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| Caliban |
| Posted: Sep 3 2009, 01:57 PM |
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virtualoctopus
Group: Member
Posts: 47
Member No.: 116
Joined: 9-January 05
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Well, the good Doktor and I have been talking about a fantasy RPG for a while, and since every now and then other people ask me about one from the past I'd rather not revisit, I thought I'd mock up a new idea. This is rather vague because it's mostly an idea for now, and I don't feel like writing up a mass of background if nothing happens. To old VO-RPG players, this is not WOC or Bloodlines 2. I just stole the name of the latter.
The RPG setting is a low-magic, (PC) humans only fantasy world. In particular we are interested in a region of the world which is probably most similar to the Italian rennaisance city states in our history, and the RPG would be (provisionally) set entirely inside one such city. It is a world where swords and crossbows are common weapons, but where words and coin can be just as effective at destroying your enemies, a world where alchemical wonders and limited clockwork technology exists alongside strange foreigners and weird creatures, a world of cathedrals, merchant banks, thieves, assassins and engineers rather than men with big muscles and magical swords.
I don't visualise this as a 'swords and sorcery' kind of world - indeed, i'd encourage people to play non-magical PCs - but instead a brutal, urban fantasy story where regular human player characters need to make choices and suffer meaningful (and possibly fatal) consequences without all being combat monsters.
As befits a setting (obviously) not using an existing intellectual property, I also plan to run this RPG fairly openly. While I want overall thematic control of the world and need to kick plot into happening, I'd also like anyone who plays to be prepared to write without heavy GM control and participate, at least in-story, in worldbuilding. This basically means not having to have me spoon-feeding every background detail to you, but the players also trying to keep any information they add in the story within the feel of the background. For example, making up a completely unprecedented race of all-powerful vampire gods is a no-no, but making up appropriate details of the setting is great!
Obviously there'll be alot more fluff and information coming once I've sounded out some players, but I'm just interested in finding out if anyone is keen to play now. If anyone needs more information now, feel free to talk to me on MSN or PM.
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Better believe it zombie, it's a bright future out there. |
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| Artificial Idiot |
| Posted: Sep 3 2009, 02:02 PM |
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Absurd Mind
Group: Head Admin.
Posts: 1352
Member No.: 75
Joined: 10-August 04
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Oh noes, I'm in!
I also have a character in mind too...
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I think heroes would be more fun if everyone had a floating box over their head saying 'GOOD' or 'EVIL' in big shiny letters and it made a 'DING!' sound when it switched. - virtualoctopus |
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| The Joker |
| Posted: Sep 3 2009, 03:32 PM |
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Admin With a Grin
Group: Head Admin
Posts: 2463
Member No.: 1
Joined: 10-December 03
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You can count me in as well. I've spoken with Aies about a foreigner that I'm interested in introducing.  As well as a local drifter... because I can't help but have at least two people.
~J~
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"I never claimed what I did was right, Bats! Just fun!" - The Joker, Batman: Fading Smile |
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| Nyerguds |
| Posted: Sep 4 2009, 02:57 PM |
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Green Forum Alien
Group: Member
Posts: 88
Member No.: 432
Joined: 22-August 07
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This sounds truly exquisite! The young and distinguished gentleman Jerunn Sompone shall fight for his honour in this fine city! |
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| Caliban |
| Posted: Sep 5 2009, 02:45 AM |
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virtualoctopus
Group: Member
Posts: 47
Member No.: 116
Joined: 9-January 05
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| QUOTE (Nyerguds @ Sep 4 2009, 10:57 PM) | | This sounds truly exquisite! The young and distinguished gentleman Jerunn Sompone shall fight for his honour in this fine city! |
Nang.
Will post the first backgrounddump soon then.
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Better believe it zombie, it's a bright future out there. |
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| Nyerguds |
| Posted: Sep 5 2009, 04:49 PM |
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Green Forum Alien
Group: Member
Posts: 88
Member No.: 432
Joined: 22-August 07
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And if you truly believed the bull about honour and fighting, be sure the pockets of your pantaloons were cut open a long time ago  |
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| Caliban |
| Posted: Sep 6 2009, 01:44 PM |
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virtualoctopus
Group: Member
Posts: 47
Member No.: 116
Joined: 9-January 05
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Background dump #1.. alot more coming. The setting is fairly flexible and I am deliberately leaving alot of things unmentioned - there won't be any map coming with this and this brief overview of the city of Cioreza and the two main foreign powers is by no means an overview of the entire world, nor the entire continent. There is plenty of room for expansion by everyone 
The City of Cioreza and it's state in the Age of Lies
The city of Cioreza. Sprawled across a series of rocky islands and the south shore of the mouth of the Feverglass river, one hundred and eighty eight thousand souls inhabit a metropolis that was once, in the days of the First Theryan Empire, a fortified trading post on the edge of a murky wetland. Now the Ducal Palace and the Bastion glare at each other across the lagoon and bridges span the murky waters between the islands.
Cioreza is the second largest of the Twelve Cities, a rich and bountiful region in the heart of the continent of Ehb. Most trade that crosses the continent – north and south, east and west – pass through one or more of these Cities in the heartland of old Therya, and there are many foreign interests at play in the region. This has also lead to many rivalries between the cities, and many threats from outside- there is not really such thing as a time of peace for the Twelve Cities – either they are fighting each other, or they are united against an external foe. These internal squabbles rarely lead to any major changes in the balance of power, as there are many foreign nations with financial interests in the Twelve Cities who are eager to preserve the status quo. However, it has lead to a swarming militarisation of the region, with both mercenaries from afar and local city militias to be found everywhere.
The Twelve Cities are reasonably strong regional military powers, but the true giants of the continent are the Third, or Anglabeon Empire, a vast sprawling entity on the west coast of Ehb and much of the southern continent, lead by an Emperor who claims to be the legitimate successor to the First and Second Empires, and the Kingdom of the North, a never-before united realm located across the mountains from Therya. Due to a complex knot of heredity, the King of the North claims to the legitimate heir of the Second Empire and several of his predecessors have unsuccessfully attempted to add the Twelve Cities to their domain. It remains to be seen whether the current King will try his luck where so many others have failed.
Cioreza itself sits on the western coast of the old empire heartland, and by virtue of a partly man-made and partly natural system of sandbars, boasts an unrivalled harbour which brings in coin and commerce from throughout the Circle Sea. This in turn has boasted its formidable reputation as a financial and mercantile hub and has led to the development of several large banking franchises, as well as housing the chapter houses of three of the six Trading Orders, as well as the guild headquarters of the Adventurers, Architects, and Artificer’s guilds, and the great temple of Cammenia, goddess of coin and comfort.
This status has led to a fair few jealous eyes from afar. Cioreza itself’s institutions and geographical placement would make it a rich picking for both the Emperor of the West and the King of the Northlands, if they were able to bring sufficient arms to bear. In the event of foreign incursion the ever-shifting alliances of the twelve cities have historically been able to keep foreign hands off their lands and the Duke’s own army is large enough that the Emperor would have to commit a sizable force, even for a state the size of the Third Empire, to stand a chance of taking the city. However, it is a common secret that the Dukes and governors of several of the other cities are in the Emperor’s pocket, awaiting little but the right time to change their colours. This has lead to Cioreza’s traditional rival of Poma to in turn fall into an alliance of security with the North and some are already beginning to suggest it may be only years before Duke Varla must make his own choice between two powers.
It is this threat of foreign incursion and a related military crisis that lead the previous Duke Varla’s reinstatement of the office of Strategos, An elected public overseer of the city’s armed forces, solely concerned with the security of the city and voted on using an archaic system of ‘coins’ by the ruling families. However, his son does not see eye to eye with the Strategos’ successor, who is backed by the powerful lobby of the Guilds and several of the duke’s own political rivals. Many now suggest that it is only a matter of time before the Duke and the Strategos are forced into the opposing camps of Empire and Northmen by their mutual dislike. Those who would prefer not to be dominated by the political interests of the west and north hope that some accommodation between the two can be found, for the greater good of Theryia.
Despite these threats, Cioreza has never been as large, powerful, or vibrant. The guilds themselves and most of the citizens, while distrustful of the foreign powers, expect that this is just another diplomatic crisis to blow over – after all, they have all in the past. It has been a thousand years since the fall of the Second Empire and the Twelve Cities have grown fond of their independence. Besides, both Empire and Northlands have military interests elsewhere and neither can commit their forces fully to a conquest of this ancient, bickering heartland…
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Better believe it zombie, it's a bright future out there. |
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| Artificial Idiot |
| Posted: Sep 6 2009, 02:42 PM |
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Absurd Mind
Group: Head Admin.
Posts: 1352
Member No.: 75
Joined: 10-August 04
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OOC thread set up! I'll leave this one here until we get the actual RPG thread up and running.
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I think heroes would be more fun if everyone had a floating box over their head saying 'GOOD' or 'EVIL' in big shiny letters and it made a 'DING!' sound when it switched. - virtualoctopus |
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| Ignite |
| Posted: Sep 6 2009, 10:16 PM |
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Aren't You Sorry You Woke Me Up So Early?
Group: Moderators
Posts: 251
Member No.: 12
Joined: 14-December 03
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I'll join up, too, if I may. |
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