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ShatteredUniverse
16th of March, 2010, 08:04
Darkness. The dim light above you the only source of illumination. Outside it's dull yellow glow, void. Your eyes wander, taking in no details, no information, nothing outside the archaic seeming illumination.

You look up, and there is a solitary light bulb, swinging slowly, it's pendulous movement seeming strange.

No doubt by now, you are wondering.

Where am I?

Until the darker question hits, numbing all thought and emotion in one terrifying moment.

Who am I?

Then, movement. Sound. A step followed by another, and another, shoes landing softly against a surface unseen, a figure approaching.

Fear. Of what might come.

"Things are not right." The voice welcomes you, confident, smooth, overpowering. "But you may change that yet."

Questions spring into mind, a roaring multitude of ideas, thoughts and possibilities.

The figure enters the light, dressed in an old, ragged suit, smiling a lopsided grin.

"What you were is forfeit. What you were is inconsequential. Now, you are mine. A tool for a very specific set of tasks. Fulfill them and I will release you. Fail in your new purpose, and Oblivion may claim us all."

He moves up close, leaning forward so his face is close to yours. "Welcome to the Universe, Shattered as it may be." He whispers as complete darkness- then light- engulfs you.

I'm a fairly experienced GM- I've run 2ed and 4th edition D&D campaigns, was heavily involved in a RolePlaying website that had a decent five year run (despite the fact that it was effectively without a GM), dabbled a bit with the paranoia-live people, and I highly enjoy writing and world building.

In short, I'm interested in running campaigns in multiple genres with objective based storyline, all connected to a larger story and 'scoreboard' of sorts. These might range from clearing Dodge of it's outlaws, to stopping interplanetary war in scope, and from medieval to zombies to aliens invading the earth. Players who succeed within one part of the overall story will affect the final outcome of the whole.

I tend to avoid most systems for PBP games in preference of story telling and character development. Of course, depending on genre, that might change.

Now to specifics, I have three games I can start running immediately given some player interest. Whichever most people want to do will be what I submit for the board-

Scenario: Death of a President
Genre: Present Day Tactical Situation and Intelligence Gathering
Conditions:
The President Dies
The President Survives

Lose Condition:
Players are captured or die.

The death of the president has been ordered. But will his death truly be in the best interests of the world? Players must decide. This would revolve more around finding out which objective truly is the winning condition.

The game will be separated into three phases:
Preparation: This will happen in the months before the assassination.
Execution: The assassination attempts
Fallout: The after-effects

Weight: 5

Campaign: Hell On Earth
Genre: Zombie Apocalypse with Demons and other hellspawn- no real religious overtones though.

Conditions:
Win-
Survive within the military quarantine
Stop the invasion
Lose-
Fail to stem the assault.

Demons and Zombies are starting an insidious move on humanity. You've been trapped in the military quarantine where the outbreak first started. Will humanity band together and survive, or become something defiled?

Weight: 5

Campaign: Heroic Legacies
Genre: Super Heroes! (Please, no spandex.)
A spree of killings has culminated with the kidnapping of a TV reporter and the perpetrator's ultimatum broadcast to all the 'Empowered' of the world.
Players are part of the 'Empowered', and must learn the source of their mysterious powers- the answer of which may lead to some surprising truths.

Objectives:
Learn of the power source of the Empowered.
Fight evil. Save Kittens from trees.

Weight: 7

Explosive Cheese
16th of March, 2010, 08:39
I'd like to get in on this, but I have yet to participate in an RPG (my first RPG should be starting this week).

Okay, so now my top choice is Heroic Legacies, then Death of a President

ShatteredUniverse
16th of March, 2010, 14:13
Weight:
When I mention that each of the above has a weight, it's a clue how much impact one particular story is the the overall balance of things- something I'll be attempting to keep track of. High Weight scenarios are more likely to be deadly, carry more risks for characters, and are 'harder'. The Player vs. GM environment will be less forgiving.

Lower weight means more forgiveness, less chance of horrible dismemberment and being maimed, as well as less overall impact. Of course, weight can vary regardless of scope- there are moments in history where one person affects the entire flow of events, and yet others where it was the actions of many that decided fate.

Connectivity:
Every campaign and scenario takes place within its own universe- however; each universe affects and is affected by events in other universes. Players will eventually come to learn more about it- even if their characters do not.

Merbak
17th of March, 2010, 00:15
This seems like the neatest idea since Factions at War. I'd love to play (especially since it's no longer illegal for me to access the internet from work).

My #1 for interest would also be in the Heroic Legacies campaign, but with Zombie Day... errr... Hell on Earth as my #2.

Do you have systems in mind for the games, or are they still up in the air?

ShatteredUniverse
17th of March, 2010, 02:08
I am in the air on gaming systems.

Francis
10th of April, 2010, 03:28
I am interested in this game, if it hasn't started yet.
I would prefer #1 death of a president, then 3 heroic legacy, then 2.

I've done a lot of role-playing, I like character development.
Hope this will start soon.

Francis

ShatteredUniverse
10th of April, 2010, 06:48
I am still interested, just need players is all. Three is about the bare minimum for death of a president. For the others, I was hoping at least five or so people.

I'll see about seeing if some old friends might want to give things a shot.

Thanos
10th of April, 2010, 07:57
Heroic Legacy
Zombie's perhaps
not in for the President game


Exalted
Shadowrun 2 or 3
Marvel Universe (new diceless Marvel Super Heroes system)
Amber DRPG (another diceless system, but no stones either)
Heroes Unlimited (Paladium aka RIFTs)

Those systems work for me. Not interested in any version of D&D to be honest.

ShamedShadow
10th of April, 2010, 08:39
You asked me to drop a line if I was interested.

Heroic Legacies or Hell on Earth before Death of a President.

Keep me posted.

ShatteredUniverse
10th of April, 2010, 16:09
Heroic Legacy

Those systems work for me. Not interested in any version of D&D to be honest.

As of now, D&D is not on the table, and any system used would be -much- looser than any of the ones you mentioned.
EDIT: Admittedly some of those systems could be very lax without my knowledge, but I am looking at something very lax on rules. I want to focus on storytelling, not mechanics.

Francis
10th of April, 2010, 16:26
It seems most votes go to Heroic Legacy. That's fine with me.
As long as it isn't the standard story about a military experiment in eugenics to create the perfect warrior, blah :)
I guess that's the reason why most of us don't want to play the Hell on Earth scenario, it seems too predictable.

ShatteredUniverse
10th of April, 2010, 17:19
It seems most votes go to Heroic Legacy. That's fine with me.
As long as it isn't the standard story about a military experiment in eugenics to create the perfect warrior, blah :)
I guess that's the reason why most of us don't want to play the Hell on Earth scenario, it seems too predictable.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the core secret of Heroic Legacies. There's a reason it's weighted more.

I'm going to request a board for Heroic Legacy, and more players are welcome to join.

Francis
10th of April, 2010, 18:35
Even if we have no rules, or very loose rules,
I like using the GURPS basic set to create a balanced modern-day character.
So a system only for character creation, not for the actual role-playing.
For example, a 50-point character, including about 30 points of disadvantages/quirks, and 25 points of skills (without any magic or special qualities; these are given later when the chars discover their powers).
In that case, you get a clear idea what your character normally can do or can't do,
even if we don't adhere to the rules of GURPS while writing the story.
Another system could be used as well, but GURPS is quite flexible on char. creation.

Thanos
11th of April, 2010, 03:43
As of now, D&D is not on the table, and any system used would be -much- looser than any of the ones you mentioned.
EDIT: Admittedly some of those systems could be very lax without my knowledge, but I am looking at something very lax on rules. I want to focus on storytelling, not mechanics.


Amber Diceless-RPG has erm.....rules....just not the kind your used to. There is not, 'you need 5 successes to achieve this goal' or 'you have to roll a 17 or above' in Amber.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game

This gives a basic idea of the 4 attributes and somewhat how its used. Obviously you do not have to use the 'powers' that an normal Amber game would use (pattern, Logrus, Sorcery, ShapeShifting) but you can easily make up stuff that works in the system. It is very flexible.

ShamedShadow
13th of April, 2010, 11:33
I'm not a fan of GURPS just because of how absurdly specific it is about everything.

Francis
13th of April, 2010, 20:00
Well, ShamedShadow, that's interesting,
but if you want to play this game, you had better go to the Heroic Legacies forum and submit your character there. Do it soon, so that we can begin, please.

ShatteredUniverse
14th of April, 2010, 04:18
Right now it looks like we'll be running a Modified Amber system that appears quite elegant.

arock1214
29th of April, 2010, 11:21
I'd play Death of a President..... but really any of them. But you'll have to explain some things to me, as I am new. :P

5Solas
3rd of May, 2010, 13:22
I'd love to get in at the ground level here. My order of interest:

Hell on Earth
Death of a President
Heroic Legacies
I don't have any experience with Amber but I'm willing and a quick study.

EDIT: I noticed that you've already started the Heroic Legacies...if you still need a player (even someone to be the baddies!) I'm game.

ShatteredUniverse
5th of May, 2010, 01:37
Yep, heroic legacies has started. If you two want to make characters, by all means feel free.