Future Fantasy Campaign Discussion

[mithrandir138]

This thread is for discussion of my d100-based fantasy campaign (not CoC). I believe that most if not all of you are interested in this, so I figured I would start a thread for it.

[mithrandir138]

I am thinking long-term for my fantasy campaign -- something that should last well over one year. Just to let you know the level of commitment that is expected All in all, it's play-by-post, so the games will run slower, so it's not that unrealistic once you think about it.

My hopes are to have a long-running collaborative narrative experience (with a set "overarching story" and set "goals") where players are involved in the narrative and direction the story goes from time to time. I want this game to be a memorable experience with memorable characters that develop along the way and not just a set of dungeon crawls with generic/stereotypical player characters (some stereotypical elements are fine, and will be the basis for things, but I like variety). [MORE ON THIS LATER] -- for now, let's talk rulesets and reasons for choosing them.

So, my initial plans and thoughts are to start with the Mongoose Legend ruleset with simplified combat, maybe upgrade the combat to Legend rules once people get familiar, and then ultimately settle on RuneQuest 6 rules at some point in the far future (but this isn't definite.) However, I am flexible. Here's some justification and some conversation starters if you care to join me in some brainstorming.

There are several reasons for using Legend:
Mongoose Legend is $1 at DrivethruRPG/RPGNOW. It's legacy is Mongoose RuneQuest II (MRQ2), which is arguably one of the best d100/BRP-based fantasy games. When Mongoose lost the rights to RuneQuest, they stripped all of the RuneQuest IP out of the rules and published this ruleset under the OGL so that their other titles that used the MRQ2 ruleset wouldn't become obsolete. Legend in itself is a classless and level-less system where characters advance/improve through their use of skills and there is some focus on character backgrounds, societal aspects, etc. I think this is a great and rich toolset for growing characters. D&D and it's ilk are great, but I love the aspects of a percentile system and gradual character improvement, where heroic characters are built by their deeds and not just "leveling up," if that makes sense. Also, Legend inherits the flexibility of almost all d100/BRP-based games: it is very modular. Things can be removed, added, swapped out without much impact to the rest of the ruleset. This is a thing of beauty for a GM like me.

The reason behind simplifying combat initially:
Combat is one of the hairiest and rules-heavy aspects of Legend. There are tons of options, and combat is very interactive. This may or may not play out well in a play-by-post environment with new players. We will have to feel it out. My thoughts are to use a variant of the combat system in G.O.R.E. from Goblinoid Games (a free retroclone of old BRP-based games, see attached). It is very simplified and seems like it will plug in nicely.

The reason behind thinking about RuneQuest 6 in the future:
Remember when I said that Mongoose lost the rights to RuneQuest? Well, the 2 guys that wrote the original MRQ2 started their own company and worked out a deal to continue their work. This is where RuneQuest 6 comes in. They have said that Legend is the abbreviated version of the RuneQuest 6 rules and that they are compatible. This makes the progression logical. RuneQuest 6 has more content and detail, and this seems like a great landing spot after people learn the system. However, this is a "long term" goal, and is merely optional in my book. I own RuneQuest 6 but I don't expect others to shell out the money for it if they don't want to.

Here's how I view the complexity/learning curve of the d100 games we are talking about/using

G.O.R.E. (very-rules-light) -> CoC (rules-light) -> Legend (rules-medium) -> RuneQuest 6 (rules-heavy)


An alternative approach, if all this falls flat:
I am flexible, and all of these plans and ideas wont mean anything without players. If Legend seems overcomplicated, I am open to other options. I would seriously consider using G.O.R.E. as the basis for the game with parts of Legend patched in if that's what seemed easier for players. I would even throw out the whole d100 aspect of the game if people hated it after the CoC session. If this happened, I would resort to something like GURPS/GURPS Lite because of the flexibility it provides, and because of it's simplicity. (it's more like BRP than most people realize. Instead of percentiles it's system is based on a 3d6, "roll under" mechanic.)

[ChubbyPixie]

Sounds like a plan to me. I've never tried any of these systems, so I have no preconceived notions.

[Blazeguard]

Sounds good to me too. Like ChubbyPixie, I haven't tried any of these either but I'm always up for trying something new.

[mithrandir138]

Good to hear that you guys are pretty flexible so far. Let me know if any opinions come out as you think more.

Someone PM'ed me and said they couldn't find the Legend book on DriveThru, here it is:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/97239/Legend

My opinion, it's worth the $1 even if we don't use it -- it's a good read if you like game mechanics. It has at least a couple of good random tables for character background and other stuff, and for me it has been a pretty good idea farm. That's worth a buck to me

[Bouv]

Sounds pretty interesting

[mithrandir138]

Just wanted to let you guys know:
Because RPGNOW/DriveThruRPG are having a sale this week, the Legend book is only $0.75

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/97239/Legend

[ChubbyPixie]

Just wanted to let you guys know:
Because RPGNOW/DriveThruRPG are having a sale this week, the Legend book is only $0.75

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/97239/Legend

Downloaded it, thanks for the heads up.