09-05-2004, 10:08 AM | #11 |
Lord Ao
Join Date: May 17, 2001
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Age: 54
Posts: 2,069
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Good post Lucern.
I actually am still working on this, but the more I thought about it, the more I went along with what you were saying. And I even kept the Order = Creative, Chaos = Destructive Theme. I have not studied anthropology, but have some strong historical study under my belt (along with study of mythology), so I saw the order guys as being the big dominant city-state type of level (even the most underdeveloped one technologically would look like a Sumerian city-state). In areas where Order was completely in control, it would look like one of the historical empires (probably with more of a bureaucracy under it like the Chinese). Chaos would be more of the egalitarian society like you stated (the most underdeveloped falling under the tribal organization), and in areas where Chaos dominated confederacies would emerge (each area rules itself, but contributes to common defense and trade). I even stated that chaos could be destructive and still promote good. How?
Still, back to the grand scale, I can see even two versions of the creation myth. The order guys would see it as order coming from the chaos, chaos seeking to destroy the order, and they are preserving the good of the universe by stopping chaos. Chaos would see it as order "tore itself" from chaos, and is insisting on living separate from chaos, so they are just seeking to return things to their "true" natural chaotic way. I already envision the world as being primarily order, but chaos runs through and diffuses itself in the world (against order's will, of course). The extraplanar creatures (the most powerful, at least) are the "children" of these two forces, and though they do not have the ability to grant power to worshippers directly (i.e. unlike other ancient creation myths, there is not going to be a "transfer of power" to the gods; those forces are still alive and in control, and are in conflict with each other), they will still play a major part in the conflict, and thus will spawn "cults" following this particular powerful entity or that (i.e. prestige classes where the member gets certain special abilities from their "following" of the certain entity, similar to what is presented in The Book of Vile Darkness and The Book of Exalted Deeds). Things are beginning to come together on this. However, implementing it in a campaign setting is going to be a bit more difficult (i.e. changing things but still making sure they balance).
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[img]\"ubb/noncgi/smiles/new/ghoul.gif\" alt=\" - \" /><br /><br />\"The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work.<br />The lower class exists just to scare the middle class.\"<br />-George Carlin |
09-05-2004, 06:25 PM | #12 |
Quintesson
Join Date: August 28, 2004
Location: the middle of Michigan
Age: 42
Posts: 1,011
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Sounds like it's coming together nicely. Your group is lucky to have a dedicated DM who doesn't just want to run a standard by-the-book hack and slash game. Good Luck!
As far as the balance goes, the wizards seem balanced pretty well in their roles (though I don't see how/if clerics fit in). You might make barbarians and rangers more common than fighters and paladins in the Chaos areas too. Druids would have a stake in resisting a dominance of one side over the other as well, so might interesting to throw them in the mix. |
09-06-2004, 08:38 AM | #13 |
Lord Ao
Join Date: May 17, 2001
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Age: 54
Posts: 2,069
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Since I do not have a hard and fast alignment system in place (there will be "law affiliated", "chaos affiliated", and "nonaffiliated", with no tracking of how "evil" or "good" the player is), class splitting would be pretty important. Let's see...this is what I had planned for the classes:
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[img]\"ubb/noncgi/smiles/new/ghoul.gif\" alt=\" - \" /><br /><br />\"The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work.<br />The lower class exists just to scare the middle class.\"<br />-George Carlin |
09-06-2004, 03:26 PM | #14 |
Quintesson
Join Date: August 28, 2004
Location: the middle of Michigan
Age: 42
Posts: 1,011
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Argh, I had just finished this post and tried to reply when I was disconnected. I'll try to re-create it.
The division of classes seems to work great from here. I had actually forgotten that the monk even existed, because I've never seen it properly implemented in a non-hack'n slash-only game. They certainly fit the bill as a special sect of certain Order societies. Clerics are my favorite class, but I can see why you gave 'em the axe in this case. I thought of a position that rogues might be able to fill within Order society - that of smooth-talking bureaucrat or leader. Those he dealt with wouldn't realize that s/he's a silver-tongued rogue of course, and s/he probably wouldn't have chosen the more thief-like abilities. Assassins would be unaffiliated, but might be in semi-frequent employ of the leaders of Order. This depends on how corrupt your Order societies are. I like how you've dealt with the fighter classes, particularly with the restriction on heavy armors for chaos fighters. Alternately, I thought of two ways to circumvent the difficulty of forging such armors for Chaos. There was a kind of armor in the Arms and Equipment Guide for 2nd Ed called Patchwork Platemail, which I believe would start out as good as a simple (but trashy looking) suite of platemail, but steadily declined in effectiveness as the fighter took heavy hits. It was like a poor man's plate, or short term replacement armor. I think bad hits could lower your ability to fight until you could readjust, as plates wedged into you in awkward ways. It could also be standard practice for Chaos fighters to target knights of Order who wore heavy armors. Once slain, the armor would be worn as a trophy as well as excellent protection. These would be passed on when no longer needed (or wouldn't fit properly), so a lucky young chaos fighter might be awarded such a suit if it fits. This could also create an interesting encounter if a relative of the slain knight finds his/her family crest adorning the beat-up platemail of such a fighter! |
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