Ultimate "Brave New Wormwood" thread

[Braden Campbell]

Braden said:

I will be pitching a Wormwood update... a big one in terms of page count... but that would be the end of the line (so to speak). I would like to envision a Wormwood Book that has everythng you would ever need in it, and is as thick as Palladium Fantsasy's Main Book (never happen I know, but that is the dream).

At the Open House, I'll be sure to get Kevin S's ear.

Marrowlight said:

Mostly I'm curious on how you plan to tackle the motivation for the Unholy (which comes off as seriously WEAK in the original book) and the set up of the Forces of Light, especially the Knights of the Temple and the Church (which were both really....too stereotypical and bland.....in my eyes) along with the development of some of the other Knightly Orders.

______________________________________________

The Unholy is evil... true evil. That is why it (and I have taken care in the completed parts to ensure that the Host have no gender specification) doesn't even have a name. Its name is what it is.

As for its "motivation": The Unholy has taken over the body of Prince Khairon, the son of King Emeron, who was the last ruler of the Western Dominion (what is now the Domain of Darkness). The possessed Khairon killed his father, and his two younger brothers... his three sisters escaped and went into hiding, it is said. Since the Host imprint themselves through whomever they inhabit, its apparent motivation is to be King.

The monsters who serve it, are out to enslave humanity, as the people of the Western Dominion once tried to enslave them. turnabout is fair play to the monsters.

As for the Cathedral, they will now be one denomination among many. Currently, the Orthodox Cathedralists want to take over the other human Dominions, then destroy the Unholy, and reunify the Realm under one ruler... Matthew Pentecost.

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Vidicus the Wanderer... a Wormwood version of Peter the Hermit. Vidicus is preaching his vision: that only the next, rightful heir of King Emeron (remember, there are three sisters unaccounted for) is destined to unify the Dominions of Man and defeat the Unholy. This person will then take up the Three Symbols of Office, and rule over a Re-unified Realm in peace and glory.

By introducing several other "churches", the political landscape gets very complex, which was was my biggest fault in Wormwood: it's bland "us-versus-monsters" theme got dull fast.

Hope that answers some questions. Any more...?

[Marrowlight]

My biggest question is do you really think Palladium will go for that big of an overhaul?

Seems you're making some pretty heavy changes that would almost necessitate a rewrite of the original Wormwood book. While perfectly appropriate for a campaign, that seems kinda risky for an actual published book yes?


I'll ask more questions from there.

[Braden Campbell]

What my proposal is, is:

a second Wormwood book that includes several new kingdoms, lots of description, an expanded map, a detailed look at Worldgate and its Army for Hire, several new OCCs that are actually interesting to play, and the vague hint of a metaplot (find the rightful heir, and re-unite the Realm).

I think that is the best I can realistically pitch.

I would love to own "The Wormwood RPG", but am smart enough to know that it's simply too much to ask.

[Marrowlight]

What my proposal is, is:

a second Wormwood book that includes several new kingdoms, lots of description, an expanded map, a detailed look at Worldgate and its Army for Hire, several new OCCs that are actually interesting to play, and the vague hint of a metaplot (find the rightful heir, and re-unite the Realm).

I think that is the best I can realistically pitch.

I would love to own "The Wormwood RPG", but am smart enough to know that it's simply too much to ask.

So in other words, yes.

OK, this will be trickier to ask then since I'm basically off the map here...

First off, I'd suggest keeping the notion that a lot of the monster races are from another dimension. I like the greed aspect it gave them, plus it keeps things from screaming "Lodoss War" or whatever other "monsters are put down and rise up" parallel I'm sure others will immediately think of.

Second off, I might have just missed it but did you talk about your plans for making the Temple Knights more interesting and less "been there done that"

Third....what kind of variants of religious orders are we looking at? (Keeping mind that is the one part I'd see KS reacting against the strongest since he seems to keep Palladium out of the intricacies of organized religion)

Fourth, keeping it MDC or going for SDC

Fifth, adding some language and culture diversity to the place or keeping the "omg dey all speaketh da english" bit

Sixth, giving the humans a few more races of their own to work with, or keeping it pure humans and Holy Terrors?

Seventh, keeping the origin of the planet a mystery or involving it deeper (I opt for mystery m'self)

That'll do for now.

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

It'd be cool for there to actually be another Wormwood-like planet, one with all the features, but with a totally different civilization facing different challenges. Afterall, if one was created, who's to say that another wasn't made somewhere else?

[Braden Campbell]

First off, I'd suggest keeping the notion that a lot of the monster races are from another dimension. I like the greed aspect it gave them, plus it keeps things from screaming "Lodoss War" or whatever other "monsters are put down and rise up" parallel I'm sure others will immediately think of.

The monsters were summoned to Wormwood from "the dark Nether Realms". That's made pretty clear. In the territory of Lost Ezud, the B'Talb Hound Riders have also opened a permanent portal to their homeworld, "Greyglobe".

Second off, I might have just missed it but did you talk about your plans for making the Temple Knights more interesting and less "been there done that"

The Cathedral Knights of both orders are left largely alone: Hospitallers however now get WP Lance to go with their role as motorcycle cavalry. The Eastern Templars of Ezud are defensive in nature, and get their own martial art that includes work with a 7' polearm. There are the samurai-like Sentinel Knights, who must hide their fighting abilities and disguise themselves as common men for fear of annihilation. And there is the "high tech" New Model Army of Worldgate: which use TW black powder guns, and kidnap conscripts from other dimensions to fight on Wormwood.

Third....what kind of variants of religious orders are we looking at? (Keeping mind that is the one part I'd see KS reacting against the strongest since he seems to keep Palladium out of the intricacies of organized religion)

Religion is a neccesary and pivotal theme in Wormwood. Just read the comic, fer God's sake. There is in fact only one religion on Wormwood, but it has broken down into at least three different lines of thinking: Teradominance, Eastern Yufovra, and Orthodox Cathedralism. The differences between the three are very clear, and and are based on real-world religions as much as the Flintstones are an acurate depiction of life millions of years ago.

Fourth, keeping it MDC or going for SDC

It is, at the end of the day, a RIFTS Dimension Book. It stays MDC... although everyone will have notes on how to run it SDC.

Fifth, adding some language and culture diversity to the place or keeping the "omg dey all speaketh da english" bit

Lots of both. They now speak English, Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew, as well as some local togues like Ezudesh.

Sixth, giving the humans a few more races of their own to work with, or keeping it pure humans and Holy Terrors?

Nope. They's on their own.

Seventh, keeping the origin of the planet a mystery or involving it deeper (I opt for mystery m'self)

I know exactly how it came to be... but I'm not telling.

[Marrowlight]

The monsters were summoned to Wormwood from "the dark Nether Realms". That's made pretty clear. In the territory of Lost Ezud, the B'Talb Hound Riders have also opened a permanent portal to their homeworld, "Greyglobe".

I must've misunderstood what you said in your earlier post then. It came off as implying that the monsters always lived on Wormwood, glad to know I just didn't read it right.

The Cathedral Knights of both orders are left largely alone: Hospitallers however now get WP Lance to go with their role as motorcycle cavalry. The Eastern Templars of Ezud are defensive in nature, and get their own martial art that includes work with a 7' polearm. There are the samurai-like Sentinel Knights, who must hide their fighting abilities and disguise themselves as common men for fear of annihilation. And there is the "high tech" New Model Army of Worldgate: which use TW black powder guns, and kidnap conscripts from other dimensions to fight on Wormwood.

Ew, I'd love to see you try to do something with the Knights - I just couldn't stand how the Templar Knights were done.

Religion is a neccesary and pivotal theme in Wormwood. Just read the comic, fer God's sake. There is in fact only one religion on Wormwood, but it has broken down into at least three different lines of thinking: Teradominance, Eastern Yufovra, and Orthodox Cathedralism. The differences between the three are very clear, and and are based on real-world religions as much as the Flintstones are an acurate depiction of life millions of years ago.

Right, it is the basing it on real world part that I was commenting on. KS has always been ok with "yeah there's gods of light, that isn't pushing things to far" but when you really start getting into particulars that parallel existing religions then Palladium just seems to clam up y'know?

And of course I've read the comic

I know exactly how it came to be... but I'm not telling.

Good, that's exactly how it should be.


OK new questions....

Is the map just getting more detailed, or is it also getting larger? If so by how much


Are you giving hints or setting up a status for how the war is actually going? The Unholy is full of steam and on the verge of plunging the world into total darkness, or the Church of Light could purge the land easily if it could just stop fighting with itself first, or a host of other alternatives.


Will there be any commenting or usage of the winged angel looking things that hung around the battle saint resting site in the comic?

How far along are you?


Are you really getting into what is beneath the surface?

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Remember Braden: Wormwood has no Ley Lines.

There may be tunnels underground that have similar properties to ley lines...but they are not ley lines.



~ Josh

[Braden Campbell]

OK new questions....
Is the map just getting more detailed, or is it also getting larger? If so by how much

http://photobucket.com/albums/b303/Lord ... 7119bf.jpg
At the scale as found in DB1, a full map of Wormwood would measure 4 8.5x11" pages wide, and 3 8.5x11" pages high. This map uses the same scale, and is thus, a complete map of Wormwood. I would also like to include city maps, but that is some elses' department. (I suck at maps).

Are you giving hints or setting up a status for how the war is actually going? The Unholy is full of steam and on the verge of plunging the world into total darkness, or the Church of Light could purge the land easily if it could just stop fighting with itself first, or a host of other alternatives.

The war is mostly focused in Reorith Province, along a strip of blasted Wormwood called The Front. Everyone is beginning to realize that the stalemate must end soon, and both sides are looking for ways to break through to victory.

Will there be any commenting or usage of the winged angel looking things that hung around the battle saint resting site in the comic?

They are called Wingmen, and it is a symbiotic organism that allows people to fly.

How far along are you?

Farther than I was a year ago when I started it...

Are you really getting into what is beneath the surface?

Only as it pertains to the meteor underneath Worldgate.

And Josh, I swear I'm putting in a nexus point just to rile you...

[Marrowlight]

Hrm, think that's about all my questions for now cept one...

Are you establishing some personalities to the various Monster races? Some of them have some real untapped potential for cool characters (especially the ones that allow for selfish alignments) and it is a shame to see them primarily used as faceless hordes when some neat officer type folks could be used.

[Braden Campbell]

Are you establishing some personalities to the various Monster races? Some of them have some real untapped potential for cool characters (especially the ones that allow for selfish alignments) and it is a shame to see them primarily used as faceless hordes when some neat officer type folks could be used.

The Shades get a special mention a few times.

They were not part of the original batch of monster slaves who rebelled against the people of Western Kingdom. Rather, they were brought over to Wormwood in 11 of the GT (Great Tribulation) by the Unholy itself. They are charged with tracking down and killing off the Sentinel Knights...

basicly, they are the Nazgul of Wormwood.

[Marrowlight]

Hrm think I'm going to put my own ideas on hold for a bit. You're really going in a different direction than I would have expected and I'm not sure I could adjust my stuff to work if Palladium gives you a go for your Wormwood project. And so the process of elimination continues. Thanks for answering the questions Braden and good luck.

[Braden Campbell]

I just hope that people like what I'm doing: that is, revitalizing the setting, and trying to give it depth.


And turn it into Palladium's magic slime, tentacled, heavy metal, Lord of the Rings game


But I won't be touching the monsters much at all.

[Marrowlight]

I just hope that people like what I'm doing: that is, revitalizing the setting, and trying to give it depth.


And turn it into Palladium's magic slime, tentacled, heavy metal, Lord of the Rings game


But I won't be touching the monsters much at all.

Aye, good luck with it - Even if not quite what I'd want, more attention to Wormwood is always a good thing.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Hy Braden, serious question (serious...and Josh? Is that even possible?): will there be any new minions, symbiotes, monsters, etc?

Sorry if you already answered this.

~ Josh

[Braden Campbell]

I feel that the poor humans are outnumbered enough as it is, so no new monsters or demon minions.

I think there is only one new symbiote... a pair of wings that attach to one's back, and give the abilities of "winged flight"... needed because the defenders of Wormwood have no airpower.

There are several new weapons for the bad guys... like the Hell Mortars that summon meteors. The good guys get soul stuff weapons, TW black powder guns, and giant golems made of Wormwood and life force crystals.

[Marrowlight]

I feel that the poor humans are outnumbered enough as it is, so no new monsters or demon minions.

I think there is only one new symbiote... a pair of wings that attach to one's back, and give the abilities of "winged flight"... needed because the defenders of Wormwood have no airpower.

There are several new weapons for the bad guys... like the Hell Mortars that summon meteors. The good guys get soul stuff weapons, TW black powder guns, and giant golems made of Wormwood and life force crystals.

Hrm, are you doing anything with the moons by the way? I forgot to ask that last night.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I feel that the poor humans are outnumbered enough as it is, so no new monsters or demon minions.

I think there is only one new symbiote... a pair of wings that attach to one's back, and give the abilities of "winged flight"... needed because the defenders of Wormwood have no airpower.

There are several new weapons for the bad guys... like the Hell Mortars that summon meteors. The good guys get soul stuff weapons, TW black powder guns, and giant golems made of Wormwood and life force crystals.

How would new monsters over power the Alliance? Wormwood says that there are "others" as well as the fact that there should be some unalligned monsters...i.e. actual monsters living like animals in the wilderness.

What about parasites? Wormwood mentioned that Krikton was inventing some new ones and had several varieties not listed.

~ Josh

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

I feel that the poor humans are outnumbered enough as it is, so no new monsters or demon minions.

I think there is only one new symbiote... a pair of wings that attach to one's back, and give the abilities of "winged flight"... needed because the defenders of Wormwood have no airpower.

There are several new weapons for the bad guys... like the Hell Mortars that summon meteors. The good guys get soul stuff weapons, TW black powder guns, and giant golems made of Wormwood and life force crystals.

Hrm, are you doing anything with the moons by the way? I forgot to ask that last night.

Wormwood has moons? Hmm, forgot about that. Immature Wormwoods orbiting mom...that would be strange...

[Marrowlight]

I feel that the poor humans are outnumbered enough as it is, so no new monsters or demon minions.

I think there is only one new symbiote... a pair of wings that attach to one's back, and give the abilities of "winged flight"... needed because the defenders of Wormwood have no airpower.

There are several new weapons for the bad guys... like the Hell Mortars that summon meteors. The good guys get soul stuff weapons, TW black powder guns, and giant golems made of Wormwood and life force crystals.

Hrm, are you doing anything with the moons by the way? I forgot to ask that last night.

Wormwood has moons? Hmm, forgot about that. Immature Wormwoods orbiting mom...that would be strange...

Seen in the comic and mentioned in the text. But just that they are there, not any further details are given iirc.

[Marrowlight]

I feel that the poor humans are outnumbered enough as it is, so no new monsters or demon minions.

I think there is only one new symbiote... a pair of wings that attach to one's back, and give the abilities of "winged flight"... needed because the defenders of Wormwood have no airpower.

There are several new weapons for the bad guys... like the Hell Mortars that summon meteors. The good guys get soul stuff weapons, TW black powder guns, and giant golems made of Wormwood and life force crystals.

How would new monsters over power the Alliance? Wormwood says that there are "others" as well as the fact that there should be some unalligned monsters...i.e. actual monsters living like animals in the wilderness.

What about parasites? Wormwood mentioned that Krikton was inventing some new ones and had several varieties not listed.

~ Josh

Yuck - no more parasites please. One of the few cases where bad art really made me hate a concept. Though I'm not that big a fan of the concept to begin with.

[Braden Campbell]

I have a small question The new Kingdoms, are they going to be hiden in the forest of coral like pillers? If so How have they gone with out being found for so long?

It is only rumoured that the three daughters of the High King fled here, and that their descendants have been living a la Robin Hood in the security of Skelosia for centuries. No one knows for certain...

The knights of the Hospital need a healing power of there own, or some kind of magic healing or something.

Nah. There are enough healing things in the game. They should all get WP Lance, and should be the equivalent of cavalry officers... only on motor bikes!

How about bring up the Off world Merc or adventures that stay in World Gate? The ones that got PA and laser guns you know Off world Mercs.

Again, no. Wormwood works best as a setting when it keeps its unique flavour: and that means very few laser guns, power armour, and whatnot. Otherwise its just Rifts with a different title.

Worldgate raids fantasy-style dimensions (like Palladium) and drags back illiterate peasant farmers... then they are told how to use a musket, and rented out in exchange for food and water.

The Wolrdgate "modern" Army is modern like Napoleon...

[Aramanthus]

Yeah it has. I think it does deserve an update. I think Braden's stuff looked very good!

[Aramanthus]

I can defineately confirm that. I knew a couple of people that only wanted to play characters from that setting.

[Braden Campbell]

From the horrors of the Soul Vats comes...

THREAD NECROMANCY!!!!!

A second Wormwood book has been sitting half-completed on my computer for about three years now. After a few conversations with Palladium Books' top man, I have decided to submit Brave New Wormwood to the Rifter, rather than to try and have it published as an entire sourcebook.

Given the financial state of the company at the present time, I feel it would be better to get this new material out in the existing quarterly publication, rather than to gamble on whether or not a second Wormwood book might or might not sell.

So... I am hoping that before long a series of articles will begin appearing in the Rifter called The Wormwood Addenda. These will detail the causes of the Great Tribulation, two new Kingdoms (Ezud and Reorith Province), several new OCCs, and info on the City of Worldgate (including conversions for motorcycles and Black Powder weapons).

So if they don't appear by Rifter #40... start flooding Wayne Smith with demanding messages!

[Blue Eyes]

i have a question, will this version of wormwood be an sdc setting or continue as an MDC setting?

BE

[Braden Campbell]

Uh... MDC, as it is found in the original Wormwood Book.

Game Masters hould feel free however, to change it as they see fit.
I would...

[Rallan]

Wormwood work well in MDC.

Wormwood work horrible in MDC. Wormwood have people who no have supernatural strength and no can shave off MDC beards. Wormwood want be all-SDC setting.

And on a more sensible note, I for one hope the Templars don't get a makeover. They work best as clean-cut, gleaming, crusading jerks who mean well but have too big a stick up their butts to be nice, sort of the same role the Children of Light fill in Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time novels.

Also, corruption. One of the big underdeveloped ideas the first time around was that the Cathedral was rotting from within, and that this was the big thing fuelling tensions between the chuch hierarchy and the various have-nots and mavericks of the Hospitalers and monastic orders.

Also also, blatantly ripping off nifty themes from christianity. There's just not enough protestant influences in the main book, and it'd be nifty to see some overzealous puritans rubbing shoulders with the overzealous catholics of the Cathedral. Plus it'd be a nice twist to have a secret police force in a setting like this that's based on folks like the Witch-Finder General rather than the usual run of Inquisitors that these settings normally have.

[Rallan]

Wormwood work well in MDC.

Wormwood work horrible in MDC. Wormwood have people who no have supernatural strength and no can shave off MDC beards. Wormwood want be all-SDC setting.
.

I have to disagree with you, I've played many games in the Wormwood setting. Wormwood is meant to be a harsh world were humans adapted with the strange energys of the planet, and it's their only real advantage versus the demon of the darkness. As well the planet does produce a M.D.C. resin that is forged into weapons.
So I'm sure the can find something to shave their beards with.

Well except that they don't even have the supernatural strength to be be able to use their MDC resin weaponry to hurt the demons who are trying to take over the world. Or even hurt each other for that matter. Seriously, Wormwood as an all-MDC setting is a total trainwreck from a game mechanics perspective. You need a million house rules and common-sense fixes to get around a million annoying little details that the authors never thought of.

Also also, blatantly ripping off nifty themes from christianity. There's just not enough protestant influences in the main book, and it'd be nifty to see some overzealous puritans rubbing shoulders with the overzealous catholics of the Cathedral. Plus it'd be a nice twist to have a secret police force in a setting like this that's based on folks like the Witch-Finder General rather than the usual run of Inquisitors that these settings normally have.

Their is no "REAL" ripping off of any religous themes in Wormwood. The secret police of Wormwood are infact the Templars, most beloved of the "Cathedral". And the witch hunts in Wormwood are probaly a common practious.

So what Wormwood book are you reading? Because while the one Palladium put out tactfully avoided ever using the word "christian" and was clearly just a fictional setting, there's no denying that it used christian imagery in spades. The Cathedral is portrayed as the Catholic Church at the height of its power, right down to the hypocrisy and corruption that it so often suffered at the highest levels from all the money it had floating around. The only knightly orders detailed in the book are named after the two most famous orders of knights from the Crusades. The characters all have names like Lazarus Vespers, the Pentecost family, The Confessor, Salome (okay so that one's a reference to islam), The Unholy, the Holy Terrors. The biggest, most badass weapons the powers of light have access to are called Battle Saints. Everyone's sporting crosses. Earth's main connection to Wormwood is at the cathedral complex of Lalibela.

I mean come on dude, apocalyptic christian imagery is ubiquitious in Wormwood, it's everywhere, and the writers weren't exactly subtle about it. If you took out all the stuff that's obviously a stylistic nod to religion, Wormwood wouldn't have anything left except... well, motorbikes and a few Sunaj Assassins

[Rallan]

Wormwood is a good balance of medieval-techno-wizardry fantasy, thus the MDC works well.

Wormwood is a world where ordinary underpants are bulletproof, you can spend all day hitting a local in the nuts with a sledgehammer and he won't feel it, humans with MDC but without supernatural strength are somehow able to inflict mega-damage with non-supernatural weapons, and where everyone ought to have starved to death by now because the grubs and fibres Wormwood produces by food are (like everything else in the setting) mega-damage structures that nobody without supernatural strength would be able to cut with a knife and fork, let alone chew, where an open-handed slap from a demon might sting a Wormwood native a little but make a visiting Earthling look like he's been ran over by a truck, where a Wormwood native can easily survive being hit by an MDC plasma ejector which inflicts enough damage to sink a moderately large 20th century ship. Wormwood the setting is a good balance of medieval-techno-wizardry fantasy, which is why I love it to bits. Wormwood the system is a strange Twilight Zone where the normal laws of common sense have been dragged out the back and shot.

[Rallan]

Where in the book does it state you need Supernatural P.S. for the weapons of wormwood to inflict M.D.C.? The kisentit blades deal M.D. with out a supernatural P.S. so why can't wormwood weapons?

Where in the setting does it say that Wormwood weapons are magic or supernatural? It just says that they're MDC structures, and just being an MDC structure isn't enough for someone without supernatural strength to inflict mega-damage. Unless of course you want to argue that Rifts Earth humans can inflict mega-damage by taking the helmet of their MDC boady armor and beating you over the head with it

As well the book never states anything about the Fibers or the Grubs being M.D. creatures. People and things eat M.D creatures on Rifts Earth with out having supernatural P.S..

No, the book says _everything_ is MDC. The people, the planet, the resin, the clothes, everything. Those little grubs they eat? Well if they're mega-damage, you couldn't be able to stop one even if you blew it away with a shotgun at point blank

[Rallan]

After reading the posts on this subject I just had to chime in. (Sorry Nimmy if I get a little hostile!)

First no where in Rifts does it state you have to have supernatural strength to wield MD weapons. Rune weapons, Magic Weapons, Kisentite Blades and Bone Weapons from Madhaven all inflict MD but you do not need to have supernatural PS to wield.

All of which have supernatural or magical properties. It's not the strength of the wielder and the force of the physical impact doing damage with them, it's the unique properties of the item. Like I said before, the helmet to your body armor is a mega-damage structure, but if you use it as a club you're not going to be automatically inflicting MDC damage.

I want to know what kind of Munchkin freaking house rules you are playing with that a Plasma Ejector can take down a boat on Rifts earth. If Plasma Ejectors were around in present day and you were standing point blank, then yeah it could probably take down a boat. How many non-MD boats are sailing around on Rifts earth let alone how many boats and plasma ejectors are running around on Wormwood.

A moderately large 20th century ship. Learn to read. The point of bringing it up was to illustrate how ridiculously out of scale Wormwood is when it's an all MDC setting. Really, it's not that hard a concept to grasp if you slow down and read the words one at a time

Now this is where I'm going to get in trouble. The "Religion" you say is so prevalent on Wormwood could be one of many religions. Crosses are not just signs of Christianity. Most symbols in christianity we're stolen from other religions. The Great Tribulation could also be compared to Ragnarok. Where in christianity were there crusades against demons and the destruction of humankind by their hands. The crusades were about religious differences, not the end of Humanity by demons. If anything Wormwood is a mish mash of lots of religions, and it's up to the GM on how to play it out.

Saying "it ain't necessarily so" doesn't change the very, very obvious fact that christian themes and symbolism are pretty much the major thematic groove of Wormwood. Seriously, fantasy settings regularly build cities, nations, and sometimes entire settings, around stuff inspired by real historical things. In this case, they clearly took their notes from early medieval christianity. It's not that outrageous a claim to make, and it's a pretty hard one for anybody who's actually read the book to deny. If I said "Hey the Wolfen Empire is Rome all over again" or "hey the CCW is a lot like the good guys in Star Trek" or "the Coalition States sure do look a lot like the Third Reich", you wouldn't bother trying to argue the point.

[Rallan]

So you're saying that just by being an MDC structure, a resin sword should be able to do mega-damage in the hands of non-supernatural characters? Someone waving what's basically a three foot stick made from fairly heavy plastic should be able to destroy a 20th century tank in under a minute? That's what you're saying?

If my character pistol-whips someone with his laser pistol (they're made from MDC materials so they won't vapourise the first time you get caught in a mega-damage blast radius), will it inflict mega-damage? If you drop that really bulky laptop from Rifts Sourcebook One (it's heavy AND its casing is an MDC structure) will it do the equivalent of hundreds of points of SDC damage to your foot? If I'm wearing those light MDC clothes that the NGR makes, can I pull my pants off and smack baddies around the head to do mega-damage? If a cyber-doc has disassembled a bionic hand, can he inflict mega-damage by throwing the MDC-alloy knuckles at you? Seriously, common sense alone says that just being made of mega-damage materials wouldn't be enough to make things inflict mega-damage. For magic weapons, it's the magic. For high-tech Rifts weapons, it's the sheer amount of energy in the beam or the staggeringly high velocity of the ammunition. For vibro-blades it's... well, the jury's still out, but there's several perfectly cool pulp sci-fi schticks that could work there. For Kisentite blades and Madhaven bone weapons, I'm really hoping the explanation turns out to be more than just the "well they're really strong and heavy, so that's enough" version you're giving me. For Wormwood resin it's...?

But let's not get bogged down in specifics and forget the bigger picture: Wormwood as an all-MDC setting was an eminently bad idea. It's cheesy. It's stupid. It's immensely unbalancing. It requires a myriad of clarifications and house rules to work at all. And best of all, it defeats the entire purpose of even having the MDC rule in the first place. It not only creates a million situations that don't make sense, the very act of being an all-MDC setting in the first place makes no sense.

And while we're focusing on one fiddly specific, if all you've got on the religious themes side is "not all the sigils and charms in the artwork are crosses", then I can see why you don't want to spend too much time trying to argue that apocalyptic christian themes and imagery weren't the bedrock that Wormwood's style and groove were built on

[DocS]

Wormwood always seemed to me to have been made MDC merely so that it would fit into Rfts, after all, it kind of misses the point since the whole planet is MDC... the residents don't really notice anything special about their own structures (Other than that the beings from other realms seem to be made of 'jello').

However, it was a good commercial move, since Rifts players wanted dimension books to be *different*... and Wormwood certainly was that.

I'd be all for more fleshing out! I'd even buy rifters simply for Wormwood material. I thought the world was under-developed. I'd love more history, factions, and twists (The lance-wielding biker knights.... that ROCKS except for the fact that... it ROCKS). But I would like more symbiotes, the wormspeaker, symbiotic warrior, and apok were uniquely Wormwoodian classes, and I'd love more done with them. More worms! More worms! Worms of Reshaping, Worms of burrowing, Worms of Truth, Worms of Pain, Worms of spying, if a Worm can be made to do it, I want it stuck into a Wormspeaker somewhere.

As for Religion.. Absolutely! Wormwood is a religious place, and the whole Priest/Wormspeaker dichotomy is one of the major sources of conflists.

Then again, is there much of a demand for it? I mean, fanboys on the message board are one thing, but what about other things? If the Original Book sold badly, would it really be worth it for PB to make supplements?

[Rallan]

Actually yes... but not because it is heavier as in weight but heavier as in density.

Hmm.... in an abstract sort of way, look at what is known as Aero-Gel. Very very dense, but light as jelly is.

Um.. no. Density is a measure of how much mass is in a given volume. For example, the density of water is exactly 1 gram per cubic centimetre.

Aero-gel is actually one of the least dense solids in town, with a density almost as low as that of air. So I'm guessing you just had a bit of a brain-fart and got density mixed up with some other term. Happens to the best of us.

[Rallan]

As for the religious stuff all I can say is almost every religion has rough times, thusly even the fictional ones of wormwood do. So saying they are using some other religion as a model is like saying anyone who ever writes a song is copying off the first person to ever write a song, I will agree with Bunny and Shini that it's best left to the GM to play the religion as they see fit.

Sykes I wasn't saying that the people of Wormwood are trying to copy christianity, I'm saying that the authors of the setting mined christianity for nifty themes and images. And fair enough, there's a surprising amount of cool stuff in there once you start looking at it purely from a stylistic rather than religious perspective (I mean look how well it worked for the creators of Evangelion). The catholic church in the middle ages, with its undisputed political supremacy, it's nifty old-school fashions, its byzantine politics, it's as good a choice as any if you're looking for historical stuff to use as a template. Throw in some millenial apocalyptic fervor, a bit of a crusade, and some thoroughly badass forces of darkness, and you're on a cracker of a setting.

[Rallan]

Titanium is a very dense metal that is very light.

Well, very dense compared to hydrogen I guess

[Rallan]

Ti is known for its hardness and its lightness... compared to other metal

I belive it's atomic mass is also very high.

Yeah Titanium's atomic mass is high in the same sense that its density is high.

It ain't

[Greyaxe]

Titanium
Atomic Number: 22 Atomic Symbol: Ti
Atomic Weight: 47.90 Electron Configuration: 2-8-10-2
Shells: 2,8,10,2 Filling Orbital: 4s2
Melting Point: 1660oC Boiling Point: 3287oC
Uses: expensive tools & TiO2 in paint, rubber, paper etc.


Iron
Atomic Number: 26 Atomic Symbol: Fe
Atomic Weight: 55.847 Electron Configuration: 2-8-14-2
Shells: 2,8,14,2 Filling Orbital: 3d6
Melting Point: 1535oC Boiling Point: 2750oC
Uses: steel and other alloys, tools, essential to human life



Technetium
Atomic Number: 43 Atomic Symbol: Tc
Atomic Weight: 97 Electron Configuration: 2-8-18-14-1
Shells: 2,8,18,14,1 Filling Orbital: 4d6
Melting Point: 2200oC Boiling Point: 4877oC
Description: First artificially created element
Uses: Excellent Superconductor below 11oK


Lead
For batteries.
Atomic Number: 82 Atomic Symbol: Pb
Atomic Weight: 207.2 Electron Configuration: 2-8-18-32-18-4
Shells: 2,8,18,32,18,4 Filling Orbital: 6p2
Melting Point: 254oC Boiling Point: 962oC
Description: Radioactive metal.

Lead is heavy, titanium at less than a quarter of the atomic mass is not heavy nor is it dence.

[Aramanthus]

Congrats Braden! I'm looking forward to seeing your articles reach print!

[Aramanthus]

Hmmm.....interesting!

[Spinachcat]

Sorry dudes, but I never get these SDC vs. MDC arguments. If you don't like MDC, either make it 1 MDC = 1 SDC, 1 MDC = 10 SDC or 1 MDC = 100 SDC or whatever combo makes the most sense to you and your gaming group.

At the end of the day, it's just numbers, not story. Good RPGs are story first, numbers second. Great RPGs are characters first, story second and numbers a distant third.

There are the samurai-like Sentinel Knights, who must hide their fighting abilities and disguise themselves as common men for fear of annihilation.

Please tell me they are samurai-like in philosophy, not another pseudo-Japanese culture with katanas that makes L5R look historically accurate.

Religion is a neccesary and pivotal theme in Wormwood. Just read the comic, fer God's sake. There is in fact only one religion on Wormwood, but it has broken down into at least three different lines of thinking: Teradominance, Eastern Yufovra, and Orthodox Cathedralism.

Excellent. Religion and the battles within a religion are pivotal dramatic themes and clearly put forth in the first Wormwood so expanding on those themes is a great idea.

as much as the Flintstones are an acurate depiction of life millions of years ago.

Hey now! Don't go messing with Betty Rubble.

although everyone will have notes on how to run it SDC.

Very good. I don't know why some people need permission to change stuff to their liking, but I think optional rules are a great thing. My rule is "If I bought it, I can make sexytime with it"

I just hope that people like what I'm doing: that is, revitalizing the setting, and trying to give it depth.

I hope your Brave New Wormwood starts out in the Rifter ala Chaos Earth and soon becomes its own book.

And turn it into Palladium's magic slime, tentacled, heavy metal, Lord of the Rings game

You need to write a prologue to your Rifter article that explains how YOU see Wormwood and include that sentence. That rocks!

But I won't be touching the monsters much at all.

Bummer. I would like to see more creatures spawned by Wormwood and more varieties of those weird bugs that roam the surface.

Braden, I would like to see more of the historical timeline for Wormwood and I would like to have the option to play Wormwood games in the earlier timelines.

How about showing a bit of the pre-technology Wormwood society so those people who prefer Wormwood as just fantasy would be excited. Better yet, how about the "Ancient Wormwood for Palladium Fantasy" since you already doing the SDC conversion???

[Braden Campbell]

The first Rifter installment of the Wormwood Addenda tells all about the once Unified Realm, how it was broken up into three seperate lands, and how the Great Tribulation came to be.

It should also include my expanded Wormwood map.

[Aramanthus]

Sounds pretty cool Braden!

[Rallan]

Sorry dudes, but I never get these SDC vs. MDC arguments. If you don't like MDC, either make it 1 MDC = 1 SDC, 1 MDC = 10 SDC or 1 MDC = 100 SDC or whatever combo makes the most sense to you and your gaming group.

At the end of the day, it's just numbers, not story. Good RPGs are story first, numbers second. Great RPGs are characters first, story second and numbers a distant third.

Good stats and good rules are part of what makes a good RPG. When you buy a book for an RPG, part of what you're paying for is page after page of stats, and part of what you're paying for is something that you should be able to play "out of the box" without having to house-rule a whole bunch of stuff just to make it balanced and sensible. That's why we have these game mechanic arguments, especially about sourcebooks like Wormwood, where some of the best writing in Palladium was let down by some of the absolute worst stats and mechanics.

[Aramanthus]

I do like things to be somewhat in order. I don't like really whacked out of place stats that don't really give a proper feeling to the setting. Sorry NinjaBunny I have t o agree with Rallan with what he said.

[Spinachcat]

and part of what you're paying for is something that you should be able to play "out of the box" without having to house-rule a whole bunch of stuff just to make it balanced and sensible.

"Balanced and sensible" to who? Every GM and player has a different sense of what balanced and sensible means. I played Champions for years and any 100 point character is supposed equal any other 100 point character in their very balanced and sensible game. The joke is that all point based games which trumpet their balance are all breakable in a moment. Non-point based games are even more susceptible to wild imbalance.

The final decision on what is balanced and what is sensible completely depends on the GM / player relationship and decisions about what is going to maximize their fun for their group.

No RPG will ever be perfect out of the box for every GM and gaming group. Storytelling has too many variations that depend on personal perspectives for any rules, fluff or stats to work for everyone all of the time.

[Aramanthus]

ok ok NinjaB! I see your point! LOL

[Aramanthus]

LOL I agree with what you said, especially after reading your previous reponse.

[Braden Campbell]

Meh.

It's a matter of 4 points...so use what you want.