So far, this has worked nicely. And today, I've reached my 800th wiki entry (as you can see with the counter in the side bar) - The Vanisher, a major figure in the criminal underworld of Nimdenthal.

Enjoy! And have a look at the other new entries, too…

So, If I'm goign to have 7 Crystal Skulls, where to place them? I know one will be near Sirenzo. One will be on the Far Coast, and I think the last one will be in Abaino.

SO where to put the last 4? I want cool locations. I was thinking one in the Gawaris Desert. Hmm… any ideas?

Well, my dice should be here soon, so hopefully we'll get to play soon.

I can sense you cringing <.<

Why should I? After all, widely changing around material to suit one's campaign is a hallowed tradition since the earliest days of gaming!

The next thing I did on my changes was strike off the Far Coast being uninhabited, and put the homeland of the vampires there… vampires which are now not true undead, but blood-sucking experiments of the Ancients who where left there after they disappeared.

I can sense you cringing <.<

But hopefully you get good ideas somewhere from me. :)

I'll continue posting my wildly non-canon story when it starts. Hopefully it will be an entertaining read.

Take Warcraft for example, they have both. The Titans are space aliens who created some of the races, then you have Elune and the Loa who are real gods. And since I've established gods don't grant power, it's not really needed. Of course, I was thinking of going all WoD and proposing a spirit world, of sorts. Where spirits exist, and some of them are worshiped as gods. Of course, the Astral realm is very "Spirit World"

Of course, I have to ask, whats your take on the world's religion?

Oh, bright idea! So the question comes; How did the mortal races face a technological, higher level, and much more deadly foe, their creators? Answer, they had help. From the spirits. Which were being subjugated by the Ancients as much as the mortal races. So some of the god's are memories of the Ancients, mixed with myth. Some of them are spirits. Or something. I'm just thinking of things and taking a shot in the dark, see how you like it. >.>

Thanks! I'll be posting in the Actual Play.

Oh, you ever play KoTOR II? Well if you haven't, the main character is special because she can use the Force to subtlety influence people around her to change their alignment towards hers. I'm thinking of giving her character that power, so Gavin will be her good voice of reason, but if she keeps going the evil route, eventually Gavin will stop protesting less, and by the tiem she's completly evil, Gavin will be evil to. Vis a versa for other members that stick around.

I have a feeling the game will feel much more like a computer RPG, with the picking up of part members through the story. Not that that's a bad thing. :P

Oh, and I've created a new entry for Orichalcum which you might also be able to tie into all this somehow…

Oh, oh. real good idea. Maybe Gavin serves as the voice of light, and the Ex-Myrmidon (maybe "Sirrus" is a good name?) is more pushign her towards evil?

On the DMPC; Indeed for the Myrmidon thing that was what I was going to do. And I wasn't going to turn him into a world destroying monster, keyword there was based off of, I'll probably be tweaking his story. It's basically do I want the DMPC to be a Fighter /w magic powers, or a cleric/Fighter. The DMPC is there to be a "help button" and to offer a side story…. and make her feel like there's a person to help, either way, both concepts for the character have side stories to explore, that's what I really want the DMPC for. He'll start more powerful than her, but she'll gain levels faster… meet him, then exceed him. But he'll still be there to help as a party member. Not so much a mentor.

Oh, and the "Stored consciousness" Idea is bloody brilliant! I love it!

You know a thought hit me, I was intending for the Ancient's goal to be true Apotheosis, to be able to ascended to the Great Beyond and become True Gods. So, the Ancients had ways to keep their conscious around if they died (Which is why the people of Valetta can get consul from the Ancients) and what if the main Ancients are the ones who orginally made Sheol when they died? And their spirits are now the devil lords of Sheol.

Hmmm…

Maybe Sheol started out as a repository for their consciousness - but in the process they accidentally created (or attracted) some astral parasites which evolved into the devils of today. And the devil lords are fighting over the entrance to the power source in the interior, where the consciousnesses are located…

Hrm. So, I want to ask your opinion about something (considering your the only one I've told about my game….) Should I stick with my plan as having the DMPC be more of a Cloud-like soldier suffering from Magic addiction? Or should I do more of a more faithful Goku-ish port, as of, using the DMPC as a saiyan who is supposed to be the vanguard for the eventual invasion force (Which I am going to do a alien invasion after the initial arc…) And if I do him a full blooded saiyan, any ideas on how to make him more unique, than just a DBZ rip (though, as she's never seen, watched or heard of Goku, she'd be oblivious… >.<)

Hmmm… I'd start with the Cloud-analogue. In a proper Hero's Journey, mentors exist so that the hero can grow past them, and that's easier to do with a former super-soldier with a crippling magic addiction than with someone who has the potential power to destroy worlds. Ultimately, the story should be about the player character, not the NPCs surrounding her.

You also said that he can serve as a "help button". How about this: Whenever he uses his myrmidon powers and Saves The Day, he gets bad post-combat shakes which persist until he can inject some mysterious substance into his vein with a syringe (the raw azoth, of course). And every time he activates those powers, the pain and the shakes grow visibly worse. This way, he can use his powers in an emergency - but the heroine of the story should also be strongly motivated not to let it come this far once she witnesses this. Thus, she gets to feel that what she does matters.

(Oh, and I had an idea… offer her forbidden power… wit ha price. The classic mage lure. Thinking of a demon that offers her power, and if she accepts… it posses her. For the impetus to this, I was goign to give her a mini-rival who is her master's colleague's apprentice who she almost catches in the act, and her and the rival square off with her more than likely losing since the rival has been dabbling in dark magic… and she learns combat mechanics, and is helped out by a NPC, to in which the NPC and her converse and then she goes to look what he was actually doing… to meet a summoned devil in a magic circle! Who offers her the deal… Seeing how she plays a warlock in WoW, she might actually take it. Hehehe )

Hmmm. Be careful of outright permanent possession, or your wife will be upset with you that you are running her character for her. ;)

It's better if the devil (and I assume you meant devil, as offering pacts is their shtick]]] instead of demons) is lurking in her subconsciousness and whispers suggestions to her from time to time. Also decide what kind of devil offers the deal, as that will shape the kind of suggestions it will make…

Gah, I'm torn. Both options have their merits.

(Oh, and I had an idea… offer her forbidden power… wit ha price. The classic mage lure. Thinking of a demon that offers her power, and if she accepts… it posses her. For the impetus to this, I was goign to give her a mini-rival who is her master's colleague's apprentice who she almost catches in the act, and her and the rival square off with her more than likely losing since the rival has been dabbling in dark magic… and she learns combat mechanics, and is helped out by a NPC, to in which the NPC and her converse and then she goes to look what he was actually doing… to meet a summoned devil in a magic circle! Who offers her the deal… Seeing how she plays a warlock in WoW, she might actually take it. Hehehe )

Edit: Sorry if I annoy with all my chatter. Just excited about the game, and bouncing ideas off a intelligent individual is quiet fun. And my lack of sleep, yeah, that probably doesn't help either.

Re-Edit: Oh man!… crazy idea… what if I made Goku a real monk! He's a holy man in addition to a martial artist? (and my working name is Gavin Sol (Sol = Sun, Gavin = a cook G-name to Goku)

You know a thought hit me, I was intending for the Ancient's goal to be true Apotheosis, to be able to ascended to the Great Beyond and become True Gods. So, the Ancients had ways to keep their conscious around if they died (Which is why the people of Valetta can get consul from the Ancients) and what if the main Ancients are the ones who orginally made Sheol when they died? And their spirits are now the devil lords of Sheol.

And yes, I did see that. I'm betting they'll need to go there on their way to the Ancient ruins. It was a nice moment. Obviously we were thinking along the same lines. o.o

So, what are you planning to do to establish the setting in her mind? It's always good to establish some sense of "normalcy" first to make a setting seem more "real" before introducing all the weirdness. What kinds of people, institutions, and organizations will she interact with early on? What kinds of role-playing opportunities will there be?

(Oh, and on another tangent - since you are starting in Sirenzo, you did read the entry on Veletta, right? More "mysterious wisdom from the Ancients"…)

Now, What are the rest of the reagents? Or maybe they are pieces to create a staff….

I do know for certain how the first few sessions will be presented. And that the first piece will be located in a 'dungeon' near Sorenzo.

Yeah. I'm very much trying to mix pieces and come up with plausible backstories, and make 'em fit. One thing that made me fall in love with Urbis is how well it meshes while taking things from multiple places. It gave me hope that I could do it too. :P

Hmm… well… there is that matter of a planet that doesn't exist in our current solar system…. -evil smirk- :P

Though, as a fun little connection I made, it was an idea in my head that the genes of the 'Saiyans' that the used for humans are where natural werewolves come from. Since, really, Saiyans are just a race of Were-Ape monks. :P

Speaking of genes In Character a scholar would probably refer to it as the "blueprint of Life" or as some theorist say ancient cultures did in the real world… the "Tree of Life" considering how much a double-helix looks like a tree.

But, for a name for a project to make a supersoldier? Especially ones who are hopped up on drugs to keep 'em dependent? I think the name is PERFECT though. Exactly what I was looking for.

Glad you like it. I've updated the Knights of the Chalice entry to include them. ;)

(Fine, I break… the race that had an ancient war with the humans are based on DBZ's saiyans… I admit it -cry- Man, when I'm doing this I realize just how wide a range of genre's I like…)

So, which planet are you going to blow up during the campaign? :p

I mean, so far my game will be; Assassin's Creed, mixed with tradition fantasy, mixed with a little Stargate, mixed with some DBZ, and FF7 anime elements… wit ha little Cosmic Horrors thrown in to spice it up… Either it could turn out as a beautiful master piece…. or…. >.<

Mixing all sorts of elements from vastly different sources is nothing unusual in gaming - some of my favorite settings do this. Fading Suns, especially, pulls this off brilliantly - you can make any genre fit in it. And Urbis itself has of course a very long reference list - the Resources page barely even begins to cover where I've stolen my ideas…

(Fine, I break… the race that had an ancient war with the humans are based on DBZ's saiyans… I admit it -cry- Man, when I'm doing this I realize just how wide a range of genre's I like…)

I mean, so far my game will be; Assassin's Creed, mixed with tradition fantasy, mixed with a little Stargate, mixed with some DBZ, and FF7 anime elements… wit ha little Cosmic Horrors thrown in to spice it up… Either it could turn out as a beautiful master piece…. or…. >.<

Oh, yes. The DMPC which will serve as a early "Help!" button and party member will be an Ex-SOLDIER who has a grudge against the first antagonist.

Just be sure that he doesn't steal her show - always a danger with DMPCs…

Speaking of the SOLDIER Program… SOLDIER is a straight up steal from FF7, I was wonder if I should rename it… maybe the WARRIOR Program…

Nah - that sounds too much like a modern-day project. It would be more in-genre to use a name from classical mythology.

Anyways, long story short. They are people (and in the case of Gavin and my unnamed 1st Arc Antagonist, people born from…) salvaged DNA from a Ancient site for whom they believe are ancients. They are given the therapy in a potion, and then submerged in a pure Azoth pool from a Nexus Tower (which creates a magical addiction in most of them, guaranteeing their loyalty, since pure Azoth to consume is pretty hard to come by) and gives them characteristics of the alien, and increased magic powers. In essence, it makes them Sorcerer/Spellblades. Their defining physical characteristic is slightly glowing eyes. Usually called 'Azoth Eyes."

Hmmm… How about calling them Myrmidons? That's a nice, classical name, and has all sorts of creepy-appropriate undertones. For example, the original ancestor of the Myrmidons was born when Zeus seduced a princess in the form of an ant - which hints nicely of the "alien DNA" (though I think we should come up with a better term than "DNA", which is again too modern…). And the later Myrmidons also sprang from ants, just like your enhanced warriors sprang from a more mundane form. Making their glowing eyes slightly faceted would just be perfect…

And according to Wikipedia, "Myrmidon" also had some interesting associations in pre-industrial Europe:

The Myrmidons of Greek myth were known for their loyalty to their leaders, so that in pre-industrial Europe the word "myrmidon" carried many of the same connotations that "robot" does today. Myrmidon later came to mean "hired ruffian" (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) or "a loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question, protest, or pity, unquestioning followers."

Doesn't this sound just perfect? :D

Oh, yes. The DMPC which will serve as a early "Help!" button and party member will be an Ex-SOLDIER who has a grudge against the first antagonist.

Speaking of the SOLDIER Program… SOLDIER is a straight up steal from FF7, I was wonder if I should rename it… maybe the WARRIOR Program…

Anyways, long story short. They are people (and in the case of Gavin and my unnamed 1st Arc Antagonist, people born from…) salvaged DNA from a Ancient site for whom they believe are ancients. They are given the therapy in a potion, and then submerged in a pure Azoth pool from a Nexus Tower (which creates a magical addiction in most of them, guaranteeing their loyalty, since pure Azoth to consume is pretty hard to come by) and gives them characteristics of the alien, and increased magic powers. In essence, it makes them Sorcerer/Spellblades. Their defining physical characteristic is slightly glowing eyes. Usually called 'Azoth Eyes."

Oh yes. That's one thing I forgot. The Parginian Rim. Sirenzo specifically, I'm choosing it since it doesn't have much more than a general outline I can mold it… and it's alot like Florence where AC2 starts.

Well, if you get some cool ideas for the place, please tell me - maybe I can add them to the description of the city. ;)

And, actually… now that you mentioned it. a Past life experience would be REALLY cool. I think I'll use that.

Looking at the timeline, a couple of interesting periods come to mind:

• The period when the humans of the Verdant Coast overthrew their elven oppressors.
• The time when Negroth the Doombringer invaded the Flannish Cities.
• The subsequent Liberation Wars when the people of the Flannish Cities overthrew their incompetent noble rulers.

These are just at the top of my head - there is no shortage of historical strife in this setting, much of which hasn't even been mentioned yet…

As for my wife's character. She will be a Human/elf/or Half-elf who studies in Sirenzo under her adopted father, whom is a Master in the Guardians. The game will start off with her training with her master, so I can teach her game mechanics.

How much does she know about the Guardians and the secret history of the world?

And how do you plan to kill her master? I mean, that's kind of traditional in the Hero's Journey. That, or he secretly works for the other side… ;)

Oh, I saw your update to the Solar System page, with the mention of lost human colonies. I like, alot. :D

Well, the "Planetary Romance" genre is such an old staple of science fiction - from the "John Carter on Mars" stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs to James Cameron's "Avatar" - that I figured I might as well add some humanoid natives to romance. In fact, I should probably add that to the designer's notes on that page… ;)

Edit: And, I cannot believe I missed the Herald and the Servant… I am so goign to have to implement a high-end dungeon fighting in the Ancient station. Man. Complete with Ancient robots and defense systems, trying to disable the Knight's mind-control machine. -mind a'splodes with ideas-

I had forgotten those as well - I've been working on the setting for so long (eight years now!) that I often forget some of the details…

But for how I'm going to incorporate the backstory, well. I know in one of the places the campaign will end up will be in one of the Ancient facilities that the Knight's uncovered, and she will find some out about it. The Templar's SOLDIER project is looking to create a super soldier out of 'Ancient' DNA… the first arcs antagonist being the first to use that.

And, actually… now that you mentioned it. a Past life experience would be REALLY cool. I think I'll use that.

As for my wife's character. She will be a Human/elf/or Half-elf who studies in Sirenzo under her adopted father, whom is a Master in the Guardians. The game will start off with her training with her master, so I can teach her game mechanics.

Oh, I saw your update to the Solar System page, with the mention of lost human colonies. I like, alot. :D

Magrith is.. perfect for it. Considering Venus' reputation as being Earth's twin since ancient history.

Edit: And, I cannot believe I missed the Herald and the Servant… I am so goign to have to implement a high-end dungeon fighting in the Ancient station. Man. Complete with Ancient robots and defense systems, trying to disable the Knight's mind-control machine. -mind a'splodes with ideas-

Indeed, If you have any random idea for this general 'backstory' I would LOVE to hear them.

Not right now, though maybe I will get more ideas later. It might also help knowing more about the kind of character your wife is going to play, and in what location the campaign is going to start. Personally, I tend to adjust some of a campaign's "deep mysteries" to reflect events in the campaign…

Oh, and do you plan to do some "flashbacks" to historic periods like in Assassin's Creed?

As for the stats for the Template; I was contemplating going to say, RPG.net and throwing the idea out there.

Yeah, that makes sense - they have a lot of experience with all sorts of gaming systems over there.

As for the stats for the Template; I was contemplating going to say, RPG.net and throwing the idea out there.

Oh, and you might have noticed that I'm currently adding a "Comments" section to all the pages where readers can add forum posts specific to that entry. It was always possible to do that via the "Discuss" button at the bottom of the pages, but I've decided to make this a bit more obvious…

Thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of you. :)

Ah, yes. I wasn't doing a whole list. Orcs are failed slaves whom used the goblins native to Rothea as their base, where as humans elves, halflings, dwarves, and gnomes used a combination of Ancient blood, native primates and their now defeated enemies.But I digress.

On magic, Divine magic doesn't "exist" in the common fashion. It's the same thing as arcane magic, but it uses chanting, and praying to affect reality in the same way. Many scholars argue that it IS different… but in reality, it isn't.
Hm, though I had an idea. There is only one "energy" that all magics affects. It flows through the universe, it is in the genetics of most sentient (all know sentients can use it) and it flows through dimensions (Faerie is a place where magic is strong since magic flows 'upwards' from the material plane, to the Faerie to the Astral.) Waht if, the different "types" of magic are just ways to control or affect this flow. So, priest magic isn't fundamentally different from any type, it just uses ancient hymms and prayers to affect reality, maybe even goading creatures to do it, where Arcane magic uses symbols, gestures and other related "intelecctual" and scienticfic things to do, where as say… Psionics and Sorcery relies on pure genetics to "push" their will upon magic.
Where all magics would have a stop-cap that your body won't and can't channel more energy… but it seems there isn't one since all sentients have Ancient genes.

As for a city, I haven't really decided yet. It needs a base for her character whom will be part of a secret society who oppose the Knights of the Chalice, and some members are made up of decedents of the Ancients. B) It needs to be near enough to a place where an Knight's secret testing facility is.

Well, that doesn't really narrow it down much, since the Knights of the Chalice have no written-up facilities so far, and the opposing group (and I think the Guardians of the Sacred Blood would work well for this) hasn't really seen much mention either - none if you don't use a "canon" group.

Elves inherited to much likeness of the Ancients (their magical affinity and longebbity) so did not make great slaves, they were 'house pets' for them, the Dwarves and Gnomes? Too ingenuitive and (for the Dwarves) greedy. Humans, however, where just right.

Don't forget the orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and so forth…

(This, is taken from FF7… What can I say… taking from 1 source is plagiarism, taking from multiple is research :P)

Heh. Don't I know it - this is one of the fundamental principles I used when building Urbis… ;)

Seriously, there are references all over the place - and sometimes I even explained them in the footnotes!

Of course, the Surathi are at an awkward place. I guess I could create a "Psychic" feat and create psychic powers…

As long as they are just NPCs, this doesn't matter much - just use the "standard" powers and describe them differently. Less chanting and praying, more weird distortions in the air and ectoplasma appearing on affected things.

But as it seems I'm thinking of making Spellcrafter a genetic thing, and as always, anyone can use Ritual Caster.

But I'm still undecided on how that will effect the world. I guess that the Wizard Colleges just don't know it's genetic, and jsut think some people cannot just 'grasp' the concept of magic.

Well, if you go that route you should make the genetic marker relatively common, or else it will probably arouse some suspicion. The principles of scientific theory have not been around for very long yet, but they are known, and if only a small fraction of people have the power to become wizards it will arouse suspicions.

Alternatively, you could make arcane magic the exception - the type of supernatural powers that everyone can learn, and a more flashy extension of ritual magic. It will be less suspicious if divine magic, animistic magic and so forth will be genetic - after all, not everyone is capable of getting the favor of the deities, spirits, and so forth…

Finally, you could say that everyone of sufficient intelligence is capable of minor wizardry - basically, extensions of ritual magic - but that for the truly powerful stuff you need the right genetics. That might obscure the facts if the "power threshold" isn't widely known, or if there are graduations in how powerful an individual might become (i.e. how strong the genetic markers are).

SO priests and clerics are either Adepts, or Nobles with the Spellcrafter feats, and healing spells. Which, works really nicely for the changes I have made. Of course, the Surathi are at an awkward place. I guess I could create a "Psychic" feat and create psychic powers… But as it seems I'm thinking of making Spellcrafter a genetic thing, and as always, anyone can use Ritual Caster.

But I'm still undecided on how that will effect the world. I guess that the Wizard Colleges just don't know it's genetic, and jsut think some people cannot just 'grasp' the concept of magic.

Specifically, Jorunnos will be a someone who found an Ancient Lab and gave himself powers.

As for a city, I haven't really decided yet. It needs a base for her character whom will be part of a secret society who oppose the Knights of the Chalice, and some members are made up of decedents of the Ancients. B) It needs to be near enough to a place where an Knight's secret testing facility is.

As for the Ones Who Came Before themselves? (Ancients = OWCB) Well, I imagine them as human-like, seeing as how I envisioned that the Humans, elves, ect use some of their DNA and native and other alien creatures to create a servitor race. Elves inherited to much likeness of the Ancients (their magical affinity and longebbity) so did not make great slaves, they were 'house pets' for them, the Dwarves and Gnomes? Too ingenuitive and (for the Dwarves) greedy. Humans, however, where just right.

SO I think that the Dragons being the Ones Who Came Before is out of the picture, but I might look into a connection (Watchdogs for the Ancients?)

Also, the Ancients had a war with a aggressive, human-like, race who were powerful. Some of them are stored on Rothea, the Knight's believe the bodies they found are the Ancients and have created two beings using some of the DNA (This, is taken from FF7… What can I say… taking from 1 source is plagiarism, taking from multiple is research :P)

This being will, specifically, be the first arcs main antagonist.

• What do the powers of Faerie know? I mean, they have been around for a long time, and they have been messing with the elves and turning some of them into sidhe for thousands of years. However, given their protean nature, their memories might not be very reliable…
• What do the dragons know? They tend to get very old - however, their history might only be recounted orally, and given their not-very-social tendencies they might not have a common body of lore. Perhaps they even are the Annunaki, and just regressed to a more primitive state in which they don't remember their history…
• Additionally, as a further place where hints to the distant past might be discovered, read up on the entry for the Sea of Ranya. I had the idea for this some time ago, but I've only gotten around to writing it down now…
• And, of course, the rest of the solar system might provide hints as well. I've been contemplating of adding "lost colonies" of humans or near-humans to the other planets, and each might have its own mythology providing further hints…

Oh, and where will you start the campaign? Dartmouth is the most detailed city so far, though tanniynim has done a lot of work on Praxus - and I am currently trying to expand on the other Flannish Cities as well, especially Nimdenthal…

• That bit about "The Ones Who Came Before" sounds perfect for the Guardians of the Sacred Blood, who already believe that there is a "special bloodline" out there which needs to be guarded and carefully cultivated.
• And speaking of special bloodlines, the surathi could be part of this - but at some point they made the mistake of starting to interbreed with animals. The white surathi are the exception to this, and their city of Astarra has that nice Shangri-La theme going on.
• Of course, you also need a few suitable villain organizations:
  • The Gurions might believe that The Ones Who Came Before are agents (witting or otherwise) of the Chainer.
  • The Athanatos Club will be interested in them if they have a tendency towards longevity.
  • The Architects work well as a "generic" secret society with possibly sinister masters.
  • Finally, the Knights of the Chalice - which I came up with just yesterday - are straight-out interested in world domination and will thus easily serve as antagonists.

More ideas later.

I'm planning on making the Ones Who Came Before a strong magical and technological race, and pretty much all ways better than humans.

I was thinking of giving her +2 to resist Min-affecting spells, and some more…

Any ideas?

Basically, I'm using Assassin's Creed as inspiration here.

And yeah, I noticed that it works quite well. I just have to make a racial talent tree for the Sidhe. Not too bad.

Another thing, plot-wise, I'm changing is the origin of the races. Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Gnoems, Halflings, and Orcs were created by an Ancient alien race (think Annuaki [sp]) as slave labor. Oreanor was established by the ones who communed with the "Gods" and created the Hobgoblins as soldiers.

Anyways, I have some more. Just need to look at my notes, but as far as I can tell that won't change any history.

I have the former lying around somewhere in my room, but I never really found the time to get involved in it - I have a huge collection of RPG systems, most of which I haven't actually used. Still, there is no reason why it shouldn't work - while Urbis was originally written with the d20 system in mind, these days I am trying to present it in a way that's compatible with just about every generic fantasy system out there…

I, however, am using the D&D conversion to the SAGA Edition system. Which looks promising, I love the SAGA system.

Please also tell me how it went - I am always curious how other people perceive my setting. In my current gaming group, the other members are actually running Urbis games at the moment, and the differences in how they see the setting always give me food for thought…

I might go into detail about what I like (and offering suggestions that you want) but, needless to say, I will be taking my wife throug hher first tabletop RPG experience, and I do believe I will be using your setting as a base (If that is fine by you, of course).

I'm just curious about this name that is used for a city that devours cities? Even to insane cultists it seems a bit too odd. I would probably suggest Waking God, or other titles/names unless you are set on the name.

I have to admit I am rather fond of the name "Shaprat", but I am not averse to coming up with alternate names or titles for it. The way I see it, this entity is really beyond names - "Shaprat" is what some of its cultists call it, not what it calls itself (and it is doubtful if it actually calls itself anything specific).

I like this, its a very interesting design, I wonder though have you ever taken a look at the Manual of the Planes entry for Neth the Plane that Lives? It could provide some other ideas on how the city could operate as far as those who find it. Instead of just a static place where things happen.

I vaguely recall Neth. Though my primary inspiration for Shaprat were Carcosa as described by John Tynes' "Hastur Mythos" in Delta Green: Countdown as well as the movie "Dark City". I do plan to expand on Shaprat eventually, and in fact have provided more hints with the recent entry on the Brass Key. Though there are plenty of other aspects of Urbis I wish to expand upon… But I am glad you like it!

I like this, its a very interesting design, I wonder though have you ever taken a look at the Manual of the Planes entry for Neth the Plane that Lives? It could provide some other ideas on how the city could operate as far as those who find it. Instead of just a static place where things happen.

Oh, and if you don't have a Google Wave account yet: I have some invites left over. So send me a private message with your email address, and I will send you one.

Oh, and welcome aboard!

ps. Long time lurker first, just recently joined up.

I don't know how much time I will have this month - my thesis defense is coming up on the 27th - but I should be able to find something useful after that.

But if you find any good references on hags, please feel free to share them here…

Over here in Europe, ancient locations - castles and the like - are often refurbished as conference centers and similar meeting places, so I figured the people of Urbis might do the same with their ancient sites. All of this gives a nice mixture of history and modernity which is evident all over Europe - and which also fits in with some of the central themes of Urbis, namely that the setting "grew out of" a classical fantasy world without losing contact with its roots entirely.