As much as I’d like to dramatically some elements of Shadow World, I need to keep in mind any commercial interest in this endeavor. That being the need to utilize this project as a support system for RMU. Shadow World needs to support the mechanics of RMU: Professions, Magic Realms, casting etc. so any changes that occur in the 4th Era have to at least support RMU or not conflict with the new ruleset.
But the concept of catastrophism is in the forefront of my mind: both physical and metaphysical ones. I may blog further about physical disasters that may befall Kulthea, but I wanted to put some thoughts together about the metaphysical side.
In my most recent post, I suggested a change to the “Essaence ionosphere”: a change in the level of Essaence that could impact spellcasting mechanics and power point regen. Keeping the RMU factor in mind, that doesn’t seem like a smart design decision. However, I’m still strongly believe that a SW reset requires some tough love and I’m drafting out and idea I’m calling the Snap. (maybe “surge”)
I’m not sure what to call it, but basically it’s a surge of raw power that was created when the Northern Eye was put back into place, the Lords of Orhan withdrew their support of the Essaence flows, and the energy pulse created by the “final battle”. Imagine a power surge that blows your speakers, or trips a circuit breaker. In this case that speaker or circuit is spell casters. Magic users that were actively recharging their PPs probably took the hardest hit, but all Essaence users were impacted. Those using multipliers even worse! This resulted in a spell failure roll (modified) with a likelihood of burnout, loss of PPs (temporary or permanent condition), stat loss, mental damage.
This is important to reset the narrative. Whether I start the 4th Era 5 years, 10 years or even 100 years after the final events of the 3rd Era, there needs to be a profound impact on SW culture, power & politics. Some of the symptoms of the Snap:
- Affected casters are hiding their loss or reduction of Essaence powers. Perhaps they are relying on magic items to replace their lost abilities.
- Some of the most powerful casters were killed or rendered useless, changing the balance of power in some societies.
- The deaths of powerful casters creates a gap in knowledge, and some spell lists become lost or difficult to learn.
- There is a increase in the use and reliance of technology to replace spell use.
- Magic and perhaps magic items are more rare.
- Dabblers, or professions that use both tech and magic become more common.
- Crude gunpowder weapons proliferate and the volatile nature of chemistry seems more muted.
As in my previous post, the goal here is to make Shadow World new again for long time players, align it with the RMU ruleset and create a framework for third party content.