Elemental Themes

Created: December 26, 2006

Air
Autonomy, movement
Air Template—long distance

Earth
Stability, defense
Earth Template—object strength

Water
Words, magic, runes
Water Template—heightened on water

Fire
Courage, honor
Fire Template—more damage

Acid
Tactics, prudence, retreat
Acid Template—ignore hardness

Cold
Consequence, revenge
Cold Template—target slowed

Electricity
Danger, spontaneity
Electricity Template—target stunned

Sonic
Caution, speech
Sonic Template—target deafened

Negative energy
Introversion, hiding, emotion
Corrupted Template—Wisdom damage

Positive energy
Openness, extroversion, judgment
Blessed Template—beneficial long distance

Psionic
Psionic Template—no spell components

Change
Unraveling Template—dispel

Brainstorming

Created: December 26, 2006

• Capture rather than death
• Maps as handouts
• To do this: recon stage, plan missions beforehand
• They have a map (at least general layout) starting out
• Allows strategy planning, reduces tedium
• Home base
• Something else for players to do, during downtime
• Campaign blog – possibly an “in-character” thing
• Mission system?
• Themed character concepts
• Arcana Evolved rules
• Themed characters (echoing world themes)
• Epic—something big, world-shattering going on (maybe)
• Talking/investigation
• Primarily human enemies (more work)
• PCs are different; special
• That’s what makes it epic
• Character themes make them special—one of them is the Fire of the West, Soul of Courage (or whatever); they aren’t just “adventurers)
• Magic is common or uncommon? Either way could work
• Arcana Evolved setting?
• Dragons could be part of the theme/element system
• Less work
• Appearance of PCs makes them potential harbingers of doom
• Return of the dragons
• Dramojh
• When was the last time “they” (whatever they are) were around?
• Have the giants ever been involved?
• Were they all human last time?
• All other times?
• Restricted to this continent?
• Last time—they fought the dramojh? (Lost!)
• How connected are they to the dragons?
• Bring in “Superhero” themes
• That’s what adventurers are!
• (Secret identities? Ooh . . . like that idea)
• PCs are . . . the Justice League! With magic!
• Does this work with element theming?
• Replacement concept?
• Ditch themes in favor of “superheroes”?
• Use it to open up campaign?
• Cool costumes, cool names
• Ordinary/fantastic dichotomy? (Inherent in superhero genre)
• Secret identities might be . . . unfun
• Would they really want to be peasants sometimes?
• Maybe they’re (or one of them is) royalty
• Can’t be known they’re adventuring
• Make secret identity interesting in some other way
• Bring in Ye Olde Theme: What is people?
• Are robots people? (Okay . . . not really relevant)
• Are humans people?
• Some giants might not think so
• Some dragons might not think so
• Are mojh people?
• Rather—are all the core races people?
• Equally?
• Are “supers” people?
• Magic types are supers, maybe
• Akashics are very super-y, though
• None of the classes are really “normal”
• How do their abilities divide them from “normal people”?
• Are there normal people?
• Is there any group better than “normal”?
• Dragons
• Giants
• Humans
• Supers
• Note: don’t use term “supers” in game material
• How can I fit Supers together with the Epic concept?
• Do I want to?
• Is the Supers concept worth scrapping the Epic-ness for?
• Do I need to?
• “Saving the world”: Super and Epic (Super Epic!)
• Original Epic concept (character themes . . .) involved artifacts
• Not terribly super
• Makes it more about equipment
• Get their super-powers from equipment?
• Supers: tapping into the way the world works
• Going back: capture rather than death makes it more super-heroic
• Maybe just heroic . . .
• Other Super things:
• Colorful, dramatic bad guys
• Joker, Syndrome, etc.
• Personal conflicts with the players (characters)
• Distinct style
• Rules based? Gimmick?
• Costumes – this would actually be really cool
• “Batcave” – cool place to go between missions, during missions
• See above: home base
• Relationship with “legitimate authority”
• Side-kicks
• Competent NPCs who really aren’t in the same league as PCs
• Do useful things, speed up play
• “Take care of the hostages—I’ll go after General Doom!”
• Plot hooks “Oh noes! Captured!”
• Wildly varied character powers working together
• Fits perfectly with D&D assumptions
• Deathtraps
• Another good fit
• Very elaborate, wacky traps
• X Epic tasks
• Must be completed to “fulfill prophecy”
• Overthrow Empire (Skaraven)
• Gimmes—for rolls that failure isn’t interesting, auto success