Sixguns, Sorcery and Science Fiction

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Sixguns, Sorcery and Science Fiction

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Sixguns, Sorcery and Science Fiction

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Sci-Fi Fantasy RPG Forum with few storytelling limitations. This site has a self declared R rating for Language, Violence, Sexual Humor, Drug and Alcohol References, Violence, Big Breasted Women, and Violence. You have been warned.


    Basics of Backspace

    Kieyotie McDermott
    Kieyotie McDermott
    Admin


    Posts : 111
    Join date : 2012-03-08
    Age : 44

    Basics of Backspace Empty Basics of Backspace

    Post  Kieyotie McDermott Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:49 pm

    As described below magic in Backspace is similar, yet quite different than other realms. Many things are easier to create here and often have less penalties to use them…it’s Friggn’ MAGIC!

    There are no limits on items that can be worn, although the DM can have very strange things happen to the foolish wizard who walks up to a dragon wearing three rings on each finger expecting to be safe. Many properties may still not stack at DMs option.

    Magic here is very much up to DMs whim. In some lands ALL magical items are legacy-like and require costly rituals to unlock their powers. In others there are shops where you can go in and buy what you want if you have the coin.

    This is a very large world with many unknown lands where a DM can add his own little realm, ideas and house rules.

    Magic Item creation depends on the area it is created. Sometimes an item can be more easily created with more abilities, and others it is nearly impossible to make the smallest of trinkets function properly.
    The Feylanes (a version of leylines from Rifts) often affect this.
    However, in most cases magic item creation failure is rarely a complete loss. Cursed items are common from mistakes, but ultimate explosive failure often creates very unusual items for those willing to dig through the ruined laboratory to find a Ring of Muppet (Monster) Summoning or +3 Longbow vs. Rocks (Rocs). Often strange things happen to magic items when being recharged. Humorous magi and evil cultists have left a great many strange items that use wordplay to create entirely new effects for common looking items.
    These quirks often make using the new Ring Feather Fall you’ve just walked out of the shop with less fun when you are turned into an actual feather for the duration of your fall, able to be affected by the slightest breeze. Who knows where…and when you will land!

    Like anything else, familiarity breeds contempt, and then laziness. Items are easier to come across but may not be as well made- Your new +5 Dragon slayer melts with the first breath weapon attack, your Cloak of the Bat attracts Bats to you, etc.

    If you look around your home there are a great many items that would have been deemed “Magic” even a hundred years ago, much less in the dark ages. They are quite common now, and often have flaws in their making.

    These make “Name Brands” more reliable and valuable. Sure you can get potions from Gorlock the half-orc peddler who pushes his cart around the great city selling healing aids, but you might end up with the runs for a week, or a third eye for who knows how long.

    Also since magic is more common it can be addictive. You might always need bigger, better, and more powerful items, no matter what you have until your greed and hoarding rivals that of an elder red dragon. You could find that without your daily dose of a healing potion you start to lose health. Without your favorite Ring of Fireballs you are all but useless, and when it starts accepting fewer and fewer charges your character begins to panic, become much less useful when the Ring become nothing but a valuable piece of jewelry.

    “With great power comes great responsibility.” Heroes have grand items and usually the ability to gather more, but how they use them could incite the Wrath of the DM, and the DM controls the very Gods of his world! There are a great many ways for characters to lose items, especially for characters who tend to carry around an shop’s worth in their pouches. Quidnunc, thieves, and the like could simply take things.

    Just as things are often “found” in Backspace, things can just as easily be “lost”. How many times have you lost your own keys at home? How much easier to lose things when battling in a dungeon. It never hurts to ask to see a char sheet, make notes of items rarely used or annoying to you and then start plotting their removal from your game.
    “You did through your bag of holding several times but simply cannot find your +3 Mace vs Zombies,” look meaningfully at the closest woman who has recently had to dump her purse to find something, “Better hurry, those Zombies look hungry and are getting closer.”
    Or even, “You reach back for your Bag of Holding and find only cut strings. It looks like those Goblins hit you after all.” This might and should require some serious backtracking through dangerous areas only to discover fresh foot prints in the blood that quickly fade off down a side corridor now revealed by a secret door.
    Kieyotie McDermott
    Kieyotie McDermott
    Admin


    Posts : 111
    Join date : 2012-03-08
    Age : 44

    Basics of Backspace Empty Additional Backspace Notes

    Post  Kieyotie McDermott Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:28 am


    While there are many personal and familial feuds around the various nations and borders there are no great active wars between nations.

    There are still pirates, the Nightmare Lands, the swamplands, the wilds of the north, and areas in each nation that are “wild” and “unsettled” where adventure can be found. There are also places where the Underdark and its creatures come near the surface. Ancient ruins from many previous ages, some dating back to the time before the Coming of Dragons can still be found. A great many of these ruins are well known and patrolled against threats from below in Lonestar, but others have yet to be rediscovered even here, and in other nations they are quite abundant. In all lands humans, and other races, have gone into the wilds to found kingdoms of their own, taking their treasures. Some flourished for awhile and faded away, and others failed outright. Dragons and other grand creatures still lair in the wilds, occasionally coming shape-shifted into civilization where they are sometimes slain leaving behind treasure troves waiting to be found.

    While various situations are rarer than others, Backspace is a realm where anything is possible. There are natural gates to other lands, weak spots between dimensions, artifacts, relics, and legacies being found in attics and basements, and new magic being created every day. Just about anything is possible for those willing to leave home, strike out, and take up the mantle of Adventurer.

    As Backspace is a flooded world there a great many undersea ruins and possible adventures. In some areas there are ruins sticking up out of the seas, rivers and swamps.
    It is also said that in a previous age Atlantis rose not far north of the Karab’e Aen Islands (where hole in map is) and then sank away again in a later age after bringing new magics to the world and taking others from it.
    It is told that it was a place much like the Magus Isles that collected, studied and created various magic items.
    It is another place that can be visited, possibly as an extinct volcano island, or a crater just visible below the waves or ruins that are slowly resurfacing.

    Stepping into a fairy ring at the wrong/ right time will transport a person directly to the Islands of Fey and the Fey often use these to explore the world around them, usually leaving the “door” open behind them to make a quick escape back to their homeland.

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