Yikes, another long dearth of blog posts. My genius is suck.
In my Labyrinth Lord version of Eberron, I find it entirely inappropriate to refer to the train as The Lightning Rail. I do like the fact that it exists. One of my first favourite films was the 70's Murder on The Orient Express with the huge raft of stars from the period, including Albert Finney as Poirot. I think Sean Connery was in it too. Anyway, I find the idea of the train itself to be a wonderful fantasy possibility, but the name makes little sense for a very compelling reason.
There are no rails.
The train moves along above a series of relatively small stone pyramids. This isn't an upgrade from a time when it ran on actual rails, and there are no other rail-utilising technologies screeching around Khorvaire. Somehow 'The Lightning Stones' or 'The Lightning Pyramids' just doesn't convey the idea of any kind of transport, let alone a train. So what should it be called?
I know! I'll turn to you, rarified niche of the internet! Please tell me what I should call The Lightning Rail.
Showing posts with label Eberron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eberron. Show all posts
29 March, 2011
10 February, 2011
Grumpy Eberron - an NPC on 'Forged
Lieutenant Albrecht Jung is a young officer in the Karnnathi military. Currently, he is an artificer specialist assigned to the military garrison in Vulyar. He was brought in after the end of the Last War with an assistant and two sections of ten warforged. Their job is to assist in repairs around the badly damaged county.
"Frankly, I don't think the captain even believes thinkers exist. I've only been at Vulyar for a year. I came with my corporal and two sections of warforged to assist in the repairs. I didn't fight in the war with these men.. I've been trying hard to.. well, fit in with them. As an artificer, it is always difficult to be seen as an equal with experienced fighting men, and there is little room in my duties for my theories."
You are touring the work sites around the outlying areas of Vulyar. As you travel, Albrecht, who you realise is probably not much over 20 years old, begins to speak. "As an artificer, it is part of my vocation to understand and work with the arcane motivators of the warforged. In addition to being a sort of complex clockwork, a warforged is suffused with an enchantment which serves as its engine, which brings it to life, so to speak. These things are not completely understood by any artificer I have met, though we base our work on manipulating this. For those who produced the warforged during the war, I believe it was much like the farmer who may grow bushel upon bushel of grain, though he knows not how the seed functions."
"Anyway.. I believe that the thinkers result when various different parts or factors common to all warforged within their minds, certain opposites for example, come together in a sort of agreement. This is, perhaps, what allows them to become unique.. a thinking individual.. that these separate factors are incredibly numerous, and have come together in a unique way in each case. I have done certain experiments.. " He pauses and looks at the three of you in the party still on the wagon. "Experiments which even my assistant, Corporal Meier, does not know about.. which suggest I may be correct. Yet, I have no proof, and so far no real success."
"Frankly, I don't think the captain even believes thinkers exist. I've only been at Vulyar for a year. I came with my corporal and two sections of warforged to assist in the repairs. I didn't fight in the war with these men.. I've been trying hard to.. well, fit in with them. As an artificer, it is always difficult to be seen as an equal with experienced fighting men, and there is little room in my duties for my theories."
You are touring the work sites around the outlying areas of Vulyar. As you travel, Albrecht, who you realise is probably not much over 20 years old, begins to speak. "As an artificer, it is part of my vocation to understand and work with the arcane motivators of the warforged. In addition to being a sort of complex clockwork, a warforged is suffused with an enchantment which serves as its engine, which brings it to life, so to speak. These things are not completely understood by any artificer I have met, though we base our work on manipulating this. For those who produced the warforged during the war, I believe it was much like the farmer who may grow bushel upon bushel of grain, though he knows not how the seed functions."
"Anyway.. I believe that the thinkers result when various different parts or factors common to all warforged within their minds, certain opposites for example, come together in a sort of agreement. This is, perhaps, what allows them to become unique.. a thinking individual.. that these separate factors are incredibly numerous, and have come together in a unique way in each case. I have done certain experiments.. " He pauses and looks at the three of you in the party still on the wagon. "Experiments which even my assistant, Corporal Meier, does not know about.. which suggest I may be correct. Yet, I have no proof, and so far no real success."
19 October, 2010
Airships Now Arriving in Eberron
I've got classes figured out to a manageable state, so I'm going to go ahead and open my Play-by-Post Eberron Labyrinth Lord game. It will play out, surprisingly, in the 'Eberron - Labyrinth Lord' section of my message board.
This is The Place
Anyone is welcome to come by, sign up, and roll up a character. All you'll need to do is fill in the typical board registration hubbub, using the name your comments are posted under here, and I'll activate you. Instructions for making a character, which dice method to use, etc. are in this thread.
I'll be shooting for a once-a-day minimum update on my end, but it will probably be more often than that. You can check out my Eberron atmosphere post from a few days ago to get an idea what I'll be trying to do with the setting.
This is The Place
Anyone is welcome to come by, sign up, and roll up a character. All you'll need to do is fill in the typical board registration hubbub, using the name your comments are posted under here, and I'll activate you. Instructions for making a character, which dice method to use, etc. are in this thread.
I'll be shooting for a once-a-day minimum update on my end, but it will probably be more often than that. You can check out my Eberron atmosphere post from a few days ago to get an idea what I'll be trying to do with the setting.
15 October, 2010
Does a Shifter Weigh the Same as a Duck?
This place has been pretty quiet for a few days while I've been ruminating about Eberron. I've decided on Labyrinth Lord for the ruleset, and I'll be starting out with it totally stock, no house-rules going into it. I've also made some (fairly easy) decisions about some of the player races. They will all be available for players to choose from, just like in the standard setting material, but instead of using the Advanced LL rules (yet) I'll be casting them in the mold of other old-school demi-human classes.
As elves are to fighter/magic-user, so shall shifters be to fighter/thief. I'll be up front with people, however, that playing a shifter isn't going to go over well at all anywhere within the confines of Old Galifar. The reaction would range from 'pelted with produce' to 'public execution,' with a usual average somewhere around 'torch-wielding-mob.' They would be more characteristically realised within my version as the NPC cat-woman sorcerer of Conan's borderlands.
Warforged, if appearing as a player character, would fall into more of the dwarf class mold. They are fighters, with level limits mirroring dwarven advancement. Their immunities are more extensive, obviously, but these and their counterpart limitations are an inherent part of the setting. In my version, they were not produced in nearly as many numbers as in the official version of the setting. They just aren't that much better than human troops to justify the expense. If they didn't have free will, that'd be a different story. As it is, many see them as a novelty of the rich and a failed experiment of the military.
My main remaining decision is how to start out. Eberron provides an incredible variety of starting points for a party of adventurers, but I'd rather not start in a big city, like Sharn. Starting them as post-mourning amnesiacs injects a lot of iconic setting flavour into the campaign right from the start, but on the other hand might seem clichéd.
When trying to evoke a certain setting, I always like to include the setting's published adventures in one way or another. They often form the meat of a setting's character. However, the one first-level module I've found takes place in Sharn, which I'd like to avoid for a while.
Thus, I'm still nailing down the first adventure, but otherwise ready to go. Perhaps some of you out there have an idea of a good way to start!
As elves are to fighter/magic-user, so shall shifters be to fighter/thief. I'll be up front with people, however, that playing a shifter isn't going to go over well at all anywhere within the confines of Old Galifar. The reaction would range from 'pelted with produce' to 'public execution,' with a usual average somewhere around 'torch-wielding-mob.' They would be more characteristically realised within my version as the NPC cat-woman sorcerer of Conan's borderlands.
Warforged, if appearing as a player character, would fall into more of the dwarf class mold. They are fighters, with level limits mirroring dwarven advancement. Their immunities are more extensive, obviously, but these and their counterpart limitations are an inherent part of the setting. In my version, they were not produced in nearly as many numbers as in the official version of the setting. They just aren't that much better than human troops to justify the expense. If they didn't have free will, that'd be a different story. As it is, many see them as a novelty of the rich and a failed experiment of the military.
My main remaining decision is how to start out. Eberron provides an incredible variety of starting points for a party of adventurers, but I'd rather not start in a big city, like Sharn. Starting them as post-mourning amnesiacs injects a lot of iconic setting flavour into the campaign right from the start, but on the other hand might seem clichéd.
When trying to evoke a certain setting, I always like to include the setting's published adventures in one way or another. They often form the meat of a setting's character. However, the one first-level module I've found takes place in Sharn, which I'd like to avoid for a while.
Thus, I'm still nailing down the first adventure, but otherwise ready to go. Perhaps some of you out there have an idea of a good way to start!
08 October, 2010
My Hard Drive's Encumbrance
I've been fiddling around tons of art sites today. That's where I generally end up for inspiration for my game worlds, moreso than literature.
It looks like my upcoming Eberron play-by-post game is going to be a mixture of the following:
Eberron
Warhammer FRP
Studio Ghibli (brobdingnagian airships, constructed servitors, the darker elements of Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Howl)
Lovecraftian pseudomythology, and Dreamlands
Andy Brase
Chuck Lukacs
Vinod Rams
Andy Simmons
Philip Straub
Rico Holmes
American McGee's Alice
Brazil and other Gilliam works
In general, dark fantasy, both in tone and visualisation.
Airships in general are uncommon. The more sea-going ship and boat-like airships are a common example of this sort of vehicle, but definitely not the preferred type. They were the earliest sort, many of which were converted to air travel from actual maritime vessels. Much more preferred are the larger, sturdier, and fully enclosed sort typified by the works of Miyazaki, though lacking wings. This type are far louder in operation, however, due to the greater power and number of the constrained elementals, the abyssal moans and screams of whom can prove highly disquieting.
It looks like my upcoming Eberron play-by-post game is going to be a mixture of the following:
Eberron
Warhammer FRP
Studio Ghibli (brobdingnagian airships, constructed servitors, the darker elements of Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Howl)
Lovecraftian pseudomythology, and Dreamlands
Andy Brase
Chuck Lukacs
Vinod Rams
Andy Simmons
Philip Straub
Rico Holmes
American McGee's Alice
Brazil and other Gilliam works
In general, dark fantasy, both in tone and visualisation.
Airships in general are uncommon. The more sea-going ship and boat-like airships are a common example of this sort of vehicle, but definitely not the preferred type. They were the earliest sort, many of which were converted to air travel from actual maritime vessels. Much more preferred are the larger, sturdier, and fully enclosed sort typified by the works of Miyazaki, though lacking wings. This type are far louder in operation, however, due to the greater power and number of the constrained elementals, the abyssal moans and screams of whom can prove highly disquieting.
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