Opinions or Thoughts Anyone?
Alright, so here’s the deal. It would appear that “The Eternal Wars” was a much cooler idea in theory than in practice. To be honest politics and manipulation of armies doesn’t make for that fun of an RPG, at least not the way I was running it. So I would like to dub “The Eternal Wars” to be an officially failed experiment. I still think that it was worth the effort, but to be honest it just wasn’t working. Thanks for your patience on this matter, and all of you effort to keep it working.
That being said, I still can Game Master something on this site, if there is any call for me to do so. Here are the games that I have run before, and have been met with positive feedback. However, if you feel that there are already enough games going, that works too, I have no preference either way.
Amber: An infinite number of worlds, with two centers of power at opposite ends of the universe. Betraying family members, constantly changing rules of reality, the possibilities are literally endless. Based on “The Chronicles of Amber” series of books, this diceless role-playing game allows one to live out his wildest fantasies, fight his greatest nightmares, and to play for the ultimate prize: to be named next in line for the throne of Amber, the one true city. Will you be a vicious warrior, a cunning sorcerer, a friend, an enemy? Will you chose the powers of chaos or order, which Amberites will you ally yourself with?
Ravenloft: A land of mists, of curses, of imprisoned, doomed lords of darkness. Elementals made of blood, vampires of more breeds than there are races of humanoids, you do not fight in Ravenloft to bring forth the candle of goodness, you fight to keep the darkness at bay, if only briefly. Ravenloft is the land where a child’s fears become incarnate, where your evil deeds can grant you great power, for a price. Nothing is free in Ravenloft, it is not for nothing that it is called The Demiplane of Dread.
Masque of The Red Death: 1890s, Gothic Earth. Pretty much like how our world was back then, with a few changes. Frankenstein was a real man, and his creation still plagues this earth, James Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes manage their respective sides of the law, and you never know where a monster might be. Magic is rare on Gothic Earth, and hard to eek out of the web of power that it comes from. In Gothic Earth, one cannot simply kill his opponents, claiming that he was a werewolf or a vampire. This is the civilized times, when such nonsense has been put behind any decent society. That is, of course, until the moon turns full, and creatures haunt the night, unhindered by mortal laws. Certainly a change of pace from the normal middle-ages style of game play.
I am also familiar with the “Stormbringer” game, though I have never used it before, and do not consider myself proficient with it. I can also probably pick up any system or game style presented to me. So, has there been anything that you’ve been itching to play lately? If so, feel free to bring it up here.
22 comments:
I'd be down with a Ravenloft styled game. I haven't played it since WhiteWolf took over publishing it (so I don't know what has changed.)
But if you're willing to place some info up here for us all, I'd say... let's do it!
I'd be okay with any of those choices, and I havn't gotten to try Ravenloft yet, but any of those are good, I still have stupid ideas floating around in my head for new Amber characters...
Ravenloft has always sounded interesting, provided we do more with the concept than just go out and kill vampires. It would be fun.
Masque of the Red Death was a wonderful story, and sounds like a very interesting game. I'd love to try that. And it's sort of Ravenloft-ish too, so it hasn't exactly been voted down.
That is true, Gothic Earth is an extension of Ravenloft. For those of you who are interested in the mechanics, basically Ravenloft can reach another world and corrupt it, make it a darker place. This process creates what is called a “Masque,” hence the name “Masque of the Red Death.” There are only two known masques in the universe, “Masque of the Red Death” and “Masque of the Jade Dragon,” though that one has never been published.
Yes, don’t worry, Ravenloft has a lot more to it than just killing vampires. There are politics that players have to navigate through, they have to constantly adapt to changing environments and rules of reality, and have to work to keep their very souls. Though yes, occasionally you may have to kill a vampire. Call me a traditionalist.
Now, Masque of the Red Death, or MOTRD, is fun for very unique reasons. It’s unlike most other D&D games, it has a unique classes, positions that players are put in, and enemies from an entirely different time period. It’s a nice change of pace, and it can create very interesting situations. Keep in mind that, should you chose this game, your characters will become much more, how you say, practical. They have no idea of other worlds, of what exactly goes bump in the night, or even the extents of how powerful magic can be. People in Gothic Earth are born and raised there, with all of the practicality of a 19th century gentleman or lady. Also, magic is very, very toned down for this world, just do you know.
For either of these games, we’re going to need a new system. Dan’s is fine, and I’m having a blast with it, but I want the game to reflect that you advance and become more powerful. Now, don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that we go back to d20, however I would like to bring back the level and class system, though it’ll probably be re-worked a little.
Alright, that’s all aside, now for some info. In either case, I think I’ll have you guys be native to that world, unless you have a preference. I like the “Abducted by the mists” theme, however I’ve done that a few times, so I want to try something a little new. Just a handful of important things that are unique to these settings:
1) No detecting moral alignment (good/evil.) The Dark Powers (the lords of Ravenloft) magically shield it, and this is seen as a completely normal restriction by all who live there.
2) No planar travel. I know, it’s a DMing tool, but it’s also important to the plot. Ravenloft, including Gothic Earth, acts like a venus fly trap, easy to get in, next to impossible to get out of. Like the detection of moral alignment, this is seen as a completely normal restriction by the residents of these worlds, after all, they have grown up with them.
3) Building off of point number two, summoning is very dangerous in Ravenloft. If you summon, whatever creature you brought here is stuck, and will most likely turn on you once it discovers this fact. Now, there are ways around it, which the residents of Ravenloft have discovered, but as a general rule summoning is a dangerous art.
4) I allow any player to start at any of the following stages of corruption: Innocent, no taint, or having failed one “powers check.” Basically the way a powers check works is that, should you fail one, you get a small boon, but a small curse. You make one whenever you perform an evil action, and the more you fail the more drastic the results get. Now, here’s the catch, after you fail too many(six for regular Ravenloft, five for MOTRD), you have fallen from grace, and lose your character. But, odds are you won’t be committing too many evil actions, right? And don’t get too upset, the odds of failing one are very, very low, I have only ever seen anyone fail one powers check legitimately. Anyways, you can start down this path, having failed one powers check, have no slant either way, or be innocent, which means that you have never had occasion to make a powers check. To be honest, innocent is not really worth it, it gives you a small advantage to protect against evil abilities, but it’s easily lost, and evil clerics can turn you like undead. Also, you may voluntarily fail a powers check if you so chose.
The next points are exclusively for Ravenloft, and not for MOTRD.
1) Ravenloft is a patchwork world. It is made much like Frankenstein’s Monster, by sewing together bits and pieces of many different worlds. By this logic, you can literally see when you pass from one “domain” (basically a country) to another. The landscape is just different there.
2) There are two major events that have happened in the last thirty years: The Grand Conjunction, created by the wizard king Azalin, nearly destroyed the world, and greatly shifted it. Many domains have gone missing since then, others have been moved into other locations, and several new ones have shown up. Next, five years ago Azalin leveled Il Aluk, his capital city, with an artifact that he dubbed “The Doomsday Device” and vanished. For five years a creature called “Death” plagued Darkon (Azalin’s domain) killing at its leisure, until just recently when Azalin returned. Azalin has swept Death aside, but Il Aluk remains in ruins, and surrounded by a shrowd of negative energy. Now Darkon is being re-created, Azalin is centralizing his power and the citizens rejoice in the return of cruel, but fair, leader.
3) There is a race of mystical gypsies called The Vistani. No one really likes them, but people fear their powerful curses, and desire their powers of foresight. They have many powers that no other known race or person has, and many adventurers swear that their predictions are true.
The following rules are for MOTRD only.
1) Magic is not commonly known. This is because magic tends to be discrete, and all but impossible to eek out of the universe. You don’t just become a mage, you need true dedication, a desire for knowledge and power, and some might say a little bit of insanity. If you play a spellcaster, you have been studying magic for your entire life, and are just now getting results.
2) Magic items are rare in MOTRD. Really rare. Magic is harder to use, making it proportionally harder to make an enchanted item. As such, every one has some history, a purpose, and probably is a little temperamental.
Okay, that should get you started. Which sounds more interesting?
Hrm, it's a tough call. On one hand, Ravenloft will allow for some more fantastical tales, not to mention the potential for player groups - as we may be allowed to choose different races.
However, MOTRD may be neat just because it's this world, just in a game form.
I think my vote is for Ravenloft, but that's just my 2 cents.
I'd like to play Ravenloft as well, since of the three it's the one I haven't gotten to try yet.
So with the penny for my thoughts that puts us up to three cents toward Ravenloft.
Okay, it seems that there is a consensus that we’re playing in Ravenloft. Sounds like fun. I’ll be honest, I don’t have a plot in mind as of this exact moment, but don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of ideas, I just haven’t picked one yet.
Also, we’re going to need to design a new system. What I’m thinking is that we have a few stats, just like in Dan’s game. Spirit will include your health in this version, just like in Century City Unlimited (Which I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the plot of.) Then you pick a class, which can be a core d&d class, or just make something up. Then I’m thinking that you have a certain number of “bonus points” with which you buy unique things. You can invest them in spells, enchanted items, certain talents/skills, connections, that sort of thing. What do you guys think? I’ll spend some time to work on it, and create a set system, but if you have any suggestions I’d be glad to hear them.
Alternatively, we could use a “Stormbringer” system, in which you invest “percentiles” into skills, ranging from specific weapon use to herbalism, to jumping. Certain situations reduce the percentile, for example armor might bring down the percentile to hit by 10% or so, and then I roll a d100. When you level up you get new “points” to put into skills. Any thoughts?
I was looking forward to the bidding/competition thing that had been suggested for CCU but was ultimately ditched. As I said before, the main thing that would make such a thing work is having characters' goals be contradictory, 'I win, you lose, at least this time' sort of thing. Could be fun, and might fit better with the theme of Ravenloft, horror and tension, than a supers game. For a skill list, since d&d seems to have a very exhaustive one, try this (just the abilities, not the whole system or even character sheet) http://www.white-wolf.com/Images/CharacterSheets/DarkAgesMageCharSheet.pdf
So class would be what? Profession, like soldier or professor? Background, like farm boy or outcast?
What sort of unique things are we talking about here? Can I be psychic? A vampire? A werewolf? Can I know how to make explosives? Details, man. How many quirks is it reasonable for a character to have? If one that I pick has serious drawbacks, like werewolf, do I get another, or do I just make the best of being an interesting and compelling character?
What do you want out of this? Are we looking to make a party that can lay waste to all that stands before it, or a group that would make for really interesting drama?
Hmm, that link didn't seem to come through. It was the Mage: Dark ages character sheet. If you google it, you'll get the free sheet on White Wolf's web page.
Hmmm…well, to be honest I hadn’t thought much about the power level when I posted that. However, I think that I might have an idea for our gaming system, at least as far as base stats go.
This is lovingly ripped off from the Amber system, where the “bidding wars” originated from. Basically, everyone starts with 100 points. These points can go into three things: Stats, Powers and Items. We start with a bidding war for the highest in all of the stats, which are: Strength, Endurance, Psyche and Warfare. Whoever gets the highest bid is considered to be the “best” of the group in that area. Now, obviously you’re going to meet people out there who have more points in these things, for example, Azalin and Strahd are both very powerful spellcasters, actually the two most powerful in all of known Ravenloft, so odds are that they have a higher psyche than you do. I also like to introduce a Secret Auction, where you guys bid for a prize, but you have no idea what it is. Is if the Mace of St. Cuthbert? Is it the Eye of Vecna? The Head of Vecna? A piece of moldy cheese? A royal title? No one knows, only the winner will find out.
Then come powers. This includes classic dungeons and dragons stuff, like spellcasting, but also more obscure things, like say the ability to change into a wolf. I’ll generate a generic list, but if you have a suggestion, feel free to send it in and I’ll tell you how much it costs.
Items are next. We’re not talking about a sword or a shield, no, those don’t warrant a point investment on your part. No, items that you put points into have a part of your soul in them, they are a part of you. As such, you can never lose them, and if they are destroyed you get the points back. These can include sentient magic items, or other things that are bound to you in some way. Keep in mind that “normal” magic items, ones that you can lose, don’t fall into this category, you can buy those with gold.
Skills and a starting gold amount would be completely separate. What do you guys think?
Sounds ingenious! I'm in.
P.S. - CCU isn't dead, I promise, my class load has just gotten a lot more ridiculous.
Sweet, glad to hear that you like it. There was also one more thing about the system that I forgot to mention. While you start with 100 points, that’s more what you should shoot to spend than what you have to. You needn’t spend all 100 points, heck you can even go over the limit, however not without consequence. Your remaining point total comes in three forms: Good Stuff, when you’ve saved a few points, Zero Stuff, you used exactly 100 points, and Bad Stuff, when you’ve gone over. People with Good Stuff just naturally have things going for them. They tend to be lucky, winning at cards, maybe dodging stray arrows, that sort of thing. Also, people just tend to like guys with Good Stuff. They’re the life of the party, first impressions of them tend to be good. People with Zero Stuff make their own luck, they come prepared. Finally, you have Bad Stuff, and, as the pattern suggests, people with Bad Stuff tend to have bad luck. Things just don’t work out for them, basically this translates to the “Ill Fate” quirk of CCU. Also, people with Bad Stuff tend to be disliked, the first impression that they give is “I’m a bad guy so get out of my way.” Actually, as strange as it sounds, some people go out of their way to get Bad Stuff, they feel it makes the character a little better, that it’s more fun to play, or it fits their theme better. I mean, the tolken tough, loner guy in the group isn’t gonna have Good Stuff, is he?
Now, there are a few points that I have to stress. First, results of Good or Bad Stuff are not binding. The first impressions that you give people are determined by your “Stuff” but after that it’s all you. A Good Stuff guy might be a total jerk, and he’ll be disliked, while a Bad Stuff guy might be kind enough to help whoever he’s talking too see past that. However, the guy with Bad Stuff has an uphill climb, and the person who saved a few points can get away with a little bit more than the others. Also, we always get two types of extremists in a party: the guy who spends 200 points, and the guy who spends 50. One guy loves Bad Stuff, he likes the theme, the feel, and more importantly the extra powers he can buy with it. The other guy is a penny pincher with his points, and he feels that the good luck that he’ll be getting will more than make up for whatever he lacks in skill. The thing to remember here is that the results of having Bad Stuff are far more drastic than the results of having Good Stuff. Put simply, Good Stuff might help you win a craps game, Bad Stuff might send you falling down a cliff. I would never, never go further into Bad Stuff than ten points. Any more than that and your character is libel to die very quickly. Similarly, good luck and charm can only get you so far in life, and if you’re up against a six-foot four guy who actually invested his points instead of hording them, you’re luck will be out rather quickly. Good luck can’t help you much to win a sword fight. I don’t want to turn you away from the idea of taking Bad or Good Stuff, just do it in moderation either way.
Also a good thing to remember is that there is no time like the present to buy. My point here is that you can’t spend your points on a whim. In a middle of a sword fight, where your opponent happens to be mopping the floor with your rear, is not a time where you can suddenly decide to put a few more points in warfare. Spending points on just about anything will usually take a week. Also, there may be some things that you can buy at the beginning of the game that you would not be able to later. This includes things that are passed down by bloodline, or that you need to have since birth.
Alright, that all having been said, I’ll get to work on that powers list. I’ve heard Josh’s opinion, what do the rest of you think about this system?
Sounds good. You get that list up, and tell us what sort of game we're playing, and I'll figure out what I want to be.
You should really be all that you can be.
Thank you for that wisdom, Josh. The question is, just what can I be? Or, what can I be without being ridiculous? And that depends on what Jeremy intends to do with this. So I wait with breath as baited as breath gets with regular tooth brushing.
Well, I suppose to answer your question, the best thing to do to start with would be to tell you the power level of the game. No, you can't just go around blasting everything. You guys will be more powerful than the average person, and most adventurers, but you'll still need to keep in line. The shadow of the Darklords still hangs over you, and you are certainly not powerful enough to take down Strahd or Ebonbane, at least not yet.
I'm probably going to have this take place in Mordent, a particularly advanced domain. They have a clock tower, houses of power, and brag the birth place of the world's most well known monster hunters: Van Richten, missing these five years. I think that it has a very english feel to it, but don't let that restrict you. Just because you are now in Mordent, that does not mean that you were born here. Ravenloft has domains based off of France, the Aztecs, and almost whatever else you can think of. Heck, you don't even need to be from Ravenloft, the mists could have easily transported you here.
Oh, and I finally, after much searching, found a fourth player. What games need another guy?
Amazing. Who? Anyone I've met?
I don't see how it could possibly hurt to have another in the Hedgemere Academy game, and when I finally get around to tackling Mage, another would be welcome.
No, you havn't met him, but he's a friend of mine. He's a little young, but one of the better players that I know. I just wanted to make sure that it was alright with you guys to add in another player.
CCU needs another player, I'm really hoping to get a little further into this game soon.
The good news is that I've been working on story, mechanics, and "stuff" this whole time so at least it's not like I haven't been doing anything.
Yay! I'm really looking forward to seeing these powers, and finding out what we'll do with them.
That was aimed at CCU, since the powers for Ravenloft are up.
Post a Comment