A Possible Setting for Burning Wheel

[Lxndr]

Work:  Heck, 90% of Fastlane was written at my day job.  I think they're okay with it.  ;)  Well, they wouldn't be if they knew, but I've managed to keep my dayjob productivity high enough to get all 4s and 5s on my last assessment.

Av Magic:  Instead of a Song, it's an "Aria."  There ya go.  Sing skill + Will to create abstractions.  Facets are taught as individual melodies through oral tradition; the Aria ties the melodies together and creates something greater than the sum of its parts.  (So yeah, singing "Fire" by itself is just a pretty song...)  In my opinion, they can't Distill - no "radio edits" of their songs.

Den Magic - Being dependent on the elements isn't all that arbitrary when you know exactly how the elements are.  It's not like "daytime vs. nighttime" is difficult to predict.  Now if their ratings were based on, y'know, weather patterns, that'd be arbitrary.  I think I am going to go with Deneri Night Magic as an extension of Faith.

And yes, I'd still keep the Night facet in any event.  Deneri racial magic is just a different expression of the element, just like all the other racial magics are an extension of their element.

[Luke]

Den Magic - Being dependent on the elements isn't all that arbitrary when you know exactly how the elements are.  It's not like "daytime vs. nighttime" is difficult to predict.  Now if their ratings were based on, y'know, weather patterns, that'd be arbitrary.  I think I am going to go with Deneri Night Magic as an extension of Faith.

And yes, I'd still keep the Night facet in any event.  Deneri racial magic is just a different expression of the element, just like all the other racial magics are an extension of their element.

Ok, my last quibble with non-attribute/skill-based magic is do you care that individuals would not be more powerful than one another? Power/ability would simply depend on where you live and what time it is. Advancement and practice would be color it seems.

[Lxndr]

Right.  For the Denerii, it's not advancement and practice, it's simply a fact of life.  Something to take for granted, in other words, something anyone can do.  Which I like - it's just household magic, more or less.

If a Deneri want to do something that requires study and advancement, something where his skill and ability is more important, he studies Sorcery like everyone else (remember, basic non-Abstraction sorcery can be learned by any of the Mannish races - and I'm wanting to make sure all these various racial magics don't eschew the choice of Sorcery - Elven racial magic takes the risk of Craving, Avalir can't Distill their abstractions, and now Deneri can't ever become better).  

But yeah, all Deneri can manipulate the Ether, just like all humans can walk, all Vetal can swim, and all Avalir children can fly.  It gives them a quirky and mysterious quality, I think, that I like very much.  Your comment has helped the whole idea grow on me.

[Luke]

that's cool.

Then what you need to do is set some firm numbers for dice available at any given time. And some faith-like obstacles for what they can do with it (by way of example).

One application I might apply is to allow the Deneri to add ambient Ether dice to their SKILLS when testing. This would definitely apply to household and practical magic (everything they do is magical!)

just a thought.

[Lxndr]

The way I figure Ether with skills, they can FoRK it in much like Astrology can FoRK in.  With the concomittant risk of failure as well, if the "Ether" die goes wrong.  :)  That is, if I'm remembering Astrology right, as I don't have the books in front of me.

Pure brainstorming on hard numbers: I want pure daylight at sea level to be B2.  Underground in daylight is B1, high-up (mountains) in daylight is B3 and high up (airships) is more like B4.  Twilight adds 1 to these numbers, and nighttime adds 2.  After "airships" we get to orbital layers, which'll take a little bit more time to figure out, since after a certain point the differences between day and night don't matter so much.

But with the numbers we got, a sea-level Denerii at night has B4 for Ether, which roughly is the same as the "average" Faith for a starting character.  That feels about right to me.  I'll do some Obstacles for Faith stuff when I get home and can see the Faith rules, for guidance.

[Lxndr]

Orbital Layers are +1 for night, +0 for day, no twilight:

Low Earth Orbit:  B5
Medium Earth Orbit: B6
Geosynchronous Earth Orbit: B7
Lunar Orbit: B8

And then, past Lunar Orbit, you have Deep Space (B10), which is not affected by Day vs. Night at all.  It's just always B10.

Instead of "airship" distance in the first post, we'll call it "Suborbital."

And instead of "Night Magic", Denerii can command "Ethermancy."  And the fact that every Denerii can do this is one more reason why everyone else is Suspicious of them.  :)

Now to work out Rage, and how Khannish magic can/will interact with it.

[Lxndr]

So it's occurred to me that there could be exactly one way for a Deneri to improve their Ether abilities.  I thought it over, and I decided I'll allow it, so Luke, there is now a general "improvement" a Deneri can make over time.  

Specifically, I'm ruling that Deneri can use an Epiphany on their Ether... and then get the same dice at either Gray (or possibly, eventually, White).  The Ether surrounding them is the same, but their control over it is better.

(Also, Ether is a naturally occurring element, and can be commanded - spells or natural magickal effects can temporarily or permanently change the Ether in a region, usually through Taxing or Enhancing.)

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* I think when Craving reaches ten, a Vetal cannot control himself and has to be "put down."  He is no longer playable as a character, unless/until something happens to reduce the Craving.  Normally, it's easier to just put the Vetal out of his misery.

* Rage and the Khannish racial magic are connected.  I'm thinking a set of "Special Skills" similar to Dwarven Crafts out of the main book, whose root is Rage and which allow Khans to work like physical adepts.  Open-ended, many of these mimic other skills...  (Boxing, Brawling, Climbing, Throwing, some weapon skills, Sleight of Hand, Stealth) and others increase physical abilities (Leaping, Running).

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I am still working on Craving Obs, sample Ether Obs, and exactly on how Rage works (as well as expanding Craving).  I've said it before and I've said it again - Rage is meant to be cleansing, not twisted.  But it's still dangerous, and a Khan that's reached 10 in Rage has completely given himself over to his Id.

[Luke]

Very very nice.

I like the Rage ideas -- you and I seem to be living in the same head. I've been toying with some more emotional attributes lately and we're not too far apart.

Perhaps Rage could take the place of Steel? At the least it should heavily modify it.

Using the skill-root system easier on you. No need to build a whole new system!

One thing to (always) consider is advancement. How does Rage go up? Is it conditional like Grief or test-based like Faith?


Hatred (which it closely mimics) is conditional. It also acts as the root for skills -- in fact, i've been playtesting it lately, and it doesn't come into effect nearly enough. I want to broaden the scope and reach of it.


Epiphanied Ethermancy sounds peachy. The "skill" should be a flat training that "all" Deneri learn. Spending artha can temporarily or permanently shade shift the ability.


Max Craving is perfectly fine. It is a goal to work toward, and it takes a lot of elbow grease (and willing player participation) to get there.

-L

[Lxndr]

Hmmm.  Yeah, Rage and Steel do seem to be in a perfect position to influence one another.  In fact, that makes determining starting Rage easy - starting Rage is equal to starting Steel.  (Rage won't directly influence Steel, but the fact that you have it means you'll probably answer "Yes" to more Steel-raising questions...)

My current thought is that Rage improves whenever someone tests it or its related skills, but only failures count (sort of like Perception in reverse).  But that doesn't seem like enough.  Perhaps it should be a mix of tests and conditions?

It's nigh-impossible to reach Max craving without drinking Mannish blood (an Ob 10 condition).  So any Vetal who does it as a player is definitely asking for it.

[Lxndr]

Okay, so what's left?  More specifically, what more should I complete before I walk into character creation on the 24th?  (the "elemental forms" aren't important, as I'm not going to let a player start with one at this time)

* Finish Rage for the Khans
* Do Obstacles for Ether magic
* Figure out if Craving affects actions, and if so how; also do Obs for Craving tests for purposes of advancement
* Write the Gliding skill, so the Avalir can glide
* Figure out at least a few blood-magick-spells
* Figure out how the Tarrax craft-magic works

Hrm.

[Luke]

unfortunately, that all sounds like gravy to me. It's stuff you can simply explain to your players at the time of burning.

What I think you are missing is your cultural micro-sets for each race. Ya need Born LPs and stuff afore you can git started in this cold, cold world.

Let's do lifepaths!

-L

[Lxndr]

I'm all for LPs, and these guys definitely should get some for their subcultures, but generally speaking, they don't need Borns in-and-of themselves.

They're mostly villagers and peasants and city-born and nobles, just like humans.  So they're Born Peasant, Born Villager, City Born, and Noble Born.  (And Slaves, and Son of a Gun, I suppose)  At least, that's the plan I've been working with from step one.

They definitely have their own special LPs (Vetal in particular are going to have one that roughly approximates "rehab").  But they're born into the same cold world as their human neighbors next door.

[Luke]

ok, my mistake.

what lifepaths do you envision?

-L

[Lxndr]

Well, now that the weekend is over.  My ideas on lifepaths:

* Some sort of Avaliran "paratroopers" wing-using fighting corps (which, now that I think of it, is almost entirely like Soldier except they've learned the Gliding skill).  Plus at least one training package where they can pick up their Aria Training Skill.

* Some Vetal live underwater, so some lifepaths regarding their submarine cultures might make sense.  Also, Vetal-related blood-magick (and at least one "rehab" lifepath)

* Although a lot of Tarrax live underground, there's not that much in the way of separate Tarrax culture.  They have to get to the surface to eat and whatnot, so... once I come up with their racial magic, perhaps a set of "Tarrax crafter" LPs.

* Denerii are good in space, but the knowledge of how to GET there has pretty much been lost, and does require tech.  So no cultural paths there.  Hrm.

* Khans also mostly integrate themselves.  Still, likely some Khannish "harness the Rage" LPs, once I get more details there.

Really, the additional LPs I want to make aren't really racially-oriented, apart from a few that I pointed out up there.  Cultural lines aren't really drawn along racial lines in Hazaril, at least until you get to the weirdo non-Mannish cultures.  On the other hand, there are some Mannish cultures that do things differently - in the long run, I at least want a complete set of "Party" LPs for the pseudo-neo-socialist magocracy (which is set up similarly to the USSR - the Party would replace the "Noble" LPs for that part of the world).

In fact, I'm wondering how necessary additional LPs are to the start of the game now, since most of my players probably won't be going into the strange ways, and the few that do, we can whip up LPs on the fly.  Y'know?

Food for thought.  LPs will definitely be written before publication.

[Luke]

Well, I always feel better if I have some notes to point to rather than coming up with something abitrarily while under pressure.

Anyway, I was also thinking, do you want to offer any unique Special Traits? Stuff that is either only available in your world, or even only available to each race? These traits are the optional ones that players can spend trait points on to purchase if they so desire.

-L