Ideas for Yrth

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

3) Try a society of lost people from Western Europe and North America in the 19th and 20th centuries who have managed to create a TL6 society that is becoming a TL7 society, Elves, Halflings, and Orcs, are integrated into this society as equals. There are mages among these people but they use a syntactical magic system rather than normal Ytarrian Magic.

This is disturbingly similar (though different in important particulars) to an idea that I have not posted anywhere, since it is very incomplete, and because I was hoping to eventually (if I ever get to the point that they might be interested) suggest it to SJGames as a worldbook.

[cvannrederode]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Note:Robert Del a Pole is an IQ 17 Magery 7 mage with a non-descript ring that lets him cast Earth College spells as if the local manna level was normal. The ring also has power enchantments that reduced the fatigue cost of ant Earth College spell by three. Assume that all Earth College spells useful to building a TL4 canal are known to Robert Del a Pole at skill level 25. Robert has skills in Engineering, Geology, and Hydrology, at QI+2.

At that point Robert Del a Pole is effectively a super, and there's little point to the matter other than the fact that he just needs physical protection while casting. He's able to shape earth on six cubic yards of earth at a time for as long as he concentrates. As long as he avoids rocks, or pauses to stop and work them separately, he's a one man canal building machine.

I don't mean to be a downer, but skill levels that far off the bell curve, NPC or otherwise, tend to do bad things to the game. IQ 17 is once in a couple of centuries...Magery 7 is god level (75 points + 40 point UB) Skills at 19 are beyond Master level, even for someone from TL8.

In a setting like Yrth where power levels tend be less cinematic, an NPC with that level of munchkin, and that specific to the task at hand, would give me serious pause.

But that's just me. YMMV.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by cvannrederode

At that point Robert Del a Pole is effectively a super, and there's little point to the matter other than the fact that he just needs physical protection while casting. He's able to shape earth on six cubic yards of earth at a time for as long as he concentrates. As long as he avoids rocks, or pauses to stop and work them separately, he's a one man canal building machine.

I don't mean to be a downer, but skill levels that far off the bell curve, NPC or otherwise, tend to do bad things to the game. IQ 17 is once in a couple of centuries...Magery 7 is god level (75 points + 40 point UB) Skills at 19 are beyond Master level, even for someone from TL8.

In a setting like Yrth where power levels tend be less cinematic, an NPC with that level of munchkin, and that specific to the task at hand, would give me serious pause.

But that's just me. YMMV.

He isn't there as a PC, and rules are for player characters. He's meant to be a one man construction team. It makes the building of the canal viable. But his he really more implausible than a Medieval society with magic that still works like Earth's Medieval society?
More implausible than no technological change for a thousand years? More implausible than no gunpowder?

[isf]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

He isn't there as a PC, and rules are for player characters. He's meant to be a one man construction team. It makes the building of the canal viable. But his he really more implausible than a Medieval society with magic that still works like Earth's Medieval society?
More implausible than no technological change for a thousand years? More implausible than no gunpowder?

[edited for spelling]



I think that he is implausible for the setting as written [for both Yrth and Technomancer]. I think that a more reasonable character would make for a better story buy having the canal be more of a challenge to build which would give more opportunities for the PC's to help or hinder.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by isf

[edited for spelling]



I think that he is implausible for the setting as written [for both Yrth and Technomancer]. I think that a more reasonable character would make for a better story buy having the canal be more of a challenge to build which would give more opportunities for the PC's to help or hinder.

The guy is a construction mage with engineering chops. He's basically a Johnny-one-spell stretched out to cover the Earth College. There's no evidence that he has diplomatic skills, a wide range of spells, or many other traits needed to pull the job off. Plus the guy as written also needs surveyors and scouts even if he didn't need those areas of help. Plus land rights in a medieval society are complex. I did some limited coursework on the legal issues of road building in medieval England. It was a nightmare even in peacetime. And remember, even with Denerel dead Caithness isn't really at peace. If Denerel was alive, no canal could be built period. All kinds of people will fight to own/control the canal or destroy it if they can't profit.

P.S. Thank you for the correct spelling of "implausible." I knew I was misspelling the word, but I was so far off my spell check couldn't figure out what word I wanted to spell.

[isf]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The guy is a construction mage with engineering chops. He's basically a Johnny-one-spell stretched out to cover the Earth College. There's no evidence that he has diplomatic skills, a wide range of spells, or many other traits needed to pull the job off. Plus the guy as written also needs surveyors and scouts even if he didn't need those areas of help.

Yeah but with and IQ of 17 gives him a default diplomacy of 11 which is almost professional (particularly compared to most people's default) as well as most other IQ based skills. With and effective IQ+Magery of 24, he will be able to master any spell that he can learn as easily as other mages learn to cast it at all.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Plus land rights in a medieval society are complex. I did some limited coursework on the legal issues of road building in medieval England. It was a nightmare even in peacetime. And remember, even with Denerel dead Caithness isn't really at peace. If Denerel was alive, no canal could be built period. All kinds of people will fight to own/control the canal or destroy it if they can't profit.

Sure, I don't think that he will steamroll over all of the difficulties of getting a canal built. What was his background in the Technomancer?

Originally Posted by Astromancer

P.S. Thank you for the correct spelling of "implausible." I knew I was misspelling the word, but I was so far off my spell check couldn't figure out what word I wanted to spell.

Yeah, I use spellcheck a lot myself.

[cvannrederode]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

He isn't there as a PC, and rules are for player characters. He's meant to be a one man construction team. It makes the building of the canal viable. But his he really more implausible than a Medieval society with magic that still works like Earth's Medieval society?
More implausible than no technological change for a thousand years? More implausible than no gunpowder?

For this, I will refer you to the box on page 31 of GURPS Banestorm. To summerize, Yrth is not meant to be realistic, or plausible. But it is meant to be coherent.

For all the magic and what not, humans in Yrth are still, well, human. This is so over the top that he's superhuman (at least in my book). He's so one-dimensionally min-maxed to Earth Magic that he's no longer (IMO) a character at all. He's just a piece of construction equipment that needs to be protected from the enemy. A MacGuffin.

And the rules apply to NPCs just as much as PCs. It's a play balance thing...you'll notice that all the NPC stat blocks in Banestorm include point totals.

I don't mean to antagonistic, nor do I want to harp on your play style. It's just that personally, my sense of play balance and narrative consistency just doesn't jell with 255 points in IQ and Magery. There's a lot of potential for story telling in your idea. Having Robert Del a Pole as a emigrant with IQ of 13 and Engineering/TL8, Geology, and Hydrology at 13 or 14, perhaps 15, as well as teaching ability, some charisma and latent bardic chops, and a passion for seeing his project done makes for good drama. Not only does he have to deal with the political aspect, now he has to learn to apply his TL8 skill base to TL3 technology and magic, and figure out how to get it done.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by cvannrederode

For this, I will refer you to the box on page 31 of GURPS Banestorm. To summerize, Yrth is not meant to be realistic, or plausible. But it is meant to be coherent.

For all the magic and what not, humans in Yrth are still, well, human. This is so over the top that he's superhuman (at least in my book). He's so one-dimensionally min-maxed to Earth Magic that he's no longer (IMO) a character at all. He's just a piece of construction equipment that needs to be protected from the enemy. A MacGuffin.

And the rules apply to NPCs just as much as PCs. It's a play balance thing...you'll notice that all the NPC stat blocks in Banestorm include point totals.

I don't mean to antagonistic, nor do I want to harp on your play style. It's just that personally, my sense of play balance and narrative consistency just doesn't jell with 255 points in IQ and Magery. There's a lot of potential for story telling in your idea. Having Robert Del a Pole as a emigrant with IQ of 13 and Engineering/TL8, Geology, and Hydrology at 13 or 14, perhaps 15, as well as teaching ability, some charisma and latent bardic chops, and a passion for seeing his project done makes for good drama. Not only does he have to deal with the political aspect, now he has to learn to apply his TL8 skill base to TL3 technology and magic, and figure out how to get it done.

I see your problem now. You see Robert Del a Pole as a dramatic character rather than a background device or macguffin to allow the PCs to set up their stories as warriors, diplomats, scouts, and general troubleshooters. And you see the drama happening at the dig rather than in the courts and chambers of the powerful in the lands the canal does or doesn't pass through. Myself, I never even contemplated Robert and the PCs needing to meet.

[Michael Cule]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

Another idea I had was creating more ancient ruins, dating back to the dawn of Elven civilization, and perhaps older still, with the suggestion that the Elves are the last remnant of a far older Magi-Tech civilization, who may or may not have been human spellcasters (in a nod to the old Pyramid Magazine Elves: a study in Transhumanism.)

I had some remnants of the first civilization on Yrth buried deep beneath Tredroy and occasionally stirring.

They had been inhuman invaders who arrived in time to modify the proto-human species they found into agriculturalists (gnomes), industrial workers (dwarves) and house slaves (elves).

The arrival of the dragons from elsewhere (I never clearly tied it down but they were probably from another timeline) led to the war that devastated the Ancient's civilization and allowed the servant species to liberate themselves.

It was the elves and in particular the forebears of the Dark Elves who used Ancient tech to modify some of their own species into the Orcs. This guilt is kept a deep, dark secret.

Until PCs come along, of course.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Another possibility for Yrth would be the death of the Demon Emperor. Let this lead to a struggle to rule and reform Meglos. This could lead to anything from civil war to reformation. The PCs should play important nobles who'd be in a place to make a difference for good of ill.

I would tend to make the PCs commoner 'Agents of the Emperor'. Perhaps headed by a noble who for some reason isn't a threat to the Emperor. Shades of Miles Vorkosigan, Imperial Auditor?

[VIVIT]

Originally Posted by TGLS

-> Pontin ... Descended from Pontic Greek.
-> Jutt ... Descended from Norse.
-> Anglik ... Descended from Old English.
-> Axon ... Descended from Old Saxon.
-> Caltan, ... Descended from Catalan.
-> Provensal ... Descended from Occitan.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Then I put on my characterbuilding hat and groan. I can only take one of these as my Native language but I potentially need all the others (plus Arabic with possibilities for realistic dialects there as well as Elvish). So that's 5 languages at 2 pts apiece (assuming they'll have little written presence) for Accented Spoken level. Then you add 2 more for Written Latin at the same level and 8 more for spoken and written Arabic and Elvish (again at Accented).

Many of those languages would be related to one another, so this could be significantly alleviated with the language default rules (B506), which realistically should apply to at least some of those Ingvaeonic languages there. If language bloat is what you're concerned about, you can err on the side of further generosity.

Assume that Anglish, Anglik, Axon, and Jutt all mutually default at Broken level, except for Anglik and Axon which do so with each other at Accented level instead, as do Caltan with Provensal. With these defaults, you could, in only 5 points, learn Anglish plus everything on that list minus Pontin, and you would break even on Language Talent.