Geordnet
2012-04-10, 09:46 PM
Ok, first some background:
I can't really call myself a 'Roleplayer', because I haven't any real experience; I'm much more of a Wargamer. Paradoxically though, I'm most interested in the storytelling aspect of RPGs. After some false starts as a player, and for several other reasons, I think I'd prefer to be a GM.
Now, I had an idea for a Low Fantasy setting/campaign style. To sum things up, the events in-game would happen in a 'lost world' of sorts. The 'outside world' is an alternate history, initially Medieval England one generation after the death of King Arthur. However, the vast majority of all games will take place 'inside'.
I'm trying to find a system that fits well the style of play I want with this world.
First Unusual Requirement:
I plan to run most games with but one player. In part because I hope it'll encourage initiative, in part because I fear few will be interested in this, but mostly because I'm drawing most my inspiration from the kind of story which usually follows one and only one character throughout. But the system has to be able to handle more than one person (incl. NPCs).
Second Unusual Requirement:
Simply put, in this setting magic exists only as plot device. (Although there'll still be semi-magical healing, in so far as much that even the most seriously wounded man will be bedridden for no more than a week or two!)
So a system that inherently doesn't have battle wizards would be nice.
Third Unusual Requirement:
I'm not sure how to put what I'm looking for in the combat system... Frankly, I'm doubtful that it can be had at all. I'd like something more 'realistic', in that a single sword thrust can kill you. But at the same time a pair-off between master duelists or armor-plated knights becomes a battle of endurance, until one side gains an advantage. I know hit points nominally represent this, but I'd like something where it's more obvious that taking a wound of any significance means you've already lost. I expect most 'real' fights to be mono-a-mono melee duels, but at the same time have proper (eg, exponential) scaling for numerical advantage (so a half-dozen mooks is a real threat). Oh, and all the proper advantages for horses. And maybe even room for pistols, if I ever advance that far (hey, it's possible).
In the likelihood that such a system does not exist, a streamlined one would probably work better anyways.
~~~~
EDIT:
Fourth Unusual Requirement.
The setting's all but human-only; the PCs will all be at least. The non-human races are a bit... complex. For the most part they're based off Tolkien, but including works of his other than LotR; and they're still a far cry from modern interpretations.
(Spoiler'd because it's kinda off-tangent.)
"High Elves" and Mechanical Gnomes are OUT. Instead, both are taken from Tolkien -but not in way's you'd expect. Gnomes are based off the Drúedain, and the Elves are Tolkein's "Dark Elves", (nothing in common with modern Drow) which get barely a mention in the Silmarillion, but are implied to be equivilent to his Elves in his other works (e.g., sylvan elves).
It's sad, but Halflings have just been 'cooled' to death. The whole concept -that they were not the kind for adventuring- has just completely been obliterated.
Dwarves are in, but are definately not steampunk. Beards are little more than fashion, oaths are no more important than they are for everyone else in this setting, and they're just as at home above ground as under it. Essentially short humans with some culture differences.
Monsters are really monsterous, and individual. Don't ask anyone but a Wizard (eg, a Wise Man) to know a proper name for each.
The word "Race" in this setting really means "race" and not "species". The divisions between species is really quite arbitrary IRL anyways.
~~~~
In case anyone's interested about the world itself, I'd be happy to have someone to work with cooperatively (otherwise this'll just stew around in my head for another year or two).
I can't really call myself a 'Roleplayer', because I haven't any real experience; I'm much more of a Wargamer. Paradoxically though, I'm most interested in the storytelling aspect of RPGs. After some false starts as a player, and for several other reasons, I think I'd prefer to be a GM.
Now, I had an idea for a Low Fantasy setting/campaign style. To sum things up, the events in-game would happen in a 'lost world' of sorts. The 'outside world' is an alternate history, initially Medieval England one generation after the death of King Arthur. However, the vast majority of all games will take place 'inside'.
I'm trying to find a system that fits well the style of play I want with this world.
First Unusual Requirement:
I plan to run most games with but one player. In part because I hope it'll encourage initiative, in part because I fear few will be interested in this, but mostly because I'm drawing most my inspiration from the kind of story which usually follows one and only one character throughout. But the system has to be able to handle more than one person (incl. NPCs).
Second Unusual Requirement:
Simply put, in this setting magic exists only as plot device. (Although there'll still be semi-magical healing, in so far as much that even the most seriously wounded man will be bedridden for no more than a week or two!)
So a system that inherently doesn't have battle wizards would be nice.
Third Unusual Requirement:
I'm not sure how to put what I'm looking for in the combat system... Frankly, I'm doubtful that it can be had at all. I'd like something more 'realistic', in that a single sword thrust can kill you. But at the same time a pair-off between master duelists or armor-plated knights becomes a battle of endurance, until one side gains an advantage. I know hit points nominally represent this, but I'd like something where it's more obvious that taking a wound of any significance means you've already lost. I expect most 'real' fights to be mono-a-mono melee duels, but at the same time have proper (eg, exponential) scaling for numerical advantage (so a half-dozen mooks is a real threat). Oh, and all the proper advantages for horses. And maybe even room for pistols, if I ever advance that far (hey, it's possible).
In the likelihood that such a system does not exist, a streamlined one would probably work better anyways.
~~~~
EDIT:
Fourth Unusual Requirement.
The setting's all but human-only; the PCs will all be at least. The non-human races are a bit... complex. For the most part they're based off Tolkien, but including works of his other than LotR; and they're still a far cry from modern interpretations.
(Spoiler'd because it's kinda off-tangent.)
"High Elves" and Mechanical Gnomes are OUT. Instead, both are taken from Tolkien -but not in way's you'd expect. Gnomes are based off the Drúedain, and the Elves are Tolkein's "Dark Elves", (nothing in common with modern Drow) which get barely a mention in the Silmarillion, but are implied to be equivilent to his Elves in his other works (e.g., sylvan elves).
It's sad, but Halflings have just been 'cooled' to death. The whole concept -that they were not the kind for adventuring- has just completely been obliterated.
Dwarves are in, but are definately not steampunk. Beards are little more than fashion, oaths are no more important than they are for everyone else in this setting, and they're just as at home above ground as under it. Essentially short humans with some culture differences.
Monsters are really monsterous, and individual. Don't ask anyone but a Wizard (eg, a Wise Man) to know a proper name for each.
The word "Race" in this setting really means "race" and not "species". The divisions between species is really quite arbitrary IRL anyways.
~~~~
In case anyone's interested about the world itself, I'd be happy to have someone to work with cooperatively (otherwise this'll just stew around in my head for another year or two).