"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
"Any sufficently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
This is the premise of New Salem. Players will enter the magical capital city of New Salem. It is big, loud, and unfreindly, but it also the cutting edge of advanced magic. The city draws in millions trying to make it big at whatever they do. However, as we all know, very very few do. And you won't be playing as one of them. In this sandbox RPG you will be playing as a mage or monster that has gotten mixed up in the wrong kind of business. Werewolf gangs, ghoul
ish assassins, and loan shark demons all await you in New Salem. Trains powered by fire elementals, subways pulled by giant moles, dragons provide air travel for the wealthy! This is the world you were born into will you work your way to an honest and decent life, or will you become a name whispered in fear through the dark corners of the realm? Up to you.
Mandatory Character Elements: You're destitute except for a few items chosen during character creation. You've joined the other 5 members as well as an NPC for the purpose of becoming criminal powerhouses. You have some sort of rough end goal or general desire which drives your actions. Also all characters are completely unShifted (read on for more info on that).
Character Creation:
Name:
Race:
Physical description:
Class:
Reason for joining:
Goal/Desire:
Distribute 10 skill points:
Backstory:
Prime Races:
Human: Humans are the most populus race in the realm. Overall they compose about 30% of the total population. They are very versatile, have great drive, and are some of the best brawlers in the realm. However, some of the longer lived races see them as pushy, flighty, and generally like annoying children.
Elf: One of the longer lived races, they have an average life span of 130 years. They are nimble, thin, and dexterous. What they aren't is subtle. They have pizzazz. What they do they do with finesse and eloquence. And they NEVER let you forget how graceful they are. They make wonderful archers and knife-fighters, but refuse to be any class where they can't show off.
Dark elf: Technically they're southern dusk elves, but no one calls them that. These much quieter much humbler elves are smaller and more subtle than their fair skinned cousins. Their gem-like yellow eyes give them superior night vision and their grey skin coloration gives them a natural camouflage in the grey city-scape. Wonderful thieves and scouts, but low strength makes them a poor choice for direct combat.
Orc: Once enslaved by a multitude of races, the orcs gained their freedom over a century ago. They are the second most populous race. In many respects they share human versatility and passion, however a cultural emphasis on strength and combat has lead most orcs away from the magical arts. However, orcish warlocks are becoming more and more common.
Dwarf: Alcholic assholes who run in circles at the first sign of danger and leave their old clothes scattered across the ground as they run naked through their mountain halls. A grumpy and untrusting race. The dwarves have a great understanding of craftsmanship and thus make wonderful products and buildings. They have a natural toughness that is unrivaled by any other race.
Gnome: Very similar to dwarves in height, but are much skinnier. In fact they look mostly like humans who have been shrunk by a shrink ray. They are responsible for most of the booms in magical advancement and have the highest average intellect of any race. They however are incredibly short lived and easily distracted.
Secondary Races:
Troll: Big, bright green, and strong as a trunk. Trolls are the strongest race in all the realm, but they only have two fingers and a thumb on each hand. They require extra food, but make up for it with advanced regeneration abilities. They have no grasp of magic, sneaking, crafting, or any other dexterious task. They however have average intelligence and thus make fine writers and speakers.
Ogre: Just as big as a troll, but not as strong. Ogres however can become certain types of mage classes. They are a pasty pinkish peachish sort of color.
Halflings: These are combinations of prime races due to interbreeding. They gain some bonuses from both races, but neither race really sees them as a member. This can pose a problem in situations involving racism or race issues.
Satyrs: Lusty goatmen, these quick pricks are really dangerous with a knife. Their high agility makes them great scouts, but they are incapable of being stealthy.
Golem: Like the orcs golems were, until very recently, were used as slaves and servants. They however have now been released from their bindings and joined the other races. They are tough, strong, and of average intelligence. They however have very little agility and sub-par perception.
Spriggan: A woodland spirit composed of living plant matter. They don't grow well in the smoggy city environment and can become diseased quite easily. However, they can completely regenerate after dying if someone can gather a bit of them and get it to a druid. They themselves make decent druids despite being made of plants and trees. They are human sized give or take.
Half demon: Occasionally human warlocks produce half demon children. They have a natural ability to use fire magic, have small horns and a tail, but cannot become warlocks and there is some prejudice against them from most races.
Animal Races:
Werewolf: Not actually a man who turns into a wolf, but instead a man who is half wolf. A wolf man by dwarf fortress standards. They don't infect people with their bite or have a weakness to silver. They're just normal hairy people. They have a high strength and agility, but low dexterity.
Gnoll: Very similar to werewolf except with a hyena instead of a wolf. Less strength, but much higher agility. Annoying laugh though.
Cattrik: a cat person. Tied with elves for highest agility, Has superior night vision. Lower than average dexterity.
Lizard man: tough and stong. Mediocre magical ability as well as agility. Low perception.
Other animal races: While these mentioned above are the most common, all animals have an animal person counterpart.
After selecting a race its important to choose your class (or you can do it the other way around). However its also important to understand how magic works in this world. Each person contains mana within their body. Elements like earth and fire, plants, demons, and almost everything has a distinct mana shape. Magic works shaping your mana to reflect the mana of whatever power your are invoking. Once you do that you channel it through your soul and release it from your body.
Repeated use of magic can effect first the shape and composition of your soul, but then also of your physical body. This is called magic based soul destabilization and reconstitution, but coequally called Shifting. The more you use magic of one type and the stronger your magic is, the more you can shift. Its reversible (with difficulty), but many people don't bother because its become a more acceptable occurrence in progressive society.
Mage classes:
Wizard: Typical mage. They can learn a wide variety of arcane spells and a few other spells. They have the most utility class spells. Because arcane spells are so ethereal, they have little effect on the caster. However elderly mages do begin showing signs of shifting.[Available to: Prime races, cattrik, lizard man, half demon, orgre]
Elemental mage: This mage can learn spells of one element and that element's child elements. Each element has a widely different style. [Available to: Prime races, cattrik, lizard man, half demon, ogre] (Half demons can become fire mages).
Shaman: A more primal version of the elementalist. They draw their power directly from that of an elemental spirit. Its partially religious and has a high shifting rate. [Available to: Orc, ogre, animal people]
Druid: A mage who draws their power from the lives of the plants and animals around them. They don't do well in the city, but a couple can be found in the Druid Park. [Available: Elf]
Warlock: This mage gains their power directly from a contract with a demon. The demon gets part of their soul and the warlock gains powerful demonic magics. [All but troll, sprigan, and dwarf]
Melee classes:
Brawler: king of their local bar and master of the improvised bear bottle shiv. They gain strength bonuses the more inebriated they are, but reduced dexterity and agility. High HP. [Available: all except sriggan and elf.]
Knifeman: uses a small knife, or in some cases two, to slice and dice their oppoents. High agility and dexterity leads to more damaging attacks.
Swinger: Wields a large weapon. Normally a sledge hammer, or if you're a troll, a steel girder. Slow attacks, but very powerful strikes.
Ranged classes:
Wand man: sporting powerful wand magic, this object based class uses wands instead of guns. This gives them a serious speed advantage over mages, but means they have an ammo limit on their wand. [Available to all magic users]
Archer: Tried and true ranged class. They can use bows or cross bows and can deal major damage from a distance. [Available to all except troll and ogre]
Alchemist: These guys aren't just brewing polyjuice potion, they are making some nasty poisons. They have incredibly high damage in a small area where they throw alchemical weapons. [Not troll or ogre]
Specialist classes:
Demon-litionist: This warlock alchemist combo packs an explosive punch with his demonic bombs. The alchemist has the ability to learn noncombat potions, but the demon-litionist can learn special demon based bombs. [Same as warlock, not ogre.]
Urban druid: A new type of druid that doesnt get its power from trees and plants, but from steal and concrete. They gain a city animal companion and can be found living in dumpsters and sleeping on benches. [Available: Human, dark elf, appropriate animal people]
Glutton: A special fighter who gains bonuses from eating good food. A good meal can seriously increase their combat potential and may even grant them special abilities. [Available: no spriggan, no gnome, no elf.]
Each race and class has a numerical value associated with each stat. After character creation you'll get to see your final stats. These are fairly permanent and won't change too much through the game. They represent you'r characters natural ability. However, your skills will grow and become better. The skills are:
Charisma
Perception
Wand use
Bow use
One hand weapons
two hand weapons
Unarmed combat
Fire magic
Water magic
Earth magic
Wind magic
Arcane magic
Druidism
Shamanism
Tracking
Law knowledge
Healing
Investigation/Research
Smithing
Wand making
Politics knowledge
Location knowlege
The game is not first come first serve. Speed of entry, quality of entry, and any other arbitrary standard may be used in order to determine how to select players if there is more than five entries.
Author
Topic: New Salem: A Magic-Criminal RPG (OOC) (Read 2639 times)