An Expedition Beyond the World: A Low Fantasy Exploration Game

[Sypherkhode822]

The Empire stretches across the World, the only known continent which is hemmed in by an Eastern Ocean, a Southern desert, a frozen tundra in the North, and a Western Mountain range. The Empire is young, it has been formed only 30 years ago, and already there is the fear that it will fall apart as regional disputes tear apart the greatest creation that man has ever built on the World. The Emperor, remembering the unity brought when he had been expanding the borders of the Empire, wishes to to return to that ideal state. But with the entire World under his control, where is there to expand?
Beyond the World.
You will be playing as members of the Imperial Expeditionary Corps, and will be going on the first trip past the Western mountains, discovering things that have never been seen before by anyone in the World. Equipped with an experimental weapon known as the Aladeous spring rifle, you will be using both the greatest inventions of Science, and what remains of the once illustrious Magic in your journey. It will be perilous, it will be enchanting. It will be something never seen before.

(TL;DR: Lewis and Clark meets D&D! Come for the imperialistic expansionist mindset, stay for the Dragons and return of Magic. I promise you, it'll be gr8.)

Available Roles:
Outdoorsman: someone who knows how to rough it and can live comfortably in nature. Aint no farmers market in the middle of a forest no human has ever seen before.
Scientist:
Someone is going to have to record the creatures you see, and it has to be more descriptive than 'big, ugly, and only took a few shots in the head to kill'. Further details will be coming on how much science you can science.
Ambassador:
When you meet other cultures, you'll want to have someone able to speak with the full vested power of the Empire, as well as the political know-how to not end up starting a war. (Right away, that is.)
Mage:
Magic has been fading for millennia in the land, though it is still a force to be reckoned with. The Emperor is sending the best and brightest, or, the ones he doesn't like looking at, to go on the Expedition and see if they can restore the failing magic in the World.
Anything you can think of!:
If I missed something, you think the Expedition might need, feel free to play as them! (They'll need my approval. Professional babe-getter is off limits)

[TheMusketMan]

Interested.

[Sypherkhode822]

A codex will be up shortly concerning the World, covering more facets than you could possibly even imagine needing covering.

[Liar]

This sounds interesting as well. I would't mind being an ambassador.

[Beach Burrito]

I always liked the idea of fantasy worlds set around the advent of firearms; as I find the absence of certain technologies the major reason magic finds a niche to begin with. I could just imagine it now--our group of explorers making contact with the vastly powerful shaman of a savage tribe; blasting him away with a well placed bullet mid-monologue.

[RIGHTEOUSwench]

I'd like to play the ambassador. I'm imagining a prissy party boy spoiled to the sky who carries the guilt of being an idle layabout, having accomplished nothing besides the leeching off of his bloodline.

He'd have military training, of course. Perhaps a widowed mother. A servant or two that I'd have to build up, or recruit someone to play. I think I could make him fit whatever setting specifications you had in mind.

[Sypherkhode822]

Yaaaay!
I was feeling rather glum with the lack of notice my games have gotten before, this much interest has sparked a definite cheer in me.
The ten page+ Codex, alphabetically arranged for your perusal.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zGVfb-nsudWgwNsmv4nRQlQUd9BhrPfup1slGVg05OI/edit?usp=sharing
A quick note, however: guns per-say haven't been invented, since the freak accident with some Chinese alchemists never occurred, so chemically based missile weapons have never been created. In it's place, however, spring technologies are far superior to what we have today, so springs are able to coil and hold much more force than in our world. Additionally, firecrystals (not actually crystals, just the resin from a totally OP tree thats destroying the entire ecosystem of the region it's found in) are these small, ignitable chips when spark up and cause a flame when smashed. You could potentially use those to make a pseudo-gunpowder, but people prefer to stick them on the ends of their crossbow bolts. A new invention, the spring rifle, has just been created. It uses springs to shoot small lead balls loaded with highly volatile firecrystals, far more volatile than you can have on a crossbow bolt.
Originally, I wasn't going to have any sort of firearm thing, and just give you all crossbows. And then when I started working on the animals that you would encounter, I thought I better throw you all a bone. XD

Comments, questions, concerns?

[ErsatzEmperor]

Think I might have to lend an outdoorsman to this pot. Tentative interest.

[TheMusketMan]

Alright, I'll get to work on reading this Codex.

[Beach Burrito]

@Sypherkhode822A small critique/question about the Aladeous rifle:

Some points

*Is it actually rifled? As in does the inside of the barrel contain helical grooves which impart spin to a projectile around its long axis? Spin that serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy? If so it's odd that they'd still be using ball ammunition (Which requires less of this) if not they really shouldn't be called rifles.

*You note that the springs they're using are superior to what we have today--that's all well and good but you still have them wound by cranks. The further you compress the spring the harder they would be to crank, since they'd be pushing against the operator with all that stored energy. Now that ties in to the whole penetrating steel bit...

*Penetration in steel is tied to velocity, MUCH more so than bullet size and weight, and, barring AP or ammo containing steel, even more so than bullet design. This means that if the damage is mainly do to the spring (Which can't possibly be the case seeing as you make a note of how these bullets don't travel as far as crossbow bolts) it's the detonation of the volatile fire-crystal that's deforming the impact site.

**The above makes the Aladeous more of a primitive grenade launcher than analogue to conventional firearms and brings up a few points:
-Why hasn't anyone thought of using fire crystal to explosively propel regular bullets--it would be more effective. The design would even be similar to what we use now.
-A sling or staff sling could likely toss these 'ball grenades' further and more accurately than a turn-spring mechanism.

Other than that I don't see any immediate problems to using explosive tipped arrows/bolts over the hazard they present to their user. Carrying around a quiver/quarrel of contact explosives just seems nuts when everyone is shooting at you with the same sort of ammunition. A survivable wound might daisy-chain its way to an archer's ammo and blow him up, heck--the pressure wave of a near miss might set them off.

[RIGHTEOUSwench]

Looks pretty fun, Syph. I like what you got in this here lore.

Got a few questions for clarification. Are there slaves? Is there a conquored race? What's the skin color of ppl, and does it change based on the regions?

Are there trains or other advanced vehicles? It seems the tree sap could be used to generate steam power.

Also, I like the way mages are used here. Very nice use of magic.

[Sypherkhode822]

[quote=@Beach Burrito]\

[hider=Some points]*Is it actually rifled? As in does the inside of the barrel contain helical grooves which impart spin to a projectile around its long axis? Spin that serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy?
[/quote]
Yus. yus it is.

*You note that the springs they're using are superior to what we have today--that's all well and good but you still have them wound by cranks.

They also have superior crank technology They're designed so that the user doesn't have to bring a lot of force into it's use, but yeah, it's a definite drawback. You have to have some guns of your own to be able to use the rifle.

**The above makes the Aladeous more of a primitive grenade launcher than analogue to conventional firearms

Note I did say experimental weapon. The Aladeous is the most promising weapon design the Emperor had at the time, so he gave it to the Expedition. As the Imperial Boffin corps (ooh, new group name) continues to tinker with how to kill people, they'll figure it out.

-Why hasn't anyone thought of using fire crystal to explosively propel regular bullets--it would be more effective. The design would even be similar to what we use now.

Mainly because large firecrystal production is still in it's infancy. These people are figuring out how best to use this stuff. (I considered doing it this way, but this way it gives me more room to grow the tech further along.)

-A sling or staff sling could likely toss these 'ball grenades' further and more accurately than a turn-spring mechanism.

This is going into the codex: they have these, but the Emperor in his technophile glory decided that he wanted to use the Aladeous instead. They will be going with you on the expedition. They're mostly used for blowing the shit out of fortresses and stuff, they hold much more volatile firecrystals.

Carrying around a quiver/quarrel of contact explosives just seems nuts when everyone is shooting at you with the same sort of ammunition.

They're not. Well, not originally. The Empire mainly came into being because his troops would shoot someone, and that person would explode, and when they shot back, the Emperor's soldiers didn't explode. That's cause firecrystals weren't really that widespread, and outside of a few essays talking about it's potential, most people didn't use firecrystals for anything other than starting a fire. The Emperor took over because he used exploding bolts when his enemy's didn't. During the Southern Rebellion, there were ludicrous gibs to be sure. Most people can't get firecrytals that volatile, so it's not an issue. The Southerners, however, who do have access to highly volatile firecrystals... Don't really seem to care that much about the potential of being exploded by being hit first. Their goal is to shoot the other guy before he can even draw his crossbow.

[Sypherkhode822]

Got a few questions for clarification. Are there slaves? Is there a conquored race? What's the skin color of ppl, and does it change based on the regions?

@RIGHTEOUSwench

Northerners are Inuits. Southerners are Mexican or white. East-Heartland-West are Anglo-Americans. There are no slaves, just servants, and Hands in the South. The only race who got conquered would be the Wyrmlings, and they work for Dragons. Wyrmlings are white too.

Are there trains or other advanced vehicles? It seems the tree sap could be used to generate steam power.

They definitely could be used to generate steam power. And while there is probably the design somewhere in the Imperial Boffin Corps HQ (I need to update the codex for these guys) it hasn't happened yet. Beyond the World, of course, it's fair game.

Also, I like the way mages are used here. Very nice use of magic.

Thanks! I spent a really long time figuring out how to have magic be present, yet not dominate the World.

[ClocktowerEchos]

Here lies my tentative interest

[TheMusketMan]

Actually, I don't think I'm gonna be part of this one. Best of luck to ya!

[RIGHTEOUSwench]

Actually, I don't think I'm gonna be part of this one. Best of luck to ya!

@TheMusketMan

But why, my patriot friend?

[Sypherkhode822]

Actually, I don't think I'm gonna be part of this one. Best of luck to ya!

@TheMusketMan

Breaking my heart, here. You're always welcome to join.

Also:
Give me time to make the manifest for the Expedition, make a CS sheet, and then I think I can start the game. (I also need to include religion in the codex, and make a Beyond the World codex. It won't have anything though.)

[Confellowes]

Hi i am new to this whole roleplaying thing and would like to learn the ropes. Is there a rule against cussing because i am interested in this story but will not continue if there is to be cussing. Thank you.

[Sypherkhode822]

Honestly it depends on the game and the players.
I'm a bit more profane than most, (though not awful) but I'll drop an F-bomb every once in a while.
I'm welcome to having you join, but I won't censor the others if they decide to swear.
I haven't encountered a GM that prohibits swearing, though I'm sure there are a few out there.
Ask around, you'll definitely find a group that's meant for you.

[RIGHTEOUSwench]

Could you make the main religion a sun religion? :D

I'm totally willing to help brainstorm religious practices and heirarchy and interpretations of nature with ye!