Bridges of Time - bringing characters into FarTomrorrows

"Still Waters run Deep" from Rick Wakeman's 90s "Return to the Center of the Earth" album.

One advantage of embracing the Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe paradigm (1) is that a "Fantasy World" of the Far-Future can deal with many things a real "In the mythic past" or "Alternative world" (even if IN a basement universe!) simply could not.

"Heroic Adventurers" are tolerated as long as they don't turn to banditry, robbery or killing non-monsters without legit cause because mankind realises that there always will be people who can not stand nor will fit in their station and must seek more.  It's a rare thing which most envy as children but thank the Increate it was not their fate as an adult.  Likewise though the Children of Adam still fill the Green Hills of Earth with their tragedies and triumphs, laughter and tears they understand the "Long cycle" history is in and though they mostly live in a late Renissance or Pre-Industrial time there is no hurry on progress for they somehow know they've done this many times now.

Also - and this is one of the best parts - you can put in a character from almost ANY campaign... (2) 

Gunslinger?  They know about guns, some use muskets.  He'd better save bullets and know how to self-load cartridges and find metals to cast them and likely need to adventure to find materials to make them - notably the high quality steel as most of the planet has been mined deep.  But if he's civil. and polite might get offered a guard job and would be welcome at most farms or ranches.

Space-Man?  As he's wondering how "Boned" he is looking over his crashed ship a local farmer will ride up and invite him in for dinner, likely forgiving him as charity if his ship landed in part of his field.  He'd know about Man's children amongst the stars in neat blcok printed "Wonder Tales" books tucked away in a small bookshelf - those are bizarrely distorted tales that loosely resemble 40s to late 80s sci-fi and fantasy.  The farmer will point to the moon and talk about how it's green now with shallow oceans and its shimmering atmosphere and how man used to sail on the moon.  This won't "Change the World" - the local Boyar will try to help him get started (3) finding some parts to repair his ship.  Yes, he's found "Mankind's lost homeworld...!" but when he gets back officials from his society will quietly lecture him not to rave about it because they are NOT going to fight a "Galactic War" over an ancient world that's been mined to the core along with most of the Solar System stripped for a populace of "Primitives".  Also there are some odd defenses put up with near Level 4 tech...they'll shut themselves up and go "Uh, classified"...  Then they'll finish it by saying "This is Mankind's backup plan.  IF we get wiped out we'll emerge from this world every few  ten thousand years.  If we need genetic legacy or to find some history, it's there."

Frozen person?  Unpack and thaw and ready to be mind-F*cked!  (4)  There are TONS of Frozen people who pop into place.  They wander around and usually by charity of fellow men, especially through the Agnost Church they are placed.  Their stories of their past life often help them work with their new family group and sometimes make fodder for new "Wonder Tales".  A few can become "Adventurers".

Dimensional shift or exile?  Maybe the science experiment went wrong.  Maybe they were some space overlord dictator who froze himself to escape the legacy of his crimes - launching himself into space or burying himself in the tallest mountains....  Perhaps they are a gentle exile of a society based on reason but their philisophical views while too advanced for most were just slightly off and created such a disturbance they had to be put into a time field.  These are like (and often are) the "Frozen Persons" except those deliberately exiled were done so as a good reason - from crimes of being a world conquerer who eventually lost the battle for domination to gentle philisophical exiles - they are sent Aeons into space and time and end up on Earth.  These rarely are able to acclimate like "Normal" people from another time.  Many do try to start where they left off as Warlords or great thinkers of new ages now long past - but the oppression of the long hand of time wears their ambitions down.  Most conquerors find themselves mere "Boyars" and more than satisfied while many great thinkers join the Agnost Church as a Scribe to spend their lives reading the vast weight of history.

Adventurers - Getting to this - yes you can bring your older or current "Murder Hobos" to this game.

Maybe they stepped through a portal or a Dimension Door spell went awry.  Maybe they died and got re-incarnated?  Maybe they died long ago but somehow were re-created as if they were still alive by devices hidden in the deadliest Entropic Ruins called "Flesh Looms"?  Or perhaps they visited the Chronal Shrine or a strange house on the borderlands or found an odd Lighthouse on the edge of a desert...

It's a Late Renissance or Pre-Industrial feeling world - NOT "Mideval" like functional D&D basically is - just the far future.  If your characters from any baseline RPG world they can adapt and thrive.  Unlike the REAL far past there's not the high level of Xenophobia of really anyone outside town or nation regardless of racial issues that'd make a standard RPG town crawl into a gruesome public execution in a heartbeat.  They can still have that happen to them if they go "Murder Hobo" such as killing a shopkeeper who tells them to leave after being rude but if they treat people with basic respect they'll get it in return and only have negative consequence if they are disruptive.  Most 'common' people will like to hear traveller's tales and the nobility will just make sure they aren't a threat then perhaps hire them if need be.  The same with Magic or odd cultures - these get more attention but not instant hostility without good reason.  This is something near unthinkable if set in a real past era.

Again, this is a tribute to Vance, Wolfe and others - (1) - in great thanks.  This is not "Science Fiction" though it is - rather it's what a far future might be.  One both unrecognizable from today and at the same time familiar.  Magic of tranditional #ttrpgs works as such - but the people while looking pseudo mideval are not they'd be more compatable with a 'modern' person beyond the surface.

Far Tomorrows / Orange Sun will of course have much more details and some fun tables for suggestions and mechanics for these transitions.  A complete cross of all RPGS is quite impossible but to any experienced player the guidelines should be easy.

Notes -

1 - and Clark Ashton Smith, William Hope Hodgeson, 

2 - Well Kaijiru characters might end up hunted by NPC adventurers as "Monsters" with local authorities placing a bounty by reaction...  AI beings might be confined to the bottom of VERY dangerous "Entropic Ruins" with already existing and far more advanced AI (think "In the year One Hundred thousand twenty five twenty five...") that are ancient and nearly transcendent in ability in their decaying but active ruins of some far future now far past civilization...

3 - Via the "Murder Hobos" or the Player Characters!

4 - Disclaimer - IF cyrogenics becomes a legit option do NOT freeze yourself for many thousands of years - you'll die.  I mean if you can get the resources for a freezer tube that will last that long, make a chamber where you can wake up for a while and have food, drink, stretch out and exercise lightly for a few weeks then go back in if whatever you are seeking hasn't come yet...  Natural radioactive breakdown in your own body will kill you unless you thaw out for a few weeks every thousand years or so.  Hopefully this will be corrected.  Since this world is set in the very far future we'll assume it has somehow.  Most of us accept a "Transporter" concept thanks to Trek, this would be less difficult save the long times needed to keep active.

5 -  Fantasy, Wild West, 70s Era Science fiction feel, Post Apocalypse, super spy

You will not be missed...

 

To the "Woke" attempting to ruin gaming - FUCK OFF

"You will NOT be missed" 

---to paraphrase your triumphant banishment/banning to any not agreeing with your treacly snowflake diatribes of garbage declaring how you are going to file off the rough edges and focus on 'inclusion' so much any coherent game, gameplay, enjoyment or appeal is going to be a shadow of itself and anyone disagreeing with you is a 'hater'...

Your LIES have been exposed - no longer just "One Man's Opinion" you are a fake movement created by elites to distract attention from real issues; Unfair tax breaks to the wealthy, jobs overseas and illegals hired, corrupt politicians and no media just entertainment...

There never really was any problem with Video Games, Comic Books and TTRPGs.  Especially the latter.  They reflected society which was on a progressive bent but especially the Role Playing Game market was the most open the most "Liberal".  This "Social Justice" flood of fecal lies has done no good and likely benefitted racists far more than any old school "Boys in the Hood" group ever could.

The "Anti-Woke" gaming community is NOT racist, sexist or demanding of any political, religious...lifestyle or whatever stance.  We reject your "Divide and conquer" strategy.  You just want to keep people arguing to distract from real political issues.  Having pathetic adult babies break one set of toys - the hobbies many of us sheltered in - then turning the backlash into an issue is what you are doing.

Anti-Woke gaming will have none of it.  Anyone is welcome to play or buy our products but we will not censor or curtail our vision.  Likewise we might even include MORE of the "Problematic" stuff - not to send any negative message but tell the LIARS to fuck off and MELT their pathetic snowflakes who might believe their lies.

To the SNOWFLAKES - the people who actually believe the "Social Justice" LIE...

Uh - ever hear of a term; "useful IDIOTS"?  

That's what you are.  You are NOT going to change the world.  Likely you'll bleat with a 'fashionably radical' crowd and make soemone else rich then be cast aside and forgotten.  Perhaps you'll be baited to do criminal acts and then get no legal help or assistance after punishment if caught.  Later your actions now could haunt you - after your parents are gone and not able to bail you out again and your 'gender studies' degree hasn't even prepared you to work at Starbucks.

This world has 1,000,001 major problems and even in good times it always had.

Orcs, Dark Elves, Chicks in Chain-mail bikinis, Damsels in Distress in ROLE-playing GAMES - and comic books, video games - are NOT on the list.  In being an adult baby and trying to break other's toys you hit the few otherwise functional and normal adult males who might have tolerated you and helped you without being blood relatives or paid care providers.  You only hurt your 'cause' doing this.

I suggest fucking off to a real counselor who doesn't send you to TTRPGs as "Cheap Therapy" and find someone who can help you handle LIFE.  And I suggest finding someone who'll teach you the basic rules of respect to others since you demand so much yourself.  You aren't going to change the world trying to break another's toys - you'll just end up in a situation where your parents, teacher, counselor can't protect you and a lot of people want to smack you.  This isn't a "specific threat" or any sort of direct threat from me - it's an assurance of what said behavior can bring and your type can't even handle negative comments on the internet.

The TTRPG world is a very rich, diverse world already and decades ahead of the social curve.  It'll always be ready to explore new horizons and options - but forcing false "Tolerance" and "Diversity" will only lead to backlash.  Indeed this anti-woke is part of it - but hopefully to scare away before things flip and the corporate puppet masters make equally bland stuff with a 'right wing racist' face to keep "Divide and Conquer" going.

Go and find a cause, a real world cause, even if it's not "Fashionably Radical"

Leave other's hobbies (TTRPG, Video Games, Comic Books...) ALONE - you do no good.

You will not be missed.

Going forward I'm going to make this game more about a neat new revision for TTRPGS especially "The Core" - assuming an ADULT audience that can handle sexual, racial, social issues not as 'causes' but as they blend into the RPG world in a new and flexible visions.  Due to the "Social Justice Warrior" assault - again "Social Engineering" by Wall-Street as a distraction not a real movement -

 I'm going to deliberately include TONS of naughty stuff just to make the "Woke" scream - stuff that I might not have been so extreme with if they weren't around.  Not as bad as "F.A.T.A.L." but a bit here and there - no real racist or sexist message intended just "Hey, WOKE, you tried to fix what ain't broken, now you have MORE chicks in chainmail, slavegirls, drooling monsters that resemble old stereotypes and the hobby is R rated when it had been G-rated...Nice going, DORKUS!"

But - in doing so I'll try to make things more FUN than just an 'anti-woke' response!

------------------------

Any other TTRPG designers?  Video Game, Comic books?

Any creative sick of the shadow censorship this modern "Woke", formerly known as "Political Correctness" has?  Worse than Big Brother or Stalin, you worry someone somewhere will be "Offended" and shriek for censorship?  You don't do any good to anyone by catering to them.

Just reject the narrative...  It is NOT "Left V Right" nor "Racist v Non-Racist" and all the garbage.  It's lies.  A distraction.  The "Woke" are "useful Idiots" bleating and a few con-artists.

You are welcome to use these and pass them around - on websites and on and in products-

Only conditions:

1 - you are opposed to censorship and for free speech, press and market

2 - you won't bend the knee to complainers nor save the most basic of decency self censor in fear

3 - you'll do your reasonable effort to support others in free speech, press, market regardless of 

any real 'politics' - in short I'd even be for "The Woke" making their own games, etc.

just I will NOT cater to them in mine.

The Far Tomorrow products and works of associated writers and artists are open to ALL - unlike the "Woke" trying to ruin the hobbies by being vicious, hateful, bigoted and inclusive...  That's what they accuse us of being but they should look in the mirror.  We just know the evils of censorship by bending the knee in fear of vocal liars and delusional followers.  It was "The Satanic Panic" of the 80s - and note "Divide and Conquer"...?  While Geraldo and Chick got parents to burn their kids D&D books and Grandparents had to watch kids for fear of any Day-Care center the S&L Scandal blew through with a micro fraction of anyone getting in trouble.  Real Satanists and nutbags who maybe played D&D killed a FEW people but a good portion of our country's wealth was STOLEN - this was a distraction.  Also the news probably made Satanism more popular than ever in history...

Elves, Orcs and Morlocks in the world of Far-Tomorrows...

 Will this thing have Orcs and Elves....?

Yeah, but NOT like you think - even if on the surface they are like you think...

Just to piss off the "Woke" this scenario will have plenty of room for Orcs and Elves - including Dark Elves, savage hugely endowed lusty Orks who might assault women, etc.  I'd have actually tried to move away from them without it so credit the "Social Justice Warriors" bleating and shrieking to get a "Trope" not only perpetuated but LOCKED IN... 

Having said that, one trope I want to break from is the leeching off of Tolkien the "baseline" TTRPG uses.    Really I think they whacked off to fantasies about sodomizing little hobbits and the Tolkien coffin feeders brought in their lawyers in self-defense sometimes...

No disrespect intended to JRR himself, his impact on fantasy and literature is unquestionable and deserves great thanks... - matter of fact I like his "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" translation and the Sean Connery movie "Sword of the Valiant" made from it.  However for "Old School" fantasy I prefer Lord Dunsany - heard of him?  No?  Shame - try "The Fortress Unvanquishable save for Sacnoth" arguably the first modern Sword and Sorcery pure fantasy (vs historical) story...  Quite debatable but he was a level above so many others...

Most of this TTRPG paradigm is to borrow from Gene Wolfe and especially Jack Vance - that such a world is that of the Far, FAR future to explain the Magic, the creatures, the overwhelming number of Dungeons and wild places and the seemingly primitive/mideval but "Modern" people and attitudes...  Another reality - well if a cosmological constant is changed the universe is either thinner than two atoms across all space as we know it or is a burning rock a tenth of a milimiter across.  The past as it never was, no way...  The future remembering the past in long cycles however....

I'm not stealing from Dunsany here, or Vance, rather H G Wells for an explanation for any Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Elves and such creatures in this fantasy TTRPG setting...

H.G. Wells, rather!

You see this is set about a million years in the future and the Elves are akin to the Eloi envisioned by Wells in "The Time Machine" and the Orcs and underground races are the "Moorlocks".  Given later knowledge of real genetics and technology we can deviate a bit from Wells's story meant for social analogy more than real speculation of the future.  I recommend reading it, short novel and should be read as an adult but NOT forced on a kid in school.

The Elves are the inheritors of some "Upper Class" of perhaps five hindered thousand years hence but that also before the 'current' year.  They managed to establish some kind of system to keep themselves in power and wealth but free of the need for any labor that lasted a long time even enduring the latest "Wizard Lord" era between that and the present time.  Like the joke of the American Businessman and the Hispanic Fisherman what would you do if worked really hard so you were so rich you didn't have to work?  They made a new Garden of Eden that stretched over many many miles that their descendants could run and frolic in beauty the environment protecting them from danger and aiding them.  They lived in great Jade cities that were almost immune from the ravages of time while "Deep Elder Forests" served them and protected them.  Now the Jade Palaces are just large domes and mostly open structures but the woods live and breathe and respond to them and ensure always nice weather and bountiful food and protection.

Unlike Wells's vision they did not degenerate mentally or evolve completely outside humanity - too many safeguards built into their DNA including secondary mechanisms in their cells kept them stable.  Like the movie "The Fifth Element" a being from this age would give a modern genetic test a crash for there have been countless edits over the Eons.

These "Elves" as known in this far age also came about in a civilization post - magickal development by the "Wizard Lords" so indeed they and their forests had this advantage built into them too - effects we would consider Magic in this day and age.  Per Clarke any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.  This is also why elves have both a natural affinity but an upper limit for the Magic they can weild - the safeguards that allow them some level of power but prevent them from fully ascending to perhaps challenge the Wizard Lords but most likely disrupt their existing "Eden" with foolish abuse of 8th level and above spells.

YES - in this game if your character's "Race" is "Elf" you have natural affinity for some Magic most being able to cast at least a cantrip without studying - BUT - you have upper limits on spells and won't ever become an "Arch-Mage" and don't even think about being a "Wizard Lord" even if this setting gets an "Epic Level".  It'd be easier to get a Goblina's skin not to have a tinge of green.  Ten times.  This is in "Unfair Balance" with other classes that do have a higher magic affinity but none of the Elven legacy of Nature, Natural Magick, Nobility template, Wisdom, beauty and ability to fight with speed.

The Eloi or Alloi or Elves did not become mentally retarded but over Eons lost their identity and now they merely assume they are a superior race perhaps only loosely linked to mankind living in their elder forests and ancient now crumbling Jade domes overcome with special breeds of trees that keep these from falling apart and grow into vast cities in the deep forests and excrete nourishing sap and fruit.

The Orks, the Goblins, the Dwarves are the Morlocks... The latter are "The Great Northern Whites" a playable race of northern beings that live in the frozen north and inside great underground Liminal Arkologies...  

However, like Wells the Moorlock races were the "Workers" - unlike them they weren't really some mass underclass.  Most were highly skilled professional workers who were well paid.  Since the elites wanted a new "Garden of Eden" they accepted well paid positions maintaining it.  They liked the endless high tech corridors, having more credits than they knew what to spend at the great shopping malls, occasional vacations to the Islands though the sun seemed harsher and harsher till they stopped going...

Most of the machinery was self-repairing and artificially intelligent.  Over time the "Ghosts" in the machines became "Guardian Spirits" that guided them in their labors.  The great underground machines mostly kept the endless corridors inhabitable and boosted the environment for the "Great Elder Forests".  These machines might also be part of some ancient systems that slowly move the earth as the Sun gradually grows brighter to help keep the climate stable and can trap or emit carbon and countless other operations as needed.

Instead of Moorlocks proper there are "Great Northern Whites" who mostly live underground and/or in the frozen north.  They are not stunted but tall, muscular, beautiful humans who can stand cold to 80F below casually with no fear of frostbite.  Their skin is usually white along with their eyes being mostly white save tiny pupils which widen to turn jet black in near total darkness to see with minimal light.  They do NOT like high heat or harsh sun and can get heat fatigued or sunburned easily if and when they venture south.

A few often do venture south, their warrior skills and instinct for machinery and problem solving helping them out.  Sadly there is an ancient racist stereotype that "Whites from the North" are murderous conquerors and slavers so they face some social penalties.  Very few if any delude themselves to be "Superior" at anything save their own adaptation to the far north.  They find the darker, shorter people of the wider part of the world to be very cute and like to have sex with them, but only voluntarily.  They'd fight to defend themselves and slay any real threat no matter the race, species, skin color but rarely if ever start a fight.

The interaction between Great Northern Whites and Elves is usually not favorable.  It is rarely hostile because their lives are so far apart now they do not hate each other but want to be distant.  Many "Liminal Arkology" tunnels lead right beneath Elven glades but when discovered both sides expertly seal these connecting portals.  Sometimes in foreign ground the Great Northern Whites joke the Elves look "Tasty" but there hasn't been any such incident and even such a remark is only after a LONG diatribe about them being "Savages"...

The other Orcish/Goblinoid are the lesser workers - those assigned the true worst jobs such as being above ground or outside after world wars and epochs of poison - where the surface of the planet was mostly toxic (save the protected Elven Glades) and the sun beat harsh and deadly.  The Green is a self-reinforcing symbiote derived from Blue-Green Algae that gives a microscopic boost (.01% food energy if in the sun) but also absorbs excess radiation and filters toxins from the body growing darker until nearly black green.

Sadly the social conditioning did not hold and the Orks, Goblinoids and miscellaneous "Lessers" are indeed savage and dangerous.  Bandits.  Ambush predators.  Violent tribal savages.  They do target Elves out of some deep seated jealousy not knowing why while Elves tend to be very cruel to them somehow knowing they are 'lesser' beings.

These types, Orcs, Goblins, and Dwarves also have both stricter limits on Magic use but also a high resistance to its effects.  Magic that affects the world such as lifting up a rock and throwing it would still do the damage a rock thrown by natural means would do but trying to charm them or use a bolt of 'magical' energy might work less.  Dwarves have the most resistance, Orcs and Goblins the least and various other creatures different levels.  They also have that from great to mild penalties for learning it themselves.  Most "Magic" from these peoples are "Shamans" who call on lesser Gods and spirits to give them powers aka "Clerical" spells.

In between all of this - almost inexplicably (A Wizard did it!!!) the "Baseline" humans exist and might slowly again outnumber the "Old Races" even though said groups are divergent from Humanity proper.  Humans act as a bridge because Elves and Orcs cannot interbreed but they can with Humans and "Great Northern Whites" are accepted as a race of mankind.  

Humanity proper tends to be enthralled by the Elves who seem to be aloof ancient guardians of wisdom and nature - though their "nature" is a construct and far removed.  They tend to conflict with and hate the Green races and this reduces racial conflict among baseline humanity -like an ancient bard of the dim past mentioned - "Black and white team up on Green".  The Great Northern Whites tend to be treated with awe and fear but once they establish they are not going to "Conquer" them become nice curiosities and welcome partners for adventure or friendship.

The recent addition of the "Domesticated Goblina" - tiny petite sexual slaves created by a depraved Archmage from female goblins and human male breeding is upsetting a lot of "Traditional" notions for it proves that all of these beings clearly come from baseline humanity but were edited somehow in the past in ways their "Sacred texts" do not tell about at all.  Most simply deny this and if disgusted simply chock it up to a Wizard's sick experiments and creations.  These petite sex slaves are quite disruptive - mostly from eligible women facing tiny easy to obtain competition.  They are usually sold as sterile but this is due to a "Womb Tattoo" enchantment that is defeatable and most seek to have this undone so they can bear more human children when they have a master who is kind to them.  Most human males are unthinkably kind compared to Goblinoid behavior as they tend to not be violent to them, attempt to please them during sexual interactions, provide good food for them and shelter.  I'll not describe regular Goblinoid behavior but it is the opposite of the last sentence especially to their women.  The Goblinas being bred in the depraved Archmage's dungeon 'factory' are repeatedly told this by Grand-Mothers and Great-Grand-Mothers so they urge them to be the best and find a Human Male, any one save legit brutes or freaks.

Mention of a Goblina girl or seeing one of his flock carrying one in tow is often enough to set an Agnost Orthodox priest into the proverbial "Heebie Jeebies".  More on that great faith and their "Clerics" will come later.  However Dawgma is that it is a good deed for them to encourage a marriage and family if there is a stable sexual relationship between two people under their influence - a town, region, band of adventurers.  They have often dealt with tearful conversations telling that normal human and Beast-Person can NOT marry by strict ancient Dawgma.  There is no Dawgma on goblinoids so it is not forbidden, just it was unthinkable until recently as normal goblins are quite hideous in appearance.

This is also hipocritical as they tend to bless Elven - Human unions if it seems stable after much councilling and rarely give the "Closer-Abhumans" such as Northern Whites, Super-Persons, Tall Folk too much trouble save to test resolve.  Goblins have in general a negative history of interactions with the other races so the stigma is there and very unfair to the Goblinas.  There will be a chapter on these of course, in Orange Sun and Revealed Vulgaria. 

This is far from the first time humanity has done such a questionable deed of course.  The "Half-Size" races were created as diminutive servants for amusement and sexual relief.  Like the origins of the Elves and Goblinoid races this is lost in the weight of endless time and if confronted by "Historical Archives" they'd angrily assure it was "Balderdash and some vile fiction...  Surely Humans are just those of us who got restless and ate too much, grew too big for a proper hill home and ran off to conquer the world.  Some of us might take a fancy to you but we are so different, how would we ever introduce you to our clan as a deep friend?"

Oh, and yes there are rumors of "Dark Elves" the Eloi or Elven who in the past committed some unspeakable sin so were banished with the "Gods" burning their skin BLACK to warn others of their evil and making them so intolerant of the sun and most light they fled into the darkest depths of the earth where even the other subterranean humans fear to tread to practice the darkest of rituals.  YES if an "Elf" becomes truly evil such as the greater range of evil on the "Planar" spectrum and commits atrocities they can wake up after a night of hellish nightmares of being judged by the "Gods" and find themselves a Dark Elf that runs screaming as his or her skin and eyes burn in even the full moonlight into the nearest cave to try to reach the darkest depths.  They flee screaming past any Great Northern Whites they find the "Liminal Arkology" tunnels too bright and with "High Elves" in pursuit, the pursuers pleading a "Truce" and aid in capturing to kill "The evil one judged black..."  Most Dark Elves only hang out in "Entropic Ruins" as only there in areas the sun seems never to reach the surface proper and among horrific abhumans can they hope for any brief respite as Elves and Humanity, even Orcs fear to tread there...

This can also happen to the worst of the Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins forming truly terrifying things - again usually confined to "Entropic Ruins" as so evil almost all seek to instantly destroy them.

Also, rare as it is, there are "Dark Elves" who have rejected their depraved society of sickest perversions and evils and have braved the Sun and done all possible to redeem themselves.  They have a very LOW survival rate as the Entropic, dark forces do not release their hold casually and the others fear their enclaves secret location might be revealed.  The few who have redeemed themselves the sins of their Fathers have turned Light skinned and been welcomed back to the Elven Glades as "Pure again"...

Stories of this might make some humans with brown skin of that far future age wince without knowing why, but if they inquire the Elves and Northern whites will say has nothing whatsoever to do with them...

Thus - up to the DM and players - but we can put Elves, Orcs, Hob-wer short people, Dark elves, etc. into the game.  No real issue there!

MaxxFeral - new writer on the project.

Rationis terminus

 Rationis terminus 

This project is opposed to the "Woke" - I entertain NONE of their LIES.  They are not about any sort of social progress, they are a Nihilst CULT that's being promoted as "Useful Idiots" by the same raiders who sent jobs to China, raided long term companies to steal pensions and saddle them with debt, turned our glorious malls into "liminal space" nightmare fuel, savaged retail and are now trying to ruin the few industries not owned by "Corporate America" 100%.  Thus we will NOT "Bend the Knee" or cater to these filthy liars. Matter of fact we will likely add extreme and anti-woke content just to piss them off, but not meaning any real message of true intolerance.

I'm "left" myself - but have NOTHING to do with these "Hipsters of Hate"

So - thus these messages.  

To oppose "Social Justice Warriors" you are NOT "Racist", "Sexist" or whatever lies the snowflakes say.  You are for FREE SPEECH, Free Expression, free thought and have the brains to tell that while the world has a million and one problems a bunch of legacy Dark Elves, Orcs and Sexy ladies are NOT in that...

First one is for the Orange Sun/Far Tomorrows project.

After ones free to use for any TTRPG, Video Game, Comic Book or other project that wants to draw the line.  NO to censorship.  NO to paying extortionists wrapped in the SKIN of dead hippies they dug up.  NO to fake politics ruining a hobby so some elite hedge fund CEOs can use it to burn and turn.

The Woke are NOTHING - just "useful idiots" - Fashionable FAKE radicals without a CLUE and the LAST people to be in your cause, legal or otherwise.

---Free to use---to anti-woke---

no strings but a link to this blog and upcoming web page would be greatly appreciated!

---More to come soon!

optimus dies!

Maxx F.

What is Magic? (for TTRPG systems) For Far Tomorrows

Level 1 Mage - "I cast Magic Missile!"

DM - "But you are in a farkin' Tavern and there aren't any Monsters you dumbass!"

Level 1 Rogue - "I roll charisma to charm the ladies."

Level 1 Mage - "I said I cast Magic Missile..."

Level 1 Fighter - "Can I roll a die to see if I'm drunk yet?"

DM -nods to Level 1 Mage with a sigh, to Level 1 Rogue

Level 1 Rogue Rolls a 3

DM - "The Mirror and a number of objects shatter, the ladies leave the bar posthaste and the Barkeep pulls out a crossbow and demands recompenses..."  Note DM had decided random chaos for Magic Missile spell vs NPC deaths...

DM - The Sherriff shows up - he was following you Murder Hobos the moment you stepped foot in town.  He says "How in Pholtus's perfect plan is it possible a moron like you knows basic Magic?!"

---

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic..."

Arthur C. Clarke - third law

What IS magic?  The act of will/ritual to somehow alter reality.  But, really, what IS Magic?

As it applies to a TTRPG game of course...

Balderdash, superstition.  Gygax himself noted he never met any "Mage" even in the super Occult 60s, 70s aftermath who could even approach a first level spell in an early Draconic Magazine article on how he worked out the first Magic Spells system for the game and why he kept with it.

So why - in this Far Future themed RPG do we still plan on having the "Vancian" system from Science Fiction Writer Jack Vance as the default?  Spells ancient lore.  Mages search them out, covet them, memorize them, fire and forget?

The first reason is the "Old School" roleplay feature.  And that the revered Gary Gygax made a perfect but imperfect balance with that - wizards were very powerful but had strong limits so it wasn't a game of "Wizards and non-important assistants" like competing systems from alternatives in the 70s, 80s to modern over-powered "Politically Correct" corporate regurgitation.  Vance's system WORKS, simple as that - wizards are powerful but not unbeatable  Per Robert E Howard "A few sword thrusts" can still end an Archmage.  Its getting close enough that's the challenge.

The second reason is that the "Magic" of the world of far-tomorrows is NOT any magick system of today (1) but rather it is a product of the far future.  Is this meaning they are just using ray-guns and some kind of force field and this is just sci-fi?  NOPE.   Its fantasy but a more mature fantasy.  There will be no trick to this system, the Mages will still be using Magick - just if they went to a time portal to today I strongly doubt their magick would work.

This is to be a TTRPG set in the world of the far future, the Far Tomorrows.  At least One-Hundred Thousand years ahead of now, possibly a Million.  Think Wells's "The Time Machine" or Gene Wolfe's "Urth of the New Sun" cycle...  It is not yet entropic like Jack Vance's "The Dying Earth" or Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique", Lin Carter's "Gondwane", C.S. Lewis's "Charn" or Hope Hodgkin's "Night Land"... - but it is a very old, matured earth with many eras of rise and fall of civilization so the oppressive weight of history creates a resigned Zen-like acceptance of the impermanence of life and Man's Achievements.  Most are content to live simple lives in this long shadow, save the "Heroic Adventurers" of course!

A "Titanomachy" a war of Gods, Titans, which destroyed all civilization as Men knew it and re-shaped the earth itself.  As in the dim forgotten past so it will be in the far future...

It takes longer but civilizations still rise and fall and rise again.  Every five to ten thousand years the world is wiped clean, some upheaval, civilizations die along with most of the populace and then survivors rebuild, try to remember but it is largely distorted.  There are archives but this is so far ahead that it is buried in thousands of "Histories", many of which conflict with themselves or are outright fabrications.

The base world of Far Tomorrows is set in a Confederated Fiefdoms; A quasi Renaissance to pre-industrial tech era if left on its own with no interference would take a few thousand years to get to the space travel age again versus a few centuries.  It's seen as part of an eternal cycle that is both inevitable and unavoidable but there is no hurry, it's happened before and will happen long after.  Men rarely try to interfere with the flow of history but rarely push it forward faster than it seems to be going.  It will reach heights and then fall and that is the cycle.

During some of these heights man achieved a very high level technology.  All the goodies of "Science Fiction" and beyond even that.  No need to go on many pages on that issue.  And rather than some "Future History" of many thousands of years its best to examine it by a very harsh but simple standard.

Kardeschev's levels - meant as a thought experiment on how 'advanced' a civilization was by how much energy it could generate to power something like a signal into space to see if there's any reply back...

Level 1 - they control all energy on their planet

Level 2 - they control all energy in their star system

Level 3 - they control all energy in their Galaxy

(unspoken by K but extrapolated)

Level 4 - they control all energy in the UNIVERSE

Level 5 - God - by definition would have to be - in theory transcending the universe and any 'multiverse' creating or destroying at will the heartbeat and breath in both a long cycle called a Kalpa and in the rotations of sub-atomic particles and fluctuations of the space-time foam...

This set of levels is wildly scaling high and quite debatable (also has been broken up into 10+ levels by thoughtful Sci-Fi geeks) but like an ancient mythic saying there's a lot of truth into it.  Mankind right now is near .8 of level 1 - but once we get to Level 1 we could build a Stapledon Swarm (NOT a "Dyson Sphere" - bad name, bad idea) and effectively harness all or most of the Sun's output.  Once we do that we could get to Level 3 and work out ways to advance to Level 4.

Huge rates of scale - for instance if the "Bootes Void" is an emerging Level 4 civilization covering entire galaxies of star systems with Stapledon Energy collection clusters it's a Level 3.01 civilization.

Clarke's 3rd law states that any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from Magic...

How does this relate?

Since mankind is still alive about a Million years in the future I think it's not too much to extrapolate he's gone out into the stars and achieved Level 3 a few times and more.  The "More" is when the "Wizard Lords" emerged at the earliest Fifty-Thousand years hence.  They had advanced technology that made them at Level 4 in at least capabilities, though they spent more time making bizarro beasts and their own gardens of pleasure than "Conquering the Universe".  And really, why the latter, want to see two odd aliens arguing over some 3rd alien that might be a sheep and who owns it, with a line of petitioners going on so long the entire surface of an 'imperial world' is a pure line all over it?  I'd rather make bizarro worlds, crazy monsters, beautiful monster-girl mistresses and do crazy games like make titans that ravage worlds and fight other Wizard-Lord's titans...

Anyways the "Spells" as we know them were some of the end results of the Wizard-Lord's play with Level 4 technology.  A recent and not well received edit to a famous Space Opera had a quasi-supernatural force come from a natural source - sub-microscopic machines...  That 'proved' in Cannon a 70s "Fan Theory" that said galaxy had Level 4 tech but somehow pretended to be a failing Level 3 civilization.  Being able to "Edit" the literal "Laws" of the universe to add a "Force" is the definition of Level 4 range technology.  Think a character who's all powerful but about as stupid as smart from another popular space opera...bossing and bullying 'lesser' beings he's sent to study because they have potential.  In principal an amazing character but he came off as a comical foil for a popular superhero.

Thus in the world of Far Tomorrows there is "Magick" much like the fantasy worlds of today and the superstition and mythology of the far far past.  And it is real.  And it works.  It's also magic because of all who spend their lives studying and studying it to barely scratch the surface, perhaps one in ten-thousand of those that achieve "Arch-Mage" level have any idea WHAT they are doing.  An "Arch-Mage" while VERY impressive (At the cusp of Epic Level) is about 1/100th as powerful as a "Wizard Lord".

The Wizard Lords whom had three known "Ages" are now long gone.  Some are in other realities, some have transcended to the greater universe of which this one is akin to a soap bubble frothing on the edge of an endless cosmic sea...  Most are dead, killed by wars with other wizards or self-destruction of despair and boredom, perhaps one or two by "Several Sword Thrusts" and not having a backup plan.  There are rumored to be a very few left but these hide themselves, acting as 'guides' to carefully give a push where needed.  Of these only the name Merlin is well known, a Magician of times far more ancient than the Age of the Wizard Lords whose power was much greater than most but from far before the known 'spells' and if any connection it is debatable.  

Their legacy is the "Magic" they left.  A hundred spells and a legendary thousand more.  Or ten thousand spells and a million more, depending on who you talk to.  These are ways they built to quickly access whatever system they added to the Space-Time reality that let them shape worlds as easily as handling clay and paint, to twist man's form into beasts and monsters, to master space and time like a mathematical concept.  A student of Magic spends years to learn the basic concepts, by mentor, by school or rarely some innate talent and more fantastically  the most guarded thing in the world - a "Spell book" falls into their hands.  But after study they can learn a "Spell" and then study it to use it later but must re-study it to prepare it again.  It is fantastic and frustrating, humanity on the cusp of Godhood when even the most simplest of spells is used but then is 'forgotten' even if the Wizard could recite the verbal component a hundred times he still must memorize it again properly...

Truly this - the "Vancian" system is best explained by a far future science fiction setting - what "The Dying Earth" by Vance is really.  It works great in a ttrpg because wizards can still become incredibly powerful but they need to manage real risk and work with others to get that far.  The game is not "Wizards Only" as many alternative systems have let themselves become.

The Magic in the world of Far Tomorrows in base will be traditional then.  There are others with different types of "magical abilities" not requiring years of study and books - but these will be limited and have different sets of rules.  A mage is the definition of possibility.

This will also be the main difference in the "magic" between this and the "Core" TTRPG;  Mages have far more control of spells here.  There might be at start fewer but it will be meant to include spells from 3.5 of "Core" and earlier if DM/Setting allows.  However the Spells are more flexible.

For instance - Duration vs power - Power versus focus-

For "Bolts of Smiting" aka "Magic Missile" the mage should be able to modify if not unreasonable the use of the spell.  They could spend it all in a 1.5x stronger single burst against a single target.  They could make them last for ten minutes per level of caster unless cancelled circling around and hitting anything that comes near at a cost of being .75% as strong.  With the chain of a "True Name" or "Warding" spell they could seek out specific targets or wait as a limited trap such as attacking anything going through a doorway unless a word determined by the caster is given.  These would still be limited effects until the mage got "Enchant" level and at greater time and expense was able to set up permanent wards if needed.

Another spell which is new for this setting and not from the classic sources (core RPG, "Draconic" magazine...) is the spell "Bowman's Paradox" where it uses an absurd thought paradox - that for a bow to reach its target, it must travel half the distance, and half the distance of that - causing the opponent to make many "Rolls" in attacking and if one fails the attack misses.  This too can be modified or combined - so a long hall can seem to stretch forever, a lock resets after being picked many times 

The best 'rule' to use for these more flexible spells is that usually greater specialty or limited focus increases power/duration while expanded options reduces power/duration.  A lone, low-level Mage might cast "Shield" and seeing the Orcs attacking him have metal weapons so he focuses it on metal so they can bang and slash at him for a prolonged time with no effect while he spooks them trying to convince them he's a Master Wizard and they should run.  Good strategy, but perhaps their Goblin friend has a long wooden stick he likes to try to hit things with...?

Off-Camera boost in power

There is a difference between the modular, mobile fire and forget "Spells" and the abilities magic use and 'spellbooks' give.  Ever notice how mages in stories seem so powerful but they aren't able to make magic missiles or clever cantrips unless it's genre specific fiction?  Or how in Vance's dying Earth while the mages have great power they can do things off camera that no way would any normal DM allow - especially on-camera?

Magic Users of the study kind should have access to as they rise in level and experience to much more powerful magics that simply take longer to set up.  While making a fortress wall would be handy in combat if it takes a day of casting it isn't worth memorizing.  This should start at level 5 but Magic User characters should have a wide berth on how they decorate and defend their homes, of greater magicks they cast if they can do it unopposed and take time and resources.  Constructing a fortress.  Mass charming of creatures.  Creating new Gestalt creatures. Making automata...  Really, this is a good portion of why there are so many "Dungeons" to explore adding to the layers of ruins monsters, treasures and things more relevant than many thousands of years past.

THUSLY:

• Magic should start with the "Vancian" based system for the base "Magic-User" classes.  No "Mana Pools" no power battery - this is not a video game.
• Players need a source of spells, such as their starter "Spell Book" and new spells are NOT easy to obtain or buy.  These are keys to reality, they are coveted and held so tightly.  This is why they adventure into ancient ruins and risk death versus staying at the crumbling but cozy family manor or the 'college' with the lonely and touchy professor.
• Players need to memorize spells, choosing which they might need to use - that are then 'forgotten' after use and require study/preparation to use again later.
• Players that get their Spells from other sources (Paladin, Cleric, 'sorcerer' if DM allows...) still need to spend time in ritual, prayer, delving inside themselves...etc.
• The spells for classic casters are VERY versatile - they'll come with some suggestions but these are not to limit the use.  The DM is to reward creativity not whine "You are trying to expand your character's Horizons..." in a pathetic huff.
• Gestalt - spells can be combined creatively - this should start at Level 3 or above as the new casters need to learn how to use single spells in the dangerous environment.
• Characters, NPCs, Monsters with "Spell-like" abilities are usually more limited in use to compensate for no need for study and possible higher frequency of casting.  The exception is transcendent beings, Aengeliac or Daemonik or other advanced spirituality/extraplanar beings  - these have the spell abilities and also control and versatility.
• Off-Camera the Magic Users have effectively greater power for projects, experiments, home defense, etc.  This costs time and money and shouldn't be allowed until a few levels have been gained.

Notes:

1 - I've actually been into "The Occult" in real life.  WON'T get into that in this project and will NOT incorporate any "Real" magic system save necessary surface only items.  This is a far far future and likley a RL mage from today (One BIG exception) would be powerless and also likely mages from then travelling back in time.  However a branch of it - "Chaos Magick" does use "Sigils" in a very similar way - of investing power, research, work then "Fire and Forget" - it might be the pre-pre-PRE-history of the system of "Far Tomorrows" akin to an Ape coming out of a tree. Like Vance for the RPG Spell system, like Olaf Stapledon for Sci-Fi coming up with what we call (wrongly) a Dyson Sphere a RL Artist/Mage named Spare created this system... (or codified it at least) I say that ONLY for amusement.  As a knee-jerk defense I separate real "Occult" from RPG practices due to being a survivor of the 80s Psychic Wars over RPGs... 

The Orange Sun world - of Far Tomorrows

"Witch of Eros"

Commissioned art in progress for project

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A world that seems like memories of the past, mythic and recent but is in fact a world far into the future.  Of ancient ruins and magics, vast wastelands and deep elder forests and of adventure and exploration.  This is the world of Far Tomorrows!

It is what RPGs should be - not mass produced books gathering dust on chain bookstore shelves, sanitized to appeal to everyone and be bland and inoffensive as possible so they appeal to no one.  This world will have an edge and not bend the knee or cater to whining complainers who want a sanitized non-offensive product. It gets RPGs back to their roots of Vance, Wolfe, the science fiction and fantasy that inspired them with later elements put in but is counterblaste to the corporate pandering and politically correct filing off of rough edges to be mass appealing.

Note this will be for adults - not pornographic but NO censorship or padding - nudity, sexual situations, etc.  Like an R rated movie in the 70s without fear of even the looser ratings board.  More imagine if that comic in "The Draconic Magazine" didn't have to hint about it for years...

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This is a DevLog - most art will be from the project or public domain - some images used for dev discussion is "Fair use/Parody" and won't be in final product.  IF there is a real DMCA complaint we will take down images used but we will verify this (even Google has to obey a subpeona) and might sue if fair use/parody/reasonable use is violated especially if someone not connected in any way files falsely.  This is a professional product with the goal to make money by sales so time dealing with false complaints costs money and yes we can drag someone to a real court over it.