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[GiglameshDespair]

Yeah, it was a very bare-bones idea.

[sjm9876]

He could just be really stupid.

He is a druid though And also rather wise.
I'm thinking more along the lines of:
'There's a bull-man ahead. Is big. May hit hard.'
'You mean a Minotaur?'
'Minotaur, bull-man - different word, same thing. Still hits as hard.'

[Culise]

He could just be really stupid.

He is a druid though And also rather wise.
I'm thinking more along the lines of:
'There's a bull-man ahead. Is big. May hit hard.'
'You mean a Minotaur?'
'Minotaur, bull-man - different word, same thing. Still hits as hard.'

That sounds quite good to me.  Book-dumb, but world-wise.

Another question.  How far before game start do we want the cataclysm to have taken place?  The stability and order of the city and surrounding regions could be very different depending on whether the cataclysm took place last week, a year or five before game start, or a decade or two ago.  Also, what should be the nature of the cataclysm outside the barrier?  I'm thinking that it's not just the initial disaster, but ongoing actual "storms" of recurrent magical destruction that roam semi-randomly and eventually, invariably destroy any attempt at rebuilding outside, caused by the effects of whatever the cataclysm did to the fundamental underpinnings of magic.  People who venture out in search of needed resources and food risk creatures that have been warped and twisted by these wild magics, savages who were once sapient (or still are) and cling desperately to survival with whatever means are at their disposal, or even, most dangerously of all, falling prey to one of these storms and never being heard from again. 

The totems could also have just been a secret automated defense against powerful magic, the druids themselves being the former rulers of the region being crushed through their own infighting and the superior martial/arcane strength of the invading power (creatively referred to from here on as the Empire, whether Spanish or Roman in inspiration).  It wouldn't just be Vilcabamba style with the end of the Incans, but something mixed with the what happened to the Celts after Rome.  The Empire, after conquest, began a ruthless policy of accculturation and settlement, and Imperial populations became the majority in the region.  The original druids were themselves exterminated over the decades after several failed uprisings (present-day druids being people trying desperately to keep the old ways alive, or from other lands, including the Empire itself), and thus the origins and secrets behind the runes were long forgotten until they stirred and activated with the use of whatever epic magics destroyed the rest of the world.  The city itself would thus be reliant on protection from something they themselves don't understand, but are desperately trying to learn all they can about in case it should ever falter or, heavens forfend, fail entirely.  So, you'd end up with something like Lugdunum meets Cusco, with a mix of the old Druidic culture and the new Imperial culture, and possibly even some internal tensions as the old natives, now only a small minority, start looking at it as a chance to get some of their own back. 

[lawastooshort]

Another question.  How far before game start do we want the cataclysm to have taken place? 

Let's say anywhere from 3 to 5 years. It's enough Oasis has begun to sprawl and population boom, but everyone remembers the old world still.

edit:
Should I be a human or a dwarven rogue/doctor (missile based)? I don't really know enough to decide.

[Deep Waters]

He could just be really stupid.

He is a druid though And also rather wise.
I'm thinking more along the lines of:
'There's a bull-man ahead. Is big. May hit hard.'
'You mean a Minotaur?'
'Minotaur, bull-man - different word, same thing. Still hits as hard.'

That's more Int 8 imo. Int 6 in my mind is more like, "Me no like bullman. Bullman hit bad."

He could just be really stupid.

He is a druid though And also rather wise.
I'm thinking more along the lines of:
'There's a bull-man ahead. Is big. May hit hard.'
'You mean a Minotaur?'
'Minotaur, bull-man - different word, same thing. Still hits as hard.'

That sounds quite good to me.  Book-dumb, but world-wise.

Another question.  How far before game start do we want the cataclysm to have taken place?  The stability and order of the city and surrounding regions could be very different depending on whether the cataclysm took place last week, a year or five before game start, or a decade or two ago.  Also, what should be the nature of the cataclysm outside the barrier?  I'm thinking that it's not just the initial disaster, but ongoing actual "storms" of recurrent magical destruction that roam semi-randomly and eventually, invariably destroy any attempt at rebuilding outside, caused by the effects of whatever the cataclysm did to the fundamental underpinnings of magic. 

The totems could also have just been a secret automated defense against powerful magic, the druids themselves being the former rulers of the region being crushed through their own infighting and the superior martial/arcane strength of the invading power (creatively referred to from here on as the Empire, whether Spanish or Roman in inspiration).  It wouldn't just be Vilcabamba style with the end of the Incans, but something mixed with the what happened to the Celts after Rome.  The original druids themselves exterminated over the decades after several failed uprisings (present-day druids being people trying desperately to keep the old ways alive, or from other lands, including the Empire itself), the origins and secrets behind the runes were long forgotten, until they stirred and activated with the use of whatever epic magics destroyed the rest of the world.  The city itself would thus be reliant on protection from something they themselves don't understand, but are desperately trying to learn all they can about in case it should ever falter or, heavens forfend, fail entirely.  So, you'd end up with something like Lugdunum meets Cusco, with a mix of the old Druidic culture and the new Imperial culture, and possibly even some internal tensions as the old natives start looking at it as a chance to get some of their own back. 

Hm, I was under the impression it was at least a few years since the cataclysm-- not so long that it's faded in mind/memory, but long enough for some sort of society to be cobbled together out of the ruins. At least a decade or two would be nice though-- that's enough time to get some sort of culture/civilization really going.

I'm not too sure about the arcane storms idea-- maybe normal weather charged with magic, like a sandstorm where the sand occasionally phases through solid objects and gets stuck inside them or rain that pocks metal like swiss cheese but leaves anything else untouched or blizzards with hollow hail containing tiny water elementals or a mist that makes every plant bear balls of raw copper ore instead of fruit-- but not just raw magical energy destroying everything. That always seems to me like a waste of potential, when a setting does that.

I like the cultural ideas regarding the totems, especially the idea of relying on something that you don't understanding for protection, but then there's not really any reason for the totems to be maintaining their own little biomes like Dwarm wanted-- not unless the environments are a side effect of their magic instead of an intended effect, I suppose.

of course, ultimately everything is up to the GMs, but it's nice to brainstorm.

[GiglameshDespair]

It's always the Empire that is evil and invaded Shake things up, have the noble empire invaded by the evil Republic of Satan or somesuch.

Note: It probably shouldn't be called the Republic of Satan.

[Deep Waters]

w

It's always the Empire that is evil and invaded Shake things up, have the noble empire invaded by the evil Republic of Satan or somesuch.

Note: It probably shouldn't be called the Republic of Satan.

Most empires are expansionist, that's what makes them empires in the first place. Republics don't have the same requirement. Besides, who said the Empire was evil? Expansionist doesn't equal evil, it equals expansionist. That's the same sort of thinking that leads to that cliche.

In any case, it'd be pretty easy to make the situation a lot more complex than it appears on the surface-- cultural misunderstandings, individuals giving distorted accounts for their own personal gain, atrocities committed by one group being conflated to the whole culture, etc. etc. Even if we just base it on historical Empires and the people they conquer, there's the evidence of Aztecs practicing human sacrifice and to some extent cannibalism, as well as the Celtic "Cult of the Head" idea.

[Culise]

Another question.  How far before game start do we want the cataclysm to have taken place? 

Let's say anywhere from 3 to 5 years. It's enough Oasis has begun to sprawl and population boom, but everyone remembers the old world still.

edit:
Should I be a human or a dwarven rogue/doctor (missile based)? I don't really know enough to decide.

Ah, whoops, I missed that.  That works perfectly with my backstory, then. ^_^

Hm, I was under the impression it was at least a few years since the cataclysm-- not so long that it's faded in mind/memory, but long enough for some sort of society to be cobbled together out of the ruins. At least a decade or two would be nice though-- that's enough time to get some sort of culture/civilization really going.

I'm not too sure about the arcane storms idea-- maybe normal weather charged with magic, like a sandstorm where the sand occasionally phases through solid objects and gets stuck inside them or rain that pocks metal like swiss cheese but leaves anything else untouched or blizzards with hollow hail containing tiny water elementals or a mist that makes every plant bear balls of raw copper ore instead of fruit-- but not just raw magical energy destroying everything. That always seems to me like a waste of potential, when a setting does that.

I like the cultural ideas regarding the totems, especially the idea of relying on something that you don't understanding for protection, but then there's not really any reason for the totems to be maintaining their own little biomes like Dwarm wanted-- not unless the environments are a side effect of their magic instead of an intended effect, I suppose.

of course, ultimately everything is up to the GMs, but it's nice to brainstorm.

It could easily be a side-effect of the totems interaction with whatever magic destroyed the world, or whatever magic went into the spells in the first place.  For instance, historical Celts were tribal in organization, and the Incans were also an Empire formed only by a single tribe (Cusco) conquering every other tribe around them literally not even a century before the Spanish arrived; each totem could represent the totemic power of the tribe that channeled that particular aspect, and the place that became Oasis would have been a meeting point and place for the joining of the tribes.  In such a light, the original totems that formed the anchors of the magical shield were created as a part of that aspect of unity being brought from their own divisiveness, a single shield to protect their most sacred meeting place made from all of their strengths.  In a central location as well, it would have been well-suited to become the market city and major urban center under the invader's rule.  The fact that they're now manifesting separate biomes surrounding each anchor is actually secretly a sign of the weakness of the shield after getting so badly hammered by the Cataclysm, with its separate components beginning to reassert themselves over what was supposed to be a single interwoven whole.  Even if the city administration figures it out, they may want to keep it secret to avoid panic, while trying to find how to restore it through its own agents and some trusted adventurers. 

Ah, my thought was that they don't "simply" destroy everything.  Rather, they simply do magical effects that ravage what's inside of them.  Like, for instance, a mass Enervation spell (slowly draining the life out of its area of effect and converting creatures to wights/undead), or a wild Polymorph (the results of which would templates/transform on anything caught in its reach).  That way, it's not just a death sentence for PCs that do get caught in them, but rather a field effect that the players have to contend with as well as any other hazards.  Though, you probably don't want the Polymorph spell hitting the players; it's just an excuse to have mutated monsters like, say, two-headed cows or invisible ogres to deal with (*cough*). 

w

It's always the Empire that is evil and invaded Shake things up, have the noble empire invaded by the evil Republic of Satan or somesuch.

Note: It probably shouldn't be called the Republic of Satan.

Most empires are expansionist, that's what makes them empires in the first place. Republics don't have the same requirement. Besides, who said the Empire was evil? Expansionist doesn't equal evil, it equals expansionist. That's the same sort of thinking that leads to that cliche.

In any case, it'd be pretty easy to make the situation a lot more complex than it appears on the surface-- cultural misunderstandings, individuals giving distorted accounts for their own personal gain, etc. etc. Even if we just base it on historical Empires and the people they conquer, there's the evidence of Aztecs practicing human sacrifice and to some extent cannibalism, as well as the Celtic "Cult of the Head" idea.

Well, to be fair, the biggest bursts of Roman expansion came under the Republic (Gaul, the Punic Wars).  The path to empire was a way to consolidate all of their conquests and administer them, not to manifest them. 

I agree that the Empire (if it even is an Empire) shouldn't be simply evil, too.  Think of it like the Romans, who brought sewers and public transportation, or even the Spanish, who ruthlessly suppressed sacrifice cults, flower wars, and ended the semi-regular cycle of civilizational collapses that marred the Mayans.  They should have taken over and put their strongmen at the top in the place of the local strongmen, but generally made things better for the common people. 

[Deep Waters]

It could easily be a side-effect of the totems interaction with whatever magic destroyed the world, or whatever magic went into the spells in the first place.  For instance, historical Celts were tribal in organization, and the Incans were also an Empire formed only by a single tribe (Cusco) conquering every other tribe around them literally not even a century before the Spanish arrived; each totem could represent the totemic power of the tribe that channeled that particular aspect, and the place that became Oasis would have been a meeting point and place for the joining of the tribes.  In such a light, the original totems that formed the anchors of the magical shield were created as a part of that aspect of unity being brought from their own divisiveness, a single shield to protect their most sacred meeting place made from all of their strengths.  In a central location as well, it would have been well-suited to become the market city and major urban center under the invader's rule.  The fact that they're now manifesting separate biomes surrounding each anchor is actually secretly a sign of the weakness of the shield after getting so badly hammered by the Cataclysm, with its separate components beginning to reassert themselves over what was supposed to be a single interwoven whole.  Even if the city administration figures it out, they may want to keep it secret to avoid panic, while trying to find how to restore it through its own agents and some trusted adventurers. 

Ah, my thought was that they don't "simply" destroy everything.  Rather, they simply do magical effects that ravage what's inside of them.  Like, for instance, a mass Enervation spell (slowly draining the life out of its area of effect and converting creatures to wights/undead), or a wild Polymorph (the results of which would templates/transform on anything caught in its reach).  That way, it's not just a death sentence for PCs that do get caught in them, but rather a field effect that the players have to contend with as well as any other hazards.  Though, you probably don't want the Polymorph spell hitting the players; it's just an excuse to have mutated monsters like, say, two-headed cows or invisible ogres to deal with (*cough*).

Ooo, that sounds nice. My only regret is that, if that idea is used, it won't be something we could've found out on our own.

As for the magical effects idea-- that definitely sounds a lot more interesting, but with the kind of destabilization you're mentioning, wouldn't it thematically make more sense to use some sort of variant on wild magic? Admittedly all the tables I could find were pretty caster-oriented, but it wouldn't be that hard to create a wild magistorm table.

[Culise]

It could easily be a side-effect of the totems interaction with whatever magic destroyed the world, or whatever magic went into the spells in the first place.  For instance, historical Celts were tribal in organization, and the Incans were also an Empire formed only by a single tribe (Cusco) conquering every other tribe around them literally not even a century before the Spanish arrived; each totem could represent the totemic power of the tribe that channeled that particular aspect, and the place that became Oasis would have been a meeting point and place for the joining of the tribes.  In such a light, the original totems that formed the anchors of the magical shield were created as a part of that aspect of unity being brought from their own divisiveness, a single shield to protect their most sacred meeting place made from all of their strengths.  In a central location as well, it would have been well-suited to become the market city and major urban center under the invader's rule.  The fact that they're now manifesting separate biomes surrounding each anchor is actually secretly a sign of the weakness of the shield after getting so badly hammered by the Cataclysm, with its separate components beginning to reassert themselves over what was supposed to be a single interwoven whole.  Even if the city administration figures it out, they may want to keep it secret to avoid panic, while trying to find how to restore it through its own agents and some trusted adventurers. 

Ah, my thought was that they don't "simply" destroy everything.  Rather, they simply do magical effects that ravage what's inside of them.  Like, for instance, a mass Enervation spell (slowly draining the life out of its area of effect and converting creatures to wights/undead), or a wild Polymorph (the results of which would templates/transform on anything caught in its reach).  That way, it's not just a death sentence for PCs that do get caught in them, but rather a field effect that the players have to contend with as well as any other hazards.  Though, you probably don't want the Polymorph spell hitting the players; it's just an excuse to have mutated monsters like, say, two-headed cows or invisible ogres to deal with (*cough*).

Ooo, that sounds nice. My only regret is that, if that idea is used, it won't be something we could've found out on our own.

As for the magical effects idea-- that definitely sounds a lot more interesting, but with the kind of destabilization you're mentioning, wouldn't it thematically make more sense to use some sort of variant on wild magic? Admittedly all the tables I could find were pretty caster-oriented, but it wouldn't be that hard to create a wild magistorm table.

I don't know, as far as the players learning themselves of the origins; maybe one of the adventure hooks could be the adventurers exploring the ancient ruins beneath the city that have been exposed by an earthquake after the Cataclysm (a city like this is going to be built of layers archaeologically - like a French city over a Roman city over an ancient Gallic city, or like Cusco being Spanish over Incan Tawantinsuyu over pre-Incan Killke) in search of information on the origins of the runes, or else a quest around traveling to each of the totems, even through dangerous areas, dealing with other people who want to use, abuse, or even destroy the totems for their own gain, collecting clues as to the origins of the totems before culminating in a battle royale as everyone tries to get their hands on the information the PCs collected before they can deliver it to the proper authorities (or else use the information in their own way).  Alternately, maybe not all of the ancient Druids are dead; maybe some (either the druids themselves along the lines of the King Under Mountain, or their descendants as a secret society) are still alive, but not very happy with the conquest of their home, and thus have their own plans to take advantage of the devastation...

Wild Magic, like second edition?  That sounds like it could be a brilliant idea as a custom table for such effects.  ^_^

[sjm9876]

He could just be really stupid.

He is a druid though And also rather wise.
I'm thinking more along the lines of:
'There's a bull-man ahead. Is big. May hit hard.'
'You mean a Minotaur?'
'Minotaur, bull-man - different word, same thing. Still hits as hard.'

That's more Int 8 imo. Int 6 in my mind is more like, "Me no like bullman. Bullman hit bad."

I was trying to avoid the 'low int = less syllables' cliche

[GreatWyrmGold]

He could just be really stupid.

He is a druid though And also rather wise.
I'm thinking more along the lines of:
'There's a bull-man ahead. Is big. May hit hard.'
'You mean a Minotaur?'
'Minotaur, bull-man - different word, same thing. Still hits as hard.'

That's more Int 8 imo. Int 6 in my mind is more like, "Me no like bullman. Bullman hit bad."

I was trying to avoid the 'low int = less syllables' cliche

+1

I have much of the map set up. I just need to add the rest of the inhabited areas, save it, export and upload an image, and do some writing. I've expanded a bunch, which as mapmaker and GM I should have the right to do.
I also need to update Name Pending tonight.

[GiglameshDespair]

Could do with some help on the character sheet. Making a lvl 1 char sheet at the mo.
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=707929

Questions:
1) How much HP does a sorcerer start with?

2) How I skill point?

3)What would be good spells to choose?

[Remuthra]

Could do with some help on the character sheet. Making a lvl 1 char sheet at the mo.
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=707929

Questions:
1) How much HP does a sorcerer start with?

2) How I skill point?

3)What would be good spells to choose?

1. d4.
2. Put skills into things that are Class Skills. You get 8 points to start with.
3. Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, True Strike, Magic Missile, Enlarge Person, Ray of Enfeeblement, Charm Person, and Sleep are all good choices.

EDIT: So are Shield, Color Spray, Grease, and Expeditious Retreat.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Oh boy, a n00b!

1. All classes start with the maximum they can roll. Hit point rolls are equal to their class's hit die plus their Constitution modifier. Sorcerers have a d4 for hit points. d4s go from 1-4. The maximum of 1-4 is 4. Therefore, you start with $+Con HP.

2. As a sorcerer, add 2 to your Intelligence modifier.

3. For a new player, make sure you pick at least a couple damaging spells (magic missile is always a good pick), plus some utility spells like light, mage hand, and prestidigitation.