[Realm] Original fantasy setting [long!]

[Valamir]

One more thing I'll note about the example I used.  While I'm flattered that folks find it pretty cool, its actually the process of how I came up with it that's more important than the actual example.

I start with a vision of what I find most appealing about how actual play should go.  In this case my vision was of characters running around trying to pursue their own agenda doing a bunch of stuff and then, like clockwork, whenever they are: about to set their master plan in action, about to finally achieve their goal, finally enjoying some time with family...bam another damn death squad comes out of no where and they're on the run again.  

That was the cycle of events I was picturing as being a desired feature of play.  That may or may not match what you had in mind Sayter, but I'm sure you have your own vision of how the actual play experience should look.

What I did then was try to think of a way I could write rules that would mechanically bring that cycle into play automatically.  Its one thing to have a couple of paragraphs suggesting that the GM periodically have bad guys pop out at inopportune moments, but IMO its so much stronger if the system actually makes that happen as a regular part of play.

So whatever the key feature of the play experience that you want to emphasize...whether its this relationship or another...give some thought as to how to build rules that produce this effect organically through normal play.

[sayter]

Well, that was a sudden burst of very, very good feedback. It actually touched on many thoughts that had been stewing.



Void as a Game Mechanic

Totally agree here. Void is a VERY integral part of the game. See, the everyday person is part of its body just as much as a mountain or a puppy. Dreamers, however, are not. They exist outside its influence. Them, and ONLY them are free of its power.

When a Dreamer undergoes the process of becoming one, he has a "battle of wills" so to speak, during the dreams that birth his power. That battle of wills is with Void. If they win the battle, they free themselves of its' influence and gain their powers.

However, as a counterpoint, if they DON'T win the will battle (this part reserved for NON-PCs, unless one was to play an evil campaign, but I hate those. Heroes are better and the "evil" dreamers wouldnt be easy at ALL to RP) then Void leaves of its' own volition, but leaves a "seed" within, which drives the person utterly mad and completely alters their personality. They essentially become an unwitting agent of Void, but with all the power of a Dreamer. They dont even know they are its agent.

Now, this next part is important. Corruption is a bad thing, and all Dreamers must contend with its influence. If a Dreamer has a critical failure using their power they accumulate "Corruption".

Initially, corruption isn't a big deal. They can shed it gradually through natural means, or speed up its removal through meditation.

However, if they gather too much (a set number of points) odd things will happen. Minor inconveniences at low levels (powers doing exactly the opposite of what they should, memory suddenly being wiped for the day, confusion, etc) to serious hassles (a doppleganger suddenly appears with your exact abilities and knowledge, and starts doing bad things like torturing your family, or stealing etc)  to deadly threats (a Nightmare suddenly appears as you are eating a lunch with your best girl). If they fall too far to Corruption they basically are taken over by Void, though it does not control them. The person is simply insane, until they shed the Corruption.

Again, they can shed it through waiting, meditation...or through forced expulsion (casting effects laden with Void, just to ditch it, despite the risks involved. in a large party this might even be a better method..unless theres a LOT of corruption built up)

And a last note, Dreamers can make things real....but the only Strata which can UNMAKE their creations is the Void strata. Which is a dangerous thing to trifle with. Whereas, magick users can make and unmake at will (essentially). So if a dreamer manifests a servant, they better be DAMN sure thats what they want...cuz it aint going anywhere until its killed or Voided.

BEING HUNTED AS A MECHANIC


Some GREAT ideas here. I think I will try to incorporate this in some fashion, using what I mentioned above as well as a few other factors.

The Fame idea was sort of an "aside" thing before...but I like the concepts presented. As well as that Hunted idea.

So now it can be sorta like this : Bob has just salin the <insert huge terrible beast here> and the village saw it. They are shouting far and wide of this great warrior hero. So, he gains +10 Fame or whatever.  His exploits dont go unnoticed. Void is aware of the power he had to use to kill that beast, and isnt happy that it now has to feed more to make up for the energy Bob drew from it. It cant see him, not directly , since he it outside its influence.
   But it can find him pretty easy now. After all, it is in everything else and now the entire western nation knows of his deed. It watches, bides its time with infinite patience. Then it locates Bob. It spawns a Nightmare in the middle of a crowded street, to combat Bob. Furthermore, Bob is in a place now, where magick is shunned. So even if he SLAYS this terrible beast, hes got problems since killing a Nightmare without powers is NOT easy. In fact, its next to impossible.

So, he kills this beast. The onlookers are baffled at his amazing powers. But, he DID kill a monster. He cant be a bad guy. Most are cheering, except Gilman. Gilman hates all magick. He tells the Eyes of the World immediately, and moments later a death squad sets upon Bob.

GOOD AND EVIL as a mechanic

No. Not as a mechanic. This is a rolepaly thing, pure and simple. ESPECIALLY with the two previous mechanics in play. The characters deciding on the proper course of action will already put them in constant conflict with morals, ethics and ideals. I dont want to BATHE players in mechanics and rules. I want a fast, loose game with interesting ideas which enhance play. Not drown people in moral dilemmas they MUST make. They want that, they can play as a Paladin type character.

As it is, during character creation, players must choose a set of Ideals,  a Persona for their character and the nature of their Aura which act as general guidelines for the character. (Somewhat similar to WoD Nature and Demeanor)

[sayter]

I suppose now would be a good time to enlighten you a tad more on the actual Dreamer power areas, so you know what the hell is going on a little more. I haven't divulged much.

Okay, so we have 13 Strata of Dreams:

Life: Control and Understanding of all things related to biology. Sense living beings, heal etc.

Death: Exact opposite of above. Sense death, wither with a touch/presence, etc.

Light: Dealing with light, in all its facets. Sunlight, bending light, altering light, etc.

Shadow: Cast shadows, alter shadows, meld with shadows, etc.

Physical: All things relating to the personal self, and the enhancement of it. Strength boosts, speed and so forth.

Mental: All things dealing with the mind.

Form: Manipulation and control and creation of solid matter.

Decay: Weakening of rotting of matter.

Force: All things dealing with energy, unknown or otherwise. Forcefields, fireballs and so forth.

Spirit: Anything dealing with the realm of the dead, and communing with spirits.

Temporal: Time, and movement within it. Speed it up, slow it down, etc.

Spatial: Location, teleportation, etc.

Void: The untouchable strata. Unmake reality.


So those are the Strata, and a basic idea of what they are there for. Overall they cover almost every concievable aspect. They can be paired up, or even triod up if desired for more complex effects  (Form + Life could create a living servant... Form + Shadow could also do some strannnnnnge things, etc)

Now, note a few things. NO Dreamer can learn every Strata. A Dreamer can NOT EVER learn Strata that are opposing. So, knowledge in Life exludes the Death strata from ever being used. Temporal removes the use of Spatial, etc.  

A newbie Dreamer can only learn 3 Strata. One is his Core strata, his strongest(+0). The next two are his Secondary strata(-1). The rest are tertiary strata (-2 to use).

Void, NO dreamer can touch inherently. The ONLY way to open up access to the Void Strata ir a)To be one of The Corrupt. or  b)to gain access to opposing Strata.

I mentioned that that can't be done however, right? Well...thats only PARTLY true. Through NORMAL means, that is the case. However, I like the idea that Dreamers could be able to "steal" each others power. It would be abhorred and viewed as VERY improper, and evil in most cases. I have not yet decided how this is to occur though I was thinking something along the lines of murdering a dreamer if you also are a Dreamer would allow them to "suck up" the life essence of their departing soul. Or something like that.

In any case...when you have two Strata that are opposites, you also gain the choice to learn Void. Its either-or. There are upsides to choosing only the "blocked" Strata versus Void. You operate them as a tertiary (-2). Mixing them with their opposites would be VERY interesting indeed.

If you select Void instead, all of your Strata (except Void) now count as Secondary (-1). Void connects to every other strata, for it is a central "hub" for them all. This means you can now use EVERY Strata, withotu worry of the Opposites rule.  There are consequences , however. ANY use of all strata has a chance to not work as intended. Void is now part of you, though it does not influence your mind (yet) and thus it can mess up your powers , and will do so often.

You are also more likely to gain corruption (any corruption gain is x2 normal amount) and you will appear to other Dreamers as a Corrupt. They will thus attempt to kill you on sight, since you are by all appearances their mortal enemy.


that explain most of it to yas? Should at least give insight into it a bit more.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya :)

However, if they gather too much (a set number of points) odd things will happen. Minor inconveniences at low levels (powers doing exactly the opposite of what they should, memory suddenly being wiped for the day, confusion, etc) to serious hassles (a doppleganger suddenly appears with your exact abilities and knowledge, and starts doing bad things like torturing your family, or stealing etc) to deadly threats (a Nightmare suddenly appears as you are eating a lunch with your best girl). If they fall too far to Corruption they basically are taken over by Void, though it does not control them. The person is simply insane, until they shed the Corruption.

For each one of the negative effects of corruptiuon that you list, be sure there is a natural game mechanic that triggers it.  If you leave it up to GM fiat, then it could break down the Social Contract.  Have your game involve triggers that cause these negative effects at certain points in the game.  So what are some other "inconveniences" that might work for this?

So now it can be sorta like this : Bob has just salin the <insert huge terrible beast here> and the village saw it. They are shouting far and wide of this great warrior hero. So, he gains +10 Fame or whatever. His exploits dont go unnoticed. Void is aware of the power he had to use to kill that beast, and isnt happy that it now has to feed more to make up for the energy Bob drew from it. It cant see him, not directly , since he it outside its influence.
But it can find him pretty easy now. After all, it is in everything else and now the entire western nation knows of his deed. It watches, bides its time with infinite patience. Then it locates Bob. It spawns a Nightmare in the middle of a crowded street, to combat Bob. Furthermore, Bob is in a place now, where magick is shunned. So even if he SLAYS this terrible beast, hes got problems since killing a Nightmare without powers is NOT easy. In fact, its next to impossible.

So, he kills this beast. The onlookers are baffled at his amazing powers. But, he DID kill a monster. He cant be a bad guy. Most are cheering, except Gilman. Gilman hates all magick. He tells the Eyes of the World immediately, and moments later a death squad sets upon Bob.

This is an excellent example of play!  An ellaborated and edited version should go in the begining of your book somewhere.  However, this is not a mechanic, it's a suggestion.  So when you get to the fame/hunted mechanic in your book be sure to include both.

However, I like the idea that Dreamers could be able to "steal" each others power. It would be abhorred and viewed as VERY improper, and evil in most cases. I have not yet decided how this is to occur though I was thinking something along the lines of murdering a dreamer if you also are a Dreamer would allow them to "suck up" the life essence of their departing soul. Or something like that.

I like that idea too.  Sort of a Highlander type thing.

In any case...when you have two Strata that are opposites, you also gain the choice to learn Void. Its either-or. There are upsides to choosing only the "blocked" Strata versus Void. You operate them as a tertiary (-2). Mixing them with their opposites would be VERY interesting indeed.

If you select Void instead, all of your Strata (except Void) now count as Secondary (-1). Void connects to every other strata, for it is a central "hub" for them all. This means you can now use EVERY Strata, withotu worry of the Opposites rule. There are consequences , however. ANY use of all strata has a chance to not work as intended. Void is now part of you, though it does not influence your mind (yet) and thus it can mess up your powers , and will do so often.

You are also more likely to gain corruption (any corruption gain is x2 normal amount) and you will appear to other Dreamers as a Corrupt. They will thus attempt to kill you on sight, since you are by all appearances their mortal enemy.

This works for me.  Looks like you put some real thought into that part and are working to incorporate all the significant parts of your system together.  Nice work :)

Peace,

-Troy

[sayter]

"Have your game involve triggers that cause these negative effects at certain points in the game. So what are some other "inconveniences" that might work for this? " - Troy

Triggers? hmmm. Suppose that could work too...sort of like Limit Dreaks in Exalted then? Im not really sure thats exactly what I am aiming for though.

It's touchy to have things as fiat or mechanic. The one goal I want to achieve is a very open ended system where players and GMs can CHOOSE the style of play. I think, however, that keeping to the "peril laden" scenario for the book would make more sense. This way players and GMs learn the world as its meant to be played. Then perhaps write an "aside" later in one of the chapters explaining less perilous play as an option (no Corruption, etc)

What sort of triggers is the real question. I want to avoid "roll up" lists by dice number. Those work for encounters, but I don't want it to work this way. Id rather people use their imagination. I saw a post elsewhere on the forums here where someone detailed an interesting mechanic. The player THEMSELVES decides the outcome. If it is not severe enough, then the GM can select a DIFFERENT player to describe it....and failing that, then they themselves come up with one.

Would certainly make things interesting. Bob chooses "I get ugly for a day" , GM says "nuh uh" and asks player B. Player B thinks that Bob has had too much good fortune lately, and his dice rolls have sucked. So to make things interesting.... "Bob begins to hallucinate seriously, unable to discern Dream from Reality."

GM likes this. GM then relates this in mechanics form. Player cant tell a monster from a mushroom. So his Awareness is dropped to all but nothing while the effect lasts. Likewise, his Perception is going to suffer. HE is also  a liability in combat, and thus would have to roll a check to ensure he is even attacking an opponent and not a rock, or an ally. Obviously this sort of thing would be limited on how much Corruption the player has gained. The effect listed above would be a serious issue if at low Corruption. Mid to high, though, it fits and works.
   You could even take it further, and have them hear voices and feel compelled to obey them (resistance save or do it!) and so forth.

Thus, the negative effects themselves won't be "listed" , but I would cite examples. If I use the model above (player chooses, then other player, then GM if none work well) this would be more than adequate. Making people use their brains to come up with things is infinitely more fun. Plus this way, people can incorporate ideas from their OWN dreams into the game world.

Maybe they think there are dogs trying to eat them all the time. Perhaps they think they are cosntantly covered in bugs? Maybe they can see through clothing and this proves a constant distraction (sure as hell would keep MY mind off the task at hand).

I suppose in a way, you could say that Corruption not only brings the Dreamer closer to Void...it also blurs the line between Dream and Reality. Their mind and soul just sort of melds with the surreal, and only mixes with the real because thats where they actually are rooted.