Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Possibly, I mean I'm not sure about any of what I said in that posting, it being random blethering, not what you said!

The other planets have no Backstage, right (except for rocks), since they weren't previously inhabited by humans so only the Bubble areas are inhabited?

Possibly, I've been gormlessly misunderstanding part of the premise all along. Rather than 'we extended the bubble to terraforming the whole solar system for some reason, the other planets aren't really stable yet and we're using pulp sci-fi to cover for why nothing makes sense there', is it 'we made the other planets like this on purpose because the world needs magic even if nobody calls it magic but we didn't dare have it closer to Earth than the Moon's orbit because the variety and made-up nonsense of the pulp sci-fi keeps making the bubble leak'?

That makes a lot more sense, if so. So, in this setting, the world needs magic to exist but it doesn't have to be nearby, so long as it exists, so the wizards made a kind of nature reserve for magic - but that does mean that adventurers keep having to go out there to deal with Things getting in as that's where it's most likely to happen.

Possibly, this makes a bit more sense after I looked at Prince Charon's 'Powers as Path/Book Magic' thread and tried to understand Black Condor's backstory :-D

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

You had some insights. Useless bather it was not.

Yes. At least at first. Mages in particular can make use of otherwise inaccessible places.

More likely I was too glib and superficial.

Mainly as a slight of hand trick. A) Certain unstable elements can be placed alway from ordinary people giving the Sleepers time and space. B) Loosen paradox up by making wonders more acceptable. "Well they were on Mars for a couple of years, it's not surprising they can do incredible things." C) Awaken the Sleepers gently by making wonder part of the world.

Your understanding it. Once wonder was over the hill beyond you hill. Then it moved to China, India, and other places East of Suez. Then it moved to the deepest forests of Africa and Latin America. Nowadays, wonder lives in Outer Space.

You've totally got it.

I'll probably need to look at that myself.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The 'Powers as Path/Book Magic' (or as some kind of magic) thing would fit here since a lot of the 'superheroes' are actually using magic.
(I mentioned Black Condor just as an example of some 1940s comics just being 'let's randomly make up something awesome whether it makes sense or not' (in fact, the entire comic issue he first appeared in is like that). Great for keeping magic going, and for confusing the Outer Ones by never working quite the same way two minutes together, but also great for causing bubble breaches).

It seems like, I'm having a bit of difficulty working out what this game is supposed to look like in practice.

It seems like, if it works how it seems like it might work, Cold Comfort Farm is a particularly inspired thing for the wizards to pick as a component, since that revolves around a clash of genres with the less archaic/fantastical one coming out on top - on the other hand, Lovecraft, while I get exactly what you mean about the general style, would be something for adventurers to try to avoid something turning into when it comes to what happens, as it usually involves rationalist science and technology going up against Unknown Things and getting absolutely steamrollered (although that's Mythos, Dreamlands may not be the same in that respect, I don't know, I've mainly encountered it at second hand through e.g. Fallen London).

It seems like, this might actually be an element of gameplay, for players that like that kind of thing - different stories/genres have a life of their own and events tend to start imitating stories that what's happening resembles (it fits in with that being how the world was re-assembled to start with), and each story has its own benefits and risks, with PCs having to head things off if they realise it's turning into a story that'll punch a hole in the bubble and/or get them killed.

Possibly, I was already familiar with 'A Piece of the Action', and it's a hoot :-D

It might be wise for a GM not to give vampires any special resistance to this unless they don't mind vampires running the entire Backstage. But if they were OK with that, or if it was just one vampire that happened to be one of the people with high resistance, that vampire would fit in very well - hordes of initiative-less followers who wouldn't question whatever flimsy explanation he came up with for what he is and why he needs a supply of human blood.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Not abandoned yet.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Arcane Empire has ruled for thousands of years. In the capital on the nomative river Kaon, Mage-Emperor Victorious VI rules over a bureaucratic nightmare of hostile houses and impetuous lords. Despite the flaws, however, the empire has many times been weaker and bounced back, in large part because anyone ambitious and powerful enough to try to take the throne is generally ambitious and powerful enough to restore the empire under his command -- or else is soon dispatched and replaced with one who is.

But in the merchant cities of the northeast (a dozen or so putatively independent cities which the Empire certainly could capture if it so desired, but has thus far granted a stay of leniency), things are rapidly changing. When the Sunrise Lands were first discovered, they were a curiosity, a population of strange folk who knew little of proper magic and rulership, and of nobles that rarely even kept serfs.

But missionaries setting forth to spread word of the Sun and Stars, and to teach the rituals to protect from the dreadful demon Moons, soon found themselves discussing philosophy with the statesmen -- and even stateswomen! -- of the Easterlings, and have found strange new concepts. In the merchant cities, a fad of sorts has emerged around one such concept; there is no good translation of it, but it is a sort of rightness in doing that which one prefers to do, even if it conflicts with the orders of a superior, and moreover making such a moral failing into a fundamental part of society; even asking lessers how they would like things! It's absurdity. Imagine if a captain should ask his men if they would like to go to war! Nonetheless, this talk has spread from missionaries to sailors, from sailors to tavernkeeps, from the wharves to the trade caravans, and from there to the salons and tea shops of Kaonic high society, and the Empire's other, lesser cities.

And so, the Empire is not yet at its weakest, no. But its old bones creak and it has no idea what is building in the basements and beerhalls, libraries and mills, on the riverdocks and in the poor quarters. It has a brittle strength that has crushed the weak and been subsumed by the strong, but now a thousand little permutations have bubbled up. Who knows what little faction is going to climb to the top and actually face the Emperor. Even then, they will find that fighting an incredibly powerful and wealthy wizard with decades of experience and his own army and in his own well-prepared fortress is only the end of the beginning.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Cainite vampires were excluded from the Bubble at the start. Cathayan vampires simply enter the Bubble by themselves. Although the Cathayans because of their strangely divided souls can resist the attacks of the Outer Ones more effectively than most others.

The Cainite vampires are fairly bitter about the Mages and their allies having taken humanity into what they see as an illusionary realm. (The Bubble is real and has begun to supersede the reality of the Backstage but the Cainite vampires can't see that). Vampire leaders and Princes see the remaining humans as a finite resource. And elder Vampires CONTROL RESOURCES!

Diabbery (vampires killing other vampires by draining their blood through feeding) is still technically forbidden, but constantly ignored. That is ignored if you have any connections. Otherwise it is grounds for execution on sight and Auspex the vampiric power of para sensor

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

My phone is acting up. The unfinished sentence says that Auspex the vampire power of parasensory awareness and enhancement allows fairly easy means for experienced NPCs to spot Diaberists. But as Aura Reading is a mid level ability, inexperienced PC vampires won't have the same advantages.

More later.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Although I have to finish off some parts of The Editorial Committee I'm offering a different idea today.

I recently ordered an early de Camp novel None But Lucifer. I've not read the novel but a synopsis says that the lead character discoverers that Earth itself IS hell. The character decides to take over and oust Lucifer. However, Lucifer wanted him to take over!

That's were the synopsis ends, but what a campaign idea! Earth is Hell and Lucifer has tricked the PCs into taking over. Clearly the PCs will have to be powerful, high stats, Bang! Skills, and powers. Their foes will be the Dukes of Hell and other powerful dammed souls seeking to take over Hell.

I'd suggest that if the PCs make lives better for a substantial percentage of the dammed in Hell, they are redeemed. You could also say that they must make it possible for dammed souls to redeem themselves in order to be redeemed.

You could simply play to hold on and weild power for the hell of it.

By the way, you could steal an idea from Hazben Hotel and Helava Boss. That is to say, have heaven be full of trigger happy "angels" who want to achieve a final solution to the hell question.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The apocalypse is coming. The Great Empire, the elf-ruled (and I'm not talking about the bunny hugging nature elves but the Callous ones) is about to learn the hard way that when you control all the weather, do your labour with enslaved elementals, undead, demons, spell warped beasts, constantly force accelerated plant growth to feed your swelling population, suppress earth movement to prevent quakes, use magic for everything without taking precautions to control the occasional stray demon... Well there's a bill for all that is coming due.

But, in the middle of this our heroes have arrived from the future. And no they aren't here to save the empire. Nope, they're here to stop its last hope, a spell that will fling a hundred thousand of them into the future to escape the apocalypse, and then conquer the new world that grew out of it. The player characters' world.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

This is a cross between Mage: The Ascension and either Hunter:The Reckoning or Hunter: The Vigil according to your taste.

The setting is a post-apocalyptic world. Basically, a group of Hunters was made an offer by a group of Mages. The Mages had an underground base. It had spacious quarters, hydroponic gardens, and all the other amenities that one looks for in an underground/survive the apocalypse city/base. The deal was the Hunters and the people they defend would come live in the base. The Mages would offer healing and education. It would be understood that Mages would be accepted citizens of the community. The Hunters, facing starvation and other threats agreed.

This can play several ways.

A) You can have a story of two suspicious groups learning to live together for a common good.

B) Open the base doors a hundred years after the apocalyptic event (sooner if it makes sense) to explore a transformed world.

C) I assume that the underground city is controlled by the Council of the Traditions. The Hunters will be trying to unify to gain political influence on the Council.

D) Other powers in the WoD want the base and the humans living there. The Mages and Hunters must defend the populace and the resources that sustain them.