IC for easy medieval fantasy game

[Twixs]

Ohai New to roleplaying so I'm not to roleplay savy. If you guy's get this up and going could you send me a private message? I'd like to get myself going. Also, if anybody has a thread which is already up and going and might let me know how to get started I'd appreciate it. Thanks

[Hylianhero]

I would definatly love to join this ^.^

[Huscarl]

And now, to develop my concept and answer your questions:

Playable races (my suggestion):
Humans - The humans of this game will be heavily influenced by the actual people of western europe during the iron- and viking age. Mostly by the vikings, actually. They're the most widespread sentient species, having built settlements pretty much all over the land. Farms, villages and small towns are pretty common. Castles and big cities are quite rare.

Elves - Elves are humanoid creatures with pointy ears. They live very long lives and have a strong connection to nature. The elves have always been the protectors of what's good and right. They live in settlements built in the largest trees, located in the hearts of the biggest forests. These cities are well hidden and quite rare.

Dwarves - The dwarves are short, humanoid creatures. They are quite reclusive and live in great halls built in the mountains. Dwarves are talented craftsmen, and it's said that armor made by dwarves never breaks, and swords never grow dull. The dwarves are infamously greedy and superstitious. It's tradition for dwarven men to grow and shape a big beard. Dwarven women are expected to take care of their hair in the same fashion.

Halflings - Halflings are a species of short humanoid creatures with pointy ears and hairy feet. Most halflings live in small secluded villages scattered about the countryside, but some have taken up residense in human towns or cities. Halflings are famous for their great appetite and natural green thumb.

Bear in mind that these are the stereotypes of each race. There are individuals that stray from the stereotype.

Orcs will not be a playable race. They're monsters and savages of the underworld, more often than not serving some evil warlord or sorcerer. There are other fantasy beings out there in the forests, fields and mountains, but I'm not going to go into detail about them unless I have to.

Magic:
Magic is the skill with which a person alters reality to their will. It is increadibly difficult to master practitioners are very, very rare. Magic is taught in three stages, or levels: First by word, then by gesture, and lastly by mind. Most magicians never make it beyond the use of word. A few powerful sorcerers make it to the second level, only needing to use gestures to channel their power. A legendary few master magi have attained the third level of understanding, being able to use nothing but their mind to cast spells. Magic is very dangerous and demands a terrible toll of the person using it. It can be anything from a shortened lifespan to demonic possession. Mages are treated with a mixture of respect, fear and, in some places, hate, wherever they travel. Magic, and in particular which spells are used, is highly individual. A mage will know and follow the style of his/her master and will seldom learn anything else. Magic has to be taught to people by someone other than themselves, no mage is self-taught.

Religion:
There are two deities worshipped by the sentient beings in this game.
Father Sky is the god of fire and wind and resides in the heavens above. The father is part of everything, according to his worshippers, and is always surrounded by a multitude of spirits and celestial beings when depicted. Everything has a soul and there's a lesser god for everything; forests, mountains, rivers, even phenomenons like fire and thunder has a god. The father is the great shepherd. Worshippers of the Father believes that people are born with a distinct personality and destiny, and that all should strive to be that and nothing else. When worshippers of the father die, they're burned so they can join their god in heaven.
Mother Earth is the goddes of earth and water. She's the mother of all things and is, according to her worshippers, the only one true deity. She's the goddess of life and fertility, the one who gives life to animals and plants alike. But she's also the goddess of war and death. She's often depicted with a baby in one hand, and a sword in the other. Worshippers of the Mother believes that there is both good and evil in all beings, and that one should strive to balance these forces by doing deeds of both. When worshippers of the Mother die, they're buried in the earth so that they might reach their goddess in her earthen halls in the underworld.

Plot:
I will leave this blank for now. I will probably come up with some sort of simple plot, but I'm all ears when it comes to personal backgrounds and how these can be utilized to shape the direction of the game. The characters will however be part of the same party of adventurers. Having them openly oppose each other could kill the adventure; I don't mind squabbles and rivalry, but I strongly advise against PvP combat.

World:
We will as previously stated begin in a small settlement. From there we will move on and thus expand the world. I might even draw us a map once a few locations have been visited. I'll refrain from posting a large world description, though. Use your imagination and reason when deciding where your character's from and what kind of place they grew up in. Think western and northern europe during the viking age.

As for how this will work, it will be a regular play-by-posting game. There will be a character sheet in which you'll write about your character (background, appearance, pros and cons), but there will be no statistics or dice involved.

@Twixs: I suggest you use the thread tool and subscribe to this thread. That way, when you log on, you can check your subscribed games and see if there's been any updates.



If you have any further suggestions or questions, I'm all ears.

[Ebisrator]

Would love a chance to play, still got room for another character?

[Huscarl]

The OOC will dictate who gets to play and who doesn't. I think I'm looking for a game of no more than six or seven players. So, the first seven to get their characters accepted will be the ones who gets to play.

[Ellri]

a ruthless system of magic that. intriguing.

Considering that few seem to want to play halflings (and can you really blame people for that?), maybe replacing them with something that is useful for more in an adventure? Something that doesn't fit best spitted and slowly roasted over a fire?
[ insert predatory grin ]

Halflings are smaller than humans, same rough shape as dwarves, only having fat where they have muscle, can't be used for much except a living shield in combat, and generally pacifistic in nature.

About the only times we know of that halflings have had any luck is when the GM (or in a couple of specific cases, author) has it in for them to succeed. (in some ways, on pure spunk alone)

You should make the races less "likeable"... Show problems with them, make them have serious dislikes for at least one other race each. or perhaps towards half-breeds.
example:

Human-elf half-breeds:
humans see elf in it, treats it as such (badly)
elf sees human and treats it as one (also not nicely)

Also, replacing them will make your RP stand out more from that other one. Not sure with what (maybe something non-mammalian or non-humanoid?)

Give people something to care about when plotting characters.



anyways, on to the other races...

Viking base for humans = excellent choice. Just make sure there's none of those silly and historically incorrect upwards-pointed horns on the helmets. All they would do is direct weapons in towards the head where they cause damage, no benefit at all.
Are they mostly land-based, or do they frequently go raiding with ships?


The elves:
Are they warlike or peaceful? do they protect "right and good" with force of arms if necessary?
Do they risk using magic often?
How would an average elf enjoy being stuck underground, with millions of tons of rock above it?

The dwarves:
Do they stand out in any way aside from (seemingly) being single-gendered?
Being fond of gold and riches, if they can protect their halls of stone, what would compel any to leave, to go adventuring?
are they afraid of water or open, outdoor spaces?

Religion:
Do all the races worship the same god(s)? would it not be natural for them to either have different gods, or to have different names for them?
Dwarves don't seem to have many common interests with elves, or for that matter halflings. It does not stand to reason that they'd agree on religion when interests do not match (or even overlap)...

on to the world:
Is the land a single main landmass or is it based more on large islands (large as in iceland-sized), taking weeks to cross on foot?
Is the terrain mixed? or are there some dominating trait(s)? (lots of mountains, lots of grasslands, thick forests, that sort...)
Do the different races live in intermixed territories, or do they live separately?

[Huscarl]

I will keep halflings in the mix. Or rather, I won't replace them. I'm generally looking for humanoid species, you see. And it's not function that should determine what kind of species you choose to play, it's inspiration. Halfling adventurers are cool because of their inherent weakness. It's much more interesting to watch a weak character achieve great deeds than it is watching someone who's already great doing them, wouldn't you agree?

When it comes to racial disagreement, I thought I'd leave that to realism and reason; people of different backgrounds, with differing cultures, have always been suspicious towards eachother. I'm not saying that's how it should be in reality; I'm all for understanding and acceptance myself, but this is how the world works. There are certainly individuals of all species who accept other people and their ways directly, but people in general are suspicious towards things they're not familiar with.

As for humans and their culture... I'm swedish and I know my history. There'll be no comic book vikings in this game. Regarding the warfare of humans in this game, I think they do a little of both the inland and naval kind.

Wether elves are warlike or not depends on where they're from. I'd imagine that the elves in one part of the world are peaceful in nature, while elves in another go out of their way to eradicate that which they deem as evil. I don't want to put down a whole species as one or the other. Magic is again very individual. The practice of it has little or nothing to do with the race of the mage. How elves feel like being stuck underground is also pretty individual; most elves would probably find it quite unsettling, due to the fact that it isn't a part of their natural habitat. I wouldn't however put it beyond experienced adventurers to feel more accustomed to the experience if they'd been underground a lot before.

The dwarves are not single gendered. There are both men and women of dwarven heritage. Nowhere have I written otherwise. They stand out from the other races with both their physicality and their habitat; no other species tend to live in underground cities, after all. I'd imagine a young dwarf could have pretty much the same reasons as anybody else for going on an adventure and leaving his/her home behind, be it for riches, glory or simple wanderlust. Wether dwarves are afraid of water and/or open spaces is probably highly individual. I don't see why it should have anything to do with their race.

On religion: Mother Earth and Father Sky are the only two distinct churches/religions of this game. Each race might have it's own traditions regarding the worship of either one, but they're essentially still the same deities.

On the world: We will be playing on a continent roughly the same size of europe. There's one big landmass surrounded by both big and small islands. The terrain is mixed, featuring everything from plains, highlands, mountains, rivers, lakes and great forests. The humans are the most widespread people, essentially covering most of the landmass with different kingdoms. The halflings live either with the humans or in their own secluded settlements. The dwarves live in their great mountain halls. The elves live in the forests.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to ask again, should you wonder anything else.

[Ellri]

Good. Its nice to see that people argue back against us.

concerning vikings: good. The comic-book variety is annoying and one part of history we prefer is accurately portrayed. Much because of it making sense that way, but also because people don't think and just accept the silly stereotype.

a history of disagreement, or of working together, can often inspire people. either to support it, or to go against the flow. Still, there will be individuals, or even factions, that don't follow the main tendency.

The part about dwarves and gender was a small joke. If they're both bearded and such, then for the outside observer, unfamiliar with nuances, it can seem like there are no dwarf women. (prod at LOTR: aragorn's, gimli's & Eöwyn's discussion during two towers march to helms deep.)

Having a few different names for each god is a good plot for growing disagreements, and thus conflict and a base story. There's few things as potent a fuel for the fires of war as religion.

The world: Sounds good. Knowing the details beyond that is unnecessary for now.

No further questions right now.

[Huscarl]

Dwarven women are not bearded. They take care of their hair, not their beard.

And regarding the different names of the gods... I'm inclined to leave that to the players.

I'm working on the OOC right now. Should be up by tomorrow.

[Huscarl]

OOC is up and ready to go-go! Link: http://roleplayerguild.com/showthrea...-Adventure-OOC