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Thread: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
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2014-08-28, 11:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Perhaps you should type it in Word and then copy paste.
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2014-08-28, 11:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
It's becoming a consideration. I usually like to be able to switch tabs and check the posts I'm responding to, and I never used to write posts that were quite this long. Also, having to hand-type the formatting stuff can be annoying.
Last edited by Admiral Squish; 2014-08-28 at 11:32 AM.
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2014-08-29, 07:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Alright, finally, here it is:
Alignment
I thought the subjective alignment thing was a pretty good alignment system, but let's see your suggestion.
So, basically, we would just describe what each culture would consider 'good', 'evil', 'chaotic' and 'lawful'? That sounds like a truly phenomenal amount of work, honestly. We'd essentially have to distill the entire moral education of a common member of a given culture into a single write-up, which takes many years in children, then do that ~20 times. The worst part is that we wouldn't be able to research it properly, since sources are so unreliable on the subject of morality. We might be able to find various codes of honor and ethics, but in a vast majority of cases, those are either ignored or marginalized. After all, almost every culture I know of has some variant of 'don't kill people' on the books, and yet we still have armies. One can't assume that it's actually the case just because it's supposed to be.
However, I do think your idea has some real merit. I could certainly imagine adding a 'morality' section to the culture write-ups that details at least a few kinds of things the culture would consider good and evil. Maybe we could expand upon the current 'taboos' to make something that rewards players for playing their culture properly. I just don't think it would be able to fully supplant the existing alignment system.
Shaman
Shaman Clans
You know, I could certainly imagine such a thing existing out there in the old world. I think it's a really cool idea, with a lot of potential. Hell, you could probably make a whole campaign out of it! I don't know if it should be officially written into the setting, though. These clans would, by their nature, be marginalized and excluded from the main thrust of the cultures, it would be a sort of 'secret world' deal, where you head down the rabbit hole and come out into this crazy system that's right outside everyone's view. I might mention something in the shaman fluff write-up about the possible existence of such clans.
Hao Expy
That sounds like an AMAZING villain. I love it. Definitely a plot hook. Maybe even a 'dark shaman' prestige class of some sort, describing one who enslaves and exploits spirits rather than working with them.
Shaman and Priest
There may be some confusion here, due to the name. Shaman and Priest are going to cover some similar territory, so I should probably elaborate on their relationship a bit.
A Priest is trained, and a Shaman is untrained. A priest learns stories and lore and studies the prayers of their religion to be able to work miracles in the name of powerful spirits and deities. The priest describes the traditional European priest, Aztec blood priests, Chinese monks, medicine men, inuit spiritual leaders... Any sort of religious leadership role where one trains for a long period of time, either studying texts, learning from a mentor. Priests will have various lore and knowledge-related abilities in the class writeup, possibly even literacy.
Shaman, however, describes one who is naturally gifted with spiritual ability. A shaman may have some supernatural abilities even in their youth, not powered by faith but by some inherent talent for it, who then receives power from spiritual sources. A shaman describes any character with a natural or suddenly granted supernatural ability, any psychic that talks to the dead or communes with spirits, anyone granted visions or hearing voices, anyone who can see ghosts. Think Joan of Arc. You can see the kinds of abilities the shamans are gonna have.
Sentient Weapons
Hmmm. I stand by my prior statement that it would be unlikely that all the weapons would be created sentient, but the idea they could later become sentient makes sense. Especially if they are indeed buried under such a powerful artifact-tree-thing, it's entirely possible all the hatred and rage it drains from those nearby would leech into these weapons, making them more powerful, more cruel and hateful.
Though, if they're all buried together, and sentient, does that mean they would have been bickering and snapping at each other underground for nearly a thousand years? That'd drive anyone crazy.
Vespuccia
I'm not fond of Vespuccia as a name for the setting as a whole, but I can deal with it as the name for the continent. It sounds odd in my ears, but I'm reasonably certain it will normalize once I start hearing it in regular use.
Mounts
Otters
I'm glad this idea continues to enjoy support!
I'm about getting to the point where I would like to see stats for these guys. These domesticated otters would be about four feet in length, another two feet of tail, but they would also be compact and low to the ground. What size category would they be?
Little Folk
Okay, so, for these guys, we have goats and rabbit-sleds. I'm not sure if we should have both. I think goats are more practical overall, since they have a longer useful lifespan and some mythological origin (albeit only evidenced in pygmies). Rabbit sleds sound cool, but there are some mechanical issues with them, and I'm not sure we want to put in all the effort needed to fix them.
I'm also pondering if there should be a goat or sheep breed for Fae use, or if they just appropriate goats from humans. And if there is a special breed, how should it be different from a regular goat? Would they just be mundane goats with unusual traits, or would they be magical creatures in their own right?
Tamed
I think that we should definitely allow for unique, unusual animals that have been tamed to serve as mounts, or some more intelligent magical creatures who allow themselves to be ridden. This would pretty much cover all the strange animals like dire cats, bison, orcas, and such.
I'm considering making some sort of 'tamed' or 'domesticated' niversal trait that would explain how a certain animal is accustomed to humans or inherently more friendly than a wild one. Not sure what exactly it should do, but I do think it should probably be noted.
Caribou
I don't know, the northern regions already have access to mammut, I think giving them a second rideable animal would be a little unfair. Plus, the vast majority of the cultures in the region heavily hunted caribou, I think the domestication process, were it applied to them by North American cultures, would be more aimed to turn them into food than mounts. However, I do think we could have some imported riding caribou from Siberia, since horses would likely struggle in the Alaskan winter. These guys could be magically altered or naturally selected to be bigger and stronger, suitable to ride for long periods.
Moose
Hmm... I don't know. It's possible, but as you mention in the moosetaur writeup, they do get very violent during certain phases of life, mating season and raising a calf, specifically, both situations being times when you really would want to be able to have control over your domesticated critters.
Mountain Sasquatch
I do indeed like opportunities to work with Sasquatches.
Brute v2
I did consider 'heavy', but I figured that wasn't quite right. I could just say 'big guy', but that's not quite... florid enough, I think. I did make a fighter option, but I could probably rename that one. I do think I should avoid warrior, if only so I don't have to mess with the NPC class.
Vodou
I don't think we should move the Haitian revolution backward in time. If we're not going to push the American revolution, then the same logic should apply to Haiti. I definitely like the idea of vodou traditions rapidly spreading through the Caribbean and making things difficult for slave owners and instilling a sense of unity in the slaves. I think that puts a lot of tension into the area which makes it just perfect for play.
I should note that vodou magic would be divine in nature, not arcane, since its origin would be spirits.
I don't think the vodou theocracy will be in full swing at the moment, bus as steckie mentioned, we could easily plant the seeds of such a thing. If you want something more current, we could say that the
Simplifying Colonies
Hmm. I think it works. Most cases, the vice-governor would probably just have the role of the governor, there would just be an extra step of authority between them and the crown. It wouldn't change all that much in the world itself, but it would allow us to more easily navigate it from a meta perspective.
My concern is whether the knights could swing that kind of support from the crowns. I think it's possible if they were to appeal to the governors and the pope, who would have significantly more sway in royal courts of the old world.
Tobago
That sounds like a pretty solid origin story for the area, I think we can make it work.
Campaign
I did speak with my bro just before he left, and we talked about his campaign, so I won't repeat myself here. I will let the rest of the thread know that he indicated the reason the mound lord was using outsiders was to keep the story from getting out among the Cahokians.My Homebrew
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2014-08-29, 09:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
I'm also pondering if there should be a goat or sheep breed for Fae use, or if they just appropriate goats from humans. And if there is a special breed, how should it be different from a regular goat? Would they just be mundane goats with unusual traits, or would they be magical creatures in their own right?
Although some breeding might be done, it also makes more sense for raiding rather than breeding because breeding requires a lot more room than raiding what you need. Maybe have certain goats with say greater agility be favoured by the Little Folks and so are more likely to be stolen than other goats. They won't be special goats, but they may be seen by the farmers as "marked by the Wee Folk" or something like that.
EDIT: Alignment
I only suggested that system because it seems that if all Aztec priests detected their people and beliefs as Evil, even though by all their understanding of the world, sacrifices MUST be made, it strikes me as why they would not question what they are doing. I am aware of my idea being a lot of work, but to refine it, it would be an add to the description of Cultures so that players know how to act, with maybe a minor bonus for good RPingLast edited by Mith; 2014-08-29 at 11:20 PM.
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2014-08-30, 04:08 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Quite frankly, there's not much need to try to domesticate a rideable caribou when horses have been on the continent for hundreds of years. You can't ride them through thick snow anyways, they wouldn't be able to lift their hoofs high enough. Dragging a sled is another matter is the superior way to travel through snow and they truly do shine there, but horses really are superior in the summer (and people all over the continent know how to teach one to accept a rider).
It's telling that despite that the Scandinavian Sami never started riding their reindeer (except for short stretches) despite their culture revolving around them for 600 years.
Moose
Hmm... I don't know. It's possible, but as you mention in the moosetaur writeup, they do get very violent during certain phases of life, mating season and raising a calf, specifically, both situations being times when you really would want to be able to have control over your domesticated critters.
Regarding Alignment:
This is perhaps something we ought to be extremely careful and thorough with. If we decide to go with loaded terms like good and evil (or lawful and chaotic too for that matter) then we should not shy away from doing our research. Replacing the system entirely is not a bad idea (tying it together with culture and putting emphasis on fitting in rather than morals would be an interesting approach and tie them more closely into the setting).
If we do keep the morals in it, then we should accept the burden of putting a lot of emphasis on it. Out of respect for everything we touch upon in this setting. If this is what we aim for when it comes to all cultures we include (as we should) then we should do the same when we handle morals and ethics.
In short, either we do alignment right or not at all.
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2014-08-30, 01:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Oh, i wasn't saying we should move the Haitian revolution to fit in the setting. I am saying we should plant the seeds for possible slave rebellions all over the Carribbean.
There have been historical slave revolts on Mainland America and some Carribbean islands before 1750. And with the Link Spirals and Voodou spreading rapidly i think it wouldn't be weird for escaped slaves hiding in hidden cities and doing raids on European settlements.
There should be no large revolts happening at game start, but once you throw some PC's into the Carribbean anything can happen. Including large scale slave revolts that had their seeds pre-planted by us. Or Voodou theocracies.
Getting the pope to help will work. Maybe not with the Anglicans from Britain, but if the Spanish and French are agreeing to the treaty they might do so as well.
Edit: Quick question, did we decide on a language for the Knights?
Just need to know if i need to use the English or French name for their islands. Or perhaps Latin? Maltese?Last edited by Steckie; 2014-08-30 at 01:51 PM.
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2014-08-30, 06:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Since the Knights are a Catholic organization, Latin makes more sense to me.
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2014-08-31, 01:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Mounts
Goats
Stolen goats makes sense in most areas, and through most of history. There's mythological basis, and it makes sense. I would like to have fae goats, though, if only because I like the idea so much...
I believe I could justify it, say herds of 'wild' goats around the fae mounds are regarded as cursed or bad luck, property of the little folk. Could say they didn't have goats, but since they came out of the mound they've been developing breeds specifically for their use, particularly riding. But that may be forcing the issue. I don't want to make it happen if it's not meant to be.
Caribou
You raise good points. However, much of northern alaska can experience snow year-round, and the winters are long, and very cold. I think importing domesticated reindeer, or attempting to harness and tame the local caribou, would be very useful to the newborn russian colonies. Horses may be better in the summer, but when a proper summer only lasts a month or two, they would have limited appeal.
If we make riding reindeer, we could remove the need for horses in the region. They could be ridden in the summer, and used to pull sleighs whenever there's snow on the ground.
Moose
'Zactly. I think moose are pretty much out.
Alignment
Alignment is always an issue of intense debate. Both options are valid ways to go about it, we just have to pick one and make it happen.
On one hand, we have the morality system idea. This would require a great deal of research and a cautious approach. We would have to research the values of each given culture and explain them in such a way that players would be able to understand them quickly, and well enough to be able to play their characters. We would also have to come up with rules for the benefits and penalties relating to breaking taboos and obeying cultural norms.
Much more in-depth. It lends depth to the characters and makes it easier for players to immerse into the game and their characters. It's also a great deal of work, and would probably make cultures even more complex and intimidating.
On the other, we have the option to remove alignment entirely. This makes things much simpler, but it does kinda take some of the depth out of the game and the cultures.
Caribbean
Vodou
Superdave suggested moving the revolution up in the timeline, I was addressing it to him.
I support your suggested plan of making things on the edge of chaos and violence, with a strong native/african presence and vodou religion being the unifying factor. Perhaps the rebellious actions are being organized or stoked by the church, which would then form the heart of a potential vodou theocracy?
Knights
I think Latin would probably be the best bet for the language, especially since church services were still held in Latin in most places at the time. It would be easy enough to learn it, and since it wouldn't be tied to a specific country, it would probably be a good second language for the majority of knights.My Homebrew
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2014-08-31, 02:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Hmm, i'm not a fan of a unified Voodou church. The religion is too new, too forbidden and too spread out over various islands for a unified church to appear. Plus most of the people practicing the religion are still slaves, and escaping slavery is probably more important to them.
Just turn it around: the population of slaves just keeps increasing and more of them keep escaping to the inland of various islands. Those people are doing various raids to free other slaves and get supplies, but because they're so spread out and don't trust other groups of escaped slaves, they're often taken out by their former masters.
Then Voodou starts spreading and those various groups suddenly find they have something in common. Houngans start appearing on various islands and converting people (should not be difficult, most of them have been force converted to christianity or are from an area that practices Vodun). And suddenly all these little groups have something in common. They're no longer competing for who gets to claim the leftovers from the Europeans, they're cooporating and stealing large amounts of food and supplies.
And to them the Houngans are like a beacon of hope for freedom, they're the ones that turned things around for them and they look to these Houngans for leadership.
Et voila: the seeds of a Voodou Theocracy have been planted.
Throw some PC's at the Carribbean to help them grow or stomp them out.
Alright...... guess i'll be taking a look at a Latin dictionary
The French colonies were easy, i know French well enough to read a Wikipedia article in the language. Never learned Latin.
Any chance somebody here knows Latin?
Oh, and Spanish. Does anybody speak Spanish? I need that when i take on the Spanish islands.
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2014-08-31, 04:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
I wouldn't think having fey goats would be out of the question, which actually brings up a topic I have been meaning to get around too; intelligent animals.
Stories of human-level intelligent animals are pretty widespread across most of humanity, even if said animals eventually turn out to be transformed humans or somesuch. I would think bringing up a sort of '.1 percent' rule about the total number of animals on the planet being intelligent enough to flat-out understand human speech, or even talk, would be a nice thing for the fluff.
Animal companions, and perhaps the decedents of such animal companions would be included in this rule, for example. Others might have a closeness to spirits that is unusual for their kind, or are simply magically touched critters. I'm not suggesting that we go full Narnia, but animals that help humans is pretty prevalent world-wide and this would be the setting to bring it up.
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2014-08-31, 05:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Caribbean
Vodou
Good point. I definitely like this plan, and I fully support the inclusion of such details in canon.
Knights
Latin's supposed to be a very rigid language, with only one specific way to say any given thing. I think you could probably use online translators with little trouble, if that's true.
I seem to remember somebody offering to translate the spanish account of the conquest of the Aztecs, but I don't think anything came of it.
Animal+
Hmm. Interesting idea. I could certainly imagine including such creatures in the setting. Let's talk mechanisms, though.
We did discuss making it possible for Named Spirits to posses creatures of their type and enhance them to serve as temporary avatars, it's possible such a process could leave some lingering effects on the possessed animal, the original idea was that they would just be more powerful, but it could leave them with sentience instead (or in addition to it).
In Chinese myth, any creature that lives long enough can gather the energy required to become a Jing, a powerful spirit with sentience and magical powers, often including the ability to turn into human form. This could be a valid route for many such sentient animals.
There's a common thread in many European and native societies of animals that can take of their skins and walk as humans, only to become animals again when they put them back on, though they retain their intelligence. Selkies, for example. I did doodle up a trait to describe the transformation, but I could probably expand upon it to make it work.
I'm feeling manic enough that I just might grind out some of these today.
Skype
It's that time of the month again! Next weekend is the monthly Crossroads Call!
The call will be hosted in Skype, and will take place Saturday, at 3 PM EST.
If you have a problem with the time, please let me know and we'll see if we can reschedule.
If you want to join in on the call, just PM me with your skype username and I'll add you to the list.
This month's topic will be: ...something. I'm not sure yet.Last edited by Admiral Squish; 2014-09-01 at 04:57 AM.
My Homebrew
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2014-09-01, 02:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
The russian colonists would most certainly have done so, yeah. I could see the tuniit adopting caribou herding as well, and they have a tradition of sleds. But I still think they won't be ridden (except in rare circumstance). Because if the snow remains year round, there's no need for it (since you can keep using the sled) and in all areas where it doesn't there's horses and everyone already knows how to make them rideable (unlike caribou which noone knows how to turn into mounts).
I agree.
Oh, and Spanish. Does anybody speak Spanish? I need that when i take on the Spanish islands.
Also, I did some extensive research and suggestions on the spanish colonial world a while back. Take a look at the timeline so you don't do something I already did
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2014-09-01, 10:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Reindeer
My main point was that by having riding reindeer, they wouldn't need the horses. If you keep horses, you have to keep them fed and warm and safe all through the 9 months or so of winter in most places, only to get a few months of use out of them in the summer, and you'd have to stable and feed the reindeer through the summer when there was no use for them. Maybe some of the most southerly reaches of the region would have summers long enough for horses to be economical, but riding reindeer would make a lot of sense in areas with short summers, such as siberia.
Or maybe they don't ride, and they just attach wheels to the sleighs and make 'em carriages in the summer. That's an option too.
Due to the very short-term existence of Russkaya Vespuccia (barely 30 years or so), I don't think the idea of herding/harnessing caribou would have been able to spread very far beyond Alasqa. You do have to raise the caribou long enough to get them accustomed to humans and trained to pull, which would slow the process.My Homebrew
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2014-09-01, 11:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Okay, been pondering on the brewing of Named Beast and Jing templates. Few things that have come up:
Named Beasts
Reorganization
I'm thinking I should probably put 'Spirits of the Hunt' and 'Spirits of the Herd' together into 'Spirits of the Beasts' and make some sort of 'non-natural creatures' category of spirits. Magical beasts, dragons, aberrations, fey, oozes... Anything not an animal, plant, or humanoid/monstrous humanoid. I'm not sure what to call it. Mostly, I just realized there's some weirdness in the spirit classifications that could do with remedying.
HD
Should the Named Beasts be identical in power to one-another, similar, or widely varied? I'm trying to figure out if I should modify their HD by making it a flat number, adding a flat number (like +20 HD), or tripling any existing HD. On one hand, I don't really think they should all be the same, but if I go with the multiplier, then that could leave you with Named Beasts anywhere from 3 HD to 48 HD. Which, honestly, would be pretty hard to name a CR for.
Size
Should Named Beasts be larger than their counterparts, stay the same size, or be able to control their size to some degree? I mean, they don't really mention the Animals having a given size in the stories, but you get the general impression that most of them are of a similar scale to each other in some, and in others, the spirits are enormous and exceptional. This could be explained by having them be able to change their size to a limited degree.
Possession
I'm thinking that a possessed animal should gain a template of some sort. Question is, what should it include? How much like the named beast should it become, and how much of it should remain once the named beast then leaves? I have a vague idea that the named beast should be able to grant the beast a specific kind of blessing when taking over, like, making them larger, or stronger, or granting a hide impenetrable to weapons, or even magic power.
Jing
Design
I'm thinking I'm gonna make a basic template to describe an animal that gains enough power to become a Jing in the first place, with some relatively basic abilities, then make another template to describe the kinds of power gain that comes with time and energy absorption, which can be applied repeatedly and stacks, sort of like the Evolved Undead template.
Powers
I'm trying to come up with a list of powers that a Jing would gain. Sentience, obviously, and human form is one of the most basic ones, definitely, but other powers are widely varied between them, and seem to be largely free-form in many of the myths. Illusion seems to be common, but that could be bias from my research into the Huli Jing.My Homebrew
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2014-09-01, 12:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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2014-09-01, 12:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Last edited by Admiral Squish; 2014-09-01 at 12:57 PM.
My Homebrew
Five-time champion of the GITP monster competition!
Current Projects:
Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!
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2014-09-01, 01:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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2014-09-01, 02:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
I also cannot use them, so I do not think it is your computer.
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2014-09-01, 03:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Methinks that it would definitely be one of those templates that scales in power depending on the base animal, so I wouldn't think any HD change would be necessary. The animal advancing on HD alone would be enough to contend with, really.
Size
Should Named Beasts be larger than their counterparts, stay the same size, or be able to control their size to some degree? I mean, they don't really mention the Animals having a given size in the stories, but you get the general impression that most of them are of a similar scale to each other in some, and in others, the spirits are enormous and exceptional. This could be explained by having them be able to change their size to a limited degree.
Possession
I'm thinking that a possessed animal should gain a template of some sort. Question is, what should it include? How much like the named beast should it become, and how much of it should remain once the named beast then leaves? I have a vague idea that the named beast should be able to grant the beast a specific kind of blessing when taking over, like, making them larger, or stronger, or granting a hide impenetrable to weapons, or even magic power.
Jing
Design
I'm thinking I'm gonna make a basic template to describe an animal that gains enough power to become a Jing in the first place, with some relatively basic abilities, then make another template to describe the kinds of power gain that comes with time and energy absorption, which can be applied repeatedly and stacks, sort of like the Evolved Undead template.
Powers
I'm trying to come up with a list of powers that a Jing would gain. Sentience, obviously, and human form is one of the most basic ones, definitely, but other powers are widely varied between them, and seem to be largely free-form in many of the myths. Illusion seems to be common, but that could be bias from my research into the Huli Jing.
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2014-09-01, 04:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Ugh, all this time and I'm still running into this problem.
Apparently, the forums code things can't recognize slanted quotation marks. You know, the kind used in every word processor? So, when you copy from a document, you have to be careful to re-type all the quotation marks in the post, so the code will work.
Anyways, long explanation over, is fixed, seems to work now.My Homebrew
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2014-09-02, 07:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Scientific Name: Wombous apocolypticus | Diet: Apocolypse Pie | Cuddly: Yes
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2014-09-02, 08:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Named Beasts
I think there may be some confusion as to what I'm talking about. The Named Beasts aren't just animals that can talk, they're the spiritual embodiment of the distilled essence of all the animals of a certain type. They embody all the traits that make a creature unique. This is not just a wolf with a name, this is Wolf, embodiment of wolf-kind, hunter extraordinaire, alpha of alphas. Not quite a god, but definitely a major player in the spirit world. I simply cannot imagine that Wolf would have 2 HD, no matter what other abilities I would give him.My Homebrew
Five-time champion of the GITP monster competition!
Current Projects:
Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!
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2014-09-03, 02:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
I've been working on the islands of the Knights and during my research i've stumbled across a problem.
After Anglicanism appeared the Knights disappeared from England. And after the Reformation the german Bailiwick of the Knights converted to protestantism and seperated from the order. The Dutch and Swedes fell under this Bailiwick.
Basically, the way it stands now two of our big colonial nations don't fall under the Knights.
But don't worry, this might be an opportunity to make it all a bit more interesting.
We've established the Knights as warriors who defend Christians from the nasties in the New World. And if they can they will protect potential Christians as well. So it's a small step to saying they will protect Protestants as well, they are Christians who just don't follow the teachings they do.
Maybe the Knights are the big advocates of re-uniting Christianity. They want to mend the bonds that have been broken. If they can they will even try to end the Great Schizm between Catholic and Orthodox christianity. (Hospitaller way of unification)
This puts them on the complete opposite of the inquisitors who view all those 'sects' as heretics and wish to bring them back to Catholiscism the hard way. (Inquisitor way of unification)
To do this i'd like to reorganise the Langues:
- French langue (supports Hospitaller way of unification)
- Spanish langue (supports Inquisitor way of unification)
- Portuguese langue (supports Inquisitor way of unification)
- German + Dutch + Scandinavian langue (historical, dominated by the Dutch ever since the Knights left for the New World. Supports Hospitaller way of unification)
- English Langue (re-established in the 1690's as a part of the treaty between the Knights and the English. The Knights were allowed to keep Nevis and the English were allowed to rejoin the Knights under their own langue. This gives them a vote on the council as well. Supports Hospitaller way of unification)
- Native Langue (we now have a location for these guys, Tobago. Probably a recent addition. Supports Hospitaller way of unification)
- Orthodox langue (a recent establishment this langue consists mostly of Russian Knights and some Greeks and Balkan Knights. This is historical, the Knights had a large presence in the Russian fleet. Supports Hospitaller way of unification)
- Italian langue (Mostly italian but there are members from other nations as well. These Knights are fierce supporters of the Inquisitors. There might even be inquisitors among them. Supports Inquisitor way of unification)
This will make the Knights a bit more political unstable and makes them more interesting to play in. It also cements the Knights as the good guys that want to do the good thing, but they have dissent in their ranks. And i think this keeps things balanced.
Thougts? Comments?
Skype
I should be able to attend. Things i'd like to discuss:
- Organisations, so far we only have the Knights. Should we add more? And where do we add them?
- Religion, i'd like to have a list of religions we're going to add to the game. Are there going to be benefits/drawbacks to religions or are we going to keep things neutral? Are we going to make religion specific feats or not?
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2014-09-03, 09:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Just been prowling around, how can I help?
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2014-09-04, 03:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Knights
I gotta admit, you're doing a pretty awesome job with the whole Caribbean region and the knights in particular.
I really like the idea of the Hospitaller/Inquisitor split in the organization, and the way you have it laid out seems pretty solid! I support this plan. The question is, if there is the one head knight, which side does he fall on, and how much authority does he have to make the rest of the organization follow his view?
Skype
Glad to hear it!
I could definitely see organizations and religion on the list of topics to discuss.
Technically speaking, we're still on the topic of independent nations, those outside the main 5, so I'll try to come up with some stuff relating to them too.
rg9000
Glad to have you aboard! well, right now we're discussing the independant nations in the setting those not part of the larger groups, such as Russia, the Hisatsinom (Anasazi), Great Basin, Plateau, and Ganonsyoni (Iroquois). You can just share your thoughts on possibilities for those groups, if you'd like.
If you want to get a bit more involved, we have a lot of actual brewing required, from monsters in the Call to Brew thread, to spells, feats, prestige classes... Go nuts! Make whatever you want, and I'll see if it'll fit into the setting and what can change to make it happen.
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Okay, getting back on-topic a bit.
Cultures
So, as superdave pointed out, we DO have a lot of cultures. I don't think we can go quite so far as reducing it to 5 national cultures, but I did point out we could probably reduce the list by minimizing specific spinoff cultures and focusing on the big blocks.
That would reduce the list down to European, Chinese, African, Native (arctic, subartic, northeast, southeast, plains, plateau, great basin, southwest, california, northwest coast, mesoamerican). Plus the nonhuman cultures. That takes the list down to... 14, rather than 20-21, which might be easier to operate with. We would then cover specific regional cultures, like vinlandrs, mammutcha, aztec, and maya, under the descriptions of the 5 main regions.
This does limit the players a bit, but I think we could probably get away with it if we handled it well. But the question needs to be answered before I can get back to work on fleshing out cultures.
Hisatsinom
Okay, so, when last we spoke of these guys we more or less decided we wanted to keep some of the trees, but not all through the territory. I proposed making it into four zones, one in the north with trees, the central area with more classical southwest landscape, the delta area around the Colorado’s mouth that would be the breadbasket of the region, and the deserts that would mostly have a strong tradition of powerful magic-users and export those talents.
Ganonsyoni
We kinda dropped all the important bits and just focused on the otters with these guys. We're looking at a very politically talented people, with control over the largest waterways leading from the mainland to the ocean. Strong traditions of democracy and charismatic leadership, and in the last 200 years or so, the new owners of a massive stretch of land engulfing all of the great lakes (except maybe superior), complete with control over the lucrative fur trade through the region. They would be wealthy, politically talented, and courted from all sides by various groups trying to get access and control over them and the region as a whole. Also, they have tamed otters that still need stats.
Great Basin
Haven't discussed much about these guys. We know they would still be a separate group from the Hisatsinom, but their territory would be much reduced. If the trees remained in the Hisatsinom region, so would they remain here, which does change the nature of the discussion a bit. I honestly don't know much about the region, and I've been too busy trying to get something done and panicing to do much research. I think their land is roughly the area yellowstone would be in, but I'm not certain. We'd probably be looking at terrain similar to that.
Plateau
Since we decided to give the rockies to the sasquatch, we don't really have a lot of ideas for these guys. I can't really find much abut them and their culture as a whole, and it's hard to tell where exactly the borders of the plateau region are, especially since the area straddles the US/Canada border, so the info is, of course, split up even more than usual.
Russia
So, cold wild west sorta deal. Gold and furs are the major draws, but the area's also attractive to spellcasters, both good and bad, criminals, pirates, anyone seeking to escape the government's control, and various other outcast groups. We've got TONS of violence and banditry going on out in the wilds, and the government trying desperately to control the shipping and ports in and out of the area. The natives, of course, will make trouble in some places and make it easier in others. This sounds like a pretty cool plan, so far.My Homebrew
Five-time champion of the GITP monster competition!
Current Projects:
Crossroads: the New World: A pathfinder campaign setting about an alternate history of North America, where five empire collide in a magical land full of potential. On the road to publication!
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2014-09-05, 12:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-09-05, 07:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
I second this. Also hi! I've been away awhile. I fell behind and it was hard to find a good spot to jump back in. :/
Edit: To elaborate, I like this option because one of the reasons people still play 3.5 and pathfinder is the massive number of options you have for any given concept. I imagine we could have 5 culture groups* based on geographic location. These could basically have shared traits, and be good enough for players who don't want to get down into the weeds. Then we can have more specific cultures that are all slight modifications of the culture groups
*6 is probably better actually. European Colonists, African/Creole, Plains, Meso America, Tuunitaq area, California Area. Not a suggestion for final names of course. The racial cultures (troll, quetzl,wookieyeti) would need to be made, but those characters could also take the more general culture of their area, since they still live/grew up there.
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2014-09-05, 01:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
A thought on the Named Animals: Would it be unreasonable for the Named Beasts to be the first Jing? Creatures so old that they are minor deities? It would be interesting for perhaps to tie the Chinese Zodiac into this group. Perhaps Fusang sees Coyote and the others as Chinese Zodiac of this land. The idea behind this is that in most myths that I have come across, Humans are the final creation, with animals being the First People more or less. A fun way to tie everything together a bit potentially.
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2014-09-06, 01:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
I'd rather leave the two as separate concepts, but include a eventual sidebar that discusses that the difference between the Named Beasts and the Jing might just be differences between magic a and magic b, or considers what could be the difference between the two groups of spiritual entities.
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2014-09-06, 03:16 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Crossroads II: I'm on a Mammoth.
Cool map to help understand the maya
I found a really neat map over the various maya peoples in the highlands in the 15th century. Though it'd be useful. When I write the timeline it was the Kaqchikel, the Itza and the Yucatek (not on the map) that I made the three dominant branches in the 18th century.
By the way I also really recommend reading the rest of that topic, though it's not very long yet.