Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 06:16:48 -0600 Sender: torg@buddha.intecom.com From: "David Wood" To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [TORG:411] D'YANDI (Yes, I know it's been done!) (Posted for John S. Olson who doesn't know it's already been done as a joke. Please forward all comments to him via David Wood) The Cosm of D'Yandi This world is very similar to Aysle in appearance, but it differs in many important ways. It has no firearms, its magic is somewhat more powerful, and Aysle's moral component (the Honor and Corruption skills) is completely lacking. Even so, there's something maddeningly familiar about it. Magic Axiom: 20 D'Yandi's magic axiom is high enough for wishes to work, but they have an annoying tendency to backfire unless very carefully worded. There are magical items aplenty; nearly enough for magic shops to exist which buy and sell them. In many ways, magic has entirely replaced technology for its main functions. For instance, magical beasts of all sorts are found here, and many adventurers have winged horses or hippogriffs to ride. As another example, firearms are impossible according to the Tech axiom, but alchemical processes can produce a "fire dust" that works like gunpowder. Social Axiom: 14 Most of D'Yandi is covered with pseudo-medieval kingdoms and baronies. There are also theocratic empires, small republics and city-states. There is no one world ruler, despite the attempts of various despots to try. Spiritual Axiom: 18 Miracles are plentiful and reliable. In fact, to many, they are simply another form of magic. Temples are often maintained not by tithing the faithful, but by selling the healing powers of the priests. Strangely enough, the gods don't seem to mind. Perhaps this is because of the competition; the number of gods known and worshipped is almost beyond counting. Technological Axiom: 12 This is where the medieval flavor of the world is most seen. In the northern lands, there are castles, barbicans, etc., while desert areas have cities of graceful minarets. Plate armor is known, as is chain, swords, crossbows, glaives, guisarmes, and glaive-guisarmes. If only I knew what this reminded me of... World Laws The World Laws of D'Yandi are strange, but somehow not surprising. Maybe we've seen them before, somewhere. The Law of Impression Under this World Law, all spells and miracles are cast impressed. As stated in the Torg Rulebook, the number of impressed spells a mage may hold is equal to the sum of his adds in conjuration magic and the arcane knowledge of state. The number of impressed miracles a priest can manage is equal to her adds in faith plus focus. All spells designed in D'Yandi automatically follow this rule; spells brought in from outside the cosm have +3 added to their difficulty. Miracles from elsewhere have the same modifier added to the time value to cast them. I dunno... does this seem familiar to you, too? The Law of Avatars All gods worshipped in D'Yandi have an Avatar; a physical form they may take on when intervening in the affairs of mortals. These Avatars are extremely powerful (one of them could probably give the Gaunt Man a hard time), but they can be killed. If that happens, the priests of that god lose the ability to cast miracles for about a month, while the Avatar regrows. Now, I know I've heard of this somewhere! Followers of gods from other cosms will find that their own gods take on Avatars when they have faithful in D'Yandi. Killing gods' Avatars only affects their worship in the fantasy cosm. On the other hand, D'Yandiites visiting other cosms can still call on their gods' Avatars. Calling on an Avatar requires an Invocation with a Spectacular result. The Law of Careers The Law of Careers separates human endeavor into four categories, each of which has its own limitations. It is a contradiction to violate those limitations. The four Careers are Hero, Knave, Mystic and Divine. The Hero is permitted to wear any armor and use any weapons, but cannot use stealth or climbing in an urban setting. A Knave cannot put on metal armor, and is limited to the lighter weapons such as one-handed swords and target shields; on the other hand, only Knaves can learn lockpicking and prestidigitation, or use stealth or climbing in an urban setting. A Mage cannot wear armor at all, can only use the quarterstaff and light, one-handed weapons such as daggers and throwing stars, and is the only Career allowed to learn magic skills. Finally, the Divine is the only Career allowed to learn focus skill, and for some odd reason, cannot use edged weapons. Characters entering the reality of D'Yandi for the first time must pick a Career; if they already violate the Law of Careers, they must decide which Career is theirs; use of the conflicting skills then creates a one-case contradiction. The Law of Ruins This last World Law insures that the land is filled with hidden places inhabited by monsters and full of treasure. A Ruin might be an abandoned castle, an underground system of tunnels and rooms, or a set of natural caves, but there will be monsters, and there will be treasure. As Ruins are emptied out, the monsters killed, the treasure taken, other Ruins are taking shape. The World Law keeps the number of Ruins in the world fairly constant. A family of impoverished nobles, for instance, might move away from their ancestral castle, leaving their precious magic battle standard behind. Soon after, a band of brigands move in, fail to find the standard, store their loot in a tower, then get killed before they can come back for it. Then a family of trolls takes up residence... and so on. That's how it works in the cosm; as Ruins form, they make some kind of sense. But when the reality of D'Yandi is imposed over a new area, a large number of Ruins must form instantly, and they do so in a random fashion. Exploring a Ruin in such an area is like rolling on a random table. In one room might be a fire giant with a chest of gold coins and a wand of levitation, while the next room has an ice troll with six silver armbands a book of spells, and a pair of boots of walking on walls. As these random Ruins are cleared out, new ones form that make more sense. Okay. I absolutely KNOW I've encountered all this somewhere before, and if I can't figure it out, I'll go absolutely spare. Help me? -- David Wood, Freelance Computer Consultant ("Freelance" is just a cheesy way of saying "Irregularly Employed")