| From: | Max Rible <slothman@*********.ORG> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Epic Shadowrunners... (spoilers for Imago and Bottled Demon) |
| Date: | Fri, 21 Nov 1997 14:03:15 -0800 |
>Some metaphysics first. Magic works by the mage imposing his belief upon
>reality. This is the official SR line, so no problems yet.
Actually, the official SR line is that the way you *manipulate* magic is
governed by your beliefs. The symbols you choose to interact with it are
up to you, but the rules remain constant; this does not mean that reality
itself is negotiable, like in the World of Darkness.
The Shadowrun world is not terribly likely to arise from mass belief, IMO,
due to the number of weird things that *aren't* found in mass beliefs
that show up in the Shadowrun world. A number of beasts are legendary,
but many others are just unusual. Elves and Dwarfs and Trolls
are all legendary creatures, but the legends don't talk about them being
like us-- they're weird supernatural creatures that often don't even live
in this world, and it doesn't make a lot of sense that an Awakening resulting
from mass belief would result in that aspect of UGE. SR seems to have a
well-defined objective reality.
> The collective beliefs of humanity pretty
>much shape the world humanity lives in. This is official Earthdawn
>doctrine (belief in names and what not shapes what they can do. It is the
>Name-givers' belief in your legend that allows you to do the things you
>can).
Where in Earthdawn does it state this? I got the impression it was more
a law of magic than mass belief.
>Okay, so to break. The cycle of magic is an artificial cycle brought
>about by self-fulfilling prophecies.
This is an axiom you're choosing? (There's equal evidence for it being
a phenomenon related to the precession of the equinoxes.)
> Magic in
>Earthdawn eventually subsided because everyone collectively believed it
>would.
I thought most people in Earthdawn were desperately waiting for it to
go down further, but it's mysteriously staying at a higher level of flux
than expected.
>Anyway, to break away from the FASA line, reincarnation happens.
There's implication of reincarnation in the module "Imago" and the
Ways and Paths in "Tir na nOg".
>So we begin in Earthdawn with the players all being in an unopened Kaer
>(50 years post Throal-opening) and it is broached by a Horror. Most of
>inhabitants are gone, players are hiding in a deep sub-level in the
>farming areas. Okay, have fun. When they get out it will be just in time
>to sart realizing what is going on, find some places, (and with some
>creative time-lining) Thera invades.
Easy enough-- it's a kaer that was staying locked up because they're
waiting for the little ball of earth to fall down into the little puddle
of water... and then when it's breached, they find out that everyone else
is already outside in the fresh air.
>Shadowrun. I am not sure how to work this yet but it will tie into an
>Azzie/Enemy/Dragon thing. Oh, there are no d*&^ immortal elfs., so
>scratch any comments about HB or whatnot.
:-) Since none of my players are on the list, I can mention that I'm
planning to work the angle from the opposite direction: first I'm going
to have them discover that the reason all these people got together in a
shadowrunning team is a set of bonds they forged together in past lives,
demonstrated via the astral quest showing past lives in Imago. Then when I run
Bottled Demon, the motif for destroying the nasty object will be that the Great
Dragon they're supposed to seek out to destroy the thing pits their power
against the Horror(s) behind the macguffin, and the PC's are the ones that have
to tip the balance by going on an astral quest that will just happen to be
in an Earthdawn setting.
>Earthdawn-
>One huge conspiracy theory works like this. Thera orchestrated the Scourge
So the Horrors have to be deliberately summoned, and the Therans did it,
either through manipulating reality through mass media (your version) or
some method of getting a large population to participate unconsciously in
a major ritual (the one I'd use)... *Vicious!* I like it!
>Shadowrun-
>Aztechnology.
...
>Earthdawn-
>Okay, so players late in game set things in motion to remove this
>dependency on magic, this utter faith in magic from the general
>population (for you Mage players, can you say proto-technocracy) and
>thereby protect them from the evil designs of te Theran masterminds
That's awfully difficult to do via a mass-media approach that works on faith
in a world where telecommunications moves at the speed of a fast horse.
If you want to avoid the problems of a subjective reality, you might have
them discover whatever is keeping the current level of magic elevated
and stop it-- leading to lots of Theran behemoths sinking out of the sky,
as well as many of their floating buildings. It might even be a major
blood sacrifice ritual that summoned the Horrors (and was largely fuelled
by the Scourge) and has since been continued through low-level Horror
activity.
>Shadowrun-
>Someone knows what happened and says, wow that worked. Only this time we
>can do it right :)
>Okay, now the metaphysics that makes it interesting. All the SR people
>should be magically active because of magic involved. It also makes it
>easier to tie in their gradual growing understanding of their past life.
>This allows the classic fictional ploy of heroes come again in the time
>of need, with all the flashbacks and what not. Best part is, the
>descendents of the institutions set up by the characters previous
>incarnbations are the things allowing the new horror to begin...
If the characters have to build something major and long-lasting (as opposed
to just destroying it :-) ), that could take a very long time in a campaign,
even if you start at a relatively high power level. Take care to sketch out
the rough plotline for this, and make sure that you can arrange for the
characters to be motivated to follow it...
Good luck!
--
%% Max Rible %% slothman@*****.com %% http://www.amurgsval.org/~slothman/ %%
%% "Ham is good... Glowing *tattooed* ham is *bad*!" - the Tick %%
