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| | == The Style Guide == | | == The Style Guide == |
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| − | This is a section subject to further modification and clarification. I absolutely encourage players to bring up any issue related to the game's style either in the OOC thread, or with me personally via PM. These guidelines are designed to make the game fun, comfortable for the players, dramatic, and fast-moving. If the game is failing in any of those respects, I encourage you to bring it to my attention. Obviously, we've all been playing the game together long enough that we should all be on roughly the same page. This is more a codification of things I've already been encouraging rather than a completely new creation.
| + | [[The Campaign's Style Guide]] is a page subject to further modification and clarification. I absolutely encourage players to bring up any issue related to the game's style either in the OOC thread, or with me personally via PM. These guidelines are designed to make the game fun, comfortable for the players, dramatic, and fast-moving. If the game is failing in any of those respects, I encourage you to bring it to my attention. Obviously, we've all been playing the game together long enough that we should all be on roughly the same page. This is more a codification of things I've already been encouraging rather than a completely new creation. |
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| − | *Major sources of inspiration for the campaign include the Cthulhu Mythos (especially The King in Yellow), The Dying Earth stories by Jack Vance, Robert E. Howard's body of work (not just Conan!), and a wide variety of horror films, especially the Hammer Horror films. Generally speaking, the game world will ''play'' like Vance and Howard, and can be imagined to ''look'' like Hammer Horror and Harryhausen. If you want to know what the use of Magic looks like in my campaign world, watch the film The Raven, with Vincent Price. Yes, it looks exactly that cheap and cheesy when you cast a spell. Skeletons and other monsters are stop-motion animated or guys in rubber suits. If that really bothers you, picture things however you want. I'll never know the difference. You might also look into 70s psychedelia, like The Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson. I want an occasionally otherworldly feel to things.
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| − | *The cosmic forces in effect in this campaign world are Law and Chaos. Good and Evil are human inventions, and civilization is usually a morass of selfishness and grey areas, contrasted with the savage amorality outside the settlements. However, the fact that good and evil are human inventions does not make them irrelevant. I expect the PCs to be generally palatable antiheroes at worst.
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| − | *There are boundaries of good taste in this game. Rape, torture, the cold-blooded murder of innocent non-combatants, and similar squicky subjects, are not intended to be a part of this campaign. It is certainly true that evil high priests might engage in human sacrifice, for example, but the tone of those incidents should be closer to a somewhat exploitative pulp magazine rather than SAW or something. There is also a fairly substantial gulf between what the players should expect to see from the worst villains of the campaign and what I should expect to see from the PCs. Basically, it should be obvious to the reader that you are the good guys and the enemies are the bad guys, at least in a very loose sense.
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| − | *Major game discussions, commentary, kibbitzing, etc. go in the Out of Character Thread. Comments or questions which are part and parcel of an In Character post go in an sblock.
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| − | *In Character Posts should make it clear what your character is attempting to achieve and how they are going about it. The occasional conditional action in combat is appropriate, but those posts should be even more explicit about what your character will attempt under what conditions. Do not make me guess as to what your character is doing, or if they are doing anything.
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| − | *Another aspect of this is that every IC post should include some kind of action, and its major contents should be things that someone watching your character could react to. If you post something like, "Gronan sits silently and considers what jackasses his fellows are," ''then I will punch you in the face over the internet.'' Firstly, you've made a post that accomplishes nothing. Secondly, you've insulted the other PCs in a really half-assed and obnoxious way. There are various other combinations of ways to express that which are appropriate. I generally want in-character conflict in the IC thread and OOC conflict in the OOC thread (or via PM, and I hope we don't really have any OOC conflict.)
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| − | *The Campaign World is a land of weird fiction sword and sorcery. There is such a thing as magic and some weird science (and the dividing line between the two is not abundantly clear) but the vast majority of work is done by beast or human muscle. Strangeness is rare. Travel is difficult and time-consuming. The barbarians wear leather and fur and the cities are decadent and dangerous. People carry weapons as a matter of course. The gods are distant, inhuman, and amoral. The distinction between good and evil is a human creation, the difference between law and chaos is a matter of cosmic importance.
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| − | *The PCs are larger than life. They are highly competent and should be at least somewhat passionate about their goals. If you were wishy-washy, you'd have stayed home on the lizard-farm. Don't be afraid to hoist a fistful of gems at the heavens, draw your sword, and declare yourself king of the ground on which you stand.
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| − | *Everything is mortal. The PCs are really mortal, and even the gods can be killed. Some things are more resistant to physical damage than others, but there aren't really critters that you can't hurt without a magic weapon. Sufficiently heroic efforts at stabbing, burning, and strangulation will kill almost anything in the setting. Adventurers need to keep a close eye on how to reduce the danger to their own skin. This is a game of high mortality if you aren't careful.
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| − | *The world has a long history. Very long. There have been multiple rises of civilizations and multiple apocalypses, and the game is set in the ruins of all of them. Most people who are even moderately educated are aware of this. One of the next major apocalypses, in which a giant wolf at the center of the earth will throw off its chains and destroy the planet, is scheduled to happen in ten thousand years or so. This produces a certain Dying Earth-esque lassitude amongst the people. There isn't a lot of drive to "advance society" or "improve things." Anyone smart and dedicated enough to build a Steam Engine is personally much better off learning magic or just getting some ancient technology going again. Why build some big thing to benefit Man when you can just sit up in a tower with a bunch of well-oiled slaves and some black lotus to smoke?
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| − | *We're going to have smaller and more intense fights, and adjust the "zoom" of the game generally. No more gigantic wads of logistics posts with however many carts and the baggage train and oodles of hirelings. We're just not going to do it anymore. Spurk the Torchbearer, riding horses, a pack mule, and maybe a few hirelings, and that's fucking it. Fights will probably be rarer (depending on where you are), but individual fights will be a bigger deal when they do happen.
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| − | *Treasures will be smaller. I want a chest of silver coins to be kind of a big deal. I don't want gold to be barely worth hauling out of the dungeon. I want a gem that's worth six thousand GP to be a game-changer on its own merits. This doesn't mean I'm going to use my powers to keep the characters broke, it just means that the monetary standard is going to change. That will necessitate changing the amount of money the PCs have; I hope nobody minds. You'll still all be carrying quite a bit of liquid wealth.
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| − | *I am not a Storyteller, Game Master, Dungeon Master, Director, Wulin Sage, or Hollyhock God. This is an old-school game, and I am a Referee. You may choose to follow TFT's convention of referring to PCs as "figures." Or not.
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| − | *If people can find appropriate pictures for their characters, I would appreciate it. I intend to make slightly more use of maps, and I'd like to be able to make a kind of pog for each PC. If you can't find a good one, some sigil or symbol is an acceptable substitute.
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| − | *The sandboxy quality of the game, and the general character of the campaign, will not change. I will probably be *slightly* more collaborative and less determinedly inscrutable, but you won't notice massive shifts.
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| | == An Introduction to The Fantasy Trip == | | == An Introduction to The Fantasy Trip == |
Introduction
This is the main page for my infamous campaign...but it is not quite as-labeled. For quite some time I ran an OD&D game on the RPG.net play-by-post forums. However, the campaign has evolved to run under The Fantasy Trip, another charmingly retro RPG from way back when.
The Slayers
Here you can find character record sheets for all of the currently active PCs.
The Wyzard Runs TFT: The Adventurers
Maps
From time to time, the players may map wilderness or dungeon areas. Links to maps and descriptions of those areas should be placed here.
The Wyzard's Maps
Languages
Every PC knows the common tongue as their native language. Below I will list some possible languages; ask if you have other nominations.
- Goblin (Works with any of the goblinoid races)
- Fey (For fairy and forest type creatures)
- Draconic (The tongue of dragons - 15 IQ Minimum. Comprehension of the written form requires the Apprentice talent.)
- Giantish
- Old Amaranthian (Dead language, was spoken in a widespread sorcerous empire)
- Thracian (Originally Spoken by a widely-traveled group of seafaring kingdoms. Still spoken in some isolated colonies.)
- Elven
- Dwarven (The written form can only be understood by PCs with the Mathematics talent in addition to literacy)
- Primalingua (Spoken most frequently by angels, demons, and other powerful spirits. Useful in incantations, ambitious players may use Latin to indicate it in IC posts. Cost as a dead language, minimum IQ 12, Hieroglyphics required in addition to literacy to understand written form)
- Elemental (the various elemental types speak slightly different dialects, but this will allow communication - the PC should pick which dialect they have greatest familiarity with)
- The Moon Tongue (The common speech of the lands across the great ocean)
- Reptilian (Language of the degenerate lizardfolk. They had an advanced and powerful civilization in the mists of history, but the tribes still living can no longer even read the writing on the walls of the great ziggurats their ancestors raised. The written form is incomprehensible to humans, but PCs with the Hieroglyphics skill and proficiency with the spoken form might be able to extract some meaning.)
- Necrosian, being the common language of the dead. Not considered a dead language.
The Style Guide
The Campaign's Style Guide is a page subject to further modification and clarification. I absolutely encourage players to bring up any issue related to the game's style either in the OOC thread, or with me personally via PM. These guidelines are designed to make the game fun, comfortable for the players, dramatic, and fast-moving. If the game is failing in any of those respects, I encourage you to bring it to my attention. Obviously, we've all been playing the game together long enough that we should all be on roughly the same page. This is more a codification of things I've already been encouraging rather than a completely new creation.
An Introduction to The Fantasy Trip
The Fantasy Trip is an early rpg/tactical combat game. It was designed in large part by Steve Jackson, and illustrates many core concepts that would later become the foundation for GURPS. It is, however, much less complex and more focused than GURPS.
Current House Rules
This section is also subject to modification and clarification. I'm going to start out using less than the entire body of rules, and may introduce them slowly over time. In some cases I will be simplifying, disallowing, or otherwise expanding on the RAW. I will generally put notice in the OOC thread before instituting any substantial change.
== New and Modified Talents
Setting Essays
Here will be posted the occasional essay that I write about the setting. If it seems piecemeal, that's intentional. I don't want to define too much.
I want to read the essays.
Items of Historical Interest
Here are maintained an archive of material from the earlier incarnation of the game, when it was being run under OD&D rules.
Links to the game-related threads
