[OOC] Worlds of Fire

[Skullcrusher]

That's basically protected vision which is what High Tech says Tinted Goggles gives you (HT page 71 and Basic Set Page 78). Not sure what the big deal is since he has to wear them constantly during the day and most nights or suffer a great penalty to vision and also has to wear them in buildings with artifical light and would standout thus making it difficult to blend in. But I will take a point away from Scrounging and up my signature gear to buy the expensive pair of sunglasses that do the samething as the $20 pair if that is what you wish. Seems excessive but your the GM.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by Skullcrusher

I will take a point away from Scrounging and up my signature gear to buy the expensive pair of sunglasses that do the samething as the $20 pair if that is what you wish. Seems excessive but your the GM.

The tinted sunglasses, as I explained, wouldn't give the same effects; they would only provide maybe a +4 or something similar, reducing his penalty in daylight to -5 rather than -9. And it would be a constant penalty so he would be at -4 in Darkness -9 conditions if he was still wearing them.

Normal reactive sunglasses that change based on the level of sunlight wouldn't help either since those only work between different levels of normal lighting or at most normal lighting and Darkness -1. You'd need to buy something more potent, which is what the All-Lighting ones do.

The price I admit I guessed at, but the Night Vision goggles are $600, and these provide a similar bonus. Cut it to $600 + $10 per level instead (so $690 for the Night Vision 9 version), which can be covered by Signiature Gear easily enough. It's more a case of balancing out what should be a major disadvantage (i.e. being at -9 penalty during daylight) against the cost required to Mitigate it.

I should point out as well that the Western Harbour maintains excellent medical facilities and so forth, making Lucius retaining something like Night Vision when he's stayed there for any length of time a bit unlikely. The same goes for any disadvantage in the end though, so go figure.

I'm sorry that I didn't get this sorted earlier; I spotted the Night Vision and got sufficiently confused by that (since it isn't in any book that I own) that the necessesity for a way of solving it bypassed me temporarily.

[Skullcrusher]

It's cool. I'll change the price on the googles. Lucius would wnat to keep his eyes that way at least for now. It gives him certain advantages in his line of work.

[Skullcrusher]

OK did modifications to character and updated post where I introduced him.

[Lamech]

Cool, is everyone's character done now? So any plans for the places to check first? Also I've never gotten a clear image, are the Nazi's some big official group on this world?

[Totem]

Originally Posted by Lamech

Cool, is everyone's character done now? So any plans for the places to check first? Also I've never gotten a clear image, are the Nazi's some big official group on this world?

Since Christmas I've only heard from three players thus far (now). So character sheets are sorted, I'm just waiting for some kind of acknowledgement that everyone still exists. And the last I heard we were going to be visiting the warehouse first, unless someone wants to change that.

Regarding the Nazis, allow me to fill you in on a few pointers based on what you would find out if you made enquiries along the lines of Area Knowledge (World) and History (20th Century). This is basically the backstory for the world, rather than spending ages filling in bits at a time.


History (20th Century):
WWII
World War II proceeded as it did on many worlds until late 1944 when, amidst the V1 and V2 bombings, the Nazi forces unleashed a new weapon: black magic.

Britain fell within months to the new onslaught, along with the rest of Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Russia and Africa. There the campaign stalled as the front line began to widen across the landscape and the gap represented by the Atlantic Ocean presented an obstacle that the Nazi wizards could not reach over.

The war ground to a halt rather than actually ending, with American forces unable to get close to the Nazis without risking destruction, and the Nazis unable to launch further attacks without stretching their lines too thinly.

The July Revolution
In July 1946 matters came to a head when a number of SS officers uncovered evidence indicating that the Nazi wizards were using the Nazi forces to fuel their power and actually prolonging the war unnecessarily in order to retain their power.

The Revolution saw the wizards deposed along with their most ardent supporters; many high ranking officers were executed along with Adolf Hitler and many others.

A new Chancellor was hastily appointed and negotiated an end to hostilities; the war which had been at a virtual standstill for months now ended officially; further conflict could not resolve anything.

Abteilung 16
Unsatisfied with the state of affairs left over after the fall of the wizards, the SS put together Abteilung 16, the Abteilung für Magische Untersuchungen. This branch of the elite service was intended to keep track of the use of magic and prevent its misuse. They now form an elite taskforce that has both military and police powers across the territory of the 4th Reich.



Area Knowledge (World):
Europe (includes the Middle East and Russia as far as Moscow)
The 4th Reich has turned into the major government for Europe and the associated territories. Whilst the laws are harsh and sometimes restrictive, the public nature of punishment for crimes does tend to mean that the crime levels are lower than less restrictive cultures might feature.

Leadership is based in Germany, and German is taught as at least a secondary language in all countries. Senior or significant positions (such as jobs within the SS) can only go to German nationals.

Magic is state controlled; education and training are paid for by the state, but the penalties for its misuse are high.

[Overall a benign CR4; public satisfaction in the way things are run is high for the most part with reduced crime rates and the like.]

North America
During the rise of the Necromancers, and afterwards with the development of the 4th Reich, Christianity spread across America more fervently than ever, a reaction to the threat of black magic. It could easily be said that North America no longer has a Bible Belt; North America is the Bible Belt.

Any kind of magic aside from the God-given powers of the priests is seen as an abomination; sometimes individuals will be accepted because of their devotion to a worthy cause, but even then they tend to suffer anything from a -2 to -4 reaction from North Americans.

[Even more restrictive in some ways than the 4th Reich, this CR4 Theocracy verges on CR5 in places. Overall satisfaction appears high however.]

Africa
Africa is far from united, but does unite quickly against common foes. The Shapeshifters and tribal magics make a powerful combination when pressed to action. Even some of the ancient magics of the Egyptians have been known to come out when the Nile is threatened.

[A fractured nation a step below the general global TL, their internal warfare prevents them from threatening anyone else but makes then almost impossible to fight in turn.]

Russia
A communist nation still, Russia retains much of its strength but does so at a disadvantage compared to other nations: the land borders with Europe and the Oriental Alliance (India, China and Japan) provide a massive stretch of territory for them to cover, and a higher proportion of their national income than any other nation must go into maintaining the border.

When the Necromancers began to roll their armies into sight of Moscow the Soviet nation called for help. Old Man Wolf answered the call, lending his strength to the Soviet army. With an army of Werewolves, the Soviets now have a force to be reckoned with.

[High CR (4-5) Communist government with heavy military spending and recruitment; the standard of living is lowest for the level of national wealth over the entire planet.]

India/ China/ Japan
A somewhat unlikely alliance formed during the 3rd Reich's push across the Middle East. Now a powerful, though somewhat disjointed, alliance, they operate a joint defence across their territory.

The exact nature of the magic used by the alliance is hard to determine, though it is clear that it relies to some degree at least on the powers granted by the various national pantheons.

Australia (includes New Zealand)
Cut off effectively from any long-ranged magics, the natives of Australia set to work defending themselves. With a massive shoreline to defend and the lowest population density (to total land area) on the planet, they resorted to the aboriginal magic to help them. Now firmly able to ward off any invasion (though few can say precisely how they do it) Australia is now content to sit out the rest of the world's politics.

[Arguably the most secure nation on the planet, Australia supports a CR3 democracy with a high level of scientific and industrial development.]

Iceland
Cut off – just – from the effective magical range of most powers (Greenland nearly qualified for this but the Clerics were able to make short hops over through Canada) Iceland has a somewhat unique position of being without magic.

Rather than suffer the whim of magic from elsewhere though, particularly since it would make them a target for other nations, the people of Iceland made preparations which culminated in a declaration: null-magic nukes had been seeded around the country and would be detonated in the event of a hostile takeover.

As bluffs go this was powerful; the null-magic nukes would be undetectable until they went off, and so everyone merely had the word of the government to go on that they were there. And nukes were powerful enough to be impossible to shield against magically.

[Almost as secure as Australia, Iceland has a CR3 democracy.]

South America
Largely undeveloped and untouched, South America remains largely neutral ground. No one has yet been able to claim it properly.


[OOC: this information has been filtered somewhat into game terms and had a dose of common sense applied to it in order to remove the Nazi's political slant on things.]

[Frosty]

I'm still here, I've just been waiting for someone else to say something IC so that Lucy can agree and we can get this adventure rolling. >.>

[Skullcrusher]

I am not quite ready yet. I need to get some much needed equipment that I think my character will need. What TL of equipment does he have access to? Although with his lower TL he would probably just try to procure his TL of equipment since he would have a penalty to use anything higher than his own.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by Skullcrusher

I am not quite ready yet. I need to get some much needed equipment that I think my character will need. What TL of equipment does he have access to? Although with his lower TL he would probably just try to procure his TL of equipment since he would have a penalty to use anything higher than his own.

Equipment I can be flexible about unless you suddenly drop in something major. Worry about the specific equipment that you'll need for the immediate future and the rest can be taken care of later.

Regarding what equipment to bring: technically he can't requisition anything from the Western Harbour that is above his own TL. On the other hand he wouldn't be the first person from a non-magical TL6 world to manage to slip a requisition through for TL6 Ork flak armour or similar. Feel free to be creative about that, but get the immediate stuff sorted first.

[ErhnamDJ]

I'm still in. I'm just having trouble figuring out how Douglas is handling all of this. I figure the other characters are more knowledgeable and Douglas will be following their lead here. It didn't work out so well last time he started acting on his own in unfamiliar environs.