RE: Question to people who have been around longer than I

["Brandon Stenger" <bh010296@prodigy.net>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wright Frazier [mailto:khelek@vic.cioe.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 4:01 PM
> To: Brandon Stenger
> Cc: gmlist@cioe.com
> Subject: Re: Question to people who have been around longer than I
>
>
> > > 2)	Is there interest out there in running adventures with an
> > > underlying goal of re-building the sea wall?  Why/Why not?
> > >
> > Rebuilding the seawall is a natural evolution for the people of Lojem
> > Isle. With such a greatly reduced land mass, the island can support
> > far fewer people (keeping in mind that what was lost was the food
> > producing plains area - as I recall, the northern end of Lojem is
> > the area surrounding the volcano, mountainous and forested).
> > I think that "civilian" interest in rebuilding the seawall would
> > be high. A good series of adventures could be based around searching
> > for the "Lost Journals of Alfrego Karsil" the engineer who designed
> > the seawall and oversaw its construction. Just trying to find the
> > knowledge necessary to recreate the wall could take some time.
>
> natural evolution?  Only if you are thinking in terms of earthman.
> Jaernian man has adapted quite well to the sea(the floating cities/
> shallow water agriculture).  Rebuilding the sea wall is a MASSIVE
> undertaking and would take a SHITLOAD of money to get that much
> stone.  As far as a 'civilian' interest goes, I don't see your point.
> Its less than a generation since the destruction of the sea wall and
> the horror that brought.  Further that is like the 3rd or 4th time
> the thing has been destroyed.  Its getting to be like the castle
> in the swamp in the holy grail by Monty python.  Why rebuild it
> when some jackass is going to come along and destroy it and kill
> 70,000 people in the process?
>
> Granted someone is gonna get the wild hair to put some serious effort
> into rebuilding it, but it'll take some staggering resources to
> do it.  Money, man power, stone, and raw engineering knowledge.  It'll
> take a truly impressive person to bring all those things together.  Be
> a neat series of adventures possibly, but a lot of mediocre people now
> have a vested interest in not seeing the sea wall rise again and
> Karefelon return.  Port Haven(if it isn't it should be) is now the
> numero uno trade local for the region.  Why would they want the damn place
> back?  That is a lot of effort for the purpose of relegating Port
> Haven back to the 'little buddy/gateway' of Karefelon.  The city fathers/
> dockmasters of Rougtero who'd see their city get land locked and all
> the trade dry up and citizenry move away.  Neptune's worshippers who
> don't want to see the Seas pushed back.  Rudri's worshippers who just
> want to fuck with things.  Etc...
>
> There are a lot of obstacles/interests to overcome to rebuild the sea
> wall.  So if ya are gonna do it for a campaign theme type thing, don't
> do it half assed.  Get players involved on one side or another, have
> them have an interest in it, and don't make it automatically succeeed.
> That is a staggeringly huge undertaking and it is not something that
> would just happen in the background.


I still think that the natural evolution is a valid concept. My point
was that since the food-producing areas of Lojem are now under two
hundred+ feet of water, people in the north are going to get hungry. My
understanding of Lojem was farms and plains in the south; foresters and
trees in the north. Plus the volcano. As for floating cities - name one.
And one that is still in play, actively used.

What about Port Haven being the "little buddy" of Karfelon? Who got the
fees for getting into the locks? As I recall, astronomical fees were paid
to boat down to Karfelon. I think that certain parties in Port Haven
probably miss the influx of cash and treasure from those ships.

What's this about the seawall being destroyed before? I don't recall
that at all.
> >
> > > 3)	Are there retired characters and GM actors out
> there that can
> > > contribute to rebuilding this setting, and that may be made
> public domain
> > > so all GM's running Rugtero can use them?
> >
> > As Rick said - I think the best thing to do would be to just make them
> > up as we need them.
>
> Don't make'em appear.  That is gimpish.  If you must, write up a history
> for them for what they've been doing for the past 10-30 years to explain
> why these people wield such power out of the blue.  It is still far
> preferable to use existing actors, just don't bring the dead back. ;)

Just making them appear was never the idea. Make them up as we need them
does not mean pull them out of thin air. They have to have history,
motivation and long term goals. Not to mention interaction with
adventurers.