Sahadeva
2011-06-19, 08:05 AM
Did anyone ever try playing Darksword (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darksword) Adventures?
For those not in the know, I'll provide a little info. It was published in a paperback book, much like a novel. The rules themselves were pretty badly done, from memory. The setting though, was actually quite good, based on a novel trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (they wrote the rules for the game also, probably part of the problem). Though I generally think that they're pretty awful writers, I actually liked the setting and thought it had a lot of potential. Though it wouldn't be MW/TH without some really stupid aspects to the setting, there were some surprisingly interesting aspects as well.
Essentially, it was set on this world where all of the humans were magic users. Technology was outlawed in all civilised places, with only one or two little outposts in the wilds. If someone so much as caught you digging in the ground with a stick, you'd be in trouble. So you'd need to come up with creative ways to do most things using magic.
On birth, everyone would be tested to see what their "Mystery" was. The Fire children would be quickly inducted into the police force, where they would essentially have no chance to have an identity. Life meant that you were doomed to become a priest, with no real magic of your own, only being able to replenish the magic energy of others. If you were Earth, you had to hope you were a noble, or you'd spend your life shaping chairs and tables, or slaving in the fields. Death meant that you were supposed to work with technology. But of course, that was outlawed. Better hope you have enough talent with another element, or... Those who displayed no apparent talent with magic would be left as babies to die of thirst. There were nine Mysteries in total.
The world in theory was ruled by city states, but the rulers were essentially high society idiots for the most part, and the real power was in the hands of the humble Life priests. They were responsible for outlawing technology when the real horrors in the world were the fault of magic users, they killed off a couple of the mysteries (Spirit and Time) who were capable of getting information since this allowed easy access to information for the common people.
So you had this society which had become completely stuck in it's ways because the rich people were distracted by frivolity, the poor people were too tired and starved much like our own feudal peasants to actually think for themselves, and those who had some idea of what was going on (outside the Illuminati priests) were swiftly crushed, or exiled to the wilds which were full of monsters too tough to fight without the priests on your side.As I've said, though, the rules were pretty atrocious. Anyone know of other systems that might be suitable? You'd need a system that had some sort of Spell Points, the ability to have several sets of magic (with varying amounts of access to most or all) which all did specific things, and that would allow you to essentially create whatever spell effects you wanted, within a few general guidelines (combat, health and healing, item creation and crafting, divination, and so on).
Anyone just read the books and like the thought of playing in the setting? Besides the bad rules in the books, there was a travelogue section which showed some areas of the world which weren't covered in the novels, and all sorts of information about the different Mysteries, society, and so forth. Even if you never play the game, it's a decent read if you like the setting itself.
For those not in the know, I'll provide a little info. It was published in a paperback book, much like a novel. The rules themselves were pretty badly done, from memory. The setting though, was actually quite good, based on a novel trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (they wrote the rules for the game also, probably part of the problem). Though I generally think that they're pretty awful writers, I actually liked the setting and thought it had a lot of potential. Though it wouldn't be MW/TH without some really stupid aspects to the setting, there were some surprisingly interesting aspects as well.
Essentially, it was set on this world where all of the humans were magic users. Technology was outlawed in all civilised places, with only one or two little outposts in the wilds. If someone so much as caught you digging in the ground with a stick, you'd be in trouble. So you'd need to come up with creative ways to do most things using magic.
On birth, everyone would be tested to see what their "Mystery" was. The Fire children would be quickly inducted into the police force, where they would essentially have no chance to have an identity. Life meant that you were doomed to become a priest, with no real magic of your own, only being able to replenish the magic energy of others. If you were Earth, you had to hope you were a noble, or you'd spend your life shaping chairs and tables, or slaving in the fields. Death meant that you were supposed to work with technology. But of course, that was outlawed. Better hope you have enough talent with another element, or... Those who displayed no apparent talent with magic would be left as babies to die of thirst. There were nine Mysteries in total.
The world in theory was ruled by city states, but the rulers were essentially high society idiots for the most part, and the real power was in the hands of the humble Life priests. They were responsible for outlawing technology when the real horrors in the world were the fault of magic users, they killed off a couple of the mysteries (Spirit and Time) who were capable of getting information since this allowed easy access to information for the common people.
So you had this society which had become completely stuck in it's ways because the rich people were distracted by frivolity, the poor people were too tired and starved much like our own feudal peasants to actually think for themselves, and those who had some idea of what was going on (outside the Illuminati priests) were swiftly crushed, or exiled to the wilds which were full of monsters too tough to fight without the priests on your side.As I've said, though, the rules were pretty atrocious. Anyone know of other systems that might be suitable? You'd need a system that had some sort of Spell Points, the ability to have several sets of magic (with varying amounts of access to most or all) which all did specific things, and that would allow you to essentially create whatever spell effects you wanted, within a few general guidelines (combat, health and healing, item creation and crafting, divination, and so on).
Anyone just read the books and like the thought of playing in the setting? Besides the bad rules in the books, there was a travelogue section which showed some areas of the world which weren't covered in the novels, and all sorts of information about the different Mysteries, society, and so forth. Even if you never play the game, it's a decent read if you like the setting itself.