Vrecknidj
Warlord
10492 Posts
    
United States
 | | 03/12/2006 7:07 PM |
| During a d20 Modern session the other night, a player made an off-hand remark that got my mind flowing. Someone was talking about what makes magic work, and he said something about how the sun blocks it out in the Real World (he was joking, of course) and that that's why we don't have any magic here. Naturally, one of the other players asked "what about at night." The first player said something about the earth always being in the sun's field of particles, etc., etc.
But, this got me thinking about a campaign where magic (spells, items, the whole shebang) only work at night. Vampires might be lovin' this, but, people in general (and animals that aren't noctural even more generally) aren't fond of sleeping every day and staying awake every night.
This wouldn't be a campaign where magic works in the dark or underground during the day either. Just at night. And, to make things groovy, there would, of course, be regions that, like the real world, have long summers and long winters, making things interesting.
Does someone else already do this? Is there some 3rd party stuff out there that operates on this premise?
Dave | |
Knowledge Arcana editor issues 5-9, Phoenix Lore Magazine editor, assistant editor for Rite Publishing;
My Trade Thread and My Reference Thread; Winner of WBC IV, IX and XIII; Rule #0: bshugg is always right! | |
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Agent Oracle
Skirmisher
19 Posts
| | 03/12/2006 9:21 PM |
| Sounds nifty! of course, it would weaken spellcasters somewhat, what if it was that magic ONLY worked in the dark?
no, no... then you'd wind up with spellcasters blindly firing.
What if it wasn't the sun that eliminated magical prowess, but the ever-present moon, and something catestropic resulted in the moon either being damaged or distroyed?
What if meteors that fell to earth as the result of the lunar breakup conveyed magical powers on the first people to touch them? | |
"Observation changes the observed. Never quite enough to stop them from walking into a trap though..." | |
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Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 03/13/2006 2:12 AM |
| Somehow I keep seeing a bisected moon in the night sky when I think about this [)]
Still, I think it's a great idea, and would give you a very moody atmosphere. It will also throw an emphasis on the time of day as the party plans certain encounters for day/night time. The type of people that one meets at night tends to be different as well. | |
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johnny.quest
Underboss
1386 Posts
| | 03/13/2006 10:25 AM |
| | I haven't played d20 Modern, so sorry if this is off base, but I'd make sure that magical items and magical enhancements don't function during the day either. That would mitigate the hit to spellcasters a bit. | | | |
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devasque
Sergeant
874 Posts
| | 03/13/2006 1:37 PM |
| Opens up a whole swarm of ideas you could use relavent to the Plane of Shadows (spells, creatures, etc) and interesting spins on Lycanthropy. I actaully like the concept of something drastic happening to the world's lunar moon(one of them if there are more) connection. Gives you added momentum to say the event had other effects on the world like tides, animal behavior, plant growth and such.
Also gives you room to have fun creating an evil cult who want to have eternal night. Dragon had a cool issue dealing with Darkness and detailed a god of the Shadow Plane called Eberus who has Shadow Priests and the like. Would make for a good stand in. | |
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Agent Oracle
Skirmisher
19 Posts
| | 03/13/2006 5:47 PM |
| Yeah, so what you've got from our collective brainstorming is a modern world where magic is just beginning to emerge, as a direct result of (your choice) a darkening of the sun, or a catestrophic impact resulting in the moon's partial decimation. Natural disasters are becoming commonplace, and possibly there is room for a cult that worships the new darkness.
sounds really nifty! where are you playing? i'd love to join! | |
"Observation changes the observed. Never quite enough to stop them from walking into a trap though..." | |
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zenthrus
Warlord
5132 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 03/13/2006 5:57 PM |
| | This is definitely an intriguing concept. I like alternative Earth campaigns (where something has 'gone wrong') and this sounds like one of the better concepts for that. | |
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thedip
Sergeant
737 Posts
| | 03/14/2006 9:19 AM |
| An interesting idea but you would need to do something with the magic using classes. If they can use their powers less half the time they will be relatively weak compared with fighters and rogues.
Perhaps you could have magic orbs that store moonlight and gives mages the ability to cast spells during the day. They could then cast the spells when they needed them but would have to make sure that they had a good store when venturing underground.
Cheers
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True_Blue
Underboss
2386 Posts
| | 03/14/2006 5:50 PM |
| | I like alternate worlds and new and exciting ideas. But it'd suck ass to be a caster in that world, since you literally could only cast spells at night. When a fighter can actually swing his sword all day long. It would just be a huge handicap, but if you want to go with it, its your idea heh. I would try to help out the casters a little, and give them more. | |
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johnny.quest
Underboss
1386 Posts
| | 03/14/2006 6:54 PM |
| | I think you'd end up seeing more multiclass characters. | | | |
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Thenameless
Warlord
12481 Posts
The Fortress of Solitude
| | 03/14/2006 7:52 PM |
| | I wouldn't worry about spellcasters only being able to use their spells half the time. A lot of players are willing to pay a hefty price to be a party's spellcaster - just look at all of the low-magic campaign offerings out there. | |
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True_Blue
Underboss
2386 Posts
| | 03/15/2006 7:30 AM |
| Well maybe..but seriously..literally half the day you wouldnt be able to do *anything*. Thats a pretty hefty hindarence, I dont care what else happens. That would suck. I mean granted you can try to plan on most of your stuff happening during those 12 hours, but you dont have much leeway if things dont go to plan. And thats a serious drawback.
You're a 20th level wizard, you can cast the spell Wish and do practically anything you want...and then 12 hours of the day you can basically do nothing. I mean I guess it would be cool if magical items still worked, but if they dont..oh man. | |
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johnny.quest
Underboss
1386 Posts
| | 03/15/2006 12:03 PM |
| | This is why I think you'd see multiclass characters. You need to be able to defend yourself during the day. | | | |
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glauron
Underboss
1379 Posts
Sydney, Australia
| | 03/15/2006 4:58 PM |
| I can think of a whole lot of unnecessary complications arising out of this approach. Dragonlance was bad enough, having to adjust the number of spells a wizard could learn, depending on the phases of the moon.
Vampires would be happier if magic only worked during the day, so they wouldn't have to worry about it when they were on the prowl.
As others have said, why cut your campaign time in half? Will every PC choose to be a vampire? May as well since you're virtually condemning them to night crawler status.
Does the daylight spell create an antimagic zone at night (probably too powerful for a L3 spell). Does sunburst have a greater dispel effect? (seems reasonable)
Seems like a massive, temporal anti-magic zone to me.
An interesting flight of fancy, but probably not really workable, and definitely throws game balance out the window, imho. | |
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johnny.quest
Underboss
1386 Posts
| | 03/15/2006 8:32 PM |
| | Daylight and Sunburst would be interesting to consider, as the effects would likely backfire on the caster. I dunno, game balance is pretty easy to fix in an RPG. I think it's an interesting idea, and it would need some detailed worldbuilding. | | | |
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True_Blue
Underboss
2386 Posts
| | 03/17/2006 3:32 AM |
| | Uh well with Dragonlance all you have to do now is figure out where the moon is, and its either a +1 to CL, -1 CL or no change. Granted sometimes its annoying to keep track of the moon, but its not really that hard. | |
Champion of a Knight of Takhisis/Knight of Neraka | |
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Vrecknidj
Warlord
10492 Posts
United States
| | 03/17/2006 10:05 AM |
| Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I really like the idea of turning this into a d20 Modern setting too. Magic is seeping into the modern world and, at first, only at night. Why? Excellent question, excellent way to get a campaign started on a mysterious footing.
I'm not at all worried about the half-the-time thing. I would make it so that all magic is disrupted during the day, yes. So the fighter's armor and sword are just masterwork by day.
Sure this wrecks a lot of things, but, that's okay, I'm going for flavor here, not balance, per se.
Dave | |
Knowledge Arcana editor issues 5-9, Phoenix Lore Magazine editor, assistant editor for Rite Publishing;
My Trade Thread and My Reference Thread; Winner of WBC IV, IX and XIII; Rule #0: bshugg is always right! | |
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True_Blue
Underboss
2386 Posts
| | 03/19/2006 5:35 PM |
| Well, if you are going with just flavour then you should be all good. While toning down a Fighter's magical weapon to only a MW weapon does hurt him a little bit power-wise, its not nearly the same thing as a caster losing *all* of his spells. I mean it would be like a fighter getting all his feats taken away, etc. At least for the straight casters. For paladins, rangers, etc its not such a big deal.
I dunno, I would have a real hard time playing a caster in that sort of environment. Its not even that I'd have to be powerful. Say most of the encounters are at night, good you get to be at regular power. But I'd hate the thought that during the whole campaign, if I need to fight during daylight, I'm screwed. But thats my take on it. Maybe there are a bunch of players who wouldnt mind. It would suck the first time it came up tho, but after about the 4-5th time, I'd probably be sick of just sitting there doing nothing.. or hitting with my staff at a +4 or something heh | |
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