Mortis Arcanum Open Call

1. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #1

   Realms of Evil Games Publishing has finally completed the first phase content editing for Careers in Villainy (our massive prestige class book) and we are now looking to start to work on the second book of The Dead Will Worship series, Mortis Arcanum.
   
   What we want: We want detailed spells and magical items with a evil or cursed bent to them. We would like this book to have at least 500 new spells (at least 50 per level) in it and around 200 new magical items, magical item properties, or artifacts. No real 'theme' exists for this book besides the dark nature of the content and will be a general use resource for DMs and players who want spells and items with a vile bent to them.
   
   Authors whose work is chosen for Mortis Arcanum will be paid 3 cents a word, 30 days after the book is released and will be illustrated by Kevin H. Yancey, the main Realms of Evil Games artist (whose work can be seen at the main Realms of Evil Games website). Contributing Authors will also be given one contributor's copy of Mortis Arcanum, free of charge.
   
   Send Submissions to: RoETyrant@aol.com
   Open Call Closes: August 30th
   
   I have also posted a a thread about it at the Pits of Evil where I have awnsered some questions about the Open Call already :)
   
   http://www.realmsofevil.net/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.cgi?board=d20gen;action=display;num=1050740320
   
   I hope this isn't against any rules.

2. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #2

   Let me see if I can understand this. You want the players to be evil. Uhhh, No.
   
   All games, from D&D to Tetris to poker teach something, let the player some away with something from thier experience, and I don't mean XP. Gaming affects people and people's points of veiw. They play, they have fun, they relax. Teaching people to relax by being evil or sadistic is wrong. Maybe some players are getting tired of trying to be good two shoes all the time and getting screwed by the GM's villans who don't play by the rules. Well too bad. You don't have to be upstanding all the time, but sickos skining cats and beating children with the rotting corpses is not a game.
   
   Moral diemmas are great, they give the players a situation where they have a close call between what's right, and what's easy. And they suffer the consequences for their actions. Villians run off into the night with the captive maiden and bulging church coffers and do it all over again the next day. No consequnces, no remorse. I do not want to contribute to @$$holes becoming bigger or better @$$holes.
   
   :evil: :x :evil:

3. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #3

   I don't know: even heroes can have a dark side, why not try to tempt them? And what about thieves and other unscrupulous characters?
   
   And most dark-magic items will be cursed to some extent, so their use would not be that simple for the villains: they would have to consider only using the item under critical circumstances to avoid exposure to the curse.
   
   Fantasy is full of such dark items, like the One Ring, or the Necronomicon from Lovecraft. I don't see what's wrong with cataloguing them.
   
   ephe!

4. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #4

   :twisted: Did I see a certain Book of the Names of the Dead being mentioned? WAHAHAHA!
   
   IA CTHULHU!

5. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #5

   Think I should submit the Hellcoat?

6. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #6

   Yes.

7. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #7

   Allright.

8. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

   #8

   Everybody wants to be evil occasionally. And if you are agains that, then take some of the things and give them to your enemies to use. Who says evil has to follow the exact rules the PCs do. A couple new classes or unique spells may be just the thing to make an encounter that much more memorable. There are some grand ideas for bad guys.
   
   This post is fine for the forum. I think the only thing I would be agains is blatant advertising, this is a creative request and is fine with me. Might have to bend my mind a little bit and try a submit a few things myself!

9. Evil...

   #9

   Those of you who think this might be a good idea have never played in an all Evil, all the time campaign. While the intellectual challange of scheming and tricking those you are with is fun for about a session or two, the inability to trust your cohorts or believe what they say gets old, really, really fast. EonE campaigns also tend to cause friction in the group as there are lots of player character death from player character causes.

10. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #10

    LOL.
    
    Had to laugh. About sums it up, that is why I take the "use it as the antagonist" angle.
    
    Guess some roleplayer personalities span the world.
    
    BUT, you have to admit....you gotta try it!!! A caveat being you need a good DM that can handle it. It really is a lot easier being the bad guy as a DM vs. trying to be the good guy and stop just ruthless mindless killing. Players never seem to have any goal except mayem and destroying towns. At least that is what we ended up doing. No subtlety at all. It should almost be the PCs trying to develop schemes and plots just like the DM and the DM trying to thwart them. I did it a long time ago when I first started so I was in my hack 'n' slash mode. I think I would like to give it another go thoug, this time actually trying to be evil in a smart way.

11. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #11

    Yes, yes. I think that's the final limit put on playing Evil: somewhere along the path, it stops being funny...
    
    I think the only way to play such campaign with few deaths would be to have some strong motivator... revenge could it be. Revenge against a stronger mutual enemy may even cause Evil guys to join with Good guys.

12. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #12

    Join the good guys? No way. Kill them and reap revenge for yourself. YAHHH!! :twisted:

13. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #13

    All games, from D&D to Tetris to poker teach something...
    

    
    Somehow, SOME people do never learn... :roll: :(
    
    
    

    No consequnces, no remorse.

    
    That's the thing we should make granted if we DM Evil guys...
    
    
    Hmm, this question seems to return over and over. We may have to createa new thread for it...

14. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #14

    Join the good guys? No way. Kill them and reap revenge for yourself. YAHHH!! :twisted:

    
    
    The idea was both are too weak to achieve revenge... so they won't kill one another... hopefully!

15. Aside

    #15

    Hey, we broke 1000 posts with this thread.
    
    Cue balloons and confetti.

16. A Lazy Penguin says:

    #16

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    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
    
    MORE THAN A THOUSAND POSTS! YEAH!
    GROG FOR EVERYONE!
    
    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

17. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #17

    ...For those who feel that evil, by the very basic nature of it, cannot work together: I present the book 'Villains by Necessity', as well as the note of Thieve's Guilds, Hitler, Napoleon, the note that 'evil empires' remain a staple of fantasy everywhere, and that evil is nothing more than the desire to get ahead, without the considerations for the good of others that stop other characters. Many corporate sorts, interested only in climbing the ladder after the elusive carrot of a higher income, could be considered evil. In all honesty, I myself might be considered evil, by many people - I don't really care about the people who I don't consider my family.
    
    This doesn't mean I, or others who mighty classify as 'evil' (such a thing only truly exists as a concept, anyway - good and evil are both ways to justify what you do and why the other guy needs to do things your way)go out randomly slaughtering people and backstabbing out partners. A utterly unreptentant psychotic 'Chaotic Evil' might - but few people fall into that extreme. Neutral Evil, in D&D terms, would be best called extreme selfishness. And lawful evil - hey, follow the rules. Just figure out how to use them without breaking them. And that's only if you're serious about it. A lot of evil types might be perfectly content with their lives, as long as it isn't disturbed.
    
    Evil people can have intensely strong friendships. Love, joy, camraderie - those aren't exclusive to Good Guys, after all. Neither are hate, fear, and rage Bad Guy only emotions.
    
    Killing a helpless foe is evil - but perfectly logical, to ensure it doesn't heal and come after you later.
    
    Evil campaigns can happen just as surely as good ones. It's simply that very few people have even the slightest clue as to how an evil character would even act, and therefore often play it in the twinkish fashion that most people link to 'evil' players.

18. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #18

    That was me with the thousand posts, bye the way.
    Kassil's right.
    Evil is all relative, man.

19. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #19

    Evil campaigns can happen just as surely as good ones. It's simply that very few people have even the slightest clue as to how an evil character would even act, and therefore often play it in the twinkish fashion that most people link to 'evil' players.

    
    
    Oh yes, they can happen. But I think, instead of very few, many of the groups that try and play evil have no concept of how it should work out. I like to say I was in a pretty experienced group, with the exception of me at the time, and it broke down relatively quickly. It takes a great deal of self restraint to play evil like a good guy except with different motives and desires. When you know you are evil, you know you can get away with things you can't or wouldn't normally do, and I think few are able to resist the temptation to go nuts and start womping on the weak...."because you can, baby. Yeaah." Maybe not all out slaughter, but just laying the smack down on somebody that bugs you where you would normally try and reason. Why reason, smack down the annoyance and get what you want. A hard pull to resist when you know you are evil...

20. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #20

    More a case of an OOC thing, then, I think.
    
    Evil people rarely think themselves evil, beyond the occasional sadist...

21. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #21

    Most definately, and I do agree with your entire argument for the most part. I just think it is the rare group that can actually play evil well.

22. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #22

    That I can certainly agree with.

23. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #23

    I agree to the agreement.

24. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #24

    As do I !! :)

25. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #25

    I agree with the agreement to the agreement.

26. Mortis Arcanum Open Call

    #26

    Another Idea.
    
    Starring: 1 Evil PC and a group of Good PC's.
    
    
    First some bizzare background:
    Apocalyptic times coming! Signs are shown, old prophecies digged out, seers are a good career choice again. One prophecy seems to fit the situation, foretells the great Kebab beast comes to eat the world. Heroes shall come forth, the mighty trident of Quargh must be retrieved, the beast slayed, blah, blah, blah.
    
    Of course, no one knows where that stupid trident is. Except maybe... the Pink Mages.
    
    The Pink Mages used to be a powerful and feared group of wizards. They wore only pink, and so inevitably drifted into Evil and Madness. It took several centuries to drive them out. The few remainning Mages are now hiding (kind of hard with THAT colour), and have lost all the powerful magic, able only to scare folk away. Their former strongholds are sealed, and filled with deadly traps and strange creatures. Dark occult knowledge that mages head hurt is there, too. It may take more dungeons to explore to find enough hints...
    
    (DM supplies the Pink Mage when he sees fit.)
    
    
    The Good side:
    
    The good guys need access into deadly places, where only a true Pink Mage may walk safely. A wicked DM may insert a line like this into the prophecy:
    "And four of noble heart will save the day, and one of strange garments."
    ...so the lousy mage may be useful for something later. Spending so much time together means he must be kept relatively safe, and be no prisoner.
    
    
    The Evil side:
    
    The mage is a little mischievous bastard. The last thing he wants is to be dragged along with stupid paladins. As he is weak, and his spells are not really useful in combat, he cannot resist them.
    
    On the other hand, no one wants their world destroyed. Saving the world yourself is of course stupid, but if you are forced... why not play a hero when/if it gets useful?
    
    And, as an added bonus, he gets into places he can find power, REAL power. The places are dangerous, but strong bodyguards are around. Plenty of space for an inventive Evil wizard.
    
    
    Closing thoughts:
    
    Railroading. Much pressure on both sides to not kill one another, but whether they behave nice, is left to roleplaying. The good guys can save the day, the mage can be a pest and possibly gain much power. Might work.

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