Torg Musings
Have gone a little bit Tharkold crazy this weekend. Pulled the Cosm book off the shelf on Friday, and since then have gotten the Creatures book and the two city books I have (LA & Tokyo; I never got Berlin because of the cheesecake-y cover, which I am now, of course, regretting) down as well. I’ve got a review that I should be doing for Pyramid (two or three, actually), but such is life.
The setting was always one of the more awkward of the Torg Cosms. Most of the others seemed somewhat straightforward, which is a total lie, actually. They were all strange genre pastiches (Pulp mixed with ancient Egypt, Cyberpunk mixed with medieval Catholicism, Generic Fantasy mixed with nothing in particular), but they seemed fairly straightforward.
Tharkold was always the second coolest of the settings (after the Nile Empire), as the techno horror/splatterpunk aspects resounded with me more strongly than Orrorsh’s Fear levels and research rolls and True Deaths. Too much mechanic to go through, when the fear should be something the player feels when he realizes that damage result will give him 4W, not something to be placed on the PC when he fails his “don’t be freaked out” roll.
That, of course, is an old argument, and this isn’t the place for it.
But, anyway, Tharkold continues to be a neat setting, but one I see difficulties running or playing in. Partially because I don’t know LA very well, and the sense of place for LA is very much a part of the setting. Mostly, though, because of the sheer physical ability of the Tharkoldu, combined with their magic and miracles (and the large pet array in Horrors of Tharkhold, which has not aged well) makes it a bit deadly for the GM to handle.
In fact, if I were to run a Torg game, I might be tempted to dump the Tharkholdu in Eastern Europe/Russia, like their original invasion plan. The interaction/tension/open conflict between newly cybered Cyberpapacy and the techno demons would be interesting.
Of course, I’d also be tempted to have the Terran HL (not Mobius, he’d have another cosm entirely) drop onto New York and have the Living Land take over Chicago and a chunk of the Midwest. Nah, that wouldn’t work. I definitely want a Chinese cosm and an Indian cosm; one of the advantages is that because of the high populations of those areas, they couldn’t drop too large a bridge or they’d fry the original cosm.
Now, it’s tempting to have just high fantasy versions of either of those. A super heroic (not superheroic, mind you, but high epic fantasy type stuff) India would be neat. China might be neat as a western version; a TL 18 wuxia and Mongols type thing .
But that’s just theoretical stuff. Torg requires too much contemplation to be just a mental exercise.
This should also be on stormknights but I'm lazy.
The setting was always one of the more awkward of the Torg Cosms. Most of the others seemed somewhat straightforward, which is a total lie, actually. They were all strange genre pastiches (Pulp mixed with ancient Egypt, Cyberpunk mixed with medieval Catholicism, Generic Fantasy mixed with nothing in particular), but they seemed fairly straightforward.
Tharkold was always the second coolest of the settings (after the Nile Empire), as the techno horror/splatterpunk aspects resounded with me more strongly than Orrorsh’s Fear levels and research rolls and True Deaths. Too much mechanic to go through, when the fear should be something the player feels when he realizes that damage result will give him 4W, not something to be placed on the PC when he fails his “don’t be freaked out” roll.
That, of course, is an old argument, and this isn’t the place for it.
But, anyway, Tharkold continues to be a neat setting, but one I see difficulties running or playing in. Partially because I don’t know LA very well, and the sense of place for LA is very much a part of the setting. Mostly, though, because of the sheer physical ability of the Tharkoldu, combined with their magic and miracles (and the large pet array in Horrors of Tharkhold, which has not aged well) makes it a bit deadly for the GM to handle.
In fact, if I were to run a Torg game, I might be tempted to dump the Tharkholdu in Eastern Europe/Russia, like their original invasion plan. The interaction/tension/open conflict between newly cybered Cyberpapacy and the techno demons would be interesting.
Of course, I’d also be tempted to have the Terran HL (not Mobius, he’d have another cosm entirely) drop onto New York and have the Living Land take over Chicago and a chunk of the Midwest. Nah, that wouldn’t work. I definitely want a Chinese cosm and an Indian cosm; one of the advantages is that because of the high populations of those areas, they couldn’t drop too large a bridge or they’d fry the original cosm.
Now, it’s tempting to have just high fantasy versions of either of those. A super heroic (not superheroic, mind you, but high epic fantasy type stuff) India would be neat. China might be neat as a western version; a TL 18 wuxia and Mongols type thing .
But that’s just theoretical stuff. Torg requires too much contemplation to be just a mental exercise.
This should also be on stormknights but I'm lazy.