Beginning
I ran a one shot over the weekend for 2 of my 3 regular
players. The 3rd was out of town. Instead of running a continuation
in the normal game, we opted to go with something different. I thought
something more high energy and potentially high excitement, with dice gimmicks
could be fun. Sadly, I slept in and was not able to work in the dice gimmicks.
Instead, I came up with quick characters via Ghosts of Albion for a game set in Theah, AEG’s 7th Sea
setting.
Unisystem is a natural for me to default to, as I have
mastered its craft many years ago. I would love to get to that level with
nWoD, but I have no interest in paying for the books I would need to really
understand the game and its tweaks from under the hood. In short time, a
cavalier, a soldier, and a hunter were all designed at a mid-power level tier.
System
Unisystem didn’t fail us and the players had fun. I would really like to try and run a 7th Sea game, some day. I played in a one-shot of Legends of the 5 Rings and it was as deadly as I desired. At that same time, I think long term games might churn through player characters, as played in the one-shot. There is talk of a new edition of 7th Sea. While Unisystem is not out of print, there is only a slow trickle of products
produced each year, including reprints. However, I think I have all I need with what is in print. I would just need to pull it from various books. 7th Sea is out of print, but L5R is not and has updated rules if I need references. However, 7th Sea is limited by what is available in terms of the world. The game’s setting is Euro-centric and has no magic system for voodoo that I have seen. The idea of a swashbuckling game without voodoo and Caribbean references is a bit bothersome to me. However, the game always struck me as more 3 Muskateers and not a Disney ride. Still, Caribbean, or if it is there in the Pirate Islands, I need to read up on it more.
Another alternate is Savage Worlds utilizing Solomon Kane
and Pirates of the Spanish Main. Savage Worlds also has a plethora of products
out there, much akin to Unisystem, and I can cobble together whatever would be
needed.
Still, I need to research more into 7th Sea
and the available rules. I have played in a True 20 game of swashbuckling via Freeport. I would rather move on to something new. Perhaps there are items in Witchhunter I could use, as well?
This all started with my wife asking me to pick up Diablo
3. She wanted a game to play with me that was not a first person shooter. It
was on sale, so we picked it up and started playing it that very day. Right away,
the game reminded me of Ravenloft and my small amount of experience with that.
It also came to remind me of the tone in Obsidian. There were angels and demon
infestations, cities using portals for travel, and plenty of violence.
The more I thought on the idea of a 7th Sea
game, the more I wandered towards influences from those other games. The Mists
from Ravenloft may be why lone travelers use the gate/portals found in Diablo
3. The merchant’s guild hires soldiers and knights to guard the caravans from
attacks. Perhaps the leaders of the caravans or the drivers of the wagons have a
psychic ability that allows them to traverse the Mists, similar to the Vistani
from Ravenloft. The fact these people exist and are in the employ of the
merchants leads to the merchants gaining more and more power in the realm.
At the same time, dread powers are encroaching upon the
land due to the War of the Cross results. Fields of slaughtered villagers side
by side with burnt fields next to soldiers still clinging to their life as they
lie dieing in the battlegrounds. Torment, strife, apathy, all these things to
draw demon lords into the realm.
Maybe the 7th Sea metaplot can be worked in,
maybe not. I am not overly familiar with it and what little I know does not
impress me.
Real World versus
Fantasy World
The next question becomes, does one use the real world
for such a setting or does one use a fantasy world, such as Theah, or
Ravenloft? In my mind, I want to utilize a fantasy world. While my players are
not generally history majors and that would not preclude me from changing
things up here and there, I prefer to step away from our world. In addition to
that, Theah seems a bit more simpler than our world. Then again, it could be
due to my unfamiliarity with it.
All of these thoughts lead to the following four
paragraphs, which I quickly wrote out before falling asleep that night after
running the game.
The War of the
Cross has ended. Eisen is a disaster. The government is in shambles, the people
are destitute, and the farms are barren. Other countries are entering Eisen to
claim territory under the guise of protecting their own sovereignty. Powerful
individuals and groups within Eisen are doing the same.
The amount of
emotional torment has allowed demon lords to enter the real of Theah. They have
begun land-grabs of their own in the battlefields from the war. The Church of
the Prophets does not realize this is occurring. Instead, they are focused upon
the end of the war and the beginning of the Inquisition. Meanwhile, monsters
both human and inhuman have begun to roam the lands of Theah. The growing
darkness goes unseen in most lands.
Local soldiers and
citizens realize things are amiss, but remain uncertain of where to turn. The
church is focused internally. Governments are mostly unstable or detrimental to
their own people. The common man is powerless to influence either the religious
or political rulers. In times such as these, it will take men and women of
great virtue and conviction to bring light to the darkness.
The strengthening
of the merchant class is occurring while all else appears bleak. Armed caravans
cross the countryside to bring trade goods where they are needed and occasionally,
desired. It is with one of these caravans that we find our cast of characters.
. .
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