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Interest Check: Fantasy RP

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Renewal

Falling, but Rising Again
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Just want to see if anyone here'd like to join a fantasy RP. I've got a couple ideas from narrative-driven tabletop RPGs my friends and I have been looking at (namely 13th Age), but I don't want to go to all the trouble of developing a setting if no one's interested.

My main idea is to just use a couple of setting hooks (famous locales, key players on the world stage) and let the players fill in the world with their own ideas and stories. So someone could define what elven culture is, another could insert a war or three in the backstory, and so on. Hopefully that would invest players more and hold their interest better.

For now, I'm just thinking of a sort of dungeon crawl for a McGuffin, with all the players entering for their own reasons. The main conflict for the RP would thus be the players themselves, as they compete against each other for the McGuffin. That should diminish the burden and dependence on me as GM a little bit, allowing to develop a little more organically.

And I'm wondering about mechanics. I'm considering for now just leaving everything a function of the narrative, but we could always go for a more involved combat or magic system.

So, thoughts?
 
I like settings that are modern day, but with magic. Like A Certain Magicsl Index.

Also Necromancy. I'll prolly be a Paladin dude.
 
Heroic Sociopath said:
I like settings that are modern day, but with magic. Like A Certain Magicsl Index.

Also Necromancy. I'll prolly be a Paladin dude.
Click to expand...
I'm not familiar with A Certain Magical Index, but it could be worthwhile. Would that be closer to urban fantasy (basically real life with magic slapped on)? Or is it more like a magical world that developed to the modern era (so standard fantasy with technology slapped on)?
 
Basically Urban Fantasy. Like Persona or Haruhi SuSuzumiya, except everyone knows about most of the supernatural stuff and just treats it as a skill someone can have. It's uncommon, but people in that world accept it as something that does happen.
 
So, some thrown together setting ideas:

Like Heroic Sociopath suggested, magic is an ordinary part of life--not everyone has it, but it's common enough and generally understood by all. I'm considering making it sort of like the Force in Star Wars--everyone has Mana, the ability to cast spells and such, but not everyone has enough to actually be a competent mage. Anyway, to achieve the conceit of urban fantasy, with most of the world resembling our modern day, magic can't be too game-breaking. So at best, it's like bending from Avatar, but even more limited--you can manipulate and shape the world around you with magic, but only a handful of truly exceptional individuals can freely change the world on a whim.

One theme I'm considering is that magic has become more common over the centuries, but also more diluted. Whereas back in the ancient days you could have entirely magical societies and tribes, they've burned themselves out, especially as non-magical individuals invent things that rival magic's utility. I thought of two possible ways to play this out. One is just to make magic on the verge of vanishing, with people wanting to understand what's left; this has a more mundane tone, and can center on more everyday individuals.

The second is more dramatic; instead of magic just fading, it went violently--the last magical kingdom of sorcerer-kings became more and more oppressive as their influence shrunk, leading to an uprising by the weaker magicians, who invented Magitek. They overthrew the sorcerer-kings, and created a more egalitarian society, placing the more powerful natural magicians on the same level as those who could augment their abilities with Magitek. This could be a little more action-y, exploring the consequences and aftermath of the rise of Magitek.

I'm also considering whether or not there should be magical, nonhuman races as well, like the standard elves and dwarves, but also things like fairies, espers, and so on.
 
As you wish! (I really need to stop over-thinking my RPs.)
 
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