VoidPointer
9th June 2008, 03:09 AM
Due to some rather complex and unfortunate circumstances amongst my group of players here in Texas, I find myself without any players to torture^W GM for. So, I figured I would come on here and see if anyone liked any of the ideas I have for a game to run. Feel free to express interest in more than one. I may run another in the future, once I get back into the groove of PbP.
But first, a caveat for prospective players. To avoid the ever-present hazard of the player the plot is focusing on at this moment being unwilling and/or unable to post, there will be a reasonable time limit for people to get in what they need to say. Conversely, you do get this time (however long it is, think three days or so) to get in what you want to say or do. However, if the plot locks up on your character, and you don't post in this amount of time (which will be determined by the players and myself), I reserve the right to move things along, using your character if I need to. If you're being interrogated, and you disappear off to Brazil for a month, that means I need to do /something/ with your character. I'll do my best to keep in in-character, and to keep your character intact for when you get back. Expect more sympathy if you have a good reason, like your mother being on fire.
Now that that's all clear, the game ideas.
World of Insufficient Light: I'll just let this accounting of events explain the main difference here, then we'll go from there. Be warned, it was written before they invented spelling.
"In the Year of our Lord MDCLIX, the Kyndred priestess and Orackle called by thee name Pythia didst prophesey that thee Dark Fathers of Vampyre-Kind wouldst Ryse from their Torporous Slumber and feast upon their Childer. She didst give the Tyme of these events as in VII years' Tyme, and didst Prophesey that thee time of Tribulation hadst come upon us. She thus didst prophesey that thee World wouldst be destroyed in thee Year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Six, this being one Millenium advanced from thee Year that wast Numbered as Six Hundred and Sixty Six, thee Number of thee Beast. A mass Hysteria as wast described by Hippocrates in hys Works fell upon thee Kyndred in this Tyme, and it was thought Commonly that Gehenna wast Upon us, as thee night of thee Prophesey, thee Moon didst appear Red. Many Signs didst appear unto the Seers amongst thee clan of Malkav, and Sire wast pitted against Child in these, thee Fynal Nights. But, upon thee closing of thee Year that Pythia didst Prophesey, upon thee Night of Christ's Mass, it twould appear that ae strange Rapture had come upon thee Kyndred, for all of Malkav's childer hadst Disappeared unto Naught, their Havens bare but for a message that the Afflicted minds they possessed must havest thought Most Risible, penned in in ae tyght, angular Scrypt reckognizable as thee pennmanshipp of thee fynal chapters of thee Book of Nod:
'There will come a Tyme,
When thee Lyneage of Caine will learn,
That not All sillee Propheseys of thee End of thee World
Are necessaryly to bee Believed.
We dost blow unto you a Raspberry.
Thbbbbbbbbt.'
Malkav's childer didst not reappear in Kyndred society until they wert quite certain that thee Heat hadst blown over, and thee Book of Nod hadst been Revysed, to undo their Wyckedness."
So, to summarize, Gehenna was a prank, carefully handed down through the generations of Malkavians, matured over millennia, kept until a particularly opportune moment, and pulled with expert precision.
The rest of the Camarilla did not find it very funny, of course, but through the course of history the Malkavians eventually made it up to them, kind of. Some elders still hold a grudge over it, and more than a few Malkavians involved did not survive long after. The prevailing opinion among Malkavians was that it was hilarious and also worth it.
How does this affect the modern World of Darkness? Well, it's not quite as dark, some nights. Vampirism is still an immortal curse, but at least the end of the world isn't waiting right across the other side of the millennium, and as a result of having to deal with the Malkavians, the Camarilla is maybe just a little more civil, a little bit less taken up by the politics of the latest Prince. The hysteria that preceded and followed 1666 was violent enough that the Kindred are just that little bit more educated about the dangers of letting one group run roughshod. It's still pretty bad, mind you, but it's no longer a grim, endless angst-fest.
How does this affect the players? It tells them in no uncertain terms to throw all that juicy metaplot data from the Clanbooks and what have you out the window. This isn't quite WoD, just something like it: The World of Insufficient Light.
My second idea involves giant robots and (relatively; we're still talking giant robots here) realistic military strategy and tactics. Kind of like Battletech, but a different universe. This one's not so detailed, mostly because a lot of the ideas I have for it are mutually exclusive.
Or we can play D&D. 3.5 though, I don't have 4E and if I did I wouldn't know what to do with it. I'm thinking the kind of setting that has magic, but it's special. Too special to buy in shops. So, low-to-medium-low magic. If you're familiar with Acolyte's Asylum games? Higher magic than that, but not /too/ much higher.
I've got a lot of other ideas besides these, but not so well-formed. I'm passing familiar with the systems in my profile, and if anyone has a compelling idea they want to see GMed, maybe we can do that.
But first, a caveat for prospective players. To avoid the ever-present hazard of the player the plot is focusing on at this moment being unwilling and/or unable to post, there will be a reasonable time limit for people to get in what they need to say. Conversely, you do get this time (however long it is, think three days or so) to get in what you want to say or do. However, if the plot locks up on your character, and you don't post in this amount of time (which will be determined by the players and myself), I reserve the right to move things along, using your character if I need to. If you're being interrogated, and you disappear off to Brazil for a month, that means I need to do /something/ with your character. I'll do my best to keep in in-character, and to keep your character intact for when you get back. Expect more sympathy if you have a good reason, like your mother being on fire.
Now that that's all clear, the game ideas.
World of Insufficient Light: I'll just let this accounting of events explain the main difference here, then we'll go from there. Be warned, it was written before they invented spelling.
"In the Year of our Lord MDCLIX, the Kyndred priestess and Orackle called by thee name Pythia didst prophesey that thee Dark Fathers of Vampyre-Kind wouldst Ryse from their Torporous Slumber and feast upon their Childer. She didst give the Tyme of these events as in VII years' Tyme, and didst Prophesey that thee time of Tribulation hadst come upon us. She thus didst prophesey that thee World wouldst be destroyed in thee Year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Six, this being one Millenium advanced from thee Year that wast Numbered as Six Hundred and Sixty Six, thee Number of thee Beast. A mass Hysteria as wast described by Hippocrates in hys Works fell upon thee Kyndred in this Tyme, and it was thought Commonly that Gehenna wast Upon us, as thee night of thee Prophesey, thee Moon didst appear Red. Many Signs didst appear unto the Seers amongst thee clan of Malkav, and Sire wast pitted against Child in these, thee Fynal Nights. But, upon thee closing of thee Year that Pythia didst Prophesey, upon thee Night of Christ's Mass, it twould appear that ae strange Rapture had come upon thee Kyndred, for all of Malkav's childer hadst Disappeared unto Naught, their Havens bare but for a message that the Afflicted minds they possessed must havest thought Most Risible, penned in in ae tyght, angular Scrypt reckognizable as thee pennmanshipp of thee fynal chapters of thee Book of Nod:
'There will come a Tyme,
When thee Lyneage of Caine will learn,
That not All sillee Propheseys of thee End of thee World
Are necessaryly to bee Believed.
We dost blow unto you a Raspberry.
Thbbbbbbbbt.'
Malkav's childer didst not reappear in Kyndred society until they wert quite certain that thee Heat hadst blown over, and thee Book of Nod hadst been Revysed, to undo their Wyckedness."
So, to summarize, Gehenna was a prank, carefully handed down through the generations of Malkavians, matured over millennia, kept until a particularly opportune moment, and pulled with expert precision.
The rest of the Camarilla did not find it very funny, of course, but through the course of history the Malkavians eventually made it up to them, kind of. Some elders still hold a grudge over it, and more than a few Malkavians involved did not survive long after. The prevailing opinion among Malkavians was that it was hilarious and also worth it.
How does this affect the modern World of Darkness? Well, it's not quite as dark, some nights. Vampirism is still an immortal curse, but at least the end of the world isn't waiting right across the other side of the millennium, and as a result of having to deal with the Malkavians, the Camarilla is maybe just a little more civil, a little bit less taken up by the politics of the latest Prince. The hysteria that preceded and followed 1666 was violent enough that the Kindred are just that little bit more educated about the dangers of letting one group run roughshod. It's still pretty bad, mind you, but it's no longer a grim, endless angst-fest.
How does this affect the players? It tells them in no uncertain terms to throw all that juicy metaplot data from the Clanbooks and what have you out the window. This isn't quite WoD, just something like it: The World of Insufficient Light.
My second idea involves giant robots and (relatively; we're still talking giant robots here) realistic military strategy and tactics. Kind of like Battletech, but a different universe. This one's not so detailed, mostly because a lot of the ideas I have for it are mutually exclusive.
Or we can play D&D. 3.5 though, I don't have 4E and if I did I wouldn't know what to do with it. I'm thinking the kind of setting that has magic, but it's special. Too special to buy in shops. So, low-to-medium-low magic. If you're familiar with Acolyte's Asylum games? Higher magic than that, but not /too/ much higher.
I've got a lot of other ideas besides these, but not so well-formed. I'm passing familiar with the systems in my profile, and if anyone has a compelling idea they want to see GMed, maybe we can do that.