Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)

Dear Penthouse Forum,

I never thought I'd be writing you...

The thing is, I never did think I'd be writing a blog. I never really thought I was interesting enough to justify it. And, truth of the matter is I still don't, but I was encourage by Mark Wiand to journal my thoughts and efforts as I create a new fantasy game and it seemed like a good idea at the time. But then I was high on crack at that point and by the time I came off my buzz it was too late to stop, and here we are.

So, my first post. I know that eventually I will blog on plenty of other topics but for the moment let's confine ourselves to gaming, and specifically the creation of this new game. It's a fantasy RPG run in the Hero (Champions) system, for starters, and I intend to do something unique (for me) with it -- I intend to run it both as a face to face and a PBEM game. This is somewhat in the nature of an experiment for me, to see how the two campaigns wind up different.

The inspiration for this game comes mostly from the Arthurian legends, and specifically the idea that when Arthur dies, so dies the dream that Camelot represented. All the ideals, all the sophistication, all the nobility and honor that Arthur represents falls to pieces when he's not there to hold everything together, and that's the end of the old tales. But of course it's not the end of the story -- people live on, trying to make sense of what happened. Some will try to preserve the glory in the face of a wave of barbarians and bandits that comes in the ensuing chaos, but the fact is that most folks are either not in a position to do anything but survive or else not of the inclination to retrain their baser impulses when the hand that guided them lies still. And so civilization is wiped out in most places, survives in a bastardized form in others, and is maintained (or attempts are made to maintain it) in one or two spots. What do the PCs do in that setting? What do they prioritize and what do they let slide?

The fact is that maintaining high morals and codes of honor is a hell of a challenge when the world is falling apart. The PCs will find themselves in one small corner of the old kingdom, sandwiched between two groups of violent barbarians and the kingdom of the usurper who cause the death of the old king in the first place. Their leaders are determined to maintain as much of the old glory as possible, but what's possible? Their resources are extremely limited, they're few in number, they face ruthless opposition and every day that they remain inactive more is lost. Everywhere they look there's a crisis -- so what do they address first? And more importantly how far will they go to do what they need to do? Will they compromise the codes of honor that they hold so dear to achieve good and necessary ends -- and if they do, what toll will that take on them?

Couple that with the fact that I'm divorcing this from the traditional Arthurian English setting, and even from the traditional Western European fantasy setting -- my cultural model is going to be medieval Poland with a lot of other very early Slavic influences -- and the differences created by the variance of cultural expectations should be a lot of fun to explore. I do hope my players take that aspect and run with it because it's that aspect that's going to make this game unique, at least for me and what I've run.

So there's the rough overview. In my next posts I'll be addressing some issues specific to the game like the setting, the culture, and the challenges of running the same game for two different groups and in two very different ways.

And let this be a lesson to me: just because I write it doesn't mean anyone gives a damn.