Want to try new systems.

[RSGAlex]

So, the spookiest time of the year has passed, and I'm feeling like I want to do something more here. Something frightening.

I'm going to see if there's interested players that want to try to systems I've. NEVER. RUN. Before.

The first one is called Spellbound Kingdoms. Now, I'd give some superlatives, but there's a lack of other near-Renaisance styled fantasy games, so let's say that it's a good game that's some organization issues away from being really good or great. Magic's a bit between High and Low fantasy, there's legitimate feats of great architecture and engineering (which you can make at high levels of Engineer), and just two generations ago you had the equivalent of Luther's Theses to not only upset the standing balance between the High and Low Gods, but also to spark the idea of the importance of all humans (and trolls). Oh, and it's about the only fantasy game I can think of that has but two species in it. In this case humans (with four types, two naturally occurring, two made with magic) and trolls (two kinds, one just kinda got smuggled in for reasons that none knoweth).

The idea would be to have the characters be moderately experience (level 3 or 4) people who were in one of the Doomhold lands when the king finished a mad plan and ripped his land free of the bones of the earth and made a great island with the bits of mountain carried along. Unfortunately, in addition to angering a great number of nobles, merchants, and soldiers, the backlash of the high spell ended up claiming the petty lord's life, as well as that of the court. There is chaos, opportunity, and a chance to use the organization and war rules too.


The second one is one I pitched in the past, Double Cross. It's a conspiracy supers setting where powers come from a reality warping thing confused initially for a virus. And with the power comes the risk of becoming a hollowed out monster called a Gjaum, far stronger but also slave to a singular Impulse's drives. Some Gjaum are personable, some little more than hungry animals, but they're not the greatest threat. That would False Hearts, a group bent on controlling a fully infected world even though it'd destroy billions.

The inital plot would be that before everyone was ordinary people, high school students, off duty cops, teachers, what have you, when the bus they were on suddenly exploded. You wake up in a strange, sterile room, dressed in medical gowns. You're quickly told two things. One, you're the only survivors, thanks to your new powers. Two, there's a planted agent among the group. So please, stay calm while backgrounds are checked. Then the lights go out for a moment, the doors fly open, and there's no time. An attack has happened to keep the plant from being found out and now everyone has to escape.

So, either of these sound interesting? Enough to get a group together for?

[Muse]

*pounce* 

I would love a chance to p lay Double Cross, RSG, and I know a few others to nudge over here too. 

[wander]

I happen to own Double Cross. Find it incredibly crunchy, so perhaps playing it with others may help me get over my fear of it's many rururururules. 

[RSGAlex]

It's crunchy, but also quite simple if you can either write down the effects of powers or have cheat cards/sheets. I also have a spreadsheet made by another that does the basic maths.

[Atarn]

Double Cross Eh? I'd be interested in that. Got it from a friend as a B-day gift a couple of years back.

[Lynx181]

I've been interested in double cross for a while, and I hope we can get a game of it going.

[RSGAlex]

Well, I've got the numbers interest.

[wander]

May take a bit of time to make a sheet, hopefully can something by the end of the week/the weekend though.

[Muse]

Any themes to think of? 

Setting especialy?  (Tokyo?  L.A.?  Madrid?  :)  ) 

But also sexual themes?  Should this be 100% focused on normal Duble Cross stuff, with minimal sex not instigated by players?  (Either with loises or other PCs.)  Or might there by other themes floating around provided the players involved are comfortable with them? 

[RSGAlex]

I'll probably make up an N-like setting. Given what I've been watching recently, you can expect something like Koholint or New New Zanzibarland (poisonous hamsters optional). Or something completely different because I might move on to something else.

And if anyone wants to pitch stuff they may want to see/do (other than perversse uses of powers, which I'm kinda assuming) ddo so now.

[Muse]

   Hm?  Oh, an alternative Double Cross setting? 

  I don't know those anime? 

[RSGAlex]

Pretty standard, just different city. (Unlike the momnusu thing elsewhere and years back.)

And the names are a Zelda reference and a Metal Gear reference. The second a little changed because I saw the first thought I had already used.

[wander]

I got the Metal Gear reference, I played MG2 when it was included with MGS3 Subsistence. 

Long as I don't have to catch any pidgeons or decipher tap codes, I'm good. 

[PervCelebre]

Have you done Fantasy AGE?

[Thufir Hawat]

I'd like to try Spellbound Kingoms, personally. Thinking of a merchant character looking to explore new places, see new people, meet new women...
And he arrives in the time of crisis you mentioned. You know what such a character would try to do, right ? The organisational rules would feature pretty heavily into it.


Sorry to say that, but I'm definitely not up for Double Cross, so in case you've decided to run that already, I'll have to apologise for the interruption .

[RSGAlex]

Thufir, if you can get enough for Spellbound Kingdoms, I'll try two at once.

PervCelebre, not that I know of.

[Thufir Hawat]

Thufir, if you can get enough for Spellbound Kingdoms, I'll try two at once.

Well, let me see what I can do !

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Thufir poked me about this. I'm interested in the possibility of a Spellbound Kingdoms game, but I haven't got a character in mind just yet...Still considering. :)

[RSGAlex]

Thufir poked me about this. I'm interested in the possibility of a Spellbound Kingdoms game, but I haven't got a character in mind just yet...Still considering. :)

Got an idea as to shadow, social, combat, or magic? I wonder if I'll get a lot of orgs or one big one.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Got an idea as to shadow, social, combat, or magic? I wonder if I'll get a lot of orgs or one big one.

I'm mostly debating between a noble or rogue, so probably social, but I haven't really fastened onto anything yet.
EDIT: Looking mostly Social, I believe, even if I do go rogue...Though I'm leaning hard noble right now.

[Thufir Hawat]

RSGA, what's the minimum number of people we'd need to have before you agree to run SK?

[thaumaturgeterashi]

Add one to the Spellbound Kingdoms roster.  I think I'll run an agile swashbuckler type.  Someone with light armor, a sword in each hand, and maybe a small selection of offensive spells for ranged combat when need be.

[Muse]

  i'd like to do a katana wielder with dual syndrome.  One of those syndromes area Angel Halo.  :) 

[RSGAlex]

RSGA, what's the minimum number of people we'd need to have before you agree to run SK?

Three. I'd prefer four, but three is enough.

  i'd like to do a katana wielder with dual syndrome.  One of those syndromes area Angel Halo.  :) 

For best active dual wielding, Neumann.

I'm mostly debating between a noble or rogue, so probably social, but I haven't really fastened onto anything yet.
EDIT: Looking mostly Social, I believe, even if I do go rogue...Though I'm leaning hard noble right now.

Good. Any ideas from where?

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Three. I'd prefer four, but three is enough.

Hurrah, I think we have three?

Good. Any ideas from where?

Mmmmmn. I'm currently kicking around the idea of a member of a small embassy from Azenahal, originally having sailed up the Rill aimed at Akra to attempt the same sort of trade mutuality which currently encompasses Dunlor and Dynn, as part of a covert effort to try to garner potential allies against the growing possibility of the Reach rolling southward across the other "lesser" kingdoms. I'm imagining that they've had very poor luck in Akra (which is noted as a competitor to Azenahal) and perhaps more moderate success in Avedine, and my character is one of an even smaller sub-consulate sent further up the Rill and into the Doomholds to investigate what manner of trade might be made in ores from the mountains for spices and the like from the east...A difficult enough mission (given that any such trade would need to pass up the Rill through the competitive and no-doubt-tax-hungry realm of Akra) which was rather suddenly disrupted when the Doomhold in question went airborne.

I figure this would provide for some degree of minor Organization support locally, with more potentially to be called upon from without, given enough delay. Maybe I'm thinking about it backwards? This is my first time actually considering playing this game rather than just reading it, and there aren't exactly a thousand actual-plays and reviews online to really help me get a feel for things... But it makes for a position where a noble might rise quickly to local power, perhaps, if things aren't gang aft agley.

Why Azenahal? Well, it's the most detailed of the 'lesser' kingdoms by a longshot (although p.212 suggests that it is on par with Akra, Marnh and Thyre). It also has a sort of Indo-Aryan-Greco thing going, apparently, and thus lends itself to a kind of Arabian Nights motif (pretty clearly, from the bits of culture which are detailed) and a definite expectation of decadence (hey, why not? ).

It doesn't have the detail  that, say, Thyre or Akra do in terms of having a written-out Ceremony, nor does it have any specifics about Culture. I'd be happy to discuss any ideas you might have about those, or try to come up with something for your approval.