GURPS Fantasy , shared world, recruiting

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Agramer

Douglas Cole:
"Blasingdell campaign" with Magical Big-bang
-would probably be best to incorporate as former province of Shattered empire ???

Please forgive what follows. I started trying to write it way back when as something like an oral history, with Big Sweeping Grandiose Phrases. And Lots of Capital Letters. I slipped in and out of the voice, though, so it only comes off as pretentious. :-\

A History of Blasingdell

Thousands of years ago, two Nations met on this ground, their common border a mighty river that ran from the North. The land was different then, and the two Nations shared commerce and trade. While not dear friends, neither were the two lands enemies; common cause, they had, against the Orcs who would occasionally maraud from the Southwest.

However, in time, discord was sown between two nobles whose lands met at the river’s edge. Incident grew to insult; each accusing the other of some new atrocity. Where before the Kings were able to keep the peace, both sides saw war as the only recourse. Armies were raised, and both sides joined battle where the water flowed shallow—known as River’s Crossing.

It was then that the Orcs struck North, laying seige to the keep of the King in the East; by treachery and fell magic, the keep was taken.

Messengers brought this news to the Kings of East and West. Chagrined, they realized that they’d been played for fools; summoning their nobles to them, close questioning revealed unexplainable holes in the web of insult and intrigue that had led to the bloody day. East and West would meet on the morrow to ease the breach.

When the morning came, the Kings met, and promised peace between Men, but endless war on the Orcs.

The first sortie of steel and sinew met with the lightning raids of bands of mounted Orcs; the force shrugged off their attacks, and penetrated deep into the East; there they met the enemy on the field of Braddurlach, before the Keep of the East. Those few who survived told fire and death. Of knights turning on their lords without word or explanation. Of fell creatures rising from the ground and attacking without hesitation or fear. But most of all, they told of a figure in red, wielding a flaming sword and destroying all that came against him.

He was Steric the Red, and after gathering his forces, he came West bent on destruction.

The remnants of the forces of the men of East and West gathered themselves for their last stand. But into their midst on the morning before the armies would meet rode a figure in shining mail and plate, followed by seven men and women robed in the colors of the rainbow. He proclaimed himself a Paladin of the All-God; his Calling had come.

He and his retinue stood before the armies of Men; fire came, and was put down. The winds rose, and were stilled. The Dead rose, and were sent back beneath the earth from whence they came. And in time, the host of Orcs were sent to do battle with the forces of Men, and after a time, it was clear that Men would hold the day. Steric and his forces retreated into the East, taking refuge in the Keep of Braddurlach.

From North and West came reinforcements and aide. The Paladin and his retinue stood vigil and joined the council of the King in the West. The War of Power seemed to subside, though the War of Steel raged on; try though they might, the men could not dislodge the Orcs from the East, which became known as the Orc Lands. In time, the Paladin’s surety that the War of Power would come gain wearied the impatient King of the West; he dismissed him from his council, and pressed the War of Steel against the Orclands.The Old King of the East was adamant that the Keep of Braddurlach would be his once more, his kingdom his own.

Steric worked in secret, building his power; with the help of Dark Elves, he fashioned a device of terrible power. He gathered his armies, and sent the device with them; he remained behind, in a secret place from where he would tap into some greater magic.

The King of the East led the armies of Men to River’s Crossing, there they waited for the Orcish armies, and there the Orcish armies turned the power of the Red Sun on the King. The ground shook, and fire rained from the sky. The War of Power had come again.

In the West, the King was slain by treachery. In the West, the Paladin and his retinue of seven wizards formed a Circle of Power. They saw the terrible power of the Red Sun unleashed; Steric would destroy all. Through mighty faith and deepest craft, they sundered the link between Steric and the Red Sun. Steric was overcome, his life force disconnected from his body.

And the Red Sun, control lost, blazed with wild power. The earth heaved, mountains rose, and the river shifted course. The land changed, sank, and was reformed. And the Paladin and his Rainbow Wizards gave up their lives to quench the Red Sun, sink it into the Earth beneath what had been River’s Crossing. The land above burned for a year.

A family found a scroll left in a weatherproof case at the base of a strange formation of stones; it bore tidings of Evil’s return, and the day the Red Sun would burn again, and the Red Man would one day return.

The Orcs, defeated and destroyed, fled back to the East. The scattered Men of the West, their cities and towns smashed, found a new order in things. The Kings of East and West were dead; no new royalty replaced them.

The Brothers of the Stones warned Men of evil’s return, and Keeps were built along the new River’s course to North and South. Southbridge became a prosperous waystation.

And the valley of the Blazing Dell? It’s history is yet unwritten.

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Since you want a line, say that any advantage described in the books as 'cinematic' is restricted to epic scale. Weapon Master, Trained by a Master, etc are all sidebar material. Likewise, Magery over 3 is epic.

I'd go with the working assumption that PCs will be truly exceptional people at 150 points, and scale accordingly.


Point values can vary a lot, because an emperor who is also a tough warrior might be a 500 point NPC, but much of his point value will be sunk into status, wealth, rank, allies,etc.

Average Knight:
Stats 50
Adv: 32
Skills:56 cp
--------------
Total 138 cp -disadvantages

20 ST 12 (He trained since childhood,somewhat-lazy sod)
20 DX 11
-- IQ 10
10 HT 11 (he trained and eats well,compared to average population)

ADV:
2 language spoken(native),written(accented)

20 Very Wealthy (20*starting wealth)
-if were using 20% for equip he wont have even for a warhorse,if he spends all 20.000$ on equip than hell be nicely equipped(befitting a knight :P)
10 Status 3 (+1 from wealth)

SKILLS:
Administration 2 10 (hes lousy manager,he should employ someone to do that
Area Knowledge(regional) 2 11(he knows his lands but aint professional)
Current Affairs(politics) 1 10
Dancing 1 10
One of Diplomacy,Leadership,carousing 1 8-9 skill
One of Falconry,Animal handling(dogs),Animal handling(horses) 1 9
First aid 1 10 (during training he had opportunity to learn that)
Heraldry 2 10 (he reliably recognises higher nobility)
One of History,Tactics,Strategy 2 9
Law 1 8 (Nobles do settle disputes in their domain,so he knows some basics)

Lance 4 12
Broadsword 4 12
Flail (or Axe/Mace) 2 10
Spear(or polearm or ranged) 1 10
Shield 2 12
Thrown weapon(axe/mace or spear) 2 12
Wrestling(or Brawling,Boxing,Karate,Judo ) 4 12
Professional skill(Knight/soldier ??) 8 12
Riding(horse) 4 12
(t)Cavalry Training(sword) 2
(t)Combat riding 2
(t)Staying seated 2
(t)Targeted attack(Sword thrust/vitals) 2
(t)Targeted Attack(Sword thrust/Vitals Chinks) 2
Savoir Faire(nobles) 1 10

To make a Veteran Knight out of him we would need:

Stats: +20-30 cp (DX or St+HT or combo)
Adv: +15-25 cp (c.Reflexes+something)
Skills: +45-65 cp (combat skills ranging from 12-14,techniques increased 1 level-still not maxed out)
-------------------
Veteran Knight 218-258 -disadvantages

Try playing out Kroesus vs 3*Average Knight or 2*Veteran Knight (on foot) ;)

Though Imo,Kroesus is toast even vs 4*this**...and omitting bad-luck even vs 3* if they fight with brains on hexmap.

**This ::::> 20 CP Average Soldier
-------

st10
dx10
iq10
ht10

Advantages:
-none
Parry 11(12 Large shield)
Dodge 7(8 Lshield)
Block 11(12)

spear 8 12
Shield 4 12
Professional skill(soldier) 8 12 (they are good average soldiers)

Equipement: loincloth,medium shield(or large),spear

Edit: @combatmedic feel free to ignore this whole post

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Please forgive what follows. ....

I like story a lot.
/writes-note ..ask DC to write some stories for Georgia :))

You could rewrite it a bit and "sink" into legend(Age of Legend..with powerfull magics that drained world of mana and semi-forgotten Demigodlike Heroes of old).

Red Sun(or whatever they used to quench it) could be your Holy Grail(or this settings Unholy Grail).

Though Combatmedic is boss,and lets see what he has to say :)

[tantric]

Am I to infer that nothing about my setting sets off any alarms? Does that include were-utensils and talking animals, provided I don't let them in the same room together>

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I'd say Kroekos is a lot more than just the champ of 'some town.' Did you look at his ST, DX and advantages? The guy has a 15 spear skill!

I'm sure you don't mean just a 15 spear skill, that'd make him merely competent, a 15 skill is what you'd expect from any man-at-arms, veteran senior NCO, or promising young buck, good, but in no way exceptional.

Point value for any given character doesn't automatically mean anything in regards to the heroic level of a campaign, after all, any professional athlete can easily end up being a 200+ point character due to mostly exceptional stats, while any rich merchant, high ranking officer, noble, etc., can easily be a 300+ point character without much in the way of exceptional stats.

It's not the point value which makes things high or low fantasy, it's the magic/powers and the availability of said magic/powers which makes things high or low.

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by tantric

Am I to infer that nothing about my setting sets off any alarms? Does that include were-utensils and talking animals, provided I don't let them in the same room together>

Ill only praise you until you make that religion :))

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

I'm sure you don't mean just a 15 spear skill, that'd make him merely competent, a 15 skill is what you'd expect from any man-at-arms, veteran senior NCO, or promising young buck, good, but in no way exceptional.

Point value for any given character doesn't automatically mean anything in regards to the heroic level of a campaign, after all, any professional athlete can easily end up being a 200+ point character due to mostly exceptional stats, while any rich merchant, high ranking officer, noble, etc., can easily be a 300+ point character without much in the way of exceptional stats.

It's not the point value which makes things high or low fantasy, it's the magic/powers and the availability of said magic/powers which makes things high or low.

+1 ..thats what I was trying to say but in more complicated incomprehensible way



Edit:
Didnt wanted to spam with more posts

This are Medieval Demography made easy ,think that will help a lot


Edit2:
Shall we make things in metric or anglo measures.
My vote goes to metric (Kilometre,meter,kilogram,litre...etc)

[tantric]

i prefer metric - i digging through past posts to get details for your religion, a-. can i use hero cults for georgia, too?

[Kuroshima]

Guys, this thread is very interesting, and I'm liking it very much. However, I feel that you're reaching the point where you should reallt start a wiki, or at least migrate to a better platform. I feel that Google Wave might be better for this, at least when things are still in a state of change (afterwards, a wiki would be better). If you need invites, I can provide you (I have already invited everyone I wished to invite)

[tantric]

A good start - my reworking of basic Nart mythology:

The Elder Race were giants who lived without fire. Because they had no fire, for a long time Giants ate raw food and milk, and had no agriculture. For a long time they led a miserable life. At that time, Seela kept storm, cold and darkness in his skeins. Pkharmat is bronze smith who works metal without heat. He forged a coat, a sword and a shield out of Bronze. Pkharmat heard of the flames of hell (in a volcano) in Seela's domain decided to steal fire (probably because working cold bronze isn't possible). In this he was aided by Sata, the wife of Seela, who appeared as a giant dragon perched on mountain. She carries Pkharmat over the lava lake in her claws and he scoops up some of the fire.

Seela is so enraged by this, however, that he unleashes his skeins of winter, night and storms. The Seela sent Uja, a cyclops, to kidnap Pkharmat and chain him to the top of Mt. Bashlam, where the falcon Ida comes every morning to eat his liver.

Pkharmat is a human, so he gets a blacksmith cult. Dragonrider is later, after people shrink a bit. The Promethesus angle allows us to make it pseudochristian without actually going there.

How perfect!!!!

Uastyrdzhi (Ossetic: Уастырджи, also transliterated Wastyrdzhi, Wasterzhi; Digor Uaskergi. The name consists of the uac- prefix for saints (as in Uacilla) and Tyrdzhi, an adaptation of Georgian Giorgi or Givargi) is the Ossetian name of St. George.

If Uastyrdhzhi is the patron hero of cavalry, his legendary daughter, Satanaya, a wise woman, would also get a cult. Her son is Susryuko, a trickster.

Hmm, this is the point where I need to depart from realworld. I'm thinking adding some Zoroastrian stuff.