IRC info:
irc.newnet.net
#darktidesrp
Some of you may be aware of this game because when it was one of the two options offered last time I volunteered to run an IRC RP. Of course, you the audience chose Brutal: Rise of the Beasts instead, and now I never want to host that game again. Congrats.
But this one is still fun, so time to give you guys the opportunity to ruin another system for me!
A bit of background on the game:
The world has come a long way from its golden age, since the collapse of the Gaosian empire nearly a hundred years ago. The Central Expanse is now host to hundreds of bickering fledgling nations, many no more than city states. In the absence of power, many of the laws and systems designed to keep the world safe from the ancient magics have degraded or dissapeared entirely, and old powers are stirring and growing restless. The Western reaches are once more securely under the hold of the Immortal Emperor, but rumours persist of his failing health, and some have whispered tales of poison and treachery. The Eastern city states of Delkyn, Lere Domash, and Bregum had forged what they had hoped to be a stable and lasting peace, when words came over the Snowhome Mountains that the nations south of the mountains, yet untouched by the centuries turmoil, had been besieged by a powerful enemy. There were few specifics, only a spattering of refugees willing and able to make the harsh journey through the mountain passes, carrying stories of strange creatures and fell magics, and then... nothing. Finally, a single White Dwarf, from the might fortresses of Kao'roon, arrived in Delkyn, bringing a warning. The Southern Alliance had fallen, had collapsed before the attacks of a numerous and powerful foe, and that foe is heading north, still beating the drums of war.
Mechanics Wise:
The game is based on a classless, skill based system, and has two distinct magic mechanics. In one, spells are powerful, but magic is unreliable. It always works, but seldom works quite as intended. In the other, magic is both powerful and reliable, but that which powers your magic is used up to cast it - it must be used judiciously if you wish to have true power, and that power will not come without great sacrifice. Non-magic skills work in a fairly consistant way, and combat is based on simultaneous opposing rolls, and tends to move fairly quickly. Experience is gained for specific skills (only among those known to a character) rather than for characters in general, but at the end of each "episode" you will get a number of character points than can be spent on various things, including increasing skills, gaining new skills, developing proficiencies and unlocking several perks and bonuses.
So my question is - are any of you interested?
We'll need to choose a region for the party to play in as well - I've got several campaigns planned out for each. Here are the options:
(West Coast) The Immortal Empire - This will likely be a game with quite a bit of politics and intrigue, where the enemy is likely to be internal, and much it will be played in urban environs. There exists at all levels of society a powerful secret movement dedicated to toppling the empire, and you must route out their nefarious agents and prevent this rebellion from succeeding. (Unless, of course, you happen to part of it)
(Central Kingdoms) The Great Nation of Flemch - A small city state nestled between three far more powerful neighbors, full of a people well known for being dull, uncreative, and feeble, it has been wondered by many how such a nation has avoided being conquered and destroyed as their neighbors jockey for power. You may just have the opportunity to find out...
(East Coast) The Front Line - It will be months yet before the dreaded armies work their way through the treacherous mountain passes, but even know there have been reports of strange things operating in the night, rumours of politicians and nobles corrupted by sinister offers, and people discuss in hushed words a string of strange murders. While the nations attempt to muster a military force capable of fighting off the unknown enemy, many have come to realize that some of them, at least, have already arrived.
(The South) The Fallen Alliance - Though your nation's armies have been reduced to dust, a small resistance still thrives in the woods and the alleys, doing what they can to resist the invaders. It has been foretold by one of the blind prophets that there is still hope for the world, that if the resistance does not lose heart, they may yet stem the advance of this dark tide.
(The North) Ruins of a Lost Empire - A daring band of adventures sets forth to explore the abandoned ruins of the once great Gaosian Empire, but they may be suprised at what now lurks in the abandoned streets and crypts of the ancient city of Plebe.
(The Kelleran Valley) Misfits - A valley populated only by the cast off mutations of decades of magic research, the great Kelleran Academies collapsed a dozen years before the empire did, brought did by a particularly dangerous spell and the sudden rebellion of the mutated population they had been keeping as slaves. The Valley is a dangerous place, but those who yet live there still have dreams all their own, and outsiders will occasionally show up intent on plundering the treasures said to lurk within the abandoned Academies.