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Post by Merkuri on May 6, 2004 15:04:37 GMT -5
This is a thread for ideas we could use as themes. Make them as long or as short as you want. Remember that wierd can be good. There's no restrictions on how many themes a person can post here, probably the more the better. Try to be creative! Feel free to discuss and refine your ideas. After we have a bunch of them we'll look back and decide which one to use or which ones we want to take elements from.
To make it easy to look back and find a specific theme, type it in the following format:
Title: Description and details.
I'll start with my "godlings" idea here. Remember, they can be as simple or as detailed as you want. Let's try to think up as many creative and unique ideas as we can!
Godlings: Set in the far future after an apocalyptic war. The gods, who were mainly tyrannical and cruel, have been destroyed. Their powers still exist, but have been scattered throughout the universe. The characters, known as "godlings" have begun to inherit these powers, which, among other things, they can wield as magic. As far as anyone can tell, a godling will live forever if not killed, but they are feared and hunted. There are other godlings in the universe besides the PCs, but they are few and hidden.
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on May 6, 2004 16:19:11 GMT -5
More than human - The PCs are all one step above the normal population in some way or another. A genetic mutation might cause one person to be blind but have the ability to see auras. Another might have a technological enhancement giving them super-strength and a brain as fast as a computer. Another might be a brilliant alchemist who is capable of manipulating chemicals in the midst of battle to do whatever he wishes. Another might be a seasoned martial artist who, through training, has found that he is totally aware of everything in his immediate vicinity and can even see a few seconds into the future. The underlying concept is that everything that the PCs are is explainable, if only by resorting to wild theories and psuedo-science (no blatant violations, such as the Weave, etc)
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Post by Merkuri on May 7, 2004 14:34:07 GMT -5
Planeshift: (I have a feeling that I've heard this name somewhere before, but I'm gonna use it anyway) There are a number of different realities or planes that all exist in the same space, overlapping each other. Denizens of each plane are ignorant of the others, though the planes often interact in strange and unusual ways. Events on one plane can have devistating consequences on the other planes. (Option 1) The characters are all planeshifters: unique individuals that are able to shift between the planes at will. Most of the "planelocked" (people "locked" on one plane) do not believe in the other planes or the planeshifters. Adventures often span several planes, usually requiring characters to manipulate one plane to fix something on another plane, but because they will not be believed if they tell their real motives (fixing the other plane), they must use strange and sneaky methods to complete their missions. (Option 2) Same as option one except: All people have a "twin" in each of the other planes. The characters do not physically plane-shift, but are aware of their alternate selves and can shift their consciousness between them. This sounds like it would be harder to implement, but a lot more fun and unusual.
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on May 7, 2004 22:44:12 GMT -5
I like that planeshift idea. It sounds very similar to a planescape module that I just vaguely remember, though... oh well. It allows for a great deal of flexibility, especially if the planes are on radically different worlds, such as one being high fantasy and another being gothic horror. The only negative that I can think of is that it does seem insane to plan out, and seems more of a game setting than a theme in and of itself. Thoughts?
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Post by Merkuri on May 7, 2004 22:53:29 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought up that idea just to have something else to put down, but as I wrote it up it sounded more and more cool. Though, yes, it would be a pain in the arse to figure out how to do it right. Anybody up for a challenge? It allows for a great deal of flexibility, especially if the planes are on radically different worlds, such as one being high fantasy and another being gothic horror. That's what I was thinking. We could try to get five or six planes that are as radically different as possible. More than that would probably be too much to keep track of, and less wouldn't have enough variety. We could always introduce a concept of "lesser planes" if somebody wants to add in their own plane or a plane they're only going to use once. Eh, theme, setting, they can get pretty intwined with each other. This is a case in point.
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on May 10, 2004 10:55:46 GMT -5
Outcasts - The PCs are outcast from normal society. Due to some genetic/cybernetic/magical process, they have some quirk that gives them both strong powers and unique weaknesses. Though they can mingle with society lightly, but if they get too conspicuous, bad things start to happen (government agents try to capture them, an underworld boss tries to kill them, people start fleeing in terror, etc). The point of the game is a balance between the hidden society that outcasts around the world have formed and the conflict that would either ensue within that framework, or with that structure against the human governments, etc.
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agamoto
Soldier
Greetings and salutations one and all!!
Posts: 239
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Post by agamoto on May 11, 2004 7:49:07 GMT -5
Outcasts - The PCs are outcast from normal society. Due to some genetic/cybernetic/magical process, they have some quirk that gives them both strong powers and unique weaknesses. Though they can mingle with society lightly, but if they get too conspicuous, bad things start to happen (government agents try to capture them, an underworld boss tries to kill them, people start fleeing in terror, etc). The point of the game is a balance between the hidden society that outcasts around the world have formed and the conflict that would either ensue within that framework, or with that structure against the human governments, etc. In addition to that we could have a human subset calling them selves "the Ancients" who have been around for Eons keeping in the shadows and having psi abilities. They would know about the Outcasts and occasionaly aid them.
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Post by Hussar on May 11, 2004 8:20:41 GMT -5
As per Merk's request:
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Post by Merkuri on May 18, 2004 11:39:17 GMT -5
Okay, it looks like this is all the proposals we're going to get for now. If anybody comes up with another idea then feel free to post it, but for now let's try to decide with one of these to use. As SD mentioned, there's nothing stopping us from doing more than one of these (or all of them!) but I think we should concentrate on one for now and see how that goes. And Remember, too, that if we pick one of these we don't have to use it exactly as stated. If you have an idea how to improve one of these proposals feel free to say it. At the moment we have five proposals: Godlings More than Human Planeshift Outcasts and Otherland (Hussar's suggestion that didn't follow my format at all, but anyway... ) Let's talk about what's good and bad of each of these. I'll start by pointing out that Planeshift, which is my favorite, will be exceedingly difficult to do right. I think Godlings is good, but that just be my bias because I made it up. Otherland is a good idea, but we may run into copyright issues if we decide to use it, even if we decide to make something *like* Otherland. More than Human and Outcasts are similar in that they're the most "ordinary" out of the five, but they give us a ton of wiggle room as far as setting is concerned.
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Post by Galadon on May 18, 2004 12:51:49 GMT -5
Wiggle, Wiggle
Will this be all in one area, like a planet. each place on the planet has a different type of being. Or put different being on different planets and travel between.
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Post by Merkuri on May 18, 2004 14:27:54 GMT -5
Gal, you gotta learn to use puncutation correctly... I'm not sure whether you're asking a question or suggesting something. We haven't decided yet if it's going to be on one "world" or several, but since most of the proposals dealt with alternative realities it sounds like that's what we're heading for. You have a preference?
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on May 18, 2004 15:39:41 GMT -5
In addition to that we could have a human subset calling them selves "the Ancients" who have been around for Eons keeping in the shadows and having psi abilities. They would know about the Outcasts and occasionaly aid them. Very Highlander-ish. I like.
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on May 18, 2004 15:44:43 GMT -5
Speaking of which, why don't we just try to mix all the themes together? We could have a normal world (any time period, any setting) ruled by humans. Amongst the humans would be the outcasts, constantly trying to battle for supremacy and control while maintaining their own secrecy. There would also be the godlings who travel the world attempting to revive their lost faiths (we could adapt the idea to relate to all dead or dying gods, not just to those killed in an apocalypse). The planeshifters might be some sort of invading race that is trying to colonize the world. The "Ancients" that Agamoto mentioned could be More than Human and live side-by-side with the outcasts, acting as intermediaries and advisors, etc.
Thoughts?
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Post by Merkuri on May 18, 2004 16:08:36 GMT -5
While I like the idea of combining some of the ideas, doing ALL of them might be a little too much. It sounds like it would be hard to balance the different types against each other. Some of them we could probably combine, like the Outcasts and the Godlings. Both of them are "supernatural" (i.e. they have powers of some sort) but have to hide them. The only difference is where their powers come from. Plus, if we only focus on one or two it'll make the game feel less... schitzophrenic. With sooo many types of characters that don't seem to have much to do with each other it kinda eliminates the idea of having a "theme" in the first place. If we did want to go that route I suggest we do something similar to what White Wolf did with their World of Darkness. That is, make up a separate "game" for each breed of character. They *can* interact, but putting more than one type of them in a party is a little too difficult to manage. In this case, we still have to decide on which one we want to do first.
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Post by Galadon on May 18, 2004 16:35:52 GMT -5
I keep forgeting the ??
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