04-11-2008, 11:21 AM | #81 |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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Re: Yrth technology
Gremlins? What if Yrth has gremlins, nasty li'l guys who love to monkeywrench machinery. Higher TL= more attractive to gremlins. They could be mutant brownies, created by the mages to impair the work of the Underground Engineers. Other possibilities: Banestorm brought 'em in from some other world, the dark elves are responsible, etc.
Maybe this is a stupid idea. It's just a notion I've been kicking around. Imagine an engineer hiring a party of adventurers to de-gremlin his workshop-tower, without alearting the authorities to his illegal tinkerings.Could be fun. |
04-11-2008, 11:27 AM | #82 |
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Re: Yrth technology
My point about explosions is that, unlike melee and direct-fire missile attacks, they tend to be indirect, unpredictable, and lobbed using weapons that can bombard for a really long time. Conscious blocking spells aren't up to the challenge, and area spells that wall in your position or make it fireproof aren't useful outside of static defense. The nice thing about Missile Shield is that you can walk around with it, and it makes surprise attacks, sniper shots, fragments, and everything else just Not Work. I agree that Resist Pressure should do the same vs. blasts, but it currently just grants Pressure Support or Vacuum Support, which explicitly exlude transients like explosions. When the legion fires a catapult-load of a few hundreds grenades on you, and there are little explosions going off in front, behind, above, and all around, your options are limited.
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04-11-2008, 11:31 AM | #83 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Yrth technology
Quote:
Given the ingenuity impetus of barbarians at the border, you'd expect inventive mages to come up with a Resist Overpressure variant after a while :/ ;) Last edited by Not another shrubbery; 04-11-2008 at 12:11 PM. |
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04-11-2008, 11:32 AM | #84 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: a crooked, creaky manse built on a blasted heath
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Re: Yrth technology
Use magic to drench the enemy powder supply, or the weapons themsleves. This would work well against black powder.
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04-11-2008, 11:42 AM | #85 | |
"Gimme 18 minutes . . ."
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Re: Yrth technology
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And besides, I doubt very much they would come knocking on the front door if your PCs were that powerful. I think they would wait until the PCs were isolated, incapacitated, or distracted, and then take them out one at a time. I could easily see a dedicated hit squad(or the entire branch of the SoM dedicated to suppressing tech, if your PCs really are that powerful) selectively targeting such disruptive individuals one at a time, whittling down their numbers and resources. Once they've taken out the PCs, they walk in and collect up the technology and make it vanish. I don't view the SoM as similar to MIBs(at least the somewhat goofy ones from the movies) so much as the conspiracy theory versions of the CIA. Scary, highly competent, dedicated, and with a ridiculous amount of resources they can draw on. I think you have an excellent point regarding the dwarves however. With no native population to blend in with, no intelligence resources in the kingdom, and a generally unfriendly attitude towards the Magelans, I think an outworlder with an engineering background that was dropped into a dwarven kingdom would have a long and rich career as a teacher for classes full of eager dwarves for the rest of his life. I can't really think of a way to STOP this from happening, actually. And once the dwarves industrialize, the SoM will be forced to open the archives of technology they have in order to keep their nation competitive. I do like the whole idea of, "Fire Elementals love explosives like crackheads love rock." This at least minimizes firearms and cannon(especially combined with return missile or missile shield.) It especially makes large scale powder storage and manufacturing insanely dangerous. Perhaps way too dangerous to be worth it, considering the flexibility that magic allows. |
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04-11-2008, 12:17 PM | #86 | ||
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Re: Yrth technology
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If you assume some transnational brotherhood of religious ruling-class string-pullers who all have a vested interest in not just their country but every country staying medieval and not becoming technological, because they somehow know that technology will usurp them, it might work. If you assume that countries other than Megalos are powerless and incompetent, it might work. If you assume the Megalos has already won, and the secret masters keep "borders" around for ineffable reasons, it might work. If, however, you assume that al-Haz, al-Wazif, Caithness, Sahud, the Dwarves, the Orcs, etc., all have their own spooks, that some of those spooks are as good as or better than the Ministry, and that those spooks are only too willing to open their country or culture's doors to powerful developments that their stodgy Megalan enemies reject . . . well, I don't think you'll need powerful PCs to challenge the system. In particular, I could see al-Haz, with its distaste for magic, actively recruiting technologists as a counterweight. Quote:
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04-11-2008, 12:27 PM | #87 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: a crooked, creaky manse built on a blasted heath
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Re: Yrth technology
To keep all the factions in line, you'd need Secret Masters, I think. Something like this:
http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=943 |
04-11-2008, 12:44 PM | #88 |
On Notice
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Re: Yrth technology
In one of my Yrth games, the Secret Uberfaction that is responsible for suppressing firearms, and tech in general, is the Dragons.
You already have one Dragon playing politics in Tredroy/Cardiel; it's not a far stretch to suppose that the Dragons decided to use (or create) the Ministry as a cover for activities outside Megalos...which is, after all, the Dragon Empire...:) Dragons are effectively immortal, can fly long distances (or teleport), have access to powerful magics, and can (usually) shapeshift. I give them a Sense Banestorm advantage, so whenever an 'immigrant' shows up, a 'Ministry' agent (or whoever...other nations have their own versions)shows up soon after. Altho if a draconic 'Mage In Black' decides a newcomer is dangerous, he's probably just going to eat them, rathert than waste time with the whole 'memory wipe' thing. BBQ, anyone? :) In another Yrth game....I made it the Gnomes. They became my Droyne analogue.....
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04-11-2008, 12:58 PM | #89 |
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Calgary, AB... looking for a few more to join us.
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Re: Yrth technology
Something occurred to me as I was reading through this thread. I don't think I've asked it before.
If magic were able to take a valuable substance like gold, which is the standard for most currencies nowadays, relatively valueless, what substance would modern countries make the standard for their currencies?
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04-11-2008, 12:59 PM | #90 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Yrth technology
Quote:
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Tags |
banestorm, yrth |
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