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[Game Soliciting] Valdemar RPG
Because it's been eating at me constantly, I think I really am going to do the Valdemar game. Here's the specs:
System: Blue Rose, with some modifications. More on that later, once I have a chance to sit down and poke at it. However, expect it to be a bit more crunchy and D&D-like than Blue Rose normally is, and that there will be no Corruption points or Shadow nature, since those are setting-specific.
Concept: The characters will be an Alliance group of 'troubleshooters', essentially. They will start off being assigned to Hardorn, to help newly-instated King Tremaine get that suffering country back on its feet. Hardorn is still ravaged by mage-weather caused by Ancar's reckless use of dark magic, many of its citizenry were murdered and abused by Ancar and his cronies, and the army is shattered, making it hard for the Hardornian troops to track down Changebeasts, Ancar's criminal mages, and defrocked Karsite priests who fled Vkandis' holy wrath in the cleansing of the Sunlord's Temples.
Setting: The game will start in Haven, the capital city of Valdemar, approximately six months after the Owl trilogy. For those of you who might be interested in playing, but have no idea what that means:
Valdemar is a northern country on the world of Velgarth. It is protected by its magically chosen Heralds, whose incorruptibility and mind-magic Gifts have kept the country protected for thousands of years. Recently, Valdemar has just emerged from semi-isolation to join with other countries, such as long-time ally Rethwellen to the south, and long-time enemy Karse to the southeast, against the forces of Ancar of Hardorn, a dark mage-king who was draining his land and people dry in his effort to conquer Valdemar and Karse. The Alliance, aided by the mysterious Hawkbrothers of the far south, managed to destroy Ancar and free his people...but that was only the start of the problems. First, the Empire of the east invaded the broken country of Hardorn. Then, mystical Storms appeared, ravaging all of the countries of the Alliance and turning animals, plants, and people into twisted Changebeasts. The effort to stop the Mage Storms before they destroyed civilization brought in yet more people to the Alliance: the nomadic Shin'a'in, who had dedicated their lives to protecting the artifacts of the last Mage War from those who would abuse them, the Hawkbrothers, the northeastern country of Iftel, and finally, even the abandoned troops of the Empire, led by Grand Duke Tremaine. The Alliance managed to bring a halt to Storms...just in time for several of the barbarian nations of the North to begin migrating into Valdemar, fleeing the Changebeasts and tyranny of a mad shaman. Finally, even that issue has been...somewhat...dealt with, but the collective countries of the Alliance are scrambling to repair themselves, waiting for the next disaster to fall.
Available Character Concepts:
Okay. This is a 'high fantasy' game, which means characters should be Good. They don't necessarily have to be nice, but they should be heroic in nature. As to specifics, there's a /lot/ of flexibility here. The Alliance has, at present, the peculiar property of having many of the most exotic character types available and willing for service. Keep in mind, however, that the troubleshooting mission is also a /diplomatic/ mission; this will be one of the first attempts by the Alliance to field a combined peacekeeping team, especially under the auspices of Tremaine, who is still not trusted by many of the people. Specific characters might be:
Guard Members: Members of the armies of Alliance countries can be very useful. Valdemarian or Hardornian Guards (Many of the Hardorn Army defected when Ancar murdered his father to take the throne, and fled to Valdemar to fight against the usurper.) would be especially appropriate, but Imperial Guards would be very appropriate as well.
Heralds: Heralds are Valdemarian, although some might have been born elsewhere. A Herald's first loyalty is to Valdemar and her people, but typically they will not refuse to help any innocent in need. Every Herald is soul-bonded to a Companion, a horse-shaped sapient being who protects and guides (although usually in a subtle manner). Heralds all have some form of mind-magic Gift, with Mindspeaking being the most common. Heralds are inherently selfless, but still very human. Although they cannot be corrupted, they can be deceived, or just jump to conclusions and be plain WRONG. Heraldic players would control both their Herald, and their Companion, although the GM may occasionally take control of the Companion.
Mercenaries: Although Valdemar has been reluctant to hire mercs for a while, many of the other countries in the Alliance, particularly Rethwellan, are not so squeamish. A mercenary may have a wide selection of abilities and strengths, from combat skills to spy skills to magery or mind magic.
Hawkbrothers: As designated cleansers of magic-tainted lands, the Hawkbrothers have thousands of years of experience in dealing with Changebeasts and dark magicians, and some would consider it their duty to help ensure Hardorn does not end up as another Pelagris Hills. All Hawkbrothers have some level of magecraft, but not all are dedicated mages. Some may be scouts, who are masters of forest combat, stealth, and the neutralization of arcane threats. All Hawkbrothers have 'bondbirds' with whom they share a psychic bond. Bondbirds are larger, smarter, and more social than their wild cousins; mages usually have decorative birds, while scouts prefer to bond to raptors of various types.
Mages: There's a LOT of wiggle-room in 'mages'. Mage characters can be from one of the Schools based in Rethwellan or more southerly, they can be priests of Vkandis, they can be Herald-Mages, or mage-gifted citizens of Valdemar who aren't Chosen, but were still trained to fight against Ancar. There are a couple of notes about Mages, however. One, the magical energy of the world is still dispersed from the end of the Storms. Even for Master and Adept class mages, there's not a lot of power there to use; few strong ley-lines, and very few nodes that aren't protected Heartstones. Two, any Valdemarian mage will have, at MOST two years of training. They will be very new to magic in general, considering that Valdemar's magical tradition goes nearly entirely through the Heralds. Three, both Valdemar and especially Hardorn are likely to still have prejudice against non-Herald mages, thanks to Ancar and his blood mages.
If you have any other ideas, or are curious about any of the setting points, please comment and let me know!
Finally,
Format: I'm actually thinking of running this one as a play-by-e-mail or play-by-post (possibly using a journal community) game. I know, those tend to be the kiss of death for many games, but I think it's more likely that we'll be able to post semi-regularly or e-mail rather than trying to carve out Yet Another Time when everyone is available for a 4-6 hour stretch of RP.
If you're at all interested, please comment.
System: Blue Rose, with some modifications. More on that later, once I have a chance to sit down and poke at it. However, expect it to be a bit more crunchy and D&D-like than Blue Rose normally is, and that there will be no Corruption points or Shadow nature, since those are setting-specific.
Concept: The characters will be an Alliance group of 'troubleshooters', essentially. They will start off being assigned to Hardorn, to help newly-instated King Tremaine get that suffering country back on its feet. Hardorn is still ravaged by mage-weather caused by Ancar's reckless use of dark magic, many of its citizenry were murdered and abused by Ancar and his cronies, and the army is shattered, making it hard for the Hardornian troops to track down Changebeasts, Ancar's criminal mages, and defrocked Karsite priests who fled Vkandis' holy wrath in the cleansing of the Sunlord's Temples.
Setting: The game will start in Haven, the capital city of Valdemar, approximately six months after the Owl trilogy. For those of you who might be interested in playing, but have no idea what that means:
Valdemar is a northern country on the world of Velgarth. It is protected by its magically chosen Heralds, whose incorruptibility and mind-magic Gifts have kept the country protected for thousands of years. Recently, Valdemar has just emerged from semi-isolation to join with other countries, such as long-time ally Rethwellen to the south, and long-time enemy Karse to the southeast, against the forces of Ancar of Hardorn, a dark mage-king who was draining his land and people dry in his effort to conquer Valdemar and Karse. The Alliance, aided by the mysterious Hawkbrothers of the far south, managed to destroy Ancar and free his people...but that was only the start of the problems. First, the Empire of the east invaded the broken country of Hardorn. Then, mystical Storms appeared, ravaging all of the countries of the Alliance and turning animals, plants, and people into twisted Changebeasts. The effort to stop the Mage Storms before they destroyed civilization brought in yet more people to the Alliance: the nomadic Shin'a'in, who had dedicated their lives to protecting the artifacts of the last Mage War from those who would abuse them, the Hawkbrothers, the northeastern country of Iftel, and finally, even the abandoned troops of the Empire, led by Grand Duke Tremaine. The Alliance managed to bring a halt to Storms...just in time for several of the barbarian nations of the North to begin migrating into Valdemar, fleeing the Changebeasts and tyranny of a mad shaman. Finally, even that issue has been...somewhat...dealt with, but the collective countries of the Alliance are scrambling to repair themselves, waiting for the next disaster to fall.
Available Character Concepts:
Okay. This is a 'high fantasy' game, which means characters should be Good. They don't necessarily have to be nice, but they should be heroic in nature. As to specifics, there's a /lot/ of flexibility here. The Alliance has, at present, the peculiar property of having many of the most exotic character types available and willing for service. Keep in mind, however, that the troubleshooting mission is also a /diplomatic/ mission; this will be one of the first attempts by the Alliance to field a combined peacekeeping team, especially under the auspices of Tremaine, who is still not trusted by many of the people. Specific characters might be:
Guard Members: Members of the armies of Alliance countries can be very useful. Valdemarian or Hardornian Guards (Many of the Hardorn Army defected when Ancar murdered his father to take the throne, and fled to Valdemar to fight against the usurper.) would be especially appropriate, but Imperial Guards would be very appropriate as well.
Heralds: Heralds are Valdemarian, although some might have been born elsewhere. A Herald's first loyalty is to Valdemar and her people, but typically they will not refuse to help any innocent in need. Every Herald is soul-bonded to a Companion, a horse-shaped sapient being who protects and guides (although usually in a subtle manner). Heralds all have some form of mind-magic Gift, with Mindspeaking being the most common. Heralds are inherently selfless, but still very human. Although they cannot be corrupted, they can be deceived, or just jump to conclusions and be plain WRONG. Heraldic players would control both their Herald, and their Companion, although the GM may occasionally take control of the Companion.
Mercenaries: Although Valdemar has been reluctant to hire mercs for a while, many of the other countries in the Alliance, particularly Rethwellan, are not so squeamish. A mercenary may have a wide selection of abilities and strengths, from combat skills to spy skills to magery or mind magic.
Hawkbrothers: As designated cleansers of magic-tainted lands, the Hawkbrothers have thousands of years of experience in dealing with Changebeasts and dark magicians, and some would consider it their duty to help ensure Hardorn does not end up as another Pelagris Hills. All Hawkbrothers have some level of magecraft, but not all are dedicated mages. Some may be scouts, who are masters of forest combat, stealth, and the neutralization of arcane threats. All Hawkbrothers have 'bondbirds' with whom they share a psychic bond. Bondbirds are larger, smarter, and more social than their wild cousins; mages usually have decorative birds, while scouts prefer to bond to raptors of various types.
Mages: There's a LOT of wiggle-room in 'mages'. Mage characters can be from one of the Schools based in Rethwellan or more southerly, they can be priests of Vkandis, they can be Herald-Mages, or mage-gifted citizens of Valdemar who aren't Chosen, but were still trained to fight against Ancar. There are a couple of notes about Mages, however. One, the magical energy of the world is still dispersed from the end of the Storms. Even for Master and Adept class mages, there's not a lot of power there to use; few strong ley-lines, and very few nodes that aren't protected Heartstones. Two, any Valdemarian mage will have, at MOST two years of training. They will be very new to magic in general, considering that Valdemar's magical tradition goes nearly entirely through the Heralds. Three, both Valdemar and especially Hardorn are likely to still have prejudice against non-Herald mages, thanks to Ancar and his blood mages.
If you have any other ideas, or are curious about any of the setting points, please comment and let me know!
Finally,
Format: I'm actually thinking of running this one as a play-by-e-mail or play-by-post (possibly using a journal community) game. I know, those tend to be the kiss of death for many games, but I think it's more likely that we'll be able to post semi-regularly or e-mail rather than trying to carve out Yet Another Time when everyone is available for a 4-6 hour stretch of RP.
If you're at all interested, please comment.
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1) How often do you intend people to post?
2) Do we need to be familiar with Blue Rose rules?
3) Should we (re)read the "Winds" and "Storms" trilogies? It's been a while for me.
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2) No. If you want to get a copy of the system, it would help, but won't be necessary. I'll post, probably as a locked entry to the players, the details of character creation and a couple of templates for various types of characters that people are interested in (For example, Heralds and Hawkbrothers would have to purchase the Bonded feat, and at least one Gift (mind-magic for Heralds, Mage for Hawkbrothers).
3) Nah. I know that some of the people interested are not going to be previous readers of Valdemar, so I'm going to try and break everything down and explain it so everyone, reader or not, has a good idea of the general situation. Specifics of the books aren't really necessary, since many of them wouldn't be common knowledge. (For example, the majority of the population has no IDEA what actually brought the Storms to an end.)
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Also echoing the Blue Rose question - where can I find the basics for that system?
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Blue Rose fast play (http://bluerose.greenronin.com/blue_rose_support.php?id=P67) rules. Disregard setting information, and I /will/ be making some house rules to the system to more accurately reflect Valdemar's cosmology.
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Lurkers are great! Once we decide if it's e-mail or PbP, I'll either make a mailing list or a community, and people can decide if they want to lurk, and I'll add them.
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...and, heh, I probably do want to play a Herald. There's something about the chance to play a noble young hero with a Magical Talking Horse Companion that appeals deeply to the 12-year-old-girl deep in my soul.
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For those of you who are interested in playing, would you prefer PbP or e-mail? I'll admit, my preference is e-mail, because I can more easily check and reply to that from work. Also, having a mailing list would allow lurkers to watch with digest modes.
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But! I will be fine with giving email a try.
(And, hey, I'm quite happy to do the token Noble Heraldy Heraldness. Playing to type can be fun, now and then. And all my characters sort of wibble in the direction of Neutral to Lawful Good eventually anyway, so I might as well start there...)
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I'm not positive of whether or not I could build a character concept -- especially given a complete lack of any familiarity with Blue Rose -- but, um. Valdemar yay! [laughs] And from, like, 12/20 to 01/15, I'm free except for othergames, and from 01/15 to 05/something, I have a decent chunk of free time, so . . .
Um. If you're limiting slots, feel free to count me out in favor of someone else, but if not, I'd be interested in trying it out? [grins] Probably inclined toward a Hawkbrother, a Herald, or a mercenary, for what it's worth, and I'm comfortable with either PbP (preferably GJ) or PbEM (yay gmail)?
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(Oh, random question -- it's been a year or two since I last reread the Mage-Storms stuff, but I vaguely recall that Shin'a'in and whatever-their-names-were, the gryphons and associates, were involved in the Alliance. Are they potential PC-types too, or no? . . . and is Iftel actually being active and involved? [blinks] I also vaguely recall that the Alliance did something with Iftel's border, but that's about it . . .)
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Iftel is not an active member of the Alliance, although they are friendly-neutral to it. After emerging briefly to join forces against the Storms, Iftel pretty much said, "Whew, glad that's over. Y'all done good, kids. Have a nice life," and went back behind their border. Although they have been repeatedly invited, no representative of the Iftel government has come to Haven to participate in the Great Council.
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Plus, I love the idea of a Sun Priest and a Herald in the same party. Just LOVE.
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I'd love to read it, though.
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I have bad luck with PbPs, but I think the problem with 'em is it's hard to bring a lot of disparate people together, and here that'd already be taken care of.
And I desperately love Tremaine. Tuning out the earth priest's spiel because he doesn't think anything's actually going to happen! Love.--- dude, you are letting us have kyree as PCs. I saw it in the comments, you can't take it back now! Let me see if I can come up with a character concept... Or perhaps an Imperial Guardsman, that would be cool... I'd've made considering noises at the Sun Priests, too, but I think
This is two really cool game propositions that I've run across today. I think y'all are trying to kill me. It's a conspiracy.