Monday, September 28, 2015

So, I'm in a happy place. I mean, dealing with depression and RL crap aside I have a LOT going on that I enjoy. Let me break it down for you and how it will impact the BLOG.

Ho Boy, I knew we had a lot of kickstarters coming due, but the last few months have been crazy. I've picked up PDF copies of Shadow of the Demon Lord, FantasyAGE, Cypher System Core book, and this week we have cMage 20th, and eventually the setting expansion for Numenera is going to hit. Not to mention all the FATE Core mini expansions.

Ya, I've had a Lot read over and it got the creative juices flowing.I've had a few massive brainstorms and project ideas I'm going to lay out for the blog:FantasyAGE -

Expanding on the universe from Titansgrave. I have an idea in the far southeastern wasteland surrounding a massive series of swamps and islands and Fallen Mangkar - The Dragon City which once flew in the skies above before the heavens fell and Chaos War knocked it into the swamp. The region is collectively called the Frothfire Swamps (named from the slow leak of fuel from the city that occasionally makes the water 'explosive').
Various factions vie for control over the city and crash site because of the relics and fuel which is a hot commodity to the north and further away.

However, rather than fighting an open war over such precious territory the gangs and salvage operations that vie for control hold a grand race every decade to decide prime holdings over the swamp's relics. And each abide by the results of this race, however many are not above cheating. One faction is desperate, a smaller but 'mostly' upstanding salvage family the Grimpots want their airboat team to have a chance but recent sabotage and bandit attacks have pushed the family's inner circle to hire adventures as muscle and backup during the race. Little do they know that there is more at stake than some relic sites in this years event.
Adventure will features:

Crazy race festival feel to swamps and the various 'race' cities propped up in the muck and mire.

High speed races where the characters get to ride 'shotgun' on airboats trying to prevent attacks by native wild life and rival factions.

Lost tribes from the city and their weird beliefs and dangers.

Politics and backstabbing factions vying for control of a precious commodity.

A mysterious group using the chaos of the race to uncover something far more dangerous than explosive water in the Frothfire Swamps.

Lost Water temples, a massive broken 'sky city' and it's defenses.

A nightmare from the dawn of the Chaos War left dormant for an age about to wake up.

I call it "The Fires of Fallen Mangkar"

I'm going to cook up: New Talents, New Specializations, A new race option, and spell out what I think is a 5 part mini adventure taking place in the Frothfire Swamps as an expansion to the adventure in Titansgrave. Expect things like tinkerer, sniper, and stunt driver talent, and Engineer, Pilot, Archaeologist, and Guide specializations.Cypher System - My experimental Numenera game fell apart, but that was logistics issues and Roll20 and kinda my fault. HOWEVER! Ahem. I loved the experience. Now that I have the Cypher System core book in hand I've been pondering doing something with it more my speed. The old super's itch is coming back and I think Cypher is damn perfect to do something lower powered and urban.

I have a prototype idea using the subtle cyphers from the book to do 'dramatic editing' where the player does power/skill stunts using the cyphers as groundwork for one shot dramatic OMPH during critical scenes and action. Ya, basically re-engineering the cyphers for hero point like drama systems!

The setting itself is in flux. I'm debating using some variation of my Mad Science Wars idea (in which every few decades human genius blooms and causes stories of people with powers, etc caused by the burst in creative experimentation. The 60's cold war era spy/supers boom the last one.) or something darker like my Prometheus/Lazarus universe where a process to raise the dead accidentally creates a supers boom. I'll have to ponder that.

Either way expect some various creative Cypher System support as Ideas and ways of handling it come to me. No working title yet.

FATE Core -

So my current game is an online FATE Core using Fantasy Game. I'm running a mix of ideas. One of them is a hybrid western/Japanese rpg setting with anthro characters. However the races exist due to a setting reason and it's less a reason to run a Furry game as a way to explore fantastic racism. I present my world of Novomir!

Here is the con-pitch.

The world of Novomir, home to the Divine Guardians and the tribes that worship them is rife with politics, dark magic, and the glimmering potential of a new age. The earliest legends speak of an old world before this one, when all the tribes were one race and the Guardians were dormant. But a corruption in the form of Chaotic magic bleed into the world tainting the people and the land itself. Some legends say it was the first undisciplined attempts at magic, or unsealing of a primal force the guardians once tamed in the first forging of the world that was the source of this chaotic energy; but whatever it’s origin it had a malevolent drive behind it and it slowly consumed the old world. Then when the first tribe almost lost all hope the Divine Guardians arose and gathered up followers to their banner, carving a path out of the madness fighting those driven to darkness and corruption. Eventually a hard won battle allowed the Guardians to gather up their followers and forge a new world, or escape into a new world, accounts differ. Once settled the Guardians blessed the tribes who followed them with unique gifts and ability, offering safer paths to magic, and the tools needed to rebuild their societies in the Guardian’s images. Quite literally as the tribes slowly took upon the physical aspects of the Guardian spirits. Not exactly and some tribes were only blessed with partial aspects forms eventually diverting into sub tribes and mini families. Some tribes were not so lucky, the battles against the Chaos cost them their Guardian to death or madness. Others were so touched by corruption before being saved that it’s mark remains among them no matter how many years have passed. These eventually became known as the lost and forsaken tribes.Millennia have passed and the tribes have grown into nations and states. Mixing together in unique ways and offering a diverse take on their backgrounds, natures, and magical blessing. This new age has seen the advent and growth of two world changing sciences. The first is magical. The art of wizardry has grown, built out a study of magic unrefined by the Guardians it offers more diversity of art at the cost of potential chaotic corruption. Previously shunned if not outright illegal, a more enlightened egalitarian mindset in some modern nations have started to accept limited and careful study of this new art with sometimes draconian promises or oaths to bind the users. The raw benefit of crafting unique magical items and spells outweigh the risks as some nations find themselves in a climate of global tension of territory and resources.The other advent is the rise of steam technology, and a hybrid of magical and technological prowess which is pitting the martial might of old rivals against each other as they race for more and more powerful and complex tools of magictech might. Airships, canons, magical weapons and art is pushing more traditional magic to the sidelines of battle fields and has created tensions between older well established powers and rogue nations looking for an edge. Once the Kingdom of Sukaiwa ruled the skies with their airship and bountiful float stones, only now to be edged out by the small but technological powerhouse Fayer Danser who has combined cutting edge steam tech and risky Wizardry. Other more established and sizable republics like Chetyrebrata find their borders encroached by rival empires such as the Glanberg Collective. The power struggle throws the players into a world at the brink of the first global war, unless they can find a way to stop it.Worse yet, the rise of new cults and mysterious societies studying the lost lore of the old world have grow in power and number. These groups undermine the power of established social order and pit the various world powers against each other in a grab for access to lost lore and forbidden secrets of the old world. The Guardians no longer act directly, but their shaman and clerics receive dire warnings and ill omened missives.
I plan on fleshing out this setting more with optional rules for FATE Core. Might use FAE, but I think Core works better because I like the idea of a more complex skill system. I'm also adding a new aspect layer where race matters, and it colors how others in the setting look at you and racial abilities.

Along with this I'm going to brainstorm the more modern shojo/shonen inspired Radiant Soul Garden game from my previous posts.

MAGE 20th -

This is an old idea of mine based on how I use to play my MAGE games in the past. I'll go into more details later but the project is simply called: Battle Stations Neptune. The old cWOD 2nd Edition worlds book hinted at mages flying around Neptune with Sons/Adepts vs Void Engineers/It X fighting what amounts to a mecha war. I actually played this back in 2E days of Mage. Now how about MY take on this?

Ya. MAGE cWOD mecha rule-lites. That will be fun!

EXALTED 3rd Edition -

Well, DUH! I'm still 100% behind this game I just had to expand my output so I don't mono game and burn out. And MAN did I almost burn out from gaming in general until I got over my online hang ups and founds some good friends to game with.

Expect Updated Random Gen tables.

3rd Edition Review

Tips and tricks for 3E parties.

Exalted Combat 301 if I can pull it off. But I may need help writing this.

ETC-

I'll do some thing with Shadow of the Demon Lord, Numenera, and other games as I get some to play with. Keep in mind full time job, family, and crpg backlog is happening too. But this gives me a year of material to work on.

Either way I feel great and have a massive number of projects to tinker with!

About Me

Heya folks! Joe here, Dungeon Master for hire...well I don't charge but I AM looking to run games and have fun. I've been around the US and to Japan and generally am an omnivorous geek. I enjoy it all: Comics, Video Games, Roleplaying, Books, TV, and some movies. Mostly a Fantasy and SciFi junkie. I put the Dragon back into Dungeons and Dragons. (And GURPS, L5R, Eclipse Phase, look I like a lot of games okay?)