Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 20 Nov 2003 to 21 Nov 2003 (#2003-274) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 22/11/2003, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 5 messages totalling 220 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Traldar and their Immortals 2. For those who have the PC1 gazeteer (3) 3. Immortals sponsors ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 11:57:49 -0800 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Re: Traldar and their Immortals > BTW I never liked the idea of importing the Norse > gods to the Mystaran > mythos. It always rubs me the wrong way when I hear > "Odin" in that > context. (Perhaps also because the whole NR > Gazetteer fits so badly with > the whole setup.) What's wrong with using RW mythos? I think it is nice because there is so much material and history that is more deeply developed than any fictional religion in D&D fantasy to date. Also, it allows us to learn about RW mythology, which isn't always a bad thing (to learn real knowledge that is) as many fantasy stories and concepts are derived indirectly or directly from RW mythologies... Also, Mystara utilizes a lot of RW cultures albeit with alternative twists. It makes Mystara deeply cultural and more interesting, rather than generic brand-x human or brand-x demi-human... - Joaquin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 12:07:43 -0800 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Re: For those who have the PC1 gazeteer > --- Joaquin Menchaca wrote: > > > In D&D3e, there's a clear distinction for "DIVINE" > > and > > "ARCANE" magic. I think there is another category > > of > > "PSIONIC". IMC, I also add "RUNIC" and "ALCHEMY". > > Good point. Considering this information, it might > be > appropriate to limit fey characters to druidic > healing > only (Arcane?). This would shift the game balance Oh. Divine is priestly (from Immortals) or from nature. Arcane is magic-users, which require spell book, or innately as a magical creature, such as a sorcerer. :(Proabaly added more confusion here) > though, although I always felt that the wee folk > were > overpowered in OD&D, especially those darn Sidhe > Warriors! :-P In D&D3e, there is an assessment how how "powered" characters can be. There is a an adjustment to balance things out. In D&D3e, there is a "character level" and a "class level". A "character level" is the accumulation of all your classes. So a elf that is a Fighter at 5th level and a Mage at 3rd level, would have a total of 8 character levels, and would have the pay the XP to achieve 9th level when trying to raise either Fighter or Mage class by a level. For creatures with powers, there are character class adjustments, which is called "Effective Character Level" adjustment. This means, that let's say a fey would have a +1 ECL, meaning at the start of play, the character is for all intents and purposes a 2nd level character, and needs to pay 3rd level experience level to get one more level. Other players, could get a bonus level to balance things out. As the party progresses, the fey creature will always have a lower class level, as her character level would be higher. Thus, in D&D3e, things are balanced out, so that players could play feys, werewolves, vampires, etc. and have them co-balanced with the overall campaign. Likewise, the challenges are adjusted to match the character levels of the party. - Joaquin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 12:11:47 -0800 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Re: For those who have the PC1 gazeteer Hi, I am sensing some strong interest in the fey. :-) I was going to work on creating rules for role-playing werewolves in D&D3e, so that PCs or NPCs could be werewolves, and also one can have kick-ass werewolves that really send PCs running in terror. I could in winter break start to look at fey creatures, and develop rules to play fey creatures in D&D3e. However, I want to guage interest for this... So, would people be interested in D&D3e rules for playing fey creatures in Mystara?!? - Joaquin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 16:13:56 -0500 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: For those who have the PC1 gazeteer > > From: Joaquin Menchaca > > I could in winter break start to look at fey > creatures, and develop rules to play fey creatures in > D&D3e. However, I want to guage interest for this... > So, would people be interested in D&D3e rules for > playing fey creatures in Mystara?!? > I say go for it, I always liked the old Arcadia Fey. With 3e, we could realy balance out those one hit your dead fey, as in the warrior/rogue sidhe that stay invisible while taking actions. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 19:17:33 +1300 From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: Immortals sponsors > Yes, the sponsoring technique makes the whole immortal theme feel like > an > infinite regress. Nevertheless there are the Old Ones who might have > started > it all and as recent events have shown sponsoring is just one way among > others to immortality. Perhaps it's just a fairly new one (according to > immortal standards), since all those ancient immortals don't seem to > have > needed a sponsor. I'm not arguing for a load of NoS-like devices strewn > across Mystara. Rather I'd really love to hear some ideas what else > could be > sufficient to reach the immortal status without a sponsor and what > other > ways could be thought of... anybody else a fan of the stargate series. Perhaps it could be thought as simmilar to what happened to Daniel Jackson. It isn't so much you are given any power, but that you trancend to another state. (daniel even had a sponsor) > Well, I'd think that Immortal status can only be achieved with Immortal > power, one way or another - which needs a sponsor, a power source such as > the NoS (which is difficult to acquire, and generally closely controlled by > Immortals), or else... what? If you think of the immortal as a mortal that has trancended to another state of reality, the purpose of a sponsor is not to provide power, but knowledge useful to enableing the trancending. The reason the NoS allows you to trancend without a sponsor is because by studying it you can gain the knowledge required to trancend states (i.e. from a 3 dimentional being to a four dimentional being as the gold box would have it). Therefore it would be posible to achieve immortallity without a sponsor but a sponsor will allow the process to be speed up, because the neccecary knowledge is hard to comprehend without being taught it. Today it would be rare to non- existant because any immortal worth his salt would be keen to teach or destroy a talent that could achieve imortallity without help. And if someone was able to achieve imortality without your help isn't it better if you help them because then they will owe you one, not to mention you get to bend them to your ways a little. The logic behind the tasks is to ensure that you are going to be able to deal with the transition as well as to ensure that you are worthy of their attention and to get you to further the world while you are still part of it. Perhaps this is also a measure to help ensure that you don't have the desire to mess with the world as soon as you become immortal because you will have achieve the goals that you desired to as a mortal and so as an immortal you will become more concerened with immortal matters. Finally, didn't it say somewhere that the old ones created the multiverse and that the 1st immortals found it? Chris. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 20 Nov 2003 to 21 Nov 2003 (#2003-274) ****************************************************************