Interest Check: Lords of Gossamer and Shadow

[MadPanda]

There used to be a thing called Amber Diceless Roleplaying.  You may have heard of it, yeah?  Played the hell out of that one.  Played it a lot, both as a GM and as a player...but usually the former.  It was one of my favorites.  Unfortunately, there were a couple of problems with Amber DRPG (like the huge cast of NPCs who were More Awesome Than You), and then the publisher sort of went under after only a single supplement...

A few years ago someone published a successor game which sort of solved a couple of those problems, and it seems like it'd be an awfully fun thing to play by post.  Since I generally can't write game ads worth a darn, I'll just quote pages 2 and 3 and leave this here for anyone who feels like a little questing through the interstitial spaces of the multiverse. 

Imagine your world, in all of its sprawling complexity and simplicity. Now know that it is but one of countless many, an infinitude of parallel-but-different existences, each real to those who dwell within it but made more substantial only by the intervention of true magical power. However, all of these many worlds are but veils of the faintest, most ethereal matter... as if made of gossamer. For this reason they are called the Gossamer worlds. Between them is only shadow and emptiness... utter nonexistence.

True power is what makes the Gossamer real, and lends substance to that which is without. There are two great and ever-opposed forces in the universe: stasis and entropy. Know these powers by their true names: Eidolon and Umbra. The Eidolon is form, the ideal structure of the universe … a sublime organization of form. The Umbra is its opposite, a shifting, entropic disorganization which is pure chaos and ultimately… destruction. All of our world and all parts of the countless otherworlds exist solely through their collision and their collusion.

Because of the sheer, unimaginable power of these forces and their intricate interplay, the Gossamer worlds are both similar and dissimilar, and echoes of them ripple from one to the next, twist and grow strange, or echo with familiarity. For this reason, Gossamer worlds may resemble their neighbors in all but the most minute details, or they may bear no similarity at all. Those folks with power may occasionally glimpse other Gossamer worlds. The veils between them may be weak, and those worlds that inhabit your myths, come from your legends, even your flights of fancy...those places may be Gossamer worlds glimpsed and visited countless times throughout history and in the time before history.

Now imagine an immeasurably long, unimaginably complex, forked and branching staircase, a span of steps and landings and halls, corridors and by-ways of near-infinite complexity. That is the Grand Stair. All along it are Doors... Doors that open into the Gossamer worlds. The Grand Stair connects all of the Gossamer worlds through the Doors: some Gossamer worlds have many Doors opening into it, while some have few or but one... and some Gossamer worlds have no Doors and cannot as of yet be reached. Between the Gossamer worlds lies the Shadow, an unfathomable depth of void and emptiness... and the Shadow is active, claiming Gossamer worlds sometimes temporarily, sometimes forever.

It is not known whether the Grand Stair was always there, unknown and waiting for the first beings able to pass through its Doors and walk upon it between worlds, or whether it was made within recorded time. Its mysteries are yet to be unlocked, but its use was readily apparent. The Doors of the Grand Stair opened occasionally, allowing random souls to wander its span... sometimes a simple step between one world and another, sometimes affording a fragment of a glimpse of the myriad of worlds it accesses. To those who could recognize what it represented, the Grand Stair represented the universe!

Before the Grand Stair made itself known, passage between the Gossamer worlds meant crossing the veil of Shadow, a rare and near-impossible feat, or an extraordinary freak occurrence. Now other worlds could be visited reliably, allowing privileged voyagers to amass secret knowledge about the hidden infrastructure of infinity.

The greatest of discoveries soon followed, outstripping even the notion of other worlds... these Masters became aware of the Eidolon and the Umbra, and earned the power to change reality itself by those dualistic, opposed principles. Quaint, barely functional magical traditions were given newfound potency, and powers such as Invocation, Wrighting, Cantrips, and Sorcery were codified and improved. The dross of one Gossamer world could be priceless in another, and items and creatures with nothing remarkable about them revealed immense power in other worlds, artifacts to be sought, quested for, or wars waged to possess.

The most amazing benefit conferred by the Grand Stair was of a personal nature. Those who traveled its length were forever changed... they grew stronger, reflexes quickened, life-spans increased, and magic ability and force of will were magnified considerably. These gifts were sometimes passed along bloodlines, sometimes appearing anew with no prior heritage, but the constant was that it was the first walk upon the Grand Stair which activated this higher state of being. Those who could walk the Grand Stair appointed themselves the Wardens of the Grand
Stair, and they used it to explore the countless other worlds it linked to, ruling as sovereigns of Gossamer and Shadow.
It would have been easy for these lords and ladies (self-dubbed the Gossamer Lords) to become the masters of the multiverse, but they were opposed... by the Dwimmerlaik, terrible savants of the Shadow. The Dwimmerlaik stalked the lengths of the Grand Stair, warring against its self-appointed Wardens, and sought to rule the Gossamer worlds themselves. The Dwimmerlaik’s ways were strange, their motives unfathomable, and they had access to the same powers the Lords and Ladies of the Gossamer worlds had unlocked... and, perhaps, other secret disciplines.

Eventually, the Dwimmerlaik were driven from the Grand Stair and the Gossamer worlds, and an uncertain peace has since reigned. However, the Gossamer Lords are wary of the return of their ancient enemy. Though other threats have arisen, mysteries emerged, and secret wars raged across infinity, the Gossamer worlds are still marked by that ancient battle between Dwimmerlaik and all those who walk upon the Grand Stair.

The Gossamer Lords have grown strong, created safe Domains within the manifold worlds, and alternately seek allies to aid against the Dwimmerlaik (or their own, more private enemies), or they actively strive against one another to achieve dominance throughout the Grand Stair. Some of these sovereigns began as legends in their own worlds, the truth of their origins unguessed at, while others have become legends, their reality reflecting like ripples across the Gossamer worlds.

It is into this setting your character has been plunged, and must survive against unimaginable, unfathomable enemies and challenges.

A Door has opened... will you walk through?

[jeflint]

Mark me as interested!

[HairyHeretic]

Interesting. What are the rules like?

[MadPanda]

In a nutshell:

In case of a conflict between characters, the most applicable attribute scores are compared.  The high score wins.  (...usually.)

Powers grant narrative permission to do different things.  For example, taking Warden of the Grand Stair allows you to access the Grand Stair to go from world to world, being able to detect, open, close, lock, and hold Doors, and so on.  Sorcery allows you to create, prepare, and use spells...which is almost but not quite a Vancian sort of thing.

Extras such as Artifacts, Allies, and Domains give you other tools to play with.

And depending on how your character generation goes, you may end up with either good luck, bad luck, or no particular whims of fortune either way.

[HairyHeretic]

Sounds interesting. What's the overall plot like?

[MadPanda]

That remains to be seen. Although...the obvious big ooga-booga threat is that the return of the Dwimmerlaik threat from Shadow.  It's difficult to discuss specifics when PCs can be from just about anywhere the player can imagine...    But since GoL&S lacks the umpteen More Awesome Than You NPCs in the cast that plagued Amber, whatever and wherever the PCs end up going will be pretty significant.

[HairyHeretic]

Sounds like it has potential alright

[MadPanda]

That's two...I get three, preferably four, we'll kick off.

[Empyrean]

I'm interested. I saw this setting a while back and I already have an idea for a character from the Tetsujin Shogunate. :)

[MadPanda]

That'll do. Such a lovely neighborhood, too. With such spring-like weather!

[Empyrean]

True!

It's a lovely wasteland. And the kaiju vs. giant robot battles only add to the atmosphere.

Also: https://thetrove.net/Books/Amber/Lords%20Of%20Gossamer%20And%20Shadow/

It has all the books people would need. :)

[Empyrean]

Name: Tokugawa Chihiro
Concept: Samurai warrior-queen of the Tetsujin Shogunate

Psyche: 20
Endurance: 20
Strength: Paragon
Warfare: Paragon

Powers: Master of the Grand Stair

Artifacts:
              Hoshi-no-Hikari (Light of the Stars): A naginata. The blade is pure prismatic starmetal, refined and forged by the Kappa. The handle is of starmetal-laced hardwood, burnished to a fine sheen and wrapped in the black metallic skin of an oni slain by the Iron Shogun himself.

   4pts. Deadly Damage
   4 pts. Invulnerable to Conventional Weapons
   4 pts. Mold Gossamer Reality
   4 pts. Limited Shapeshift (can become invisible or take the form of a tattoo when carrying it openly isn't feasible)

   Tsuki-no-Shukufuku (Moon's Blessing): A set of starmetal power armor, complete with a kabuto, forged by the Kappa to Chihiro's specifications. The helm has the face of a kappa as its' mask, though this can be retracted into the helmet.

   4pts. Invulnerable to Conventional Weapons
   4 pts. Limited Shapeshift
   

5pts. Lord of the Gossamer Worlds (ally)
3pts. Partisan Support (The Iron Shogun, lawful ruler of the Tetsujin Shogunate. This comes with the full political, social, and military backing of the Shogunate).
5pts. Good Stuff

Domain: The Tetsujin Shogunate. A medieval Earth-like world where Umbra-infused Oni and Eidolon-infused Kappa crashlanded after a space battle, destroying much of the world. The Oni have enslaved most of the world and constantly strive to break through the last resistance, centered on Japan. The Japanese, backed by the Kappa, have developed power armor and gigantic mecha known as Tetsujin to fight the Oni, all under the command of the Iron Shogun who raised Chihiro as his daughter.

   1.pt Personal Domain
   2pts. Control of Time Flow
   4 pts. Guarded (Chihiro severed the original Door to this reality and created a new one within the outer guard barracks of Edo Castle. The Door is guarded by the legion of power-armored samurai and the Tetsujin who guard the castle.)

Appearance: Chihiro stands at 5'1" tall, with a slender but well-muscled frame. While she does have very noticable feminine curves, she doesn't dress in such a way as to emphasize them. When not on the battlefield she dresses in the elaborate kimonos that befits her rank as Shogun. She favors a rainbow of different colors, and the patterns of sakura blossoms, cherry trees, and elaborate works stitched into her clothes, though she avoids flamboyance. Her body is toned and hardened from years of both training and battlefield experience. Out of her kabuto, her long black hair is usually braided into a warrior's topknot and ponytail. She has brown eyes and the features of her native Japan stamped on her face. 

Personality: Chihiro is stern. She's had to be. On her world, chauvanistic attitudes were and still are common, to a greater or lesser extent. It's only been the population attrition caused by the Oni war that has finally forced the Shogunate to begin training female warriors. It was that or watch all humanity go extinct. That didn't mean the men had to be happy about it. Even though she was raised as the Iron Shogun's only child, and was thus a Princess, her trainers in the art of Bushido made no exceptions or allowances for her rank or gender. The oni and their minions certainly wouldn't. As the Shogun's daughter, she was expected to set the example for female warriors, and by the time she was six, she was determined to exceed all expectations.

In battle she can be cold, stern, and pragmatic. She's willing to do what it takes to beat back the Oni and their spawn and brooks no opposition. In public she maintains her tatemae or on, her face. Gracious when she can be, educated, polite, but always with a core of steel as tempered and honed as that of the blade of her beloved naginata. She doesn't do damsel-in-distress and would be more likely to rescue herself if she was captured. At the same time, she has all the social graces one would expect of royalty and can be quite charming in conversation and ettiquette. She tends to listen more than she talks, giving the appearance of being demure while really she's nudging a conversation along in the paths she would take it. She takes in and welcomes different points of view, but once she's made a decision, her word is final. She is flexible and adaptable, but always holds true to herself.

When in private, or among those she trusts implictly, Chihiro is a very different person. She's warm, sweet, and more willing to express what troubles her. She'll unburden herself to close friends and reveal thoughts or feelings that she would never dare reveal in public. Her honne, or inner self, is the true face she hides behind the mask of the Iron Shogun. Notably, even in her most relaxed moments, her naginata and daisho are always close to her, for she is samurai and will not part from her weapons. She lives three feet from death, always. Having recently become a mother, she is fiercely loving and loyal to her infant daughter.

History: Chihiro has no memories of her mother. She was born thirty-three years ago, and she has been told that her mother was a highly-placed noblewoman, one Minamimoto Ai, who died giving birth to her. Whether that's true or not, she was accepted as the child of Tokugawa Takahiro, the Iron Shogun. Takahiro was many things, but prepared to be a father he was not. Her early years were spent among the ladies of the court, with her chief nanny being one of Ai's handmaidens, the Lady Mitsuru, who taught her the ways of the Court. Both the formal ways and the informal ones that she would need to know. As a result of this, she learned early that her father had taken a succession of lovers, both noblewomen and beautiful geishas, in an effort to have more children, and specifically, to have a boy to be his heir. But for all his efforts over the years, Chihiro was his only child and thus, by law, his heiress.

Takahiro was a distant father. He honestly didn't feel comfortable around a daughter and wished (sometimes in public) that he had a son. But he was not totally unloving. Even though Chihiro reminded him of her mother as she grew into her looks, Takahiro saw to it that she received the best education. When he was forced to acknowledge the need for female samurai, he decided that the royal family must set the example for this new breed of warrior. At the age of six he turned his daughter over to his best samurai to begin her training. The Iron Shogun's trainers were harsh. Many were resentful of the need for female samurai and were not shy about expressing their dislike for the girls they were forced to train. The hours were brutal. The training was oftentimes just shy of abuse, and sometimes crossed that line. And for Chihiro it was worse. Because after bushi training, she was bathed and fed, then turned back over to Lady Mitsuru and her coterie to learn the ways of politics, along with historical classics, playing the biwa, and all the other arts expected of a woman of noble breeding. There were times she collapsed on her bed in utter exhaustion.

But all the long hours were worth it, in her view. At the age of sixteen she completed her training and her father formally bestowed upon her the daisho (katana and wakizashi) that marked her place as samurai. She took her adult name, Chihiro, and her father presented her with the suit of starmetal power armor and the starmetal naginata that he had commissioned from the Kappa for this momentous occasion. It was the first time she had ever seen her father smile at her. He also presented her with a heirloom of the family: an elaborately lacquered wooden box the size of a human fist. When she opened it later, she discovered a simple metal key attached to a chain. Puzzled, she wore it beneath her armor for years with no clue as to what it was or what it unlocked. Her father claimed to have no idea, and said only that it was something passed from one Iron Shogun to their heir upon their becoming an adult.

After three years of additional training and standing guard with the soldiers of Edo Castle, Chihiro made history by becoming the first woman to pilot her own Tetsujin: the Chrysanthemum Shogun. For the next eleven years she piloted her Tetsujin, starting as simply one pilot among many and building her way to command of the giant mecha force, in charge of the defense of the home isles. She earned much glory on the battlefield, and earned the respect of both the soldiers and the commoners by her deeds in battle and her fair but stern hand in the politics of Japan. As Takahiro aged, more of his duties fell to his daughter, and being both Commander of the Tetsujin and Crown Princess lead many to develop admiration for her. Even some of the old hardliner chauvinists.

It was in battle that she found her way to the Grand Stair. Japan came under attack from the Oni in a concentrated wave, lead by their ruler, the Dragon King. Chihiro's Tetsujin defenders were hard-pressed and falling back. Chihiro decided that she had to draw the line. She took the Chrysanthemum Shogun and with two others, charged the Dragon King directly while the others tackled the center of the wave. She battled the Dragon King for over an hour, forcing the great oni away from the home islands and out to sea. Eventually the Dragon King successfully breached the reactor core of the Chrysantheum Shogun and Chihiro could not eject in time. The Tetsujin blew up around her. She should have been dead. She knows this. As it was, she was badly scorched and battered, with several ribs broken and a gash pouring blood into her eyes. If it weren't for her power armor, she'd be dead. She came to as the waves washed her up at the severed head of a Tetsujin on the coast. Dizzy and bleeding, she climbed into the hatch of the Tetsujin to get out of the waves. Inside she found a hatch that should have lead to the cockpit. For the first time, she felt a strange warm glow at her chest. She reached to it, and found the key she had long worn starting to glow. When she inserted it into the lock of the hatch, the door opened onto a bizarre array of staircases. Thinking she was delusional and dying, she stumbled through the door.

For the next two years she wandered. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like she was being called or guided by something. Along the way she found healing thanks to the Doormen, and the support of a mentor. It was difficult for her at first, but in time she came to learn more about what had happened. What she was now, a Gossamer Lady, and what that meant. She spent some time in Shatterlight, being tutored by Vala on the history of the Gossamer Lords. The Grand Stair guided her into situations where she always came away having learned some lesson. In time she became a Warden of the Stair, and then a Master after her sojourn through the Labyrinth. Eventually, having seen wonders she could never explain to her people, her feet took her back towards her home, the world known as the Tetsujin Shogunate. She claimed it as her own personal Domain and changed its' Door to prevent any aquatic Oniblooded from finding it. She learned that her father had died just a few months before she came home and, after killing all would-be usurpers, took her place as the Iron Shogun. The first-ever female Shogun at that. She swore that her world would know an end to the Oni and their campaign, and has begun diligently building her forces and using her newfound abilities to save her world before she even considers getting involved in the affairs of others or the intrigues of the Gossamer Lords, which she doesn't much care for. To be certain of her world's future, she selected a nobleman, one Lord Isshiki Ichiro, to be her consort and sire her daughter Natsume. What she has with Ichiro is not love, precisely. She's never known love. But it is duty, and a legacy for the future.

Colors: Chrysanthemum and iridescent rainbow.
Symbol: A sakura tree with a naginata and a katana set before it. The naginata stands tall and proud, and the katana lies before it.

   

[MadPanda]

Well, you obviously know what you're doing... (laugh).

I had thought about having folks not share their points, especially since I am not big on the pvp side of these games, but if you would all prefer a more open approach I can roll with it.

[Empyrean]

Actually, I don't. This will be my first time playing the system. I just read through the books one weekend when I was bored and an idea hit me so I wrote it out. I never thought I'd get to use it. :)

[MadPanda]

In which case I hope that I do not disappoint.

Open game it is. 100 point base. I'm contemplating extra points for quiz questions and/or well-developed backstory.

Rating preferences? I'd rather go no harder than Bondage (non-con squicks me out).

[Empyrean]

Quiz questions?

And does Chihiro's backstory qualify for extra points?

[MadPanda]

There's a list of questions in there somewhere meant to prompt a bit of creativity. In Am ber they were called Character Quiz Questions or the like and my house rule was to allow 2 extra points for each one answered up to a maximum of 10 points. (Where do you get your laundry done? was my personal favorite.)

Not sure what we will do here just yet. That includes Chihiro's...but in this case it would replace the character diary and campaign log options if I do that.

[Empyrean]

I found the quiz. Can I go ahead and start answering questions? Will that earn extra points?

[MadPanda]

Let me get enough time after work to dig into this. Also, I want to hear from the microfox and H2 before I make command decisions since this will have an effect on them as well.



I prefer to err on the side of generosity, but after that one game with that one player who spent 104 points during the auction because the GM hadn't explained that Pattern was, like, 50 points...

[jeflint]

Maybe I'm missing something... but I don't see anything in that link that says Main Book or something like that.

I talked to MP and he has a basic idea of what I wanna play. But I'd still like to read the rules and get a better understanding of it. :)


NM, found it. It's called Lords of Gossamer & Shadow

[Empyrean]

So how's the game looking so far?

[MadPanda]

Was AFK this weekend. Hope to have something up in the next day or so.

UPDATE: running a bit behind, but if I can think of a title we're off to the races!    Stand by, breakfast clubbers!

[MadPanda]

This took about 72 hours longer than originally anticipated, but I finally thought of a title!  Pardon our dust as some construction is still going to be happening for a bit.  BUT!  We are open for business.

OOC: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=303845.0

Char-gen and Cast Thread:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=303846.0

Empyrean, please feel free to post your character! AND you get 20 extra points to play with.  10 for that backstory and the work you've put in, and 10 points that everybody gets.

Main Thread: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=303847.0

[MadPanda]

Looking to reboot this one!  Kind of had a failure to launch because reasons (RL caught up with the interested parties, I think.) but hey, it's back on the table and we're looking for a few good brave stair-climbing heroes.

[Athem]

I'm interested. I'm a fan of the Amber RPG, and I've got the rules for LoGaS.