Topic: Help my frazzelled brain...
Started by: Peregrine
Started on: 8/22/2003
Board: Indie Game Design
On 8/22/2003 at 9:39am, Peregrine wrote:
Help my frazzelled brain...
Hi,
I'm currently working on the final installement of Wayfarer's Song, the Aelfan Kithbook. Wayfarer is a fantasy game with a modular design, in which each of the player races have different chargen rules, magic and so on.
The aelfan (elves) have magic that is heavily associated with natural 'Havens'. An Aelfan character must be aligned to at least one and no more than three havens. Thus, you could create a Night/Woods elf, or a Snows/Mountains/Twilight Elf.
So far I've the following havens: Day, Moors, Mountains, Meadows, Night, Twilight, Snows, Waters, Woods. If you have any further suggestions I'd be keen to hear them.
Anyway, so far Havened magic is divided into two camps. Songs of Power are general spell-like powers that can be applied to any haven. There is a Song of Power that lets you talk to animals that are native to any of your havens, for example. Another one allows you to vanish as long as you are standing still surrounded by one of your havens.
Also Aelfan have magical disciplines that are Haven specific. Disiplines consit of five, loosely themed charms. For instance Shadow of the Woods, is a wood Havened Discipline that includes charms associated with vanishing, illusions, and movement through woodlands. Auric Arts is a Day havened discipline that allows you to weave, bottle and solidify natural daylight.
So, here are my questions...
Do you have any suggestions for Songs of Power?
Do you have any ideas for Disciplines, in particular for Moors, Mountains and Twilight. I've a few ideas, but I've pretty much exhausted myself, and feellike I'm at a bit of a brick wall with these three.
I'll leave my post at that for now,
Thanks ahead of time for any and all replies...
Chris
On 8/22/2003 at 1:46pm, ethan_greer wrote:
RE: Help my frazzelled brain...
Suggestions for havens: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Active Volcanos (might work for a Hawaii-like setting), Seashore, Moonlight, Running Water, Badlands, Air.
Suggestions for Songs of Power and Disciplines: Mine ideas from other games. Two suggestions for tons and tons of different fantasy magic effects are D&D and GURPS Magic/Grimoire.
On 8/22/2003 at 2:00pm, simon_hibbs wrote:
Re: Help my frazzelled brain...
Peregrine wrote: Do you have any suggestions for Songs of Power?
Do you have any ideas for Disciplines, in particular for Moors, Mountains and Twilight. I've a few ideas, but I've pretty much exhausted myself, and feellike I'm at a bit of a brick wall with these three.
This is a beautiful idea, I hope it works out well.
Without knowing that other disciplines and songs of power you've got, it's working blind, but here goes.
Moors are dangerous because you could fall into a bog, or be lured into trouble by faerie fires, or lose your sense of direction, so I'd go with powers that conjure up these effects.
A Mountains elf might be able to cause rock falls, summon up tunnels and caves for shelter, or make himself weigh as much as a boulder.
Twilight is a tough one. You've already got night and day, so I'm not sure it's realy necessery. Maybe substitute Mists with powers of obscuration, bodiless sounds and such?
Simon Hibbs
On 8/22/2003 at 2:22pm, Tim Alexander wrote:
RE: Help my frazzelled brain...
Hey All,
First off, sounds pretty neat. Second of all in reference to twilight you might want to take the tact that it's a gateway centered haven, being between night and day. So, appropriate magic would be gates between worlds, passwall, rites of death, etc.
-Tim
On 8/22/2003 at 2:30pm, Mike Holmes wrote:
RE: Help my frazzelled brain...
Hey Chris, cold you post the link to the site again? If people could see your other work then I think they might be better able to give appropriate responses.
For those who may not be familiar with Wayfarer, definitely take a look. The game looks very, very cool. This is one that I've been waiting to see come out. Glad to hear back on it.
Mike
On 8/22/2003 at 4:48pm, Peregrine wrote:
RE: Help my frazzelled brain...
Thanks, some great replies there already.
Moors are dangerous because you could fall into a bog, or be lured into trouble by faerie fires, or lose your sense of direction, so I'd go with powers that conjure up these effects.
A Mountains elf might be able to cause rock falls, summon up tunnels and caves for shelter, or make himself weigh as much as a boulder.
Both brilliant. That'll help me in both cases. Only have one Discipline for Mountains so far (Lord of High Places) that kind of gives you goat-like abilities to jump,leap, balance and fall long distances without injury.
Second of all in reference to twilight you might want to take the tact that it's a gateway centered haven, being between night and day. So, appropriate magic would be gates between worlds, passwall, rites of death, etc.
Hmmmmm, I originally went with Twilight becuase in the (northern) setting you get long months of twilight during parts of the year. I like 'mists' though. I might drop twilight and go with mists and just add a note saying that if the sun is down then it is considered night. The idea of gates is interesting though. The power to open gates to Aeflan realms which are hidden and protected by magic might be an interesting Song of Power.
The setting, I should clarify, is a forgotten pre-historic and magical age in Northern Europe. The idea basically is that the 'gods' of european mythology were actually mortal men and woman who were sorcerers, kings and queens of this forgotten age. The players goal is to become 'gods' themselves, i.e. famous and powerful enough that people begin telling stories about them as if they were immortal.
You won't get a lot of that from the present downloads though. The setting is kind of fuzzy in what is available now. I'm working on a much more professional site, and new pdfs (with illustrations) to post in the not too distant future.
Anyway the old site is...
http://www.geocities.com/mythopoetic_games/downloads.html
Enjoy
Chris