[SirValeq]

Hi,

If one wanted to design a grand campaign dealing with the raising level of ambient magic and the imminent danger (Horrors), what/who would the major power players in this field be? I'm hell bent on running a campaign that will have some Earthdawn crossovers - that's why I'm asking. Of course, I'm not planning on turning the PCs into world saviors, but I'd like them to feel like they're at least postponing a new Scourge. I'm thinking of jobs like stealing/stopping some (evil) research, recovering artifacts or lost knowledge, extracting/saving important people - all of which I could tie into a single plot, which would reveal itself after some time.
That said, what/who in 2075 would be most interested in raising the magic level? What/who would be actually doing it, whether knowingly or not? What/who would be most interested in stopping those parties? What tools would both sides implement to speed up or slow down the raise or otherwise weaken or strengthen inter-metaplanar barriers?
Also, which historical (<2075) events tie into the whole magic level plot, apart from Big D's death?

[Reaver]

the Current magical big bads are:

Blood Magic

Toxic Shamans

Bug Spirits

Shedim

Shadow Spirits.

Black lodge.


That's about it. As for ED crossover material... you have to go back 15 years to 2e/3e (and not that much in 3e) for that.

[Palladion]

If it is something Earth-shattering, better believe that governments, corps, and dragons would be involved (for better or worse). Aztechnology plays around a lot with magic, Ghostwalker appeared through a dimensional rift, and you can probably put Harlequin into the mix as well.

Think of stuff leftover from the Earthdawn era (i.e. magical weapons of mass destruction) that might be lying around waiting to be rediscovered. Any sort of magical beacon would be nasty as well.

[Reaver]

If it is something Earth-shattering, better believe that governments, corps, and dragons would be involved (for better or worse). Aztechnology plays around a lot with magic, Ghostwalker appeared through a dimensional rift, and you can probably put Harlequin into the mix as well.

Think of stuff leftover from the Earthdawn era (i.e. magical weapons of mass destruction) that might be lying around waiting to be rediscovered. Any sort of magical beacon would be nasty as well.

True, but you are not really going to find anything like that in a SR book.

Since 3e, SR and ED separated paths development wise and they have had very few references back to ED since then. Some people seem to still find a few even though the developers at the time (1998) said that there would be no further connection between the two...


so the OP is on his own when it comes to canon material

[Palladion]

True, but you are not really going to find anything like that in a SR book.

Since 3e, SR and ED separated paths development wise and they have had very few references back to ED since then. Some people seem to still find a few even though the developers at the time (1998) said that there would be no further connection between the two...


so the OP is on his own when it comes to canon material

True. Let me clarify my statement. Anything Earthdawn-ish you can come up with, just carry it through and put it somewhere logical (or illogical, it is magic afterall) in Shadowrun. As for canon, it is your game, add an "N" and pack it with black powder. Think of it as Warehouse 13 and the chaos it can cause.

[Reaver]

True, but you are not really going to find anything like that in a SR book.

Since 3e, SR and ED separated paths development wise and they have had very few references back to ED since then. Some people seem to still find a few even though the developers at the time (1998) said that there would be no further connection between the two...


so the OP is on his own when it comes to canon material

True. Let me clarify my statement. Anything Earthdawn-ish you can come up with, just carry it through and put it somewhere logical (or illogical, it is magic afterall) in Shadowrun. As for canon, it is your game, add an "N" and pack it with black powder. Think of it as Warehouse 13 and the chaos it can cause.

Very True. your table, your story. You decide what is in and or out.

[SirValeq]

Thanks for sharing guys. I am aware of the separate development paths, but I'm prepared to go outside canon.

That said, where can I find more info about the things you've both mentioned? Can you point me to specific source-books?
Were there any heavily magic-oriented official campaigns/missions/adventures/whatever?

Also a new question:
We know that Horrors reside on some  other metaplane (netherworlds?). Is it possible (no matter how improbable) that one of them Marks an Awaken metahuman (a PC actually) through some magic rift/crack with a corresponding huge magic spike (during a powerful ritual or some magic accident)? I'm thinking about centering one of the plot layers of my campaign around a PC trying to get rid of a Horror Mark (the Horror would only talk to him, but there would be a threat that in time it could do more). I'm already having fun when I think about the possible three-way conversations between the PC, his mentor spirit and the Horror. :-)
Now, I'm sure that Dragons and Immortal Elves will have all the magic know-how in 2075. Would the other players you've mentioned (corps, governments, secret societies, foundations) also have any clue about what a Horror Mark is? Or what a Horror is? Where would a Shadowrunner start looking for help?

[Reaver]

Thanks for sharing guys. I am aware of the separate development paths, but I'm prepared to go outside canon.

That said, where can I find more info about the things you've both mentioned? Can you point me to specific source-books?
Were there any heavily magic-oriented official campaigns/missions/adventures/whatever?

Also a new question:
We know that Horrors reside on some  other metaplane (netherworlds?). Is it possible (no matter how improbable) that one of them Marks an Awaken metahuman (a PC actually) through some magic rift/crack with a corresponding huge magic spike (during a powerful ritual or some magic accident)? I'm thinking about centering one of the plot layers of my campaign around a PC trying to get rid of a Horror Mark (the Horror would only talk to him, but there would be a threat that in time it could do more). I'm already having fun when I think about the possible three-way conversations between the PC, his mentor spirit and the Horror. :-)
Now, I'm sure that Dragons and Immortal Elves will have all the magic know-how in 2075. Would the other players you've mentioned (corps, governments, secret societies, foundations) also have any clue about what a Horror Mark is? Or what a Horror is? Where would a Shadowrunner start looking for help?

Okaayyyy... lots here to talk about...


Originally (from what I have been able to piece together, and I can not support any of this as it is all convention table talk and what not) is that originally only the Immortal Elves and dragons were aware of the Horrors. Then somewhere into second/third edition they decided to drop the whole Horrors storyline in SR and drop all connection to ED. Rumors place this either as an argument about the direction to take ED and SR.  Or, that the lead development line of SR was unhappy with the direction ED was taking things and the Horrors. Which is true (if either) is unknown.

The Horrors come from some meta-plane that requires an extremely high level of Mana to cross the bridge to our world. Now apparently the Horrors are not due back in our world for about 2000 more years (They show up at the peak of the mana cycle), However, the use of blood magic is schewing the level of mana needed.... and this is why Dunkie the Dragon blew himself up in his limo after winning the election in 2057. So he could stand on the bridge of the Horrors meta-plane and hold them back. (covered in the Dragon triology novels)

As for sourcebooks, Most of the are going to be 2 and 3e, and a couple of 4e...


Street magic (4e) has the 4e rules for most of those magical threats.
Threats (2e)   (lots of magical baddies)
Threats 2 (3e) (some magical baddies)
Target: UCAS (3e?) (bugs!)
Bug City (2e) (bugs! Duh!)
System Shock (3e)  (shedim)
System Failure (3e) (shedim, Winternight, little black lodge)
Wake of the Comet (3e) (shedim)
Year  of the Comet (3e) (shedim)


There are other sources out there as well

[Raunalyn]

Last weekend, I came up with, quite possibly, the most terrifying idea for a Shadowrun villain that I've ever come up with.

We know Dragons are highly magical. From this, we can extrapolate that they have strong control over spirits. As written, there is nothing that says that a Dragon cannot have a mentor spirit.

All of that being said, what's to stop a Dragon from being a Toxic shaman? Or even a (shudder) bug shaman?

If you want to ignore the events in Dragonfall, you could even say that Feuerschwinge, whose body was never found in SOX, was corrupted by the nuclear radiation. Now, she plans on bringing holy fire down on the rest of the world to restore it to a previous age, one where the plague of metahumanity has been wiped out.

[Cowdragon]

that's pretty scary...but I'd like to see some Lovecraftian crossover myself. Now THAT's scary stuff! Summoning elder evil spirits? EEK! 

[Michael Chandra]

Toxic Dragons seem reasonable, and there also is a Radioactive Dragon in the Redmond Barrens, but I don't think any Dragon is dumb enough to become a Bug Dragon.

[firebug]

Yeah, I think the reason why there's no dragon Bug Shamans is twofold; one small point being that dragons are innately magical and do not follow any "traditions" like mortals do.  If anything, a tradition is more likely to come from a dragon teaching others about magic rather than a dragon adopting any existing system.  The other point is that dragons, being immortal, far-reaching and (for the most part) wise and experienced, are not susceptible to the lies bug spirits tell their prospective shamans.  Dragons are too strong willed to be swayed and know what would happen if the bug spirits are allowed to spread.  Not to mention, bug spirits always aim to fuse with hosts.  Even if a dragon wanted to give up their body, whether or not such a fusion would be possible is another problem entirely.

However, this doesn't account for completely insane dragons (but saying "He's insane!  That means he does things that would never be reasonable!" has always seemed like excuse for bad storytelling IMO) or other things.

Also, if the mana levels increase, would that alleviate the need for a host body for Shedim, thus allowing them to exist on the astral without slowly dieing?  I suppose a similar thing could happen to the insect spirits too.

[Namikaze]

Wouldn't dragons also be fully aware of the connection between the bug spirits and the Horrors of the fourth age?  I mean, assuming the dragons are as old as they claim to be.

[Reaver]

There is hints that the Greats aren't sharing everything they know about the Bug Spirits, as evidenced by some of the "poster comments" in 'Bug City'.


what it is that they know however....

[SirValeq]

So a dragon e-ghost is not enough for you guys, huh? What did those poor creatures did to you, that you want them turning into bugs?