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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    OK! Let's burn up another world!
    World Burning Questions PDF

    What's the Big Picture? What's going on in this setting that makes it ripe for adventure?
    What's changing, evolving, declining?

    What's the world's culture? What are the cultural analogs? Analogs can be taken from
    historical earth, current events or fantasy works.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008 edited
     
    After a long and bloody war of succession that ended with both potential heirs dead, the Empire has collapsed under the weight of its own corruption. The city of (insert cool city name here) finds itself between the borders of two emerging nations, and the sole possessor of a new technology with the power to change the world: Iron.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    A friend pointed out some interesting info.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Hang on I needed to open this thread with power metal.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Posted By: Amnesiactechnology with the power to change the world: Iron.

    This is awesome.
    I am already imagining Egyptian-flavored Elves and Assyrian-flavored Men.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008 edited
     
    I think a military leader is rising up in the city. Instead of two nations fighting over this one city and its resources, a tactician on par with Alexander the Great is steadily carving out territory from the surrounding area, creating a powerful city-state.

    Also, do you want to run this game, Randy? I have no problem abdicating the GM seat :)
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Posted By: ShaunAlso, do you want to run this game, Randy? I have no problem abdicating the GM seat :)


    This sounds suspiciously like a request.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Posted By: AmnesiacThis sounds suspiciously like a request.
    Hey, I don't mind being a BW player and doing the hard work.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Who outside of the city actually knows about the iron? How many within the city actually know how its made? I'm thinking only a handful of people actually have the knowledge of -how- it is made.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    That's what I was thinking too - the iron smelting process is a very well-kept secret. If the city itself is being expansionist, then I'd say quite a few people know about the iron - and are probably afraid of it.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    How directly involved was this new leader (King? Warlord? General?) with the downfall of the Empire? How well liked is he (she?) by the people? Did she seize power with an iron fist, or did he win the hearts of the people with his silvered tongue (and a few well placed coins)?
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    The people were used to him. He was a general, then was granted governorship of the city before the empire collapsed. He's actually been in charge for quite a while, but was crafty enough to keep the soldiers stationed in the city loyal to him. When the empire fell, he was already in place to declare himself ruler. I don't think he was necessarily directly involved in the collapse, but I think he could see far enough ahead to know that it was inevitable. He had the resources to play both sides against each other until the collapse came.

    The people are more or less unfazed by what's going on - they're used to being ruled by a dictator. One tyrant's the same as another, and, thanks to the power of iron, the city is actually doing fairly well for itself.

    If we go with that, then the PC's should come from one of the towns about to be conquered - perhaps one that remained loyal to one of the dead heirs. In fact, maybe there's a rightful heir in hiding, perhaps sent away with servants before his or her father's stronghold was sacked.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Nah, I think the old Empire is good and dead.

    How homogenized was the culture in the Empire? I'm thinking they came in, conquered, installed a local governor, and then left well enough alone as long as the tribute kept coming. Enough structure for there to be a bastardized common trade language, but not so much that the whole thing could be considered a single culture.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Yeah, maybe the old empire allowed nations who surrendered peacfully to keep their culture at the price of their sovereignty. Nations who put up a fight got assimilated. So there's a mish-mash of cultures throughout.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I also like the idea of the Empire having had a polytheistic religion, and that the nations who were crushed were forced to adopt it.

    How involved are the gods? Do they even exist?
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I'd say so. It opens up an opportunity for Faithful characters. Also, if conquered people had indigenous faiths, we could bring in characters with Faith in Dead Gods, which is always fun. Also, the current tyrant could have alliances with one or more priesthoods, which gives him legitimacy in the eyes of the people, but marginalizes the priesthoods of other gods. Great fodder for politicking.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008 edited
     
    One of the PCs knows how to make iron.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    That would be easy if someone plays a Dwarf. Dwarves are master blacksmiths, which would give them access to skills that let them forge iron and steel. Maybe Dwarves are rare, distant, or closed off, and a small group of Dwarven smiths have been either enslaved or contracted to make steel weapons and armor for the dictator?
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    And, yeah. I'll run it.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Contracted is more Dwarfy. Greedy little shits.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Ooh, what if the contracted Dwarves are exiles, overcome by their own Greed. The rest of the Dwarves want them punished for revealing Dwarven secrets.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    What's the conflict in which the characters are involved? What are the sides? What's
    wrong?
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008 edited
     
    Well, everyone's a piece of shit in Burning Deadwood. I'd like to be a little more heroic. I think that we should definitely be antagonistic toward the dictator. Maybe we're conscripts in an army that just got routed, and we've managed to escape capture and enslavement. We've just seen our homes burned, our fields salted, and our women and children hauled off by steel-armed soldiers.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I should back off and let people get a word in edgewise. :)
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      CommentAuthorBabe
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Almost a good starting point. Much like the Browncoats, we're fighting for the true right, not the right that people are just going along with because it's easier. I know it's a little early for characters, but it fits nicely within the plot-I want to be a priestess to the old gods, in a church that the dictator would like to befriend for political gains. Whether the city everyone is from is the place, or soldiers against the dictator are taking refuge there, it adds some good bits. Maybe churches are still respected as sanctuary.

    Posted By: ShaunIf the city itself is being expansionist, then I'd say quite a few people know about the iron - and are probably afraid of it.


    Well, yeah-we have the means to come for them. Maybe the outlying cities are rising up together against the dictator, creating one big army instead of individual fractured ones.

    How would all this tie into the dwarves, though? If the dictator has the iron, and we're fighting against him...

    Although it would be good tasty bits if part of the conflict was that we were trying to infiltrate his iron works, threatening the very heart of his power. That gets both the heroics and fight against going.

    Posted By: ShaunThat would be easy if someone plays a Dwarf.


    They're the one who's helping us infiltrate.
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      CommentAuthorArcana
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Posted By: Randy
    Posted By: Amnesiactechnology with the power to change the world: Iron.
    This is awesome. I am already imagining Egyptian-flavored Elves and Assyrian-flavored Men.

    These comments brought to mind a fairly good, albeit Shojo*, Manga named Red River

    Its all about the whole fertle crescent region during the Assyrian times, the effect of iron on war during the bronze age, the rivalry and conflict with Egypt, and of course there is a modern day high school girl who was transported back to that time via magic (Inuyasha before Inuyasha was). You can Read it out here, it looks like most of the series is scanned and up, I stopped reading somewhere at 3/4ths through because the other books were never checked in at the library. It might not be your thing (not sure if you manga/anime is up your respective alleys) but it's a pretty good fiction set in that time period, of course I have no idea how accurate it actually is...

    *: Shojo is Manga for women, it focuses on interpersonal conflict, romance and intrigue rather than muscles that get bigger when you growl. In other words it is sorta like what Indie games are to D&D.
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      CommentAuthorBabe
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Posted By: ArcanaShojo is Manga for women, it focuses on interpersonal conflict, romance and intrigue rather than muscles that get bigger when you growl. In other words it is sorta like what Indie games are to D&D.

    That was just an awesome sentence.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Ooh, bitchin' source material! I'm starting the map now.
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      CommentAuthorBabe
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    So we've determined that dwarves are scarce. What about Orcs? Maybe the dictator keeps a contingent of them, to make examples out of the towns that put up a resistance. Elves? Potentially the ruling class?

    Entire Empire: Gradora
    Head City: Tringsly City
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008 edited
     
    I like Gradora. Tringsly sounds to Caucasian. The empire no longer exists, it has thusly lost its name. It collapsed into a heap of provinces, split by a narrow sea. The map shows the small slice of the world we'll be dealing with. That big gray splotch in the middle is the General's domain. The darker the gray, the more control she has. That darkest point in the middle is the city proper, Gradora.
    The green stretch to the south is the very tip of the Pharaon Elves' rivery territory.
    The yellow and orange areas to the west and east are what's left of the Mannish empire. The Hartenblut Provinces and the East Prefectures.

    Photobucket
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I dig it. A lot.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Awesome. So, what's the environment like? Are we looking at a lot of desert? Or is it more fertile than that? And are there any major cities in the region? I'm assuming that since the General had the governorship of Gradora before shit went down that it wasn't the capitol of the Empire. Also, what was the Empire's name?
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Mannish soldiers:


    General Sholeh herself:
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    The sea cuts a tropical swath through an otherwise arid desert.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    The Urdun Empire's capital city was Hesam. It was on the southern tip of the top island there (the one pinched by the new Mannish territories).
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      CommentAuthorBabe
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I want Mud Pots!

    Well, not exactly, but I have an awesome reason for them to be there.

    So the arid desert is great, but the very most northern point is volcanic. It adds a great element if you start describing the sky on days to set the tone. I mean, Mt Ari-petook is calm on some days, and on others it darkens the sky with it ashy cloud. It creates that nice air of forboding, as well as...well, fuck, everything is that weird red when ash fills the air. Every is a little more...jumpy when Ari-petook is spewing. Who knows when it will finally blow?
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Gradora
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      CommentAuthorBabe
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Oh fuck yes.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    What are the factions? We have Sholeh's Army and the Sholeh sympathizers. Who else is organizing? Someone from the Hartenblut Provinces? What do the Pharaon Elves want?
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I like the idea of arid, but not so dry that water rationing becomes an issue.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I think that water should be a very real issue in the desert, but as long as you're relatively close to civilization, it's not an issue. Hell, that could be a major reason for the Orcs to raid - food, tools, and water. But, yeah, it definitely shouldn't be a constant thing like it is in Dark Sun.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Most of the terrain on that map is tropical. It gets deserty farther out, so you guys won't have to worry about water rationing until you travel.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Oh yeah, what do the Orcs do?
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Orcs and Goblins (collectively known as Greenskins) don't really have an organized faction, but they're everywhere. They're second class citizens at best, slaves at worst. They were broken and scattered after they invaded and nearly destroyed the Empire five hundred years ago. They were forbidden from gathering in numbers or carrying weapons, and the name of their gods became anathema. Recently, Sholeh has declared that any Greenskin, free or slave, who desires can claim a place in her army if they choose. Those who join her are fanatically loyal.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    For context, Greenskins are like the barbarians that toppled the Roman empire, only they didn't quite pull it off. They did, however, set off a slow decline.
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      CommentAuthorShaun
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    It would be awesome if the Great and Black Orcs were seen as some sort of liberators of the Greenskins - even though they would just conscript and enslave them.
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      CommentAuthorBabe
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    I posted this before but here was my idea:
    (Concerning Orcs) Maybe the dictator keeps a contingent of them, to make examples out of the towns that put up a resistance. Elves? Potentially the ruling class?

    So I totally see that yes, Orcs are allowed to fight, but have their own special troop, separated from the others because hey, they're lower class.

    Elves are just kind of the elite of the city. They just ease from one ruler to the next, because they'll still be here when the ruler's gone. They are the upper echelon, and to be allowed to party with them means you've made it.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Shaun, did you want to play a dwarf? If you don't, I have an idea that would work for one of us to know how to forge iron. My character was a goblin slave in the forge that saw and understood more than they thought he would. You and Kristin caught wind of it somehow, and either captured him, or he came to you. Not sure of the specifics.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    Posted By: BabeElves are just kind of the elite of the city.


    The Elves have a shit-ton of fertile land. They've been the biggest food supplier in this part of the world for as longs as anyone can remember. A few agri-barons have big, sprawling estates in the city.
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      CommentAuthorAmnesiac
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2008
     
    And yeah, Kristin, I was building on your Orcish contingent idea.

    With Elves, what if they are required to legitimize a claim of sovereignty? Either for cultural, religious, or mystic reasons. So anybody aspiring to a throne wants them, but they have to keep them happy.