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BlacKnight
2018-07-23, 08:42 AM
Hello everyone.

I'm thinking about a campaign in which players get the role of super poweful wizards. They don't go around having adventures, but they are the force behind the scenes that plot for things to happen.
The game should cover a very long time period (decades, or even centuries) and the players would make long terms plans to change the world or thwart other wizards plans.
Stuff like making eugenics with the royal family to produce a ruler with certain skills, kick-starting an industrial revolution, making a city get more and more corrupt to allow a demonic invasion...

Now the first game system that you could think of is Ars Magica, but I discarded it because I'm not interested in having detailed rules for magic. I want to focus more on the interactions between the various plots, the wizards and the world.
I want the players to think "So my rival is sending assassins to kill the hero I'm raising before he becomes an adult ? Should I send him to some guardian ? But who can I trust ? Or could I start training him immediately ? But what consequences could that have on the boy ?".
I don't want them to think "So should I make a new spell or getting more Vis so that my new rod will have more penetration ?".

What I need is more of a system that focus on planting plans and let them evolve. Maybe a game about espionage would be better suited. Or maybe some sort of kingdom manager simulator.
Or maybe I'm approaching this from the wrong perspective. I'm not really sure about how making this in rules.

zlefin
2018-07-23, 10:41 AM
so you're looking for system suggestions?
hmmm, I don't have anythin ghighly useful to suggest.
I know some of the whitewolf games have some intrigue support, probably vampire more than most, but I don't recall them having it at quite the level you'd like.

pathfinder has made a variety of rulesets to deal with thinsg like this, but from what I've never played them, and most of them only seem to be passable at best, and have a lot of issues if you really try to use them.

are there any shadowrun rules for playing as a corporation itself? if so those would probably be adaptable.

Knaight
2018-07-23, 10:55 AM
This is basically what Nobilis is made for, though by default the characters are less wizards and more gods. That said the wizards described here sound powerful enough to blur that line.

Nifft
2018-07-23, 11:12 AM
Sounds more like a Civilization / Grand Strategy simulation game than a tabletop RPG.

CharonsHelper
2018-07-23, 11:27 AM
This is basically what Nobilis is made for, though by default the characters are less wizards and more gods. That said the wizards described here sound powerful enough to blur that line.

Except that Nobilis is terrible? :smallwink:

(Note: If it's your thing, that's fine. But I tried to get through it and I literally couldn't force my way through the writing.

JoeJ
2018-07-23, 11:31 AM
Perhaps something based on Fate?

CharonsHelper
2018-07-23, 11:34 AM
Perhaps something based on Fate?

Yeah - as much as I'm not a big fan myself, this seems like something which is better accomplished with a game more on the "storytelling" end of the spectrum.

Though curious - do you want the PCs to be working together or opposed?

BlacKnight
2018-07-23, 04:14 PM
This is basically what Nobilis is made for, though by default the characters are less wizards and more gods. That said the wizards described here sound powerful enough to blur that line.

Yeah, a game about gods should be similar to what I have in mind.
Although the 3rd edition book seems to be 300 pages. Is that setting info for the major part ?


Yeah - as much as I'm not a big fan myself, this seems like something which is better accomplished with a game more on the "storytelling" end of the spectrum.

Though curious - do you want the PCs to be working together or opposed?

Fate is indeed something I'm considering, but it lacks the long term interactions between elements. Maybe they could be done with some tweaking of the Create an Advantage action.
The faction system of Star Without Number is a thing that comes to my mind: it seemed like a useless solo game for the GM, but it could have some uses here.

About the PCs: it's something that I've not decided definitely. The players will be able to act on their own. They should cooperate in theory, but in practice they could make plans that are in opposition with each other. So I think to use secret messages like in Paranoia. The possible issue is that the secret actions could be much more complex than in Paranoia, resulting in too much time spent on Whatsapp or by moving in other rooms.
Altough there will be only 2 players (maybe 3, but it's unlikely) for this game so it's not too much of a problem.

icefractal
2018-07-23, 04:46 PM
I've been looking for something like this as well, so I'm curious what turns up.

Fate could possibly do it if you push the fractal idea; have aspects and skills that exist at different scales, you can only use aspects at a given scale (or better) to act at that scale, and only assets one scale below (or better) to create them. So you can use "My army of skeletons" to help create "Ruler of the northern lands", but you couldn't just use "Bob the tavern-keeper is cheering me on" for the same thing.

However, you mentioned the players potentially working against each-other - do you mean in an actually competitive way? If so, you may need something a bit more "concrete" - Fate is very simple on a game-level - and while Ars Magica doesn't may not be the system you want, the setting material may come in handy for having magic with internally consistent rules, and a world that takes it into account.