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Old 07-04-2020, 09:27 AM   #4861
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Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
It's in the British Museum. I used it in a game years ago.

(The PCs burgled Dee's house while he was in Prague. Any allegations about accidents with naked flames were sheer slander.)
It sounds grand.
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Old 07-05-2020, 01:51 PM   #4862
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Try this one...

The Duke of Clarence made a good match with a pretty German Princess with a good head on her shoulders. Not only did she give him healthy children but she also convinced him that giving the people some of what they want will keep them from rebellion and tumult. Duchess Sophia also read Tom Paine's Rights of Man and shrewdly saw that Tom Paine's radical welfare ideas could be co-opted to stabilized the security of the crown. When William and Sophia became the monarchs, they were ready to push their plans.

The local year in this Q6 world is 1867. The civil war in America is over and Lincoln is using ideas from British social policy to integrate ex-slaves and the native peoples into the broader American society. Queen Sophia's book The Shrewdness of Respectful Charity is a major guide to all sorts of people seeking a better more just society.

Still, some hate this new world of justice, fairness, charity, and respect. The Emperor of the French sees our society as a standing rebuke to his own. Constantly warning no good will come of anything touched by Tom Paine who was involved in both the American and French Revolutions. Meanwhile, the king of Prussia's advisor Bismarck has learned that the young and foolish new king of Britain, William VII (having come to the throne through the sudden deaths of his father and grandfather in a boating accident) is a romantic reactionary. The possibilities for bringing chaos to Britain and France, and thus giving the Hohenzollerns a chance to shape Germany to their dreams.

Basically, court intrigue. William VII is twenty, handsome, spoiled, highly intelligent, bisexual, flighty, brave, athletic, besotted with Victorian Medievalism, and unwilling to listen to anything that seems dull. As such an easy mark for trouble makers.

Homeline isn't concerned for the king's well being, they just don't want his shenanigans to give Centrum control of this Britain. Centrum sees king William as a possibly useful catspaw to both keep Homeline agents busy and get them control of an England that embraced an authoritarian government in an emergency.

Meanwhile, the Cabal is focused on Egypt, India, China, and Tibet, and looting all the best local mystic lore and secrets. As the Wahabists were never a significant political force on this world, the ancient libraries of Yemen and Scotra were never burned. The Cabal is taking anything it can grab. Homeline, which wants to learn what those libraries had and keep the Cabal from becoming more powerful, is trying to stop them.
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Old 07-07-2020, 05:15 PM   #4863
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Try this one...

In most worlds, Japan closes itself off in 1635. In this Q6 world, Tokugawa Iemitsu (the man who closed Japan in most worlds) became fascinated by Dutch books on South America. So gathering Dutch books about geography, navigation, shipbuilding, and related subjects, Tokugawa Iemitsu followed the example of Henry the Navigator and set up a school of navigation and exploration. Like Henry, Iemitsu sought conquest and glory.

By 1650, Japan has a line of island possessions across the Pacific and eyes on Peru.

Basically, Japan versus Spain in late 17th century South America. Samurais and swashbucklers to the death!

The Cabal is using the conflict to gain access to Japan's mystic lore. Centrum wants to restore Japanese isolationism in order to keep European domination of Asia practical. Homeline just films cool documentaries.
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Old 07-09-2020, 10:13 AM   #4864
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Try this one...

Napoleon found out that Fulton was right. You could make a boat move against wind and wave by lighting a fire under her decks. So, a group of ships were built with steam engines to drive them forward and covered with sheets of iron to protect against English cannonballs.

It's now 1808, le Grande Armiee has sailed for England, against the wind! Cannonballs have bounced off the ironclads and troops will soon land.

Basically, Napoleon lands in Cornwall and prepared to march first to Plymounth then to Bristol. And once the Westcountry is secured, on to London.

This is a Q5 world and Homeline France is demanding help for Napoleon. The reason they're making such a demand is that evidence has been discovered of a Cabalist attack on Napoleon. The best Icop spies suggest that John Dee especially favors this world because more of Shakespear's plays survived (47) than on most worlds and with better more complete texts.

The PCs will have to keep the French agents and Cabalists from public fights that would blow the secret.

Note: This is a low manna world that seems to have a cyclical rise and fall of magic based on Great Year but details aren't known.
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Old 07-09-2020, 10:27 AM   #4865
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Try this one...

Napoleon found out that Fulton was right. You could make a boat move against wind and wave by lighting a fire under her decks. So, a group of ships were built with steam engines to drive them forward and covered with sheets of iron to protect against English cannonballs.

It's now 1808, le Grande Armiee has sailed for England, against the wind! Cannonballs have bounced off the ironclads and troops will soon land.

Basically, Napoleon lands in Cornwall and prepared to march first to Plymounth then to Bristol. And once the Westcountry is secured, on to London.

This is a Q5 world and Homeline France is demanding help for Napoleon.
Well he's not going to get it. And it isn't terribly likely that France really would be demanding help for a Napoleon who is doing fine. There are a bunch of Frances out there who are actually in dire straits.
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Old 07-09-2020, 11:37 AM   #4866
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Well he's not going to get it. And it isn't terribly likely that France really would be demanding help for a Napoleon who is doing fine. There are a bunch of Frances out there who are actually in dire straits.
Forgive me, I had to run off and do chores and left my post unfinished.
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Old 07-09-2020, 04:22 PM   #4867
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Napoleon found out that Fulton was right. You could make a boat move against wind and wave by lighting a fire under her decks. So, a group of ships were built with steam engines to drive them forward and covered with sheets of iron to protect against English cannonballs.
That's actually quite a technological jump. Fulton was heading in the right direction, obviously, and I could imagine him putting together some effective steam gunboats or something, but building enough armored troop transports to get a full-sized army across the Channel, in the face not only of the Royal Navy but of Atlantic weather, probably calls for high-pressure steam engines and an amazing amount of engineering and investment. Actually, the idea of weighing them down with iron armour rather than just lots of nice thick wood is a fifty-year jump in itself. Infinity should check who's been helping Fulton and Napoleon.
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Old 07-09-2020, 06:07 PM   #4868
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That's actually quite a technological jump. Fulton was heading in the right direction, obviously, and I could imagine him putting together some effective steam gunboats or something, but building enough armored troop transports to get a full-sized army across the Channel, in the face not only of the Royal Navy but of Atlantic weather, probably calls for high-pressure steam engines and an amazing amount of engineering and investment. Actually, the idea of weighing them down with iron armour rather than just lots of nice thick wood is a fifty-year jump in itself. Infinity should check who's been helping Fulton and Napoleon.
Valid point. I assume competing groups of Cabalists may be to blame. The features of the setting is Napoleonic battles in Cornwall and Devon with espionage and occult battles in the background. You can more back and forth from milliary struggles to Gothic Horror.
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Old 07-09-2020, 06:52 PM   #4869
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Default Re: New Reality Seeds

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Note: This is a low manna world that seems to have a cyclical rise and fall of magic based on Great Year but details aren't known.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
Valid point. I assume competing groups of Cabalists may be to blame. The features of the setting is Napoleonic battles in Cornwall and Devon with espionage and occult battles in the background. You can more back and forth from milliary struggles to Gothic Horror.
What if the Cabal used a bit of magic to make those anachronistic ironclads work? What if the Great Year cycle of magic influences when the ships actually function correctly? This would be a great military secret if the calendar cycle influences when your war machines work...
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Old 07-10-2020, 05:10 AM   #4870
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A handful of ships that can break the blockade of France on days the wind is still or in the wrong direction from the point of view of the British navy lets the regular French fleet loose. After that you can work up to an invasion. Maybe start with Ireland to give two directions it can come from.
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