Kyzarc Fotjage
Rise Up
With giant fangs!
Pre-EkoNES: Fall From Heaven
- Thread starter Ekolite
- Start date
Kyzarc Fotjage
Rise Up
Hmmm, fireball wielding bunnies with giant fangs... I see a Scenario
Seon
Not An Evil Liar
Kyzarc Fotjage award #2: Never edit a post
Kyzarc Fotjage
Rise Up
Sorry 
Diamondeye
So Happy I Could Die
Maika looked down at the child. Her second daughter. She smiled at the tiny girl. The Daughters of Maika would lead the Hippus for ages to come, to rule the world.
Sofia, her oldest daughter, entered, still not completely secure in her walk. The young girl closed her arms around her mother's leg to keep balance, and looked at the small girl in Maika's hands. Sofia pointed at the young girl while looking at her mother. Maika smiled to Sofia and answered the unspoken question: "Maia. Her name will be Maia."
Sofia, her oldest daughter, entered, still not completely secure in her walk. The young girl closed her arms around her mother's leg to keep balance, and looked at the small girl in Maika's hands. Sofia pointed at the young girl while looking at her mother. Maika smiled to Sofia and answered the unspoken question: "Maia. Her name will be Maia."
Ekolite
Deity
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Having a lot of fun making the Aether Map for EkoNES, it's almost finished and is looking like some kiind of crazy modern art piece. Mana channeling and Mana nodes will work a fair bit differently then how they did in the previous NESes. In Jopa's NES you could more or less have whatever mana type you wanted, in FFHNES you could choose a free starting mana, but after that you can only have the types that cross on the map you get when you discover leylines.
In EkoNES (for now at least), there is an Aether Map, which shows the Aether (the mysterious forces that ebb and flow deep beneath creation). Each mana type is represented on this map, and where areas of two Mana types meet passive affects of which ever mana happens to be dominant occur. This is your only clue about which Mana Flows exist beneath your territory as you will not see the Aether Map at any point. A player may ''prospect'' for Mana, where ever they like within regions they control, once a certain Discovery is made. There is a chance that this will fail, but there is also a chance that a rudimentary node will be established of one of the Mana types present beneath the area. This will not neccessarilly be the dominant one (the one that occassionally has an effect on Erebus) although it has a greater chance. If the subordiate Mana type is selected then it immediately becomes the dominant type in that area and has a passive effect on the area. The more advanced the mana node the stronger the passive effect, which could be anything from an increase in fertility to periodic wildfires across the area.
However, the most important thing to know is that the Aether Map is fluid. It is not static like the leylines map of FFHNES. Disturbances in the Aether, like a Volcanic Eruption or a Ritual being performed. These can cause massive changes in the Aether, changing the mana flows which pass through your territory, providing you with a new mana type, a new passive bonus (or penalty) or, possibly removing an old one. Mana nodes tend to pin down the Aether around them, making it a bit more stable in the area, the more advanced the Node the more stable the Aether there becomes. However, if the disturbance is powerful enough it can change a node to a different mana type. This can be bad if you were relying on it's passive effect, or if the new passive effect is negative.
I haven't decided if players will have fixed spells that limit what they can cast, or whether I will use a free system like in JopaNES, where they can cast whatever they like within reason. However, if a mana node that was relied upon for spells is changed to a different mana typethe player will get new spells to replace the old ones that they can no longer cast.
Don't worry if you don't completely understand all this, the whole idea of the mana system is that it's meant to be a little bit mysterious and unknown to the players. Feel free to ask questions if I haven't explained something potentially important though.
In EkoNES (for now at least), there is an Aether Map, which shows the Aether (the mysterious forces that ebb and flow deep beneath creation). Each mana type is represented on this map, and where areas of two Mana types meet passive affects of which ever mana happens to be dominant occur. This is your only clue about which Mana Flows exist beneath your territory as you will not see the Aether Map at any point. A player may ''prospect'' for Mana, where ever they like within regions they control, once a certain Discovery is made. There is a chance that this will fail, but there is also a chance that a rudimentary node will be established of one of the Mana types present beneath the area. This will not neccessarilly be the dominant one (the one that occassionally has an effect on Erebus) although it has a greater chance. If the subordiate Mana type is selected then it immediately becomes the dominant type in that area and has a passive effect on the area. The more advanced the mana node the stronger the passive effect, which could be anything from an increase in fertility to periodic wildfires across the area.
However, the most important thing to know is that the Aether Map is fluid. It is not static like the leylines map of FFHNES. Disturbances in the Aether, like a Volcanic Eruption or a Ritual being performed. These can cause massive changes in the Aether, changing the mana flows which pass through your territory, providing you with a new mana type, a new passive bonus (or penalty) or, possibly removing an old one. Mana nodes tend to pin down the Aether around them, making it a bit more stable in the area, the more advanced the Node the more stable the Aether there becomes. However, if the disturbance is powerful enough it can change a node to a different mana type. This can be bad if you were relying on it's passive effect, or if the new passive effect is negative.
I haven't decided if players will have fixed spells that limit what they can cast, or whether I will use a free system like in JopaNES, where they can cast whatever they like within reason. However, if a mana node that was relied upon for spells is changed to a different mana typethe player will get new spells to replace the old ones that they can no longer cast.
Don't worry if you don't completely understand all this, the whole idea of the mana system is that it's meant to be a little bit mysterious and unknown to the players. Feel free to ask questions if I haven't explained something potentially important though.
Babelfish8000
Chieftain
Psycho killer rabbits? Where's the holy hand grenade of Antioch when you need it?
One,Two,Five!-Three, Sir!-Three!
One,Two,Five!-Three, Sir!-Three!
Diamondeye
So Happy I Could Die
The Aether map sounds like a very nice idea, Kol! Looking forward to this thing (which'll start in the middle of my exams) 
Ekolite
Deity
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- 5,451
Just to elaborate slightly. The ''passive'' effects of a dominant mana flow aren't fixed. They can change on a case by case basis, perhaps affected subtley by the subordinate mana flow, and they can change as the result of an event, or the development of the Node. All spheres can have positive and negative passive effects. For example, a law flow could cause a stability benefit, or it could cause an authoritarian leader to arise in the settlement the node is based in, who promptly leads a revolution and forms an independent city state. Likewise, an Entropy flow could cause the population of a certain settlement to periodically die off, or it could cause the settlement added health benefits as they grow immunity to whatever minor diseases the flow brings.
Benefits are usually on a local basis (only affecting the town they are in), but particularly powerful nodes can provide regional effects, or even nation-wide effects. Not all nodes, or dominant flows will provide effects, and the ones that do might not do so all the time. You're lucky if you're sitting on a flow powerful enough to have a permanent effect without a node on it. Nodes make flows more likely to provide a benefit.
Very often you won't know about a change in the Aether until it has an effect on you, if it does actually have an effect on you. Sometimes, particularly if it something that happens world-wide, it will be included in the update.
Benefits are usually on a local basis (only affecting the town they are in), but particularly powerful nodes can provide regional effects, or even nation-wide effects. Not all nodes, or dominant flows will provide effects, and the ones that do might not do so all the time. You're lucky if you're sitting on a flow powerful enough to have a permanent effect without a node on it. Nodes make flows more likely to provide a benefit.
Very often you won't know about a change in the Aether until it has an effect on you, if it does actually have an effect on you. Sometimes, particularly if it something that happens world-wide, it will be included in the update.
Diamondeye
So Happy I Could Die
Sofia laughed as she rode across the plains. At the age of twelve, she already had her own horse (although it was merely a pony), and she loved riding around the fields around the city - she could do so for hours every day without growing tired of it.
He little sister, Maia, who was ten years of age by now, did not seem to share her enthusiasm of riding - very uncommon among the Hippus, and certainly the cause of a lot of frustration to her mother, Maika. Maia only rode her own pony when she had to travel far. She seemed much more interested in learning to fire a bow - from foot.
Often, the two sisters would join eachother for a trip to the nearby cougar crag, equipped with their bows and spears, and clad in leather armor, to hunt the cougars. On those occassions, they always brought their horses along, so they could get away, should the cougars be too much for them to handle.
He little sister, Maia, who was ten years of age by now, did not seem to share her enthusiasm of riding - very uncommon among the Hippus, and certainly the cause of a lot of frustration to her mother, Maika. Maia only rode her own pony when she had to travel far. She seemed much more interested in learning to fire a bow - from foot.
Often, the two sisters would join eachother for a trip to the nearby cougar crag, equipped with their bows and spears, and clad in leather armor, to hunt the cougars. On those occassions, they always brought their horses along, so they could get away, should the cougars be too much for them to handle.
TBH, This doesn't seem like a fitting negative effect for law mana at all...
Seon
Not An Evil Liar
Yes, more chances for Group B players to join 
MasterofDisasta
Prince
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
- Messages
- 355
The Aether map idea is very intriguing. Sounds like it will add a lot of relevance to the random events and make us wonder: was it just a random event or a result of my territory's mana? Very cool.
Diamondeye
So Happy I Could Die
Maika heard the rumours about her youngest daughter, but paid no heed to them. Several of the people in the village had reported that Maia had scared the spine out of their kids. When Maika asked what had happened, the parents always retold what their children had told, which was absolutely not reassuring: one of them had said that he had been playing with Maia, when suddenly she had been standing next to a giant lion, which had roared at him and sent him running. Another child, a girl, had said that Maia had, in a game they had played, suddenly been flanked by two walking skeletons, with swords and shields. The girl had fainted.
Maika shook her head. Surely, these were just the imagination of kids? Nevertheless, very few children apart from Maia's sister, Sofia, dared to play with the young girl. Maika looked with sad eyes as the young girl grew to be a lonely young woman. She seemed happy enough with it, though. Maika shrugged. Her oldest daughter was everything she wished of her, so why shouldn't Maia be allowed to seek other paths?
Maika shook her head. Surely, these were just the imagination of kids? Nevertheless, very few children apart from Maia's sister, Sofia, dared to play with the young girl. Maika looked with sad eyes as the young girl grew to be a lonely young woman. She seemed happy enough with it, though. Maika shrugged. Her oldest daughter was everything she wished of her, so why shouldn't Maia be allowed to seek other paths?
Is there a way to harness/control "passive" effects of the flow through a node?
I think both free flowing and fixed spells systems have their pros and cons but in a free system, you should set general limits based on the power of the spell caster/tech known whatever. For instance I had started writing a system like that inspired by Dominions:
Level 1: Summon weak beings, minor self buffs, distance attacks targetting one person (summon animals, barkskin, flame bolt...)
Level 2: Summon 1 elemental, stronger buffs or minor buffs on others, aera of effect ranged attack (summon lesser elemental, body etheral, fireball... )
Level 3: Summon strong creatures, aera of effect buffs, debuffs, large area of effect attacks (summon trolls, mass protection, falling fires... )
Level 4: Summon unique beings or weaker summons en masse, battlefield buffs, battle enchantments (summon fire king, army of lead, acid rain...)
These could be just vague guidelines, but it'd be unfair to have someone win a battle because he thought his troops were good enough to cast mass area of effect samage spell while the opponent with the same troops thought he couldn't and thus didn't give as devastating orders to his own mages.
I think both free flowing and fixed spells systems have their pros and cons but in a free system, you should set general limits based on the power of the spell caster/tech known whatever. For instance I had started writing a system like that inspired by Dominions:
Level 1: Summon weak beings, minor self buffs, distance attacks targetting one person (summon animals, barkskin, flame bolt...)
Level 2: Summon 1 elemental, stronger buffs or minor buffs on others, aera of effect ranged attack (summon lesser elemental, body etheral, fireball... )
Level 3: Summon strong creatures, aera of effect buffs, debuffs, large area of effect attacks (summon trolls, mass protection, falling fires... )
Level 4: Summon unique beings or weaker summons en masse, battlefield buffs, battle enchantments (summon fire king, army of lead, acid rain...)
These could be just vague guidelines, but it'd be unfair to have someone win a battle because he thought his troops were good enough to cast mass area of effect samage spell while the opponent with the same troops thought he couldn't and thus didn't give as devastating orders to his own mages.
Ekolite
Deity
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If I use a free system spells will stilll be limitted based on unit type, I will probably go with fixed spells though because I think making magic too flexible overpowers it in comparison with non-magical strategies.
For now, I'm going to say no there is no way that you can control their passive effects. However, as time goes on and arcane development continues, someone may well discover some way of altering them, perhaps through some sort of precisely calculated discharge of magic.
For now, I'm going to say no there is no way that you can control their passive effects. However, as time goes on and arcane development continues, someone may well discover some way of altering them, perhaps through some sort of precisely calculated discharge of magic.
Tyrs
King
I personally really like Immac's system of design your own spells. Then its a mix of set and flexible, but you get to say what is too strong
