To the degree that there is, in this fantasy series (upon which my world is very loosely based), a magical order of wizardry called "Wizards of Loh," and employing the apparent naming convention listed. If you believe that basing an order around those two details disqualifies a sub from being "my" own work, so be it.

As far as "doing better" goes, I've mentioned my design philosophy before; I'm not likely to load subs down with Snazzy Extra Quirky Details just because there are those who prefer (for example) their organizations with 32 Degrees, each with an offbeat name and a prescribed type of garb. Those who require such things will not often find them in any subs I might make. YMMV. Go to Comment

For my campaign, and yes, there've been PC Wizards of Loh. I really can't describe the limitations on time travel without going into in-depth GURPS system mechanics which are inappropriate for this site, alas. Suffice it to say that the Timeport spell - which is what's necessary for serious travel into the past - is a very difficult, very expensive spell requiring a serious level of Mastery, and there are Laws of Time which place certain constraints upon anyone trying to do so. Most of the useful GURPS temporal spells involve short term speed up or slow down of time, or placing people outside the timestream altogether. Go to Comment

Yep, I see you're familiar with GURPS. Echo. That, as well as some non-standard spells I've created that similarly manipulate time in various ways without creating major headaches for the GM. Go to Comment

Mm, but Animation = telekinesis and other related effects. One of the flashier spells of the order is a non-standard called "Gladiomancy," where the wizard draws upon the power of a warrior he knows, animates a sword to fight with the skill of that warrior, who can direct and fight it himself seeing through the wizard's eyes.

That being said, you've got a definite point about the perception issue. I should roll it around in my head and see what comes up, but sure ... regardless of what the particulars of any given magic system allows, what people BELIEVE a wizard can do is another kettle of fish entirely. "Please Mr. Gandalf, don't turn me into something unnatural!" and all.

Heck, never mind just pertaining to this order, there's scope for a general article on the subject. Go to Comment

The first of what will be a honking lot of subs on magical orders in my world; I'll include most of the significant ones, save for the Order of the Blue Star, which is ganked from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Lythande stories and works more or less as the Pilgrim Adepts are presented in them.

If there's further info people want, let me know.  A lot of detail is redacted, I'm afraid, pertaining to template and skill information particular to GURPS.

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This reminds me a bit of Saberhagen's Books of Swords; the uber artifacts around which the geopolitics of empires revolve.  Very suitable for high fantasy campaigns.

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I haven't read them myself, but my wife's a big fan of the series and she's discussed them in terms of our chatting about gaming stuff and ideas. The gist of it is that these Swords are, as I mentioned, uber artifacts ... or considered to be, anyway. Gaining or finding one is a major deal (with major quests revolving around lost ones), and owning one singles you out as a Major Player, sometimes all out of proportion to the actual power of the blade.

I'd say to check a volume out of your local library or pick one up at your local used books outlet and give it a try. Go to Comment

Oh, god, that'd be a hoot. I can see it now.

"Are you freaking SERIOUS, Thenny? It doesn't do a damn thing? NOW you tell us? With a hundred damn mercs out there to take us down, NOW you tell us it's a fake? If they don't kill you out there I freaking WILL!" Go to Comment

Credit where credit is due: the city was inspired by Ankgor Wat. 

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Yeah ... I'd have thrown in a number of businesses from the New City, except that they're not - in isolation - particularly distinguishable from any other you'd find in such a boomtown: artisans, chapels, taverns, brothels, and brokers/factors looking to profit off of it all.

(Quite aside from those I ganked from this site to fill the New City out!) Go to Comment

Yep, future expansion. My apologies about the Witherers and the College of Mages, though; that's something that should be at the very least fleshed out a touch so the context is appreciated.

To wit, they're necromancers. The Order itself used to belong to the College of Mages, but withdrew about fifteen years ago in protest to the degree they felt disrespected as "evil" by the wizarding community, although many Witherers still belong to the CoM as members. They're by no means a monolithic lot ... some deal with the corporeal undead, some with spirits, some are pure researchers, some use their powers only to strike *down* the undead, and sure, some are screamingly evil harrowers of life.

The College of Mages is the international wizards' union. The lead paragraph of my writeup includes "It is universal to most realms and all-pervasive (in many places the College’s standing is secured by local law), standardizing training, libraries, and apprenticeship, as well as adjudication between mages. Anyone with a proven degree of Magery may join, but there is significant social pressure to belong to one of the magical orders currently or formerly affiliated with the College." Further, "Chapters (usually called “chantries,” depending on the locale) may be established in any city with at least nine members of journeyman rank. In practice, most cities of 10,000 or more population, and most national capitals, have chapters." Go to Comment

Yeah, well, I'm pretty low-fantasy too, and this sub kicks ass ... both in concept, description and in flavor text.  I'm stingier with my votes than many other folk, but this is about as high as I've awarded in a long time.

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Everyone has the same old Lost Books of Lore, and they're all pretty much the same, barring the ones that are Cursed Cthulhu Mythos Books of Lore.  I wanted archetypes of lost lore with a little twist beyond the "Oh, cool, ancient secrets!" riff.

Credit where credit is due:  my wife Amanda enthusiastically pitched in and came up with several of these.  Beyond that, the names attached to many of the archetypes come from real books of the appropriate archetypes - Cardenio, for instance, was one of the two "lost plays" of Shakespeare, until a (somewhat suspect) text was unearthed in the 70s.  As is the case with the Cardenio entry above, some of the flavor text quotations come from either the books named or other examples of the genre.

I was aiming at 30, but fell a bit short without getting into the aforementioned hackneyed Lost Books of Lore. If someone can come up with some to fill it out, terrific!

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Why, thankew, folks.  Heaven knows if I'll get to the magic number 30 with these, but I think I'll ask a couple more of my players to take a swing at it and see if there are any offbeat archetypes I've overlooked.  I'm certainly open to suggestions!

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A couple of those duplicate ones already in there, don't fit well with my premise, or don't fit well with the "Fallen Empires" theme ... but some of those are dandy ideas that'll work just fine; thanks, Kuseru! If you don't mind, I'll write some of those right in. Go to Comment

Update: Added in six new books following Kuseru's recommendations (which took an hour to name and do up the flavor text!), and having hit the magic 30, renamed the sub to suit. Go to Comment

Mm, the problem with the "compelling historical evidence" shtick is that it breaks no ground; many real-world religions claim that their texts comprise exactly that.

What WOULD do so are completely unrelated books ... but I already do have an example of that, above. Go to Comment

Not a bad sub.  I do have a couple of comments, though.  First, what in heaven's name prevents right-thinking groups from destroying something so terrible and dangerous?

Secondly, some background about the creator would be useful.

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It may be a stub, but it's a neat idea, and not every submission needs to be multi-hundred word blockbusters.  I like it fine!

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(grins) Designed for role-playing games? Go figure.

As far as why it hasn't been looted in the previous 4000 years, who's to say no one has tried? Most tomb-thieves don't come with large parties to overcome arcane dangers; one or two guys, tops.

But, of course, you can guess why in the text: this was in a thinly-populated area that the "handful of survivors" fled entirely. Think of all the archaeological finds in the last century in a similar state: long forgotten ruins in a land reverted to jungle or forest, places known only to the occasional (disinterested) hunter. Go to Comment