What ever happened to Yog Crystals?

#1

Shield Wall,

Perhaps this was covered years ago but a quick search yielded little fruit.

In 2e Core Mages and Fragments are powered by Yog Crystals, and the whole focus of the Ghost Mountain Campaign is related to them (trying not to spoil it if you are running it). The system was pretty simple, Yog crystals power magic, I think I hacked them to be consumed if you failed a roll though that may actually be the system.

ICRPG Magic comes out: No mention of Yog crystals and how they interact with the magic. I hack it in when I use it but I found it odd it isn’t mentioned.

ICPRG Worlds comes out - Yog crystals are definitely not at the forefront if they are even mentioned at all.

The Quick Start PDF doesn’t mention them at all and the Fragment (Warpshell) isn’t even a class. Tracking it’s a mod and you don’t have to use it, but with so much world progression in that PDF, I again found it odd.

Have Yog crystals gone the way of the Dodo in the story of ICRPG, are they simply an overly complicated fever dream of a by-gone era? Interested in your thoughts and how you use them if at all in your games.

Thanks,
Deathbare

#2

I think there was an online game that changed history, due to some Warp Shell. That kind of event is mentionned in the Quickstart guide 2E if you wanna look it up! :grin:
And, I’ve heard some mysterious whispers of a strange, new blue Yog crystal~

#3

Hmm… I believe YOG is still around and can be included in your games, but like most things in ICRPG it was never meant to restrict or define your gameplay. It was merely an intriguing concept that if you found interesting you could run with it and make it your own.

How I have used YOG is that in Alfheim they are super charged crystals filled with magical energy, but not the source of all magic. In Warp Shell, YOG powers the Warp Shell but I don’t really worry about it unless something happens to drain the crystals of their energy. In Ghost Mountain, I very much would stick to there being a giant deposit of YOG and all that just because it fits the story so well.

#4

That’s not a 100% true statement. The School of Yog is only one school of magic. There are also Nature mages, Wild mages, and the School of Gods. P. 47. So, a correct statement would be “some mages and fragments are powered by yog.”

However, it’s awesome that you enjoy playing Yog-crystal based mages. It’s great. I will say that I think most folks just simply play roll-to-cast without having a material complement like Yog to fuel the casting.

That being said, Yog is not gone from the ICRPG universe. In some games it’s super prominent, and in others it isn’t. Use it however you want in your games. So, nothing odd here. There aren’t any absolutes.

#5

Ah Alex, you touch my soul…

Page 36, Magic is a rare and feared thing in Alfheim, and those who dare meddle with it are
often ‘fragment-touched.’ The weird red crystals that seem to fuel their art become
part of them. No matter, for they are powerful, mysterious beings.
“My friends, I’ve got this…watch…”

and 42, The same red crystals of power that are found on Alfheim are a magical force
throughout the cosmos. The Fragment makes herself one with these splinters of
pure energy and channels that power to incredible effect.
“The crystal presence is eternal.”

So I always interpreted those sentences as meaning all mages used Yog crystals as it was part of their very being. The School of Yog just learned to use them more effectively to avoid backfires and such.

Awesome point though - and tracking no absolutes, the Quick Start Guide just got me thinking what the actual canon was for those red shards of power. Good to hear they haven’t been put in the trash in the “official” canon - though I am still sad the Fragment is missing.

Deathbare

#6

No sir. Not the case. And ICRPG has always been about playing the way you want to play. If you want a Yog-crystal dependent character, by all means, rock on! :slightly_smiling_face:

#7

Thank you! I was thinking this same exact thought the other day. Initially, I felt like Yog was an intricate part of ICRPG and then it just got retconned out after Ghost Mountain.