"Do you know what a hero is child?"
Ramsgate Falling
The easiest way I can give you a one-liner feel for this story is to say that it will be “a Low Fantasy, Steampunk, Shadowrun spin off”. The group of characters will be a team of skilled "entrepreneurs" with slight to drastic criminal leanings, caught up in a series of events that are far more consequential to the city of Ramsgate than the characters first expect.
The entire story will take place mostly in and at times around Ramsgate, the city pictured below.
A series of informative post will begin this thread. They will be ordered as follows.
#1 - Original Post (OP): This is the current post; a general overview, character sheet format, and the basic rules will all be here.
#2 – Ramsgate Dossier: A detailed overview of the city of Ramsgate and the wider world as it concerns Ramsgate will be updated in post 2.
#3 – Clicks and Cogs: A breakdown of the Steampunk technology that permeates Ramsgate.
#4 – The Awakened World: Magic and how it works in Ramsgate will be explained here.
#5 – A miscellaneous catch all for the questions that are sure to arise.
Key Points
What follows are some broad points from the Interest Check that will give you a feel for the story. Newcomers should read through this info first, those from the interest check will find this is little more than the same review.
1. The party and or characters are not connected to the above vignette and do not have to be (but can be if you want). That was just a snippet to give you a little taste of the world. There is a story in the works that does not have to directly involve the characters in those little pieces of fluff I wrote. Those bits were just a feeler, casting a line to see if I could hook anyone.
2. Always keep in mind that his is an apocalyptic world, wars, famine, poverty, sinister plots, and much more are all common place. There is very little light at the end of the tunnel for the common person. Day to day grinding for a living is what is in store for most, a life of crime, guided by a patron or not, is another alternative. The world is a mess and there will be more on that backstory in post 2. Suffice it to say, as bad as things are in the lowest parts of Ironwood Hill and Scrag Town, they are far better than being outside the walls of a city like Ramsgate.
3. Power sources.
- a. Magic; More will be detailed in post 4. As a short primer it can be said that magic is a very tightly controlled "commodity" held by the powerful only, in theory. However, in practice thriving black markets related to all things magical thrive and come into conflict with the powers that be all too often. Great and amazing things can be done with magic in Ramsgate but one always has to be aware of the maxim “Power attracts Power” a dire warning that magic can draw violent and unfriendly consequences.
- b. Technology; In Ramsgate technology comes in the form of "steampunk"... brass, leather, tin, copper, gears, cogs, sprockets, chains, airships, goggles, and all things steampunk. Again, more will be detailed in post 3 but the primary sources of power are steam and Aether generators. If you need a crash course Click Here or scroll to post 3.
- c. Electro-elemental; Living in a world where mages can call down the power of elemental forces into their hands it stands to reason that it would take little time for an enterprising person to attempt to harness that power with technology. More will be discussed in post 3 but this is high-tech Marty McFly hover board level stuff. While 98% of technomancers, gadgeteers, tinkerers, and enginseers deal with traditional steam or Aether power sources and normal mechanical means, the other 2% work with mages, legitimately and illegitimately, to power their devices with bold and dangerous electro-elemental power.
4. In Ramsgate there are all kinds of political, religious, racial, and philosophical groups. If you can conjure it (within reason) it has a place in Ramsgate. Humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, beast-men, ogres, trolls, goblins, naga, avians and half breeds of all manner fill Ramsgate. Despite all of this, please keep in mind this is lower fantasy; there should be no "supernatural" (you know what I mean) beings, I'll save those for some of the antagonists. While it is diverse racially, there is just as much tension and outright hate as there is reconciliation and partnership.
5. Politically and religiously the city is ruled from the Obsidian Halls on the High City Hill or Black Glass Manor. Despite this rule by Nobility numerous gangs, merchant lords, guilds, militias, theocratic movements, racial movement groups, councils, and fiefdoms all maneuver and power play constantly within the city. No matter how hard a character tries to stay out of the plays at hand there are just too many moving pieces to avoiding being caught up. As far as religions go, you name it and someone in Ramsgate probably worships it.
6. Computational analog engines are capable of doing amazing things in this world. They are also so massive, archaic, and immensely complex, that only the rich and powerful can afford to fund their meticulous care and use. Technology like airships, full replacement clockwork limbs, electro-elemental weapons (read: guns), airships, mechanical creatures, and automatons are all rare, powerful, and out of your grasp as characters for the moment. You'll have lower level versions... perhaps. Steampunk versions of "cyberware" (I told you this was a Shadowrun spin off, I make no apologies) called clickware or cogware are available, at varying degrees of cost (money and spirit) and legality, see post 3. Click Here if you need examples of what clickware or cogware can be, just keep in mind you will have to turn the items in the link from shiny cyberware into clockwork gizmos that fit this setting and pass my say so. The link is an idea primer, not canon.
7. The story will take place primarily in and sometimes around Ramsgate. I want to focus on the city and how events take place within it, there won't be a sojourn very far outside the city at all. The city details are all found in post 2. The plot will center on the team of characters that are contracted out for various work (in somewhat episodic fashion). At first these jobs will seem unconnected but a larger plot will be reveled concerning a very nasty invasion force that is marching its way north and conquering everything in its path. The missions the characters take and the ways in which they complete the mission will effect a final "scene" when the siege of Ramsgate takes place. The characters may end up being saviors or destroyers of the city and may not even be aware of which until it's too late.
8. You are free to go about everything as you wish as a character, that being said the main plot is centered on a group of characters that form a team of "criminals for hire" called Runners by those that approve of their work and Gutter Runners or just Rats by those that disapprove of the profession. So with that in mind, the story turns out better if everyone works within something at least resembling a loose confederation if not a tight-knit group. Going solo may work for a while if you are good but chances are death will visit your character much more quickly than the others.
9. Typically a group of Runners is made of the dredges of society that, for whatever reason, do not or cannot be a part of the normal day-to-day life of Ramsgate. Criminals, debtors, those being hunted, the marginalized, discriminated against, poor, abandoned, or cast off are the type that turn to the Runner profession. These can be people with various skill sets and all different kinds of backgrounds, except the nobility in most cases. A normal Runner team consists of (but is not required to have) a charismatic leader, negotiator, and con-artist type serving as a groups "face". A face interacts directly with clients or their representatives with or without the input of the rest of the runners (really up to the group dynamic), they may have just enough street savvy, connections, or social graces that they can get by where their criminal brothers and sisters cannot. You can have all types of others in a Runner team; fighters, bruisers, tanks, enforcers, healers, mages, tinkerers, enginseers, occultists, warriors, scouts, infiltrators, assassins, gangers, alchemists, etc, etc or any combination thereof, obviously within reasonable limits that create dynamic, flawed, diverse, and useful characters.
This team will be presented with numerous options for employment, taking an executing jobs as they see fit, living or dying by their choices, and overall becoming caught up in something much more important than any of the could have imagined. There is an overall plot that the characters will be swept up in eventually but it will be up to you all as to how you go about that and what direction your characters take. I am here to provide the left and right lateral limits of the plot, present you with the world and its options, and play a character or two.
Character Sheets
*If you select “View Raw” in the upper right hand corner of this post you should be able to copy this sheet into a new post or document and fill it out.*
Those are the major points as of June 25th 2015.
