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Old 11-18-2018, 02:29 PM   #31
Shadekeep
 
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

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No artists from the Mid-evil period strike your fancy?
Oh they do, and they come very cheap. But I like to commission original art and get fresh takes on the very lurid descriptions of the demons.
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Old 11-18-2018, 08:07 PM   #32
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

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SPI also made a solo/multiplayer game simply called Demons, which also uses demons from this source. I still have an unpunched copy of that. ^_^
Nifty - I wasn't familiar with that game. Sadly, we never played DragonQuest much back in the old days (my friends preferred D&D above all - it was enough of a challenge to get them to play TFT, and I repeatedly struck out when trying to get them to try Traveller). I even wrote my first database application on an Apple 2 to generate monsters and encounters for DQ.
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Old 11-18-2018, 11:23 PM   #33
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I'm sure a good book could be made...

Rather than the D&D-like approach of "here is THE list of the demons, and their stats, powers, and alignments...", I'd prefer one that was a toolkit that helps a GM make their own unique demon setup that suits their needs and that their players can discover in play.

Or, one that elaborates interestingly somehow on TFT-style demons rather than more Christian-like demons. That is, something that explains these curious non-denominational powerful creatures from another plane that can be summoned by non-denominational psychic spellcasting and that are resentful and tricky and are magical but can only teleport and bestow those weird wish things, and so on... what's their plane like, what makes them tick, do they have agendas, etc etc. and the answer is not: Hell, they're Evil, anti-angels, want your immortal soul, have the names of Christian medieval demons, etc.
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Old 11-19-2018, 06:26 AM   #34
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

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I'm sure a good book could be made...
Those are good points, and I agree that could be an interesting foundation for a guidebook. Incidentally, the demons previously mentioned are really Abrahamic ones, being from the common rootstock of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But the point is still valid.

Anyway, I do view the demons in TFT as more demiurges than traditional religious demons. They are beings with reality-shaping powers and their own agenda, as opposed to what I would term devils, which are evil entities opposed to the gods. Both kinds have little patience for mortals, but for different reasons.

I can definitely think of a framework for building one's own demons, including a basic taxonomy and pool of abilities they might draw on. Could be an fun exercise...
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Old 11-19-2018, 10:12 AM   #35
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If I was doing it, I'd stay away from anything resembling modern Christian "folklore" type demons, and stick to stuff like the Keys of Solomon, etc. They might be evil, they might be indifferent, they know tremendous amounts of stuff, etc. I'd probably want there to be a lot of rules for how they worked that weren't known even to those wizards that had knowledge of how to summon and bind them. "You read a story once about how [such and such] happened when Wendel the Wise summoned a demon and commanded it to do [a thing], but you don't know exactly why. Neither did Wendel."

Anyway, I'm a big horror movie fan, so I'd probably draw from stuff like Hereditary, The Alchemists' Cookbook, maybe Evil Dead.

Once someone summons a demon, even if they contain the backlash and nothing goes wrong during the wish itself, it's possible that wild and wooly things can happen in their life afterward, as that bending in reality sends out echoes and ripples. I mean, I don't know what those things might be, but you can give it a real "you have tampered with things you maybe shouldn't have" feel without killing any PCs.
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Old 11-19-2018, 10:27 AM   #36
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

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Once someone summons a demon, even if they contain the backlash and nothing goes wrong during the wish itself, it's possible that wild and wooly things can happen in their life afterward, as that bending in reality sends out echoes and ripples. I mean, I don't know what those things might be, but you can give it a real "you have tampered with things you maybe shouldn't have" feel without killing any PCs.
Agreed... in my campaign, I'm fairly certain that wishes will be...
1) Non-transferrable,
2) Non-'bankable',
3) Costly (in a karmic sense)
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Old 11-19-2018, 10:53 AM   #37
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

However under the rules as written a Goblin with ST 6, DX 9, IQ 22 i.e. 37 attribute points or three years experience (at 600 XP/year) gets just shy of a net hundred wishes on average before being dusted, assuming extremely robust defenses. (About a dozen more wishes on average will be produced and consumed to recover from non-dusted deaths along the way.) That gives a cost per greater wish of $6K to $10K.

Given the implied $5k cost of a lesser wish (page 46), how are the alchemists charging $65k for a revival potion?
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Old 11-19-2018, 11:00 AM   #38
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

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Agreed... in my campaign, I'm fairly certain that wishes will be...
1) Non-transferrable,
2) Non-'bankable',
3) Costly (in a karmic sense)
As they should be. I also still prefer your approach to using "hero points" in lieu of lesser wishes, just to remove the whole demon/wish framework from consideration.
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Old 11-19-2018, 03:18 PM   #39
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

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Anyway, I do view the demons in TFT as more demiurges than traditional religious demons. They are beings with reality-shaping powers and their own agenda, as opposed to what I would term devils, which are evil entities opposed to the gods. Both kinds have little patience for mortals, but for different reasons.

I can definitely think of a framework for building one's own demons, including a basic taxonomy and pool of abilities they might draw on. Could be an fun exercise...

I think this could support the approach I want to take for demons as well... namely that they are physical manifestations of anti-life entities from a dimension of negative energy. They can exist on this plane only by possession of another living being which they can reshape as they desire.

One of the core elements of my campaign's meta-plot will be the connection between these 'demonic' beings and the undead (both originating from the same source... the dimensional rift that Cidri was constructed to contain) and their ultimate goal to corrupt and consume all life.
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Old 11-20-2018, 08:38 AM   #40
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Default Re: Dealing with Demons

Must be something in the air, as this rather bizarre new Kickstarter evinces:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...68/sigil-cards

What an odd thing to make. Maybe all our chatter here about this has called it up from the darkness...
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