History could have been many many things if only small details were edited and thus you can dictate it many ways, op your idea sounds pretty awesome.

Magic has two major divisions, these being Europeans magic and Primal magic. Primal is an ancient form of spell work dating back to the originals inhabitants that lived along the wall. Prolonged generations of being near it have caused strange metal changes in the habitants, some were born experiences visions of the other side and gaining knowledge beyond them. Primal magic is triggered by consuming Other flesh and channeling its strength into spell work. It is mostly in forms of shamanism, allowing future sight and control over other sentient minds. other pathways allow for druidism and eventual taming of the beasts themselves.

These originate from two cultures. One the native americans and canadians along the wall, and from african american voodoo brought over by the slave trade.

On the other hand European magic has only be existence in forty years. It was discovered shortly after the great Chicago Vertical Expansion in which a set of strange discs were discovered sealed inside a room a few hundred feet into the wall. These discs were covered in symbols, and were sent to Harvard for study. During an accent the discs were exposed to Other flesh, and the two reacted. From there it was determined that inscribing these markings and combining them in a ritualistic manner with Other flesh creates powerful runes and summonings.

In essence the division is organic vs inorganic. European magic if very science like, with study and structure. Primal is spiritual, consisting of old traditions and naturalism.

Another thing for the system. It will consist of skills, traits, and attributes one can increase by buying it with experience. These come from a list of skills I have compiled already and traits I will be creating. For any one skill there is four levels, when untrained someone will roll 2d6 to try and make a skill check, and for every level in the skill (with other circumstances such as traits or other bonuses) allows for an additional d6 up to a maximum of 6d6 (if anyone wants to see the skills and get explanations I would be happy to post them). Once you buy enough skills and traits you will qualify for different titles, these will provide additional plusses to skill checks in skills pertaining to them (for a full list I can post them). A person may gain as many titles as they qualify for, but as the skills diversities someone will most likely not be able to get many high level ones.

As for combat it is all conceptual, there will be weapons (the technology despite the year being 1862 closer to that of 1890, just as the internal combustion engine is reaching the market). with profiled consisting of ranges and what not. Once you roll to hit a various weapon you then would roll for how much damage you do. It will be working on a hit point system, but having multiple levels. The less hit points one has the more penalties they gain.

Another thing I must emphasize, despite having magic at their disposal an individual is never more than human. You can not simple "cast fireball" magic is where you meditate in a room for several hours to produce a rune. Your limitations are that of men, and it should be treated as such, despite fighting multiple story tall eldritch horror from a mysterious land.

>>22303535
So that plays can deal with this giant monsters I have a created a system to ease between small scale and large scale combat. This will allow players to command NPC and direct them to shoot, charge, or do different things. This walls into two of the combat skills and will be integral to the different title routes. Magic rituals will also help, there will be a lot of preparation required to deal with Others, as these beasts are giant and pretty damn terrifying.

>>22303309
Thank you. I'm just drumming up support for ideas. I want to get people excited for when I eventually finish and can provide you wall with a fun system to play with. I have already written like 9k or so works of fluff, and have been braining storming crunch for it.

This sounds like a rad idea and you sound like you're committed to making it, so fuck yeah you're awesome. I have two questions:

Where exactly is the position of the wall?

What's the conflict behind the American civil war? Similar to the real life version or different?

File: 1356907416609.png-(377 KB, 600x377, thewall.png)

>>22303651
I made a picture that shows where the wall is. This is mainly what it looks like, except I might make it a tad farther away from japan, and possibly extend up into the arctic circle. I want to so that from the pacific there is no way to get to the Americas save traveling through either the north of south poles.

The conflict is both about slavery and rights to mine inside the wall. The reason being that the Great Chicago Incursion (triggered by the vertical expansion... which mainly was people in Chicago digging into the wall and digging upwards to create a partially ground based partially vertical city) that destroyed most of the city and the surrounding country side. Because of this mining into the wall was completely banned.

The south wants to mine in search of technology, due to all european magic being based on a few discs found in the wall. They want the strength to help fight the Others beyond the wall and maybe get enough power to actually invade the interior (no one had ever come back alive, I am leaving what is inside the wall ambiguous and simply listing different possible things that could be inside for DM's to play around with if they want to).

When lincoln took office they thought he would life the ban, he didn't. So now the war is both over mining the wall and slavery.

Bump for hopeful helpful idea!

Also, once I am done and it is edited I plan on releasing it to /tg/ for free (of course), but also to maybe get a website together so that one could buy soft and hardcover copies of the core rules to keep around. of course I'll need to find a graphic designer to do the art if it comes around it that.

How often do Others attack beyond the wall? If its anymore than 'rare' it'd be asking a lot of colonists to go settle even near the thing. Then again its not like living in Europe at the time was the best either.

How thick is the wall? Does it extend to the ocean floor in the Pacific? Whats it made of?

Also the Civil War would be quite different, the South losing Texas, the Union losing California and most of the Midwest is gone. How would that impact it?

Also this must have huge religious connotations, how do various religions explain the wall, magic and Others?

File: 1356908712581.jpg-(13 KB, 250x317, 250px-William-Tecumseh-Sherman.jpg)

>>22304062
these are all well and good questions
but you're ignoring the most important question of all!

how does /tg/'s greatest hero fare? does he still burn down atlanta or does he cross through the wall and begin a whole different march to the sea?

>>22304142
He burns Atlanta down and then when an Other steals his favorite horse he begins a march that eventually pierces the wall and it becomes Sherman's First Invasion of the wall.

Whatever you do, just don't downplay the slavery. Every time somebody tackles the Civil War they sweep it under the rug because they want to present a more 'balanced' view.

Don't sweep those people under the rug. They were the victims of the most heinous and selfish crime in our nations history.

>>22304849
what about the eradication of the native americans?

not saying slavery wasn't awful but at least the slave owners tried to keep the black people they owned alive.

One of the things causing an escalation of tension between the north and south before the war was the expansion of slavery West into the territories.

With a giant wall, and consequently no western settling, there would be no expansion of slavery (or free states)

Status quo could be maintained between the states, which would probably be much more keen on sticking together what with the giant monster wall right there and all.

Since basically all the land the Spaniards actually historically colonized is beyond a wall... what did they colonize instead? And why did they not go for North America?

In short, why does the USA not speak Spanish?

>>22305595

Or French.

In this universe, Spain and Portugal are united somehow, so they'd have Brazil to colonize together. It'd be very hard for the UK to get anything going in NA with a combined Spanish/Portuguese fleet (considering Portugal was somewhat cooperative with the UK for a time)

>>22305727
Well Spain and Portugal began colonizing a century ahead of the French and the English. The French, fearing depopulation, limited emigration to her colonies quite harshly. Spain and Portugal really were unified historically, though only for sixty years.

The lack of the Potosí mines would change world history rather radically too. Lack of massive influx of silver would mean Europe did not experience much inflation, but they would also steal less of the Eastern trade. China, which depended on the Spanish silver to upkeep their silver standard, would not be able to meet internal demand for coinage and the Ming would probably have fallen even harder than they did.

And so on. A butterfly the size of the Pacific flapping its wings rather radically changes history.

>>22304062
It used to be extremely rare, a creature coming over every month of so. However as time went on and people began messing with the wall (mining and developing it) caused them to become a lot more volatile. In the current age a creature or two coming over is a daily occurrence and large scale attacks occur on a monthly basis.

The wall is about half a mile thick, and in the Pacific it extends all the way down to the ocean floor. It is made by a grey stone, I'm not quite sure exactly what to make it out of yet.

With the loss of enormous tracks of land on both sides of the civil was I am unsure of how to structure it. I will be doing research into the conflict on both sides in an attempt to make it realistic as possible.

There are, several religious cults have sprouted up. Including two separate competing ones that believe beyond the wall is Eden. One organization believes it is lost eden, and the Others are humans who refused the apple (evidence being strangely human features some Others have). Another thinks it is a new Eden god created to remake the planet. Other religious groups have more ideas, this will all in the "Beyond the Wall" section. No one knows for sure, as no one has made it back alive, but I will put the different possibilities.

>>22305324
The Native American, due to shamans that can control some of the lesser Others, actually faired much better. There is an independent Native American nation which I am planning on creating for it.

Also as for the whole slavery thing, of course I will not downplay it. Slavery was a terrible thing, I'm not going to add any connotations onto it, but it will not simply be swept under the rug and not discussed. African American voodoo actually makes up a large portion of what the primal magic system is.

>>22305475
That's why I added the rights to mine the wall as a large part of what fuels the desire for war. Slavery will be a big deal, but ultimately the Wall will be a bigger one.

>>22305903
Yeah, I have considered the ides that Spain did not experience rapid deflation. That is one of the factors contracting to a unified Spain-Portual. Instead Other flesh is a huge lucrative market after European magic was invented. The Spanish colonies in North American were already sold to the United States due to them being a deficit of funds. However Spain regretted this after the invention of European magic and the creation of the Other parts market. Now they are attempting to get a part of the market by invading Brazil and claiming their own section of the wall for harvesting.

(also sorry I had to go help a friend move, so I was busy)

Don't know how much I like or dislike the idea (need details), but I think OP has keyed onto the perfect historical period for making a balance between technology and magic.

Any earlier than this and wizards are raep machines. Any later and one soldier will gun down a hundred of them with his machinegun.

Good show OP

>>22306134
Thank you sir! I am still in the fluff writing process, but when the time comes I will post it on here to face the harsh trials of review by my fellow fa/tg/uys. Everyone will be able to call me on my bullshit. As I said before I am not an economics or history major, so what I might think are reasonable leaps in historical logic could be entirely insane. So, that is part of the reason I am so bent on getting all your inputs.

In addition, another cool thing is the series of trains going all along the wall. it heads through the arctic circle and down into the pacific. This is basically a silk road connecting the United States to asia. That idea is still in its infancy, but I think it would add a cool dynamic. I realize it will only make creating fluff and determining its implications harder, but.... best aim for the clouds. If I'm to fail, at least I should fail hugely.

>>22306096

How are there Native Americans if there is no Bering Straight Land Bridge? What's up with that?

>>22306253
That's a mystery! Maybe they're the ones who ate the apple in New Eden? Who knows!?

>>22306253

There still could've been, looking at the map OP posted.

They would've just had to skirt around the wall, and not gone to SA through the western US

This idea is terribad.

In the system you are creating, how are successes determined? Is it a target number that you have to beat or something else?

>>22306096

What could possibly cause such a large deficit that the Spanish would be willing to sell huge tracts of populated and relatively loyal land?

>>22306253
There will be, I am stopping the wall just below where the land bridge would be, Instead of heading immediately downwards they basically skirted the edge of the wall for generations. This is what influenced them to gain their Primal magic, and made them familiar with the Others (I am giving all the others native american names).

The only problem I am having is where did the native Brazilians come from. They've been there for a while, and due to a massive crack in the wall (so they can actually walk inside if need be) they have intimate ties with it, to the point of worshipping some of the Greater Others and giving them human sacrifices. The power allotted to them by the wall is what allowed them to build and maintain such a large empire in South America.
>>22306282
Unfortunately no, I realize them not existed would be too far into bullshit zone.

>>22303799
What Pacific?

>>22306338

They could have just sailed there, like aborigines to Australia. It's not too hard, the Caribbean is nice

>>22306324
The worsening of the Other incursions is what I was planning. The south always had a much worse problem with them (reason why the south desires to try and understand and fight it rather than simply ignore it, the north doesn't really understand as fully as the North was mostly untouched until the Great Chicago Incursion).

Success is determined by a difficulty assigned to separate tasks by the DM. That is for skill checks, for combat it will be contested against a relevant skill the enemy has.

>>22306312
What about it is bad, I rather like the whole thing. Seems rather unique, haven't found any RPG's set in fantastic civil war.

>>22306209
>train

Make that gigantic armoured battle trains that rain explosive death onto any creatures they see as they make their rounds.

Government inspectors on board observe the carnage and award a bounty based on an estimate of killed creatures

>>22306096
>The Spanish colonies in North American were already sold to the United States due to them being a deficit of funds

That kind of works, with some modification. Sort of an alternate Lousiana Purchase.

These things are needed for that to work, though:
A war, where the Iberian Union is in definite naval inferiority, and thus unable to protect their colonies. Wars have the happy side-effect of producing economic crises, and thus would expedite a sale.
Low emigration from the Iberians to their colonies. Also luckily, that was a policy several colonizers really did pursue. Maybe the early colonizers brought back pestilence from the Wall, meaning centuries of low population growth until the Europeans developed resistance? It certainly helps that the Americas would be creepy as fuck with those monsters and that wall - you wouldn't get nearly as many volunteers seeking a land of opportunity.
That most of the South was a Spanish colony, not just Florida. I just can't see the Spanish discovering the Americas and not colonizing whatever they could. Even without Potosí and the rich Mesoamerican and Andean lands, the continent would be an immense treasure for the Spanish. Wealth was land. Even if that land was next to a demon-spawning hellwall. For the South to be in any way American as such, the sale would probably have had to be quite a while ago. Perhaps it was outright conquest? The American Revolution part of a much larger war, with, say, France and the Colonies against Britain and Iberia?
An independent or American Caribbean, by and large. If Spain-Portugal sold its North American land to avoid it being captured by a n enemy in war they wouldn't keep their Caribbean holdings.

Just my few cents.

>>22306338

How did African slaves, who could not have been in the Americas any longer than the Europeans, have gained primal magic? Most of them would probably have been there less, the slave trade started in earnest in the 17th century.

>>22306380

That makes sense for the Northern American colonies, which the US would have reason to buy, but why Brazil? The place would have been Spanish for a very long time and a continent away. There would be huge cultural and political gaps, plus they would have to want to buy the place when it keeps getting worse. Why would they want hellhole jungle (from their perspective).

>>22306402
There are weird west games you could play, and the Wild West (can be) the same time frame as the Civil War, or it's aftermath.

Wouldn't take much stretching to make those civil war related, without a giant monster wall sloppily changing everything in world history.

>>22306404
Funny you should mention that! That is how they deal with others that come in between forts. These trains are armored and several cars contain artillery platforms. Thousands of watch towers with telegraphs dot the wall, when they see something they message a for and send out trains. The trains will take pot shots at the Other as they make their way across the Wall or attack the tower. If the train system breaks down, because there is no way to grow food on the wall, forts along the pacific go into total starvation mode. This causes people to either commit suicide by jumping off the wall, or resorting to eating Others. Eating Others as I said causes Primal magic surges. If it is uncontrolled they have horrible hallucinations, bouts of rage, mood swings, and many other things. A fort cut off from its food supply is a horrible place to be.

The government inspector idea is excellent! I already have Federal Agent as one of the title trees that one can go through.

>>22306456
Forts on top of the wall in the middle of the pacific ocean?

why?

>>22306419

This especially works if tobacco was never discovered or became widespread. Short hair cotton took the cotton gin to make profitable and, other than those two, the North American south wouldn't have had many cash crops available that couldn't have been grown easily further south. If it really is the worst part of the wall then the Spanish would have been totally right in ignoring for other areas.

What's Australia doing, from the map they have part of the wall near them?

>>22306428
The whole african americans having a branch of Primal Magic is still tentative. I was planning on making Voodoo be another route to take magic, but I am struggling to come up with things they will be able to do that does not put them the same as Native American shamans. I am considering just scrapping the entire Witch Doctor thing in favor of Native American shamans.

As for the Spanish I am not sure yet. Mostly the plan I had was give the Brazilians something that the Spanish wanted. They demonstrated powers far beyond what they should have, and strange riches supposedly taken from beyond the wall. I am considering what exactly I should allot the Brazilians to make them a good target (maybe a fountain of youth... I'm still not sure)

>>22306545

Yea, I think you should just scrap the Voodoo magic. It can be done well and may be there is a free state where former slaves and Native Americans have intermixed that could have some of the flavor, but it really doesn't work with what you've come up with.

As for the Brazilians, what are you trying to make the good targets for? Did I just miss something?

>>22306489
There are only 2-3, and they are refueling stations for trains heading to the asian side of the wall. A larger fort is set up there, basically a silk road kind of deal.

>>22306419
>>22306532
This is perfect, I could kiss you anon.

As for australia, the Other incursions have always been extremely bad there, as the climate was much more viable for them there, and the wall was much more degraded. Being sent there on a british prison ship to the penal colonies was much more of a death sentence than it was originally.

That is what I am planning at the moment anyway! If this sounds insane then feel free to suggest something else, as I said I am unsure of it (I might pull it away from Australia all together actually).

>>22306450
Well, I am always looking to improve! Do you have any ideas on how to change this up so that it will be better? I am still going through with it, and I want to cater to as many as possible.

>>22306617
So Australia is....even more of a death continent? God help us all...

>>22306594
There needs to be a reason the Spanish are so interested in Brazil, enough that they would sell their American colonies to the states in factor of instead funding further invasions into the interior of Brazil to try and pierce their empire. At the moment I believe I am going to make the Brazilians have access to the other side of the wall, and be seen with strange devices (like the few found in the US before mining the wall was banned) in their possession.

>>22306648

Okay, so there is a functioning Native American Empire in Brazil. I was under the impression that it was mostly colonized and then got independence, with the Spanish reinvading, hence the further south comment in >>22306532. How large is the Empire and is it concentrated in any particular area. Some river empire along the Amazon may work, especially since the Amazon's headwaters would now be in the Wall.

>>22306648
The better question is where does the United States fit into it at all given a united Iberia being a colonizing machine.

Is the United States now a former Spanish colony? What land did Iberia have to sell anyway? Just Florida? conceeding the rest to UK (USA/Canada)

>>22306699

I thought that the US would now first consist of English colonies from New England to the Upper South. Then they bought the deep south (which was never very colonized by the Spanish) and the two have been integrating for a while. In fact, that could cause further tension in the US as the south also sees itself as fighting against Northern Protestant aggression and has very different attitudes about race than the North. Maybe its just black people who are inferior and the "Civilized Tribes" like the Cherokee are part of the slaveowning aristocracy.

>>22306692
It's concentrated along both the amazon river and the wall. Basically it is a twin civilizations united under a single king. I am join got keep information about this place sparse, as the main focus will be on the unites states, and the information known about the interior of the empire is sparse at best.

>>22306699
I am not entirely sure good sir! Due to the french never experiencing a war (and napoleon being station on the french portion of the wall) I toyed with the idea of the French and Spanish getting into a large scale war, this war basically being a huge drain on both nations and allowing the neutral UK to have a larger chunk of the pie. Napoleon could have been recalled to help with the war effort against Spain before going back to the wall (I plan on Napoleon dying on a failed attempt to invade the interior of the wall, a huge invasion was wrecking chicago and he cowed to go inside and stop it. Neither him nor his soldiers returned, but shortly after he went inside most of the Others, including a Great Other, ravaging Chicago turned around and headed back into the interior. Napoleon was seventy by this time).

>>22306788
This is exactly what I was going for good sir. The civilized tribes have a small nation north of the united states against the wall. THey are land locked, but have tracks on territory in what would be Canada. Above that is the French controlled section, and I toyed with adding a few british forts above even that, but am considering scrapping the idea. (near the wall the climate is much warmer than it would normally be. Even the harsh Canadian cold turned into an almost temperate environment for a certain distance away, this is due to to a number of factors... chiefly among them magic tomfoolery)

>>22306796

All right, then you already have a solution. The spanish are invading because the Amazonian Empire has the safest source of wall bits. The Amazon is slowly eroding the wall and it is carrying important artifacts and minerals along, just like rivers pick up gold when the go by deposits. Because this is so gradual, it doesn't provoke wall creatures and thus there are thousands of years worth of goddies (or so the story goes). The invasion may also have started like the French invasion of Algeria in reality, to distract the public from an unpopular king. Or a combination of those things.

>>22306545
One way you could play it is to allow all cultures to have their own style of primal magic, which would have been fuelled by the occasional wandering other, but that in the west the church had opposed others and stamped most of that shit out. This would also help answer questions like >>22306699 and >>22306648: The pope would have been pretty upset by the discovery of a literal hellmouth, and would have called all faithful Catholics together for a crusade against the wall.

>>22306896
Basically, the wall is rich in both minerals and strange technology (the entirety of European Magic is based off of less than ten stone discs found in a sealed chamber within the wall... who knows what is waiting for those who can find more). Mining the wall and taking the artifacts could lead to great riches.

Also part of the reason wall creatures are not ravaging this empire is the far they appease them with sacrifices. Others have a penchant for human flesh, they will actively seek out settlements over wild creatures to consume. No one knows why this is and an enormous amount of research (the two main places where research on the wall is being done is Wall Street (haha get it) and Harvard) is going into finding out. It gives credence to the idea that maybe these are human, changed and twisted by the yeas. Edenists sea it as a good reason for people to follow their creed.

>>22307010
That is another idea I toyed with as for what to do. I am thinking of making the spanish occupation of Brazil to be a combination of Brazil will be due to part Riches, Catholics, and trying to get back into the beast part market since it was invented.

I will probably right up multiple versions to present to /tg/ to be voted on what should go into the final version... if I have time that is... this whole project is a tad ambitious. Creating an entire lore and fluff. I know I can do it, but it;ll probably take a good few months.

>>22306843

So if I'm reading you right, the French still own Canada? I made a map with the sections of the wall that countries control marked off. Blue is french, Purple is Northern Native American, Red is the US, Green is Britain, Yellow is Spain, Orange is Dutch[?] Brown is Russian[?]and Pink is Amazonian. Am I reading you right? Because this gives most European powers a share of the Wall

>>22307042
So the Others have some sort of society? It would have to be at least a strong local society of Others in order for the ones in control to be appeased and for the ones subordinate to them to not just go pillage and raid.

It would also have to be large enough to inhibit other Other-tribes from crossing the wall to kill off the humans paying them tribute.

File: 1356919198457.png-(398 KB, 600x377, the wall with sections.png)

>>22307132

Forgot my picture

>>22307132
Yes you are correct, except some of northern canada belongs to Britain, and Spanish forces are more concentrated along the coast.

>>22307146
No one has any idea, this is all to be left ambiguous. What is inside the wall and how the others are structured are a mystery. I will simply provide what they do and how the people have seen them, along with a set of possibilities of what could be inside the wall, but provide no favor for any of the choices.

As for others there are different types. Generally they are referred to as lesser, breasts, and greater. The lessors are the smaller variety, those that can be tamed by shaman. Beasts are enormous monstrous ones, normally leading small packs or minor invasions (a few dozen individuals). Greater are horrible beasts, only six confirmed citing exist. These are much more humanoid shaped, despite each being unique and more human sized. They can rip metal like it was paper, and move fast enough to dodge bullets. The only time one was killed was through an enormous amount of dynamite. Normally they simply weak habit, and go back to the other side. Strangest thing is while the other Others eat human flesh, Greater Others do not and simply kill and leave bodies.

So, does anyone think this might be a good idea? After I am finished writing and editing everything (haha, a faggot like me actually finishing this... that'd be the day) would it be worth it to create a kickstarter? I want to provide both hardcover and softcover editions. Along with maybe some maps and such for sale. To make it worthy of a hard cover edition I need illustrations and proper book lay out, and to do that I need a graphic designer.

(I'll still be giving out the free version of course.)

Do you guys think it might actually earn its money? Does the concept sound good enough, or should I simply produce the product and get it out there? (At the moment I am thinking no harm in trying, right?)

>>22307500
If its a quality product, no reason you couldn't.

>>22307500
Look into lulu.com

print on demand PDF for hard copies. I don't know how long stuff can be, but you can always split it up into different "core books" if need be.

>>22307581
>Oh god, having to deliver a quality product
>Panic sweats setting in

I will do my best /tg/!

>>22307679
We believe in you, Abyssfag. Because if you fail, then we can't piggyback off you and claim that /tg/ gets shit done. And that would make us all very sad.

>>22307758
Of course /tg/ gets shit done. I'm using you guys to harvest ideas aren't I? I'm just the one who puts them all together for a final product. You guys will be my bullshit callers and (hopefully) my play testers. I'd never be able to do this without you lot.

Good luck Abyssfag, your living out the dream of every fa/tg/uy out there.

>>22307995
My thy fingers be dusty and they pits be sweaty. From thread to thread, from day to day, you are what brings /tg/ into the future. We give you our blessing.

In the ancient tongue of OP; I shall bestow upon you their greatest blessing.

"I literally can not stop sucking your dick."

>>22303373
African shamanistic traditions are a core part of vodoo but that mystical tradition is also tightly linked with caribbean spiritual traditions and Catholicism. Does santeria also provide any measure of power?

>>22308129
>>22308211
While this is very nice and all (seriously thanks you guys. You're both awesome) I would like to kindly ask we get back on task. There is still a lot that needs discussing, namely what kinds of magical that each side can perform.

For europeans we have:
Summoning various objects and artifacts (these artifacts being of otherworldly power, but not directly combat related) and storage in basically a pocket dimension to be released upon command.

And Runecasting, inscribing various single words from the Chicago discs to various effects. Some increase the kinetic energy go bullets, some produce heat, cold, or electricity. Some can even bring intimate objects to life for a short time, basically golems.

On the primal side there have different things:
Telling the future, being able to both read someone's mind and control their body (animals and humans) for a short period of time. Temporarily (for a minute or so) bringing to dead back to life to question them (a physical seance), eventually taming lesser Others.

What other stuff for each side should I add? Remember that these should not be directly related to combat (I cast fireball) style, instead more like (I inscribe a fire rune onto some of my bullets the night before so when I shoot it catches the enemy on fire). Magic is a preparation and utility thing, not direct combat.

>>22308311
I am not sure, I am considering scraping the idea of african shamanism having an impact all together. Maybe a very minor role, but nothing to the point I was planning. It is too hard to make it different from Native American shamanism, and it would make sense for them to have extensive magic, as they had only been around the wall for a short period of time. It took the Native American thousands of years to develop Primal Magic.

>>22306253
>Bering Straight

You are referencing the Clovis People theory which--hey, we're pretty damn sure people did come over on the Bering Straight--evidence is going to show they weren't necessarily the first people in NA. There were as eat least one other population, on the West Coast, that came over. Fuck knows from where, but they predated Clovis peoples and their technology was different.

http://uonews.uoregon.edu/archive/news-release/2011/3/california-islands-give-evidence-early-seafaring

>>22308466
Unfortunately with the west coast not existing this isn't an option. The Bering Straight is still a viable option. Otherwise people would have had to one of the poles, and I don't think ancient humans could have survived all that cold. Maybe that could though...

>is not history expert
>is a confessed aspie faggot

>>22308593
It's all good. The point I was getting at: this shit's prehistory and, humans being humans, we have ways of getting around. Astoundingly, psychotically foolhardy ways!

>>22308465
There are lots of way to differentiate Native American and African shamanism from on another. Especially if you're thinking more about West African shamanism, a lot of which is cult of ancestor stuff (at least among the Yoruba, look into it (Vodun)). You could look at Voodoo from the aspect of it allows spirits to ride people--perhaps part of your voodoo could be it allows Others to reside in people and give them passive abilities in exchange for supplication/sacrifice/whatever.

>>22308419

Nothing is immediately jumping to mind as to what each side really "needs." What may be a better option is nailing down what each flavor of magic can do right now, and then filling in spaces as we come across them. Or do you feel that's getting ahead of ourselves.

>>22308807
Yeah, for each flavor is basically boils down to this.

Native American: Spiritual and Organic

European: Scientific and Inorganic

>>22308801
I know I can separate style wise, I meant more mechanically. I could not think of enough rituals and spells to make both functional while being distinctly different. I'll have to think my way through this (maybe eventually I can include them in a splat book along with more details of the Amazon empire and Australia. Dead lands and witch doctors. Woo!)

>>22308419
When you think about it, it kind of sounds like for the Europeans we have

1) Summoning
2) Enchanting

Then for the primal side we have:

1) Psychic powers

Maybe it would be simpler if magic was more like this:

1) Summoning something
2) Enchanting something
3) Enchanting yourself

As three distinct things.

>>22308807
Also, I think that would be best. I will put out a bunch of spells and rituals. Then during play testing some will be weeded out as overpowered while others will present themselves and needing to come into existence. This is my first time attempting to create a system. I'm just trying to do it all logically (I've written up some nice programs to record percentage chances of different number combinations when rolling different numbers of d6's).

Also rituals will be surrounding an overcast system. When one rolls past a threshold they cast the ritual successfully, and for every point over that the ritual gains extra powers and affects. When one fails (if they fail badly enough) instead they go to the poisoning table. For primal magic it consists of the Other body parts you ate poisoning the body of caster for strange affects (hallucinations, maybe even mutations). In european it would be much the same miscast table, just will slightly different flavors (since they simply use the parts instead of consume them).

>>22308898

I meant more as in statting out a spell or two, see how the process goes, and see what that process reveals.

For instance, we could start with the basic Foretelling spell that Shamans get, or the interdimensional summoning spell that Mages get. Once we have those two basics nailed down, that can give us a template for how later things could work.

>>22308898
Maybe as opposed to a scientific-inorganic/spiritual-organic dialectic it could be more readily explained as an external/internal dichotomy.

Really, it seems like the European magics is working hoodoo on other objects or people while the Native style has more inclusion on working hoodoo on yourself.

>>22308980
Adding to the Primal side we also have druidism and healing. Also as for enchanting oneself it would fall into the Primal side as well.

So here is what I am thinking:

European:
Enchanting something
Summoning something (inorganic)

Primal:
Psychic powers (up to and including seeing the future)
Enchanting Something (organic, includes plants, animals, and oneself)

>>22308419
>bring intimate objects to life
Yep, that checks out.

>>22309039
Well, ok. How about this then.

Rune of Impact
------------------------
Cast time: 3 hours
Material Cost: Standard, 100$.
Full Material List:
1 Pound Other Flesh
3 Ounce Powdered Beast Horn
1 Other Tallow Candle
Appropriate Ink Materials
Desired Inscribed Object.
Threshold: +15
Requirements: (I can work these out later, it would take too long to explain the skill system... unless you guys want to see the full list)

Description:
One of the first runes to be transcribed from the Chigaco Discs, the rune of impact was the most quickly taken up by the government due to its cheapness of production and utility. When a projectile inscribed with a rune of impact is fired its kinetic energy is multiplied by many times. A bullet is more akin to an artillery shell, and an artillery shall to something far more horrifying. A full strength rune has the ability to punch a hole in a steel wall, or rip a lesser Other in two. Will add an additional d6 of damage to light and medium ranged, and an additional 2d6 to artillery weaponry.

Produces:
12d6 Small Caliber Rounds (pistol and the like)
or
6d6 High Caliber Rounds (rifles and the like)
or
2d6 Artillery Shells (cannons and the like)

For each three points of overcast add a additional d6 worth of produced ammunition to any chosen category.

File: 1356925465993.jpg-(13 KB, 220x324, datslip.jpg)

>>22309221
>dat slip

I meant inanimate object.

>>22309313
Full list it up.

Also: can I get a more detailed cost break down of how much 1 lbs. Other flesh, 3 oz powdered beast horn and 1 Other tallow candle cost?

>>22309313

This is the sort of thing I was looking for. Didn't realize it was going to be that detailed, but that's cool, I'm not a fan of narrativist games anyway.

Do Shamanic Rituals still have the associated $ cost, or is it just based on the materials used in the ritual? And echoing >>22309384, I'd like to know the prices of the various materials too.

>>22309384
1 Pound Beast Flesh: 40$
3 Ounce Powdered Beast Horn: 6$ per ounce
1 Other Tallow Candle (meant to add its only 40% purity): 15$

I will come up with a full list of various parts for when the actual game is up.

Now for the full list of skills. This is probably not complete yet and is subject to change

Non Combat:

Occult Knowledge:
Wall Lore
The Others
Summoning
Runesmithing
Ritualism
Apothecary
Spiritualism
Psychokinesis
Druidism

Academic Knowledge:
Psychology
Linguistics
History
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Law

Athletics
Engineering
Technician
Barter
Persuade
Intimidate
Appraisal
Sleight of Hand
Security
Larceny
Bureaucracy
Language
Perception
Research
Observation
Medicine
Stealth
Gunsmith
Black Smith
Performance
Survival
Streetwise


Combat:
Improvised
Unarmed
Armed
Light Ranged
Heavy Ranged
Support Weaponry
Pilot: Vehicle
Pilot: Animal
Command
Direct
Explosive
Dodge

>>22309477
What's the different between Security and Larceny?

>>22309451
Shamnaistic Rituals will, as shaman characters will still require getting the parts. They merely consume flesh, eyes, and the like. Mostly they use different kinds of body bits than European magic, but both still need to buy it. (Huge butcheries exist in the Forts, dedicated to ripping apart and exporting all the Others they kill)

>>22309522
Security is like lock breaking, safe cracking, basically getting past security systems.

Larceny is more "white collar" crimes, like espionage and such.

>>22309477
What's the difference between "Perception" and "Observation"?

>>22309555
Perception is seeing things about people, reading their body language and what not.

Observation is seeing small details of a scene, like a bullet casing wedged between two floorboards or something.

This will be explained in the core rules.

>>22309477

While all this crunchy is cool, A-Man, is this too much of a divergence from what you started this thread for? I don't mean to pester you or anything, just trying to make things as clear as possible.

>>22309544
This is a good detail to have. The forts now actually facilitate trade, as opposed to just soaking up resources. Hammer this point home.

This also makes me think about the D&D setting where somebody nailed the Tarrasque to the ground and built a city around it. That may be a good place to look for inspiration, especially on the uses of Other materials and its interaction with things.

>>22309554
I'm not seeing a concrete division between Security and Larceny.

>>22309592

Security is more along the lines of Lockpicking / Disable Device, I think.

Larceny is Forgery / Cooking the Books / Bribery / Embezzeling. Am I about right, A-Man?

>>22309592
Larceny includes things like embezzling, forgery, money laundering, and that kind of thing. Security is merely bypassing security systems, tricking dog teams, lock picking, and safe busting.

If these are too similar I might condense them into a single thing.

>>22309641
I think your "Bureacracy" skill could cover Larceny.

>>22309618
Correct!

>>22309591
I'm not pestered, I love answering questions. The thread kinda took a turn, but that's fine. If you have any questions I'd love to answer them. I'm here to cater to my fellow fa/tg/uys. I'm doing this all for you after all!

I'll definitely look into that setting, it'll probably be chalk full of ideas.

So far most of the fluff I have written is a short story that will begin at the beginning of the book, and help introduce the reader to the setting. The larger chapters will be proceeded by a short story chalk full of "soft fluff" before the "hard fluff" then the "crunch". If anyone wants I could post a Other description from within it.

>>22309684
Thanks, I'll consider changing it.

>>22309710
>Other description

Yes, please.

>>22309743
Ok, so this is straight from my head onto paper and has received no editing. So I apologize if it's shit.

It is lifted out of a story of an unfortunate logistics agent being saved by a federal agent during a huge incursion.

“How many are there? I have no bleedin’ idea. The entire edge looks like one big mass of ‘em. This isn’t your average attack. At least a hundred just climbed over and I ‘ave no way of knowin’ how many more are behind ‘em.” Turning, while still clinging to the rungs of the ladder, Edwards looked to the edge. Even at this distance he could see what the spotter was speaking off, hundreds of the Others charged towards the iron walls of the fort. Though not within artillery range yet, a few of the larger one’s features were clearly visible. One in the back, as tall as the wall itself, had an enormous crest extending far into the air. Atop this bone fringe a plume of feathers spread outwards, violet and gold. The rest of its body contained no such beauty however,

Four limbs, elongated to the point of looking brittle, dragged its legless along the ground, with talons tearing chunks of stone the size of automobiles from the wall with each lurching pull. Its head, resembling that of an elk, but stripped of any extra ounce of flesh and devoid of any sensory features, opened a jaw that ran along its neck down to its stomach. An enormous maw beckoned, the distended belly quivering as a bellow shook forth. Edwards have been told that it sounded like whale song, but how gentle giants of the sea could be anything like this beast was beyond him. Stomach acid poured from the corners of its mouth, falling onto the smaller beasts beside him. The liquid bubbled and spat, sending a few of The Others falling to the ground where they thrashed in agony.

>>22309956
Someone else starred into the distance, on a viewing platform two stories below him Carter stood gazing at the enormous Other, hand resting on the butt of his pistol. A lot of good that would do you, thought Edwards as the first of the artillery began to open fire, sending a storm of iron towards the horde. A few of them fell, but far less than he would have liked. With the torrent of bodies still ascending over the edge they’d hit the wall soon, and this would turn into a lot larger battle than he would like. For a moment the thought ran through his head of simply runnings towards the elevators and going down into Chicago proper, they’d wouldn’t have heard the alert yet so leaving the city wouldn’t exactly be a problem. Below him citizens of the fort seemed to have gotten the same idea, all running for the station. If he went now it wouldn’t matter, pushing to the front would be practically impossible.

>>22309956

>dragged its legless along the ground

Legless what?

>>22309975

Jesus merciful Christ in heaven, we're all boned.

>>22310028
Torso, it's supposed to be legless torso.

>I accidentally a word

Also, that beast isn't the worst. Wait until the weird organic flesh balloons that float along. Thousands of bulging eyes covering every inch of exposed flesh except for several flaps that paddle it through the air. It is psychic and will rip a victim's mind apart before descending and opening its maw to devour them.

So.... how does it sound?

File: 1356927786027.pdf-(541 KB, PDF, carpe-deum-tales-of-talta(...).pdf)

>>22309710

Also, here's that Tarrasque setting.

>>22310085
I love you Anon, you spoil me so.

File: 1356928146263.jpg-(81 KB, 360x328, You Know.jpg)

>>22309710
>chalk full of ideas
>chalk full
>chalk

I think you mean "chock full".

File: 1356928251763.gif-(1.39 MB, 267x150, 1354560531660.gif)

>>22310080

So does the story take place on a fort on the side of the Wall near Chicago? Or out in the plains of Illinois between the Wall and Chicago itself? I just want to know if the beasts are coming across the ground or vertically down the wall towards them.

>>22310129
There's more in the rpg.net thread that spawned it, but it's 70 pages of various chatter that may or may not be of interest.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?261519-D-amp-Dish-The-city-built-around-the-tarrasque

>>22310176

Maybe A-Man eats chalk, you don't know his life, man.

>>22310176
>Oh god, accidentally a word again.
>Looking like a fool in front of my fellow fa/tg/uys
>Must restore my honor

After I finish this up I will honorably commit suicide, unless you guys also want me to produce my idea for unfortunate random contestants from across the stars being selected for an inter dimensional game show. Blorg's Super Happy Fun Fun Time™.

File: 1356928472609.png-(42 KB, 481x273, you dont know me man.png)

>>22310203
>that positioning

Holy crap I'm dying laughing, was that intentional?

>>22310203
This takes place in the Chicago fort, which is actually directly above the city. It's basically, Fort, giant elevator, vertical city (burrowed into the wall), and then the actual city.

They come mostly over the wall, but in particularly worn places they will traverse the countless cracks and crevices in the wall they will occasionally crawl through.

>>22310274

I meant it to be in relationship to the last statement, I didn't mean it to line up that perfectly.

>>22310229

One setting at a time, bro. Once I've kickstarted $45 to Abyssal USA for the premium hardback edition, then we'll see.

>>22310284

I'm having flashbacks to that one scene in the Lion King when the wildebeests charge down into the canyon, except the wildebeests replaces with H.R. Geiger's and HPL's fucked-up brainchildren.

>>22310332
I plan on the physical copy on coming in several different editions if it comes to that.

Soft Cover
Hard Cover
Super Fancy Mother Fucking Leather Bound... Cover

(again though I am getting ahead of myself... I should finish before thinking about this stuff. Also the Blorg thing would be my next project after Beneath the Shadow is completed)

>>22310385

Is Beneath the Shadow the name of the game, or something else entirely?

>>22310433
Beneath the Shadow is the tentative name for the project. I also considered:

Beneath the Wall
Days of Valor
Days of Glory
Beyond the Wall
The Others
An American Tale
Tears of Eden

>>22310451

Run with it.

Getting back on track, are there stats for one of the more basic Shamanistic spells? As a counterpoint to the Rune of Impact.

File: 1356929427918.jpg-(26 KB, 235x299, jekyll-hyde.jpg)

>exact scope of the world
>others idea

Here's a misc. idea for an adventure.

You know the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What if in your universe, that book eventually turns out to be a future documentary of something that happened in your world?

It starts like so. A PC in the player party receives a commission by Scotland Yard as a freelance investigator to get to the bottom of a string of brutal murders in London. Somehow along the lines the party receives a tip that Dr. Jekyll might have information regarding the murders.

Most of the standard adventuring will happen during the day, doing investigations, meeting NPC's, etc., wheras most of the combat will happen at night, such as random encounters with thugs/groups of robbers.

However the most important of random encounters during the night will be with Mr. Hyde himself, who the PC's could potentially encounter over several nights (fight for a bit, Hyde escapes). Possible discoveries of the connection between Hyde and Jekyll include:

-Following Hyde to Jekyll's home
-Connecting an item of Hyde's to Jekyll (shred of clothing, hat, cane, etc.)

It wouldn't be hard to tie it into the world of Beneath the Shadow: the big reveal could be something like Jekyll obtained a rare substance only found in a place behind The Wall in the Americas, and Mr. Hyde was a result of his experiments.

>>22310494
Bear's Strength
------------------------
Cast time: 2 hours
Material Cost: Standard, 89$.
Full Material List:
Half Pound Other Flesh Consumed Orally
5 Ounce Powdered Beast Tooth, Smoked
1 Other Tallow Candle (40% Purity)
Pipe
Body Paints
Threshold: +17
Requirements: Apothecary 1
Psychokenesis 2

Description:
The shaman taps into the hidden potential of muscles, forcing each to fire at full strength constantly. This makes the wielder's skin turn bright red from strain, and veins to rise along their skin. During the ritual the caster's muscles visibly swell under their skin. The ritual is begun before a battle, and let to almost complete save for a small portion of powdered tooth used as a catalyst. Before the user wishes to begin their blood lust they consume the last of the reagent, and enter a berserker trance. While the ritual is active the wielder gains 1d6 additional damage to Unarmed, Armed, and Improvise weapon attacks, in addition they may reroll one hit attempt per three rounds of combat. The berserker state and muscle growth last for four minutes, and once over inflicts 2d6 damage to the user.

Overcasting: For each three points of overcast the berserk trance lasts an additional two minutes without incurring any additional negative affects. If it lasts more than ten minutes increase the damage done to 3d6.

>>22310540

It'd have to be retooled to take place in the Americas; while OP is asking about the world mostly for world-building's sake, he does want to focus on how it affects the sliver of the US not behind the wall, methinks.

The idea works as it is, and would work just fine in other games with a body horror element (like one of mine, actually...), just needs a smidgen of reframing is all.

>>22310540
Ah yes, it could be that he is a European experimenting with Primal Magic, and a miscast went badly and mutated him into what he was.

I love the idea good sir.

>>22310668
Yes, I mainly want to focus on the United States and the areas that touch the wall. Other things (the brazil ion empire, african voodoo, europeans searching for the origins of the wall in India and China, they have legends of the wall there, could come in later splat books. Always leave yourself a route to further and idea if things go well)

>>22310665

>Cast time: 2 hours

Gorram. So it's real only practical use is in preparation for a raid, not as an "oh shit, let's magic ourselves up for this bad stuff that's about to happen to us" spell. The four minute duration also seems really limiting, as that means there's only so far out you can go and get in a fight and have it make a difference. If the rules allow it, also have it boost some sort of Strength score, so that it could maybe be used to move aside obstacles or other big things.

I dunno if this is straying too close to the "combat magic" that you're consciously trying to avoid, but maybe there could be a way for powerful shamans to prepare a ritual in advance, but then have it activate when they want instead of right away. That way, like European mages, they can do their dances and make their offerings the night before a fight, and then once battle is joined, suddenly shift the tide with their blessings from the Others.

>>22310761
Well, when someone cast it they can activate it via consuming the catalyst up to 24 hours after casting the spell. I did not mean for it to happen as soon as they cast it, instead it holds off triggering until the final bit is consumed (considering changing the catalyst to a vail of Other blood, or maybe an eye). Also, I agree however that it is not a quick draw spell. Maybe I should reduce the cast time to thirty minutes to make it for more immediate situations.

Also, how do you guys feel about the magic system being a non-direct combat style. I just feel if I push it too far towards direct combat it'll make guns and stuff seem useless, but if I make it too utility it'll go the other way around.

>>22310830

That is an important bit of information to have. In the Shamanic magic description, be sure to note either a general catalyst (such as the drinking of the blood, or some sort of short prayer / rite for psychic powers, maybe) for all spells, or a specific catalyst for each one. Very flavorful and will be useful for players too ("If I can just get to my vial of Other blood, I can activate my Bear's Strength and fight off this beast grappling me!") sorta thing.

If D&D has shown us much, it doesn't take too long of a cast time for a spell to be considered not-direct-combat action. Even 5-10 minutes might push it into the realm of preparation time, because that's time you don't have when the horrors of the Wall are bearing down on you.

Having the magic be not "I cast fireball" is definitely great. Can't speak for the rest of the anons, but I'm more than fine with it. As long as it's still reasonably useful in combat (for the obviously combat-related stuff, that is), then I'm cool. Allowing for the trigger is an example of allowing it to be reasonably useful.

>>22310954
Yeah, I forgot to put that in the description. The catalyst will vary. Sometimes it will be blood, or an eye, maybe a bit of congealed fat, or even bile. Basically just slightly more nonstandard bit. They'll consume them to trigger the spell and basically kickstart the reason. For Bear's Strength this would be a shaman drinking the blood and his muscles suddenly swelling to grotesque size, him foaming at the mouth, and skin developing red lesions.

>>22311039

Can a Shaman prepare rituals for non-shamans and have them go through the motions, then give them the catalyst and allow them to activate the spells on themselves? Or is such magic Self-only?

>>22311331
I plan on making rules for that. It has a much higher chance of miscasting when someone who is not trained it it attempts to catalyze the ritual (basically add a certain number to the threshold). Except when they do certain rituals (this will be outlined in the rules) that are meant to be cast on groups. These will have higher thresholds and thus be equivalent to the casting it on another.

Ultimately rituals are supposed to help the players, as I do not want a rune caster to give an entire army mass produced impact shells (I will create a rule for this), and I don't want shamans turning dozens of men into battle ready savages. The combat in this game should be desperate, requiring many men and causing dozens of casualties each time they attempt to take down an Other if they don't have the proper support (a fort, artillery, powerful Shaman or Magicians)

>>22311408

Does that apply to mooks, or to PCs as well? Will the players have some sort of fate point / benny / hero point / oshitfuckson currency that they can spend to save their asses, since they're PCs and all? Or is it assumed that you're going to die?

Slightly going in another direction, but now that I bring it up, I recommend looking at the rules for Unworthy Opponents from the One-Roll Engine (or ORE) in regards to using massed amounts of mooks, for both PC and NPC forces. They also outline how some PC-related skills can manipulate and work with friendly and unfriendly UOs.

>>22311517

On a further mechanical note, between the system you've outlined and your goals for magic, you should definitely look up the mechanics from 7th Sea. It uses a very similar rolling system and a lot of the Sorcery schools are relevant to your goals. Hell Laerdom is basically what you planned for Western Magic, only the runes are powered by Norse Gods.

Does anyone know where you can download the revised ruleset for that. I have the PDF and it says its from Chris Barter, but I can't find where I got it.

>>22311666

>>>/rs/7th&from=%2Ftg%2F , I guess.

>>22311666
I shall look into it good sir. Basically the only think I think is unique about my system is the fact attributes do not give you bonuses to rolls, and instead determine the skill your quality to train for and titles you are able to attain. Each will have requirements (titles also requiring skills as well as attributes). Also my complete shying away from any form of career, class, or anything that could limit what you could choose for your character. Basically I want the whole book to be available at any time if the character has sufficient experience, the only thing that would limit them is their own desire to specialize.

>>22311736

No, its not in there. Now that I think about it, I probably got it from somewhere in the FATAL & Friends thread on SA. They did a bunch of 7th Sea writeups at some point and I'm pretty sure I got the link from there. Ah well, I'm not coming through the that 400 page monster to find it. Shame, the revisions are mostly good.

>>22311861
I'll find it, do not worry.

How do you plan on making magic items, if you will have any? Since people can't actually make them, will they be gimmicky and worthless? Because I always love overly specific magic items, especially when they turn out to be useful.

Would anyone else like to discuss anything, or shall I close up for for the day? I thank all of you that helped me. Also I have archived the thread for later:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/22303270/

Vote on it if you wish. I would be grateful. Thanks all!

>>22312252
There will be occasionally artifacts coming from the other side of the wall, items mined from within the wall, summoned items (these are temporary and I will have a list of summonings), and if you count items imbued with runes then them as well.

However, the beyond and within the wall are extremely.... I mean EXTREMELY rare. The players getting their hands on one would change the course of the entire campaign, as the governments would be tracking them to get their hands on it, and Others would target them to retrieve their lost treasures.

>>22312325

Okay, so they are basically all of the "magic box which can blow up a town" level. That makes sense and is definitely feasible, plus it emphasizes how alien the wall is because people can barely use what it does. I still find items which do strange things that have been re purposed appealing, but I guess I'll have to do that myself.

Were wall items a commodity ever since its been discovered. Not a large market certainly, but as trinkets for people with too much money. If so, are they now much more valuable since people know what they are. I just keep imagining a whole session based around getting into some old mansion office so you can steal the paperweights that are actually magic.

>>22312494
The US government has a few of these items, one of which seems to do nothing but produce strange effigies that move slowly and attempt to build things from what ever is around. They break these and take vital components from within.

Basically they use the run off and parts of these strange magical machines from the other side for their own purposes. The players will not get a lot of this, but the government has a lot hidden in their vaults.

Strange items for the wall that actually did anything or contained any writing went to the government mostly. However wealthy individuals were able to snatch up a few of the items and a fair amount of the benign ones (strange jewelry made of unknown materials or some such. I will put this under the culture section),

>>22312625

So humans doesn't so much have magitech as cargo cult tech. They just plugging the runoff from mysterious machines into different mysterious machines and hoping good comes of this. That's fantastic and a wonderful plan with no flaws

>>22312625
This is me, forgot my name.
>>22312736
In essence yes, though there are only about a dozen such functioning devices currently in American custody. They have a lot more broken ones, and more ones that don't seem to have any function or purpose.

What they really want is more things with writing (to create more magic), but are too afraid to mine to search for them for fear of causing an incursion.

THe other governments each have a few.

>>22312845
I'm not sure I like the idea that there are any at all, but them being few in number is something I can deal with.