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I've been playing around with a Fantasy setting of my own invention, and I realized that it might make a good back-drop for a STGOD-esque game. I've heard vague references to Fantasy-type games being attempted here in the past, but nothing has ever seemed to come of them; I was wondering if anyone would like to take another shot at it. The basic premise I had in mind is as follows:

The game would be set in a mirror universe of sorts, and take place on Earth. The planet would be superficially equivalent to our own, with the same continents, similar terrain, and a biosphere stocked with flora and fauna like that found on our Earth. There would, however, be a few additions: instead of giving rise to a single sapient species, this world (called Terra or Gaia or perhaps simply Earth) would harbor a plethora of intelligent beings. Alongside humans would stand take-offs on numerous standard Fantasy races (I have varients of elves, dwarves, goblins, and "angels" in mind, but I could add others), as well as non-sapient creatures as flavor and gameplay demanded.

These beings would live in a steam punk-esque setting, with technology at varying states of advancement depending upon the field, generally comparable to the early 1900s (combat technology might be a bit more or less advanced, depending upon the direction I take war-making). The setting would also incorporate "magic", but in a highly-controlled form. In this world, "magic" is actually based upon a fifth fundamental force, and is highly predictable and repeatable. Particular individuals are naturally attuned to this force and are able to manipulate reality in a variety of ways if properly trained (this "magic" would be of a relatively low-power grade; healing, communication, personal combat, etc., but no precognition or "one wizard kills an army of your soldiers" type stuff). This force is also exploitable as an energy source by way of a certain mineral substance (which I have not yet named); reactors and engines can use it as modern machinery uses fossil fuels, and "magic users" can draw added energy from the substance or manipulate it, depending upon their particular capabilities.

The world's history would also be a mirror of our own, complete with a long-collapsed "Roman Empire", the subsequent Dark Age and endless religious wars, renaissance and enlightenment movements, exploration and colonialism, scientific and industrial revolution, and finally imperialist conflict. Players would take on the role of the world's great empires, striving against one another to spread their cultures to the "uncivilized" corners of the globe and subsume unspoiled lands and deposits of the "magical substance".

I envision gameplay as being similar to that of a STGOD, but with navies and armies rather than fleets of starships. There would also be a set "world map" and rules for combat and infastructure similar to those being explored for the current STGOD (although, hopefully, a bit less complicated). Beyond that, the course of the game would be up to the players.


So, any thoughts? If there's any interest, I'll start hammering out some more concrete detail and work on a potential rule-set. Feel free to post any suggestions or criticisms, and I'd like to get a preliminary count of possible participants to see whether or not this is feasible.

My first suggestion for our current TGOD was for a fantasy setting. I'd be interested... and seeing how few people are showing active, continuing interest by posting OOB's or being involved in rules discussion, it's hardly like we can consider that game a sure thing either. We've had lots of people sign up but there's only a small handful of us posting rule ideas.

I'm not sure what kinds of rules a fantasy setting would use, but most of our stuff would probably overlap pretty well. It's not hard to generalize the rules.

Just how "magical" is magic in this setting? Because I've got an idea for a bunch of steampunk necromancers on one of my many back burners.

And yeah, we can probably just steal a lot of the rules from the space STGOD, although obviously it would have to be modified, probably made simpler in fact. Don't need to go through anywhere near the same hassle as we have there with figuring out what does what because of the vast differences in space combat and planetary combat.

I'm sure the rest of our signed up players are reading the rules thread with interest, trying to follow along, failing, and just waiting for you guys to hammer out some rules so we can make our OOBs.

Anyways, a fantasy TGOD would be interesting as well. More details = more interest!

Covenant wrote:My first suggestion for our current TGOD was for a fantasy setting. I'd be interested... and seeing how few people are showing active, continuing interest by posting OOB's or being involved in rules discussion, it's hardly like we can consider that game a sure thing either. We've had lots of people sign up but there's only a small handful of us posting rule ideas.

I'm not sure what kinds of rules a fantasy setting would use, but most of our stuff would probably overlap pretty well. It's not hard to generalize the rules.

To be clear, I don't want my idea to supplant the other STGOD if there is still interest in it. Hell, I might still participate if the rules ever get formalized.

In any event, I imagine that many of the rules could carry over: battleships and army divisions would still have point values, and players could allot their given points towards building up militaries, defenses, and infastructures, just as in other games. Linear combat and strategy would be different, but probably simpler as well, and the in-game time scale would be inevitably longer, but I think a game over "years" could work just as well as "weeks" or "months", provided transit times are firmly established.

Academia Nut wrote:Just how "magical" is magic in this setting? Because I've got an idea for a bunch of steampunk necromancers on one of my many back burners.

Necromancy hadn't really factored into my initial conception of the setting's "magic", but I suppose it could work. I just want to make sure that power levels stay low enough that armies of "mundane" soldiers actually matter, and that the "magic" is repeatable and predictable, as a universal force should be.

Hawkings wrote:I'm sure the rest of our signed up players are reading the rules thread with interest, trying to follow along, failing, and just waiting for you guys to hammer out some rules so we can make our OOBs.

Anyways, a fantasy TGOD would be interesting as well. More details = more interest!

Oh, I'm quite eager to flesh out the setting. I just want to make sure that there are enough potential players to make it worth gearing towards a game format. Otherwise, I'll take it in a more "literary" direction for my own usage. Still, this is enough for me to get started. I'll try to post some more details on the setting, history, and species tomorrow.

Well, the idea of making the often soul crushing conditions of factories during the Industrial Revolution literal was what I was going for, with machines run and operated by the spirits of the slain. Obviously it would all be fair and quantifiable though, and I presume "I kill everyone in the area I just conquered and re-animate them as skeletons, they're now useless to you, nay-nayna boo-boo!" is right out.

Academia Nut wrote:Well, the idea of making the often soul crushing conditions of factories during the Industrial Revolution literal was what I was going for, with machines run and operated by the spirits of the slain. Obviously it would all be fair and quantifiable though, and I presume "I kill everyone in the area I just conquered and re-animate them as skeletons, they're now useless to you, nay-nayna boo-boo!" is right out.

That's an interesting concept, but you're right, it doesn't really mesh with my idea of "magic" in the setting. I had envisioned it as being more along the lines of a fundamental energy source that could be tapped to manipulate matter to a certain degree rather than anything "spiritual" in nature. I'll explain it more fully when I start writing the backstory.

Still, if there's interest in a different "magic" system, I'm quite open to suggestions.

Well, necromancy in this world could work in a manner where matter and energy are rearranged via magic so that a person's mind could be bound to a formerly inanimate object, or an inanimate object like a corpse could be made to get up and move. More like a subtle twist on transmutation than what is typically thought of for necromancy. It doesn't technically have to do anything with spirits to be called necromancy. But if there is enough desire for different forms of magic, including ones involving spirits and such, then a more traditional approach would probably be simplest to describe.

A fantasy STGOD in a mirror-Earth, you say? Here, let me show you the map from FSTGOD1.

Academia Nut wrote:Well, the idea of making the often soul crushing conditions of factories during the Industrial Revolution literal was what I was going for, with machines run and operated by the spirits of the slain.

Why need spirits of the slain for the facotry itself? Storing them as energy or "melded slaves" for othe rpurposes is fine, but the factory will be more efficient if you have only trained professionals (Just look at the German model).

Oh, and you REALLY should read China Meiville's "The Scar" (and) "Perdido street station" -The Punishment factories for the Remade are, well, this idea done ona wide scale as a nasty punishment system. (A women who smothers her baby has it welded to her chest. A sailor ends up with tentacles on his chest. People get large engines attached to the, and need to refill the coal, or else they'll be stuck permanently. And then there's the extreme end of the scale with things like Mr.Motley...)

Well, I still haven't decided if they would be "evil necromancers" or "misunderstood necromancers". The souls bound to their machines may very well be skilled and the act voluntary. I will see how Ire writes this magic system. I am tempted by the idea of an ancient Egypt that used its necromantic powers to avoid collapse and absorption into the Roman Empire and has retained a semblance of its original culture up to the period of the game setting, if heavily mutated by the roll of years.

I'd like to just say, that for the record, I don't do fantasy. "Magic" is just one of those things i find too unquantifyable. I know you can make rules on anything, but I will take Machines and space ships over swords and Srocery any day.

Crossroads Inc. wrote:I'd like to just say, that for the record, I don't do fantasy. "Magic" is just one of those things i find too unquantifyable. I know you can make rules on anything, but I will take Machines and space ships over swords and Srocery any day.

Then, in my particularly refined and general nature on this board, I reply thusly:

Don't post in this thread or in any Fantasy-based threads, Dickhead.

More seriously, why post just to complain it's too unquantifiable? Not interested, don't post. Simple as that.

I'm certainly interested in a fantasy STGOD, although unless the sci-fi one implodes from rule gridlock I doubt I will have much time to devote to a fantasy one.

Here's the first bit of flavor, dealing with the setting's "magic":


Abeotics

Abeotics, pronounced “ah-bey-ot-iks”, is a science of matter manipulation and energy release studied and used by most of the civilizations of Tellura. All matter is theorized to possess an abeotic potential, but the energy only manifests itself in observable and useable levels in the cells of certain individual organisms and minerals. Once this energy is released, either by the conscious effort of an “imbued” being or the annihilation of an “imbued” substance, it can be used to power machinery or interact in its raw state with the environment, generally with the direction of the individual releasing it. Many ancient peoples viewed the phenomenon as proof of divine presence on Earth and revered those who could guide it as prophets and demigods, but modern scientific and religious thought generally identify it as a fundamental force of nature alongside gravitation, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces; contemporary religions do still claim it as evidence of their own deities, but in practice it is regarded as a science rather than spiritual domain. The source of abeotic energy is unknown, but prevailing theory is that it is drawn from background radiation present at the most fundamental sub-atomic level, a product of an entire universe’s worth of matter-energy interactions. Some physicists have also postulated that it could draw on an extra-dimensional source of power, but that hypothesis remains wholly untested.

There are two known elements that possess notable abeotic potential. The first, abinium (atomic number 58 ) is the more common of the two, and is used as the fundamental component of most abeotics-based technology (those who study and design this technology are called abeotists; it should be noted that they are not always able to tap into the energy themselves). Mined from veins and deposits scattered all across the globe, abinium is itself employed in two forms, pure and diluted. The dilute is its raw state, rife with impurities and bonded with other metallic elements. Most modern civilizations use the vast majority of their abinium dilute yields as fuel; if pressurized and exposed to an electrical current, even a relatively small amount of the material releases enough energy to power a city before it is depleted. Abinium reactors are generally housed in large complexes, but vastly-scaled down models can be used to power ships and war machines. However, if the dilute is refined and processed, it takes the form of a lustrous, silver metal that is highly malleable when heated, but it is incredibly durable and resistant to kinetic force after forging. Individuals with the natural capacity for and training in abeotics (traditionally called aberrants; it should be noted that the term for “aberration” bears no negative connotation in most modern cultures) often carry devices, armor, and weaponry made of abinium. Proximity to the substance amplifies their abeotic abilities, and depending upon their biology and training, they can manipulate objects made of it to suit their needs. The second element, damenium (atomic number 64), possesses a far higher energy potential per kilogram, but is only found naturally in minute amounts, usually near deposits of abinium; it also has an incredible heat resistance properties, and is extremely difficult to shape. It is, nevertheless, highly prized by aberrants, and its distinctive white hue often forms the core of energy-amplifying abinium pendants.

There are trace amounts of both elements in the cells of almost every lifeform on Tellura, including each of its sapient species. A small percentage of these populations, generally less than one percent, possess a biological mutation that increases their retention of abinium and damenium they ingest in minute amounts by way of water and food intake. This build-up of the elements in the growing sapient eventually allows them to not only access the abeotic potential within their own cells, but also direct it. If properly trained through rigorous mental and physical conditioning, imbued individuals can consciously “pour” some of their own energy into their surrounding environment simply by touching or being in close proximity to it. Depending upon the nature of their training and their particular biochemistry, trained aberrants are capable of manipulating matter in a wide variety of ways, especially if they are acting on or in the presence of a high-potential object.

Among the more common aberrant specializations are as follows: rapid, non-invasive healing; growth acceleration in agriculture and husbandry; potential amplification of fuel-grade abinium dilute; mining, excavation, and sabotage through point destabilization of rock and building material; long-range rapid communication (involves the usage of multiple abinium helms imbued with the energy and neural patterns of an aberrant); armor/structural reinforcement; torture and neural manipulation; localized atmospheric and temperature manipulation; and combat (involves potential-reinforced armor and rapid, direct matter disintegration). Aberrants generally train in a single field, but more skilled individuals often have rudimentary abilities outside of their specialization as well. In theory, all sapient species are capable of manipulating matter in the noted ways (and in other capacities), but most are more likely to produce aberrants of a particular area of expertise.

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There are plenty of other possible abilities, but that list should give some idea of their general nature. I should also note that this is all fairly low-level magic, at least in terms of combat. An aberrant might be able to tear his way through the side of a war machine (I'll discuss conventional technology soon if he got close enough), but he's not going to be able to obliterate an entire platoon of infantry simply by looking at them crossly.

Next up, I'll try to expand upon Tellura's (if you like another name better, just suggest it) species, history, and technological level.

Age of the Lee-Enfield, Maxim gun, and pre-Dreadnought. Interesting to see what you're trying to do.

After reading that thread in N&P about the proposed designs for the British flag, I think I now have a good idea of what kind of a faction I'll be playing for a fantasy/steampunk TGOD.

Damn! Now I really wish I had thought of that. Oh well, armies of Anubis warriors from The Mummy Returns are always an attractive option. All sorts of ways I could justify that sort of thing under Ire's proposed magic system.

No hijacking the moon though Shinn, got that?

I am definately in for this, if it starts, but I wouldn't want it to kill this other STGOD, I think we have a good system going here, and I want to put it through its paces. A truly worthwhile STGOD system would be a great thing to have.

This isn't intended to supplant the current STGOD, it can easily run parallel, although most people probably won't have the time or energy to commit to two games, so this will probably be the little brother game for quite awhile, if it ever gets out of planning.

The system could be adapted for a FTGOD, no need to worry. That'd be up to the players though.

I'm still considering not playing this STGOD and putting my attention on moderating (if I continue to be nominated for moderatorship) and improving on the system. Though I would like to play, I'm gonna be pretty busy, and I dunno if I'll be able to make a fleshed-out themepost or anything about my guys before the weekend.

I'll see what I can do tonight tho'.

Here's what I was thinking about for species, just to add a bit of variety to the standard "Elves, Humans, Dwarves" set-up:
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Sapinum: The Sapinum are historically the most powerful and ambitious species on Tellura. Evolved from burrowing omnivores that thrived in the fertile soil of the northern Mediterranean, Sapinum are short, thickly-built insectoids with ridged exoskeletons that range in color from dark brown to pale white. Most stand little over a meter tall, but they sport impressive musculatures and their casings make them highly resistant to injury. Sapinum lack the foot speed of other species due to their short limbs, but they pride themselves on their skill at burrowing, and the skeletal spurs that jut from their forearms just before their four-fingered hands are tough enough to punch through soft rock. They are also clumsy swimmers by nature, but air sacks within their abdomens give them excellent buoyancy and breath capacity. Sapinum reproduce at a relatively modest rate, and they have average lifespans, generally around seventy years.

Historically, the Sapinum are known for being the first to develop large-scale trade and metalworking, and a combination of economic guile and leverage and natural capacity for war-making gave them control of an empire that encompassed a large portion of Eurasia and Africa. Sapinum explorers and colonists also helped ignite the storm of global expansion that defines current world affairs.

Humans: Humans are bipedal mammalians evolutionarily descended from primates of North Africa. They stand close to two meters in height and are of average build, but vary in these traits with unusual frequency from individual to individual. They possess five-digit hands, dark hair of minimal, varying coverage, and skin that ranges from dark brown to tan depending upon heritage and locale. They have no particular physical advantages of strength or mobility over most other sapient species, but they reproduce prolifically (in part to compensate for their relatively short lifespans, typically less than sixty years) and are biologically capable of adapting to environmental changes and extremes with greater effectiveness than any other.

Humans spread very rapidly, adopting nomadic tendencies early in their development, and thus established populations across the Southern Hemisphere well before any other species began to expand over continents. However, with the exception of a few Oriental (Middle-Eastern) civilizations, their technological and social progress was slow, and thus they became easy targets for subjugation during the Imperial Period. Even today, the exploitation and colonization of the “Modernizing” powers targets Human lands and populations.

Mensch: The Mensch also arose on the northern shores of the Mediterranean sea. Slightly shorter than the average human, they are of slight, wiry build, and are covered a fine mat of gray hair. Their wide, keen eyes reveal them as biologically nocturnal organisms, and their unusually acute hearing is a vestige of their more primitive nature: skittish, forest-dwelling beings that were perpetually conscious of stalking predators below. They are also notable for their diet (which consists almost entirely of fungus, legumes, and small insects) and the large, folded flaps of skin that run from their wrists down to their knees. These flaps can unfurl at will, creating “wings” on which Mensch can leap from one tree to another, or glide over long distances given appropriate starting height and wind conditions. Mensch can procreate rapidly, but their reproductive cycles have slowed with the rise of civilization; they generally live around sixty years.

Most Mensch populations migrated into northern Eurasia in the early stages of their agrarian age and remained there undisturbed until Sapinum trade routes began to work their way north. Eventually, the Sapinum conquered most of the West-Asian civilizations, but the East-Asian thrived. Now, the Mensch states are indelible parts of both regions of the continent, and are just as advanced and powerful as the majority-Sapinum sovereignties.

Kimoa: The Kimoa are notable for bearing evolutionary roots not in Eurasia or Africa, but in the rainforests of Middle Gea (Central America). Green-hued reptilians somewhat more massive than the average Human, the sturdy, cold-blooded beings gravitate towards the deserts and steamy jungles of their ancestral grounds. Despite their large size (some stand nearly three meters tall), Kimoa are extremely agile and dexterous; their hands and feet all feature opposable digits and their long tails are highly prehensile. Their lifespans and reproductive cycles are similar to those of Humans, but both are adversely affected if an individual remains in colder climes for extended periods of time.

Isolated from the species of the Eastern Hemisphere for millennia after the rise of Kimoa Civilization, the beings spread methodically outward, eventually occupying lands from the tip of Lower Gea to the sprawling taiga of Upper Gea. When Mensch explorers from northeastern Eurasia made first contact, they found a species divided into hundreds of tribes and small civilizations, all of which employed fairly primitive technology. Centuries of trade and a failed colonization attempt gave rise to several dominate nations that quickly conquered the rest of Upper Gea. Only the tribes of Lower Gea remain relatively “uncivilized”; their lands are now ripe for absorption by the northern Kimoa and more foreign empires alike.

Ampcalum: The Ampcalum are species of massive omnivores indigenous to eastern coast of the Mediterranean. The creatures, hairless masses of dense, gray hide and muscle, can stand more than five meters in height at the shoulder. Their diet varies widely depending upon their habitat, and their blunt claws and multiple rows of teeth can be used for anything from tearing at the flesh of big game to trawling shallows for fish. Ampcalum usually walk on all-fours, but they are capable of rearing up and walking in a bipedal fashion for brief periods of time. There are several sub-species of the creatures, varying mainly in size and diet, spread from Britannia to the southern reaches of Africa and India.

Wild Ampcalum are extinct in most of Eurasia, but several domesticated breeds still exist. Their usage as war beasts is increasingly obsolete, but an armored Ampcalum pair with one or more skilled aberrants is still a formidable weapon. The innate intelligence level of the species is questionable and seems to vary by sub-species, but most trained Ampcalum are equivalent to highly intelligent dogs.

Other: Most of Tellura’s other flora and fauna are equivalent to our own, but there some other notable editions. Certain species of fungus are far more prolific than their Earth-based counterparts, lending to the existence of isolated “fungal forests” in certain parts of Eurasia and Gea (many of these are artificial, cultivated by the Mensch for food production and “beautification”). These ecosystems sport several unique lifeforms, the most notable among them being Jagiss, shambling masses of motile fungus that feed on living animal matter (these creatures are on the verge of extinction, and persist only in specialized preserves).
The deserts of Aridia (Australia) and the wilds of Lower Gea also harbor unique organisms, as do the depths of the oceans and great seas, but their populations are relatively small, and completely at the mercy of colonization and progress.
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As of the time of the game, "technological" civilizations exist in North America (Kimoa), East and Central Asia (Mensch), the Middle East and India (Human/Sapinum), and Europe (Sapinum/Mensch/Human). Ideally, players would take on roles as the major powers of each region (populated by one or more of the noted species) and either contest with each other directly, or by proxy in colonial areas (Africa, South America, and the Australian Islands, populated by "primative" groups of Humans and Kimoa in the second case).


Before I start writing up a history, I'd like to hear some more opinions on the setting. Is the backstory too constraining? Is the setting too expansive? I can easily adapt my ideas to a smaller realm or simplify them if need be.

This setting sounds really interesting, and I've got little better to do, so count me in.

Hmmmm... well, those descriptions would make my idea for an Egyptian empire so completely awesome I would not be offended if told no. I mean, if the pyramids were built as giant, primitive abeotic capacitors, well... yeah. There is so much I could do with this, so much indeed. Obviously nothing overwhelming, but sooooooo much fun to be had here.

So, humans are allowed to settle in mirror-Europe? That means I can place Gurren-Britannia where it should be.

I'll be upfront with where I'm taking the inspirations for my faction: Equal parts Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Fullmetal Alchemist, and The Vision of Escaflowne, with elements of Sakura Wars and a sprinkle of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 thrown in for flavor (at the very least, I should have Kirov Airships in my arsenal); if the tech level is sufficiently high enough, I might consider tossing in some Crimson Skies.

And no, I will not hijack the moon.