Hi all!

My real name is Dave, of which you've had a plethora of lately, so if you'd like to call me Eli (pronounced 'Elly') I don't mind in the slightest.

Ar'hea is a world I've been kicking around in my head for a little over 2 years now, so it would be unfair to call it a true 'first thought.' The process of getting it down on paper in a form that can be used and played with, however, has been relatively new in coming.  No, that's not true either.  It began as a Fantasy Heartbreaker that, even though it did not have elves or dwarves, tried to recreate a form of game that involves a 20 sided polyhedral die.  I scrapped that a long time ago, especially when it became clear that it didn't represent what I was trying to achieve at all.  So I thought long and hard about what I actually wanted, and what the game was supposed to represent, and came up with something new.

So, here it is, the Power 19 (thanks Troy) that helped me figure out what I want from the world of Ar'hea.

1.) What is your game about?

The power of a Name and the strength of identity. 

2.) What do the characters do?

The characters discover their identity and the strength of their Name.  They may make an epic journey, ridding the World of great evil.  Maybe they find the means to protect and cherish their own family.  Their adventures, however, will always shape and define who they are.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?

The players guide their characters and help tell their story.  They decide what resources a character will use to overcome challenges, and they influence how a character may grow and change.  The GM is responsible for creating new conflicts to challenge the characters and for recognizing, and nurturing the challenges the characters create for themselves.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

Ar'hean culture is built upon the idea that everything has a single Name.  Every pebble, every blade of grass, every bird and tree has a Name that is unique.  Knowing Names gives the people control over the things around them, and lets them shape the World they live in.  At the same time, it reinforces their sense of self, as they all must maintain their own identities.  Giving their Name to a friend is the greatest form of trust to Ar'hean people.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?

Character creation begins with choosing three words to describe the character.  These words represent the basic instincts and beliefs of the character and influence their beginning characteristics as well as the choices they will make during play.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?

The game rewards those players who play within, and wish to explore, their character.  It caters to balanced play, not because of written rules, but by player mandate.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?

Players who play to their character's beliefs find themselves succeeding more often, with a different target number during conflict resolution.

Players who find creative ways to use their Words of Power (Names) will find the magic system flexible and open-ended.

Players that wish their characters to have massive amounts of magical power may do so, however they will incur an amount of debt with the GM.  The GM, however, can collect on this debt when he chooses, and often at times that will most inconvenience the player.

Players can choose to create their own complications in the story to gain access to power without the threat of retribution from the GM.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

Responsibility for narration primarily falls with the GM, as he is the one who comes up with the challenges for the characters to face.  However, it is up to the players to narrate their own failures, just as much as the GM narrates their successes.  In addition, a player can 'purchase' narration time from the GM.  This purchase, however, leaves the character vulnerable later, when the GM can cash in on the debt, and inflict harm, or other threats on the character.  Or, if a player chooses they can introduce their own complications to the story, earning them points to spend later.

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?)

Players are a given a way to directly effect the direction of the story.  They are given the option of unlimited power, that they have to balance against equally unforgiving retribution.  In addition, thinking of ways to explore their character through complications in the story gives the players a way to increase their power.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?

The resolution mechanics involve a number of d6s rolled against a target. The target is determined by whether or not the character is acting within the Words chosen at their creation. If they are the target is a 4.  If not, a 5.  The number of rolls that beat the target are counted as hits (name to be changed) and if the number of hits is greater than the opponent's (or a static number for inanimate object) the test is a success.

In a conflict between characters (GM or otherwise) excess success are counted as damage;  hurting the attribute used during the test.

In addition, characters can spend attribute points to gain automatic hits towards success.  However, players have to weigh their options, as if any one of their three attributes is reduced to zero points, they are incapacitated and lose the conflict.

Magic is resolved by giving players a handful of Words of Power (WoP).  These WoP represent the Names of things the character can influence.  To cast a spell, the character invokes a WoP and has to beat a number of hits based on the magnitude of the affect he is creating.  Characters will find it easy to create minor spells such as mending a shirt, or bending wood, and hard to use flashy spells, like creating a fireball.  It is impossible to affect more than a single thing at a time.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?

Acting in a way that is outlined by the character's core is rewarded.  In addition, the game is about ordinary people who find their way to extraordinary things.  The actual resolution mechanic is very ordinary, it is the influences around it that are strong.  The Magic is practical, spell users only being able to affect what they can name.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?

Characters gain power by overcoming challenges in the game or by creating their own challenges within the story.  This power can be spent either in the form of new attributes or skills, or by spending it to gain success within the game.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

Characters are encouraged to explore their character by introducing complications in an effort to gain power.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?

I want players to be strongly tied to their characters, so that they want to continue exploring their backgrounds.  I also want to encourage group storytelling so that while the GM may commence the narration, everyone is encouraged to further the intrigue.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?

The setting, and the use of magic.  I want to give players something to hang their characters on, and that requires more focus on the color of the world and the nature of the physical laws that surround it.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?

The idea of flexible, yet limited magic and the concept of 'buying' power.  There's something about being able to do whatever you want, not at the expense of the rules, but because of it, and then giving other players the opportunity to balance out the influx of that power intrigues me.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?

It takes the players to a fantasy world where everyone has the potential to be a hero.  Magic is understood and known by all, but only used to its full potential by those who take the time to learn what it is, and what it can do.  It encourages to focus on their own characters and what the future holds both as a group, and individually.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?

No idea.  I'd like to see it available online at the least, and perhaps available in Print on Demand.

19.) Who is your target audience?

Fans of the storytelling and magic of A Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuinn and the practically of Master of the Five Magics of Lyndon Hardy

Welcome to the Forge!

I'm fascinated by the idea of a setting in which absolutely everything has a name and a soul and every object the PCs own and every cobblestone they walk on is a potential character. At the least, it would put the players at no loss for complications and moral quandaries.

Hey Billvolk, or just Bill, or whatever you like.  It's good to be here, I'm not sure why it took me so long to find this place.  Maybe I was scared off by actual content.

As to your comment, I hadn't actually considered all objects having souls.  But, considering some of the fiction I've written for this world (which I won't subject anyone to yet.) the idea that inanimate objects take on human emotion is an undercurrent I failed to notice.  I'm not sure that I'd like to give every object a path to humanity, but I'm not going to keep a favorite walking stick, or piece of jewelry, or letter opener from somehow finding its way home.