Re: A Spark in Fate Core
Q1 (me): If this world once had a developed civilization of dry land inhabitants, where are the ruins, what happened to them?
Mrckey initially thought we established that, but I reminded him that most of that was talk about some Savage Worlds setting and that discussing the influences does not establish facts in the setting. Then he asked if I meant to ask where they are physically or in general. I refused to clarify, saying that ambiguities are the point. I had asked the question and I wanted him or whoever answered it to interpret it however he liked. I also pointed that answers could be as ambiguous as the one answering liked.
Mrckey then spent a token and answered...
A1 (Mrckey): Wizards looted the ruins
I liked it great deal as it was quite bombastic and I expected that it would provide more information about wizards, their guild etc..
Q2 (Mrckey): Since black water was so dangerous and flammable (that was established by me in introduction), has anyone found some use for black water?
Of course we immediately houseruled that yes and no questions like that implicitly require some sort of additional explanation, since simple answer would be no fun.
A2 (Vuk): No. Land people do not believe in the black water, considering it yet another sailor story.
Personally I was slightly underwhelmed by the answer, but since the answer lent itself perfectly for campaign aspect, I let it stand
Q3 (Vuk): Since magnetic compasses don't exist (and he mentioned something blocking the astronomic navigation, but I'll probably disregard that), how do people navigate?
This one created most collaborative thinking and interesting discussion, but Toza immediately paid a token to answer it, even though he did not have answer ready. To me the gesture was very cool and I took it as if he wanted to preside over discussion on the subject.
First Toza established that there is no simple portable way to navigate, neither by magic, knowledge nor technology.
Second he established that the navigation device was a clunky and expensive magitech device.
I don't recall what he ruled (if anything) on whether such devices can be created anew. I'll have to check that next time we gather.
At first we were calling these devices simply "compass", but for me that name was indicating a small hand-held device, so Toza agreed to rename it. Since no one had any ideas other than compass and boussole, Mrckey went to Google Translate and picked Greek word pixade (or was it pixide). Unsurprisingly I liked Greek word, but I initially wasn't sure whether it was "pixade" or "fixade", and I liked fixide better, because it sort of implied that they fix the location of the center. I wanted device to shoot some sort of light in certain direction (kind of like in Pirates of Dark Water) and Toza agreed to both word and how it worked.
Toza, however, wasn't very interested, about where fixides point. We decided to call that place the center and leave unspecified what's there. We specified that one cannot sail to the center (for yet unknown reason), but can come close enough to see it. This was needed because Mrckey started (in my opinion unproductive) discussion about what was needed (scientifically) for people to know that fixides point to a place, rather than direction.
We summarized all this by:
A3 (Toza): All fixides point to the center
Q4 (Toza): I don't recall this question, but I think it had something to do with relationship between elves and "others".
I gave a token for this, because I didn't want details to ruin atmosphere. Admittedly this is probably the poorest answer of all.
I specified that elves are very rare, almost extinct, that they are disappointed in how the world turned out and I implied that they're not too interested in their own survival (I think). I intend to play them as if they don't care great deal about their survival. My plan is to use elves to add a strong sense of nostalgia for the world as it once was.
I think I established that they can live indefinitely, but I'll have to check that too. In the end the only real addition is the line below.
A4 (me): Elves thought the others
With this I realized I had to do something with Thri-kreen or drop them from the setting, so I decided to spend my two questions on them and on the ship PCs have. I knew I could delay ship for the later phase, but I wanted to have players start thinking about the ship while they were in mindset I really liked.
Q5 (me): With elves nearly extinct, what do Thri-kreen eat?
And as always when one least expects it, a rookie shines.
A5 (Vuk): They love to eat brains of mammals. They consider dolphin brains especially a delicacy, which also gives Thri-kreen a bad rep with sailors, since sailors believe dolphins are good luck.
Q6 (Vuk): Who drains power from fixides?
Another bit of rookie magic. And this time I rose to the occasion. First draft of the answer was simply "Illithids". That of course exploded like a bombshell. First I had to explain WTF Illithids are to Vuk and Toza. Then I went through a round of argument with Mrckey (for like fifth time) about whether we should use D&D names for monsters if we keep appearance only, not powers.
Not wanting to ruin the atmosphere (nor pull a rank on Mrckey) I dropped Illithid name and since no one offered no cool name, I chose to call them navigators.
I specified that they were draining fixides not because they need or must, but only because they want to be the only ones capable of long-distance travel between scattered archipelagos. Furthermore I said that draining magical items temporary boosts their strength, but that they don't need to do it. In fact they require no food or sleep.
Finally I said that navigators had worshiper cults. Mrckey asked if they had some power to control these people, and I said probably, but declined to specify further.
A6 (me): Navigators do, because they want to be the only ones who control long-distance travel.
Q7 (me): What is your ship?
Toza paid the cost for this one, but kill me if I remember what his contribution was on this one. He might have only refereed this one.
A7 (Toza): She is a state of the art modern ship with best fixide money can buy. She is named Cruel Mistress from saying that sea is a cruel mistress (cruel lover). Characters use her for smuggling goods wizards don't allow to be traded freely.
Q8 (Toza): Who rules the sea?
A8 (Mrckey): A vain and selfish deity people believe they must flatter to no end.
Vuk added that thumping the water (kind of like in Dune) enrages the sea god and that it is the surest way to cause wind and storm. This is so cool, that I'm keeping it for sure.
Since last answer was mine, Mrckey very carefully asked me if I wanted him to ask if there was some connection between sea god and navigators. After a bit of thinking I said "Yes, please."
Q9 (Mrckey): Is there any relation between sea god and navigators?
A9 (me): They are his bastards.