Spes Magna Games

I’ve been writing/thinking about magic in Tiamat’s Throne. I want the setting to be science-fiction/fantasy, in that order. Magic is real, but science is realer. Magic is a comparatively new addition to the our universe, having arrived, so to speak, when the barrier between our universe and the universe of the dragons was sundered. Our universe can be affected by magic, but it resists such effects.

Here’s some of the fluff text I’ve written about magic:

“What can be perceived is real. What can be perceived via our normal senses is the natural world. What cannot be perceived via our normal senses is the supernatural world. Magic starts by observing the supernatural world. From observation, the wizard moves to imposing his will upon the supernatural world. Magic always requires an act of the will without which no magical effect is possible.

“The supernatural world affects the natural world through wizard’s act of will, which directs and transforms eldritch forces. Such effects, however, have vanish over time as eldritch energies revert to their original form and the enforced connection between the supernatural and natural worlds breaks.”

One of the consequences of this way of looking at magic is that no magical effect can have a permanent duration. Some clarification is perhaps in order. A fireball burns down a house. The magical effect, the fireball, goes away. The natural effects of the fireball, the destroyed house, remain. That only makes sense. The damage inflicted by magic shouldn’t go away when the magic does.

But since magical effects cannot be permanent, that does mean that, among other things, there aren’t going to be many magic items (if any at all). The process of placing a permanent enchantment to create, say, a +1 sword cannot be accomplished in our universe. A wizard might be able to temporarily enchant a weapon, but that enchantment cannot be made a permanent feature of the weapon.

This limitation on magic requires me to alter some spells as well. For example, wizard lock has a duration of permanent until dispelled (according to the old-school open content source I’m using for spells). In Tiamat’s Throne, however, no spell can have a permanent duration. I’ve not made up my mind yet about what I’ll change permanent durations to. These changed durations are likely still going to be lengthy, and they’ll almost certainly vary depending on the spell. My version of wizard lock will probably have a duration measured in days.

Even though magic is a potent force and wizards enjoy a greater variety of choices than psychics, neither magic nor wizards can replace high-technology. A feinos wizard isn’t going to wade into battle, lobbing spells from his magic staff while protected by magic rings and robes. For protection, he’ll likely need armor, perhaps augmented by a shield spell. Sure, he can throw some magic missiles or tear through enemy ranks with a lightning bolt.

But when he’s used up his mana, there aren’t any magic items to fall back on. Not even scrolls. He’ll eventually end up pulling that sidearm and blazing away like a warrior, but without the benefits of the warrior’s better attack bonus and training.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

On Elanor, the Eugenics Commissars needed a durable race that could survive underground for long period of times. Gengineering resulted in the malgrandegulos, a stoic race famous for their love of both money and combat. Instability in the malgrandegulos genome has resulted in the speciation of a new race, the koboldo.*

Appearance and Biology: This race tends to be squat, broad, and heavy. Males are seldom taller than 5 feet and weigh on average 150 pounds. Females are somewhat shorter and lighter. A malgrandegulo’s arms reach to just past his knees, and they are usually well-muscled with powerful shoulders. Malgrandegulos tend to have short, bowed legs that cause them to move with a rolling gait. This race tends to be hirsute; facial hair is ubiquitous among males and common among females. Earth tones dominate malgrandegulo eye and hair color, but many malgrandegulos watch their hair go gray to white by middle-age. Skin color ranges from ruddy to bronze.

Psychology: The malgrandegulos share strong common psychological traits that often make them difficult to tolerate. Status among malgrandegulos is almost universally measured by the successful accumulation of wealth and by demonstrated martial prowess. While it might seem as if these traits would lead to widespread double-dealing and violence, the malgrandegulos have learned to hide their true intentions behind facades of bland, patient gentility. A malgrandegulos seldom says what he means. Instead, he remains vague, noncommital. At the same time, he takes stock of what he sees and hears, making careful mental notes about the possible true intentions of others. These elaborate charades of respect and civility between malgrandegulo individuals and groups can go on for months, even years. Then, when the time judged right, the machinations are revealed, and to the victors go the spoils.

While malgrandegulos plot revenge for offenses real or imagined, outright blood feuds are rare. Since status is gained by financial and military success against rivals, malgrandegulo social norms strongly reinforce a stoic attitude about defeat. When one is bested, the sensible thing to do is acknowledge the winner’s superior cunning and strength. Of course, any self-respecting malgrandegulo will also plot ways to get even…eventually.

Flavor: A malgrandegulo is an honorable schemer, and many who manage to leave Elanor for the wider sector find themselves in diplomatic service or public relations. Everyone knows that a malgrandegulo can’t be trusted farther than he can be thrown in normal gravity. At the same time, malgrandegulos tend to excel at saying no more than what needs to be said, if that much.

A malgrandegulo’s love of wealth and martial prowess may also lead him into more aggressive occupations. Companies of malgrandegulo mercenaries tend to be both well payed and feared, and quite a few wealthy people employ malgrandegulo bodyguards. Some companies, especially those involved in the mining industry, recruit and employ malgrandegulos as both workers and security personnel.

Racial Traits: Malgrandegulos move up 45 feet per round (rather than 60 feet). Although slow, a malgrandegulo is built for portage. He can have up to four additional items can be carried ready or eight additional ones stowed at the cost of becoming Lightly Encumbered, and having his base movement slowed from 45 feet per round to 30 feet per round. A further two items can be carried ready or four stowed at the cost of becoming Heavily Encumbered, with base movement then reduced to 15 feet per round.

Malgrandegulos are good at spotting traps, unsafe cave formations, slanting passages, and new construction while underground. Malgrandegulos gain a +1 bonus to Perception skill checks to detect such things. Malgrandegulos use neither magic nor psionics. They are, however, resistant to magic and psionics, gaining a +4 bonus to saves against such effects.

A malgrandegulo’s natural vision is equivalent to low-light goggles. Consequently, malgrandegulos have difficulty with normal levels of illumination. Without protective lenses in such conditions, malgrandegulos suffer a -1 penalty to sight-based Perception skill checks and a -2 penalty to saves against attacks that blind or disorient via bright light.

A malgrandegulo character must have at least a 13 Strength and 13 Constitution, and he cannot have higher than a 14 Charisma. They cannot be wizards or psychics.

* Most koboldo newborns are destroyed at birth, but a substantial number of malgrandegulos have refused to cooperate with imperial racial sanitation codes. As a result, many of Elanor’s deeper subterranean places are infested by koboldos.

Tags: planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

If you’ve not see it, you need to. It looks awesome. “What the deuce are you talking about, Mark?” you ask. I’m talking about Sine Nomine Publishing’s under-development Spears of the Dawn, “an old-school RPG that provides an African-flavored take on traditional fantasy adventure gaming.” I’ve long enjoyed what little African history and myths I’ve studied over the years, which is often very different than the more familiar (to me, at least) history and myths of the West. If you want a fantasy setting that truly is different than what you and your players are likely used to, why not go for a brand new set of cultural assumptions?

As I mentioned in my previous post (see below), work on Tiamat’s Throne has slowed down a bit. I hope to remedy that next week when I’m off for Thanksgiving. (Huzzah! to my pilgrim forefathers.) Until then, here’s another beast for my Stars Without Number-inspired setting that mixes fantasy elements with the sci-fi.

Magovore Invader
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 3
Attack Bonus: +6
Damage: 1d10 plus special
No. Appearing: 1
Saving Throw: 14+ (+4 versus magic)
Movement: 30 ft. flying (see below)
Morale: 7

A magovore invader resembles a dense gray, leathery lump of tissue and muscle roughly three or four feet in diameter. It undulates via flight through the vacuum of space as easily as it moves through an atmosphere. Its serrated beak is surrounded by a ring of fleshy growths that detect heat, electrical activity, and magical dweomers. (Otherwise, a magovore invader is blind and deaf, and has no olfactory senses.)

Magovore invaders, as their name implies, feed on eldritch energy, which they tear from magic-using creatures (such as wizards) by biting. A magic-using creature bit by a magovore invader loses mana points equal to half the damage inflicted by the bite (round up). (Mana points lost in this manner are recovered normally.) Also, the magovore invader gains bonus hit points equal to the number of mana points consumed.

This creature is particularly resistant to magic, enjoying a +4 bonus on saving throws against magical effects. If a magovore invader makes its saving throw against a magical effect, the beast is completely unaffected by the magic (even if there would normally be a reduced effect with a successful save, such as against a fireball). Even worse, the successful saving throw against a magical effect also grants the magovore invader bonus hit points equal to the level of the spell it saved against.

When bonus hit points gained by biting magic-using creatures and/or making saving throws against spells equal the magovore invader’s original hit point total, the creature immediately reproduces by asexual fission, and the new creature reaches its full size three rounds (gaining one Hit Die per round).

Magovore invaders are completely immune to the hazards of outer space, such as the vacuum, cosmic radiation, et cetera. Extreme conditions, such as flying too close to a star, still prove disastrous to a magovore invader. A magovore invader can fly through outer space as if it were a drive-1 rated starship. These creatures always succeed at Navigation checks.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

In a comment to this post, krys remarked, “Only 4 dragons eh? I was hoping there’d be more with different factions, orders (both secret and open) and sects of followers. I like what I’ve heard though.”

I felt this comment deserved some clarification. Yes, Tiamat’s Throne as a campaign setting has its astropolitics dominated by four dragons, but Tiamat and her dukes are more like plot devices than monsters. Each one is roughly equivalent to a planet-smashing interstellar battleship.

The presence of Tiamat and her dukes does not preclude the existence of lesser dragons more suitable for use as challenges for the PCs. I envision these dragons working more or less the way such monsters did in Old School RPGs. Sure, they’re apex predators, but a sufficiently experienced and well-prepared gang of adventurers could take one on and win.

When it comes to factions, which is a topic I’ve barely addressed in blogposts, rest assured that there will be a major faction dedicated to the worship of Tiamat and her dukes. I’m thinking of this faction being a cross between the Templars and the Gestapo. Splinter dragon cults are also likely. What’s more, since I want Tiamat’s Throne to be a science-fantasy space opera sandbox, customization from individual GMs is not only to be expected but encouraged. The sector is a huge place with 18 known, inhabited worlds. There’s easily room for any number of additional factions, orders, et cetera.

Work on Tiamat’s Throne has slowed down a bit lately, due in part to one of my seasonal funks, but I can feel the itch the write more building up in my brain and fingers. My self-imposed playtest release date of February 2013 is still in effect. I’m also considering going Kickstarter, but I don’t want to do that until I have the playtest document(s) ready for release.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

Another one from the xenobestiary for Tiamat’s Throne, my Stars Without Number-inspired setting that mixes fantasy elements with the sci-fi.

Bellatrixian Plague Fungus
Armor Class: 10
Hit Dice: 1/2
Attack Bonus: NA
Damage: special
No. Appearing: 3d4 troops per victim
Saving Throw: 15+ (see below)
Movement: 5 ft.
Morale: NA

Bellatrix was founded as a gengineering research outpost by the Meteor Alliance, a long-defunct corporation. The planet’s minimal biosphere was believed to be an ideal location for genetic manipulation of microorganisms, including the wide variety of alien microbial life that still manages to thrive in the planet’s waterless, inhospitable conditions. Today, Highbeam Multistellar runs Bellatrix’s corporatist government, and the gengineering research continues.

One of the more horrible results finding its way from HM’s gengineering labs to the Imperial Navy is the Bellatrixian plague fungus. Weaponized spores secure within shielded missiles can be deployed from orbit with near-perfect precision. These missiles disintegrate above the target areas, dispersing the weaponized spores into the atmosphere. The spores then drift and gradually settle due to atmospheric currents and gravity.

Plague fungus spores quickly germinate in any organic medium, and the fungal mycelium spreads through tissues for 1d4 minutes after exposure (a Physical Effect, Evasion, or Luck save made with a -4 penalty avoids spore infestation). Affected living targets suffer 1d4 points of damage every five rounds as the fungal mycelium invades tissues. The spreading fungal mycelium manifests itself in physical symptoms that include pain, nausea, and a growing network of dull pink “threads” visible in the dermis.

After the fungal mycelium stage, the transition to mushroom primordia and then to growing mushrooms occurs within another 1d4 minutes. This process rapidly destroys tissues, inflicting 1d4 points of damage per round (no saving throw). A single victim (almost certainly dead by the end of the plague fungus’s initial life cycle) typically sprouts 3d4 troops of mushrooms. These mushrooms reach full maturity in another 1d4 minutes, at which time each troop swells and bursts, releasing a cloud of spores in a radius equal to 5 feet per troop.

At this time, the plague fungus’s life cycle starts over again at the fungal mycelium stage.

There is little that can be done to save an infected target. A Tech (Medical) check made with an appropriate array of anti-fungal medicines can stop the plague fungus’s life cycle. Doing so, however, is not easy (difficulty number 10). Biopsionic powers may also be helpful, but halting the fungus’s life cycle requires purge toxin. Psychic succor can heal damage, certainly, but this doesn’t stop the fungus’s life cycle, and biostasis is completely useless.

Tags: monsters, planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne