[Recruiting 2 more!] In A Wicked Age RPG Quick Game

[LostSoul]

I was wondering if you wanted to go with a specific vibe to place the oracles in - swords & sandals, viking sagas, gothic horror, Grimm fairy tales, 1001 Arabian nights, etc.

As for which specific oracle we use - I think some fit certain settings better than others, but they're all pretty cool. I'd be okay with any, casting a tie breaking vote if necessary.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

To move this along, I decided to go with GlassEye's suggestion of a Nest of Vipers oracle, as LostSoul was fine with the choice. Here is what our oracle came up with:

5 of Hearts: The college of a small but prestigious magical order.

8 of Clubs: A tempter devil, fond of luxury and sin, respecter of no law and every appetite, imprisoned until this very hour and minute within a stone crypt behind an old monk's garden.

4 of Hearts: A fallen-in mansion, where by night ghosts and devils meet.

3 of Clubs: A slight and subtle demon, child of blasphemy, craving mischief.

Looking at this, it looks like we have plenty of possible characters for protagonists and antagonists. The college of a magical order can include teachers, apprentices and staff. There is a tempter devil who seems more of an antagonist unless someone wants to play a player character who is able to project an incorporeal version of itself. We have a small and mischievous child demon.

The ghosts and devils could be already mentioned in the other cards or be additional players.

We have several locations, such as the fallen-in mansion, a stone crypt, and a monk's garden (and I imagine with a monk's nearby hovel or small monastery.

A pretty good hand, all in all. Interested players, please pick a protagonist and thoughts on a possible goal using the above elements from the oracle.

 

[GlassEye]

Yikes! Lots of devilish action is this game, I sense. Ok, I'm going to toss out a few thoughts and then see if I can't squeeze one of them into some sort of PC idea.

'A small but prestigious magical order'

• A hidden cabal, secret rulers of a city-state, OR
• Prominent order basking in the prestige gained from past glories
• Goal: Destruction or imprisonment of evil otherworldly forces

'A tempter devil, fond of luxury and sin, respecter of no law and every appetite, imprisoned until this very hour and minute within a stone crypt behind an old monk's garden.'

• Tempter devil (obviously); Goal: getting revenge through the moral destruction of its imprisoners who happen to be the aforementioned magical order.
• The garden, option 1: (old monk's) garden; old monk, retired from magical order above?; Goal: recapture of the tempter devil
• The garden, option 2: old (monk's garden); overgrown & forgotten

'A fallen-in mansion, where by night ghosts and devils meet.'

• Ruined mansion
• Ghost (or rather spirit) of youth, perhaps the old monk's acolyte, who accidentally released the tempter devil and in doing so had his spirit expelled from his body and body taken over by the devil. Goal: recover his body, possibly seeking means to inhabit a recently dead body to hunt the devil and recover his own body.
• Minor devils willing to bargain with information

'A slight and subtle demon, child of blasphemy, craving mischief.'

• Demon, meeting with above ghost(?) and giving inaccurate info for the pure mischief of it?

Have to say I'm kinda leaning towards the youthful spirit who unwittingly released the devil and was forced out of his body. Either disembodied or preferably recently inhabiting/animating a recently deceased body with the goal of getting his own body back. Possibly an acolyte of the old monk or apprentice of member of the magical order who used the old garden as a place to practice his magics.

 

[LostSoul]

Is there a procedure for figuring out the backstory and situation?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

No, this is a very fluid and loose system. GlassEye has it right by selecting a character and a bit of a background using the oracle results.

Have to say I'm kinda leaning towards the youthful spirit who unwittingly released the devil and was forced out of his body. Either disembodied or preferably recently inhabiting/animating a recently deceased body with the goal of getting his own body back. Possibly an acolyte of the old monk or apprentice of member of the magical order who used the old garden as a place to practice his magics.

So GlassEye will probably play a young man who is now incorporeal and trying to return to the living. His background was possibly that of a follower of a monk or the magical order. As other players add to the small lore, he will adjust or flesh out the details of his character and start building his PC.

As a DM, I am now thinking about the tempter devil as the main NPC antagonist, unless someone grabs up the character as a PC. If someone grabs the devil as a PC, it will adjust my own thinking.

 

[LostSoul]

Cool.

The tempter devil seems most interesting to me. I was thinking that he allowed himself to be taken in by the monk in order to tempt him - immortal and all, time is on his side - and finally convinced the monk to let him go.

If that doesn't work with the old monk then I can come up with something else.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Well, I like how this is turning out so far. At first I figured you players would attempt to play the members of the magical society, wizards, apprentices and such with a monk thrown in the mix. The antagonists would be the tempter and/or the spirit.

Now it looks like that was turned on its head. The protagonists are now the tempter devil through LostSoul and a disembodied spirit which may or may not be mischievous, but is trying to return to his own body. So both PCs will be working through the incorporeal world at some level.

The monk that was mentioned now seems to be more important to the story than first conceived. It is possible that he was a mentor to GlassEye's spirit PC. He definitely had some interaction with LostSoul's devil PC. Either way, the monk's part in the drama seems mostly in the past, so perhaps he is deceased now.

We still need to incorporate the fallen-in mansion where devils and spirits meet. Perhaps their meeting only happens on certain nights under certain conditions that both PCs want to bring about for various reasons.

The magical order seems to be falling in now as possible antagonists. Or if the 'child of blasphemy' isn't part of either PC, perhaps we have another player. Either way, the PCs may or may not want the meeting of devils and spirits to happen while the antagonists will want the opposite.

 

[Queenie]

This sounds REALLY fun, however, I'm swamped here at home and can barely keep up with my emails, forget about my other games, so I don't want to commit to anything else right now. But if I have time I will read along and try to keep up, it looks really interesting, exciting and unique

 

[Deuce Traveler]

No worries. Well, I still have two if they wish to continue. It would make a quick game quicker still, and at least serve to demonstrate the game engine. If more show up later, all the better.

 

[Queenie]

I may be able to jump in later because it does look interesting and I will watch this play out.

I'm still working on updating my character in your OTHER game!!! At least she is 3/4 updated