[Unamed] Play your own fantasy heartbreaker

[Bluve Oak]

Dagnabit! I'm sure I read a post about players creating their own setting the other day but I can't for the life of me find it! If anyone could point me to that post please do so. I read it a few nights ago and it sparked an idea while I was at work, an idea that is just perfect for a system I have been carrying around for a good while now.

The system is a little too large for this post and perhaps not fully realized yet (which is a good thing considering I want to find out exactly what the game is about first). But suffice to say it lends nicely to a huge variance of 'styles' of play. Which is really the crux of this game; The players pick any fantasy character that appeals to them and then create their own setting.

To the game...

Fantasy. The characters inhabit an Emperor ruled tract of land that I can't help thinking is like ancient India. That is; civilization is booming but because of the huge mountain range that separates them from the rest of the world (like the Himalayas) very few people leave, and only the occasional invader ever makes it through the few narrow gorges. But (they believe) they are at the height of their civilization, and the Emperor is eager to expand; He wants to know his enemies, his potential allies, open up trade routes, become the ruler of the entire known world. It is a time of exploration and the gaining of knowledge, 'an age of enlightenment'.

Which brings us to our characters. A band of about 30 or so are commissioned by the Emperor to go exploring. Periodically members of the group must be sent back with maps, information on the languages, races, and cultures, potential for trade/conquering etc... Of course this band will be a greatly varied mix and our players are amongst them.

Players are given a scrapbook that all this information must be gathered in. Copies of it are made and periodically sent back to the Emperor. At the front of the book is a map, although only about 5% of it is actually drawn in – the land they inhabit – the rest is blank. That is all we know of the setting. Our troupe sets off...

The Storyteller begins by telling them what's on the other side of the mountain. The game is mostly set in 'real time' (ala very little scene framing, think LotR or D&D). Once an adventure is had they head west again and a player describes what they find. Players are always given time between game sessions to think up what the troupe will find. All the while the adventure is mapped and other details recorded in the book. The storyteller always has a shot between each players (this will make tidy bridges).

Players can be elaborate as they wish in their detail but should only make propositions (and not conclusions) on what they want. This 'want' is based on their character and the sort of game play they want. It is an opportunity for them to advance, or to fulfill their characters purpose. Is it fame and glory? Desire for riches? The quest for knowledge?

For example, Pete's into slaying beasties and getting more powerful, so naturally he yoinks the Barbarian straight out of D&D, converts him to the system, and creates settings that give him a chance to kill monsters and pillage their superior weaponry and armour. Kate on the other hand has chosen a healer as her character and when it's her turn to choose the setting she conceives of meeting tribal people who impart great knowledge of healing power. John is a romantic, his settings are full of exotic woman and political intrigue.

The Stroytellers role is to create the challenge, the conflict, the sub plots and plot twists.  Sure Kate's character learns that magic healing art but did she lose something else to get it? At what cost does Pete's barbarian gain his weapons? So you found a wonderfully peaceful civilization and now your Emperor wants to conquer it? Etc.. etc..

So what I like about it is this:

-   No set races/classes (I do NOT want to make a Fantasy Heartbreaker) or any such limitations on character types. Players are encouraged to choose any (in the realm of fantasy) characters that have appealed to them from other RPG's or Fantasy media or make up their own.
-   That players create their settings is a means for them to advance their character and play the genre (within fantasy) and the GNS! they like.
-   That at the end you will not only have a huge scrapbook of an entire fantasy world but it will also be a map of you game experience that invokes (hopefully) lots of fond memories.
-   There is a big reward: the fun of collaborative storytelling.

Any general thoughts?

[Vaxalon]

FATE would be perfect for this.  As new countries, etc. are discovered, they can be given stats, and interact with the home country.

[Bluve Oak]

Nice idea Vaxalon! I recall something like that (cities with stats) in a Risus supplement, that struck me as cool.

My system uses a step-dice-pool. So like FATE it has the step range (poor to excellent) but is more like Heroquest in the application; that is appropriate stats/abilties are rolled together.

[Valamir]

Bluve, my only comment may well be something you've already taken into consideration but I thought I'd mention it.

The cool part of this idea is the fantasy Lewis and Clark Expedition and whole Corps of Discovery feel to roaming around and opening up new lands.

In your character examples you mention barbarian's killing things, healers seeking knowledge, and rakes hitting on exotic woment.  All of which are fine character concepts.

But my thought is that what your game is ABOUT is the expedition and discovery...not about the killing, learning, and wooing.  So when creating a system my recommendation is have a basic "do stuff" system that can be used when killing, learning, or wooing.  But make the main body of actual rules about the expedition and discovery.

The mechanics of: how new lands get created, which player gets to create the next land, who gets to fill in the little details, how the GM compiles the inputs into a central conflict sounds way cool to me.

A new combat system makes me shrug.  I'd get excited about a game that did the whole invent a world as you play thing (after all, thats how Universalis got started).  I wouldn't really get excited if there were a bunch of rules for the barbarian player to crunch to kill things and take their stuff.

[Master Marx]

The mechanics of: how new lands get created, which player gets to create the next land, who gets to fill in the little details, how the GM compiles the inputs into a central conflict sounds way cool to me.

A new combat system makes me shrug.

My though exactly. Use your favourite RPG mechanics to cover the details about playing, character generations etc but create an entire new system (as an add-on) for land generation and exploring. Create mini adventures where there is a meta mechanic to gater "explorations points", give instead of only XP, also theses EP and use them to decide who goes next on the creative list and how much freedom he has with the details. Could be fun, and also doable in a Sci-Fi, Archipelaga, Dimensional sort of game... go for it!

[Bluve Oak]

Thanks for the thoughtful input everyone.

Ralph, I am certainly not going to include any special rules for combat, like I said it has the same principle as Heroquest; there is only the challenge roll (a single roll to resolve a simple success or failure) and conflict rolls (like extended contests) that are numerous rolls to find a victor in a conflict. And this is the beauty of it: what I thought my game was about was giving players the freedom to play the game they want to play. So whether you are bartering for a lower price on that silk cloth or hacking at a one horned one eyed flying purple people eater, the mechanics are the same, but the approaches to role playing may be very different. What you as a player deem an interesting conflict, or seek the random factor in, you can create.

While the map making and exploration is fun I think it is the no limitations on character types and fantasy settings that is really appealing for me. It is the exploration of fantasy itself that's appealing.

The mechanics of: how new lands get created, which player gets to create the next land, who gets to fill in the little details, how the GM compiles the inputs into a central conflict sounds way cool to me.

Yep, this is something I have spent most of my time pondering. One idea was having the map divided into grids and each grid controlled by a player (the Storyteller having each one in between) but it doesn't seem to appeal to me anymore, it's not so 'organic'. There may be times when a player conceives of a very interesting city or the such and each player wants to explore and expand on it as well in their turn. Thus you could be in one spot for a year or traverse miles in a week. Which brings up some other dilemmas; the gradation of landform and how this is achieved: Wait a minute we've just gone from scorching desert to tropical rainforest to snow to desert in a few miles? How to 'suspend disbelief': what you didn't come across any villages now there's suddenly a huge city cropping out of nowhere?

Create mini adventures where there is a meta mechanic to gater "explorations points", give instead of only XP, also theses EP and use them to decide who goes next on the creative list and how much freedom he has with the details.

Hhhmmm... Interesting. Master Marx and Ralph you have both put a lot of weight into the exploration as being the key component – which is interesting. Something I must consider. I was thinking of 'the mechanic' that links it all together would be the motivation for exploring. This I thought would be the impulse for players to create new settings, What's in it for my character? Sure there is always the 'explorer type' on an expedition but what about the entourage who tag along. What's in it for them?

I'd get excited about a game that did the whole invent a world as you play thing (after all, thats how Universalis got started).

I'll take that as inspiration.

[Master Marx]

Hhhmmm... Interesting. Master Marx and Ralph you have both put a lot of weight into the exploration as being the key component – which is interesting. Something I must consider. I was thinking of 'the mechanic' that links it all together would be the motivation for exploring. This I thought would be the impulse for players to create new settings, What's in it for my character? Sure there is always the 'explorer type' on an expedition but what about the entourage who tag along. What's in it for them?

That's the beauty of it. The players who are into exploring and creating settings can have a field day, the others can just tag along for the cool adventures! So make the Explorations Points (or whatever system you end up using) tied to the group as a whole instead of individual players. It will allow for players with less time to still enjoy what the others create.