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Posted by: Method Apr 18 2008, 11:35 PM

So I'm planning a campaign for my old group later this year and the general consensus is they want a merc campaign. I'm thinking of pitting the team against a serious terrorist organization that is in the process of staging a major attack. In trying to come up with some ultimate magical weapon I started thinking about the ol' Dunkelzahn Rift in Washington DC.

First, I should say that I have Portfolio, Target:Wastelands and YotC. I've just been too lazy to dig them out of storage. I figured I'd ask here first and those of you with far more Canon-fu than I can point me in the right direction (I'm looking at you Ancient History).

So, has there been any allusions to what might have caused the Rift in the canon material? If so, what books should I be looking in? Can anybody think of some other doomsday-style magical attack that might fit my needs?

Posted by: Ancient History Apr 18 2008, 11:40 PM

Well, a massive ritual sacrifice might do the trick. Mind you, it would have to be a willing sacrifice, and you'd need a lot of people, at least some of whom were magicians. It would be the equivalent of fifty people walking into a crowded mall or concert, taking out their hidden knives and cutting their own throats at once, opening a temporary astral gateway to a (probably random, but possibly a specific) plane and letting loose a bunch of free spirits or magical entities for a few seconds. If it went to the Elemental Plane of Fire, for example, the initial results might resemble an explosion.

Posted by: Prime Mover Apr 18 2008, 11:45 PM

IIRC Dunkies rift was caused by the Big "D" himself to empower the "DragonHeart" to stop the bridge the enemy was building in the metaplanes. This is a short version of longer story arcs including a trilogy of novels and second Harlequin module and some other things.

Posted by: Method Apr 18 2008, 11:47 PM

AH: Wow that was fast. Do you live around here?

So if this terrorist group had a mass of fanatical followers that were willing to off themselves a ritual sacrifice could do the trick. I was considering some kind of suicide bomber tactic, so maybe that would work...

As far as opening an astral gateway is concerned- what if a powerful free spirt were involved in the plot?

PM: that all sounds familiar. Does it ever explain *how* he did it (besides the obvious "he's a dragon... he just does").

Posted by: Prime Mover Apr 18 2008, 11:53 PM

Been awhile since read the plot, don't recall it being clearly explained.

Posted by: Ancient History Apr 18 2008, 11:56 PM

Summat like that.


Then you wouldn't need the fanatics.


The intimation from the Dragonheart Trilogy is Dunkelzahn used a little trick from Earthdawn called sacrifice magic...it's a kind of blood magic that lets you do some really impressive things with the minor stipulation that you have to die to empower the effect.

Posted by: Lionhearted Apr 19 2008, 12:10 AM

Essentially.. in Earthdawn you could be ressurected, but each time you was it took some of your lifeforce, when you hit zero.. you was dead, for good.
I would like to compare it to what Ramirez does in highlander 2, through focusing all his life-force into a single moment he can achieve near impossible powers, at the cost of his life.
Our D&D adapted ED group had a paladin whole sanctified an entire lake turning it into holy water using this kind of magic, not enough to completely drain him, but sure felt like a bitch.. for the horror inhabitating the lake aswell.

Posted by: Method Apr 19 2008, 12:19 AM

Very interesting...

Any other ideas, magical or otherwise? Orbital Cow Bombardment?

Posted by: CanRay Apr 19 2008, 12:23 AM

Now let us never mention Highlander 2 ever again.

Ways to make a really big bang, without sacrifical magic, might be a Nuclear-Powered Weapon Focus like Winternight had.

But those seemed to have been... Less effective than expected apparently. Perhaps the magical theory behind them was flawed...

Or, even more sinsisterly, perhaps they had been replaced by something more... Conventional.

...

I can't believe I'm starting to think of a REGULAR Nuke as a Conventional weapon!!!

Posted by: Lionhearted Apr 19 2008, 12:26 AM

while were at magical wasteproducts.. did the Ghost dance leave any trace? (aside from scorched land around the vulcanoes)

Posted by: Ancient History Apr 19 2008, 12:29 AM

A Spike point, but those are unlikely to crop up again.

Posted by: Method Apr 19 2008, 12:32 AM

Detailed in Threats 2 and System Failure I imagine? Two more books I'll have to dig out.

Posted by: Lionhearted Apr 19 2008, 12:33 AM

ah then we have something to work with: Massive magical rituals that devastates entire cities does not rip open the fabrics of reality ^^

Posted by: Ancient History Apr 19 2008, 12:43 AM

Much.

Posted by: CanRay Apr 19 2008, 12:45 AM

Pretty much, but they were only hinted at, and were plot elements more than anything else.

As for a big bang, why not just a good, ol' fashioned pile of explosives hidden in a forgotten tunnel. Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot would have worked, and it is great because it's simple.

Simple plans have the benefit of being SIMPLE. People constantly overthink things too much.

Posted by: Cabral Apr 19 2008, 12:48 AM

I remember something about Loci ... Azzies maybe wanting to awaken one using massive amounts of blood sacrifice. Perhaps that's what AH was aluding to? I think it was just in the Dragonheart Trilogy and, along with minigun wielding Free Spirit possessed Cyberzombies, never appeared in "canon".

Posted by: Daier Mune Apr 19 2008, 01:02 AM

i havn't really looked into the lore surrounding the Cermak Blast in Chicago, but it sounds kind of like nuclear-based toxic magic.

does it have to be a magical something that tears reality a new one? what about large-scale firebug biodrone swarms?

Posted by: Method Apr 19 2008, 01:04 AM

CanRay: I haven't ruled out something simple. Someone once posted the idea of using a small glob of plastic explosive taken from a larger charge as a ritual link for a massive lightning ball...

Lionhearted: interesting observation. Guess I'll have to read the rest of System Failure (I've been out of the loop for awhile).

Daier Mune: not necessarily magical. I guess it just needs to be complex enough to drive the plot for a multi-part campaign.

Posted by: Slymoon Apr 19 2008, 01:42 AM

odd ringing noise around here.

Posted by: Lionhearted Apr 19 2008, 01:45 AM

Oh come on, that movie werent THAT bad (well it was a load of junk compared to the first one.. but still, seen far worse)

Posted by: CanRay Apr 19 2008, 01:46 AM

Sounds almost like the beeping of a bomb slowly ticking down.

Hey, look, it went off years ago at the Box Office!

Posted by: Daier Mune Apr 19 2008, 07:20 AM

there's a short story by Philip K. Dick called Imposter. check it out. they made a movie based off of it, but like most movies based off of PKD's work, it blew. essentialy: nuclear device installed in artificial human who doesn't know they're human, triggered by the realization that they're not human.

Posted by: Grinder Apr 19 2008, 08:17 AM

Resurrection in ED is not that easy or common, maybe you mix it up with D&D-rules? Seeing that you converted ED over to D&D, that might be possible.

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 19 2008, 08:18 AM

he basically wrote the book on those things *g*

Posted by: CanRay Apr 19 2008, 11:16 AM

And we'd literally be prying his deck for his cold, dead hands, won't we?

(System Failure: Page 118).

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 19 2008, 11:56 AM

nah, if it comes to that, i am making a copy off him first *g*

Posted by: CanRay Apr 19 2008, 12:09 PM

*Smacks Head* Duh!

Should listen to my own "Think Simple" statements.

First, get some good, ol' fashioned dirty radioactives (They're just lying around the Rat's Nest in Seattle, so should be easy to get), some nice, ol' Sweaty Dynamite, and boom! Dirty Bomb!

Place a few of those around places, set 'em off.

Now, if that isn't big mean and nasty enough, what it will do is spike the Mana background count towards... Toxic!

And now your Toxic Dog Shaman has all the nice areas to start playing around in with his Spirits of Radiation, and his pack of twisted metahuman servants, his "Dogs of War", ready to race out and cause chaos and strife in the name of whatever.

Posted by: wanderer_king Apr 19 2008, 02:21 PM

Umm... WOW... CanRay I love that idea!

On a side note, I may be murdered today for pulling something similar on my players.

Posted by: CanRay Apr 19 2008, 02:27 PM

Glad to be of assistance!

I likes me my Toxics!

And Insects!

And Blood Mages!

Posted by: Cabral Apr 19 2008, 04:05 PM

There was Ultraviolet ... I would think making a movie that bad would be like saying "I'm washed up/desperate for work" (like Old Navy commercials).

Posted by: Kerberos Apr 19 2008, 05:14 PM

Our GM had us try to stop terrorist from blowing up the Renraku Arcology killing hundreds of thausends. We kind of failed... Actually to be precise, we kind of helped it happen.

Posted by: weblife Apr 19 2008, 08:51 PM

Well we were sort of hired to DO the job. At least we bailed on massive killings, sold the bombs and TRIED to stop the terrorists. We're bloody heroes mate!

Can't help the world if it insists on being anal!

Posted by: kzt Apr 20 2008, 09:46 AM

For a non-SR look at magical WMDs, Stross' "http://www.amazon.com/Atrocity-Archives-Charles-Stross/dp/0441013651 is quite interesting.

Posted by: DocTaotsu Apr 20 2008, 10:13 AM

Maybe a biological weapon of some sort? But nothing as mundane as ebola. Maybe a mod of FAB that eats essence, any essence.

I'd also suggest some sort of engineered biodrone that can actually breed. Like doom devil rats

Posted by: Method Apr 20 2008, 06:29 PM

Thanks for all the ideas so far, guys.

kzt: unfortunately I have very little free time to read, and what little time I do have I'm trying to catch up on SR books (goddamn that Arsenal...). Anyway, would you care to elaborate a little on the plot of the book you mentioned?

DocTaotsu: at this point the plot involves destroying a high profile physical location. I thought about a biological attack, but I think the terrorists would be better served by a very large explosion of some kind... magical or otherwise.

Daier Mune: Imposter? Interesting... A suicide bomber that doesn't know he's a suicide bomber...