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In a Wicked Age...
Concept: This is an independant rpg that I thought might be fun to try and run on these boards. I've only just discovered it, but I thought it might be a fun concept and something "different." It is not a numbers heavy system - although it does use dice to resolve conflict, it will be more free form than most games on these forums. No dice are rolled until someone says that something happens and another player or NPC says otherwise.
(ie: "I seduce your character into bed." "No you don't." (dice roll and descriptions ensue)
Setting: Sword and Sorcery, but more ancient world as opposed to medieval (think Conan and the Hyborean Age)
Plot: Depends - the crux of this system is that the plot is randomly generated. Four plot points are generated from a table by drawing playing cards. And all the PCs are chosen from characters suggested by those plot points.
Characters: So long as they are suggested by the generated plot points, there is not a lot of restriction on what your character could be - but the system makes all characters "equal" in the eyes of the story. So a powerful demon has as much a chance of affecting the world as a small child. (The PCs are the main characters, and therefore protected by the story itself - but just who is the protagonist is what needs to be determined.
Character Creation:
Every character assigns a dice to each of their 6 attributes. You have a d12, d10, d8, two d6s, and a d4 to assign to:
Directly
Covertly
With Love/Lust
With Violence
For Myself
For Others
Whenever your character is rolling in a conflict, you will roll two of these attributes. The highest result from either die will gain the advantage and set the bar for the opposition to overcome - if it can't be overcome on a subsequent roll, then the victor decides the outcome of the conflict in their favor. If more than two categories are appropriate, a player is free to choose which two categories he wants to roll.
Then every character creates a particular strength - this is something that sets your character apart from someone else, and can be as mundane or as magical as you want. A Particular Strength is assigned to one of your six abilities, and counts as an extra d8 that can be rolled when using that ability, if appropriate. Particular Strengths begin at Level 1 significance. For each level of significance, a strength can have one of the follwing qualities:
Broad (may assign a second ability to the strength, (ex: it could be used both Directly and For Others.))
Potent (it's a d10 instead of d8)
Far Reaching (this strength can affect things that the character normally could not physically affect. (ex: a far reaching excorcism strength would allow the player to affect an ethereal spirit that he normally could not touch.))
Consequential (the strength automatically targets a certain type of attribute, that it will reduce in others should it overcome them in conflict (ex: a Crippling Touch strength that is successfully used in a conflict would reduce the loser's "With Violence" attribute for the rest of the chapter.)
Unique (only your character can possess this particular strength)
After your character's attributes and strength are determined, players and the GM will determine what your character's two best interests are. The game encourages you to NOT work out a backstory. Instead, the idea is to discover your character as they work towards their goals. Often you will not know why it is in your character's best interest to do something, but you should work towards it nevertheless, and eventually the reasons will come to you as the story is woven together by the players and GM.
A Character Creation Example
Let's say that we generate the following plot points (taken from the Oracle of Blood and Sex)
The alliance by marriage of a certain tyrant's family with the cult of a certain desert god.
A field of herbs and wild flowers, alive with bees, where a certain half-bestial creature brings his many lovers.
A spirit of the lower air, caught up in joyous human celebration.
A company of desert horsemen, hiding a woman amongst them.
These plot point give us a large cast of characters, and we don't know yet how they're all tied up together, but they are all going to be a part of this story, so we can choose our PCs from:
The Tyrant
Tyrant's son
Tyrant's daughter
Tyrant's relation #3 etc...
Cult Leader
The Desert God
Cultist
The Half Beast
A lover of the half beast
Spirit of the Lower Air
Human celebrants (any partygoer archetype)
Desert Horseman Leader
Woman with the horsemen
Desert Horseman
(or anything else that someone thinks of that qualifies)
Blueslime wants to create a character. Liking the idea of the desert cult, she chooses to play Aurya, a Cultist Priestess. She assigns dice, and then chooses a particular strength, sandweaving, and assigns it the Potent quality.
Aurya, Desert Cult Priestess
Covertly d10
Directly d6
With Love/Lust d8
With Violence d4
For Myself d12
For Others d6
Particular Strength: Sandweaving. Significance 1. The ability to mold and control nearby sand, reshaping it with her will. It is a gift given to her by her Desert God. Must be used Directly. It's Potent, it's die is a d10.
No Best Interests yet.
*****
Once all the other characters are made and the GM has given qualities to the other NPCs (GM creates a master list of the NPCs) Each player in turn suggests a Best Interest. Once each player has chosen one, the GM chooses a best interest for as many NPCs as there are players. Then a second round occurs, followed by another set of NPCs.
So Blueslime gets to go first. Looking at her stats, Blue determines that Aurya is a subtle and self serving type, and also notes the plot point about the marriage to the tyrant's family. Making up her mind, Blue writes:
"It is in Aurya's best interest to bed and then marry Ashur, the Tyrant's son."
The other players take their turn. One player, who decided to play as the Half Beast, says that it's in his Best Interest to impregnate Aurya and induct her into his harem. Blue raises her eyebrow and notes how this might affect her character's desire to marry Ashur.
To further complicate things, the GM says that it's in the NPC Ashur's best interest to slay the Desert God - the source of Aurya's power and status!
Now it's Blue's second turn to introduce a best interest. She decides to involve another NPC, the Air Spirit.
"It's in Aurya's best interest to bind and consume the Spirit of the Lower Air."
Everyone else takes their turn, and Blue soon finds she has another problem - it's in the Desert Horseman Leader's best interest to prevent her wedding to Ashur.
Thus the story is set to take off. Does this pique anyone's interests?
Is there Ero?: Up to the players. The game lends itself towards sexual situations, but there's not going to be a grapple stat or pleasure threshold number. Up to the players as well as the GM to describe what happens.
Questions? comments?
Concept: This is an independant rpg that I thought might be fun to try and run on these boards. I've only just discovered it, but I thought it might be a fun concept and something "different." It is not a numbers heavy system - although it does use dice to resolve conflict, it will be more free form than most games on these forums. No dice are rolled until someone says that something happens and another player or NPC says otherwise.
(ie: "I seduce your character into bed." "No you don't." (dice roll and descriptions ensue)
Setting: Sword and Sorcery, but more ancient world as opposed to medieval (think Conan and the Hyborean Age)
Plot: Depends - the crux of this system is that the plot is randomly generated. Four plot points are generated from a table by drawing playing cards. And all the PCs are chosen from characters suggested by those plot points.
Characters: So long as they are suggested by the generated plot points, there is not a lot of restriction on what your character could be - but the system makes all characters "equal" in the eyes of the story. So a powerful demon has as much a chance of affecting the world as a small child. (The PCs are the main characters, and therefore protected by the story itself - but just who is the protagonist is what needs to be determined.
Character Creation:
Every character assigns a dice to each of their 6 attributes. You have a d12, d10, d8, two d6s, and a d4 to assign to:
Directly
Covertly
With Love/Lust
With Violence
For Myself
For Others
Whenever your character is rolling in a conflict, you will roll two of these attributes. The highest result from either die will gain the advantage and set the bar for the opposition to overcome - if it can't be overcome on a subsequent roll, then the victor decides the outcome of the conflict in their favor. If more than two categories are appropriate, a player is free to choose which two categories he wants to roll.
Then every character creates a particular strength - this is something that sets your character apart from someone else, and can be as mundane or as magical as you want. A Particular Strength is assigned to one of your six abilities, and counts as an extra d8 that can be rolled when using that ability, if appropriate. Particular Strengths begin at Level 1 significance. For each level of significance, a strength can have one of the follwing qualities:
Broad (may assign a second ability to the strength, (ex: it could be used both Directly and For Others.))
Potent (it's a d10 instead of d8)
Far Reaching (this strength can affect things that the character normally could not physically affect. (ex: a far reaching excorcism strength would allow the player to affect an ethereal spirit that he normally could not touch.))
Consequential (the strength automatically targets a certain type of attribute, that it will reduce in others should it overcome them in conflict (ex: a Crippling Touch strength that is successfully used in a conflict would reduce the loser's "With Violence" attribute for the rest of the chapter.)
Unique (only your character can possess this particular strength)
After your character's attributes and strength are determined, players and the GM will determine what your character's two best interests are. The game encourages you to NOT work out a backstory. Instead, the idea is to discover your character as they work towards their goals. Often you will not know why it is in your character's best interest to do something, but you should work towards it nevertheless, and eventually the reasons will come to you as the story is woven together by the players and GM.
A Character Creation Example
Let's say that we generate the following plot points (taken from the Oracle of Blood and Sex)
The alliance by marriage of a certain tyrant's family with the cult of a certain desert god.
A field of herbs and wild flowers, alive with bees, where a certain half-bestial creature brings his many lovers.
A spirit of the lower air, caught up in joyous human celebration.
A company of desert horsemen, hiding a woman amongst them.
These plot point give us a large cast of characters, and we don't know yet how they're all tied up together, but they are all going to be a part of this story, so we can choose our PCs from:
The Tyrant
Tyrant's son
Tyrant's daughter
Tyrant's relation #3 etc...
Cult Leader
The Desert God
Cultist
The Half Beast
A lover of the half beast
Spirit of the Lower Air
Human celebrants (any partygoer archetype)
Desert Horseman Leader
Woman with the horsemen
Desert Horseman
(or anything else that someone thinks of that qualifies)
Blueslime wants to create a character. Liking the idea of the desert cult, she chooses to play Aurya, a Cultist Priestess. She assigns dice, and then chooses a particular strength, sandweaving, and assigns it the Potent quality.
Aurya, Desert Cult Priestess
Covertly d10
Directly d6
With Love/Lust d8
With Violence d4
For Myself d12
For Others d6
Particular Strength: Sandweaving. Significance 1. The ability to mold and control nearby sand, reshaping it with her will. It is a gift given to her by her Desert God. Must be used Directly. It's Potent, it's die is a d10.
No Best Interests yet.
*****
Once all the other characters are made and the GM has given qualities to the other NPCs (GM creates a master list of the NPCs) Each player in turn suggests a Best Interest. Once each player has chosen one, the GM chooses a best interest for as many NPCs as there are players. Then a second round occurs, followed by another set of NPCs.
So Blueslime gets to go first. Looking at her stats, Blue determines that Aurya is a subtle and self serving type, and also notes the plot point about the marriage to the tyrant's family. Making up her mind, Blue writes:
"It is in Aurya's best interest to bed and then marry Ashur, the Tyrant's son."
The other players take their turn. One player, who decided to play as the Half Beast, says that it's in his Best Interest to impregnate Aurya and induct her into his harem. Blue raises her eyebrow and notes how this might affect her character's desire to marry Ashur.
To further complicate things, the GM says that it's in the NPC Ashur's best interest to slay the Desert God - the source of Aurya's power and status!
Now it's Blue's second turn to introduce a best interest. She decides to involve another NPC, the Air Spirit.
"It's in Aurya's best interest to bind and consume the Spirit of the Lower Air."
Everyone else takes their turn, and Blue soon finds she has another problem - it's in the Desert Horseman Leader's best interest to prevent her wedding to Ashur.
Thus the story is set to take off. Does this pique anyone's interests?
Is there Ero?: Up to the players. The game lends itself towards sexual situations, but there's not going to be a grapple stat or pleasure threshold number. Up to the players as well as the GM to describe what happens.
Questions? comments?