Welcome to my first blog article totally written with only KompoZer. Will you, I write it in KompoZer and put it in from the source in Firefox, since I'm too lazy to configurate everything.

    The Topic of today will be one of my favorites, the setting for my upcoming mech/sci-fi/magic Tabletop Strategy Role Playing Game Mechromancy (I am open to name suggestions, it just came to me, the name implies mechs (Mech) and magic (-mancy). The (-ro) just makes it flow more freely.

    Plain and simple, it's an ultra-simple strategy game with an in-depth RPG background to allow more character depth.

    It takes place in a diamond-hard science fiction world with magic to allow all the shiny stuff (short of resurrection) science can't.

    Now, you should know my personal opnions on magic in a fantasy setting so that I don't get yelled at. If it's low detail (on the specific rituals, not effects) and takes place in an obviously alien setting (i.e. could not be mistaken for real life), I'm ok with it in fantasy. Granted, in Mechromancy, though the magic system will get a lot of attention, it will not be necessary to play. View it as a way to justify three or four things: Faster than Light transportation, Energy/Matter creation and destruction, and, last but not least, a Shadowrun style stun-damage system, though I'll be writing my own, not using theirs. I don't steal, merely take influence from.

    Anyways, with that said, Mechromancy takes place in a kinda Anime inspired world, in so much as it's not terribly realistic. A character is expected to be able to take at least three shots with almost any weapon before falling, unless they're the cliche redshirts.

    The world in and of itself is not defined (I will make content generation tables), but the default setting will be something like a Battletech meets Shadowrun meets GearHead world, with magic and mechs and guns. And cyberware, bioware, and all that good stuff.

    It has a primarily combat orientation, from what I've written so far. Remember, it's on a wiki (My Wiki [ignore the naming]) I use for my projects, and my planned Creative Commons role-playing system. I put it on a wiki so that everyone can edit it (though I still control it), and so that I don't have to host it myself.

    Back on topic, it takes place in a science fiction world not unlike Battletech. The tech level doesn't allow wanton creation of huge war machines, but there is enough tech to allow a comfortable amount of freedom in what you can make with time and resources. Interstellar FTL travel is allowed, through magical means (not technological, tech has to follow scientific rules). The magic system is enough to allow an similar level of tech, but directed differently. Magic is subtle, modern technology is crude. Ultra-high Phantasy Star level tech that rivals both is possible, just very, very, very uncommon. To the point of it being religiously revered.

    Magic is not limited to living creatures, but requires a mage's triggering to direct it, with the exception of one-purpose magical items.

    Mages are under a tenth of the population, they can actively use magic, where Mundanes are less than a fifth of the population, they ignore undirected magic. (Though if you shoot a fireball at them, they'll burn)

    The system is intended to be fairly light as opposed to heavy, with the primary amount of heavy rolls being the content generation.

    Speaking of content generation, here's a table to generate a random town. Will you that it is assumed that the town forms blocks, and buildings will have to be placed by hand. Though, you could just estimate. Higher population counts= greater availability of items. Mind you that the size-population ratio determines the height of a town as well, small high population towns will result in rising skylines. Also, you could use the towns to generate districts of cities, but it could take too long to be worth it.

    There you see a way to take content generation super quickly, with no real difficulty. There are light problems that can be fixed by averaging multiple dice roll results for a more realistic feel.

    This allows a scale of availability. You will rarely find mechs in the countryside while cities can be teeming with them.

    That's part one of my series introducing Mechromancy, and you can leave any feedback you want. Constructive feedback, mind you. Oh, by the way, be sure to use the top little menu on the wiki. If it doesn't work, use Firefox.