NOTE: I'd like my next Multiverse Magazine to have a strong focus on the Simulationism of the GNS Theory, and how to improve it for alterante dimensions.
Also, one of my players has gone a long way toward creating an Easy Psi World Creator....Thanks, Oak. Psi worlds are something we generally considered hard, and needed. Mentat or Edward pointed out they weren't hard, and Oak made the beginnings of a worldmaker.
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The movie Seeker was based on The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. Its an almost rural small town England with lower technology than an American would be used to. I think this is partially because the series of books has been out for a while, and because much of Europe lags a few years behind America.
The hero might have been the prototype for Harry Potter in some respects, or perhaps 'the Weasely boy' might be a better example as his parents are good and kind, and he is the seventh son of a seventh son (cue ominous music.)
He is something altogether different, and more majestic. He is the last of the Old Ones. These are born of human, but they are immortal, and can travel through time at will.
They are part of a struggle between an undefined, but goodly power called The Light which is Alliance, and an evil power called The Dark. Religions such as Christianity may have some minor bit of power, and are respected by the Old Ones as a partial representation of the truth.
There are in the book at least two major sources of power which are neither good nor evil. One, the Candles of Winter when used by the Dark hold England in a new Ice Age. The other is the Wild Hunt which is unstoppable by any champion of the Dark or the Light.
Certain of the Roads are Oldways, and Old Ones have more power on them. They also have a fortress which might be out of time.
There is also a lot of posturing in the nature of "You DARE to stand against the power of the Old Ones on a road they made?"
There is also Signs, and our Chosen One is the Signfinder. He will be able to just naturally find the Signs.
Lets see, there is also a waxing and waning of power with the Black Rider growing in power day by day.
And certain exhibitions of power really take it out of a person. In Magic the Gathering terms, the Heroine is 'tapped'. When the Lady totally unveils her power, she has to retreat from the world for a while.
Now, this is a lot of magic actually. And I don't want to cover it all. Nor do I wish to do a straight translation as that would infringe on copyright. But as an example on how to transform a book to a world, and as a chance to create an interesting world, let's have a go.
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World: Earth, Rural England.
Time: 1955 Anno Domini. England is still staggering after the war, and under the greater weights of 1)Suffering far more than America did. 2)A confidence crisis from the steady loss of Empire. 3)Stupid socialism, a Green and Pleasant Land still continues to stagger. But for all that, its a very nice place.
Deities: The Lords of Light (Alliance) and the Six Beasts Who Sit in Shadow and Gnaw at the Roots of Heaven (Anarch obviously). More surprisingly the reigning deity is Neutral. He wishes the world to keep running, and is willing to allow Good and Evil to war, but with restrictions. He is generally not named, although some call him the King of the Wheeling Stars.
Bias: Tech 10@5 (thats a guess, but I want pre-computer). Body Earth normal. Psi--The Sight is possible, so clairvoyance and precognition but without control is possible. (Its unfortunate the precog is so high on the bias chart. Precog tends to be one of the earlier level powers in most stories.) Magic is 15@10.
With 15@10 Magic, you could do anything. But the reigning deity wants this war limited, and held in the background. So, I'm thinking a base -40 sitmod to the use of any magic. If you're really devout, and pray hard, you might heal someone. But in general, you have to be someone really special to work most magic.
There are a fairly large number of magic items of humongous power. This universe is magical at a higher, more obvious level than most. Summer comes because someone rotated the miniature chariot of Phaeton into the top position on the Year Clock.
There are several dozen of these magics, and most are hidden, and/or have formidable guardians. But sometimes the Chaos Lords find one and subvert the 'natural' order which tends to bring out the Paladins of the Light to stop them.
These Paladins belong to a very old order. Once you enter this order of white magicians, you receive a number of tokens. These include a belt which gives immortality, and cannot be taken off without your consent. Merlin is one of their number, as is Horatius at the Bridge and Musashii Muramoto.
While this order is very formidable, most of its resources are fully engaged. So, while it could summon several dozen of the world's greatest warrior magicians to defeat a foe, it would do so by unprotecting several dozen of the Great Treasures.
While most of the mighty icons of power were created directly by the King, there were some that were created by the Lords of Light and by the Paladins. The Six Beasts and their followers, the Chaos Lords do not create. At best, they make poor counterfeits of the real thing. At worst, they simply don't create, and steal from the Light their items.
When the verser arrives, he can be given a Quest to undo some plot of the Chaos Lords. Or he can be hunted by the Chaos Lords as a vital part of some dark magic ('...one eye of newt, one unwilling sacrifice of a worldtraveller, one cup of bat guano...') in which case he will probably be the Key.
The Entrance Quest can be to stop the misuse of the Horn of Poseidon. The Chaos Lords are using it to attack the North Sea Oil Wells, and to stop the flow of relief ships to a drought-stricken African country where a village of good people live in the midst of evil people. If the good village dies, then one of the prophesied Champions of Light will not be born, and Chaos will spread across that section of Africa with genocide in its wake.
The Key Quest is for the Dark to get a worldwalker, and use his extradimensional qualities to open an extradimensional prison of some vastly evil beast....say Leviathan. Once, the Chaos Lords have Leviathan, any Lord riding on it will find himself with....+50 sitmod to Do Magic, and a humongous, and very hungry sea dragon able to eat an oil tanker. In other words, Bad News.
The Neutral deity uses Elementals to do its will in the world. These beings are immensely powerful, and usually given specific instructions like ('Empower the Horn of Poseidon, and obey whoever holds it. But if the holder speaks your name but once, and not the three times you are told to listen for, then you may do as you wish for the space of one hour.')
Eric
