I have to agree I am all for the Paranormal…check out my website (www.hitops.info)shameless plug for my paranormal group, but back to the topic. Magic using the occult I think could work very well in a Victorian setting, since it was so important in the actual Victorian period. Nothing would be more fun than going to a séance and have automatons there as well.

Faith and Shamanism are less outright magic an spell casting and more an expression of a special ability. Faith seems very fantastic, yes, but when you take a closer look at the flavor text, it’s more of your faith in yourself and your allies and the conviction that lends to your efforts.

An example: when I was actively in martial arts on class my instructor surprised us with a treat – board breaks. Normally these were reserved for high level testing so we were all pretty excited. When my turn rolled around, I could almost feel the support of the class and my instructor encouraging me. I was able to break the board cleanly (though lopsided, lol) on the first try, much to the surprise of my class. Apparently few white belts ever get a break right, especially on the first try. It’s the same principle as performing on stage,, if you’ve ever had the opportunity – you can feel the positive reactions from a good crowd.

Shamanism is extreme animal handling. You’re Tarzan, and the world is your adoptive tribe of monkeys, tigers, snakes, birds, etc.

Cool, I wasn’t criticizing the skills, i didn’t know what they did.

Back in 2010, I was at the movie theater watching Tangled. It’s a cute Disney movie with a bit of an anti-hero as the male lead. Near the end, he has a big, romantically heroic moment as he mounts his trusty horse and gallops as fast as he can for his beloved. It’s a heroic moment, the type of moment that gives you goosebumps, that gives you the shivers.

Fantasy has those moments. It’s built on those moments.

Steampunk? Steampunk’s built around drinking tea, looking good, and having a great sense of humor. And while I love all of those things, it’s not a solid foundation for storytelling and gameplay.

At its best, I want Tephra to be heroic steampunk. I want people overcoming the worst of things simply by the strength of their willpower. I want the mad science and elegant mannerisms to be the setting in which heroics take place.

Tephra has a host of abilities that exceed human limitation. Indeed; by the time a person reach 6th level, they have surpassed “realistic” human limitations. From seventh to ninth level, a person is beyond human, entering into an almost legendary status. From tenth level through twelfth level (the double digits), characters are legendary, epic, even super-human. The abilities that people will have access to play a part in that. While most heroes in Tephra will be tinkerers, swashbucklers, and gunslingers, the rare character will be a silent monk who walks along the air and can disable a man with his gaze. Another character will be from an ancient order of knights, who channels the beliefs of his people through his sword to strike down heretics. Another character will have been raised in a savage jungle and come out into the urban wilds, still with his uncanny knowledge of nature and the ways in which animals think and move.

Are these abilities magic? No, but they are all magical. As far as people are aware, Tephra is not a world with magic; but neither is earth. But magic happens every day. Unique things are discovered. People with odd abilities are found. Heroes exist. Some are a little different than others. And where you might be using super-science to fight crime and evil, some people are going to be using nothing more than their sheer force of will and good spirit in the fight.

Cheers & Gears,
Daniel

I’ll say that back in the golden days when I played more often and had a bigger variety of games that we used to do Castle Falkenstein. The game master tended to keep magic as the realm of the bad guys. Generally inherent to plans of escape or larger, more nefarious plots. He did the same with the fairie realm, yes it was there but never a big plot really as he had a preference to clockwork gadgetry and strength of a character’s persona versus any cheap ‘presto’ type tricks. I’d dare say there wasn’t much magical that couldn’t be achieved with proper application of the right amount of clocksprings and chutzpah. Of course, our group tended to be characters taht were insufferably middle class and magic was for those we were certainly beneath on the class chart. Course we also had ‘gasp!’ anarchists in our midst who found no amount of magic could foil a properly placed petard with the right length of fuse.

I get the faith skill then, but I still have questions about the Shamanism powers. Is a shaman expected to use rituals to control animals, or is it any animal training? Would it work for a stereotypical big game hunter?

Adding to that, there are some specialties under Shamanism that will help a Big Game Hunter style character. Specialties like Hardened Trainer (giving you a bonus on defense against animals), Messenger (letting you use messenger birds quite readily), Still as Stone (a shamanism approach to hiding), Topographer (helping you function in all sorts of weather conditions), and Venom Immunity (helping you deal with all of those poisonous insects and reptiles). I think, all in all, that’d make a pretty awesome Big Game Hunter!

Bully!!! Thanks Dan!

Just keep him away from my snake -oil salesman! One part Bio -flux, nine parts (whatever skill is used to lie to rubes)