Oriental/Fantasy: KAMIGAWA [Concept Art]

Casually, I've mentioned in several threads how I've become interested once
again in both Civ & the Magic: The Gathering Card game [due to their latest
expansion, 'Champions of Kamigawa'], and have consequently been planning
a Mod for civ. The Kamigawa block of Magic is based solely on Japanese
folklore & Shinto tradition [as well as a few additions by the Wizards of the
Coast design team].

-The more interest there is in this mod, the more unique it will be.

-I've made several mods in the past, but until now have n'er planned to post
one.

-There may be periods when I will not have internet availability, but will con-
tinue to work on the mod, either directly, or on paper - planning it out.
-If I cannot get enough units for each of the five colours/races from the
Kamigawa set, I may add units that have already been created in various
other fantasy mods which correspond to older M:tG sets.

Below are several images I thought may be of some inspiration to unit creators,... for now [until I get the full mod fleshed out], units are my primary
concern, are but a few existing ones I can use for the Kamis/Spirits in the
realm of Kamigawa.

Here is a link to the official Magic Site for this set, you're sure to find plenty
of inspiring artwork there [some too large for posting here].

http://www.wizards.com/magic/displayexpansion.asp?set=chk&page=1

Representing White are the Human Samurai of Lord Konda and the Foxfolk,
called Kitsune-bito.

The Kitsune are, for the most part, a light-hearted race of shamans, clerics,
and rangers, although they have been recently hired by Lord Konda and trained as Samurai. Their nimble bodies make them dangerous adversaries.

The foxfolk warriors are armed with a Jitte for defense & a long sword for
offence. Their Rangers are armed with either a bow or a staff and short
sword.

Pictured below are two foxfolk being attacked by a Black Kami/Spirit in a
spell called Night of Souls Betrayal.

A bit of explanation - the aforementioned Kami are the spirits, which, accord-
ing to Shinto precepts, inhabit everything - there is a spirit of law, a spirit for
each lake, each mountain, a kami of lunacy, a kami of the hunt, etc. This is
the area in which unit creation can be a bit tricky, or fun, depending on your
approach. These Kami are usually depicted as being made up of that which
they are a spirit of [ie. the Kami of Lunacy is a black spirit that looks like a
large, floating brain with a drooling mouth and tiny nerve cells floating about
it. The White creature, Kami of the Palace fields has no body at all, but a
white dress, long black hair, and lanterns floating around 'her'(pictured below).

I'll return to the Spirits in a bit, but first, a couple more depictions of the
Fox-folk. For unit creators, take your creative liberties; the primary features,
as you'll notice, of the Kitsune foxes are their distinctive long ears, white fur,
and bushy tails. They, like the snake-folk [Orochi-bito] & ratfolk [Nezumi], are highly dexterous humanoid creatures (they walk upright).

Whereas the very first picture I posted was of a Kitsune warrior, the above
is of a cleric. [Like D&D, creatures in Magic too (usually) have both a race &
class]

The below is one of my favorite pieces of art far as actual card art goes, -
Samurai of the Pale-Curtain,... also a fox.

hmmm... magic and civ... wierd combo
might work
though there needs to be alot of art and graphics

This could be really cool...though getting the proper units made could be a bit of a challenge. There is plenty of art available off of the cards themselves.

You may want to double check WOTC's regulations on using their images, etc.

It oughtta be far easier & more fun than it sounds to be... The Warhammer
Mod had a great way of loading spells onto Wizards,... I was thinking perhaps
of having spells as sort of infinite range missiles- bombards of varying power
and chance.
More later,.. perhaps moving on to the blue school [Minamo Academy & the
Soratami; Moonfolk].

Wow, I am in the same boat as you, old time Magic player, new timer because of the Kamigawa block. Unfortuneatly I just got this game (Civ 3 Complete edition) a few days ago. I don't have a clue how to help other than brainstorming.

Keep it up!

lol... bizarre! We are in the same boat!
Although, I've been playing Civ in the time I _didn't_ play magic
I let the thread slide, but found your reply,... perhaps if I post a bit more on
the civs/tribes involved more people will catch on - I'm really confident about
a smooth & fun transition; fear not work [tho I'm admitedly tech-tree unadept]; I do however have some idea on approaches.

Here's what I have for the tribes thus far;... Now, the second part of Kamigawa ['Betrayers of ~'] will be released officially on 5 Feb, so things may
change then. But here it is, thus far:

White: TOWABARA PLAINS: Lord Konda, the human samurai & Kitsune [foxfolk- clerics, wizards, & samurai of their own].

Blue: Minamo Academy - school at waters edge; The Soratami Moonfolk & their human wizards-in-training and spirits play an unknown role... not much is known of these mysterious people who often send advisors across the Kamigawa plain to sway opinions.

More to come,... [i've limited time online @ present time, @ present place]
Here are some of the Blue Guild's folk,...

Pictured above is a Human wizard in training. One can tell them apart from
their mysterious masters the moonfolk by the former's distinctiveness, not the latter's. The Soratami moonfolk seek ultimate knowledge & for that they seem to be willing to do anything; in this war against the spirit world, they find themselves in a sort of aside position - unsure of what moves to make - when they have been the puppeteers all along - of Lord Konda's successful campaigns in conquering all of what's worth conquering in Kamigawa - from the depths of Orochi [snake-folk] territory in the Jukai Forest to the frosted tips of the Sokenzan Mountains, which conceal raging torrents of lava beneath [where the fun akki goblins dwell!]

Below is pictured is the likeness of the Soratami moonfolk.

How hard would it be to add Red, Blue, Green, Black, and White mana to the resources? I read other mods "add" resource types. That would really make more options viable.

Drift did something similar in his MoM mod with the various mana nodes (Death, Life, etc). So it shouldn't be that difficult.

Correct Steel General,...
I've found the most inspiration in the Master of Myrror, Warhammer, and Sengoku
mods, respectively. Several of the mods that have been released, including updates
to the aforementioned, I haven't checked out yet, but plan to.

I expect to use spells, which will only require minor animations, with either infinite
bombard range, or limited, depending on the specific spell. Think of things such as
'Stone Rain' and 'Lava Axe' (both red spells) as missiles, either to be 'shot'/cast from settlements or from units that can load spells into them. [nods to all who've taken on
ambitious projects such as the one I'm about to embark on.]

Personally I would prefer sticking more true to just The Kamigawa block of spell and abilites (i.e. no lava axe's or fireballs), but that is just my opinion (which aint really worth crap, but at least I gave it). That leaves room for excitement when a plain Dominara (however its spelled) themed world, and newness and stuff.

Also I would stress the importance of having mana lands by a lot. Planeswalkers are nothing without their precious mana.

I dunno, tired, sleepy, hopefully will give better suggestions tommorow.

How hard would it be to have Spirit creatures "reraise" if you have proper mana?

Haganegiri said:

How hard would it be to have Spirit creatures "reraise" if you have proper mana?

Click to expand...

Unfortunetly, it is the intricies of magic that will suffer in converting to Civ.
So no 'Soulshift' abilities [for those unawares, soulshift is a new ability in the
Kamigawa block that alows spirits who were defeated earlier and were less
powerful than the previous incarnation to return to the players hand - the
spirit 'reincarnates' (as close a word i can arrive at).
This though is where it gets interesting - the invisible point at which Magic
and Civ merge - ie; I could have some spirits [not all of them have the soul-
shift ability] have the civ 'enslave' ability - by chance sometimes creating
a Spirit 'token' creature just a size smaller [-1/-1] than the creature 'enslav-
ing' it.
Haganegiri,... I would most love to make a Kamigawa -only- mod, but
thus far, there are very few, if none at all units to use for the spirit creatures,
as they're sooooo unique. Perhaps some talented unit creaters would dig a
change from the norm . So, until I come across a cure for the lack of this
most fundamental of units, I'm going to have to combine Kamigawa with elder
magic sets. Here are some graphics I thought would be tres bon en la mod.

[btw, Wizards of the Coast, the developers of Magic the Gathering have just
released a link for Betrayers of Kamigawa, part two of three in the series. The
set will be released February 4th, officially, with the third and final part out
around May/June]: http://www.wizards.com/magic/displayexpansion.asp?set=bok&page=1&lang=en&cmp=ILC-MTGCOMURL

One of the sweetest blue critters from the Fifth Dawn Mirrodin expansion:

Okay,... a couple more blue tonight, the first from Kamigawa, the second is a classic card. Perhaps later today [05 Wednesday] I'll move on to the school of black magic, which, in Kamigawa relates to two races - the Nezumi Rats [some are samurai, some rogues, all work for hire - Ronin] - and the Ogres who worship the Oni [demons].

Below, Two blue critters: