Divinity: A Campaign Frame for Mortal Coil

A man the size of a house sits himself down in the middle of a field. To the east, soot blackens the sky: a city, fresh to industry, stinking of innovation. He watches dully as clouds of smoke reach towards him, like a funereal shroud seeking a corpse.

A bright spark leaps from the grass, flitting from dandelion to brush to weed, then settling upon his knee. At the center of the spark, a tiny feminine figure no larger than a thumbnail. She speaks, her voice clear as a bell, "So it's time for you to slumber, too, old friend?"

"No stopping it," rumbles the giant. "I have long been too large for the breath of our Maker to move. It fills too many souls, now, and turns their minds away from the old magic."

"Divinity," spits the fairy. "In our hands, miracles, magic, wonder. In theirs, it is squandered on invention, on machines. They are blind to what they are capable of, as they bleed the world dead of all color."

She stomps her feet. "Look at it! Look! They call it inspiration and progress. Grey lives and grey skies, that's what it is."

The fairy turns to look at her towering friend, but he is already asleep. The grasses of the field have begun to spread across his legs, to crawl up his chest. His eyes and mouth are mere indentations in a lump of earth.

In a few minutes more, he will be nothing more than a hillside overlooking the march of progress.

Divinity is a campaign frame for Mortal Coil written by Fred Hicks, author of Spirit of the Century and Dresden Files RPG. Set at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Divinity explores what happens to fantastical creatures when there is only so much magic in the world, and humankind begins using it up in the name of progress.

Divinity is a fully sketched out setting in the form of a detailed theme document, with all of the world set-up choices written out in detail. The frame is customizable by your game group. You choose a tone, and pick the magic level that is appropriate for your game.

Campaign frames are great ways to do a quick setup for Mortal Coil, and are ideal for playing a pick-up game or convention game. If your players really like the setting, the frame can be used for a longer term game as well. A campaign frame is also useful as a how-to on setting up a unique theme document of your own.