India is one of the most railroaded countries on Earth, Unfortunately, the railways are divided between 3 major providers, and all of them use different track widths. I suspect the Brits are to blame.I was thinking about Shermans burning of Atlanta as it was a Hub for 5 different sized lines. I had no idea India had a similar non-standardized setup.
I imagine the different cultures would use different magics, train types, methods and what not. Metaphorically speaking the "magical widths" would be different for the different cultures. A stone way car and a green/tree way would be a very different animal. If a merchant etc wanted to switch to a different rail type they'd have to unload and reload on the new train. Not the most efficient, but much better than mule and buggy the whole way.
And there can be transmuter specialists that convert one kind of train to another so they can travel on different kinds of tracks. Hub-towns would form around such transmuters.
Or is that "trainsmuters?"
I was sitting at my PF game thinking about how funny it would be for Tree based tracks to be awakened tress that talked an complained about having to bend over and the weight the smell etc as the train moved through their section of track and chatted to each other.
I was sitting at my PF game thinking about how funny it would be for Tree based tracks to be awakened tress that talked an complained about having to bend over and the weight the smell etc as the train moved through their section of track and chatted to each other.
You mean tree-tracks that only bend down when there is a train there? And pop back up to pretend to be a forest or orchard when there is no train nearby?
I like the idea of living drawbridges over a river....
And if the train is being robbed, other trees nearby can be catapults!
You mean tree-tracks that only bend down when there is a train there? And pop back up to pretend to be a forest or orchard when there is no train nearby?
Gah! Stop that! And here I thought watching Spirited Away was bad enough for my mental state this late into my local night. Now I read people getting fantastical with their fantasy. If have any freaky dreams I'm blaming you SmiloDan more then Hayao Miyazaki. (I will also be sure to post any relevant inspiration if I remember it upon waking.)
I was sitting at my PF game thinking about how funny it would be for Tree based tracks to be awakened tress that talked an complained about having to bend over and the weight the smell etc as the train moved through their section of track and chatted to each other.You mean tree-tracks that only bend down when there is a train there? And pop back up to pretend to be a forest or orchard when there is no train nearby?
I like the idea of living drawbridges over a river....
And if the train is being robbed, other trees nearby can be catapults!
That is exactly what I mean. Although For Dorje's mental image I was thinking more the awakened tree from Last Unicorn or Bakshi's Wizards.
I was sitting at my PF game thinking about how funny it would be for Tree based tracks to be awakened tress that talked an complained about having to bend over and the weight the smell etc as the train moved through their section of track and chatted to each other.You mean tree-tracks that only bend down when there is a train there? And pop back up to pretend to be a forest or orchard when there is no train nearby?
I like the idea of living drawbridges over a river....
And if the train is being robbed, other trees nearby can be catapults!
If you want to go that far feel free with your game. However, simpler is usually better for believability. I know we're talking about "magical Physics" which is an exercise in insanity by itself. However, the closer we keep to true physics the more "realistic" it is. It's an Occams Razor-ish concept.
Also keep "economics" and "logistics" in mind when creating part of a campaign. I'm not debating the pro's and con's of Gygaxian naturalism, but i'm a fan. For example: It's cheap and easy to cast shape wood. Lots of low/mid level druids can do it without much preparation. It's significantly harder to make moving trees that sense when trains are coming and can go into "offensive mode" when necessary. Plus the latter would be a lot harder to "fix" if it gets damaged by whatever means. If you're going to go that far you may as well have teleporting trains and skip the whole need for actual movement or just get starjammers and what not.
my 2C.
Hub-towns would form around such transmuters.
Or is that "trainsmuters?"
Or vice versa - as hub-towns grow up around the locations where goods are transferred from train to train, a "trainsmuter" (love that, btw!) is likely to see opportunity and money to be made and move in.
Dorje - could have been worse, you could have been watching "Castle in the Sky!" (given the use of WWII German style railroad stuff in that one)
Dragonsong - you obviously have Skill Focus (craft disturbing mental image) - the gossiping of the trees now has me giggling...
For the record, I really don't think teleporting is viable as a mass transportation option, as part of the reason for a system's existence is to service *all* points along the route and teleport is point-to-point only. Spelljammers, however... :D
For the record, I really don't think teleporting is viable as a mass transportation option, as part of the reason for a system's existence is to service *all* points along the route and teleport is point-to-point only. Spelljammers, however... :D
By the way it's written it's really not. That's kinda my point.
:thumbsup: I'm still on my first cup of coffee, so I wasn't sure.
I think it'd be pretty interesting to have a steam engine fueled by a bound fire elemental in the coal box, and a bound water elemental in the boiler. Would probably take someone who knew how to make golems to construct, though.
They might get pissed off if they escape.
In my own homebrew, there's one country that has much higher technology than any other. The reason being that they can't use magic there, not safely. It goes wild, a spark spell might not work, or it might detonate like a fireball cast by a level 30 wizard. The country floats in the jet stream. Due to the magic not being able to be used, the locals have instead developed a combination of technology and psionics.
So they use airships that are powered by psionically bound air and fire elementals (air to keep the wood up in the air, fire to power the engines that propel the ships).
In my own homebrew, there's one country that has much higher technology than any other. The reason being that they can't use magic there, not safely. It goes wild, a spark spell might not work, or it might detonate like a fireball cast by a level 30 wizard. The country floats in the jet stream. Due to the magic not being able to be used, the locals have instead developed a combination of technology and psionics.
So they use airships that are powered by psionically bound air and fire elementals (air to keep the wood up in the air, fire to power the engines that propel the ships).
I always like the idea of Sky Whale Zepplins. It's exactly what it sounds like.
:shakes fist at all and sundry:
Curse you and your inspiring testimonies!! Now I have visions of magic airships having to content with sky-orcas and cloud-dolphins, "leaping" over the gas-bags...
Elementals might agree to serve in exchange for other goods/services, just like any other laborer. Unintelligent sky-whales carrying howda-baskets, steered by skilled animal handlers... that's awesome visuals.
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I always like the idea of Sky Whale Zepplins. It's exactly what it sounds like.
Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might III has a race of trained flying whales called Sohr (gargantuan) or Battle Sohr (huge, basically flying orcas) that provide transport to and from a flying city.
The Arms & Equipment Guide also has 'Soarwhales,' which are colossal flying whales.
And strapping the Elemental Creature (Air) template from the Manual of Planes onto a normal whale can also create a flying whale, called forth from the elemental plane of air to serve in the material plane, and, over many generations of breeding on this plane, probably becoming native outsiders.