Tuesday, January 14, 2014

We Blog - We Live!

Blogging, yo. I still do it.

I'm not going to waste pixels on "blah blah blah, here's why I've been gone for oh so many years." I'm going to get right back into it. Screw the haters.

What I'm working on right now is an RPG setting that I plan to explore with my wife, the Abigail. The intent is to capture some of what made the Lord of the Rings special to me, but without all the stuff that either I have grown tired of, or that stopped the Abigail from every getting into that setting herself. Here is what I have got so far.

Rather than make the main conflict of the setting quite as Manichean as the Lord of the Rings, I want to do something with a little more subtlety. The Abigail can get behind purely antagonistic villains, but she needs to have an idea of their motivations, and those motivations need to make sense. Sauron always came off as too much of a dick.

So, my idea is to steal from The Whispering Vault, a little-known RPG from the mid-90s in which the main characters portray semi-spiritual beings empowered to hunt down refugees from the spiritual world who have invaded the physical world, seduced by its pleasures. This setting will have the same fundamental dichotomy: there is a spiritual world and a physical world, two sides of the same coin, and all the world's problems come from physical beings wanting to be spirits and spiritual beings wanting to be physical.

There is, specifically, a Dark Lord a la Sauron or Morgoth, but he's much more of a pitiful figure in my setting. He was the first spirit to force his way into the material world, and he has suffered for it. Now he longs for release from the various permanent wounds that have been inflicted upon his stolen flesh, swollen with power and sorcery as it is, but he's too afraid of oblivion to simply accept death. Like all spirits who have taken on flesh, he cannot escape at will - and even if he could simply shuck off his body, he knows that his spiritual cohort, the world's other spirits, are waiting for him. Perhaps in reality, they would forgive him and tend to his wounds and heal his soul... but he is too far sunken into misery and bitterness to accept that possibility.

So, the world sucks because this spirit wanted to know what it was like to eat and drink and screw. He tore a huge gaping hole in the veil between spirit and matter when he stole a body - there's a story to that, but I haven't thought of it yet - and lesser spirits have been taking advantage of this hole for millennia. The malignant ones, jealous of mankind's status as the only beings to naturally be both matter and spirit, have flocked to his banner (even though he is now too consumed with ennui and self-hatred to do much directing), while others have come through to try to repair the damage from the physical side, with mixed results. Some have remained true to their mission, while others have gotten too enamored of the flesh - or power, or whatever - and botched it up in various ways.

Hm.. I'm kind of stealing from Tribe 8, too... interesting.

At some point in history - probably at the beginning of some golden age - a spirit was sent through the gap with the goal of improving the situation by empowering humans, rather than possessing one and using him as a sock puppet to boss the other humans around. This human started lineage of humans who were touched by spirit, through their ancestry, but still fully humans (this would be my take on the Numenoreans).

Among other things - including starting said golden age - these blessed humans taught some humans how to temporarily separate their souls from their bodies, making themselves capable of magic. They taught some spirits how to merge with human hosts, rather than simply stealing their bodies. They taught other spirits how to merge with non-human material hosts, like animals or objects, in order to create "sinless" vessels whose efforts to fix things would not be tainted by the inherent problems of stealing a human's body in order to interact with the world. These gifts were intended to put humans and spirits on more equal footing, and for the most part, they worked.

But... inbreeding, decadence, and plain old boredom soured the plan. The noble lineage fell from power after a well-deserved revolt... which opened the field for the old enemy to begin planning, again, to dominate the world.

Why does he want to dominate the world?

Like I said... he's not even sure anymore, but he has generals and captains and industries of dominance who are sure that it's a good idea, and they don't really need his permission anymore. So, he's just going with the flow.

Arrayed against him are ordinary humans, humans who have learned a small measure of magic power, the tattered remains of the spirit-touched noble lineage that once stood astride the world - and they have the dubious assistance of various semi-spirit immortals, many of them tainted by the sin of having stolen the material bodies they are still wearing to this day.

And... that's all I got for now.

I'll be sure to check in soon with some more thoughts, especially as I begin to develop the system.

Is this a rebirth for the Burning Zeppelin Experience? I like to think so, but only time will tell.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

+1

(That's all I've got at the moment. It sounds cool.)

James Tech said...

This is an excellent article. Thanks a lot for sharing.
mcafee.com/activate,
www.mcafee.com/activate,
www.mcafee.com/activate total protection,
www.mcafee.com/activate product key

Unknown said...

Amazon Prime Video provides its users access to countless films, net Chain, and TV shows.
You can watch everything at first before cable TV broadcasting.You do not have to see movie theaters to watch movies.Amazon Prime Video may be observed on many apparatus.
wwww.amazon.com/mytv
wwww.amazon.com/mytv
wwww.amazon.com/mytv
wwww.amazon.com/mytv
amazon.com/code

ross pearl said...


AccAccess your most recent Norton products and services
Go through each product description to know what suits your fancy
Select your preferred package
Choose a payment option and enter your details to complete the order
If successful, the Norton setup product key will arrive in your email box
Keep it safeess your most recent Norton products and services
Go through each product description to know what suits your fancy
Select your preferred package
Choose a payment option and enter your details to complete the order
If successful, the Norton setup product key will arrive in your email box
Keep it safe
Gadget security helps block programmers and Norton Secure VPN encourages you keep your online action hidden.
After reading the license agreement, tap on the download button

Copy and send the download link to your email address if you want to use it on another device

Wait for the download to complete; then, open the file on your device, follow the screen prompt to install.

After the general overview, let’s see how to install the norton.com setup on different devices.Open your browser

Type Norton com setup sign in or the URL
Sign in to your Norton setup account

Hit on the download button

Check the license agreement before clicking the download

Select the option per your browser

Tap on the ‘Run’ icon

Now, the account control window opens

Click on continue





norton.com/setup
www.norton.com/setup
norton setup

Anonymous said...

To activate your playstation account visit www.playstation.com/account and follow the activation process.
www.playstation.com/account

To reset your playstation password visit www.playstation.com/resetpassword and follow the process.
www.playstation.com/changepassword

Unknown said...

comes in to the film. Let us see how you can draw money out of the Pay Pal Log in accounts
eBay Customer Service
netflix.com/activate
netflix.com/activate
amazon.com/redeem
check walmart gift card balance

Unknown said...

This website is simply meant to offer you the subscribers with knowledgeable articles associated with pay-pal log in . But, we don't guarantee one of this appropriateness of advice available here. You ought to acknowledge this website might have disagreements and you're taking action in your personal risk.
Appstore.com/redeem
amazon com code

Green Dot Login said...

ou have come to the right place if you are facing a problem log in or sign in to your Binance Exchange Account. Go to Binance App or Website, Click on “Login”. , Enter your email or Mobile Number and password, If you forgot the password click on “Forgot password”.
Know more about: Trezor Wallet | MetaMask Wallet | Kraken Login | Coinspot Login | Coinspot Login Australia

SUPPORT said...

Coinbase Wallet download | coinbase wallet fees|Metamask Login | MetaMask Log in | Coinbase pro wallet login | coinbase pro login error | coinbase account login | Coinbase wallet

HP Printer in error state said...

To know how to scan a document on hp printer to computer select the Save as PDF or Document to File shortcut. If you scanned from the scanner glass, load the next page or photo on the glass. Click the plus button or in the HP Scan preview window to scan the next item. Repeat this step until all pages or photos are scanned, and then click Save.

How to connect Brother HL I2360DW printer to WiFi? said...

To connect brother printer to wifi without cd, there is not much that you have to do. As mentioned above, Brother Printers have applications to help with enhancing the print experience, you would only have to download the app for your smartphone. And keep up with the configuration instructions that get displayed on the screen. And you can manage your printer simply from your phone.

ELISE said...

HP printers have been driving the maximum customer utility supported with high levels of satisfaction and good experience. They come in both wired and wireless models and with different features. There is a wide range of printers that you can choose from like all-in-one printers, photo inkjet printers, laser printers (colour, monochrome), portable printers, and more. Here, in this read, we’ll be focusing on the HP Deskjet 3050 Wireless Printer Setup that lets you use your printers with ultimate ease and is extremely feasible. Let’s discuss the downloading steps and the way you can access it whenever you want.

youtubeactivity said...

Youtube.com/activate
A YouTube invitation code is an is made by the youtube application on explicit contraptions, for eg Apple, Xbox Wii, etc, or other related devices, which is done through a google account. The establishment code is normal for the restoration of the sign-in process.