It's that time of year again, when I decide that I hate myself and you should all benefit. Yes, I know I said I would never run this game on Bay12 again, despite popular demand. Yes, I know that you will undoubtedly make me suffer.
So, what IS Brutal?Imagine, for a minute, a standard fantasy RPG. Noble warriors, cunning thieves, wise mystics, and a whole lot of exploring, looting, and saving the world. Now, those guys? They are your enemies. They've killed your brethren by the boatload, cutting a swathe of death across the wilderness, making way for their precious "civilization". But ultimately, they are doomed to fail - as has happened time and again in the past, their cities will fall and be reclaimed by the wilderness, their sewers will become new hunting grounds, their buildings foul nests, their buried villages the foundation of a thriving community of monsters and beasts of all sorts.
Or at least, that's how it used to be.
Lately, the balance has been broken. Rather than the ebb and flow of death and rebirth, civilization has simple been winning. With reinforcements arriving every day from some place over the seas, this tidal wave, this throng of civilized masses, seems unstoppable. Heroes are a dime a dozen. Human settlements spread across the landscape like a blight, rendering once rich wilderness into sterile, cold, unwelcoming "cultured environments". Monsters have been banished to the shadows and fog, and every day it seems they are pushed back further. It is no longer a battle with the wilderness, no - it is now a campaign of extermination, and the civilized races will not rest until they achieve total domination.
This cannot happen. The balance must be restored, but things have gone too far for traditional tactics to work. So the monsters and beasts have done the unthinkable - they have put aside their differences, for the time being, to work towards a common goal. They have formed an army, and banded together with the infernals. And they will kill, maim, and terrorize until the humans, elves, dwarves, and any race that dares stand in their way have been driven into the sea. If they can bit hit hard enough, if they can be scared badly enough... perhaps the boats will stop coming, and those already here will flee back across the waters.
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But what will I actually be doing?You'll be playing as a monster (or small band of monsters of the same type), with the goal of terrorizing the countryside, defeating the heroes, and bringing about the downfall of civilization. You gain experience primarily through the "terrifying the countryside" part - you see, monsters become better monsters through instilling fear, acts of cruelty, building their reputation and, later on, acquiring a treasure trove and building up a lair.
Some monsters have alternate ways of becoming more powerful, but this is the normal approach.
You'll choose a monster from a preset list (which contains a great many monsters and animals), and optionally applying a variety of "templates", such as "Extra limbs", "Scales", "Undead", "Infernal", "Giant", "Dire", "Elemental", "Winged", "Blighted", and more, allowing you to mix and match to extensively customize your monster from right out the gate.
The primary source of experience is through the BGBS battle system - defeating enemies rewards a pittance, but defeating them in novel ways, demoralizing them, and asserting utter and complete dominance are all much more effective than outright killing them. Often, you'll even want to leave survivors to spread your legend - but be careful. If your reputation grows too quickly, you may have heroes more powerful than you can handle seeking the bounty on your head...
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How will we play?We'll be be playing with the website
Roll20. Meaning that this time around, we'll have maps and stuff! The exactly details are to be determined- text, or voice? Or maybe just voice on my party? When do we meet? How long will the sessions be? This all depends on what is good for you, my players!
Well, what about...If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! Or, maybe, look at the rules:
Edit: The Rules are being replaced with a more modern version, as I find the bits and pieces and fill in the gaps from what I was able to recover when I lost my last computer.
The Basic Ruleshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1oahs_QB-fWcMNsIHJljb57ByukpT8p8_3bvm6ihzrJE/editNote that the bestiary and template systems are pretty rough right now, and thus not posted. Most of you already know your monsters at this point anyway, and mostly there will be some ability and stats juggling, but your monster should still fill essentially the same role. The biggest difference is that the points of templates are likely to be wildly altered - I'll let you know when I finish this so you can insure you still want what you want.
Yes, I'm aware they aren't that great. There are some minor inconsistencies, it's not all that balanced at times, and some bits seem needlessly complex. But who cares? The point is, people seem to think it's fun for some crazy reason! (Hosting it, in my opinion, isn't, I'm just a masochist)
So, anyone interested?
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Topic: **Signups**Brutal - A classic fantasy RPG, except you play the monsters. (Read 4922 times)