Who guards the Demon Wall?
The strongest we have, warriors and mages who serve the world with their lives.
What lies beyond the Wall?
Evil, there is no other way to describe it. We cannot reason with them. Any communication leads to trickery, corruption or possession. The further one goes towards the pole, the more evil and strong the beings are. No one knows how far it's possible to go, or what lies at the end, if there even is one.
How can we stop it?
We defend with all our might and hope that one day someone brave and powerful finds a way. We continue our efforts, and lose many myn if we are too forceful, so we wait, we fortify, and we contain.
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Why does the Dual do nothing?
The Dual does not sit idly and watch this threat destroy our world s/he has been instrumental in creating the original force that created the wall, and continues to inform and aid in the most dire of circumstances. S/He has said there will be no direct intervention on hir part now, it is a fruitless venture until the time is right.
When will the time be right?
Why cannot it be hastened or explained?
If we all knew the ways of the gods then many questions would not need to be asked...
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The Demon Siege
A war behind walls, building dams to stop the flood
The Demon Wall is much more than just a wall. There is a series of nested walls circling the North Pole, with each progressive one being harder to defend against demon raids and magical storms. Experienced warriors learn much and fatigue faster in such conditions, but there are cities on trade routes and prosperous lands that feed a constant stream of refreshed myn and wait to recuperate those returning from shifts. Many a trader makes jokes about healing potions running like water and the inexhaustible demands of a wartime economy. There is naturally sad truth behind trying to make light of this.
Along the walls are great fortresses with protective enchantments, being refreshed and augmented. The towers reach up like great fingers, their tips pointing in towards the pole. The four largest towers are shrouded in their element: Air, Water, Earth and Magic. The monks which guard these towers are the finest warriors in the world.
In the skies there is an abundance of floating cities, for demons have wings too.
Demon Gate Strike Force
It all but exhausted the strength of the Dual and the military forces of Shashnia: Shashnimyn and Myn alike. The building of the walls was an undertaking by a tired legacy of wounded soldiers. In the years since, the walls have grown inwards, but the demons continue to push backwards, growing ever stronger despite the increasing defenses. The current state of the war is attrition. Demons build lairs and war camps until they are at a strength where they can besiege a tower, break a wall or raid. In return, the Order of the Towers are constantly sending their best warriors in to disrupt the Demons as they amass.
Special Forces Missions
You have been selected as a capable and noble warrior to infiltrate the Demon lairs and strike back at them where it hurts most. You will be in perilous danger beyond where much support can be given to you. It won't be possible for you to take on the army alone, but your objectives lie behind enemy lines.
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High level individuals
Characters should be have at least 200 character creation points. Can use existing or created characters. New characters will be assembled from the warriors already training at the Elemental towers. Groups will have trained together extensively prior to a mission. Fire and the dark arts are deemed a necessary evil to aid with infiltration. The stigma only applies if individuals abuse their power.
Theme
- High level characters take on risky strikes against the Demon Army
- Opponents too strong as a whole for full ot attack
- Tactical Strikes to weaken resources
- Demons have guarded lairs which are death traps
- Elemental Monks of the Demon Wall
Gear chosen before mission
- Allow high-powered combos
- Basic items are free
- Magical items are available for permanent purchase by the characters for a reduced price
- Limits are set by the nature of the mission
- The level of the mission will dictate a pool from which special gear can be assigned
Planning stage
- Flashback between action stages
- Information available to players in planning vs actuality
- May expend 1+# of Action points to be kept as a contingency item
- Revealed when the need arises, but not described before
Action stages
- Supplemental information gathering
- Infiltration
- Shutting down security systems
- Getting past the walls
- Disguises
- Preparing escape routes
- Objective
- Heist
- Assassination
- Drop-off
- Sabotage
- Escape
Plot Hooks
- Shadowrun One shots
- Special Ops/Hesit/Spy movies
- Guns of Navaronne
- James Bond
- The Longest Day
- Blackhawk Down
- Die Hard
- Ocean's Eleven
- Spycraft d20
Gear
Magical Items!
- Portable holes
- Potions
- Bionic drones
Spy stuff
- Rope and movement items
- Observation items
- Hacking
- Illusions
- Portable Traps
Fancy Weapons
- Bionic weapons
- Magic guns
- Enchanted Melee weapons
- Concealable/light weight items
Multipurpose armour
- Biosuits
- Steam-Crystal Power Armour
- Stealth suits
- Engineering packs
- Turrents
- Drone carrying
- Shield generators
- Big Badda Boom
Support
- Low altitude air-drop
- Bombing runs
- Shuttle extractions
- High altitude drop pods
- Reinforcements
- After objective completed
- Overpower & destroy or shutdown lair
- As a temporary ruckus to help extraction
- Ritual Spell casters
- Telecommunication
- Back to base
- Can be hacked?
- Emergency teleport
- Magic Hacking
- Jamming
- Overload targeting
- Weather diversions
- Location
- Proximal outpost beyond the Demon Walls
- Higher power, higher risk
- Demon Gate Towers
- Amplification Crystals
- Less Power over a distance
- Safey, Logistics
- Coordinate with other Towers
Rules and Meta-Gaming
Effects made by Bidding or Drama Mechanics result in the story-teller getting double back into the pool to use, but not to reverse the actions where these points were gained (nasty!)
High-powered and deadly theme. Very gritty and tense feel. Things will go wrong, and it's meant to be for those who like a tough challenge.
Example Characters
- Sniper
- Augmented Senses
- Perception & Divination
- Illusion and Stealth
- Enchanted compound crossbow
- bows can have enchanted projectiles whereas guns cannot.
- different arrows for different tasks
- homing, poison, shrapnel, growing
- Flame thrower
- for escapes, distraction and upclose
- ninja style hand to hand skills
- Tank & Drone Engineer
- Highly armoured tank with big guns for support and destruction
- Carries 6 drones to deploy and remotely control
- 2 combat drones
- armoured, hand to hand and gun-toting
- 1 sensor and communication drones
- 3 all around drones
- combat capable, can transport modules, bombs, crystals, whatevs
- Drones are Tonkin sized insects
- Stoneskin Adept
- Monk hand to hand
- Stone magic mastery
- Crystal use
- Stone & Earth elemental use
- Enchanted Crystal tonfas
- Assymentrical chunks of natural crystal
- spell augmenting and combat capable
- Team buffs
- Shields
- Tactical spells: disrupt ground, collapse, create wall, etc
- Two small crystal pistols
- can be dual weilded while still holding tonfas, allowing tonfas to use latent protection and have Woo-style bang bang
- Bruiser Beast Bionic versatile warrior
- Very strong individual, capable of many combat styles
- Axe, Tonfas, Kathinis, bow and projectiles
- Equips with whatever is fun a/o suits the mission
- Miniguns, rocket launchers? Yes please
- Totem animal(s) body modification spells for buffing self
- Backpack full of weapons can be carried by self or beast body
- Detachable armour can be spread across beast and myn, or used as shiled
- Beast armour
- Advanced version, extra ability points
- Long leap, ram, tusks/horns, grapple claw launchers, devastating bite
- can function independently of warrior, but at half strength and has to be buffed separately. When mounted buffs are merged.
- Shoulder mounted Kathini launchers (the expanding kind that shoot out as rods and grow into full javelins). Unlimited ammo, semi-automatic
- Knows one slower magic category as well
- Runes & Circles
- Plant or animal growth/summon
- Elemental magic
Image Attribution
http://keun-chul.deviantart.com/art/Illust-Fin-68244846 - CC3 BY NC ND - warriors approaching a demon stronghold
http://bananasjuice.deviantart.com/art/sorceror-63413481 - sorceror with gem
http://shockbolt.deviantart.com/art/The-Prophecy-100932544 - evil poison four arm scary
http://maxarkes.deviantart.com/art/Steam-Witch-King-198276626 - steam armour mace