posted by gkathellar View Post
    What if there's an actual ineffective, corrupt national government in addition to a Lovecraftian "Administration Entity?" No one, not even the real government, would know where these Administration Men come from - they're just this terrifying hive-mind with an agenda all their own. Of course, they always say they're from the Administration, so a lot of people think they are from the government proper.
    +1 to this.

    Would the hobo exorcists be able to see the Administration Men for what they are? If we're going the 'drunks and children can see supernatural stuff' route, it would explain Prohibition- the Administration obviously doesn't want to be discovered, and while they can't really do too much about kids, getting rid of drunks is easy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Symmys View Post
    +1 to this.

    Would the hobo exorcists be able to see the Administration Men for what they are? If we're going the 'drunks and children can see supernatural stuff' route, it would explain Prohibition- the Administration obviously doesn't want to be discovered, and while they can't really do too much about kids, getting rid of drunks is easy.
    *applauds*

    So of course hobos are generally a little tipsy and why they ride the rails. They are hobos because the country folk don't want no drunkards around, and the government is too dangerous for them to live within the city because they see it for what it is.

    I'm starting to think of a PrC just for this. Sort of like a drunken master, but ranger-style.
    Last edited by The Vorpal Tribble; 2010-11-24 at 11:14 AM.

  6. - Top - End - #66
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    If we go that route, we need to determine: Is the Administration partially responsible for prohibition? Or has prohibition given it an opportunity to go unnoticed for the first time, which it's now milking for all it's worth?

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    An alternative approach, to throw out there: the government entity is not technically evil. It's more lawful, pragmatic and not particularly scrupulous or particular in it's methods. More orwellian or kafka-esque than lovecraftian.

    Why?
    Why is the railroad spreading out into the steppes? Why are lumberjacks the first to go wherever civilization follows afterwards? Why have forests to go before the farms, and then the cities can come?
    Because there are things out there. Wild things. Things older than men. They fear the light of the cities, but in the forests they thrive.
    The government keeps civilization safe, but sacrifices have to be made.


    The hobos do not just fight one side or the other. They keep the balance, in the outskirts. They know that not every sacrifice is worth it, but also that not every problem has an ideal solution. You don't have to join one side to survive the other. You can stand on the border, along the tracks.
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    I found a kind of cool image that seems to capture the feel of a "Hobo Exorcist."

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    I feel as if the tracks should almost have magic in them. Like, the tracks are the only things that keep the Children of the Wilds away from the Golden City, and the Hobos are the ones who must protect and maintain the tracks. The trains do not go anywhere, but carry the hobos on their perpetual journey to survey the tracks. The tracks were originally built by the government and the hobos in concert, but the government has long forgotten of it.

    Now, hobos face a dilemma; since people have started setting off into the Wild, the hobos have a duty to protect them. But, they must also protect those who live behind the tracks.

    This setting reminds me of a book by Patricia C. Wrede known as the "Thirteenth Child". It is quite similar to this setting, in and of the fact that it is set in a united states-esque medium-low magic setting, in which there is a huge wall that separates the eastern states from the wild west, in which huge magical terrors abound. It is a rather fascinating book, and quite good.
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  9. - Top - End - #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    As for who runs the Gov´ment, doesn´t really matter. Its the Gov´ment man, and he´s here to ruin your fun. He´s got laws about what you can grow, what you can´t grow, what you pay to harvest, and a nasty group of thugs to break apart your moonshine ring.

    Opposite object to moonshine? Bebo. High class, expensive, near-beer of the prohibition age. That or Tonic Water. Which may or may not have Real Gin, imported from´The Kingdom accross the Sea,´in it. Yes it's illegal as moonshine, but my friend, a man who drinks gin is no Farmpunk friend.
    Booze for alignment?
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  10. - Top - End - #70
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    An alternative approach, to throw out there: the government entity is not technically evil. It's more lawful, pragmatic and not particularly scrupulous or particular in it's methods. More orwellian or kafka-esque than lovecraftian.

    Why?
    Why is the railroad spreading out into the steppes? Why are lumberjacks the first to go wherever civilization follows afterwards? Why have forests to go before the farms, and then the cities can come?
    Because there are things out there. Wild things. Things older than men. They fear the light of the cities, but in the forests they thrive.
    The government keeps civilization safe, but sacrifices have to be made.
    I think there should definitely be some kind of power with this agenda, but I also think that the central government should be vaguely corrupt and incompetent. Maybe a society of industrial leaders driven by a deep fear of the wild magic in the world beyond? That would give us a pretty good list of "major powers" in the setting: the actual government, the Administration Entity, this industrial secret society and the "wild things" out in unsettled lands.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    An alternative approach, to throw out there: the government entity is not technically evil. It's more lawful, pragmatic and not particularly scrupulous or particular in it's methods. More orwellian or kafka-esque than lovecraftian.

    Why?
    Why is the railroad spreading out into the steppes? Why are lumberjacks the first to go wherever civilization follows afterwards? Why have forests to go before the farms, and then the cities can come?
    Because there are things out there. Wild things. Things older than men. They fear the light of the cities, but in the forests they thrive.
    The government keeps civilization safe, but sacrifices have to be made.


    The hobos do not just fight one side or the other. They keep the balance, in the outskirts. They know that not every sacrifice is worth it, but also that not every problem has an ideal solution. You don't have to join one side to survive the other. You can stand on the border, along the tracks.
    All of this.

    Quote Originally Posted by M-Bark View Post
    Booze for alignment?
    So you have:

    Moonshine
    Wine? (A.k.a.) Hooch, the power of Hobos?
    Gin/Bebo
    And maybe Water? (Neutral?)


    Quote Originally Posted by unosarta View Post
    I feel as if the tracks should almost have magic in them. Like, the tracks are the only things that keep the Children of the Wilds away from the Golden City, and the Hobos are the ones who must protect and maintain the tracks. The trains do not go anywhere, but carry the hobos on their perpetual journey to survey the tracks. The tracks were originally built by the government and the hobos in concert, but the government has long forgotten of it.
    Magic in Tracks, heck yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by unosarta View Post
    Now, hobos face a dilemma; since people have started setting off into the Wild, the hobos have a duty to protect them. But, they must also protect those who live behind the tracks.
    Fun!


    Quote Originally Posted by gkathellar View Post
    If we go that route, we need to determine: Is the Administration partially responsible for prohibition? Or has prohibition given it an opportunity to go unnoticed for the first time, which it's now milking for all it's worth?
    The Administration offers no answer to your query.
    Further, your curiosity of the nature of the Administration merrits an inspection of your domicile, blood-kin, and place of work.


    As for those beyond even the lumberjacks, there definatly should be Old Scratch. Ah Course, we canna be fergetten about Ol' Scratch, the Crossroads debil.

    A dark figure who'll pull any trick to get youh soul, even on a Sundy.
    ~ Challenge you to a music Duel
    ~ Sell you musical talent (E're since ol' Jonny beat the Crossroads Devil at a Fiddlin' contest, hes been more keen on selling talent than challenging it)
    ~ Give you riches like a Slikker's ne're seen
    ~ Make your hearts desire fall in love with you

    They say Ol' Scratch can't walk on water, but he got himself a boat.
    Come with me, time out of mind...

  12. - Top - End - #72
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    I think I'm slightly at a disadvantage here, since I don't know a single one of these legends. Or much about American culture at all. Oh well. Keep on throwing out ideas.
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    Ol' Scratch is the Devil's southern alias. According to folklore, he's an accomplished fiddler who frequently appears at crossroads and to desperate people, and he never backs out of his end of a deal. He'll sell a man pretty much anything for their soul, from the blues to seven years of good harvests.

    If we're including Ol' Scratch, I say we keep him in his role as the Adversary to a major deity. He's no friend to the Injun gods and spirits either, and he prefers to stay at the edges of civilization where no other entity is especially powerful. Not the most powerful deity, but the trickiest and the most active.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    I think I'm slightly at a disadvantage here, since I don't know a single one of these legends. Or much about American culture at all. Oh well. Keep on throwing out ideas.
    I don't know any American folk legends either, myself, though some of American culture.

    But I figure if I keep throwing around dough, someone is going to catch it eventually and turn it into delicious pizza.
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    For a nice mash up of southern western and general hickish ness, listen to Larry the Cable Guy. He's not a real back country hick, but he has the southern mid-west, accent down pat. I would know my family comes from southern Missouri, and that's exactly how it sounds. In fact I'm the Grandson of a Cattle Farmer and a Trucker with a Big Garden. (My grandfathers, both grandma's were/are house/farm wives.)

    So that should help you, Get'R'Done! (Seriously, people really say that, no kidding.)
    Last edited by Shyftir; 2010-11-24 at 06:13 PM.

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    It's difficult to say just what the prevailing accent should be, since we're mixing regionalisms as much as we're mixing eras here. I, and a good chunk of the Deep South, from what I've observed, am not fond of Larry the Cable Guy, but I don't really have a better suggestion.
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    I figure Ol' Scratch would be the major entity of the Wilds, and wants nothing to do with the Administration, as for opposing Gods, I think that's less important in Folklore, that's more Old Testament times, I see Ol' Scratch as a thief of souls, and a ...creature... just trying to enjoy the environment its been banished to, exploiting the fallible nature of these so called humans.
    Come with me, time out of mind...

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    A question and idea: has anyone ever read Alastair Reynold's Terminal World? Probably not many, if anyone. It's a kind of sci-fi Steampunk postapocalyptic thing, but that's not too important.

    However, it has one nice concept I was thinking of yesterday:
    All over the world are so called "zones". In every zone, a different level of technology works, everything more modern stops working. So, even within the main city of the setting, you get the districts of Horsetown, Steamville, Neon Heights, the Cyborg States and the superhuman Angels.

    Which is not entirely what I was thinking of, and a little too strict for the setting, but just something that gave me this general idea. How about, the farther you go away from a city, the more unreliable technology becomes? It would go a way towards explaining why there's pioneers in the wild and the 1920s in the cities.
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    Assuming we're going to have a Native American analogue or three, I vote at least one of them actually be called Injuns. Like, as their actual name.

    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    I figure Ol' Scratch would be the major entity of the Wilds, and wants nothing to do with the Administration, as for opposing Gods, I think that's less important in Folklore, that's more Old Testament times, I see Ol' Scratch as a thief of souls, and a ...creature... just trying to enjoy the environment its been banished to, exploiting the fallible nature of these so called humans.
    Certainly he should be a powerful entity, but I don't know if he's specifically an entity of the Wild. I would think that given his preoccupation with messing with us, Ol' Scratch has a great love of humanity and human culture. You're just as likely to encounter him slinking around in a jazz club as you are to meet him chewing a head of wheat by the roadside.

    What if he's essentially the universal trickster god? Ol' Scratch is one name for him, Coyote is another. The Administration hates him, and other entities of the Wild take an attitude somewhere between fear and annoyance.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    How about, the farther you go away from a city, the more unreliable technology becomes? It would go a way towards explaining why there's pioneers in the wild and the 1920s in the cities.
    +1 to this.

    Question, though. Is civilization going to have real-world technology? Or will it have very distinctly flavored magitech? That would explain why tech gets to be unreliable in the Wilds - industrial magic is ordered and contained, and the ambient wild magic out in the borderlands and territories weakens it.

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    Trickster gods are a must in any case.

    Apart from that, I support actual real-world technology, and otherwise keeping the magic level very, very low. A few supernatural creatures and maybe a ritual or two, but please, no spell-slinging or magitek, it doesn't seem to fit the setting.

    And somehow, the suave, suit-wearing, smooth-talking city devil and Old Scratch don't seem to be entirely the same entity to me. PErhaps aspects of the same thing, but different.
    Last edited by Eldan; 2010-11-25 at 05:41 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Trickster gods are a must in any case.

    ...

    And somehow, the suave, suit-wearing, smooth-talking city devil and Old Scratch don't seem to be entirely the same entity to me. PErhaps aspects of the same thing, but different.
    Agreed on both accounts.
    It would be terrifying to Meet the Suave Jazz Devil at the Crossroads talking with Ol' Scratch, you know you just walked into trouble.

    As for magic, I like more than less, but nowhere near D&D.
    Magic not as in spell-slinging, but as in abilities to do things... odd.
    Hobos when drunk can tell the difference between an administration man, Ol' Scratch, and a child lost on the wrong sideof the tracks.
    A lumber Jack can fall 20 trees in one hour, in which he also ate 3 45oz steaks made from a bear he killed with is bootknife and belt.
    The farmer can hear folks coming from miles away with his ear to the ground.
    The medicine man's Moonshine recipes make for better cures than contemporary pharmaceutical companies will ever see.
    Chicken wire can indeed be used to fix ANYTHING that seems to fall apart,
    and with a little spit and ingenuity, a Thug can fall a whole room of chumps.
    Spells? Ehhhh, no, Magic, yes.

    On another note, I don't think that using racial slurs would be a good idea for any campaign. I know its a British pronunciation of a perfectly sound word, but etemologies don't matter much when it comes to that sort of issue. So I vote against the proposed name for one of Native groups...

    On technology I vote that we try and keep it 1920s-30s maximum flavor. Sure the administration has televisions-communication sets and super Jazz-punk? gear, but flavored like the area. (Maybe not the Admin, but maybe the Mob. The Slikker Militia. The Al Capones.) And of course... Farmpunk for the farmer. Crazy what a tractor engine, a little moonshine, and chicken wire can do.
    Come with me, time out of mind...

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    That's pretty much what I meant by "no spell-slinging".

    These are all odd, supernatural and partially even pretty obvious things, but they are not D&D style magic, for the most part. No one's going to throw any fireballs, unless he has a moonshine molotov.

    These are things you can do, because of what you are. Not because you read it in some book. Well, an almanach, maybe.
    Last edited by Eldan; 2010-11-25 at 06:11 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Apart from that, I support actual real-world technology, and otherwise keeping the magic level very, very low. A few supernatural creatures and maybe a ritual or two, but please, no spell-slinging or magitek, it doesn't seem to fit the setting.
    Fair enough. I do think technology should definitely get less effective the farther you get from civilization. In the same way that Faeries in classical European mythology fear iron because it symbolizes civilization and power over nature, technology and wild magic are mutually incompatible because one is the product of an ordered universe, and one is raw, natural chaos.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    And somehow, the suave, suit-wearing, smooth-talking city devil and Old Scratch don't seem to be entirely the same entity to me. PErhaps aspects of the same thing, but different.
    Well, you know, he's a businessman. Different strategies for different buyers.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gkathellar View Post
    Well, you know, he's a businessman. Different strategies for different buyers.
    Eh. I'm not entirely comfortable with them being the same. They just feel too different for me.

    And, as mentioned above, it's an adventure hook! Once a year, it is said, Mr. Cypher (yes, I used that cheap name. So sue me*) and O'l Scratch meet at a train station buffet in the Outskirts to talk business.



    *offer only valid in the state of missouri, on a full moon on a thursday between the years of 1924 and 1937. All attempts to sue me otherwise mean I own your soul by default.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Eh. I'm not entirely comfortable with them being the same. They just feel too different for me.

    And, as mentioned above, it's an adventure hook! Once a year, it is said, Mr. Cypher (yes, I used that cheap name. So sue me*) and O'l Scratch meet at a train station buffet in the Outskirts to talk business.



    *Your fine print has not been altered. Don't bother rereading it. Doing so is liable to qualify one to forfeit one's claim to any souls within the realms of negotiation.
    This gives me chills.
    And yes, definitely not the same at all.
    Ol' Scratch wasn't so much the Devil, as that the Devil was a convenient religiously valid creature that this old boogey man could 'be' in the stories. Sure he collects souls and takes 'em down to the infernos, but her certainly enjoys playin' with folks too. There's a hint of pleasure in his trickeries. Cycpher, seems to me to be much more straightforward. He wants your soul, he has things to offer. Let the bartering begin. He may trick you by assuring a soul isn't a very useful thing for a human to have, and he may trick you by selling you what you ask for or even want, but not what will bring you happiness, but Ol' Scratch? He'll trick the pants off you, and gamble 'em back to you for your soul. Ol' Scratch loves the gamblin' man.

    Edit: So... Character class idea, a person who gambles against Ol' Scratch and wins. Warlock like, but less blasty, more... fate manipulaty, dark, and soul collecty.
    Last edited by AugustNights; 2010-11-25 at 06:56 AM.
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  26. - Top - End - #86
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    Eldan's Avatar

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    I think we should talk about system, then...
    We are moving pretty far away from D&D currently. Are we staying D20? I think it's still a pretty good base, and at least familiar to all of us.

    So, classes:
    Lumberjack
    Pioneer
    Cowboy
    Farmer
    Medicine Man/Doctor
    Priest?
    Hobo
    Gangster
    Warlock

    Any others?
    Last edited by Eldan; 2010-11-25 at 07:00 AM.
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  27. - Top - End - #87
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    As for magic, I like more than less, but nowhere near D&D.
    Magic not as in spell-slinging, but as in abilities to do things... odd.
    Hobos when drunk can tell the difference between an administration man, Ol' Scratch, and a child lost on the wrong sideof the tracks.
    A lumber Jack can fall 20 trees in one hour, in which he also ate 3 45oz steaks made from a bear he killed with is bootknife and belt.
    The farmer can hear folks coming from miles away with his ear to the ground.
    The medicine man's Moonshine recipes make for better cures than contemporary pharmaceutical companies will ever see.
    Chicken wire can indeed be used to fix ANYTHING that seems to fall apart,
    and with a little spit and ingenuity, a Thug can fall a whole room of chumps.
    Spells? Ehhhh, no, Magic, yes.
    And the tracks, of course, are the best barrier against dark forces since salt and spit.

    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    On another note, I don't think that using racial slurs would be a good idea for any campaign. I know its a British pronunciation of a perfectly sound word, but etemologies don't matter much when it comes to that sort of issue. So I vote against the proposed name for one of Native groups...
    I suppose it is a slur ... honestly that hadn't occurred to me, but yeah, you're probably right. Vote withdrawn. Hope I didn't offend anyone.

    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    On technology I vote that we try and keep it 1920s-30s maximum flavor. Sure the administration has televisions-communication sets and super Jazz-punk? gear, but flavored like the area. (Maybe not the Admin, but maybe the Mob. The Slikker Militia. The Al Capones.) And of course... Farmpunk for the farmer. Crazy what a tractor engine, a little moonshine, and chicken wire can do.
    We should rule that most of the wartime technology developed for WW1 isn't around, though. Not that it would come up much, but it makes sense to say "no mustard gas!"

    Also, can we clarify something on word use? Specifically Administration and Government. I started using the word Administration to separate the terrifying inhuman pretend-government from Government (the actual governing body of the setting). Are we using those terms in those ways, or in some other way?

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    And, as mentioned above, it's an adventure hook! Once a year, it is said, Mr. Cypher (yes, I used that cheap name. So sue me*) and O'l Scratch meet at a train station buffet in the Outskirts to talk business.
    Quote Originally Posted by ChumpLump View Post
    Ol' Scratch wasn't so much the Devil, as that the Devil was a convenient religiously valid creature that this old boogey man could 'be' in the stories. Sure he collects souls and takes 'em down to the infernos, but her certainly enjoys playin' with folks too. There's a hint of pleasure in his trickeries. Cycpher, seems to me to be much more straightforward. He wants your soul, he has things to offer. Let the bartering begin. He may trick you by assuring a soul isn't a very useful thing for a human to have, and he may trick you by selling you what you ask for or even want, but not what will bring you happiness, but Ol' Scratch? He'll trick the pants off you, and gamble 'em back to you for your soul. Ol' Scratch loves the gamblin' man.
    Alright, I'm sold. Ol' Scratch is amoral and tricky and Coyote-esque, while Cypher is nefarious and straightforward (and was probably the one Daniel Webster scared out of New Hampshire).

  28. - Top - End - #88
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    Suggestion/clarification:

    There are two separate parts of the government:

    One is the Government proper. An elected parliament or senate (doesn't have to be exactly the same as the American system, after all) and a President that changes every few years. Generally benevolent, but ineffective outside the cities, and a little swamped in politics. It has an army, a police force, a secret service or two, but it's tied up by laws and bureaucracy.

    The other is the Entity. It is known by no other name. It's unknown whether it's a corporeal, lovecraftian creature, an incorporeal spirit or if it's just a prevailing state in the agent hivemind. What is known are the following things:
    It wants to spread civilization by any means possible.
    It respects the government proper, but deems it ineffective. The government doesn't have to know what the Entity is doing.
    It loathes the Wild and anything that dwells in it, especially any manner of Trickster like Ol' Scratch or Coyote.
    It's tools are Agents, beings that look human, but aren't. Some crazies, seers the drunk and, to a lesser extent, children can see them for what they really are.
    It essentially respects human life, but thinks that individual humans can be sacrificed for the greater good of civilization.
    Last edited by Eldan; 2010-11-25 at 07:17 AM.
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  29. - Top - End - #89
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    AugustNights's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    I think we should talk about system, then...
    We are moving pretty far away from D&D currently. Are we staying D20? I think it's still a pretty good base, and at least familiar to all of us.

    So, classes:
    Lumberjack
    Pioneer
    Cowboy
    Farmer
    Medicine Man/Doctor
    Priest?
    Hobo
    Gangster
    Warlock

    Any others?
    So lumber jack is your Barbarian Wilderness Suvival Axe Swinging Bear Wrestling, Cold enduring, One man army.

    Pioneers... what do they do? Feels like we could combine Lumberjack and Pioneer into Mountain Man (Person).

    Cowboys, Gun toting... Herdsmen. Sharpshooters, and masters of the High Noon Duel of the Draw. Animal companion like things? Mount?

    Farmers, You Moonshine-Artificer type, if its a thing and it needs to be built and not with your highclass slikker mechanics, maybe also some bonuses on fending of the Wild.

    Medicine Man/Doctor, Healer and Knowledge person. Buffer, Cleric Catchall.

    Priest, for lack of a better term, a ritual Mage?

    Hobo, the paladins who keep the balance. Ride the Tracks, and know the secrets of eternal drunkenness. May even know that the Other government is out there.

    Gangster, your thug, Rogue, baseball bat swinging, rope tying, cigar smoking, rum-running, Thommy-Gunning, Organized criminals.

    Warlock, a 'caster' who has got one of the greater darker beings at its back, the Entity, Ol' Scratch, the Jazz Devil, The Islands Across the Seas, or something Wild.

    Hmmm... I can't think of any person types, and I think we have Player Character types well covered. I think with a clearer definition of the organizations combating and coexisting with each other before we can get solid classes.


    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Suggestion/clarification:

    There are two separate parts of the government:

    One is the Government proper. An elected parliament or senate (doesn't have to be exactly the same as the American system, after all) and a President that changes every few years. Generally benevolent, but ineffective outside the cities, and a little swamped in politics. It has an army, a police force, a secret service or two, but it's tied up by laws and bureaucracy.

    The other is the Entity. It is known by no other name. It's unknown whether it's a corporeal, lovecraftian creature, an incorporeal spirit or if it's just a prevailing state in the agent hivemind. What is known are the following things:
    It wants to spread civilization by any means possible.
    It respects the government proper, but deems it ineffective. The government doesn't have to know what the Entity is doing.
    It loathes the Wild and anything that dwells in it, especially any manner of Trickster like Ol' Scratch or Coyote.
    It's tools are Agents, beings that look human, but aren't. Some crazies, seers the drunk and, to a lesser extent, children can see them for what they really are.
    It essentially respects human life, but thinks that individual humans can be sacrificed for the greater good of civilization.
    Who enforces Prohibition? Both?
    Perhaps respects human life is a bit much, feeds off the output of human progressivism, or these so called industrial advancements. Respect just seems like a word you'd use for equals. Or mild lessers. Still a wolf doesn't want to run around the sheep herd shouting 'Hey! Look at me! I'm a wolf! I have LASER CLAWS!'
    At least not in my very limited experience in shepherding.
    Come with me, time out of mind...

  30. - Top - End - #90
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    Replace "respect" with tolerate, then. For both the government and humans. It needs humans to survive, and it needs the government to run the humans.

    On classes: you could probably combine Doctor and Priest and make a general outback sage type. Then you multiclass that with Cowboy for either a gun-toting priest or the typical western movie cowboy doctor.

    Should we make a separate thread for system discussion? I think we could start with a skill system and classes, if we make it d20 based.
    Last edited by Eldan; 2010-11-25 at 08:03 AM.
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