Last night I rewatched the Thundarr the Barbarian episode "Den of the Sleeping Demon" and this clip from the episode "Island of the Body Snatchers". No one in "Sleeping Demon" disputes the villain Judag's theory that a demon can turn you into a wizard and as I recall Circe the Witch doesn't behave much differently than the many wizards in the show.My concept of the Witch class was probably based solely on a hazy memory of the Sorcerer/Wizard/Witch analysis at Under the Broken Moon, a fan-made Thundarr rpg powered by the Over the Edge system. Upon further consideration the Witch class is redundant with the Wizard in the Labyrinths & Mutants class scheme I outlined yesterday. Summoning, commanding and pacting with demons can be handled as just another weapon in the Wizard's twisted arsenal, alongside Sorcerer-like spells, technological abominations, mutant minions and pet monsters.
In 3e
ReplyDelete(yeah yeah, I know, but listen...)
whoever wrote the bit about "creating new character classes" pointed out that archetypal Witches have access to both wizard-like and druid-like spells.
Which was a good point.
Not that--in your game--you can't just customize as you go when picking a witch-character's wizard spells, but I thought it was worth noting.
And it WOULD probably make your game maybe more complicated than you want it to be.
I'm still wondering what the REAL differences between Sorcerers, Wizards, and Witches would be.
ReplyDeleteIf you're just going for something Thundarr-inspired, why not just make one class? After all, Ariel still knows something about hi-tech (as I recall); she just doesn't have some an agenda for world domination. Also, didn't she say she learned magic from a wizard?
Mechanically, I don't see why there needs to be a huge difference. Maybe just allow the standard Sorcerer class an option to mutate into Wizards. Or make the Wizard an NPC class (since they all see seem to be evil buggers).
What's the difference (other than game mechanics) between a Witch who made a pact with a demon and a Prophet serving a living god?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't rules be crafted to merge the 2?
The difference between the two classes is conceptual rather than mechanical. Demons can manifest physically and thus no one in the setting has any reason to doubt there existence. Gods don't make public appearances and can be subject to skepticism. As sketched out so far I can see the benefits of using a single mechanical implementation for both, but my guts is telling me that's wrong. I think I need to cogitate further on this.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I love this idea.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I have long thought that Thundarr already is a Gamma World campaign. Wizards are mutants with both physical and mental mutations. Ariel and that wussy guy from that episode (you know the one) are the only sorcerers that i recall i.e. mental mutants without physical deviations.
Third, Ookla is obviously a mutant bear. Or a mutant mountain lion. Or maybe a mutant woodchuck.
The story behind the story
ReplyDeletegoes this way . . .
Thundarr was animated and written by gays . . . that’s right,
go back and look at the animation critically with this thought in mind
before you dismiss the theory out of hand
Thundarr is the Lord (leather and flesh),
Ariel is the drag queen (pretty, pretty) and
Ookla is the Butch (hiding behind a masculine personae)
I'm too young to have catched Thundarr althought I have seen few episodes. Other good source to mine ideas could be Toxic Avenger comicbook, the heroes of it would fit right in to Mutant Future.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.internationalhero.co.uk/t/toxicrus.htm
Clovis, I'd watch it with the stereotypes.
ReplyDeletejay+1
ReplyDelete