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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

megane posted:

"Mr. Darius, we have evidence to suggest that, despite appearances, you are in fact a nonliving spiritual entity, between three and seven thousand years old, and that you have acquired the clandestine personal services of approximately 280 religious followers, who refer to themselves as... hm... 'the Cult of Everlasting Night?' Can you confirm these facts?"

"YOU DARE QUESTION THE IMMORTAL SERVANT OF HEAVEN? I HAVE SEEN EMPIRES RISE AND FALL; A MORTAL SUCH AS YOU CAN DO NOTHING TO THREATEN ME."

"Well, that's very nice, sir, but you see, under article 27 subsection 4 of the Jameson Act, religious organizations over one hundred members in size are required to register with the IRS, using form 965 stroke B, which must be countersigned by a notary public and on display at local government offices for at least six months prior to..."

Valkyrie operative: "More to the point, you were not born in the United States and I don't see any immigration paperwork. Sorry, but we're going to have to deport you."

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Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

PurpleXVI posted:

Also if mummies are saddled with cults by default, I'm imagining some mummies who don't want to put up with that poo poo, and are desperately trying to stay at least moderately anonymous while their fanclub tries to track them down.

In a 13th Age campaign I ran one PC was an ex-Elven Male Model, the most famous of all in the world, because he was the only elven beefcake available among a horde of Legolases. Elves in 13th Age can teleport. His battles with paparazzi were epic.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

Glazius posted:

Well, the Shin Megami Tensei/Persona series has been using HP to cast physical skills since at least SMT 3.

You also have the Dark Knight from Final Fantasy. And to stick with tabletop RPGs, Microlite d20 (or was it d20 Microlite?) has you cast spells from your HP.

Daeren posted:



Introduction and Chapter One Part One: Rise From Your Grave

Oh please, Onyx Path. It's not a "monumental challenge to create a rich and exciting roleplaying experience centered around mummies". As if that was the silliest thing they could've taken (that would be clowns). Try something like this:

Mahou: The Shoujoing WIP posted:

X Splats
Seerah, Purikuwa, Saruri, Takusida, Tokusa

Y Splats
Each group is on its own, but similar groups may form a Franchise, or have a Crossover.

The Quick Pitch
You wear a cute dress and blast/punch monsters till they stop being evil. Or alive. Whatever happens first. Also you can kill the Horror of a Beast without killing the Beast itself, because depowering them sounds like fun.
Your great curse is all the school and slice-of-life crap happening in your normal life.

Theme
Love and Friendship

Mood
Sunshine, lollipos...

Myths, Pop Culture, and Facts
Yes, we have annoying mascots. No, they don't want to troll us in order to stop the heat death of the universe.

I'm getting there...

Serf posted:

The Mummy is my personal model for how an adventure game should go in pretty much all situations.

Exactly. If only the Crystal Skull was like that.

Doresh fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Oct 19, 2016

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Cythereal posted:

Valkyrie operative: "More to the point, you were not born in the United States and I don't see any immigration paperwork. Sorry, but we're going to have to deport you."

Doesn't the FBI work with ICE a lot? Or will they be open to the argument that returning from Duat is equivalent to birth, thus qualifying the Arisen for jus soli citizenship?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Kavak posted:

Doesn't the FBI work with ICE a lot? Or will they be open to the argument that returning from Duat is equivalent to birth, thus qualifying the Arisen for jus soli citizenship?

If they spent their unlife in the land owned by the us prior to their being a us they also got citizenship at the formation of the United States retroactively which is how I assumed most vampires qualified.

Also, assuming the mummy has a living descendent in the US with citizenship waiting the 5-10 years to get citizenship via petition doesn't mean too much to an immortal being.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Can Arisen have kids? Or are they going to argue large chunks of American citizenry are descended from them?

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Also, time for more Ironclaw as we get to the other side of the Wolf Story!

The Phelan came to Calabria ages ago, like most of the Great Houses. They've done everything they can to change as little as possible since the day they arrived as the Reeoil, telling of terrible wars with great wizard kings in a foreign land 'of a thousand colors'. They arrived by longboat, beginning a communal colony in the northwestern portion of Calabria. The rolling fields and rich forests seemed inviting at first, but soon after, children began to vanish on the edge of the wood. Then, one of their settlements ceased to send messengers over-night, and when scouts arrived, they found every inhabitant had been impaled on pikes and left in a strange, ritual circle throughout the town. The settlers armed themselves and pressed closer together, unsure what was attacking them, until a single party of scouts spotted the nightmare of the woods, the Morrigna. A beast that seemed to be half raven and half wolf, and half again as tall as a man, the scouting party narrowly brought the beast down and then crept into the wood to try to find out where the hostile monster had come from. What they found was an entire war-party of the things, accompanied by smaller goblins of similar build but only the size of a normal person, all preparing to drive the settlers from their new home.

The settlers had no idea what to do, or where these terrible beasts had come from, until a madman among them fell to the ground and recounted in a strange voice how these creatures were a shadow of the Autarchs, the dread wizard lords of myth who had once ruled Calabria. The Reeoil resolved to fight, having no way to escape the beasts, and set up a network of howlers and messengers to warn one another when the beasts approached a settlement. Soon a pitched battle ensued, the Reeoil trying to dig trenchs of pitch and herd the monsters by fire, but the Morrignai were endless, ferocious, and the wolves' best warriors couldn't make a dent in their numbers. The spears of the wolves were no match for the enormous blades and silent slaughter that the Morrignai brought to bear. In despair, the Reeoil turned to the Aos Diaone, the holy people and druids, and called out to the Fools to chasten their warriors. The greatest among the Fools, empowered by the Druids, mocked the wolves for their failure to save their lands, mocked the Druids for failing to prevent the catastrophe, and insulted the world for being so cruel as to visit such a fate upon the Reeoil. Her mockery (according to legend) so wounded the world that it relented, and sent great elemental power to sweep away the encroaching monsters, saving the settlers from a certain doom. This gave the wolves time to unite, to coordinate, and to fight the monsters as wolves do, as one group. Over the course of their war, they drove the Morrignai deep into the woods, and the monsters gave the King of the Reeoil five swords to seal their agreement never to return. To this day, mothers frighten their pups with stories of the terrible raven-beasts, lurking and waiting for disobedient children at the edge of darkness.

Quite a bit different from the Bisclavret version of them facing a normal tribe of indigenous ravens and nearly losing, eh?

After the war, for a time, all was well. People could return to tending their massive lizard livestock, hunting, farming, fishing, and raiding one another for livestock and land. The land had become the land of the Tautha na Reeoil, and they were no longer strangers to it. When one of their great queens died, however, the Aos Diaone n Iargul, a sect of highly conservative Druids, argued they had the right to put forth a candidate for Tanist to replace her. In Phelan law, even to this day, the successor to a king or chief is always chosen by the king or chief, and by a council from the clan, rather than by direct descent. A landowning faction that had found good fortune in this new homeland opposed them, afraid a king put forth by conservative Druids would ask for a return to the old homeland in the land of a thousand colors, and put forth their own recommendation. As has happened multiple times in Calabria, 20 years of civil war followed over the succession. The war was low-intensity and inconclusive, but it brought disorder and feuding and damaged the Tauta na Reeoil such that both sides agreed: The land was large and plentiful, and there was room to part as equals rather than struggle over dominance any longer. So were formed the Tautha na Iargul, the second Clan of the Phelan people. This division would occur many times in Phelan history.

The next clan to form was the Tautha na Daesich, formed of refugees from the repeated raids and border skrimishes between the Iargul and Reeoil. Founded by a great Bard named Finias, he was to meet his end by being too good at singing. Beloved of all women, Finias angered so many husbands that they formed an entire army and cut off his head shortly after he'd led his people south. He was such a supernaturally skilled singer (or so the story goes) that his head continued to sing after his death, and so his people declared this a good omen and founded their clan on the spot. To this day, especially after the 'betrayal' of the Bianfels, the Daesich are known as the greatest musicians and Bards among the Phelan, and choose their king or queen entirely by concert.

Next Time: Contact with the Doloreaux, the Founding of the Tautha na Oirthir.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 9 hours!
For those keeping track, there were three versions of Mummy in the old World of Darkness.

World of Darkness: Mummy was published in 1992. It's often referred to as a sourcebook for Vampire, which it was by default--this was before they'd even published Werewolf. This also makes Mummies the first "fat-splat," years ahead of books like Kindred of the East and Orpheus.

The second edition cleaned up the mechanics somewhat, and was really neat--I'd like to review it some time. Mummies departed in many ways from the WoD formula. PCs didn't become monsters yesterday, they're thousands of years old. They're not self-loathing villains, they were resurrected to fight Apep. (They even plug into other games well, because Apep is equated with the Wyrm and Oblivion.) Their bodies are human, and their powers mostly rely on rituals and crafts to work. They have different factions and origins, but no splats with different powers.

It has some problems. There are too many stats, for one. As in Vampire, there are three Virtues and a Humanity score. Because of Egyptian myths about the soul, there are separate Ba and Ka stats in addition to Sekhem (your mana pool). Related to this, the game had been reworked so that it interacts with Wraith--but with no good advice on how to handle a mummy PC being reduced to a pseudo-wraith bumbling around the Underworld while the party carries on. (The best advice is to make a new character, since it takes a long time to rebuild your Ba score and reanimate.)

The third version, Mummy: the Resurrection, was a full core game line, released in-between Hunter and Demon. And, uh...I prefer not to go on angry rants against games I haven't even skimmed, but it appears that M:tR threw out a lot of what made Mummies unique. The game has its roots in the Great Maelstrom and the Week of Nightmares, which was widely considered the cherry on top of everything wrong with WoD metaplot. You play a clueless novice who was transformed into a Mummy yesterday. There are splats. There's even explicit guidance for what to do with old Mummy characters--which is not as bad as "all the Ravnos are dead," but it's pretty awful. I'm wholly underwhelmed with the premise, to say the least.

Daeren posted:

Due to the nature of Memory, characters are expected to have little to no backstory at the start of the game beyond a few broad-brush strokes, because the character doesn’t actually remember a drat thing about themselves. The Storyteller (or player) reveals elements of their past as Memory increases.
This is cool and good, and something WW should have done more often.

Mors Rattus posted:

I like that the lexicon is fully half as long as the rest of the post.
I'm the undisputed king of reviewing games with interminable lexica. YOU THINK YOU CAN STEP TO ME?!?!

PurpleXVI posted:

Also if mummies are saddled with cults by default, I'm imagining some mummies who don't want to put up with that poo poo, and are desperately trying to stay at least moderately anonymous while their fanclub tries to track them down.
We love you Khakaure, oh yes we do...

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:
The Week of Nightmares was so incredibly dumb, and also very lop-sided, since it's primary actors were vampires and mages. But there's a footnote at the end of time of thin blood that goes "Oh and a werewolf pack was there too, they died instantly."

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

Cythereal posted:

Valkyrie operative: "More to the point, you were not born in the United States and I don't see any immigration paperwork. Sorry, but we're going to have to deport you."

I'm guessing that would be a problem if the mummy's place of birth no longer exists on a map.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


It's funny that anyone thinks Valkyrie would bother with the law when it comes to killing monsters. If you're not human, you have exactly as many rights as they feel like giving you.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

So did I miss it, or does Mummy have the "so what exactly are the PCs supposed to do in this game" problem?

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Evil Mastermind posted:

So did I miss it, or does Mummy have the "so what exactly are the PCs supposed to do in this game" problem?

The game will make very clear what a single Mummy is going to do.

What a group does is another question entirely.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 9 hours!

Kurieg posted:

The Week of Nightmares was so incredibly dumb, and also very lop-sided, since it's primary actors were vampires and mages. But there's a footnote at the end of time of thin blood that goes "Oh and a werewolf pack was there too, they died instantly."
It also highlights a) the tendency for WoD metaplot to revolve around godlike, unstattable characters, and b) the huge power gap between game lines.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Halloween Jack posted:

It also highlights a) the tendency for WoD metaplot to revolve around godlike, unstattable characters, and b) the huge power gap between game lines.

"Do you know what would be great in a gameable scenario? People who are ungameable!" -Every goddamn Metaplot writer for the oWoD.

Rigged Death Trap
Feb 13, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

wiegieman posted:

It's funny that anyone thinks Valkyrie would bother with the law when it comes to killing monsters. If you're not human, you have exactly as many rights as they feel like giving you.

"And by deported I mean completely obliterated"
The mummy swipes at the buzzing hologram
"At extreme range, you mummy dummy. Prepare for your imminent JDAMnation."

hyphz
Aug 5, 2003

Number 1 Nerd Tear Farmer 2022.

Keep it up, champ.

Also you're a skeleton warrior now. Kree.
Unlockable Ben

Kurieg posted:

So basically the Inheritors like the fact that they're the big kids on the block and intentionally ensure that all other forms of time travel are limited to the timeline that allows them to be brought into power.

Continuum is basically absolutely clear about the fact that you're working for the Inheritors. To be fair, they kind of have to lock themselves in because they invented the time machines, and if ever they didn't show up then every use of time travel by humans would be paradoxical or eventually eliminated.

(I always liked the fact that's a real theory: we'll never see the invention of a time machine, because any time it's invented, history starts changing without limit until something eventually disrupts the invention of that time machine and brings it to a halt. Since there's only one timeline, what we see is "after" all that has happened, so time travel never happens)

potatocubed
Jul 26, 2012

*rathian noises*
I think the problem TFV would face with mummies is that a) a mummy is extremely difficult to put down even once and b) they can do unspeakable amounts of collateral damage in the attempt. Meteor showers, earthquakes, blasting people into pillars of salt, zombie plagues...

All in all, you're better just working out what they want and giving it to them so they go back to sleep.

Loxbourne
Apr 6, 2011

Tomorrow, doom!
But now, tea.

Night10194 posted:

"Do you know what would be great in a gameable scenario? MY SUPER-SPECIAL ULTRACOOL GRIMDARK ORIGINAL CHARACTER OF AWESOME! Better make him unstattable so the ungrateful idiots can't try to kill him and ruin everything forever!." -Every goddamn Metaplot writer for the oWoD.

Kellsterik
Mar 30, 2012

Evil Mastermind posted:

So did I miss it, or does Mummy have the "so what exactly are the PCs supposed to do in this game" problem?

Mummy is actually very good at giving you stuff to do in a session: find magic items that rightfully belong to you and yours and were stolen, fight the bad guys with your cult by your side and get the relic back, return them to your tomb. The rest of the game is variations and expansions on that premise.

In my experience, the core gameplay of turning hapless mortals into pillars of salt while balefully saying RETUURRN THE SLAAABB, OR SUFFER MYYY CUUURRSSEE is deeply satisfying. But yes, working with multiple Arisen PCs always feels like overkill. My players had a lot of trouble figuring out who their PC was and what motivated them, because the core idea is so alien and specific.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.


I was being more charitable than they deserved, yes.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:
The werewolf metaplot in 2e made no sense either. "Take your player characters on a whirlwind tour of the solar system via the umbra, visit all the amazing wonderful dream realms of the planets and find the Perfect Metis that's out there for some reason I guess."

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 9 hours!

Kellsterik posted:

In my experience, the core gameplay of turning hapless mortals into pillars of salt
Mummies aren't Jewish.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

potatocubed posted:

I think the problem TFV would face with mummies is that a) a mummy is extremely difficult to put down even once and b) they can do unspeakable amounts of collateral damage in the attempt. Meteor showers, earthquakes, blasting people into pillars of salt, zombie plagues...

All in all, you're better just working out what they want and giving it to them so they go back to sleep.

On the other hand, if anyone has the tech to put a mummy down fast it's Valkyrie. These are the dudes with an electrolaser as an Endowment.

But yeah. When I was running my Valkyrie game, I had TFV maintain an unofficial policy of mummies, sin-eaters, and prometheans being too much trouble to kill so better to persuade them to move on by other means.

I Am Just a Box
Jul 20, 2011
I belong here. I contain only inanimate objects. Nothing is amiss.

potatocubed posted:

I think the problem TFV would face with mummies is that a) a mummy is extremely difficult to put down even once and b) they can do unspeakable amounts of collateral damage in the attempt. Meteor showers, earthquakes, blasting people into pillars of salt, zombie plagues...

Although I did enjoy the tangent that emerged on rpg.net awhile back which started at this premise and went in the opposite direction: because mummies have brief periods of terrifying power, have little reason to respect any kind of masquerade, make unclear demands addled by their initial fogginess on rising, and direct hidden networks of followers, the government's response is to drop all other priorities in favor of a Global War on Mummies.

mcclay
Jul 8, 2013

Oh dear oh gosh oh darn
Soiled Meat
I want a Mummy/VASCU game thats about taking stolen objects of cultural importance from collectors and other weirdos and giving them back to their original owners.

The Sin of Onan
Oct 11, 2012

And below,
watched by eyes of steel
we dreamt

mcclay posted:

I want a Mummy/VASCU game thats about taking stolen objects of cultural importance from collectors and other weirdos and giving them back to their original owners.

See, I was thinking Mummies vs. the British equivalent of TF:V, launching a full-scale assault on the British Museum to get their stolen poo poo back.

Kaza42
Oct 3, 2013

Blood and Souls and all that

mcclay posted:

I want a Mummy/VASCU game thats about taking stolen objects of cultural importance from collectors and other weirdos and giving them back to their original owners.

Wouldn't VASCU be against the mummies here? As far as the FBI is concerned, most of that stuff belongs to the weird collectors, not the mummies. Theft is against the law, after all

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 9 hours!
It's like The Fog, but you get to play the pirate ghosts.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011

The Sin of Onan posted:

See, I was thinking Mummies vs. the British equivalent of TF:V, launching a full-scale assault on the British Museum to get their stolen poo poo back.

Holy poo poo I want to run this now. That's incredible.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

The Sin of Onan posted:

See, I was thinking Mummies vs. the British equivalent of TF:V, launching a full-scale assault on the British Museum to get their stolen poo poo back.

So this except the minions are chanting "Bob from accounting"?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Kaza42 posted:

Wouldn't VASCU be against the mummies here? As far as the FBI is concerned, most of that stuff belongs to the weird collectors, not the mummies. Theft is against the law, after all

Depends on how much evidence the Mummy has. I mean you're one tv camera away from a truly magnificent small claims court episode wherun Sutenkamen must provide evidence that is truly their signature on the canopied jar owns by Luke Fallon, payday lender/pawn broker of the small town of Cairo, Louisiana.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015
Godbound


Let's look at Godbounds default setting, shall we?

A Gazetteer of Arcem

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, the whole backstory of Godbound is how Theurgy combined with megalomania, warmongering and general murder-hoboing caused Heaven and the World to break apart, the fragments now floating through the endless void of Uncreated Night.
Arcem (which more or less translates to "refuge") is one such fragment, a continent surrounded by an ocean that turns darker the farther one sails out, until the unfortunate sailors fall into the Uncreated Night.

But first, a short look at the multiverse.

The Uncreated Night

The primordial chaos. The void of un-Creation. It appears paradox that such a place can vomit out Eldritch abominations, but it could be that these creatures are born from an unnatural intermingling between Uncreated Night and Creation. This would certainly explain why they are such twisted monstrosities seemingly only driven by hate and destruction.

The only (somewhat) safe way through the Uncreated Night is via the Night Roads, which can take on a variety of forms, be it a river or a literal road. If the entrance of a Night Road is inside a dungeon, brave adventurers might not even notice that they've entered one until they notice that the dungeon just gets more and more strange as they go on.
It is not uncommon to find citadels and other buildings on a Night Road, from older times where they were more frequently used. Many of these are abandoned and probably full of horrors, while others might house the descendants of the humans that were stationed there.

New Night Roads are created either by (usualy foolish) Theurges, or just spontaneously. The latter only really happens in isolated regions, as if the presence of humans and other living beings makes it harder for the Uncreated Night to create an entrance.

Heaven

The fragments of Heaven can take on a multitude of forms, but usually pretty grand and majestic, with ever-present signs of decay. Some fragments have their own little ecosystem, while others are devoid of life.

Getting into a heavenly fragment is not easy task, as the Night Roads leadig to them are often very well hidden. Due to the catastrophic nature of the Shattering, some fragments aren't even connected to anything, just floating through the Night until a Theurge can create a Night Road to it.

But the fun doesn't stop once a group of brave adventurers manage to reach such a fragment. The raiding parties of yore might've left some nasty traps, and the broken state of many fragments and its engines can be pretty deadly in and of itself. And lastly, there's always the chance of running into an angel, and you generally don't want to do that.

The most priceless treasure to gain from Heaven are the celestial shards, which are mandatory for the creation of powerful artifacts and similar wonders. The celestial engines themselves (who can take on a wide range of apperances, from actual machinery to floating orbs and stuff) can also be an important goal for adventuerers, for each has a spiritual connection with one aspect of a realm, be it a region or a law of physics. A group of brave Godbound will certainly be needed if one of their realm's most imporant engines is in dire need of repair, or requires defending form angels.

Hell

Hell in Godbound doesn't have anything to do with Devils (who like Demons fall into the category of "Sir not appearing in this setting"). It was actually a good place to have, as it cleansed the souls of the sinners before they were ready for the proper afterlife.

Unfortunately, with the angels turning a bit batshit crazy after the humans wrecked their home and caused God to go MIA, they promptly wrecked the place to make sure that it could no longer purify anything, and generally turned it into a prison for human souls. Their goal now is to trap humans in Hell forever and destroy all remaining celestial engines so they can reboot Creation.

But not all angels are enemies: Former warden of Hell Arch-Angel Sammael (the only named angel btw) and his loyalists didn't quite agree with their comrades, and have no started an underground resistance movement. They are too small in number to stop their crazed kin, but they can be useful allies for a group of Godbound. They'd certainly need all the help they can get on a trip into Hell.

With Hell looking pretty darn grim and a certain lack of gods, various mortal faiths now rely on rituals to keep the souls of the dead anchored to their realm in an eternal sleep. I suppose this is why proper burial rites makes it harder to raise undead.

Far Realms

Listed among the nations of Arcem, but I decided to put these here as it makes a bit more sense, for the Far Realms is the term used for realms besides Arcem. Some of these might've been part of the same planet/world as Arcem, while many more certainly aren't.

Contact with these Far Realms is anything but frequent. The usually show themselves in the form of stranded explorers, voyagers or refugees. Some come alone, while others strand on Arcem in a ship of sorts (Spelljammers?). Most of these poor souls have little hope of ever getting back home, but fortunately for them the lands of Arcem are strange enough that nobody really bats an eye on a non-human fellow. Provided he doesn't start eating people, I guess.

Since Arcem is pretty much human-only, the Far Realms serve as an origin for non-human PCs. Maybe your elf was trolled by fairies and is now stuck on Arcem, or your dwarf has Superman's origin story. Who knows.
The Far Realms are also a good excuse to include all sorts of weird stuff, like literal space invaders.
Lastly, high-level Godbounds might decide to switch campaign settings via Night Roads. Go to Faerun and troll metaplot NPCs. Visit Sigil to see whether or not the Lady of Pain tolerates Godbound. Or invade Athas and fix everything.

Other Attractions

Corpse Worlds are realms that have gone really FUBAR. Either hordes of Uncreated killed every living thing in the realm, or a vital celestial engine broke down, leaving a world without a sun, air or gravity. There is nothing a mere mortal could do to restore such a hopeless realm, but a Godbound might just pull it off.

Paradises area small realms created by a Made God or equally powerful being as a resting place for the souls of their followers. Usually a place of eternal peace (unless its creator was into more grimdark stuff), these realms are still a safe haven for the souls within even after its creators demise.
Though without its creators, these Paradises can lose some of their glory and power, which might lead to invasions of Uncreated, or the whole place being engulfed in anarchy (which can get pretty weird if you consider that most paradises makes it impossible for its inhabitants to die).

The Nations of Arcem

This kinda reminds me of Aventuria.

The dominant human ethnicities in Arcem are the Din (not-Caucasians) of the central and northwest regions, the Akeh (not-Africans) of the southwest and northeast, and the Ren (not-Asians). The Din and Akeh are native to Arcem, while the Ren are the descendants of an invasion force from a faraway not-China who, thanks to some unlucky timing, got stuck on Arcem when the Shattering cut them off from their homeland in every sense of the word.
Aside from these three, there are a couple minorities and people with a mixed heritage.

Each nation gets a page dedicated to it, with a summary of its population, government, problems, names and Background Concepts (for use as Facts if your PC comes from that nation).

Also note that the general assumption is that Godbounds have only started popping up on Arcem a few years ago. None of the established nations have a good idea what to do with these folks, and the Godbound themselves (aka the PCs) have yet to start re-shaping the world.

Ancalia

The Akeh nation of Ancalia is the poster child for the terrible after-effects of the Shattering. It was a peaceful and rich country, with a wise ruler and several orders of noble knights. This all ended 5 years ago when what must've been a celestial engine failure caused 9 Night Roads to pop up all over the land.
As if the ensuing invasion of Uncreated monstrosities wasn't bad enough, they also brought with them the Hollowing Plague, which caused each of their victims to rise as a zombie.

Today, Ancalia lies in ruins. Uncreated and undead roam the land, the knightly orders are gone aside from a few survivors, and what little civilization is left is usually run by warlords. Most Ancalians have sought refuge in neighboring nations, but they are distrustful, wondering if the Ancalians brought this disaster upon themselves.

Atheocracy of Lom

These guys are weird. Founded by refuges from ancient nations ruled by a terror regime of Made Gods, the people of Lom have developed a grudge against any kind of god.
As such, Lom is an atheistic nation, run by "antipriests" who advocate a somewhat convoluted belief system of True Reason, which advocates that any sort of self-proclaimed divinity is not to be trusted and that human reason is the only way to go. The antipriests claim to thrive for a new golden age of humanity, but they seem to just use the citizens as guinea pigs.

Being atheist in a world where people with divine powers are walking the Earth sounds like a somewhat lopsided struggle. Fortunately for the Atheocracy, they have access to the Pyre, an ancient angelic artifact. Those who enter it can suppress and nullify magical and divine powers, but this comes at a great cost: Almost everyone who uses the Pyre suffers severe mental damage and is reduced to a simple-minded fool, which the other antipriests train like a man-shaped anti-magic dog.

The dark secret of Lom is that the Atheocracy is backed by the angels, who are more than happy to support a nation that makes sure each and every single one of its dead land in Hell thanks to the lack of funeral rites.

Naturally, they are suspicious of the Godbound, and have several strike teams all over the land to hunt them down, albeit with not particularly great success.

Lom might also have the weirdest naming convetion of them all: Family names are just professions (though it doesn't actually have to be your actual profession), and surnames include stuff like Upright, Benevolence and Selfless. A pretty weird cult, is all I'm saying.

Bleak Reach

This is more or less the grandpa of Ancalia in terms of being FUBAR. Once home to one of the most advanced civilizations on the continent, the region now known as the Bleak Reach got absolutely wrecked by the Shattering. Several cities were destroyed by natural disasters, and celestial fallout affects the region to this day.

Amidst the ancient ruins and Eldritch horrors, the Bleak Reach sports a number of independent settlements populated by charming fellows who couldn't find refuge anywhere else.

Bright Republic

The Bright Republic is Eberron 2.0. No, wait, it's Shadowrun. They're a 21st century nation in a fantasy setting, complete with skyscrapers, television, and the internet. They even see the Godbound as superheroes. The main difference is that the Republic's energy comes from magically-generated magnetism and electricity, and their firearms all make use of magnetic propulsion.

The Republic's tech level might appear strange, but that's what the world actually looked like before the Shattering. The reason the other nations have regressed is because Arcem's celestial engines have been so damaged that they can no longer into stuff like electricity. The Bright Republic can still make use of advanced technology because the house-sized etheric nodes that also serve as energy generators also help in supporting the celestial engines. Because of this, none of the Republic's gadgets work outside of their island, unless it has been insulated in a somewhat expensive process.

(And yes, this means the Medival Stasis of Arcem is a result of broken physics.)

Problems for the Bright Republic come in the form of corruption and organized crime typical for this kind of setting. There's also a bit of potential trouble with neighbors (the Republic is utterly dependant on imports for raw materials) and illegal immigrants (the Republic keeps a tight watch around its borders because the nodes can only support so many people, but the comfy lifestyle of the island is just too tempting).
Lastly, there is the tiny problem that the nodes have started to decay, and the government doesn't really have any idea what to do about it.

Howlers

Another home of a former ancient civilization. Similar to the Bright Republic in power, this civilization was obsessed with the Mandala, a massive and complex series of magical sigils that covered the whole nation. [Insert Fullmetal Alchemist spoiler here]
Nobody knows what exactly happened (or why), but the completion of the Mandala caused the destruction of this civiliation and the birth of large and dangerous beasts.

Nowadays, the Howlers are the home of nomads who have managed to tame these beasts. They are quite poetic for barbarians, but their raids doesn't exactly make for healthy relationships with their neighbors. The only ones willing to trade with the is the Bright Republic, but some Howler tribes are already working on cutting the middleman there as well by breeding swim- and flight-capable beasts.

Kasirutan Archipelago

A series of islands with largely independent towns. The Kasirutans are descendants of the navy that brought the invasion for from not-China to Arcem. Their names are very southeast Asian-y.

Kasirutans are known has having some of the finest ships in all the land, and their merchants can be found almost anywhere. But many are vary when they see Kasirutan sails, for one can never be quite sure whether they've come across a trader or a pirate.

Nezdohva

The Bright Republic was nothing. Now things get awesome.

A Russian/Eastern Europe inspired country, Nezdovha was named after a tsar that ruled the region around 300 years ago.

As Nezdovha became older, he desparately looked for ways to extend his lifespan. He finally thought to have found the perfect solution by pulling a Ghost in the Shell, ordering his artificers to build him a mechanical body in which his brain could be preserved forever.
Unfortunately for Nezdovha, his artificers did such a great job that his magitek body developed sentience. This Iron Tsar let Nezdovha rot in his head (or maybe he's still trapped inside?), but he played along for a while until his artificers build a new artifical nobility with which he overthrew the old ruling class. This didn't sit well with the nobles of the Raktine region, who promptly declared their independence.

With thousands of mechanical boyars, each at least as strong as 10 men, it would've been easy for the Iron Tsar to smash these rebels. Unfortunately, they were just as sentient and strong-willed as he is, and they'd rather spend their time with intrigue and general games-of-throning than working for a common cause. The Iron Tsar still has the upper hand though, as his artificers make sure to provide the boyars with new family members.

To protect their borders and keep the human population in check, the Iron Tsar and the mechanical boyars make use of autocossacks, magitek cyborgs with artifical centaur bodies.

Oasis States

An Egypt-style nation, but with a twist, for the population lives in city-sized pyramids to protect them from the unforgiving desert.
Each of these pyramid cities tries to be as self-sufficient as possible, but they can't cultivate everything, making them dependant on dangerous cravan routes into the desert, where they are frequently raided by the nomadic sand princes.

Bandits aside, the biggest problem of the Oasis States is the nobility's obsessing with eugenics. They happily indulge in incest to strengthen family gifts like martial skills, magic, and perhaps divine powers. Of course, this means there are a lot of deformed relatives wasting away their lifes in some secret dungeon, and the current God-King and -Queen of the Oasis States are batshit insane.

Patrian Empire

An Akeh nation with a strong warrior spirit. Every male citizen is required to serve the military for 12 years, while women can join women-only units if they have the skill and determination. Their pride are their legions of heavy infantry armed with shield and spear, who rank among the best soldiers in Acrem.
If their Latin names are anything to go by, they're basically not-African not-Romans.

Ever since the invasion from not-China, the Patrian Empire has been in near-constant conflict with the Regency of Dulimbai (which used to be ruled by Patrians before the invaders took it). Bei it short border skirmishes or an all-out war, there's always trouble to be found, with no end in sight.

One thing the Patrians are kinda infamous for is their penchant for slaves. Almost every family has at least one, and these ones are generally treated well and can even expect freedom for good service (now employed by their former masters as they'd rather have someone they can trust work for them).
Unfortunately, the grand majority of slaves work in the Patrian mines, a short, cruel and miserable existance that has resulted in serveral revolts and will probably screw the Patrians over big time if one of their slaves turns out to be a Godbound.

Raktine Confederacy

A loose collection of city-states that splitt off from Nezdohva when the machines took over. They also have a history with the neighboring lands of Patrian and Dulimbai, who have both taken over Raktia in the past. They don't really get along with any of their neighbors, and even the city-states themselves are bickering with each other.

Due to the intrigue going on in Nezdohva, the Iron Tsar can't form a combined army to retake Raktia, though that doesn't stop the occasional group of boyars or autocossacks from having a bit of fun at the border.

As if all that wasn't enough, there are also the Black Academies, remote vaults in which wizards summoned (and in parts still summon) Uncreated monsters to overthrow the Patrian and Dulimbaian rule around 40 years ago.
This little incursion of Uncreated Night was thankfully not big enough to destroy civilization, but it made the wilderness a dangerous place to be, and many brave Raktines have become rad monster hunters in the process.

Regency of Dulimbai

The most not-Chinese descendants of the not-Chinese invaders. They are ruled by a regent who - more out of tradition than anything else - still claims loyalty to the emperor of their distant homeland that for all intents and purposes no longer exists. Also lots of bureaucracy.

Like the Patrians, the Regency indulges in slavery. Even normal commoners don't have it much better than slaves, so they hope that their children might qualify for a higher status in the so-called Great Examinations.

Dulimbaians are kinda thick-headed and refuse to change their ancient traditions, which may or may not also include the war they have going on with the Patrians. They also have a "Everyone else is an uncivilized barbarian" attitude (the not-Youtube of the Bright Republic is nothing against the fine arts of calligraphy), though that doesn't stop them from trading with people. They'll just say it's a "tribute" or something.

The Thousand Gods

Originally a testing ground for theotechnology and Theurgy, and the birthplace of the Made Gods. When the Shattering happened, the scientists infused some of their own with divine power to protect them form the chaos. This process was a success in most cases, but the mental health of these titular gods is not exactly the best.

Many refugees from neighboring countries came swarming into this former testing ground to seek help from these new gods, forming cults that later turned into jungle kingdoms.

Nowadays, the Thousand Gods is a chaotic collection of various tribes whose gods are fighting for supremacy. As they slowly become more demanding and tyrannical, more and more people leave their former home to join the Godless, warriors who survive without divine help and may in fact be bad enough dudes to kill one of the Thousand.

Toba Plains

Descendant from the cavalry of the not-Chinese invasion, the people of the Toba Plains are unsurprisingly not-Mongols. They still serve the regent of Dulimbai, but that has less to do with loyalty and more with him paying well for badass horse archers.

Most Tobans tend to a nomadic lifestyle, which each clan having its own general region, which of course results in occasional border incidents as young Tobans like to steal cattle and stuff.
A smaller portion of the Toban lives in monasteries known as lamaseries, which serve as both trading posts and places of ancestor whorship. The individual monasteries see each other as rivals and indulge in all sorts of backstabbing.

Ulstang Skerries

What is worse than being a coastal village raided by vikings? Being a coastal village raided by vikings with heavily-armored undead shock troops, who raid you not only because of loot, but because they need more undead slaves.

As rad as this sounds, being a viking in Arcem kind of blows. The Skerries are not a very nice place to live in, and the necromantic witch-queens who rule over everything are tyrannical jerks who will gleefully turn you into an undead if you didn't die honorfully in battle.
Did I mention that the draugr they'll turn you into remember a tiny bit of their former life, leaving you no refuge in blissful mindlessness?
As such, most heroic Ulstangers are probably those that have left their home behind for good.

Ulstang girls have it a bit better, as only they can become acylotes of a witch-queen to one day take her place. There's quite a bit of backstabbing going on though, and many acolytes don't last long.

Naturally, the neighboring nations hate the Ulstangers, but getting rid of them and their necromantic shenanigans is seen as too large of an undertaking, so they just content with them.

Vissio

Conquered by the Patrians a looong time ago, Vissio has since become an independent nation of city-states, and its culture has split off into something more sophisticated than the martial culture of the south.
The people of Vissio are merchants and artists, tbough their Patrian heritage still shows in their well-fortified cities.

While these fortifications are great at avoiding civil wars between the rivaling city-states, they have also resulted in said conflicts behin carried out through lots of backstabbing, both in the political and the literal sense.
The most powerful tool for the literal kind of backstabbing is the Order of Redactors, also know as the Razors of God or just Razors. They're an elite group of scholar-assassins who split into two sub-factions: One wants to make the world a better place through careful assassinations, while the others just do it for cash.

The Razors - and others who can afford it - make frequent use of one of Vissio's most fabled products: Clockwork cybernetics. Hideously expensive, but they do work everywhere, unlike the stuff from the Bright Republic.

The Ways of the Realm

A bit more general stuff about Arcem, some of which I've already mentioned.

Languages

With three general branches of humans on Arcem also come three ancient tongues that have each spawned into 2-3 modern languages, most of which are used by multiple nations.
Other languages include the ever-important Trade Cant, the Holy Speech of the Thousand Gods, and the Primordial used by angels and theurges.

The weirdest languages are probably the Holy Speech (a wild mix of the survivors that fled to the Thousand Gods), and definitely Primordial. Primordial cannot be spoken by ordinary mortals, for it is less of a language and more of a display of the user's force of will over the fabric of creation. Definitely very impressive.

PCs are assumed to know the Trade Cant and whatever languages makes sense for their starting Facts. New languages can be learned with new Facts, while wielders of the Words of Knowledge or Deception can probably just learn new ones as they go along.

Low Magic Revised

Now lets look back the traditions of Low Magic and see where they fit in the setting:
  • The Academy of Thoughts is the primary form of magic in the Regency of Dulimbai, which fits their perception of cultural superiority. Students of the school don't get along with ancestor worshippers as they gravitate towards atheism.
  • The Cinnabar Order is the tradition of the Oasis States, and - aside of the servitors created by theotechnicians - the only surviving magical order dealing with summons. The pyramids have always need for their services, but there's a bit of friction with the upper classes as the Order refuses to have anything to do with the eugenics shenanigans.
  • The Curse-Eaters are a welcome site in Raktia, for curses are about as common as monsters there.
  • Theotechnicians are mainly at home in the Bright Repbulic, but the Thousand Gods have preserved more know-how from the days before the Shattering, what if it having been a testing site.

The other traditions can be found pretty much everywhere.

Religion

The Shattering and the disappearance of the only proper god did a number on people's belief. Some have stopped whorshipping anything at all, others pray to the remains of Made Gods or their ancestors. Some of these religions actually work and can keep the believers soul from landing in Hell, while others don't quite work so well.

The Church of the One

Also known as the Unitary Church and easily the largest example of organized religion in Arcem. With God gone, its priests preach about the day that he comes back to lead the souls of the worth yinto paradise.
The priests of the Church aren't really Clerics (especially not with their power source gone), but they do have access to a couple useful artifacts.

Each nation of Arcem has its own version of the Unitary Church, with general tolerance and decadency varying.

Ancestor Cults

Especially popular with Ren nations, and probably the most "legit" religion as the most common way to avoid having a soul land in Hell these days requires it to stay anchored and sleeping in Arcem.
As ancestor whorship is a more of a private affair, the temples and priests don't quite have as big of a role as they have in other religions.

The Doctrine of True Reason

The weird atheism practiced in Lom, and I've already told most about it. The doctrine keeps changing every few decades or so, and it advocates reason and logic and the rulership of the intelligent and rational (aka the antipriests themselves). It's a bit 1984ish.

Lesser Faiths

There are a lot of smaller cults almost everywhere. Some actually work in protecting souls, others are just nonsense, and some are orchestrated by angels and Eldritch horrors.

Next Time: Running the World - a classic Crawford-style GM toolkit chapter.

Kaza42
Oct 3, 2013

Blood and Souls and all that

Barudak posted:

Depends on how much evidence the Mummy has. I mean you're one tv camera away from a truly magnificent small claims court episode wherun Sutenkamen must provide evidence that is truly their signature on the canopied jar owns by Luke Fallon, payday lender/pawn broker of the small town of Cairo, Louisiana.

I am not a lawyer, but the intersection of law and the supernatural is just really interesting to me. I want to have some sort of Supernatural Law Firm (like Wolfram and Hart, but not evil) that exists just to help sort out the legal issues of magic, undeath, shapeshifting, astral planes etc. Would Sutenkamen have a case, and if so is Luke Fallon liable for any damage or charges beyond just having to give the jar back? Can vampires collect life insurance on themselves? Do property owners also own the rights to the astral and shadow space that their property occupies?

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Kaza42 posted:

I am not a lawyer, but the intersection of law and the supernatural is just really interesting to me. I want to have some sort of Supernatural Law Firm (like Wolfram and Hart, but not evil) that exists just to help sort out the legal issues of magic, undeath, shapeshifting, astral planes etc. Would Sutenkamen have a case, and if so is Luke Fallon liable for any damage or charges beyond just having to give the jar back? Can vampires collect life insurance on themselves? Do property owners also own the rights to the astral and shadow space that their property occupies?

These are (unironically) the questions that interest me most in urban fantasy.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

Night10194 posted:

These are (unironically) the questions that interest me most in urban fantasy.

Coming soon: Lawyer: The Precedent.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Doresh posted:

Coming soon: Lawyer: The Precedent.

Everyone loves the fact that in Runequest you can launch a legal case against ghosts, cubes, and stranger things. Why not take that into our litigious modern world?

unseenlibrarian
Jun 4, 2012

There's only one thing in the mountains that leaves a track like this. The creature of legend that roams the Timberline. My people named him Sasquatch. You call him... Bigfoot.
"The Anti-priests of the Atheocracy of Lom" and "The Autocossacks of the Iron Tsar" are tied for "The most Jack Kirby sounding things in the setting." Just gonna assume that most pre-Shattering supertech has lots of visible circuitry lines and runs on kirby dots and big hats.

Loxbourne
Apr 6, 2011

Tomorrow, doom!
But now, tea.
I once ran a character in a D&D3.5 game who was a Dwarven lawyer. He turned Dwarven undead by yelling at them to obey the laws of their Hold and of Nature and go back to their graves, dammit. It worked.

Also he had the laws of his hold engraved on stone tablets that he hit people with.

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Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Any campaign that results in a Judge Judy episode where she smacks down petty supernatural bullshit is a good campaign.

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