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03-02-2014, 10:04 AM
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#1 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: a crooked, creaky manse built on a blasted heath
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Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Okay, let's try something more focused the just "fantasy." The setting (at least the primary setting) will be Earth. The genre is "urban fantasy." For the rest, you guys vote. I'll come along after I deem sufficient votes are in/the thread seems ripe, and make a tally. Then I'll put up more voting and more categories, based on your ideas and submissions. EDIT- Click below to see the initial poll, now closed.
Spoiler:
EDIT: Here are the results of the first round of voting. This is the basic template on which we can build. Near Future (of Earth) Hidden weirdness Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world Default PC types: Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. Two kinds of magic/weird powers exist: • Supernatural advantages • Path/Book magic Monsters fall into three broad categories: • Witches/evil magicians • Fairies • Other: DRAGONS EDIT
Spoiler:
EDIT-- Dragons wins, poll closed. Quote:
EDIT TECH UPDATE Here are the totals with my votes added: • 7+4=11 TL 8 Retro • 25+3=28 TL 8 baseline/like today with some new gadgets but no major changes • 35+5=40 TL 8 with one area advanced a TL WINNER • 34+1=35 TL 9 with no super-science • 23+2=25 TL 9 Cyberpunk Path • 40+0 =40 other WINNER Yep, I voted to make a tie. Split TL! Wheee. The TL 8 with one advanced area is the standard, known default TL for the setting. The Other category may be dragon tech, faerie tech, secret gov’t stuff, magitech, whatever. We will now vote on that with the subcategories drawn from your suggestions, guys. OTHER TECH/HIDDEN TECH NEW POLL:
Please rank these 0,1,2,3. SECOND NEW POLL TL 8 with one advanced area... Which area? Vote on the options below. transportation/vehicles weapons and armor power biotech/medicine communications/sensors/media architecture/construction/materials computers other area (TBD by new poll) Please rank 0, 1,2, 2, 3....7. UPDATE, Power wins with 57, nine points ahead of the nearest contender. EDIT: FOLLOWING POLL NOW CLOSED NEW POLL: HOW/WHY ARE MAGIC AND MONSTERS HIDDEN FROM THE MUNDANES 1)There is a powerful and effective masquerade enforced by one or more supernatural factions. 2)It's psychological. Most people are too freaked out by magic and monsters to retain any clear memory of encounters. Lots of rationalizing stuff, blocked memories, looking the other way... 3) A mortal secret agency or gov't conspiracy covers up the supernatural in order to protect humanity (or for some other purpose...) 4) Some kind of veil/enchantment over the whole world (or all but "thin places'') hides this stuff from everyone but special humans. I've broken the various suggestions down into these four basic options. Please rank 0, 1, 2, 3. Higher number= preferred option. RESULTS 16 masquerade 10 mortal conspiracy /gov’t cover-up 16 veil/enchantment 6 psychological factors split result, see later post for me info NEW POLL ON TEMPLATES/GUIDELINES http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=217 results= multiple templates per category won Last edited by combatmedic; 04-29-2014 at 05:39 AM. |
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03-02-2014, 12:03 PM
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#2 |
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GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Time period RANK 1-5
• 1980s +1 (would be 0 if I could). • 1990s +5 • 2000s +4 • This decade/present day +2 • Near future +3 History: RANK 1-4 • Hidden weirdness: +2 (0 if allowed). • Lost time: +1 (or 0 if allowed). • Small differences alternate: +3. • Reality quake: +4 Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 • Tight, +1 (0 if allowed). • Regional, +2 (0 if allowed). • Diffuse, +3. Default player-character types RANK 1-4 • Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks, +2 (+0 if allowed). • Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc., +1 (+0 if allowed). • Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes, +3 (+3½, combined with above). • monsters, +4 (+3½, combined with above) EXPLANATION: I would like to see 'monsters' who are not monsters in the classical WoD sense. E.g. Psionicists, Witches, Werecreatures who don't mean any harm to humans, Mages, Geist-the-Sin-Eater-like revenants who just want a second chance at normal life, Rail Shamans going about their busines, Luck Traders . . . going about their business. I'd very much like to avoid black-and-white morality, even for the seemingly black-only monster types. Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 • One +1 (0) • Two +2 (0) • Three or more +3 Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 • standard system, limited grimoire and secret +1 • psi as magic +2 • supernatural advantages and powers as magic +5 • book/path of some kind +6 • esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism +4 • fringe tech/weird science +3 Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: • One +1 (0) • Two +2 (0) • Three +3 (0) • Four +4 • Five +5 • Six or more +6 Monster types, RANK 1—10, • Shapeshifters, +6 • Ghosts/Spirits, +4 • Vampires, +2 (0) • Fairies, +8 • Witches, warlocks, evil magicians, +7 • Zombies, +1 (0) • Demons and devils, +5 • Cryptids, +3 (0) • Golems/constructs, +9 • Other types, +10 The more other types, the merrier. Preferably make most of them Other Types (mostly because 'shapeshifters' and 'witches' are so broad as to be almost unavoidable). |
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03-02-2014, 12:56 PM
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#3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Edmond, OK
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
I made a modern high fantasy setting a bit ago that is:
Present day Reality Quake (actually more than a quake-- everyone knows about magic. You can find spellbooks online, etc.) Magic is present nearly everywhere, though there are things like no-mana zones. Magic is available as Book magic, Realms with Thresholds, alchemy, and personal magical knacks. There are lots of monsters and magical races. Here are some Google Docs links for it: Overview Character Information Magic Stuff (This is the abbreviated form, since the whole document contains a lot of stuff directly from Thaumatology, and I don't want to break copyright.) |
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03-02-2014, 01:12 PM
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#4 |
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Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Dresden Files
Time period RANK 1-5 • This decade/present day + 4 History: RANK 1-4 • Hidden weirdness: the supernatural stuff has always existed, under the surface, more so in recent centuries—textbook history and common knowledge match our world + 1 • Reality quake: a reality altering event has occurred, either recently or deeper in the past/further in the future but affecting the present. Magic bleeds into the world and lots of people are noticing… [getting close to this] Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 • Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world [+3] Default player-character types RANK 1-4 • Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. [+2] • monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) [if you count Tomas + 4] Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 • Three or more [+ 3] Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 • book/path of some kind [+4 RPM] • esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism [+ 5] • fringe tech/weird science [If butters had his way but they're not there] Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: • Six or more [+ 6] Monster types, RANK 1—10, • Shapeshifters • Ghosts/Spirits • Vampires • Fairies • Witches, warlocks, evil magicians • Zombies • Demons and devils • Cryptids • Golems/constructs • Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night Basically all of the above. |
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03-02-2014, 01:48 PM
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#5 |
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Greater value number rank= greater preference.
Time period RANK 1-5 5• 1980s 2• 1990s 1• 2000s 3• This decade/present day 4• Near future I really prefer modern games with no ubiquitous cellphone, so 1980s. Otherwise, no real preference except that near future is easier, more freedom to improvise. History: RANK 1-4 4• Hidden weirdness: 3• Lost time: 2• Small differences alternate: 1• Reality quake: Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 1• Tight 2• Regional, 3• Diffuse, Default player-character types RANK 1-4 3• Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness 4• Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. 2• Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes 1• monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 1• One 2• Two 3• Three or more Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 4• standard system, limited grimoire and secret 2• psi as magic 5• supernatural advantages and powers as magic 6• book/path of some kind 3• esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism 1• fringe tech/weird science RPM ! Also, divine favor Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: 1• One 2• Two 6• Three 4• Four 5• Five 6• Six or more The more, the better. Monster types, RANK 1—10, 6• Shapeshifters 8• Ghosts/Spirits 5• Vampires 9• Fairies 10• Witches, warlocks, evil magicians 2• Zombies 7• Demons and devils 3• Cryptids 1• Golems/constructs 4• Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night All of them ! Celjabba Last edited by Celjabba; 03-02-2014 at 02:13 PM. |
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03-02-2014, 02:03 PM
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#6 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Greater value number rank= greater preference.
Time period RANK 1-5 2- • 1980s 1- • 1990s 3- • 2000s 5- • This decade/present day 4- • Near future History: RANK 1-4 4- • Hidden weirdness: the supernatural stuff has always existed, under the surface, more so in recent centuries—textbook history and common knowledge match our world 2- • Lost time: a significant chunk of the historical past is fabricated, centuries might be ‘’missing’’ 3- • Small differences alternate: like the first category, but with some minor though potentially important differences in recent decades—wars, art trends, leaders, sports 1- • Reality quake: a reality altering event has occurred, either recently or deeper in the past/further in the future but affecting the present. Magic bleeds into the world and lots of people are noticing… Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 2- • Tight, supernatural stuff concentrated in one city 1- • Regional, one country or large region has more of the weird stuff going on under the surface, other places less 3- • Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world Default player-character types RANK 1-4 3- • Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness 4- • Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. 1- • Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes 2- • monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 1- • One 2- • Two 3- • Three or more Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 2- • standard system, limited grimoire and secret 6- • psi as magic 5- • supernatural advantages and powers as magic 1- • book/path of some kind 3- • esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism 4- • fringe tech/weird science Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: 1- • One 2- • Two 3- • Three 4- • Four 5- • Five 6- • Six or more Monster types, RANK 1—10, 5- • Shapeshifters 3- • Ghosts/Spirits 4- • Vampires 8- • Fairies 7- • Witches, warlocks, evil magicians 6- • Zombies 9- • Demons and devils 10- • Cryptids 2- • Golems/constructs 1- • Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night |
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03-02-2014, 02:38 PM
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#7 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Greater value number rank= greater preference.
Time period RANK 1-5 • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • This decade/present day • Near future My votes for Time Period 1980s +5 1990s +3 2000s +1 This Decade/Present Day +2 Near Future +4 History: RANK 1-4 • Hidden weirdness: the supernatural stuff has always existed, under the surface, more so in recent centuries—textbook history and common knowledge match our world • Lost time: a significant chunk of the historical past is fabricated, centuries might be ‘’missing’’ • Small differences alternate: like the first category, but with some minor though potentially important differences in recent decades—wars, art trends, leaders, sports • Reality quake: a reality altering event has occurred, either recently or deeper in the past/further in the future but affecting the present. Magic bleeds into the world and lots of people are noticing… My votes for History Hidden Weirdness +1 Lost Time +2 Small Differences +4 Reality Quake +3 Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 • Tight, supernatural stuff concentrated in one city • Regional, one country or large region has more of the weird stuff going on under the surface, other places less • Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world My votes for Distribution of Weirdness Tight +3 Regional +1 Diffuse +2 Default player-character types RANK 1-4 • Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness • Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. • Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes • monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) My votes for default player-character types Mostly regular +4 Ghost-breakers and etc +1 Minor Super Heroes +3 Monsters that might be sympathetic +2 Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 • One • Two • Three or more My votes for number of power catergories One +2 Two +1 Three or More +3 Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 • standard system, limited grimoire and secret • psi as magic • supernatural advantages and powers as magic • book/path of some kind • esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism • fringe tech/weird science My votes for categories of powers Standard +3 Psi as Magic +1 Supernatural as magic +5 Book/Path of some kind +2 Esoteric Skills +4 Fringe tech/weird science +6 Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: • One • Two • Three • Four • Five • Six or more My votes for number of monster categories One +2 Two +3 Three +4 Four +5 Five +6 Six or more +1 Monster types, RANK 1—10, • Shapeshifters • Ghosts/Spirits • Vampires • Fairies • Witches, warlocks, evil magicians • Zombies • Demons and devils • Cryptids • Golems/constructs • Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night My votes for Monster Types Shapeshifters +1 Ghosts +2 Vampires +4 Fairies +9 Witches, warlocks, etc +5 Zombies +6 Demons and Devils +3 Cryptids +7 Golems/constructs +8 Other types +10 |
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03-02-2014, 03:12 PM
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#8 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Silver Spring, MD
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Quote:
Greater value number rank= greater preference. Time period RANK 1-5 • 1980s (1) • 1990s (5) • 2000s (4) • This decade/present day (2) • Near future (3) History: RANK 1-4 • Hidden weirdness: the supernatural stuff has always existed, under the surface, more so in recent centuries—textbook history and common knowledge match our world (4) • Lost time: a significant chunk of the historical past is fabricated, centuries might be ‘’missing’’ (1) • Small differences alternate: like the first category, but with some minor though potentially important differences in recent decades—wars, art trends, leaders, sports (3) • Reality quake: a reality altering event has occurred, either recently or deeper in the past/further in the future but affecting the present. Magic bleeds into the world and lots of people are noticing… (2) Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 • Tight, supernatural stuff concentrated in one city (3) • Regional, one country or large region has more of the weird stuff going on under the surface, other places less (1) • Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world (2) I'd actually like it if there were supernatural "hotspots" where the spookiness is concentrated, but it can be found all over, even if it's uncommon. Default player-character types RANK 1-4 • Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness (1) • Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. (3) • Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes (5) • monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) (2) Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 • One (3) • Two (1) • Three or more (2) Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 • standard system, limited grimoire and secret (4) • psi as magic (5) • supernatural advantages and powers as magic (1) • book/path of some kind (2) • esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism (3) • fringe tech/weird science (6) Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: • One (6) • Two (4) • Three (1) • Four (2) • Five(3) • Six or more (5) Monster types, RANK 1—10, • Shapeshifters (7) • Ghosts/Spirits (1) -- but see below. • Vampires (8) • Fairies (3) • Witches, warlocks, evil magicians (10) • Zombies (9) • Demons and devils (4) • Cryptids (6) • Golems/constructs (2) • Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night (5) What I would like to see would be a small number of multi-purpose monsters. For instance, tulpas--so what people think are, say, vampires are actually someone's thought-construct. That way you not only have to defeat the monster, but find out who created the tulpa in the first place. Tulpas would be useful if there are a lot of different types of a monster, too, because everyone has their own idea of what a vampire is like. For ghosts/spirits, this is an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while. Even if nobody likes it, I'd like to throw it out here. On the Ghostbusters DVD, there's a special feature of concept art for some of the ghosts--which, going by their appearance, look like what most games would classify as demons or eldritch abominations. I was mildly freaked when I saw them, because here are these twisted, bizarre looking things that are supposed to be the souls of the dead. (I realize that it's possible that they're actually extradimensional, or really are demons, or something else--I don't know anything about the Ghostbuster's expanded universe, if there is one; I just know from the movies and what I remember from the cartoon.) So: despite what religions say, there is no heaven or hell (or if there is, only the best and worst go there, or reapers get as many souls as they can but can't get them all). Instead, all souls end up in a dimension that has mutagentic properties. Form and mentality both get warped in strange ways, and the longer something has been dead, the more inhuman it gets. Personality is wiped after a while, but the core concepts remain intact longer and may even be magnified (e.g., the Eidolon from GURPS Horror). Most of the time, these spirits remain in their dimension, "living" and growing and possibly eating one another, but at times they manage to break through. A rare some stay on earth after death and are what we normally think of as ghosts, but most will either end up in this afterlife dimension or dissolve. And by all souls, I mean all souls. If the PCs have to take out an ectoplasmic horror, they won't necessarily know if it's the spirit of Granma or one of the spiders she smushed. For other monsters, perhaps some could be combined. For instance, one of the GURPS defaults is that faeries are spirits. Perhaps in order to interact among humans, they have to build golems to use as bodies. They aren't flesh and blood, but clay or wood wrapped in glamour. Same thing could be done for demons, which admittedly is a bit In Nomine but I've been reading the books again lately so I have that in my head.
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On my blog: The Ravenblog and True Tales of the Ley Line Patrol: A WiP Campaign Setting. |
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03-02-2014, 04:41 PM
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#9 |
Join Date: Feb 2011
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Time period RANK 1-5
1 - This decade/present day 2 - 1980s Yeah this was cooler than the 1990s. Soviet wizards! 3 - 1990s 4 - 2000s 5 - Near future History: RANK 1-4 SPECIAL COMBO OPTION: Magic has recently started bleeding into the world, but nearly nobody has noticed. People in the know (the "weird stuff" divisions of intelligence agencies, and a small handful of lucky hippies who find out that x mysticism actually works now, and a similarly small number of religious people who notice y ritual works slightly better than it used to...) suspect that myths of the past were powered by similar insurgences of magic, but aren't sure. Importantly, no tangible things are appearing on their own, no dwarves, goblins, dragons. That said, there are hints of unusual seismic activity... Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 1 - Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world Default player-character types RANK 1-4 1 - Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness 2 - Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. 3 -Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes 4 - monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 1 One 2 Three or more 3 Two Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 1 - book/path of some kind 2 - esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism 3 - fringe tech/weird science 4 - standard system, limited grimoire and secret 5 - supernatural advantages and powers as magic 6 - psi as magic Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: Just generally a small number, though monsters might be varied, there's few distinct classes. You might have dracolthis (reanimated deep-see dragon fossils), Golems (animated inanimate items), and Weres (humans that have modified themselves into monsters), at most... even though some Dracoliths are ten stories tall and others are merely five, and Golems could take any shape that someone could magically animate. Monster types, RANK 1—10, 1 - Cryptids 2 - Witches, warlocks, evil magicians 3 - Golems/constructs 4 - Ghosts/Spirits 5 - Shapeshifters 7 - Fairies 7 - Zombies 7 - Demons and devils (∞+1)^2 - Vampires. Last edited by PTTG; 03-02-2014 at 09:06 PM. |
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03-02-2014, 05:04 PM
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#10 |
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Re: Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting
Greater value number rank= greater preference.
Time period RANK 1-5 5 1980s 4 1990s 3 2000s 2 This decade/present day 1 Near future History: RANK 1-4 4 Hidden weirdness: the supernatural stuff has always existed, under the surface, more so in recent centuries—textbook history and common knowledge match our world 2 Lost time: a significant chunk of the historical past is fabricated, centuries might be ‘’missing’’ 3 Small differences alternate: like the first category, but with some minor though potentially important differences in recent decades—wars, art trends, leaders, sports 1 Reality quake: a reality altering event has occurred, either recently or deeper in the past/further in the future but affecting the present. Magic bleeds into the world and lots of people are noticing… Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3 3 Tight, supernatural stuff concentrated in one city 1 Regional, one country or large region has more of the weird stuff going on under the surface, other places less 2 Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world Default player-character types RANK 1-4 4 Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness 2 Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc. 3 Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes 1 monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this) Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3 3 One 2 Two 1 Three or more Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6 1 standard system, limited grimoire and secret 2 psi as magic 6 supernatural advantages and powers as magic 3 book/path of some kind 4 esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism 5 fringe tech/weird science Number of monster categories, rank 1-6: 2 One 5 Two 6 Three 4 Four 3 Five 1 Six or more Monster types, RANK 1—10, 6 Shapeshifters 10 Ghosts/Spirits 4 Vampires 3 Fairies 9 Witches, warlocks, evil magicians 2 Zombies 8 Demons and devils 1 Cryptids 7 Golems/constructs 5 Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night |
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Hybrid Mode
