Brian Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-09-02 11:27 am
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-09-02 11:27 am
Entry tags:
The Next Prospectus III - in 3D!
Based on the groups responses to the first two sets of questions, I formulated the following game options. Each skewed a little from the groups more or less consensus goals in an effort to give them a broader array of options. I also wrote the entries with Story Arc, Metagame and Mechanics segments so the players would know what they were signing on for up front and understand how their choices earlier had shaped these options.
Mission: Escape from Sktarsis
Story Arc: In 1956 a DOD unit went into the arctic to destroy a secret Soviet base. They didn’t find one. What they found was the entrance to the world within the world, the hollow earth the Nazis had hunted for during the war. Having destroyed the entrance to deny access to an incoming communist force there’s no way out! The land inside the earth, which the natives call Sktarsis, is a place of dinosaurs and barbarian tribes, of vast kingdoms and ancient magic, of libraries filled with books that contain worlds and seas that bubble over with sunken relics. Sktarsis changes people, and even as our heroes’ technological supplies are drying up, their potential is expanding in mysterious ways. Even if they could find their way home, do they want to?
Metagame: The PCs start as capable 1950’s military types and inside the Sktarsis have the potential to become wizards, mystics, swordsmen and chieftains. Their technological edge depends on resource management (you only have so much ammo, after all) but it starts the PCs as a combat power, and they will stay one as they develop other skills. The PCs are likely the only surface folk in Sktarsis, so this isn’t a Cold War scenario with them racing against Commies or Nazis for some magical MacGuffin – it’s an exploration of a magical world where the PCs have the potential to change it as much as it changes them. It’s heavily influenced by Mike Grell’s Warlord comic book (issues loaned on request), Burrough’s Pellusidar and to a lesser extent Barsoom, and maybe a little of Land of the Lost. Players have a higher degree of control over Objectives in this one than others, but there are pretty clear options – survive, accumulate resources, get home. Depending on how you play this it could be purely episodic with a challenge of the week or a longer, interwoven narrative with the direct end-point of getting home.
Mechanics: This uses the d6 system, the underlying engine for the original Star Wars game. It’s a simple, universal mechanic with easy character generation. Of the options this is the one that most overlaps on Contemporary Action Heroes, but they’re in a fantasy world.
The New Dawn
Story Arc: Six hundred years ago the world realized that the rising level of magic would doom them: when it reached its peak Horrors from astral space world enter our world as a Scourge. Five hundred years ago the great civilizations constructed Kaers – underground cities, physically and magically shielded – where they might survive. Four hundred years ago the Kaer of Hava sealed its seven-gated doors, locking in communities of humans, orcs, trolls and t’skrang (lizard men) in a gamble for survival. Three hundred years ago the Havans started work on the Great Compact – the framework for a new politics and philosophy in which the slavery that powered the old orders was cast aside – so that when they emerged they could build a better world. Within the last hundred years you were born into this world, learning the disciplines handed down from master to student over the dark centuries. Tomorrow, the masters of Hava open the gates and send you out to confirm that the Scourge is over, to explore the world, and report back on what has changed. It is up to you to determine if it is safe for your families to once again see the dawn.
Metagame: this is a new jumping off point in the game Earthdawn. The PCs are the initial explorers of a world that has drastically changed, but the setting is essentially hopeful – while it is post apocalypse, the worst is over, civilization has survived and has the tools ready to re-establish itself in a world full of new dangers and new promises. The PCs are members of Disciplines, which are likely highly focused D&D classes, with eventual access to some impressive magical abilities. Again, the focus is on exploration but the PCs have to be combat worthy, as there are a lot of threats out there – from horror tainted monsters to lost Kaers to the remnants of the Horrors themselves, which are pretty damn scary in a Cthuloid way. The characters have clear objectives – explore, remove dangers, report back – but can resolve them in whatever fashion seems appropriate. There’s likely to be a session or two of “dungeon crawling” mixed into this as you find Kaers that didn’t fare as well as Hava.
Mechanics: Earthdawn has a hybrid level/point system that I’ll be streamlining a bit. Its combat system is a little more complex than D&D (with wounds, recovery periods and little to no magical healing). This is a high fantasy and high magic setting, with heroic heroes facing serious dangers.
The Islands of Dawn
Story Arc: A generation ago the Kaer of Hava opened and has settled itself on the surface, bringing with it a measure of peace and stability. Now it is time to explore the nearby archipelago, looking for signs that other Kaers survived and salvaging what they can from those that did not. The ship is half military and half diplomats looking to expand Hava’s influence in the region, and be missionaries to the Grand Compact, during your five year mission.
Metagame: should be pretty obvious. This is set 20-25 years after New Dawn, and it’s a highly episodic game that bears several resemblances to a Fantasy “Star Trek” (except that your ship isn’t quite so powerful and the prime directive isn’t so much in force). Rather than immediate exploration and monster killing the PCs will also be facing other powers in the archipelago, adding an element of politics to the dance.
Mechanics: Earthdawn again. I know, it’s a shocker.
Gunner’s Company
Story Arc: Carrying the banner of Lord Gunner of Everbrook, the members of Gunner’s Company enforce the law within his lands, and in so doing earn the right to bear arms and occasionally hire themselves out to others (as long as the job doesn’t violate the Lord’s law, or they don’t get caught). For many Companies this is a sinecure and easy road to wealth, but Everbrook was carved out of the Northlands less than a generation ago, when the church lifted the ban on the faithful owning lands in those wild places. Unlike the pleasant dales of the south, the Northlands hold monsters and the ruins of a dozen civilizations, piled on one another like a jumble of children’s jigsaw puzzles. Settlers need protection, merchant-miners spend gold for guardsmen, mad monsters hoard treasures of the ages, and occasionally Lord Gunner makes a special request – all in a day’s work for Gunner’s Company.
Metagame: This is a classic Woods/Dungeon Crawl fantasy adventure. There’s a central town (Everbrook) that lacks a lot civilization but has a tavern, a weaponsmith, a bar, an armorer and a house of ill repute (albeit a well respected one). The Company is a conceit to explain why there’s a small unit of armored, sword-wielding types tromping around unmolested, with the added bonus of being the vehicle for an occasional “though shalt do X” plot. The world has limited spellcasters, and those that do master the arcane arts don’t tromp around in the woods (though they might hire you to do it), but there are magical artifacts to be gathered from the ruins to the north. Of the options this is the lowest magic level and the most combat-oriented. Inspirations for this are the Conan and Lankhmar stories, with a dash of the Black Company (though this world is nowhere near that dark).
Mechanics: Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, with classes limited to Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue and Paladin. You might be noticing a dearth of spellcasting ability there, but characters will start at 4th level so Bards, Rangers and Paladins do have some magical oomph.
Egraine, Mort de Wamphiri
Story Arc: The community of Hope Springs built up around the restorative spas much beloved by the Chetalanes and Castillians of the empire. Its domains have been built up over time, a combination of the summer homes of the truly wealthy, the estates of the local landowners, the nunnery with its attached finishing school for girls of the right rank (or who aspire to marry to that rank), the gentleman’s college for the teaching of fencing, dancing, riding and all the nobleman’s arts. It is as bucolic a city as one could imagine, with just the right number of the rougher, plebian sort to do the day to day laboring. What a pity then, that the disquiet dead lurk in its shadows to feast upon its unsuspecting masses! Into this is born the latest incarnation of the child martyr, the one girl with the strength and power to hunt the wamphiri…and kill them!
Metagame: Yeah, yeah, it’s a Buffy Rip-off. What’s your point? The exploration aspect of this one is historical, confined to the past of Hope Springs, the Glass Empire, the origins of the Wamphiri and the child martyr. The combat aspects, are, well Vampire Slaying. This is the most episodic of the options, as each session will be built to feel like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which, to be fair, had a high degree of cross episode continuity). It has some Horror aspects and some Action/Super-hero ones. It’s really the least Fantasy of the options presented.
Mechanics: Eden Games Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. It’s a very simple system with a decent amount of combat options and the best mechanic I’ve ever seen for one really powerful hero (Buffy) backed by slightly less competent physical types (Angel & Riley types) and “white hat” competent normals that makes sure everyone gets a piece of the action.
Mission: Escape from Sktarsis
Story Arc: In 1956 a DOD unit went into the arctic to destroy a secret Soviet base. They didn’t find one. What they found was the entrance to the world within the world, the hollow earth the Nazis had hunted for during the war. Having destroyed the entrance to deny access to an incoming communist force there’s no way out! The land inside the earth, which the natives call Sktarsis, is a place of dinosaurs and barbarian tribes, of vast kingdoms and ancient magic, of libraries filled with books that contain worlds and seas that bubble over with sunken relics. Sktarsis changes people, and even as our heroes’ technological supplies are drying up, their potential is expanding in mysterious ways. Even if they could find their way home, do they want to?
Metagame: The PCs start as capable 1950’s military types and inside the Sktarsis have the potential to become wizards, mystics, swordsmen and chieftains. Their technological edge depends on resource management (you only have so much ammo, after all) but it starts the PCs as a combat power, and they will stay one as they develop other skills. The PCs are likely the only surface folk in Sktarsis, so this isn’t a Cold War scenario with them racing against Commies or Nazis for some magical MacGuffin – it’s an exploration of a magical world where the PCs have the potential to change it as much as it changes them. It’s heavily influenced by Mike Grell’s Warlord comic book (issues loaned on request), Burrough’s Pellusidar and to a lesser extent Barsoom, and maybe a little of Land of the Lost. Players have a higher degree of control over Objectives in this one than others, but there are pretty clear options – survive, accumulate resources, get home. Depending on how you play this it could be purely episodic with a challenge of the week or a longer, interwoven narrative with the direct end-point of getting home.
Mechanics: This uses the d6 system, the underlying engine for the original Star Wars game. It’s a simple, universal mechanic with easy character generation. Of the options this is the one that most overlaps on Contemporary Action Heroes, but they’re in a fantasy world.
The New Dawn
Story Arc: Six hundred years ago the world realized that the rising level of magic would doom them: when it reached its peak Horrors from astral space world enter our world as a Scourge. Five hundred years ago the great civilizations constructed Kaers – underground cities, physically and magically shielded – where they might survive. Four hundred years ago the Kaer of Hava sealed its seven-gated doors, locking in communities of humans, orcs, trolls and t’skrang (lizard men) in a gamble for survival. Three hundred years ago the Havans started work on the Great Compact – the framework for a new politics and philosophy in which the slavery that powered the old orders was cast aside – so that when they emerged they could build a better world. Within the last hundred years you were born into this world, learning the disciplines handed down from master to student over the dark centuries. Tomorrow, the masters of Hava open the gates and send you out to confirm that the Scourge is over, to explore the world, and report back on what has changed. It is up to you to determine if it is safe for your families to once again see the dawn.
Metagame: this is a new jumping off point in the game Earthdawn. The PCs are the initial explorers of a world that has drastically changed, but the setting is essentially hopeful – while it is post apocalypse, the worst is over, civilization has survived and has the tools ready to re-establish itself in a world full of new dangers and new promises. The PCs are members of Disciplines, which are likely highly focused D&D classes, with eventual access to some impressive magical abilities. Again, the focus is on exploration but the PCs have to be combat worthy, as there are a lot of threats out there – from horror tainted monsters to lost Kaers to the remnants of the Horrors themselves, which are pretty damn scary in a Cthuloid way. The characters have clear objectives – explore, remove dangers, report back – but can resolve them in whatever fashion seems appropriate. There’s likely to be a session or two of “dungeon crawling” mixed into this as you find Kaers that didn’t fare as well as Hava.
Mechanics: Earthdawn has a hybrid level/point system that I’ll be streamlining a bit. Its combat system is a little more complex than D&D (with wounds, recovery periods and little to no magical healing). This is a high fantasy and high magic setting, with heroic heroes facing serious dangers.
The Islands of Dawn
Story Arc: A generation ago the Kaer of Hava opened and has settled itself on the surface, bringing with it a measure of peace and stability. Now it is time to explore the nearby archipelago, looking for signs that other Kaers survived and salvaging what they can from those that did not. The ship is half military and half diplomats looking to expand Hava’s influence in the region, and be missionaries to the Grand Compact, during your five year mission.
Metagame: should be pretty obvious. This is set 20-25 years after New Dawn, and it’s a highly episodic game that bears several resemblances to a Fantasy “Star Trek” (except that your ship isn’t quite so powerful and the prime directive isn’t so much in force). Rather than immediate exploration and monster killing the PCs will also be facing other powers in the archipelago, adding an element of politics to the dance.
Mechanics: Earthdawn again. I know, it’s a shocker.
Gunner’s Company
Story Arc: Carrying the banner of Lord Gunner of Everbrook, the members of Gunner’s Company enforce the law within his lands, and in so doing earn the right to bear arms and occasionally hire themselves out to others (as long as the job doesn’t violate the Lord’s law, or they don’t get caught). For many Companies this is a sinecure and easy road to wealth, but Everbrook was carved out of the Northlands less than a generation ago, when the church lifted the ban on the faithful owning lands in those wild places. Unlike the pleasant dales of the south, the Northlands hold monsters and the ruins of a dozen civilizations, piled on one another like a jumble of children’s jigsaw puzzles. Settlers need protection, merchant-miners spend gold for guardsmen, mad monsters hoard treasures of the ages, and occasionally Lord Gunner makes a special request – all in a day’s work for Gunner’s Company.
Metagame: This is a classic Woods/Dungeon Crawl fantasy adventure. There’s a central town (Everbrook) that lacks a lot civilization but has a tavern, a weaponsmith, a bar, an armorer and a house of ill repute (albeit a well respected one). The Company is a conceit to explain why there’s a small unit of armored, sword-wielding types tromping around unmolested, with the added bonus of being the vehicle for an occasional “though shalt do X” plot. The world has limited spellcasters, and those that do master the arcane arts don’t tromp around in the woods (though they might hire you to do it), but there are magical artifacts to be gathered from the ruins to the north. Of the options this is the lowest magic level and the most combat-oriented. Inspirations for this are the Conan and Lankhmar stories, with a dash of the Black Company (though this world is nowhere near that dark).
Mechanics: Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, with classes limited to Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue and Paladin. You might be noticing a dearth of spellcasting ability there, but characters will start at 4th level so Bards, Rangers and Paladins do have some magical oomph.
Egraine, Mort de Wamphiri
Story Arc: The community of Hope Springs built up around the restorative spas much beloved by the Chetalanes and Castillians of the empire. Its domains have been built up over time, a combination of the summer homes of the truly wealthy, the estates of the local landowners, the nunnery with its attached finishing school for girls of the right rank (or who aspire to marry to that rank), the gentleman’s college for the teaching of fencing, dancing, riding and all the nobleman’s arts. It is as bucolic a city as one could imagine, with just the right number of the rougher, plebian sort to do the day to day laboring. What a pity then, that the disquiet dead lurk in its shadows to feast upon its unsuspecting masses! Into this is born the latest incarnation of the child martyr, the one girl with the strength and power to hunt the wamphiri…and kill them!
Metagame: Yeah, yeah, it’s a Buffy Rip-off. What’s your point? The exploration aspect of this one is historical, confined to the past of Hope Springs, the Glass Empire, the origins of the Wamphiri and the child martyr. The combat aspects, are, well Vampire Slaying. This is the most episodic of the options, as each session will be built to feel like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which, to be fair, had a high degree of cross episode continuity). It has some Horror aspects and some Action/Super-hero ones. It’s really the least Fantasy of the options presented.
Mechanics: Eden Games Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. It’s a very simple system with a decent amount of combat options and the best mechanic I’ve ever seen for one really powerful hero (Buffy) backed by slightly less competent physical types (Angel & Riley types) and “white hat” competent normals that makes sure everyone gets a piece of the action.
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It was cool.
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Fortunately for them I'm not going into that - part of the silly rationale for the PCs all being in their early 20's is that their minds are still felixible enough to absorb the enormous changes they're about to encounter.
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As for Egraine, yeah, I was happy with that one. The problem with the prospectus design is I come up with 5 concepts I think are really cool and only get to run one of them.
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I never got acquainted with the old D&D. I stopped buying D&D books when Advanced Dungeons and Dragons came out, with feelings much like those of current D&D players resisting the changeover to the fourth edition; I last played it briefly in first edition AD&D. What you're running is so far after my time I have no feel for it at all. The only d20 game I've played is Mutants and Masterminds, and while it has a lot of good ideas, I find the feel of the system in play frustrating.
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I'm one of those hold outs, though I do now have a copy on loan of 4E to flip through. It's not so much that I expect to really dislike the 4E system as I don't see enough of anything broken in 3E to merit a revision (which is why I avoided 3.5). I have heard very good things about 4Es rules for skill challenges, party balance and encounter balance, however, and I do appreciate that the DMG is full of guidence on how to be a DM rather than the rules the players aren't supposed to see.