Forums of the Megaverse®

The US is a 'young' country, but there is no reason to neglect the idea that there were people there before whiteys turned up. Why not some sort of native american artefact?

Or, if you want some sort of 'holy relic' thing, how about an artefact left behind or lost by the Spanish or Vikings as they attempted to carve their way into north america?

Ooh... what about the Roanoke Colony, the 'lost colony'? What made everyone vanish? Was it something they found? What does 'Croatoan' mean? Perhaps it wasn't an island at all, but a word of power, or the description of a device?

That's about 10 seconds of brainstorming about the US, and I don't even live there. I'm sure you can do much better.

I suggest you take a look at the following Rifts books where you could find some ideas:

- WB15 Spitit West. Rifted Native American folklore.
- WB26-27 Dinosair swamp. Very magic zone with Mative American mounts.
- WB29 Madhaven. Ghosts and mutants everywhere.
- Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Some powerful magic artifacts.

Hope this helps.

You can also whip up some homegrown artifacts dating back to the country's founding. With the involvement of the Masons/Shriners in Philadelphia during the revolution there is NO way there wouldn't be "mystic" artifacts 'recharged' by the Rifts. Hell, the Liberty Bell alone would make a great item.

Also, along with the lost colony idea, look at famous locals. How about a old cannon from Gettysburg or something from the Salem Witch Trials?

AlexanderD wrote:As I stated in a previous post I have 2 NPC siblings pooling their resources to hire the pcs to take them to verious places of america to uncover things they are questing for, the male is looking for something tech, coverd in the other post, his sister is looking for a mystical SOMETHING of some interest.

my problem, america is a very young contry, and hasnt much in the way of ancient mystical lost treasures in comparison to say....europ! Im having trouble comming up with a mystical quest or querry/research topic the sister would leave her palace in Lazlo to brave the wilds for, and that would lead her to the hotspots of America.

does anyone have any ideas? ideally it should be even more dangerous and corrupting then what her brother is looking for, and may even turn her agasint him twords the end of the campeign.

thank you

Turn the Crazy Horse Memorial into an Indestructible Rune Statue.

America is steeped in mysticism if you just look at it through the eyes of other cultures.

The Tuatha Dé Danann have frequently been linked to the Unities States and many folklorists speculate that Tír na nÓg was actually pre-Columbus U.S.A.

AlexanderD wrote:As I stated in a previous post I have 2 NPC siblings pooling their resources to hire the pcs to take them to verious places of america to uncover things they are questing for, the male is looking for something tech, coverd in the other post, his sister is looking for a mystical SOMETHING of some interest.

my problem, america is a very young contry, and hasnt much in the way of ancient mystical lost treasures in comparison to say....europ! Im having trouble comming up with a mystical quest or querry/research topic the sister would leave her palace in Lazlo to brave the wilds for, and that would lead her to the hotspots of America.

does anyone have any ideas? ideally it should be even more dangerous and corrupting then what her brother is looking for, and may even turn her agasint him twords the end of the campeign.


thank you

Well america may be a young country but we had huge museums and all but maybe a couple are in total shambles and their artifacts up for grabs by anybody who can locate them. Who knows maybe you get lucky and find the left eyeball of osiris.

the Gateway Arch in Missouri is an example of how things don't have to be ancient to qualify as mystical.

and America is steeped in its own locally developed Folklore, many of which are known more as Urban Legends rather than folklore, due to the fact much of it post-dates the ascension of science and skepticism over magic and mysticism in social dominance.

and to be honest, there is no reason it has to be actually mystical. as we see in multiple worldbooks, many people in Post-Rifts times have relegated pre-rifts stuff to the realm of the mystical. like NEMA being remembered as "the Nemans", a group of powerful demigods which fought to protect humanity.
so there is no reason you couldn't have mystical importance attached to what we would consider mundane places or things. Mt. Rushmore might be attributed as a place one can call on 'great kings of the past' to lend their power, for example. the site of Arlington cemetery might be a legendary lost location where the spirits of old warriors are supposed to gather. and so on.

and the funny thing about rifts is, that Belief + Magic Energy often equal that belief becoming true. if Entities, giants, AI's, and such can become gods through the belief and worship given by their followers, i see no reason why a strongly held belief about something else couldn't make it happen. the 'wild magic' during the great cataclysm (detailed in the Chaos Earth: Rise of Magic sourcebook) was basically this principle. how else do you get kids who wonder if magic can make their skateboard fly, and then it actually does? you had tons of raw magical power flowing around, lots of people who just realized they can channel the stuff, and no learned spell lists yet. so once they got it in their heads that they could use magic to do something, they could. anything beyond belief and PPE is just window dressing.

Does it have to be a mystical item or could it be a location or even a "wild goose chase". Anyway some ideas:
-something connected with Hudini (as an escape artist perhaps the skill gets mistaken for actual magic in Rifts leading to a wild goose chase)
-Hollywood sidewalk with stars names/imprints (acts as Rune magic form SA2?)
-the house that was built to confuse spirits, by the widow of a firearms producer (Winchester?)
-Hollywood movie props (plenty to choose from), how many might have "come to life" with the coming of the Rifts as a result of fan devotion? You need the actual movie prop, not a replica though.
-artifacts at "Ripply's Believe it or not" (not sure how many sites there are), this falls under the museum category
-Paul Bunyan's Axe (or Babe's collar), if we treat it as a D-Bee giant instead of pure folklore
-Jonny Appleseed's bag (bag of holding, eco-magic, etc)
-Rip Van Winkle (the site where he "slept")
-The Headless Horseman (& Icabob Crane), again treating the story as real
-Guns involved in the St. Valentines' Day Massacre (historical)
-items involved in the shootout at the O'Kay Corral (or something else from the "Western" Period)
-Alamo
-USS Constitution ("old Ironsides" herself)

mobuttu wrote:I suggest you take a look at the following Rifts books where you could find some ideas:

- WB15 Spitit West. Rifted Native American folklore.
- WB26-27 Dinosair swamp. Very magic zone with Mative American mounts.
- WB29 Madhaven. Ghosts and mutants everywhere.
- Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Some powerful magic artifacts.

Hope this helps.

IINM Rifts Japan mentions that some of their ancient magic artifacts (IIRC the specific example was the Ghost Katanas) being present in the US.

The 'weird' series of books is a series of almanacs of oddities. There is one for every state as far as I know so you can mine a lot of homebrew from there no matter where your campaign is set http://www.weirdus.com/states/ohio/index.php

Not ancient folk magic per say but still interesting:

The Dark Roasted Blend website has a section on Giant Robot sculptures of the world, including a 'bridge robot' in Pittsburgh.

There's also several big ones in Japan, a giant "Robot Guan Yu" sculpture in China(made from parts of an PRC Army truck) and a giant Mazinger sculpture in of all places Spain.

Just beggin' for Tectonic Entities or conversion into Golems.

taalismn wrote:Not ancient folk magic per say but still interesting:

The Dark Roasted Blend website has a section on Giant Robot sculptures of the world, including a 'bridge robot' in Pittsburgh.

There's also several big ones in Japan, a giant "Robot Guan Yu" sculpture in China(made from parts of an PRC Army truck) and a giant Mazinger sculpture in of all places Spain.

Just beggin' for Tectonic Entities or conversion into Golems.

Win the internet for a day!

DhAkael wrote:

taalismn wrote:Not ancient folk magic per say but still interesting:

The Dark Roasted Blend website has a section on Giant Robot sculptures of the world, including a 'bridge robot' in Pittsburgh.

There's also several big ones in Japan, a giant "Robot Guan Yu" sculpture in China(made from parts of an PRC Army truck) and a giant Mazinger sculpture in of all places Spain.

Just beggin' for Tectonic Entities or conversion into Golems.

Win the internet for a day!

"Great Kami! Is that a GUNDAM coming towards us?!" -Last radio report from a New Republic of Japan exploration party in the Japanese Home Islands.

ShadowLogan wrote:IINM Rifts Japan mentions that some of their ancient magic artifacts (IIRC the specific example was the Ghost Katanas) being present in the US.

One of them is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Madhaven.

Akashic Soldier wrote:America is steeped in mysticism if you just look at it through the eyes of other cultures.

The Tuatha Dé Danann have frequently been linked to the Unities States and many folklorists speculate that Tír na nÓg was actually pre-Columbus U.S.A.

Can you please post references where the link to America is shown. I like the ancient Irish tales and history but I have never, ever heard any links to the United States. To my recollection, Tír Na nÓg was not west of Ireland and the only references I have read speculates that the Tuatha came from islands to the north or from the ancient world (Greece/Rhodes/Cyprus).

I don't see why you couldn't mine European mystic items for North America. The early European colonization would have been a great opportunity to relocate a relic from searchers.

Long Shadow wrote:I don't see why you couldn't mine European mystic items for North America. The early European colonization would have been a great opportunity to relocate a relic from searchers.

Perhaps hidden on Oak Island? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island

Really anything can be anywhere. I remember reading a bad adventure novel many years ago that had the lost library of Alexandria end up in south texas