Invasion of the Hawfax

In 1894, An alien civilization arrived at earth, ready to colonize it. They didn't blast humanity off of the globe. They didn't ask us to surrender. And they didn't go about terraforming the planet. They merely settled down in the most attractive place on the planet (to them): the Amazon rain forest. They've displaced very few people. They have an incredible disdain for the 'carnivorous savages' that cover the less attractive parts of the planet. But between their technology and the shock of their existence, they've turned the human world upside down.

Aotearoa and its Spirit Walkers

The current Year of Aotearoa is unknown, but likely around 3,000 BC. Mankind is either in the stone age or in the bronze age, with one small exception: the islands of the pacific. A few of the islanders have had the ability to skip across the worlds for ages unremembered. For most of their history, however, there has been nothing other than other versions of New Zealand to travel to, and even now, when there are other worlds to visit, the inhabitants of Aotearoa mostly live as they have for centuries.

Collaborative Gamer's World Building Generator

The Collaborative Gamer is currently on a project to build a series of tables that let you play without a game master. I'm a fan of tables, and one of his projects caught my eye, and I decided to automate it. Its a fantasy map generator, and I think its a strong idea.

This is totally his idea, so I'm going to suggest that you read his site before playing with this tool. Then come and play with the automated version of the tool after you understand the system. In several cases you'll need to fiddle with the drop-downs to get appropriate behavior.

Have fun building a word!







Central North South Upstream Downstream Polar Alpine Temperate Coastal Humid Arid Oceanic Blank Desert Plains Hills Mountains River Lake Arctic Beach Island Swamp Ocean Forest Jungle

Pyromancy as a Power

Pyromancy is the magic of fire -- one of the true classics in the wizardly arsenal. From Gandalf to Harry Dresden, wizards have thrown fire around as their primary weapon. This power is not an comprehensive power over all aspects of magic related to fire, but is limited to the art of throwing fire around and shaping it, with some ability to resist it.  This is a very combat oriented ability. Its also famous for getting out of control. Check page 433 of the basic set for rules on setting things on fire. You'll need it when dealing with pyromancers.

Necromancy as a Power

I like magic as powers. It just feels so straightforward and easy to balance (or at least to keep track of). You have the magic that you have, not some crazy spell list. If you need additional powers, you have rules for stunts. Yet I've never really been happy with just listing allies. So here is a set of powers that lets a necromancer control undead, create undead, and build up massive armies with soft limits rather than hard ones, and without too much hand-waving.

The powers given here are using multiplicative modifiers, which I recommend doing any time you use a powers system.

Wember

Wember Magic is a slow but powerful magic strongly associated with cloth. The magic originates in the hands of the weavers (who are minor mages), but the true benefactors are those who can afford their prices. Most wember items are clothing, and the effects apply to the one who wears it -- or the thing wrapped in it, as some effects are useful for objects or creatures.

With Great Power Come Great Pain

 The magic items below are not 'cursed'.  They are extremely powerful items with major drawbacks. No price has been given because the artifacts value depends on the frequency magic items show up in the campaign, and on the power the artifacts give. 

While presented as rare, one of a kind items, nothing requires them to be unique, or even special. Massed produced wandering arrows are game changing but add a great deal of flavor to a setting-- and change the way combat works.