RPGDX > Forums > General Discussion > Have a world? leave a world. Need a world? Take a world.

Ironshanks · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 12:42 am Post subject:

Or those who lived without dragons could just be much hardier than those who did. A nomadic culture could possibly exist if they moved from dragon to dragon to stock up on resources.

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Ironshanks · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 6:15 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I was hinting at that :)

So would there be any wildlife in the wasteland at all?
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Jihgfed Pumpkinhead · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 5:37 pm Post subject: Dragons! Terrain!

Yeah, I was thinking that the wasteland would have no animals or vegetation of any sort. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that it doesn't even have any differentiated terrain at all; it's just a perfectly flat (well, round, but you get the idea), grey expanse.

I think bronze age is good for the settled populations, with a much earlier hunter-gatherer level for the more nomadic people. I don't like the idea of anyone really "living" in the wasteland; the wasteland can be crossed, but there's no way to get any sustenance from it, everything has to be carried from one of the dragon's places.

What I thought would be really cool is the idea of great dragons fighting with their legions of followers. When they got close to each other, they would begin to influence each other's terrain. So if a volcano and lake dragon fought, you might get huge, volcano-like geysers spewing tons of water into the air. Also, if your group is at war with another, it might be worthwhile questing into the wasteland for a particularly vile dragon, say a swamp or tornado dragon, and bringing that over to your opponents, slowly corrupting/destroying his lands.

What might be nice is to have PCs themselves be dragons (remember, I said they weren't necessarily particularly powerful). Then, the PCs would have the ability to change terrain, and, particularly if well-incorporated into a combat system, I think that could be very interesting.

Ironshanks · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 6:45 pm Post subject:

Good thinking Jihgfed, I was thinking of the wasteland as just being a dusty chalk-like substance. I'm not sure what the advantage of a volcano dragon would be to it's people, perhaps they'd use the energy for industrialization? They'd still need water and food.

The terrain effects are an interesting idea...perhaps a dragon would have thematic spells it'd use in the combat system as the main form of attack. I like the idea of a PC possibly being a dragon too.
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That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.

Jihgfed Pumpkinhead · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 8:43 pm Post subject: Hash It Out

Okay, so, are we going with the dragon thing? If so, what's the next step?

Do you think maybe it would be a good idea for everyone interested in this to get together on #rpgdx at some point so we could really hash it out?

white_door · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2003 8:42 pm Post subject:

wow, far I think the ideas about this world are pretty cool.. but I agree with Happy about the idea that maybe different groups of people have different levels of technology.. that might make the game more interesting from a developers point of view.. I suppose it would depend on the dragon in question..

Even if you had a group of humans that controled several weak baby Dragons, although they might be quite powerful in a wizard/shaman-like way.. I doubt they would have very much tech, since they would rely on the dragons for much.

I guess one case for a group of humans that might have developed a higher tech level might be a case where the dragon chooses not to interfere with the development of the humans one way or another.. so it might hide from the humans.. and maybe... not move very much.. So it might also led to a group that doesn't believe in the Dragon gods?

So I guess the level of technology used by a group of humans would be inversely proportional to the amount of aid they relieve from the Dragons. Those that releave great aid would be primative and magical and great believers in the supernatural.. Those that were ignored by the Dragons would have to develop ways of surviving and living..

Rainer Deyke · Demon Hunter Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 672

I'm thinking that younger dragons are very active, while the older and bigger dragons tend to just lie around and sleep. Therefore the younger dragons support nomads, while the older dragons support stationary civilizations.

But what motivates the dragons? Do they need to seek out food? Why do they tolerate humans? What are their mating habits and lifecycle?

LeoDraco · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 8:52 am Post subject:

The Anarchist · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 12:25 pm Post subject:

Jihgfed Pumpkinhead · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 8:10 pm Post subject: Dragon Hoarders

Maybe dragons' main motivation could be acquisition? They could be hoarders, who see the humans crawling all over them to be valuable in themselves, as part of their collection. Similarly, dragons could try to acquire other dragons, assimilating their new acquisitions into themselves in a Highlander-esque fashion. Their eco-sphere (or whatever) would gain the features of the dragon acquired.

Occasionally, very old (and presumably therefore fairly powerful) dragons would tire of this, and retire from the world of other dragons. They'd go off, and get bored, and to while away the hours they'd create other dragons, asexually, of the same type as themselves, giving to them a bit of their own power. These new dragons, however, would eventually leave the nest and venture out into the dragon eat dragon world, back into the cycle. These new-born dragons would make excellent PCs.

Alternatively, the dragon might create a little dragon to do his bidding, maybe so that the little one can go out and eat other dragons, all the while pappa-momma dragon is planning to eat his progeny as soon as it becomes worthwhile.

Dragons and the size of their corresponding eco-zone wouldn't grow naturally (so age doesn't necessarily equal power), only by eating (or whatever) over other dragons. I'm sure we could derive a super, super cool experience system from this.

XMark@school · Guest

reading that Wikipedia post gave me the groovy idea of making a wiki of my own for Jiall. Let the building commence!
EDIT: LINK REMOVED BECAUSE I'M STUPID

and if you are confused on how to Wiki, find out how here:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki

XMark · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2003 5:22 am Post subject:

oops, I didn't read the documentation enough. Apparently they don't like people making their own personal pages on Wiki like this.

EDIT:
Yay! I found a free personal wiki kinda page!
http://www.seedwiki.com/page.cfm?doc=JiallWorld&wikiid=3072
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Abstract Productions
I PLAYS THE MUSIC THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!

Bjorn · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2003 8:52 pm Post subject:

I think it would be better to setup a Wiki on rpgdx.net. Then we would be able to make our own layout and we could allow uploading files. What about I try setting up wiki.rpgdx.net, and we'll start a page about Jaill there? I'd first be looking in the available wiki systems though, at the moment I'm only aware of phpWiki (http://phpwiki.sf.net/).

XMark · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2003 9:08 pm Post subject:

I never figured out how to use PHP though, so you'd have to do the installation stuff for me.
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Mark Hall
Abstract Productions
I PLAYS THE MUSIC THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!