The Great Conjunction (RPG DESIGN CONTEST)
- Thread starter jdrakeh
- Start date
Andor
First Post
Wik
First Post
I was going to tell you about the great ideas posted by a guy called "Wik" on his blog. But you probably already know about them.
Yeah. Between you and me, I've been stealing shamelessly from the guy.
***
Well, fuin, here's my entry. I already have the very basics figured out.
D.S. Percival, "Dreamers": The apocalypse happened three years ago, and nobody was awake to witness it. Instead, they awoke months or even years later to a post-apocalyptic land, "gifted" with unusual psychic powers. Now, numerous power groups struggle against magically-tainted enemies - and each other - to survive in this new world.
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Jack7
First Post
I've got a paper due for the Navy in Jan. And some other work to push out.
But if I can clear everything up for my work schedule then I'll participate.
I've got a lot of things I'd like to change about how magic is normally portrayed in modern RPGs.
I just hope I can beat all the deadlines.
But if I can clear everything up for my work schedule then I'll participate.
I've got a lot of things I'd like to change about how magic is normally portrayed in modern RPGs.
I just hope I can beat all the deadlines.
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Hm... thanks for the spark that ignited an explosion of creativity!
I whipped up a quick blurb about what I've got so far for my entry:
Netherwrack: The Revolution of Man.
Under the starry skies of the Evernight, ever lit only by the bright, unmoving Daystar, the Cantos of Heaven rules mankind. For the Thousand Isles of Man dotting the infinite Aether Sea, the Cantos stands as the only defense against the Wrack; twisted creatures spawned out of the raw Nether currents that flow far beneath the unsubstantial mists of the Aether.
The Cantos' Order of Innates, those rare men and women able to channel the Nether currents, not only hold back the creatures of the Netherwrack but also hold the souls of mankind in an iron grasp, demanding near-absolute adherance to the Cantos and subserviance to the Kings of the Cantos that have ruled the Thousand Isles since antiquity.
Until now.
No one knows from where the Oligarchy of Manos extracts the Nethergrains, motes of power that allow anyone access to the arcane Nether energies, but they have changed everything.
An industrial revolution sparked by the new source of power changes the landscape. An iron religion is threatened by the loss of their monopoly on arcane might and the souls of man. Free Innates walk in the light of the Daystar, defying the Cantos' Inquisition. The Aetherborn that ever sail the Aether Sea report Aetherstorms of increasing virulence, revealing Netherwrack of terrible proportions. The mysterious Aetherials again walk amidst mankind on their inscrutable tasks.
With a handful of Nethergrain, a peasant can overthrow a King of the Cantos. Everything is in flux. The Aether stirs, the old order crumbles, and none know what will take its place.
Welcome to Netherwrack: the Revolution of Man.
I whipped up a quick blurb about what I've got so far for my entry:
Netherwrack: The Revolution of Man.
Under the starry skies of the Evernight, ever lit only by the bright, unmoving Daystar, the Cantos of Heaven rules mankind. For the Thousand Isles of Man dotting the infinite Aether Sea, the Cantos stands as the only defense against the Wrack; twisted creatures spawned out of the raw Nether currents that flow far beneath the unsubstantial mists of the Aether.
The Cantos' Order of Innates, those rare men and women able to channel the Nether currents, not only hold back the creatures of the Netherwrack but also hold the souls of mankind in an iron grasp, demanding near-absolute adherance to the Cantos and subserviance to the Kings of the Cantos that have ruled the Thousand Isles since antiquity.
Until now.
No one knows from where the Oligarchy of Manos extracts the Nethergrains, motes of power that allow anyone access to the arcane Nether energies, but they have changed everything.
An industrial revolution sparked by the new source of power changes the landscape. An iron religion is threatened by the loss of their monopoly on arcane might and the souls of man. Free Innates walk in the light of the Daystar, defying the Cantos' Inquisition. The Aetherborn that ever sail the Aether Sea report Aetherstorms of increasing virulence, revealing Netherwrack of terrible proportions. The mysterious Aetherials again walk amidst mankind on their inscrutable tasks.
With a handful of Nethergrain, a peasant can overthrow a King of the Cantos. Everything is in flux. The Aether stirs, the old order crumbles, and none know what will take its place.
Welcome to Netherwrack: the Revolution of Man.
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Wik
First Post
Seems like a cool idea. I have this sort of pseudo-steampunk image. In any case, it seems like it'd be a lot of fun. You've definitely got the power struggle figured out, and it sounds like you have a few distinct classes and/or races (Aetherborn? Innates? Aetherials?) worked out.
Are the PCs the common people, trying to bring down the corrupt regime? Because those settings are always fun.
all in all, it sounds like a very distinctive setting. I'm curious about the mechanics - can't wait to see what you work out.
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
I like detailed yet open-ended campaign settings. I figure the characters could do whatever they want: start a revolution against a Cantos King in a soot-blackened city, sail the Aether hunting Netherwrack, searching for treasure-laded Nethercraft wrecks, or try to find the edge of the world, hunt free Innates as Cantos Innates or try to topple the Oligarchy of Manos, maybe try discover the Oligarchy's secret or wander the Isles hunting Netherwrack monsters... whatever.
As for the system, it's one I whipped up in about an hour after it woke me up in the middle of the night (happens sometimes, can't sleep until I write it down).
Right now, a character is a mix of Qualities (Intellect, Strength, Passion, Courage, etc) and Capabilities(Combat, Survival, Nethercraft, Social, etc).
I like the Capabilities I've created, but the Qualities need some refinement since it's kind-of a jumble. Bascially, for each Sphere of a Character(Mind, Body, Soul) there's a set of similar traits. The strength of Mind is Intellect, strength of Body is Might, strength of Soul is Passion. The application of Mind is Wit, application of Body is Agility, application of Soul is (Self)Control. Endurance of Mind is Will, endurance of Body is Toughness, endurance of Soul is Courage.
Those are the basics that I like, I've just got a few extras that I'm trying to figure out how to integrate in there and wondering about maybe paring down a column or combining some things. I'll sleep on it and look at it again tomorrow.
Annoying part is I have inspiration split between this and a Flash game I've been working on all week... don't know which one to work on.
As for the system, it's one I whipped up in about an hour after it woke me up in the middle of the night (happens sometimes, can't sleep until I write it down).
Right now, a character is a mix of Qualities (Intellect, Strength, Passion, Courage, etc) and Capabilities(Combat, Survival, Nethercraft, Social, etc).
I like the Capabilities I've created, but the Qualities need some refinement since it's kind-of a jumble. Bascially, for each Sphere of a Character(Mind, Body, Soul) there's a set of similar traits. The strength of Mind is Intellect, strength of Body is Might, strength of Soul is Passion. The application of Mind is Wit, application of Body is Agility, application of Soul is (Self)Control. Endurance of Mind is Will, endurance of Body is Toughness, endurance of Soul is Courage.
Those are the basics that I like, I've just got a few extras that I'm trying to figure out how to integrate in there and wondering about maybe paring down a column or combining some things. I'll sleep on it and look at it again tomorrow.
Annoying part is I have inspiration split between this and a Flash game I've been working on all week... don't know which one to work on.
Wik
First Post
Sounds kind of cool - how are you putting in the "magic", though? Do PCs cast spells? Do... sorry, I'm asking too many questions. It's just nice to see what the competition is up to - nice knowing I'm not the only one into this.
Since I fully believe in sharing information, my big problem right now concerns mechanics. I'm torn between a Shadowrun (4e) system - Attribute dice + Skill Dice, individual dice grant successes on a 5 or 6, and you count successes. It's simple, and it allows for a "shades of success". The other is a percentile system that's also rather simple (and allows for characters to level their skills as they use them, similar to Oblivion), but doesn't work too well with "shades of success" (much like d20, it's more of a Boolean "Success or Failure").
I like the percentage system, since I know it can be easily written up and I think there's a lot I can do with it, but some of the math is annoying me. The other problem concerns randomization in Character Creation. I want power acquisition to be random, but do I stop there? Random attributes could be fun, too.
Finally, I'm sort of wondering how I can put in the "Dreamlands" and make them accessible in a game setting. Since I want a part of the game to revolve around the interpretation and exploration of dreams, how do I keep the whole group involved?
Since I fully believe in sharing information, my big problem right now concerns mechanics. I'm torn between a Shadowrun (4e) system - Attribute dice + Skill Dice, individual dice grant successes on a 5 or 6, and you count successes. It's simple, and it allows for a "shades of success". The other is a percentile system that's also rather simple (and allows for characters to level their skills as they use them, similar to Oblivion), but doesn't work too well with "shades of success" (much like d20, it's more of a Boolean "Success or Failure").
I like the percentage system, since I know it can be easily written up and I think there's a lot I can do with it, but some of the math is annoying me. The other problem concerns randomization in Character Creation. I want power acquisition to be random, but do I stop there? Random attributes could be fun, too.
Finally, I'm sort of wondering how I can put in the "Dreamlands" and make them accessible in a game setting. Since I want a part of the game to revolve around the interpretation and exploration of dreams, how do I keep the whole group involved?
resistor
First Post
I think I might have to be the odd one out and come up with a highly narrativist system. Throw in conflict resolution rather than task resolution, just to confused people. ;-)
I'm also pondering a post-apocalyptic setting, though a magical one. The "world" of the game consists of the ruins of a truly massive city (on the order of a modern metropolis) and its suburbs. At the center of the city stands a gargantuan monolith of unknown purpose.
To keep things familiar, I'm keeping an arcane/divine division, as in D&D, to create a "reason" versus "faith" primary conflict. All of the characters are mages, their magic fueled to varying degrees either by their faith in the numerous cults that have sprung up (the organized religions having been wiped out in the apocalypse), or through the study of magical trinkets and artifacts that survived the apocalypse, of which the monolith is the greatest example.
Of course, when I write "magic," I don't mean high fantasy style magic. Survival without magic is difficult at best, and even with it things can get tough at times. Add in some magical mutants, villagers who have given in to cannibalism, and all the other great post-apoc tropes, and you don't have a very pleasant place to live.
I haven't figured out exactly how it will fit into the normal play cycle, but the "near omnipresent threat" will be the fact that the monolith is a ticking timebomb: it is the source of the apocalypse, and its triggering mechanism is very sensitive to large quantities of magic...
---
System-wise, I probably will go more narrative than most of what has been bandied about, though probably not as far as conflict resolution (it's just too meta for me). I'm a big fan of FATE, for example. I'm also trying to figure out a way to incorporate a token-pooling system with different colored tokens representing faith and reason.
I'm also pondering a post-apocalyptic setting, though a magical one. The "world" of the game consists of the ruins of a truly massive city (on the order of a modern metropolis) and its suburbs. At the center of the city stands a gargantuan monolith of unknown purpose.
To keep things familiar, I'm keeping an arcane/divine division, as in D&D, to create a "reason" versus "faith" primary conflict. All of the characters are mages, their magic fueled to varying degrees either by their faith in the numerous cults that have sprung up (the organized religions having been wiped out in the apocalypse), or through the study of magical trinkets and artifacts that survived the apocalypse, of which the monolith is the greatest example.
Of course, when I write "magic," I don't mean high fantasy style magic. Survival without magic is difficult at best, and even with it things can get tough at times. Add in some magical mutants, villagers who have given in to cannibalism, and all the other great post-apoc tropes, and you don't have a very pleasant place to live.
I haven't figured out exactly how it will fit into the normal play cycle, but the "near omnipresent threat" will be the fact that the monolith is a ticking timebomb: it is the source of the apocalypse, and its triggering mechanism is very sensitive to large quantities of magic...
---
System-wise, I probably will go more narrative than most of what has been bandied about, though probably not as far as conflict resolution (it's just too meta for me). I'm a big fan of FATE, for example. I'm also trying to figure out a way to incorporate a token-pooling system with different colored tokens representing faith and reason.
