Alternate Timeline: Wyrm
Set in 1132.
Hundreds of decades ago, people all over Earth began developing strange abilities.
Some considered them blessings from their Gods. Others considered them curses from a foul demon or whimsical fae.
Nevertheless, none could deny the overwhelming influence of these sparks and their wielders.
Over the centuries, nations rose and fell. Landmarks were created and destroyed. Humans were warped into ceatures of myth, such as dragons, elves, and dwarves.
There are no "Capes" or "Parahumans". Each person with powers is considered an anomaly of their own, be it a druid, magical knight, or cleric.
There is no universal code of conduct between those with mysterious abilities, but they tend to form organizations with their own sets of rules. Orders of chivalry. Mercenary companies. Wizard academies.
It's an age of bloodshed and adventure, of gods and monsters. Every decade or so, it seems like the world will end, but there's always those who rise to the occasion and stop it. It's up to you whether you propagate the cycle or break it.
+15 Character Points, +20 Shard Points
Shard Origins
The origin of shards are entities... but not the same things as canon Worm, obviously.
- They're a bunch of eldritch creatures, each with their own shards and appearances. So your power source can be a demon, a dragon, a deva, a wyrm, a worm... They are still part of the same overall species, though.
- The "entities" are much younger and way less powerful than the Worm ones. They can't travel/exist between alternate realities, nor are they capable of destroying planets interdimensionally. Those with the appropiate "Shaker" shards live in their own private pocket dimensions (heavens and hells), but most of the entities are stuck in Earth wih a physical form, so builds can stumble into dangerous monsters with hundreds or thousands of powers.
- The "entities" communicate with each other, but they are not allied as a hivemind. They still believe in evolution through conflict, but haven't been pushed to a corner by a lack of resources. While pushing human minds towards war, they will also come into conflict with each other, and have different agendas. There might be a "devil" entity trying to end the planet and move to a new one, and there might be an "angel" entity pushing its users to stop them because they want the devil's shards, or want to experiment with Earth a while longer. "God" entities can form pantheons after exchanging shards, and the humans using their shards might have an impulse to be friendlier to each other instead of hostile.
- Because of the nature of these entities and their appearances, some Noctis Capes who remember the origin of their powers start cults devoted to the entities. These are your average demon lord cults/JRPG churches.
- The nature of your relationship with your shard is still decided by the cyoa options. Natural Trigger starts weaker and guides you to conflict to become stronger, Dead Shard starts stronger and unstable but gives you no impulses, and Foreign Element is still the best.
Paths
You pick the Path that best suits how your character uses their powers.
Ally with a government and maintain the law = Hero
Personal gain with disregard for others = Villain
Follow your own sense of justice without care for authority figures = Vigilante
Profit within the confines of society = Rogue
Conspirators and Cauldron
There is no Cauldron. But you are free to make your own organizations who found the corpse of a god/demon/whatever and are trying to stop other entities from playing with humanity.
Identity
Become their medieval equivalents, I suppose.
Location
In the players' hands. You're encouraged to make up your own fantasy kingdoms and weird landmarks created by shards, or use real world equivalents from the time. Whichever turns out easier.
Ban List
Drop-in
You are a part of this world.
Endbringer Path
Too lame.
Gifts
Too meta.
Hacking
Mechanics and Marksmanship have their equivalents, this one, not so much.
Endbringer Target
We're not in Gestation, so I shouldn't have to mention it, but I sadly, I do. Nemesis is there and can be picked 3 times, if you want a drawback to reflect an opponent coming after you.
25-Cost powers
Too OP.
Unlimited Shard Works (Second Trigger only)
See a power once, gain it forever. In a numbers perspective, it can get more value than a 25-pointer.
All Thumbs (Second Trigger still available)
This is a fantasy run. "You could still swing a sword but you can't operate a gun" is free points for most characters in this scenario.
Sting
We're not dealing with in multi-dimensional beings.
Temporal Travel
A bit pointless.
Door Me
There is no Cauldron portal hub. You could flavor this as having your own portal user in your secret organization, but if people make Conspirators with different organizations in mind, it will start to get messy.
Worst Day Ever x3 + Humble Beginnings
If you take these, your build gets killed by hammers.
Proposals
I wanna make these changes. But I realize my reasons aren't the best, so... unless anons somehow agree with me, feel free to ignore
- You can take Slaughterhouse 9, they get replaced by a group of antagonistic builds.
- Humble Beginnings is allowed but you should at least play it correctly. Your build should start with no powers, then awaken and learn how to use them over the course of the MP. And I'm not talking about detailing your trigger event in the buildpost then instantly timeskipping in your first writefag/prompt response.
- Disconnect is banned (Second Trigger still available). There was already an option in base worm for powers affecting your mental state/personality. It was Numbed Emotions. This is a point whore option, like Bad Aim.
- Ultra Instinct should cost at least 7 points, that Second Trigger is kinda retarded.
The Tinker Question
Not banned, but you should try to change the resulting inventions to blend in with the fantasy feel while retaining their functions. Small arms become blasting wands, robots become golems, that sort of thing.
This also goes for the Vigilante Tinkertech options.
Path Specific Options
Heroes choose Other for free.
Villains choose Other.
Modifiers turn into their Wyrm equivalent. Birdcaged means you're stuck in a magic dungeon, Kill Order means there's a bounty on your head, PRT Info turns into info on builds from a specific organization, et cetera, et cetera.