Forums of the Megaverse®

On August 21 2017, there will be a partial solar eclipse across much of the USA, and a total solar eclipse running from Oregon across the USA, to the Ohio Valley, and into South Carolina.

Do you know where your evil arcanists and horrific monsters are? Because if you don't, you might look for them along that path around August 21...

The totality line runs directly across the Magic Zone, and to make like even more interesting that day, it crosses that ley-thick zone during the noon hour, so the totality boost to PPE (ten times!!) is doubled!

So, stop and think about that. If you're an arcanist at a ley-nexus in that part of the country (and if the maps in your campaign world match those of Rifts, that area is thick with them), your personal PPE stands to increase, for a few minutes, by a factor of freakin' twenty! So a paltry 20 PPE is suddenly 400 PPE, all by your lonesome. If you bring along a few friends...

Good reminder. Not sure if the ley lines and nexus points in BTS Earth are similar to those of Rifts Earth, I suppose if you want them to be they are. You mentioned the Ohio Valley; I assume that includes the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio? That's one of the power sites mentioned in the first edition, though it wasn't a nexus point if I remember correctly, it was something more mysterious. A very rare total solar eclipse could be just what the site was built for!
Ley lines, nexus points, eclipses, power sites etc were all a huge part of 1rst edition magic. I hope they keep them in for 2nd.

Addendum: I made a slight mistake in my initial post, I was using Eastern Time, so the totality won't cross the Magic Zone at noon. Still, even outside the noon hour, a total solar eclipse means a tenfold amplification of personal PPE, plus IIRC a 1200 PPE extra surge. So an arcanist with a paltry 20 PPE would suddenly have a total of 1400 PPE available at a nexus during the total eclipse.

Plus, of course, a large swath of the rest of North America gets a partial eclipse out of the same event, which is still a huge power surge at a nexus. Monday August 21 offers a lot of opportunity for magical doings, for good or bad...

Unfortunately, the Ohio Serpent Mound will not be in the zone of totality. It will, however, experience a partial solar eclipse, as will most of the rest of the continent.

Here is a map of the track:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxhist=0