Bay 12 Games Forum

So I've had some ideas for an urban fantasy setting and am tempted to set a few short stories in it, to build it up more and see how if it works for stories. But first I'd like to get some opinions on these ideas, plus this is just an interesting subject of discussion. The world I'm coming up with is kind of like a cross of World of Darkness, H.P. Lovecraft and hints of The Dresden Files.

Magic) Magic is more primitive, a kind of proto-magic.

My first idea stems from something that came to me: Why do wizards throw fireballs? What I mean is, why do they use fire as an offensive weapon? There's drama and symbolism there, sure, but from a practical point of view wouldn't a greater weapon be heat? Wouldn't it be easier for a wizard to superheat a small area of space than funnel it into a ball of flames? This is where my proto-magic idea came in, what if magic wizards use in the urban fantasy setting was just "manipulation of energy" (physics simplifications ftw!)? The ability to move and contain (for lack of a better word) the energy in particles.

Want to burn something to death, superheat the area in front of you which the something is standing it.
Want to freeze something, "move the energy" out of an area in order to lower the temperature to freezing.

So this proto-magic makes magic very powerful, whilst also making it require author and character have to be clever to figure out ways of using it effectively. It also solves the "why not just magic everything better?" problem by making magic a very focused, limited field.

Price Vampires Pay) Some of the downsides for Vampires. Obviously I have some more ideas about vampires in the world (like whether they bite or scratch and lick ), but I want to go into the downsides first partly because I feel it's the most "unique" of the ideas.

Super Strength: What if your body isn't as capable as your brain is telling you? So vampires have to learn to control themselves and recognise the new limits of their bodies. For example, the first time a vampire tries to run, they probably tear their leg muscles.

Super Perception: This idea I really like, namely give vampires a reason and an associated curse with super perception. The idea is that a vampires perception is a result of their brain being in such a state of overdrive, that they effectively experience several seconds (let's say 10) for every 1 second that passes. This gives them longer to process everything happening. Now, why is this a downside? Well, imagine if every 1 hour film you had to sit through, actually lasted 10 hours. Every word took ten words time to hear. Living in permanent slow motion would not be pleasant, emotions would come and go past so quickly to others it'd be like they never happened at all whilst sensations would last so long you'd get used to them, conversations would be unbearably slow and boring, life would be...hell, quite simply.

Transformation: The process of being turned into a vampire should not be a pleasant one. In fact, it should be painful. Your body is being drastically altered, after all. Well, what if the transformation was also malicious? So I started thinking, how could it be malicious? What if it left one completely immobile whilst also preventing unconsciousness and death? The vampire-to-be would have to experience every second of their transformation, experience enough pain to cause a person to die a thousand times, and have no escape, no embrace of darkness to free them. And depending on how lucky the vampire is, it could end in a few minutes or it could go on for hours or days. Is it possible to step through to the other side, and retain anything of who they once were? To even remain sane?

Ghouls) A ghoul in this world would come in two flavours
1 - Someone infected with vampirism but dies a few days before transforming or during the transformation (is killed but not enough for the transformation to not finish) is still transformed into a vampire, but with none of the person they were in that body. Instead, they become ghouls: Rabid beast of pure instinct that live to feed and kill and repeat until they are stopped. The idea in folklore of a ghoul or vampire digging themselves out of their own grave, and then returning to that grave, both come from these creatures.
2 - Someone whose mind is so damaged by the pain of transforming, they lose all of who they were and go so insane as to effectively be the same as the 1st type of ghoul although some retain some of basic reasoning and intellect remaining. Practically they are like 1 but with more intelligence, meaning they are more dangerous.

Both release a pheromone which other vampires can detect, and unnerves them enough to compel nearby vampires to seek and kill them.

Ghosts) An idea I am somewhat fighting with since I'm straying into Energy Can Do Anything! I'll probably leave any explanation as the "rough theory" being dolled out by someone only somewhat educated on the topic.

A person can either with knowledge or dumb luck, often when dying or being killed, create a kind of "construct" which is essentially an energy copy of themselves, their personality and traits. A ghost isn't the original person who died, they're simply gone, but a kind of 'imprint' of them left in the world. This imprint can have varying levels of sentience, being anything from creatures of anger and hate to effectively that person but in a less material form. They would essentially exist as a series of interactions between energies created in a specific way so as to manifest as if they were the original person.

However, as time goes on that energy slowly disperses into the surrounding world, causing the ghost to decay. Actually influencing the surrounding world requires them to expend some energy too, hastening the decay. Their powers and ability to influence the world weakens, and even the sanity of the ghost deteriorates into a much more base, primal personality. Eventually, they'll fade into nothingness.

Ghosts, especially the ghosts of wizards or warlocks created with preparation, can learn to take energy from the world and maintain themselves (Ghosts who can do this are what causes the "sensation of cold" reported on all those TV shows ^^).

Like I said, so far it's a topic I'm a bit vague on how I'll make it fit, it being a copy of the person in the "magical energies" mage-users work with seems the best I can come up with...

Common themes) In case you can't to tell by how I'm torturing vampires here, a theme I want to touch is the costs of immortality on the minds of those who seek or obtain it. Live long enough and everyone would eventually go insane. Imagine if you had thousands of years of life barking at your heels? Sanity amongst the eldest of the "once human" immortals at least would be a rarity, they'd all have some significant flaws and neurosis from their childhoods and adulthoods that time had only worsened.

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I'll post more of my ideas later, and expand on vampires more, but for now I'd like some feedback on these ideas.

Yeah sure it's "objectification" if by that you mean it's (consciously or not) judging a person as to whether they meet the standards that you feel are needed to fulfil a specific role. I wouldn't ask an armless man to drive me to the mall and wouldn't ask my poorer friends to lend me a tenner. Heck, judging if a person can be a friend or not is as much of an objectification. You impose criteria and if they step out of the boundaries, you stop thinking of them as friends. If you think you can go through life without doing that, well good luck with either the self-delusion or complete lack of social stimulation.

My latest attempts at flight seemed slightly more successful than they previously had been. I attempted the feat by following the age of Toa of "Flying is simply falling and missing the ground", only to discover the unspoken "screw you" in this philosophy and I began to fall through the ground and into an abyss of nothingness. Fortunately the gods seemed to smile on me, and kindly teleported me out of that timeless hell and back to where I had been standing before my hubris. Unfortunately, the gods also seem to be angry with me because they killed me on the spot the instant afterwards.

Good luck and I hope it goes well ^^

You know, Gender identity is an interesting topic. Studied it briefly as a part of my Psychology A-Level in college and found it fascinating.

Take me for example, I go to a hairdressers instead of a barbers, enjoy clothes shopping considerably, would be more than willing to wear make-up if I think it looked good on me (though it doesn't, so I don't), enjoy reading romance stories (often in mange or anime form) with no discrimination regarding the genders of those involved (for example, one of my favourite anime series is a "Boy's Love" series) and I look pretty good in tights.

Okay, the last one is a bit of a lie (I look amazing in tights j/k). But my point is, I am quite effeminate in a lot of ways and don't deny this. But I still identify as straight (what with never having been attracted to a man but having been attracted to women in the past) and as male, and was born with and to the best of my knowledge still have a penis. Hell, I had to pretty much come out to my parents as straight because they assumed otherwise 0_o...

I know someone who is very "typically male" in their ways and mannerisms, and hen they turned about nineteen they announced that they wished to be addressed as a male, changed their name to a masculine name and began dressing in the 'male clothes'. He is still a friend of mine and all that's really changed is the name I call them. The state of the female-to-male operation is simply primitive for him to consider it at the moment but aside from that, he is very much a he.

Now, it may be because we're the "new, kinder and more accepting generation" but I'll admit I was surprised by how accepting everyone he knew was of him. Even the people who didn't "understand" accepted it. Faith in humanity? I almost have some from that ^^

So yeah, gender and sexuality are very much not binary and can't be simplified to such with any ease when you get down to it. It's still a bit primitive but as far as sexuality goes I like the "Romantic and Sexual" chart where a person can be romantically interested in genders or individuals but not sexually or vice versa or of course can be both. Even that is still rather crude, it's clearly not a one-dimensional spectrum and a also likely not two-dimensional.

As for gender, I view it as one has Gender Identity, as in what they view themselves as, a Physical Gender, what they look like naked, and a Biological Gender, what they are born as. Biological Gender isn't exactly binary either (what with hermaphroditism and pseudohermaphroditism) but it is very much a fixed thing determined by your DNA. It's also, medical implications, irrelevant for most of your life. The important factor is of course your gender identity, what you identify as.

Of course this is also largely irrelevant in my world view, but I'm not exactly a sexist and I'm one of those people who is proud to admit he would hit a woman in a situation where he'd hit a man.  But since I'm also not very violent, and most women I know could probably beat me up, that's not exactly a big deal xD Plus I have a pretty loose view of the world sexually. I mean, I wouldn't be bothered if I suddenly found myself attracted to someone who identified as or had a physical gender of male...it's be new, I'll give it that, but it wouldn't bother me. Sexuality to me is just "historically I've been attracted to X, therefore I am most likely in the future to be attracted to X". My X is "people who identify as and have the body of women"

tl;dr :- I think Gender Identity is intellectually interesting. On the practical side, it's important to be comfortable with your own body and if you aren't, then there is nothing at all wrong with changing it.

Well depends on the reason. The fact that he knows she cuts herself means it may be attention seeking, a way of emotionally manipulating people to illicit sympathy.

As for he should get her help...well, if it's the best solution to his problem I'd agree. If there are better ways of getting out, then no I disagree and fail to see how her humanness qualifies her for the wasted energy :S

This definitely doesn't sound like psychopathy or schizophrenia or anything. Definitely troubled, but it's likely not her fault so Do you know anything about her home situation? Are you friends with her or did you meet on a purely romantic basis?

Actually since Psychopathy is a term abandoned by most psychologists in favour of "Anti-Social Personality Disorder", so the term has come to mean for many a whole family of disorders. Borderline Personality Disorder, which is more common in females and closer matches the personality described here, is often included in that umbrella. "(S)he's troubled" is a glorious way to open up room for troubled people to take advantage because that's what they do.

The reason he should avoid hurting her (which may prove impossible) is to avoid or minimise any vengeance or retribution ^^

But you can at least flail like a mad man and hope you don't drown

Heh, ah Slaughterfish. They were evil demon fish from beyond the gates of hell that swarmed you the instant you set foot in any kind of oceanic water in Morrowind. Ever leap out really far in the ocean? They almost seemed like a deliberate way of stopping players trying to swim to the non-existent mainland

Speaking of drowning, breath meter...why they takes it away? Wonder if a mod'll bring it back, or at least add some indication (changes to vision or sound for example) of how close to health-draining-away-and-then-you-die you are...

Skyrim is a bit more processor heavy than you'd expect because it does the stupid stupid stuuuupiiiid thing of using the CPU for it's shadows when the GPU could do it more efficiently. This is a result of it being written primarily for the old hardware of the consoles. Bethesda have said this is an oversight and they'll patch it for the PC, but we'll see...