Replicating the Wax Forest

[Blackhawk748]

For those of who who havent read Furies of Calderon (and you should) Ill give a brief description. The Wax Forest is a forest where the trees look like (surprise) they are covered in wax. Now thats just plain wierd, but its also warm there, like in winter it feels like a jungle. Now thats easy, i just make that happen. The hard part is the Keepers, or as i call them, Wax Spiders.

Basically the Wax Spiders catch things that come in to the Forest, poison them and then entomb them under the Wax where they are digested. Yup the Forest eats people. Now there are a few other nasty monsters, a giant wasp like thing and a few others that are about the size of dogs, but they all do the same thing. You break the Wax and they know where you are, oh and they can see heat.

So know of any template or creature that fits the bill? Also taking suggestions for the mechanics.

[Venger]

For those of who who havent read Furies of Calderon (and you should) Ill give a brief description. The Wax Forest is a forest where the trees look like (surprise) they are covered in wax. Now thats just plain wierd, but its also warm there, like in winter it feels like a jungle. Now thats easy, i just make that happen. The hard part is the Keepers, or as i call them, Wax Spiders.

Basically the Wax Spiders catch things that come in to the Forest, poison them and then entomb them under the Wax where they are digested. Yup the Forest eats people. Now there are a few other nasty monsters, a giant wasp like thing and a few others that are about the size of dogs, but they all do the same thing. You break the Wax and they know where you are, oh and they can see heat.

So know of any template or creature that fits the bill? Also taking suggestions for the mechanics.

there's zillions of spiders and spiderlike monsters, os that shouldn't be a problem.

for the whole "people are entombed and rendered comatose in an evil forest in pods while the trees digest their life force" trope, crib the mechanics from body leech (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925a) a delightfully creepy class from the old mind's eye articles.

[Blackhawk748]

there's zillions of spiders and spiderlike monsters, os that shouldn't be a problem.

for the whole "people are entombed and rendered comatose in an evil forest in pods while the trees digest their life force" trope, crib the mechanics from body leech (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925a) a delightfully creepy class from the old mind's eye articles.

Oh that is wonderful, i may actually use that class for a BBEG later...

[Venger]

Oh that is wonderful, i may actually use that class for a BBEG later...

yeah, body leech is a really fun class, but its tether makes it tricky to use as a PC

[Segev]

Depending on how much you're cribbing, if you just want what's presented in Fires, you can probably use a fluff-description-modified Formian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/formian.htm).

[Andezzar]

Depending on how much you're cribbing, if you just want what's presented in Fires, you can probably use a fluff-description-modified Formian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/formian.htm).Fires? I thought the six books of the Codex Alera were Furies of Calderon, Academ's Fury, Cursor's Fury, Captain's Fury, Princeps' Fury and First Lord's Fury.

I agree formians could work for the keepers.

[Segev]

Sorry, you're right, it's Furies not "fires." My mistake.

[Andezzar]

Sorry, you're right, it's Furies not "fires." My mistake.Too bad, I had hoped Jim Butcher had written something new. Can't wait for a sequel to Skin Game and the rest of the series.

[Segev]

I think the Alera series is finished. He's unlikely to write more of it unless it's to start a whole new storyline.

[PsyBomb]

Too bad, I had hoped Jim Butcher had written something new. Can't wait for a sequel to Skin Game and the rest of the series.

He has a new series starting this year (Airship steampunk!), and I believe that Peace Talks (next Dresdenverse book) is slated for either this winter or the following spring. Not sure about that. Alera is done, for now, which is unfortunate. I rather liked what happened when the Lost Roman Legion met Pokemon Yes, really, that's how the series started out.

[Segev]

I understand the reference to Pokemon, but I never really felt it was truly present as a strong influence on the setting. The Furies are too much "personal magic" and too little "creatures I have bound/tamed." Even when they're named, they rarely act like trained critters so much as anthropomorphized personal magics. (There are 3 notable exceptions I can think of, but they're exceptions.) It doesn't detract from the story by any means, but it does make the "meets Pokemon" part ring a little hollow as a description.

[PsyBomb]

I understand the reference to Pokemon, but I never really felt it was truly present as a strong influence on the setting. The Furies are too much "personal magic" and too little "creatures I have bound/tamed." Even when they're named, they rarely act like trained critters so much as anthropomorphized personal magics. (There are 3 notable exceptions I can think of, but they're exceptions.) It doesn't detract from the story by any means, but it does make the "meets Pokemon" part ring a little hollow as a description.

The line wasn't actually a joke, I was being quite literal. The entire series was started on a bet. A friend of Jim's made a statement at a party, saying that "a bad author can take a good concept and ruin it, but no author, no matter how good, can take a bad concept and make it good." Mr. Butcher responded that he didn't think that was true, and that the friend could give him not one but TWO bad concepts and he'd write a book from them. The friend's reply was Pokemon and the Lost Roman Legion.

That seed became the first book, the Furies of Calderon. He sketched out the rest of what he'd like the series to do with it, so when it sold well he continued it through the other six books. This story has been confirmed by Jim Butcher on multiple occasions.

[Dusk Eclipse]

The line wasn't actually a joke, I was being quite literal. The entire series was started on a bet. A friend of Jim's made a statement at a party, saying that "a bad author can take a good concept and ruin it, but no author, no matter how good, can take a bad concept and make it good." Mr. Butcher responded that he didn't think that was true, and that the friend could give him not one but TWO bad concepts and he'd write a book from them. The friend's reply was Pokemon and the Lost Roman Legion.

That seed became the first book, the Furies of Calderon. He sketched out the rest of what he'd like the series to do with it, so when it sold well he continued it through the other six books. This story has been confirmed by Jim Butcher on multiple occasions.

And... this post just sold me on the series.

(I have nothing to add to the actual topic though)

[Venger]

The line wasn't actually a joke, I was being quite literal. The entire series was started on a bet. A friend of Jim's made a statement at a party, saying that "a bad author can take a good concept and ruin it, but no author, no matter how good, can take a bad concept and make it good." Mr. Butcher responded that he didn't think that was true, and that the friend could give him not one but TWO bad concepts and he'd write a book from them. The friend's reply was Pokemon and the Lost Roman Legion.

That seed became the first book, the Furies of Calderon. He sketched out the rest of what he'd like the series to do with it, so when it sold well he continued it through the other six books. This story has been confirmed by Jim Butcher on multiple occasions.

same as how his writing teacher said he couldn't be successful doing the same plot over and over, so to prove him wrong, he said he'd do that with the first 6 dresdens and that's what he did. again, he talks about it a lot.

[Segev]

The line wasn't actually a joke, I was being quite literal. The entire series was started on a bet. A friend of Jim's made a statement at a party, saying that "a bad author can take a good concept and ruin it, but no author, no matter how good, can take a bad concept and make it good." Mr. Butcher responded that he didn't think that was true, and that the friend could give him not one but TWO bad concepts and he'd write a book from them. The friend's reply was Pokemon and the Lost Roman Legion.

That seed became the first book, the Furies of Calderon. He sketched out the rest of what he'd like the series to do with it, so when it sold well he continued it through the other six books. This story has been confirmed by Jim Butcher on multiple occasions.

Oh, I know. I just was saying that I feel like he mostly dropped the "Pokemon" side of the concept by keeping very little of it relevant. It is more just an "elemental magic" than a true "tame the semi-sentient magical forces" sort of deal.

It's there...but not in most of what we see happening.

[Andezzar]

And... this post just sold me on the series.

(I have nothing to add to the actual topic though)Yeah it's great. Not as good as the Dresden Files IMHO but it has the benefit of being complete. No waiting for the next book.


Oh, I know. I just was saying that I feel like he mostly dropped the "Pokemon" side of the concept by keeping very little of it relevant. It is more just an "elemental magic" than a true "tame the semi-sentient magical forces" sort of deal.

It's there...but not in most of what we see happening.Umm didn't the colonists use there Furies pretty much exactly like pokemon and the citizens like buff spells?

[Segev]

Umm didn't the colonists use there Furies pretty much exactly like pokemon and the citizens like buff spells?

Ish. Even though they named them and gave them animal forms, it mostly stil lfelt like their own internal magics, in practice.

AT least, to me.

[Elricaltovilla]

same as how his writing teacher said he couldn't be successful doing the same plot over and over, so to prove him wrong, he said he'd do that with the first 6 dresdens and that's what he did. again, he talks about it a lot.

His teacher obviously never read the Elenium or the Belgariad. Really, David Eddings made a living off of doing this. By the way, I love David Eddings and everyone should read everything he's ever written. I'm completely serious.

[Venger]

His teacher obviously never read the Elenium or the Belgariad. Really, David Eddings made a living off of doing this. By the way, I love David Eddings and everyone should read everything he's ever written. I'm completely serious.

lots of people make a living doing this. It's how all the greats in the profession (king, patterson, grafton, etc) make their living. I'm not sure his teacher'd ever read anything if he said something like that. probably why he was a writing teacher and not, y'know, a novelist.

[Segev]

A lot of that claim hangs on how much you can call something "the same plot." I won't try to analyze the first six DF books for this; I do'nt remember them separately and well enough to do so. But I do recall part of what felt like a real shift in the style was when it moved from "supernatural private eye" to ... not really "magic noir" anymore.

So the question is: is "film noir" all the same plot, or not?

I know that the Hardy Boys books were the first time I noticed a particular phenomenon, when I was very young: the books became, after a while, predictably formulaic. "And next, Joe Hardy will be kidnapped by the bad guy, which will lead Frank to discovering who it is while rescuing his little brother," was something I caught my young mind thinking, and...I just couldn't read them anymore, because I realized they were not just the same plot, but the same story with some names changed.

There is, doubtless, a gamut of similarness through which stories can run; what makes one "the same story" and another "different" will vary from reader to reader. I don't doubt Mr. Bucher's teacher would claim they were NOT the same story.

(By the same token, I've seen analyses which make a believable case that Star Wars and Eragon are the same story.)

[Blackhawk748]

Depending on how much you're cribbing, if you just want what's presented in Fires, you can probably use a fluff-description-modified Formian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/formian.htm).

Those will also work, thank you.

Also you cant forget the Marat, they seem to be more Pokemon inspired as they are partnered with an actual animal.