Author Topic: Elementalist World  (Read 2618 times)

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Offline EltonJ

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Elementalist World
« on: August 06, 2021, 04:56:32 PM »
I was thinking of a world that uses the RMFRP Elemental Companion in a big way.  Something like how Essence magic evolved and gotten real specialized.  I'm imagining an Italian Renaissance setting.

Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2021, 07:45:32 PM »
Little more information on this world.

The main continent is broken up by huge rivers that could be boated on.  Their are seven countries:
* Britannia -- Nation based on Arthurian Britain with some Tudor England influence.
* Cedonia -- Nation based on Post Reconquista Spain.
* Illyria -- High Elf kingdom.
* Pictonia -- Nation of Wood Elves, they go to battle totally naked and wield six foot long swords.  Their women are also impressive.
* Fraxiona -- Nation based on 14th Century France.
* Napellonia -- Nation based on the Italian Renaissance.
* Apollyana -- The holy land.

Races: High Men, Common Men, Mixed Men, Wood Elves, High Elves, Dwarves, halflings, orcs, half-orcs.

High men are civilizers.  They build kingdoms and rule over the Common Men.  High men are found in positions of power.
Common men represent the common folk of a kingdom.  Mixed men have mixed attributes.

Orcs are found in the mountains and the unorganized East.  They worship a shamanic religion.

North of Britannia live the wood elves.  Thought to be backward and savage, the people of Britannia tried to conquer them to civilize them.  But to no avail.  The wood elves are still thought to be heathens.  Their women are impressive.

The dwarves live in the mountains where there are no orcs.  They are impressive smiths.

The halflings live in burrows in Cedonia.

Magic.  In this world, magic is elemental.

Offline Thot

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2021, 07:26:48 AM »
And what would the main conflict of the campaign be about?

Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2021, 05:18:35 PM »
And what would the main conflict of the campaign be about?

Good vs. Evil.  A great evil threatens the realms.

Offline Thot

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2021, 06:42:23 AM »
So, nothing special, not something that is related to the type of magic used? A pity.

Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2021, 12:11:18 PM »
So, nothing special, not something that is related to the type of magic used? A pity.

I'll think of something else.

Offline Spectre771

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2021, 09:01:24 AM »
First off, run the campaign that you and your friends will enjoy.  Sometimes the best campaign sessions I've had were ones that went totally off my script and just happened to write themselves.  The players end up adding variables to the game that I never thought of and I work off of those ideas or results (good or bad) and weave them into the story line so the main plot still gets worked on, but maybe in a less direct line that I had planned.

Second, your idea is what I have been running in RM2 since the early 90s in with my first group of gaming friends.  I've had several older posts in other threads about my game setting.  To make RM2 a little more manageable for players and GMs, the only magic users and spell lists that exist are the ones found in Elemental Companion.  It IS the Renaissance period (of sorts) for the gaming world.  The older magics and spell lists have all been "explained" away through what now passes for science.  Healing powder is just the equivalent of aspirin, burn salve was just aloe all along, mind control effects are just hypnosis, the paralyzing touch was just the slime off a brightly colored frog.  Magicians are today's real-world street performers, (David Blaine, David Copperfield, Harry Houdini) etc.  Elementalism is the science du-jour and I've added the Alchemy Companion into the mix too as that also passed for science in our real world at one point.  The Alchemy Companion is pretty cool too.

So now mankind is 'enlightened.'  Science above all.  There's no such thing as 'magic.'  So.....

To add a little drama and excitement to the game, the spell casters in the game world have gone to hiding or at least are laying low to avoid scorn.  Some NPCs can still be found around and about.  All of the old magical items that survived are still there, waiting to be found, or are still being made by non-human folk.  In the larger cities, such as those with schools of study and higher education, or those with a higher educated populous, the spell casters are shunned or treated as scam artists.  As one moves toward the more rural areas, magic users are still held in awe, maybe respected, and always with some trepidation.  The non-human races still know that magic is magic and is real.  The Elven race is enjoying the new modern man and their lack of belief in magic and see it as yet another step on their path of ignorance.

The gaming world we use mirrors the treatment of spell casters the way our real world treated Indigenous American Shamans, the Celtic Druids, the Tribal Medicine man, witches, alchemists, and snake-oil peddlers.  In the gaming world, the spell casters in the party get the same sideways glances when in certain locales.
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Offline PiXeL01

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2021, 08:36:53 PM »
The above is pretty cool as the struggle between “science” and “barbarism”.

You could also have the world exist as the point where all elements converge and serve as one of the battlefields between the elemental forces. Each element wants to become the dominating element and absorb or consume this realm into themselves.

Players could either work for one of the elemental forces to further the agenda or fighting to keep the world from being consumed.

The world could be a disc where around the edges the elements swirl
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Offline jdale

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2021, 10:46:26 PM »
Another elemental theme might be the intrusion of elements that don't belong in this world. Given the structure of the elemental companion, that might be an entire triad of, say, crystal, gossamer, and quintessence. Or it could be a single element that has a corrupting influence. Or it could be elemental plasma or nothingness attempting to consume other elements. In any of those cases, if all your magical tools are elemental, how do you deal with a problem that is composed of an entirely foreign element? What kind of effects does it have on the environment? At what point do you even become aware that it is possible for other elements to exist? Can they exist and sustain themselves without a connection to a plane where they exist naturally?
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Offline Spectre771

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2021, 07:59:59 AM »
Elemental Companion is easily my favorite book of RM2.  I've read it cover to cover multiple times over the years for pure enjoyment.  How the Elemental realms are described, the variety of elemental creatures, the theories and schools of thought, etc. are all so well laid out that it's a fun read.  I bought 6 copies last Christmas to give as gifts to my gaming group because there is just so much info included in the book.  Even if you don't play RM2, it's a book worth owning and reading, particularly if you want to run an elemental campaign.
If discretion is the better valor and
cowardice the better part of judgment,
let's all be heroes and run away!

Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2021, 05:58:52 PM »
Elemental Companion is easily my favorite book of RM2.  I've read it cover to cover multiple times over the years for pure enjoyment.  How the Elemental realms are described, the variety of elemental creatures, the theories and schools of thought, etc. are all so well laid out that it's a fun read.  I bought 6 copies last Christmas to give as gifts to my gaming group because there is just so much info included in the book.  Even if you don't play RM2, it's a book worth owning and reading, particularly if you want to run an elemental campaign.

Ah, thank you.  I have the RMSS/RMFRP version.  But the RM2 version is available on ebay and noble knight games.  But I digress.

You all have given me some thought about the "something else."  But I don't want to stop the ideas from coming in.

Offline Spectre771

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2021, 08:37:51 AM »
I'm reluctant to add this, but there is another gaming system out there, rumours and conjecture I'm sure, that has a module about a sanctified location dealing with elemental magics but they are "not-good" magics.  It's a perfect self-contained dungeon crawl if you want to get a quick one-off going, or if you want to make it the grand finale for a campaign; something your party will have to really prepare for if they wish to even tackle it.  Those preparations alone can give you several gaming sessions worth of material.
If discretion is the better valor and
cowardice the better part of judgment,
let's all be heroes and run away!

Offline rdanhenry

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2021, 01:23:27 PM »
I'm reluctant to add this, but there is another gaming system out there, rumours and conjecture I'm sure, that has a module about a sanctified location dealing with elemental magics but they are "not-good" magics.  It's a perfect self-contained dungeon crawl if you want to get a quick one-off going, or if you want to make it the grand finale for a campaign; something your party will have to really prepare for if they wish to even tackle it.  Those preparations alone can give you several gaming sessions worth of material.

Of course, if you use something directly from another system, it won't match to the Rolemaster elements (six core physical elements, six core sense elements that have been ignored in the past, but I'd love to see an RMU elemental companion that finally synthesized the universe as seen by the Magician and by the Illusionist; while the RM2 Elemental Companion added a lot more). Now, you could take inspiration from works for other systems, of course, and adapt ideas into a Rolemaster version, which can work well.
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Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2021, 04:31:58 PM »
Yes, of course.  I was thinking about this as a publication for RMSS/RMFRP or RMU.

Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2021, 12:06:37 PM »
No idea if it would be of help, but I've got some of my own variations of 'Elementalist' stuff in the first two issues of the Rolemaster Quarterly so.  Basically sort of an 'add-on' specialization.
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Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #15 on: August 15, 2021, 04:54:16 PM »
No idea if it would be of help, but I've got some of my own variations of 'Elementalist' stuff in the first two issues of the Rolemaster Quarterly so.  Basically sort of an 'add-on' specialization.

Thanks Cory. 

Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2021, 05:40:09 PM »
I was thinking of races or species today while at Walmart.  I'm thinking my elementalist world could have more than one mammalian race (besides orcs, elves, sasquatch, neanderthals, and men).  Probably add rat men, wolf men (there's already stats for RMFRP for these), and ferret men.

Then there are scalies.  Lizardmen are already statted for RMFRP. But I wanted to add a race descended from dinosaurs.  Possibly a race descended from Utahraptor or Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Offline jdale

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2021, 07:22:36 PM »
If you want to go all-in on elements, put it in everything. Do each of the races have elemental alignments? I don't mean "their hair is on fire" necessarily but it could be a fiery disposition, a preference for colder climates, a reverence for the sun (i.e. light), etc. Maybe the dinosaurish race has an association with earth and that is why they fossilize so easily. What element does the moon represent, maybe water for its effect on the tides? That says something about wolf men.

How about six seasons instead of four? The light season could be due to high latitude (i.e. extremely long days), an additional moon, the skies are always clear, or even the sun is just plain brighter.

Card games (and tarot-ish cards) could have six suits.
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Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2021, 11:35:33 PM »
If you want to go all-in on elements, put it in everything. Do each of the races have elemental alignments? I don't mean "their hair is on fire" necessarily but it could be a fiery disposition, a preference for colder climates, a reverence for the sun (i.e. light), etc. Maybe the dinosaurish race has an association with earth and that is why they fossilize so easily. What element does the moon represent, maybe water for its effect on the tides? That says something about wolf men.

How about six seasons instead of four? The light season could be due to high latitude (i.e. extremely long days), an additional moon, the skies are always clear, or even the sun is just plain brighter.

Card games (and tarot-ish cards) could have six suits.

That's an amazing idea.

Offline EltonJ

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Re: Elementalist World
« Reply #19 on: October 22, 2021, 06:36:17 PM »
A little more on the elementalist world.

Taking jdale's idea (thanks again), having each race be based on an elemental theme:
-- Earth --
* Tyrannosaurus Rex race (Tyrannos, maybe): Dark Ages culture.  They have a tail in the back.
* Orcs (they are in the mountains).  Can interbreed with humans.  Medieval culture.

-- Air --
* Golden Eagle race (humanoid birds). Medieval culture.
* Archeopteryx race (also a humanoid bird race).  Medieval culture.

-- Light --
* High Elves (see The Rolemaster Standard Rules or Character Law), sun worshipers. Renaissance culture.
* Grey Elves (see The Rolemaster Standard Rules or Character Law), star worshipers.  They get married at night, when starlight is out.  Like the Jews.  Medieval culture.
Elves can't interbreed with humans.

-- Ice --
* Neanderthal.  Can interbreed with humans.  Ice age culture.

-- Water --
* Wolfen/Vulfen. Seafarers like the ancient Norse and Danes.  They speak wolf speech. Can forge amazing steel weapons. Dark Ages culture.
* Gratar.  (See Races and Cultures, page 40).

-- Fire --
* Wood Elves.  Based off of Pict and the ancient beaker culture (well, near to it anyway).  Bronze Age culture, fights the enemy while sky-clad.  Shamanistic at heart, they revere animal spirits.  Good with bows.  Cannot interbreed with humans.
* Halflings (see page 49 of Races and Cultures). Fire worshipers.  Wandering clans like the gypsies.  Medieval culture.

-- Balance --
* Humans or Man. Both High Men and Common Men.  Lords of Britannia (based mostly off of Arthurian England -- Christian Nation), Cedonia (based off of Spain -- Christian Nation), Aquitaine (based off of France -- Christian Nation), Napolone (based off of Italy -- Christian Nation).  Deutchland (based off of Dark Ages Germany -- Pagan nation). Appolyan (Based off of the Holy Land during the Crusades).

Well, what do you think?