|  Author | Topic: The Shotgun Approach (Read 1,152 times) |
yellowparis
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|  | The Shotgun Approach
« Thread Started on Oct 12, 2007, 9:48pm » | |
Not the name of a game.
I have the itch to run a new game, as you might have noticed from the couple of pitches I've thrown up in the past month. Unfortunately, I also seem to be sort of firing wildly into the dark, as far as pitching games that many people are interested in goes. *shrug*
So ... here's the deal. I'll throw up basic ideas for games. If you see something that sounds cool to you, mention it, and I'll grab and develop those concepts that garner interest. Plus, if you have input (a setting or genre, a system you want to try, a character concept you've been wanting to play), mention that too - I might be down with building something around it.
[ For folks with a thing for indy games ... I do want to run a game, so systems with a disintegrated GM role are probably not the best bets, as suggestions go. ]
Basically, here's a GM looking to run a game, and who is fairly flexible about what that game ends up being. Think of it as an opportunity. (c:
In any case, post rate would be around a few times a week. The number of players wanted would certainly vary by the game ... some concepts support small groups, some don't.
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #1 on Oct 12, 2007, 10:58pm » | |
Generations of Winter
genre: Dark Age supers
In a Russia haunted by its past, ruled by cold warriors and KGB spooks, the human remnants of a defunct Soviet super-soldier program are being murdered, one by one. A handful of those who remain come together to hunt down the killer, who is most likely one of their own.
Where once they were meant to be champions - shining stars who expected to one day bring a better, more egalitarian society to the world - they are now older, weaker, and confronted with an enemy that they cannot see. The theme is personal and mood grim, revolving around a group of individuals proving (if only to themselves) that they truly are the heroes they were originally supposed to be.
existing game pitch
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #2 on Oct 12, 2007, 11:15pm » | |
Thought and Memory
genre: hard science fiction + cyberpunk/anime stylings
The future is now, and man reaches beyond his earthly cradle, grasping for the moon and the stars and thrusting himself into the cold places between the worlds. And he reaches also beyond his fleshly form, remaking himself in the image of animal and of the machine. The light of his innocence is faded, wearing thin and dim, and so, weak at heart, he mortifies his flesh and puts out the eyes of his spirit.
Into this are born the Innocents, who will hold the fate of the world in their hands. This is their story ... of how they were born into a world wherein innocence is held akin to ignorance, and dreams have been traded for sleepless reason, of how they were born, of how they lived, and of what they did then ... and after. And this is also the story of the wicked, who looked on the Innocents, who knew them for what they were, and who saw in them a path to the throne of God.
It is now in the last years of the final turning of history. Soon, this will all be over.
existing game pitch
teaser site
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #3 on Oct 13, 2007, 3:17am » | |
Songs of Shadows and Subtle Knives
genre: high, dark fantasy
All is not well in the shadows of Faerie. The Courts of Winter have fallen to the Madness, and war has come to the twilit lands. Darkness moves there, on the borders, and many are the fey who have met under the banners of Queen Mab or the Fiddler King. They war against each other, those mad regals do, but they have ogres and wights enough to send against the summerlands as well ... twisted armies led by fell knights, locking the borders in battle against our shining battalions. And shadows move behind the battle lines, stealing dreams and fragile souls, bringing with them the taint of the Madness.
Titania reigns in the Summer Court, alone now. King Oberon is dead, been brought low by unseelie assassins, and the princesses were stolen away soon after, with no trace of their captors or their path. It is a trying time, fraught with peril ... but therein held is occasion for glory. From among the fey still untouched by Madness are summoned the finest, without prejudice on antecedents or history, to act in the Queen's name. Some are noble while some are common, some are strong while some are cunning, some are wise while some are fools ... and some are kind while some are foul indeed.
From all who live in Faerie, you have been chosen. It is an honor, they tell you. A dangerous honor.
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #4 on Oct 13, 2007, 3:56am » | |
The House of the Rising Sun
genre: fantasy adventure + anime/console rpg stylings and a bit of Lovecraftian horror
Above the waves, the endless Sea is dotted with islands large and small, confining the nations of the world. Some lay on the surface, rising up from the deeps ... others, however, sit in the sky itself, high above the waves. It is in the sky that the greatest cities are founded, for life on the surface of the Sea is short and dangerous, plagued by the strangeness of the shadowy waters.
Once, there were great nations below the skycities, but that was in the days before the Sea engulfed the world, drowning the civilizations of the land. It is said by some that the deluge was in punishment for unspeakable sins ... others speak of a dark god slain by his brighter siblings, his salt blood flooding and tainting the land. In any case, that which remains below the waves is dark and twisted. Drowned cities lay silent, haunted by restless ghosts and dwelt within by strange horrors that come squirming up from the most secret of depths.
But now it is a brighter age, an age of sail and steam, with vessels of the sky and the waves traveling from island to island, trading, exploring, and founding new outposts of civilization on the surface of the gloomy Sea. Weather-witches travel far and wide, whistling up fair winds, and artificers craft objects of miraculous power while genius engineers build machines powered by science and magic alike.
teaser site and sample characters (game system might change)
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T'aria
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #5 on Oct 14, 2007, 7:03pm » | |
Well, considering that the last 2 games I was in on these boards finally died, I think I have some small free time... 
Songs of Shadows and Subtle Knives sounds very interesting. Of course, I'm a sucker for anything to do with the fey. 
House of the Rising Sun sounds familiar.  I'd be interested in retrying that... part of my problem before was a.) becoming motivated on Sundays and b.) I don't do well in FTF games that require much spur of the moment thought, which (I will admit) is probably why I play primarily D&D in FTF games. As a PBP, I'd have more time to consider a post. I'd be willing to give it another try if others are interested.
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Garvey
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #6 on Oct 14, 2007, 7:12pm » | |
System matters to me, so I'm holding off on any commitment to "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Songs of Shadows and Subtle Knives" until a system is announced. I might be interested in those though.
What system are you currently looking at for "The House of the Rising Sun"? I'm not very familiar with the system but it looks Spirit of the Century-esque.
I'm totally on board with "Generations of Winter" and "Thought and Memory" though.
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #7 on Oct 15, 2007, 12:46am » | |
Quote:| Songs of Shadows and Subtle Knives sounds very interesting. Of course, I'm a sucker for anything to do with the fey. |
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Honestly? As I was writing that, I was wondering if it'd lure you out. (c;
Quote:| House of the Rising Sun sounds familiar. I'd be interested in retrying that... part of my problem before was a.) becoming motivated on Sundays and b.) I don't do well in FTF games that require much spur of the moment thought, which (I will admit) is probably why I play primarily D&D in FTF games. As a PBP, I'd have more time to consider a post. I'd be willing to give it another try if others are interested. |
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It was also a royal bitch to get a decent number of people together with any kind of regularity, so I let it die gracefully (or gracelessly, maybe). Probably a different kick to the plot, this time. Maybe still use the war with the Witch-King, in some capacity.
Would you like to suggest a system, Garvey? Something you'd be interested in that could fit with one of those two? I'm open.
I'm still kicking around in the back of my head the idea of modding out the Mountain Witch for Generations of Winter. Maybe, maybe not.
The system you see in the House of the Rising Sun character sheets is Spirit of the Century. I'd be interested in using that, since it really well suits the content, but there is the problem I've mentioned before about how combat is sort of slow - too slow for PbP. If I can figure out a safe way to adjust that, I'll likely say SotC.
If not ... y'know, I'm actually thinking about The Shadow of Yesterday. It's free, it's very modular (so I can plug in all my weather-witchery and artificing stuff), and it's fast. Looks sort of cool, too - I like how you can modify your character in mid-action, and I like how the Keys work. Unfortunately, I've never played TSoY, so I'm unsure. Maybe I'll try to get a FtF one-shot around here, to see it in action.
I don't know about Songs. I was going to bed the other night and came up with an interesting attribute dial for a Dogs in the Vineyard variant, which I'll attach below (just because), so that might be solid. It'd work well, since there'd be a heck of a lot of different character types, and DitV is (unintentionally, I assume) good for that ... four universal stats, and everything else is freeform.
Quote:Stats are Force -> Cunning -> Grace -> Glamour -> Force
Force is raw power, and it combines with Cunning to dictate anything physical (because you should always bring your brain to a fight, in a fairy tale).
Cunning is brain power (intelligence, wits, or the gift of a trickster - you decide), and it combines with Grace to dictate anything mental or social.
Grace is to do with composure and self control (hey, it's high fantasy fairyland ... that's important) as well as control of self, and it combines with Glamour to govern shapechanging, which anyone can do (well, or poorly, is the question).
Glamour is magical power, and it combines with Force (in the less physical sense) to govern the weaving of illusions (which, since the fey are half dreams anyway, can become remaking the world, at high level).
I wanted to make magic - specifically illusions and shapechanging - absolutely integral elements in the game. I think this does that. What it doesn't do, exactly, is explain how connected the fields of conflict are ... escalation wouldn't work in quite the same way. I'd have to think about that.
It might stand as is, since it could be taken to let you deal with conflicts in 'your own way' ... a trickster going up against an ogre could use 'social/mental' against 'physical'. Or a sorcerer could use 'illusion', or an adept shapeshifter could use 'shapechanging' as a combat style. That's problematic, though, since you could then just buy up two stats, and everyone would be good at basically one thing, never having to use anything else. |
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I suppose there isn't too much more to say about either of the first two, since they're detailed pretty well elsewhere. In the Songs game I'm looking to build it around the idea that the fey are all pretty chaotic beings, all a bit insane, kept together by complex webs of rules, ceremonies, and oaths. So the game would be very much about authority, freedom, order and anarchy, and that kind of thing.
[ I should mention, up front, that this is a riff on the idea that Katya pitched a while back alongside the House on the Hill, though I'm taking it in, definitely, a different way. Still hanging on (in a minor way) to some of the Amber associations, though ... the idea of order and chaos really works well in that context. ]
The House of the Rising Sun game is more straight-up fantasy adventure, in the 'this looks a bit like a Final Fantasy game' sort of way. Lots of action, you get to save the world ... it's all good. I'm going to spin the division between sky and Sea like crazy - light here, dark there, era of hope up here, Lovecraftian horror down there. And the gist of the game will be that what's down there is trying to come up here.
I definitely want to look at the Sea as a corrupting influence, also, twisting everything that comes into contact with it, sort of thing. I've got ideas there ... but I should keep them under my hat.
I do have some other possible games ... those so far are the ones that I've found easiest to write up. There are two more that I haven't really figured out good blurbs for
• The Lion and the Umbrella Tree, mythic low fantasy, to do with a tribal society on the Serengeti that is being plagued by rogue lion - this is low supernatural with an animist bent, so the lion is intelligent and actually malevolent. To do with the society and the relationships therein, as well as the relationships that society has with the rest of the world ... everything is alive and self-aware, in some way, so there're also relationships with animals, places, and so on. Ends up being the writing of an animist myth - like an epic version of Aesop.
I have the crazy idea of doing it as Afraid (the lion is the monster) with the character sheets nothing but base stats, and relationships. No traits. I have the possibly-even-crazier idea of rewriting the Bliss Stage rules for this idea.
• A traditional fantasy rpg, because I feel like going back to classics. What it'd be would be the Warriors of Heaven and Earth game world (since I have a lot of that already set up in my head), except in a different part of the world, where its not wuxia. And there'd be ... a premise. Still thinking. Dunno what system ... not the Amber variant I used for Warriors.
Even beyond those, there're a few other things bouncing around in my head. Nothing coherent enough to write up yet.
Perfectly happy to see suggestions, also!
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T'aria
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #8 on Oct 15, 2007, 10:20am » | |
Quote:
Honestly? As I was writing that, I was wondering if it'd lure you out. (c;
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Hey, it's a pretty low chance on the percentile roll that anything having to do with fey won't. 
Quote:I'd be interested in using that, since it really well suits the content, but there is the problem I've mentioned before about how combat is sort of slow - too slow for PbP. If I can figure out a safe way to adjust that, I'll likely say SotC.
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Is the issue the opposed dice rolls?
I would suggest, possibly, just having the players describe what they want to do and have the GM actually roll both their rolls and the opposed rolls, for both player actions and reactions.
Basically, have the GM roll all the dice... that might speed it up. I've seen it done in D&D PBP games, and it did speed up combat a bit.
But whatever system is fine, as long as the rules are free, easily explained via the internet, or I have them already.
Quote:| I don't know about Songs. I was going to bed the other night and came up with an interesting attribute dial for a Dogs in the Vineyard variant, which I'll attach below (just because), so that might be solid. It'd work well, since there'd be a heck of a lot of different character types, and DitV is (unintentionally, I assume) good for that ... four universal stats, and everything else is freeform. |
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I'm not familiar with DitV, but what you quoted looks pretty easy to understand.
It's hard to find a system that handles fey well... I'll glance through my rulebooks at home tonight or tomorrow and see if I have any suggestions.
(And yes, we do own non-D&D RP games. Quite a few, actually. )
Quote:| • A traditional fantasy rpg, because I feel like going back to classics. What it'd be would be the Warriors of Heaven and Earth game world (since I have a lot of that already set up in my head), except in a different part of the world, where its not wuxia. And there'd be ... a premise. Still thinking. Dunno what system ... not the Amber variant I used for Warriors. |
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I'm almost always interested in traditional fantasy RPGs, as well.
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #9 on Oct 15, 2007, 11:42am » | |
Quote:| Is the issue the opposed dice rolls? |
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Nah, it was the toughness of the characters. It takes a while for an enemy to be worked through their stress track, usually, and it's rare to jump into consequences if the characters are fairly evenly matched. It's not a big deal in FtF (particularly in a group used to D&D, really), but in PbP it'd kind of kill the action. Also, it was tricky creating credible threats - notice you folks never took a consequence? Every heroic level character, friend or foe, is just so resilient.
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yellowparis
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #10 on Oct 15, 2007, 9:45pm » | |
Ok - if I end up running The House of the Rising Sun, it will use the Spirit of the Century rules set, modified to reduce the toughness of heroic-level characters. Provisionally (the provision being 'if this still seems like a good idea, then'), the modification will be:
Quote:| There is no Stress track or any other kind of 'health' symbol. Instead, all attacks should be presented as maneuvers. If you gain spin on such an attack (you succeed with at least three shifts on the attack), you found a hole in your enemy's defense, inflicting a consequence instead of attaching a temporary aspect. |
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That significantly ramps up the lethality of the system, it still allows you to give, and it works well with the existing framework of the game (since it uses spin and focuses on aspects).
It also means that you're always trying to attack an aspect in combat, which is cool ... you never just try to hurt enemies, you try to knock them off balance or get blood in their eyes or otherwise set them at enough of a disadvantage that you can get in a solid blow (inflicting a consequence). Good for the kind of swashbuckling inventiveness I'd like to see.
That does render a number of stunts useless, it might make others excessively powerful, and it screws up some of the existing system for medical attention, but those are issues that shouldn't be very difficult to address.
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T'aria
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #11 on Oct 30, 2007, 7:45am » | |
Just to say, I'm still interested in Songs of Shadows and Subtle Knives. But if we do end up playing House of the Rising Sun, I'd probably end up playing a version of Mahdi again... I did like the character.
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #12 on Oct 31, 2007, 1:49pm » | |
I threw a concept to YP for House of the Rising Sun that would work well with Mahdi.
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T'aria
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #13 on Nov 1, 2007, 12:40pm » | |
Cool... can't wait to see it.
BTW, should we go ahead and start a pre-game thread or two at the other boards? Do we have enough players?
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poppalee
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| | Re: The Shotgun Approach
« Reply #14 on Nov 1, 2007, 12:54pm » | |
That could be fun... I should probably go bookmark the new site.
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