Up and at 'em = down and out?

Thanks to the film Gravity the Kessler syndrome is getting plenty of discussion at the moment. That's the idea that objects colliding in orbit could trigger a cascade, with the mass of debris produced potentially rendering spaceflight very hazardous, keeping us on the ground, grounded.

It's easy to imagine it used as a weapon, but for sci-fi and fantasy it could make for a strange new world - one not so far from the world we're in now.

Using your braners (1) - World-changing weaponry

I want to show more of the scope in the braner concept, so this is the first in a series on possible applications for gaming and in wider fiction. It's propluristemic content, meaning it's designed for use in no particular game system or setting, for adaptation as preferred.

I recommend reading the last post first, and maybe this one, to find out what a braner is.

The idea is that part of a transdimensional structure - whether a lode of a weird material, or a daemon, or something else - is coaxed, driven or worked into a device of some kind.

The two here are melee or projectile weapons, and the entity is assumed to be the edge of the blade, or the surface making contact. This also suggests the sheath or equivalent is worked to contain the effect, or a variation on the weaver aspect is used to activate it.

Each one has a few possible names, to reflect the variety of worlds that could develop it.

Vault's Call, Sibilance, The Exsanctor etc.

This weapon cleaves solid matter cleanly, as if liquid, apparently destroying all material along the path. In fact, each particle is drawn over a dimensional boundary (cf. whisker).

The weapon may cut through a barrier of any nature except transdimensional. In combat a hit ignores all armour and fields with this same exception. The hit is always treated as critical or does critical or maximum damage, and will otherwise cause immediate death.

If left unsheathed, the transdimensional part will pass through matter on which it rests or which it strikes, and it will continuously draw in particles from a surrounding atmosphere or reservoir until this is exhausted - to which myriad dead worlds and voids may testify.

The constant whisper of this flow may be heard, and the space beyond may be sensed.

Wail o' the Weft, Shreave, The Disenverter etc.

This weapon warps the current reality, removing or remaking existing matter and infusing it with strange forms from unknown sources beyond dimensional boundaries (cf. winder).

In combat a hit ignores all armour and fields except those of a transdimensional nature and is treated as if coated with a permanently debilitatingly poison, while the maximum damage result causes immediate death. Each hit results in a single mutation over time.

In each situation in which the weapon is unsheathed, that location or route is corrupted and may bleed; any entity later touching this point or line is treated as if hit. Where this weapon proliferates, the world may quickly become unrecognisable, even uninhabitable.

When in motion the weapon emits a shriek and ripples may be felt in the fabric of reality.

Hopefully this does make the possible uses clearer, or helps point a way. The last post has more context, and once you can visualise what's going on, the ideas should flow...

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Following the money, or not?

Has anyone ever used inflation in a game world?

Every time the party brings treasure out into the world there could be a knock-on effect, prices rising in the local area as the new money gets spread about, or those rolling in it get milked.

Or when an army brings its guns and requisition orders and there are shortages of the basics.

What new industries might spring up, and if there was a limited population, what might not get done? Where would the equilibrium be? Would everyone make for the caves and ruins in a new gold rush, or follow forces over the horizon for barter, auxiliary work or prestige? Would new centres of power and cliques appear, or a cargo cult form?

How about a realm leaving the precious-metal standard? After all, if one of the functions of money is to store value, it ought to be a thing that loses little value over time, and the aim of the game could be undermining that. It needs to be a good medium of exchange and unit of account too, but in a fantasy world there might be many things to do it better.

Even in our world there might be many things to do it better. How would our our own made-up money work in a fantasy world? Would it be laughed off, or be a scheme for a smart group to try? Could a pyramid get going, and would the lords and their lieutenants clamp down? Would the newly rich be allowed to take treasure into other realms?

And why would treasure bring experience anyway? I guess it's just a short-hand for the process of development in getting it. Maybe a better basis for that would be number of decisions or dice rolls made, maybe with a bonus for failure or injury, for the reflection.

Lots of questions. I didn't mention currency unions though. That could well be too raw.

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Oooh, pretty... - Living table (3) - Entries 1-10

I don't know if these crystal cave pics are doing the rounds. If you haven't seen them, they're well worth a look for the wonder as well as inspiration.

The shapes remind me a little of obelisks, most likely because I still have in mind the Obelisk at Dawn scenario for Risus at engine of thwaak and that fallen obelisk terrain tile at NetherWerks.

It got me inspired enough to think about a cave contents table for DM Muse, like Small Creatures and Bodies of Water, but again NetherWerks are on it with their own Cave & Tunnel Hazards.

Then I thought of a table of rocks and crystals, maybe weird ones. Greg's totems for Novarium, explained here, and the post on the jeweller up at the moment at The Tao of D&D have that covered in part, but there's always scope for strange new types.

The idea ties in with the mines posts here too, the intro and nascent list of fictional mines and resources. The material might have effects of some sort, desirable or not, and if mined could impact the local community and area, later the wider world.

Needles deals with the subject in science fantasy with the Fuel Traders of Nimbus IV, maybe as satire. That theme of exploitation is also there in Moon too I remember now, a good film. A Field Guide to Doomsday also posted the borer blimp recently, not to mention back in February the very imaginative quarilla, an organic crystalline blend.

Thinking about those crystals then, here are some ideas to start off a living table.

1. These formations bleed a palpable energy into the surrounding space.
2. These formations absorb energies of all kinds, but whither do they go?
3. These formations are soft to the touch, flexible and strong.
4. These crystals sparkle, but to the rhythm of no light that falls upon them.
5. These crystals leak - no, whisper - the knowledge of aeons.
6. These crystals are hollow, the larger forming the passages of a strange network.
7. These structures are growing visibly, branching and filling the space.
8. The structures seem to convey something - are they a vast communications grid?
9. These structures extend filaments into rock and flesh alike, growing on within.
10. The pillars here support the world, perhaps even... Yes, even the fabric of reality...

I've just added all of these to DM Muse and they should be up soon. It's a living table, which means anyone can add new entries - if you have a good idea, don't hold back.

Update: How about treating that crack on Talysman's latest geomorph as a crystal?

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All mines?

Here's a brief list of fictional mines and other mining-related resources, hopefully useful to someone at some point for settings, scenarios or terrain, in whatever kind of game or fiction. I'll update as I find or remember more, with your suggestions too if you have any.

Have a look at the original post for a few thoughts on how these or similar places might fit into games. With the length of the list as it is, they do seem relatively underused.

Mine the gap

Remember kiddies, mines are dangerous. Just ask Thomas. And look at that terrain...

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Gold struck

On the subject of gifts, a brief look at wealth, specifically mining in games. One of the three wise men gave gold and mining is a real ghost of past, present and future.

The past we know about - 2010 was a year the human cost really made the news. In the present we have the battle for rare earth metals, a big one - you could easily have some of these in whatever you're using to read this. For the future, if you think Branson et al are interested only in tourism and lifting, think again - a smart investor would be growing the technology to mine the moon and asteroids. There's money in them thar belts.

How to fit all of this into a game?