In accordance with one of my resolutions..
Jan. 3rd, 2006 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreI am really determined to get a face-to-face game going. It would be on Sundays (since that's my one sure day off,) and probably run twice a month.
Since I'm currently writing a science-fiction setting, I'm contemplating doing fantasy, which I haven't done in a long time. A little sword & sorcery would be good for me, I think, and doing two dissimilar things at once seems to really help my writing. I've mentioned some campaign ideas in the past, but will present a few here and then ask people who are interested in playing to fill out a short poll.
Note: While I appreciate that people outside the area might have an opinion on the subject, I'm going to use this poll to determine what I'm going to do with some substantial blocks of time and money. So, please, if you are not going to consider playing in this game, or are not local enough to realistically take part in a once a fortnight game in Santa Clara County, do not fill out the poll. Feel free to comment or suggest in comments about my ideas or systems. Thanks.
For systems, I'm really becoming attracted to doing an Ars Magica 5th Edition game. (Or possibly 4th Edition, which is available as a free download from rpgnow.com). Ars (or AM to its many fans) is a well written game that makes magic magical again. Wizards spend most of their time in chantries, doing research and collecting the various things they need to advance their work. On occasion, they have to head out and take care of some task.
AM is notable for its use of troupe play. In this style of gaming, each player controls several characters. Traditionally, each player controls a Mage, one or two Companions (a highly skilled non-Mage attached to the chantry. A Knight-Errant, an alchemist, a friar or priest.. someone highly skilled or useful), and several Grogs... these are the extras. The low level guards, chantry maids, stable master, cook.. all the people needed to allow the pointy-hat and robe set to do their work in peace. In play the general rule is that one player runs his/her Mage, the rest play Companions, and everyone runs a couple of Grogs. This allows the players to stack their party for the mission. For example, if the chantry needs to investigate reports of a werewolf plaguing a village, sending a mage skilled in animal spells and a good huntsman would make sense. On the other hand, gathering the needed supplies for repairs after a storm would make an interesting all-Grog adventure!
In my experience, this style encourages good role-play and excellent character designs, especially when it comes to Companions. Why is this Knight living with a bunch of mages? Why does the cook hate the stable master? I've been at games where a player carried on an extended argument with himself between two characters he was running. Having each player play a mage with a different specialty means that no matter what the scenario, someone will have the proper magical talent. Having everyone in the game communicate during the generation process is also vital (the Knight is the older brother of one of mages; despite her ability to set fires with a wave of her hand, he still thinks she needs to be protected...)
The system itself is pretty simple. I encourage people to download the free version and take a look.
The other option is GURPS. Which I've gone on about at length before. The drawback is that troupe play would be nearly impossible ( I shudder at trying to design 5-7 characters for a game, even if half of them are going to be 50 points at best.)
As for setting, I'm pulled in three directions.
I have my half-formed (or baked) Thousand Isles campaign. But it's a little too swashbuckler for the kind of game I'm thinking of.
Then there's Harn (Sorry, can't figure out how to get that little mark over the "a".) Harn is one of the great fantasy worlds out there, rich in detail and low-magic by default (which actually works with the cloistered mages of AM). I own a metric shitload of Harn stuff already.. I'd just need to find it all!
Lastly, there's my favorite "real world" setting: Eastern Europe. AM assumes a start date of 1241CE, which is a very interesting time to be in Poland or points East. The Russian steppes are still mostly tribal, with Norse-founded river cities just beginning to grow into principalities. Most of the country is still wild and Slavic bands raid each other (and the river traffic) for the supplies needed to last out the long winter. Christianity is a fairly recent innovation in many areas. And then you've got those reports of warriors in the far east, who are said to be half-man, half-horse, and to eat the flesh of their enemies...
So, we come to the poll. Again, this is intended to gage what people who can actually come to a face-to-face game are interested in. While I'm quite aware of play-by-IRC and such, I want to sit down at a table with real people and socialize while gaming.
[Poll #644970]
Since I'm currently writing a science-fiction setting, I'm contemplating doing fantasy, which I haven't done in a long time. A little sword & sorcery would be good for me, I think, and doing two dissimilar things at once seems to really help my writing. I've mentioned some campaign ideas in the past, but will present a few here and then ask people who are interested in playing to fill out a short poll.
Note: While I appreciate that people outside the area might have an opinion on the subject, I'm going to use this poll to determine what I'm going to do with some substantial blocks of time and money. So, please, if you are not going to consider playing in this game, or are not local enough to realistically take part in a once a fortnight game in Santa Clara County, do not fill out the poll. Feel free to comment or suggest in comments about my ideas or systems. Thanks.
For systems, I'm really becoming attracted to doing an Ars Magica 5th Edition game. (Or possibly 4th Edition, which is available as a free download from rpgnow.com). Ars (or AM to its many fans) is a well written game that makes magic magical again. Wizards spend most of their time in chantries, doing research and collecting the various things they need to advance their work. On occasion, they have to head out and take care of some task.
AM is notable for its use of troupe play. In this style of gaming, each player controls several characters. Traditionally, each player controls a Mage, one or two Companions (a highly skilled non-Mage attached to the chantry. A Knight-Errant, an alchemist, a friar or priest.. someone highly skilled or useful), and several Grogs... these are the extras. The low level guards, chantry maids, stable master, cook.. all the people needed to allow the pointy-hat and robe set to do their work in peace. In play the general rule is that one player runs his/her Mage, the rest play Companions, and everyone runs a couple of Grogs. This allows the players to stack their party for the mission. For example, if the chantry needs to investigate reports of a werewolf plaguing a village, sending a mage skilled in animal spells and a good huntsman would make sense. On the other hand, gathering the needed supplies for repairs after a storm would make an interesting all-Grog adventure!
In my experience, this style encourages good role-play and excellent character designs, especially when it comes to Companions. Why is this Knight living with a bunch of mages? Why does the cook hate the stable master? I've been at games where a player carried on an extended argument with himself between two characters he was running. Having each player play a mage with a different specialty means that no matter what the scenario, someone will have the proper magical talent. Having everyone in the game communicate during the generation process is also vital (the Knight is the older brother of one of mages; despite her ability to set fires with a wave of her hand, he still thinks she needs to be protected...)
The system itself is pretty simple. I encourage people to download the free version and take a look.
The other option is GURPS. Which I've gone on about at length before. The drawback is that troupe play would be nearly impossible ( I shudder at trying to design 5-7 characters for a game, even if half of them are going to be 50 points at best.)
As for setting, I'm pulled in three directions.
I have my half-formed (or baked) Thousand Isles campaign. But it's a little too swashbuckler for the kind of game I'm thinking of.
Then there's Harn (Sorry, can't figure out how to get that little mark over the "a".) Harn is one of the great fantasy worlds out there, rich in detail and low-magic by default (which actually works with the cloistered mages of AM). I own a metric shitload of Harn stuff already.. I'd just need to find it all!
Lastly, there's my favorite "real world" setting: Eastern Europe. AM assumes a start date of 1241CE, which is a very interesting time to be in Poland or points East. The Russian steppes are still mostly tribal, with Norse-founded river cities just beginning to grow into principalities. Most of the country is still wild and Slavic bands raid each other (and the river traffic) for the supplies needed to last out the long winter. Christianity is a fairly recent innovation in many areas. And then you've got those reports of warriors in the far east, who are said to be half-man, half-horse, and to eat the flesh of their enemies...
So, we come to the poll. Again, this is intended to gage what people who can actually come to a face-to-face game are interested in. While I'm quite aware of play-by-IRC and such, I want to sit down at a table with real people and socialize while gaming.
[Poll #644970]
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no subject
Date: 4 Jan 2006 01:36 (UTC)I like the percentile system and the background was different.
no subject
Date: 4 Jan 2006 13:22 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Jan 2006 02:13 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Jan 2006 07:23 (UTC)http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/characterentities.html