About this Project (The Golden Tower)
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The World of Nazca[edit]
When I first started the Golden Tower, I was actually challenged by the DM of my side game. He was tired and said he wanted to play, and asked if anyone else would like to DM. He challenged me and I jumped at the chance. Immediately a zillion ideas sprang to mind, all of them including a singular character: Archmage Friday. She is a recurring character in my fantasy story-lines, and I thought it'd be a good chance to see how she'd work with honest-to-god gamers.
The campaign itself started out as a homage to the movie Stargate. I changed all the Middle Eastern slaves into catfolk with a shamanist/Native American bent, turned the alien Ra and Egyptian-themed bad guys into Pyron III and the Sunglari: a race of aasimar with a cultural mash-up of Roman culture and Mesoamerican architecture. I decided to add the Emirate of Dervaland--devils, tieflings and assorted bad guys--as a second major plot. Ashram Singh and his machinations to rule Ourobouros are meant to be harrier encounters; if the PCs get lazy, Singh can always attack. Please note that the devils were Plot "A" (i.e., the first plot line the PCs will encounter), and the Sunglari were Plot "B" (a background plot that merges into Plot A towards the end of the campaign). That's how this world started to build. Then came Christmas 2007.
SAVE THE PRINCESS[edit]
I was at a Christmas party and the guests wanted to game. I gave them two choices: either we do the Christmas-themed campaign called "The Big Score", or do the "Save the Princess" adventure. Everyone chose the latter, thankfully, because I didn't have the former written up.
SAVE THE PRINCESS was inspired by "The Orc and the Pie"--a simple adventure where the goal and path to it is clear. You go and save the princess: no problem, right? I decided to make the going a little tougher. I included ninjas, Mongols and dragons. It was a bad idea to make it harder than it should have been because it was just a simple one-shot. The partygoers gave up, and I was left with an unfinished campaign. So I decided not to waste it, including the campaign world and geography into the greater world of Ourobouros.
Conceptual Stuff[edit]
Please understand that I am a wholehearted believer in mixing science fiction and fantasy; it's not like I want the bad guys or good guys to have an advantage over one another. I also like to include some current events as well, so far as they can fit into the campaign. As previously mentioned, Stargate is an influence. Other influences are Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, and former United States president George W. Bush's "War on Terror" (encompassing Iraq War II and the Afghanistan campaign).
A Word About Archmage Friday[edit]
Archmage Friday is actually a tribute to all the women in my life who saw great things in me, and people in whom I saw great potential. For instance, the hairstyle for Friday is called "ox-horns", similar to the hairstyle worn by Chun-Li or Princess Leia. Alternately, they might be afro puffs. Her robe is a shout-out to Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series, while the yellow tracksuit underneath is inspired by Bruce Lee (and to a lesser extent, Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill vol. 1 and Chun-Li's costume from Street Fighter Alpha.). Friday is a combination of all that may be cool, not all that is.
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