Myth Maker 2.1: The History of Five Towers: The Tower of Names part 1

(Breaking this into two pieces, because walls, of even well written exposition, get a bit tiresome.)

Called one of the Wonders of the World, the Five Towers School of Wizardry is perhaps the most famous educational edifice in the known world. It lies at the heart of the city state of Five Towers, but there is much more going on in that city than the mere education of the daring, though the Towers are central to understanding the city.

If legend it to be believed the Towers predate any other settlement in the Emerald Peninsula, which makes since considering the inhospitable climate and terrain, doesn't make it very conducive to every day life without a lot of effort.... or a lot of magic.

At least half a millennium ago a flotilla of daring sea captains, at the urging of both filling of their coffers and the maintaining of their lives, made a perilous journey across the Gulf Tropical to the Bay of Crystal. The Gulf, always storm tossed and dangerous was, as it still is a domain for hurricanes and sea monsters, and the Bay of Crystal had no settlements worth visiting, so even the terrain of the shore line was somewhat a mystery. 

The voyage hailed forth from the southern point of what is now the Imperial Domain of World End, though at the time the reach of the Iron Empire didn't stretch so far.  Perhaps it was fear or at least a healthy caution of that growing power that inspired the voyage. If so that is lost to time, but was said to be in the age of the mythic first Emperor Geoff the Conqueror, who though a devoted man who venerated God, his Angels, and Saints, was no friend to wizards and wonderworkers.

Through magic and very fortunate timing, learned from many years of observation, the ships containing a cabal of wizards, of the kind called Chanters, and their retinue arrived at the still Bay of Crystal and dropped anchor within sight the many rivers that pours from the peninsula into that bay. The ships couldn't get closer because there were deep keeled vessels, but they had aboard barges to take the Chanters to their desired destination. 

After a consultation the Wizards reported a specific river, now known as the Chanters Gate, to carry them inland. The Bay was calm as glass that day, whether from magic or simple good fortune, and wizards, body guards, experienced woodsmen, and supplies were loaded on three barges rigged for crude sailing. Mage winds carried the barges to the silty mouth of the river, and then  the long hard work of poling up stream of the semi placid river began.

As soon as they entered the river the Chanters, the full number of which is unknown, began to Chant sonorous and sibilant words that seem to match the mood of the river well. The poling was long work, and many was the time some vegetation snagged a barge and skilled men had to hack and pole to keep the company in motion. All the while the Chanters chanted. Some of the time their chant was as one unified chorus, and other like a group of babblers whose voices bounced off of each other and was displeasing to the ear. 

As the slow miles passed, one at a time the wizards ceased their chanting save for the leader of the order, was and still is known only as the Nameless One. He continued to speak words of power that were so  intent that they seemed to vibrate in the air for moments after his mouth had moved on.

As the party reached sharp curve of the river accompanied by a slightly hilled clearing in the swamp the Nameless made a gesture with his hand which was the signal to ground the barges. As soon as he stepped foot on dry land he stopped his constant droning chant. Though the magic that were being performed had sapped all of the Order the Nameless soft spoken voice still carried strength.

As the barges were unloaded the wizards rested on the high ground, while well trained lackies removed ritual tools such as incense burners, wooden staves of great length, bundles of herbs, and shrouded idols from the barges and arranged them hither and thither around the clearing. As the sun was setting a mass of dark clouds began to form from the west, but a single sharp word from the Nameless scattered those clouds. There would be no interference from nature or Angel in the work that was to be done that night.

Myth Maker 2.0: The Setting

Following the example of my inspiration book, We're All Mad Here by Monte Cook Games (though any of there genre books would do). I am interweaving two projects into one.

The "front of the book" project is giving a set of tools, that can be used with Mythic GME (in the roll of both GM Emulator and a rules light RPG) to create magi-tech tech revolutions. The second goal was to show an example of such a tech revolution on a mid European Renaissance type setting. So far I have failed at both goals.

As to the first goal, I just couldn't manage to create generic resources from a vacuum, but I probably can work backward from a model, so the back of the book is getting the front of the writing. The second failure is that the setting, like the real world in that era, isn't all on one epic timeline in which there is a big bucket of Ren is splashed  everywhere. As I started writing I set some boundaries. I thought about what I would like to play and what I would like to run, and what came out in my writing journals was pretty different than what I thought would happen, but surprises like that are what make writing so much fun.

So starting now, and extending over the next half a dozen or so journal posts, I am going set out in historic or essay style prose the epicenter of industrial explosion, but because people, places, things, and events don't happen in a vacuum, we will start with a little slice of history. Specifically the history of the rapidly growing city of Five Towers. I hope that you enjoy the first peek at this magical, feudal, and eventually industrial hub, and will continue to follow its development as it grows towards the finished product that I will then deconstruct into a generalized Tech Boom set of guidelines, and also clean up refine and put in the second half of the booklet, which will be published (on this blog) as a PDF for anyone who wants to take it up and make it their.

As with all RPGs, once you down load it, it will then belong to you. Tear it apart for pieces, hate in and be provoked to make something better, or play it as it is. Honestly, all of these things would make me happy.

Moving directly on to Myth Maker 2.1: The History of Five Towers.

Myth Maker: Addendum

I have very much been enjoying writing this larger solo project. Strictly sticking with fiction thus far, no custom game mechanics, or any discussion of rules at all. Chances are I am over writing for my intent, but I can edit down as I prepare the pdf.

Starting tomorrow I am going to type up my paper journal notes, wedge in my digital notes, and spackle it into a setting rough draft and paste it up here. So far details include...

• The City Origins of Five Towers
• The magi-tech device that is pushing this industrialization
• A simple cosmology.
  

Stinging them together will make for a blog post of reasonable size, if it is a bit scattershot. I hope seeing it laid out on a screen will help me see the holes, both in what is written, and what needs to be written.

I know so far this hasn't been the most interesting work journal, especially with the downer the last post was, but I think things will start ticking a long faster now that I have laid some groundwork.

EDIT: Decided instead of stringing the three bullet points together, instead to put each one in their own blog post and do some expansion from the rough draft. Still a rough draft, just more of it

Myth Maker 1.2: Generalities Surrounding an Industrial Revolution

Since our topic is a technological revolution, even if it is a magical one, we need to get a grips on the effects that has on a society. Some of these are great. Most of them are kind of awful. We are not looking to make a utopia. Bad times bring conflict and thus they bring work to your average mercenary adventure, they bring something to oppose to your moral crusader, and they bring opportunity to your clever innovator. For a proactive PC of any inclination there is a chance to make a difference, but first we have to know the why and the how.

The end goal of these various posts will be to stich them together to produce both a guide for the design of settings going through a magically powered industrial rise, and create an example setting with some attached adventures, locations to explore, and a generation system for further adventures. Also, knowing where a PC comes from (background/lifepath system) can help you jumpstart where they are going (character build and development).

(I will not set out to moralize, though there are certainly parts of this situation that I find personally repugnant, nor to aggrandize, though I find some of the achievements of the time impressive. In this brief article we are just laying down the facts.)

As our model we are going to use the British Industrial Revolution of the later 1700s. There were greater achievements in industry coming down the line, especially in the late 19th century, but in this earlier model we see the jump I want to take in the game from post Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment theoretical forms, to the realities of an Industrial Age, which didn't really play out as the high idealist would have wanted it to.

The other reason to use the British first Industrial Age as model is that until that point, functionally speaking technologies were advancements on the forms that had existed for centuries. The role of the average person was peasant, merchant, or soldier, and the powerhouse of British economy were the nobility and the crown. 

Ok, that lays down enough framework. I will only be covering each topic in broad strokes, so please excuse any missed details.

1. There was a rise in urban population caused by the displacement of rural peasants by the landed nobility so that they could use communal lands to grow cash crops, after agricultural innovations allowed for the growing of more crops or raising more cattle (sheep usually for wool). Because these laborers were not looking first to their own villages and secondly to sell surplus there less need for a large laboring agricultural peasantry. As the use of hard currency was on the rise most lords stopped taking labor out put for rents causing yet more eviction and displacement.
2. That surplus population came at the same time that an innovation, especially in steal production through the use of advanced steal making techniques and locally available fuel for the furnaces (in the form of coal) allowed for the construction of much safer steam powered engines, which freed factories from having to depend on the local restrictions of water power. A literal biproduct of this innovation was a general deterioration of environmental factors like clean air and water, but would take some time for this to become fully apparent.
3. An additional bioproduct was the growth of cities from towns and great labors of city expansion to house the additional population. The call for timber an stone had additional determinator effects on the environment that would take decades to fully show themselves. 
4. Steam and water powered factories removed the need for cottage labor for the production of things like textiles and horse shoes. These essentials could be produced much more cheaply in factories, further impoverishing and driving urban-ward more of the population, which gave rise to an even cheaper labor force. 
5. Finally the local governments favored business over traditional communal land rights and went so far as to create colonial outpost that would provide captivated markets for the industrial products (usually through military intervention) who would in turn produce more raw materials for the factories in the mother country.
6. Many of the early investors in new technology were forward looking bankers, who had primarily lent to the noble classes, but were at their whims when time came for repayments of loans. In the new factory driven landscape these early industrial investors, as well as the factory owners made gigantic strides in profit and thus social status and social influence. The service needed to provide for factories also saw a substantial improvement, leading to the rise of a wealthy stratum of the non aristocratic class, and the existence of a stable and fiscally healthy middle class (though after the initial successes of the factory system there were many nobles who followed the example of the bankers and became yet more rich and powerful.)
7. The income in taxes, frequently heavily laid on colonies, allowed the government to build a stronger military force and the need for bureaucrats,  which allowed for the control of colonies, the protection of trade routes, and frequently the dictation of the laws of trade.(Though forward thinking smugglers did assist in circumventing these prohibitions). 
8. Based on that improvements in steel and steam early in the next century we see the rise of the railway system, which revolutionized transportation in the island nation. This was used to carry everything from raw material and cattle, army regiments and economic refugees. It also changed the pace of life. There was a strict time based rail system which like time and tide waited for no man (though frequently was late itself). 

There are things that are mentioned above in brief that have darker implications. Mostly in the form of a perceived cheapness of human life and all the horrors that go with it. I by no means want to disregard that side of the story and the inhumanity in individuals and even codified governmental systems that this produced, but I will leave it to the reader to player to pick and chose between the greater moral decays of the Age which ones they wish to include, exclude, and perhaps crusade against in their games.

From this point on we will delve into fantasy and focus on the way magic could rapidly expediate the pace of change and perhaps spare a few of the darkest shadows that accompany great an age of great change.

Myth Maker 1.1 Goals

This morning I was reading my physical writing journal, and realize that the ideas in it are scatter shot touching on this or that subject.  So, rather than fight my brain, I am going to write a bit scatter shot. Then, I will put the ideas into a useful order and do the necessary editing to sew all of the pieces together.

Topics that have seized my interest are, in no particular order:

• The effects of an industrial revolution that keep it from becoming a eutopia.
• The order and fashion in which the germinal technological advances came upon the setting and the effects each new wave of resolution had.
• Relate to the last the speed of this advancement and its effects on the every day people.
• The balancing force between old aristocracies waning and rising robber barons, in the form of institutions of checks and balances. 
• The daily life of a peasant, a professional, a noble, and an adventurer.
• A few paragraphs of "What is known", maybe from the views of the points subjects.
• Both how magic tech can be expressed in many scenarios (really just sketches) and how it is specifically expressed in the sample game.
• A realistic discussion of darker elements of an industrial revolution and various ways to include them or not that don't cheapen the subject matter (This one is of chief importance)
• Practical applications of this technology from a gamers view.
• A "life path" system of some sort so that you don't' have to start each new adventure as a starry eyed youth of 16-25. This has to include various "why's" for a person enriched in years may be starting a life of adventure.
• Appropriate factions for a magi-punk city and their implication on PCs. (because if they don't impact PC's why bother having them.)

I am sure I could go on but those are what i pulled from my pen and ink journal and immediate inspirations. 

My primary source thus far has been Wikipedia.org.

My template for document development has been the various MCG genre books.

My body of tools will largely be from Mythic Magazine.

Upcoming project: Myth Maker 1

I am beginning work on a new project with the intent of setting it free here for any and all who are interested. If I manage to pull it off it will be a full solo urban fantasy setting designed for play with resources from Mythic Magazine and other Word Mill products.

What I have in mind, to be exact, is a Techno-magical urban fantasy city. I am starting a work in progress diary here, so that my thoughts are kept in one place and because I think better when I am talking to someone, even if that someone is a theoretical reader.

Over the next couple of weeks I would like to put up a genre definition (so that every one is on the same page), a set of safety tools and trigger warnings, and an initial setting sketch. This will, ideally, be followed by game-y stuff like character creation guidelines, some faction guides, and a bit of setting history. (Not necessarily in that order).

The game engine driving the work will be the Mythic GME as a rules light RPG, but will probably incorporate conceptual ideas from other systems (shout-outs given when appropriate). The vast majority of the tools I will be using will be from Word Mill products, specifically the Mythic Magazine and the Mythic GME 2. 

(I still have a great affection for the Mythic RPG, and feel it has excellent design tips and is a solid system, but its functionality as a core rules system, at this point, has been matched if not exceeded by the magazine.)

I believe a clear set of design goals is useful for any campaign writing project, so here are a few things I wish to accomplish. 

• To develop a broad but contained region that is open to many different game styles, from exploration and treasure hunting, to slice of life and urban intrigue.
• A darker setting that offers chances to play the profit seeking anti-hero, vigilant hero who wants to improve the lot of those around him, or a postman that has to navigate some very weird neighborhoods to complete his work day.
• A plausible (for game fiction) history and current events timeline, to root the PC in the setting.
• Clear examples of game mechanics in action, where appropriate, with citation to the magazines or products used (and very useful links to purchase pages for those who want to dive deeper).
• Various entry points for players who wish to play anything from a wide eyed country bumpkin soaking in the vastness of the city, to a grizzled old politico, who can weave in and out of the layered intrigues of the byzantine heights of power. 
• A magic system that doesn't require years of training to advance inches, but keeps the mystique of magic while still allowing it to give solid game advantages and disadvantages.
• And lastly, room for the Player to take the setting and make it their own. By which I meaning, when I hit Finish on the last page of the document it will be in the hands of the player (whom I believe is highly capable) to carry the setting forward.  There will not be a dozen supplements, and rewrites, I am taking one shot on this then moving on to another genre. 

I suspect the design diary to be much larger than the finished project. Because this is a first attempt by an ambitious hobbyist, it will be a free project. As it is going to be a free project, art will be scant if present at all, and the only editors will be a couple close friends and Microsoft Word. 

This will not be to everyone's taste. I am specifically writing with one Player in mind, who has been my first reader for projects for years, but I believe the wideness of his interest will help me push the boundaries of my normal writing and will allow for an output that will be entertaining to a wide swath of gamers. Should I get a warm response I will be happy to take on the scribblers hat again and make further such works. 

I do believe this is good by way of introduction. I accept all well wishes (and most credit cards). Next post down the line: Genre: Techno-magic and Urban Fantasy Settings.

W.D.

Blog update: crunch time

 It is nearing my certification test time, so blogging has to go on hiatus for a while. All projects,  especially the Mythic Magazine summaries,  will be picked up again after my test. 

W.D.