| Tom_Kalbfus |
The Novels starting with Dies the Fire and ending with Sword of the Lady, seem to be progressing towards a fantasy setting from a Modern one, by the second trilogy, we start to see characters begin to cast real spells with magic. I was wondering how the Pathfinder RPG might be adapted to this.
Perhaps start with some characters
Rudi Mackenzie is obviously a Fighter of some sort, Juniper MacKenzie might be a cleric or a wizard, probably leaning closer to wizard, but it would be best to use the example Witch class in the D&D 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide, the spells she casts are informational, she undergoes some transformations when in battle, but nothing that really points to obvious magic, at least as far as I got in the novels, no fireballs or lightning bolts. Some undead types are beginning to appear or perhaps a case of Demonic Possession. Mattilda Arminger is another fighter type. Anyone here familiar with the novels who'd like to add something?
| seekerofshadowlight |
I did some notes of this for world of darkness, but lost them in a HD crash, I love the setting he has crafted but am unsure if pathfinder is a good fit without some reworking. My biggies t thing is to much magic and hp and the combat system not delivering the flavor of the setting
I just don't think it's the right system for the setting, WOD or SR4 seem better fits and have seen a few conversions float around online in gurpes but I so dislike that system
That being said I would like to see what ever you come up with
| Tom_Kalbfus |
I've noticed however that in his novels there are parallels to the Lord of the Rings novels, which makes me think the setting is trending more magical. In the first novel Dies the Fire the main thing is the sudden failure of technology on March 17, 1998, this event both launches the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy and this series. In the Island in the Sea of Time, the island of Nantucket gets transported back in time to the year 1250 BC, which is then replaced back in 1998 with the 1250 BC version of Nantucket, and upon this occurance all the technology in the left behind world of 1998 ceases to function, specifically all electrical devices don't work and all internal combustion engines and technology requiring fast burning combustion of explosions fail, basically gunpower burns too slowly to propel bullet out the muzzel of a gun, gasoline doesn't burn quickly enough to propel the pistons of an engine, steam engines fail to build up sufficient pressure above a certain temperature to perform useful work, and the whole world is reduced to medeaval technology. This is what I call step one in converting the modern world into a fantasy setting.
Step One: Bring a halt to all modern technology. This forcing a return to medeaval warfare, a reliance on swords, bows and arrows, spears, javelins and so forth. Work gets done with beast of burden, or human hands, some technologies that are still operable is windpower and hydralics, and spring propelled mechanical devices, windup watches work, so do antique mechanical calculators, typewriters, photography works, but the plastic film is irreplacible. Horses become valuable means of transportation and out West where the main action of the novel occurs, there are plenty of horses.
Step Two: Introduce Magic In the second series, we see the gradual introduction of magic, one main vehicle for this is the Wiccan Religion, what starts out as religious observances, turns into the actual casting of spells, these spells are informational, or they effect things is way such that their effects could be explained by other things, as the novels progress the magic becomes increasingly blantant, this becomes noticable when we start seeing undead. When the villain receives mortal wounds, when his brain is bashed in, and even when he is dismembered, he continues attacking until finally his tendons are cut. Some strange magical things happen on the 1250 BC version of the Island of Nantucket which replaced the one that was sent into the past, and there is this magic sword that the heroes are questing for, and the evil Cult leader with supernatual powers that is trying to stop them, this is in change year 22 or 2020 AD
Step Three: Introduce Monsters The first truly magical monster was than undead creature one of the villains turned into when slain, magic is still thin on the ground and the world is still populated by ordinary animals and humans, but that could yet change. This third part is a bit more speculative. What happens in the next 130 years? For example, there have been illusions to Lord of the Rings by various characters in the book through out, this leads me to believe that perhaps the author is trending this series to converge with J.R. Tolkein's famous novels. The Initial Bad Guys were the Portland Protective Association, whose flag was styled after the Eye of Sauron, and as you know the D&D RPG and Pathfinder took alot from the Lord of the Rings series.
I think in another 100 years, if the Change Novels go that far, the Earth will be a far more magical place, extinct animals were brought back, namely the passenger pigeon, through the mechanism of the Nantucket transferrence, and there are powers at work in the world, dieties or gods if you will, that could easily bring in other creatures as well, or create them. I think perhaps in one hundred years you might see the beginnings of monsters, perhaps elves, orcs, dwarves, dragons as well. Don't know exactly how this will come about, but that is my prediction.
The setting I wish to develop is a changed Earth in the 22nd Century or the second century after the Change. Part of this idea is to be part of a Spelljammer setting. The changed Earth and Solar System is placed in a crystal sphere about 100 Astronomical Units in radius, an astronomical unit is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth. In another thread I'm working on a convergence between Fantasy and Science Fiction settings which happens in the Alpha Centauri System, which inhabits another Crystal Sphere containing two suns and their attendant planets. The fantasy version of this World is called Phantasia, the Science Fiction component is called Prometheus. One Universe is sort of like that in the Traveller RPG, which involves spaceships and aliens, a fantasy counterpart to this would be Spelljammer, with wooden sailing ships propelled through space with spelljamming helms. We need to work out the details of how Spelljamming would work in the Pathfinder game, but this would explain how humans would move from world to world in the "fantasy-verse" for instance. What I need for this is a fantasy version of Earth, as for every planet in teh science fiction-verse, there is a counterpart in the fantasy-verse, and I think Stirlings World of the Change would make an interesting backdrop. I know its a lot to swallow, so I'm breaking this up into three bite-sized chunks: Thread 1 deals with the Prometheus/Phantasia wormhole, which is also a dual world one on the fantasy side of the wormhole and the other on the science fiction side.
This thread were in now is the Changeling Earth thread, by 100 years in the future, magic becomes advanced enough for spelljamming, the old ruins of modern cities still exist, and that provides an interesting backdrop.
A third thread I would like to start would be about the rules of Spelljamming, some speculation about how this would go in the Pathfinder RPG. Spelljammer is not a specific setting but a type of setting, revolving around space age swashbuckling, and all the elements of Pathfinder except set in space certain rules need to be adopted to make this work however.