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So I've been tinkering with and building an alternate reality Rifts Earth for a few years now. I like a lot of the changes I've made even if too many of them are reactionary changes as opposed to flat out original ideas. But, as time passes, and as you get further and further away from the strict adhering to the source material some interesting things start to bubble up.

Case in point, the reason I started this thread -- I sat down at my writing desk the other day, and I realized I don't actually like Ley Lines anymore. Likes, really, really, really don't like them. There's something awesome about that one RMB image of the pack of adventures coming across this Giant friggin Ley Line, I can't deny that...but when it comes down to actual world building and trying to get a feel for them on your landscape...I just start to really hate them.

I want to do something else, almost anything else. In my train of thought, I started thinking about pools of mana, which quickly evolved into this liquid visual of Storms. Stormfronts that ebb and flow and roam the world, that bring the chaos of magic with them as they go - to varying degrees and intensity. Not to the "everything will die forever" level of the storms around Atlantis, natch, but something fun and dangerous - just not "would wipe out life as we know it" dangerous.

But otherwise, just have the world be a high magic world - just without us seeing it concentrated in Giant Randomly located lines. The Rifts would then also become a truly random thing, happening at times as a storm peaks, but otherwise just happening. It takes away from the power grid of magic aspect of the Ley Lines, sure...but it also makes anywhere in the world a potential hot spot for danger and the unknown - which I think I like more. I think, I'm not certain yet.

Obviously, this is all super raw - but I thought I'd bring it to you good people, let a few folks weigh in.

So what I think you are saying is that you dislike how organized and even "tame" ley lines seem, and you'd rather have a Rifts earth where magical energies are more wild, unpredictable, less controllable.

If so I agree. I like your concept of treating magic more like a weather front. Where it flows around the globe, more unnoticeable until one or more streams interact and erupt in a storm.

smashed wrote:So what I think you are saying is that you dislike how organized and even "tame" ley lines seem, and you'd rather have a Rifts earth where magical energies are more wild, unpredictable, less controllable.

Actually what I really hate is just how disorganized they are. There's no good rhyme or reason to where they are, where they aren't, why they start n stop where they do, etc, etc. It's cute to retroactively make holy sites from ancient cultures into nexus points of varying levels of strength - but beyond that Ley Lines are just kinda there.

It all got a lil muddled as I was typing it, price of the brain just going wonky at times.

What I was really looking for were other alternatives that still provided a unique look or feel to the world without going with Ley Lines. I like Rifts, I like the magic-rich notion, I just don't want beams of light running haphazardly throughout the world.

Keep in mind I'm not trying to bring anyone over to my camp here - not trying to sway opinions. Just looking for alternatives beyond the norm.

smashed wrote:If so I agree. I like your concept of treating magic more like a weather front. Where it flows around the globe, more unnoticeable until one or more streams interact and erupt in a storm.

Thanks! I like the more organic feel of it. A twisted part of nature, as it were. I'm also completely open to tossing the idea and going with something else - I just think I'm ready to trade in Ley Lines for a newer model.


And as an addendum, I thought for a bit about trying to create more rational reasons behind the Ley Lines, to give them a greater focus and order - and I ended up liking that even less. It became too deterministic for me, and rather than bash my head trying to work up models for it that could apply not just to Rifts Earth but other worlds as well, I figured....eh, why not toss it and go with something else!

GURPS has a notion of mana level. At any given time and location, the mana level is either none, low, normal, high, or very high, so if you want things to vary with the phase of the moon, weather fronts, whatever, it is easy to do.

There's no reason you couldn't apply the same kind of thinking to the Rifts settings treating ley lines as "high" and nexuses as "very high" by default and simply varying the levels as you see fit.

I like the idea. Reminds me of the old computer game Archon where some squares changed colors every round giving an advantage to one side or the other.

--flatline

flatline wrote:GURPS has a notion of mana level. At any given time and location, the mana level is either none, low, normal, high, or very high, so if you want things to vary with the phase of the moon, weather fronts, whatever, it is easy to do.

There's no reason you couldn't apply the same kind of thinking to the Rifts settings treating ley lines as "high" and nexuses as "very high" by default and simply varying the levels as you see fit.

I like the idea. Reminds me of the old computer game Archon where some squares changed colors every round giving an advantage to one side or the other.

--flatline

At first as I was reading this I was having images of fishing reports on the nightly news.

But, phases of the moon, shifts in tides, that could all tie in very nicely as well. Maybe even pull in some ghostly mist or fog for when the magical energy is really kicking up in an area. Thanks!

I'm not sure I understand what exactly is the cause of your dislike of Ley Lines but if it is a cosmetic thing, Ley Lins aren't usually visible. You could amend that to them never being visible.
If it is something to do with their static locations, you could have them not rotate with the Earth. That would in practice have them constantly moving although, that would have them moving at a rather extreme speed of just over 1000 miles per hour.

Marrowlight wrote:So I've been tinkering with and building an alternate reality Rifts Earth for a few years now. I like a lot of the changes I've made even if too many of them are reactionary changes as opposed to flat out original ideas. But, as time passes, and as you get further and further away from the strict adhering to the source material some interesting things start to bubble up.

Case in point, the reason I started this thread -- I sat down at my writing desk the other day, and I realized I don't actually like Ley Lines anymore. Likes, really, really, really don't like them. There's something awesome about that one RMB image of the pack of adventures coming across this Giant friggin Ley Line, I can't deny that...but when it comes down to actual world building and trying to get a feel for them on your landscape...I just start to really hate them.

I want to do something else, almost anything else. In my train of thought, I started thinking about pools of mana, which quickly evolved into this liquid visual of Storms. Stormfronts that ebb and flow and roam the world, that bring the chaos of magic with them as they go - to varying degrees and intensity. Not to the "everything will die forever" level of the storms around Atlantis, natch, but something fun and dangerous - just not "would wipe out life as we know it" dangerous.

But otherwise, just have the world be a high magic world - just without us seeing it concentrated in Giant Randomly located lines. The Rifts would then also become a truly random thing, happening at times as a storm peaks, but otherwise just happening. It takes away from the power grid of magic aspect of the Ley Lines, sure...but it also makes anywhere in the world a potential hot spot for danger and the unknown - which I think I like more. I think, I'm not certain yet.

Obviously, this is all super raw - but I thought I'd bring it to you good people, let a few folks weigh in.

Since when does magic or nature have to have reason to justify itself?

warrenthewanderer wrote:

Marrowlight wrote:So I've been tinkering with and building an alternate reality Rifts Earth for a few years now. I like a lot of the changes I've made even if too many of them are reactionary changes as opposed to flat out original ideas. But, as time passes, and as you get further and further away from the strict adhering to the source material some interesting things start to bubble up.

Case in point, the reason I started this thread -- I sat down at my writing desk the other day, and I realized I don't actually like Ley Lines anymore. Likes, really, really, really don't like them. There's something awesome about that one RMB image of the pack of adventures coming across this Giant friggin Ley Line, I can't deny that...but when it comes down to actual world building and trying to get a feel for them on your landscape...I just start to really hate them.

I want to do something else, almost anything else. In my train of thought, I started thinking about pools of mana, which quickly evolved into this liquid visual of Storms. Stormfronts that ebb and flow and roam the world, that bring the chaos of magic with them as they go - to varying degrees and intensity. Not to the "everything will die forever" level of the storms around Atlantis, natch, but something fun and dangerous - just not "would wipe out life as we know it" dangerous.

But otherwise, just have the world be a high magic world - just without us seeing it concentrated in Giant Randomly located lines. The Rifts would then also become a truly random thing, happening at times as a storm peaks, but otherwise just happening. It takes away from the power grid of magic aspect of the Ley Lines, sure...but it also makes anywhere in the world a potential hot spot for danger and the unknown - which I think I like more. I think, I'm not certain yet.

Obviously, this is all super raw - but I thought I'd bring it to you good people, let a few folks weigh in.

Since when does magic or nature have to have reason to justify itself?

It doesn't, but if you define rules and follow them, then your setting will be more internally consistent than if you just wing it.

And, to some of us, internal consistency is of primary importance for a setting. The vast majority of my house rules and setting tweaks are driven by the need to improve internal consistency.

--flatline

flatline wrote:

warrenthewanderer wrote:

Marrowlight wrote:So I've been tinkering with and building an alternate reality Rifts Earth for a few years now. I like a lot of the changes I've made even if too many of them are reactionary changes as opposed to flat out original ideas. But, as time passes, and as you get further and further away from the strict adhering to the source material some interesting things start to bubble up.

Case in point, the reason I started this thread -- I sat down at my writing desk the other day, and I realized I don't actually like Ley Lines anymore. Likes, really, really, really don't like them. There's something awesome about that one RMB image of the pack of adventures coming across this Giant friggin Ley Line, I can't deny that...but when it comes down to actual world building and trying to get a feel for them on your landscape...I just start to really hate them.

I want to do something else, almost anything else. In my train of thought, I started thinking about pools of mana, which quickly evolved into this liquid visual of Storms. Stormfronts that ebb and flow and roam the world, that bring the chaos of magic with them as they go - to varying degrees and intensity. Not to the "everything will die forever" level of the storms around Atlantis, natch, but something fun and dangerous - just not "would wipe out life as we know it" dangerous.

But otherwise, just have the world be a high magic world - just without us seeing it concentrated in Giant Randomly located lines. The Rifts would then also become a truly random thing, happening at times as a storm peaks, but otherwise just happening. It takes away from the power grid of magic aspect of the Ley Lines, sure...but it also makes anywhere in the world a potential hot spot for danger and the unknown - which I think I like more. I think, I'm not certain yet.

Obviously, this is all super raw - but I thought I'd bring it to you good people, let a few folks weigh in.

Since when does magic or nature have to have reason to justify itself?

It doesn't, but if you define rules and follow them, then your setting will be more internally consistent than if you just wing it.

And, to some of us, internal consistency is of primary importance for a setting. The vast majority of my house rules and setting tweaks are driven by the need to improve internal consistency.

--flatline

There is a random leyline table on pg191 of RUE but the problem with it is there is no random ley line ''encounter'' table.