Help Brainstorming a Fae Races w/ Flight & Magic Fantasy RPG Setting: Alfheim

DAT · 01-12-2016, 08:12 PM

Hi Folks,
Having recently watched the first season of the “Sword Art Online” (SAO) anime series, I became interested in the idea of using the “ALfheim Online ” (ALO) setting (from the end of the first season of SAO) as inspiration for a GURPS RPG setting.

For those who haven’t seen/read about SAO/ALO, the idea is that in the future they develop full immersion Virtual Reality MMORPGs, and AFO is one of the game settings. The ALO setting is a realm of fae, where player avatars are different races of winged fairies (each with their own racial magical powers/skills and other special powers & attributes) who compete against each other plus monsters for different quests/goals (there is an online Wiki and other resources if you want more details). I’m not interested in the whole game-in-a-game FIVR MMORPG angle for this exercise, just the ALO setting as an inspiration for a Fae Races w/ Flight & Magic Fantasy Setting.

A Fantasy setting with Fae Races w/ Flight & Magic seems like it would be a fun draw if I use the setting for one-shot games at Cons and FLGSs (a large part of my gaming these days). But it would also be an interesting setting for use in a campaign with my own gaming group.

For this thread/exercise, I thought it might be interesting to bring up different elements of the setting, state my ideas and get other folk’s thought and/or alternative ideas. This will help me finalize the setting in my head. I know GURPS Fantasy has great advice for refining a Fantasy setting, and I will be pulling out my copy and using its advice too. I would appreciate some other opinions, so that I don’t end up with a setting that is fascinating to me, but a bore to everyone else. So thanks in advance for any help!
-Dan

P.S.
What I will do, after this introduction post, is set aside a couple posts (2 and 3) for a TOC of later discussions. I will then bring up each discussion topic/element is a separate post. As time permits, I’ll populate the TOC noting the related post number. This will be useful for me tracking down thoughts, but others will hopefully find it useful too.

DAT · 01-12-2016, 08:14 PM

TOC
A. General Goal of the Setting: (see Posts 4 - )
B. Available Races: (see Posts 5, - )
C. Magic “Colleges”: (see Posts, 9,10, - )
D. Number and Types of Magic to Use: (see Posts, 10, - )
E. Powering Magic: (see Posts, 10, - )
F. Flight – Time (see Posts, TBD, - )
G. Flight – Hitting/Damaging Wings: (see Posts, TBD, - )

DAT · 01-12-2016, 08:16 PM

<<Reserved for future expansion as needed>>

DAT · 01-12-2016, 08:18 PM

A. General Goal of the Setting:

Ideas:
1) Match ALO
2) Start with ALO and add on (e.g., model the stated setting, then add other races/magic etc.)
3) Similar to ALO (e.g., remap some of the magic skills /power for better balance in GURPS)
4) Similar to ALO and then add on (e.g.,as 3 but 2)
5) Only the General Idea of AFO (e.g., new/different races and different magic/powers)

My Thoughts:
Matching ALO gives some recognition benefits for Con games, where someone familiar with the setting may try the game. Modeling an existing setting means some decisions are made beforehand too, which can be a time saver bonus. But trying to model a setting exactly can lead to some clunky game artifacts of an inconsistent setting.

Starting with ALO and then adding on has the same disadvantage as just Matching ALO, but adds the time issues of new creations. But it does allow for fun expansions and customizations.

Similar to ALO would mean there isn’t a clunky issue to worry about.

Similar to ALO with add on, has advantages and disadvantages

Going crazy with just general idea appeals to my creative side, but my time management size recognizes the scope …

I’m leaning to #4.

Thoughts?

DAT · 01-12-2016, 08:32 PM

B. Available Races:

Ideas:
1) Same as ALO (Cait Sith, Gnome, Imp, Leprechaun, Pooka, Salamander, Spriggan, Sylph, and Udine)
2) Slightly Different (e.g., name/power tweaks)
3) Different number (fewer)
4) Slightly Difference AFO, add additional

The plan will be to generate templates for each of the races. But since each of the races have their own magic, race and magic decisions are somewhat tied together. Flight and special powers gives rooms for other racial tweaks (e.g., Cait Sith are faster level fliers, Sylph have a faster climb and dive speed, Udine have longer endurance, …).

I’m starting to think that keeping the existing races (only modified slightly for balance/consistency), and then adding on others for spice.

I'm thinking #4.

Thoughts?

thrash · 01-13-2016, 06:04 AM

Unless there was an info dump I missed somewhere, I don't think the characteristics of the races in ALO were all spelled out in detail. Yet the setting (overall, not just ALO) is still being added to by the author. You run the risk of enticing players with familiarity, but then disappointing them because you missed some obscure reference about their favorite group. I think you're better off with "inspired by ALO". Then you can make it as close as you like, while maintaining balance and papering over any references you missed.

By the bye, you've been confusing ALO with "AFO" off and on.

Specific comments:

The key characteristic of flight in ALO is that it is limited, both in duration and in altitude. There are mountains too high, and presumably oceans too wide, to fly over. How you replicate that in GURPS is going to have a profound impact on the setting. Do you tie flight to FP, giving an advantage to characters with high HT? Can the limitations be exceeded through Extra Effort? Or are they just arbitrary?

You should probably ignore anything Kirito does. He clearly benefits from Main Character Fu in ways that I imagine will break the setting if anyone else could replicate them. Some of his internal monologues about the differences between SAO, ALO, and GGO may be useful, however.

DAT · 01-13-2016, 08:20 PM

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