Power 19 for Empire Sword

[tarafore]

Information about the Tarafore System can be found at
http://www.rpg.net/columns/talesfromtherockethouse/talesfromtherockethouse1.phtml

and
http://www.tarafore.net

The "Shounen Sword" sub-system can be found here:
http://www.rpg.net/columns/talesfromtherockethouse/talesfromtherockethouse6.phtml

1.) What is your game about?
Tournement Anime/Wuxia-style action-hero characters trying to defend the people of a pseudo-Sumeria against bandits, cultists, dark servants of petty, selfish gods, and wicked tyrants.

2.) What do the characters do?
See #1.  Also, they can have proactive agendas of their own (each character should have Goals that s/he can pursue that will move things forward without relying on the GM to plan the plot), and these agendas can range from overthrowing an evil king to setting up a school for orphans to finding true love or whatever.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?
This is a pretty traditional RPG, in that the GM designs the NPCs and determines what's going on in the world.  If there's a degree of pre-planned plot, it's the GM's job to plan it.  However, a lot of the narration of success and failure details falls on the players, and much of the chronicle's direction should be taken from the Goals the players select for their characters.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
I've gone heavily into a Sumerian-type setting, with some barbarian tribes and visitors from far away (so players can have outlander PCs, because roleplayers always like to color outside the line).  It's bronze age, and I've decided to go so far as to have evil spirits cause disease, misfortune, mental illness, etc., and to have breaking taboos make you and your whole extended family vulnerable to ruin.  Basically, rather than using our physics and just thinking "they're too dumb to know about germ theory," I'm trying to use their physics.  This will add to the desperate nature of the relationship between people and their gods: because these spirits cause all this illness, there's sort of a mad scramble to placate the gods and prevent this stuff.  Much treasure, livestock, and even human life is sacrificed to bribe the gods into treating the people decently.  The barbarians of the north, however, have a different take:  they also believe the gods are unfriendly and selfish, but refuse to serve them or sacrifice to them.  They think it's cowardly to sacrifice people to the gods, and that real men should stand and fight.


5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
Characters are created from Templates (which are there to provide guidance on the expected power levels and "niches" needed/available).  All variation from those Templates is accomplished through conversation and agreement, rather than random rolls or point-buys.  In my experience, this avoids the min-max problem (because there are no scarce resources to economize, and most people want to create characters that will fit in with their friends' characters in a way that makes the game fun).  Players answer a series of questions that provide emotional "levers," character Goals, Beliefs, and Relationships, which should fully integrate the character into the chronicle, giving the GM enough information up front to make the chronicle about the PCs.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
The characters are supposed to be heroes.  This is a game about good guys.  It's a fairly dark setting, but one the PCs have the power to change.  Truthfully, there is no mechanical reward or punishment for being the good guys, in part because different groups will see "good guys" differently, and in part because if the group wants to play scumbags, they'll play them and dismantle or work around any enforcement mechanic.  That said, one thing the game strongly encourages is the creation of Goals that the characters will pursue.  This gives the players a lot of ability to direct the course of the chronicle, and it feeds into the advancement system.  Characters without solid, proactive Goals will just not stand out as much, and their players won't be able to have as much influence over the direction of the game.


7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Having solid, proactive Goals for your character gives you more opportunity to direct the course of the chronicle, and it gives you more opportunity for positive feedback in the Advancement mechanic.


8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
Fairly traditionally, with the GM setting the situation and playing the NPCs, and the players running their characters.  That said, the GM is encouraged to give the players room to pursue their characters' Goals, which gives them a lot of room to steer the chronicle's direction.  Also, players are encouraged to narrate the results of successful Tests, based on what level of success they get in the game.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)
Each character should have some psychological history, a niche within the group, solid, proactive Goals, and Beliefs and Relationships to motivate them.  Each character should have enough "hooks and grommets" that the GM just has to decide which ones to use.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
Tarafore System all the way, using the Shounen Sword sub-systems.  The PCs (and some NPCs) have powers that give them tournement-anime or Wuxia style powers, whereas the average person operates within a gritty and realistic framework. 


11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
The contrast between the PCs (and powerful NPCs, who are virtually always malevolent and/or destructive) and the average person in the setting should reinforce a strong sense of responsibility and heroism.  Though what they're doing is dangerous, and they could die, people like the PCs are the only ones who can stand up against these dark servants of the petty gods.


12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
A large part of advancement is through moving closer to their characters' goals.  However, after defeating powerful dark servants, etc., the PCs' supernatural abilities can increase slowly.  There aren't any "experience points," because the dark servants are "capstone enemies" whose defeat would surely be the climactic battle of an "adventure." 

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
It shows that powerful heroes can stand up to the gods (pre-moral polytheistic types who are more trouble than help to humanity), or at least their earthly servitors, and continue to do it and grow in power.  Rather than Call of Cthulhu, in which fighting the dark ones grinds you down, in Empire Sword, fighting and surviving makes you stronger.  Also, because much of Advancement is based on working toward the character's Goals, it encourages the characters to have workable, proactive Goals in the first place.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
The fun of defending good, but weak, people against evil and the mental stretching of getting into a very pre-modern mindset (one that still exists in some parts of the world, but which is alien to our Western culture).

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
Cinematic Action, cults/spirits/religion, the pre-modern/superstitious "physics" of the game world, in which evil spirits really do cause disease, etc.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
The ancient-world "physics," honestly.  Stepping into a world filled with evil spirits, where the gods honestly don't care if you're good or evil, as long as you keep the sacrifices coming, is an energizing and terrifying experience.  Playing the few with the strength to protect the honest humans against the cruelties of the spirit world sounds like fun, and there's something just plain butch about taking on the gods themselves.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
Into (at least part of) the ancient world's mindset.  Germs don't exist, and neither do chemical imbalances.  Spirits cause illness, miscarriage, insanity, drought, crop failure, even serial killings.  There is evil that men do, but the world around them is alive, and thick with spirits that can and will do them harm.  And the gods will only help as long as you pay the priests.  The players are somewhat insulated by having their own powers, but ultimately, it's a very, very different world than anyone in Europe, Australia, or America is used to dealing with.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
Right now, PDF/POD and as soon as possible.  I've sat on my game materials for too long (eight years), and it's time to take the plunge.  This is just the tip of the Tarafore System/Shounen Sword spear, so to speak.  I plan on releasing more settings, and some splatbooks for Empire Sword as well.

19.) Who is your target audience?
Longtime roleplayers interested in a well-made, well-thought-out, well-tested system and an unusual, engaging setting.