BerzerkerUnit
2022-03-17, 11:34 PM
This was originally posted on RPG.net. So I've had some feedback. Here's the original post:
(On my lunch at work, so this is very undercooked)
recently ran a He-Man inspired game where each PC was the -blank- Lord of something and there was the royal NPCs known as the Rage Queen, the Fate King, the Fang King etc. Among the PCs there was a Flood Lord, a Dragon Lord, a Silent Lord. Etc.
Currently watching Ranking of Kings (one of the best anime ever).
Saw a YouTube vid from Dungeon Masterpiece about high level games.
Got me thinking, what if you had a game where each of the players was a King and were brought together for a tournament Arc to determine the Ranking for the next year (decade, wtvr). Amid the tournament they discover a plot to seek out the Hall of the Zero King.
the Zero King is some kind of superboss, maybe a true dragon, maybe the tarrasque Or a Solar or something with nigh unlimited wealth
man NPC competitor called the Kingdomless King, someone that was just so ultrabadass they had no choice but to let them compete.
There could be assassination attempts (from sinister PVP efforts to comically unprepared npcs). Someone using the Dream spell to randomly prevent long rests.
I was thinking of some 2 deck card draw for determining match ups with a luck stat for extra draws.
any other ideas for subplots are welcome, maybe something about a marriage to some mystic consort reserved for the No. 1 King.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
_____________________________
Since I don't want to repost someone else's response without permission, I've added my response to their feedback below, hopefully you can make any inferences necessary to understand what they've already said.
Thank you so much for your feedback.
As stated this was a hastily scribbled out post from my phone during a lunch break, so it was undercooked.
the actual write up I started to work on after work made it the Royal Ranking. Ranking of Kings is the name of the show and wasn’t intended to exclude anyone.
I started to incorporate some concepts other than wins, involving playing to crowds earning you points. Crits getting bonus points (to shore up Martial performance). And good sportsmanship bonus points. There’s no way to lose points, but playing nice gets you more. So attacking while a foe is down is fine, but you get bonus points for helping them up instead.
Here’s some of the rest:
There are a few additional stats:
Retainers/Equipment/Crowd.
You assign a d4, D8, or D12 to each.
You can add the retainers die as a bonus when dealing with problems extra manpower can help with, or summon an NPC of CR=1/2 Roll of die to stand in for you in a fight/quest outside the competition.
example: You set retainer as a d8. A dragon is attacking a town a few days ride away from the competition, you don’t want to burn resources riding out and fighting it so you roll your retainer die and get a 6. You can summon a CR 3 NPC, outfit them with any equipment you have left over or choose to sacrifice. Alternatively, let’s say a massive fire, you can roll Athletics or something and add your retainer die to a check to put it out. Successful feats like that between competitions might temporarily inflate your Crowd die or earn a reward from a competitor whose people you saved.
Every monarch brings a supply of gear and potions/scrolls/etc. before each competition the Equipment die can be rolled for bonus items from a chart with Healing Potion at the bottom and better magic stuff as you go up. You can lower the die step to roll for extra stuff.
Crowd die is rolled during competitions. Every Monarch has their own fans.
As a bonus action you can play to your crowd, by default this gets you points. As an Action you can play to your crowd and the opposition’s crowd too. You roll performance against your foe’s passive performance and get to roll both dice. An exceptional roll deals psychic damage to your opponent equal to the result of crowd rolls, so a Monk might stunlock their target and spend round after round asking if everyone can smell what the rock is cooking instead of beating on an incapacitated foe, earning bonus points for sportsmanship and crowd work.
meanwhile, the Monarch of Assassins can absolutely have an illusion of themself walk-in to the ring while they slip in invisibly and shank their foe in a surprise round. That’s going to net minimal points and they may leave Rank 40 overall, but also, everyone else will know not to mess with them unless they want the Assassin to stop playing nice.
the Points based system for Ranking also means everyone plays to the end, so there is no knock out. The expectation of participating in every event, even after a hopeless lead is taken by one or more opponents, would exemplify the difference between a ruler that put their faith in personal tools and power vs one that relied on good followers and the will of their people.
nevertheless, some players like playing with toys more than winning so there’s little doubt a suitably appealing Equipment table will have someone putting their d12 there.
As for the “mystic bride” concept, if you’ve ever watched Shoujo Kakumei Utena or El-Hazard and know the story behind Anthy or Ifurita, then you might get why the very same reason you say “absolutely not” is also a compelling narrative reason for them to exist.
the being in question, gender identity aside, introduces all those questions about free will, humanity, the soul, etc that those “prizes” represent in those stories. “The Queen” if you’ll forgive the chess pun, is exactly that, a piece that allows the top ruler to dominate the board.
the Uncrowned King, be they make or female, can present an opposing view to the PCs standpoint. If they play morally grey or wicked rulers that want the Queen for the power they represent, then the Uncrowned King is an Isekai Protagonist trying to free the first person they met from the bondage of their role in the current system, even though it could lead to another age of wars.
if the players are heroes that recognize the sanctity of self determination and think the Queen should be freed, then the Uncrowned King is a relic of an age past, recently awakened and seeking the tool his people crafted to end all wars through total domination.
(On my lunch at work, so this is very undercooked)
recently ran a He-Man inspired game where each PC was the -blank- Lord of something and there was the royal NPCs known as the Rage Queen, the Fate King, the Fang King etc. Among the PCs there was a Flood Lord, a Dragon Lord, a Silent Lord. Etc.
Currently watching Ranking of Kings (one of the best anime ever).
Saw a YouTube vid from Dungeon Masterpiece about high level games.
Got me thinking, what if you had a game where each of the players was a King and were brought together for a tournament Arc to determine the Ranking for the next year (decade, wtvr). Amid the tournament they discover a plot to seek out the Hall of the Zero King.
the Zero King is some kind of superboss, maybe a true dragon, maybe the tarrasque Or a Solar or something with nigh unlimited wealth
man NPC competitor called the Kingdomless King, someone that was just so ultrabadass they had no choice but to let them compete.
There could be assassination attempts (from sinister PVP efforts to comically unprepared npcs). Someone using the Dream spell to randomly prevent long rests.
I was thinking of some 2 deck card draw for determining match ups with a luck stat for extra draws.
any other ideas for subplots are welcome, maybe something about a marriage to some mystic consort reserved for the No. 1 King.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
_____________________________
Since I don't want to repost someone else's response without permission, I've added my response to their feedback below, hopefully you can make any inferences necessary to understand what they've already said.
Thank you so much for your feedback.
As stated this was a hastily scribbled out post from my phone during a lunch break, so it was undercooked.
the actual write up I started to work on after work made it the Royal Ranking. Ranking of Kings is the name of the show and wasn’t intended to exclude anyone.
I started to incorporate some concepts other than wins, involving playing to crowds earning you points. Crits getting bonus points (to shore up Martial performance). And good sportsmanship bonus points. There’s no way to lose points, but playing nice gets you more. So attacking while a foe is down is fine, but you get bonus points for helping them up instead.
Here’s some of the rest:
There are a few additional stats:
Retainers/Equipment/Crowd.
You assign a d4, D8, or D12 to each.
You can add the retainers die as a bonus when dealing with problems extra manpower can help with, or summon an NPC of CR=1/2 Roll of die to stand in for you in a fight/quest outside the competition.
example: You set retainer as a d8. A dragon is attacking a town a few days ride away from the competition, you don’t want to burn resources riding out and fighting it so you roll your retainer die and get a 6. You can summon a CR 3 NPC, outfit them with any equipment you have left over or choose to sacrifice. Alternatively, let’s say a massive fire, you can roll Athletics or something and add your retainer die to a check to put it out. Successful feats like that between competitions might temporarily inflate your Crowd die or earn a reward from a competitor whose people you saved.
Every monarch brings a supply of gear and potions/scrolls/etc. before each competition the Equipment die can be rolled for bonus items from a chart with Healing Potion at the bottom and better magic stuff as you go up. You can lower the die step to roll for extra stuff.
Crowd die is rolled during competitions. Every Monarch has their own fans.
As a bonus action you can play to your crowd, by default this gets you points. As an Action you can play to your crowd and the opposition’s crowd too. You roll performance against your foe’s passive performance and get to roll both dice. An exceptional roll deals psychic damage to your opponent equal to the result of crowd rolls, so a Monk might stunlock their target and spend round after round asking if everyone can smell what the rock is cooking instead of beating on an incapacitated foe, earning bonus points for sportsmanship and crowd work.
meanwhile, the Monarch of Assassins can absolutely have an illusion of themself walk-in to the ring while they slip in invisibly and shank their foe in a surprise round. That’s going to net minimal points and they may leave Rank 40 overall, but also, everyone else will know not to mess with them unless they want the Assassin to stop playing nice.
the Points based system for Ranking also means everyone plays to the end, so there is no knock out. The expectation of participating in every event, even after a hopeless lead is taken by one or more opponents, would exemplify the difference between a ruler that put their faith in personal tools and power vs one that relied on good followers and the will of their people.
nevertheless, some players like playing with toys more than winning so there’s little doubt a suitably appealing Equipment table will have someone putting their d12 there.
As for the “mystic bride” concept, if you’ve ever watched Shoujo Kakumei Utena or El-Hazard and know the story behind Anthy or Ifurita, then you might get why the very same reason you say “absolutely not” is also a compelling narrative reason for them to exist.
the being in question, gender identity aside, introduces all those questions about free will, humanity, the soul, etc that those “prizes” represent in those stories. “The Queen” if you’ll forgive the chess pun, is exactly that, a piece that allows the top ruler to dominate the board.
the Uncrowned King, be they make or female, can present an opposing view to the PCs standpoint. If they play morally grey or wicked rulers that want the Queen for the power they represent, then the Uncrowned King is an Isekai Protagonist trying to free the first person they met from the bondage of their role in the current system, even though it could lead to another age of wars.
if the players are heroes that recognize the sanctity of self determination and think the Queen should be freed, then the Uncrowned King is a relic of an age past, recently awakened and seeking the tool his people crafted to end all wars through total domination.